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Private Papers of William Wilberforce

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Title: Private Papers of William Wilberforce

Author: William Wilberforce

Editor: Anna Maria Wilberforce


        
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Language: English

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PRIVATE PAPERS OF WILLIAM WILBERFORCE


[Illustration: WILLIAM WILBERFORCE, M.P. FOR THE COUNTY OF YORK.]


PRIVATE PAPERS OF WILLIAM WILBERFORCE

Collected and Edited, with a Preface, by

A. M. WILBERFORCE

With Portraits







London
1897





PREFACE


William Wilberforce is remembered on account of his long and successful
efforts for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. In a House of Commons
that counted Pitt, Fox, Burke, and Sheridan amongst its members, he
held a front rank both as a speaker and debater. Of one of his speeches
in 1789 Burke said, "it equalled anything he had heard in modern
times, and was not, perhaps, to be surpassed in the remains of Grecian
eloquence." And Pitt said, "Of all the men I ever knew Wilberforce has
the greatest natural eloquence." But an even greater power than his
oratory was perhaps the influence that he acquired over all ranks of
society. Friendship is often the means by which influence is gained,
and Wilberforce's friendship with Pitt, beginning long before his
anti-Slave Trade days and continued till the end of Pitt's life, was
no doubt the source of a strong personal influence.

It has been said that nothing in history is more creditable and
interesting than Pitt's long and brotherly intimacy with Wilberforce,
widely as they differed in their views of life.

To give an idea of the terms of their friendship these letters,
possibly mislaid by the biographers of Wilberforce, from Pitt to
Wilberforce are now published.[1]

Lord Rosebery thought the letters "among the most interesting we
possess of Pitt," and we gladly acceded to his wish to print a few
copies privately.

The Rev. W. F. Wilberforce has kindly consented to the publication of
the matured estimate of Pitt's character mentioned in the "Life of
Wilberforce," with an intimation that "it might hereafter appear in a
separate form."

Other letters from some of the most distinguished men of the time show
the many and varied interests of Wilberforce's life, and seem to us too
valuable to remain hidden in obscurity.

The home letters published are from Wilberforce to his daughter
Elizabeth, and to his son Samuel, afterwards Bishop of Oxford and
Winchester. The letters to the latter are from the collection of 600
letters written by the father to the son.

  A. M. WILBERFORCE.

  LAVINGTON, _September 1, 1897_.




CONTENTS


                                      PAGE

  LETTERS FROM PITT                      1

  SKETCH OF PITT BY W. WILBERFORCE      43

  LETTERS FROM FRIENDS                  83

  HOME LETTERS                         163




ILLUSTRATIONS


                                                                   PAGE

  1. WILLIAM WILBERFORCE, M.P. FOR THE COUNTY
  OF YORK                                               _Frontispiece._
  (_From a picture by J. Rising._)

  2. WILBERFORCE OAK                              _Facing page_      17
  (At the foot of an old tree at Hollwood, after a conversation
  with Pitt, Wilberforce resolved to give notice in
  the House of Commons of his intention to bring forward
  the Abolition of the Slave Trade.)

  3. THE RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM PITT            _Facing page_      79
  (_From a plate taken from an original drawing by the late
  Mr. Sayers._)

  4. BIRTHPLACE OF WILLIAM WILBERFORCE AT        _Facing page_      163

  5. SAMUEL WILBERFORCE, AGED 29                    "               245
  (_From a drawing by George Richmond._)




_LETTERS FROM PITT_




LETTERS FROM PITT.


THE first of Pitt's letters to Wilberforce is "perhaps the only one
extant that is racy of those rollicking times when the 'fruits of
Pitt's earlier rising' appeared in the careful sowing of the garden
beds with the fragments of Ryder's opera hat."[2]

  "GRAFTON STREET,
  "_July 31, 1782_.

"DEAR WILBERFORCE,--I shall not have the least difficulty in applying
immediately to Lord Shelburne in behalf of your friend Mr. Thompson,
and the favour is not such as to require a great exertion of interest,
if there has been no prior engagement. I will let you know the result
as soon as I can. Pray have no delicacy in mentioning to me whatever
occurs of any kind in which I can be of any use to you. Whenever there
is anything to prevent my doing as I should wish in consequence, I
will tell you, so we shall be upon fair terms. I trust you find all
possible advantage from sea-bathing and sea-air.... I am as well as it
is possible in the midst of all this _sin and sea coal_, and, for a
Chancellor of the Exchequer who has exchanged his _happier hour_, pass
my time very tolerably. Even Goostree's is not absolutely extinct, but
has a chance of living thro' the dog days. I shall be happy to hear
from you, whether in the shape of an official despatch or a familiar
epistle. I am very glad to see you write without the assistance of a
secretary. Perhaps, however, you will not be able to read without the
assistance of a decypherer. At least in compassion to your eyesight it
is as well for me to try it no further.

  "So adieu. Yrs. ever sincerely,
  "W. PITT."


  "BRIGHTHELMSTONE,
  "_Wednesday, Aug. 6, 1783_.

"DEAR WILBERFORCE,--_Anderson's Dictionary_ I have received, and am
much obliged to you for it. I will return it safe, I hope not dirtied,
and possibly not read. I am sorry that you give so bad an account of
your eyes, especially as this very letter looks as if it would put
them to a severe trial, and might even defy the decypherer St. John,
almost without the help of an ænigma. I have only to tell you that
I have _no news_, which I consider as making it pretty certain that
there will be none now before the meeting of Parliament. The party
to Rheims hold of course, at least as far as depends upon me; which
is at least one good effect certain. I wrote yesterday to Eliot,[3]
apprising him, that I should be ready to meet him at Bankes's[4] before
the last day of August; that I conceived we must proceed from thence
to London, and that we ought to start within the three or four first
days of September. I hope you will bear all these things in mind, and
recollect that you have to do with punctual men, who would not risk
their characters by being an hour too late for any appointment. The
lounge here is excellent, principally owing to our keeping very much
to ourselves--that is Pulchritudo, Steele, Pretyman, and myself. The
Woodlys have been here in high foining, and have talked me to death.
I would not bind myself to be a listener for life for a good deal.
Your friend the Commodore treated us with his company at one or two
assemblies, but was called back to defend some prizes, which there are
those who contest with him, and which I fancy he thinks _the greatest
instance of malignity he ever knew_. Mrs. Johnstone and Mrs. Walpole
are left to dispute the prize here. The first is clearly the handsomer
woman, but the husband of the latter looks the quieter man, and the
better part of love as well as valor is discretion. I conclude as
you did, by desiring you to write immediately. I go from hence to
Somersetshire this day sennight, and stay till Bankes's. Direct to
Burton Pynsent, Somerset, and _if you will_, by London.

  "Ever sincerely yrs.,
  "W. PITT."


Pitt's next letter refers to the General Election of 1784, and William
Wilberforce's candidature for Yorkshire, which county he represented in
Parliament for twenty-eight years.

  "DOWNING STREET,
  "_Tuesday, April 6, 1784_.

"DEAR WILBERFORCE,--I have received your two expresses, and one this
morning from Mr. Wyvill. I could not get to town till late last night,
but sent forward the letters you desired, and have done all I can on
the several subjects you mention.

"I have applied to our friends in town to pay in the subscriptions, and
I hope it will be done speedily. I inquired at Cambridge with regard
to the different colleges. Trinity and St. John's have, I believe,
as might be expected, the most interest, and will both exert it for
you. Christ's has some, and I left that in a good train. I have spoken
to Lord Temple, which is the only channel that has yet occurred to
me about Oxford, who thinks he can be of use there. Wesley I have
no doubt may be secured, and I will lose no time in seeing him if
necessary, which I shall not think _at all awkward_ at such a time.
Steps are taking to procure a meeting of freeholders in your and
Duncombe's interest, which I hope will answer. I have sent to Robinson
and Hamilton. Lady Downe has been applied to, but can be brought to
nothing more than perfect neutrality. Nesbitt's interest is secured,
and he is thoroughly zealous. I do not well know how to get at his
Grace of York, but will try every way I can. Lord Percy, I am afraid,
cannot be brought to subscribe, tho' I do not quite despair of it.
His objection seems now from some delicacy towards Weddell, with whom
he has been much connected. He has, however, written to exert all his
interest in your cause--particularly to Major Pallerne and Mr. Rayne,
whom Mr. Wyvill mentions in his last letter. Lord Grantham, as I wrote
you word before, must go with Weddell. I expect to hear something more
of Lord Hawke, but I know he is now in the best disposition. I shall
keep my messenger an hour or two to send the account of to-day's poll
in Westminster, yesterday and to-day having been considered as the
great push. Pray send me as quick an account as possible, and continue
it from time to time, if a poll goes on. I hope you will be ready
with a candidate at Hull on the supposition of your being seated for
Yorkshire, which I am sanguine enough hardly to doubt. We are more
successful everywhere, with only a very few exceptions, than can be
imagined. I hope you bear all the fatigue tolerably. I wish it was
over. God bless you.

  "Most truly yours,
  "W. PITT.


"Compts. to Smith, and many thanks for his letter. I hope he is still
with you. The numbers at Westminster to-day are--

  Hood.   Wray.   Fox.
  3936    3622    3413

Sawbridge has beat Atkinson only by seven, and there is to be a
scrutiny. The other members are Watson, Lewes, and Newnham. Sir R.
Clayton declines for Surrey. Byng will probably be beat."


  "DOWNING STREET,
  "_Sunday, December 19, 1784_.

"MY DEAR WILBERFORCE,--I have been so diligently _turning my thoughts_
on all sides since we parted, that tho' they have been turned to you
as often as to any other quarter, I have never found the moment to put
them into writing till now. I have not time to thank you sufficiently
for the picturesque and poetical epistle I received from you dated,
as I remember, from your boat, from the inside and the imperial of
your postchaise, and two or three places more, and containing among a
variety of accurate descriptions one in particular, viewed from all
those different situations, of the sun setting in the middle of the
day. I hope the whole of your tour has continued to be embellished
by these happy incidents, and has kept you throughout in as mad and
rhapsodical a mood as at that moment. I have some remorse in the
immediate occasion of my writing to you just now; which, however, all
things considered, I am bound to overcome. Be it known to you, then,
that as much as I wish you to bask on, under an Italian sun, I am
perhaps likely to be the instrument of snatching you from your present
paradise, and hurrying you back to 'the rank vapours of this sin-worn
mould.' A variety of circumstances concur to make it necessary to
give notice immediately on the meeting of Parliament of the day on
which I shall move the question of the Reform. We meet on the _25th of
January_, and I think _about three weeks after_, which will allow full
time for a call of the House, will be as late as I can easily defer it.
I would not for a thousand reasons have you absent, tho' I hate that
you should come before your time, and if any particular circumstances
made a week or ten days a matter of real importance to you, I think I
could postpone it as long as that.

"Only let me hear from you positively before the meeting of Parliament.
The chief thing necessary is that I should then be able to name _some_
day, and the precise day is of less consequence. You will hardly
believe me if I tell you that I entertain the strongest hope of coming
very near, if not absolutely succeeding. I have seen the Oracle of
Yorkshire, Wyvill, and made him completely happy with the prospect.

"All things are going, on the whole, exceeding well. You will have
learnt that the _Old Boy_ at last overcame his doubts, and has ventured
single into the Cabinet, which is a great point happily settled. God
bless you.

  "Ever most faithfully yours.
  "W. PITT."


  "1784.

"MY DEAR WILBERFORCE,--I am sorry to find from your letter from
Nottingham that the Knight of Yorkshire is in so much dudgeon. Tho',
to say the truth the instances of neglect you mention are enough to
provoke common patience. What is worse, I know no remedy for it. My
letter, which missed you, contained no other information than that
the place of Marshall of the Admiralty had been long since filled up.
Some of the world is here at present, and will be multiplying every
day till the meeting of Parliament. I expect Eliot in a very few days.
I know nothing of Bankes very lately. Pray come to Wimbledon as soon
as possible; I want to talk with you about your navy bills, which,
tho' all your ideas now must go to landed property, you should not
entirely forget, and about ten thousand other things. By the by, Lord
Scarborough is risen from the dead, as you probably know. I have just
received an account from Whitbread that St. Andrew loses his election
by three; and would probably lose by more if he chooses a scrutiny or a
petition. Adieu.

  "Ever yrs.,
  "W. PITT.


"For the sake of this letter I am leaving a thousand others unanswered,
and a thousand projects unread. You will probably think it was hardly
worth while."

The brotherly intimacy between Pitt and Wilberforce is clearly shown
in the next letter. Wilberforce had written to Pitt to tell him of
the change in his religious opinions, and, in consequence, of his
probable retirement from political life. He no doubt thought that
Pitt would fail to sympathise with his altered views, but the man who
was "so absorbed in politics that he had never given himself time for
due reflection on religion"[5] wished to understand the religious
difficulties of his friend, and with the greatest tenderness begs
him to open his mind to "one who does not know how to separate your
happiness from his own."


  "DOWNING STREET,
  "_December 2, 1785_.

"MY DEAR WILBERFORCE,--Bob Smith[6] mentioned to me on Wednesday
the letters he had received from you, which prepared me for that I
received from you yesterday. I am indeed too deeply interested in
whatever concerns you not to be very sensibly affected by what has
the appearance of a new æra in your life, and so important in its
consequences for yourself and your friends. As to any public conduct
which your opinions may ever lead you to, I will not disguise to you
that few things could go nearer my heart than to find myself differing
from you essentially on any great principle.

"I trust and believe that it is a circumstance which can hardly occur.
But if it ever should, and even if I should experience as much pain
in such an event, as I have found hitherto encouragement and pleasure
in the reverse, believe me it is impossible that it should shake the
sentiments of affection and friendship which I bear towards you, and
which I must be forgetful and insensible indeed if I ever could part
with. They are sentiments engraved in my heart, and will never be
effaced or weakened. If I knew how to state all I feel, and could
hope that you are open to consider it, I should say a great deal more
on the subject of the resolution you seem to have formed. You will not
suspect me of thinking lightly of any moral or religious motives which
guide you. As little will you believe that I think your understanding
or judgment easily misled. But forgive me if I cannot help expressing
my fear that you are nevertheless deluding yourself into principles
which have but too much tendency to counteract your own object, and
to render your virtues and your talents useless both to yourself and
mankind. I am not, however, without hopes that my anxiety paints this
too strongly. For you confess that the character of religion is not
a gloomy one, and that it is not that of an enthusiast. But why then
this preparation of solitude, which can hardly avoid tincturing the
mind either with melancholy or superstition? If a Christian may act
in the several relations of life, must he seclude himself from them
all to become so? Surely the principles as well as the practice of
Christianity are simple, and lead not to meditation only but to action.
I will not, however, enlarge upon these subjects now. What I would ask
of you, as a mark both of your friendship and of the candour which
belongs to your mind, is to open yourself fully and without reserve to
one, who, believe me, does not know how to separate your happiness
from his own. You do not explain either the degree or the duration of
the retirement which you have prescribed to yourself; you do not tell
me how the future course of your life is to be directed, when you think
the same privacy no longer necessary; nor, in short, what idea you
have formed of the duties which you are from this time to practise. I
am sure you will not wonder if I am inquisitive on such a subject. The
only way in which you can satisfy me is by conversation. There ought
to be no awkwardness or embarrassment to either of us, tho' there may
be some anxiety; and if you will open to me fairly the whole state
of your mind on these subjects, tho' I shall venture to state to you
fairly the points where I fear we may differ, and to desire you to
re-examine your own ideas where I think you are mistaken, I will not
importune you with fruitless discussion on any opinion which you have
deliberately formed. You will, I am sure, do justice to the motives and
feelings which induce me to urge this so strongly to you. I think you
will not refuse it; if you do not, name any hour at which I can call
upon you to-morrow. I am going into Kent, and can take Wimbledon in my
way. Reflect, I beg of you, that no principles are the worse for being
discussed, and believe me that at all events the full knowledge of the
nature and extent of your opinions and intentions will be to me a
lasting satisfaction.

  "Believe me, affectionately and unalterably yours,
  "W. PITT."

Pitt came the next morning according to his proposal in this remarkable
letter: when Wilberforce[7] "conversed with Pitt near two hours, and
opened myself completely to him.... He tried to reason me out of my
convictions, but soon found himself unable to combat their correctness
if Christianity were true." To quote Lord Rosebery's Preface[8] to
these letters: "Surely a memorable episode, this heart-searching of the
young saint and the young minister. They went their different ways,
each following their high ideal in the way that seemed best to him. And
so it went on to the end, Wilberforce ever hoping to renew the sacred
conversation."


  "DOWNING STREET,
  "_September, 23, 1786_.

"MY DEAR WILBERFORCE,--At length all the obstacles of business, of
idleness, and of procrastination are so far overcome that I find myself
with my pen in my hand to answer your three letters. I have seriously
had it upon my conscience for some time; but yet I believe it is
another influence to which this present writing is to be immediately
ascribed. Having yesterday parted with the ornament on my cheek, and
two or three handkerchiefs for the present occupying the place of it,
my appearance is better suited to correspondence than conversation; and
in addition to this I happen to have an interval freer from business
than at any time since Parliament rose. Our French Treaty is probably
by this time actually signed, or will at most not require more than
one more messenger to settle everything; but the winds have been so
unfavourable that I have been, for some days longer than I expected,
in suspense as to the issue of it. Two or three more treaties are
on the anvil, and I think we shall meet with the appearance of not
having spent an idle or (as I flatter myself) a fruitless summer. The
multitude of things depending has made the Penitentiary House long in
deciding upon. But I still think a beginning will be made in it before
the season for building is over; and if its progress is as quick as
that of my room at Hollwood, bolts and bars will be useless before
another season. I am very glad you like our new Board of Trade, which
I have long felt to be one of the most necessary, and will be now one
of the most efficient departments of Government. The colony for Botany
Bay will be much indebted to you for your assistance in providing a
chaplain. The enclosed will, however, show you that its interests have
not been neglected, as well as that you have a nearer connection with
them than perhaps you were yourself aware of. Seriously speaking, if
you can find such a clergyman as you mention we shall be very glad of
it; but it must be soon. My sister was brought to bed of a daughter on
Wednesday, and was at first surprising well; but she has since had some
fever, which was to such a degree yesterday as to make us very uneasy.
She is now, however, almost entirely free from it, and going on as well
as possible. I am in hopes of getting into Somersetshire the middle
of next week for about ten days. Soon after I hope I may see you at
Hollwood. Bob Smith was in town lately, much better on the whole, but
not quite so well as I hoped to see him. Adieu.

  "Ever yours,
  "W. PITT."

[Illustration: WILBERFORCE OAK.]


  "DOWNING STREET,
  "_Tuesday, April 8, 1788_.

"MY DEAR WILBERFORCE,--I have just received your letter of yesterday,
and as I can easily imagine how much the subject of it interests you, I
will not lose a moment in answering it. As to the Slave Trade, I wish
on every account it should come forward in your hands rather than any
other. But that in the present year is impracticable; and I only hope
you will resolve to dismiss it as much as possible from your mind. It
is both the rightest and wisest thing you can do. If it will contribute
to setting you at ease, that _I_ should personally bring it forward
(supposing circumstances will admit of its being brought forward this
session) your wish will decide. At all events, if it is in such a state
that it can be brought on, I will take care that it shall be moved in a
respectable way, and I will take my part in it as actively as if I was
myself the mover. And if I was to consult entirely my own inclination
or opinion, I am not sure whether this may not be best for the business
itself; but on this, as I have said already, your wish shall decide me.
With regard to the possibility of its being brought on and finished
this session, I can hardly yet judge. The inquiry has been constantly
going on, and we have made a great progress. But it takes unavoidably
more time than I expected. In one word, however, be assured that I will
continue to give the business constant attention, and do everything to
forward it. Whenever it is in such a state that you could yourself have
brought it on with advantage to the cause, I will do it or undertake
for its being done, in whatever way seems most proper. I mean,
therefore, to accept it as a trust from you to the whole extent you can
wish, and to make myself responsible for it, unless it is necessarily
delayed till you are able to resume it yourself.

"Any applications from your Society shall most certainly be attended
to. Justice Addington's grievance in particular, which I was before
acquainted with by a memorial, will be immediately removed. I do not
like to write you a longer letter than is absolutely necessary. I
trust I need not lengthen it to tell how impatiently I look to the
satisfaction of seeing you again, as stout and strong as I hope you
will return to us. Let me have from time to time a line from any hand
you can most conveniently employ, to tell me how you go on, and what
are your motions during the summer. I wish I may be able to arrange
mine, when holidays come, so as to fall in with you somewhere or other.
As soon as I can judge about Parliament meeting before Christmas or
not, you shall hear. If it sits pretty late now, it probably will not
meet till after. Adieu for the present. Every good wish attend you.

  "Ever affectionately yours,
  "W. PITT."

I have had very good accounts of you from two or three quarters.


  "PEMBROKE HALL,
  "_Saturday, June 28, 1788_.

"MY DEAR WILBERFORCE,--I have no small pleasure in writing to you
quietly from hence, after hearing the good account you sent me of
yourself confirmed by those who saw you then, and especially by our
friend Glynn. I am lucky enough to have a wet evening, which, besides
the good I hope it will do to the country at large, has the peculiar
advantage of preventing me from paying my personal respects to anyone
of my constituents, and so gives me the leisure to answer _seriatim_
the several sections of your letter. The business respecting the Slave
Trade meets just now with some rub in the House of Lords, even in the
temporary regulation respecting the conveyance, which I wonder how any
human being can resist, and which I therefore believe we shall carry;
tho' it creates some trouble, and will still protract the session a
week or ten days. We hear very little yet from the West Indies, but
a few weeks must bring more, and I have no doubt the summer may be
employed in treating with foreign Powers to advantage. I shall set
about it with the utmost activity and with good hopes of success, tho'
founded as yet rather on general grounds than any positive information.
There seems not a shadow of doubt as to the conduct of the House of
Commons next year, and I think with good management the difficulties
in the other House may be got over. Your plan of a mission to Bengal I
mention only to show the punctuality of answering your letter, as you
reserve the discussion till we meet. As for Dr. Glass, I was obliged to
answer Thornton, who applied to me for some such person (I think for
this same Dr. Glass), that the state of my engagements leaves me not
at liberty at present, and if you have any occasion to say anything
about it to them, be so good to speak of it in the same style. Of the
Penitentiary Houses what can I say more? But in due time they shall not
be forgotten.

"My plan of visiting you and your lakes is, I assure you, not at all
laid aside. I cannot speak quite certainly as to the time, but if
there happens nothing which I do not now foresee, it will be either
the beginning or middle of August; I rather think the former, but I
shall be able to judge better in about a fortnight, and then you shall
hear from me. Nothing is decided about the meeting of Parliament, but
it is clear the trial will not go on till February. I rather believe,
however, that we ought to meet and employ a month before Christmas;
as what with Slave Trade, Quebec Petition, Poor Laws, Tobacco, &c.,
we shall have more on our hands than can be got through in any decent
time while we are exposed to the interruption from Westminster Hall. I
think I have now dispatched all the points to which I was called upon
to reply, and come now to open my own budget; which must be done,
however, in a _whisper_, and must not as yet be repeated even to the
most solitary echoes of Windermere. You will wonder what mystery I have
to impart. At the first part you will not be much surprised, which is
that Lord Howe and his friend Brett are to quit the Admiralty as soon
as the session closes. The cause (tho' its effects have slept so long)
is what passed last summer respecting the promotion of Sir Charles
Middleton. You will not come to the surprising part when I add that
Lord Howe's successor must be a landman, as there is no seaman who is
altogether fit for the first place at that board. But what will you
say when I tell you that the landman in question is no other than my
brother? He undertakes it very readily, and will I am sure set about
the business in earnest, to which I believe you think him as equal as
I do. Lord Hood is to be at the board; not without some risk of losing
Westminster, but by keeping our secret till the moment, I hope even
that may be saved; but it is comparatively of little consequence. I
feel the arrangement is liable to some invidious objections, but I am
satisfied they are more than counterbalanced by the solid advantage of
establishing a complete concert with so essential a department, and
removing all appearance of a separate interest. I shall be impatient,
however, to hear what you think of my scheme. There is nothing else
that occurs worth adding to this long scrawl, and I am obliged to
seal it up, as in spite of the rain which keeps me at home, I am in
expectation of an agreeable collection of dons whom Turner has convened
to smoke and sleep round his table this evening. God bless you.

  "Believe me, ever affectionately yours,
  "W. PITT."


  "DOWNING STREET,
  "_Monday, September 1, 1788_.

"MY DEAR WILBERFORCE,--I have certainly given a considerable latitude
to my promise of writing in a fortnight, in defence of which I have
nothing to say, but that in addition to the common causes of delaying
a letter I could not easily resolve to tell you that my northern
scheme has for some time grown desperate. Powers farther north and
the unsettled state of all the Continent (tho' not at all likely to
involve us in anything disagreeable) require in our present system
too much watching to allow for a long absence. I have not yet got
even to Burton, which you will allow must be my first object. But I
assure you I am not the more in love with Continental politics for
having interfered with a prospect I had set my heart so much upon, as
spending some quiet days on the bank of your lake. Pray let me know in
your turn what your motions are likely to be, and when you think of
being in this part of the world. Parliament will not meet till after
Christmas. As to the Slave Trade, we are digesting our Report as far as
present materials go, and you shall then have it; but we are still in
expectation of the answer from the Islands. I had a long conversation
with the French Ambassador on the subject some time ago, just before
his going to France. He promised to represent it properly, and seemed
to think there would be a favourable disposition. Their confusion has
been such since that scarce anything was likely to be attended to; but
I am in hopes Necker's coming in will prove very favourable to this
object. The moment I hear anything respecting it I will write again;
and at all events in less than _my last fortnight_. I must end now in
haste to save the post and my dinner.

  "Ever affectionately yours,
  "W. PITT."


  "DOWNING STREET,
  "_Monday, April 20, 1789_.

"MY DEAR WILBERFORCE,--We have found it necessary to make some
corrections on looking over the proof sheets of the Report, which will
delay the presenting it till Wednesday. I shall have no difficulty
in saying then that the business must of course be postponed on the
grounds you mention, and I will move to fix it for this day fortnight
if you see no objection. I imagine the House must meet on Friday on
account of Hastings's business, but that will probably be a reason for
their adjourning as soon as they come back from Westminster Hall, and
your business may, I dare say, wait till Monday. In that case I would
certainly meet you at Hollwood on Friday, as I wish extremely to talk
over with you the whole business, and show you our project, with which,
like most projectors, we are much delighted. From what you mention of
the parts you have been studying, I do not imagine there is anything
behind more material than what you have seen, but I see no part of our
case that is not made out upon the strongest grounds. Steele has shown
me your letter to him. There certainly cannot be the least reason for
your coming up merely to attend St. Paul's.

  "Ever affectionately yours,
  "W. PITT."


  "DOWNING STREET,
  "_Wednesday, February 2, 1796_.

"MY DEAR WILBERFORCE,--I have seen Sir W. Fawcett, &c., and settled
with them that they shall take _immediately_ the necessary measures for
having a sufficient number of officers to receive men at additional
places of rendezvous. They propose for the West Riding (in addition
to Pontefract), Bradford and Barnsley, as appearing to take in all
the most material districts, and will send the orders accordingly;
but any farther arrangement may be made afterwards which may appear
to be wanting. This and the explanatory act will, I trust, quiet the
difficulty. My cold is much better, and I have hardly any doubt of
being in condition for service on Friday, to which day, you probably
know, the business is put off.

  "Yours ever,
  "W. P."


  "DOWNING STREET,
  "_August 4, 1796_.

"MY DEAR WILBERFORCE,--I am anxious not to let the post go without
telling you that I cannot have a moment's hesitation in assuring you
that in case of the Deanery of York becoming vacant, I shall with the
utmost pleasure recommend Mr. Clarke to succeed to it. On the important
points in your other letter, I have not time just now to write at
large; but I think the idea you suggest very desirable to be carried
into execution, and I will turn in my mind the means of putting it into
train. I certainly am not inclined even now to think gloomily of public
affairs; but I must at the same time own that I feel the crisis to be a
most serious one, and to require the utmost exertion and management.

  "Ever yours sincerely,
  "W. PITT."


  "DOWNING STREET,
  "_September 7, 1796_.

"MY DEAR WILBERFORCE,--I think it nearly certain that Parliament will
meet on the 27th, and I wish much it may suit you to come this way some
time before.

"Our application is gone for a passport for a person to go directly to
Paris. The message of the Directory confessing in such strong terms
their distress (and the Archduke's recent victory on the 22nd, the
account of which is in last night's _Gazette_, may be relied on), give
some chance that our overtures may be successful. In the meantime it
will be indispensable to take very strong measures indeed, both of
finance and military defence; and if the spirit of the country is equal
to the exigency, I am confident all will yet end well. An immediate
Spanish war is, I think, nearly certain. The only motive to it is the
fear of France preponderating over their fear of us; and the pretexts
as futile as could be wished. The alarm respecting the effect on our
trade is greatly overrated, as the whole proportion of our exports
thither compared with the rest of the world is inconsiderable. You
will see that an Order of Council is published giving liberty for the
export of manufactures and the payment of bills, which will, I hope,
be satisfactory in your part of the world. I delayed writing to Mr.
Cookson till I could tell him the measure was taken; and when it was
taken, being in the hurry of a journey to Weymouth and back, I deferred
it again, so that it was already announced in the _Gazette_, and it
became too late to write. Perhaps you can make my excuses.

  "Ever yours,
  "W. P."


  "DOWNING STREET,
  "_September 20, 1797_.

"MY DEAR WILBERFORCE,--I know what your feelings will be on receiving
the melancholy account which I have to send you, and which reached me
from Cornwall this morning, that a renewal of Eliot's complaint has
ended fatally and deprived us of him.

"After the attacks he has had, it is impossible to say that the blow
could ever be wholly unexpected, but I had derived great hopes from the
accounts for some time, and was not at this moment at all prepared for
what has happened. You will not wonder that I cannot write to you on
any other subject, but I will as soon as I can.

  "Ever sincerely yours,
  "W. PITT."


  "_Friday, 4_ P.M.

"MY DEAR WILBERFORCE,--I am only anxious to avoid embarrassment to your
question as well as to the general course of business; and will call
on you in a few minutes on my way to the House.

  "Ever aff. yours,
  "W. P."


  "DOWNING STREET,
  "_Thursday, August 14, 1800_.

"MY DEAR WILBERFORCE,--I have no thoughts of going to Walmer till the
very end of the month, and it is doubtful whether I can accomplish it
then. In the interval the Castle is quite disengaged, and it will give
me great pleasure if it can afford you any accommodation. If you should
not find any situation before the 1st of September perfectly to your
mind, I beg you to believe that your prolonging your stay will be no
inconvenience and a great pleasure to me, supposing I am able to come.
The improvements made since you were there, with the help of a cottage
with some tolerable bedrooms, are quite sufficient for your family, and
for myself and the only two or three persons who would be likely to
come with me, such as perhaps Carrington, the Master of the Rolls, and
Long. Be so good, therefore, to consult entirely your own convenience.

  "Ever yours,
  "W. P.

"Let me know what day next week you fix for being there, and everything
shall be ready for you. You may as well send your servant to my
manager Bullock, who will arrange everything about cellar and other
household concerns."


  "PARK PLACE,

  "_October 1, 1801_.

"MY DEAR WILBERFORCE,--I cannot refrain from congratulating you most
sincerely on the happy event of the Signature of Preliminaries, which
you will, I believe, hear from Addington. The terms are such as I am
persuaded you will be well satisfied with, and tho' they are not in
every point (particularly one material one) exactly all that I should
have wished, I have no hesitation in saying that I think them on the
whole highly honourable to the country and very advantageous. The event
is most fortunate both for Government and the public, and for the sake
of both, gives me infinite satisfaction. I am but just in time for the
post.

  "Ever sincerely yours,
  "W. PITT."


  "DOWNING STREET, _Saturday_.

"MY DEAR WILBERFORCE,--I shall be very glad if you can call here any
time after nine this evening, as I wish to show you a paper from the
other side of the water, of a very interesting nature, tho' not such as
was most to be wished or at all to be expected.

  "Yours,
  "W. P."


  "WALMER CASTLE,

  "_May 31, 1802_.

"MY DEAR WILBERFORCE,--I found your letter on my arrival here
yesterday, having escaped to Hollwood on Friday only as a preparation
for pursuing my journey hither with less interruption than I should
have been exposed to, starting from town. An absence of ten days or
a fortnight has been so much recommended, and indeed I began myself
to feel so much in want of it, that I am afraid I must not think of
returning for your motion. Indeed, tho' I should most eagerly support
it (supposing you can provide, as I trust you can, means of making the
execution in the detail practicable and effectual). I see no chance in
the present state of the session of your carrying it, unless Addington
can be brought really to see the propriety of it, and to concur in it
at once without debate. This last I should hope might be managed, and
whatever impression parts of his speech may have made on your mind, I
am sure I need not suggest to you that the best chance of doing this
will be to endeavour coolly to lay before him the case as it really is,
unmixed as far as possible with any topics of soreness, which evidently
were not absent from his mind on Canning's motion. I certainly, on the
whole, judge much more favourably of his general intentions on the
whole subject (or, I should rather say, of his probable conduct) than
you do. But I admit that one part of his speech was as unsatisfactory
as possible. This I really believe proceeded in a great measure from
the evident embarrassment and distress under which he was speaking,
and which I am persuaded prevented him from doing any justice to his
own ideas. I may deceive and flatter myself, but tho' I know we shall
be far from obtaining all that you and I wish, I really think there is
much chance of great real and substantial ground being gained towards
the ultimate and not remote object of total abolition next session.
This is far from a reason for not endeavouring, if possible, to prevent
the aggravation of the evil in the meantime, and I heartily wish you
may be successful in the attempt.

  "Ever affy. yrs.,

  "W. P."


  "WALMER CASTLE,

  "_September 22, 1802_.

"MY DEAR WILBERFORCE, I am much obliged to you for your kind letter of
inquiry. My complaint has entirely left me, I am recovering my strength
every day, and I have no doubt of being in a very short time as well
as I was before the attack. Farquhar, however, seems strongly disposed
to recommend Bath before the winter, and if you make your usual visit
thither, I hope it is not impossible we may meet. Perhaps you will let
me know whether you propose going before Parliament meets, and at what
time. I hardly imagine that the session before Christmas can produce
much business that will require attendance. I ought long since to have
written to you on the subject of our friend Morritt. It would give me
great pleasure to see him come back to Parliament, tho' I hardly think
the occasion was one on which I

[Rest of letter torn off.]


  "BATH,

  "_October 31, 1802_.

"MY DEAR WILBERFORCE,--As you are among the persons to whom the author
of the enclosed high-flown compliments refers for his character for
a very important purpose, I shall be much obliged to you if you will
tell me what you know of him. A man's qualifications to give a dinner
certainly depend more on the excellence of his cook and his wine, than
on himself but I have still some curiosity to know what sort of company
he and his guests are likely to prove; and should therefore be glad
to know a little more about them than I collect from his list of the
_dramatis personæ_, which for instruction might as well have been taken
from any old play-bill. In the meantime I have been obliged out of
common civility, _provisoirement_ to accept his invitation. I was very
sorry that I had too little time to spare in passing thro' town to try
to see you. I should have much wished to have talked over with you the
events which have been passing and the consequences to which they seem
to lead. You know how much under all the circumstances I wished for
peace, and my wishes remain the same, if Bonaparte can be made to feel
that he is not to trample in succession on every nation in Europe. But
of this I fear there is little chance, and without it I see no prospect
but war.

"I have not yet been here long enough to judge much of the effect of
these waters, but as far as I can in a few days, I think I am likely
to find them of material use to me. I mean to be in town by the 18th
of next month. Paley's work, which you mentioned in your last letter,
I had already read on the recommendation of my friend Sir W. Farquhar,
who had met with it by accident, and was struck with its containing the
most compendious and correct view of anatomy which he had ever seen.
I do not mean that he thought this its only merit. It certainly has a
great deal, but I think he carries some of his details and refinements
further than is at all necessary for his purpose, and perhaps than will
quite stand the test of examination.

  "Ever affy. yrs.,

  "W. P."


  "WALMER CASTLE,

  "_August 8, 1803_ (?).

"MY DEAR WILBERFORCE,--Not having returned from a visit to some of my
corps on the Isle of Thanet till Friday evening, I could not answer
your letter by that day's post, and I was interrupted when I was going
to write to you yesterday. It was scarce possible for me, consistent
with very material business in this district, to have reached town
to-day; and besides, I confess, I do not think any great good could
have been done by anything I could say in the House on any of the
points you mention. I feel most of them, however, and some others of
the same sort, as of most essential importance; and I have thoughts of
coming to town for a couple of days (which is as much as I can spare
from my duties here) towards the end of the week, to try whether I
cannot find some channel by which a remedy may be suggested on some
of the points which are now most defective. I think I shall probably
reach town on Saturday morning, and I should wish much if you could
contrive to meet me in Palace Yard or anywhere else, to have an
hour's conversation with you. I will write to you again as soon as I
can precisely fix any day. We are going on here most rapidly, and in
proportion to our population, most extensively, in every species of
local defence, both naval and military, and I trust shall both add
very much to the security of essential points on this coast, and set
not a bad example to other maritime districts.

  "Ever affy. yours,

  "W. P."


  "WALMER CASTLE,

  "_January 5, 1804_.

"MY DEAR WILBERFORCE--Your letter reached me very safe this morning,
and I thank you very much for its contents. I hope it will not be long
before I have an opportunity of talking over with you fully the subject
to which it relates. From what I have heard since I saw you, it will be
necessary for me pretty soon to make up my mind on the line to pursue
under the new state of things which is approaching. In the meantime,
I shall not commit myself to anything without looking to _all_ the
consequences as cautiously as you can wish; and before I form any final
decision, I shall much wish to consult yourself and a few others whose
opinions I most value. If no new circumstance arises to revive the
expectation of the enemy, I mean to be in town the beginning of next
week, and will immediately let you know. Perhaps I may be able to go on
to Bath for a fortnight.

  "Ever affy. yours,

  "W. P."


Two examples are here given of Wilberforce's letters to Pitt. The
first is written in the character of a country member and political
friend. The second is one in reference to his work on Practical
Religion.[9] They are both, as is generally the case with his letters
to Pitt, undated, but the post-mark of the second bears "1797."


_Mr. Wilberforce to Right Hon. William Pitt._

"MY DEAR PITT,--My head and heart have been long full of some thoughts
which I wished to state to you when a little less under extreme
pressure than when Parliament is sitting. But my eyes have been very
poorly. I am now extremely hurried, but I will mention two or three
things as briefly as possible that I may not waste your time. First,
perhaps even yet you may not have happened to see an Order in Council
allowing, notwithstanding the War, an intercourse to subsist between
our West Indian Colonies and those of Spain, in which negro slaves are
the chief articles we are to supply. I know these commercial matters
are not within your department, and that therefore your assent is
asked, if at all, when your mind is full of other subjects. But let me
only remind you, for it would be foolish to write what will suggest
itself to your own mind, that the House of Commons did actually pass
the Bill for abolishing the foreign slave trade; and that if contracts
are made again for supplying Spain for a term of years, it may throw
obstacles in the way of a foreign slave-trade abolition. It would give
me more pleasure than I can express to find any further measures, or
even thoughts, on this to me painful subject, for many reasons, by
hearing the order was revoked. Second, I promised by compulsion (I
mean because I dislike to bore you) to state to you on the part of the
Deputy Receiver General for the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire
and Hull that it would tend materially both to facilitate and cheapen
the collection of the new assessed taxes to let them be collected at
the same time as the old ones. This will make the rounds four times
per annum instead of ten, and he says the expense of collecting, if
incurred six times per annum, will amount to full one-half of all the
present salaries of the Receivers General in the Kingdom. As he is a
most respectable man, I ought to say that he gives it as his opinion
that the Receivers General are not overpaid, all things considered.
But for my own opinion let me add that his principal really has none
of the labours of the office, and the deputy even finds his securities
for him. Third, surely there ought at the Bank to be a distinction
between what is paid for assessed taxes and what as free donation, when
the subscription includes both: your own and those of many others are
under that head. Fourth, I suppose you are now thinking of your taxes.
Do, I beseech you, let one of them be a tax on all public diversions
of every kind, including card-playing. I can't tell you how much their
not being taxed has been mentioned with censure, and I promised to
send you the enclosed letter from a very respectable man. I am sorry I
did, but now have no option. But my first great object in writing to
you is most earnestly to press on your attention a manuscript, which I
have been desired to lay before you, relative to Naval Discipline. You
must allow the writer to express himself with some perhaps unpleasant
idea of self-importance. But he clearly foresaw the late Mutiny, and
most strongly urged the adoption of preventive measures, which, had
they been taken, I verily believe the greatest misfortune this country
ever suffered would not have happened. That nothing was done is in my
mind--But I need not run on upon this to me most painful topic, because
it often suggests doubts whether I have not been myself to blame, who
perused the scheme two years ago. Let me earnestly entreat you, my dear
Pitt, to peruse it most seriously and impartially, and then let Dundas
read it. If you judge it proper, then either send it Lord Spencer or
to the writer, who is a good deal nettled at his former communications
to Lord Spencer not being attended to. I will send the manuscript by
to-morrow's mail.

  "Yours ever sincerely,

  "W. W.

"Every one is calling out for you to summon the nation to arm itself
in the common defence. You hear how nobly my Yorkshire men are acting.
I must have more discussion on that head, for they still wish you to
impose an equal rate on all property."


  "BATH, _Easter Sunday_.

"MY DEAR PITT,--I am not unreasonable enough to ask you to read my
book: but as it is more likely that when you are extremely busy than at
any other time you may take it up for ten minutes, let me recommend it
to you in that case to open on the last section of the fourth chapter,
wherein you will see wherein the religion which I espouse differs
practically from the common orthodox system. Also the sixth chapter
has almost a right to a perusal, being the basis of all politics, and
particularly addressed to such as you. At the same time I know you will
scold me for introducing your name. May God bless you. This is the
frequent prayer of your affectionate and faithful.

  "W. W."

  [Postmarked 1797.]


Here ends the hitherto unpublished correspondence between Pitt and
Wilberforce. On the occasion of Pitt's death, his brother, Lord
Chatham, writes with regard to his funeral:


_Lord Chatham to Mr. Wilberforce._

  "DOVER STREET,
  "_February 15, 1806_.

"I have many thanks to offer you for your very kind letter which I
received this morning. Knowing, as I do, how truly the sentiments of
friendship and affection you express, were returned on the part of my
poor brother towards you, I can only assure you that it will afford me
a most sensible gratification that you should have, as an old, intimate
friend, some particular situation allotted to you in the last sad
tribute to be paid to his memory. Believe me, with sincere regard, my
dear sir,

  "Yours very faithfully,
  "CHATHAM."


Pitt was one of the few men whose lives have affected the destiny
of nations. The actions of such men are so far-reaching, and the
possibilities of the might-have-been so great, that history hardly
ever passes a final verdict upon them. Wilberforce had unexampled
opportunities of gauging the character and motives of Pitt, and
certainly had no strong partisan bias to warp his judgment. His matured
estimate of Pitt cannot fail therefore to be of peculiar interest. It
was written in 1821, sixteen years after Pitt's death, and is printed
exactly as Wilberforce left it. It will no doubt recall to the mind of
the reader Scott's well-known lines:

    "With Palinure's undaunted mood,
    Firm at his dangerous post he stood;
    Each call for needful rest repelled
    With dying hand the rudder held
    Till, in his fall, with fateful sway
    The steerage of the realm gave way!"[10]




_SKETCH OF PITT BY W. WILBERFORCE_




SKETCH OF PITT BY W. WILBERFORCE.


Considering the effect of party spirit in producing a distrust of all
that is said in favour of a public man by those who have supported
him, and the equal measure of incredulity as to all that is stated of
him by his opponents, it may not be without its use for the character
of Mr. Pitt to be delineated by one who, though personally attached
to him, was by no means one of his partisans; who even opposed him on
some most important occasions, but who, always preserving an intimacy
with him, had an opportunity of seeing him in all circumstances and
situations, and of judging as much as any one could of his principles,
dispositions, habits, and manners.

It seems indeed no more than the payment of a debt justly due to
that great man that the friend who occasionally differed from him
should prevent any mistake as to the grounds of those differences;
and that as he can do it consistently with truth, he should aver,
as in consistency with truth he can aver, that in every instance
(with perhaps one exception only) in which his conscience prompted
him to dissent from Mr. Pitt's _measures_, he nevertheless respected
Mr. Pitt's _principles_; the differences arose commonly from a
different view of facts, or a different estimate of contingencies and
probabilities. Where there was a difference of political principles, it
scarcely ever was such as arose from moral considerations; still less
such as was produced by any distrust of Mr. Pitt's main intention being
to promote the well-being and prosperity of his country.

Mr. Pitt from his early childhood had but an indifferent constitution;
the gouty habit of body which harassed him throughout his life, was
manifested by an actual fit of that disorder when he was still a boy.
As early as fourteen years of age he was placed at Pembroke Hall,
Cambridge; he had even then excited sanguine expectations of future
eminence. His father had manifested a peculiar regard for him; he had
never, I believe, been under any other than the paternal roof, where
his studies had been superintended by a private tutor; and besides
a considerable proficiency in the Greek and Latin languages, he had
written a play in English, which was spoken of in high terms by those
who had perused it. I am sorry to hear that this early fruit of genius
is not anywhere to be found.

While he was at the University his studies, I understand, were carried
on with steady diligence both in classics and mathematics, and though
as a nobleman he could not establish his superiority over the other
young men of his time by his place upon the tripos, I have been assured
that his proficiency in every branch of study was such as would have
placed him above almost all competitors. He continued at the University
till he was near one-and-twenty, and it was during the latter part of
that period that I became acquainted with him. I knew him, however,
very little till the winter of 1779-80, when he occupied chambers in
Lincoln's Inn, and I myself was a good deal in London. During that
winter we became more acquainted with each other; we used often to meet
in the Gallery of the House of Commons, and occasionally at Lady St.
John's and at other places, and it was impossible not to be sensible of
his extraordinary powers.

On the calling of a new Parliament in the beginning of September,
1780, I was elected one of the Members for Hull. Mr. Pitt, if I
mistake not, was an unsuccessful candidate for the University of
Cambridge; but about Christmas 1780-81, through the intervention of
some common friends (more than one have claimed the honour of the
first suggestion, Governor Johnston, the Duke of Rutland, &c.), he
received and accepted an offer of a seat in Parliament made to him in
the most handsome terms by Sir James Lowther. From the time of his
taking his seat he became a constant attendant, and a club was formed
of a considerable number of young men who had about the same time left
the University and most of them entered into public life. The chief
members were Mr. Pitt, Lord Euston, now Duke of Grafton, Lord Chatham,
the Marquis of Graham, now Duke of Montrose, the Hon. Mr. Pratt, now
Marquis of Camden, the Hon. St. Andrew St. John, Henry Bankes, Esq.,
the Hon. Maurice Robinson, now Lord Rokeby, Lord Duncannon, now Lord
Besborough, Lord Herbert, postea Earl of Pembroke, Lord Althorp, now
Lord Spencer, Robert Smith, Esq., now Lord Carrington, Mr. Bridgeman,
Mr. Steele, several others, and myself. To these were soon afterwards
added Lord Apsley, Mr. Grenville, now Lord Grenville, Pepper Arden,
afterwards Lord Alvanley, Charles Long, afterwards Lord Farnborough,
Sir William Molesworth, &c. &c. Of the whole number Mr. Pitt was
perhaps the most constant attendant, and as we frequently dined,
and still more frequently supped together, and as our Parliamentary
attendance gave us so many occasions for mutual conference and
discussion, our acquaintance grew into great intimacy. Mr. Bankes
and I (Lord Westmoreland only excepted, with whom, on account of his
politics, Mr. Pitt had little connection) were the only members of
the society who had houses of their own, Mr. Bankes in London, and I
at Wimbolton[11] in Surrey. Mr. Bankes often received his friends to
dinner at his own house, and they frequently visited me in the country,
but more in the following Parliamentary session or two. In the spring
of one of these years Mr. Pitt, who was remarkably fond of sleeping in
the country, and would often go out of town for that purpose as late as
eleven or twelve o'clock at night, slept at Wimbolton for two or three
months together. It was, I believe, rather at a later period that he
often used to sleep also at Mr. Robert Smith's house at Hamstead.[12]

Mr. Pitt was not long in the House of Commons before he took a part
in the debates: I was present the first time he spoke, and I well
recollect the effect produced on the whole House; his friends had
expected much from him, but he surpassed all their expectations,
and Mr. Hatsell, the chief clerk and a few of the older members who
recollected his father, declared that Mr. Pitt gave indications of
being his superior. I remember to this day the great pain I suffered
from finding myself compelled by my judgment to vote against him on
the _second_ occasion of his coming forward, when the question was
whether some Commissioners of public accounts should, or should not,
be members of Parliament: indeed I never can forget the mixed emotions
I experienced when my feelings had all the warmth and freshness of
early youth, between my admiration of his powers, my sympathy with his
rising reputation, and hopes of his anticipated greatness, while I
nevertheless deemed it my duty in this instance to deny him my support.

Mr. Pitt was a decided and warm opponent of Lord North's
administration; so indeed were most of our society, though I
occasionally supported him. From the first, however, I concurred with
Mr. Pitt in opposing the American War, and we rejoiced together in
putting an end to it in about March, 1782, when Lord North's ministry
terminated; and after a painful, and I think considerable, interval,
during which it was said the King had even talked of going over to
Hanover, and was supposed at last to yield to the counsels of the
Earl of Mansfield, a new administration was formed consisting of the
Rockingham and Shelburne parties, the Marquis of Rockingham being
First Lord of the Treasury, and Lord Shelburne and Mr. Fox the two
Secretaries of State. But though the parties had combined together
against their common enemy, no sooner had he been removed than mutual
jealousies immediately began to show themselves between the Rockingham
and Shelburne parties. I well remember attending by invitation at Mr.
Thomas Townshend's, since Lord Sydney, with Mr. Pitt and most of the
young members who had voted with the Opposition, when Mr. Fox with
apparent reluctance stated that Lord Rockingham had not then been
admitted into the King's presence, but had only received communications
through Lord Shelburne; and little circumstances soon afterwards arose
which plainly indicated the mutual distrust of the two parties. Lord
Rockingham's constitution was much shaken, and after a short illness
his death took place before the end of the session of Parliament, about
the middle of June, 1782.[13] Mr. Pitt had taken occasion to declare
in the House of Commons that he would accept no subordinate situation,
otherwise there is no doubt he would have been offered a seat at the
Treasury Board, or indeed any office out of the Cabinet; but on Lord
Rockingham's death, notwithstanding Mr. Fox's endeavour to prevent a
rupture by declaring that _no disunion existed_,[14] the disagreement
between the parties, of which so many symptoms had before manifested
themselves, became complete and notorious. Lord Shelburne being invited
by the King to supply Lord Rockingham's place, Mr. Fox with most of the
Rockingham's party retired from office, and Mr. Pitt accepted the offer
made him by Lord Shelburne of becoming Chancellor of the Exchequer: he
had completed his twenty-third year the 28th of May preceding.

There was more than one day of debate even during that session, in
which Mr. Pitt indicated that gravity and dignity which became the high
station which he had assumed at so early an age. He continued in office
till the ensuing winter, when, after peace had been made both with
America and her continental allies France and Spain, Lord Shelburne's
administration was removed through the unprincipled coalition between
Lord North and Mr. Fox and their respective parties. It was supposed to
have been brought about in a great degree through the influence of Lord
North's eldest son, who had maintained a friendly acquaintance with
Mr. Fox, a man the fascination of whose manners and temper was such as
to render it impossible for any one to maintain a personal intercourse
with him without conceiving for him sincere and even affectionate
attachment. I seconded the motion for the address on the peace, and I
well remember a little before the business began writing a note in my
place with a pencil to Bankes, who was, I saw, at a little distance,
inquiring of him whether a union between North and Fox was really
formed, and whether I might publicly notice it; "Yes," he replied, "the
more strongly the better." Mr. Pitt on that night was very unwell; he
was obliged to retire from the House into Solomon's Porch by a violent
sickness at the very moment when Mr. Fox was speaking. He himself
afterwards replied in a speech of some hours' length, but he certainly
on that night fell short of our expectations; a second discussion,
however, took place a few days after, and his speech on that occasion
was one of the finest that was ever made in Parliament, both in point
of argument and power of oratory. I never shall forget the impression
produced by that part of it in which he spoke of his own retirement,
closing with that passage out of Horace, "Laudo manentem," &c., though
I must add that I retain no recollection whatever of the circumstance
mentioned by Sir N. Wraxall; indeed I cannot but be strongly persuaded
that he must have been misinformed. Well also do I remember our all
going to Mr. Pitt's from the House of Commons after our defeat about
eight in the morning, where a dinner had been waiting for us from
eleven or twelve the preceding night, and where we all laughed heartily
at some characteristic traits exhibited by Lord Stanhope,[15] then
Lord Mahon. An administration was then formed of which the Duke of
Portland was at the head, and Lord North and Mr. Fox joint Secretaries
of State. It was in the autumn of this year, 1783, during the recess of
Parliament, that I accompanied Mr. Pitt and Mr. Eliot, who afterwards
became his brother-in-law, to France: our plan was to spend a few weeks
in a provincial town, there to acquire something of the language,
and afterwards to make a short stay at Paris. Accordingly we went to
Rheims, where we continued for about six weeks. It was not until we
were on the point of going abroad (when Mr. Eliot came out of Cornwall,
Mr. Pitt from seeing his mother in Somersetshire, and I met them
both at Sittingbourne) that we recollected that we were unprovided
with letters of recommendation, which each of the party had perhaps
trusted to the other for obtaining. Accordingly we requested Mr. Smith
to obtain them for us of Mr. Thellusson, afterwards Lord Rendlesham,
who, we knew, had correspondencies all over France. Thellusson replied
that he would gladly do his best for us, but that he rather conceived
from circumstances that his correspondent at Rheims was not a person
of any commercial distinction. We, however, abided by our decision
in favour of Rheims. The day after we arrived there, having sent our
letter of recommendation the preceding evening to the person to whom
it was addressed, we were waited upon by a very well-behaved man with
a velvet coat, a bag, and sword, who conversed with us for a short
time. The next day we repaid his visit, and were a good deal surprised
to find that he was a very little grocer, his very small shop being
separated by a partition from his very small room. But he was an
unaffected, well-behaved man, and he offered to render us every service
in his power, but stated distinctly that he was not acquainted with
the higher people of the place and neighbourhood. For a few days we
lived very comfortably together, but no French was learned except from
the grammar, we not having a single French acquaintance. At length we
desired our friend the _épicier_ to mention us to the Lieutenant of
Police, who, I think we had made out, had been employed to collect
evidence in the great Douglas cause, and was therefore likely to
know something of our country and its inhabitants. This expedient
answered its intended purpose, though somewhat slowly and by degrees.
The Lieutenant of Police, Du Chatel, an intelligent and apparently
a respectable family man, came to visit us, and he having stated to
the Archbishop of Rheims, the present Cardinal de Perigord, whose
palace was about a mile from the city, that three English Members of
Parliament were then residing in it, one of whom was Mr. Pitt, who had
recently been Chancellor of the Exchequer, his Grace sent his Grand
Vicaire, the Abbé de la Garde, to ascertain the truth or falsehood of
this statement. The Abbé executed his commission with great address,
and reporting in our favour, we soon received an invitation to the
Archbishop's table, followed by the expression of a wish that during
the remainder of our stay at Rheims we would take up our residence in
his palace. This we declined, but we occasionally dined with him, and
from the time of our having been noticed by the Lieutenant we received
continual invitations, chiefly to supper, from the gentry in and about
the place. They were chiefly persons whose land produced the wine of
the country, which, without scruple, they sold on their own account.
And I remember the widow of the former Marshal Detrée intimating a wish
that Mr. Pitt would become her customer.

Thence we went to Paris, having an opportunity during that time of
spending four or five days at Fontainebleau, where the whole Court
was assembled. There we were every evening at the parties of one or
other of the French Ministers, in whose apartments we also dined--the
Queen being always among the company present in the evening, and
mixing in conversation with the greatest affability; there were also
Madame la Princesse de Lamballe, M. Segur, M. de Castres, &c. Mr.
George Ellis, who spoke French admirably, was in high favour for the
elegance of his manners and the ease and brilliancy of his wit; and
Mr. Pitt, though his imperfect knowledge of French prevented his doing
justice to his sentiments, was yet able to give some impression of
his superior powers--his language, so far as it did extend, being
remarkable, I was assured, for its propriety and purity. There M. le
Marquis de la Fayette appeared with a somewhat affected simplicity of
manner, and I remember the fine ladies on one occasion dragging him
to the card-table, while he shrugged up his shoulders and apparently
resisted their importunities that he would join their party: very few,
however, played at cards, the Queen, I think, never. During our stay
at Paris we dined one day with M. le Marquis de la Fayette with a very
small party, one of whom was Dr. Franklin; and it is due to M. le
Marquis de la Fayette to declare that the opinion which we all formed
of his principles and sentiments, so far as such a slight acquaintance
could enable us to form a judgment, was certainly favourable, and his
family appeared to be conducted more in the style of an English house
than any other French family which we visited. We commonly supped in
different parties, and I recollect one night when we English manifested
our too common indisposition to conform ourselves to foreign customs,
or rather to put ourselves out of our own way, by all going together
to one table, to the number of twelve or fourteen of us, and admitting
only one Frenchman, the Marquis de Noailles, M. de la Fayette's
brother-in-law, who spoke our own language like an Englishman, and
appeared more than any of the other French to be one of ourselves.
We, however, who were all young men, were more excusable than our
Ambassador at the Court of France, who, I remember, joined our party.

It was at Paris, in October, that Mr. Pitt first became acquainted
with Mr. Rose, who was introduced to him by Lord Thurlow, whose
fellow-traveller he was on the Continent; and it was then, or
immediately afterwards, that it was suggested to the late Lord Camden
by Mr. Walpole, a particular friend of M. Necker's, that if Mr. Pitt
should be disposed to offer his hand to Mademoiselle N., afterwards
Madame de Staël, such was the respect entertained for him by M. and
Madame Necker, that he had no doubt the proposal would be accepted.

We returned from France about November. Circumstances then soon
commenced which issued in the turning out of the Fox administration,
the King resenting grievously, as was said, the treatment he
experienced from them, especially in what regarded the settlement
of the Prince of Wales. I need only allude to the long course of
political contention which took place in the winter of 1783-84, when
at length Mr. Pitt became First Lord of the Treasury; and after a
violent struggle, the King dissolved the Parliament about March, and
in the new House of Commons a decisive majority attested the truth of
Mr. Pitt's assertion that he possessed the confidence of his country.
In many counties and cities the friends of Mr. Fox were turned out,
thence denominated Fox's Martyrs.[16] I myself became member for
Yorkshire in the place of Mr. Foljambe, Sir George Savile's nephew, who
had succeeded that excellent public man in the representation of the
county not many weeks before. I may be allowed to take this occasion of
mentioning a circumstance honourable to myself, since it is much more
honourable to him, that some years after he came to York on purpose to
support me in my contest for the county. It is remarkable that Lord
Stanhope first foresaw the necessity there would be for Mr. Pitt's
continuing in office notwithstanding his being out-voted in the House
of Commons, maintaining that the Opposition would not venture to refuse
the supplies, and that at the proper moment he should dissolve the
Parliament.[17]

And now having traced Mr. Pitt's course from childhood to the period
when he commenced his administration of sixteen or seventeen years
during times the most stormy and dangerous almost ever experienced
by this country, it may be no improper occasion for describing his
character, and specifying the leading talents, dispositions, and
qualifications by which he was distinguished. But before I proceed to
this delineation it may be right to mention that seldom has any man had
a better opportunity of knowing another than I have possessed of being
thoroughly acquainted with Mr. Pitt. For weeks and months together I
have spent hours with him every morning while he was transacting his
common business with his secretaries. Hundreds of times, probably,
I have called him out of bed, and have, in short, seen him in every
situation and in his most unreserved moments. As he knew I should not
ask anything of him, and as he reposed so much confidence in me as to
be persuaded that I should never use any information I might obtain
from him for any unfair purpose, he talked freely before me of men and
things, of actual, meditated, or questionable appointments and plans,
projects, speculations, &c., &c. No man, it has been said, is a hero to
his _valet de chambre_, and if, with all the opportunities I enjoyed
of seeing Mr. Pitt in his most inartificial and unguarded moments, he
nevertheless appeared to me to be a man of extraordinary intellectual
and moral powers, it is due to him that it should be known that this
opinion was formed by one in whose instance Mr. Pitt's character was
subjected to its most severe test, which Rochefoucault appeared to
think could be stood by no human hero.

Mr. Pitt's intellectual powers were of the highest order, and in
private no less than in public, when he was explaining his sentiments
in any complicated question and stating the arguments on both sides,
it was impossible not to admire the clearness of his conceptions, the
precision with which he contemplated every particular object, and a
variety of objects, without confusion. They who have had occasion
to discuss political questions with him in private will acknowledge
that there never was a fairer reasoner, never anyone more promptly
recognising, and allowing its full weight to every consideration and
argument which was urged against the opinion he had embraced. You
always saw _where_ you differed from him and _why_. The difference
arose commonly from his sanguine temper leading him to give credit to
information which others might distrust, and to expect that doubtful
contingencies would have a more favourable issue than others might
venture to anticipate. I never met with any man who combined in an
equal degree this extraordinary precision of understanding with the
same intuitive apprehension of every shade of opinion, or of feeling,
which might be indicated by those with whom he was conversant. In
taking an estimate of Mr. Pitt's intellectual powers, his extraordinary
memory ought to be specially noticed. It was indeed remarkable for
two excellencies which are seldom found united in the same person--a
facility of receiving impressions, and a firmness and precision in
retaining them. His great rival, Mr. Fox, was also endowed with a
memory which to myself used to appear perfectly wonderful. Often in
the earlier part of my Parliamentary life I have heard him (Fox) at a
very late hour speak, without having taken any notes, for two or three
hours, noticing every material argument that had been urged by every
speaker of the opposite party: this he commonly did in the order in
which those arguments had been delivered, whereas it was rather Mr.
Pitt's habit to form the plan of a speech in his mind while the debate
was going forward, and to distribute his comments on the various
statements and remarks of his opponents according to the arrangement
which he had made. Such was his (Pitt's) recollection of the great
classical authors of antiquity that scarcely a passage could be
quoted of their works, whether in verse or prose, with which he was
not so familiar as to be able to take up the clue and go on with what
immediately followed. This was particularly the case in the works of
Virgil, Horace, and Cicero, and I am assured that he was also scarcely
less familiar with Homer and Thucydides.

He had considerable powers of imagination and much ready wit, but this
quality appeared more to arise from every idea, and every expression
that belonged to it, being at once present to his mind, so as to enable
him at will to make such combinations as suited the purpose of the
moment, than as if his mind was only conscious at the time of that
particular coruscation which the collision of objects caused to flash
before the mental eye. It arose out of this distinctive peculiarity
that he was not carried away by his own wit, though he could at any
time command its exercise, and no man, perhaps, at proper seasons
ever indulged more freely or happily in that playful facetiousness
which gratifies all without wounding any. He had great natural courage
and fortitude, and though always of a disordered stomach and gouty
tendencies (on account of which port wine had been recommended to him
in his earliest youth, and drinking French wine for a day or two would
at any time produce gouty pains in the extremities), yet his bodily
temperament never produced the smallest appearance of mental weakness
or sinking. I think it was from this source, combined with that of his
naturally sanguine temper, that though manifestly showing how deeply he
felt on public affairs, he never was harassed or distressed by them,
and till his last illness, when his bodily powers were almost utterly
exhausted, his inward emotions never appeared to cloud his spirits, or
affect his temper. Always he was ready in the little intervals of a
busy man to indulge in those sallies of wit and good humour which were
naturally called forth.

Excepting only the cases of those who have had reason to apprehend the
loss of life or liberty, never was a public man in circumstances more
harassing than those of Mr. Pitt in 1784: for several weeks the fate
of his administration and that of his opponents were trembling on the
beam, sometimes one scale preponderating, sometimes the other; almost
daily it appeared doubtful whether he was to continue Prime Minister
or retire into private life. Yet though then not five-and-twenty I do
not believe that the anxiety of his situation ever kept him awake for
a single minute, or ever appeared to sadden or cast a gloom over his
hours of relaxation.

It cannot perhaps be affirmed that he was altogether free from
pride, but great natural shyness,[18] and even awkwardness (French
_gaucherie_), often produced effects for which pride was falsely
charged on him; and really that confidence which might be justly
placed in his own powers by a man who could not but be conscious of
their superiority might sometimes appear like pride, though not fairly
deserving that appellation; and this should be the rather conceded,
because from most of the acknowledged effects of pride upon the
character he was eminently free. No man, as I have already remarked,
ever listened more attentively to what was stated against his own
opinions; no man appeared to feel more for others when in distress; no
man was ever more kind and indulgent to his inferiors and dependents
of every class, and never were there any of those little acts of
superciliousness, or indifference to the feelings and comforts of
others, by which secret pride is sometimes betrayed. But if Mr. Pitt
was not wholly free from pride, it may truly be affirmed that no man
was perhaps ever more devoid of vanity in all its forms. One particular
more in Mr. Pitt's character, scarcely ever found in a proud man, was
the extraordinary good humour and candour with which he explained and
discussed any plan or measure, of which he had formed the outline
in his mind, with those professional men who were necessarily to be
employed in giving it a Parliamentary form and language. I do not
believe that there is a single professional man or the head of any
board who ever did business with him, who would not acknowledge that
he was on such occasions the most easy and accommodable man with whom
they ever carried on official intercourse. One instance of this kind
shall be mentioned as a specimen of the others. He had formed a plan of
importance (I think in some Revenue matter) on which it was necessary
for him to consult with the Attorney-General of the day, I believe
Chief Baron Macdonald; Mr. Pitt had been for some time ruminating
on the measure, his mind had been occupied for perhaps a month in
moulding it into form and in devising expedients for its more complete
execution. It may here be not out of place to mention as a peculiarity
of his character that he was habitually apt to have almost his whole
thoughts and attention and time occupied with the particular object
or plan which he was then devising and wishing to introduce into
practice. He was as usual full of his scheme, and detailed it to his
professional friend with the warmth and ability natural to him on such
occasions. But the Attorney-General soon became convinced that there
were legal objections to the measure, which must be decisive against
its adoption. These therefore he explained to Mr. Pitt, who immediately
gave up his plan with the most unruffled good-humour, without
attempting to hang by it, or to devise methods of propping it up, but,
casting it at once aside, he pursued his other business as cheerfully
and pleasantly as usual.

But there are many who with undisturbed composure and with a good grace
can on _important_ occasions thus change their line of conduct and
assume a course contrary to that which they would have preferred. It
is, however, far more rare to find men who on little occasions, which
are not of sufficient moment to call a man's dignity into action, and
which are not under the public eye, can bear to have their opinions
opposed and their plans set aside, without manifesting some irritation
or momentary fretfulness. But on the lesser scale as well as on the
greater Mr. Pitt's good-humour was preserved. This same disposition of
mind was attended with the most important advantages, and in truth was
one which eminently qualified him to be the Minister of a free country.

If towards the latter end of his life his temper was not so entirely
free from those occasional approaches to fretfulness which continued
disease and the necessity of struggling against it too often produce,
it ought to be taken into account that another powerful cause
besides human infirmity might have tended to lessen that kindness
and good-humour for which he was for the greater part of his life
so remarkable. The deference that was paid to him was justly great,
but though no man less than himself exacted anything like servility
from his companions, it is impossible to deny that there were those
who attempted to cultivate his favour by this species of adulation.
Another particular in Mr. Pitt, seldom connected with pride, was the
kind interest he took in the rising talents of every young public man
of any promise whose politics were congenial with his own; as well as
the justice which he did to the powers of his opponents--a quality
which it is but fair to say was no less apparent in Mr. Fox also. If he
sometimes appeared to be desirous of letting a debate come to a close
without hearing some friends who wished to take a part in it, this
arose in some degree in his wishing to get away, from his being tired
out with Parliamentary speaking and hearing, or from thinking that the
debate would close more advantageously at the point at which he stopped.

In society he was remarkably cheerful and pleasant, full of wit and
playfulness, neither, like Mr. Fox, fond of arguing a question, nor yet
holding forth, like some others.[19] He was always ready to hear others
as well as to talk himself. In very early life he now and then engaged
in games of chance, and the vehemence with which he was animated was
certainly very great; but finding that he was too much interested by
them, all at once he entirely and for life desisted from gambling.

His regard for truth was greater than I ever saw in any man who was
not strongly under the influence of a powerful principle of religion:
he appeared to adhere to it out of respect to himself, from a certain
moral purity which appeared to be a part of his nature. A little
incident may afford an example of his delicacy in this respect. A
common friend of ours, a member of the House of Lords, was reflected
upon with considerable acrimony in the House of Commons by one of Mr.
Pitt's political opponents. Being with him, as often happened, the next
morning, while he was at breakfast, I told him that the animadversions
which had been made on our friend the night before were stated in
the newspaper, and I expressed some surprise that he himself had not
contradicted the fact which was the ground of the reprehension. "This,"
said he, "I might have done, but you will remember that it was a
circumstance in which, if I deviated from strict truth, no other man
could know of it, and in such a case it is peculiarly requisite to keep
within the strictest limits of veracity."

The remark I am about to make may deserve the more attention on account
of its general application, and because it may probably tend to
illustrate other characters. It may, I believe, be truly affirmed that
the imputations which were sometimes thrown out against Mr. Pitt, that
he was wanting in simplicity and frankness, and the answers he made to
questions put to him concerning his future conduct, or the principles
which were regulating the course of measures he pursued, were in truth
a direct consequence of that very strictness and veracity for which
he was so remarkable. When men are not very scrupulous as to truth,
they naturally deal in broad assertions, especially in cases in which
their feelings are at all warmly engaged; but it seldom happens that
a political man can thus assume a principle and apply it to all the
cases, which, in the use he is about to make of it, it may be supposed
to comprehend, without some qualifications and distinctions; and a man
of strict veracity therefore makes a conditional declaration or gives
a qualified assurance. The same remark applies to the judgments we
may express of the character and conduct of public men. In order to
be strictly correct we cannot always use broad and strong colouring,
but there must be shades and gradations in our draught. Yet such is
the natural and even commendable love which men generally have of
truth and honesty, that we feel an instinctive preference of simple
and strong affirmations or negations as indicating more blunt and
straightforward principles and dispositions, than where men express
themselves in measured and qualified and conditional propositions. No
man, I believe, ever loved his country with a warmer or more sincere
affection; it was highly gratifying to converse familiarly with him
on the plans he was forming for the public good; or to witness the
pleasure he experienced from indulging speculations of the benefits
which his country might derive from the realising of such or such a
hope.

But notwithstanding all my admiration of Mr. Pitt's extraordinary
powers, and still more, with the deepest and most assured conviction
of his public spirit and patriotism, I cannot but think that even his
uncommon excellencies were not without some alloy of human infirmity.
In particular he appeared to me to be defective in his knowledge of
human nature, or that from some cause or other he was less sagacious
than might have been expected from his superior talents, in his
estimate of future events, and sometimes in his judgment of character.
This might probably arise in part from his naturally sanguine temper,
which in estimating future contingencies might lead him to assign
too little weight to those probabilities which were opposed to his
ultimate conclusion. But if I must be honest in delineating Mr. Pitt's
character and qualities, I must also confess that in considering their
practical influence on the fortunes of his country, I have sometimes
been almost ready to believe that powers far inferior to his, under
the direction of a mind equally sincere and equally warm in its zeal
for the public good, might have been the instrument of conferring far
greater benefits on his country. His great qualities, under the impulse
and guidance of true religion, would probably have been the means of
obtaining for his country much greater temporal blessings, together
with others of a far higher order, and more durable effects. The
circumstances of the period at which he first came into the situation
of Prime Minister were such as almost to invest him with absolute
power. All his faculties then possessed the bloom of youthful beauty
as well as the full vigour of maturer age: his mind was ardent, his
principles were pure, his patriotism warm, his mind as yet altogether
unsullied by habitually associating with men of worldly ways of
thinking and acting, in short, with a class which may be not unfitly
termed trading politicians; this is a class with which perhaps no
one, however originally pure, can habitually associate, especially in
the hours of friendly intercourse and of social recreation, without
contracting insensibly more or less defilement. No one who had not
been an eye-witness could conceive the ascendency which Mr. Pitt then
possessed over the House of Commons, and if he had then generously
adopted the resolution to govern his country by _principle_ rather
than by _influence_, it was a resolution which he could then have
carried into execution with success, and the full effects of which,
both on the national character, interests, and happiness, it is
scarcely possible perhaps to estimate; but it would be a curious
and no unprofitable speculation to trace the probable effects which
would have resulted from the assumption of this high moral tone, in
the actual circumstances of this country, in reference both to our
internal interests and our foreign relations. This is a task I cannot
now undertake, but I may remind the reader that the principles were
then beginning to propagate themselves with the greatest success which
not long after exhibited their true nature and ruinous effects in the
French Revolution. Such a spirit of patriotism would have been kindled,
such a generous confidence in the King's government would have been
diffused throughout all classes, that the very idea of the danger of
our being infected with the principles of French licentiousness, which
might have produced among our people a general taint of disloyalty,
would have been an apprehension not to be admitted into the bosom of
the most timid politician; while the various reforms which would have
taken place, and the manifest independence of Parliament would have
generated and ensured in the minds of all reasonable men a continually
increasing gratitude and affection for the constitution and laws of our
country. On the other hand, the French, infatuated as they were, and
wicked as were the men who then possessed the chief influence in the
counsels of that country, could never have been so blind to their own
manifest interest, as to have engaged their people in a war with Great
Britain from any idea of our confederating with the Crowned Heads of
Europe to crush the rising spirit of liberty in France. Hence we should
have escaped that long and bloody war, which, however, in its ultimate
issue justly deserving the epithet of glorious, is nevertheless the
cause of all our present dangers and sufferings, from the insupportable
burdens with which it has loaded us. Nor is it only _Financial_ evils
of which our long protracted warfare has been the cause; to this
source also we must probably trace much of that _Moral_ evil, which
in so many different forms has been of late beginning to manifest
itself, especially among the lower orders of our people. The gracious
Providence of God has indeed abundantly answered the prayers of many
among us, who I trust have all along been looking up to the Giver of
all Good for their country's safety and prosperity; and while those
causes were in operation which were hereafter to manifest themselves
in various forms of social and domestic evil, it pleased God to
diffuse a spirit of an opposite kind, which began to display its love
of God and love of man by the formation of societies of a religious
and moral nature, which have already contributed in no small degree
to bless almost all nations, while they have invested our own country
with a moral glory never before enjoyed by any nation upon earth. The
diffusion of the Sacred Scriptures, the establishment of societies for
spreading throughout the world the blessings of religious light and
of moral improvement, the growing attention to the education of our
people, with societies and institutions for relieving every species
of suffering which vice and misery can ever produce among the human
race,--what would have been the effects of all this, if not obstructed
and counteracted in all the various ways by which war, that greatest
scourge of the human race, carries on its baleful and wide wasting
operations.[20]

Is it not a melancholy consideration that this very country, the
constitution and laws of which have been the objects of the highest
possible admiration of the wisest men, should be in such a state
that but too large a part of the great body of our people, instead of
looking up to Heaven with gratitude for being favoured with blessings
never before enjoyed by any nation, should be led by their sufferings
to regard that very constitution and those very laws with disgust and
aversion? Of this unhappy state of things the war, as having been
the cause of our financial distresses and difficulties, is in fact
the source. But there is nothing in which we are so apt to deceive
ourselves as in conceiving that we are capable of estimating the
full amount of moral good or evil; short-sighted as we are, there is
nothing in which our views are more manifestly narrow and contracted;
an important, nay, an awful consideration, which, while it may well
encourage to activity in all good, should make us tremble to admit
(the slightest speck) the smallest seed of moral evil to pollute our
country's soil. But I have been led to expatiate more than I intended
on this topic, though merely glancing at some of the most important
of the considerations which it presents to the view even of the most
superficial observer.

Returning to the consideration of the effect of true religion on the
character and conduct of the great man who has been the subject of this
inquiry, I am naturally led to remark that there can be no possible
occasion on which the application of the principle on which I have been
lately speaking would suggest wider scope for our reflection. But if
we consider the effect which true religion would have produced either
in himself or in others around him, how immense would appear the mass
of benefits, in the employment of his time, in the application of his
faculties, in the selection of his companions, perhaps, above all, in
his giving their just weight to religious and moral principles and
character in the exercise of his unlimited patronage, both in Church
and State; and considering that every religious and good man, who by
him should have been invested with power and influence, would _himself_
have selected others of similar principles and character, throughout
the descending series of official appointments, and through all the
variety of social occupations, who can say what would have been the
effect of these religious and moral secretions, if they may be so
termed, which throughout the whole political body would have been
gradually producing their blessed effects in augmenting its fulness,
symmetry, and strength?[21] And these effects, remember, would have
been of a merely public, still less of a merely political character.
They would have been, to say the least, full as manifest, and even more
fertile in the production of happiness in all the walks of private
life and all the varieties of social combination.

In considering the estimates which were formed of Mr. Pitt's and Mr.
Fox's characters respectively, more especially in point of what may be
called popularity; and also as to their reputation for genius, wit,
and classical taste, it should be remembered that Mr. Fox happened to
have become connected, both at school and at Oxford, with a circle of
men eminent for talents and classical proficiency, men also who were
not shut up in cloisters, but who lived in the world, and gave the
tone in the highest and most polished societies of the metropolis.
Among these were Mr. Hare, General Fitzpatrick, Lord John Townshend;
and to these must be added Mr. Windham, Mr. Erskine, and, above all,
Mr. Sheridan. Mr. Pitt had also several college friends who came into
Parliament about the same period with himself, men of no inferior
consideration­--Mr. Bankes, Mr. Eliot, Lord Abercorn, Lord Spencer, and
several others. But these, it must be confessed, were by no means men
of the same degree of brilliancy as the former set; nor did they in
the same degree live in the circle of fashion and there diffuse their
own opinions. Again Mr. Fox's political connections were numerous, and
such as naturally tended to stamp a high value on his character. Burke,
Barré­--for there were those also who though not of Fox's party,
often associated with him in private, and tended to sustain the general
estimate of his superiority; of these were Gibbon, Lord Thurlow,
Dunning, Jeykell.

[Illustration: THE RIGHT HONBLE. WILLIAM PITT.]

Again, the necessity under which Mr. Pitt often lay of opening and
speaking upon subjects of a low and vulgarising quality, such as
the excise on tobacco, wine, &c., &c., topics almost incapable with
propriety, of an association with wit or grace, especially in one
who was so utterly devoid of all disposition to seek occasions for
shining, tended to produce a real mediocrity of sentiment and a lack
of ornament, as well as to increase the impression that such was
the nature of his oratory. Also the speeches of a minister were of
necessity more guarded, and his subjects, except where he was opening
some new proposition or plan, were rather prescribed to him by others,
than selected by himself.[22]

       *       *       *       *       *

The MS. of Canning's lines on Pitt is amongst the Wilberforce Papers;
they are so little known that no apology is needed for inserting them
here. Canning wrote them for the feast in honour of Pitt's birthday,
May 28, 1802. It will be remembered that Pitt had resigned in 1801,
because the King would not accept his Irish policy. A vote of censure
had been moved, and was not merely rejected, but, by an overwhelming
majority, it was carried "that the Right Hon. William Pitt has rendered
great and important services to his country, and especially deserved
the gratitude of this House."[23]


    THE PILOT THAT WEATHER'D THE STORM.

    (_A Song written in 1802._)

    If hush'd the loud whirlwind that ruffled the deep,
      The sky, if no longer dark tempests deform;
    When our perils are past, shall our gratitude sleep?
      No! Here's to the Pilot that weather'd the storm!

    At the footstool of Power let flattery fawn,
      Let faction her idols extol to the skies;
    To Virtue, in humble retirement withdrawn,
      Unblam'd may the merits of gratitude rise.

    And shall not his memory to Britain be dear,
      Whose example with envy all nations behold;
    A Statesman unbias'd by int'rest or fear,
      By pow'r uncorrupted, untainted by gold?

    Who, when terror and doubt through the universe reigned,
      While rapine and treason their standards unfurl'd,
    The heart and the hopes of his country maintained,
      And one kingdom preserv'd midst the wreck of the world.

    Unheeding, unthankful, we bask in the blaze,
      While the beams of the sun in full majesty shine;
    When he sinks into twilight, with fondness we gaze,
      And mark the mild lustre that gilds his decline.

    Lo! Pitt, when the course of thy greatness is o'er,
      Thy talents, thy virtues, we fondly recall!
    Now justly we prize thee, when lost we deplore;
      Admir'd in thy zenith, but lov'd in thy fall.

    Oh! take, then--for dangers by wisdom repelled,
      For evils, by courage and constancy brav'd--
    Oh take! for a throne by thy counsels upheld
      The thanks of a people thy firmness has sav'd.

    And oh! if again the rude whirlwind should rise!
      The dawning of peace should fresh darkness deform,
    The regrets of the good, and the fears of the wise,
      Shall turn to the Pilot that weather'd the storm.




_LETTERS FROM FRIENDS_


_The letters which follow are from friends of Wilberforce between the
years 1786-1832: they touch on a variety of subjects. George Rose[24]
writes in 1790 in the full flush of excitement on the news of "peace
certain and unequivocal on the very terms prescribed from hence."_




LETTERS FROM FRIENDS


_Right Hon. George Rose to Mr. Wilberforce._

  "OLD PALACE YARD,

  "_November 4, 1790_.

"MY DEAR WILBERFORCE,--I was shocked this morning in putting my papers
in order on my table to find a letter I wrote to you before I went into
the country; you must have thought me shamefully inattentive to you,
which I trust I never shall be while I retain my senses, for anxious
as I am to avoid such an imputation in general I do assure you I am
particularly so to stand clear of that in your opinion. I will now,
however, make you ample amends for the seeming neglect by telling you
that the expected messenger is arrived and brings us an account of
peace _certain_ and _unequivocal_, on the very terms (I may say to you)
_prescribed_ from hence; they secure to us great and essential points
important to the interests of the country, and must prevent future
occasions of quarrel with Spain; war with all its certain and possible
consequences are (_sic_) avoided. So much for public benefits; what
it must produce to the individual[25] to whom the merit is justly and
fairly to be ascribed it is impossible at once to foresee--I mean with
respect to character of everything that can be valuable to a man in his
situation.

"I have actually been drunk ever since ten o'clock this morning, and
have not yet quite the use of my reason, but I am

  "Yours most faithfully and cordially,

  "GEORGE ROSE."


Pitt's views as to a bounty on corn in the scarcity then[26] prevailing
are given by Rose in the next letter.

_Right Hon. G. Rose to Mr. Wilberforce._

"MY DEAR WILBERFORCE,--It would be very odd if your writing to me on
the subject of your last, or indeed on any other, could require an
apology; I regret only that I cannot give you the light upon it you
wish.

"With respect to measures within the reach of Government to relieve the
scarcity I fear none can be effectual. Mr. Pitt cannot, as you know,
after his declaration in Parliament, import at the expense or risk
of the public, but he is inclined to give a bounty on corn imported
when it shall be _below_ a certain price within a limited time. This
is a new principle, but I really believe it would produce much good.
The idea occurred to him on reading Mr. Richardson's letter to you,
who stated the great discouragement of individuals importing to be the
risk of prices being low on the arrival of cargoes in the spring; I was
so much struck with Mr. Richardson's observations that I wrote to beg
him to call on me last Monday, but he had unfortunately set off that
morning for Liverpool. I am more than half disposed to take the chance
of prevailing with him to come up again.

"During our late sitting the Scotch distilleries were stopped, but
the prices of barley in England were not _then_ such as to induce any
man to hint even at the English; and of course there is now no power
to prevent them going on. We did prohibit the distillation of wheat;
and allowed the importation of starch at the Home Duty, which will
stop that manufactory; but I deplore most sincerely and earnestly any
agreement against the use of hair powder, not merely for the sake of a
large revenue, but to avoid other mischief which I am very sure is not
enough attended to, the distinction of dress and external appearance.
The inattention to that has been a great support of Jacobinism.

"The resolutions which were taken in the last scarcity for restraining
the use of flour, &c., were so little attended, and were on the whole
productive of so little good that Mr. Pitt has not thought it yet
advisable to recur to them. I believe _much_ may be done, especially in
towns, by soup shops, respecting which I should think Mr. Bernard can
inform you as fully as any one, from the share he took in the conduct
of them in London last winter. Perhaps the article may be made somewhat
cheaper here than anywhere else from there being a larger quantity of
coarse parts of the meat than in any country place, but the soup was
made admirably good, palatable and nutritive for twopence a quart,
and retailed at half that price; one pint an ample allowance for each
person, taking adults and children together, so that for one halfpenny
a day a comfortable mess was provided for a poor person. I am making
the experiment both at Christ Church and Lyndhurst and I shall soon
see how it will answer. I am not sure but that some general plan of
that sort will be as likely as any other to be useful now. I think also
of importing a cargo of corn now, as I did pork on the last occasion,
and it may be a good thing to encourage others to do the same for the
supply of their respective neighbourhoods, which people will be more
disposed to do if Mr. Pitt should propose the bounty I have alluded to.

"The dry weather during the last twelve days I hope will be productive
of infinite good; nothing could be more fortunate, as the seed I hope
will now be all well got in, which may have an immediate effect in
lowering the prices."

A letter of a later date from Rose follows as to the payment of Pitt's
debts by subscription amongst his friends. Wilberforce was sanguine as
to the success of this plan "considering the number of affluent men
connected with Pitt, some of whom have got great and lucrative places
from him." Wilberforce drew up a list of sixty-three persons who "might
be expected to contribute." But the plan of a private subscription fell
to the ground.


_Right Hon. G. Rose to Mr. Wilberforce._

  "OLD PALACE YARD,

  "_January 25, 1806, Saturday_.

"MY DEAR WILBERFORCE,--I told you, immediately after the receipt of
your former letters, that all thought of applying to Parliament for
payment of Mr. Pitt's debts was abandoned; and measures are taking for
the attainment of that object, which will be very greatly assisted by
your endeavours I am sure. Mr. Samuel Thornton and Mr. Angerstein are
to meet several gentlemen in the city on Tuesday morning to promote a
private subscription, and whatever may be necessary to be done at this
end of the town I trust will be effected. I hope I expressed myself
intelligibly respecting your motives--you cannot be more certain of
them than I am--and I felt deeply obliged by the plainness with which
you expressed your sentiments; they decided my conduct instantly, as I
told you before.

"As to the wish expressed by our late inestimable friend relative to
the Stanhopes, I suggested to you that as provision had been made
for the husbands of the two elder ones, equal to £1,000 a year, I
believe, for each, I thought a further one by Parliament could hardly
be acquiesced in. For Lady Hester I hoped no difficulty would be made
in providing an annuity to that amount. The two young men are in the
army--_they_ are not of Mr. Pitt's blood and small sinecure employments
are given to them which will aid their income.

"Three gentlemen are to meet in the city on Monday to concert the best
measures for promoting the subscription, and you shall know the result.
You will, I am persuaded, come in to attend the House on that day.

  "The Bishop of Lincoln is at the Deanery.
  "I am, my dear Wilberforce,
  "Most truly yours,
  "GEORGE ROSE."


The next two letters are from Dundas, afterwards Lord Melville,[27]
"the only minister to whose judgment Pitt greatly deferred."
Wilberforce writes of him as "an excellent man of business and a fine,
warm-hearted fellow," but later on he says, "his connection with Dundas
was Pitt's great misfortune."[28] The first letter is on the subject of
free exports of our manufactures to Holland.


_Right Hon. Henry Dundas to Mr. Wilberforce._

  "WIMBLEDON, _August 15, 1796_.

"MY DEAR W.,--I have spoke both with Mr. Pitt and Lord Grenville
on the subject of a free exportation of our manufactures from this
country to Holland. I think they agree with me in thinking that if the
restraint was ever a politick one the time is passed. Lord Liverpool, I
believe, is of a different opinion, but it will immediately come under
discussion, and I would hope he will act wisely upon it. For my own
part, I am of opinion that it is a degree of infatuation at the present
moment to prevent the trade and manufactures of the country finding an
exit and a vent in any mode and by any channel the enterprise of the
merchants can devise. I am as well as can be under all the anxieties
which the state of the country naturally suggests, and the pain
arising from that anxiety is not diminished by feeling oneself free
from the blame of all the mischief which is going on. Who would have
thought not many years ago that in the year 1796 Great Britain should
be the only nation to be found true to its own interests, or in a
situation to maintain them. But I find my pen running away with me, and
must conclude with congratulating you on the fine weather and luxuriant
crops, and with being, my dear Wil,

  "Yours sincerely,
  "HENRY DUNDAS."

Dundas's remarks on the defence of the country and the raising of
volunteer and yeomanry corps in 1798 are not without interest in 1897.


  "WIMBLEDON, _January 29, 1798_.

"MY DEAR WILBERFORCE,--There can not be a doubt of the wishes of
Government to bring forward the zeal and exertions of the country in
every practicable shape; at present I am not aware that any thing
cheaper (if really efficient) can be resorted to than the system of
volunteer corps and yeomanry corps to which every encouragement is
given. At the same time if any proposal through the regular channel
can be laid before Government having the same tendency, there can
not be a doubt of its being duly attended to. The only satisfactory
answer therefore which I can make to your letter is to suggest to you
the propriety of mentioning to your friends who have applied to you,
that it would be best for them to put in writing the specified plan
they would severally wish to adopt, and if that is sent to the Duke
of Portland by the Lord Lieutenant, I have no reason to doubt that it
will be duly attended to. If a copy of the proposal is at the same time
extra officially laid before me, it might be the means of expediting
the consideration of it, as I have frequent opportunities of conversing
with the Dukes of York and Portland, and likewise with Mr. Pitt on all
subjects of that nature. Indeed the proper defence of the country by
every possible means it can be done with effect and economy occupies my
unremitting attention, and if I observe it neglected in any department,
it vexes and distresses me more than I can describe, and perhaps more
than is convenient consistently with keeping one's mind in a constant
tenor of steady and unruffled attention. I was sorry to learn within
these two days that Mrs. Wilberforce is ailing, and

  "I remain, my dear Wilberforce,
  "Yours very sincerely,
  "HENRY DUNDAS."


  In his later days when he had withdrawn to
  a great extent from the society which he had
  charmed in his youth Wilberforce's chief female
  friends were Hannah More, of whose letters hundreds
  remain, Martha More, Mrs. Fry, Maria
  Edgeworth. In strong contrast stand out the
  friendships of the youthful days, when Wilberforce's
  Wimbledon villa was the resort of witty
  and fashionable, rather than of learned and charitable
  ladies, when he was "sitting up all night
  singing" and when the society he frequented
  included Mrs. Siddons, Mrs. Crewe, Mrs. Sheridan,
  the Duchess of Portland, and last but not
  least, the beautiful and bewitching Jane Duchess
  of Gordon, she who raised the regiment of Gordon
  Highlanders by giving, as was said, the
  shilling from her mouth to the recruits.

  The Duchess of Gordon writes to William
  Wilberforce in July, 1788, of "the many happy
  hours I have spent at Wimbledon," and from
  Keswick this versatile woman tells him of the
  "sweet church" she had passed by and how she
  "found myself repeating the lines, 'Remote from
  man with God he passed his days, Prayer all
  his business, all his pleasure praise': it is thus
  I should like to live, the world forgetting, by
  the world forgot." She tries to tempt him to
  Gordon Castle in these words: "I know that
  'silent glens have charms for thee,' and this is the
  country in which you will find those silent and
  peaceful abodes. Nature bestowed every wild,
  uncultivated beauty, with a purer air and brighter
  horizon. Here Hygeia is to be found; we lead
  the lives of hermits. Dr. Beattie shall be our
  companion. We go to bed at eleven, and sometimes
  visit the majestic ocean before breakfast.
  I am certain the air of this country would perfectly
  re-establish your health, which would give
  joy to thousands, and no one more than, &c.,

  "J. GORDON."


In this letter the Duchess encloses her correspondence with Dundas, who
was one of the circle at that Liberty Hall of Wimbledon.

The Duchess had had a misunderstanding with Dundas which she wished
Wilberforce to heal through his influence with Pitt. She had "dropped
some words" respecting Dundas to Pitt which had "got round" to the
former. Dundas writes to her:

  "INDIA OFFICE,

  "_July 4, 1788_.

"DEAR DUCHESS,--I received your affectionate note previous to your
departure for Scotland. A great part of its contents are more fit for
discussion in free conversation than by letter. I have only to beg of
you always to keep in remembrance the long letter I wrote to you in
consequence of some words you dropped to Mr. Pitt respecting me last
winter.

"It is scarcely possible for you to put me out of humour, because
however much you may at times forget yourself, and get into sallies
of unguarded expression, you would be almost the worst of beings if
you was seriously to entertain for me any other sentiments than those
of perfect regard and affection. I therefore never suspect you of any
serious alteration of your regard. But let me for your own sake entreat
you to reflect that everybody does not make the same allowance that
I do. You judge truly when you think that you have many enemies, and
be assured that there is no such good receipt for having enemies than
to talk rashly or disrespectfully behind their backs; and be sure of
it these things in some way or other get round, and no after-civility
is received as an expiation. On the contrary, it brings upon you the
imputation of duplicity which of all other ingredients in a character
ought (even the suspicion of it) to be avoided.

"After so long a lecture, I think it right to console you with
enclosing Sir George Young's note just received. I leave you to say
anything you please about me to Mrs. Gordon, only let her not imagine
that I made professions even in the middle of a country dance without a
perfect determination to realise them. Remember me affectionately to
everybody, and

  "I remain,
  "Yours sincerely,
  "HENRY DUNDAS."

The Duchess's answer to Dundas is so full of piquancy that it helps one
to realise the personality of this remarkable woman.


_Duchess of Gordon to Right Hon. Henry Dundas._

  "GORDON CASTLE,
  "_July 13, 1788_.

"I have this morning yours, and though not a little confused with the
bustle of joy that surrounds me, cannot delay answering it. There is
something in the strain of your letters so unlike the ideas that you
convey in our conversation that I cannot think they are wrote by the
same person.

"Why mention duplicity to me? You know there is not a human being
further from it; and I know you don't in your heart believe one word
upon the subject. If you do, you have not the penetration the world
gives you; for I can assure you with the firmest confidence you are
most egregiously mistaken. It would be better for me if I had a
little more of that detestable vice, or even the policy to conceal my
sentiments, for I am convinced my enemies are the offspring of too much
openness; far, very far, from that detested duplicity, or any of its
hateful train. I never expressed an idea of you or your conduct that
I did not express to yourself. It was the impulse of the moment; and
I feel too independent of any man's power, however much I may choose
to depend upon their good opinion and friendship, to suppress my
sentiments when justly founded. For many years of my life my confidence
in you was unbounded. You said you loved me with all the extravagance
of passion; at the same time that respect, esteem, and veneration made
you express sentiments that did you honour to feel and me to follow.
You certainly did not act to my brother as I would have done to yours
or to anyone you protected. What Mr. Pitt told you I could not tell
him as a secret. You have often told me he has none from you. I do
not doubt--I could not doubt--that the Duke and I were the persons
on earth you wished most to serve, and yet my brother has met with
the most cruel disappointments. In this, my good friend, there is no
duplicity. Not even to your enemies did I express an idea that could
lead them to think that I ever doubted your honour, your sincerity, or
your talents as a statesman. No dark hints and half-sentences; but an
open declaration of my friendship and a dependence upon yours. That
your friends and that society was where we spent the happiest hours.
However impolitic, I always openly declared my decided preference to
those parties, and I don't doubt it but it made enemies of those that
had felt and expressed very different sentiments--I know it did. But
to gain one friend such as I could name, more than repaid a legion of
such insipid triflers and ignorant puppies. When I wrote you my note
from London I had resolved to obliterate all causes of complaint, and
only remember with gratitude the pleasant parties we had enjoyed at
your house; but your letter makes it necessary that I bring to your
view from how many different sources any dissatisfaction on my part
arose. The last cause--your conduct relative to our politics--I thought
both impolitic as a statesman and unkind as a friend. You say you
thought otherwise, and your kind proposal of the Duke's succeeding to
Lord Marchmont's office will more than cancel his disappointment. This
is a true picture of my mind. After eighteen years' acquaintance, you
would have drawn a much more flattering one; indeed, till the last few
months of my life, you certainly thought me all perfection--so no more
duplicity, or I must attribute eighteen years of that most horrid vice
to you, and only a few months' sincerity. So I know, whatever you may
amuse yourself with writing, that it is still, and must be, your firm
belief. I would not have said so much upon the subject, but I tremble
for I don't know what. I had hints in London. I had forgot them, till
your letter brings them with redoubled force to my remembrance. I
could not believe them; for you had convinced me Mr. Pitt had some
unfavourable impressions of me, and that you had removed them. For no
one favour did I feel more grateful. But I shall never have done. I
was happy to see all your family in Edinburgh well and happy; I found
my little boy the most lovely creature I ever saw. My Duke is most
sincerely yours; he cannot doubt your friendship, as that office had
long been the object of his wishes and expectations. No one is better
entitled and no one more worthy of it. Once more adieu. May the races
afford you much amusement, and may the paths of Melville and Duneira
be strewed with roses, without one care from public or private life to
cause a gloom.

  &c., &c.,
  "J. GORDON."


The Duchess, in enclosing this correspondence, begs Wilberforce to
be her defender if he hears her character attacked on the ground of
"duplicity" or "inaccuracy;" his influence with Pitt was one reason for
her troubling him with the subject.

Later on she writes to Wilberforce, who was gradually withdrawing
himself from fashionable society, a note docketed "before 1800," to
say:--

"Am I never to see you more? The Duchess of Leeds and her sister sing
here Monday evening. Pray come; I shall be delighted to see you, and
much mortified if you don't come.


  "Ever yours most truly, &c.,
  "J. GORDON."

After 1800 Wilberforce seems in great measure to have cut himself
loose from society that he considered frivolous; and to have used
the extraordinary influence he possessed over his friends to
endeavour to induce them also to forsake the world of fashion. The
long letter which follows is from Lord Calthorpe (a relation of
Barbara,[29] Wilberforce's wife), who had been strongly advised by
Wilberforce not to spend a Sunday with the Duchess of Gordon in
Scotland. Lord Calthorpe writes in great chagrin at having neglected
the good advice of his mentor, had found the warnings against her
fascinations very necessary, and had had the mortification of seeing
her go to sleep while he read Leighton's "Commentary" to her. It would
be of interest to know what were the "full and useful directions for
public speaking" for which Lord Calthorpe is grateful to Wilberforce.


_Lord Calthorpe to Mr. Wilberforce._

  "KINRARA,
  "_September 2, 1801, Saturday_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I have just evinced a proof of want of vigilance and
self-discipline which vexes me so much that I am endeavouring to find
relief from my vexation by telling it to you, as it is a satisfaction
to me to think that you will pity me, in spite of the neglect of your
advice, which I have betrayed. After having had the carriage at the
door to leave this place (the Duchess of Gordon's) in order that we
might spend to-morrow quietly, about twenty miles off, I have suffered
myself to be persuaded to stay here till Monday. O how subtle are the
devices of the enemy of our peace, and how weak our natural means of
defence; the real cause of my falling into this temptation is now plain
enough, but the shadow of delusion that for a moment imposed upon me
was the idea of having some serious conversation with the Duchess, when
we were likely to be almost alone, and which company has hitherto given
me but little opportunity for; and this I was weak enough to indulge in
spite of more sober convictions and the advice of Mr. Gorham and other
objections, and I am just awakened to see the extent of my folly,
conceit, and wilful depravity, by finding that we are to have no chance
of having my imagination gratified, as Sir Wm. Scott has written word
that he is coming to-morrow, and the delight with which the Duchess
welcomed the intelligence has opened my eyes to my sottishness in
thinking her sincere in her wish that I might pass a Sunday with her. I
cannot conceive a scene more calculated to excite feelings of devotion
and to expose worldly vanities than this spot, which is quite lovely,
yet here I have found how strongly the world may engage the affections;
there is something in the Duchess that pleases, although against the
judgment (perhaps a little in the way of Falstaff), and makes her
entertaining even when she is the subject of melancholy reflections;
indeed, I feel how necessary your warnings against her fascinations
were; she talked a great deal about her friend Wilberforce, and
threatens you with a letter about me, and told me all my faults which
she intended to report to you; I have not spent a Sunday (for it is
now over) with so much self-reproach since I came into Scotland. She
seems to be on the same kind of terms with religion as she is with
her Duke, that is, on terms of great nominal familiarity without ever
meeting each other except in an hotel or in the streets of Edinburgh.
She fell asleep on Sunday while I was reading to her part of Leighton's
Commentary and awoke with lively expressions of admiration at what
she had not heard; she talks of setting off for Ireland in a few weeks
and of going to London afterwards, so I hope that she will do no harm
at Edinburgh next winter. I left Kinrara on Monday and got to Blair at
night; I found there more of ancient stateliness than I have yet seen,
and I think the Duke of Athol is fond of keeping it up; he has some
very fine scenery about him there, and his other place Dunkeld, which
is twenty miles off, is perhaps more beautiful although less wild and
magnificent. Sir W. Scott (whom I never see without thinking of you) is
on a visiting tour, and went from Blair with Lord Frederick Campbell
to Lord Melville's and from thence goes to the Duke of Argyle's and
Montrose's back to Edinburgh; he was very tortuous and amusing. I have
written this by scraps, and am ashamed to have been so long about it.
Many thanks for your last letter, and especially for your kindness in
giving me such full and useful directions for acquiring a talent for
public speaking; I will endeavour, as far as I am able, to do justice
to them, and I expect to find your technical lines of great service to
me. I believe that the plan of religious reading which you mention is
the best, and surely I have no small encouragement to pursue it, and
when I am so great a gainer by its beneficial effects in your case.
I spent yesterday at Lord Mansfield's, at Scoone, where the Kings of
Scotland used to be crowned; the old palace has been pulled down, and
a very large Gothic house built upon its site. I hope you are enjoying
health and quiet where you are, and every other blessing. Give my
kindest remembrance to Mrs. W.

  "Believe me, my dear sir,
  "Affectly yours,
  "CALTHORPE.

"You shall hear from me again."

Wilberforce's influence with Pitt was also known to Maria, Duchess of
Gloucester.[30] It will be remembered that Henry William, third son of
George II. (created Duke of Gloucester in 1764), married Maria, Dowager
Countess of Waldegrave, in 1766. This lady writes to Wilberforce,
hoping that through his "mediation with Pitt" a regiment of dragoons
may be given to her son Lord Waldegrave.


_The Duchess of Gloucester to Mr. Wilberforce._

  "GENOA, _February 4, 1786_.

"SIR,--Although you did not succeed in one of my requests to Mr.
Pitt, you were more successful in the other; and for that I return
you my thanks. I did not very much flatter myself that Mr. Pitt would
add a place to what Lord Waldegrave at present possesses, indeed a
regiment is almost the only addition he is likely to gain; and as Mr.
Pitt has expressed his satisfaction in the marks of favour already
received from the King, may I hope, through your mediation, that Mr.
Pitt will be so good as to remind His Majesty how very acceptable a
regiment of dragoons will be to Lord Waldegrave. If Lord Waldegrave
was distressed from his own extravagance I would not trouble Mr. Pitt,
but my daughter's father left his brother a clear estate which is now
encumbered as much as if the late Lord Waldegrave had come to the
title and estate, at twenty-four, instead of forty-four. The Duke of
Grafton's reconciliation with his son is now so old a story that I only
mention it as a fact that I am sensible gives you pleasure? Mr. Pitt
is so much attached to Lord Euston, that I must take part in an event
that I know gives him so much pleasure. I hope Lord Lucan will suffer
the match to take place, but till it is over I shall have my doubts. If
Mrs. Wilberforce and your sister are in town will you give them my best
compliments. Sophia and William are both as tall as yourself.

  "Sir,
  "I remain yours, &c., &c.,
  "MARIA."

The next letter is from the same lady, thanking Wilberforce for having
written "so full an explanation of what so few people understand" in
his work on "Practical Christianity."


  "GLOUCESTER HOUSE,
  "_April 14, 1797_.

"I received your inimitable book the day before I got your letter, and
had read a good way in it. I have continued to read in it with the
greatest satisfaction, and beg of you to accept of my thanks for having
written so full an explanation of what so few people understand. I hope
and trust it will be universally read, and that with attention, as then
the good it will do will be infinite. Mrs. H. More was with me last
night; she is so exalted by your book that she almost forgets humility
is one of the Christian requisites.

  "I remain, dear sir,
  "Your _very_ much obliged, &c.,
  "MARIA."


Let us turn to the more serious friendships of Wilberforce's middle
age. So much of his correspondence with Hannah More has been published
that it is only lightly touched on here.

In 1809 Hannah More wrote to Mr. Wilberforce: "Oh, if I could have had
the benefit of your assistance in Cœlebs![31] but I could not be such
an unfeeling brute as to ask it. 'Tis not to _make a speech_ when I say
that _you_ are the _only being_ whose counsels would _in all points_
have exactly fallen in with my own ideas from your uniting a critical
knowledge of the world in its higher classes with such deep religious
feelings--either of these I might have found in a very few, but not
both in any."

Hannah More and her friends had apparently unfortunate experiences with
regard to the spiritual help to be obtained from the higher ranks of
the clergy at that time, as she writes: "I have had many interviews
with Ladies Waldegrave and Euston. They told me that, though acquainted
with several bishops, they never could get a word of seriousness or
profit from any of them." Whether it was the "critical knowledge of
the world in its higher classes" joined to "deep religious feeling"
mentioned by Hannah More, or the "indulgent benevolent temper, with
no pretension to superior sanctity or strictness," of which Maria
Edgeworth writes,[32] certain it is that Wilberforce became a guide
of the religious life of many of his friends. For instance, Mr. Eliot,
the brother-in-law of Pitt, writes from Burton Pynsent a letter, marked
"very pleasing and serious" by Wilberforce, in which he says in answer
to Wilberforce, who "hoped he had been going on in a regular, steady
way," that he had been "endeavouring to work a good will into a good
habit, that so the habit may come in turn to the assistance of the
will, which, as you very truly say, I am sure (except under the special
favour of God's grace), will flag and waver in its best pursuits and
firmest intention. My chief reading for the month has been Warburton."

Mrs. Elizabeth Fry writes to Wilberforce to say:--

"When thou hast leisure, advise with me as with a child if thou hast
any hint to give me in my new circumstances. I look before long once
more to entering the prisons. The cause is near my heart, and I do not
see that my husband, having lost his property, should, when he and my
family do not want me, prevent my yet attending to these duties; in
this I should like to have thy advice."

In 1801 the question of Irish Union divided educated opinion. Dr.
Burgh,[33] a well-known man at this time and friend of Wilberforce,
takes one side, and Lord Hardwicke, Viceroy of Ireland, the other.


  _Dr. Burgh to Mr. Wilberforce._

  "YORK, _February 9, 1801_.

"MY DEAR WILBER.,--I sincerely thank you for the communication you
have made to me, and assure you that you may rely upon my profoundest
silence. The cruel and corrupt means that were adequately resorted to,
in order to effect the revolutionary Union which has subverted the
prescriptive constitution of both these kingdoms, have so entirely
infected the sweetness of affiance in my bosom, that whatever systems
or changes are adopted my eye sets instantly to search among all
possible motives in order to find the worst of issues. Can I see
Addington climb upon the stooping neck of Mr. Pitt, and not believe
that it is done in hostility, or in a masked confederacy? If the
former, how am I to estimate the man who comes in? If the latter,
what judgment can I form of the man who goes out? Is a retiring
administration to be allowed, in a temporary agreement with opposition,
to support the claims of Irish Popery, and by carrying their point in
their new character, to exonerate the Cabinet of the charge; and are
they to re-occupy their posts when there are no farther measures to be
carried by them in their unresponsible situations? All this I foresaw,
though not perhaps in the detail; and, indeed, it required no prophet's
eye to foresee it, when hints which bind not were conscientiously
substituted for promises in order to purchase a momentary calm. The
downfall of the Church of England is still involved, and however the
Papists of Ireland, on merging the two kingdoms into each other, may
be considered as outnumbered by the Protestants, it is not by the
Protestants of the Establishment, who will, on the whole, be outweighed
by the incorporated force of the Protestant Dissenters with those of
the same description in Ireland, who will derive the most unqualified
assistance from the Romish body. Show favour to Popery, and the
Dissenters' claims will be abetted by millions who will only infer a
kind of right against all anticipation of consequences; or, on the
other hand, deny the demands of Popery, and you instantly and directly
unite the two denominations against the Church of England. I know but
one mode to prevent all these, and ten thousand other unconsidered
evils; at once declare the impracticability of carrying conditions into
execution, and dissolve this ill-starred Union, from which no benefit
will ever flow, but every evil that imagination can picture.

"I will trouble you no farther now except to desire that you will not
charge me with defective candour; the things that are already done will
surely too clearly justify whatever inference I have drawn from them.

"May every happiness attend you and yours--in opposition to prospects I
say it; but if a few good men may not save a nation, they yet may save
and purchase favour to themselves.

  "I am ever, my dear Wilber.,
  "Most fervently yours,
  "W. B."


  _Lord Hardwicke to Mr. Wilberforce._

  "_September 30, 1801._

"I think the alterations made by the Union are in some respects
likely to facilitate the conduct of public business in this country
with a view to the public benefit. I have hitherto had great reason
to be satisfied with my reception. The city of Dublin, I mean the
leading part of it, is extremely loyal and attached to Government,
but they still consider the Union as having affected in some degree
their local interests, and it will be some time before this feeling
is entirely removed. There can however be little doubt that when they
see the United Parliament as attentive to Irish as they have been to
British interests, and disposed to promote them by the same liberal
encouragement, that whatever partial dissatisfaction may remain
will gradually wear off. If the French do not succeed in landing a
considerable body of troops in this country we shall certainly continue
to enjoy tranquillity, but if the enemy effect a landing in force, we
must expect rebellion to revive."

The state of Ireland at a later date after the Union is alluded to
in the next letter from Lord Redesdale,[34] who was apparently much
aggrieved at the treatment which he had experienced in giving up
the Lord Chancellorship of that country. The letter is marked by
Wilberforce "Lord Redesdale shamefully used on being turned out of
Chancellorship."


_Lord Redesdale to Mr. Wilberforce._

  "ELY PLACE, DUBLIN,
  "_March 5, 1806_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I rely upon your letter, desiring to know whether
there was any establishment in this country by contribution to which
you could forward its civilisation, for excusing my sending you
'observations on the necessity of publishing the Scriptures in the
Irish language,' by Dr. Stokes, of the College, who is engaged in
such a work, without any view of emolument, but merely to promote
the civilisation of the country, and the propagation, as much as
possible, of the Christian religion in its purity. He is supported by
contribution of the college, and some private contributions; but such
is the temper of the Irish that even their charities, liberal as they
frequently are, are more the result of pride and vanity than of any of
the true feelings of the charitable mind. I think Dr. Stokes's work
will be very useful; and that in spite of all the arts of the priests,
the circulation of the Scriptures will prevail amongst the lower
orders, and must reform even the Irish Catholic Church, which I take to
be the most corrupt now remaining of all the members of the Church of
Rome. It will also have the effect of enabling the Protestant clergy
of the Establishment to perform their duty; namely, to endeavour to
instruct those who do not understand the English language; and I think
it will also enable the gentlemen of the country to gain so much of
the Irish language as will give them some intercourse with their poor
neighbours, where the English language is not spoken; and I think it
will also contribute to diffuse the English language, which I think
is a most important advantage. I have thought it my duty to subscribe
ten guineas for the encouragement of Dr. Stokes, and I believe a
few subscriptions with what the College proposes to give him, will
encourage him to proceed with activity; as I have strong assurances
that he seeks for nothing but indemnity and desires no compensation
for his time or his labour. I yesterday gave up the Great Seal, in
consequence of Lord Spencer's having thought fit to advise His Majesty,
after he had signed a warrant for Mr. Ponsonby's appointment, to sign
another for putting the Great Seal in commission, and then to send
it _by express_, directing the Lord Lieutenant to _lose no time_ in
procuring the Commission to pass the Seal. This has been done in so
much hurry that I have great doubts of its regularity; and if it had
been the case of any man but myself, I should have refused to put the
Great Seal to the patent, without further consideration; and I find the
Lords Commissioners are very much puzzled how to act. But this I feel
principally as a marked and gross personal affront to me, and through
me to the Lord Lieutenant.

"I could do nothing (without the Lord Lieutenant's warrant) but
despatch the business of the Court of Chancery; and yet I am not to be
trusted with the Great Seal _for a few days_ till the arrival of Mr.
Ponsonby for that purpose; and the suitors of the Court of Chancery
were to be equally injured; for the Commissioners being the Chief
Justice and Chief Baron, who have too much business in their own
courts to sit in the Court of Chancery, and the Master of the Rolls who
cannot (from the state of his health) do more business than he does
as Master of the Rolls, very little of the business which would have
been dispatched by me can be done till the arrival of Mr. Ponsonby; and
by that time all the counsel will be gone the circuit. I must confess
I resent this wanton and childish insult (for I have no doubt the
affront was intended by Lord Spencer) much more than my removal from
my office, and nothing could be more insulting than the terms of the
letters written by my old friend C. W. Wynne, by order of Lord Spencer,
with the directions to have the patent to the Commissioners sealed
forthwith. From Lord Spencer and from Wynne I had certainly a claim at
least to personal civility. But it is the miserable effect of party
violence to blind all those who suffer themselves to be led by it. I
have the satisfaction of knowing that all those persons here whose
good opinion is of any value regret my removal, and have given me most
affectionate testimonies of their regard. I am sorry to add that the
conduct of His Majesty's ministers, in various instances, has raised
in the Protestant inhabitants of this country great and serious alarm.
The expressions of Mr. Fox on the subject of the Union have sunk deep
into their minds; and though it has been contrived to quiet those
adverse to the Union for the moment, with a view to prevent alarm, the
poison is working in their minds, and you will probably soon perceive
its effects. Mr. Fox's answer to Lord Shrewsbury and Mr. Scully, as
stated in the papers, has also had a very unfortunate effect. It is
a libel on the Government of the country in all its parts; imputing
to it gross partiality even in the administration of justice, and it
promises the Roman Catholics a different order of things; not by the
interposition of the legislature, but _by the influence and favour
of the executive_ government; and it applies itself directly and
particularly to the _army_, as if it were intended to frighten the
Protestants into acquiescence. It should be recollected that Lord
Shrewsbury is not connected in any way with Ireland, except by a claim
of peerage; and that Mr. Scully is the author of a pamphlet in which
he writes of James the Second as _the lawful King of Ireland_ at the
battle of the Boyne, and King William as a _Dutch invader_. You can
have no conception of the gloom which prevails in the minds of thinking
people in this country. Our Chief Justice and Chief Baron, both very
sound men and highly esteemed, are very strongly affected. The Chief
Justice forebodes every species of mischief. Lord Norbury, who is
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, is of a lighter turn of mind, and
irritated by a gross and ridiculous affront in omitting his name in the
Commission for custody of the Great Seal--evidently a mere piece of
party malice. But he also is full of gloomy apprehensions of the result
of the measures likely to be adopted.

"But my apprehensions are greatly increased by observing that Lord
Grenville and Lord Spencer are mere dupes to the other party in the
Cabinet with respect to Ireland, if not generally so. Lord Grenville
and Lord Spencer perhaps imagine that they may have some influence in
Ireland through Mr. Elliott and Sir J. Newport. Most certainly they
will have none. The Ponsonby family will govern Ireland through the
Lord Lieutenant, who is completely in their hands. Lord Grenville and
Lord Spencer seem also to have put Scotland and India out of their
control; and with the influence of all the great appendages of the
Empire against them, and a majority in the Cabinet to contend with at
home, what can they hope for? As the least of two evils, I shall yet
feel it my duty to support them against their rivals in the Cabinet,
though the personal insults I have received have come through them,
and their rivals have been comparatively civil. I shall get rid of
my property here as soon as I can, and with the miserable remains
transport myself to England for the rest of my days.

"I have had enough of office, and especially in my last change, which
has had the effect of making me pay a fine of at least twenty thousand
pounds for the honour of serving four years in a laborious office,
separated from my family and all my old friends, I shall return to
England, however, with pleasure; for though I shall be reduced to
practise an economy to which for thirty years I have been a stranger,
I shall return to my old friends, and to a country where my life will
probably be in no greater danger than that of any other person, and
where Lady Redesdale will be relieved from the fear and anxieties
which have long agitated her mind, and made her ardently wish that I
had never taken the office of Chancellor of Ireland; a wish in which I
most heartily concur. The remainder of my life I trust will be passed
more quietly than the last three years. Lady Redesdale begs to join in
respects to Mrs. Wilberforce, and I am

  "Truly, my dear sir,
  "Your faithful, humble servant,
  "REDESDALE."


Sydney Smith writes in 1807 with regard to the Yorkshire election,
and the state of Ireland: his letter is marked "characteristic" by
Wilberforce.

"DEAR SIR,--If Mrs. S. remains in her present state of health I hardly
know how I can go down to Yorkshire at all. It is eight weeks since
her lying-in, and she cannot yet stand upon her feet. If I do come I
will certainly vote for Lord Milton and for you. I hope now you have
done with Africa you will do something for Ireland, which is surely
the greatest question and interest connected with this Empire. There
is no man in England who from activity, understanding, character, and
neutrality could do it so effectually as Mr. Wilberforce--and when this
country conceded a century ago an establishment to the Presbyterian
Church, it is horrible to see four millions of Christians of another
persuasion instructed by ragged priests, and praising their Creator
in wet ditches. I hope to God you will stir in this great business,
and then we will vote you the consulship for life, and you shall be
perpetual member for Yorkshire.

"In the meantime I remain, with great respect,

  "Your obedient servant,
  "SYDNEY SMITH."


Wilberforce had evidently written to Lord Eldon begging him not to
take up the great question of abolition of slavery on party grounds;
and Lord Eldon wrote that he wished that the House of Lords might
not disgrace itself by its mode of proceeding, as he saw a strong
inclination to do justice, "if abolition be justice, in a most unjust
mode." This letter is undated; it was probably written in 1802.

_Lord Eldon to Mr. Wilberforce._

"DEAR SIR,--I thank you for your book, and I add my thanks for your
letter. You may be assured that I am incapable of 'taking up this
great question on party grounds.' As a proof of that, I may mention
that after listening more than once, with the partiality which my love
of his virtues created, to Mr. Pitt himself in the House of Commons,
and discussing the subject with him in private, again and again, the
difficulties which I had upon immediate abolition, and abolition
without compensation previously pledged (not compensation for British
debts out of African blood, but out of British treasure) never were so
far surmounted, as to induce me to think I had clear grounds for voting
_with him_. After such a statement, I need not say that, although
my political life has, at least so I fancy, for near twenty-four
years been so far really regulated by a sincere belief that I am
acting according to the dictates of duty in an uniform uninterrupted
opposition to some persons now in power that I feel it very difficult
to class among my honourable friends gentlemen who have never, that I
know of, disavowed the principles against which I have been waging war,
and who, I presume, have never disavowed them because they entertained
them, as sincerely as I detest them; yet, in a case of this sort, I
know that I must either stand or fall by taking diligent heed that in
what I do or forbear to do I am governed by the best lights, which my
own reason, aided by information, can afford me; and I should think
myself a worse man, if I was influenced by party considerations in
such a business, than indiscreet zeal has yet represented a West India
planter to be.

"What I shall finally do I know not. I wish the House of Lords may
not disgrace itself by its mode of proceeding. I see or think I see a
strong inclination, if abolition be justice, to do justice in a most
unjust mode. Perhaps the dilatory conduct of that House formerly, it
is now thought, can be atoned for by hurry and precipitation. And that
its character will be best maintained by its being doubly disgraced.
I wish my mind had been so framed as to feel no doubts on this awful
and fearful business, but as that is not the case, I must endeavour to
do as rightly as, with my infirmities of mind I may be able to act.
I shall see to-day what course the matters take, and if my view of
the subject leads me to determine to vote and I feel it likely to be
beneficial to converse upon facts, as well as to read all I can find,
I shall seek the benefit you kindly offer me.

  "Yours sincerely,
  "ELDON."


Wilberforce had met Lord Ellenborough on the Continent in 1785, and
had maintained a friendly intercourse with him. The following letter
from Lord Ellenborough shows his attitude towards abolition. Though he
acknowledged the viciousness of the system he was extremely alarmed at
the consequences of disturbing it (especially in the then convulsed
state of the world). At the same time he said that he should not be
governed by any supposed policy of man, if he were clear as to the
will of God on the point. His letter is marked "truly pleasing" by
Wilberforce.

_Lord Ellenborough to Mr. Wilberforce._

  "BLOOMSBURY SQUARE,
  "_June 27, 1802_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I recollect perfectly the conversation between us
in the House of Commons to which you allude, and should be extreme
happy to appoint a time when I might have the benefit, which I should
certainly derive from a communication with you upon the important
subject mentioned in your letter,--if I could do so with convenience
to you, and without breaking in upon my necessary attendance during
the sittings at Westminster and Guildhall--and which occupy me from
half-past eight to four or later every day--and on some days I am
afterwards obliged to attend the House of Lords till between five and
six. If there be any morning this week during which my sittings will
continue at Westminster, when it might be convenient to you to be at my
chamber at Westminster, called the King's Bench Treasury Chamber, by
half-past eight, I would be down there by that time, which would allow
me the satisfaction of seeing you for half hour before my sittings,
which commence at nine, begin. I feel the infinite importance of the
question of abolition, and will give no vote upon it at all, unless I
can do so with a much more satisfied judgment and conscience on the
subject than I have attained at present. I have always felt a great
abhorrence of the mode by which these unfortunate creatures are torn
from their families and country, and have doubted whether any sound
policy could grow out of a system which seemed to be so vicious in
its foundation; but I am extremely alarmed at the consequences of
disturbing it, particularly in the present convulsed state of the
world. In short, my dear sir, I am almost ashamed to say that I tremble
at giving their full effect to the impressions which the subject
naturally makes on my mind, in the first view of it, as a man and a
Christian. I am frightened at the consequences of any innovation upon
a long-established practice, at a period so full of danger as the
present. At the same time I cannot well reconcile it with the will of
God,--and if I was quite clear on that head, I should be decided by it,
and should not be governed by any supposed policy of man which might be
set up in opposition to it. I write this in confidence to yourself. I
remain, my dear sir, with very sincere respect,

  "Your obedient servant,
  "ELLENBOROUGH."


Wilberforce had written to Lord Ellenborough on the evils of his having
a seat in the Cabinet, Lord Ellenborough being at that time Lord
Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and the next letter contains Lord
Ellenborough's defence of his conduct, which does not err on the side
of brevity and which Wilberforce describes as "a very handsome answer."

_Lord Ellenborough to Mr. Wilberforce._

  "BLOOMSBURY SQUARE,
  "_February 4, 1806_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I sit down to thank you for the favour of your letter
in the very instant in which I have received it. I regret very much
that I have no opportunity of personal communication with you on the
subject of it: if I had I could explain more perfectly and unreservedly
than I can do by letter all the motives which have induced my reluctant
acquiescence in a nomination of myself to a place in the Cabinet.
The situation has not only not been sought by me, but I appeal to
every member of the Government about to be formed who is acquainted
with the transaction, whether it was not accepted by me with extreme
reluctance, and after objections raised by myself which nothing but a
superior sense of the present duty and a prospect of present usefulness
to the public would have surmounted. If I had felt that a situation
in the Cabinet would have placed me under circumstances inconsistent
with the due and impartial discharge of my judicial functions, no
consideration on earth would have induced me to accept it. A member
of the Cabinet is only a member of a Select Committee of the Privy
Council, of which Privy Council at large every justice of the K.B. is
of course a member. In that larger Privy Council his Majesty may and
frequently does take the opinion of its members on matters which may
come in question judicially before some of them. But I think that no
man can correctly act in both capacities, and therefore when a question
of a high criminal nature was about a year ago under discussion at a
Privy Council at which I was particularly desired by the Chancellor to
attend, I stipulated expressly with my Lord Chancellor that I should
not be included in a Special Commission to try the offence then under
consideration. I think both my Lord C. J. Holt, and very lately my
Lord C. J. Eyre would have done better to have forborne being present
at the preliminary inquiries before the Privy Council, the subjects
of which in the result might be, and afterwards in fact were, tried
before them; but the objection is not so much in my opinion that I
might be led to participate in the counsels of the Executive Government
upon questions connected with the criminal jurisdiction which I am to
exercise elsewhere (because from these I should of course invariably
withdraw myself) but because it might give a political cast and bias
to a judicial mind, might generate views of ambition, and destroy
that indifference and impartiality on all questions which is the
proper characteristic of a British judge, and even if it had not that
effect, it might be supposed by the world at large to produce it, which
very opinion of others would detract much from the public credit and
consequent usefulness of the person so circumstanced.

"The consideration of this objection at first gave my mind no small
degree of anxiety. I was conscious to myself that I had no views of
ambition to gratify. Those views, if I had entertained any such, would
have been better consulted by accepting the Great Seal, and with it a
highly efficient place in the public Councils--but which I had already
refused--indeed every view of that kind has been long since more than
satisfied. I lent myself at the earnest solicitation of others to the
great public object of forming a strong and united administration,
which, perhaps, without my consent to accept this situation could
not, from particular circumstances and difficulties which I am not at
liberty to state, have been formed.

"In accepting it I have stipulated that I should not be expected
to attend except on particularly important occasions, and on such
occasions some of my predecessors and particularly Lord Mansfield has,
I understand, been called upon for his advice, and indeed, in virtue
of my oath as Privy Councillor I am bound to give that advice when
required.

"Will you acquit me of vanity?--I hope you will, when I give one reason
more for my consenting to become for a time (I hope it will be a short
one) an ostensible member of his Majesty's select and confidential
Council. As I had, so I hoped I should be understood to have, no motive
of ambition or interest inducing me to take this place in his Majesty's
Councils. I had in general been supposed on most subjects to think
for myself. I had, I believe, been considered in general as a zealous
friend to the just prerogatives of the Crown. I had no particular stain
upon my private character: in the miscellaneous composition of every
administration, and of this, amongst others, I thought a person such
as I might be esteemed to be, and on the ground of that estimation
particularly, would be an ingredient not wholly without its use.

"So it appeared to some of my friends. So it did (I speak it in
confidence) particularly to Lord Sidmouth, as to the purity of whose
views and conduct in the formation of the present arrangement I can
bear the fullest testimony, and whose earnest request (I speak it still
in the same confidence) overcame my reluctance, and induced me to make
this sacrifice of private convenience and to incur the hazard which
your kind and honourable letter represents to me as greater than I had
thought it, of suffering in the good opinion of others. If, after this
explanation, unavoidably less perfect than I could have wished to make
it, you shall still retain your unfavourable opinion of the step I have
taken, I shall learn it from you (and I am sure in that case you will
have the frankness to tell me so) with inexpressible pain. As long as
I shall continue a member of his Majesty's Councils (and I hope the
necessity which induced my acceptance of the situation will not be of
long continuance) I will give a faithful, honest, and fearless opinion
upon the subjects under consideration, and, although it is possible
that good men may doubt of the prudence or propriety of my conduct in
accepting it, I am confident that no good man who shall have the means
of knowing the actual course I shall pursue in that situation will
have reason to blame it. The explanation I have given you is entirely
confidential. With an anxious wish consistently to perform all the
various duties which press upon me at this moment and to preserve the
good opinion of good men, and especially of one whom on many accounts I
have so long and so highly esteemed as yourself,

  "I remain, my dear sir,
  "Most sincerely and faithfully yours,
  "ELLENBOROUGH."


In 1802, on the supposition that Lord Wellesley's resignation as
Governor-General of India was imminent, an idea had been entertained
that Lord Castlereagh should be offered the Governor-Generalship, and
Wilberforce had been asked to approach him on the subject. From Lord
Camden's letter to Wilberforce, given below, it will be seen that Pitt
had objected to an appointment that would take Lord Castlereagh from
the House of Commons, which he thought should be the theatre of his
future fame.

_Lord Camden to Mr. Wilberforce._

  "_January 7, 1802._

"DEAR WILBERFORCE,--I lament extremely that Lady Camden and I have been
deprived of the pleasure we should have had in receiving you and Mrs.
Wilberforce here, and still more that you should have been confined
to London by the very anxious attendance you have undergone. I thank
you for communicating with me on the subject of Lord Castlereagh, and
I will explain to you all I know of his objects as connected with the
situation you have mentioned.

"Amongst the many unpleasant circumstances attending our secession
from office I have considered Lord Castlereagh's actual situation as
one peculiarly awkward to himself, and I have also thought that in the
present dearth of men of spirit and sense who _can_ take office it was
unfortunate for the country that he should be excluded. With a view of
relieving him, if possible, from such exclusion, I contrived that he
should meet Pitt here about a month ago, and have a full and explicit
conversation with him and me relative to the future views of the one
and the future prospects of the other. (I confess I was not indifferent
at the same time to the consideration of the line I may myself
hereafter think it right to adopt.) In a previous conversation I had
with Pitt respecting Lord Castlereagh, he expressed his anxiety that
he should take office, and he is desirous of contriving it if possible
with credit to him; and amongst the objects to which Lord Castlereagh
might look, he took notice to me of an idea which he knew had been
entertained of sending him to the East Indies as Governor-General. He
(Pitt), however, expressed an objection to this appointment, as it
would take him from the House of Commons, which _he_ thought should be
the theatre of his future fame, and where, whenever Lord Hawkesbury
is removed, he will be much wanted. In preparing Lord Castlereagh for
his conversation with Pitt I mentioned to him the idea which had been
entertained of his going to India, but I took notice of it as a mere
floating idea that had not been matured, and in the short conversation
upon that part of the subject which ensued, his impression appeared to
be an unwillingness to banish himself from his country and to withdraw
for ever (as he should conceive he did, by now abandoning it) from
the situation he had a right to look for in the House of Commons. In
the subsequent conversation with Pitt at which I was present, not a
word passed on this subject, and I should therefore conceive that Lord
Castlereagh has never had the subject fairly before him. I am convinced
he would have communicated with me if he had; and although I should
conceive it very doubtful if the event might turn out as you wish, if
the proposition were made to him, I yet think if the directors of the
East India Company have really thought of him, he ought to have the
opportunity of weighing a subject of this great importance in his mind
before he has been understood to decline the offer. By way of apprising
Lord Castlereagh upon the subject I will enclose him your letter (if
you have no objection), which I think will give him the opinion of
a person indifferent to everything concerning him except his public
character, and open the business in as advantageous a manner as it can
be done.

  "Believe me,

  "Ever most sincerely yours,

  "CAMDEN."


In 1803 the tardiness of our military preparations had been accentuated
in a debate on the second reading of the Army Reserve Bill. Windham,
of whom Wilberforce says that "he had many of the true characteristics
of a hero, but he had one great fault as a statesman, he hated the
popular side of any question," gives as his opinion in the next letter,
that he saw no impossibility in two armies of from twenty to thirty
thousand men being landed in different places, and being opposed only
by yeomanry and volunteers they might advance to London or wherever
else they pleased. "Government acknowledge that there is an utter want
of firearms."[35] Windham's hope was that Buonaparte might, for some
reason or other, not come; though he confesses that he did not know of
any foundation for such hope.


  _Right Hon. William Windham to Mr. Wilberforce._
  "BEACONSFIELD,
  "_August 18, 1803_.

"DEAR WILBERFORCE,--The breaking up of Parliament, advanced as the
season is, I can hardly help regretting on another account. One wants
a means of publishing the abominable backwardness in which things are
with respect to defence: so as literally to put us in the situation,
described by some writer in the _Moniteur_, namely that if fifty
thousand men can anyhow get on shore, they must conquer the island.
What shall we say to the fact, that at the end of now more than five
months since the King's message not a single ball cartridge (I suppose)
has been fired from one end of the country to the other, unless
perhaps a few that I have desired to be fired just by me in Norfolk,
and some that I hear Grey has been using upon the same principle in
Northumberland?--that the corps, which have been raising, such as they
are, remain to this moment for the greater part without arms?--that
excepting, I am afraid, a very few thousand men to the army of reserve,
not the smallest addition has been or can be made to a force truly
regular, such as can alone be opposed upon equal terms to the troops
by which we shall be invaded?--and that the whole assistance, that
would be to be received from works, of whatever sort, is all yet to
be begun, and even settled? When men talk of the difficulties and
impracticability of invasion, of the impossibility of conquering a
country such as this, they say what may be true, but which is certainly
not so for any reasons which they can, or at least which they do,
give. It is all a kind of loose, general vague notion founded on what
they have been accustomed to see and to conceive, to which the answer
is that so was everything which we have seen successively happen for
these last fourteen years. Considering things not in much detail, but
upon principles somewhat less general than those which I have been
alluding to, I can see no impossibility in the supposition of two
armies landing in different places of from twenty to thirty thousand
men each, of their beating, severally, the troops immediately opposed
to them, and that having nothing then to encounter but volunteers and
yeomanry, and other troops of this description, in the midst of all the
confusion and panick which would then prevail, that they might advance
to London or wherever else they pleased. What the further consequences
might be, one has no pleasure in attempting to trace; but I should be
obliged to anyone who would show me some distinct limits to them. The
persons to do this are, I am sure, not those who talk so glibly of
crushing and overwhelming, and smothering, and I know not what all;
without the least idea how any of these things are to be done, while
the persons attacking us know how these things are, sometimes at least,
not done, by the example of the numerous countries which they have
overrun in spite of all such threatened opposition. I shall go from
here, that is from London, as soon as I have settled some necessary
business, and see whether I can be of any use in Norfolk, though I do
not perceive how with the aid of only a single regiment of militia (all
our present force) we are to stop a body of even one thousand men, or
how for the present, anything at all can be done, when there is not
as yet a provision for even the delivery of arms. All the firelocks
which they have as yet got immediately about here have been sent down
at my own expense. My chief hopes are I confess that Buonaparte may,
for some reason or another, not come, or at least for some time; but
what foundation there is for any such hope I confess I do not know.
Forgive my running on at this rate. The importance of the subject would
certainly warrant me if I had anything new to say.

  "Yours very truly,

  "W. WINDHAM."


Lord Chatham[36] at that time Master-General of the Ordnance, writes on
the same subject: at any rate there were "one hundred thousand pikes
ready for the defence of the country, but there was an indisposition to
take them."


  _Lord Chatham to Mr. Wilberforce._

  "ST. JAMES' SQUARE,

  "_September 2, 1803._

"I had certainly felt it my duty (as only following up the plan
proposed before I came to the Ordnance) to endeavour to restore at
the Peace, and with such improvements as could be suggested, the
manufacture of the old Tower musquet, which our troops used to have,
but which the necessities of the late war, and the naked state of
our arsenals at its commencement, had obliged us to depart from, and
to have recourse to an inferior arm. I found of course considerable
opposition to any improvement, not only from the manufacturers, but
from all the inferior servants of the Ordnance. This was, however,
nearly surmounted, and the manufacture of the better sort of arm on the
point of taking place, when this sudden and unprecedented demand for
arms took place. I ought here to state that had it not been with a view
to improvement, and intending gradually to dispose of those of inferior
quality through the medium of the India Company, we should not have
been, previous to the war breaking out, carrying on any manufacture
of arms, our arsenals being overflowing, calculating on the most
extended scale the Department had ever been called upon to furnish. I
have, however, in consequence of the extraordinary calls of the present
crisis, determined to use every effort to meet it, and directions have
been given to the Board of Ordnance to revert to the same arm as was
made last war, and to manufacture to the utmost possible extent the
musquet of the India pattern. You will easily believe I must have felt
some reluctance in being obliged to take this step after all the pains
I have bestowed, but I hope I have judged for the best. I have great
satisfaction in thinking that the stock of arms we possess will enable
us in the first instance, to arm to a considerable extent perhaps all
that is really useful, and as arms come in, which with the exertions
of the manufacturers they will do quickly, and with the aid of what we
expect from abroad the remainder will be provided before long. We have
already one hundred thousand pikes, and can increase them rapidly, but
in general there is an indisposition to take them. I should like much
to talk over with you, not only the subject of arms, but the whole
question of volunteering which I contemplate as a most serious one.
Excuse great haste with which I have written, and with Lady Chatham's
very best remembrances to you,

  "Believe me, yours very sincerely,
  "CHATHAM."

Henry Bankes, the old friend of both Pitt and Wilberforce, writes on
the political situation in 1807 as follows:--


  _Mr. Bankes to Mr. Wilberforce._
  "KINGSTON HALL,
  "_January 1, 1807_.

"MY DEAR WILBERFORCE,--Upon perusing the French papers I am well
satisfied with the conduct of our Government. The tone is firm and
uniform, and the demands such that we might have felt extremely happy
to have made peace if we could have obtained them. There is somewhat of
a blundering about the basis, which you will recollect Lord Malmesbury
wrote so much ingenious nonsense about upon a former occasion, and it
is to be lamented that Mr. Fox (whose letters upon the whole do him
great honour) laid down an indistinct and indefinite basis in general
terms of loose construction instead of binding that Proteus, his friend
Talleyrand, to whom in his first address he professes the most perfect
_attachment_ (what a word from a Minister not born in the days of
Charles II.!) to the sense in which he meant to interpret, fairly as I
think, his words, and the words of his master.

"Nothing can equal the shabbiness, chicanery, and double dealing of the
French negotiators, and their proceedings do in fact but little credit
to their understandings, if they have any opinion of ours.

  "Believe me, my dear Wilberforce,
  "Most sincerely yours,
  "HENRY BANKES."


Lord Harrowby, who twice refused the Premiership, writes of the state
of parties in 1809.

  _Lord Harrowby to Mr. Wilberforce._
  _Friday, September 22, 1809._

"DEAR WILBERFORCE,--You must have thought me a great bear not to have
thanked you sooner for your kind recollection of my wish to see a
sketch of Mrs. H. More's rustic building. It is much more finished than
I wished, and shall be sent to Kensington as soon as Mrs. Ryder has
taken a slight sketch of it.

"I have, since I received it, taken two journies into Devonshire, upon
Maynooth business, and have not had, when in town, a spare moment
from Indian and domestic torments. The history of the latter could
not be put upon paper, and if it could, would be as voluminous as an
Indian despatch. You know enough of the parties not to suspend your
opinion till you know as much as is necessary to form it. The Duke
of Portland's resignation has only accelerated the crisis, and you
know enough of Perceval to be sure that we are not broken up, because
_he_ insists upon having the whole power in his own hands, and will
not serve under any third person. Under these circumstances, and a
thousand others, there seemed no resource left, but to attempt an
overture to Lord Grey and Grenville jointly, which is made with the
King's consent and authority. If it is met in the spirit in which it
is made, I trust it will be successful. Whatever we may be _driven_
to do, if they shut their ears to the proposal of an extended and
combined administration, we shall not, in my opinion, have been
justified in our own eyes or in those of the country, if any party
feelings prevented us from _endeavouring bonâ fide_ to form such a
Government as may both protect the King, and be fit for these times.
They are, I believe, as little able to form a separate Government as
ourselves, unless they mean to re-unite themselves with those at whose
proceedings they were so evidently alarmed last year. If they come in
alone by force, they will have the Catholic question as a millstone
round their necks. The very fact of an union with us who are known to
entertain a decidedly opposite opinion upon that question (some of us
for ever, and all during the King's life) would enable them to get rid
of it for the present, as, without any pledge, which, after all that
has passed, could neither be asked nor given, that question could never
be made a Government question without the immediate dissolution of the
administration.

"You express a very flattering satisfaction at my return to public
life. It will probably be a very short excursion, and certainly a most
painful one. I look for no comfort but in planting turnips in my Sabine
farm.

  "Yours ever most sincerely,

  "HARROWBY."


Lord Erskine writes in 1813, to Wilberforce:--

"I cannot sufficiently discharge a duty I owe to the public without
telling you what I think of the speech you sent me on the Christian
question in India. The subject, though great and important, was local
and temporary; but the manner in which you treated it made your speech
of the greatest value in the shield of Christianity that eloquence and
faith could possibly have manufactured.

"I read it with the highest admiration, and as I am now a private man
for the remaining years of my life, I may say, without the presumption
of station to give weight to my opinion, that it deserves a place in
the library of every man of letters, even if he were an atheist, for
its merit in everything that characterises an appeal to a Christian
assembly on the subject of Christianity. With the greatest regard I
ever am,

  "My dear sir,

  "Your most faithful servant,

  "ERSKINE."


Rowland Hill, the celebrated preacher, the disciple of Whitefield, and
the founder of the Surrey Chapel, writes to bring before Wilberforce's
notice the question of "untaxed worship," with regard to his chapel.

_Rev. Rowland Hill to Mr. Wilberforce._

"SURREY CHURCH,

"_April 16, 1814_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--Another prosecution for poor rates on our chapel has
commenced. Though the appellant, Mr. Farquarson, a man of no character
and involved in debt, is the ostensible person, yet all the evil arises
from a Mr. Whitlock, who has a place in the lottery office under
Government, who probably might have been quiet had he received a hint
from the Government that his designs were not correspondent with their
wishes. As matters are, the most vexatious and perplexing consequences
must be the result. Different persons are subpœna'd down as far as
Rygate, while these large expenses _a third time over_ is the least
of the evil that must result. If they gain a verdict, for the sake of
thousands of religious people that must be ruined by such a taxation,
we must and shall resist. Surely the present mild Government will not
suffer us to be deprived of the privilege of untaxed worship that we
have uninterruptedly so long enjoyed.

"If, dear sir, you could but hint to Mr. Vansittart what must be the
result of his neglecting to answer our respectful petitions so as to
obtain some redress on our behalves, thousands would have to bless you,
and none more so than

  "Yours most respectfully,

  "ROWLAND HILL.


"It should appear according to the new French constitution that our
religious liberties in England are soon likely to be much inferior to
those in France.

"We humbly conceive we have some little claim on the attention of
the Government against these vexatious disputes, having made the
largest collection of any place of worship in the kingdom on different
patriotic calls."

It will be remembered that when the Duke of Wellington was ambassador
to Paris in 1814 he took up very warmly the question of the Slave
Trade, himself circulating in Paris Wilberforce's letter to his
Yorkshire constituents on the subject, which Madam de Staël had
translated at the Duke's suggestion, and also undertaking to disperse
Wilberforce's pamphlet to Talleyrand. The Duke writes from Paris,
December 14, 1814.


_The Duke of Wellington to Mr. Wilberforce._

"It is impossible to describe the prejudice of all classes here
upon the subject, particularly those of our determined enemies, the
principal officers and _employés_ in the public departments. I was
in hopes that the King's measures had changed the public opinion in
some degree, of which the silence of the public journals appeared an
evidence. But I found yesterday that I was much mistaken and that the
desire to obtain the gain expected in the trade is surpassed only by
that of misrepresenting our views and measures, and depreciating the
merit we have in the abolition. I was yesterday told gravely by the
Directeur de la Marine that one of our objects in abolishing the Slave
Trade was to get recruits to fight our battles in America! and it was
hinted that a man might as well be a slave for agricultural labour as a
soldier for life, and that the difference was not worth the trouble of
discussing it."

The Duke goes on to complain that what was taking place in Paris as to
the Slavery question had got into the English newspapers.

_The Duke of Wellington to Mr. Wilberforce._

"I am quite convinced that the only mode in which the public opinion
upon it here can be brought to the state in which we wish to see it,
is to keep the question out of discussion in England by public bodies
and by the newspapers, and I must say that it is but fair towards the
King of France not to make public in England that which he has not
published to his subjects. We shall do good in this question in France
only in proportion as we shall anticipate and carry the public opinion
with us; and in recommending to avoid discussion at present in order
to make some progress in the opinion of France, I may lay claim to the
merit of sacrificing the popularity which I should have acquired by
having been the instrument to prevail upon the French Government to
prevent the renewal of the trade on that part of the coast on which we
had effectually abolished it during the war. I see that Mr. Whitbread
mentioned the subject at a public meeting in the city, which I hope
will be avoided at least till the French Government will have carried
into execution all it proposes to do at present.

  "Ever, my dear sir, yours most faithfully,

  "WELLINGTON."


The Duke of Wellington's letter to General Macaulay is on the same
subject: he says that in the case of the Slave Trade he could only be
successful in France by being secret. He evidently disapproves of the
people "who will have news and newspapers at their breakfasts," and
thinks that the great cause had suffered from prematurely published
reports.


  _The Duke of Wellington to General Macaulay._

  "PARIS, _December 22, 1814_.

"MY DEAR MACAULAY,--I received only yesterday your letter of the 9th,
and I had already received one from Mr. Wilberforce on the same
subject, to which I have written an answer. I am quite certain that he
has nothing to say to the publication in question.

"It is, I believe, very true that secrecy in such a matter cannot
be expected, but the people of England ought to advert to this
circumstance when they are pushing their objects, and if they will
have news and newspapers at their breakfasts they should show a little
forbearance towards their Governments, if Foreign Courts are a little
close towards their agents. In the case of the Slave Trade I could be
successful in this country only by being secret, and in proportion as
we should be secret. And in point of fact I have found the agents of
this Government much more disposed lately to oppose our views than they
were six weeks ago, and I have been reproached with having allowed what
has been done to be published in our newspapers.

"I must observe also that though Mr. Wilberforce could not prevent what
was published from appearing in the newspapers, Mr. Whitbread might
have avoided to mention the subject at a public meeting held in London
upon some other subject; but the truth is that we mix up our party
politics with our philanthropy and everything else, and I suspect we
don't much care what object succeeds or fails provided it affects the
Ministers of the day.

"Matters here are apparently in the same state as when you went
away, but I believe are really in a better state; the appointments
of Monsieur Didule to the Police and of Marshal Soult to the War
Department have done some good.

  "Ever yours,
  "WELLINGTON."


Wilberforce was a member of a committee for the relief of the "poor
German sufferers," the wounded Prussians in 1814-15. The translation of
Marshal Blucher's letter to the Managing Committee after Waterloo is as
follows.[37]


  "CHATILLON SUR SAMBRE,
  "_June 24, 1815_.

"Are you now satisfied? In eight days I have fought two bloody battles,
besides five considerable engagements. I have taken one fortress, and
keep three more surrounded. Yesterday the worthy Wellington was with
me: we are agreed, we go hand in hand: the blockaded fortresses will
not stop our operations, and if the Austrians and Russians do not
speedily push forward, we shall finish the game ourselves. Farewell,
and remember me to all England.

  "BLUCHER.


"It is all very well, but I have twenty-two thousand killed and
wounded. It is one consolation that they fell in the cause of humanity.
I hope in England care will be taken of our suffering brethren; put it
to the feelings of Mr. Wilberforce and other friends."

In a later letter to Wilberforce, Marshal Blucher disclaims the idea
that personal affection for himself had had anything to do with
the unexampled liberality of the English to his suffering fellow
countrymen. For this liberality he begs to be allowed to offer other
motives. 1. The flattering description by the Duke of Wellington of
the conduct of the Prussians at the Battle of Waterloo; 2. The command
of the Prince Regent to make collections for them in all the churches
of Great Britain; and 3. Wilberforce's "own noble exertions in their
behalf." He entreats Wilberforce to be the organ of his gratitude to
the whole English nation.


  _Marshal Blucher to Mr. Wilberforce._
  "BONN, _December 7, 1815_.

"SIR,--Your letter dated the 31st of October, reached me in safety, and
with it the cheering intelligence that the English nation, and all the
subscribers for the relief of the Prussians who have suffered in the
present war, and for the survivors of those who have fallen, have borne
an honourable testimony to their lively interest in the cause, by the
greatest and most unexampled liberality.

"In your letter, sir, you are so good as to say, that it is in some
measure owing to the personal affection felt for me by your countrymen,
that this liberality has exceeded any which in similar circumstances
has ever been exhibited; and you appeal to my own experience in the
support of this assertion. It is true that during my residence in
England I met everywhere with the most flattering reception; and I hope
I shall always remember it with gratitude. But this very recollection
confirms my belief, that the imagination of my services was magnified
by that affectionate goodwill which is always the result of personal
intercourse. I cannot otherwise account for the attentions which I
received.

"But, sir, allow me to say that other motives than those of personal
goodwill to me have quickened the exertions of the British nation for
the relief of the suffering Prussians. I allude to the flattering
description of their conduct at the battle of Waterloo, by the most
noble the Duke of Wellington, and to the command of His Royal Highness
the Prince Regent, to make collections for them in all the churches
of Great Britain; neither let me forget to mention as a most powerful
cause your own noble exertions in their behalf.

"Allow me, sir, to present you my most cordial thanks for this fresh
service which you have rendered to suffering humanity. Let me also
entreat you, my truly noble friend, you, who so richly deserve the
blessings of the whole human race, for having so courageously defended
their rights, to be the organ of my gratitude, and to present my
acknowledgments to the whole English nation for their very generous
assistance to my brave companions in arms, and to the survivors of
those who have fallen. May this liberality, which we cannot but
receive as an undoubted proof of the truest friendship and esteem,
prove a fresh bond of union between us. We fought for the highest
blessings which human nature is capable of enjoying--for Liberality
and Peace. May our high-spirited people be firmly united in so noble a
confederacy, and may that union never be interrupted.

"Much as, at my advanced age, I cannot but feel the necessity of
repose, still should it please Providence to prolong my life, I shall
yet hope once more to revisit England, and to repeat my thanks for the
sympathy of that generous nation.

"I entreat you to accept the assurances of my sincere esteem and high
consideration; and I have the honour to remain, sir, your most devoted
servant,

  "BLUCHER."


Lord Holland,[38] described as "truly fascinating, having something of
his uncle's good humour," by Wilberforce, writes of Abolition to him
in 1815, and thinks "the cause had been very coldly supported, if not
actually betrayed, at Paris, at Madrid, and at Rio Janeiro; and that we
ought to have imposed conditions on this subject when Ferdinand VII.
wanted money, instead of giving him the money first."


  _Lord Holland to Mr. Wilberforce_.

  "HOLLAND HOUSE,
    "_November 13, 1815_.

"DEAR SIR,--I heard that you were anxious to get some paper on the
Slave Trade translated into Italian. An Italian gentleman who is upon
a visit to me will, I am sure, very willingly undertake it, and is
well qualified for the task, as he writes his language with great
elegance and understands ours. I am afraid you will not find his
Holiness as much disposed to anathematise rapine and murder committed
under the sanction of the powerful Crown of Spain, as to disdain the
extravagances of the Catholicks in Ireland. There was no difficulty
in abolishing the French Slave Trade last year but in the breasts of
the Bourbons and their adherents. Bonaparte by doing it at once lost
no adherents either in France or in the colonies, and the repugnance
felt in 1814 to the measure _at Court_ originated from their persuasion
that the principles of all Abolitionists, as well as of all toleration
in religion, are more or less connected with notions of political
liberty which they know to be incompatible with their system of
Government. True French Royalists, and many English Royalists too, make
no difference between you and me or between me and Tom Paine. We are
all equally heretics in Religion and Jacobins in Politics. There is
therefore nothing to be done with that class of men in the great cause
of Abolition, but by fear. We have already lost many opportunities, and
if we do not now insist on Portugal and Spain abandoning the trade, and
on France and the other powers treating it as piracy if they do not, we
shall have shifted the ignominy from ourselves, but we shall not have
rescued the world from the evil. May I ask if you understand why the
complete abolition in France (if that measure of Bonaparte be really
and in proper form confirmed) does not make part of the treaty? It
seems to me that at Paris, at Madrid, and at Rio Janeiro the cause has
been very coldly, or at least very inefficiently, supported, if it has
not been actually betrayed. When Ferdinand VII. wanted money we might
have imposed conditions on this and on other subjects, but we gave the
money first, and he now sets us at defiance. With many apologies for
the length of my letter,

  "I am, sir, yours truly,

  "VASSALL HOLLAND."


Early in 1825, William Wilberforce's brilliant Parliamentary career
came to an end by his own voluntary retirement. The Speaker's[39]
letter is the expression of a very general feeling both in the House
and outside it.


  _The Right Hon. Speaker of the House of
  Commons to Mr. Wilberforce._

  "PALACE YARD,

  "_February 19, 1825_

"MY DEAR SIR,--With respect to your quitting us for more private
retirement, permit me to say with the truest sincerity, and in
accordance I am persuaded with the unanimous sentiment of the whole
House, that we shall feel we have lost one of our brightest ornaments,
and whatever may be the honest variance of opinion on political
questions, I know we must all be of one mind in regretting the absence
of one as distinguished for every moral virtue as for the brilliancy of
his talents.

"That retirement into more private life may contribute largely to your
personal ease, and to the entire restoration of your health, is, my
dear sir, the sincere wish of your most faithful and respectful

  "Friend and servant,

    "C. MANNERS SUTTON."


Lord John Russell's answer to Wilberforce's anti-bribery suggestions at
the time of the first Reform Bill is given below. It is marked "kind
and pleasing" by Wilberforce.


  _Lord John Russell to Mr. Wilberforce._

    "SOUTH AUDLEY STREET,

      "_June 3_.

"MY DEAR SIR,--I was very much gratified at receiving your letter, not
only for the kind sentiments personally expressed towards me, but still
more for the high testimony of your authority in favour of the course
I have been pursuing. The resolutions I lately moved were directed
against the very practice of which you complain in your letter; only
instead of an election committee I propose a separate public committee
for the purpose. The expenses of an election committee are such as to
deter any from seeking that remedy but a candidate who has hopes of
acquiring the seat himself, and the public is wronged for want of some
one bound over to prosecute these offences.

"After all, we must trust more to the frequent canvassing of the
question, and the improvement of moral feeling, which may be expected
from education, than to the letter of any law that we can frame.

"I showed your letter to Mr. Pitt and Mr. Wynne, and should have
been glad to have read it to the House, but I did not like to do so
without your permission. Wishing you many years of happiness in your
retirement, enhanced by reflecting on the usefulness of your past life,

  "I remain, yours faithfully,
    "J. RUSSELL."


Wilberforce writes on the same subject in October, 1831, to an old
friend:--


"I cannot but think the Lords managed it very ill not to attempt the
discovery of some compromise, giving up the rotten boroughs, granting
members to great towns, accepting the new county members, and yet
somewhat raising the qualification (surely no pauper should have the
right of voting); this must at least have prevented the common fraud
now practised on the people, that of imputing to those who voted at
all against the Bill that they wished to retain all the worst abuses,
which, in fact, they were as willing as the reformers to abolish. But
I must break off. You, and I hope I, are prompted to say with old
Hooker, I have lived long enough to see that the world is made up of
perturbations. But, blessed be God, there remaineth a rest for the
people of God. May I be permitted to meet you there, my dear sir."

On the different effects of the Oxford and Cambridge system on the
minds of young men, Wilberforce writes to a friend:--


  _Mr. Wilberforce to Mr. William Gray._
    "_December 31_, 1830.

"It is curious to observe the effects of the Oxford system in producing
on the minds of young men a strong propensity to what may be termed
Tory principles. From myself and the general tenour of our family and
social circle, it might have been supposed that my children, though
averse to party, would be inclined to adopt Liberal or, so far as would
be consistent with party, Whig principles, but all my three Oxonians
are strong friends to High Church and King doctrines. The effects I
myself have witnessed would certainly induce me, had I to decide on
the University to which any young protegé of mine should go, were he
by natural temper or any other causes too prone to excess on the Tory
side, I should decidedly send him to Cambridge, Trinity; were the
opposite the case he should be fixed at Oriel, Oxford.

"As for the gentleman you mention,[40] his character is not to be
expressed in a few words. Of his extraordinary powers no one ever
entertained a doubt. There are also very pleasing traits of private
character: I have been assured of his incessant and kind attentions to
his old mother. On his brother's failing, I believe, in business, he
paid his debts to a large amount and took on himself, I am assured,
before being in office, the charge of his eight or nine children. Of
his own little girl he was excessively fond, and he was always kind in
what concerned friends or acquaintances. I cannot also but hope that he
has seen so much of religious men as almost to have superior confidence
in them. But you suppose me to be more personally acquainted with him
than I am."

The next letter, to Mr. Manning, contains an allusion to his son Henry,
afterwards Cardinal Manning, of whom it will be noted that Wilberforce
"forms sanguine hopes that he will be a blessing to his fellow
creatures."

At the time the letter was written, Wilberforce's large fortune had
been seriously diminished, though he was far from being, as his letter
would lead one to suppose, in the same unfortunate position as Mr.
Manning.[41] The effect of his own loss was as he says, "greatly to
augment his happiness." Enough was left for his comfort. It is true he
gave up his home, and was no longer able to practise indiscriminate
hospitality; also his subscriptions had to be curtailed, such as those
to the York charities, as to which he "had been reminded in 1831 that
they were larger than those of any other subscriber."


  _Mr. Wilberforce to Mr. Manning.
  "June 11, 1832._

"I am truly rejoiced, my dear friend, to hear that you are so
comfortably circumstanced. I also have abundant cause for thankfulness.
The loss of fortune was graciously delayed in my instance until all
my children having been educated, and two of them supplied with
comfortable residences (Robert, my second son, recently by the
perfectly spontaneous kindness of Lord Brougham), so that the effect
of my loss of fortune has been greatly to augment Mrs. W.'s and my own
happiness. What can be more delightful than to be the daily witness of
our children having a large measure of conjugal happiness, the best
of this world's goods, while at the same time they are discharging
conscientiously and zealously the important duties of the pastoral
office. It gave me real pleasure that your son had given up the
situation at the Treasury for the Church. I have heard such an account
of him from my sons, as gives me reason to form sanguine hopes that he
will be a blessing to his fellow creatures."

The next extract refers to the painting of the well-known picture of
Wilberforce now in the National Portrait Gallery.


  _Sir Thomas Lawrence to Mr. Wilberforce._

"You make a too flattering apology for sending me but your name in your
own handwriting. I hardly know what other word in our language could
boast of equal interest, and you may be assured, my dear sir, that by
those the nearest to me it will be equally prized when the person to
whom it is written can no longer produce it as evidence of his too
fortunate career."

The date of the following lines of Cowper and also of Hayley is not
given. They are marked "Verses sent to me by Cowper and Hayley."


  _To William Wilberforce, Esqre._

SONNET.

    Thy country, Wilberforce, with just disdain,
        Hears thee by cruel men and impious called
        Fanatic, for thy zeal to loose th' enthralled
    From exile, public sale, and slav'ry's chain.
        Friend of the poor, the wronged, the fetter gall'd,
    Fear not lest labour such as thine be vain.
        Thou hast achieved a part--hast gained the ear
    Of Britain's senate to thy glorious cause;
    Hope smiles, joy springs, and though cold caution pause
        And weave delay, the better hour is near
        That shall remunerate thy toils severe
    By peace for Afric fenced with British laws.
        Enjoy what thou hast won, esteem and love
        From all the good on earth, and all the Blest above!

    WILLIAM COWPER.


_To William Wilberforce, Esqre, on the preceding Sonnet._

    When Virtue saw with brave disdain
    Lucre's infuriate sons profane
      Her Wilberforce's worth;
    As she beheld with generous ire,
    His image fashioned for the fire
      Of diabolic mirth:

    "Firm friend of suffering slaves!" she cried,
    "These frantic outrages deride,
      While I protect thy name!
    Soon shall one dear selected hand
    Richly o'erpay at my command,
      Indignity with Fame:

    "Since thou hast won, i

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