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muft raife the highest veneration for his royal character not only among his own fubjects, but amongst all nations, when they fee a power which has fo little to fear from any human effort, fo very fearful of the leaft infringement of the ftriéteft and moft critical rules of justice. Mr. Pitt was fenfibly touched with the grandeur and condefcenfion of this proceeding. I confefs, Sir, I had but too much reafon to expect your majefty's difpleafure. I did not come prepared for this exceeding goodnefs. Pardon me, Sir, it overpowers, it oppreffes me.' He burst into tears.

We are far from an attempt to add any colouring to fo exquifitely affecting a picture. We are indeed far from being able to do juftice to perhaps one of the moft pathetic and elevated fcenes which could poffibly be displayed, the parting of fuch a prince, and fuch a minifter.

The next day a penfion of three thoufand pounds a year was fettled on Mr. Pitt for three lives, and at the fame time a title was conferred upon his lady and her iffue; a penfion the best beftowed, and a nobility the molt honourably acquired, and moft truly merited. Immedi

ately the Gazette gave notice to the public of all thefe tranfa&tions. The refignation made the firft article; the honours and rewards the next; and they were followed by a letter from our ambaffador in Spain, containing an account of the favourable and pacific language of that court, and of the ftrong a Furance they gave of a defire to accommodate all diferences in an amicable manner.

It must be owned that this maneuvre was very skilfully executed. For it at once gave the people to un

derftand the true motive to the refignation; the infuficiency of that motive, and the gracioufnefs of the king, notwithfianding the abrupt departure of his minifter. If after this the late minifter fhould chufe to enter into oppofition, he muft go into it loaded and oppreffed with the imputation of the blackett ingratitude; if on the other hand he fhould retire from bufinefs, or fhould concur in fupport of that adminiftration which he had left, becaufe he difapproved its measures, his acquiefcer ce would be attributed by the multitude to a bargain for his forfaking the public, and that the title and his penfion were the confideration?.

Thefe were the barriers that were oppofed against that torrent of popular rage, which it was apprehended would proceed from this refignation. And the truth is, they anfwered their end perfectly; this torrent for feme time was beaten back, almoft diverted into an oppofite courfe; and when afterwards it returned to thefe ob eis, against which it was originally directed, and where it was moft dreaded, it was no longer that impetuous and irresistible tide, which in the year 1757 had born down every thing before it; it was weakened, divided, and ineffective.

On this occafion the clamorous and inferior members of each party went lengths, which undoubtedly were neither authorifed nor approved by their leaders. The friends of Mr. Pitt raded the most violent cl mours for displacing a minifter, whofe meafines had raised the nation from the moft abject fare, to the highest pinacle of glory. They faid, that he was in

fati difplaced, when he was com

"pelled

"pelled to refign, by not being "fuffered to carry into execution "thofe measures which he knew to "be neceffary to the honour and "fafety of his country. That the "check which this minifter had "received, would moft unfeafon"ably revive the drooping hopes of "France, funk by the vigour of "our military operations, and the "firmness of our councils ander his "adminiftration, and would fhew "Spain with what impunity fhe "might infult the honour of the Bri"tifh crown, and violate the proper"ty of its fubjects. They reckoned up the difgraces which the nation "had fuffered before Mr. Pitt had "entered into the management of "affairs, and the victories and con"quefts which were the fruit of his "councils."

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In confequence of these reafonings, addreffes, refolutions and inftructions were fet on foot in the great corporations; and it was believed, that the example would be followed, as on a former occafion of the fame kind, by all the other cities and boroughs of the kingdom. But the progrefs of this meafare, though commenced with much alacrity, was flow and languid; a few only of the corporations entered into it, and fome even of thofe few in a manner lefs warm than was expected. A firenuous defence was made on the part of the re maining miniftry.

"Was it ever heard, faid they, "that a fovereign has been cen“fured for liftoning to the whole "body of his council, in preference "to the particular opinions of a ❝fingle man? On the contrary, this "uncontrouled fway of a fingle "minifter has been often thought "dangerous, and was always odious "in our free conftitution; and is

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"the more juftly to be disliked, as "perhaps inconfiftent with the true "fpirit, either of abfolute monar

chy, or of limited government. "Let the merit of this minifter be "what it will, fhall his master "therefore be forced to receive him "upon any terms? Muft his prince "to gratify his ambitious views, "or, if you please, his virtuous "intentions, difmifs his whole "council, and annihilate his pre"rogative as a king, his reafon "and judgment as a man? Was "it ever heard before, that a coun"fellor has profeffed without any "referve or any mafk, that becaufe "he could not guide in a govern

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ment, he would not co-operate? "This has unquestionably been the "true motive for the conduct of

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many minifters, but never was "the avowed motive until this oc"cafion. Mr. Pitt has had the "freeft fcope for the exertion of "his genius; he was, perhaps, the "only English minifter that never "met with the flighteft oppofition; "he has had the treasures and the "forces of the nation at his most "abfolute command: let him, in "his turn, do that juftice that has "been done to hiin; let him, if "the favours of the crown confti"tute no obligation, be bound at "leaft by the rules of equity; and "if he will not partake in the con"duct of the prefent moft intricate "and difficult bufinefs of admini"ftration, let him not render it still "more intricate and more difficult

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weight. A torrent, however, of low and illiberal abufe was alfo poured out on this occafion. His whole life, public and private, was fcrutinized with the utmost malignity, to furnish matter of calumny against him. The fucceffes of his adminiftration were depreciated; his faults were monftruously exaggerated; and the reward and honours fo juftly conferred on him by his fovereign, were by every trick of wit, ridicule, and buffoonery, converted into matter of degradation and difgrace.

Without prefuming to take any part in a controverfy, which (however unequally) divided the royal council, or without entering into the fentiments of any faction, which we have always fhunned, we may affirm with truth and impartiality, that no man was ever better fitted than Mr. Pitt, to be the minifter in a great and powerful nation, or better qualified to carry that power and greatness to their utmoft limits. There was in all his defigns a magnitude, and even a vaftnefs, which was not easily comprehended by every mind, and which nothing but fuccefs could have made to appear reasonable. If he was fometimes incorrect, he was never vulgar.

His power, as it was not acquired, fo neither was it exercifed in an ordinary manner. With very little parliamentary, and with lefs court influence, he fwayed both at court and in parliament with an authority unknown before to the beft fupported minifters. He was called to the minify by the voice of the people; and what is more rare, he held it with that approbation; and under him for the first time, adminiftration and popularity were feen united. Under Lim Great Britain

carried on the most important war, in which the ever was engaged, alone, and unaflifted, with greater fplendour, and with more fuccefs than he had ever enjoyed at the head of the most powerful alliances. Alone this ifland feemed to balance the reft of Europe.

In the conduct of the war he never fuffered the enemy to breathe, but overwhelmed them with reiterated blows, and kept up the alarm in every quarter. If one of his expeditions was not fo well calculated or fo fuccefsfully executed, amends was made by another, and by a third. The fpirit of the nation once roufed, was not fuffered for a moment to fubfide; and the French, dazzled, as it were, by the multitude and celerity of his enterprizes, feemed to have loft all power of refiftance. In fhort, he revived the military genius of our people; he fupported our allies; he extended our trade; he raised our reputation; he augmented our dominions; and on his departure from adminiftration, left the nation in no other danger than that which ever muft attend exorbitant power, and the temptation which may be, to the invidious exertion of it. Happy it had been for him, for his fovereign, and his country, if a temper lets auftere, and a difpofition more practicable, more compliant, and conciliating, had been joined to his other great virtues. The want of thefe qualities difabled him from acting any otherwise than alone: it prevented our enfoving the joint fruit of the wildom of many able men, who might mutually have tempered, and mutually forwarded each other; and fally, which was not the meaneft lots, it deprived us of his own inncdiate fervices.

Thofe

Those who cenfured his political conduct the moft feverely, could raife but few exceptions to it; none of them fingly, and perhaps, the whole united, of no great weight against a perfon long engaged in fo great a fcene of action. Whether the part, which under his administration we rather continued to act than newly took, with regard to the affairs of Germany, be for the real intereft of Great Britain, is a queftion of the utmost difficulty, and which perhaps will never admit a fatisfactory folution. To condemn him on this head, we muft be fure of this folution. It has been obferved in favour of that contefted measure, that France demonftrated, through the whole progrefs of the late treaty, the moft earneft defire, that we fhould abandon that German connection; no trifling argument, that our enemy did not look upon it to be extremely prejudicial to our interefts. If he has carried on that war at a vaft expence, a prodigious ftand has been made againft the entire power of France; had lefs been expended, the whole expence might have been loft. How far this part of his conduct was agreeable to his former declarations, is a difcuffion which can avail but little. He found the nation engaged in thefe affairs; it was more eafy to push them forward, than to extricate himfelf from them; as he proceeded, he difcovered by experience the advantages of that plan of action, and his opinion was changed.

But even admitting, that, to at

tain the ends of oppofition, he had once fallen upon popular topics, which even then he knew were not tenable, it can form but a very fmall blemish in a public character, however wrong it may be by application to the ftrict rules of morality. III would it fare with statesmen, if this fort of confiftency were to be expected from the moft confiftent of them.

With regard to the penfion and title, it is a fhame that any defence fhould be neceffary. What eye cannot diftinguifh,at the first glance, the difference between this and the exceptionable cafe of titles and penfions? What Briton, with the fmalleft fenfe of honour and gratitude, but muft blufh for his country, if fuch a man retired unrewarded from the public fervice, let the motives to that retirement be what they would? It was not poffible that his fovereign could let his eminent fervices pafs unrequited; the fum that was given was undoubtedly inadequate to his merits; and the quantum was rather regulated by the moderation of the great mind that received it, than by the liberality of that which beftowed it.

The conduct of Mr. Pitt when the parliament met, in which he made his own juftification, without impeaching the conduct of any of his collegues, or taking one meafure that might feem to arise from digutt or oppofition, has fet a feal upon his character.

Lord Egremont was appointed to fucceed him as fecretary for the fouthern department.

CHAP.

CHA P. IX.

Dispute with Spain. Representation of the Earl of Bristol. Dispo sition of the Court of Madrid. Treaty between France and Spain. England desires a communication. Court of Spain refuses. The ministers mutally withdraw. A rupture.

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ceived on her part any intention to difavow or even to explain away this offenfive tranfaction, he was readily to accept it, and to afford to that court as handsome a retreat as poffible. The letter which conveyed thefe inftructions was written by Mr. Pitt, and dated on the 28th of July, a few days after the fatal memorial had been delivered by Mr. Buffy.

The earl of Bristol punctually obeyed thofe orders. He found general Wall, the Spanish minifter, much in cold blood, and in very equivocal difpofitions. He heard with great patience the proper and energetic reprefentation that had been very ably made by the earl of Briftol. He applauded the king of Great Britain's magnanimity in not fuffering France as a tribunal, to be appealed to in his difputes with Spain; and declared, that in the propofition which had been made with the confent of his court, things were not confidered in that light; asked whether it could be imagined in England that the Catholic king was feeking to provoke us in our prefent moft flourishing and moft ex

The anfwer which had been received from the Spanish minifter in London was far from being fatisfactory to our court. Orders were immediately given to the earl, of Briftol, our ambaffador in Spain, to remonftrate with energy and firmness on fo extraordinary a proceeding; to adhere to the negative put upon the Spanish pretenfions to fish at Newfoundland; to reft the article of difputed captures on the juftice of our tribunals; to continue the former profeffions of our defire of an amicable adjustment of the logwood difpute; and of our willingnefs to caufe the fettlements on the coaft of Honduras to be evacuated, as foon as ever his Catholic majefty fhould fuggeft a method for our enjoyment of that traffic to which we had a right by treaty, and which was further confirmed to us by re-alted fituation, and after such a series peated promifes from that court.

At the fame time that the earl of Briftol was authorized to proceed with that fpirit, which the offended dignity of our court required, and to bring Spain to a categorical and fatisfactory declaration, concerning her final intentions; yet if he perVOL. IV.

of profperous events as no fingle nation had ever met with? He valued, and reciprocally returned, our frequent profeffions of friendthip, and our defire of amicable adjustment. But thefe favourable demonftrations were accompanied with fome cir cumfiances, that had a very menac[E]

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