[CHAPTER VI.]
Conversation of the King with Mr. Fox on his Regency Bill—Some account of Lord Hardwick—The Pelhams determine to remove the Duke of Bedford and Lord Hardwick—Character of the Duke of Newcastle, and of Mr. Pelham—Sketch of Lord Granville, his former administration, and other events of 1745—Mr. Winnington—The resigners restored—The King’s self-command—Character of George the Second, of the Duke of Grafton, and of Princess Emily—The Duke of Newcastle determines to remove his colleagues—The Duke of Bedford and Lord Sandwich—The Pelhams foment family disputes.
The day after the Committee in the House of Commons, the King said aloud in the drawing-room at Kensington, that the amendments to the præmunire clause were rightly made. The Chancellor answered, “the insertion of the word unlawfully was unnecessary.” “That,” replied the King, “is a distinction only for lawyers to make.” Mr. Pelham would have explained it to him in a low voice, but he would talk upon it publicly.
About the same time, the King talking to Mr. Fox in his closet upon the Bill, asked him, whom he would have made Regent? “Sir,” said Mr. Fox, “I never thought I should be asked, and therefore never thought—if it was impossible the Duke should!” The King replied, “My affection was there;” but avoided talking on the impossibility. He assumed to himself the chief direction of the Bill, and added, “I have a good opinion of the Princess, but I don’t quite know her.” He then spoke largely and sensibly on the restrictions, and gave reasons for them. “That a Council was necessary for her, even in cases of treason: women are apt to pardon; I myself am always inclined to mercy; it is better to have somebody to refuse for her. As to the power of peace and war, I never would declare either without consulting others. And as to the objection of the Council being irremoveable, who knows it will be composed of the present people? It will be the Ministers I shall leave: had you rather have those I shall leave, or have the Princess at liberty to go and put in Lord Cobham or Lord Egmont? What did you say against the Bill?—do you like it? tell me honestly.” Fox answered, “If you ask me, sir—no. What I said against it was, because what was said for it was against the Duke.” The King told him, “I thank you for that: my affection is with my son: I assure you, Mr. Fox, I like you the better for wishing well to him. The English nation is so changeable! I don’t know why they dislike him. It is brought about by the Scotch, the Jacobites, and the English that don’t love discipline; and by all this not being enough discouraged by the Ministry.”
To complete the history of this memorable Bill, I shall subjoin some account of its author.
Sir Philip Yorke, Baron of Hardwick, and Lord Chancellor, was * * * * the son of an attorney at Dover. He was a creature of the Duke of Newcastle, and by him introduced to Sir Robert Walpole, who contributed to his grandeur and baseness, in giving him an opportunity of displaying the extent of the latter, by raising him to the height of the former. He had good parts, which he laid out so entirely upon the Law in the first part of his life, that they were of little use to him afterwards, when he would have applied them to more general views. He was Attorney-General, and when the Solicitor Talbot was, after a contest, preferred to him for the Chancellorship (the contest lay between their precedence, for Talbot was as able a man, and an honest one), Sir Robert Walpole made Yorke Chief-Justice for life, and greatly encreased the salary. Talbot dying in a short time after his advancement, to the great grief of all good men, Yorke[134] succeeded. In his Chief-Justiceship he had gained the reputation of humanity, by some solemn speeches made on the Circuit, at the condemnation of wretches for low crimes; a character he lost with some when he sat as Lord High Steward at the trials of the Scotch Lords, the meanness of his birth breaking out in insolent acrimony. On his promotion, he flung himself into politics; but as he had no knowledge of foreign affairs, but what were whispered to him by Newcastle, he made a very poor figure.
In the House of Lords, he was laughed at; in the Cabinet, despised.[135] On the Queen’s death, he went deep into the Duke’s shallow scheme of governing the King by the Princess Emily; for this cabal thought that he must necessarily be ruled by a woman, because the Queen was one, not considering it was because she was a wise one. This scheme was to be built on the ruin of Sir Robert Walpole, who had no other trouble to make it miscarry than in making the King say “Pho!” to the first advice this junto gave him. Their next plot was deeper laid, and had more effect: by a confederacy with the chiefs of the Opposition, they overturned Sir Robert Walpole; and in a little time, the few of their associates that they had admitted to share the spoils. When Yorke had left none but his friends in the Ministry, he was easily the most eminent for abilities. His exceeding parsimony was qualified by his severity to and discouragement of usurers and gamesters; at least, he endeavoured to suppress that species of avarice that exists by supplying and encouraging extravagance. The best thing that can be remembered of the Chancellor is his fidelity to his patron; for let the Duke of Newcastle betray whom he would, the Chancellor always stuck to him in his perfidy, and was only not false to the falsest of mankind.
The Pelhams having thus secured the duration of their power by Act of Parliament, determined at least to remove every object that gave any interruption or uneasiness to their enjoyment of it. It will not easily be understood how the Duke of Bedford and Lord Sandwich, who were the present objects of offence, could give them any uneasiness. The latter was willing to submit to any indignities to keep his place; and the former neither had, nor pretended to any power, though Secretary of State. No measure, foreign or domestic, but was transacted without his participation. So far from having had any share in the nomination of Officers and Governors to the young Prince of Wales, the Duke of Bedford was not even told he was to have any, nor acquainted when they were actually appointed. He was not consulted upon any one step of the Regency Bill; only when it was entirely resolved, and had been actually communicated to the Cabinet Council, at which Lord Sandwich, his friend, was present, the Chancellor went to impart it to him at his own house, where he was confined with the gout. Indeed, at first he was pleased with this farce of attention, till his friends pointed out the insult of it. Notwithstanding all this submission, the Duke of Newcastle had no peace till they were removed. As he had no cause from their characters, we must seek it in his own; and to show the force of his jealousy, it will be necessary to give a deduction of his several treacheries.
He succeeded young to an estate of about thirty thousand pounds a year, and to great influence and interest in several counties. This account in reality contains his whole character as a Minister; for to the weight of this fortune he solely owed his every-other-way most unwarrantable elevation. His being heir to his uncle, the old Duke of Newcastle, obtained from the Crown a new creation of the title in his person; and, though he was far from having parts to procure him a Peerage, his Peerage and vast income procured him the first posts in the Government. His person was not naturally despicable; his incapacity, his mean soul, and the general low opinion of him, grew to make it appear ridiculous. A constant hurry in his walk, a restlessness of place, a borrowed importance, and real insignificance, gave him the perpetual air of a solicitor, though he was perpetually solicited; for he never conferred a favour till it was wrested from him, but often omitted doing what he most wished done. This disquiet and habit of never finishing, which, too, proceeded frequently from his beginning everything twenty times over, gave rise to a famous bon mot of Lord Wilmington,—a man as unapt to attempt saying a good thing, as to say one. He said, “the Duke of Newcastle always loses half an hour in the morning, which he is running after the rest of the day without being able to overtake it.”
He early distinguished himself for the House of Hanover, and in the last years of Queen Anne retained a great mob of people to halloo in that cause. He and his brother Harry raised a troop for King George on the Preston Rebellion, where the latter gave proofs of personal courage. The Duke was rewarded with the Garter, and some time after made Lord Chamberlain. The late King chose him for the honour of being Godfather to a new-born son of the Prince of Wales, which his Royal Highness much disapproving, was the immediate cause of that famous breach in the Royal Family, when the Prince and Princess left the palace very late at night. On Lord Carteret’s being sent into honourable banishment as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, by the power of Lord Townshend and Sir Robert Walpole, the latter proposed to make the Duke of Newcastle Secretary of State, having experienced how troublesome a man of parts was in that office. The Viscount’s first wife having been the Duke’s sister was another reason for their depending the more on his attachment to them; but that very relation had given Lord Townshend too many opportunities of discovering how little he was to be trusted, particularly from his having betrayed Lord Sunderland, his first patron, to Lord Townshend, who earnestly objected to the choice of him, and endeavoured to convince Sir Robert Walpole how much his falsehood would give an edge to his incapacity. As the disagreement increased between those two Ministers, the Duke in every instance betrayed his brother-in-law to Sir Robert. The Viscount was not of Walpole’s forgiving temper, and was immediately for discarding the Duke. He pressed both King and Queen to it; exclaimed against his childishness and weakness, and insisted upon his dismission as the only terms of reconciliation with Sir Robert. The King, who always hated him, easily yielded to make Sir Paul Methuen Secretary of State in his room; but the greater power of Sir Robert with the Queen (whose policy had long been employed in keeping open the breach, in order to govern both), saved the Duke for future scenes of perfidy[136] and ingratitude.