"Fox already shines as greatly in place as he did in opposition, though infinitely more difficult a task," Walpole wrote to Sir Horace Mann on May 5. "He is now as indefatigable as he was idle. He has perfect temper, and not only good humour, but good nature, and, which is the first quality in a Prime Minister of a free country, has more common sense than any man, with amazing parts that are neither ostentatious nor affected." Not all Fox's tact, however, could avert ill-feeling between Shelburne and himself, and this was aggravated by the clashing of the duties of their offices in the matter of the treaty with America, for while the negotiations with the revolted colonies belonged to the department of Home Affairs over which the Earl presided, the arrangement of a peace with the foreign countries with which England was at war came within the province of the Foreign Office! "In addition to the difficulties naturally arising from this division of responsibility, the two Secretaries differed on policy. Fox desired an immediate recognition of American Independence, in the hope of detaching the Americans from the French alliance, and so putting England in a better position for dealing with her enemies; Shelburne agreed with the King that the acknowledgment should be a condition of a joint treaty with France and America, for England would then have a claim to receive some return for it."[215]
Photo by Emery Walker. From a portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds
WILLIAM PETTY, EARL OF SHELBURNE
(AFTERWARDS MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE)
Before any definite rupture came, however, Lord Rockingham caught the influenza, and died on July 1, 1782. Nicholls has stated that when Fox was asked who was to succeed Rockingham, he replied, "I think it must be the Earl of Shelburne; he is first oar, and I do not see how we can resist his claim";[216] and according to other reports Fox himself aspired to be the leader of the party. Little credence, however, must be given to these chroniclers, for Fox was overtly opposed to Shelburne; and he must have known that the King would never summon him to the head of affairs. Burke and the rest of the Rockingham party resisted the claims of Shelburne and suggested the Duke of Portland, who himself claimed to have a better right than anyone else to be Prime Minister. Fox actually went to the King to propose that the vacant office should be given to the Duke of Portland. "Mr. Fox reached the royal closet only in time enough to learn that Lord Shelburne had just gone out with the appointment of First Lord of the Treasury. Mr. Fox, expressing great astonishment on hearing this, asked his Majesty, 'If under these circumstances he had any objection to his (Fox's) naming the new Secretary of State.' To this his Majesty replied, 'That, sir, is already done.' On which Mr. Fox rejoined, 'Then, I trust, your Majesty can dispense with my services.' The King replied hastily. 'That, also, sir, is done.'"[217] Thereupon the Duke of Portland, Lord John Cavendish, and Burke[218] also retired, as well as many other officials, and after an interval, Keppel, who had remained at the Admiralty, joined them. Their places were filled by Lord Grantham, Earl Temple, and William Pitt.
William Pitt, like his great opponent Fox, had established himself with his first speech, which secured the encomiums of all who were present. "We had a debate on Monday, when Mr. Pitt for the first time made such a speech, that it excited the admiration very justly of every man in the House. Except he had foreseen that particular species of nonsense which Lord Nugent was to utter, his speech could not be prepared; it was delivered without any kind of improper assurance, but with the exact proper self-possession which ought to accompany a speaker. There was not a word or a look which one would have wished to correct. This, I believe, in general was the universal sense of all those who heard him, and exactly the effect which his speech had on me, at the time I heard it." So wrote Anthony Storer to Lord Carlisle on February 28, 1781; and Wraxall was not less complimentary. "It was in reply to Lord Nugent that Pitt first broke silence, from under the Gallery on the Opposition side of the House. The same composure, self-possession, and imposing dignity of manner, which afterwards so eminently characterized him when seated on the Treasury Bench, distinguished him on this first essay of his powers, though he then wanted three months to have completed his twenty-second year. The same nervous, correct, and political diction, free from any inaccuracy of language, or embarrassment of deportment, which, as First Minister, he subsequently displayed, were equally manifested on this occasion. Formed for a popular assembly, he seemed made to guide its deliberations, from the first moment that he addressed the members composing it."[219] Burke declared that the young man "was not merely a chip of the old block, but the old block itself"; Walpole doubted "whether he will not prove superior even to Charles Fox"; while Fox, the most generous of men, when some one said to him, "Pitt will be one of the first men in the House of Commons," replied, "He is already." Pitt, although but twenty-three years of age, felt so sure of himself that he declined an offer of office from Rockingham, declaring "he would never accept a subordinate post under Government;" and, although he was a barrister without practice and with an income of less than £300, refused Lord Shelburne's invitation to become Vice-Treasurer of Ireland with a salary of £5,000, and thereupon was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The King, at the opening of Parliament on December 5, stated that he had offered to declare the American colonies free and independent; but what it cost him calmly to make this announcement may be deduced from the fact that afterwards he asked anxiously, "Did I lower my voice when I came to that part of my speech?"[220] According to Nicholls, even now, when conquest was impossible, peace was certainly made against the wishes of George, "who, though he probably had no desire to remove the Earl of Shelburne, determined to make that noble Earl feel his displeasure. The "Household Troops" were therefore ordered to express in Parliament their disapproval of the peace."[221] The King, however, always denied that he intrigued against this Minister, but it is a regrettable fact that the sovereign's word in such matters cannot be accepted; and Shelburne certainly believed the royal influence was directed against him, at least until the formation of the Coalition, the success of which would place George in the awkward position of having to bestow the seals of office upon the men he regarded as his enemies.
