seemed to be at hand; and it could not be doubted that, if once the British nation were divided against itself, France and Spain would soon take part in the quarrel.

Three courses were open to the ministers. The first was to enforce the

and was brought into Parliament by | Manchester, Nottingham, it was said his patron's influence. These arrange- that three artisans out of every ten ments, indeed, were not made without had been turned adrift. Civil war some difficulty. The Duke of Newcastle, who was always meddling and chattering, adjured the first lord of the treasury to be on his guard against this adventurer, whose real name was O'Bourke, and whom his grace knew to be a wild Irishman, a Jacobite, a Papist, a concealed Jesuit. Lord Rock-Stamp Act by the sword. This was ingham treated the calumny as it de- the course on which the King, and served; and the Whig party was Grenville, whom the King hated beyond strengthened and adorned by the ac- all living men, were alike bent. The cession of Edmund Burke. natures of both were arbitrary and stubborn. They resembled each other so much that they could never be friends; but they resembled each other also so much that they saw almost all important practical questions in the same point of view. Neither of them would bear to be governed by the other; but they were perfectly agreed as to the best way of governing the people.

The party, indeed, stood in need of accessions; for it sustained about this time an almost irreparable loss. The Duke of Cumberland had formed the government, and was its main support. His exalted rank and great name in some degree balanced the fame of Pitt. As mediator between the Whigs and the Court, he held a place which no other person could fill. The strength of his character supplied that which was the chief defect of the new ministry. Conway, in particular, who, with excellent intentions and respectable talents, was the most dependent and irresolute of human beings, drew from the counsels of that masculine mind a determination not his own. Before the meeting of Parliament the Duke suddenly died. His death was generally regarded as the signal of great troubles, and on this account, as well as from respect for his personal qualities, was greatly lamented. It was remarked that the mourning in London was the most general ever known, and was both deeper and longer than the Gazette had prescribed.

Another course was that which Pitt recommended. He held that the British Parliament was not constitutionally competent to pass a law for taxing the colonies. He therefore considered the Stamp Act as a nullity, as a document of no more validity than Charles's writ of shipmoney, or James's proclamation dispensing with the penal laws. This doctrine seems to us, we must own, to be altogether untenable.

Between these extreme courses lay a third way. The opinion of the most judicious and temperate statesmen of those times was that the British constitution had set no limit whatever to the legislative power of the British King, Lords, and Commons, over the whole British Empire. Parliament, they held, In the mean time, every mail from was legally competent to tax America, America brought alarming tidings. as Parliament was legally competent The crop which Grenville had sown to commit any other act of folly or his successors had now to reap. The wickedness, to confiscate the property colonies were in a state bordering on of all the merchants in Lombard Street, rebellion. The stamps were burned. or to attaint any man in the kingdom The revenue officers were tarred and of high treason, without examining feathered. All traffic between the dis- witnesses against him, or hearing him contented provinces and the mother in his own defence. The most atrocountry was interrupted. The Ex- cious act of confiscation or of attainder change of London was in dismay. Half is just as valid an act as the Toleration the firms of Bristol and Liverpool were Act or the Habeas Corpus Act. But threatened with bankruptcy. In Leeds, from acts of confiscation and acts of

however, was not the worst. The ministry was without its natural strength. It had to struggle, not only against its avowed enemies, but against the insidious hostility of the King, and of a set of persons who, about this time, began to be designated as the King's friends.

attainder lawgivers are bound, by every | his brother, and separated himself from obligation of morality, systematically to Pitt, was no despicable enemy. This, refrain. In the same manner ought the British legislature to refrain from taxing the American colonies. The Stamp Act was indefensible, not because it was beyond the constitutional competence of Parliament, but because it was unjust and impolitic, sterile of revenue, and fertile of discontents. These sound doctrines were adopted by Lord Rockingham and his colleagues, and were, during a long course of years, inculcated by Burke, in orations, some of which will last as long as the English language.

The character of this faction has been drawn by Burke with even more than his usual force and vivacity. Those who know how strongly, through his whole life, his judgment was biassed by his passions, may not unnaturally suspect that he has left us rather a caricature than a likeness; and yet there is scarcely, in the whole portrait, a single touch of which the fidelity is not proved by facts of unquestionable authenticity.

The public generally regarded the King's friends as a body of which Bute was the directing soul. It was to no

The winter came; the Parliament met; and the state of the colonies instantly became the subject of fierce contention. Pitt, whose health had been somewhat restored by the waters of Bath, reappeared in the House of Commons, and, with ardent and pathetic eloquence, not only condemned the Stamp Act, but applauded the re-purpose that the Earl professed to have sistance of Massachusetts and Virginia, and vehemently maintained, in defiance, we must say, of all reason and of all authority, that, according to the British constitution, the supreme legislative power does not include the power to tax. The language of Grenville, on the other hand, was such as Strafford might have used at the council table of Charles the First, when news came of the resistance to the liturgy at Edinburgh. The colonists were traitors; those who excused them were little better. Frigates, mortars, bayonets, sabres, were the proper remedies for such distempers.

done with politics, that he absented himself year after year from the levee and the drawing-room, that he went to the north, that he went to Rome. The notion that, in some inexplicable manner, he dictated all the measures of the court, was fixed in the minds, not only of the multitude, but of some who had good opportunities of obtaining information, and who ought to have been superior to vulgar prejudices. Our own belief is that these suspicions were unfounded, and that he ceased to have any communication with the King on political matters some time before the dismissal of George Grenville. The The ministers occupied an interme- supposition of Bute's influence is, indiate position; they proposed to de- deed, by no means necessary to explain clare that the legislative authority of the phænomena. The King, in 1765, the British Parliament over the whole was no longer the ignorant and inexEmpire was in all cases supreme; and perienced boy who had, in 1760, been they proposed, at the same time, to managed by his mother and his Groom repeal the Stamp Act. To the former of the Stole. He had, during several measure Pitt objected; but it was car-years, observed the struggles of parties, ried with scarcely a dissentient voice. and conferred daily on high questions The repeal of the Stamp Act Pitt of state with able and experienced strongly supported; but against the politicians. His way of life had deGovernment was arrayed a formidable veloped his understanding and chaassemblage of opponents. Grenville racter. He was now no longer a puppet, and the Bedfords were furious. Temple, but had very decided opinions both of who had now allied himself closely with men and things. Nothing could be

more natural than that he should have obstruction compatible with the forms high notions of his own prerogatives, of Parliament. If his Majesty found it should be impatient of opposition, and necessary to admit into his closet a should wish all public men to be de- Secretary of State or a First Lord of tached from each other and dependent the Treasury whom he disliked, his on himself alone; nor could anything friends were sure to miss no opportube more natural than that, in the state nity of thwarting and humbling the in which the political world then was, obnoxious minister. In return for these he should find instruments fit for his services, the King covered them with purposes. his protection. It was to no purpose that his responsible servants complained to him that they were daily betrayed and impeded by men who were eating the bread of the government. He sometimes justified the offenders, sometimes excused them, sometimes owned that they were to blame, but said that he must take time to consider whether he could part with them. He never would turn them out; and, while every

changing, these sycophants seemed to have a life estate in their offices.

It was well known to the King's friends that, though his Majesty had consented to the repeal of the Stamp Act, he had consented with a very bad grace, and that though he had eagerly welcomed the Whigs, when, in his extreme need and at his earnest entreaty, they had undertaken to free him from an insupportable yoke, he had by no means got over his early prejudices against his deliverers. The ministers soon found that, while they were encountered in front by the whole force of a strong opposition, their rear was assailed by a large body of those whom they had regarded as auxiliaries.

Thus sprang into existence and into note a reptile species of politicians never before and never since known in our country. These men disclaimed all political ties, except those which bound them to the throne. They were willing to coalesce with any party, to abandon any party, to undermine any party, to assault any party, at a moment's notice. To them, all administrations, and all oppositions were the same. They re-thing else in the state was constantly garded Bute, Grenville, Rockingham, Pitt, without one sentiment either of predilection or of aversion. They were the King's friends. It is to be observed that this friendship implied no personal intimacy. These people had never lived with their master as Dodington at one time lived with his father, or as Sheridan afterwards lived with his son. They never hunted with him in the morning, or played cards with him in the evening, never shared his mutton or walked with him among his turnips. Only one or two of them ever saw his face, except on public days. The whole band, however, always had early and accurate information as to his personal inclinations. These people were never high in the administration. They were generally to be found in places of much emolument, little labour, and no responsibility; and these places they continued to occupy securely while the cabinet was six or seven times reconstructed. Their peculiar business was not to support the ministry against the opposition, but to support the King against the ministry. Whenever his Majesty was induced to give a reluctant assent to the introduction of some bill which his constitutional advisers regarded as necessary, his friends in the House of Commons were sure to speak against it, to vote against it, to throw in its way every

Nevertheless, Lord Rockingham and his adherents went on resolutely with the bill for repealing the Stamp Act. They had on their side all the manufacturing and commercial interests of the realm. In the debates the government was powerfully supported. Two great orators and statesmen, belonging to two different generations, repeatedly put forth all their powers in defence of the bill. The House of Commons heard Pitt for the last time, and Burke for the first time, and was in doubt to which of them the palm of eloquence should be assigned. It was indeed a splendid sunset and a splendid dawn.

For a time the event seemed doubt

ful. In several divisions the ministers | brother-in-law, the last of their many were hard pressed. On one occasion, sharp altercations. Pitt thundered in not less than twelve of the King's his loftiest tones against the man who friends, all men in office, voted against had wished to dip the ermine of a the government. It was to no purpose British King in the blood of the British that Lord Rockingham remonstrated people. Grenville replied with his with the King. His Majesty confessed wonted intrepidity and asperity. "If that there was ground for complaint, the tax," he said, "were still to be laid but hoped that gentle means would on, I would lay it on. For the evils bring the mutineers to a better mind. which it may produce my accuser is If they persisted in their misconduct, answerable. His profusion made it he would dismiss them.

At length the decisive day arrived. The gallery, the lobby, the Court of Requests, the staircases, were crowded with merchants from all the great ports of the island. The debate lasted till long after midnight. On the division the ministers had a great majority. The dread of civil war, and the outcry of all the trading towns of the kingdom, had been too strong for the combined strength of the court and the opposition. It was in the first dim twilight of a February morning that the doors were thrown open, and that the chiefs of the hostile parties showed themselves to the multitude. Conway was received with loud applause. But, when Pitt appeared, all eyes were fixed on him alone. All hats were in the air. Loud and long huzzas accompanied him to his chair, and a train of admirers escorted him all the way to his home. Then came forth Grenville. As soon as he was recognised, a storm of hisses and curses broke forth. He turned fiercely on the crowd, and caught one man by the throat. The bystanders were in great alarm. If a scuffle began, none could say how it might end. Fortunately the person who had been collared only said, "If I may not hiss, sir, I hope I may laugh,” and laughed in Grenville's face.

necessary. His declarations against the constitutional powers of Kings, Lords, and Commons, have made it doubly necessary. I do not envy him the huzza. I glory in the hiss. If it were to be done again, I would do it."

The repeal of the Stamp Act was the chief measure of Lord Rockingham's government. But that government is entitled to the praise of having put a stop to two oppressive practices, which, in Wilkes's case, had attracted the notice and excited the just indignation of the public. The House of Commons was induced by the ministers to pass a resolution condemning the use of general warrants, and another resolution condemning the seizure of papers in cases of libel.

It must be added, to the lasting honour of Lord Rockingham, that his administration was the first which, during a long course of years, had the courage and the virtue to refrain from bribing members of Parliament. His enemies accused him and his friends of weakness, of haughtiness, of party spirit; but calumny itself never dared to couple his name with corruption.

Unhappily his government, though one of the best that has ever existed in our country, was also one of the weakest. The King's friends assailed and obstructed the ministers at every The majority had been so decisive, turn. To appeal to the King was only that all the opponents of the ministry, to draw forth new promises and new save one, were disposed to let the bill evasions. His Majesty was sure that pass without any further contention. there must be some misunderstanding. But solicitation and expostulation were Lord Rockingham had better speak thrown away on Grenville. His indo-to the gentlemen. They should be mitable spirit rose up stronger and dismissed on the next fault. stronger under the load of public next fault was soon committed, and hatred. He fought out the battle obsti- his Majesty still continued to shuffle. nately to the end. On the last reading It was too bad. It was quite abominahe had a sharp altercation with his ble; but it mattered less as the proro

The

gation was at hand. He would give | They had proved their respect for him the delinquents one more chance. If by bestowing a peerage on the person they did not alter their conduct next session, he should not have one word to say for them. He had already resolved that, long before the commencement of the next session, Lord Rockingham should cease to be minister.

who, at that time, enjoyed the largest share of his confidence, Chief Justice Pratt. What then was there to divide Pitt from the Whigs? What, on the other hand, was there in common between him and the King's friends, that he should lend himself to their purposes, he who had never owed any thing to flattery or intrigue, he whose eloquence and independent spirit had

and jobbers, he who had twice been forced by the enthusiasm of an admiring nation on a reluctant Prince?

We have now come to a part of our story which, admiring as we do the genius and the many noble qualities of Pitt, we cannot relate without much pain. We believe that, at this conjunc-overawed two generations of slaves ture, he had it in his power to give the victory either to the Whigs or to the King's friends. If he had allied himself closely with Lord Rockingham, Unhappily the court had gained what could the court have done? There Pitt, not, it is true, by those ignoble would have been only one alternative, means which were employed when such the Whigs or Grenville; and there men as Rigby and Wedderburn were could be no doubt what the King's to be won, but by allurements suited choice would be. He still remembered, to a nature noble even in its aberraas well he might, with the uttermost bitterness, the thraldom from which his uncle had freed him, and said about this time, with great vehemence, that he would sooner see the Devil come into his closet than Grenville.

And what was there to prevent Pitt from allying himself with Lord Rockingham? On all the most important questions their views were the same. They had agreed in condemning the peace, the Stamp Act, the general warrant, the seizure of papers. The points on which they differed were few and unimportant. In integrity, in disinterestedness, in hatred of corruption, they resembled each other. Their personal interests could not clash. They sat in different Houses, and Pitt had always declared that nothing should induce him to be first lord of the treasury.

tions. The King set himself to seduce the one man who could turn the Whigs out without letting Grenville in. Praise, caresses, promises, were lavished on the idol of the nation. He, and he alone, could put an end to faction, could bid defiance to all the powerful connections in the land united, Whigs and Tories, Rockinghams, Bedfords, and Grenvilles. These blandishments produced a great effect. For though Pitt's spirit was high and manly, though his eloquence was often exerted with formidable effect against the court, and though his theory of government had been learned in the school of Locke and Sydney, he had always regarded the person of the sovereign with profound veneration. As soon as he was brought face to face with royalty, his imagination and sensibility If the opportunity of forming a coali- were too strong for his principles. His tion beneficial to the state, and honour- Whiggism thawed and disappeared; able to all concerned, was suffered to and he became, for the time, a Tory of escape, the fault was not with the Whig the old Ormond pattern. Nor was he ministers. They behaved towards Pitt by any means unwilling to assist in with an obsequiousness which, had it the work of dissolving all political not been the effect of sincere admira- connections. His own weight in the tion and of anxiety for the public in- state was wholly independent of such terests, might have been justly called connections. He was therefore inclined servile. They repeatedly gave him to to look on them with dislike, and made understand that, if he chose to join far too little distinction between gangs their ranks, they were ready to receive of knaves associated for the mere purhim, not as an associate, but as a leader.pose of robbing the public, and confe