Volume I Part 8 (2/2)
1804,
which commenced amidst much political dissension at home, and preparations for increasing desolation abroad.
His majesty's health now became very indifferent, and, in February, an official bulletin announced his malady. It was reported to be a very slight attack; though we are sorry to say it was, to the king, productive of great pain and agitation of mind by the misrule of the queen, and the improprieties of his family! Little did the nation at large imagine that the family of the sovereign (to whose individual income they had so promptly and munificently contributed) were the causes of his acute anxieties! His sons were deeply embarra.s.sed by PLAY, their female connexions chiefly of the most abandoned character, and their engagements in the world, generally speaking, far beyond their powers to discharge. His daughters were also composed of the FRAILTIES of human nature. Born and educated in a court, under the severe tuition of their mother, they believed themselves of superior worth. The pleasures and enjoyments of life were ever waiting for their acquiescence, and their exercise on horseback, attended by _certain_ persons, occupying _certain_ stations in life, afforded them a variety of opportunities for conversation, in which the _softest subjects_ met the ear!
At this period also, the king's already-distracted mind was farther embittered by what he considered the loss of virtue in one of his daughters; and the agony he endured, lest the circ.u.mstance should transpire to the public, would defy any language to depict.
After calmness, in some measure, was restored to his majesty's wounded feelings, his health gradually improved, and, on the 29th of March, he was declared to be convalescent.
On the resignation of Mr. Addington, Mr. Pitt again a.s.sumed the reins of government, and appointed his _protege_, Mr. Canning, treasurer of the navy. Why do not the many biographers of this political character explain the reason, if every thing were fair and straightforward, of his quitting office in 1801, because the Catholic question was forbidden to be mentioned, and returning to it in 1804, under an express stipulation that no member of the government should agitate it contrary to the royal inclination? Was the promise that had been given only binding for _three years_? Was Mr. Canning's secession from office a trick? Was his return to it a sacrifice,--a sacrifice of honour and principle,--to the miserable gratification of obtaining _power_? Alas! the public had little to thank Mr. Canning for; but they knew not, at that time, his love of place and pension.
In October, it was said the king and prince were _reconciled_; but the substance of that reconciliation was not made known to the nation. The queen had resolved to oblige her favourite son, and promote his wishes, by finally relieving him from any farther engagements with the princess, his wife; though of the various abominable schemes then in action, the king was kept entirely ignorant.
In this year, the health of Mr. Pitt began to fail; his ardour seemed cooled, and he experienced short intervals of extreme debility and pain.
In the year
1805,
certain existing evils rendered it needful and expedient, in the opinion of the ministry, that the English nation _should fear_ an invasion from Buonaparte. We will say WHY they deemed it necessary.
Because the burdens of the poor were already immense, and it was requisite to give an _excuse_ for stripping thousands of families of their scanty apparel, their few mean and simple articles of furniture, and their humble home, for the purpose of enabling the ”hydra-headed monster” of corruption to pursue his unlimited course over this insulted nation! And what could be better to effect this object than alarming the country with the fear of an invasion? The diabolical scheme too fatally succeeded!
In order to strengthen the power of the queen at this period, Mr. Pitt renewed his connexion with Mr. Addington, who was raised to the peerage by the t.i.tle of _Viscount Sidmouth_, and succeeded the Duke of Portland as president of the council.
The minister, Mr. Pitt, cool as he was on many iniquitous subjects, could not avoid feeling pangs of remorse at the continual impositions he was _compelled_ by the queen to make (in various shapes) upon the people. His unbending pride, however, would not permit him to name his uneasiness to her majesty, as he well knew her inflexible temper and disposition would not permit her to receive _any opinion_ in preference to her own. He soon resigned his earthly vexation upon this point, as he became so indisposed as not to be able to attend his political affairs, and was obliged to seek for repose in retirement from active life.
At the commencement of the year
1806,
parliament was opened by commission; but the usual address was omitted, on account of the absence of the minister, who, as before stated, was then seriously indisposed.
On the 23rd of January, Mr. Pitt expired, in the forty-seventh year of his age. He was said to have died insolvent. Be this as it may, forty thousand pounds were voted as a plea to discharge his debts, as well as means to defray the expenses of his funeral! Probably this was the best laid-out money of the ministry for some time past. If the occasion had occurred twenty years before, what an immense saving it had produced the country!
The public life of Mr. Pitt will afford no room for praise to the faithful and just historian. When the errors and praises of his biographers shall have lost their force, future generations will behold his character in its native colours. He must then appear either in the light of an ungrateful hypocrite, or submit to the only alternative of being reckoned a man of contracted mind. Even in private life, he was not more amiable nor exemplary. The ministerial system which he had laid down pervaded the internal economy of all his actions. He appeared to imagine true dignity consisted in a coolness and reserve, (probably acquired from his queen) that banished every suitor from his presence; nor did he ever suffer a case of distress, however just or pressing the claims might be, to divert him from the routine of office, or to extort the least relief or comfort from himself. Negligent and careless in his domestic concerns, he never permitted a single ray of generosity to burst forth to animate the general frost of his character. He retained his natural sullenness and reserve; even in the best moments of convivial mirth, he never displayed a flexibility of disposition, or an openness to conviction. Often as he was obliged to submit to the decrees of necessity, whereon he imagined his continuance in office depended, yet he never had the candour to acknowledge the weakness of any measure, originating in himself, that brought on that necessity. But what a departure was this from the principles of his ill.u.s.trious ancestor, the Earl of Chatham, who would never crouch to the authority of any sovereign or cabinet, when militating against his own more enlightened judgment. He resisted bribery, and generally succeeded in his views, or, if baffled, resigned his office. The son of this n.o.bleman, however, pursued far different maxims, and pertinaciously clung to the douceurs and infamy of office; for _infamous_ it most certainly was, to practice measures his own sentiments condemned. Never did man accede to power on more just or n.o.ble principles, and never did man forsake those principles with less reserve. He forgot all obligations, and at a happy crisis, when he might have availed himself of the occasion of honorably fulfilling them, in advancing the liberty and happiness of the country, he was eternally launching out into vapid and unmeaning encomiums on the boasted excellencies of the British const.i.tution, instead of adhering to his solemn contract, of exerting all his influence and abilities to reform its blemishes. With all the failings of this minister, his caution and plausibility were admirably calculated to entrap the confidence of the landed and monied interest, and he turned it to the best account, labouring with all his zeal to inculcate a belief of the flouris.h.i.+ng state of the national finances, enforcing every circ.u.mstance tending to confirm this belief, and concealing every truth that would serve to diminish or destroy it. Will not such a man, then, be regarded by posterity as a time-server and an apostate?
After the death of Mr. Pitt, Mr. Fox joined the ministry; and, at the same time, Lord Sidmouth continued a member of the cabinet! But Mr. Fox did not retain his situation long. His health soon after declined, and he died on the 13th of September following.
Of this great statesman, we may say, ”take him for all in all, we ne'er shall look upon his like again.” He was an unbending patriot; possessed of great political ability, and loved, as well as advocated, the cause of LIBERTY. Light and shade, however, were mixed in Mr. Fox's picture.
He permitted private friends.h.i.+p, in one instance, to over-balance his public duty. We refer to the language used by him in the House of Commons, in April, 1787, which must have been against his conscience. He there _denied_ the marriage between the Prince of Wales and Mrs.
Fitzherbert, when, in fact, _he a.s.sisted at that very marriage_; but, because he had engaged secrecy to the prince, he thought proper to utter a direct falsehood rather than break his promise upon the subject!
Mr. Pitt's death was an unpleasant consequence to the usurping queen, and perhaps impelled the ardour of her determination to get her favourite son's divorce from his injured wife settled as soon as possible. The scheme for this purpose, which seemed most practicable, was the obtaining some doc.u.ment as evidence _against the moral character of the princess_. By the queen's express desire, therefore, Lady Douglas had removed her abode, nearly six years previously, close to Blackheath, and was purposely employed to invent some dishonourable report against the princess.
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