484 THE KING'S RECOVERY. expressed. He regarded the restrictions as a project for producing weakness, disorder, and insecurity in every branch of the administration of affairs; for dividing the members of the royal family from each other; for separating the Court from the State; a scheme disconnecting the authority to command service, from the power of animating it by reward; and for allotting to the Prince all the invidious duties of government, without the means of softening them to the public by any act of grace, favour, or benignity. Pitt, however, persevered. He carried through both Houses resolutions embodying the foregoing conditions, and ultimately the Prince accepted them. A Regency Bill was then intro duced into the Commons on the 5th of February (1789); and it passed through its various stages with large majorities. On the 12th of February it was submitted to the Lords. It was read a second time, and taken in committee, when, on the 17th, the Lord Chancellor was able to announce that it would probably be unnecessary to proceed with it on account of the improvement in the King's health. On the 23rd, the King was able to write to Pitt; and physicians issued their last bulletin. a serious and perplexing episode. point of view, Fox had fought a losing battle and displayed indifferent generalship. The victory was un on the 26th the Thus terminated From a political * Canning told Moore that he had always thought Sheridan to be the author of this reply, and remembered, though a boy at the time, hearing some passages of it from Sheridan before it appeared; though this might have happened without its being actually written by him. Canning, however, agreed with Moore that it was in a chaster style of composition than Sheridan usually adopted. PITT'S FINANCIAL MEASURES. 485 questionably with Pitt, whose popularity in the country was increased by his vindication of public rights,* and whose favour with the King was confirmed by his steadfast opposition to any encroachment on the privileges of the Crown. The King's recovery called forth a spontaneous and an enthusiastic manifestation of loyalty. London blazed with light from one extremity to the other; the illuminations extending from Hampstead and Highgate to Clapham, and even to Tooting; while a similar spectacle was presented over all the vast area of houses between Greenwich and Kensington. The poorest mechanics contributed their proportion, and instances were not wanting, says Wraxall, of cobblers' stalls decorated with one or two farthing candles.† Relieved from the anxieties induced by so critical a struggle, Pitt was at liberty to devote himself to the elaboration of the financial schemes in which his practical intellect was thoroughly at home. He projected a great measure of Free Trade, the abolition of all Customs Duties, so as to make England the granary and "emporium" of the world, and the restriction of the public income to internal taxation. There is no doubt The disinterestedness of his conduct was much admired. It was known that if dismissed from office, he would be reduced to a very limited income; and a proposal was made to raise a subscription of £50,000, or £3000 per annum, which would have been promptly carried out, but for Pitt's declinature. The conduct of the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York during the King's illness justly elicited expressions of disgust; it was alike unfilial and indecorous. See Madame D'Arblay's Diary,' vol. iv.; Earl Russell's 'Memorials of Fox,' vol. ii.; Earl Stanhope's Life of Pitt,' vol. ii. 4 Sir G. Cornewall Lewis, British Administrations,' p. 134. 486 PITT AND WALPOLE. that the promotion of commerce and the reduction of the National Debt were the objects which he had at heart; and that, therefore, he was by conviction, as also, perhaps, by temperament, a Peace Minister. It will be seen that in the policy of his earlier and happier time he closely sympathised with that of Walpole. His financial schemes were based upon the same principles, his view of the true interests of the country was exactly the same. We may carry the parallelism further. His idea of the Church was as low as Walpole's. He shrank from interfering with its privileges; but he looked upon it simply as a State institution which helped to guarantee the social order and wellbeing of the kingdom. He desired to bestow its great offices on men of learning and party; but he wished also to render them available for strengthening his political influence. Like Walpole, he was in favour of toleration; but, like Walpole, he hesitated to grant it in opposition to the Church, and, therefore, when he found the bishops, or a majority of fourteen out of sixteen, inimical to the proposed repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, he procured its rejection. Like Walpole, he was willing to grant full liberty to the Press, and he gave his support to the reform of the Libel Law. But again, like Walpole, he was no patron of literature or of literary men. His neglect called forth the reproach of a contemporary satirist : "Pitt views alike, from Holwood's sullen brow,t (As near-observing friendship dares avow,) * Matthias, Pursuits of Literature,' pt. ii. + Pitt acquired the small estate of Holwood Hill, near Hayes, in 1785. THEIR NEGLECT OF LITERATURE. The fount of Pindus or Boeotia's bog, -More spleen to Pitt; he's liberal, but by stealth. For all, but Burke, escape his searching eye. 487 Lord Stanhope, Pitt's best, because his fairest, apologist, admits that the charge is well-founded. In some cases, he adds, it is no doubt very easy to offer an adequate defence. In the case of Porson, for instance, it must be owned that his intemperate habits, no less than his democratic views, unfitted him for preferment, notwithstanding his remarkable erudition. But in the case of many others, as, for example, the poet Cowper, no such plea can be alleged. It is true that Burns received an exciseman's place; but the gift came from Dundas, not Pitt. We are not of those, however, who think that Literature flourishes most strongly when sunned by a minister's smile; and we are content to accept Mr. Goldwin Smith's apology-"How can a statesmen have leisure to discriminate literary merit? And if he cannot discriminate, how can we desire that he should patronise? Of course he can be told what writers are on his own side in politics, and he can see who flatter him in the prefaces; but this is not what learning or the public wants. A munificent despot, such as Lewis the 14th, may foster a Court literature; a munificent party-chief, *The seal which Mecenas attached to edicts for the collection of taxes had the figure of a frog. 488 THE SECRET OF SUCCESS. such as the Whig leader in the reign of Anne, may foster a party literature. A healthy literature needs no fostering but that of freedom." On the other hand, we are free to confess that the relations of Peel and Gladstone to men of letters have been more honourable to themselves, and certainly less prejudicial to the interests of literature, than those of Walpole and Pitt. In the courage with which Pitt withstood opposition, in the tact with which he managed the House of Commons, in his attention towards the Court and Crown, in the faculty he possessed of detecting the right moment when to yield or when to maintain his ground, we see a resemblance to the great Minister of the two first Georges. We could fancy Walpole replying, as Pitt replied, to the question what quality was most required in a Prime Minister,-when one said Eloquence, and another Knowledge, and a third Toil,-"No, Patience."* For of Walpole's success, as of Pitt's, the secret was Patience, the patience of a clear strong intellect, a cool judgment, and a resolute will. But while drawing the parallel thus closely, we do not wish to forget that Pitt, as a man, has claims to our respect which Walpole cannot put forward. We would not omit to do justice to the purity of his life, to his unblemished personal integrity, to the goodness and gentleness of his temper, and to the sincerity of his religious belief. These qualities imparted to his public conduct an elevation which we do not perceive in that of Walpole; and, reflecting upon them, we may * Lord Brougham, 'Historical Sketches of British Statesmen,' i. 278. |