A DEFENCE OF THE ROCKINGHAM PARTY, IN THEIR LATE COALITION WITH THE RIGHT
HONOURABLE FREDERIC LORD NORTH
The present reign will certainly appear
to our posterity full of the noblest materials for
history. Many circumstances seem to have pointed
it out as a very critical period. The general
diffusion of science has, in some degree, enlightened
the minds of all men; and has cleared such, as have
any influence upon the progress of manners and society,
from a thousand unworthy pre-possessions. The
dissipation and luxury that reign uncontrouled have
spread effiminacy and irresolution every where. The
grand defection of the United States of America from
the mother country, is one of the most interesting
events, that has engaged the attention of Europe for
centuries. And the number of extraordinary geniuses
that have distinguished themselves in the political
world, gives a dignity to the scene. They pour
a lustre over the darkest parts of the story, and
bestow a beauty upon the tragedy, that it could not
otherwise have possessed.
At a time like this, when the attention
of mankind has been kept alive by a series of the
most important events, we cease to admire at things
which would otherwise appear uncommon, and wonders
almost lose their name. Even now, however, when
men were almost grown callous to novelty, and the
youngest of us had, like Cato in the play, lived long
enough to be “surprised at nothing,” a
matter has occurred which few expected, and to which,
for that reason, men of no great strength of mind,
of no nerve of political feeling, scarcely know how
to reconcile themselves. I refer to the coalition
between the friends of the late marquis of Rockingham
and the noble commoner in the blue ribbon.
The manner of blaming this action
is palpable and easy. The censure is chiefly
directed against that wonderful man, whom, at least
in their hearts, his countrymen, I believe, have agreed
to regard as the person of brightest genius, and most
extensive capacity, that now adorns the British senate.
Has not this person, we are asked, for years attacked
the noble lord in the most unqualified manner?
Is there any aspersion, any insinuation, that he has
not thrown out upon his character? Has he not
represented him as the weakest man, and the worst minister,
to whom the direction of affairs was ever committed?
Has he not imputed to his prerogative principles,
and his palpable misconduct, the whole catalogue of
our misfortunes? If such men as these are to unite
for the detested purposes of ambition, what security
can we have for any thing valuable, that yet remains
to us? Is not this the very utmost reach of frontless
profligacy? What dependence after this is to be
placed in the man, who has thus given the lie to all
his professions, and impudently flown in the face
of that honest and unsuspecting virtue, which had hitherto
given him credit for the rectitude of his intentions?
I do not mean for the present to enter
into a direct answer to these several observations.
I leave it to others, to rest the weight of their
cause upon sounding exclamations and pompous interogatories.
For myself, I am firmly persuaded, that the oftner
the late conduct of the Rockingham connexion is summoned
to the bar of fair reason, the more cooly it is considered,
and the less the examiner is led away by the particular
prejudices of this side or of that, the more commendable
it will appear. We do not fear the light.
We do not shun the scrutiny. We are under no
apprehensions for the consequences.
I will rest my argument upon the regular
proof of these three propositions.
First That the Rockingham
connexion, was the only connexion by which the country
could be well served.
Secondly That they were
not by themselves of sufficient strength to support
the weight of administration.
Thirdly That they were
not the men whose services were the most likely to
be called for by the sovereign, in the present crisis.
First I am to prove, that
the country could not be well served but by the Rockingham
connexion.
There are three points principally
concerned in the constituting a good administration;
liberal principles, respectable abilities, and incorruptible
integrity. Let us examine with a view to
these, the other four parties in the British government.
The connexion of the earl of Shelburne, that of lord
North, the Bedford party, and the Scottish. In
reviewing these, it is necessary that I should employ
a manly freedom, though, at the same time, I should
be much unwilling to do a partial injustice to any
of them.
It is true, there is some difference
between the language of the same men in office, and
out of office. The Bedford connexion, however,
have never been conceived to bear an over favourable
aspect to the cause of liberty. They are the
avowed enemies of innovation and reform.
The Scottish party are pretty much
confounded with the set of men that are called, by
way of distinction, the king’s friends.
The design of these men has been to exalt regal power
and prerogative upon the ruins of aristocracy, and
the neck of the people. Arguments, and those by
no means of a frivolous description, have been brought
to prove, that a most subtle and deep-laid scheme
was formed by them, in the beginning of the reign,
to subserve this odious purpose. It has been supposed
to have been pursued with the most inflexible constancy,
and, like a skiff, when it sails along the meandering
course of a river, finally to have turned to account
the most untoward gales.
Lord North, whatever we may suppose
to have been his intrinsic abilities, stands forward,
as, perhaps, the most unfortunate minister, that this
country ever produced. Misfortune overtook him
in the assertion of the highest monarchical principles.
In spite of misfortune, he adherred inflexibly to
that assertion. In the most critical situations
he remained in a state of hesitation and uncertainty,
till the tide, that “taken at the flood, led
up to fortune,” was lost. His versatility,
and the undisguised attachment, that he manifested
to emolument and power, were surely unworthy of the
stake that was entrusted to him.
In what I have now said, I do not
much fear to be contradicted. It was not with
a view to such as are attached to any of these parties,
that I have taken up the pen. Those who come
under this description, are almost universally the
advocates of monarchy, and think that they have nothing
to regret, but that power and police are not established
upon a more uncontrolable footing among us. To
such persons I do not address myself. I know
of nothing that the friends of lord Rockingham have
to offer that can be of any weight with them; and,
for my own part, I should blush to say a word, that
should tend to conciliate their approbation to a system,
in which my heart was interested. The men I wish
chiefly to have in view, are those that are personally
attached to the earl of Shelburne; such as stand aloof
from all parties, and are inclined to have but an
indifferent opinion of any; and such as have adhered
to the connexion I have undertaken to defend, but
whose approbation has been somewhat cooled by their
late conduct. The two last in particular, I consider
as least under the power of prejudice, and most free
to the influence of rational conviction.
The friends of freedom have, I believe,
in no instance hesitated, but between the Rockingham
connexion, and the earl of Shelburne. It is these
two then that it remains for me to examine. Lord
Shelburne had the misfortune of coming very early
upon the public stage. At that time he connected
himself with the earl of Bute, and entered with warmth
into the opposition to Mr. secretary Pitt. In
this system of conduct, however, he did not long persist;
he speedily broke with the favourite, and soon after
joined the celebrated hero, that had lately been the
object of his attack. By this person he was introduced
to a considerable post in administration. In
office, he is chiefly remembered by the very decisive
stile of authority and censure he employed, in a public
letter, relative to the resistance that was made to
the act of 1767, for imposing certain duties in America.
From his resignation with lord Chatham, he uniformly
and strenuously opposed the measures that were adopted
for crushing that resistance. He persevered, with
much apparent constancy, in one line of conduct for
near ten years, and this is certainly the most plausible
period of his story. He first called forth the
suspicions of generous and liberal men in every rank
of society, by his resolute opposition to the American
independency in 1778. But it was in the administration,
that seemed to have been formed under so favourable
auspices in the spring of 1782, that he came most forward
to general examination.
The Rockingham connexion, in conformity
to what were then supposed to be the wishes of the
people, united, though not without some hesitation,
with the noble earl and his adherents, in the conduct
of public affairs. And how did he reward their
confidence? He was careful to retain the question
respecting his real sentiments upon the business of
America, in as much obscurity as ever. He wrote
officially a letter to sir Guy Carleton, which has
never seen the light, by which that officer was induced
to declare the American independency already irreversibly
recognised by the court of London; by which he appears
to have deceived all his brother ministers without
exception; and by which Mr. Fox in particular, was
induced to make the same declaration with general
Carleton to foreign courts, and to come forward in
the commons peremptorily to affirm, that there was
not a second opinion in the cabinet, upon this interesting
subject. How must a man of his undisguised and
manly character have felt, when, within a week from
this time, he found the noble earl declaring that
nothing had ever been further from his thoughts, than
an unconditional recognition; and successfully exerting
himself to bring over a majority in the cabinet to
the opposite sentiment? Lord Shelburne’s
obtaining, or accepting, call it which you will, of
the office of first lord of the treasury, upon the
demise of lord Rockingham, without the privity of his
fellow Ministers, was contrary to every maxim of ingenuous
conduct, and every principle upon which an association
of parties can be supported. The declaration
he made, and which was contradicted both by his own
friends in the cabinet, and those of Mr. Fox, that
he knew of no reason in God’s earth for
that gentleman’s resignation, but that of his
having succeeded to the office of premier, was surely
sufficiently singular.
But he is celebrated for being a man
of large professions, and by these professions he
has induced some persons in different classes in society,
to esteem him the friend of liberty and renovation.
What he has held out, however, upon these heads, has
not been entirely confident. He has appeared
the enthusiastical partizan of the aristocracy, a kind
of government, which, carried to its height, is perhaps,
of all the different species of despotism, the most
intolerable. He has talked in a very particular
stile of his fears of reducing the regal power to a
shadow, of his desire that the extension of prerogative
should keep pace with the confirmation of popular
rights, and his resolution, that, if it were in his
power to prevent it, a king of England should never
be brought to a level with a king of Mahrattas.
The true sons of freedom will not certainly be very
apprehensive upon this score, and will leave it to
the numbers that will ever remain the adherents of
monarchical power, to guard the barriers of the throne.
In opposition, his declarations in favour of parliamentary
reform seemed indeed very decisive. In administration,
he was particularly careful to explain away these
declarations, and to assure the people that he would
never employ any influence in support of the measure,
but would only countenance it so far as it appeared
to be the sense of parliament. In other words,
that he would remain neutral, or at most only honour
the subject with an eloquent harangue, and interest
himself no further respecting it.
But let us proceed from his language
to his conduct in office. Almost every salutary
measure of administration, from the resignation of
lord North downward, was brought about during the
union of the noble earl with the Rockingham connexion.
What inference are we to draw from this? That
administration, as auspicious as it was transitory,
has never been charged with more than one error.
They were thought too liberal in the distribution
of two or three sinécures and pensions. To
whom were they distributed? Uniformly, exclusively,
to the friends of lord Shelburne. Lord Shelburne
proposed them to his august colleague, and the marquis,
whose faults, if he had any, were an excess of mildness,
and an unsuspecting simplicity, perhaps too readily
complied. But let it be remembered, that not
one of his friends accepted, or to not one of his
friends were these emoluments extended. But, if
the noble marquis were sparing in the distribution
of pensions, the deficiency was abundantly supplied
by his successor. While the interests of the people
were neglected and forgotten, the attention of the
premier was in a considerable degree engrossed by
the petty arrangements of office. For one man
a certain department of business was marked out; the
place had been previously filled by another.
Here the first person was at all events to be promoted;
and the second gratified with a pension. Thus,
in the minute detail of employment, in adjusting the
indéclinables of a court calendar, to detach
a commis from this department, and to fix a
clerk in that, burthen after burthen has been heaped
upon the shoulders of a callous and lethargic people. But
no man can say, that the earl of Shelburne has been
idle. Beside all this, he has restored peace to
his country. His merits in this business, have
already been sufficiently agitated. To examine
them afresh would lead me too far from the scope of
my subject. I will not therefore now detain myself
either to exculpate or criminate the minister, to
whom, whatever they are, they are principally to be
ascribed.
From the considerations already suggested,
I am afraid thus much may be fairly inferred, that
the earl of Shelburne is a man, dark, insidious and
inexplicit in his designs; no decided friend of the
privileges of the people; and in both respects a person
very improper to conduct the affairs of this country.
I would hope however, that the celebrated character
given of him by the late lord Holland was somewhat
too severe. “I have met with many, who
by perseverance and labour have made themselves Jesuits;
it is peculiar to this man to have been born one.”
Such then is the estimate we are compelled
to form of a man who in his professions has sometimes
gone as far, as the most zealous votaries of liberty.
And what is the inference we shall draw from this?
Shall we, for the sake of one man so specious and
plausible, learn to think the language of all men
equally empty and deceitful? Having once been
betrayed, shall we avoid all future risk, by treating
every pretender to patriotism and public spirit, as
a knave and an impostor? This indeed is a conclusion
to which the unprincipled and the vicious are ever
propense. They judge of their fellows by themselves,
and from the depravity of their own hearts are willing
to infer, that every honesty has its price. But
the very motive that inclines the depraved to such
a mode of reasoning, must, upon the very same account,
deter the man of virtue from adopting it. Virtue
is originally ever simple and unsuspecting. Conscious
to its own rectitude, and the integrity of its professions,
it naturally expects the same species of conduct from
others. By every disappointment of this kind,
it is mortified and humbled. Long, very long
must it have been baffled, and countless must have
been its mortifications, ere it can be induced to adopt
a principle of general mistrust. And that such
a principle should have so large a spread among persons,
whose honesty, candour forbids us to suspect, is surely,
of all the paradoxe upon the face of the earth,
incomparably the greatest. The man of virtue
then will be willing, before he gives up all our political
connexions without distinction, to go along with me
to the review of the only one that yet remains to
be examined, that of the late marquis of Rockingham.
Too much perhaps cannot be said in
their praise. They have nearly engrossed the
confidence of every friend of liberty. They are
the only men, whose principles were never darkened
with the cloud of suspicion. What, let me ask,
has been their uniform conduct during the whole course
of the reign? They have been ever steady in their
opposition, to whatever bore an ill aspect to the
cause of freedom, and to the whole train of those
political measures, that have terminated in calamity
and ruin. They have been twice in administration.
Prosperity and power are usually circumstances that
prove the severest virtue. While in power how
then did this party conduct themselves?
Of their first administration the
principal measure was the stamp act. A law that
restored tranquility to a distracted empire. A
law, to which, if succeeding administrations had universally
adhered, we had been at this moment, the exclusive
allies and patrons of the whole continent of North
America. A law, that they carried in opposition
to the all-dreaded Mr. Pitt, on the one hand, and
on the other, against the inclination of those secret
directors, from whose hands they receive their delegated
power. They repealed the excise upon cyder.
They abolished general warrants. And after having
been the authors of these and a thousand other benefits
in the midst of storms and danger; they quitted their
places with a disinterestedness, that no other set
of men have imitated. They secured neither place,
pension, nor reversion to themselves, or any of their
adherents.
Their second administration was indeed
very short. But it was crowded with the most
salutary measures. The granting a full relief
to Ireland. The passing several most important
bills of oeconomy and reformation. The passing
the contractors bill. The carrying into effect
that most valuable measure, the abolishing the vote
of custom-house officers in the election of members
of parliament. And lastly, the attempt to atchieve,
that most important of all objects, the establishment
of an equal representation. What might not have
been expected from their longer continuance in office?
But I will not confine myself to the
consideration of their conduct as a body. The
characters of the individuals of which they are composed,
will still further illustrate their true principles,
and furnish a strong additional recommendation of
them, to every friend of virtue and of liberty.
That I may not overcharge this part of my subject,
I will only mention two or three of their most distinguished
leaders.
The character of the present chancellor
of the exchequer is entirely an unique.
Though mixing in all the busy scenes of life, though
occupying for many years a principal place in the
political affairs of this country, he has kept
himself unspotted from the world. The
word of the elder Cato was esteemed so sacred with
the Romans, that it became a proverb among them respecting
things, so improbable, that their truth could not
be established even by the highest authority, “I
would not believe it, though it were told me by Cato.”
And in an age much more dissipated than that of Cato,
the integrity and honour of the noble lord I have
mentioned, has become equally proverbial. Not
bonds, nor deeds, nor all the shackles of law, are
half so much to be depended upon as is his lightest
word. He is deaf to all the prejudices of blood
or private friendship, and has no feelings but for
his country.
Of the duke of Portland, I can say
the less, as not having had an opportunity of knowing
much respecting him. His candour and his honour
have never been questioned. And I remember, in
the debate upon the celebrated secession of the Rockingham
party, upon the death of their leader, to have heard
his abilities particularly vouched in very strong
terms, by Mr. chancellor Pitt, and the present lord
Sidney. The latter in particular, though one
of my lord Shelburne’s secretaries of state,
fairly avowed in so many words, that he should have
been better satisfied with the appointment of his
grace, to the office he now holds, than he was, with
the noble lord, under whom he acted.
The character of lord Keppel, with
persons not attached to any party, has usually been
that of a man of much honesty and simplicity, without
any remarkable abilities. It is a little extraordinary
however, that, though forced by a combination of unfavourable
circumstances into a public speaker, he is yet, even
in that line, very far from contempt. His speeches
are manly, regular, and to the purpose. His defence
upon his trial at Portsmouth, in which he must naturally
be supposed to have had at least a principal share,
has, in my opinion, much beauty of composition.
The adversaries of this party, though unwilling to
admit that the navy was so much improved under his
auspices as was asserted, have yet, I believe, universally
acknowledged his particular activity and diligence.
But I come to the great beast of his
own party, and the principal object of attack to their
enemies, the celebrated Mr. Fox. Men of formality
and sanctity have complained of him as dissipated.
They do not pretend however to aggravate their accusation,
by laying to his charge any of the greater vices.
His contempt of money, and his unbounded generosity,
are universally confessed. Let such then know,
that dissipation, so qualified, is a very slight accusation
against a public man, if indeed it deserves a serious
consideration. In all expansive minds, in minds
formed for an extensive stage, to embrace the welfare
and the interest of nations, there is a certain incessant
activity, a principle that must be employed.
Debar them from their proper field, and it will most
inevitably run out into excesses, which perhaps had
better have been avoided. But do these excrescences,
which only proceed from the richness and fertility
of the soil, disqualify a man for public business?
Far, very far from it. Where ever was there a
man, who pushed dissipation and debauchery to a greater
length, than my lord Bolingbroke? And yet it is
perhaps difficult to say, whether there ever existed
a more industrious, or an abler minister. The
peace of Utrecht, concluded amidst a thousand difficulties,
from our allies abroad, and our parties, that were
never so much exasperated against each other at home;
must ever remain the monument of his glory. His
opposition to sir Robert Walpole seems evidently to
have been founded upon the most generous principles.
And though the warmth and ebullition of his passions
evermore broke in upon his happiest attempts, yet
were his exertions in both instances attended with
the most salutary consequences. But Mr. Fox appears
to me to possess all the excellencies, without any
of the defects of lord Bolingbroke. His passions
have, I believe, never been suspected of having embroiled
the affairs of his party, and he has uniformly retained
the confidence of them all. His friendships have
been solid and unshaken. His conduct cool and
intrepid. The littleness of jealousy never discoloured
a conception of his heart. In office he was more
constant and indefatigable, than lord Bolingbroke himself.
All his lesser pursuits seemed annihilated, and he
was swallowed up in the direction of public affairs.
He has been accused of ambition.
Ambition is a very ambiguous term. In its lowest
sense, it sinks the meanest, and degrades the dirtiest
of our race. In its highest, I cannot agree with
those who stile it the defect of noble minds.
I esteem it worthy of the loudest commendation, and
the most assiduous culture. Mr. Fox’s is
certainly not an ambition of emolument. Nobody
dreams it. It is not an ambition, that can be
gratified by the distribution of places and pensions.
This is a passion, that can only dwell in the weakest
and most imbécil minds. Its necessary concomitants,
are official inattention and oscitancy. No.
The ambition of this hero is a generous thirst of
fame, and a desire of possessing the opportunity of
conferring the most lasting benefits upon his country.
It is an instinct, that carries a man forward into
the field of fitness, and of God.
The vulgar, incapable of comprehending
these exalted passions, are apt upon the slightest
occasions to suspect, that this heroical language is
only held out to them for a lure, and that the most
illustrious characters among us are really governed
by passions, equally incident to the meanest of mankind.
Let such examine the features and the manners of
Mr. Fox. Was that man made for a Jesuit?
Is he capable of the dirty, laborious, insidious tricks
of a hypocrite? Is there not a certain manliness
about him, that disdains to mislead? Are not candour
and sincerity, bluntness of manner, and an unstudied
air, conspicuous in all he does? I know
not how far the argument may go with others, with me,
I confess, it has much weight. I believe a man
of sterling genius, incapable of the littlenesses
and meannesses, incident to the vulgar courtier.
What are the principal characteristics of genius?
Are they not large views, infinite conceptions, a
certain manliness and intrepidity of thinking?
But all real and serious vice originates in selfish
views, narrow conceptions, and intellectual cowardice.
A man of genius may possibly be thoughtless, dissipated
and unstudied; but he cannot avoid being constant,
generous, and sincere. The union of first rate
abilities with malignity, avarice, and envy, seems
to me very nearly as incredible a phenomenon, as a
mermaid, a unicorn, or a phoenix.
I cannot overcome the propensity I
feel to add Mr. Burke to this illustrious catalogue,
though the name of this gentleman leads me out of
the circle of the cabinet. Mr. Burke raised himself
from an obscure situation, by the greatness of his
abilities, and his unrivalled genius. Never was
distinction more nobly earned. Of every species
of literary composition he is equally a master.
He excels alike in the most abstruse metaphysical
disquisition, and in the warmest and most spirited
painting. His rhetoric is at once ornamented and
sublime. His satire is polished and severe.
His wit is truly Attic. Luxuriant in the extreme,
his allusions are always striking, and always happy.
But to enumerate his talents, is to tell but half
his praise. The application he has made of them
is infinitely more to his honour. He has devoted
himself for his country. The driest and most
laborious investigations have not deterred him.
Among a thousand other articles, that might be mentioned,
his system of oeconomical reform must for ever stand
forth, alike the monument of his abilities, and his
patriotism. His personal character is of the
most amiable kind. Humanity and benevolence are
strongly painted in his countenance. His transactions
with lord Rockingham were in the highest degree honourable
to him. And the more they are investigated, and
the better they are understood, the more disinterestedness
of virtue, and generous singularity of thinking, will
be found to have been exhibited on both sides.
It is necessary perhaps, that I should
say a word respecting the aristocratical principles
of this gentleman, by which he is distinguished from
the rest of his party. To these principles I profess
myself an enemy. I am sorry they should be entertained
by a person, for whom, in every other respect, I feel
the highest veneration. But the views of that
man must be truly narrow, who will give up the character
of another, the moment he differs from him in any of
his principles. I am sure Mr. Burke is perfectly
sincere in his persuasion. And I hope I have
long since learned not to question the integrity of
any man, upon account of his tenets, whether in religion
or politics, be they what they may. I rejoice
however, that this gentleman has connected himself
with a set of men, by the rectitude of whose views,
I trust, the ill tendency of any such involuntary
error will be effectually counteracted. In the
mean time this deviation of Mr. Burke from the general
principles of his connexion, has given occasion to
some to impute aristocratical views to the whole party.
The best answer to this, is, that the parliamentary
reform was expressly stipulated by lord Rockingham,
in his coalition with the earl of Shelburne, as one
of the principles, upon which the Administration of
March, 1782, was formed.
From what has been said, I consider
my first proposition as completely established, that
the Rockingham party was the only connexion of men,
by which the country could be well served.
I would however just observe one thing
by the way. I forsee that my first proposition
lies open to a superficial and childish kind of ridicule.
But in order to its operation, it is not necessary
to say, that the friends of lord Rockingham were persuaded,
that the country could not be well served, but by
themselves. In reality, this is the proper and
philosophical state of it: that each individual
of that connexion was persuaded, that the country
could not be well served but by his friends.
And I trust, it has now appeared, that this was a just
and rational persuasion.
The next argument adduced in conformation
of my thesis, is, that they were not by themselves
of sufficient strength, to support the weight of administration.
It is certainly a melancholy consideration, that there
should not be virtue enough left in a people to support
an administration of honest views and uniform principles,
against all the cabals of faction. This however,
is incontrovertibly the case with Britain. The
bulk of her inhabitants are become, in a very high
degree, inattentive, and indifferent to the conduct
of her political affairs. This has been, at one
time, ascribed to their despair of the commonwealth,
and their mortification in perceiving a certain course
of mal-administration persisted in, in defiance of
the known sense of the country. At another time,
it has been imputed to their experience of the hollowness
of all our public pretenders to patriotism. I
am afraid, the cause is to be sought in something,
more uniform in it’s operation, and less honourable
to the lower ranks of society, than either of these.
In a word, luxury and dissipation have every where
loosened the bands of political union. The interest
of the public has been forgotten by all men; and we
have been taught to laugh at the principles, by which
the patriots of former ages were induced, to sacrifice
their fortunes and their lives for the welfare of
their citizens. Provided the cup of enjoyment
be not dashed from our own lips, and the pillow of
sloth torn away from our own heads, we do not ask,
what shall be the fate of our liberties, our posterity,
and our country. Disinterested affection seems
to have taken up her last refuge in a few choice spirits,
and elevated minds, who appear among us, like the
inhabitants of another world. In the mean time,
while the lower people have been careful for none
of these things, they have been almost constantly
decided in the senate, not by a view to their intrinsic
merits, but in conformity to the jarring interests,
and the inexplicable cabals of faction. In such
a situation, alas! what can unprotected virtue do?
Destitute of all that comeliness that allures; stripped
of that influence that gives weight and consideration;
and unskilled in the acts of intrigue?
In conformity to these ideas, when
the choice of an administration was once again thrown
back upon the people, in March, 1782, we perceive,
that no one party found themselves sufficiently strong
for the support of government; and a coalition became
necessary between the Rockingham connexion, and a
person they never cordially approved, the earl of
Shelburne. Even thus supported, and called to
the helm, with perhaps as much popularity, as any
administration ever enjoyed, they did not carry their
measure in parliament without difficulty. The
inconsiderate and interested did even think proper
to ridicule their imbecility; particularly in the
house of lords. The most unsuspected of all our
patriots, Mr. Burke, was reduced to the necessity of
so far contracting his system of reform upon this
account, as to have afforded a handle to superficial
raillery and abuse.
But turn we to the administration
that succeeded them; who still retained some pretensions
to public spirit; and among whom there remained several
individuals, whose claim to political integrity was
indisputably. Weaker than the ministry of lord
Rockingham, to what shifts were they not reduced to
preserve their precarious power? These are the
men, who have been loudest in their censures of the
late coalition. And yet did not they form coalitions,
equally extraordinary with that which is now under
consideration? To omit the noble lord who presided
at the treasury board, and to confine myself to those
instances, which Mr. Fox had occasion to mention in
treating my subject. Was there not the late chancellor
of the exchequer, who has been severest in his censures
of lord North, and the lord advocate of Scotland,
who was his principal supporter, and was for pushing
the American measures, even to greater lengths, than
the noble patron himself? Was there not the master
general of the ordnance, who has ever gone farthest
in his view of political reform, and declaimed most
warmly against secret influence; and the lord chancellor,
the most determined enemy of reform, and who has been
supposed the principal vehicle of that influence?
Lastly, was there not, in the same manner, the secretary
of state for the home department, who was most unwearied
in his invectives against lord Bute; and the
right honourable Mr. Jenkinson, who has been considered
by the believers in the invisible power of that nobleman,
as the chief instrument of his designs.
With these examples of the necessity
of powerful support and extensive combination, what
mode of conduct was it, that it was most natural, most
virtuous, and most wise, for the Rockingham connexion
to adopt? I confess, I can perceive none more
obvious, or more just, than that which they actually
adopted, a junction with the noble commoner in the
blue ribbon. At least, from what has been said,
I trust, thus much is evident beyond control, that
they had just reason to consider themselves abstractedly,
as too weak for the support of government.
Still further to strengthen my argument,
I affirm, in the third place, that they were not the
men, whose services were likely to be called for by
the Sovereign. I believe, that this proposition
will not be thought to stand in need of any very abstruse
train of reasoning to support it. The late events
respecting it have been, instead of a thousand arguments.
From an apprehension, probably, of the uncourtierliness
of their temper, and their inflexible attachment to
a system; it seems to appear by those events, that
the sovereign had contracted a sort of backwardness
to admit them into his councils, which it is to be
hoped, was only temporary. It was however such,
as, without any other apparent cause to cooperate
with it, alone sufficed to delay the forming an administration
for six weeks, in a most delicate and critical juncture.
Even the union of that noble person, who had been considered
as his majesty’s favourite minister, did not
appear to be enough to subdue the averseness.
However then we may hope, that untainted virtue and
superior abilities, when more intimately known, may
be found calculated to surmount prejudices and conciliate
affection; it seems but too evident, that in the critical
moment, those men, by whom alone we have endeavoured
to prove, that the country could be well served, would
not voluntarily have been thought on.
But it does not seem to have been
enough considered, at what time the coalition was
made. The Rockingham connexion, along with thousands
of their fellow citizens, who were unconnected with
any party, were induced, from the purest views, to
disapprove of the late treaty of peace. The voting
with the friends of lord North upon that question,
was a matter purely incidental. By that vote
however, in which a majority of the commons house
of parliament was included, the administration of lord
Shelburne was dissolved. It was not till after
the dissolution was really effected, that the coalition
took place. In this situation something was necessary
to be done. The nation was actually without a
ministry. It was a crisis that did not admit of
hesitation and delay. The country must, if a
system of delay had been adopted, have immediately
been thrown back into the hands of those men, from
whom it had been so laboriously forced scarce twelve
months before; or it must have been committed to the
conduct of persons even less propitious to the cause
of liberty, and the privileges of the people.
A situation, like this, called for a firm and manly
conduct. It was no longer a time to stoop to
the yoke of prejudice. It was a time, to burst
forth into untrodden paths; to lose sight of the hesitating
and timid; and generously to adventure upon a step,
that should rather have in view substantial service,
than momentary applause; and should appeal from the
short-sighted decision of systematic prudence, to the
tribunal of facts, and the judgment of posterity.
But why did I talk of the tribunal
of facts? Events are not within the disposition
of human power. “’Tis not in mortals to
command success.” And the characters of
wisdom and virtue, are therefore very properly considered
by all men, who pretend to sober reflection, as independent
of it. If then, as I firmly believe, the coalition
was founded in the wisest and most generous views,
the man, that values himself upon his rational nature,
will not wait for the event. He will immediately
and peremptorily decide in its favour. Though
it should be annihilated to-morrow; though it had
been originally frustrated in its views, respecting
the continuation of a ministry; he would not hesitate
to pronounce, that it was formed in the most expansive
and long-sighted policy, in the noblest and most prudent
daring, in the warmest generosity, and the truest
patriotism.
But it will be said, a coalition of
parties may indeed be allowed to be in many cases
proper and wise; but a coalition between parties who
have long treated each other with the extremest rancour,
appears a species of conduct, abhorrent to the unadulterated
judgment, and all the native prepossessions of mankind.
It plucks away the very root of unsuspecting confidence,
and can be productive of nothing, but anarchy and confusion.
In answer to this argument, I will
not cite the happy effects of the coalition between
parties just as opposite, by which Mr. Pitt was introduced
into office in the close of a former reign. Still
less will I cite the coalition of the earl of Shelburne,
with several leaders of the Bedford connexion, and
others, whose principles were at least as inimical
to the popular cause, and the parliamentary reform,
as those of Lord North; and the known readiness of
him and his friends to have formed a junction with
the whole of that connexion. I need not even hint
at the probability there exists, that the noble lord
then in administration, would have been happy to have
formed the very coalition himself, which he is willing
we should so much reprobate in another. I need
not mention the suspicions, that naturally suggested
themselves upon the invincible silence of his party,
respecting the mal-administration of lord North, for
so long a time; and their bringing forward the singular
charge of fifty unaccounted millions at the very moment
that the coalition was completed. I should be
sorry to have it supposed, that the connexion I am
defending, ever took an example from the late premier,
for one article of their conduct. And I think
the mode of vindicating them, not from temporary examples,
but from eternal reason, as it is in itself most striking
and most honourable, so is it not a whit less easy
and obvious.
Let it be remembered then, in the
first place, that there was no other connexion, sufficiently
unquestionable in their sincerity, and of sufficient
weight in the senate, with which to form a coalition.
The Bedford party, had they even been willing to have
taken this step in conjunction with the friends of
lord Rockingham, were already stripped of some of
their principal and ablest members, by the arts of
lord Shelburne. Whether these ought to be considered
in sound reason, as more or less obnoxious than lord
North, I will not take upon me to determine.
Certain I am, that the Scottish connexion were, of
all others, the most suspicious in themselves, and
the most odious to the people. The only choice
then that remained, was that which was made. The
only subject for deliberation, was, whether this choice
were more or less laudable than, on the other hand,
the deserting entirely the interests of their country,
and leaving the vessel of the state to the mercy of
the winds.
Secondly, I would observe that the
principal ground of dispute between lord North and
his present colleagues in administration, was done
away by the termination of the American war.
An impeachment of the noble lord for his past errors
was perfectly out of the question. No one was
mad enough to expect it. A vein of public spirit,
diffusing itself among all ranks of society, is the
indispensible concomitant of impeachments and
attainder. And such a temper, I apprehend, will
not be suspected to be characteristic of the age in
which we live. But were it otherwise, the Rockingham
connexion certainly never stood in the way of an impeachment,
had it been meditated. And, exclusive of this
question, I know of no objection, that applies particular
to the noble lord, in contradistinction to any of
the other parties into which we are divided.
But, in the third place, the terms
upon which the coalition was made, form a most important
article of consideration in estimating its merits.
They are generally understood to have been these two;
that the Rockingham connexion should at all times
have a majority in the cabinet; and that lord North
should be removed to that “hospital of incurables,”
as lord Chesterfield has stiled it, the house of lords.
Surely these articles are the happiest that could
have been conceived for preserving the power of administration,
as much as may be, with the friends of the people.
Places, merely of emolument and magnificence, must
be bestowed somewhere. Where then can they be
more properly lodged, than in the hands of those who
are best able to support a liberal and virtuous administration?
I beg leave to add once more, in the
fourth place, that, whatever the demerits of lord
North as a minister may be supposed to have been, he
is perhaps, in a thousand other respects, the fittest
man in the world to occupy the second place in a junction
of this sort. The union of the Rockingham connexion
with the earl of Shelburne last year, was, I will
admit, less calculated to excite popular astonishment,
and popular disapprobation, than the present.
In the eye of cool reason and sober foresight, I am
apt to believe, it was much less wise and commendable.
Lord Shelburne, though he has been able to win over
the good opinion of several, under the notion of his
being a friend of liberty, is really, in many respects,
stiffly aristocratical, or highly monarchical.
Lord Shelburne is a man of insatiable ambition, and
who pursues the ends of that ambition by ways the
most complex and insidious. The creed of lord
North, whatever it may be, upon general political questions,
is consistent and intelligible. For my own part,
I do not believe him to be ambitious. It is not
possible, with his indolent and easy temper, that
he should be very susceptible to so restless a passion.
In the heroical sense of that word, he sits loose
to fame. He is undoubtedly desirous, by all the
methods that appear to him honourable and just, to
enrich and elevate his family. He wishes to have
it in his power to oblige and to serve his friends.
But I am exceedingly mistaken, if he entered into the
present alliance from views of authority and power.
Upon the conditions I have mentioned, it was a scheme,
congenial only to a man of a dark and plotting temper.
But the temper of lord North is in the highest degree
candid, open and undisguised. Easy at home upon
every occasion, there is not a circle in the world
to which his presence would not be an addition.
It is calculated to inspire unconstraint and confidence
into every breast. Simple and amiable is the
just description of his character in every domestic
relation; constant and unreserved in his connexions
of friendship. The very versatility and pliableness,
so loudly condemned in his former situation, is now
an additional recommendation. Is this the man,
for whose intrigues and conspiracies we are bid to
tremble?
Another charge that has been urged
against the coalition, is, that it was a step that
dictated to the sovereign, and excluded all, but one
particular set of men, from the national councils.
The first part of this charge is somewhat delicate
in its nature. I shall only say respecting it,
that, if, as we have endeavoured to prove, there were
but one connexion, by which the business of administration
could be happily discharged, the friend of liberty,
rejoicing in the auspicious event, will not be very
inquisitive in respect to the etiquette, with which
they were introduced into the government. In the
mean time, far from intending an exclusion, they declared
publicly, that they would be happy to receive into
their body any man of known integrity and abilities,
from whatever party he came. The declaration has
never been contradicted. Strangers to the
remotest idea of proscription, they erected a fortress,
where every virtue, and every excellence might find
a place.
The only remaining objection to the
coalition that I know of, that it shocks established
opinions, is not, I think, in itself, calculated to
have much weight, and has, perhaps, been sufficiently
animadverted upon, as we went along, in what has been
already said. The proper question is, was it
a necessary step? Was there any other way, by
which the country could be redeemed? If a satisfactory
answer has been furnished to these enquiries, the
inevitable conclusion in my opinion is, that the more
it mocked established opinions, and the more intellectual
nerve it demanded, the more merit did it possess,
and the louder applause is its due.
I am not inclined to believe, that
a majority of my countrymen, upon reflection, have
disapproved this measure. I am happy to perceive,
that so much of that good sense and manly thinking
in public questions, that has for ages been considered
as the characteristic quality of Englishmen, is still
left among us. There can be nothing more honourable
than this. By it our commonalty, though
unable indeed to forestal the hero and the man of
genius in his schemes, do yet, if I may be allowed
the expression, tread upon his heels, and are prepared
to follow him in all his views, and to glow with all
his sentiments.
Sensible however, that in the first
blush of such a scheme, its enemies must necessarily
find their advantage in entrenching themselves behind
those prejudices, that could not be eradicated in a
moment, I was willing to wait for the hour of calmness
and deliberation. I resolved cooly to let the
first gush of prepossession blow over, and the spring
tide of censure exhaust itself. I believed, that
such a cause demanded only a fair and candid hearing.
I have endeavoured to discharge my part in obtaining
for it such a hearing. And I must leave the rest
to my readers.
Among these there probably will be
some, who, struck with the force of the arguments
I have adduced on the one hand, and entangled in their
favourite prejudices on the other, will remain in a
kind of suspence; ashamed to retract their former
opinions, but too honest to deny all weight and consideration
to those I have defended. To these I have one
word to say, and with that one word I will conclude.
I will suppose you to confess, that appearances, exclusive
of the controverted step, are in a thousand instances
favourable to the new ministers. They have made
the strongest professions, and the largest promises
of attachment to the general cause. To professions
and promises I do not wish you to trust. I should
blush to revive the odious and exploded maxim, not
men, but measures. If you cannot place some confidence
in the present administration, I advise you, as honest
men, to do every thing in your power to drive them
from the helm. But you will hardly deny, that
all their former conduct has afforded reasons for
confidence. You are ready to admit, that, in
no instance, but one, have they committed their characters.
In that one instance, they have much to say for themselves,
and it appears, at least, very possible, that they
may have been acted in it, by virtuous and generous
principles, even though we should suppose them mistaken.
Remember then, that popularity and fame are the very
nutriment of virtue. A thirst for fame is not
a weakness. It is “the noble mind’s
distinguishing perfection.” If then you
would bind administration by tenfold ties to the cause
of liberty, do not withdraw from them your approbation
till they have forfeited it, by betraying, in one
plain and palpable instance, the principles upon which
they have formerly acted. I believe they need
no new bonds, but are unchangeably fixed in the generous
system, with which they commenced. But thus much
is certain. If any thing can detach them from
this glorious cause; if any thing can cool their ardour
for the common weal, there is nothing that has half
so great a tendency to effect this, as unmerited obloquy
and disgrace.