1801.

DISAPPOINTMENT OF PITT'S FRIENDS.

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been made. But George the Third was a gentleman, and would have been incapable of putting such an indignity on Addington, as was involved in the proposal, which seemed so easy to Mr. Canning. The King in his reign had played many times a double part with his ministers; but those were ministers which had been forced on him. His Majesty had never deserted any man who had served him faithfully; nor was it likely that he would now, for the first time, cast aside a man, whose loyalty and fidelity had been interposed to shield his honour. If Pitt had offered to resume his office, without the full and hearty concurrence of Addington, the King could hardly have done otherwise than refuse his offer; and, a proceeding, so strange, so perplexing on the part of his late minister, would have been calculated cruelly to disturb a mind still dangerously excitable from recent disease.

Popular dis

Pitt.

When they found that the appointment of Addington was inevitable, the clever men who followed the fortunes of Pitt, were fain to satisfaction with console themselves with the belief, that such a minister could have but a short existence. Pitt himself seems to have partaken of this consolation. But Pitt and his friends were much mistaken, if they supposed that the country would demand their immediate restoration to power. The feeling prevalent abroad was not so much a feeling of impatience at the breaking up of a powerful administration, as of anger against the minister for distracting the mind of the good old King, by attempting to force on him a measure so objectionable as Catholic emancipation. The old English dread and dislike of the Papists began to revive; and there were many more who applauded George the Third, for his scrupulous regard to his Coronation Oath, than the friends of religious equality. Moreover, the country gentlemen, who had submitted to Pitt for so

320

GENERAL DISLIKE OF PITT.

CH. XLI

many long years, were getting a little weary of their master. Oppressed by the weight of his genius and authority, they were sensible of relief in the accession of a minister who was not exalted so far above their heads, and whose range of thought was not much more extensive than their own, The wits and fine gentlemen might laugh at the son of a country doctor sitting in the seat of the son of Chatham; but the wits and fine gentlemen were a small minority. The Tory squires and baronets who filled three-fourths of the House of Commons, found in Addington a minister after their own hearts." He was a minister whom they might venture to approach; who would listen to them--who would talk to them-who would not treat them as so many heads to be counted in the lobbies. A kindred feeling pervaded the bulk of the middle classes. The natural state of public opinion in this country is a dislike of change. Hence a demand for mediocrity, equal, but not superior, to the ordinary administration of affairs. Men of parts and education in vain contend against this prejudice by argument, invective, and ridicule, in every form. All their attacks are met by passive resistance. A plain man, who does not much outrun the average intelligence of the country, will be the favoured minister in ordinary times. A prudent man, who says as little as possible, who is no orator, and not a very good speaker, is the best leader of the House of Commons. Addington was rather below the standard of mediocrity; but he was more popular with the Tories than his predecessor had ever been.

Tories comprised all the clergy, most of the gentry, and a large majority of the middle classes.

*The King represented this feeling, when he addressed the new minister the day after he had been sworn as 'his own Chan

cellor of the Exchequer.'-Letter to Addington, 15th March. PELLEW's Life of Lord Sidmouth, vol. i. p. 353.

1:01. ADDINGTON POPULAR WITH THE TORIES. 321

Catholics.

The

On the resignation of Pitt and his colleagues, who had agreed with him in the expediency of Addresses of an immediate measure for the removal of Cornwallis to the the remaining disabilities of the Roman Catholics, Lord Cornwallis had thought it right to make a communication to that body, with reference to the disappointment of the expectations they had been taught to entertain. Accordingly, the LordLieutenant drew up two papers; the one, embodying what he considered a fair representation of Mr. Pitt's sentiments on the subject; the other, framed upon his own interpretation of the opinions and views held generally by the friends of the Catholic cause. first and most important paper contained a distinct avowal, that the leading members of the late administration had retired from office, because they found themselves unable to carry their policy in favour of the Catholics into effect; and were of opinion, that their retirement would be conducive to its ultimate success. The Catholics were assured that no opportunity would be neglected, and no effort would be spared by their friends who had quitted office, and by those who remained to advance their interests; and they were warned to give no advantage to their opponents by any want of patience, loyalty, and moderation. In the second paper, which contained only two paragraphs, the Catholics were more expressly enjoined to refrain from violent measures, and, above all, to form no connection with Jacobinical associations. In the second paragraph, it was implied that their friends would not return to office, except on the terms of concession to the Catholic claims. These minutes were communicated by Lord Cornwallis himself, or with his authority, in the first instance, to Lord Fingall and Dr. Troy, and by them circulated among the principal members of the Romanist party.

These papers, though not officially drawn, nor intended for publication, soon found their way into the

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PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT.

CH. ILI.

newspapers on both sides of the Channel. Cornwallis maintained that they had produced the beneficial effect which had been intended; and that, with the exception of the last paragraph of the second paper, which implied an engagement on the part of the retiring ministers not to return to office without making the Catholic claims a Cabinet question, that they committed no man farther than he had committed himself.* The statements of these halfofficial minutes, with the exception referred to, were not disputed by Pitt or his colleagues; though their publication could hardly be very agreeable to a minister who had thought proper to renounce the policy which they so emphatically affirmed.

Grenville's detence of the late Ministry.

When the new ministers had taken their seats, general attacks were made in both Houses on the conduct of the war, the policy of the late administration, and the composition of the new. Lord Grenville made a powerful defence of himself and his friends; while the Earl of Westmoreland was the appropriate mouthpiece in the Lords, of a Cabinet, of which Mr. Addington was the head. In the Commons, the defence of the old, and the apology for the new administration, were left to Dundas and Pitt, the minister making only a few observations at the close of the debate. Pitt alluded, with a touch of feeling, seldom apparent in his public displays, to his disappointment at leaving office without having conducted the war to a satisfactory conclusion. Events,' he said, 'have happened which disappointed my warmest wishes, and frustrated the most favourite hopes of my heart; for I could have desired to pursue the objects of such hopes and wishes to the end of that struggle which I had worked for with anxiety and care.' But when he went on to speak of the new administration, the

* Cornwallis Correspondence, vol. iii. p. 345.

1801. PITT'S EULOGY OF LORD HAWKESBURY.

6

323

finer critics of the House thought they could detect the old manner-the keen irony and sarcasm with which they were so familiar,—in the high eulogistic strain which he affected. Are these gentlemen,' said he, called to a situation that is new to them? Are they new to the public?' None of their friends certainly had yet ventured to say that they were otherwise; but Pitt boldly maintained that ample experience of their principles and talents had already recommended them to the confidence of the House and the public. He singled out Lord Hawkesbury, compared him to Fox, and challenged the House to produce any man superior to him. After this, he had only mitigated praise to bestow on Lord Eldon and Lord St. Vincent, the only two men who could vindicate their pretensions to the offices which they filled. It is hardly to be supposed that, at this early stage, Pitt desired to hold up the new Ministry to ridicule; but it is difficult to believe that such an assembly as the House of Commons could listen with gravity when they were told that his successors were distinguished by their talents and their experience; and that Lord Hawkesbury was one of the first orators and statesmen in the country.

*

These things were said in the presence of Fox and Sheridan; but Pitt, having referred to Fox with questionable raillery as a 'new member' in reference to his long absence from the House, Fox immediately rose. He admitted that no change in the counsels of the Government could be for the worse, and therefore the present administration must be an improvement on its predecessor; but he treated with ridicule, not less just than bitter, the absurd and hypocritical

*Canning told me Pitt had made him promise not to laugh at the Speaker's appointment to the Treasury.'-LORD MALMESBURY'S Diary, vol. iv. p. 5. Can

ning seems to have taken this injunction in much the same sense as the people who were told by their orator not to use brick-bats and cabbage-stalks.