376

ANECDOTES OF LORD NORTH.

denounced the Minister who could sleep while his country was ruined, and called aloud for his head. Lord North contented himself with replying, that it was cruel to begrudge him the indulgence granted to other criminals, a night's rest before their execution. When surprised in a similar performance by a very bad speaker, who manifested the utmost indignation, he remarked that it was unjust to wish to deprive him of so natural a release from considerable suffering; but, as if recollecting himself, added, that the gentleman had no right to complain of him for taking the remedy which he himself had been good enough to administer. And when Mr. Martin proposed that a starling should be placed near the Speaker's chair, and taught to repeat the cry of "Infamous coalition! " he coolly suggested that, so long as the worthy member was preserved to them, this would be a waste of the public money, since the starling could well perform his office by deputy. His natural pleasantry was advantageously exhibited in the manner of his resignation. When he at last obtained the King's consent, so often solicited in vain, he hastened to the House of Commons. A motion of Lord Surrey's, calling for the dismissal of Ministers, stood on the order list (March 20th), and the Whigs were anxious it should come on before Lord North's resignation was officially announced, that his removal from office might unmistakeably appear to be the act of the House of Commons. He and Lord Surrey rose at the same instant, and some disorder took place, which led Mr. Fox, with much quickness and address, to move, as the readiest method of extricating the House from its embarrassment, "that Lord Surrey be now heard."

the rockinGHAM-SHELBurne MINISTRY. 377

With characteristic humour, and greater presence of mind, Lord North sprang to his feet, and said, "I rise to speak to that motion;" and gave, as his reason for opposing it, the resignation and dissolution of the Ministry. Amid much excitement the House adjourned. It was a bitterly cold night, and the snow fell heavily. Expecting a long debate, the members had dismissed their carriages, and only Lord North's was in waiting. He put into it one or two of his friends, whom he had invited to go home with him, and turning to the crowd, chiefly composed of his exulting adversaries, he exclaimed with a genial smile, and in a tone which betrayed no vexation or irritability, "I have my carriage. You see, gentlemen, the advantage of being in the secret. Good night." *

The leading spirits in the new ministry were Rockingham and Shelburne, with Fox as Secretary of State and Leader of the House of Commons. Its watchwords, less common then than they have been of late years, were Peace, Reform, and Economy. It began by entering upon negotiations with the United States for the purpose of terminating a bloody and inglorious contest; - but here Fox was much embarrassed by the assumption of undue authority on the part of his colleague, Lord Shelburne. It was also called upon to pacify Ireland, which was in a state of open rebellion. While resisting

* Frederick, Lord North, was born in 1733; entered Parliament in 1754, and was made a Lord of the Treasury in 1759. In 1767, he became Chancellor of the Exchequer. He succeeded to the title of Earl of Guildford in 1790, and died in 1792, in his 60th year. For the last five years of his life he was afflicted with blindness.

378

MOVEMENTS OF REFORM.

a motion for repealing the Act of George the 1st, which gave the English Government a control over the Irish Legislature, Fox was prepared to make all reasonable concessions. But he soon found that the time for such concessions had gone by, and the repeal was granted, which alone could satisfy the Irish nation. To limit the irregular influence of the Crown was another object which the Ministry had at heart; and measures were passed disqualifying contractors from sitting in Parliament, and depriving revenue officers of the elective franchise. Some reduction of the Civil Establishment was effected. On the question of parliamentary reform the government hesitated; though it was one which ought to have united in a firm phalanx the various sections of the Whigs. The Duke of Richmond, anticipating the projects of Radical reformers of a later time, favoured annual Parliaments and universal suffrage. Fox desired a thorough reform, but did not go to so violent an extreme. Burke took an optimistic view of things as they were. Accordingly, when Pitt moved for a committee of inquiry, and hinted at the abolition of rotten boroughs and the creation of real constituencies, the Ministry did not support him unanimously, and he . was beaten by 20.

The unexpected death of Lord Rockingham dissolved the brief-lived administration. Fox and his friends wished the Duke of Portland to be his successor, but the King hastened to give the premiership to Shelburne. Fox, who distrusted Shelburne, and had many causes of complaint against him, at once resigned; and Lord Grantham and Thomas Townshend became Secretaries of State,

COALITION OF FOX AND NORTH.

379

with Pitt for Chancellor of the Exchequer. Thenceforward Pitt and Fox were rivals; and the country was destined to suffer severely by the long-continued opposition of two great men, whose principles of policy were fundamentally the same, and who, had they worked together, would doubtlessly have anticipated many of the valuable reforms which have been accomplished within our own time.

The Shelburne Ministry lasted only long enough to conclude successfully the negotiations which the Rockingham cabinet had begun, and to restore peace between England, France, and America by the Treaty of Paris. It was overthrown in February, 1783, by that coalition between Fox and Lord North, which so astonished their contemporaries, and has been so strongly censured by posterity.* It was undoubtedly a bold proceeding, and, as Fox himself said, nothing but success could authorize it. "Unless a real good Government is the consequence," " said General Fitzpatrick, "nothing can justify it to the public." Its condemnation, therefore, is to be found in its failure. And inasmuch as it overthrew the recognised landmarks of party, dissolved the legiti-. mate alliances of statesmen, and brought upon Mr. Fox a burden of unpopularity which weakened for the rest of his life the influence of his genius, eloquence, and

Shelburne had made overtures to Fox, but he refused to join unless Shelburne resigned the premiership to the Duke of Portland. He then turned to North, offering to admit his friends, but not himself. North apprehending that Pitt and Fox might effect a junction, listened to the suggestions of Lord Loughborough, Mr. Cain, and others, that he should unite with Fox, and expel Shelburne.-WRAXALL, Memoirs,' iii. 254-277.

380

ITS EFFECT ON THE PUBLIC MIND.

political foresight, it was undoubtedly an error. Another objection may be taken to it, that it was illtimed. However worthy of criticism the peace of 1783, it was certainly as good a peace as Lord North could have made; and whatever blame attached to it was due to the misgovernment of Lord North himself, which had reduced the country to so humiliating a condition. Again Mr. Fox at one time had directed against Lord North the fiercest invectives. If these were justifiable, it was clearly not his duty to unite with the man whom he had lashed in language so unsparing; if they were not justifiable, he stood before the people convicted of unmeaning passion and irrational anger. It has been well observed that Lord North readily forgave the utterance of these diatribes, but the public never forgave their being retracted. On the other hand, it is not to be forgotten that Lord North and Mr. Fox had no personal antipathies to overcome. They were both men of generous temper, kindly feelings, and simple, manly, straightforward character. What Fox said of himself, might be said of North: "Amicitiæ sempiternæ, inimicitiæ placabiles." Nor were their political differences important, except, perhaps, as regarded the question of Parliamentary Reform. On other subjects North had opposed Fox because he was in office, and chose to consider himself the servant and mouth-piece of the King.*

* The extent of the King's interference with the Government, and the vast scope of his meddlesomeness, can be appreciated only by a study of his correspondence with Lord North, published by Lord Brougham in the Appendix to his 'Life of North,' (Brougham's Collected Works, iii. 69,