He was not only an exact observer of justice, but so clearsighted a discerner of all the circumstances which might disguise it, that no false or fraudulent colour could impose upon him; and so sincere and impartial a judgment that no prejudice to the person of any man made him less awake to his cause. He was in his nature melancholic and reserved in his conversation, except towards those with whom he was very well acquainted, with whom he was not only cheerful, but on occasion light and pleasant. He was naturally lazy, and indulged over-much ease to himself . . . but no man could keep his mind longer bent and take more pains in it . . . his person was of small stature; his courage, as all his other faculties very great. . . He was a man of great exemplary virtue and piety and very regular in his devotions.' Higher praise than that it would be difficult to give; yet Clarendon has been drawn into no exaggeration by the partiality of friendship. For even his political opponents bear witness to Southampton's integrity and sense of justice. His judgment,' says Marvell, ' might well have been reckoned for the standard of prudence and loyalty.' 2 'Again,' says Burnet, his great parts together with his great merit made him to be now considered as one of the first men in England. . . . He was made Treasurer and Clarendon was proud of his friendship, and valued himself upon it.' 3 Southampton's political opinions, though Tory, were tempered with a detachment of mind that enabled him to rise superior to the vulgar prejudices of his party. Nor even with Clarendon was he always in agreement. He blamed him, for instance, for causing a mistaken impression of the King's character to prevail, and for not setting a larger revenue for the Crown. He, indeed, more accurately gauged the disposition of Parliament than Clarendon, who imagined that it would vote any money that he wanted. Then he was decidedly more tolerant. James II., to be sure, charged both him and Clarendon with opposing the King's wishes to grant to the dissenters' a modified toleration' 1 Clarendon's Autobiography, part vi. 2 Marvell's Works (Grosart's edition), vol. iv. p. 305. Burnet's History of His Own Time, vol. i. p. 163; Supplement to the History (edited by H. C. Foxcroft), pp. 57-58. -which perhaps he may have done. But he certainly opposed some of the most obnoxious provisions of the Act of Uniformity and the Five Mile Act. He was,' says Burnet, for healing the Church by concessions on both hands, but when he saw that all the affair was put in Sheldon's hands, he withdrew from the meetings that were held about it and declared against their methods.' He set his face against anything that seemed to savour of arbitrary government, so that he viewed even the raising of the King's guards with great suspicion.' He began,' says Burnet,' to apprehend it much and complained of it severely to Clarendon, and told him plainly that a white staff could not corrupt him and make him serve in designs that tended to the subduing his country and the governing it by a military power.' Then he was a strong Churchman; he had,' says Clarendon, ' a perfect detestation of all the Presbyterian principles,' and was extremely suspicious of the power and malignity of the Roman Catholics.' But whatever may be thought of his political opinions, there can be no question of Southampton's splendid integrity of character. He brought with him to the Treasury not only courage and ability, but a fixed determination to check abuses which had grown to be a custom. At the very beginning he stipulated for a fixed salary of eight thousand pounds a year, upon the understanding that he was to offer no offices for sale. He endeavoured to establish a sound system of finance by bringing the expenses of the Court within the limits of the revenue a hopeless enterprise under such a king as Charles II. The King, indeed, was thought to be afraid of him, and to have been wishful to dismiss him, only forbearing 'because he feared the scandal of removing such a man.' For, as Clarendon warned him, it would have looked ill, if he had rid himself of a Minister who was the most loved and reverenced by the people for his exemplar fidelity and wisdom.' Southampton, in fact, set a standard that for his age was extraordinarily high. He surrendered,' said the Countess of Devonshire, writing in 1663, 'his pension and all the benefits of his place; he has been exemplary to all others, all pensions being to cease. I believe it will be an example of great frugality to the whole nation.' But it was all in vain. Dispirited by failure, he gradually withdrew from active participation in affairs, and left the conduct of his office to his secretary, Sir Philip Warwick. His sensitive nature doubtless shrank from contact with the rude political world into which destiny had plunged him.1 2 The names of Clarendon and Southampton will for ever go down the stream of history together. Though they occasionally differed, they admired and respected one another. How highly Clarendon thought of the Lord Treasurer has been already seen. Southampton, too, has given us in a sentence the character of Clarendon. He is a true Protestant and an honest Englishman, and while he enjoys power we are secure of our laws, liberties, and religion.' It is in similar terms that Bolingbroke makes mention of them both those great and good men,' to whom, he thinks, the preservation of English liberties was due. There is nothing perhaps in the history of the Restoration period that is pleasanter to contemplate than their frank and intimate relations. Their dispositions were nearly similar, but Southampton perhaps lacked the grit and force which carried Clarendon further. Guizot, in drawing an interesting parallel between them and Turgot and Malesherbes, has suggested wherein the difference between the two great Englishmen lay. Turgot, the counterpart of Clarendon, was full of ardour, faith, hope, and perseverance'; Malesherbes, the counterpart of Southampton, was equally sincere but weaker, more easily discouraged, saying "Turgot will not let me retire; he does not perceive that we shall be both turned out." 3 James Butler, Duke of Ormonde, brought to the Restoration Government the lustre and prestige of a great name. His fidelity to the royal cause, even in that age of self-sacrificing heroism, was unsurpassed; so that, says Clarendon, having thus merited as much as a subject can do from a prince, he had much more credit and esteem with the King than other men.' Of all those about the Court he was the person of the greatest quality, estate, and reputation'; and Clarendon himself admits that it 1 The Historical Manuscripts Commission, Report xiv., part ix., The Papers of the Earl of Onslow, p. 461; Report xv., parts vii., viii., The Papers of the Marquis of Ailesbury, p. 171. 2 Bolingbroke's Dissertation on Parties, letter ii. The Married Life of Rachel, Lady Russell, translated from the French of M. Guizot. 2 was to the Duke's friendship he owed in a large measure his own position.' High-minded, dignified, but courteous and easy of address, this great nobleman had an engaging personality. 'He was,' says Roger North, of rigorous honour' and 'an inexpugnable loyalist.' Burnet describes him as a man of a pleasant conversation,' who 'lived high and at a vast expense,' and wrote the best of any man that has no learning' that he ever knew. If he had no learning, he must certainly have had wit; for it is related that he would sometimes pass a night with Dryden and other literary men. The poet acknowledged his indebtedness by the dedication to the Duke of his translation of Plutarch's Lives, and still more by his reference to him under the name of Barzillai in his Absalom and Achitophel. In exile with his godlike prince he mourned, At the Restoration, Ormonde was at once admitted to that select and confidential circle which formed, so to speak, a kind of inner Cabinet, and in the last resort dictated the conduct of affairs. First, and for a brief period, he was Lord High Steward of England; but it is as Viceroy of Ireland from 1661 to 1669, and from 1677 to 1683, that he will take his place in history. For twenty years or more in Irish affairs he played a leading part, and he did it so magnificently that, wealthy as he was, he became embarrassed in estate. His Duchess, indeed, in 1668 actually pawned a pair of diamond pendants that were said to be worth seven hundred pounds. Of his conduct of affairs in Ireland it would be irrelevant to speak at length, but that he was at any rate impartial may be gathered from the testimony of Burnet, who says that both sides complained of him.' And he adds very justly, that it is a very good argument for a man, when both extremes are displeased at him.' There was certainly no statesman who throughout the reign of Charles II. moved so conspicuously and continuously in the public eye; for, to quote 'Clarendon's Autobiography. * North's Life of Sir Dudley North. 'The Historical Manuscripts Commission, The Papers of the Duke of Ormonde, Report vii. p. 753, and Introduction, p. 16. Burnet again, as Clarendon and Southampton were great men in England, the Duke of Ormonde was the only man in Ireland and had likewise a large share in the affairs of England.'' The two Secretaries of State, Sir Edward Nicholas and Sir William Morrice, were thrown much into the shade by the great men under whom they served. Sir Edward, who was born in 1593, was already at the Restoration well advanced in years. He had lived much in France, and spent a useful career in the public service as Secretary to Lord Zouche, the Warden of the Cinque Ports, and to his successor, the Duke of Buckingham, as Secretary of the Admiralty and as Clerk of the Council. He was, says Clarendon, a very honest and industrious man, and always versed in business, a person of great merit and integrity, a man of general good reputation with all men, of unquestionable integrity and long experience in the service of the Crown . . man of great gravity, and without any ambitions or private designs.' He had, indeed, ' never been in his youth a man of quick and sudden parts,' though he was full of industry and application, and always versed in business and all the forms of dispatch.' But these excellent qualities did not save the 'good old secretary' from dismissal. Old age and infirmity were pretexts enough when his place was wanted for another, and in 1662 his resignation was demanded. The King, who conferred the vacant office on Bennet, afterwards Lord Arlington, offered Sir Edward ten thousand pounds and a barony by way of consolation.3 92 His colleague in the Secretaryship, Sir William Morrice, had scarcely been Tory in his sympathies, for he was related to Monk, who held a high opinion of him, and had been much influenced by his assurance that the people in the West of England desired the King's return. As the intermediary who, in conference with Sir John Grenville, had arranged terms for the Restoration of the King, he was too important a personage to be overlooked, and on the King's return he was at once knighted, made a Secretary of State and a Privy Councillor. If the story be 'Burnet's History of His Own Time, and Supplement edited by H. C. Foxcroft. * Clarendon's Autobiography, part vi. The Historical Manuscripts Commission, vol. vi., The Papers of J. M. Heathcote, p. 54. |