History of Civilization in England, Vol. 1 of 3

by Henry Thomas Buckle

[808] Lord Brougham (Sketches of Statesmen, vol. i. pp. 22, 33) has published striking evidence of what he calls ‘the truly savage feelings’ with which George III. regarded Lord Chatham (compare Russell's Mem. of Fox, vol. i. p. 129). Indeed, the sentiments of the king were even displayed in the arrangements at the funeral of the great minister. Note in Adolphus's Hist. of George III. vol. ii. p. 568; and for other evidence of ill-will, see two notes from the king to Lord North, in Mahon's Hist. of England, vol. vi. appendix, pp. lii. liv.; The Grenville Papers, vol. ii. p. 386; Bancroft's American Revolution, vol. i. p. 438.

[809] Lord Brougham (Sketches of Statesmen, vol. i. p. 219) says: ‘It may be questioned if any politician, in any age, ever knew so thoroughly the various interests and the exact position of all the countries with which his own had dealings to conduct or relations to maintain.’ See also Parr's Works, vol. iv. pp. 14, 15; Russell's Mem. of Fox, vol. i. pp. 320, 321, vol. ii. pp. 91, 243; Bisset's Life of Burke, vol. i. p. 338.

[810] Burke, even after the French Revolution, said, that Fox ‘was of the most artless, candid, open, and benevolent disposition, disinterested in the extreme; of a temper mild and placable even to a fault, without one drop of gall in his whole constitution.’ Speech on the Army Estimates in 1790, in Parl. Hist. vol. xxviii. p. 356. For further evidence, compare Alison's Hist. of Europe, vol. vii. p. 171; Holland's Mem. of the Whig Party, vol. i. pp. 3, 273; Trotter's Mem. of Fox, pp. xi. xii., 24, 178, 415.

[811] Adolphus's Hist. of George III. vol. vi. p. 692. A singular circumstance connected with this wanton outrage is related in the Mem. of Holcroft, vol. iii. p. 60.

[812] Compare Adolphus's Hist. of George III. vol. iv. pp. 107, 108, with Russell's Mem. of Fox, vol. i. pp. 191, 287, 288, vol. ii. p. 44. Dutens, who had much intercourse with English politicians, heard of the threat of abdication in 1784. Dutens's Mémoires, vol. iii. p. 104. Lord Holland says, that during the fatal illness of Fox, ‘the king had watched the progress of Mr. Fox's disorder. He could hardly suppress his indecent exultation at his death.’ Holland's Mem. of the Whig Party, vol. ii. p. 49.

[813] In 1725, the Duke of Wharton, in a letter to the Pretender, after mentioning some proceedings in the Commons, adds, ‘In the House of Lords our number is so small, that any behaviour there will be immaterial.’ Mahon's Hist. of England, vol. ii. appendix, p. xxiii. See also, respecting the greater strength of the Tories in the House of Commons, Somers Tracts, vol. xi. p. 242, vol. xiii. pp. 524, 531; Campbell's Chancellors, vol. iv. p. 158; Campbell's Chief-Justices, vol. ii. p. 156.

[814] Compare Vernon Correspond. vol. iii. p. 149, with Burnet's Own Time, vol. iv. p. 504. Burnet says, ‘All the Jacobites joined to support the pretensions of the Commons.’ The Commons complained that the Lords had shown ‘such an indulgence to the person accused as is not to be paralleled in any parliamentary proceedings.’ Parl. Hist. vol. v. p. 1294. See also their angry remonstrance, pp. 1314, 1315.

[815] Mahon's Hist. of England, vol. iii. p. 122.

[816] ‘Content, 47; non-content, 92.’ Parl. Hist. vol. xii. p. 711. Mr. Phillimore (Mem. of Lyttleton, vol. i. p. 213) ascribes this to the exertions of Lord Hardwicke; but the state of parties in the upper house is sufficient explanation; and even in 1735 it was said that ‘the Lords were betwixt the devil and the deep sea,’ the devil being Walpole. Marchmont Papers, vol. ii. p. 59. Compare Bishop Newton's Life of Himself, p. 60.

[817] See an account of some of its provisions in Mahon's Hist. of England, vol. i. pp. 80, 81. The object of the bill is frankly stated in Parl. Hist. vol. vi. p. 1349, where we are informed that ‘as the farther discouragement and even ruin of the dissenters was thought necessary for accomplishing this scheme, it was begun with the famous Schism Bill.’