1757.

SCHEMES FOR A NEW GOVERNMENT.

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On the close of the Inquiry, that great obstacle, as it appeared, to any new Ministerial combination, the King lost no time in renewing his overtures to Newcastle. It had now become the Duke's wish,— scared as he was at the popular clamours, - to attempt a junction with Pitt. But finding on application that Pitt haughtily insisted on retaining in his own hands the entire direction of the war and of Foreign Affairs, and on Newcastle confining himself to the special business of the Treasury, and even there with a Board composed of Pitt's followers, -the Duke broke off the treaty in anger, not yet sufficiently humbled to consent to be only a nominal Minister. Nay, in his first indignation, he even pledged himself by a solemn promise to His Majesty, that since the "Great "Commoner was thus unreasonable, the Duke would never coalesce with him, but would form a Ministry in dependent of his aid. The King's desire at this time was to see Newcastle and Fox combine; but the former shrank from any connection with the great and growing unpopularity of the latter. Besides, as he reflected, that combination had been already tried, and what effect had it wrought? Neither concord in the Cabinet nor yet stability in the Parliament. On the whole, then, excluding both Pitt and Fox from his thoughts, Newcastle reverted to his first and favourite scheme of governing alone, with none but dependents and underlings for office in the House of Commons. He resolved, in pursuance of these views, to take the Treasury, to appoint Dr., now Sir George Lee, as his Chancellor of the Exchequer, and to cajole Sir Thomas Robinson into resuming the Seals. To this scheme the King gave his consent, and every thing seemed ready to commence its execution, when it was again suspended on some fresh irresolutions and waverings of the " aspen Duke," as Horace Walpole not

unaptly terms him.

For a long time, amidst all these struggles and intrigues, nearly three months from first to last, - did England remain without a Government, — while Parliament was still sitting, — while there was a formidable war to wage. "In our present unaccountable state," writes an experienced observer, "no man knows who is "Minister and who not. We inquire here, as the old

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woman at Amsterdam did long ago, OU DEMEURE LE 66 SOUVERAIN?"* Yet it is only justice to acknowledge that this state of no Government, - when the temporary holders of office refrained from all great enterprises or farsighted views, and would transact none but the most ordinary and needful business, was little, if at all, worse than the state of Government when Newcastle had been at its head.

The design of Newcastle to become again the only responsible Minister seemed to presage great confusion, and gave much alarm to all thinking persons interested in the permanence of the British Monarchy. Not last amongst these were the Princess Dowager and her little Council. She resolved to make an effort to show the Duke the dangers of the path he was pursuing, and at the same time to draw from Pitt, if possible, some mitigation of his terms. For this purpose, and as a mediator between them, she pitched upon Lord Chesterfield; sent Lord Bute to sound him, and succeeded in obtaining his assistance. 66 Certainly," says Lord Waldegrave, "they "could not have chosen a more prevailing negotiator "than the Earl of Chesterfield. For, besides being a man of letters and a wit, which carries great weight "and authority with the dull and ignorant, he had dis"tinguished himself as a man of business in many of the highest offices, and, having given up all Ministerial " views of his own, might now very justly be esteemed a man totally unprejudiced and disinterested. He wrote a very able letter to the Duke of Newcastle, the purport of which was, that his administration would never "be strong and permanent till he was firmly united with

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Pitt and Leicester House." On the other hand, he also exerted his influence with Pitt (of whom he had been an early friend and correspondent ‡), and prevailed upon him to relax a little, and but a very little, from his first demands.

There were undoubtedly at this time the strongest reasons both for Newcastle and for Pitt to desire a junc

* Lord Chesterfield to Mr. Dayrolles, August 15. 1757.

† Memoirs, p. 110.

1741

See the two first letters in the Chatham Correspondence, dated

1757.

CHESTERFIELD ACTS AS MEDIATOR.

105

tion. Newcastle had fallen, and might fall again, for want of eloquent support in the House of Commons, and of popular favour out of doors. Pitt had fallen, and might fall again, for want of that Court-craft, that borough interest, that Parliamentary connection, which Newcastle had spent a long life and a large fortune in acquiring. Singly each was weak; united they would be irresistible. And if the Duke could be brought to confine himself to his favourite department of patronage, to strengthen his boroughs,-to pamper his hangerson,—to make or to unmake tidewaiters and excisemen, -Pitt would have power to pursue unchecked his vast designs for the nation's pre-eminence and glory.

Both statesmen accordingly entered more readily than might have been at first sight expected into Chesterfield's views, and held several conferences, under his me diation and Bute's. Articles of peace and amity were agreed upon, and a plan of administration was framed. But the King disapproving these proposals, and calling upon Newcastle to perform his recent and solemn_promise, was met by a direct breach of faith, the Duke now refusing to take part in any administration unless he had the assistance of Pitt and his associates. "He has now proved himself," said His Majesty, "what I have "long thought him,-equally false and ungrateful. I "believe that few princes have been exposed to such "scandalous treatment."

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Thus incensed, the King threw himself into the arms of Fox, who consented to become Chancellor of the Exchequer, while His Majesty pressed upon Lord Waldegrave, as his personal friend, the First Lordship of the Treasury. It was with great reluctance that Lord Waldegrave obeyed; but, once embarked, he acted with both spirit and judgment. The Earl of Egremont was to become Secretary of State, the Earl of Winchelsea to continue First Lord of the Admiralty, and the Earl Granville Lord President. All the other arrangements were nearly completed, when the Duke of Newcastle, terrified at the prospect of an administration formed without his aid, had recourse to an expedient which he had kept in reserve, and which he hoped would effectually embarrass His Majesty's affairs. This was to urge on the resignations of

those who still remained in office. At his secret instigation, accordingly, Lord Holderness, the other Secretary of State, waited on the King at Kensington to resign his employment. Such a step at such a juncture was resented by his Royal Master as a signal act of ingratitude, Holderness being a mere cypher in office, and having been more than once upheld against powerful representations by His Majesty's personal favour and goodness. The King, however, behaved with great dignity and temper on this trying occasion. He did not condescend to use reproaches, but stopped short Lord Holderness's explanations with these words : "You come here to resign; I "have no curiosity to know your reasons." And when Lord Waldegrave immediately afterwards entered the closet, the King said, coolly: "Holderness has resigned. "You may think I was surprised, but the loss is not "considerable.” *

No sooner was this step taken than the Duke of Newcastle, — whose mind, small indeed for every other object, was large enough to contain the most various and opposite kinds of fear,- became haunted with the apprehension of incurring the Royal displeasure. He wrote the next morning to Lord Waldegrave, requesting to see him before he went to Court. Lord Waldegrave called accordingly, when His Grace began by expressing great uneasiness lest the King should suspect him of having caused Holderness's resignation. He called God to witness, that, far from having given to it any sort of encouragement, it was quite unknown to him till he received a letter from Lord Holderness announcing his resolution a very hours before it was executed, - and he begged Lord Waldegrave to state the case fairly to the King.

They then passed on to other conversation, in the course of which Lord Waldegrave said that certainly the King did suspect the Duke of thwarting his business in several instances; and that, to give an example, Lord Halifax had declined a high appointment on the sole ground that he did not think himself at liberty to take any without the Duke of Newcastle's consent. "His

Grace," as Lord Waldegrave relates it, "did not think

* Lord Waldegrave's Memoirs, p. 121.

1757.

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NEW ADMINISTRATION.

107

"it necessary to make answer to particular facts, but said "in general that it was hard he should be condemned "because some gentlemen endeavoured to clear them"selves by loading him. . . . . . That he had given me "notice some days ago of a man near the King's person, a favourite, one in whom His Majesty had the greatest "confidence, who would soon resign his employment; "that I might easily guess he meant Holderness, though "he had not named him; and that with a single word he "could cause so many resignations as would give the "Court a very empty appearance. I did not think it necessary to add to his confusion by comparing his "last words with the solemn declaration which I was to "make in His Grace's name concerning Holderness's resignation, but contented myself with telling him that "if it was in his power to deprive the King of his “servants, and if he really intended it, the sooner it was "done the better, that His Majesty might know with certainty what he had to expect, and whom he had "to depend on."

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The prospect of so many resignations, as it grew nearer and more certain, daunted in some degree the Monarch's resolution. The heart of Fox also failed him, notwithstanding the jovial exhortations of Lord Granville, and the angry reproaches of the Duke of Bedford. “is useless,” said Bedford, "to give ourselves any further "trouble, for we cannot possibly go on without a prin"cipal actor in the House of Commons, and Fox has not

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spirit to undertake it." On his part the King bitterly inveighed against the chief Whig nobility, who, he said, chose rather to be the footmen of the Duke of Newcastle than the friends and counsellors of their Sovereign.* But His Majesty had no longer any alternative but to yield. He sent for Lord Mansfield to Kensington, and gave him full powers to negotiate with Pitt and Newcastle. Lord Hardwicke, though declining to resume the Great Seal, was zealous and useful in promoting the desired arrangement. Thus, after several days of further

* Compare Lord Waldegrave's Memoirs, p. 133. with Lord Or ford's (vol. ii. p. 223.). The King reverted more than once to the phrase "footmen of the Duke of Newcastle."