340 DISCERNMENT AND FIRMNESS OF MR. PITT. silent, as to the mighty struggle within the walls of Parliament. His opinion was quickly confirmed by various addresses to the King expressing confidence in his administration, and condemning Mr. Fox's India Bill, and the violence manifested by his party in the House of Commons, in consequence of his dismissal from office. At the same time they conveyed to the Sovereign assurances of support, in the exercise of his unquestionable prerogative. These manifestations of increasing popularity, gave courage to the mind which had discernment to foresee, and patient fortitude to wait for them. Mr. Pitt nevertheless had yet to stand against a host of Parliamentary opponents. He had also to endure the pressing urgency of friends whom he respected, strengthned by the declared sense of the House of Commons, who wished him to unite with his mighty rival. He refused to quit office till removed by his Sovereign, upon which the adverse majority of the Lower House determined to approach the throne, and to lay before the King, by such of its members as were Privy Councillors, the resolutions they had adopted against his Minister. The House of Lords, however, supported the prerogative of the Crown in an address carried by a majority of 47. The words of the King, in a communication to Mr. Pitt, when this address was expected to be moved, should ever be remembered by all true patriot friends of Britain's unrivalled constitution:-"I trust the House of Lords will this day feel that the hour is come, for which the wisdom of our ancestors established that respectable corps in the state, to prevent either the Crown or the Commons from encroaching on the rights of each other." The decision of the House of Lords produced a great sensation both in and out of Parliament, and was commented on with much ingenuity by REPRESENTATION TO THE KING. 341 each party. His Majesty, with great firmness, resolved not to dismiss his Ministers, and they not to resign; and Mr. Pitt communicated to the House a message to this effect. The consequence of this was at length, after various manœuvres, an address to the King, which was met by a very temperate answer, but not in compliance with the wishes of the friends of Mr. Fox and his majority. Hereupon he determined to propose another address to the throne, which was agreed to by a majority of 12, and to which his Majesty replied with his former mildness and firmness. This induced Mr. Fox to move a representation to the King on his answers to the Commons. On this occasion, Sir Richard Hill said, Mr. Fox had compared his Right Honourable Friend Mr. Pitt to a receiver of stolen goods, and that in return he should beg to remind him, that they who in crowded places were the loudest in their vociferations to the people to take care of their pockets, were not the least busy oftentimes in picking them. "How far," he added, "this conduct is similar to that of those who tell us the constitution is in danger by his Majesty's present Ministers continuing in office, will perhaps be seen if we consider that the constitution is never in greater danger, than when any one branch of the legislature attempts to make inroads, encroachments, and innovations upon the others, by which that nice equilibrium is destroyed, which has caused the British government to be the glory of our nation, and the envy and admiration of the whole world. I do therefore affirm, Sir, that if his Majesty had given any other answer to the late address than what he has given, instead of shewing his paternal regard for the constitution, he would have signed its death warrant." Sir Richard Hill then facetiously alluded to the pathetic speeches of Mr. Powys, for whom he had a 342 VERSES BY SIR RICHARD HILL. great respect, though he could not resist a droll remark upon the dread that good man had expressed, that "the funeral of the House of Commons" was near at hand. "I hope," said Sir Richard drily," he will not continue to think the funeral of the House of Commons so near at hand as he has seemed to apprehend; but if he remains in the same opinion, the least the House can do will be to vote him to perform the office of undertaker on that occasion." This was followed by great laughter, and made Lord North look very angry. Sir Richard then said, he had versified the answer to the address, he conceived Mr. Fox would have desired; and as this gentleman was the great mover in the affair, and the men of his party only little wheels moved by him, the great one, he had worded it as spoken personally to him, and should by permission read it to the House. He called it 1 HIS MAJESTY'S MOST GRACIOUS ANSWER TO THE MOVER OF A CERTAIN ADDRESS. Lord North's expression in one of his speeches. 2 It was proposed by a Member to put the mace under the table, if the Ministers succeeded in the great struggle. 3 In allusion to a caricature of Mr. Fox riding on an elephant in the character of Carlo Khan, during the discussion of the India Bill. 4 The Man of the People was the name given to Mr. Fox in the height of his popularity. LORD NORTH VERY ANGRY. I'll ne'er presume to damp thy joy, Of useful friends about Duke's place. 343 The extreme amusement caused by these lines, read with much humorous expression, nettled Lord North beyond endurance. Instead of joining in the laugh they drew forth, he rose up in vehement indignation, and said it was "exactly that kind of nonsense about Carlo Khan, &c. that had misled the weak part of the country so strangely." He then attacked the administration with great bitterness, and accused them of resisting the motion, solely from a fear that the "true grounds of the dispute" should become known. The debate was concluded by a long speech from Mr. Samuel Smith, after which the division took place, giving the opposition a majority of one. It was then ordered that the Representation should be presented to his Majesty, by the Members of the House who were Privy Counsellors. Never was there a stronger excitement in the public mind respecting any debate than this. So great was the anxiety to hear the proceedings on that memorable day, that members went down to the House at ten 1 Mr. Sheridan's celebrated retort on Mr. Pitt caused him to go by this name. 2 Lord North. o'clock in the morning to procure admission for their friends to the gallery. By eleven o'clock the place allotted to strangers was crowded, and its occupants sat patiently without any business from that hour till four in the afternoon, when they had to listen to counsel on Nisbet's Divorce Bill before they could hope to reap any reward of their fatigue. After all, they were doomed to be disappointed; for Sir James Lowther came to the gallery with a friend, the brother of the Member for St. Alban's, at half past three, and could not gain admission for him. Nettled at this, just as the great debate was going to begin, he stated his disappointment, and that he believed there were many persons present not introduced by members; therefore he insisted on enforcing the standing order of the House, and desired that all strangers might withdraw. Several Members interfered and pressed him most earnestly not to have recourse to this step, but he persisted in having the gallery cleared. On this account, even the Parliamentary Register was obliged to go without any detail of the speeches, and to content itself with a short outline of the proceedings given by a member. 1 The issue of this debate placed Mr. Pitt in a situation which afforded high satisfaction to his Royal Master, who in his reply to the communication of what had passed on that memorable day, thus graciously expressed himself to his firm and conscientious minister. "I shall ever with pleasure consider, that by the prudence, as well as rectitude, of one person in the House of Commons, this great change has been effected; and 1 Bishop Tomline in his Life of Pitt has noticed the intense anxiety alluded to, and the early crowding of the gallery, but has omitted the remarkable circumstance here narrated, of the enforcement of the standing order. |