398 THE KING'S OPPOSITION TO CONCESSIONS TO CATHOLICS. [1801. Union between Great Britain and Ireland was perfected; and on the 22nd of January, 1801, the first Session of the first Parliament of the United Kingdom commenced by the election of the Speaker. At the commencement of the eighteenth century William III. accomplished the Grand Alliance of the powers of Europe against the ambitious designs of the despotic head of the French Monarchy. At the commencement of the nineteenth century George III. was the sole sovereign of Europe who had not succumbed to the military despotism of the French Republic. The two centuries seem separated by a vast chasm. History bridges over the gulf; and, rightly considered, shows how one series of events is essentially connected with a preceding serieshow great moral causes are ever steadily moulding the future of mankind, whilst the reign of violence and injustice endures but for a season. The Session was opened on the 2nd of February by a Speech from the throne. The king expressed his satisfaction at availing himself of the advice and assistance of the Parliament of the United Kingdom at a crisis so important. "This memorable era, distinguished by the accomplishment of a measure calculated to augment and consolidate the strength and resources of the empire;"" this happy Union, which by the blessing of Providence has now been effected;"-such were the vague congratulations in which the intentions of the Government towards Ireland were studiously veiled. Mr. Grey said, "I should indeed have augured more favourably of that Union, had I found that the Speech from the throne contained a recommendation (as it was reported it would do) to consider of taking off those disabilities to which the Catholics of Ireland are subject." What was then impossible to be explained is now matter of historical record. On the 1st of February Mr. Pitt wrote to the king a letter expressive of his regret, knowing his majesty's sentiments on that subject, to find himself under the absolute necessity of submitting to him that he felt a strong opinion, in concurrence with a majority of the Cabinet, that it would be expedient to repeal the laws which exclude Catholics from Parliament and from offices, as well as the laws which exclude Dissenters from offices. Mr. Pitt added, that he would endeavour, as far as could depend upon him, to keep the matter from being agitated, or to effect the postponement of the measure, provided his majesty would engage to avoid expressing his opinion so as to influence others in their conduct. On the 2nd of February, the king replied to Mr. Pitt, stating his determined resolution not to acquiesce in an alteration of the laws respecting Catholics and Dissenters, conceiving himself bound by his coronation oath to support those laws. The king added that, as he had never been in the habit of concealing his sentiments on important occasions, he would enter into no engagement to act otherwise now; still trusting, however, that Mr. Pitt would not leave him while he lived. The king, before he received the letter of Mr. Pitt, was perfectly aware that the matter had been discussed in the cabinet several months previous. It was an opportunity for intriguing statesmen to violate the confidence reposed in them as members of the government, and to enrol themselves amongst that dangerous body which stood between a Prime Minister and his constitutional responsibility, under the title of "the king's friends." Lord Loughborough, the Chancellor, was * Rose-"Diaries and Correspondence," vol. i. p. 288. + Ibid., p. 289. 1801.] RESIGNATION OF MR. PITT. 399 of this number. On the 13th of December, he placed in the king's hands an elaborate argument in opposition to "the very able paper on the question of admitting Catholics to a full participation of all the privileges of subjects."* Lord Loughborough refers to "the very able paper" as "the paper of lord C." (Castlereagh.) There was a confederate with the wily Chancellor, according to the well-founded belief of that time. "We learn," says the biographer of lord Sidmouth," from published records, that he (Loughborough), in conjunction with lord Auckland, first made his majesty acquainted with the intentions of the Cabinet respecting the Roman Catholics, through the archbishop of Canterbury." The king afterwards made no secret of his opinions: "At the levee on Wednesday, the 28th of January, his majesty said to Dundas, 'What is this that this young lord has brought over, which they are going to throw at my head ?' . . . . 'I shall reckon any man my personal enemy who proposes any such measure. The most Jacobinical thing I ever heard of. You'll find,' said Dundas, among those who are friendly to that measure, some you never supposed your enemies.'"+ It appears from the diary of lord Colchester (Abbot), that he was informed by the Speaker that "on Thursday last (January 29) the king had come to an explanation with his ministers, who had pledged themselves, without his participation, for granting to the Irish Catholics a free admission to all offices and seats in Parliament; and for repealing the Test Act, &c.; and some project upon Tithes that they had persisted in, and he had peremptorily refused to agree, saying that it was a question not of choice but of duty, and that he was bound by his coronation oath. That on Friday evening he had sent for the Speaker, and desired him to undertake the conduct of affairs."‡ Dundas had gone to the king on the 1st of February, and had explained to him that on the view of the coronation oath taken by the majority of the Cabinet, they held that it referred to the executive action of the sovereign, and not to his legislative action. The king exclaimed, "None of your Scotch metaphysics, Mr. Dundas." On the 3rd of February, Mr. Pitt replied to the letter of the king, urging the impossibility of his continuing in his majesty's service, knowing that his majesty would influence the conduct of others on the Catholic question; and he requested the king to make an arrangement as soon as he conveniently could, assuring his majesty that he would give his best assistance to the new government. The king replied that he would endeavour to make a new arrangement as soon as possible.§ We have seen that his majesty had taken the Speaker into his confidence from. the first. The king's request to him that he would " open Mr. Pitt's eyes on the See "The Lord Chancellor's Reflections on the Proposal from Ireland,"-endorsed by the king as received on the 14th of December, in the Appendix to Life of Sidmouth, vol. i. Wilberforce's "Diary,"-Life, vol. iii. p. 7. "Diary of lord Colchester," vol. i. p. 222. We quote this passage literally, even to the punctuation, from the recently published Diary of lord Colchester. The passage is quoted from the MS. Diary in Dr. Pellew's "Life of Lord Sidmouth," but with an important variation. There it is printed thus: "for granting to the Irish Catholics a free admission to all offices, and to seats in parliament, and for repealing the Test Act, and some project upon tithes; that they had persisted, and the king had peremptorily refused to agree.' (Vol. i. p. 311). This is very different from "some project upon tithes that they had persisted in." If Mr. Abbot's Diary is accurately edited by his son, lord Colchester, the ministers only "persisted in some project for tithes, a project which Mr. Pitt had advocated in the parliamentary discussions upon the Union. (See "Parliamentary History," vol. xxxiv. col. 272.) § Rose-vol. i. p. 290. 400 MR. ADDINGTON MINISTER-THE KING AGAIN INSANE. [1801. danger arising from agitating this improper question," had been made in vain.* On the 5th of February, Mr. Addington had accepted the charge of forming a new administration. He did this "with the concurrence of Mr. Pitt, who wished all his private and personal friends to remain in office." "I am convinced," says Rose," that there was from the beginning an eagerness in Mr. A. to catch at the situation." On the 8th of February, Mr. Canning told lord Malmesbury that Pitt had pressed him to remain in, but that his mind was made up to retire. "He confessed he had been one of those who had strongly advised Pitt not to yield, on this occasion, in the closet. That for several years (three years back) so many concessions (as he called them) had been made, and so many important measures overruled, from the king's opposition. to them, that government had been weakened exceedingly; and if on this particular occasion a stand was not made, Pitt would retain only a nominal power, while the real one would pass into the hands of those who influenced the king's mind and opinion out of sight." The experience of forty years had not taught the king to avoid the first great error of his reign. There was one man, whose active participation in the accomplishment of the Union, and his sound knowledge of the condition of Ireland, enabled him clearly to see the danger that would arise from the king's narrow and egoistical view of one of the greatest questions of philosophical statesmanship. He writes, on the 17th of February, "after having, as I thought, nearly accomplished the settlement of this devoted country in peace and tranquillity, and rendered Ireland a powerful bulwark for the security of Britain, an unexpected blast from St. James's has overset me, and has added grievously to the perils which have of late surrounded us, and threatened to overwhelm us." § It was as late as the 14th of March that the king received from Mr. Pitt the resignation of his office, and that Mr. Addington received the seals as First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer. There had been an interregnum. The king had again become insane. On the 17th of February, rumour said that the king had got a bad cold. On the 19th, he could not be disturbed. On the 22nd, he was getting worse-" Fatal consequence," says Malmesbury, "of Pitt's hasty resignation." On that day the prince of Wales said to Calonne, "Do you know that my father is as mad as ever?”|| The old intrigues in expectation of a Regency were renewed. The prince was again ready to grasp "the likeness of a kingly crown." But on the 7th of March the king was "recovered in mind as well as in body;" and the people made the most earnest demonstrations of their joy and their attachment to their old sovereign. The people were not very far advanced in political intelligence. They could scarcely look at a state question except through the medium of their passions and prejudices; and the king had therefore their hearty sympathies in refusing to concur in a measure of justice to those whose very names stirred up the bitter animosities of past generations, to be reproduced, not in cruel penal statutes, but in a denial of equal rights to their fellow subjects. The king directed Dr. Willis to announce his recovery to Pitt, Addington, Loughborough, and Eldon. To Pitt, he directed Willis to "Life of Sidmouth," vol. i. p. 286. Malmesbury-" Diaries," vol. iv. p. 4. § Cornwallis "Correspondence," vol. iii. p. 338. || Malmesbury-vol. iv. p. 21. Rose-vol. i. p. 292. 1801.] THE NORTHERN TREATY OF ARMED NEUTRALITY. 401 write, or say, thus:-"Tell him, I am now quite well, quite recovered from my illness; but what has he not to answer for who is the cause of my having been ill at all ?" Pitt, says Malmesbury, in his answer "by Willis,” which answer was most dutiful, humble, and contrite, said he would give up the Catholic question."* The new ministry was in office. Mr. Addington had succeeded Mr. Pitt, as Premier; lord Eldon had succeeded lord Loughborough as Chancellor. Loughborough had gained nothing by his intrigues, except the privilege of flattering the king in his casual visits to Windsor. Lord Grenville was replaced as Foreign Secretary by lord Hawkesbury; Mr. Dundas, Secretary of State, made way for lord Hobart; Mr. Windham, Secretary of War, was superseded by Mr. Yorke. Canning promised Pitt that he would not laugh at the Speaker's appointment to the Treasury. The substitution of respectable mediocrities in the great offices held by Grenville, Dundas, and Windham, was not likely to bring his sarcastic powers more under the control of his prudence. In the royal Speech at the opening of the Session, on the 2nd of February, it was announced that the court of Petersburgh had concluded a Convention with the courts of Copenhagen and Stockholm, for establishing a new code of maritime law, inconsistent with the rights and hostile to the interests of this country. The king, therefore, had taken the earliest measures to repel the aggressions of this hostile confederacy. On the previous 16th of December, a Treaty of Armed Neutrality had been ratified between Russia, Denmark, and Sweden, upon the principle that neutral flags protect neutral bottoms. To the remonstrances of the British Government, the emperor Paul answered by causing an embargo to be laid on all British vessels in his ports. On the 14th of January, a proclamation was issued by Great Britain, authorising reprisals, and laying an embargo on all Russian, Swedish, and Danish vessels. In a treaty of amity and commerce made in September, 1800, between France and the United States of America, it was stipulated that the flag should protect the cargo. The previous conduct of France to America had been grounded upon the most arbitrary assertion of the old maritime law of Europe. England had relaxed the strictness of the right of search and of blockade, in some exceptional instances. France had now a direct interest in encouraging the Northern powers in an armed resistance to that system of maritime law which England generally upheld; for the navies of France had been swept from the seas, and she could only obtain articles "contraband of war" through the ships of the Northern powers and other maritime neutrals, such as Prussia. Hostilities against these powers was a measure of national safety. An expedition to the Baltic had been planned and organized before the resignation of the Pitt ministry. Another expedition, whose destination was Egypt, had also been planned upon a magnificent scale-that of the united action of a body of troops under general Abercromby; of a detachment from India; and of an armament promised by the Grand Seignior. During the ministerial crisis of suspense, and after the change of government, there was no relaxation in the progress of these warlike demonstrations. On the 10th of December Abercromby had sailed from Malta in a fleet which carried seventeen thousand British troops; and had arrived in * Malmesbury, vol. iv. p. 34. 402 EXPEDITION AGAINST DENMARK. [1801. the Levant in the beginning of February, where he found that the success of his operations must depend upon himself alone. On the 12th of March, a fleet of eighteen sail of the line, with frigates and smaller vessels, left Yarmouth roads for the Baltic, under the command of admiral sir Hyde Parker, with lord Nelson as vice-admiral. Both these expeditions were successful; and their success gave eclat to the early days of the Addington administration— although the honour, whatever it might be, of their conception, rested with the predecessors of "my own Chancellor of the Exchequer," as the king rejoiced to call his new minister. On the 21st of March the English fleet was in the Kattegat. Mr. Vansittart, who had come with the expedition as an envoy, had gone to Copenhagen in a frigate, with a flag of truce, to see if war could be averted by negotiation. He brought back an answer of defiance on the 23rd. The question then arose, whether Copenhagen should be attacked by the fleet proceeding by the passage of the Belt, or by the passage of the Sound. Nelson was impatient of delay, and said to the admiral, “Let it be by the Sound, or by the Belt, or any way, so that we lose not an hour." The Danes had been working most assiduously at their defences, whilst Vansittart was negotiating and Parker was hesitating. M. Thiers suggests that the admiral was chosen because he was old and experienced, and knew how to conduct himself under difficult circumstances; that the vice-admiral was placed at his side, in case it were necessary to fight, for that Nelson was only fit to fight.* The issue of this great contest will shew us what Nelson was fit for. Orders were at last given to pass the Sound, as soon as the wind would permit. At day-break on the 30th the signal for sailing was given. In order of battle, Nelson leading the van, the fleet prepared to force the passage to the Baltic between the coast of Denmark and the coast of Sweden-the famous passage where every ship, from a far-gone time, had been compelled to lower her topsails and pay toll at Elsinore. The Danish side of the passage was guarded by Cronenburg Castle. On the Swedish side, at Helsenburg, separated in this, the narrowest part, by a distance of about three miles, there were no defences capable of resistance. The British fleet kept within a mile of the Swedish shore, and the guns of Cronenburg Castle were harmless. The whole fleet anchored at noon above the island of Huën, about fifteen miles from Copenhagen. The defences were surveyed, and being found very formidable, a council of war was held in the evening. Nelson opposed all arguments for delay, and offered to conduct the attack with ten sail of the line, and all the smaller vessels. Parker assigned him twelve sail of the line. But there were other perils than that of the fire of the enemy. The approach to Copenhagen was by an intricate and dangerous channel; and the Danes had removed or misplaced the buoys. Nelson, on the night of the 30th, proceeded himself in his boat to survey and re-buoy the outer channel. He was then meditating an attack from the eastward. This plan was changed; and on the morning of the 1st of April, the fleet took up another position off the north-western extremity of the Middle Ground, a shoal which extends along the whole seafront of Copenhagen, leaving an intervening channel about three-quarters of a mile wide. Close to the city the Danes had moored their ships. They had "Le Consulat et l'Empire," livre ix. |