"the first to give him every support in my power; but "I must go one step farther, that if Lord Chatham, after "having fully and fairly attempted it, should fail in his "expectations, notwithstanding all the support that I can give him, I, for my part, in order to put an end to "this war, and procure peace, will be contented with getting less, if it is out of everybody's power to get 66 66 66 more. Throughout the country, indeed, there now began to prevail a great and growing desire that Lord Chatham might be restored to the head of affairs to avert a war with the House of Bourbon, or to make that war triumphant as the last- and to preserve, if it yet could be preserved, the unity of the empire. Nor was that desire confined to those who had ever followed and revered him; it was no less shared by many once forward as his opponents and gainsayers. Lord Mansfield, for example, declared to Lord Holderness, even with tears, it is said, in his eyes, that the vessel was sinking, and that Lord Chatham must be sent for. Lord Bute, from his retirement, expressed a similar opinion to Sir James Wright, one of his private friends. Sir James Wright, who appears to have been an officious busy-body, repeated Lord Bute's saying, with great emphasis, to Dr. Addington, Lord Chatham's physician and friend; and Dr. Addington, understanding it as a kind of overture or scheme of coalition, conveyed it as such to Hayes. Lord Chatham dictated a few words of reply, with civil thanks for Lord Bute's good opinion, but adding that nothing but a real changenew counsels and new counsellors could prevent the consummation of the public ruin. When this answer was shown to Lord Bute, he observed that, from the expression, “real 66 change," Lord Chatham seemed to imagine that Lord Bute had still some influence in the administration. He therefore wished Lord Chatham to be informed that ill health and family distresses had accustomed him to a perfectly retired life, to which he hoped to adhere as long as he lived; that his long absence from all sorts of * Lord Mahon to the Earl of Chatham, February 11. 1778, as published in the Chatham Papers. public business, and the many years which had intervened since he saw the King, prevented his knowing more of public affairs than he gathered from general conversation or the newspapers; that this total ignorance, notwithstanding his zeal for the country, love for the King, and very high opinion of Lord Chatham, put it out of his power to be of the least use in this dangerous emergency but that from his heart he wished Lord Chatham every imaginable success in the restoration of the public welfare. This transaction, which here I have much abridged, is only so far of importance that it gave rise, after Lord Chatham's death, to a keen controversy whether he or Lord Bute had sought the alliance of the other. In that war of pamphlets took part the sons of both the chiefs, Lord Mountstuart and William Pitt. Yet it seems quite clear that neither of the veteran statesmen had been in any degree to blame; and that the fault lay only in the over-zeal of the go-betweens, Sir James Wright and Dr. Addington, who could not afterwards agree in their accounts of their own gossiping interviews, and who at the time, beyond all doubt, misconstrued Lord Bute's private wishes into political overtures.* Strange though it may be deemed, the fact is certain, that no man at this period could feel a stronger wish to see the Prime Minister displaced, and Lord Chatham called on to succeed him, than did Lord North himself. Even before the close of January he had informed the King, in his secret correspondence, how much his own judgment and feelings pointed to a resignation. In an upright spirit, however, he had resolved first to bring forward and to carry through the conciliatory proposals which he had announced, both to vindicate his own intentions and to clear the path for his successor. Accordingly, on the 17th of February, Lord North rose in the House of Commons to unfold his scheme. His speech, which occupied two hours, was, even by his adversaries, praised as eloquent and able. In the first * For an accurate summary and just judgment of this transaction, the reader may consult a critic, by no means friendly to Lord Chatham, in the Quarterly Review, No. cxxxi. p. 266. He had never, he place he reviewed his past career. said, proposed any tax on the Americans; he had found them already taxed when, unfortunately, he must still use that word, however it might be turned against him, — he had come into administration. His principle of policy had been to have as little discussion on that subject as possible, and to keep the affairs of America out of Parliament; thus he had neither proposed to repeal the tea-tax, nor yet by any especial means to enforce it. As to the Act enabling the East India Company to send teas to America on their own account, and with the drawback of the whole duty here, that was a regulation of which he had thought it not possible that the Americans could complain, since it was a relief instead of an oppression. His idea never had been to draw any considerable revenue either that way or any other from the Americans; his idea was that they should contribute in a very low proportion to the defence of our common empire. From the beginning he had been uniformly disposed to peace. The coercive Acts which he had framed were such as were called forth by the distemper of the time; and the results which they produced were such as he never designed, nor could in reason have expected. But as soon as he found that they had not the effect which he intended, he had come down to that House with a conciliatory proposition before the sword was drawn. That proposition was clear and simple in itself, but by a variety of discussions in and out of Parliament it was made to appear so obscure that it went out to America already condemned. Then ensued the war, the events of which had not answered his just hopes. The great and well-appointed force sent out, and amply provided for by Government, had hitherto produced by no means a proportionate effect. Considering all things, the events had been very contrary to his expectations. But to these events, and not to those expectations, he must make his plan conform. Still he would by no means have it thought that his present concessions were prompted by necessity. We were in a condition to carry on the war much longer. During the recess the country had most freely, of its own accord, raised more men. It might raise many more should its terms of peace be now rejected. The navy was never in greater strength; the revenue was very little sunk, and the supplies for the current year would be raised with perfect ease. But he rather indulged the hope that the large concessions which he was now prepared to make would render needless the loyal exertions of the people, and avert any fresh appeal to arms. The Minister then proceeded to state that there were two Bills which he had ready, and asked leave to bring in. The first was entitled "For removing all Doubts and "Apprehensions concerning Taxation by the Parliament "of Great Britain in any of the Colonies." It repealed, expressly and by name, the tea-duty in America; and as to the future it declared, "That from and after the passing "of this Act, the King and Parliament of Great Britain "will not impose any duty, tax, or assessment whatever "in any of His Majesty's (American) Colonies, except only such duties as it may be expedient to impose for "the regulation of commerce, the net produce of such "duties to be always paid and applied to and for the use of the Colony in which the same shall be levied." Thus was the claim of Parliamentary taxation fully, at last, renounced. The second Bill was to enable His Majesty to appoint Commissioners with sufficient powers to treat with the insurgent Colonies. These Commissioners were to be five in number, and their powers most extensive. They were to raise no difficulties as to the rank or legal title of the leaders on the other side, but were left at liberty to treat, consult, and agree with any body or bodies politic, or any person or persons whatsoever. They might proclaim a cessation of hostilities on the part of the King's forces by sea or land, for any time, and under any conditions or restrictions. They might grant pardons and appoint Governors. They might suspend the operation any Act of Parliament relating to America, passed since the 10th of February, 1763. The Americans, said Lord North, had desired a repeal of all the Acts after that date; but this could be taken only as a loose and general expression, since some of the Acts passed, as in 1769, were for the granting of bounties or the relaxation of imposts, and of such Acts the Americans could not be supposed to desire the repeal. Some choice and selection would, of therefore, be required. As to those other Acts, such as the Massachusetts Charter Act, which had produced or inflamed the quarrel, Lord North explicitly stated his opinion that they ought to cease. Instead, however, of repealing them here without further delay, he deemed it best to refer the whole matter to the Commissioners upon the spot, since the Americans would consider Acts already repealed as merely the basis of a treaty, and might be tempted to raise some new demands upon it. The Commissioners, said Lord North, should be instructed to negotiate for some reasonable and moderate contribution towards the common defence of the empire when reunited; still this contribution was not to be insisted on as a SINE QUA NON; only if the Americans should refuse it, they were not to complain if hereafter they did not receive support from that part of the empire any proportion of whose charges they had declined to bear. Upon the whole it was, not obscurely, intimated that the Commissioners might accept almost any terms of reconciliation, short of independence, and subject to confirmation by a vote of Parliament. The impression on the House that night, while Lord North was speaking, and after he sat down, is well described by the pen of a contemporary no other, in all probability, than Burke: "A. dull melancholy silence for 66 some time succeeded to this speech. It had been heard 66 66 "with profound attention, but without a single mark of approbation to any part, from any description of men, or any particular man in the House. Astonishment, dejection, and fear overclouded the whole assembly. "Although the Minister had declared that the senti"ments he expressed that day had been those which he "always entertained, it is certain that few or none had "understood him in that manner; and he had been repre"sented to the nation at large as the person in it the "most tenacious of those Parliamentary rights which "he now proposed to resign, and the most remote from "the submissions which he now proposed to make.” * It may be said, indeed, that there was not a single * Annual Register, 1778, p. 133. See also Gibbon's Letter to Holroyd, of February 23. 1778. |