Observations on the historical work of the late Right Honorable Charles James Fox.

Introduction

I am perfectly aware how little, in general, the Public is interested in the motives by which an Author has been induced to submit himself to their judgement ; and that they look to the merits of a work, not to the causes which produced it : They will not, I know, easily accept an account of the circumstances by which the writer was led to give his production to the world, as an apology for the want of information or entertainment : I am, however, so particularly situated, in venturing again to trespass on their attention, that I cannot resist giving a short and simple statement of the motives and considerations by which I was impelled to this undertaking.

In my former publications, I was actuated by a sense of public duty : In this I obey, more imme-

a

11 INTRODUCTION.

diately, the impulse of private friendship ; but I am not entirely without a hope, that I may at the same time render some small service to my country.

When Mr. Fox's Historical Work first appeared, I felt that degree of interest in it which my long experience of his splendid talents, and of the particular bent of his powerful mind to political and historical subjects, naturally produced. From the Prefatory Discourse of his Noble Relation, as well as from his own Introductory Chapter, I was led to expect, that he would be scrupulously exact in weighing the evidence for every fact which he related ; that he was, (to use the language of the XMoble Editor,) " before he drew any inference whatever, " to balance the weight of evidence in his mind ; to " examine separately, and distinctly to ascertain, the " authority for each particular circumstance of his " narrative." I was the more induced to trust this promise of fidelity, from his professing to decline the relation of any but great public events, without deviating into enquiries concerning private manners, the pursuits of literature, or the acquisitions of science, in the period of which he treated ; subjects on which authentic documents are less easily procured, and greater latitude of opinion is naturally allowed.

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As I proceeded in the Work, I confess I was considerably disappointed in this expectation : Accustomed as I have been to official accuracy in statement, I thought I perceived facts sometimes mistaken or mis-stated, and deductions formed on very insufficient grounds. This was, however, only a sort of general indeterminate feeling, with which the strain of the Work impressed me ; but, when I came to a particular part of his narrative, I felt a stronger and more painful conviction of the Author's failure in point of accuracy of representation. In his history of the ill-fated expedition of the Earl of Argyle, he haa adopted a representation of the conduct of Sir Patrick Hume, that places it in a light, the injustice of which struck me forcibly, On the perusal ; and it was, as it appeared to me, easy to be disproved, by authentic materials in my possession. This was my sole motive at first for deciding to publish on the subject.

The adoption of such severe and unmerited reflections on the ancestor of a man, by whom I was during a great part of my life treated with the kindness and affection of a parent, would not allow me to remain silent. The late Earl of Marchmont at his death deposited with me, his sole

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IV INTRODUCTION.

executor, as a sacred trust, all the MSS. of his family, with an injunction to make use of them, if I should ever find it necessary {a) : This necessity seems to me now to exist, and powerfully to call on me for a vindication of the character of his ancestor. I allude to the censure, contained in the third chapter of Mr. Fox's Work (b)> on Sir Patrick Hume, afterwards the first Earl of Marchmont, and grandfather of my friend the late Earl ; affecting equally the honour, the courage, and the talents of that eminent man. Those virtues and talents his Sovereign had acknowledged and rewarded ; but honours are of little value,

if not sanctioned hy the suffrage of the country, and

the approbation of good men. Such suffrage, and such approbation, had hitherto attended the honours

(a) This last Earl was keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland, and was distinguished for learning, for brilliancy of genius, and for parliamentary experience : He was elected for the town of Berwick, in 1 754 ; the same year in which the late Lord Chatham, and the first Lord Lyttleton entered on their parliamentary lives; and with them distinguished himself remarkably in the House of Commons soon after he took his seat there. He died in January 1794, in his 86th year. The estimation in which he was held by his cotemporaries, early in his life, may be judged of by his close and intimate friendship with Lord Cobham and Sir William Wyndham, (the former of whom gave his bust a place in the Temple of Worthies at Stow,) and by the mention of him in Mr. Pope's well-known inscription in his grotto at Twickenham.

INTRODUCTION. V

of Sir Patrick ; but these the censure which Mr. Fox has adopted was calculated to tarnish, or to destroy, if suffered to pass uncontradicted ; and having the materials for this contradiction in my hands, I felt it a duty I could not resist to lay them before the world.

Sir Patrick Hume, from an anticipation, as it would appear, of the obloquy which is apt to be fastened on men concerned in unfortunate enterprizes, drew up, during his residence in Holland, before he was joined there by his family, a Narrative of the Rise, Progress, and Issue of the Expedition of the Earl of Argyle, in as far as he was himself concerned, which is the paper I am anxious to publish ; the authority of the document must rest in a great measure on the character of its author, which hitherto has afforded no mean argument for the veracity of the relation ; but it appears to me to possess, besides, intrinsic qualities which entitle it to our belief ; a simplicity, a moderation, and an agreement with the acknowledged virtues, as well as weaknesses of the principal persons whose actions it relates, with other internal evidence of truth, which the reader cannot fail to observe. Mr. Fox himself confesses, in general, the impetuosity and opinionativeness of Argyle, although they were

VI INTRODUCTION.

redeemed by a gallantry of spirit, a candor of mind, and a kindness of heart which Sir Patrick's Narrative always ascribes to him, when he would take time to consider coolly the propositions of his companions in arms, or the claims of his friends and fellow sufferers. But in adopting the opinion he states, or rather in applying the censure of the Earl of Argyle, respecting Sir Patrick Hume, he omits to make allowance for the precipitancy in the former, which the prudence of the latter must have compelled him frequently to resist ; and it seems to have been very unfortunate for their common safety that Sir Patrick had not the power of more effectually counteracting that tendency to precipitation in the Leader.

Sir Patrick's sagacity and prudence, no less than the sincerity of his attachment to the cause of freedom and of the constitution, have hardly ever been denied ; although Mr. Fox seems to sanction the reflection thrown upon his conduct by the Earl, whom he decorates as the hero of that part of his narrative ; yet in the general estimation of his character, he does not venture to contradict the common opinion of the time, and gives Sir John Cochran credit for the sincerity of his motives, and the honesty of his intentions, from the circumstance " of his having always

INTRODUCTION. Vll

" acted in conjunction with Sir Patrick Hume, who * is proved by the subsequent events, and indeed by " the whole tenor of his life and conduct, to have " been uniformly sincere and zealous in the cause of " his country (c)"

With such testimony in favour of the writer, and from the intrinsic air of authority which it bears, I submit with some confidence, the narrative of Sir Patrick to the world. It will be found complete, and cannot but throw considerable light on the expedition to which Mr. Fox has attached so much importance, and to which he has devoted so large a portion of his book.

The particular interest which I feel in the story and character of this illustrious ancestor of my early friend, led me first to examine attentively the narrative of Mr. Fox, the authorities by which it is supported, and the reflections with which he accompanied it ; and on the attentive perusal which, from this motive, I was induced to bestow on it, I perceived, or thought I perceived, an uniform leading cause of partiality, both in the narrative and in the reflections ; a certain political bias seemed to me to pervade the whole, a bias so strong and so marked, that it might seem

Vlll INTRODUCTION.

doubtful whether the History was not written to support the system, rather than the system adopted from the consideration of the History. There is, as has been often observed, a certain distance of time necessary to enable an historian to write of public events with impartiality; perhaps a certain distance of opinion, if I may be allowed the expression, is also necessary ; a certain remoteness in the nature of the events, and in the state of the parties, from those in which the author has been concerned, or with which he has been connected.

It is on this ground I was led to suspect the accuracy of Mr. Fox's statements, and the justness of his reflections. With perfect rectitude and impartiality of intention, a man in a particular political situation can hardly form impartial opinions ; maintaining with his party, certain general political positions, and hearing, in the society of that party, a set of particular sentiments, which the interest of some, the enthusiasm of others, and in general the very war of opposition which they have maintained in common, have tended to heighten and confirm: In such circumstances it were scarce to praise a man's heart or disposition to suppose him perfectly unbiassed: his very virtues, friendship, confidence,

INTRODUCTION. IX and social affections, are likely to betray him. Those virtues form the panegyric of Mr. Fox with his friends ; they have been acknowledged by the most strenuous of his opponents. In the midst of those friends, a man with less pliancy of disposition, and less warmth of affection than Mr. Fox, is inclined to imbibe opinions unfavourable to the strict impartiality of historical discussion : He breathes an atmosphere of party, with which the constitution and temperament of his own mind can hardly fail to be affected. Mr. Fox's habits and political contests, were also unfavourable to historical impartiality : A man accustomed to debate is too often apt to argue more for victory than for conviction ; and to look more to the advantage or fame of defeating his adversary, than to the justice of the cause for which he fights : He has been accustomed to contend and to dispute, rather than to discuss and to deliberate, and will much more ■ easily form or refute arguments, than set up or weigh opinions.

The turn which Mr. Fox has given to the opinion of Lord Halifax, on a question at that time occurring, with regard to the managemement of the American colonies, is a curious instance of the bent of his mind to apply every historical incident to those

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INTRODUCTION.

political principles which he had maintained in parliament. So much is he blinded by this propensity that, in quoting a Letter from Barillon, giving an account of the discourse of Lord Halifax, he mis-translates (certainly without intention) the passage in that Letter applicable to the doctrine which Lord Halifax maintains. The Tory ministers, he says, " main- " tained that His Majesty could and ought to govern " countries so distant, in the manner that should " appear to him most suitable for preserving or aug- " menting the strength and riches of the mother " country :" Whereas it will be found, on referring to the Letters, page 8 of the Appendix, to Mr. Fox's work, that the words " le pays" mean the colony, and not the mother country. The words are, " ils " soutinrent: que Sa Majeste Britannique pouvoit, et " devoit,gouverner des pays si eloignes de PAngleterre " en la maniere qui lui paroitroit la plus convenable " pour maintenir le pays en l'etat auquel il est ; et " pour en augmenter encore les forces et la richesse." In examining, I hope with candour and impartiality, the political tenets of Mr. Fox, I can scarcely be accused of an ungracious attempt to lessen the reputation of his work. The very basis of that work is free discussion ; its object is to examine severely

INTRODUCTION. XI

and minutely the authorities on which former historians have asserted facts or from which they have deduced opinions; and he must be a very partial reader who can complain of a free examination of a work in which such a man as Hume is characterized in the following words : " He was an excellent man, " and of great power of mind ; but his partiality to " kings and princes is intolerable : Nay, it is, in my " opinion, quite ridiculous, and is more like the " foolish admiration which women and children " sometimes have for kings, than the opinion, right " or wrong, of a philosopher (d)."

That Mr. Hume had prejudices I do not mean to dispute ; but they were the prejudices of system, not of party. Viewing, with the eye of a philosopher, the origin and progress of the British Constitution, he probably thought he discovered in it more of the monarchical, and less of the democratical preponderance than common opinion had sometimes ascribed to it. That this general theory occasionally influenced his opinions, and even coloured his narrative, I admit ; but in his details of this very portion of the British history, which Mr. Fox has chosen as an era in the settlement of its constitution, his account of the

(d) Mr. Fox's History, Preface to the Reader, p. xxi. b2

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conduct of King James, and his reflections upon it throughout his reign, appear to me as severely reprehensive as could well be expected ; although in giving his character, on his abdication, he shewed him more favour than he probably would have done if he had known all that has since transpired.

The natural temperament of Mr. Hume, whom in the early part of my life I saw very frequently, was that of mildness rather than of feeling ; and his habits of metaphysical discussion naturally tended to blunt the edge of sensibility. His reflections are therefore less warm, whether in praise or blame, than those of more rhetorical historians ; but his narrative has always appeared to me to be correct and impartial.

Mr. Fox seems to have started with a prejudice against some other historians, from a general idea of their Toryism, but omits to adduce reasons for fuch indiscriminate censure on them. Some of their works he appears not to have read, characterizing authors without distinction, under one general description, whose principles of historical discussion seem to be entirely opposite. Hume and Macpherson (the last probably from his name) have been supposed to be Tories ; Dalrymple is of a family remarkable for Whig principles, though the conviction of dis-

INTRODUCTION. Xlll

covery, as he professed, or the pride of it, led him to dispute the honour and public virtue of Sidney and Lord Russell ; and Somerville was professedly a zealous Whig historian, with all the enthusiasm which early political and religious education could inspire in a presbyterian clergyman.

Mr. Fox was remarkable for a most excellent natural memory ; but it seems evident that, if he ever read Somerville's History, he must have strangely forgotten what he met with in it, to have classed him with Hume and other prerogative writers.

It is however due to the character of Mr. Fox to say, that I am perfectly persuaded he did not in any one instance intentionally state a false fact ; but I cannot at the same time avoid observing, that it is the duty of every historian to examine, with the utmost care and industry, the accuracy of what he asserts ; especially when he reasons thereupon injuriously to the memories of distinguished men. Mr. Fox has told us that he did so ; he says, " he was too " scrupulous in that respect ;" and his noble relation, who edited the work, in the execution of which he has given a further proof of the distinguished talents he has shewn in his public life, confirms this, in strong terms, observing that, " during some years

XIV INTRODUCTION.

" in which Mr. Fox was engaged in an historical " work, he took indefatigable pains to investigate " the authority for every assertion in the writers he " consulted, and to correct the slightest variation in " their accounts, although apparently of little im- " portance."

How far the scruples in Mr. Fox's mind, as referred to by himself, and the indefatigable pains his editor states him to have taken to investigate the authority for any assertion in the writers he consulted, were effectual for the attainment of certainty as to his facts ; it is incumbent on me, in the performance of a sacred duty, as far as respects the character of Sir Patrick Hume, to examine ; and the observations I shall make on other parts of the work will necessarily lead to a like enquiry respecting those; in both cases I wish, where there shall be any difference between us, the merits to be tried by reference to authorities. It is on this I place my reliance for any attention from the Public ; perfectly conscious how unequal I am to contend with Mr. Fox in argument : His reasoning is always powerful, and would frequently be convincing, if the facts on which it is built were correct ; — it is to prevent mistakes he has fallen into, and then reasoned upon, from misleading the judgement of the

INTRODUCTION. XV

Public that I have been induced to notice any other part of his Work, than that in which I take a deep and an immediate interest.

Mr. Fox observes, that " in reading the history of " every country, there are certain periods at which " the mind naturally pauses to meditate upon, and " consider them, with reference not only to their u immediate effects, but to their more remote con- " sequences." In that remark I perfectly agree with him ; although the more I have read and considered our history the more strongly I have been confirmed in the opinion I expressed in a report I made several years ago on the state of the Records in my custody, " That our constitution is too well settled now to " render an investigation of any of the earliest au- " thorities of real importance with regard to its " limits or its form. But it may not be unworthy " the attention of the Public, as an object of laudable " curiosity at least, to trace the progress of our " ancestors towards the state which is now our " comfort and our boast. It is the great praise of " the British constitution that it was formed, or " rather formed itself, progressively at different " periods by the slow and scarce perceptible gra- " dations to which the situation of the country gave

XVI INTRODUCTION.

rise: It grew to its present form by energies not perceived in their immediate operation, but gradually unfolding themselves. Its ordinances were sanctioned by experience, cautious of change, and yielding even to improvements only from a conviction of a strong necessity for adopting them. No rash or visionary speculation created of a sudden new powers in the government, or new privileges in the people; they flowed from the common and deliberate consent (taught by long experience of their want) calling for their adoption to produce, or evidently to promote, the freedom, the security, and the happiness of the community. A constitution thus cautiously adopted, has been jealously and firmly preserved ; formed for the public good, it has been guarded by the public spirit of the nation ; and like that invisible power, which is known by the exercise of its beneficence, it has been revered, obeyed, and loved (<?)."

There certainly have been fewer alterations in the nature of our government, from the time of our Saxon ancestors, when the formation of the kingdom out of the Heptarchy took place in the ninth century,

(<?) Mr. Rose's Report on the Public Records, p. 47.

INTRODUCTION. XV11

than in any other nation in Europe, during the same period, notwithstanding the Danish invasions and the Norman conquest ; not one that could properly be called a revolution. It is to the grandson of the monarch in whose reign the various Saxon kingdoms were united into one government, we are indebted for establishing, in the end of that century, the basis of the constitution we have now the happiness to enjoy, by which our liberty is secured to us ; and for establishing those admirable principles of law which so effectually protect our property (/). But that monarch, not satisfying himself with ensuring to his people those inestimable blessings, extended his views to the improvement of their commerce; and so opened the way not only to the augmentation of the wealth of his subjects, but also laid the foundation for that naval power, which, with a few exceptions, has for ages given us the sovereignty of the seas.

(y) Lord Coke says, the common law of England is the absolute perfection of reason, Second Institute, p. 179; and Plowden, in his learned Commentaries, says, " it is no other than pure and tried reason." Case of Mines, fo. 316. Lord Ellesmere describes it as grounded on the law of God, and extending itself to the original law of nature, and the universal law of nations. Discourse on the Post Nati. fo. 32 and ^^.

XV111 INTRODUCTION.

From the time of Alfred, at least, England has been governed by a limited monarchy ; the king always assisted by a great council, or general assembly of considerable men, under whatever name described, either as Wittengamote, Commune Concilium, or Parliament, without whose concurrence no new law could be made, nor any old one altered (h).

When Parliament was modelled precisely into its present form (i), has been contested with more vehemence, I believe, than any matter in modern history ; it called forth the talents and the industry of almost all the eminent writers in this country towards the close of the seventeenth century, who took different sides of the question, and so perplexed the case by their learning, as to leave the point in considerable doubt ; but the light that has been lately thrown upon the subject, by the production and publication of the earliest parliamentary proceedings, and other very ancient records (/>), en-

(h) There is very full evidence of this, with reference to authorities, in Whitelock's Notes on the Writ of Summons, vol. ii. p. 1 1 1. to i63.

(;') Even so late as the reign of Henry VI. there seems, in judicature, to have been an odd mixture of the parliament and the King's council, vide Rotul. Parliamentorum, vol.iv. p. 334. a. and 506. b.

(k) For these and the Doomsday Book, the Public are principally, in the first instance, indebted to the late Earl of Marchmont, and for the

INTRODUCTION. XIX

ables me to say, with some confidence, that the most generally received opinion, that the first election of members by the commonalty was in the end of the reign of Henry the Third, is correct ; and it is quite clear now, that those who were so elected never sat to deliberate with the Peers (/), although a different opinion was long prevalent, and supported by very high authorities : It is therefore remarkable that in Scotland the whole Legislature should have sat together quite to the Union in 1707 ; the commissioner, who represented the King, sitting in a chair of state, from which he frequently descended to mix in debates.

I have said there have been no revolutions in our government ; the changes from the Wittengamote to the Commune Concilium, and from the latter to a Parliament, were so insensible as not now to be traced accurately ; and not considering the

other Records to Mr. Abbott, the present Speaker of the House of Commons ; the publications in both cases taken up with great zeal in the two Houses, and every possible furtherance given to the undertakings by His

Majesty.

</) It is foreign from the purpose of this Work, to enter into details of such matters : Those who wish to satisfy their curiosity about them, will find much information respecting them, collected in my Report on the Records already mentioned, from folio 43 to 45.

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temporary fluctuations in it, arising sometimes from attempts of arbitrary sovereigns struggling for Power, and at other times from anarchy, in that light ; because, as an eminent writer of the present age has truly said, " the vigour of our free constitution " has always delivered the nation from its emba- " rassments ; and as soon as the convulsions con- " sequent on the struggle have been over, the 11 balance of our rights and liberties has settled il to its proper level."

What is usually called the Revolution of 1688, was nothing more than a declaration of what our rights were antecedently to that event, and some improvement in our laws, to guard more effectually in future against such encroachments as had been made on those rights : The Great Charter of King John, confirmed in Parliament in a subsequent reign (w), was of a similar nature : The Petition of Right in 1628, the discussion of which occupied much of the attention of both Houses in that session, and to which the king reluctantly gave his assent in full parliament (;/), and soon afterwards de-

(/>/) Rotuli Parliamentorum, vol. i. p. 240. a. and Stat. 25 Edw. I. Cap. 1. to 7. the only laws of the year.

(n) Journals of the House of Commons, vol. i. from p. S90. to 919. b. Rushworth, vol. i. p. $$j. 546. 548. 643. The entries, which will shew

INTRODUCTION. XXI

parted from in many instances, was likewise a mere declaration of existing rights, which the two Houses thought had been violated. On the last occasion of the sort, when the Act of Settlement was passed in the beginning of the last century, nothing more was done than asserting what had been long established, and adding a few provisions for still further securing our religion, liberties, and laws (o).

With respect to our laws, not only the principles established, according to some as anciently as the Britons, certainly as early as the Saxons, • remain unshaken, but the very forms have undergone few alterations, considering the length of time (fi), except in some instances, to which the improvements in civilization naturally opened the way, such as

on what grounds the two Houses proceeded, are the most full in the Lords Journals, vol. iii. from p. 786. to 851. At the first conference Sir Edward Coke affirmed that this mode of proceeding by petition was the ancient way, until the unhappy divisions beween the houses of York and Lancaster, p. 789. and when he delivered it at the bar of the House of Lords, he said, " it contains the true liberties of the subjects of England, and a true- " exposition of the Great Charter," p. 825.

(0) 1 2th and 13th Will. III. ch. 2.

(p) Whitelock proves the existence of the Court Leet before the conquest, in his notes on the writ of summons, vol. ii. p. 417. And manors occur in every page of Doomsday.

XX11 INTRODUCTION.

abolishing the state of villainage (q), trials by ordeal (r), battle (s), &c. and in some changes in the right of succession to property. Even the time when the courts of judicature for civil and criminal

(q) There appears to be no means of fixing the precise time when this ended. In the year 15 14, 5th of Henry VIII. there is a manumission from that King, of two persons in the following terms, " Whereas " originally God created all men free, but afterwards the laws and cus- " toms of nations subjected some under the yoke of servitude. We " think it pious and meritorious with God to make certain persons abso- " lutely free from servitude, who are at present under villenage to us : " Wherefore we do accordingly manumit and free from the yoke of *' servitude Henry Knight, a taylor, and John Erie, a husbandman, our " natives (nativi) as being born in our manor of Stoke Clymmyslande, in " our county of Cornwall, together with all their issue born, or hereafter " to be acquired by them, so as that the said two persons, with their issue, " shall henceforth be deemed by us, and our heirs, free, and of free con- *' dition." Rymer's Fcedera, vol. xiii. p. 470. And so late as in the reign of Queen Elizabeth there is a warrant from the Queen directing manumissions to be granted under the Great Seal, for all her subjects born bonde in blode, and regardant to divers manors, in the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, and Gloucester, on reasonable fines for their manumissions, Rymer, vol. xv. p. 731. but Tenures by Knight's service, by homage, escuage, &c. were taken away by an express statute, 12th Ch. II. chap. 24. which will be noticed hereafter.