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

and change at Addington's seat at Woodley, near Reading,

was all too short for a complete recovery (18th October to 5th

November). Addington, describing this visit, remarked that Pitt had

become one of his family. Neither of them knew that a time of feud was

at hand.

 

At the close of the year Castlereagh came from Dublin to London to

confer with Ministers on legal and other details connected with the

proposal of Catholic Emancipation. By that time Loughborough's sharp

opposition to the measure was known at Dublin Castle, where Cornwallis

declared all resistance to the measure to be mere madness. The

Catholics, he reported, were quiet merely because they were confident of

success. Cooke, though once opposed to Catholic Emancipation, now

accepted it as a necessity.[577] Nevertheless in the King's view

Catholic Emancipation was wholly incompatible with his Coronation Oath

and with the Church Establishment in England. In the middle of December

the Chancellor drew up an able and very detailed Memorandum on the legal

aspects of the case. He even discoursed on the proselytizing zeal of

Romanists and the material causes of discontent in Ireland which the

Union would probably dispel. As Cooke remarked, the paper seemed

designed to close the question for ever.[578]

 

Pitt was equally determined to set the question at rest. He and

Castlereagh had confidence in the issue; and Cornwallis declared that if

Pitt were firm he would meet with no difficulty. Accordingly Pitt

inserted in the King's Speech for the ensuing session a passage

expressing confidence that Parliament would seek to improve the benefits

already secured by the Act of Union. The phrase was smooth enough to

leave the King's conscience unruffled, and on 23rd January he assented

to the Speech, requesting that no change be made.[579] But while Pitt

sapped the approaches to the citadel, Loughborough countermined him. On

what day and in what manner he informed the King of the proposed measure

of Catholic Emancipation is not clear. Possibly George scented mischief

in a short conversation with Spencer and Grenville about the middle of

January. But his brain was set on fire by something which he heard on

27th or 28th January. On the latter day (Wednesday), during the _levée_

at St. James's Palace, his behaviour betrayed unusual excitement, and he

said warmly to Windham, a friend of the measure, that he regarded all

supporters of it as "personally indisposed" to him. Waxing hotter in the

course of the function, he declared in a loud voice to Dundas: "What is

this that the young Lord [Castlereagh] has brought over, which they are

going to throw at my head? Lord C. came over with the plan in

September.... I shall reckon any man my personal enemy who proposes any

such measure. The most Jacobinical thing I ever heard of."

 

This extraordinary outburst naturally led Ministers to confer together

on the morrow; and they requested Grenville to prepare a paper

explaining the proposed changes in the form of oath for members of

Parliament and officials. Grenville declined this task, which Pitt

himself then undertook. This question, I may note, was far more

difficult than outsiders could understand. Castlereagh's interviews with

Pitt in September, and now again in January, had only recently brought

Ministers near to an agreement, a fact which fully accounts for the

delay in drafting the proposals in a form suitable for the King's

inspection.[580] On that day George took another step betokening

irrevocable opposition. He begged Addington to see Pitt and convince him

of the danger of the measure. The King confessed that he could scarcely

keep his temper in speaking about it; for it portended the destruction

of the Established Church and the end of all order in civil life.

Addington therefore paid a visit to Pitt, who cannot have been well

pleased to see him acting as a tool of the King. The interview, however,

seems to have been friendly, and it inspired Addington with the

complacent hope that he had dissuaded Pitt. Possibly he or Auckland

alarmed Dr. Moore, Archbishop of Canterbury, and set the bishops in

motion. Other persons working to this end were the Earl of Clare and the

Irish Primate. The latter took a prominent part in arousing the fears of

the King. Cooke wrote: "The Primate was a great card, was much consulted

by the King, for ever with him, or in correspondence with him.... The

Archbishop of Canterbury was at first so nervous that for ten or twelve

nights he could not sleep, and our Primate was daily with him,

encouraging him."[581]

 

It is uncertain how far Pitt was aware of the many adverse influences

playing upon the King; for his papers on this topic are unusually

scanty. On the 30th he sent a draft of his proposals to Loughborough, a

sign that he would persevere with them. On the morrow George again

summoned Addington to the palace, and adjured him to form a Ministry.

This offer preceded the arrival of any intimation from Pitt of his

desire to resign if his advice were rejected. Addington for his part

begged to be excused; whereupon the King exclaimed: "Lay your hand upon

your heart and ask yourself where I am to turn for support if _you_ do

not stand by me."[582] Meanwhile Pitt was inditing his famous letter of

31st January, to the King, of which this summary must suffice:

 

    Pitt has heard with deep regret of the opposition displayed by

    His Majesty to the proposals of Catholic Emancipation, which are

    approved by the majority of the Cabinet and regarded as a

    natural sequel to the Act of Union. The admission of Catholics

    and Dissenters to certain offices, and of Catholics to

    Parliament, now involves little or no danger to the Established

    Church or to the Protestant interest, as the Catholics disclaim

    the obnoxious tenets once held by them. A form of oath can be

    devised to exclude those Dissenters who may have designs against

    the constitution either in Church or State. The Irish Catholic

    clergy may be attached to the Government by making their

    maintenance partly dependent on the State. These changes would

    adapt the constitution to present needs. Pitt therefore

    earnestly commends the measure to the consideration of His

    Majesty. Meanwhile no steps will be taken in the matter; but, if

    on examination the measure should not be approved, Pitt will beg

    to be allowed to resign, though in such a way as to occasion the

    least possible difficulty. Finally he takes the liberty "of most

    respectfully, but explicitly, submitting to Your Majesty the

    indispensable necessity of effectually discountenancing, in the

    whole of the interval, all attempts to make use of Your

    Majesty's name, or to influence the opinion of any individual on

    any part of the subject."

 

In the last sentence Pitt administered a telling and dignified rebuke

for the outrageous behaviour of the King at the _levée_. A reply came on

the morrow, couched in pompously ungrammatical terms, which sufficiently

refute the rumour that it was composed by that polished talker,

Loughborough. George declared that his Oath bound him to support the

Established Church; that State officials must be in active communion

with that Church. He therefore refused to discuss the present proposals,

which tended to destroy the groundwork of the Constitution. Respecting

the suggested truce of silence he wrote as follows: "Mr. Pitt once

acquainted with my sentiments, his assuring me that he will stave off

the only question whereon I fear from his letter we can never agree--for

the advantage and comfort of continuing to have his advice and exertions

in public affairs I will certainly abstain from talking on this subject

which is the one nearest my heart." The meaning of these words is not

easy to fix; but apparently the King meant to say that his silence on

the subject was conditional on Pitt promising never to bring it forward

again. Now, Pitt had made no such promise. He required that, while the

King was examining the proposals of his Cabinet, he would abstain from

setting his counsellors against it. George III evaded this request,

thereby leaving himself free to talk at large against Catholic

Emancipation while he was supposed to be examining its details. We may

be sure that this sentence clinched Pitt's resolve to resign at the

earliest possible moment.[583]

 

He said so in his reply of 3rd February to the King. He expressed both

regret at the King's resolve on this question, and a desire to consult

his convenience, though continuance in office even for a short time

became very difficult in view of the King's refusal to undertake to

discountenance the use of his name during the interval. In every respect

the accession of another Minister was to be desired. Pitt closed this

painful correspondence with a letter, also of 3rd February, requesting a

pension of £1,500 a year for Long, one of the secretaries of the

Treasury, whose private means were so slender as to leave him in

discomfort if he should resign. The King briefly assented to Pitt's

retirement and to Long's pension. To Long's services the King accorded a

few words of thanks: to those of Pitt not a word. This is the more

remarkable as Pitt was then suffering from an attack of gout which

depressed him greatly; but, as we shall see, the King in private

expressed his deep obligations, and requested him to keep in office

until all the new appointments were settled.[584] This involved a delay

of nearly six weeks, which were among the most trying of his career.

 

On 5th February the King succeeded in persuading Addington to form a

Ministry. Accordingly on the 10th he resigned the office of Speaker,

being succeeded by Sir John Mitford, afterwards Lord Redesdale. There is

no ground for the insinuation that Addington snatched at office. He took

it without eagerness but from conscientious conviction; and Pitt, with

the usual generosity of his nature, assured him of his support as a

private member. Of Pitt's colleagues Grenville, Dundas, Spencer, and

Windham offered their resignations; so also did Cornwallis and

Castlereagh at Dublin. Portland retained the Home Secretaryship. Of late

he had wavered on the subject of Catholic Emancipation, perhaps owing to

the arguments of Loughborough. Westmorland and Chatham also kept their

positions of Lord Privy Seal and Lord President. The retention of office

by the latter aroused some comment; but as the earnest desire of Pitt

was to disarrange the Ministry as little as possible, he probably

approved conduct which outsiders condemned as unbrotherly.

 

The following letter from Chatham, dated Winchester, 6th February, is of

interest. After expressing his regret at Pitt's resignation, he

continues: "Upon the measure itself of granting further indulgence to

the Catholics I have neither time, nor indeed would it be of any use, to

say anything at present. I will only observe that if, by being on the

spot, I could in any degree have contributed even to put off the

extremity to which the agitation of it has led, I should think I had

done much, and I should be most unhappy in having been absent; otherwise

I consider myself as fortunate in having avoided a discussion which

could only have been painful to me in many respects. As things stand, I

shall certainly think it my duty to come to town in a few days, and I

will defer, till we meet, any further remarks; I will only add that if

your part is irrevocably taken, the King could not have acted more

wisely than in having recourse to the Speaker.... I see all the

difficulty and delicacy of your situation."[585]

 

Far less charitable were the sentiments of Dundas in the following

letter:

 

                                  Wimbledon, _7 Feb., 1801_.[586]

 

    I know not to what stage the Speaker's endeavours to form an

    Arrangement have proceeded; but it is impossible for me not to

    whisper into your ear my conviction that no Arrangement can be

    formed under him as its head that will not crumble to pieces

    almost as soon as formed. Our friends who, as an act of

    friendship and attachment to you agree to remain in office, do

    it with the utmost chagrin and unwillingness; and among the

    other considerations which operate upon them the feeling that

    they are embarking in an Administration under a head totally

    incapable to carry it on and which must of course soon be an

    object of ridicule is uppermost in their minds. Add to this

    that, though they will not certainly enter into faction and

    opposition, all the aristocracy of the country at present

    cordially connected with Government, and part of it under you,

    feel a degradation in the first Minister of the Country being

    selected from [_sic_] a Person of the description of Mr.

    Addington without the slightest pretensions to justify it, and

    destitute of abilities to carry it on. Depend upon it I am not