Part 3
This Duke of Cumberland also imbibed the _family complaint of_ BIGAMY; for he had been married, about twelve months previous, to a daughter of Dr. Wilmot, who, of course, remonstrated against such unjust treatment. The king solemnly assured Dr. Wilmot that he might rely upon his humanity and honor. The doctor paused, and had the courage to say, in reply, "I have once before relied upon the promises of your majesty! But"--"Hush! hush!" said the king, interrupting him, "I know what you are going to say; but do not disturb me with wills and retrospection of past _irreparable injury_."
The death of the Earl of Halifax, soon after the close of the session in this year, caused a vacancy; and the Duke of Grafton returned to office, as keeper of the privy seal. His grace was a particular favourite with the queen, but much disliked by the intelligent and reflecting part of the community.
The political atmosphere bore a gloomy aspect at the commencement of
1772,
and petitions from the people were sent to the king and the two houses of parliament, for the repeal of what they believed to be unjust and pernicious laws upon the subject of religious liberty. Several clergymen of the established church prayed to be liberated from their obligation to subscribe to the "Thirty-nine Articles." But it was urged, in opposition to the petitions, that government had an undoubted right to establish and maintain such a system of instruction as the ministers thereof deemed most suitable for the public benefit. But expedience and right are as far asunder, in truth, as is the distance from pole to pole. The policy of the state required some _new source_ from whence to draw means for the _secret_ measures needful for prolonging the existence of its privacy; and it was therefore deemed expedient to keep politics and religion as close together as possible, by enforcing the strictest obedience of all demands made upon the clergy, in such forms and at such times as should best accord with the political system of the queen. In consequence of which, the petitions were rejected by a majority of 217 boroughmongers against 71 real representatives of the people!
An act, passed this session, for "Making more effectual provisions to guard the descendants of the late king, George the Second, from marrying without the approbation of his majesty, his heirs, and successors, first had and obtained," was strenuously opposed by the liberal party in every stage of its progress through both houses. It was generally _supposed_ to have had its origin in the marriage contracted but a few months before by the Duke of Cumberland with Mrs. Horton, relict of Colonel Horton, and daughter of Lord Irnham; and also in a private, though long-suspected, marriage of the Duke of Gloucester to the Countess-dowager of Waldegrave, which the duke at this time openly avowed. But were there not _other_ reasons which operated on the mind of the _queen_ (for the poor king was only a passive instrument in her power) to force this bill into a law? Had she not an eye to her husband's former alliance with the quakeress, and the Duke of York's marriage in Italy? The latter was even more dangerous to her peace than the former; for the duke had married a descendant of the STUARTS!
Lord Chatham made many representations to the king and queen of the improper and injudicious state of the penal laws. He cited an instance of unanswerable disproportion; namely, that, on the 14th of July, two persons were publicly whipped round Covent Garden market, in accordance with the sentence passed upon them; but mark the difference of the crimes for which they were so punished: one was for stealing a bunch of radishes; the other, for debauching his own niece! In vain, however, did this friend of humanity represent the unwise, unjust, and inconsistent tenour of such laws. The king was anxious to alter them immediately; but the queen was decided in her opinion, that they ought to be left entirely to the pleasure and opinion of the _judges_, well knowing _they_ would not disobey her will upon any point of law, or equity, _so called_. Thus did the nation languish under the tyrannical usurpation of a _German_ princess, whose disposition and talents were much better calculated to give laws to the brute creation than to interfere with _English_ jurisprudence!
In November of this year, it was announced that the _king_ earnestly desired parliament should take into consideration the state of the East India Company. But the king was ignorant of the subject; though it was true, the _queen_ desired it; because she received vast emoluments from the various situations _purchased_ by individuals under the denomination of cadets, &c. Of course, her majesty's will was tantamount to law.
The Earl of Chatham resolved once more to speak to the queen upon the state of things, and had an audience for that purpose. As an honest man, he very warmly advocated the cause of the nation, and represented the people to be in a high state of excitement, adding, that "if they be repelled, they must be repelled by force!" And to whom ought an unhappy suffering people to have had recourse but to the throne, whose power sanctioned the means used to drain their purses? The queen, however, was still unbending; she not only inveighed against the candour and sentiments of the earl, but requested she might not again be _troubled_ by him upon _such subjects_! Before retiring, Lord Chatham said, "Your majesty must excuse me if I say, the liberty of the subject is the surest protection to the monarch, and if the prince _protects the guilty, instead of punishing them, time will convince him, that he has judged erroneously, and acted imprudently_."
The earl retired; but "his labouring breast knew not peace," and he resolved, for the last time, to see the king in private. An interview was requested, and as readily granted. "Well, well," said the king, "I hope no bad news?" "No bad news, your majesty; but I wish to submit to your opinion a few questions." "Quite right, quite right," said the king, "tell me all." The earl did so, and, after his faithful appeal to the king, concluded by saying, "My sovereign will excuse me, but I can no longer be a party to the deceptions pawned upon the people, as I am, and consider myself to be, amenable to God and my conscience!" Would that England had possessed a few more such patriots!
This year will ever be memorable in history as the commencement of that partition of Poland, between three contiguous powers,--Russia, Austria, and Prussia,--which has served as an example and apology for all those shameful violations of public right and justice that have stained the modern annals of Europe. The unfortunate Poles appealed in vain to Great Britain, France, and Spain, and the States-general of Holland, on the atrocious perfidy and injustice of these proceedings. After some unavailable remonstrances, the diet was compelled, at the point of the bayonet, to sign a treaty for the formal cession of the several districts which the three usurpers had fixed upon and guaranteed to each other. The partitioning _legitimates_ also _generously_ made a present of an _aristocratic_ constitution to the suffering Poles.
In the year
1773,
commercial credit was greatly injured by extensive failures in England and Holland. The distress and embarrassment of the mercantile classes were farther augmented by a great diminution in the gold coin, in consequence of wear and fraud,--such loss, by act of parliament, being thrown upon the holders!
At this time, the discontents which had long been manifest in the American colonies broke out into open revolt. The chief source of irritation against the mother country was the impolitic measure of retaining a trifling duty on tea, as an assertion of the right of the British parliament to tax the colonies.
The year
1774
bore a gloomy and arbitrary character, with wars abroad and uneasiness at home. The county of Nottingham omitted to raise their militia in the former year, and in this they were fined two thousand pounds.
Louis the Fifteenth of France died this year of the small-pox, caught from a country girl, introduced to him by Madame du Barré to gratify his sensual desires. He was in the _sixty-fourth_ year of his age, and in the fifty-ninth of his reign. The gross debaucheries into which he had sank, with the despotic measures he had adopted towards the Chamber of Deputies in his latter years, had entirely deprived him of his appellation of the "Well-beloved." Few French sovereigns have left a less-respected memory.
1775
was also a year of disquiet. The City of London addressed the throne, and petitioned against the existing grievances, expressing their strong abhorrence of the measures adopted towards the Americans, _justifying their resistance_, and beseeching his majesty to dismiss his ministers. The _invisible power of the queen_, however, prevented their receiving redress, and the ministers were retained, contrary to all petition and remonstrance. Upon these occasions, the king was obliged to submit to any form of expression, dictated by the minister, that minister being under the entire controul of the queen; and though the nation seemed to wear a florid countenance, it was sick at heart. Lord North was a very considerable favourite with her majesty; while his opponents, Messrs. Fox and Burke, were proportionately disliked. The Duke of Grafton now felt tired of his situation, and told the queen that he could no longer continue in office; in consequence of which, the Earl of Dartmouth received the privy seal.
The Americans, in the mean time, were vigorously preparing for what they conceived to be inevitable--_a war_. Various attempts, notwithstanding, were made by the enlightened and liberal-minded part of the community to prevent ministers from continuing hostilities against them. That noble and persevering patriot, Lord Chatham, raised his warning voice against it. "I wish," said he, "not to lose a day in this urgent, pressing crisis; an _hour now lost in allaying ferments in America, may produce_ YEARS OF CALAMITY! Never will I desert, in any stage of its progress, the conduct of this momentous business. Unless fettered to my bed by the extremity of sickness, I will give it unremitted attention; I will knock at the gates of this _sleeping and confounded ministry_, and will, if it be possible, rouse them to a sense of their danger. The recall of your army, I urge as necessarily preparatory to the restoration of your peace. By this it will appear that you are disposed to treat amicably and equitably, and to consider, revise, and repeal, if it should be found necessary, as I affirm it _will_, those violent acts and declarations which have disseminated confusion throughout the empire. _Resistance to these acts was necessary_, and therefore just; and your vain declaration of the _omnipotence of Parliament_, and your _imperious_ doctrines of the _necessity of submission_, will be found equally _impotent to convince or enslave America_, who feels that tyranny is equally intolerable, whether it be exercised by an individual part of the legislature, or by the collective bodies which compose it!"
How prophetic did this language afterwards prove! Oh! England, how hast thou been cursed by debt and blood through the impotency and villany of thy rulers!
In the year
1776,
the Earl of Harcourt was charged with a breach of privilege; but his services for the _queen_ operated as a sufficient reason for rejecting the matter of complaint.
So expensive did the unjust and disgraceful war with America prove this year, that more than _nine millions_ were supplied for its service! In order to raise this shameful amount, extra taxes were levied on newspapers, deeds, and other matters of public utility. Thus were the industrious and really productive classes imposed upon, and their means exhausted, to gratify the inordinate wishes of a German princess, now entitled to be the cause of their misery and ruin. The queen knew that war required soldiers and sailors, and that these soldiers and sailors must have _officers_ over them, which would afford her an opportunity of _selling commissions_ or of bestowing them upon some of her _favourites_. So that these things contributed to her majesty's _individual_ wealth and power, what cared she for the increase of the country's burdens!
It is wonderful to reflect upon the means with which individuals in possession of power have contrived, in all ages and in all countries, to controul mankind. From thoughtlessness and the absence of knowledge, the masses of people have been made to contend, with vehemence and courageous enterprise, against their own interests, and for the benefit of those mercenary wretches by whom they have been enslaved! How monstrous it is, that, to gratify the sanguinary feelings of _one_ tyrant, thousands of human beings should go forth to the field of battle as willing sacrifices! Ignorance alone has produced such lamentable results; for a thirst after blood is never so effectually quenched as when it is repressed by the influence of _knowledge_, which teaches humility, moderation, benevolence, and the practice of every other virtue. In civilized society, there cannot be an equality of property; and, from the dissimilarity in human organization, there cannot be equality in the power and vigour of the mind. All men, however, are entitled to, and ought to enjoy, a perfect equality in civil and political rights. In the absence of this just condition, a nation can only be partially free. The people of such a nation exist under unequal laws, and those persons upon whom injuries are inflicted by the partial operation of those laws are, it must be conceded, the victims of an authority which they cannot controul. Such was, unhappily, the condition of the English people at this period. To prevent truth from having an impartial hearing and explanation, the plans of government were obliged to be of an insincere and unjust character. The consequences were, the debasement of morals, and the prostitution of the happiness and rights of the people. But Power was in the grasp of Tyranny, attended on each side by Pride and Cruelty; while Fear presented an excuse for Silence and Apathy, and left Artifice and Avarice to extend their baneful influence over society. British courage was stifled by arbitrary persecutions, fines, and imprisonment, which threatened to overwhelm all who dared to resist the tide of German despotism. Had _unity_ and _resolution_ been the watch-words of the sons of Britain, what millions of debt might have been prevented! what oceans of blood might have been saved! The iniquitous ministers who dictated war with America should have suffered as traitors to their country, which would have been their fate had not blind ignorance and servility, engendered by priests and tyrants, through the impious frauds of church and state, overwhelmed the better reason of the great mass of mankind! It was, we say, priestcraft and statecraft that kindled this unjustifiable war, in order to lower human nature, and induce men to butcher each other under the most absurd, frivolous, and wicked pretences. Englishmen, at the commencement of the American war, appear to have been no better than wretched captives, without either courage, reason, or virtue, from whom the queen's banditti of gaolers shut out the glorious light of day. There were, however, some few patriots who raised their voices in opposition to the abominable system then in practice, and many generous-hearted men who boldly refused to fight against the justified resistance of the Americans; but the general mass remained inactive, cowardly inactive, against their merciless oppressors. The queen _pretended_ to lament the sad state of affairs, while she did all in her power to continue the misrule!
At the commencement of
1777,
the several states of Europe had their eyes fixed on the contest between this country and the colonies. The French government assisted the Americans with fleets and armies, though they did not enter into the contest _publicly_. Queen Charlotte still persevered in her designs against America, and bore entire sway over her unfortunate husband. The country, as might be expected, was in a state of great excitement, owing to the adoption of measures inimical to the wishes and well-being of the people. The greater power the throne assumed, the larger amounts were necessarily drawn from the people, to reward fawning courtiers and borough proprietors.
This year, thirteen millions of money were deemed needful for the public service, and the debts of the civil list a _second_ time discharged! At this time, the revenue did not amount to eight millions, and to supply the consequent deficiency, new taxes were again levied upon the people; for ministers carried all their bills, however infamous they might be, by large majorities!
In May, Lord Chatham again addressed the "peers," and called their attention to the necessity of changing the proceedings of government. Although bowed down by age and infirmity, and bearing a crutch in each hand, he delivered his sentiments, with all the ardour of youth, in these words: "I wish the removal of accumulated grievances, and the repeal of every oppressive act which have been passed since the year 1763! I am experienced in spring hopes and vernal promises, but at last will come your equinoctial disappointment."
On another occasion, he said, "I will not join in congratulation on misfortune and disgrace! _It is necessary to instruct the throne in the language of truth!_ We must dispel the delusions and darkness which envelop it. I am old and weak, and at present unable to say more; but my feelings and indignation were too strong to permit me to say less." Alas! this patriot stood nearly alone. In his opinion, the good of the people was the supreme law; but this was opposed to the sentiments of the hirelings of state and their _liberal_ mistress.
As a last effort, the earl resolved to seek an audience of the queen, and the request was readily complied with. The day previous to his last speech, delivered in the House of Lords, this interview took place. His lordship pressed the queen to relieve the people, and, by every possible means, to mitigate the public burdens. But, though her majesty was gentle in her language, she expressed herself positively and decisively as being adverse to his views; and took the opportunity of reminding him of the _secrecy of state affairs_. As Lord Chatham had once given his solemn promise never to permit those secrets to transpire, he resolved faithfully to keep his engagement, though their disclosure would have opened the eyes of the public to the disgraceful proceedings of herself and ministers. The noble earl retired from his royal audience in much confusion and agitation of mind; and on the following day, April the 7th, went to the House, and delivered a most energetic speech, which was replied to by the Duke of Richmond. Lord Chatham afterwards made an effort to rise, as if labouring to give expression to some great idea; but, before he could utter a word, pressed his hand on his bosom, and fell down in a convulsive fit. The Duke of Cumberland and Lord Temple caught him in their arms, and removed him into the prince's chamber. Medical assistance being immediately rendered, in a short time his lordship in some measure recovered, and was removed to his favourite villa at Hayes, in Kent. Hopes of his complete restoration to health, however, proved delusive, and on the 10th of May,
1778,
this venerable and noble friend of humanity expired, in the seventieth year of his age.
The news of the earl's death was not disagreeable to the queen; and she thenceforth determined to increase, rather than decrease, her arbitrary measures. Ribbons, stars, and garters, were bestowed upon those who lent their willing aid to support her system of oppression, while thousands were perishing in want to supply the means.
Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, and Edinburgh, this year, were servile enough to raise regiments at their own expense; but the independent and brave citizens of London, steady to their principles, that the war was _unjust_, refused to follow so mean an example!
The year
1779
exhibits a miserable period in the history of Ireland. Her manufactures declined, and the people became, consequently, much dissatisfied; but their distresses were, at first, not even _noticed_ by the English parliament. At length, however, an alarm of _INVASION_ took place, and ministers allowed twenty thousand Irish volunteers to _carry arms_. The ministers, who before had been callous to their distresses, found men in arms were not to be trifled with, and the Irish people obtained a _promise_ of an extension of trade, which satisfied them for the time.
Large sums were again required to meet the expenses of the American war, and, the minister being supported by the queen, every vote for supplies was carried by great majorities; for the year's service alone _fifteen millions_ were thus agreed to. As the family of the king increased, extra sums were also deemed requisite for each of his children; and what amounts could not be raised by taxation were procured by _loans_,--thus insulting the country, by permitting its expenditure to exceed its means of income to an enormous extent.
Many representations were made to Lord North, that public opinion was opposed to the system pursued by ministers; but he was inflexible, and the generous interpositions of some members of the Upper House proved also unavailing. The independent members of the Commons remonstrated, and Mr. Burke brought forward plans for the reduction of the national expenditure and the diminution of the influence of the crown; but they were finally rejected, though not until violent conflicts had taken place, in which Lord North found himself more than once in the minority.
About this time, Mr. Dunning, a lawyer and an eminent speaker, advocated, in a most sensible manner, the necessity of taking into consideration the affairs of Ireland; but ministers defeated the intended benefit, and substituted a plan of their own, which they had previously promised to Ireland; namely, to permit a free exportation of their woollen manufactures. The unassuming character of that oppressed people never appeared to greater advantage than at this period, as even this resolution was received by them with the warmest testimonies of joy and gratitude.
There cannot be a doubt, that if the Irish had been honestly represented, their honor and ardour would have been proverbial; but they have almost always been neglected and insulted. The queen had taken Lord North's advice, and acquainted herself with the native character of the Irish, by which she became aware that, if that people generally possessed information, they would prove a powerful balance against the unjust system then in force. At this time, there was not an Irishman acquainted with any _state secrets_; her majesty, therefore, did not fear an explanation from that quarter, or she dare not have so oppressed them.
To provide for the exigencies of state, twelve millions of money, in addition to the former fifteen millions, were required this year; and thus were the sorrows of a suffering people increased, and they themselves forced to forge their own chains of oppression!