William Pitt and the Great War by John Holland Rose (book club reads txt) 📕

    And warble in its chambers.[438]

It was not to be. After toying with this day-dream, Pitt suddenly broke

away to Downing Street. His letter to Auckland, written there on 20th

January 1797, announced the decision of the Minister in chillingly

correct terms. In pathetically halting and laboured phraseology he

implied that he had throughout observed a correct aloofness. After five

long sentences of apology to the father he proceeded thus:

    Whoever may have the good fortune ever to be united to her is

    destined to more than his share of human happiness. Whether, at

    any rate, I could have had any ground to hope that such would

    have been my lot, I am in no degree entitled to guess. I have to

    reproach myself for ever having indulged the idea on my own part

    as far as I have done, without asking myself carefully and early

    enough what were the difficulties in the way of its being

    realised. I have suffered myself to overlook them too long, but

    having now at length reflected as fully and as calmly as I am

    able on every circumstance that ought to come under my

    consideration (at least as much for her sake as for my own) I am

    compelled to say that I find the obstacles to it decisive and

    insurmountable.[439]

Auckland had a right to feel the deepest pain at this official missive.

The matter had been discussed in newspapers. Indeed, a caricaturist

ventured to publish a sketch showing Pitt as Adam conducting Eve to the

nuptial bower in the garden of Eden, while behind it squatted Satan as a

toad, leering hatred through the features of Fox. It is to be hoped that

Auckland did not know of this indelicate cartoon when he replied to

Pitt. That letter has very properly been destroyed. But we have Pitt's

second letter to Auckland, in which he again assures him how deeply he

is affected by hearing of "the sentiments of another person, unhappily

too nearly interested in the subject in question." He adds these moving

words: "Believe me, I have not lightly or easily sacrificed my best

hopes and earnest wishes to my conviction and judgment." Auckland's

reply of 23rd January reveals the grief of his wife and daughter. For

two or three days they remained in absolute solitude, and that, too, in

a household remarkable for domestic affection. To Pitt also the decision

was a matter of deep pain and life-long regret. Thenceforth he trod the

path of duty alone. On 7th February the Archbishop of Canterbury wrote

to Auckland (his brother-in-law) that Pitt lived in seclusion and seemed

dreamy. At a recent Council meeting his face was swollen and unhealthy

looking. Probably this was the time at which Pitt informed Addington

that he must take the helm of State.[440]

We can only conjecture as to the insuperable obstacles to the union; but

it seems highly probable that they were of a financial kind. In the Pitt

MSS. (No. 196) there is a brief Memorandum in Pitt's writing, of the

year 1797, which must refer to his yearly expenses, either at Downing

Street or at Holwood. It gives the liquor account of the steward's room

as "£300 and upwards," and states that the other expenses of that room

might be reduced from £600 to £300, those of his own wardrobe from £600

to £400, and those of the stable from £400 to £300. These figures do not

tally with those of the Downing Street or Holwood accounts for the

latter half of 1797, which will be stated later; and the loose way in

which Pitt estimates his expenses is highly suggestive. We now know that

he was heading straight for bankruptcy throughout this period; and

probably on looking into his affairs he discovered the fact. It is also

certain that he lent money to his mother. She seems to have lost on

farming experiments at Burton Pynsent; for she charged her sons to

defray her just debts incurred in this manner, and the Bishop of Lincoln

in July 1801 stated that she owed to Pitt the sum of £5,800 on which she

ought to pay interest but did not. Chatham also borrowed £1,000 from

Pitt in August 1791, and the fact that he paid not a penny to help to

discharge the debts of his brother in the year 1801 seems to show that

he himself was still in low water.[441]

Piecing together these fragments of evidence, we may infer that Pitt's

near relations were a source of considerable expense, and that his own

heedlessness had by this time further served to embarrass him.

Therefore, his conduct towards Miss Eden, which at first sight seems

heartless, was probably dictated by sheer financial need. We may also

reject the spiteful statement in which Lady Hester Stanhope represented

Pitt as saying: "Oh, there was her mother [Lady Auckland],--such a

chatterer! and then the family intrigues! I can't keep them out of my

house; and for my King's and my country's sake I must remain a single

man." This is mere romancing. Pitt went to the Aucklands' house, not

they to his. As for the remark about Auckland's intrigues, it clearly

refers to the painful days after 1801, when Pitt broke with the

household at Beckenham.

There was only one method whereby Pitt could have assured his marriage

with Eleanor Eden, namely, by condescending to political jobbery. It was

beyond the power of Auckland, a comparatively poor man, burdened with a

large family, to grant a dowry with her unless Pitt awarded to him a

lucrative post and sinecures. Of course any such step was wholly out of

the question for either of them. In fact, Pitt opposed Auckland's

promotion, opened up by the death of Lord Mansfield, President of the

Council, though the public voice acclaimed Auckland as the

successor.[442] Equally noteworthy is the fact that, early in the year

1798, Pitt appointed Auckland Postmaster-General, with an annual stipend

of £2,500, but required him to give up his pension of £2,000 for

diplomatic services.[443] It is pleasing to record that their friendship

was not overclouded, except for a brief period.

There, then, we must leave this painful incident, but with heightened

admiration for Pitt. Outwardly his conduct appears frigid in the

extreme. Those, however, who probe the secrets of that reserved soul see

that his renunciation of conjugal bliss resulted from a scrupulous sense

of honour. As to the tenderness of his feelings at this time,

Addington, who knew him well, gives striking testimony, averring that in

his disposition there was "very much of the softness and milkiness of

human nature." That was the real Pitt.

                  *       *       *       *       *

Finance was the all-absorbing question in that gloomy winter of 1796-7.

The triumphs of Bonaparte in Italy and Hoche's attempt to invade Ireland

sank into insignificance in comparison with the oncoming shadow of

bankruptcy. The causes of this phenomenon are too technical to receive

adequate treatment here. Certainly the Bank Crisis of February of 1797

was not due to the exhaustion of the nation; for the revenue testified

to its abounding vitality. The Permanent Taxes maintained nearly the

high level reached in the prosperous year of peace, 1792, and the

figures for British Imports and Exports told the same tale, but the sums

of money borrowed in the years 1796, 1797 undoubtedly strained the

national credit.[444] Austria also applied to England for loans to

enable her to continue the war; and Pitt helped her to borrow in London

the sum of £4,600,000 in 1795, and £4,620,000 in 1796.

In one particular Pitt's action was unprecedented. In July 1796, during

the interval between the seventeenth and eighteenth Parliaments of Great

Britain, Austria sent urgent requests for pecuniary help so as to stay

the triumphs of the French in Italy and Swabia. Pitt yielded and

secretly remitted the sum of £1,200,000 as a loan. Undoubtedly this

opportune help enabled Austria to make the surprising efforts which

flung back the French to the Rhine, and checked the triumphal progress

of Bonaparte. Nevertheless, Fox threatened his rival with impeachment

for this unconstitutional action. Pitt replied with irresistible cogency

that the crisis called for bold handling, and that England helped her

ally to save the Empire and to maintain the contest in Italy. The House

condoned his action by 285 votes to 81, a proof that he dominated the

new Parliament as completely as its predecessor. He has been accused of

lavishing money on the Allies; but, except in this instance, he did not

by any means satisfy their claims. Moreover, they were justified in

expecting England to provide money in lieu of the troops which her War

Office failed to raise. Austria also solemnly covenanted to repay the

loans; and her neglect to do so occasioned a bitter dispute which long

held the two Powers apart. Pitt also refused her request for a loan in

the year 1797. As far as possible, he discouraged the raising of war

loans in London. Early in 1796 he did so in the case of Portugal from a

fear that the export of bullion would impair credit.[445]

At that time a novel expedient was shaping itself in his mind. On New

Year's Day he drove Sir John Sinclair from Dundas's house at Wimbledon

up to town; and on the way the baronet suggested the raising a great

loan on easy terms by an appeal to the loyalty of Britons.[446] The need

of some such device became increasingly apparent; for sinister symptoms

began to appear amidst the alarms of the autumn of 1796. The threats of

invasion led the Ministry to propose a special levy of 15,000 men to

reinforce the army, of 20,000 irregular cavalry, and of 60,000

supplemental Militia (18th October). These expenses, in addition to the

ever growing demands for the public services, involved a deficit of

£18,000,000. It was most important to raise this sum promptly in order

to uphold the credit and display the loyalty of the nation; for, as we

shall see, Pitt had recently opened negotiations for peace at Paris in

the hope that the late successes of the Austrians both in Italy and the

Rhineland (which proved to be only temporary), would induce the

Directory to accord fair terms to enemies who thus evinced their energy

and vitality. After consultation with the officials of the Bank of

England, he decided to raise the required sums, not by means of

"contractors," but by appealing direct to the public. Accordingly, on

1st December, he adopted the unusual course of appealing to the Lord

Mayor and the Directors of the Bank of England to encourage in every

possible way the raising of an extraordinary loan of £18,000,000. The

rate of interest, 5 5/8 per cent., seems somewhat high in the case of a

"Loyalty Loan," especially as Consols rose from 53 3/4 in September to

57 in November; but competent authorities agree that it was not too

high.[447]

The response was most gratifying. The Bank subscribed £1,000,000, the

Directors in their private capacity further contributing £400,000.

Similar feelings were displayed in the City and in the provinces.

Before the hour of 10 a.m. on 5th December, when the subscription list

was opened at the Bank, the lobby of the hall and even the approaches

were crowded with eager patriots, who fought their way towards the

books. Those in the rear called to more fortunate friends in the front

to inscribe their names. Within an hour and twenty minutes the amount

which could then be allotted was made good, and hundreds retired

disappointed. Similar scenes ensued on the two following days, the whole

sum of £18,000,000 being subscribed in less than fifteen and a half

hours.[448]

It was under these encouraging conditions that on 7th December 1796 Pitt

made his Budget Statement, which included the proposal of further

advances of £3,000,000 to our Allies. As a set-off to this, he pointed

to the yield of the taxes and the Imports and Exports for the quarter as

affording gratifying proof of the strength of the country. But, he

added, "this flourishing state of our affairs ought not to lessen our

moderation or abate our desire for peace." Those who blame him for

continuing to pay £200,000 into the Sinking Fund, while he had to borrow

large sums at a ruinous rate of interest, should remember that he

believed this costly device to be only temporary in view of his efforts

for peace.

The usually dull details of finance are at this point enlivened by the

ingenious suggestions poured in upon Pitt for opening up new sources of

revenue. The aim of financiers then being to press on the taxpayer at

all points with the imperceptible impartiality of air, the hints as to

the taxation of neighbours and rivals are of refreshing variety. Among

the less obvious are duties on barges, pawnbrokers' takings, toys,

theatre and concert tickets, buttons, corks, glass bottles, umbrellas,

sheriffs and under-sheriffs, county commissioners