on the 5th of April, in the expectation that Pitt would accept the act as a personal affront and resign. Pitt saw clearly what was intended; he remained passive and the court accordingly had to complete the contemplated change. He, himself, was dismissed on the 9th other removals followed, and the ministry, as it had been reconstituted, ceased to exist. The duke of Cumberland having attained his purpose, was so little affected by the crisis which he had created, that he even failed to see its existence. He believed a few weeks would suffice to affirm the position of a new ministry when all would again run on smoothly, and he left for his command on the continent.

The appointment of Pitt to office had to some extent quieted public feeling, and had revived the hopes of the nation. Nevertheless, little had been done to change the policy of the country. There was the same want of energy and effort, for the public service had been paralyzed, owing to the control exercised by Newcastle and his supporters. As we read of his influence, he appears as the evil genius in the tale, whose glance could wither to nothingness everything it fell upon. The dismissal of the ministry, as it removed all hope of better government, awoke the old feeling of discontent with increased bitterness; on all sides loudly expressed complaint and dissatisfaction were heard. The whole country

was in a fever of anxiety and anger at the removal of Pitt; such was the public confidence in his character. The city of London, ever foremost in the career of civil and religious liberty, and in its support of honest government, voted him the freedom of the city. It was a significant political demonstration, followed by the other large cities. The kingdom throughout was convulsed to the core, and on all sides Pitt was the recipient of honours. Eleven weeks passed without a ministry being formed. Finally, the exigencies of the situation exacted on all sides some abatement of the pretensions which had led to the dead-lock. The king accepted. the appointment of Pitt as secretary of state to act as first minister in the house of commons, having full control of the

1757]

PITT FIRST MINISTER.

99

direction of the war, and the foreign policy of the country. Fox became paymaster of the forces, accepting an office of great emolument, but without influence; being content to vote as the minister prescribed. Newcastle brought to the support of the administration his wide parliamentary interest, and undertook the control of the votes of the house of commons given in support of the ministry; the department of corruption for which he was competent. The great affairs of the nation were left to the genius and energy of Pitt.

It was the commencement of the most powerful administration which England has ever seen. We have not only to consider the triumphs which were accomplished, but the condition in which the country was languishing when Pitt obtained power. There was a dead level of selfishness and meanness, joined to an utter indifference of everything which affected the public interest. There was no recognition of merit, no reward for devotion to duty: it was a period when influential incompetence revelled in its paradise. The one object of men in power had been the preservation of their parliamentary majority, in order that they could retain the dignity and profits of office. Every embarrassing question was avoided or glossed over: every useful measure was abandoned as the noisy outcry of an interested opposition every abuse was maintained; all responsibility by executive officers avoided. Political partisans were pushed into offices of con sequence and extravagantly paid, and pensions and position given to any prominent personage capable of proving troubleIt was inaction raised to a science, the English version of the saying attributed to Mde. de Pompadour, “Après moi le deluge."

some.

Pitt's administration lasted until the death of the king in 1760, when it was broken up by George III. to place the favourite of his mother, the incompetent lord Bute, in power; and, owing to the doctrines inculcated from his youth upward in the mind of the young king, from the desire to establish the royal will as autocratically and as arbitrarily as that of a Roman Cæsar.

CHAPTER VII.

Pitt's new ministry was completed on the 29th of June, 1757. He selected lord Holdernesse as joint secretary of war, doubtless with the view of avoiding all interference with his energetic policy. Newcastle accepted the duties of the treasury; Legge was named chancellor of the exchequer. Pratt, afterwards lord Camden, became attorney-general; Temple, lord privy seal. Anson was continued in his office in the admiralty. In placing Anson in this position, Pitt determined to retain undisputed control over the navy: he even insisted that the correspondence of naval officers should be referred to him, and that without comment the naval board should accept despatches sent for their signature. Anson's position was so weak, that little opposition could be looked for from him.

Pitt was thus supreme; but the season was far advanced, and with every desire for action, his power was limited to the operations which the period of the year would permit. The early months of his administration presented only the record of disaster; they can be adduced as an example, that frequently the events of the present imperfectly forebode the conclusion hoped or feared. A series of misfortunes were announced, each case in itself a serious reverse. The first news received was the destruction of William Henry in the early days of August, which I have narrated in a previous chapter. It was followed in September by the defeat of the duke of Cumberland at Hastenberg, and the convention of Clostern Severn, which for the time threatened the loss of the king's Hanoverian dominions.

The duke was in Hanover in command of about 60,000 subsidized Hessians, Brunswickers and soldiers from Gotha, his object being the defence of the electorate against the French. Marshal d'Estrées, at the head of 80,000 men, was

1757]

CLOSTERN SEVERN.

ΙΟΙ

in the field against him. The French unopposed overran Hesse and seized the capital, Cassel. The duke, believing the passage of the Weser to be so difficult, as in itself to form a line of defence, took ground on the eastern bank, and gave directions for fortifying the two places Münden and Hamelin. But the French without difficulty crossed the river, upon which the duke called in his detachments and established himself at Hastenbach, not far from Hamelin. He was here vigorously attacked on the 27th of July and defeated. The duke hastily retreated, and made no attempt to retrieve the loss of the day. The day after the victory, as if a censure for his success, d'Estrées was replaced by the duc de Richelieu; the result of court intrigue. The French rigorously raised contributions in the electorate, and took possession of the whole country to Bremen. The duke continued his retreat towards Stade, at the mouth of the Elbe. Four English men-of-war were stationed here, from which he looked for support, but his communication with the stream was cut off. A treaty was negotiated at Clostern Severn on the 8th of September, through the intervention of count Lynar, minister to the king of Denmark. It was stipulated that hostilities should cease; that the subsidized Germans should return to their homes; and that the Hanoverian troops should remain in a district. assigned them east of the Elbe, in the neighbourhood of Stade. When the treaty was reported to England, the duke was immediately recalled.*

The duke was received in great anger by his father George II., who, when they met, would not speak to him. The high

The

treaty caused Frederick of Prussia the greatest dissatisfaction. Nearly twenty years afterwards, in October, 1715, he wrote an ode satirizing the duke.

Tel parut Cumberland, cet invincible duc,

Qui sentant ses guerriers mal-adroits à la nage,
Par ce fameux traité leur sauva le naufrage.

Evitant avec soin surtout de se noyer;
Dans le tumulte militaire

Toujours doux, clément, débonnaire ;
Homicide ne fut, quoiqu'excellent guerrier.
Je pourrais encore publier,

spirit of the duke was so affected by this treatment, that he immediately resigned every military appointment he held. He was then in his forty-fourth year. In spite of the want of fortune which attended his career, William duke of Cumberland must retain a respectable place in history for his ability, truthfulness, and honesty. It is perhaps not now generally recollected that, owing to his popularity, the flower called Sweet William was named after him. There are many fables of his atrocities after Culloden, in one of which he is represented as calling upon Wolfe to shoot a wounded highland soldier, when Wolfe replied he was not an executioner. However stern the treatment of those engaged in the rebellion, it was the consequence of the positive orders from London.* Pitt's conduct on this occasion showed the magnanimity of Qu'il nous vit tous ronger des Français comme un chancre. Aiment mieux, du haut faîte où l'élevait son rang,

Répandre en beaux traités tout un déluge d'encre,

Que de verser pour nous une goutte de sang.

-Euvres Posthumes de Fréderic II., XV., p. 213.

The convention was subsequently set aside. It was received with the same disfavour in Prussia as in London, and on all sides the retreat of the duke was blamed. On his part he complained that he had been restricted by the regency in Hanover. The treaty was likewise objected to in France, the prevailing opinion being that too favourable terms had been granted to a force, driven into such a position that no alternative presented itself but unconditional surrender. The French endeavoured to provoke the Hanoverians to a line of conduct which would warrant them in declaring that the conditions had been violated. They seized the country, took possession of the government, and exacted the sternest and most exorbitant contributions for the support of the army. Indeed, they refused to acknowledge the conditions unless the Hanoverians and their allies would stipulate not to serve during the war. Urged by the king of Prussia, George II. finally published a declaration justifying the course of renouncing the agreement. The command of the army was conferred on Ferdinand, brother of the duke of Brunswick, the subsequent conqueror of Minden. The duc de Richelieu, on hearing of the activity of the Hanoverians, addressed a letter to prince Ferdinand, in which he offered to fulfil the convention, as it was considered by Prussia and England; otherwise he would feel warranted in burning every building in Hanover from a palace to a cottage, to sack all the towns and villages, and devastate the country. To this threat the prince replied that he would give an answer to the duc de Richelieu at the head of his army.

* Those who may desire to form a fair view of the duke of Cumberland's character will do well to refer to sir Walter Scott's introduction to Waverley.