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with Pitt for Chancellor of the Exchequer. Thenceforward Pitt and Fox were rivals; and the country was destined to suffer severely by the long-continued opposition of two great men, whose principles of policy were fundamentally the same, and who, had they worked together, would doubtlessly have anticipated many of the valuable reforms which have been accomplished within our own time.

The Shelburne Ministry lasted only long enough to conclude successfully the negotiations which the Rockingham cabinet had begun, and to restore peace between England, France, and America by the Treaty of Paris. It was overthrown in February, 1783, by that coalition between Fox and Lord North, which so astonished their contemporaries, and has been so strongly censured by posterity.* It was undoubtedly a bold proceeding, and, as Fox himself said, nothing but success could authorize it. "Unless a real good Government is the consequence," said General Fitzpatrick, "nothing can justify it to the public." Its condemnation, therefore, is to be found in its failure. And inasmuch as it overthrew the recognised landmarks of party, dissolved the legitimate alliances of statesmen, and brought upon Mr. Fox a burden of unpopularity which weakened for the rest of his life the influence of his genius, eloquence, and

Shelburne had made overtures to Fox, but he refused to join unless Shelburne resigned the premiership to the Duke of Portland. He then turned to North, offering to admit his friends, but not himself. North apprehending that Pitt and Fox might effect a junction, listened to the suggestions of Lord Loughborough, Mr. Cain, and others, that he should unite with Fox, and expel Shelburne.-WRAXALL, Memoirs,' iii. 254-277.

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ITS EFFECT ON THE PUBLIC MIND.

political foresight, it was undoubtedly an error. Another objection may be taken to it, that it was illtimed. However worthy of criticism the peace of 1783, it was certainly as good a peace as Lord North could have made; and whatever blame attached to it was due to the misgovernment of Lord North himself, which had reduced the country to so humiliating a condition. Again: Mr. Fox at one time had directed against Lord North the fiercest invectives. If these were justifiable, it was clearly not his duty to unite with the man whom he had lashed in language so unsparing; if they were not justifiable, he stood before the people convicted of unmeaning passion and irrational anger. It has been well observed that Lord North readily forgave the utterance of these diatribes, but the public never forgave their being retracted. On the other hand, it is not to be forgotten that Lord North and Mr. Fox had no personal antipathies to overcome. They were both men of generous temper, kindly feelings, and simple, manly, straightforward character. What Fox said of himself, might be said of North: "Amicitiæ sempiternæ, inimicitiæ placabiles." Nor were their political differences important, except, perhaps, as regarded the question of Parliamentary Reform. On other subjects North had opposed Fox because he was in office, and chose to consider himself the servant and mouth-piece of the King.*

* The extent of the King's interference with the Government, and the vast scope of his meddlesomeness, can be appreciated only by a study of his correspondence with Lord North, published by Lord Brougham in the Appendix to his Life of North,' (Brougham's Collected Works, iii. 69,

WILBERFORCE'S COMMENT.

381

Earl Russell thinks that the failure of the Coalition was not an accident, but a result involved in the elements of which it was composed. The King, forced by a violent pressure to take back Mr. Fox,* was an enemy constantly on the watch against his Ministers. † The nation was not very partial to Lord North, whose repeated miscarriages had humbled its pride; nor to Mr. Fox, whose social excesses had begun to alarm its morality, and whose boldness of language shook its confidence. At a later period the strong comment of Mr. Wilberforce was very generally endorsed: "that the Coalition partook of the vices of both its parents, -the corruption of the one, and the violence of the other." +

Had this celebrated Coalition never been formed, it is possible that Fox and Pitt might have fought side by side, for the former was incapable of jealousy, and the

et seq.). One great object of Fox in his coalition with North, was to deal

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66

a good stout blow" at the unconstitutional influence of the Crown. *He had threatened to retire to Hanover. Your Majesty may go," said Lord Thurlow, "nothing is more easy; but you may not find it so easy to return, when your Majesty becomes tired of staying there."

+ He informed Lord Temple that to such a ministry he would never give his confidence, and that he would take the first moment for dismissing them.- Courts and Cabinets of George the 3rd,' i. 302.

‡ “Their sudden union could not be affected without imputations injurious to the credit of both. Nor could it be disguised that personal ambition dictated their bold stroke for power, in which principles were made to yield to interest. It was the alliance of factions, rather than of parties; and on either side it was a grave political error. Viewed with disfavour by the most earnest of both parties, it alienated from the two leaders many of their best followers. Either party could have united with Lord Shelburne more properly than with one another."-Sir T. Erskine May, ii. 22.

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A STRONG governNMENT.

latter might have been satisfied with an equal share of power. A cordial confederacy between these two illustrious statesmen would have saved the Whig party; and, what is more important, would have cemented the union of Ireland and Great Britain by the repeal of the penal laws against the Roman Catholics, and have prevented the War of the French Revolution. But thus vanished the hope of "a more brilliant Fox and a more consistent Pitt; the one adorning and advising his country in the conduct of Foreign Affairs, which he above all men understood; and the other applying to the management of our finances the economical principles of Adam Smith, and the wise frugality of Sully."

The Coalition Ministry was strong in talent, debating power, and experience of public affairs. The Duke of Portland was First Lord of the Treasury; Lord North, Home Secretary; Fox, Foreign Secretary; Lord John Cavendish, Chancellor of the Exchequer; and the great seal was put in commission, the commissioners being Lord Loughborough, Sir W. H. Ashurst, and Sir Beaumont Hotham. Burke became Paymaster of the Forces; Sheridan and Richard Burke, Secretaries to the Treasury; and the Earl of Northington, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

The caricaturists were soon in the field against the new Administration. A print by Gillray, published on the 9th of March, represents in two compartments the position held by the different leaders towards each other before and after their union. The first is entitled "War." Burke and Fox, in characteristic attitudes, are thun

CONTEMPORARY CARICATURES.

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dering against North, the Minister, and denouncing as "infamous" the idea of their marching at any time under his banner. North appears to be not less energetic in his condemnation of his two great opponents. The second compartment, entitled "Neither Peace nor War," shows the three orators, now united in one cause, in the same attitudes, but attacking the preliminaries of the peace signed at Paris. Beneath this document a dog makes his appearance, and barks angrily at the trio. The dog is an allusion, it is said, to an incident in the House of Commons which afforded Lord North an occasion for one of his pleasantries. While the First Minister, on the eve of his resignation, was delivering an animated defence of his government, a dog which had taken refuge under the benches, came out, and howled hideously. The House broke into a peal of laughter, which continued until the intruder was summarily expelled. The Minister then coolly remarked :-" As the new member has ended his argument, I beg to be allowed to continue mine."

A series of prints, nine in number, designated 'The Loves of the Fox and the Badger; or, The Coalition Wedding,' furnishes a burlesque-pictorial history of the alliance between Fox and Lord North, the latter of whom was popularly nicknamed "the badger." Mr. Wright speaks of a caricature by Sayers, published on the 17th of March, which represents North as painting white the dark visage of his new ally; a reference to his frank declaration in the House of Commons, "I have found him a warm friend, and a fair though formidable adversary." In yet another, the new Whig coach, with