--

"tion?" 66 Any Member of the House of Commons," answered the Duke. Fox next proceeded to inquire as to the filling up of the Ministerial boroughs at the approaching Dissolution. The Duke said, 66 My brother "has settled it all with Lord Duplin." - "Not all," said Fox, and he named some yet vacant boroughs; but Newcastle cut him short by repeating peevishly that all was settled.

The expectant Secretary of State withdrew from the conference, baffled and angry, yet irresolute. On consulting Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, the younger Horace Walpole, and others of his friends, he found them strongly against his undertaking the management of the House of Commons on such terms. He therefore wrote to Newcastle, requesting to withdraw his name from the proffered post as Secretary of State, but promising his continued services as Secretary at War. Probably he expected a renewal of the treaty on the former foundation. But the Duke, gaining courage by degrees, hoped that the mere offer might be sufficient to satisfy his party, and that a mere tool might now answer his purpose as his deputy in the House of Commons, Accordingly he hastened to take Fox at his word, and bestow the Seals of Secretary upon Sir Thomas Robinson, a dull, uncouth, yet complying man,- —a fit colleague for Holderness,—who had gained some diplomatic knowledge from his mission to Vienna, and who was welcome to the King from his German politics. But "he was ignorant," says Lord Waldegrave, even of the language of an "House of Commons controversy; and when he played "the orator, which he too frequently attempted, it was "so exceedingly ridiculous that those who loved and "esteemed him could not always preserve a friendly com""* posure of countenance." It was certainly no light or easy task which the Duke of Newcastle had thus accomplished - he had succeeded in finding a Secretary of State with abilities inferior to his own.

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A few other promotions followed. The Lord Chancellor was raised to an Earldom; and advantage was taken of Sir Dudley Ryder's advancement to the Bench to make

*Memoirs, p. 32.

1754.

LETTERS FROM PITT.

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Places

Murray, instead of Solicitor, Attorney-General. were also found for Sir George Lyttleton and George Grenville-mainly perhaps as friends of Pitt.

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Letters explanatory and apologetical now went forth to Pitt at Bath, both from Hardwicke and from Newcastle. His own feelings will best be judged by some words of his reply:- Having long borne a load of obloquy for supporting the King's measures, and never obtaining in recompense the smallest remission of that displeasure I vainly laboured to soften, all ardour for "public business is really extinguished in my mind, and "I am totally deprived of all consideration by which "alone I could have been of any use. The weight of "irremoveable Royal displeasure is a load too great to move under; it must crush any man; it has sunk and "broke me. I succumb, and wish for nothing but a "decent and innocent retreat, wherein I may no longer - by continuing in the public stream of promotion — "for ever stick fast aground, and afford to the world the "ridiculous spectacle of being passed by every boat that "navigates the same river. To speak without a figure, "I will presume upon your Lordship's great goodness to me to tell my utmost wish: it is, that a retreat, not "void of advantage, nor derogatory to the rank of the "office I hold, might as soon as practicable be opened to "me." *

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If, however, the wish for a quiet retirement or rich sinecure (the first term would have been applied by his friends, and the other by his enemies,) had really risen in the haughty mind of Pitt, it ere long passed away. On his return to London he showed a just mixture of moderation and resentment. When the Duke of Newcastle asked his opinion of the new arrangements, he declined answering. On being pressed, he said at last: "Your "Grace will be surprised, but I think Mr. Fox should "have been at the head of the House of Commons."† On another occasion, when the Duke wished to consult him on the intended expedition to America, Pitt answered

*To the Earl of Hardwicke, April 6. 1754. Chatham Correspondence, vol. i. p. 105. ed. 1838.

† Lord Orford's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 340.

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proudly: "Your Grace, I suppose, knows that I have no capacity for these things, and, therefore, I do not desire "to be informed about them!"*

It was at this period that Pitt took to wife Lady Hester Grenville, sister of Earl Temple-a marriage which, while it secured his domestic happiness, strengthened his political connexion. From this time forward the family of Grenville-flourishing both in its main stem and in its branches and surnamed by those who envied or opposed it" the Cousinhood” - has continued to play a conspicuous and important part on the scene of politics. A writer of our own day has computed that within the space of fifty years three First Lords of the Treasury, three Secretaries of State, two Keepers of the Privy Seal, and four First Lords of the Admiralty were appointed from among the sons and grandsons of the first Countess Temple.t

No sooner were the Ministerial arrangements completed than the Parliament was dissolved. So great a lull had at this time come over party-spirit that it scarcely appeared even at elections. Only forty-two places in all England were contested ‡; and in no point of character or feeling could the old Parliament be distinguished from the new. Yet, as we learn from good authority, large sums had been spent for seats on this occasion, by previous contracts either with the "patrons," as they were termed, of some electors, or with the electors themselves.§

The new Parliament met in November. Before that time a common resentment had united the two statesmen whom rivalry had hitherto kept asunder - Pitt and Fox. "Sir Thomas Robinson lead us!" exclaimed Pitt to Fox. "The Duke might as well send his jackboot to lead "us!" Thus, on every occasion that arose in debate,

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* Dodington's Diary, October 8. 1754.

† Edinburgh Review, No. cxxxvii. p. 121. By Mr. Macaulay. Tindal's History, vol. ix. p. 510.

H. Walpole to Mr. Bentley, May 18. 1754. Dodington's entry in his Journal on his own election is as follows: " April 14. 15. 16.: Spent in the infamous and disagreeable compliance with the low "habits of venal wretches." This was at Bridgewater, where Loid Egmont prevailed against him.

This saying is recorded by retrospect in Lord Orford's Memoirs (vol. ii. p. 101.).

they agreed to ridicule poor Sir Thomas

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or rather, as

a contemporary observes, assist him whilst he turned himself into ridicule.* The genius of Pitt tended most to open attack that of Fox to insidious defence. For example, the Reading Election Petition having been fixed for a future day, Robinson was incautious enough to commit himself against it unheard, asserting with warmth that it would be a short cause, and, on the side of the sitting Member, a poor cause. Upon this Pitt handled him roughly. Fox rose as if in his vindication, pleading Sir Thomas's twenty years' residence abroad on the public service, which had done honour to himself and to the country, and which easily accounted for his present irregular and blamable expressions, and his total inexperience and ignorance of the matters then before the House! This story is told by Fox himself in one of his private letters t; and, he adds ironically, "Sir Thomas "did not like it."

On another occasion Pitt ventured to turn from the tool to the master; not content with piercing Robinson, he let fly his shaft at Newcastle himself. The subject was another Election Petition-for Berwick-on the plea of bribery. Mr. Delaval, one of the sitting Members, made a speech on his being thus attacked, which was full of wit and buffoonery, and kept the House in a continual roar of laughter. Pitt was then in the gallery, but descended with stately step, and rose to speak in solemn tones. He was astonished, he said, when he heard what had been the occasion of their mirth. Was the dignity of the House of Commons on so sure a foundation that themselves might venture to shake it? Then high compliments to the Speaker; then, at last, eloquent exhortations to Whigs of all sections to defend their attacked and expiring liberty"-unless," he added in a voice of thunder, "you will degenerate into a little assembly, serving no other purpose than to register the arbitrary "edicts of one too powerful subject!" Displeased as "well as pleased," says Fox, "allow it to be the finest

* Lord Waldegrave's Memoirs, p. 31.

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†To Lord Hartington, November 26. 1754

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66 speech that was ever made; and it was observed that, by his first two periods, he brought the House to a "silence and attention that you might have heard a pin drop." ""* According to another ear-witness, "this thunderbolt, thrown in a sky so long serene, confounded "the audience. Murray crouched silent and terrified. Legge scarce rose to say, with great humility, that he "had been raised solely by the Whigs, and if he fell sooner or later he should pride himself in nothing but " in being a Whig." †

I have, as I think, observed in Parliament, that of all statesmen, former diplomatists-trained as they have been to a formal and ceremonious politeness - wince the most at being baited. Sir Thomas Robinson, after two or three of such "cruel mumblings," as Horace Walpole terms them, grew weary and ashamed of his perilous eminence. On the other hand, the Duke of Newcastle shook with terror at the almost nightly attacks on his puppet or on himself. He was the more provoked since the two ringleaders Pitt and Fox-both held offices in his administration; yet, so much did he dread their abilities, that he would not venture either to dismiss or to promote them. At length, in the January following, he renewed, through Lord Waldegrave, his negotiation with Fox. The terms he offered were far less than those Fox had formerly refused-neither the lead of the House of Commons, nor the office of Secretary of State-but admission to the Cabinet, provided Fox would actively support the King's measures in the House, and would in some sort lead without being leader. If these terms, as I have stated them, should appear inconsistent, perplexed, and shuffling, let the reader in justice impute the fault to Newcastle, and not to me.

Fox, to the dissatisfaction of many of his friends, and to the surprise of all, accepted this offer. He appears to have communicated each step of the negotiation as it

* Mr. Fox to Lord Hartington, November 26. 1754. Lord Waldegrave's Memoirs, p. 147.

† Lord Orford's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 354.

To Sir Horace Mann, December 1. 1754.