CHAP. VII.] DEATH OF LORD CORNWALLIS.

163

lated largely among their servants in India the Despatches which he published in 1837, as the best repository of knowledge and wisdom on Indian affairs. Lord Wellesley's administration was either infamous or glorious: a scheme which was irredeemably wrong unless it was eminently right. The matured opinion of nearly half a century seems to have decided in its favor; and his government in India is now looked back upon as not only — what no voice can deny a period of extraordinary brilliancy, but as having been that which avowed, though it did not originate, the principle that must be the basis of our action and abode there: that principle which was instituted before he was born, but which he was the first to recognize clearly and completely, and to embody consistently in his policy of his Subsidiary System.

He returned to England, as has been seen, just in time to let Pitt hear his voice once more. Pitt saw him, and fainted away under the sound of his voice, and the sight of his face, though all agitating subjects were avoided. The old friends little imagined, at the moment, that Lord Cornwallis had then been long dead. Pitt did not live to hear the news that Lord Cornwal- Death of lis had died on the 5th of October (1805) in Benares, Lord Cornon his way to take the command of the army.1 To the British nation, it appeared that the governments in England and India lost their head at the same time, and were left helpless and embarrassed. Those were indeed dark days, abroad and at

home.

1 Annual Register, 1806, p. 252

wallis.

164

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

[BOOK I.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE Amendment to the Address, intended to have been moved on the 21st of January, 1806, but merely read in both Houses Meeting of of Parliament, declared in the most distinct terms that Parliament. the state of public affairs was alarming beyond example.1 It intimated that the disasters abroad and grounds of apprehension at home were the fault of administration, and pledged parliament to inquire into the misconduct, and prevent its recurrence. There were two reasons for the Amendment not being moved. Lord Sidmouth, who had been for half a year openly at variance with Mr. Pitt, and who commanded forty or fifty votes, had let it be understood that he should support the Amendment ; but on the afternoon of Monday the 20th, he or his party let the Whig leaders know that he could have nothing to do with it. The Prince of Wales was very angry; and his Whig friends understood this as a probable indication that the King would form the strongest Tory ministry that he could get together, if Mr. Pitt should really be dying. They looked to see Lords Hawkesbury, Sidmouth, and Castlereagh, in power very soon. Such a prospect made their amendment of more importance than ever; but there would now be some risk in pushing the matter to a division. It would have been ventured upon, however, but that it became known in the course of the day that Mr. Pitt was actually dying. When the Whig leaders met at Mr. Fox's in the afternoon," he told them that if others could enter into a discussion of Mr. Pitt's policy at such a moment, he could not. “Mentem mortalia tangunt," he said, in strong emotion. Yet it was a crisis when a suppression of opinion would have been a crime. Therefore was the Amendment simply read by Lord Cowper in the one house, and Lord Henry Petty in the other. There was something exasperating to those who understood the facts of the case in the knowledge that the calamdislike of ities, actual and apprehended, of the state were owMr. Fox. ing to the King's horror of Mr. Fox of whom he really knew little or nothing. He imagined him to be a fierce levelling republican, who, after quarrelling with the loyal Burke, 1 Hansard, vi. p. 18. 2 Memoirs of Horner, i. p. 328.

The King's

CHAP. VIII.] ALARMING STATE OF AFFAIRS.

165

Alarming

fairs.

and having held conversations with Napoleon at Paris, was now only waiting to overthrow the British Constitution, and trample the monarch in the dust. He knew that Mr. Pitt esteemed Fox, and would gladly have joined him in the government of the country. He suspected that Pitt would never relinquish the object of bringing the King and Mr. Fox face to face, because Pitt could not rule the country without the Grenvilles; and Lord Grenville would not come in without Mr. Fox. It was a point, however, on which the King's obstinate mind had been fixed, up to the present time; and the consequences had been those which were now making all hearts quake for fear. The foreign alliance which was just broken up disastrously state of afwould never have been formed, if Lord Grenville had been in the ministry. Austria had never been ready and willing for war, as Mr. Pitt's sanguine mind had concluded that she was: she had made no effectual resistance to the French; and now she was so humbled, that if she wished it ever so much, she could resist no more. Russia had suffered both defeat from Napoleon and desertion by Austria, and had drawn her armies home. Prussia had held aloof, to see which way the luck would go. Spain and Holland were mere vassals of France. There was nothing now for Napoleon to fear on the Continent; and no great deal for him to do. He was at liberty to "crush England," as he was in the habit of saying. England did not mean to be crushed, of course ; but her position was very unfavorable for such a struggle as seemed to be impending. The Catholics were so deeply discontented at the issue of the late discussion of their claims, that no sober politician would answer for the loyalty of Ireland. The Treasury was empty; and the nation was in that state of depression of spirits which makes it particularly difficult to raise money. What the administration of naval affairs had been, Lord Melville's case had shown; and there was no confidence that military affairs were going on much better under the King's pet son, the Duke of York. The political rivalship between the King and the Prince of Wales was at its height. The Prince gloried indecently in his father's difficulties; and it seemed impossible to hope that the King would take for his ministers the men who were the Prince's advisers and daily companions the friends of the Catholic Mrs. Fitzherbert, and the pledged advocates of the Catholic body. The poor old man was now nearly blind too nearly blind to open the session in person. He was feeble and infirm; and the Catholic question was no longer a matter of reasoning with him, but one of nerves. The Amendment to the Address might well say, "This House is perfectly sensible that the alarming and unexampled state of public affairs renders the most vigorous exertions necessary for the preservation of the empire."

166

NEGOTIATIONS FOR A MINISTRY.

1

[Book I On the day of Mr. Pitt's death, the Duke of York, usually bland and cheerful, lost his temper, was peevish and angry. This was because Mr. Pitt's stanch friend, who had caballed for him more than any other man but Canning, Lord Malmesbury, thought and said that there must be a change of ministry. The Duke would not hear of it;1 so Lord Malmesbury sent him his reasons in writing, reasons for being sure that if Mr. Pitt had been alive and well, the ministry could not have stood feeble in itself, and oppressed with failure in every direction but on the sea; reasons which, therefore, left no doubt that now, with Mr. Pitt lying dead, nothing could be done but to form a new cabinet. Still, the image of his brother triumphing, and his brother's advisers coming in from their condition of exclusion, was too much for the pet son of the King; and he was cool towards Lord Malmesbury till he saw that everybody about him, even the King, was of opinion that there must be a new administration. Then, he gave way with a good grace, and acknowledged the mistake he had fallen into.

Negotiations for a ministry.

2

The first application known to have been made was to Lord Wellesley. This was somewhat daring; considering that accusations were abroad against him, and that an impeachment was threatened, on account of his Indian policy. The remnant of the Pitt Cabinet invited Lord Wellesley — of course, with the King's approbation to undertake the conduct of affairs. He immediately refused, and made his refusal known to the Prince, who eulogized the act to Mr. Fox as one of high generosity, while others thought it might be either that, or a measure of deep prudence. The next resorted to was Lord Hawkesbury; of whom the King had once said, that he had "no head." There could not be a stronger proof of the desperation to which the royal policy was reduced. Lord Hawkesbury took time to consult with his friends; from whom he received such information of the public determination to secure an union of parties and coalition of leaders as should make a strong government, that he could not venture on office supported only by royal favor and the aid of Mr. Pitt's subalterns. He declined; and he would have stood higher in men's opinions than ever before, if he had not spoiled the act by appropriating to himself the lucrative office of Warden of the Cinque Ports-thus making a profit of the incident and by having made use of his position to get the necessary forms gone through with an expedition far from decorous.

Of all the difficulties which stood in the way of an application to the Whigs, the greatest was the King's notion of the extent

1 Malmesbury Diaries, iv. p. 356. 3 Annual Register, 1806, p. 20.

2 Horner's Memoirs, i. p. 332.

CHAP. VIII.]

"ALL THE TALENTS.”

167 of his prerogative. He considered it his right — and he had always so considered it to appoint to office the men he liked, without control or interference from any quarter whatever. If told that the public welfare required the appointment of a Cabinet composed of such and such materials, he resisted the suggestion, saying that to accede to it would be to give Opposition an indirect control over appointments which it was his sole right to make. He owed it to his posterity, he was wont to say, to keep this kingly power intact; and sooner than surrender it, he would give up his crown. When, in March, 1778, it was proposed to him by his Minister to admit the Whigs, he declared, three times in four days, that he would abdicate, saying, that if the people would not support his prerogative of choosing his ministers according to his own views, they should have another king.1 Four years afterwards, he repeated the threat, when the division against Lord North exposed him again to be "trampled upon by his enemies," as he was accustomed to say. We hear of no such

This

threat now; but he yielded only when he found that there were really no men of his own way of thinking of whom a Cabinet could, at this time, be made. If he could not have one after his own liking, the next best thing was to have one which should unite parties, and secure the coöperation of their best men. would bring in some of his own way of thinking, with whom he could enjoy official intercourse. Such an union happened to be exactly what the country wished for; and the Administration commonly called "All the Talents" was formed with little difficulty or delay.

On the 27th of January, Lord Grenville had an interview, by appointment, with the King. He was requested "All the to form a government; and they agreed that it must Talents." be of a comprehensive character.2 Then came the word of proof. Lord Grenville said he must avow that the man he should consult would be Mr. Fox. “I thought so; and I meant it so,” was the reply; and the words flew all over the kingdom as fast as human tongues could send them. The Prince's behavior was almost enough to make the King take back the words. He openly gloried in the humiliation of his father, took on himself the air of a party leader, and pressed his friends for office and place for his dependents. One consolation for the King was from the suggestion that the Whigs would be most effectually foiled by giving them power. The popular expectation from them was greater than any men could fulfil; and they were hampered by declarations easily made in opposition, but very hardly redeemed as pledges by men encompassed by the perplexities of office. The Whig portion of the new Cabinet would, certainly and soon, dis1 Lord Brougham's Statesmen, i. Geo. III. 2 Annual Register, 1806, p. 21.