William Pitt and the Great War by John Holland Rose (e book reader for pc .TXT) 📖

letter

from the Rev. Jeremiah Joyce (tutor of Earl Stanhope's son) to Horne

Tooke, which the Post Office had seized. It announced the arrest of

citizen Hardy, and ended thus: "Query: is it possible to get ready by

Thursday?"[331] Some effort of the imagination was needed to figure the

Silenus of the literary world as a plotter against the lives of

Ministers. But they now decided to arrest him and the Reverend Jeremiah,

as well as Bonney, Richter, and Kyd, also members of the Constitutional

Society, besides Camage and one or two other democrats of Sheffield.

Davison, the would-be seller of pikes, had fled betimes.

 

These were the circumstances which induced Pitt to propose the

suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act (16th May). The Report of the Secret

Committee having been read, he proceeded to exaggerate the import of the

more threatening parts of the evidence, and to convince the House that

these Societies, which had congratulated the French Convention, and

still aped its methods, were plotting to set up an authority openly

hostile to Parliament. With all the force of his oratory he pictured the

state of things that must ensue--"an enormous torrent of insurrection,

which would sweep away all the barriers of government, law and religion,

and leave our country a naked waste for usurped authority to range in,

uncontrolled and unresisted." Despite the warning of Fox that the remedy

now proposed was worse than the evil which it sought to avert; despite

the pleas of Grey and Sheridan against indecent haste in hurrying on

this arbitrary measure, it was forced through every stage in the Commons

at that single sitting; finally, at half-past three in the morning, the

numbers of the Whig protestors sank to 13, while the Ministerialists

still mustered 108 strong.[332]

 

This collapse of the Opposition was due to a sharp cleavage in its ranks

on the vital issues now at stake. As has already appeared, Pitt had

consulted the Duke of Portland and his immediate followers on subjects

affecting public order. Some of the Old Whigs, notably Windham, served

on the Committee of Secrecy; and the evidence there forthcoming led them

to propose a general support of Government both in its war policy and

the maintenance of order. Those eager Royalists, Burke and Windham, took

the lead in proposing an alliance with the Ministry. The question arose

whether the Old Whigs should support from outside or actually coalesce

with the Ministry, taking their fair share of power. Burke strongly

advised the latter course as the only means of assuring continued and

strenuous support. This opened a sluice gate of correspondence,

resulting in important changes in the Cabinet. I shall refer to this

matter later, merely noting here that the Duke of Portland took over

from Dundas the Home Office, which was thenceforth limited to British

and Irish affairs, Dundas becoming Secretary of State for War, and

Windham Secretary at War. The changes were most opportune; for they

strengthened the administrative machine and served to build up a

national party strong enough to cope with the growing difficulties of

the time. Thenceforth there was no danger of the overthrow of the

Ministry. Further, the panic pervading all parts of England in May 1794

was soon allayed by the news of Howe's victory, termed "the glorious

First of June"; while in July the fall of Robespierre caused a general

sense of relief. In view of these events, Pitt would have done well to

relax his efforts against the British Jacobins. He held on his way and

encountered sharp rebuffs. The trial of Hardy and others in October

dragged on to a great length; and, after hearing an enormous mass of

evidence (some of which proved the possession of arms by democrats) the

jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty. This result, due to the masterly

defence by Erskine and Gibbs, aroused a tumult of joy in the vast crowd

outside such as London had rarely seen. Hardy afterwards asserted that,

in case of a conviction, Government had decided to arrest about 800 more

persons.[333] This is mere hearsay; but it has been fastened upon by

those who seek to father upon Pitt the design of reviving the days of

Strafford and "Thorough." A fortnight previously Watt, once a government

informer, was convicted at Edinburgh of a treasonable plot to set the

city on fire, sack the banks, and attack the castle. Before he went to

execution he confessed his guilt.[334]

 

This was the only conviction obtained by Government. The trial of Horne

Tooke ran a course unfavourable to Ministers, the evidence for the

prosecution being flimsy in the extreme. Pitt himself was called to the

witness-box, and when closely cross-questioned by Erskine as to his

former connection with the Reform cause, admitted that he was present at

a meeting at the Duke of Richmond's residence, at which delegates from

county Reform Associations were present. The admission exposed him to

the charge of inconsistency in the eyes of those who looked only at the

surface of things. In reality, those who met at the Duke of Richmond's

house had nothing in common with the democratic clubs which proposed to

override the will of Parliament by a National Convention. Yet, as the

superficial view gains a ready assent, the fame of Pitt now underwent

an eclipse. Never again did he hear the whole-hearted acclaim which

greeted him in the years 1784-90. The roar of delight which went up at

the news of the acquittal of Horne Tooke was a sign of the advent of a

new era, in whose aspirations Pitt had no part.

 

The prosecutions against Bonney, Joyce, Kyd, and Holcroft were now

dropped. The charge against Thelwall was pressed home, but resulted in

another defeat for Government. Thus, except in the case of Watt, no

proof was forthcoming of treasonable designs, though the apprehension of

Davison of Sheffield might perhaps have led to discoveries of that

nature. In the main, then, Pitt and his colleagues failed to justify the

harsh measure of suspending the Habeas Corpus Act; and the failure of

the State prosecutions led to a marked increase of the membership and

activity of the London Corresponding Society, with results which will

appear later.

 

Nevertheless, Pitt's conduct is far from indefensible with regard to the

main point at issue, the meeting of a National Convention. In view of

the projects of some of the wilder spirits at London, Sheffield,

Norwich, and Edinburgh, it is presumptuous to charge him with

causelessly seeking to bring about a "Reign of Terror." He was face to

face with developments which might easily have become dangerous; and,

with the example of Paris before him, he not unnaturally took what he

thought to be the safer course, that of stopping them at the outset.

Indeed, we may question whether Fox, had he been in power, would have

allowed the assembling of a National Convention, pledged to press upon

Parliament measures which he reprobated.

 

It is when we come to details that Pitt is open to the charge of acting

with undue severity. Considering the proved loyalty of the great mass of

the people, what need was there to inaugurate a system of arbitrary

arrests? After all, England was not France. Here no systematic assault

had been made on the institutions in Church and State. The constitution

had suffered dilapidation, but it was storm-proof, and the garrison was

strongly entrenched. Moreover, the democrats for the most part urged

their case without any of the appeals to violence which wrought havoc in

France. There the mob delighted to hurry a suspect to _la lanterne_ and

to parade heads on pikes. Here the mass meeting at Chalk Farm, or on

Castle Hill, Sheffield, ended with loss neither of life nor of

property. So far as I have found, not one life was taken by the people

in the course of this agitation--a fact which speaks volumes for their

religious sense, their self-restraint even amidst deep poverty, and, in

general, their obedience to law even when they deemed it oppressive. The

hero of the year 1794 is not William Pitt, but the British nation.

 

FOOTNOTES

 

[274] See "The Complaints of the Poor People of England," by G. Dyer,

B.A. (late of Emmanuel College, Camb., 1793).

 

[275] "H. O.," Geo. III (Domestic), 27, 28.

 

[276] E. Smith, "The English Jacobins," 111-3; C. Cestre, "John

Thelwall," ch. ii.

 

[277] "Report of the Committee of Secrecy," May 1794. The Duke of

Richmond's plan was the Westminster programme of 1780, which became the

"six points" of the Charter of 1838.

 

[278] See Fox's letter of 2nd May 1793 to Hardy in "State Trials," xxiv,

791.

 

[279] M. Conway, "Life of T. Paine," i, 346.

 

[280] In the Place MSS. (Brit. Mus.), vol. entitled "Libel, Sedition,

Treason, Persecution"--a valuable collection.

 

[281] "Parl. Hist.," xxxii, 929-44.

 

[282] "Collection of Addresses ... to the National Convention of France"

(Debrett, 1793), 14.

 

[283] "Speeches of Lord Erskine," 293.

 

[284] "State Trials," xxii, 471-522.

 

[285] Porritt, ii, 128.

 

[286] "H. O.," Scotland, 7.

 

[287] _Ibid._

 

[288] "State Trials," xxiii, 118-26.

 

[289] I differ here from Lord Cockburn, "Examination of the Trials for

Sedition in Scotland," i, 147.

 

[290] _Ibid._, i, 162-5; "State Trials," xxiii, 146-8, 160.

 

[291] P. Mackenzie, "Life of Muir," does not state the reason for Muir's

visit to Paris.

 

[292] "H. O.," Scotland, 8. Dunlop, Lord Provost of Glasgow, sent it to

Robert Dundas on 12th March 1793. For this William Christie, who

translated the French Constitution of 1791 into English, see Alger,

"Englishmen in the French Revolution," 78, 98.

 

[293] See Campbell, "Lives of the Lord Chancellors," vii, 273, note, and

viii, 143-5, for criticisms on the judges: also Cockburn, _op. cit._, i,

147-80; "Life of Romilly," i, 23.

 

[294] "H. O.," Scotland, 8. Letter of 2nd August 1793. Dundas further

stated that Muir had several Irish handbills on him.

 

[295] Curiously enough, Lord Cockburn paid no heed to this in his

otherwise able examination of the case.

 

[296] T. Wolfe Tone, "Autobiography," ii, 285.

 

[297] "H. O.," Scotland, 7.

 

[298] "H. O.," Scotland, 8. W. Scot to R. Dundas, 1st August.

 

[299] See the "Narrative of the Sufferings of T. F. Palmer and W.

Skirving" (1794), and "Monthly Mag.," xvii, 83-5, for Palmer's

adventures. He died of dysentery in 1799.

 

[300] "H. O.," Scotland, 9.

 

[301] Their Memorial to Henry Dundas is in "H. O.," Geo. III (Domestic),

They did not claim that he was innocent, merely that the punishment

was excessive and unjust.

 

[302] "Arniston Mems.," 240.

 

[303] Campbell, _op. cit._, viii, 145, 147.

 

[304] "H. O.," Geo. III (Domestic), 27.

 

[305] For the instructions see E. Smith, "The Story of the English

Jacobins," 87.

 

[306] "State Trials," xxiii, 414.

 

[307] J. Gerrald had published a pamphlet, "A Convention the only Means

of saving us from Ruin" (1793). It is in the British Museum.

 

[308] "H. O.," Scotland, 9.

 

[309] "State Trials," xxiii, 766.

 

[310] "Auckland Journals," iii, 205.

 

[311] "Arniston Mems.," 242.

 

[312] E. Smith, "The Eng. Jacobins," 93-7.

 

[313] See "Report of the Committee of Secrecy" (17th May 1794).

 

[314] C. Cestre, "John Thelwall," 77.

 

[315] "H. O.," Geo. III (Domestic), 30.

 

[316] "State Trials," xxiii, 1055-1166. For technical reasons this

statement of Booth could not be given at Walker's trial. Besides

Walker's Constitutional Society, there were two others, the Reformation

and Patriotic Societies, founded in March and April 1792.

 

[317] See E. Smith, "The Eng. Jacobins," ch. vi, for the meetings at

Sheffield and the part played by Yorke.

 

[318] "H. O.," Geo. III (Domestic), 31.

 

[319] _Ibid._, 27, 29. Spence purveyed "Pigs' Meat," while Eaton sold

"Hogs' Wash." The titles are a take-off of Burke's phrase "the swinish

multitude."

 

[320] _I.e._, similar to the one passed in Dublin against a People's

Convention.

 

[321] "Report of the Parl. Comm. of Secrecy" (17th May 1794).

 

[322] "Parl. Hist.," xxx, 1363-91; xxxi, 1-27.

 

[323] _Ibid._, xxxi, 97-121.

 

[324] "Morning Chronicle" for April 1794.

 

[325] "H. O.," Geo. III (Domestic), 30.

 

[326] "Auckland Journals," iii, 213.

 

[327] "State Trials," xxiv, 588, 600, 601.

 

[328] "State Trials," xxiv, 626.

 

[329] E. Smith, "Eng. Jacobins," 116.

 

[330] "Parl. Hist.," xxxi, 475-97.

 

[331] "Life of Horne Tooke," ii, 119. It was afterwards absurdly said

that Dundas, Horne Tooke's neighbour at Wimbledon, had had the letter

filched from his house. Both of them lived on the west side of the

"green."

 

[332] "Parl. Hist.," xxxi, 497-505.

 

[333] "Life of T. Hardy," 42; "State Trials," xxiv, 717, 729, 762, etc.

The evidence fills 1,207 pages.

 

[334] _Ibid._,