nor incur the displeasure of the Crown, by going up with an address which would look like an indecency, where no indecency ought to be offered. He exhorted them to act with temperance and forbearance, to do nothing rashly, to avoid extremes, and to adhere steadily, but dispassionately, to their purpose. CHAP. LVI. 1784. On these circumstances, the idea of uniting the Union of partwo parties in forming a ministry seems to have en- ties proposed. tered the mind of one member, and, having been ex pressed by him, was taken up by others, and frequently adverted to in debate. Lord North. Lord North seemed an obstacle to the union, and Conduct of a call to the upper House was suggested as an expedient, by which he might be removed from ministerial life, without indignity. To this his lordship, with his usual openness and vivacity, replied, that, to use a plain English phrase, he had no inclination to be kicked up stairs. He should be very sorry to obstruct any arrangements that might be useful to the country; but he would stay in that House, to defend his character and honour when attacked. If, by the course of nature, he should be carried up to the House of Lords, he would go there as to a place of rest; or, as some would say, to him, as a place of sleep, where he would repose for the residue of his life. Tavern. Declarations of repugnance to a political union Meetings at were not, perhaps, construed too literally; and some the St. Alban's members, who thought such a measure would be attended with happy results, held a meeting at the St. Alban's Tavern, near Carlton House, for the purpose of ascertaining the feelings of the principal parties. They appointed a committee of four; and fifty-three signed an address to the Duke of Portland and Mr. Pitt. The minister expressed his readiness to cooperate in forming a stronger and more extended administration, if it could be done with principle and honour; while the Duke disclosed at once the point on which the failure of the negotiation was to be apprehended, when he said that the greatest difficulty consisted in Mr. Pitt's being a minister. It was attempted to arrange a meeting for the purpose of mutual expla 29th. CHAP. 1784. 4th Feb. 29th Jan. the state of the nation. Mr. Fox. nation; but his Grace declined all such intercourse while Mr. Pitt remained in office notwithstanding the late resolution of the House of Commons. Without any reasonable hope of a fortunate issue, endeavours were continued for several days; middle terms were proposed, and the King was induced to recommend a personal interview; but, as each party adhered to his original declaration, it was found impracticable; and, although further meetings were voted, the attempt was in effect abandoned*. While this negotiation, if it may so be called, was Committee on pending, the day arrived when, according to its last adjournment, the House was to have resolved itself into a Committee on the state of the nation. Mr. Fox took that opportunity of expressing his own opinions and those of his friends. The House and the public, he said, still saw, to their sorrow, a ministry retaining their situations in direct opposition to their resolutions. He proposed an adjournment till Monday, when, if public affairs did not assume a more favourable aspect, it would be necessary to resume the committee. He trusted that the well-meant endeavours to produce a union might not again prove abortive; but, once for all, declared, that while ministers retained their situations, every effort would be unavailing. The motion was agreed to, after a debate, in which Mr. Pitt explained and vindicated his conduct; professing that no invectives should make him depart from the rule of discretion which his situation required. 2nd Feb. Motion of Mr. Mr. Fox. On the next meeting of the House, Mr. Grosvenor, the chairman of the meeting at the St. Alban's Tavern, moved, by direction of that body, that the present arduous and critical situation of public affairs required a firm, efficient, extended, and united administration, entitled to the confidence of the people, and calculated to terminate the divisions and distractions of the country. After some other members had delivered their sentiments, Mr. Fox expressed his ready adoption of the * See Nicholls's Recollections, vol. ii. p. 113 to 117. motion. The House, he said, did not desire the re- CHAP. LVI. 1784. Mr. Pitt said he intended to give a hearty assent Mr. Pitt. to the motion: but it was rather a gloomy presage of union, that he could only concur with the members of opposition on grounds and for reasons the most opposite to theirs. He agreed that, in the present critical situation of affairs, a firm, efficient, extended, and united administration was absolutely necessary; but should any mode be proposed inconsistent with principle and with honour, he would most certainly oppose it. A resignation, before a treaty for union should take place, would be inconsistent with either; but still, so little was he attached to office, that if he could see a prospect of a strong and well-connected government ready to succeed him, he would cheerfully retire, without desiring to form a part of such government: how paltry would it then be in him to resign, for the sole purpose of treating about returning back to office! Mr. Coke's No division having taken place on this motion, motion. CHAP. LVI. 1784. Mr. Powys, Mr. Pitt. Mr. Coke proposed a resolution, declaring the continuance of the present ministers an obstacle to the formation of such an administration as might enjoy the confidence of the House, and put an end to the divisions and distractions of the country. In the debate, Mr. Powys took a new and extraordinary line. He disapproved and had voted against the resolutions of the 16th of January; they were hastily proposed, grounded on doubtful and unauthenticated premises, and held out unfair conclusions; but still they were upon the Journals, and they who had obtained, might triumph in them, as Shylock does in his bond. He censured Mr. Pitt for his weakness in not dissolving Parliament; but, highly as he disapproved the resolutions, they ought to be rescinded, or the minister should resign. The right honourable gentleman could not be expected to agree to surrender the keys of the fortress to the besiegers, and to march out with a halter about his neck. If he would move the previous question, with a view to have the resolu tions reconsidered, he would vote with him; if not, thinking, as he did, that those resolutions and the present administration ought not to exist together, he could not negative the present motion. Mr. Pitt did not adopt this course. The House, he said, had been led on insidiously from one resolution to another, without a fair discussion of any one on its own proper merits. The first had passed at the unusual hour of six in the morning, and with little or no debate. The second, in a manner, grew out of the first; and they were immediately followed by the third. The present motion was not likely to further the purpose of that which had been voted; but it would form an effectual bar to the desired union. Mr. Powys had talked about a fortress from which he was to walk out with a halter about his neck: the only fortress he ever desired to have a share in defending, was that of the constitution; and he would resist every attack and every attempt to seduce him out of it. Was he to cast off his armour and meanly beg to be readmitted, and considered as a volunteer in the army of the enemy? If that House insisted upon the dismissal of ministers, two constitutional means were open to them-impeachment for their crimes, if ministers had committed any; or an address to the Crown, where alone resided the power of removing ministers. СНАР. LVI. 1784. carried up to On a division, the motion was carried by a ma- Resolutions jority of nineteen*; and, on the following day, Mr. the King. Coke, observing with regret that the ministry had not 3rd. resigned, proposed that the two resolutions should be laid before his Majesty, by such members as were of the privy council; which, after an angry debate, was also carried, the majority being twenty-four†. censure. 4th. the House of Lords. Effingham. Motion of Lord At this period, the Lords began to shew their repugnance to the proceedings of the lower House. The Proceedings in Earl of Effingham spoke of them in terms of animated The prerogative of the Crown in the appointment of ministers, he said, was attacked, and a kind of new power set up. Should that House suffer such measures to pass without animadversion, it would betray an unpardonable indifference to the constitution, and perhaps endanger its existence. Having read the Act of 1781 for establishing an agreement with the East India Company, and a resolution of the House of Lords in 1704, that it is unconstitutional and contrary to law for any one branch of the legislature to assume to itself a right of making any resolutions which should impede or put a stop to the executive power of government; and the late resolutions of the lower House‡, restraining the Lords of the treasury from sanctioning the acceptance of bills drawn from India, and against the continuance in office of the present ministry; and described these proceedings as highly alarming, and an infringement of the constitution; he moved resolutions, declaring the incompetency of one branch of the legislature to assume the direction of a discretionary power vested by law in any body of men, or disputing the undoubted authority of the Crown in appointing to the great offices of executive government. Should these be adopted, he would move for a corresponding address to the throne. 223 to 201. † 211 to 187. 24th Dec. 1783, and 16th Jan. 1784. |
