nation to avoid "confinement" in future, rather seems to indicate a present necessity for it. However, his Majesty's health soon after rallied greatly, and, till his attack in the year 1810, when he was permanently disabled from performing any of the functions of royalty, he displayed the same acuteness and vigour of intellect, as well as mental activity, which had formerly distin- [A. D. 1804-1806.] guished him-ever devoted to what he considered his duty-but ever retaining the prejudices of education which led to the misfortunes of his reign. During the remainder of Mr. Pitt's life, Lord Eldon was not very conspicuous in politics. I do not think he was at all consulted about foreign affairs, and he is not answerable for the new continental coalition against France, which ended in the capitulation of Ulm and the battle of Austerlitz. He took some part in the proceedings of the House of Lords, but these were not very important, as the Whig leaders had in a great measure seceded from parliament. He ineffectually opposed the Bill for disfranchising Aylesbury, and giving the right of election to the adjoining hundreds,*-he succeeded in throwing out the bill for the abolition of the slave trade,t—and he strenuously opposed all relaxation of the law of imprisonment for debt, which in its then state he contended was essentially necessary for our prosperity as a commercial nation.‡ The question of Catholic Emancipation being started, on a petition from the Roman Catholics of Ireland, he made a long speech against it -bringing forward very boldly the religious principles to which he ever after most steadily adhered. He maintained that whatever was required by toleration had already been conceded to the Roman Catholics, and that their numbers should be disregarded, the legislature looking only to the reasonableness of their demands. He argued that the Roman Catholics of Ireland were highly favoured, as they had a greater latitude in the form of their oath of allegiance than was allowed to the Protestant Dissenters of England; for the Irish Roman Catholics were required only to swear allegiance to the King and his family, whereas the form of the English oath was, to the King and his family, being Protestants. The British Constitution, he contended, was not based upon the principles of equal rights to all men indiscriminately, [A. D. 1805.] but of equal rights of all men conforming to, and complying with the tests which that Constitution required for its security.§ By such arguments he carried with him a majority of 178 against 49. Lord Eldon was employed during the summer and autumn of 1804, and the spring of 1805, in a very difficult negotiation between the King and the Prince of Wales, who had long been at open enmity with each other. The spirit in which it was begun by his Majesty, may be discovered by a note to the Chancellor, in which he says," Undoubtedly the Prince of Wales's making the offer of having the dear little Char * 2 Parl. Deb. 517, 532, 681-82. § 4 Parl. Deb. 783. † Ib. 931. Ib. 1130. lotte's education and principles attended to, is the best earnest he can give of returning to a sense of what he owes to his father, and indeed to his country, and may to a degree mollify the feelings of an injured father; but it will require some reflection before the King can answer how soon he can bring himself to receive the publisher of his letters.' The Chancellor prevailed upon the King to agree to an interview, but afterwards received a note from him annexing this proviso-that "no explanation or excuses should be attempted by the Prince of Wales, but that it should merely be a visit of civility, as any retrospect would oblige the King to utter truth which, instead of healing, must widen the breach." The Prince agreed to these terms, but, before the appointed time arrived, became deeply wounded by discovering what he considered undue partiality in favour of the Princess of Wales. His Majesty had written another note to the Chancellor, containing the following expressions respecting her Royal Highness:-"In the interview he had yesterday at Kew with the Princess, her whole conduct and language gave the greatest satisfaction. She will entirely be guided by the King, who has directed her to state whatever she pleases to the Lord Chancellor as the person alone to be trusted by her in any difficult occasions that may arise. She is deserving of every attention, and therefore strongly recommended by the King to his Lord Chancellor." The Chancellor in consequence having spoken favourably of the Princess to the Prince, his Royal Highness positively refused to meet the King, and desired that the Chancellor would carry a message from him to his Majesty to that effect. The Chancellor venturing on expostulation, the Prince replied,-"Sir, who gave you authority to advise me?" Lord Chancellor: "I express very sincere regret that I have offended your Royal Highness by doing so; but then, Sir, I am his Majesty's Chancellor, and it is for me to judge what messages I ought to take to his Majesty: your Royal Highness must send some other messenger with that communication; I will not take it." It was agreed that the Chancellor should write to the King to put off the interview on the ground of the Prince being much indisposed, as we find by the following note from his Majesty to his Chancellor : "Kew, Aug. 22d, 1804, 10 m. past one, P. M. "The King, soon after his arrival here with the Queen and his daughters, found the Dukes of Kent and Cambridge, since which, the Lord Chancellor's letter has been brought by a servant of the Prince of Wales. The King authorizes the Lord Chancellor to express to the Prince of Wales his sorrow at his being unwell; that, in consequence of this, his Majesty will postpone his interview with the Prince of Wales until his return from Weymouth; and then, as was now intended, it will be in presence of his family at Kew, of which the Lord Chancellor will be empowered to give due notice to the Prince of Wales. "GEORGE R." After the King's return from Weymouth, an interview did take place, 18th July, 1804. + 20th Aug. 1804. between him and the Prince, which his Majesty declared "was every way decent, as both parties avoided any subjects but those of the most trifling kind." And, after a long and tedious negotiation, the Chancellor succeeded in bringing about an arrangement, whereby the care of the Princess Charlotte was transferred to the King, although his Majesty and the Prince of Wales still continued in a state of irreconcilable hostility.* 66 Lord Eldon had a difficult part to play during these altercations; but, although naturally unwilling to make an enemy of the Heir Apparent, he seems to have conducted himself with becoming spirit, if not always with the best tact. In Lord Malmesbury's Diary we have the following account of a fracas between him and the Prince, which must have happened soon after. Lord Eldon said to the Prince, "The Princess hoped her dignity and comfort would be attended to." Prince: "I am not the sort of person to let my hair grow under my wig to please my wife." Lord Eldon (respectfully but firmly :) "Your Royal Highness condescends to become personal. I beg leave to withdraw." He ac cordingly bowed very low, and retired. The Prince, alarmed at this, could find no other way of extricating himself than by causing a note to be written the next day to Lord Eldon, to say that "the phrase he made use of was nothing personal, but simply a proverb-a proverbial way of saying a man was governed by his wife." Lord Malmesbury adds, "Very absurd of Lord Eldon, but explained by his having literally done what the Prince said." It was then little expected that George IV. would call Lord Eldon his Chancellor, and address him by the familiar and endearing sobriquet of "Old Bags." In the midst of these distressing disputes in the Royal Family, to which it will be my painful duty ere long to return, it is refreshing to find the following letter to the Chancellor from another son of the King, who seems uniformly to have conducted himself with propriety in all the relations of public and domestic life: "MY DEAR LORD, 66 The Duke of Kent to Lord Eldon. "Saturday morning, Feb. 9th, 1805. Kensington Palace. Fearful lest your Lordship should, in the multiplicity of business in which your time is so much engaged, forget what I did myself the pleasure of saying to you (relative to my attendance in Parliament) on the day when the session was opened, and from that cause, that I may at any time be absent, when my presence would have been wished for by 6 "The Prince declared a statement that he would not see the Chancellor to be a strange fabrication of the King;' while the King declared that 'fair dealing was the honourable line to combat misapprehension, chicane, and untruth;' and thus concluded his last missive on the subject: The Lord Chancellor is desired to take a copy for the King of this returned paper of instructions, and prepare the paper to be transmitted to the Prince of Wales, who certainly means further chicane."-Lord Malmesb., 10th March, 1805. † Vol. iv. p. 223. his Majesty's Government, I now do myself the pleasure to address you these lines, in order to repeat my readiness to attend in the House of Peers, whenever your Lordship is so good as to send me the slightest direct intimation that my appearance is wished for. In doing this I am anxious your Lordship should understand, that I am actuated by that principle I have ever professed, of supporting the King's Government, and never taking any part in political disputes, for which I have the utmost abhorrence, and indeed am less fit than any other member of the House, having never given my attention to any other pursuit but that of my own profession. The King is my object: to stand by him at all times, my first duty and my inclination; and I think I cannot prove this more strongly, than by pledging myself, as I did when first I received my peerage spontaneously, always to support his servants, where my feeble voice could be of use. I have ever acted up to this profession, and I ever will; but it is not my system to attend Parliament otherwise; therefore, I solicit to be informed by your Lordship, when I am wanted, that I may not then be absent. Having said this, I now beg leave to add, that, as the King remains at Windsor till Tuesday the 19th instant, it is my wish to be a couple of days with him in that time, and I therefore am anxious to learn from your Lordship if I shall be wanted in the course of the next week, and on what days, so as not to be from here on such as you shall name. "With a thousand apologies for this intrusion, and sentiments of the highest regard and esteem, I remain, 66 My dear Lord, ever yours, Towards the close of this session of Parliament, the Ministry was in a very unprosperous condition. The strength which it had gained by Mr. Addington being prevailed upon to forget his wrongs, and to accept a peerage and a seat in the Cabinet, was more than counterbalanced by the vote of the House of Commons against Lord Melville, in consequence of which that minister was dismissed from office, [JUNE, 1805.] and his name was struck out of the Privy Council. Lord Eldon had now the prospect of presiding in the House of Lords on the trial of his former colleague; but prior to his resignation of the Great Seal the preliminary arrangements had not been completed, and he was only called upon to give his opinion respecting the Bill for indemnifying the witnesses, when he very properly laid down, that "liability to a civil action was no sufficient reason for a refusal [JULY 12, 1805.] to answer a question," and the indemnity was confined to criminal proceedings.* At last, to the great relief of the Government, Lord Eldon, under a commission from the King, pronounced the prorogation. Before Parliament met again, death had committed ravages which deeply affected him, both in domestic life and as a public character. * 45 Geo. 3, c. 126. He had the heavy misfortune to lose his eldest son, to whom he was tenderly attached as his first-born, and, for ten years, his only child,— who, about a year before, had been married to an amiable young lady, now in an advanced state of pregnancy, -and who, though not of brilliant talents, had ever been most exemplary in his conduct, so that Pope's lines on the son of Lord Chancellor Harcourt might well have been applied to him : "Who ne'er knew joy but friendship might divide, Or gave his father grief but when he died." I am afraid that Lord Eldon not unfrequently pretended to deep sensibility when his heart was unmoved: but the following letter, written by him to Sir William, speaks the genuine language of nature, and touchingly shows the anguish of a bereaved parent: “MY EVER DEAr Brother, "December 24th. "With a broken heart I inform you that, before I had written the last paragraph of the letter I sent by this-day's post, my poor, dear, dear John was no more. I am so distressed, and all around me is such a scene of distraction and misery, that I know not what to do. May God Almighty preserve you and yours from what we suffer! His mother is living in my arms out of one hysteric into another, and his poor widow is in a state which can neither be conceived nor described. For myself, I am your ever ever affectionate, but ever ever unhappy brother, "ELDON." Sir William hurried to the house of mourning, and wrote to his daughter an affecting account of what he beheld: "Her (Lady Eldon's) grief is still as wild and passionate as ever, without the least abatement. She takes hardly any sustenance, and is falling away in such a degree, that I should not be surprised at any consequences that were to follow from the decay of her strength. It is impossible to describe the degree in which my brother is worn down by the constant attentions he is obliged to pay to her. She will hardly suffer him to be out of the room, and, during the whole time he is there, he is a witness to the indulgence of such sorrow as it is quite impossible for any man to stand. He is much affected in his health." Lord Eldon met with a sympathy on this melancholy occasion, and he received letters of condolence from Mr. Wilberforce, Lord Ellenborough, and many other friends. Even Mr. Pitt, although struck by ` the illness which proved fatal to him, and still more depressed by the fatal result of his measures for humbling the power of Napoleon, thus wrote to Sir William Scott: "MY DEAR SIR, "Bath, Dec. 27th, 1805. "It is with great regret I break in upon you in the moment of a calamity in which you so nearly participate; but I feel too deeply for the loss which the Chancellor and all his family have sustained, not to be |