It happened at this period that Mr. Conway, who talked of nothing but resigning, became in want of a secretary, William Burke quitting his service to follow his cousin Edmund into opposition. My surprise was very great when Mr. Conway declared his resolution of making David Hume, the historian, who had served his brother, Lord Hertford, in the same capacity at Paris, his secretary. This by no means wore the air of an intention to quit himself; Lord Hertford, I believe, had started the thought, and on tracing the scent, I found there had been some indirect negotiation between the King and Lord Hertford to engage Mr. Conway to be Prime Minister himself. Lord Hertford thought his brother not averse to the idea, though extremely weary of the Seals of Secretary. Himself told me that the King had asked him if Lord Chatham was not very tedious in Council, and had complained of the long speeches he made to him, as Mr. Grenville had been used to do. Conway, no doubt, at three or four different periods, might have been Minister; but though nobody was inwardly more hurt at superiors, he never had a settled ambition of being first, nor whenever we talked to him with that view, could he determine to yield to the temptation. I was pleased, however, with the designation of Hume, as it would give jealousy to the Rockinghams, who had not acted wisely in letting Burke detach himself from Mr. Conway; and I prevailed on Lady Hertford to write a second letter, more pressing than her Lord’s, to Mr. Hume to accept. The philosopher did not want much entreaty; but it was in vain that I laboured to preserve any harmony between Lord Chatham and Conway; the wildness of the former baffled all policy. On the 6th of February Beckford was again forced to put off the consideration of Indian affairs, and not a word was said against it; his warmest opponents waiting maliciously to see where this strange interlude would end. Lord Chatham at last announced, though he would not deign to send any answer to the letters or solicitations of the Ministry, that he would be in town on the 12th; Beckford, however, gave out that he had received a letter from him, which said the terms offered by the Company were inadmissible;—they were left to guess in what particulars. To Lord Bristol this mysterious Dictator was more condescending, and wrote to him that he would come, dead or alive—a notification the more ridiculous, as having at last quitted Bath, he was again seized with the gout, as he said, and confined himself to the inn at Marlborough, still inaccessible and invisible, though surrounded by a train of domestics that occupied the whole inn, and wore the appearance of a little Court. This was the more remarked, as on his setting out from Bath he had at first left most of his servants behind, and they declared that they expected him back.
The Opposition diverted themselves with the novelty of this scene, and levelled their chief attacks at Beckford, the substitute out of place, of a Minister who would do no business. Burke indirectly shot some of his arrows at Conway; and even out of the House some satires on the Administration, in which Conway was not spared, were strongly suspected to come from the same quarter, and were much resented by the latter.
On the 18th, on the North American extraordinaries, Beckford was very abusive on George Grenville. Rigby reproached Colonel Barré with his former attacks on Lord Chatham, and with not defending him now; and he taxed Charles Townshend with his subjection to Lord Chatham, which drew a fine oration from Townshend on his own situation and on that of America. Grenville proposed two addresses to the Crown, to call the garrisons nearer to the capitals of each colony, and to employ any money that should be obtained from the East India Company in America. These motions were rejected by 131 to 67.
On the 20th, Townshend again moved to put off the East Indian affair, as the Company were on the morrow to give an explanation of their former proposals. Rigby asked, with a sneer, if the next appointed hearing was to be definitive, and abused Beckford in gross terms.
In the Lords the Duke of Bedford moved, on the 25th, for all correspondence with our Governors in America. The Duke of Grafton promised they should have all they could want; but the Chancellor, sensible that the Duke had gone too far, endeavoured to qualify the promise, and added, that since the right of taxation (which himself had denied) had been voted by Parliament, the Government was obliged to support it.
The great majorities of the Court, notwithstanding the inactivity of the Ministers, did not dishearten the Opposition so much as that supineness encouraged them to attempt a capital stroke. It was conducted with the greatest secrecy, crowned with incredible success, confounded the Administration, produced not the smallest benefit to the successful contrivers, but occasioned the expedient of another measure, that gave a deep and lasting wound to the country: not to mention that the perpetrators themselves were sensible of the mischief they should do in the first instance.
The land-tax is the surest fund of revenue to the Government. It had usually been but two shillings in the pound. The war and the increase of the National Debt had mounted it to four shillings. Grenville, during his Administration, in confidence of his economic plans, and to lull the country gentlemen with fair promises, had dropped that the land-tax, he believed, might be reduced in the year 1767 to three shillings. If the country gentlemen expected that alleviation, nobody else did; nor could Grenville, had he remained Minister, have realized the hopes he had thrown out. But what he could not have effected himself, he was now glad of distressing the Ministers by proposing.[319] He and Rigby had artfully prepared a call of the House against the day of voting the land-tax, in order to bring to town the country Members, who would not only be favourable to the diminution, but must vote for it to please their electors, as the Parliament was near its dissolution. The Tories, too, though inclined to the Court, were become enemies to Lord Chatham, who, having lost them as soon as he lost his power, had treated them with much contempt in his speeches on the Stamp Act. He had now trusted to his majorities, or that the other Ministers would take care to secure them. But besides that the land-tax had usually passed as a matter of course, no care was taken to watch the House of Commons. Conway, in the last Administration, could not be induced to traffic with Members, though offended that none of them paid court to him; much less was he inclined now to support Lord Chatham’s measures by any indirect proceedings. The Duke of Grafton was cold and ungracious; and having offered to repair to Marlborough, and earnestly solicited permission to settle the East Indian business with Lord Chatham, had been peremptorily refused access.[320]
Under such a concurrence of untoward circumstances, Charles Townshend proposed the usual tax of four shillings on land, saying, that with other savings and with what might be obtained from the East India Company, Government would be enabled to pay off the four per cents; and pledging himself, that if he should remain Chancellor of the Exchequer another year, he would be for taking off one shilling from land. The Opposition was opened by Dowdeswell, who moved for only three shillings—a man who, having been so lately the active Minister of the finances, knew but too well how ill Government could afford to make the abatement.[321] That very consideration weighed with Lord Rockingham’s faction to join even their aversion, Grenville. Edmund Burke alone had the honesty to stay away rather than support so pernicious a measure. Sir Edmund Isham[322] and Sir Roger Newdigate,[323] half-converted Jacobites, declared, as representatives of the Tories, for the lesser sum, and the latter, to blacken Lord Chatham, made a panegyric on Sir Robert Walpole. They were answered extremely well by Lord North, who began to be talked of for Chancellor of the Exchequer. De Grey, Member for Norfolk, and brother of the Attorney-General, in a strange motley speech, in which he commended Grenville, abused the Administration, blamed and commended Lord Chatham, declared for the three shillings, and vented much invective on eastern and western governors, commissaries, and placemen, who, he and Sir Roger Newdigate said, thrust all the ancient families out of their estates. Beckford, though one of the Members for the City of London, on which the tax fell heaviest, yet said he would concur in what was necessary for the State. Lord Clare showed that all taxes fall ultimately on land, and that the measure of three shillings would be popular only with gentlemen of estates, would not ease labourers, farmers, artificers, and merchants. He spoke with encomium of Lord Chatham, who had first been represented as become insignificant by his peerage, now was reviled as sole Minister. Dr. Hay artfully took notice that Townshend had said he would propose some tax this year on America. Townshend explained, that it was to be done by degrees and on mature consideration; but the loss of the question of one shilling more on land hurried Townshend into new taxes on America, which not only were not well considered by himself or the House, but furnished those repeated occasions of disgust to America, or new pretences for disgust, which opened again the wounds that the repeal of the Stamp Act had closed, and reduced the mother-country to more humiliations, and even to employ the army in curbing their mutinous brethren—happy if either experiment be tried no farther than they have yet been at the end of 1769! Grenville made a great figure on this unhappy question, and, throwing off all reserve about Lord Chatham, remembered that the first year after the Peace, he had asked why one shilling in the pound was not taken off land?[324] He also detailed all the savings himself had made, and said, he would not answer Mr. Townshend, who had asked where any new tax could be laid, with the end of an old song, “Tell me, gentle shepherd, where?”[325] That quotation had been much applauded; himself should be hissed if he made such an answer; but it had always, he said, been Lord Chatham’s style: he would spend money, but left others to raise it. A fool could ruin an estate, a fool and a knave could ruin a nation. He was not gentle on Lord North, who had deserted him for the Court. Conway answered Grenville but indifferently; and Lord John Cavendish closed the debate with an affected point of honour, advising to lessen the tax now, lest, if delayed till the next session, the House should seem to court popularity at the eve of a general election. At past nine at night the House divided, and to the extreme surprise of both sides, (for the Opposition had not dared to flatter themselves with an idea of victory,) the four shillings in the pound were lost by 188 to 206.[326] The confidence of the Court had contributed to their defeat, several of their friends, not doubting of success, having voted against their inclination, to please their constituents. Lord Granby and Sir William Maynard[327] were almost the only members for counties, who had dared to risk their popularity by voting for the larger tax. Cooke, one of the representatives for Middlesex, though devoted to Lord Chatham, had thought he might venture to go against the Court. Thomas Pelham, with the white stick in his hand, was forced by the Duke of Newcastle, as Member for Sussex, to take the same part. Some of the Duke of Grafton’s young friends, not suspecting a contest, had gone out of town that very day: but the most offensive blow to the Crown was given by the Duke of York, who, though his establishment was on the point of being settled, allowed some of his own servants to fail the Court, Colonel St. John,[328] one of the grooms of his bedchamber, voting against it; and Cadogan,[329] his treasurer, attached to Grenville, and whose place of surveyor of Kensington Garden had newly been increased to 1000l. a year, absenting himself. Two years afterwards, this same man had the modesty to accept a still more lucrative employment.[330] Morton too, a Tory, in whose favour Lord Chatham had lately quashed an opposition at Abingdon, repaid the service with similar gratitude.
This was the first important question lost by the Crown since the fall of Sir Robert Walpole. Mr. Pelham had been defeated in an inconsiderable tax on sugar by the treachery of Lord Granville. It was not less remarkable that the Crown, which had been able to muster 224 votes in favour of that crying grievance, General Warrants, found but 188 ready to support a tax so essential to Government, that it had been proved that unless means could be found to lessen the debt, the nation would be unable to engage in a new, however necessary, war. The Bank was ready to advance 500,000l. on the land-tax; but the weightier these arguments, the more obdurate the Opposition. Still they had no other satisfaction than in the perpetration of the mischief. No popularity ensued: the City, where the national interest was best understood, condemned such public disservice, and spread the cry of disapprobation. Many who had lent their voices to the Opposition, repented; and, what the latter alone felt with shame, the Court recovered its ascendant—a proof that surprise was the only weapon their antagonists could use to effect, and against which the Ministers were now put upon their guard. By Ministers I mean the substitutes and the alarmed friends of Lord Bute. Prone as he was to change and betray, he did not choose to be compelled to change, nor to be taken prisoner by Grenville and the Bedfords.
It was not impossible to have recovered the question by recommitting it on the report, but the Ministers did not think it prudent to venture. Charles Townshend spoke on it only to protest against the consequences of so destructive a resolution. Between Lord North and Rigby some wit passed that had no good humour for its foundation.