Prime Ministers Of The United Kingdom

"The King has behaved admirably, and has shown his sincere desire to keep Canning's Government together upon the principles upon which it was formed. It is our duty to do our part to preserve it as long as we can, and to do all in our power not to disappoint his Majesty's expectations, or to thwart his genuine objects. We must forget all that is unpleasant in what has occurred, and act cordially and frankly together. If we do, and start well, depend upon it the country will support the King in his resolution to support us, particularly if we exert ourselves bonâ fide to get rid of, or at least to nullify, the odious distinctions of Whig and Tory, and to get the press, if possible, to support the Government, not so much on account of its individual composition, but because it is the King's Government and founded upon just and honourable principles."

"He had made a sacrifice of many preconceived opinions, of many early predilections, and of many long-cherished notions."

"Indeed, it would have been impossible for me to have supported a Corn Law as a part of a great system of national policy intended to give uniform and universal protection to native industry, because over and over again I have laid down the opposite principle with reference to protection; and I have shared year after year in measures and arguments, the object of which was to break in the principle of what is called protection to British industry, and to get rid, as speedily as circumstances would permit, first of prohibition, and then of protection, which I have always held to be injurious not only to the country generally, but ultimately to the very interests which it is designed to serve."

"The only ground on which I reconciled myself to the fitness of a Corn Law at all was my apprehension—an apprehension which I most sincerely entertained—that this country would become, or might become, more dependent than in prudence she ought to be upon supplies of corn from foreign countries."

"I am convinced that the old and stubborn spirit of Toryism is at last yielding to the increased liberality of the age—that Tories of the old school—the Sticklers for inveterate abuses under the name of the wisdom of our ancestors, the "laudatores temporis acti," are giving way on all sides—that the spirit which supported the Holy Alliance, the friend of despotism rather than the advocate of struggling freedom, is hastening to the fate it merits, and that all its attendant evils are daily becoming matters which belong to history alone."

"We shall, doubtless, have divers declamations in praise of liberty, which no man wishes to gainsay; but the question is—is it from a state of liberty that Ireland is to be rescued? Is she not to be rescued from a state of great and severe tyranny? Is she not to be rescued from a state of anarchy, where life has no safety, and property no security? Liberty is something more than a name, and the benefits of liberty are the protection of life and property—the protection of every man in doing that which pleases himself, and is not detrimental to society. This is liberty and its benefits; and it is not liberty for a people to do justice neither to themselves nor to their neighbours, but to be subjected to the authority of self-constituted regulators."

"I will venture to give one word by way of advice, and to express a hope that the study of the ancient classics will not be abandoned when they are no longer compulsory. Believe me, that to the man who wishes to study politics, or the art of persuasion, nothing can be more necessary than to imbue his mind with the spirit of the ancient poets and historians, that he may be able to infuse into his own arguments and compositions, and to draw from that pure and crystal fountain, some of the copious diction, high sentiment, and masculine thought, which so eminently distinguished those great men, but whom there is no hope of successfully rivalling."

"But this he must say, and he said it in a voice of warning and counsel...that if they relaxed in their endeavours, if they became lukewarm in their support of the church; if, while they admitted, and supported, and encouraged the reform of the church and the removal of abuses, they relaxed and flinched from the first principles by which that church was maintained and upheld, they had an adversary ever vigilant to take advantage of the slightest concession, ever watching for an unwise admission, ever desirous to entrap them into the adoption of some insidious expression which would afterwards be used against them in a different sense, and ever ready to assault and to assail everything they held most sacred."

"Well, what are these real principles of free trade? They are, to dismiss every useless and unprofitable hand; they are to employ no men beyond those who are absolutely required to make a profit to their employer... I do not believe that under the pressure of the greatest difficulty the landlords of England as a body would adopt, even for their own protection, the cold and selfish and calculating doctrines of political economy and free trade."

"Now, destroy this principle of protection, and I tell you in this place that you destroy the whole basis upon which your Colonial system rests. My Lords, if you do not know the advantages of your Colonies, Napoleon Bonaparte knew them well. It is by your Colonial system, based upon the principles of protection, that you have extended your arms—I do not mean your military arms, I mean your commercial arms—to every quarter and to every corner of the globe. It is to your Colonial system that you owe it that there is not a sea on which the flag of England does not float; that there is not a quarter of the world in which the language of England is not heard; that there is not a quarter of the globe, that there is no zone in either hemisphere, in which there are not thousands who recognize the sovereignty of Britain—to whom that language and that flag speak of a home, dear, though distant, of common interests, of common affections—men who share in your glories—men who sympathize in your adversities, men who are proud to bear their share of your burdens, to be embraced within the arms of your commercial policy, and to feel that they are members of your great and imperial Zollverein."

"Peel's great error has always been disregarding the opinion of his party, whenever it did not exactly square with his own; and I am confident that no man in these days can hope to lead a party who cannot make up his mind sometime to follow it."

"It is a bungling fisherman who strikes at the first nibble; I shall wait till my fish has gorged the bait and then I am sure to land him."

"I have neither memory to retain, judgment to collect, nor skill to guide, their debates; nor can I boast of any thing that could entitle me to the favor of the Commons, but an unshaken fidelity to the Protestant succession."

"The President is as contemptible and subservient as ever."

"My Lord Wilmington is about 65 years old, strong made, but of late much troubled with the stone. His stature is something more than of the middle sort and he is not corpulent though full fleshed. He is proud, though affable to those who visit him, and is rare of his speech, but then positive. He maintains no debates in the House of Peers, but never swerved from voting as the Ministry would have him, being very servile to his Majesty's inclinations. He has no great genius, but cannot want experience, having formerly been Speaker of the House of Commons, and for many years President of the Council, which post he executes notably well. He is extremely covetous, and formal in business, was never married, but has children unlawfully begotten, which he stifles the knowledge of as much as in him lies. He has no ambition, and has told me the true interest of England was to have no chief minister, but that every great office should be immediately dependent on the King and answer for itself. He also is for making the basis of the Government so broad, that many interests may be taken into it, but I believe he will be for leaving the King's power as great as he can contribute to make it."

"It is reported of Sir Spencer Compton, that when he was Speaker, he used to answer to a Member, who called upon him to make the House quiet, for that he had a right to be heard; "No, Sir, you have a right to speak, but the House have a right to judge whether they will hear you." In this he was certainly mistaken; the Member has a right to speak, and the House ought to attend to him, and it is the Speaker's duty to endeavour, for that that purpose, to keep them silent; but where the love of talking gets the better of modesty and good-sense, which sometimes happens, it is a duty very difficult to execute in a large and popular assembly."

"He was very able, however, in the chair, but had not the powers of speech out of it."

"This disquiet and habit of never finishing, which, too, proceeded frequently from his beginning everything twenty times over, gave rise to a famous bon mot of Lord Wilmington,—a man as unapt to attempt saying a good thing, as to say one. He said, "the Duke of Newcastle always loses half an hour in the morning, which he is running after the rest of the day without being able to overtake it.""

"Had he to choose between the re-enactment of the popery laws and Catholic emancipation, coupled with parliamentary reform, as the means of restoring tranquillity to Ireland, he should give the preference to the former; but it was because he objected to both those measures that he gave his cordial support to the contemplated union."

"My determination is to keep clear of all parties, to avoid the reality, and, as far as possible, even the appearance of cabal, to attend the house not constantly but upon such occasions as seem to me to require it, either from a sense of duty to the public or myself: but I will not be the stalking-horse or cat's paw of Opposition nor will I be extinguished by Mr. Pitt. My course seems clear before me."

"The person who addressed me was a tall, square, and bony figure, upwards of fifty years of age, I should suppose, and with thin and rather grey hair; his forehead was broad and prominent, and from their cavernous orbits looked mild and intelligent eyes. His manner was affable, and much more encouraging to freedom of speech than I had expected."

"Pitt is to Addington As London is to Paddington."

"You must take the Home Department, Lord Sidmouth—it will be every thing to me."

"No one in the present day will differ much from you in your estimate of the mediocrity of Addington and his Government as to abilities and intellect. Sincere as was my regard and esteem for him, and however warm my gratitude for his kindness, hospitality, and friendship (I never in my life met with a more honourable, upright, generous man, one whose judgment I would sooner have abided by in any question of honour or principle), I must acknowledge that he never seemed to me, according to the phrase, up to the very high position which he had attained."

"During one of the debates upon the reform question, he held a friendly colloquy with Earl Grey, who, he always thought, had been carried far beyond the views and intentions he originally entertained on the introduction of this measure. "I hope," Lord Sidmouth said, "God will forgive you on account of this bill: I don't think I can." To this Lord Grey replied, "Mark my words: within two years you will find that we have become unpopular, for having brought forward the most aristocratic measure that ever was proposed in parliament.""

"With respect to Mr. Pitt, his Majesty expressed himself satisfied in the highest degree, and spoke of him in the warmest terms of praise. He said, that finding from experience Mr. Addington was not equal to the government of the country, he was extremely desirous of having Mr. Pitt again; that he had thought very favourably of Mr. Addington, but was much displeased at his having said (while the intercourse was going on with Mr. Pitt about the change of administration) that he knew his Majesty did not wish Mr. Pitt to come in; and that in consequence thereof, he had resolved, in the event of the negotiation with Mr. Pitt breaking off, not to keep him (Mr. Addington) at the head of the Government."

"He should not do justice to his feelings, if he did not express to the House, and to his hon. friend, the satisfaction he had received from one of the most masterly and eloquent speeches he had ever heard; a speech which could not fail to reflect the greatest lustre upon his hon. friend, and entitled him to the thanks of that House, of the people of England, of all Europe, and of the latest posterity."

"You can hardly form to yourself an idea of the labour I have gone through; but I am repaid by the maintenance of peace, which is all this country has to desire. We shall now, I hope, for a very long period indeed enjoy this blessing, and cultivate a situation of prosperity unexampled in our history. The state of our commerce, our revenue, and, above all, that of our public funds, is such as to hold out ideas which but a few years ago would indeed have appeared visionary, and which there is now every hope of realizing."

"The assertion of the House of Commons, in which their lordships committee had unanimously concurred, was, that they were satisfied there was a design now openly professed and acted upon, which aimed at nothing less than a traitorous conspiracy for the subversion of the established laws and constitution of the kingdom, and to introduce that system of anarchy and confusion which had fatally prevailed in France; and he was sorry to say, that this had not been discouraged, on the contrary it had been encouraged in many instances, and that at a time when we were at war for the maintenance of every thing that was dear to us, and to every civilized nation in the world. From the first moment that those who brought on the revolution in France found themselves strong enough to avow their real principles and designs, their mischievous system commenced, and they began to disturb this and other countries, under the name of reform."

"Besides this, their lordships would perceive in these societies a studious imitation of the proceedings of the National Convention: they adopted all their phrases in speaking, and all their forms in transacting business. All this proved, to his mind, that their views were to familiarize the lower classes of the people of this country to these proceedings, in order to prepare them to come to a resolution, for the destruction of all rank, distinction, and order in society: every thing was to be swallowed up in the jacobinical term, citizen."

"If we listen to the ideas of peace in the present moment (even supposing it were offered), it can be only because we confess ourselves unable to carry on the war. Such a confession affords but a bad security against the events which must follow, in Flanders, in Holland, and (by a very rapid succession) in this island."

"I have no other view of the contest in which we are engaged, nor ever have had, than that the existence of the two systems of Government is fairly at stake, and in the words of St. Just, whose curious speech I hope you have seen, that it is perfect blindness not to see that in the establishment of the French Republic is included the overthrow of all the other Governments of Europe."

"The treasonable speeches and writings which had of late been so assiduously disseminated at public meetings, most particularly called for the interference of parliament. As one of the king's servants, indeed, he might say as a member of that House, he felt it an indispensable duty to endeavour to check their flagitious tendency."

"He considered the present bill as part of a system for suppressing an evil, that not only threatened the security of the subject, but menaced the very existence of the constitution. The system to overthrow all order had been gradually proceeding for three years. The fact was notorious."

"It is a curious speculation in history to see how often the good people of England have played this game over and over again, and how incorrigible they are in it. To desire war without reflection, to be unreasonably elated with success, to be still more unreasonably depressed by difficulties, and to call out for peace with an impatience which makes suitable terms unattainable, are the established maxims and the regular progress of the popular mind in this country. Yet, such as it is, it is worth all the other countries of the world put together, so we must not too much complain of it."

"The task which is now left to us, is no doubt arduous and difficult. It would not be in the least so with a country united, and feeling its own strength: but to contend against dejection, cowardice and disaffection at home, aiding a powerful enemy from without, is not a light or easy matter. It must, however, be tried; for I have no conception that any other use can be made of this event by the Directory, than that of exacting from us concessions, which I trust neither the country nor Parliament will bring themselves to listen to."

"We in truth formed our opinions on the subject together, and I was not more convinced than you were of the soundness of Adam Smith's principles of political economy till Lord Liverpool lured you from our arms into all the mazes of the old system. I am confident that provisions, like every other article of commerce, if left to themselves, will and must find their level; and that every attempt to disturb that level by artificial contrivances has a necessary tendency to increase the evil it seeks to remedy."

"You know, I believe, that it was always my opinion—and I think it is yours—that the Union with Ireland would be a measure extremely incomplete and defective as to some of the most material benefits to be expected from it, unless immediate advantage were taken of it to attach the great body of the Irish Catholics to the measure itself, and to the government as administered under the control of the United Parliament."

"We were enfeebled, but not broken down: we were lowered, but not debased. Some of our out-works had been demolished; many of them surrendered to the foe; but the citadel yet remained; and while it was defended by the noble courage of united Britons, it would bid defiance to attack. We should meet with mortifications and disappointments; but we should, he trusted, still preserve our honour, our constitution, and our religion."

"As to the state of public affairs, it seems to me that war is inevitable—that war, if it comes, must a little sooner or a little later, place the government in Pitt's hands; and that this ought to be the wish of every man, who thinks it at all material to himself, whether Bonaparte shall or not treat us in twelve months, precisely in the style he has now treated the Swiss."

"The final resolution must be now taken, either to stop the evil here, or to acquiesce in its progress until it actually brings us to insurrection and civil war."

"As one of those who had always been favourable to the concession of the Catholic claims, he answered, that, from passing this bill, the greatest of all benefits would accrue—the benefit of doing justice."

"The uncommon diligence which Mr. W. Grenville has continued to apply to his studies ever since he was settled here does him no small honour, and his pains are not lost. I have the happiness to see frequent proofs of the improvement he makes by them...they contain marks of various and well directed reading, of an habit of elegant observation &, which is more to the purpose than all the rest, of a good heart. His progress in the mathematical lecture is really astonishing, and if your lordship has any turn for that sort of study, you may be convinced of it by a continued dissertation in the way of analysis which he has written on the six first books of Euclid that would have done credit to a profess'd mathematician in the last age... From such a setting out one may without partiality expect more than common attainments."

"From a party point of view Grenville's career, taken as a whole, was inconsistent. This inconsistency of political conduct was due to his inbred alarm at the spread of revolutionary principles abroad, and his belief in the efficacy of repressive measures at home. It should, however, always be remembered, when Grenville's consistency is called in question, that he twice gave up office rather than sacrifice his principles on the subject of catholic emancipation, and that his views on that question practically excluded him from office during the rest of his political life."

"Mr. Perceval would indeed feel happy in the obedience which he shall pay to your Majesty's gracious commands if he thought that his exertions & services could merit such an opinion. Mr. Perceval can only say that he will not be wanting in exertion, in industry, in zeal & in duty—but in talent & power, he feels his great defects for such a station in such arduous times."

"He is not a ship-of-the-line, but he carries many guns, is tight built, and is out in all weather."

"Spencer Perceval, who has been the object of so much party hatred and invective, had, indeed, all the qualities which claim the admiration of those who are capable of appreciating sterling worth. The person who, out of the limits of Perceval's domestic circle, perhaps knew him best—who possessed his entire confidence, who was familiar with all his actions, and we might almost say with all his thoughts—was wont to speak on every occasion of his former chief as the model of a high-minded, high-principled, truthful, generous gentleman, sans peur et sans reproche."

"He did enter, and there was an instant noise, but as a physical fact it is very remarkable to state that, though I was all but touching him, and if the ball had passed through his body it must have lodged in mine, I did not hear the report of the pistol. It is true it was fired in the inside of the lobby, and I was just out of it; but, considering our close proximity, I have always found it difficult to account for the phenomenon I have noticed. I saw a small curling wreath of smoke rise above his head, as if the breath of a cigar; I saw him reel back against the ledge on the inside of the door; I heard him exclaim, "Oh God!" or "Oh my God!" and nothing more or longer (as reported by several witnesses), for even that exclamation was faint; and then making an impulsive rush, as it were, to reach the entrance to the house on the opposite side for safety, I saw him totter forward, not half way, and drop dead between the four pillars which stood there in the centre of the space, with a slight trace of blood issuing from his lips."

"Perceval's character is completely established in the House of Commons; he has acquired an authority there beyond any minister within my recollection except Mr. Pitt."

"One after one the lords of time advance,— Here Stanley meets,—how Stanley scorns, the glance! The brilliant chief, irregularly great, Frank, haughty, rash,—the Rupert of Debate! Nor gout, nor toil, his freshness can destroy. And Time still leaves all Eton in the boy;— First in the class, and keenest in the ring, He saps like Gladstone, and he fights like Spring! Ev'n at the feast, his pluck pervades the board. And dauntless game-cocks symbolize their lord."