On the second day after this decisive interview, Lord Liverpool informed the House of Lords that the Prince had been pleased to appoint him first Commissioner of the Treasury, and had authorized him to complete the other arrangements of the administration. This led to a conversation, in which Earl Moira stated what his views had been in these transactions ... and declared his determination to support the ministry, so far as they might act consistently with the principles which had guided his political life. He had ♦M. Wellesley’s explanation.♦ called upon Marquis Wellesley to explain what he meant by asserting that dreadful personal animosities had manifested themselves in the course of the negotiation. The Marquis replied, “That he had used the words advisedly; and no better proof of the charge could be required than the language of Lords Liverpool and Melville, one of whom had expressly declined to be a member of any administration formed by him, and the other had stated his objection as a matter of personal feeling.” Lord Harrowby made answer to this: ... “On the very day,” he said, “on which Mr. Stuart Wortley’s motion was carried, he and his friends had agreed to form part of an administration of which Marquis Wellesley was to have had the lead; but subsequent circumstances had made them alter that determination. The statement in which the Marquis accused his late colleagues of incapacity to conduct the government had wounded them through the memory of him who had just fallen by the hand of an assassin, whom they had considered as the life and soul of their cabinet, and whom they in the highest degree respected and esteemed; ... a man of unimpeachable integrity, who never wanted defence in the eyes of those who knew his value. That statement had produced feelings in himself and his friends which rendered it impossible for them cordially to unite with the Marquis in any administration. Marquis Wellesley replied, “That what had been just said confirmed the truth of his assertion, but he acquitted himself of any part in the publication of the statement. As soon as his resignation was known, some of his friends,” he said, “took down in writing his account of it in the expressions which fell from him in the heat of conversation: though they had often been solicited to publish this, they had uniformly refused, and he himself was horror-struck when he saw it in the public newspapers: for the statement,” he said, “was not his; it contained expressions which he would not have used in a document intended for the public eye, more especially at a moment when the country had just lost a man of the most irreproachable character, of the most perfect integrity, of the mildest heart, of the most amiable qualities, having, indeed, been distinguished by every private virtue. But it was no reproach to any man to be thought unfit for the supreme direction of government; and though he looked upon the act which deprived Mr. Perceval of his life as a stain on humanity, he never considered him, when living, as a fit person to lead the councils of this great empire. He admitted that he had never formally dissented in the cabinet from the opinions of his colleagues, though he had frequently put them in full possession of his own: he declared also, that there were many of their measures which he highly approved, and that he would give them his cordial support, as far as that could be done consistently with the deliberate opinion which he had formed on the great points of national policy: but he concluded by repeating, that they had opposed obstacles to the establishment of an efficient administration, and that those obstacles originated in personal feelings.”

There was no tendency in this speech to conciliate, but it was not likely farther to displease those whom Marquis Wellesley had already wounded, nor to wound ♦Earl Grey.♦ others. Earl Grey then rose to make his explanation and his charges. “For himself,” he said, “no man could be more anxious than he was, even as far as was consistent with his honour, to outstretch a feeble but a ready hand to save a sinking nation. But a strong suspicion had operated on his mind throughout the recent negotiations, that he and his friends were either not to be admitted into the cabinet at all, or, if admitted, to be bound down in such a manner that the public should be secured against the influence of the principles and measures to which, during their whole parliamentary existence, they had been pledged.” Alluding then to Marquis Wellesley and Earl Moira, he said, “that though in his late intercourse with them he could discover nothing but an unceasing and earnest desire to conciliate, and a laudable anxiety for the general good, he nevertheless suspected that they themselves had been deceived, and were not aware of the secret management of which they had been made the instrument.” ♦Earl Moira’s reply.♦ Earl Moira replied with becoming warmth to the imputation, solemnly declaring, “that he had undertaken the negotiation without a single particle of reservation in the authority with which he was intrusted; that he had stated to Lords Grey and Grenville, beyond the possibility of misapprehension, that his instructions were of the most liberal and unlimited nature, and that the transaction from beginning to end had been conducted with a severity of fairness, if he might use the expression, which was perfectly unparalleled. I claim,” said he, “of the noble Earl a statement of the particular circumstances to which he alludes, that I may repel the assertion in as haughty a tone as he has ventured to make it. My lords, I feel that I have not deserved this reproach: it is a disgrace which I do not merit, and which I cannot bear. If he can bring forward but the shadow of a proof that even unknowingly I submitted to be made such an instrument, I shall bow my head to his reproof, and to the degradation which must ensue. If he cannot, I shall repel the imputation as proudly as it was made. There was never in the most insignificant point the slightest reservation or hint of reservation: the powers given to me were complete and ample; and whenever limited, they were limited only by me from a sense of what was due to the public. I now call upon the noble Earl more satisfactorily to explain his meaning.” But Earl Grey contented himself with hinting that he might find some future opportunity for a more distinct explanation; and he let it appear that he himself was the person to whom the authority for forming an administration ought, in his opinion, to have been intrusted. Lord Grenville, with more judgment, avoided all offensive topics in his speech; the points which Earl Grey and he had refused to concede were, he averred, of material and fundamental importance, and they never would consent to become members of a ministry founded on a principle which, in their deliberate opinion, was calculated to overthrow the practice of the constitution.

But it was in the House of Commons that it was made known with what hasty imprudence the two lords had broken off their negotiation with Earl Moira. Mr. Stuart Wortley, who ought to have learned from the result of his former motion how bootless the repetition of such an experiment must prove, moved for a second address to the Prince, regretting that the first had not led to its expected consequences, and expressing the anxiety of the House that the arrangements for establishing an efficient administration should speedily be brought to a close. But the House was not disposed a second time to entertain such a motion. The temper in which Earl Moira’s overtures had been rejected drew forth severe comments in the course of the debate; and a statement which ♦Lord Yarmouth’s statement.♦ Lord Yarmouth made on the part of the household produced a strong impression both in and out of Parliament. “With respect to the household,” he said for himself and his friends, “that it was their intention to resign their situations before the new administration should enter upon office. This intention,” he affirmed, “was well known: they had taken every means of stating it in quarters whence it was likely to reach the interested parties, and in particular they had communicated it to one who took an active part in the negotiation, and with whom all who knew him confessed it was a happiness to spend their private hours.” Mr. Sheridan, who was the person intended, confirmed this statement. “They took every means short of resignation,” Lord Yarmouth continued, “to show that they never wished to have any connexion with the noble lords; and their intention originated in a wish to save the Prince from the humiliation which he must have experienced at seeing them turned out of office, ... a humiliation which could only serve to convey an unfavourable impression against the government throughout the country. He did not speak in the name of one or two, but of all the officers of the household: they stated expressly to his Royal Highness that they wished to resign, and not to be turned out; and all they requested was, that they might know ten minutes before certain gentlemen received the seals that such a circumstance was to take place: before God he declared that this had been their intention, and that the only principle by which they were actuated was to save the Prince from humiliation; for they could not but consider the attempt at making this change in the household a preliminary to entering upon the negotiation as calculated to humiliate his Royal Highness in the eyes of the country.”

The party who were in opposition seemed to think it preposterous that the existing ministers should presume to hold their offices. “It was monstrous,” Lord Milton said, “to see men who were held up repeatedly to scorn and ridicule brave public opinion and return into power!” ♦Lord Castlereagh’s speech.♦ Lord Castlereagh defended himself and his colleagues with considerable address, and ably performed the not very difficult task of contrasting their conduct with that of their assailants. “The proposed address,” he said, “contained no expressions to which he could hesitate in becoming a party, neither should he to the further expression of a hope that the Prince would avail himself of any opportunity for strengthening the present administration: ... but such an address was uncalled for by any message from the Crown: it could lead to no practical result; its obvious import was to insinuate that the administration was not likely to possess the confidence of the country; and this insinuation was founded upon its structure, not upon its conduct: he could not then think it possible that the House would sanction it for no other purpose but to disqualify the government from the arduous task in which it was engaged. The late transactions would induce the House not again to push the principle which they had so strongly asserted. A proceeding so sudden was not to be found in English history as that which they had lately seen, when the House decided, not against a ministry who had proved themselves unworthy of confidence, but against an administration the formation of which was but in progress. This precedent he hoped future Parliaments would never follow; for those must be blind who could not see the calamitous consequences which the occurrences of the last three weeks were calculated to produce on our foreign and domestic relations. Three or four distinct negotiations had failed, and the Crown was obliged to call on the present cabinet to charge itself with the affairs of the country. It was his consolation to think, that while on the one hand he and his colleagues had never stood between the Crown and the people, so on the other hand they had never shown a disposition to shrink from the discharge of public duties, deterred as they otherwise might be by the accumulated difficulties which the late transactions had occasioned. For he could not help thinking that the course which had been pursued was most injurious, and might be fatal to the interests of the public. Never in former times had a negotiation between public men been exhibited to the eyes of Parliament and the country at large, and exposed to all the invidious comments which the malignity and the ignorance of mankind might pass upon them. For his part, he could never augur well of any negotiation in which two men could not approach each other in a private room, although on public principles, without coming armed with pen and ink, and prepared to let every thing they might utter go forth immediately for the judgment of the public! The consequences in this instance would, he trusted, have the effect of preventing the recurrence of such scenes for the time to come.... It was a painful task for him to speak of the overtures from Marquis Wellesley, though he disclaimed any thing like personal animosity to him. The paper which had appeared he understood to have been published without the noble Marquis’s consent; but after such a statement had appeared, describing as it had described Mr. Perceval and those who acted with him, he appealed to the House whether gentlemen situated as his colleagues were could without degradation meet such an overture in any other way than that in which it had been met? He entertained the sincerest respect for Marquis Wellesley, with the highest admiration for his accomplishments and his talents; and those feelings were heightened by the consideration that he was the brother of the greatest soldier this country had produced. For him, therefore, it was peculiarly painful to be called on to decide on such an occasion; but when one answer only could be given by his colleagues, thinking as he did, though not included in it, that the description which had been given of them was unjust, he must have abandoned every sense of duty if he had not been anxious to repel the charge.” Having then touched upon Earl Moira’s negotiation with the two lords, and observed that the question concerning the household had been taken up in a tone which the country would never countenance in those who approached the throne, he concluded thus: ... “And now all I have to say for ministers is, that they claim the constitutional support of Parliament till their actions seem to speak them unworthy of it; and though the present government may not possess within itself all those attributes which we have heard given to broad and extended administrations, they have at least one recommendation to public confidence (and it is not a small one), that they have no disunion among themselves. We have no private ends to answer; we are anxious to serve our country, to do our best, and to submit our conduct to the judgment of Parliament.”

With these remarkable circumstances was that ministry formed, under whose administration the French were beaten out of Spain, and Buonaparte’s empire overthrown. For the second time since the commencement of the war it had rested with the leaders of opposition whether or not they should take the government into their own hands; and for the second time, by an overweening opinion of their own importance, and a most undue depreciation of those whom they expected to displace, they disappointed their own hopes, and in an equal degree the apprehensions of the nation. The sound part of the public, and they were a large majority, regarded the result with as much satisfaction as they had felt upon the recapture of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz; they looked upon it as tantamount to a great victory over the enemy, and the enemy would indeed have seen in a contrary result the surest presage of their own success; for what more could the French ministers desire than that the British government should be conducted by men who from the beginning of the war in ♦May.♦ Spain up to this crisis had pronounced their own cause to be hopeless? That danger was no longer to be feared; and although the cabinet had lost its ablest member in Mr. Perceval ... the only member who united in himself powerful ability with sound judgment, and strength of character with strength of principle, and who commanded in an equal degree the respect of his opponents and the confidence of his friends, the opposition had lost more in the exposure of their temper and the total frustration of their hopes, which was as much the proper as the necessary consequence.

The only unfortunate circumstance in these transactions was, that Marquis Wellesley should have been excluded, or rather should have excluded himself, from a place in the ministry: whatever his own expectations might have been, his friends had expected to see him at its head; and had Lord Wellington been supplied with such reinforcements as in that event might have been looked for, it was believed in the army that in the course of the year he would have driven the French out of Spain. The Spanish Government was at this time ♦Pecuniary assistance to the Spaniards.♦ little satisfied with Great Britain, because greater pecuniary assistance was not afforded them from resources which they supposed to be infinite. It was indeed the opinion of those whose opportunities of information enabled them to form a just opinion upon the subject, that the Spaniards could make no efficient exertion unless they were aided with two millions a year in money and one in provisions, which might be procured at Cadiz from America and from the Mediterranean by bills on England: but the British Government consented only to give 600,000l. in the course of the current year, with arms and clothing for 100,000 men; at length it agreed that the money should be one million. The Spaniards did not remember with how little wisdom and effect the large supplies which they had hitherto received had been expended; and in England sufficient allowance was not made for the peculiar difficulties in which Spain was placed: and while the errors of its successive governments were strongly perceived, sufficient credit was not given for the national spirit which had displayed itself with such unexampled and invincible endurance.

Some persons there were who were of opinion that no sure progress could be made towards the deliverance of Spain, unless a Spanish army were created on whose operations Lord Wellington could calculate and rely. But the opinion was abandoned upon farther knowledge of the Spaniards: the officers, with some rare and noble exceptions, were too ignorant, too idle, too prejudiced, and too proud, to receive instruction from their allies; and British officers could not be introduced in any useful number, for this would have offended the national pride. It was suggested by Mr. Tupper, who in his station as consul at Valencia had acted with great zeal and ability in the common cause, that the foreign regiments in the Spanish service might be taken into English pay, and officered by British officers. They still retained their foreign names, and were under foreign officers, but were chiefly composed of Spanish recruits: this, therefore, he argued, might be done without wounding the pride of the Spaniards, offending their prejudices, or injuring the interests of any class of men; whereas to place the Spanish army under the same subordination as the Portugueze, though the people, and especially the soldiers themselves, might like it, must be impossible, so great would be the opposition of the officers and of all the higher classes. This suggestion, for whatever reason, was either not entertained, or not found practicable; and the only arrangement made at this time was, that the Spaniards allowed 5000 men to be enlisted and incorporated with the allies. Some hope, however, was entertained from a diversion to be made on the eastern coast by a British force from Sicily in conjunction with ♦Plan of a diversion from Sicily.♦ a Spanish division, which by General Whittingham’s recommendation had been formed in Majorca, and trained there under his directions. This force it was thought, if its operations were well planned and vigorously pursued, might compel the French to withdraw from the southward; and engaged as it was now evident that Buonaparte would be in his Russian war, the deliverance of Spain might be hoped for as now not long to be delayed.

END OF VOL. V.

Printed by William Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street.