BOOKS.
LORD MAHON'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND.* THESE fifth and sixth volumes of Lord Mahon's History extend from 1763 to 1780. In foreign affairs little more that. the Ameri- can disputes and the war of the Revolution so far as it goes are fully told ; but the partition of Poland, the discussion about the Fslkland Islands, and some other matters, are glanced at in pass- ing. Home concerns chiefly involve the miserable party or rather factious disputes that began with the resignation of the elder Pitt and the accession of Lord Bute to power, and hardly ended till the younger Pitt rose triumphant on the ruins of the Coalition. The political subjects embraced in the volumes are the administrations of Bute, Grenville, Lord Rockingham, Lord Chatham, the Duke of Grafton, and a portion of Lord North's. The most striking events are the various prosecutions of Wilkes, with the circumstances which they produced; and the publication of the Letters of Junius, —whose character and identity are noticed more fully than has been customary in history. These topics are varied by a broad but general account of the material progress of the nation, by the Bridgewater canals, and the rise of the pottery and cotton trades, under Wedgewood, Arkwright, and others. There is also a general survey of art and literature, or rather of the chief literary men and artists of the period; general too, but appearing more specific, be- cause the reader, acquainted with the originals, can better realin the criticizing of the writer. Lord Mahon's manner partakes less of history than of comment- ary: the narrative is less for itself than to enable the writer to ex- press or intimate his opinion of the things narrated. This is done diffusely, but very clearly and pleasantly ; the author descending continually from what is called the dignity of history, to inter- weave characteristic anecdotes and to express his personal opi- nions. In one point Lord anecdotes, rather holds too closely to the conventional style of history. The social part—the habits, condition manners, and morals of the people, from the peasant to
the merchant prince, are left out. The popular and periodical literature —which, though not s important as it is now, was still of considerable importance, and exercised considerable influence— is only touched upon incidentally. The intrigues of would-be statesmen and of corrupt political adventurers are examined, and unfolded at a length by no means proportioned to their value; nor is that very corrupt age both in morals and politics judged with a sternness proportioned to its demerits.
The period has not the attraction of novelty. Junius, Chester- field, Walpole, Franklin—original and contemporary writers, have made the reading portion of the public more familiar 'with original authorities upon the subject than is the case with perhaps any other period of history. Memoirs and correspondence, of greater or less value, have contributed to throw light upon events, the ac- tors, and their motives. The importance naturally. attached by the Americans to the events which led to their independence has produced a large mass of American documents • while bio„ara- Thies, histories, and other works relating to the time,' have been numerous on both sides of the Atlantic. Many of these pub- lications are not of a popular character, but their pith has been given to the public in various forms, in periodicals and reviews, .often with additional knowledge, sometimes, as in the case of Mac- aulay, with great brilliancy and imaginative power. From all these causes, the public attention has been as fully fixed upon the time betieen the accession of George the Third and the close of the y American War as upon any other period of history, not even ex- ." cepting the French Revolution and the wars which sprang from it. -This want of novelty in the subject itself is not redeemed by any deep or striking judgment, which should impress the reader by bringing the actors before a sterner tribunal, or by discussing any principle of government which lurked under the mass of confused politics and personal intrigue that distinguished the epoch. Nevertheless the book is very attractive, from the clear and easy style and the pleasant manner of the writer, as well as from his habit of selecting the salient points of his topics so that the reader is continually amused if he is not instructed. He has also a further advantage in belonging to the same class as most of the leading men whose conduct he describes ; and though not con- temporary with the actors himself, he has been acquainted with their contemporaries. These advantages are shown in a well-bred ease almost approaching indifference, and in traits of personal knowledge of the peculiarities of individuals when he sketches their characters. This delineation is from his portrait of Lord Shel- burne. "There was, however, one defect, as the public deemed it,—or, as Lord Shelburne himself would have said, one misfortune —that greatly detracted from the weight of his abilities. Be could never attain a reputation for sin- cerity. Hollow and plausible—ouch were the epithets bestowed on him by • • History of England from the Peace of Utrecht. By Lord Mahon. Volumes V. and VI. Published by Murray.
common report ; and he was speedily nicknamed Malagrida, from a plotting Jesuit of the name in Portugal. Thus also his friends were some signated as Malagrida's g,ang.'t Even at a much later period; character had been so long before the public, after he had been for y
leader of a party, after he had been for months the chief of an adminiStra- non, we still find the same reproach urged against him in the satirical writings of the time.1: One cause (perhaps it may be deemed the only one) of this general imputation on his sincerity was the overstrained politeness of his address. As I have heard from some who knew him, -he could scarcely meet with or part from any acquaintance without a profusion of highflown compliments and earnest inquiries. Such an address has never proved successful in this country. It has never been practised by the great masters of politeness among us. Lord Chesterfield, versed as he was in all courtly graces, did not intersperse his conversation with touches of panegyric, but far rather with strokes of satire. The Duke of Marlborough, whose charm of manner has been celebrated as one element of his invariable success, of whom it was said that he gained hearts not less readily than towns, the Duke of Marlborough says of himself, in one of his most familiar letters, 'You know I am not good at compliments.'
"But even in the more congemal sphere of France we may observe that Lord Shelburne's compliments were, sometimes at least, deemed fulsome and excessive. Thus an old blind lady of eighty-two writes as follows from Paris—' Lord Shelburne has flattered me extremely ; he assures me that he shall come again next year singly and solely for the pleasure of seeing me.'"
What a man does well he is prone to do often, and Lord Mahon frequently introduces "characters," distinguished by nice discern- ment, and a thorough acquaintance with the traits of the individuals as they have come down to us. In this sketch of Lord Rockingham, the modern Conservative indulges in a little depreciatory satire at the expense of the "old -Whigs." Perhaps the spirit of party may have prompted the introduction of the succeeding remarks on the catholicity of Tories in rewarding desert, compared with the narrow sectarian bigotry of the Whigs ; the remarks themselves are gospel "The accession of the Duke of Newcastle need not have caused displeasure, [to Pitt] nor have seemed important in any eyes, except his own, if the chief of the new administration had been a man of adequate ability and vigour. Charles, Marquis of Rockingham, was at this time thirty-five years of age. His paternal name was Watson, but in the female line he was a descendant of the Great Lord Strafford, and inherited the honours of Wentworth. Horse- racing was his early passion and pursuit. He afterwards became a Lord of the Bedchamber, and was thought perfectly well fitted for that post. When in 1763 an idea was first entertained of appointing him to a high political office the King expressed his surprise, 'for I thought,' said his Majesty, 'I had not two men in my Bedchamber of less parts than Lord Rockingham.' Indeed everything about hitn bore the stamp of the tamest mediocrity, ex- cept only his estate, which was extremely large and fine. On the merits of that estate his panegyrists were frequently compelled to rely. One of them, while relating his appointment in the Annual Register, bids us recollect ' his Lordship's great interest in the public welfare, in quality of one of the greatest landholders in England.' In the House of Lords, even as the leader of a party, he could seldom be persuaded or provoked to rise. One night, after Lord Sandwich had been plying him in vain with much raillery and elo- quence, Lord Gower could not forbear to whisper, 'Sandwich, how could you worry the poor dumb creature so ? ' On the other hand, Lordlrockingham had clear good sense and judgment, improved by the transaction of be-iness, His character was without a stain, marked by probity and honour, by fidelity to his engagements, and by attachment to his friends.
"Such was the man whom the Whig party of 1765 selected from their ranks for their leader. Such was the man to whom they continued their allegiance in every variety of fortune during eighteen years. The selection might surprise us more were it not in sonic measure characteristic of that party. Since parties were formed anew, though under the old names, early in the reign of George the Third, it has been the boast of the Tories that
with them family and fortune have been no necessary qualities of i leadership, —that many an esquire of no ancient lineage, or a younger son of no broad domains, and relying on no merits save his own, has been with joyful assent raised far above the heads of the wealthiest and proudest among them. The same boast, at least not to the same degree, could scarcely perhaps be made by their opponents. We find the Whigs most frequently prefer for chiefs the porphyro-gcnets, as the Byzantines would have termed them,—men born and bred in purple,—the Marquis of Rockingham or the Duke of Portland, or, in our own day, Lord Althorp,—men no doubt of irreproachable character, public and private, and of excellent plain sense, but still without one single ray of eloquence or spark of genius. 'Thoughts that breathe and wods that burn' have been far less sought in the se- lection than high-sounding titles and rich acres. Above all, it seemed to be imagined that a certain small cluster of great houses, as the original Whig Junta, should have the first choice of honours and employments. Can it be doubted how much, under such a system, there has been of injustice perpetrated and of pain endured ? How must Burke or Sheridan have felt at their exclusion from the councils of the party which they supported and adorned ? or, to come to later times, how must the heart of Sir James Mack- intosh have swelled within him when after long time and trials he saw his party at last attain to office, when only a small nook at the India Board was assigned to that veteran friend and chief of many years when the Cabinet- door close shut against himself was opened wide from time to time to men who might have been his children, and who should have been his pupils— the sons or the sons-in-law, the cousins or the nephews, of the ruling families."
The efforts of George the Third to break up the power of these "ruling families" was the mainspring of much of the intrigue and much of the party confusion that prevailed during the early part of his: reign, and, .aesisted. by other circumstances, constituted the governing principle-of events. From the accession of the house of f As in Wilkes's private letter to Junius of September 12, 1771. Hence the speech which the Rolliad put into his Lordship's mouth- ' A noble Duke affirms I like his plan: I never did, my Lords—I never canl Plain words, thank Heaven, are always understood; I could support, I said, but not I would." Brunswick to the accession of George the Third, the whole power of the state was naturally thrown into the hands of the great Whig families. They had placed the house of Brunswick on the throne : the Tories were not only in opposition to the King's Go- vernment, but attached to a competitor for the crown ; and many of them, failing to get into place, were engaged in treasonable plots for the restoration of the Stuarts. To have admitted such a party into power, might reasonably enough have seemed like opening the citadel to the enemy, to men better informed in Eng- lish habits than were the first two Georges. Government fell of necessity into the hands of the Whig party ; the foreign habits, unpopularity, and ignorance of the Hanoverian Kings, enabled the Whigs to consolidate their power, and turn themselves into a sort of hereditary oligarchy. With the accession of George the Third their advantages had passed away. The young King, as he boasted, was " born a Briton "; he had been trained to look on the Whigs in a very different light from what they appeared to his grandfather and great-grandfather; real danger from the Pretender had vanish- ed, and with it the dreams of the Tory party—the bulk of whom saw, what the modern Protectionists do not yet see, that they must discard their Iacobitism if they wished for any share of place. Two other causes yet more powerful were in operation. Prosperity, with its overweening conceit, had disunited the Whigs, making them rather a set of cliques than even a faction ; and the feudal reverence for authority Which had long survived the feudal times was undermined among the people. These circumstances enabled George the Third to do in ten years (for the great family compact was perhaps really overthrown when Lord North became Prime Minister, in 1770) what his obstinate firmness and ability would have failed to accomplish ten years before his accession. Lord Mahon is not of this opinion, or he has not sufficiently de- veloped it. His work therefore wants that unity of interest which the presence of the essential principle imparts. It has the literary unity which arises from skilful treatment.
We think him mistaken, too, in his opinion on the American war. Separation, and, from the state of opinion, separation by war, was at some time or other inevitable. Home neglect and home misgovernment then, as now, but with much more excuse then, gave the colonists ample reason for discontent, far beyond a stamp-act or a tea-duty ; while many of the Americans then, as now, were not scrupulous as regards either their ends or their means of obtaining them. Lord Mahon, on the other hand, holds that even after Burgoyne's surrender and the treaty of alliance between France and America, the Colonies might possibly have been preserved, had Lord Chatham lived and returned to office : in our opinion, the purest of chimeras. One point in the American war Lord Mahon brings out quietly but impressively—the personal falsehood of Franklin, and the dishonesty and often the brutality of the Americans at large.
There is an appendix to each volume, containing curious illus- trative documents, selected or hitherto unpublished. Among the latter class, are extracts from two memoirs, drawn up by two French officers in 1767 and 1768, relating to an invasion of Bri- tain. They are taken from the manuscript collection of Chatham, who had contrived to get at them. Deal would seem to have been recommended by both officers as a place of disembarkation ; and M. De Belville " Lieut-Colonel de Dragons," recommended an ad- vance upon London via Tunbridge and Sevenoaks, to avoid the dif- ficulties of crossing the Medway. De Belville's report exhibits, says Lord Mahon, "most full and detailed, and, so far as my local knowledge goes, most accurate reports, of the Southern counties chittly open to invasion." "H. Grant de Blairiindy, Colonel des Troupes Legeres," does not appear to have equal strategical abili- ties, and he deals too much in political declamation. He esti- mates the force required at fifty thousand men, and shows how very easy it is to find reasons for what we want to do. "Lee Anglais out pris tous nos vaisseaux avant que de nous declarer la derniere guerre ; slier chez eux au milieu de in paix ne serait qu'user de re- presailles."
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