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 Chapter 6
Foundations of Business Intelligence: Database and Information
Management
Student Learning Objectives
1. How does a relational database organize data?
2. What are the principles of a database management system?
3. What are the principal tools and technologies for accessing information from databases to
improve business performance and decision-making?
4. What is the role of information policy and data administration in the management of
organizational data resources?
5. Why is data quality assurance so important for a business?

Chapter Outline

6.1 The Database Approach to Data Management

Entities and Attributes
Organizing Data in a Relational Database
Establishing Relationships
6.2 Database Management Systems
Operations of a Relational DBMS
Capabilities of Database Management Systems
Non-Relational Databases and Databases in the Cloud
6.3 Using Databases to Improve Business Performance and Decision Making
The Challenge of Big Data
Business Intelligence Infrastructure
Analytical Tools: Relationships, Patterns, Trends
Databases and the Web
6.4 Managing Data Resources
Establishing an Information Policy
Ensuring Data Quality

Key Terms

The following alphabetical list identifies the key terms discussed in this chapter. The page
number for each key term is provided.

Analytic platform, 200 Hadoop, 199

Attribute, 188 Information policy, 207
Big data, 198 In-memory computing, 200
Data administration, 207 Key field, 188
Data cleansing, 208 Non-relational database management systems, 196
Data definition, 194 Normalization, 191
 Data dictionary, 194 Online analytical processing (OLAP), 201
Data manipulation language, 194 Primary key, 188
Data mart, 199 Query, 194
Data mining, 202 Record, 188
Data quality audit, 208 Referential integrity, 191
Data warehouse, 199 Relational DBMS, 188
Database, 187 Report generator, 196
Database administration, 207 Sentiment analysis, 203
Database management system (DBMS), 193 Structured Query Language (SQL), 194
Database server, 206 Text mining, 203
Entity, 188 Tuples, 188
Entity-relationship diagram, 190 Web mining, 203
Field, 188
Foreign key, 189

Teaching Suggestions
The essential message of this chapter is the statement that “How businesses store, organize, and
manage their data has a tremendous impact on organizational effectiveness.” Data have now
become central and even vital to an organization’s survival.

The opening vignette, “Better Data Management Helps the Toronto Globe and Mail Reach Its
Customers,” shows that data are not easy to access and analyze without the properly configured
systems. The Toronto Globe and Mail created numerous pockets of data in isolated databases.
There was no central repository where the most up-to-date data could be accessed from a single
place. That made it difficult to cross reference subscribers with prospective customers. It created
security issues because data were housed in multiple places.

The organization implemented a new system with a single data warehouse so it could be easily
accessed and analyzed. Data were reconciled to prevent errors in marketing campaigns and
reduce the cost of recruiting new customers and keeping the old ones.

Section 6.1, “The Database Approach to Data Management” introduces basic key terms such
as field, record, file, database, entity, and attribute. Try using a simple spreadsheet print-out to
demonstrate these terms. If you have access to a relational DBMS during class time, you can
demonstrate several of the concepts presented in this section. If you have time and as a class
activity, ask your students to prepare an entity-relationship diagram, as well as normalize the
data. Your students will need guidance from you to complete this activity, but it will help them
see and understand the logical design process.

Section 6.2, “Database Management System” introduces database design and management
requirements for database systems. Help your students see how a logical design allows them to
analyze and understand the data from a business perspective, while a physical design shows how
the database is arranged on direct access storage devices. At this point, you can use the
enrollment process at your university as an example. Have your students prepare a logical design
for the enrollment process. Discuss the three operations of a relational DBMS: select, project,
and join. A database management system is comprised of three components: a data definition
language, data dictionary, and data manipulation language. If you have access to a relational
DBMS during class time, you can demonstrate several of the concepts presented in this section.

The concept of using databases stored in cloud computing data centers is introduced in this
section and piggybacks on cloud computing concepts introduced earlier in the text.

Section 6.3: “Using Databases to Improve Business Performance and Decision Making.” This
section focuses on how data technologies are actually used: data warehouses, data marts,
business intelligence, multidimensional data analysis, and data mining. Regardless of their career
choice, students will probably use some or all of these in their jobs. For example, data
warehouses and data marts are important to many business functions. They are critical for those
who want to use data mining technologies which have many uses in management analysis and
business decisions. Keep in mind as you teach this chapter that managing data resources can be
very technical, but many students will need and want to know the business uses and business
values. In the end, effectively managing data is the goal. Doing it in a way that will enable your
students to contribute to the success of their organization is the reason why most students are in
this course.

This section discusses text mining and Web mining that are taking on significance as more data
and information are stored in text documents and on the Web. Web mining is divided into three
categories: content mining, structure mining, and usage mining. Each one provides specific
information on patterns in Web data.

Interactive Session: Organizations: Business Intelligence Helps the Cincinnati Zoo Know
Its Customers

Case Study Questions

1. What people, organization, and technology factors were behind Cincinnati Zoo losing
opportunities to increase revenue?

People: more than two thirds of the Zoo’s budget is paid from fundraising efforts with the
remainder coming from tax support, admission fees, food, and gifts. Senior management
embarked on a comprehensive review of its operations to determine how the Zoo could increase
revenues and improve performance.

Organization: Management had limited knowledge and understanding of what was actually
happening in the Zoo on a day-to-day basis, other than how many people visited every day and
the Zoo’s total revenue.

Technology: The Zoo’s four income streams—admissions, membership, retail, and food
service—had different point-of-sale platforms. The food service business which brings in $4
million a year still relied on manual cash registers. Management had to sift through paper
receipts just to understand daily sales totals. The Zoo used spreadsheets to collect visitors’ ZIP
codes to use for geographic and demographic analysis.
2. Why was replacing legacy point-of-sale systems and implementing a data warehouse
essential to an information system solution?

If all the data collected could be combined with insight into visitor activity at the Zoo the
information would be extremely valuable for guiding marketing efforts. Some of the data
management wanted to collect included the attractions people visited, what people ate and drank,
and what they bought at gift shops.

The information systems needed to focus more on analytics and data management. Four legacy
point-of-sale systems were replaced with a single platform. A centralized data warehouse was
built and implementation of a business intelligence program provided real-time analytics and
reporting.

3. Describe the types of information gleaned from data mining that helped the Zoo better
understand visitor behavior.

Weather plays a large part in people coming to the zoo and what they eat and drink while they
are there. By including weather-related data in the system, the Zoo can now make more accurate
decisions about labor scheduling and inventory planning.

When visitors scan membership cards at entrances, exits, attractions, restaurants, and stores, the
data provides insight into spending patterns and visitation behaviors. Management can segment
visitors based on the data and target marketing and promotions specifically for each customer
segment.

4. How did the Cincinnati Zoo benefit from business intelligence? How did it enhance
operational performance and decision making?

The Zoo is able to tailor campaigns more precisely to smaller groups of people, increasing its
chances of identifying the people who are most likely to respond to its mailings. More targeted
marketing helped the Zoo cut $40,000 from its annual marketing budget.

When the business intelligence platform showed management that food sales tail off significantly
after 3 p.m. each day, they started closing some of the food outlets at that time. On the other
hand, detailed data analysis showed a big spike in ice cream sales occurs during the last hour
before the Zoo closes. Management decided to keep open soft-serve ice cream outlets for the
entire day. Management can adjust inventory levels of its inventory of beer and determine which
beer is selling best, on what day, and at what time. Now they can assure plenty of inventories of
beer brands.

5. The Zoo’s management recently stated that it might have to ask for more revenue from
taxes in order to provide the same level of quality and service in the future. How might
business intelligence be used to prevent this from happening?
The Zoo’s ability to make better decisions about operations led to dramatic improvements in
sales. Six months after deploying its business intelligence solution, the Zoo achieved a 30.7
percent increase in food sales and a 5.9 percent increase in retail sales compared to the same
period a year earlier.

With more data analysis and using the business intelligence tools at their disposal, management
can make more adjustments in marketing campaigns, employee work schedules, and inventories
to further increase profit margins and revenues, perhaps staving off any tax increases.

Section 5.4: “Managing Data Resources.” This section introduces students to some of the
critical issues surrounding corporate data. Students should realize that setting up the database is
only the beginning of the process. Managing the data is the real challenge. In fact, the main point
is to show how data management has changed and the reason why data must be organized,
accessed easily by those who need access, and protected from the wrong people accessing,
modifying, or harming the data.

Developing a database environment requires much more than selecting database technology. It
requires a formal information policy governing the maintenance, distribution, and use of
information in the organization. The organization must also develop a data administration
function and a data-planning methodology. The organization should use data-planning
techniques to make sure that the organization’s data model delivers information efficiently for its
business processes and enhances organizational performance. There is political resistance in
organizations to many key database concepts, especially the sharing of information that has been
controlled exclusively by one organizational group. Creating a database environment is a long-
term endeavor requiring large up-front investments and organizational change.

Interactive Session: People: American Water Keeps Data Flowing

Case Study Questions

1. Discuss the role of information policy, data administration, and efforts to ensure data
quality in improving data management at American Water.

An important step in creating a single source of data with enterprise-wide reporting was to
efficiently and effectively migrate the data from the old system to the new system. The company
data resided in many different systems in various formats. Each regional business maintained
some of its own data in its own systems and some data were redundant and inconsistent. Data
had to be standardized so it could be used across the organization.

All the business users had to buy into this new company-wide view of data.

2. Describe roles played by information systems specialists and end users in American
Water’s systems transformation project.
Management made business users responsible for the data. It was not just a responsibility of the
information systems department. The business “owns” the data and it is business needs that
determine the rules and standards for managing the data.

Business users were required to inventory and review all the pieces of data in the systems to
determine which would migrate from the old system to the new system and which would be left
behind. Business users were also required to review the data to make sure they are accurate and
consistent and that redundant data are eliminated.

3. Why was the participation of business users so important? If they didn’t play this role,
what would have happened?

Because business users are the ones who primarily will use the data, it should be the way they
want it and the way it works best for them. Users are the ones who know best what they need.
It’s too easy to blame someone else for faulty data if users don’t make their own decisions about
the data.

If someone else determines which data to migrate, which data to leave behind, or how the data
should be constructed it may simply end up a failure.

4. How did implementing a data warehouse help American Water move toward a more
centralized organization?

All data pertaining to materials used by the company were standardized to make the data
warehouse more efficient and to give a consolidated view across all business units. Standardized
data gave the company a better picture of how it was performing. Reports were easier to generate
and gave a more complete picture of operations. It made comparisons between operating units
easier and allowed business units to review best practices more easily than before.

5. Give some examples of problems that would have occurred at American Water if its
data were not “clean?”

If data are not clean, it makes the data warehouse much larger than necessary. For instance, a
particular type of material may have three or four different data descriptions. Comparisons and
consolidation of the data are more difficult if not impossible with more than one description and
definition of each data item.

Replenishing inventories could be less efficient if more than one data entry per item were used in
the database. The database could reflect that a particular item is out of stock based on one data
entry while in reality it is in full supply but under a different data entry.

6. How would American Water’s data warehouse improve operations and management
decision making?

The company is focusing on promoting the idea that data must be “clean” to be effective and has
poured an incredible amount of effort into its data cleansing work by identifying incomplete,
incorrect, inaccurate, and irrelevant pieces of data and then replacing, modifying, or deleting the
“dirty” data.

By having clean data in a single data warehouse that’s easily accessible and where reports are
easy to generate, management and users can make better decisions because the data are more
complete. Clean data gives a much better picture of the organization and a clearer direction for
management. Data mining is much easier and more complete with clean data.

Review Questions
6-1 How does a relational database organize data?

Define and explain the significance of entities, attributes, and key fields.

• Entity is a person, place, thing, or event on which information can be obtained.

• Attribute is a piece of information describing a particular entity.
• Key field is a field in a record that uniquely identifies instances of that record so that it
can be retrieved, updated, or sorted. For example, a person’s name cannot be a key field
because there can be another person with the same name, whereas a social security
number is unique. Also a product name may not be unique but a product number can be
designed to be unique.

Define a relational database and explain how it organizes and stores information.

The relational database is the primary method for organizing and maintaining data in most
modern information systems. It organizes data in two-dimensional tables with rows and
columns called relations. Each table contains data about an entity and its attributes. Each row
represents a record and each column represents an attribute or field. Each table also contains
a key field to uniquely identify each record for retrieval or manipulation.

Explain the role of entity-relationship diagrams and normalization in database design.

Relational databases organize data into two-dimensional tables (called relations) with
columns and rows. Each table contains data on an entity and its attributes. An entity-
relationship diagram graphically depicts the relationship between entities (tables) in a
relational database. A well-designed relational database will not have many-to-many
relationships, and all attributes for a specific entity will only apply to that entity.

Normalization is the process of creating small stable data structures from complex groups of
data when designing a relational database. Normalization streamlines relational database
design by removing redundant data such as repeating data groups. A well-designed relational
database will be organized around the information needs of the business and will probably be
in some normalized form. A database that is not normalized will have problems with
insertion, deletion, and modification.

Define a non-relational database management system and explain how it differs from a
 relational database.

There are four main reasons for the rise in non-relational databases: cloud computing,
unprecedented data volumes, massive workloads for Web services, and the need to store
new types of data. These systems use more flexible data models and are designed for
managing large data sets across distributed computing networks. They are easy to scale up
and down based on computing needs.

They can process structured and unstructured data captured from Web sites, social media,
and graphics. Traditional relational databases aren’t able to process data from most of those
sources. Non-relational databases can also accelerate simple queries against large volumes
of structured and unstructured data. There’s no need to predefine a formal database
structure or change that definition if new data are added later.

Relational databases contain very structured data in tables with rows and columns and don’t
handle unstructured data such as videos, pictures, texts, and emails very well, if at all.
Relational databases require a defined database and the definitions must be changed and
updated if new data are later added.

6-2 What are the principles of a database management system?

Define a database management system (DBMS), describe how it works and explain how
it benefits organizations.

A database management system (DBMS) is a specific type of software for creating, storing,
organizing, and accessing data from a database. A DBMS consists of software that permits
centralization of data and data management so that businesses have a single, consistent
source for all their data needs. A single database services multiple applications. The most
important feature of the DBMS is its ability to separate the logical and physical views of
data. The user works with a logical view of data. The DBMS retrieves information so that the
user does not have to be concerned with its physical location.

Define and compare the logical and a physical view of data.

The DBMS relieves the end user or programmer from the task of understanding where and
how the data are actually stored by separating the logical and physical views of the data. The
logical view presents data as end users or business specialists would perceive them, whereas
the physical view shows how data are actually organized and structured on physical storage
media, such as a hard disk.

Define and describe the three operations of a relational database management system.

In a relational database, three basic operations are used to develop useful sets of data: select,
project, and join.

• Select operation: creates a subset consisting of all records in the file that meet stated
 criteria. In other words, select creates a subset of rows that meet certain criteria.
• Join operation: combines relational tables to provide the user with more information
than is available in individual tables.
• Project operation: creates a subset consisting of columns in a table, permitting the user
to create new tables that contain only the information required.

Name and describe the three major capabilities of a DBMS.

A DBMS includes capabilities and tools for organizing, managing, and accessing the data in
the database. The principal capabilities of a DBMS include a data definition language, data
dictionary, and data manipulation language.

• The data definition language specifies the structure and content of the database.
• The data dictionary is an automated or manual file that stores information about the data
in the database, including names, definitions, formats, and descriptions of data elements.
• The data manipulation language, such as SQL, is a specialized language for accessing
and manipulating the data in the database.

6-3 What are the principal tools and technologies for accessing information from databases
to improve business performance and decision making?

Define big data and describe the technologies for managing and analyzing big data.

Traditional databases rely on neatly organized content in rows and columns. Much of the
data collected nowadays by companies don’t fit into that mold.

Big data describes datasets with volumes so huge they are beyond the ability of typical
database management system to capture, store, and analyze. The term doesn’t refer to any
specific quantity of data but it’s usually measured in the petabyte and exabyte range. It
includes structured and unstructured data captured from Web traffic, email messages, and
social media content such as tweets and status messages. It also includes machine-generated
data from sensors.

Big data contains more patterns and interesting anomalies than smaller data sets. That
creates the potential to determine new insights into customer behavior, weather patterns,
financial market activity, and other phenomena.

Hadoop: open-source software framework that enables distributed parallel processing of

huge amounts of data across inexpensive computers. The software breaks huge problems
into smaller ones, processes each one on a distributed network of smaller computers, and
then combines the results into a smaller data set that is easier to analyze. It uses non-
relational database processing and structured, semistructured, and unstructured data.

In-memory computing: rather than using disk-based database software platforms, this
technology relies primarily on a computer’s main memory for data storage. It eliminates
bottlenecks that result from retrieving and reading data in a traditional database and
shortens query response times. Advances in contemporary computer hardware technology
makes in-memory processing possible.

Analytic platforms: uses both relational and non-relational technology that’s optimized for
analyzing large datasets. They feature preconfigured hardware–software systems designed
for query processing and analytics.

List and describe the components of a contemporary business intelligence

infrastructure.

Business intelligence (BI) infrastructures include an array of tools for obtaining useful
information from all the different types of data used by businesses today, including
semistructured and unstructured big data in vast quantities. Data warehouses, data marts,
Hadoop, in-memory processing, and analytical platforms are all included in BI
infrastructures.

Powerful tools are available to analyze and access information that has been captured and
organized in data warehouses and data marts. These tools enable users to analyze the data to
see new patterns, relationships, and insights that are useful for guiding decision making.
These tools for consolidating, analyzing, and providing access to vast amounts of data to help
users make better business decisions are often referred to as business intelligence. Principal
tools for business intelligence include software for database query and reporting tools for
multidimensional data analysis and data mining.

Describe the capabilities of online analytical processing (OLAP).

Data warehouses support multidimensional data analysis, also known as online analytical
processing (OLAP), which enables users to view the same data in different ways using
multiple dimensions. Each aspect of information represents a different dimension.

OLAP represents relationships among data as a multidimensional structure, which can be

visualized as cubes of data and cubes within cubes of data, enabling more sophisticated data
analysis. OLAP enables users to obtain online answers to ad hoc questions in a fairly rapid
amount of time, even when the data are stored in very large databases. Online analytical
processing and data mining enable the manipulation and analysis of large volumes of data
from many perspectives, for example, sales by item, by department, by store, by region, in
order to find patterns in the data. Such patterns are difficult to find with normal database
methods, which is why a data warehouse and data mining are usually parts of OLAP.

Define data mining, describe what types of information can be obtained from it, and
explain how it differs from OLAP.

Data mining provides insights into corporate data that cannot be obtained with OLAP by
finding hidden patterns and relationships in large databases and inferring rules from them to
predict future behavior. The patterns and rules are used to guide decision making and
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 forecast the effect of those decisions. The types of information obtained from data mining
include associations, sequences, classifications, clusters, and forecasts.

Explain how text mining and Web mining differ from conventional data mining.

Conventional data mining focuses on data that have been structured in databases and files.
Text mining concentrates on finding patterns and trends in unstructured data contained in text
files. The data may be in email, memos, call center transcripts, survey responses, legal cases,
patent descriptions, and service reports. Text mining tools extract key elements from large
unstructured data sets, discover patterns and relationships, and summarize the information.

Web mining helps businesses understand customer behavior, evaluate the effectiveness of a
particular Web site, or quantify the success of a marketing campaign. Web mining looks for
patterns in data through:

• Web content mining: extracting knowledge from the content of Web pages
• Web structure mining: examining data related to the structure of a particular Web site
• Web usage mining: examining user interaction data recorded by a Web server
whenever requests for a Web site’s resources are received

Describe how users can access information from a company’s internal database
through the Web.

Conventional databases can be linked via middleware to the Web or a Web interface to
facilitate user access to an organization’s internal data. Web browser software on a client PC
is used to access a corporate Web site over the Internet. The Web browser software requests
data from the organization’s database, using HTML commands to communicate with the
Web server. Because many back-end databases cannot interpret commands written in HTML,
the Web server passes these requests for data to special middleware software that then
translates HTML commands into SQL so that they can be processed by the DBMS working
with the database. The DBMS receives the SQL requests and provides the required data. The
middleware transfers information from the organization’s internal database back to the Web
server for delivery in the form of a Web page to the user. The software working between the
Web server and the DBMS can be an application server, a custom program, or a series of
software scripts.

6-4 What is the role of information policy and data administration in the management of
organizational data resources?

Define information policy and data administration and explain how they help
organizations manage their data.

An information policy specifies the organization’s rules for sharing, disseminating,

acquiring, standardizing, classifying, and inventorying information. Information policy lays
out specific procedures and accountabilities, identifying which users and organizational units
 can share information, where information can be distributed, and who is responsible for
updating and maintaining the information.

Data administration is responsible for the specific policies and procedures through which
data can be managed as an organizational resource. These responsibilities include developing
information policy, planning for data, overseeing logical database design and data dictionary
development, and monitoring how information systems specialists and end-user groups use
data.

In large corporations, a formal data administration function is responsible for information

policy, as well as for data planning, data dictionary development, and monitoring data usage
in the firm.

6-5 Why is data quality assurance so important for a business?

List and describe the most common data quality problems.

Data that are inaccurate, incomplete, or inconsistent create serious operational and financial
problems for businesses because they may create inaccuracies in product pricing, customer
accounts, and inventory data, and lead to inaccurate decisions about what actions an
organization should take. Firms must take special steps to make sure they have a high level
of data quality. These include using enterprise-wide data standards, databases designed to
minimize inconsistent and redundant data, data quality audits, and data cleansing software.

List and describe the most important tools and techniques for assuring data quality.

A data quality audit is a structured survey of the accuracy and level of completeness of the
data in an information system. Data quality audits can be performed by surveying entire data
files, surveying samples from data files, or surveying end users for their perceptions of data
quality.

Data cleansing consists of activities for detecting and correcting data in a database that are
incorrect, incomplete, improperly formatted, or redundant. Data cleansing not only corrects
data but also enforces consistency among different sets of data that originated in separate
information systems.

Discussion Questions
6-6 It has been said that you do not need database management software to create a
database environment. Discuss.

A database is a collection of data organized to service many applications at the same time by
storing and managing data so that they appear to be in one location. It is not mandated that a
database have a DBMS. What is most important is the concept of a database—a model for
organizing information so that it can be stored and accessed flexibly and efficiently. Without
the right vision of a database and data model, a DBMS is not effective. A DBMS is special
 software to create and maintain a database. It enables individual business applications to
extract the data they need without having to create separate files or data definitions in their
computer programs. However, the use of a DBMS can reduce program-data dependence along
with program development and maintenance costs. Access and availability of information can
be increased because users and programmers can perform ad-hoc queries of data in the
database. The DBMS allows the organization to centrally manage data, its use, and security.

6-7 To what extent should end users be involved in the selection of a database management
system and database design?

End users should be involved in the selection of a database management system and the
database design. Developing a database environment requires much more than just selecting
the technology. It requires a change in the corporation’s attitude toward information. The
organization must develop a data administration function and a data planning methodology.
The end-user involvement can be instrumental in mitigating the political resistance
organizations may have to many key database concepts, especially to sharing information that
has been controlled exclusively by one organizational group.

6-8 What are the consequences of an organization not having an information policy?

Without an information policy anyone could:

• Reorganize data.
• Maintain it in non-conforming ways that would make it difficult to use the data
throughout the organization.
• View data even if their job didn’t require it—that leads to data compromise,
misuse, and abuse.
• Change data even if they don’t have a viable reason to.

Well-constructed information policies specify the rules for sharing, disseminating, acquiring,
standardizing, classifying, and inventorying information. Information policies lay out specific
procedures and accountabilities, identifying which users and units can share information,
where information can be distributed, and who is responsible for updating and maintaining
the information. Overall, information policies can protect one of an organization’s most
valuable resources.

Hands-On MIS Projects

Management Decision Problems

6-9 Emerson Process Management: data warehouse was full of inaccurate and redundant data
gathered from numerous transaction processing systems. The design team assumed all users
would enter data the same way. Users actually entered data in multiple ways. Assess the
potential business impact of these data quality problems. What decisions have to be made and
steps taken to reach a solution?
Managers and employees can’t make accurate and timely decisions about customer activity
because of inaccurate and redundant data. The company could be wasting resources pursuing
customers it shouldn’t and neglecting its best customers. The company could be experiencing
financial losses resulting from the inaccurate data.

Managers, employees, and data administrators need to identify and correct the faulty data and
then establish better routines for editing data when it’s entered. The company should perform a
data quality audit by surveying entire data files, surveying samples from data files, or surveying
end users for perceptions of data quality. The company needs to perform data cleansing
operations to correct errors and enforce consistency among the different sets of data at their
origin.

6-10 Industrial supply company: the company wants to create a single data warehouse by
combining several different systems. The sample files from the two systems that would supply
the data for the data warehouse contain different data sets.

1. What business problems are created by not having these data in a single standard
format?

Managers are unable to make good decisions about the company’s sales and products because of
inconsistent data. Managers can’t determine which products are selling the best worldwide; they
can only determine product sales by region.

2. How easy would it be to create a database with a single standard format that could store
the data from both systems? Identify the problems that would have to be addressed.

It may not be too hard to create a database with a single standard format if the company used
middleware to pull both data sets into a consolidated database. The company should use
specialized data-cleansing software that would automatically survey data files, correct errors in
the data, and integrate the data in a consistent company-wide format. Problems that may occur
would stem from inconsistent data names such as the Territory and Customer ID in the old sets
and data element names such as Division in the new set. The data administrators, managers, and
employees may have to track the data conversion and manually convert some data.

3. Should the problems be solved by the database specialist or general business managers?
Explain.

Both the database specialist and general business managers should help solve the problems. Data
administrators are responsible for developing an information policy, planning for data,
overseeing logical database design and data dictionary development, and monitoring how
information system specialists and end-user groups use data. However, end users and business
managers have the final decision-making authority and responsibility for the data.

4. Who should have the authority to finalize a single company-wide format for this
information in the data warehouse?
Owners and managers are the only ones who have the authority to finalize the format for the
information in the data warehouse. They could develop an information policy that specifies the
organization’s rules for sharing, disseminating, acquiring, standardizing, classifying, and
inventorying information.

Achieving Operational Excellence: Building a Relational Database for Inventory

Management

Software skills: Database design, querying and reporting

Business skills: Inventory Management

6-11 This exercise requires that students know how to create queries and reports using
information from multiple tables. The solutions provided here were created using the query
wizard and report wizard capabilities in Microsoft Access. Students can, of course, create more
sophisticated reports if they wish.

The database would need some modification to answer other important questions about the
business. The owners might want to know, for example, which are the fastest-selling bicycles.
The existing database shows products in inventory and their suppliers. The owners might want to
add an additional table (or tables) in the database to house information about product sales, such
as the product identification number, date placed in inventory, date of sale, purchase price, and
customer name, address, and telephone number. Management could use this enhanced database
to create reports on best selling bikes over a specific period, the number of bicycles sold during a
specific period, total volume of sales over a specific period, or best customers. Students should
be encouraged to think creatively about what other pieces of information should be captured on
the database that would help the owners manage the business.

The answers to the following questions can be found in the Microsoft Access File named:
Ess10ch05solutionfile.mdb.

1. Prepare a report that identifies the five most expensive bicycles. The report should list the
bicycles in descending order from most expensive to least expensive, the quantity on hand
for each, and the markup percentage for each.

2. Prepare a report that lists each supplier, its products, quantities on hand, and associated
reorder levels. The report should be sorted alphabetically by supplier. Within each supplier
category, the products should be sorted alphabetically.

3. Prepare a report listing only the bicycles that are low in stock and need to be reordered. The
report should provide supplier information for the items identified.

4. Write a brief description of how the database could be enhanced to further improve
management of the business. What tables or fields should be added? What additional reports
would be useful?

Improving Decision Making: Searching Online Databases for Overseas Business Resources
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
hostile views in any quarter respecting them, and therefore consented
587
to disarm. This public denial of what had notoriously been the aim
of his Government, and this promise to renounce all ideas of revenge
on Prussia, sent a thrill of astonishment through the diplomatic world.
Never had France so openly abandoned her partisans or so publicly
proclaimed her impotence. If Pitt (as French historians have asserted)
had persistently sought to humiliate the Court of Versailles, he could
not have succeeded more completely. But this Counter-Declaration was
merely the climax of a diplomatic game which had taken a threatening
turn only since the beginning of September. The fact is that the French
Ministers, and still more their agents in Holland, had precipitated the
crisis by the actions of the Free Corps at the very time which proved to
be most unfavourable for them. By their conduct they courted failure;
but it was the outbreak of war in the East which made that failure
complete and crushing.
On the other hand, the conduct of the friends of the House of
Orange, after long delays and blunders, was singularly astute when
the crisis came. The conduct of the Princess deserves the highest
praise. The diplomacy of Harris and Ewart was a marvel of skill. As for
Eden, he had little more to do than to obey orders, though he
588
sometimes toned down the harsh phrases of Pitt and Carmarthen.
The action of the Prussians was trenchant, but it could not have been
so but for their confidence in the promised support of the Sea Power.
Pitt’s fostering care of the national resources, and his rehabilitation of
the navy had made it virtually impossible for the semi-bankrupt French
State to enter single-handed on a war with Great Britain and Prussia.
This was the determining factor in the problem; and every statesman
at Paris, London, and Berlin knew it.
But something more than sound finance is needed in a complex
and critical situation. There the qualities of foresight, tact, and
determination are of priceless worth; and on all sides it was admitted
that Pitt displayed them to a high degree. The restraint which kept
Harris strictly within bounds until the fit moment arrived is not more
remarkable than the boldness which reaped all possible advantages
from the daring coup of the Princess of Orange. Eden wrote on 1st
November, that he had shuddered at the courage of Pitt in braving the
589
chances of a war with France. But the young statesman knew how
far he could go with safety; he discerned the essential fact that France
could not fight, and that Montmorin adopted his negative attitude in
order to hide that important secret. If Montmorin chose to justify her
disarmament by assertions which were equally false and humiliating,
that was a matter for him, not for the statesmen of Great Britain.
Pitt’s conduct of this, his first great diplomatic campaign, shines all
the more brightly by contrast with the vacillations of Frederick William
and the stupendous blunders of the French Government. Adverting
briefly to these last, we may note that France had little ground for
interference so long as a majority of the States-General deprecated
such action; and, thanks to Harris, that majority, except for a few
days, held firm. The French Government therefore founded its hopes
on the majority in the Province of Holland, and on the high-handed
proceedings of the Free Corps, which it secretly abetted. Montmorin
repulsed two overtures from Berlin because of the insistence of Prussia
that those corps should be suppressed. This action it was, more
perhaps than the resentment of Frederick William at the insult to his
sister, which helped to bring Prussia and Great Britain into line. France
also finally denied the right of Frederick William to gain reparation for
that insult, though she at first recognized the justice of his claim.
Further, when he sent forward his troops, she made ready for war, and
then adopted the attitude of sullen resentment, which rendered a joint
mediation by the three Powers impossible. This conduct in its turn
implied the lapse of the Franco-Dutch treaty of 1785, and the triumph
of British and Prussian influence in the United Provinces. Frenchmen
also saw in this event another proof of the uselessness of the Austrian
alliance on which Marie Antoinette had staked her popularity; and the
débâcle in Holland was a deadly blow at the influence of that
unfortunate Queen. Finally France admitted her defeat in terms at
which friends and foes alike scoffed. Not without reason, then, did
Napoleon afterwards assert that the French Revolution was due to
three causes, the Battle of Rossbach, the Diamond Necklace scandal,
and the ousting of French influence from the United Provinces in 1787.
The judgement is curiously superficial in that it passes over the fiscal
and agrarian evils which potently conduced to the great upheaval; but
it reflected the opinion of that generation, which looked on deficits,
dearths, and bread-riots as dispensations of Providence, of trifling
import when compared with the decay in prestige of an ancient
monarchy. Something may be said for this view of things in the case of
France. For years that monarchy had lived on prestige. The surrender
of October 1787 now proclaimed to the world its decrepitude.

* * * * *
With the events attending the restoration of the Stadholder’s
power and the constitution of the year 1747 we are not here
concerned. Pitt had rightly refused to interfere until the efforts of the
Patriots to establish French influence had become a positive danger to
England. His interest in those troubles was largely grounded on naval
and colonial considerations. If the United Provinces became an annexe
of France, their fleet, their valuable colonies, and their once
prosperous East India Company, would be cast into the balance
against us. Now that this danger was past, he sought to remove all
chance of its recurrence by suggesting the formation of a treaty of
alliance with the Republic. On 5th October the first proposal to this
effect was framed at Whitehall on condition that the two States should
assist one another in case of attack, and guarantee the possession of
their territories; but from the outset the Foreign Office set its face
sternly against any concession such as “Free Ships, Free Goods,” on
which the Dutch were likely to insist.
There was, however, another stumbling stone in the way. The
Dutch felt keenly the surrender of Negapatam to Great Britain, and
they urged that, as that sacrifice had been forced on them in 1784 for
the greater security of our settlements in the Carnatic, its retrocession
was a natural consequence and a pledge of the friendship now happily
restored. The Pitt Ministry, however, viewed the matter in the cold light
of self-interest, and rejected the demand, in spite of the reiterated
assurances of the Prince of Orange, the new Grand Pensionary, Van
der Spiegel, and other friends of England, that they could not
otherwise accept the proffered treaty. Even Harris finally confessed his
inability to bend their will, and he advised Pitt and Carmarthen not to
imperil the alliance on this single detail. Prussia, he said, had given
way at some points in her negotiations with the Dutch; and it was
590
impolitic for us to be too stiff.
Pitt, however, would not give way. Probably he considered that the
Stadholder’s party, now in power, needed our support more than we
needed his; or he may have grounded his decision on the need of
preventing the rise of any Power other than that of England in South
India, where Tippoo Sahib was always a danger. He refused to do
more than offer to negotiate on this question within the space of six
months after the signature of the treaty. The negotiation was never
even begun; and thus the treaty signed at The Hague on 15th April
1788 was always viewed with disfavour by the Dutch. The guarantee
of the restored Stadholderate by Great Britain, and the promise of
each State to assist in the defence of the possessions of the other,
were in themselves quite satisfactory; but the compact lacked the
591
solidity which comes only from entire confidence and goodwill.
The formation of an alliance with Prussia in the same year also
came about in a manner more brilliant than sound. Of course, in all
such affairs each Power tries to bring the other over to its own
standpoint; and much tugging must needs take place between a
military and a naval State. Frederick William and his chief statesman,
Hertzberg, had just achieved the first success of their careers, and
largely owing to the firmness of Pitt. Assured of their supremacy in
Germany and Holland, they now sought to guard against the dangers
threatening them from the East. The news which came in the month
of November 1787, that Austria would join Russia in her war with
Turkey, caused the gravest concern at Berlin, and therefore enhanced
the value of a British alliance. The growing weakness of France and
the power of Pitt to handle a crisis firmly therefore put a new face on
Prussian policy. Instead of waiting on Paris, the Berlin Cabinet looked
more and more expectantly towards London.
Already Frederick William had signified his desire for a union with
the Dutch “in order to pave the way to a Triple Alliance between
England, Prussia, and Holland as soon as it may be possible to
 592
accomplish it.” But the Pitt Ministry, distrustful of an alliance with
Prussia unless Russia also came in, treated this overture very coyly.
From a letter which the first Earl Camden wrote to Pitt on 18th
October, we gather that the Earl was far more inclined to such an
alliance than Pitt had shown himself to be at a recent meeting of the
Cabinet. Camden favoured the plan as tending to consolidate our
influence in Holland—a matter of the utmost moment. “We have
escaped miraculously,” he writes, “from the most perilous situation we
ever experienced, and shall be mad if we slip the opportunity of
rooting out the French interest in that country for ever ... and that will
be compleatly effected by a Prussian alliance.” It would also free
Prussia from slavish dependence upon France. As for the fear that it
would drive France to a close compact with Russia and Austria, the
593
Earl treated that danger as remote.
Carmarthen, and probably Pitt also, looked on the danger as real
enough to give them pause. Not till 2nd December did Carmarthen
return any specific answer; and then he expressed the doubt whether
it was desirable to form a Triple Alliance then, as there were rumours
of a projected union between these three Powers, which might
594
become a reality if England, Prussia, and Holland coalesced. If that
hostile league were formed, it would then be desirable to come to
terms, and even to include Denmark, Sweden, and the lesser German
States. It is curious that he did not name Poland; but here we find the
first definite sign of that league of the smaller States with Prussia and
Great Britain which afterwards played so important a part in Pitt’s
foreign policy.
The caution of Pitt was justified. In a few days’ time Sweden came
knocking at our door, asking for admittance along with Denmark. The
adventurous character of Gustavus III will appear in the sequel. Here
we may note that Carmarthen politely waved aside this offer of
595
alliance from a suspicion that he was planning a blow at Russia.
The blow did not fall until the middle of July 1788; but then the
sudden summons of the Swedish King to the Empress Catharine to
hand back part of Russian Finland, and to accept his mediation in the
Russo-Turkish War, showed the meaning of his proposal at Christmas
1787.
Only by slow degrees did the eastern horizon clear. But when
France showed her resentment at the participation of Austria in the
Turkish War, the spectre of a hostile Triple Alliance was laid; and then,
but not till then, Pitt showed more favour to the Prussian proposals.
Yet here again there was need of caution. The Eastern Question
touched Prussia far more closely than England. If Joseph II gained his
heart’s desire—Moldavia and Wallachia—and Catharine extended her
boundary to the River Dniester, the greatness and even the safety of
596
Prussia and of Poland would be hopelessly compromised.
Accordingly Prussia sought by all means short of drawing the sword to
help the Turks in their unequal struggle. She cantoned large forces
near the Austrian border, hinted that she would be glad to offer her
mediation for the purpose of securing a reasonable peace, and sent an
official disguised as a merchant by way of Venice to Constantinople in
597
order to encourage the Sultan to a vigorous prosecution of the war.
Hertzberg also urged the formation of a league between Prussia,
England, and the smaller States with a view to the guarantee of the
598
Turkish possessions in Europe.
To this proposal the British Government gave no encouragement.
So far as appears from the despatches of this year, the fate of Turkey
was not a matter of much concern to Pitt and Carmarthen. Indeed, not
until 2nd April did they vouchsafe an answer to the Prussian proposal
of alliance; and then they based their acceptance on the need of
safeguarding the situation in Holland. Other States, it was added,
might be invited to join the Triple Alliance in order effectively to
counterbalance the jealous efforts to which it might give rise; but
Great Britain declined to bind herself to any guarantee of the Sultan’s
dominions. If he were in sore straits, Great Britain would support
Prussia in gaining reasonable terms for him, but she would not favour
any active intervention on his behalf. Still less would she support the
notion (outlined by Hertzberg) that Prussia should acquire an
599
indemnity for any gains that Austria might make in the present war.
The keynote of British policy was firmly struck in this sentence: “The
great object which we have in view is the continuance of peace, as far
as that is not inconsistent with our essential interests. It is with that
view that the alliance of Holland has been thought so material, as
rendering any attack upon us less probable. With the same view we
are desirous of cultivating the closest connections with the Court of
600
Berlin.” That is to say, the proposed Triple Alliance was to be a
purely defensive league for the safeguarding of the three States and
their colonies.
At Berlin, however, now that Catharine had finally waved aside the
friendly offers of British and Prussian mediation, the Eastern crisis
eclipsed all other topics. By degrees Hertzberg laid his plans for the
601
aggrandizement of Prussia, whatever might befall the Turks. As will
appear more fully in a later chapter, he expected that Joseph II would
gain the whole, or large parts, of Moldavia and Wallachia. The armed
mediation of Prussia was to lessen these acquisitions; and as a set-off
to them Austria must cede Galicia to the Poles; while their gratitude for
the recovery of that great province, torn from them in 1772, was to
show itself in the cession to Prussia of the important fortresses and
districts, Danzig and Thorn, so necessary for the rounding off of her
ragged borders on the East. Such was the scheme which took shape in
Hertzberg’s fertile brain, and dominated Prussian policy down to the
summer of the year 1791.
The watchful Ewart forwarded to Whitehall details of this gigantic
“deal” (if we may use the Americanism); and as the scheme came to
light it aroused deep distrust at Whitehall. At once the Prussian
proposal wore a new aspect; and the draft of a treaty drawn up in this
sense in the middle of April left little hope of a settlement between the
two Powers. In reply to its proposals Pitt and Carmarthen pointed out
the vagueness of the Prussian suggestions respecting Turkey, but
hinted that an opportunity might come for befriending the Sultan if he
were too hard pressed. Further, while promising to help Prussia if she
were attacked, they again demanded the like succour from her if any
of our colonies were assailed. They also desired to bring into the
league Sweden, Denmark, and Portugal. For the present, however,
they sought to limit the Anglo-Prussian understanding to the Dutch
guarantee, though a closer compact was to be discussed during the
602
visit of the Prussian monarch to his sister at Loo.
This last suggestion was for Ewart himself. The others he was to
pass on to Hertzberg. That Minister chafed at this further rebuff to his
plans, which now comprised the offer of the armed mediation of
Prussia, England, and Holland to Catharine and Joseph. The fondness
of Frederick William for France once more appeared; and the French
party at Berlin venomously raised its head. England, they avowed,
would gain everything from this one-sided compact; for her colonies
were to be found in every sea. Why should the troops of the great
Frederick be set in motion to help the islanders every time that one of
their colonial governors lost his temper? Finally the King declared that
he would not send his troops beyond the bounds of Germany and
603
Holland.
There seemed little chance of an agreement between the two
Courts, until Frederick William set out for his visit to the Prince and
Princess of Orange at Loo, and let fall the remark that he hoped to see
Sir James Harris there. Already that envoy had asked permission to
come to London; and, with the zeal of a convert to the Prussian
alliance, he convinced Ministers of its desirability, even if they gave
way on certain points. The Instructions drawn up for him on 6th June
set forth the need of an Anglo-Prussian alliance in order “to contribute
to the general tranquillity.” He was also to sound the Prussian monarch
as to the inclusion of other Powers, especially Sweden and Denmark;
but discussions on this matter were not to stand in the way of the
604
signature of the treaty. George III, now a firm supporter of peace
principles, favoured the scheme, as appears from his letter of the
same date to the Princess of Orange. He there stated that he approved
of an alliance with Prussia, though there might not be time to gain the
adhesion of other States; and he expressed the hope that this compact
would lead Austria and France to desire the continuance of peace, and
605
thereby conduce to the termination of war in the East.
 Fortified by these opinions of the King and Cabinet, Harris
prepared to play the game boldly. His handsome person, grand air, and
consciousness of former victories gave him an advantage in the
discussions with Frederick William, who, thanks to the tact of the
Princess, laid aside his earlier prepossessions against the “dictator,”
and entered into his views. In order to keep the impressionable
monarch free from disturbing influences, Harris paid the sum of 200
ducats to a chamberlain if he would ensure the exclusion of a noted
partisan of France, Colonel Stein, from the royal chamber during a
critical stage in the healing process. The climax came during a ball on
12–13th June. After midnight the King sought out Harris, invited him
to walk in the garden, admitted the force of his arguments in favour of
an immediate signature of the proposed treaty, and allowed him to
speak to his Minister, Alvensleben. While fireworks blazed and courtiers
danced, the two Ministers drew up a provisional treaty, to which the
King assented on the following morning, 13th June 1788.
The news of the signature of the Provisional Treaty of Loo was
received at Berlin with an outburst of rage, when it appeared that
nearly all the aims and safeguards striven for by Ministers and
Francophiles had disappeared. Further negotiations ensued at Berlin;
but they brought no material change to the Loo compact. The treaty
signed at Berlin by Hertzberg and Ewart on 13th August 1788 was
defensive in character. Each State promised to help the other, in case
of attack, by a force of 20,000 men; but Great Britain was not to use
such a force of Prussians outside Europe or even at Gibraltar. That
contingent might be increased if need arose; or it might be replaced
by a money equivalent. As was stipulated at Loo, the two Powers
pledged themselves to uphold the integrity of the United Provinces and
of their present constitution, and to defend that State by all possible
means, in case of attack, the Dutch also affording armed help to either
ally, if it were attacked. Two secret articles were added to the Berlin
Treaty, the one stipulating that no military aid should be given to the
party attacked unless the latter had on foot at least 44,000 men; the
second provided that a British fleet should assist Prussia if the latter
606
applied for it.
 Thus was formed an imposing league. The splendid army of
Prussia, backed by the fleets and resources of Great Britain and the
Dutch Republic, constituted a force which during three years was to
maintain peace and assure the future of the smaller States. If we
remember the state of woeful isolation of England up to the summer
of 1787, the contrast in her position a year later is startling. It came
about owing to the caution of Pitt in a time when precipitate action
would have marred everything. His wise delay in the early stages of
the Dutch crisis, and his diplomatic coyness in the bargaining with
607
Prussia are alike admirable. The British envoys, Ewart and Harris
(Keith at Vienna deserves also to be named) were men of unusual
capacity and courage; but then as now success depended mainly on
the chief; and it has been shown that the guiding hand at Whitehall
was that of Pitt.
His diplomatic triumphs recorded in this chapter were to have a
marked influence on the future of Europe. It is not generally known
how acute was the danger arising from the schemes of Catharine II
and Joseph II. In popular imagination the premonitory rumblings of
the French Revolution rivet the attention of the world to the exclusion
of all else; but a perusal of the letters of statesmen shows that nine-
tenths of their time were given to thwarting the plans of the imperial
revolutionists. In truth French democracy could not have gained its
rapid and easy triumphs had not the monarchies of Central and
Eastern Europe shaken the old order of things to its base, so that even
the intelligent conservatism of Pitt failed to uphold the historic fabric
from the attacks that came from the East and the West. Well was it for
Great Britain that her diplomatic position was fully assured by the
autumn of the year 1788. For at that time lunacy beset her monarch,
paralyzed her executive government, and threatened to place her
fortunes at the mercy of a dissolute prince.
 CHAPTER XVII
THE PRINCE OF WALES

Our Ministers like gladiators live;

’Tis half their business blows to ward or give.
The good their virtue would effect, or sense,
Dies between exigents and self-defence.
Pope.

He [the Prince of Wales] has so effeminate a mind as to

counteract his own good qualities, by having no control over his
weaknesses.
The Earl of Malmesbury, Diaries, iv, 33.

A PRIME Minister of Great Britain needs to be an intellectual

Proteus. Besides determining the lines of foreign and domestic
policy, he must regulate the movements of a complex parliamentary
machine, ever taking into account personal prejudices which not
seldom baffle the most careful forecast. It is not surprising,
therefore, to find statesmen at Westminster often slow and
hesitating even when there is need of prompt decision. The onlooker
may see only the public questions at issue. The man in the thick of
the maze may all the time be holding the personal clue which alone
can bring him to the open. How often has the fate of Europe turned
on the foibles or favouritism of Queen Elizabeth, Louis XIV, Queen
Anne, Charles XII, Catharine II. In the present age this factor counts
for less than of yore. Hence it comes about that many modern critics
assess the career of Pitt as if he were in the position of a Gladstone.
In point of fact he was more under royal control than Walpole or
Godolphin. He had to do with a Sovereign who in the last resort
gave the law to his Ministers, and occasionally treated them like
head clerks.
True, George III interfered with Pitt less than with his
predecessors. That masterful will had been somewhat tamed during
the “bondage” to the Coalition, and almost perforce accepted the
guidance of his deliverer. The King even allowed Pitt to go his own
way respecting Reform, Warren Hastings, and the Irish Commercial
Treaty. Family scandals and family debts for a time overshadowed all
other considerations, a fact which goes far to explain the bourgeois
domesticity of his outlook on Dutch affairs. In these years, then, he
acquiesced in the lead of the heaven-sent Minister who maintained
the national credit and the national honour. But in the last resort
George III not only reigned but governed. Thus, apart from the
Eastern War, which we shall consider later, everything portended a
time of calm in the year 1788, when suddenly the personal element
obtruded itself. There fell upon the monarch a strange malady which
threatened to bring confusion in place of order, and to enthrone a
Prince who was the embodiment of faction and extravagance.
The career of the Prince of Wales illustrates the connection often
subsisting between the extremes of virtue and vice. Not seldom the
latter may be traced to the excess of the former in some primly
uninteresting home; and certainly the Prince, who saw the light on
12th August 1762, might serve to point the moral against pedantic
anxiety on the part of the unco’ guid. His upbringing by the strictest
of fathers in the most methodized of households early helped to call
out and strengthen the tendencies to opposition which seemed
ingrained in the heirs-apparent of that stubborn stock. In the dull life
at Kew or Windsor, bristling with rules and rebukes, may we not see
the working in miniature of those untoward influences—fussy control
and austere domination—which wearied out the patience of
Ministers and the loyalty of colonists?
 Moreover this royal precisian was not blessed with a gracious
consort. Queen Charlotte’s youthful experiences at the ducal Court of
Mecklenburg predisposed her to strict control and unsparing
parsimony. Many were the jests as to her stamping with her signet
the butter left over at meals. It was even affirmed that apple
charlottes owed their name to her custom of using up the spare
crusts of every day. These slanders (for the latter story fails before
the touchstone of the term Charlotte Russe) owed their popularity
largely to her ugliness. One of her well-wishers, Colonel Disbrowe,
once expressed to Croker the hope that the bloom of her ugliness
608
was going off. This sin revealed a multitude of others; and it is
fairly certain that Queen Charlotte has been hardly judged. Some
there were who accused her of callousness towards the King during
his insanity; and the charge seems in part proven for the year
609
1804. Others, again, charged her with unmotherly treatment of
the Prince of Wales. Who can suffice for these things? Aristophanes
coined a happy phrase to denote lovers of the trivial in politics. He
calls them “buzzers-in-corners.” Those who essay to write the life of
a great statesman must avoid those nooks.
One thing is certain. The Prince of Wales grew to dislike both his
father and mother. His temperament was far gayer and more
romantic than theirs. Some imaginative persons have ventured to
assert that a more generous and sympathetic training would have
moulded him to a fine type of manhood. Undoubtedly his education
was of the narrow kind which had stunted the nature of George III;
and when the King, with ingrained obstinacy, continued to keep the
trammels on the high-spirited youth of eighteen, he burst them
asunder. At that age the Prince had his first amour (was it his first?),
610
namely, with the actress, “Perdita” Robinson. The gilded youth of
London, long weary of the primness of Windsor, cheered him on to
further excesses, and Carlton House set the tone of the age. In vain
did the King seek to regain the confidence and affection of his
611
son. His efforts were repulsed; and the debasing influence of
Henry Frederick, Duke of Cumberland, inured the Prince to every
kind of debauchery.
As if this were not enough, the heir to the throne made a bosom
friend of the man whom his father most detested, Charles James
Fox. Through that charming libertine the Prince became an habitué
612
of the Whig Club, Brooks’s; and, as we have seen, he helped to
defeat the King’s eager electioneering in the great fight of 1784 at
Westminster. Thenceforth the feud between father and son was
bitter and persistent. The Prince had all his father’s wilfulness, and
far more than his stock of selfishness. So far as is known, he showed
no sign of repentance, but argued himself into the belief that the
613
King had always hated him from his seventh year onward. There
is nothing that corroborates this petulant assertion. The King had
been a kind and even doting father, his chief fault being that of
guiding too long and too closely this wayward nature.
By the summer of 1783 the quarrel had waxed warm on the
subject of the immorality and extravagance of the Prince. At that
time the Coalition Ministry startled the King by proposing to grant
the sum of £100,000 a year to the Prince of Wales, exclusive of the
revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall, which amounted to about
614
£13,000 a year. The King, having formerly received far less than
that amount, considered it exorbitant. As we saw in Chapter VI, the
Ministry would probably have fallen had not the Prince required his
favourite to waive the proposal. Parliament then voted £30,000 to
pay his debts, £30,000 to start his new establishment (Carlton
House) and £50,000 a year out of the Civil List.
By the autumn of the next year the Prince defiantly proposed to
travel abroad in order to ease his finances by evading his creditors.
This the King forbade, and requested him to send in a detailed list of
his expenses and debts. The result was a statement clear enough in
most items, but leaving a sum of £25,000 unaccounted for. The King
required an explanation of this, which the Prince as firmly refused to
give, though he assured Sir James Harris it was a debt of honour. As
the King refused to pass this sum, the whole matter dragged on,
until in April 1785 the debts reached the total of £160,000. To
escape the discomforts of his position, the Prince proposed to his
friend, Harris, who was then in London, a term of residence at The
Hague. The true reason for this proposal lies in the fact that the
Prince had for some time been desperately in love with a fair young
widow, Mrs. Fitzherbert, who was a Roman Catholic. In vain had he
wounded himself as a sign of his undying passion for her: in vain
had four of his friends sought to inveigle her into a mock marriage.
In order to escape his importunities she had fled to the Continent;
and the King refused him permission to pursue her.
Here, in truth, was the crux of the relations between father and
son. King George saw no hope for the youth but in marriage with a
Protestant princess. Prince George as firmly declared that he would
not marry “some German frow,” and racked his brains with designs
to secure the Roman Catholic of his choice. Mrs. Fitzherbert’s
religion, her position as a commoner, and the anomaly of a
morganatic marriage in these islands, rendered any connection with
her odious in the eyes of the King. Besides, the Royal Marriage Act
of 1772 forbade the marriage of any prince or princess of the blood
under the age of twenty-six without the consent of the King. On all
sides, then, the King had the Prince in his toils.
The Prince, realizing this fact, seems to have behaved as
recklessly as possible in the hope of compelling the King to allow
him to live abroad and marry Mrs. Fitzherbert. Such at least is the
most charitable explanation of his early prodigalities. The debts,
surely, were a means of forcing the hand of his father. But George
was not to be gulled in this way. He, too, held firmly to his views,
and the result was a hopeless deadlock. Pitt and Carmarthen sought
to end it in May 1785. They threw out hints to Harris that the
income of the Prince might be increased by Parliament if he would
become reconciled to the King, cease to be a party man, and set
about the discharge of his debts. Accordingly Harris waited on the
Prince at Carlton House on 23rd May 1785, and suggested that on
these conditions the Ministry would double his income, provided also
that he set apart £50,000 a year for the discharge of his debts. To
this the Prince demurred, on the ground that he could not desert
Fox, and that the King’s unfatherly hatred would be an obstacle to
any such proposal. In support of the latter statement he requested
Harris to read the King’s letters to him, which were couched in
severe terms, reprobating his extravagance and dissipation.
We cannot censure this severity. The gluttonous orgies of Carlton
House were a public scandal, especially in hard times, when
Parliament withheld the money necessary for the protection of
Portsmouth and Plymouth. Both as a patriot and a father, George
was justified in condemning his son’s conduct; and it is clear that the
hatred of the Prince for his father led him to put the worst possible
construction on the advice from Windsor. At the close of his
interview with Harris he declared vehemently that he never would
marry, and that he had settled with his brother Frederick, Duke of
615
York, for the Crown to devolve on his heirs.
As illustrating the relations of father and son, I may quote an
unpublished letter from Hugh Elliot to Pitt, dated Brighthelmstone,
616
17th October 1785, and endorsed by Pitt—“Shewn to the King.”
In it Elliot states that he went to Brighton merely for bathing, but
was soon honoured by the Prince’s company and confidence. He had
combated several of his prejudices, and this had not offended him;
but the Prince asked him to discuss matters with the King’s
Ministers, who would then report to the King. He then adds:

There is so much difficulty in putting upon paper the secret

circumstances I have learnt, or in detailing the imminent danger
to which H.R.H. is exposed from a manner of life that can be
thoroughly understood only by those who are eye-witnesses of
it, that, out of respect to the Prince, I shall be justified in not
dwelling upon so distressing a subject, but that I may be
allowed to advance, that in my opinion H.R.H. risks being lost to
himself, his family and his country if a total and sudden change
does not take place. I will even venture to add that the Prince is
 at this moment not insensible that such a change is necessary
and that it is one of the motives which make him desirous of
visiting the Continent under such restrictions as the King may
think proper to advise.

Elliot adds that the Prince would travel only with Colonels Lee
and Slaughter and himself, if the King and Pitt approved of his going
with him. The Prince hoped to economize and so win back the good
opinion of the King and country. He (Elliot) would rejoice if he could
further this course.
The desire of the Prince for foreign travel ended with the return
of Mrs. Fitzherbert from her secret tour. The Prince’s pursuit of her
now became more eager than ever, and he succeeded in inspiring
her with feelings of love. Consequently, on 15th December 1785, he
secretly married her, having four days previously assured his bosom
friend, Fox, that there was no “ground for these reports which of
late have been so malevolently circulated.” It is now proved beyond
possibility of doubt that the marriage was legal (except in the
political sense above noticed), and that the Prince did his wife
617
grievous wrong in persistently denying the fact. She, with all the
proofs in her possession, refrained from compromising him, and
therefore had to endure endless slights. Many persons had the good
sense to place her dignified silence far above his unblushing denials,
and Society was rent in twain by the great question—“Was he
married or not?” In view of these facts, is it desirable to present a
full-length portrait of His Royal Highness? The wonder is that even in
his Perdita days his name could ever be compared with the
tenderest and most faithful of Shakespeare’s lovers, Prince Florizel.
That he allowed himself to be painted in that guise argues singular
assurance. Was not Cloten more nearly his prototype?
It would be interesting to know whether the King and Queen
were aware of the secret marriage. The Queen in a private interview
pressed him to tell the truth; but he probably equivocated. Their
action bespeaks perplexity. In private they treated Mrs. Fitzherbert
 618
kindly, but never received her at Court. That Pitt was not ill-
informed on the subject appears from the following hitherto
unpublished letter from his brother, the Earl of Chatham. It is
undated, but probably belongs to the month of December 1785:

619
Hanley, Wednesday.
My Dear Brother,
I have had a good deal of conversation with Sir C——
on the subject you wished some information upon. The result of
which leaves no doubt on my mind of the P[rince] having not
only offered to marry Mrs. F., but taken measures towards its
accomplishment. Many circumstances confirm this opinion, but
this much is, I think, certain information, which is that the
letters from the P. offering it were shown by himself to Mrs. S
—— L——, the mother, from whom Sir Carnaby has it
immediately, and the letter from Mrs. F. to her mother, in which
she informs her of her consent. Sir C—— has seen an extract of,
and is promised a copy of [it], which I shall see. It must,
however, I think, still remain very doubtful, till the step is
absolutely taken, whether it ever will, or whether it is more than
a last effort to gain her without; but Sir C. and all her family
seem perfectly convinced that he seriously and at all events
intends it. They are averse to it; but the person in the P’s
confidence upon it and most employed in it is Mr. Errington,
husband of Lady Broughton. He is supposed to be the person
who is to go over as her relation to be present at the ceremony.
I have endeavoured to learn what I cou’d as to the point of
whether she wou’d change her religion or not. She at present
says she will not; but Sir C—— seems to think that she might be
brought to that whenever the marriage was declared. The
present intention seems to be that it should be kept secret, but
that, her conscience thus satisfied, she is to appear, and be
received as, his mistress; and I believe it is pretty certain that he
 has a promise from a certain duchess to visit her and go about
with her when she comes....

Clearly the Earl of Chatham came very near the truth. Sir
Carnaby Haggerston knew the secret, and chose to reveal a good
deal of it. Mr. Errington was the bride’s uncle, and gave her away at
the secret ceremony at her house in Park Lane on 15th
620
December. The Duchess of Devonshire early recognized Mrs.
Fitzherbert, and frequently entertained her along with the Prince.
The liaison with Mrs. Fitzherbert (for it was ostensibly nothing
more) of course did not lessen expenses at Carlton House. The
Prince insisted on her moving to a larger residence and entertaining
on a lavish scale. As for Carlton House, it “exhibited a perpetual
621
scene of excess, unrestrained by any wise superintendence.” It
was therefore natural that the Prince’s friends should ply Parliament
with requests for larger funds in the spring of 1786. The matter
came up, not inappropriately, during debates on the deficiency in the
Civil List. That most brilliant of wits and most genial of boon
companions, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, had now espoused the
Prince’s cause. With his customary charm he dragged in the subject
of the monetary woes of his patron, pointing out that the dignity of
the Crown demanded an ampler provision and the payment of the
existing debts. Pitt replied that this matter was not before the
House, and added that, as he had received no instructions on the
subject, he would not be so presumptuous as to offer any private
opinion on it.
Undeterred by this freezing rebuke to Sheridan, Fox on the next
day raised the same question, maintaining that it was a national
advantage for the Heir-Apparent to be able to live not merely in ease
but in splendour. This patriotic appeal fell on deaf ears. The country
gentlemen who on the score of expense had lately decided to leave
Portsmouth and Plymouth open to attack, were not likely to vote
away on the orgies of Carlton House an extra sum of £50,000 a year,
which in fourteen years would have made the two great dockyard
towns impregnable. Fox wisely refrained from pressing his demand,
and vouchsafed no explanation as to how the nation would benefit
622
from the encouragement of extravagance in Pall Mall. Clearly the
Prince’s friends were in a hopeless minority. Accordingly he began
more stoutly than ever to deny his marriage with Mrs. Fitzherbert;
but in such a case character counts for more than oaths and
asseverations.
So the miserable affair dragged on. The King refused every
request for help for the Prince, doubtless in the hope that debt
would compel him to give up his mistress. The debts therefore grew
apace, until in the summer of 1786 Carlton House was in danger of
being seized by the brokers. It is clear that Pitt sided with the King.
George III frequently commended him for his wise advice; but
unfortunately nearly all the letters from Pitt to his sovereign,
especially on this topic, long ago disappeared from the Library at
Windsor, a highly suspicious circumstance. We know, however, that,
as early as March and April 1785, the King approved the messages
drawn up by Pitt from the Sovereign to the Prince. In general they
seem to have been drafted by the Minister; and the following draft,
in Pitt’s writing, but dated by the King and with one slight correction,
remains as proof that Pitt was the mouthpiece for the royal rebukes.
It is endorsed “Draft of Letter from the King to the Prince of Wales”:

623
Windsor, July 8, 1786.
After so often repeating to the Prince of Wales the same
sentiments on the subject of his applications, and with so little
effect, I should add nothing further at present. But I must
express my surprise at receiving a letter from him in which he
states himself to be convinced that he has no reason to expect
either at present or in future the smallest assistance from me. A
624
reference to my last letter and to the former correspondence
might shew him what it was I expected before I could enter
further on the consideration of the business. If he chooses to
interpret what has passed into a refusal on my part to take
 measures in any case for his assistance, the consequence of his
625
doing so can be imputed only to his own determination.

That the details of the expenditure at Carlton House were laid

before Pitt is clear from the evidence contained in the Pitt Papers.
The packet entitled “Prince of Wales’s Debts,” affords piquant
reading. For, be it remembered, at the very time when Pitt was
straining every nerve to lessen the National Debt, to rebuild the
navy, and to enable England to look her enemies once more in the
face, the Prince was squandering money on rare wines, on gilding,
ormolu, and on jewellery for Mrs. Fitzherbert, £54,000 being
626
considered a “not unreasonable bill” by her latest biographer. An
official estimate fixes the total expenditure of the Prince for the
years 1784–86 at £369,977 (or at the rate of £123,000 a year) and
yet there were “arrears not yet to hand.” Parliament had voted
£30,000 for the furnishing of Carlton House; but in 1787 the Prince
consulted the welfare of the nation by accepting an estimate of
£49,700 for extensions and decorations; and late in 1789 he sought
still further to strengthen the monarchy by spending £110,500 on
further splendours. They included “a new throne and State bed,
furniture trimmed with rich gold lace, also new decorations in the
Great Hall, a Chinese Drawing-Room, etc.” The Pitt Papers contain
no reference to the sums spent on the Pavilion at Brighton in the
years 1785, 1786; but, even in its pre-oriental form, it afforded
singular proof of the desire of the Prince for quiet and economy at
that watering-place.
Much has been made of the retrenchments of July 1786, when
the works on Carlton House were suspended, and the half of that
palatial residence was closed. Whatever were the motives that
prompted that new development, it soon ceased, as the foregoing
figures have shown. The Prince’s necessities being as great as ever,
he found means to bring his case before Parliament in the debates
of 20th, 24th, and 27th April 1787. Thereupon Pitt clearly hinted that
the inquiry, if made at all, must be made thoroughly, and that he
would in that case be most reluctantly driven “to the disclosure of
circumstances which he should otherwise think it his duty to
conceal.” The House quivered with excitement at the untactful
utterance—one of Pitt’s few mistakes in Parliament. Sheridan, with
his usual skill and daring, took up the challenge and virtually defied
Pitt to do his worst. Pitt thereupon declared that he referred solely to
pecuniary matters.
Everyone, however, knew that the Fitzherbert question was
really at stake; and the general dislike to any discussion, even on the
debts, was voiced by the heavy Devonshire squire, who was to find
immortality in the “Rolliad.” Rolle asserted on 27th April that any
such debate would affect the constitution both in Church and State.
Undaunted by Sheridan’s salvos of wit, he stuck to his guns, with the
result that on the 30th Fox fired off a seemingly crushing discharge.
As Sheridan had declared that the Prince in no wise shrank from the
fullest inquiry, the Whig chieftain now solemnly assured the House
that the reported marriage with Mrs. Fitzherbert was a low and
malicious calumny. When the tenacious Devonian plied him with the
final inquiry whether he spoke from direct authority, Fox replied with
the utmost emphasis that he did.
We now know that Fox had been cruelly deceived by the Prince.
But in that age the assertion of Fox was considered as almost final,
save by those who marked the lofty scorn poured by Mrs. Fitzherbert
on her unwitting traducer. In Parliament the victory lay with the
Prince; but even there Rolle firmly refused to comply with Sheridan’s
challenging request and declare himself satisfied. To the outside
world it was clear that either the heir to the throne or Fox had lied.
The letters of George III to Pitt in May 1787 and Pitt’s
suggestions for a settlement of the dispute, show that the perturbed
monarch placed absolute confidence in his Minister. Very noteworthy
is the King’s assertion that there could be no reconciliation until his
son consented to marry and to retrench his expenditure. His letter of
20th May 1787 to Pitt further proves that the proposal to add
£10,000 to the Prince’s income emanated from Pitt, and was
627
acquiesced in somewhat reluctantly by the King.
This expedient brought about a partial reconciliation between
father and son. On the strong recommendation of Pitt, Parliament
allowed the extra £10,000 a year, besides granting £20,000 on
behalf of the new works at Carlton House, and paying £161,000
towards the extinction of the Prince’s debts, on his express
assurance that he would not exceed his income in the future. The
vote was unanimous. Thereupon the King waived the question of the
Prince’s marriage; so at least we may infer from the fact that they
had a long interview on 25th May 1787 at the Queen’s House
(Buckingham House), at the close of which the Prince proceeded to
greet his mother and sisters. The parents had few happier days than
that; and their joy was crowned a little later by the return of
Frederick, Duke of York, after a long residence in Germany. Fanny
Burney describes the radiant gladness of the King and Queen as
they paced along the terrace at Windsor with their soldier son; and
the inhabitants of the royal city crowded to witness the pleasing
scene. It speaks well for the Prince of Wales, that he posted off from
Brighton on the news of his brother’s home-coming, in order to
double the pleasure of his parents. For a time, too, the Prince
thought more kindly of Pitt; so we may infer from the statement of
St. Leger to the Marquis of Buckingham that his feelings towards
628
him had altered since the negotiation on the subject of his debts.
But these sentiments of gratitude soon vanished along with the
virtuous and economical mood of which they were the outcome.
Those who break their word naturally hate the man to whom they
had pledged it.
In the winter of 1787–8 the two Princes again abandoned
themselves to drinking and gambling. The dead set made against
Pitt over the Warren Hastings trial and Indian affairs so far
weakened his position that the Princes counted on his fall and hoped
for the advent to power of the Fox-Sheridan clique. Certain it is that
they drank and played very deep. General Grant, writing to
Cornwallis, 6th April 1788, says:

The Prince [of Wales] has taught the Duke [of York] to drink
in the most liberal and copious way; and the Duke in return has
been equally successful in teaching his brother to lose his money
at all sorts of play—Quinze, Hazard, &c—to the amount, as we
629
are told, of very large sums in favour of India General Smith
and Admiral Pigot who both wanted it very much. These play
parties have chiefly taken place at a new club formed this winter
by the Prince of Wales in opposition to Brooks’s, because
Tarleton and Jack Payne, proposed by H.R.H., were
630
blackballed.

At this new club, called the Dover House or Welzie’s club, the
Prince often won or lost £2,000 or £3,000 at a sitting. In other ways
Frederick sought to better his brother’s example, so that his
631
company was thought mauvais ton by young nobles.
Compared with these buffooneries, political opposition was a
small matter. But the King deeply resented the nagging tactics of his
son at any time of crisis. Such a time came in March 1788, when a
sharp dispute arose between Pitt and the East India Company. It
originated in the Dutch troubles of the previous summer. The
prospect of war with France was so acute that the India Board sent
out four regiments in order to strengthen the British garrisons in
India. At the time the Directors of the Company fully approved of
this step; but when the war-cloud blew over, they objected to pay
the bill. Pitt insisted that the India Act of 1784 made them liable for
the transport of troops when the Board judged it necessary; and in
February 1788 he brought in a Declaratory Bill to that effect.
At once the Company flung to the winds all sense of gratitude to
its saviour, and made use of the men who four years previously had
sought its destruction. Fox and Erskine figured as its champions, and
the Prince of Wales primed the latter well with brandy before he
went in to attack Pitt. The result was a lamentable display of
Billingsgate, of which Pitt took no notice, and the Ministry triumphed
by 242 against 118 (3rd March).
But the clamour raised against the measure had more effect two
nights later, when Fox dared Pitt to try the case in a court of law.
Instead of replying, Pitt feebly remarked that he desired to postpone
his answer to a later stage of the debates. This amazing torpor was
ascribed to a temporary indisposition; but only the few were aware
that the Prime Minister had drunk deeply the previous night at the
Marquis of Buckingham’s house in Pall Mall in the company of
Dundas and the Duchess of Gordon—that spirited lady whose
632
charms are immortalized in the song, “Jenny o’ Menteith.” Wit
and joviality were now replaced by a heaviness that boded ill for the
Ministry, whose majority sank to fifty-seven. Two days later, however,
Pitt pulled himself and his party together, accepted certain
amendments relating to patronage, but crushed his opponents on
the main issue. To the annoyance of the Prince of Wales and Fox,
the Government emerged triumphant from what had seemed to be
certain disaster. Wraxall never wrote a truer word than when he
ascribed Pitt’s final triumph to his character. Even in his temporary
retreat he had commanded respect, so that Burke, who hurried up
exultingly from the Warren Hastings trial, was fain to say that the
Prime Minister scattered his ashes with dignity and wore his
sackcloth like a robe of purple.
The prestige of the Ministry shone once more with full radiance
on the Budget night (5th May 1788). Pitt pointed out that the past
year had been a time of exceptional strain. The Dutch crisis and the
imminence of war with France had entailed preparations which cost
nearly £1,200,000. The relief of the Prince of Wales absorbed in all
£181,000. The sum of £7,000,000 had been expended in the last
four years on improvements in the naval service. He had raised no
loan and imposed no new taxes. Nevertheless, the sum of
£2,500,000 had been written off from the National Debt, and even
so, there was a slight surplus of £17,000. The condition of the
finances of France supplied the Minister with a telling contrast. It
was well known that, despite many retrenchments, the deficit
amounted to £2,300,000. In these financial statements we may
discern the cause of the French Revolution and of the orderly
development of England.
In vain did Fox and Sheridan seek to dissipate the hopes aroused
by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. So experienced a financier as
Pulteney justified his statement, and the country at large felt
assured of the advent of a time of abounding prosperity. As for
France, the inability of her statesmen, even of Necker, to avert the
crisis caused by reckless borrowing and stupid taxation, seemed to
be the best possible guarantee for peace. Pitt’s concern at the re-
appointment of Necker in August 1788 appears in a letter to
Grenville in which he describes it as almost the worst event that
could happen—a curious remark which shows how closely he
633
connected the power of a State with its financial prosperity. Thus
the year 1788 wore on, with deepening gloom for France, and with
every appearance of calm and happiness for the Island Power, until a
mysterious malady struck down the King and involved everything in
confusion.
 CHAPTER XVIII
THE REGENCY CRISIS

Dost thou so hunger for mine empty chair

That thou wilt needs invest thee with mine honours
Before the hour be ripe?
Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part II.

The line which bounded the royal prerogative, though in

general sufficiently clear, had not everywhere been drawn with
accuracy and distinctness.—Macaulay.

T HE causes of insanity are generally obscure. In the case of George

III the disease cannot be traced to a progenitor, nor did it
descend to his issue, unless the moral perversity of his sons be
regarded as a form of mental obliquity. It is highly probable that the
conduct of the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York produced in their
father a state of nervous tension conducive to, if not the actual cause
of, madness. No proof of this is possible; but having regard to the
King’s despotic temper, his love of plain living, and his horror of
gambling and debauchery, we may plausibly refer to a private cause
the sudden breakdown of a strong constitution at a time when public
affairs had become singularly calm.
Throughout the summer of 1788 he became steadily weaker. A
stay at Cheltenham was of no avail. Indeed, an enemy of that place
tried to assign the King’s malady solely to its waters. The King had to
forego the long walks and rides which had formerly tired out all his
suite; and in October he returned to Kew much aged and broken.
Nevertheless the indomitable will asserted itself in one curious detail.
He always remained standing during interviews with his Ministers; and
he is stated by George Rose to have kept on his feet for three hours
and forty minutes during a portentous interview with Pitt, which must
634
have strained his strength to the breaking point. At the levee of
24th October at St. James’s, he made a praiseworthy effort to appear
well in order “to stop further lies and any fall of the stocks.” But the
effort was too great, as Pitt perceived afterwards during a private
interview.
Nevertheless, on the following day the King removed to Windsor.
There the decline in health continued, so that, after attending a hunt,
he exclaimed to Lady Effingham: “My dear Effy, you see me all at once
635
an old man.” Even so he continued his correspondence with Pitt
much as usual, until on 5th November there came a sudden collapse.
Again we have to confess ignorance as to the final cause. Mrs.
Papendiek, wife of the royal barber, ascribes it to the King’s annoyance
at the endeavour of the Duke of York to introduce Turkish military
instruments into the band of the Guards. Rose mentions a discussion
with the Duke at dinner on the 5th, relative to a murder. All, however,
are agreed that the merest trifles had long sufficed to make the King
flurried and angry, as had frequently appeared during the drives with
the princesses. This peculiarity now suddenly rose to the point where
madness begins. It is even said that at that dinner he without
provocation suddenly rushed at the Prince of Wales, pinned him to the
wall, and dared him to contradict the King of England. The Prince burst
into tears, the Queen became hysterical, and it was with some
difficulty that the King was induced to retire to his room. During that
evening and night he raved incessantly, and the chief physician, Sir
George Baker, feared for his life. A curious incident is mentioned by
Mrs. Papendiek. She avers that on the following night the King arose,
took a candle, and went to look at the Queen as she slept. She awoke
in an agony of terror, whereupon he soothed her and seemed to take
comfort himself. We may doubt the authenticity of the incident, as also
the correctness of Mrs. Papendiek’s narrative when she describes the
offensive air of authority which the Prince of Wales at once assumed,
his demand of an interview with the Queen, even on political affairs,
636
and his striking the floor with his stick to express displeasure.
It is certain, however, that the behaviour of the Prince was far
from seemly. He took the direction of affairs in the palace with an
abruptness which caused the Queen much pain. “Nothing was done
but by his orders,” wrote Miss Burney; “the Queen interfered not in
anything. She lived entirely in her two new rooms, and spent the
whole day in patient sorrow and retirement with her daughters.” Worst
of his acts, perhaps, was the taking possession of the King’s papers, a
proceeding which his apologists pass over in discreet silence. Among
those documents, we may note, were several which proved that Pitt
had not seldom drafted the royal rebukes. In other respects the
exultation of the Prince at least wore the veil of decency, therein
comparing favourably with the joy coarsely expressed by his followers
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at Brooks’s Club.
Secret intrigues for assuring the triumph of the Whigs began at
once. It is significant that that veteran schemer, the Lord Chancellor,
Thurlow, proceeded to Windsor on 6th November, at the Prince’s
command, and dined and supped with him. The ostensible object of
their meeting was to consider the mode of treating His Majesty, who
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had been violent during the night. But the design of the Prince was
to detach from Pitt the highest legal authority in the land. To this he
was instigated by Captain Payne, Comptroller of his Household, who
wrote to Sheridan that Thurlow would probably take this opportunity
of breaking with his colleagues, if they proposed to restrict the powers
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of the Regent. Payne augured correctly. Thurlow had his scruples
as to such a betrayal; but they vanished at the suggestion that he
should continue in his high office under the forthcoming Whig Ministry.
This bargain implied the shelving of Lord Loughborough, who for
five years had attached himself to the Whigs in the hope of gaining the
woolsack. Had Fox been in England, it is unlikely that he would have
sanctioned this betrayal of a friend in order to gain over an enemy.
But, with Sheridan as go-between, and the Prince as sole arbiter, the
bargain was soon settled. Light has been thrown on these events by
the publication of the Duchess of Devonshire’s Diary. In it she says:
“He [Sheridan] cannot resist playing a sly game: he cannot resist the
pleasure of acting alone; and this, added to his natural want of
judgment and dislike of consultation frequently has made him commit
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his friends and himself.” Perhaps it was some sense of the
untrustworthiness of Sheridan which led Fox, in the midst of a
Continental tour with Mrs. Armstead, to return from Bologna at a
speed which proved to be detrimental to his health. After a journey of
only nine days, he arrived in London on the 24th. It was too late to
stop the bargain with Thurlow, and he at once informed Sheridan that
he had swallowed the bitter pill and felt the utmost possible
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uneasiness about the whole matter.
The Whigs now had a spy in the enemy’s citadel. At first Pitt was
not aware of the fact. The holding of several Cabinet meetings at
Windsor, for the purpose of sifting the medical evidence, enabled
Thurlow to hear everything and secretly to carry the news to the
Prince. Moreover, his grief on seeing the King—at a time when the
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Prince’s friends knew him to be at his worst —was so heartrending
that some beholders were reminded of the description of the player in
“Hamlet”:

Tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect,

A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit.

Such at least was the judgement of the discerning few, who, with
Fanny Burney, saw more real grief in the dignified composure of Pitt
after that inevitably painful interview. Authority to “inspect” the royal
patient was entrusted to Thurlow, who thus stood at the fountain head
of knowledge. Yet these astute balancings and bargainings were
marred by the most trivial of accidents. After one of the Cabinet
Councils at Windsor, Ministers were about to return to town, when
Thurlow’s hat could not be found. Search was made for it in vain in the
council chamber, when at last a page came up to the assembled