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CHAPTER XXXV.

1803.

Interview between Pitt and Addington-Pitt's proposals negatived by the Cabinet-The King's displeasure with Pitt- Comments of Fox - Review of the negotiation — Ultimatum of the British Government rejected by the First Consul - War with France declared -Pitt resumes his attendance in the House of Commons - Great speeches of Pitt and Fox-Proposed mediation of Russia - Tierney appointed Treasurer of the Navy - Proposed votes of censure Canning's satirical poems - The Budget - Charles Yorke's plan for the defence of the country - The Military Service Bill — The Property Duty Bill - The Volunteers - Renewed conspiracies in Ireland-Murder of Lord Kilwarden.

BOTH to attend his mother's funeral, and to keep his appointment with the First Lord of the Treasury, Pitt set out from Walmer Castle on the 9th of April, and proceeded to Bromley Hill. Next day, according to promise, Addington appeared. A long conversation ensued. Pitt began by saying that if any change was to be made, it must be by the King's desire. He must receive, in the first place, His Majesty's express commands, and must hold himself at liberty to submit for His Majesty's consideration a list of persons from both the late and the present administration. He must also hold himself at liberty to communicate fully with Lord Grenville and Lord Spencer respecting the arrangement. And he must further stipulate that the arrangement should not take place till the foreign negotiation should be com

pletely over, and the question of peace or war be decided.

To all these preliminaries Addington cheerfully agreed. But he expressed an anxious hope that Pitt would not insist on restoring Lord Grenville, Lord Spencer, and Mr. Windham to office. He could not forget how keen and thorough-going was the opposition which he had so recently encountered from them. The answer of Pitt on this point gave him little satisfaction. Nor was he much better pleased with the idea which Pitt threw out relating to himself. Pitt suggested that Addington should accept a peerage, together with the Speakership of the House of Lords. The Speakership in the Lords would therefore be disjoined from the office of Chancellor, but the income of it was to be made up to the holder of the Great Seal. Such a separation of Parliamentary and judicial duties had often been desired as conducive to the public interest. To effect it on this occasion would be to effect a most wise reform. It would place Addington in a situation, not indeed of political power, but of authority and dignity, exactly similar to that which he had filled with such general applause during nearly twelve years.

Addington, though a good deal mortified at this proposal, did not then enlarge upon it. But he again expressed his apprehension that the return of the Grenvilles would have an unfavourable effect upon the public mind. Finally he took his leave and returned to London, wishing to have time, as indeed Pitt advised him, to reflect on the whole plan.

On the 11th Pitt called on Rose at his house in

Palace Yard, and communicated to him what had passed the day before. He then returned to Bromley Hill. There, on the evening of the 12th, he received a note from the Prime Minister. Addington wrote that he desired to consult the Cabinet, and would do so the next day. Of his personal position he said that he had "insurmountable objections" to the Speakership of the House of Lords; but that if the arrangement took effect, he would most readily and willingly sacrifice all pretensions of his own. Some enemies of Addington have looked upon this self-abnegation as only simulated; for my part, I am persuaded that it was quite sincere.

Addington, in the same note, proposed to go again to Bromley Hill on the 14th, and added, "In the mean time I shall entertain the hope that you may not feel it necessary to adhere in its full extent to the proposition which you have made."

In replying to this note Pitt discouraged a second visit, since he said that he had nothing to add to the explicit statement which Addington had already heard, and since his opinion on that point could not admit of alteration.

Meanwhile, on the 13th, the Cabinet met at Lord Chatham's house; and on the 14th Addington made known by letter the result to Pitt. The advice of his colleagues, he said, was wholly in the negative. They felt -so wrote their chief-that the interests of the public would be injuriously affected by the declared opinions ⚫of some of those who were proposed to be comprehended in the new arrangement. To the copy which he kept

of this letter, Lord Sidmouth subsequently added, in his own hand, the note, "namely, Lord Grenville and Mr. Windham." But even without such a comment the allusion was abundantly clear. Mr. Pitt, on the spur of the moment, replied only as follows:

"MY DEAR SIR,

"Bromley Hill, April 14, 1803. "I need only acknowledge the receipt of your

letter, and am

"Yours sincerely,

"W. PITT."

Next day, however, it occurred to Pitt, that since the last proposal to him and his reply had passed only in private conversation, they were liable to be misapprehended or misconstrued. He therefore wrote again, and at some length, to Mr. Addington, not at all—and this he was careful to explain-as seeking to renew the late negotiation, which, on the contrary, he said he considered "now finally and absolutely closed," but only as desiring to recapitulate and place beyond dispute its principal points. Addington replied at length, and some further correspondence, in part of a controversial kind, ensued between them.

Mr. Pitt, after attending his mother's funeral on the 16th, had remained in town two days. On the 18th he dined at the Bishop of Lincoln's, where he met only Mr. Rose. He proceeded to pass a day with Lord Grenville at Dropmore, and then one or two with Lord Carrington at High Wycombe. It was from Wycombe, and on the 21st, that he wrote again to Mr. Addington, in rejoinder to the last communication.

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Politicians of all shades were now eager for some statement of what had passed. The accounts which Pitt gave on the one part, and Addington gave on the other, were found to differ in some of the details. These were of slight importance, and as Lord Macaulay well observes, by no means such as to imply any intentional violation of truth on either side. For, as Lord Macaulay goes on to say, such a dispute often arises after negotiations conducted by word of mouth, even when the negotiators are men of the strictest honour.1

The two statesmen were, however, much incensed against each other. The progress of their alienation may be traced even in the forms of their correspondence. At the beginning of the year Pitt had always subscribed himself to Addington "Yours affectionately." From Bromley Hill it was "Yours sincerely;" and from Wycombe Abbey it grew to be "Dear Sir, your faithful and obedient servant." In his replies Addington always acted Regis ad exemplar—that is, exactly conformed in this respect to the varying precedents of Pitt.

It was not till the 20th of the month that Mr. Addington stated, in any manner, the transaction to the King. This was at an audience after His Majesty's Levee. The King might well feel a little chafed at being no earlier consulted. But the fault of this, if any, was certainly with the Prime Minister. Nevertheless the Royal displeasure seems to have turned wholly

Biographies, p. 219, ed. 1860.

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