(Georgiana Spencer) is said to have won at least one vote for
Fox by kissing a shoemaker who had a romantic idea of what
constituted a desirable bribe. The high bailiff refused to make
a return, and the confirmation of Fox’s election was delayed
by the somewhat mean action of the ministry. He had, however,
been chosen for Kirkwall, and could fight his cause in the House.
In the end he recovered damages from the high bailiff. In his
place in parliament he sometimes supported Pitt and sometimes
opposed him with effect. His criticism on the ministers’ bill
for the government of India was sound in principle, though the
evils he foresaw did not arise. Little excuse can be made for
his opposition to Pitt’s commercial policy towards Ireland.
But as Fox on this occasion aided the vested interests of some
English manufacturers he secured a certain revival of popularity.
His support of Pitt’s Reform Bill was qualified by a just dislike
of the ministers’ proposal to treat the possession of the franchise
by a constituency as a property and not as a trust. His unsuccessful
opposition to the commercial treaty with France in
1787 was unwise and most injurious to himself. He committed
himself to the proposition that France was the natural enemy
of Great Britain, a saying often quoted against him in coming
years. It has been excused on the ground that when he said
France he meant the aggressive house of Bourbon. A statesman
whose words have to be interpreted by an esoteric meaning
cannot fairly complain if he is often misunderstood. In 1788
he travelled in Italy, but returned in haste on hearing of the
illness of the king. Fox supported the claim of the prince of
Wales to the regency as a right, a doctrine which provoked Pitt
into declaring that he would “unwhig the gentleman for the rest
of his life.” The friendship between him and the prince of
Wales (see George IV.) was always injurious to Fox. In 1787
he was misled by the prince’s ambiguous assurances into denying
the marriage with Mrs Fitzherbert. On discovering that he had
been deceived he broke off all relations with the prince for a
year, but their alliance was renewed. During these years he
was always in favour of whatever measures could be described
as favourable to emancipation and to humanity. He actively
promoted the impeachment of Warren Hastings, which had the
support of Pitt. He was always in favour of the abolition of
the slave trade (which he actually effected during his short
tenure of office in 1806), of the repeal of the Test Acts, and of
concessions to the Roman Catholics, both in Great Britain and
in Ireland.
The French Revolution affected Fox profoundly. Together with almost all his countrymen he welcomed the meeting of the states-general in 1789 as the downfall of a despotism hostile to Great Britain. But when the development of the Revolution caused a general reaction, he adhered stoutly to his opinion that the Revolution was essentially just and ought not to be condemned for its errors or even for its crimes. As a natural consequence he was the steady opponent of Pitt’s foreign policy, which he condemned as a species of crusade against freedom in the interest of despotism. Between 1790 and 1800 his unpopularity reached its height. He was left almost alone in parliament, and was denounced as the enemy of his country. On the 6th of May 1791 occurred the painful scene in the House of Commons, in which Burke renounced his friendship. In 1792 there was some vague talk of a coalition between him and Pitt, which came to nothing. It should be noted that the scene with Burke took place in the course of the debate on the Quebec Bill, in which Fox displayed real statesmanship by criticizing the division of Upper from Lower Canada, and other provisions of the bill, which in the end proved so injurious as to be unworkable. In this year he carried the Libel Bill. In 1792 his ally, the duke of Portland, and most of his party left him. In 1797 he withdrew from parliament, and only came forward in 1798 to reaffirm the doctrine of the sovereignty of the people at a great Whig dinner. On the 9th of May he was dismissed from the privy council.
The interval of secession was perhaps the happiest in his life. In 1783 he formed a connexion with Elizabeth Bridget Cane, commonly known as Mrs Armstead or Armistead, an amiable and well-mannered woman to whom he was passionately attached. In company with her he established himself at St Anne’s Hill near Chertsey in Surrey. In 1795 he married her privately, but did not avow his marriage till 1802. In his letters he spoke of her always as Mrs Armistead, and some of his friends—Mr Coke of Holkham, afterwards Lord Leicester, with whom he stayed every year, being one of them—would not invite her to their houses. It is hard to explain this solitary instance of shabby conduct in a thoroughly generous man towards a person to whom he was unalterably attached and who fully deserved his affection. Fox’s time at St Anne’s was largely spent in gardening, in the enjoyment of the country, and in correspondence on literary subjects with his nephew, the 3rd Lord Holland, and with Gilbert Wakefield, the editor of Euripides. His letters show that he had a very sincere love for, and an enlightened appreciation of, good literature. Greek and Italian were his first favourites, but he was well read in English literature and in French, and acquired some knowledge of Spanish. His favourite authors were Euripides, Virgil and Racine, whom he defends against the stock criticisms of the admirers of Corneille with equal zeal and insight.
Fox reappeared in parliament to take part in the vote of censure on ministers for declining Napoleon’s overtures for a peace. The fall of Pitt’s first ministry and the formation of the Addington cabinet, the peace of Amiens, and the establishment of Napoleon as first consul with all the powers of a military despot, seemed to offer Fox a chance of resuming power in public life. The struggle with Jacobinism was over, and he could have no hesitation in supporting resistance to a successful general who ruled by the sword, and who pursued a policy of perpetual aggression. During 1802 he visited Paris in company with his wife. An account of his journey was published in 1811 by his secretary, Mr Trotter, in an otherwise poor book of reminiscence. It gives an attractive picture of Fox’s good-humour, and of his enjoyment of the “species of minor comedy which is constantly exhibited in common life.” His main purpose in visiting Paris was to superintend the transcription of the correspondence of Barillon, which he needed for his proposed life of James II. The book was never finished, but the fragment he completed was published in 1808, and was translated into French by Armand Carrel in 1846. Fox was not favourably impressed by Napoleon. He saw a good deal of French society, and was himself much admired for his hearty defence of his rival Pitt against a foolish charge of encouraging plots for Napoleon’s assassination. On his return he resumed his regular attendance in the House of Commons. The history of the renewal of the war, of the fall of Addington’s ministry, and of the formation of Pitt’s second administration is so fully dealt with in the article on Pitt (q.v.) that it need not be repeated here.
The death of Pitt left Fox so manifestly the foremost man in public life that the king could no longer hope to exclude him from office. The formation of a ministry was entrusted by the king to Lord Grenville, but when he named Fox as his proposed secretary of state for foreign affairs George III. accepted him without demur. Indeed his hostility seems to a large extent to have died out. A long period of office might now have appeared to lie before Fox, but his health was undermined. Had he lived it may be considered as certain that the war with Napoleon would have been conducted with a vigour which was much wanting during the next few years. In domestic politics Fox had no time to do more than insist on the abolition of the slave trade. He, like Pitt, was compelled to bow to the king’s invincible determination not to allow the emancipation of the Roman Catholics. When a French adventurer calling himself Guillet de la Gevrillière, whom Fox at first “did the honour to take for a spy,” came to him with a scheme for the murder of Napoleon, he sent a warning on the 20th of February to Talleyrand. The incident gave him an opportunity for reopening negotiations for peace. A correspondence ensued, and British envoys were sent to Paris. But Fox was soon convinced that the French ministers were playing a false game. He was resolved not to treat apart from Russia, then the ally of Great Britain,
