no man presuming to oppose it, except Mr. George Grenville, who spoke long, and who called as loud as he could for help, but called in vain. It is impossible to describe to you the excess of passion and of prevarication (two things very clashing in other men, but in him amazingly united), that broke out in every period of his harangue. Figure to yourself assertions that were contradicted by the feeling, seeing, and hearing of every man round him. He dissuaded the House from entering into the matter: "In the delicacy of that business, to do it at all was merely wantonly and merrily," (think what words) "to force on resolutions delicate and dangerous; to say that in no case whatever a seizure of papers was legal, or that in all cases whatever" (which he said was law now) "it should be legal, were extremes full of difficulty." The House with one voice groaned, and expressed a disapprobation I never heard at some other parts of his assertions. I should be endless if I were to give you a particular narrative of the principles, doctrines, and arguments he employed. His gods left him. The Viscount Strange(') himself was there, and declared (1) Eldest son of the Earl of Derby, and at this time chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster. He died during his father's life-time, in 1771. He always called himself Lord Strange, though the title, which was a barony in fee, had descended to the Duke of Atholl. Walpole, in a letter to Sir Horace Mann, written in 1758, tells a pleasant story of him :-"On the new taxes we had an entertaining piece of pomp from the Speaker. Lord Strange (it was in a committee) said, I will bring him down against him. Lord North was absent; the only comforter he found was in the late attorneygeneral, Mr. Charles Yorke, whose comfort was bitterness; for it only reproached him with having yielded unnecessarily to this inquiry at the first motion of it. To be short, you will find (what you expected) that the seizure of the papers is the most inextricable point of the whole affair; the most prerogative spirits, even of these times, are at a stand upon it, and want an issue. They are under great difficulties likewise on the warrant. The club met yesterday, in great figure and spirits. Honours were paid to you absent; to none else present, though the greatest were there. The Duke of Newcastle asked me, whether you had sent a message to excuse yourself the morning after your great visit. He said it should have been done. I knew nothing, but supposed every thing right was done. Adieu. Ever yours most affectionately, from the gallery;' and proposed, that the Speaker should be exempted from the place-tax. He came down, and besought not to be excepted. Lord Strange persisted so did the Speaker. After the debate, Lord Strange going out, said, Well, did not I show my dromedary well?' I should tell you, that one of the fashionable sights of the winter has been a dromedary and camel, the proprietor of which has entertained the town with a droll variety of advertisements." THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE TO MR. PITT. DEAR SIR, Newcastle House, Wednesday, 10 o'clock. [February 15, 1764.] MR. WEST and honest George Onslow came to my bed-side this morning, to give me an account of the glorious day we had yesterday (1), and of the great obligations which every true lover of the liberties of his country and our present constitution owe to you, for the superior ability, firmness, and resolution, which you showed, during the longest attendance that ever was known. God forbid that your health should suffer by your zeal for your (1) On the 13th of February, the question of privilege, notwithstanding Wilkes's absence, came on to be debated. The House sat for eleven hours. At midnight, Mr. Grenville offered to adjourn, but Mr. Pitt begged not to eat or sleep till so great a point had been decided. On the following day the debate was resumed, when the House sat seventeen hours. On a division upon an amendment, the numbers were 207 against 197, leaving the ministers in a majority of only ten :-" Crest-fallen,” says Walpole," they then proposed simply to discharge the complaint against Wood, for a breach of privilege; but the plumes which they had dropped, Pitt soon placed in his own beaver. He broke out on liberty, and, indeed, on whatever he pleased, uninterrupted. Rigby sat feeling the vice-treasurership slipping from under him. Nugent was not less pensive. Every body was too much taken up with his own concerns, or too much daunted, to give the least disturbance to the Pindaric. Mr. Pitt bore the fatigue with his usual spirit, and even old Onslow, the last Speaker, was sitting up, anxious for the event. I have heard Garrick, and other players, give themselves airs of fatigue, after a long part think of the Speaker - nay, think of the clerks, taking most correct minutes, for sixteen hours, and reading them over to every witness; and then let me hear of fatigue!" country! As a faithful friend to it, I return you my most sincere thanks, with a most hearty prayer, that your great and glorious endeavours may meet with their deserved success. I shall just call at your door, to inquire after your health some time this forenoon. I am, dear Sir, yours most affectionately, HOLLES NEWCASTLE. THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE TO MR. PITT. DEAR SIR, Newcastle House, Saturday morning. [February 20, 1764.] I shall not be easy till I hear that you have not increased your pain and disorder, by your long attendance and the great service you did yesterday to the public. (') I shall leave a servant behind, (1) On the main question, as to the illegality of general warrants, which was debated on the 19th, Mr. Pitt again attended:"All that the Crown had desired, and the ministers wished, had," he said, "been accomplished, in the conviction and expulsion of Mr. Wilkes; and therefore it was now their duty to do justice to the nation, the constitution, and the law." He denied that precedent afforded any justification; and said, that when he himself issued such warrants, he knew them to be illegal, but, preferring the general safety, in time of war and public danger, to every personal consideration, he ran the risk, as he would of his head, had that been the forfeit, upon the like motive. "What," he asked, was there in a libel so heinous and terrible, as to require this formidable instrument, which, like an inundation, bore down all the barriers and fences of happiness and security? Parliament had voted away its own privilege, and laid the per to bring me word how you do, after your great fatigue. I would not, however, omit thanking you, and congratulating you upon your great and glorious minority, before I went to Claremont. Such a minority, with such a leader, composed of gentlemen of the greatest and most independent fortunes in the kingdom, against a majority of fourteen only, influenced by power and force, and fetched from all corners of the kingdom, must have its weight, and produce the most happy consequences to the public. I am, with the greatest respect and affection, &c. HOLLES NEWCASTLE. MR. PITT TO MRS. ALLEN. Hayes, July 4, 1764. DEAR MADAM, I TRUST you will pardon this early intrusion upon affliction, from one who truly feels your irreparable sonal freedom of every representative of the nation at the mercy of the attorney-general. If the House negatived the motion, they would be the disgrace of the present age, and the reproach of posterity." Upon a division, the numbers were, for the motion 218; for the adjournment of the debate for four months 232; leaving the ministers a majority of only fourteen. Among the minority, was General Conway; for which vote he was deprived of all his civil and military employments. It was during these discussions, that Sir Fletcher Norton is said to have declared, that "he should regard a resolution of the members of the House of Commons, no more than he would do the oaths of so many drunken porters in Covent Garden." |