A History of England, Period III. Constitutional Monarchy

by J. Franck Bright

Long tenure of power of the Tory party.

The negotiations which had terminated in the abdication of Napoleon had, as far as England was concerned, been carried on by the same ministry which had had the duty of conducting the war. The Tory party which the French Revolution and the policy of Pitt had called into existence, robbed of the better and more liberal elements which the presence of Pitt himself and his friends had introduced into it, had succeeded in spite of its defects and of various opportunities for a change in continuing its hold upon the Government. There was at first one important member of it who kept up something Policy of Canning. of the views of Pitt. This was Canning, the Foreign Minister. But the presence of so incongruous an element tended rather to the weakness than to the strength of the administration; nor is it certain that in the present crisis of Europe his views were such as to render him the most efficient minister. Castlereagh, a man of narrower views and of much inferior talent, acted as War Minister. Between him and Canning a strong antagonism arose. Canning's errors were those of a liberal and noble mind. He was anxious to see the Spaniards carry out their insurrection as much as possible by their own means, and the wish led him to believe the false tales of their patriotism and resources with which the braggart spirit of the Spaniards supplied him. This credulity was strengthened by the reports of Mr. Frere, whom he had sent to the Peninsula as ambassador, and he was thus induced to misapply the wealth of England, and to misuse the opportunities which his position as Foreign Minister gave him, so as seriously to weaken the hands of Wellington. His desire for the political regeneration of Spain blinded him somewhat to the military necessities of the time, which required that our general should be invested with almost absolute authority, and the arrangement of political matters postponed till after the favourable conclusion of the war. But though he thus not unfrequently Canning's quarrel with Castlereagh. threw obstacles in Wellington's way, Canning by no means approved of the inefficient administration of Castlereagh, and the constant starvation of the military side of the Peninsula War. So far had the quarrel with the War Minister extended that Canning had contrived, not perhaps so openly and straightforwardly as could be wished, to extort from the Prime Minister a promise that Lord Castlereagh should be removed from his responsible situation, failing which he declared that he would himself withdraw. His support was so necessary to the Prime Minister that he had persuaded him to remain in office. But Canning had throughout privately expressed the strongest disapprobation of the Walcheren expedition, and when its failure became known, and when inquiries upon the subject brought to light the fact that, while sitting in the same Cabinet with Castlereagh, he had been in fact intriguing for his dismissal, the quarrel came to a point. Sharp words were exchanged between the ministers, and the consequence was a duel (Sept. 22), in which Canning was slightly wounded. It was of course impossible for the antagonists to serve longer in the same ministry. They both resigned, and their example was followed by the Duke of Portland, whose failing health had from the first rendered him unfit for his position, and whose weakness was exhibited in allowing so grave a quarrel to spring up within the limits of his Cabinet. It became necessary to reconstitute the ministry, and after a fruitless negotiation with Reconstruction of the ministry. Oct. 1809. Lords Grey and Grenville—with so little reality in it that Grey did not think it worth his while to come to London on the subject—Perceval, who had long been the most important person in the Cabinet, assumed the nominal direction, and Lord Wellesley, who had lately been serving as ambassador in Spain, where he had superseded Mr. Frere, was induced to accept the ministry of foreign affairs. Lord Castlereagh was succeeded by Lord Liverpool at the War Office, with Lord Palmerston as under secretary. The reconstruction of the ministry made no difference in its general tendencies. The introduction of Lord Wellesley was indeed a slight improvement; he entered the ministry chiefly for the purpose of supporting his brother's views in the Peninsula. This to the best of his abilities he did, but he was constantly thwarted by the mediocre men with whom he was joined, and with whom he was never able to work comfortably. By far the ablest and best writer in the Cabinet, his despatches were constantly criticised and altered. His colleagues could not understand the greatness of the openings afforded in the Peninsula, and after two years of office he withdrew (Feb. 19, 1812). The opportunity occurred in a great ministerial crisis caused by the renewed insanity Continuation of the same ministry till 1827. of the King, which it was believed must have produced a change of ministry. The Regent, however, retained Mr. Perceval in office, and upon his death Lord Liverpool was called to succeed him, and continued in office till 1827, so that in fact from the fall of the Grenville ministry to that date, though with some change in the personnel, there was a continuance of the Tory rule.

Illness of the King. Nov. 1810.

In November 1810 the King, who had never thoroughly got over the failure of the Walcheren expedition, and the disgrace of Lord Chatham and the Duke of York, was still further shaken by the death of the Princess Amelia, and before long it appeared that he had become hopelessly insane. After several prorogations it was resolved (December 20) that it was the duty of Parliament to supply the existing defect in the organization of Government. A precedent for the action of the ministry was drawn from Pitt's conduct under similar circumstances in 1788. It was determined to reproduce, though in a somewhat modified form, The Regency Bill. Feb. 1811. the restrictions then laid upon the power of the Regent. But the Prince of Wales was by no means disposed to submit to these restrictions, and induced his brothers to join in a protest against them. Nor did the Opposition fail to see the probable advantage which would accrue to them from a more unlimited regency; they regarded it as certain that Grenville and Grey would be called to office, and they had no wish to curtail the power of the Crown when wielded by men ready to rectify the mismanagement under which they thought the country was suffering. But their hopes were destined to be speedily extinguished. In spite of his protest the Bill restricting the Regent was passed (Feb. 5), and the Prince took the oaths before the Privy Council. He had already made up his mind that it would be better to continue the present ministry, for a personal quarrel had arisen between him and his Whig friends. He had requested Grenville and Grey to draw up a reply to addresses from the two Houses which had been presented to him in January. They had found considerable difficulty in complying with his request, for Grenville had been a member of Pitt's ministry when he restricted the regency in 1788, while Grey then as now was a member of the Opposition; but by careful suppression of the difficulties, a reply was drawn out and submitted to the Prince. Such a compromise was not what he had expected; he summoned his friend Sheridan to assist him in criticising the reply. The paper was returned with pungent and witty marginal remarks, and a wholly different form of reply suggested. The Whig Lords took umbrage at the levity and rudeness of the Prince, and did not refrain from expressing their anger, a line of conduct which, as might have been expected, in the case of a man of such selfish and merely personal politics as the Prince, was warmly resented. Moreover, the flattery of the Queen, and the adhesion to him of his brothers, who wished for the The Perceval ministry continued. continuation of the Perceval ministry, together with the falsely hopeful reports of the physicians, which led him to think that his regency would be a short one, induced him to accept the situation; and immediately after having taken the oaths he declared his intention to retain Mr. Perceval. Although at first expressing his dislike to his ministers, before long entirely won over by their courtly language, he began to speak of his old friends as "the wicked politicians." The regency was at first fixed for one year only. At the end of that time, that is, in February 1812, after a few more overtures to the Whig Lords to form a coalition with his present ministry, which he must have known was impossible, the Prince allowed the ministry to continue as before, Castlereagh being readmitted to office, and Lord Sidmouth becoming President of the Assassination of Mr. Perceval. May 1812. Council. The joy of Mr. Perceval at the happy issue of the affair was proportionate to the fear he had felt at the thought of losing office; but it was destined to be shortlived, for on the 11th of May, as he entered the House of Commons, he was assassinated by a lunatic of the name of Bellingham.

Lord Liverpool made Premier.

Again there was much negotiation, and an attempt to introduce Lord Wellesley and Mr. Canning to the ministry. Of course they could not serve with Castlereagh; they were then asked to form a ministry with Grenville and Grey, but these Lords objected to the Peninsula War, to which Wellesley was pledged. Grenville and Grey then attempted a ministry of their own, but quarrelled with Lord Moira on the appointments to the Household; and as an American war was threatening, and the ministry had already given up their Orders in Council (one of the chief causes of their unpopularity), the Regent, rather than remain longer without a ministry, intrusted Lord Liverpool with the premiership, with Castlereagh as his Foreign Secretary, and the old ministry remained in office.

War with America. May 1812.

Before the day of triumph of this ministry arrived, while Napoleon was still at the height of his power, and the success of Wellington as yet uncertain, England had drifted into war with America. It is difficult to believe that this useless war might not have been avoided had the ministers been men of ability. It arose from the obstinate manner in which the Government clung to the execution of their retaliatory measures against France, regardless of the practical injury they were inflicting upon all neutrals. The causes of irritation have already been mentioned. America, adopting the policy of England, had proceeded to retaliate; an embargo was laid upon trade both with England and France, and commercial relations with Europe practically broken off. An attempted arrangement between the two countries in 1809 had produced but little result. But though foreign trade had diminished, the demand for home manufactures in America had largely increased; the populations of the Northern and Eastern States were therefore satisfied with the existing state of things and decidedly averse to war, with its certain expenditure and probable injury to their manufactures. In the South the case was different. Without manufactures to supply the loss sustained by the restricted export of their tobacco and sugar, not in immediate contact with English territory, as were the Northern States, and led by an aristocratic and slave-owning race, the Whites of the South were inclined to war. The Presidents were Virginians, the Southerners had a superiority in Congress, and in May of 1812 it became plain that war must result unless the Orders in Council were repealed. But England was in confusion owing to the assassination of Perceval, and it was not till the middle of June, when war had been already declared, that Brougham's motion for the withdrawal of the Orders was carried. The concession, awkwardly made in the face of the American threats, came too late. The Americans had already made up their minds, and planned an invasion of Canada.

Character of the war.

It was a war without great events. The attempts of the Americans upon Canada failed. Here and there a slight success attended the English arms, and the deep anger of our enemies was moved by the irksome blockade of their coast, and the employment of the savage Indian tribes as our allies. But if fairly successful on land, the English were to their great astonishment thoroughly worsted upon the sea. Ship after ship was taken by the American frigates. Nor was it till our commanders consented to recognise the fact that the classification of the two navies was wholly different, and that an American frigate was in tonnage and weight of metal a match for an English fifty-gun ship, that these disasters were brought to an end. It was an additional blow to the pride of England that the sailors by whom her ships were defeated were largely drawn from her own people. From the wretchedness prevalent in England, from high taxes, commercial difficulties, and the severe laws of impressment, men fled for refuge to America; and it is said that as many as 16,000 Englishmen were serving on board the American fleet.