Part 14

The Duke of Bedford in writing, and the D. of Norfolk in conversation, have also expressed to Ld. H. that they look upon him as his uncle’s representative in the Whig Party. Ld. H. stipulated, as it was his uncle’s wish, that the first blue ribbon was to be given to the D. of Norfolk. Agreed to.

Ld. Holland strenuously against sending any person to Prussia, but to allow whatever business there may be to be transacted by the Minister, Jacobi,[246] who is at Hambro’ [_sic_] on the part of Prussia, and by Mr. Thornton on our part, our Minister at Hambro’.

On the 10th October, the funeral of Mr. Fox. He was accompanied to the grave by his old friends, public and private, and by the Ministers. I was present in a gallery erected for me in the Abbey over the grave.

* * * * *

_12th December, 1806._[247]--The fragment of the Prussian army may amount altogether to about 50,000 men. Old Kalkreuth, who made his escape after the Battle of Auerstadt, is in Dantzic with 12,000. The King is not at Petersburg, but whenever he is, his councils are directed by Haugwitz more than ever, which makes him perfectly nugatory.

The Russian Proclamation, which declares the necessity of Wallachia and Moldavia being occupied by their troops,[248] has excited alarm and distrust in the Austrian Cabinet. Those Courts are wrangling about punctilios, just as if Bonaparte were not alive. The Austrians want to coalesce with Russia, but they are afraid and undecided; however, Pozzo di Borgo, who is in the Russian Military Service, is despatched to Vienna to see whether he can bring about any co-operation. Little can be expected even if he does, Bonaparte has so completely secured his rear and kept a communication with France by means of menacing and cajoling, that all attempts against him are idle.

[Sidenote: KING OF SWEDEN]

The King of Sweden, tho’ very wrong-headed, and ill-gifted with that rare commodity common sense, has some notion of honour and high sense of it. Bernadotte, either at Altona or Hamburg, made some overtures to the Swedish Minister, saying that Bonaparte had always considered the King of Sweden as the only high-spirited Monarch; talked of the old alliance between France and Sweden, and threw out hints of Bonaparte’s willingness to give him Norway. The only notice the K. of Sweden bestowed upon this was a severe reproof and recall of his Minister for listening to any proposals from the French, and giving instructions to have the whole proceeding laid before the Danish Government, in order to show them the perfidy of the French, who were soliciting their friendship.[249] Our Government intend to augment his subsidy, and hold out a prospect hereafter of giving him ships to assist in the conquest of an island, Martinique or Guadalupe. The Danes are terrified, and will yield Holstein if the French should be peremptory; not, it is to be hoped, with impunity on our part.

The Opposition are full of jokes against Tierney; they say the dissolution was entirely his scheme, that by its suddenness they might be taken by surprise and unprepared, but that it appeared that he himself was the least prepared, and the most surprised. He lost the Borough.[250]

An abundance of speculators have gone with English goods to Buenos Ayres, enough to make a glut in the market, and merchants have sent over, it is said, to buy English goods, as they will be quite a drug there. Auchmuty[251] is gone with considerable reinforcements thither.

General Craufurd’s[252] expedition is to land at Val Paraiso in the South Sea; it was delayed so long that the passage by Cape Horn would be impracticable, therefore they must go round the Cape, a voyage of eight months. This expedition was delayed on account of the negotiation. Peace was once expected, but even then it was a mistaken policy, in my humble opinion, as Bonaparte is an enemy who will respect you more, if you will not only show your teeth but bite with them too.

The Government of the United States has detected the conspiracy which has long been gathering to break off the Northern from the Southern States, and so to make the Allegany Mountains the boundary. Mr. Burr,[253] who killed General Hamilton, is the head of it, and orders have been given to arrest him. General Wilkinson with the army is in the South and declared for Burr.

[Illustration:

_J. Hoppner Pinscit, 1798_ _Emery Walker Ph.sc._

_John, Viscount Boringdon_

(_afterwards Earl of Morley_)]

[Sidenote: BURR’S CONSPIRACY]

Burr laid the whole plot open to our Minister, and asked the assistance of England; Merry transmitted the communication to Ld. Mulgrave,[254] who, as usual, returned no answer.

Ld. Grenville calls the American a _Mob Government_, and one too weak to carry its own measures into effect.

The Scotch Peers elections have gone well; Ld. Melville was cruelly disappointed, he expected to carry four, and only carried Ld. Aberdeen. Kinnaird behaved imprudently and foolishly; however, Ld. Lauderdale’s dexterity and activity carried him through. Till the very moment before the election, Lord Melville reckoned upon carrying _four_.

Deliberations in the Cabinet upon an attack on Mexico; Ld. Grenville sent to Ld. H. Sr. Arthur Wellesley’s plan.[255] Sir Arthur Wellesley appears to have obtained all his information with respect to the accessible points for attacking S. America, New Spain, from a Mr. Frazier.

_18th December._--Lauderdale entertains no doubt whatever that the note so very offensive in its language to him was written, and also that it was written by the Emperor himself; and, moreover, that the Ministers, to avoid a severe reprimand from him for having ventured to suppress it, have thus impudently ventured to publish it officially. The other speculation is that the order for the publication of the correspondence was sent from Berlin, and the clerks published _all_, _brouillons_ included. This is the most probable.

The melancholy year of 1806 died with another loss: the D. of Richmond[256] died at Goodwood of suppressed gout and a liver complaint, discovered only after death.

News of the recapture of Buenos Ayres believed by the Government. It rests upon the declaration of a Portuguese Captain, who reached Lisbon in 43 days from Pernambuco; he says a Spanish schooner came in there dismasted, who was the bearer of dispatches to Old Spain, giving an account of the retaking of the town after a severe contest. It must be highly gratifying to Ld. Howick that he should have made his manly exposition of Sr. Home Popham’s improper conduct before this news, when the shabby people will be as ready to cry against the business, as they have been ready to praise it. An instance of the money-getting spirit of Sr. Home came to my knowledge lately. He wrote to the merchants at Manchester advising the exportation of certain goods, but to his own agent he bid him send him, upon speculation, a large quantity of silk stockings, with a hint that this order should not transpire. B. Frere assured me he was acquainted with the silk-stocking merchant who supplied the articles.

[Sidenote: LORD ELDON AND THE KING]

The business of the Princess,[257] which is now before the Cabinet, is highly perplexing, and from the answer given by the K. to the Minute of the Cabinet, there is good reason to suspect he has some secret advisers. The style is much too business-like, and shows too much knowledge of law to be his own. This suspicion is confirmed by the line of conduct taken in the H. of Lds.; it is quite distinct from Canning’s in the H. of Commons, as they did not move the Address. Ld. Eldon had for many years the management of the D. of Portland’s estates; in consequence of which, he had frequent access to him, and thereby acquired considerable influence over his mind. The King has appointed the D. of Portland his Master of his own private Monies. Thus upon pretence of his private affairs, the K. has a channel of communication with Ld. Eldon, which Ministers can in no way get at or interfere with.

There are avowed schisms amongst the Opposition; Canning is distinct from Perceval, and from Castlereagh. If the _great man_ of all does meddle in the H. of Lds., those in the Commons are not entrusted with the secret of his benign influence.

A curious petition under the Treating Act against Messrs. Windham and Coke, curious because it is not brought by the rejected candidate, who, on the contrary, declares he is not privy to the petition. It is the result of female spleen and revenge, a retaliation upon Mr. Windham for an election trick played by his party against these incensed heroines, Mesdames Atkins and Berney.[258] They had induced some electors to come forward and petition under the Treating Act; the three candidates unwisely consented to treat, not suspecting mischief could ensue from any other quarter. Mrs. Atkins was a celebrated actress, formerly of the name of Walpole. Her coadjutor is as great a virago as herself. ‘_La vengeance est douce à l’esprit d’une femme._’ Windham had a double return, so will sit for some rotten borough. Serjeant Lens, who is his counsel, rather despairs of making out a defensible case.

The expedition of General Craufurd, which was _not_ to take Teneriffe on its way to the S. Sea because it would take too much time, is now loitering and beating off the Cape de Verd Islands for want of convoy, which convoy has not at this moment quitted England.

_January 4th, 1807._--The American Treaty is at length signed; it must go to the U. States for ratification before it can be made public. The only point gained is the settling the ill-humour, and fixing the continuous voyage;[259] the seamen question is still unsettled.

[Sidenote: DEBATE ON THE NEGOTIATION]

_6th January._--Last night upon the subject of the negotiation, Whitbread took the most hostile line against Government, arguments mingled with invective against their conduct from the beginning to the end of the negotiation. He _applauded_ Ld. Yarmouth’s proceedings, censured the recalling him, as well as the motives assigned for it, and found fault with everything done by Lauderdale; concluding the whole in the most personal manner to Grey, by moving the _same_ amendment that Grey himself had moved on the Address to the King when Ld. Whitworth’s papers were under consideration.[260] Ld. Yarmouth, conceiving himself to be the injured party, spoke with warmth against Ministers; Perceval, with bitterness and scurrility against Fox. This strange conduct of Whitbread’s will be productive of great mischief, and unfortunately Ld. Holland, from an apprehension of being overcome if he risked mentioning his uncle’s name in public, did not speak on the night of the debate in ye House of Lords. His silence and Whitbread’s garrulity will corroborate the French story of the Fox party being discontented with Lauderdale’s conduct. This, however, can and will be justified immediately by his speaking, with or without an opportunity.

During the debate L. sat next to the Prince, who seemed mightily to relish Ld. Yarmouth’s occasional raps at the Grenvilles, and shortly after opened very freely upon his dissatisfaction; told him to sound H. upon the subject of the Pss., in which he spoke as if he suspected he was _given up_, and to ascertain whether, if so, he, Ld. H., was prepared to go out upon it; deeply deplored the loss of Fox, who was a _man_, fair, open, and attached. L. collected, which combined with other circumstances that had come to his knowledge, that Ld. Moira is playing a deep game, by trying to draw a line in the Cabinet of Prince’s friends and Grenville’s. He has never recovered the double disappointment, first, of not being made First Lord of the Treasury and Patron of Scotland, and, secondly, of not being acknowledged the successor of Fox in the Whig party. That is to say, the Prince styles himself the head of the Whig party, in imitation of his uncle, the D. of Cumberland, who was so in 1764, forgetting how foolish that was, but how much more foolish it is in an Heir Apparent! However, with this idea thrust upon him by Ld. Moira, he is the more likely to concur with Moira’s views, who would content himself with being styled his assistant upon such an assumption.

Ld. Holland dined at the India House where Ld. Minto had been sworn in;[261] Ld. M.’s spirit excessively depressed. If annoyed at going, why seek the appointment by such means?

[Sidenote: WHITBREAD’S SPEECH]

_7th January, 1807._--A universal groan, a spontaneous, unanimous feeling of disgust in the H. of Commons, when Perceval attacked the character of Fox. The tune of it was that all the kingdoms of Europe had sunk by treachery, bribery of their principal persons; that Talleyrand, the base, corrupt Prime Minister of France, had been the agent; yet this _immaculate_ character was the _attached_ friend of Mr. ----.[262] The House shuddered, and interrupted the pronouncing of the name. He animadverted upon the correspondence carried on between them. Whitbread’s speech made a considerable impression upon some of the most valuable men in the House, but was not conclusively reasoned; he having completely overlooked the necessity of keeping faithful to our allies, the Russians. Some think that the greatest mischief done by his speech was the drawing out some very warlike sentiments from Grey, who answered both injudiciously and inconsistently (with former declarations) with regard to the duration and principle of the war, which he stated with all the exaggerated declamation of a pupil of the Pitt school. This is a most unfortunate error, and is the more to be regretted, as the case upon ye papers was so strong, and might have been defended upon the true principles of Mr. Fox’s pacific policy.

Roscoe[263] spoke yesterday for his maiden speech on the Thetford Petition: Windham says his manner is dull, coarse, and provincial. I do not think his talents are such as will enable him to _add_ to his reputation by his public speaking.

_February 8th._--Serjeant Lens called to give me an acct. of the state of Norfolk Committee. Windham is in great agitation, even beyond what such a circumstance ought to excite. _His_ imprudence has been quite incredible; however, nothing decisive has yet appeared against him. There were two of his indiscreet letters afloat; one has been rescued, but the other is still in the hands of the enemy--the one of the most mischievous purport unluckily. Each letter was a threatening to dismiss the persons, to whom they were addressed, from their employments, if they did not vote, and in the one in the field Ld. Grenville’s name is used.

Prince came and stayed a considerable time. He is looking less ill than he did a month ago. Ld. H. advised him to do nothing about the Pss., telling him in as civil terms as he could that his unpopularity in the country was so great, that any publication of proceedings on his part would only confirm the belief in a conspiracy against her. He also advised him to conciliate the Duke of Gloucester,[264] whose ambitious views of alliance with the young Princess were apparent, and tho’ not necessary to encourage, were worthy at least of observation, as he might secure his friendship by civility. He expressed great abhorrence of him, said he was a fool and a Saint: said it had often occurred to him that his brother, the Duke of Cambridge,[265] would be a proper husband for his daughter, that such connections were common amongst Catholics, and that Parliament could grant a dispensation as fully as the Pope. He has promised to take no steps without consulting his legal advisers.

[Sidenote: LORD MINTO’S PAPER]

Ld. Minto came to take leave, he was to set off for India in half an hour. Prince seized and dragged him into the little room, said, ‘H. you may come too,’ and then asked Ld. Minto to give him the statement which was drawn up by him and Burke on the King’s recovery in 1789, in which they had entered fully into the Queen’s conduct during H.M. illness.[266] Ld. Minto was extremely disturbed, and hardly knew how to reply. He stammered and said it was of no use, such a paper now would be of no service, except _historically_. However the P. pressed him so hard, that he was compelled to acknowledge that it was in Ly. Minto’s possession.

Prince had been at Windsor the night before. King’s blindness worse: great flightiness upon two topics, upon the name of Sir Sidney Smith being mentioned, and upon the Irish bishops, whom he said were all Catholics and should never preach before him. P. seems to have been greatly struck at the Pss. observation, about four months after their marriage, on Soulavie’s _Memoirs of Catherine_, whom she said was a great princess, and served for an example ‘_à toutes princesses_.’ He seriously believes that it has passed in her mind to adopt Catherine as a model, and as a proof he declares that she wore usually men’s clothes, and received many navy officers in that attire at Plymouth.

A Cabinet on the 9th in consequence of letters from ye Duke of Bedford.[267] The Catholics are proceeding with their petition, and some of the eager ones persist in laying it before Parliament this Session. Ministers are urged to determine speedily what is to be done for the Catholics, in order to prevent the petition, if possible, from coming forward. He thinks nothing will satisfy the C. at present short of three concessions:--

1. The insertion of the same clause in their favour in the Mutiny Bill of England, that was inserted some years before the Union in the Mutiny Bill of Ireland.

2ndly. Their admission to be Sheriffs of Counties.

3rdly. Their admission to Corporations.

[Sidenote: THE CATHOLIC QUESTION]

The Cabinet determined upon granting the first, but object to the second, as a point that involves the whole Catholic Question and is objectionable on the same grounds with their total exemption, without being attended with the same advantages to themselves. The 3rd must depend upon individual Corporations. The Ministry have already declared, and are ready to repeat their wish, that the Catholics should be in full possession of every advantage secured to them by the existing laws. Such the Government of Ireland has shown to be the wish of the Ministry, and it is only by continuing the same system, that the object of procuring the admission of Catholics into the Corporation can be attained. The sketch of a letter to the D. of Bedford was then read, and agreed to be submitted to the King. Besides the topics already mentioned, it referred to an understanding that prevailed in Ireland when the proposed clause of the Mutiny Bill was carried in the Irish Parliament by Lds. Clare and Hobart, that a similar clause would be inserted in the English Mutiny Bill. Very doubtful whether the K. would consent; also doubtful how far many of the members would continue to persevere in pressing it upon him. A proof of his indisposition towards Catholics:--in a private audience with Ld. Howick, he expressed surprise at the conduct of the Elector of Saxony, whom he had hitherto considered an honourable man, ‘tho’ nothing better can be expected of a Catholic, but a man must be greatly degraded to break an oath. I would sooner submit to be trampled upon and killed.’

Determined, if the others would not press the matter, that Lds. Howick, Henry Petty, and Holland should go out. Some think that the trifle required is sufficient to produce the relapse of insanity, and that it would be as well to have the _burst_ upon the great point of all.

_Feb. 10th._--Answer from the King. H.M. approves of what his Ministry have said on the subject of the application to have Catholic Sheriffs, but he, ‘Trusts the Parlt. would never under any circumstances agree to the clause in the Mutiny Act. H.M.’s objections do not result from any slight motive. They have never varied, for they arise from principles by which he has been guided thro’ life, and to which he is determined to adhere. He had hoped that the question would never again have been agitated.’ (A copy from the original.)

In consequence of this answer from H.M. there was a meeting of the Cabinet this eve. in which it was determined unanimously to persevere. A respectful answer to H.M. was accordingly prepared, stating at full length the reasons which induced the Cabinet to persist in their opinion and determined them to bring the question before Parlt. It is uncertain whether the K. will yield, dismiss them, or try to divide them. Ld. Sidmouth and Ld. Ellenboro’ have behaved well, and even stoutly. Erskine betrays great backwardness, tho’ he must go with the rest. Whilst the letter for the K. was read, he affected to be asleep, but Ld. Holland roused him and called his attention to this _important_ paper.

The King very cordial and civil to the Ministers at the Levée. In his audience with Ld. Sidmouth he listened to the arguments for the measure, and even dropped a sort of acquiescence. Erskine held a most foolish, and even mischievous conversation with him. He told the K. that had he been in the Irish Parlt., the measures for the Catholics should not have passed without opposition: on which the K. complimented him, and said, ‘I believe indeed, my Lord Chancellor, that you are a good Protestant.’ ‘That, Sir, is my proudest title.’ The King is certainly tractable, but told Ld. Sidmouth that he should take 24 hours to consider of his answer to the Minute of the Cabinet. Ld. Grenville accompanied the Cabinet Minute with a private letter of his own, which pleased the K. mightily.

[Sidenote: THE CATHOLIC QUESTION]

_Feb. 12th._--King’s answer (exactly copied):--‘The King has maturely considered what is stated in Ld. Grenville’s letter of the 10th inst., and the accompanying Minute of the Cabinet. He is disposed upon this, as upon all occasions, to do full justice to the motives which influence any advice which may be submitted to him by Ld. Grenville and his other confidential servants; and however painful His Majesty has found it to reconcile to his feelings the removal of objections to any proposal which may have even the most distant reference to a question which has already been subject of such frequent and distressing reflections, he will not, under the circumstances in which it is so earnestly pressed, and adverting particularly to what took place in 1791, prevent his Ministers from submitting for the consideration of his Parlt. the propriety of inserting the proposed clause in the Mutiny Bill. Whilst, however, the King so far reluctantly concedes, he considers it necessary to declare that he cannot go one step further, and he trusts that this proof of his forbearance will secure him from being at a future period distressed by any further proposal connected with the question. (Signed) G. R.’

Lds. H., Howick, and Hy. Petty had resolved upon going out, if the Cabinet had not brought forward the clause in question, or if they had afterwards given it up and without doing anything for the Catholics opposed their petition in Parlt. But Ld. Howick declared (as however he frequently does when in a passion) that he would retire from public life.