Part 19 (1/2)
Most of the joint annuitants agreed to a proposal made to them by Richard and Charles, viz., to receive 6,000 immediately, and the remainder by instalments in three years. One of them refused to accept this proposal, and seized soon after the meeting four of Charles's horses, which were of trifling value, and therefore bought in again at a small expense by Derby, in whose name they now stand; whether some time or other his protection may not be insufficient, I shall not pretend to say, but it is not quite out of the reach of possibility.
Thus, you see, the Bankers did not meet at the beginning of the winter in the same opulent circ.u.mstances as they had parted in at the end of the last campaign. Lord Robert and I proposed to have our share increased from a twelfth to an eighth. Charles consented, but Richard refused, and we remain on our former footeign (sic). The Bank has already won considerably, and would probably have done still better if money was not very scarce, as most of the punters retain their pa.s.sion without the means of gratifying it.
You will be surprised when I tell you that Richard is our most valuable punter, and has lost this year full as much as his share of the winnings of the Bank; and as he would not agree to my having a larger share, I have no great remorse in taking his money. Last night he lost 3,000 pounds, and Charles above 5,000; all the other players won something, but not a sum at all equal to our partner's losses. Pray do not mention this, unless you hear it from some other person, as probably you will.
The club at Brookes's is very ill attended, and Brookes enraged to the last degree that gentlemen should presume to think of anything but making his fortune. He complained to Charles that there was 17,000 pounds owing to the house, which is a most impudent lie; and even if it were true he would have no reason to complain of the balance, as he has 15,000 belonging to the proprietors of the Bank in his hands, for which he pays no interest, though he receives at least 5 per cent, for all money owing to him.
There are two Clubs lately formed, both consisting of young men, and chiefly of different parties in politics. Goostree's(189) is a small society of young men in Opposition, and they are very nice in their admissions; as they discourage gaming as much as possible, their Club will not do any harm to Brookes's, and probably not subsist a great while; it seems to be formed on the model of the celebrated Tuesday Night Club. The other is at Welche's,(190) in St. James's Street, consisting of young men who belong to Government; and poor John St. John, whose age and zeal for Government particularly qualify him to be a member, has. .h.i.therto met with objections on the ballot, which I hope will be withdrawn on another trial of his interest, and that the Town will have the advantage of his management at the next Masquerade, which that Club is to give after Xmas.
Boothby has just told me that James finds himself in such bad circ.u.mstances that he is obliged to sell all his horses, and give up hunting entirely; but as James is in Town, and has not said one word to me about it, I am in hopes that it is not exactly so: the Prince is rather a dark painter, and fond of placing the princ.i.p.al figure in the shade. The Prince himself, I am afraid, is rather distressed, as he never games, and it is observed invidiously enough by people who do not love him, that he must be poor, as he has grown so much more agreeable than he used to be.
Crawford was giving himself great airs the other day on having taken Longchamp, the man who keeps the rooms at Newmarket, into his service as cook, but on enquiry it appeared that he had taken one of his brothers: the Fish was unspeakably mortified to find that his cook was not a man of so great celebrity as he had imagined, and gave his first dinner yesterday with a determination to condemn the cook's performance, whether good or bad. I am very ill qualified to tell you the scandalous history of fine ladies, not having been at one a.s.sembly this winter. . . .
Lord Salisbury sacrifices his whole time and fortune to Hertfords.h.i.+re popularity, and six years hence may perhaps reap the reward of his labours by bringing in a Member for the county, after an expensive contest. . . .
Lord Morpeth looks remarkably well: I hope George's fondness will not spoil him, for he is the prettiest boy I ever saw.
(189) See letter of Feb. 19, 1782: ”Young Pitt has formed a society of young Ministers, . . .” and note (204).
(190) See letter of Feb. 19, 1782 below: ”Weltie's Club is going to give a masquerade . . .” and note (203).
CHAPTER 5. 1782. THE FALL OF LORD NORTH.
Fox's political principles--The fifth Duke of Bedford--A little dinner--A debate in the Commons--The attack on Lord George Germaine --Beckford--An evening at Brooks's--Pitt and his friends--Possible changes in the Cabinet--Faro at White's--A story of the Duke of Richmond--An address to the King--A levee--Play and politics at Brooks's--Government and the Opposition--Selwyn and his offices--The position of the King--Fears of change of administration--The King's objections to Fox--Probable debates--Political prospects--Debates and divisions--The fate of the King's friends--Illness of Lord Morpeth--Annoyance of Selwyn at the state of affairs--Fox and Selwyn--Fall of Lord North--A new Ministry--Official changes--Fox and Carlisle--Carlisle's position--Morpeth and Mie Mie.
”The year 1782 is memorable for the fall of Lord North. It was more than the end of a Ministry, to a great extent it was the end of the system of personal government by the sovereign.”
”The King,” wrote Selwyn, on March 27th, ”will have no more personal friends, as Lord Hertford says; there will be no opposition to that in this new Government, what a cipher his Majesty will be you may guess.” Selwyn had no great respect for the King, and not much liking for his minister, Lord North. ”I see him in no light, but that of a Minister, and in that I see him full of defects, and of all men I ever yet sate down to dinner with the most disagreeable.
But he is so, in part from a scholastic, puritanical education, to which has been superadded the flattery of University parsons, led captains, and Treasury dependants. Without this, he would have been a pleasant companion. He has parts, information, and a good share of real wit, and (is), I believe, not an ill-tempered man by any means.
But with all this, he has un commerce qui me rebute. As to what he says, or promises, it is sur la foi de Ministre and credat Judeus, but I never will.” (May 15, 1781.)
But like many others Selwyn had grown accustomed to the existing method of carrying on the government and obtaining majorities in the House of Commons. He had seen much of political corruption and official influence, and having no high political standard he had come to regard the system of George III. and North as normal and const.i.tutional. He had, too, a fear of a ministry in which Fox and his friends should take a leading part. In Selwyn's mind Fox was connected with the wildest gambling and with a carelessness in regard to monetary obligations which he considered to be almost criminal. There were many others who shared this opinion: it was one thing for a gambler to hurry from the card-table in St. James's Street to the floor of the House of Commons and delight alike Ministerialists and Opposition by a brilliant attack on the Government: it was quite another for him to be responsible for the affairs of the nation. George III. and Lord North were men of business. Fox was a man of pleasure, and those who were most intimate with him at the clubs were the last--very often--to desire to see him a Minister. ”From a Pharo table to the heads.h.i.+p of the Exchequer is a transition which appears to me de tenir trop au Roman, and those who will oppose it the most are those whom he has been voting with and a.s.sisting to ruin this country for the last ten years at least.” Selwyn underrated the need for Fox's great abilities in office; so powerful a debater could not be used by a party in opposition only. But he certainly expressed a feeling which existed in the minds of many.
Selwyn's letters which were written at this crisis give a lively description of the dismay which the change of Ministry produced among those who had begun to consider Lord North's Government as a part of the established order of things. The Court party had hardly taken the Opposition seriously; there were many who had grown to suppose that nothing could overturn the individual authority of the King, and they were puzzled and surprised at the impending changes.
In the first of the following letters there is an account of a curious academic discussion at Brooks's on the theory of government, in which Fox took part. Those who listened to him hardly realised that presently he would be the most important member of a new government. It would not be easy to find a clearer picture of Fox at that extraordinary time than is given to us in these letters; the apprehension and the affection felt by his friends, the contrast between his social bonhomie and his political fervour is conspicuously presented. We understand his greatness better when we see him moving among his contemporaries, good-natured, indifferent to what was said or thought of him, telling his opinions without hesitation--a giant among political and intellectual dwarfs.
Again in the midst of the gambling, the supper parties, and the gaieties of the town, there is the continual sombre shadow of an important const.i.tutional change--a system and a Cabinet were falling under the deep resentment of the country. Neither the King, the Ministry, or its supporters appeared to appreciate that, even in an age when public opinion was chaotic and often hardly audible, there must come a time when a day of reckoning was certain for a Government which had discredited and injured its country.
We see the apprehensions, the personal expectations, the littlenesses of political society. Then comes the final crash when, after twelve years of opposition, the Whigs take office, watched half with fear and half with contempt by those who had been unable to understand the forces which had produced this inevitable result.
(1782,) Jan. 8, Tuesday.--I did not go to bed this morning till seven, and got neither drunk, or gamed. The Duke of Rutland,(191) Charles Fox, Belgiosio (Belgiojoso), Gen. Smith, and I supped at Brooks's, but it was pure conversation between Charles, the Duke, and I which lasted so long. Our chief and almost only topic was that of Government, abstractedly considered, and speculations about what would be the best for this country; Charles's account of his own principles in that respect; his persuasion about mine; his Grace's lessons from Lord Chatham, and commonplace panegyric upon that unparalleled statesman, and the utility to the public derived from paying his debts and maintaining his posterity. The princ.i.p.al is, that hereafter people in employment will be indifferent about the emoluments of office, persuaded that a grateful country like this will not suffer the wife and children of great characters to go unprovided for, or their tradesmen unpaid, and a great deal of this sublime nonsense.
Charles was infinitely agreeable, or I could not have stayed so long. A quarrel, he says, had like to have happened at Quinze between the General and the Fish. The General told the Amba.s.sador(192)2 how rich he was, and how well the English (meaning, he said, people of distinction, such as his son) were received both at Brunswick and at Vienna; lied immoderately about the affairs of the India Company; and was ten times more at his ease than ever, to shew Belgiosio that he had the ton de cour. Charles shewed me two of Brooks's cards; on one he was Dr. 4,400, on another Cr. 11,000 pounds. This was the Rich Bank he belongs to.
(191) Charles, fourth Duke of Rutland, K.G. (1754-1787). He was Pitt's first Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and died in office at the opening of a promising political career.
(192) Belgiojoso.
(1782,) Feb. 4, Monday morning.--You will not expect me to give you so soon any more account of George than I shall have from Sir John Eden, who intends to go either to-day or to-morrow to Neasdon, and who will bring me word how he does.