very like a breach of faith, it could be urged in extenuation that Frederick's need was much lessened by the death of the Czarina and the accession of Peter III., a devoted friend and admirer of the Prussian King. Bute's policy was indeed so completely opposed to that of his predecessors, that there is reason to believe that he even used his influence to induce Russia to withdraw from its new alliance. This change of policy afforded Newcastle, who was conscious that he was sooner or later to be got rid of, an opportunity of leaving the ministry with dignity. On his resignation Bute at once named himself Prime Minister, and proceeded to carry out, in some points at least, his favourite principles. These were peace at almost any price, and the abandonment of continental connections, the increase and restoration of the power of the Crown, and Government without bribery. But these aspirations degenerated in practice into a war, which was successful owing to his predecessor's arrangements, a vindictive assault upon the Whig party, and the most shameless corruption ever practised in England. The expeditions which Pitt had planned were carried out. Martinique, held to be impregnable, and with it Granada, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent, were captured by a squadron under Rodney, and this was but a stepping-stone to the capture of the still greater prize-Havannah. The expedition against the Philippine Islands was equally successful. But Bute, in his eagerness for peace, did not even wait to hear the result of the expeditions, but at once reopened peace negotiations with France. Left to himself, he would have taken no account of the last great conquests. Councillors less anxious for peace succeeded in getting them exchanged for Florida. In November the peace was Terms of the peace. Νον. 3, 1762. signed. The conditions were much the same as those of the preceding year. America passed wholly to the English, the French keeping the rights of fishing round Newfoundland. England kept Tobago, Dominica, St. Vincent, and Granada, but restored Martinique and St. Lucia. Minorca and Belleisle were to be exchanged. The French evacuated their conquests in Germany, but on the other hand-and this was a concession Pitt had refused-Goree was restored to France, and the English army was withdrawn from Germany. In India the French were to have no military establishment, but their factories were restored. All claims on the part of Spain were entirely rejected. On the whole, the peace, though it did not destroy the House of Bourbon, as Pitt would have wished, probably gave England as much as she had a right to expect. The conclusion of the treaty was 1762] PEACE CONCLUDED 1041 Close of the War. rendered easier by Frederick's continued successes in Germany. Although the Czarina Catherine, who had succeeded Peter, had reverted to the old policy of Russia, and withdrawn her troops from Frederick's assistance, he had been able to Seven Years' retain his superiority throughout the campaign. Prince Ferdinand had gained fresh successes in Westphalia, and had taken Cassel from the French; while Prince Henry, the King's brother, had won a victory at Freiberg, which closed the Seven Years' War. Attack on the Whigs. Feb. 10, 1763. Bute, while thus obtaining peace, though in a way so irritating to our German friends that England stood henceforward absolutely without allies, had been carrying on his vindictive attack upon the Whigs. The opportunity selected for this purpose was the passage of the peace through Parliament. Grenville, a man of firmness, but without commanding abilities, and deficient in tact, had taken Pitt's place as Leader of the House of Commons. But he was not regarded as strong enough to make head against the opposition which was expected, for the Whigs of all sections, conscious of Bute's designs against them, were beginning to combine. Bute selected a man of greater powers to assist him. He bargained with Fox (whose conscience was not scrupulous when money was to be made) to assume the lead of the House. It was hoped that he might bring some Whigs with him. This he found himself unable to do, and with consummate audacity set to work to purchase a majority. The Paymaster's office became in fact a shop for the purchase of votes, £200 being the least price given. Against such a majority all efforts were of course useless, and the peace received the approbation of Parliament. After this victory vengeance began. The Duke of Devonshire, the head of the great Whig house of Cavendish, for declining to attend a Cabinet Council, was rudely deprived of the office of Chamberlain, and the King with his own hand scratched his name off the list of Privy Councillors. All place-men who had voted against the peace were dismissed. Newcastle and Rockingham were removed from their Lord Lieutenancies, and even the meanest officers of the administration-tax-gatherers and customhouse officers, who owed their places to Whig patronage, were removed. Bute appeared triumphant. Even the cider tax, a ridiculously unfair excise suggested by the ignorance of Dashwood, his Chancellor of Bute resigns. the Exchequer, was carried by a large majority in his April 8, 1763. venal House. Suddenly Bute resigned. It is difficult to explain why. Perhaps it was because he was conscious of the unpopularity he had incurred. His Peace of Paris was distasteful to the nation; he had driven from office Pitt, the favourite of the people; he was a Scotchman; the voice of scandal constantly coupled his name with that of the Princess Dowager of Wales, and the odious name of favourite was indissolubly attached to him. Whether well or ill founded, his unpopularity had reached such a pitch, that he was afraid to leave his house without a bodyguard of prize-fighters. Perhaps experience had taught him his unfitness to conduct the Government. Perhaps, and this was the general belief of the time, he preferred the irresponsible power of the favourite to the dangers and responsibility of the minister. He named Grenville for his successor, Grenville as his and as he had always used him as his creature, he probably still hoped to find him a pliant tool. In this he was disappointed; and though for a few years he doubtless had much private influence with the King, this part of his career has been much exaggerated, and he himself complained bitterly of the King's ingratitude. He names successor. The Triumvirate With Grenville the Secretaries of State, Lord Egremont and Lord Halifax, were regarded as holding the direction of public affairs. This ministry has therefore been sometimes called The Triumvirate. Bute found them by no means ready to accept his interference, and soon began to intrigue against them. Grenville more than once complained to the King of his want of confidence. The sudden death of Lord Egremont gave an opportunity for a change in the ministry, and Bute so far changed his former policy as to recommend the King to send for Pitt. A long interview with the King, in which Pitt stated the necessity of bringing back some of the Whig connection to power, left him with the impression that he was to be minister, and he wrote to the Whig chiefs accordingly. But two days after, on a second interview, he found matters changed. The King wished the Earl of Northumberland, Bute's intended son-in-law, to be Prime Minister, and desired several of the present ministry to be retained. This Pitt would not hear of, designating Temple, Devonshire, and others who had just fallen under the King's displeasure, as his colleagues. The negotiation was broken off. Probably on the day which intervened between the two interviews Bute had changed his mind. In carrying through the peace negotiations he had been assisted by that section of the Whigs which was under the influence of the Duke of Bedford. It is to this section that Fox belonged. The Duke, though of a retiring character, was now induced to accept office Bedford Joins the ministry. 1763] THE BEDFORD MINISTRY 1043 by a false rumour, that Pitt had expressly declared that he would not admit him to any Government of which he was the chief. A mixed ministry of the followers of Grenville and Bedford was formed, and is generally known by the name of the Bedford Ministry. The Secretaries of State were Halifax and Lord Sandwich, a man of mean character and licentious morals. The trial of 1763. The new ministry met Parliament on the 15th of November, and both Houses were at once occupied with questions with regard to Wilkes. The unpopularity of Bute had wilkes. found expression in numerous pamphlets. Among the Opposition writers was Wilkes, member for Aylesbury, who, in conjunction with an author of the name of Churchill, had established a paper, The North Briton, in which the favourite and his Government had been very roughly handled, and which won popularity by unreasoning general assaults upon the Scotch nation. He had so far exceeded the usual practice of pamphleteers of the time as to write the names of his opponents at full length, instead of employing initials. When the King had prorogued Parliament (April 23rd) on Bute's resignation, he had spoken of the peace as honourable to his crown and beneficial to the people. This produced an attack in the famous No. 45 of The North Briton. Grenville had at once proceeded against the author. A general warrant (that is, a warrant in which no individual names are mentioned) was issued against the authors, printers, and publishers of the paper, and under it Wilkes was apprehended, his house and papers being also ransacked. He at once became a political martyr. The chiefs of the Opposition, Temple and Grafton, visited him in his prison, and he proceeded to try the validity of his arrest. Chief Justice Pratt, before whom the case came, held that Wilkes was exempted from arrest by his privilege as a member; for a member of Parliament is free from arrest on all charges except those of treason, felony, and breach of the peace, and a libel, he said, could not be construed as a breach of the peace. But though the law had failed to punish him, he was pursued by the vengeance of the Government; he was deprived of his commission in the militia, and his supporter, Temple, was removed from the Lord Lieutenancy of Buckinghamshire. The result of the trial was received with public rejoicings in all corners of England. This dispute between Government and a scurrilous writer, of most licentious morals, would be scarcely worth mentioning, although it occupied nearly the whole session, were it not one of the proofs of the want of harmony existing between Parliament and those whom Parliament was held to represent. It was one of several incidents which showed that the venal House of Commons, consisting of nominees of the Court or great families, was rapidly ceasing to command the obedience of the people, and that the machinery of the Constitution was thereby becoming dislocated. The question at once came before both Houses. In the House of Lords it assumed a personal form. Lord Sandwich, a former friend of Wilkes, and his associate in his greatest debauchery, but now Secretary of State, did not think it unbecoming to produce an obscene parody on Pope's "Essay on Man," of which Wilkes was the author, and demand his punishment. The book had never been published; fourteen copies had been privately printed; it had come into Sandwich's possession when Wilkes's house was ransacked, and afterwards by tampering with Wilkes's printer. Sandwich complained of it as a breach of privilege, for it was addressed to him. "Awake, my Sandwich!" it began, instead of "Awake, my St. John!" of Pope's Essay, and ridiculous notes were added, attributed to Warburton, Bishop of Gloucester, who had annotated Pope's work. In the House of Commons Wilkes rose and complained of his imprisonment as a breach of privilege, but he met with little sympathy. By a large majority No. 45 was voted to be a seditious libel, and ordered to be burnt by the common hangman. A dangerous riot was the consequence, nor was the operation completed till a jackboot and petticoat, the popular emblems of the Princess of Wales and Lord Bute, were committed to the flames to share the fate of the obnoxious publication. Further proceedings against Wilkes were postponed by a duel in which he was engaged Wilkes is Lower House. with a Mr. Martin, who had grossly insulted him, and expelled by the in which he was wounded; but he was eventually expelled from his place in the House. On the two constitutional questions which were involved in this quarrel-the construction to be given to the privilege of members and the legality of general warrants the popular party was defeated, in spite of the powerful support of Pitt. In opposition to the Courts of Law, Parliament held that privilege could not cover a seditious libel; and Grenville and his majority contrived to shelve a resolution which was introduced declaring the illegality of general warrants. The whole question excited the intensest interest; the House is said to have once sat for seventeen hours. Wilkes, unable to withstand all the assaults upon him, had, in spite of his popularity, been obliged to withdraw to France. |