CHAPTER III.
State of Parties at Lord North’s Accession to the post of First Minister.—Victory of the Court Party.—Character of Lord North.—The other Ministers.—Debate in the House of Lords on the State of the Nation.—Quarrel between the Speaker and Sir William Meredith.—Debate in the Lords.—Lord Chatham attacks the Influence of the Court.—Repeal of American Duties.—Bold Conduct of the City Authorities.—Remonstrance Presented to the King.—Debate on the Civil List.—Lord Chatham attacks the Duke of Grafton.—Indirect Censure on the City Remonstrance in the House of Commons.—Loyal Address carried.
State of Parties at Lord North’s Accession to the post of First Minister.—Victory of the Court Party.—Character of Lord North.—The other Ministers.—Debate in the House of Lords on the State of the Nation.—Quarrel between the Speaker and Sir William Meredith.—Debate in the Lords.—Lord Chatham attacks the Influence of the Court.—Repeal of American Duties.—Bold Conduct of the City Authorities.—Remonstrance Presented to the King.—Debate on the Civil List.—Lord Chatham attacks the Duke of Grafton.—Indirect Censure on the City Remonstrance in the House of Commons.—Loyal Address carried.
1770.
Nothing could be more distressful than the situation into which the Duke of Grafton had brought the King, and in which he abandoned him. Whether it was owing to disgust, or whether men had conceived that the Duke could not maintain himself, the majority had suddenly dwindled away to an alarming degree, nor was any time given to prepare for the change. The 31st was appointed for going again into the committee on the state of the nation, the very business on whichthe failure of numbers had disclosed itself. A new arrangement without new strength was not encouraging. Lord North had neither connections with the nobility, nor popularity with the country, yet he undertook the government in a manly style, and was appointed First Lord of the Treasury on the 29th, with only one day to intervene before it would be decided whether he would stand or fall. Could he depend on men whom he had not time to canvass? Was it not probable that the most venal would hang off till they should see to which side the scale would incline? Yet Lord North plunged boldly into the danger at once. A more critical day had seldom dawned. If the Court should be beaten, the King would be at the mercy of the Opposition, or driven to have recourse to the Lords—possibly to the sword. All the resolutions on the Middlesex election would be rescinded, the Parliament dissolved, or the contest reduced to the sole question of prerogative. Yet in the short interval allowed, Lord North, Lord Sandwich, Rigby, and that faction on one side, the Scotch and the Butists on the other hand, had been so active, and had acted so differently from what the Duke of Grafton had done, that at past twelve at night the Court proved victorious by a majority of forty; small in truth, but greater by fifteen or twenty than was expected by the mostsanguine, the numbers being 226 to 186.50The question in effect was, that a person eligible by law cannot by expulsion be rendered incapable of being rechosen, unless by act of parliament. The courtiers moved that the chairman should leave the chair, and carried it. Lord North, with great frankness and spirit, laid open his own situation, which, he said, he had not sought, but would not refuse; nor would he timidly shrink from his post. He was rudely treated by Colonel Barré, who already softened towards the Duke of Grafton, to whom he attributed weight and dignity, but expressing contempt for the new Premier, as a man of no consequence. The latter replied not only with spirit but good-humour, and evidently had the advantage, though it was obvious how much weight the personal presence of a First Minister in the House of Commons carried with it. George Grenville amazed everybody by a bitter complaint of libels and libellers hired by the Court; and this at a season when, deserve what it might, the Court undoubtedly laboured under an unparalleled load of abuse. Colonel Lutterell, on the other hand,affirmed that he had traced a most flagrant libel home to a near relation of that gentleman, who, he believed, was also privy to it. He had forced the printer to divulge the writer, one Lloyd,51who had confessed on his knees, with tears, that Lord Temple had forced him to practise that office. Lutterell added that he had taxed Lord Temple with it by letter, who had not deigned to make an answer. Captain Walsingham said he had gone to Lord Temple on the same errand, who had declared on his honour he was not concerned in it. Grenville flamed, and called for a committee to inquire into libels. He was answered finely by Sir Gilbert Elliot, who now, contrary to his custom of late, took a warm part. He had been much neglected by Grafton, though the confidential agent of the King and Lord Bute; and never distinguished himself, though none more able, but on cases of emergency, and when the Court ventured or chose to make its mind more known than by the Minister. Elliot told Grenville that, had he not entered into factious combinations,heknew Grenville would have been entreated to save his country. That Grenville was not pardoned and again received into favour, proved how much morethe King and his mother were swayed by their passions than by their interest.52
Frederic Lord North, eldest son of the Earl of Guilford, was now in the thirty-eighth year of his age. Nothing could be more coarse or clumsy or ungracious than his outside. Two large prominent eyes that rolled about to no purpose (for he was utterly short-sighted), a wide mouth, thick lips, and inflated visage, gave him the air of a blind trumpeter. A deep untuneable voice, which, instead of modulating, he enforced with unnecessary pomp, a total neglect of his person, and ignorance of every civil attention,53disgusted all who judgeby appearance, or withhold their approbation till it is courted. But within that rude casket were enclosed many useful talents. He had much wit, good-humour, strong natural sense, assurance, and promptness, both of conception and elocution. His ambition had seemed to aspire to the height, yet he was not very ambitious. He was thought interested, yet was not avaricious. What he did, he did without a mask, and was not delicate in choosing his means.54He had lent himself readily to all the violences of Mr. Grenville against Wilkes, had seized the moment of advancement by accepting the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer (after a very short opposition) when the Court wanted a person to oppose to the same Mr. Grenville; and with equal alacrity had served under the Dukeof Grafton. When the first post became vacant by the Duke’s strange retreat, no man so ready to place himself in the gap as Lord North. It was in truth worth his ambition, though he should rule but a day, to attain the rank of Prime Minister. He had knowledge, and though fond of his amusement, seemed to have all necessary activity till he reached the summit. Yet that industry ceased when it became most requisite. He had neither system, nor principles, nor shame; sought neither the favour of the Crown or of the people, but enjoyed the good luck of fortune with a gluttonous epicurism that was equally careless of glory and disgrace.55His indolence prevented hisforming any plan. His indifference made him leap from one extreme to another; and his insensibility to reproach reconciled him to any contradiction. He proved as indolent as the Duke of Grafton, but his temper being as good as the Duke’s was bad, he was less hurt at capital disgraces than the Duke had been at trifling difficulties. Lord North’s conduct in the American war displayed all these features. He engaged in it against his opinion, and yet without reluctance. He managed it without foresight or address, and was neither ashamed when it miscarried, nor dispirited when the Crown itself became endangered by the additional war with France. His good humour could not be good nature, for at the beginning of the war he stuck at no cruelty, but laughed at barbarities with which all Europe rung. It could not be good sense, for in the progresshe blushed at none of the mischiefs he had occasioned, at none of the reproaches he had incurred. Like the Duke of Grafton, he was always affecting a disposition to retire, yet never did.56Unlike the Duke, who secured no emoluments to himself, Lord North engrossed whatever fell in his way, and sometimes was bribed57by the Crown to promote Acts, against which he pretended his conscience recoiled—but it never was delicate when profit was in the opposite scale. If he had ambition, it was of very mean complexion, for he stooped to be but a nominal Prime Minister, and suffered the King’s private junto to enjoy the whole credit of favour, while, between submission and laziness, Lord North himself was seldom the author of the measures in which he bore the principal part. This passive and inglorious tractability, and his being connected with no faction, made him welcome to the King:his having no predominant fault or vice recommended him to the nation, and his good humour and wit to everybody but to the few whom his want of good breeding and attention offended. One singularity came out in his character, which was, that no man was more ready for extremes under the administration of others, no man more temperate than Lord North during his own:—in effect, he was a man whom few hated, fewer could esteem. As a Minister he had no foresight, no consistence, no firmness, no spirit. He miscarried in all he undertook in America, was more improvident than unfortunate, less unfortunate than he deserved to be. If he was free from vices, he was as void of virtues; and it is a paltry eulogium of a Prime Minister of a great country, yet the best that can be allotted to Lord North, that, though his country was ruined under his administration, he preserved his good humour, and neither felt for his country nor for himself. Yet it is true, too, that he was the least odious of the Ministers with whom he acted; and though servile in obedience to a Prince who meant so ill, there was reason to think that Lord North neither stimulated, nor was more than the passive instrument of the black designs of the Court.
The other chief Ministers were, Lord Dartmouth, Lord Suffolk, Lord Gower, Lord Weymouth, LordSandwich, Lord Rochford, and afterwards Lord George Germaine, besides two, who, though not ostensible Ministers, had more weight with the King than Lord North himself. Of those, Lord Dartmouth only stayed long enough to prostitute his character and authenticate his hypocrisy. The Chancellor, Bathurst, was too poor a creature to have any weight; and Lord Rochford, though more employed, had still less claim to sense, and none at all to knowledge. Lord Suffolk’s soul was harrowed by ambition, and as he had not parts to gratify it, he sought the despotism of the Crown as means of gratifying his own pride. Lord Gower, Lord Weymouth, and Lord Sandwich, all had parts, and never used them to any good or creditable purpose. The first had spirit enough to attempt any crime; the other two, though notorious cowards, were equally fitted to serve a prosperous Court; and Sandwich had a predilection to guilt if he could couple it with artifice and treachery. Lord George Germaine was proud, haughty, and desperate. Success by any means was necessary to restore his credit; and a Court that was capable of adopting him, was sure he would not boggle at anything to maintain himself. Lord Mansfield was by birth, education, principle, cowardice, and revenge for the public odium, a bigot to tyranny. He would have sacrificed the universe, and everything but his personalsafety, to overturn the constitution and freedom of England. But in the blindness of that rage, and from not daring to open the attempt where the danger to himself would have been imminent, he was the author of the liberty of America, and the instrument of Providence to bless a whole continent, whose destruction he sought to involve with that of his country. Jenkinson had, and deserved, no marked character; he was the tool of the King and Lord Mansfield, and had just parts enough to make his servility inexcusable. Wedderburne, Sir Gilbert Elliot, and Dyson were also much implicated in the following counsels; but the two latter died early in the American war. Thurlow, Rigby, and Ellis bore their part in kindling that fatal flame—but I am anticipating what did not appear till three or four years later—though it was both necessary to specify the chief incendiaries of the ensuing calamities, and to account for Lord North’s escaping capital hatred for seeming to bear so capital a part in so criminal a scene; but as not one of the set I have recapitulated had recommended himself to the favour of the public, Lord North, by his good humour, easily drew most good will to himself, and did not, like most of the rest, push it from him by insolence and avowed profligacy. Many events intervened, before the grand scene opened, and those I must now detail.
From Lord North’s entrance into power, the Court found all their facilities of governing by corruption and influence return. Every question was carried in both Houses by more than sufficient majorities: and though the Ministers were teazed within, and the King from without, Lord Chatham was always baffled in the Lords, Dowdeswell, Burke, and Grenville in the Commons; nor could Wilkes in the City keep up more than an ineffectual flame. I will recapitulate, as briefly as I can, the chief events and debates of the following period.
Lord North was no sooner set at the head of affairs, than he solicited General Conway’s support. The latter professed great regard for him, but declared he would not sit in council with Lord Gower and Lord Sandwich, now the Duke of Grafton, to whom alone he had been obliged, was retired. Conway, accordingly, with the King’s consent, returned no more to the Cabinet Council. The Privy Seal was given to Lord North’s uncle, the Earl of Halifax. Charles Fox and Charles Townshend,58of Hunningham, were made Commissioners, the first of the Admiralty, the second of the Treasury. Ellis59succeeded James Grenville as Vice-Treasurer of Ireland; but Lord Howe and Lord Cornwallis resigned their places, having, as they said, had no obligations but to Lord Chatham and the Duke of Grafton. Dr. Blackstone was made a judge, and Sir Gilbert Elliot succeeded Lord Howe as Treasurer of the Navy.60
On the 2nd of February, the Lords went into the state of the nation, on a question like Dowdeswell’s, and sat till two in the morning, an hour scarce ever known in that House. The Duke of Richmond principally shone, and said he concluded the Duke of Grafton had resigned from being conscious of the badness of the cause. Grafton denied the supposition; said, nobody did or ever should know the cause of his resignation—and then entered into the most vehement protestation of eternal attachment to his friends the Bedfords. Lord Shelburne and Lord Sandwich had a warm altercation; but the most disagreeable part of theday fell on the late Chancellor, Camden. Grafton, Gower, and Weymouth declared, on their honours, that he had never objected to the legality of what had been done on the Middlesex election; and the Duke affirmed that he had not suspected Lord Camden’s doubts till the month of August last. All Lord Camden could say was, that he had never been positively consulted on it, and had not thought himself obliged to give any opinion when not called upon; yet it appeared in the debate from Lord Chatham, that Lord Camden had declared the illegality to him before August—a proceeding not quite justifiable in a Chancellor, who is styled keeper of the King’s conscience, to be silent to the Ministers on so important a step, and to condemn their measures to the chief of their opponents. The motion was rejected by 96 to 47, and then the majority voted, that for the House of Lords to interfere in a resolution of the House of Commons in a matter of election would be unconstitutional, and tend to a breach between the two Houses. Two warm protests were signed on that occasion by the Lords in opposition, declaring they would never rest till the nation should obtain satisfaction on the Middlesex election.61
On voting the land tax, Burke complained of the new grants of pensions and reversions, and of the hardship of levying three shillings in the pound for such purposes. Lord North defended them by the precedent of Lord Camden’s pension. Dowdeswell named Dyson and Bradshaw as enjoying monstrous and exorbitant grants, and gave notice they should be inquired into. James Townshend, the Sheriff, declared that as the county of Middlesex was not fairly represented, he would not pay the land tax. Lord North answered calmly, that the law would decide whether he should pay it or not. The declaration, though intended for example, was not followed: but the Commons House of Assembly ofSouth Carolina, voted 1500l.to the Supporters of the Bill of Rights.
On the 12th, Lord Chatham moved for a resolution that the capacity of a person to be elected did not depend finally on a determination of the House of Commons. This was supported by Lord Camden, but denied by Lord Mansfield, and evaded by the previous question.
Dowdeswell the same day aimed a destructive blow at the prerogative, but one too wholesome to meet with success.62It was to take away votes at elections for Members of Parliament from all under-officers of the revenue, as of the excise, customs, &c. The motion was popular and constitutional; but the old artillery of the Court, the Tories, were played against the proposal, and it was rejected by 263 against 188. Dowdeswell and Grenville pledged themselves to promote such a bill, should they ever be Ministers again. Lord North told them they certainly did not think themselves likelyto become so, when they supported such a measure.63
On the report from the committee on the state of the nation, a great quarrel happened between the new Speaker and Sir William Meredith, who were ancient enemies. Grenville had insisted on a right of separating two questions, which being contested, Meredith appealed to the Speaker. Sir Fletcher, a novice in the orders of the House, made an artful but false distinction; at the same time complaining of the hardship of being pressed for decision in the dawn of his office. Sir William said he had meant nothing uncandid; but Norton, hot and unguarded, said, “he now saw he must never expect candour from that gentleman.” Those words caused such an uproar for twenty minutes that nobody could be heard, most crying out to have the words taken down. Conway and others tried to moderate; but Barré inflamed the heat, and Dowdeswell moved that the Speaker’s behaviour had been an infringement of the liberty of debate, and a violation of the rules of the House. The Speaker was enraged, and perceiving that so violent a motion would be rejected with indignation, he insisted on putting the question on himself, which was thrown out without a division. The whole discussion lasted between four and fivehours, protracted by the Speaker’s fault, who would make no concession, and who desired the House to take notice that he had made no apology to Meredith.64
A motion of Grenville for an account of the disbursements on the Civil List for the year 1769 was rejected by 262 to 165. Many reflections were thrown out on the new grants to Sir Fletcher Norton, Dyson, and Bradshaw; but as the majority was again risen to ninety-seven, the Court paid no regard to complaints. Lord North had flung himself into the hands of Lord Bute’s junto,65and had even taken for his own private secretary one Robinson, steward to Sir James Lowther66—not withoutgiving offence to the Bedfords, who had meant to govern North themselves.
But if Lord North established his credit at Court by recurring to the patronage of the Favourite, it did but serve to revive jealousies of Lord Bute and the Princess; a strong instance of which broke forth. Sir Edward Hawke had declared for an addition of four thousand seamen, then retracted that opinion, but said, if he should remain in the Admiralty,67he should the next year be for adding five thousand men. On this declaration of so renowned an Admiral, Lord Craven and Lord Abingdon moved for two thousand seamen more. The Duke of Richmond supported their motion with great abilities, knowledge, and matter, and pointed out the encroachments and dangers from France and Spain in Corsica and the East Indies, and from the formidable Spanish fleet that seemed to threaten Jamaica, warning the Ministers that they should be answerable for refusing more seamen, if any mischief should arise. Still they refused them, but with much confusion and little argument. Lord Chatham went farther, in his best manner and with most inflammatory matter, perceiving how little he could hopeeither from the King or Parliament. He pronounced that since the King’s accession there had been nooriginalMinister (a forced expression for noindependentMinister) in this country; that there was asecret influence(which he described so as to point at the Princess, not at Lord Bute) which governed and impeded everything, and was greater than the King. He drew a flattering yet artfully ridiculous picture of the King’s gracious facility in granting everything in his closet, while in Council or in Parliament it was defeated by the faction of the secret influence. He himself, he said, had been duped and deceived by it; and though it was a hard thing to say of himself, confessed he had been a fool and a changeling. The Duke of Grafton, mistaking Lord Chatham, asked whether the King or himself had been pointed at by the Earl, and spoke with warmth, dignity, and grace. He declared Lord Chatham had forced him into Administration, as he had many letters to prove; but the happiest day of his life had been that of his resignation. For the words dropped by Lord Chatham,they were the effects of a distempered mind brooding over its own discontents.68This last expression hurt Lord Chatham deeply: he repeated it over and over, and said he had drawers full of papers to prove that he hadalways had sufficient vigour of mind to avoid the snares laid for him. He would neither retract, he said, nor explain away the words he had uttered; but returned the Duke’s attack with severe reflections on his Grace’s falsehood and deviations. The Ministers did not dare to take notice of what had been thrown out against the Princess, but rejected the motion by 70 to 38. The Duke of Richmond hinted that in the late war the Emperor of Morocco had offered to embark fifty thousand men on board Admiral Saunders’s fleet, and invade Spain. Lord Rockingham, the Duke of Richmond, and the Cavendishes, who had kept aloof from Lord Chatham, were so charmed with his attack on the Princess, that they visited him publicly. It was more surprising that the Duke of Grafton supported the new Administration with more parts and spirit than he had done his own; and in that and the following winter recovered much of the esteem that he had lost when in power, though without having recourse to that usual restorative of character, opposition.
On the 5th of March the House of Commons went upon the consideration of America. Lord North proposed to repeal all the late duties, but that on tea.Mr. Conway advised the repeal of that also, most men believing that a partial repeal would produce no content. Grenville agreed in condemning,as the Rockingham party did too, a partial repeal; but, too obstinate to consent to any repeal, went away without voting, and the motion passed. Lord North produced letters showing that the association for not taking our goods was in a great measure broken through, as the Colonies found they could not do without them. In fact, they continued secretly to send commissioners hither for goods while they appeared most vehement against letting them be imported—the true reason why our merchants did not, as having no cause, complain of the decay of that trade.69
To find the petitions slighted, and to have drivenaway the Prime Minister without shaking the Administration, was a mortifying disappointment to the Opposition; and which, though they affected great contempt for the leaders of the Court party, gave no shining idea of their own abilities employed in vain to overturn them. The next expedient to which the opponents had recourse, did as little honour to their invention, being nothing more than a renewal of petitions under the title of a remonstrance; and which, being only a variation of terms, not of means, produced, like other such remedies, no more effect than the dose to which it was a succedaneum. The Liverymen of London, indignant at the King’s making no answer to their petition, had, with the assistance of the Common Council, and by the countenance (if not by the instigation) of Beckford, the Lord Mayor, obtained a Common Hall, notwithstanding the opposition of almost all the Aldermen. At that Hall it was determined to present a remonstrance to his Majesty on his not having deigned to take any notice of their petition; and the Sheriffs attended him to know when he would be waited upon with the remonstrance. The King replied, “As the case is entirely new, I will take time to consider of it, and will transmit an answer to you by one of my principal Secretaries of State.” In two days Lord Weymouth wrote to the Sheriffs to know how their message was authenticated, and what thenature had been of the assembly in which it was drawn up. The Sheriffs went the next morning with a verbal message, and insisted on being admitted to an audience to deliver it. Alderman Townshend told the King he came by direction of the Livery in Common Hall assembled. The King replied, “I will consider of the answer you have given me.” From the temper both of the City and the Court, it was fortunate that no mischief arose. The boldness of the former was met by the contempt of the latter. The Remembrancer being denied admittance into the closet with the Sheriffs, he asked Lord Bolingbroke, the Lord of the Bedchamber in waiting, whether it was not usual to admit the person possessed of the office he held? Bolingbroke replied, “I do not know: I never saw you here before, and hope never to see you here again.”
Sir Robert Ladbroke proposed to the Court of Aldermen to declare that the remonstrance was no act of that court or of the Corporation of London; but the Lord Mayor refused to put the question without consulting the books of the City; and many reflections were thrown on the courtly Aldermen for attempting to govern the City contrary to its own sense. Sixteen of the Aldermen, however, protested against the remonstrance, which, by the King’s allowance, was carried to him on the 14th ofMarch by the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs. An immense mob accompanied them, but committed no indecorum, except hissing as they passed Carlton House, the residence of the Princess Dowager. The King received them sitting on the throne. The Common Serjeant began to read the remonstrance, but being inclined to the Court, was so frightened that he could not proceed, and Sir James Hodges70was forced to read it. The King, with great composure, and without expressing anger, scorn, or fear, read his answer, which, though condemning the address, was uncommonly condescending, and in a style of appeal to his people.71It had been debated whether they should be admitted to kiss the King’s hand. Lord Hertford, the Chamberlain, was ordered to tell the Lord Mayor, that if they desired to kiss his Majesty’s hand, he would grant it. Beckford said, “I desire of all things to kiss my Sovereign’s hand,” which they all did. In the relation of that ceremony given the next day in thePublic Advertiser, it was described in this bitter manner:—the King instantly turned round to his courtiers and burst out a-laughing—Nero fiddledwhile Rome was burning. Two papers, still more indecent, calledThe WhispererandThe Parliamentary Spy, were published weekly against the King, the Princess, and the Parliament.
During the above transaction, Mr. Dowdeswell moved for the accounts of the Civil List, expressing the different Administrations under which the debts had been contracted. Lord North objected; but Lord Mount Stewart,72desiring his father’s share might be specified, it was accorded, as were the rest, though, till his application, they had been refused, notwithstanding Grenville and Dowdeswell, both of whom had been Chancellors of the Exchequer, and the former First Lord of the Treasury, too, had begged to have their accounts particularized. Grenville justly observed, that that deference to Lord Mount Stewart’s request, proved his father’s actual influence, and consequently Lord North’s servility to him.
Lord Rockingham made the same demand of accounts in the House of Lords, but down to that very year. The former were granted as in the other House; the latter part was refused. Lord Chatham said, Sir Robert Walpole, on whom he made great encomiums, once asking the payment ofbut 113,000l.gave in the vouchers: now, 500,000l.had been asked without any account delivered, which had been refused even till now, though the debt had been paid. Growing more inflammatory, he drew a picture of the late King, who, he said, wastrue, faithful, and sincere, and who, when he disliked a man, always let him perceive it—a portrait intended as a satirical contrast to the character of the reigning monarch. On the Duke of Grafton he was still more bitter, whom he repeatedly calledNovice, and whom, he said, he had never meant for First Minister; the Duke had thrust himself into the function, removing Lord Camden and Lord Shelburne; but that, when the latter was dismissed, could he have crawled out, he himself would have gone to the King, and insisted that the Duke should be dismissed too. The Duke answered with firmness and sense; said he knew Lord Chatham had wished him to hold his power only under himself, and had meant him for a cypher,regnante Cæsare. The debate continued chiefly between these two; but Lord Chatham adding,that Lord Camden had been removed for his vote in Parliament, Lord Marchmont insisted on the words being taken down. At first Lord Chatham was disconcerted, but soon avowed the words; and they were taken down, though his violence was so great that he was with difficulty compelled to sitdown. Lord Sandwich, alarmed, moved to adjourn; but the Duke of Richmond insisting that Lord Chatham, being accused, had a right to vindicate himself, and the latter declaring that he would not retract his words, Lord Marchmont grew frightened, and moved that nothing had fallen in that or any former debate that could justify the assertion of Lord Camden having been dismissed for his vote. This modification was seized by the majority, who finding Lord Chatham inflexible, did not dare to push him to extremities, but meanly and timidly voted those words, though the Opposition would not agree to them. In the course of the debate, Lord Temple said Lord Mount Stewart had done himself immortal honour by desiring to have his father’s accounts produced; and that they would, he supposed, vindicate Lord Bute himself from many calumnies. It was doubted whether this was flattery, or art to draw forth the accounts, that matter might be found in them for impeachment. Of all the party, Lord Shelburne was most warm, agreeable to his maxim, that the King was timid and must be frightened. I think it was in that debate (which was a very heterogeneous one) that Lord Mansfield, being called upon for his opinion on Lutterell’s case in the Middlesex election, declared his opinion should go to the grave with him, having never told it but to one of the Royal Family;and being afterwards asked to which of them, he named the Duke of Cumberland—a conduct and confidence so absurd and weak, that no wonder he was long afterwards taunted both with his reserve, and with his choice of such a bosom-friend.
The great difficulty was to determine what part the King should take on the remonstrance. It reflected much on him—more on the House of Commons; and, in the opinion of some lawyers, amounted at least to a misdemeanour. The first idea was, that the King should lay it before both Houses with complaint; but in the meantime, Sir Thomas Clavering, a rich northern baronet, no otherways considerable, moved the House of Commons to address the King to lay the remonstrance and his answer before the House, the former being, as he concluded by the latter, very offensive. Beckford, the two Sheriffs, and Alderman Trecothick warmly avowed their share in the remonstrance. Harley attacked Beckford as the disturber of the City’s peace; and a warm altercation between them ensued. The Opposition, particularly Wedderburne, urged that to censure any petition or remonstrance, unless it was high treason,73was a direct violation ofthe Bill of Rights. Lord North was very zealous, especially in defence of that wretch, his ancestor, the Lord Keeper, for which he was well ridiculed by Burke, who begged the House to stop, and reminded them how often he had warned them to go no farther, involving themselves more and more by every step they took. Conway answered Wedderburne with uncommon applause, condemning the remonstrance, but recommending moderation. Grenville fluctuated strangely, neither condemning or countenancing the remonstrance, but dissuading punishment. Could they, he asked, punish all concerned in it, or could they punish partially? EvenLord John Cavendish spoke for temper, and owned the remonstrance had gone too far. The address was voted by 271 against 108. The Ministers no doubt had instigated that motion as less obnoxious than a direct complaint from the Throne would have been, and as wearing the appearance of independence from the person who made the motion: but the gentleman’s independence was a little sullied by the command of Languard Fort being four days after conferred on his brother, Colonel Clavering, a meritorious officer, to whom it had been promised, but which made the connection of the elder with the Court observed.74
Such was the dangerous and disgraceful situation into which the unconstitutional intrusion of Lutterell had drawn the Court. They did not dare to punish the indignation they had provoked, lest worse consequences should ensue: nor did their triumph in maintaining Lutterell in his seat, compensate for thetimidity they betrayed in bearing so insolent a remonstrance, which was one of the humiliating effects that had flowed from their original illegality in the prosecution of Wilkes,75—a speaking lesson to Princes and Ministers not to stretch the strings of prerogative! The whole reign of George the Third was a standing sermon of the same kind; and the mortifications I have been recounting were but slight bruises compared to the wounds he afterwards received by not contenting himself with temperate power and established obedience.
The remonstrance and answer being delivered to the House, Sir Thomas Clavering and Sir Edward Blackett76moved a resolution, that to deny thevalidity of proceedings in Parliament was unwarrantable, and tended to disturb the peace of the kingdom. The Opposition objected to the question, as the House of Commons, being the party accused, ought not to judge in their own cause; and the previous question was moved. The day passed temperately, except that Beckford and Harley gave one another the lie. The courtiers were moderate, and the Rockingham party decent, which kept the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs within bounds. Dunning made a great figure against the Court; but the resolution passed, the previous question being rejected by 284 to 127.
The next day the same Baronets moved a loyal address to the King. The debate turned on the infringement of the Bill of Rights, by questioning petitions in Parliament. Lord John Cavendish, Wedderburne, and Sir Joseph Mawbey, acknowledged the remonstrance to be improper, but defended the right of remonstrating; and Lord John proposed a less fulsome address. Mr. Ridley, and Sir Matthew Ridley, his son, declared, they said, in the names of the country gentlemen, whose silence avowed them, that they had gone thus far with the Administration, but would go no farther if punishmentwas thought of: yet Rigby talked highly for severe proceedings, and reviled the Livery and the Opposition. Beckford, not at all content with these last for supporting him no better, yet vaunted his own firmness and ridiculed the merchants who had addressed the last year, calling themcontractorsand remittancers; and scoffing at the courtiers in plain terms for serving for such scanty pay, in comparison of contractors who made 5000l.or 6000l.a year. Lord North himself, he said, had not above 2000l.a year. Lord North offered to the Cavendishes to omit the most exceptionable parts of the address; but as they would not close with him, it was voted by 284 to 94.77The Lords, on the 22nd having had a conference with the Commons, concurred in the address. Lord Chatham was confined by the gout. Lord Shelburne alone avowed the language of the remonstrance. Lord Denbigh and Lord Pomfret were, on the other hand, as gross in flattery to the King. Lord North’s moderation, concurring with the opinion of many lawyers, that the remonstrance was no misdemeanour, prevented any farther views of punishment on that subject.