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

Rose, "Diaries," i, 4.

 

[612] Pitt MSS., 189.

 

[613] "Life of Wilberforce," ii, 270.

 

[614] The estimate of Pitt by Wellesley, summarized above, refutes the

ungenerous remark of Lecky (v, 72) that he took little delight in books

and "was a politician, and nothing more." Lecky was perhaps misled by

the ignorant libel on Pitt in Wraxall, iii, 223.

 

[615] "Diary of D. Scully," quoted by Dr. Hunt, "Transactions of Royal

Hist. Soc." (1908), p. 12.

 

[616] Lord Rosebery, "Tomline's Estimate of Pitt," 33.

 

[617] _I.e._, Mantua rejoices in Wurmser, Rovereda in Davidovitch,

Verona is open to Quosdanovitch. "Woe is me," says the greedy Gaul,

Bonaparte, "I shall have to be off through the Alps and go to the dogs."

 

[618] Pitt MSS., 188.

 

[619] Pitt MSS., 188. Hobart married Pitt's early love, Eleanor Eden,

and became Minister at War under Addington. For Mornington's comments on

his factious conduct at Madras, see "Dropmore P.," iv, 384, 476; v, 268;

vi, 338.

 

[620] Stanhope, iii, 232; Rosebery, "Pitt," 213-7.

 

[621] Pitt MSS., 188.

 

[622] Gabrielle Festing, "J. H. Frere and his Friends," 31.

 

[623] "Malmesbury Diaries," iv, 8; Pellew, i, ch. xi; G. Festing,

"Hookham Frere," 42-4; R. Bell, "Canning," 176; H. W. V. Temperley,

"Canning," 62-3.

 

[624] Stanhope, iii, 315; Festing, 47-51.

 

[625] May, "Constit. Hist.," i, 232-8; Lecky, v, 27.

 

[626] Wraxall, ii, 286.

 

[627] Stanhope, iii, 352; "Dropmore P.," vii, 49-51. For new letters of

Canning and Grenville, see "Pitt and Napoleon Miscellanies."

 

[628] See Rose, "Life of Napoleon," i, ch. xiv, for details.

 

[629] B.M. Add. MSS., 37844.

 

[630] "Private Papers of Wilberforce," 110.

 

[631] For the passing misunderstanding of February 1802, see Pellew, ii,

489-92, with Pitt's letters.

 

[632] B.M. Add. MSS., 37844.

 

[633] Pellew, ii, 75, 76.

 

[634] Pretyman MSS. Bullock paid the servants and supervised the

accounts at Downing Street. Pitt was then staying with Addington near

Reading.

 

[635] Omitting shillings, the details for Downing Street and Holwood for

July-December 1799 are respectively: Table, £344, £231; Cellar, £169,

£126; Housekeeping, £531, £156; Private Account, £357, £--; Servants'

Wages, £251, £69; Servants' Board Wages, £329, £80; Servants' Bills,

£353, £15; Liveries, £41, £--; Taxes, etc., £747, £77; Farm, £--, £784;

Farm Labourers, £--, £379; Garden, £--, £125; Stable, £155, £--; Job

Horses, £165, £--; Incidentals, £347, £340. (Pitt MSS., 201.)

 

[636] Joseph Smith (no relative of "Bob Smith," Lord Carrington) became

Pitt's private secretary in 1787. His letters, published along with "The

Beaufort Papers" in 1897, throw no light on Pitt's debts.

 

[637] Ashbourne, 162. See, too, ch. xv of this work.

 

[638] G. Rose, "Diaries," i, 429; ii, 215.

 

[639] Pitt MSS., 126. Coutts and five other bankers each subscribed

£50,000 to the "Loyalty Loan" in 1797 and invested £10,000 on behalf of

Pitt.

 

[640] Stanhope, iv, 233, 252; Ashbourne, 351-4.

 

[641] Pretyman MSS.

 

[642] "Private Papers of Wilberforce," 34; G. Rose, "Diaries," i, 508.

 

[643] "Letters of Wilberforce," i, 256.

 

[644] Pretyman MSS.

 

[645] Auckland, while ambassador at The Hague, was suspected of too

great inquisitiveness as to the British despatches which passed through

that place. On 20th July 1790, Aust, of the Foreign Office, wrote to Sir

M. Keith at Vienna that Keith's new cipher puzzles "our friends at

the Hague," and that Auckland's curiosity is "insatiable" (B.M. Add.

MSS., 35543). See, too, a note by Miss Rose in G. Rose "Diaries," ii,

75.

 

[646] Pretyman MSS.

 

[647] Pellew, ii, 113. Lord Holland, writing early in 1803 to his uncle,

General Fox, then at Malta, says that there are three parties in

Parliament, besides many subdivisions, "Grenville and Windham against

peace and nearly avowed enemies of the present Government; the old

Opposition; and Addington [_sic_]. Pitt, as you know, supports

Addington, but the degree of intimacy and the nature of his connection

with Ministers are riddles to every one." (From Mr. Broadley's MSS.)

 

[648] "Malmesbury Diaries," iv, 168; G. Rose, "Diaries," ii, 6-9;

Pellew, ii, 113.

 

CHAPTER XXII (ADDINGTON OR PITT?)

 

    Once more doth Pitt deem the land crying loud to him--

    Frail though and spent, and an hungered for restfulness

    Once more responds he, dead fervours to energize

    Aims to concentre, slack efforts to bind.

                       THOMAS HARDY, _The Dynasts_, Act i, sc. 3.

 

 

On 30th January 1803 there appeared in the "Moniteur" the official

Report of Colonel Sebastiani, Napoleon's envoy to the Levant. So

threatening were its terms respecting the situation in Egypt and Corfu,

that the Addington Ministry at once adopted a stiffer tone, and applied

to Parliament for 10,000 additional seamen and the embodying of the

militia. But the House, while readily acceding on 9th March, evidently

wanted not only more men but a man. The return of Pitt to power was

anxiously discussed in the lobbies. The Duke of Portland and Lord Pelham

strongly expressed their desire for it. Yet Pitt remained at Walmer,

feeling that he could not support financial plans fraught with danger to

the State. Addington therefore resolved to sound him again with a view

to his entering the Cabinet as a coadjutor. The envoy whom he chose for

this delicate mission was Henry Dundas, now Lord Melville. He could

count on his devotion; for, besides nominating him for the peerage, he

is said to have opened to his gaze a life of official activity and

patronage as First Lord of the Admiralty in place of the parsimonious

and unmannerly St. Vincent.[649] Pitt received his old friend at Walmer

with a shade of coolness in view of his declaration, on quitting office,

that he could accept no boon whatever from Addington. To come now as his

Cabinet-maker argued either overwhelming patriotism or phenomenal

restlessness.

 

    [Illustration: HENRY DUNDAS, FIRST VISCOUNT MELVILLE. (From a

    painting by Sir T. Lawrence)]

 

Nevertheless, the two friends resumed at Walmer the festive intercourse

of the Wimbledon days; and in due course, after dinner and wine,

Melville broached the subject of his visit. It was that Addington, who

was First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer, should

resign the latter office to Pitt, and take Lord Pelham's place as

Secretary of State for Home Affairs. We can picture the astonishment and

wrath of Pitt as this singular proposal came to light. At once he cut

short the conversation, probably not without expletives. But Melville

was pertinacious where patriotism and office were at stake; and their

converse spread over the two days, 21st-22nd March, Melville thereupon

sending a summary of it to Addington, couched in terms which Pitt deemed

too favourable. The upshot was that on personal grounds Pitt desired not

to return to office; and, if affairs were efficiently conducted, would

prefer to continue his present independent support. If, however, the

misleading statements of the Treasury were persisted in, he must

criticize them. Above all, if he returned to office it must be as First

Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer.

 

But Addington, foreseeing that Pitt would claim his two former offices,

had concocted a sovereign remedy for all these personal sores. Pitt was

to take office as Chancellor of the Exchequer, serving under his

brother, the Earl of Chatham, as Prime Minister. Is it surprising that

he negatived this singular proposal "without reserve or affectation"? By

way of retort to this family prescription he charged Melville to point

out the absolute need of the Cabinet being under the control of "the

First Minister," who must not only have the confidence of the King and

administer the finances, but also in the last resort impose his will on

his colleagues. For himself he declared he would never come forward

unless bound by public duty and with the enjoyment of the fullest

confidence of the King.[650] There is a discrepancy between Melville's

letter to Addington and a short account given by Pitt to Wilberforce two

years later, to the effect that Melville, on cautiously opening his

proposals at Walmer, saw that it would not do and stopped abruptly.

"Really," said Pitt with a sly severity, "I had not the curiosity to ask

what I was to be."

 

Such was the bomb-shell exploded on Addington's bureau on 23rd March.

It must have cost him no less concern than Bonaparte's outrageous

behaviour to our ambassador, Lord Whitworth, ten days before. That scene

before the diplomatic circle at the Tuileries portended war. How would

Addington and his colleagues behave in this crisis? Would they sink all

personal feelings, and, admitting that they could not weather the storm,

accept the help and guidance of long tried navigators? Or would they

stand on their dignity and order the pilot-boat to sheer off? Clearly it

was a case where half measures were useless. The old captain and his

chosen subalterns must command the ship. Pitt made this clear during

conversations with Addington at Long's house at Bromley Hill (10th

April). While declaring that he would not urge any point inconsistent

with His Majesty's intentions, he demanded that Grenville, Melville,

Spencer, and Windham should enter the Cabinet with him on the clearly

expressed desire of the King, and at the request of the present

Ministry. The last conditions seem severe. But Pitt's pledge to

Addington made it essential that the Prime Minister should take the

first step. To these terms two days later Addington made demur, but

promised to communicate them to his colleagues; whereupon Pitt declared

that he had said the last word on the matter; and when Ministers

objected to Grenville and Windham, he was inexorable.[651] That their

anger waxed hot against him appears from the following letter sent to

Pitt by Lord Redesdale, formerly Sir John Mitford, and now Lord

Chancellor of Ireland, who had been with Pitt and Addington at their

conferences at Bromley:

 

                            Albemarle St., _April 16, 1803_.[652]

 

    What passed yesterday and the day before at Bromley Hill, has

    made so strong an impression on my mind that I have been unable

    to relieve myself from the anxiety which it has occasioned.

    However you may flatter yourself to the contrary, it seems to me

    most clear that your return into office, with the impression

    under which you have appeared to act, must have the effect of

    driving from their situations every man now in office, and

    making a greater change than has ever been made on any similar

    occasion. I think myself as one of those persons individually

    intitled to call upon your honour not to pursue the line of

    conduct which you seem determined to adopt. The present

    Administration, so far from having been formed in hostility to

    you, was avowedly formed of your friends. When you quitted

    office, you repeatedly declared that you should consider

    yourself as obliged to those friends who would continue in

    office or would accept office under Mr. Addington. You must

    recollect that I expressed to you my disapprobation of the

    change and my wish to retire to my situation at the Bar,

    quitting the office of Attorney-General; and that you used to me

    these words--"That you _must_ not do, for my sake." The words

    were too strongly impressed upon my mind at the moment to have

    escaped my memory. You encouraged me to take the office of

    Speaker much against my will. If I had not taken that office,

    nothing should have induced me to take that in which I am now

    placed, and by which I have been brought into a position of much

    anxiety, separated from all my old friends. Many many others are

    in similar situations, and all are to be sacrificed to those men

    who were said by yourself at the time to be acting in

    contradiction to your wishes in quitting their offices or those

    who dragged you out of office with them. You will probably tell

    me that you have no such intentions, particularly with respect

    to myself. But, whatever may be your intentions, such must be

    the unavoidable consequence of the changes which you have

    determined upon. I thought, when I took a situation under the

    Administration at the head of which you placed Mr. Addington,

    that I was doing you service. It was of no small importance to

    you, whether you looked to a return to office, or to retirement