Memoirs of the Court and Cabinets of George the Third Volume II Part 9

Our division in the House of Lords, though sufficiently decisive, was less than it would have been, owing to a variety of accidental circ.u.mstances. There is every reason to believe that we shall divide stronger on Monday. I have no apprehension whatever as to the carrying our restrictions in the House of Commons. Accidental circ.u.mstances may vary our majority from 50 to 80; but there can be no doubt of success. There seems very little reason to believe that they will venture to dissolve Parliament till March or April, if they do it then, which I doubt.

There certainly never was in this country, at any period, such a situation as Mr. Pitt's. It is no small addition to the satisfaction which we derive from all these events, to observe that every man of all parties seems to feel how well the game has been played on our side, and how ridiculously it has been mismanaged by our opponents. Add to this, that they are all quarrelling amongst themselves, and that we were never so united as at this moment.

With all these reflections you will own that _the prospect before us_ is not an unpleasing one. The opinion of Willis continues as sanguine as ever.

Believe me, my dear brother, Most sincerely and affectionately yours, W. W. G.

Lord Bulkeley announces, with exultation, the division in the Commons, and returns to his enumeration of _rats_.

LORD BULKELEY TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Stanhope Street, Dec. 29th, 1788.

MY DEAREST LORD,

We are in high spirits here at the first majority of 64, and at the last of 73, which, considering the open and undisguised canva.s.s of the Prince and the Duke of York, and the very liberal distribution of promises from both, does the House of Commons a great deal of honour. Parry fell down in a fit about two hours before the division of the first day, and was carried home in a chair speechless, where he remained confined till Monday, when I polled him by means of a pair with Sir Robert Clayton, which T. Steele arranged for him. A _certain lady_ in St. James's Square has been tampering with Parry, and he certainly vented all his grievances into the compa.s.sionate bosom of that active and politic fair one, who has likewise infused such a political ardour into the mind of her dear Sir Poddy, that on the first division he was seen to take down the names of the different speeches and the members, besides _other occasional notes_. I have not been in St. James's Square since I have been in town, the manner with which they affect to treat me being such that _an old English Baron_ cannot put up with; besides _we are_ not in the best of humours at present, Sir Poddy being unwell, and unable to attend the last division and _we find_ it difficult to sing the praises of the Prince and the Duke of York on the usual themes of filial piety, virtue, &c., in the face of a majority of 73 in favour of a falling Minister.

Sir George Warren was one of the rats, which Lady B. was much affected at. He and Lady W. dined with us the day before the first division, and both sung the praises of Mr. Pitt, and expressed the warmest anxiety for the King's recovery. I was not all surprised, well knowing his rattish dispositions. Glynne Wynne, whom I have been working for three years to detach Lord Uxbridge from, has, with the utmost effrontery, cast his benefactor off, and set him at defiance, to which he has been led by promises at Carlton House. I trust we shall be able to do his business on a dissolution, and he well deserves it, being one of the first of scoundrels.

I subjoin a list of those members who usually have voted with Mr.

Pitt, who have quitted him in the late divisions, _i.e._ _rats_.

Yours sincerely, B.

Sir Peter Parker.

Sir George Warren.

Sir J. Aubrey.

Sir S. Hannay.

Sir Charles Gould.

James Macpherson.

---- Clevland.

Glynne Wynne.

Gerrard Hamilton.

---- Fraser.

---- Osbaldiston.

The Lonsdales voted against Pitt in the first division, and staid away the second. The Lansdownes voted with Pitt in the first, and, I believe, in the second, or staid away.

1789.

DEATH OF THE SPEAKER--MR. GRENVILLE ELECTED IN HIS PLACE--COMMITTEE ON THE REGENCY--THE HOUSEHOLD BILL--CONDUCT OF THE PRINCES--ADDRESS TO THE PRINCE OF WALES FROM THE IRISH PARLIAMENT--RECOVERY OF THE KING--DECISIVE MEASURES OF LORD BUCKINGHAM--IRISH PROMOTIONS AND CREATIONS--DISSENSIONS IN THE ROYAL FAMILY--MR. GRENVILLE APPOINTED SECRETARY OF STATE--MR. ADDINGTON ELECTED SPEAKER--LORD BUCKINGHAM RESIGNS THE GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND.

The one absorbing subject which for the last few weeks had engrossed the public mind, almost to the exclusion of every other consideration, kept the Parliament sitting close up to Christmas-day, in the year just expired. On the 23rd of December, a resolution, vigorously opposed by Lord North as inst.i.tuting a fiction in lieu of the royal authority, was adopted, empowering the Chancellor to affix the Great Seal to such Bill of Limitations as might be necessary to restrict the power of the future Regent; but Ministers had no sooner succeeded in carrying their object to this important stage, than a new impediment presented itself. On the 2nd of January, 1789, Mr. Cornwall, Speaker of the House of Commons, died. It was immediately decided that Mr. Grenville should be proposed to succeed him. On all accounts, it was indispensable to hasten this arrangement, as the functions of the Commons were unavoidably suspended in the interim. A serious obstacle arose from the informality of the proceeding, the sanction of the royal approbation being necessary, according to custom, upon the nomination of a new Speaker. The elastic character of the Const.i.tution, however, although not providing direct remedies for such special cases, admits of adaptation to the most unforeseen exigencies; and so urgent was the pressure of affairs at this agitating juncture, that the irregularity was pa.s.sed over by the tacit consent of all parties.

MR. W. W. GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Whitehall, Jan. 2nd, 1788.[B]

MY DEAR BROTHER,

You will probably not be a little surprised at the contents of this letter. The Speaker died this morning at about nine o'clock, and after some consideration, it has been determined that I should be proposed to the House to succeed him. I am not quite sure whether the choice will come on to-morrow or Monday. The situation is a new one, it having always been held, that the King's commands are necessary for the election of a Speaker, and his approbation for confirming him in his situation. But this cannot be had under the present circ.u.mstances; nor can the House take any steps to supply the deficiency till they have a Speaker. At the Restoration and Revolution, the House, in both instances, chose a Speaker, who was acknowledged as such, and was never afterwards confirmed by the King.

With respect to myself, the time for deliberation has not been long. But upon the whole, I think the decision which I have made is clearly right. If the King recovers before Parliament is dissolved, it is clearly understood that my acceptance of this situation is not to prejudice my other views; and in the public opinion, the having filled this office, though but for a short time, will rather forward them. If the Regent goes on without dissolving, I am then in a situation which, though perhaps not perfectly pleasant, is nevertheless respectable, and will give me occupation. If they dissolve, and carry the Chair against me in the new Parliament, I do not see how I stand worse, in any respect, for having held this office. Such is my reasoning, and I think you will approve it. As far as I can judge, there is no doubt of my carrying it _now_. I have not yet heard whether they start any opponent, but I think they have none whose personal connexions can materially vary the proportion between the two parties: it is very sufficiently decisive.

I have not heard the account of to-day at St. James's. Nothing can be better than all the accounts, both public and private, for the last three or four days. It is certainly not sanguine to entertain the very best hopes; and the progress has even been more rapid than Willis expected; so that I think we may look with some confidence to March or April at latest.

Ever most affectionately yours, W. W. G.

[Footnote B: This is the date in the original, but it is evidently a mistake. Mr. Grenville forgot that he was in a new year.]

MR. W. W. GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Whitehall, Jan. 4th, 1789.

MY DEAR BROTHER,

The plan for the Regency was sent to the Prince of Wales in a letter from Pitt, three days ago, with an expression of his readiness to give any explanation, either in person or in any other manner that he might intimate. Yesterday his answer was received, directed _to the Cabinet_. It is long, and with much affectation of good writing, and is in parts of it well expressed, in other parts confused and timid. It ends, however, with saying that if these restrictions are adopted by Parliament he will _accept_.

I have no doubt of carrying the Chair to-morrow, but not a little doubt whether I ought to have accepted it. The die is, however, now cast. The restrictions will, I think, pa.s.s without much difficulty.

I still adhere strongly to my opinion about the prorogation, because I think there is a wide difference between exercising during the King's health a power which he commits to your discretion, but which he might if he pleased regulate by instruction at any moment, and exercising the same power now when you are to state that the King is prevented by infirmity from attending at all to the administration of his Government. I am sure that your acting in the manner you speak of is liable to, and will probably bear, the very worst construction in the minds of the public here; and I cannot for the life of me conceive what fear there can be that the two Houses will not adjourn, considering that the great point which they all wish, is that they may not be obliged to pledge themselves. The extraordinary anxiety in those whom you see, to get you to prorogue, is, in my opinion, a very strong proof of their being actuated by that sort of wish.

I have not time to write any more, except to express my anxiety to hear how Lady B. and your child go on.

Ever most affectionately yours, W. W. G.

There was no doubt about the issue of the election to the Speakers.h.i.+p.

"Your brother William will certainly be Speaker," writes Lord Bulkeley on the 3rd, "and has already stood the hoax at White's, where it was debated last night whether he should wear a wig or his own hair." The election went off to the entire satisfaction of Mr. Grenville, who, reporting the event, says that "the majority, though quite large enough, would have been larger if they had divided half an hour later, as nearly forty of my friends were locked out below, and about eleven of theirs."

With his customary philosophy, he made the best of everything; but he does not disguise from Lord Buckingham that he had strong doubts in his mind whether he ought to have accepted the Chair. The Opposition might, probably, have been stronger against his election, but for the belief that prevailed that the King was getting rapidly better. "The progress of the King," observes Mr. Grenville on the 7th, "is such, _according to our accounts_, that it is by no means impossible, nor even a very improbable case, that before the Irish Bill can pa.s.s, he may re-a.s.sume his Government."

Another contingency that weighed with the floating ma.s.s of undecided politicians was the rumour which now began to be circulated that the Regent would not dismiss the existing Ministers till the end of the session.

LORD MORNINGTON TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Jan. 6th, 1789.

MY DEAR LORD,

As I understood that Sir W. Young and Bernard wrote you an account of the division last night, which placed Grenville so honourably in the Chair of the House of Commons, I did not trouble you with any letter by the post of yesterday; but I cannot deny myself the pleasure of acquainting you, that nothing could be more perfectly satisfactory to all our friends than the conduct of the new Speaker on an occasion naturally distressing; his speech of excuse, and his speech from the steps of the Chair, were universally admired, they were both so composed and delivered as to render a scene, which I have always understood to be very ridiculous, really interesting and affecting. It is deemed a misfortune amongst our friends, that the practice of printing the Speaker's speeches on this occasion in the journals is now disused. Grenville's speeches would have done him the highest credit, as well as afforded an excellent precedent to future Speakers. I have prevailed with Mr. Speaker to mount his wig, and the whole apparatus to-day: he must consider this as a young lawyer does his first appearance at the bar, and the sooner the laugh is over the better for the dignity of the Chair. Whatever may be Grenville's future fortunes, it can be no discredit to his character to have been placed in the Chair by such a majority, in such times and circ.u.mstances, and at his age.

I write no accounts of what we are doing, you hear that much more correctly from Grenville. I am anxious to know what will be the temper of Ireland at the meeting. Grattan is as much a creature of Fox and his party, as the meanest libeller in the "Morning Herald;"

he lives entirely with them. I hear Pelham is to take his father on his back to the Government of Ireland. Grattan will stand, in my opinion, on most unpopular ground, if he either attempts to a.s.sert the hereditary right of the Prince, or to give him larger powers in Ireland, than the Parliament of this country entrust to him for the administration of the British Government. The hereditary right, I suppose Grattan will not venture to touch; and the latter proposition, I think, might be argued exactly as he argued the Perpetual Mutiny Bill, and other questions, where the danger of larger powers in Ireland than were held in England by the same hands, were considered with a view to the Const.i.tutions of _both_ countries. This argument is, in my opinion, clear, if the rights of the King on the throne are admitted to be the rights of the people at large, and if they are not, I know not why they exist. I have not much fear that the Irish Parliament will listen to such proposals. As to reversions and offices for life, a Regent, who has not the power of granting them here, and attempts to obtain it in Ireland, can mean nothing else than to indemnify his disappointed friends in England at the expense of Ireland; I do not think this can go down. On the whole, I think your argument in Ireland stronger in every view than ours here, and that is saying a great deal.