Memoirs of the Reign of King George the Third (Vol. 1-4). Horace Walpole
Administration forced to lay before Parliament a demand of four hundred thousand pounds for indemnification to the Landgravate. Legge, who knew himself fallen into disgrace with Lord Bute, refused to make the motion, on which he received intimation that he must resign. Lord Winchelsea55 said, Legge had had more masters than any man in England, and had never left one with a character. Lord Barrington,56 therefore, made the demand. Beckford again declaimed on the extravagance of the war. Sir Francis Dashwood said, he had always disapproved the continental war, but would agree to vote the money, (which was a sum of two hundred and sixty thousand pounds for three years,) as we were bound by treaty to pay it; and he found fault with more authorities not being laid before Parliament. This money too was granted on March 6.
Three days before, the King had gone to Parliament, to desire that the places of the judges, which were held during the life of the Prince on the Throne, might be fixed to them for their own lives. This was one of Lord Bute’s strokes of pedantry. The tenure of the judges had formerly been a popular topic; and had been secured as far as was necessary. He thought this trifling addition would be popular now, when nobody thought or cared about it. When, not long afterwards, the advocates for the Court were puzzled to produce instances of favour to the constitution or to the cause of liberty, this boon to the judges was sounded high, and repeated in every panegyric.
Nothing more of note occurred in this session. All attention was engrossed by the approaching general election of a new Parliament. It had been propagated that the King had forbidden any money to be issued from the Treasury. Nothing was less true in fact, or proved less true in effect. Both the Court and particulars went greater lengths than in any preceding times. In truth, the corruption of electors met, if not exceeded, that of candidates. The borough of Sudbury was so shameless, as to advertise itself to the highest bidder.
But, preparatory to a new Parliament, and as an intimation to men under whom they should list, the Favourite determined to appear more ostensibly in the character of Minister. Accordingly, on the 12th of March, orders were suddenly sent to Lord Holderness to give up the seals of Secretary of State: the King adding, in discourse, that he had two secretaries, one (Mr. Pitt) who would do nothing, and the other (Lord Holderness) who could do nothing;57 he would have one, who both could and would. This was Lord Bute, to whom the Seals were immediately delivered. Subduing Europe was reckoned nothing, as the service was ungracious: and however low the talents of Lord Holderness deserved to be estimated, they did not suffer by comparison with those of his successor. Mr. Pitt resented the fall of his creature, but was sweetened by the offer of cofferer to James Grenville.58 Newcastle rejoiced, having been deserted by Holderness; but affected to be concerned: yet was not struck with the warning that this measure ought to have been to himself. Mr. Pitt felt it more sensibly, and would not part with Lord Temple, who might have been Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, but was necessary to him in the House of Lords, where his measures had no other champion. Lord Halifax was named to that great office; the Duke of Bedford refused to accept any post; but it was supposed had his eye on the Seals, which everybody expected disgust would soon oblige Mr. Pitt to resign.
Nothing could be more injudicious than this step taken by the Favourite. The conduct he ought to have pursued was obvious; which was, lying quiet, till some or all of a few events, most probable to happen, should have paved the way to his taking the reins. Newcastle was old, Mr. Pitt very infirm. Their deaths, or at least a rupture between them, would have delivered him from them; at least have constituted him umpire between them. Any sinister event of the war might have demolished Mr. Pitt’s popularity. Prudence, at least, should have dictated to Lord Bute to await the conclusion of the peace, which, however good, would have given a shock to Mr. Pitt’s credit, from the impossibility of contenting all mankind. But the Favourite was as impatient to have the honour of making that peace, as if he had intended to make it an honourable one. His thrusting himself into administration at the moment he did, was so preposterous, that most men thought him betrayed into it by malicious advice. The Duke of Bedford, to pay his court, and from desire of peace, certainly counselled it; but Newcastle, and Hardwicke too, were generally believed to have infused the same advice, with a view to his destruction; for while only Groom of the Stole, Lord Bute stood in no responsible place. This was the more likely, as what emoluments they obtained for their friends in the new shuffling of the cards, by no means compensated for the credit they lost by the appearance of this new star in the horizon of power.
The Duke of Rutland59 was named Groom of the Stole; Lord Sandys,60 First Lord of Trade, but upon the ancient footing; the West Indies, to please Mr. Pitt, being again put under the province of the Secretary of State. The Duke of Leeds61 was turned back to his old place of Justice in Eyre, in the room of Lord Sandys, but with an additional salary of a thousand pounds a year. Legge, who refused to resign, was dismissed; and Lord Barrington made Chancellor of the Exchequer; being succeeded by Charles Townshend62 as Secretary at War. Sir Francis Dashwood was made Treasurer of the Chambers. Elliot,63 another of Lord Bute’s court, succeeded James Grenville at the Board of Treasury. Lord Villiers64 and Thomas Pelham65 were placed in the Admiralty, as John Yorke, Lord Hardwicke’s fourth son, Rice,66 son-in-law of Lord Talbot, and Sir Edmund Thomas were at the Board of Trade. Mr. Spencer67 and Sir Richard Grosvenor (at the recommendation of Mr. Pitt) were created Viscounts; Sir Thomas Robinson,68 Sir Nathaniel Curzon,69 a rich Tory, Sir William Irby,70 chamberlain to the Princess, were made barons, along with Dodington,71 whose ambition still hovered about the Court, in which he was at last likely to have some lead, by his connexion with the Favourite. Nor did Lord Bath72 himself quit sight of the back-stairs, by which he obtained leave to hobble up to the King whenever he pleased.
But a phenomenon, that for some time occasioned more speculation than even the credit of the Favourite, was the staff of Lord Steward being put into the hands of Lord Talbot,73 with the addition of an earldom. As neither gravity, rank, interest, abilities, nor morals could be adduced to countenance this strange exaltation, no wonder it caused very unfavourable comments. This Lord had long affected a very free-spoken kind of patriotism on all occasions. He had some wit, and a little tincture of a disordered understanding; but was better known as a boxer and man of pleasure, than in the light of a statesman. The Duchess of——had been publicly divorced from her lord on his account; and was not the only woman of fashion who had lived with him openly as his mistress. He was strong, well made, and very comely; but with no air, nor with the manners of a man of quality. No wonder the promotion of such a minister, in a reign that advertised piety, strengthened the suspicions already entertained of the sincerity of the Court. It grew more comic still, when the new statesman appeared to be a reformer too. As the Court knew that the measures it had in contemplation could only be carried by money, every stratagem was invented to curtail the common expenses of the Palace. As these fell under the province of the Lord Steward, nothing was heard of but cooks cashiered, and kitchens shut up. Even the Maids of Honour, who did not expect rigours from a great officer of Lord Talbot’s complexion, were reduced to complain of the abridgement of their allowance