СНАР.
CLXX.

A.D. 1788.

Letter from

Mr. Sheri

dan to Lord Loughborough.

to my recollection to be a case in point, if at least I am correct in the remembrance of it. Was he not desired to take charge of the government, and when the legislation of the country was thus completed in its three branches, that it proceeded to ratify it by law? I have nobody within reach to borrow the least light from, that I dare speak to on the subject, but am happy to find the discussion of it in such good hands. I shall direct the messengers to call on you, and you may rest assured that your letters can by no accident come under the perusal of any other individual than the one you allude to. Before any decided measure is decided on, it is necessary, I think, you should see the Prince, and he says as soon as he has seen S. he will contrive it; but he is extremely jealous of seeing more than one person at a time, and that not by way of consultation, but in private friendship. He said to me to-night, he thought it had better be done by your coming to your farm, and thence to Bagshot; but more of this hereafter, of which I will give you the earliest intimation. Take no notice, however, of this communication for the present."

"Tuesday morning. "His Majesty continues just the same; he has eaten a hearty breakfast, and has no fever; but a total deprivation continues.

"I am ever, my dear Lord,

"Most faithfully yours,

"J. W. PAYNE.” *

The next communication which Lord Loughborough received was from Mr. Sheridan:

"MY DEAR LORD,

"Every thing remained late last night at Windsor without the least amendment, and in consequence of a consultation of the physicians, they are, I believe, ready to give a decided opinion.

"The Prince sends Payne to town this morning. I shall make an attempt at setting his head a little to rights, if possible, for he is growing worse and worse, but a few words from your Lordship will have more weight. Among other things, he tells me he has suggested to the Prince to write directly to the Chancellor, and he tells me that the letter shall be so worded that either he or I may deliver it, so that I suppose his notion is to bring this negotiation into the same train and footing as Lord Sandwich's. It is really intoler

* Rossl. MSS.

able, and I mean to speak very plainly to him. I will endeavour to have the honour of seeing your Lordship this morning; if not, at Lord North's in the evening.

"I have the honour to be, with great truth and respect, "Your Lordship's most sincere and obedient,

CHAP.

CLXX.

A.D. 1788.

Lough

borough's plan for the

Prince to

seize the

govern

"I can with truth assure you that my attention has never de- Lord viated to any other affair than the subject of our conversation, from the moment I received last Thursday an order to turn my thoughts to it. I should feel an equal pride and happiness, if it were in my power to contribute in the smallest degree by any possible exertion of zeal to the ease and tranquillity of H. R. H. in ment. so trying a situation as Providence has prepared for him. I consider that there are but three possible events in immediate expectation: an ambiguous state of the King's disorder; an evidently decided state; or a sudden termination, which can be looked for only in one way; for an entire and speedy recovery seems to be beyond the reach of any reasonable hope. In the two first cases, it is the result of my most deliberate judgment that the administration of government is as directly cast upon the heir apparent, as the right to the crown is, in the last case. All are alike the act of God, and the law of England knows no interval in which there can be an interregnum; - but holding, as I do, the principle of right to be as distinct and plain in the extraordinary, as it unquestionably is in the ordinary case of a demise, it must be allowed that there would be some material difference in effect. No precedent can be found except one little known, and in times where both the frame of the government and the manners of the age were so little similar to what they now are, that it would be of no authority. In a case, therefore, supposed to be new, men would be for a moment uncertain by what rule they were to be guided, and upon a supposition of an ambiguous state of the disorder, great industry would be used to prolong the state of suspense. Every appearance of favourable intervals would be magnified, and

CHAP. CLXX.

A.D. 1788.

the apprehension of a change would be studiously excited to prevent the public opinion from attaching itself to the apparent acting power. To oppose this, great spirit and steadiness would be necessary; but I have no doubt that the only measure would be, to assert that authority which no other person has a right to assume, and which, with an united royal family, no opposition would be able to thwart. Wherever any precedent occurs in which a declaration of the King's pleasure is necessary, that declaration must be made by the only person who can be legally presumed to be authorised to make it. The case of an evidently decided disorder is attended with very little embarrassment. There would be no expectation of change to encourage and rear up an opposition to the full acknowledgment of the right to the administration of government. It would be declared to the nation by Parliament without restriction, for any partition of authority I hold to be totally inconsistent with the frame of our government, which has provided a sufficient control in the Parliament, and admits of no intermediate and secondary control. I doubt not but some wishes might be entertained for the purposes of private ambition to create councils and devise restrictions, but they would terminate, as they ought, in the confusion of those who had the presumption to propose them. "The third case is not new. There are known forms to be observed, which should be carefully inspected and prepared. The most essential is, a declaration to be made and entered at the first meeting of council; the substance of which should be well considered and digested, because it would be taken as an indication of the spirit of the future Government. It should be short, general, and at the same time satisfactory to the public on the great lines of policy. I have not the least apprehension of any mischief, or even inconvenience, that can arise to H. R. H., but from his own virtues. It may sound harsh, and you will with some reason impute it to the coldness of age, when I say that the duties of public life in the highest state of human greatness may often require not dissimulation, for I hold that unworthy maxim for government to be equally false and foolish, but a certain reserve and guard upon the frankness of that amiable disposition which is the ornament and delight of society. I should be completely the old man if I should permit myself to run on further. You will excuse, and I am sure not expose a too forward zeal, from my dear Payne.

Yours ever,

"LOUGHBOROUGH.” *

* Copied from draught of the letter in the Rossl. MSS.

CLXX.

The meditated coup d'état is more clearly developed in the CHAP. following paper, which is written in pencil by the hand of Lord Loughborough, and which I have been informed he himself read to the Prince at a secret interview which they had together at Windsor.

A.D. 1788.

memoran

dum, con

of the coup d'état

"Upon the supposition of a state of disorder without prospect Pencil of recovery or of a speedy extinction, the principle of the P.'s. conduct is perfectly clear. The administration of government de- taining Lord volves to him of right. He is bound by every duty to assume it, Loughand his character would be lessened in the public estimation if he borough's took it on any other ground but right, or on any sort of com- explanation promise. The authority of Parliament, as the great council of the nation, would be interposed, not to confer, but to declare the right. which he The mode of proceeding which occurs to my mind is, that in a very short time H. R. H. should signify his intention to act by directing a meeting of the Privy Council, where he should declare his intention to take upon himself the care of the State, and should at the same time signify his desire to have the advice of Parliament, and order it by a proclamation to meet early for despatch of business. That done, he should direct the several Ministers to attend him with the public business of their offices.

"It is of vast importance in the outset, that he should appear to act entirely of himself, and in the conferences he must necessarily have, not to consult, but to listen and direct.

66

'Though the measure of assembling the Council should not be consulted upon, but decided in his own breast, it ought to be communicated to a few persons who may be trusted, a short time before it takes place; and it will deserve consideration whether it might not be expedient very speedily after this measure, in order to mark distinctly the assumption of government, to direct such persons at least in one or two instances-to be added to what is called the Cabinet, as he thinks proper. By marking a determination to act of himself, and by cautiously avoiding to raise strong fear or strong hope, but keeping men's minds in expectation of what may arise out of his reserve, and in a persuasion of his general candour, he will find all men equally observant of him."

recom

mended.

to constitute the

It would further appear from another paper, which is like- Proposal wise in Lord Loughborough's handwriting, that he had at one time contemplated a scheme of supplying the royal au- Prince of

Wales Re

CLXX.

gent by a

sham com

mission

under the Great Seal.

A.D. 1788.

CHAP. thority by a "phantom," somewhat like Thurlow's, which he afterwards joined in ridiculing so severely. According to the constitution of this country, the Sovereign may assign any part or the whole of the royal authority to be executed by a deputy or deputies*; and the suggestion was, that a commission should pass the Great Seal in the King's name, although without his consciousness, appointing the Prince of Wales Regent :-"On the supposition of a certain though slow recovery, would it not be the natural course to commit to the Prince, in the name and by the authority of the King, the power of administration, with no other restriction than such as honest advice can suggest, and honourable engagements can secure? Could that fail to be the mode adopted, were the royal family united as it ought to be? And to accomplish both these ends, is it impossible to establish a confidence between those who fairly mean the public good? On the contrary supposition, that a recovery is not certain, the conclusion would not much vary. In my mind, it would not vary in any respect."

Declaration to be

But we are left totally in the dark as to the ingenious contrivance by which Thurlow was to be induced to put the Great Seal to such a commission. The office of Chancellor might have purchased his consent; but this was to be held by the contriver himself.

The following is the "declaration" which was sent by Lord Loughborough to Windsor, and which is alluded to in one of Mr. Payne's letters. I am at a loss to understand whether it was to be read by the Prince in Council as Regent after he had seized the government, or whether it was written in contemplation of the immediate death of George III., which had several times been supposed inevitable, and so was to be the speech of George IV. reigning in his own right:

"I feel, more than any other person can, the unspeakable misfortune that the nation and I have sustained by the melancholy

Of this we have still instances in giving the royal assent to Bills, and in opening and proroguing Parliament.