CHAPTER XVIII.
Lord Chatham proposes to examine the East India Company’s Affairs.—His unaccountable conduct.—More signs of weakness in the Cabinet.—Negotiation with the Duke of Bedford.—Bill of Indemnity.—Debates on the East India Question.—Attack on Lord Chatham in the House of Lords by the Duke of Richmond.
These petty politics were soon absorbed in the consideration of a more momentous and more arduous affair. Restrained as Lord Chatham’s genius was by the tranquillity of Europe, and impeded as his plan had been by his own want of conduct, his soul was still expanding itself towards greater objects. With indignation, he beheld three Indian provinces, an empire themselves, in the hands of a company of merchants, who, authorized by their charter to traffic on the coast, had usurped so mighty a portion of his dominions from the Prince who permitted their commerce with his subjects. By what horrid treachery, fraud, violence, and blood the Company’s servants had stridden to such aggrandizement, was not a question a Minister was likely to ask. It is the cool humane man, who had no power to punish and redress such crimes, who alone reasons on the manner how, and the right by which such acquisitions are obtained. The stupendous fortunes created by individuals struck more forcibly on the political eye of Lord Chatham. Above any view of sharing the plunder himself, he saw a prey that tempted him to make it more his country’s. By threats to intimidate the Company, and incline them to offer largely towards the necessities of Government, was the least part of his idea. Such a tribute would stand in the place of new taxes, or relieve the debts on the Civil List: could he induce the Parliament to think the Company had exceeded the powers of their charter, the whole property of their territorial acquisitions might be deemed forfeited to the Crown; this would be a bribe with which few Ministers could purchase the smiles of their master. Nor could common sense find a flaw in the reasoning. Could it be intended, what country ever meant by granting a charter for trading and building forts to secure their magazines, say, even by allowing them to defend themselves against open hostilities; could it be understood, I ask, that such a charter gave up the dominion of whole provinces to a set of private merchants—of three provinces more ample than the extent of the country which bestowed the charter? The event could not be foreseen—it could not be foretold by prophecy’s wildest imagination; but if common sense could not answer the question, self-interest could. What! invade property!—those two words, Invasion of property, branched into every subtlety that law could furnish. And as it has been well said,[305] that in England all abuses are freeholds, most of those that had property in the East India Company, most of those who had any other property, and all who enjoyed any property by abuses, took the alarm; and they who desired to obstruct any measures of Government, were sedulous not to let the panic cool.
But if the plan was great and bold, the execution was mean and unworthy of the conception. The man who traced the design, shrank from it himself; and having tossed it into the world, left it to be carried through by other hands. He grew mysterious; he would not declare what he wished—Parliament must decide—but his anger awaited those who should even decline guessing at his purpose. I feel while I write that I shall scarce be credited: yet both words and matter cannot be more strictly true. Lord Chatham would not utter his will or wish; yet neither obstacles nor remonstrance could extort a syllable of relaxation from him; but I must take the matter a little higher, and relate it more historically.
So early as the 28th of August the Cabinet Council had sent for the Governors of the East India Company, and advised them to be prepared, for Parliament would certainly inquire into the state of their acquisitions in Bengal. The Governors asked if the Administration intended to carry the affair thither? They were told that the Ministers had not determined to proceed so far, but did not mean to preclude themselves from doing so. Thus the affair had been left. The Company were to be alarmed; the nation to be tempted to look into the matter. The Company, no doubt, were alarmed accordingly; but the nation with folded arms awaited the event, not apt of late to forerun Ministers in what they declare they meditate themselves.
In this uncommunicated state the dictator had left the business, and the Parliament had met without his assigning their departments in the action to any of the Ministers—not to the Duke of Grafton himself, the head of the Treasury, and who, though as a peer not qualified to conduct the plan through the House of Commons, yet was the person who must superintend and transact an affair which, whether in a greater or less proportion, was ultimately to centre in the revenue, had he disclosed how far he meant or wished to go. In the mean time had intervened the episode of Lord Edgcumbe; and Conway, the acting Minister in the House of Commons, had been disgusted. Never officious to thrust himself into business, and now indisposed to the great projector, he neither was ambitious to receive orders, nor forward to apply for them at the fountain-head; yet being well disposed to the plan, and, at least, too much versed in business, not to know the propriety of digesting so very daring a scheme before it was thrown into the House of Commons, where, had there been no men of ill intention, still a rude design must create confusion and impediment, he had pressed earnestly to have it well considered in Council, before it was introduced into Parliament. His prayers and remonstrances were vain; and though Lord Chatham depended on him for the conduct of the Ministerial part, he would not deign to impart a ray of instruction. There was another man still more necessary perhaps to the progress of a scheme of a monied nature; and that was the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Charles Townshend. But him Lord Chatham neither trusted nor considered but as the mere slave of his orders. Be it so: yet could it be imagined that instead of employing either Secretary of State or Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Minister should have consigned his darling scheme to a private man—and that man the most absurd, and of as little weight as any member in the House of Commons? So the fact was, and so must I recount it. But ere the project was opened, it was known that the versatile genius of the Chancellor of the Exchequer was playing tricks and endeavouring to obstruct the measure yet in embryo. Conway, zealous for extracting some national advantage from the prosperous state of the Company’s affairs, laboured to surmount Townshend’s objections, and assembled a council at his own house to debate the point with him. Lord Chatham flamed at the notice of Townshend’s adverse conduct, and vowed himself would resign, or Townshend should be turned out; and he resented Conway’s interfering to serve him without his direction. Yet, ere the business came to any conclusion, Townshend exhibited many doubts; though for once his inconsistencies and treachery were not solely dictated by unsteadiness. It became known that his frequent fluctuations in the course of the affair were so many wiles to raise or lower the stock in which he was dealing, and which the Chancellor of the Exchequer could supremely agitate and depress as he pleased.
On the 25th the plan was first intimated to the House by Lord Chatham’s confident, Alderman Beckford, who moved to take into consideration the state of the East India Company’s affairs. Men were amazed to see a machine of such magnitude entrusted to so wild a charioteer. Wedderburne and Charles Yorke opposed the motion. The Whigs deserted Mr. Conway who supported it, by the mouth of their spokesman, Lord John Cavendish, though he paid profuse compliments to the latter. Burke and Grenville appeared as opponents, too, and the violation of property was sounded high. Yet the motion was carried by 129 to 76, Charles Townshend speaking for it, and the Duke of Bedford’s friends staying away.[306] The wind, however, of this transaction, and the dissensions that had sprung up from the dismission of Lord Edgcumbe, brought Lord Temple back to town. Grenville painted the East Indian business to Rigby as a mine in which Lord Chatham must blow himself up; and that idea was impressed more deeply by Lord Northington, who said to Lord Gower, “There are four parties, Bute’s, Bedford’s, Rockingham’s, and Chatham’s, and we (the last) are the weakest of the four.”
On the 27th of November the Duke of Portland, Lord Scarborough, Lord Besborough, and Lord Monson resigned their employments. The King immediately appointed Lord Hertford Lord Chamberlain; but told him that, knowing his brother’s delicacy on the preferment of his relations, he had hidden the stick and key, while Mr. Conway, who had just been with him, was in the closet.
This defection of the Rockingham party, of whom scarce a dozen[307] remained in connection with the Court, reduced Lord Chatham, who had defeated his own purpose of dividing them, to look out for new strength. There remained Lord Bute’s and the Duke of Bedford’s factions. He approached towards both; but so coldly, and with such limited steps, that he acquired neither, and fixed the last in more open opposition. By preferring a few of the Favourite’s creatures, he drew odium on himself, without doing enough to engage their real attachment, the very rock on which his predecessors had split, though their more reluctant offers having arrived too late, they had escaped the imputation of stooping to servile conditions. Lord Chatham’s conduct towards the Bedfords was as void of dexterity as his treatment of the Rockingham party.
The very evening of the resignations he sent for Lord Gower, and offered to make him Master of the Horse, and to connect with the Duke of Bedford; but telling him that if they declined his offers, he could stand without them. With regard to Mr. Rigby, he had talked so hostilely on the East Indian affair, that he must explain his conduct before anything could be done for him. Lord Gower, impatient to return to Court, jealous of Rigby’s influence over his sister, the Duchess, and satisfied with such fair terms for himself, gladly accepted the commission, and set out next morning for Woburn to open it to the Duke of Bedford and obtain his acquiescence.
Rigby, in the mean time, whether apprehending that the wildness of Lord Chatham would overturn him, or overpersuaded by Grenville, or rather hoping no great emolument for himself, from Lord Chatham’s neglect of him and application through another, had preceded Lord Gower, and got to Woburn overnight. He found the Duchess as eager as her brother to return to Court, and the Duke prepared by her not to listen to his objections. The next day he had the mortification of seeing Lord Gower arrive, and of hearing the suspension imposed on himself till he should correct his behaviour. Deaf to his arguments and interest, the whole family accepted with thankfulness Lord Chatham’s overtures, and Lord Gower was remanded to town to notify their consent and the Duke’s intention to follow and ratify the treaty. Rigby remained a day behind, but could not recall the Duke from the alacrity with which he hurried to London.
But even before Lord Gower could arrive there, Lord Chatham, who rarely deigned to impart his measures to the rest of the Ministers, had now, with still less prudence, notified to the Council his offers to the Bedfords, in the style of one sure of their being accepted. At the same time, speaking of the resigners, he said, they were only the remnant of the late Duke of Cumberland’s party. Conway fired at the expression, and said he would hear no such language, nor ever bear disrespectful mention of the Duke of Cumberland’s name. Lord Chatham retracted; if he had not, Mr. Conway protested to me he would have left the Council and returned to it no more.
Lord Gower had gone on the Friday, and returned the next day with the Duke of Bedford’s assent; and the Duke himself arrived on the Monday. Yet, in that little interval, considerable events had happened, and a far more considerable imprudence of Lord Chatham. Admiral Saunders, a most gallant, but weak man, governed by Admiral Keppel and Lord Albemarle, had been persuaded by them to throw up his post of First Lord of the Admiralty, and join his old friends the Rockinghams.[308] The blow was heavy on Lord Chatham, but facilitated his treaty with the Bedfords, as he had thereby a Cabinet-Councillor’s place to offer them. Instead of profiting of the opportunity, and as if the Bedford faction were men easily satisfied, and with trifles, he would not wait for the Duke, but filled up the Admiralty with Sir Edward Hawke, Sir Piercy Brett, and Jenkinson—the two last in the room of Sir William Meredith and Keppel, resigners; at the same time causing Keppel to be struck out of the King’s Bedchamber. Sir Edward Hawke had as much merit in his profession and to his country as man could have, but no moment of rewarding him could have been more imprudently taken. Though the place might have been destined for him, still the faith of negotiation ought to have been observed till Lord Chatham could have satisfied the Bedfords and agreed with them on that disposition. And where was the policy of warning them that he meant to admit them into no office of confidence?
Rigby, too alert and too artful to let slip an incident so favourable to his inclination, and who saw from this step how little would be allotted to his party, and aware, from the treatment of the Rockinghams, that Lord Chatham meant little more than to break the Bedford connection too, inflamed the Duke of Bedford and all their friends with the indignity offered to them in the very hour of treaty. The Duchess had been left at Woburn, trusting to the impression she had made on her husband, whom she was now as solicitous to recover from Rigby’s influence, as in their younger intimacy she had been to place him there. Her security betrayed her; the Duke caught fire; and he who had thought the most bounded terms satisfactory, was now persuaded to carry to Lord Chatham a list of demands that comprehended half the employments in the Court-calendar, besides peerages for some of his friends.[309] Such enormous terms Rigby knew would not be granted; but the demand would palliate to their friends the total sacrifice that would have been made of them if he and one or two more had found their account in the first proposals. Lord Chatham received his Grace’s extravagant list, but told him he did not believe the King would comply with his demands. The next day he waited on the Duke and informed him that his Majesty was willing to make his son, Lord Tavistock, a peer: to appoint Lord Gower Master of the Horse, and Mr. Rigby Cofferer; but as for entering on other particulars of places and peerages, his Majesty would not hear of them. The Duke begged his Majesty might be thanked for his goodness to his son, but said his friends could not think of accepting on such terms.[310] Thus an end was put at once to the negotiation. In the list had been asked posts of Cabinet Councillor for Lord Gower, Lord Sandwich, Lord Weymouth, and the Duke of Marlborough, or the first vacant garter for the latter (the Duke’s son-in-law) after the King’s brother, Henry, the new Duke of Cumberland, and peerages for Lord Lorne and Mr. Brand,[311] though the Duke of Bedford, at the commencement of the treaty, had positively refused the former to solicit for him.[312]
The treaty evaporated, the vacant employments were filled with some of Lord Bute’s creatures, and any stragglers without connexion that could be picked up. Thus the Duke of Ancaster was made Master of the Horse to the King, and was succeeded in the same rank to the Queen by Earl Delawar, already her servant. Lord Hilsborough and Lord Despenser were appointed joint Postmasters; Nugent,[313] First Lord of Trade; and Stanley, Cofferer.
Conway’s disgusts were doubled by seeing himself reduced to act with scarce any but Lord Bute’s friends; and had Lord Chatham continued the effective Minister, would, I am persuaded, have resigned like the rest, for however gentle when he met with respect, he was minutely jealous of the smallest neglect, and incompatible with the haughty temper of Lord Chatham. Charles Townshend, restless in any situation, fond of mischief, and not without envy of the lead allotted to Conway, was incessant in inciting him to retire, by painting to him the pride and folly of Lord Chatham, the improbability of his maintaining such shattered power, and alarming him with threats of resigning and leaving him alone in the House of Commons.
To this mad situation had Lord Chatham reduced himself; first, by quitting the House of Commons and thereby parting with his popularity; secondly, by disgusting the Whigs, his best and firmest support; thirdly, by never communicating a syllable to Mr. Conway, nor trusting him, though his only friend in the House of Commons; fourthly, by turning out Lord Edgcumbe, when all opposition was damped and in a manner annihilated; and, lastly, by not gaining the Bedfords from Grenville, when it was in his power. He had nothing left to try, but whether by the mere influence of the Crown, without leaders, and almost without speakers in the House of Commons, he could govern against all the other parties,[314] who, though hating each other, would all probably unite against him.
Conway, however out of temper, supported honourably the duty of his station; and, in the course of the Bill of Indemnity, distinguished both his zeal and capacity. In the Committee, Grenville and Rigby moved to have stated the losses of those who had suffered by acting under the order of Council. Burke and Dowdeswell spoke on the same side; but Conway, by an artful speech, gained over Dowdeswell, and Grenville did not dare to divide the House. He next tried to avoid the preamble of the bill, and moved to adjourn. Charles Townshend and he had a sharp altercation, in which Townshend both ridiculed and flattered him. Lord Granby declared warmly for Lord Chatham; Conway spoke handsomely of him too, though intending to add censure to praise, but was interrupted by Rigby; and thus the praise remained alone. The Cavendishes having been consulted on the bill, would therefore not divide against it, and went away. Rigby, impatient to mark his resentment to Lord Chatham, and fondly thinking their numbers would appear formidable, even without the Cavendishes, advised to push a division; and Wedderburne actually divided the House when the Ministerial party amounted to 166, and the Opposition but to 48: a signal victory in Lord Chatham’s circumstances! But Lord Bute’s friends had signalized themselves in his support. Elliot and Dyson spoke for him; and Sir Fletcher Norton retired rather than vote against him. It was even suspected that Wedderburne, who, though of the same corps, commonly opposed like Norton, to force himself into place, had treacherously drawn on the division to expose the weakness of an Opposition without harmony; nor was there anything in Wedderburne’s character to counteract the suspicion. Some there were who believed that Lord Bute, apprehending the junction of Lord Chatham and the Bedfords, had, during the treaty, made overtures to the former, which had encouraged him to act so imprudently and cavalierly in that negotiation. But, if duped then, it never appeared afterwards that Lord Chatham had given himself up to a real connection with the Favourite.
If the Opposition were startled at their defeat, and Rigby did repent his precipitancy, Mr. Conway was not a little startled too. He saw Lord Chatham would stand, whether he quitted or not. He had declared against going into opposition; nor was it his inclination. Should he quit in those circumstances, he would become a cypher, and remain divested of his profession. I saw his difficulties and felt them. I told him that he had lately asked me whether I would advise him to stay and be turned out with disgrace with a falling Administration? I reminded him that in those circumstances I had acquiesced, and had allowed that he could not stay, nor support alone a system that hung on Lord Bute. But the case was altered now: it was plain the Opposition was too weak to demolish Lord Chatham; and therefore, as Lord Chatham was likely to continue in power, I wished him to stay in place likewise. At the same time I sent Lord Hertford to beg his Majesty would press Mr. Conway not to quit. The King said he had just written to Mr. Conway, and told him his Government depended on his conducting the business of the House of Commons. Lord Hertford replied, he believed his brother was more inclined to stay than he had been. The King said, eagerly, “How have you brought it about? I am sure you and Mr. Walpole have done it.”
On the 9th, Beckford proceeded on the East Indian plan, and moved for inspection of their charters, treaties, revenue in Bengal, and an account of what they had expended. He expatiated justly on the devastation the Company’s servants had committed, and urged that new adventurers, not old proprietors of India Stock, were the men who profited of this accession of wealth, and who were practising all arts to convert into a selfish job a source of riches that ought to be conducted to national advantage. The Opposition treated the plan as chimerical. Could Bengal, they asked, be stated as a permanent possession? Cust, the Speaker’s brother, concerned in the Company, admitted that the Government was entitled to expect a return from the Company, as their settlements had been preserved by the navy, and depended on the protection of the public. But though his confession was candid, he was faithful too to the interests of the Company, and started many difficulties. No proposal, he said, could be made but to the General Court of Proprietors. Many proprietors would object, not intending to continue so. The revenue was not so large as pretended. Lord Clive computed it at one million seven hundred thousand pounds: Sumner’s account settled it at one million four hundred thousand; himself did not believe it exceeded twelve hundred thousand. The Company, on their forts, armaments, &c., had expended five millions. Senegal and Goree, while in private hands, were maintained for eight thousand pounds a year; since the public had taken them under their own direction, they had cost twenty-six thousand pounds a year. Burke, in one of his finest speeches, declaimed against the measure: it was the first instance of dragging to the bar men with whom the public meant to treat. They were accused, that their property might be confiscated. A dangerous attempt was making for little advantage. On Lord Chatham his figures were severe, painting him as a great Invisible Power, that left no Minister in the House of Commons. The greatest Integrity (Conway) had no power there. The rest approached him veiling their faces with their wings. Let us supplicate this divinity, said he, that he would spare public credit. Augustus Hervey called him to order. “I have often suffered,” added Burke, “under persecution of order, but did not expect its lash while at my prayers. I venerate the great man, and speak of him accordingly.”[315] Many other speeches were made for and against the motion, particularly by the lawyers; on which Colonel Barré said, the artillery of the law he saw was brought down on both sides; but, like artillery, had not done much hurt. He was for trying this question by common sense. He then read the opinions which Lord Camden and Charles Yorke had given when the charter was granted, in which, though favourable to the Company, they had said, “for what might follow, policy must take time to consider.” This implied that they did not understand conquests as granted away by the charter; yet Yorke had now defended the Company as entitled from their charter to their present acquisitions. Bolton, one of the Company, who, though he voted for the motion, said much against it, owned that the Company could not govern their servants, nor could Clive go on without the interposition of Government. Charles Townshend, having been chidden by the Duke of Grafton for his variations, took advantage of what Bolton had said, and spoke finely for the motion. Grenville, in answer to Barré, said he did not desire to be decided by military common sense; and dwelt with much emphasis on the sacredness of charters, property, and public credit; affirming that the affairs of no company had ever been decided in that House. Conway showed in a masterly manner that Grenville’s assertions were all false; that the affairs of the Hudson’s Bay and other companies had been inquired into by Parliament. In answer to Burke, he said, he disclaimed slavery; was only a passenger in Administration, but always remonstrated against whatever was contrary to his opinion. Dempster, as a proprietor, declared against the motion; but though Grenville had announced the dissatisfaction the measure would occasion, it created less heat than he expected: nor did either directors or proprietors petition against it, those who had been most alarmed soon discovering that whatever should be gained from the Company, would stand in lieu of burthens that otherwise might be laid on themselves. The Opposition dividing for adjournment were beaten by 140 to 56; not above twenty of Lord Rockingham’s party having yet joined Grenville.
The next day the Bill of Indemnity, which had passed the Commons, was read in the House of Lords. The Duke of Richmond called on the Chancellor and President to explain their doctrine of necessity justifying a dispensing power. Lord Northington adhered to his opinion, and said, on a jury he should have found for the affirmative. Lord Camden said, he should not, but would have given trifling or no damages to the sufferers. Lord Mansfield went through a laborious history of the Constitution, and vindicated himself from the reproach of being a prerogative lawyer: had always been a friend to the Constitution; on that ground had supported former Administrations, did support this, and would support succeeding Administrations. Lord Camden told him, he was glad he was returned to that doctrine. Lord Chatham said, that when the people should condemn him, he should tremble; but would set his face against the proudest connection in this country. The Duke of Richmond took this up with great heat and severity, and said, he hoped the nobility would not be brow-beaten by an insolent Minister. The House calling him to order, he said with great quickness, he was sensible truth was not to be spoken at all times, and in all places. Lord Chatham challenged the Duke to give an instance in which he had treated any man with insolence; if the instance was not produced, the charge of insolence would lie on his Grace. The Duke said, he could not name the instance without betraying private conversation; and he congratulated Lord Chatham on his new connection, the Duke looking, as he spoke, at Lord Bute. The Duke of Bedford did not speak, though he had been brought to town on purpose: but the Duchess, displeased with Rigby for breaking off the negotiation, had accompanied her husband, and even tried to renew the treaty, but was forced to desist, the places being filled up. On the Bill of Indemnity there was no division; and on the 15th the Parliament was adjourned for the holidays.
Notwithstanding his success, Lord Chatham was stunned by so rough an attack from the Duke of Richmond, a young man not to be intimidated by supercilious nods, or humbled by invective, which his Grace had shown himself more prone to give than receive. The silence of the place, and the decency of debate there, were not suited to that inflammatory eloquence by which Lord Chatham had been accustomed to raise huzzas from a more numerous auditory. Argument, at least decorum, would be expected, not philippics. Whether these reflections contributed or not to augment the distaste which the ill-success of his foreign, and the errors he had committed in domestic politics, had impressed on his mind, certain it is that the Duke of Richmond had the honour of having the world believe that by one blow he had revenged himself and his party, and driven his proud enemy from the public stage; for from that day Lord Chatham, during the whole remainder of his Administration, appeared no more in the House of Lords, really becoming that invisible and inaccessible divinity which Burke has described, and in three months as inactive a divinity as the gods of Epicurus.[316] His last act was bestowing an English barony on Lord Lorne, who, having failed through the Duke of Bedford, applied himself directly to the Minister. Lord Lorne had acquainted Mr. Conway with his wish, who was greatly distressed, as a favour from Lord Chatham (whom Mr. Conway intended to quit) might again destroy the harmony which was now re-established between him and his wife’s brothers. Still, however, as the Duke of Argyle was old and declining, and as Lord Lorne would lose the English peerage[317] for ever, if he did not obtain it during his father’s life, Mr. Conway would not oppose the request; though, circumstanced as he was, he would not ask it. It was immediately granted; and Lord Chatham, by bending seasonably, took from the Duke of Bedford’s scale the great Scottish interest of the Campbells.
Towards the East India Company he was less tractable. At a meeting of the proprietors many warm speeches were made against him, particularly by Wedderburne. They broke up in heat, and adjourned for a fortnight, determined to make no advances to Government, unless their right was established, which Lord Chatham peremptorily refused to allow. However, on the last day of the year, they met again in smoother temper, and agreed unanimously to empower the Directors of the Company to treat immediately with the Administration.