BOOKS.

LORD JOHN RUSSELL'S FOX—POL.17 ME III.* NOTHING short of a deliberate perusal of this volume from titlepago to finis could have persuaded us that the correspondence of a man so eminent as Charles James Fox, at so momentous a period of Eng- lish history as that extending from the winter of 1792 to the spring of 1804, would furnish so little of interest to the general reader, or the student of history in its broader features, or even of investi- gation to the more minute student engaged in following with pain- ful accuracy the course of English political parties and the Parlia- mentary proceedings of the period. Had we formed any previous conjectures on the subject, we should perhaps, knowing the posi- tion occupied by the Foxite Whigs during the war in which this country was engaged with France, have anticipated a scantiness of matter interesting to the minute political student ; but we could not have supposed that a man of such shining abilities as Mr. Fox, moving in the first society of his time, combining with the talents and ambition of a party-leader a character of remarkable sweet- ness, bonhomie, and passion, and possessed of various accomplish- ments and graceful literary tastes, could have left behind him a mass of letters reflecting in no respect the animated social life of the upper classes in England, never brilliant with wit or piquant with traits of character, entirely devoid of anecdote, and amount- ing at best to an imperfect commentary On the few speeches he delivered during those years in the Housn of Commons. If this only amounts to saying that the third volume of Lord John Rus- sell's editorial production fulfils or rather surpasses the expectations excited—if the word may be allowed a negative import—by the two former volumes, our surprise is scarcely diminished, because Lord John expressly told the public that the "greatest_ value" of the work he was editing " would be found in the letters of /tr. Fox to Lord Holland written between 1790 and 1805." Those -letters fill half the present volume ; and beyond showing, what no one doubted, that Mr. Fox took an affectionate interest in his nephew, and was fond of reading Greek, Latin, Italian, French, and Eng- lish poetry, and lived a happy and quiet life at St. Anne's Hill with Mrs. Armitstead, whom he married in 1795, we can find so little in them that marks a distinctive or eminent character, that we can only account for Lord John's estimate of them by the tra- ditional reverence for the name of Fox which the modern leader of the Whigs imbibed in his boyhood. True, they abound in what, we suppose, Lord John would call literary criticisms, but what we think would be more properly called somewhat tedious expressions of the writer's likes and dislikes in art and literature ; for they are liotti superficial in their object and unreasoned. in their method. Otherwise, the letters are taken up with exhortations to Lord Holland to return to England and the political duties of his sta tion, important when written, -no doubt, though they seem to have had but little effect, but vastly tedious to read now, sixty years after date,- repeated in letter after- letter; and with the briefest and most cursory information of ;the doings of Mr. Fox and his friends in Parliament, and of -their dislike and disapproval of Ministers,—all which would indeed be interesting if it threw neW light upow the Parliamentary proceedings and Ministerial ;Con- clude but unfortunately we have, little here but what can be known' far- better from other sources. Hansard is not supplemented by the information to be found in Mr. Fox's letters, and from the properly called secret history of the time the curtain is not per- ceptiblyraised. Our readers will not therefore impute it to our neglect, that,, in the extracts we shall proceed to place before them, they-will probably be able to discern little that was worth pub- lishing, little that any Smith or Jones who mixes in public mat- ters could not have, said equally well ; it being always borne in mind, that it was never a disputed fact that.' Charles }ex was an amiable,man, with strong party feelings, a rooted attachment to popular rights, and a rooted dislike to George the Third,' as well as to the principles of absolute government..—It by no means follows froni'What we, have said that a genial and elneeientious biographer of Fox might not have found in the letters important -aid towards placing before the publiciin historical picture of Fox as the central figure in a band of distinguished men who took a particular line in politics at that day. But Lord John Russell neither attempts that task nor leaves any one else free to use the material which was in- trusted to him for the purpose,—the chief among many objections to such editing as his.

Lord Malmesbury in his diaries gives many interesting details of the attempt that was made in the summer of 1792 to form a strong Government, in face of the threatening aspect of affairs on the Continent, by reconciling the Whigs aneTories. One of Mr. Fox's earliest letters in the present collection is addressed to Mr. Robert Adair on this negotiation ; the process and results of which

• Memorials and Correspondence of Charles James Fol. Edited by Lord John Russell. Volume 111. Published by Bentley.

are there stated, fairly enough it seems to us, by Lord Jyhn,Rus-

sell, is his.shoit general introduetion.: . ; "It is clear, from this account, that the separation between Mi. Fox and a portion of his politiwal. friends was no new project, and that Mr. Burke had long endeavoured to remove Fox, by representing him as the obstacle to a coalition. In the arrangements for that purpose, Mr. Fox's honour and that of his friends appear to have received very little consideration. It would seem to have been in Mr. Pitt's contemplation, that Fox should serve under him in the House of Commons, and that he should undergo some pro- bation before he should be judged qualified to hold the seals of the Foreign Office. Mr. Fax in the course of these negotiations was occasionally, as Lord Loughborough terms it, 'harsh and opinionative' ; that is to say, he was not ready at once to sacrifice his own position and that of his friends to enable Lord Loughborough to hold the Great Seal. Had Mr. Pitt offered directly to Mr. Fox the Foreign Office, with the leadership of the House of Lords, there can be little doubt that Mr. Fox, however reluctant, would have accepted the offer. What might then have happened—whether Mr. Fox would have brought Mr. Pitt round to his pacific opinions, and whether any attempts of that kind could have averted war, it is now impossible to say. "The Duke of Portland, Lord Fitzwilliam, and Mr. Wyndham, separated, from Mr. Fox with the greatest reluctance; these ties could not be tone asunder without leaving a wound which bled and a scar which defaced_ Thekind, unaffected nature of Mr. Fox had, bound his friends to him with no common affection, 'and his letters show how deep was the sorrow which followed a political breach."

The extracts that follow convey Mr. Fox's own views and feel- ings in prospect of the separation from his old friends.

, " November 26, 1792. "bear Adair-Notwithstanding the apparent good spirits you saw me in; the truth is, that what I saw and heard in Loudon has made a most deep and painful impression on my mind ; and I grow very doubtful about the . possibility of preserving those connexions which I love and esteem as much- as ever, and without which I do not feel that I ever can act in political mat- ters with satisfaction to myself. "My reason for writing to you upon this now, is that I overheard you say to Sheridan that there was much disposition in what is called the aristo- cratic part of the party to concede and conciliate; and though I confess this is totally contrary to my own observation, I cannot help catching at any- thing that gives inc the least glimpse of hope. Perhaps you only said this to Sheridan in order to inspire him and others with similar dispositions to those which you described on the other side ; and this I fear to be the case, for I must repeat that not one symptom of the kind has appeared to me. If any such disposition existed, I cannot help thinking that on the other side I should have weight enough to proclaim a correspondent disposition, if it did not exist without my interposition. I am sure that Lauderdale, Grey, and . Sheridan, are all manageable men ; and the rascals of the democratic party (for there are such on all sides) have not set their wits to pervert them, in the way that those on the aristocratic side have to pervert the Duke of Port-

land, Fitzwilliam, Wyndham, &o. • • •

" November 29, Itut.

"It is good not to despair, but I do assure you I am forced to use consi- derable exertion with myself to avoid it. I still am blind as to any disposi-

tion to what I call conciliation. The very word forgive, if it were men- tioned, which I hope it never will, would put an end to all hopes of it. But what is worse than this is, that I do not see any express renunciation,of the Govern- ment. of suspending opposition for the purpose of giving strength to This with me is the most real cause of separation of any that has been started ; and this, I know, was mentioned and not reprobated before I came to town. It is given out M Ix; the Duke of Portland's intention, by Pitt and his friends; and sorry am to say, that-when 'I hear it I have no authority to eontradiet it, though that was the point I laboured most hard for when I was in town. This point must be cleared up. Is the Duke of Portland ready to go on with the same sort of opposition we have been en- gaged in for years past,? or is he not ? I am slur the World thinks nog ; and. I believe Ministers have reason to think not, though I' do not believe the Duke of Portland ever authorized any assurances to them upon the subject. Till this is cleared up 'I must remain in the state in .which I described my- self to TOU ;, and in such a state it were no wonderif I did-make continually these large strides which are coMplained of, though I am not Conscious of having made any. I do not think I said a word respecting Parliamentary Reform which I had notiraid months ago to the Duke of Portland and Lord Fitzwilliam, and years ago to Lord Ro:kingliain. And-upon that subject let me observe, that though it Was not, as Burke aeys„in the original contract, yet neither was'opposition to it in, that contract.; and that Grey, &c. had good reason to be suprised at so tieleht a storm-arising from-hie undertaking- what the Duke of Richmond, when he was upon the most cordial terms with the party, wile% Sir George Savile, and what so many of us had done before' him ; what was supported by the Rockingham Administration ; what was voted for by Lord John Cavendish, and assented to by some of Lord Rocking- ham's best friends.(mixed, I grant, with sotne of luti 'wickedest enemies) h4 Yorkshire. indeed,: the taking shCh an alarm on such a ground, and running to Pitt upon it, were. rosy bad symptoms ; but whatis passed cannot be re- called. What creates the present yiaharrassment with me is Wynclimuia late rash visit to Pitt, and the inclination of others to `Mke sintilatkteps. Till nliisais disavowed, lint by words only, but by acts, I cannot be eil!ey." ' The breach in the-Whig party left Mr. Fox almost without in- fluence or following in Parliament. As a consequence, he almost gave up attendance long before- the so-called secession in 1796 ; and his political views seem to have limited themselves to pro- testing against the arbitrary measures taken by Ministers in their dread of the contagion of French Revolutionary opinions, and to doing his utmost to keep together a nucleus of Liberal statesmen for future contingencies. It was with the latter view that he so constantly urged upon Lord Holland to come home from his tra- vels and take his seat in the House of Lords. In December 1793, he wrote to his nephew in reference to Muir and Palmer, " the Scotch martyrs." " At home we imitate the French as well as we can ; and in the trials and sentences of Muir and Palmer in particular, I do not think we full very far short of our original, excepting inasmuch as transportation to Botany- Bay is less severe (and to a gentleman that is not much) than death, I do not think any of the French soi-disant judicial proceedings surpass in misuse. tick and contempt of law those in Scotland: and yet I hear from good au thority what, till I heard it from authority, .I resolutely disbelieved, that not only these proceedings are to be defended in Parliament, but that the sen- tences are to be executed, and that sedition, the most vague and loose in its description of all misdemeanours, is to be considered as punishable, and ac- tually to be punished in Scotland. as a felony. It is evident that those who execute the supposed law in Scotland must wish it were law here too, and such are the times that what they wish they may easily obtain if they have the courage to ask it. You will easily believe I shall not acquiesce in this ty- ranny without an effort, but I am far from sanguine as to success. We live in times of violence and of extremes, and all those who are for creating or even for retaining checks upon power are considered as enemies to order. However, one must do one's duty, and one must endeavour to do it without passion ; but everything in Europe appears to my ideas so monstrous, that it as difficult to think of things calmly even alone, much more to discuss them so when heated by dispute. Good God ! that a man should be sent to Bo- tany Bay for advising another to read Paine's book, or for reading the.Irish address at a public meeting ! for these are the charges against Muir; and the first of them is, I think, not satisfactorily proved. " ' On tremble en comparant, l'offense et Is supplice.' "

After discussing at some length the uses of "party," Mr. Fox thus expresses his opinion on secession in April 1795, in a letter to his nephew-

" I wish I could be persuaded that it was right to quit public business, for I should like it to a degree that I cannot express; but I cannot yet think that it is note duty to persevere. One may be of opinion that persevering is .of no use ; but ought a man who has. engaged himself to the public to trust so entirely to a speculation of this sort as to go out of the common road and to desert (for so it would be called) the public service ? Would it not be said, with more colour than ever, that my object was all along personal power.; and that, finding that unattainable, I gave up all exertion for the public? I know there is another view of this question, and that it may be said with some truth, that by persevering we are assisting the imposture which is putting upon the people that the government is still a. free one. But, -though some would put a candid construction upon secession, yet, as I do not think the people are in a disposition to interpret favourably the conduct of public men, I fear the general opinion would be what I mentioned be- fore—that, having lost all hope of place, we left the country to take care of itself."

In 1800 he thus recalls to Mr. Grey the reasons which led after- wards to a change of opinion-

" Always remember that the original ground of retiring was not (that) the questions likely to be agitated were unimportant, but that our attendance in Parliament upon them was useless, and because useless, in some measure hurtful, as tending to drive the country into an opinion that the House of Commons was still a place in which it was worth while to try the effect of argument and reason."

The ruling political passions of Mr. Fox during the whole pe- riod seem to have been detestation of the war, in its origin, its progress, and its. incidents, and a kindred detestation of the Go- vernment, which in carrying it on made it the cause for increasing the power of the Executive. Not one word of admiration escapes him for the valour of our sailors, not one flash of sympathy with our naval glories, not one thrill of triumph that, whether Govern- ment was right or wrong, his country was maintaining her ancient .honour and reputation. On the other hand, be seems possessed -with the most gloomy anticipations that the country was rapidly sinking to Mr. Hume's euthanasia of absolute monarchy.

Nov. 1795.—" There appears to be no choice at present but between an absolute surrender of the liberties of the people and a vigorous exertion, at- tended. I admit, with considerable hazard at a time like the present. My view of things is, I own, very gloomy ; and I am convinced that in a very few years this government will become completely absolute, or that confu- sion will arise of a nature almost as much to be deprecated as despotism it- self. That the Ministers mean to bring on the first of these evils appears to me so clear that I cannot help considering any man who denies it as a fool or a hypocrite; and I cannot disguise from myself that there are but too many who wish for the second."

Again, in 1796, he urges the same fear as a reason why the Whigs should make advances to the Democrats.

" At present I think that we ought to go further towards agreeing with the Democratic or popular party than at any former period ; for the follow- ing reasons : we, as a party, I fear, can do nothing, and the contest must be -between the Court and the Democrats. These last, without our assistance, will he either too weak to resist the Court,—and then comes Mr. Hume's euthanasia, which you and I think the worst of all events,—or, if they are strong enough, being wholly unmixed with any aristocratic leaven, and full of resentment against us for not joining them, will go probably to greater excesses, and bring on the only state of things which can make a man doubt whether the despotism of monarchy is the worst of all evils."

How strongly he detested the war, can hardly be more em- phatically shown than by his comments on Pitt's redoubled vigour after that disgraceful and suicidal defection of Prussia from Eu- rope which ended in the treaty of Bale. Not a word of contempt or blame for the weak King, who instructed his plenipotentiary- " Arrange matters as you will, provided you extricate me from the war with France,"—an instruction that received its proper comment at Sena ten years afterwards ; but for the English Government, who were not to be diverted from their fixed purpose by the weak- ness of an ally, an English statesman can find no gentler terms than these.

"I forgot to tell you that there is much talk of a triple alliance of Great Britain and Russia and Austria, which is to bring on a war with Prussia, possibly with Sweden and Denmark, and probably with Turkey, and so in- volve all Europe : and this come people approve. What a truly diabolical character we are taking up! for it is certain that if we were to let them alone, all the world would be at peace : and for what a purpose are we in- stigating them all to war ? However, I understand that in all foreign coun- tries we are hated as much as we deserve ; more cannot be." * * * " I should not wonder if the opinion which you mention as being given to the King of Spain, that his great object ought to be the lowering of the Bri- tish power, were the general opinion given by all wise Ministers to all the princes and states of Europe. I think there is something more truly diabo- boal in the part we are acting now, than in the conduct of any nation in history." But the letters to Lord Holland give a faint idea of the exas- peration of Mr. Pox against the Ministers, and, by reflex, the country which,snbinitted to them. His expressions to some of his more active political friends are scarcely conceivable in our day as coming from such a man. To Lord Lauderdale he says, about the conclusion of the peace of Amiens- " Though the K. may be in a certain degree recovered, I do not think he will venture to interpose any difficulty in its way; which, if he were in the complete possession of his understanding, he most certainly would : but the Willises will certainly prescribe acquiescence, and he will not refuse their prescription."

To the Honourable T. Maitland he says— "However it may have happened, it is an excellent thing, and I do not like it any the worse for its being so very triumphant a peace for France, who, except Ancona, does' not give up any part other conquests. * * * •

"Bonaparte's triumph is now complete indeed ; and, since there-is to be no political liberty in the world, I really believe he is the fittest person to be the master."

To Mr.. Grey— "The truth is, I am gone something further in hate to the English Go- vernment than perhaps you and the rest of my friends are, and certainly further than can with prudence be avowed. The triumph of the French Go- vernment over the English does in fact,afford me. a degree of pleasure which it is very difficult to disguise."

Of course, with his feelings in this condition, Fox could only view with indignation and sorrow the renewal of the warm 1803— could. see no justice in the English view of the questions that led to it—could only attribute it to the madness of the Government, and gloomily predict ruin for the country. Even to most of his contemporaries his opinions must have seemed more reasonable than they now appear to us, enlightened as we have been as to Bonaparte's real intentions by his subsequent frank avowals. Read by the light of history, the following passage is the best compliment that can be paid to the sagacity of the Government that refused to evacuate Malta and so to fulfil the terms of the treaty of Amiens. In December 1802, he-writes a& follows to Mr. Grey.

"My notion about Bonaparte's politics is this—that when I first went to Paris he was foolishly sore about our newspapers, but not ill disposed to the Ministers, and still less to the country. At this time he was out of humour with Austria, and determined, as I suspect, not to give way a tittle to her. Afterwards, when he suspected (whether truly or falsely) that we should in- terfere, he began to be terribly afraid of a war, which might in France be imputed to his rashness. In consequence of this fear, he did make conces- sions by no means inconsiderable to Austria, and immediately felt bitter against us who were the cause of his making them. But as that bitterness (according to my hypothesis) arises principally from the fear he has of our driving him into an unpopular war, I do not think it will for the present prevent peace ; nor, indeed, if pacific counsels and language are used here, that it is at all likely to be lasting. You may depend upon it that commerce, and especially colonial commerce, is now the principal object; and upon those subjects they have a stupid admiration of our systems of' the' Worse kind, slave-trade, prohibitions, protecting duties, &c. &c. &a. Horiever, bad as their systems may be, France must in some degree recoveedsee commerce' - and the more she does, the more will she be afraid of war with England. ' But what signifies France ? Bonaparte can do what pleases him, without consulting the nation.' This is not true in any country beyond a certain extent, and I feel morally certain that Bonaparte and all his friends are of opinion that war with England is the only event that can put hispower in peril. An army is a most powerful instrument of government ; but that it is not in all eases one upon which dependence can be had, is proved by the history of every country where very enormous armies are maintained ; and out of the army he cannot expect the approbation of any one individual if he engages in any war with us to which he is not actually driven. What- ever ridicule may be attempted to be thrown upon the title of Pacificator, you may be sure that whatever hold he has (perhaps no great matter neither) upon the people of France, arises from the opinion that he alone could make the peace, and that he will be the best able to maintain it."

And again, to the same-

" As to France, I am obstinate in my opinion that Bonaparte's wish is peace—nay, that he is afraid of war to the last degree."

Towards the close of 1803, Mr. Fox was tempted again to take a more active part in Parliament, by his contempt for Addington and his wish to upset his Ministry. Prospects seemed fair for a .broad coalition between Pitt, the Grenvilles, and Fox. Probably Pitt's convictions on the war and the aversion of the King to Fox were the main obstacles to such a coalition in office. It succeeded, however, in upsetting the Addington Ministry ; when Pitt alone reaped the fruit of the victory, though not by the method indi- cated in the following account from Fox to Grey of the first over- tures made him by the Grenvilles.

"January 29, 1801.

"Dear Grey—I never wished more earnestly that the distance between us was less than at this moment, for I have a matter to communicate which would be much easier and better done in conversation than by letter, for every reason. However, as I cannot afford to go six hundred miles, I must, in spite of all objections, attempt it in the only other way. I have had a direct communication (wholly unsought by me) from that part of the Opposi- tion which sits at the bar end of the House, to the following effect. That it is their wish to join with us in a systematic opposition, for the purpose of removing the Ministry, and substituting one on the broadest possible basis. Stowe and all his appendages, Lord Spencer, and Wyndham, are the proposers : of Carlisle and others they have no doubt ; and Fitzwilliam, as you know, is eager for such a plan. There was an openness and appearance of cordiality in the manner of making the proposal that much pleases me. Upon the sub.- ject of Pitt there was no reserve ; it was stated that he, for himself, peremp- torily refused entering into anything that could be called opposition, and that a full explanation had taken place between Lord Grenville and him upon that point. fhe result of this explanation was, that all political connexion between them was off. and that if the proposed plan took place, no considera- tion was to be had of Pitt or his opinions at all, except as far as, in a pru- dential view, one might sometimes shape a question for the purpose of avail- ing ourselves of his support, as one would of any other individual. It was admitted, too, that Pitt's plan might be to let the Doctor fall, and then to avail himself of the merit of not having been in opposition, ic. order to make himself the most acceptable person to succeed him. It was admitted further that this was an objection to the plan; but it is one, I believe, which nsitlrer you nor I much regard." -How little likely it was that Pitt and Fox could ever have worked comfortably together, is abundantly evidenced in these letters by the -extremely disparaging terms in which Fox uniformly speaks of his great rival,—except, indeed, that he had spoken with equal bitterness and contempt of Lord North, even in public, before his coalition with him.

To Lord Holland he writes, in 1796—

.. What a rogue Pitt is! it is quite unpleasant to think that a man with such parts should be so totally devoid, as he seems to me, of all right feel- ings.'

To his brother-in-law, Fitzpatrick, in 1795— .. Bating the shame, the loss of reputation, and other like considerations, about which Pitt is often very careless, I do not see why he cannot make it [peace with France] as well as anybody else."

To the same, in December 1803— .. He is a mean rascal after all ; and you, who have sometimes supposed him to be high-minded, were quite wrong."

To Mr. Grey, at the same date, he wrote with emphatic sarcasm, speaking of Pitt's anger against Addington— .1 am told he -even expresses this sentiment (an openness not very usual with him) to some of his friends."

Again, to Mr. Grey, when the prospect of official connexion must have seemed very close, in March 1804-

" As to Pitt, I think, you must form the same conclusion from the Duchess's paper that I do. He is a mean, low-minded dog."

And again, to the same, still later in April of the same year-

" Oh, he is a sad stick."

Certainly if, after such repeated expressions of contempt for Mr. Pitt, Fox had joined him in Administration, our opinion of Mr. Fox's candour would have received an additional shock ; and we may feel certain that an Administration formed on so discordant a basis must speedily have developed discord in practice, and have fallen to pieces.

We have given a space to extracts from this volume quite dis- proportionate, in our opinion, to the real worth of the matter they contain ; but the position of the Fox party during the war with France bears so curious an analogy, except in two points, to that now maintained by the Russian party among ourselves, that it has a reflected interest. The two points of difference are, that some doubt justly rests on the origin of our war with France, none what- ever on our war with Russia ; and that the Government of Lord Aberdeen is not using the war to put down either free discussion or necessary reforms, though other parties may not be free from the latter portion of this charge. But if, with these two im- portant grounds of distinction, the party which Mr. Fox headed forfeited, by their dogged opposition and their obstinate alien- ation from national sympathies, all power of usefulness, the re- spect, admiration, and support of all but the most minute fraction of the people, and so in all probability threw back the progress of enlightened freedom far longer than all other causes com- bined, what can Mr. Bright and his friends expect to issue from their present conduct ? They are fund of studying this por- tion of our history for purposes of declamation against dynastic sympathies, extravagant expenditure, and arbitrary power ; let them study it once more to read the moral of their own isolation. If Charles Fox, brilliant and impassioned orator, man all life and sensibility, only condemned himself and his party to insignificance, will Mr. Bright and Mr. Cobden advance the cause of common- sense legislation (for that we take to be their special mission) by conduct far worse than his, in wanting his two main grounds of justification ?