293 THE ROCKINGHAM PARTY INSULTED. employed. His Majesty meant to exalt prerogative on the ruins of party; Chatham meant that his own will should not again be thwarted by the factions to which he had before fallen a sacrifice. The meaning which the country attached to the phrase was the ascendancy of the Scotch junto; yet, under happier circumstances, Chatham would no doubt have been supported by the people, as far as they were able to support him, in his hostility to those combinations of public men, of which none either possessed or deserved, in the least degree, the respect or confidence of the country. But his acceptance of a peerage was considered as a desertion of the people for the court; and when he talked of breaking up party, he was told that he had sold himself to the Earl of Bute. To destroy existing party divisions, and to have consolidated the great party of the Revolution upon a wide and solid basis would have been a design worthy of Chatham; but the course which he pursued was to affront the Rockinghams, the most respectable of the Whig connection, and who had shewn themselves willing to be partially represented in office, for the sole purpose, as it appeared, of bringing in the Bedfords, who were insatiable of office. The mode of procedure also resembled the mean and shifty tactics of Newcastle rather than the lofty style of Pitt. An inferior place was wanted in furtherance of the scheme for conciliating the friends of the Duke of Bedford; and Grafton, whom Pitt employed on these occasions, wrote to Lord Ch. 8. 1766 294 CHATHAM MAKES OVERTURES 1766. Ch. 8. Monson intimating that his resignation would be acceptable, and offering him a step in the peerage as a recompense. Monson drily declined the proffered earldom, and took no notice of the broad hint to resign. But Chatham was not to be turned from his purpose; and wishing to gratify an adherent of Bute's, he fixed upon the office of Treasurer of the Household, which was filled by Lord Edgecumbe, who received a peremptory dismissal.s Upon this, the whole of the Rockingham connection, to avoid the indignity of being turned out, resigned in a body. Vacillating conduct towards Lord Gower. Having thus broken with the Rockingham party for no other reason, as it would seem, than that he would not have the freedom of his administration hampered by a powerful connection in office; so ill were his plans matured, or so little did he act upon any plan in the prosecution of his design, that Chatham had no other resource than to repeat his application to that rival party which had already rejected his advances. But on this occasion, instead of employing the Duke of Grafton, he sent for Lord Gower himself, and placed certain officest at the disposal of that lord and his friends. Gower immediately communicated the offer to the head of his party; and Bedford, who was at his seat of Woburn, came to London that he might treat in person with the minister upon a matter of so much importance. But in the interim, Chatham had See Addenda P, t p. 331. See Addenda Q, P. 332. TO THE BEDFORD PARTY. seen the King, who expressed himself strongly averse to the proposed alliance with the Bedford party, both on the general ground of hostility to all connections, and on account of his personal dislike to the Duke. In deference to His Majesty's wishes, if not in obedience to his express commands, the Board of Admiralty and other vacancies, except those which had been named to Gower, were immediately filled up, so as to preclude the possibility of making a more extensive provision for the admission of the Bedford party than that which had been already offered and could not be withdrawn. But the dignity or rapacity of the Bedfords was not to be satisfied without a large concession of power and place. Chatham appears to have met the Duke's demands with all the arrogance and contempt with which his royal master could wish his chosen minister to treat the leader of a great party. The negotiation was broken off with high words on both sides; and the interview closed with an offer which, under the circumstances, could hardly be considered otherwise than impertinent, namely, to call up the heir of the House of Russell to the Lords. This proposal was, of course, rejected, and the Duke retired to hide his chagrin and indignation at Woburn. of places. The distinguished admiral, Hawke, was placed Arrangement at the head of the Admiralty; but, with that exception, all the vacancies were filled up by Tories and courtiers. Chatham proved very unfortunate in his dispensation of places; a department, which 296 Ch. 8. 1766 the govern ment. CHATHAM'S ARROGANCE. in his better days he had left to the more expert and congenial management of Newcastle. Whether it be possible to carry on parliamentary government without party is a problem which remains to be solved; but Chatham can hardly be said to have False policy of given a fair trial to the experiment. He merely alienated the great Whig families, without attaching any other party, or even any men of promise or influence, to the support of his ministry. His haughty and contemptuous bearing" was ill calculated to make friends; and though he bestowed a large number of offices on persons who were supposed to act under the influence of Lord Bute, he gained nothing in stability or influence to compensate for the public odium which attended such patronage. The party of Lord Bute, if, indeed, any such party can be said to have existed, was founded on a principle hostile to the influence of every minister, because it placed the minister in subordination to the executive instead of the legislative power. It was in vain, therefore, that Bute's brother, Mackenzie, was restored to his place; that his kinsman, Northumberland, obtained the dukedom which he solicited; that his private secretary and confidential agent, Jenkinson, was preferred to the Board of Admiralty; that many other of his friends and connections were provided for. The court were rewarded for their perseverance. X u See Addenda R, p. 332. P. 332. INDIAN AFFAIRS. After undermining and subverting one administration after another, they had at length succeeded in ruining the only man in England who could have destroyed their system. Chatham had been lead to believe that in affronting the Whigs, he freed himself from the control of faction; and that in sacrificing his popularity to a connection with the courtiers, he asserted his independence. The result was, that within six months after his return to power, his administration was falling to pieces, and he himself was the weakest minister that had held office since Wilmington. Ꮓ Ch. 8 1766 297 But while Chatham erred so fatally as a tactician, Indian policy. his measures of public policy were marked by the same commanding genius which had planned the pacification of the Highlands, and the conquest of Canada. His Northern Alliance, though disappointed by the malice of Frederick, was still a noble scheme. He contemplated that great Asiatic empire, formed within these few years by adventurous valour and commercial policy, and which had as yet hardly obtained the attention of any British statesman, in a spirit worthy of its paramount importance. Before he could carry his plan into detail, he was afflicted by the malady which for a time obscured his faculties and terminated his connection with the government; but the leading idea was the assumption of sovereign power over these new conquests by the imperial government, and z See Addenda U, p. 332. |