1762.

THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE.

99

geance of the Court. The system of proscription against that illustrious party which had put the family of Hanover upon the throne, and kept them there, was well commenced with the head of the house of Cavendish. Though disliking public life, the Duke of Devonshire had thought it his duty to support the Government by holding office. In the last reign, he was Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and had been summoned from that dignified post by the express command of the Sovereign, to accommodate the ministerial difficulties of 1756. On that occasion, his conduct was marked by high public spirit as well as discretion. The rivalry for power lay between Pitt and Fox. The Duke's personal predilections, as well as his political relations, were with the latter : but the country was in a critical state; and finding public confidence entirely reposed in Pitt, he at once placed that minister in the commanding position which would give scope to his talents, himself assuming the office of highest responsibility. When that administration, so full of promise, was dispersed by the ill-temper of the King, Devonshire, so far from wishing to indulge resentment, or to embarrass the King's service, when he gave up the Treasury, accepted the gold key of Lord Chamberlain. In this office, with a seat in the Cabinet, he had ever since continued; but, seeing the tendency of public affairs, he had taken occasion, on the resignation of Newcastle, to acquaint the King that he could no longer take any part in councils conducted on principles which he did not approve; though, from respect to His Majesty, he was willing to retain his place in the household, which he did not consider one of political importance. Upon these terms, as he inferred from the absence of any intimation to the contrary, the Duke remained in office until the autumn, when he received an official summons to attend the Cabinet Council, assembled for the purpose of considering

100

INSULTING CONDUCT OF THE COURT

CH. III.

the proposed treaty of peace. His Grace respectfully declined complying with this summons, for the reasons he had before stated, and seems to have thought no more about the matter. The Court, however, were of a different mind, and readily availed themselves of this opportunity to put that affront upon him, which had no doubt been previously meditated. The Duke, coming to London a few days afterwards, proceeded, according to etiquette, to pay his respects to the King; but on presenting himself at the back stairs, he was rudely repulsed by the express order of His Majesty. Astounded as he was, His Grace had, nevertheless, sufficient presence of mind to send back the page in waiting to take the royal pleasure with respect to his gold key of office. The answer was, that he would receive the King's orders on the subject. The Duke instantly resigned, and with him his brother, Lord George Cavendish, the Comptroller of the Household. When the

former waited upon the King with his wand of office, His Majesty put it aside with a contemptuous gesture, and an ungracious expression of indifference. The Marquis of Rockingham, another great Whig nobleman, resenting the indignity offered to the Duke of Devonshire, came to resign his place of Lord of the Bedchamber, and was dismissed with a similar answer—one more fitting for a menial than a great officer of state. But royal insolence and ingratitude received a severe though dignified rebuke from the descendant of Strafford.* The King's revenge was at once mean and puerile. On the same day, he sent for the Council-book, and Devonshire with his own hand struck the Duke of Devonshire's name out of the list of Privy Councillors. Such a signal mark of displeasure had never been visited but on delinquency of the gravest

The Duke of

disgraced.

* See ante, p. 98, note.

1:62.

TOWARDS THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE.

101

character. The latest precedents were Pulteney and Lord George Sackville. There was nothing to justify the act in the present instance. The Duke's conduct and demeanour towards his Sovereign had always been perfectly dutiful and respectful. His morals even were unimpeachable. The country itself felt outraged at this insult offered to a great English nobleman by a Scotch and German junto.

Fox, though burning with the hatred of an apostate against his former friends, was too Fox excuses shrewd a man to commit such a blunder himself. as this. He immediately wrote to the Duke of Devonshire, disclaiming any knowledge or suspicion. of an intention to strike His Grace's name out of the list of the Privy Council.* Nevertheless, he followed up the work which his royal master had so inauspiciously begun. The grossest corruption that had ever been known in England was succeeded by the most ruthless civil persecution. But this was reserved until after the parliamentary triumph of the Court.

Parliament assembled on November 25. The great question for discussion was the Parliament treaty, of which the preliminaries had meets. been signed a few days before. The result of the debate was amply secured by the transactions which had taken place at the Pay Office; still it was desirable for ministers in the present temper of the nation that it should pass off smoothly. There was not much cause for apprehension in this respect in the absence of Pitt; and he was supposed to be disabled by gout. In the House of Lords, the treaty underwent an elaborate criticism from the two great law lords, Hardwick and Mansfield. Bute Pitt in the House appears to have replied with unusual spirit and ability, and the debate closed without a

*Note by the late Mr. Allen, on the MS. copy of Walpole's

Appearance of

of Commons.

Memoirs.-Sir Denis le Marchant's edition of Walpole.

102

GREAT SPEECH OF PITT.

CH. III.

division. In the Commons, Beckford proposed that the preliminaries should be referred to a committee, with the view of postponing the debate. This was, of course, resisted by the government, and the discussion had proceeded some time, when it was interrupted by the acclamations of the populace in the lobby. The door of the House was thrown open, and Pitt himself, crippled and wasted by the cruel malady which seldom allowed him a respite from suffering, was borne to the bar in the arms of his servants. The consummate orator, who knew how to make his very infirmities subservient to his eloquence, was dressed, and muffled, and bandaged, as usual, with theatrical art; every gesture studied, almost every spasm under regulation. Thus he hobbled slowly to his seat with the help of his friends and his crutch, and accompanied by the titters and jeers of some of the least decent of the hired majority. But on this occasion gout was more his master than his slave. He spoke indeed for three hours and a half, but physical pain nearly overpowered him. He was obliged to pause frequently, and have recourse to cordials; during a part of the time he obtained the unprecedented indulgence of being permitted to address the House in a sitting posture. The speech, though it emitted flashes of the ancient fire, was generally languid, and palled towards the close. He vindicated his war policy, however, with complete success, and justified the war in Germany on the ground that it had divided the strength of the enemy, and diverted him from the defence of the Canadian provinces. Then, referring to his celebrated vaunt on a former occasion, the orator affirmed that he had conquered America in Germany. His defence of the Hessian subsidies, on the plea of the elector's relationship to the King, and his indigent condition, was not so happy. Neither did his argument on behalf of the German war

1763.

FOX'S MANAGEMENT OF PARLIAMENT.

103

go the length of demonstrating that England should enter into a family compact with Prussia. The German war, according to his own showing, had fulfilled its object; and to continue it after the conquest of North America, was to place it on an entirely new footing. As to a family alliance with the King of Prussia, a more extravagant idea could hardly be broached. There was no analogy between a coalition of the two great branches of the House of Bourbon, and a union of England with the House of Brandenburgh. It might be very convenient to an ambitious prince like Frederick to have his dominions guaranteed by England, and thus be enabled with impunity to prosecute any wild and unprincipled plans of aggression upon his neighbours. But it is difficult to understand what reciprocity could exist in a compact of this kind. It would be idle to dwell farther on the absurdity of a suggestion which after all might have been no more than a rhetorical flourish.

Soon after he had finished his speech, Pitt left the House, whether from physical inability to remain, or from a desire to mortify Fox, who had immediately risen to reply. The division showed a majority of nearly five to one in favour of the peace.

Fox's plan of parliamentary management was founded on rewards and punishments. The former had been lavishly bestowed; the latter Fox's managewere inflicted upon an equal scale of ment of Parliamagnitude. Every placeman who had

ment.

voted against the peace was dismissed; a rigorous proceeding in an age when official discipline was not so strict as it is at present. Still, if punishment had been confined to delinquency of this description, the minister might have justified his conduct by the authority of Sir Robert Walpole. Even the dismissal of Newcastle, Rockingham, and others from the lieutenancies of their respective counties, might have found some semblance of a