1778. SECRET LETTER TO THE KING. 221 "Majesty's constant and sincere disposition for peace; "and that his Britannic Majesty, animated by the same "sentiments, will equally avoid every thing that may "alter their good harmony; and that he will particularly "take effectual measures to prevent the commerce be"tween His Majesty's subjects and the United States of "North America from being interrupted." So long as the Treaties signed at Paris had been kept concealed, there might remain a hope that they would not be acted on. But such a Declaration, at such a moment, and from such a Power, seemed, in Lord North's opinion, to render more than ever indispensable the formation of a new and strong administration. On the very next day, the 14th of March, he addressed an important letter to the King. That letter has not been preserved, or at least not been produced; it is only known to me by the King's reply, which I shall now for the first time publish; but from that paper we may deduce with certainty the purport of Lord North's; it was to press in urgent terms his own resignation and advise the King to send without delay for Lord Chatham. The King's reply was not many hours delayed. He declared that on a matter which had for many months engrossed his thoughts he could have no difficulty in answering the letter instantly. He went on to refer with great bitterness to what he termed "Lord Chatham and "his crew,"great bitterness, but certainly not without great provocation. Let it only be remembered how uniformly frank and kind, how gracious and generous, had been the King's whole conduct to Lord Chatham during his last administration-how keen and sharp notwithstanding had been the invectives which Lord Chatham had since hurled forth against the Throne, and, as he alleged, a secret influence behind the Throne. Under the sting of these impressions the King vehemently declared that he would not consent to send for "that perfidious man as the next Prime Minister, but was ready to welcome him and his chief friends with open arms, if they were willing to be placed in office as the allies and auxiliaries of Lord North, and the existing Government. On that basis, and on that basis only, His .. Majesty desired that overtures to Lord Chatham might be made. * Lord North's rejoinder appears to have been to the following effect-that he must adhere to his own request of being permitted to resign-but that he could only advise, he could not presume to dictate to His Sovereign as to the choice of the next Prime Minister and that in compliance with His Majesty's desire he would proceed to ascertain how far Lord Chatham and his friends might be willing to coalesce with (in Lord North's own phrase) "the fundamentals of the present administration.' Meanwhile there were some public measures admitting of no delay. The insulting French Note required some step to be taken, some step to vindicate the offended dignity of England. The King sent orders to his ambassador, Lord Stormont, to return home forthwith; and in consequence, the Marquis de Noail leslikewise took his departure from London. Thus was a war with the Court of Versailles impending, though not as yet avowed or declared. A Royal Message was read to both Houses, communicating the French Note, and assuring them that His Majesty was firmly determined to maintain and assert the honour of his Crown. Loyal Addresses were moved in reply, and were carried in each House by large majorities, but not without reproachful debates. In these the name of Chatham was more than once mentioned, as the only Minister who might still unite the confidence of all parties, who might deter France and Spain, who might reconcile America. Lord North, without publicly adverting to these hints, by no means concealed his own earnest desire of retirement. † Measures were likewise taken at this juncture, by means of the Lords Lieutenant, to call out and assemble the * The King to Lord North, March 13. 1778. Appendix. The expression "that perfidious man," occurs in the letter of the ensuing day. Lord North's expressions in Almon's Register, and the Parl. Hist. (vol. xix. p. 950.), declaring himself resolved not to quit the helm during the storm, must be, in a great measure, inaccurately given, as may be gathered from Mr. Aubrey's reply: "Since the "Noble Lord in the blue ribbon had so strongly expressed his desire " of retiring 1778. SECRET OVERTURES TO CHATHAM. 223 Militia in the several counties. Another matter requiring prompt despatch was the appointment of Commissioners under the new Conciliatory Bills. The intended names had been in great measure known and commented upon even before the Bills had passed. Lord Howe and Sir William were included in the Letters-Patent, on the chance of their still being in America when their colleagues should arrive. Of the new Commissioners, the first was to be Lord Carlisle; with him William Eden and George Johnstone. It could not be alleged that the selection of these gentlemen had been made in any narrow spirit of party.-George Johnstone, who retained the title of Governor from having filled that post in Florida, was a member of the House of Commons, and as such a keen opponent of Lord North. The brother of William Eden had been the last Colonial Governor of Maryland. William Eden himself was a man of rising ability on the Government side; in after years, under Mr. Pitt, ambassador in succession to several foreign Courts, and at last a Peer, with the title of Lord Auckland. Frederick Howard, the fifth Earl of Carlisle, was then only known to the public as a young and not very thrifty man of fashion and of pleasure. Against his appointment, therefore, there were many cavils heard both in and out of Parliament. Thus in one debate the Duke of Richmond said, "I have lately been told that one of the "Governors in America made objection to the Congress "because some of them sat in Council with woollen 66 caps on. Congress were highly offended at this, and "persisted in doing so. How inadequate, then, must "this embassy be, where a noble Lord, bred up in all the "softness that European manners make fashionable to rank, I say, how inadequate must such an embassy "be to men in woollen night-caps!"* 66 66 It was through one of these Commissioners, namely * Debate in the Lords, March 9. 1778. In the same spirit Wilkes exclaimed of Lord Carlisle : "The Muses and the Graces, with a group of little laughing loves, were in his train, and for the first "time crossed the Atlantic!" (Debate in the Commons, November 26. 1778.) See also an amusing jeu d'esprit which appeared in a London paper of that day, and which has been reprinted in the Appendix to the Life of Reed (vol. i. p. 423.). Mr. Eden, that Lord North opened his communications to Lord Chatham. Mr. Eden could not see the great Earl, who was still at Hayes, but had several conversations with his trusted friend, Lord Shelburne.* It was soon apparent, as Lord North must have foreseen, that Lord Chatham had not the smallest inclination to make common cause with the party in power. If he came into office at all, it must be on the call of his Sovereign, and as planning a new administration; it must be as what the King in high displeasure terms him. a Dictator. In Lord Chatham's own papers, as subsequently published, there appears no trace whatever of these overtures, which may probably have passed by messages and word of mouth. We only find that his family and friends, in common with the public, expected at this juncture a summons from St. James's. Thus writes William Pitt to his mother from his studies at Cambridge:-"I am "not sure whether I can find in the history of antiquity any instance of a nation so miserably sacrificed as this “has been; but I believe almost every page will furnish .. an example of the only method left to revive it,—recurring in the extremity of danger to those whose "superiority is unhappily as much proved by the failure of others as by their own success." Mr. Thomas Coutts, already rising into eminence as a banker in the Strand, transmits an offer of public service from Lord Rochford, and adds, to Lady Chatham: "I do not meet with any one who does not lament and wonder that His Majesty "has not yet publicly desired the only help that can have a chance to extricate the country from the difficulties "which every day grow greater.” 66 If called upon, Lord Chatham was ready to obey the call. His blood was roused, as of yore, against the House of Bourbon, and he deemed that the war with France, if it could not be averted, should be most vigorously waged. We may gather, that it was his intention to propose, as * A full account of these conversations was drawn up by Mr. Eden at the time, and, after remaining in MS. for three quarters of a century, has at length appeared in Lord John Russell's Memorials of Fox (vol. i. p. 180-187.). Lord Shelburne said that, as he had often already declared, "Lord Chatham must be the Dictator." (1853.) MESSAGE OF THE ROCKINGHAM PARTY. 225 General-in-chief, Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, who in his former administration had commanded our armies with so much glory and success.* On reading the French note of the 13th, he had given his eldest son, Lord Pitt, permission to re-enter the army. Soon afterwards, accordingly, Lord Pitt sailed for Gibraltar, as an aide-decamp to the Governor; he served long enough, let me observe in passing, to become, as second Earl of Chatham, himself the General and Governor of that fortress. Meanwhile, many members of the Rockingham party, feeling, as they well might, greater confidence in Lord Chatham than in their own immediate chief, and not willing at this crisis to be absent from his thoughts, desired to transmit to him, through his friend Lord Granby, the expression of their sentiments. Of that overture there is nothing further known to me beyond its mention, as follows, by the King:-"I am extremely indifferent "whether Lord Granby goes or does not go with the "abject message of the Rockingham party to Hayes: I "will certainly send none to that place."† At this moment, indeed, the King was more than ever incensed against Lord Chatham, from the high claims which the conversations with Lord Shelburne had disclosed. With a spirit as high, His Majesty protested that he would surrender the Crown sooner than stoop to Opposition. He called upon Lord North to answer one plain question, Will you, like the Duke of Grafton, desert me at the hour of danger? Lord North, in reply, gave the King no hope of his consenting to remain in office permanently, but agreed, if the King should insist upon it, to carry through the present Session to its close. The King next desired that the Attorney-General, Mr. Thurlow, might forthwith be appointed Chancellor, as a preliminary step to the new arrangements. It was plainly His Majesty's object to continue the same system, though with other hands. But for that very reason, and with a just sense of his public duty, Lord North was most un * See the observations of Lord Shelburne in the House of Lords, April 8. 1778. † To Lord North, March 18. 1778. |