'Could you bear to act under Fox?' Hardwicke had asked him, and 'Leave out under; it will never be a word between us: Mr. Fox and I shall never quarrel,' had been the reply.
Alas! for the loves of statesmen, often ardent and always precarious. The vague bait was no sooner dangled before Fox than he began to eye it with avidity and to contemplate the abandonment of Pitt. He sought the advice of two friends, Cumberland and Marlborough. The last advised him to ask for admission to the Cabinet and to be satisfied with that advantage. Cumberland dissuaded him, as it would seem, from parting company with Pitt, and used these remarkable words: 'I don't know him, but by what you tell me, Pitt is what is scarce—he is a man.' But at last both dukes concurred in Marlborough's advice, with the proviso that Fox should make it a condition that he was not to oppose Pitt; a singular reservation when it is remembered that his help was only sought against Pitt, as he was soon made distinctly to understand. Fox apparently took Pitt into his confidence, and they exchanged cordial notes. He submitted to Pitt his letter to the King, and Pitt approved it with some omissions. Nothing must be said, he declared, which remotely implied that he would do the least thing to keep his place.[277] So Fox wrote to say that, understanding the King was determined to have no leader in the House of Commons, but wished to have him take a forward and spirited part on behalf of the Ministry, he desired some mark of his Majesty's favour to show that he enjoyed his Majesty's confidence. Waldegrave, who conducted the negotiation, was given to understand that the distinction aimed at was a seat in the Cabinet. He was further told that Fox would never accept Pitt's rich place, which the King had said was destined for him in the event of Pitt's dismissal, lest it be said that he was answering Pitt for money. So the stipulation about not opposing Pitt was already out of his contemplation. The negotiations extended over months. The King had first seen Fox on November 29, 1754, but did not signify to Fox his admission to the Cabinet till April 26, 1755, two days before his Majesty left for Hanover. Fox was also admitted to the Council of Regency during the King's absence.
During these months of negotiation his opposition to the Ministry ceased, and Pitt was left alone. But he communicated constantly and secretly with Pitt as to the offers made. When he had closed with them, without waiting for the cock to crow, he forswore Pitt.[278] He was no doubt made to understand distinctly, as he must always have known, that it was the condition of his elevation. This treachery cost him dear; for Pitt, who seems to have been at once apprised of the desertion, probably by a Minister whose interest it was to keep the two apart, never forgave it. Nor could a man much less irritably and jealously proud have done otherwise. So much for the question of honour. As to the question of policy it is clear that a real union between Pitt and himself would have been irresistible. But Fox at the first temptation forsook this honourable alliance, and forsook it for a feather, as the lure was justly described.
It should be mentioned that this account of Fox's behaviour is founded on the narrative of Horace Walpole, and that Waldegrave, who is far more trustworthy, says that 'Fox during the whole negotiation behaved like a man of sense and a man of honour.' But this only regards his negotiation with Newcastle, in which Waldegrave acted as the channel. Walpole, on the other hand, was notoriously partial to Fox, and in his confidence, so that his statement may be taken as accurate. In no other way, indeed, can the breach between the two statesmen be adequately explained. On April 26 they are on the most confidential footing. On May 9 there is a public rupture. Fox, indeed, attributes this sudden breach to Pitt's wish to be well at Leicester House; but then Fox had to find an ostensible reason, as he did not know that Pitt was aware of his desertion.
Apr. 27, 1755.
The day after the admission of Fox to the Cabinet, Newcastle despatched old Horace Walpole to Pitt to see if they could not come to terms. Old Horace, who has suffered from the constant malignity of his nephew, but who appears to have been a laborious and public-spirited man, with a not uncommon itch for a coronet, undertook the commission with alacrity; but found, as all did who attempted to negotiate for Newcastle, that his powers were far from ample, and shrunk from the moment that they were given. It is probable that these overtures were only made in consequence of some secret agreement between Fox and Pitt that Pitt's claims should be pushed; for it is otherwise inexplicable that they should have been made simultaneously with the capture of Fox, and that Newcastle on the slenderest grounds should at once have withdrawn the commission. The hypothesis of a sham negotiation, entered upon to keep to the letter of some understanding arrived at through Fox, is highly congenial to the character of Newcastle; nor is it likely that Fox can have joined the Government, when in the closest communication with Pitt, without some such stipulation.
Whatever the nature of the overture may have been, Pitt received Walpole, with whom he was on cordial terms, not unfavourably. He stipulated that he should be admitted to the Cabinet, but not, it would appear, immediately (for the King was going abroad next day); and that in case of a vacancy he should be promised the seals of Secretary of State. No one could deem these conditions excessive, and Walpole approved them. But Newcastle would have none of them, and soundly rated his emissary. It is clear that the negotiation was illusory and unreal; for what less terms could Newcastle have expected Pitt to demand?[279]
May 9, 1755.
A fortnight afterwards Pitt went to Lord Hillsborough's, where he met Fox. When Fox had gone he declared that all was at an end between Fox and himself; that the ground was altered; Fox was a Regent and a Cabinet Minister, and he was left isolated. Fox returned, and Pitt, in great heat, repeated what he had said with even more violence. He would not accept the seals from Fox (this seems to confirm our hypothesis as to the sham negotiation through Walpole), for that would be to acknowledge a superiority and an obligation. 'What, then,' said Fox, 'would put us on an equality?' 'A winter in the Cabinet and a summer's Regency,' replied Pitt, in allusion to what Fox had accepted.
Next day Hillsborough expostulated with Pitt, who, however, remained unmoved, and begged him to convey as a message to Fox that all connection between them was at an end. Pitt added that though he esteemed Fox he wished to have no further conversation on this subject. In spite of this, during the next few days they had a further conference at Holland House, but with no better result.[280]