The prime ministers of Britain, 1721-1921

Preface

To tell in full the tale of the Prime Ministers would be writing the history of England for two centuries and engrossing a task portions alone of which have been deemed sufficient for many famous pens.

The aim of these pages is more modest. It is merely to make short sketches of the lives of the thirty-six men who have held the helm of State since the present political system began; to give some account of their personal works and days rather than of their legislative acts ; and, by assembling their records within a moderate compass, to indicate the spirit of continuity and the tradition of service that have, with few exceptions, inspired their policy and directed their ends.

January, 1922.

Contents

PAGE

INTRODUCTION : The Ofbtce op Pbimb Minister - - 1

CHAPTBB

Chapter II The Pelhams Pelham And Newcastle

The rise of the family of Pelham is a remarkable instance of what could be done in the early part of the eighteenth century by the twin virtues of wealth and connection.

Thomas Pelham, the son and heir of a Sussex baronet, had married Lady Grace Holies, daughter of Gilbert, third Earl of Clare. Her brother, the fourth earl, was the husband of Lady Margaret Cavendish, daughter and co-heiress of Henry, Duke of Newcastle, and on the latter's death without a son in 1691 Lord Clare succeeded to a part of his large estates and a considerable fortune. Two years later his kinsman. Lord Holies of Ifield, left him another property. The Holies family had a good record on the Whig and Protestant side, and at the Revolution Lord Clare had materially helped to promote the succession of the House of Orange. He was now an exceedingly rich man, and he procured from King William the revival of his father-inlaw's dukedom for himself, though with some difficulty. Under Queen Anne he became Lord Privy Seal, and was then able to get a barony for Pelham, his sister's husband, whose elder boy, Thomas, he had determined to make his principal heir, having no sons himself.

This Thomas Pelham had been born on July 21, 1693, and Henry, his younger brother, two years later. They had been brought up together at Halland Hall, their home in Sussex, and had both been sent to Westminster School. Thomas, however, had gone on to Clare Hall, Cambridge,

PEOGKESS OF THE FAMILY 33

while Henry matriculated at Hart Hall, Oxford, under Dr. Richard Newton, who had previously been his tutor.

Their father. Lord Pelham, as he had now become, was a good Whig, had been for many years member of Parliament for Sussex, and had held minor offices in the government. By a previous marriage he had had two daughters, one of whom was married to Charles, Viscount Townshend, afterwards Secretary of State and already a leading politician.

In 1711 there were three deaths in the family, by all of which Thomas Pelham materially profited. First his uncle, the Duke of Newcastle, from whom he inherited a considerable portion of the vast Nottinghamshire estates and with them took the additional name of Holies. Next his father, to whose barony and patrimony of Halland Hall he also succeeded. Thirdly, his half-sister, Lady Townshend, whose husband, two years later, married Dorothy Walpole, sister of the future Prime Minister.

In 1714 Queen Anne died. Young Lord Pelham was only just of age, but he declared himself a strong supporter of the Hanover succession; he was rich, he was related to half a dozen of the leading Whig families, and he was a brother-in-law, d la mode de Bretagne, of the leading man in the House of Commons. By this interest he was at once created Earl of Clare and made lord-lieutenant of the counties of Middlesex and Nottingham.

Next year came the Jacobite rebellion. Thomas and his younger brother Henry raised a troop of horse in Sussex, and Henry went ofi to fight at Preston. As a reward Thomas was advanced to the dukedom of Newcastle. He had thus attained the highest rank in the peerage at the age of twenty-two. Eighteen months later he married Lady Henrietta Godolphin, daughter of the second earl of that name and granddaughter of the Duke of Marlborough. This brought him into close relationship with Sunderland, who was then Secretary of State. When the split came between Sunderland and Walpole, Newcastle left the latter and followed the former, for which he was made Lord Chamberlain and a privy councillor and was given the Garter.

34 PELHAM

I.— HENEY PELHAM.

In the same year, 1717, Henry Pelham was first elected member for Seaf ord, and took his seat among the supporters of the government. After his short experiences as a volunteer he had made some journeys on the Continent. He now returned to England, but he did not deliver his maiden speech in the House of Commons until May, 1720. On the return of Walpole and Townshend to office a few weeks later, he was appointed to the post of Treasurer of the Chamber. Next year Walpole became Prime Minister, and Henry Pelham was given a place at the Treasury Board. Newcastle now renewed his old connection with Walpole, and on Carteret leaving the Cabinet in 1724 he succeeded to his place as the Southern Secretary of State. A year later Pelham was made Secretary for War and sworn a privy councillor. In 1726 he married Lady Catherine Manners, daughter of John, second Duke of Rutland. Newcastle then made over to him half his paternal estate, and with the money thus received Pelham purchased Esher Place, near Claremont, his brother's fine house in Surrey. Here he spent all the time he could snatch from Parliament, taking great interest in his gardens, which Kent embellished and which Pope recalls :

" Pleased let me own, in Ester's peaceful grove, (Where Kent and nature vie for Pelham's love,). . *

Pelham was Walpole's firm friend and loyal supporter, more personally beloved by him than any man in England. |

" Harry Pelham is now my support and delight, Whom we bubble all day and we joke on at night. "J

He frequently acted as a mediator between his difficult brother Newcastle and Walpole. Newcastle, having got all he could in the way of titular rank, had now turned his attention to office. Determined to engross everything that he thought worth having in that direction, he devoted himself to the management and increase of the numerous boroughs that he controlled, and his parliamentary influence

* Pope, " Epilogue to the Satires," ii. 66-9. f Hervey, i. 143.

t Montagu, ii. 493.

IN OFFICE 35

gradually became very powerful. At the same time he attended with unremitting industry to his departmental duties, for he had few other tastes, rural pleasures never attracted him and his marriage was childless. He was neither intelligent, loyal, nor easy to get on with, but Walpole found his busy application not without its use.

On George II. 's accession it looked as if the fortunes of the Pelham family might be obscured. Ten years previously the old King had imposed Newcastle on the Prince of Wales as a godfather to one of his children. The younger George had objected, and had called the luckless Newcastle a rascal. The King, who would not tolerate such treatment of his Lord Chamberlain in his Palace of St. James, had in consequence turned the Prince out of doors. It might have been expected that with the new reign the old quarrel would be remembered. But it was not to be so. George 11. observed that Newcastle was not fit to be chamberlain to a petty German prince, and the ladies of the Court laughed at him and called him Est-il 'permis, the usual preface to his trite remarks; but he was kept on in his place as Secretary of State.*

The steady progress of Henry Pelham also continued. In 1730 he was given the post of Paymaster-General. Besides the salary of £2,000 a year, it carried large profits with it, illicit but customary. From these, however, Pelham refused to benefit. This was the more to his credit as gambling was one of his principal recreations, and he needed a considerable income to recoup his losses, having nothing like the wealth of his elder brother. He still stuck closely to Walpole, to whom both friendship and interest bound him. Naturally of a quiet and pacific disposition, he was a man of courage where his friends were concerned. In 1732 he had an altercation with Pulteney in the House of Commons which nearly led to a duel, and the next year he came boldly forward when quite alone and protected Sir Robert from the attack of a crowd of his opponents outside the House. He drew his sword and stood out, * Coxe, " Walpole," i. 329.

36 PELHAM

saying, "Now, gentlemen, who will be the first to fall ?"* Only on one occasion in all his career did he vote against his chief, a practice which was then by no means uncommon even with ministers.

Newcastle was not nearly so faithful a colleague, and when Walpole's power began to show signs of declining he was one of the first to begin a correspondence with the Opposition. He introduced several measures which embarrassed the Prime Minister, and on Queen Caroline's death he established a fresh interest at Court through the Princess Amelia. During the Spanish War he was perpetually wrangling and blustering, and high words often passed between him and his leader. Walpole, however, knew the value of his support, though he was never deceived as to his loyalty. " His name is perfidy," he used to say, and Hervey wrote of him:

"For granting Ms heart is as black as Ms hat, With no more truth in this than there's sense beneath that."t

At last, in 1742, came Walpole's fall. The year before both Newcastle and Pelham had done battle for him, but now, when defeat was certain, they arranged, largely, it seems, under Walpole's directions, for the change of government and the succession of Wilmington. Although Newcastle had been for some time intriguing with Carteret and probably with Pulteney, he had no desire to have a strong ruler again at the head of affairs. But Wilmington was an inoffensive and impotent makeshift, and when next year he showed signs of failing in health, the two brothers had recourse to their old leader. Walpole, who was now Lord Orford, though out of office, remained nearly as powerful as ever, and his advice and influence with the King was great.

Pelham, on Wilmington's taking office, had been offered the place of Chancellor of the Exchequer, but he had preferred to keep to his old post, with the lead of the House of Commons. Walpole thought he had made a mistake, for he writes to him in July, 1743 : " If you had taken the advice

* Jennings, ii. 117.

t H. Walpole, " Letters," i. 209; Macaulay, vi. 25.

BECOMES PEIME MINISTER 37

of a fool and been made Chancellor under Lord Wilmington tlie whole had dropped into your mouth. Lost opportunities are not easily retrieved."* Pelham, however, was made First Lord of the Treasury, while Newcastle acquired an increased share in the control of the government. Carteret, who had become Lord Granville, still remained a potent factor in the Cabinet, but with Walpole's aid he also was got rid of a year later, and the two brothers then remained supreme. Newcastle, writing to Lord Chancellor Hardwicke on November 10, 1744, says: "By what the King said to your lordship and by Lord Granville's looks afterwards I should fancy the thing is over; and that they will take their resolution this day or to-morrow. Perhaps Lord Granville may desire to be President, with a garter. I own I do not quite see the necessity of flinging him into a rage of opposition, if we could, without it, find means of satisfying Lord Orf ord and a certain number of his friends ; for without this last we have no ground to stand on, and shall, I fear, be obliged to shew in a few months that we have not strength to support the King's afiairs though he should put them into our hands. My dear Lord, perhaps nobody but you can carry us through; and you can."t This was the regular Newcastle style.

The system continued essentially the same as that of Walpole. " The fall of an unpopular minister," says Gibbon, ' ' was not succeeded according to general expectation by a millennium of happiness and virtue: some courtiers lost their places, some patriots lost their characters. Lord Orford's offences vanished with his power; and after a short vibration the Pelham Government was fixed on the old basis of the Whig aristocracy." |

During Walpole's long and placid administration Pelham had imbibed the principles of sound finance and had learned to appreciate the benefits of peace. He now endeavoured to follow in the footsteps of his master, who died early in 1745. He constructed what was called the Broad Bottom administration, to which various sections of the Whigs

* Coxe, " Pelham," i. 83. f Ihid., i. 187.

% Gibbon, 20.

38 PELHAM

and a few Tories were admitted. The Cabinet was mainly made up of dukes, Pelham being the only commoner in it. Almost at the start he had to deal with a war with France, followed by the defeat of Fontenoy and the Jacobite rising. To meet public opinion the ministry was obliged to enlist the best supporters available. Among the most active of these was William Pitt. More eloquent than any man in the House of Commons, he was a highly dangerous opponent. He had powerful friends and connections — Lord Cobham, the Grenvilles, and Lyttelton — and his inclusion in the government was to Pelham a matter of necessity. But the King refused, for Pitt's speeches had offended him. Pelham again urged it, but the King remained obdurate, with Granville behind him. At last Pelham determined to kill two birds with one stone. He took his courage in his hands and resigned. During two days Granville vainly tried to form a ministry. Then Pelham came back; Granville was definitely discredited ; and Pitt was admitted to a minor post in the government, and a few months later was promoted to Pelham's old place of Paymaster- General. Matters now ran more smoothly. The Opposition almost ceased to exist, for the Tories had to recover from the effects of the Kebellion of 1745, while the chief Whigs were all on the side of the ministers. In 1748 the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle was signed. Three years later Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Bolingbroke, two constant fomenters of trouble, both died. Pelham's task became easier, and he occupied himself mainly with financial measures for consolidating the National Debt and reducing its interest.

But though the political future was promising, his own was not. The early death of his two young sons had much shaken him, and his health was far from strong. The disputes between the brothers had already nearly wrecked the ministry on more than one occasion.* Pelham longed for some relaxation from his labours, for Newcastle, though generous to him with money, was jealous and quarrelled with him almost as much as he had done with * Dodington, 264.

W. Hoare pinx.

B. Houston sc.

HENEY PELHAM

HIS DEATH 39

Walpole. The constant work of tte House of Commons weighed heavily on him. He tried to retire, but the King had a firm trust in him and insisted on his remaining. He turned again to his work, but it was not for long. Early in 1754 he caught a chill from walking in St. James's Park and then standing by an open window. It developed into erysipelas and on March 6 he died suddenly, aged about sixty, after having led the government for nearly eleven years.

The country was agitated and dismayed. The King exclaimed that now he would have no more peace. The Whigs especially deplored Pelham's loss. It fell on the same day that a new edition of Bolingbroke's works had appeared, and Garrick wrote of it:

" The same sad morn to church and state, So for our sins 'twas fixed by fate, A double stroke was given ; Black as the whirlwind of the North St. John's fell genius issued forth, And Pelham's fled to heaven."*

The Tory squires, however, who had not relished his taxes nor his reduction of the funds, celebrated him in another vein :

" Lie heavy on him, land, for he Laid many a heavy load on thee."t

Pelham was his brother's heir, but he only left daughters. The husband of one of these eventually succeeded by a special remainder to Newcastle's title and estates, and from her the present duke is descended. Another daughter married Lord Sondes, a cousin of Lord Rockingham.

Pelham was a man of some presence and dignity, of a florid, healthy constitution, but " careless of his health, most intemperate in eating, and used no exercise." J There are good pictures of him by Hoare and by Shackleton, showing a broad, pufEy face of a placid and kindly expression, not without thought and spirit. He had simple, unobtrusive manners, and was singularly generous and

* H. Walpole, " Letters," ii. 372. f H. Walpole, " George IL," i. 219 J H. Walpole, " Letters," ii. 374.

40 PELHAM

honest. A devoted father and husband, he was happiest in his country pursuits,

" Where in the sweetest solitude . . . From courts and senates Pelham finds repose,"*

though much given to the picquet-table at White's when in London. Cautious and mild as a politician, he was chiefly anxious to carry on the government with economy and peace on the lines of his powerful predecessor. Without much ambition himself, he had had all his life to bear with his busy, unstable and importunate brother, though he would have been well content to live in quiet could he have evaded the trammels of office. But Newcastle pushed him on, while George II., who disliked changes, knew when he had got a good minister, and insisted on having full value.

Chesterfield called Pelham " a very inelegant speaker. "| Waldegrave says of him:

" He had acquired the reputation of an able and honest minister; had a plain, solid understanding, improved by experience in business, as well as by a thorough knowledge of the world; and without being an orator, or having the finest parts, no man in the House of Commons argued with more weight, or was heard with greater attention. He was a frugal steward to the public, averse to continental extravagance and useless subsidies ; preferring a tolerable peace to the most successful war; jealous to maintain his personal credit and authority; but nowise inattentive to the true interest of his country. "J

Henry Pelham was a sound, though timid, statesman. With the tradition of Walpole behind him, the King's favour, the loyal support of the whole Whig connection, and hardly any opposition to meet, his political lot lay in pleasant times. He governed the House of Commons by the usual methods of bribery, though he was absolutely free from venality himself. Content to pursue an even course, anxious to avoid adventures, careful in finance, firm in his administration at home and pacific in his policy

* Thomson's "Seasons," " Summer," 1431.

t Chesterfield, " Miscellaneous Works," iv. 45. (Charact.)

j Waldegrave, " Memoirs," 18.

NEWCASTLE SUCCEEDS 41

abroad, his period continued the golden days of Whig government in the eighteenth century. Had he not been thrust into the shade by Walpole and Chatham, his sterling merits would have been more widely recognized. His real value was most seen when he was gone.

Newcastle professed to be shattered by his brother's death, but he lost no time in securing his vacant place. He writes to Lord Albemarle on March 28, 1754 :

" I have the greatest loss that man can have, and now have no view but to endeavour to pursue his measures, serve his friends, and particularly to do everything that can best comfort his poor family. The King's charity, goodness, and confidence are not to be expressed, and I have no comfort so great as that of following my dearest brother's example to the best of my power ; to do the King the best service and give him the greatest satisfaction. It is for that reason that His Majesty has commanded me to go to the head of the Treasury, as thinking (and in that the King shall not be deceived) that nobody could so punctually observe all that has been intended as myself. I shall endeavour to make the same friends by doing my best to deserve it."*

This sounded well enough, but in selecting his friends Newcastle almost at once made a cardinal error. For some reason still not clearly understood he omitted to promote the powerful Pitt. For ten years Pitt had remained in a subordinate though well-paid place, doing hard work in the House of Commons and often supporting measures of which he did not approve. His abilities were pre-eminent and he was well on in age. He felt now that his chance had come. Remonstrances with Newcastle were in vain. So Pitt threw down the gauntlet and brought the great guns of his eloquence to bear on the ministry. In a short time he was dismissed from office. A succession of salvos then burst upon the wretched Robinson, who had * Coxe, " Pelham," ii. 307.

been put up to lead in the Commons. To withstand these attacks Newcastle enlisted the help of Fox, to be Secretary of State and to take Kobinson's place. Fox asked who would have the management of the members — i.e., the distribution of the secret service money. Newcastle said he was going to keep that him^self. " My brother, when he was at the Treasury, never told anyone what he did with the secret service money," said the Duke, " and no more will I."* Fox, who was touchy and liked power and money, was much dissatisfied, but he undertook the work. In the meantime Pitt continued to bombard the ministers, and at last Fox resigned and joined him. This combination was too much for Newcastle. The French War was going badly, and the defeats irritated public opinion. He had no good man in the House of Commons. For two and a half years he had held on, but he saw that now he must compromise or retire — at any rate for a little. He made a final effort to separate the two new allies, but he failed, and at last, in November, 1756, after a series of querulous and feverish manoeuvres, he was constrained to resign, and Devonshire and Pitt took over the government.

But Newcastle's borough influence in the country, his parliamentary connection, his alliance with nearly all the great Whig families, and his experience of office, had made him an almost indispensable friend and a very dangerous opponent. The new ministers thus found that they were unable to continue without his support. They recognized the inevitable and in July, 1751, a treaty was patched up between Pitt and Newcastle, Devonshire gladly making way.

The negotiations which led to this coalition were protracted and devious, and on Newcastle's side they were often ludicrous. But eventually an arrangement was come to. Newcastle was to be First Lord of the Treasury and to manage the patronage and the placemen ; Pitt was to be Secretary of State and to direct the policy.

Then, in Lord Macaulay's words, "... out of the chaos in which parties had for some time been rising, falling, meeting, separating, rose a government as strong at home * Macaulay, vi. 59.

as that of Pelham, as successful abroad as that of Godolphin. . . . Newcastle brought to the coalition a vast mass of power, which had descended to him from Walpole and Pelham. The public offices, the church, the courts of law, the army, the navy, the diplomatic service, swarmed with his creatures. The boroughs . . . were represented by his nominees. The great Whig families, which, during several generations, had been trained in the discipline of party warfare, and were accustomed to stand together in a firm phalanx, acknowledged him as their captain. Pitt, on the other hand, had what Newcastle wanted, an eloquence which stirred the passions and charmed the imagination, a high reputation for purity, and the confidence and ardent love of millions. The partition which the two ministers made of the powers of government was singularly happy. Each occupied a province for which he was well qualified; and neither had any inclination to intrude himself into the province of the other. Newcastle took the treasury, the civil and ecclesiastical patronage, and the disposal of that part of the secret service money which was then employed in bribing members of Parliament. Pitt was Secretary of State, with the direction of the war and of foreign affairs."*

The ministry was soon celebrated over the whole globe for its military and naval achievements, and if Pitt was the directing spirit of victory, Newcastle, for his part, kept the House of Commons and the country contented at home. These, indeed, were his palmiest days of wire-pulling and patronage. Walpole and Pelham were dead, and Pitt cared for none of these things. Newcastle was able to surround himself with sycophants and clients, to hold daily levees, to indite interminable letters, to eat magnificent dinners, and to pay his duty to the King and the princesses. Not that he neglected the business of state, for in this he was as assiduous as he was in all his occupations. But he loved the panoply of power, and he had it now to his heart's content.

For a few years all went well. Lord Chesterfield, writing in May, 1758, says: '' Domestic affairs go just as they did; the Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Pitt jog on like man and * Macaulay, vi. 70.

wife; that is seldom agreeing, often quarrelling; but by mutual interest, upon the whole not parting."* It was the calm before the storm.

During the old King's reign no cloud marred the horizon, and the political future of the government looked singularlypromising. But when at last he died and the new heir came in, the sky rapidly began to lose its brightness. A Scots member of the young King's household, Lord Bute, hitherto only a courtier, had determined to become a politician. When Newcastle went to the palace with the draft of the King's speech, the Whig First Lord of the Treasury was referred to the Tory Groom of the Stole. He was astonished, but he did not demur. Shortly afterwards Bute was made in rapid succession a privy councillor, a Knight of the Garter and a Secretary of State.

Pitt had seen which way the wind was blowing and did not tolerate it for long. When his advice was disregarded he spoke out, and then, as the disregard continued and Newcastle did not support him, with impetuous contempt he resigned. But the Newcastle code of politics was different; in it, according to Lord Stanhope, "the next best thing to a firm retention of office was the prospect of a speedy return to it."| For a year the old duke bore rebuffs and disavowals of his policy with the best grace he could muster. But at last he found that if he stayed on he would have to submit to Bute not only his policy, but also his patronage.

In a letter to Legge early in 1762 he says: " I was this day at Court in order to speak to My Lord Bute but he was not there. I will endeavour to see him to-morrow and shall do my utmost . . . but I am sorry to observe to you that the present conjuncture is not the most favourable for a recommendation of mine." J To such a state of political impotence was the Duke of Newcastle, Prime Minister of England, reduced. But there were limits even to his patience, and when Bute ceased to dictate and merely ignored him, he finally steeled his mind to go. In October,

* Chesterfield, ii. 411. t Stanhope, " Hist.," iv. 385, 386.

% Original correspondence.

RESIGNATION AND DEATH 45

1762, lie resigned, at the age of sixty-nine, after having been continually in office, with the exception of a few months in 1756-7, for forty-five years. He refused to accept any pension and went out with some dignity. Nothing became him in office so much as his leaving of it. " It moves one to compassion," writes a contemporary, " to think of the poor old Duke himself. A man once possessed of £25,000 per annum of landed estate, with £10,000 in emoluments of government, now reduced to an estate of scarcely £6,000 per annum, and going into retirement (not to say sinking into contempt) with not so much as a feather in his cap, and but such a circle of friends as he has deprived of their places."*

Bute succeeded to his place, and proceeded to pile Pelion on Ossa. Within a year he had deprived the old minister, in company with the Duke of Grafton and Lord Rockingham, of the three lord-lieutenancies which he had held since the days of George I. Newcastle's rage and amazement were unbounded, but he bided his time. Twelve months later Bute had disappeared; in two years more Grenville, his successor, had been dismissed, and in 1765 Newcastle, now in his seventy-third year, was able to return to office as Lord Privy Seal under Rockingham. But this short Whig administration lasted only until 1766, and then Pitt, his former rival and colleague, formed a new government and Newcastle retired.