the Crown and Anchor' on the liberty of the press." In a few days Lord Loughborough was enabled to announce to Mr. Pitt the full adhesion of the Duke of Portland, and thereupon the bargain was closed. In the Rosslyn MSS. I have found a great number of letters, written during this negotiation to Lord Loughborough, by Mr. Burke, the Earl of Carlisle, Mr. Ralph Payne (afterwards Lord Lavington), and Mr. Pitt, which present a very lively picture of the state of parties during this crisis, and which will be of much use to the historian of the reign of George III. Some of the most interesting of them will be found in an Appendix to this memoir. Lord Loughborough had met with such disappointments when he had thought the Great Seal within his grasp, that he is said to have been very nervous on the day fixed for his receiving it, feeling a sort of superstitious dread that a spell had been cast upon him, and that by some mysterious decree it had been ordained, that however often or closely he might approach the object of his pursuit, he should never reach it. However, no political embarrassment — no visitation from Heaven-now frustrated his hopes, and on the 28th day of January, 1793, at Buckingham Palace, the Great actually delivered into his hand by George III.* CHAP. CLXXI. A. D. 1793. Negotiation completed, and Lord Loughborough is Chancellor at last. Lord rough's sen Seal was sations on receiving Carrying the Great * Jan. 29. 1793. The Lords Commissioners for the custody of the Great Seal of Great Britain, having delivered the said Great Seal to the King at the Queen's House on Monday, the 28th day of January, 1793, his Majesty the same day delivered it to Alexander Lord Loughborough, Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, with the title of Lord High Chancellor of Great Seal. CLXXI. A. D. 1793. CHAP. it home in his coach, he exultingly showed it to Lady Loughborough, though he afterwards declared he was still a little afraid that he might awake and find that he had once more been deluded by a pleasing dream. He never acknowledged to others the farther truth that a few days' possession showed to him the utter worthlessness of the object for which he had made such exertions and such sacrifices. Britain, who was then sworn into the said office before his Majesty in Council; and the next morning came into the Court of Chancery, in Westminster Hall, attended by several Peers, &c., and in open Court took the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and the oath of Chancellor of Great Britain, the same being administered by the Deputy Clerk of the Crown, the Master of the Rolls (covered) holding the book; which being done, Mr. Attorney General moved that it might be recorded by the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery, which the Court ordered accordingly.-Minute Book, No. 2. fol. 42. CHAPTER CLXXII. CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF LORD LOUGHBOROUGH TILL THE CLXXII. THE new Chancellor was most cruelly assailed by the Oppo- CHAP. sition press as a renegade. The quotation was often repeated "Thou hast it now; and I fear Thou play'd'st most foully for't." A. D. 1793. against the His own saying was revived with respect to curing "the bite cellor. of the tarantula of Opposition by the music of the Court."* In the midst of much coarse vituperation, which he must have despised, he was probably more stung by the following playful jeu d'esprit of Matthias, which was repeated and laughed at in Burlington House, as well as in all other fashionable societies: "The Serenata of ACIS AND GALATEA has been performed in Downing Street, to a private company. The part of Acis by Mr. Pitt, Polypheme by Lord Thurlow, and Galatea by Lord Loughborough. The barytone of Lord Thurlow was quite Polyphemeish, and fully sustained; but it was impossible to do justice sufficiently to Lord Loughborough's diminuendo, when he died away in the arms of Acis." The object of these pleasantries, however, by no means incurred now the same obloquy as when in 1771 he left his party, without a companion, to be made Solicitor General. If he counterfeited what he did not feel, the dread of revolution professed by the "alarmist Whigs" was sincere; and although they at first discouraged the notion of his taking office, the Duke of Portland, Lord Spencer, and Mr. Windham soon followed his example. We may fairly gather the sentiments of that party from a letter of Sir Gilbert Elliot to Lord Malmesbury, written from Minto, the very day before the transfer of the Great Seal actually took place. * Antè, p. 82. CHAP. CLXXII. Jan. 27. 1793. Letter from Sir Gilbert Elliot respecting Lord Lough borough's acceptance of office. Congratulations from Burke. he After expressing his own determination not to accept office, says, "With regard to Lord Loughborough, I think the question stands on different grounds. His acceptance of the Seals I believe sincerely to be eminently necessary for the public service. His conduct has been highly honourable, and every thing like personal claim or even party claim on him by the Duke of Portland is certainly at least cancelled, if not converted into a direct provocation, by what has passed since the commencement of this session. But the public good, in my opinion, requires his services; and for that reason they are due from him. I shall certainly not only approve but applaud his acceptance of the Seals. It is for every man to consider whether the public has the same claim on him. I cannot feel that my services in office are of the smallest moment to the country; but the circumstances of the country may become such as to require all our aid, in every way in which it is called for." Some who had narrowly watched the career of the "wary Wedderburn" declared that he would have supported a revolutionary movement, and held the Great Seal under the directors of the " Anglican Republic," if this had appeared the better course for gratifying his ambition; but in the AntiJacobin frenzy now prevailing he was very generally applauded for magnanimously leaving his party when it had become infected with the bad principles which he had so boldly denounced, and for the dexterity with which he had carried so many partizans along with him to rally round our time-honoured institutions. Thus was he congratulated by Burke: "MY DEAR LORD, "Since I saw you last, the catastrophe of the tragedy of France has been completed.* It was the necessary result of all the preceding parts of that monstrous drama. 66 Though I looked for something of that kind as inevitable from the day when the Rights of Man were declared, yet when the fatal and final event itself arrived, I was as much levelled and thrown to the ground, in the general consternation, as if it were a thing I had never dreamed of. "I felt and I feel deeply: but I have recovered myself. I have now only to think of the past, which you, and those who have got *The murder of Louis XVI. enough of spirit, energy, and abilities to come forward in the service of your country, are obliged to take in this awful crisis of the world. "I hear that your Lordship is to take the Great Seal next Tuesday. I think we are all much obliged to his Majesty for this arrangement. The King has acted wisely in his choice. You have done your duty in your acceptance. I should have thought you criminal, in your circumstances, if you had declined to do a service to the public, which you alone can do. “The time requires exertions of uncommon vigour and compass. It is therefore proper to add all possible strength to an Administration which has for its object effectually to defend the Constitution of this kingdom, and the liberties of Europe, against French principles and French power. This never can be done by those who have declared their concurrence with the one, and their good wishes in favour of the other. There is a confraternity between the two divisions of the French faction on the other side of the water and on this. They are both guilty, and equally guilty, of the late acts which have wounded to the quick all the moral feelings of mankind. If you had no other reason for going into the great trust you have accepted than as a mode of expressing your perfect detestation of the English branch of that infernal faction, and of your total alienation from any connection whatsoever with any of its leaders, I should think that motive alone would be sufficient to recommend the step you have taken to every honest mind. I shall not think that the honour of your high situation is complete until I find you abundantly censured and libelled by them. 66 'My dear Lord, I regret that you do not carry in along with you those whom I shall ever love, value, and lament. But their error is not your fault. I prognosticate good things to the morals, virtue, and religion of the world from this appointment. Let me not find myself mistaken. You have undertaken a task of great responsibility. I know the purity of your motives-but the public will judge of them by your future conduct, and the effect of your services. I am sure you have my most sincere good I am, with a very affectionate attachment, wishes. 66 'My dear Lord, "Your Lordship's faithful and affectionate humble servant, "Duke Street, Jan. 27. 1793." * "EDM. BURKE. CHAP. CLXXII. A. D. 1793. |