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afterwards known as lord Ashburton, that the influence of the crown had increased, was increasing, and ought to be diminished, clearly pointed at an object, the real or supposed existence of which occasioned considerable discontent. In the mean time, Mr. Burke, then in the bloom of his popularity, had been encouraged by this and other symptoms of jealousy to broach once more his plan of economy, which, as it was founded on a progressive retrenchment, appeared admirably calculated to clip the wings of the prerogative. The bill was of course rejected by lord North, when the motion was debated February 19, 1781; but it was ably supported by Mr. Pitt, who, in his maiden speech, very forcibly ridiculed the objection, that it proposed to bring no more than 200,000l. a year into the public coffers, a sum insignificant compared to the millions expended.

After a long debate, the bill was rejected by a trifling majority; but it was afterwards introduced at a more favourable opportunity, and carried partly into effect.

On the 12th of June, the same session, Mr. Fox made a motion, that the house should resolve itself into a committee to consider the American war; and he meant, he said, provided this should be carried, to follow it up with another: that his majesty's ministers ought immediately to take every possible measure for concluding peace with the American colonies. He was supported by many distinguished members, particularly by Mr. Pitt, who engaged the whole attention of the house, while he expressed himself in the most indignant terms on the cruelty and impolicy of the contest with the colonies. It was conceived, he said, in injustice; it was nurtured and brought forth in folly; its footsteps were marked with blood, slaughter, persecution, and devastation. In short, every thing that went to constitute moral depravity and human_turpitude were to be found in it. It was pregnant with mischief of every kind, while

it meditated destruction to the miserable people who were the devoted objects of the black resentments which produced it.

About this time, the lord advocate of Scotland, the present viscount Melville, though a stickler for the American war, and a zealous friend of the minister, paid many high compliments to this youthful statesman, with whom he was afterwards fated to act, and whose future advancement he seemed even now, with his usual intuitive sagacity, to prognosticate. His powerful abilities and brilliant eloquence, he said, were universally acknowledged proofs that the astonishing extent and force of an exalted understanding had descended, in a hereditary line, from the late illustrious possessor of them, to a son equally endued with all the fire, and strength, and grace of oratory. Mr. Wilkes also pronounced a neat eulogium on the same subject, and to the same purpose.

Next to the American war, a more equal representation of the people in the house of commons was one of the chief objects to which the nation directed its attention. It was fully recognized as the undoubted prerogative of the crown to declare war, but as the supplies were exclusively entrusted to the direc tion of the representative branch of the constitution, all independent men seemed to allow that, but for the venality and corruption of a former parliament, it would have been impossible for any minister to have carried on a conflict accompanied with the waste of so much blood and treasure.

To profit by experience, to correct the future by the past, to restore the constitution to its original purity, and to confer on the people their due weight in a mixed form of government, had now become the aim and object of Mr. Pitt's endeayours.

This ingenious statesman, as yet uncorrupted with power, and viewing a well merited renown as the sole reward and only recompence

of his virtuous endeavours, boldly, fairly, and honestly entered on a measure which now served as a spear to probe the character of his political adversaries, and was afterwards employed by the Abdiels, who opposed him to probe his own heart, when it was supposed to have been perverted by the fascinations of office, and the habit of command. We now allude to the measure so early adopted, and for a while so strenuously supported, by him, of obtaining a more equal representation of the people in parliament. On this occasion, his sentiments were these:

The representation of the commons in parliament was a matter so truly interesting, that it had at all times excited the admiration of men the most enlightened; while the defects found in it had given them reason to apprehend the most alarming consequences. That it had lately undergone material alterations, by which the commons' house of par liament had received an improper and dangerous bias, he believed it would be idle for him to attempt to prove.

That beautiful frame of government, which had made us the envy and admiration of mankind, and in which the people were entitled to hold so distinguished a share, was so far dwindled and departed from its original purity, that the representatives ceased, in a great degree, to be connected with the people.

It is not his intention to enter into any inquiry respecting the proper mode of reform, or to consider what would most completely tally and square with the original frame of the constitution; this he left to a committee: but he still felt it his duty to state some facts and circumstances which, in his opinion, made this object of reform essentially necessary.

He believed, indeed, that there was no member of that house who would not acknowledge, that the representation was incomplete. It was perfectly understood that there

were some of the boroughs under the influence of the treasury, and others totally possessed by them. It was manifest that such boroughs had not one quality of representation in them. They had no share or concern in the general interests of the country; and they had in fact no stake for which to appoint guardians in the popular assembly. The influence of the treasury in some boroughs was also contested, not by the electors of those boroughs, but by some powerful man, who assumed or pretended to a hereditary property in what ought only to be the rights and privileges of the electors.

There were other boroughs, which had now in fact no actual existence but in the return of mem, bers to that house. They had no existence in property, in population, in trade, or in weight of any kind.

Another set of boroughs and towns claimed to themselves the right of bringing their votes to market.

They had no other market, no other property, and no other stake in the country, than the property and price which they procured for their votes. Such boroughs were the most dangerous of all others. So far from consulting the interests of their country in the choice which they made, they held out their borough to the best purchaser; and in fact, some of them belonged more to the nabob of Arcot than they did to the people of England. They were towns and boroughs more within the jurisdiction of the Carnatic, than the limits of the empire of Great Britain; and it was a fact pretty well known, and generally understood, that the nabob had no less than seven or eight members in that house.

No man possessed more reverence for the constitution, and more respect even for its vestiges, than himself. But he was afraid that the reverence and enthusiasm which Englishmen entertained for the constitution would, if not suddenly prevented, be the means of destroying it; for such was their enthusiasm,

that they would not even remove its defects, for fear of touching its beauty. But so great was his reverence for the beauties of that constitution, that he wished to remove those defects, as he clearly perceived that they were defects which altered the radical principles of the constitution.

That a reform of the present parliamentary representation was indispensably necessary, was the sentiment of some of the first and greatest characters in the kingdom; he well knew it to be the sentiment of his much honoured father, the late earl of Chatham, who was firmly of opinion that a reform of the representation was absolutely requisite for the security of the liberties of the people of this country. He concluded with moving, that a committee should be appointed to enquire into the state of the representation in parliament, and to report to the house their observations thereon.

This proposition was seconded by alderman Sawbridge, and supported by sir George Saville. Mr. Fox, though then a minister, spoke in favour of reform; and instanced the county of Middlesex, which he said was so litttle represented, that though it contained one eighth of the whole number of electors of Great Britain, though it paid one sixth part of the land-tax, and a full third of all other taxes, yet had not more than a fifty-fifth part of the representation.

The motion, however, was rejected; but the majority was small, for it only consisted of 40, the numbers being 161 to 121.

In proportion as this subject was canvassed, it obtained additional support, even in the house of commons. In respect to the nation at large, it was indeed so extremely popular, that many of the counties and cities, especially Yorkshire, Middlesex, Kent, Westminster, &c. associated for the express purpose of obtaining a reform; and Mr. Pitt himself actually sat in a

convention of delegates, convoked in the vicinity of the very spot where the acknowledged legislature held its sittings.

But

In the mean time, the American war was brought to a close; and the old minister being hunted into the toils, the spoils of office became the reward of his opponents. they aspired to nobler distinctions, and that short-lived administration, of which the marquis of Rockingham was the head, and Mr. Fox one of the secretaries of state, put the seal to their integrity, by realiz ing in part the expectations of the public. During its existence, contractors were excluded from the house of commons; custom and excise officers were disqualified from voting at elections; the proceedings with regard to the Middlesex election were rescinded; and while a more liberal and enlightened policy was adopted in respect to Ireland, a reform bill in England abolished a multitude of useless officers, and thus clipt the wings of corruption. More, much more, would have been effected, had not the death of Rockingham led to great and sudden changes.

In consequence of the new arrangements, Mr. Fox retired; and lord Shelburne, on whom had now devolved the office of first lord of the treasury, selected Mr. Pitt, who declared that he would accept no inferior office, though then only 23 years of age, as chancellor of the exchequer. Peace at any rate, was now become desirable; but the terms were objected to, by an opposition rendered formidable in consequence of a coalition between two men hitherto considered as mortal enemies, and lord North and Mr. Fox, previously to whose political marriage, Mr. Pitt solemnly, in open parliament, forbad the banns, having obtained a majority, he retired from power, with a character unimpeached and a heart untainted.

In a few weeks after his dismission, Mr. Pitt once more urged a reform in parliament, which he

knew would restore him to all his former popularity, and pave the way for his return to power.

He accordingly submitted three motions to the house; but though ably supported by Mr. Fox, and other members, yet on a division he was left in a minority, the ayes being 129, and the noes 293.

Nothwithstanding the popularity connected with the name and talents of Pitt, the coalition ministry continued to possess a great majority in parliament; till the celebrated India bill, by which the entire government of that company was to be vested in commissioners, was conceived. This measure, of which Mr. Burke was the father, received a regular and systematic opposition from Mr. Pitt, who chiefly insisted on the infringement, or rather the violation of the charter, and on the new and unconstitutional influence it was calculated to create. He allowed that the government of India wanted reform, but it was a constitutional not a tyrannical alteration that broke through every principle of justice. By this bill an attack was made on the most solemn charters; it also pointed a fatal blow against the integrity and the faith of parliament; and, in addition to this, it broke through every tie by which man was bound to man. The charter was not indebted for its birth or its pretensions to the foolish prepossession, or mad prodigality, of a Plantagenet, a Tudor, or a Stuart: it was a fair purchase made of the public, an equal compact for reciprocal advantages between the proprietors and the nation at large. The bill was carried in the house of commons by a large majority: but, in the house of peers, it was objected to by the duke of Richmond, lord Thurlow, and earl Temple, now marquis of Buckingham, and on the 17th of December, 1783, it was finally rejected by a majority of

nineteen.

This extraordinary event was supposed to have taken place in consequence of a conference between lord Temple and the king,

which produced some motions in the house of commons against secret influence. A large portion of the members still adhered to the coalition ministry.

In the mean time, the king determined on an entire change of ministry, and at twelve o'clock at night, on the 18th of December, 1783, the two secretaries of state were informed that his majesty had no further occasion for their services, and were directed, that the seals of office should be presented by the under secretaries, as a personal interview would be disagreeable. The important places of first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer were conferred on Mr. Pitt, who thus became prime minister in the 24th year of his age, while lord Temple was nominated for a few days secretary of state, and earl Gower became president of council. Soon after, lord Thurlow accepted the office of lord chancellor, the duke of Rutland was made keeper of the privy seal, and the marquis of Carmarthen and lord Sidney secretaries of state, while Mr. Dundas became treasurer of the navy.

Mr. Pitt, who at this period had greatly increased his former popularity by bestowing the patent sinecure of clerk of the pells upon colonel Barre, in lieu of a pension of nearly the same value, on the 14th of January, 1784, produced a new bill for the better government of India. He proposed the institution of a board of controul, the members to be nominated by the king, to which the dispatches of the company were to be submitted; he also proposed that the appointment of the commander in chief should be vested in the crown, and having thus ob tained the guardianship of the political concerns of the company, he left the commercial ones entirely to the court of directors.

Mr. Fox did not fail to object to this bill; and after a short debate it was rejected by a majority of eight.

In this temper of the house, either a coalition or an immediate disso

lution became necessary; and a number of independent members having met and attempted to bring about the former without success, the latter was suddenly recurred to, March 25, 1784, soon after a very equivocal message, tending to cajole the house of commons into security. The voice of the nation, on this occasion, produced considerable effect, and the elections in general proved highly favourable to the new ministers, In consequence of this, Mr. Pitt, who was returned for the university of Cambridge, again produced his amended bill for the regulation of India, and carried it triumphantly through both houses.This session gave birth to two other important projects, one for the prevention of smuggling, and the other, called the commutation act, by which certain duties were transferred from tea to windows.

But the new minister was placed in a very delicate and embarrassing situation, by a motion of alderman Sawbridge, June 16th, 1784, for ap pointing a committee to inquire into the present state of the commons of Great Britain in parliament. The alderman affected to be desirous of resigning this business to the chancellor of the exchequer, who had, on a former occasion, offered motions on the same subject, and in whose hands he conceived it would be attended with a greater prospect of success.

Mr. Pitt, however, extricated himself with great adroitness: but from that moment he appears to have lost all pretensions to consistency.

He declined the invitation on account of the pressure of public business, which left him no leisure for disquisitions and arrangements so complicated and extensive. This was not, he said, the proper time for questions that might be urged with greater probability of success on some future occasion. He declared his own resolution to offer something on the subject early in the next session; and though the precipitate discussion of it had not

his approbation, the business itself should have every support he was able to afford it. The previous question was moved and carried by his friend, lord Mulgrave, towards the close of the debate.

Mr. Pitt being now invested with full power as premier, exercised all the functions of that high office, without check or controul. Finding he possessed a clear majority, both in the cabinet and the parliament, he appears from this moment to have yielded himself wholly up to a temper naturally lofty, and to have cared but little for that popularity which he had courted with equal assiduity and success, while it turned to his advantage.

Soon after the enaction of the India bill, which has reduced to nothing the political functions of the court of directors, a commercial treaty was made with France; and it has always been allowed that the terms were highly advantageous to England. Lord Auckland, who had left the opposition bench, and attached himself to the fortunes of the new minister, appears to have been the author of this measure, and he was accordingly appointed to carry it into effect.

Mr. Pitt, who deserves great credit for countenancing the plan, nearly at the same time adopted another relative to the finances, whence he derived great reputation; and having already hinted at a time when the national debt might possibly be extinguished, the nation, if not wholly satisfied, seemed at least to be content under his ministry.

Thus a commercial nation began once more to flourish, by cultivating the arts of peace: but unhappily the minister seemed ambitious of every sort of glory, and he was now, for the first time, determined to assume the character of a war-minister. Accordingly, forgetting that the wounds inflicted by the American war, though cicatrized, were not yet wholly healed, and that hostilities, without the apology of an immediate and invincible necessity, must always be destructive to a ma

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