HUMILIATION OF FRANCE.

191

In November the triumph

victory was wooed and won. of the British arms seemed to be consummated by Admiral Hawke's defeat of the French at Quiberon, Nov. 20th. In truth, the navy of France was swept from the seas, where, only two years before, it had reigned supreme. "Ce royaume," says Voltaire, "n'a pu essuyer de si grands désastres sans perdre encore tous les vaisseaux qu'il envoyait pour les prévenir; à peine une flotte était-elle en mer qu'elle était ou prise ou détruite: on construisait des vaisseaux à la hâte; c'était travailler pour l'Angleterre, dont ils devenait bientôt la proie." Walpole writes in great good humour:-" I really believe the French will come hither now, for they can be safe nowhere else. If the King of Prussia should be totally undone in Germany we can afford to give him an appanage, as a younger son of England, of some hundred thousand miles on the Ohio. Sure universal monarchy was never so put to shame as that of France! What a figure do they make! They seem to have no ministers, no generals, no soldiers!" Again, referring to Hawke's victory, he says: "Thus we wind up this wonderful year! Who that died three years ago and could revive, would believe it? . . . One is forced to ask every

*

* From a letter of Walpole's, a few weeks later, we get a glimpse of Pitt's domestic affairs:-" Mr. Pitt is not only a most ingenious young man [this was Pitt's nephew], but a most amiable one: he has already acted in the most noble style-I don't mean that he took a quarter of Quebec, or invaded a bit of France, or has spoken in the House of Commons better than Demosthenes's nephew; but he has an odious father [Pitt's elder brother], and has insisted in glorious cuttings off of entails on himself, that his father's debts might be paid, and his sisters provided for."

192

PITT'S BRILLIANT CAREER.

morning what victory there is, for fear of missing one.' And all this military glory, and all these extensive conquests, had been won without injury to the commercial interests of the country, which exhibited every sign of unusual wealth and prosperity. The importance of some of our greatest manufacturing and commercial towns dates from this period; and the general opinion of his contemporaries confirmed by the judgment of posterity, is embodied in that inscription on the monument of Lord Chatham in the Guildhall of London, which records that under his administration commerce had been united with, and made to flourish by, war. When he assumed office, England was only an European Power, and almost bankrupt in honour and influence. In 1762, she was not only a great European Power, but an Asiatic and an American Power, whose line of military posts was rapidly stretching, like a girdle, round the whole globe.

Macaulay is right in considering the position occupied at the close of George the 2nd's reign by the man who had achieved these results, as the most enviable ever occupied by any man in English history. He had conciliated the King; he ruled supreme in the House of Commons; the people adored him; all Europe looked up to him with admiration. He had made England the greatest country in the world; and he himself was the greatest Englishman of his time. The nation was filled with pride and delight. The Parliament was undisturbed by the struggles of factions. It seemed as if party spirit were entirely dead; and even in the religious world tranquillity prevailed. The Church was indulgent,

ACCESSION OF GEORGE THE THIRD.

193

if apathetic; the Dissenters were tolerated; and persecution no longer vexed the Roman Catholics. The "golden year" of our Victorian poet was anticipated. And all had been accomplished by the genius of one man. But at the very moment when the future of Pitt's power appeared to be thoroughly consolidated, it was tottering to its fall. The accession of George the 3rd (in October, 1760) completely changed the aspect of affairs. He came to the throne calling himself "a Whig of the Revolution," and resolved to be every inch a King; a patriot king such as Bolingbroke had sketched, holding in his own hands the issues of peace and war, and rising high above the dictation of parties and ministers. He knew little or nothing of the principles of parliamentary government, and could conceive of no other policy than an amiable despotism. Of Pitt he was madly jealous; and he did not disguise his desire that "decrepitude or death" might quickly put an end to a career which threw the throne into shadow and obscurity. He was assisted by circumstances in carrying out his designs against the Constitution. The Tory party was ready to rally round a young king, who had been born in England, and boasted of being an Englishman. He quickly increased the number of his adherents by a judicious employment of the patronage which was still at the Crown's disposal. It had been practically usurped by the Ministers of his predecessors; but by George the 3rd it was resumed and jealously held. Thus, with the weapon of which Walpole had made such dexterous use, "he broke up (as Mr. Green puts it) the party Walpole had so firmly bound together." He perceived that the

VOL. I.

13

194

FRANCE AND SPAIN.

He

Whigs were divided among themselves by the factious spirit originating in a long enjoyment of power. perceived, too, that they were weakened by the anger and contempt with which the country was beginning to regard the selfishness and corruption of its representatives. Upwards of thirty years before, Gay had ridiculed the leading statesmen of the time in the 'Beggars' Opera," and in 'Polly,' under the guise of highwaymen and pickpockets. "It is difficult to determine," he said, "whether the fine gentlemen imitate the gentlemen of the road, or the gentlemen of the road the fine gentlemen." The "fine gentlemen" were now represented by Newcastle and his myrmidons, and the public scorn was deeper and greater than ever.

We think, with Mr. Green, that the King would not have prevailed against Pitt and Newcastle, the one representing public opinion, and the other parliamentary management, had the two maintained a firm alliance. But the Whig families were already falling away from the Great Minister, dissatisfied with his rejection of the French proposals of peace because they involved a betrayal of Prussia. In 1761, he obtained information of the conclusion of a new Bourbon family compact between France and Spain; and, with the usual audacity of his genius, he proposed to declare war against Spain, to seize the treasure fleet from the Indies, and to attack at once both Havanna and the Philippines. Had his scheme been executed, Spain would have been brought to her knees, and probably the destiny of Spanish America would have been completely changed. But it was too vast for the conception of his colleagues, his

PITT'S RESIGNATION.

195

brother-in-law, Earl Temple, excepted; and it was distasteful to the King and "the power behind the King." Newcastle, supported by the Court, and encouraged by the Duke of Bedford, the Earl of Hardwicke, George Grenville, and other members of the Whig party, rejected Pitt's proposal; and Pitt and Earl Temple immediately resigned (October 5, 1761).

The great statesman's fall was hailed on the Continent with a burst of exultation. "Pitt disgraced!" exclaimed a French philosopher; "it is worth two victories to us." By the English people it was witnessed with profound regret.* When he joined the civic procession on the

In the New Foundling Hospital for Wit' is preserved the following effusion, entitled "Corinna Vindicated:"