CHAPTER XVII.

THE SHELBURNE ADMINISTRATION-PEACE OF 1783.

THERE can be little doubt that personal antipathy to Mr. Fox was from this time rooted in the royal bosom. Before Mr. Fox's entrance into office, George III. looked upon him as a dissolute and unprincipled man in whom he could place no confidence, and from whom he could expect no support. But a stronger feeling than distrust and dislike now sprung up. The Prince of Wales, as soon as he was old enough to appear in public, took a course very distasteful to his father. Coming from a strict and religious home, he surprised and shocked society by his very lax morals, while he gained the goodwill of many by his agreeable manners and convivial disposition.* He offended the King by inattention, and by evincing openly his want of respect for his royal parent. One day when the Prince of Wales, with his uncle the Duke of Cumberland, attended the King's hunt, the Prince and the Duke, at the end of the day's sport, got into the only hack-chaise that could be procured, and went off to London, leaving the King to shift as he could. Another offence was the Prince's habit of frequent visits to Mr. Fox's house, where, though not in his presence, language

* Walpole's "George III.”

little decorous to the Sovereign was frequently heard. On the day Mr. Fox resigned the seals of office the Prince dined with him, and, expressing much kindness towards him, assured him that he should ever consider Lord Rockingham's friends as the persons the most to be depended upon and as the best friends of the country. Thus the King was shocked by the morals, thwarted by the politics, and deeply irritated by the personal connexions of his son. While he was painfully struggling against party, he saw a new banner of Opposition unfurled by the heir to the throne, and attributed to his late Minister the alienation of one from whom he had expected submission and obedience.

Charles Fox, now released from the forced industry of office, fell back into licentious habits and idle dissipation. Mr. Hare, one of his best friends, said he saw him seldom except at supper at Brooks's, with Lord John Townshend.

Lord John Townshend, then Mr. John Townshend, was the son of the Marquis Townshend. He was a young man of very lively parts, and by his talents and devotion seems to have gained at this time an influence with Mr. Fox, the results of which were of great importance.

Lord Shelburne used the time of the prorogation of Parliament to hasten the negotiations for peace. On the 23rd of November these negotiations were so far advanced that the Secretary of State wrote to the Lord Mayor of London to acquaint him that the negotiations carrying on at Paris were brought so far to a point as to promise a decisive conclusion, either for peace or war, before the meeting of Parliament, which on that account was to be prorogued to the 5th of December. On that day, expectations having been raised to the highest pitch, the King * Fitzpatrick's "Journal." Corr.

addressed his Parliament on the subject of peace in the following terms:

"Since the close of the last session I have employed my whole time in that care and attention which the important and critical conjuncture of public affairs required of me. I lost no time in giving the necessary orders to prohibit the further prosecution of offensive war upon the continent of North America. Adopting, as my inclination will always lead me to do, with decision and effect, whatever I collect to be the sense of my Parliament and my people, I have pointed all my views and measures, as well in Europe as in North America, to an entire and cordial reconciliation with those colonies. Finding it indispensable to the attainment of this object, I did not hesitate to go the full length of the powers vested in me, and offered to declare them free and independent States by an article to be inserted in the treaty of peace. Provisional articles are agreed upon, to take effect whenever terms of peace shall be finally settled with the Court of France. In thus admitting their separation from the Crown of these kingdoms, I have sacrificed every consideration of my own to the wishes and opinion of my people. I make it my humble and earnest prayer to Almighty God that Great Britain may not feel the evils which might result from so great a dismemberment of the empire, and that America may be free from those calamities which have formerly proved in the mother country how essential monarchy is to the enjoyment of constitutional liberty. Religion, language, interest, affections, may, and I hope will, yet prove a bond of permanent union between the two countries; to this end, neither attention. nor disposition on my part shall be wanting. While I have carefully abstained from all offensive operations

against America, I have directed my whole force by land and sea against the other powers at war, with as much vigour as the situation of that force at the commencement of the campaign would permit. I trust that you feel the advantages resulting from the safety of the great branches of our trade. You must have seen with pride and satisfaction the gallant defence of the governor and the garrison of Gibraltar; and my fleet, after having effected the object of their destination, offering battle to the combined force of France and Spain on their own coasts, those of my kingdoms have remained at the same time perfectly secure, and your domestic tranquillity uninterrupted. This respectable state, under the blessing of God, I attribute to the entire confidence which subsists between me and my people, and to the readiness which has been shown by my subjects in my City of London, and in other parts of my kingdoms, to stand forth in the general defence. Some proofs have lately been given of public spirit in private men which would do honour to any age and any country. Having manifested to the whole world, by the most lasting examples, the signal spirit and bravery of my people, I conceived it a moment not unbecoming my dignity, and thought it a regard due to the lives and fortunes of such brave and gallant subjects, to show myself ready, on my part, to embrace fair and honourable terms of accommodation with all the powers at war. I have the satisfaction to acquaint you that negotiations to this effect are considerably advanced, the result of which, as soon as they are brought to a conclusion, shall be immediately communicated to you. I have every reason to hope and believe that I shall have it in my power, in a very short time, to acquaint you that they have ended in terms of pacification, which I trust you

will see just cause to approve. I rely, however, with perfect confidence on the wisdom of my Parliament and the spirit of my people that, if any unforeseen change in the dispositions of the belligerent powers should frustrate my confident expectations, they will approve of the preparations I have thought it advisable to make, and be ready to second the most vigorous efforts in the further prosecution of the war."

The speech, which was unusually long, proceeded to inform Parliament that the King had carried into effect the reductions in the Civil List directed by an act of the last session; that he had abolished many sinecure places in other departments; that he had made many beneficial regulations which, besides expediting business, would produce a considerable saving; that he had directed an inquiry into the management of the landed revenue of the Crown and of the Woods and Forests-into the department of the Mint-into the state of receipt and expenditureand, above all, into the state of the public debt. "It is my desire that you should be apprised of every expense before it is incurred, as far as the nature of each service can possibly admit. Matters of account can never be made too public."

The high price of corn, the rights and commerce of Ireland, and the regulation of the vast territory acquired in Asia, were the remaining topics of the speech.

Mr. Fox's remarks on the speech were chiefly directed to the point of the acknowledgment of American independence. After the explanation of his own conduct, of which we have already spoken, he said that his hopes and expectations were fulfilled, just as he had foreseen and stated to that House: he had been able to persuade his