France. I am well aware that by admitting the intercourse with Holland and Spain, France will obtain circuitously those supplies which she will stand in want of."
This disadvantage, the Duke thought, could be largely compensated by a rigid observance of the navigation laws. The Duke's opinion was very short, and barely hinted at the American question.
John Fane, Earl of Westmoreland, Lord Privy Seal,—Sot Privé, or Privy Fool, as Canning afterward nicknamed him by a pun on the French word sceau,[1]—gave next his written opinion on the subject.[2] Going beyond either Perceval or Portland, he urged the expediency of stopping all trade with the enemy except through the medium of England,—"the effect of which must be either to distress them to such a degree as to induce a relaxation of their decrees, or to cause a great trade from this country. Its effect in case of an extension of hostility can certainly not be ascertained; but I am disposed to think that we cannot carry on war allowing our enemy advantages of commerce as in peace, and that if we only do what is right we must take our chance for the consequences."
The next opinion was apparently that of Lord Hawkesbury, the Home Secretary, who was also clear that Perceval's plan wanted energy. While supporting the Duke of Portland in narrowing its scope
