Life of William, Earl of Shelburne/Volume 2/Chapter 8

by Edmond George Petty-Fitzmaurice

 

CHAPTER VIII

 

LORD SHELBURNE AND MR. PITT

 

1783-1785

 

"It is remarkable," Horace Walpole wrote to the Duchess of Gloucester, "that the counties and towns are addressing thanks for the peace which their representatives have condemned."^[1] While Shelburne was abroad, popular indignation began to make itself strongly heard against the Coalition, as the conditions came to be dispassionately considered, and it became known that the new Ministers had no serious intention of trying to modify the terms of the treaties which they had condemned. The King was looked upon as a prisoner in his own palace, while the restoration by Burke of the two defaulting clerks, Powell and Bembridge, to their places at the Treasury, from which Barré had dismissed them, came as a strange commentary on his recent encomiums of his own party, and his denunciation of Shelburne as Borgia and Catiline: epithets which in the public mind would perhaps have been more properly applied to Fox and Sheridan. Everything pointed to a strong current of feeling setting in against the Government, and especially against Fox, the excesses of whose private life were becoming more than ever a cause of public scandal.^[2]

"The City," Benjamin Vaughan wrote to Shelburne, "will have confidence in none more than in your Lordship. I affirm that your Lordship is held an injured person by the nation at large. Among the great you may have been too neglectful, and to your unpopularity there I have nothing to say."^[3] From Birmingham Priestley sent to say that the Coalition was most unpopular,^[4] and addresses continued to pour in thanking the King for the peace.

Early in the winter session of 1783 the East India Bill of Mr. Fox was brought forward. The Charter was to be renewed, but the Bill proposed to establish a board consisting of seven persons, who should be invested with full powers for four years to appoint and displace officers in India, and to control the trade of the Company and the government of the country. The Coalition indeed had no choice as to dealing with the question. Committees of the House of Commons had sat and reported, and as in the time of Clive, so now in 1783 it became clear that gross oppression and cruelty had accompanied the progress of the English arms. Shelburne had recalled Sir Elijah Impey the Chief Justice of Bengal to reply at home to the charges made against him, and had sent out Sir William Jones to discharge his duties until the post was permanently filled. The King's speech in December 1782 had called the attention of Parliament to the necessity of framing some fundamental laws which might make the connection with Great Britain a blessing instead of a curse to India. In April 1783, shortly after the fall of the Ministry, Dundas brought forward a Bill appointing a new Governor-General, and giving him full powers to remedy abuses, and authority to overrule his Council. The new Governor-General was to be Lord Cornwallis, to whom Shelburne had offered the place in 1782, but who had deferred acceptance till he had ceased to be a prisoner on parole.

The seven Commissioners appointed by the first of Fox's two Bills, and their eight assistants, were to be appointed in the first instance by Parliament, but ultimately by the Crown, and to hold office independently of all changes of Administration. When the names appeared they were found to be all of them those of well-known followers of Fox except two, one of whom was Colonel North, the son of Lord North. It was the popular belief that a gigantic job was being devised. From one end of the country to the other an outcry arose. The Whigs in 1782 had the pleasure of realizing how great was the power of the representatives of chartered rights, to which they had themselves appealed under the leadership of Burke for party purposes against the moderate proposals of North in 1773.^[5] It was declared and generally believed that their intention was to appoint the seven Commissioners in order to transfer the government and patronage of India permanently from the Crown to the nominees of Mr. Fox, and the Court, anxious to avail itself of the popular feeling, resolved upon offering the most desperate opposition to the Bill in both Houses. But although an unexampled crisis in the history of the country was evidently near, Pitt steadily abstained from holding any communication with his former chief; and Shelburne beginning to realize that this must be the result of intention, and still suspecting the King, made up his mind not to intrude on his old colleagues, unless definitely asked for his advice. This intention he communicated to Mr. Orde, late Secretary to the Treasury, whom he looked upon as his representative, in the absence of Barré and Dunning, both of whom were seriously ill.

A week before the second reading of the Bill in the House of Lords, Pitt met Orde, and asked him if Lord Shelburne would attend Parliament, adding that he could see means which, if used, might possibly make the decision in the House of Lords doubtful. "I answered," wrote Mr. Orde to Shelburne, "that you would wish to know the probability of any use in your appearance, consistently with your situation and dignity. He said that he was sensible of the importance, which should alone have weight to influence your Lordship's actions, and added that it would be unbecoming in you to move on any other occasion; but that in the present it would probably be known to you in time for you to decide upon the steps you should take. I observed to him, that though I should perhaps write to your Lordship, I could not at all communicate any information, because I was ignorant of any, and I gently hinted to him, that I thought you ought to have some more marked signification of the measures wished or intended, before an expectation should be formed of your coming forth to take up the line, which was to be the test of your sentiments and support. He nodded assent, but said no more.

"I am astonished at the indecency and folly of neglecting to pay your Lordship the compliment of asking your advice, and of imparting at the same time their ideas of the means and methods of opposing this hardy attempt in Administration to establish themselves in absolute power. I hear very general hopes and wishes expressed, that your Lordship may come up, but it is probable, that you are supposed to be consulted and concerted with upon all measures.

"I shall be impatient to know more of the real state of things, especially of the information your Lordship may have received, and in what manner, and from what quarter, and yet more your opinion and advice upon the conduct to be pursued."^[6]

The means alluded to by Mr. Pitt as likely to make the decision doubtful, were the personal wishes and interference of the King.^[7] On the 11th of December, Lord Temple obtained leave to say, that whoever voted for the India Bill, was not only not a friend, but would be considered an enemy by the King. The effect of this unconstitutional commission soon appeared. On the 15th a motion for adjournment was carried against the Ministry by eight votes. It was observed that Shelburne was absent from the division, and the general opinion was that he would in consequence not be included in any new arrangement.^[8] The following day Orde met Jenkinson. "The event of yesterday in the House of Lords," he wrote to Shelburne, "of course presented itself immediately, and the first observation made by him, was of surprise and concern at your Lordship's absence, which had indeed, he said, appeared extraordinary to many others. He took it for granted that you had received constant and full communication of every material circumstance which had happened, and of the plan, which was thought of, for opposing the dangerous progress of the present Administration. He had heard (upon my seeming to express a doubt of this matter) that Lord Mahon had written to your Lordship, and explained the situation of affairs, which he conceived to have been done at the desire of Mr. Pitt. He went on however to remark, that he should have supposed this communication to have been also made, and especially upon very delicate points, by Mr. Pitt himself, as he had been so intimately engaged with your Lordship in the former Administration; or perhaps by Mr. Dundas, who was indeed the person upon whom your Lordship had conferred the most specific obligations.^[9] He appeared above all convinced, that the circumstances of the Royal interference must have been made known to you by direction, though he could not pretend to any more authority for this idea than his own supposition. I suffered him to go through with his observations, before I attempted any answer to particular parts of them. I told him when he had finished, that I really could not venture to speak decisively upon the matter of communication, but that I very much doubted, from my own judgment, of your having been so fully informed, as he imagined. I perfectly agreed with him, that it was natural to conclude, you would not only have been informed, but consulted on points of such very material importance, and I could not help adding, that however your Lordship might feel unconcerned at any omission of that sort, I was not myself proof against something more than surprise at such neglect, if I was to believe the fact to be so, which I was greatly inclined to do. As to Lord Mahon's correspondence I had heard of his sending you the Bills with the amendments; but knew nothing of any further intelligence, which he might have conveyed to you.—I observed to him that I had been much in the country of late, and was not early apprised of the last decisive measures taken by a certain quarter, and therefore had not been able to write to you about it myself, which indeed could after all have been from me only matter of private correspondence; that I did not know of any other channel by which so interesting a communication had been made to you; and I was afraid that perhaps it also had been omitted, because I was convinced that you felt and acknowledged such true respect for that personage, and so sincere a desire of maintaining the just weight and consequence of his great place, that you would never have been silently absent upon any proper signification of a wish for your presence and advice.—I owned, that I should be sorry if steps of that magnitude had been taken without any notice to your Lordship, because I was fully persuaded, that your faithful and disinterested attachment deserved a more distinguished attention. I added, that I did not say this from any view to a consequent call to high office; as upon that subject I could not at all form a guess about your Lordship's opinion or wishes, otherwise than from my own observation of the manner, in which you seemed to enjoy the comforts of quiet and domestic life; from which I thought you would not be anxious to remove yourself, but upon the conviction of being able to do effectual service to the King and to the public. He then took occasion to turn a little back to times past, and while he declared his belief of your real sentiments for the service of His Majesty, to lament an appearance, which you had betrayed, of distrust and suspicion. He could not account for it. He was sure that you had no reason for it. As to himself he had felt a great degree of comfort in all the correspondence he had had with your Lordship; till you had at last suddenly changed your tone with him, and carried your suspicions to such lengths, as plainly showed you had no confidence, not only in him, but in him that sent him; that he was certain of your injustice in the one case, and most perfectly persuaded of it in the other; that however, believing this to have been perhaps an accidental burst of temper from circumstances which in your then situation must have arisen at times to disturb and disquiet you as they would have done any man, he had called afterwards at your door, but had not seen you since. He said, that he was still more hurt at perceiving, that you had given uneasiness to some other persons upon an idea of your suspecting their sincerity, which they felt they did not deserve, and were therefore the more easily wounded.—He again and again most solemnly protested that he firmly believed you to possess the King's confidence; that he knew it from infallible symptoms; and that he was well assured it was perceived, and perhaps in some instances thought too strong, by certain little beings about the Royal Person; that he is sure there never was any design of breaking good faith with you; that the King had taken decisive steps with regard to them and to Lord North, to whose base and unexpected falling off was to be attributed and not to the insincerity of His Majesty, the defection which ensued; that he had reason to believe, it occasioned very real concern and disappointment indeed to the King, when he perceived that it seemed to require more than his warmest assurances to convince you of his good faith and desire of your continuing services; that he was convinced, there existed in the Royal Mind no conception of any plan, but under your Lordship's management, in possession of confidence and favour.

"It is impossible and it would be tedious for me to repeat what more he said upon the same subject, all tending to an earnest assurance of the King's sincerity to you, while your Lordship was in his service; of his concern and distress at your seeming to doubt it; of the confusion, which was brought on, by the unforeseen coalition against your Government, &c., &c.; concluding always with an idea, that some communication must have been made or been desired to have been made to you on the present occasion."^[10]

To this letter Shelburne replied as follows:—

"You may tell Mr. Jenkinson what I have already wrote to you that I have heard from nobody but you and Sir J. Jervis. As to Mr. Baring it is not worth the mention, for it was merely what regarded the Company; since which I have not heard from him; and as to Lord Mahon, I considered his sending me the Bills of so little importance, that I have never answered the very few lines, in which he enclosed the first and last; which I certainly should have done, if I could have conceived that he meant anything like what you mention.

"I have a strong opinion of my own on the India business, which it would be tedious to enter into by letter, and now at least of no avail.

"I think between you and me, Mr. Jenkinson might as well let the past alone; especially as I am willing to do so, relying always on the entireness of your friendship, that you will not suffer a shade of imputation to be lodged in any conversation, which may be supposed relateable to me, where you know there is no room for it. A renewal of confidence and good humour may make it matter of curiosity, if not of useful information, to tread back that very tender ground, when 1 shall be very glad to find it correct. In the meantime I consider myself as bound to the King by my own expressions and by yours. When I say so, I do not mean it by halves, or in a pitiful style, which I count it would be to indulge suspicion or ombrageousness. Therefore nothing would give me such concern, as to hear of the King inclining to bend directly or indirectly under the language you mention, which can be taken up only in one way, with propriety to himself or safety to us all. Let what will have been done or omitted, the King's person is and must be sacred.

"It is impossible for me to say more, knowing so little as I do. It remains for others to act their part. I will never be wanting to the King or to men; when I say so I mean it with a round degree of confidence, not by halves, much less to encourage suspicion or ombrageousness."^[11]

On the 17th December, the East India Bill was thrown out in the House of Lords by a majority of 19. During the whole of the 18th it was expected that the Ministers were resigning, and while things were still in suspense, Dundas came to call upon Orde. "I asked him," the latter wrote to Shelburne, "if he could inform me either from himself or from Mr. Pitt of your Lordship's motions, as I did imagine that they had written to you, and communicated the real state of affairs, more especially what concerned the probable turn of conduct intended to be held in such circumstances. He told me, that Mr. Pitt had talked with him about writing to your Lordship; nay, that he had written a letter, which however he afterwards burned, as finding it extremely awkward to express himself as he could wish, to you; being afraid of seeming to call upon you to assist in forming a plan of Administration, at the head of which he was himself to be placed, when he considered the situation your Lordship had held, and under which he had had the honour to be employed. He had therefore thought it best to trust to the effect which accounts sent by your habitual correspondents might have upon your inclination and opinion, and not to run the risk of acting or seeming to act an indelicate part. I observed in my answer, that this appeared to me a very false delicacy, as he did not decline to take the step of moving into your Lordship's situation, and ought to have recollected the very earnest pains you have taken, when he before had hesitated, to persuade him for the King's sake and the country's to obey the call of his friends.^[12] I could not help adding by-the-bye, that I thought his opening then a much more favourable one than that offered at present. I could not however pretend to judge of what ought to have been done, as I knew nothing of what had passed between you since the breaking up of your Administration, and was also ignorant of your expectations or feelings about his writing or not writing; that I could only ruminate on my own conceptions of propriety, when I called to mind the manner in which your Lordship had brought Mr. Pitt forward, and had often with pleasure listened to his declarations of attachment to you. I could not help reminding my friend Mr. Dundas himself of the obligations he also owed to your Lordship, which I should have thought a reasonable call upon him too to write to your Lordship, for an opinion at least, upon circumstances of so very singular and important a nature. He assured me, that as to himself, he felt and expressed constantly the obligations he owed to you; but that it had really not struck him as a proper thing to trouble your Lordship with his letters, when he could communicate nothing more than, he concluded, was conveyed to you by other channels; that he should be heartily sorry to be thought wanting in any instance of respect or attention to you; that as to Mr. Pitt, he heard him now constantly using the same declarations of respect, regard, and high opinion, he had always made for your Lordship, your consequence, your friendship, and your eminent abilities; that he still openly and loudly insisted upon your being the most injured character in this country, and that the time must come when you would have ample justice done you, by those among the first who now refused it to you. He said, that Mr. Pitt had told him the circumstance of your having had a very explicit conversation with him, before you went abroad, but that he had not given him any hint whatever of the turn or particulars of it; that he therefore could not from thence judge of the understood relation now subsisting between you, or consequently of the footing on which he was to write to you.^[13] I assured him, that I was full as ignorant of the nature or matter of your Lordship's conversation with Mr. Pitt, as he could possibly be, and I therefore only hazarded the suggestion of my own mind on the idea of the propriety, gratitude and good sense, there would perhaps have been, in his applying for advice and direction in so critical a conjuncture; that I must indeed only remark, that he had himself rather seemed to feel the propriety of writing, as he had begun a letter; and I could not therefore suppose it to have been agreed, that you were not to hear any more from him on any change of political situations; that however being in the dark as to information I would not risk any more on the subject than the remaining persuasion, that it would at all events have been more handsome, manly, and wise, to have paid you the compliment of a letter on such an occasion. He may probably impart to Mr. Pitt what passed between us, and I know not any reason, why it should be wished otherwise. I only hope, that your Lordship may think with me upon it.

"He mentioned to me during this part of our conversation, that the Duke of Rutland had expressed an idea of writing to your Lordship, as his former connection, he thought, entitled him to do; that he did not however know whether he had or had not; but he fancied, that he perceived concern both in the Duke and Mr. Pitt at your absence. I told him as before that not knowing upon what grounds they expected your appearance, I could say nothing more about the reasonableness of any disappointment they might have felt. I would however as a final observation express a sincere wish that your Lordship might not prove both the happier and the wiser man in keeping yourself free from other engagements in so melancholy a situation of affairs, and the readiness which I was certain you would always manifest to give your help to rescue your country from sinking under its distresses. The Speaker says you are the only philosopher in the nation, and he calls Pitt &c., fools indeed, if they have neglected any means of getting your assistance. I should also not have omitted to mention, that Dundas observed, that your Lordship was the only Minister after a very long while, who could boldly challenge any person to charge your Administration with any transaction for which you should not deservedly claim honour from your country."^[14]

On the 18th late at night, Fox and North received directions from the King, to deliver up their seals of office, through their Under-Secretaries. The seals were given to Temple, who at once wrote letters dismissing Portland and the other Ministers, while Pitt was charged with the formation of a new Administration. One of the first steps he took was to offer the Secretaryship of the Treasury to Mr. Orde.

"I have seen Mr. Pitt," the latter wrote to Shelburne, "and delivered my reasons for desiring to be excused from acceptance of the employment, which he did me the honour to propose to me, at least till I had the means of knowing your Lordship's opinion and approbation; upon which he repeated what he had said before in regard to your Lordship, and nothing more. I sought as naturally as I could to give him an opening for some further declaration, but it did not answer. I told him that I had seen Mr. Barré. He immediately inquired about his health, and when I told him that he had great hopes from the gout, he expressed much satisfaction at the account, but not a word about his coming up, or any wish of his assistance."^[15]

On the 23rd Lord Temple resigned the seals, apparently because Pitt, like Shelburne, had refused to advise the King to make him a Duke. "Things take a new turn," Orde wrote to Shelburne, "but it is resolved to stand their ground, however weak and dangerous it may prove. Mr. Pitt declares himself firmly bent upon a trial, and is encouraged to this by Lord Thurlow, who is to have the Seal immediately. It was yesterday reported, that several offers had been made of the Seals of Secretary of State, but all had declined. The discretion of Lord Temple has however roused the spirit of the party, and Lord Carmarthen and Lord Sydney have kissed hands to-day at the Queen's house. Mr. Dundas tells me, that the former declared his preference to other employment than this he has accepted, but that he considered this as a moment in which every man was called upon to come forward, and take his line for life. Lord Carmarthen had been appointed Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Lord Sydney was Home Secretary. The latter very kindly acts as a volunteer in this office, because there is no other to be found, declaring however that he very much disliked the employment both on account of the business and expense of it, and hoped, that he should have an early opportunity of giving it up in exchange for a more quiet one, and requiring less outgoings. The drum is beaten and the word given is, 'Die in the last Ditch.' The Cabinet consists of Mr. Pitt, Lord Thurlow, Lord Gower, Lord Carmarthen, Lord Sydney, Lord Howe and the Duke of Rutland (Privy Seal). Mr. Pitt told me that Lord Camden would not take any office. It is intended to recommend in the King's answer to the Address, an adjournment, during which the measures necessary to be adopted might be well considered, and especially a Bill for the regulation of India, which might be ready upon the meeting. Expectations are entertained that the adjournment will not be refused, which however I much doubt. It is however determined in case of disappointment, to let those who choose to sit, amuse themselves as they please till about the 20th January. In the meantime every possible exertion is to be made in order to collect a respectable force, reckoning much upon the numbers who have not yet committed themselves.

"I received a note from Mr. Pitt to call upon him to-day at three o'clock, and I found him just returned from the Queen's house, where the resolutions above mentioned were solemnly taken. I had now an opportunity of obeying as exactly as I possibly could remember the directions I received from your Lordship, and also of expressing very fully my reasons for the decision I had resolved upon. I told him, that the change of their plan in regard to the dissolution of Parliament furnished of itself a reason for my desiring to decline acceptance of a seat at the Treasury Board, as I could not justify the expense of a re-election. But I thought it incumbent upon me from every consideration of honour and candour to declare, that if I had wanted this reason, I should have desired to have excused myself from an engagement of this nature, as I could on no account have entered into it without an express stipulation that I should preserve in full force and liable to all its consequences my determined attachment to your Lordship; assuring him at the same time that I was certainly not aware at present of anything that would occasion any alteration in my conduct respecting the support of his Administration. I added, that I should on the contrary think, that I acted agreeably to your wishes, if in a moment of such a trial when the King had been so shamefully deserted, I exerted the full force of my service in the contest, which was to ensue. I received in return a profusion of compliments and expressions of regret, that under the present circumstances he could not venture to press for my official assistance, though he should hope for it, and my advice particularly, in framing an India Bill."^[16]

It does not appear from Shelburne's correspondence with Mr. Francis Baring at this period what his plan for the territorial Government of India was; but from his conduct in 1773 and subsequently in 1786 it may be surmised that he was in favour of control by means of publicity and inquiry, rather than by actual Government interference.^[17] The grounds of his objection to the India Bill were not those generally put forward. He considered that the future danger would come not from the increased power of Mr. Fox so much as from the increased influence of the Crown. Ultimately if the Bill became law, he wrote to Mr. Baring, "the Crown would gain all the influence of India and of the Company at home. … It may be accounted easy to transfer the Administration from the Commissioners to a Secretary of State at any time the Administration changes, by Act of Parliament." On the other hand the Fox party, he admitted, would for the moment gain reputation, and the reputation of power, and "C. Fox more ground to scramble on."^[18] The commerce of India he intended to leave absolutely free and unrestricted, which implied the abolition of the Charter. But the merits and the demerits of the East India Bill were in reality only the stalking-horse of politicians. Men and not measures were alone regarded throughout the events of 1782 and 1783, and, as Lord Grantham observed, Lord Shelburne always trusted too much to the latter.^[19]

Of the three persons most concerned in settling the new Ministry, the King, as he himself told Temple, was hostile to Shelburne, for having as he considered abandoned the situation in February, when it was tenable, while Temple accused him of being impracticable, and of having shown vanity and arrogance in refusing to court an alliance with North at the same period.^[20] Of the friends of Pitt, Rose was bitterly hostile to Shelburne, for having refused him a personal favour,^[21] while Dundas, now as ever a worshipper of the rising sun, was as ready to desert Shelburne for Pitt as he had been to desert North for Shelburne. His present protestations, as Shelburne wrote to Orde, were "too plain."^[22] Pitt himself was probably not very anxious to give himself a colleague with opinions as decided and a will as strong as his own. It was certainly one of Pitt's distinguishing characteristics, only to care for power when undivided and absolute, and he consequently surrounded himself with colleagues either personally devoted to him, or else mere cyphers. It is said that at the Cabinets during his two Ministries he used briefly to discuss with Dundas whatever business they had not previously settled together, then informed his colleagues of his decision, and told them they might go. At such meetings Shelburne would probably have been in the way. Pitt was further fully aware of the great odium and unpopularity which the Whigs had succeeded in fastening on Shelburne during recent events; and was no doubt anxious to dissociate himself from one whom he probably regarded as a political Jonah. That these feelings animated him, was practically confessed by Lord Sydney to Mr. Orde. "He declared," the latter wrote to Shelburne, "in the strongest terms his own regard to your Lordship, and his sense of the obligations he lay under to you, which he was proud to acknowledge everywhere, and also his conviction, that there never was a Minister, who might be more depended on for spirit, ability, and steadiness, and for sacred adherence to all engagements in business. He lamented however the effect and absolute influence of prejudice, which at this moment prevented the applications which might otherwise have been made to you. He said that it was in vain to combat it. The prevalence of it would by degrees diminish and die away, but that at present it would not be much more alarming to many to bring Lord Bute forward. He touched also upon another ground of apprehension, which affected some people, that your Lordship's known principle was to be absolute; that you was to absorb all power; and others were to act only as your puppets.^[23] He solemnly declared however that he spoke not this, as conveying any feeling of his own, for he had found your Lordship everything he could have wished in the conduct of the Administration. Without making any answer to this, I contented myself with expressing surprise, that no compliment should have been paid to you by any communication whatever of any plan or particulars of what was to be done. He could only, he said, desire me to consider the extreme difficulty and delicacy of doing it, when the conduct of the whole was not to be entrusted to you. My reply was of course much the same, as I had made upon a like occasion to Mr. Pitt."^[24]

Notwithstanding his treatment by his former colleagues, Shelburne gave them every assurance of his support. "I have been at Court to-day," writes Orde, "where was a great kissing of hands. Lord Sydney did me the honour to show me your Lordship's letter, with which he seems to be highly pleased, and speaks of it with great satisfaction as a proof of your Lordship's friendly intentions. I found that it had been shown to the Duke of Rutland, who mentioned it to me in the like terms, and added that he was always sure you would act in the handsomest and the noblest manner."^[25]

No person regretted the retirement of Shelburne more, both on public and personal grounds, than Oswald. "I have called upon him," Benjamin Vaughan wrote to Shelburne, "as I know him to be much consulted at present. He had dined with me a day or two before, and had repeated the question often put to me, why it might not be hoped that your Lordship should take some part, even though not the former, of the Administration? I told him that I had written to be instructed in your Lordship's measures. 'Well,' said I, 'Mr. Oswald, Lord Shelburne has given an answer, and it is somewhat contemptuous to your young gentleman. As it has proved their own wish, he has desired not to be thought connected with them, lest he should injure them.' After repeating that your Lordship had not condescended to speak about them, till pressed to it, I gave him the very words. 'And now,' said I, 'Who is the most ambitious, Lord Shelburne or Mr. Pitt?'—He seemed struck. He afterwards however took occasion to say that Lord Shelburne might perhaps be thought among them not to be likely to be contented with anything but the whole direction; and that perhaps they had left room for his coming in, and Lord Sydney might only be a Locum Tenens for that purpose, if Lord Shelburne would choose a share. I now took the discourse into my own hands. 'Mr. Pitt,' I said, 'is as desirous to have the whole, as it is thought Lord Shelburne is; and what is that but ambition on his side?' To this Mr. Oswald assented. 'But,' said I, 'there is no proper basis for it. Mr. Pitt takes advantage of his being the only man in the House of Commons; and in truth he seems a good talker; but I had often observed that talking led the owner of it, and those about him, to false estimates of abilities; and it appeared to me that upon two fundamental points, Mr. Pitt had shown want of powers in business; the question of the peace and the question of the India Bill.' Mr. Oswald said, indeed that was true: he had not gone into those two questions like a man of business, that we had too much talking, and that Count Vergennes did the business of Europe with half the parade. 'Very well,' said I, 'I will remark further, that his Administration is defective in the Lords and in the Cabinet, provided it was meant to be a liberal one, and as virtuous as he (Mr. Oswald) supposed they meant it to be. In the Lords, there were Lords Gower and Thurlow, and if he pleased Lord Sydney, who were not likely to defend well such questions as might occur, on liberal grounds, for as to the two other young Councillors,^[26] I put them out of the question; and as to the Duke of Richmond, everybody had seen that he was capable of "turning short." As to the Cabinet, there were the three young gentlemen and Lord Sydney, against the others; and there he might easily judge how Mr. Pitt could drive things through. If the Lords and Cabinet hang heavy on his hands, he saw what the Commons were. He had got opposers in the Commons, who abound in wit, pretext and perseverance; their numbers were very great, and the King had displeased so many, and they stuck so well together, that they really made up what one might call the town. We had before agreed that Mr. Pitt wanted coolness; and I forgot to add, that his young friends blinded him by their adulation, and that his Attorney and Solicitor Generals^[27] were men who wanted sober discreet manners of speaking. But recapitulating, I said that the only thing then to carry him (Mr. Pitt) through, was the King. That the King very possibly might be pursuing his old plan of putting to the test the virtue of all public characters, and had led Mr. Pitt into this scrape. Of that I knew nothing; and certainly that sort of policy had got to its last shift, as another set of changes would ruin him.'"^[28]

While the Administration was in process of formation, and during the great struggle against the Whig houses in and out of Parliament, which was only terminated by the final defeat of the latter at the general election of 1784, Shelburne never left Bowood. The condition of politics and a succession of personal losses both equally inclined him to this course. Oswald, who had been very seriously ill in 1783 on the road between London and Paris,^[29] died in the course of the year; he was shortly followed by Alderman Townshend; while Barré became totally blind. The old antagonist of Barré, Lord North, also lost his sight before the close of his days. It is said that one day they met one another at Tunbridge. "Ah Colonel," said Lord North with all his old wit, "whatever may have been our former animosities, I am persuaded there are no two men who would now be more glad to see one another than you and I." From this time Barré appeared but seldom in the House. "To my memory alone," he sadly observed on one of these rare occasions, "I must henceforward recur for assistance in stating or recalling facts."^[30] The successor of Townshend in the representation of Calne was the celebrated lawyer Jekyll:

 

"Jekyll, the wag of law, the scribbler's pride,"

 

as the authors of the Rolliad called him, while they described Shelburne as

 

⁠.⁠ .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ "the sylvan sage
Whom Bowood guards to rule a purer age."

The choice of Jekyll seems to have been largely influenced by an attack made in the House of Commons by Sheridan. "I see," Shelburne wrote to Baring, "that Sheridan has chosen to amuse himself and administration too with a great deal which I never said in the House of Lords. If I go on in any political line, I foresee I must consider of some connection in a law line, who may be ready to answer such bavardage."^[31]

But the greatest loss of all was that of Lord Ashburton, whose constitution, already impaired by illness and exertion, gave way entirely under the loss of his eldest son in April 1783. He died in August following at Exmouth of consumption.

It is said that when on a journey to that place he met at Bagshot the Attorney-General Wallace, his old antagonist both in the House of Commons and at the bar, who was himself proceeding to London for medical advice. Both expressed a strong wish to have a last interview and conversation. They were brought into the same room, placed on two sofas, and passed some time in talking over their recollections of both sides of Westminster Hall; then parted, to meet no more.^[32]

While Pitt was pursuing his victorious career one at least of his colleagues was not altogether satisfied with the treatment Shelburne had received. This was the Duke of Rutland, who had resigned the Privy Seal, and was now Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, where he had gone accompanied by Mr. Orde as Chief Secretary. "I cannot forbear," he wrote to Pitt, "making one more remark on the different arrangements and promotions which have taken place, and expressing concern, that in the course of them Lord Shelburne was not taken some notice of. For office I put him out of the question; but in the promotion of the peerage he might have been offered a step, and I have reason to believe, that though he has entirely relinquished all views of business and office, yet some mark or distinction, such as that to which I allude, would be peculiarly gratifying to him. The Government (in which my principal object is completed by seeing you placed of the head of it) was first formed under his auspices, and by the quiet manner in which he has quitted his pretensions to any share of it, certainly owes him some compensation; and except there are reasons with which I am unacquainted, I still hope to see him repaid."^[33]

Four months afterwards Shelburne received the following letter from Pitt:—

"Downing Street, Oct. 21st, 1784.

"My dear Lord,—A natural ambition that the present system of Government should receive the most public marks of your Lordship's approbation, and an earnest desire to satisfy on all occasions the sentiments of personal respect and regard which I am proud to acknowledge, render the occasion of this letter peculiarly interesting to me. I have the King's commands to desire to know whether it would be agreeable to your Lordship to receive the rank of Marquis, as a proof of his Majesty's gracious remembrance of your Lordship's services. The King has declared to me positively his intention of reserving the first rank in the Peerage for his Royal family; if this were not the case I am persuaded he would have been equally ready to give your Lordship that distinction, and I have his authority to assure you, that if any other Dukes are made hereafter, it will be his Majesty's desire that your Lordship should be included in the number. Nothing can give me greater pleasure in a public or private capacity, than to learn that the proposal I have the honour to make, is acceptable to your Lordship. I shall be proud and happy to receive your commands and beg leave to assure you that I am, &c. &c. &c.

W. Pitt."

 

On receiving this communication Shelburne wrote to Barré, that he was not anxious about the promotion in question, more especially as he could have had any he might have chosen to ask for, in March 1782 and February 1783: knowing however how many persons there were who were anxious to prevent any understanding between Pitt and himself, he was inclined to accept the offer, though he would prefer being created alone, to being created in a batch of promotions, especially if the batch was to include Lord Temple. "I see no present alternative," he went on to explain, "between that, and staying out to make an Administration of the King's friends, who have neither principle nor courage to carry one through, or be a minister en potence. It is true that Pitt is an egregious dupe; he has been so, he will be so, and his age and character go to it, but I shall feel myself a still greater, if I don't do everything possible to prevent it; because I am so with my eyes open." He went on to desire Barré to call upon Pitt and ascertain from him by "a free, open, and unreserved conversation" what was to be understood by the offer, and what their political relations were to be.

The office of Privy Seal was vacant, and a rumour was abroad that a desire existed in some quarters that Shelburne should receive it, or that it should be given to Lord Carmarthen, whose ignorance of European affairs, combined with the inefficiency of the Duke of Dorset, the Ambassador in Paris, who was said to speak of the ceded isknds as if he really knew where they were, threatened to be dangerous to the best interests of the country. Shelburne would then, it was said, become Secretary of State.^[34] On the other hand, it was said that Jenkinson was to have high office, to which Shelburne could never consent.^[35] With these reports in his ear, Shelburne continued in his letter to Barré as follows: "You are to tell Mr. Pitt in regard to the present system of Government, if he means his being at the head of the Treasury, I have no objection to it. I detest the situation for myself, and I shall certainly enter into no cabal against him, neither with any part of the Court nor with Opposition. Further I suppose he cannot mean. If he says anything about my taking employment, you will apply the same language to that, with this additional fundamental circumstance, that I will take no employment, except I know from the King himself that he desires it. I must have a conversation likewise with him upon measures, before I can give ear to it. Or you may leave the whole of this point to a conversation with myself; but I had rather, to avoid misconception, that you touched it, that we may have nothing to treat upon hereafter, if he opens it. In fine, I want no sacrifices to be made to me, any more than I like to make any, but I feel I have already made sufficient, and I have a right to expect that whatever is done, should be done in the most honourable manner it can admit of, which in fact concerns him as well as it does me. I have no further instructions to give you, except that you will be so good as to bring this matter to one conclusion or other. I do not care which, provided it be one which will stand a public test, and which you can justify in the House of Commons; and for this reason I think it desirable the conversation should pass through you. In your manner you will be as frank, bold and open, as his conversation can possibly admit of. I know it is natural in dealing with narrow suspicious people, to adopt their manner, and fight them with their own weapons, but I have always found the contrary succeed against such characters. I do not think it the moment for many reasons to be touchy, or that it be very becoming me to fence with Mr. Pitt. I know the coldness of the climate you go into, and that it requires all your animation to produce a momentary thaw. But I trust that you will either conclude this matter, or put him notoriously in the wrong, leaving as little as possible for deliberation, as you may be sure, that those he will have to consult, are neither his friends nor mine."^[36]

Barré however did not think it advisable to call on Pitt, and at his advice Shelburne simply wrote the following letter, accepting the offer, leaving any further overture to come from Pitt himself. His letter ran as follows:—

 

"Dear Sir,—Deeply sensible of the King's remembrance of such services as his Majesty's most gracious countenance and confidence could alone have enabled me to render to his affairs, I cannot hesitate to accept such a mark of his approbation, as his Majesty upon a full consideration of my conduct may judge proper to confer upon me, especially one which points me out by a promotion in the Peerage to the rank of Marquis, accompanied by his Majesty's gracious promise, if he should ever change his intention of reserving the first rank of the Peerage to his Royal family by making any other Dukes, of my succeeding to that rank.

"I am much obliged by your manner of communicating his Majesty's gracious disposition, as well as for the value which you are pleased to put upon the present Government receiving such a mark of my approbation.

"I shall wait your further commands, when you have had an occasion of laying me at the King's feet, which I trust to your goodness, that you will do with every expression of duty and devotion.

"I am with very sincere regard and respect,

"My dear Sir,

"Your most faithful and most obedt servt

"Shelburne.

"Bowood Park,
⁠Sunday night,
⁠31st October, 1784."

 

For some time nothing more was heard from Pitt, either as to the Peerage or on any other subject, and Shelburne himself not being in London, and not intending to go there, wrote to Barre, that he thought their conduct might be misunderstood, and that he had better call on Pitt. "As to writing a note desiring to see him," he continued, "or going any further than calling at his door, the omission of which in the present circumstances would I am clear be an act of estrangement if not of hostility both upon your part and mine, I leave entirely at your own judgment and feeling, according to the circumstances you may happen to learn. I only think in general, that the whole, King, Pitt, and myself, make but one interest properly considered, and that it may be taken up higher than what you seem to do. I take it for granted the struggle is to get Jenkinson into the Cabinet. It is inconceivable to me after Pitt's letter my not hearing further. It was impossible for me to go to town after saying in my letter that I should wait.

"After what you mention I think whatever conversation you have, had better be confined to the Peerage, especially as they do not think it necessary to consult me about the arrangements in question. Adieu."^[37]

Whether any interview took place does not appear, but at the end of November, Pitt wrote as follows to Shelburne:—

 

"My dear Lord,—I had great satisfaction in receiving the honour of your Lordship's letter, and have in consequence of his Majesty's commands, to acquaint your Lordship that he has given orders for preparing the Patent of creation. Your Lordship will probably receive an official notification from Lord Sydney, and will have the goodness to communicate to him the title which you wish to have inserted. If it should not be inconvenient to your Lordship to kiss hands on Wednesday in the next week, the creation may be then immediately completed. If any thing should be likely to prevent your Lordship being present at that day, I shall hope to be honoured with your further commands. I am extremely sorry that circumstances purely accidental but unavoidable, have occasioned the interval since I last troubled your Lordship. The King does not at this time extend the mark of his favour to any one besides your Lordship, except Lord Temple. Allow me to repeat the sincere assurances of the respect and regard with which I have the honour to be,

"My dear Lord,

"Your most obedt and most faithful servt

"W. Pitt."

 

The title Shelburne chose was that of Lansdowne, which had been in the family of his first wife.^[38] No offer of office was made to him. Lord Gower became Privy Seal; Lord Camden accepted the Presidency of the Council, vacated by Lord Gower, and within little more than a year Jenkinson was made a Peer, Chancellor of the Duchy, and President of the Board of Trade. "From this moment," Lord Lansdowne wrote to Mr. Baring, "I put him down as Minister under the King. It is a farce to talk of his not being of the Cabinet, calculated only to impose upon the Minister's young friends, whose age, capacity, and credulity makes them contented with the first thing which is told them."^[39]

Meanwhile there was no apparent want of cordiality. On the 5th of January 1785 Lord Lansdowne records that he came to town, and on the 14th went to the levee. "The King was very gracious." He had "some conversation" with Lord Carmarthen, the new Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, "encouraging him to take a more active part in the House of Lords, and to make up his mind to the business of Parliament"; and "a great deal" with Mr. Pitt, "who stated the intentions of the Ministry with regard to Ireland." These intentions were to put everything upon an equal footing, meeting Ireland upon the ground of their Duties, and allowing Ireland all the benefits of the Navigation Act, but expecting the principle of a contribution to be acknowledged, and secured upon such taxes as would be sure to rise with the commerce and population of the country, which already went to maice up the Hereditary Revenue, to the produce of which the King had an original independent title; and after this confirmation and extension of an independent commerce, would have a double claim; at least to whatever sum it might increase to after the present era. "I told him," Lord Lansdowne's account of the conversation goes on, "that I entirely approved the first part; but differed as to the second; that the time for a bargain was over: it should have been stipulated when the Free Commerce was granted by Lord North, or when their rights were acknowledged by the Duke of Portland, and confirmed to them by Lord Temple; that the plan for a contribution required to be changed; that in my opinion it would be a surer as well as more dignified mode of proceeding to give what is now in question upon a large principle of general policy, and watch a favourable moment hereafter to obtain, upon a like general principle, productive contributions to the general defence. To aim at it now would give a handle for discussion, would confound and distract the minds of many when the great and pressing object is to tranquillize and restore public confidence everywhere, particularly in Ireland, where he stated the Roman Catholics as nowhere to be depended upon, and ready to claim their estates, and bring forward their old titles the moment any disturbance gives them an opportunity.

"I told him that I thought the best method in regard to them was without delay to set forward some new and general system of education; to oblige the Protestant clergy to immediate residence, and to every possible exertion; and to establish at any expense Protestant Colonies in the Popish countries. He said he relied on the Roman Catholics acquiring property gradually, in consequence of the liberty given them by the repeal of the Acts forbidding it; a poor prospect considering what a long time it cost this country to get the property from them.

"He then spoke of the general state of the finances; appeared much elated with the increased produce of the sinking fund; acknowledged that he found Dr. Price's statement in the postscript to his last statement very correct; that an overplus of —— must be produced, which he expected the improvement of taxes and a few additional would effect. He spoke of a tax upon the transfer of property, and a tax upon mortgages as a favourite idea. I told him the transfer of property might be very proper to come in aid of the sinking fund; but I conceived it too slow to depend on for any other purpose. In regard to mortgages I conceived that he might with the same risque carry through a tax upon incomes, which would go to the root of the evil, and lay the foundation of an entire change of system: nothing short of it could possibly put the country where it ought to be at home or abroad. I told him I found the west country cold about Parliamentary reform, but much disposed to support any effort which should be proposed in favour of public credit; that I thought this disposition visible throughout England since the Peace; that the worst consequence of the Coalition was suffering it to cool. If not soon taken advantage of it would die away; that in my opinion very little more would be necessary than to state the circumstances of the country at present, the alarming consequences which were to be apprehended at home and abroad, the certainty of attracting war by not being prepared to meet it, and the impossibility of going on in the old way without taxing manufactures and commerce. Moneyed men might allege many claims of exemption in the past; landed men on theirs; but both would be ruined without some strong exertion; that the business of the Minister was to encourage it by a readiness on his part to devise or adapt any plan of security to a sinking fund which human ingenuity could devise, as well as solemn engagements that in case of a future war the supplies should be raised within the year. If this could be once accomplished, it was obvious that the rich paid whatever was payable, and must gain whatever was gainable; that by relieving commerce and manufactures they must gain by the simplification of the receipt; and by furnishing the means of extending commerce and manufactures, great additional wealth must accrue to the kingdom, all which must finally centre with them. The whole of this reasoning seemed to make a considerable impression upon him. He said that he was to blame for whatever was not done, as he had, so far as regarded these points, the entire confidence of those with whom he acted. I told him I wished honour and glory to whoever was disposed to earn it in the present situation, that I saw no other foundation to build upon, but what I stated—that anarchy was much to be apprehended. He said that nothing more than common firmness was wanting to resist, but acknowledged it had not appeared during the reign. He agreed to raise the licences of public-houses, upon my representing the mischief which resulted from them in the West of England, and the impossibility of getting the country gentlemen to suppress them." And then the conversation wandered off to the strange hallucinations of the Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick, under whom Lord Shelburne as a young man had served in the Seven Years' War, who now, General Fawcett said, was entirely taken up with Free Masonry, and "pushed it to such a degree as to occupy his mind with a belief in apparitions and all manner of idle things of the kind"; beliefs which were gaining ground among the German Princes, particularly at Brunswick and Berlin.^[40] And there the talk ended. The topic of the occupations of retired generals may possibly have suggested a danger that the conversation might extend itself to the occupations of retired statesmen.

The authors of Rolliad celebrated the conclusion of these negotiations in a Pastoral poem, in which the First Lord of the Treasury and the Marquis address one another in amœbæan strains.

 

THE STATESMEN

an eclogue

Lansdowne

While on the Treasury-Bench you, Pitt, recline,
And make men wonder at each vast design;
I, hapless man, my harsher fate deplore,
Ordain'd to view the regal face no more;
That face which erst on me with rapture glow'd,
And smiles responsive to my smiles bestow'd:
And now the Court I leave, my native home,
"A banish'd man, condemn'd in woods to roam";
While you to senates, Brunswick's mandates give,
And teach white-wands to chaunt his high prerogative.

 

Pitt

Oh! Lansdowne, 'twas a more than mortal pow'r
My fate controul'd, in that auspicious hour,
When Temple deign'd the dread decree to bring,
And stammer'd out the firmaun of the King;
That power I'll worship as my household god,
Shrink at his frown, and bow beneath his nod;
At every feast his presence I'll invoke,
For him my kitchen fires shall ever smoke;
Not mighty Hastings, whose illustrious breath
Can bid a Rajah live, or give him death,
Though back'd by Scott, by Barwell, Palk, and all
The sable squadron scowling from Bengal;
Not the bold Chieftain of the tribe of Phipps,^[41]
Whose head is scarce less handsome than his ship's;^[41]
Not bare-breech'd Graham^[42] nor bare-witted Rose,
Nor the great Lawyer with the little Nose;^[43]
Nor even Villiers self shall welcome be,^[44]
To dine so oft, or dine so well as he.

 

Lansdowne

Think not these sighs denote one thought unkind,
Wonder, not Envy, occupies my mind;
For well I wot on that unhappy day,
When Britain mourn'd an empire giv'n away;
When rude impeachments menaced from afar,
And what gave peace to France—to us was war;
For awful vengeance Heav'n appear'd to call,
And agonizing Nature mark'd our fall.
Dire change! Dundas's cheek with blushes glow'd,
Grenville was dumb, Mahon no frenzy showed;
Though Drake harangu'd, no slumber Gilbert fear'd;
And Mulgrave's mouth like other mouths appear'd;
In vain had Bellamy prepared the meat;—
In vain the porter—Bamber could not eat;
When Burke arose, no yell the curs began,
And Rolle, for once, half seem'd a gentleman;
Then name this god, for to St. James's Court,
Nor gods nor angels often make resort.

 

Pitt

In early youth misled by Honour's rules,
That fancied Deity of dreaming fools;
I simply thought, forgive the rash mistake,
That Kings should govern for their People's sake!
But Reverend Jenky soon these thoughts supprest,
And drove the glittering phantom from my breast;
Jenky! that sage, whom mighty George declares,
Next Schwellenbergen, great on the back stairs:^[45]
'Twas Jenkinson—ye Deacons catch the sound!
Ye Treasury scribes the sacred name rebound!
Ye pages sing it—echo it ye Peers!
And ye who best repeat, Right Reverend Seers!
Whose pious tongues no wavering fancies sway,
But like the needle ever point one way.^[46]

 

1. March 13th, 1783. Correspondence, viii. 351.
2. "I was last night at supper with Charles (Fox)," George Selwyn writes to Lord Carlisle, "but not one syllable passed between us. He knows that I see him in a situation, when I cannot wish to see any one who has aspired to it, and obtained it by the means which he has used. No one aspires more or thinks more justly of his abilities than I do; no one could have loved him more, if he had deserved it. What his behaviour has been to the public, to his friends, and his family is notorious. Facts are too stubborn, and to those I appeal, and not to the testimonies of ignorant and profligate people." Carlisle Papers, 613, March 30th, 1783. Hist. MSS. Commission Reports. Comte Adhémar, the new French Ambassador, wrote as follows to M. de Vergennes: "Le Ministre populaire (Monsieur Fox) est un étrange Ministre des Affaires Étrangères; et lorsqu'il aura perdu sa popularité ce qui's'achemine beaucoup, je ne sais ce qui lui restera." March 30th, 1783. Histoire de la France et de l'Amérique, par George Bancroft, traduit et annoté par le Comte Adolphe de Circourt, iii. 59-60.
3. Vaughan to Shelburne, 1783.
4. Orde to Shelburne, December 1783.
5. Vol. I. p. 449.
6. Orde to Shelburne, December 9th, 12th, 1783. The principal division on the India Bill in the House of Commons was on the motion for the adjournment of the debate on the second reading (November 27th, 1783). Barré appears to have been absent, though apparently owing to illness. So was Robert Waller, one of the members for Chipping-Wycombe. James Townshend, who succeeded Dunning in the representation of Calne, voted against the Bill. Lord Mahon, the other member for Chipping-Wycombe, also took an active part against the Bill, and voted against it. The numbers voting were comparatively small, viz.: for Government, 229; against, 120. On the third reading, December 8th, 1783, the numbers were: for Government, 208; against, 102. There were 209 absentees in the first of the above divisions.
7. Pitt's latest biographer considers that he was not cognizant of the manoeuvres by which the India Bill was thrown out in the House of Lords through the instrumentality of Temple; and that the refusal of the honours which Temple expected, when Pitt became Prime Minister, was caused by his discovery and disapproval of those manoeuvres. The whole subject is very obscure, owing to the loss of Temple's letters written in these important weeks. See Rose, Pitt and the National Revival, 152-153.
8. Lord Cornwallis to Lieut.-Col. Ross, December 16th, 1783, printed in the Cornwallis Correspondence, iii. 152.
9. By continuing him in office in March 1872 as Lord-Advocate, when Lord Rockingham became Prime Minister, and again in July of the same year after the death of Lord Rockingham.
10. Orde to Shelburne, December 16th, 1783.
11. Shelburne to Orde, December 20th, 1783.
12. See supra, p. 253.
13. See supra, p. 267.
14. Orde to Shelburne, December 18th, 1783.
15. Orde to Shelburne, December 20th, 1783.
16. Orde to Shelburne, December 23rd, 1783.
17. See Vol. I. p. 449.
18. Shelburne to Baring, October 4th, 1783.
19. Grantham to Harris, February 20th, 1783. Malmesbury Correspondence, i. 501.
20. Courts and Cabinets of George III., i. 303. In the "Notes" by the Abbé Morellet the following passage occurs: "II y avait pour le Roi que deux routes à prendre: ou se donner un Ministre principal qui fût le sien, qui ne tînt à aucun parti, et qui en employant le pouvoir du Roi à revendiquer toute sa prérogative, le mît en état de se passer de la Chambre des Communes pour tout ce qui n'est pas du ressort de cette chambre; ou retomber dans la dépendance d'un parti. Le Roi paraît avoir eu au fond de l'âme au moins autant d'aversion pour ce dernier parti que pour l'autre. Il est impossible qu'il n'ait pas repugné fortement à se remettre entre les mains de Fox de qui il avait essuyé des insultes cruelles; le chef de ses ennemis; décrié aux yeux de la nation pour son immoralité, etc. D'un autre côté il a craint peut-être de tomber dans la dépendance d'un Premier Ministre, et en s'affranchissant d'un joug de retomber sous un autre. Tout ceci au reste n'est que conjecture, que je suis bien éloigné de garantir." Lansdowne House MSS. Notes of Conversations in 1783.
21. The place of collector at St. Christopher's had at Mr. Rose's request been promised to Mr. Diver, Mr. Rose's brother-in-law. The Duke of Portland however appointed some one else. Mr. Rose thereupon assumed that this had been done with Lord Shelburne's consent, for what reason it is impossible to imagine, and went to the latter "to state to him his determination never to be in a room with him for the future."—Rose's Diary, i. 30.
22. Shelburne to Orde, December 1783.
23. In conversation with the Abbé Morellet Lord Shelburne expressed himself on the position of the head of the Ministry relatively to his colleagues, to the effect that he should not be hampered by having the control of any particular department, and should have time to control the whole machine of Government. He had told the King, "que les choses n'iraient bien que lorsque son Ministre principal n'aurait rien à faire" (Notes of Conversations in 1783). In other words, there was to be a Prime Minister: a title which Walpole in 1741 had resented as an imputation (Parliamentary History, ix. 1287 n.). The Duke of Grafton gave his determination "not to abet Lord Shelburne's views of becoming Prime Minister "as his principal reason for resigning (Autobiography, x. 361). It was not until 1905 that the title was formally recognized. See also on the subject, Todd, Parliamentary Government, ii. 146, 152, 171. Life of Granville, i. 84.
24. Orde to Shelburne, December 18th, 25th, 1783.
25. Orde to Shelburne, January 1784.
26. Lord Carmarthen and the Duke of Rutland.
27. Kenyon and Pepper Arden.
28. Vaughan to Shelburne, January 4th, 1784.
29. Whitefoord Papers, 195.
30. Wraxall, Posthumous Memoirs, ii. 136, 137, 283.
31. Shelburne to Baring, July 31st, 1785.
32. Wraxall, Memoirs, iv. 499.
33. Rutland to Pitt, June 16th, 1784.
34. Walpole Correspondence, viii. 467. Rutland to Pitt, June 16th, 1784,
35. Shelburne to Baring, November 24th, 1784. Wraxall, Memoirs, iv. 573.
36. Shelburne to Barré, October 25th, 1784.
37. Shelburne to Barré, November 1784.
38. He was created Viscount Calne and Calstone, Earl Wycombe and Marquis of Lansdowne in the Peerage of Great Britain. He had hitherto sat in the House of Lords as Baron Wycombe. The Earldom of Shelburne was an Irish Earldom. The Patent is dated December 6th, 1784.
39. Lansdowne to Baring, August 5th, 1786.
40. The allusion is to the influence of the Illuminati and the Rosicrucian Society. These mystics, with Wöllner their high priest, pretended to be able to evoke the dead, and to have had conversation with the shades of Moses and Cæsar, and even with Christ himself. Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick fell under their influence, so did the King of Prussia. See Charles, Duke of Brunswick, by the present author, pp. 40-41.
41. Created Lord Mulgrave in 1794. Minister for Foreign Affairs in the second Administration of Mr. Pitt in succession to Lord Harrowby. He had been in the Navy.
42. The Marquis of Graham. See Wraxall, Posthumous Memoirs, i. 279.
43. Pepper Arden, Attorney-General.
44. Mr. John Villiers, second son of the Earl of Clarendon, "the Nereus of the party, comely, with the flaxen hair." Wraxall, Posthumous Memoirs, i. 279.
45. One of the two Keepers of the Robes to the Queen.
46. "That during many years Jenkinson enjoyed more of the royal confidence than any other subject can hardly be denied." Wraxall, Posthumous Memoirs, i. 98, ii. 166. In 1884 during the debate on the Westminster Election Petition, Fox denounced Jenkinson as "that obstinate, dark and short-sighted spirit, which like a species of infatuation, pervades, as it has uniformly guided and overshadowed the councils of this unfortunate country, throughout the whole progress of the present disgraceful and calamitous reign" (Wraxall, Posthumous Memoirs, i. 98): a passage closely resembling the views recorded by Shelburne in his Autobiography, i. 53. It must however be recollected, in justice to the object of these denunciations, that he was a man of great financial and economic knowledge, and an acknowledged authority on the currency. His work on The Coins of the Realm is still recognized as the leading work on the subject. It was published in 1805; and republished by the Bank of England in 1880.