The Press.
London, England, 1855-05-05 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

in their political course by the narrowness of
their means, though always receiving, as their
father had done, the kindest consideration
from George 111. When Lord Grenville retired
with Pitt, on the King's refusal to concede
Roman Catholic Emancipation, Lord Grenville
solicited a pension for his wife in the event of
her surviving him, and this, he says,
The King granted in the handsomest manner, and, with
an expression of peculiar kindness, told me that he consi-
dered my asking it at this time as a personal obligation con-
ferred upon himself.

There is an entry to something the same
effect, if we recollect rightly, in the diary of
Lord Grenviile's father, bearing date some
forty years previously.
A glance at the contents of these volumes
will show their richness in historical materials
of the best kind, bearing on most important
I olitictil events. First in order is the ques-
tion of Irish union, when Lord Grenville was
in office with Pitt, successfully carried through
by the masterly mind of Lord Castlereagh.
Then came the question of Roman Catholic
Emancipation, which the statesmen who
carried the Union believed they were bound
to concede. The King was alarmed at the first
mention of the measure. " What is this," he
exclaimed, alluding to Castlereagh, " that this
" young lord has brought over from Ireland,
" and is going to throw at my head ?" Lord
Grenville, writing to his brother, the Marquis

(Feb. 2, 1801), said
You know, I believe, that it was always my opinion—and
I think it is yours--that the union with Ireland would be
a measure extremely incomplete and defective as to some
of the most material benefits to be expected from it, unless
immediate advantage were taxen of it to attach the great
body of the Irish Catholics to the measure itself, and to the
Government as administered under the control of the
United Parliament.

Mr. Pitt and himself had framed a compre-
hensive plan for the settlement of the whole
subject; but the King set his face against
concession, and Pitt's Cabinet was broken up,
though at this period the foreign relations of
England were most critical, for at the close of
1800 she had not an ally on whose assistance
she could depend, though her attitude was
brave and high and her fleets victorious. In
resigning, Lord Grenville seemed to anticipate
that the successors to the Ministers going
out would not be actuated by their spirit, for
he said pointedly—
While they continue to act in a firm, resolute, and
manly manner they shall have our steady support.
Probably Mr. Pitt was influenced by other
motives in his determination to retire than
his wish to carry emancipation. At the close
of 1801 Bonaparte, on being installed First
Consul, had expressed his wish to make a
durable peace. He addressed a pacific letter
to George 111., and he published abroad his
moderation and his conciliatory desires. In
disclosing these overtures to his brother, Lord
Grenville wrote :
My dearest brother,—l send yon for your New-year's
gift a curiosity. I need not tell you that we shall say,
no—l am occupied in studying how to say it in the manner
the least shocking to the numerous tribe of those who
hate the French and the Jacobins, but would to-morrow
sign a peace that should put us at the mercy of both. God
blase you.
To this tone Lord Grenville firmly adhered,
but the country sighed for an honourable
peace, and was disposed to confide in Bona-
parte's sincerity. His power was indis-
putable; he was unstained by the 'frightful
excesses of the revolution ; his military genius
had extorted admiration, and he had given
proofs of his capacity for civil government.
When he proffered peace with apparent frank-
ness there seemed no longer necessity for war;
and as the change of Ministry was speedily
followed by a change in our foreign policy, it
seems likely that Pitt foresaw the expediency
of an altered course, and withdrew toifacilitate
its adoption.
Yet the vigorous measures of the Government
which withdrew took effect under their suc-
cessors. For good or for ill, for strength or
weakness, the machine of government con-
tinues to obey the direction it has received for
some time after the impulse communicated to
it has ceased. The expedition to the Baltic
under Nelson was prepared by Pitt's Cabinet,
and at the commencement of April—we are
now in May, and our Baltic fleet has scarcely
assembled—that battle was fought and won
which dissolved the threatening confederacy

42'

of the Northern powers, and placed England
in a prouder position than she had ever
occupied before. After all the details published
of this brave and brilliant action, the graphic
letters of Captain Freemantle printed here
may be read with pleasure. Almost at the
same date was achieved the glorious victory of
Abercrombie at Alexandria, and the Govern-
ment of Mr. Addington thus reaped the fruits
of the bold and sagacious preparations of their
predecessors. These victories seem to have
had the effect of hastening our negotiations for
peace, as the preliminaries for a treaty were
signed on the Ist of October, ISO 2. Lord
Grenville before had given a remarkable proof
of his prescience. Writing to his brother,
he said :

I certainly agree with you in thinking that Bonaparte
has not the most remote idea of peace, but looks to the
continuance of the war as his only salvation. Indeed,
unless he can find a pretence to plunder Portugal, and
perhaps Spain too, the machine of his Government cannot
go on, uow that requisitions in Germany and Italy are
at end.

Thoroughly convinced that no satisfactory
peace could be concluded, Lord Grenville
wrote to Mr. Addington with great frankness,
stating the course he should find it necessary
to adopt. He said:—

Public duty will compel me to express in Parliament
my deep regret at the manner in which both these
negotiations have been terminated, and my conclusion of
the absolute necessity of providing, by all possible means
of precaution and preparation, against the new and immi-
nent dangers to which 1 fear the country is exposed.

The conduct of Pitt was less decided ; nor
does this correspondence decisively settle the
much-discussed question of the position in
which the great Minister stood towards Mr.
Addington at the time of the peace of Amiens.
We believe the general impression to be sub-
stantially correct that Sidmouth did really act
under the influence of Pitt's ideas, the ex-
Premier believing that peace was necessary or
expedient. Thus, Lord Grenville writes, Feb.
9,1802 :
I find in those of Pitt's friends whom I have seen to-day
a great disposition to be very sore and very angry. In
the meantime, he is at Walmer with Lord Carrington,
arranging, as I believe, Addington's budget and peace es-
tablishment.
But at the same time it is probable that it
was Pitt who, foreseeing the probability
of a speedy resumption of hostilities, coun-
selled the retention of Malta. Immedi-
ately after the treaty of Amiens was signed
he became alarmed at the aggressive spirit
which the French Government scarcely took
pains to conceal. At this period the Gren-
villes clearly became anxious to detach him
from all connection with the Government.
Thomas Grenville, under date of Feb. 27,1802,
writes :-

I had a long conversation with Mr. Pitt, two days ago,
who came, and stayed an hour with me. Iwu glad to
find that upon all the latter events, such as the possession
of Italy and Louisiana, and the undisguised ambition and
rapacity of France, he spoke in a tone full as eager as that
in which I addressed him.

Some months later Thomas Grenville neatly
described Addington's position, fearing to
offend Pitt by any display of weakness, and
equally fearing to offend Bonaparte by a show
of vigour. The date is Oct. 10, 1802 :
It is barely possible to be sure that the fear of Pitt may
be more present to Addington at this moment than the
fear of the Great Consul ; but, depend upon it, he has no
other courage than in the comparison of those two appre-
hensions, by both of which he is alternately, and sometimes
jointly, so beset, as to have ample occasion for keeping all
his little wits about him.
As time wore on the incapacity of Adding-
ton's Government and the aggressive designs
of the
.French Government became developed
together. In many respects the Government
of Mr. Addington strongly resembled the pre-
sent one. It was a family Government. The
Premier, it is justly stated iu the narrative,
was striving to make the Administration as nearly as
possible a family party, by the introduction of relatives, or
friends on whom he could equally depend.
There are sentences here exactly descriptive
of our present situation. Mr. T. Grenville
wrote, Jan 12, 1803 :
Nothing can save us but vigorous minds in Government,
and of that I see no prospect collectively or individually
before all is lost beyond redemption.
The following, by Lord Grenville, is still
more applicable :
It is painful to be penned up like sheep in a fold, under
the management of half a damn men whose =quit,' for

the most ordinary affairs all the world acknowledges, and
to know that we have no other resource against the de-
struction which is preparing fur us but in their wisdom.
But so it is As for us, our line happily
has been direct and straight, and our way is elear before
us ; bat this, though it is matter of personal satisfaction
to ourselves, is nothing as to the state of the country,
which I, who am generally pretty sanguine, really begin to
consider as desperate. Such have been the effects of two
years' folly?

- - -
As the prospect of war became more certain
Pitt and the Grenvilles drew closer together.
Some facts published in this work show that
it was impossible to avoid the rupture which
soon after occurred, and Lord Grenville, in
view of the break-up of the Addington Minis
try, conceived a plan for a coalition charac-
teristic of his patriotic mind. We have not spare
for the exposition of his views contained in his
memorandum—a valuable document, clearly
explaining the negotiations in which Pitt bore
part previous to the dissolution of the Adding-
ton Ministry—and therefore take the summary
of them given in the narrative :
It appears that Lord Grenville, moved by a profound
conviction of the danger likely to be brought upon this
eountry by a weak and incapable Administration, when all
its resources, directed with consummate skill, were re-
quired for the conflict into which she had entered,
suggested a coalition of the ablest men of all parties,
who were to sink all minor differences under the impulse
of patriotic devotion, and form a Government such as the
exigency demanded. That an Administration composed of
the most distinguished men, in or out of Parliament,
without any reference to alleged opinions, would have
been able to conduct the war with vigour, and maintain
the dignity of the empire undiminished till an honorable
peace could be obtained, there seems little doubt. The
country was not deficient either in great statesmen or in
great commanders ; and urged by the overwhelming ruin
with which she was threatened, by the immense power
and brilliant military genius of the ruler of France, it was
not too much to expect in the former the same union she
was sure to find in the latter. At least, it was a noble
idea, and set the example of self oblivion, which was to
have been the principle of the combination. This WAS,
however, not the only proof Lord Grenville gave of being
at least halls, century in advance of his age.

These views were deemed by Pitt imprac-
ticable or inexpedient. When summoned to
the King (May, 1804), he asked Lor t Grenville
to join him, but on the principle of not attempt-
ing a coalition with the Whigs, or of forcing
the question of Roman Catholic Emancipation
on the King. Grenville, with highly honour-
able feeling, declined, and again urged the
policy of coalition :
It is unnecessary to dwell on the mischiefs which have
already resulted from placing the great offices of Govern-
ment in weak and incapable hands. We see no hope of
any effectual remedy for these mischiefs, but by uniting in
the public service " as large a proportion as possible of the
weight, talents, and character, to be found in public men
of all descriptions, and without any exception." This
opinion 1 have already had occasion to express to you in
the same words, and we have for some time been publicly
acting in conformity to it; noncan we, while we remain
impressed with that persuasion, concur in defeating an
object for which the circumstances of the present times
affo►d at once so strung an inducement and so favorable an
occasion.

-----
Hence resulted the separation of the Gren-
villes from Pitt, and their union with the
Whig party. In politics, as Burke has said,
the choice does no► often lie between positive
good and positive evil, but between degrees
of each. We cannot argue whether Pitt or
Grenville was most to blame, for each acted
from his own view of principles of duty, but
we may fairly consider which of the two was
most right.
The idea of a Coalition will always be a
favorite one with men who are sanguine in
temper, and who believe there is sufficient
force in patriotic feeling to overcome diversi-
ties of disposition, of connection, of sentiment,
and of long-cherished hopes and views. Men
of larger experience, and of deeper insight
into the human mind, believe on the contrary
that such Coalitions, however promising they
may appear, can never prove satisfactory, as
they are opposed to those elementary princi-
ples, be they of conviction or of interest, which
attach men to particular parties in the State.
The political philosopher well knows that
whatever errors may enter into his calcula-
tions on other points, he is perfectly sure of
his ground when he speculates on the elemen-
tary qualities of human character ; and hence
he not only objects to Coalitions, for their
sacrifice of opinion and the ill-effects they
produce, but he feels certain that they must
fail to accomplish their professed object of
giving strength to the Government and concord
to the country. He is convinced that they