The Early History of Charles James Fox - George Otto Trevelyan - Google Books

Books

OF

CHARLES JAMES FOX

BY

GEORGE OTTO TREVELYAN, M.P.

AUTHOR OF

66 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LORD MACAULAY"

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS

NEW YORK AND LONDON

HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

44*370

CONTENTS.

Stephen Fox.-His Career Abroad and at Home.-His Wealth, and the

Use he made of it.-His Domestic History.-Henry Fox.-His Mar-

riage. His Opposition to the Marriage Act.-His Style of Speaking.

-Outbreak of the Seven Years' War.-Fox in the Pay-office, and Pitt

Master of the Nation.-Accession of George the Third, and Downfall

of Newcastle and Pitt. Bute's Unpopularity. - Fox undertakes to

carry the Peace through Parliament.-The Methods by which he made

good his Promise.-He Retires from the House of Commons with the

Title of Lord Holland.—His Quarrel with Lord Shelburne and with

Rigby. - Hatred with which Lord Holland was regarded by the

Lord Holland in his own Family.-Birth of Charles James Fox.-His

Childhood.-Wandsworth.-Eton and Paris.-Dr. Barnard.-The Musa

Etonenses.-Picture at Holland House.-Lady Sarah Lennox.-Fox at

Oxford.-Tour in Italy.-Fox's Industry and Accomplishments.-His

Return to England........

London Society at the Time that Fox entered the Great World.-Its

Narrow Limits and Agreeable Character. Prevalent Dissipation

and Frivolity. The Duke of Grafton.-Rigby.--Lord Weymouth.—

Lord Sandwich.-Fox in the Inner Circle of Fashion.-Lord March.—

Brooks's Club.-Gaming.-Extravagance. — Drinking and Gout.-

George the Third's Temperate and Hardy Habits.-State of Religion

among the Upper Classes.-Political Life in 1768.-Sinecures.-Pen-

sions and Places, English, Irish, and Colonial.-Other Forms of Cor-

ruption. The Venality of Parliament.-Low Morality of Public Men,

and Discontent of the Nation.-Office and Opposition. -Fox's Political

George the Third.-His Education.-His Assiduity in Public Business.-

His Theory of Personal Government. — The King's Friends. — The

King's Interference in the Details of Parliament and of Elections.-His

Dislike of the Whigs.-Formation of the Whig Party.-Lord Rocking-

ham's Administration.-His Dismissal.-Lord Chatham's Government

and the Successive Changes in its Composition.-General Election of

1768.-Fox chosen for Midhurst.-His Political Opinions and Preju-

dices. He selects his Party and takes his Seat.-Lord Shelburne.-

Fox as a Young Politician....
..Page 102

Fox's Maiden Speech. -Wilkes.-His Early Life.-The North Briton

and the "Essay on Woman."-Persecution of Wilkes.-His Exile.-

Churchill.-Return of Wilkes, and his Election for Middlesex.-Dis-

turbances in London.-Fatal Affray between the Troops and the Peo-

ple.-Determination of the Court to crush Wilkes.-Conflict between

the House of Commons and the Middlesex Electors.-Enthusiasm in

the City on Behalf of Wilkes.-Dingley.-Riot at Brentford.-Weak-

ness of the Civil Arm.-Colonel Luttrell.-His Cause espoused by the

Foxes. Great Debates in Parliament.-Rhetorical Successes of Charles

Fox. The King and Wilkes.-Burke on the Middlesex Election.—

Proceedings during the Recess.-Recovery of Lord Chatham.-His

Reconciliation with the Grenvilles and the Whigs......

The Effect produced upon the Political World by the Reappearance of

Lord Chatham.—His Speech upon the Address.---Camden and Granby

separate themselves from their Colleagues.-Savile rebukes the House

of Commons.-Charles Yorke and the Great Seal.-The Duke of Graf-

ton resigns. - David Hume.-Lord North goes to the Treasury.—

George the Third, his Ministers and his Policy.—George Grenville on

Election Petitions and the Civil List.-Chatham denounces the Cor-

ruption of Parliament.-Symptoms of Popular Discontent.-The City's

Remonstrance presented to the King and condemned by Parliament.-

Imminent Danger of a Collision between the Nation and its Rulers.-

The Letter to the King.-Horace Walpole on the Situation.-The Per-

sonal Character of Wilkes, and its Influence upon the History of the

Country.-Wilkes regains his Liberty. His Subsequent Career, and

the Final Solution of the Controversy about the Middlesex Elec-

The Favorable Conditions for taking Rank as an Orator under which

Fox entered Parliament.- His Early Career. He becomes a Junior

Lord of the Admiralty.-His Father's Pride and Pleasure.-Lord Hol-

land's Unpopularity.-The Balances of the Pay-office.-Lord Holland's

Indulgence towards his Children.—King's Gate.-Charles Fox and

his Studies.-His Passion for Poetry.-Naples.-Paris.-Intimate Re-

lations between the Good Society of France and England.-Shopping

in Paris. Intellectual Commerce between the Two Countries.--Feel-

ings of Fox towards France.-Madame du Deffand.-Fitzpatrick. –

Mrs. Crewe.-Private Theatricals.-Effect of his Stage Experience on

Fox's Speaking....
245

The Law of Libel.-Great Speech by Charles Fox, and Burke's Reply.—

Final Solution of the Question.-Contest of Parliament with the Re-

porters.-Scene in the Lords.-Indignation of the Commons.-Artful

Conduct of Charles Fox.-Lord George Germaine's Duel.-The Ons-

lows.-Their Warfare with the Press.-The King begins to take an In-

terest in the Controversy.-A Night of Divisions.-John Wheble.-In-

terference of Wilkes.-Miller Arrested, and Discharged by the Guild-

hall Bench.-Proceedings in the House of Commons against the Lord

Mayor and Alderman Oliver.—Rebellion of the King's Friends against

Lord North.-Fiery Speech of Charles Fox.-Feeling against him in

the Country.-March of the City upon Westminster.-Violent Conduct

of the Majority in the House.-Wedderburn's Defection from the Op-

position.-Popular Excitement outside Parliament.-Fox and North

Maltreated. The Lord Mayor and the Alderman Committed to the

Tower.Their Imprisonment and Release.-Testimonial to Wilkes.

Establishment of the Freedom of Reporting Debates in Parlia-

ment...........

Fox at this Period a Consistent Defender of the King's System.-The

Case of New Shoreham.-The Grenville Act.-Quarrel between Fox

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