208 CABALS. [BOOK I. King had seen all their papers, and fearing to agitate him unnecessarily. Lord Sidmouth declared that he would not introduce the subject in the royal presence; but that, if a fair opportunity offered, he should still tell the King what he thought of the danger of opening the navy, and staff officers in the army, to the Catholics. As might be expected, the opportunity soon occurred. On the 4th of March, several of the Ministers saw the King. He asked Lord Howick what business was coming forward in the House; and Lord Howick then explained to him that, for reasons which he assigned, it was thought better to bring forward a separate Bill on the Catholic subject than to tack it upon the Mutiny Bill. The provisions were fully discussed; and Lord Howick understood the King to assent to them, though with extreme dislike and reluctance. Lord Howick immediately told Lord Grenville what had passed, and they agreed that the consent on which they had proceeded thus far had not been withdrawn; and this conclusion was confirmed by the total silence of the King to Lord Grenville on this subject in an audience on the same day. But Lord Sidmouth had also an audience on the same day; and he appears to have introduced the subject himself, and in such a way as to alarm and agitate the King. The King asked him what he meant to do; and his answer was that he should oppose the measure, even if it had the royal concurrence. He left the King much disturbed, and declaring that he would never go beyond the extension to England of the Act of 1793. On the 6th, however, Lord Howick introduced the new Bill in the Commons. One curious feature of this case is expressly described by Lord Malmesbury 2 that a large number of persons, in both Houses of Parliament, were now not so much opposed to Catholic emancipation as bound by loyalty to the King, and to the memory of Mr. Pitt, not to allow the subject to be stirred during the King's life. Lord Camden and many others were in this position, bound by promise to Mr. Pitt that the King should not be disturbed, if they could help it. If now the Ministers brought forward a Bill, with the assumed consent of the King, such men would have no pretence for holding their old ground; and the Catholics might be emancipated in a trice. No time was therefore to be lost, said the enemies of the Administration and of the Catholics, in coming to the rescue of the King-in bringing him back to his "principles," and presenting him to the nation as the true Protestant sovereign that he had always been, and that they found him still to be when they obtained his ear. They went vigorously to work. The second reading of the Bill was fixed for the 12th of March. On the 11th, Lord Sidmouth sent in 1 Hansard, ix. p. 269. 2 Diaries, iv. p. 378. Cabals. CHAP. IX.] TWO OLD TORIES CONSULT. 2 209 his resignation; and, from his objecting to negotiation with Mr. Canning,1 and from another note of his to Lord Grenville in the same week, it appears as if there was a plan for removing Lord Howick to the Upper House, and giving his office to Mr. Canning. It seems that Mr. Canning warned Ministers that there were plots for displacing them, and entreated them to come to an understanding with the King, instead of leaving him to the evil influences of their enemies. Lord Grenville begged of Lord Sidmouth not to be in a hurry; but Lord Sidmouth had already informed the King of his resignation, and had been graciously commanded to remain in his office. 66 On that day, two old Tories sat together, consulting for hours as to what they could do to bring out the King in full force against his Ministers. The Duke of Portland was infirm, diseased, exhausted kept up" in busy times only by laudanum and cordials, and apt to fall asleep over the most important letters that were put into his hands to read dilatory, inert, disposed to dead silence himself, but unable to get rid of gossips and prosers; but he was the man looked to as the head of the Tory Ministry, whenever there should be one. The Tories shook their heads about his health; but always ended by settling that the Duke of Portland must be their chef. Lord Malmesbury was now too deaf and infirm to be a Cabinet Minister; but, as a wily old diplomatist, he was invaluable to his party. At least, he thought himself so; and he appears to have been in their confidence still; though his diaries convey to the reader some impression of his being now nearly worn out more fond of plots and secrets than ever, but less capable of bringing out any result ; more full of cunning and self-importance, with less and less of the wisdom and genuine spirit of business which had made him a really distinguished diplomatist in his younger days, when the transactions of nations, and not of political parties, were watched and guided by him. These two wily and self-complacent old politicians sat long together, on this 11th of March, consulting about the overthrow of the Grenville Administration, and flattering each other and themselves about their loyalty, without, apparently, any thought about the Catholics, one way or another. "After considering the business in every point of view," they agreed that they could do nothing "effective" till they knew what the King's mind really was. They suspected he could not like his Ministers' proceedings; but if it should chance that he did, it would never do for them to be working against him. Next morning, however, the Duke sent for his gossip; and they spent five hours together. The Duke was so uneasy about the King, 1 Life of Lord Sidmouth, ii. p. 461. 2 Life of Canning, p. 223. 3 210 THE KING'S RETRACTATION. [BOOK I, that he thought of telling him his mind in a letter; and, with a world of pains, the letter was concocted, altered, amended, copied, and sent. It may be seen among the Malmesbury papers;1 and it may be questioned whether a more insolent and dangerous piece of interference ever was perpetrated, under a government subject to rules of principle and manners. The loyal men who deprecated the unsettling of the royal mind by the mention of the Catholic claims had no scruple about shaking the King's nerves by a letter full of pompous alarm and evil boding. The sum of the letter was, that the Duke of Portland offered to be Prime Minister, to help his King out of his present scrape. The receipt of the letter was merely acknowledged, without remark, and the old men were evidently mortified; but meantime, the King had "signified his orders" to two nephews of the Duke of Portland, to vote against the measure brought forward by his Cabinet.2 Ladies about the Court went to and fro with mysterious messages and items of news, while the gentlemen sat solemnly amusing themselves with making Cabinets, and calling this patriotism. The Duke of Portland was "noble and magnanimous" in permitting his admirers to hail him as Chief, while his infirmities, as he said, unfitted him for the post; but he would die at that post. There is something ludicrous, but, at the same time, very disgusting, in the mysterious bustling of these unsought office-seekers, caballing in the dark, and patriotically devoting themselves in a cause where they were not wanted. "No urging was necessary" to induce the Duke of Portland to nominate himself Prime Minister; but, if it had been, his friends could have said nothing after his own account of his state of health, which would cause him to perish in the attempt “to serve his King and his country." Settling Administrations" now appears among the items of daily business of Lord Malmesbury. All this while, the unconscious Ministers were going on with their affairs in good faith, little imagining what trickery was transacting behind their backs. When at last it became known to them that there had been some tampering with the King, and other shabby behavior, they suspected Lord Sidmouth naturally and unavoidably; and it is only recently that, by the publication of the "Malmesbury Diaries," and some other memoirs of the time, the full iniquity of the transactions has become known, and the disgrace fixed upon the right persons. Lord Sidmouth seems to have been merely weak, as usual, and not treacherous to his colleagues. On the 13th, the King sent for Lords Grenville and Howick, The King's and told them that he would never consent to their Bill; retractation. and on this Mr. Canning told Lord Grenville that his 1 Diaries, iv. p. 368. 2 Ibid. p. 371. CHAP. IX.] REQUISITION OF THE KING. 211 duty had become clear.1 He had already refused to take office at this time; and now he saw that he must support the King, as all Mr. Pitt's friends would feel themselves bound to do. They had only waited to be certain of the King's wishes. He declared at the same time that he would never sit in the same Cabinet with Lord Sidmouth. At that very hour, Mr. Perceval was declining overtures from Lord Sidmouth to unite against the Bill, and come into power together. It appears that Perceval also would never sit in the same Cabinet with Lord Sidmouth. Not an individual connected with Lord Melville would support the government if Lord Sidmouth were in it. The Ministerial majority in parliament too were so wrathful against the same unfortunate politician that no new Administration which included him would have a chance; and thus, amidst this "sickening scene," as Lord Eldon called it,2 of secret Cabinet-making, the only point settled by common consent seems to have been the exclusion of Lord Sidmouth. 3 On the 15th, Lord Grenville notified to Lord Sidmouth that he was sending to the King a paper in which his The measure Ministers expressed their willingness to let the Bill dropped. drop altogether. He did not know what the result would be; but he should learn the next day, when he was going to Windsor. On the preceding evening, Saturday the 14th, the Cabinet had sat late, much "unpleasant conversation" passing which settled nothing; and the resolution to drop the Bill was adopted at a meeting of the Grenville portion of the Cabinet on the Sunday. In offering to withdraw the Bill, the Ministers reserved to themselves the right of expressing their opinions on the subject of the Catholic claims whenever Catholic petitions came up to parliament,* and of offering such advice about Ireland to the sovereign, at all times, as they should conceive the needs of the state to require. This ought to have been better noted at the time than we find it to have been. Notwithstanding the efforts of the most enlightened persons in parliament to exhibit the fact that the Grenville Ministry did not go out on the Catholic question, but on a very different one, their enemies, followed by too many narrators since, have turned away attention from the real ground of their overthrow. The King's answer expressed satisfaction that the Bill was to drop; regret that his Ministers should think it necessary to state in parliament their good-will to the Catholic claims; and a positive disallowance of the latter part Requisition of their minute, which he desired them to withdraw. of the King. He required from them a pledge, that they never would, under 1 Malmesbury Diaries, iv. p. 375. 3 Life of Lord Sidmouth, ii. p. 463. 5 Ibid. pp. 243, 275. 2 Life, ii. p. 31. 212 THE MINISTRY DISMISSED. [BOOK I. any circumstances, propose to him any concessions to the Catholics, or offer any advice whatever to him on any part of that subject. Such a pledge it was, of course, impossible for Ministers of any party or way of thinking to give.1 It is the duty of Ministers, as agreed on all hands, "to advise the King, and to give, without favor or affection, that counsel which they think best for the country." The bigoted and irritable sovereign, while so alarmed for the Protestant Constitution, forgot this great constitutional principle; and on behalf of the principle of the responsibility of Ministers it was that the Grenville Administration went out, letting in the Tories to rule for nearly a quarter of a century. Refused. 66 Ministry dismissed. On the 18th, Wednesday, the Ministers, in presence of the King, uttered their reasons for declining to give the pledge he required of them. He treated them civilly, expressed satisfaction with every part of their conduct up to the time of the dispute on the Catholic question, and declared his intention of "looking out for other Ministers." Some who were looking out for" a summons to the royal presence waited in vain waited in the sickness of deferred hope. The Duke of Portland had not, as yet, been thanked for his offer of the Premiership to himself. His friend Malmesbury reasoned with him about dates.2 "The Duke was struck with this, and rallied; and he immediately proceeded to settle what secretaries he should want. It was from a fresh party that the plotters heard at last what was doing. Lord Camden informed them that Lords Eldon and Hawkesbury had been called up at one in the morning of the 19th, by a royal messenger who desired them to be at Windsor by ten. Whether the return of royal patronage dazzled the eyes and intoxicated the understandings of the returning party, or whether they really were men incapable of making distinctions — unapt at "Scotch metaphysics we cannot say ; but the amount of mistake among them on this occasion would be incredible if it were not recorded by themselves. The King gave the two Lords the whole bundle of papers to read; and the same papers were read by Lord Hardwicke and the Bishop of Lincoln; and the two pairs of readers gave such different accounts of their purport as completely to puzzle the plotters. The first pair of readers found in the minutes of Ministers such hard conditions that they devoutly agreed with the King when he appealed to them whether his choice had not been to surrender his Ministers or his throne; while the other pair found in the papers no hard conditions at all. But the King's tone decided that of his new officers; and we find Lord Eldon pitying himself for being called out of his retirement, but unable to refuse to assist his old gra1 Hansard, ix. p. 243. 8 Ibid. p. 383. 2 Diaries, iv. p. 378. 3 |