was made by Lord Weymouth and the Chancellor to the Duke of Grafton, Lord Shelburne, and Lord Camden. They answered in writing on the 3rd of February, that it was impossible for them to come into office unless the Marquis of Rockingham and the Duke of Richmond were first consulted. Upon this they heard nothing further from the Ministers. The Duke of Grafton adds in his Memoirs: "This circumstance cemented the Opposition into a more "solid body, and furnished the means, that Lord Camden "and I improved, by persuading Lord Shelburne not to con"test with Lord Rockingham the Treasury, in case a new "administration was to be formed. Lord Shelburne yielded "the point with a better grace than I had expected.” In another respect, however, the Government did gain strength by the great ascendency which their new Chancellor, Lord Thurlow, had almost from the first acquired in the House of Peers. Few of their Lordships at that time could cope with that most vigorous intellect, or confront that awful frown. An ill-judged attempt by the Duke of Richmond to subvert his influence served, on the contrary, to establish and confirm it. The Duke took occasion to taunt him with the lowness of his birth, upon which Lord Thurlow, with admirable good sense and spirit, burst forth as follows:- "I am amazed at the attack the Noble Duke "has made on me. Yes, my Lords," here he raised his voice to its loudest tones, "I am amazed at his Grace's speech. "The Noble Duke cannot look before him, behind him, or "on either side of him, without seeing some Noble Peer who "owes his seat in this House to successful exertions in the "profession to which I belong. Does he not feel that it is as "honourable to owe it to these as to being the accident of an "accident? To all these Noble Lords the language of the "Noble Duke is as applicable and as insulting as it is to my"self. But I do not fear to meet it single and alone. No one "venerates the Peerage more than I do; but, my Lords, "I must say that the Peerage solicited me, not I the Peerage. 'Nay, more I can say, and will say, that, as a Peer of "Parliament, as Speaker of this Right Honourable House, 66 as Keeper of the Great Seal, - as Guardian of His Ma"jesty's conscience, as Lord High Chancellor of Eng"land, nay, even in that character alone in which the "Noble Duke would think it an affront to be considered, as "a MAN, I am at this moment as respectable, I beg "leave to add, I am at this moment as much respected, as "the proudest Peer I now look down upon!" All this time the Chancellor fixed full upon the Duke the look of Jove when he grasped the thunder. Mr. Charles Butler, who was an ear and eye witness to this speech, declares, that its effect was prodigious; investing, as it did, Lord Thurlow with a character of manly independence, it made him for a long time to come paramount among the Peers, and to the last a favourite with the people.* Before the close of the Session another Foreign Power had joined the league against us. This was Spain. For many months the most active preparations had been making in her ports and arsenals. For many months King George had foreseen, that in all probability a declaration of war would follow in the spring.** Still, however, the Spanish ambassador, at St. James's, the Marquis d'Almodovar, continued friendly in his language. He declared, that the most earnest wish of his Royal master was not only to remain at peace himself, but to promote peace among others. With this view he offered his mediation to both his good brothers of France and of England, now unhappily estranged. The answer of the British Government was clear and simple. Let France withdraw all assistance from America, and the King would be ready to re-establish amity. On the other hand, the French insisted that Great Britain should acknowledge the independence of their new American allies. To * Writing from recollection, or by a slip of the pen, Mr. Butler appears to have confounded the Dukes of Grafton and of Richmond, both equally sprung from Charles the Second, or, in Thurlow's phrase, "the accident "of an accident." Compare the Reminiscences, vol. i. p. 180., with the Parl. Hist., vol. xx. p. 582., the date of the speech being June 14. 1779. ** Letter to Lord North, October 13. 1778. reconcile such jarring pretensions seemed no easy task. As an accommodating expedient, the King of Spain proposed a truce of twenty-five or thirty years, or for an indefinite term, during which a peace might be negotiated. This proposal, as plainly disadvantageous to us, we declined. An exchange of notes upon the subject was kept up through the winter, but led to no result. By that time the naval and military preparations of the Spaniards were completed. Then the Marquis d'Almodovar, to his own surprise, received some new instructions, in pursuance of which he quitted London without taking leave; first however, on the 16th of June delivering to Lord Weymouth a state-paper, amounting to a declaration of War. The King directed that copies of this Declaration should be laid before both Houses, stating, at the same time, in his Royal Message, that he firmly relied on the zeal and public spirit of his Parliament. It was felt, however, by the principal politicians beyond the Channel, that there was something glaringly and manifestly false, nay, even almost ludicrous, in the pretended zeal of two despotic Monarchies for the new-born liberty of the American Republic. Other motives to justify their conduct against England must be found or framed. Accordingly, there was published at Madrid another and longer Manifesto, containing an elaborate statement of the grievances of Spain during the last few years, as violations of her territory in the Bay of Honduras, and various insults or interruptions to her trade. At Paris a similar Manifesto of wrongs on the part of France was put forth at nearly the same time. The last of these documents drew from the British Ministry an answer, not, indeed, official, but showing, with cogent reasons and in eloquent language, the ill-faith upon the other side; for this "Justifying Memorial," as it was termed, the pen of Gibbon was employed. - With this league of Foreign Powers against us, with projects of invasion loudly vaunted and near impending, it became needful to provide most vigorous measures for - defence. It cannot be said that the Ministers, obstructed as they were by political opponents, showed themselves wanting in their duty at this crisis. They proposed and passed (though not without some curtailment in the Lords*) an Act for augmenting the Militia. They had in readiness another and still more stringent measure, to suspend for six months all exemptions from impressment into the Royal Navy; or, in fact, to give the Government during that period the power, at their discretion, to man the fleet even from classes heretofore held free, as apprentices or fishermen.** This extraordinary measure, called for by the exigencies of the times, was brought forward in a no less extraordinary manner. On the night of the 23rd of June, at twenty minutes past twelve o'clock, and as the House of Commons was on the point of adjourning, Wedderburn, now Attorney-General, rose in his place, and, without any previous notice, moved for leave to bring in this Bill, with a retrospective effect from the 17th. While explaining its provisions he did not attempt to disguise its arbitrary character. He defended it on the ground of necessity, urging that, when the invasion of our shores was threatened by perfidious foes, it behoved us to remove all legal impediments in the way of calling every man to the aid of the State, to hold out encouragement to the willing, and to compel the reluctant to join in the defence. He stated, that there were at Portsmouth six or eight ships of the line ready for sea, but lying useless for want of sailors; and that they could not be manned if the power of impressment continued to be clogged with common-law and statutable restrictions. "Will you, then," he asked, "continue these impediments? "Will you submit to an inferiority at sea, allow your * On this occasion of the Peers' amendments, Lord North said in the Commons: "He wished most heartily the whole Bill had been suffered to "stand; as it had not, he must take the remnant and pick up even the "crumbs which fell from their Lordships' table." For this phrase he was keenly upbraided by Sir George Yonge, who called it an "abject humilia"tion." Parl. Hist., vol. xx. p. 1016. **Act 19 Geo. III. c. 73. The whole Act is only of three clauses. (1853.) "men-of-war to rot in your harbours, and trust the "existence of this country to the fate of a battle on shore? 'So confident does the Government feel in the co-operation "of Parliament on this occasion, that I do not scruple to "tell you, that the unrestricted impressment which this Bill "is to authorise has already begun, that I make this mo"tion at this late hour without notice for the purpose of "rendering the measure effectual, and preventing any from "evading it; and that I hope, by the suspension of "Standing Orders, it may to-morrow be carried through all "its stages." Sir George Savile, and the other Members of the Opposition who happened to be present, though taken by surprise, raised every difficulty, and offered every obstruction in their power. "It is reducing this House," cried Sir George, "to act as so many midnight conspirators, . . . "coming like hired ruffians with poniards under their cloaks! "Methinks I hear the heart-felt shrieks of the miserable "wife, or of the aged and helpless parent, entreating the "midnight ruffians not to drag from them a tender husband, 'or a dutiful and beloved son!" Nevertheless, at one o'clock that night the Bill was brought in, and read a first änd second time. On the morrow it was sent to the Lords, where, however, it gave rise to keen debates, and it did not receive the Royal Assent until the last day of the Session. * 66 The Parliament was prorogued on the 3rd of July, but there was not the smallest slackening of the warlike preparations. On the 9th was issued a Royal Proclamation charging all officers, civil or military, in the event of an invasion, to cause all horses, cattle, and provisions, to be driven from the coasts. A boom was drawn across the entrance of Plymouth Harbour. A sufficient force lined the batteries of Portsmouth. It was alleged by the party out of * Lord Campbell's Lives of the Chancellors, vol. vi. p. 127. (though in error as to the dates), and Parl. Hist., vol. xx. p 962. In the debate upon this Bill in the Peers, Lord Sandwich stated: "The number of our seamen "at present is 81,000, which, considering that we lost 18,000 of the seamen "employed last war, by not having America, is surely a very considerable "number." |