History of England during the Reign of George the Third

Preface

. There are several remarks in the following pages which make me desirous to state the opinions from which they proceed, and the motives from which they have been written. Truth has been my search. That it has been a successful one I do not presume to assert ; but at least I have endeavoured to prevent any hope or fear of a personal nature1 from having the slightest influence upon my language. I may be blamed, perhaps, for having chosen as the sub ject of my narrative the events of a period so near our own ; that is a charge against which I offer no defence ; but having chosen it, was I to be guilty (as, if I had suppressed, or obscured, or varied what I believed to be true, I must have been) of a violation of candour and integrity ? There may be reasons why history should not be written at all ; there can be none why it should be written untruly.

"In all other offices of life," says Polybius, " I praise a lover of his friends and of his country ; but in writing history I am obliged to divest myself of all other obligations, and to sacrifice them all to the 1 1 shall he well content if the words of Statius to Virgil, in the Purgalorio, are applicable to me : — " Faeesti, come quei che va di notte Che porta il lurne dietro, e a 6e non giova Ma dopo se fa le persone dotte." VI

PREFACE.

. love of truth." Had I been a Guelph, ought I to have denied the genius of Dante ? Had I been a Ghibeline, must I have disputed the capacity of Innocent the Third ? Far from me and mine be such pitiful littleness. As, if I had been a Frenchman, I should not have thought it my duty to deny that Henry the Sixth was crowned in Paris ; neither, being an Englishman, do I think myself called upon to defend our government of Ireland, the means by which our Indian empire was acquired, or the manner in which till within these few years it has been administered. Would any court chaplain venture to say, except in a funeral sermon, that George the First and George the Second were faithful husbands and affec tionate parents, pure in their lives, elevated in their views, and careful of the welfare of England in preference to that of Hanover ? — that the mind of George the Third was refined and liberal ? — that he dealt fairly with Mr. Grenville and Lord Rock ingham ? — that his children were well brought up ? — that his mother was spotless, and his wife witty, beautiful, and generous ? — that Lord Bute was not a minion raised by court favour to a post where his ignorance, mean understanding, and disregard of English honour, became national calamities ? '• Nune et Myrmidonum proceres Phrygia arma tremiscant Nuno et Tydides et Larissæus Achilles, Amnis et Hadriacas retro fugit Aufidus undas." ' 1 " Say, that at Hector's feet Achilles lies, And Diorned from fierce Æneas flies ; Say, rapid Aufidus, with awful dread Runs backward from the sea and hides his head." — Deyden.

PREFACE.

. VII To condemn me for saying the reverse of this, is to say that Englishmen ought not to write or read the history of their country. Even the Egyptians, how ever, were allowed to censure their monarchs after their death. " Take care," said the greatest of Eng lish rulers to Sir Peter Lely, " that you draw my face as it is, with all its wens and wrinkles." And shall the citizen of a free state — who undertakes, not to delineate the features of an individual, but (following at an immeasurable distance, and with feeble steps to be sure, yet still following, in the path trodden by him who prophetically said his history was for all time) to hold up to others a glass from which the thoughts and passions, the virtues and the vices, the good and evil deeds, the spirit and character, of past generations are reflected, as a lesson to posterity — shrink from assuming the same liberty in behalf of truth ?

Surely not. Fully convinced that our balanced con stitution — that is, a limited monarch, an hereditary peerage, and a fairly chosen House of Commons — is better adapted to us, and more likely to promote the good of the commonwealth, than any other form of government, I have not abstained from expressing my admiration for republican energy, or from pointing out the particular evils to which our monarchy, however limited, is inevitably exposed, from the habits of courts, the intrigues of courtiers, the ser vility of peers,1 and, above all, from the corruption 1 " Our birthday nobles' splendid livery." " Would to God," says Mr. Burke, " the common fault of our peers was too much spirit.''

PREFACE.

. VIII of those who elect and those who are elected to the House of Commons. " Nam variæ illudunt pestes." They require incessant vigilance. Grossly and most stupidly do we flatter ourselves, if we suppose our age is free from them ; for, whatever we may imagine, the complete triumph of mediocrity, and almost total extinction of taste and genius, are no security against time-servers and hypocrites. Great im provements in machinery, enormous shops, and the most intense study of entomology, are quite con sistent with the decay of all public spirit, and entire apathy to the motives that animated the men who gave England her rank among the nations ; nor will incessant and boisterous panegyrics on ourselves, and on the worst and coarsest parts of the national character, which are as disgusting to men of refine ment as they are captivating to the herd of readers, avert any one calamity we have to apprehend, or remedy one single evil under which we suffer.

We may do well to recollect the passage in which Plu tarch describes the Athenian pilots — "They gave great names to their ships— they called them Minerva, Neptune, Apollo— but they were cast away like other men." Nor, if those instructed with the education of youth among us (I am making, I know, an extra vagant supposition) were more ignorant of the art of writing than they are, and have been, with few ex ceptions indeed, for the last forty years, would that, in my opinion, at all justify such a tone of exultation, or in any way improve the future prospects of the

PREFACE.

. IX country. " I have lost all the blood in my body," says Dr. Sangrado's dying patient, " and yet do not feel the better for it." If, instead of giving up their time to read, and servilely to repeat, what the Germans have written about the classics, they studied the classics themselves — if they read Livy instead of Niebuhr, and Demosthenes instead of Boeckh — if, instead of cram ming their pupils for examinations, bringing every mind to the same dead, tutor's level, and so in nine cases out of ten stunting the intellectual growth of the unhappy boys for ever, they taught them to read Homer, and Virgil, and Cicero, and Euripides, as they were read by Milton and Dryden, by Addison and Barrow, and Atterbury and Fox — England might hope to shake off the sleepy drench which, where gain or physical exertion are not concerned, has so long benumbed her faculties.

Then, instead of the authors of Tract Ninety, and the History of the British Beetle, and biographies of Fox-hunters and Railway Contractors, men might arise in England who would recall the days when the Tale of a Tub, and the Vision of Mirza, and the Idea of a Patriot King, delighted the readers of Milton, and Dryden, and Shakespeare, and added splendour to a literature already glorious. Yielding to no one in loyal and dutiful attachment to her Majesty1 — an attachment founded, not upon the servile notions which her family was placed upon the throne of England expressly to destroy, but on the 1 " Je regarde nosrois d'une afreetion simph-ment legitime et civile ni esmuo ni desmue par interest privd de quoy je me scais bon gie\" — Montaigne, liv. iii. c. 1. X

PREFACE.

. solid ground of gratitude for the happiness which my country has enjoyed under her mild and constitutional rule — I have not hesitated to point out the crimes and errors of her kindred. To have done otherwise would have been adulation and a breach of trust. This, however, let me say — and I trust that my motive in saying it will not be misinterpreted — that my task has been made more grateful by the reflection that the censure I have pronounced on others is an eulogy on her, and that in condemning license, duplicity, and an exorbitant love of power, I have written an honest panegyric on " the king becoming graces," the purity, the love of truth, and the strict regard to the constitution, which all my contemporaries know to be the characteristic qualities of Queen Victoria. CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.

Book I. Chapter

I. PRELIMINARY VIEW. PAGB Party Bias of Historians of the Reign of George the Third . . 3 Genius and Condition of the People 5 History of the Constitution 10 Magna Charta 15 Parliamentary Representation 18 Aristocracy 19 House of Commons ......... 21 Revolution of 1688 20 English Church 27 Prelates 28 Hampton Court Conferences 30 Clergy 35 Rise and Progress of Methodism 38 Condition of the Lower Orders 40 Disputes between the Upper and Lower Houses of Convocation . 41 Social State of the Country 42 Crimes and Punishments 50 East India Company 61 English Language 62 English Law, Blemishes of 65 Poor Laws, History of 73 Settlement, Law of 88 Multiplication of Oaths CONTENTS. PAGE Slave Trade and Slavery 1 03 Condition of Private Madhouses xv Material Prosperity, Increased ■ x National Debt 106 English Poets 108 Literature "** Tragedy, and Dramatic Writers 123

Chapter II. Historical Review Of The

REJGN9 OF GEORGE THE FIRST AND GEORGE THE SECOND. Royal Power and Government • 126 Parliamentary Corruption 127 Whig Party 129 Design to restore the Pretender on the Death of Queen Anne . . 130 Rebellion of 1715 132 South Sea Scheme 137 Antipathy of George the First for his Son. 139 Impeachment of Lord Macclesfield 140 Law of Habeas Corpus ......... 144 Character of the State Trials of the Period 149 Employment of the English Language in Legal Proceedings . . 150 Judges 150 Liberty of the Press ......... 153 Walpole Administration . . . . . . . . .15*3 Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester ..*.... 154 Partial Pardon of Bolingbroke ....... 156 Pulteney 157 Scheme for marrying the Daughter of the Countess of Platen to the Count of St. Florenthi , 158 Revival of the Order of the Bath 150 Treaty with Denmark in 1715 151 Proposed Invasion of England ...... 162 Treaty of Hanover ........

Ig4, Debate on the Treaty jgj- Naval Expeditions 268 Death of George the Eirst Accession of George the Second Destruction of his Father's Will ..... CONTENTS. XIII PAGB Displeasure of George the Second with Walpole .... 170 Queen Caroline 171 Character of the King 172 Treaty of Seville in 1729 173 Quarrel between Townshend aud Walpole 174 Lord Harrington 174 Duke of Newcastle, Character of 174 Excise Scheme in 1734 175 Dismissals and Appointments - .176 Debate on the Repeal of the Septennial Act 177 Victory at Dettiugen in 1743 180 Naval Affairs 181 Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle 183 Resignation of Walpole 186 Broad-Bottom Administration 192 Death of the Prince of Wales 192 House of Commons 194 Intrigues of the Duke of Newcastle and Lord Hardwicke against Walpole 198 William Pitt 199 Henry Fox 202 William Murray 203 Secret Service Money 206 Bribery 207 Frederick the Great 209 Hostilities with France 210 Admiral Byng shot 212 Resignation of the Ministry 213 Formation of a New Administration under the Duke of Devonshire . 213 State of Affairs on the Accession of Pitt to Office . . , 215

Chapter III. Ireland

Barrier between the Celt and the Anglo-Norman .... 221 Incapacity of the English for the Government of other Races . . 222 Poyning's Law 224 Tyranny of Lord Grey 225 Sir Arthur Chichester 226 Tyrone and Tyrconnel, Plight of CONTENTS. PAGE Confiscations 227 Falkland's System of Lenity 227 Oppressions by Lord Strafford 227 Irish Rebellion ■ 228 Policy of Cromwell ......•■• 229 Protestant Ascendancy under William the Third .... 230 Molyneux's Pamphlet claiming Legislative Independence for Ireland 233 Opposition of the Parliament to the English Government . . . 234 Archbishop Boulter. — Manner in which the Government of Ireland was carried on in the Reigns of George the First and George the Second 235 Woollen Manufactures 243 Appeals from Irish Courts of Justice to the English House of Lords 243 Catholics deprived of Elective Eranchise .243 Lord Chesterfield's Administration ....... 244 Surplus iu the Treasury ........ 247 Archbishop Stone 248 Neville expelled the House of Commons : 249 Appointments and Pensions . . 251 State of Ireland on the Accession of George the Third . . . 255 Appendix to Book I. — Nobles 256 Law 256 Parties 258 Slave Trade. — Description of a Slave Ship .... 259 Manners 259 State of the Country 260 Cross of Gold and Cross of Wood 261 Excommunication _ 262 Intrigue of Sunderland and Stanhope ..... 262 Labourers 2g2 Poor 262 War of 1739 263 Henry Smith . CONTENTS. XV

Book II. Chapter

I. REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. PAGE Affairs on the Accession of George the Third .... 267 Characters presented by the History of England during the Reign . 272 Absolutism of the King 273 His Hostility to Aristocracy 277 The Princess Dowager and Lord Bute 279 Homage of all Parties to the King 281 Lord George Sackville 2S5 Lord Bute put into the Cabinet 285 Terms of the Speech 2S6 Tenure of Office by Judges 2S8 Supply 2SS Dismissal of Mr. Lcgge 289 Minorca 291 Resignation of Mr. Pitt 292 Transactions with Spain and France 293 Marriage of the King 300 Princess Charlotte 300 Meeting of Parliament 301 Sir John Cust elected Speaker 301 Speech of Mr. Pitt 302 Interview with the King 304 Pitt accepts Pension and Title 305 Lord Bute becomes First Minister 307 Mr. Grenville 308 Charles Jenkinson, Earl of Liverpool 309

CHAPTER II.

Altered tone of the Spanish Court on the Change of Ministers . 311 Declaration of War 311 Frederick the Great 312 Peter the Third of Russia CONTENTS. XVI PAGE 315 Change in Russian Policy Murder of Peter the Third V~ Czarina Elizabeth State of Parties in England 6f*> Lord Bute takes vacant Garter The North Briton . . ■ • 32® Portugal 3** Capture of the Havannah . . . . ' • • • .324 Preliminaries of Peace with France 327 Humiliating Terms 330 Count Viri 331 Lord Bute's Ignorance of Foreign Affairs 331 He endeavours to secure the Support of Parliament .... 333 Mr. Fox 335 Debate on the Preliminaries of Peace 338 Speech of Mr. Pitt . . . ' 339 Vote in Favour of Peace 342 Financial Measures of Lord Bute 344 Division of Peers against Money Bill ■ 346 Mr. Fox created Lord Holland 348 Appendix to Chapter II. — Comparison between the Peace of Utrecht and the Peace of Paris 350 Peace 356 Wealth of Bishops 356 Correspondence with Mr. Legge on the Hampshire Election . 357 Bute's Adherents— Provision 359

CHAPTER III.

Mr. Grenville succeeds to Lord Bute 361 Mr. Wilkes 363 North Briton, No. 45, Publication of ..... . 363 General Warrants and Seizure of Papers 365 Proceedings against Mr. Wilkes 366 Duel between Mr. Wilkes and Martin 370 Question of Privilege 370 Speech of Mr. Pitt 370 " Essay ou Woman " 375 Warburton, Bishop of Gloucester CONTENTS. XVII PAGE Expulsion of Mr. Wilkes from the House of Commons . . . 378 Speech of Pitt on General Warrants 381 Case of Geneial Conway 3S4 Position of Mr. Wilkes 3S5

Chapter IV

Proceedings of George the Third for the Overthrow of Grenville . 387 Negociations with Mr. Pitt 389 failure of 395 Stipulations of the old Ministry 395 Disputes as to Patronage 396 Royal Marriages 397 Peace of 1763 399 Colonial Possessions ......... 399 America 401 Smuggling ........... 403 Stamp Duties 406 Resolutions of the House of Commons regulating the Trade of America 407 Effect of these Measures in America 408 Mr. Burke's Speech on American Taxation 411 Canada 420 French Policy 421 English Policy 423 Lord Mansfield on the Principles of Colonial Law .... 425

Chapter V

Conduct of the King towards his Ministers 427 Subordinate Officers 427 Mr. Mackenzie, Lord Bute's Brother 428 Advance of the Power of the Crown 429 Secret Influence of Lord Bute 431 Illness of the King 431 Regency Question 432 Negociations for a new Ministry 439 Distress of Journeymen Silk Weavers 439 Riots • 440 b CONTENTS. PAGE Negociations with Mr. Pitt 440 Terms of Pitt 441 Reconciliation between Mr. Grenville aud Lord Temple . . .442 Refusal of Pitt to assist in the Construction of a new Government . 442 Triple Negociations of George the Third 443 Conditions insisted on by the old Ministers 443 Another Attempt to obtain the Services of Mr. Pitt . . . 445 Bockingham Administration 445 stipulations of 446 Character of Lord Rockingham 446 Duke of Cumberland — his Support of the Ministry .... 448

Chapter VI. India

Condition of the Inhabitants during the Early History of the Species 449 Ancient Civilisation of . . . . 450 Early Splendour 453 Means by which our Empire in the East was founded . . . 454 Neglect of Public Works 457 Decline of the Empire after the Death of Aurungzebe . . .459 Establishment of several Thrones on the Ruins of the Ancient Dynasty 460 The Deccan 463 Mysore 464 Mahratta Empire 465 Character of the Instructions to English Agents in 1689 . . . 466 Acquisitions of the East India Company 467 French East India Company 468 La Bourdonnais, Dupleix, and Bussy 469 Clive, Character of 469 Hostilities with the French 472 Perfidy of the English to the Prince of Tanjore .... 473 Successes of the French 475 arrested by the Genius of Clive 477 Successful Defence of Arcot 479 Siege of Tritchinopoly 479 431 Capitulation of French Troops 4§o Disputes among the Allies of the English .... 480 Treaty with the French 481 Aggressions by the English, and War with France . . . .482 Clive, Return of, to India, in 1755 CONTENTS. XIX

Chapter VII India

PAGE The Valley of the Ganges 486 Bengal 486 Oppression of the Natives 489 Salt Tax 491 Disputes in Orissa and Bengal 492 Capture of Calcutta by Surajah Dowlah 494 Tragedy of the Black Hole 494 Recapture of Calcutta by the English 496 Negociations — Services of Omiehund ...... 497 Treaty with, aud Concessions by, Surajah 497 Schemes of Clive for the Capture of the French City of Chandernagore 498 Fraud perpetrated on Omiehund 502 Parallel between the Characters of Clive and Jagurtha . . . 503 Clive's Share of the Rapine 505 Operations against the French in the North of the Carnatic . . 505 Danger to the English Power hi Bengal in 1758 .... 505 Attack on a Dutch Armament in the Hoogly 507 Clive's second Return to England : 508 Claims of the Emperor on Bengal renewed 508 Deposition of Meer Jaffier . . : 509 Meer Cossim 510 defeats the Emperor at Gyah 510 Law, the French Commander, taken prisoner ..... 510 Resentment of Meer Cossim to the English 511 Abuses of the Exoneration of the English from Transit Duties . 512 Remonstrances of Meer Cossim 513 He abolishes the Duties 515 Resolutions of the Council 515 War with the Nabob 517 Victories of the English 517 Meer Jaffier restored to the Government of Bengal .... 518 Conditions As his Restoration 519 Transit Duties reimposed ........ 519 Death of Jaffier 520 Dominion of Nizam Ul Dowlah 520 Lord Clive appointed President of Bengal, &o CONTENTS.

XX PAGE Lord Clive returns to India 521 His Investments in East India Stock 522 Appropriation of the Revenues of Bengal to the Company . . 522 Sums of Money distributed among Servants of the Company by Mohammed Reza Khan 523 Words of Clive on the general Corruption 524 Peace with Sujah Ul Dowlah, and Restoration of his Territories . 525 His Refusal to permit the English to trade Duty Free, or to build Factories in his Dominions 526 Negociations of Clive with the Emperor 526 Surrender of Tribute and Jaghires by the Emperor . . . 520 He confirms the Company in their Possessions . . . .527 Appendix to Chapters VI. and VII. — Notes to explain the Government of Bengal from 1760 to 1765 529 Report of Committee. — Sums given to the English as the Price of their Assistance to Meer Jaffier, and of his Deposition in favour of Cossim 531