CLXXXII. Prime another Minister, he was about voluntarily to descend into the CHAP. rank of a private citizen. This strange Ministerial crisis, prolonged by the mental alienation of the King, I have described A. D. 1801. in the Life of Lord Loughborough, and I must recur to it in the Life of Lord Eldon, as it terminated in transferring the Great Seal from the one to the other. But Erskine had no share in it; for the Whigs had only to look on as spectators the struggle being between different sections of their opponents, and no prospect appeared of their ever being restored to power. When Mr. Addington was, at last, in- Mr. Adstalled in office, several of them, with a view to rescue him dington from the thraldom of Pitt, were inclined to support him; Minister. and there actually was a negotiation opened for Erskine becoming Attorney General. "During the Administration of Addington," says Mr. Moore, "Erskine, led by the example of Lord Moira, Sheridan, Tierney, and others of the friends with whom he usually acted, manifested a willingness to support the new Minister, and was even on the point of accepting the office of Attorney General. Overtures to that Negotiaeffect having been transmitted to him by Mr. Addington, he tion for thought it his duty to lay them before the Prince of Wales, becoming whose service, in case of an acceptance of the office, it would Attorney be necessary for him to relinquish. In his answer, conveyed through Mr. Sheridan, the Prince, while he expressed the most friendly feelings towards Erskine, declined, at the same time, giving any opinion as to either his acceptance or refusal of the office of Attorney General if offered to him under the present circumstances. His Royal Highness also added the expression of his sincere regret that a proposal of this nature should have been submitted to his consideration by one of whose attachment and fidelity to himself he was well convinced, but who ought to have felt, from the line of conduct adopted and persevered in by his Royal Highness, that he was the very last person who should have been applied to for either his opinion or concurrence respecting the political conduct or connections of any public character, especially of one so intimately connected with him and belonging to his family. Upon this expression of the Prince's sentiments, Erskine General. CHAP. CLXXXII. the offer was of course declined."* By listening to this overture Erskine incurred no suspicion of vacillation; for A. D. 1801. he really believed, at the time, that Mr. Addington not only Erskine opposes the Coalition of Fox with the Gren hamites. was desirous of making peace, but that he meant to depart He showed his steady adherence to his old principles by the part which he soon after took in the projected coalition with the "Grenville-Windhamites," as they were called, — a section of Mr. Pitt's colleagues that had gone out with him, ville-Wind- and were now desirous of having Mr. Fox for their leader, with a view of vigorously pushing on the prosecution of the He was one of those who met at Norfolk House, for the purpose of frankly remonstrating with Mr. Fox against the offered alliance; and the remonstrance then agreed to, strongly marked by generous sentiments of private friendship and of enlightened patriotism, was said to have been drawn by him. ‡ Nov. 3. 1801. He supports Mr. Addington. Nov. 13. 1801. war. Without joining the Administration, he gave it his countenance. The peace of Amiens being concluded, he voted with the majority in approving of it; and he made a vigorous speech in defence of the Convention with Russia for defining some of our controverted belligerent rights against neutrals. * Life of Sheridan, ii. 323. †The following are extracts of letters which he wrote to a friend while this can say positively, that if all the high offices in the law were to fall vacant to- a lucrative and honourable situation, and I will remain in it till the time comes Moore's Life of Sheridan, ii. 324. ! CLXXXII. A. D. 1801. On this occasion, he said: "I cannot, Sir, refuse myself CHAP. the pleasure of expressing the most unqualified approbation of the manner in which the Convention has been so happily concluded. Not long ago I saw three great nations of the North confederated against the vital interests of our country; yet in so short a time afterwards I now see the same powers pledged to concur with us in their support, by upholding our ancient system of international law. The effect of such a successful conspiracy must have been to establish universally, that free bottoms should make free goods; because they who denied the right of search, and enforced the refusal, annihilated every regulation against enemies' property as contraband of war, since it is only by search that the invasion of neutrality can be detected. The right of search is now recognised as the general law of civilised states. We have preserved the honour and interests of our own country by not forgetting that other countries have honour and interests also. Without this reasonable compromise we could not have had a peace so likely to continue, for it will be pursued as it was made in the spirit of peace. I wish France and every other nation to see that our divisions are at an end. We have made many sacrifices in the course of the late contest, and we must make many more to redeem our country from the consequences of a war, the continuance of which might have been fatal to it, and to the whole civilised world. I hope, Sir, that Ministers will now pursue towards their fellow-subjects the same liberal policy which upon this occasion they have shown towards adversaries. This is still wanting. I am now looking forwards, and confidently maintain that, if the people of Great Britain and Ireland were governed according to the spirit of our laws, mildly administered, they would, to use the language of Mr. Burke, 'for ever cling and grapple to you, and nothing could tear them from their allegiance.' Nothing, indeed, can estrange them from our invaluable Constitution but shutting them out from its benefits.”* 36 Parl. Hist. 278. CHAP. CLXXXII. May 7. 1802. During the present session, Erskine again came forward in the debate caused by Mr. Nicholl's motion to “thank the Crown for the removal of Mr. Pitt;" and Sir H. Mildmay's amendment, "That Mr. Pitt, for his services while Minister, deserved the gratitude of the House." He was particularly severe on Mr. Pitt's injudicious refusals to treat for peace with Bonaparte; and on his resignation, —which he represented as "a desertion of the vessel of the state when she was labouring in the tempest, and in danger of being dashed to pieces among the rocks which surrounded her." The vote of thanks, however, was carried by a majority of 224 to 52*, partly from the recollection of Pitt's former Administration, and still more from the anticipation that he must ere long be Minister again. 36 Parl. Hist. 616, 653. CHAPTER CLXXXIII. CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF LORD ERSKINE TILL HE BECAME CHAP. CLXXXIII. visits Paris. IN the long vacation of this year, Erskine went to Paris, where he expected that he must be gazed at-on account of his fame as an advocate, and the leading part which he A.D.1802. conceived he had taken for many years in the House of Com- Erskine mons; but his vanity was considerably mortified by his reception there. He knew hardly any thing of the French language, so that he could not assist in spreading his own fame;-none of his forensic speeches had been translated into French, and his political consequence was utterly extinguished by the presence of Fox, who had gone over to collect materials for his "History of the Reign of James II.," and was run after as a prodigy. We have the following account from an eye-witness of our hero's reception by the First Consul: "Bonaparte, at the levee, made a long florid address to Fox, to which the modest statesman made no reply. Erskine's presentation followed. I am tempted to think that he felt some disappointment at not being recognised by the First Consul; there was some difficulty at first, as Erskine was understood to speak little French. Monsieur Talleyrand's impatient whisper to me, I fancy I yet hear: " Parle-t-il François ?" Mr. Merry, the English Consul, already fatigued with his presentations, and dreading a host to come, imperfectly designated Erskine when the killing question followed, "Etes-vous légiste?" This was pronounced by Bonaparte with great indifference, or, at least, without any marked attention.* Trotter's Memoirs of Fox, p. 268. However, the Right Hon. Thomas Erskine writes to me," Mr. Trotter has misunderstood the circumstance to which he alludes, obviously in no friendly spirit. My father was introduced to His reception by the First Con sul. |