Page:English Historical Review Volume 35.djvu/466

 468 REVIEWS OF BOOKS July mentary reform at the end of the eighteenth century and at the present day. Now reform means a step further on a road trodden since 1832 ; then it meant the forcing of a barrier which until then had effectually closed the entrance of that road. His own account of the struggle to remove that barrier represents civil war as imminent, and is a sufficient answer to his strange contention. He should not belittle Grey's achieve- ment by placing it on the level of those of the reformers of yesterday. Nor will by any means all he says concerning * the great repression ' find acceptance with those who are able to judge the questions involved dis- passionately ; they will prefer the better balanced account of them given in Dr. Holland Rose's William Pitt and the Great War. But let us turn to other matters on which we can follow our author with greater satisfaction. Grey's character and career are a peculiarly interesting study, for he seems almost a different man at different periods. High-minded and honourable in riper age, at twenty-four he twice asserted in parliament what he knew to be untrue concerning the prince of Wales's relations with Mrs. Fitzherbert. No statesman was less desirous of power for its own sake, yet he eagerly asserted his claim to high place in the ministry vainly projected by the whigs in 1788. Stronger proof can scarcely be given of the malign influence of the prince over his associates than these lapses of a man of Grey's lofty character. Happily he soon shook off that in- fluence, for he offended the prince by preferring his duty to the country to princely favour, and though the split between them was not absolute for some years — for Lady Grey, whom he married in 1794, said that the only time she had seen her husband drunk was after dining with the prince ^ — it grew wider and deeper, until it became impossible that Grey should be in ofl&ce while George IV lived. For some years he was impetuous and apt to act without due consideration. Although a devoted follower of Fox, he joined in founding the * Friends of the People ' without con- sulting him ; his action was regarded by many of the whigs as schismatical and even as a bid for power. Late in life he acknowledged that he had acted hastily, without having ascertained the opinions of the men with whom he was connecting himself ; he found that some of them held extreme opinions, and he said that he regretted his action, which, indeed, brought him much trouble. How Fox's support of his follower's precipitate step proved the final and determining cause of the break-up of the party is well described here. Another instance of Grey's impetuosity is afforded by the leading part he took in the secession of the whigs from parliament in 1797, which Mr. Trevelyan condemns as futile and mischievous, and of which he soon repented. He was delighted to be able to stay quietly at home, for idleness was his worst fault. Although he had some taste for literature, of which the most is made here, he does not seem to have had anjrthing approaching Fox's intellectual resources or his mental activity, and he spent his leisure in the enjoyment of domestic life. For thirty years his friends found it difficult to persuade him to quit his northern home and fulfil his public duties, and when separated from his wife and children he repined lamentably. He suffered from periodical depression, which, it may be suggested, was encouraged by idleness. His experience of » The Creevey Papers, u. 283.