244

LORD BUTE-THE KING'S FIRST SPEECH.

[1760.

possibly be changes of greater consequence." Lord Waldegrave refers to the confidence in lord Bute which had succeeded the authority of the nursery. "He will soon be sensible that a prince who suffers himself to be led, is not to be allowed the choice of a conductor. His pride will then give battle to his indolence; and having made this first effort, a moderate share of obstinacy will make him persevere." The pride and resolution of George III. subdued his indolence in a remarkable degree. Never did any ruler work harder, certainly too hard, in the endeavour to understand and influence public affairs. He did his best, within the limits of his ability. Lord Waldegrave adds, "His honesty will incline to do what is right; and the means cannot be wanting, where a good disposition of mind is joined with a tolerable capacity; for a superior genius does not seem to be a sine quâ non in the composition of a good king."*

The king for some time did "suffer himself to be led," and was not

"allowed the choice of a conductor." The earl of Bute prepared his Majesty's first Address to the Privy Council. The earl of Bute, the Groom of the Stole, was not only named by the kingas a member of the Privy Council, but also of the Cabinet.t To Mr. Pitt this nomination must have been especially offensive; for in the king's speech to the Council he alluded to "a bloody and expensive war." The great minister, who had conducted that war toan issue which redeemed even its cost of blood and treasure, by raising England out of her abject prostration to a height which was her safety as well as her glory, was indignant at this tone; and insisted that the passage should go forth to the world as "an expensive but just and necessary war." But the duke of Newcastle and Mr. Pitt continued their alliance as ministers under the new sovereign. They were not very cordial. The influence of Bute was recognized in the smothered cry of "No Scotch favourite;" and the uncertainty of the final preponderance of the rivals for power was expressed in the joking question, whether the king would burn in his chamber, Scotchcoal, Newcastle-coal, or Pit-coal.

On the 18th of November, the king opened the parliament. Lord Hardwicke prepared the Speech, of which he sent the draught to Mr. Pitt. When it was to be settled in the Cabinet, the words were inserted in the king's own writing which were long treasured up in loyal memories: "Born and educated

First given in the "Edinburgh Review," vol. xxxvii. p. 17.

+ Sir Denis Le Marchant has pointed out that this nomination to the Cabinet, and not that to the Privy Council, was the subject of animadversion at the time.-Note to Walpole's "George III.'

1760.]

POLICY OF THE NEW REIGN.

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in this country, I glory in the name of Briton; and the peculiar happiness of my life will ever consist in promoting the welfare of a people whose loyalty and warm affection to me I consider as the greatest and most permanent security of my throne." The House of Commons voted a Civil List of 800,0007., upon the king surrendering the hereditary revenue. The annual subsidy to the king of Prussia was renewed. Supplies were given to the extent of twenty millions. The enthusiasm with which the king was greeted by his subjects was in striking contrast with the coldness that had attended the appearance in public of George II. At the play, the whole audience sang "God save the king" in chorus. The few remaining Jacobites gave up their hatred to the House of Hanover, and flocked to St. James's.

How short a time this happy calm was to last may be inferred from the revelations in Bubb Doddington's Diary. This ancient intriguer was now intriguing with Bute against the king's ministers. On the 20th of November they had "much serious and confidential talk." On the 29th Doddington pressed Bute to take the Secretary's office, and get rid of lord Holderness, On the 20th of December, "we had much talk about setting up a paper." Their great object appears to be embodied in the following passage regarding the ministry, which has especial reference to Pitt: "I think," writes Doddington, on the 2nd of January, 1761, "they will continue the war as long as they can; and keep in, when it is over, as long as they can; and that will be as long as they please, if they are suffered to make peace, which will soon be so necessary to all orders and conditions of men, that all will be glad of it, be it what it will, especially if it comes from those who have all the offices and the powers of office. All which can never end well for the king and lord Bute." How it would end for the nation was not a matter to be considered. Amongst the weapons which this pair devised to damage Pitt in popular estimation, they "agreed upon getting runners," hawkers of pamphlets and bills. Their desire also to return to one of the practices of the good old times is thus indicated: "We wished to have some coffee-house spies, but I do not know how to contrive it." * The habit in which Bute already indulged of using the name of the king as an authoritative recommendation of any political action-even of the nomination of a member for a borough under government influence-must have excited strong doubts of the wisdom of his majesty's constitutional training. Bute informed Doddington, on the 2nd February, "that he had told Anson that room must be made for lord Parker; who replied, that all was engaged; and that he (Bute) said, 'What, my lord! the king's Admiralty boroughs full, and the king not acquainted with it'that Anson seemed quite disconcerted, and knew not what to say." Within a week after the accession, Walpole wrote, "The favorite took it up in high style." Three months later, the favorite could even venture to proclaim the policy of the new reign, in an insolent message to Pitt. "Mr. Beckford, dropping in conversation that he wished to see the king his own minister, he (lord Bute) replied, that his great friend Mr. Pitt did not desire to see the king his own minister, and he might tell him so, if he pleased, for that it was very indifferent to him (Bute) if every word he said was carried to Mr. Pitt." One of the consequences of Mr. Beckford's wish was manifest

"Diary," January 9, 1761.

+ Ibid., February 21,

246

INDEPENDENCE OF THE JUDGES.

[1760. when, in 1770, he, being lord-mayor, harangued the king on the throne in words which assumed that, although the constitutional principle holds that the sovereign can do no wrong, no ministerial responsibility was recognized to shield that sovereign from the reproof of a subject. The lord-mayor had a constitutional right, which he had exercised, to present the Address of the City to the Sovereign. To that Address the king had read a reply, which reply was the act of his ministers. When Beckford added his personal remarks upon what the king had replied, he forgot that the king could not answer him, according to the theory and practice of the Constitution.

When the king went to Parliament on the 3rd of March, to recommend an alteration in the tenure of office by the judges, he did not assume that the measure then proposed was more than supplementary to a far greater measure of the period of the Revolution. His majesty said: "In consequence of the Act passed in the reign of my late glorious predecessor king William III., for settling the succession to the Crown in my family, their commissions have been made during their good behaviour; but notwithstanding that wise provision, their offices have determined upon the demise of the Crown or at the expiration of six months afterwards, in every instance of that nature which has happened." The king recommended that "further provision may be made for securing the judges in the enjoyment of their offices, during their good behaviour, notwithstanding any such demise;" and that their salaries "should be absolutely secured to them during the continuance of their commissions." Lord Hardwicke, on moving the Address of the Peers in reply to the king's Speech, gave that tone of somewhat extravagant eulogy in which it has been customary to speak of this measure. But the great lawyer treated the proposed change, not as the remedy of a crying evil, though admirable as the assertion of a principle-" The judges were sworn to one king, and depended upon a future king in expectancy;-his majesty demonstrated his wisdom in choosing to shut this door." In reviewing historically the operation of the laws affecting the judicial independence, he dwelt upon the evils of the three reigns before the Revolution, when the judges held their office durante bene placito. Compared with these times, his majesty found the law in a happy state. Upon the accession of queen Anne, "three judges were left out, and all the rest had new commissions. Upon the demise of George I., the like happened, but only one left out." "A cloud," lord Hardwicke truly said, "might arise in futuro." *

On the 21st of March, the Parliament was dissolved by proclamation. Previous to the close of the Session, the Speaker Onslow, who had filled the chair for thirty-three years, announced his intention of retiring. The Commons united in a vote, asking the Crown to bestow upon Onslow some signal mark of its favour. He received a pension of 3000l. There were changes in the ministry. Legge ceased to be Chancellor of the Exchequer. Holderness was removed from his office of one of the Secretaries of State. The earl of Bute was appointed in his place. That change was made without the knowledge of Pitt, the other Secretary. He bore the neglect patiently. He still directed the conduct of foreign affairs, and of the war. He was listening to overtures made by France to negotiate for peace. But he was also meditating

"Parliamentary History," vol. xv. col. 1008. Notes of Lord Hardwicke's Speech.

1760.]

THE NEW PARLIAMENT.

247

some further enterprises that might result in a success that would give greater weight to the terms upon which he desired to insist. The General Election took place. Venality was never carried further. Mr. Hallam says, "the sale of seats in Parliament, like any other transferable property, is never mentioned in any book that I remember to have seen of an earlier date than 1760."* Bribery, in the approved form of selling a pair of jack-boots for thirty guineas, and a pair of wash-leather breeches for fifty pounds, was notorious enough to be laughed at by Foote. Dr. Johnson maintained that "the statutes against bribery were intended to prevent upstarts with money from getting into parliament." He held that "if he were a gentleman of landed property, he would turn out all his tenants who did not vote for the candidate whom he supported." + The struggle between the "upstarts with money "the commercial interest-against what Johnson called "the old family interest," was fast becoming a formidable one. Bribery was the readiest weapon in the hands of the weaker of the political combatants of a hundred years ago. The weapon was too powerful to continue in the exclusive hands of one party. It was more efficient even than the intimidation of the owner of "permanent property," which Johnson thought was a proper restraint upon "the privilege of voting." A century of legislation has done little beyond exhibiting the character of the evil. It has probably only lost its shamelessness to become more dangerous.

The intended marriage of the king to the princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was announced in an Extraordinary Gazette of the 8th of July, detailing the communication to the Privy Council of his Majesty's choice of a consort. In the "Annual Register" this document is given; and it is observed, that although the people were desirous of seeing their young sovereign united to a princess worthy of his affection, "a few thought he might find in a subject one every way qualified to wear a crown, and made no difficulty of pointing her out." Lady Sarah Lennox, the sister of the duke of Richmond, was the lady thus glanced at. The king's passion for her was notorious. The mother of the king, and lord Bute, are held to have turned him aside from this beautiful object of his love, to accept a bride chosen from some petty German court. Colonel Græme, a Jacobite, was employed by the princess dowager "to visit various little Protestant courts, and make report of the qualifications of the several unmarried princesses." On his representation, the princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg was chosen. There was a testimony of more importance to the character of the princess than that of this ambassador, who was congratulated by David Hume "in having exchanged the dangerous employment of making kings for the more lucrative province of making queens." || Frederick of Prussia had sent a letter to George II., which the princess Charlotte, then a girl of sixteen, had addressed to him, when his troops were over-running the territory of her cousin, the duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The letter is bold and eloquent. Even conquerors, she says, would weep at the hideous prospect before her. The husbandman and the shepherd have forsaken their occupation; the towns are inhabited only by old men, women, and children. The rival armies insult

* "Constitutional History," chap. xvi. Walpole "George III.," vol. i. p. 65.

+ Boswell, under date of April 5, 1775.
Ibid.

248

THE KING'S MARRIAGE-CORONATION.

[1761. and oppress the people, even those to whom they might look for redress. She can scarcely congratulate the king of Prussia on his victory, when it has covered her country with desolation. On the 8th of September, the princess arrived at St. James's, and the marriage was celebrated that afternoon. She, who for fiftyseven years was Queen-Consort, and, in many important matters, influenced the destinies of the country, was not to be compared in personal appearance with lady Sarah Lennox, or with another object of early passion, whose name lingered on the lips of the blind and aged king, when his distempered brain called up the ghosts of buried fantasies. Of the queen, as she appeared on her bridal night, Walpole says, "she looks very sensible, cheerful, and is

remarkably genteel." Her good sense and cheerfulness appear to have been the characteristics of queen Charlotte through her long and anxious life. We greatly doubt whether she can fairly be described as "of narrow and uncultivated understanding."+ In the experiences of Fanny Burney we

See Note in "Quarterly Review," vol. cv. p. 477.

+ Massey, vol. i. p. 118,