Text extracted from opening pages of book: CHARLES JAMES FOX A COMMENTARY ON HIS LIFE AND CHARACTER BY WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR EDITED BY STEPHEN WHEELER EDITOR OF LETTERS AND UNPUBLISHED WRITINGS OF LANDOR, AND OF LETTERS OF W. S. LANDOR, PRIVATE AND PUBLIC WITH A PORTRAIT NEW YORK : G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS LONDON: JOHN MURRAY 1907 PRINTED BY HAZEH, WATSON AND VINKT, LONDON AND AYLESBUBY. ENGLAND CONTENTS FAOB INTRODUCTION BY THE EDITOR . vii COMMENTARY ON MEMOIRS OF MR. FOX . . 1 DEDICATION TO PRESIDENT MADISON . . 5 ADVERTISEMENT 13 LANDOR'S PREFACE 15 1. A GEORGIAN STATESMAN 42 II. WAR AND POLICY . . . , . . . .57 III. TUB KING AND HIS MINISTERS .... 69 IV. IRELAND AND THE UNION 86 V. VISIT TO THE CONTINENT 04 VL GIIKNT AND ANTWERP Ill VII. DUTCH NETHERLANDS 116 VIII. COMPANIONSHIP OF BOOKS 127 IX. ME. FOX IN PARIS 159 X, COUHT OF BONAPARTE ...... 170 XL MINISTRY OF ALL THE TALENTS , * .108 XII. LAST I) AY AND DEATH OF FOX . , . .210 XIH. SOME LETTERS FROM C, J, FOX . . . , 22C? xiv, posTBciurr , ... 235 INDEX , 247 v INTRODUCTION ABOUT the middle of the last century Walter Savage Landor, then living placidly for the most part, but with intervals of indignation, at Bath, was provoked by the remark of The Quarterly Review that, among authors of any sort of note, he alone clung with equal pertinacity to his ancient abuse of Bonaparte as a blockhead and coward, of Pitt as a villain, of Fox as a scoundrel, of Canning as a scamp. 1 This drew from the un subduable old Roman, as Carlyle called him, a letter addressed to The J& tvamincr* in which he 1 Referring 1 to the abuse of the Duke of Wellington, to winch some English writers had degraded themKolveft, the reviewer had said : But the truth is, arid we are bound to toll it, it was the Liberal press in Franco that iu this matter gave law to our patriots, . . , When French people could no longer resist the evidence of all great gifts and noblo qualities with which that record was filled, when they owned that it would not do to pcmHt in their old vein of disparagement . . . when thifl waw the result iu Franco, the homo faction rntw it was time to consider the matter, and they undoubtedly showed and continue to nhow Higutt of repentance. The exceptions are few, . , , Among authors of bookw of any note, verno or promv, we recollect of none unless Mr, W, Savage JLandor, who,, however,, clings with e^ ual per tinacity to IUH ancient abuse of Bonaparte as a blockhead and a coward, of Byron an a rhymer wholly devoid of gouiuH or wit, of Pitt as a villain, of Fox OH a Ftcoundrol, of Canning a a eamp, and so on,-Qmrterty / tevtaw, vol. 8( 1, p. 180 ( Dee, im). 1 Kmmin$ r 9 January 16, 1 ft/ 50* The letter in reprinted in Landor* iad & vto of an Old Tree, p. il81). Til viii INTRODUCTION appealed to every one who had read his writings, however negligently or malignantly, to avow the injustice of the charge. That he had not always been content to use the most deferential forms when speaking of those eminent persons will be seen from his Commentary on John Bernard Trotter's Memoirs of the Latter Years of the Right Honourable Charles James Fooc. Landor's Commentary^ though written toward the end of I8II and printed early in 1812, is now published for the first time. The manuscript must have been destroyed ages ago. Of the printed copies one only seems to have survived. This is in the possession of the Earl of Crewe, who kindly allowed me to transcribe it. On the fly-leaf is the following manuscript note, written by his lord ship's father, Lord Houghton, then Mr. Monckton Milnes : I believe this volume to be unique. Mr. Lan dor told rne he was aware of the existence of no other copy* The whole edition was wasted, with the exception of this copy, which the author gave to Mr. Southey. EJCHD. M. MILNES. Trotter's Memoirs of Charks James Fox appeared in 1811, and quickly ran through three editions. The book was dedicated to the Prince Regent in recognition, amongst other things, of that interesting sensib --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.