Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2008 with funding from Microsoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/deiails/grenvillepapersb04ternp THE GRENVILLE PAPERS: BEING THE CORRESPONDENCE OF RICHARD GRENVILLE EARL TEMPLE, K.G., AND THE RIGHT HON: GEORGE GRENVILLE, THEIR FRIENDS AND CONTEMPORARIES. NOW FIRST PUBLISHED FROM THE ORIGINAL MSS. FORMERLY PRESERVED AT STOWE. EDITED, WITH NOTES, By WILLIAM .JAMES SMITH, Esq., FORMERLY LIBRARIAN AT STOWE. IN FOUR VOLUMES.-VOL. IV L O N D O N : JOHN MURI {AY, ALBEMARLE STREET 1 8 5 3. LONDON : WOODFALL AND KINDER ANGEL COURT, SKINNER STREET. UrNivratmi i vr k/iiuirvivi^i SANTA BARBARA TL ^ 5 o\ Tj &2 C 0 N T E N T S THE FOURTH VOLUME. 1767. Page Mr. Wilkes to Earl Temple. February 1.—His application to the Duke of Grafton. Determines to proceed fur a reversal of bis outlawry. Statement of his private affairs. Conduct of Humphrey Cotes. ........ 1 The Earl of Suffolk to Mr. Grenville. February 28.—Grief for the recent death of Lady Suffolk. The Duke of Bedfords motion in the House- of Lords upon the subject of America. Conduct without concert ....... 1 Mr. Rigby to Mr. Grenville. March 7.—Affairs of the East India Company .......... 6 Earl Temple to Mr. Grenville. March 18.—Close junction between Lords Bute and Chatham. [Lord Lyttelton’s project for the formation of a Ministry by a coalition of the Grenvilles with the Rockinghams and Bedfords. Note.'] ... 7 Countess Temple to Earl Temple. April 18.—Death of the Duchess of Argyll. Lady Dalkeith. Lady George Sackville. Colonel Cuninghame. Lord Barrymore's marriage. Eastbury. 8 Mr. Whately to Mr. Grenville. April 21.—Political speculations. Rockinghams and Bedfords. Will of the Duchess of Argyll . 10 Mr. Grenville to Earl Powis. May 7.—Business in the House of Lords. [Letters from the Marquess of Rockingham on American affairs. Lord Clive’s Parliamentary influence. Notes] . 11 Mr. Wilkes to Earl Temple. May 11.—His embarrassments in consequence of the bankruptcy of Humphrey Cotes. If he dared to solicit any favours, Lord Temple should find they were not misapplied. His affection for his daughter. Extravagance during his exile. Resolution of future economy, &c. 15 a 2 iv CONTENTS. 1767. Page The Duke of Bedford to Mr. Grenville. May 29.—The Duke of Newcastle and Lord Mansfield. The East India Bill . .18 Mr. Grenville to the Duke of Bedford. May 29.—Lord Mansfield and the Bill for regulating the East India Company’s dividends. Death of Mr. Keck, M.P. for Woodstock . . . .19 The Dean of Exeter [Dr. Millesj to Mr. Grenville. June 11.— Offers the Deanery House at Exeter for the accommodation of himself and Mrs. Grenville during their tour in the West . 20 Mr. William Gerard Hamilton to Earl Temple. June 27.—The King’s letter to Lord Chatham. The Duke of Grafton desirous of resigning .......... 23 Mr. Augustus Hervey to Mr. Grenville. June 30.—Resignation of bis Irish Secretaryship. Description of a Court life . 24 Mr. William Gerard Hamilton to Earl Temple. July 3.— State of political parties. Resignation of General Conway. Lord Egmont and Lord Chatham. The Marquess of Rockingham and the Duke of Grafton ....... 26 Mr. Augustus Hervey to Mr. Grenville. July 4.—Interview with the King upon the resignation of his Irish Secretaryship. Conversation with Lord Bristol . ..... 29 Mr. William Gerard Hamilton to Earl Temple. July 6. — Lord Chatham’s illness. Lord Northington’s advice. Lord Shelburne’s conference with the King. Lord Bute’s intentions of going abroad. Dr. Addington. Lord Chatham’s answer to the King’s letter. . . . . . . . . .31 Mr. Whately to Mr. Grenville. July 6.—The Duke of Grafton’s determination to resign. The King’s letter to Lord Chatham. Mr. Stuart Mackenzie’s conversation with Wedderburn and Sir Fletcher Norton. Lord Gower and the Bedford party . . 33 Mr. William Gerard Hamilton to Earl Temple. July 8.—Offers to Lord Rockingham. Lord Chatham’s illness . . .36 Mr. Whately to Earl Temple. July 8.—Supposed negotiation with Lord Rockingham by means of General Conway . . 39 Mr. William Gerard Hamilton to Earl Temple. July 10—■ Charles Townshend’s expectations. Lord Bristol’s newly-appointed Secretary. Lord Rockingham and the Bedford party. Charles Townshend with the King . . . . .41 Mr. Grenville to Mr. Whately. July 12.—Lord Rockingham’s visit to Woburn. Mr. Rigby at Wotton and Stowe . . .43 Mr. William Gerard Hamilton to Earl Temple. July 13.______The object of the negotiation with Lord Rockingham is to divide the Bedford and Grenville parties. Lord Holland’s opinion of the teims offered to Loid Rockingham. Lord Chatham's health. Lord Bristol............................................... . 1767. CONTENTS. v Page Mr. Grenville to the Earl of Suffolk. July 14.—Particulars of the negotiation with Lord Rockingham and the Duke of Bedford 48 Earl Temple to Mr. Grenville. July 15 . . . . .52 Mr. Grenville to Earl Temple. July 10.—Lord Rockingham overrated the powers supposed to he given to him . . .53 Mr. Charles Lloyd to Earl Temple. July 16.—William Burke’s account of Lord Rockingham’s conduct. Duke of Grafton. Lord Bute. Lord Clive’s audience of the King, on his return from India .......... 54 Mr. Augustus Hervey to Mr. Grenville. July 16.—Lord Rockingham’s refusal. Lord Bute. Lord Bristol. Lord Egmont. Lord Chatham . . . . . . . . *• . 55 Earl Temple to Mr. Grenville. July}! . . . . .57 Mr. Rigby to Earl Temple and Mr. Grenville. July 18.—Enclosing letters by desire of the Duke of Bedford. [Lord Weymouth’s letter to Rigby on the state of affairs. Note.] . . 57 Mr. Grenville to Earl Temple. July 18.—The Duke of Grafton’s “ jockey tricks ” to divide parties ...... 59 Earl Temple to Mr. Rigby. July 18 ..... 60 Air. Rigby to Earl Temple and Air. Grenville. July 19.—The Duke of Bedford’s assurances that every circumstance of the late transactions has been communicated to Stowe and Wotton 61 Earl Temple to Air. Rigby. July 19 . . . , .61 Air. William Gerard Hamilton to Earl Temple. July 20.—Lord Rockingham in negotiation with the Dukes of Grafton and Bedford. Lord Camden’s conduct towards Lord Chatham . . 62 Air. Whately to Earl Temple. July 20. —On the recent negotiation. Sir Fletcher Norton. Dingley’s report of Lord Chatham’s health ........ 64 Air. Whately to Air. Grenville. July 20.—Wedderburn’s account of a conversation with Lord Rockingham .... 66 Air. Augustus Hervey to Air. Grenville. July 21.—Account of a conversation with Colonel Fitzroy, relative to the Duke of Grafton’s conduct in the late transactions. Mentions a communication to the newspapers ...... 67 Air. Whately to Lord George Sackville. July 21.—Communicates all the particulars of the late negotiations, by desire of Air. Grenville. [Lord George Sackville’s reply to Air. Whately. Note.] . . . . . . . ' . , . .71 Air. Rigby to Air. Grenville. July 21.—Particulars of the meet- ing of the several leaders of parties at Bedford House. [Causes of the failure of this negotiation. Account of the conference published in the Political Register attributed by Lord Rockingham to Lord Temple. Note.'] . . . ... 80 vi CONTENTS. 1767. Page Mr. William Gerard Hamilton to Earl Temple. July 22. — Opinion of the late negotiation. The Duke of Grafton's account of the conditions offered to Lord Rockingham. Lord Holland. Lord Northington. The Dukes of Newcastle and Bedford. Lord Rockingham and General Conway .... Mr. William Gerard Hamilton to Earl Temple. July 22.—The Duke of Grafton, and the terms upon which he treated with Lord Rockingham. Lord Bute, Sir James Lowther, and Sir Fletcher Norton. Lord Townshend. Mr. Charles Townshend. Lord Holland ......... 90 Mr. Whately to Mr. Grenville. July 22.—On the late negotiation, and the causes of its failure. Lord Clive’s reception at Court ........... 91 Mr. Grenville to Mr. Rigby. July 22.—Thanks for his letters, and remarks upon the late transactions . . . . .95 Mr. William Gerard Hamilton to Earl Temple. July 24.—General Conway endeavouring to reconcile Lord Rockingham and the Duke of Grafton. Lard Northington. Plans of the Court party ........... 97 Mr. William Gerard Hamilton to Earl Temple. July 24.—Sir Fletcher Norton and Lord Bute.—Lord Granby’s dissatisfaction at the conduct of the Duke of Grafton. Plan to detach the Bedford party from the Grenvilles. Mr. Charles Townshend. Lord North .......... 99 Mr. Whately to Mr. Grenville. July 25.—Lord Rockingham’s interview with the King. General Conway. Mr. Rigby. Mr. Charles Townshend. Lord Mansfield . . . . .102 Mr. Charles Lloyd to Earl Temple. July 25.—Lord Rockingham and General Conway. Dinner at the Thatched House. Lord Chatham. Sir James Gray. Lord Northington . . . 106 Mr. William Gerard Hamilton to Earl Temple. July 27.—Lord Rockingham’s interview with the King. Lord Bristol’s determination not to go to Ireland. Death of the Irish Lord Chancellor Bowes. Mr. Hutchinson’s character. Sir Fletcher Norton and Lord Bute. Report of union between the Duke of Bedford and Lord Rockingham . . . . , .108 Lord Lyttelton to Earl Temple. July 27.—On the late negotiations . . . . . . . . .113 Mr. William Gerard Hamilton to Earl Temple. July 29.—Lord Camden and Sir Fletcher Norton. Wedderburn’s interview with Lord Bute. The Duke of Grafton and General Conwav. Legacy to Lord Chatham . . . . . . .115 Mr. Whately to Mr. Grenville. JulyW.—The Duke of Grafton, General Conwav, and I,ord Rockingham. Lord Mansfield. 1767. CONTENTS. vii Wedderburn’s conversation with Lord Bute. State of Lord Chatham’s health • • • • • • .MB Lord George Sackville to Mr. Grenville. July 30 . . . 124 Mr. Grenville to Mr. Whately. July 30 ..... 125 The Earl of Mansfield to Mr. Grenville. July 31.—His opinion of the late negotiations founded upon the information of the Duke of Bedford, Lord Rockingham, and the Duke of Newcastle. Approves of Mr. Grenville’s conduct, as communicated to him by Whately . . . . . . . .126 Earl Temple to Mr. Grenville. July 31.—Sends a confidential letter from Mr. W. Gerard Hamilton . . . . .129 Mr. Augustus Hervey to Mr. Grenville. July 31.—The Duke of Grafton and Mr. Conway intend to remain in office. Charles Townshend much dissatisfied. Lord Egmont, Lord Townshend. Colonel Barre. Sir Thomas Sewell. Horace Walpole. Lord Hertford’s favour with the King. Mr. Stanley. Marquess of Granby. A letter in the Gazetteer . . . . .130 Mr. Wedderburn to Mr. Grenville. July 31.—Interview with Lord Bute. Lord Clive. East India affairs . . . .131 Mr. William Gerard Hamilton to Earl Temple. August 1.—Lord Bristol and Lord Mulgrave. De Grey. Hutchinson. Lord Verney . . . . . .136 Mr. Whately to Mr. Grenville. August 1.—Account of a long conversation with Lord Mansfield upon the subject of Mr. Grenville’s part in the late political transactions. Lord Clive and Mr. Wedderburn .... . . . 138 Mr. Grenville to Colonel Hotham. August 2.-- Death of Lady Suffolk . . . . . . . . .147 Earl Temple to Mr. Grenville. August 3.—Mr. Grenville to the Earl of Mansfield. August 5.—Expresses his conviction that the factious confusion of the present times can only be cured by a serious conviction and right measures, instead of annual struggles for places and pensions . . . . . .148 Mr. Whately to Mr. Grenville. August 20.—Conversation with Lord Mansfield on the state of public affairs. Lord Chatham’s health. Horace Walpole. Lord Northington . . . 150 Mr. Whately to Mr. Grenville. August 21.—Lord Mansfield's political opinions. The Queen, the Duke of Grafton, and the Vice-Admiralty of Scotland. Lord .Chatham. Charles Townshend's last illness . . . . . .155 Mr. William Gerard Hamilton to Earl Temple. Sept ember.— Lord Camden and Lord Chatham on their nay to Bath. Charles Townshends death. Indecision of General Conway Lord Townshend ........ 159 viii CONTENTS. 1767. Page Mr. Wedderburn to Mr. Whately. September.—Lord Bute and the Duke of Grafton. Lord Rockingham and American Affairs. Sir Laurence Dundas . . . ... .160 Mr. Charles Lloyd to Earl Temple. September 10.—Lord North and the Exchequer Seal. Lord Bute’s illness. Lord Mansfield with the King . . . . . . . .162 Mr. Whately to Mr. Grenville. September 11.—The Duke of Grafton, Lord North, and Lord Mansfield have audience of the King. Lord Chatham. Lord Bute. Lord Barrington . .163 Captain Samuel Hood to Mr. Grenville. September 22.—Description of the Province of Nova Scotia . . . . . 164 The Rev. Dr. Markhum to Mr. Grenville. September 30.—On hi.'being offered the Deanery of Christ < hurch . . . 166 Mr. William Gerard Hamilton to Earl Temple. October 2.— Lord North, Chancellor of the Exchequer. Lord Chatham’s refusal to put the Privy Seal in commission . . . .167 Mr. Whately to Mr. Grenville. October 3. — Circumstances attending the Duke of York s death . ... . . 168 Mr. Whately to Mr Grenville. October 5.—Council upon the affairs of Ireland. Lord Townshend ..... 169 Mr. Whately to Mr. Grenville. October 8.—Another Council upon the affairs of 1 rclaud [The Grand Council, by the Author of Junius. Note.] ....... 170 Mr. Augn-tus Hervey to Mr. Grenville. October 17 . . . 175 Mr. Grenville to Mr. Whately. October 20.—Lord Townshend and the Government of Ireland. The Duke of Bedford. Mr. D^yiy* .......... 176 Earl Temple to Mr. Grenville. October 23.—His willingness to coalesce with the Bedfords . . . . . . .178 Mr. Grenville to Mr. Wallace. October 25.—Respecting the adjustment of his accounts when Treasurer of the Navy . . 179 Mr. Augustus Hervey to Mr. Grenville. November 3.—Election politics at Bath. Mr. James Grenville. Lord Camden . 180 Mr. Augustus Hervey to Mr. Grenville. November 5.—Lord Chatham, and the repurchase of Hayes. Lord Clare. Aiderman Beckford . • . . . . . . .181 Mr. Whately to Mr. Grenville. November 5.—General Irwin’s conversation with the King. The nature of Lord Chatham’s illness. Admiral Keppel. Sir Charles Bunbury and the Duke of Grafton................................................183 Mr. Grenville to Mr. Wallace. November 14.—On the subject of the Pay Office accounts ....... 187 Mr. Wilkes to Earl Temple. November 16.—Excuses some part of his conduct of which Lord Temple disapproves. The publi- 1767—1768. CONTENTS. IN Page cation of his letter to Lord Temple describing his duel with Lord Talbot . . . . . . . . .188 Mr. Mackintosh to Mr. Grenville. November 16.— Election matters in Scotland . . . . . . . .190 Earl Temple to Mr. Grenville. November 26.—[Lord Lyttelton’s account of conversations with the Duke of Bedford and Lord Mansfield. Note.]............................................192 Mr. Whately to Mr. Grenville. December 9.— Proceedings in the House of Commons. Army in Ireland. East India Dividends. Land Tax . . . . . . . . . .193 Mr. Whately to Mr. Grenville. December 14.—Ministerial negotiation with the Bedford party, for a separation from the Grenvilles . . . . . . . . . .194 Mr. Whately to Mr. Grenville. December 25.—The Dukes of Bedford and Grafton. Mr. Rigby and General Conway. Lord Gower. Lord Chatham and Lord Shelburne. Preponderating influence of the Bedfords......................................197 Lord Clive to Mr. Grenville. December 28.—His health requires him to go to the South of France ...... 200 Mr. Grenville to Mr. Whately. December 29.—A Word at Parting in the Political Register, attributed by the Bedfords to Lord Temple. [The authorship of the Word at Parting. Note.'] . 201 Lord Trevor to Mr. Grenville. T>ecember 29.—Rigby and Conway. The Duke of Newcastle. The Speaker Onslow. . . . 205 Mr. Grenville to Lord Trevor. December 31.—American affairs, &c. . . . . . . . . . . 206 Mr. Grenvilles Diary of Memorable Transactions: continued from vol. Hi. p. 397 ......... 208 1768. Mr. Whately to Mr. Grenville. January 1.—Lord Temple’s disavowal of the Word at Parting. The Duke of Grafton’s arrangement with the Bedfords. Sir Laurence Dundas. Rigby and General Conway. Lord Chatham. Lord Camden. Mr. Wedderbnrn. Lord Mansfield. [The Lett( r from Junius to Lord Chatham compared with those of Whately and Lord Lyttelton to Mr Grenville and Lord Temple. Note.] . . 240 Lord Lyttelton to Earl Temple. January 1.—Conversations with the Duke of Bedford, Edmund Burke, and Lord Hardwicke. General state of political parties. Lord Chatham. Dr. Addington The Bedfords and the Duke of Grafton . . 249 C. [the Author of Junius to Mr. Grenville. /’«/o « given in the Chatham Con expand(nee darhi" the proxml year. 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 27 the change of it. To all which questions no other answer has been obtained, than that the state of his health was such as made him utterly incapable of giving any advice; and recommending it to them to proceed in any manner they thought proper; not doubting but the steps they took would be such as must merit everybody’s approbation, but by no means pledging himself to approve. This enigmatical conduct has dissatisfied and alarmed the Court exceedingly, and they are determined to persevere for some time longer in their attempts to procure from Lord Chatham some more precise and positive declaration. The Duke of Grafton, however, has acquainted Lord Camden, Lord Northington, and the King himself, that he will not continue at the head of the Treasury, and be himself responsible for the conduct of Government under its present circumstances. That he took the situation which he now holds merely for the sake of acting under Lord Chatham, and not with a view of behm' Minister himself; and that unless Lord Chatham is both able and willing to stand forward, his determination is to retire. The Court, I am persuaded, will leave no expedient untried to accomplish one of these two points : to prevail on Lord Chatham to speak out explicitly; but if he perseveres in the ambiguous and unsatisfactory language he has held for some time past, to persuade the Duke of Grafton to continue on his own bottom, with every promise, and, as long as it suits the purpose of the Court, with every proof of their support. Your Lordship, I believe, may be assured that the present situation of the Ministrv, and the present purpose of the Court, is pretty nearly what I state it to be. In the meantime, however. Lord Egmont deolaicr 28 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, he has refused the Seals, and his declaration is universally believed. His refusal, he says, proceeded from the same principle as his resignation. While Lord Chatham has any part in the Administration he will have no part in it; but when that difficulty is removed, he shall be happy to accept of any situation the Court prefer for him. If the present system can be patched up, Shelburne is not to be absolutely removed, but to take the Northern Department, and the Southern is to be given to Mr. Townshend, who, it is said, has offered to accept of any situation with the Duke of Grafton ; but no one, I think, seems disposed (however they may be at last necessitated to it) voluntarily to repose the least degree of confidence in him. The friends of Lord Chatham, and particularly Lord Camden, are extremely apprehensive that there is some secret understanding between your Lordship and Lord Rockingham; and the fears of the Court are still more extensive, for in addition to that apprehension they entertain another, which is, that you likewise have some negotiation with Lord Chatham, and they think that you are spreading a net with which they are to be surrounded, and out of which they will find it difficult to escape. This, my dear Lord, is the present distracted situation in which you have left them, and out of which, if they were wise, they would have recourse to you to relieve them. The opinion of Lord Northington (who has not resigned, as it is reported) was that you would be sent to. But the prevailing idea is otherwise. Lord Rockingham and his people are hard at work, that they mav be the 17G7. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 29 persons applied to, and their language as to the Duke of Grafton is wonderfully changed. They speak of him in terms of very high commendation, and say that his single fault is being too great an enthusiast for Lord Chatham. Lord Bute is expected in town in about a fortnight, before which time no one seems to think any material alteration is likely to be made. Yours, my dear Lord, &c., — — — MR. AUGUSTUS HERVEY TO MR. GRENVILLE. Park Place, July 4, 1767. My dear Sir,—T think it right (although I wrote to you so lately) to tell you that I resigned the Secretary’s place the 1st, that is, 1 have wrote to do so, but find that my successor must be named first; and as I was quite ignorant, but from reports, of the cause of my brother’s coolness, 1 wrote to him (being told he did not wish to see mo at his house) to know the reason. The enclosed paper is word for word the copy of the three letters that passed between us, which 1 showed the King-on Thursday, in an audience I asked of him : wherein I found it necessary to do you, my dear Sir, that justice I owed your friendship and your honour, in the advice you had ever given me with regard to my brother; there was no other occasion for it. The King was as much surprised at my brother’s reasons as I was, as the world is, and as, I believe, you will be. However, yesterday, at the Levee, 1 went up to him, and insisted on some eclaircissement, when all lie had to say was, that he was told by people that he met Lord Temple and yourself several times at my house to transact business. I asked if that was a crime in me, if it had been so. I asked him if 1 bad not always told him that my opinion 30 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July? and friendship was fixed with you, and that nothing should break it on either; and whether he thought Lord Temple or you capable, if I was, of being carrying anything on to his disadvantage ; or that I might not have visitors exclusive of political ones. All he could say to me was, that he did not think I would have continued such an intimacy on. I laughed at all this, and told him I pitied him for letting such wretches break into such an attachment as I had showed to him ; that I thought myself used worse than ever man was; that I had showed these letters to the King, and had there defied him to lay anything to my charge of any kind; that he had obliged me to throw myself on the King a second time ; and that I desired he would never think more of me, but as a brother. In short, my dear Sir, I ask pardon for troubling you with all this, but as you and your brother are the innocent principals, from your friendship to me, I could not help it. The King said your advice to me was like a man of honour and a friend : he made me very easy on every account; I was an hour, very near, with him, in which I did not fail to lay open all the treatment I had met with before this. I am very happy to find myself justified everywhere for giving up, and my brother as much condemned, for these letters are no secret; I have shown a droite et a gauche, and I have a right to do so, when it has been long insinuated that I was very ungrateful, and not only wanted to throw my brother in Lord Temple’s and your hands, but flew in his face because I could not compass it, when I believe you know none of us would have given ourselves the trouble of undertaking anything so very little essential. I am, &c., &c., A. Hervey. 1767 GRENVILLE PAPERS. 31 MR. WILLIAM GERARD HAMILTON TO EARL TEMPLE. Monday, (duly 6, 1767.) My dear Lord,—The Duke of Grafton has declared he will not resign if Mr. Conway can be prevailed upon to continue, and the Court are usin^ their utmost endea-vours to succeed in that point. Contrary to all expectation, Lord Lute came to town on Saturday, and Lord Townshend’s opinion is (who was with him an hour) that no alteration would be made these three weeks. There was no Drawing-room yesterday1. The king continued at Richmond, and, as it is reported, not well: Mr. Conway, however, was with him there a considerable time. The object of that interview was certainly to prevail on Mr. Conway not to resign : the result of it I have not yet been able to learn ; nor do I yet know whether Lord Chatham has returned any and what answer to the King’s letter, which was wrote so long ago as last Wednesday2. The best intelligence I can get is, 1 In the Public Advertiser of Wednesday, July 8th. I find the following : “ Sunday the Earl of Bute was for a considerable time at Richmond, and it is remarked that there was no Court at St. James’s on that day as usual.” And again, in another paragraph, “The same morning there was a Cabinet Council held in South Audley Street, after which the Thane set out for a certain place near Q.” (Kew.) 2 July the 1st: the letter here alluded to does not appear in the Chatham Correspondence, but it is no doubt that which all the writers of the time, as well as some subsequent historians, mention as having elicited only a verbal reply. No letter from the King of a later date than Thursday the 25th of June having been found by the editors of the Chatham Correspondence, they were induced to believe, that in publishing the written reply to that communication, they were enabled to correct what appeared to them to be a mis-statement. Mr. Adolphus, however, one of the latest historians upon the subject, still asserts, even with the Chatham Correspondence before him, that “ his Lordship by a verbal answer excused himself from interfering in any new arrangement, as his health was too much impaired for exertion. Horace 32 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, that Lord Chatham was exceedingly affected by what the King said to him, and much worse in consequence of it. There is not a doubt, I believe, but that Lord Gower has had offers made to him, and refused them. It is generally understood that Lord Northington, before he left town, advised the King to have immediate recourse to your Lordship. Shelburne had last week two long conferences in the Closet, and everything which I cither hear or observe, tends to confirm me in what I wrote to you last week, that the Court will at all events avoid making any change to which they are not drove by the most unavoidable necessity. Your Lordship will probably have heard of the disagreement between Augustus Hervey and Lord Bristol, and of his having resigned the Secretaryship: his opinion is that young Jemmy Grenville will be his successor. That Lord Bute has notions of going abroad, is a thing circulated by those who have the best opportunities of knowing whether there is truth in such a report, and unless there was some foundation for it, the having such an idea prevail seems to answer, to those who spread it, no one desirable purpose. Since I wrote thus far, I have seen a person, who has Walpole, writing upon the events of this period, says that Lord Chatham “ would neither resign nor come forth, yet was continually sending Dr. Addington privately to the King to assure Uis Majesty he should be able to appear in a month or two.” Dr. Addington was therefore very probably the medium of the verbal communication in reply to the King’s letter of Wednesday the 1st of July, as it will be seen in a subsequent part of the present letter that he was in close attendance upon Lord Chatham on that day. It would seem, however, from the authority of Mr. Gerard Hamilton’s letters, that the answer, if it had been given, had not been suffered to transpire for at least a week afterwards. 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS 33 been for some time a patient of Dr. Addington’s, and who tells me that Dr. Addington sent on Thursday an excuse for not attending him: his apology was that Lord Chatham had been seized with the influenza, had been blooded, was much out of order, and had desired that he would sit up with him all night. This afternoon I hear that Lord Chatham’s answer to the King was extremely equivocal1, and that the impression it conveyed was, that he did not despair absolutely of being again able to serve His Majesty, but I think it will be in my power by the coach on Thursday to inform your Lordship more authentically upon that subject. Yours, &c., &c., — — — MR. WH1TELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. Monday, July 0, 1707. Dear Sir,—For once I write, even in these fluctuating times, with some degree of confidence that my intelligence is true. That everything is afloat, and the dissolution of the present system approaching, seems to be certain; the steps by which things have been brought into this situation are these. Last Friday seven-night Lord Northington was in the Closet, and declared his opinion that it was impossible to go on, that he could not bear it, and said that if his place could facilitate any arrangement he would willing!) quit it: out of the Closet, I believe, he was positive that he would do no more business ; and on Wednesday last (July 1st) he 1 This ivport appears to have been premature, as Mr. Hamilton's letter of the Wednesday following states that no answer had then In en received. VOL. IV. 1) 34 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, sot out for the Grange, expecting, however (as I since hear), to he sent for back, in order to assist in forming a new system. On the same Wednesday that he set out, the Duke of Grafton notified his determination to the King to go on no longer in this way; the reasons for which are supposed to be that, finding himself deserted by Conway and Northington, not trusting to Shelburne or Townshend, and convinced that Chatham would do no business, he was sensible that his own situation was become too responsible and dangerous. Whether these were or were not his reasons, he made the declaration, and, as I understand, suggested the necessity of calling upon Lord Chatham for an explanation of his sentiments upon so difficult a crisis. On Thursday \ the King wrote to Lord Chatham, stating the difficulties of Government, asking for his advice, and intimating that if it were not explicitly given his Lordship could not take it amiss if another system were formed without his concurrence; these are said to be the contents of the letter. I doubt the information, because it is so particular; but it is true that a letter was written. No answer has, I believe, been yet received, and I have reason to think that Lord Chatham is really not in a condition to give any, for all last week he was extremely ill, I believe dangerously, and yesterday was so bad that Lady Chatham would not suffer Dr. Addington to leave him during the whole day, though he was engaged to a consultation. 1 Mr. Gerard Hamilton says Wednesday, but perhaps the letter may not have been sent until the following day : the difference is unimportant : both authorities agree that the King did write to Lord Chatham about that time. 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 35 This step of the Duke of Grafton was taken, I am persuaded, without any concert with anybody. It is evident that Lord Bute’s friends knew nothing of it, from several symptoms, one of which is, that but a day or two before, Mr. Mackenzie took an opportunity to enter into a conversation with Sir Fletcher Norton on his and Wedderburn’s situation, lamenting that they were excluded from any share in an Administration so well established, and insinuating his inclination to negotiate for them ; to which Sir Fletcher answered, that neither he nor Wedderburn were uneasy at their situation, and did not desire others to give themselves any trouble about them. Since that Mr. Mackenzie is gone out of town, apparently ignorant of the transaction ; and some of Lord Bute’s friends, by their language, appeared not to know it some time after I was acquainted with it. To this hour it is not very generally talked of, but all I have told you positively I take to be indisputably true. 1 he Duke of Grafton was with the Kina' on Saturday, at Richmond, and yesterday General Conway and some of the other Ministers went there, but only upon ordinary business ; His Majesty having the influenza to a great degree, did not come to towm. The speculations you may be sure are very various, and speculations soon become assertions, so that it is already said that the Rockinghams, and the Bedfords, and the Grenvilles, will be or arc sent to, each man believing as he wishes. There is no foundation yet, I believe, to say which wav the current will turn. It is said that a negotiation has been attempted with the Rockinghams, for which I can find no other ground than that Conway is very anxious to bring it about, and has been lately with the Mar- i) 2 36 GRENVILLE PAPERS. .July, quess. It is said with still more confidence that an attempt has been made upon the Bedfords, through the means of Lord Gower, the particulars of which I think I know precisely, and they are these. His Grace took an opportunity of breaking the subject to his Lordship at White's, by expressing his wishes that his Lordship’s friends had a share in Government, and held a distant language upon it, which Lord Gower purposely understood as referring to all his connections, and therefore listened to, ’till the Duke began to contract his general discourse into particular expressions of regard for the Duke of Bedford; upon which Lord Gower threw out that his connections extended also to Mr. Grenville and Lord Temple ; to which his Grace answered that he wished to see Lord Temple in the King’s Government, and the terms he used induced Lord Gower to think he meant at the head of that Government; but the next day he either called upon him or sent for him, and explained his meaning to be only that he should be glad to see Lord Temple in a great office, but did not point at his forming an Administration. In the course of the conversation he observed that if such an union as he wished could take place, they might do what they pleased with Charles Townshend ; and Lord Gower, I understand, was very explicit in letting him see that he had no room to expect any defection of the Bedfords from their connections with you. MR. WILLIAM GERARD HAMILTON TO EARL TEMPLE. Wednesday, (duly 8, 1767.) My dear Lord,—I saw my friend late last night, at which time no answer whatever had been returned by 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 37 Lord Chatham to the King’s letter. The Court, I understand, in order to put him as much in the wrong as possible, are determined to wait a day or two longer, and then to consider his silence as equivalent to a refusal. Lord Bute continues still in town, and will remain here, as my friend informs me, ’till everything is settled. Offers have been made to Lord Rockino-ham, not to be himself at the head of the Treasury, but to support the Duke of Grafton there. Lord Rockingham’s answer was, that he would take any office the Court thought fit for him, or be extremely well satisfied without any situation at all, but that his three conditions were, from neither of which he could possibly depart, that Mr. Yorke should be Chancellor, Lord Albemarle at the head of the army, and the Duke of Richmond Secretary of State. These terms have been refused, and that negotiation for the present is at an end. Lord Rockingham’s engagements are, I understand, so very positive both to Mr. Yorke and Lord Albemarle, that he cannot himself accept of any situation ’till their expectations are gratified; and the laying aside Lord Camden and Lord Granby must, I should think, while the Duke of Grafton continues, be two very impracticable preliminaries L Your Lordship will observe that hitherto all the negotiations of the Court have been with a view to support the present Administration, and not to supply the place of it, and Lord Rockingham was applied to, not to be the successor, but the auxiliary of the Duke of Grafton. 1 Besides the offence to Conway, in proposing to place Lord Albemarle, a young* r general, at IL head of the army 38 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, Whenever thing’s are drove to that extremity, which they probably wilUbe in the course of this week, that a total change shall become necessary, my friend tells me he has hopes (and he assures me likewise he has the strongest wishes) that your Lordship may be applied to in preference to any one, and the favourable light in which he says he knows you stand both with the King and with those 1 who are supposed to influence him, is the foundation of his opinion : though at the same time I was informed by him that both Lord Holland and Mr. Conway are endeavouring earnestly to procure the offer for Lord Rockingham and his friends. This is, as nearly as I can collect, the situation of affairs at the moment I am writing, with one additional circumstance, which is, that the Duke of Grafton has declared he would go on himself without Lord Chatham, provided he could gain over three people. My friend, I know, is one of the three, but who are the other two I can only conjecture. Wednesday night, 11 o’clock. I have seen mv friend again this evening: he informs me that the Duke of Grafton goes out of town tomorrow, and returns on Saturday or Sunday, ’till which time the Court are determined to wait for Lord Chatham’s answer, and if none is received from him by that time, their resolution is to proceed immediately to form a new Administration : the plan of propping the old one being now, I believe, laid aside. It is agreed on all hands that Lord Chatham is worse than ever. For 1 Lord Northington was said, at this early stage of the Ministerial crisis, to have recommended the King to have recourse to the Grenvilles, and the report is corroborated by Horace Walpole, in his Memoirs of George III. 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 39 these last ten days he has not been out of the house, and for these two days he has not been out of his bed. My friend seems still of opinion that your Lordship will be sent to, but at the same time declares that no man living can pretend to conjecture what resolution such a Court, with such advisers, will come to. If there is an intention of having recourse to your Lordship, I am promised the earliest information of it. I will come immediately to Stowe, and give you an exact account (which I have the best reason to think I can obtain) of all the transactions since your absence, some circumstances leading me rather to doubt the truth of what is circulated by the friends of Lord Rockingham. Though I apprehend I shall have very little to inform your Lordship of by the coach on Saturday, I will nevertheless have the pleasure of writing to you. In the mean time you will believe me, my dear Lord, &c., &c. MR. WHATELY TO EARL TEMPLE’. July 8, 1767. My Lord,—I informed you in my last that a conversation had been held with Lord Gower, the tendency of which was to sound how far his friends might be in- 1 In a letter to Mr. Grenville on the previous day, Whately said :— “ I have informed Lord Temple of the news of the time, but if you should go over to Stowe, or he come to "Wotton, I will beg the favour of you to let me know, that I may not continue to trouble him with letters, when you will be able to acquaint him with all the intelligence. I can convey to you.” I shall hereafter have occasion to notice the mutual communication of their correspondent's information, between Lord Temple and Air. Grenville, particularly on subjects connected with the writings of Junius. 40 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July> duced to leave the other parts of the Opposition. His Lordship is now gone to Trentham, and thus ends that negotiation. Another of much the same kind has been opened with Lord Rockingham, by the means of General Conway, but it was pushed so far as to get the Marquess to name his propositions, which were, that the Duke of Richmond should be Secretary of State, Lord Albemarle at the head of the army instead of Lord Granby, and Mr. Yorke Chancellor; if these were complied with, he desired no situation for himself; but still he said that neither this nor any arrangement would he accede to, in which your Lordship, Mr. Grenville, and the Duke of Bedford did not concur. I do not vouch for the truth of this, but I have it from men of so good authority that I cannot help believing it, and if it should be true, it is evident that he intended to leave the Treasury open. These propositions it is said have been rejected, but the story at Court to-day is, that some kind of negotiation is still open with him, and I know that to-day one who has easy access to him declared it was his Lordship’s determination not to accede to any patch-work, or to any arrangement which did not comprehend all parts of the present Opposition. I do not understand that this supposed negotiation is in consequence of any direct message, but soundings, conversations, reports of conversations, &c., and the whole must be received with some decree of caution, though I think it is so well authenticated in the manner I have related it to your Lordship, as to deserve a greater share of credit than I usually give to such kind of accounts. I have the honour to be, &c., Thomas Whately. 1767. GRENVILLE PVEERS 41 MR. WILLIAM GERARD HAMILTON TO EARL TEMPLE. Friday. July 10, 1767. My dear Lord,—Agreeable to what I apprehended, things remain precisely in the same situation as when I had last the honour of writing to you. The Duke of Grafton left town yesterday, declaring, as I understand, that if the King insisted upon it, he would still continue at the head of the Treasury, though it was both against his inclination and his opinion. But I am informed that this is a request which the King does not intend to make to him. In case there should be a change of Administration, the Duke of Grafton will then accept of any employment that is not an employment of business. Mr. Conway wrent on Wednesday to Air. Townshend’s at Richmond, to desire he would be at Court on Thursday, but real or affected illness prevented him. Mr. Townshend, however, I hear, is confident that all these negotiations will terminate in his being at the head of the Treasury : an idea which I know Lord Mansfield ridicules, as beino1 agreeable neither to you, to Lord Rockingham, nor even to Lord Bute. Mr. Conway is said to have objected strongly to the removing Lord Granby, upon any arrangement, from the head of the army. Lord Bristol has not appointed your nephew his Secretary, but a Mr. Jones, who married a sister of Lord Tyrone’s, and whom your Lordship may possibly have seen with the ladies in Upper Brook Street. A young man of the lowest birth, and remarkably illiterate, even in a country where being illiterate is not apt to be remarked ; but to atone for these defects he has a very 42 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, handsome face, and rather an elegant person. This appointment is at present the reigning topic of conversation, and the source of much entertainment to the male, and of much resentment to the female world. Lord Granby is at present enough out of order to be attended by Dr. Addington, who assured him, no longer ago than yesterday, that though Lord Chatham had been and was still exceedingly ill, yet he did not entertain a doubt of his entire and perfect recovery. Negotiations are still going on with the Rockingham party, and they are in the course of every treaty threatened that, unless they become more moderate in their terms, your Lordship and Mr. Grenville will be applied to. What will be the effect of that terror I am a little at a loss to conjecture. I avoid for the present troubling you with anything more, because since I have wrote thus far I have seen my friend, who has informed me that Rigby is gone to Wotton and to Stowe1, from whom your Lordship will hear, not only of the offers made, and the preference given to Lord Rockingham, but of the express exclusion to the friends of your Lordship and Mr. Grenville. Whatever little political disappointment I may feel upon this occasion, I assure you, my dear Lord, with the utmost sincerity and affection, it is more than balanced by the fresh opportunity with which it furnishes me of repeating to you in the strongest terms my esteem and attachment, which, as they were not founded in interest, no interest can change, and from which no prospect of 1 From whence he returned to Woburn to meet Lord Rockingham and Admiral Keppel. See the Private Journal of the Duke of Bedford, in Bedford Correspondence, vol. iii. p 365. 1767. GRENVILLE PARERS. 43 honour and advantage can ever divert me. Adieu, my dear Lord, and do me the justice to believe me yours, most faithfully and unalterably, — — — I have this moment received your Lordship’s letter of the 9th. Mr. Townshend came to-day by the King’s express desire, though much out of order, to the Levee. Ue was in the Closet a long time ; what passed I have not yet been able to collect. MR GRENVILLE TO MR. WHATELY. Stowe, July 12, 1767. Dear Whately,—I came hither from Wotton last night, and return thither to-morrow morning. I found your two packets on my arrival on Friday night at Wotton, and Mr. Lloyd gave me a third from you dated yesterday. Mr. Rigby, whom I found at Wotton on Friday, went to Woburn yesterday, and came over hither this morning, and is now returned again to Woburn. Lord Rockingham came there yesterday to dinner, and intends to stay ’till this evening or to-morrow morning, when he goes back to London. Lord Temple and I have had a long conversation with Mr. Rigby, which concluded as amicably as is possible, and I have every reason to believe that my friends at Woburn are in the kindest and fairest dispositions towards me. My opinions upon all public business are the same as vou have long known them. As to measures, what I have seen confirms me in them. As to arrangements with regard to persons and places, I wish to see one made which is likely to have credit, ability and permanenev, and in which my friends may find an honourable place, but for my own 44 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, part, I would upon no account be obtruded by any one upon the King, nor shall my pretensions be a bar to any establishment which shall be for the public advantage. An enlarged and united system is the only one which can be so, and if disorder of every kind, both at home and in our colonies, has been the consequence of instability and disunion, the properest means to assert the sovereignty of the kingdom is an Administration built on a strong basis. This is my sense and language at this time, and I believe that of the wisest and honestest men in this country. I am glad to find it universally adopted among all those whom I have seen or heard from, and this, I am told, is the language and determination of Lord Rockingham. I do not find that any specific proposition has yet been made. With regard to myself, I have insisted with Mr. Rigby that my name shall not be mentioned for any office whatsoever, but I sincerely wish that my friends may be properly placed, and if that can be done consistently with those principles we have adopted, and without breaking us to pieces, it will on all accounts be the happiest event that can befall me, and the most beneficial to the public. Aly being in office would only give jealousy to many, and throw difficulties in the way even if things are well intended, without my having the real means to enforce anything, whereas my friends taking post in Government would probably be some restraint to what is wrong, and a support to what is right. I am sure if I can meliorate the situation of my friends instead of sacrificing their just pretensions, myself to go into a great office, the change will be happy, both for my own ease, honour, and the public welfare. I am, &c., &c., George Grenville. 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 45 MR. WILLIAM GERARD HAMILTON TO EARL TEMPLE. Monday, (July 13, 1767.) My dear Lord,—Though you have probably had a much more authentic account of all the late transactions with the Court than I can presume to give you, I shall nevertheless continue to communicate to you the intelligence I receive from my friend, and from others whose information I think deserves to be credited. In the first negotiation with Lord Gower, the Duke of Grafton intimated that the Court would have no objection to your Lordship’s being at the head of the Treasury, but Lord Gower reminding his Grace of what he had said on this subject in a second interview, the Duke of Grafton evaded it by asserting that he spoke only what was his own belief, and not by any authority from the Court'. I mention this circumstance for the sake of explaining to your Lordship what the Duke of Grafton had in view by this piece of disingenuity. It had of late been much circulated, and by the Court it was much believed, that neither Mr. Grenville, nor the Duke of Bedford and his friends, would acquiesce in your Lordship’s being placed at the head of the Treasury. The Duke of Grafton’s object was to discover the truth or falsity of this idea, in hopes of creating a future disagreement between your Lordship and Air. Grenville. But finding they were not likely to succeed in that plan of making a division, they are now endeavouring to divide Mr. (iron-ville and the Duke of Bedford, and this, I am persuaded, under whatever appearances it mav be disguised, is the 1 See Mr. Whately’s report of the conversation between the I hike of Grafton and Lord Gower, a)ite, page 36. 46 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, great object of the Court, and of Lord Rockingham, in the present negotiation. There is likely to arise a very great difference of opinion as to the powers which were given to Lord Rockingham to form a new Administration. His friends say that the proposition was an unlimited one in every respect, except that your Lordship and Mr. Grenville were excluded. This the Duke of Grafton denies absolutely, lie owns that Lord Rockingham had an offer of the Treasury, but declares that offer was circumscribed by many conditions, such as that Lord Granby was to continue at the head of the army, and Lord Camden to remain Chancellor, with many other particulars ; and this last account is much the most probable, as these were the very terms insisted on by the Court, in the negotiation with Lord Gower. To Mr. Rigby, I understand, Lord Rockingham stated that he had the power of forming any Administration he thought proper, with the single exception of your Lordship and Mr. Grenville ; but a variety of circumstances concur to make me believe (besides the assertions of the Duke of Grafton) that his Lordship overrated exceedingly, and departed a good deal from the truth, in the account he gave at M oburn of the Commission which was sent him by the Court. In the first place I know that Lord Holland has always declared that the terms offered to Lord Rockingham were so confined that he neither could or would accept of them : and I apprehend his Lordship has very good opportunity of being acquainted with the nature of the transactions which have lately passed. I know likewise that Lord Rockingham himself has said to a person who lives with him in the greatest confidence, that the 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 47 offers made him were rather an offence than a compliment, and that he could not accept them without being disgraced. Upon this state of the case, which I am persuaded is the true one, I am at a loss to find what merit his Lordship’s refusal can create with the Duke of Bedford and his friends, supposing he should refuse. To say that he did it upon their account is a pretence and an imposition, by which T should think it was scarce possible they could be duped, and yet this notion prevails here, and very universally. The report that Lord Chatham is recovering very fast gains ground, and gains credit. Lord Holland is of opinion, that upon Lord Rockingham’s declining, Mr. Townshend will be promoted, and the present Administration be continued, with the addition of such recruits as can be collected. In the midst of all this confusion, Lord Bristol is hastening as fast as possible to Ireland, lest a new arrangement should take place, and prevent him. It has been already hinted to your Lordship that Lord Bristol’s success in Ireland would depend upon whether you chose to interest yourself or not upon that occasion. But if this should be an object of your attention, some measures must be taken, and I must have soon the honour of conversing with yon. I have this moment received your Lordship’s letter of the 12th. As I write not by the post, but by the coach, and my letter may escape unopened, 1 must beg leave to trouble you with my opinion (and at Stowe I shall take the liberty of troubling von with my reasons for it), that if any positive engagement has been entered into with Lord 48 GRENVILLE TAPERS. July, Rockingham and his friends, by your Lordship and Mr. Grenville, it is a compact, upon whatever conditions it may be made, against which, as a politician, I beg leave to enter my protest; though as an individual, from my deference to your Lordship’s judgment, I shall very readily accede to it. I do not propose leaving town ’till Saturday, and shall therefore have the honour of writing to you again. Yours, my dear Lord, &c., &c. MR. GRENVILLE TO THE EARL OF SUFFOLK. Wotton, July 14, 1767. My dear Lord,—You will have heard, before this can reach you, of the negotiation which has been opened with Lord Rockingham, by a message from the King through the Duke of Grafton, which was delivered at a meeting which they had at General Conway’s house, on Tuesday last, the 7th of this month. The message was, that the King wished that Lord Rockingham and his friends might form his Administration, and that he intended his Lordship should resume the office of First Lord of the Treasury. Lord Rockingham having asked whether he was at liberty to communicate this to others besides his own friends, was answered, that the question had been foreseen, and that he might communicate it; but it seemed intended that this was meant to the Duke of Bedford and his friends only. After this conference, the Duke of Grafton went the next day to Newmarket, and was to stay there till yesterday, when Lord Rockingham was to make his proposals, and in the mean time he has neither seen nor heard from 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 49 the King-. The account of this conference was given by Lord Rockingham, in a letter to Lord Albemarle, who, with Lord Gower and Mr. Rigby, were at Woburn with the Duke of Bedford. The letter was writ the same night, and received on Wednesday morning. It was immediately shown, by Lord Rockingham’s desire, to the Duke of Bedford, and concluded with a proposition from Lord Rockingham, to come down to Woburn, if the Duke of Bedford and his friends were disposed to act with them in Administration. The answer given was, that the Duke of Bedford and Mr. Grenville were one, and that he would not proceed without consulting me. The intended visit was, therefore, postponed ’till that was done, and Mr. Rigby proposed to go to London to know whether I was returned from the West, and to give Lord Rockingham the meeting, which he did accordingly that evening, and repeated to him their resolution not to do anything without me, and that they were determined not to be separated. In consequence of this, Mr. Rigby came hither on Friday, the 10th of this month, the day of my return home from the West, and from him I learnt the first intelligence of this negotiation. He assured me, in the strongest terms, of the Duke of Bedford’s regard, and union with me both in system and in principles, and his own determination to cultivate it to the utmost. He said he had told Lord Rockingham, that neither the Duke of Bedford himself, nor he, as an individual, would ever depart from the ground we had taken, to assert and establish the entire sovereigntv of Great Britain over our Colonies. That he was told in answer, that he, Lord Rockingham, declared for a wide and comprehensive system; but I do not know that anything vol. iv. e 50 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, either with regard to measures or men has been talked of in detail, nor is it certain to what degree Lord Rockingham is authorized. In this situation, after acknowledging the sense which I had of the behaviour of the Duke of Bedford and his friends towards me, my answer was, that as to measures my opinions were well known, especially with regard to the capital one of asserting and establishing the sovereignty of Great Britain over America, in which I was happy to find that the Duke of Bedford and his friends so perfectly agreed with me ; that as to arrangement of offices, as no message was sent to me I had no answer to give, nor, if there had, would I have given any answer without Lord Temple; that I entirely approved of a wide and comprehensive plan for an Administration, as the ability, strength, and authority which might thereby be given to it, would be the likeliest means to give it permanency, without which no system for the public good could be pursued; that upon these principles I should be extremely glad to see my friends honourably placed in the King’s Government, and would cheerfully support an Administration formed upon them, but that I would do it out of office, and I insisted that my name should not be mentioned for any whatsoever. Mr. Rigby went to Woburn, on Saturday the 11th, to meet Lord Rockingham, and I went the same day to Stowe. On Sunday morning Mr. Rigby came over to us from Woburn, and told me that the Duke of Bedford and Lord Gower were extremely satisfied with my answer, to which Lord Temple agreed in every particular, and we both assured Mr. Rigby, that no factious or interested views of ours should stand in the way of any public settlement, which, if possible, we sincerely wished to see made upon those 1767- GRENVILLE PAPERS. 51 principles in which Mr. Rigby assured us that we all concurred. His language in both visits was as open and as amicable as could be. Upon the whole, my dear Lord, I really wish that my friends could be honourably placed in the King’s Government upon principles which I neither can depart from myself or advise others to. They might by that means be .enabled to do some good, and I should be happy indeed, if by waving any pretensions of mine I could contribute to that great purpose instead of getting an office for myself, which would only give jealousy and umbrage, and could in the present moment be attended with no public benefit. I hope you will approve of what Lord Temple and I have said and done upon this occasion, and I trust that you will believe me when I earnestly beg of you to take no resolution contrary to it, out of your regard and kindness to me. Every motive as a public man makes me wish to see you honourably placed in Government, if that can be done, and you know me too well to think I would wish, much less propose it otherwise. What prospect there is that this negotiation will end as it ought to do, you will be able to judge as well as I can, from the account I have given you of all I know. The offer will only serve to weaken and incense if nothin^ is reallv intended, and instead of dividing will only unite. On the other hand, the conveying it through the Duke of Grafton and General Conway, and letting it rest there for six or seven days without Lord Rockingham’s seeing the King, or hearing anything more of it, does not, according to the usual course of things, seem to promise much success, especially if it is true that on Friday last, during this interval, the King sent for Mr. Charles Townshend and had a conversation of e 2 52 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, an hour and a half with him, which Lord Rockingham knows nothing of. I have troubled you with this long letter that you may be fully apprised of all that has passed, and of my sentiments upon it, as far as I can form any in the present uncertain state; always wishing for your approbation and the continuance of that friendship from you with which I am, my dear Lord, &c., &c., George Grenville. P.S. As some of the particulars of this letter are not fit for the post, I have desired Mr. Lloyd to carry it to town, and to inquire at your house for some safer and less public conveyance. EARL TEMPLE TO MR. GRENVILLE. Stowe, Wednesday night, July 15, 1767. My dear Brother,—The enclosed to yourself came in a letter of Hervey’s to the Lord of Eastbury, and I transmit it to you. I send you, likewise, the only letters or intelligence I have received since we parted. My Arlington Street correspondent1 is, I fancy, not far off the mark. All Stowe salutes kindly all Wotton, and I am, &c., Temple. 1 Mr. William Gerard Hamilton was long a resident in Arlington Street, as was also Horace Walpole, who, in describing to Lady Ossory the effects of a storm on New Year’s Day, 1779, mentions that “ one of the Gothic towers at Lady Pomfret’s house (now Single Speech Hamilton’s), in my street, felt through the roof, and not a thought of it remains.” 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 53 MR. GRENVILLE TO EARL TEMPLE. Wotton, July 16, 1767. My dear Brother, —The intelligence you have transmitted to me from your London correspondents agrees exactly with my own opinion as to the sincerity of this transaction. I have been convinced from the beginning that Lord Rockingham over-rated the powers supposed to be given to him by the message, and that the Duke of Grafton acted exactly the same part with Lord Gower and Lord Rockingham, with the same view of disuniting and getting some individuals. The other speculations in your letters I am more doubtful of. For my own part, I have received no accounts whatever of what is going on since I saw you. If it is true that Lord Rockingham stated to Mr. Rigby that his powers were unlimited, “with the single exception of vour Lordship and myself,” we might have saved ourselves the trouble of insisting that we should not be named for any office, as that was done to our hands; but though this may seem ridiculous, our answers could only be according to what was stated to us. W e shall soon hear further ; in the mean time, the ground which we have left it upon is solid, and in all respects the properest for us to stand upon. T send you back your letters with many thanks, and I am, &c., &c., George Grenville. 54 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, MR. CHARLES LLOYD TO EARL TEMPLE. Thursday, July 16, 1767. My Lord,—I was despairing of being able to give your Lordship any account beyond the level of common discourse, when 1 met Mr. Burke 1 (General Conway’s late Under Secretary), who informed me that Lord Rockingham met the Duke of Grafton yesterday, and after complaining to his Grace of the reports prevailing in town that he had exceeded his commission, justified himself, before General Conway, from that charge. The conversation was very long. In the course of it Lord Rockingham observed that he was responsible to a large body of people for his conduct, and that his determination was to act in concert with the Duke of Bedford and his friends. Upon your Lordship’s name and Mr. Grenville’s being mentioned, and objected to, as I understand, by the Duke of Grafton, Lord Rockingham added that your conduct upon this occasion required him to consult you, and that he should not act, therefore, without such concert. Lord Rockingham was then asked whether he would make a part of the present Administration, to which he gave an absolute negative. “ I am, then, to tell the King that the whole is off.” Most certainly, replied Lord Rockingham. My Gazette was rather confused in his delivery. I could not find out that any expostulations had passed between the Duke of Grafton and Lord Rockingham as to the varied question which your Lordship observes took place yesterday, only whether Lord Rockingham wrould make a part of the present Administration. 1 William Purim. 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 55 The Duke of Grafton, in some part of the conversation, paused and hesitated, as if he meant to take it ad referendum, but the conclusion was the idea of telling the King that it was absolutely off. Lord Bute was in town yesterday. The King stayed in town ’till five o’clock, and to-day ’till four, but to-day it was owing to his giving audience to Lord Clive \ who OCT© 7 has brought a diamond equal, it is said, to the Pitt diamond. I will not trouble you with any observations, but just mention that the best description of the public situation has perhaps been given by a blundering Irish woman, a Mrs. Oliver, of Twickenham, whose house having been robbed, and the thief being taken and condemned, is become to her an object of compassion, and accordingly she has applied to Lord Hertford, who told her he did not know how things were, and he could not ask. She then went to Mr. Conway, who said he was out; and lastly to Lord Shelburne, who told her he was not in ; and so the man will be hanged. I am, &c., &c., . Lloyd. MR. AUGUSTUS HERVEY TO MR. GRENVILLE Park Place, July 16, 1767. Dear Sir,—I thank you for your obliging letter, which I received on my return to town, where I have been three days in all this confused scene, and which still continues. I should have wrote to you Tuesday evening, but concluded vou had more authentic and more minute accounts of what was going on (han I could possibly procure for you, at least than I could ’ Lord Clive had just returned from Iu lia. 56 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, depend upon, for the accounts are various, and very much depending as every individual wishes. I was at Court this morning, when there was not at the Drawingroom any one person but who were of the family, and, properly speaking, in waiting, except four Foreign Ministers : but when the King was retired, the Duke of Grafton and Mr. Conway came, the first of which was in with the King about two hours, and, whilst there, received the final answer in a letter from Lord Rockingham1, which I have been told from authority (that I could every way depend on) that it was a more peremptory refusal than ever. Lord Bute is in town still, and his people’s language is now that the King is determined not to be a prisoner, but their looks do not look as if they thought they could long rely on those noble resolutions. The other Lord B----------(Bristol) now says he will by no means go to Ireland, unless absolutely commanded, and, by what I find, every person has refused Mr. Conway’s Seals. Lord Egmont will not stir whilst Lord Chatham holds the Privy Seal, but, as I am told, is ready to take any step the King pleases if he is removed. I hear you are all cemented together, and ’tis therefore supposed you must at length succeed in oversetting; pour le reste apres : no one can answer; 1 Lord Rockingham, in a letter to the Duke of Bedford of this date, writes : “ I have since had a note from his Grace to say that my letter did not get to him ’till after he came out of the King’s Closet; and that so he could not send me an answer till he had seen the King tomorrow : by this means a little more time is gained for commenting upon my letter, and perhaps for consideration what steps now to take. I believe it is still doubtful what shall be done.”—Bedford Correspondence, vol. iii. p. 309. Lord Rockingham seems to insinuate, -what Mr. Hervey asserts, that the Duke of Grafton received his letter in the King's presence, and Mr. Hervey being in waiting, as one of the King's household, was probably v.. )1 informed. 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 57 you know my wishes, my attachment, and my determinations. My dear Sir, I shall say no more, hut, independent of myself, I do assure you without flattery, that I think ’till you can determine to take all our melancholy affairs under your direction, we can have no prospect of success. Whenever you can do so, J trust you will, and as much as J honour and love you, I do not wish to see you there, ’till it is entirely settled between yourself and the King. I am, &c., A. Hervey. EARL TEMPLE TO MR. GRENVILLE. Stowe, July 17, 1767, past 3. My dear Brother,—I have nothing new to add to what I say in my letter to Mr. Rigby 1 ; however insidious the Court has been at the outset, I think Lord Rockingham is up with them, and I take it for granted nothing will come of this business, though I cannot see what will be to take place. Your most affectionate. Temple. MR. RIGBY TO EARL TEMPLE AND MR. GRENVILLE. Woburn Abbey, 12 o’clock, Saturday, July 18, 1767. Mr. Rigby has the honour to send the enclosed letters2 to Stowe, and to Wotton, and at the Duke of 1 See Bedford Correspondence, vol. iii. p. 379. 2 The letters which passed upon this occasion between the Duke of Bedford, Lord Rockingham, and the Duke of Grafton are printed in the Bedford Correspondence, and therefore it is unnecessary to repeat 58 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, Bedford’s request to add, that his Grace, who goes to London to-morrow, would be very desirous of hearing them here. The following, however, from Lord Weymouth to Rigby, has not, I believe, been printed. Lord Weymouth to Mr. Rigby. White’s, Wednesday, 9 o’clock, (July 15, 1767.) Dear Rigby,—I can’t help writing, though I have very little information to send you. I have just seen the Marquess, who did not see the Duke of Grafton ’till this morning. He told him what was agreed at Woburn, and said that he now hoped to be able to form a Ministry upon a comprehensive plan; but as this differed a little from the first proposal from his Grace, he could not properly desire an audience till he knew whether His Majesty was disposed to receive a plan on this comprehensive idea. The Duke of Grafton staggered a little at the word comprehensive, desired to know what it meant, and said that every person who at present held an office might be removed by it. Lord Rockingham said that might or might not be, but that he could not think of putting places to men, or of saying who should be removed, ’till he had the honour of seeing His Majesty. The Duke of Grafton told him that it would have been better, if he could have formed an Administration with his and the Duke of Bedford’s friends, and that it would have been less alarming to the Court. Lord Rockingham told him that it was impossible, and that we were determined to abide by our present resolution. He told his Grace of the report of the town, that he had exceeded his powers. The Duke confessed that he had not, and said he hoped they would not believe any idle reports of each other which might be propagated. Lord Rockingham expects to hear to-morrow more of this, and to know whether he is to see the King or not, but said that he did not think it w’orth while to send this account to the Duke of Bedford. 1 told him that I should, and as he thinks it not impossible that he may see Conway to-night, who is at this moment with the Duke of Grafton, he will immediately let me know, if he should hear anything more from him, that I may send it in the morning with this letter. The Duke of Grafton has seen the King this morning since his conversation with Lord Rockingham. It is impossible, I think, to comment upon this, as it contains very little more than we knew before. I am, Ac,, Weymouth. I have just heard for certain that the Thane a is come to town, and it is said that Lord B. (Bristol) has declared to the King that he will not go to Ireland. ’ Lord Bute, 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 59 the sentiments of Lord Temple and Mr. Grenville upon the present crisis, in any manner they choose to convey them. MR. GRENVILLE TO EARL TEMPLE. Wotton, July 18, 1767. My dear Brother,— I send you enclosed the answers which I have given to Mr. Rigby’s two notes, which I hope jou will approve, and that you will think it right, in a matter of this delicate nature, to put into writing the answer which we both gave to him verbally at Stowe, especially as Lord Rockingham and the Duke of Bedford both refer to a plan agreed upon at Woburn, the particulars of which it is impossible that we should be yet thoroughly acquainted with. I observe that the Duke of Grafton says repeatedly to Lord Rockingham that there would be great facility in the Court, if the negotiation were confined to his, Lord Rockingham’s, and the Duke of Bedford’s friends. What then are the articles of difficulty ? You and I have insisted upon not being named for any office, nor have any of our friends been yet specifically mentioned either by us or to us. This, therefore, seems to me only a continuance of his Grace’s jockey tricks, to endeavour to divide us, by persuading the Duke of Bedford’s and Lord Rockingham’s friends that they are sacrificed for us, which is the very reverse of the truth, and no notice is taken that we have insisted only upon measures, and that we have expressly declined being named for any office. Ibis makes it necessary to be cautious, lest our true ground should be mistaken. I have the pleasure to tell you that all our friends 60 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, whom I have heard from approve our conduct and answer- in the strongest terms. Lord Suffolk came here from Wiltshire yesterday to dinner, and goes away this morning. Mr. Whately came in the evening from London, and brings me the same account of warm approbation from such of our friends as are in town. He talks of returning thither in a day or two, unless his longer stay would give him the pleasure of seeing you here, which we flatter ourselves will be the case, as I understood you proposed coming with our Eastbury guests about this time. I sincerely wish you would, as it is certainly better that we should be together when the denouement of this farce appears, which I think is not far off. Lord Suffolk, Mr. Whately, and all the inhabitants of Wotton, salute the inhabitants of Stowe most kindly. I am, my dear Brother, &c., George Grenville. I have heard from Mr. Augustus Hervey, that Lord Bristol has declared that he will not go to Ireland, and from other hands, that he has been with the King to resign, as Lord Chatham’s authority is not to continue. Earl temple to mr. rigby. Stowe; past 3, July 18, 1767. Lord Temple returns thanks to Mr. Rigby for all the obliging trouble he has taken, and sends back the Duke of Bedford’s servant, without forwarding the papers by him to Wotton, as Lord Temple intends going over there himself this evening, and concerting with Mr. Grenville what may be the next proper step for them to take. 1767. GRENVILLE RAPERS. G1 He will forthwith, through Mr. Rigby, apprize his Grace of the result, without any observation at present. MR. RIGBY TO EARL TEMPLE AND MR. GRENVILLE. Woburn Abbey, Sunday morning, July 19, 1767. Mr. Rigby presents his best compliments to Lord Temple and Mr. Grenville, and having read their letter of last night to the Duke of Bedford, is desired bv his Grace to assure them, that every circumstance of the present transaction, which has come to him, has been communicated to Stowe and Wotton, except a note received from Lord Rockingham this morning \ containing nothing but expressions of his great satisfaction that the Duke of Bedford is going to London. His Grace will inform Lord Temple and Mr. Grenville of what passes between Lord Rockingham and the King, and sincerely wishes their friends may be induced to accept of an honourable and becoming share in the arrangement, if one can be properly and happily effected. EARL TEMPLE TO MR. RIGBY. Stowe, July 19, 1767. Lord Temple eagerly embraces the very first oppor-tunit of assuring Mr. Rigby, and through him the Duke of Bedford, that there was not meant to be expressed, in the joint note of Mr. Grenville and Lord Temple, the smallest idea that there had not been a full communication to them on (he part of his Grace of every circumstance of the present transaction. 1 See Bedford Correspondence, vol. iii. p. 381. 62 GRENVILLE PAPERS, July, On the contrary, many kind thanks are returned, and Lord Temple, being perfectly satisfied with what has hitherto passed, makes no doubt but the same sense and spirit will continue the same conduct to the end, or to good effect one way or other. As his Grace means to take the trouble of apprizing the Brothers of what passes between Lord Rockingham and the King, Lord Temple, to save trouble, apprizes Mr. Rigby that he dines at Wotton next Wednesday, and shall continue there two or three days. MR. WILLIAM GERARD HAMILTON TO EARL TEMPLE. Monday, (July 20, 1767.) My dear Lord,—The Duke of Bedford came to town last night, for the purpose, as I presume your Lordship knows, of adjusting with Lord Rockingham the intended plan for a comprehensive Administration, which is to be laid before the King upon Wednesday next, and which most people think, though I profess myself not to be one of that number, will at last be acquiesced in by the Court. The strongest reason, and in my opinion the only one, to justify the prevailing idea that Lord Rockingham’s plan will be adopted, is this, which has been often dropped since the late coalition by the friends of the Duke of Grafton, and sometimes by the Duke of Grafton himself; that if no preliminary disagreement should arise about men or measures, and the Court should in that respect be disappointed, yet that a union of such contradictory opinions, and such rival interests, that such a concordia discors is never to be feared, because it is at any moment to be dissolved. 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 63 Lord Rockingham declares, politickly at least, if not sincerely, that it will he in vain for the Court to think of creating any differences by nominating your Lordship or Mr. Grenville to be at the head of the Treasury; for much as he prefers that situation to any other, he will accept of almost any employment rather than that the plan of reconciliation which he has so much at heart, and which he will study to perpetuate, should be disappointed. By what I can collect, rather than by what is expressly said, the offers to the Duke of Bedford’s friends will be lavish and without bounds, for reasons which are extremely obvious, and which tally with what has been the governing principle in the whole transaction. To the friends of your Lordship and Mr. Grenville, the plan professed is to be extremely liberal, and it certainly is likewise extremely sensible : for Lord Rockingham is well aware that your acquiescence in his being put at the head of the Treasury is of such importance, that it is scarce possible it should be bought too dear. According, however, to my judgment, all this, my dear Lord, is idle speculation. I cannot as yet prevail on myself to think (though I find I am almost single in my opinion) that the Court will submit to the terms, be they what they may, which shall be prescribed by Lord Rockingham, and that they will not turn themselves to defeat, by some expedient or other, what they consider as a plan for their enslavement. My wishes may possibly give a bias to my opinion, but it still appears to me highly probable, that the treaty with the Court being put an end to, it will all terminate, where I am even yet far from being satisfied the Court 64 GRENVILLE PAPERS. (July, did not mean it should begin, in an application to your Lordship. Yours, my dear Lord, &c., &c., The idea of continuing Lord Camden as a friend of Lord Chatham’s is extremely entertaining, if the accounts which I hear are true, and my authority is such that I have not a doubt of them ; and they are, that in all places, the most violent man against Lord Chatham, and the harshest interpreter of his long sickness, and of his late conduct, in every particular, is Lord Camden \ MR. WHATELY TO EARL TEMPLE. Parliament Street, July 20, 1767. My Lord,—Upon coming to town this morning I found few people here so well apprized as myself of the real situation of affairs, and none able to inform me authentically of any material event subsequent to the letter of Friday last. I have related the principal facts, and explained your Lordship’s and Mr. Grenville’s ideas, to such of our friends as I have seen, to Sir Fletcher Norton, Augustus Hervey, Gerard Hamilton, Dr. Hay, and Wedderburn2, and have the satisfaction to inform 1 This is exactly in accordance with the information sent by the author of Junius to Lord Chatham in January, 1768, and which I have noticed at that date. 2 The following letter from Wedderburn was enclosed :— Saturday, 3 o’clock, July 18, 1767. Dear Whately,—I have not seen the face of a politician since you left town, but I sent to one to-day for your satisfaction to ask what news, and received this answer:—“ The negotiation proceeds so far 17G7. GRENVILLE PAPERS. G5 you, that they all approve in the strongest manner of the parts you have taken, and the sentiments you express. None is more forward in his applause than Sir Fletcher Norton, who says that your conduct has been prudent, able, manly, and honest. Speculations upon the event do not differ so much as to afford sufficient entertainment to one who loves speculation, for the opinion is very general that this negotiation will end in smoke ; that opinion is formed upon the firm language held bv the courtiers, that the King must not be forced; but still I think that the event cannot be guessed at, nor do I see any circumstances on which to form a judgment. I have not heard yet of Lord Rockingham’s having seen the King; I suppose he may have seen him to-day, but I find his friends are aware of the caution necessary in the opening of his plan. Rigby does not come to town ’till to-night, having company to dine with him in the country to-day. that the general principle of Lord Rockingham's plan, a comprehension, is accepted, and the detail is to be prepared on that foundation.” The text you see is pretty large, but I am by no means qualified to comment upon it, nor can I form any guess how far the acceptance of a general principle so stated, to which no man in his senses could avow an objection, promises fair to secure the execution of it, when the detail comes to be explained. I am more anxious to know the sentiments of those you are with, than the daily transactions here, because I look upon the one as something fixed, the other as extremely precarious ; from the one I could form some idea of my own conduct, from the other, I can neither draw any principle of conduct, nor even form a reasonable speculation of any sort. This I am certain is not my case alone, but that of many others who have no other curiosity upon the present whimsical occasion but to know Mr. Grenville’s sentiments. I have been more fatigued since you saw me than I was that night, but I had some comfort in reflecting that such fatigues make a man very indifferent about news, and remove a great deal of anxious expectation, which is no small comfort at a time when in my apprehension there is very little good to be expected either for the public, or for those one loves and esteems most. Yours ever. VOL. IV. F 6G GRENVILLE PAPERS. JUV> Lord Chatham is much better: he rides out, and returns from his ride in great spirits, his fever having entirely left him. Mr. Dingley 1 is quoted to me for this intelligence ; I find it is believed that he has wrote to the King to desire leave to retire. I have the honour to be, &c., &c. Thomas Whately. MR WHATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. July 20, 1767. Dear Sir,—Wedderburn having been repeatedly desired by Burke to call on Lord Rockingham, went to him last Sunday. The Marquis told him the whole transaction between him and the Duke of Grafton; said that though it was come to an audience he still did not believe it would succeed; mentioned his difficulties in forming an arrangement, which indeed were some-thing diminished by the facilities given by his own friends with respect to their situations ; expressed great jealousy of the Court’s designing only to draw from him his plan ; spoke with much spleen against the men who are ready to support all Administrations ; held a general language of moderation towards denominations of men, as a language consistent with a comprehensive plan; was more violent against Lord Chatham than any other; mentioned Sir Fletcher Norton civilly, but coolly; and 1 Lord Chatham occupied a house at North End, Hampstead, which belonged to Dingley—the “miserable Dingley” of Junius, who was set up as a candidate for Middlesex, in opposition to Wilkes, in March, 1769; but he did not get a single vote in his favour, and was besides so much injured both bodily and mentally that he died shortly afterwards. See a letter from Dingley to Lady Chatham, in the Chatham Correspondence, vol. iii. p. 352, note. 1767. GRENVILLE TAPERS. G7 paid great compliments to Wedderburn, and intimated that in a coalition on an extended plan his pretensions would certainly be regarded. Wedderburn told him he was flattered with his good opinion, approved of a comprehensive plan, and turned the discourse upon it into expressions of his satisfaction that it was a plan in which Mr. Grenville concurred ; Lord Rockingham said, very warmly, that Lord Temple and Mr. Grenville had behaved to him in the handsomest manner possible, and Wedderburn kept the conversation to that line in order to convey to his Lordship that his connections were there, informing him at the same time that Sir Fletcher Norton had no other. This conversation shows a little of Lord Rockingham’s ideas, and therefore I send it you. You desired to have all the channels of intelligence opened that could be, and in the present moment opinions are as important as facts. MR. AUGUSTUS HERVEY TO HE GRENVILLE. Park Place, July ?1 1767. My dear Sir,—Mr. Whately has just called on me, and tells me he has a conveyance for a letter which will be safe. He has given me but a quarter of an hour before he is to return for this, therefore I can only thank you for your attention in desiring him to shew me what passed, and which I shall take not the least notice of, but which I must confess I tieserve for a very unalterable and most disinterested attachment to your public and private character. I should have been with you now, but I know many f 2 68 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, are going backwards and forwards to you, and though I wish you to the full as well, and desire to be publicly known for my attachment to you, yet I cannot persuade myself to trouble you at this hurrying time with a visit, unless anything should happen that I should wish to relate to you. I will tell you that I find here all is very variously described by the different people of different sets: but yesterday I came to town to dine with Prince Masserano ; Fitzroy dined there also, and after dinner sought me very assiduously, and got into the garden, where he began with the present situation. I soon found it was intended to let me know his brother would by no means support Lord Rockingham’s Administration if accepted, and that he took many opportunities in his long conversation to tell me his brother the Duke of Grafton’s determination on that head, and his opinion of you, and how much all this year in the House of Lords he had avoided any personalities against Lord Temple or you, and knew no man so fit to be at the head of our House. This I found was meant me to repeat, I therefore could not help asking him, if this was the case, how his brother could submit to carry such a message to Lord Rockingham as the world says he did ; viz. for him, Lord Rockingham, to form a plan of Administration to lay before the King, whilst he, the Duke of Grafton (who carried that message), was at the head of the present Administration and looked upon as Minister. He told me his brother would not be Minister, that the King had before offered all to him, if he pleased; but that though he would not be in that situation himself, he had no objection to another being formed, nor would be an obstruction to the King forming any that His Majesty thought would carry on his business; though 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. GD (as Fitzroy repeated) he, the Duke of Grafton, would not support such a one as would place Lord Rockingham at the head. I stopped him here, and asked him why, in such a conference, and when such a task was imposed on him, his Grace did not make use of the same occasion, at least to say to the King what he thought of Lord Temple and Mr. Grenville, and recommend rather those whom he now seemed to think his brother would not have objected to. However, I did not push this, because I had no mind to break it off here, and I found this rather puzzled. He said his brother had shown his candour and his honesty throughout by sticking to his friend Lord Chatham as long as it was possible; that by that he had shewn, that those he professed to, that he was a man of honour and was to be relied on; that any one was sure of him to whom he professed to attach himself; but the close of every sentence was always, that his brother never but had a very good opinion of you, and no one more sensible of your abilities and integrity; that he could not think you would submit to act under Lord Rockingham, or that Lord Temple would. I said 1 really knew nothing of your intentions whatever, I had been in the country, and scarce knew as much as he had now told me, but that I knew you had several friends who, like mvself, were determined only to act as we saw vou should approve ; that I, for one, made no secret of declaring that I wanted nothing but the Admiralty, which I thought 1 had a right to after those I had seen there, but that 1 never desired it ’till you came in, or supported the Administration ; that he knew I might otherwise have been there at the opening of this present Administration. He talked to me a long time about the Duke of Grafton, thinking himself not very well 70 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, used in this whole affair after all he had done, and told me, confidentially, which I desire may be a secret with you, that the Duke of Grafton was determined to oppose any Administration formed by Lord Rockingham, that was not on the comprehensive plan that he had formerly himself expressed. Here we were interrupted by people coming into the garden, but I think this discourse of his, sought for, and who never before inclined to talk politics with me, was certainly intended for you to know; I therefore do tell it you from myself, as I desire always to let you know anything that I think you may draw any use to yourself from, and leave you the only judge as to the rest. I find the Bute people more up than ever last night, and by what I should guess by that, should think they know les finds et les sous des cartes mieux que nous. It is my opinion that the Rockinghams will still, if possible, close these people without the junto, notwithstanding all said. I find, from different discourses with some of their under people^ that they are far from the same story. I myself think this not amiss, provided the Bedfords and you keep close, and that the King should now immediately throw himself into your hands ; if not, I see the Butes will push the Duke of Grafton to make one out of what they have, and what they can of the divided Rockinghams. However, of all this you will have better intelligence than my poor collections; all I know is, that I love and wish you better than them all, and I hope the Gazetteer of a day or two hence, signed a Briton \ will prove such a one of this situation as you will not dislike. I am, &c., &c. A. Hervey. 1 Augustus Hervey was a frequent writer in the newspapers. His J 767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 71 MR. WHATELY TO LORD GEORGE SACKVILLE. July 21, 1767. My Lord,—I gave your Lordship some reason to expect from me an account of the present negotiations before I went to Wotton. When I came there Mr. Grenville particularly desired that the whole might he communicated to you, and he has taken my word that your Lordship will excuse his not writing himself, as he has so much upon his hands, and I have the honour of your correspondence already. In one respect, perhaps, your Lordship will be no loser by the exchange, for I shall be more particular in my information than he, engaged as he is, possibly could be, because, on the presumption that others may have made as many mistakes in their intelligence as I have in mine, I will endeavour to rectify their errors, and atone for my own, by relating to you all that has passed from the beginning, now authentically, for ’till now your Lord- communications are usually dated from “ Somersetshire,” and signed “A Briton,” or “A. B.” The letter alluded to above, appeared in the Gazetteer of Wednesday, July 22. It is principally devoted to abuse of Lord Chatham and praise of the Grenvilles. The following paragraph, with which the letter concludes, is a specimen of the latter. “ Happy for this country should the day be near when a Bedford, a Temple, or a Rockingham will join all their extensive influence to a Grenville’s experienced abilities and integrity! Happy must it prove to this country when the greatest families will all unite to support a man at the head of an Administration, who, from every public and private situation, can have no interest but that of his Prince and his country’s; whose children arc born to inherit the amplest fortunes and titles already in him and his family; one whose character as a husband, father, friend, and master, prove him to be possessed of every social virtue, as much as he is known to be free from every private viceMay such a day be near which will ensure a permanent Administration, the King’s happiness, and the kingdom’s prosperity ' 72 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July? ship’s conjectures have been to the full as certain as any information I have been able to give you. Your Lordship, therefore, will permit me to carry you back to so distant a day as Tuesday, the 7th instant, when the negotiation, which had been for some time hovering, without any apparent authority, between General Conway and Lord Rockingham, assumed a new face, by the interposition of the Duke of Grafton, who, clad in all the ensigns of power, pronounced the destruction of it, by delivering to Lord Rockingham a message from the King, importing that His Majesty wished Lord Rockingham should return to the Treasury and form his Administration, in which arrangement the Duke offered to take a part, expressing, at the same time, a desire that some indulgence should be shown to the remains of Lord Chatham’s friends, which expression he explained to relate particularly to the Chancellor (Lord Camden). His Lordship asked whether he was at liberty to consult any besides his own friends ; in answer to which he was told that the question had been foreseen, and that he was at liberty; but that licence seemed to be confined to the f riends of the Duke of Bedford, as the Marquis himself expressed it in the letter he wrote to Lord Albemarle, then at Woburn, in which he informed him of the particulars of the conversation, said that he had given no answer to the proposition concerning the Chancellor, and that it was needless to enter into it with Lord Albemarle, who knew his sentiments and determination on the subject, desired him to communicate his letter to the Duke of Bedford, and offered to wait upon his Grace at Woburn, if the Duke and his friends were inclined to act with him. The Duke’s answer was, that he could take no step 17C7. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 73 without previous concert with Lord Temple and Mr. Grenville. Mr. Rigby, therefore, came to town, saw Lord Rockingham, and told him the Duke of Bedford and Mr. Grenville were one, and were resolved never to be separated. He then proceeded to Wotton, and from thence to Stowe, again to Woburn, back again to Stowe, and on Sunday afternoon met Lord Rockingham at Woburn. The substance of these conversations, both at Wotton and Stowe, were, on the part of Mr. Rigby, the strongest assurances of the firmest union between the Duke of Bedford and Mr. Grenville, both in system and principles generally, and particularly in the American measures, and a communication of Lord Rockingham’s wish to form an extensive plan of Government, which should adopt such measures concerning America, as he did not doubt the Duke and his friends would approve of. On the part of Lord Temple and Mr. Grenville, the answer was, their perseverance in their opinions concerning America ; their resolution never to depart from them ; their determination to take no office themselves in the new arrangement, and never to be obtruded on the King, but accompanied by a declaration that they concurred in the idea of a comprehensive plan as the only Administration likely to be permanent; as such, they would support it fairly out of office, if the measures adopted, and particularly the capital measure of asserting and establishing the sovereigntv of Great Britain over its colonics, were such as they could approve of; and if an honourable share in Government were allotted to their friends, with whom in such case they would use their good offices to induce them to accept, intimating, however, that they should expect, by waiving their own 71 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, pretensions, they should meliorate the condition of their friends. No particular arrangements were then, or have been since mentioned, and both Mr. Grenville and Lord Temple confine themselves to the extensive plan and the public measures. On these principles they would support a new Administration; but these must be the principles on which alone they can themselves, or they can apply to their friends, to support the intended arrangement . Fraught with this concurrence, Lord Rockingham re-turned to town, and on Wednesday, the 15th instant, met the Duke of Grafton and General Conway, to whom he said that he could not proceed without knowing whether it was II is Majesty’s intention that he should prepare a comprehensive plan of Administration. Upon a suggestion from his Grace that this might extend to a dismission of all now in office, he declared that he did not mean to convey that idea; and he declined, though much pressed, to give an answer to the proposition of Lord Camden remaining Chancellor. At the same time, he desired that if the affair proceeded any further he might be permitted to lay his ideas before His Majesty himself. Some questions were asked tending to insinuate that an Administration, formed of Lord Rockingham’s and the Duke of Bedford’s friends, might have met with great facility ; but that on so very comprehensive a plan the idea might be too alarming1 to the Court. It is, however, worthy of observation, that whatever may have been intended by such surmises, the accession of Lord Temple and Mr. Grenville, declining all office for themselves, cannot raise any personal jealousy, or occasion any real difficulties ; nor is any one made a 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. sacrifice for them, though, perhaps, the very reverse might be said with truth ; but waiving these considerations, and to go on with my story: Lord Rockingham’s answer produced a letter from the Duke of Grafton \ informing him that the King wished him to specify the plan on which he and his friends would propose to come in, in order to extend and strengthen His Majesty’s Administration. Lord Rockingham replied2 that the principle on which he would proceed would be to consider the present Administration as at an end, notwithstanding the regard he had for some of those who composed it, and that if His Majesty thought fit for his service to form a new Ministry on an extensive plan, he desired to receive his commands from himself. Upon which a letter was written to him by the Duke of Grafton, acquainting him that the King’s sentiments concurred with his Lordship’s in regard to the forming of a comprehensive plan ; that, being desirous to unite the hearts of all his subjects, he was ready to appoint such a one as should exclude no denomination of men attached to his person and Government; and that when his Lordship had prepared such a plan, His Majesty was willing that he should himself lay it before him. On this encouragement Lord Rockingham desired the Duke of Bedford to come to town in order to assist in forming the arrangement, and to bring with him Lord Temple’s and Mr. Grenville’s idea®, particularly with respect to the situations they wished for their friends. They declined to give any list of the pretensions of their friends, but desired to know more of the 1 Bedford Co)rtsi>ondfiice, vol. iii. p. 366. ~ Ibid. p. 367. 75 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, proposed plan before they entered into particulars. They still abided by their original system of acceding only if they approved of the measures, and of applying to their friends to accept, as a favour done, not received. The Duke of Bedford came to town as he was desired, and at a meeting last night between him and Lord Rockingham, the Dukes of Newcastle, Portland, and Richmond, the Lords Sandwich and Weymouth, Mr. Rigby and Mr. Dowdeswell, the conference! was opened by Mr. Rigby’s producing one of Mr. Grenville’s letters, insisting (for in more than one, besides in the conversation, he had insisted) on the condition of asserting and establishing the sovereignty of Great Britain over its colonies. To assert and establish were objected to; the terms ought to have been to maintain and support; then it was an affront to suppose that any man meant to relinquish the sovereignty of the colonies ; and lastly, no man had a right to demand of Lord Rockingham his plan of operations, though his plan on this head has been required from the beginning, the approbation of it being always made the condition sine qua non of Mr. Grenville’s and Lord Temple’s concurrence, and its approximation to their ideas being the only reason they can allege to their friends for desiring them to accede to an Administration in which themselves declined to take any part. The dispute upon this point was, however, postponed to future explanation, and the next step was to consider of an arrangement; but the first person named generally for a ministerial office by Lord Rockingham being General Conway, the Duke of Bedford excepted to him, and that he understood the military line was his choice, 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 77 that he was a good officer, and that he wished him to have any regiment the King pleased to give him, but he could never think of him as a Minister, and the admitting him was contrary to the principles of a total change of Administration. Another altercation hereupon arose, and at two in the morning, no further progress being made, and no explanation given of the American system, the company parted. The Duke of Newcastle has been to-day with the Duke of Bedford to endeavour to bring the parties again together, but unless some precise specific idea upon the American measures be stated, I see little prospect of concurrence. In the course of this business Lord Rockingham’s profession has always been to subvert the present, and establish an entirely new system. The Duke of Bedford’s favourite idea has been to prevent all future instabilities, by removing those he supposes to have been the causes of the frequent changes which have happened. Lord Temple’s and Mr. Grenville’s principle has been to concur in the support of any Ministry which has the appearance of permanency, provided they approve of the measures : they have not been actors in any part of the transaction; they only concur upon the public grounds, and wish to remove all difficulties which their personal situations could possibly occasion to any system of national utility. They go no further, are pledged to nothing, and have no knowledge of anv designed arrangement, whether of favour or proscription. I have endeavoured to give your Lordship the best state I can of the whole ; if in any part, my account oi 78 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, it is unsatisfactory or obscure, you will oblige me by calling for an explanation ; and I know too well the value of your Lordship’s opinions, not to put in some sort of claim, which I think the length of my letter gives me, to your Lordship’s sentiments upon the occasion. .1 have the honour to be, &c., &c. Thomas Whately. 22nd July. I should be ashamed to add a postcript to this letter for any other purpose than to conclude this period of our political history, by informing your Lordship that at a second meeting desired by Lord Rockingham, and consisting only of his Lordship, the Dukes of Bedford and Newcastle, Messrs. Rigby and Dowdeswell, the same points were stated as at the former, but the subject of America was not pushed then very far, a suggestion being dropped on the part of Lord Rockingham, that the Duke of Bedford might arbitrate upon that matter between him and Mr. Grenville. He then named Mr. Conway to be Secretary of State, and consequently the Minister in the House of Commons. Your Lordship knows the manner in which the general idea of his being in a great civil office was received the night before. This more particular nomination was still more strongly objected to, and the conference went to no further arrangements, the Marquess insisting as strongly on the necessity as the Duke urged the impossibility of this. They therefore parted with mutual declarations, that all which had passed during the whole transaction should be considered as if it had never been, and that 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 79 both parties should be entirely free from all engagements to each other’. 1 The following is the reply from Lord George Sackville to Mr. Whately:— Stoneland Lodge, July 23, 1767. Dear Sir,—I have read with great pleasure and satisfaction the clear and distinct account which you have sent me of the present interesting negotiation. I have not the least difficulty in understanding every part of your relation, and I must be very dull as well as unreasonable if I should wish for the smallest explanation. I am greatly obliged to Mr. Grenville for his desiring you to give yourself so much trouble for my information ; I was extremely anxious to know the part he had resolved to take, and though in general I was persuaded he would act with that judgment, temper, and spirit which became him, yet it was most acceptable to learn from you the particular grounds of his present conduct. I had wrote thus far, and was proceeding to speculate upon these events, when your letter of the 22nd was brought to me. from which I conclude Lord Rockingham has been persuaded by those about him to attempt the forming of an Administration upon his own bottom, with the assistance of the king's friends, that he may avoid those explanations about America which were so explicitly required, and which he could not make without allowing his former conduct to have been highly blanieable. I cannot, however, yet persuade myself but that, when he seriously begins his arrangement, difficulties of so many sorts will arise, as will show the attempt to be dangerous, if not ineffectual, and that he will be reduced to court the assistance of those whose demands at present appear inadmissible. The pains which have been taken to exclude Mr. Grenville from any share in Administration do great honour to his abilities ; for it is evident that those who advise the King live in dread of seeing that real strength and stability in Administration, which might withstand all private Court intrigues, and they believe such a system cannot be formed without Mr. Grenville’s being at the head of the Treasury, and they will with great reason triumph in the success of their views, if Lord Rockingham should be induced to undertake the Government of this country upon so narrow a bottom as will put him under the necessity of suing for protection to those who have the principal weight in the Closet. It is impossible Mr. Grenville could ever depart from his principles in regard to America, and were they once adopted, he would stand personally in a most respectable light in Parliament, and must have the real though not the nominal lead in the House of Commons ; how long 80 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, MR. RIGBY TO MR. GRENVILLE. St. James’s Place, July 21, 1767. Dear Sir,—A very obliging note which I received from Lord Temple this morning, informing me that he is to be at Wotton to-morrow, will, I hope, plead my excuse to his Lordship for desiring this letter may be sufficient for his information, as well as for yours, of what has passed since I wrote to you on Sunday last, that the Duke of Bedford intended coming' to town that day, in consequence of Lord Rockingham’s request ‘. such a situation could have been maintained, I cannot judge, but the impropriety of his being out of office would strike the most ignorant; yet it was becoming bis character not to permit himself to be forced upon His Majesty. It is impossible Lord Rockingham could be serious in treating with the Duke of Bedford, Ac., the moment Mr. Conway was produced as Secretary of State; for setting aside all his America demerit, what arrangement could be made of employments when his Lordship had appropriated the most important to himself, had destined Mr. Yorke for Chancellor, and had brought the Dukes of Richmond and Portland to the meeting, ready for other considerable departments; what would then have been left for the Duke of Bedford’s friends ; and when they had been sparingly served, where were the scraps for those who belonged to Mr. Grenville and Lord Temple? However, these speculations may be spared, and we must wait the result of Lord Rockingham’s conference at St. James’s. I must beg the favour of you to present my respects to Mr. Grenville, and to assure him, if the approbation of so inconsiderable an individual as I am can give him the least satisfaction, that he has it upon this occasion in the strongest manner, and that for my own part I should have been ready, had this negotiation ended amicably, to have entered into, oi’ remained out of employment, just as it would have been most agreeable to him. I hope in the course of next week to repeat my thanks personally to you for your great goodness and attention to me. I am, dear Sir, &c., Ac. Geo. Sackville. 1 Rigby’s letter to Mr. Grenville, that from Whately to Lord George Sackville, written at the desire of Mr. Grenville, and Whately’s letter of the I st of August, relating his conversation with Lord Mansfield, 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 81 On Monday morning liis Lordship paid the Duke of Bedford a visit at Bedford House, which ended in a contain a very full and comprehensive account of this negotiation from its commencement to its termination. The parties were all too suspicious of each other to be in earnest, and therefore none of them ever expected it would succeed. The immediate and apparent cause of. or at least the pretext for its failure, must, I think, be certainly ascribed to the objection of the Duke of Bedford to the appointment of General Conway: this, it will be subsequently seen, was the opinion of Lord Mansfield, who seems to have been trusted by all the parties, without himself taking any part in the negotiation. The same view of it was subsequently corroborated by the Duke of Richmond, who, in a letter dated Oct. 4, to Lord Rockingham, says,—“ Is it not a condition of the union with Bedford House that Conway shall not be leader of the House of Commons? Is not this the very same point you broke upon before?"3- There may have been other and deeper reasons, for it seems impossible that a scheme for the union of the Rockingham and Grenville parties, which should exclude the two principal Grenvilles, could have been proposed with any other motive than to defeat an arrangement which it was pretended to facilitate. The subject of America was also supposed to have presented a considerable difficulty, but it was said that some arrangement might have been made by arbitration on that point, which was in fact suggested by Lord Rockingham himself; and at the second meeting Mr. Rigby admits “ that a more easy and acquiescing temper prevailed touching the words, concerning the future superintendency of this country over America'’, and that point teas not dwelt upon;" but that the negotiation “ended because we would not consent to the proposition about Conway." On the other hand, Lord Rockingham, in his letters to Dowdcswell, asserts that the Grenvilles were the sole causes of the failure of the treaty, and that without their interference he could have managed the union with the Duke of Bedford, who, he says, “agreed more with us in system, than George Grenville and Lord Temple would like to have known.” There also appeared shortly after, in Almon’s Political Register, what was called “An impartial account of a late interesting conference, with, the several particulars previous and subsequent." It seems to be a fair matter-of-fact statement in which [ can find nothing malicious, indecent, false, or scandalous, and therefore it is difficult to understand why it should have given such extreme offence to Lord Rockingham, to whom Almon had previously sent a sketch of what was intended to be 3 Lard Albemarle’s Memoirs of Roehliigkam, vol. ii. p. 61. b See Lord Mansfield's opinion on this subject, ini'at, p. 113. VOL. IV. G 82 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, request that his Grace, with some of his friends, particularly naming Lord Weymouth and myself, would meet him and some of his own friends, at Newcastle House, that evening. Accordingly, at nine o’clock we three, together with Lord Sandwich, met there the Dukes of Richmond, Portland, and Newcastle, Lord Rockingham, Admiral Keppel, and Mr. Dowdeswell. The first matter agitated was the business of America, and great exception was taken by Lord Rockingham at some words in your letter to me on the 16th instant, a published. In transmitting a copy of it to Mr. Dowdeswell, Lord Rockingham writes, “ I then suppressed my indignation on the insidiousness and malice of the contents, because I thought that if the author or authors were apprized of any warmth, they might stifle the publication or lower the venom. In a former case I have known the school from whence this must come, take alarm and stop. My idea was, that all our friends, nay, and even the Duke of Bedford and his friends, would be offended with this indecent and injurious proceeding. It is now published somewhat different from the sketch, but equally malicious, indecent, false, and scandalous. One great use which I hope to make of this publication is, by shewing the Duke of Bedford that my ideas in regard to Lord Temple and that school have been now fully justified.”11 Lord Rockingham no doubt attributed it to the school of which he supposed Lord Temple the master, and it is not unlikely that the publication was at least approved by him, if not produced under his own immediate sanction and superintendence. Lord Albemarle, too, in a letter to Lord Rockingham, with reference to this publication, says:—“ It is evidently the manufacture of Lord Temple or George Grenville. I am told it will be in the Political Register for next month; and if any of our friends know of it, I wish they would suppress their feelings till it has made its appearance in print, as I then think Lord Temple’s retreat from it will be difficult. You will easily imagine that an account which I suppose to come from Lord Temple, or that school, is an insidious misrepresentation of what passed, perverting facts to bear a colour and carry a construction different from the truth.” b a Cavendish Debates, Appendix, p. 584. b Lord Albemarle’s Memoirs of Rockingham, vol. ii. p. 55. 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 83 copy of which the Duke of Bedford had shown to Lord Rockingham in the morning-, and the original of which I read to the company; I mean those words by which you so properly desire that the sovereignty of this country should be asserted and established over America. His Lordship complained, with a great deal of heat, that those words cast a reflection upon his past conduct, which no man had a right to lay to his charge, as if he had ever been for sacrificing the interest of this country, and he would make no such declaration. The Duke of Bedford replied with all the temper possible to his arguments, and was extremely desirous to soften the American business by every means that could be suggested to preserve the honour and opinions of both sides. Dowdeswell desired to put in the words maintain and support, instead of assert and establish above mentioned, and we passed near four hours of our meeting upon this verbal dispute ; which, however, was not finally resolved upon one way or the other. That is to say, it was not determined whether or no these words should be sent to Wotton to you, to know if such explanation of your American ideas would be satisfactory or not. This being rather postponed than determined either way, it was agreed to proceed to other matters, when Lord Rockingham dropping the words General Conway, as a person whose opinion would be necessary, the Duke of Bedford immediately desired to know if that gentleman was to be considered as part of the Administration, and receiving for answer from Lord Rockingham, that he thought his advice and assistance would be of great use to any Administration, the Duke of Bedford replied, that he loved to speak his mind out about men and 84 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, things ; that he differed very much from his Lordship in that idea ; that he imagined Mr. Conway was to return to the military, where he wished him such preferment as the King might think proper to bestow upon him, but that, in a civil department of the Administration, he could give his consent to none where Mr. Conway was to make a part; that, from what had fallen from Lord Rockingham, he found also that the Duke of Grafton was to be part of the system, which had never been explained to him before, and concerning which he did not then think it necessary to say anything; but he thought he had some reason not to take it very kindly of Lord Rockingham, then, for the first time, to hear of Mr. Conway’s name, after the negotiation had been carried on for a fortnight. The Duke of Richmond desired to explain Lord Rockingham’s meaning, and said that it was not to be understood that it was Mr. Conway’s own desire, but that it was Lord Rockingham’s wish that Mr. Conway should be part of the new system. This did not seem to the Duke of Bedford and his friends to mend the matter a great deal, and about two o’clock in the morning thus we parted. Lord Rockingham’s expressions and behaviour were the reverse of what they were at Woburn, and of what is contained in his letters to the Duke of Bedford h The whole appeared to be captious, as well what fell from Lord Rockingham, as from the Duke of Richmond, who affected to take a considerable lead. The Duke of Bedford, who was the principal mouth of our friends, behaved with infinite ability and temper, though frequently very sufficiently provoked, for nothing 1 See Bedford Correspondence, vol. iii. 17G7. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 85 is more tiresome than to throw away good sense and reason, in answer to ignorance and obstinacy. I hear I am accused of showing too much partiality to you and your opinions, which I think does me infinite honour. Wednesday morning, July 22, 1767. Having wrote thus far yesterday morning, and ordered my servant to he ready to set out with my letter, I was interrupted by being informed that the Duke of Newcastle, and some other of their friends, were trying to bring about another meeting, and deprecated that the business rnDht not end as above related. The Duke of Bedford, pressed by the Duke of Newcastle in person, and afterwards solicited by a letter from his Gracel, wrote from Lord Rockingham’s, consented to another meeting, and last nDht the Duke of Bedford, Duke of Newcastle, Lord Rockingham, Dowdeswell, and I met. A more easy and acquiescing temper prevailed, touching the words concerning the future superintendency of this country over America, and that point was not dwelt upon. But when we came to the next object of our deliberation, which was Mr. Conway, Lord Rockingham declared that without Mr. Conway was Secretary of State, and Minister of the House of Commons, he would go no further. The Duke of Bedford and I expressed our astonishment, and declared we would never give our consent. It is needless to trouble you with the panegyrics upon that gentleman from his Lordship, or with the very different sentiments the Duke of Bedford and I expressed about him, which I hope and trust he will be made acquainted with. 1 This letter is not printed in the Bedford Correspondence. 86 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, Thus ended the negotiation, expressly because we would not consent to this proposition about Conway. But, before we parted, I thought it incumbent upon me, both with regard to Lord Temple’s frank and tonest declarations that he had made, of giving support to the system, and for any future answer which he might be supposed to give, if sent for to Court, to have Lord Rockingham declare that the whole was at an end, and to be considered as if nothing whatsoever had ever passed between us, including Lord Temple and yourself, and him and his friends. And it is thoroughly understood and declared to be at this hour, as if not the smallest intercourse had ever been between us. To write you all the nonsense I have heard from these people would take up a volume ; I could not have conceived such inability, if I had not had such a trial of it. I should have been glad to have laughed it over with Lord Temple and you at Wotton, and would have done it, but I have engaged a good deal of company at my own house just at this time, where I shall go tomorrow or next day. The Duke of Bedford goes to Trentham to-morrow. What remains to be done at Court, whether these people will go, or be suffered to go on, you know as much as I do. Believe me, dear Sir, your most affectionate and faithful humble Servant, Richard Rigby. MR. WILLIAM GERARD HAMILTON TO EARL TEMPLE. Wednesday, (July 22, 1767.) My dear Lord,—I shall not trouble you with an account, which would probably be an imperfect one, of the late conferences at Newcastle House, as you will 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 87 certainly have received before the arrival of this letter the most exact and authentic information of everything which passed at those interviews. I shall only relate a particular or two which may not perhaps be known to others as fully, and as satisfactorily, as they happen accidentally to be known to me, and which may tend to throw some degree of light on the late (I have ever thought them) very unaccountable transactions. In the first place, my dear Lord, I must revert to what I mentioned very early, what I have often repeated to you, and the truth of which I should have apprehended ought to have been examined into, before any negotiation whatsoever had been begun; and that was, as to the precise terms of the message delivered by the Duke of Grafton, and the private conditions on which alone Lord Rockingham was invited to accept. If everything asserted by Lord Rockingham had not been taken for granted, if any endeavours had been used to come at the truth, which might very easily have been known, and what was said by the Duke of Grafton had been fairly stated to your Lordship, the Duke of Bedford, and Mr. Grenville, I am confident there is not one of you who would not have laughed at the idea of entering into a negotiation upon such slight grounds, and on so contracted a proposition ; and the idea of a Coalition mio-ht have been formidable, instead of being-, what it is now become, a subject of triumph to the Court, and of ridicule to the rest of the world. The Duke of Grafton declares publicly that the disagreement which has happened is by no means an event which gives any particular satisfaction to the Administration, or to any part of the Court; that Lord Rockingham having no authority to do what he did, it 88 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, never could have been approved of. He shows a message in writing, which is worded thus: “ that Lord Rockingham is desired to come to Court, to assist the Chancellor and the rest of the Administration.” He denies that Lord Chatham was ever mentioned as a person totally out of the question, and adds that no offer1 was made to Lord Rockingham of the Treasury, but confesses that in conversation he declared how weary he himself was of that employment, and how willing ho should be, if the King approved of if, to resign it to Lord Rockingham. Lord Holland was well enough to be to-dav at the Let ee, and he was in the Closet for half an hour. Lord Northington, I understand, has been sent for, and is come to town, which I consider as no unfavourable circumstance. Lord Rockingham was at Court to inform the King, as he says, that he had no plan to lay before him, upon which he could recommend it to His Majesty to form an Administration. He was asked by a friend of mine, upon coming out of the Closet, if he was to be first Lord of the Treasury. His answer was, “ not this year, whatever might happen next.” 1 This statement is distinctly contradicted by Lord Rockingham in a letter to Lord Hardwicke, in which he gives an account of his audience with the King:—“His Majesty was very gracious, commended my correctness about Rigby’s visit to George Grenville, and spoke with appearance of good humour—in short, a gracious audience. He made one remark, which was on the word offer of the Treasury, &c., but that I was right in understanding it was the intention. As soon as I came out I took the Duke of Grafton and General Conway aside, and told them what had passed on the word offer. The Duke of Grafton and Conway said, that was nothing, but from the beginning I had every right to represent that matter as understood. They then asked me what His Majesty had further said ; they were much surprised at my answering, ‘Nothiny. "—Lord Albemarle's Memoirs of Lord Rockingham, vol. ii. p. 54. 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 89 The Duke of Newcastle declares he has no idea, notwithstanding the differences which have happened, that Lord Rockingham will accept of anything, unless the Duke of Bedford is satisfied, and by his means, your Lordship and Mr. Grenville, and that the present disagreement can be reconciled. His Grace, I hear, manifested a very strong leaning to the Duke of Bedford during the whole of these conferences. I saw Lord Granby to-day after Court. The Duke of Grafton had just then told him that no determination whatsoever was come to, but, from the turn of his conversation, I could perceive his opinion was, that no further offer would be made to Lord Rockingham. The whole, he said, depended on the Duke of Grafton’s continuing or giving up ; in the first case, the King would certainly go on, but that the Duke of Grafton wished to retire, and would do it immediately, if it was not for the importunity of friends, who were entreating him not to give them up ; and it is obvious that the Duke of Grafton’s only object is to make conditions for a few persons who are attached to him. Though Lord Rockingham insisted in the last interview that Mr. Conway should be Secretary of State, Mr. Conway himself had only two days before pressed Mr. Townshend to accept it, and said he pressed it at Lord Rockingham’s desire. Mr. Townshend declined saying whether he would take or refuse ’till he was acquainted with the whole arrangement. Many people are of opinion that this condition in regard to Conwray was forced on Lord Rockingham by the Cavendishes, and that he adhered to it, not so much out of choice as to avoid disunion amongst his own friends. 90 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, What shape this chaos will take, and in what all this distraction will terminate, it is impossible to say; I, as yet, see nothing to make me change my opinion, which I have long held, that it will end in a message to Stowe, Yours, my dear Lord, &c. — — — MR. WILLIAM GERARD HAMILTON TO EARL TEMPLE. "Wednesday night, (July 22, 1767.) My dear Lord,—Agreeable to what I hinted at in a former, and explained more at large in my last letter, the Court and the Duke of Grafton both disavow publicly the having given to Lord Rockingham a commission of the extent pretended both by him and his friends. The Duke of Grafton declares that the very term he made use of in his conversation with Lord Rockingham was, that there should be a coalition of parties between Lord Rockingham and his Grace; and moreover that it could not be understood, because it was particularly explained that if Lord Chatham recovered from his present indisposition, he was again to take the lead in the Administration, as much as he had done originally, w hen it was first formed. These are the declarations of the Duke of Grafton. The Court, on their part, assert that the King did expressly, and in terms, reserve to himself a right of approving, rejecting, or amending the propositions which should be made by Lord Rockingham. When your Lordship has been informed of the many material and direct contradictions between the parties negotiating, I conclude you will be very little surprised at hearing that the terms delivered in to the Duke of 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS 91 Grafton by Lord Rockingham were this morning absolutely rejected by the Court. If there is any credit to be given to the most solemn asseverations, which in politics perhaps there is not, Lord Rockingham went to Wotton upon a very boyish, unauthorised errand, to which we minor politicians in town are astonished that you great politicians in the country could pay the least, attention. The offer of the Treasury (under any limitations) to Lord Rockingham, was so directly contrary to the strongest assurances given by Lord Bute to Sir James Lowther and my friend (Sir Fletcher Norton), that upon the first news of it Sir James went immediately to Luton, to upbraid his Lordship, and, if he avowed the measure, to break off instantly all connection with him; and my friend gave me his honour that he would do the same. Lord Bute declared that he had not an idea so absurd a measure could be taken; that he was utterly ignorant of it, and would show how much he disapproved of it. He came to town late last night, and the whole thing was put an end to this morning. Your Lordship, I believe, has never found me very easy of belief, nor childishly credulous as to any insinuations that may have been thrown out by the Court; but it is my firm, well-grounded persuasion, they meant your Lordship, and your Lordship only. And I am still further of opinion, that a great part of their present difficulty arises from an apprehension that the prior offer of the Treasury to Lord Rockingham may have so much exasperated you, that you will either not accept at all, or at least not without the removal of all who style themselves the Kino’s friends, and the introduction of all those whom he thinks his enemies. 92 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, I wish sincerely that I, or what I should prefer, that some one more capable than I, had power to remove these impressions; but ’till I receive not only an authority, but express directions from you to that purpose, I shall certainly observe a most profound silence. Lord Bristol, I understand, now says that he has laid aside the thoughts of going to Ireland; this, together with Mr. Conway’s resignation (in which I hear he persisted), will reduce the Court to the necessity of an immediate change; and the language of those about the Duke of Grafton is that Lord Townshend will go to Ireland, and Charles have the Treasury, unless he can be satisfied by a Peerage for Lady Dalkeith, and being Secretary of State for the Southern Department. The report circulated here by Lord Rockingham’s people, on his return from Woburn, was that Mr. Grenville and your Lordship, upon the promotion of your friends, were perfectly satisfied that Lord Rockingham should be at the head of the Treasury, and should support a system, so formed, out of office. Your Lordship mav rely upon it, that in these active and interesting times the Bee1 will be even more indus-trious than usual, and that he is never employed so perfectly to his own satisfaction as when he can contribute to your service, to your information, or even to your amusement; but in return he begs one favour, which is that w hatever he communicates may be confined to your Lordship only, to the exclusion even of any other single individual. Upon this confidence, I beg leave to hint (and I shall perhaps soon write, or rather speak to you more at large 1 Probably a mere figurative expression to signify the industry with which he collected political gossip. 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 93 upon it), that my friend and Sir James, irritated by repeated violation of promises, and by a total neglect, are strongly disposed to enter into the most explicit engagements with your Lordship, and to disclaim every other connection. Wednesday night, 11 o’clock. I am come this moment from my friend1; he tells me that Sir James has been with him from Lord Bute, who is in the utmost distress. Lord Rockingham’s propositions are not absolutely rejected, but only taken under consideration. My friend thinks they will be accepted by the Court, or else that your Lordship will be sent for in eight-and-forty hours, as, in his opinion, the Court will not have resolution enough to form a new Administration or to prop the old one. Sir James has been much pacified by Lord Bute, but my friend not at all. He has refused to go near him, though frequently sent to in the course of this evening. The idea of giving the Treasury to Mr. Townshend is disclaimed. Lord Holland is undoubtedly the adviser of these last measures. Lord Mansfield was with him upon Monday evening, and found him provoked beyond measure at Lord Rockingham’s negotiations. The Court was never most certainly in such distress. I will send your Lordship a single line to-morrow night. I found your letter of yesterday upon my return home this evening. I think I do know your Lordship, and it is because I know you that I am, and ever must be yours, &c., &c. — — — 1 It may be as well to repeat that “ my friend," in Mr. Hamilton’s letters, invariably means Sir Fletcher Norton 94 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, MR. WHATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. July 22, 1767. Dear Sir,—I take the opportunity of Mr. Hervey to convey a letter to you, though his relation and Mr. Rigby’s letter preclude me from giving you any account of the whimsical dissolution of our Unions. I do not find any great variations in the Rockingham state of the conversation, from that of Rigby, and the grounds they put it on are such as must be expected from them. I think our friends seem inclined to rest it principally on the nomination of Conway to be the Minister in the House of Commons, in the oflice of Secretary of State, because of that, they say, there can be but one opinion in the world, of the American measure there are two: his nomination was made absolutely a sine quel non, whereas the other was never specified, and encouragement was given to expect that it might be settled by negotiation; and then this material appointment was never mentioned before by Lord Rockingham, and was too material to be kept secret. For my part, hitherto I have always mentioned both points as the causes of the difference, the one being discussed more the first night, and the other not fully opened ’till the second. I have had a long conversation with Lord Clive, who seemed much pleased with the attention of the communication. He begs me to assure you of his firm attachment to you, which he will himself express in a visit he proposes to Wotton in his way to Bath, which he believes will be the middle of next week. He desired me to inform you that his reception at Court was most gracious; 1767. GRENVILLE TAPERS 95 that His Majesty told him he hoped his Lordship would endeavour to restore the affairs of the Company at home to the good order into which he had brought them abroad; and would not allow any other person than himself to bring him the presents from the Mogul. He estimates the revenues at 2,500,000/. per annum clear of all charges. As for future events, I do not pretend to speculate upon them, and I am only sure that nobody can form any conclusion better than any other. • MR. GRENVILLE. TO MR. RIGBY. Wotton, July 22, 12 at night, (1767.) Dear Sir,—Your letter of yesterday and of this morning was delivered to me about half an hour ago, and I immediately communicated it to Lord Temple, who is here with me. The part which the Duke of Bedford and you have taken in your two meetings at the Duke of Newcastle’s, so exactly tallies with the conduct and declarations which you have adhered to from the very beginning of this negotiation, that Lord Temple and I, who have so strongly approved of the former, must give our warmest testimony to what has now passed, and express the highest sense of the dignity, temper, and firmness with which the Duke of Bedford and his friends have behaved during the whole course of it. We must and do sincerely wish, for the sake of the public, that your plan, which was to have given efficacy, authority, and permanency to Administration, had taken effect; but with these sentiments it ua- impossible. What is to follow 96 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, this I cannot foresee, for if Lord Rockingham, supported by the Duke of Bedford and his friends, and by all who approved the principles on which his Grace acted, was scarcely sufficient to make the last Ministry agree that their Administration was at an end, he must, I think, reduce all his demands very considerably, if under the present circumstances he hopes to succeed in any. What is the opinion of Lord Rockingham’s friends upon this extraordinary proposal of putting Mr. Conway into the first office of Government after himself? Do they think this the comprehensive plan ? You do not tell us what the Duke of Newcastle said to it. Surely it was unnecessary to press the Duke of Bedford to a second meeting, if he knew this was to be the issue of it ; but there would be no end to comments and questions upon this extraordinary occasion. I therefore hasten to a much clearer and more agreeable topic, which is to return to the Duke of Bedford and you Lord Temple’s best thanks and mine for everything you have said and done in the course of this business with regard to us, which instead of dividing us, the purpose probably for which the plan of delusion was set on foot, has only served to cement our union if possible still more strongly, and add to that affectionate regard with which I am, &c., &c., George Grenville. P.S. I assure you that we have drunk the health of the Duke of Bedford1 and his friends in a bumper in the Claremont style, with our earnest wishes to have had you here bad it been possible. 1 See ante, vol. iii. p. 393, Mr. Grenville’s opinion of a negotiation, “ in which the poor Duke of Bedford is so much disgraced.” 1767. GRENVILLE TAPERS. 97 MR. WILLIAM GERARD HAMILTON TO EARL TEMPLE. Friday morning, (July 24, 1767.) My dear Lord,—I give you the trouble of these few lines, for the sake of acknowledging the two letters which you did me the honour of writing to me, both dated from Wotton : one I received by the post, and the other by a private conveyance. Your Lordship will naturally imagine that very little could have occurred in the course of yesterday. As far as could be collected from appearances, Conway is endeavouring to reconcile Lord Rockingham and the Duke of Grafton, and some are of opinion, with a strong probability of success. It now turns out that the late negotiation took its rise neither from the King nor from the Duke of Grafton, but from Mr. Conway’s representing in the Closet, that Lord Rockingham had of late, in several conversations, expressed himself as extremely desirous of contributing to the support of His Majesty’s Government, which induced the King to send by the Duke of Grafton the message I mentioned to your Lordship in my last letter. It is now, I understand, doubted whether the express which was sent to Lord Northington required his coming to town, or only that he should give his advice in writing. My mind was so perfectly made up that the negotiation neither could nor ought to go on, that I was as little disappointed as I was concerned, when I heard of its being broke off. A few days will certainly produce some Administration or other, no business having been done for this last fortnight by cither of the Secretaries of State. I am unwilling to leave the neighbourhood of town ’till something is adjusted, or as long as I can contribute, by continuing here, to your Lordship’s infor- VOL. iv. ii 98 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, mation. I shall, however, for the future, trouble you less constantly with letters, and only when what has occurred shall be material enough to be communicated. All Lord Rockingham’s people were at Court yesterday, in order to demonstrate (the contrary of which no one ever suspected) that they were not offended with the Court, and were far from being disinclined to enter into His Majesty’s service. With the world in general, the appearance of practicability in your Lordship may possibly do service; but I am apprehensive that another and less favourable construction is put by the Court upon what lately passed. They argue thus : That when a plan is laid to annihilate those who call themselves, and who are considered at St. James’s, as the King’s friends, Mr. Grenville and your Lordship will sacrifice yourselves for the accomplishment of that end ; but upon a proposition from the Court you won’t even negotiate, but insist upon an absolute, unconditional offer of the whole. To exclude the Court, you will submit to divide with Lord Rockingham, but to exclude Lord Rockingham, you won’t condescend to participate with the Court. Upon the whole, my dear Lord, I have not a doubt but that those who influence the Court are at this moment disposed more favourably to you than to others, but that they are restrained by one general and one particular consideration. The first is a fear that your view is to wait for a favourable opportunity of revenging yourself upon Lord Bute, and the last, that you will not consent to Lord Camden’s continuance ; a point which, unless I am much mistaken, will fie strongly laboured. Yours, my dear Lord, &c., &c. — — — 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 99 MR. WILLIAM GERARD HAMILTON TO EARL TEMPLE. Friday, (July 24? 1767.) My dear Lord,—Whately’s return from Wotton and from Stowe is expected this evening, and when my friend has learnt exactly the sentiments of your Lordship and Mr. Grenville, I am persuaded it is his intention to act conformable to them ; and the late confusions have given him a weight with Lord Bute, which for this twelvemonth past I believe he has not had. It is but justice to inform you that Lord Rockingham’s people speak both of your Lordship’s conduct and Mr. Grenville’s in terms of strong commendation, and declare that they are sensible of your importance, and are determined not to acquiesce in anything that can be proposed unless you are both satisfied. There is one reason which inclines me to do upon the present occasion what I am not disposed to do upon any, that is, to give credit to their declarations, and it is the strong aversion which they feel, and everywhere express, to the Duke of Grafton, and their eagerness to exclude him from all situations in Government. Much industry having been employed to alarm the friends of Lord Bute, and to persuade them that their destruction was the very casus foederis in this reconciliation of parties, Lord Rockingham has, I think prudently enough, studiously endeavoured to discourage any such idea, and Burke has been sent to Wedderburn upon that errand. The Court assert confidently (but they gain no belief) that Conway will, if pressed to it, continue ; and they add that Lord Rockingham’s conduct in soliciting a reconciliation with your Lordship and Mr. Grenville, by ii 2 100 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, means of the Duke of Bedford, has produced an entire disagreement between him and Mr. Conway. I profess I should think this not improbable, because I know that Lord Hertford and Mr. Walpole1 were both astonished, and expressed themselves much exasperated upon the report that such an accommodation was likely to take place. I perceive that Lord Granby and the rest of the Cabinet are dissatisfied with the Duke of Grafton’s conduct in the management of the late negotiations, and I think that his weariness of business, and his eagerness to get to Newmarket with his mistress, made him leave more than he should have left in the hands of Comvay. I know how difficult it is to decide upon any measure that has been taken without an exact knowledge of the facts and circumstances upon which it was founded; but I think, nevertheless, that I can see distinctly it was scarce possible for your Lordship to do otherwise than you did in the late negotiation : yet in my view of things I consider the offer which has been made by the Court to Lord Rockingham, and his conduct in consequence of it, as very unfortunate, and as introductory of a new difficulty, where the embarrassments were already more than sufficient. Not because I suppose any positive engagement has been taken by your Lordship, but because I know you will consider an honorary engagement as equivalent to a positive one; and if Lord Rockingham has declined without your assistance, you will in return think yourself bound to decline without his, and will never suffer yourself to be outdone in a conflict of generosity. 1 Horace Walpole was first cousin to Lord Hertford and General Conway, and had much influence with both. See post, p. 103, note. 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 101 Nothing, however, can alter my opinion as to the original object of this negotiation, and that the plan of accommodation was set on foot, and is continued, with a view of purchasing the Duke of Bedford and his friends, and with hopes that by time, attention, and opportunity, they may be gradually attached to Lord Rockingham, and drawn off from their connection with your Lordship and Mr. Grenville. At the same time I am sensible how expedient it was to hold out such language as might not drive Lord Rockingham to accept the offers which had been made to him. To-day, I understand, the Duke of Grafton has desired a fuller and more particular explanation of the proposal made by Lord Rockingham, which Lord Rockingham has declined delivering to the Duke of Grafton, but has expressed his readiness to lay it before His Majesty. From this circumstance I am led to apprehend that the Court will not put an absolute negative on any plan ’till the arrangements are drawn out at length; entertaining very sanguine expectations that the contracting parties will stumble at the threshold, and that the King will be saved the odium of refusing what shall be proposed to him, by the previous disagreement of the parties amongst themselves. This evening it is strongly reported that Mr. Townshend will at last accept of being Secretary of State, and* that Ford North will be Chancellor of the Exchequer. For myself, I don’t believe it. I shall have the honour of writing to you again by the coach on Tuesday. Yours, &c., &c. — — — Lord Bute went out of town early this morning. 102 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, MR. WHATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. July 25, 1767. Dear Sir,—I saw Mr. Rigby this morning, and offered to convey any letters to you. He does not write, but desired me to tell you that Lord Rockingham having sent an offer to wait upon the Duke of Bedford, his Grace returned for answer that he was going towards Grosvenor Square, and would save his Lordship the trouble. This was I think on Thursday morning, and when the Duke called, Lord Rocking-ham told him, that as his Grace had been concerned in the transaction, he thought it right to communicate to him the conclusion of it, by informing him of the particulars which had passed in the Closet, where he told the King the steps he had taken, and concluded with stating the whole affair as at an end. When he mentioned the honour His Majesty had done him in thinking of putting him at the head of the Treasury, the King said he had authorized nobody to offer him that situation; and in the course of the conversation Lord Rockingham hoped that His Majesty would never suffer any body of men in office to act in general opposition to his Administration, though individuals might differ in particular measures, by which stroke he intimated to Rigby that he had done for himself. At coming out Lord Rockingham told the Duke of Grafton what the King had said concerning the Treasury; the Duke waived the subject, but by no means admitted that he had exceeded his authority. In a conversation with Rigby since, Lord Rockingham threw out that notwithstanding what had passed he should not despair of forming a stable Administration, if he were to set about it, without the assistance of Bed- 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 103 fords or Grenvilles: and being1 asked in the course of the conversation when his Lordship proposed to go out of town, he said in two or three days if he could: from which hints Rigby imagined that he had some hopes of coming in with his own friends only ; and I just now hear from two different hands, one of them a very good one, that Conway has been attempting something of that kind, but that it is certainly over. I cannot find reason to believe that it has been anything more than a negotiation between Lord Rockingham and Mr. Conway, without the knowledge of the Closet, and whatever it may have been it is entirely at an end \ 1 This account is partially corroborated by Horace Walpole, in the Memoirs of George III., pp. 86-90, where it appears that Lord Hertford and the Duke of Grafton, at the instigation of Walpole, had both advised the King to renew the offer of the Administration in form to Lord Rockingham. The King consented that the offer should again be made, but he would not yield to send himself to Lord Rockingham. Walpole continues—“ The Duke, Mr. Conway, and I, consulted on the best method of delivering the message. Conway thought it was best to do it as I had advised, in a free, friendly way, exhorting the Marquis to let them all re-unite in their old system ; and Conway added, ‘ If they refuse, your Grace and I must then do the best we can.’ At night (July 23rd) the Duke, Conway, and Lord Rockingham met. The Duke, in the King’s name, offered him the Treasury, in the amicable way agreed on. Lord Rockingham was all reserve, and would only say this was no message. The Duke, offended, and naturally cold and shy, would not repeat positively that it was ; and thus the meeting broke off. * * * * * That Rockingham fluctuated between ambition and distrust was evident, for late that very night the Duke of Richmond came to Lord Hertford's door, and sent for me down to his chariot, when, though ashamed of the silly message imposed upon him, he made me this frantic and impertinent proposal from Lord Rockingham, which I was desired to deliver to Air. Conway, that the latter would engage the King to allow the Marquis to try again to get the Bedfords —the Bedfords whom, two days before, Rockingham and all his party had absolutely broken with, and published as the most treacherous of men, and who had proscribed Conway himself. Should Rie Bedfords again refuse, the Marquis notified that he would then deign to accept the Administration. I neither wished his acceptance, nor chose to run 104 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, Charles Townshend sent to desire leave to wait on Mr. Rigby yesterday, and told him that he heard the Duke of Bedford had proscribed him. Rigby assured him that his name was never mentioned but once, and that was at the close of the whole affair, when he (Rigby) reminded Lord Rockingham that, by insisting upon Conway’s having the lead, he had forgot there was such a man in the House as Mr. Townshend, &c., and told him that the arrangement had never gone so far as to bring up any discussion about his situation. Townshend was satisfied with Rigby’s answer, launched out against Lord Rockingham, held up much to the Duke of Bedford and you, stated the present system as deplorable, said that he had stated it so to the King, yet believed it was resolved for the present to go on, but thought it impossible to stand the Sessions. His resentment against Lord Rockingham for neglecting him was sharp and real, and Rigby thinks he will not accept the Southern Department, if it should be offered to him, but understands that he will not at present resign. It is said, too, that the Duke of Grafton has given assurances that he will not distress the King’s affairs, and will therefore continue ’till something can be done; and yet, unsettled as those affairs must be, he has gone out of town to stay ’till Tuesday. The report of Lord Northington’s being sent for is still believed, but surely if it was true when I first heard it he should be come by this time. His language, as I hear from one who was at the Grange on Tuesday, was that the Rockinghams were fools for pushing so violently; that the King, by -----------, must any farther risks of it. Conway, to whom I communicated it, treated this senseless proposal as it deserved; and the Duke of Richmond did not attempt to defend it.” 1767. GRENVILLE TAPERS. 105 come to Grenville, and he hoped he would not be such a fool as to do too much at once; but still this gentleman thought that if his Lordship was sent for he would for the present press the Duke of Grafton to stay in office ’. To my great surprise I hear, from more quarters than one, that the Duke of Grafton is inclined to the Bedfords and Grenvilles in preference now to the Rockinghams. I believe he is not pleased with the part which the Marquess has taken in this affair, and was not perhaps so well disposed towards him as was generally imagined. You have the satisfaction entire of knowing that your and Lord Temple’s conduct is most universally approved by your friends, for the prudence and manliness of it; in the world abroad, for its moderation and public spirit; and at Court, for the respectfulness of it. ' I heard yesterday that there were strong symptoms of an inclination in the King to call upon Lord Mansfield for his advice. It is rather, I own, unexpected, and yet the appearances are strong of a great leaning that way. Lord Mansfield, though four times sent for, declined to attend Lord Rockingham and the Duke of Newcastle to the meeting with the Duke of Bedford, and it has been observed that his language on the late occasion has corresponded exactly with yours : all this was said to me 1 “At last,” writes Horace Walpole, in a letter* dated .Inly 31, to Mr. Montague, “all is subsided; the Administration will goon pretty much as it was, with Mr. Conway for part of it. The fools and the rogues, or, if you like proper names, the Rockinghams and the Grenvilles, have bungled their own game, quarrelled, and thrown it away;” or, as Lord Northington is supposed to have characteristically expressed himself,— “ What that rogue loses, this rogue wins; Both are birds of a feather ; Here’s d the t )uts, and d---the Ins, Aud d----them all together.” 10G , GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, in a way that plainly proved to me there was some design in mentioning it. He is a very good friend of yours who told it me, and I thought he wished first to know whether, if Lord Mansfield was consulted, he would advise the sending for you, upon which I enlarged upon the length of your intimacy, and the closeness of your connection; hut I imagined he principally meant to insinuate that some attention to his Lordship would be peculiarly proper just now, and particularly that he should be apprized of all the circumstances of your conduct, and the motives for it, or, if you have not already written to him at all, perhaps you will see this as a reason for doing it, or, if you have written to him a short letter, you may make a fuller communication in the shape of copies of yours and Lord Temple’s letters : no harm can be done; there can be no impropriety in it, and should this gentleman’s apprehensions (which are not generally light and groundless) prove true, it may be of service that his Lordship should be perfectly master of all the circumstances ; but if you do write to him, it must be done soon, or he will be set out upon the circuit. I hear nothing material in the shape of a common report; those who generally judge best, incline to think that the present Administration will stand a little longer. MR. CHARLES LLOYD TO EARL TEMPLE. York Buildings (Salt Office), Saturday, July 25, 1767. My Lord,—Indeed I did not mean to draw jour Lordship into any correspondence. Your time is much better employed than in thinking of the political bub- 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 107 bles which are daily forming and breaking to the amusement and surprise of such idle people as myself. Even since Wednesday, I am well assured that Mr. Conway has been negotiating with Lord Rockingham to accede to the present system, but to no purpose. The King told Lord Rockingham in the Closet that he had never commissioned any one to offer his Lordship the Treasury. The Butes arc in such high spirits, that they affect joking and laughing at the late storm which seemed to be impending: Jenkinson, I hear, calls the late conferences the meeting of the Barons at Runny-mede. Ross Mackye1 congratulates Royalty on being freed from its imprisonment. This may be a good Scotch jest, but translated into English runs heavily enough. Lord Rockingham and his friends dined at the Thatched House on Thursday; the multitude was divided ; most of them, especially the Newcastle part, were for strict and close connection with the Duke of Bedford. The only point they seem to unite in is, the doing justice to Lord Temple’s conduct and Mr. Grenville’s. AIany people will assert that Lord Chatham is re- 1 John Russ Mackay was M.P. for Kirkcudbright. Wraxall, in his Historical Memoirs, says of him that he had been Private Secretary to Lord Bute, and afterwards, during seventeen years, Treasurer of the Ordnance. He relates some anecdotes concerning the amount of money said to have been expended in the purchase of votes from the Members of the House of Commons in support of the Peace of 1763, and that Mackay said that he had himself secured above 120 votes, and that $0,000/. had been set apart for the purpose. The authority of Wraxall in such matters is, however, not to be depended upon. He was never admitted to the confidence of official persons ; and although in his relation of public occurrences he is very amusing and often correct, his private anecdotes must be considered, at the best, but apocryphal 108 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, covering. If he should wake, and miss the crown on his pillow, he will surely address the Duke of Grafton in the pathos of Henry IV.:— “ Is he so hasty, that he doth suppose My sleep my death? What! canst thou not forbear me half an hour? Then get thee gone, and dig my grave thyself.” Sir James Gray1 sets out for Spain on Tuesday next: he told me to-day he does not expect to reach Madrid, and yet he is resolved to go. I have the honour to be, with great respect, &c., &c. Charles Lloyd. Lord Northington has been sent for these two days, but Dr. Tarrant (perhaps to pay court to his patron) swears he will not come let who will send for him. MR. WILLIAM GERARD HAMILTON TO EARL TEMPLE. Monday, (July 27? 1767.) My dear Lord,—I am to acknowledge the honour of your letter, which I received by the hands of Mr. Hervey. No proposal can be more agreeable to me, than the proposal of coming to Stowe, and upon this day se’nnight I flatter myself I shall be able to wait upon you. A general opinion seems to prevail, though on what it is grounded I am at a loss to conjecture, that no measure of any sort will for some time to come be taken by the Court, in regard to a new arrangement. But not- 1 He was appointed Ambassador to the Court of Madrid, having been previously Envoy Extraordinary at Naples. He died suddenly after his return from Spain, in January, 1773. 1767. GRENVILLE TAPERS. 109 withstanding this notion has been pretty generally conceived, I would recommend it to your Lordship not to set your heart too much upon your expedition to Mount Edgecumbe, as it seems to me not altogether improbable, that I may have this summer, as I had the last, the honour of attending you from Stowe to London. Mr. Conway had three weeks ago acquainted the Foreign Ministers within his Department, that he should no longer receive any dispatches, or hold any conferences upon business; and in consequence of this declaration, he had for some time past neglected the one and the other, but on Friday he did both. Lord Rockingham has, I understand, confessed to Mr. Rigby, that his last interview in the Closet was a very cold one, and that the King explained to him that he had given no authority whatsoever to any one to make an offer of the Treasury, which was filled perfectly to his satisfaction by the Duke of Grafton, and from which his Grace, while he thought proper to continue, should never be removed. Lord Bristol has to-day made a public declaration of his not intending to go to Ireland, and pretends that he has formed that resolution since he received an account of the Chancellor’s death \ His Lordship went yesterday into the Closet, after the Drawing-room, and it was suspected he had in view the asking the Seals of Ireland for some one, before the Ministers, who don’t return to town ’till Wednesday morning for the Levee, could be consulted : but I have strong reason to believe 1 John Bowes had been Lord Chancellor of Ireland since the year 1757, and in 175s had been created Baron Bowes of Clonlyon, County Meath. He was successively Solicitor and Attorney General in Ireland, and as he died without issue the title becanu extinct. 110 GRENVILLE TAPERS. July> that His Majesty had been apprized of the Chancellor’s death, and cautioned against too precipitate a determination upon that subject, and that his Lordship did by no means succeed in his request. I should not, my dear Lord, have been without hopes, if things had been circumstanced exactly as I could wish, and your authority had been as decisive and unbounded as it ought to be, that upon this event, provided no material English purpose had interfered, you would have been kind enough to consider my friend Mr. Hutchinson. No man’s qualifications are greater, and no one’s pretensions can be superior. Ireland never bred a more able, nor any country a more honest man k I have seen my friend since he had heard of this vacancy, and I think I can discover that he is turning it in his mind, to try if it can be made to answer his purpose. He told me, however, he was so circumstanced, that from the present people he should certainly take nothing, and in a conversation I lately had with him, I think he went so far as to say that the night before Mr. Grenville left town, he had told him he would never accept without his approbation. What my friend wishes is, that Wilmot2 could be 1 Mr. Hamilton’s honest friend had also the reputation of being one of the most insatiable and rapacious political jobbers of his time. It was of him that Lord North said:—“ If you were to give him Great Britain and Ireland, he would ask for the Isle of Man for a potatogarden.” He was at one and the same time reversionary Secretary of State, Major of the 4th Regiment of Horse, Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, Ac., Ac., and procured an Trish peerage for his wdfe by the title of Baroness Donoughmore. Hutchinson died at Dublin, in September, 1794. 2 Lord Campbell, in bis biography of Chief Justice Eardly Wilmot, has drawn a most amusing picture of his characteristic, but most unprofessional dread of the perils of promotion. Having been nominated a puisne judge of the Court of King’s Bench without his knowledge or 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. Ill bribed to take the Rolls, and that he might succeed Wilmot, provided Sewel would go to Ireland, which, by the way, he declared a month ago, in a conversation with my friend, he never would. If that should be the case, I don’t perceive how any very considerable object can be obtained, by the disposal of that piece of preferment. I must not, however, omit to inform your Lordship that my friend, in about ten days at farthest, proposes going to Wotton, and from thence paying a visit to Stowe, where I may very possibly meet him. He certainly has hopes of being able by that time to say something that will be very satisfactory, and perhaps likewise to consult your Lordship and Mr. Grenville, about the propriety of his acceptance, in case any Law-preferment should be vacated. From every motive of opinion and of interest, I am sa- consent it was with the greatest reluctance that he submitted to the King's pleasure in accepting the appointment. In the judicial crisis which followed the death of Sir Dudley Ryder, Wilmot was again in danger of unsought promotion, until the Attorney-General, Murray, prevailed over the disinclination of the Duke of Newcastle, and was made Lord Chief Justice of England. When the Great Seal was put in commission upon the resignation of Lord Chancellor Hardwicke, Wilmot was made one of the Commissioners, and it was expected that he would shortly after become Lord Chancellor. He was frightened out of his wits by the apprehension of the Great Seal, that “ much-coveted bauble ” being offered to him, and he determined, at all events, to refuse the “ pestiferous piece of metal.” “ I will not,” he said, “ give up the peace of my mind to any earthly consideration whatever. Bread and water are nectar and ambrosia when contrasted with the supremacy of a Court of Justice.” He was subsequently doomed to another act of compulsion when he was appointed to the Chief Justiceship of the Common Pleas. He always steadily resisted the acceptance of the Croat *al, which was repeatedly pressed upon him both before and after the melancholy catastrophe of Mr. Charles Yorke, though he might have taken it with any peerage, pension, or reversion he would have named. He resigned his Chief Justiceship in 1776, and died at a great age in 1792. 112 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, tisfied he is endeavouring to allay the fears of Lord Bute, who is now and has been in town for some days past1. Lord Bristol’s declarations that he will not go to Ireland must reduce the Court to the necessity of making an immediate change, at least in that department, and they will probably dispose of that employment in conformity to their general system. It is not, I think, refining too much to suppose that the pains His Majesty took, in explaining to Lord Rockingham that there was no authority for making him an offer2 of the Treasury, proceeds from an apprehension, that unless that impression was removed, a proposal hereafter to be made would be much less acceptable to any person who might be desired to hold that employment. There are who report, and who should know what they report, that the Duke of Bedford and Lord Rockingham, and their common friends, are likely to be again united : I don’t wish it, and therefore I am determined not to believe it. Yours, my dear Lord, &c., &c., 1 Burke writes to Lord Rockingham at this time, “ Lord Bute is seldom a day out of town : I cannot find whether he confers directly and personally with the Ministry, but am told he does.” 2 See ante, p. 88, note. Mr. Grenville also, in a letter to Whately on the same day, says, “ I had heard before that the Court absolutely denied that any offer had been made to Lord Rockingham of the office of First Lord of the Treasury, which I find has now been confirmed to him by the King himself. This I should think must be very disagreeable to Lord Rockingham, especially if it is true that the Duke of Grafton denies it likewise, which is not inconsistent with his general answer that he (the Duke of Grafton) had not exceeded his authority.” As I have before stated, however, this story is comiAet^j^ontradicted by Lord Rockingham, in a letter to Lord Hardwicke, on the authority of the King himself. 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 113 LORD LYTTELTON TO EARL TEMPLE. Bristol, July 27, 1767. Dear Country Mouse1,—As much a city mouse as you think me, I left London before your letter was writ, which I did not receive until last night on mv arrival here, Mr. Lloyd instead of it having sent me one for Lord Buckingham. However, though I have not been at Court for some time, I have been in the house of a great mouse, called Percy of the Vale 2, who may possibly be there before you, and is very willing to be there with any mice whatsoever, now the great cat3 is gone ; yet I think that Mouse Rockingham is not much in his favour, and that he had rather eat his bacon with you or your brother. I have more to tell you about him, which I shall reserve ’till T seo you. It does not surprise me that the late assembly of mice broke up re infecfd, their desires and connections being so different, that it is a much greater wonder they ever came together, than that they have separated. Such unnatural alliances are never lasting ; but this trial has shown what can last, and will, in the end, be superior to every other connection. In the meanwhile, if we remain country mice, there is no great harm done. Mou.se Whately tells me that your conduct and your brother’s on this occasion meets with the highest approbation even from those who have no prejudices in your favour. And great praise is due 1 Lord Lyttelton seems to have been fresh from the study of Horace, as he evidently writes in allusion to the well-known illustration of the Town and Country Mouse. 2 The Duke of Northumberland. 3 Lord Chatham. VOL. IV. I 114 GRENVILLE PAPERS. ■W, to Mouse Bedford; but yet I own to you, I don’t quite comprehend his idea of your brother’s taking the lead in the House of Commons, out of office, with the Marquess at the head of the Treasury ; or (if that be not meant) why Conway might not be Secretary of State as well as any other, unless his Grace intended that office for Charles Townshend, which I have not heard that he did. But I repeat it again, our coalitions must be more homogeneous, to form anything solid. My ramble will be from hence to Piercefield, then to Ross, and lastly to our friend Velters Cornewall at Mochas Castle (Court?) near Hereford, where I shall stay from the 3rd to the 6th or 7th of August, and then to my wood at Hagley, where your brother will find me “ Prcerupti nemoris patientem vivere dorso,” unless you and he shall say to me, “ Vis tu homines urbemque feris praponere syl-vis?”1 In which case I will obey you, and come out of my hole.z It seems as if the Court Mice must necessarily call for more help than they have among themselves at this time, and where can they call but on you ? Perhaps you will not come when they do call, and indeed the Mouse of Stowe has no great temptation to remove to the Treasury Office, in the present state of the world, and after a predilection shown to another. Much, I think, will depend on the part that the Scotch Mouse 2 has really taken in this business. But these matters will be more properly talked of than written. If you are not sent for to town, why will you not come to Hagley for two or three days, with your brother, or before him? Your arch3 is finished, 1 Horace, lib. ii. Sat. 6. 8 Lord Bute. 3 The Corinthian Arch at the entrance of the Park at Stowe. It was said to have been designed by Mr. Thomas Pitt, afterwards Lord Camelford. 17G7. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 115 and you are there as much at home as at Stowe. Make Lord Aylesford’s1 your inn, and dine with me the next day. I will give you a cup of fine Malmsey rich and healing, pray dip your whiskers and your tail in. My love to the she Mouse, I flatter myself she will like to be of the party. MR. WILLIAM GERARD HAMILTON TO EARL TEMPLE. Wednesday, (July 29, 1707.) My dear Lord,—I am honoured by the receipt of your letter of the 25th. Lord Eglintoun’s servant delivered it to me yesterday. I shall soon, I hope, have the pleasure of conversing with you upon the subject of it at large ; but, in the mean time, I cannot help observing that it is of little importance what the Court may think of your Lordship’s conduct, while the world in general consider it as both honourable and judicious; and while your friends (the part of the world every man must be most solicitous about) must look upon it as disinterested with regard to yourself, and affectionate with regard to them, in the last degree. Lord Camden has been sounding my friend, if he would refuse the Rolls, provided the King should offer it to him, and Scwel should accept the Seals in Ireland. My friend prudently refused giving any answer to these hypothetical offers ; but my persuasion is, though I may very possibly be mistaken, that he will refuse whatever they propose to him. Lord Chief Justice Wilmot will, upon no inducement, quit I he C ommon Pleas. 1 Packington Hall, near ( oleshill, Warwickshire. t 2 HO GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, Lord Camden’s account of Lord Chatham is, that there are no hopes of him, and that he is now much worse than ever; but if the Duke of Grafton will continue, he says he shall be perfectly satisfied : that the Administration would then go on extremely well, and that he himself is the last man who will be for giving the thing up \ It is of very little importance what are the Duke of Grafton’s sentiments, and still less what are his Lord-ship’s, provided Lord Bute continues of the mind he seems to be in at present. His Lordship sent on Monday night for Wedderburn, and had with him a very long conversation. It began by upbraiding his conduct and my friend’s for entering into a factious opposition to the King’s Government, declaring, at the same time, that he did not so much disapprove the object they had in view, which he supposed was to make your Lordship and Mr. Grenville Ministers, as the means they had taken to bring it about; that the storming the Closet seemed to be the present plan ; that, upon any other idea, it was both in your Lordship’s power and Mr. Grenville’s to have made yourselves Ministers at any time you had thought proper, and that, ’till you were, he was sensible there could be no Government that would be serviceable or reputable. Wedderburn of course said how disinclined you was to force yourself into Government, and recommended it to him to advise the King to 1 Respecting Lord Camden the author of Junius thus writes to Lord Chatham on the 2nd of January following:—“The Chancellor, on whom you had particular reasons to rely, has played a sort of fast and loose game, and spoken of your Lordship with submission or in-difference, according to the reports he heard of your health; nor has he altered his language until he found you were really returning to town.”—Chatham Correspondence, vol. iii. p. 302. See also ante, p 64. 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 117 send for your Lordship and Mr. Grenville, whom he did not doubt would be found in every proposition as accommodating as could reasonably be expected. This, as near as I could collect, was the substance of their conversation. Lord Bute said he wished to see my friend, but that his behaviour, both to him and Mr. Mackenzie, gave him very little encouragement to think that he would come. My friend refused going to him upon such a ’general intimation, but said, upon an express message, he was at any time ready to wait upon him ; and I have a belief, but not a certainty, that the express message has been sent. Upon all this, my dear Lord, and upon a great deal more, I have but one observation to make, and it is this. The Court are apprehensive that you will make offers to Lord Rockingham and his friends, and they wish, if possible, to know your sentiments upon that subject. It is for your Lordship’s consideration, how far it will be expedient to be communicative upon that point; but, in my own mind, I am convinced this is at present the single remora, and that the exclusion of their own people, and the admission of Lord Rockingham’s, is the governing apprehension of the Court. That the late negotiation has produced a disagreement between Mr. Conway and the Duke of Grafton is generally believed, and is highly probable. Mr. Conway’s idea of becoming a part of the coalition, of dropping his Grace, and embarking again with Lord Rockingham, was insincere and interested beyond example, and in that light it is universally considered. The friends of the Duke of Grafton complain exceedingly that your Lordship and Air. Grenville, and the followers of the Duke of Bedford, have shown to Lord 118 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, Rockingham an attention which they have denied his Grace, by being willing to acquiesce that the one should be put at the head of the Treasury, and refusing to be satisfied if the other continued there. The fashion of leaving legacies to Lord Chatham does not seem as yet to be quite over. It is reported that a person in the neighbourhood of Hayes has left him some land, which, while be lived there, he wanted to purchase, and which the man then refused to dispose of: the value is talked of as being' about 2000Z. Lord Bristol is of opinion, that a very few days will bring to light the new system, be it what it may. I am rather concerned that your Lordship should set out upon your Cornish expedition sooner than you first intended, as the Court, however ripe they may be for their decision, may not be ripe to act in consequence of it before the 10th of next month. I shall, however, at all events, have the happiness of kissing your hands at Stowe, and of assuring you, my dear Lord, how faithfully and affectionately, I am, &c., &c. — — — MR. WHATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. July 20. 1761. Dear Sir,—I went to wait on Lord Mansfield, with the letter to him, and not meeting with him, sent it, accompanied with a line from myself, offering to attend him at any time and to give him information of any particulars he might wish to know, which I told him you had in a letter to me desired me to do. The inclosed note shows, I think, an inclination to receive that information, and a satisfaction in the offer. 1767, GRENVILLE PAPERS. 119 I shall carry with me your letters, those between the Duke of Grafton and Lord Rockingham, and one of Lord Rockingham’s to the Duke of Bedford, which is merely narrative. I mean, in short, to possess him of all theyc/c^ from papers, but to produce your sentiments only, not those of others, which kind of communication you are certainly at liberty to make to whom you please. The account Mr. Rigby gave me of the answer made by the Duke of Grafton to Lord Rockingham, concerning the offer to him of the Treasury, was not very precise, but yet, as far as I could collect, it seemed to be far more particular than a mere general .assertion that he had not exceeded his authority; it was, desiring not to enter into the subject, but insinuating that the idea was that Lord Rockingham should have the Treasury ; and yet it is said for his Grace, on all hands, that he denies the offer was made him. It is a strange puzzle. You will see presently Lord Bute’s solution of it, which I think comes nearer to a solution than any other. 1 here has certainlv been some sort of negotia-tion since; Burke’s account of it to me yesterday was, that there bad been two meetings ; that the Duke of Grafton and General Conway had pressed Lord Rockingham to come in with his own friends ; that he soon put an end to the idea, that he was gone out of town, and that perhaps he might never come into office ; he would not, except in a manner that he liked. Fhe report of Lord Northington being sent for proves, as J apprehended, not to be true. \\ bother Lord Mansfield will be consulted I do not know, but there is good ground to surmise the probability of it. I shall, however, be particularly cautious not to let him suppose that I ever had any conversation with any one relative 120 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, to him or his sentiments, and I shall govern myself in my communication to him, by the degree of frankness and of curiosity which I shall see in his Lordship. I heard once of his being with Lord Bute and Jenkinson for four hours; but I had some reasons then to doubt the truth of it, and I do not think it makes any great difference whether it be true or not. Wedderburn was on Wednesday sent for by Lord Bute, who, you know, has not seen him for some months. The ostensible reason for desiring to see him now was, first, a trifling affair relative to Lady Erskine, and next, to speak to him about his election. Lord Bute told him, that he intended his second son for the Burghs which Wedderburn now represents, and asked him whether he was provided with a seat. Wedderburn’s answer was, that he had several offers, and had no doubt of being able to provide a seat for himself. His Lordship told him he was very glad to know that; he had been very sorry that it was not in his power to bring him in again, for that he had the same regard for him as ever, though they had differed in politics a little; and yet, says he, “ we have not differed fundamentally, for you are attached to Mr. Grenville, and I think of him just as I did four years ago. He is the only man in this kingdom fit to be at the Treasury; he alone can make a permanent Administration, and I wish the King may send for him; but that is the only way in which I wish him to come in. I oppose his being forced on the King, and you follow him on that idea, therein we differ.” Wedderburn answered that he believed Mr. Grenville never had had that idea, that his conversation had ever been the reverse, and that in the late neootiation he had 1767. GRENVILLE TAPERS. 121 particularly declared that he never would be obtruded on the King. He said upon that, that he had heard Mr. Grenville had behaved very handsomely upon the occasion, and pressed for an account of the transaction from Wedderburn, which he gave him fully. His observations, upon the whole, were that Mr. Grenville’s behaviour throughout had been most perfectly proper; that the mistake about the offer of the Treasury had probably arisen from Lord Rockingham’s confounding the King’s message with the Duke of Grafton’s personal declaration, that his situation should not stand in the way of any arrangement; that, indeed, the Duke of Grafton’s letters carried on the idea of Lord Rockingham’s forming an Administration; but that nothing better than mistakes could be expected from a business of this kind conducted by two boys; that it was ridiculous to suppose that Mr. Grenville would be drawn in to give a list of his friends ; that he understood these affairs too well to be so caught, having been engaged in several negotiations, whereas this was Lord Rockingham’s first exploit; and that he hoped Mr. Grenville’s conduct on the occasion would remove those impressions against him upon the King’s mind, which great pains had been taken to fix and strengthen. He then said that though nothing was too absurd for party prejudice to suggest, yet he trusted the world would not give him the credit of having advised the sending to Lord Rockingham, who, on every public and private account, was the last man he could think of. He denied, too, the having been concerned in suggesting the thought of sending for Mr. Pitt last year, said that some of his friends had indeed supported him, but that was from a principle of supporting the King’s Government, and 122 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, complained of the awkward and limited attention which had been shown to them. He then went through the several particulars of his conduct, blamed him for his behaviour to Lord Temple, yet wished his Lordship could have overlooked it, because now things would have been as they should be; wondered that he could break with the Bedfords, when their terms were so reasonable as two offices and three peerages, one of which last was hardly to be called a creation, and condemned his quarrelling with the Rockinghams for the sake of Mr. Shelley. He spoke of the Bill for regulating the East India dividends as an idle interposition, and still more idle to persist in it, when they might have got off upon the arrival of the ship. He mentioned Rigby’s attack upon himself in the House, said it was unkind, for that he could not suppose they believed the foolish story of his having sent to Lord Holland. Wedderburn told him they certainly did believe it, and he fancied Lord Holland had given some grounds for it in his letter to Charles Townshend. He observed upon that, that they had better have seen the letter, and that the supposition was absurd, Lord Holland being past all business, and told Wedderburn that he had, a few days since, been in to the King to ask for a new coronet, which could only be to deck his hearse. He spoke of the present system as at an end, called the late negotiation a total blow to the Administration, and wished again that the King might be advised to send for Mr. Grenville. I have given you the detail of this conversation as well as I can recollect it, and as these are his Lordship’s sentiments, they justify me in saying that it is matter of 1767. GRENVILLE TAPERS. 123 indifference whether Lord Mansfield has been with him or not; perhaps, too, you may think that the surmise that the King might consult Lord Mansfield, which I had from another quarter very wide of Lord Bute’s channel, is not at all less, but rather more probable, from his Lordship’s holding' this language, for I think Lord Mansfield’s would be the same in every particular. The time, and the manner, and the continually recurring to you whenever the conversation wandered to other political topics, induced Wedderburn to believe that it was meant to be repeated, and he, therefore, desired me to transmit it to you. On the other hand, as he may be mistaken, and it is possible his Lordship might only intend to show his friendship for him, he begs you will be particularly cautious to keep the information he gives you entirely to yourself; and the necessity I may be under to show’ Wedderburn your letter in answer to this, explains my reason for desiring that General Graeme’s name may not be in it. I am fully convinced, from the whole tenor of Lord Bute’s conduct upon all occasions lately, that he will not appear in any transaction; but there is certainly no harm in these being the sentiments of one who, without doubt, has opportunities to convey them, whatever influence they may have when they are so conveyed. The same are also carried through another channel, so that I think a just representation of your conduct, and of the principles of it, is sufficiently taken care of. Since writing the above, I find that Sir James Low ther has been holding the same language to Sir Fletcher Norton as Lord Bute did to Wedderburn. I hear authentically that Lord Chatham’s state of health is this :—He sits most part of the day leaning his head 124 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, down upon his hands, which are rested on the table. Lady Chatham does not continue generally in the room; if he wants anything, he knocks with his stick• he says little even to her if she comes in ; and is so averse to speaking, that he commonly intimates his desire to be left alone, by some signal rather than by any expression. The physicians, however, say there is nothing in his disorder which he may not recover, but do not pretend to say there is any prospect of its being soon. I am told that even Lord Holland is so much displeased at Lord Rockingham as to prefer Mr. Grenville. I am told, too, that many of his Lordship’s friends express their discontent at the point to which he sacrificed their interests. LORD GEORGE SACKVILLE TO MR. GRENVILLE. Stoneland Lodge, July 30, 1707. Sir,—I am greatly obliged to you for permitting Mr. Whately to send me so very distinct and satisfactory an account of the late extraordinary negotiation, and I cannot omit the earliest opportunity of returning you my sincere thanks for your attention to me upon that occasion. I am persuaded that the part you have taken will meet with the approbation of all your friends •, and, as far as my intelligence goes, those who are not personally acquainted with you do justice to your principles and to your disinterested conduct, in making public measures the great object of your consideration. I shall be happy in every opportunity of assuring you that I am with the sincerest regard and respect, &c., &c. Geo. Sackville. 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 125 MR. GRENVILLE TO MR. WHATELY. Wotton, Toly 30, 1767. Dear Whately,—I am glad that you have sent my letters to Lord George Sackville and to Lord Mansfield. I will talk to you of what you mention of the former when I have the pleasure of seeing you. Your conversation with Lord Mansfield will probably be over before this can reach you. I will only say, therefore, that I wish to leave him as fully informed as may be ; and I think no part of this transaction can in its nature be a secret after the whole of it has been intrusted to such a variety of persons of different parties and situations. I approve of the communications you have made of the particulars of it, and especially to Sir F. Norton and to Mr. Wedderburn. The language holden by the latter, in his conference with Lord Bute, is in all respects so friendly to me that I beg you will assure him of my kindest thanks for it, and that I am much obliged to him for the justice he has done me in declaring my sentiments, that I would never suffer myself to be forced or obtruded upon the King. This has long been my resolution, and I have made no secret of it to anybody. When the Duke of Bedford and I met Lord Bute at Lord Eglintoun’s, the winter before last, it was the only declaration I then made, except what related to the repeal of the Stamp Act, the measure then depending. I am glad that Lord Bute does justice to Lord Temple’s opinions and mine upon the present occasion ; and I trust, whatever changes may happen in the various systems of parties and of politics, that Lord Temple and I shall always be found on that public ground upon which the honour and safety of the King and of his 126 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, people equally depend. I agree with you in thinking, from the whole tenor of Lord Bute’s conduct and conversation, that he will not appear in any transaction. As to what may he intended, the accounts are so contradictory that I can form no judgment of them ; nor do I see the clue which is to extricate the King from the perplexities and difficulties in which His Majesty, and through him the kingdom, is unhappily involved. Any plan formed for that purpose shall certainly have my warmest wishes for its success, but what prospect there is of such a plan I am sure I know not. I will take no notice of the information you have given to me of what passed between Lord Bute and Mr. Wedderburn, except to Lord Temple, from whom I take it for granted nothing in which my name and ideas are mentioned is intended to be concealed. I agree with you in thinking it probable that nothing might be meant by Lord Bute in that conversation except expressions of civility, and to show his friendship for Mr. Wedderburn, in return for the very honourable part which Mr. Wedderburn took towards him personally in the course of last Session of Parliament. I am, &c., &c. George Grenville. THE EARL OF MANSFIELD TO MR. GRENVILLE. Bloomsbury, July 31, 1767. My dear Sir,—I am extremely obliged to you for the justice your letter does to the friendship which has long continued between us, and which is not likely to alter, because it is built upon a more solid foundation than the shifting quicksands of modern party and politics. 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 127 I heard of the negotiation you mention while it was depending, and the several steps it took. I only heard, for, in my private opinion, I never saw through it to the end I wish; which is to restore credit and wisdom to the King’s Councils, ease to his mind, and honour to his person. I suspected a snare1 in the proposition, or that it min'llt be turned into one. I thought it would drop by a negative from the quarter which begun. I did not foresee the precise mode in which it ended, which certainly was a sudden start; but I expected no good from such a meeting, so composed, without any previous preparation, or any system digested. It seemed like throwing the question with the East India Company among the members of the House of Commons. Since the whole ended, the Duke of Bedford did me the honour of a visit and very long conversation. I have seen Lord Rockingham several times. I have seen and often heard from the Duke of Newcastle, who is strongly and entirely of opinion with the Duke of Bedford, and very much applauds his behaviour. 1 Lord Rockingham also had his share of suspicion. In a letter to Mr. Dowdcswell, shortly after, he says, “ I am sure you will recollect that on the Monday night (20th July), I said that George Grenville and Lord Temple calling upon us for a declaration on North American affairs, was a trap; that whatever answer we gave, they would lay it before the public with whatever colouring they thought proper, so as to throw a construction upon our conduct to our disadvantage.”3 The Duke of Grafton, too, suspected the Rockinghams, as we learn from Horace Walpole, who, in speaking of one of Lord Rockingham’s replies to the Duke, says: “Impertinent as the body of the letter and the assumption to himself of forming an Administration were, it seemed but reasonable that the King should see the man whom he had sent for to be his Minister; and to have refused him an audience on the arrogance of his style, would probably be Jailing into the snare they had laid for breaking off the treaty ”b a Cavendish Debates: Appendix, p. 584. b Memoirs of George III., vol. iii. p. 11. 128 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, Though the way in which it did end was the effect of humour, chance, refinement, and a jealousy of the hour, I do not know whether it could have ended better, if there is sense to draw good from evil. The Duke of Bedford is very temperate ; so is Lord Rockingham ; they are disposed to continue the intercourse of every civility. Lord Rockingham has refused to accede to the present set. He immediately communicated to the Duke of Bedford that the King formalized upon the Treasury having been offered. Mr. Conway continuing Secretary, I believe is not in concert with him. I have been so engaged that I could not find a moment to see Mr. Whately ’till last night. Though I had heard from different quarters what passed with Lord Temple and you, yet the letters he showed me to himself and Mr. Rigby, and the account he gave me of your letter to Lord Suffolk, struck me very much. There is not an unguarded word or sentiment in respect of any person or thing. I think, under all the circumstances, your conduct wise, I think it honest, I believe it sincere. After making Mr. Whately read them over a second time, I was confirmed in a thought which immediately occurred to me. It is but doing you justice, and will be of great service to you to communicate them in private confidence. They might safely be printed in the Gazette, but any publication would destroy their effect. Nobody can do what I wish to have done so well as myself. Everybody knows that I am warmly your friend, they talk to me upon that footing ; but they do not think me your or any man’s follower, beyond my judgment and opinion. It is very natural that upon this occasion you should 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 1-9 acquaint me in confidence with the resolution you had taken, and the part you liad acted. No way could be more ingenuous, and less liable to suspicion, than by showing your letters to your intimate friends writ at the time, and therefore I wish I had that you wrote to Lord Suffolk. Now 1 see no objection to my exercising my judgment in making a confidence in a place or two, without suffering any copy to be taken. God knows what is to come next. One faction for another. A series of weak Administrations and perpetual strong Oppositions will lead to destruction. A struggle of places and pensions is scandalous. The cure must come from serious conviction. I have no more room. Ever yours, &c. EARL TEMPLE TO MR. GRENVILLE. Stowe, Friday morning, July 31, 1767. Mv dear Brother,—Under the seal of the deepest secrecy I send you the letter I received last night \ As 1 had before been conjured not to communicate the contents to any one person living, 1 must beg of you not to take a copy, and to return it to me on Sunday by Lord Thomond. I will make no comments except that I think Lord Bute gave many natural explanations to matters which required them, and that 1 most perfectly approve of your answer in every particular. I have long thought that this business must end in new plague to one or both of us, and I see no possibility of good. I am ever your most affectionate, 1'. 1 Probably that from Mr. W. Gerard Hamilton of the 29th instant. VOL. IV. K 130 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, MR. AUGUSTUS HERVEY TO MR. GRENVILLE. Park Place, July 31, 1767. Dear Sir,—Lord Eglintoun going to Stowe, I inclose this to Lord Temple by him, and have begged the favour of his Lordship to let a servant carry this over, that I may with some prospect of security write you what is going on here, as far as I can discern, and from what I learn from very good authority ; I came but the last night and go to-morrow. The Duke of Grafton certainly means to patch this up and go on, and Mr. Conway has undoubtedly determined to stay, and has promised to behave better, and says he will stand by the Duke of Grafton. You will allow this to be a Conway-ish return to the Marquess of Rockingham. But as Lord Hertford has totally the ear of the Closet in a public view, ’tis no wonder this has been so strangely conducted, and I scarce find one man that does not arraign Mr. Conway for his conduct, and not much less the Duke of Grafton for admitting it, but ’tis said, ’tis this or nothing. Mr. Charles Townshend is in the country much dissatisfied, as this arrangement does not answer his purpose, for you may be assured Lord Egmont is sent for, and will be in town Sunday or Monday, and is, they assert confidently, to have the seals in the room of Lord Shelburne, whom they turn out malgre lui. Lord Townshend is sent for to offer Ireland to, as I hear, in the room of Lord Bristol1, who I know has either re-signed or given notice some days ago that he will not keep it longer, which, together with Lord Egmont’s 1 Lord Bristol had just resigned the Lord Lieutenantcy of Ireland, and Lord Townshend was soon after appointed his successor. 17G7. GRENVILLE TAPERS, 131 being sent for, assures me that the Privy Seal will be taken for the present from the present holder of it. When you weigh this you will be of my opinion: first, Lord Egmont they know would not serve with Lord Chatham, though he supported; this does not answer his Lordship’s business, he wants a place, and therefore I think they would not send for him without giving him one without incumbrance, for which he left his other. Another reason is, that Lord Bristol would not resign (and I know for certain he does) if he did not think Lord Chatham used ill, and yet he intends to support the King, he says, but not a word of another place do I hear for him. But I can never think Lord Townshend will be prevailed on to accept with this situation of affairs, what he has long wanted in another: first, ’tis the eve of a Sessions, which will be as troublesome a one as any that ever was ; the salary is all gone for the preceding year, and no one can answer for his being there an hour after the Sessions, and not supported perhaps through it. Sure, therefore, of losing 8000/. or 10,000/., and not sure of being six months there ; and very sure of very disagreeable work at any rate. Barre I find is to be removed from Vice Treasurer of Ireland, but I have not heard who is to succeed. The Duke of Roxburgh and the Duke of Buccleuch are to have the Green ribbons. Lord March and Lord Frederick Campbell are competitors for the Admiralty of Scotland ; the first has the Duke of Grafton’s wishes, but the last is so much pushed by Conway, that at this crisis ’tis yet doubtful if he will not succeed1. 1 Lord Frederick was the brother of Conway’s wife, Lady Ailesbury ; Lord March was the successful candidate. K 132 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, Sir Thomas Sewell1 is, I hear, certain to go to Ireland, from which they hope to make some arrangement either to gain Sir Fletcher Norton or Wedderburn. Young Horace2, as they called him, is very busy in this time even at Court, where (as I told him) I scarce remember ever seeing him, and Lord Hertford is more in the Closet than ever. Mr. Stanley remains Ambassador still and Cofferer, as he told me this morning’, and has kissed hands to go to Paris for six weeks : what do you think of this ? Now, my dear Sir, I have sent you everything which I have heard and think I can depend on for certain. Chit-chat stuff is not worth wasting your time in reading it. Eglintoun yesterday came to me, and told me it had been very much reported, and even strongly asserted, that Lord Temple and you made a point of his being out in the arrangement, and that Granby believed it, and wished me to go to Granby and contradict it authentically, which, to avoid his Lordship’s very repeated urging, I said I would at a proper time; but I do not intend to go there, but if I meet him at Court, shall tell him I know it to be false, with circumstances that shall convince him; and I believe this to be a properer way for me than the other, but if you think otherwise, I will go to him, though I come to town purposely. But in that general subject I have very openly set all 1 Master of the Rolls; he was mentioned for the Irish Chancellorship. 2 It will be seen by Horace Walpole’s account of these transactions, that he meddled in all the negotiations between the Duke of Grafton, Lord Rockingham, Conway, &c.; and he takes considerable praise to himself for the composition or correction of the letters which the Duke of Grafton had occasion to write to Lord Rockingham at this time. S< e Memoirs of George III., vol. iii. 1767. GRENVILLE TAPERS. 133 your conduct in the light you and your brother wish it, and exactly to those that I believed it necessary, and am sure I very much surprised one person who had been (as he told me) assured of the reverse, in short there is nothing some of the Rockingham party (I do not believe with his knowledge or approbation) have not said to endeavour to make it thought here, that the exclusion of the Butes came from your quarter tacitly, and the Chathamites from the Duke of Bedford’s. You will easily believe I was as stout as well armed on this point; and to tell you the truth, by what I find, the Closet thinks very differently now of the Rockinghams than they did, and are more exasperated against them than any set. I think Monday you will see some other pictures in the Gazetteer that will not be unlike the originals1. 1 Mr. Hervey alludes to the same subject in a letter of this date to Lord Temple. “ You will in a day or two see a Briton you will not dislike, and some pictures tis hoped your Lordship will acknowledge as originals as to likeness, though they might have a more masterly hand for finishing.” The following are specimens of the “ pictures ” which are contained in a letter signed A Briton, dated from “ Somersetshire,” and printed in the Gazetteer of August 3rd—first of Lord Chatham :—“ Let us suppose now that one man should be presiding as he thought over them all, who is ambitious of everything, yet incapable of anything; too infirm to act himself, too jealous to let others; too proud to ask advice, too recluse to give any; too much distressed in his circumstances to resign, too much devoted to the Favourite Thane to be turned out; in short, too strongly supported by that quarter, and too little deserving of it from any.” Among other members of the Administration, here is a “ picture ” of General Conway. “ Supposing another should be temporizing with different parties through a whole kingdom, and keeping one of the greatest offices of trust in a kingdom, secretly connected with one sect, openly disclaiming of any, irresolutely opposing one day, and peevishly supporting the next, resigning yet holding, and at last proves to be the identical man proposed as Minister in his same department by one of the very 134 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, Your Somersetshire friend will never sleep, I assure you. I am ever, &c., &c. A. Hervey. MR. WEDDERBURN TO MR. GRENVILLE. Lincoln’s Inn, July 31, 1767. Dear Sir,—I have been exceedingly unfortunate in not having been able to command one day even to have paid my respects to you at Wotton. The Chancellor has sat every day without interruption since the Term, and I find myself obliged to set out upon the circuit to-morrow. Mr. Whately has informed you of an incident that occurred to me lately, as fully as I could have done ; I thought it marked a very proper disposition, and I attended the more to it, because the conversation was not brought on by anything that fell from me, but was introduced and carried on by the person I talked with, who appeared very inquisitive about the part Lord Temple and you had taken in the late transaction, of which he had had but an imperfect account, and took every occasion of expressing his strong sense of the propriety of it, and his good wishes towards you in general. I am at a loss what conclusions one ought to draw from it, but I should rather incline to think that it was meant for something more material than mere civility to me, and that idea coincides with a great many other obser-leaders of opposition to that Administration this very man is now employed in, and has been trusted by.” A few days afterwards an admiring poet sends some verses to the same paper, which end with the following couplet:— “ Thanks, Briton, to thy nervous pen. Like Vandyke’s art, it paints the men.” 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 135 rations I have heard upon the language that has been lately held by some of his nearest friends. I have not lived much in the political world for some weeks past, but all those I have seen agree perfectly in their sentiments of the only material part of the late transaction, I mean that which regards Lord Temple and you ; the rest was but the folly of a day ; but it must be of real consequence to the public some time or other, that this folly has afforded you an opportunity of demonstrating the moderation, the firmness, and the consistency of those principles you have always professed. As I understand Lord Clive intends to pay his respects to you in his way to Bath, I must take the liberty of troubling you with a few words upon Indian affairs. My part, you know, has in general been to support the Directors, ’till 1 thought they took a part against the interests and against the honour of the Company. I had no acquaintance with them, nor no other reason for supporting them (in opposition to almost all the people I knew, who gave themselves any trouble in the Indian meetings), but my desire to support the system Lord Clive had adopted. Since you left town, I took a very warm part in opposition to the Directors and to Mr. Dyson, in favour of the Company’s servants, for whom, in the outset of the affair, I had declined to interest myself, notwithstanding the regard I had for many of their friends, who had pressed me very earnestly to assist them. But the state of the question was totally changed, it had blended itself very much with the questions debated in the House of Commons, and I had no difficulty to support the propriety of the act done by the Company as a matter of favour to particular per- 136 GRENVILLE PAPERS. August, sons, and to insist that it ought not to be rescinded under the terror of the threats thrown out by Mr. Dyson, though I had not urged it formerly as a matter of right. It has so happened that these gentlemen think themselves obliged to me, and I am persuaded it is in my power to be of some weight amongst them, and their numbers and influence in general Courts is not inconsiderable. I wished to have seen Lord Clive, and desired Mr. Whately to explain my sentiments to him ; but 1 understood that he received the civility 1 meant to him in so cold a manner that it has gone no further on my part. It gave me very great satisfaction to find that my conduct in regard to the civilities that were shown me by Lord Rockingham has met with your approbation, which will always be the most important circumstance to mo in every concern 1 can have. As soon as my business is finished in the North, I hope to have the honour of waiting upon you, and to make myself amends for the disappointment I had last year in paying my respects to Lord Temple. I am ever, &c., &c. Al. Wedderburn. MR. WILLIAM GERARD HAMILTON TO EARL TEMPLE. Saturday night, (August 1, 1767.) My dear Lord,—I shall probably do nothing more than repeat what you have heard more satisfactorily from Whately: nor have I any reason to think that the intelligence which I send you is particularly authentic ; but what is reported and believed is, that Lord Egmont will have his choice of being President of the Council, or Secretary of State for the Southern Department; that 1767. GRENVILLE PARERS. 137 Shelburne will be First Lord of the Admiralty, and Lord Halifax in some considerable employment. Lord Bristol, before he went out, made Mr. Phipps, his brother-in-law, an Irish Peer, by the title of Lord Mui grave \ There was likewise a vacancy of the Bishop of Killa-loo, which I hear he has declared shall not be given to Sir William Pynsent2, to whom it was generally understood he had eno-aued himself for the first ecclesiastical preferment that should be in his disposal, after he had provided for his brother. The dissoluteness of Sir William Pynsent’s life is the reason he assigns for this refusal. The prevailing opinion is, that De Grey will not take the Chancellorship of Ireland ; and there are those who think it will terminate in my friend Hutchinson, and be purchased by the transfer of his reversion to some relation of the Lord Lieutenant’s. Lord Townshend has not as yet named his Secretary, and Jenkinson, it is generally believed, will have the offer of it; but his acceptance of it is much doubted. I am well informed that Lord Verney, at his house in your neighbourhood, within these very few days, attempted to hang himself, but was cut down before any mischief ensued. I need not desire your Lordship to be reserved upon this subject, but my intelligence comes from those who have been lately upon the spot. 1 Constantine Phipps, created Baron Mulgrave of New Boss, county of Wexford. He married the eldest daughter of John Lord Hervey and his wife “ the beautiful Molly Lepel.” 2 He means Sir Robert Pynsent, who was in holy orders, and who had succeeded to the baronetcy upon the death of his cousin Sir William, in January, 1765. It was Sir William who bequeathed the estate of Burton Pynsent to Mi Pitt. 138 GRENVILLE PAPERS. August, Mr. Conway succeeds Lord Townshend as Lieutenant General of the Ordnance, and continues Secretary of State. I shall not trouble you, my dear Lord, with any letter on Monday, as I hope to have the honour of meeting you at Eastbury; but, if I should be prevented, I shall not fail writing by Mr. Hervey. Yours most faithfully, &c., &c. — — — MR. WHATELY TO MR GRENVILLE. August 1, 1767. Dear Sir,—I wish I could spare your eyes the reading of another long letter from me ; but I doubt you would hardly allow me to postpone an account of the conversation I had with Lord Mansfield on Thursday night. It lasted an hour and a half, was very open, friendly, and agreeable. He said he had heard from the Duke of Bedford, the Duke of Newcastle, and Lord Rockingham, their several accounts of the late negotiation, and was very glad you had given him the opportunity, by sending me to him, of hearing particularly the part you had taken. I answered that I was able to give him that satisfaction immediately from yourself, by showing his Lordship, at your desire, the letters you had written upon the occasion ; for which purpose I produced yours to me of the 12th and 30th ; the extracts I had taken from that to Mr. Rigby of the 16th, and to Lord Temple of the 18th ; and the copy of Lord Temple’s and your joint note to Mr. Rigby of the 18th When I had gone through them, he desired me to read them all over again, for a reason which he would 1 See ante, pages 43, 57, 59 and 126. 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 139 give me ; and having done it, he told me his reason was, to watch whether there was a word in any of them which could give offence to anybody, to the Duke of Bedford, the Duke of Newcastle, Lord Rockingham, Lord Bute, or even the King, if he were to see them; that he found there was not an iota which could be exceptionable; that the sentiments were noble and becoming, the expressions most cautiously guarded, the ground you had taken excellent, and your whole conduct and correspondence such as would do you great honour; that he therefore wished he might be favoured with copies of all I had read, except that to me of the 30th, which was not material; but that the others, particularly that to me of the 12th, and to Lord Temple of the 18th, contained your real sentiments, freely delivered at the time of the transaction to your friends ; and were authentic testimonies to the probity and the motives of your proceedings. The use, he told me, which he particularly meant to make of them, was to show them to the Duke of Newcastle, under a charge of secrecy, which he knew his Grace would not keep; and that one reason for wishing to make that communication was to spread the truth, as it appears from these letters, among those to whom the Duke would tell it ; but, more especially, to fortify his Grace in the part he had taken; for that, with respect to the late transaction, he was wholly and solely a Bedford, and these letters would support him in the opinions he had entertained already. I replied to this, that I could without difficulty furnish his Lordship with the copies, having your permission to do so, under the restriction that they were only to him-sclf. lie said that he meant to oive the communication 140 GRENVILLE PAPERS. August, that appearance ; that nothing could seem more natural than for you, with whom he had so close a connection, to send him copies of your letters; and that though they were such as might be read at Charing Cross, yet any ostentatious exhibit of them from yourself would destroy the effect he intended, which was, to produce them as your private letters (those especially to Lord Temple and me), never meant to be shown. It is needless to say that I promised him the copies he desired : he told me that any time before this day se’ennight would be soon enough, as he should not see the Duke of Newcastle ’till then, for he sets out on the Home Circuit next Monday ; but, however, he shall have them to-morrow. In the course of the conversation upon the letters, he said they were such as might be shown to the King. 1 dropped slightly that I had no channel of conveying them, and he stopped short. I thought by the manner, he took it as I meant he should, and I took care- not to mark my meaning too strongly. The other letters, which I had in my pocket, which were the correspondence between the Duke of Grafton and Lord Rockingham, I offered to read, but it was unnecessary, as he was accurately acquainted with the contents ; the rest I left purposely at home, and took no notice of. He went through with me most of the particulars of the late negotiation : I do not repeat to you such as we all know and think of alike : those which he mentioned, and which I bad not before so particularly or so authentically as from him, are, that he had himself kept clear of the transaction, because he never saw an end to it, as it was impossible the Court should ever admit a comprehensive plan in such an extent; that Lord Rockingham, 1767. GRENVILLE TAPERS. 141 before he went to the first meeting, considered the thing as over, and was indifferent as to the point on which it broke off; that he had not then any thoughts of Mr. Conway; that the idea of meaning him for Secretary of State was not Lord Rockingham’s, nor was it taken up three hours before the second meeting; that Mr. Conway knew nothing of it; that at the subsequent conferences between Lord Rockingham and Mr. Conway, his Lordship absolutely declined coming in with his own friends only, and declared that if the King ever sent to him again, he would send to the Duke of Bedford ; and that he resented very much Mr. Conway’s still staying in. He further told me, that by the attentions which had passed between the Duke of Bedford and Lord Rockingham, and by the language he had heard from both, he understood that this affair had not interrupted any regards which the one might have towards the other, but left them just where it found them. 1 could not determine in my own mind whether in mentioning this he meant to convey a gratulation or an alarm1. He 1 Most probably the latter. Lord Mansfield’s political sagacity enabled him to perceive how essential the Bedford connection was to the Grenvilles, and that without it their power, as a party, would be materially weakened, if not altogether extinguished. Mr. Grenville and Lord Temple were well aware of this, and it has been surmised that their motive in entering into the recent negotiation was not so much with the view of themselves joining the Rockinghams, as to endeavour to prevent the union of the latter with the Duke of Bedford and his friends, and the events of a few months later proved how ready the Bedfords were, at the first favourable opportunity, to separate themselves from the Grenvilles. In truth, there was not at this time, nor indeed was there at any time, any real cordiality between the Grenvilles and the Bedfords, and certainly none was now even pretended between the Rockinghams and Grenvilles. In relating to Mr. Dowdeswell a conversation with Lord Lyttelton some months before, Lord Rockingham said : “ In the first place I told him, that an union formed with us on an idea of managing Lord Bute, was a scheme which 142 GRENVILLE PAPERS. August, said Lord Rockingham’s friends spoke with respect of you, but imputed their miscarriage in some measure to Lord Temple. I tried two or three times to get from him the grounds upon which they founded such a surmise : he would not enter into particulars, but said in general that they had no real grounds ; that it was refinement and folly, proceeding from old rancours, and upon those refinements he intimated that Lord Rockingham had concluded the affair was at an end, before he went to the first meeting. In order to find out their grounds, I threw out what I had heard, that the explanation upon the American measures was required only I was sure neither myself nor any of our great friends would have anything to do with; that I did not at all doubt but that Lord Temple and George Grenville were next oars to Administration, because I understood that their language was on a plan of tempting Lord Bute to quarrel with Lord Chatham, and also from various other reasons.” The letters of Mr. Whately and Mr. W. Gerard Hamilton certainly indicate a leaning, at least on the part of Mr. Grenville, if not of Lord Temple also, at this time, towards a reconciliation with the Bute party, or the King's friends, and from Lord Bute's conversation with Mr. Wedderburn, there would seem to have been no disinclination on his side. Lord Rockingham, continuing his account of the conversation with Lord Lyttelton, adds, “ I then answered what related to the Treasury. In regard to Lord Temple I told him fairly and fully, that his conduct in the matter of libels, and in his public conversations, had been such, that I believed amongst our friends he was not a man to be talked upon, but that, exclusive of that consideration, I must say truly, that the making either Lord Temple or George Grenville First Lord of the Treasury, was, in fact, making both of them the Minister: that I did not think Mr. George Grenville, personally, was quite in the same light as Lord Temple ; but that making Mr. Grenville Minister would be the most inconsistent act for us that could be thought of, and that of course we, who were determined to act consistently, would never join in such a plan; that our credit had risen with the public by our opposing Mr. Grenville’s measures when he was Minister, and that we had confirmed our credit, by reversing his measures when we were in Administration.”—Cavendish Debates : Appendix, p. 581. 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 143 to raise a difficulty, which supposition, I observed, was contradicted by Mr. Rigby’s declarations on that head to Lord Rockingham in town, before he had seen you or Lord Temple. He was struck with the fact, saying it was new to him, and material. I am persuaded that I there hit upon one of their reasons ; and yet he told me that Lord. Rockingham would, when the subject had come quietly into discussion, have been very easy, and have concurred in almost any measures short of reenacting the Stamp Act, which he did not suppose you would think of. I brought up the topic of Lord Temple once or twice more, in order to discover the foundations of their surmise that he had obstructed the negotiation, but he did not mention particulars, was himself perfectly satisfied in his Lordship’s conduct and intentions, and treated all suggestions to the contrary as nonsense, not worth regarding. lie declared he could not foresee what was next to happen ; for the present it seemed determined to go on. He had heard that Lord Northington had been sent for, and was come, but did not know whether the message was from the King, or only to attend some official business, and sent by the Ministers. I hear since from different hands, that he is not come ; one of these hands is Mr. Woodcock, wdio knows as much of Lord Northington as anybody, and who adds that a message has indeed gone, but that his Lordship has refused to come up : this can be true only if it was sent by the Ministers. Lord Mansfield said he understood some negotiation was on foot, concerning the Chancellorship of Ireland ; that Malone' and some others there were endeavouring 1 One of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas in Ireland. 144 GRENVILLE PAPERS. August, to get it among themselves, and Lord Bristol would probably stickle for their pretensions, but that if the Master of the Rolls would take it, and Sir Fletcher Norton would go to the Rolls, that would more probably be the disposition. He seemed to think that the proposition was actually made to Sir Fletcher Norton, but I believe he was mistaken. Sir Fletcher has been at Guildford ever since Wednesday, and does not return ’till to-morrow: not an hour before he went, his most intimate friend1 tells me that he had a conversation with him, in which the possibility of such an offer was the subject, and he is positively sure that then it had not been made : he is persuaded that if it should be hereafter, Sir Fletcher will take the part which becomes him, and is even of opinion that he would take no step without consulting you. I touched with Lord Mansfield on the subject of Lord Bute, asking what part he had taken. He protested he did not know, not having seen him since November, and said that he believed in general that he did less than was imagined; that his greatest fault was not doing so much as he might; for that if the King’s mind led him to place his confidence nowhere else, it was incumbent on Lord Bute to give His Majesty proper advice when it was wanting. He told me that the King and Queen had both distinguished him very particularly of late ; that on Thursday it was so marked by the King, that the Spanish Ambassador told him if anybody had been so distinguished at Madrid, they would have said that his fortune was made ; and that the Queen was so particularly gracious that Lady Egremont asked him whether 1 Mr. W. Gerard Hamilton. 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 145 he was not proud of the honours done him, I understand this was on Thursday, and that it was as strong a few days before. I know that it was designed: the King regrets that he cannot have the assistance of 'Lord Mansfield’s abilities, and is resolved to make the first advance, are very strong expressions. I find Lord Mansfield’s friends expected that be would have been called in before this, and Ross 1 the agent, to whom he opens himself more than to anybody, says that he will avow the advice he shall give, and doubts not that after the circuit it will be asked. He does not make a question of his Lordship’s pointing directly to you2. I think from all these circumstances that the intelligence I gave you concerning him, which was from a very different quarter, was not ill-founded, and I am sure the communication to his Lordship has not been ill-placed. The open language of Lord Bute’s friends now is, that he has the same opinion of you as he had four years ago. rhe similarity of the phrase proves that the conversation with Wedderburn was for a purpose. 1 George Loss: called by Junius “the Scotch agent aud worthy confidant of L( id Mansfield.’’—Vol. ii. p. 58. 2 Whately's conjecture in this respect is corroborated by Lord Rockingham in a letter to the Duke of Portland, dated September loth: “ Lord Bransfield has the seals in the interim: if his having them affords him opportunities of going to the Closet, and that he does so, aud makes long stay, possibly His Majesty and he may enter into conversations which may produce events. I should think it probable that Lord Mansfield would try to incline His Blajcsty towards George Grenville. And if he does, and it succeeds, I shall think we have had an escape, for I don’t believe that any of our friends will avow George Grenville in open daylight as leader of Administration. What I shall most dread is, that if we had the forming of an Administration, some of our friends, on the idea of conciliating the Duke of Bedford, &c., would throw such a weight into the Grenvillian party, as would hamper us in every measure, and blow us up the very first opportunity.”— Lord Albemarle 3 Memoirs of Hockinaham, vol. ii p 59 VOL. l\. L 146 GRENVILLE PAPERS. August, The reports of the day are that Lord Egmont is sent for to be a Minister, and Lord Townshend to go to Ireland. I do not much heed such rumours, but you have a test to try them by, for with equal confidence and authority it has been said, and is now believed, that you have been sent for; as you mention nothing of it to me, you may suppose I am hard of belief. The enclosed from Lord Mansfield he desired me to convey to you; that from Wedderburn, I suppose, is on the subject of Lord Clive, to whom he desired me to speak, offering to introduce him to his Lordship. Mr. Walsh being in the room, indiscreetly threw out that Mr. Wedderburn had shown himself a friend to the prosecuted servants, which I thought made Lord Clive rather cold about seeing him, but still said he should be glad to see any friend of yours. I would not put it on that ground, but stated Wedderburn as a considerable man in this country, both in Parliament and the law, and a respectable India proprietor, on account of the weight his abilities gave him in the Court, and the numbers who followed him; but as Lord Clive did not eagerly advance towards him, the affair was dropped between us; and I should think if, in consequence of Wedderburn’s letter, you should mention him to his Lordship, it will be better to take no notice, if possible, of what has passed between his Lordship and me, and my ineffectual attempt to bring him and Wedderburn together. 1767. GRENVILLE TAPERS. 147 MR. GRENVILLE TO COLONEL HOTHAM1. Wotton, August 2, 1707. Sir,—I had heard the melancholy news of Lady Suffolk’s death 2 before I received the favour of your letter, and though her advanced age, joined to the frequent complaints she has lately had, must necessarily diminish our surprise at the suddenness of this event, yet it cannot lessen the sincere concern which it has given both Mrs. Grenville and myself. I feel very sensibly the kind testimony of the continuance of that friendship to the end of her life, which I have so many years enjoyed, and to which I have been so highly obliged. If there is anything beyond mere matter of form, in consequence of the trust which you inform me she has reposed in Lord Chetwynd3 and me concerning the disposition of her estate at Marble Hill, I shall be happy in every opportunity of showing my real respect to her memory by the strict performance of everything she wished, and by my regard and attention to those she loved. Mrs. Grenville desires me to make her compliments to you, and we both join in begging the favour 3 Afterwards Sir Charles Hotham : he married Lady Suffolk’s niece, lady Dorothy Hobart; their only daughter, Miss Hotham, was adopted and educated by Lady Suffolk. ■ “Lady Suffolk closed in July. 1767, a long life, which had been chequered with the vicissitudes of Court favour, and afflicted by constitutional infirmities, but sweetened by the equanimity and moderation of her own mind, and the affection and friendship of the most eminent and distinguished persons of the long period in which she lived."—Mr. Croker's Pioi/raphical Preface to the Suffo/k Correspond cnee. See also Horace Walpole's account of her death in a letter to I ord Strafford, July 29, 1707. 3 William, third Viscount Chetwynd : he had very recently succeeded his brother in the title. He died in \pril, 1770. 2 148 GRENVILLE PAPERS. August, of you to assure Lord Chetwynd of our most cordial good wishes for his health under a blow which we know will greatly affect him as well as ourselves. I have the honour to be, &c., &c. George Grenville. EARL TEMPLE TO MR. GRENVILLE. Monday night, August 3, 1767. My dear Brother,—Many thanks for the communication of the various dispatches. I will make no comments upon the various moving sands of intelligence which we daily, not to say hourly, receive ; but nothing can surpass the nonsense of laying to my charge the breach of a negotiation in which you and I were only passive, and in which we proceeded with perhaps unprecedented fairness and generosity. I am sorry to hear of the complaint in your eyes, and am ever your most affectionate, Temple. MR. GRENVILLE TO THE EARL OF MANSFIELD. Wotton, August 5, 1767. My dear Lord,—Your letter of the 31st of last month gave me the highest satisfaction which I could propose to myself from the late negotiation, by informing me that you so kindly approved the conduct of Lord Temple and myself in the course of it; and I should not have delayed from the 2nd of this month, when I received it, ’till now, to return you my sincerest thanks for every part of it, if Mr. Whately had not informed me that vou was set out upon the Home Circuit, and would not return to your own house ’till the end of the week. My thoughts agree so perfectly with yours as to 3 767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 149 the other parts of this transaction, that it would only be giving you unnecessary trouble to repeat them. I am extremely obliged to you, my dear Lord, for the wish you expressed to have copies of the papers which Mr. Whately showed you by my desire, and likewise of my letter to Lord Suffolk '. The former, Mr. Whately says he would send to you before this time, and enclosed I transmit to you a copy of the latter, and shall be very happy to give you any further information of what has passed, if there is anything which has not yet come to your knowledge ; feeling, as I do most sensibly, those friendly motives which have indue d you to be troubled with them, and knowing that if they were far more secret than from the nature of them they can be, there is no man to whose judgment and to whose affection I would more gladly entrust them. It cannot but appear, therefore, very natural to the world, who arc no strangers to the respect I bear to your opinions, and to the sense I have of your friendship, that I should take the earliest opportunity to acquaint you with all circumstances in which my public life and character arc concerned. As to the present state of things, the melancholy picture which you draw of it at the end of your letter, is too striking and too true. The cure must come from a serious conviction and rkht measures, instead of annual struggles for places and pensions, and that cure ought not to be delayed ~. Private resentments should mix as little as may be with public opinions. In the last negotiation, Lord Temple and I have stood entirely upon the latter, and upon that ground 1 See ante, page IS. 2 This short confession from such a man as Mr. Grenville, is the true explanat ion of all the factious confusion of these times, ami the fullest juslitication of George 111., the victim of these " annual struggles." 150 GRENVILLE PAPERS. August, I trust we shall continue, being convinced that the situation grows hourly too critical and dangerous to indulge other passions. This is the only clue to lead us through the present maze of politics, to the King’s honour and happiness, and consequently to the public safety. This is, J am sure, the likeliest means for me to obtain your good opinion, which, both as a public and as a private man, I shall ever be most anxious to preserve, from the sincere respect and regard with which I am, my dear Lord, &c., &c. George Grenville. MR. WHATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. Croydon, Thursday, August 20, 1767. Dear Sir,—I came hither this morning to pay my respects to Lord Mansfield at the Assizes, with whom I dined, and as the company was retiring after dinner I took an opportunity, by presenting your compliments, to offer him an opening for conversation, which he readily took, and kept me above an hour and a half after they all were gone. He told me he had received a letter from you, and that he had shown your letters to the Duke of Newcastle, with whom they had had all the effect that could be wished, and his Grace was the more pleased as it confirmed him in his opinions concerning the late negotiation. I then told his Lordship, that a letter from the Duke of Newcastle to the Duke of Bedford had put us all upon the watch, expecting, on such an authority, that the Parliament would be dissolved at the next prorogation. He assured me, that he knew the Duke, when he wrote that letter, had no fact to go upon ; that per- 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 151 haps he himself might have contributed to fix the Duke in that belief, by saying, just before that letter was written, that he did not doubt the measure would be taken ; that since, a person had asked the Duke of Grafton whether it would, and that his Grace protested he knew nothing of it, and promised, if it should, that he would give that person notice, which notice has not been "iven ; that in a conversation he had the ni"ht before last, with the Dukes of Newcastle and Richmond, at Lewes, they then thought there was no one in Administration who would undertake to advise it; but that, notwithstanding all this, he (Lord Mansfield) was firmly persuaded that the Parliament would be dissolved, it being so evidently desirable for the King, convenient to the Ministry, even unsettled as they are, and seasonable for the people in their present state of indifference, and it not being now a strong measure for any Minister to advise. He spoke of it with great positiveness, almost to assertion, but not giving me reason to think that he went upon any other ground than speculation, except from the peremptoriness of his manner, and he was very explicit in assuring me repeatedly that the Duke had no other foundation than the probability of such an event. He afterwards entered at lar"e into the state of affairs, lamented the condition of the kingdom and of the Kiim said that nothin"- could extricate us CT 7 CT but the conviction of the King’s mind; that he knew His Majesty was in great distress ; saw every step he took plunged him deeper, and that he believed that the whole rested with him now upon his not knowing which way to turn himself; that indeed his difficulty was great ; that if his advice were asked, he should hardly know what to advise; that parties aimed only at places, 152 GRENVILLE PAPERS. August, and seemed regardless of measures; that this made the country indifferent to their success ; that -in the late negotiation you were the only person who had rested at all upon a measure, and that, therefore, the people did notenter into the dispute whether the Duke of Grafton or Lord Rockingham should have the disposal of offices; that, indeed, in the late affair, many of Lord Rockingham’s friends were displeased at the point on which he broke with the Duke of Bedford, though in reality that was immaterial, perhaps it was the best ground on which they could have broken, and they never could have gone on, but still many were dissatisfied. This he mentioned, I thought, as a gleam of hope, to extricate the King and kingdom from the difficulties in which it is involved by the interestedness of parties, and he evidently felt as if he had said too much, and endeavoured to divert my attention from what he had let drop1. I imagined that he supposed some of Lord Rockingham’s friends might be induced to join other parts of the Opposition, if called into Government, though the whole body should not be included ; and on that idea, when he launched out into complaints of all parties, that they sought their own advantage only, to the exclusion of all others, I endeavoured in general 1 Mr. Whately here seems to imagine Lord Mansfield’s meaning to have been, that if he were called upon by the King for his advice in the formation of a Government (a circumstance at this time by no means improbable), he would endeavour to promote a coalition between Lord Bute’s party, or the King's friends, the Grenvilles, and some of the dissatisfied members of the Rockingham party ; and as his (Lord Mansfield's) opinions are described to be so much in accordance with those of Mr. Grenville, who desired that measures should be considered more than men, he may also point at some conciliatory and comprehensive measures with regard to America, in which he expected Mr. Grenville might be induced to concur. 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 153 terms to make our party an exception, but he gave me little credit for it. He, however, repeated again his commendations of your behaviour, if possible, more warmly than in my former conversation. He spoke with great contempt of the present Administration, dwelt much on their internal weakness, laughed at the idea which I told him thev entertained of having gained the King, thought that impossible without attention to Lord Bute, talked much of the absurdity of thinking to take the King prisoner, which was, he said, a very common notion ; and urged over and over again, that nothing but a conviction of the King’s mind, or some accident, could give us relief. I said, that I did not see that accident likely to happen; his answer was, that though he neither did not see it, yet he was sensible that a trifle light as air might prove one. I had frequent opportunities during the course of this conversation, to throw in several of your sentiments (as having heard them lately from you), where they tallied with his, as you will see they do verv much, from the above relation. He went over again much of the same ground he had trod in our former conversation, relative to the late transaction ; blamed Lord Rockingham for the notice he had taken of Lord Bute’s party in the Closet; and repeated, that Conway stayed in against the inclination of Lord Rockingham. I told him at large what I heard was Mr. Horace Walpole’s language; that Lord Rockingham had ruined himself in the Closet, by that, and by the disdain with which he had received the last proposition ; that he never would be sent for again, and that it was better to send directly to Mr. Grenville, than to convev a message to him through Lord Rockingham. Lord Mansfield observed 154 GRENVILLE PAPERS. August, upon this, that it signified nothing, and only admitted that it showed Mr. Conway’s sentiments. He abused the whole of Lord Chatham’s conduct, wondered at Lord Bristol’s resignation ; and this, with a repetition of much which he had said to me on a former occasion, was, I think, the substance of our conversation. I hear that Dr. Addington says, he never saw any man’s muscles so relaxed as Lord-Chatham’s, but that his head is clear. Lord Mansfield has heard that he says he will recover, but does not believe he speaks his opinion. I have had an account of Mr. Walpole’s language, from two several quarters ; I have told you parts of it, both in this letter and my last, and upon the whole it does not seem to me very sanguine. He is the author of the news, that Lord Northington refused to resign; and upon being asked why the Ministers would suffer such a declared enemy to stay in, he said he had asked the same question, and was told that he could do no harm; that the last time he went into the Closet he had met with a reception which was not very pleasing, and if he attempted it again it would be worse; yet, since that, I am told that Lord Northington will soon resign, as I believe I wrote to you in my last. Lord Mansfield’s account agreed with that which I have heard repeated from Mr. Walpole, that the ground upon which Lord Rockingham broke off the second negotiation with Mr. Conway was, that he would not treat with Ministers, though I understand they used the King’s name, but he was positive to hear nothing except from His Majesty himself. Lord Mansfield added, that if Lord Rockingham had thought that it amounted 1767. GRENVILLE TAPERS. 155 to a negotiation, he would have communicated it to the Duke of Bedford. MR. WHATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. [Nonsuch], August 24, 1707. Dear Sir,—The letter I sent you last Tuesday was written from the worst inn's worst room in an assize town, with noise and hurry and disorder all around me. It partook, I suppose, of the confusion of the place, and was hardly intelligible. Being written, however, immediately after I rose from the conversation which it related, I conclude that it contained all the particulars, nor do any occur to me now which I omitted then, except one expression which his Lordship used when, speaking of the necessity there was that the King’s mind should be convinced, he added, and then perhaps his passions, which have been biassed one way, may set as strongly the other; on which subject and on many others his sentiments coincided so exactly with yours, that if I had not known it to be impossible, I should have thought you had been talking them over together ; I said as much to him, and I was pleased to find you agreed on those points so entirely. Upon recollecting all that passed, the general impression which it has left upon me is, that the character he affects is that of independency and impartiality ; that the distress at present he supposes to arise from the necessity of a comprehensive plan, for the benefit of the kingdom and for the security of the Minister; in opposition to which, he fears the interestedness of contending parties, who may disregard the former of those objects, and the reluctance of the Court to concur in providing for the 156 GRENVILLE PAPERS. August, other ; that he presumes a possibility at least, if not a probability, that he may be called upon for his advice ; that if he should be, he considers your behaviour during the late transaction, (and I thought he clearly mentioned it) as a pas gagne ; and 1 imagined that the hint he dropped, and endeavoured to retract, of the dissatisfaction in some of Lord Rockingham’s friends, appeared to him as another facility. You will judge whether the particulars (giving me only a little credit for his manner, which I cannot convey) support these general conclusions ; I send them to you because they may be of use to connect the desultory account which I gave you before, and which 1 could not then, in the midst of so many interruptions, and so much confusion, state with care, or bring into order. I took an opportunity yesterday to call upon the gentleman who first gave me the intimation that his Lordship might be applied to, and whose country house is not above eleven miles from hence. I told him very shortly what had passed, he expressed great satisfaction at the disposition in which I represented his Lordship to be ; I presume from thence that his ideas upon the point are the same as they were, though he did not give me any fresh confirmation of them. 1 am told very privately, but very authentically, that there are many marks which show that the continuance of the present system is certainly not the idea; on the contrary, it is probable that some other arrangement is actually under consideration, though perhaps it may not immediately appear; that it is not understood that the Duke of Grafton means to remain long where he is: that he continues only in consequence of the professions he had made, not to suffer the Closet to be taken by storm ; but is as uneasy in his situation as ever, and as 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. J 57 much dissatisfied at the absence of Lord Chatham from all public business ; that he has contrived lately to offend the Queen by the manner in which he has opposed her inclinations ; for that on the vacancy of the place of Vice Admiral of Scotland, she expressed her wish that the King might on that occasion bestow a mark of his favour on General Graeme1; Mr. Conway was at the same time pressing for Lord Frederick Campbell, and the Duke of Queensbcrry for Lord March ; in support of the pretensions of the latter it was urged, that the place was proper only for a Peer; the Duke of Grafton espoused the objection, and it was imagined he did so more particularly against the General than against Lord Frederick. The precedents failing him, as there were many instances produced of its being given to commoners, he made use of other pretences, and at last carried the point for Lord March. I was told also at the same time, that the language with respect to you is much softened, and what alienation there may have been, seems to be at an end ; that Lord Rockingham it is supposed lias made himself very ill in the Closet; that the Ministry are all disjointed; Mr. Conway is a declared King’s man, not the Duke of Grafton’s ; and the whole seems to be far from a settled Administration. 1 dined yesterday with Mr. Cooper , the Secretary of the Treasury, who spoke of Lord Chatham’s case as 1 The Queen’s Private Secretary. 2 Afterwards Sir Grey Cooper. Ue obtained the revival, in 1775, of tin* baronetcy of his great-grand-uncle, which had been dormant for many years. He was subsequently one of the Lords of the Treasury, and died in 1*01. lie is said by Almon to have been the author of two Political tracts : A Pair of Spectacles for Short-sighted Politicians. and The Merits of the New Administration truly stated, both published in 1765. 158 GRENVILLE PAPERS. August, very critical; and upon my asking whether he meant dangerous, he said, that he thought a person much reduced, greatly emaciated, and whose only chance was a fit of the gout, must be in a dangerous situation. He told me that the Chancellor of the Exchequer having been not well of a long time, and he observing that he looked still worse a few days ago, he advised Ladv Greenwich to send for a physician ; she at first said that Mr. Townshend’s disorder was only lowness of spirits ; but at last called in Sir William Duncan, who has pronounced it to be a slow fever of the putrid kind ; from which he does not apprehend any danger at present, but says that it is a disorder liable to so many accidents that he cannot answer for the event h Mr. Townshend vester-day kept his bed, but I believe rather because he was desired than because he was obliged to do so. 1 “Ou the 4th of September, 1707,” says Horace Walpole, “ died Charles Townshend, of a neglected fever, in, I think, the forty-second year of his age. He met his approaching fate with a good humour that never forsook him, and with an equanimity that he had never shown on the most trifling occasions. Though cut off so immaturely, it is a question whether he had not lived long enough for his character. His genius could have received no accession of brightness; his faults only promised multiplication. He had almost every great talent, and every little quality. His vanity exceeded even his abilities, and his suspicions seemed to make him doubt whether he had any. With such a capacity he must have been the greatest man of this age, and perhaps inferior to no man in any age, had his faults been only in a moderate proportion—in short, if he had had but common truth, common sincerity, common honesty, common modesty, common steadiness, common courage, and common sense.”—Memoirs of George III., vol. iii. p. 99. Charles Townshend had been in Parliament for twenty years, and during that period he was successively in office as a Lord of Trade and of the Admiralty, Secretary of War, Paymaster of the Forces, and, at the time of his death, Chancellor of the Exchequer. 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 159 MR. WILLIAM GERARD HAMILTON TO EARL TEMPLE. Monday morning, (September, 1767.) My dear Lord,—Though my fever has left me, it has left me so extremely low that I am ordered into the country, where I go to-morrow for a few days. A new scene of intrigue and negotiation is opening. Lord Camden left London in his way to Bath on Saturday. Before he went it was clearly his opinion that Lord Rockingham would be the first treated with, and that the thing attempted would be a reunion between the Cavendishes, Conway, and the Duke of Grafton. I know likewise that Dunning was to have gone on a party of pleasure to Flanders, and that his journey is stopped. Taylor, who purchased part of the Pynsent estate, turns out to have been only an agent in that transaction for Lord Holland and Lord Radnor. Before Lord Chatham left North-End he sent for his upholsterer (whom I employ) and paid him 2000/., in part of a bill of 27'00/. which he owed him, and gave him many directions about his house, and particularly as to the manner in which the room was to be fitted up, where he proposed doing business newt winter. In his way down to Somersetshire he walked ostentatiously before the door of almost every inn at which he stopped, and a servant who went with him into the country is returned, who says he never remembers to have seen his Lordship better in his whole life. Lord Camden likewise, before he left town, declared that he had received a letter from him, in which he proposed that they should drink a glass of Bath water together in dess than three weeks. Lord North is gone into the country. From the little 160 GRENVILLE PAPERS. September, that has dropped from the friends of Lord Rockingham now in town, it does not seem as if the admission of the Bedfords, in case of any new proposal, would be, as it was before, an indispensable condition. It is reported that Charles Townshend has died in very indifferent circumstances. Lord Mansfield, I hear, is of opinion that my friend will take before the Session opens, with the Ministry that shall be existing at the time. Mr. Conway is again in one of his fits of doubt and indecision as to his resigning or holding the Seals. I have the best reason for knowing that the Chancellorship of Ireland1 has never been offered to De Grey, and I know likewise that De Grey is of opinion Sewel will be the man, and that all is actually settled with Norton to be Master of the Rolls. Lord Townshend, who did not intend leaving England for a fortnight, now talks of setting out next .Friday, which looks as if he was willing to secure the Lord Lieutenantcy against any approaching change. Yours, &c., &c. — — — MR. WEDDERBURN TO MR. WHATELY. (September, 17672.) Dear Whately,—I found no opportunity of writing to you from York that I would have preferred to the 1 Sergeant Hewit, one of the Judges of the King's Bench, was soon after appointed Lord Chancellor of Ireland; in June, 1768, he was created Baron Lifford, and Viscount Lifford in 1781. He died in April, 1782. 2 This letter was probably written while Wedderburn was on a visit to Lord Rockingham at Wentworth, about the beginning of September. 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 161 post. Stuart, who sets out from hence to-morrow, has promised to take charge of this. The hint I wished to convey to you in my last letter I find you have perfectly understood. All I meant was, that our friend should keep himself reserved upon the subject, and should not express himself with any degree of hostility. I have reason to think that the Duke of Grafton has given great disgust bv his behaviour in that business, and if the account I heard be true, the resentment entertained at his conduct upon it is not unreasonable, for he had first declared himself perfectly satisfied as to the merits, pledged himself to support it, and afterwards drew back upon the pretext of its being very unpopular. This you may easily imagine is not a matter to be soon forgiven, perhaps not to be immediately resented, but that it will be resented I have very little doubt. Lord Rockingham’s conversation on American affairs was very temperate and reasonable, blaming exceedingly the indiscretion of the present Ministers, who had ventured upon strong measures without being prepared to support them, especially after the experience they had had that the powers of Government in that country were insufficient to execute the law, and lamenting the misfortune of the Americans, who had been seduced into resistance by the countenance shown to those who had dared to deny the right of the British Legislature. His idea seemed to be that an application would be made to Mr. Grenville through the Bedfords, and he did not seem to expect that it would be made to his friends. I am going to Richmond to-morrow for a few days, and then I shall compose myself entirely ’till the meeting of Parliament, which I presume will be early. I wish Mr. Grenville would take some opportunity of writing VOL. IV. M 162 GRENVILLE PAPERS. Sept ember, to Sir Laurence Dundas; the Bedfords are extremely attentive to him, and he is apt to be taken with attentions’. I ever am, &c., &c. MR. CHARLES LLOYD TO EARL TEMPLE. York Buildings, Thursday evening, September 10, 1707. My Lord,—Lord North came to town yesterday, saw the Duke of Grafton, and was at the Levee. It was generally understood that he had refused, and yet as generally known that, if forced to the alternative of taking the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, or of quitting his present office, he would yield. Lord Guilford is said to be in a dangerous way, so as not to be likely to live even a few weeks2. This may operate on Lord North’s conduct. The arrangement much talked of is Lord Barrington to succeed Mr. Townshend, and Mr. Stanley to replace Lord Barrington. The King did not go from the Queen’s House ’till seven this evening. Just before his setting out for Richmond, I saw the Princess of Wales come from him. Lord Bute, it is said, is come to town so ill as to be attended by three physicians. But what would the public get by Lord Bute’s death! Lord Mansfield was in the Closet yesterday one hour and a half. I have the honour to be, &c. Charles Lloyd. 1 Sir Laurence Dundas was an object worthy of attention, inasmuch as he had considerable borough influence. Under his patronage Wedderburn was now M.P. for Richmond, but he vacated his seat for that place in May, 1769, in consequence of his vote in favour of Wilkes on the Middlesex Election question. 2 Lord Guilford survived many years : he died in 1790, and was then succeeded by Lord North, as second Earl of Guilford. J 767 GRENVILLE TAPERS. 163 MR. WHATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. September 11, 1767. Dear Sir,—The Duke of Grafton wrote to Lord Mansfield on Tuesday night, to signify to him the King’s commands, that he should attend him the next .lay. The order of the Audiences was, the Duke of Grafton, Lord North, and Lord Mansfield. Lord North was in near an hour, and, in the meanwhile, the other two sat conversing in the outer room. Whether anything that passed in that conversation, or some other circumstance, had convinced Lord Mansfield of the certainty of Lord North’s being Chancellor of the Exchequer, I do not know; but he was so persuaded of it, that, on his coming out, he went up and wished him joy: others followed the example, ’till Lord North was obliged to declare that he had not accepted, which, they say, seemed to disconcert the Duke of Grafton, as if he had not been aware of it. After Lord North, Lord Mansfield went in, and received the Exchequer Seal k He expresses great satisfaction in the reception he met with : the particulars of it he does not mention, as I hear. Lord Chatham has sold of the Pynsent estate to the amount of 28,000/. Dr. Addington, who went down with him to Somersetshire, was called back by an express to attend his own son2, who lies dangerously ill at the school just by us here. He contradicts the accounts 1 When the Chancellorship is vacant, the Exchequer1 Seal is usually delivered ad interim into the custody of the Lord Chief Justice of the Court of King’s Bench. 2 Afterwards the Hight Honourable Henry Addington, first Viscount Sidmouth. M 2 164 GRENVILLE PAPERS. September, of Lord Chatham’s health, represents him as in a very shattered condition, but able to go about a little, and even to be amused by being read to. Lord Bute has been in town for advice, being still much out of order. He has had a consultation of physicians, who, I hear, do not know what the case is. Lord Barrington, it is said, is sent for, I suppose to have the Exchequer Seal. CAPTAIN SAMUEL HOOD' TO MR. GRENVILLE. Halifax, September 22, 1767. Sir,—I beg the honour of acquainting you that I arrived safe here in six weeks and three days, and called at Madeira as I came alono- and had the finest weather I ever saw, without an hour’s contrary wind the whole way. This was very fortunate for Mrs. Hood, who embarked in poor health, but the sea air and that of this place has been of infinite service to her. The greatest part of Nova Scotia is a very fine country, capable of every improvement, but in great want of hands. Labour comes high : an artificer will not work under four shillings a day, nor a common husbandman under three; very heavy upon a young colony, where nine out of ten that adventures are driven by poverty from other parts. However, some counties begin to thrive, and, was a communication open to the several interior townships, would soon flourish; the want of which checks industry, and is very severely felt. The 1 Afterwards Admiral Lord Hood. He was made a Baronet in 1778, Baron Hood in the Peerage of Ireland in 1782, and Viscount Hood in that of Great Britain in 1796. He died in 1816. 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 165 inhabitants are not rich enough to make roads. The work is immense, especially for waggons to pass, which is much wanted, as the country near the sea is mountainous, full of trees and large rocks, and further up very swampy. There is no riding above six miles from this town without endangering the neck of man and horse; and the little that is good has been chiefly made this summer, at a vast expense, by the direction of Lord William Campbell1, the Governor, who sees the necessity of proper roads, and has the making them much at heart. It does him great honour, as nothing can more strongly prove him a good father to the province intrusted to his care than the effecting a work of such great public utility. This to me appears an object highly deserving the attention of Government; and an annual gift of 1000/. or 1500/. for seven years, to be appropriated to road-making only, would be of infinite more use to this country than the whole vast sum it has received from home, which has not been of the least benefit towards cultivating the lands. The mother country would I am sure soon experience very ample and happy returns, and without some help this way the sufferings of the poor farmers must continue to be great, and they will be altogether disheartened. For of what use is it, Sir, for a few people to have a large overplus of food beyond their wants, if it cannot be carried to market to buy raiment, &c. And this country will not admit it at present, except in the neighbourhood of Annapolis, and the Bay of Fundy is a very ugly and precarious navigation ; it is indeed a very dangerous one in the winter, and as the harvests here are 1 Son of John, fourth Duke of Argyll. 166 GRENVILLE PAPERS. September, very late, the winter will be far advanced before the grain can be got ready for market. The province seems to have exerted itself for some years past, but it is now so poor it knows not what to do; for by building a lighthouse at the entrance of the harbour, a church, giving premiums, and making temporary roads, it is now loaded with a heavy debt, the interest of which it cannot pay. From the head of the basin about thirty miles there has been a tolerable path, but it is now impassable, as all the bridges are broken down. Three shillings is an amazing price for a day’s labour, which ought to be reduced one half at least, and it certainly must whenever a good communication is open between this town and the interior counties; for that will make provisions as cheap here as at any place in North America, and there can be no doubt but that inhabitants will then flock here from all the provinces. I am exceeding happy, and much rejoice in an opportunity of relating these facts to you, Sir, as I shall in every other, of testifying the grateful sense I have of the many marks of favour and friendship you have been pleased to honour me with. I am, with the greatest respect, &c., &c. Sam. Hood. THE REVEREND DR. MARKHAM TO MR. GRENVILLE. Bloomsbury Square, September 30, 1767. Sir,—I have been called to town suddenly by an offer of the Deanery of Christ Church. I did not apply for it, nor can I find that I have been recommended. I am told that it was His Majesty’s own doing. If it be so, 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 167 I cannot any way account for it so naturally as by ascribing it to the impression which your kind mention of me on a former occasion may have left on His Majesty’s mind. Permit me, therefore, to return you my thanks for it. Your kindness to me has been such, that whether I owe this obligation to you or not, it makes no difference in my duty, or in the sense which I have of it. I beg leave to add my compliments to Mrs. Grenville, and my sincere wishes for everything that can contribute to your honour and happiness, and am, Sir, your most obliged, &c., &c. William Markham. MR. WILLIAM! GERARD HAMILTON TO EARL TEMPLE. Friday, (October 2, 1707.) My dear Lord,—A return of my fever has once more drove me from the country back again to town. Lord North, it is now universally understood, will kiss hands on Wednesday next. He insisted upon terms in which the Court have acquiesced. Barrington was sent for, but before his arrival the Ministry had agreed with Lord North. What were his conditions I have not learnt. The paragraph in the newspaper of Lord Chatham’s having been desired and having refused to leave the Privy Seal in commission, is true. Lord Townshend told me that Lord Bute had declared to him his determination to go abroad. The Court, even after all that has passed, cannot satisfy themselves, but that your Lordship, Lord Chatham, and Mr. Grenville will b\ some means or other be re- 1G8 GRENVILLE PAPERS. October, conciled before the General Election, and the idea that you will not suffer that advantage to be thrown away, I know is at present the cause of great uneasiness. London never was thinner, or more stifling and pestilential. I hope to leave it again in a few days. No one is as yet mentioned to succeed Lord North. Yours, my dear Lord, &c., &c. — — — MR. WHATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. October 3, 1767. Dear Sir,—The circumstances of the Duke of York’s death1 which have come to my knowledge are, that Colonel Wrottesley having promised if he ever came near Monaco to pay a visit to the Prince of it, whom he had known at Paris, desired leave of the Duke, who intended to cross the Alps, that he might go round that way, and join him on the other side. The Duke there- 1 Edward Augustus Duke of York, next brother of the King, died on the 17th of September, in his 28th year. Horace Walpole, in mentioning his death, adds, “ tie suffered considerably, but with a heroism becoming a great Prince. Before he died he wrote a penitential letter to the King (though, in truth, he had no faults but what his youth made very pardonable), and tenderly recommended his servants to him. The Duke of York had lately passed some time in the French Court, and by the quickness of his replies, by his easy frankness, and (in him) unusual propriety of conduct, had won much on the affection of the King of France, and on the rest of the Court, though his loose and perpetually rolling eyes, his short sight, and the singular whiteness of his hair, which the French said resembled feathers, by no means bespoke prejudice iq his favour. His temper was good, his generosity royal, and his parts not defective ; but his inarticulate loquacity, and the levity of his conduct, unsupported by any countenance from the King his brother, had conspired to place him but low in the estimation of bis countrymen."—Memoirs of George III., vol. iii. p. 103- 1. 1767 GRENVILLE PAPERS. 169 upon said he would himself go that way, and for that purpose went on board an open boat after being violently heated with dancing. From the time he was first seized, he thought he should die, and ordered larw drafts to be made upon England for the payment of all his servants, observing to them that if it were postponed, they might be delayed at the least in getting their money. James’s powder drove off the fever twice when they thought him quite gone, and from thence some hopes were entertained of his recovery; but on the third attack, the dose they gave him had so very violent an effect, that they were afraid to repeat it, and of that attack he died. I believe these circumstances are tolerably exact. MR. WHATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. October 5, 1767. Dear Sir,-—1 wrote you no news by the Saturday’s post, because then I had seen nobody. I have this morning been with a gentleman who would know all if any were stirring, and he can tell me very little. He hears that Lord North will kiss hands on Wednesday. The reason he has not done it before is, that he desired to postpone it ’till the election of a Mayor at Banbury was over. Lord Townshend’s journev is postponed ’till next Thursday : at a Council on Saturday night, lie could get so little satisfaction on the heads he wished, and particularly the Chancellorship, that he burst into a verv justifiable ra^e, said that he would still oo but bid them take notice that if anv detriment happened to the King’s affairs, they, not he, were answerable for it. 170 GRENVILLE PAPERS. October, They have desired him to stay for another Council, but in the meantime he complains without reserve of the treatment he meets with. I have several letters from North America, but no very interesting news. Rhode Island has not yet made the compensation. Mr. Ingersol has heard of the motion made by you in Parliament for marks of favour to the sufferers, and of your reference in particular to him, for which he desires me to present to you his most humble acknowledgments, and to let you know that he has a most grateful sense of your disinterested and truly friendly goodness to him, who has it not in his power to reward it otherwise than by senti-ments of unfeigned goodness. The measure itself seems to me to be pleasing. I do not learn much of the manner in which the others are received, but in general things seem quiet, and the loyal party gaining strength and credit. MR. WHATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. October 8, 1767. Dear Sir,—I have seen Mr. Lloyd, and am glad that I can make you perfectly easy on his account: he has not the least note of any of the letters, but has returned them all to me : he never had any idea of referring to them. He had begun something, but being displeased with it, threw it into the fire. He has now some ideas which he will endeavour to put together, and in the meantime has put a paragraph into the paper to contradict the representation which gave you offence. That I might write this explicitly is the reason of my preferring this conveyance to the post, and I take the opportunity 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 171 to add the news of the day. I have picked up this morning a very exact account of what has lately passed concerning Ireland, which is so curious that it will entertain you. At the Cabinet which I mentioned to you in a former letter, Lord Townshend was so provoked at their doing nothing, either by way of instruction or support, that he told them he found it was nugatory to wait any longer; that he would go to his post directly, and was careless what happened to himself, but that if any mischief happened to the King’s affairs, they should be answerable, not he, and that he would the next morning wait upon His Majesty, tell him the situation, leave it there, and set out immediately. The Ministers then present were so alarmed at this threat, that they begged him to defer his journey ’till a full Cabinet could meet, and yesterday was fixed for that meeting k It was to 1 This is the meeting to which the author of Junius alludes in his paper entitled Gram! Council upon the Affairs of Ireland, after eleven Adjournments a. It is correctly dated the 7th of October, the day on which the Council mentioned in Mr. Whately’s letter was held. The authenticity of this paper has frequently been questioned ; but besides the internal evidence and peculiarity of style by which it is distinguished, it is now placed beyond doubt by the acknowledgment of the author in his letter to Mr. Grenville of October 20, 1708, which will be found at that date, and in which he says, “ the Grand Council teas mine ; ” and from the circumstance of his directing Mr. Grenville’s attention to this piece nearly a year after its appearance, we may presume that it had attracted much notice, and that the author was, as he said upon another occasion, “ strangely partial ’’ to it. The Cabinet Ministers present at the Council are designated as follows :—Tilbury (Lord Northington), Juuge Jeffreys (Lord Camden), Caution without foresight (Mr. Conway),. Malagrida (Lord Shelburne), Boutdeville, sulky (Lord Townshend). .I lie business is commenced by I ilbury, who is appropriately introduced by a couplet1’, as coarse as the language in which Lord North- a J/nPnf, vol. ii. 4S2. b The lines are taken from Swift’s Poem of "The Problem : tint m :i L<>r) writes, “I wish I.ord Holland may acquit himself with honour. If his cause be good, he should at once have published that account to which he refers in his letter to the Mayor.” Lord Holland had written to the Lord Alayor and mentioned that N 2 180 GRENVILLE PAPERS. November, MR. AUGUSTUS HERVEY TO MR. GRENVILLE. Bath, November 3, 1767. My dear Sir,—I am so much the better for this place and the waters (which I shall leave in a few days) that I cannot help letting you know it, that I may prove by that how sure I am of your friendship, and the part you take in what concerns me. I hope, on my return to town, to hear as good accounts of you and Mrs. Grenville. I have much to say to you about some transactions going on in the West, but do not care to risk it by letter; but I think the gentlemen in Administration have no reason to plume themselves on their success in every place, although I fear they have too well succeeded at Taunton, by what I find from a friend of mine on the spot there. Here Lord Chatham is, and goes out every day on horseback when the weather lets him, and looks rather thin and pallid, but otherwise very well to appearance; he sees no one. Lord Camden is gone, after a very urgent but totally fruitless attempt to bring in your brother, Mr. James Grenville, for this place. They think it very private, but I know the whole transaction, and though he still remains to try on, yet it will not do. They have been told openly that any man that voted for the repeal of the Stamp Act shall never have Mr. Beckford had the means of showing the utter falsehood of what was insinuated in the Address from the Livery, for that he had communicated to him an explanatory statement of the circumstances, which was subsequently printed in the newspapers. Aiderman Beckford, however, until he was applied to in consequence of Lord Holland’s L iter, had considered it to be a private paper, and did not recollect having shown it to more than a single person. This single person may have been Junius himself, in the person of Lord Temple, with whom, as well as with Lord Chatham and Mr. Calcraft, Mr. Beckford was at the time upon very intimate terms. I have already alluded to the reasons why Junius is said to have “spared Lord Holland ” 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 181 their interest here, and that Lord Chatham cannot make one single vote in the town, so that Sir John Sebright will (by good luck for him), in all probability, come in, because there are two parties here, the Smiths and the Warburtons, that are at bay, and do not care to attempt for any other, lest they should either weaken their own party; but both arc united against Lord Camden’s recommendation, and from some more particulars that I do not care to mention in this, though I shall send this to my sister to forward to you, as I think these posts are rather suspicious. I go to Saltash to-morrow, where I think things are in a very good way ; and they have assured me that nothing shall hurt me there, so that I hope (between ourselves) to get young Phipps chose there malgre Monsieur le Duc de G , ^Grafton] ; but this yet requires management for him ; not the least of it was for myself; I set them at defiance unless they had other heads at the '1 rcasury or Admiralty. I am, &c., &c. A. Hervey. MR. AUGUSTUS HERVEY TO MR. GRENVILLE. Bath, November 5, 1767. Though 1 wrote to you, my dear Sir, so latelv, you may perhaps be glad to know what is certainly passing with a principal person here :—First, I suppose you know he has got Hayes again and he goes to town 1 Lord Chatham’s former residence near Bromley, in Kent, which he had sold to Mr. Thomas Walpole some years before; and now ardently desiring to repossess it, Mr. Walpole had, with singular generosity and good nature, consented to gratify his wishes. Lord Camden, who transacted the business on the part of Lord Chatham, writes to Lady Chatham, “ If this sacrifice shall prove instrumental to the recovery of Lord Chathams health, Mr. Walpole will be well paid; and 1 am airaid that nothing short of that will make him completely happy. It 182 GRENVILLE PAPERS. November, either Wednesday or Thursday next; and I know, from one she said it to, that he is not very well pleased with the Ministry above. They certainly sent to him, three or four days ago, to take his part absolutely, either to go up or give it up, and he gave no answer, but keeps the Seals here, and I am assured is most extremely dissatisfied with their conduct above. He has no reason to be very well content with them here, Mr. J. G. (James Grenville) being obliged to give up the pursuit of being chosen here. Lord Clare1 is here, and is very busy and bustling; but I do not think he has been able to accomplish seeing Lord Chatham: that has been reserved for only Mr. Beckford, who came here the ni^ht before last, and is this morning vanished again, and, as I am told, was admitted openly yesterday. I met my Lord and Lady to-day airing, and both looked very well, I thought. To-morrow I undertake the journey to Saltash, and you may be assured I should not do that for diversion; and although safe at Bury, yet I think it will answer my purpose. I purpose being back again Sunday, 15th, but sooner if I can, and hope I shall hear from you by that time. Pray let me know if you go up to the meeting2, be- is impossible to describe as it deserves the pangs lie felt at parting with his favourite place ; but his humanity and regard to Lord Chatham got the better of all his partiality; the consideration of whose melancholy case prevailed beyond the power of persuasion, force, or interest.” —Chatham Correspondence, vol. iii. p. 291. 1 Robert Nugent, M.P. for Bristol, recently created Viscount Clare, in the Peerage of Ireland. Goldsmith’s poem of the Haunch of Venison, which was probably written about this time, though not published until after Goldsmith’s death, was addressed to Lord Clare. 8 Parliament met on the 24th of November. 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 183 cause, in that case, I certainly shall; if not, I think I shall remain some days longer here, as I shall be Mad to give the waters quite fair scope, they having lately agreed with me so well. I am, &c., &c. A. Hervey. MR. WIIATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. November 5 1767. Dear Sir,—I have just received the inclosed from General Irwin1, which he desired me to convey to you. He will have apprized you of his getting a regiment, which alone is an event very agreeable to me ; but the manner of it pleases me much more. He asked it of the King, and received at first no positive answer; notwithstanding repeated hints that if he would apply to the Ministers, there would not be a difficulty, he never mentioned it to any of them, though he saw them all as he waited upon them on his return ; he only wrote an official letter to Lord Granby (upon being informed that his Lordship had declared he must have the first regiment) desiring him to lay his pretensions before His 1 ITc had recently returned from the Government of Gibraltar : he was soon after made a Knight of the Bath, and Colonel of the 6th Regiment of Dragoon Guards. He had previously held for several years the post of Commander-Jn-Chit fin Ireland. Wraxall describes Sir John Irwin as a man of “imposing personal appearance. It was impossible' to possess liner manners without any affectation. The King considered and treated Irwin as a person whose conversation afforded him peculiar gratification. He often delighted to protract the discourse with a courtier, whose powers of entertainment, however extensive, were always under the restraint of profound respect, and who never forgot the character of the I’rince whom he addressed, even for a single moment.” His pecuniary embarrassments compelled him to retire to the Continent, and he latterly established his residence at Parma, where he died, in Mav, 178*."—See Ji'ro.ra/i'.s Historical Memoirs, ed. 1836, vol. iv. p. 112. 184 GRENVILLE PAPERS. November, Majesty, and observing that nine juniors had been promoted to regiments during his absence ; and he now declares that he accepts not as a favour but justice, and thinks himself as free in his political walk to-day as he was yesterday. I am greatly delighted with the spirit of his conduct, and the firmness of his attachment, upon which head he desired me last night to say to you that he knows and will know of no ministerial connection but with you ; and he is happy to think that that is not likely to interfere with his old connection with Lord George Sackville1. In a very long audience which he had of the King, he took occasion to tell His Majesty that he had been ill advised in recalling the additional troops which had been sent to Gibraltar. The King said he agreed with him, but he was not answerable for it; it was their doing. Do you know, says he, how I have been circumstanced ; how many Secretaries of State have you corresponded with ? Five, Sir. You see my situation ; ce metier de politique esf un tres vilain metier ; e’est le metier d’un faquin; ce n’est pas le metier d’un gen-tilhomme2. Is not this very singular language ? It seems to me 1 General Irwin was at this time the colleague of Lord George Sackville as M.P. for East Grinstead. 2 This singular language had direct reference to the painful position in which all these intriguing factions were perpetually placing the King, by forcing upon him, in rapid succession, Ministers who suspected and hated one another, and to whom he felt himself obliged by the Constitution to give the same countenance and support, to which, perhaps, only a short time before, their antagonists had been equally entitled. The King seemed, indeed, to be master, and to have a responsible choice; but it was not so; and in his honest endeavours to act with fairness and even with kindness to all, he has often very undeservedly incurred the charge of duplicity and favouritism. 1767. GRENVILLE TAPERS. 185 to be the disburthening of an oppressed heart; you know it is not weakness. I have met with but one person who has seen Lord Mansfield since his last conference1 ; and to him he said of it, that never was Chancellor of the Exchequer dismissed with more good humour; and that some things passed in the conversation which he never would divulge 2. The reports of the day are that Lord Bute is very ill, and that Sir Fletcher Norton is to have the Rolls. I believe neither; on the contrary, I hear that Lord Bute is recovered. Of Lord Chatham I can hear nothing very positive. I believe the story of his having repurchased Hayes ; and I have been told that he is really out of his senses : ' With the King, when he went to deliver up the Exchequer Seal. 2 He told Mr. Grenville also that he had promised never to disclose the particulars of that conversation. It seems to have been one of Lord Mansfield’s peculiarities always to have a secret; as if he would “ Still keep something to himself He ’<1 scarcely tell to any.” His characteristic timidity frequently prevented him from avowing his political opinions. “ Instead of acting,” says Junius, “ that open generous part which becomes your rank and station, you meanly skulk into the Closet, and give your Sovereign such advice as you have not spirit to avow or defend.” On the question respecting the Middlesex election, Lord Mansfield said, “ I have never delivered any opinion on the legality of the proceedings of the House of Commons, nor, whatever expectations may be formed, will I now deliver my sentiments. They (ire locked up in uiy own breast, and shall die with me." Epon a subsequent occasion, and while quailing under the infliction of one of Lord Chatham’s bursts of oratory, and “ having pretty well,” says Lord Campbell, “disclosed the secret which he said was to die with him, he unaccountably added, ‘ What part I took previously in this matter shall ever remain with myself. I have, I must confess, deposited it in the breast of one of the Royal family, but resting secure in that confidence, it shall never be disclosed to another. ''—Lid.s of the Chief Justices, vol. ii. p 473. 186 GRENVILLE PAPERS. November, a gentleman here does aver, that meeting him as he was riding out, he went up to speak to him ; that his Lordship started, and gave no answer, but Lady Chatham coming up, desired him not to interrupt my Lord in his ride. I do not vouch for the truth of my tale, any further than that this gentleman does tell this story, and I know no reason for his telling a lie. I met Admiral Keppel yesterday; his language was violent and spirited opposition, with great virulence against Conway, for whom, however, he said the Cavendishes have still a strange partiality. He was particularly angry at the offer made to Lord Edgecumbe of half the Pay Office, and quoted Sir C. Saunders for saying that Lord Edgecumbe ought to have asked Mr. Conway what reason he had to think him a scoundrel. J asked what answer he had given : he did not know particularly., but only knew he had refused. This made me inquire, and I since hear that his Lordship did so far hesitate as to consult Lord Besborouoh who let him understand, that his friends who had resigned on his account could never forgive his accepting. Admiral Keppel was very hostile too against the Duke of Grafton : he lamented much the conduct of his party last winter; in that I concurred : he hoped we should explain ourselves to each other before the opening of the next Session. To that I said nothing. Sir Charles Bunbury dined with me the other day at Nonsuch1; he does not seem much alarmed at the opposition to him in Suffolk, but is vexed at the expense. He was at the Duke of Grafton’s at the time that his Grace ought to have been at the Cabinet Council upon Irish affairs, and savs all the reasons "iven for his 1 Whately’s residence in Surrey. 1767. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 187 absence are true. lie had the cholic ; there was a race that morning, and the house was full of company ; but the cholic was not the most weighty consideration. Mr. Calcraft is gone down to oppose Mr. John Pitt. There is a rumour to-day that Lord Guilford is dangerously ill. I saw Lord Fife to-day, who is come thus far in order to accompany his lady to the south of France, but she is too weak to proceed, and he is now going to try Bristol. MR. GRENVILLE TO MR. WALLACE. Wotton, November 14, 1767. Sir,—I received the favour of your letter of the 12th of this month, and entirely approve of your attending at the Court of Exchequer with the state of my accounts, and the reasons why they have not been adjusted before now. I think it necessary for me that this should be stated and publicly explained to the Court, together with the repeated and urgent directions which I have given whilst I was in the Treasury, and since 1 left it, to have them forwarded with the utmost dispatch. For this reason I can by no means approve of any application to be made to the 1 reasury to stop the process, ’till this has been fully and properly explained to the Court, as that would look like an endeavour to conceal it from the Court. It will be time enough to think of stopping any future trouble when what we have hitherto done is fully known and justified, and I hope we shall soon get so forward as to have no occasion for it. I shall be in town on Saturday, the 21st of this month, and shall hope to see you before this business comes on in the Court of Exchequer. I am, &c., &c. George Grenville. 188 GRENVILLE PAPERS. November, MR. WILKES TO EARL TEMPLE. Paris, Rue des Saints Peres, November 16, 1767. My Lord,—I have suffered for some months severely by a fever, but much more from what I heard from some of my friends, that your Lordship disapproved several things in my conduct of late. I have endeavoured to find out the particulars, but I am told only of two charges, which I beg leave to state and to answer. The publication of the letter respecting the affair with Lord Talbot is said not to be approved by your Lordship. I desire only to state the history of that publication1. When I was at Geneva I printed twenty copies only of that letter, which I gave to some friends. When Mr. Almon had determined to publish the Political Register, he wrote to me that he wished for my assistance in that work, and that my friends had already furnished him with several things which he should publish. I have his letter still, and he particularly named the letter in question. I did not choose it should make its first appearance as a piece of politics. I considered it more as an affair of honour, and therefore 1 I have before referred to this letter: it was addressed to Lord Temple, and written by Wilkes from the inn at Bagshot, an hour or two after his duel with Lord Talbot on the 5th of October, 1702. It contains a minute and extremely well written description of the circumstances both before and after that ridiculous affair. It made its first appearance in print in the St. James's Chronicle, on Saturday, May 16, 1767, and Lord Temple was generally supposed to have sent it to the press. He was accused of it in the House of Lords by Lord Talbot, and a serious quarrel between them would have ensued, but for the immediate interference of the House. It was subsequently printed by Almon in the Political Ue at Wotton, who told him, that after many conversations passing between the Duke of Grafton and Lord Gower, in which the former had expressed a desire that the King should send to the Duke of Bedford and Lord Temple to make a part in a new Administration, Lord Gower and Lord Albemarle, being at Woburn on Wednesday morning, the Sth, the latter showed Mr. Rigby a letter (dated “ Tuesday, 11 at night”), which he had just received from Lord Rockingham, informing him that Mr. Conway had desired Lord Rockingham to give the Duke of Grafton the meeting, at his house, at two o’clock that day, which he accordingly did; and that, after some civilities, the Duke told him he had a message to deliver to him from the King, “ to desire that he and his friends should compose a new Administration, his Lordship holding again the office of First Lord of the Treasury.” Lord Rockingham asked the Duke whether this was to be composed of his friends alone, or whether he was at liberty to communicate it to others whom he might think necessary to give strength to it; to which the Duke answered, the question had been foreseen, and that he was at liberty to communicate it, but that it seemed to be intended, that if this should be confined to the Duke of Bedford and his friends, that something had been said with regard to the keeping in the Lord Chancellor, but that he (Lord Albemarle) knew Lord Rockingham’s sentiments upon it, though he did not then enter upon it at large with the Duke of Grafton ; that Lord Rockingham wished to know whether the Duke of Bedford and his friends were disposed to act, and take a part with him in an Administration; and wished to have the honour of waiting upon his Grace, at 1767. OF MEMORABLE TRANSACTIONS. 229 Woburn, the next day, being Thursday, either at dinner or in the evening1, to know his sentiments. To this, Mr. Rigby answered, that in his opinion nothing could be done by the Duke of Bedford and bis friends, without first consulting Mr. Grenville, in which both the Duke of Bedford and Lord Gower agreed ; for this purpose, Lord Rockingham’s visit was postponed, and Mr. Rigby was to go to London to meet Lord Rockingham that night, and to inquire whether Mr. Grenville was returned from the West, and where he could be found. Mr. Rigby met Lord John Cavendish at Arthur’s, with whom he had some talk, and who told him he doubted much whether anything could come of this negotiation, as it appeared strange that it should be carried on through Mr. Conway’s and the Duke of Grafton’s hands, each of whom had declared to the King that they could no longer go on; that Lord Rockingham had never seen the King, and he ^Lord John) suspected that the Duke of Grafton would be disavowed. Mr. Rigby saw Lord Rockingham in the evening, in Grosvenor Square, who held a language to him conformable to the letter he had written to Lord Albemarle. Mr. Rigby expressly declared to him, that the .Duke of Bedford and his friends would do nothing but in concert with Mr. Grenville, and that for his own part, he should never depart from his opinions with regard to America, and that he know Mr. Grenville’s ideas were the same on that subject as they had ever been. Lord Rockingham held a moderate language upon that article. Mr. Rigby suggested to him the singularity of manner in which this negotiation was set on foot. Thev did not descend into particulars, but in general the idea of an extended Administration was the ground. 230 MR. GRENVILLES DIARY Juiy, Lord Rockingham said, the Duke of Grafton, in the talking, had made no difficulty as to the removing Lord Chatham and his friends ; but if he made any pause, it was as to the turning out Lord Bute’s friends, against both which the Marquess declared great hostility. Lord Rockingham said he would dine the next day, Saturday, at Woburn, and Mr. Rigby, having heard that Mr. Grenville was to come to Wotton on Friday, came there to meet him, and was to return to meet Lord Rockingham at Woburn. To all this Mr. Grenville said, after acknowledging the friendship and attachment shown to him by the Duke of Bedford and his friends, that it seemed scarcely to amount to a proposition, and that in all probability all that was meant by it was to endeavour to divide the Opposition ; that as there was no message to him, so he could give no answer, nor would he have given one without Lord Temple, but that in general, if the King thought fit to call Lord Rockingham into his Government, upon a great and extended plan, carried on with vigour, and asserting the sovereignty of Great Britain over her colonies, he had no factious dispositions to disturb it, but that he could never alter his opinion on the subject of America ; that with regard to the forming the Administration, he only desired that no pretensions of his should in any way stand in the way of his friends ; that, on the contrary, he was willing to waive them entirely, provided he could see his friends properly placed ; that he would never on any account or in any situation obtrude himself upon the King, and earnestly desired that his name might not even be mentioned for any office whatever. Mr. Rigby went back to Woburn, and Mr. Grenville 1767. OF MEMORABLE TRANSACTIONS. 231 went in the evening to Stowe, where he found Lord Temple exactly in the same sentiments. Sunday, July \Qfh.—Mr. Righy came at ten in the morning, to tell Lord Temple and Mr. Grenville what had passed at Woburn, where Lord Rockingham had very much holden the same language of a general plan conformable to what had passed before. Mr. Rigby delivered Mr. Grenville’s sentiments, and marked to Lord Rockingham the moderation and temper of them. The Duke of Bedford, Lord Albemarle, and Lord Gower were so much of the same opinion in regard to measures, that Mr. Rigby said to Lord Temple and Mr. Grenville that it was as if they had heard the conversation and used the same words. They alarmed Lord Rockingham on the manner in which all this was transacted, and showed him the indispensable necessity of his seeing the King himself, which had not yet happened, but, on the contrarv, it was publicly known that the King had sent for Mr. Charles Townshend on the Thursday, and had a long conversation with him. Lord Temple and Mr. Grenville still desired to waive their own pretensions, and desired to be at liberty to support or not, according to the measures. Mr. Charles Townshend died on the IM of September. Lord North was appointed Chancellor of (he Exchequer towards the end of the month, after having once declined the acceptance’. 1 The following is in the handwriting of George, Lord Lyttelton, and is described by Mr. Grenville as “ Lord Lyttelton's account of what Mr. Voivdeswell said to him at Worcester, in September, 1767, delivered to me at Hayley, September 16, 1767.’ It is entitled, “Supplement to Mr. Grenville's account of the late negotiations." “ Mr Dowdeswell told me (Lord Lyttelton) that after the negotiation 232 MR. GRENVILLE’S DIARY November, The Duke of York died at Monaco, in September. Saturday, November 21st, 1767.—Mr. Grenville came to town ; saw the Duke of Bedford in the evening, whose language was most perfectly friendly to him, and agreeing entirely in his political ideas, but taking no notice whatever of the last letter he wrote to his Grace from Wotton \ From thence Mr. Grenville went to Lord Mansfield, whose language was full of contempt of the present Administration, temperate with regard to measures of opposition. He told Mr. Grenville that he had a long conversation with the King when he gave up the Exchequer Seal to him, the particulars of which he had promised never to disclose, but assured Mr. Grenville that nothing memorable had passed, and His Majesty had waived the entering upon past transactions. Lord Mansfield spoke with great derision of the appointment of Sergeant Hewit to the Chancellorship of Ireland. Accounts come daily from that kingdom of the ludicrous manner in which the Lord Lieutenant treats his own situation with respect to the Ministers in England, and draws his own caricature with his hands tied behind him and his mouth open2. Monday, November 23rd.—Mr. Grenville saw Mr. was ended, and Lord Rockingham had had his audience of the King, he was pressed by Mr. Conway to come in with his own connection only, which he declined, but said that if the King should send for him* and tell him clearly himself, that he desired to put him at the head of the Treasury, and empowered him to endeavour to form a Ministry, he would apply again to the Duke of Bedford, and offer his Grace such terms as would put him in the wrong, if he did not accept them ; which having done, if he met with a refusal from his Grace, he believed he might then come into the present Ministry with his own friends alone.” 1 See Ledford Correspondence, vol. iii. p. 396. 2 In one of the Miscellaneous Letters attributed to Junius, Lord Townshend’s “ singular turn for portrait painting ” is mentioned, and 1767. OF MEMORABLE TRANSACTIONS. 233 Rigby, who was just returned from Ireland \ and confirms all the stories told of Lord Townshend. General Irwin came to Mr. Grenville, and repeated to him the extraordinary conversation related in a letter of Mr. Whately’s2, upon the subject of withdrawing some of the troops from Gibraltar. He likewise told him an anecdote still more surprising, which is, that General Graeme told him, that he, General Graeme, had leave from the Queen to go into open opposition to the present Administration if he chose it; that his “ excellence in that good-natured species of painting called carica-tura.” In the Grand Council, also, he is introduced under the sobriquet of Bout-de-ville, a French translation of his name. In the Public Advertiser for Friday, June 5th, 1765, there is a letter which is very probably from the same pen : it is signed George Bout-deville, and complains of the excessive liberty of the rolling press in disseminating caricatures. He adds :—“ One arch libeller in particular has rendered himself more than a hundred times liable to prosecution for scandalum magnatum. There is scarce a distinguished person in the kingdom whom he has not exhibited in caricature. He has dealt his grotesque cards from house to house, and circulated his defamatory pictures from Towns-end to Towns-end. Is there a great general of the highest rank a, and most eminent military abilities, who has rescued us from the horrors of popery and slavery, and delivered down to posterity the blessings of the devolution—if the size of his person as well as fame should be larger than ordinary, this malicious libeller at three strokes of his pencil scratches out his figure in all the ridiculous attitudes imaginable. Is there a nobleman distinguished for wit, eloquence, and learning—if his person be long and lank, and lean and bony, he also is in like manner exposed to ridicule.” b 1 “ Rigby had passed over to Ireland in hopes of obtaining to have his place of Master of the Rolls there, confirmed in the Act for establishing the Judges for life, but had not succeeded. ’—Horace JI alpole's Memoirs of George III., vol. in. p. 118. 2 See ante, p. lb 1 * The Duke of Cumberland. b Lord Lyttelton. Under this caricature were inscribed the following lines :— “ But who is this astride the pony, So long, so lean, so lank, so bony 1 This is the great orator, Lytteltony.” 234 MR. GRENVILLE’S DIARY November, he had talked much to him of the King’s uneasiness and embarrassment, feeling the weakness and insufficiency of the present Ministers, but not knowing well how to get rid of them, ami therefore wishing Lord Chatham would come to town in order to set them a quarrelling among themselves; that everybody saw and knew that it must end in the King’s sending for Mr. Grenville; to which General Irwin said he thought his Majesty was angry and displeased at Mr. Grenville. The General answered him that had been so, but all was forgot, and that matters would go very easy with regard to Mr. Grenville, and still more so with Lord Temple. But words like these are and have been frequently circulated, possibly with no other meaning than to keep up a degree of good humour. Tuesday, November QLth.—Lord Lyttelton was with Mr. Grenville last night, and told him some memorable things which had passed between his Lordship, the Duke of Bedford, and Lord Mansfield, in two conversations he had held with them separately ’. The Duke of Bedford told him that he heard from the Duke of Bridgewater2 that Lord Rockingham had declared that he would never be of any Administration in which any Grenville was to have a part. The Duke of Bedford expresses great indignation at it, and seemed throughout all his conversation relating to the summer negotiation, to have been determined to have stood middle man, to moderate between Mr. Grenville and Lord Rockingham. 1 See an account of these conversations in a letter written, but not sent, to Lord Temple, in Phillimore’s Memoirs and Correspondence of George Lord Lyttelton, p. 736. 2 Francis, second and last Duke of Bridgewater: he died in 1803. 1767. OF MEMORABLE TRANSACTIONS. 235 Lord Mansfield in his discourse seemed strongly to adopt the idea of Lord Temple and Mr. Grenville staying out of office, and their friends to come in anti support in case of a change of Ministers, saying that there must be difficulties with respect to Mr. Grenville upon his American plans, and that as things now were he could not easily be the person to restrain the colonies. Lord Mansfield talked much to Lord Lyttelton upon the plan of his being President of the Council, which Lord Lyttelton told him could never be without Lord Temple and Mr. Grenville ; and upon Lord Mansfield pursuing the idea relative to those two, he said it was what the Duke of Bedford had understood, for that upon liis Grace being asked whether that was likely to be agreed to, his Grace’s answer had been, “ I would have kept them to it.” Wednesday, November doth.—Mr. Grenville went to the King’s Levee, was very coldly received, and a very gracious reception given to Mr. James Grenville. Lord Suffolk, Lord Buckinghamshire, Lord Hyde, and others of the Opposition, were received with the same coldness as Mr. Grenville. Mr. Grenville, in the speech he made yesterday at the opening of the Sessions of Parliament, upon the general state of things, took occasion to make such declarations upon his American ideas as plainly showed that he was upon very different ground from the Rockinghams. He had an altercation with Mr. Conway, in defence of himself, in an unjust and unfair reflection which Mr. Conway had cast upon him touching the Manilla ransom, but upon Ins showing by an account of the fact how grossly he had been misrepresented, Mr. Conway, with temper and civility, made him an excuse. Mr. Bourke 236 MR. GRENVILLE’S DIARY December, and some other of the Rockingham party made an angry speech to-day at Mr. Grenville, declaring a division from his party as strongly as Mr. Grenville had done it from theirs the night before l. The House sat to-day ’till between six and seven, disputing a point of order with Mr. Grenville. It was observed, yesterday, in both Houses, that the Ministry seemed low and dejected. The Duke of Grafton made a panegyric upon every one of his associates, describing them severally ’till he came to Lord Chatham, and of him he said, he was sorry to say he was no longer “ an effective Minister.” It is said to-day that Mr. Thomas Townshend is to succeed Lord North in the Pay Office, and that Mr. Jenkinson comes into the Board of Treasury in Mr. Townshend’s room. Friday, December Ith.—Mr. Grenville went to make the Duke of Bedford a visit on Wednesday (in order to see his Grace before he was couched, which operation is to be performed on Saturday), but he did not find him at home. He received a note from his Grace yesterday, desiring earnestly to speak to him, and appointing to meet him in the Princes’ Chamber. His Grace began by entering into a general discourse upon the state of things, which Mr. Grenville soon perceived drove at 1 See an account of this debate in Walpole’s Memoirs of George III., vol. iii. p. 112. He says, “The conduct of Grenville in this debate was extremely remarkable. He not only seemed transported into very impolitic separation from the Rockinghams by his violence against the Americans, but even by personal resentment against the former: while, at the same time, his affected moderation had the appearance of having taken a new part, that of standing detached and waiting to see whether he could not penetrate with more facility into the Closet when standing alone, than by the joint effort of two discordant factions. Whatever were his motives, he soon fell a sacrifice to this very conduct.” 1767. OF MEMORABLE TRANSACTIONS. 237 the idea of separating from him in party, though he still declared the most thorough approbation of all Mr. Grenville’s opinions, saying, “that Mr. Grenville was the only Minister who had ever given him their political creed in writing,” by which he referred to Mr. Grenville’s letter [of Nov. 6th] to him from Wotton in answer to one from his Grace. The Duke said that Lord Temple had told Lord Gower, that in the present state of parties there could be no effectual opposition1; that he thought so too; that it had been understood from Mr. Grenville’s declarations, that he never would come into Government except as First Lord of the Treasury ; that he saw at this moment little prospect of forcing that, however strongly he (the Duke of Bedford) wished it. He spoke throughout with the highest regard and approbation of Mr. Grenville, bearing the strongest testimony to the fairness of his conduct; said that as to himself he would never come into office again, but that possibly some of his friends might wish to take offices with the present set of Ministers, for that he did verily believe the interior of the Court and the general distress must necessarily bring on some proposition either to the Rockingham party, Mr. Grenville and Lord Temple’s, or his own ; that he thought it a fair proceeding towards Air. Grenville to apprize him (and, through him, Lord Temple, with whose behaviour towards him and his friends he had much reason to be satisfied), that in the latter case his friends should think themselves at liberty to take offices, as, on the other hand, should the pro- 1 A frank confession that public men were so divided into petty personal factions, that it was even more difficult to make an Opposition than a Government. 238 MB, GRENVILLE’S DIARY December, posal come to Mr. Grenville, he would likewise be free to act in that case as he should think best. The Duke, in the course of this conversation, spoke with great contempt and dislike of the Rockinghams, and said no negotiation was at that time on foot from the Court1. Mr. Grenville received this communication with great civility and temper; said he never had made any declaration himself for coming in again First Lord of the Treasury, or not doing so; that what he had most invariably said and meant to adhere to was, that he never would in any shape whatever be forced upon the King; that he should ever make measures his point, more than men; that he wished no men to make any sacrifice of their wishes or pretensions to him; that he left his Grace and his friends entirely at liberty to take what part they pleased, as he and his were likewise. They parted with great civility, and Mr. Grenville saying that he would go to see the Duke during his confinement. Mr. Grenville had, prior to this meeting, observed that Mr. Rigby was distant and sulky in the House of Commons; he had asked him the reason of it, but he hung his head, and would enter into no explanation. Arrangements were now daily talked of, by which some of the Duke of Bedford’s friends were to be taken in, namely, Lord Gower to be President; Lord Wey- 1 I have already mentioned in a former note, upon the authority of Horace Walpole, that the negotiation with the Court had been commenced by Rigby some days before this time : I do not mean to assert that it was then with the concurrence of the Duke, although his name had been used by Rigby in his communication to the Duke of Grafton, but it must of course have been subsequently sanctioned by the Duke of Bedford. , 1767. OF MEMORABLE TRANSACTIONS. 239 mouth, Secretary of State; Lord Sandwich, one of the Vice Treasurers of Ireland ; and Mr. Rigby, Paymaster with no colleague. These posts were to be vacated by Lord Northington, Lord Shelburne, Mr. Barre, and Mr. Cooke, all of whom are the immediate friends of Lord Chatham; it therefore remains to be seen whether his power is sufficient to stop it, and to overrule the Duke of Grafton in this attempt1. Sunday, December 13th.—Lord Mansfield came to Mr. Grenville, who had been confined at home for a wTeek with a cold. His language was extremely friendly to Mr. Grenville, and lamenting with him the sad disordered state of things in general, and the languid turn of the King’s mind, who seemed indifferent to everything, tired of change, and yet dissatisfied with the Ministers and their Administration; and Lord Mansfield seemed to blame Lord Bute for standing still at so critical a moment, after having inspired the King with general mistrust of everybody, and with ideas that frequent changes of men, in order to break all parties, was the wisest plan of Government; and that now he really believed he intermeddled but little, though he still preserved his influence over the King’s mind; that he blamed him for not interposing that influence to put some spirit and activity into a weak insufficient system, which by slow’ degrees was bringing the kingdom to its ruin, and that if the remedy was delayed ’till danger was actually at the door, it would be (hen too late to call out for assistance. 1 “ Tt is also understood, that if you should exert your influence with the King to overturn this plan, the Duke of Grafton will be strong enough, with his new friends, to defeat any attempt of that kind.”—The author of Junius to Lord Chatham.—Chatham Correspondence, vol. iii. p 3. 240 GRENVILLE PAPERS. January, Wednesday, December 16th.—Mr. Grenville went to the House of Commons, where a Bill was proposed by Lord North to settle the East India Dividend. Mr. Grenville opposed the Bill, but the Court carried it by a great majority1. Mr. Conway was rather inclining to Mr. Grenville’s opinions, and very civil in his manner towards him. MR. WHATELY TO MR, GRENVILLE. January 1, 1768. Dear Sir,—I received your favour of the 29th of December in the country, from whence I returned but this morning, and I have already taken care in more places than one to mention Lord Temple’s disavowal of the Word at Parting : I read part of his Lordship’s letter to me to Sir Laurence Dundas, and have besides conveyed to Brand the substance of it: these two channels will, I believe, be sufficient, but if I meet with any more of the Duke of Bedford’s friends in town, I shall give them the same information. I find both Lord Temple and you received the intelligence I sent you last week with some doubt and surprise ; it is, however, true, and most of the material circumstances have since been confirmed to me 2. 1 The numbers were 128 to 41. 2 Mr. Whately here refers to his letter of the 25th ultimo (see p. 197) to Mr. Grenville, and if he did not write the same information to Lord Temple, this is one of the many instances which might be cited, that whatever political news Mr. Grenville received from his correspondents was immediately communicated to Lord Temple, and vice versa*. The a Whately says to Mr. Grenville—“ I suppose you saw my second letter to Lord Temple.” Lord Lyttelton’s letter of this date furnishes, also, a sure proof of this inter- 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 241 That the Duke of Grafton settled the whole plan of arrangement with the Bedfords, without the partici- letters from Whately to Lord Temple are not extant, indeed it is obvious that the latter preserved very little of his correspondence at this time. It will be found that the information contained in these letters, and in the following one from Lord Lyttelton to Lord Temple, corresponds very minutely with the subjects chosen by the Author of Junius for his communication to Lord Chatham, dated on the following dag, January 2nd, 1768 a, and therefore they may be considered of some importance in the question of identifying Junius with Lord Temple. Thus, for instance :—Whately confirms the statement in his letter of December 25th, that “ the whole arrangement with the Bedfords was settled by the Duke of Grafton himself, without the participation of his brother Ministers.” So Junius writes to Lord Chatham:—il It is understood by the public that the plan of introducing the Duke of Bedford's friends entirely belongs to the Duke of Grafton, with the secret concurrence, perhaps, of Dord Bute, but certainly without your Lordship's consent, if not absolutely against your advice” Whately has said:—“ Lord Bute’s friends seem in general pleased with the coalition ;” and Lyttelton adds :—“ Lord Mansfield told me that he (Bute) was well pleased with the taking in of the Bedfords.” With respect to Lord Chatham, Lyttelton reports that he “is better; that his thoughts are full of returning, not only to Ministry, but to omnipotence; that he is coming to town, and will do some great thing there, but nobody knows what.” Of Lord Camden, Whately says:— “ I know no particular reason for Lord Camden’s being displeased, and yet he certainly is so to the highest degree.” Lord Lyttelton also:—“ I hear that Lord Camden has publicly said that the Duke of Grafton and Lord Chatham are one and the same man; that the act of the former must be always understood to be the will of the latter, and other expressions to the same effect.” And Junius writes,—11 The Chancellor (Camden), on whom you had particular reasons to rely, has played a. sort of fast and loose game, and spoken of your Lordship with submission or indifference, according to the reports he heard of your health; nor has he altered his language change of correspondence and intelligence between Lord Temple and Mr. Grenville, for the latter, writing to Whately on the 9th instant, piotis the very words used hy Lord Juttettmi in his letter of the 1st, with respect to Lord Camden: -“I have heard from good authority, that he (Lord Camden) has on ‘h contrary devoted himself to his Grace (the Duke of Grafton) without any riserre of futility to hisformer masttr.” 1 See Chatham Correspondence, vol. iii. p. 302. VOL. IV. R 242 GRENVILLE PAPERS. January, pation of his brother Ministers, is hardly now an anecdote. It is very well known, and you may well until he found you were really returning to town." As an illustration of Camden’s “fast and loose game," the Duke of Bedford himself told Lord Lyttelton “ that the basis of the late treaty with the Duke of Grafton was a supposition that Lord Chatham was politically dead, and that Lord Camden had devoted himself to the Duke of Grafton, without any reserve of fidelity to his former master, even if he should revive and act.” Then, Lyttelton’s expressions of uncertainty as to the capability of the Duke of Grafton to sustain himself in power :—“ The real inclinations of the Court towards the new comers, the degree of favour the Duke of Grafton is in himself, how far Lord Chatham’s anger, if he be angry, could shake it, are matters far from being sufficiently ascertained.” Upon this Junius says, as if to pique Lord Chatham:—“It is also understood that if you should exert your influence with the King to overturn this plan, the Duke of Grafton will be strong enough, with his new friends (the “new comers”) to defeat any attempts of that kind: or if he should not, your Lordship will easily judge to ivhat quarter his Grace will apply for assistance." The “quarter" alluded to must mean the Grenville party: the Ministry had already the support of Lord Bute and his friends, who were well pleased with the coalition, and the Duke of Bedford had spoken “ with pleasure and a kind of triumph of the total exclusion of Lord Rockingham and his friends from this treaty.” He had also expressed “ great esteem and love” for Mr. Grenville, “and wished to see him at the head of the Treasury.” Junius certainly points to a reconciliation between the Grenvilles and Lord Chatham: and here is another concurrence with Whately’s letter:—“Lord Bristol has more than once or twice expressed his dissatisfaction in the strongest terms to Lord George Sackville, with whom, I believe, he has no very intimate acquaintance, ending every time with heartily wishing that Lord Chatham and his family could agree.” Lord Bristol, it should be remembered, was in the most intimate confidence of Lord Chatham, and had access to him when he would scarcely see any other person. Horace Walpole, too, about this time, says, “ I asked Lord Temple’s friend, Mr. W. Gerard Hamilton, if the Grenvilles and Lord Chatham would not now be reconciled ? He replied, Lord Temple and Lord Chatham might, but George Grenville never would ; that his love of business, and love of money, would both yield to his obstinacy.” “ It is certain,” says Lord Lyttelton, “that the world considers us 17G8. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 243 suppose not very agreeable. The discontent among Lord Chatham’s friends seems to be, as far as I can as forsaken by our only formidable strength the [Bedfords], et pris pour dupes:" and therefore it seems to have been the policy of Junius to bring about a reconciliation between the Grenvilles and Lord Chatham, with the view of weakening, or destroying if possible, the Duke of Grafton’s Administration. From this time until after the reconciliation had taken place with Lord Temple in the following October, Lord Chatham is very seldom mentioned by the Author of Junius, and never in the opprobrious terms which had been previously applied to him. In a lettei' dated the 16th of February, 1768, on the subject of the Privy Seal being put into Commission for six weeks, he is only slightly alluded to. (Junius, vol. iii. p. 3.) And again when writing to Lord Hillsborough on the 29th of August following. (Junius, vol. iii. p. 108.) Junius, in furtherance of his scheme for the destruction of the Duke of Grafton, wished to excite Lord Chatham to resign the Privy Seal, which indeed was his own desire, and it was only retained at the earnest entreaty of the King, that he would continue in his service, and thus enable the Administration to proceed. When Lord Chatham did at last determine to resign his office in October, his reconciliation with Lord Temple immediately followed, and Junius soon after acknowledged that he began to like him; that he had grown upon his esteem, &c. Even the protection of Lord Chatham did not avail to save Lord Shelburne : the Duke of Bedford, it appears, told Lord Lyttelton that “ Shelburne had been mortified by the American department being taken from him, and was gone out of town in ill humour.” Therefore Junius writes to Lord Chatham :—“ Many circumstances must hare made it impossible for you to dipend much upon Lord Shelburne or his friends; besides that, from his youth and want of knowledge, he was hardly of weight by himself to maintain any character in the Cabinet. The best of him Is, perhaps, that he has not acted with greater insincerity to your Lordship, than to former connections." In short, the whole tenor of these letters from Whately and Lord Lyttelton, which seem to have been the text upon which Junius formed his communication to Lord Chatham, is embodied in the following sentence:—“ During gour absence from Administration, it is well known that not one of the Ministers has either adhered to you with firmness, or sunported with any degree of steadiness those principles on which you myagid in the Ling's serricc. from being their idol at first, tluir veneration for you has gradually diminished, until, at last, they hare absolutely st I you al di fiance." It 2 244 GRENVILLE PAPERS. January, trace it, general. Lord Shelburne’s ill-humour might be supposed to be personal; but I know no particular The motives of Junius then, in writing this letter to Lord Chatham, were to endeavour to excite in him hatred and distrust of his colleagues, and to inform him that the Duke of Grafton considered “ his influence tn be removed," and that he was “ entirely out of the case.” The motives of Lord Temple, were he writing to Lord Chatham at this time, would be precisely the same: the Grenvilles having lost the Bedfords, et pris pour dupes. Lord Temple was now desirous of recovering the position and influence of their party, by renewing the alliance with Lord Chatham. But the opinions of Junius, or rather, to speak more correctly, of the anonymous writer who afterwards adopted that signature, were in direct opposition to those of Lord Chatham upon the American question, and there is an apparent inconsistency in Junius seeking the alliance of Lord Chatham, and declaring his conviction that, “ if this country can be saved, it must be saved by Lord Chatham’s spirit, by Lord Chatham’s abilities." That which would be inconsistent in any other politician, assumes a different aspect as regards Lord Temple, when he and Junius are supposed to be identical, and when it is considered that their opinions on that important subject exactly coincided. Lord Temple sought the alliance of his brother-in-law, as well from returning affection, as foi’ political reasons: their mutual opinions respecting America remained unchanged during their lives, and yet, after their reconciliation in the ensuing autumn, those opinions were never again the cause of any misunderstanding between them. Nor is there any reason why Lord Temple should not now express sentiments of respect and veneration for the character of Lord Chatham, or warmth and attachment to his person. There would be no great inconsistency, for although those sentiments might have suffered a temporary suspension, they had always existed in his bosom towards the friend of his youth, and the husband of a sister to whom he was tenderly attached. It is true he had abused him, and had perhaps incited others to do so, but he had great cause—he had great provocation—he had all the motives which political hatred had engendered—but those motives were now removed; there was a prospect of their reconciliation: the coalition of the Bedfords with the Ministry had entirely changed the aspect of party politics. “ Lord Chatham,” says Almon, “ had unceasingly lamented his difference with Lord Temple from the time it happened, and as soon as he was emancipated from the connections of office, and even from the suspicion of a connection with the Court, he sought the friendship of his brother with anxiety and sincerity. He confessed to Mr. Calcraft that almost everybody else had betrayed him: 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 245 reason for Lord Camden’s being displeased, and yet he certainly is so to the highest degree. Lord Bristol has more than once or twice expressed his dissatisfaction in the strongest terms to Lord George Sackville, with whom I believe he has no very intimate acquaintance, ending every time with heartily wishing that Lord Chatham and his family could agree ; and, as far as a judgment can be formed by looks. Lord Granby is far from contented. Lord Bute’s friends seem in general pleased with the coalition ; I hear it particularly of Mr. Mackenzie ; I do not pretend to account for this, but on looking back to times not long past, perhaps you may think the contrast entertaining. Sir Laurence Dundas informs me that Rigby told his brother, he said, had indeed abused him; but it was in the warmth of bis temper and in the openness of his nature, which was superior to all hypocrisy or concealment of disapprobation.” After their reconciliation, they were, if possible, more aflcctionately united than ever they had been, as their correspondence in these volumes, and in the Chatham Papers, abundantly testifies. Some other circumstances are to be observed in these letters which would certainly tend to inflame the animosity of Lord Temple against the Duke of Bedford and Lord Mansfield, two persons against whom the virulence of Junius was constantly directed. The former, in his conversation with Lord Lyttelton, treated Lord Temple with contemptuous silence, as a person considered of no importance in these transactions:—“ Of your Lordship he said nothing.” Nothing! of Lord Temple !—No abuse or condemnation could possibly have been more offensive. Lord Mansfield, too, “ had been so good as to promise Lord Weymouth and Lord Gower his kind assistance whenever they should leant it." “ I have reason to think,” adds Lord Lyttelton, “ he (Lord Mansfield) is gone with his whole heart into this arrangement, rather in hatred to Lord (hatham, who, he thought, would be ruined by it, though his health should return, than out of affection to the system on any other account.” 24G GRENVILLE PAPERS. January, him he should not kiss hands ’till Lord Weymouth did; and Lord Weymouth cannot while Conway is in ; perhaps that may be the foundation for Rigby’s declaration that he would not accept till Conway was out, or both may have been his declarations to different persons. I asked Sir Laurence whether upon these occasions the Ministerial animosity against him in his Elections was appeased, but hitherto he says he has heard nothing about it either way ; my reason for asking was because I had heard that he was now’ more a Bedford than a Grenville, and I thought by that test to try whether he was ’listed: I did not find that he was, and, from comparing all the accounts I have had of the language he holds, I think his idea is to consider the Duke and you as not broken, and so to quarrel with neither. The Duke of Grafton’s distance from Lord Chatham is more marked since I wrote to you than it was then, and he enters with eagerness into the opinions of the Duke of Bedford concerning America : on the other side, the Bedfords speak with great encomiums of the Duke of Grafton. His Grace has proffered his personal friendship to Rigby, who is pleased with his behaviour, and you may depend upon it that at present the union is very close, and I am persuaded exclusive of Lord Chatham. These may be all fallacious appearances, but they must so soon be brought to a test, that his Grace must be very weak if he is not sincere. If they are not tried by some little party manoeuvre, they will be by the public measures, and probably some of the Bedfords will, before they propose any respecting America, take an opportunity of speaking to you : it may, therefore, be worth your while to consider what 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 247 you would in the present circumstances say they ought to do, in case they should ask you. Lord Camden, in an accidental conversation which he had with Mr. Forrester, observed that Mr. Wedderburn had been very flippant, both in public and in private, and that that gentleman would do well to consider whose gown he wore. Lord Mansfield, on hearing this, diverted himself much with the idea of taking in such times as these a patent of precedency from a lawyer, and took notice how absurd such a threat was from Lord Camden to Wedderburn, who would soon be the more capital card of the two in this country. This little anecdote, however, is not to be mentioned. Forrester desires that it may not be said of him that ho repeats such conversations. Lord Camden’s friends say that he has seen Lord Chatham: I do not find that anybody else has ; Lord Bristol has not, but has only received a letter from Lady Chatham, in which she places great reliance on the air of Ha) es for the recovery of his health. It is now said that Lord North is to have the lead in the House of Commons : I think this a more likely idea than that of giving it to Conway, but I do not understand that it is certainly settled. Lord Hillsborough’s common language intimates his doubt whether the arrangement, so far at least as relates to him, will hold six months. Lord Mansfield, I hear, is rather out of spirits, more so, I mean, than he seemed to be in his conversation with you on the new coalition : from another I hear that lie is to take a leading part in Council, and will be consulted in everything by Lord (lower : my authority for 248 GRENVILLE PAPERS. January, the former is the better of the two ; yet his great objection to interfering with the influence of Lord Chatham is, if he believes appearances, removed; he being now represented with greater confidence every day by the Ministerial people, I mean of the Grafton Ministry, to be entirely out of the case. By all the circumstances which I have mentioned in this letter, the representations I gave you in my former are confirmed \ It seems to me clear that the Duke of Grafton means to gain the Bedfords entirely: whether the consequence will be that he will get them as an accession to his party, or they get him as an accession to theirs, is, I think, very doubtful: circumstances which neither can command must determine ; but without the intervention of particular circumstances, I should be inclined to think that, the party of the Bedfords being of more real weight than the individual Duke of Graf-ton, they would rather draw him to them, than he them to him. I suppose you saw my second letter to Lord Temple, in which Dunning’s appointment was accounted for2. I now hear that it is not to take place immediately, but Willes is to have at least one term to close his business, and perhaps Dunning may not be sorry to 1 Mr. Grenville, in acknowledging these letters, writes to Whately on the 9th instant,—“ I find that they all confirm the former account which you gave me of the entire confidence and union between the Duke of Grafton and the Duke of Bedford and his friends, and the separation of the former from Lord Chatham and his part of the Ministry; how far this may be true with regard to Lord Shelburne and some others, 1 know not,” &c. 2 Dunning was soon after made Solicitor-General, in the room of Edward Willes, son of the Lord Chief Justice Willes, who was promoted to the Bench. 176-!. GRENVILLE TAPERS. ' 249 have a little time to see the certainty on which he engages. LORD LYTTELTON TO EARL TEMPLE. • urzon Stn et, January 1, 1768. My dear Lord,—Be pleased to sign, as trustee, the mortgage deeds for raising my daughter’s fortune, which the bearer of this brings to you in his way to Hagley. I presume you have been informed by your brother of everything I could tell you concerning the political state of the world before he left London. Since that time a great cold has confined me to my house, except one morning when I made a visit to his Grace of Bedford. From him I learnt that the basis of the late treaty with the Duke of Grafton was a supposition that Lord Chatham was politically dead, and that Lord Camden had devoted himself to the Duke of Grafton, without any reserve of fidelity to his former master, even if he should revive and act; that Shelburne had been mortified by the American Department being taken from him, and was gone out of town in ill humour; that the Ministry meant to widen their bottom, as occasions should offer, and that he had a great esteem and love for your brother, and wished to see him at the head of the Treasury, for which place nobody was so fit. My answers were civil, cool, and doubtful. He spoke warmly of the necessity of doing something to mend the state of our colonies, and said the Duke of Grafton was entirely of the same mind, but opened no plan for that purpose. Of your Lordship he said nothing. I hear that one of the Ministers of that connection had declared at Arthur’s, within these two or three days, that they 250 GRENVILLE PAPERS. January, were trying {if possible) to find a medium between the violence of George Grenville and the madness of Lord Chatham. On the other hand, I was assured from two or three different quarters that Lord Chatham is better, and that the report of his having had the gout in his head and stomach was false; that he has had a little in his fingers; that a good natural fit, to which nature is tending in him, would quite restore him; that his thoughts are full of returning, not only to Ministry, but to omnipotence; that he is very angry at Lord Hillsborough’s promotion, or rather at the creation of that new office, which he had always opposed; that he is coming to town, and will do some great thing there, but nobody knows what. At the same time I hear that Lord Camden has publicly said that the Duke of Grafton and Lord Chatham are one and the same man ; that the act of the former must be always understood to be the will of the latter, and other expressions to the same effect. I have seen Burke, who talked warmly on the East India Company’s business1, which he supposed would be regulated by Mr. Dyson’s plan, notwithstanding the alteration that has happened in the Ministry, and I believe he says true. He said nothing from or of the Marquess of Rockingham, and I avoided the subject; but from other quarters some overtures have been thrown out of coalition and union, between the Marquess and us, against the present powers. Lord Hardwicke sent me a message the other day 1 The renewal of the Bill for restraining the dividends of the East India Company, which, after much debate, was carried by large majorities through both Houses. 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 251 that he wished I would call upon him, not being well enough to come to me, but as I was also indisposed we have not met. Mr. West has been here upon a report of a reconciliation between us and Lord Chatham, which he seemed to believe ’till contradicted by me. He told me it was understood in town that the Bedfordians had not treated with the Duke of Grafton upon any foot of equality, but had sworn allegiance to his Grace, and would be very good servants. Yet he admitted, that, as much business would be done at table and over a bottle, they were likely to make themselves so agreeable to his Grace in those Cabinet Councils, as to gain an ascendant over him, and that to this they trusted. He added that their present great object was, to get the better of Lord Hertford’s credit in the Closet, which would not be easily done, as his Lordship had a strong root of personal favour there, which he cultivated and improved by being a most assiduous courtier to Lord Bute. Of that great man I hear nothing but what Lord Mansfield told me, that he believed he was well pleased with the taking in of the Bedfords. I presume your brother has told you what I related to him of the conversation between Lord Mansfield and me the night the treaty was settled. I have only to add now, that having heard he was called to the Cabinet, I asked the Duke of Bedford whether it was true, who said not as he knew of, but that his Lordship had been so good as to promise Lord Weymouth and Lord Gower his kind assistance whenever they should want it. I have reason to think he is gone with his whole heart into this arrangement, rather in hatred to Lord Chatham, who he thought would be ruined by it, though 252 GRENVILLE PAPERS. January, his health should return, than out of affection to the system on any other account. I forgot to mention, in giving your Lordship the substance of my conversation with the Duke of Bedford, that he spoke with pleasure, and a kind of triumph, of the total exclusion of Lord Rockingham and his friends from this treaty. This, my dear Lord, is the general state of things, so far as I can gain any knowledge of it, which is very imperfect. The real inclinations of the Court towards the new comers, the degree of favour the Duke of Grafton is in himself, how far Lord Chatham’s anger, if he be angry, could shake it, are matters far from being sufficiently ascertained. It is certain that the world considers us as forsaken by our only formidable strength, et pris pour dupes. But what should we gain by complaining, or showing any resentment ? Some think that a promise to pay the Civil List debt next year was the secret article of this treaty. If so, it will not hurt our credit with the public, that we are no parties to it. A happy new year, and many of them, to your Lordship, Lady Temple, and all the family at Stowe, which I suppose at present includes that of Wotton, is the most ardent wish of, my dear Lord, your most affectionate and most faithful Servant, Lyttelton. If my illness had not damped my poetical fire I would have sent Lady Temple a New Year’s ode. Be so good as to let the bearer pass through your Ridings to Towcester. His name is Bateman. Since I wrote the account of Lord Chatham before given, I hear from one to whom Dr. Addington told it, 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 253 that he has been worse, which much alarmed Lady Chatham, but not the doctor, who still says he will be well as soon as he can get a fit of the gout. He is removed from the dairy house to the house at Hayes, and is still in treaty about the house in Pall Mall that belonged to the late Mrs. Harris. Old Onslow is dying of a mortification. The Duke of Newcastle will recover, but probably so broken as not to hold it long-. The sending of this letter has been delayed by the snow’s retarding the arrival of the Exeter coach, which brought back the deeds from Lord Fortescue. I have had a visit from Lord Hardwicke, but it produced nothing worth writing, his conversation being only of the same colour as all his former ones with me, blaming the extravagance of Lord Rockingham’s pretensions, wishing well to our system and connection, but not seeming determined to run all fortunes with us, if other doors should open to let in his brother, whose promotion to the Seals appears to be his main object. He spoke of the Bedford connection coming in, as an act of hungry impatience for places and emoluments, but thought that the Duke of Grafton had done well for himself, unless be should suffer them to beat him in the Closet, and so become hL masters1. 1 “ It would be unjust to the Duke of Bedford’s friends to attribute their conduct to any but the motives which they themselves profess. Mr. Digby is so modest a man, that the imputation of public virtue or private good faith would oilend his delicacy, if he did not feel, as he certainly does, the genuine emotions of patriotism and friendship warm in his breast. They argued not ill for ambition, while they asked for nothing but profit; and when the Duke of Grafton has exhausted the Treasury, he will find that every other power departs with the power of giving.”—Junius, vol. iii p. I 8$. 254 GRENVILLE PAPERS. February, 0, [THE AUTHOR OF JUNIUS] TO MR. GRENVILLE1. London. G February. 1768. Sir—the observations contained in the inclosed paper arc thrown together and sent to you upon a 1 Endorsed in Mr. Grenville’s Lind, “ Anonymous, C, with the enclosed paper, Feb. Gtb, 1708.” This is the first of three letters sent during the present year to Mr. Grenville, by the writer who afterwards became so well known under the signature of Junius. They are written in a hand very carefully disguised, nevertheless it must be confessed that these communications furnish a prima facie case of some difficulty in opposition to the theory of assigning the authorship to Lord Temple. It would seem to most persons extremely improbable that Lord Temple should anonymously address such letters to his own brother, and assure him therein, that he, the writer, was a man quite unknown and unconnected; that he had no connection with any party; that it was not cither necessary or proper to make himself known to him at present. I think, however, that upon a closer and more careful examination of all the circumstances, these difficulties will appear less prominent, and that which has seemed impossible at the first glance, will be found, upon reflection, to be only the peculiar contrivance which the author thought would be most conducive to his purpose of absolute concealment ; for he may have had many reasons to believe that his brother, as well as others, suspected him to be the writer of certain articles in the newspapers, and therefore he would deprecate all attempts to discover him, by the promise :—“ At a proper time he will solicit the honour of being known to you: he has present important reasons for wishing to be concealed." Now, it appears to me that he adopted the most effectual means of obtaining that absolute concealment by the bold determination of appealing as he did to the honour of his brother, who would either be entirely thrown off his guard by this apparently improbable and almost impossible step on the part of Lord Temple, or that if he had still any suspicion of the writer being his brother, he would understand it as a hint that he was expected to abstain from any observation or inquiry, or any attempt to remove the veil of mystery under which he desired to conceal himself. The condition that Mr. Grenville should not only not show these pap< rs to anybody, but that he should never mention his having received them, was probably intended most impressively to imply, that he should not show them, nor even 1768. ar,EXVILLE PAPERS. 255 supposition that the Tax therein referred to will make part of the budget, if Lord North should have fallen mention them to Lord Temple, to whom he was now known to be most affectionately attached, both privately and in politics, in order that, in any conversation upon the subject, he, Lord Temple, might not be placed in an embarrassing position by affecting to be ignorant of them. It is remarkable that Junius made no such condition to Lord Chatham, to whom he had written in the previous month, because as he and Lord Temple were not upon good terms, he was not so likely to meet him, but the same condition is repeated with still stronger emphasis in a subsequent letter to Mr. Grenville, in which he says :— “ If an earnest wish to serve you gives me any claim, let me entreat you not to suffer a hint of this communication to escape you to anybody.” It is not in the least probable that a mere political writer—a stranger—professing to be unknown to either party, should privately express at the same period of time equal warmth of personal attachment to two men so distinctly separate in politics and in private life, and yet with the peculiarity of being in some respects so connected, as Lord Chatham and Mr. Grenville. As politicians, they were opposed on almost all questions of public interest; as private men, there had been between them great animosity for several years ; they had scarcely met but in public places ; aud in the House of Commons, Lord Chatham (when Air. Pitt) had treated Air. Grenville with ridicule and contempt. From Lord Temple alone could these expressions be expected, or be in any way consistent. Who so likely as Lord Temple to profess, and to feel, a voluntary disinterested attachment to the cause and person of his brother, Mr. Grenville, or to write almost at the same period to Lord Chatham, his brother-in law, with sentiments of respect and veneration for his character, and warmth of attachment to his person? In the event of a reconciliation with Lord Chatham, Lord Temple would certainly not wish it to be known, or even to be suspected, that he had been the author of some of the most virulent abuse which had so recently been levelled against his character and conduct. After an interval of seven months, he again writes to Mr. Grenville, in September and October following, and knowing that in the meantime his confidence had not been misplaced, he becomes more communicative, and though he disclaims all motives of vanity, yet he avows himself to have been the author of The Gkand Council, of some other papers under the signatures of Lucius and Atticus, and a multitude of others ; in short, everything which for two years past had attracted the । tice of the public. Still it was not, perhaps, for what he had written, as for what he 256 GRENVILLE PAPERS. February, upon any other scheme, they will be useless, but if the case happens, and they shall appear to have any weight, the author is satisfied, that no man in this Country can make so able a use of them, or place them in so advantageous a light as Mr. Grenville. It is not, Sir, either necessary or proper to make myself known to you at present, hereafter I may perhaps claim that honour, in the mean Time be assured that it is a voluntary disinterested attachment to your person founded on an esteem for your Spirit and Understanding, which has, and will for ever engage me in your Cause. A number of late publications, (falsely attributed to men of far greater talent) may convince you of my zeal, if not of my Capacity to serve you. The only Condition, which I presume to make with you, is that you will not only not show these papers to any body, but that you will never mention your having received them. C. The following is the Enclosure referred to in the preceding Letter. It is a melancholy consideration that, when every commodity, which can admit of a Tax, is loaded to the last point, it shd still be necessary for Government to contrive new taxes. The necessity of doing so in time intended to write, that he again imposed upon Mr. Grenville the condition of secrecy, and that until he is Minister, he must not permit himself to think of the honour of being known to him. I have already made some remarks upon the handwriting of these letters, and therefore I need only now repeat that it was very carefully disguised, and my belief that it was such as would not alone have awakened in the mind of Mr. Grenville any suspicion with respect to the author of them. 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 257 of peace makes our situation still more alarming. But if we saw ourselves at the mercy of Bunglers, who might recommend Taxes, without the smallest conception of the manner in which they are to operate, or even of the first principles of taxation, we shd. be really reduced to a state of despair. In such unskilful hands, every drug is a poison, every weight an oppression. It is now generally known that the Ministry will be obliged to borrow one million eight or nine hundred thousand pounds for the service of the year, and that a new Fund, to be appropriated for part of the interest of this sum, or in aid of the whole, is to arise from a tax or duty of 3d. in the pound on every species of thing sold in this country by public Auction', with a very unreasonable exception in favour of the East India Company’s sales. This I am well assured, (and if I were not well assured I cod. hardly believe it) is the main foundation of the intended tax, tho’ I may not be exact in minuter particulars. Now, Sir, without entering into the merits of the Contriver, permit me to state to you some objections to the scheme itself, which tho’ not less obvious than important, I presume have never once occurred to his mind. The publication of this paper may perhaps come time enough to rouse him from his dream, and to prevent his doing a national mischief in his Sleep. I believe it will be admitted that to lav a new tax in-discriminated & equally upon almost all saleable Commodities, which have been severally taxed before, some heavily some lightly, shows a great want of Judgment 1 Tlic Auction Duty did not form part of Lord North’s Budget on this occasion, and therefore the observations upon it were of no use to Air. Grenville. The tax referred to was first imposed in the year 1777. VOL. IV. S 258 GRENVILLE PAPERS. February, as well as a poverty of Contrivance in the first formation of the tax. To make no distinction between things, which have already different burthens laid upon them, & to distribute the new burthen indifferently upon them all, may be short work indeed, but it is a sign of a bungling confused plan, and just as absurd as if a waggoner, who had a hundred weight of goods to carry more than he expected, were never to examine which of his waggons were laden before & which not, but to divide the last load equally among them all, & so let some break down, while the rest travelled empty. So much for the generality of the Tax. The next thing to be considered, particularly by gentlemen of landed estates, is that, as the mode of selling estates by auction is become very general, a tax on that mode is in effect an additional land-tax, & will be found a heavy clog upon a most eligible way of alienating landed property. It is unnecessary to say that every impediment of this kind ought to be strongly discouraged in a commercial Country, whose welfare depends on the number of moderate fortunes engaged in trade. Whether the landed gentlemen, who thought it necessary to take off one shilling in the pound last year, will submit to this indirect reimposition of a part of it, is a point, which I shall leave to them to consider. Permit me only to observe that this method of encreasing the land tax will be particularly grievous, as it must fall chiefly on persons, who may be compelled by distress of Circumstances, or the call of some sudden Emergence to part with their Estates. My third Objection is that this tax will fall heaviest upon that part of the people, who stand most in need of ease & relief from the legislature & whose distresses, 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 259 if they cannot be relieved, certainly require no aggravation. It must fall upon the creditors of Bankrupts, whose effects, tho’ they may not produce half a Crown in the pound, are to be liable to a further defalcation ; as if the loss of a considerable part of the debt were not sufficients severe, or as if it were the office of the legislature to encrease the load of Misfortune, and to combine with the bankrupt in compleating the Creditor’s destruction. But this is not the only blow levelled at the poor. Let it be considered that it is chiefly the lower rank of mechanicks & tradesmen, who, to raise ready money, have recourse to auctions where their goods find a quick, if not a profitable vent h If you Deprive them of this resource, by laying a new tax upon their labour (the materials of which have probably been taxed in various shapes before) what can be the consequence, but that their goods will perish in their shops, or be seised by their Creditors, or be sold at such a loss as Necessity & despair may force them to submit to; besides that, in many instances it may be more advantageous to sell a thing for two thirds of its value to-day, than for its full value six months hence. But I suppose the Chancellor of the Exchequer has never once considered what the addition of three pence in the pound to the present exorbitant demands made by Auctioneers, will amount to, nor how the industry of a poor man can bear such an accumulated oppression. 1 This word, derived from the French rente, and here used in the sense of sale, is not very common. It occurs again in Junius, thus:— ■‘ Our manufactures no longer find a vent in foreign markets.”—Vol. ii. p. 5 I a. In Another Letter to Almon, also:—“And was pretty indifferent about his personal liberty, provided his press moved freely, and found a large rent for his productions.”—p. 191. S 2 2G0 GRENVILLE PAPERS. F ebruary, I have often Ijeard it said & by judicious people, that the suffering a number of small auctions in this town is a perpetual Source of Fraud, & an impediment to trade, perhaps it may be so; but I fear it is an inconvenience we must submit to, untill some other method of raising ready money upon the produce of their industry, be laid open to the poor, at all events the Tax in question will rather confirm and sanctify this fraudulent mode of traffick, by placing that which was only connived at before, under the immediate notice and protection of the legislature ; or if it should operate as a prohibition, the tax will defeat itself as a fund of revenue, & the deficiency fall on the sinking fund, which we are told it is the object of Governmb to relieve. A fourth objection, which appears to me more considerable than any of the former, arises from the method, in which all auctions are & must be conducted. When the seller finds that there is less bidden for his property than he can afford to take for it, he is of course obliged to buy it in himself; so that, besides the Auctioneer’s profits, he must pay a tax to Government, on account of a supposed sale of goods which never were sold; nor do I see a possibility of framing a Clause to relieve such a Case, without giving occasion to a multitude of frauds & perjuries. These are matters however, which it is no wonder great folks should be unacquainted with. Exempt as they are from the wants and distresses of life, they know nothing of the shifts, to which the poor man & his poverty are reduced. But there is another point, which I am astonished that the great persons, who frame & recommend this tax, should not understand. I am astonished that a Chancellor of the Exchequer shd. know so little of the laws relative to buying & 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS 261 selling as to attempt an act which directly invades this whole branch of the common and Statute law of Eno-land, & forms a Contradiction, no less darino’ than absurd, to all the wisdom of our Ancestors. Untill this day it has been a Maxim of the English Legislature to give every possible encouragement to the most open & publick methods of disposing of property by bargain & sale, to this End fairs and markets have from time to time been Established, with grants of particular immunities & of exclusive privileges. Perhaps our Ancestors were mistaken, but it has been the prejudice of more than a thousand years, that the more publick and notorious the transaction of Sales was made, the more likely it would be to prevent Collusions & Frauds in traffick & consequently the more deserving o£ favour ^’ indulgence from the legislature. Now, Sir, it cannot be denied that an auction, next to established fairs & markets, is the most open and publick method of sale that can be imagined. At least if Frauds are committed in this way, they ought to be corrected by regulations, not the thing itself restrained or suppressed by a tax, which, in many instances must amount to a prohibition, & when that happens, will at once defeat itself & injure the publick k 1 The original orthography, abbreviations, capital letters, and punctuation in these papers by the author of Junius, have been very carefully preserved. 2G2 GRENVILLE PAPERS. February, MR. WILKES TO EARL TEMPLE. Saturday, February 13, (1768 ) My Lord,—I desired Mr. Cotes, the day of my arrival herel, to assure your Lordship of my regard and 1 Wilkes returned to London from Ostend about the 6th or 7th of February. In a letter from Humphrey Cotes to Wilkes, dated January 28th, he mentions having seen Beardmore (Lord Temple's attorney) and he says also,—“ Our friend [Lord Temple] you may be very certain, has nothing to do with these men [the Ministers] : he really wishes you •well.” Whether Wilkes had any interview with Lord Temple at this time, is uncertain. I find no information on the subject in the Grenville Papers. Immediately after the dissolution of Parliament on the 11th of March, Wilkes offered himself as a candidate to represent the City of London. In this he was unsuccessful. Fie then announced his intention of standing for the County of Middlesex, and he was elected by a large majority. He presented himself before the Court of King’s Bench on the first day of the ensuing term, the 20th of April, but as he was not there by any legal process, Lord Mansfield refused to recognise him. A writ was afterwards issued, and he was brought before the Court as an outlaw on the 27th of April, and, bail being refused, he was committed to the King’s Bench Prison. On his way thither, the people took the horses from the carriage, and drew it to a public-house in Spitalfields, from whence Mr. Wilkes contrived to make his escape, and went immediately to the King’s Bench Prison, where the Marshal, who was forced out of the coach at Temple Bar, had arrived before him. The outlawry was reversed by Lord Mansfield on the Sth of June, and Wilkes was soon after brought up for judgment, for the publication of the North Briton, No. 45, and the Essay on Woman; he was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, and fined 1000Z. The new Parliament being appointed to meet on the 10th of May, there was an expectation that Wilkes would proceed to take his seat in the House of Commons, and a great crowd of people assembled near the prison : a riot ensued, the military were called out, and some lives were lost: a young man named Allen was shot by the soldiers in mistake. Lord Barrington’s letter, as Secretary at War, to the Field Officer in waiting, conveying an expression of the King's approval of the conduct of the officers and men upon this occasion, was the subject of much comment by the Author of Junius. It will be seen by a letter from Lord Temple, that he visited Wilkes 176^ GRENVILLE PAPERS. 2G3 attachment. I have waited ’till the end of term the resolutions of Administration. I am now to take a decided part with respect to the next Parliament before the ensuing term. May I so far hope for your Lordship’s indulgence, as to be gratified with the opportunity of submitting my own sentiments on some delicate points, and of hearing the opinion of my best friend as to my future conduct in the present situation of my affairs? I shall be most happy to attend your Lordship any half-hour you will please to appoint, in any place you choose, and my brother in St. John’s Square would be so kind as to take the charge of your Lordship’s commands for me. I am, with the truest respect and gratitude, my Lord, your Lordship’s most obedient humble servant, John Wilkes. MR. WEDDERRCRN TO MR. GRENVILLE. Morley, April 3, 1708. Dear Sir,—The elections in this part of the world have been very quiet, not even excepting Pomfret, which, according to the account I have of it (from Walsh’s opponents indeed), has only been an instance of very gross misconduct on his part.1. in the King’s Bench Prison soon after his committal ; and subsequent to that time, I do not find any more letters either to or from Wilkes among Lord 'Temple’s papers. Almon states that he offended Lord Temple by some remarks which he printed on (Jeorge Grenville’s speech on the question of his expulsion from the House of Commons in February, 17(i9, and that he never spoke to him afterwards. This statement is, however, probably incorrect. Tn 1771. there is an allusion to Wilkes in a letter from Air. Dayrell to Lord Temple, but I have noticed that communication in another’ place. 1 Walsh wib ALP. for Worcester tn the new Parliament, through the interest of Lord ( live. Lord Galway and Sir Howland "Wynn 264 GRENVILLE PAPERS. April, How different has the scene been in the south, and how little reason can any man have for leaving a country of plenty, frugality, and sobriety, as this is, where the laws execute themselves, and where the name of Wilkes is never profanely joined with liberty, nor mentioned but with detestation ; to inhabit a great bedlam under the dominion of a beggarly, idle, and intoxicated mob without keepers, actuated solely by the word Wilkes, which they use as better savages do a walrus, to incite them in their attempts to insult Government and trample upon law. Wilkes, I dare to say, is vain enough to imagine that he has raised all this tumult, but in my opinion he is as innocent of it as the staff that carries the flag1 with his name upon it. The mob has been made sensible of its own importance, and the pleasure which the rich and powerful feel in governing those whom fate has made their inferiors, is not half so strong as that which the indigent and worthless feel in subverting property, defying law, and lording it over those whom they were used to respect. A Jack Straw, or a John Wilkes, are but the instruments of those whom they seem to lead ; the leading principle of every mob is that impatience of legal rule which the relaxation of just authority, and the mutability of Government, that we have for some time experienced, never fail to produce in the minds of the inferior people. Has not the mob of London as good a right to be insolent as the unchecked mob of Boston ? Was not the attack on Bedford House an encouragement to pull down any other house in London ? and is it wonderful that the -were chosen for Pontefract; but the latter having been unseated upon petition, Mr. Strachey, Lord Clive’s Secretary, was elected in November following. 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 2G5 populace should at last assist the endeavours of those who for five years past have been making interest for Mr. Wilkes ? His best friends have not been a Mr. Lewis Gilbert of Spitalfields, but if I were to name them, I should reckon up one-half of the Ministers canvassing for him as a fit colleague for Mr. Georo-e Cooke, for I really think when he was appointed Joint Paymaster, Wilkes was very fairly pointed out to the mob of Middlesex, and he was as certainly recommended on many other occasions by many people who little thought they were espousing Wilkes’s resentments, while they imagined they were only gratifying their own. I am perhaps writing in a very unfashionable style to you at present, for I should not be surprised to hear that Mr. Wilkes had not only a pardon under the Great Seal, but the Great Seal itself bestowed upon him. But I have the pleasure to know, that whatever extraordinary scene the present distraction may exhibit, you can view it with no concern but for the public; you have no part of the blame to impute to yourself; your conduct will be, as it always has been, clear, steady, and determined in support of the laws and constitution of the country'. I am ever, &c., &c. Al. Wedderburn. 1 In less than a year after this time, Wedderburn exerted himself as much in the defence of Wilkes as ever he did in his condemnation. His vote on the popular side of the Middlesex Election question, in February 1769, lost him his seat in Parliament. Having been elected for Richmond as a Tory, under the patronage of Sir Laurence Dundas, he was bound in honour when he set up as a patriot to vacate his seat, by accepting the Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds. Lord Temple, writing to Lady Chatham an account of that debate, mentions that “ Wedderburn made a most excellent speech with us.” At a great dinner given shortly after at the Thatched House, by the leaders of Opposition, his health was drank as Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds, and he was looked upon as a martyr to the cause. He made 2G6 GRENVILLE PAPERS. April, MR. GRENVILLE TO MR, WHATELY. Wotton, April 13, 1768. Dear Whately,—I do not sec how the conduct of the Assembly of New York, in giving a sum of money to the Crown, but refusing to take the least notice of the Mutiny Act, can be called a submission to that law, or represented as a discouragement to the popular opinions of America not being bound by our laws. It seems to me the very reverse ; but I have done with talking to the deaf: they must feel before they believe, and I think that period of conviction is not far off. If different factions prevail in the management of the East India Company’s affairs abroad, as much as they seem to do in their general courts at home, the former will lay them open even to a weak attack in India, as the latter will infallibly do to the weakest Administration at a very inflammatory speech in reply, denouncing in no measured terras the usurpation of the rights of the people by their own representatives, concluding with the following oath of abjuration: “ I do from my soul denounce, detest, and abjure as unconstitutional and illegal, that damnable doctrine and position, that a resolution of the House of Commons can make, alter, suspend, abrogate, or annihilate the law of the land.” Whereupon he kissed the bottle. Through the friendship of Lord Clive to Mr. Grenville, and at the recommendation of the latter, Wedderburn was elected for Bishop's Castle in November following. While he was out of Parliament he went about making harangues, and supporting violent resolutions against the Government, and he was more a Wilkite than even Wilkes himself. Wedderburn acquired a considerable fortune by his marriage in December, 1707, with the daughter and sole heir of John Dawson, Esq., of Morley in Yorkshire, from whence this letter is dated. Lord Campbells biography of Wedderburn, in his lives of the Chancellors, is written in his usual comprehensive style. I have been frequently indebted to that amusing work, in which, however, an accurate observer will perhaps detect too many allusions to the personal and party feelings of our own times. 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 267 home. I am glad you have seen Mr. Walsh and Mr. Strachey, and that you approve so much of their cause. I bear that Mr. 'Wilkes has met with a very mortifying reception at Bath, being universally avoided by all degrees of men ’. If this account be true, it may possibly have given courage to our Ministers to hold, as I am told they do, a higher language at this moment. I will, however, foretell, without the gift of prophecy, that this language will be exactly similar to what has been holden out about America, and fall again under low-water mark on the appearance of any difficulty, or any disapprobation from the mob. For my own part, I agree with our friend Mr. Wedderburn, that the populace of London have a better right to give the law to the King and the Government of Great Britain, than the populace of Boston, and I can hardly believe that those who tremble at the latter will be bold enough to encounter the former. I should not wonder if what you tell me of Sir William Beauchamp Proctor’s audience should be true ; and vet if it were, I should not draw any consequence from it. I am, &c. George Grenville. MR. WHATELY TO MR GRENVILLE. April 18, 176 $. Dear Sir,—I could not write you by the post the anecdotes upon which I grounded the positive assertion that none of the Ministers would venture to propose a pardon for Wilkes but have been obliged to postpone 1 “ The Chancellor met him in the rump-room ; neither of them spoke or bowed to tie' other, but both stopped and start'd in such a mantu r as to set tlio whole room in a titter."—Whately to Mr. Grenville. 268 GRENVILLE PAPERS. April, them, and some other particulars, ’till I could send them by a more private conveyance. The manner in which the late transactions have been, and [the] present situation is, considered, by the person 1 who is principally affected by them, has, you know, been differently represented : one fact will tend to fix it; for he certainly sat up all the first night of the illuminations, the Monday night, full of indignation at the insult, and saying to those about him, who expressed apprehensions of the mob coming to the Queen’s house, that he wished they would push their insolence so far, he should then be justified in repelling it, and giving proper orders to the Guards : he spoke with great discontent of the Lord Chancellor and the Duke of Grafton, to Lord Weymouth 2. He still retains the same sentiments, holds a language of vigour, and though he has resolved to put a good countenance on the matter, yet shows that pardon is not to be mentioned. The speculation of my friend3, from whom I have this intelligence, and whom you will easily guess, is, that it is resolved to let these people go on for the present; that it is desirable in the present circumstances they should involve themselves inextricably ; that, however, it is impossible they should continue long: and he recurs again to his former idea, that Lord Mansfield will be consulted. This was his information on Wednesday evening ; on Thursday, Lord 1 The King. 2 Lord Weymouth recommended himself to the King by punctuality and activity in the business of his office, at a time when the Duke of Grafton, inclined to moderation, neglected everything and went to Newmarket, while the Chancellor, to avoid difficulties, betook himself to Bath. “ In the midst of all this tumult and confusion, the Chancellor of Great Britain and the First Lord of the Treasury retire out of town, and leave the whole executive power of the Crown to fall to the ground.’—Junius, vol. iii. p. 31. 3 Wedderburn, or Augustus Hervey. 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 209 Mansfield had a long audience, and though I do not positively know yet, I have great reason to believe he was sent for, at least so far as this, that if he was not brought to Court by a particular message, he was ordered after Court to go in to the Closet. Lord Trevor dined with him afterwards, and observed he was very thoughtful, from whence lie concluded that he was displeased at what had passed : I rather suppose he found that he would be involved, and had either been asked or had given advice. The accounts I have since heard confirm that supposition ; for on Friday morning, Lord Mansfield called himself on Sir Fletcher Norton, was in high spirits, and very resolute : if his absence of the day before had been dejection, it would have continued; but supposing it to be perplexity, as soon as he had made up his mind it would turn to alacrity. He told Sir Fletcher that he had been in the Closet, and, without entering into particulars of the conversation, said that it was doing great injustice to the King to believe that he was indifferent; that nobody in the kingdom was more sensible than the King, both of the present insult, and of the general dissolution of Government, and that he would certainly, though perhaps not immediately, change his Administration : his expression was that it was out of doubt. His Lordship being so very communicative, Sir Fletcher in return laid before him the difficulties he was under about his own conduct, the Attorney-General having desired him to be of Counsel for the Crown against Wilkes, and told him that, having consulted Wedderburn, D’OUy, and me, we had advised him against accepting the invitation, because it would draw on him all the odium, and engage him to support all the weak 270 GRENVILLE PAPERS. April, measures of people who did not understand the business, who would push him into the lead, and yet not follow his advice. Lord Mansfield said, he differed from us all in opinion ; that besides Sir Fletcher’s duty as King’s Counsel, his duty as a citizen obliged him to accept, but did not oblige him to take the most forward part, nor if he disapproved of their conduct, to take any part at all, and that when they took wrong steps, he might then refuse to be further concerned, with more credit to himself than he could now decline to be concerned at all. Upon this advice Sir Fletcher went to the consultation on Saturday ; he found them totally ignorant of all the proceedings. The Attorney and Solicitor General thought that when Wilkes appeared, they also were to appear, and then the Court would be under a necessity to dispose of him, without their making any specific application. Sir Fletcher asked them whether they bad ever been in the King’s Bench, that they could suppose the Court would act without an application from the prosecutor. They then suggested that they might admit error : there again Sir Fletcher told them they were wrong, for they could admit only errors of fact; but if errors in law should be assigned, the Court would not take their admission : they then went through all the errors which thev have heard of, all which Sir Fletcher insists are of no consequence ; the principal is, that Mr. Wilkes was beyond seas at the return of the Exigent; the answer to which is, that he cannot avail himself of his own laches, and be protected by flying from justice: at last the Attorney asked Sir Fletcher, and begged him as a friend to tell him, whether he would advise him to take out a capias before the first day of term, in order to bring Wilkes properly 1768. CHEN VILLE PAPERS. 271 before the Court: to which Sir Fletcher said that he should answer that question by another, why he had not taken one out before ? He said he had not been directed ; and was told by Sir Fletcher that he should not have waited for directions ; that this was a process of execution, not of prosecution, and thus ended this doughty consultation ; since which I hear that at a more private meeting, to which Sir Fletcher was not invited, they have recurred to their first idea of doingnothing, but waiting to see what the Court will do, which certainly, as the affair now stands, will be nothing, except what may arise from Wilkes’s writ of error which he has taken out. A great concourse of people is expected on Wednesday 1 : the very expectation will alone make it; but besides, I was told yesterday, that Mr. Fitzherbert said the day before at table, that he had advised Wilkes to prevent all crowd on that day, and that Wilkes in answer swore, that he would be carried down to the Court on the shoulders of the City of London. There is a well-invented phrase handed about for Lord Chatham, that he is for rigorous, not rigorous measures. MR. WHATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. April 22, 1768. Dear Sir,—I had this morning a visit from mv friend2 whose information I much rely on, who called 1 The 20th instant: the day on which Wilkes was to surrender to hi • outlawry. - Mr. Whately's “friend'' mo< frequently means Wcddcrburn, but upon this occasion I believe that Augustus Hervey is the p< r-ott indicated: the “ domestic affair ” alluded to is mentioned by Horace 272 GRENVILLE TAPERS. April, partly, I believe, to communicate to me a domestic affair in which he is much concerned, but more to relate to me the substance of some conversations he had lately had, the most material of which was this morning. He first asked me whether I had heard of Lord Mansfield’s audience. I told him I had, and gave him the account which I sent you of it. He had not been informed of any particulars, but only told that his Lordship had had such an audience, and the information was accompanied with the warmest wishes that the King would follow that noble Lord’s advice, saying, that the King had the highest regard for it, and would never be satisfied with a system which his Lordship did not approve of; but still did not positively say that he had asked, or when he asked would certainly adopt his opinion. My friend took the opportunity to extol Lord Mansfield’s abilities and principles, and then to say, that if the King would take his advice in the framing of an Administration, and would place Mr. Grenville at the Treasury, it would be the only means of recovering the authority of Government; that he believed Lord Mansfield’s opinion was, that there had been no Government since Mr. Grenville was dismissed; that the King had tried great numbers, and every one had been worse than the other; and that if anything displeasing had fallen from Mr. Grenville while he was in office, he hoped that he was not the only man who could not be forgiven, especially when the public good required the assistance which he could, and he alone could, give. His answer to this Walpole in a letter to Conway some time after : “ Augustus Hervey thinking it the bel air, is going to sue for a divorce from the Chudleigh. He asked Lord Bolingbroke t' other day, who was his proctor ? as he would have asked for his tailor.” 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 273 was a very warm complaint of the conduct of the present Ministers, particularly of the Duke of Grafton; that a man in his situation should propose a pardon' was one of the expressions, but said the King had stood against that proposition, and would continue firm against it. Besides this conversation, the same friend told me, that having had occasion to mention to a person he did not name, but whose intelligence he says is the best and most confidential, some business of his own (I fancy some electioneering connections), and talked to him of the part he intended to take; that person advised him not to stir a step, for that the Duke of Grafton would not long continue where he now is, which information my friend relies upon very much. He likewise said, that he had been told by another person, to whom he did not give such implicit credit, that there was still a hitch on Lord Chatham ; to which he answered, that such a regard as would save to Lord Chatham an honourable, lucrative, inactive situation, was very proper, but he could not conceive the obligation should extend to the keeping in office men who had been proved inefficient, merely because Lord Chatham had once recommended them. I observed upon that, that he had certainly taken the right distinction, and that whether Lord Chatham should keep a valuable sinecure could never be a question with the family he was so nearly related to. I then asked him whether he had ever explained the situation in which the Bedfords stood with you; he told me that before he went out of town he had mentioned it, but there was no occasion to dwell upon it, as he believed the King understood it thoroughly, 1 For Wilkes ; it is well known that the King always refused to listen to any proposal of that kind in favour of Wilkes. VOL. IV. T 274 GRENVILLE PAPERS. April, and there was the less reason for taking it up now, as Lord Weymouth was the only one of the Ministers who was thought to have behaved tolerably on the present occasion. I answered that I was, notwithstanding, of opinion, that taking great care on the one hand to show how easily Mr. Grenville could, if His Majesty’s service required it, act in concert with them, with whom he agreed in principles, it was, on the other hand, of moment to state the utter impossibility of our ever again banding with men whom we could never absolutely trust. He hoped, he said, we continued upon the same fair terms as we had parted, and observed, this was the time for them to interpose, when the King’s mind is alienated from the others1. I assured him, that we remained in 1 Whately implies that Mr. Grenville would not be unwilling to act again with the Bedfords, “if His Majesty’s service required it;” but he speaks more of his own wishes than of Mr. Grenville’s intentions, for the latter in his reply evidently evades the subject as one “ upon which every man’s mind must suggest more than he can write.” Walpole relates the state of affairs at this time, from the information of Lord Hertford and Mr. Conway, and he says : “ I believe these last good folks (the Bedfords) are still not satisfied with the satisfaction of their wishes. They have the favour of the Duke of Grafton, but neither his confidence nor his company, so that they can neither sell the places in his gift, nor his secrets.” And again: “ The Bedford faction, who had almost got entire possession of the Duke of Grafton, began to perceive how little security there was in that tenure. They found that every disgust inspired him with thoughts of resigning. They saw the immediate necessity of strengthening themselves, lest some sudden caprice should hurry him to resign, and leave them weak at Court, or exposed to the dislike of the next Minister, whoever it should be. Rigby in particular bad not attained the Paymastership which Grafton had engaged to him on the first opportunity, and was sure of being the first victim, if Grenville, whom he had sacrificed, should return to power. With as little decency as he had abandoned him, Rigby now made secret offers to Grenville to support him, if the Duke of Grafton should quit; but they were rejected, both from the haughtiness of Grenville’s nature, and by the positive injunction of Lord Temple, who sent Calcraft to Lord Hertford with an account of that 176b. GRENVILLE TAPERS. 275 the same dispositions as we were, but doubted of the Bedfords’ interposition, if any risk of losing their places attended it. He told me, further, that it was certain the Duke of Grafton had lost ground very much lately; that the Ministers had been obliged to acquiesce in the determination against the pardon, but that still the King was every day more and more disgusted, as he saw blunder following blunder, and that no part of the whole transaction had pleased him but Lord Weymouth’s behaviour. He did not distinctly tell me whether this part of his information came from his best authority directly, or from the other quarters in whose intelligence he confides; I only know that none of it was immediately from the King, whom he has not seen, and he seemed very certain of the truth of it. It is impossible to conceive the disgust which the Duke of Grafton’s appearance at the Opera with Mrs. Hoghton1, last Saturday, has given: a Minister, a mar- transaction, adding that his Lordship had sworn to his brother, that should he ever join the Bedfords, he (Lord Temple) would persecute him to the last hour of his life. This Lord Hertford was desired to communicate to the King, with offers from Lord Temple to serve His Majesty whenever he should be wanted.”—Memoirs of George III., vol. in. passim. Lord Temple never again relaxed in his hatred and distrust of the Bedfords,—“ the Bloomsbury gang : ” the burden of his song, as Junius, was ever the same. “Barrington, Weymouth, Gower, Rigby, Jerry Dyson, and Sandwich." I have not found any particulars of this alleged communication from Rigby ; but as Walpole's information came from Lord Hertford, that Calcraft was sent to him by Lord Temple, I think it may be depended upon ; and as Temple knew that Lord Hertford was an active partisan, and much in the King's confidence, it gives a clue to the passage in Junius’s private letter to Lord Chatham, in which he says, “ Lord Hertford is a little more explicit than his brother, and has taken erery opportunity of treating your Lordship's ’name with indignity." 1 Horace Walpole calls her “the Duke of Grafton’s Mrs. Hoghton, r 2 276 GRENVILLE PAPERS. April, ried man, the Duchess there in the Pit, talking to her only, waiting upon her out, are the changes rung by the Duke of Dorset’s Mrs. Hoghton, everybody’s Mrs. Hoghton ; ” but she is more commonly known by the name of Nancy Parsons. If it had not been this lady’s misfortune to be embalmed in the pages of Junius as the mistress of the Duke of Grafton, her charms as the “lovely Thais,” or her “faded beauty,” together with her name and memory’, would long since have been forgotten, although she was subsequently “ made an honest woman," and a Peeress of Great Britain, by her marriage with Viscount Maynard, in 1776. Anne or Annabella Parsons is said to have been the daughter of a tailor in Bond Street. She obtained the name of Hoghton from a West India captain and merchant of that name, with whom she lived for some time, and accompanied him to Jamaica, but she was not married to him. Miss Parsons soon became weary of a residence in the West Indies: she escaped from her lover by stratagem, and, returning to London, took lodgings at a perfumer’s in Brewer Street, where by some strange chance she soon became acquainted with the Duke of Grafton. An account of their amours is given in the Town and Country Magazine for 1 769, under the names of Palinurus and Annabella, where are also printed the letters which are supposed to have passed between them on their separation, and the Duke’s marriage with Miss Wrottesley. Her appearance at the Opera House, as mentioned by Whately, was probably witnessed by Lord and Lady Temple, who were constant visitors there, and only a few days afterwards it is alluded to by the author of Junius in a letter to the Duke of Grafton. “ Highly as I thought of you, your Grace must pardon me when I confess that there was one effort which I did not think you equal to. I did not think you capable of exhibiting the lovely Thais at the Opera House, of sitting a whole night by her side, of calling for her carriage yourself, and of leading her to it through a crowd of the first men and women in this kingdom. To a mind like yours, my Lord, such an outrage to your wife, such a triumph over decency, such insult to the company, must have afforded the highest gratification when all the ordinary resources of pleasure were exhausted; this, I presume, was your novissima vo-luptas."—Junius, vol. iii. p. 40. The name of Miss Parsons was used by Junius as a fertile source of annoyance to the Duke of Grafton ; and the suggestions of Lady Temple may surely be traced in the unmanly and frequently recurring allusions to her “ faded beauty;”—“ I will not insult the memory of departed beauty ;"—“ Miss Parsons had at this time surpassed the prime both of her youth and beauty;”—and again as Philo-Junius :—“Did not the Duke of Grafton frequently lead his mistress into public, and 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 277 everybody. Libertine men are as much offended as prudish women ; and it is impossible he should think of remaining Minister who thus defies all decency, is almost the general conclusion. The diversion of to-day is to laugh at the Chancellor’s being called upon to interpose in Wilkes’s affair; it is a whimsical piece of justice, and no man, I suppose, would feel it more sensibly than himself. That the present system will not do seems generally agreed ; that Mr. Grenville must be the Minister coneven place her at the head of his table as if he had pulled down an ancient temple of Venus, and could bury all decency and shame under the ruins ? ” When Lord Temple was writing this passage, the Temple of Venus in his own Gardens at Stowe might have occurred to his mind, and still more likely the following from one of Lady Temple’s notes : “ The Duke of Grafton’s female friend sits at the upper end of his table, and he brings everybody to dine with him : some do like it, and some do not. She is very pious, a constant churchwoman, and reproves his Grace for swearing and being angry, which he owns is very wrong, and with great submission begs her pardon for being so ill bred before her. Would he have done so to the Duchess of Grafton ? but I am afraid she has lost him by her own fault, and is now Tory miserable.' Junius also takes occasion to allude to the age of Miss Parsons, in his poem called Uam a and Van. “ From fourteen to forty our provident Nan, Had devoted herself to the study of Man/’ I have already noticed this poem in the Introductory Notes to vol. iii. A year later Junius says,—“The Duke [of Grafton] about this time had separated himself from Ann Parsons, but proposed to continue united with her on some Platonic terms of friendship, which she rejected with contempt. His baseness to this woman is beyond description or belief.”-—Junius, vol. i. p. 118. As the fame of Nancy Parsons has been preserved by Junius, so also, it may be remarked, says Mr. Mathias, in the Pursuits of literature, that the Duke of Grafton had the singular fate of having been celebrated by the first prose writer and the first poet of the age. “ Or Grafton’s virtues, to their latent day. Expire in Junius and revive in Gray.” 278 GRENVILLE PAPERS. April, tinues and gains ground ; men who were your enemies say so. Lord Talbot held that language very strongly to Lord Suffolk last Monday, but I have not heard it from any others of his class, though all agree to acknowledge there is no Government in this country. At the same time, no steps appear to be taking towards an immediate change; the answer is, that a change now is not desirable, and all changes have been sudden1. 1 Thomas Whately was a very profound politician, as well as an industrious and very intelligent purveyor of news. His information is not to be despised, though it might not be always correct. Having been Secretary of the Treasury during Mr. Grenville’s Administration, he was well known, and had familiar access to some of the principal men, and was undoubtedly much trusted by them. Junius ■was very severe upon him, because he followed the example of some of his betters, and very soon, too soon, after Mr. Grenville’s death, he went over to the Ministerial ranks. No one knew Whately better than Lord Temple, or how much he had been trusted by Mr. Grenville ; and all those who left the Grenville connection sooner or later felt the lash of Junius :—“ To be corrupted by such a maquereau as Whately would turn the appetite of Moll Flanders. This poor man, with the talents of an attorney, sets up for an ambassador, and with the agility of Colonel Bodens, undertakes to be a courier. Indeed, Tom, you have betrayed yourself too soon ! klr. Grenville, your friend, your patron, your benefactor, who raised you from a depth, compared to which even Bradshaw’s family stands on an eminence, was hardly cold in his grave, when you solicited the office of go-between to Lord North. You could not, in my eyes, be more contemptible, though you were convicted (as I dare say you might be) of having constantly betrayed him in his lifetime. Since I know your employment, be assured I shall watch you attentively. Every journey you undertake, every message you carry, shall be immediately laid before the public. The event of your ingenious management will be this ; that Lord North, finding you cannot serve him, will give you nothing. From the other party, you have just as much detestation to expect as can be united with the profoundest contempt. Tom Whately, take care of yourself.”—Junius, vol. iii. p. 310. The whole of this passage is eminently characteristic of Lord Temple’s knowledge of Whately. He knew that Whately had often been employed as a sort of courier to Mr. Grenville. Pending some of the important political negotiations, it will be seen from his corre- 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 279 EARL TEMPLE TO MR. WILKES. (April 28, 1708.) Sir,—I little thought that I should ever pay a visit to the King’s Bench Prison; but the same opinions which carried me to see you in the Tower now incite me to take an opportunity (before I leave town for the summer, which I purpose doing forthwith) of returning my thanks to you in person for your sober and discreet conduct of yesterday, manifested in a dutiful submission to the law, though carried on against you with the most unnecessary rigour, by refusing bail \ spondence in these volumes, that Whately held himself in readiness to leave London for Stowe or Wotton at a moment’s warning: he offered his services to Lord Temple for that purpose a. If a journey was to be undertaken ; if a message of importance was to be conveyed, or the details of a negotiation to be explained, either personally or by letter, to some influential member of the party, Whately’s talents as an attorney were called into requisition; he was the ambassador employed. His numerous well-written letters in this collection sufficiently display the ingenious management of which he was capable. I am not aware that any portrait of Whately is extant, or that, anything is now known of his personal appearance or activity, or whether it had any resemblance to the agility of Colonel Bodensb, to which Junius ironically ref- i Poor “ Tom Whately ” did not long survive Mr. Grenville. He obtained the post of Luder Secretary of State to Lord Suffolk, and an appointment about the King’s person as Conductor of Royal Progresses, &c., and died in June, 1772. 1 Mr. Adolphus says, “ A writ of capias utlagatum was issued, and as no precedent could be found of a person in his circumstances being delivered to bail, he was ordered into custody.”—History of England, vol. i. p. 340. a See ante, vol. iii. p. 262. b This Colonel Bodens had probably been well known in the neighbourhood of St. James’s and the fashionable clubs for his unwieldy size, and consequent want of activity. He died in 1762, and his death is recorded :is follows in the obituary of the b'entli man's Magazine for December of that year:—“Colonel Bodens; in St. James’s Place: a remarkably large man.’’ 280 GRENVILLE PAPERS. April, I applaud your wise and humane discouragement of all tumult and disorder, in which I doubt not but you will persevere. Though I have not seen you for many years, yet J shall bring with me the same heart warm for the support of the just rights and dignity of the Crown, and for the defence of the constitutional privileges of Englishmen, violated in so many instances in your person What will be the most convenient and quiet time for you to receive me. I do nothing in the dark, and am in the face of day, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, Temple. THE COUNTESS OF CHATHAM TO EARL TEMPLE. April 28, (1768.) You are not right in your guess, but that is of no consequence, since my purpose is equally answered, which was, that should any arising circumstances bring the matter to your mind you might be secure with regard to it. Your answer, dated at nighty did not reach its direction ’till about noon the day after, and was brought late to me by the accidental return of a servant. I mention it only, because if it was your intention that it should have been carried earlier, the person intrusted did not execute your orders punctually, and possibly it was retarded for inspection somewhere or other. I thank you sincerely for the feelings you express for me, and the best return I can make you is to wish your 1 “ The Rockinghams,” says Charles Lloyd to Mr. Grenville, “ affect to take up Wilkes, and to complain of the continuance of his persecution. The Burkes went to see him yesterday in the King’s Bench.” 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 281 feelings for me may never bear any proportion to my sad affliction, and that you may think as little as possible how it has been caused EARL TEMPLE TO THE COUNTESS OF CHATHAM. (April 28, 1768.) I think I am not out in my guess, though perhaps I might not be intelligible to yourself. There is a material difference betwixt words spoken 1 There is nothing, either in the Grenville Papers, or in the printed volumes of the Chatham Correspondence, which throws any light on the subject of these secret letters between Lord Temple and Lady Chatham. They show that Lord Temple was upon very affectionate terms with his sister, for at least six months before his reconciliation with Lord Chatham ; indeed it is not probable that there was ever any cessation of kind feelings between them. One of these letters furnishes a very curious illustration of the manner in which Junius carried on his correspondence with Woodfall. It appears that the confidential person to whom the letter was entrusted did not deliver it himself; he gave it to a porter to deliver, but he (“ the safest hand ”) saw the porter deliver it safely, because he watched him. This, therefore, was probably the mode in which the “ conveyancing part of the correspondence ” was managed by Junius, and it may be inferred that “ the safest hand I could place it in," and “ the person whom the waiter twice attempted to see," a was one person only, and that person Junius, that is, Lord Temple himself. The letters or parcels from Woodfall were usually sent for at night, or in the evening, and the method might be to employ a common porter or chairman whom he might accidentally meet, and wait for, or watch him while he executed his commission. Many of the letters from Junius to Woodfall were sent by the penny post, but Junius could not receive his communications from Woodfall through the same medium b. 1 Junius, Private note to Woodfall, No. 58. b I do not attach the slightest importance to the story of a tall gentleman who was alleged to have thrown a letter into Woodfall's office door, hot it may be as well to mention that a portrait of Lord Temple formerly preserved at Stowe, represents him with a bag. wig, and sword, and in a light brown coat, similar to that described bv Mr. Jackson.—See Woodfall’s Jnnius, i. 43. 282 GRENVILLE PAPERS. May, by a person, and committed to writing by him. Be that as it may, I shall be happy, whenever the proper time comes \ of speaking to you with that real affection and esteem which I bear to you, enhanced, if possible, by this kind attention. Had you been of a certain journey, perhaps things had turned out better. The latter part of your letter is grievous to me. Though my note was dated at night, yet it was not sent till after breakfast. It was disposed of to the safest hand I could place it in, who gave it to a porter, and saw it delivered in at your house. What will these strange times produce! This will be sent the same way, and probably about the same time. THE COUNTESS OF CHATHAM TO EARL TEMPLE. Sunday evening, (May 1, 1768.) Most happy in being mistaken, my dear brother, I have only to thank you for the kind dispatch with which you have removed the idea that pained me. I will not be sorry for what has occasioned my receiving that which affords so much comfort to my mind, as the assurance of your kind affection and tenderness, where I thought myself wounded. A wrong construction of an expression, now not worth 1 “ Act honourably by me, and at a proper time you shall know me.” -—Junius, private note to Woodfall. “ At a proper time, he will solicit the honour of being known to you.” —Junius, private note to Mr. Grenville. “ It is not, Sir, either necessary or proper to make myself known to you at present.'’—Ibid. “ The proper time for our meeting again is certainly not the present." —Lord Temple to Lady Chatham, May 8, 1768. 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 283 the naming, urged the writing the lines you received. Whether I misheard, or whether the word bore a different sense, is now perfectly equal, since nothing can hurt that is not intended. I would ask your pardon for what has passed, if it did not mark a jealousy of your love and of my own dignity, which I trust you will not be displeased to have found in your sister. I will not delay long coming to town, and in the meantime am a petitioner that you will not remember anything of what occasions you this present trouble. I write in infinite haste, that I may have no questions asked, having happily received your letter whilst I was at dinner below stairs, for on no account would I have my Lord conceive the smallest idea of what has so much touched me, and which entirely ceases to be felt by your most affectionate sister, Hester Chatham. THE EARL OF SUFFOLK TO MR. GRENVILLE. Duke Street, Westminster, May 2, 1768. My dear Sir,—As I do not depend on your accepting Lord Ilvde’s invitation to the Grove, where I am going to-morrow, and Whately having undertaken to provide a safe conveyance for a letter to you, I am induced to express in this manner my satisfaction at your intentions of attending the opening of Parliament in support of Government, properly understood, against the open attacks of some, and the folly and incapacity of others. The conversation I had last ni^ht with Lord Mans-field will tend to confirm you in them. After his company was gone, he expressed to me much curiosity to 284 GRENVILLE PAPERS. May> know whether you would be in town. Professedly taking for granted that you would, and alluding to intimations he had received from you some time ago of your inclination to attend business if there was any, which he said must unavoidably happen, as a member of Parliament could not be in confinement without a communication of it from the Crown to the House. He was full of the propriety of your attendance, and repeated several times over, that “ there was an opportunity for Mr. Grenville to appear in a very great light.” He launched out much on the folly of Administration, professed having nothing to do with them, and treated the private indiscretions and indecencies of the Duke of Grafton as they deserve. He showed anxiety that you might not be under any restraints on account of Lord Temple, who, he was fully persuaded, ’till I convinced him of the contrary, had seen Mr. Wilkes ’, and apprehensive that he had too strong leanings towards him, which he earnestly hoped would have no effects upon your conduct. He said he spoke from regard to the public, to you, and to myself. My answer was in the general. I told him that if there was business I made no doubt but you would attend it; that I believed Mr. Wilkes was one of those subjects which you and Lord Temple most seldom conversed upon ; that I was confident the latter had never seen him, and that his Lordship knew how unlikely you was to deviate from your opinion and principles upon any occasion whatever. He added, that he was assured there would be a contest for the Speaker, in favour of Mr. Dowdeswell, which (if there was one) he did not think worth a wise man’s interference. 1 See Lord Temple’s Letter to Wilkes, ante page 279. 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 285 I could collect from him that the errors assigned in Wilkes’ outlawry were likely to be admitted; but he scouted the complaint of the informations being filed by the Solicitor instead of the Attorney General. This is pretty accurately the substance of what passed worth your immediate notice ; and I was extremely happy to find it so consonant to your plan, which I kept to my self. It has struck me that a motion of Address to the King, for some mark of favour to the Lord Mayor for his vigilance and conduct in the late disturbances, would not come improperly from us at the opening of the Sessions ’. It is the only respect in our power to show him, and he deserves the utmost. I am not fond of making propositions, especially at this moment; but whether one of the nature I hint at would not tend to show our abhorrence' of the late disorders, and our inclinations to support Government, by rewarding the only man who has maintained its authority, not to speak of the reproach which such a motion would throw upon those who, in desertion of their duty, have neglected to maintain it, is submitted to your consideration and opinion. I don’t mean to make it the object of a division and trial of strength. Let the Ministrv negative it, if they please ; the disgrace would not fall on Lord Mayor, but themselves. What think you. Yours sincerely, • Suffolk. 1 Lord Suffolk did make a motion to that effect, and it was met by the Duke of Grafton saying, that the King intended to confer some distinction on Harley, the Lord Mayor, and that the subject was under consideration. The same motion was made in the House of Commons and carried unanimously. Harley was soon afterwards made a Privy Councillor, and it was said that the City of London had not had a Chief Magistrate in the Privy Council since the time of Sir William Walworth. 286 GRENVILLE PAPERS. May, MP. WHATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. May 3, 1768. Dear Sir,—The enclosed from Lord Suffolk contains the intelligence, for which this conveyance is chosen. He has, I dare say, given you very fully the particulars of his conversation with Lord Mansfield. We had agreed at noon that I should purposely avoid paying my visit in Bloomsbury Square yesterday, that Lord Mansfield might not perceive any reserve, which he would have taken much notice of, when he had known that I was just returned from Wotton, and yet we both agreed that it was proper to keep your dispositions an absolute secret from him, lest he should communicate them to the Bedfords at least, and perhaps still higher, meaning to do you service: we wished that you should be quite at liberty to take what conduct you please, free from all declarations, and even expectations, and should your sentiments be misrepresented, as probably they will be, and as I have reason to believe they are already, the falsehood must be detected in a fortnight; the part you take in Parliament must be known, and perhaps this misrepresentation in such a personal affair to the King, may at once suggest that there have been misrepresentations in others. I shall therefore leave every thing absolutely doubtful. Lord Suffolk, Lord George Sackville, and Wedderburn are sensible to the hiohest decree of the necessity for secrecy. They are all delighted at the accounts 1 have given them separately of your sentiments, think the ground on which you stand excellent, and see the situation just in the light you wish it should appear to them. The opinions, the confidence, the apprehensions of Lord Mansfield, all concur to encou- 1708. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 287 rage that plan of conduct which you have adopted ; and he, perhaps, in the end will be more flattered by having it to say he knew you would act so, without being informed of your intentions, than he could be by any communication. I have, however, taken care not to represent you as having formed any determination upon any of the points likely to be made the foundation of the proceedings in Parliament; but only stated that you feel yourself called upon to attend, that you will disclaim all personal considerations in the part you take, and as a public man freely give your opinion on questions affecting the King and the kingdom, which, if they happen to fall upon subjects on which you have formerly held opinions, will certainly be consistent with those former opinions. I have gone no further to the three persons above mentioned, and I have not said a syllable to anybody else. The errors assigned upon record are, that there was no information, no proclamation, no judgment: no information because it was filed by the Solicitor-General; no judgment because it is in the third, instead of the first person. What are the exceptions fixed upon out of all which we have heard against the proclamations, I have not been able distinctly to learn ; I only knovv that there are three; so that upon the whole there are five errors asigned. Sir Fletcher Norton being now apprized of all, declares positively that there is no error ; Mr. Thurlow is to argue for the Crown; Mr. Mansfield for Wilkes; the leaders on each side reserving themselves for a second argument if it should be required by the Court. When Lord Suffolk wrote the enclosed, he did not, I believe, know for certain whether Lord Mansfield had had a 288 GRENVILLE PAPERS. May, second audience. I this morning hear authentically that he was in with the King on Friday, and on the mere report an abuse upon him has been built, for the unseasonableness of it, when a matter so personal to the King is before him as .Judge. I understand that the thought of proposing Mr. Dow-deswell to be Speaker is dropped. They say, but without any positive authority, that Wilkes’s affair will be brought before the House on Tuesday se’nnight. MR. WHATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. May 7, 1768. I have not time to-night to give you the detail of the arguments in the King’s Bench to-day on the writ of error; for the present 1 can only tell you that all the lawyers whom I have seen agree in thinking there is no error, that it stands over for further argument to the next term, and that this delay was received with great displeasure by the crowd in the Hall, which was considerable. I met Mr. Dyson to-day, and asked him when, by the usual forms, the King’s speech would be reported, and business begun ; he said he did not know what was intended, but he took it for granted that the precedent established in 17*51, and then settled with much consideration by Mr. Onslow, would be followed, unless a greater or less number of members to be sworn should make the difference of a day, and therefore said that by looking into that precedent I should be a better judge than by any information he could give me. I have accordingly looked into it, and 1 find that then the 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 289 House met on a Friday, and chose their Speaker; on the Saturday he was confirmed by the King, and upon his return from the House of Lords took the oaths; the other members did the same the rest of that day and the beginning of Monday, but having finished before four o’clock on Monday, the Speaker on that day reported the King’s speech, and business immediately began. If the same track is followed, business will begin this time on Thursday1. THE COUNTESS OF CHATHAM TO EARL TEMPLE. May 8, (1768.) I could not, from the want of a proper opportunity, convey to you before that your note had been delivered as you intended, or tell you how much I was touched with it, in spite of the many cruel circumstances which continually make me feel all the grievous wounds that have been given to every part of my happiness. Was I the single sufferer from the consequences, the seeing you again, with the sentiments you express for me, would be a balm that would cure my affliction; but as things at present are I must wait ’till some favourable incident or happy change may take off my difficulty, which I am persuaded you too well understand to disapprove. Accept of my real wishes for your health and happiness. 1 Parliament met on Tuesday the 10th instant, and was opened by commission; the King making no speech, as the Session was to be so short. Sir John Cust was re-electe d Speaker. The Parliament was adjourned on the 20th, met again on the 2nd of June, and was again adjourned VOL. IV. u 290 GRENVILLE PAPERS. May, EARL TEMPLE TO THE COUNTESS OF CHATHAM. May 8, 1768. From the contents of my notes in answer to yours, you cannot be a stranger to the sentiments I entertain of you, and I am glad I have had such an opportunity of expressing them ; they have been invariably the same towards you. The amiable part which you have taken 1 shall ever reflect upon with much affection. The proper time 1 for our meeting again is certainly not the present, for many many reasons. I have felt too well your situation, not to have done a violence to my own inclination towards you in many instances. I return you, with great kindness, every real wish for your health and happiness. My letter to you from Stowe was expressive of the same sentiments with regard to you as those I have lately marked, and now convey to you. It is extremely difficult for me to say neither too much nor too little upon the subject of your difficulty and affliction, &c. I therefore waive it entirely, and approve your conduct; with wishes for that recovery in which you are so deeply interested. MR WHATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. May 9, 1768. Dear Sir,—I promised in my letter of Saturday last to send you a detail of what passed in the King’s Bench that morning, and J will begin with that subject, while I wait for some additional intelligence to that which is See ante, page 282, note. 17G8 GRENVILLE PAPERS. 291 more immediately the cause of my choosing this conveyance. The business there was opened by a motion that Mr. Wilkes should personally attend. The motion was intended, but neglected to be made the day before, and now the Court said it was too late for that day; if it was desired, they were, however, willing to put off the business ’till Monday, when he might be present; but Sergeant Glynn chose rather to go on in his absence than defer the argument, and therefore stated five objections to the outlawry. That no process of outlawry lay on an information, because the original proceeding was a subpoena, and a capias could not follow upon the judgment when it could not be taken out on the mesne process: on which objection Sir Joseph Yates observed that in informations of quo warranto it was true, for the original process in them was by subpoena and distringas only, but in all criminal informations it was by subpoena, distringas, and capias, so that the objection was founded on a mistake in fact, and the counsel besides quoted many precedents of outlawries on informations. The next error assigned was, that the information was filed by the Solicitor General, without any averment that there was an Attorney General at the time; and supported by saying that if the Solicitor General might, so might the Prime Sergeant file informations. The answer was a multitude of precedents ; near seven hundred in the five years of Queen Anne, when there was no Attorney General, and above half of them without such an averment. Ehe next error was, that there were no proclamations set forth at the times and places required by the statute. Sir Joseph Yates said that before verdict u 2 292 GRENVILLE PAPERS. May, such an objection would be fatal, for then proclamations were required to prevent a surreptitious proceeding, but that a verdict could not be obtained unless the party had appeared, and was therefore a sufficient notice. In outlawries upon civil actions no proclamations were then necessary, and the statute directed those on criminal proceedings to be the same. The fourth error was, that the County Court was not said to be for the county of Middlesex, which was an ambiguity, proved by many cases to be fatal. The answer was, that in every other county it would be so ; but in Middlesex only, two persons made one sheriff, and this being signed by two, and yet all spoke in the singular number, ascertained it without a doubt to be Middlesex. The fifth error was, that it was not held within the county, for though Holborn might be, Brook Street might not be within it. The Court asked whether Brook Street near Holborn might not be one name, as George Street, Hanover Square, to distinguish it from the other Brook Street. Upon the whole, the lawyers whom I have seen think the errors not maintainable, and that the Court, by what dropped from Sir Joseph Yates and Sir Richard Aston, were inclined to be of that opinion. Lord Mansfield did not say a word which could lead to his, but with the other judges desired a second argument. Wilkes’s counsel declined it, declaring they had nothing further to urge, and even intimating they they would not argue it again, but the Court insisted upon it; and as two arguments on the same case are never allowed in the same term, this stands over to the next. 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. -93 The delay has given great offence ; the people seem more exasperated than at anything which has happened, and, in general, the judges are blamed. Some of the sailors went on Saturday to Richmond, where two of them were admitted to the King, and presented their petition. The King’s answer, as I have heard it, was, that he could not relieve them; that, however, he was ready to do what he could; and that the Parliament was to meet in a few days. Wedderburn met Rigby on Saturday morning, and asked him whether there would be any business, in order to inform you. Rigby’s answer was, that he should be sorry to mislead you, and therefore desired he might be quoted to you for what he said, that you might form your own judgment. He said he believed there would be no proposition made by the Court; at that minute he knew they had come to no resolution ; that Camden, Grafton, Shelburne (who, by the-bye, is very much out of humour), and Conway, on account of their former conduct, were inclined to avoid it, and had rather it should be brought in by chance than by them; that Lord North could not in such circumstances take the lead, and that the Administration was distracted among themselves, and incapable of acting; that, however, nobody knew what might happen, and possibly the business would force itself in; that all that has been said of the King’s displeasure against the Duke of Grafton is true; that, however, from a conversation he has had with his Grace, he does not believe the Duke intends to resign, or wishes to be dismissed; though, says he, I differ from many of my friends in that opinion, and I must own that his conduct is on every other ground unaccountable. 294 GRENVILLE PAPERS. Slay, On Saturday, at the Opera, he industriously sought an opportunity of saying the same to Lord Temple, telling him that he had mentioned all this to Wedder-burn, that he might repeat it to me for your information ; adding a violent invective against the Court, and saying repeatedly, that though there was every reason to suppose a change, he saw yet no step tending that way. Last night I was alone some time with Lord Mansfield ; he was not very open, but he spoke hostilely against the Ministers: said, never was any conduct so bad; that they were disunited and irresolute; that though they might not wish to bring the business on, he did not see how they could avoid sending a message on Wilkes’s commitment, and nobody could answer for what might arise: he therefore thought you should attend ; your dignity required it; there was reason enough to expect business, and there could be no harm in it. Lord Temple says that he sees no objection to your coming up, but that it exposes you to conversations, which may lead to a discovery of your opinions; you may, however, avoid the' discussion, and, let the Court mean what they may, the questions on Wilkes, his mob, the sailors’ mob, and the news from America, which is worse and worse, will probably occasion business, from which you would be very sorry to be absent. MR. WHATELY To MR. GRENVILLE. May 21, 1768. Dear Sir,—It is the opportunity which Lord Temple’s visit at Wotton to-morrow gives me, and not the importance of any news I can send you, which occasions 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 295 you this trouble. He will tell you how very little is stirring', but if we have no anecdotes to boast of, the Rockinghams have as few to whisper. ’Till now they say they have always had some little line held out, some appearance of something, but now all is absolutely shut up, and from that closeness towards them, they concluded that an opening was made towards you, not believing it possible that the Court could be without a shadow of a negotiation. We too, you know, have had our little lines from time to time, and as they are withdrawn from both parties all at once, and altogether, the doing so appears evidently to be a measure: 1 might even call it a change of measures ; the effect of which is certainly to keep things entire for the present, but with what view I do not guess; not, I believe, for Lord Holland’s advice; I am convinced he has not been sent for, as he proposed when he set out to return at this time, and is not come a day sooner than he intended k He has besides, sent from France to inquire whether the Parliament is sitting, being determined to stay in Kent ’till it rises. I told Lord Temple this morning, that I understood the disgust of the Duke of Grafton was returned upon him, and that he wished, if he decently could, to retire. I since hear, that if he should show an inclination to go, he will hardly be pressed again to stay. I the rather believe he is so disposed, because the more I see into his situation, the more eligible does 1 Lord Holland, writing to George Selwyn from Nice, in the January of this year, says, “ I cannot help sometimes asking myself, dear Selwyn, why 1 am in such disgrace with the King? Have I deserved it? I am now the only mark left of irrevocable displeasure, and I vow to God, T cannot guess why, any more than I do why Ellis has refused the oiler I hear the King most graciously made him very lately to be Joint Paymaster.'—Selwyn Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 247. 206 GRENVILLE PAPERS. May, a change of it appear. He is now literally unsupported, for even the Chancellor no longer considers his Grace and Lord Chatham as one, and makes his option for Lord Chatham1. The Bedfords, I take it for granted, have been disappointed in their attempts to gain him, and it is expected every day that Lord Shelburne will be out. Thus alone, a bolder man might be alarmed at the circumstances which a Minister is now in. The Corsican affairs add to the general distress. A Cabinet was held upon that subject on Thursday night, to which I know the Ministers went with great anxiety and doubt upon their minds; the result of their deliberations I know not, but I take it for granted that as usual no determination was agreed to, and in the meanwhile the French are sending twelve battalions in addition to those troops already there. They propose to make up in all a body of 12,000 men. The Genoese approve of their going ; Paoli had agreed to it on certain conditions, but those conditions have not been granted, so that it is still uncertain whether he will oppose or submit to them. The Irish Bill for securing the independence of their judges by making them irremoveable quamdiu se bene gesserint, was drawn exactly upon the plan of our Act, with the clause of an Address from both Houses of their Parliament. The Council here sent it back with an alteration, requiring that such address should be certified by the Privy Council there, and pass under the Seal of Ireland, in the same manner as their Bills do; and also made the judges liable to be removed on an Address of the British Parliament. The Irish House of Commons, upon this amendment, have rejected the 1 This is what Junius calls Lord Camden’s “ fast and loose game.” 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 297 Bill, not choosing that their Privy Council should interfere with their Address, or that an Address of the Parliament of Great Britain should have the same weight as an Address of the Irish Parliament. MR. KNOX TO MR. GRENVILLE. London, May 24, 1768. Dear Sir,—Two days since I had a conversation with Lord Hillsborough, which his Lordship seemed willing I should communicate, and as I imagine you will be pleased to hear something is doing, I take the liberty of setting down the substance of what he told me. The resolutions of the Assembly at Massachusetts, his Lordship said, had been proposed at the beginning of the Session, and then rejected by a great majority, which was the foundation for saying the American subjects were returning to their duty ; but when many of the county members were gone home, the same resolutions were a^ain moved and agreed to. So soon as this transaction came to Lord Hillsborough’s knowledge, his Lordship writ to Governor Bernard to call the Assemblies together, and require them in the King’s name to rescind the resolutions of the last Session \ and, if they refuse so to do, then to dissolve them instantly, and when their Charter requires a new Assembly to be 1 " The continuance of one of their principal Assemblies rested upon an arbitrary condition—that they should retract one of their resolutions and erase the entry of it—which, considering the temper they were in, it was impossible they should comply with, and which would have availed them nothing as to the general question, if it had been complied with.”—Junius, vol. i p. 396. 298 GRENVILLE PAPERS. May, called, he is to make the same demand, and, upon refusal, dissolve them likewise, and in no case to suffer an Assembly to sit or do business until they shall comply with this demand. His Lordship has also written to the Governors of the other colonies, acquainting them that a certain seditious letter is said to have been written by the Assembly of Massachusetts to the several Assemblies on the Continent, which letter the King hopes and expects their respective Assemblies will treat with great contempt and indignation, and if they do so His Majesty thanks them. But should the Governors perceive an inclination in their Assemblies to adopt the measures of the Massachusetts Bay Assembly, they are to dissolve those Assemblies, and, by repeated dissolutions, frustrate such combinations. 1 he civil expense in the several colonies which by this proceeding may be left unprovided for, is to be defrayed out of the American revenue, and the Governors are directed to draw on the treasury for it. I think this measure will bring matters to a crisis very speedily, and if the colonies see this country is in earnest, they will presently make their option, and take the part of peaceable subjects in future. It is said today the Duke of Grafton gives up, and Lord Gower succeeds him at the Treasury. The occasion is variously spoken of. Lord Barrington’s moving the Militia Bill contrary to his Grace’s injunctions, and a disagreement with Lord North, are assigned as causes; but it is not impossible that a much more insignificant circumstance than either may have led him to take that resolution, if he has taken it. Lord Hertford sent to the Duchess of Grafton to walk as chief mourner at the 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 299 Princess’s 1 funeral without first acquainting the Duke. Miss N. P.2, it is said, thought the honour too great for a discarded wife, and insisted the Duke should interpose and prevent it. An altercation between Lord Hertford and the Duke followed, and who can tell but N. P. insists upon the Duke’s obtaining Lord H.’s dismission in revenge, or the Duke’s resigning in disgust. Such is the chat of the town, and for your amusement I send it to you. I have the honour to be, &c. William Knox. MR. WHATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. [Nonsuch,] June 4, 1768. Dear Sir,—I came yesterday into the country for the summer, am I though I shall very frequently go to town, yet 1 shall not from henceforward see so closely or so immediately as I have hitherto seen into what passes there. I shall therefore endeavour to give you an exact state of affairs as I left them, and though I have few anec-dotes to communicate, I may have some things to say which I would not tell the postmaster, and for that reason have chosen this manner of conveyance. Lhe necessity of a change and of a change in your favour, is perhaps more generally than ever the public opinion, and that opinion is not founded on any obser- 1 The Princess Louisa, one of the King’s sisters : she died on the 13th instant. Whately, writing to Mr. Grenville, says,—“The Duke resented it as an affront to him, and forbid it. 1 have heard that his expression was, ‘ If this be the Kind's doing, I will never again step into St. James's; if it be Lord Hertford's, either he or I must never go there.' T look upon it as certain that he did interpose, in consequence of which the Duchess of Manchester was appointed Chief Mourner.” 2 Miss Nancy Parsons; see ante, page 275. 300 GRENVILLE PAPERS June, vations of the disposition of the Court towards you, for there is not the least appearance of such a disposition. The national distress is the only ground for the expectation. Admiral Keppel told me two days ago that his party have not the least opening, and that Lord Rockingham goes out of town next Monday for the summer; but the difference is, that nobody except his own friends wishes his Lordship may be sent to, and they do not expect it. I believe there has never yet been a time of so much reserve ; one or other or both of the parties in opposition have always had some token held out to them; neither of them is flattered now; from whence it is evident to me that the reserve is a measure, and different from the conduct which has been hitherto observed during the continuance of this Administration : so long as that other conduct was pursued, they have been supported; perhaps the change may predict their downfall; but such a speculation is too refined to rely on, though it probably may prove true. About ten days ago Lord Chesterfield (who has been always remarkable for his intelligence) said to Irwin, “I think I smell a change, I rather mean two changes ; the first inconsiderable, introductory to a greater: during the interval I fancy Lord Barrington will be Secretary of State, but whatever is done, Mr. Grenville must be Minister before the meeting cf Parliament.” Irwin thought by his manner that he spoke from some information which he did not explain; but it is certain that part of what his Lordship smelt ten days ago, was become a general report just before I left London, where it was confidently said that Lord Shelburne was immediately to go out, and to be succeeded by Lord Barrington. 17G8. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 301 If I had not so often believed that Lord Shelburne was going out, I should be sure of it now; but as it is, I will wait till I see, and if it does not happen within a very few days, I shall think I am again deceived as before. The report of Lord Gower’s going to the Treasury has in a great measure died away : among some few, however, it is still current; and they add that Mr. Yorke will be Chancellor, and Sir George Macartney Secretary at War. The last seems to me too bold a step for his friends to take at present; as to the other, I found it news to Mr. John Yorke, four-and-twenty hours after I had heard it, and I can hardly believe that to have been, instead of being Chancellor, will so entirely satisfy Mr. Yorke’s ambition, as to make him leave all bis connections and his attentions, and his coalitions, to engage in a precarious situation. That Lord Gower may have an offer of the Treasury seems to me not unlikely. It will not appear to amount to a change of Administration, and of the people now in, the Bedfords are certainly forward candidates for favour. They are outwardly well with Lord Bute’s friends; the Hertfords have certainly little to say; the Duke of Grafton, though we may not know to what degree, vet to a certain degree, has undoubtedly given disgust bv his late behaviour. The dismission of Lord Shelburne is at least no compliment to Lord Chatham, and the Chancellor is uneasy. The Bedfords then are the only set who have not something against them, and Lord Weymouth has given great satisfaction by his conduct during the late riots ; but should the Administration be offered to them, the question still remains whether they should choose to accept; for my part I believe they may be withheld by the fear of losing their back game, 302 GRENVILLE PAPERS. June, though not hy other considerations. They must be sensible that every Administration is precarious; they know that in the most quiet times they were unpopular, and now the people are in a ferment; they could not but see the ill-humour of the House ; everybody who attended observed it, and the idea of dissatisfaction carried into the country during the summer, will increase that dissatisfaction ; the public difficulties are great; the Bedfords really hate, and are hated by, those with whom they are now connected, and, even with the assistance of all that connection, are weaker in debate in the House of Commons than any other party. These considerations would not restrain mere ambition, but they have a still stronger passion for good places, and to secure lucrative situations, at all events, is the great principle of their politics ; no other can reconcile their accepting as they did, and still keeping their attentions towards you. I do not doubt that if they were to take the Administration now, they would again pay you the compliment of a communication, and flatter themselves with meeting with the same moderation. I do not wish for any intemperance, but a clear explanation that you are, and they have set you entirely at liberty; and that you will not be restrained by the consideration that you are opposing them, seems to me so inevitable, not only with a view to deter them from engaging, after they have left you out, to keep you out, but also for your own situation; that if the subject were started to me, I should make no scruple of expressing these as my sentiments: I have found your friends in town entirely agreeing with me; and I write them to you to know whether such a language would be agreeable to your ideas; I mean to hold it very temperately ; for some think, and not without reason, that if the 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 303 Bedfords were to accept now, they would endeavour only to secure the good things to themselves during the summer, and would wish to throw the whole afterwards into your hands, from a consciousness of their weakness in the House of Commons. I would not desire a breach before the meeting of Parliament makes it necessary to take a part, but I should not, on the other hand, encourage them to suppose that they have an advantage over other Administrations in your pacific dispositions towards them, which they must imagine now; for if they had not expected that your attentions towards them would have screened the Ministry from your censure, they would have disavowed Mr. Wood’s attack upon you. Should they accept, they will, I think, bid high for Sir Fletcher Norton and Wedderburn: Wedderburn is not to be gained, if he does not suppose that taking part with them will be entirely agreeable to you: if they fail there, I am told they will push Thurlow against him at the Bar, and they may give Thurlow a place, but they cannot give him established business. The present Solicitor General1 seems even now in a doubtful situation ; his principal connection I suppose to be Lord Shelburne, and the part he has taken in Wilkes’ affair cannot recommend him. The ideas of the King’s friends (as they are called) upon that subject seem to be the same as they were. Lord Holland (who, I take it for granted, sounds them before he speaks himself) is very inveterate against Wilkes: Gerard Hamilton has had a long conversation with him, in which his Lordship affected to know nothing, but was perfectly informed of everything. Hamilton thinks that some attempts towards a recon- 1 Dunning, afterwards Lord Ashburton. 304 GRENVILLE PAPERS. J unc, ciliation are making between him and the Bedfords, through Lord Ossory. I take this to be only a surmise, nor do I apprehend that Lord Holland is now a very great card. It. appears clear to me that he was not sent for: I do not say he will not be consulted, but I see no reason to suppose he will be, and though his health is much mended, there are many difficulties attending his interposition. In my conversation the other day with Admiral Keppel he spoke with eagerness of their party being quite clear of Lord Bute, and took merit on that score, whatever might be the consequences of keeping them at a distance from Court. I bid him recollect that this time twelvemonth the Bedfords were to the full as hostile to his Lordship; he answered, much more so, for when Lord Rockingham declared he was unwilling to carry in to the King a total proscription of that party, and proposed to save some of them, not exceeding three, Keppel told me, of which Mackenzie was one, and the other two were in insignificant offices, the Bedfords objected to it, as granting too much. This anecdote confirms the suspicion you always had of their not telling you how far they had settled the arrangement, in which they must have made a considerable progress before they came to such a discussion. I sat next to Jenkinson yesterday in the House, and upon my asking him whether he was going far into the country, he told me he could not, for the First Lord being seldom present at the Board, the attendance of the others was the more necessary. The business is almost entirely in Lord North’s hands, who even carries the warrants to the King, the Duke of Grafton trusting in him much more than he did in Charles Townshend. 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 305 This shows that his Grace’s neglect is very general, and that small matters are as much below his attention, as the greater are above his abilities. To the account I have given you of the state of the Court, and of the Treasury, I will add that of the Army, and then you will have a tolerable view of the whole ; and upon this last, General Harvey 1 said to me, that if it were not for the reviews the army would go to ruin, for want of a proper authority, which the King would not. Lord Granby would not, and he in his subordinate situation could not exercise ; that he had represented to the King, that if His Majesty received equally well the deserving and undeserving officers, it would be impossible to preserve a distinction between them; but that his representations had not all the effect he could wish ; and the emulation of the reviews alone, now kept up attention to discipline. It was indiscreet of Harvey to say so much to me, and I would not therefore repeat it except to yourself; but the observation is obvious, that civilities and even kindness which is attributed to design, is often the effect only of too great easiness of temper: it is not worth the while to flatter a Lieutenant-Colonel or Major at the expense of the service ; but bystanders are apt to ascribe all actions that are similar, to the same principle ; whereas different motives often produce the same effects ; and that knowledge of a character is very imperfect, which does not comprehend all its principles. To the state I have given of the interior as far as I have been able to learn it, I will only add, concerning outward circumstances, that the river is again in possession of the sailors, who prevent ships from sailing if the masters do not agree for an advance of wages. I lie 1 Adjutant General. VOL. iv. X 306 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, merchants abide by their refusal not to interfere in it, and that affair is far from being in a way to be settled. The neglect of Corsica begins to make a great noise, the importance of that island being now much insisted on, and our supineness, it is said, makes us contemptible all over Europe. The King of Sardinia and the Great Duke of Tuscany, it is pretended, are alarmed, and probably they may be, but I have not heard authentically of any representations made by them. My conclusion from all I have seen is, that no change is immediately in view, but that the ill health of the Duke of Grafton, the divisions of the Ministry, the brouillerie of parties, and the public distress, will make it necessary before the end of the summer. COMMODORE HOOD TO MR. GRENVILLE. Halifax, July 11, 1708. Sir,—What has been so often foretold is now come to pass. 1'1 ie good people of Boston seem ready and ripe for open revolt, and nothing, it is imagined, can prevent it but immediate armed force. I do myself the honour to give you, Sir, a little detail bow matters have gone, and how far the force entrusted to my care has been employed in the support of the Commissioners of the Revenue, on the applications they have made to me. On the 24th of March I received a letter from the Commissioners, setting forth, that from the conduct and temper of the people, and adverse aspect of things in general, the security of the revenue, the safety of its officers, and the honour of Government, required immediate aid, and hoping I should find it consistent with the King’s other services, to afford them such assistance. 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 307 I ordered the Romney of 50 guns to be fitted with all possible dispatch, and as soon as the season would give leave she sailed for Boston, accompanied by two armed schooners. The commanders were strictly directed to be aiding and assisting to the Commissioners to the utmost of their power, in the due and legal execution of the laws of trade and navigation, according to the true intent and meaning of the said laws, and the several Acts of Parliament made in that behalf. On the appearance of the Romney before the town, the riot and disorder seemed to subside, but on a vessel’s being seized for illicit trade, belonging to a Mr. Hancock (by far the richest man in the province, and the known abettor of tumultuous proceedings), by the Comptroller (who went for England about a fortnight past), a numerous and violent mob assembled, and the Collector and Comptroller, with other officers, were beaten and wounded, the Collector’s boat burnt, and other acts of a most outrageous nature committed. The lives of the Commissioners were threatened, and they were happy 'n taking shelter by stratagem on board the Romney, where they tarried some days, and then landed at Castle William. They then wrote to me for more aid, and I immediately sent two more ships, which has secured the castle from all attempts of surprising it. On the 21st past, Governor Bernard, by command of Il is Majesty, acquainted the Assembly that it was required to rescind the resolves of last year. 'Phis has been refused, with the most scurrilous abuse of all His Majesty’s servants in England as well as those in America, and even the person and office of the King was not spared by some of the demagogues. The Governor gave the Assembly a longer time to 30b GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, reconsider the matter, which still refused, and it was dissolved on the 2nd instant, as you will see by his Excellency’s proclamation in the newspaper I now send, which contains the several messages between the Governor and Assembly previous to the dissolution. On the 5th instant, orders were received here to prepare temporary coverings for the six companies of the 59th regiment, on the islands of Cape Breton and St. John, and the four of the 29th at the other outposts of this province. Upon information of these orders from Colonel Dalrymple, I ordered the equipment of the Launceston to be hastened as much as possible, and she is now ready for service; and as I had a letter yesterday from General Gage, requesting my assistance for transporting troops, and Colonel Dalrymple having orders to repair to Boston with those now here, if a requisition should be made by Governor Bernard before a junction of the whole can be effected, I hold the Launceston in constant readiness to take troops on board. I have sent an officer with my letters to the Admiralty, and I could not let him depart without being the bearer of a letter to you. I have the honour to be, &c., &c. Sam. Hood. MR. WHATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. July 12, 1768. Dear Sir,—I feel myself so much more at liberty in writing by this conveyance, that I hope you will excuse the trouble I give you of sending for my packet to Aylesbury. I will in return endeavour to send you a state of affairs as they stand at present, which seems to me 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS 309 different from that in which they stood when I left London, or as they then appeared to be; the best authorities agree that Lord Shelburne will carry his point in the nomination to Turin ; and as the idea of Mr. Lynch was avowedly adopted on purpose to thwart him, his prevailing against them shows they mistook the quarter to which the favour inclines. The King, it is said, declares that he will not interfere, but leave his Ministers to decide it among themselves ; if such a declaration has been made, the consequence must be, that the Ministers to whose department the nomination belongs must nominate, and what part the Duke of Grafton takes is by no means clear. I believe that he wrote to Lord Shelburne the letter directing him to make out the appointment for Mr. Lvnch, and that the order was conveyed in a very high tone, telling him, that he, the Duke, had spoke of the affair to the King, and recommended Mr. Lynch; that His Majesty had approved of the recommendation, and, therefore, his Lordship would be pleased to make out the appointment. So far his Grace was committed; and Lord Shelburne’s answer, that the King had never mentioned the affair to him, but that when he did he should recommend Lord Tankerville instead of Mr. Lynch, was as clearly directed to the Duke only: but these letters passed long ago. I have heard it surmised, that the Duke now wishes well to Lord Tankerville, because of the relation between them, and that he is by no means inclined to support pretensions made by the Bedfords. He has, I believe, declared that they have enough; that thev shall go no further; that as long as he holds the office he will retain the power of a Minister, but that he is sick 310 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, of the whole, and wishes he was clear of it. That Lord Shelburne and he are hardly upon speaking terms, is true; but that there is no cordiality between him and the Bedfords, seems almost as clear; and even if he be in earnest with them in this point, the conclusion is only that he is involved in the disgrace: not that I suppose any favour intended to Lord Shelburne; it is certain that he is, personally, ill in the Closet; but if he should prevail, I shall think it clear that an attention is kept up towards his connections, and that against them neither of the Dukes nor their friends stand in competition. As to Lord Chatham himself, I have been told a strange story concerning him, too long to repeat, and too extravagant to deserve a particular repetition; but as my authority for it would be good, if the tale were not so extraordinary, I will just give you the outline of it. The Duke of Grafton, I am told, ordered Mr. Taylor the architect to go down to Hayes, and estimate the alterations Lord Chatham wished to be made there. Mr. Taylor went, was shown all over the house by Lord Chatham himself, who pointed out the several alterations he proposed, of which Mr. Taylor took notes, and when he had thereon formed his estimates, waited on the Duke, who bid him return to Hayes to receive his Lordship’s directions, inquiring however, anxiously, how he had found him in health ; to which Mr. Taylor answered, that he thought him very well, very intelligent upon the subjects on which they conversed, and alert in going about with him; but on his return to Hayes he did not see his Lordship. Lady Chatham only appeared, and with great marks of displeasure asked him the reason of the representation he had given of Lord 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 311 Chatham’s health ; said that it was not a true one ; that his Lordship was indeed better on some days than on others, and that he had seen him on one of his best; but that he was upon the whole in a very different state of health from that which he had reported. You have the story as I had it. It came to me from one who is much about the Court, and who said he had taken pains to inform himself from Mr. Taylor’s friends, of the facts, from which he inferred that Lord Chatham was acting a part, but was ready, when he saw occasion, to take any other, and in the meanwhile was possessed of a great share of personal favour. Wedderburn has had a long conversation with Mr. Burke, whose language with respect to you, he observed, was very different from any he had ever heard from that quarter. Mr. Burke took notice that the language which he heard you held, was that of a very wise man; the particular topic to which he alluded was, that no Minister could be safe, or be active, who was not sure of the King, and of the persons with whom he was connected, which he had been told had been a principle you had much insisted on lately : he added, that you were certainly a most excellent party-man; that your behaviour to the Bedfords had proved you might be relied on; that you would not desert those who would abide by you, and were steady to all your purposes ; that it was pleasant to be connected with such a man, and the party would act with confidence who acted under him. Upon the whole, Wedderburn thought he saw a disposition in that party to follow your lead in the House of Commons; a difficulty was started, but soon waived, about America ; and in everything else there seemed more inclination than he has hitherto seen towards you. 312 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, 'This is no otherwise important than as it tallies with the intelligence you have had of Lord Rockingham’s having lowered his pretensions, and greatly corroborates that information. A gentleman who sees a variety of all sorts of connections, told me this morning, that the idea of the impossibility that this Administration should continue, and of the necessity of sending for you, gained ground every day, and the reports about it I find as current and as confident as ever; I hear, on the other hand, from the same authority, that a persuasion of the Bedfords meaning only themselves prevails ; but it cannot escape your observation, that when any man spreads the former of these reports he speaks his own opinion ; when the latter, he only believes his information: and as to the Bedfords, the speculation which I have heard is, that should they be foiled by Lord Shelburne, it will diminish their confidence, shorten their views, and make them recur to you. The Duke of Bedford you know is going to Ireland, and, as I hear, takes Lord Weymouth with him, it being his Lordship’s principal object to be hereafter Lord-Lieutenant of that Country. MR. POWNALL* TO MR. GRENVILLE. Westthrop, Marlow, July 14, 1768. Dear Sir,—The fourth edition of the Administration of the Colonies is in the press, and printed off to 1 Thomas Pownall, M.P. for Tregony, and Secretary to the Board of Trade. He had been successively Lieutenant-Governor of New Jersey, Governor of Massachusetts Bay, and Governor of South Carolina, and was afterwards appointed Director-General or Comptroller, with the rank of Colonel, in the army in Germany, from which he retired in 1763. He was a man of profound experience and leam- 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 313 the last sheet. I have continued the Dedication of it to you, by a new and particular Address, stating the views of men, and the certain consequences of things as matters are at present circumstanced ; also pointing out a measure, which I am from conviction persuaded ought to be taken up at least, not on the grounds of policy, but from necessity. As the tenor of this Address may carry with it suggestions that may or may not be proper, as it may or may not be found expedient to adopt the idea of this measure, as it may or may not be proper to avow it, if taken up, I have taken the liberty to send the draught of it to you before it goes to the press. For as I sincerely mean, to the utmost of my abilities, to aid those whom this country must look up to, if ever it again returns or is forced into a spirit and temper of doing business, so I am sure I would not, in the most distant point, say or do anything respecting yourself that might be occasion of embarrassment to you. If you conceive that any proper use may be made of bringing forward the proposal referred to, in Parliament, I shall be very glad to communicate with you upon it. I am very shy of obtruding myself or my views upon any one, especially on such who I conceive have sentiments of friendship towards me, and that is the true reason that I did not take a ride over on this errand myself; but if you wish to have a conversation on these American matters, either as to facts or opinions, I think I can not only point out how they might be taken up ing, both as a politician and an antiquary; he was the author of the Administration of the Colonies, and wrote many pamphlets, chiefly on subjects of antiquarian interest: a list of his works is given in the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. Ixxv. p. 288. He died in 1805 at the age of eighty-five. 314 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, as concerns the business itself, but particularly how, as they respect the situation in which you stand towards them, and towards the various clanships of factions which take a part in them. Whatever is settled as the measure to be taken up, ought to be agreed upon early, that the various grounds on which the various parties might be led to join in it, should be prepared and laid. There is now open to you, and to you only, with consistency, a noble track of politics. I am an enthusiast for your striking into it: it would do you honour, and establish you as a Minister of this country, and, what is more, it would lead to the establishing the peace and prosperity of this country. I have a thousand things to say that I neither can nor will write about. As to the part I shall myself take, both here and in America, I have, upon very serious and deliberate resolution, determined unalterably. In one other thing I am unalterable, my regard and attachment to you, and I have the honour to be, &c. T. Pownall. MR. WILLIAM GERARD HAMILTON TO EARL TEMPLE. July I t, (1768). My dear Lord,—It is now universally understood by those who have a right to know the transactions of the Administration, that the Duke of Grafton, in the course of last week, proposed in the Closet the dismission of Shelburne, but that he did not succeed in his request, notwithstanding the importunity with which he pressed it. The construction put upon this refusal is, that the Court are unwilling to do anything which may, 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 315 by any possibility, be unacceptable to Lord Chatham, ’till they have formed an Administration which may be capable of resisting him, in case he should be able to make his appearance again in public, and be offended at the measures which may have been taken during his illness. Sir Richard’s intelligence is, that Mr. Grenville is at present the only object of the Court, and that the wish is to bring him to the head of the Treasury, avoiding, if possible, any negotiation with your Lordship, and those who are more particularly your friends. The not knowing very well how to accomplish this plan, he thinks is the reason why no proposal has as yet been made to Mr. Grenville. Lord Mansfield had yesterday a very long interview with the King. The Administration triumph exceedingly upon the acquittal of the Justice of the Peace1, and upon his obtaining a copy of the indictment from the judges. I think I can perceive that they are not without hopes of reaching Wilkes himself, or at least some of his agents, for spiriting up the widow of the person killed, to carry on the prosecution, and for supporting her in the expense of it. The Duke of Bedford goes in the beginning of August to Ireland, to be installed as Chancellor of the University of Dublin ; but what appears extraordinary is, the report of Lord Weymouth’s going with him. Should this prove true, I shall conclude his Lordship means to succeed Lord Townshend, and that this is to make part of a more general arrangement. 1 Gillam, the Justice of Peace, who had ordered the soldiers to fire when the mob attempted to release Wilkes from the King's Bench prison. Upon this occasion, it will be remembered, an innocent man named Allen was shot by mistake. 316 GRENVILLE PAPERS. JulL A friend of mine had yesterday seen Lord Egmont, who informed him that the Duke of Grafton had lately expressed in the Closet his sense of the difficulties of his situation, his wish to resign it, and his concern at not being able to recommend a proper person to succeed him. Lord Granby’s opinion is, that there are at present not the smallest thoughts of a change in any department. These are the contradictory ideas which prevail amongst the few people who are still in town, and it is the whole I can send your Lordship for your entertainment in the country. Adieu, my dear Lord ; do me the justice to believe me upon all occasions, yours most faithfully and affectionately, W. G. H.1 MR. GRENVILLE TO MR. POWNALL. Wotton, July 17, 1768. Sir,—I am very sensible of the honour which you do to me, both in this and in the Address prefixed to the former edition of your Treatise upon the Administration of the Colonies, and am much obliged to you for the expressions of your regard and good opinion. You say very truly in the beginning of your present 1 In this single instance, the latest letter I have found from Mr. Hamilton, he has subscribed his initials instead of the three dashes which he usually substituted for his name. Nearly all his letters to Lord Temple are ended in the same manner as above:—Yours most faithfully and affectionately :—sometimes unalterably. These expressions denote a very close and intimate friendship. I may take this opportunity of observing, that I have frequently in these volumes found it necessary to abridge the subscriptions to the Letters, in order to avoid the tedious repetition of Your obedient humble Servant, or Yours truly, ^c., <&c., but I have carefully retained those which I considered to be in any respect significant of the degree of intimacy between the writer and his correspondent. 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 317 Address, that our opinions differed on several points, but we agree entirely in our wishes that the constitutional powers of this kingdom and the fixed government of the laws may prevail, and the rights of the subject be established upon true political liberty. As to the great question of our Parliament’s granting to America a competent number of representatives to sit in our House of Commons, you are no stranger to the declarations I repeatedly made in the House, at the time when the repeal of the Stamp Act was agitated, “ that if such an application should be properly made by the Colonies to Parliament, in the same manner as those which were made from Chester and Durham, and probably from Wales, it would in my opinion be entitled to the most serious and favourable consideration.” I continue still in the same sentiments, but I am much afraid that neither the people of Great Britain nor those of America are sufficiently apprized of the danger which threatens both from the present state of things, to adopt a measure to which both the one and the other seems indisposed. Some of the Colonies in their address to the Crown against some late Acts of Parliament, have, if I mistake not, expressly disclaimed it, and I do not think it has been kindly received in Great Britain, when it has been thrown out in Parliament, or started in any pamphlet or printed paper. The fullest conviction of its necessity, and the heartv concurrence both of the Government and of the people, are indispensably necessary to set so great a machine in motion, as that of uniting all the outlying parts of the British dominions in one system. As to what relates personally to me, I have done my 318 GRENVILLE PAPERS •ruly, duty by endeavouring to assert the sovereignty of the King and Parliament of Great Britain over all the dominions belonging to the Crown, and to make all the subjects of the kingdom contribute to the public burthens for their own defence, according to their abilities and situation. I thought that we had the clearest right imaginable, and that we were bound, by every tie of justice and of wisdom, to do this; and I am convinced it would have been accomplished, without any considerable difficulty, if America had not received such encouragement to oppose it from hence, as no other people would have resisted. To this the present confusion is entirely owing, nor will it now cease if we shall run into the contrary extreme of violence on the other side. Nothing but a plan of wisdom, justice, moderation, and firmness can now extinguish the flame which has so weakly and so wickedly been raised both within and without the kingdom. For my own part I shall wait the event with concern, and shall be ready to give any assistance I can whenever I see any practicable road opened to our safety. As to what you obligingly mention in your letter respecting me, that you would not do anything which might be the occasion of any embarrassment to me, I desire to return you my thanks for this kind mark of your attention to me, but I do not see how I can be affected by it, if it is fully understood and explained in your Introduction, that you speak your own sentiments and not mine; and if I keep myself at full liberty as to my own conduct and opinions, which I am determined to do, I certainly ought not to put any restraint upon yours. I shall always be glad to receive from you in any manner which is most convenient and agreeable to 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 319 you, such information upon these American matters both as to facts and opinions, as your knowledge and experience may enable you, and your kind dispositions towards me may incline you, to give to me. I am, &c., &c. George Grenville. MR. KNOX1 TO MR. GRENVILLE. London, July 23, 1768. Dear Sir,—The newspapers will have told you upon your tour, what I am now sending better authenticated to meet you on your return. 1 he Comptroller of the Customs at Boston is arrived, and I met him this morning at Lord Hillsborough’s office. The riot began upon account of a vessel laden with wine, which the searcher refused to be bribed, as usual, to admit to an entry. The master of the vessel thereupon confined the officer in the ship, and discharged the cargo, and was preparing to take in another and proceed on his voyage when the surveyor detected him, and seized the vessel, and set the searcher at liberty. .1 he prize was sent alongside the Romney man-of-war, and the mob finding her out of their power, vented their indignation upon the revenue officers, by demolishing their houses, and beating those they got hold of in ’ Mr. Knox was at this time Under Secretary of State to Lord Hillsborough, and, subsequently, to Lord George Germain. He was the author of the pamphlet, entitled, The Present State of the Nation, par-ticularhj with, respect to its Trade, Finances, dec., which, being ascribed to Mr, Grenville, produced a reply from Burke, in his Observations upon the State of the Nation. Mr. Knox was also the author of several tracts on American subjects, and he published two volumes of Extra-Official State Papers. He died at Great Baling, in August, 1810, at the age of 73. 320 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, a terrible manner. Even their own excise officers were obliged to fly from the general outrage against revenue officers, and the Commissioners of the Customs took refuge on board the Romney. The town after this addressed the Governor, not to interpose, but to allow them to save themselves the reproach of having parted with their liberties without one struggle. They say, as they have so happily rid the land of those vile vermin the Commissioners, they are determined never to suffer them to set foot on it again. Councils were summoned for Thursday and Friday last, but the Duke of Grafton not choosing to come to town ’till to-morrow, they were put off ’till then. Mr. Pownall tells me the troops lately ordered for Quebec, which it was said were ordered to call at Boston, are not to do so, but the Commissioners have applied to the Commander-in-chief at New York, and the commanding officer at Halifax, for troops and ships. Lord Hillsborough’s letters were not arrived at the time of this riot, so that when they came we may imagine the uproar was general. Surely these things will at last open the eyes of the King, and lead him to think the Government of a great nation is not to be played with ; but I much fear matters will be too bad for even you, Sir, to retrieve them before that happens, and that it will not be in your power to prevent them coming to extremities. How much would the public be obliged to you if you would permit me to introduce an extract from the last letter you honoured me with, in the answer I am preparing to write to the Farmer’s Letters. I would only do it as a third person who had seen such a letter. I have left out entirely what I had said in regard to a repeal of the duties, and 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 321 what you thought would be taken for a declaration to impose no more taxes. I have mentioned domestic taxes as the most proper by which to raise a revenue in the colonies, and said that perhaps, if Parliament assessed the colonies particular sums, as is done in the case of the Land Tax, and left it to the Assemblies to raise it as they thought fit, it would be the most expedient manner. These are not the words, but it is to this effect. The paper is now in Almon’s hands, and part of it already composed, but I shall not suffer it to be published ’till near the meeting of Parliament, which I am told will be much sooner than was expected. I am, &c., &c. Willm. Knox. MR WHATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. July 26, 1768. Dear Sir,—I came to town this morning. I find the alarm about America very great. The Stocks have fallen two-and-a-half per cent, upon it. The Ministers are in great confusion. I am told they differ in opinion. Lord Shelburne and Lord Camden, they say, do not a^ree with the Bedfords, and the business itself would puzzle Ministers of abilities equal to theirs in perfect unanimity1. No measure is yet taken; none indeed can 1 This is one of the many instances in which the intelligence conveyed byM hately to Mr. Grenville or Lord Temple, is almost immediately repeated by .Junius, In his letter of the 30th July, this want of unanimity, and the fall of the stocks, are both alluded to :— “ A resolution adopted by a small majority in a divided council, can be but little depended upon.” * t * * “ In this situation I am rather afflicted than surprised at the shock which public credit has just received. The weight of the funds is of itself sufficient to press them down.”—Junius, vol. iii. p. 78. VOL. IV. Y ;22 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, be resolved on, for the Duke of Grafton has not yet been in town since the news arrived. He has, they say, been sick; but to-morrow he comes, and then there is to be a full Cabinet Council. The accounts you have already had of the affair were not at all exaggerated. I now know the circumstances on which the Commissioners determined to retire on board the men-of-war, and think they had very good reason for so doing. Governor Bernard, you heard, sent them word that he apprehended he should soon follow them; this was not on account of the disturbance which then subsisted, but because he had just received the orders you heard of some time since for the dissolution of the Assemblies, if they would not erase certain resolutions h He deferred to execute these orders ’till the town meetings were over, but had, when the ship sailed, summoned the General Court, in order to communicate these instructions, and expected they would meet with a reception which would make his stay impossible. COUNTESS TEMPLE TO LADY BROWN2. Stowe, (about the end of July, 1768.) I was very happy to hear from my dear Lady Brown at last, and cannot be angry with you for saving me from 1 See ante, page 297, note. 2 Probably Horace Walpole’s friend and correspondent, “ the merry Catholic, Lady Brown.” She was his neighbour at Twickenham, and in one of his letters to Lady Ossory, he relates that going one evening with Lady Brown in a chaise to visit the Duchess of Montrose in the same neighbourhood, they were stopped by a highwayman, who demanded and received their purses. The man offered no violence, and was very civil. After he had departed, Walpole hoped Lady Brown was not frightened “No,” said she, “but I hope he won’t return, 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 323 the uneasiness you certainly would have given me in not being able to have ascertained your bodily health, had you writ some time before. I am very much obliged to vour Cokam [Cookham?] friends for mentioning Stowe in so kind a manner. They made it agreeable by their enlivening conversation, and nothing could have added to our happiness but the presence of a person on the other side of the water. I must explain myself, for fear of being thought guilty of writing treason by innuendos. I mean a relation of theirs, who is always a help to society from her cheerfulness and good humour. We are but just arrived from various excursions. We have been at Lord Aylesford’s, Lord Coventry’s, Lord Lyttelton’s1; at the latter place Queen Mab appeared to me in a very romantic spot in the Park. This remarkable event was preceded by soft music from the clouds. Queen Mab was properly dressed in green, with a very long train supported by little fairies, and two little fairy Levs, dressed in white, walked on each side with baskets of flowers in their hand. Her head was ornamented with flowers, and she held her magic wand. She made me a pretty compliment upon my coming to Hagley, and presented me with a basket of flowers taken from one of because I have given him a purse with only bad money that I carry on purpose.” 1 This letter is from a draft in Lady Temple's hand: it is without any date either of month or year. I have presumed it to have been written about the time above-mentioned, because I find in Phillimore's Life of Lord Lyttelton, a letter from Lurd Temple to that Lord, dated from Stowe, August 14.th, 1 768, in which he says, as if in remembrance of the Masque of Fairies, and of his recent entertainment at Hagley :— “ I cannot find in my heart to let the Grenville cargo depart for Hagley without bearing along with them a testimonial under my hand of my kindred regard for all Fairy Land, and the Apollo thereof, for Lairy Land has its Apollo as well as other regions.” Y 2 324 GRENVILLE PAPERS.' July, the little white elves, at the bottom of which I found these verses, which 1 enclose1:— 1 To Lady Temple. In me behold the Fairy Queen ! Oft have I traced thy steps unseen O’er all the gay, delightful round Of lovely Stowe’s enchanted ground. Oft has my wand, extended there, Raised lofty domes and Temples fair, Has bid meandering rivers wind Thro’ vales once dry, or flow combined In spacious lakes, where erst his sheep The farmer’s boy was wont to keep, Or ploughman forced the furrowed field Its annual crop of corn to yield! Oft have I led my sportive train To smiling Concord’s a beauteous fane, And seen bright Cynthia’s silver beam On all its stately columns gleam ! Sometimes to shun the noontide hour, With thee I sought the Elysian Bower b. Or helped when darkness veiled the sky To light the Grot for Emily c. Now, more retired, the secret shade I haunt, of this sequestered glade, And call my wanton elves to rove Through every lawn, and every grove That decked by Nature’s hand alone, To Kent or Brown was never known. Nor thou disdain with us to dwell In woodland wild and mossy cell, For though nor Prince, nor Princess here Will share thy walks, yet Love sincere, And tranquil peace, and glad content, And pleasure gay but innocent, And mild philosophy, will meet Thy wished approach to this Retreat. The Muses too, whom oft the shade That pendent waves o’er yon cascade 3 b c The Temple of Concord, the Elysian Fields, and the Grotto in the Gardens at Stowe. The Grotto was frequently illuminated for the visits of the Princess Amelia. 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 325 The same ceremony was performed to Lord Temple, who was on the spot. If you were to see the particular place, you would say it was the best calculated for a fairy scene of any you ever saw or could have a notion of. There is a cascade that comes tumbling down a piece of rude rock work, and runs into a rivulet at the bottom, which loses itself among the stones. The ground is enamelled with different flowers wildly dispersed, and here and there they peep out between the stones on each side, for the rock is continued on to the right and left, so as to admit of several benches cut into it, which are covered with moss ; very large trees hang over, which shut out the rays of the sun ; and this rock or grotto, or both, opens on a fine green lawn, from whence the fairies were seen to come, and where I believe they chieflv reside, if one may judge by the fairy rings upon the grass, for they are innumerable : but I leave this to the virtuosos: I onlv know there arc such beings. You will excuse my damaging any more white paper, as I send you so much better a performance. Lord Temple desires to be remembered to your Ladyship in the kindest manner, and I hope you will believe that I am, most lli- seen, beneath this verdant slope, Playing with 1'homson and with Pope, Shall come, obedient to lie call, Fair boast and darling of them all ’ IL re, fur thy brows their hands divine Of never dying Bays shall twine Such garlands, as, in days of yore, Their favoured \ otress Sippho wore: And Eempli t n may find with me Uis fest-lot- d Nymph, sw- et Liberty!4 ■’ The lines addressed to Earl Temple by Queen Mab, beginning, “ By magic wheels thro’ air conveyed,” are printed among the poem of Lord Lyttelton, and therefore it is unnecessary to repeat them here. 32G GRENVILLE PAPERS. August, sincerely, your Ladyship’s very affectionate, humble servant, Anna Temple. MR. WHATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. August 4, 1768. Dear Sir,—The dismission of General Amherst \ and the manner of his dismission, begins already to occasion 1 The dismission of Sir Jeffry Amherst from the Governorship of Virginia was a subject upon which the author of Junius, in several letters, but more particularly under the signature of Lucius, devoted much of his attention at this time. Sir Jeffry Amherst was a very old and intimate friend of Lord Temple. He had been appointed to the chief command in America, and had obtained all his great successes in that country, during the war under the Administration of Mr. Pitt in the last reign, in which it is well known Lord Temple took so active a part. Sir Jeffry was a frequent visitor at Stowe: he was there with the Princess Amelia in 17 64, and he is again mentioned in a letter from Lord Camden as being there in 1766 :—“ There are now, or will be in a few days, at Stowe, the two Dukes of B. [Bedford] and M. [Marlborough] with their ladies, Sir Jeffry Amherst, and the Royal guests.”a Besides, that Lord Temple might have derived the fullest information from Sir Jeffry Amherst himself with respect to his interview and communication with Lord Hillsborough, some letters from Whately to Mr. Grenville appear to have furnished him with materials for the letters of Lucius, particularly that of August the 29th, in which several passages in Whately’s letters of the 4th, 10th, and 24th inst. very pointedly apply. It was subsequently discovered that an error had been committed by assigning an incorrect date to the chief transaction, and it was acknowledged by Lucius that he had by mistake advanced the communications between Lord Hillsborough and Sir Jeffry Amherst, too forward by one complete week, but the days of the week, the facts, and the order in which they succeed one another, are the same b. I think it may not be a Lord Campbell’s Lives of the Chancellors, vol. v. p. 259. b I have already mentioned a similar instance of incorrect dating in an interesting and important document, recently printed by Lord Albemarle in his Memoirs of the Marquess of Rockingham. I allude to the account drawn up by the Duke of Cumberland of his negotiations with Mr. Pitt and Lord Temple, in his endeavours to form an Administration in the summer of 1765. See ante, vol. iii. p. 175, note. 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 327 much talk, and will not, I think, pass even without clamour. It was determined, without his knowing the difficult to account for that error, but it is quite unimportant, except as it would tend to strengthen the probability that these letters from Whately had been communicated by Mr. Grenville to his brother, and that they had been used by the latter, as materials for his own, under the signature of Lucius. It was Whately's usual habit, in his correspondence with Mr. Grenville, neither to sign his letters, nor to make any other ending to them, than by placing the date of the month immediately after, and quite close to, the last words a. Mr. Grenville was at Wotton when he received Whately’s letter, dated “August 4th,-’ either on the Friday or Saturday following, but it may not have been sent or shown to Lord Temple at Stowe for some days later. “ The dismission of Sir Jeffry Amherst,” says Whately, “ was determined without his knowing the least of it, on Tuesday or Wednesday in the last week: he came to town accidentally on Thursday, and found at his house a letter from Lord Hillsborough, to desire to speak with him, &c.” Now, a person reading this letter some days after it was written, and either not observing its date, or not particularly considering that the 4th, the day of its date, was Thursday, might very easily understand the words, “on Thursday," to mean Thursday last, instead of Thursday in the last week, and this I conceive to be the way in which the error may have arisen. The letter in which Lucius first mentioned the dates of this transaction was not written until more than three weeks had elapsed, and although Lord Temple may have been very exactly informed of all the circumstances, yet he may still have adopted, as he thought correctly, the dates from Whately’s letters, as I shall endeavour to show he used other information contained in them. In the letter signed Lucius, of the 29th of August, Lord Hillsborough is called upon to answer six questions, all of them relating to facts previously mentioned in Whately’s letters :— 1st—Ibas not Lord Hotetourt's appointment absolutely fixed on or before Sunday, the 31st of July? 2nd.—Had Sir Jeffry Amherst the least intimation of the measure before Thursday, the 4th of August ? ‘Ard.— ll’us it not then mentioned to him in general terms, as a mea- il Tn a letter written by Whately to Lord Temple on the 6th of July, 1767, he said, “In all letters which I write to Mr. Grenville, I omit my name, and can therefore write more freely : for the same reason I will, if I have occasion to trouble you again by the post, and your Lordship will permit me. put the date in the place of the signature, and hope that by this time you may recollect the hand of your correspondent.” 328 GRENVILLE PAPERS. August, least of it, on Tuesday or Wednesday in the last week. He came to town accidentally on Thursday, and found sure merely in contemplation, without the most distant hint that Lord Botetourt, or any other person, was actually in possession of his Government ? Ath.—Did not Lord Botetourt kiss hands the next day, that is, on Friday, the 6th of August ? 5th.—Did you not dare to tell your Sovereign that Sir Jeffry Amherst was perfectly satisfied, when you knew your treatment of him uas such as the vilest peasant could not have submitted to without resentment? loth.—Is it not a fact that Sir Jeffry Amherst having been called upon some time ago to give his opinion upon a measure of the highest importance in America, gave it directly against a favourite scheme of your Lordship: and is not this the real cause of all your antipathy to him?— Junius, vol. iii. p. 110. Without again referring to the dates of the month, it is distinctly stated by Whately, that Sir Jeffry received the first intimation of the matter from Lord Hillsborough on Thursday:—the next day, Friday, Lord Botetourt kissed hands for the appointment. *• It has been given out,” says Whately, “ that he was, or would be, satisfied. The fact is directly the reverse : he is as outrageous as his nature can be: on the Friday, Lord Botetourt kissed hands : on the Saturday, General Amherst did not know that the business was actually done, so little was the state of the affair explained to him at the only communication he has had of it;'’ until “ he went to Lord Botetourt himself, who confirmed the fact, expressed his concern, &c., and assured him that the thing had not been settled till the Saturday before.” The sixth and last question refers to the following passage in Whately’s letter of the 10th :—“ Upon this occasion an anecdote is come out, which before I was not aware of: that Sir Jeffry, in the advice he gave, strenuously opposed the repeal of the Stamp Act. Admiral Keppel tells me so, and it is confirmed to me by one of Sir Jeffry’s most intimate friends. He was consulted because it was supposed that the Government of Virginia and the two American Battalions were left to him in consideration of his taking any part he could take here in American affairs, but his opinion was over-ruled.” To Lord Hillsborough, Lucius says,—“ The world attributes to your Lordship the entire honour of Sir Jeffry Amherst's dismission, because there is no other person in the Cabinet who could be supposed to have a wish or motive to give such advice to the Crown.” * * * * “ The Duke of Bedford and his friends have uniformly held forth Sir Jeffry Amherst as the first military man in this country; they have quoted him on all occasions when military knowledge was in e/aestion, 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 329 at his house a note from Lord Hillsborough to desire to speak with him. He supposed it was to desire him and even been lavish in his praise. Besides, they openly disclaim any share in this measure, and they are believed."—Junius, vol. iii. p. 100. And the parallel passages in Whately’s letter are :— “Mr. Rigby (the Duke of Bedford and his friends') has upbraided Lord Weymouth for concurring in his dismission: his Lordship's defence was that the King and the King's servants understood that he would be satisfied, but now they find themselves egregiously mistaken.” : *****<< His services and his abilities were at the same time another reason for his having those emoluments, and on that ground I understand Rigby reproached Lord Weymouth, for joining to disgrace a man whom they had always held up as a General equal to great commands, and whose services might be wanted on future occasions.” I have assumed that Mr. Grenville communicated these letters to Lord Temple, but Whately may also have written to the latter in the same strain. He corresponded with both, and he very frequently sent the same information, with but slight alteration in words, to each. Other passages might be selected: such for instance as this :—“ You know he is a temperate man, and I suppose spoke with moderation,” Ac Lucius says:—“ Sir Jeffry Amherst is one of the mildest and most moderate of men: ergo, such a man will bear anything." Again, Whately writes :—“ The next day Colonel Amherst beard at Court that Lord Botetourt had that morning (Friday) kissed hands in the Closet, and he directly sent an express with the news to his brother." Lucius says :—“ Yet Lord Botetourt kissed hands the next morning (Friday), and the Jirst notice Sir Jeffry Amherst received of his Lordship's appointment was by an express sent to him that evening by his brother."—Junius, vol. iii. p. 147 In Whately's letter of the Lith of August, is the following :—“ But the King is desirous to make you amends in any other way, by way of annuity, or, Arc., Arc. Annuity ! says Sir J. Amherst, turning it in his mind, but speaking aloud : an annuity is a pension : the word pension is grating to my ears: if, my Lord, the King would bestow upon me some mark of honour, or something in the military line, I should be happy in the distinction; but a pension, my Lord, is grating in my ears." A week later, Sept. 1st, Lucius writes:—“ For the matter of a recompense equivalent to his government, he repeatedly told your Lordship that the name of pension was grating to his ears, and that he would accept of no revenue that was nut al the same time, honorary. Lour Lordship docs 330 GRENVILLE PAPERS. August, to no to take the command in America ; but it was to tell him of the design to appoint Lord Botetourt, and to offer him any equivalent. His answer, I understand, was, that if his age and infirmities obliged him to retire, he might be glad to accept any mark of distinction, though in the shape of emolument, if his services were thought to deserve a reward, but as long as he was able to serve he could not take a pension. You know he is a temperate man, and I suppose spoke with moderation ; he was therefore either mistaken or has been misrepresented, for it has been given out that he was, or would be, satisfied. The fact is directly the reverse ; he is as outrageous as his nature can be. On the Friday Lord Botetourt kissed hands ; on the Saturday General Amherst did not know that the business was actually done, so little was the state of the affair explained to him at the only communication he has had of it. The King has since asked Lord Botetourt when he should be ready to go. To-night, Sir, was his answer1; and yet, after all, I think it not certain that he not know the difference, but men of honour feel it."—Junius, vol. iii. p. 122. “ He repeatedly told your Lordship that the name of pension was yratiny to his ears." It is remarkable that Whately reports him to have used that expression twice in the above extract. In short, all the letters written by Lucius during the months of August and September will be found, upon close comparison, to contain, at various times, the same information upon the subject as Whately’s letters, and expressed in very similar terms. 1 Lord Botetourt was one of the King’s Lords of the Bedchamber: described by Junius (Lucius) as a “cringing, bowing, fawning, swordbearing courtier;" and Walpole, mentioning him at this time, says,— “ Lord Botetourt is like patience on a monument, smiling in grief. He is totally ruined, and quite charmed. Yet I heartily pity him. To Virginia he cannot be indifferent: he must turn their heads somehow or other. If his graces do not captivate them, he will enrage them to fury: for I take all his douceur to be enamelled on iron.” 1768. GRENVILLE EWERS. 331 will go. I find some doubt whether Lord Chatham will put the Privy Seal to such an appointment. I can easily perceive an alarm taken at finding it impossible to satisfy General Amherst, and I believe they will not be fond of the reproach of dismissing General Amherst from a command which, though not necessarily, has been constantly given in the military line, in order to provide for Lord Botetourt. The defence is, that in these times the American Governors ought to reside ; and perhaps they may imagine the step may be popular in the colonies ; but Amherst has not been asked whether he would go, and the colonies will receive not the least satisfaction. Their complaint has been that a settled stipend provided for a Governor has been converted into a pension for some resident in England. Virginia is the onlv colonv which ever made such a provision, and the others have constantly, when required to do the same, urged this instance against it, saying that the consequence to Virginia has been that their money has been spent in England, while they have been governed by a Lieutenant-Governor. They have not by this appointment the least security that Lord Botetourt will not some time hence do as all other Governors have done, and I doubt whether they will think his Lordship more deserving of a sinecure at their expense than a General wdiom they know and respect. It is said, but I do not know’ with what truth, that as a further mark of favour he is to have the same quantity of plate as is usually given to Ambassadors, upon which a joke is raised of his going Plcnipo. to the (Terokees. Besides this notable measure for reconciling America, I know’ of none likely to produce any decisive effect; 332 GRENVILLE PAPERS. August, two regiments indeed are ordered from Ireland, the 60th and 61st. They lie at a distance from Cork, and the regiments to be drafted in order to make them up from 300 to 500 men, are dispersed about the kingdom, so that it is hardly possible these regiments should get away by this day month. Three men-of-war of 60 guns each are also ordered to sail, and they will probably get there just in the stormy season, and a little before the frost will make the harbour of Boston untenable. No orders are yet prepared for the troops about their conduct when they arrive there ; none, as I can hear, sent to those already in America; and the letters now going out to the several Governors (except perhaps Bernard), are in the same careless style, and on the same trivial subjects as usual in times of tranquillity. The Ministers seem to have no other idea than to save themselves from the reproach of doing nothing ; but they will not venture to do anything, if I can judge of their intentions. I have even heard it surmised that they begin to repent of doing so much. They made the proposition for troops, as some imagine, only in hopes that Lord Shelburne would oppose it. He did not, and they are disappointed of that pretence for pressing his dismission, in which, it is said, they would then have succeeded. COMMODORE HOOD1 TO MR. GRENVILLE. Halifax, August 8, 1768. Sir,—I did myself the honour to address to you a short detail of the situation of affairs at Boston on the 1 He was at this time Commander of His Majesty’s ships and vessels on the Boston station. He was subsequently well known as a most distinguished Admiral. He was created Viscount Hood in 1796, and died in 1816. 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 333 11th past, by an officer I charged with dispatches to my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty ; since which the aspect of things is not in the least mended—indeed the ferment amongst the people seems at times to be smothered, but then diligent search is ever making by the demagogues after fuel to kindle the flame afresh. Mr. Williams, the Inspector-General of the Customs, who was from home in the late riots, had his house beset on the evening of his return by a vast mob, who, in a tumultuous manner, insisted on seeing Mr. Williams, and his appearing at the window. It was demanded that he should immediately go to Liberty Tree, there resign bis office, and take an oath never to resume it, which he refused, assuring them, at the same time, that he had friends in the house ready to defend him if his doors were forced. They then insisted he should go to the Castle to the Commissioners, where they have been prisoners at large many weeks, which he also refused, wdien much clamour ensued, and much vengeance was threatened ; but on assurances being given by Mr. Williams that he would meet them at the Town House next day at noon, they dispersed without doing much mischief. At the appointed hour Mr. Williams went through a mob of many thousands, who opened a passage for him, and, from a window, he repeatedly told them of their proceedings last evening, that he was come agreeable to his promise, and demanded what they had to say to him: not a word of reply wras made by any one ; all were silent. His resolute behaviour had quite disconcerted them ; but he has often since received anonymous letters threatening his life unless he resigns his office. Governor Bernard was very apprehensive that the 334 GRENVILLE PAPERS. August, Castle would be attacked, and wrote to Captain Corner of the Romney, requesting his assistance by all means in his power for the defence and protection of it. Thus things at present are : from the information I have received, all is confusion, and Government without authority. In the latter end of last month, Mr. Bernard pressed his council to advise him to call for troops : the whole except three opposed the measure, so that his Excellency is now left to act upon his own judgment solely, which may possibly make him less timid. Colonel Dalrymple, by General Gage’s order, holds two regiments in constant readiness to embark from hence, whenever they are required by the Governor, or directed by the General. Had this force been landed in Boston six months ago, I am perfectly persuaded no address or remonstrance would have been sent from the other colonies, and that all would have been tolerably quiet and orderly at this time throughout America. Every day’s delay of the only remedy that can prove effectual, has manifestly tended to an increase of bad humour, by which, what would have been without difficulty effected early in the spring, will become an arduous, and probably a fatal undertaking late in the year. The giving to the Colonies such time and opportunity for uniting in opposition to the British Acts of Parliament, ought, in my humble opinion, by all possible means, to have been prevented. But I forget to whom I have the honour to address myself, and must entreat your goodness, Sir, to excuse my presumption in saying what I have, in matters of such high importance, and to one who is so perfect a judge of them ; I meant only to 17*> GREN\ ILLE PAPERS. 335 relate facts as they were transmitted to me. This goes by one of His Majesty’s armed schooners, whose defects are too great to be repaired in this Yard, and, as soon as I determined on sending her to England, I made it known to Governor Bernard, who was happy in so favourable an opportunity for his dispatches, which were yesterdaj brought me from Boston. Almost the whole trade of America is more or less illicit: three vessels have been this summer seized in the Gulph and River St. Lawrence, by His Majesty’s cruisers under my command ; and if Government is determined to put a stop to it, a greater number of small armed schooners, upon such an establishment as the cutters are at home, must be employed, which I have taken the liberty to recommend to my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, and am perfectly persuaded thev would give a vast annual increase to the King’s revenues. Only four are at present within my district, and I am of opinion there ought to be a dozen at least. I have taken the liberty to send by this opportunity a small box of seeds of a fine tree called the Catawba, which I hope will be acceptable, and the more so, as I am told there are very few in England. I have the honour to be, &c. Sam. Hood. MR. KNOX TO MR. GRENVILLE. London, August 9, 1708. Dear Sir,—Upon looking over the Papers at the Board of Trade, I am filled with astonishment at the multiplicity of evidence I meet with, not only to prove the right of Parliament to tax the Colonies, but their 336 GRENVILLE PAPERS. August, acknowledgment of it, and even application for Parliament to exercise it. The letters of correspondents I am not, however, allowed to take extracts of, so that the publication will want that degree of evidence which arises from the opinion of the Governors, in the several periods taken notice of. But there is one thing which is very singular, which I shall have a copy of. A Bill prepared in 1710 for laying taxes upon New York, because of the Assembly there having neglected to make the usual provision for the support of Government. This Bill is signed by Northey and Worge, but it seems it never passed. Perhaps you can tell me the history of this Bill. Another thing which I must beg from you is, the counter proof to Dickinson’s 1 assertion, that, until your Administration, no duty or tax wTas laid in the Colonies, but as a regulation of trade. The point of Lord Camden’s speech is, that the right of Taxation flows from Representation. I have no more of his speech than Dickinson quotes in his letters. If you will take the trouble of showing how that matter stands, you will do great good. For my own part, I am tempted to deny that there is any such thing as Representation at all in our Constitution, but that the Commons are taken out of the people, as the democratic part of the Government, not elected as representatives of the people, but commissioned by them in like manner as the Lords are commissioned or appointed by the Crown. If the Commons were the representatives only of the people, the people might control them, and the instructions of the electors 1 John Dickenson was the author of the Farmers Letters from Pennsylvania, which were by some attributed to Franklin. 1768 GRENVILLE PAPERS 337 would be binding upon the Members; whereas in the very article of taxation, the Commons exclude the people even from petitioning, much more deny them authority to control their deliberations. If there be any truth in this idea, I am sure you can extend it, and, if you will be so good to take the trouble, trace the origin of this notion of representation ; for, until that is overturned, it will be very difficult to convince, either the colonies, or the people in England, that wrong is not done to the colonies. The Duke of Grafton has lately trimmed the balance a little, which was preponderating on the Bedford side so much as to alarm him, especially as you were mentioned by some of the friends of that House, and his Grace is now in better concert with Lord Shelburne than he has been since he first came into office. I am sure I ought to beg pardon for the frequent trouble I give you; I have no excuse to plead, but that I am, &c., &c. William Knox. MR. WHATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. August 10 1768. Dear Sir,—I was in town for a few hours on Monday : a friend of mine, who is always there, showed me the two enclosed publications, one without signature in the beginning of the second page of the Public Advertise}’ of the 6th of August, and the other signed L. L. of the 5th of August1. Surprised that I had not seen 1 See Letters xxx. and xxxi., Junius, vol. iii. pp. 80-83. They are also preserved in Mrs. Grenville’s collection of cuttings from newspapers, before mentioned VOL IV. z 338 GRENVILLE PAPERS. August, them, he asked whether you also missed of those which appeared only in the morning papers, and whether it would be agreeable to you to send such as might seem to him worth your perusal. I told him you would certainly be amused by any well-written papers sent to you in the country : you are not to know from whom they come, though you may easily guess ; nor to trouble yourself with acknowledging the receipt of them. That without a signature, he told me was evidently from a hand who had written on the same subject about ten days before, but I could not get that former paper' : I could only get that one of his opponent’s signed Tandem2, of 4th August, to whom the turn of his answer seems masterly ; but who this good writer is I cannot guess. I enclose Tandem’s, that you may see how well he is refuted, though I perceive you have already seen some paper in the same strain of abuse. It is to be expected from those who are guilty of the present confusions in America, that they should endeavour to divert the attention of the public to any other object than themselves : the attempt proves their consciousness that they are exposed to the resentment of the people they have betrayed, and, in fact, it now falls upon them. The general opinion that Mr. Grenville must be Minister has no other foundation: we know that no step has been taken to give rise to such a report; we have reason to believe that all who are now in, wish to keep you out; and yet every day the reports of your coming in are revived. I am told that even your enemies acknowledge the necessity for it: in the city, for 1 This was probably Letter xxix. in Woodfall's Miscellaneous Collection, Junius, vol. iii. p. 73. 2 The letter of Tandem is in Mrs. Grenville's collection. I / 68 GRENVILLE PAPERS. 339 instance, Mr. Maitland tells me, that many who were forward for repealing the Stamp Act, confess now that you were in the right from the beginning, and when they exclaimed against the Americans, he bid them thank themselves, whose weakness had encouraged the insolence of the colonies, the truth of which reproach they admitted. These have been for some time very general sentiments, and, you may depend upon it, they do not grow weaker. Just at present the dismission of Sir Jeffry Amherst occasions much noise, and gives the Administration great anxiety. He did not say what in my former letter I told you he had said to Lord Hillsborough, about not accepting a pension, but, however, he showed no symptoms of being satisfied. 1 know he is highly exasperated, and I believe will soon show that he is, but J do not exactly know7 yet in what manner. Mr. Rigby has upbraided Lord Weymouth for concurring in his dismission : his Lordship’s defence was, that the King and the King’s servants understood that he w’ould be satisfied, but now’ they find themselves egregiously mistaken. Upon this occasion an anecdote is come out which before I was not aware of; that Sir Jeffry, in the advice he gave, strenuously opposed the repeal of the Stamp Act: Admiral Keppel tells me so, and it is confirmed to me by one of Sir Jeffry’s most intimate friends. He was consulted, because it was supposed that the government of Virginia and the two American battalions were left to him, in consideration, partly of his taking any part he could take here in American affairs, but his opinion was overruled. His services and his abilities were, at the same time, another reason for his having those emoluments, and on that ground, I understand, Rigby reproached Lord Wey-z 2 340 GRENVILLE PAPERS. August mouth for joining to disgrace a man whom they had always held up as a general, equal to great commands, and whose services might be wanted upon future occasions. A family in this neighbourhood were on a tour at Dover, when Lord Bute came there to embark : they observed a bustle in the streets, and heard Wilkes and Liberty, more than they expected, before they knew the reason : a considerable number of people were assembled to see him go into the boat at the usual place for taking water; but he went off from another part of the shore, to his vessel which lay without the pier, and one of the watermen who rowed him told this family, that, having intelligence of an intended insult, and that many of the persons assembled to see him go had filled their pockets with stones, to pelt Lord Bute, Minet’s people had advised his Lordship to go off from the other place; the waterman added, that, had he stayed in the town all night, he would certainly have been murdered, but he was there only an hour. MR. AUGUSTUS HERVEY TO MR GRENVILLE. Park Place, Saturday, August 13, 1768. Dear Sir,—I wrould not have troubled you with my thanks for your kind letter in answer to mine, but that I imagined you would like to hear what is going on, as some of your better-informed correspondents may not be in town; and indeed I am so little about, that I scarce hear anything, but I know, and have seen (not read it) a letter handed about, that was yesterday wrote from Lord Hillsborough to Sir Jeffry Amherst, a very 176b. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 341 guarded one, yet excusing their taking away the government of Virginia, and on his offer to resign his regiment (which has been made), expressing their concern for his having so misconstrued the King’s intentions, which arc therein described as all gracious and well-meaning to Sir Jeffry Amherst, with hints (not offers) of anything to accommodate and gild the pill. I am told there is a kind of proposal to be made to him (if he will not accept the pension), which is, to give Lord Tyrawly the pension, and his government with additional emoluments to Sir Jeffry Amherst, but’t is thought that he will be deaf to all proposals of that kind, as Lord Albemarle, and others of that set, have been constantly with him to rouse and keep awake his present resentment and indignation. This letter was showed yesterday to several people, and is to be shown to Lord Mayor to-day, that the people in the city may be made acquainted that Sir Jeffry Amherst was not deprived of his government in the manner that has been reported there. I find Sir Jeffry’s letter makes a great noise, and they do not seem to like the bustle it makes among the military. Lord Botetourt keeps the Bedchamber, although he says he never desires to return, and certainly will not for seven years. This discourse, and the arrival of the King of Denmark, employs the Court, of which every man must be tired who is not tired of himself, and can bear his own company. The Duke of Bedford is at Court for ever, and the Duchess and Lord Weymouth seem to me to be the oracle here ; the Duke of Grafton has not been very often, I think, since I have been in town. Lord Robert Bertie1 told me he met Lord Chatham 1 Son of the iirst Duke of Ancaster, and at this time M.P. for Bos-tr>n. He was on board the Ramifies ^proceeding to join his regiment at 342 GRENVILLE PAPERS. August, the other evening on horseback, and seemed as well as ever; he saw him, and stopped and spoke to him a good while, cheerful and alive. The King of Denmark was at Lady Hertford’s last night, and afterwards went to Ranelagh. His people were introduced to the King at the Levee yesterday, and Lord Chamberlain waited on His Majesty from the King in the morning, to desire to see him at the Queen’s house at half-past five, where the King of Denmark went privately, and about eight to the Princess Dowager’s; at nine he came to Lord Hertford’s, and then to Ranelagh: he was very affable to every one, and as I know others will describe his figure and his manner1, I will not take up your time. Mrs. Grenville will have all that from Lady Egremont, who I saw there; for my part, I believe, I have the honour to think as you do about the conferences and conversations of kings. With most people the words of kings are Minorca) with Admiral Byng in the engagement with the French fleet, and was one of those officers who gave evidence in favour of Byng, “ that, being near the person of the Admiral, they did not perceive any backwardness in him during the action, or any marks of fear or confusion either from his countenance or behaviour, but that he seemed to give his orders coolly and distinctly, and did not seem wanting in personal courage.”—Walpoles Memoirs of George II., vol. ii. p. 292. 1 Horace Walpole has left us a minute description of him. “ The puppet of the day is the King of Denmark; in truth, puppet enough : a very miniature of our late King, his grandfather. White, strutting, dignified, prominent eyes, gallant, and condescending enough to mark that it is condescension.” The King was accompanied by a “Lord High Favourite, Count Holke, a pert young gentleman of three-and-twenty, who seems rather proud of his favour than shy of displaying it.” Count Bernsdorff, his Prime Minister, was the Mentor of the party: “ a grim old man, bowing and cringing at every word of the King with Eastern obsequiousness.” They hurried through most parts of England without attention, took notice of nothing, took pleasure in nothing, dining and supping at seats on the road, without time enough to remark so much of their beauties as would flatter the great Lords who treated him.’'—WK GRENVILLE PAPERS. 351 word that he would wait on his Grace in the morning'; but in the morning the Duke called upon him, and endeavoured to dissuade him from insisting on his demands. Sir Jeffry, still keeping to the necessity of extraordinary distinctions to wipe away the disgrace, persisted; and upon the Duke’s urging his arguments against them, he told him he was sorry to find his Grace so averse to laying his requests before His Majesty ; that, however, they must be laid, and if his Grace did not choose to do it, he should find somebody else who would: upon which the Duke undertook it, and on his return from Court, wrote Sir Jeffry a note to tell him that the King was highly sensible of his services, and desirous to reward them, and would readily make him any grant of lands in America1; the mines he mentioned could not be granted, the Crown not having the power to grant them2. Sir Jeffry then wrote directly to Lord Barrington, to desire leave to resign his battalions in America and his regiment here; but the King’s pleasure being signified to him, that His Majesty wished to hear his reasons from himself, lie had an audience, and at coming out from it he told Lord Barrington, that His Majesty had been graciously pleased to accept of his resignation. I believe you may depend upon all these particulars; 1 “ His Grace is wonderfully bountiful in the article of lands. I doubt not he would with all his heart give Sir Jeffry Amherst the fee simple of every acre from the Mississippi to California. But we shall be the less surprised at his generosity when we consider that every private soldier who served a certain time in America was entitled to two hundred acres, and that not one man, out of perhaps twenty thousand claimants, has yet settled upon his estate.”—Junius, vol. hi. p. 123. 2 “If reasons political and commercial forbid working the coal-mines in America, that, I allow, is an answer ad hominem. It may be a true one.”—Ibid., vol. iii. p. 122. 352 GRENVILLE PAPERS. August, there are other little anecdotes attending the story, which concern only individuals, and which I will tell you when I see you, hut cannot write. Now was Sir Jeffry Amherst dismissed because he refused to go to America, or because his demands were extravagant, or because his Government was wanted for Lord Botetourt1 ? Several letters arrived yesterday from America, dated 10th and 12th July. They contain accounts of the proceedings with respect to Lord Hillsborough’s orders, which were, that the Assembly should be required by the Governor to annul their vote for the circular letter, and in case of non-compliance be dissolved. Several messages passed, of little consequence, concerning copies of these orders and of the letters from Governor Bernard, which gave occasion for them; they desired a recess to consult their constituents, which he refused, as being contrary to the spirit of his instructions to dissolve if they did not immediately comply. They therefore debated the point, and it was carried not to comply, by 92 to 17. They then drew up a representation of their reasons, in which they are very impertinent to Governor Bernard personally, assert that the circular letter contains nothing which is not in principle perfectly constitutional, and in expression perfectly decent ; take it for granted, that a tax for the purpose of revenue only is an infringement of their rights, and complain of grievances. They were then proceeding to prepare a charge of mal-administration 1 “The manner of filling the vacancy made by the removal of Sir Jeffry Amherst, sets in the broad glare of daylight the true reasons for making it; it was not done to reform a public abuse, but to accommodate a private job ; it was not Virginia that wanted a Governor, but a court favourite that wanted the salary.”—Junius, vol. iii. p. 103. 17G8. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 353 against Governor Bernard, from the very beginning of Lis Government, but he first prorogued and then dissolved them, declaring to them that he thought he was restrained by his instructions from calling another Assembly ’till he had special orders for that purpose from England. The reason he assigns to his friends for deviating so far from his instructions, as to prorogue before he dissolved, is, that he did it out of regard to the 17 who voted for complying, and to give them an opportunity of providing for their safety, as he thought they would be exposed if the people were exasperated by an immediate dissolution. The same letters bring an account of a ship seized for having some unentered molasses on board; but a dav or two after, about fifty armed men came on board, confined the officers, and carried off the molasses. The merchants in general were much alarmed at this; they said it was putting the Commissioners in the right, for as on the great riot of 10th June, the mob had pretended that their resentment was raised, not by the seizure, but by putting the ship seized under the protection of the Romney, this rescue justified that measure, and they, therefore, began to inquire after the persons concerned in this outrage, whereupon all the molasses were carried again on board. Therg were, when the letters, came away, the Romney of 50 guns, and four sloops of 12 and 14 guns in the harbour of Boston, and more expected. Reports of troops coming were circulated about the town, but not believed. The Commissioners of the Customs were still at the Castle, where they held their boards, but kept their office open in the town as usual. General Gage had called in the outposts, which was VOL. IV. A A 354 GRENVILLE PAPERS. September the only preparation for the motion of troops towards Boston. A letter from a lieutenant-colonel at Halifax, dated 12th July, says, that he had received orders to keep three regiments there, with some companies of artillery ready to embark, but mentions no orders actually to £0: now, when Mr. Hollowell arrived with the news of the riot at Boston, on the 18th July, he was told that such orders had been sent so long- ago for one regiment, the 14th, that they must have arrived at Boston a fortnight before he got to England. Candour obliges one to admit, that the ship which carried these orders might have a long passage, but it is very candid to suppose so long a one. It is much to Sir Jeffry Amherst’s honour that he retires on 800/. per annum in land, a house in town for which he gave 4000/., and having furnished he expects to let for 400/. per annum, and 4000/. in money. His paternal estate was that 800/. per annum; he has received 10,000/. with his lady; he got nothing, therefore, by his command. C. [THE AUTHOR OF JUNIUS] TO MR. GRENVILLE’. London. 3d. September. 1768. Sir.—It may not be improper you should know that the publick is entirely mistaken with respect to the Author of some late publications in the Newspapers. Be assured that he is a man quite unknown & uncon- 1 Endorsed in Air. Grenville’s hand, “Anonymous, Sept. 3, 17 68.” This was the second of the three letters addressed by the Author of Junius to Mr. Grenville. 1768. GRENVILLE TAPERS. .355 nccted1. He has attached himself to your cause and to you alone, upon motives, which, if he were of Consequence enough to give weight to his Judgment, would he thought as honourable to you, as they are truly satisfactory to himself. Ata proper time he will solicit the honour of being known to you2: he has present important reasons for wishing to be concealed. 1 It is evidently here the policy of Junius to induce Mr. Grenville to believe that the writer was a person of obscure condition, and unknown to fame; and such I know to be even now the opinion of those for whose information upon this subject, and for whose extensive knowledge and critical acumen, I have the greatest respect and admiration; but, after long reflection, I cannot arrive at the conclusion that Junius was otherwise than the exact reverse of that which in the present instance, and for his present purposes, he professed to be. In ascribing the authorship of these famous papers to Lord Temple, I have sufficiently avowed my conviction that Junius was, as he has elsewhere described himself, far above all pecuniary views: that he was a man of rank and fortune to an extent that placed him above the suspicion of a common bribe: that he was a man of ardent, but disappointed ambition : and that, although in his assumed character, and a- an anonymous writer, he may have had ample reasons for wishing to be concealed, and for choosing to be thought unknown and unconnected ; to be retired, and live in the shade; to have only a speculative ambition ; to have no motives of vanity but those which were confined to a very narrow circle; yet with all these pretended negatives, his writings prove him to have possessed such ample knowledge and experience, as could only be derived from mixing largely with the world; to have been conversant with the language of Courts and Cabinets, and intimately acquainted with the leading politicians of his time ; to have known their private characters and habits, as well as their public capacity and conduct; to have had strong motives of personal pique and resentment, not only against the King, but against the principal men who were by turns the objects of his vituperation or his sarcasm: all these reasons form a combination of circumstances which render it, to my understanding at least, almost an impossibility that Junius could have been a man “ entirely unknown and unconnected.” ” More than three years later, in November, 1771, he said the same to Woodfall, and almost in the same words :—“ Act honourably by me, and at a proper time you shall know me.” But he never intended to make himself known, and therefore the proper tune never did arrive A .A 356 GRENVILLE PAPERS. September, Some late papers, in which the cause of this country, and Ihe defence of your Character and measures have been thought not ill maintained ;—others, signed Lucius, and one or two upon the new Commission of trade, with a multitude of others, came from this hand1. They have been taken notice of by the Publick. May I plead it as a merit with you, Sir, that no motives of vanity shall ever discover the author of this Letter. If an earnest wish to serve you gives me any claim, let me entreat you not to suffer a hint of this Communication to escape you to any body'2. C. MR. AUGUSTUS HERVEY TO MR. GRENVILLE. Park Place, September 5, 1768. Dear Sir,—As you will see the death of my poor mother3 in the papers, I dare swear you will be im- eitlier to Mr. Grenville or Woodfall. Even at the time he was writing the words 1 have quoted, to Woodfall, he had probably also written, or was just about to write, that passage in his Dedication in which he declares,—“lam the sole depositary of my own secret, and it shall perish with me” Upon occasions, when Junius makes a solemn asseveration, there is something in his mode of expression that carries conviction with it, and I confess myself, in this instance, to be fully impressed with the truth and sincerity of his assertion. 1 Junius, vol. iii. p. 89, et seq., eight Letters under the signature of Lucius, chiefly devoted to the case of Sir Jeffry Amherst’s dismission ; and Junius, vol. iii.,p. 63, et seq., in ridicule of the new Commission of Trade, under the signature of C. 2 There is every reason to believe, that both this and his former injunction to secrecy, were most honourably kept by Mr. Grenville. The words printed in Italics were so marked by the author. 5 Mary Lepel, Lady Hervey, once so celebrated for her beauty: — “ Youth’s youngest daughter, sweet Lepel.” At a very early age she had been Maid of Honour to the Princess of 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 357 patient to know how it may have affected my situation, since your last so kindly expresses your feeling obliged by any communication of what concerns me. I dined with Lady Hervey, Saturday, at Sunning Hill, where she had been complaining some days of a cold, which obliged her to come to town the Mondav following late, and very much oppressed. She felt herself going some time before, as my brother tells me, in a letter she wrote him. She was blooded and blistered, and Mr. Hawkins and myself at last persuaded her to have a physician, when she consented, provided ’t was James. I never left her, though but very indifferent myself, ’till she expired at four o’clock Thursday afternoon ; in the course of her illness she never mentioned any one of her children or acquaintance, nor ever spoke to any one but Mr. Hawkins and me, when we advised about the physician ; only on Wednesday, she squeezed my hand, and said, Poor dear Augustus, and never spoke afterwards, even to her maid : she felt, thank God! no pain whatever. I sent an express for mv brother, Wednesday, who came up Thursday night; and with me went Friday morning to the House, he and I being reconciled first entirely, and he has dined with me every day since. My mother has left her house, plate, furniture, tyc., Wales, afterwards Queen Caroline. She was married to John Lord Hervey in 17’20. He died in 1713. Their three eldest sons, George, Augustus, and Frederick, became successively Earls of Bristol; the latter was also Bishop of Derry. Her youngest son, William, was a General in the Army. She had also four daughters, the eldest of whom was the grandmother of the present Marquess of Normanby. A volume of Lady Hervey’s Letters, addressed to Mr. Morris, a clergyman who had been tutor to her sons, was published in 1821. 358 GRENVILLE PAPERS. September, and all her jewels, fo my brother Bristol and his son ; then to me and mine; and then to brother William for ever, cutting out the Bishop. Iler money in these and other funds equally between William and myself; to my sister Mary a little ring, and never mentioned my other sisters at all. There were two wills, the one of 1763 that left all to me, and this of last May in the manner I tell you. Some small legacies to Lady Bute, Lady Jane Macartney, Lord and Lady Holland, Mr. Walpole, &c., whom (between you and I) I believe have in some degree influenced that opinion which may have occasioned the unexpected change, but which my brother saw had no effect, nor has on me ; he could not read the rest of the will for surprise, and I did without the least; I only know I have a satisfaction in having been the one here to continue that invariable filial affection and duty I had ever shown her, to her last sigh, and hope she is happy now; God knows how all these things are, or why anything is : I can only say, like Desdemona, “’t is strange, ’t is wondrous strange,” and in any sense of the word, our whole conditions and dispositions seem, as she also says, “pitiful, ’t is wondrous pitiful.” I thank God my health is surprisingly recovered, and if I have better success in another point of life1, I shall not let the disappointment of affluence affect me whilst I have the conveniences as well as necessaries of life ; T never loved money for the sake of money in my life, and as I never wanted it less than at present, the lucre of gain could never induce me to follow opinions that avarice might put other people upon undertaking; to be thought enough beloved by her to have distinguished 1 Alluding again to his suit for a divorce from his wife, who afterwards married the Duke of Kingston. 17GS. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 359 me, and to be thought considerable enough by the friends I am unalterably attached to, to receive distinction through them whenever they could, is what I own I have had pride and vanity enough to desire, but for the rest, fortune caetera mando. Forgive this scrawl, and be assured, I am, &c., &c. A. Hervey. MR. KNOX TO MR. GRENVILLE. London, September 8, 1768. Dear Sir,—The last page of The State of the Nation is now before the compositor, and I have the prospect of a speedy deliverance from the tedious business of correcting the press, at least for that performance. I am, however, unable to complete it for want of the account of the deficiencies of the malt-tax during the last Peace. You were so good as to put it into my hands once, but I somehow or other neglected to make extracts from it. I think the medium deficiency was between 40,000/. and 50,000/. If you can supply me with it, my work will be the less exceptionable, but if von have not the account at Wotton, I must beg vour opinion what the medium may be, and I will venture to insert it, and when you come to town in the winter, if I find we have been mistaken, it may be corrected in the octavo edition. I have very good authority for thinking the storv Lord Hillsborough told me of the transaction with Sir Jeffry Amherst was not the whole of what passed between them. It seems that after the General left him, he went to Court, and there they again met before Lord II. had gone in to the King, and the General called his 360 GRENVILLE PAPERS. September, Lordship aside and told him, that lest he had not been sufficiently explicit before, he would now repeat to his Lordship, that he desired if he mentioned anything of what had passed to the King, he would acquaint His Majesty that he expected some mark of honour from him at the time his Government should be taken awav. Lord H. then asked him what mark of honour? Sir Jeffry said he left that to his Lordship and the King. This part of the conversation Sir Jeffry complains was not reported to the King, and it is upon that ground Lord H. is to be attacked in the House of Lords. Our last accounts from America contain only details of the spreading of the malignant disposition among the other colonies from Boston, but there is no appearance of acts of violence anywhere. The stocks continue to decline nevertheless, and yet money is so plenty, that all the bankers’ shops are full; but people are so unsettled in their minds, and have so little confidence in the wisdom of Government, that they don’t know what to do with their property. Lord Shelburne is again on the hinge, and Lord Barrington is talked of for his successor, but Lord Hillsborough is now the active Minister, and is said to have acquired great favour in the Closet. I am, &c., &c. Will. Knox. TIIE PRINCESS AMELIA TO COUNTESS TEMPLE. Gunnersbury, September 6, (1768.) All the intelligence that I can pick up about the King of Denmark is, that he leaves London again next Saturday for another progress ; where he intends going 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 361 after he has been at Oxford, Portsmouth, Bath, &c., is more than I can inform you, dear Lady Temple, but I think nineteen too young to see all the beauties of Stowe ; if he was acquainted with the masters of it, I should hope he would find great pleasure in it, though he is so young. I suppose you have heard that the foreign Ministers have complained of me to the King, and that his answer to them was, he could not help it: the town thinks the wifes are the chiefs in this affair '. I am very sorry you felt so much inconvenience from giving me so much pleasure, in coming to town, and I desire you, my dear Lady Temple, to make my compliments to your Lord, and believe me most sincerely your friend, Amelia. COMMODORE HOOD TO EARL TEMPLE. September 1 1, 1768. My Lord,—1 return you a thousand thanks for the very obliging letter you did me the honour to write me on the 11th of May, and my feelings of pleasure are not to be expressed, at your so kindly accepting the seeds and trees, as a small token of my gratitude and respect. On the 11th instant, at midnight, I received a letter 1 There is no explanation of the cause of complaint which the wifes [wives] of the Foreign Ministers are supposed to have had against the Princess Amelia. It would seem that Iler Royal Highness used the same mode of spelling as that adopted by Lady Temple, as the amanuensis of Junius, in the word di force [divorce]: there is the same substitution of the letter/, for v, and if it were a fashion among the middle aged ladies of the period, it is all in favour of my theory upon the subject of the autograph of Junius. 362 GRENVILLE PAPERS. September, from General Gage dispatched by express, signifying that he had, in consequence of the King’s orders, directed Colonel Dalrymple to embark from hence with His Majesty’s 14th and 20th regiments of foot, as soon as possible, and proceed with them to Boston, and desiring my utmost aid in transporting them thither. I was well convinced, in my own mind, that such a measure must take place sooner or later, and had collected together the small squadron entrusted to my care, for that reason; and it is infinite satisfaction to me, that I have been able to embark the whole in His Majesty’s ships, which I hope will be landed in Boston in a few days, as the ships are now preparing to sail. It is also matter of most singular pleasure to me, that the countenance, protection, and support, which I have given to the Commissioners for managing His Majesty’s revenue in America, has been so handsomely approved at home. The moment application wras made to me by the Commissioners for assistance from the King’s ships, I ordered the Romney, of <50 guns, to Boston ; a lucky event for those gentlemen, as she proved an asylum for them in time of need, and, from time to time, I continued to throw in additional force, ’till they said no more was wanted. Disquiet at home as well as in the colonies is very alarming; but I hope and trust that order will be restored both in England and America ere long. I am very confident the spirited measures now pursuing will soon effect it in America, as also I am that, had the two regiments now on shipboard been sent to Boston in the spi ing, it would have prevented any address, petition, or remonstrance, from the other colonies, and must have had very favourable conse- 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS 363 quences for Great Britain. I have the honour to be, with the greatest deference, and most perfect esteem, my Lord, your Lordship’s most highly obliged and ever faithful humble servant, Sam. Hood. i:\RL TEMPLE TO MR. GRENVILLE. Stowe, Wednesday morning, past 1, September 14, 1708. Dear Brother,—An express brings me word that the King of Denmark will accept of an early dinner ; this changes my whole plan, and distresses me most exceedingly. I must beg the loan of your cook, your plate, and will accept of a dozen or so of your hermitage. The plate I will send for, but beg you to dispatch the cook in your one-horse chaise as fast as possible. Your most truly affectionate, Temple. MR. KNOX TO MR. GRENVILLE. London. September 15, 1768. Dear Sir,—Mr. Whately brought me the letter you were so good to write to me the 11th instant, yesterday. I have not seen Air. Pownall’s second edition, for indeed the confusion of his first made me expect little from it. I shall now, however, take it into my review of the American controversy, as he has given it importance by addressing it to you. I now particularly trouble you with a letter, because of the confident assertions you will find in the newspapers of the arrival of an express, with letters from Governor Bernard to Lord Hillsborough. I had it 364 GRENVILLE PAPERS. September, yesterday from his Lordship that the whole was false, no express being arrived, nor any letter of a late date to Administration. I was told this day in the city that there are accounts from Boston, so late as the 4th of August, by way of Halifax, which say all was quiet, and the duties regularly paid. I find the Administration are all, except Lord Shelburne, agreed upon coercive measures. The Chancellor wholly and absolutely of that opinion. Lord Shelburne must therefore withdraw, which he chooses to make involuntary, though from his conduct he certainly means not to continue. On Tuesday, when the Parliament was to be prorogued, there was a scarcity of Commissioners in town, and the Chancellor sent to Lord Shelburne to come ; his answer was, that he neither could nor would come. These anecdotes I learned from Lord Hillsborough. I think he has no design of making a sort of use of me, which neither my nature, my principles, nor my obligations could ever suffer; but whenever I am desired to communicate anything to you, I shall always think myself at liberty to mention from whom I had it, whether I am desired to say so or no, and then you, Sir, will judge whether to give me any or what answer, for I beg you to believe me on every motive, and in every instance, very truly, &c., &c. Will. Knox. MR. GRENVILLE TO MR. WHATELY. Wotton, September 18, 1768. Dear Sir,—Your two last letters of the 13th and 15th of this month vvere brought over to me to Stowe, to which place we went on Wednesday last, bv my bro- 176s. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 365 ther’s desire, to be present at the reception of the King of Denmark, who came thither, according to his appointment, on Friday morning to breakfast. We afterwards walked out, and attended him all round the Gardens. Dinner was ordered, by his directions, to be ready a little before one, and, between three and four in the evening, he set out on his return to i.ondon, where he was to be that night. He was extremely gracious, and seemed to be very much pleased with the place, and with all the marks of attention and respect shown to him ; and, indeed, my brother omitted nothing which could contribute to make his reception agreeable and convenient to him. There were nine other gentlemen who attended him, and dined with us ; amongst others, his Minister, Count Bernstorff, and Count Holcke, who came with his Danish Majesty in the same chaise, and is said to be his favourite. I had a great deal of conversation both with the one and the other, and I thought thev behaved extremely well. I understand that the King of Denmark leaves this country on the 7th of October, and then goes to France. I sincerely wish that he may have taken a favourable impression of the manner in wdiich he lias been received here in general, and am very sorry to see, by your letter, that any part of the behaviour towards him should be thought deficient, and liable to censure, especially if it is in the Government itself, where it must be of most importance. I have received from America the same account with that which you sent to me, of the state of things there, which is the natural and certain consequence of what has been done here. I have nothing new to say to vou upon that subject. You know my opinions, which every day confirms me in. I believe no plan of operations is 366 GRENVILLE PAPERS. September, yet formed, though I am assured that all the Administration except Lord Shelburne (who must soon withdraw) are agreed upon coercive measures ; what those measures are to be, we shall see, I suppose, when the Parliament meets, and not till then. If the petition, which you mention to be preparing by the Americans here, against the dissolution of their Assemblies, goes on, that will probably be presented about the meeting of the Parliament, and will furnish matter of debate immediately, especially if it shall be true, as you have been informed, that the idea of the present Ministry is, that the Crown and not the Parliament is the proper authority to reduce the colonies to obedience. I am, &c., &c. George Grenville. MR. KNOX TO MR. GRENVILLE. London, September 27, 1768. Dear Sir,—I find there was no other difference in our accounts from Boston, than in the description of the vessel which brought them; for what you mentioned in respect to Mr. Williams, was told me by Lord Hillsborough before the express was said to have been arrived, and came by a merchant vessel from Halifax, by which your letters also came. There is, however, a ship this day from Boston, which brings accounts to the 24th of August, when all was quiet, that is, there was no riot. The town had come to a resolution not to import any British goods in the course of next year, and had pressed the people of New York and Philadelphia to join them in it, but I don’t find they have done so, any 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 3G7 farther than to avoid importing any of those articles on which the late duties have been laid. I looked over all the Boston newspapers, and did not find one rash or violent expression, and the entries, inwards and outwards, at the Custom House are as many as usual. There are advertisements, also, for the sale of English goods and Madeira wines, and notices for the meeting of the county courts, and such sort of things as arc commonly transacted in times of tranquillity. The rendezvous of the troops, I learn, is at Halifax, where there were three regiments collected, and the detachments from the southern colonies, which had arrived at New York, were ordered from thence to Halifax ; but whether they are to proceed directly to Boston, or to wait the arrival of the two regiments from Ireland, I do not know. I should think the latter, from an application having been made to Sir William Draper, to go out with them to command the whole, but it seems that purpose was afterwards changed with regard to him. It is said a plan of accommodation has been proposed by Lord Chatham, which will render all military proceedings unnecessary, and on that account it was not thought expedient to send Sir William Draper with the troops. My paper would have been ready for this post, but for an addition which I made, on account of the papers published in the administration of the colonies. 1 think I have discovered in them pretty strong evidence of the right of Parliament to tax those who don’t send Members to Parliament, or I would not defer so material a proof until I should make up my American paper. I have made some other additions at the conclusion, 368 GRENVILLE PAPERS. October, and when the whole is executed, I shall beg your observations upon it before it comes abroad, lest 1 may have committed some error, or advanced something which is not founded. Stocks continue to decline, and all mankind seem disheartened and uneasy. War is apprehended from every quarter, and nothing less than preparation for it is found in this country. One of the Boston toasts, is an able and permanent Administration to Great Britain, in which I most heartily join them, but much do I fear we shall both be disappointed in almost the only thing we mutually desire. I am, &c., Ac. Will. Knox. MR. KNOX TO MR. GRENVILLE. London, October 4, 1768. Dear Sir,—By this night’s post I have dispatched to you the compleat State of the Nation, at least as com-pleat a one as I could frame, aided by the many materials you were so good to furnish me with. Idle whole impression is struck off; but yet I shall suffer none other to go abroad, until I am favoured with’ your opinion whether there be anything materially amiss. I do not look for your approbation of the work, with all its imperfections on its head, nor would I wish to engage your countenance to it, any further than it consists with your own purposes ; but I wish to have your opinion both of the performance and the matter, in so far as it may affect the public or myself, should I come to be known for the author. Almon has general orders from a great number of Members of Parliament to send them whatever comes 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 3G9 out in the recess, and he intends taking the opportunity of the intervening fortnight, between the meetings at Newmarket, to convey this pamphlet to them. He thinks of sending one elegantly done up to the King, as he has done with some other such matters. He is an excellent fellow at circulating a work, and understands all the mystery of raising its character, and exciting purchasers. I thought it best to keep the American controversy for a separate work, and I have it in such forwardness, that, if I get the supply I am promised from the Board of Trade, I shall have it ready for the press as soon as the Parliament meets. I follow Mr. Locke’s method non passibus aequis, and first examine all the American pretences, and then give a political history of the colonies, and from thence deduce their real connection with the mother country. I am, &c., &c. Will. Knox. MR. WHATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. October 11. 1768. Dear Sir,—I agree with you entirely in believing that the Ministry have no plan settled for America. Lord Hillsborough is greatly elated, I hear, at Philadelphia and Rhode Island having refused to join with Boston in the agreement not to import goods from Png-land ; it was natural they should refuse, because now they will supply Boston : New York therefore has, I understand, also refused; but we arc in a miserable plight when we rejoice only that things are not worse, and if we triumph in such an advantage, we shall be content in the end with very slight advantages. It was VOL. IV. B B 370 GRENVILLE PAPERS. October, thought a symptom of the ruin of the Spartan State, that the people exulted in the retreat of the enemy from their gates ; they before had not an idea that an enemy could set foot on the most distant part of their territories ; we are humbled indeed if we are pleased to hear that some of the Americans will condescend to trade with us; the question of sovereignty is not at all decided by it; on that point Philadelphia, Rhode Island, and New York still agree with Boston ; but before their dissent was known, the agreement had very little effect in the city. Lord North tells me there will be no petition from the merchants, and at the same time assures me that no pains has been taken by Ministry to prevent one; from whence his inference was, that pains had been taken by the former Ministry to procure the petitions which led to the repeal of the Stamp Act. You see in the papers that Mr. Ingersol and Mr. Johnson are appointed Judges of the Vice Admiralty Courts, with salaries each of 600/.: two more proper men could certainly not have been chosen; but Lord North, whom I saw on Sunday at the King of Denmark’s Levee, told me that, those offices being filled, he feared the other meritorious sufferers must wait some time for opportunities to provide for them; I said there were other means of gratifying them; his answer was, that pensions might be assigned them on the quit rents; my inference from which bint was that the American revenues must have produced miserably if no salaries to civil offices can be laid upon them, for hitherto they are only charged with the expenses of their own establishment and the poor pittance to Governor Hutchinson, and the Ministry do not consider them as able to bear more. I thought, too, that in the present state of the 176*. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 371 Civil List, the Ministers might as well let the quit rents alone: however, I took no notice of any of these considerations, but told his Lordship I did not mean pensions; that many of the friends to Government in America would be satisfied if their sons were provided for as collectors and controllers of the customs; he caught the idea eagerly, and desired me, if I knew any such, that I would mention them ; too little, he said, had been done, and that had been shamefully delayed so long, he should be glad of the means to do more, and would be much obliged to me, as I was better informed than others upon the subject, if I would from time to time let him know of any of the meritorious sufferers who could thus be marked with attention. I answered that, as his Lordship and I meant the same thing, I should readily at any time, on a public account, give him the information he desired, and I believe that on inquiry I shall find several very deserving of the favours of the Crown, to whom such settlements will be very acceptable; it will encourage them, and check the enemies of Government, to see that in every branch promotion depends on attachment to the cause of Great Britain. I heard when I was in town that Lord Egmont has declared he cannot act in a Ministry of which there are not three of a mind, and Lord Rochford now is talked of to succeed Lord Shelburne, but I do not see that Lord Shelburne is yet likely to be out: who is to turn him out ? nobody seems to have any power; and the others, though they do not differ with one another as he does with all, yet they have no communication together, and there is no union between them. Lord Shelburne, it is said, is the only one who is against expelling Mr. Wilkes on the ground of blasphemy ; suppose he is ; they have been n b 2 372 GRENVILLE PAPERS. * October, long used to have a Solicitor-General withdrawing himself from this Crown cause, and that I think is the most material circumstance which can attend Lord Shelburne’s difference of opinion. But we are very much out of the fashion, Sir, to be thinking of politics; the King of Denmark is the only topic of conversation : Wilkes himself is forgotten even by the populace. I saw His Majesty, for the first time, at the review on Saturday ; Mons, de Diede, seeing me in the company, called me out to tell me that the King would see company the next day at St. James’s ; Mons, de Bernsdorff joined in telling me the time and manner of it. I thought myself much honoured by the civility, and to show my sense of it to Mons, de Diede, went up on purpose to attend his Danish Majesty’s Levee. He went through the ceremony with great decorum, bowed separately to every person as they were introduced to him, spoke to all whom he knew, and something personal to each ; and he had an opportunity of showing one act of graciousness; the Levee being over sooner than was expected, many were too late; the King was retired; but on hearing that several whom he had not seen were in the room, he came out again and went round to them all. The attendants speak with great pleasure on the reception he has met with in England ; M. de Bernsdorff particularly assured me that the King would be happy to know that he was as agreeable to the nation, as their behaviour was satisfactory to him. You must have heard all the particulars of the Duke of Northumberland’s entertainment: perhaps you may not have heard George Selwyn’s bon mot; the open court at Sion, you know, was turned into a circle and finely illuminated ; Lord Huntingdon, on entering it, cried out, 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 373 that he had never seen that apartment before. If your Lordship, says George Selwyn, will look up, perhaps you may recollect the ceiling. While I am writing I receive a letter which tells me that the Pocock East Indiaman, just arrived, brings advice, that we have, contrary to our usual custom, purchased a peace from the Country Powers on the Coast of Coromandel, instead of making them reimburse the expenses of the war, which is thought a dangerous precedent. COMMODORE HOOD TO MR. GRENVILLE. Halifax, October 15, 1768. Sir,—By a private letter of the <5th of August, I have received intimation that my command is extended a little to the southward so as to take in Lord Botetourt’s government. This I look upon as a handsome mark of approbation of my past conduct, as well as of confidence that I have inclination to do my duty in future with becoming spirit and firmness ; as such I shall receive it with great pleasure, though I think it would have been for the King’s service had the limit ended, as in the last station, at Cape Florida, because all the ships thus far, come here to clean and refit; and as, in the present posture of affairs in America, it will of course happen that I shall be under the necessity, for the public good, to employ the ships to the southward of Virginia, upon services not appertaining to their stations, I must do it under my present commission at the risk of its being approved or not, which is by no means an agreeable situation to be in; and if I should sec occasion for it, I should in all probability be very soon able to fill their 374 GRENVILLE PAPERS. October, stations by other ships, as they may chance to come to me, supposing the whole to be under my command. However, I shall continue to do what appears most eligible for His Majesty’s service, and abide the consequences without fear; an officer should be a stranger to that idea, in every instance, to do his duty properly, and he will ever be so, as long as he is conscious of acting with integrity and to the best of his judgment. I laid hold of the southward ships as well as all those under my command for transporting the troops, by which I saved to Government near 3000/., and was able to send the whole with great expedition, for on the twenty-seventh day from the date of General Gage’s order for the troops at New York, they were all on shore at Boston; you must therefore be sensible, Sir, there was no delay in any respect. Affairs in America by no means wear a pleasant complexion, but I hope and fully trust that peace and good order will be restored in no Ions’ time. God be praised! the troops are safe landed, and very critically too, as you will see by an extract of a letter sent to me, as well as by a short diary of Captain Corner’s, from his sending away the Senegal with the requisition for troops ’till their arrival, by which you have the best accounts I can give how matters really are. “ I embrace the opportunity of the Magdalen to return you my most sincere thanks, and to congratulate you on the very important service you have been so instrumental in rendering to the public. *‘ On the intention of a force beins introduced into this province being made public, a convention was formed, as I am told, in direct opposition to law: those that composed it, seemed to warrant the measure, and 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 375 you will judge of their tempers by their public titions. Agreements of mutual defence were entered into, as were also, it is strongly reported, some secret articles of an uncommon nature. “ At this period we arrived: the convention were planet-stricken, and this very favourable occasion I entreated the Governor to improve. It is beyond the power of my pen to paint anything so abject; far from behm elated that the hands of Government were ren-dered so respectable, he deplored the arrival of letters that made his setting out improper, and with earnest looks he followed a ship that he had hired for his conveyance, and in which he declared his fixed intention of going the moment the troops arrived. His actions were entirely of a piece with his words, for, on a requisition for quarters, he declared himself without power or authority in his province. The Council assembled, and they declared they would find none. An express arrivin’?' from General Gaije, gave me no room to hesitate; his information of the dangerous tendency of the people’s intentions rendered an immediate landing necessary. All their bravadoes ended as maybe imagined; the Governor prudcntially retired to the country, and left me to take the whole on myself. I encamped the 29th Regiment immediately, the 14th remained without cover: by tolerable management I got possession of Faneuil Hall, the School of Liberty, from the Sons thereof, without force, and thereby secured all their arms; and I am much in fashion, visited by Otis, Hancock, Rowe, &c., who cry peceavi, and offer exertions for the public service, in hopes by this means to ruin the Governor, by exposing his want of spirit and zeal for the public advantage. This I have endeavoured, nor without sue- 376 GRENVILLE PAPERS. October; cess, to turn to the use and advantage of the cause. We have had council after council, and nothing done ; the service of the Crown is not much attended to: I spoke my sentiments, full as plain as pleasant. “ What turn matters will take I know not, but thus far, my good Sir, you may rest satisfied, that the arrival of the squadron was the most seasonable thing ever known, and that I am in possession of the town, and therefore nothing can be apprehended; had we not arrived so critically, the worst that could be apprehended must have happened. I have entreated Captain Smith, to continue here in force ’till matters are a little settled. I want words to express our ideas of the very great friendship we received from all the gentlemen of the squadron, I shall not therefore attempt it.” Just as the Magdalen was about to sail the next day, the Colonel added the following note :—■ “ We are, my dear Sir, in a fair way to do very well, prejudices are giving way fast, they neither think us cannibals nor street robbers. In justice to Captain Smith, I must acknowledge his constant readiness in affording us every possible assistance, as have every officer in the squadron. I entreat you will make us as powerful as possible during the winter, much depends upon it.” As the Romney is not come to me agreeable to my expectations, I propose going to Boston in the Viper sloop, as soon as she is ready for sea. I was under the necessity of careening her, as she was twice ashore, but has received no damage. I inclined much to have gone with the troops, but all the ships were so crowded, there was not room for me without adding to the inconvenience of all the officers. 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 377 I propose to remain at Boston during the winter, if I think the service of His Majesty can thereby be in the least promoted. By what I have related you will pretty plainly see how matters stand, and how little is to be expected from Governor Bernard. I have long and often lamented his timid conduct, and yet would not willingly bring on him more contempt than he must of course feel, when the duplicity of his behaviour is brought to light; but I could not refrain giving you for your particular information my opinion of things in general. A governor of spirit and dignity, and who preferred the honour of his King, and the interest of his country, to his own little views, would have prevented almost the whole that has happened ; and bad Mr. Bernard taken courage to ask General Gage for the very troops now in Boston nine months ago, and which I have authority for believing openings were given him to do by the General, things would now have worn a very different complexion, and the Commissioners never have been forced to leave the town, but have been in a condition to carry on their business in peace and quietness. They were, as I am told, never properly supported by the Governor, and in no one instance did he ever have recourse to the civil magistrates for putting a stop to any riot or unlawful meeting; and what is yet more extraordinary, he suffered a declaration to be extorted from him, that he had not applied for troops, nor would not do it, which I am afraid led the lower class of people to greater lengths than they would otherways have gone, as well as the demagogues also. Mr. Bernard is without doubt a sensible man, but he has a vast deal of low cunning, which he has played off 378 GRENVILLE PAPERS. October, upon all degrees of people, to his own disgrace. His doubles and turnings have been so many, that he has altogether lost his road, and brought himself into great contempt. I cannot help mentioning one circumstance which has come to my knowledge as an officer. He frequently lamented to Captain Corner (whom I sent to Boston early in May for the support of the King’s revenue) the distressed condition of Castle William, and was afraid of its being attacked, [hfj which Captain Corner (knowing his man) took no notice. At last he spoke out, and said if he did not send his marines to the Castle the populace would certainly take it. Captain Corner replied that he would not only send his marines, but every man in the Romney in support of the Castle, if his Excellency would request it of him in a proper manner in writing; his orders from Commodore Hood enjoined him to it in the most express terms; to which Mr. Bernard answered, I cannot do that, Captain Corner, but I will tell you what you must do, you must write me a letter that the marines on board His Majesty’s ship under your command stand in need of being refreshed, and desire my permission for their being, landed on Castle William Island, which I will grant; Captain Corner begged to be excused, and withdrew. In a few days after he wrote Captain Corner a proper letter, and ante-dated it. I think this proves the man very clearly. I had a letter from him, dated the 27th of August, desiring I would grant him a ship to carry him to England, having the King’s leave to return. I was very sorry it was not in my power to comply with his request, for most certainly the sooner he is out of America the better. I hope the command of the troops will continue in 176^ GRENVILLE PAPERS, 379 ("Ionel Dalrymple after the arrival of the two regiments from Ireland, as he is a very excellent officer, and quite the gentleman, knows the world, and has a good address, with all the fire, judgment, coolness, integrity, and firmness that a man can possess. I account myself very fortunate in having such a man to act with, on so critical and delicate a service. I fear I have trespassed on your patience and goodness by so long a detail, and shall only add my most unfeigned wishes for your health, &c. I have the honour to be, &c. Sam. Hood. ANONYMOUS, [THE AUTHOR OF JUNIUS,] TO MR. GRENVILLE Loudon. 20th October, 1768. Sir.—I beg leave to offer you a letter, reprinted in the inclosed paper2 under the signature of Atticus, as 1 Endorsed in Mr. Grenville’s hand, “Anonymous, Oct. 20, 1768.” 2 The enclosure referred to is the letter signed Atticus of the 19th October {Junius, vol. iii. p. 165). The Author with scrupulous accuracy calls it reprinted, because it had originally appeared in the Public Advertiser of the previous day, and that which he has sent is cut from the Gazetteer of October 20th. This paper was not preserved by Mr. Grenville with the letter which it accompanied, but he appears to have given it to Mrs. Grenville to paste down in a small quarto book, which she kept for the reception of political letters cut from the newspapers a. In this collection I found it, and its identity is sufficiently established by some corrections in the handwriting of the author; thus the sentence, “He is now what they call a K--s man,” has the intermediate letters “ ing,” placed over the blank space. The following sentence is corrected, and an important alteration made: the printer has given it thus:—“The other Ministers were foreseeing in their usual course, a This collection of cuttings marks, in some degree, the estimation in which these papers were held by Mr. Grenville, and it may be observed that most of them are either by the Author of J unius, or immediately connected with sut ^'ets which he touched upon. Some of them are dated in Mrs. Grenville's handwritmc. The collection was not continued after her death in December, 1769. 380 GRENVILLE PAPERA October, finished with more care than I have usually time to give to these productions1. The town is curious to know without proceeding or regarding consequences; but this nobleman seems to have marked out, by a determined choice, the means to precipitate our destruction.” The Author has transposed the two words in Italics: he has added the word “been,” and taken away the words “the means,” by which it will be perceived that the sentence is completely changed, and the significance of it much improved. As corrected it would run thus:— “ The other Ministers were proceeding in their usual course, without foreseeing or regarding consequences: but this nobleman seems to have been marked out, by a determined choice, to precipitate our destruction.” The correction of a sjngle letter in another word, some for same, is merely mentioned to show the care with which the Author had read the paper, and his wish that it should be presented to Mr. Grenville with the sense perfect. 1 It has been fancifully supposed that the Author assumed the signature of Atticus from his own opinion of the purity of his style. Only four letters bearing this signature, and written between August 19th and November 14th, in the year 1708, have been hitherto attributed to the Author of Junius, but a great number of other letters so signed are to be found in the newspapers both before and subsequent to that year. The selection of these four letters was originally made by Almon for the Political Register, before the end of the year in which they were written and printed in the Public Advertiser. They were afterwards included in a separate publication by Almon in 1769, entitled, A Collection of the Letters of Atticus, Lucius, Junius, and others. Whether they were so selected by Almon from his own knowledge, or judgment from internal evidence that those of Atticus, Lucius, and Junius were by the same writer, is a question not in my power to determine, but I would hazard a conjecture that the selection was made by the indirect suggestion of the Author himself, whose vanity, though confined, as he said, “ within a narrow circle,” might still very naturally be extended to the desire of disseminating his writings as widely as possible. He was, no doubt, personally acquainted with Almon, but certainly not known to him as the Author of Junius. That the latter did also write under the signatures of Atticus and Lucius, is now placed beyond a doubt by his own admission in the letters addressed to Mr. Grenville, and now first printed in these volumes. It would lead me, I fear, far beyond the scope of my present purpose to enter into the inquiry, whether any or all the letters signed Atticus and Lucius which may be found in the newspapers for several 1768 GRENVILLE PAPERS. .381 the author. Every body guesses, some are quite certain, and all are mistaken. Some, who bear your character, give it to the Rockinghams ; (a policy I do not understand;) and Mr. Bourke1 denies it, as he would a fact, which he wished to have believed. It mav be proper to assure you that no man living knows or even suspects the author. I have no connection with anv party2, except a voluntary attachment to //our cause and Person. It began with amusement, grew into habit, was confirmed by a closer attention to your Principles & Conduct, & is now heated into Passion. The Grand Council3 was mine, & I may say, with truth, almost everything that, for two years past, has attracted the attention of the publick. I am conscious these papers have been very unequal; but you will be candid enough to make allowances for a man, who writes absolutely without materials or instruction. For want of hints of this kind, I fear I frequently mistake your views, as well as the true point, whereon you would choose to rest the questions, in which your name is concerned. But this is an inconvenience years, were also written by the Author of Junius. The question is curious and interesting, but it is one which rather belongs to a future editor of the collected writings of Junius. It has been mooted with some very judicious and pertinent remarks both in the Athenaum and in the Notes and Queries, and it is an inquiry which deserves very particular attention. 1 Whately writes to Mr. Grenville a week after this date,—“ Atticus is said to be Mr. Burke, Mr. Mauduit, or Lord George Sackville.” The name of Edmund Burke was frequently written Bourke in the private correspondence at this time, as well as in the newspapers. I have found it so written occasionally by Mr. Grenville, by Whately, by Horace Walpole, and in a letter from Beckford to Lord Chatham he is called O’Bourke. ' In a debate on the Regency Bill in 1765, Lord Temple said, “He was himself of no ( arty, nor connected with any party.” 3 See ante, page 171. note. 382 GRENVILLE PAPERS October. without a remedy. I must continue to argue for you, as I would for myself in the same circumstances, as far as I understand yours. Untill you are Minister, I must not permit myself to think of the honour of being known to you. When that happens, you will not find me a needy or a troublesome dependant. In the mean time, I must console myself with reflecting that, by resisting every temptation of vanity, & even the great desire I have of being honoured with your notice, I give you some assurance, that you may depend upon my firmness and fidelity hereafter1. MR. CHARLES LLOYD TO MR. GRENVILLE. Thursday, October 20, 1768. Dear Sir,—Lord Shelburne, after an hour’s audience of the King, resigned the seals yesterday. Lord Northington was in the Closet an hour and a quarter. Lord Camden was with the Duke of Grafton yesterday, and has given orders, as his brother tells me, to suspend the making his liveries. The report to-day, at Betty’s2, is, 1 This letter is written upon a quarto sheet of paper, bearing in the water-mark the maker’s name, J. Portal. It corresponds so precisely in this respect, as well as in size, quality, and gilt edges, that it may have formed part of the same quire as the paper upon which a letter from Lord Temple to Mr. Grenville was written just one week before, dated Pall Mall, October 13. I have not found any other letters from Lord Temple upon similar paper, but it was used by Junius for his letter to Lord Chatham in January, 1772. The letter from Junius to Lord Chatham, dated in January, 1768, is written upon a half sheet of rough-edged foolscap paper, folded into quarto, and is exactly similar to that used for the paper on the Auction duty, sent to Mr. Grenville in February, 1768. 2 A noted fruit shop in St. James’s Street, and a well-known rendezvous for the political gossips of the day. There is a portrait of Betty tin fruit girl, by Gillray. 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS 383 that Lord Weymouth is to be Secretary for the Southern Department. I should have known all the manoeuvres from one or two dejected people who were apprehensive of soon being forced to turn patriots, but we were interrupted by the Duke of Cumberland. I am, &c., C. Lloyd. Wilkes wrote the paper describing the characters of the Administration, which I sent you yesterday1. MR. AUGUSTUS HERVEY TO MR. GRENVILLE. Park Place, October 21, 1768. Dear Sir,—I came to town late last night from my brother’s, and found all the Levee to-day in its usual confusion, and most people much surprised at Lord Chatham’s resignation ; but not so at Lord Shelburne’s, which is supplied by Lord Rochford, and’t is said the Duke of Marlborough will have the Privy Seal, so there is an end of those negative declarations. I hear the Chancellor continues, but that Sir Edward Hawke must soon give way to the Earl of Sandwich. That is the talk at St. James’s; and that Barre is to be turned out of the Vice-Treasurership, so that it will be 1 It appeared in the Public Advertiser on the 18th instant, signed A Dreamer of Dreams, and contains an imaginary account of the Masquerade given by the King of Denmark at the Opera House on the 1 Oth instant. The Duke of Grafton is described as Janus : Lord Chatham as King Lear: Lord Shelburne (is a Jesuit: Lord Weymouth, Landlord of the Bedford Arms: Lord Hillsborough, a wild Irishman: Lord Gower, a Drench Harlequin: Lord Barrington, a bright active little being in the skin of a cat, with all the cat's dexterity, eternally leaping on, and clinging to, some of the great personages. The writer adds, that “ Mr. Wilkes’s daughter was there in the character of Liberty, and her appearance was truly amiable, but she retired early, being but little countenanced by the nobility ’ 384 GRENVILLE TAPERS- October a fine mixture at last. There is a meeting to-night to think of the Speech. Lord Harcourt and Lord Holdernesse are competitors for the embassy to France, but ’tis thought the first will have it. Poor Colonel Brudenell died last night1. There seemed more candidates for his Regiment than for his place at Court to-day. Would you believe the pious, virtuous, and sober Lord Northington was again sent for to play the harlequin in all this farce, and was above an hour and a half in the Closet to-day before any one else ? What a melancholy scene is all this for this poor country! 1 am told you will shortly see a letter to a Great Duke2 on the present situation he has brought 1 Colonel Robert Brudenell, brother to the Duke of Montague, ViceChamberlain to the Queen, Colonel of the 4th Regiment of Foot, and Lieutenant-Governor of Windsor Castle. 2 Mr. Hervey here, I think, alludes to a letter of which there can be no reasonable doubt, from general similarity of style, as well as from particular expressions and opinions, that he was himself the Author. It appeared on the 1st of December following in the Political Register, and it is addressed to the Duke of Grafton under the title of the Man who thinks himself Minister: signed—To my King and Country a. True Friend. The following is an extract:— “ I will acknowledge, and in some degree allow, that there might be too great a stoicism or contempt for American popularity in that very able Minister who (like a true Englishman, and an honest one too) would have made them contribute at least towards their own expenses, when he proposed that very Stamp Act which the King and Parliament approved: and at the same time I believe his reason for not more industriously courting the vulgar applause of the colonists, at the expense of this country, was the consciousness of his being right in not doing so. It were to be wished hr had stood as well in the opinion of that crowd, as in that of all impartial people, and all real well-wishers to this country; nay, I wish with all my soul, he and his friends had stooped a little, ad captanduni vulgi, to take in those fluttering hearts which are to be caught by anything baited with the name of Liberty. But perhaps the times would not admit of it, nor the situation of things; and perhaps, too, there was no way to avert the impending fate of that despicable, humbling figure we have made, ever 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 385 this country into; but, alas! what signifies any one’s painting what is so sensibly felt by every one? How can a Grafton supply the seat of a Walpole or a Grenville? Indeed, my dear Sir, you are universally prayed for by all sets now, except a few dependent hirelings that surround the gilded Pagod. God knows whether one can wish you at such a time in such a crazy sinking vessel, though it can only be such a pilot that can conduct us into safety. I am, &c., &c. A. Hervey. MR. CADWALLADER GOLDEN1 TO MR. GRENVILLE. New York, October 22, 1768. Sir,—I cannot express the pleasure I received by the honour you have done me in yours of the 28th of July. You may assure yourself, Sir, that there is not one single fact, in the Vindication which I published of my conduct, but what may be proved by the proceedings of the Council and Assembly, copies of which are con-tinuedly sent to the Plantation Board, or were notoriously known at the time. No man in this place has, at any time, attempted to expose any of it as false, which since that Minister was displaced. It has been as a scourge from Heaven for our pride and luxury, and the terrible situation of our affairs at present shews it—the confusion we are in at home, the contempt we are in everywhere abroad, proves it. But alas! nothing can make it more evident than your Lordship being placed in that chair where a Walpole and a Grew ill,' had been seated.” 1 Cadwallader Colden was a Scotch Physician. He was born in 1688, and, after finishing his studies in Edinburgh, he went to Pennsylvania. He settled at New York, and was made Lieut.-Governor, and subsequently Governor, of that Province. He was the author of a History of the Five Indian Nations, and of several medical and scientific works. Botany was his favourite study, and on that subject he corresponded with Linnteus. He died at the age of 88, in 1776. VOL. IV. C C 386 GRENVILLE PAPERS. October, no doubt some would if they could. I am well assured that no one fact was pointed out to the grand jury, who found it a false libel, nor was any kind of proof attempted to be given, other than of the person who printed it at New York. You may judge, Sir, by what principle our judges are directed. If the Vindication had given any just reason of complaint, as it related to my administration of Government, it ought to have been made to the King, where a proper redress could be obtained, but they chose to make themselves both accusers and judges. I must own, Sir, that when 1 wrote to you in January last, I was alarmed, by the attempt to join the Council and Assembly with the Courts of Justice against me, not knowing to what lengths their malice might lead them ; but I was soon afterwards freed from that uneasiness, by the general abhorrence, publicly expressed, of the method taken to calumniate an innocent person. Since which time all discourse on the subject, I am told, is avoided by those people who were the authors and promoters of this iniquitous proceeding. It is very improper to give the characters of men in public authority when it is not accompanied with the proper proofs. I wish you knew the general sentiments of the people, in respect to the integrity and ability of our judges : perhaps you may learn it from some who cannot be suspected of partiality. There is one thing of which I think it nowT proper to inform you, and which I have not hitherto done. Major James, of the Artillery regiment, in 1765, carried into the Fort without my knowledge, while I was in the country, several howitzers with their shells, and other artillery ammunition and stores. This gave the first 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 387 uneasiness to the people, and some imprudent discourse he used at that time raised their resentment more against him than any man in the Province, so far that he did not think it safe to continue in it. He desired leave of the General to go to England, and carried the General’s and my dispatches on that occasion. It may be asked, how came it that the Assembly of this Province should recompense Major James to the utmost of his demands, when, at the same time, they refused to make any recompense to me, or to pay that part of the salary which was due to me? You may judge, Sir, by what follows. Major James, after his return to this place, told me, in private conversation between ourselves, that he had 400 guineas given him in England ; that he had a paper of directions how to answer in his examination before the House of Commons ; and I suppose the agent of the Assembly had directions to advise the Assembly. These things I cannot prove otherwise than as 1 tell you ; but you may be able to judge of the truth of them. When 1 applied to the Assembly, in consequence of the Address of the House of Commons, which you mention, for reimbursement of the losses which I had sustained, and for payment of the salary due to me, they at first seemed to avoid it, by passing over my application without notice, which induced me to write to the Speaker, and then their answer was, that I had brought it upon myself. To this day I remain without one farthing of the reimbursement, or of the salary due to me. In my letters to the Secretary of State, I gave my opinion, that the faction, in opposition to the authority of Parliament, placed their hopes in intimidating the Ministry by bold assertions, without the least regard to c c 2 388 GRENVILLE PAPERS. October, truth, and by intimidating every officer of the Crown from their duty ; but that if the Parliament resolved to support the authority of Great Britain over the colonies, the opposition would soon subside. Perhaps I gave my opinion too freely, and thereby gave offence. Now it will appear whether I judged rightly, when the Ministry are resolved to support that authority. Indeed it never entered my imagination that the Stamp Act would be repealed. The success, since that repeal, which has attended the measures taken in the colonies, and the numerous papers continuedly published, in vindication of those measures in opposition to the authority of Parliament, may make it more difficult to convince men of their errors than it would have been by enforcing the Stamp Act. I informed the Secretary of State likewise of the matters which were the subject of my letters to you; and after I knew that my Lord Hillsborough was appointed Secretary for the Colonies, I had more confidence in him, having corresponded with him while he presided at the Plantation Board. I particularly informed him of several transactions in this Province, which may be needless to repeat to you; and of some Acts to which the Governor had given his assent, in direct breach of his instructions, and which tended greatly to increase the power of the Assembly, in prejudice to the constitutional prerogative of the Crown. 1 am told that my Lord Hillsborough mentioned me in private discourse very favourably, but as to anything farther I remain entirely ignorant. The sentiments with regard to the Colonies, which you have done me the honour to communicate to me, I am persuaded will, in the end, be adopted by every 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 389 honest man, and give me confidence of your endeavours, in whatever situation you be, that justice be done me I think good policy likewise requires it, that His Majesty’s faithful servants may not hereafter be deterred from their duty. I wrote to my Lord Hillsborough, that my only wish with respect to myself is, that I may close my days in ease with reputation, and that my children may not suffer, by my performing my duty in a long series of years, of which 1 can give many instances, but that they may receive some benefit thereby. May I beg the honour of a line, when you can inform me of what I may expect ? I am, with the highest respect and sincere gratitude, &c., &c. Cadwallader Colden. MR. WHATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. October 27, 1768. Dear Sir,—I have only time to tell you that a town meeting at Boston having first required of the Governor to call an Assembly, on his refusal they have chosen four representatives to meet in convention with such deputies as shall be sent by the other towns, and have resolved that the King has no right to send troops thither without the consent of the Assembly; that Great Britain has broken the original compact, and that therefore the king’s officers have no longer am authority there : they, besides, have recommended to the inhabitants to provide themselves with arms, and be ready to array that day sc’niiight, I suppose with a design to seize the castle before the troops arrive ; which 390 GRENVILLE PAPERS. October, is another good effect of our Ministerial delays. The news has sunk the stocks three and a quarter per cent. Everybody one meets now says they wish the Stamp Act had never been repealed. I do not find it absolutely, though I think it is generally, agreed, that Lord Chatham, in his letter of resignation, mentioned Corsica, the family compact, and Sir Jeffry Amherst1, but the terms of the letter were so respectful, that the Duke of Grafton has been to Hayes to persuade him to continue ; all, however, in vain. I do not find that his successor is at. all settled. Lord Camden, I believe, wdll continue ; it is not yet true that Barre has resigned, but I take it for granted that he will. Lord Shelburne, I am told, has, some time since, made advances to the Rockinghams, which were but coolly received. If I was to believe common report, I should suppose you were to be sent for immediately, but I know no more than common report. From the same authority, I hear that the meeting of the Parliament is to be postponed, which I believe not at all. Lord Shelburne’s resignation was cavalier: he did not hint his design to any of the Ministers; he only desired Lord Weymouth would let him go in alone, as he had something particular to say to the King, and, at coming out, told Lord Northington that he might, if he pleased, tell the Ministers a piece of news, for that he had just resigned the Seals. The author of the State of the Nation2 is said to 1 Lord Chatham mentioned only the removal of Lord Shelburne and Sir Jeffry Amherst.—See Chatham Correspondence, vol. iii. p. 338. 2 The reader will have already observed that Mr. Knox was the author of this Tract, but it was replied to by Burke in one of his famous compositions, entitled Observations, de., upon the supposition that it was written by Mr Grenville. 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 391 be yourself, your humble servant, Mr. Knox, or Mr. Mauduit. Atticus is said to be Mr. Burke \ Mr. Mauduit, or Lord George Sackville. MR. WHATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. October 28, 1768 Dear Sir,—I have little to add to the printed accounts you will see of the Rebellion at Boston. General Gage writes to the Ministers, that he shall consider it a direct rebellion, and treat it accordingly; that he, therefore, intended to have sent troops to New York, but that the merchants would not let him any ship to transport them, he must, therefore, send for the two regiments from Halifax. I have now found out the mystery about those regiments, which has puzzled me all the summer. It was said on the 18th of July, that they were probably at Boston by that time, in consequence of the orders sent from hence. Those orders, I find, were only to be ready to go in case their assistance was required, leaving poor Governor Bernard, as usual, to be responsible for the measure; he proposed the requisition to his Council, they did not dare to advise it; he writes word, that if one of them had been for it he would have taken the step, and now the\ blame him for not doing it on his own authority; this is very hard indeed. Wedderburn arrived last night from Yorkshire; he has been sounded whether in case the Solicitor General’s 1 ‘- Mr. Bourke denies it as he would a fact, which he wished to have believed.’’—Junius [Gtticus] private note to Mr. Grenville, ‘^th October. 1768. 392 GRENVILLE PAPERS. October, place should become vacant, he would take it; his answer was, that no man in his senses could think of engaging in the present system. He saw Lord Rockingham just before he came up : his Lordship’s language was, that it was impossible the several parts of the Opposition could differ now on American measures; that in Opposition they should entirely agree, but that if they ever were called upon to form a Ministry in concert, as Mr. Grenville would naturally expect the first place, there would be difficulties in giving securities to his Lordship’s friends. He expressed himself a little hurt with the State of the Nation: Bourke [^Edmund Burke J mentioned it to me yesterday in the same manner; I find they are very hostile to the Administration, condemn their whole conduct with respect to America, and seem inclined to attack Lord Hillsborough’s letter for rescinding. That letter was, I find, approved of by all the Administration ; they say, that in writing it they only meant to comply with the intentions of Parliament to enforce the laws of revenue. A strong memorial is come over from the King of Sardinia, representing the dangers of the Family Compact ; I suppose Corsica is the occasion of it. I do not see any likelihood that the Chancellor will resign: if he should, it is said that Lord Mansfield has recommended Lord Chief Justice Wilmot;—that would be probable, if it be true that his opinion has been asked. 1 have let my house to Lord Rochford for the winter; if you have any commands for me, please to direct at Mrs. Corage’s, Suffolk Street, Charing Cross, where I have taken a lodging. There were illuminations in the Strand last night, 1768. GRENVILLE TAPERS. 393 and some small mobs I met in other streets, to celebrate Mr. Wilkes’s birth-day, but the rejoicings seemed faint and forced. MR. AUGUSTUS HERVEY TO MR. GRENVILLE. Park Place, October 31, 1768. Dear Sir,—I hope you received my two last letters; this will a little surprise you, when I tell you Lord Chancellor wrote to my brother by the King’s desire, to offer the Privy Seal, which my brother is come to town to accept, having sent to Lord Chatham to know his inclinations about it1. My brother sent immediately to tell me of this, and that he would be in town directly; he came yesterday, and tells me ’t is now all settled. I cannot in this tell you the particulars, but it has determined the Chancellor’s stay, and I suppose is to serve as a counterpoise to the Bedfords, who would have been [too] powerful had they got it for the Duke of Marlborough, as they wanted. All this is nothing or little to the public, but every individual thinks of his own situation, and therefore as one, I find in mine I must now take a different part from what I intended, and support my brother as long as I can, and wherever it is not absolutely contrary to those opinions I have already given. You have recommended this so strong and so repeatedly to me, that it would be ill paying my court to you not to follow your advice in it, had I not even other calls. But, however that may be, I can never alter my wishes nor my opinions. It makes me very tired indeed of the whole, as I see very little good 1 See Lord Bristol’s letter in the Chatham Currcsj/undenee, vol. iii. p. 3 17. 394 GRENVILLE PAPERS. November, to arise from these arrangements, nor shall I ever expect any ’till the reins are again placed in your hands; these are temporary salves that may soften for a short time, but not heal. However, the Duke of Grafton must not like this, as he had no naming, nor any one appearance in it. How, then, is he the master ? and yet this is the man that thinks himself master \ I do not find that Barre goes out, nor who is to succeed Lord Harcourt. Everything in America is as bad as it can possibly be, and what they’ll do is yet undetermined. There has been a sort of doubt if the meeting of Parliament should not be put off for a few days, but I think they say it is at last determined otherwise. I find this town has made me a much more intrepid person than I really am, for they have already given me another person for a wife, and such a one as I am sure I should never have thought of; very likely the report may have reached you, and I am sure you will treat it as it deserves, but it has been very industriously put about here2. My suit comes on this term, and I hope to have success. I am sure of your wishing me well. I am, &c., &c. A. Hervey. MR. KNOX TO MR. GRENVILLE. London, November 1, 1768. Dear Sir,—The State of the Nation has risen to more importance than I ever imagined it could have attained. It has already run through two editions, and 1 See ‘ante, page 384, note,—Mr. Hervey's letter to The Man u'ho thinks himself Minister. ~ Horace Walpole says he had fallen in love with a physician’s daughter at Bath, but the doctor disapproved of the match, and gave the girl 5000Z, not to marry him, and so Mr. Hervey was disappointed. 1768. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 395 the third goes to the press this night; but what is of still more consequence, the King seems to have changed his plan of government in conformity to it in one particular. The idea of an unconnected independent Administration is given up, and the Duke of Grafton is declared first Minister, with full confidence and ample powers. The public opinion gives this Tract to you, and as it is so much approved of, and derives all its merits from sour assistance, 1 dif use to your Lordship. My best respects attend Lord and Lady Anglesey, and affectionate wishes the little Lord. Of all my scrawls this is the worst, but by orders of the doctors I write by the inch of candle, but I cannot write by the inch of paper. Mr. Montagu desires his best compliments ; he was very desirous Mr. Black should attend your Lordship, having found himself good consequences from his care 1 am, my Lord, &c., Ac E Montagu. K K 2 500 GRENVILLE PAPERS. December, to the rest of the brothers and sisters. I am, my dear brother, your loving sister, Hester Chatham. AIR. WHATELY TO AIR GRENVILLE. December 27, 1769. Dear Sir,—By the time you receive this, 1 suppose you will be able to guess when you shall be in town ; as my going thither depends on the time you fix for your removal, I shall be glad to be apprized of it. 'i his country is full of reports about Junius : some say he is a Mr. Lloyd \ Chaplain to Lord Shelburne, and that he is in custody. The discovery, they pretend, was produced by Colonel Burgoyne threatening the printer, if he concealed his name: another story is, that 1 Respecting this person I have no information, nor do I think that lie has ever before, or since, been mentioned as the supposed Author of Junius. There were several of the same name who were much connected with the literary and political history of this period. Philip Lloyd, afterwards Dean of Norwich, had been tutor to the sons of Air. Grenville, and was probably the means of introducing his brother Charles, who became Air. Grenville’s private and very confidential secretary. He had been Receiver of Gibraltar: he held some appointment in the Treasury, and was one of the Deputy Tellers of the Exchequer. Both these brothers were political writers, as authors of pamphlets and occasional articles in the newspapers. Charles died in January, 1773, and Philip died at the Deanery House in Norwich, Alay 31, 1790. Dr. Pierson Lloyd was one of the Alasters of Westminster School : he died in 1781, and was the father of Robert Lloyd, the poet satirist, and intimate friend of Wilkes and Churchill: he died in 1764. In the Gentleman's Magazine for 1764, p. 603, I find recorded the death of Robert Lloyd, Esq., Housekeeper ami Wardrobe-keeper at Kensington Palace. Of one Thomas Lloyd, who was supposed to be Secretary to Lord Chancellor Camden. I have spoken in another place. 1769. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 501 the printer has disavowed a direct knowledge of the Author, but declared that the direction of the cover which enclosed the last paper was in Mr. Wilkes’s hand, though the paper itself was in another1 ; and some say that Wilkes has long been engaged to the Author to father any libel which may be taken notice of, as he supposes the Ministry will not choose to meddle with him any more. I do not give you any one of these reports as true; I think them all improbable ; but each of them is believed by many, and, together, they prove the noise which that paper has made. In the elections in the City, I apprehend both sides have been disappointed : the Opposition have carried more than the Court expected, but I hear it is not clear that they have a majority now of the Common Council, though I should think they must. It seems to me, by the papers, that the Ministry have given up the point in dispute with the Irish House of Commons; but I have no better authority for it than 1 If this were true, it would be a curious corroboration of Mr. Butler’s Ileiiiiniscence a respecting Junius’s letter to the King, and would account for his assertion, that the original of that paper was produced to him by Mr. Wilkes, together with the private letters addressed by Junius to himself. It is very possible that Junius may have submitted this production, as we know he did the Dedication and Preface, to Mr. Wilkes for his perusal and correction, and that the latter, having made some alterations, had it copied for Woodfall, and retained the original in his own possession. This is not, however, very probable, for Wilkes certainly returned to Woodfall the originals of the Dedication and Preface. If ever Wilkes’s papers, which have so strangely disappeared since the publication of Woodfall’s edition of the Letters in 1812, should again be discovered, they will, I imagine, throw some new light upon this question. ’ BuMnisecmet "J' Chaikf Buller, 3rd edit., 1822, vol. i. p. 81 ; and see also ante, vol. iii. p. Ixxxiv. 502 GRENVILLE PAPERS. January. the Chronicle. I have had no communication with any authentic person since I wrote to you. I saw the other day Mr. Hotham, the member for Wigan. The turn of his conversation implied, that the heads of the Opposition must concert their measures before the session. He has himself been always desirous of union, but he knows also, I presume, the sentiments of the Duke of Portland, and he spoke of this as a thing that was obvious, and which he concluded would be. MR. WHATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. January 11, 1770. Dear Sir,—The news at the Levee is, that Mr. Yorke will be Chancellor, yet I hear from other hands that it is a doubt whether Lord Camden will be removed. General Keppel tells me he has heard and believes that Lord Granby will go out, and the Duke of Gloucester be Commander-in-Chief; I have seen Colonel Faucett, Lord Granby’s secretary, and his language was resignation. I hear of others disposed to resign if Lord Chatham [Camden ?] should seem likely to go on: Sir George Savile said yesterday in the House, that the House of Commons had betrayed the trust reposed in them by their constituents. General Conway and Lord North checked him, and imputed the expression to heat: he disavowed the heat, but said, as I understand, that he would examine the assertion coolly, and if on deliberation he kept to the same opinion, he would repeat his expression on Friday; if so, a debate must arise relative to the main question, and a question must be put 1770. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 50’3 upon the censure to be inflicted on him, from which I presume you would not willingly be absent, and on which I apprehend the minority must be very strong. MR. WHATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. January 12, 1770. Dear Sib,—The words used by Sir George Savile were these:—I, a Member of Parliament, Imre in my place, do say to you, Sir, that you, the House of Commons, have betrayed the rights and interests of your constituents - hard words, Sir, and epithets, instead of aggravating, alleviate a charge founded upon facts; for that reason, mark my words, Sir,for that reason only, 1 do not say that you have corruptly, servilely, and pro-fiigately betrayed the rights of your constituents, but I do say that you have betrayed the rights of your constituents. Mr. Burke, who gave me this account, was not sure whether the second epithet was servilely or perfidiously; he further told me that from many circumstances it was evident Sir George Savile had determined to use these or such expressions, on the first occasion, but had not communicated his intention to his friends : the occasion he took was a little debate begun by Sir W illiam Meredith, who excepted to the King’s speech for the general approbation of our conduct, because it included our conduct in the Middlesex election. He was answered by Mr. Jenkinson. Sir George Savile rose next, and said he came with a premeditated answer to that gentleman, having read every word of his speech that morning in the newspaper. I Ie then proceeded to the question, and said the words I have given you. Jen- 504 GRENVILLE PAPERS. January, kinson replied without taking the least notice of the words ; next General Conway, and after him Mr. Charles Fox, observed upon the impropriety of using such expressions, and imputed them to heat in debate. Sir George Savile rose again and said he was not sensible of any heat when he spoke them; he hoped there was none in his manner; that, however, the House usually allowed a member who had been intemperate time to cool before they condemned him, as the law allowed time to cool before it pronounced killing to be murder, that he meant to avail himself of this indulgence: that he had now had time to cool, and that now coolly and deliberately he repeated, that this House of Commons had betrayed the rights of their constituents. . Burke rose next, his expressions the day before having been animadverted upon by Mr. Fox; he enforced them; he applied them to the present case, and said that the words used by Sir George Savile deserved the highest animadversion, if their authority were entire; that he ought to be sent to the Tower for them, but they had not now authority to vindicate their honour. There it ended; neither Lord North nor Dyson said a syllable. I told Burke that I had heard from more than one person, that Sir George Savile had pledged himself to repeat the expressions to-day; he answered that he did not recollect it; that from the conversation he was present at between Sir George Savile and Lord Rockingham, he understood otherwise ; and that my not knowing it authentically was an evidence that the party did not expect it, for that if any of them had intended to stir anything of importance, I might be sure they would have communicated it to Mr. Grenville. I give you this detail to set right the more vague ac- 1770. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 505 count T sent you yesterday, and to prevent your coming down unnecessarily, if you had any thoughts of it, and as I know you wish to avoid every attendance which the occasion does not call for. If you hear nothing more, I think you may conclude that Sir George Savile does not intend to repeat the words, at least to-day ; when Lord Rockingham asked him whether he did intend it, he answered he did not know that it was necessary, when he had told a gentleman that he was a scoundrel in a public coffee-house, to repeat it wherever he met him, but wished to know what others thought of it. If he should at last resolve to repeat the words, and his intention should come to my knowledge, 1 will acquaint you with it. MR. THOMAS COLEMAN1 [TO MR. GRENVILLE ?]. Port Egmont, March 4, 1770 Mv dear Sir,—Having an opportunity by the Tamar sloop to send to England, I very readily embrace it to send you this, from the most detestable place 1 over was at in my life, and shall be truly happy if this finds you well and in every respect agreeable to your wishes both in body and mind. Our voyage was the shortest to this place any ship has over made, but God knows disagreeable enough ; no entertainment but what I’m obliged to make for myself; 1 Mr Thomas Coleman appears to have been a lieutenant of Marines, stationed at the British settlement on one of the Falkland Islands. This letter arrived in England early in June with the first tidings, brought by Captain Hunt of the Tamar, that the Spaniards had disputed our right to the miserable island in question. 506 GRENVILLE PAPERS. March, but by keeping my time constantly employed, I find near four months of my lime already passed almost insensibly. Thank God, I have had my health perfectly, except one day, in crossing the broiling latitudes, I dropped down on the deck, lost my sight for a while, and with the violence of pain I felt in my head, I was soon deprived of cither sense or motion. Bleeding directly quite recovered me, except being very sick for a few hours after. I wish any occurrence of the voyage would afford you entertainment, but it has been as barren of events worthy notice as these islands are of everything else except sea lions and seals. I assure you I speak truth when I say there is not an inch of Braddock down that is not better than the very best of any of these islands; there is not a stick so big as the pen I am writing with, on any of them. The soil turf chiefly, and in short is one wild heath wherever you turn your eye. We were particularly unlucky with our stock of fresh provisions. Out of ^5 sheep (without eating a bit for the whole voyage) we brought in only three; fowls, ducks, geese, &c., went off likewise, and my own private stock, the most part of it spoiled, the ship being so small it could not be properly stowed away. People who can eat fishy geese every day of their lives may live tolerably well here ; I think I have not sat down one day since I have been here without one at least at table, so that by the time the station is at an end I shall be sufficiently surfeited. There are a great many fowl of different sorts here, but most of them fishy. There arc some goats and fishy hogs, but I must do the mutton justice, which I think by much the best I ever tasted ; there was a sheep killed for joy at our arrival, 1770. GRENVILLE TAPERS. 507 and another will be next year, when the next relief comes, there being only two or three here. Very good vegetables of all sorts, but so much trouble and care required to raise it, it is hardly worth the pains. We have been ordered off the island by the Spaniards, the French having given up their pretensions to their settlements. They have 150 inhabitants at Port Solidade, 14 pieces of cannon mounted, and stores of all kinds, and their ships from Buenos Ayres constantly increasing their strength. Two of their men-of-war came here about ten days ago, and warned us off, which we refusing, the Commodore said he should not act any further at present, but wait for further orders from his Court. Their force, if they choose to oppose us, is greatly superior, we having no more than two miserable little sloops, and those not sufficiently manned, for when any ships come in the marines are landed to defend the settlement. 1 believe there never was such a command given to two lieutenants of marines anywhere but here. I have a sergeant, drummer, and ten ; my brother officer, a corporal and eight; with which we are to defend a block-house that has not a gun in it, or a loop-hole cut, but from top to bottom is filled as full as it can hold with naval stores. The only things that inhabit the settlement when we are not there, are hogs, goats, &c., who live in turfhouses. 1 here is one grand house here which I think has walls of stone, cemented with clay, of about 7 feet high and about 16 or 18 long. This is the Governor’s, and is lined with red baize. I did what I could, both at Madeira and St. Iago, to get some birds, but could not get one of any kind, except 1 had taken goldfinches. There is a pretty sort of bird 508 GRENVILLE PAPERS. March, here about the size of a thrush, and pretty near the same colour, except the breast, which is a beautiful bright scarlet. I shall try to get some of them, but am told the moment they quit these islands they generally die; however, that shall not prevent me making an attempt. Here are very uncommon penguins, three different species of them, and are very curious indeed. If I could get them to live they would be very well worth the carriage to England. Though’t is now summer here, I am now so cold I can hardly hold my pen. I have now been here for these five weeks, have not seen above two or three fine days, hardly ever being able to go out without a great coat. One comfort I have, that all the people chance has thrown me with are very sociable and obliging, which is a very great matter on such an occasion as this. I suppose long before this all is determined relative to petitions, addresses, &c. God send you health and true happiness, and though I never should be so happy to see you again, remain (in as good spirits as I can, so circumstanced as I am) most sincerely, &c., &c. Thomas Coleman. MR. CHARLES LLOYD TO MR. GRENVILLE. Thursday, March 15, 1770. Dear Sir,—As I know you do not dislike receiving letters, I flatter myself that an account of the political debate yesterday, in the Lords, will not be less agreeable than any other subject. Lord Rockingham made a motion, that an account be 1770. GRENVILLE TAPERS. 509 produced of the expenditure of the Civil List, from the 5th of January, 17^8, to the 5th of January, 17^9, the same papers as had been moved for in the Commons, last week. Lord Chatham supported this motion by a very able recapitulation of the origin of the Civil List Act, its specific appropriation directed in the preambles of the several Acts settling that revenue, and concluded his first speech with some reflection on the ignorance of those who did not know that a Minister was impeach able who diverted the revenue which was so specifically appropriated. Duke of Grafton took up the words ignorance and novice as meant for him, and said, novice as he was now, he had not always been thought so by Lord Chatham, particularly when he had been recommended by him for the Treasury. Lord Chatham in reply. It is very true, I did submit the noble Duke’s name to the King, for the Treasury. 1 thought him equal to that department, limited and confined. I never did think of him beyond a young nobleman of expectation. I never did think him equal to the government of a great kingdom. Duke of Grafton insisted upon it, that Lord Chatham himself had burthened the Civil List with pensions to the amount of 8000/., meaning Lord Northington’s, &c. Lord Chatham denied it, and was observing the con-sistency of the noble Duke’s Administration, which set out with disgracing the man1 to whom we owed our successes in America, and was wound up with dis- 1 Sir Jeffry Amherst. Upon the subject of America, Lord Chatham bad recently made a very remarkable speech in the House of Lords, 510 GRENVILLE PAPERS. March, mission of a Chancellor for the vote he gave in that House. which has been given by Mr. Jared Sparks, in his edition of the works of Franklin, from a report written at the time by Mr. Johnson, the agent for Connecticut. Lord Mahon has reproduced an extract from it in the Appendix to the fifth volume of his History of England, p. 35, in which Lord Chatham exclaims :—“ I think the idea of drawing money from them by taxes was ill-judged. Trade is your object with them, and they should be encouraged. But (I wish every sensible American, both here and in that country, heard what 1 say), if they carry their notions of liberty too far, as I fear they do, if they will not be subject to the laws of this country, especially if they would disengage themselves from the laws of trade and navigation, of which 1 see too many symptoms, as much of an American as 1 am, they have not a more determined opposer than they will find in me. They must be subordinate.” These sentiments of Lord Chatham coincide with those of some other leading statesmen who were the chief promoters of the Repeal of the Stamp Act. I subjoin some extracts from a very remarkable letter, I believe not hitherto printed, written by Sir George Savile to Dr. Thomas Moffatt, a physician at Newport, in Rhode Island. It is from a copy certified by the autograph of Mr. George Chalmers; and Mr. Astle, in a note, observes that—“ this letter shows the writer's [Sir George Savile] dissatisfaction, and contains many remarkable sentiments. A wild politician with a good character, and with popular talents, may do great injury to a State.” Sir George Savile says,— “ You know I spoke and voted for the Repeal of the Stamp Act. My single vote turned no scale, and is a small matter now to speak of; but I shall be sorry to think I then had done wrong; I do not think so yet; pray attend to that last word ; are they all determined with you not to have a friend in Great Britain, not a single friend ? Let them count upon those they once had here, and coolly consider whether it is policy, gratitude, or just calculation, or by what name shall I call it to you, to put their present talkers in competition with us, for talkers and mere talkers they will prove in the ensuing day of trial. The spirit of party may at times lead any man or set of men, and makes them guilty of personal indiscretion among ourselves ; hut I am not to be suspected surely of any private enmity to Mr. Otis, or to any of your violent men ; and therefore I cannot yet believe that any of your sober-minded people can look for anything but mischief and confusion from the violences they have incited your people to commit. God only knows what their real motives be; and I speak 1770. GRENVILLE TAPERS. 511 Lord Marchmont sprung up, and insisted on the above words being taken down ; they were taken down, now only of the effect of their councils, because I know that just so, I, oi- any other person here that could be hired for the purpose, by the worst enemies of this country and the colonies, would have advised your people to have acted. But for argument sake with you, I will suppose that the Americans have been right in every point and instance ; but was there no better way, then (for I speak now from motives of policy only), for them to gain their point over this enemy of theirs, Great Britain? Is there any wisdom in their conduct? Is there any cunning, craft, or probability in any of their devices oi designs ? As we are so violent and very tyrannical here, may we not also be raised into a passion ? Or will not the Americans permit us also to be mad as well as they ? Was there never yet a rash or an obstinate Minister of State in Great Britain? And may not a House of Commons and Peers be inflamed also? And may we not then overlook these your pleaded rights and pretensions, but even sacrifice them with a part of their own interest ? Suppose we should do it but for a single session of Parliament ? With what bands would you tie our arms in that moment of rage ? Are you prepared for this, or have you thought of it ? On the other hand, has America never known the time and season when their complaints were not only attended to here, but even some hasty expressions of ours, that were indecently enough retorted and thrown daily in our teeth by you, were not only overlooked, but the single grievance of which you complained immediately redressed? Are you determined that it never shall be so again? Or is there such a pleasure in buffeting against the wind and tide of power that you arc afraid of fine weather? Yes, you say, you will do it by force this time : there was not difficulty enough the last time to make that simple flavour relish; but I pray you, how long, or have you computed how long it shall be before you have completed this your conquest over us, or that we are subdued, and made to submit to you ? You will reap great glory in achieving this, but you will be somewhat longer in doing it, I think, than the Stamp Act was in repealing." “ I argue with you as if your people heard me, and indeed it would be much to the same purpose', for one may as well talk to the wind as to the multitude, when they have gotten a word among them which they do not rightly understand. I do not now speak of any particular set of men, because 1 think we tire all of us very much alike in this respect ; and 1 believe there is not so wild a beast in your wilderness, as a multitude of well-meaning people agitated with a well-sounding but ill-undcr->to.>d phrase ; therefore I yet say unto vou, that the Americans are my countrymen, fellow-subjects, and brethren, far, very 512 GRENVILLE PAPERS. March, and ten minutes* confusion ensued, one moving one thing and another another. Lord Temple desired the words far, from being the special object of my resentment; nor can I yet find in my heart to condemn your country in a lump. You write me that there are sensible and very moderate men among you: I dare say there are ; but I conclude and fear that the major part of you are infatuated, and that your sensible and temperate people can neither help nor prevent it; but infatuated you are, in proceeding to your ruin, because so far as 1 see there is nothing left but to lament it, as it cannot be hindered now, morally speaking, by any means that either are gentle or severe. There will not be wanting many here, I assure you, who will call your punishment a just chastisement, nay, they will rejoice and triumph in it, because they can say the Americans have brought it on themselves. But I think and say, that you are a distempered and delirious people, and therefore deserve much pity and compassion, because you certainly have not known what you were doing. I do not know or think that ever I shall be benefited twenty pounds by all the taxes that will ever be levied in North America, and from the local situation of the chief part of my landed estates, there are but few persons in England that wall be more immediately affected by the increase or decay of your trade. But, do you think, because of that consideration, that 1 shall be at any loss to choose my side, if matters shall be insolently driven up to an extremity by you ? And the Americans have supposed that they have fast hold upon us, upon account of their commerce with us, and have piqued themselves upon it, and have boasted that they will go in rags, and be proud of them, rather than purchase the commodities of ( treat Britain. Lord pity them ! Because there was once a clamour raised here, which we turned to their favour and advantage, do not they think or can they not consider what we can do, if we are heated, driven, or worked into a frame of spirit big with resentment and rage against you ? But I say again, that you are mad, or else you conclude that we are debilitated and heart-broken with the burden and expenses of the late war. But tell them, because I tell it to you, that the eighty millions which we then spent has scarcely wounded us through the skin ; not a single luxury either lopped off, or retrenched here; hardly enough of our fulness and fatness purged down, to fit us for hard labour: we are but breathed, if we should come to be in earnest with you." “ It is melancholy, very melancholy, for me to write in this strain to you. but it had better be twice written than happen once, because it will then be as ridiculous, as it is now foolish and evasive in you to talk to us of your right and your principles. Power shall 1770. GRENVILLE TAPERS. 513 might be read. Lord Sandwich moved to adjourn. Lord Mansfield was for conciliating matters1. Lord Chatham seconded the motion that the words might be taken down. Lord Rockingham, Lord Temple, Duke of Richmond, Lord Shelburne, and Lord Lyttelton, repeated Lord Chatham’s assertion. Lord Chatham reasserted, and said, he stood as an accused man, insisting on a hearing and on justice2. then be the right. The trunk may be sorely wounded, but the branches can be destroyed and cut down, and you may then with grief and bitterness of spirit remember these precious moments which you have lost and abused, and may bewail the imprudent, and to say no worse, the very impolitic use which America made of the kind and very indulgent advances of a certain year: then was the time to have secured your interest here, perhaps your being.” “ From a reflection of v hat has followed upon the Repeal of the Stamp Act, and a survey of some occurrences in New England, I am determined that my conduct in Parliament shall show forth that I am for measures of moderation and lenity, founded in vigour, without a mark of passion or resentment.” 1 “ I think,” says Horace Walpole, “ it was in this debate (which was a very heterogeneous one), that Lord Mansfield, being called upon for his opinion on Luttrell’s case in the Middlesex election, declared his opinion should go to the grave with him, having never’ told it but to one of the royal family: and being afterwards asked to which of them, he named the Duke of Cumberland, a conduct and confidence so absurd and weak, that no wonder he was long afterwards taunted both with his reserve, and with his choice of such a bosom friend.”— Memoirs of George III, y< J is p. 102. Lord Temple, it has been seen, took part in this debate, and Junius, in allusion to Lord Mansfield, wrote: — “ He said in the House of Lords that he believed he should carry his opinion with him to the grave. It was afterwards reported that he had entrusted it, in special confidence, to the ingenious Duke of Cumberland.”—Junius, vol. ii. p. 179, note. 2 Lord Chatham was at this time extremely warm in his opposition to the Government. Walpole, writing to Mann, says, “he had grown so violent, that even Lord Temple could not moderate him. Lord Temple also was still a very eager politician, and constantly the object of abuse from the ministerial writers. The following character of him, VOL. IV. L L 514 GRENVILLE PAPERS. March, The motion for adjourning was withdrawn, and then a question moved by Lord March mont, that nothing under the sobriquet of Lord Gawkee, is from the Morning Chronicle of Saturday, June 16, 1770, by a writer under the signature of “ Soranus.” “ The external form of this nobleman discovers nothing to his advantage. It does not announce any great promise of capacity or talents ; and we are not deceived by it. Length, but without shape or proportion ; and a countenance in which the most penetrating eye perceives no expression, can excite only the idea of insignificance. His mind, if possible, is as awkward and tame as his exterior. Nature seems to have thrown him into existence in one of her moods of frolic, and to make him the more conspicuous, she has given him rank. No one can view him without a smile, or hear him without laughter. No gravity of face can withstand his air of importance and his frivolity. In the highest assembly of the nation he appears without dignity, and of the most momentous concerns he judges without capacity. But he is not content with being a legislator, he must likewise be a minister. A creature that should have stalked during life, a tall infant in the nursery, has the vanity to imagine that he can govern men. While he himself has occasion for leading-strings, he would direct the most enlightened people in Europe. A few scraps of what he fancies is political wisdom, he has picked up from his noble friend and associate, and these he is perpetually retailing. For though his judgment is not very considerable, be must be allowed to have some memory. Liberty, a word of which he know’S not the meaning, is perpetually in his mouth. The Constitution, too, he talks of,—and has he not a right to talk of it? He is a Member of the House of Lords. The enaction of laws requires doubtless the greatest extent of capacity ; and for the regulation of the affairs of a great nation some acquaintance with men and some knowledge of the forms of its Government are surely necessary. . . . ... . Tn the character of this Lord there is o'ne feature which must not be omitted. Violent passions are generally connected with great talents. He is an exception to this rule: with the most contracted understanding, he is subject to the greatest rage or extremity of passion. But his resentment is excited he does not know how, and it subsides in the same unaccountable manner. He should study to conceal himself, but he is fond of being seen. He should bury himself in the gardens of Stowe; but he must perpetually be walking in the purlieus of St. James’s. His ambition he should sacrifice to his ease. Civil employments he should leave to those who are able to sustain them. The ox should not affect the ornam< nts of the horse.” 1770. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 515 appeared to the House to justify the assertion as a fact. The House divided, 83 to 35. Lord Chatham treated Lord Marchmont with great contempt, and said, if any noble Lord was to ask me whether I thought there was much corruption in both Houses of Parliament, I would laugh in his face, and tell him he knew there was. Upon the main question the same division as before. The King gave a pretty sharp answer to the Remonstrance, the same as in the Public Advertiser of this day ; he calls the Remonstrance personally disrespectful to himself, injurious to his Parliament, and irreconcile-able with the principles of the Constitution. I am going to hear in the Commons, Motion for an Address to the King to lay the Remonstrance before the House. Yours, &c. &c. C. Lloyd. MR. WHATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. April 10, 1770. Dear Sir,—I hear your Bill1 went through the Lords yesterday, without any opposition but from Lord Eg-mont, who was inveterate against it, upon the subject of the oath; the jurisdiction of the House of Commons, which he said was extended by this Bill, though originally delegated from the House of Lords, upon the republican idea of a ballot, and other particulars. Lord Temple answered him shortly, dwelt most on the notoriety of the evil, and the analogy of the remedy proposed to the principles of the constitution, observing, that after the vote passed by the Lords the other day, disclaiming all interposition in elections, it was too late to complain of 1 To regulate the trial of Controverted Elections. L L 516 GRENVILLE PAPERS. June, the modification of the jurisdiction proposed by the Commons. His speech was as moderate as the other had been petulant; he was followed by Lord Mansfield, who entered fully, not into the defence, but the applause of the Bill; said it was the most impartial Bill he had ever seen; he believed the wisest; not that he supposed it to be perfect, he had the vanity to think he saw some defects in it himself, but that the operation of the Bill would point them out if they were real, and experience show the remedies; but that he would not suggest the amendments which might risk the fate of the Bill, and was happy to do justice to the Author of it. By all accounts his speech was as decisive in support of the measure, and as obliging to you as possible. I hear no particular news. The talk of the dispositions of the Bedfords gains ground. Aiderman Treco-thick’s motion for the repeal of the Tea Duty was opposed on the point of order, and lost by 52 against 80. Lord Charles Spencer has lost his eldest son. MR. WHATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. June 3, 1770. Dear Sir,—You see by the papers that the departure of the Princess1 approaches. It is fixed, I understand, for Friday next. The Duke of Gloucester sets out with her, but leaves her at Brunswick, and proceeds with his own attendants, Colonel Rainsford and Major Heywood, to Berlin and Vienna. 1 The Princess Dowager of Wales, who after an uninterrupted residence of thirty-four years in England, was about to make a tour in Germany on a visit to her brother the Duke of Saxe Gotha, and her daughters the Queen of Denmark, and the Princess of Brunswick. 1770. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 517 Lady Howe1 also takes the opportunity to go from Brunswick to Hanover. Lord Boston only, stays with Her Royal Highness all the while she is abroad. Lord Holland is ill, at Paris ; some say that Lady Holland having informed him of the situation of his son, the news has affected him so much as to make him much out of order. Mr. Charles Fox is none over to him. Lord Bute is pretty well, and will soon be here. The conduct of Lord North is, 1 am credibly informed, that of a man who does not expect to be long Minister. His neglect of every person of consequence is principally alluded to in this account of him. The Bedfords seem out of spirits, but I do not know they have any particular reason for it, which they have not had for some time. The Lord Mayor is, I hear, omnipotent in the City; his speech to the King2 has gained him great credit with the citizens ; they will obey his call to anything. I am told he means to use his power with discretion, but I believe he will show it on more occasions than one, not, however, on a refusal to pay the Land Tax. Lord Suffolk is very happy that orders are given for draining the ponds in the park, near his house. Rosamond’s Pond3 is also to be filled up, and a road to be carried across it to George Street; the rest is to be all lawn. 1 Lady Howe was the daughter of George I. by Lady Darlington, and she was at this time Lady of the Bedchamber to the Princess Dowager of Wales. 2 The well-known Remonstrance, addressed to the King by Beckford. He died three weeks afterwards from the effects of a violent fever, caused, as was supposed, by political excitement. 3 Rosamond's Pond was at the South-west corner of St. James’s Park, nearly opposite the house now occupied as the Stationary Office. 518 GRENVILLE PAPERS. June, MR. WHATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. June 10, 1770. Dear Sir,—I cannot yet find with certainty what has been the transaction at Falkland Island; I only know, that the report first spread, and the account since propagated to contradict that report, are neither of them true. I do not understand that the Spaniards have carried off our people, and you, who I suppose know that a Memorial was transmitted long since from Spain, on the subject of that settlement, and that advices were received during the winter, of two frigates preparing to go thither, will not believe those two frigates accidentally put in for water and refreshments. The best account 1 can get is, that the commander of the frigates required of the English commanding officer to quit the island; that the latter refused; upon which, as some sav, the Spaniard made a formal claim and departed; as others say, he left a requisition to the English to depart in six months. You will see by the papers, that a Remonstrance was voted unanimously at Guilford, but as it was pressed on at that time by Sir John Mawbey, against the opinion of the gentlemen in general who are named to present it, and who wished to see what other counties were inclined to do before this county stirred, most of those gentlemen have declined to present it. Lord Rockingham was yesterday at Hayes; I heard it accidentally, for he lost his way, and seeing a friend of mine whom he knew, asked him the road. The stocks, you see, are got up again, partly because the report about Falkland Island was contradicted, and 1770. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 519 partly because they never are much or long affected by alarms of a Spanish war. The alarm is accompanied with the hopes of an influx of silver. The silence of the Gazette will, I suppose, restore some credit to the report. MR. CHARLES LLOYD TO MR. GRENVILLE. Salt Office, Thursday, June 14, 1770. Dear Sir,—I hope you found your sons well at Eton, and every part of your family at Wotton in good health at your return. The jury on Woodfall’s trial stayed out last night ’till half-an-hour past nine, and then brought, Woodfall in guilty only of publishing Junius’s Letter of the 19th December last. This verdict is to be entered not guiltv, and it is said will be moved to be set aside by the Crown Lawyers. I hear that ten out of the twelve jurymen had determined at five o’clock yesterday to bring Woodfall in not guilty, but there were two who stood out, viz., the King’s plasterer and a baker, and the result seems to have been a compromise. I conjecture that Lord Grosvenor is driving a bargain for the lieutenancy of Chester. I am, &c., &c. C. Lloyd. MR. WHATELY TO MR. GRENVILLE. June 23, 1770. Dear Sir,—I am sorry to begin my intelligence with telling you, that the Pynsent cause is determined to-day against Lord Chatham : the three Commissioners were so unanimously and clearly of opinion for Mr. Daw, that 520 GRENVILLE PAPERS. June, probably the decree would not be reversed on an Appeal to the House of Lords. The late Lord Mayor ^Beckford J has died, they apprehend without a will. It is said that he has left fourteen natural children \ Mr. Oliver, an eminent West India merchant, will be the Member for the city : he is of a respectable private character : his party is strong with the Bill of Rights men. The Ministry thought of Paterson, but I doubt whether they will push it. Old Trecothick will be the Mayor for the next four months, and, as some imagine, for the next year also. Lord Rockingham, with whom I had a long conversation in the street this morning, is of that opinion. I doubt it: the practice, I believe, is against even such a re-election, and, if I am right, the party will be distressed for another person. The two intended sheriffs, also, would hesitate, especially I think Martin, though Mr. Oliver would supply his place should he only decline, but Lord Rockingham doubts whether Baker would continue without Martin. A Red Ribbon is to be sent out to Sir John Lindsay, and he is to have the character of Plenipotentiary ; to what Sovereign I do not know, but I suppose to the Mogul, on the same errand as was intended for Mr. Monson. . They have hesitated at Philadelphia about continuing the Resolutions against Importation : when the last accounts came away they seemed inclined to come into 1 Horace Walpole relates that Lord Holland’s youngest son being ill, and Beckford inquiring after him, Lord Holland said he had sent him to Richmond for the air: Beckford cried out “ Oh ! Richmond is the worst air in the world; I lost twelve natural children there last year! ” 1770. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 521 them, but took time to inquire whether the other colonies would agree. Philip Carteret Webb is dead l. MR. CHARLES LLOYD TO MR. GRENVILLE. Salt Office, Tuesday, July 3, 1770. Dear Sir,—I hear to-day that Mr. Bradshaw has actually resigned his post of Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Knox’s promotion2 was quite new to me, though I find it is not so to you, as I understand he says that you approved of his acceptance, and pressed him exceedingly to it. As I am not called upon to say anything in this matter, and wish always to be on the good humoured side, 1 confine myself to the strict truth, and declare that 1 know nothing of your opinion upon the subject, having never heard you mention a syllable about it. If (between ourselves) my opinion is asked of what you did say to him, I own I do not believe it was exactly as it was said to be stated by him. I conjecture that you might tell him, if he thought his acceptance of the office fitting for him in every other respect, that you begged him not to decline it from any personal considerations relating to yourself. This, conveyed in the language of good will and good humour, which is natural to you, will be easily metamorphosed, by a partial relator, into what is construed as a request from you to 1 At the age of seventy. He had been Solicitor to the Treasury, and in the performance of his duty had incurred much odium for the prosecution of Wilkes, Ac. He is better known as a distinguished antiquary, and the author of many tracts and pamphlets principally on antiquarian subjects. 2 Knox became Under Secretary of State to Lord Hillsborough. i)22 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, him that he would take it. Arn 1 a good guesser, or is all this mere chimera? I send you, enclosed, all the Grosvenor letters yet published. The cause is to come on next Thursday. It is much doubted by the lawyers whether there is proof enough to obtain damages. The Duke’s council’ moved for a second special jury, upon the pretence that, since the striking the first jury, terms had been offered for a compromise, but the motion was not complied with. His Royal Highness writes excellent grammar, and the Lady is particularly delicate. Sir John Lindsay, besides liis East India command, has a Red Riband and five pounds per diem, to treat with Mr. Law concerning differences to be adjusted between the French and Great Britain in that part of the world. People impute this to his being Lord Mansfield’s nephew, and perhaps they are not much out. Lord Bute is determined not to come over yet, as my Court Gazette says. Sir James Pennyman, supported by the Osbaldiston interest, and Lord Rockingham, stands at Scarborough against Cockburn, the Comptroller of the Navy, who, I understand, has little or no chance, though supported by Lord Granby, which last you mav depend upon as a fact. You may likewise be assured that a certain journey is the effect of not being able to carry certain points here ; that supplications and entreaties were used to the son, and that, on finding them ineffectual, no offer of accommodation, either to the waterside, on the water, or on the other side of the water, would be accepted. 1 So written in the original : but the peculiarity is not uncommon in writers at this time. Junius always substituted council for counsel. Lord Temple wrote counsel, but in one instance the word has been altered, so as to leave it doubtful which mode of spelling he intended to adopt. 1770. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 523 I set out for Bristol to-morrow, and shall stay as little time as I can with decency, being too nervous to like a place where people are continually coming in the very last stage of illness. I hope you continue as well as I left you, though I can brag more of your good looks than of your spirits. T saw your brother, Air. James Grenville, at St. Martin’s Church on Sunday. I am, &c., &c. Charles Lloyd. THE PRINCESS AMELIA TO COUNTESS TEMPLE. Gunnersbury, July 10, 1770. 1 arrived here a ^/cj Saturday at five, in perfect health, and hope to hear from you, my dear Lady Temple, that you and Lord Temple were not the worse for all the attentions and civility you showed to me, in the very pleasant, agreeable, and easy week, I passed with you at Stowe I found Lady H.Vernon here in great spirits and happiness, that the affair was so well over for her daughter ; 1 Horace Walpole was one of the party at Stowe upon this occasion, and an account of it forms the subject of one of his most entertaining letters to Mr. Montagu. He begins by saying, “The party passed off much better than I expected. A princess at the head of a very small set for live days together did not promise well. However she was very good-humoured and easy, and dispensed with a large quantity of etiquette. Lady Temple is good nature itself, my Lord was very civil, Lord Besborough is made to suit all sorts of people ; Lady Mary Coke respects royalty too much not to be very condescending; Lady Ann Howard and Mrs. Middleton filled up the drawing room, or rather made it out, and I was so determined to carry it off' as well as I could, and happened to be in such good spirits, and took such care to avoid politics, that we laughed a great deal, and had not one cloud the whole time.” 524 GRENVILLE PAPERS. August, she thinks that the Court has judged her innocent, hy not complying with the first sum that was demanded to be paid. She is convinced that the letters are false, and that her daughter will be a single lady, Baroness of England, with 2000^. a year. I believe you will agree with me, my dear Lady Temple, that greater geniuses could not have patched up a bad thing (I mean the appearances of it) better than good Lady H. Vernon has done, but I fear it will turn out but a pleasant dream to the family *. God bless you, my dear, and believe me most truly sensible of your partiality for me, and having infused it also in one in whose acquaintance I am much pleased with : being your very sincere friend, Amelia. THE HONOURABLE AUGUSTUS HERVEY TO MR. GRENVILLE. Chesterfield Street, August 1. 1770. Dear Sir,—I proposed myself the honour and pleasure of waiting on you at Wotton next week, and, therefore, declined going into Lincolnshire with my brother to-morrow, and only meet him at Ickworth for a few days ; but I have such frequent flying pains, and am so constantly obliged to have recourse to Dr. Ingram, that I have not yet ventured to quit this dismal, hot, and forlorn town, even for a night, since my return from Lisbon; though I have not been better on the whole 1 The princess alludes to the recent affair between the Duke of Cumberland and Lady Grosvenor. Lady Henrietta Vernon was the mother of Lady Grosvenor, and the daughter of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford. She had married Mr. Vernon of Hilton, in Staffordshire. Lord Grosvenor laid his damages at 100,000/., but the jury only awarded him 10,000/. 1770. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 525 these four years, yet I am thinking to sail for Lisbon next month, in order to bathe in some particular baths there, and wish I may not be obliged to come back again here sooner than I would choose, could I pursue my own inclinations. The fire at Portsmouth has been a dreadful stroke, but, I hope* and believe, not so very destructive as it was at first represented. 1 would go down there to be a judge myself, but that I have some time seen and felt that no attention in our profession can avail the public any more than the individual who shows it : I do assure you, my dear Sir, ’tis a ruined service, without being one who despairs in every situation. I see the Navy of England going very fast to its destruction, but I suppose it is to keep pace with the rest of the fate of this unhappy divided country. Our harbour at Chatham fills up fast, and, for want of care, in sending our large ships away from thence as soon as they are launched, and ready to go to other ports, they are destroyed by remaining in that river, where they ground every low water, for which reason they can keep no ballast in them, and are therefore ruined. I have the particulars of many instances of neglect very alarming to this country, but when ignorance and obstinacy are predominant at that Board, it is of little consequence to represent. Adieu I my dear Sir ; 1 hope you will do me the justice to be assured, that, for the good of this country, without any particular selfish motive, I do sincerely wish to see you, with some of your friends, in that situation which alone can, I think, relieve us. I am sorry to be so insignificant an individual as not to see any prospect of success, in attempting to bring so desirable an event about, but, were it otherwise, 526 GRENVILLE PAPERS. August, I would sacrifice my present pursuit of health to that object. Sir Edward Hawke will not go out without the peerage, and, however wished, they cannot obtain it for him. I hear the arrangement that was to be there for the Duke of Grafton is over, Lord North not caring for such an auxiliary ; but if Sir Edward should die, as is likely to happen, that Lord Sandwich will go to the Board, Lord Harcourt to the Post-office, and Lord Stormont to Paris, till Lord Townshend is obliged to leave Ireland, and then Lord Harcourt will go there, ’tis said. The Duke of Richmond has been at a great old house1, not far from Kensington, some days, and ’tis thought the old Lord has been tempting his Grace with the Government of Ireland, if they can get Lord Townshend to come away. Believe me, &c., &c. A. Hervey. MR. CHARLES LLOYD TO MR. GRENVILLE. Wednesday, August 8, 1770. Dear Sir,—I will, with your leave, postpone my visit to Wotton till the winter, having some thoughts of re-turning to see a college founded by Lady Huntingdon2 in Wales for Missionaries. She gave me a very obliging reception on the 22nd of last month. I dined with her, stayed the whole day, and heard the tenets and parti- 1 Holland House. 2 Lady Selina Shirley, wife of Theophilus, ninth Earl of Huntingdon. She was celebrated for her attachment to the Methodists, and employed all her ample resources in founding a sect, and in disseminating the principles of Whitfield and the Calvinistic Methodists. The college mentioned by Lloyd was erected at her expense for the education of young men designed for the ministry. She died in 1791. 1770. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 527 culars of her faith very much in extenso. The 24th of this month is kept as the anniversary of her birth-day, and is celebrated by the chief of her clergy in prayers and preaching. The college is situated in a most fertile vale near Brecknock, at a place called Trevecke. There are 20 young men from 17 to 25 years of age. These are instructed by masters in the Latin and Greek tongues for two years, and then are sent out into the country villages 16 miles round to pray and preach both on Sundays, and week days. They perform extempore exercises every day, having a constant auditory composed of about 150 persons, of every kind of trade, who arc maintained, lodged, and clothed by Howell Harris at a house about 150 yards distant from the college. The several wages of these artisans is thrown into a common stock (they are employed at any distance sufficient to enable them to return each Sunday), and from that stock they arc fed, &c., the sick are taken care of, and those who are past their labour are lodged, and have every kind of proper assistance. These two institutions coincide very happily so as to provide for both temporal and spiritual wants. I was exceedingly pleased both with their preaching and singing. Two of the college have been ordained and sent to America. I am, &c., &c. C. Lloyd. LORD LYTTELTON TO MR. GRENVILLE. Hill Street, October 8, 1770. My dear Sir,—A letter 1 received from Dr. Ashe, last post, has given me much consolation, in telling me that he sees a daily amendment in all your complaints. As for my own health, I was feverish during my whole 528 GRENVILLE PAPERS. October, journey, and passed two nights without sleep, hut am now got pretty well. I find the Duchess in good health, and supporting her misfortune with that patience and calmness which is natural to her temper, and goes beyond all the lessons of philosophers and divines. Sir Richard has left her the house at Chelsea in her own disposal, besides the 10,000/. that were settled upon her, and the house in town for her life \ Pitt and my brother will have each about 20,000/. in present or in reversion. The interest of 8000/. which is part of my brother’s share, is given to me for my life. Legacies are left to all the servants, particularly to the Owens, one of whom has 500/., and the other (Rachel) a better portion. The Duchess is residuary legatee. This is the substance of my poor brother’s will. All is yet doubtful about peace or war. I believe I shall not return into Worcester ’till Monday next. About the end of this month I hope to find you at Wotton entirely recovered, which will be the greatest joy to, Dear Sir, yours, &c., &c. Lyttelton. To the Countess Temple. A traveller wandering through the maze of Stowe, The fairest garden here on earth below, 1 Sir Richard Lyttelton died at Chelsea on the 1st instant. He had married Lady Rachel Russell, widow of the first Duke of Bridgewater. Sir Richard’s nephew, Thomas Pitt, afterwards Lord Camelford, erected an obelisk to his memory, in the park at Boconnoc, in Cornwall, now the property of Lady Grenville, the only daughter' and sole surviving heir of Lord Camelford. The brother mentioned by Lord Lyttelton, was William Henry, who was created Baron West-cote, and subsequently Baron Lyttelton. 1770. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 529 Says to his guide:—“’Midst all the domes and shrines, V here Garden-Venus in her Temple shines, Where George’s statue rears its awful head, Adorns and seems to rule the neighbouring mead, 1 see no Temple to Minerva’s name, No grateful line to celebrate her fame.” “ No,” savs the guide, “ the sage Minerva dwells Within the house, and in each art excels, For both her wisdom and her skill you find Ju worthy Temple’s virtuous dame combined.” William Wyndham Grenville1. TEtate sua 11. 2nd January, 177L THE EARL OF SUFFOLK TO EARL TEMPLE. Duke Street, Westminster, January 29, 1771. My dear Lord,—Whether I take the liberty of informing your Lordship of a circumstance pleasant, unpleasant, or indifferent to you, I don’t presume to guess, but am sure in either case your Lordship will pardon a liberty that proceeds from sentiments of the most perfect respect and esteem. I am unwilling your Lordship should hear from any authority but my own, that I have kissed the King’s hand this morning for the Privy Seal. I won’t trouble you with reflections and considerations which cither must have struck your Lordship already, or will obtain but little weight from my representation. But in any situation permit me to assure you that I shall never cease to entertain that respect and esteem for your 1 Afterwards Lord Grenville, lie died in 1834. VOL. IV. M M 530 GRENVILLE PAPERS. January, Lordship, which the tenderest recollection of those who were nearest to you, and dearest to me, can inspire1. I am, my dear Lord, your most obedient and most faithful servant, Suffolk. EARL TEMPLE TO THE EARL OF SUFFOLK. Stowe, January 24, 1771. My dear Lord,—Retired as I am and wish to be, it is impossible, however, that any important change in your Lordship’s private or public situation, can be indifferent to me. Our private intercourse for some years past, our public warfare in so many glorious days of battle against the common enemy, and your great talents, forbid it. As I am entirely a stranger to every circumstance of this business, but the tenderest recollections of our common loss, your Lordship can only receive my thanks for the obliging manner in which you have communicated to me the step which you have taken, at- 1 I have already referred to Lord Suffolk’s letter in the Introductory Notes to the third volume of this Correspondence, and I have there quoted some passages from the writings of Junius, which relate to the subject of his desertion from the Grenville connection so soon after the death of his friend Mr. Grenville, of whom he had been so long a devoted follower. In one of Lord Suffolk’s latest letters to Mr. Grenville, he says :—“ It will be my constant endeavour to preserve the Constitution of my country, and my pride and my ambition to work with you in that task : conscious of the many advantages it has been my good fortune to receive from the unreserved communications and instructive effects of your friendship, and the example of your integrity, which no man better knows or values more.” However calmly Lord Temple replied to the above communication, there can be little doubt but that he received it with the most profound indignation and contempt, and that he fully concurred in the expression of Lord Chatham’s opinion : “ the part of Wedderburn is deplorable; of Lord Suffolk, pitiable! ” 1771. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 531 tended with my good wishes, that your Lordship mav have reason to be better satisfied with your new situation than my experience of the Court, and of the public, can allow me to hope for you. I have the honour to be, with the greatest respect, your Lordship’s most obedient and most humble servant, Temple. THE COUNTESS OF CHATHAM TO EARL TEMPLE. Hayes, Monday, March 4, 1771. My dear Brother,—I was so much in haste when I wrote yesterday to make a return to your letter, and to express the lively joy it gave me, as well as not to have it known how I was employed, that what I said was very short of what I felt, in consequence of the kind warmth of affection with which you answered the painful feelings I had conveyed to you. 1 must now repeat the entire comfort and satisfaction which my mind enjoys, from the eager and affecting assurances of that tender regard, which will always be an equal pride and pleasure to me. When you know that what wounded me, so unfortunately for both, passed Saturday, in the moment I was with you alone after dinner, you will disculpate me from having coolly remained days without explanation. 1 went instantly to the play, with sensations very ill suited to the entertainment, and which were often on the point of conquering me, and of manifesting the situation of my heart. However, used to trials, I just preserved the power to command myself, and to veil from the eyes of my kind hostess and others the emotions which were within. Do you remember the answer you made, to the men-m m 2 532 GRENVILLE TAPERS. March, tion I macle of the civility of the persons next to us on Friday night ? There was the word that shocked me, which spare me, if you please, the repeating, since it was an error either in the speaker or the hearer. If it had been as I supposed and felt, there was no wrong-headedness in being touched as I was ; and, being touched, I could not then have taken it up without totally unfitting myself for keeping my engagement to the play. As little did I feel it possible afterwards to do it in any other way than I did. Now, my dear brother, you have the whole of what a certain delicacy of feeling, on some points, produced in a mind, that considers itself no way debased by any circumstances that have happened. You should not have had another letter on this subject, but that the kindness of yours required a fuller explanation than what you received yesterday in acknowledgment of it. I found my Lord, upon my return, with an increase of lameness, and in the night he has had pain in his foot, so that, in my opinion, he is likely to be in for a fit. If you write me a line in return to this, to tell me that all traces of this unpleasant dream are vanished with you, as they will be with me from this moment, I shall be made still the more happy ; but, in that case, let me desire you will cause your letter to be enclosed to Mrs. Sparry, and directed by one of your people, that I may not receive it so as to be questioned on the contents \ I am, with all truth and affection, your loving sister, Hester Chatham. 1 I can offer no explanation of the subject of this letter, which ap pears to have been a secret between Lord Temple and his sister, and 1771. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 533 THE EARL OF CHATHAM TO EARL TEMPLE. Hayes, April J 7, 1771. My dear Lord,—I hoped to have had the pleasure of seeing you before now, if severe and obstinate pains in the head had not rendered a journey to London above my force. If there is a western gale in the stores of spring, I trust by that aid to be able to crawl thither by the end of next week. I am sorry in the meantime to give trouble to the Lords on Friday next. I am not enough a Frenchman to solicit my judges. J low this antiquated proceeding will be interpreted, I know not; by some, I trust, not disapproved. In the meantime I rest in confidence on the goodness of my cause, and the candour of my judges. The Public now must beg from my pen a moment’s attention. Great is the absurdity of the City, in putting the quarrel on the exercise of the most tenable privilege the House is possessed of: a right to summon before them Printers printing their Debates daring' the session. Incomparable is the wrong-headednesses and folly of the Court, ignorant how to be four-and-twenty hours in good ground : for they have most ingeniously contrived to be guilty of the rankest tyranny in every step taken to assert the rigid. A happy state of the country, but a true one. Now, my dear Lord, to the point ; what is to be done, rebus sic stantibus. 1 am clear that Dissolution should be moved in Parliament-, in the House of Lords, unquestionably: in the House of Commons 1 think also. In the former, who so fit to move as Lord Temple ? as the reply was to be enclosed to a confidential servant, and to lie directed by one of Lord Temple's *• people," it was intended to be unknown even to Lord Chatham. 534 GRENVILLE PAPERS. April, Should you judge‘otherwise for yourself, I am ready to move it, but prefer your Lordship doing it, in everv light. What do you think of young James \ the deserved favourite of the House, for the Commons ? Allow a speculator in a great chair to add, that a plan for more equal representation, by additional knights of the shire, seems highly seasonable; and to shorten the duration of Parliaments not less so, if your Lordship should approve: could Lord Lyttelton’s caution be brought to taste these ideas, we should take possession of strong ground, let who will decline to follow us. One line of men, I am assured, will zealously support, and a respectable weight of law. Si quid novisti rectius istis candidus imperti. A petition from the City for dissolution would, with peculiar propriety, close the scene2. I am ever, my dear Lord, most affectionately yours, Chatham. 1 James Grenville, jun., afterwards Lord Glastonbury. 2 Lord Temple’s reply to the above is printed in the Chatham Correspondence, and it furnishes two or three pointed illustrations of the Letters of Junius: he says, “ I totally agree with you in respect to the City transactions. I lamented with those of the City whom I first saw, that they did not content themselves with standing upon the impregnable ground of the illegal proclamation ; however, that, since they were in the scrape, it must be covered and got out of as well as they could. The incredible imbecility and rashness of the idiota Ministry have been very helpful to them ; and, upon the whole, the embarrassment and disgrace to the Court put them in a lower’ and more distressful light than if my Lord Mayor had not interfered at all I confess the general state of the Opposition, the implacable division in the City b, which the demon of discord hath so plentifully scattered, have, without blaming either side particularly, reduced me to a state of despondency for the public, which a “ What an abandoned, prostituted Ideot is your Lord Mayor !”—Junius to Woodfall, i. 250. b “ If I saw any prospect of uniting the City once more, I wo^ readily continue to labour in the vineyard.” — /bid, i. 253. 1771. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 535 THE PRINCESS AMELIA TO COUNTESS TEMPLE. Gunnersbury, September 2, 1771. If the 16th is agreeable to you, my dear Lady Temple, and to my Lord Temple, I shall be with you before three, which is your dinner-time, and I have got, with your leave, Lord Besborough for to play at whist, the evenings, and I hope that Lord Temple won’t dislike to have a virtuoso admire what he is a doing. Our visit will be short, as I must be back here a Wednesday. I hope you have been well, though the weather was wretched when you set out for Lord Lyttelton’s. I am, and ever shall be, your sincere friend, my dear Lady Temple, Amelia. MR. DAYRELL TO EARL TEMPLE. [September 27? 1771.] My Lord,—Your Lordship’s obliging letter found me in Cambridgeshire, but, on my return to town, I communicated your answer to the Friends of Liberty. Mr. Aiderman Bridgen’s refusal brought on great confusion, as your Lordship will observe, and, I firmly believe, will lose the present Lord Mayor his re-election, makes me think it almost unmanly to step again into any public transaction a......... “ As to the other points, of shortening the duration of Parliament, and increasing the knights of the shire, my general notion of the former your Lordship knows, and for the latter, in general, I should wish it success when matured and ripened.”b a “ In the present state of things, If I were to write again, I must be as silly as any of the horned Cattle that run mad thro’ the City, or as any of your wise Aidermen. J meant the 1 lause & the public, both are given up.”—Junius, i. 255. b “ Lord Chatham’s project, for instance, of increasing the number of knights of the shire, appears to me admirable, and the moment we have obtained a triennial parliament it ought to be tried.”—Junius to Wilkes, i. 287, 536 GRENVILLE PAPERS. September, 1771. The Shelburne party will be totally ruined in less than forty-five hours. The friends of the Lord Mayor, who support Saw-bridoe, sent to Mr. Townshend to desire he would de-cline the poll, as he had no chance of succeeding, and, by that means, he would secure the return of Mr. Sawbridge and the present Mayor : he listened awhile to the overture of strengthening Mr. Sawbridge’s interest, but wanted terms for himself to succeed another year; that we absolutely denied him, upon which he took time to consider of it till six this evening, when he returned a very insolent answer in the negative. The application and answer I have drawn up and sent, by the desire of the Committee, to the papers. It will most effectually do his business with the Livery, and what was only suspicion before, of his dividing the popular interest to serve the Court, will now be conviction to the citizens at large. Nash is most likely to be Mayor \ which we do not secretly dislike, as he is more likely to be with us, than any of the Shelburnes can be. If that should be the case, a certain person QWilkes^ whom your Lordship knows, has a trap for him which he longs to communicate to your Lordship, with many other important things now in plan, particularly an attack upon the privilege of commitment the House of Lords has lately exercised upon the Printers, and Mr. Bull2 has agreed to act with him in everything. The attack will begin by a letter against Lord Pomfret ; if the Printer is committed, the sheriffs will certainly release him, by first bringing him before the Mayor and some other aiderman, to be discharged. 1 Nash was elected by a majority of 220 over Sawbridge, and more than 2000 over Townshend. 2 Wilkes aud Bull were the Sheriffs of London and Middlesex. June, 1772. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 537 This I am commissioned to mention to your Lordship in confidence, and to beg your consideration and good advice upon, when I have the honour of seeing your Lordship at Stowe. There are several other things I shall be entrusted with to bring to your Lordship, too long to communicate by paper, which Csesar[ Wilkes] wishes to repose in the faithful bosom of his Mentor [Lord Temple], who never deserted him in his greatest difficulties, and in whom alone he will confide. Your Lordship will forgive the scrawling of this letter, being wrote in a very great hurry, and in a noisy place, the Paul’s Head Tavern \ I beg my dutiful respects to Lady Temple, and I am, my Lord, your Lordship’s most obliged and affectionate servant, E. Dayrell. THI EARL GF CHATHAM TO EARL TEMPLE. Hayes, June 9, 1772. Many acknowledgments are due, my dear Lord, for your kind hasty epistle with your foot in the stirrup for Stowe. I have, in consequence of the intimation contained therein, suspended writing to excuse performance of my former notices, and shall wait the pleasure of another letter from you, not without some hope. Nuthall could not wait on your Lordship, having company to dine with him, and the hour being late when I saw him. I sent him away not a little abashed with his rough calculation ; and a more absurd and unjust one I never heard of. I gave Mr. Walpole 20,000/., besides 3000/. more, upon valuations of stock, utensils of farm, 1 I have already made some observations on the subject of this letter in the Introductory Notes : see ante, vol iii. p Ixxxii. 538 GRENVILLE PAPERS. June, &c., and have bills to produce of 9000?. more expended on the premises since. The house is insured, though not for its full value. Tom Nuthall is enough a man of this generation to know how to choose between a purchasing and a selling client. I hope your Lordship has found the palace of Stowe advancing apace. I wish it would rise, as Milton says of a piece of architecture of his immortal pencil, like an exhalation, for I long to behold it once finished '. May you find your gardening legs. Mine serve me as yet but very indifferently. I am, my dear Lord, your ever affectionate Chatham. EARL TEMPLE TO MESSRS. COUTTS. Stowe, June 24, 1772. Sirs,—Though I have not the smallest doubt of your prudence and honour, yet, as it is impossible to say how far even you may in the end be affected by the general run upon credit, I think it my indispensable duty, as a trustee, and having public money in my hands, to take the India Bonds into my own keeping ; the amount, you know, is 15,000/. which I must desire you will put into the hands of Mr. Astle, and his receipt shall be your full discharge. I am, Sirs, &c. Temple. As to my own cash in your hands I think not about it. 1 Lord Temple having now finished, or rather having now become disgusted with, and tired of his political labours as the Author of Junius, his active mind still required employment, and he seems to have turned his attention entirely to the completion and decoration of his mansion and buildings at Stowe. About this time he commenced the alteration of the whole of the south front, which before his death had assumed the architectural appearance which still remains : and the colonnades on the north front were also added, besides many very considerable improvements in the Gardens. 1773. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 539 MR. GLOVER TO EARL TEMPLE. Bulls Cross, near Enfield, July 12, 1 772. My dearest Lord,—Your clear, concise, and mercantile favour came duly by the post, and was forwarded to me last night; accordingly I draw for half a buck to be received in London the latter end of this week, or beginning of next, because next Tuesday se’nnight 1 propose to feast an old lady of 85, my mother, who is a lover of venison. I fully intended to have given your Lordship a narrative of the late tragedies in London by next Tuesday’s post, but have reason to believe that my letter of this day will be sufficiently explanatory. A few days after the flight of Fordyce, finding no bankruptcies ensued, I retired to Weybridge, and spent ten days quietly; but was hurried up on Monday fortnight passed By ten o’clock I reached Mr. Payne, the Governor of the Bank, who informed me that public credit was in the utmost disorder, Sir Richard Glynn broke, and many 1 The banking-house of Messrs. Neal, Fordyce, and Co., of Threadneedle Street, had stopped payment on Wednesday the 10th of June, and the effects of their failure caused the greatest possible consternation throughout the City. The spirit and energy of the merchants, aided by the timely interposition of the Bank of England, fortunately prevented many of the numerous bankruptcies that were expected to ensue. So fatal a blow, however, was given to trade and public credit, that the stoppage of almost every banker in London was at one time anticipated. It was mentioned as a remarkable instance of .rapid conveyance at this period, that the news of Fordyce’s failure reached Edinburgh from London in forty-three hours. If this were true, it was a still more wonderful feat than that performed by Sir Robert Carey, who carried the news of Queen Elizabeth’s death from Richmond to Edinburgh in about (in hours; but Fordyce, who was a Scotchman, had not improbably given his friends some earlier intimation of what was about to happen. 540 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, other bankers in danger, but that he was going to consult with his brethren on some immediate measures to check the increasing evil. From him I went to Lombard Street, and learned from my own banker, that they were all run upon at that instant, some more, some less, and that several capital ones were expected to follow the example of Sir Richard Glynn, and stop that very day; among others Sir George Colebrooke. This was confirmed by every man I met. Confiding in the faculties of the Bank, nor less in the magnanimity and liberal spirit of my friend the Governor, from whom I had so lately parted, I assumed a cheerful countenance, and treated the whole affair so lightly, that I raised up many from a dejection which I had never observed before. In fact the Bank of England, to its eternal honour, furnished that very forenoon such immense and quick supplies of money, that every house stood firm; there was indeed a small space of time that Sir George Colebrooke stood still, by reason that the Bank could not issue notes fast enough to meet the run upon him, it was so violent; but another private banker, Martin, stepped into his aid, and threw in cash sufficient to set him afloat, and keep him so, ’till the Bank had made out all the notes adequate to his necessities. Happy was this operation, for the keeping him up prevented the extension of the calamity to Holland, where he had been carrying on a most alarming circulation for many months. By the evening I had made myself master of the causes whence all the mischief was derived. Sir George himself, having among many projects made a recent purchase in Scotland to the amount of 70,000/., had his circulation of paper to raise money for the payment. A great house of the Alexanders at Edinburgh, in 1772. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 541 order to pay for an immense plantation at Granada, had their circulation, which had already ruined Sir Richard Glynn ; and lastly the great bank of Ayr, otherwise of Douglas, Heron, and Co., had, for the purpose principally of improving agriculture, enlarged their paper credit to such a degree, that there remained to the amount of 300,000/. in the possession of London only. When I considered, that, in addition to that sum, all the commercial concerns between our capital and Scotland, and that multitudes of my fellow citizens, such as grocers, woollen-drapers, mercers, upholsterers, cabinet-makers, haberdashers, and silversmiths, besides linendrapers and merchants, would be all grievously involved, and many fatally, in the confusion of Scotland, whose chief currency consisted in the Douglas paper, I clearly saw that the support of that great bank was become the principal object of attention, and indeed the single one remaining, after Sir George Colebrooke had been upheld. I reported to the Exchange in the evening of this black Monday, and was soon applied to by a Scotch merchant, who said that if a subscription was opened by the merchants of oOO/. each man to indemnify the Bank against any damage sustained by a further and free discount of the Douglas paper, and that if I would begin such a subscription, he was sure it would be filled in time to answer the purpose. I answered that I would contribute all in my power, that the supporting that bank should be the object of every man’s attention on both sides the Tweed, but that the proper method was to call a general meeting of the merchants and traders, to which end I would consult some proper persons that night. I did so, and was assured, that if I would take the lead myself, and keep all the North-Britons entirely out of sight, I might depend on success; that if the 542 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, plan appeared to be of North-British growth, I should meet with insurmountable difficulties ; for as the mischief apparently originated from the Scotch themselves, the minds of men were too much heated with indignation to discern, like me, that the aiding Scotland in the present instance was equally beneficial to England. Unfortunately my North-British friend put an advertisement that evening into the papers for a general meeting without my knowledge. Seeing it in the morning papers I got some very considerable English merchants to attend. We consulted privately together, and though the meeting was but thin, we agreed that to separate without doing anything would be prejudicial to public credit. Mr. Long accepted of the chair, and I proposed a subscription of 5004. each to indemnify the bank against damage in continuing to discount the Douglas paper. A committee of twelve was chosen, of which but three were Scotch, yet the merchants in general were disgusted at the appointment of those three; however, in three days I got 60,0004. subscribed, and would have carried the point against all prejudices, but fortunately did not find it necessary. Four Directors of the Douglas bank were come up to London, and made their application to me for assistance. In fine, by an unwearied attendance of mine on the Bank, and keeping up their own spirits together with the generous interposition of the Dukes of Queensberry and Buccleuch, and Mr. Douglas, who have given their bonds and judgment for all they are worth, as a security to the Bank of England, our Directors have agreed to circulate the Douglas paper to the amount of 300,0004 upon condition that the said paper be reduced to 150,0004 in three successive half-yearly periods. The subscription of the merchants became unnecessary for 1772. GRENVILLE TAPERS. 543 that particular purpose, but while it was going on greatly tended to quiet people’s minds, by showing that there were some eminent persons who were not frightened out of their wits. In the meantime the head of the house of Alexander posted up to London, and gave in such a state of the solidity of his affairs, that with the additional security of Walpole the merchant, and his brother the banker, the Bank of England agreed last Thursday evening to set them afloat likewise, and on Friday when I quitted London for some relief in the country, it was universally believed that this last assistance of the Bank to Alexander would restore Sir Richard Glynn again, with other good mercantile houses which had been forced to stop in this confusion, and finally would put public credit upon a much more solid basis than for these twelve months past. I conclude with Mrs. Glover’s and my most cordial compliments to Lady Temple. My dear Lord, vour most affectionate, and I fear most tedious, R. Glover. THE EARL OF CHATHAM TO EARL TEMPLE. Burton Pynsent, August 30, 1772. My dear Lord,—I am under a necessity to trouble your Lordship with another epistle on a subject you have declared yourself so tired of, the mortgage on Hayes. The matter is as follows :—Air. Nuthall acquaints me by yesterday’s post, in the words transcribed from his letter, “that if the portion of lands purchased by Mr. Walpole of Cox and C hapman was intended to be comprehended, as well as the trust premises, in the 544 GRENVILLE PAPERS. August, mortgage deed to l ord Temple, I must take upon rayself the blame of its being done otherwise; for in the deed laid before Mr. Madocks, by Lord Temple’s direction, Cox and Chapman’s lands are not comprised.” lie adds, “It is never too late to confess a fault, when it is known to be so, and this mistake may be easily rectified, by Lord Chatham executing a short deed, conveying to Lord Temple these lands, as a collateral and further security for the mortgage money, and to bear even date with the mortgage deeds to him.” Here is a tedious story of a mistake to me quite incomprehensible, had I not often found that lawyers, hur-ried by variety of business, are the most signal blunderers imaginable. This strange incident vexes me not a little, and, could it not be so easily supplied, my uneasiness would be infinitely greater. I write this post to Nuthall, directing him to prepare forthwith such a deed as he suggests for my execution, which, as soon as executed, shall be deposited with the rest at Mr. Coutts’s. Your Lordship may imagine that I have not been sparing in my compliments on the Solicitor of the Treasury’s accuracy and punctuality. I must not, however, omit, angry as I am, to say the gentleman cries quarter, and throws himself particularly on your Lordship’s mercy, as well as mine. I suppose this tiresome renewal of this tiresome affair will find your Lordship returned from your peregrinations. I hope pleasure has constantly attended your steps, and that health Herculean enables you to pursue, without fatigue, the Herculean labours of magnificence and taste in which you are engaged. All here, thank 1772. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 545 God, arc well, and our Hill1 knows no complaint but want of rain. Kind loves, and respectful duties, conclude this long epistle, from my dear Lord’s most affectionate, Chatham. EARL TEMPLE TO THE EARL OF CHATHAM. Stowe, September 8, 1772. My dear Lord,—Though I never can be tired of any business in which I am engaged in your service, and that I execute it with zeal you and yours have allowed, vet, as these are of different sorts, some may, to a kind well-wisher, be in their nature more agreeable than others. At my return to this place, on Sunday last, I found your Lordship’s letter, together with one of the 4th from that facetious man of business, in so many departments, Mr. Thomas Nuthall, whose fellow is not easily to be met with : witness your marriage-settlement not witnessed, his peremptory and repeated assertions, that your trustee had no power to advance the trust-money on mortgage, even though I quoted the very words to him, and his late unparalleled proceedings, which the better to ascertain, I send you copies of the letters which have already passed, leaving the comparison of his letters to you and me, the dates, the contradictions, and the comments to your Lordship, who cannot fail to sec that though he was trusted for all, and only referred to Mr. Madocks as a matter of form, upon his own suggestion, yet he was in utrumque paratus, if you had 1 Lord Temple had written a poem of sixteen stanzas, called Stowe; or, the Hill of Hills, of which the following is a specimen : — “ Tell me no more of Tempe’s vale, Nor boast of Arno’s flowery dale ; Taste must confess, superior still The charms, which decorate my Hill.” VOL. IV. N N 54G GRENVILLE PAPERS. September, wished otherwise than you did, and I would have been paid with jargon 1; for my own part, I am in no wise concerned but for the honour of the trust, and to silence whispers which his irregularity had produced. After many and many disappointments, I am now going on prosperously here. The north side is charming, and the south will be very magnificent, attended with much expense, but, what is worse, with infinite trouble. I hope, however, that the worst is over. For Hagley news I have none to add to what you must have heard from the once young and lovely lips of Madame Hood2. It is a charming place, and I think we have got an amiable and very sensible acquisition in our new cousin . To-morrow I enter upon the delights of a race at Newport Pagnel, of which proh pudor! I am a steward. I hear your young folks have again greatly signalized themselves4, which cannot but give pleasure to papa and 1 “ The reason is most inadequate, and must appear so to every man who is not beat out of his senses by the jargon of lawyers," &c.—Lord Temple on the Seizure of Papers. “What in their prerogative jargon is called a concealment,” &c.— Junius, vol. iii. p. 20. 2 Wife of Captain Hood, afterwards Lord Bridport. She was the sister of Gilbert West the poet. She died in 1786. 3 The wife of Thomas, afterwards second Lord Lyttelton: he had recently married Mrs. Apphia Peach, the widow of a gentleman who held some high office in the Government of India. She survived her second husband many years, and died at Malvern in the year 1840, at the great age of ninety siv years. * 4 In allusion to a play which had been written and performed by the children at Burton Pynsent. It furnished a curious instance of the erroneous estimate Lord Chatham had thus early formed of the talents of his eldest and second son. Dr. Addington having remarked upon the singular accuracy of emphasis with which the speeches were delivered, Lord Chatham replied, “ William is certainly very correct, but Pitt will be the orator.” 1772. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 547 mama, as well as to, my dear Lord, your most affectionate, Temple. I rely with the fullest security on your Lordship’s honour1, but not at all on Mr. Nuthall’s law, when he tells me that the method now taken is full as safe and effectual as if Mr. Walpole had conveyed to the trustee, for, if you had given a general mortgage, or a judgment in the interim, they would take place. LORD VERE TO COUNTESS TEMPLE. Hanworth House, July 31, 1773. Dear Madam,—I hope I may assure you H. M. is perfectly well again in health, but the chronique scandaleuse says a little uneasy about a dairy-maid. Lady Margaret Compton dined here yesterday, and recovered the disagreeable operation of having been robbed, last Saturday night, at the end of Gunnersbury lane : she was coming from town, and told seventy carriages in the way, and many on foot, and yet it is now reported the same man picked up above a hundred pounds. You will have heard Lady Blandford was robbed on Wimbledon Common, as have been also Lady Jane Scott, Lady Schaub, coming from Lady Westmoreland’s, and several others, which puts our dowagers into some fears, but not enough to keep them at home ; for what signifies keeping their money, if they arc kept without quadrille. We have the felicity of Lady Bridget Lane in our neighbourhood : she lias been here, and in great vogue. '1 be Duke of Gloucester, we saw go to her last Satur-day, when we were at Lady Brown’s, and he looked very well. The Duke and Duchess of Cumberland are 1 “Confiding implicitly in your Lordship’s honour,” Ac.—Junius to Lord Chatham. N N ‘2 548 GRENVILLE PAPERS. December, going abroad for three years: a relation of his, and friend of yours, ^Princess Amelia^] said it was very well, and would be better if it was for thirteen. Lady Margaret was with her a few days ago, says she is perfectly well, and is now at Lord Boston’s. They say here that Lord Bute’s daughter having run away and married is true1: by what I have long heard of the manner they were permitted to behave in at Brighthelmstone, I can’t wonder at it, as poor Lady Bute was got into the country, and, of course, a little happy fr°m that, I concluded it would not be long before some accident or other would bring her back to her usual situation of having something to fret her. They say Lord Carmarthen2 can’t be married ’till September, and Lord Cranbourn3 they don’t know when. Miss Keck has got a great acquisition by the death of a Tracy; it will be, when all the jointures fall in, 3000/. a year. I am ever, my dear Lady Temple’s most affectionate and obedient servant, Vere. THE HONOURABLE HORACE WALPOLE TO COUNTESS TEMPLE. December 20, 1773. I had a person with me that prevented my answering your Ladyship’s kind letter immediately, which I wished 1 Lady Augusta Stuart was married about this time to Captain Andrew Corbett of the Horse Guards Blue. She died in 1778. 2 Afterwards fifth Duke of Leeds: he was married in November following to Lady Amelia D’Arcy, only daughter and heir of Robert, last Earl of Holdernesse, from whom he was divorced in May, 1779. 3 Afterwards first Marquess of Salisbury: he married in December of this year, Lady Emily Hill, second daughter of the Earl of Hillsborough. This Lady was burnt in the fire which destroyed part of Hatfield House, in November, 1835. 1773. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 549 to do, and to thank you for having relieved my mind from the greatest anxiety imaginable. The enormous sum of 800/. compared with 300/., which I had thought a very great price, made me apprehensive that I should seem to have offered far below the value of the pictures, the plain English of which could only be that I would have defrauded orphans for my own advantage, an idea that would make me shudder. If a lady in the country is so amazingly deceived as to expect to get half the sum of 800/., I doubt she will keep them ’till they are of no value at all, which must be the case of miniatures, that must lose their beauty by time, and which makes them so greatlv less valuable than enamels. My behaviour to Miss Stapleton, I hope, has been perfectly respectful, and allow me to repeat, Madam, that my great esteem for her character, and gratitude for having made me the offer of purchasing the pictures, carried me beyond my judgment, and made me desirous of pleasing her by the handsomeness of the offer. 1 heartily beg her pardon if regard for my own honour has carried me too far in disculpating myself. I he more esteem I had for her, the more shocked I was at seeming to have acted in an unworthy manner; and I own I should still wish that she should show the pictures to some good judge, and see what such a person would say of 800/. for them. I shall always be Miss Stapleton’s obliged humble servant, if she justifies me, and I shall be, if possible, more than ever Lady Temple’s most devoted humble servant, who 1 am sure will forgive my not being able to bear the thought of being lowered in her esteem. P.S. I am prevented to-day, but will have the honour of calling on your Ladyship to-morrow. 550 GRENVILLE PAPERS. March, MR, GEORGE GRENVILLE TO EARL TEMPLE. Naples, March 26, 1771. My dear Uncle,—I am uneasy to find by my sister’s letter that you think me in your debt for letters. I can safely assure you that the post must have cheated you of some of mine, as I can answer for having regularly answered every letter which I have been so happy as to receive from you. A few days more will be sufficient to show us everything that can be seen at Naples, for we have not hitherto left one morning unemployed. The antiquities round Naples are in every point of view wonderfully interesting; the remains of ancient architecture are very great, some of them remain in a fine state of preservation ; the discouragement, however, of new researches is so great, that it probably will prevent any new discoveries taking place. The excavations carried on at Pompeii show us one whole Roman street remaining perfect; the houses all perfect, except the roofs, which have fallen in from the burning of the beams. This unfortunate city was destroyed not by the lava, but by a shower of ashes and pumice stones; this makes the digging very easy and preserves the form of every building, every utensil and ornament, in a state of perfection little short of what they originally were: the paintings are very pretty, every other discovery is highly interesting, from the good taste which reigns throughout; it is, however, worth while to observe how little their useful implements differ from those of modern date. The stucco work is now in finer preservation than the reliefs on the hardest marble, some of the friezes are infinitely superior to anything I ever saw; the jealousy, however, of the natives will not 1774. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 551 suffer any drawings to be taken of them, so that the world must wait till the King orders them to be published. A Temple remains entire with every implement of sacrifice, and every minute part in the highest preservation, and what is extraordinary is, that they have built it entirely of marble, and stuccoed it over afterwards through choice. The ancients’ houses, notwithstanding the rich furniture found in them, are very indifferent; in the course of 50 houses I did not see one room 20 feet long, nor can it be answered that these were houses belonging to people in bad circumstances, for they are fitted up with every profusion of painting and mosaic. Herculaneum does not afford so large a field for observation, for the lava having been in a state of fusion, when it overwhelmed it, the workmen were obliged to dig through the solid substance for about 50 feet, before they came to the roofs of the houses, and even then in striving to detach the vitrified substance, they often destroyed the ornamental parts of architecture, which they were in search of. The theatre, however, afforded them a profusion of statues in bronze and marble, the latter rather of the second rate, excepting one equestrian statue, which is very near equal to the Marcus Aurelius at the Capitol. This subject easily leads us to the consideration of the volcano which destroyed these two cities. I have been twice on the summit, the first time about a week ago, and the second time the night before last; a small eruption of lava having taken place, I went thither at eleven at night, and did not leave it till six in the morning, very well repaid for the fatigue of ascending it in the dark, and for the danger of hazarding it. I have 552 GRENVILLE PAPERS. March, given my sister a more particular account of it in a letter of yesterday, and will refer you to that, rather than fill this with a repetition of what I told her. I have passed many days on the coast of Baiae; the profusion of ancient buildings affords ample amusement, especially with Horace and Virgil in my pocket; the scene, however, is now changed, and the Baise amsense are now deserted, on account of the infectious air which the marshes send forth; most of the antique Temples are under water, I mean overflowed; I have, however, ventured into several of them, and am very well repaid for my trouble; the stucco roofs are entire; most of them have been published: they are not however very interesting, as they only mark the changes of ornament in the square and octagon compartments of a vaulted ceiling. The Temple of Jupiter at Puzzuoli is now entirely demolished, to supply materials for the palace at Caserta, which is beyond dispute the most extensive building (as far as I can judge) upon the worst plan I ever saw. It never will be finished, though the King of Spain, who began it, annually remits about 18,000/. for that purpose, but this young King commonly stops the workmen, and employs the money for some other purpose; he is now throwing off a great deal of the authority which the King of Spain assumes over him, and though he is represented as entirely ignorant and neglected, he certainly is no fool, though immoderately fond of field amusements, which engross a great part of his time. He is extremely beloved by all ranks of people, who do not dislike him for some of the boyish follies and excesses into which he sometimes breaks; he seems little attached to the Queen, though that may proceed from his indifference to the whole sex ; she is certainly clever. 1774. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 553 and seems a very amiable woman. Under all these circumstances the gallantries of the court are more private than what they have been ; the morals, however, of the people are, if anything, more corrupted; the men are very devils; I am afraid to say that I am told from good authority that 8,000 murders are annually committed in the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily : the punishment is .very slight, if the fact be proved, which is seldom the case. With this disadvantage, as well as that of the disease which is supposed to have made its first appearance here, I cannot but be astonished at the infinite population of the city : to give you an idea of it, assure yourself that the calculation affirms the number of beggars and people who pass their nights in the streets to exceed 22,000. The country, however, is much deserted; the disadvantages attending their trade is very great, and the decrease of cultivation ought to alarm them, from the recollection of what they suffered in 1766; this is the more inexcusable as their soil is certainly the richest in the world, for in the parts highly cultivated I have seen three crops on the ground at the same time. I mean corn growing in a vineyard where the vines were supported by the fig-trees ; nor have they the excuse of their riches being drawn from them, for Spain actually sends money occasionally to them, and never takes one farthing from them: Sicily pays to them annual subsidies, yet the face of poverty reigns throughout. We can, therefore, ascribe this only to the natural depravity of their spirits, which are only employed in searching for means to add new crimes to their old account. The women are in general lively and agreeable; the spirit of gallantry governs every action, and the only requisite necessary to recommend is a promise of making 554 GRENVILLE PAPERS March, a long residence at Naples, a promise which they are as sure of gaining from their admirers, as they are of seeing it afterwards broken. There have been, however, instances of Englishmen having been followed to Rome by the assassin employed to revenge such an affront. The disease to which the natives of this city are supposed to be more particularly exposed, is, I am convinced, much abated, and though dreadful when it takes place, it is less frequent thancommonly they were; in some families, however, it adds one to the horrid list of hereditary disorders. The fondness for conversaziones is much abated, for, excepting the more elderly part of the noblesse, very few men attend them; this makes it very difficult for a foreigner to make many acquaintances amongst the natives ; the advantage, however, is very great which the English have, owing to the universal esteem in which Sir William and Lady Hamilton are held, and the universal attention which is paid them. Lord Bulkeley and I have received from both of them every civility that can be imagined, and in the kindest way, for he always tells me that my father sent him here, for no other purpose. I live almost entirely with them, and find my time pass away more agreeably than in any part of Italy. I have taken the liberty of sending you a Vase of the lava of the year 1771 5 it is intended for a chim-nev-piece: when the ship sails you shall have proper notice, and I hope that you will conclude from it how much I make it my object to think on the many kindnesses you have always shown me. I cannot conclude this letter without congratulating you and myself on the tribute paid to my dear father’s memory; I cannot but exult in the relationship I bear to him, and if the pleasure is not complete, it is because I cannot share it 1774. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 555 with my family; and this happiness we have above all other Englishmen, that the utility of the Bill is for a moment the least object with us. Adieu, my dear uncle: commend me kindly to Lady Temple’s remembrance, and assure yourself of the sincere affection and gratitude of your dutiful and devoted nephew, George Grenville. Lord Bulkeley1 desires his lest respects to you ; he insists on that expression, ’till you will allow him to use some other; believe me, if I am proud it is of the choice I have made of my friend, for since I have travelled with him I have never found in him one quality which I did not admire. We are on the happiest terms, and mean to continue our intimacy in England, by seeing as much of each other in the country as we can make convenient to ourselves, and by living together when in London : a thing which he requested from me, and which I love him too affectionately to refuse. You will probably have heard before this letter comes of the death of the son of the Prince of Asturias, which gives the King of Naples a very fair chance for the crown of Spain, as they say that the Princess of Asturias is not likely to have any more children. MR. GEORGE GRENVILLE TO EARL TEMPLE. Rome, April 10, 1774. Your two letters, my dear uncle, followed me here from Naples, from whence I came in twrenty-eight hours in order to see the cupola of St. Peter’s illuminated for the Duke of Cumberland: I have seen manv shows of 1 Thomas James, seventh Viscount Bulkeley in the peerage of Ireland. He was made a Peer of Great Britain, as Baron Bulkeley, in 1784, and died in 1822. 556 GRENVILLE PAPERS. April, splendour and magnificence, but never one that struck me like the show of the whole front, colonnade, dome, and even cross of the church, illuminated in an instant with 5000 torches, and after this blaze had been sufficiently shown, on the discharge of a cannon, the whole was as instantaneously changed to a form infinitely more bright, and more surprising ; this manoeuvre was executed by 1200 men, disposed in different parts of the roof. His Royal Highness is now gone; he embarked at Civita Vecchia, on board the Pope’s fleet for Toulon, after having met with every honour that could be paid. The universal testimony in favour of him and of his Duchess made his residence very agreeable to the English who were at Rome. Having heard that he had inquired particularly after me, I went to Colonel Garth, desiring to know the hour when the Duke would receive me; he named the same night, and the moment I came he took me aside, and began a very interesting conversation, which lasted three hours: he did me the same honour on the two successive nights; during this he gave me leave to speak my sentiments to him on every subject with the utmost freedom. I must, however, reserve the whole till we meet in England, as this passed under the seal of confidence, and ought not to be hazarded to the post. Of one thing be sure, that he has been astonishingly well advised, and whoever judges of his parts by the boyish correspondence between him and Lady Grosvenor, will do him the utmost injustice, and be deceived by him in the end. Some parts of our conversation having been overheard, have been reported in Rome ; fortunately for me, it was chiefly what did me the most honour, and reflected very great honour on him : notwithstanding all this, I was explicit with His 1774. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 557 Royal Highness on the Scripture text of “ Put not your confidence in princes.” The particularity, however, has made some noise here. As to your observations on the jilters and being jilted, I agree perfectly with you. I own that, with the utmost respect for the character of a virtuous woman, experience has taught me not to hold the sex in so very sublime a light as I used before I left England ; and, I believe, that with respect to the women abroad, one observation will do (with very few exceptions) for the whole of that amiable corps. As to the grand question, as you call it, you will judge of my sentiments upon it, when you hear (under confidence, nay the strictest confidence) that J have refused advances from an heiress with 5000/. a year. Upon reflection you will know whom I mean. Without meaning it, I have (it seems) engaged her affections, for which I made my excuse, offered some sober advice, and have made a point of absenting myself as much as possible from the family, so that her only resource now is with Bulkeley, who is daily entertained with this edifying topic. Raillery apart, I am really concerned for the girl, as I have a great regard for her sense, understanding and disposition, and am sorry that anything of this kind should give her uneasiness : but of this, mv dear uncle, I beg that not a word may transpire. For many reasons 1 rejoice in my good fortune, in escaping in England so very early a settlement. I have gained a few lessons, but many more remain, and though experience is a severe mistress, she is at least a sure one. At present, without a serious predilection for any one woman whatsoever, 1 am happier than I have ever been. I own this looks very much like bachelor’s boasting, 558 GRENVILLE PAPERS. April, yet I assure you that no one has a higher opinion of the happiness which may attend a married life, though, at the same time, the lottery is so much against the adventurers, that it would defy even the office-keeper Molesworth’s calculations : hut, after all, we are so apt to form our opinions of propositions in general from the objects before us, that possibly the living in a family where the happiness of that station of life is, and has been, conspicuous, would make me change my opinion ; a thing which does not give me quite so much uneasiness as it used to do, as I have already changed every sentiment and opinion ten times over since I came abroad, and never shall be ashamed of altering it again whenever the propriety of it strikes me l. Count Czernichew, the last Russian Ambassador at our Court, is just gone from hence to Naples ; he was extremely civil to me, and begged to be remembered to Lady Temple and to you: he is disgraced, and travelling to avoid a disagreeable scene at home ; his stay, therefore, at Naples is uncertain. He told me that 1 Some months later, Mr. George Grenville married Lady Mary Nugent, the only daughter and heir of Robert, Earl Nugent, of Gos-field in Essex. The following letter from Lord Chatham to Lord Nugent was written somewhat in anticipation of that event. “ Hayes, December 21, 1774. “ My dear Lord.—I am all impatience to return your Lordship my very sincere thanks for the honour of your most obliging letter. The kind share you have the goodness to take in an event so full of domestic happiness to us, and the too flattering sentiments with which, my dear Lord, you have accompanied this friendly participation in our joy, is very sensibly felt at Hayes. Your Lordship will allow Lady Chatham and me, leave to express in return (with a little anticipation) our joy on another approaching union, which is fraught with every happiness to all parties, and will, I am assured, make your Lordship as happy a father as I am, and I need not wish you to be more so. May I beg to offer my respects to the young lady I bad the honour to be presented to at Hayes.—I am. &c., Ac. Chatham.” 1774. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 559 the idea, when he left Russia, was to push everything this campaign by sea, and to endeavour to force the Dardanelles. Some of our English are at Constantinople ; amongst others, Lord Winchilsea, and, as I hear, Lord A. Percy \ who has tried this sea-voyage as his last stage: he told me, however, in the summer at Lausanne, that it was of no consequence whether he was dead or alive, as it was impossible that he could have any children. Your ever affectionate nephew, George Grenville. MR. GEORGE GRENVILLE TO EARL TEMPLE. Rome, May 4, 1774. Dear Uncle,—I yesterday received a letter from my uncle Mr. Henry Grenville, in answer to one I had written to him from Naples : in this he expresses the satisfaction he feels in applying (in consequence of your wishes) for the Stewardship of the Hundreds, for the purpose of vacating at Buckingham in my favour; a resignation, he says, which he was ready to make for an indifferent person, but which it was matter of particular satisfaction to him to have an opportunity of making on the supposition that I was to succeed him : as T have received no intimation of this from you, let me hope that the affair is not yet concluded, and, upon that supposition, suffer me to open my whole heart to you on the subject. In the first place then, let me, on the supposition that the vacancy was intended in my favour, express to you, my dear uncle, the sense I entertain of 1 Afterwards Lord Lovaine and Earl of Beverley. He not only recovered his health, but survived 'till 18.30, having married the second daughter of Peter Burrell, and sister of Lord Gwydir, by whom he had a very numerous family. 5G0 GRENVILLE PAPERS. May, your kind partiality to me. I ought to thank you, but the topic is so much exhausted, that I want language to express my feelings ; judge, then, of my gratitude by vour own kindness; suppose me happy in this proof of it, flattered by the distinction, impressed with a sense of the advantageous consequences which I may draw from it; yet suffer me to plead for liberty to decline the seat, if it be your intention to nominate me on the ensuing vacancy. Do not, my dear uncle, misinterpret this application. I have no pride but to receive favours at your hands; they do me honour, and I glory in acknowledging them, and that I must owe my future situation to them; your candour, therefore, will prevent you j udging so meanly of my understanding, or my disposition. The unhappy disagreement with any part of your family, interests me no further than it ought as a relation to the same family ; I hope, therefore, you will suppose me not to attempt to decide on it in the reasons which I beg to offer to you ; and, indeed, J only mean to allude to it, as far as it may be supposed to concern me. Supposing the vacancy to be made, no one can doubt your right to apply to Mr. G. for that purpose, nor that of disposing of the seat afterwards to any one to whom your wishes lead you ; yet consider, my dear uncle, the relationship I bear to the late Member, the kindness he always showed to me, the regard he always showed to my late father, the little part I ought to take in a dispute between two uncles, and you will probably agree that I should look upon him in no other light than as an uncle whose affection to my father and to me has the same hold upon me that I always acknowledged with gratitude in your instance. I do not mean to carry the comparison through, as it never has been, nor can 1774. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 561 be in Mr. Grenville’s power to show me the same instances of kindness that you have done. . If, then, I am to consider him in this light, put yourself in my situation, and determine for me how to avoid the reproach, which the want of candour in the world will cast upon me, on the supposed imputation of supplanting an uncle, who required every attention at my hands. The word, I own, seems a strong one, yet what other will be made use of by the censorious world, who see the nephew in the seat which has been taken from the uncle? This is, I own, strongly stated, but I fear that I shall be exposed to this, or perhaps to still stronger censure, as it never will be supposed that I was not only uninformed, but even unsuspecting of a measure so nearly concerning myself. Shall I not be supposed to have hazarded the widening of a family breach for the vanity of a seat in Parliament ? As it never was understood that he held it in trust for me, as it never was my poor father’s wish that I should come into Parliament, at least before the general election, will it not, even in this light, be liable to censure ? Nominate any other person, and the objection ceases: these reasons can operate only with respect to me, and I own, that in my case, they seem (in my weak judgment) to operate most strongly. I do not apprehend these reflections from Mr. Grenville : he will, I am sure, think more candidly of me ; and, indeed, he says no more on the subject, than what you sec in the beginning of my letter, excepting many professions of satisfaction in my being (as he understands) destined to be his successor. It is only from the unkind reflections of those who either cannot or will not know the true state of this business, that I ap- VOL. IV. o o 562 GRENVILLE PAPERS. May, prebend reproach for supplanting my uncle. I have written to him to inform him, upon my honour, that I neither knew nor suspected your intentions ; that I did not mean to enter upon the subject further than concerned myself, but only to prove to him how incapable I was of forming a separate interest from him, that I should write to you, begging your permission to decline these kind intentions in my favour, “for that as my wishes did not lead me to it, nothing short of your corrmands should make me take it; but that from the moment they were signified, I owed too much to your parental care and kindness to dispute them.” Here, then, my dear uncle, the affair stands at present ; and now let me entreat you, if it can be made compatible with any plan of yours, to excuse .my acceptance of the honour which your goodness has made you call me to. It will always be matter of joy to me to think that your kindness had,‘ at so early a period of my life, destined for me so distinguishing a mark of your favour. It is, however, the offer which does me the real honour, and, should you allow me to decline it, I shall be sensible of one additional claim on my gratitude. At the same time, the moment that your commands are signified, they shall be obeyed ’. I remain, &c., &c. George Grenville. 1 The result of this appeal to Lord Temple was, that Mr. Henry Grenville did not at this time vacate his seat for the borough of Buckingham, and that Mr. George Grenville did not come into Parliament until the general election in the ensuing autumn, when he was chosen one of the knights of the shire for the county of Buckingham, which he continued to represent until he succeeded to the Peerage, upon the death of his uncle, in September, 1779. 1774. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 563 MR. GEORGE GRENVILLE TO EARL TEMPLE. Vienna, July 9, 17 71. I take the first opportunity of the post to answer my dear uncle’s three letters, which I found here on my arrival, after a most tedious journey from Venice, which was prolonged by the overflowing of the Adige, which confined us seven days in a little village in the Tyrol,' without a possibility of moving one way or the other. The civilities which we meet with here are very great. I am peculiarly flattered in the kind partiality which Prince Kaunitz shows me : the society, indeed, of the women falls verv short of what I expected ; I confine myself, therefore, to very few who are reasonable enough to allow me their acquaintance, without insisting on my purchasing it at the loo-table. The Emperor is at present at his camp in Bohemia : he reviewed there 27,000 men ; his great encampment takes place in Hungary, the beginning of September ; he there reviews 56,000 more, and in October another is formed in Poland ; so that he will, in the course of this year, have seen more than 100,000 men under the tents. He returns to-morrow, and we are to be presented to him, I believe, next day. No news as yet from the Turkish army ; the great effort, however, on the Russian side, is to be made by sea. We met Count Orlow goiim to take the command; it seems to me, however, as if they had lost much time this campaign. The Turkish Envoy still remains here. I have seen him, but am much disappointed in his appearance : it was hoped that some advances might have been made between the two envoys at this Court for peace between Russia and the Porte. The Prince Gallitzin, however, o o 2 564 GRENVILLE PAPERS. July, is so totally devoid of common sense, that he is equally unfit for this or any other negotiation. Sir Robert Keith has been singularly attentive to all his countrymen here: he has procured for us every agr^ment which we could wish for, and is himself so much respected, that it facilitates our introduction to the best company : in short, Vienna is the only Court where we can hope for .he easy civilities, which render a place so entertaining and useful to a traveller. Adieu, my dear uncle, &c., &c. George Grenville. MR. GLOVER TO EARL TEMPLE. London, July 11, 1774. My dearest Lord,—The dispatch I have used in procuring the enclosed answer to your Lordship’s case, is but a slight proof of what you are well assured is my attention to all your concerns in mind, body, and estate: I fear the latter will suffer on the present occasion, without affecting the former in the least degree ; however, we must try to render a loss of property as small as possible. I plainly perceive that Mr. Mackintosh is a bankrupt1, a circumstance from which no rank and condition are exempt by the laws of Scotland. 1 It will have been seen by some letters from Mr. Mackintosh in these volumes, that he had formerly been in very intimate and confidential intercourse with Lord Temple, but these money transactions had no doubt entirely put an end to it. By Lord Temple’s reply to Mr. Glover’s letter, it appears that be was a considerable loser by the bankruptcy of Mackintosh, for money lent to him, but he adds, “ This gentleman was so pure an angel of virtue, with sentiments 1774. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 565 The process, in that case, I will describe. A creditor begins it in the Court of Session against the insolvent person, and all the other creditors ; by which means the amount of all demands is discovered, or of so much as exceeds the insolvent’s effects: upon ascertaining this excess the court grants a sequestration, the effects are converted into money, and distributed among such ere-ditors as have appeared ; it will be, therefore, necessary for you to lay in your claim for a proportionable share. Send me up your account of principal and interest. In the mean time, my friend and fellow labourer, M‘Konochie, whose knowledge, judgment, and probity, rank in the highest class, will write to Scotland for every circumstance of information relative to Mackintosh, and is most obligingly readv both to advise and act in the affair. Let me know if your Lordship hath not the collateral security of the brother, in whose behalf you lent so generous an aid in a season of so much danger. This affair, which I am determined to pursue, to-of so much refined delicacy, that I am the less surprised at what has happened.” Mackintosh lived for many years afterwards in Argyle Square, Edinburgh, where he died at an advanced age in 1810. After Lord Temple's death, he occasionally corresponded with his successor, and in one of his letters, dated in January, 1784, in reply, as it would seem, to a recommendation that he should apply to Mr. Titt for some promotion he had solicited, he writes as follows: — “ As to throwing myself upon your cousin in any situation, that I will not. lie has the regards I owe his father's son, and I dare say he must have seen among his papers a very interesting correspondence, the most dangerous to me I ever hazarded, from which he cannot be ignorant of me, or my devotedness to the name he bears.” In answer to my inquiries, 1 have been obligingly informed by Mr. William Stanhope Taylor, one of Lord Chatham’s grandsons, that no traces of this correspondence have been found in the Chatham Papers, and 1 have consequently no clue to the nature of it 566 GRENVILLE TAPERS. J anuary, gether with the public one of the bank in Ayr, will keep me in town all this month, but about the beginning of Auo-ust, at least before the middle, Mrs. Glover, who desires her best compliments to Lady Temple and your Lordship, will with me enjoy the supreme felicity of visiting both at Stowe : in the interim, I draw upon you at sight for half a buck, if the season permits, or as soon as it can, and remain, my Lord, &c., &c. R. Glover. THE COUNTESS TEMPLE TO EARL TEMPLE. January 12, 1775. You have left my body behind, but my heart is with you; indeed you cannot think how unhappy I was last night to see you so uneasy : if anything troubles you, I always wish to take my share, for I cannot help fancying what I bear will lighten your load. If this ****** should put you into any distress, there is no scheme you can propose that I will not with cheerfulness come into, even to the living at Eastbury ’till Stowe is finished, which I think we may do at a much less expense, more especially if we come to London but for a little time. This is no grimace, but comes from a heart full of sensibility and anxiety with regard to everything that relates to you; if you are not convinced of this, you do not know your truly affectionate little wife, A. Temple. 1 A word has been effectually obliterated, evidently by Lord Temple, as the colour of the ink corresponds with that of the following note, on the same paper, and in his handwriting:—“ This kind offer was quite unnecessary, as my circumstances are so great.” 1775. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 567 EARL TEMPLE TO THE BAILIFF AND BURGESSES OF THE BOROUGH OF BUCKINGHAM. [About September, 1776.] Gentlemen,—Having been informed of the eloquent oration delivered by the Earl of Verney, in your Town Hall, to his own tenants and others, in consequence of a meeting advertised to be holden here, for the express purpose of considering of an application to Parliament, to enable the parish in the ordinary way to rebuild their parish church, I am not a little surprised to hear that his Lordship was pleased, in so peremptory a manner, to call upon the Corporation, and the friends thereof, to take upon themselves to do what so peculiarly belongs to the possessors of lands in the parish of which his Lordship enjoys so very considerable a share. I trust that neither the one nor the other will be thus dictated to by him. He adduced, it seems, some notable precedents to favour these his commands, the most remarkable of which was his own generosity to the town of Carmarthen ', where he was a perfect stranger. What were the advantageous terms of that bargain to his .Lordship I know not, but I doubt not they were good. In this Corporation we neither buy nor are sold, being unused to any unworthy traffic of that kind. His Lordship will, I dare say, be to hear, that the estate of the Corporation is scarce equal to the necessary expenses thereof, that it was a parish meeting advertised by the 1 Lord Verney was formerly M.P. for Carmarthen, and the present representative was elected through his influence. Lord Verney was now one of the members for the county of Buckingham. The borough of Wendover was also at this time the property of Lord Verney. He died in March, 1791, when the title, which was an Irish Earldom, became ■ xtinct. 568 GRENVILLE PAPERS. September, churchwardens, with his privity, for the expressed purpose of an application to Parliament, to enable the parish to rebuild the church ; that at this meeting', in their corporate capacity, the Corporation had no special concern ; that the revenues of the parish considerably exceed 4000Z. a year; that the bailiff and burgesses, in order to save his pocket, and that of other great land proprietors, will not take his private hint of selling themselves to Lord North, nor, indeed, to any boroughmonger whatever ; that they should have rather expected to have heard from so respectable a member of the Opposition, of precedents which testify to the commitment of the Mayor and Corporation of Oxford to Newgate, and of General Smith and Mr. Hollis to the King’s Bench, for practices not so corrupt as the proposed application to the King’s Minister. Such a hint partakes less of the generous and disinterested sentiments which should animate the representative of an independent County, than of that meaner sort which sometimes recommends Court Members to poor boroughs for a valuable consideration, when the poor are sold, and a profit made on their perjury. On my behalf, who have the honour to rank myself as a sincere friend and servant of this Corporation, I shall only say at present, that I trust you are convinced that I and my family are too sensible of the many obligations you have conferred upon us, to hesitate a moment, when any proper opportunity offers, of manifesting the great respect and affection which we bear towards a set of gentlemen, who have acted with a friendship and generosity scarce to be parallelled, and worthy of better times. It is the honour of a late friend of this Corporation [Mr. Grenville], to have chalked out the most effectual means hitherto proposed, of detecting 1776. GRENVILLE TAPERS. 569 and punishing corrupt and scandalous violations of the constitution, so justly alarming to every good man. Here it may be pleaded as a merit, and we flatter ourselves that a time may come, when the actors in such foul practices, [the great vulgar as well as the little ’, J will, in consequence thereof, be more fully detected and brought to condign punishment. The interested proposition of his Lordship being thus negatived, you will be to hear from him, as first proprietor of lands, what he has to offer on a subject where he has taken so extraordinary a lead, and I desire that the contents of this letter may be communicated to the meeting. Whatever plan may be proposed to save the purse of great and considerable landholders, I shall think very unbecoming: ready to facilitate every fair and reasonable mode for the accomplishment of so desirable an end as rebuilding your church *, and happy at all times in proving to you the sincere regard, gratitude, and affection with which I am, &c., &c. ' Temple:. Before estimates had been called for, it might have been proper to have fixed where the church is to be built, and by what means it is to be paid for. 1 The passage within brackets is partially obliterated in the draft. 2 Lord Temple, with his accustomed princely generosity, contributed a very large proportion of the sum required for rebuilding the church at Buckingham. 570 GRENVILLE PAPERS. April, THE PRINCESS AMELIA TO EARL TEMPLE. April 21, 1777. I inquired after your health, my good Lord Temple, and was glad to hear that you had not suffered in it by your mind being so agitated l. After the loss of a friend, the only way of showing one’s affection to their memory, is having a regard for those they had so sincere and warm a friendship for as they had for you. I shall ever retain in my mind the partiality Lady Temple had for me, and then I hope, my Lord, you will do me the justice to believe how much I regret her; being your sincere friend, Amelia. EARL TEMPLE TO THE PRINCESS AMELIA. April —, 1777. Overpowered as I am with this fresh instance of Your Royal Highness’s condescension and great humanity, I presume only to say that nothing. can exceed my devotion and gratitude. The happiest days of poor Lady Temple’s life were those, in her estimation, which she had the honour to pass with Your Royal Highness, and she never returned from Cavendish Square but delighted and charmed. Her attachment was unfeigned and inviolable, founded in a veneration for those great qualities so universally respected, which makes it the pride of my life to be permitted to subscribe myself, Madam, your Royal Highness’s, &c., &c. Temple. 1 The death of Cady Temple had taken place on the 7th instant. 1777. GRENVILLE PAPERS, 571 EARL TEMPLE TO MR. GEORGE GRENVILLE. [September? 177 7.] As I cannot find in my heart to tear myself from my Stowe solitude, even for the sake of the amiable society of Gosfield, it becomes necessary I should at last thus open to you the result of a very distressed mind, on the subject of our plan of living together for better and worse ; and first, I must express to you my hearty thanks for the kind readiness with which you offered to sacrifice your new walls and old waters, even all the clay of the beloved Wotton, to the friendly object of endeavouring to render my heavy loss the more supportable; but havingnow had some experience of that solitude after which my affliction hath sighed, and finding myself still wholly unequal to that society which the gaiety of youth calls for, and necessarily occasions, I would deliver you and myself from the constraints which the great difference of gray hairs and green heads must create, notwithstanding all the sacrifices your good-nature and Lady Mary’s would make. Past recollections for ever haunt me. I know not with certainty which way to turn, nor, therefore, what will become even of Stowe or Pall Mall, but I hold that it is wiser, in due time, retrorsum vela dare, than to prosecute further an experimental voyage through seas unknown, in which so many able navigators have been shipwrecked ; at least I would wish to lay in my claim at present, so far as more to shape things gradually, in a manner to occasion the fewest comments on restoring' matters to their ancient footing, not like the Americans going back to 1764, but onlv to the beginning of the fatal month of April. It might be better had 572 GRENVILLE PAPERS. September, we never been tempted to put to sea at all, but by it you have at least got to the full knowledge of your own crew, a science which will prove useful to your pocket and to your credit, and you have made almost a clear ship: your wines are entire, your plate unmelted, and such of your property as has been removed may be most easily returned, your finances will not have suffered, and all the blame shall lie at the door of my wretchedness. Sound discretion, in general, declares that a joint voyage through life should never be undertaken but in the course of wedlock, so that though the full consummation of our matrimonial contract appears to be in many lights very desirable, yet, as it must be attended with many of the constraints and evils of that state, in an age, too, not very favourable to it, deprived, at the same time, of many of its most precious sweets, even Mr. Cleaver1 himself would hesitate at such an alliance of Church and State. I have written this with the less reluctance, since I am clear Lady Mary and you will look upon it as a release. The sevants you still leave at Wotton, and the keeping it as you mean to do, manifest to me where the treasure is, and, in consequence, the sacrifice you have been making. I, like Lord N. [Nugent], must be a wanderer through life, though, in my probably short pilgrimage, I am never likely to stray into happiness. As we have not had the smallest altercation, the town tea- 1 Mr. Cleaver was afterwards tutor to Mr. Grenville’s children, particularly to his eldest son, the late Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, by whom he was always mentioned with great affection. He became Bishop of St. Asaph, and was a constant visitor at Stowe, until his death: a suite of apartments which he occupied were called the Bishop’s rooms as long as Stowe existed. 1777. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 573 tables will be the less able to give in their respectable verdict upon this appearance of change. In all events 1 shall continue to love you and Lady Mary, and to show myself, my dear nephew’s most truly affectionate, T. THE EARL OF CHATHAM TO EARL TEMPLE. Hayes, September 24, 1777. My dear Lord,—Emerging out of a long silence, where can my newly-restored pen address a few lines so naturally, as to the place where my thoughts have constantly resorted, though my disabled hand could not give expression to them ? My dear Lord Temple’s health perpetually interests my mind, and, of late, with too much room for anxiety. “ For we were bred upon the selfsame hill, Fed the same flock, by fountain, shade, and rill.” I trust the sight of my handwriting will not be unwelcome, and I shall be made happy by the sight of your Lordship’s, if it brings good tidings of your health and spirits. News from America is slow. The delay is at least a sort of protraction of our political existence : for the event, 1 consider as ruin ; be the victory to whichever host it pleases the Almighty to give it, poor England will have fallen upon her own sword. But I am growing too serious for a letter which 1 meant to dedicate to true affection and solicitude to learn from the fountain head, an account of a health for which I shall ever form the most sincere and warm wishes '. 1 1 Lord Temple’s reply to this letter lias been printed in the Chatham Correspondence. $74 GRENVILLE PAPERS. October, am, with the truest affection, my dear Lord, your invariably devoted, Chatham. THE COUNTESS OF CHATHAM TO EARL TEMPLE. Hayes, Friday noon, October 17, 1777. I have spared you the trouble of a letter for some time now, my dear brother; the best news I could send you from hence having been communicated to you by a still more welcome authority than mine. The account of yourself, contained in your kind answer to my Lord, putting me at ease on the subject that had been so anxious to me, your health, left me nothing interesting enough to say, to tempt me to break in upon the leisure that you love. If I had but a dawn that I could, by anything in my power to offer to your mind, afford any diversion to that strain of depressing thoughts which still, by your last letter, seemed to possess it, it would be matter of very real joy to me. 1 will, however, hope that by degrees you will feel the blessings you possess, and, though some are taken away, be able to enjoy, with your own natural cheerfulness, those that are continued to you. That you should feel for the public, the past, the present, and your wishes for the good and safety of the country, render impossible to be otherwise. I will allow it a just cause of serious and afflicting thoughts, but that, however, call for exertion of spirits, that the power of action may not be lost, when it may be wanted to guard against approaching ruin. Let me lament that my Lord and you, meaning the same great object of 1777. GRENVILLE PAPERS. 575 public happiness, should think the road to it so different, as the direct opposites of peace and war. You and he, I believe, are equally solicitous at this moment for news, but of a very contrary colour. He, that nothing may have happened to render reconciliation more impossible, and you, that unhappy victory (pardon the expression) should have reduced America into a beaten enemy. I, as you will allow a lady ought, wish peace and good-will among all men, and that the event, somehow or other, may bring you and my Lord to the same point of opinion, which I should rejoice in, that the latter end may be like the beginning, when both shared in every triumph and in every sorrow \ When I sat down to write, I never proposed the saying a syllable on the subject that I have gone on upon, but merely to express why I had not writ before, and to make inquiry after you, so long an interval having 1 Lord Temple, in his reply to Lady Chatham, says :—■ “Ah dear Sister,—However animating your expressions may be of feeling for the public, the past, the present, and the future, it is impossible to look io that dreadful scene without every depression which can sink the mind of a zealous friend to ttiis country. I am no party to the war, nor am I to the causes of it, which I think my greatest happiness ; but engaged as we are, in, I think, a most just cause, 1 cannot but wish victory to dear, dear England: reconciliation founded in the independence of America makes me rather choose to treat with a beaten enemy; at the same time, I confess, I see no promising solution any way.” Lord Temple continued in the same desponding opinion with regard to the aspect of public affairs even to the time of his death, which happened at Stowe on the 10th of September, 1779. One of his latest letters was addressed to Almon, on the 24th of August, in that year:— “ Lord Temple is much obliged to Mr. Almon for the interesting intelligence he has sent, is perfectly well in health, and not a little unhappy at the state of the country.” “-------quantum mutatus ab illo [Iectore!” 576 GRENVILLE PAPERS. October, 1777. elapsed. You will forgive me, I am sure, for letting my pen follow my thoughts, and if you don’t like what I have said, burn my letter, and forget all of it, except the assurance that I am, my dear brother, your most affectionate sister, Hester Chatham. 1 N 1) E X. A. Abercrombie, General, i. 243. 254. Addington, Dr., iv. 32. 34. 42. 154.163. Address from the Merchants of London to the King, ii. 58. Ailesbury, Thomas Biudenell, Earl of, i. 316. Aix, Isle of, i. 208. 219. 350. Albemarle, William, second Earl of, i. 67. his death, 133. Alhemarle, George, third Earl of, ii. 133. 200. iii. 106. 225. 257. iv. 37. 228. Allen, Joshua, Viscount, ii. 159. Allen, Ralph, of Prior Park, ii. 289. death of, 379, 381. All Souls’ College, Fellowship of, iii 297. Almon, Mr., the bookseller, ii. 65- 428. 457. iii. p. xxviii. Ixiii. Ixiv. 46. 51. 248. 292. iv. 368. 469. 472. 475. 479. 575. Alt, M., Resident from Hesse Cassel, ii. 169. Amelia, Princess, ii. 42. 242. 245. 315. 316. 333. 362. 406. iii. p. xxxv. 83. iv. 360. 535. 570. America, North, i. 240. 254—262. 274. 303. 318. 321. 322. 323. 326. ii. 114. iii. 11. 13. 100. 109. 253. 316. 358. iv. 4. 11. 13. 83. 317. 370. 373. 376. 387. 389. 391. 394. 397. 401. 408. 421. 435. 439. 449. 456. 459. 460. 480. 486. 510. 573. 575. Amherst, Captain William, i. 258. Amherst, General, afterwards Sir Jeffrv, i. 231. 240. 304. 319. 321. 324. 344. ii. 13. iii. 49. iv. 326. 339. 341. 319. 359. Amy and, Claudius, i. 180. Ancaster, Duke of, iii. 191. 394. Ancram, William, Earl of, i. 335. Anigada, Island of, ii. 9. Anonymous letter to Calcraft, iii. p. cxv. Anonymous, see Junius. “ Another L tter to Mi. Almon,” Kc., iii. p. clxxvi. clxxxiii. Anson, Admiral, i. 53. 58. 60. orders to Captain Grenville, 61. Anti-Sejanus, Letters of, by Scott, iii. 91. Argyll, Jane, Duchess of, iv. 9. 11. Ashburnham, Earl of, iii. 217. Astle, Mr. Thomas, iii. 237. Aston, Philip, sixth Lord, i. 358. Aston, Mr. Justice, iii. 48. Athol, Duke and Duchess of, iii. 6. 7. Attainder, Bill of, iii. p. Ixxv. Auction duty, iv. 257. Augusta, Princess, ii. 246. her marriage, 247. Aylesbury, manor of, i. 102. Aylesbury, meeting at, ii. 77. iv. 438. 446. 454. 462. Aylesbury, Wilkes’s letter to the Electors of, ii. 456. Aylesbury men, case of, iii. p. xliii. cciv. ccxii. Ayloffe, Sir Joseph, iii. 75. Ayscough, Dr., i. 32. B. Baker, Sir William, M.P., ii. 457. Balfe, Mr., Printer, ii. 157. Baltimore, Charles, sixth Lord, i. 34. Banffshire, Sheriff Depute of, ii. 388. Barbadoes, Island of, ii. 18. Barclay, David, his account of American opinions on the Mutiny Act, iii. 11. Barre, Colonel, i. 326. ii. 229. 230. 236. iii. 28. 74. 79 iv. 321. Barrington, William Wildman, Viscount, i. 34. 67.188. iii. p. xxxii. xlviii—1. Ii. cxiii. 74. 220. iv. 164. 298. 300. 360. 407. Barrington, Captain, i. 298. Barrington, Dr., Dean of Windsor, ii. 486. Barrymore, Richard, sixth Earl of, iv. 9. Bath, William Pulteney, Earl of, i. 17. 50. ii. 264. Bathurst, Allen, Lord, i. 50. Bathurst, Henry, aftorwards Earl, i. 19. VOL. IV. P r 578 INDEX. Beardmore, Mr., i. 459. ii. 60. 62. 73. 81. 137. 140. 157. 459. iii. p. cix. 84. Beauclerc, Lord Harry, i. 358. Beauclerc, Lord James, Bishop of Hereford, ii. 136. 312. Beauclerc, Lord Vere, i. 59. Beaumont, M. Elie de, ii. 437. Beckford, Aiderman, ii. 8. 133. 158. 195. 202. 214. 217. 495. iii. 341. 386. 389. 396. iv. 213. 517. 520. Bedford, John, Duke of, i. 54. 466. 469. 474. 475. 476. 480. 481. 493. ii. 29. 31. 57. 89. 102. 108. 121. 195. 203. 205. 206. 220. 231. 235. 241. 249. 280. 298. 377. 484. 534. iii. p. xxv. xxxvii—xli. 4 4. 57. 59. 160. 164. 171. 193. 194. 211. 219. 223. 242. 264. 291. 303. 337. 346. 355. 360. 363. 369. 370. 377. 379. 381. 391. 393. iv. 4. 18. 45. 76. 83. 95. 96. 102. 127. 177. 197. 222. 232. 234. 236. 252. 312. 341. 432. 433. 451. Bedford, Gertrude, Duchess of, ii. 242. iii. 291. 321. 37 7. 390. iv. 341. Bedford, Mr. Grosvenor, ii. 113. 114. Bedford House, Bloomsbury, i. 157. iii. 168. 172 -171. Bedford, election of the mayor at, iv. 451. Belleisle, Marshal, i. 247. Belleisle, siege of, i. 363. 364. Belvidere, Robert, first Earl of, ii. 276. Bentley, Richard, ii. 47. Berenger, James, i. 29. Berenger, Moses, i. 12. Bergen-op-Zoom, siege of, i. 64. Berkeley, fl on. George, i. 3. death of, 52. Berkeley, Colonel Norbonne, afterwards Lord Botetourt, i. 91. 477. Berkeley Square, Lord Shelburne’s house in, iii. 88. Bernard, Sir Francis, iv. 307. 333. 352. 459. 470. Bertie, Lord Robert, iv. 341. Besborough, William, second Earl of, ii. 198. iii. 217. Bettv, the fruit girl of St. James’s Street, iv. 382. Bindley, James, ii. 466. Blackstone, Dr., iii. p. cxxix. 30. Blandford, Lady, i. 26. ii. 52. Blenac, M. de, the French Admiral, ii. 1. Bligh, General, i. 253. 272. Blosset, M. de, ii. 409. Blount, Mrs. Martha, i. 27. Bodens, Colonel, iv. 279. Bolingbroke, Henry St. John, Viscount, i. 27. 117. Bolingbroke, Clara de Marsilly, Viscountess, i 7. Bolton, Charles, fifth Duke of, ii. 199. iii. 70. Bolton, Henry, sixth Duke of, iii. 394. Bolton, Mr. Crabb, M.P., ii. 46. Bolton, Miss Arabella, iii. p. ccxxvi. Boscawen, Admiral, i. 136. 203. 221. 240. 217. 313. Boston, riots at, iii. 100. 108. iv. 307. 319. 333. 353. 360. 362. 391. Botetourt, Lord, ii. 455. iii. p. liv. 224. iv. 189. 223. 327. 341. 349. Boutdeville, a sobriquet for Lord Townshend, iv. 233. Bowes, John Lord, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, iv. 109. Braddock, General, i. 213. Bradford, Earl of, i. 17. Brand, Mr., ii. 21. iv 209. Estaing, M. d’, ii. 423. 436. Ewer, Dr., Bishop of Llandaff, ii. 534. Exchequer tellership, ii. 496. Exeter, Countess of, her will, i. 157. Exeter, Deanery House at, iv. 21. F. Falkland Islands, iv. 505. 518. Fane, Charles, Viscount, i. 130. Farnham, Robert, Lord, ii. 274. Ferdinand, Prince, i. 232. 244. 246. 218. 252. 257. 260. 294. 299. 301. 308. 313. 325. 336. 345. 346. 360. 453. Fenner, the Russian General, his retreat, i. 266. Feronce, M. de, ii. 163. 300. Fielding, Sir John, ii. 141. 286. 369. 385 iii. 169. Fife, James, second Earl of, ii. 301. 387. iii. 222. Findlater, James, Earl of, ii. 390. Fire in Bishopsgate Street, iii. 109. Fisher, Kitty, i. 297. Fitzherbert, Mr., M.P., ii. 166. 180. 457. 459. iv. 1. 271. Fitzroy, Colonel, iv. 68. Flanders, campaign in, 1744, i. 26. Fontenoy, battle of, i. 37. Forbes, Captain, ii. 99. 138. Forbes, General, i. 243. Fordyce, Mr., bankruptcy of, iv. 539. Fortescue, Mrs., i. 15. 98. Fortescue, Lucy, wife of George Lyttelton, i. 15. Fouquet, General, i. 345. Fowke, General, i. 165. 171. Fox, Charles James, iii. p. xxiv. iv. 501. 517. Fox, Right Hon. Henry, afterwards Lord Holland, i. 68. 107. 113. 114. 132. 190. 194.197. 432.434. 451. 452.483. see Holland. Fox, Lady Susan, ii. 447. Francis, Rev. Dr., ii. 250. 254. his pension, 255. iii. p. xxii. Francis, Sir Philip, iii. p. xvii—xxiii. xxvi. Frankland, Mr. Frederick, iii. 192. Fraser, Simon, iii. 244. Freeholder, the, a letter so signed, iv. 495. Free Port Bill, iii. 240. French finances, disordered state of, ii. 412. French fleet, Byng’s engagement with the, i. 163. 165. French prisoners, expenses of, ii. 391. 411. 417. 419. 503. iii. 14. 19. Fuentes, Count de, i. 344. Fuller, Mr. Rose, M.P., in. 25. G. Gage, General, iii. 13. Game Laws, iii. p. xxi. Gascoyne, Mr. Bamber, i. 357. Gashery, Francis, M.P., i. 443. Garrick, David, iii. p. Ixxi—Ixxiv. Carter, Order of the, Installation tit Windsor, i. 473. 582 INDEX. “Gazetteer,” letters, &c, in the, iv. 70. 133. 435. General Warrants, debate on, ii. 491. George III., King, i. 485. his first letter to Mr. Grenville, ii. 161. proposes the dismissal of General Conway, 162. 163. 165. 166. endeavours to strengthen his Government, 191. offers to Lord Hard-wicke, 191. praise of Mr. Grenville, 192. advised by the Duke of Bedford to send for Mr. Pitt—announces to Mr. Grenville his intention of calling in Mr, Pitt, 195. his account to Mr. Grenville of Mr. Pitt’s terms for taking office, 198. refuses Mr. Pitt’s terms, and restores Mr. Grenville to confidence, 201. his assurance of support to Mr. Grenville, 205. arrangement for the disposal of offices, 207. opinion of Lord Halifax and Mr. Pitt, 219. account of Lord Holland’s audience, 219. indignation at the abuse in the “North Briton,” 222. 223. his resentment against General Conway, 229. 230. opinion respecting riots in the City, 235. behaviour to Lord Shelburne, 239. resists the King of Prussia’s demands, 240. 255. 261.267. 284. 296. 365.4 41. 514. iii. p. xxiii. xxxiii. 3. his first illness, 7. 11. 12. 14. 15. 22. 34. 37. 40. ironical observations of Junius upon, 59. 73. 81. 93. 111. 113. 115. 121. 125. 135. 149. 152. 153. 160. 189. 220. his illness consequent upon political perplexities, iii. 357. his opinion relative to the repeal of the Stamp Act, 365. 370. conversation with Lord Mansfield, 374. 385. iv. 29. 31. 55. 88. 102. 107. 144. 184. 212. 214. 224. 225. 268. 273. 293. Germain, Lady Betty, i. 135. iii. p. Ixviii. iv. 192. 491. Gibraltar, Receivership of, iii. 86. Gisors, Duke de, i. 205. 247. Gloucester, Duke of, iii. 114. 141. 147. 151. 234. iv. 225. Glover. Richard, M.P., ii. 265. iii. 285. iv. 539. 564. Glynne, Sir John, iii. 296. Glynn. Mr. Serjeant, ii. 61. 62—65. 71.73. 81. 137. iii. p. cix. 47. 48. iv. 2. 291. Good, Dr. Mason, iii. p. xvi. Gower, John, Earl of, i. 19. ii. 89. 102. iii. p. xvi. 67. 265. 267. 272. 303. 306. 308. 321. iv. 36. 197. 251. 301. Graeme, Major-General, iii. 92. 190. iv. 123. 157. 233. Grafton, Augustus Henry, third Duke of, ii. 53. 199. iii. p. xxxv. xxxvi. xci. xcvi. cxxvi. ccxix. 81. 88. 90. 106. 199. 223. 243. 283. 303. 308. iv. I 15. 23. 27. 34. 37. 38. 45. 66. 87. 89. 100. 119. 163. 173. 197. 199. 226. 228. 236. 241. 249. 253. 268. 273. 275. 276. 293. 301. 309. 314. 316. 337. 350. 382. 402. 417. 458. 461. 474. 478. 493. 509. 526. Grafton, Duchess of, iv. 299. Gr inby, John, Marquess of, i. 184. 325. 357. ii. 69. 107. 133. 200. 208. 494. iii. p. xcvi—xcix. 41. 49. 70.113.172. 184. 185. 193. 206. 208. 209. 218. 308. iv. 42. 89. 100. 132. 305. 493. 502. Granby, Frances, Marchioness of, i. 157. Grand Council upon the Affairs of Ireland, iv. 171. Grantham, Henry de Nassau, Lord, i. 383. Grantham, Thomas, Lord, iii. 217. Granville, John Carteret, Earl of, i. 50. 160. Granville, Lady, her death, i. 31. Gray, Sir James, iv. 108. 208. Grenada, Island of, ii. 9. 17. Grenville family, account of, i. p. iii. Grenville pedigree, i. 79. Grenville, Right Hon. George, some account of, i. p. viii. his character, by Burke, x. by Wedderburn, xii. by Knox, xiv. by an anonymous writer, xv. his marriage, xvi. his descendants, xvi. his papers and correspondence, xix. 2. 119. 148. 188. 194. 359. 422. 449. 453. ii. 87. 138. 143. 152. 191. 192. 196. 197. 201. 204. 205. 220. 223. 224. 230. 233. 236. 239. 240. 241. 261. 265. 293. 490. 493. 499. 500. 505. iii. p. lx. cxi. 5. 25. 28. 31. 32. 33.4 3. 112—222.174.178.183.191. 211. 221. 222. 232. 353—354. 360. 362. 363. 383. 386. iv. 29. 45. 61. 68. 71. 73. 77. 92. 96. 116. 122. 125. 128. 135. 142. 145. 161. 208. 218. 224. 230. 235. 237. 272. 274. 403. 469. 471. 475. 479. 483. Grenville, Mrs., Narrative of Events in 1761, i. 409. Narrative of Events from November, 1763, to January, 1764, ii. 242. iii. 315. 'iv. 487. Grenville, Hester, afterwards Countess of Chatham, i. p. xviii. 24. 85. see Chatham. Grenville, Georgi*, jun., ii. 496. iv. 550. Grenville, Lady Mary, iv. 572. Grenville, Right Hon. James, account of, i. p. xvii. 26. 96. 136. 394. 424. 437. ii. 198. iii. 199. iv. 182. Grenville, Mn James, jun., iii. 192. Grenville, Right Hon. Henry, account of, i. p. xvii. 426. iii. 117.118. 191. iv. 559. Grenville, Richard, afterwards Earl Temple, account of, i. p. iii. 18. see Temple. Grenville, Richard Percy, death of, i. 313. Grenville, Captain Richard, i. 377. Grenville, Captain Thomas, account of, i. p. xvii. 20. captures a prize from the INDEX. 583 West Indies, 21. 29. 35. 58. his death, 61 his monument at Bath, 99. Grenville, Mr. Thomas, i. 151. 330. iii. p. xv. Ixxxix. iv. 467. Grenville, William Wyndham, verses by, iv. 528. Grimaldi, Spanish Minister, i. 462. ii. 131. Gros. M. de, ii. 418. Grosvenor, Lady, iv. 522. Guadaloupe, i. 301. 306. 450. 493. ii. 11. 25. Guerchy, M. de, ii. 126. 173. 188. dispute about his wine, 259. 334. 360. arrest of his servant, 503. Guilford, Earl of, ii. 209. . Guthrie, Mr. Andrew, burgeon of the Defiance, his account of Captain Grenville’s death, i. 61. H. Habeas Corpus Act, i. 235. iii. p. xlii. cciv. ccvi. ccvii. H t'ry masque of fairies at, iv. 323. Halifax, George Dunk, Earl of, i. 161. 450. 456. ii. 40. 83. 89. 118. 225. 228. 2 3. 427. 514. 520. iii. p. xxxv. 132. 150. 157. 166. 172. 192. 221—223. iv. 2. H ’ ilton, James, sixth Duke of, i. 186. Hamilton, Mr., afterwards Sir William, ii. 295. iii. 351. Hamilton, William Gerard, i. 193. ii. 274. iii. p. Ixii. xciii. 255. iv. 23. 26. 31. 36. 41. 52. 62. 86. 90. 97. 99. 108. 115. 129. 136. 159. 167. 174. 303. H impshire election, Mr. Legge’s papers on the, ii. 517. Handwriting of the Author of Junius, iii. p. cxc—cci. Han >verian troops, debate on the subject cf. i. 20. Harcourt, Duke de, ii. 100. iii. 259. Harcourt, Earl of, i. 180. iii. 351. 353. 367. 394. 395. Hardinge, Mr. Justice, iii. p. exxx. H irdwicke. Philip, first Earl of, i. 160. 400. ii. 83. 149. 191. 199. 225. 241. 279. iii. p. clxxii. Hardwicke, Philip, second Earl of, iii. 240. iv 223. 253. Hardy, Sir Charles, i. 2 12. ii. 1. Harley, Mr. Aiderman, ii. 232. H irris, James, M.P., ii. 151. iv. 483. 11 irrison, Mr., iv. 12. “ Harry and Nan,” by Junius, iii. p. ccxix. JI irtley, David, ii. 428. Harvey, General, iv. 2n5. Haslang, Count, ii. 361. II istenbech, battle of, i. 203. Havannah, i. 450. 469. 176. 479. 481. 483. 488. J. ivre, bombardment of, i. 311. 312. Hawke, Sir Edward, i. 210, 212. 213. 214, 219. 220. 354. in. 392. iv. 213. 526. Hay, Dr., M.P. for Stockbridge, i. 138. 167. 187. ii. 263. 531. Hayes, the Duke of ('umberland visits Mr. Pitt at, iii. 225. Lord Chatham’s repurchase of, iv. 181. Hayter, Dr. John, Bishop of London, i. 38 I. Henley, Lord, Lord Chancellor, ii. 89. 237. 238. sec Northington. Hensey, Dr. Florence, trial of, for high treason, i. 239. Heron, Robert [;. e- Pinkerton], his edition of Junius, iii. p. ccxxii. Hertford, Earl of, ii. 58. 177. 248. 514. iii. 256. 282. 325. iv. 130. 197. 251. 298. Herv v John, Lord, i. 16. Hervey, Lady, iv. 357. Hervev, Honourable Augustus, i. 350. iii. p. xiv. 39. 42. 87. 174. 176. 382. iv. 21. 29. 32. 70. 130. 133. 175. 271. 340. 356. 383. 393. 405. 415. 496. Hesse, Landgrave of, i. 206. Hesse, Mary, Princess of, i. 206. Hessian troops, i. 187. Hewitt, Mr. Serjeant, afterwards Lord Lifford, iii. 8. iv. 160. 232. Hillsborough, Wills Hill, Viscount, afterwards Earl of, i. 34. 190. ii. 116. 206. 246. iii. p. Iii—liv. 224. 282. 291. 294. 342. iv. 247. 297. 320. 344. 349. 352. 359. 364. 388. 392. 400. 480. Hine, Mr., iv. 484. 495. Hoare, William, painter, i. 51. his brother a sculptor, 99. 103. his portrait of Mr. Pitt, 120. 121. H >bart, Mr. George, ii. 31. Hobart, Lady Dorothy, i. 76. Hodgkinson, R. Banks, i. 66. Hogarth, Mr., his grief for the attack upon him in the “ North Briton,” ii. 5. Churchill's Epistle to, quoted, 73. his death, 457. Hoghton, Mrs. [Nancy Parsons], iv. 275. Holbourne, Admiral, i. 200. 202. Holdernesse, Robert, fourth Earl of, i. 148. Holland, Lord. ii. 199. supports Hr. Grenville, 208. 220. 241. 465. 485. 488. iii. p. xxii. xxiii. 41. 87. 90.181. 256. iv. 38. 46. 88. 93.124. 179. 295. 303. 304. 467. 517. Holmes, Admiral, i. 320. 322. Holt, Lord Chief Justice, iii. p. ccxii. Home, Rev. John, ii. 246. Hood, Commodore Samuel, iv. 164. 306. 332. 361. 373. -Hood, Mrs., iv. 546. Hopkins, Mr., M.P., ii. 160. Horne, Mr., iii. p. Ixxxv. Hotham, Colonel, iv. 147. 584 INDEX. Howe, George Augustus, third Viscount, his death, i. 254. Howe, Captain, afterwards Viscount and Earl Howe, i. 136. 208. 213. 215 225. 217. 260. iii. 74. 243. 281. Howe, Lady, iv. 517. Hume, David, ii. 246. iii. 91. Huntingdon, Earl of, iv. 372. Huntingdon, Selina, Countess of, iv. 526. Hutchinson Mr., iv. 110. 137. Hyde, Thomas Villiers, Lord, PostmasterGeneral, ii. 116. 206. 285. iii. 353. Hyde, Charlotte Lady, ii. 317. I. Imhoff, General, i. 302. 345. 346. Indemnity, Bill of, iii. 341. 344. 347. 349. 386. 394. 395. 396. Informations, ex-officio, debate on the subject of, iii. 8. 9. Ingersol, Mr., iv. 170. Ireland, riots in, i. 110. pensions and grants in, ii. 147. 166. Irwin, Sir Jenn, iii. p. xv. 51. iv. 183. 200. 233. 300. 418. Isenburgh, Prince, i. 299. J. Jamaica, command of, i. 57. free port of, iii. 234. James the Second’s Journal, ii. 456. Jenkinson, Charles, afterwards Earl of Liverpool, i. 179. 182. his Treatise on the Laws of Nations, 270. appointed Secretary to Lord Bute, 359, 482. ii. 197. 217. 231. 242. iii. 73. 163. 220. 258. 350. 381. 384. 392. 393. 395. iv. 236. 304. Jesuitical books, iii. p. cxliv. Johnson, Dr. Samuel, his pension, ii. 68. Johnstone. Governor, ii. 137. 419. Junius, Notes relating to the authorship of. iii. p. xiii. Letters from, to Mr. Grenville, xiv. Lord Temple first suggested to ht. the Author of, xvi. Claims of Sir Philip Francis to the authorship mentioned and disposed of, xvi. et seq. The Stamp Act, xx. The Game Laws, xxi. Lord Holland, xxii—xxvi. Mr.Wel-bore Ellis, xxii. King George the Third, xxiii. Lord Chatham, xxiii. Character of Lord Temple, xxvii. et seq. Lord Temple’s attachment to Wilkes, xxx. The King’s dislike to Lord Temple, xxxiii. Letters from Junius to Wilkes, xxxv. The Duke of Grafton, xxxvi. The Bedford party, xxxvii. Lord Temple’s animosity towards the Duke of Bedford, xxxviii. Junius and Lord Egremont, xl. Dr. Musgrave, xl. The Duke of Bedford and the Grenvilles, xli. Mr. Pitt and Lord Temple, xlii. Lord Temple and Lord Mansfield, xlii. Habeas Corpus Bill, xlii. Case of the Aylesbury men, xliii. Lord Temple and Lord Bute, xlv. Lord George Sackville at Court, xlv. Lord Temple and the “ North Briton,” xlvi. Junius, Lord Temple and the War Office, the Secretary of State’s Office, xlviii. Lord Temple and Lord Barrington, xlix. Bradshaw and Chamier, li. Lord Temple and Lord Hillsborough, Iii. Sir Jeffry Amherst and Lord Botetourt, liii. Lord Talbot and Wilkes, liv. Character of the Bedfords, the Bloomsbury gang, liv. Lord Suffolk, Whately, Wedderburn, Augustus Hervey, &c., Iv. Junius and Lord Suffolk, Ivi. Lord Temple and Junius, lix. Junius, George Grenville, Chatham, and Wilkes, Ixi. Junius and George the Third, Ixii. Lord Temple the author or encourager of libellous publications, Ixiii. Lord Temple and Almon the bookseller, Ixiv. Junius, and Lord and Lady Temple, Ixiv. Lady Temple the amanuensis, Ixv. Junius nevertheless the sole depositary of his own secret, Ixv. The Dukes of Grafton and Bedford, Lord Tavistock’s wardrobe, the Princess Dowager, Ac., Ixvi. Junius and Mr. Henry Sampson Woodfall, Ixvii. The author’s fear of dicovery, Ixvii. Private notes from Junius to Woodfall, chiefly without any date, Ixvii. Junius, Swinney, and Lord George Sackville, Ixviii. Lord Temple, Lord George Sackville, and Lady Betty Germain, Ixix. The assumed nam s of Junius, Middleton and Fretley, Ixix. Junius and Garrick, Lord and Lady Temple, and the Princess Amelia, Ixxi. Coffee-houses used by Junius in his correspondence with Woodfall, Ixxiv. Junius and the Bill of Attainder, Ixxiv. Junius, Lord Temple, and Montesquieu, Ixxv. Junius corresponded with only four persons, Ixxvi. If Lord Temple were Junius, why he should correspond with Mr. Grenville, Ixxvii. The disguised handwriting of Junius, Ixxviii. Private letters from Junius to Lord Chatham, Ixxix. Junius, Lord Temple, and Lord Mansfield, Ixxix. Junius, Wilkes, and Lord Temple, Ixxxi. Mr. Dayrell’s letter to Lord Temple on the election of Lord Mayor, compared with those of Junius to Wilkes on the same subject, Ixxxii. Lord Temple and City politics, Ixxxiii. Mr. Charles Butler’s reminiscence of Wilkes, Junius, and Lady Temple, Ixxxiv. Junius and Mr. Horne, Ixxxv. Bank and fortune of Junius, Ixxxv i. J unius a man of leisure, INDEX. 585 the progress of his employment Ixxxvii. The author of the “ Grand ( ount il,” and the “ Letter to an Honourable Br gadier-General,” Ixxxviii. Mr. Thomas Grenville’s anecdote of General Wolfe, lord Temple, and Mr Pitt, Ixxxix. Lord T< tuple, Lord Camden, and the ( orn Bill: Junius and Sea-'ola, xc. lord Chatham and Lord Camden, xcii. Lord Temple and William Gerard Hamilton, xciv. Sir William .1 raper, xcvi. .Correspondence between Lord and Lady Chatham and Lord Temple, compared with the Letters of Junius, xcvi. et seq. Junius and Lord Granby, xcvii. The City Remonstrance, xeix. Lord Temple, the Letters of Junius, and Locke’s Essay on Civil Government, cii. i* seq. fhe second Remonstrance, in the handwriting of Lady Chatham and L ird i mole, cvii. The right of pressing seamen, cix. Junius’s L tter to Lord Mansfield, ex. Mr. Grenville’s illness and death, cxi. Junius and Lord Barrington. Lord Mansfield and Woodfall’s trial, cxiii. Anonymous L tter to Calcraft attributed to Junius, exv. The substance of it used by Lord Chatham in the House of Lords, and by Junius in his Preface, Ac., exui. Junius, Lord Chatham, and Gibraltar, cxix. A Letter to <’alcraft cmimtini-cated by him to Lord Chatham,compared with the Letters of Junius of the same period, exxi. Lord Lyttelton and Junius, exxii. Calcraft, Lord ( hatham, ai d Junius : the privilege of Parliament in the matter of the printers, exxhi. I ord Temple’s visit to the Duke < f Grafton : Junius and the King's timber, exxvi. Lord Temple’s frequent attendance in the House of Commons, cxxiii. Mr. Gtvnvil e, Dr. Blackstone, ami Sir F'ctcher Norton, cxxix. Mr. Daniel V ray’s information about Junius, Lord Temple, and Lord Camden, exxx. L rd Temple, Lord Camden, and the King's Speech in January, 11?1, ex \xni. Expulsion of Wilkes predetermine/ in the Cabinet, cxxxiv. The Falkland Islands question in the House of Lotds, cxxxv. Whether Junius was a member of either H use of Parliament, cxxxvi. Junius and De Lolme, cxxxix. Burning ol ♦he Jesuitical books, cxliv. Lord Temple in Hance at that peiiod, cxG. Similarity of phrase,-, ai d opinions in the speeches < f Lord Chatham and the Letters of Junius, cxlvi—vii. Trai ls and Pamphlets written by, or attributed to lord Tin.pie, exlix. Extents from a “ Letter to an Honourable Brigadier-(u neral, ' dii. from a “ Letter on the Seizure of Papers,” cliii.—from a “Letter from Albemarle Street to the Cocoa Tree,” cliv. Letter from Candor to the “ Public Advertiser,” civ. “ Letter concerning Libels, Warrants,' &c.,” in a Letter to Mr. Almon, from the Father of Candor, clvii. “ Principles of the late Changes impartially examined by a Son of Candor,” clviii. Extracts from the Lt tter of Candor,clx.—from the “ Letter concerning Libels, &c.,” clxvi. et seq. “ Another Letter to Almon in Matter of Libel,” clxxvi. et seq. A Second Postscript to that Letter, clxxxiii. “ Summary of the Law of Libel,” by Phile-leutherus Anglicanus, clxxxiii. ct sq. Extracts from the “Conduct of the late Administration examined,”&c., clxxxvii. et seq. The handwriting of the Author of Junius, cxc. ct seq. The conveyancing part of the correspondence with Junius, cci. Fragments in the handwriting of Lord Temple compared with the Letters of Junius, cciv. et seq. Parallel passages from the writings of Junius and Lord Temple, ccxii. et seq. Poem by Junius, entitled “ Harry and Nan”—the Duke of Grafton and Nancy Parsons, ccxix. Lines by Lord Temple on the return of Wilkes to England, ccxvi. Scriptural allusions in the writings of Junius and Lord Temple, ccxxii. Lord Temple and Mr. Luttrell— libellous papers, ccxxii. L rd Temple and the Stock Exchange, ccxxvi. Junius will acquainted with every occurrence at Court, iii. 59. George Onslow and Lord Temple, 76. Whately “undertakes to be a courier,” 262. Debate in the House of Lords, which “ I myself heard,” 344. false facts, 380. Lord Chatham and Lord Camden, iv. 64. 116. GeoB^e Rhs^ “the Scotch agent and worthy confidant of Lord Mansfield,” 145. Grand Council upon the Affairs of Ireland, 171. Pay office accounts, 179. The Duke of Grafton and the Bedfords, 199. “A Word at Parting,” 202. Whately’s letters and Lord Lyttelton’s letter compared with one from Junius to Lord Chatham, 241. Duke of Grafton and the Bedfords, 253. C. to Mr. Grenville, 254. Lord Temple and Junius, 251. Auction duty, 257 Lord Hertford, 275. Nancy Parsons, 276. Whately and Junius, 279. Colonel Bodens, 279. “ Conveyancing part of our correspondence,” 281. Whately's letter ami Junius, 321. Sir Jeffry Amherst and Lord Hillsborough, 326. The I1 Ite of Grafton, 348. C. to Mr. Grenville, 351. Lady Temple and Junius—mode ot -pelliiig wrtain w»ds. 586 INDEX. 361. Anonymous to Mr. Grenville, 379. Letter.' "i Atticus, 379. Writing paper used by Jun us, 382. Newspaper paragraphs written by Lord Temple, 433. Buckinghamshire petition and Junius, 441. Newspaper paragraphs written by Lord Temple, 455. Affair of Hine’s patent, 484. Junius’s Letter containing the Address to the King. 491. 501. Junius supposed to be W ilkes, 495. 500. Lord Temple’s letter to Lord Chatham compared with Junius, 534. K. Kearsley, Mr., bookseller, ii. 79. his trial, 430. Keck, Anthony, M.P., iv. 20. Keck, Miss, iv. 548. K * ?ne, Dr., Bishop of Chester, ii. 534. Keith, Nr., British Minister at St. Peters-burgh, i. 421. Kelly, Dr., iii. p. ccxxvi. Keppel, Colonel, i. 203. Keppel, Admiral, iii. 309. iv. 186. 300. 304. Keppel, Dr., made Dean of Windsor, iii. 91. Ker, Lady Louisa, i. 335. Kerry, Lord. i. 77. Kildare, Earl of, iii. 49. Kingston, Duchess of, iv. 413. Kingsborough, Robert, Earl of, i. 77. “ King’s Friends,” the term first used, ii. 33. King's Speech, spurious copy of the, i. 186. Kirch Denckern, battle of, i. 377. Ki owles, Vice-Admiral, i. 208. Knox Mr., in. 109. 110. iv. 297. 319. 335. 359. 363. 368. 521. Knyphausen, the Prussian Minister, i. 421. 466. L. La Lippe, Count, i. 458. Landschut, battle of, i. 345. Land Tax reduced, iv. 211. Lauffeldt, battle of, i. 66. Law of Lauriston, Baron, iii. 1. Le Despencer, Lord, ii. 77. iii. 224. Lee, Sir G orge, death of, i. 280. Lee Dr., i. 107. Leeds, Thomas Osborne, Duke of, ii. 107. 203. Leeward Islands, ii. 15. 25. Legge, 11 mry Bilson, i. 69, 120. 188. 193. 425 433. 437. ii 460. 517 Lennox, Lord George, i. 335. Li nnox, Lady Sarah, the King’s attachment t», iv. 209. “ Letter from Albemarle Street t-» the Cocoa Tree,” ii. 428. iii. p. cliv. “ Letter to an Honourable Brigadier General,” in. p. clii. “ I. ter concerning Libels, Warrants, &c.,” ii. 65. 459. iii. p. clvii. clviii. clxvi. 46. Lichfield, Henry Lee, third Earl of, i. 287. ii. 7. Lighthouse, grant of, to Mr. Grenville, ii. 512. Ligonier, S t John, afterwards Lord, i. 66. 190. 227. 311. iii. 309. Lincoln, Henry, Earl of, i. 268. ii. 4. Lincoln, Lady, death of, i. 348. Lincoln’s Inn, fire at, i. 96. Lindsay, Sir John, iv. 520. 522. Lisbon, report of the Plague at, i. 226. fire at, ii. 369. Lloyd, Mr., Chaplain to Lord Shelburne, iv. 500. Lloyd, Mr. Charles, ii. 459. iii. 86. 251. 282. iv. 54. 106. 170. 500. Lloyd, Dr. Philip, ii. 213. iii. p. ccxxvi. 247. iv. 500. Lloyd, Dr. I'ierson, iv. 500. Lloyd, Robert, ii. 56. iv. 500. Lloyd, Thomas, iii. p. ccxxv. “ Locke’s Essay on Civil Government,” iii. p. cii. Logwood cutters, interruption of by Spain, ii. 381. 409. “London Evening Post” Newspaper,ii. 430. London, Address from the City of, i. 355. iii. 80. Lord Mayor’s feast, ii. 459. Lords, House of, debates in, ii. 230. iii. 242. 383. iv. 222. 224. 404. 509. 515. Lorraine, Prince Charles of, i. 26. Loudon, Lord, i. 201. Louis XV. at Compiegne, ii. 83. Louisa, Princess, iv. 299. Louisbourg, i. 243. 250. 253. 254. 258. 261. Lowther, Sir James, i. 384. ii. 295. iii. 255. iv. 92. Luttrell, Mr., ii. 276. iii. p. ccxxv. iv. 413. Luxborough, Lord, ii. 48. Lyttelton, George, afterwards Lord Lyttelton, i. 13. d scription of bv Lord Hervey, 14. 15. 68. 85.106.120. 126. 424. 430. ii. 230. iii. 72. 197. 223. 227. 267. 367. 397. iv. 8. 113. 192. 223. 231. 234. 24 9. 323. verses by, 324. 423. 429. 496. Lyttelton, Rev, Charles, afterwards Bishop of Carlisle, i. 78. 418. Lvttelton, Colonel, atterwards Sir Richard, i. 49. 113. 252. ii. 23. 442. iii. 309. iv. 528. Lyttelton, Mr. Thomas, afterwards Lord, supposed to be Junius, iii. p. xix. 170. Lyttelton, William Henry,afterwards Lord INDEX. Westcote and Lord Lyttelton, i. 78. appointed Governor of South Carolina, 130. Lyttelton, Apphia, Lady, iv. 516. AI. Macaulay, Mr., iii. p. xxviii. Macartney, Mr,, afterwards Sir George, ii. 415. iii. 90. iv. 301. Macclesfield, Earl of, his death, ii. 496. Mackay, John Ross, iv. 107. Mackenzie, Air. Stuart, i. 385. ii. 242. iii. 41. 184. 186. 187. 190. 203. 313. iv. 35. Mackintosh, Robert, ii. 140. 159. iii. 81. 92. 96. 97. iv. 190. 564. Mackintosh, Sir James, his Letter on the Authorship of Junius quoted, iv. 173. Mahon, Viscount, iii. p. Ixxxviii. Malpas, George, Viscount, ii. 274. Man, Isle of, iii. 6. Manchester, Robert, Duke of, i. 383. Manilla Expedition, iii. 1. ransom, 88. Mansfield, William Murray, Earl of, ii. 199. 205. 226. 235. 238. denounces the conduct of Lord Chief Justice 1’ratt, 239. 429. 521. iii. p. xl—xliv. ex. cxiii. cxlvii. clxv. clxxx. 117. 153. 161. 169. 172. 208. 218. 223. 337. 373. 382. 390. 397. iv. 2. 18. 19. 93. 11)6. 118. 126. 138.144.148.150.162.174. 185. 215. 221. 232. 239. 247. 251.268. 283. 294. 315. 513. 516. Marble Hill, Twickenham, i. 8. 76. iv. 147. March, James, Earl of, ii. 102. iii. 167. iv. 131. Marchmont, Hugh, third Earl of, i, 153. ii). p. xxxii cxlvii. 355. iv. 511. 514. 515. Markham, Rev. Dr., ii. 474. 485. iv. 166. Marlborough, George, second Duke of, i. 197. 247. 260. Marlborough, George, third Duke of, i. 297. ii. 6. iii. 210. 217. 308. Marlborough, Sarah, Duchess of, her death, i. 31. her legacy to Air. Pitt, 32. Marmora, M. de, ii. 399. Marriott, Dr., ii. 346. Martin, Samuel, M.P., i. 444. ii. 221. iii. 29. 32. Martinique, Island of, i. 440. ii. 10. 25. Alasham, Lord, iv. 415. Massachusetts Bay, Assembly of, iv. 13. 297. 307. Alasserano, Prince, ii. 422. iv. 68. Alauduit, Air., iv. 391. Mawbey, Mr., afterwards Sir John, ii. 81. iv. 518. Maynard, Charles, Viscount, iii. 333. Michell, the Prussian Minister, i. 421. 466. ii. 450. Middlesex, Earl of, i. 65. 426. ii. 285. 287. “ Aliddlesex Journal,” iii. p. ccxxvi. Militia, Bucks, appointments in the, i. 460. 470. ii. 23. 63. Aliiitia in Norfolk, ii. 59. Alilitia of Wiltshire, i. 316. Militia Bill, debate in the House of Lords on, i. 160. Alilitia, claim of exemption from the, i. 328. Alilles, Jeremiah, Dean of Exeter, iv. 20. Alinistry, project for the formation of a, iv. 8. Alinorca, Island of, i. 159. ii. 449. “Alinority, History of the late,” iii. 244. 248. 250. Mitchell, Mr., afterward Sir Andrew, i. 197. 252. 464. 465. Mead, Airs., i. 127. Aledmenham Abbey Club, i. 126. Mello, M. de, Minister from Portugal, i. 440. Aleredith, Sir William, ii. 261. iii. 26. iv. 213. 503. Moffatt, Dr. Thomas, iii. 237. iv. 510. Monckton, Brigadier, i. 319. wounded at Quebec, 326. Montague, George Brudenell, Duke of, iii. 336. Alontagu, Airs., iv. 425. 496. Alontesquieu, iii. p. Ixxv. Alontcalm, Marquis de, i. 254. his death at Quebec, 326. iv. 410. Moore, Sir Harry, iv. 471. AI ordaunt, Sir John, i. 200. 212.214. 215. 224. Alorocco, Ambassador from, i. 157. ii. 278. Alorton, Air., M.P., ii. 143. 413. 418. iii. 29. 32. 159. 163. Mountagtie, Mr. Frederick, ALP , ii. 221. Mulgrave, Constantine, Lord, iv. 137. Munchausen, Baron, i. 203. Alurray, Honourable Alexander, ii. 124. Alurray, Brigadier, i. 319. 322. 344. Al urrav, Wihiam, a'terwards Earl of .Mansfield, i. 6. 11. 16. 101. 107. 162. 193. 279. see Mansfield. Alurray, Airs., ii. 242. Almgrave, Dr., iii. p. xxvi. xl. iv. 150. 452. 461. 465. Alutiny Act in America, iii. 11. 13. N. Nash, Aiderman, iv. 536. Nassau, Prince of, i. 157. visits Stowe, 165. Navy, state of the English, iv. 525. Navy, supply for, i. 56. Navy Estimates, ii. 174. 175. 290. Navy l’av Office accounts, iv. 179. Navy of France, condition of, ii. 172. 441. 588 INDEX. Newbottle, William, Lord, iv. 210. Newcastle, Thomas Hoiles Pelham, Duke of, i. 82. 85. 172. 193. ii 21. iii. 74. 87. 217. 223. 257. 291. iv. 18. 77. ’ 2. 89. 127. 139. 205. 215. New Forest, office of Woodward, ii, 100. Newfoundland, St. John’s Fcrt at,, taken, i. 488. “Newhall’s Letters on Junius,” iii. p. xvi. Newspaper, new one proposed by Almon, ii. 457. Newspaper paragraphs, iii. p. cxxxv. iv. 433. 435. 454. 455. Neville, Mr. Aid worth, ii. 29. 52. 57. 99. 126. 249. Newton, Dr., Bishop of Bristol, ii. 51. 534. . New York, Assembly of Deputies at, iii. 100. Nivernois, M. de, i. 475. 481. ii. 29. iii. 302. Norfolk militia reviewed by the King, i. 313. North, Frederick, Lord, ii. 120. 133. iii. 27. 239. 299. iv. 101. 162. 163. 169. 194. 213. 247. 517. 526. North, Lady Louisa, i. 384. “North Briton,” Lord Temple’s admiration of No. 25, i 457. 471. 486. 489. ii. 4. 72. Wilkes’s new edition of, 74. 81. 96. 138. burning of, 175. 223. 232. 330. 429. iii. p. xxxi. xlvi. Northington, Earl cf, ii. 502. iii. p. xxxiv. 53. 57. 59. 177. 209. 223. 249. 252. 256. 263. 282. 290. 293. 346. 356. 397. iv. 28. 32. 33. 88. 104. 108. 154. 226. 382. 384. Northumberland, Earl, afterwards Duke of, ii. 6.223.225. iii. 113. 175 224 225. 329. 384. iv. 113. 209. Ni'Tlhiimbtrland, the ship, taken by the French, i. 28. Norton, Sir Fletcher, ii. 67. iii. p. cxxviii. 1 -. 73. 75. 78. 84. 256. 268. 330. 381. 3: 4. 394. iv. 23. 35. 65. 93.144.185. 221. 269. Nova Scotia, description of, iv. 164. Nugent, Robert, M.P., afterwards Viscount Clare and Earl Nugent, ii. 452. iii. 349. 382. 394. Nuthall, Mr. Thomas, i. 128. iii. 75. 271. iv. 537. 543. 545. O. O'Brien, Mr., ii. 447. O’Conor, Dr. Charles, iii. p. xiv. Offices, arrangements for the disposal of, ii. 211. 212. 213. 221. Olmutz, siege of, i. 245. 249. Onslow, Right Hon. Arthur, the Speaker, iv. 205. Onslow, Mr. George, ii. 78.158. 160.180. iii. 21. 26. 31. 63. Junius’s opinion of, 76. 218. Onslow. Colonel, iii. 30. Opera House, iii. p. xxxviii. Orange, Princess of, i. 280. Orford, George, third Earl of, i. 313. Osbaldiston, Dr., Bishop of London, i. 419. Oswald, James, i. 70. ii. 200. iii. 81. iv. 214. Owen, Sir William, M.P., ii. 119. Oxford, Edward, Earl of, ii. 206. Oxford, election for the chancellorship of 1759, i. 286. Oxfordshire election petition, i. 132. P. Palmerston, Lord, iii. 32. 310. Panmure, William, Earl of, iv. 190. Paoli, General Pascal, iv. 296. Parsons, Nancy, iii. p. ccxix. iv. 276. 299. 348. Paulet, Lord Harry, afterwards Duke of Bolton, ii. 159. Paymastership accounts, iv. 179. Peace, preliminaries of, in 1748, i. 73. 74. “ Peace, a Letter on the Prospect of,” i. 334. conditions of, 369. 372. 373. 376. 379. 380. 381. 382. 385. 474. 476. 480. 483. Mr. Pitt's disapproval of the, ii. 4. treaty of, signed, 29. Pearce. Dr. Zachary, Bishop of Rochester, ii. 474. Pelham, Right Hon. Henry, i. 36. 74 79. 106. 429. Pelham, Mr. Thomas, iii. 218. Pelham, Lady Catherine, i. 172. Pension List in 1763, ii. 272. Percy, Lord Algernon, iv. 559. Petersburg, embassy to, ii. 415. 417. Petersham, Lady Caroline, i. 157. Peter III., Emperor of Russia, i. 420. Petition from Buckinghamshire, iv. 441. 448. Petition from Yorkshire, iv. 465. 493. Pt tre, Lord, ii. 160. Phelps, Richard, iii. 62. Phileleutherus Anglicanus, “Summary of the Law of Libel” by, iii. p. clxxxiii. Phillips, Mr., an attorney, ii. 57. 73. iv. 16. Phillips, Sir John, i. 184. ii. 6. 8. 117. 206. iii. p. clxviii. “ Pinkerton’s Walpoliana,” iii. p. xiv. Pitt, William, afterwards Earl of Chatham, i. 4. 8. 12. 32. 50. 52. 65. 73. 99.101. 103. 105. 110. 112. 117. 120. 131. 137. 149. 186. 190. 196. 392. 415. 418. 424. 436. ii. 93. 104. 105. 107. 161. 195. 196. 199. 201. 202. 223. 224. 226. 376. 386. 443. 487. 530. iii. 39. 53. 58. 65. 72. 96. 173. 191. 198. 200. 201. 202. 225. 226. 231. INDEX. 589 252. 262. 267. 271. 272. 271. 279. 282. 291. 376. 377. f Chatham. Pitt, 1. ght Hon. William, jun., birth of, i. 301. Pitt, John, i. 66. 99. 114. Pitt, John, afterwards Earl of Chatham; his birth, i. 173. Pitt, Thomas, afterwards Lord Camelford, ii. 19.1. 232. 320. iii 79. 241. 111. Pitt, Mrs. Anne, i. 11. iv. 199. Pitt, Hester, afterwards Countess Stanhope, i. 168. Plate, proposed tax on, i. 156. 1‘olice arrangements, ii. 367. “ Political Apology,” a pamphlet, iii. 104. Pollington, John, Lord, ii. 150. Pomfret, George, second Earl, ii. 295. Pompadour, Madame de, i. 205. 368. ii. 303. Pompt ii, excavations at, iv. 550. Pondicherry taken, 1. 376. Pope, Alexander, i. 7. his death, and account of his will, 27. Port Egmont, settlement at, iv. 505. Portsmouth, John, second Earl of, i. 292. Portsmouth Dockyard, fire at, iv. 525. Portugal, King of, i. 442. iv. 489. 495. Postage arrangements, ii. 2 9. 381. Post Office, Secret Office at the, iii. 311. Potter, Thomas, i. 102.104. political speculations, 137. 186. 193. 439. Poulet, John, second Earl, i. 297. Powis, Henry, Earl of, i. 77. P iwis, Earl, iv. 11. 404. Pownall, Governor, i. 305. iv. 312. 320. Praslin, Dnc de, ii. 411. Pratt, Sir Charles, afterwards Lord Cam-d n, i. 296. ii. 137. 199. iii. 210. 226. s Camden. Press Warrants, iii. p. cix. Pretender, the Young, i. 366. Ptideaux, Brigadier, i. 322. I • vilege of Parliament, iii. p. cxxii. Privy Council Extraordinary, i. 371. Privy Purse, the King’s disposal of, ii. 209. 210. Prowse, Thomas, M.P., i. 397. 398. 402. Prussia, Frederick, King of. i. 172. 217. 229. 252. 260. 263. 324. 327.345. 356. 3' 0. 421. 463. 464. ii. 240. 241. 533. Prussia, Prince Henry of, i. 235. 302. 324. 351. Pynsent, Sir Robert, iv. 137. Q- Quebec, capitulation of. i. 325. officers killed at, 326. 343. revenue of, ii. 375. Queensberry, Duke of, i. 130. Queensberry, Catherine Hyde, Duchess of, i. 130. ii. 421. Quiberon Bay, i. 351. 11. Ranby, the surgeon, ii. 443. Ravensworth, Lord, his charge of Jacobi-tism against Murray, Ac., i. 101. Regency Bill, iii. 15. 17. 18. 19. 21—23. 26—33. 35. 125.152—159. 223. 224. Resolutions of the Ministers submitted to the King, iii. 184. 186. Rhe, Island of, i. 207. 210. Rich, Sir Robert, iii. 193. Richelieu, Mare, hal, i. 205. 230. Richmond, Charles, third Duke of, i. 158. ii. 83.176. 233. iii. 235.281. 282. 396. iv. 37. Richmond Park, iii. 14. Rigby, Mr., M.P., ii. 21. iii. p. xxv. 265. 321. 316. 370. 384. 386. 388. 389. 391. 392. iv. 6. 42. 41. 57. 61. 95. 104. 119. 122. 196.198. 218. 229. 233.238. 216. 293. 339. Rio Janeiro, Lord Clive’s opinion of, ii. 446. Riot Act, iv. 419. Robinson, Dr., afterwards Archbishop of Armagh, ii. 479. iii. 113. Robinson, Sir Thomas, afterwards Lord Grantham, i. 120. 430. Rochelle, i. 208. Roch fort Earl of, ii. 378. Rochford, Earl of, iii. 236. 240. Rochfort, expedition to, i. 209. return of the Fleet from, 212. 213. 216. 217. 218. 219. 225. 229. Rockingham, Marquess of, ii. 198. 252. iii. 86. 205. 206. 209. 218. 220. 237. 271. 282. 29o. 314. 357. 365. iv. 12. 28. 36. 37. 40. 41. 53. 54. 63. 66. 87. 88. 98. 102. 107. 112. 119. 127. 161. 218. 228. 304. . Rodney, Captain, afterwards Sir George Brydges, i. 207 215. 218. 221. 231. 310. ii. 9. 20. 170. Rodondo, iii. p. xxxiv. Rosbach, battle of, i. 229. Ross, George iv. 1.15. Rouen, I arlian ( nt if, remonstrance against new taxes, ii. 100. Roxburgh, John, Duke of, iii. 211. iv. 131. R"\al Family, meaning and extent of the, iii. 148. 149. Rushout, Sir John, ii. 287. Russia, treaty with, iii. 90. Rutland, Duke of, ii. 7. iv. 481. Ryde, Mrs., ii. 22. Ryder, Sir Dudley, i. 162. Sackville, Lord George, i. 247. 325. 327. 357. ii. 21. 487. iii. p. xlv. Ixviii. 26. 271. iv. 71. 79. 124. 173. 391. 491. 590 INDEX. Sackville, Lady George, iv. 9. St. Albans, G.-orge, third Duke of, i. 153. ii. 329. 332. St, Lucia, Inland of, i. 493. ii. 15. 25. St Malo, expedition to, i. 237. 248. 266. 272. St. Mawes, ii. 452. St. Peter’s at I me, illumination of, iv. 555. St. Vincent I-land of, ii. 16. 25. 28. Sandwich, John, Earl of, i 153. ii. 115. 133. Secretary of State, 206. 227. 228. 229. 236. 240. 241. iii. p. cxix. 198. 223. iv. 513. Sandys, Samuel, Lord, i. 50. Sandys, Edwin, M.P., i. 184. Saunders, Admiral Sir Charles, i. 303. 320. iii. 310. 390. Savile, Sir George, i. 391, iii. 27. 237. iv. 502. 503. 504. 510. Sawbridge, Aiderman, iv. 536. Saxby, Mr., of the Post Office, iii. 311. Say and Sele, Richard, Lord,-iii. 145. Scmvola, iii. p. xc. xciv. Scriptural phrases used by Junius, iii. p. ccxxii. Scriptural phrases used by Lord Temple, iii p. c :xxiv. Secret service money', account of, iii. 144. 311. Secretary of State’s Office, iii. p. xlviii. Seilern, Count de, ii. 240. 241. “ Seizure of Papers,” ii. 53.137. iii. p. cliii. clxxiv. 242. , Selwyn, George, iv. 372. Sewell, Mr., afterwards Sir Thomas, ii. 472. iv. 132. Shebbeare, Dr., list of his works, and memorial in favour of, ii, 271. Shelburne, John, Earl of, i. 356. Shelburne, William, Earl of, ii. 35. 37. 41. 116. resigns office, 203. 204. 226. 230. 236. 244. iii. 223. 271. 279. 309. 315. .397. iv. 28. 32. 199. 214. 219. 296. 300. 309. 360. 371. 382. 389. Shuvalow, Count, iii. 60. Silhouette, M. de, i. 342. Silk Bill, disturbances on account of, iii. 164. 221. Smith, Commodore, i. 50. Soor, battle of, i. 40. Soubize, Prince de, i. 205. 253. Spain, Ferdinand, the sixth King of, i. 325. Spain, Queen of, her death, i. 2’51. Spanish Main, commerce with the, ii. 48. Speed, Colonel, i. 63. death of, 68. Speed, Mi is Harriett, i. 25. 68. Spencer, Lord Charles, ii. 5. 21. 163. Stanm Act, ii. 373. iii. p. xx. 100. 109. 237. 248. 250. 357. 359. 365. 367. 370. 371. 373. Stanhope, Philip, second Earl of, i. 160. Stanhope, Sir William, ii. 160. Stanley', Mr. Hans, i. 113. 362. 366. 367. 375.385. ii. 42. 219. 221. 400. iii. 90. 99. 104. 284. 320. 394. iv. 132. Stapleton, Miss, i. 135. iv. 549. “State of the Nation,” a pamphlet by Mr. Knox, iv. 368. 394. Stawell, Lady, ii. 460. 517. Stephenson, Sir William, ii. 459. Stewart, Archibald, his trial, i. 71. Stock Exchange, iii. p. ccxxvi. Stormont, Viscount, iii. 373. Stowe and Wotton estates, settlement of, i. 428. Stowe, account of the Princess Amelia’ visit to, ii. 406. Stowe, Mr. Hervey’s praise of, iii. 89. “Stowe, Hill of,” poem by Lord Temple, iv. 545. Strachey, Mr., ii. 46. Strange, James, Lord, ii. 104. 135. 206. iii. 362. 366. Strangways, Lady Susan, iv. 209. Strathmore, John, Earl of, iv. 191. Stuart, Mr., ii. 457. Stuart, L idy Anne, ii. 385. Stuart. Lady Augusta, iv. 548. Stuart, Lady' Jane, ii. 244. Sturt. Mr., M.P., ii. 454. Styles, Dr., iii. 237. Suffolk, Earl of, iii. p. Iv—Iviii. 355. 397 iv. 4. 48. 283. 529. Suffolk, Henrietta Hobart, Countess of i. 3. 52. 76. iv. 147. Sullivan, Laurence, ii. 46. Swinney', Dr., iii. p. Ixviii. T. Talbot, William, second Lord, i. 471. 474. 4 86. ii. 56. 165. iv. 188. 343. 416. Tavistock, Lord, iii. 303. 308. 379. T: j lor, M r., Architect, iv. 311. Taylor, John, “Junius Identilied,” iii.p. xv. xvii. T< i duty iv. 516. Temple family', pedigree of, iii. 297. Temple, Hester, Countess, i. p iii. her death mentioned, 98. Temple, Mr. John, iv. 396. 460. Temple, Richard Grenville Earl, description of, by Wraxall, i. p. vii, account of his death, i. p. vii. verses upon his cane, i. p. vii. his correspondence and papers, i. p. xviii. his gift of £1000 per annum to Mr. Pitt, 149. 161. 174. made First Lord of the Admiralty, 187. succeeds the Duke of Marlborough as Lord Lieutenant of Bucks, 278. resigns the Privy Seal, 330. resumes office, 332. Knight of the Garter, 339. his adcice ■in, writing relative to the Spanish war, 386. his resignation, 394. gift of £5000 INDEX. 591 to James Grenville’s sons, 408. dines at Guildhall, 415. 423. 437 173. forbid the Court, ii. 52. 53. 55. 59. 75. 100. j 8. 157. 159. proposed to tlie Kino by Mr. Pitt to be First Lord of the Treasury, 198. 201. 230. 235. 428.496. iii. p. xvi. x"vii—xxxvi. lix. Ixi. Ixxxix. cxxiv. cxxx. cxlix. cciv. ccx. ccxii. ccxxvi. 37. 4::. 65. 92. 97. 170.171.176.177.179. 183. 191. 200. 223. sent for by the Duke of Cumberland to assist in forming a Ministry, 225. 226. presents a sum of £1000 t>i George Grenville, 227. 212. 244. 263. 264. 266. 272. 271. 279. 292. 360. 362. 365. 368. 376.380. 383. 388. iv. 29. 36. 45. 53. 61. 68. 73. 77. 86. 92. 116. 122. 128. 132. 135. 142. 175.178.188. 224. 230. 235. 237. 279. 2-1 325. 363. 398. 403. 406. 433. 454. 459. 490. 512. 515. 545. 573. 575. Temple, Anna Chamber, Countess, her account of Lord Albemarle’s death, i. 133. 237. ii. 189. verses addressed to by Horace Walpole, 253. her poems, 256. edition printed at Strawberry Hill, 257. 315. iii. p. xxxv. l\v. Ixvi. Ixxxiv. cxii. 285. iv. 8. 323. 414. verses addressed to, 528. 570. Terrick, Dr., Bishop of London, ii. 313. Thetford, borough of, ii. 480. Thicknesse, Philip, iii. p. ccxxvi. Thomond, Lord, ii. 212. iii. 216. Thomson, James, i. 69. Thurlow, Mr., afterwards Lord, iii. 237. Thynne, Mr. Henry, iv. 481. Ticonderago, i. 254. 322. Ti Idy Doll, Lord Temple’s sobriquet, iii. p. xxxviii. Tobago, Island of, ii. 18. Todd, Mr. Anthony, Secretary of the Post Office, iii. 311. T ” au, battle of, i. 356. Townshend, George, afterwards Viscount, i. 187. 311. 319. 322. ii. 277. iii. p. xxxviii. 65. 1 1 s, 2o7. 20'.i. iv. 92. 13(1. Il 1. 160. 169. 171. 173. 232. Townshend, Admiral, ii. 170. Townshend, Mr. Charles, i. 190. 139. ii. 22 36. 63. 103. 157. 198. 204. 224. 44\ -165. opinion of M r. Pitt and Lord Temple, 482. attack on Mr. Grenville, 4’5. 501. iii. 65. 87. 90. 101. 106. 118. 120. 188. 205. 207. 209. 211. 225. 235. 258. 281. 288. 332. 389. iv. 41. -13. 92. 1I>4. 130. 15s. 160. 213. 21 1. 220. 222. Townshend, (“Spanish”) Charles, ii. 73. T< wnshend, Colonel Koger, death of, at Ticonderago, i. 323. Townshend. Thomas, i. 157. ii. 3o3. iii. 218. iv. 236. Trecothick, Aiderman, iv. 516. 520. Trevecke, college at, iv. 527. Trevor. Lord, iv, 205. 409. Troops in Ireland and Scotland, i. 56. Turk’s Island, ii. 418. 422. 436. 438. Turner, Sir John, i. 149. Tyrawly, James O’Hara, Lord, i. 165. 422. iii. 247 iv. 341. V. Vane, Mr. Frederick, M.P , ii. 262. Vere, Lord, ii. 8. 21. iv. 490. Verney, Ra ph, Earl, ii. 49. 160. iii. p. cxxxviii. iv. 137. 567. Vernon, Lady Henrietta, iv. 524. Vienna, society of, iv. 563. Villiers, Lord, ii. 55. iii. 217. Vindex, letter so signed, iii. p. xxxv. A irginia, resolutions of the Assembly’ of, iii. 7s, government of, iv. 345. Virv, Comte de, i. 250. 261. 386. 462. 475. if. 288. Viri, Madame de, iv. 413. W. Waldegrave, General, afterwards second Earl of, i. 238. 295. ii. 42. Wales, George, Prince of, i. 96. 329. Wales, Princess Dowager of, her opinion of the King’s temper, ii. 242. 246. excluded from the Regency’ Bill, iii. 148. 149. 162. 194. 221. iv. 406. 516. Wallace, Mr., iv. 179. 187. Waller, Edmund, i. 30. 32. “ Wallet,” the, a pamphlet so called, ii. 401. Walpole, Horace, afterwards Earl of Orford, i. J 95. Walpole, Horace, ii. 42. 113. 178. verses addressed to Lady Temple, 189. 232— 234. anecdote of Princess Amelia and Lord Northumberland, 245. opinion of Lady Temple’s poems, 252. 256. 320. 335. 428. 458- iii. p. xxviii. iv. 100. 103. 132. 153. 154. 548. Walpole, Maria, afterwards Lady Waldegrave, i. 295. Walpole, Mr. Thomas, iii. 102. Walsh, John, M.P., ii. 46. 73. 159. iv. 263. Warburton. William, afterwards Bishop of Gloucester, i. 27. 118. ii. 154. 314. iii. p. clxii. 3. 45. Warkworth, Lord, ii. 149. 168. 385. 516. War Office, iii. p. xlviii. Warrants, General, debate on, iii. 5. trial respecting, 51. 117. Wauchope, Mr., M.P., ii. 155. Weavers, petition of, iii. 164. 224. Webb, I'hilip Carteret, ii. 67. 72. 79.137. 140. iv. 521. Wedderburn, Mr., afterwards Lord Loughborough and Earl of Rosslyn, iii. 592 INDEX. p. Iviii. 246. 251. 257. 287. 314. 394. iv. 35. 64. 66. 99. 116. 120. 134. 146. 160. 193. 247. 263. 293.303. 311. 391. 404. 423. 464. Welderen, Madame de, ii. 245. West, Gilbert, i. 15. 27. West, Captain, afterwards Admiral, i. 27. 168. West, Mrs. Admiral, i. 158. West India Islands, description of, by Admiral Rodney, ii. 10. Westmoreland, John Fane, Earl of, i. 287. Weston, Mr. Edward, i. 360. ii. 45. 79. iv. 468. 476. Wevmouth, Earl of, ii. 102. iii. 49. 124. 163. 191. 213. 242. 308. 392. iv. 58. 251. 268. 274. 301.312. 339. 341. 382. Whately, Mr. Thomas, ii. 133. iii. p. lix. 251. 271. iv. 33. 39. 60. 64. 71. 79. 113. 128.134. 148.160. 233. 241. 266. 278. Whittlebury Forest, iii. p. cxxvi. Wildman’s Tavern in Albemarle Street, ii. 47. Wilkes, John. i. 102. Berwick election, 125. 176. 328. 477. 486. Wilkes, John, ii. 54-56. 63. 66. 70. 73. satirical character of George 111., 74. list of books printed by, 81. at Paris, 83. verses to, by Lord Temple, 130. 135. account of his property, 138. 151. 152. daily account of him reported to the Secretary of State, 155. 165. duel with Martin, 180. 188. 220. 223. 224. 228. at Paris, 249. anecdotes of Chevalier D'Eon, 253. sends Lord Temple a pamphlet entitled the “ Anti-Financier,” 254. expelled the House of Commons, 258. 267. 277. 330. 455. 484. 190. iii. p. xxx. xxxv. Ixxx. Ixxxi. cxxiii. clxviii. clxxiii. ccxxi. 95. 232. 241. iv. 1. 15. 188. 262. 264. 267. 271. 273. 279. 284. 291. 371. 383. 393. 409. 480. 482. 495. 537. Wilkes, Miss, i. 477. ii. 75. 81. 83. 99. iii. p. Ixxxi. iv. 17. Willes, Mr., iv. 248. Williams, Sir Charles Hanbury, i. 147. 280. ii. 92. Williams’s trial, ii. 429. Willoughby de Broke, Lord, i. 384. Wilmot, Sir John Eardley, iii. 46. iv. 110. 115. Wilmot, Dr., afterwards Sir Edward, i. 435. Wilson, Dr. Thomas, Dean of Carlisle, ii. 385. Winchester, French prisoners at, i. 316. Winchilsea, Daniel Finch, Earl of, i. 50. 191. iii. 217. iv. 559. Window Tax Bill, iii. 242. Windsor Park, Rangership of, iii. 257-Wine, importation of, duty free, ii. 393. Wintringham, Sir Clifton, iii. 189. Wodehouse, Sir Armine, iii. 79. 85. Wolfe, General, i. 242. 310. 311. 319. 322, 324. 325. his death, 326. iii. p. Ixxxix. “Woman, Essay on,” i. 490. ii. 154. Wood, Robert, Under Secretary of State, ii. 137. 262. iii. 94. Woodfall, Mr. Henry Sampson, ii. 159. iii. p. xxxv. Ixvi. Woodfall’s trial for publishing Junius’s Letter to the King, iv. 519. Woodfall’s edition of Junius, iii. p. xvi. Woronzow, Count, Russian Ambassador, ii. 240. “Word at Parting, to the Duke of Bedford,” iv. 200. ascribed to Lord Temple and Junius, 203. 240. Worsley, Mr., M.P., ii. 300. 496. Wotton, Mr. Grenville’s seat at, i. 171. Wray, Mr. Daniel, iii. p. cxxx. Wrottesley, Sir Richard, ii. 486. Wyndham, Miss Elizabeth, afterwards Mrs. George Grenville, i. 26. Y. Yarmouth, Amelia Sophia de Walmoden Countess of, i. 291. 349. 435. 436. Yates, Mr. Justice, iii. 48. iv. 291. Yonge, Sir William, i. 73. 74. York, Edward, Duke of, ii. 328. 384. 511. 517. iii. 113. 141.147. 151. 222. 234. 369. 370. 371. 373. iv. 168. 176. 214. 224. 226. 227. Yorke, Mr. Charles, i. 97. 113. 184. 296. ii. 71. 149. his resignation, 218. 226. 229. 239. 262. 461. 495. 526. iii. 9. 73. 78. 84. 115. 219. 290. 332. * iv. 37. 301. Yorke, Sir Joseph, i. 250. ii. 219. 221. Younge, Sir George, iii. 310. Z. Zorndorff, battle of, i. 263. 265. Woodfall and Kinder, Printers, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London. THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara STACK COLLECTION THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW. 10w-6,’62(C9724e4)476D 205 01489 3125