CHAPTER XXXIV.

NOTWITHSTANDING the readiness that Pitt had shown for the support of Hanover, he had by no means succeeded in surmounting the aversion of the King. Early in 1757 His Majesty sent for Lord Waldegrave, as his personal friend, to hear his complaints According to Waldegrave's own testimony (and there can be none higher), the King, who had a quick conception, and did not like to be kept long in suspense, expected that those who talked to him on business should come at once to the point. Now Pitt and Lord Temple, being orators even in familiar conversation, endeavoured to guide His Majesty's passions, and to convince his judgment, according to the rules of rhetoric.*

66

In the King's own statement to Lord Waldegrave, however, a wide distinction was made between Pitt and Temple. "The Secretary," said His Majesty, "makes "me long speeches, which, possibly, may be very fine, "but are greatly beyond my comprehension; and his "letters are affected, formal, and pedantic. But as to Temple, he is so disagreeable a fellow that there is no "bearing him. When he attempts to argue he is pert, "and sometimes insolent; when he means to be civil he "is exceedingly troublesome, and in the business of his "office he is totally ignorant." Above all, His Majesty resented a parallel with which the First Lord of the Admiralty had indulged him between Byng's behaviour at Minorca and the King's own conduct at Oudenarde in 1708, giving a preference to the former, and thus leaving His Majesty to draw the inference, that if Byng deserved to be shot, his Royal Master must deserve to be hanged! -It may seem incredible that any Minister, even Lord Temple, should be thus rash and presuming, yet the

* Memoirs, p. 90.

1757.

THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE.

99

narrative of Lord Orford to that effect will be found substantially confirmed by Lord Waldegrave.*

66

66

In this state of feeling the King proceeded to inquire of Waldegrave how far the Duke of Newcastle might be disposed to return to office. Waldegrave replied that the Duke was almost equally balanced at that juncture between his thirst for place and his dread of danger. "I know," rejoined His Majesty, "that he is apt to be afraid, there"fore go and encourage him; tell him that I do not look upon myself as King whilst I am in the hands of these "scoundrels; that I am determined to get rid of them at any rate; that I expect his assistance, and that he may "depend on my favour and protection."-Newcastle, however, continued in all the agonies of irresolution; sometimes his ambition and sometimes his fears predominated; and whatever he said one day he was sure to unsay the next. Above all, he was daunted at a notice in the House of Commons for a Parliamentary Inquiry on the loss of Minorca. Of this Inquiry Charles Townshend had undertaken the management, and it was certain to want neither skill nor bitterness in his hands. Now, then, the Duke apprehended that were he, by a premature acceptance of office, to incense the opposite party beyond all bounds, they might be inclined to press for a vote of censure on his conduct before and during the siege of St. Philip's. If, on the contrary, he remained aloof, the result might probably be a vote of acquittal to the late administration. On the whole, therefore, and after much wavering on his part, both he and Waldegrave counselled the King to delay the dismissal of Pitt and Temple until after the supplies were voted, and the Inquiries closed.

Another train of events, however, brought matters to a speedier crisis. The King had during the winter mustered his Electoral army at Hanover for the defence of his dominions, and to the command of that army he appointed the Duke of Cumberland. The time for action was now close at hand, and the Duke's departure for his post became of pressing importance. But the Duke had

*Compare Lord Orford's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 197. with Lord Waldegrave's, p. 94.

conceived a strong prejudice against Pitt as an AntiHanoverian, and felt most reluctant to commence his operations with such a Secretary of State to control them. He urged the King at all hazards to dismiss his Ministers before His Royal Highness embarked, and this importunity of a favourite son prevailed over all the dictates of prudence.

On the 5th of April, accordingly, Lord Holderness went to Lord Temple to inform him that the King would dispense with his further services. It was hoped that Pitt would have immediately resigned upon this provocation, but he wisely resolved to leave the whole responsibility of the change with his opponents. A few days. later he received his expected dismissal, and was forthwith followed by Legge and others of inferior note. Lord Winchelsea accepted the Admiralty; but the Seals were offered round and round, and on all sides refused; the offers descended even to the level of Sir Thomas Robinson. Yet the Duke of Cumberland was so ignorant or so heedless of the workings of the British Constitution as to be full of exultation when he embarked in the midst

of this uncertainty. "At all events," he said, "the King

66

"cannot be in a worse condition than he has been." Yes, Sir," answered General Conway; "but he will, if "Mr. Pitt gets the better."

The public attention was now turned to the long expected and pompously announced Inquiry which was to commence on the 19th of April. Of this scene a sketch is given us by Horace Walpole, so characteristic even of many a later House of Commons and of more modern Members, that it must carry conviction of its truth and reality to every man of Parliamentary experience. "The House of Commons in person undertakes "to examine all the intelligence, letters, and orders of "the administration that lost Minorca. In order to this, they pass over a whole winter; then they send for cartloads of papers from all the offices, leaving it to the "discretion of the clerks to transcribe, insert, or omit "whatever they please, and without inquiring what the "accused Ministers had left or secreted. Before it was possible to examine these with any attention, supposing they were worth any, the whole House goes to "work, sets the clerk to reading such bushels of letters

66

66

1757.

66

INQUIRY ON THE LOSS OF MINORCA.

101

"that the very dates fill three-and-twenty sheets of paper; he reads as fast as he can; nobody attends, every body goes away; and to-night they determined "that the whole should be read through on to-morrow "and Friday, that one may have time to digest on Saturday and Sunday what one had scarce heard, can"not remember, nor is it worth while! And then on "Monday, without asking any questions, examining any "witnesses, authority or authenticity, the Tories are to "affirm that the Ministers were very negligent,—the Whigs that they were wonderfully informed, discreet, provident, and active!"*

66

Yet such is the Assembly which (admirable as it is for the strife and encounter of parties) has again and again presumed to array itself against COURTS OF LAW, and believes itself equally or better fitted to dispense impartial justice!

During the Inquiry Pitt was disabled by gout, and it was imagined would gladly seize that ground for nonattendance. In truth, his appeared no easy part to play. Into whichever scale he threw his weight that scale would probably prevail. But if he leaned towards a vote of acquittal he would relieve his rival Fox from danger, and might put his own popularity to hazard. If he leaned towards a vote of censure, he would close the door for ever against any combination with Newcastle and with Newcastle's followers. Nevertheless the "Great Commoner" (for so by a slight anticipation I may already term him), disdaining to shrink, appeared in his place, and sat through the long and irksome discussion, his body swathed in riding coats, his right arm dependent in a sling. He showed none of that resentment, none of that thirst for vengeance, which so proud a spirit might have been expected to feel at so recent, so unmerited, so ungracious a dismissal. On the second day, indeed, he threatened, with some vehemence, to secede, and publish to the world the iniquity of the majority. But, except in this sudden sally, his tone was calm, temperate, and lenient. He said that he should prefer merely printing the examination, and leaving the public to judge for

* H. Walpole to Sir H. Mann, April 20. 1757.

themselves. Nor was the course which the House of Commons finally adopted much more decisive than this suggestion. A series of fifteen Resolutions was passed, which, after minutely recapitulating the state of affairs and the distribution of forces in April, 1756, proceeded to declare that no greater number of ships or of troops could be sent than were sent to the relief of Minorca. This last sentence, however, was not obtained without much difficulty; several of the most respectable followers of Newcastle or Fox voted in the minority on this occasion, and many more walked away without voting, thus endeavouring to spare alike their consciences and their friends. On the whole, this result might be considered in the light of a qualified acquittal, though equally removed from the vote of approbation which Newcastle and Fox had hoped and designed, and from the vote of censure which their opponents had demanded.

Meanwhile the public resentment, like a strong and rushing tide, had set in from all parts of the country at the news of Pitt's dismissal. The loss of Minorca was held forth as only the type of other and greater losses to come. Nothing but disaster was foreboded should men so much despised as Newcastle or so much hated as Fox be entrusted with the supreme direction of the war. In London the Common Council met and passed some strong Resolutions. The Stocks, now so slightly if at all stirred by any Ministerial changes, fell. The chief townsBath, Chester, Worcester, Norwich, Salisbury, Yarmouth, Newcastle-on-Tyne, and many more-sent the freedom of their city to Pitt. "For some weeks," says Horace Walpole, "it rained gold boxes." Exeter, with an affectation of old British spirit that looked like parsimony in disguise, sent its box of heart of oak. In all these tokens of honour, these tributes of regret, Legge received an equal share with Pitt, for, however unlike in talent or renown, both were for the moment conjoined by the same principles, and by their common dismissal.*

* A caricature was current at this time, representing Pitt and Legge as Don Quixote and Sancho Pança in the same triumphal car, and adding a well-chosen motto from Juvenal,

Et sibi Consul

"Ne placeat, servus curru portatur eodem."

(Lord Orford's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 202.)