24

INTERPOSITION OF LORD CHESTERFIELD. CH. I.

Intrigues for a new adminis

tration.

affairs, and the menacing tone of popular discontent. He had found the great parliamentary leaders impracticable. To ally himself now with Fox, weighed down as he was with odium, would only be to court weakness. Pitt, confident in consummate ability and unbounded popularity, treated his overtures with such contempt, that he pledged his word to the King he would never again propose him as a colleague. At last he resolved to rely upon his parliamentary following. Sir Thomas Robinson was reluctantly dragged once more from his obscurity to be set up again as Secretary of State. The office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, after being refused by Bubb Dodington, was to be conferred on Dr. Lee. This arrangement was about to be carried into effect after the country had been left three months without a government, when the Earl of Chesterfield, who had long retired from the strife of party, and now entertained the most serious apprehension for the safety of the nation, was prompted by public spirit to interpose, for the purpose of combining the only available elements of an effective administration. The parliamentary influence of Newcastle and the commanding ability of Pitt must be united. This was obviously the best, if not the only practicable, mode of carrying on the public service. Lord Bute, as the representative of the Princess of Wales and the heir-apparent, cooperated with Chesterfield in this desirable object. Both Newcastle and Pitt were found accessible to a proposal from a mediation so respectable. The King alone refused his assent, and called upon the Duke to redeem his recent promise never again to act with Mr. Pitt. A pledge by one statesman never to act with another is, to the last degree, rash and shortsighted; but, inasmuch as it is what legists call nudum pactum, or a promise made without consideration, it would be a mistaken sense of personal

1757.

A NEW MINISTRY FORMED.

25

honour which should allow it to weigh against the exigency of public duty. Doubtless the Duke of Newcastle did not trouble himself with the casuistry of the question; he only saw and eagerly availed himself of a mode of escape from difficulty. So far, therefore, from adhering to his promise, if such it can be termed, he not only repudiated it without hesitation or evasion, but emboldened by the character and credit of his new supporters, he positively refused to have anything to do with the administration, except in connection with Pitt and his party.

sent for.

The King, enraged at what he considered perfidy, as well as personal ill-usage, again sent for Waldegrave Waldegrave, and laid his commands upon that loyal friend and servant to place himself at the head of a new administration. Waldegrave obeyed, though with sincere reluctance, and had made considerable progress in accomplishing the duty entrusted to him, when Newcastle, alarmed at the sight of a government being constructed without his assistance, employed his influence secretly to thwart the new arrangement, protesting, at the same time, with gratuitous treachery, both to his royal master and the new minister, that he should be injured by any suspicion of such conduct. His intrigues, however, were successful; the King himself at last saw that a Waldegrave ministry was impracticable, and that there was no alternative but to submit to the coalition of parliamentary corruption with statesmanlike capacity and popular favour.

The final arrangements were easily made through the dignified agency of Lord Mansfield and A new adminisLord Hardwicke. The Duke was rein- tration formed. stated at the head of the Government, but really only with the superintendence of that machinery of corruption by which the routine of Government had for many years been carried on, but with which his colleague, with a contemptuous affectation of

26

Pitt elevated to power.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

CH. I.

ignorance in such delicate matters of policy, declined to interfere. All real power was centred in the hands of Pitt, and now his great genius had for the first time ample scope, both in opportunity and in the means of action.

At this period, the fortunes of the country were at their lowest point. Chesterfield and other eminent men considered them irretrievable. The administration of public affairs, passing for a series of years through the foul channels of parliamentary corruption, had at last become almost stagnant. The people believed, not without cause, that every politician was a mere self-seeker; and that the interests of the nation were sacrificed to the foreign connections of the reigning family. Pitt alone, of all the public men, possessed the confidence of the country; yet so deficient was its representation in the House of Commons, that, on his accession to office a few months previously, he had great difficulty in procuring a seat in that assembly. The principal cities and boroughs of the empire could present him with their freedom, but the elective franchise was out of their power. That was the property of the Duke of Newcastle, and of the great heads of parties with whom the patriot minister had no connection.

Contemporaneously with Pitt's elevation to power, took place the disastrous battle of Kolin, Battle of Kolin. by which the cause of Frederick, England's only ally, seemed hopelessly ruined. This was followed shortly afterwards by the utter discomfiture of the Duke of Cumberland in Hanover, and the convention of Closterseven, by which his army was disbanded.

Affairs in America.

In America, the English flag had been dislodged from a position of great importance. The fort of Oswego, on the Lake Ontario, commanding the great maritime highway of North America, and the communication between the northern

1757.

ATTEMPT ON ROCHEFORT.

27

and southern colonies of France, was taken, almost without resistance; and with it, sixteen hundred men, one hundred pieces of cannon, together with a great amount of military stores and provisions, fell into the hands of the enemy.

Such was the state of the empire when consigned to the care of Pitt:-Dispossessed of her principal military position in America; of her only harbour in the Mediterranean; driven from the Continent; the seat of empire menaced; her military fame disparaged; the policy no less than the arms of her ancient enemy triumphant in every quarter of the globe. But though politicians were dismayed, the public spirit bore up undaunted under this accumulation of misfortune and the cry was not for concession or compromise, but for redress of grievances, and the vindication of the national honour.

fort. Its failure.

The season for active military operations was far advanced when Pitt came into power. Expedition Nevertheless, immediate measures were against Rochetaken for relieving the pressure upon the arms of England and of her heroic ally, the King of Prussia, by an important diversion. Early in September, an expedition sailed for the coast of France, with orders to make a descent upon Rochefort, which contained one of her principal naval magazines. But the enterprise wholly failed, in consequence of the jealousies and misconduct of the officers in command. They had every reason to believe that a prompt attack would find the place comparatively defenceless. Yet the General's chief concern was, in possibility of failure, to secure a safe retreat to the ships; and because the Admiral could not undertake to provide for an event, which must always depend upon the winds and waves, instead of an attack, the precious time was occupied by councils of war. While these councils were deliberating, preparations for defence were being made; the opportunity was

28

PUBLIC DISSATISFACTION.

CH. I.

lost, and the fleet sailed homeward, followed by the derision of the foe.

Some critics, whose judgment is formed by the event, have censured this expedition as rash and ill-planned. But according to the better opinion, the scheme was perfectly feasible, and, in fact, must have succeeded, had the General in command acted with promptitude and decision, or even in accordance with his orders. The French monarch, knowing the defenceless condition of the place, took it for granted that it had fallen, as soon as he heard of the projected attack; * and one of the ablest officers of the expedition, one who afterwards achieved the highest professional distinction, expressed his amazement at the infatuation of its leader.†

Return of the fleet.

The return of the fleet without having effected their object, or hardly made an attempt towards it, was greeted, as well it might be, with a burst of public indignation. It was affirmed, and extensively believed, even by persons of ordinary intelligence and information, that Mordaunt and Hawke, the General and Admiral in command, had acted in pursuance of secret orders, without the knowledge of the responsible minister; and that the honour and interests of England had been sacrificed on this occasion, as they were by the treaty of Closterseven, to the sole object of purchasing the immunity of Hanover. But both disasters can be accounted for, without impugning the honour of the officers in command on these occasions. The military incapacity of the Duke of Cumberland was sufficient to mar the prospects of a campaign far more hopeful than that which he directed; but the treacherous and pusillanimous policy, thus attributed

Jenkinson to Greville, October 18, 1751.-Grenville Correspondence.

Rodney to Grenville.

Potter to Pitt, October 11,

1757. Chatham Correspondence. Horace Walpole to General Conway.-Walpole Correspondence.