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74

Parliament meets.

A new leader of the House of Commons.

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

CH. II.

Parliament met early in November, but the Government had no cause to trouble itself as to the judgment that assembly might pronounce on recent events. It was the same abject and complaisant Parliament which, in the pay and under the guidance of Newcastle, had listened with apathy to the eloquence of Pitt in opposition;-had afterwards passed his measures without question, when he was in office, and was ready again to disregard his eloquence, now that he was out of power. The lead of the House of Commons was entrusted to George Grenville, a brother of Lord Temple-a man who, by unwearied assiduity and slow degrees, had obtained a considerable position in the House of Commons. His portrait has been handed down to us by the masterly strokes of his great contemporary, and has been again delineated by the no less skilful hand of a living historian.* Grenville had been destined for the chair of the House of Commons; his knowledge of parliamentary business-his devoted attachment to the House, and the decorum of his manners, would have well qualified him for that dignified position; but his evil fortune and that of the nation placed him · in a very different post; and the firmness of temper which, under the restraint of law and precedent, might have been well adapted to moderate the debates of a popular assembly, was afterwards signalised by a fatal perseverance in a quarrel, which he had wantonly provoked, and a policy which he did not comprehend. Even on the present occasion, when he was not advanced to the responsibility of First Minister, his want of tact was remarkable. According to the classification of a temporary observer, there were at this time four political parties: first, Newcastle and his the Life of Chatham; Edinburgh Review.

State of parties.

* Burke's speech on American taxation.-Macaulay's Review of

1761.

ALTERED TONE OF SPAIN.

75

parliamentary following; secondly, Pitt and popularity; thirdly, Lord Bute and the Crown; fourthly, the Duke of Bedford and Fox.* Grenville was consulted by Bute in making the new arrangements consequent upon Pitt's resignation; he must have known, therefore, that it was intended to get rid of Newcastle on the first opportunity. Yet he, himself, must further reduce the strength of the Government, which was already weak enough, by refusing the friendly overtures of Fox and his powerful connection.† A Whig himself, it was with his entire concurrence, if not at his instance, that the administration was recruited almost exclusively from the Tory party.

Lord Egremont, the son of the celebrated Sir William Wyndham, inheriting his father's politics, and some portion of his talents, was, on Grenville's recommendation, appointed Secretary of State in the room of Pitt.‡

Spanish affairs.

No sooner was the change in the Cabinet of St. James's known at Madrid than the tone of that Court was altered. The pacific assurances with which the stern interpellations of Pitt had been answered by the Spanish minister, were unceremoniously discontinued. Reparations for the wrongs which had been asked of Pitt in a tone never rising beyond that of earnest expostulation, were now peremptorily demanded; while the modest request of the British Government for information as to the nature of the treaty which had just been concluded between France and Spain was as promptly refused. The form of friendly relations. was soon after discarded. The Earl of Bristol was ordered to leave Madrid, and the Condé de Fuentes was recalled from London. The Spanish ambassador, in announcing to the Secretary of State the revoca

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War declared with Spain.

Spanish profes

motives.

THE NEW MINISTRY.

CH. II.

tion of his credentials, affected to appeal to the British nation against the policy of the Government, and railed against Pitt, by name, in a strain of bitter invective. This insolence was reproved by Egremont with spirit and dignity. A declaration of war was immediately, and almost simultaneously, published at London and at Madrid. Thus, within a few weeks after the policy of Pitt had been condemned by the all but unanisions of peaceful mous voice of the Cabinet, that policy was forced back upon England, under circumstances of disadvantage, and almost of shame. To all eyes not blinded by jealousy, nor incapable of following the course of events, it must have been manifest from the note on Spanish grievances, presented to the Government by De Bussy, in the month of July, that there was already an understanding between the two great branches of the House of Bourbon hostile to this country. The English Government was to be amused until the annual flotilla of merchandise should have arrived from the West Indies. That important event took place during the deliberation of the Council on Pitt's proposition for an immediate declaration of war; and on the 2nd of November, when the two remaining treasure-ships arrived in the port of Cadiz, the flimsy professions of peace which had throughout imposed on Bristol, were laid aside as no longer necessary. Had the counsels of Pitt been promptly adopted, the two rich galleons, which did not reach Europe till November, must certainly have been intercepted by the English cruisers, and thus the wealth of the enemy would have been made to contribute to the cost of the British armament. Peace, the political principle upon which the go

* In 1727 the Emperor's resident, Palm, had committed a similar breach of diplomatic decorum. The insult was resented

by the House of Commons; and Palm was ordered to quit the kingdom.

1761.

PUBLIC DISLIKE TO HANOVER.

77

vernment of Bute sought to found itself, had indeed vanished at the outset. But there remained a subordinate principle of a much more plausi- Hopelessness of ble kind; that, namely, of renouncing peace. German connections. The nation regarded the continental possessions of the Hanoverian princes with great aversion; and nothing more effectually retarded the advancement of those princes in the goodwill of their new subjects, than the yearning which they naturally evinced towards the home of their youth, and the inheritance of their fathers. The early denunciations of Pitt against German alliances and German subsidies, had contributed to his popularity more even than his advocacy of war with France. The plain distinction between the system of subsidies which Pitt reprobated in opposition, and that which he adopted in power, has been already noticed; but the people, who seldom discriminate, or comprehend more than one view of a question, could hardly tolerate what was not, perhaps, the least efficient part of their own minister's war policy. Bute addressed himself to this prejudice to which it is probable enough his own capacity and information descended. The organs of Government, both in Parliament and in the press, argued the question on the narrow, invidious, and false assumption, that England could have no other object in engaging in war on the soil of Germany than the particular benefit of Hanover. It was probably, therefore, the intention of Bute at all events to discontinue the subsidy to the King of Prussia.

Now was the time when Pitt might have exulted in the vindication of his policy, and re- Noble conduct torted upon the jealous and ignorant of Pitt. cabal by which he had been overruled. Human nature could not altogether forbear under such temptation; but the illustrious statesman, without affectedly abstaining from the topic, showed no

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MAGNANIMITY OF PITT.

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CH. II.

desire to indulge in the mortification of his late colleagues. The malignity of his detractors he utterly disregarded. Time of war,' he said, was no season for personal altercation. In the face of the common enemy, England should be united as one man. To bring the war to a glorious end, to exalt the power and reputation of his country was enough for him.' The preparations which he had made, and which the Government had not had time to frustrate, probably insured the result. The spirit which he had infused into the public service could not be immediately quenched. The officers whom he had placed at the head of our fleets and armies were still at their posts.

The Family
Alliance.

Meanwhile, the Family Alliance had been seeking to strengthen themselves by the support of some of those European Powers which had as yet maintained neutrality. Having made overtures to Holland without success, they sought by intimidation to detach Portugal from her ancient connection with this country. The Court of Lisbon, helpless itself, could only appeal to England for protection. This appeal could not be evaded; and in pursuance of a royal message, a subsidy of a million was granted by the Commons to His Faithful Majesty. A body of British troops was likewise sent to the Tagus. Parliament was, however, prorogued. prorogued, without having voted the usual aid to that magnanimous ally,' whose services had been distinguished by such honourable mention in the speech from the Throne at the commencement of the session.

Parliament

Our Prussian policy.

6

But circumstances had lately occurred which materially affected any claim that Frederick might have preferred to a continuation of the annual subsidy. Early in the year, the Czarina Elizabeth had died, and her successor, a passionate admirer of Frederick, immediately abandoned the

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