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THE PRINCE'S TREACHERY.

409

mate his treachery, the Prince would fain have had Charles Grey inform the House that Mr. Fox had exceeded his instructions and mistaken his meaning. This to Fox he was afraid to say; neither dared he ask him to withdraw or qualify what he had uttered on written authority. Finally, he allowed Mrs. Fitzherbert to believe that Fox had invented the calumny which represented her as the mistress of the Prince, and not his wife;* and from that day forth the supposed slanderer was never admitted into her presence. For a time Fox's resentment was profound; but eventually his easy temper and the Prince's blandishments prevailed, and at the close of the following year (1788), he flung aside his party traditions, contending for the Prince's right to the Regency with uncontrolled power, and speaking of him personally in terms which were certainly undeserved.

The leading principles and the chief measures of which Fox was the consistent advocate have been pointed out by Earl Russell. He held with admirable consistency the doctrine, a doctrine now accepted by statesmen of both parties, that the King should always be guided by the advice of Parliament; repudiating the idea of Bolingbroke, which George the 3rd adopted, that he could set aside party connection, disregard the opinion of the Parliamentary majority, and rule by separate influence and by innate authority. Second, he maintained

* Mr. Langdale says that the Prince went up to Mrs. Fitzherbert the day after Fox had made his statement, and, taking hold of both her hands and caressing her, said, “ Only conceive, Maria, what Fox did yesterday; he went down to the House, and denied that you and I were man and

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FOX'S POLITICAL CAREER.

that a man's religious belief ought not to disqualify him for office, or for a seat in Parliament. And though he did not live to see Protestant Dissenters relieved from the oppression of the Test and Corporation Acts,* or Roman Catholics from the operation of the penal statutes of Charles the 2nd, yet by his noble exertions he largely contributed to the future triumph of those measures of freedom and toleration. Third, the African Slave Trade, which Mr. Pitt both denounced and extended, received its death-blow from the hands of Fox just as his career approached its termination. Fourth, of Parliamentary Reform he was the unwavering and unwearied advocate. Fifth, he was persevering in his advocacy of economy in the public expenditure. Sixth, he constantly protested against encroachments on the liberty of the Press. And, lastly, in middle age as in youth, he was the champion of Peace. Yet not of peace at any price, or at all times. He supported Mr. Pitt, when, in 1787, on the attempt of France to overthrow the independence of Holland, the Minister vigorously interfered in its defence. Again, when Napoleon, after the Battle of Austerlitz, threatened the liberties of Europe, he preferred the continuance of war to humiliation and disgrace. While he sympathised with the French Revolution, so far as it represented the revolt of the people against feudal tyranny, he condemned its excesses.

*These oppressive acts Bishop Tomline, in his 'Life of Pitt,' describes as "the firmest bulwarks of the British Constitution." Lord Eldon thought the bill for repealing them "a revolutionary bill." Lord North spoke of the Test Act as "the great bulwark of the Constitution, to which we owed those inestimable blessings of freedom which we now happily enjoyed." On the other hand, Fox supported every motion for their repeal.

HIS LOVE OF PEACE.

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Still at heart he sighed, like Falkland, for "peacepeace-peace!" His desire for a just and honourable peace was not to be overpowered by the passionate arrogance which led England to assert an unrighteous dominion over America; nor by the mingled fear, pride, and jealousy which unhappily induced her to support and encourage the invasion and desolation of France as a punishment for the crimes of the Revolutionary Terrorists. "This disposition," says Earl Russell, "left him in a small minority in the House of Commons at the beginning of the American war, in a still smaller minority at the commencement and during the course of the French war. The loss of all prospect of power, the invectives of vulgar politicians, he was content to bear; the loss of friends, dearly loved, and of the national confidence, honourably acquired, were sacrifices more painful to his heart. But he never faltered, and never swerved from his purpose; " and that justice which his contemporaries denied him, posterity has been glad to concede, recognising in him a true statesman, chivalrous, honourable, earnest, and devoted to the best interests of his country.

In February, 1801, Pitt resigned on the Catholic Emancipation question, and was succeeded by the Speaker of the House of Commons, Mr. Addington, familiarly known as "the Doctor," a man without pretention to political capacity. Pitt's liberal views with respect to the repeal of the disabilities under which the Roman Catholics laboured, brought him nearer to Fox; and the two united their forces against the Addington

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PITT'S SECOND PREMIERSHIP.

ministry. They concurred, moreover, in supporting the Peace of Amiens, that peace of which everybody was glad and nobody proud; so that Fox shrewdly observed that the joy manifested by the public proved that they had been so distressed by the war as to be glad to accept peace on any terms.* The rupture of this treaty, which again involved England in the continental turmoil, he at first denounced; but he afterwards seems to have felt that resistance had become necessary to the ambition and aggression of Napoleon,-to have become convinced that peace was no longer compatible with the preservation of English freedom. "Every other monument of European liberty has perished," said Sir James Mackintosh; "that ancient fabric which has been gradually raised by the wisdom and virtue of our forefathers still stands; but it stands alone, and it stands among ruins!" At one with Pitt on this all-important point, as on the question of Catholic Emancipation, when the fall of the Addington Government recalled Pitt to power, there was nothing to have prevented Fox from joining him; in which case the country, as Lord Grenville said, would have gained the full benefit of the services of all those who, by the public voice and sentiment, were judged most capable of contributing to its prosperity and safety. But the King's prejudice against Fox was not to be overcome; and Lord Grenville, Wyndham, and the other Whig chiefs, refused to take office without him. Pitt, therefore, was left almost alone-his only able

* After the peace of Amiens, Fox, accompanied by Lord and Lady Holland, visited Paris, and was received with much distinction by the First Consul.

THE GRENVILLE-FOX CABINET.

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colleagues being Canning and Castlereagh-at the most critical juncture which Great Britain has experienced. The victory of Trafalgar saved the country from the peril of invasion. On the other hand, Napoleon's triumph at Austerlitz broke up the European coalition on which Pitt had rested his hopes of success, and crushed our two strongest allies, Austria and Russia. "Austerlitz," said Wilberforce, "killed Pitt." Exhausted, and in feeble health, he was unable to sustain the blow. He died on the 26th of January, 1806.

On the death of Pitt, it was admitted by all parties that Fox must be the principal person in any new Administration; and the King was compelled to give way. A junction was formed between Fox, with his immediate followers, the Grenville section, and the Tories under Lord Sidmouth; and the Whig chief took the seals as Secretary of State, while Grenville was appointed First Lord of the Treasury. The new Ministry set to work with great energy. They introduced and carried a measure for limiting the period of service in the army; their budget was based upon economical principles; they effected some reforms in the system of recruitment; and brought forward proposals for abolish

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Nothing can exceed the cordiality, reasonableness, and moderation, with which the whole progress of the arrangement has been conducted on both sides. Whoever knows Mr. Fox at all, needs no authority as to him; he is in every respect most perfectly satisfied with Lord Grenville."-F. HORNER, 'Memoirs and Correspondence,' i. 358. The coalition was natural enough; Fox aware of the King's hostility to him, was glad to secure the assistance of the King's friends, and Addington, bitterly opposed to Canning and the Pittites, necessarily turned to Fox and Grenville.

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