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Chapter 42:
The non-importation agreement enforced.—the New Tory party installed in power.
August 1769,—January 1770.
‘the
Lieutenant Governor well understands my
system,’
1 said
Bernard, as he transferred the
Government.
Hutchinson was descended from one of the earliest settlers of
Massachusetts and loved the land of his birth.
A native of
Boston, he was its representative for ten years, during three of which he was
Speaker of the Assembly; for more than ten other years, he was a member of the Council, as well as
Judge of Probate; since June 1758,
2 he had been
Lieutenant Governor, and since September 1760,
Chief Justice also; and twice he had been chosen
Colonial Agent.
No man was so experienced in the public affairs of the Colony; and no one was so familiar with its history, usages and laws.
In the Legislature he had assisted to raise the credit of
Massachusetts by substituting hard money for a paper currency.
As a Judge, though he decided political questions
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with the subserviency of a courtier, yet in approving
wills, he was considerate towards the orphan and the window, and he heard private suits with unblemished integrity.
In adjusting points of difference with a neighboring jurisdiction, he was faithful to the Province by which he was employed.
His advancement to administrative power was fatal to
England and to himself.
The love of money, which was his ruling passion in youth, had grown with his years; and avarice in an old man is cowardly and mean; knows that its time is short, and clutches with eagerness at immediate gains.
A nervous timidity which was natural to him, had been increased by age as well as by his adverse experience during the riots on account of the Stamp Act; and in the conduct of public affairs made him as false to his employers as to his own honor.
While he cringed to the minister, he trembled before the people.
At
Boston,
Hutchinson professed zeal for the interests and liberties of the Province.
With fawning treachery he claimed to be its friend; had at one time courted its favor by denying the right
3 of Parliament to tax America either internally or externally; and had argued with conclusive ability against the expediency and the equity of that measure.
4 He now redoubled his attempts to deceive; wrote favorable letters which he never
5 sent, but read to those about him as evidence of his good will; and professed even to have braved hostility
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in
England for his attachment to colonial liberties.
6 At
Boston he wished not to be thought to have been very closely connected with his predecessor
7 At the same moment, ‘I have lived in perfect harmony with
Governor Bernard,’ was the time-server's first message to the Colonial Office;
8 ‘I flatter myself, he will when he arrives in
England give a favorable opinion of me;’ and expressing his adhesion to the highest system of metropolitan authority, and retaining the services of
Israel Mauduit as his agent, he devoted his rare ability and his intimate acquaintance with the history and constitution of the Province to suggest for its thorough ‘subjection’
9 a system of coercive measures, which
England gradually and reluctantly adopted.
Wherever the Colony had a friend, he would artfully set before him such hints as might incline him to harsh judgments.
10 Even to
Franklin he vouched for the tales of
Bernard as ‘most just and candid.’
11 He paid court to the enemies of American liberty by stimulating them to the full indulgence of their malignity.
He sought out great men, and those who stood at the door of great men, the underlings of present Ministers or prospective Ministers, of
Grenville, or
Hillsborough, or
Jenkinson, or the
King; urged them incessantly to bring on the crisis by the immediate intervention of Parliament;
12 and advised the change of the
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Charter of the Province,
13 as well as those of Rhode
Island and
Connecticut; the dismemberment of
Massachusetts14 the diminution of the liberties of
New England Towns;
15 the establishment of a citadel
16 within the town of
Boston; the stationing of a fleet in its harbor;
17 the experiment of martial law;
18
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the transportation of ‘incendiaries’
19 to
England; the
prohibition of the
New England fisheries
20 with other measures, which he dared not trust to paper,
21 and recommended only by insinuations and verbal messages.
At the same time he entreated the concealment of his solicitations.
‘Keep secret every thing I write,’
22 said he to
Whately, his channel for communicating with
Grenville.
‘I have never yet seen any rational plan for a partial subjection;’ he writes to
Jenkinson's influential friend
Mauduit; ‘my sentiments upon these points should be concealed.’
23 Though he kept back part of his thoughts, he begged
Bernard to burn his letters.
‘It will be happy if, in the next Session, Parliament make thorough work,’
24 he would write to
John Pownall, the
Secretary of the Board of Trade; and then ‘caution’ him to ‘suffer no parts of his letters to transpire.’
‘I humbly entreat your Lordship, that my letters may not be made public,’ was his ever-renewed prayer to successive
Secretaries of State, so that he conducted the
Government like one engaged in a
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conspiracy or an intrigue.
But some of his letters
could hardly fail to be discovered; and then it would be disclosed that he had laid snares for the life of patriots, and had urged the ‘thorough’ overthrow of English liberty in
America.
The agreement of non-importation originated in
New-York, where it was rigidly carried into effect.
No acrimony appeared; every one, without so much as a single dissentient, approved the combination as wise and legal; persons in the highest stations declared against the
Revenue Acts;
25 and the
Governor wished their repeal.
26 His acquiescence in the associations for coercing that repeal, led the moderate men among the patriots of
New-York to plan a Union of the Colonies in an American Parliament, preserving the Governments of the several Colonies, and having the members of the general Parliament chosen by their respective Legislatures.
27 They were preparing the greatest work of their generation, to be matured at a later day; their confidence of immediate success assisted to make them alike disinclined to independence, and firm in their expectation of bringing
England to reason by suspending their mutual trade.
The people of
Boston,
28 stimulated by the unanimity and scrupulous fidelity of
New-York, were impatient that a son of
Bernard, two sons of
Hutchinson, and about five others, would not accede to the
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agreement.
At a great and public Meeting of Mer-
chants
29 in Faneuil Hall,
Hancock proposed to send for
Hutchinson's two sons, hinting what was true, that the
Lieutenant Governor was himself a partner
30 with them in their late extraordinary importations of tea. As the best means of coercion, it was voted not to purchase any thing of the recusants; subscription papers to that effect were carried round from house to house, and every body complied.
31
The Anniversary of the Fourteenth of August was commemorated with unusual solemnity.
Three or four hundred dined together in the open field at
Dorchester; and since the Ministry had threatened the leading patriots with death for treason, the last of their Forty-Five Toasts was: ‘Strong halters, firm blocks, and sharp axes, to such as deserve them.’
32 The famous Liberty Song was sung, and all the company with one heart joined in the chorus.
At five in the afternoon, they returned in a procession a mile and a half long, entered the town before dark, marched round the
State-House, and quietly retired each to his own home.
33
Massachusetts was sustained by
South Carolina, whose Assembly, imperfectly imitated by
New Jersey,
34 refused compliance with the
Billeting Act,
35 and
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whose people enforced the agreement of not import-
ing, by publishing the names of the few enemies to
America, who kept aloof from the Association.
36
In
Europe,
France studied with care the news from the Colonies, and was convinced of ‘their intrepidity’
37 and ‘their animated and persevering zeal;’
38 while the
British Ministry gave no steady attention to American affairs;
39 and defeated the hope of conciliatory measures which all parties seemed to desire,
40 by taking the advice of
Bernard.
41
The ferment in the Colonies went on increasing.
Copies having just then been received of the many letters from the public officers in
Boston which had been laid before Parliament,
Otis, who was become almost irresponsible from his nearness to frenzy,
42 grew wild with rage at having been aspersed as a demagogue, and provoked
43 an affray, in which he, being quite alone, was set upon by one of the
Commissioners of the Customs, aided by bystanders, and received ‘much hurt’
44 from a very severe blow on the head.
45 This affair multiplied quarrels between the people and the
King's officers, and mixed personal
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bitterness with the struggle for suspending the
trade with
England.
Early in October a vessel, laden with goods shipped by English houses themselves, arrived at
Boston.
The
military officers had been speculating on what would be done, and
Dalrymple stood ready
46 to protect the factors.
But his assistance was not demanded;
Hutchinson permitted the merchants to reduce the consignees to submission, and even to compel an English adventurer to re-embark his goods.
47 One and another of the
Boston recusants yielded; even the two sons of
Hutchinson himself by their father's direction, gave up eighteen chests of tea and entered fully into the agreement.
Four still held out, and their names, with those of the two sons of
Hutchinson, whose sincerity was questioned, stand recorded as infamous on the journals of the town of
Boston.
48 On the fifteenth another ship arrived; again the troops looked on as bystanders, and witnessed the complete victory of the people.
49
A letter from
New-York next invited
Boston to extend the agreement against importing indefinitely until every Act imposing duties should be repealed; and on the seventeenth, by the great influence of
Molineux,
Otis,
Samuel Adams and
William Cooper, this new form was adopted.
50
On the eighteenth of October, the town, summoned
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together by lawful authority, made their
‘Appeal to the World.’
They refuted and covered with ridicule ‘the false and malicious aspersions’ of
Bernard,
Gage,
Hood, and the
Revenue Officers; and making the language and the intrepidity of
Samuel Adams51 their own, they avowed their character and proclaimed their decision, with a boldness that would have seemed arrogance, had not events proved it to have been magnanimity.
‘A legal meeting of the
Town of Boston,’ such were their words,
is an Assembly where a noble freedom of speech is ever expected and maintained; where men think as they please and speak as they think.
Such an Assembly has ever been the dread, often the scourge of tyrants.
An Appeal to the World, or a Vindication of the Town of Boston, p. 18.
‘We should yet be glad that the ancient and happy union between
Great Britain and this country might be restored.
The taking off the duties on paper, glass and painters' colors, upon commercial principles only, will not give satisfaction.
Discontent runs through the continent upon much higher principles.
Our rights are invaded by the
Revenue Acts; therefore until they are all repealed,’ ‘and the troops recalled,’ ‘the cause of our just complaints cannot be removed.’
The declaration of the town of
Boston52 was fearless and candid;
Hutchinson, through secret channels, sent word to
Grenville, to
Jenkinson and
Hillsborough,
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that all would be set right if Parliament,
53 within the first week of its session,
54 would change the municipal government of
Boston,
55 incapacitate its patriots to hold any public office,
56 and restore the vigor of authority by decisive action.
He would abolish the existing ‘vague, uncertain sort of government;’ he would have no ‘partial subjection.’
57 But he prepared also for the inaction of Parliament; writing orders for a new and large supply of teas for his sons' shop; and instructing his correspondent how to send them to market, so as to elude the vigilance of the
Boston committees.
58
Meantime languor crept over all the servants of Government.
Two regiments remained to preserve order; ‘I consider myself to be without support,’
59 said their
Commander; who could get no leave to employ his little army.
On Saturday the twenty-eighth, a great multitude of people laid hold of an informer,
60 besmeared him with tar and feathers, and with the troops under arms as spectators, carted him through the town which was illuminated for the occasion.
Mein, a printer, whose caricatures of leading patriots had given offence, engaged in a quarrel, fired pistols, and fled for shelter to the main guard, whence he was obliged to escape in disguise,
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only to abscond from the town.
Terrified by
the commotions, the only two importers who had continued to stand out, capitulated.
61
To the military, its inactivity was humiliating.
Soldiers and officers spoke of the people angrily as rebels.
‘The men were rendered desperate’ by the firmness with which the local magistrates put them on trial for every transgression of the provincial laws.
62 Arrests provoked resistance.
‘If they touch you, run them through the bodies,’ said a Captain in the twenty-ninth regiment to his soldiers, and was indicted for the speech.
63 The magistrates continued their efforts to check the insolence of offenders by the civil authority, although soldiers were repeatedly rescued from peace officers, and contrived to evade legal punishments.
64
In November, a true Bill was found by the
Grand Jury against
Thomas Gage, as well as many others, ‘for slandering the town of
Boston.’
65 Dalrymple was so ‘continually engaged in disagreeable broils,’ that he and other officers longed to leave the town.
Martial Law not having been proclaimed, ‘a military force,’
Hutchinson owned, ‘was of no sort of use,’ and was ‘perfectly despised.’
66 ‘Troops,’ said
Samuel Adams, ‘which have heretofore been the terror of the enemies to liberty, parade the streets, to become the objects of the contempt even of women and children.’
67
The menace that he and his friends should
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be arrested and shipped to
England, was no more
heeded than idle words.
The Assembly of North Carolina, in November, unanimously
68 adopted the protest of
Virginia against the proposal, and thus provoked a dissolution, which opened to the Regulators some hope of relief through new elections.
But a different turn was given to public thought, when Botetourt, the
King's own Friend, communicated to the Assembly of Virginia the ministerial promises of a partial repeal, and with the most solemn asseverations abdicated in the
King's name all further intentions of taxing America.
The Council, in its reply, advised the entire repeal of the existing taxes; the Burgesses expressed their gratitude for ‘information sanctified by the royal word;’ and considered the
King's influence to be pledged ‘towards perfecting the happiness of all his people.’
69 Botetourt was so pleased with their Address, that he found his prospect brighten, and praising their loyalty, wished them freedom and happiness, ‘till time should be no more.’
The flowing and confident assurances of Botetourt encouraged the expectation that the unproductive tax on tea would also be given up. Such was his wish; and such the advice of
Eden, the new
Lieutenant Governor of
Maryland.
70 To the Legislature of New-York,
Colden, who, on account of the death of
Moore, now administered the
Government, announced unequivocally ‘the greatest probability that the late duties imposed by the authority of Parliament, so much to the dissatisfaction of the Colonies,
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would be taken off in the ensuing session.’
71
The confident promise confirmed the loyalty of
the
House, though by way of caution they adopted and put upon their journals the resolves of
Virginia.
72 Dec. The cardinal policy of
New-York was the security and development of colonial liberty through an American Constitution, based upon a union of the Colonies in one general Congress.
This purpose, it was believed, might be accomplished, without dissolving the connection with
Great Britain. ‘They are jealous of the scheme in
England,’ said
William Smith; ‘yet they will find the spirit of Democracy so persevering, that they will be under the necessity of coming into it.’
73 Under the pretext of framing common regulations of trade with the Indians, the Assembly of New-York at its present session, with the concurrence of its
Lieutenant Governor,
74 invited each Province to elect representatives to a body which should exercise legislative power for them all. It was a great step towards the American Union.
Virginia, when she heard of the proposal, made choice of
Patrick Henry and
Richard Bland, to appear as her Representatives.
75 But the cherished scheme was defeated for the time by the
British Ministry, who saw in Union the certain forerunner of independence.
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A general tendency to conciliation prevailed.
Since the merchants of
Philadelphia chose to confine their agreement for non-importation to the repeal of
Townshend's Act,
76 the merchants of
Boston for the sake of Union gave up their more extensive covenant, and reverted to their first stipulations.
77 The dispute about the
Billeting Act had ceased in
New Jersey and
Pennsylvania; the Legislature of New-York, pleased with the permission to issue colonial bills of credit,
78 disregarded the appeal from
MacDougall, “to the betrayed inhabitants of the city and Colony, and sanctioned a compromise by a majority of one.”
South Carolina79 was commercially the most closely connected with
England.
A Colony of planters, it numbered about forty-five thousand whites; of negroes more than eighty thousand.
The annual exports from
Charleston reached in value about two and a quarter millions of dollars, of which three fourths went directly or indirectly to
England.
Unhappily its laws restraining the importation of negroes had expired on the first of January, and their renewal was prohibited.
In consequence, five thousand five hundred negroes, chiefly adults, for immediate service, were sent there within eleven months, and, were sold upon an average at near forty pounds sterling each, amounting in the aggregate to a million of dollars.
But however closely the ties of interest
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bound
Carolina to
England, the people were high-
spirited; and notwithstanding the great inconvenience to their trade, they persevered in the strict observance of their association; looking with impatient anxiety for the desired repeal of the Act complained of.
80
Thus all
America confined its issue with
Great Britain to the single question of the Act imposing a duty on tea. ‘Will not a repeal of all other duties satisfy the colonists?’
81 asked one of the ministerial party of
Franklin in
London.
And he frankly answered: ‘I think not; it is not the sum paid in the duty on tea, that is complained of as a burden, but the principle of the Act, expressed in the Preamble.’
The faithful advice was communicated to the Ministry; but what effect could it produce, where Hillsborough administered the Colonies with
Bernard for his Counsellor?
Men felt that a crisis
82 was near which would affect every part of the
British empire.
Hutchinson saw no prospect of establishing such a government as he desired, until free speech in the mother country should be restrained; and
Otis, who was bowed to the ground with the sorrow of despair, had no hope for
America, but ‘from some grand revolution in
England.’
83 The question was not a narrow colonial one respecting three pence a pound duty on tea; it involved the reality of representative Government, and its decision would show, whether the feudal monarchy of the
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Middle Ages was to make way for authority resting
on centralized power, or for government resting on the consent of the public reason.
The colonists had friends in the friends of liberty in
England.
As the cause of the people was every where the same,
South Carolina in December remitted to
London ten thousand five hundred pounds currency, to the Society for supporting the
Bill of Rights, that the liberties of
Great Britain and
America might alike be protected.
84
Many of the patriots of
Ireland85 saw that their hopes were bound up with those of the Colonies; and Bushe, the friend of
Grattan, in imitation of
Molineux, published ‘the case of
Great Britain and
America,’ with a vehement invective against
Grenville.
‘Hate him,’ said he to
Grattan; ‘I hope you hate him.’
And it was
Grenville's speeches and
Grenville's doctrine, ‘that roused
Grattan to enter on his great career in
Ireland.’
86
The laboring people of
England, also, in the manufacturing districts, especially in
Birmingham, longed to enjoy the abundance and freedom of
America, and the ships which refused to take English merchandise might have returned full freighted with skilful artisans.
87 In the history of the
English people, this year marks the establishment of Public Meetings,
88 under the lead of
Yorkshire.
The principle of representation, trampled upon by a venal Parliament, was to be renovated by the influence of voluntary assemblies.
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The Press, too, came forward with unwonted
boldness, as the interpreter of public opinion and a legitimate power in the state.
‘Can you conceive,’ wrote the anonymous
Junius89 to the
King, ‘that the people of this country will long submit to be governed by so flexible a House of Commons?
The oppressed people of
Ireland give you every day fresh marks of their resentment.
The Colonies left their native land for freedom and found it in a desert.
Looking forward to independence, they equally detest the pageantry of a King and the supercilious hypocrisy of a bishop.’
The meeting of Parliament in January, 1770,
would decide, whether the
British Empire was to escape dismemberment.
Chatham recommended to the more liberal aristocracy
90 that junction with the people, which, after sixty years, achieved the Reform of the British Constitution; but in that day it was opposed by the passionate impulses of
Burke,
91 and the inherent reluctance of the high-born.
The debate on the ninth turned on the capacity and rights of the people, and involved the complaints of
America and of
Ireland, not less than the discontent of
England at the disfranchisement of
Wilkes.
‘It is vain and idle to found the authority of this
House upon the popular voice,’ said
Charles Jenkinson, pleading for the absolute independence of Parliament.
‘The discontents that are held up as spectres,’ said
Thomas de Grey, brother of the
Attorney General, ‘are the senseless clamors of the thoughtless,
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and the ignorant, the lowest of the rabble.
The
Westminster petition was obtained by a few despicable mechanics, headed by base-born people.’
‘The privileges of the people of this country,’ interposed
Serjeant Glynn, ‘do not depend upon birth and fortune; they hold their rights as Englishmen, and cannot be divested of them but by the subversion of the
Constitution.’
‘Were it not for petition-hunters and incendiaries,’ said
Rigby, ‘the farmers of
Yorkshire could not possibly take an interest in the Middlesex election of representatives in Parliament.
But supposing that a majority of the freeholders had signed these petitions without influence and solicitation; the majority, even of this class, is no better than an ignorant multitude.’
Up rose the representative of the Yorkshire weavers and freeholders, ‘the spotless’
Sir George Saville. ‘The greatest evil,’ said he, ‘that can befall this nation, is the invasion of the people's rights by the authority of this House.
I do not say that the majority have sold the rights of their constituents; but I do say, I have said, and I shall always say, that they have betrayed them.
The people understand their own rights and know their own interests as well as we do; for a large paternal estate, a pension, and support in the treasury, are greater recommendations to a seat in this Assembly, than either the honesty of the heart or the clearness of the head.’
Gilmour invited censure on such unprecedented expressions.
Conway excused them as uttered in heat.
‘I am not conscious,’ resumed
Saville, ‘that I have spoken in heat; if I did, I have had time to pool, and I again say, as I said before, that
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this
House has betrayed the rights of its constitu-
ents.’
‘In times of less licentiousness,’ rejoined
Gilmour, ‘members have been sent to the Tower for words of less offence.’
‘The mean consideration of my own safety,’ continued
Saville, ‘shall never be put in the balance against my duty to my constituents.
I will own no superior but the laws; nor bend the knee to any but to Him who made me.’
The accusation which
Saville brought against the House of Commons, was the gravest that could be presented; if false, was an outrage in comparison with which that of
Wilkes was a trifle.
But Lord North
92 bore the reproach meekly and soothed the majority into quietude.
The debate proceeded, and presently
Barre spoke.
‘The people of
England know, the people of
Ireland know, and the
American people feel, that the iron hand of ministerial despotism is lifted up against them; but it is not less formidable against the prince, than against the people.’—‘The trumpeters of sedition have produced the disaffection;’ replied Lord North, speaking at great length.
‘The drunken ragamuffins of a vociferous mob are exalted into equal importance with men of judgment, morals, and property.
I can never acquiesce in the absurd opinion that all men are equal.
The contest in
America which at first might easily have been ended, is now for no less than sovereignty on one side, and independence on the other.’
The Ministry who were crushed in the argument, carried the
House by a very large majority.
In the House of Lords,
Chatham, whose voice had
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not been heard for three years, proposed to consider
the causes of the discontent which prevailed in so many parts of the
British dominions.
‘I have not,’ said he, ‘altered my ideas with regard to the principles upon which
America should be governed.
I own I have a natural leaning towards that country; I cherish liberty wherever it is planted.
America was settled upon ideas of liberty, and the vine has taken deep root and spread throughout the land.
Long may it flourish.
93 Call the combinations of the
Americans dangerous; yet not unwarrantable.
The discontent of two millions of people should be treated candidly; and its foundation removed.’
‘Let us save,’ he continued, ‘this Constitution, dangerously invaded at home; and let us extend its benefits to the remotest corners of the empire.
Let slavery exist nowhere among us; for whether it be in
America, or in
Ireland, or here at home, you will find it a disease which spreads by contact, and soon reaches from the extremity to the heart.’
Camden, whom
Chatham's presence awed more than office attracted, awoke to his old friendship for America, and by implication accused his colleagues of conspiring against the liberties of the country.
Lord Mansfield, in his reply to
Chatham, ‘which was a masterpiece of art and address,’
94 declined giving an opinion on the legality of the proceedings
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of the House of Commons in reference to the
Middle-
sex election, but contended, that whether they were right or wrong, the jurisdiction in the case belonged to them and from their decision there was no appeal.
‘I distrust,’ rejoined
Chatham, ‘the refinements of learning, which fall to the share of so small a number of men.
Providence has taken better care of our happiness, and given us in the simplicity of Common Sense a rule for our direction by which we shall never be misled.’
The words were revolutionary;
Scotland, in unconscious harmony with
Kant and the ablest minds in
Germany, was renovating philosophy by the aid of Common Sense and Reason;
Chatham transplanted the theory, so favorable to democracy, into the Halls of legislation.
‘Power without right,’ he continued, aiming his invective at the venal House of Commons, ‘is a thing hateful in itself and ever inclining to its fall.
Tyranny is detestable in every shape; but in none so formidable, as when it is assumed and exercised by a number of tyrants.’
Though the House of Lords opposed him by a vote of more than two to one, the actual Ministry was shattered; and
Chatham, feeble and emaciated as he was, sprang forward with the party of
Rockingham, to beat down the tottering system, and raise on its ruins a Government more friendly to liberty.
But the
King was the best politician among them all. Dismissing Camden, he sent an offer of the
Chancellor's place to
Charles Yorke, who was of the
Rockingham connection.
He had long coveted the high dignity beyond any thing on earth.
Now that it was within his reach, he vacillated, wished delay, put the temptation aside; and formally announced his refusal, hoping a recurrence of the opportunity at a later day.
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‘If you will not comply,’ said the
King, ‘it must
make an eternal breach between us.’
Yorke gave way, was reproached by
Hardwicke his brother, and by
Rockingham; begged his brother's forgiveness, kissed him and parted friends; and then with a fatal sensibility to fame
95 went home to die by his own hand.
His appalling fate scattered dismay among the Ministry, and encouraged the opposition to put forth its utmost energies.
On the twenty-second of January,
Rockingham, overcoming his nervous weakness, summoned resolution to make a long speech in the House of Lords.
He turned his eyes, however, only towards the past, condemning the policy of George the Third, and defending the old system of English government, which restrained the royal prerogative by privilege.
While the leader of the great Whig party cherished no hope of improvement from any change in the forms of the
Constitution, the aged and enfeebled
Chatham, once more the man of the people, rose to do service to succeeding generations.
‘Whoever,’ said he, ‘understands the theory of the
English Constitution and will compare it with the fact, must see at once how widely they differ.
We must reconcile them to each other, if we wish to save the liberties of this country.
The Constitution intended that there should be a permanent relation between the constituent and representative body of the people.
As the House of Commons is now formed, that relation is not preserved, it is destroyed;’ and he proceeded to open before the
House of
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Lords, as the mature result of his long reflection, a
most cautious beginning of Parliamentary reform.
The Reform of the English Parliament!
How much must take place before that event can come about.
Shrinking from the storm,
Grafton threw up his office.
The
King affected regret, but had foreseen and provided against the contingency, being at this moment equally tranquil and resolved.
96 Conway hinted at trying
Rockingham and his friends.
‘I know their disposition,’ said the
King, ‘and I will not hear of them.
As for
Chatham, I will abdicate the crown sooner than consent to his requirements.’
Before the world knew of the impending change, he sent
Weymouth and
Gower, of the
Bedford party, ‘to press Lord North in the most earnest manner to accept the office of First Lord Commissioner of the Treasury;’
97 and he preceded their visit by a friendly autograph note of his own. Lord North did not hesitate; and the
King exerted all his ability and his ten years experience to establish the
Minister of his choice, teaching him how to flatter
Conway,
98 and “how to prevent desertion.”
On the last day of January, the new Prime Minister, amidst great excitement and the sanguine hopes of the opposition, appeared in the House of Commons. ‘The ship of state,’ said
Barre, ‘tossed on a stormy sea, is scudding under a jury-mast, and hangs out signals for pilots from the other side.’
‘The pilots
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on board,’ answered
North, ‘are very capable of
conducting her into port.’
All agreed that he spoke admirably well; inspiring such confidence that he prevailed by a majority of forty. ‘A very handsome majority,’
99 said the
King; ‘a very favorable auspice on your taking the lead in administration.
A little spirit will soon restore order in my service.’
100 From that night, the new Tory Party held possession of the
Cabinet.
Its opponents were divided between those who looked back to privilege as their old harbor of refuge, and those who saw beyond the abasement of the aristocracy a desirable increase of popular power.
