The political memoranda of Francis Fifth Duke of Leeds, now first printed from the originals in the British museum

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Introduction

The Political Memoranda of Francis fifth Duke of Leeds form part of the valuable collection of the Osborne papers preserved in the British Museum. They are contained in five paper books of the size 6i inches by 7f inches, four note books, with marbled covers, 4 inches by 7^ inches, and one 4 inches by 6^ inches. There are also included some detached memoranda, which are preserved on loose paper of different sizes. Besides the volume containing the memoranda there are eight volumes of official correspondence from which papers have been selected which either form part of the memoranda or should evidently be classed with them. The sale catalogue preserved in the Museum shows that the Political Memoranda were purchased on July 11, 1868, for £11 lis.: a second instalment of the papers was purchased on April 5, 1869.

Francis Godolphin Osborne, fifth Duke of Leeds, Marquis of Carmarthen, Earl of Danby, Viscount Latimer, and Viscount Dumblaine in Scotland, Baron Osborne of Kiveton, a Baronet, Knight of the Garter, Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of the East Riding of the County of York, Governor of the Levant Company, High Steward of Hull, and possessor of many other offices and titles, was born January 29, 1751. He married at the age of twenty-two Lady Amelia DArcy, daughter of the Earl of Holdernesse and Baroness Conyers in her own right. We are told in the Gentleman' 's Magazine, vol. lxix. i. p. 168, that "in the early years of

II INTKOni'CTION.

their conjugal intercourse this lady displayed the utmost degree of domestic virtue, and held forth the fairest prospect of con happiness." The old Ihike of Leeds was, indeei I. so delighted at his son's choice, "that he often declared no honour which fortune could shower upon his house could give him any enjoyment comparable to the pleasure of having so estimable a daughter-in-law. But, alas, these flattering prospects of nuptial felicity were all blighted, for this accomplished and amiable woman listened to the voice of seduction, and was the mark of public obloquy." In other words, the Duchess of Leeds ran off with Captain Jack Byron, who, after her death in 1784, married Miss Gordon of Gight, and became the father of Lord Byron the poet.

In October, 1783, the Duke of Leeds, who had obtained a divorce from his first wife, married as his second wile Miss Catherine Anguish, whose father, Thomas Anguish, was a Master in Chancery. She and her sister were celebrated for their skill in music and singing. The G&itleman's Magazine goes on to say that the Duke of Leeds was a most sincere friend, a nobleman of the most tried integrity, and a man of liberal principles, amiable manners, and higher talents than he was generally supposed to possess. The cultivation of his mind in very early life was particularly attended to by an indulgent, but judicious father, and if his knowledge was not profound it was miscellaneous and extensive. He was generally deemed a much better scholar than many of his rank, and he always showed a taste for as well as tendency towards literature, which was indeed one of his favourite topics of conversation, though he was never forgetful of his situation in life. Genius and learning were always strong recommendations to his attention and regard, and, as he was courteous and affable, he mixed with various classes, and was well acquainted with mankind. If hehad any peculiar pride, it was in an acknowledgment that his

INTRODUCTION. Ill

family sprang from a citizen of London. He delighted in conversation, and was much inclined to take the lead in this respect, but was too well-bred to obtrude even upon his inferiors ; and his general intercourse with society enabled him to adapt himself with ease to the habits and talents of his occasional companions. Dramatic literature, our authority goes on to say, was a favourite object of his pursuit ; and few men were more conversant with this province of English literature. Indeed, it is understood that the Duke had presented a comedy to the proprietors of the Drury Lane Theatre, which was intended to be brought forth in the course of the present season. Some of his Grace's poetical effusions, if they do not indicate the strong inspiration of the muse, show at least fancy, taste, and sensibility. On the whole the Duke of Leeds was a very amiable nobleman, who knew how to be affable without encouraging undue familiarity, and who was dignified without pride. " If aristocracy," Sylvanus Urban remarks, " were always to appear as mild, as conciliating, and as intelligent, even the rude spirit of Republican violence would be softened into respect and esteem." The Duke of Leeds died on January 31, 1799, at his house in St. James's Square, after a short illness, of an erysipelas in his side, which turned to mortification.

The notice above quoted remarks with conscious or unconscious irony that the Duke of Leeds was not supposed to possess great talents, that his knowledge was not profound, that he was a considerable talker, that he never lost the consciousness of his position, that he had not been very strongly inspired by the muses. If we make these deductions from his qualities the Political Memoranda will be found to give full evidence of his honesty,- straightforwardness, and high spirit, and of the interest which he took in public affairs. Written down for the most part day by day immediately after the events to which they allude, they throw an important light on some iv in i ijnnn 1 i"\.

ol the mosl critical periods of our receril history. The name of Mr. Pitt, when once mentioned, occurs in nearly every bucc

The Duke of Leeds was a statesman 'of the Ciceronian type. Bents a time when the business of the country was conducted by the members of a few privileged families, who, conscious of their position and of their duties, trained themselves carefully for their high behest, and considered that each action of their lives should the magnanimity which properly belonged to so lofty a vocation. The Memoranda commence two years before the outbreak of the American war, but as they were not written down till 17m > the entries of the first six years are deficient in fulness and interest. When that year is reached we find the King supporting Lord North and the war policy against the growing discontent of the country. The Dtrkejo£_JLeeds joins the Opposition, and is dismissed from the Lord Lieutenancy of the East Riding. Under June 1780 some graphic pages are devoted to the Gordon riots. In November a new parliament was returned, which was to witness the downfall of Lord North ; the ministries of Lord Rockingham, of Lord Shelburne, and the coalition ministry of Fox and Xorth under the Duke of Portland. It was not to be dissolved until William Pitt, made Prime Minister contrary to its will, had subdued its stubbornness by his own unshakon resolution and prepared the country to rise in enthusiastic support of his administration. A minute account is given of the circumstances of Lord North's resignation. During the Rockingham administration the Duke of Leeds appears to have been in constant communication with Lord Shelburne, and his notes of their conversations throw an interesting light on the character of that mysterious politician, so able and powerful, so mistrusted and disliked. The narrative of the Shelburne ministry is even more copious.

When William Pitt was at last induced by the King to form a

INTRODUCTION. V

government the Duke of Leeds was one of the first to whom he turned for support. The Memoranda give us a vivid impression of the difficulties under which the young prime minister laboured. We learn from them that even his firmness was at one time nearly overcome by the persistent efforts of the House of Commons. History has perhaps never witnessed a similar crisis — a young man of twenty-three was set to govern a great nation in a time of unusual difficulty, the revenue defective, the country bleeding from the disastrous conclusion of an expensive war, the crown shorn of its fairest jewel, the powers of Europe partly hostile and partly contemptuous, the opposition strong beyond precedent in ability, eloquence, and the success of avowed convictions, the King discredited by the results of shortsighted obstinacy. Pitt was no sooner in the saddle than he was master of his steed. He conquered the faction of opposition, stemmed the flood of national bankruptcy, attempted a sound financial agreement with Ireland, concluded a commercial treaty with France, made England respected in Europe, and shewed that he could make her feared. From 1784 to 1793 every important action of the Government bears the impress of the name of Pitt ; the chief despatches are written by his hand, whether they are signed by Sydney, Leeds, or Grenville. Sound, indeed, must have been the political education which Pitt received during his seven years retirement at Cambridge, which sent him thus fully armed into a conflict of giants.

Of the foreign administration of the Duke of Leeds we have only fragments. The first business of England after the peace of Versailles was to obtain allies, and in doing this she followed the inherited tradition of enmity to France. We knocked in vain at the door of Austria and Russia. By the astute diplomacy of Harris we made a union with Holland and Prussia. It was hardly to be expected that even Pitt should see that the best policy of England

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lay in accepting tlie proffered hands of Louis XVI. and Vcrgcnncs. A revolution in Denmark, so peculiar and interesting that it lias been thought right to include a full account of it in the Appendix, gave as the friendship oi that country; and, while it brought us nearer to Russia, accentuated our distrust of France ami Sweden. The uegociations for the commercial treaty with France, which, mi this side of the Channel, are due to the personal inii Pitt, show that he was far from sharing the narrow prejudice of his colleagues, and that he was a worthy pupil of Adam Smith. William Eden, afterwards Lord Auckland, was sent to Paris to conduct the ncgociations ; and his confidence in the substantial honesty of the French was a constant butt for the ridicule of Leeds and Harris. The Memoranda proper tell us little or nothing about these transactions, but some scattered papers are printed which seemed to be of interest.

A gap of four years brings us to the question of the regency. The King was mad, and it was impossible to say whether his illness would be short or long, or whether he would ever recover at all. The Prince of Wales was entirely in the hands of the Opposition. To make him Prince Regent, as was done at a later period when the King's illness became incurable, would have been to change the whole system of government, and to place ministers in office towards whom the King if he recovered would have the strongest repulsion. The account of the deliberations of the ministry under these circumstances leaves nothing to be desired. The letter written by Pitt to the Prince of Wales on Dec. 30th, 1788, is printed on page 143. The Prince's answer, mentioned on page 137, also from a copy in the Leeds MSS., is here subjoined.

I be Prince of Wales learns from Mr. Pitt's letter that tlie proceedings in P incut arc- now in a train which enables Mr. Pitt, according to the intimation in hiformex letter, to communicate to the Prince the outlines of the l'lau which His

INTRODUCTION. Vll

Majesty's confidential servants conceive to be proper to be proposed in the present circumstances.

Concerning the steps already taken by Mr. Pitt the Prince is silent. Nothing done by the two Houses of Parliament can be a proper subject of his animadversion. but when previously to any discussion in Parliament the outline of a scheme of Government is sent for his consideration, in 'which it is proposed that he shall be personally and principally concerned, and by which the Royal Authority and the public welfare may be deeply affected, the Prince would be unjustifiable were be to withhold an explicit declaration of his sentiments. His silence might be construed into a previous approbation of a plan the accomplishment of which every motive of Duty to his Father and Sovereign as well as of regard for the public interest obliges him to consider as injurious to both.

In the state of deep distress in which the Prince and the whole Royal Family were involved by the heavy calamity which has fallen npon the King, and at a moment when Government deprived of its chief energy and support seemed peculiarly to need the cordial and united aid of all descriptions of good subjects, it was not expected by the Prince that a Plan should be offer'd to his consideration by which Government was to be render'd difficult if not impracticable in the hands of any person intended to represent the King's authority much less in the hands of his eldest son, the Heir Apparent of his Kingdoms, and the person most bound to the maintenance of his Majesty's just Prerogatives and Authority as well as most interested in the happiness, the prosperity, and the glory of his people.

The Prince forbears to reason on the several parts of the sketch of a Plan laid before him ; he apprehends it must have been formed with sufficient deliberation to preclude the probability of any argument from him producing an alteration of sentiment in the projectors of it. but he trusts with confidence to the wisdom and justice of Parliament when the whole of the subject and the circumstances connected with it shall come under their deliberation. He observes therefore only generally on the heads communicated by Mr. Pitt, and it is with deep regret the Prince makes the observation that there seems to be in the contents of that paper a project for producing weakness, disorder, and insecurity in every branch of the administration of affairs, a project for dividing the Royal Family from each other, for separating the Court from the State, and thereby disjoining Government from its natural and accustomed support, a scheme for disconnecting the authority to command service from the power of animating it by reward, and for allotting to the Prince all the invidious duties of Government without the means of softening them to the People by any one act of Grace, Favour, or Benignity.

The Prince's feelings on contemplating this Plan are also render'd still more painful to him by observing that it is not grounded on any general principle, but is calculated to infuse jealousies and distrust wholly groundless he trusts in that quarter whose confidence it will ever be the first pride and object of his life to receive and merit.

With regard to the motive and object of the Limitations and Restrictions proviu in i BODTJt riON.

.11 have bnl little to observe; no liu'ht or information what afforded to him bj Minister! on these points. Thej b

him what the Powers are which they mean to refuse to him, not why tl withheld.

Tin' Prince, however, holding as he does thai it is an nndonbted and fundamental principle of this Constitution thai all the Powers and Prerogatives oi the Crown are rested thi le, and thai thej an

only as the] are necessary t-. the preservation of thai Poise and Balance oi the

hit has prov'd to be the true security of the libi the subject, must be allow'i that the pleaof public utility onghl to be

Btrong, manifest, and urgent, which calls for the extinction or suspension of any one of these essential rights in the presentative, or which

can justify the Prince in coi I an experiment shall be made

to ascertain with bovi small a Portion of the kingly Power the Executive Government of tliis country i on.

The Prince has only to add that, if security for his ti rightful government, whenever it shall please Providence in bonntj to thi country to remove the calamity with which he is afflicted, be any part of the object of this

plan, the Prince has only to I" nvinc'd thai any measure i r even

conducive to thai end to be the firsl to approve and urge it as the preliminary and paramount consideration of any settlement in which he would consent to share,

If attention to what is presumed might be his Mai- ind wishes on th<

happy day of his recovery be '1 bject.il is with the trues! sincerity the Prince

expresses his firm conviction that no even! could he- more repngnanl to the- feelings of his Royal Father than the knowledge that the Government ol his son and representative had exhibited the sovereign Power of the Realm in a state of degradation, of cnrtail'il authority and diminished energy — a state hurtful in practice to the pros|cerity and i;ood L'overniuent of his jieoplc and injurious in its precedent to tin

-.■■in it\ oi the monarchy and the rights of his family.

Upon that part of the Plan which regards the King's real and personal propeaty, the Prince feels himself compell'd to re-mark, that it was i for Mr. Pitt,

nor proper, to suggest to the Prince the restraint he proposes against the Prince's granting away the King's real or personal property. The Prince does thai during tin- King's life he is by law entitled to make- any such grant, and he is sure that he has never shown the smallest inclination to possess an] snch Power; bnt it remains with Mr. Pitt to consider the eventual interests oi the Royal Family, and to provide a proper and natural security against the mi-man i uj by

others.

The Prince has discharged an indispensable duty in thus giving his fret

on the plan submitted to his consideration. His conviction of the oils which may

o the King's in of the Royal Family, and to

the safety ami welfare of the nation, from the government of the country remaining

longer in its [.resent maimed and debilitated state, outweighs in the Prince's mind

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every other consideration, and will determine him to undertake the painful trust imposed upon him by the present melancholy necessity (which of all the King's subjects he deplores the most) in full confidence that the affection and loyalty to the King, the experiene'd attachment to the House of Brunswick, and the generosity which has always ilistiuguish'd this nation, will carry him thro' the many difficulties inseparable from this most critical situation, with comfort to himself, with honour to the King, and advantage to the Public.

(Signed) Geobge P.

Carlton House,

January 2, 1789. £ >id (used : —

January 2. 1789.

Copy of a Paper delivred by His R.H. the Prince of Wales to the Lord Chancellor, to be communicated to the King's Ministers.

Happily before the crisis became serious the King recovered.

A further gap of two_y£arsJ)rings us to 1791 and to the Duke of Tweeds' resignation. It was occasioned by a dispute on the question of what would now be called a spirited foreign policy. The triple alliance of England, Holland, and Prussia, formed by Pitt in 1788, had as its principal object the preservation of the peace of Europe and the checking of the ambitious designs of Joseph II. of Austria and Catherine II. of Russia. Austria and Russia were at war with the Porte. Austria had been induced to make peace at Reichenbach and Szistova ; Russia refused to desist from hostilities unless she was allowed to retain in her hands the fortress of Oczakow, situated at the mouth of the Dnieper, which she had wrested from the Turks at such a terrible sacrifice of life. Potemkin had won it after six months' siege and the loss of 40,000 men. The allies insisted that Oczakow should be restored to the Turks, and on the refusal of Russia to do this prepared to send an army into Livonia and a fleet into the Baltic. The Opposition stoutly opposed the employment of English ships in a quarrel so remote from English interests, and it was obvious that they had the country at their back. Pitt reluctantly b

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gave way and deserted Prussia, a desertion which paved the way for tli.' defection ol Prussia in 1795, when Bhe concluded the peace - Bftle with the French Republic. The Duke of Leeds fel the honour of England had been engaged, and retired from the cabinet. It would not however be fair to accuse l'itt of pusillanimity. There is evidence in the unpublU , il dies of Lord Auckland that l'itt had ascertained that the possession of Oc was of no great military importance and that the Dutch were not anxious to proceed to extremities on this ground.

The Memoranda of 1792, pp. 175-200, give an account of a very interesting negotiation which historians have up to the present time misunderstood ; the attempt in the face of the alarming condition of Europe to obtain a coalition between Pitt and Fox. The narrative hitherto received is that given in Lord Malmesbury's and it leaves an impression that such a coalition was seriously entertained by Pitt. The evidence of the Duke of Leeds, which is more trustworthy than that of Lord Malmcsbury, as the conversations are reported immediately after they occurred, is at variance with this view ; and the discrepancy is explained by observing that the narrative of Lord Malmesbury rests entirely on the evidence of Lord Loughborough, who was a strongly interested, and a very untrustworthy, witness. These conversations admit us to the arcana of cabinet intrigue, but, however interesting they may be, we may regret that the Duke did not report Pitt's conversation when it was turned "for some time to the affairs of France" (p. 195). It is amusing to see how easily the Duke of Leeds was persuaded by his " toad-eaters" to believe that he would be acceptable to tin: King and Pitt as head of a ministry in which Pitt and Fox held subordinate situations. The next instalment of the Memoranda, pp. 201-206, refers to a later phase of the same negotiation. The Memoranda of 1794-5, pp. 207-220, show us the Duke of Leeds coquetting

INTRODUCTION. XI

with the Opposition. Pitt engaged in the war with France with the greatest reluctance, after making every sacrifice for peace. He expected the speedy collapse of the French resources. It was hardly credible that a nation with no settled government, deprived of its chivalry and of its natural leaders, should make head against the united force of Europe. To the surprise of everyone, the French were successful beyond their hopes and the English arms were stained with disaster and ignominy. This roused the hopes of the Opposition, who urged that peace should be made and the French Eepublic recognised. However reasonable these proposals appear to us, they are a little inconsistent in a statesman who three years before resigned office rather than offer a check to the English system of alliances. The vanity of the Duke of Leeds was a serious deduction from his political influence. The concluding Memoranda refer to the marriage of the Prince of Wales and to the unhappy disputes which followed ; a few passages from them have already been printed in Mr. Fitzgerald's Life of George IV.

It may be hoped that these Political Memoranda as a whole will be welcome to those who take an interest in one of the most stirring and picturesque periods of our history, which, while sufficiently near to us to be fully intelligible, is becoming sufficiently removed to be treated with historical precision. If they reveal to us no very important secrets, nor make it necessary that we should re- write many pages of our history, they at least enable us to live in the very centre of that aristocratical regime which placed England after 1815 at the head of Europe, and which the modern democracy will find it difficult to surpass. Above all they enable us to understand a little better the genius, the eloquence, the magnanimity, and the patriotism of William Pitt.

Athenamm Club,

Table Of Contents

Introduction .........

Political Memorandums, No. 1, March 1774 — January 17s" Political Memorandums, No. 2, January 1780 — January 1781 Political Memorandums, No. 3, February 1781 — January 1782 . Political Memorandums, Xo. 4, February 1782 — March 1782 Political Memorandums, No. 5, March 20, 1782 — February 28

Fragment in French, written by Carmarthen Fragment on the Fox and North Coalition Memorandum, February 23, 1783 Memorandum, February 26, 1783 Secret Memorandum, March 14, 1783 Memorandum, March 26, 1783 .