George Selwyn: His Letters and His Life

by George Augustus Selwyn

Lord Salisbury sacrifices his whole time and fortune to Hertfordshire 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 constitutional. 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 headship 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 assisting 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.