Farmer George Volume I Part 10

[155] Another verse, with a similar allusion, is given in _The New Foundling Hospital for Wit_.

"Ne'er yet in vain did Heaven its omen send; Some dreadful ills unusual signs portend!

When Pitt resign'd, a nation's tears will own, 'Then fell the brightest jewel in the crown.'"

On the other hand, caricaturists and pamphleteers in the pay of Bute exulted in cartoon and verse at the downfall of the Great Commoner, and poured scorn on him for accepting favours at the King's hands.

"Three thousand a year's no contemptible thing To accept from the hands of a patriot king, (With thanks, to the bargain, for service and merit), Which he, wife and son, all three shall inherit With limited honours to _her_ and _her heirs_.

So farewell to old England. _Adieu to all cares._"[156]

[156] Besides the lampooners attached to each side there were various unscrupulous journalistic free-lances, whose object was only to make money, which they extorted by a method since imitated by certain editors of low-cla.s.s society and financial papers. Thus a writer went with a column of panegyric and a column of condemnation of the character of Alderman Beckford, and attempted to levy blackmail for the destruction of the objectionable article. Only too often in such cases, both appreciation and attack were sold and duly appeared in antagonistic publications.

So persistent were the attacks made upon Pitt by Bute's henchmen, who distorted almost out of recognition the story of his resignation, that the ex-minister thought it advisable to meet the misrepresentation by stating the facts in a letter to one of his supporters:--

"Finding, to my great surprise, that the cause and manner of my resigning the seals is grossly misrepresented in the city, as well as that the most gracious and spontaneous remarks of his Majesty's approbation of my services, which marks followed my resignation, have been infamously traduced as a bargain for my forsaking the public, I am under the necessity of declaring the truth of both those facts, in a manner which, I am sure, no gentleman will contradict. A difference of opinion with regard to measures to be taken against Spain, of the highest importance to the honour of the Crown, and to the most essential national interests (and this, founded on what Spain has already done, not on what that court may further intend to do) was the cause of my resigning the seals. Lord Temple and I submitted, in writing, and signed by us, our most humble sentiments to his Majesty; which being overruled by the united opinion of all the rest of the King's servants, I resigned the seals on the 5th of this month, in order not to remain responsible for measures which I was no longer able to guide. Most gracious public marks of his Majesty's approbation followed my resignation. They are unmerited and unsolicited, and I shall ever be proud to have received them from the best of sovereigns."

Pitt's popularity was shown on the Lord Mayor's Day following his resignation when the King, who had been married only two months, went with his Consort in state to the City to dine at the Guildhall. "Men's hopes and fears are strongly agitated at this critical juncture,"

Alderman Beckford[157] wrote to Pitt; "but all agree universally that you ought to make your appearance at Guildhall on Monday next with Lord Temple; and, upon the maturest reflection, I am clear you ought not to refuse this favour by those who are so sincerely your friends."[158] To this solicitation, backed by the advice of Lord Temple, Pitt yielded, though, as he afterwards admitted, against his better judgment.[159] The King and Queen were received indifferently, Bute was saved from violence only by his guard of prize-fighters, ministers were greeted with cries of "No Newcastle salmon!" but Pitt was welcomed with the greatest enthusiasm, and the mob, a contemporary noted, "clung about every part of the vehicle, hung upon the wheels, hugged his footmen, and even kissed his horses." Though this occurred so early in the reign, it showed a marked difference to the feeling aroused by the King's accession,[160] and it is not to be wondered at that the sovereign, when he referred to this visit to the City, spoke of "the abominable conduct of Mr. Pitt" in joining the procession.

[157] William Beckford (1709-1770), Lord Mayor of London 1762 and 1769.

[158] _Chatham Correspondence._

[159] "My old friend was once a skilful courtier; but, since he himself has attained a kind of royalty, he seems more attentive to support his own majesty than to pay the necessary regard to that of his sovereign."--Lord Lyttelton.

[160] "The day the King went to the House [of Lords] I was three quarters of an hour getting through Whitehall. There were subjects enough to set up half-a-dozen petty kings; the Pretender would be proud to reign over the footmen alone, and indeed, unless he acquires some of them, he will have no subjects left; all their masters flock to St.

James's."--Horace Walpole.

Lord Egremont took Pitt's place, and the Duke of Newcastle made no secret of his delight and relief at having ridded his Cabinet of so overshadowing a subordinate; but the Duke's joy was at least premature, since, as he might have foreseen, the loss of Pitt so greatly weakened the Ministry that within a few months the King was able to remove from the direction of affairs that n.o.bleman of whom George II had said, "He loses an hour every morning, and is running after it the rest of the day," and whom George III now treated with scarcely veiled contempt.

"For myself I am the greatest cipher that ever walked at Court. The young King is hardly civil to me, talks to me of nothing, scarcely answers me upon my own Treasury affairs," the Prime Minister wrote on November 7, 1760: and about the same time he complained that, with one exception, he could not remember a single recommendation of his which had taken place since the accession.[161]

[161] _Hardwicke Papers, Bedford Correspondence._

Bute, however, gave the minister the _coup de grace_ when the latter strongly advocated the appointment of a certain clergyman to the Archbishopric of York. "If your Grace has so high an opinion of him,"

said he, "why did you not promote him _when you had the power_?" This was the last straw, and the Duke of Newcastle resigned on May 26, 1762, when Lord Bute became First Lord of the Treasury, with Lord Egremont and George Grenville as Secretaries of State, the incapable and worthless Sir Francis Dashwood,[162] as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Henry Fox as Leader of the House of Commons. The Admiralty, after the death of Lord Anson, was offered to Lord Halifax[163] who, aspiring to be a Secretary of State, declined the office, and persisted in his refusal until Lord Bute a.s.sured him that next to the Treasury it was the most _lucrative_ post on the Administration. A humorous description of this incident is given in the "Fables for Grown Gentlemen."

"Close by a kitchen fire, a dog and a cat, Each a famous politician, Were meditating as they sat, Plans and projects of ambition.

By the same fire were set to warm Fragments of their master's dinner; Temptations to alarm The frailty of a sinner.

Clear prurient water streamed from Pompey's jaws, And Tabby looked demure, and lick'd her paws; And as two Plenipo's For fear of a surprise, When both have something to propose Examine one another's eyes; Or like two maids, though smit by different swains, In jealous conference o'er a dish of tea, Pompey and Tabby both cudgelled their brains Studying each other's physiognomy.

Pompey endow'd with finer sense, Discovered in a cast of Tabby's face, A symptom of concupiscence Which made it a clear case When straight applying to the dawning pa.s.sion, Pompey addressed her in this fashion: 'Both you and I, with vigilance and zeal, Becoming faithful dogs, and pious cats, Have guarded day and night this commonweal From robbery and rats.

All that we get for this, heaven knows, Is a few bones and many blows; Let us no longer fawn and whine, Since we have talents and are able, Let us impose an equitable fine Upon our master's table; And, to be brief, Let us each choose a single dish, I'll be contented with roast beef, Take you that turbot--you love fish.'

Thus every dog and cat agrees, When they can settle their own fees.

Thus two contending chiefs are seen To agree at last in every measure: One takes the management of the marine, The other of the nation's treasure."

[162] Sir Francis Dashwood, afterwards fifteenth Baron le Despencer (1708-1781).

Dashwood was under no misapprehension as to his unsuitability for the post. "People will point at me in the streets and cry, 'There goes the worst Chancellor of the Exchequer that ever appeared,'" he said; and he wrote to Sir Andrew Mitch.e.l.l on March 23, 1761: "The same strange fortune which made me Secretary-at-war five years and a half ago, has made me Chancellor of the Exchequer. It may, perhaps, at last make me Pope. I think I am equally fit to be the head of the Church as of the Exchequer."

[163] George Montague Dunk, second Earl of Halifax (1716-1771).

"The new Administration begins tempestuously," Horace Walpole remarked.

"My father was not more abused after twenty years than Bute after twenty days. Weekly papers swarm and, like other insects, sting." The feeling against Lord Bute was indeed so great that Dr. Dempster became a popular hero for preaching on December 21, 1760, before the King from Esther _v._: "Yet all this availeth nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the King's gate"; and caricatures of "Mordecai at the King's gate" were immediately after to be seen in all the print-shops throughout the country; but now Bute was Prime Minister his unpopularity reached its zenith. He was hooted, and sometimes pelted, by the mob: at times even there can be no doubt his life was endangered by the fury of the populace. All England was amused by the story of Miss Chudleigh's retort to her royal mistress, the Princess Dowager, who had administered a rebuke to the maid of honour after the latter had appeared very undressed as Iphigenia at a masked ball at Somerset House: "_Votre Altesse Royale sait que chacune a son_--BUT."[164] Numerous cartoons circulated showing the Princess Dowager and Lord Bute, the latter always wearing a red petticoat, supposed to have been found under very suspicious circ.u.mstances; while lampoons were issued in considerable numbers and one enjoyed exceptional popularity: "A letter to her Royal Highness the Princess Dowager of Wales with a word or two concerning Lord Bute and the Talk of the World," with the motto:

"Hence have the talkers of this populous city A shameful tale to tell for public sport."

Although this scandal was in full cry, it was not that which set every man's hand against the minister, but his inordinate craving for power he was ill-qualified to wield. "Bute made himself immediately Secretary of State, Knight of the Garter,[165] and Privy Purse: he gave an English peerage to his wife; and the reversion of a very lucrative employment for life to his eldest son," Chesterfield complained. "He placed and displaced whom he pleased; gave peerages without number, and pensions without bounds; by those means he proposed to make his ground secure for the permanency of his power."[166] Bute, however, did not sit down quietly under the many attacks of which he was the subject, but responded to his enemies through his band of hired literary bravos. "I am beset with a host of scribblers, and I must acknowledge that I can discern great talent in some of their productions," he wrote in February, 1761. "The fire must not be allowed to spread too far, or I know not where its devastations will end. I am at a loss at present how to stem the tide of popularity which sets in at present so strongly against the court party. The King is much disposed at times to break out very violently in his objections to certain measures, but I hope I shall succeed eventually.... Pitt got the better of me in the [debate on the]

Speech which his Majesty delivered from the throne, in which, as you will have read, he is made to declare that he is determined to carry on the war with vigour. We have it now in agitation to make him say quite the contrary, for we are resolved to have a peace.... I am informed of a work which is now in the press, ent.i.tled _Le Montagnard Parvenu_, of which I contrive to obtain the sheets as they are printed. The author knows more than I wish him to know; he must have been oftener behind the curtain than I suspected; it must be met by corresponding talent; the King must not see it.... I am, however, by no means without literary talent on my side; most of _our_ best authors are wholly devoted to me, and I have laid the foundation for gaining Robertson,[167] by employing him for the King, in writing the history of England; he must be pensioned."[168]

[164] "Miss Chudleigh's dress or rather undress was remarkable. She was Iphigenia for the sacrifice, but so naked the high priest might easily inspect the entrails of the victim. The maids of honour, not of maids the strictest, were so offended that they would not speak to her."--Mrs.

Montague's _Letters_.

[165]

"O Bute! If, instead of contempt, and of odium, You wish to obtain universal eulogium, From your breast to your gullet transfer the blue string, Our hearts are all yours at the very first swing."

_The New Foundling Hospital for Wit._

[166] _Letters of Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield._

[167] William Robertson, historian (1721-1793).

[168] Huish: _Public and Private Life of George the Third_.

Some credit is due to Bute for his patronage of literature. He pensioned Robertson, and John Home, the author of the play, "Douglas," which is now remembered only by the pa.s.sage beginning "My name is Norval," and Mallet,[169] Murphy,[170] Macpherson,[171] Tobias Smollett and Dr.

Johnson, to the last of whom it was stated specifically that the award was made, "not for anything you are to do, but for what you have done."[172] But if in some cases a pension was bestowed for merit, and for merit alone, these were the exception, for bribery was as much employed by Bute as it had been by Walpole, and once again the Paymaster's office was the _rendezvous_ for those Members of Parliament whose votes were for sale.[173]

[169] David Mallet (1705?-1765), the author of some poems and tragedies, was for some time a.s.sistant-secretary to Frederick, Prince of Wales.

[170] Arthur Murphy (1727-1805), the biographer of Garrick, and the editor of the works of Fielding and Johnson.

[171] James Macpherson (1736-1796), the alleged translator of Ossianic poems.

[172] "I have taken care to have it in my power to refute these malicious stories, from the most authentic information. Lord Bute told me that Mr. Wedderburn, afterwards Lord Loughborough, was the person who first mentioned this subject to him. Lord Loughborough told me that the pension was granted to Johnson solely as the reward of his literary merit, without any stipulation whatever, or even tacit understanding, that he should write for the Administration. His Lordship added that he was confident the political tracts which Johnson afterwards did write, as they were entirely consonant with his own opinions, would have been written by him though no pension had been granted to him."--Boswell: _Life of Samuel Johnson_.

[173] The records contain the following entries: October, 1760, to October, 1761, to John, Earl of Bute, for his Majesty's Privy Purse, 48,000; for Secret Service during the same period, 95,000. October, 1761, to October, 1762, to John, Earl of Bute, for his Majesty's Privy Purse, 48,000; for Secret Service during the same period, 72,000.

This, however, is but a t.i.the of what was spent when Bute was in power, and the additional expenditure was distributed under different headings in the accounts of the various departments of state.

Bute came into power determined to bring about a peace, but he found it impossible forthwith to achieve his object, and, indeed, as Pitt had prophesied, he was compelled to declare war against Spain. He was much chagrined at having to act in direct violation of his wishes, but the war, which was as popular as it was successful, might in some degree have consoled him, had not the country given the credit to Pitt, who, before leaving office, had made preparations for the campaign. On December 22, 1762, the preliminaries of peace were discussed in the House of Commons, when Pitt, though suffering agonies from gout, appeared, his leg swathed in flannel, to protest against the treaty, the terms of which aroused general dissatisfaction, and it was declared that the Duke of Bedford, the English negotiator, had sold his country, and that the Princess Dowager and the Prime Minister had shared in the spoil. "Your patrons wanted an Amba.s.sador who would submit to make concessions without daring to insist upon any honourable condition for his sovereign," said Junius. "Their business required a man who had as little feeling for his own dignity as for the welfare of his country; and they found him in the first rank of the n.o.bility. Belleisle, Goree, Guadaloupe, St. Louis, Martinique, the Fishery, and Havana are glorious monuments of your Grace's talents for negotiation. My Lord, we are too well acquainted with your pecuniary character to think it possible that so many public sacrifices should be made without some private compensation. Your conduct carries with it an internal evidence beyond all the legal proofs of a court of justice."[174] The House of Commons, however, signified its approval of the treaty by 319 to 65 votes; whereupon the Princess Dowager exclaimed in triumph: "Now my son _is_ King of England."[175] The King was delighted, the Queen gave a ball in honour of the victory of the Court, and Bute declared that he wished for no other epitaph than one in which he should be described as the adviser of this peace--which prompted an unkind epigram:

"Say, when will England be from faction freed?

When will domestic quarrels cease?

Ne'er till that wished-for epitaph we read, 'Here lies the man that made the peace.'"

[174] Letter to the Duke of Bedford, Sept. 19, 1769.

[175] Walpole: _Memoirs of George III_.

The cyder tax, which Bute forced through Parliament to defray the heavy expenses of the negotiations for peace, threw even his previous unpopularity into insignificance, and his endeavours to persuade the City of London not to present a pet.i.tion against the tax, by promising to repeal it the next year, was met with the reply, "My Lord, we know not that you will be minister next year." To the general surprise, Bute's resignation was announced on April 3, 1763, when with him retired Fox, who entered the Upper House as Baron Holland, and Dashwood, who succeeded his uncle as Baron le Despencer.