Cassell's History of England, Vol. 4 (of 8): From the Fall of Marlborough to the Peninsular WarAnonymous
History
Cassell's History of England, Vol. 4 (of 8): From the Fall of Marlborough to the Peninsular War
Anonymous
Great Britain -- History
Murray, afterwards Lord Mansfield, as we have said, of a decided
Jacobite house, was a rising young lawyer, who had won great fame
for his speech in a case of appeal before the House of Lords, was
now Solicitor-General--accomplished and learned in the law, a man
of pleasing person, and a fine orator, bold, persevering in his
profession, yet, with all the caution of a Scotsman, plodding his way
towards the bench--the real and almost the only object of his ambition.
Murray, indeed, let Newcastle know that such was his ambition;
and therefore, as Pitt was passed over from the royal dislike and
Newcastle's own jealousy, and Murray, too, for this reason, Henry Fox
alone was the man for the leadership of the Commons. Newcastle told
him that he proposed him for that post; but when they met, Fox soon
found that he was expected to play the rôle without the essential
power. Fox, of course, demanded to be informed of the disposal of the
secret-service money, but Newcastle replied that his brother never
disclosed that to any one, nor would he. Fox reminded him that Pelham
was at once First Lord of the Treasury and leader of the Commons, and
asked how he was to "talk to members when he did not know who was in
pay and who was not?" And next he wished to know who was to have the
nomination to places? Newcastle replied, Himself. Who was to recommend
the proper objects?--Still himself. Who to fill up the ministerial
boroughs at the coming elections?--Still Newcastle himself. Fox
withdrew in disgust, and Newcastle gave the seals of the Secretaryship
to a mere tool--Sir Thomas Robinson, a dull, uncouth man, who had been
some years ambassador at Vienna, and had won the favour of the king by
his compliance with all his German desires. Robinson, according to Lord
Waldegrave, was ignorant even of the language of the House of Commons,
and when he attempted to play the orator, threw the members into fits
of merriment. Newcastle, says Lord Stanhope, had succeeded in a very
difficult attempt--he "had found a Secretary of State with abilities
inferior to his own."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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