BOOKS.

MEMORIALS AND CORRESPONDENCE OP CHARLES TAMES FOX..

TirE laws and institutions under which a people is trained—the works of art, literature, and science it produces—the civil and military events by which it evolves its destiny—the general cast of character which distinguishes it—are all important elements in that sound knowledge of the past which is at once the most refined enjoyment and one of the most useful accomplishments of the civilized man, who, inheriting the accumulated wealth, moral, in- tellectual, and material, of all past ages, is bound to understand the advantages he enjoys, and to aid in transmitting them with due increase of his own to posterity. -Yet history appeals but faintly to the sympathies, and presents but dim outlines to the imagination, unless the lives and characters of individual actors in it are made out with sufficient distinctness and sufficient fulness of detail to enable us to dramatize the events in which they have taken part, and to associate them with the human thoughts and passions which raised them in interest far above the platenomena of nature or the links in a chain of inevitable causes and effects. It is the superiority of modern history over ancient, and still more over that of the dark and middle ages, that its records are for the most part full enough to enable those who choose to devote time to the task to gain something like a living and individual knowledge of the principal actors ; and though the multiplication of books is said by a great authority to be a great evil, and biographical works have within our times evinced a marvellous tendency to expand at the expense of the reader's time, patience, and pocket, we yet wel- come any additions to our records of departed men of note with unsated zest, and regard the editors of Such works with a gratitude and esteem by no means uniformly bestowed on the more ambitious class of so-called original authors. English history during the latter half of the eighteenth century has within the last few years been gradually emerging into clearer and clearer light, as the lapse of time has allowed the papers and letters one after another of the leading actors in it to be published without injury to the feelings of survivors or their immediate re- presentatives. We have had Horace Walpole's Memoirs of the earlier part of George the Third's reign, with large additions to his charming epistolary sketches of the -Vanity Fair and the May Fair of his day ; Lord Chatham's Correspondence has shown us that great man in dishabille ; the Grenville Papers throw open the doors of a really grand house, though the series just publicly endorsed with the ducal guarantee of Buckingham and Chandos has stripped the tinsel from one of the most pompous and ill-conditioned big-wigs of an age of big-wigs ; Burke's Letters are now before the world, nobly to sustain a great historic and philosophical reputation ; and his friend Lord Rockingham stands clearly out as the English mag- nate of sense, honour, integrity, and conduct, the not unfit leader of a territorial aristocracy against the corruptions of the Crown and the very' type of a Whig, ere yet a people habituated to think and act for itself had rendered the true Whig a solecism in the ac- tual world, and consigned him to a turned though honourable page in history. The King's letters to Lord North, and the remainder of Walpole's notices of George the Third's reign, are the most import- ant materials yet unpublished in extenso ; though various writers have made use of the former, and much interesting matter is ex- tracted from the latter in these long-expected Memorials of Charles James Fox, which we are now called upon to notice.

All the works mentioned have been of eminent service ; but to none of their subjects, with the exception perhaps of Lord Chat- ham, did so much personal interest attach as to the idol of the later Whigs, their true leader after the death of Lord Rocking- ham, and the man who suggests himself to the imagination of the student of history as the political father of the race of Whigs whose catechism was the _Edinburgh Review and their temple Holland House. As a statesman influencing the destinies of his country, he cannot be compared with the younger Pitt ; as a man of letters and a philosopher, he has no rank beside Edmund Burke: but we regard Pitt for his pblicy, his actions, and his power; Burke we reverence as a man of profound wisdom though some- times frantic with passion, as the ideal orator of an assembly of scholars and thinkers : Fox was possibly a far greater orator—un- doubtedly a more brilliant debater—than either of them; but it is less of the statesman, less of the orator, less even of the politician, that we think, and recall Fox as the darling of Brooks's—as the man of pleasure and of fashion—the gay, kindly, reckless spoiled child of a corrupt society, yet exulting and ex-aberant with in- tellectual power, with sympathies for all that is generous and noble except self-restraint and self-denial—a man of the clear vigorous sense, which, warmed by a kind heart and roused by a quick sensibility, forms the staple of the greatest oratory, while it thinks only of saying the thing that needs to be said. It was to these volumes that we looked for an illustration of those charms of temper and character which, united with his brilliant intellectual gifts, gave Fox so entire an ascendancy over the men with whom he was intimate. But we confess that, though a pre- vailing and unbroken good temper characterizes his letters, they do not reveal any more distinctive sources of the fascination tra- ditionally attributed to their writer ; and Fox as painted by him- self comes out in disappointingly faint colours, and 'with fewer definite traits of life and habits than we could have been well con- tent to receive of so eminent a man. In truth, the letters of Fox • Memorials and Correspondence of Charles James Fox. Edited by Lord John Russell. Volumes I. and II. Published by Bentley.

occupy a comparatively small space in the two volumes which carry his life up to the close of the year 1792 ; and the greater portion is filled by extracts from Horace Walpole's 11 mucks for the most part unpublished, by letters of other persons more or less nearly connected with Fox by blood or dice, by comments of Lord Holland, Mr. Allen, and Lord J ohn Russell, and by documents which throw light on certain obscure political events in which Mr. Fox was concerned. Sundry materials for a life of Mr. Fox are here collected, and arranged in chronological order, with a brief connecting narrative of the historical events of the time by Lord Jahn Russell; whose leisure has not enabled him to accomplish his wish and Lord Holland's delegated task of composing a bio- graphy of Fox in regular form. We doubt whether Fox's life will ever be written now. Partly the interest has diminished, now that those who knew him personally and the people who

regarded him as their political leader have dwindled- away. But still more, the opportunity of collecting authentic informa-

tion about him, of gathering impressions from those with whom he

lived, has passed by ; and, with all Lord Holland's veneration and affection for his uncle, he has for some reason failed to do more in

this way than the veriest stranger might have done : so that all

that can be expected now is, we presume, contained in these volumes, and that amounts to little more than material for a po-

litical biography. The volumes that are to follow will probably contain more of Lord Holland's personal recollections of his uncle ; and they, we remember, formed the redeeming portion of that very stupid book by his Lordship called "Memoirs of the Whig Party." But upon the whole, we cannot but anticipate a general feeling of disappointment that three such men, so advantageously situated for their task, so interested in it, as Lord Holland, Mr. Allen, and Lord John Russell, should not have been able after an incubation of almost half a century to produce a more perfect work. And the

best chance for Mr. Fox is, after all, the chapter he will get when Macaulay, in the twentieth century of our mra, shall have reached the period of the American War and the Coalition Ministry.

What three editors have failed to do in forty years, we shall not attempt at a sitting ; though it would not be impossible to sketch

a broad outline of Charles Fox's career in a few pages. The two

volumes do really clear up certain transactions which have hitherto been very doubtful ; and to these we would direct the attention of our readers,—simply premising, that it is want of space alone that prevents us from enlarging upon and quoting from the account contained in the volumes of the education and boyhood of Charles Fox ; an account interesting in itself, far more copious in personal detail than the later portions of the Memorials, and going far to account for all the faults of his later life.

It is known that after the surrender of Burgoyne and his army at Saratoga, towards the close of 1777, Lord North became so im- portunate in his requests to George the Third to be allowed to re-

tire, that the King, in spite of his resentment against both Fox and Lord Chatham, opened negotiations with the former directly, and

with the latter through his friend Lord Shelburne. The agent in both these negotiations was Mr. Eden, afterwards Lord Auckland. The substance of what passed is recorded in notes furnished by Mr. Eden to Lord Holland ; and is the more important as no record of the proposals to Lord Chatham appears in his Correspond- ence lately published.

"At a quarter past seven I called on Dr. Priestley, who introduced Lord Shelburne to me, and left us. We sat together till half-past ten, though he told me at first that he was appointed at eight o'clock to attend an Opposition meeting [at the Duke of Richmond's]. I confided to him my copy of the French Ambassador's Declaration (which I knew, however, that he was al- ready in possession of). He read it aloud, as a paper quite new to him, but commented on it very frankly, and said that it was impossible to consider it otherwise than as a declaration of war ; that we must act accordingly ; that New York should be strongly armed ; the frontiers of Canada secured ; Flo- rida strengthened ; Pennsylvania evacuated ; the fisheries defended ; the West India Islands and all other possessions secured ; the proposed Commis- sion desisted from, as now become nugatory, but all the American acts to be repealed ; measures of force against France to be adopted. In talking of himself, he said that he abhorred intrigue ; that his temper and feelings led him to the utmost unreserve and frankness; that his disposition was best suited to private life; that he was naturally indolent, &c. &c.; that he ab- horred all parties ; that when gentlemen of Opposition came to him, he al- ways advised them to prefer Lord Rockingham ; that when anything was said to him tending to a connexion with Government, he could say nothing but that 'Lord Chatham must be the dictator.' When I asked him what Lord Chatham would dictate, he said that I must have heard, both through the Duke of Northumberland and through another channel ; that when his Majesty last parted with Lord Chatham his Majesty was pleased to say he foresaw he should, on future occasions, want his advice and assistance, and that the occasion was now come. He knew, he said, that Lord Chatham thought any charm insufficient which did not comprehend and annihilate every party in the kingdom; that the Duke of Grafton and Lord Rocking- ham must be included; that a great law arrangement would, in Lord Chat- ham's opinion, be material and that Lord Mansfield ought to be removed. He was liberal in solemn assurances to me that no one syllable of our con- versation should ever transpire ; was sorry, lie said, to collect nothing from me that tended to produce a general reformation in Government. He pro- fessed no disregard to Lord Suffolk and Lord North, (possibly through po-

liteness.) but dwelt with some asperity on Lord Gower's principles of go- vernment and on Lord George's insufficiency (in which he made some allu- sions to General Carlton). He intimated that Lord Chatham would not wish, perhaps, to give the Treasury to Lord Rockingham, but would perhaps offer to make him Lord Chamberlain. It was agreed in the close of our con- versation that we should mutually act as if we had never met, but that I should call again on Tuesday evening at a quarter past eight. * * * "I asked him what his idea was of a new arrangement. He answered, that without Lord Chatham it would be inefficient, and do more harm than good to make any change; and that with Lord Chatham nothing could be done but by an entire new Cabinet, and a change in the chief departments of the law. That this idea did not go to a total alteration of men and measures, only to an alteration of Ministers, and the giving force and weight to the measures which the situation of the country might render necessary or ex- pedient. As to the law, he said, that the great offices ought not to be filled by lawyers, who were mere mischievous politicians. In answer to the last sentence, I asked what he meant to do with his friends Lord Camden and Mr. Dunning. He did not choose to understand what was implied by this, but answered that he wished to see the one Chancellor and the other Chief Justice in the room of Lord Mansfield, who he supposed must wish to retire. I then desired to know how he proposed to manage the House of Commons without any lawyers of eminence except the present Attorney and Solicitor- Generals, who would then be both in Opposition. He allowed this would be a difficulty, and said, 'But surely there would be some mode of doing everything right without doing anything harsh.' This gave me the opening I wished, to enter fully and in the plainest language into the narrowness, nonsense, and harshness of the whole proposition, so far as implied a wish 'and expectation in his Lordship's friend at Hayes to avail himself of the pressure of a moment in order to dictate terms to the Closet, every part of which would imply a desertion and disavowal of servants who for many years had fought the cause of their master, of the Parliament, and of the whole nation, with the most cordial fidelity and zeal; and this, too, upon principles of the purest kind, the truth of which remains unimpaired, though mischances and circumstances may make it more difficult to enforce them. I added, that though uninformed and unauthorized as to any spe- cific resolutions taken, I could argue safely from the sentiments of honour which I knew to be firmly rooted, and could at once say that no arrange- ment could or would ever be listened to one moment except on the ground of mere accession of capacity and business, in a moment which would require great exertions ; and that even such accessions could not be taken unless made in a plan consistent with the honour of all that had passed heretofore. In the conversation of at least four hours which followed this opening, many particulars passed and much detail was entered into as to persons and politi- cal characters. In the result, his Lordship seemed to take a more practi- cable key, and said he would go this morning to Hayes, would endeavour to learn the outlines of the expectations formed, and would confide them to me on his return, in the most secret confidence that no bad use should be made of them, if they were thought totally inadmissible."

The King's letters to Lord North thus comment on the tone taken by Lord Shelburne in behalf of the "Great Commoner."

" March 10th 1778.

"You can want no further explanation of the language held to Mr. Eden the last evening. It is so totally contrary to the only ground on which I could have accepted the services of that perfidious man, that I need not enter on it. Lord Chatham as dictator—as planning a new Administration—I ap- peal to my letter of yesterday if I did not clearly speak out upon. If Lord Chatham agrees to support your Administration, (if you like better,) the fundamentals of the present Administration,—viz. Lord N. at the head of the Treasury, Lords Suffolk, Gower, and Weymouth, in great offices to their own inclinations, Lord Sandwich at the Admiralty, Thurlow Chancellor, and Wedderburne as Chief justice,—I will not object to see that great man, when Lord Shelburne, Dunning, and Barrd arc placed already in office ; but I solemnly declare that nothing shall bring me to treat personally with Lord Chatham, If I saw Lord C., he would insist on as total a change as Lord Shelburne yesterday threw out."

" March 15th 1778.

"I am highly incensed at the language held by Lord Shelburne last night to Eden, and approve of that of the latter. I am fairly worn down. But all proposals and answers must in future go through you, for I will not change the Administration ; but if I can with honour, let you make the ac- quisitions."

" March 18th 1778.

"Convey to Thurlow and Wedderburne my intentions. Then, and not till then, I am open to the plan of Ministry proposed by you on Sunday. I never will accept the service of any part of Opposition but to strengthen you. To give you ease, I consent to what gives me infinite pain ; but any further, even that consideration would not make me go. Rather than be shackled by those desperate men, (if the nation will not stand by me,) I will rather see any form of government introduced into this island, and lose my crown rather than wear it as a disgrace."

The change of Ministry, defeated mainly through the King's obstinate determination to keep Lord North against that noble- man's reiterated prayer to be allowed to resign, was postponed for four years ; and it was not till 20th March 1782 that North was released from his post. Lord Holland has left on record a lively account of the scene in the House of Commons on that oc- casion ; worth quoting if only as another specimen of that ad- mirable good humour which was a sevenfold shield to Lord North, through years as trying to the temper of a Minister as any in our history. "I have heard my uncle Fitzpatrick give a very diverting account of the scene that passed in the House of Commons on the day of Lord North's re- signation; which happened to be a remarkably cold day, with a fall of snow. A motion of Lord Surrey's for the dismissal oe Ministers stood for that day, and the Whigs were anxious that it should come on before the resiguation of Lord North was officially announced, that his removal from office might be more manifestly and formally the act of the House of Commons. Ile and Lord Surrey rose at the same instant ; after much clamour, disorder, and some insignificant speeches on order, Mr. Fox, with great quickness and address, moved, as the most regular method of extricating the House from its embarrassment, That Lord Surrey be now heard.' But Lord North, with yet more admirable presence of mind, mixed with pleasantry, rose im- mediately and said, • I rise to speak to that motion' ; and, as his reason for opposing it, stated his resignation and the dissolution of the Ministry. The House, satisfied, became impatient, and after some ineffectual efforts of speak- ers on both sides to procure a bearing, an adjournment took place. bnow was falling, and the night tremendous. All the Members carriages were dismissed, and Mrs. Bennet's room at the door was crowded. But Lord North's carriage was waitinr, He put into it one or two of his friends, whom he had invited to go Some with him, and turning to the crowd, chiefly composed of his bitter enemies, in the midst of their triumph exclaimed, in this hour of defeat and supposed mortification with admirable good-humour and pleasantry, • I hare my carriage. You see, gentlemen, the advantage of being in the secret. Good night.' " In the Ministry of Lord Rockingham, which succeeded North's, Charles Fox was joint Secretary of State with Lord Shelburne. The two departments clashed in regard to the management of the negotiations for peace, which were carried on in Paris both with the French and the American deputies. Fox was what would now be called Foreign Secretary, and Shelburne Colonial Secretary, under whose jurisdiction it would naturally fall to deal with Ame- rica, while it was the proper business of Fox to manage a negotia- tion for peace as such. Walpole notices the consequences of this conflict of jurisdictions, in a passage of his unpublished Memoirs; and it is worth quoting, as the facts to which it alludes were the

cause of that separation between Fox and Shelburne, after Lord Rockingham's death which led to the downfall of Shelburne's Ministry, and subsequently to the Coalition between Fox and Lord North, the two steps in the public life of Fox which his admirers are divided upon.

"The material [features of the Administration] were the masterly abili- ties of Charles Fox, and the intrigues of Lord Shelburne. The former dis- played such facility in comprehending and executing all business as charmed all approached him. No formal affectation delayed any service, or screened ignorance. He seized at once the important points of every affair, and every affair was thence reduced within a small compass, not to save himself trouble, for he at once gave himself up to the duties of his office. His good-humour, frankness and sincerity, pleased, and yet inspired a respect, which he took no other pains to attract. The Foreign Ministers were in admiration of him : they had found few who understood foreign affairs, or who attended to them, and no man who understood French so well, or could explain himself in so few words. "While Fox thus unfolded his character so advantageously, Shelburne was busied in devoting himself to the King, and in traversing Lord Rock- ingham and Fox in every point. If they opened a negotiation, he com- menced another underhand at the same court. Mr. Fox despatched Thomas Grenville to Paris. Lord Shelburne sent one, two, or three, privately to the same place, and addressed them to different Ministers or persons of supposed credit."

The disputes between Mr. Fox and Lord Shelburne receive ample illustration in the series of letters that pass between the former and Mr. Thomas Grenville, the English plenipotentiary at Paris ; and Lord John Russell ably sums up the reasons founded upon them for and against Mr. Fox's subsequent separation from Lord Shelburne, with an evident conviction that Mr. Fox was justi- fied in that step. Our space prevents us from quoting Lord John's ingenious comment, and we jump at once to the Coalition; of which there is a full account by two principal agents in bringing it about —Mr. Adam, and Lord John Townshend. The notes of the for- mer extend over many pages ; the account of the latter is con- tained in a letter, and though less full, and presenting only half the history of that momentous event, is better fitted for our limited space. A short summary of Lord Holland's own is prefixed.

"The events which brought about the ill-fated and much calumniated Coalition are well known ; but the agency through which the agreement was conducted has never been explained to the public. Rumour attributed much of it to Eden (afterwards Lord Auckland), and to Wedderburne ; but I be- lieve with little or no foundation. Lord North was sincerely disposed to re- tire, and Pitt, and yet more probably the King, would willingly have sought assistance among the late Minister's followers ; but before any such agree- ment was ripe, Mr. Pitt, instead of trusting to the reported probability of Lord North's acquiescence and retirement, was said to have insisted on a renunciation, on the part of all Lord North's followers who should join him, of all connexion with a man so stigmatized by failure and disgrace. At least, Mr. Dundas (Lord Melville), who had, it must be presumed, submitted to that ignominy himself, told his old friend and associate Mr. Adam, that 'Pitt was ready to negotiate with Lord North's party on the basis of ex- cluding Lord North personally.' At this Adam, ever warm-hearted and friendly, was naturally incensed and provoked '; and he communicated his indignation to George North, who was intimate with Mr. Fox's intimate friend Lord John Townshend : the three were mainly instrumental in pre- vailing on Lord North and Mr. Fox to form a coalition, which Burke, with his usual vehemence, passion, and inconsistency, and others with an im- patient desire of office, were earnestly recommending. In 1830, I wrote to Lord John Townshend to inquire the particulars of this negotiation and transaction. I transcribe the letters I received from him, as characteristic of one of Mr. Fox's most intimate friends in those days, and as exhibiting a lively picture of what was going on at the time.

" Brighton, June 15th 1830.

"Dear Lord Holland—In answer to your questions, I should certainly say that George North, myself, and Adam, were the most active and instru- mental negotiators in the business of the Coalition. In truth, I should say, that without the immediate and direct communication that was happily established after many difficulties between Lord North and your uncle, through the intervention of George North and myself, through whom the most private and confidential correspondence was easily carried on, the coalition never could have taken place. Lord North had the firmest confi- dence in his son, and I need not tell you that your uncle reposed the same in me. It has always been the pride of my life to think so. George North and I had laid our heads together long before the first overtures were begun, in order to plan the best means of effecting this object, and of counter- acting the opposition to it, which it was evident would be made by many of the violent and unreasonable on both sides, of which there were plenty, and most especially of Lord North's party, who were far more hostile to the junc- tion than the subordinate Whigs. The latter were more obedient to their leaders, but the ascendancy which some of Lord North's rogues and fools had occasionally over him was something astonishing when one considers the strength of his mind and very superior understanding. But it was not long before we got rid of these pests, and having Lady North and the whole family, sons and daughters, strongly with us, we succeeded in driving the whole pack of ro,gues from his presence. When you ask if Burke on your uncle's side, and Eden on Lord North's, had much to do in it, I should say undoubt- edly, yes, very much, especially Eden, no one knowing better how to work upon the rotten part of Lord North's party. He was therefore highly uaeful, though I don't think he had any great weight with Lord North, who seemed to think that his (Eden's) bias led him more to your uncle, to whom he pro- fessed the most ardent attachment, chiefly owing, I believe, to his own con- nexion with Lord Carlisle, an earnest advocate for coalition.

"If Burke had been adverse we must have dropt all idea of the thing, as he had the grcate8t sway, I might almost say command, over Lord Rocking. ham's friends, with the exception of the Duke of Devonshire, who, besides his personal attachment to your uncle, thought him in every respect a far superior man to Burke, whose total want of judgment and discretion he was fully aware of. Burke, however, had no great hand beyond this in the work ; and it was lucky, as we thought, that he had not, as he might any one day have marred everything, according to custom, in some wrongheaded fit of intemperance. Fitzpatrick's aid was invaluable ; his excellent judgment mainly contributing to the success of the measure, and removing unexpected difficulties that occasionally arose. No one's opinions, you know, had half so much weight with Mr. Fox as your uncle Richard's. Sheridan was then begin- ning to acquire some of that influence he afterwards more fully possessed over

tour uncle, and which, not many years after that, he entirely lost—you know ow. Well, Sheridan, do you know, instead of being adverse to the coalition, as I dare say you have often heard the vapouring rogue declare, was, on the contrary, I assure you, one of the most eager and clamorous for it. His hatred of Pitt, and his anxiety to get into office, were motives sufficient. It

is true be had no hand in carrying the measure into effect, for nobody had any sort of trust or confidence in him. Think of his impudence afterwards, in boasting that he had always deprecated the coalition, and foretold its disas- trous consequences. I have now given you a long and tedious, but a faith- ful history. I fear you will regret your indiscretion in asking me any ques- tions on the subject, not expecting such a detail.

"Ever yours, dear Lord Holland, most truly, J. TOWNSHEND."

We have given the preference in our quotations from these volumes to what throws light on the political history of the last century, over biographical notices of Fox ; and we have said that the latter are not so rich as might have been expected and wished. But we do not imply that many interesting private let- ters and notices do not occur, only that the political element in the book is the stronger. As a contribution to the minute history of the time, its value is quite upon a--level with any of those we enumerated at the commencement of our review ; and we look for- ward with interest to the remaining volumes.