CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARy 3 1924 088 017 870 JmS^^Sm Date Due 1 JAfc^^ W^-p; am ^ - iqi;:^-.-4^ii-4 ' . & 23 233 The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924088017870 THE COEEESPONDENCE KING GEORGE THE THIRD. LORD NORTH Fkom 1768 TO 1783. EDITED FKOM THE ORIGINALS AT 'WINDSOK, WITH AN INTEODUCTriON AND NOTES, By W. BODHAM DONNE. IN TWO VOLUMES.— Vol. I. LONDON: JOHN MUEEAY, ALBEMAELE STEEET. 1867. Tlie right of Translation is reserved. /^>'"^.-->tj.K,^ LONDON: PKIKTKD BY WILUA3I C1X>WES AND SONS, STAMFORD eTHEiT, AND CHARtNQ CK086. TO THE QUEEN, s;^is moth IS BY ESPECIAL PERMISSION DEDICATED BY HEE MAJESTY'S MOST DUTIFUL AND MOST DEVOTED SERVANT, THE EDITOR INTRODUCTION. ExTEAGTS from the following Letters from George III. to Lord North have been published by Lord Stanhope in his ' History of England from the Peace of Utrecht ; ' by Earl Russell in his ' Life ' and in his ' Memorials and Correspondence ' of Charles James Fox ; and by Mr. Bancroft in his ' History of the United States.' But the samples of the King's Letters given in these vcorks imperfectly represent the originals. The noble historian gives the following account of his acquaintance with the corre- spondence : — " The original Letters from King George IIL to Lord North " as his Prime Minister were laid before Sir James Mackintosh, " who, extracting the most important passages, transcribed them " in a manuscript volume. This afterwards passed into the " hands of Lord North's surviving daughter. Lady Charlotte " Lindsay, and from her into those of Lord Brougham. Through " the friendly regard of Lady Charlotte, and in the year 1847, <' I obtained the communication of that volume ; Lady Charlotte " at the same time giving me full permission to make any use " of it I might deem proper." " This " manuscript volume " is the common source of the extracts hitherto printed. But Sir James Mackintosh, although he had the whole correspondence before him, selected from it such portions only as may have seemed to him most important, or as best suited to a particular purpose — perhaps the history of a period or a reign. In many instances he has taken only a single sentence from a Letter, in others he has combined " 'Hist, of England,' vol. v., Append. p. xlvii. As I shall have frequent occa- sion to refer to this valuable work, it may be convenient to state at once that it is cited by me, in accordance with its title-page, as ' Lord Mahou'g History,' &c., and that I have used the 5th edition, in 7 volumes, 1858. VOL. I. INTBODUCTION. sentences that originally were unconnected, while he has passed over a considerable number of the King's Letters as either of. little moment in themselves or of none to his object in tran- scribing. By such combinations or omissions the context is sometimes disturbed and the series rendered incomplete. In the following pages entire and exact copies of the Letters are for the first time published. With the exception of a few brief notes of appointment of time or place, I have printed all the Letters preserved in the Queen's library at Windsor Castle, omitting and transposing nothing in the series now for the first time presented to the public. A sovereign of Great Britain who has the credit of taking an active part in politics inevitably becomes a mark for censure or applause. Those whom he favours will regard him as a patriot- king ; those from whom his countenance is turned wiU have a keen scent for any errors he may commit. In the present instance Tory writers cannot commend George III. enough for taking to his councils a long-excluded and distrusted party; and Whig writers cannot pardon him for cancelling what they had come to consider hereditary claims to office. Perhaps the time has not even yet arrived for a history of this reign. On the one hand, we are still too near the period to be quite exempt from the feelings which agitated and did not expire with it ; on the other, we may not have at present aU the materials for such a work. Every contribution, however, to the narrative renders more possible the composition of it ; and it is hoped that the following Letters addressed by the King to his most trusted and Favoured Minister during a most eventful crisis may facilitate ihe task of the future historian. No one can have studied the narratives of Earl Stanhope and j Mr. Adolphus, of Belsham and Aikin, or even dipped into the 1 jrenvUle or Bedford Papers, the Memoirs of Lord Eockingham | )r Charles James Fox, or into any collection of Letters or i :ieminiscences of the times of George III., without being i mpressed by the very opposite views taken by historians or i lemorialists of his public character. The commendation and i INTBODVGTION. the censure alike have a tendency to the extravagant. With Tories he passes for a patriot king ; with Whigs for a monarch vtrho endeavoured to re-act the part of Charles T., under different ch-cumstances and with different materials. Amid these dis- crepancies one fact remains steadfast, that the position of George III., whether won by his own exertions, or forced on him by circumstances, differed in many respects from that of every EngUsh sovereign since the Eevolution of 1688. In the following pages, before proceeding to comment on the Letters themselves, I shall attempt to ascertain what that position was, how acquired, and how maintained. ■ With the abdication of James II. expired the overt struggle between privilege and prerogative : the right divine of kings was practically overthrown, although it continued to linger as a theory among Jacobites and Tories, and the advisers of the Crown were no longer appointed at the will or by the caprice of tlie wearer of it. Parliament, so far as it represented the will of the nation, prescribed to the King the nation's virtual rulers ; or at least dictated to him with whose aid and advice he should conduct its affairs. Parliament again, though often expressing the wishes of a minority, took charge of the interests of the nation at large, and jealously watched every attempt at govern- ment by prerogative. The principles of civil and religious liberty were secured by the Bill of Eights and the Toleration Act ; and since it was the common interest of William III. and the Whigs to resist the Jacobites who regarded him as a usurper, and the Tories who could not reconcile themselves to breakino- the direct line of succession, the Whig party and the King whom they had accepted, although occasionally at variance, agreed with one another well in the main. The harmony between the Crown and the Whigs was indeed interrupted by the Tory predilections of Anne, and for a time the Act of Settle- ment was in danger, and the restoration of the old line a likely event. The death of the Queen saved the nation from a re- action that would probably have rendered necessary a second revolution. h 2 INTBODUCTION. The power of the Whigs was once more established by the accession of the House of Hanover. Each of the two great parties indeed competed for the favour of the Act-of-Settlement King ; but the claims of the framers or supporters of that Act were naturally preferred by him to the pretensions of its open or secret opponents. The fluctuation between Whigs and Tories, which had marked the preceding reign, ceased with the accession of George I., and for a period of forty-five years one or other section of the Whigs excluded the Tories from office. The interests of the first two Hanoverian sovereigns tended to such an arrangement, and the dread of the Pretender entertained by at least an active and intelligent minority of the English people, confirmed the inclinations of the Crown. The Whigs indeed quarrelled with one another, but not sufficiently so as to make a practicable breach for the Tory party to enter, although .some of the more moderate of its members were ad- mitted into the administration which obstructed the measures, and finally effected the downfall, of Sir Eobert Walpole. In the main, however, the policy of Mr. Pelham for nearly ten years, and of the Duke of Newcastle after his brother's death, did not depart widely from that of the earlier and more genuine Whigs ; and the first two Georges acquiesced, with occasional murmurs on the part of the second of the name, in the counsels, or, as their enemies termed it, the dictation of an oligarchy. The nation, on its part, looked with general indifference upon the schisms of the Whigs and the exclusion of the Tories ; for it was a season of general prosperity, and rulers who enrich a people are seldom unpopular. ' One result of their long tenure of office was to concentrate in a few Whig families claims or pretensions to conduct the government of the country. For such official monopoly there was some excuse in the necessity of the times so long as the Pretender was formidable ; but after the year 1746 the plea for exclusiveness became less vahd, or at least less apparent. It was contested by the father of George III., who assembled around him at Leicester House malcontent Whigs and pretended patriots, and virtually it was INTBODUCTION. overthrown by William Pitt the elder, whose genius and its attendant popularity enabled him to dispense with party con- nexion. Upon the whole, such connexion had not proved detri- mental to the weal of the nation. It became, however, less easy to defend " connexion " as soon as a sovereign, whose title no one questioned, had mounted the throne. The objections to it were sedulously inculcated upon George III. by his mother, and at least one of his tutors ; and his determination to break what he was taught to consider a yoke degxading to his high ofSce was very early formed, pertinaciously acted upon, and finally, and indeed before he had reigned many years, crowned with success. Whether the nation benefited as much as the royal dignity by the exchange of an oligarchy for a government by " new men," is a question wliich I leave the readers of his- tory to decide for themselves. The propriety of relieving the Crown from the dependence on Whig statesmen into which it had fallen since the arrival of George I. in this island, is thus stated by Mr. Massey : " — " The commencement of this reign was remarkable for an " attempt on the part of the Crown to recover that power and " influence which since 1688 had been appropriated by the " Parliament. Nor was the adventure so hopeless or so devoid " of plausibility as it would appear to a generation fully re- " conciled to that system of government, in which the consti- " tution has long since practically determined. The mode in " which parKamentary government first developed itself in this " country was not such as to entitle it to the respect and con- " fidence of the nation. The ancient prerogative, which, though " often oppressive, was still regarded with reverence and affec- " tion by the people as a rightful rule, and as a simple aud " intelligible principle of government, was now superseded by " a new form of policy, which enabled factions, and even indi- " viduals, to exercise supreme power by means of a packed and " venal House of Commons. The result of this mode of ad- ' ' History of England,' vol. 1. p. 52. INTBOBUGTION. " ministration had been imbecility in the national councils, and " the abuse of the public service throughout every department. " But of the four sovereigns who had filled the throne since the " Revolution, three were foreigners and strangers ; and every " one of them had reigned by a title de facto rather than dejure. " It was in vain for princes so situated to appeal to the loyalty " of the people against the dictation of a cabal. But the case " was now altered. The new King was avowedly an English- " man both by birth and education, and in his person the lawful " demise of the Crown was at length practically admitted. The " present therefore seemed a favoui-able opportunity to raise the '• Crown from the powerless and dependent condition into which " it had fallen. The Whigs had hitherto assumed to take the " House of Hanover under their exclusive protection ; and almost •' every public man who had held high office since the accession " of that family, was a member of the great "Whig connexion. " But it was neither expedient nor becoming that the King " of England should always depend upon one party, however " gi-eat their services might have been. The necessity for "doing so had undoubtedly ceased. There was no longer any " reason why the Tories should not be admitted to power and " employment. Many years had passed since they had with- " drawn altogether from correspondence with the exiled princes ; " and it is obvious that no poKcy could more strongly recom- " mend itself to the young King than that of encouraging and " welcoming the returning allegiance of so considerable a body " of his subjects. That George IH., fortified by the support of " this great party, thus hajopily reconciled to the Crown, should " assert the regal authority in a tone which his immediate pre- ■' decessors were not in a condition to assume, seems to be per- '• fectly intelligible, without resorting to any far-fetched theory " for an explanation." The defence of the Whig Government, on the other hand, is thus aUy conducted by the late Professor Smyth." ' Leutuies uu Jlocleru History,' vol. ii. p. 338. IWTBODUOTIOK "Had there ever appeared in these Whig families, in the " Walpoles, the Townshends, and the Pelhams, any opinions " inconsistent with the reverence that was due to their sove- " reign ; any improper disregard of the interests of the preroga- " tive ; any idle ebullitions of unqualified democracy that could " disquiet or displease a monarch of the Brunswick race ? The " most ardent friends of the popular part of the constitution " may indeed think that with all their merits the Whig families " ha.ve had their faults, that they first made and never after- " wards repealed or modified the Septennial Bill ; that they " sacrificed the interests of England to those of Hanover, as " their sovereigns required ; that at all times they were quietists " rather than reformers. These accusations may be preferred " against them by the more ardent friends of the popular part " of our constitution, but the friends of the monarchical part "had no accusation to offer. Their only semblance of com- " plaint was that the sovereign could not comfortably rule But " by means of the Whig families, that is, could not be in- " dependent."^ In the King's Letters we shall presently dis- cover the price paid for the comfort and independence of the crown. At the date of some of the earliest of the following Letters,' the most important events in this country arose from the con- test between the House of Commons and the electors of Middle- sex, respecting the right of the one to dictate to the other the choice of their representatives in Parliament." Clouds indeed had already gathered on the American horizon, but, owing to the prudence of the Eockingham Ministry in 1765-6, though not dispersed, they were suspended there for a few years longer. The questions of the moment were Parliamentary Privilege, its rightful or its assumed extent, and the struggle for power be- tween the sections of the Whigs and the revived party of the " See, however. Lord Mahon, ' Hist, of England,' vol. iv. p. 214 ; v. 112. ^ 'A few weeks before the dissolution of Parliament, in March, 1768, Wilkes had returned to England, and, after failing in the City, was returned for Middlesex by a large majority.— See Letter 2, and note. INTBODUGTION. Tories. Since the beginning of this reign there had been six total or partial changes of administration, in all of which the King was believed or reported to have taken an active part.' Whether it were the fact or merely rumour, it was evident that George III. was not walking in the ways of his immediate predecessors. The transition from a passive to an active sove- reign, importait in itself at the moment, was yet more so in its consequences, since whether it were for good or evil there can be no question that the principles or prejudices of the King exerted much influence upon Ms reign. The position of the ruling parties was reversed. The Whigs were gradually de- tached, and finally dismissed from the royal councils, with the exception indeed of such pliant and adhesive members of the party as accommodated their old doctrines to their new circum- stances. The Tories entered upon a stiU longer tenure of ofiSce than that which their opponents had reluctantly resigned. They who had long barely tolerated, if they did not oppose the Hanoverian Kings, now became their stanch adherents; while the Whigs, who had placed and kept them on the throne, either coalesced with their former adversaries or arrayed themselves in active opposition. The King's letters are strictly such as one man of business commonly writes to another. With very rare exceptions they are written in haste, and sometimes even with impetuosity. Many of them would shock Lindley Murray ; in some of them Priscian's head is broken ; in few of them is there a vestige of prepara- tion, in none of them of elegance in expression. Louis XIV. wrote very indifierent grammar, and George III. wrote not much, if at all, better than his most Christian Jlajesty. In this respect indeed he was on a par with many of the nobility and gentry of the time, who may notwithstanding have com- posed faultless verses at Eton ; and perhaps the royal style. » (1) The Duke of Newcastle's and Ml-. Pitt's Ministry, 1757-62. (2) Lord Bute's, 1762-3. (3) The Gi-enville Mi- nistry, 1763-5. (4) The fii-st Rockmg- ham Ministry, 1765-6. (5) Lord Chat- ham's, 1766-7. (6) The Duke of Giaf- ton's, 1767-70. INTMOjDUCTION. rough and tumbling as it usually is, is not more unpalatable than the epistolary bombast of Lord Chatham, whom, were we to judge of him by his correspondence alone, we can hardly fail to tax with affectation, if not insincerity. There is, in spite of their defects, no small amount of self-portraiture in these letters ; and this, except by ceremonious readers of them, will scarcely be thought to lessen their value." They put before us a blunt, busy, positive, shrewd, but not very sagacious man ; one well acquainted with public business — better versed in it indeed than many of his advisers ; a restless inquisitive man," who chose to know how matters were being managed, and was not averse from interfering with them, though perchance they might have gone on better had he let alone the well or the ill in them. George III. loved not unprofitable servants either in his closet or his council-chamber. He bestirred himself, rising early, and, when work was to be done, sitting up late ; and he looked that those about him should also bestir themselves, whether their func- tions were ceremonial or official, for show or for use. Punctual, even minute in his mode of transacting business, as his fashion of dating his letters shows, he expected the same virtues in all who served him. He was a good hater, such as Dr. Johnson loved, and yet a kind and considerate master when he respected or liked his servants. The Chatham Correspondence proves liim to have been most indulgent to a really great Minister, but also a most wayward and provoking one, and especially to one of regular habits like the King. His correspondence with Lord North displays him in the light of a warm, an anxious, and a thoughtful friend. Lord North's health, comfort, convenience. " " His style in writing was not " always stnctly grammatical, but " always earnest, plain, and to the " point." — Lord Mahon, iv. p. 207. If by " plain "the noble historian means perspicuous, I cannot, and I do not think that the readers of these Letters will " always " agree with him. For some just remarks. on the spelling of the last century, see ' Caldwell Papers," part 2, vol. i. p. 115. Lord Bute wrote, " wee " for " we ; " Lord Chatham " ad- ressed;" and Thomas Pitt "efFec- tuaily ; " and comp. ' Edin. Review,' Oct. 1844, p. 537. >> George III.'s inquisitiveness is pa- raded by Peter Pindar and the cari- caturists of his day, and cannot be con- cealed even by courtly historians of the time, or since. INTBODUCTION. and personal interests are continually the subject of the royal letters ; and it is much to be regretted that we have not the replies — they cannot fail to have been cordial— of the kind- hearted and imperturbably good-humoured Minister. For a general description of the contents of the following letters I cannot do better than transcribe the following passage from Lord Brougham's Sketch of George III. '' " The correspondence which he carried on with his confidential " servants during the ten most critical years of his life proves " that his attention was ever awake to all the occurrences of " the Grovernment. Not a step was taken in foreign, colonial, " or domestic affairs that he did not form his opinion upon it " and exercise his influence over it. The instructions to am- " bassadors, the orders to governors, the movement of forces, '■ down to the marching of a single battalion in the districts of " this country, the appointment to all ofSces in Church and State, " not only the giving away of judgeships, bishoprics, regiments, " but the subordinate promotions, lay and clerical. All these " form the topics of his letters ; on all his opinion is pronounced " decisively ; on all his will is declared peremptorily. In one " letter he decides the appointment of a Scotch puisne judge ; " in another the march of a troop from Buckinghamshire into " Yorkshire ; in a third the nomination to the deanery of Wor- " cester ; in a fourth he says that, ' if Adam the architect succeeds " Worsley at the Board of Works, he shall think Chambers ill " used.' " To this comprehensive list of " topics " I add that the King insisted upon university professorships not being looked upon as sinecures ; upon all persons holding or expecting favours from him voting in Parliament as he thought meet ; that he c&n- fides to Lord North his family troubles and private affairs ; admits now and then that his purse is low, and makes no secret of his Kkes and dislikes to parties or members of them, and occasionally, rarely indeed, aifords us a glimpse of his own life 'Historical Sketches of British Statesmen,' vol. i. p. 13, ed. 1858. INTBOBUCTTON. XV and habits. With these letters before us it is needless to add that the King was among the most active men in his realm. It is difficult to conceive either PhiKp II. or Louis XIV. to have been more assiduous in their closets or more anxiously employed in public business ; and although it might have been no worse if George III. had written fewer letters himself, and had allowed his official advisers more liberty of action, yet I think there can be no doubt that he acted from conscientious motives, and laboured to fulfil what he believed to be his royal vocation." His " royal vocation," — in his conception of its scope, duties, and obligations, lay an unfortunate if not a fatal mistake, which struck deep roots into his character, and yielded an abundant crop of cares and calamities to himself, his Ministers, and his people for many years. It was a mistake that perhaps did not originate in himself, but was sovm and fostered in him by an imperfect and indeed a vicious education, but which met with a kindly soil in a limited understanding and an obstinate disposition. For the source and the growth of this misconception of his royal duties it will be necessary to revert to his early years and to circumstances preceding or following his accession to the throne. Considering his position, all that is recorded of him while still under tutors and governors is singularly devoid of the pre- mature adulation which has so often perverted the minds of " " To the exalted duties of Ms " atatioa he devoted himself with " conscientious and constant atten- " tion. The more the private papers " of his reign come to light the more " it will appear how closely, during " fifty years, he superintended all *' the movements of the political ma- " chine." — Lord Mahon, iv. p. 207. When, however, we are told by the same writer that, " at all times and " under all vicissitudes .... he was " most truly and emphatically an " honest man," it is necessai-y to in- quire whether he were not " indifferent " honest as this world goes." Without endorsing the constant accusations of duplicity brought against him by speak- ers or writers of the Whig party, we may fairly ask whether a perfectly honest statesman, and George III. was states- man as well as king, were possible at the time. Many things which would now be accounted scandalous were then regarded as venial in public men ; and we must not weigh the latter half of the 18th century in the scales of the 19th, when forming our opinion of par- liaments, nations, ministers, or sove- reigns. There is still a wide chasm between politics and morals, but the gulf was far broader in 1760 — and for sixty years more at least. INTBOBUOTION. heirs to empire. While yet in the nursery he is said to have been " the honestest and best child that ever lived." In 1752, when he was in his fifteenth year, his mother described him as " very honest but childish for his age."" One of his governors, Earl Waldegrave," who had both opportunity and ability for judging, formed a less favourable opinion of his pupil's dis- position. " His parts, though not excellent, will be found very " tolerable, if ever they are properly exercised. He is strictly " honest, but wants that frank and open behaviour which makes " honesty appear amiable. His religion is free from all hypocrisy, " but is not of the most charitable sort ; he has rather too much " attention to the sins of his neighbour. He has spirit, but not " of the active kind, and does not want resolution, but [it] is " mixed with too much obstinacy. He has great command of " his passions, and will _ seldom do wrong, except when he mis- " takes wrong for right ; but as often as this shall happen, it " will be difficult to undeceive him, because he is uncommonly " indolent and has strong prejudices." " He has a kind of unhappiness in his temper, which, if it be " not conquered before it has taken too deep a root, will be the " source of frequent anxiety. Whenever he is displeased, his > " anger does not break out with heat and violence, but he " becomes sullen and silent, and retires to his closet, not to " compose his mind by study and contemplation, but merely *' to indulge the melancholy enjoyment of his own ill-humour. " Even when the fit is ended, unfavourable symptoms too fre- " quently return, which indicate that on certain occasions liis " Eoyal Highness has too correct a memory."" In another passage Lord Waldegrave speaks of the company kept by the "See Dodington'a ' Diai-y,' p. 170, October 15, 1752. " I then took the " liberty to ask hei- [the Princess " Dowager of WalesJ what she thought " the real disposition of the Prince to " be ? She said, that I knew him " almost as well as she did : that he " was very honest, but she wished he " was a little more forward and less " childish at his age." '' He succeeded Lord Harcourt as Governor to the Prince of Wales. ■^ Memoirs, from 1754 to 1758 n 8 foil. ' ^' ' INTBODUCTION. young Prince : " I found his Eoyal Higlmess uncommonly full of " princely prejudices contracted in the nursery and improved by " the society of bedchamber-women and pages of the back " stairs." Assuredly this was " worshipful society '' for an heir-apparent ; and we can hardly imagine that his royal brothers and sisters were better cared for than himself. From one defect, among those noted by Earl Waldegrave, George III. was, after he became King, quite exempt — he could not be taxed with indolence. At the time of his father's decease (March 20, 1751) Prince George was too young to have imbibed from him the seeds of either folly or vice ; and since mention of Frederick Lewis is made only once in the following letters, it is unnecessary to allude to his filial conduct or his political intrigues. The educa- tion of the future King was managed principally by his mother. Of this Princess the accounts are so inconsistent with one another that it is scarcely possible to decide whether she were discreet or imprudent, generous or selfish, content with ruling her own household or ambitious of dabbling in State affairs.'' Their eldest appears not to have been at first the favourite son of either parent. Their affections centered in his next brother, Edward,'' afterwards Duke of York. But after her husband's ^ Comp. Horace Walpole, 'Hisb. of the First Ten Years of George III.,' vol. i. eh. 2, with Bishop Newton's ' Life,' p. 130 (vol. i. of ' Works'), and Gibbon's Letter to Holroyd, Feb. 13, 1772. Newton ojved to the Princess' .s influence with her son the deanery of St. Paul's and the bishopric of Bristol ; he may therefore have been to her faults a little blind ; but the historian had no apparent motive for panegyric. The evil repute of Leicester House clung to her ; and after the death of Frederick, in March 17.'>1, she became the object of political and public odium, sharing, and in some measure contributinff to, the unpopularity of the Earl of Bute. Yet in these days it will be hardly credible that even the painful malady of which she died was made a topic of factious exulta- tion.— See Woodfall's ' Junius,' vol. i. p. 241, ed. 1822. Only a year before her death Alderman Townshend in- veighed against her in ,the House of Commons, denouncing the Princess "as the cause of the calamities that ' ' have befallen us ;" and among the mis- cellaneous letters ascribed to Junius, one recommends, or broadly hints at, an impeachment ! — a suggestion not lost upon such politicians as inscribe their opinions on walls. It is re- markable that Lord North, in his reply to Townshend, while he denied her influence in public affairs, said not a word in her praise. — See Caven- dish 'Debates,' vol. ii. p. 447-9. His silence on such an occasion did not escape Jvmius. — See Letter signed ' A Whig,' April 9, 1771. •> Prince Edward was also the King's favourite brother. INTBODUCTION. death the interests, if not the love of the Princess, veered roimd to the heir of the throne. Through him she may have hoped to retain what she had lost by widowhood — the station and in- fluence of a Queen of England. Her mother-in-law, Caroline of Anspach, had guided for his own good a murmuring but really obsequious husband, who consulted her in all matters, from the choice of a Minister to that of a mistress ; and might not she, a mother, even yet more lawfully mould the ductile disposition of a lad ? Him she trained in strict obedience to her will ; kept him secluded at an age when less exalted youth were free to indulge in the perilous licence of the time ; chose, with occa- sional interference on the part of the King or the Parliament, his governors and tutors ; and -finally influenced him in the choice of a wife — a matter in which sons are not always disposed to respect maternal authority. Apparently the Princess was not happy in the selection of tutors for her son.^ She did not think well even of those she appointed. " They teach him but little," she was wont to say, " and that little ill." Of the badness of his education there can be no doubt : George HI. himself, when appointing instructors for his own sons, admitted and deplored its defects. Yet it is not easy to see, on examining the list of tutors, how she could have chosen more wisely. Among them were two bishops, necessarily men of sound learning and religious principles ; two Earls, Harcourt and Waldegrave, experienced in this world's business ; and two laymen, Mr. Scott and Mr. Stone, who held the character of respectable scholars and mathematicians. Of pro- " For the Prince's tutors and gover- nors see Adolphus's ' History of Eng- land/ vol. i. p, 2, foil. The bishops were, first, Hayter of Norwich ; next. Dr. John Thomas, of Peterborough. Among the lessons inculcated upon the younger children by the lay and clerical preceptors was, according to Ljord Melcombe — see Codington's Diary, p. 175, 217, and almost the nursery always prevailed " over the tutors. "Waldegrave ' Memou-s,' p. 10. The education of the Prince of Wales, so far as related to the sup- posed Jacobitical leanings of his tutors, of Mr. Stone in pai-ticular, was brought before the Privy Council and the House of Lords; but only three peers and one bishop offered to divide with the Duke of Bedford, ■nnisim "%,„„i ; i Vu iT • """"'"' "iviae wim tne UuJce of Bedford ^TnTMsm^ttr^°^.'^L^3rT] ^."^f-^^^^y ^"'^ ton's 'Diary,' p. 229). INTBODUCTION. ficiency in elegant or severe studies, of the discipline which improves the taste or strengthens the understanding, there is no trace in the letters, the pursuits, or the reported conversation of George III. Mr. Scott and Mr. Stone may therefore have failed to impart, or their pupil been unable to imbibe, instructions in literature or science; but on the bishops no blame can rest, for a more orthodox monarch than George III. has never sat on a throne. The Head of the Church of England was imbued with a holy horror of Dissenters, of Eoman Catholics, of freedom of thought, and of every attempt to relax the bonds of Tests or Articles of Faith. But beyond their sacred limits neither of the bishops probably cared or was able to impart the knowledge proper for a king to receive. Dr. Harcourt indeed urged Tucker, Dean of Gloucester — the shrewd and even bold speculator who wrote under the name of Abraham Search — to compose for the Prince's use a ' Treatise on National Commerce ;' and no man at the time was better or probably so well fitted for the task. But as the treatise was never written," the Prince remained to the end of his days as unenlightened on this important subject as his Chancellors of the Exchequer. The opportunity then lost might have been retrieved in later life, since the King might have studied the ' Wealth of Nations,' or profited by the economical science of Bui-ke. But Adam Smith was a friend of the profane, and Burke was the oracle of the Eockingham Whigs; and the names of Hume and of Whig were ever unmusical in the royal ears.* There was, however, at Carlton House — the residence of the Princess Dowager of Wales and her young family — a Mentor = See preface to Tucker's ' Four Tracts,' p. ix., for the reasons that led him to decline the tasli. ' Lord Brougham (' Sketches,' &o., p. 11, ed. 1858) blames the Princess for the neglect of her eldest son's education ; " His mother, the Dowager " Princess, was a woman of neither " knowledge, accomplishments, nor " abilities ; and she confided his edu- " cation to her friend Lord Bute. ' The want of instruction of which ' George III. could complain must ' have been great indeed ; for if any ' man was little likely to overrate the ' value of superfluous or extensive ' information, it was he. Yet a wit- ' ness above all suspicion. Sir Herbert ' Taylor, has recorded that he lamented, ' whale he admitted, his want of edu- ' cation. Can there be a more shame- ' f ul thing related ? " INTBOBUGTION. who is supposed to have exercised almost paternal influence in the training of the young Telemachus. I write "supposed," since of John Stuart, Earl of Bute, nearly all that is transmitted to us rests on supposition. According to the statements of his kindred and friends and his own reiterated professions, this nobleman was all for the life contemplative : duty to the master to whom he had been a kind of g-uardian impelled him to breast the waves of political controversy, and even to expose himself to the fmy of the rabble. But his heart was ever with his treasure — his parks, his farms, his gardens, his pictures, and his library. In these professions he may have been more sincere than Bolingbroke ; indeed he can hardly have been less so, for the " all-accomplisht St. John" was soon weary of haymaking,* whereas Bute had scarcely sipped the bitter waters of pubKc life when he abandoned it for ever. But if, on the other hand, we lend ear to common fame or the Whigs, the Scotch Earl was the Pallas or Narcissus of the English Court; the Crown's evil genius ; an archimage of mischief in the Cabinet long after he had quitted it ; an invisible power behind the throne with whom no Minister could cope ; one upon whose goings-out and whose comings-in it was worth while to set spies ; one who a hundred years earlier would have fled with Finch and Windebank, that he might escape the block of Strafford. Nor even with the Tories, at least beyond the circle of the Bedchamber, does Bute appear to have been popular. He had indeed done good service in assisting them to break up the Whig phalanx ; but no sooner did the royal countenance change, or appear to have changed towards him, than the Tories also turned their backs upon him." » See Pope's letter to Swift, June 28, 1728: and for Lord Bute consult the 'Caldwell Papers,' vol. ii. p. 199. '' " That the spirit of the favourite " had some apparent influence on every '' Administration and every act of " Ministers preserved an ■ appeai'anoe '* of duration as long as they submitted " to that influence," as Junius, Lord Chatham, and others were constantly have little weight at the present day, except with persons who confonnd rumours with truths, or delight in re-minting the old coinage of parties. It was never more than a grave suspi- cion at any time, and it was met by denials as strong as the assertions of it. General Conway, while Secretary of State, denied that he "had ever seen, ■ felt, or discovered " any such influence. ixsserting or insinuatmg, will probably | Lord Mountstuart, the Earl's son, was INTBOBUCTION. As the name of Lord Bute does not occur in the correspond- ence with Lord North, we are concerned with him so far only as he may have given to. his pupil's mind a right or a wrong direction. And this is not an unimportant question, since George III. was remarkably -tenacious of early prejudices and impressions. That for a time the Earl exercised a powerful in- fluence on his sovereign, that the latter at the commencement of his reign leaned upon the Earl as upon a staff, there seems no reason to doubt ; and in some respects he may not have been a bad adviser for a youthful Prince. He is said to have laid before his pupil the most interesting portions of ' Blackstone's Com- mentaries ' while yet in manuscript. Yet if the historian" who records the fact be correct in saying that " the Prince derived " from Lord Bute's lips his principal knowledge of the British " Constitution," the medium through which such knowledge was conveyed may have diminished the value of the lesson, and perhaps also have afforded an indifferent kind of commentary on Blackstone. In the fine arts and in classical literature Lord Bute may have been a more competent guide than he was authorised to deny the charge. In a letter wi-itten in October, 1778, he says that Lord Bute " does therefore autho- " rise me to say, that he declares upon " his solemn word of honour, that he " has not had the honour of waiting " on his Majesty but at his levee or " drawing-i'oom ; nor has he presumed ' ' to offer any advice or opinion con- " oeming the disposition of offices or '' the conduct of measures, either di- " rectly or indirectly, by himself or any " other, from the time when the late " Duke of Cumberland was consulted " on the arrangement of a ministry in ", 1765 to the present hour." See Lord . Mahon, vol. v. p. 257 ; vol. vi. p. 212-3 ; and Chatham Correspond, vol. iii. p. 443. Mr. Hughes, ■ Hist, of England,' vol. i. p. lU, remarks that — "The " character of George the Thii'd was " not formed to cherish favouritism, " or to endure domination of any " kind." Had he written " personal "favouritism" his assertion would be moi'e correct than it is. The King, as VOL. I. the following letters show, was deeply attached to Lord North, was glad to gain for his servants the good Earl of Dartmouth, and the powerful, unscru- pulous Thurlow. He favoured the Tories, but not any individual mem- ber of the party. Moreover, Lord Bute wanted the courage and obsti- nacy which his Majesty possessed him- self and demanded in others. A very brief experience of the dangers of high place drove the Earl from the helm, nor did he, like the Duke of Grafton, repent abandoning, almost as soon as he had dropped it. It was not so with the King's dislikes; these he individualised. He would rather see the devil in his closet than George Grenville ; termed Lord Chatham a trumpet of sedition; and when com- pelled to admit the Rockingham Whigs a second time into the Cabinet, would not grant their leader an interview until he went to kiss hands for the Seals. » Adolphus, ' Hist, of England,' Geo III., vol. i. p. 12. INTBODUCTION. in constitutional law. He had some tincture of elegant learn- inf,* and taste enough to make an excellent collection of pictures. His precepts and example may have stimulated the King to form a noble library, to be a liberal patron of art, and the founder of the Eoyal Academy. His Majesty preferred, indeed, West and Eamsay to Eej-nolds ^ and Gainsborough, and honestly avowed that Shakespeare was not to his taste. But he was not so unacquainted with the contents of his library as many collectors of books are ; and his memorable interview with Samuel Johnson at the Queen's House proves him to have been not unversed in the best literature of the day." He came to the throne at a moment of almost imexampled glory for Great Britain. Never since the time of Elizabeth, Cromwell, or Marlborough, had she presented so proud a front to Europe. France was humbled ; Spain was awed. She had » Even this is disputed, thougt some historians take the Earl's literary tastes for granted. Lord 'Waldegrave says, ' Memoirs,' p. 38, " Bute had a good " person, fine legs, and a theatrical air " of the greatest importance. Not con- " tented -with being wise, he would be " thought a polite scholar, and a man " of great erudition, but has the mis- " fortune never to succeed except •with "those who are exceeding ignorant j " for his historical knowledge is chiefly " taken from tragedies, wherein he is " very deeply read, and his classical " learning extends no fui-ther than a " French translation." •> The King's coolness to Reynolds may have arisen from political pique. The first President of the Royal Aca- demy was not only a friend of Burke, of 'Keppel, and other disaffected per- sons, but poiiirayed also the Royal brothers of Gloucester and Cumberland, and their duchesses, while under the cloud of royal displeasure. In addition to these crimes he visited and comforted John WUkes, at the time when Wilkes was sovereign of London and Middle- sex, and George III. only of Britain and Westminster. See Taylor's ' Life of Sir Joshua Reynolds.' •= " In this year (1762) the King, who " was always anxious for the advance "of morals, literature, and the fine arts. " granted a pension of 300Z. to Dr. Jobn- " son, avowedly on the score of his able " exertions in the cause of religion and " morality ; one also of 20u?. was con- " ferred on Sheridan, father of the^cele- " brated orator, for the pui-pose of " enabling him to continue his labour " in the improvement of the EngUsh " lajjguage : at the same time he gave " great encouragement to the Society " for the Preservation and Performance " of Ancient Music ; and declared also " his intentions of chartering a Royal " Academy of Painting ; an institution " which had long been contemplated, " though checked in its progress by the " jealousy of rival artists. His Majesty " also formed a. magnificent collection " of di-awings and prints, by means of " extensive purchases in Italy. The " museum of Mr. Smith, at Venice, con- " sisting of his library, prints, drawings, " designs, and antiquifcieB, iiras bou^t " for this purpose ; and the capital col- " lection of Cardinal Albani, at Rome, " was procured at the expense of 14,000 " crowns." — Hughes's ' Hist, of Eng- land,' vol. i. p. 213. These acquisi- tions are the foundations of the trea- sures of the print-room in Wmdsor Castle. For a proof that the King read books recently published see 'Anec- dotes of the Life of Bp. Watson,' vol. i. p. 108, 8vo. ed. INTBODUGTION. stood beside Prussia as a stanch ally. She had triumphed ip the India of the Old World, and the India of the New ; on the American mainland, in the American islands, in the Atlanti-^ and Pacific oceans. The names of Olive and Wolfe were second to none of that day as cajitains ; the name of Pitt was higher than that of any living orator or statesman. Great deeds and vast acquisitions had marked the last four years of George II. 's reign, and his grandson at the age of twenty-two stepped at once from his willing or enforced seclusion at Oarlton House into this great and splendid inheritance. A new monarch, provided he has not soiled his popularity by acting as Eegent, or by indiscreet and indecent intrigues against his predecessor, may fairly reckon upon being hailed with joy by his subjects ; and a youthful monarch need not usually dis- trust the enthusiasm with which he is greeted. For the uni- versal satisfaction with which George III. -was received there were many concurrent reasons. Not merely was he in the prime of youth, but, considering- his station, he was compara- tively unknown. The unpopularity of his mother and the Earl of Bute does not appear to have extended to him, or, if it did, it was accompanied by sentiments of pity for his subjection and seclusion, and of pleasure at his deliverance. But his advantages were not negative only. A young prince succeeded to an elderly, and not very gracious or popular king. The grandsire and grandson had been on decent but not very cordial terms with each other, and it miglit seem not an unreasonable hope that the present occupant of the tiirone would avoid the errors, and remove the scandals, committed or countenanced by the late one. Each of the parties also \\ hich divided the political world had its respective expectations. The Whigs, who had broken to their yoke the stout old Dettingen lion, might fairly look for a docile pupil in his young, shy, and inexperienced heir ; the Tories, who twice already had acquiesced in sovereigns born and educated abroad, might as fairly expect some change in their favour from a prince born and bred in England ; nor was a voice raised by the Jacobites against one whom they hardly c 2 INTBOBUCTION. considered a usurper. The passions of the last generation were cooling down: the memory of the '45 was recent; and the adherents of the House of Stuart were humbled and perhaps taught by adversity. They could not deny that Britain had flourished under her Hanoverian Kings ; that she stood higher in the estimation of Europe than she had ever done under her lawful sovereigns; and reason, if not loyalty, whispered that what Atterbury and Bolingbroke had failed to effect, could not be achieved by leaders possessing neither their genius nor theii- zeal, much less their partisans or their opportunities. Of nothing are Englishmen more justly proud than of their native language ; great, therefore, was their delight in having once more a King who addi-essed them in it. Of the first two monarchs of the House of Brunswick, the earlier could not speak two words of English intelligibly ; * and the later spoke it with the accent of a German trooper. Again, to each of these princes Hanover was far dearer than Britain, and of nothing are Englishmen more constitutionally jealous than of foreign predilections or influence. At Kew and St. James's they were always counting the hour for their visit to Heri-en- hausen. In defence of their darling Electorate they forced their kingdom into wars which did not often concern and always impoverished it, and Englishmen had grounds for complaining that a land, which its native rulers had made conspicuous in peace and formidable in war, was treated by its adopted rulers as an appanage to a third-rate G-erman state. But every pre- text for such murmurs expii-ed with George 11. His successor " In 1715 Leslie writes of George 1.: — "He is a stranger to you, and " altogether ignorant of your lan- " guage, your laws, customs, and con- " stitution." — (Somers' 'Tracts,' vol. xiii. p. 703.) That he talked Latin with Sir Robert Walpole, because the one could not speak English, nor the other French, rests on the authority of Horace Walpole; but Mr. Hallam (Const. Hist. vol. ii. p. 438, 4th ed.) " believes that the fact of this Latin " intercourse may be proved on other " authority " (comp. Coxe's ' Memoirs of Sir R. Walpole,' vol. i. p. 296, and Lord Orford's Works, vol. iv. p. 476). For George II. 's knowledge of foreign politics and his prudence in confining himself to them, see Waldegrave's Mem. p. 6. A sentence in the passage referred to, written in 1757, might have been profitably meditated upon by his grandson : " Had George II. " been as firm and undaunted in the " closet as he showed himself at Oude- " narde and Dettingeu, he might not " have proved quite so good a king in " this limited monarchy." INTBOBUOTION. had never set foot out of his native island ; his heart was not on the banks of the Leine while he himself was constrained to dwell on. the banks of the Thames. Among the reasons assigned by the Princess of Wales for secluding her son in Carlton House, one was the dissolute character of the young nobility of the time. Her wise pre- cautions indeed do not appear to have extended beyond her eldest son ; but in his case, combined with his own good dis- positions and sincere piety, they were effectual. We at the present day, whatever may be our substantial virtues, are un- doubtedly more decorous and refined than our forefathers were. Prime Ministers are not now seen handing Nancy Parsons into her carriage, and gentlemen are seldom tipsy when they leave the dinner-room. It would be unjust to the memory of George III. and his Queen to deny or undervalue the share they had in improving social decency, by setting a wholesome and indeed a bright example of domestic life. A far diiferent spectacle had been exhibited at the courts of their immediate predecessors. It is unnecessary for an annotator upon these Letters to dwell upon the contrast; for are not the acts and ways of the first two Georges written in the chronicles of Wal- pole, John Lord Hervey, and other works relating to the period ? I notice the transition merely to mark an important element in the character and career of George III. The example he set in his private life was not without its results on his public position. The knowledge possessed by his people of his personal worth sustained him in their favour in many moments of political trial. At the time he was writing those Letters to Lord North he was not a popular sovereiga. It was understood that he favoured, if he did not dictate, the measures of government, and those measures were with few exceptions unhappy. He was at variance with his own capital; he stubbornly resisted every attempt to conciliate America ; he had descended from his position as head of a kingdom, to the low and precarious level of the head of a party. Had he, like his predecessors, paraded in the public eye a Duchess of Kendal or a Countess de Wal- INTRODUCTION. moden, his political errors would not have been so readily con- doned. But a virtuous and decent prince on the throne was a novelty to the English people, and they weighed the goodness of his heart against the mistakes of a narrow intellect and unhappy prejudices. Birth, youth, and English his native language — it is scarcely possible at the present moment to realise the extent of such advantages, even when we recall the fact that of the successors of James II. three were foreigners, and also that they were tolerated as political necessities more than respected or beloved by their subjects. But these were not the new King's only recommendations. If not handsome, he was comely, healthy, and active. His figure was manly ; his habits were temperate ; and he performed the ceremonies and courtesies incident to his station from the first with dignity, and after a time with ease. His pursuits and tastes chimed in with those of the bulk of his subjects. He rode well ; he rose and dined early ; he was fond of farming " and manly sports. Not only did he go regularly to church, "^ but he was patient of long sermons, in which respect ' Among the contributors to Arthur Young's ' Annals of Agriculture,' com- menced in 1784, was one Mr. Ralph Robinson, of Windsor, who sent him an account of the processes and crops on a farm at Petersham. Mr. R. Robin- son was George the Thu-d. The eai-ly rising and early dining of the King were applauded at the time by his subjects. For, be it a virtue or not, early hom-a have always found favour, in theory at least, among good people in Britain. Pope, contrasting the manners of his own times with those of former days, says — Translations of Horace, book ii. epist. ], V. 161 : — ■ " Time was a sober Englishman would knock His servants up and rise by five o'clock," And Bishop Watson ('Anecdotes of his Life,' vol. i. p. 35) deplores an evil custom recently introduced at Cam- bridge of "diuing later than 12 o'clock ! " He much fears that dinner at three in the afternoon " will destroy our supe- riority over Oxford." Yet Richard of Llaudaff was not in his early days an " Arcesilas '' or " serumnosus Solon, " by his own account, for at p. 17 of the same book he speaks of his habits of " returning to his rooms at one or two " in the morning, after spending a jolly " evening." For agi-aphic description of George the Third's domestic habits, see Charles Knight's ' Passages in the Life of a Working Man,' vol. 1. '' The King's " genuine piety " is ac- knowledged by writers the most ad- verse to him. In religious deconim he presented a favourable contrast to his grandfather. " When George the " Second had to receive the Holy " Eucharist, his main anxiety seems " to have been that the sermon on " tliat day might be a short one, since '* otherwise he was, to use his own " words, 'in danger of falling asleep " and catching cold.' '' — Lord Mahon, Hist. V. p. 51-. The courtly Bishop Newton tells us (Works, i. p. 7(3, ed. 1 / 87), that he had always taken care in his sermons at Court to come within the compass of twenty minutes; but after a hint as to brevity " on the INTBODUOTION. again he differed widely from his grandfather. His greetings were hearty ; he laughed loudly ; he gossipped freely among his neighbours and tenants at Windsor and Kew; he enjoyed a play as much as if he could but seldom afford to go to one ; well skilled in music, he would call in public for such patriotic tunes as 'Eule Britannia' and 'Britons Strike Home.' Once again England rejoiced in having a good-humoured King, pos- sessing some of the popular qualities, but without any of the alloying vices, of Charles II. The reward of long suffering had come at last. The dread of- a Popish sovereign, the re- membrance of England's humiliation under pensionai'ies of France, of Jesuits in the closet, of bishops in the Tower, of judges corrupt as Eli's sons, of the Bloody Assize, of sons and daughters sold to the plantations, had forced the English people to put up with kings whom it was scarcely possible to respect, although it was prudent to retain. On the 25th of October, 1760, this country was at length fully reconciled to Hanoverian sovereigns. A traveller, who visited England five years after George III. came to the throne, describes the pleasure afforded by a king- pronouncing English with a native accent." His first speech to Parliament proclaimed the advantages of liis birth and breeding m the memorable words : " Born and educated in this country, " I glory in the name of Briton." ^ The words were such as " great festivals of the Church, he " never exceeded fifteen, • so that the " King sometimes said to the Clerk '■ of the Closet, ' A good short ser- '* mon.*'' George III.'s feelings on the subject of preaching before Koyalty were highly commendable. Very soon after his accession, Dr. Thomaa Wilson thought proper to address his Majesty from the pulpit in a fulsome strain of adulation. Instead of thanks, the reverend orator received a serious reprimand, together with an assur- ance that the King " went to church " to hear God praised, and not bim- " self." Seeing little chance of pre- ferment after this rebuke, the Doctor turned patriot, and attached himself to John Wilkes !— Hughes's 'Hist, of England,' vol. i. p. 132. "It is to be " regretted," adds the historian, " that " George the Third did not extend " his hatred of adulation to political " sycophants also." " Grosley, ' Tour to London,' vol. ii. p. 106. •> "I have heard it related," says Lord Mahon, iv. p. 212, "but on no " very clear or certain authority, that " the King had in the first place writ- " ten the word ' Englishman/ and that "Lord Bute altered it to 'Briton.'" The King's Speech was admired by Frederick the Great. • Mitchell Papers, ' vol. v. No. 2U1, p. 148. INTBODUOTION. became the speaker and the occasion of them, and both at the moment and since have received their full meed of applause. It is, perhaps, to be wished that the terms and tone of the address in reply to the Eoyal Speech had savoured less of ser- vility. It was right to acknowledge the fair intentions and the national spirit of a young and inexperienced prince, but it was scarcely becoming the representatives of Britain to compliment him at the expense of the nation. " What a lustre," responded the Lords, " does it cast upon " the name of Briton, when you, Sir, are pleased to esteem it " among your glories ! " " We acknowledge," sang the Commons in chorus, " with the liveliest sentiments of duty, gratitude, and " exidtation of mind, these most affecting and animating words." Such expressions remind us of the tone of Eoman panegyrics ; but adulation is perhaps the proper language of corrupt senates, and of the general corruption of the House of Commons in this reign there can be no question.* The aspect of the earlier levees was promising. The Whig lords and their dependants no longer predominated at St. James's. Elderly men long strangers at Court, and young men who had never crossed its threshold until now, flocked to greet their young monarch. Tories of the Wyndham stamp, and Jacobites revering the memory of Ormond, tendered willing and welcome homage to one whom their sires or grandsires would have re- garded as scarcely less a usurper than Cromwell or William of Orange. Their reception justified their conversion. George II. had been shy and silent at his levees, but George III. walked about and spoke to everybody. The Ministers of tlie late King were received with at least ostensible kindness, and pressed to » The Speech was drawn up by Lord Hardwiok aud revised by Pitt. "Was Pitt's baud in these fulsome sentences of the address ? Bold in the senate, he was supple in the closet. It was well observed by Burke that, "he must ^ know httle of manners who does not ' know that peers, forgetful of their " proper dignity, are apt to run head- " long into servitude." The language of the Peers and Commons on this occasion recalls that of Tacitus on a similar one :_" At Roma; ruere in " servitutem, oousulea, patres, egues."— Ann. 1. 7. INTBODUOTION. continue in their several posts. But the political horizon, fair for a few weeks, was soon obscured by fears, jealousies, and intrigues. Before entering on the circumstances that favoured George III. in attaining and holding for some years a position differing in many respects from that of his predecessors, it may be well to trace a brief sketch of parties at the commencement of his reign. As the "Whigs were then in place, precedence in the survey is due to them. In 1760 the Whigs had been just forty-five years in ofiSce. Their camp indeed had been weakened by open or secret schisms, and, as is almost inevitable for parties long in place, their popularity was on the wane. On the one hand, the English nation accused or suspected them of monopolising power and place; on the other, a sense of security is apt to beget self-confidence and perhaps inertness, and from these defects spring errors that furnish decent pretexts or direct encouragement to opposition. The Whigs, their adversaries complained, were political precisians arrogating to themselves superior and indeed single fitness for of&ce ; they barricaded the Crown ; they soaked up the King's countenance, his rewards, his authorities ; they even, it was alleged, dimmed its lustre by presuming to govern in its name. Had it been the design of the Eevolution of 1688 to make England a Sparta with its titulary kings, or a Venice with its cipher doge ? These opinions found an able expounder in the Earl of Sand- wich in 1770.* He said, in reply to Lord Chatham : — " Give me, my Lords, leave to take some notice of what a " noble Earl " [Chatham] " has been pleased to say with respect " to the propriety of an hereditary gratitude in the Crown to " the great Whig families : his Lordship talks much of the " merit which these families had in bringing in the House of " Hanover, and it is a merit I am very ready to acknowledge ; » In the debate respecting the seizure of the Falkland Islands. — ' Pari. Hist.' xvi. p. 1118. INTBODUCTION. " but will the uoble Earl say that because they served their " country, and consequently themselves, in bringing in the " House of Brunswick, that they are therefore to make a per- " petual monopoly of the royal favour? If bringing in that " line was not a national good, they are traitors to the com- " munity ; if it was a national good, the present reigning family, " instead of being obliged, conferred an actual obligation. Be- " sides, my Lords, is the booby • descendant of a Whig to be " employed in the first department of the State because his " ancestor was a man of abilities ; or is the deserving offspring " of a Tory to be overlooked because his father's principles were " obnoxious ? If principles, my Lords, are hereditary, we must all " be attached to the House of Stuart ; nay, we brought in his " Majesty's great-grandfather because he was the nearest Pro- " testant relation of that House. . . . The noble Lord wishes, he '•' tells us, to abolish all party distinctions, yet he is greatly " offended that the distinction of Whig and Tory is not inflexibly " kept up. The King must govern by a faction to please his Lord- " ship, he must not be the common father of his people, but only " the monarch of the Whigs ; at a time that these destructive '•' distinctions are happily hastening to oblivion, they must be " revived by a judicious sovereign ; and to conciliate the affec- " tions of all to the government of a Brunswick prince, the " unoffending posterity of the Tories must be held in a state of " eternal proscription." " But the Whig version of their pretensions to retain the power that had so long been engrossed by them was plausible at least. They could point to the general prosperity of Britain ; to their success in establishing the Act-of-Settlement dynasty; to the peaceful administration of Walpole; to wholesome restraints upon the zeal of High Churchmen and Jacobite intriguers ; and " For a counter-argument see Pro- fessor Smyth's 'Lectures on Modern History,' vol. ii. pp. 34-3-46. So late as the year 18 1 9 we find power regarded by the Whigs in the light of an heirloom. "A few Whig families " are our only security for the Cou- " stitutioD," May 30, ' Diary of Thomas Moore,' vol. ii. p. 316. It was a tradition derived from 1688, and confii-med in 1745. The country gentlemen, being for the most part Jacobites or Tories, ouuld scarcely be permitted to advise the Ci-own. INTBODUOTION. xxxi to some laws favourable to civil and religious Kberty. In weighing these pretensions we must bear in mind the circum- stances of their position. We must not demand from them in the first half of the eighteenth century measures or even in- tentions possible and proper in the nineteenth. Was the nation ripe for any serious change, political or social, at the former period ? Was not the real business of that period to avert dynastic revolution, and to secure possession of the Crown to the House of Brunswick ? If the Whigs, or only a few leading families among them, succeeded in effecting these ends, and that they did so will scarcely be denied, their long tenure of office can hardly be made a subject of just reproach to them. It is pretended indeed by some historians that George III., being exempt from foreign partialities, and ascending the throne at a period when the claims of the exiled Stuarts had fallen into contempt, was justified in emancipating himself from the durance to which his predecessors had submitted. Yet if that durance enabled him to succeed and to reign without a com- petitor, was he not under some obligation ta those who imposed it, and was not the nation also in their debt for avertuig, if not again a war of succession, at least the perpetual irritation of Jacobite plots ? And is not such durance an idle supposition ? Was it felt by tlie sovereigns imagined to have groaned under it ? Was not the restraint which the third monarch of the House of Hanover resented, cheerfully acquiesced in by his predecessors ? Their predilection for their continental dominions has been already mentioned. Their dependence for the conduct of home affairs upon the Whig leaders, so far from being felt as a grievance, was accepted by George I. and his son as a relief from cares that diverted their attention from Hanover, while in all that related to the Electorate those sovereigns were not merely supported but even indulged by their -Whig advisers. The leaders of that party hazarded their own good name by humouring the continental policy of their masters. On this ground they incurred severe animadversion from their opponents. INTBODUGTION. The Tories came forward as the champions of nationality. Not generally averse from war, they made constant protest against it when threatened or undertaken for the interest or the pleasure of the King-Electors. The Whigs on their side were driven to as constant justification of their compliance with royal demands for men and money. Their compliance may have been culpable, but is not easily reconcileable with the theory of " restraint." * There- may have been an amicable arrangement between the King and his advisers. The one was to do as he pleased in Hanover ; the others were to do as they thought good in Britain. It may have been time indeed to cancel this bargain in 1760 ; but so long as it lasted it is diffi- cult to apply to it with justice the name of pupilage on the one side or of restraint on the other. But was the bargain as complete as, for the sake of illustrating the argument, it has just been stated to be ? The answer to this question shall be made in the words of a writer who had profoundly studied and in general has fairly treated of this period of our annals. He is rebutting the notion that either the first or the second George was under pupilage to the Whigs : — " George I. seems to have had no difficulty in keeping his " favourite minister, Lord Stanhope, in power. His courtier, " the Earl of Sunderland, was always of more consequence in " the State than he deserved. Sir E. Walpole obtained not the " superiority which he always merited, till his rivals were dead " or had been disgraced by the South Sea scheme. Sir Kohert " was, from the mere apprehension of losing his place, obliged " to suffer his own personal enemy, and the enemy of his King " and country. Lord Bolingbroke, to return. All the terms he " could make with the sovereign and his mistress were that " this dangerous man should not appear again in the House of " Lords. What is there of pupilage in the sovereign ? The " influence of Sir E. Walpole arose from his own personal " merit : first, with the House of Commons ; and secondly, with " See Hallam, ' Const. Hist.,' vol. ii. p. 441, 4th edition. INTBODUOTION. " Queen Caroline, who assisted him, not in managing the " House of Commons, and thereby controlling the King, but in " managing the King, and therefore in appearing to that House " as the man who was honoured with his confidence and favour. " The only two instances in which the wishes of the Sovereign " were thwarted were when the Pelhams overpowered Lord " Carteret, though the avowed favourite of his master, and when " Mr. Pitt was admitted into office, though personally disliked " by the King. " In the former of these instances, the Pelhams were more " approved of by the country than their rival Lord Carteret ; " they were known to be less ready than he to go every length " which the King might wish in the politics of the Continent. " That they afterwards made too great sacrifices to him in " these points, particularly the Duke of Newcastle, only serves " to show how important they thought the King's favour, and " how necessary to their continuance in office. " In the last instance, of Mr. Pitt, was not the real objection " to him the superiority of his merit ? That he was conscious " of his high talents, and had not the servility of those who " have nothing but servility to depend upon ? Yet, in tlie " event, did not even Mr. Pitt submit to the German system of " politics, when he became himself a minister ? Contrary to " all his former opinions, repeatedly avowed with all the fervour " of his eloquence, did he not declare that this system was a " millstone round his neck, with which he entered office ? For " what reason did he suffer it to remain there, but because he " found the Court too powerful ? " ^ The improgressive character of Whig measures since the accession of the House of Hanover we must ascribe to the cir- cumstances of the age. Social improvements were then as remote from the ken of statesmen or the nation as the great Southern continent itself. The nation was not ripe for them ; it did not feel the wants which stimulate invention, nor did " Smyth's ' Lectures on Moderu History,' vol. ii. p. 334. INTRODUCTION. it possess the wealth that renders enterprise possible. Among statesmen party-lights were the be-all and the end-all of the majority of debates ; nor was the struggle so much between dis- tinct factions as between mutually jealous sections of the Whigs themselves. So far indeed from being progressive, their poHey was in general strictly conservative, and quieta ne mooeas was as much a maxim of Walpole's as it is said to have been of Lord Chancellor Eldon's. Walpole, indeed, had he been more enterprising, might very probably have done much mischief. To keep the House of Brunswick on the throne was his work, and corruption was one of his most efficient instruments in doing it. That he discerned his work and skilfully used his instruments, is perhaps all the praise he would have claimed. His eyes were fixed, not upon such objects as now occupy all governments in this country alike — the interests of trade, manufactures, agriculture, the health and education of the people, or parliamentary reform — but upon an enemy without the walls and upon foes within them. In his day the Pretender was not a nominis umbra ; the Jacobites were still hostile, the Tories were hardly reconciled to the reigning family. France and Spain had not quite abandoned the cause of the fugitive Stuarts, but were ready to employ them as convenient tools or menaces in their quarrels with this country. To have been active in internal reforms, had indeed a minister conceived the want or expedience of them, would have given the Tories a pretext for more strenuous opposition than ever to his government, and have banded against him not only the Jacob- ites, but also the majority of the inferior clergy, who prayed offici- ally for King George in their churches, but in their closets put up hearty petitions for King James. Neither could the Whigs of that day, had they been so disposed, laave appealed to any public feeling beyond the dread of the Pretender, his mass and his priests. With great difficulty, and after many sacrifices. Stanhope, in 1718, had passed a Bill for the relief of.Protestant , Dissenters ; but when he attempted to repeal the Test Act, and pro^iosed also to mitigate the penal laws in force against Koman INTBODUCTION. Catholics, the tide of public feeling ran too high for him to breast it, and these just and salutary measures were postponed to another century, and even then did not pass without much orthodox clamour, clerical and lay. It was not a time to pro- voke a cry of the " Church in Danger," and Walpole resolutely, and perhaps prudently, declined to move in the cause of religious toleration. His influence for good or evil ceased in February, 1742, and was soon regretted even by many who had clamoured for his impeachment. He has been often charged with lowering the standard of political morality in England : it is more likely that he found that standard much as he left it. Qaeen Anne had not reigned over a kingdom of the just, and it needed not " a great arithmetician" to cast up the sum of honest statesmen in the reign of either of the fii'st two Georges. Not that England ,in the eighteenth century was more dishonest than her neigh- bours — indeed, compared with Europe generally, she was clean- handed — but that the period throughout Christendom was one low in principles and lax in morals. This commendation, whatever may have been his demerits, cannot be taken from Walpole — " Peace was his dear delight, not Eleury's more." And under the peace he so long main- tained and so reluctantly abandoned, Britain prospered exceed- ingly. It was a wide departure indeed from the Whig policy of William and Anne's reigns to turn spears into pruning-hooks, but it was a wise and timely one. The victories of Marlborough were not less necessary for the interests of Europe than those of WeUington ; but the repose which the great Peace-Minister, as Walpole has been justly called, maintained, was even more salutary for his country than the trophies of Blenheim and Eamillies. A silent revolution, unmarked at the moment, was among the fruits of that repose. As wealth became more abundant and more generally diffused, the power and influence of the territorial aristocracy declined, and with it much of the feudal and .narrow spirit of Jacobitism. Capitalists began to purchase boroughs, and sent to the House of Commons members INTBODUCTION. not wholly adscripti glehce, but actuated by interests somewhat higher than the prices of ale or cider, than laws for preserving game, or setting in the stocks recusant Papists and Dissenters. The general prosperity of the reign of George 11. is thus described by Mr. Hallam : " The nation, exhausted by the long " wars of William and Anne, recovered strength in thirty years " of peace that ensued ; and in that period, especially under the " prudent rule of Walpole, the seeds of our commercial greatness " were gradually ripened. It was evidently the most pros- " perous season that England had ever experienced ; and the " progression, though slow, being uniform, the reign of George II. " might not disadvantageously be compared, for the real hap- " piness of the community, with that more brilKant but uncertain " and oscillatory condition which has ensued." " I am far from claiming for the Whig administrations of tliis period the entire credit for this prosperity. But they paved the way for it by maintaining peace. Little indeed is it that the best administrations can do for freedom or progress, unless the people at large are inspired with the same generous seuti- ments as their rulers. Little also could be done at a period when the House of Commons so imperfectly represented the nation, and when the attention of members was confined to the selfish views of one or another party. But in the reign of George II. there was at least the dawn of such co-operation. The heats of political debate led to the diffusion of some political curiosity in the country. The streams were shallow or turbid, but they were preferable to stagnant water. The old Gazettes and News-Letters, and such skeletons of information as appeared jn periodical papers like the ' Tatler,' were now supplemented or superseded by newspapers. The weekly or daily sheet, indeed, was often as meagre as a Parisian Journal is at the present hour. But they nourished a spirit of scepticism in the wisdom of rulers, and the goodness of laws and customs handed down by our ancestors, and wholesome doubt led grar ' Const. Hist.' vol. ii. p. 446, 4th ed. INTBOD UCTION. xxxvii dually to wliolesoine action. It was then, and long afterwards, dangerous to print or to comment upon proceedings in Parlia- ment ; nor was the present security of reporting obtained until the " Printers' business," mentioned in the following Letters in the year 1771, was settled. Of such innovations the Whigs were more tolerant than the Tories. Bolingbroke and Oxford, with the full concurrence of Jonathan Swift, seized papers and presses, and sent printers and publishers to gaol.'' It is unnecessary to dwell, in a sketch like the present, upon the interim between Walpole's retirement and Pitt's brilliant administration. From 1742 to 1756 the Whig party displayed little ability for office, and much for division, jealousy, and intrigue. The war into which they had forced Walpole they mismanaged ; and while England declined in material pros- perity, she sank also in the estimation of Europe. Sir Peter Teazle commends his friend Joseph Surface for his " noble sen- " timents," and to this praise Pulteney and the Pelhams are justly entitled. They talked with Ciceronian pomp of liberty ; they practised exclusiveness. The Duke of Newcastle resigned in November, 1756, because he could not, even with bribes or tears, of both of which commodities he was lavish, induce any person of weight or worth to reinforce his tottering Cabinet. Murray, the only person in the House of Commons who had courage even to look Pitt in the face, was deaf to all his leader's prayers, cajolings, and more substantial proffers, and declared that unless they made him Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench — a place just vacated by the death of Sir Dudley Eyder — he would resign the ofiice of Attorney-General, and leave the Ministry to fight their own battles in the House of Commons. " I suppose," says Lord Campbell, " this was the weakest administration that » "After the acoeasion of George I. " we find a pretty regular account of " debates in an annual publication, " ' Boyer's Historical Register,' which " was continued to the year 1737. " They were afterwards published " monthly and much more at length " in The London and The Gentle- " man's Magazines ; the latter, as is VOL. 7. " well known, improved by the pen of " Johnson, yet not so as to lose by any " means the leading scope of the argu- " ments." — Hallam, * Const. Hist.' vol. ii. p. 445. See some good remarks on this subject in Massey's ' Hist, of England,' vol. i. p. 406, and in Cook's ' Hist, of Party,' vol. ii. p. 419. INTBODUGTION. " ever was intrusted with power in a free country. Lord Hard- " wicke was the only man of any capacity for business in the " Cabinet ; and after all, he was more of a lawyer than a states- man. I pass now to the Tories. It is by no means easy to deli- neate a party which for nearly half a century had enjoyed few or no opportunities of conducting public affairs, whom a real or supposed afBnity with Jacobites, more than any positive de- merits, had so long excluded from office, and whose opposition was levelled at men rather than measures. The line between Whigs and Tories in 1760 was indeed far from being strongly marked. The mass of the Tories, whatever line their sires or grandsires may have taken at the Eevolution or in 1710, had long admitted the validity of a Parliamentary title to the Crown, and agreed with the' -Whigs in the principle of uphold- ing monarchical and episcopal government. They as^'ented also to the doctrine that' the Ministers of the Crown were responsible to Parliament : and they were even far more in- clined than the Whigs to cherish political and administrative ability wherever they found it. If, on the one hand, the parti- tion was thin between a zealous Tory and a Jacobite, it was even more thin between a moderate Tory and a Country Whig' in the year 1760. Perhaps the difference between these great parties maybe thus stated. By the Whigs the King and the Church -were regarded in the light of symbols or instruments of civil and religious liberty; in the Tories they inspired warmer senti- ments of loyalty and reverence. The view of the one was the more abstract and philosophical; the view of the latter the more in accordance with the average disposition of mankind, With the Whigs the Xing was the head of an aristocracy; * ' Lives of the Chancellors,' vol. v. p. 135. I* "So early as the reign of George I. " two classes of 'Whigs were recognised, " the Court 'Whigs and the Country " 'Whigs ; and little or no difference " could be discovered between the latter ' ' and those Tories who cordially as- " sented to the settlement of 168t)."— Massey, ' Hist, of England,' vol. i. p. 39 1, who refers to Lady M. 'Wortley Mon- tagu's ' Correspondence,' vol. i. p. 96. INTBOBUOTION. with the Tories he was the Prince of the People. The one maintained that the Ministers of the Crown should be chosen from a select circle; the other that the Crown had a right to choose its own advisers. Both upheld, in theory at least, the supremacy of Parliament : hut the Whigs thought that in the presence of privilege the King's prerogative should be mute; whereas the Tories allowed of a cei-tain scope for the voice of the Sovereign. A Tory looked upon concessions to Dissenters as a kind of treason towards the Church ; a Whig considered religious liberty as the proper complement of civil freedom. Parties, indeed, seldom foUow out their principles very • logically ; and accordingly we may sometimes find the Tories more disposed than the Whigs to relaxation of religious bonds, and the Whigs making political capital out of " religious " liberty," at one time investing it profitably, at another with- drawing it from circulation. It is obvious that a Toiy who agreed with a Country Whig was more likely to be an accept- able subject to a monarch aspiring to take a share in public business than a Omirt Whig aspiring to govern in the King's name." It was partly owing to his youth, but in far gi-eater degree to his known aversion to Whig dictation — as he esteemed it — that loyalty, such as had not existed in England since the reign of Charles II., revived in the reign of George III. Once again Tories could comfortably and consistently burn incense upon the altar of monarchy, since again was seated on the throne not a mere creature of the Act of Settlement, but a man whom it was not an empty form to address with the stirring words— "God save the King!" In the political logic of the Whigs there was something chilling ; in the sentimental bias of the Tories there was a chord that vibrated in the heart of a people. The people of England indeed in 1760, and for some years after, had very little influence upon the " For the general distinction between the principles of Whiga and Tories, consult Hallam's ' Const. Hist.' vol. n. p. 351; Lord Mahou, vol. V. p. 111-114; Lord Macaulay, ' Edin. Review,' Janu- ary, 1833. d 2 xl INTBODUCTION. Government, and took but a feeble interest in public affairs. Loyalty, far more than liberty, was at that time, as it had been for centuries before, the ruling principle of the English nation; and it proved an effective, if not a very happily employed implement, for a while, in the hands of the third Sovereign of the House of Brunswick. Yet it was not by Tories proper that George III. was enabled to win, and for several years to hold, his peculiar position among British monarchs. For the end tie had in view, an end apparent in so many of the Letters to Lord North, something beyond general loyalty to the Crown was required — a devotion to his person, resting upon the sure and solid foundation of self-interest on the part of his supporters. That the King desired to promote the welfare and happiness of his people there is no just reason for doubting ; but if he loved them well, he did not love them wisely, and the means adopted by him for ensuring either their happiness or their welfare proved singularly infelicitous. Towards the close of the North Ministry, at the end of 1779, and again in 1781, we shall find the King, then in gi-eat anguish at the disasters growing out of the American war, labouring to form a Coalition Ministry by selecting from each party its ablest, most virtuous, and most respectable members. Such a project may perhaps excite a sigh or a smile in the reader, especially when he is told that among the virtuous men to be retained were Lords Thurlow and Sandwich, and among the virtuous men to be enlisted were the Duke of Grafton and Charles Fox. The Letters, however, relating to this business show the virtue demanded by His Majesty to have consisted principally of obedience and self-sacrifice on the part of every member of the proposed Coalition to the royal opinions at those unfortunate moments. Such coalitions, wearing a fair aspect on the surface, may, if properly managed, prove very convenient to a ruling monarch. They weaken a party ; they rarely, if ever, inspire the public with much confidence in them ; then- duration has ever been short ; and the Crown in the last century was, either in credit or INTBOBVGTION. xli in influence, the only gainer by them. Such a coalition, in fact though not in name, was the union of politicians known and long celebrated as the party of the " King's Friends." The character of this outwork of prerogative is drawn in very various colours by those who have spoken or written of it. Its defenders argue that of this party, or more properly among these persons, very few held paid ofSces of State; that the majority of them were independent Peers and independent members of Parliament — " men without a wish or thought of " ofSce for themselves, but who loved the Crown " — apart from the wearer of it — "with all their heart, with all their mind, with " all their soul, and with all their strength." The assailants of the same party or persons, echoing the language of Burke, denounce them as political abjects, prompted by the sordid hopes and fears of servile minds. Whether this or the other pictm-e be the more correct portraiture, the fact remains un- questionable that the King's Friends exercised a very powerful influence upon the character and conduct of George III. during many years of his reign, and will often attract our attention in the following Letters." For imagining that in the conduct of public affairs he could dispense with the aid of party some excuse at the beginning of his reign rnay be found for George III. For not only had he been trained in the schoolroom to regard the Whigs as usurpers of his lawful authority, but in the brilliant administration of Pitt he had witnessed the triumph of a Minister who disdained and denounced " connexion." But after the total failure of a similar experiment when made by himself, it is less easy to excuse or to account for his recurrence to the idea of a coahtion of old and new " Friends." England had gTOwn weary of a great peace-minister in Wal- « Upon the subject of the "King's " Friends," consult Burke's • Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discon- tents,' 1770 ; Lord Albemarle's ' Memoirs of Rockingham,' vol. i. p- 4-; Lord Mahon's ' Hist, of England,' v, pp. 115- 121. It is proper to bear in mind that the title "King's Friends" was given to but not accepted by them. On either side of the question assei'tion is more remarkable than argument. xlii INTBODUCTION. pole, and still more so of men who went to war without counting the cost of it, or ability to conduct it ; and now, from the year 1756, put herself into the hands of a great war-minister. The story of the elder William Pitt has been so well told by the late Lord Macaulay, and by Earl Stanhope, that I can scarcely do better than refer to their narratives. He performed, however, so important a part in the early years of George HI., both in oflSce and in opposition, that some account of his policy is indis- pensable in a comment upon the following Letters. It is a misuse of the terms Whig and Tory to rank Pitt with either of those parties. He did not disdain the support of the latter, nor dabble in the family intrigues of the former. He bad opposed Walpole and the Pelhams as hotly as he afterwards did Lords Bute and North. He was often at variance with the Bedford and Grenville Whigs, and would not repose confidence in the followers of Lord EocMngham. His quarrels, indeed, were with the leaders alone of those sections of the party : he condescended not to their dependants. No man professed more frequently, or with greater sincerity, his attachment to the prin- ciples which had placed the House of Brunswick on the throne ; no one had the honour of his country abroad, or her liberties at home, nearer to his heart. But party trammels he treated witli as much scorn as he did sordid gain, or the low intrigues of such ministers as Newcastle. Such trammels he handled as the Nazarite did new cords and green wythes. He came to the rescue of the Whigs at almost the lowest point of their fortunes. When we meet with his name in the King's Letters its bril- liance has in some measure abated. The Pitt of George IIL's reign was not altogether the Pitt of George II.'s. The disease which from early years had sapped, was in the later period breaking up his mental as well as physical frame." For months, nay, for years together, he was pi-ostrated by illness ; and when partially recovered from it he was wayward and peevish, loth " " Even while at Etnn he was at- ' tacked by the great baue and curse of his future life, an hereditary " gout." — Lord Mahon's England,' vol. iii. p. 10. 'Hist, of INTBODUOTION. xliii to let othei's act, yet unable to act himself. But the fire of better days lurked in Iiim to the last ; his appearances in either House were stiU epochs in the debates ; his support was strength, his opposition was terrible, to any party ; and he carried with him to the grave the entire confidence of the British people. The circumstances of ancient and modern times are so gene- rally dissimilar, that parallels between men or measures, removed by many centuries from one another, are for the most part unhappy. Yet the name of Pitt almost inevitably suggests that of Demosthenes. The resemblance between them, however, is not to be found, where it has sometimes been sought, in the style of their eloquence ; for Pitt was never more vigorous or happy than when he spoke without preparation ; and Demosthenes rarely, if ever, addressed the men of Athens unprepared.* But they re- sembled each other in broad principles, unity of purpose, and in the influence they both exerted over the minds of their hearers. The power of Macedon, the formation of alliances against her, readiness for war, energy in the conduct of it, liberal, indeed lavish, expenditure of money for these objects, are the constant themes of the speeches of the Athenian. The humiliation of the House of Bourbon, vigour in making ready for and conducting war, support to Hanover, subsidies to Prussia, are the constant topics of the English orator. The name of Demosthenes was more formidable to Philip than an announcement of a decree for new triremes in the dockyards of the Peirseus ; the name of Pitt was more dreaded by France and Spain than the fleets and armies he ' "In his oratory his most elaborate " speeches were his worst ; but when, " without forethought or any other " preparation than those talents which " nature had supplied and education " cultivated, Chatham rose — stirred to " anger by some sudden subterfuge of " corruption or device of tyranny — " then was heard an eloquence never " surpassed either in ancient or modern " times, It was the highest povyer of " expression ministering to the highest " power of thought."— Lord Mahon, vol. iii. p. 14. Franklin, writing to Earl Stanhope, Jan. '2'i, 1775, says, that " in the course of his life ' he " had seen sometimes eloquence with- *' out wisdom, and often wisdom with- " out eloquence ; in Lord Chatham " only had he seen both united," Comp. Lord Brougham's 'Statesmen of George III.,' First Series, vol. i. pp. 32- 4.S, and Lord Macaulay's 2ud article on ' The Earl of Chatham,' October, 1844, for examples of and criticisms upon his eloquence. A less favourable character of Pitt is given by Lord Albemarle, ' Memoirs of Rockingham,' vol. i. p. 14. xliv INTBODUCTION. equipped against them. Each of them in an age of gross corruption was incorruptible, and the almost tragic pomp and circumstances attending on the death of both, present coinci- dences rarely to be found in the pages of history. When Pitt, in 1756, became Secretary of State, on the fuU understanding that he alone was to direct the war, the fortunes of England ,in every quarter of the globe wore a disastrous aspect. In Europe she had only one ally — the King of Prussia— and he was then standing at bay amid a circle of mighty hunters. Her armies were weak, badly munitioned, and badly led ; her navy could hardly keep the sea.* Hanover was overrun by Erance, and her fleets threatened our coasts. The nation seemed insensible to its own disgrace, for it was scarcely pos- sible to recruit either service. Our hold on India would have been lost but for the genius and valour of a merchant's clerk : our American colonies were imperilled rather than defended by inactive or incompetent officers. At home, affairs were little more promising than abroad, for, while privateers swarmed in the narrow seas, trade necessarily drooped, To this conclusion had come the successors of Walpole. But almost as soon as Pitt took the helm, the labouring State vessel righted herself. "Now, a man of head being at the " centre, the whole matter gets vital." No more apathy, no more oscillation, no more dallying with war. The spirit of one man pervaded and re-animated the nation.'' Every department under his direction responded to his energy, his vigilance, and Ms » The Earl of Loudon, Commander- in-Chief in North America, was com- pared by a Philadelphian, in conversa- tion with Benjamin Franklin, to " St. *' George upon the signposts, always " on horseback but never advancing." Admiral Holbourne, who commanded the fleet off Louisburg, declined to attack the French, because while he had seventeen ships of the line they had eighteen, and a greater weight OF METAL, " according to the new sea- " phrase," says Chesterfield indignant- ly, " which WIS unknown to Blake." (Letter to his Son,- September .30, 1757, cited in Lord Mahon's ' Hist, of England,' vol. iv. p. 112.) '' " He was possessed of the happy " talent of transfusing Ms own zeal " into the souls of all those who were " to have a share in carrying his pro- "jects into execution; and it is a " matter well known to many officera " now in the House, that no man ever " entered the Earl's closet who did not " feel himself, if possible, braver at bis " retm-n than when he went in." — Speech of Col. Barre' in the H. of Com- mons, May 13, 1778. INTBODUCTION. xlv assurance of success. Even his colleagues, though marvelling and murmuring at the magnitude and cost of his preparations," ceased to oppose him. Cromwell had not been more completely master of his position than the G-reat Commoner was for some years. He was the Government. The King himself, who at first only acquiesced in the new Tribune of the People, at last applauded and honoured him. A really brave man himself, George II. could reverence valour in others. He was delighted by the rescue of his Electorate, and by the mortification of the Duke of Newcastle, whom of all his ministers he most hated and despised. And now the curtain rose upon scenes of unexampled triumph. England bristled with arms; a well-appointed militia, distri- buted over the island, set at liberty the regular army. Prance, attacked on some and menaced on other points, withdrew from Hanover, next was disastrously defeated at Minden, and, so far from invading England, dreaded herself invasion. Some of her most important harbours suffered severely. She lost all her West Indian Islands except St. Domingo : she lost the Canadas : all her settlements in the East Indies, many stations of value to her in Asia and Africa. The House of Bourbon was humbled. " These are the doings of Mr. Pitt," said Horace Walpole, " and " they are wondrous in our eyes." The grounds of Pitt's extraordinary influence upon the people of England have never been more forcibly or faithfully described than by an eminent living historian. After dwelling upon the eloquence which abashed Pitt's ablest opponents, — " the skilful " The cost of his wars did not escape the notice of Junius : " I entirely agree " with Macaroni that this country does " owe more to Lord Chatham than it " ever can repay, for to him we owe " the greatest part of our national " debt, and that. I am sure, we never " can repay." — Letter xi. Among the stronger recusants against this expendi- ture was George Grenville. "Pitt,'' says Lord Macaulay, " could see no- " thing but the trophies ; Grenville " could see nothing but the bill. Pitt " boasted that England was victorious " at once in America, in India, and in " Germany, the umpire of the Con- " tinent, the mistress of the sea. Gren- " ville cast up the subsidies, sighed " over the army extraordinaries, and " groaned in spirit to think that the " nation had borrowed eight millions " in one year." (' Edinburgh Review,' October, 184-4.) Pitt's successors were more lavish than he was, but they pur- chased only loss, defeat, and humilia- tion for many years. xlvi INTBODUCTION. " and polished Murray," " the bold and dashing Fox," — " and if " these failed, who could hope to succeed ?" — Earl Stanhope proceeds :^- " But that which gave the brightest lustre, not only to the " eloquence of Chatham but to his character, was his loftiness " and nobleness of soul. If ever there has lived in modern times " a man to whom the praise of a Roman spirit might be duly " applied, that man, beyond all doubt, was William Pitt. He " loved power — but only as a patriot should — because he knew " and felt his own energies, and felt also that his country needed " them, — because. he saw the public spirit languishing and the " national glory declined — because his whole heart was burning " to revive the one, and to wreathe fresh laurels round the " other. He loved fame — but it was the fame that follows, " not the fame which is run after — not the fame that is gained " by elbowing and thrusting, and all the little arts that bring " forward little men, but the fame that a minister will and " must wring from the very people whose prejudices he despises " and whose passions he controls. The ends to which he em- " ployed both his power and his fame will best show his object " in obtaining them. Bred amid too frequent examples of " corruption ; entering public life at a low tone of public " morals ; standing between the mock patriots and the sneerers " at patriotism, — between Bolingbroke and Walpole — ^he mani- " fested the most scrupulous disinterestedness, and the most " lofty and generous purposes; he shunned the taint himself, " and in time removed it from his country. He taught British " statesmen to look again for their support to their own force " of character instead of court cabals or Parliamentary cor- " ruption. He told his fellow-citizens, not, as agitators tell " them, that they were wretched and oppressed, but that they " were the first nation in the world — and under his guidance " they became so." * I now return to the events immediately following George IIl.'s » Lord Mahou'S • Hist, of England,' vol. iii. p. 15. INTBOBUGTION. xlvii accession. The ink on the Royal Speech was scarcely dry before the suspicions of the Whigs were awakened.* It presently appeared that they were no longer to be the only channels of court favour or preferment. Several noblemen of the old Jacobite connection were appointed lords, and several gentle- men grooms of the bedchamber ; and on the third day of the new reign Lord Bute was sworn of the Privy Council. This appointment indeed was not out of the usual course of things. The Earl had been Groom of the Stole to the Prince, and it was customary for the King to continue his household servants in the same offices which they had held under him while Prince of Wales, and the holder of that office is always made a Privy Councillor. Perhaps the preferment of Lord Bute attracted the more attention at the moment from the cir- cumstance of the King's eldest brother, Edward Duke of York, being sworn in at tlie same time. But later writers have unduly magnified this appointment.'' Nothing short, however, of the Earl's banishment from Court would have satisfied the Whigs or the nation in their present state of feeling, and for such a step there was no pretext, unless indeed the King had thought fit to endorse the scandals respect- ing the favourite's position at Carlton House. Only a few days after Bute's admission to the Privy Council, a handbill was affixed to the Royal Exchange with these words : " No petticoat " government ; no Scotch favourite ; no Lord George Sackville : '' and courtiers — odora eanum vis — were not slow in detecting the channel through which thenceforward royal favours were most likely to flow. It soon became a question, according to a lady's " Lord Hardwicke, in a ' Memorial of Family Occurrenoea,' written in 1770, dates the purpose of superseding gra- dually and removing finally tlie "Whigs ■ from OfBce and the Household, from the accession of George III. " In the " beginning of the new reign," he writes "no apparent alteration hap- " pened in our situation ; we were " cajoled and' courted for the first " weeks of it; in short, the exterior " was fair and plausible; but in reality " Lord Bute had the sole power and " influence, and he was determined to " work out the old servants of the " Crown as soon as he could possibly " bring it about." — Lord Albemarle's ' Memoirs of Rockingham,' vol. i. p. 6. ^ Lord Mahon's ' Hist, of England,' vol. iv. pp. 208-214 ; Adolphua, vol. i. p. 11, foil. xlviii INTRODUCTION. jest at the time, " what the Kiag should bum in his chamber, " whether Scotch coal, Newcastle coal, or pit coal." Very early in the following year (February 2) there was a riot in the play- house while the King was there. A recent tax on beer was imputed to Lord Bute, and the mob conveyed this ungentle hint of their disapprobation of it and him. Had the Cabinet been unanimous and really as strong as it was in outward seeming, Lord Bute's iniluence, whatever may have been its foundation or extent, might very probably not have reached beyond the royal household. But the yoke of Pitt had sat for some time uneasily on the necks of his col- leagues, who were growing weary of a war which tended to his glory alone, and were also, perhaps not unreasonably, alarmed at the cost the war was involving." The Duke of Newcastle fretted and fidgeted at the running account for glory, and whined over the eclipse of his own consequence at the council- table. Lord Granville could not stomach the haughtiness of the Secretary ; •' Fox, though he consoled himself with the Pay Office, was impatient of a second place among the orators of the day. The only cordial supporter of Pitt was his own brother- in-law, Lord Temple. Accordingly, Lord Bute had two levers to work with, the pride of one minister and the discontent of others, and it must be owned that he did not use them unskil- fully. Before, however, proceeding to trace the gradual dis- memberment of the Whig party, and the steps which led to the Tory Government under Lord North, it will be proper to speak of the first Parliament of George III., for much that is contaiued in his letters wOl have to be illustrated from the Par- liamentaiy ingredients of the time. On the 21st of March, 1761, the ParKament of the late reign » Even Pitt himself had been startled at the sum two years earlier. " I wish " to God," he wi-ites to Newcastle, April 4, 1758. "I could see my way " through this mountain of expense ! " ' Chatham Correspondence,' vol. i. p. 305. The total expeuditure in 1759 was 12,503,5642. "A most incredible " sum," writes Lord Chesterfield, De- cember 15, 1758. From Lord Mahon's ' Hist, of England,' toL iv. p. 246. >> ' Annual Register,' 1761, part 1. p. 43. INTBODUCTION. xlix was dissolved, and the elections which took place in that and the following month passed over quietly. Neither Whig nor Tory had a war-cry of any force ; Pitt, whatever he may have done in the Cabinet, had silenced nearly every discordant note in the country, and persons rather than principles were the objects of contest or attack. But not even under Walpole, the great archimage of corruption as he was deemed to be, had venality been more universal than in the spring of 1761. "The sale of boroughs," says Lord Stanhope," "to any wide " extent, may be dated from this period. One borough went " so far as to advertise publicly for a buyer ; this was Sudbury, " which seems in modern times to have in no degree declined " from its ancient reputation. An abominable practice likewise " arose, of evading the penalties of bribery by a simulated sale " of trifling articles at exorbitant prices. This subterfuge of " corruption has not escaped its contemporary — the modern " Aristophanes. ' AVhen I first took up my freedom,' says the " elector, in the comedy of ' The Nabob,' ' I could get but thirty " guineas for a new pair of jack-boots, whilst my neighbour " over the way had a fifty-pound note for a pair of wash-leather " breeches.' " Such practices prevailed long after George III. slept with his fathers, and, were it not " to inquire too curiously," are perhaps not even now quite extinct. In one of his letters the King intimates that some golden pills may not be unac- ceptable at Plymouth, and probably such employments of money may account for the Civil List being so often inadequate for the expenses of a personally frugal monarch." On the very day on which ParKament was dissolved,- the ' Gazette ' announced several changes in the Ministry and certain signs of the times. Mr. Legge, once an able and stanch supporter of Pitt, though they had since been on bad terms, had seven years before offended Lord Bute by refusing to vacate ■ ' Hiet. of England,' vol. W. p. 220. Compare Mr. Massey'a account of " Membera by purchase." — ' Hist, of England,' vol. i. p. 402, 2nd ed. Mr. Hallam, ' Const. Hist.' vol. ii. p. 447. ^ The matter is placed beyond doubt by a letter of Lord North's to the King, at the end of March, 1782. INTBOBUGTION. his seat in Parliament in favour of Sir Simeon Stuart, and he was now dismissed from the Chancellorship of the Exchequer," the Secretary-at-War, Lord Barrington, stepping into his place, Charles Townshend into Lord Barrington's, and Sir Francis Dashwood — hereafter to be mentioned — into Charles Towns- hend's as Treasurer of the Chamber. Dashwood and Towns- hend were now liegemen of Bute's. A few weeks before, Robert Baron Henley, the Lord Keeper, had been raised to the dignity of Lord Chancellor — a slight but not altogether insignificant promotion. But the change of change was at hand. A pension in hand, and the reversion of the wardenship of the Cinque Ports, induced Lord Holderness, one of the Secretaries of State, to pretend a grievance and to throw up his seals, which were then transferred to John Stuart, Earl of Bute. Mi'. Pitt still led, or dragged after him, his colleagues in the Cabinet, and the Duke of Newcastle continued to practise his veteran craft. But they were not impregnable ; the Achilles and the Nestor of administration had never been cater-cousins; and could Achilles be forced to recede, Nestor must speedily fall.' Lord Bute was not deficient in shrewdness, but his cunning failed him, or his pique prevailed, when he neglected to secure the services, or at least the borough interest, of the duke. As for Pitt, it would have been easier for Caesar to draw Cato to his side than for Bute to turn the Great Commoner into a King's Friend." Biit as for Newcastle, he was clay in the hands of the potter, provided his vanity was soothed, or rather satiated, and he was suffered to be manager-general of the elections. Nominally a Whig, he really belonged to the invertebrate class " Lord Maoaulay says that " Legge ," was not only turned out, but in " the closet, when he delivered up his " seal of oflSoe, was treated with gross " incivility." ^ Lord Chesterfield, writing to his son. May 18, 1758, says, "Domestic " affairs go just as they did : the Duke " of Newcastle and Mr. Pitt jog on " like man and wife, — that is, seldom " agreeing, often quarrelling, but, by " mutual interest on the whole, not " parting." = Pitt and Bute indeed had been in political relations to each other in the late reign, both before and after tbe death of the Prince of Wales. But Pitt's refusal to screen Lord Gteorge Sackville, as Bute desired, led to a coolness between them, and political differences subsequently widened the breach. INTBODUGTION. of politicians. He could digest affronts as an ostrich can digest iron. He could smile upon the striker, while he whined and wept under the stroke. Yet it was the love of power, or per- haps the reputation of possessing it, that rendered the Duke of Newcastle ridiculous. The love of money was not among his faults, for he retired from office a poorer man than he entered it; neither did any stain in an age of gross and unblushing profligacy rest upon his private life. That with proper manage- ment he would have served under Lord Bute there can be no doubt. What hurt him most was that the entire management of the elections was no longer left in his hands, and that he was not consulted upon appointments in the royal household. " These grievances he recounted with deep emotion to Mr. " Rigby, hoping, no doubt, through that channel, to inflame the " Duke of Bedford. ' Whenever,' he cried, ' I ask an explana- " tion of these and other matters, the constant answer is, The " ' King has ordered it so ! ' " ^ The attention of Pitt was now fixed intently upon concluding a just and necessary and glorious war by an honourable peace. It was not to be such a peace as that of Utrecht, but one that should retain and consolidate the acquisitions made by arms — a peace that England might inscribe upon her Fasti with Soman pomp and stateliness — a peace which would enlarge and secure the borders of her commerce, and be an ensample to her rulers for generations to come. The time seemed well suited for the purpose. France was exhausted by defeat. She had been stripped of her fleets, her colonies, and her trade ; she had been compelled to announce a bankruptcy to several classes of her public creditors. Early in this year, 1761, the Duke de Choiseul had induced the Courts of St. Petersburg and Vienna * 'Bedford Correspondence,' vol. ii. p. 425. Kewcastle, at the commence- ment of this reign ''had sent moat " abject messages to Bute, hoping to "see him in some high employment, " and declaring hia own readiness to " serve not only with, but under him." — LordMahon, vol. iv. p. 209. And this at the very time he was bemoaning his advanced age, and consulting his ad- herents about the propriety of retiring from office. They, wiser than Gil Bias, with one accord assured his Grace that his speeches had not the least savour of apoplexy. lii INTBOBUGTION. to join the Court of Versailles in a- public declaration stating their readiness- to treat, and inviting Plenipotentiaries from the belligerent powers to a Congress at Augsburg. But as some important colonial questions concerned England and France apart from the other parties to the war, De Choiseul despatched M. de Bussy as his negotiator to London, while Pitt sent to Paris Mr. Hans Stanley, at this time a Lord of the Admiralty. So far the promises of accommodation were fair enough ; but they were presently clouded over by the introduction of a third party on the stage. It occurred to the First Minister of France, the Duke de Choiseul, that an alliance with Spain would enable him either to obtain better conditions from England, or to renew the war with increased vigour. Spain was easily per- suaded to acquiesce in the designs of France, ani the two Bourbon kings entered into secret negotiations with each other at the very time of M. de Bussy's mission to the Court of St. James's. For the causes which led to the Family Compact the histo- rian must be consulted ; " I am only concerned with the effects of this union between France and Spain upon the Government of England. Pitt rejected in high wrath the intrusion of the most Catholic King, and demanded from the Spanish Minister a disavowal on the part of his court of the whole transaction. Failing to obtain the satisfaction he demanded, he advised an immediate declaration of war against Spain." But only one member of the Cabinet went with him, his brother-in-law Lord Temple ; and the rest protested against what seemed to them a rash and unauthorised step. He was left in a minority of the Cabinet he had so long guided ; he was treated by the President " See Lord Mahon, vol. iv. pp. 230- 240, for the negotiations for the Peace of Paris and the Family Compact. •> " On this pi-inciple," tliat the first blow is often half the battle, said Lord Chatham many years afterwards, "I " submitted my advice for an im- " mediate declaration of war to a " trembling Council." — Debate in the House of Lords, November 22, 1770 : ' Pari. Hist.' vol. xvi. Lord Bute pro- nounced the Declaration " rash and ** unadvisable ;" and the Duke of New- castle disapproved of it. There can be no doubt in this instance, as in so many ethers, that the bold course was the prudent one. INTBODUCTION. liii of the Council" with haughtiness, which of all men he could least brook; and on the 9th of October he resigned his seals into the hands of the King. His Majesty was most gracious to the retiring minister, but he did not urge him to retain office. Earl Temple alone retired with his relative. The Earl of Egremont received the vacant seals." He was a son of the celebrated Tory leader Sir William Wyndham. The Duke of Bedford replaced Earl Temple as Privy Seal. No one probably, not even the favourite himself, exulted so much in Pitt's retirement as did the Lord High Treasurer. "I never saw," says Sir George Golebroke, "the Duke of New- " castle in higher spirits than after Mr. Pitt, thwarted by the " Cabinet in his proposal of declaring war against Spain, had " given notice of resignation." Lord Talbot, who, as a King's Friend, may have known what was likely to happen, advised his Grace " not to die for joy on the Monday, nor for fear on the " Tuesday." He had hoped on the withdrawal of his great colleague to become in fact what he had been for five years in name only, head of the Government. His hopes were built on sand. Not he, but Secretary Bute, really conducted the business of the nation. In the original Cabinet his seat had not been upon roses, it was now even less easy, and indeed would have been intolerable to a less pachydermatous occupier of it. To recite the affronts which according to his own account he endured would tax the reader's patience. Tlie King was " barely " civil to him " while he clung to place, but " very gracious when," " Earl Granville, better known as Lord Carteret. •> Charles Wyndham, Earl of Egre- mont, according to Bishop Newton, ' Life and Anecdotes,' vol. i. p. 88, had he " entered earlier into business, might " have made as considerable a figure as " his father. He had seldom occasion " to speak in Parliament, but, whenever " he did speak, it was with great clear- " ness, force, and energy, and he was " thought very much to resemble his " father in manner as well as good " matter, having a catch and Impedi- VOL. I. " ment in his voice, as Sir William " Wyndham." Junius admitted that, " notwithstanding his pride and Tory " principles, he had some English stuff " about him." — Letter to Duke of Bed- ford, Sept. 19, 1769. His answer to the Spanish Memorial, the principal act of his short official life, is creditable to his abilities. Horace Walpole, who speaks disparagingly of him, admits that he had " a great deal of humour." Like his father, he died suddenly at the age of fifty-two. (From ' Memoirs of Rockingham,' vol. i. p. 55.) liv INTRODUCTION. on the 26th of May, 1762, " he came to resign his employment." It must be owned that he resigned with some dignity at last He would not consent to discontinue the subsidy to the King of Prussia. He had lavished a large fortune on his various employ- ments and elections, and he now refused a pension which the King was xeady to grant him in reward of his long services." But of " an itching palm " for place he could not divest him- self. " According to the Newcastle Code of Politics," says Earl Stanhope, " the next best thing to a firm retention of oiEce is " the prospect of a speedy return to it. On this maxim the " Duke bent lowly before the favourite ; he declared his in- " tention to refrain from opposing the Government ; and he " desired his adherents, as Lord Barrington, and his kinsmen, " as Lord Lincoln, to continue in place. Nay, more; it was " not long before he intrusted Lord Barrington with an overture " to Lord Bute, expressing his inclination to re-enter office as " Lord Privy Seal, with Lord Hardcastle as President of the " Council. These tokens of submission wrought favourably on " Lord Bute, and he seemed well disposed to make the desired " arrangement, but he delayed it too long. Before-that summer " had closed, the Duke's appetite for office had become so un- " controllable that he could not refrain from engaging with the " Opposition, and attempting to take the Treasury by storm." ' The Earl of Bute succeeded the Duke as First Lord of the Treasury, and handed over his seals as Secretary of State to Mr. George Grenville. Sir Francis Dashwood became Chancellor of the Exchequer, replacing Lord Barrington, who took m exchange the office of Treasurer of the Navy. A few days afterwards the Earl was made a Knight of the Garter. But the Bute Administration lasted only ten months ; its head had not calculated upon the powers arrayed against it, both in and out of Parliament. He had not sounded, in spite of the constant manifestations of it, the depths of his own unpopularity." ' Lord Albemarle's ' Memoirs of Rockingham,' vol. i. p. 54. Comp. Lord Mahou, vol. iv. p. 257. I" ' Hist, of England,' vol. iv. p. 257. ' Horace Walpole, wiitiug to the Hon. H. S. Conway, October 4, 1762, INTBODUCTION. Iv The Bute Ministry was the first step — whether upward or ownward the reader will decide for himself — in the removal f the Whigs from their long tenure of office, and towards the stablishment of the Tories in a yet more protracted occupation f it. It would be incorrect, however, to describe it as belonging 3 either of these parties. It was a ministry content to hold fSce under the favourite. It contained some Tories and some Vhigs, but zeal for principles, or even party, was not likely to evour any of them. It was in as bad odour from the first as ny Coalition since or before it has ever been ; but unlike some Coalitions, it was strong neither in the ability, influence, nor haracter of its members. Of the unpopularity of its leader inough has already been said. The incompetence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer was as notorious as his con- empt of virtue or even decency. The Earl of Egremont ras superior in morals and abilities to Sir Francis Dashwood, ret, considering whose seat he fiUed, his position was scarcely ess ludicrous than that of his colleague. Lord President xranville, and the Paymaster of tlie Forces, the Eight Honour- ible Henry Fox, were past the heyday of efficiency, while the Mvy Seal, the Duke of Bedford, was a respectable Chairman if Quarter Sessions. If any name in this administration de- erves a pause, it is that of George Grenville, and his qualifica- ions will be described presently. And this feeble administration was beset with no ordinary lifSculties. Lord Bute aspired to the fame of a peace-maker, md he inherited from his predecessor a brilliantly successful ra,v; he anxiously desired that his Budget should win him avour with the nation, and it increased the general odium in vhich he was held ; he employed the press to recommend Ids )olicy, and the press proved one of the main instruments in his •verthrow. Victory had not retired with Pitt. Martinico was taken in ,. prophesies that, " whether peace or '-' " war, I would not give Lord Bute '^' " much for the place he will have this " day twelvemonth." Comp. Lord Ches- terfield to his Son, November 13, 1762. e 2 Ivi INTBODUCTION. January, 1762, and its conquest was foUowed by that of the dependent isles, Grenada, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent, and the British standard supplanted the lilies of France in all the Caribbees. In the following summer Spain lost the Havanna, and in the autumn the Philippine Islands. She was further impoverished by the loss of an Acapulco galleon, the 'San- tissima Trinidad,' with a cargo valued at three millions of dollars, and by the capture of a yet richer prize, the ' Hermione,' bound from Lima to Cadiz, which was taken off Cape St, Vincent, almost at the end of her voyage, by two English frigates. The only counterbalance that the subscribers to the Family Compact could show for these disasters wa? a brief occupation of St. John's in Newfoundland by the French, and the conquest of the Portuguese colony of Sacramento, on the Eio de la Plata, by the Spaniards. Spain, indeed, had a better bargain than France, for St. John's did not repay the cost of taking it, while at Sacramento some British ships and mer- chandise of considerable value fell into the captors' hands. Had any less unpopular minister been the framer of the Peace of Paris, he would have been greeted with the thanks and applause of the country ; for, brilliant and in some respects remunerating as the war since 1757 had proved, England, as well as Europe, was growing weary df it. But in the eyes of Englishmen, Lord Bute — the Scotchman, the favourite, the supplanter of their darling — could not do right, and his Peace, as it was reproachfully termed, exposed him to fresh and more virulent animadversion than ever. The minister's unpopularity was shared by the King. In Parliament indeed the Peace was carried by large majorities — 319 members voted for the pre- liminaries, and only 65 against them.* His Budget, but for one unlucky article of it, might not have excited any remarkable disapprobation. The war had rendered " The preliminaries of Lord Bute's Peace were arranged at Fontainebleau, November 3rd, 1762 ; the definitive treaty was signed on the lOfch February, 176:i. INTBODUGTION. Ivii some new taxes indispensable, and the demands of the Chan- cellor of the Exchequer were, under the circumstances, not exorbitant. The supplies he asked for amounted to 13,522,039^., and the means of raising them were, in addition to the usual taxes, taking two millions out of the Sinking Fund, striking one million eight hundred thousand pounds in Exchequer Bills, borrowing two millions eight hundred thousand pounds on annuities, and two lotteries producing seven hundred thousand pounds. To pay the interest on this loan additional duties were laid upon foreign wines, and this impost it seems was not much resented; but a duty upon cider inflamed the western counties, and offended, through a kind of sympathy, the ale and beer drinkers of England, whose potations also had recently been taxed. It was well, so thought the economists of that day, to raise the duties on the wines of Burgundy and Spain, since the price paid for them helped to enrich the enemies of this country, and every foreigner, especially if not a Protestant in creed, was, in the eyes of all true Britons in the 18th century, a foe. But to tax the native growth of the soil could be justified only by the strongest necessity, by some great national crisis, by the Dutch in the Medway, or the Spaniard in the narrow seas. And who was the author of tiiis odious imposition ? A minister who, if he had his deserts, instead of being paramount at St. James's, would have either been in the Tower, or transported for his manifold offences to his own barren and beggarly native land ! Was Walpole's excise for- gotten ?^ Had not the cider-land, once the home and haunt of loyalty, been driven to the verge of rebellion by a similar attempt to ruin her? The duty on cider was indeed passed by a corrupt and obsequious Parliament ; but it added, in public estimation, one more crime to the long account of the Earl of Bute. At an earlier period in this reign the Favourite of the King had assailed the Favourite of the People by a host of scribes 1733. For Walpole's Excise Scheme, see Lord lIahon,vol. ii. p. 159, foil. Iviii INTBODUGTION. paid to attack his war, his profusion, and haughtiness." Bute and Dodington commenced a paper-war against Pitt, by putting forth small pamphlets and handbills, and other darts of Lilliput, against the ministerial Gulliver. The policy of Bute in 1761-2 was advocated by the ' Auditor,' conducted by Murphy, and, the 'Briton,' conducted by SmoUett. In June, 1762, appeared the first number of the celebrated ' North Briton,' destined to produce consequences far more important than those for which it was originally intended — consequences nearly affecting, on the one hand, the privilege of Parliament, and, on the other, the liberties of the people. Amid these distractions the Earl suddenly resigned, much to the amazement of the whole nation, and it is said of the King also. The plea for his retirement was, that his health was no longer equal to the fatigues of business : the true reason for it may have been that which he assigned himself in a letter to one of his friends: — " Single in a Cabinet of my own forming; no aid in the " House of Lords to support me, except two Peers (Denbigh and " Pomfret) ; both the Secretaries of State (Lords Egremont " and Halifax) silent ; and the Lord Chief Justice (Mansfield), " whom I myself brought into office, voting for me and yet " speaking against me — the ground I tread upon is so hollow " that I am afraid not only of falling myself, but of involving " my Koyal Master in my ruin. It is time for me to retire."' With Lord Bute retired from the House of Commons both Dashwood and Fox, the one becoming Lord Le Despenser, the " The stories told of Lord Chatham's haughtiness would be incredible were they not well attested. He never per- mitted his Under-Secretaries of State to be seated in his presence. (Sea- ward's ' Anecdotes,' vol. ii. p. 362.) " No less eminent a naval character ' ' than Lord Anson, as well as his "junior lords [of the Admiralty], was '• obliged to sign the n,aval orders issued " by Mr. Pitt, ivliilc the writing was ' ' covered over from their eyes I " — Lord Brougham, ' Sketches,' &o., first series, vol. i. p. 24. 1' Adolphus, vol. i. p. 117. The historian attempts to show that tlie Earl was not a pohtioal monster, " nulla virtute redemptum,' p. IH M' Viscount Royston, in a letter to the Earl of Hardwicke, April 11, 1763, says, "The alarms of Lord Bute» "family about his personal safety a« " reported here to be the immediate " cause of his sudden abdication.' - ' Memoirs of Eockingham,' vol. !■ P' 1U5. INTRODUCTION. lix other Lord Holland, and consequently the Cabinet was once again remodelled. We have not the means for ascertaining whether the King de- plored the loss of his earliest adviser, or, having begun to think and act for himself, were glad to be released from a mayor of the palace. According to a general rumour of the time. Lord Bute, when he gave up the seals of the Treasury, did not resign his participation in the Eoyal counsels. The Whigs of all deno- minations, Chatham and his brother-in-law especially, long continued to fancy, or to pretend, that the Minister and the Sovereign corresponded frequently with each other, and met occasionally by stealth ; nor was it considered, as the public interest was concerned, beneath the dignity of men in high rank and station to set spies upon the late favourite's move- ments. Political fictions are often supposed to be justified by the motives of them ; and years after the Earl had to all appear- ance, at least to the profane and vulgar, buried himself in retire- ment. Ministers murmured in Parliament or remonstrated in the closet against a " secret influence beliind the throne." The mystery will perhaps never be cleared up. The assertion will continue to be repeated by those who believe in the profound dissimulation of the King, and will be disregarded by those who credit him with probity. So far as silence goes, the evidence of these Letters is unfavourable to the theory of such influence. With these Letters indeed before us, it seems more in accord- ance with the Eoyal disposition to believe that favouritism — his friendship for Lord North must not be dishonoured by that term— was not likely to be among George III.'s failings. He had more of the oak than the reed in his nature. He was in- clined, often unfortunately for himself and his people, to be his own counsellor-in-chief. He was, there is every reason to believe, quite sincere when he threatened to return to his Electorate rather than abandon his purpose or prejudices as King of Eng- land.'' By the time of Lord Bute's resignation he had gained » The late Lord Holland, ' Memorials I says, "The present King, George IV., andCorrespondenceofP'ox,'vol.i.p.287, \ "told me a story of his father's plan Ix INTBOnUCTION. some experience in business; he daily relied more and more upon himself ; he saw, or fancied he saw, more clearly into the mechanism and motives of parties, and, to judge from his corre- spondence, the improvement of his vision did not increase his respect for public men generally. By this time he fully acted upon the sound Horatian maxim — " Vitanda est improba Siren— JDesidia." Washington and Wellington were not more punctual in their habits, or patient of details, than George III. He came, indeed, of a punctual stock. The first George distributed his time with the precision of a piece of machinery, and the second was so regular in his habits as scarcely ever to de- viate from his daily-beaten track.* His correspondence shows that, if he were ever ignorant of daily events, it was not for want of due or minute inquiries. Perhaps Lord North may have slumbered the more in the House to make up for the breaking of his natural rest by incessant notes, letters, and messages from his alert and wakeful master. It is remarkable, both as a sign of his domestic habits, and of the manners of that time in comparison with the present, that so busy and so curious a man should never have manifested any desire for seeing his own dominions. Hanoverian propensities he had none, and indeed in those days a visit to the Electorate was not an easy, nor always a safe adventure. The age of tourists had not arrived," and neither Ireland, nor even Scotland, in the 18th century presented many attractions for royal or noble travellers — not in search of the picturesque. But the King was almost as unacquainted with England itseK as with " of retiring to Hanover, and described " witii more humour than iilial rever- " ence his arrangement of the details, " especially of the liveries and dresses, '' The period of these strange fancies " was, I think, that of Lord George " Gordon's riots, not of the fall of the " North ministry — perhaps he might " have talked of such a project on both " occasions, and he was more likely to " commuuicate his half-formed inten- " tions to his son in 1780 than in " 178'J." " It was the King's invariable prin- ciple that it is system only which can carry a man successfully through the aflfaifs of life ; and once being asked how one of his ministers could possibly get through such a mass of business, he replied, " He acts as I do ; he always " finishes one thing before he begins " another." Comp. Lord Mahon for the punctuality of George I. and II. ^ Gibbon, ' Memoirs of Life and Writings,' p. 51, Dr. Smith's ed. INTBODUCTION. Ixi his northern, his western, or his foreign dominions.* His longer journeys were to his favourite bathing-place, Weymouth ; twice he went to Portsmouth, to rouse up at a pressing moment the Lords of the Admiralty, or loitering dockyard-men and post- captains ; " and once he meditated a migration to the episcopal city of Worcester — but that was at a later day, when Na- poleon I. was expected on this side of the Channel, Ordinarily, however, he moved from the Queen's House in London to Windsor Castle, or from tlie palace at Kew to the palace at Kich- mond, just as Dr. and Mrs. Primrose migrated from the blue bed to the brown, or as the doughty Major Sturgeon marched from Ealing to Acton and from Acton to Ealing. The circle of the royal excursions may have been calculated upon a scale of distance from the Treasury and the powers of well-mounted messengers to convey despatches to and fro. Such parsi- mony in motion had at least an imperial precedent. " The " tranquil life of Antoninus Pius was spent in the bosom of '■ Italy ; and, during the twenty-three years that he directed " the public administration, the longest journeys of that amiable " prince extended no farther than from his palace in Home to " the retirement of his Lanuvian villa." " The King's activity in business arose partly from a strong if not an enlightened sense of duty to his people, and partly from the ideas he had imbibed from his mother or his instructors of his own prerogative. He had been bred in the faith that the sovereign of a great nation ought not to be a mere name or a cipher in public affairs. He had before him the examples of two ruling as well as reigning monarchs, in Frederick of Prussia and in Maria Theresa, to whom even their enemies gave the name of Great, and a warning against royal indolence and » 1773-8. See Keppel's ' Life of Viscount Keppel,' vol. ii. p. 21. ^ Tlie royal visit did not escape the satirical pen of Mason, ' Heroic Epistle to Sir William Chambers, Knight :'— " There shall he see, as other folks have seen, '■ That ships have anchors and that seas are green ; " Shall count the tackling tjim, the streamers fine, '* With Bradshaw prattle, and with Sandwich dine ; " And then row back, amidst the cannons' roar, " As safe, as sage, as when he left the shore." iJ Gibbon, ' D. and F.' vol. 1. p. 144. Dr. Smith's ed. 1854. INTBODUCTION. pathy in Louis XV., the tool of his ministers, his courtiers, nd his mistresses. He did not draw the distinction between constitutional and a despotic government, and he may have eflected that his predecessors had set him an example of .ctivity. William III. was his own Foreign Secretary, and leither of the first two Hanoverian Kings had brooked minis- erial or parliamentaiy interference, in any large measure, with heir relations to German politics. The cares they bestowed on heir patrimonial dominions George HI. directed to the land of lis birth, and during the earlier portion of his reign he inter- posed in the affairs of Government more than any Prince who lad occupied the British throne since our monarchy was ad- nitted to be a limited one, and Ministers to be responsible for ;he acts of the Crown. His idea of his own prerogative, however unsound in theory, Dr unfortunate, as it proved to be, in practice, must not indeed be confounded with the selfish aspirations of the Stuart Kings of this country. According to the light that was in him, George III. ioved his people, well, if not wisely. No amount of provocation ffould have brought him to go to the House of Commons to irrest any of its members ; no distress or despair of getting bis will obeyed would have made him become a pensioner af France. His pertinacity was displayed, most unseasonably indeed, in his stubborn refusal to violate his Coronation Oath by relieving his Eoman Catholic subjects from their disabilities. But had he subscribed, as Charles II. did, "A Declaration from Breda," he would not, like him, have departed from his word. To a king sincerely attached to his people, and such I behave jreorge III. to have been, — to a prince brought up from his ;ender years to think that a king should exert as well as pos- less authority, — the idea of power to do what he thought good md to hinder what he thought evil presented irresistible at- .ractions ; nor can I subscribe to the doctrines of such historians is represent George III. deliberately aspiring to put himself ibove the laws. Neither can I blame him, in the early days if his reign, for his desire to conciliate all classes of his subjects, INTBODUCTION. Ixiii and to welcome home again dissidents from the Hanoverian succession. He had been taught, erroneously and perhaps factiously, to regard his predecessors as bondmen to their advisers, and their cro^Ti and dignity impaired by the assump- tion and arrogance of a few potent families. Perhaps uncon- sciously for a while he submitted to a similar dependence on Lord Bute, but we must remember his age, his relations for many years to that unpopular tutor, his sudden removal from the seclusion and intrigues of Carlton House to the authority and seeming liberty of a crown. His mistake, and it was a chronic one, or rather his misfortune, was, that as his experience was enlarged he failed to profit by its lessons. He never under- stood that, in a country where the King can do no wrong, the King must act through his responsible advisers. Sancho's homely proverb — " ni quite Key, ni pongo Eey," reversed, might have been profitably meditated upon by George IH. He should have abstained, however irksome such restraint might have been, from making and unmaking administrations. In the present day Parliament controls the advisers of the Crown, and the voice of the nation controls Parliament. But in 1760 and for some years onward these salutary checks did not exist. The House of Commons was indeed supreme in the ! State, but it did not represent, neither was it really responsible to, the nation. A much less shrewd observer of the times than George III. might have discerned the advantage he was not slow to detect. Nothing, as regards the following Letters, is more remarkable than the weakness of Opposition, considering the ability and eloquence of its members, or than the strength of Government, considering, especially during the contest with Wilkes and America, its feebleness in debate or the unhappiness of its measures. It was a contest in which Lycas long prevailed over Hercules. In the first place, the fourth estate of the realm, as it is now not unhappily called, did not exist. The political press dealt in libels on persons, but not in any large or consistent principles on either side. The power of the ' North Briton ' and of Junius was that of the libeller only. We may marvel Ixiv INTBODUCTION. at the weakness of the earlier, and applaud the force of the later, of these party-gladiators ; but we shall find in the pages of neither of them anything like a fair or trustworthy exposition of principles. In the next place, until the year 1769, though there had often been ebullitions of popular wrath, there had been no organised public meetings declaratory of popular opinion on the measures of Government. Parliament, accordingly, alone dictated or restrained the Crown and its advisers ; and if they could affect the construction of Parliament, by direct or in- direct influence, whether it were by territorial power, or by means even less respectable, a ministry might retain place long after they had offended the nation, and the King might bend to his will the very men whose duty it was to guide and some- times to thwart his personal wishes. In the period at which these Letters were written, we shall find abundant proof that the King often ruled his Ministers, that his Ministers were all- powerful in Parliament, and that the nation, until its mis- fortunes aroused it, looked calmly on a game in which it was not suffered nor indeed eager to join. The seals of the Earl of Bute were transferred to Mr. George Grenville, who combined the offices of First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer. Lords Egremont and Halifax continued Secretaries of State.^ The Earl of Sandwich was made First Lord of the Admiralty. The reader will not need to be reminded that this Administration was celebrated for its prosecution of John Wilkes and for the Stamp Act ; the former of which caused a kind of civil war in London and the adjacent counties, while the latter led to the revolt -and independence of our American colonies. The Grenville Administration Lord Macaulay is " inclined to " think on the whole the worst which has governed England " since the Eevolution." He classes its acts under two heads — " Of the three — Grenville, Egremont, Halifax — "Lord Halifax was by far " the weakest, at the same time most " amiable man, His pride, like Lord " Egremont's, taught him much oivil- " ity. He spolce readily and agree- " ably, and only wanted matter and " argument. He aimed at virtues he " could not support, or rather was " cai'ried away by his vices than sensible " of them." INTBODUGTION. Ixv " outrages on the liberty of the people, and outrages on the " dignity of the Crown." * Its offences to the nation belong to history; its demeanour to the King alone concerns the present sketch. George III. had been eager to emancipate himself from what he regarded as the thraldom of his gi-andfather, but he soon discovered that he had rather lost than gained, so far as re- garded his personal comfort at least, by the change. He had murmured at a rod, and he had now got a scorpion. The Whig or perhaps the composite Ministry of Pitt and Newcastle had made the Crown popular with the nation, and the_ nation re- spected, or at least feared, in Europe ; and thus had it contributed to the favour with which the King was greeted on his accession. They, while maintaining the principles which had seated his family on the throne, had not encroached on the Koyal Pre- rogative ; they did not inflame his metropolitan city against him, neither bring riotous mobs to his palace gates. They may have disapproved of certain appointments in his household, but they did not treat him in his closet with rigour or thinly- veUed contempt. George Grenville was out of his right place. He would have been an admirable Speaker for the House of Commons, for, since Onslow retired, no one was so well acquainted as he with the rules, forms, and precedents of Parliament. But the virtues of a Speaker may be vices in a Chancellor of the Exchequer or a First Lord of the Treasury. The idol of Grenville was routine, and the incense he offered to it — the prosecution of Wilkes and the taxation of America— endangered the very fane in which he worshipped. In the tempers of the King and his new Prime Minister there were certain points in common, and they were far from pro- ductive of mutual harmony. Each was remarkably self-confident and obstinate ; neither of them could endure opposition. Each was disposed to strong measures : the main difference between « Edinburgh Review, October, 1844. Comp. 'Memoirs of Rockingham,' vol. i. p. 65. Ixvi INTBODUCTION. them being, that with the King the instrument was Prerogative, with the Minister the supreme authority of Parliament. Of the two the King was the less tyrannical, since he would con- cede something to the other estates of his realm ; whereas the Minister aspired to make the House of Commons predominant over both the Sovereign and his people. George III. ^when he handed over the seals to GrenviUe probably regarded him as the nominee of the favourite, and perhaps Lord Bute also was under a similar delusion. But both of them had mistaken the character of the man they had preferred. He was anything rather than the official drudge he had hitherto passed for. He had too much ambition, too good an opinion of himself, to be anybody's tool ; least of all that of such a ministerial novice as Lord Bute must have appeared to him. The one had scarcely served any apprentice- ship at all to public business ; the other was of the forms of business all compact. The one acted by and through those Parliamentary Praetorians, the King's Friends — he being the prefect of the royal guard ; the other, not finding on the journals of either Lords or Commons precedents for such a squadron, stood sullenly aloof from them. Both indeed had this quality in common — defiance of public opinion ; but Bute aimed at enabling the King to rule as well as reign ; GrenviUe strove for the absolutism of Parliament. The people weighed equally in the scales of each of these Ministers. They were considered by them indeed as the source of power, but they had parted with their birthright ; they had delegated that power to their representatives. The Vox Dei had been promoted from the streets and fields to a rather dingy chamber in the palace of Westminster. The King may at times have been hurt by the language of the Whigs, and by their pretensions to form his household exclusively; but until the GrenviUe Administration, he had never been aggrieved by lectures in his closet. This was another "hard condition, twin-born with greatness;" and there was a Pollux as well as a Castor of boredom, for Lord Temple was as INTBODUGTION. Ixvii solemn and verbose as his brother George. Pitt, whom the King had resolved never again to call to his side, was more than civil, since he was subservient and even supple in the presence of majesty ; and Newcastle, though he might irritate his Majesty's nerves by being always too late for his appoint- ments, and by his fidgeting when he came to the closet, was a tolerable evil in comparison with this pair of political pedants. Had Dogberry been in ofSce in 1763, he would have said, " Were " I as tedious as the Grenvilles," instead of using the libellous comparison ascribed to him. For nearly two years his Majesty was grieved with this gene- ration of Ministers. He may have been gratified by the per- secution of Wilkes and the depriving Conway of his regiment. He may have been pleased also at the sudden and not satis- factorily explained drooping of opposition. He may have consoled himself in his trials with the knowledge that his hatred of the Grenvilles was shared by his court and people. The poor young King's persecution was twofold. The Gren- villes were frugal of money and lavish of words. The King wished, and not unreasonably, that his town residence — ^the Queen's House — should be exempt from observation, and asked for a few thousand pounds to purchase some fields westward of his gardens. His request was, it is said, churlishly refused; and the gardens were speedily overlooked by not the least curious class of mankind, the servants occupying the upper rooms of the houses that sprang up in the neighbourhood. But even this nuisance was tolerable when compared with Grenville or his brother, or both at once, in the royal closet. A few springs and summers would screen the Eoyal pair by growing trees and shrubs ; but no season afforded a shelter against his ministerial tormentors. Among the plagues of Egypt, none seem to have more deeply annoyed Pharaoh than the plagues of frogs and flies in his chamber. Perhaps he might have been even more seriously distressed had he been forced to listen to harangues two hours long from his chief baker and his chief butler. Ixviii INTRODUCTION. The decease of Lord Egremont in August, 1763, led to some changes in tlie Granville Cabinet, but, as they did not in any way affect its policy, we may pass on to the next administration of this reign. By death, by absorption into a semi-Tory ministry, if not into the Tory ranks, or by enlistment among the King's Friends the Whig party in 1765 was materially thinned in number, while its opponents were proportionably reinforced. The Grenvilles failed in attracting Pitt to their side, and the King, worn out by their closet-lectures and other slow tortures of the kind, called to his aid his uncle the Duke of Cumberland, and intrusted him with the formation of a new Cabinet. In dis- missing the Grenvilles, I may sum up their measures under two heads, — the parliamentary expulsion of Wilkes, and the parliamentary taxation of America — both equally beneficial to the interests of the country. The country on its part mani- fested its sense of the character of this Administration by hail- ing its dissolution with great and general joy. Pitt, who had been applied to by the King to modify or invigorate the failing Grenville party, proving quite impracti- cable, although all his demands were granted, and his demands were neither few nor slight, George III. consented to negotiate with another section of the Whigs. The Duke of Cumberland applied to the veteran Newcastle, nothing loth to be again consulted, and whose great parliamentary interest rendered him, at any crisis, second in importance to Pitt alone. Se did not prove impracticable, but joined the ducal mediator in addressing himself to the more genuine section of the Whigs, and on the 15th of July, 1765, a new Ministry was formed. The Marquis of Eockingham was placed at the head of the Treasury ; General Conway, as one of the Secretaries of State, was intrusted with the management of the House of Commons ; the other Secretary being the Duke of Grafton. Mr. Dowdeswell became Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Duke of Newcastle contented himself with the Privy Seal ; Chief-Justice Pratt was raised to the peer- age with the title of Baron Camden, and this, of all the new INTBODUGTION. ' Ixix preferments, was the most popular at the moment. Lord Harcourt left his embassy at Paris to become Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Lord Egmont and the Marquis of Granby were respectively at the heads of the Admiralty and the Ordnance, and the Earl of Northington, late Lord Henley, was Lord Chancellor. The praises of the Eockingham Whigs are immortalised by the pen of Edmund Bm-ke, and though, as the friend and private secretary of their leader, they wear the aspect of panegyric, they do not, if we consider the principles and measures of this party, exceed the limits of truth. Among the faithless they alone stood faithful to the political creed of the Whigs of 1688 — the creed of Somers and Locke, of Stanhope and Walpole, of Carteret and Pitt. " They," the Eockingham Whigs, says Burke,'' in his masterlj summary of their brief teniu'e of office, " treated their Sovereign " with decency, with reverence. They discountenanced, and it is " hoped for ever abolished, the dangerous and unconstitutional " practice of removing military officers for their votes in Parlia- " ment. They firmly adhered to those friends of liberty who " had run all hazards in its cause, and provided for them in '■ preference to every other claim. " With the Earl of Bute they had no personal connection, " no correspondence of councils. They neither courted him " nor persecuted him. They practised no corruption, nor were " they even suspected of it. They sold no offices. They " obtained no reversions or pensions, either in coming or going " out, for themselves, their families, or their dependants. Li " the prosecution of their measures they were traversed by an " opposition of placemen and pensioners. They were supported " by the confidence of the nation. And having held their " ofSces under many difficulties and discouragements, they left " them at the express command, as they had accepted them at " the earnest request, of their Royal master." " See ' Memoirs of Rockingliain,' vol. i. p. 370. VOL. I. Ixx INTBODUGTION. There seemed a reasonable hope that such an administration would prove stable, for it contained in it the elements of ability and principle. Than its head there was not to be found among Lords or Commons of England a more honest, a more honom-- able, or a better-intentioned man. By his talents and demean- our, as well as by his private virtues, General Conway was well fitted for his place, and, so far as ofBcial ability was con- cerned, the Duke of Grafton was no unworthy co-mate. Yet in some respects the Rockingham ministry was infelicitous. 1. It did not possess, nor could it gain, the confidence of Pitt, and without bis confidence it seems that no ministry could then reckon upon length of days. 2. It lost in the October suc- ceeding its formation one of its main props, both in the royal closet and in Parliament, for in that month the hero of CuUoden was released from an existence of much suffering. 3. The King was at no moment sincere in his dealings with it. 4. It had traitors in its camp. Lord Chancellor Northington among them : and lastly, the Marquis of Eockingham was devoid of some of the requisites for an effective First Lord of the Treasury.'' " Lord Eockingham,^' writes his biographer," " possessed by " nature a calm mind and a clear intellect, a warm benevolent " heart, of which amiable and conciliatory manners were the " index. He was imbued with sound views of the constitution, " and with a firm resolution to make those principles the guide " of his actions. If eloquence were the sole criterion of a " great leader or a great minister, Eockingham would have " but small claims to such a title. The malady which consigned " him to the tomb, when he was little more than fifty years of * The causes of the failure of the Rockingham Whigs in office are traced by the late Mr. Wingrove Cook, ' Hist of Party,' vol. iii. p. 74 ; by Lord Mahon, vol. v. p. , 110, who describes the Cabinet as composed ' ' in part of *' worn-out veterans, and in part of " raw recruits." Kothing however damaged them so much as Pitt's denial of his confidence, since it rendered the country indifferent to the ministry, and stimulated the court-party to com- bine and vote against them. Of the King's aversion to them there is do question. t Lord Albemarle, 'Memoirs of Rockingham,' vol. i. p. 140. INTBOnUCTION. Ixxi " age, had imparted to his frame a sensibility of nerve whicli " only extraordinary occasions enabled him to overcome.'^ He " was a hesitating and inelegant debater. His speeches, like " those of the late Ijord Althorp, commanded attention, not " from the enthusiasm aroused by the persuasive arguments of " the orator, but from the confidence placed in the thorough " integrity and good sense of the man. He stood in a similar " relation to a great minister — to a Fox, a Grey, or a Eussell — " which an able chamber-counsel bears to an Erskine. He " lacked the outward graces. He possessed the inward power. " If success in public measui-es be a test of ability, Eocldngham " stood pre-emineut. In no one year between the Eevolution " and the Eeform Bill were so many immunities gained for the " people, or, more properly speaking, so many breaches in the " Constitution repaired, as in what was contemptuously called " his ' Lutestring Administration.' " Pitt's distrust of this administration is accounted among his faults by Lord Macaulay. " We believe," he says, " that he " had in his power to give the victory either to the Whigs or " to the King's Friends, If he had allied himself closely with " Lord Eockingham, what could the court have done ? There " would have been only one alternative, the Whigs or Gren- " vnie ; and there could be no doubt what the King's choice " would be. He still remembered, as well he might, with the " utmost bitterness, the thraldo:n from \\hich his uncle had " freed him, and said about this time, with great vehemence, " that he would sooner see the devil come into his closet than " Grenville. " And what was there to prevent Pitt from allymg himself " with Lord Eockingham ? On all the most important ques- " tions their views were the same. They had agreed in con- " demning the Stamp Act, the general warrant, the seizure of " papers. The points on which they differed were few and » In 1766 Lord Rockingham, writing 1 " sion oooTipies my mmd so much that to Charles Yorke, Jan. 11, says, "The "I can hardly remember anythmg." " continual hurry from the late occa- 'Memoirs,' vol. i. p. 267. /2 Ixxii INTRODUCTION. " unimportant. In integrity, in disinterestedness, in hatred " of corruption, they resembled eacli other. Their personal " interests could not clash. They aat in different Houses • and " Pitt had always declared that nothing should induce him to " be the First Lord of the Treasury. " If the opportunity of forming a coalition beneficial to the " State and honourable to all concerned was suffered to escape " the fault was not with the Whig ministers. They behaved " towards Pitt with an obsequiousness which, had it not been " the effect of sincere admiration and of anxiety for the " public interests, might have been justly called servile. They " repeatedly gave him to understand that, if he chose to join " their ranks, they were ready to receive him, not as an " associate, but as a leader. They had proved their respect for " him by bestowing a peerage on the person who at that time " enjoyed the largest share of his confidence, Chief-Justice " Pratt. What then was there to divide Pitt from the Whiffs? " What, on the other hand, was there in common between him " and the King's Friends, that he should lend himself to their " purposes ; he who had never owed anything to flattery or . " intrigue ; he whose eloquence and independent spirit had " overawed two generations of slaves and jobbers ; he who had " twice been forced by the enthusiasm of an admiring nation " on a reluctant prince ? " * For the King's distrust of his present ministers it is easy to account. He had no hold upon them. They were not accessible to smooth speeches and smiles at the lev^e ; they were indifferent to pensions and deaf to promises; they were not envious or jealous of one another.'' Over the majority of this small but compact band the usual arts of court-intrigue were powerless. Men who, like Charles Townshend, had been of every party and cared for none, or, like the Chancellor Northington, were ° 'Edinburgh Review,' October, 1844. ^ This remark applies only to the first Bookingham ministry. The mem- bers of the seconrf, in 1782, wwe jealous and envious ; the Chatham WhigB and the Eockingham cm-dling but not coalescing in the mixture. INTBODUGTION. Ixxiii the King's confidential friends, might indeed be assailed on the side of ambition, but were impregnable on that of corruption. No Kigbys, Jenkinsons, Robinsons, or Dysons ranged themselves beside Lord Rockingham. The King's present ministers did not, like the Grenvilles, bait him in his privy-chamber, but they constrained him to set his seal to unpalatable measures. They made concessions where he was disposed to resist ; they were stubborn where he was inclined to yield. Again he saw, or fancied that he saw, Whig meshes closing around him, an ohgarchy once again hedging in the Crown, and his labour of five years threatened with destruction. On the other hand, it must be owned that the Rockingham ministry was a feeble one. It wanted the currus et arma of eloquence and corruption, then the only levers in Parliament. Conway was a brave soldier but a timid debater ; the Duke of trrafton was not an earnest second to his chief. Barre, no mean antagonist, opposed the Government in the Commons, and Pitt was as formidable as ever, whether sarcastically complain- ing of its weakness, or sitting contemptuously silent. Consider- ing, however, that they possessed the confidence neither of the head of the Court-party nor of the head of the people, that they represented only one of the Whig sections, and that they were particularly obnoxious to the country gentlemen, the Rockingham Administration must be accounted successful in the measures which they carried during their brief tenure of ofiSce.* They soothed America by repealing the Stamp Act ; they healed the breaches which had been made in the Constitu- tion by divesting general warrants of their sting. In their conduct to Pitt the Rockingham Whigs were irre- proachable. They were not merely considerate, they were obsequious. The public interests were at stake, and they con- • ceded to him even more perhaps than he had a right to require. They incited him to become their leader in deed if not in name. • These measureB indeed were iden- I Pitt wlien applied to iu tliis year to re- tical with the conditions demanded by | form the Cabinet. Ixxiv INTBODUCTION. They made his most trusted friend, Cliief-Justice Pratt, a peer; they treated him with almost popular homage. They condoned his few foibles out of respect to his sterling virtues. If admitted into the Cabinet, he would, they had every reason to expect, be difficult to lead, perhaps dangerous to follow, impatient of con- tradiction, by no means chary of blame, by no means averse from dictating. But with so many drawbacks in his temper there was still the magna viri virtus ; and their knowledge of that virtue reconciled them to his usual haughtiness and occa- sional perverseness. A man far less firm than Pitt, although as eloquent and as much a lover of his country, was guilty of a similar mistake. Neither hatred of the Optimates, the Whigs of Eome, nor clear vision of their designs, availed to reconcile Cicero to Csesar, Yet on the Julian side were persons whose opinions were far more in accordance with those held or professed by the great orator than with those prevalent among the Senatorian factioE Pitt's aversion to connexion now became his misfortune. He would not distinguish between Newcastle's tools and Lord Eockingham's followers. He had eschewed the evil, he now refused the good. But in the summer of 1766 the doom of this ministry was signed. In May the Duke of Grafton threw up the Southern Seals.* The cause he assigned for this step was the weakness of Government. He declared that he would serve under Pitt alone.'' His Grace indeed was of a rather unstable mind, being nearly equally prone to resign or resume ofSce. Nor was » Idleness on his Grace's part may have had something to do with hia sudden resignation. " He was wanting " in application, and when pressed by " difficulties in his office, instead of " seeking to overcome them, would " rather speak of resigning it. Field- " sports, and, above all, his favourite '* pack of hounds at Wakefield, too ' ' much employed his thoughts, or at " least his time; Newmarket also had ' ' gi'eat charms for him." — Lord Mahon, vol. V. p. 205, For personal recollec- tions of the Duke of Grafton, Me 'Memoirs of Lord RockiBgham,' 7ol, i. pp. 221-224. For "the moderate Whigs and iem- " perate statesmen," see *Chatliani Correspond.,' July 28, 1770. ^ "Under that great man," said to Grace, in May, " I am willing to seni " in any capacity, not merely a« '' " general officer, but as a pioneer; " under him I would take up a!]"* " or a mattock." INTBODUCTION. Ixxv General Conway well pleased with his position as leader of the House of Commons. He sighed for the quieter life of the army. He was not indeed in his proper place. He would seek reputation in the cannon's mouth ; but he faltered and wavered before the House of Commons. His infirmity of pm-pose often exposed Conway to the sneers of his contem- poraries. " If," it was commonly said, " two doors opened into " one apartment, Conway would be tortured to decide through " which of them he should finally pass." With such defects, although not wanting in eloquence, he was a feeble buttress to an already tottering ministry, against which also some of its members were already plotting. Again, in spite of former experience of his wayward temper, the King had recourse to Pitt. But at that moment Pitt was more than ordinarily disqualified for conducting arduous and delicate negotiations. He was very ill. His notes at this time display a disordered mind. In his haste to obey the royal summons he had hurried up from Somersetshire, accelerating a pulse already rapid and heating blood already fevered. His language, even to those whom he wished to conciliate or enlist, was haughtier and more peremptory than ever. The King was ready to make any sacrifices, provided they would rid him of his present advisers. He therefore gave Pitt absolute freedom in the choice of new ones. Even Lord Temple was again admitted to the royal closet. But when the appointments to be made were canvassed by them, the brothers- in-law differed on nearly every name, and at length came to an open rupture. Pitt, however, armed as he was with the King's authority, could now afford to dispense with Lord Temple, and formed the Grafton Cabinet. Among Pitt's proposals on this occasion, no one astonished his master or the nation so much as his demand to be trans- ferred to the House of Lords. The proposal was not unreason- able, for the Great Commoner, shattered in health, was no longer strong enough to breast the storms of the Lower House. A few years earlier, indeed, his wish was law ; and his words, his Ixxvi INTBODUCTION. looks, and his gestures had often imposed an awed silence upou his opponents. Eepeatedly had he proved his well-known citation from the ^Eneid, — " At Danaum proceres Agamenmoniseque phalanges Ut videre vinim fulgentiaque arma per umbras Ingenti trepidare metu," to have been no empty boast. Neither was a coronet evei' better earned or more justly bestowed. He had vindicated the honour, he had exalted the name, he had enlarged the borders of Great Britain : his voice had ever been raised on the side of constitutional freedom, and his private virtues were on a par with his public services. Tet his demand did not the less create amazement. It was as if Cicero had spontaneously sued for a province, or Wolsey for a hermit's cell. He now stipulated for the Privy Seal, and that office involved removal from a chamber where he had long reigned supreme, to a chamber averse from oratorical vehemence, and likely to resent his wit, sarcasm, and invective, and even his studied gestures and sonorous declamar tion.* He became Earl of Chatham ; yet he cannot have for- gotten the censure he had incurred a few years before, when he accepted, without soliciting them, a pension for himself and a coronet for his wife. Pitt, however, as Lord Stanhope has so well observed, took popularity when it came to him, but never went out of his way to seek it. For a few months the people, especially the citizens of London, resented what they looked upon as a desertion of them by their idol. But it was not very long before they forgave him and restored liim to favom-. For whe- tlier his seat were above or below stairs, his genius predominated; "gTcatness he could never want" in any estate; and the tribu- nitian tone of his speeches in the House of Lords proved to his admirers that in an Earl's mantle Pitt was still the Great Commoner. '■ Walpole, 'Memoirs of George II.,' vol. i. p. 479, says, " that his action " and gestui'e were as studied and sue- " cessful as Garrick's." Lord Mans- field, according to Mr. Charles Butler, ' Hor. Jurid.' p. 205, also took the great actor for his model. INTBODUGTION. Ixxvii In liis reconstruction of the Cabinet he sought not aid from his old connections, the Grenville and Newcastle Whigs. He made advances to Lord Eockingham, partly perhaps on account of his gTeat landed interest, but more on account of his fair reputation and constitutional principles. But the late First Minister, not unnaturally deeming himself aggrieved by the Earl's previous demeanour to himself and his party, and pro- bably distrusting also Pitt's temper and discretion, refused to treat with or even see him. He was equally unsuccessful with Earls Gower and Scarborough, and the Chancellor of the Ex- chequer. Lord Gower was still smarting under his rejection by Pitt when proposed by Lord Temple for Secretary of State, and he had offended Mr. Dowdeswell and Lord Scarborough by the lofty tone with which he conveyed his tender of office. At length, after many refusals and no little mortiiication, he accom- plished his task. On the 2nd of August, 1766, the Gazette formally announced the formation of the new Cabinet, or, in Lord Chesterfield's words, " The "curtain was at length drawn " up, and discovered the new actors together with some of the " old ones. Mr. Pitt, who had carte blanche given him, named " every one of them." The Earl of Chatham — we must now drop the old familiar name, so known, so honoured at home, and so feared by all who loved not England in every part of the globe — -replaced the Duke of Newcastle as Privy Seal. The Earl of Northington became President of the Council, and Lord Camden Chancellor. Conway retained his Seals, but not the leadership of the House of Commons ; and the Earl of Shelburne took the Seals lately held by the Duke of Grafton, who was now First Lord of the Treasury. Charles Townshend replaced Mr. Dowdeswell as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Conway in the lead of the Commons. Sir Charles Saunders went to the Admiralty in the room of Lord Egmont, and the Earl of Hillsborough suc- ceeded Lord Dartmouth at the Board of Trade. Viscount Barrington remained Secretaiy at War; while the hitherto single-handed office of Paymaster-General was shared by Lord Ixxviii INTBOD UCTION. North and Mr. George Cooke. The Marquis of Granby was placed at the head of the Army and the Ordnance, an appointr ment which the King a few months before had refused to confirm. Mr. Wniiam De Grey, the late Solicitor-General, was made Attorney-General in the room of the Hon. Charles Yorke ; and Mr. Wnies became Solicitor-General. The Household also was modified. The Duke of Portland soon made way for the Earl of Hertford as Lord Chamberlain. Lord Chatham offered to Edmund Burke, for whom his own friends could not find room in 1765,. a seat at the Board of Trade ; but although a poor man, he followed the example of his leader, and withdrew for awhile to his native country unprovided-for and unpensioned. Burke has immortalised this Cabinet in words remarkable alike for their truth and wit ; but I shall not affi-ont the reader by quoting them, so often have they been repeated by historians and biographers. Many of the names in the above list have as little interest at the present moment as those of many of the heroes in Homer's catalogue; and it is unnecessary to poiDt out those of Lord Shelburne, the future head of the Chatham Whigs ; of Charles Townshend, who had every good gift except discretion ; or of Lord North, upon whom our principal attention will presently be fixed. Yet the list is curious in many aspects. •We see in it the shifts to which the architect of the Cabinet was driven. He had always professed to hold cheap party con- nexion; he was now driven to the necessity of building with untempered mortar. The materials singly were not bad, but they lacked the principle or the power of cohesion ; and the key- stone that a few years before would have held them firm, was soon to be disabled by physical and perhaps by mental pros- tration. In the interim Lord Chatham by his haughtiuess so deeply offended some of the members of his own Admiaistration that they retired from it in dudgeon. Lord Eockingham with his wonted moderation had, when he resigned, urged his friends to continue at their posts, hoping that, although the Government was changed, the principle and policy of the Whigs would not be abandoned. Saunders and Keppel accordingly remained in INTBOBUGTION. Ixxix the Admiralty, and Lord Bessborough contiuued to be Post- master-General. But tbey did not long brook their imperious yet often inactive dictator : they would not consent to be treated as mere clerks of the Treasury. Chatham then appealed to the Bedford Whigs to supply the places vacated by the Rockingham party. But they were wise in their generation ; they refused to come into ofSce unless they came in a body, and in a few months they were able to make their own terms. But if the country and Parliament were dissatisfied, the King had much reason for being content. There was an end of con- nexion : there was no longer cause for dreading, and not much for respecting, the Whigs. They were split up into feeble and indeed hostile sections, and were confronted by opponents who, with each succeeding Session, became more united, and who were fortified by the Court-party and the favour of its head. With a little more patience and a little more shuffling of the cards, George III. would be such a sovereign as had not been seen in Britain since 1688. The inability of Lord Chatham to guide the Ministry he had formed, rendered it, in spite of the abilities of some of its members, nearly as weak as that of Lord Eockingham ; for whenever the Grafton Cabinet ventured or was compelled to act without consulting its chief, if it were not feeble, it was rash. It was nearly equally endangered by its opposite vices, by the subservience of Camden, Shelburne, and Grafton, and by the precipitation of Charles Townshend. Great was the patience of the King and the ministry ; and profound must have been their reverence or their dread of Chatham to make such patience possible. For many months they were as sheep having no shepherd. They asked for a sign from Burton Pynsent or Hayes, and no sign was given them. His Lordship could not write ; could not be seen ; could not endure the least allusion to politics ; could not be questioned even about his family affairs. Even direct and pressing applications from the King did not arouse him from his solitary chamber and settled gloom. Ixxx INTBODUGTION. We shall find in the King's Letters to Lord North expres- sions of high displeasure against Lord Chatham, but these belong to a later date and after the Eoyal temper had been soured by the O-success of his American policy. At this period (1766-8), and indeed ever since the commencement of his reign, there are no symptoms of the King's entertaining other than friendly sentiments towards his minister. When Chatham, in January, 1768, expressed his fears that he could not continue to hold the Privy Seal, the King was not less alarmed than Grafton and Camden were at the hint of resignation. He wrote to him, and the passage is remarkable, since it proves that the then helpless invalid was still regarded by him as the prop of the Government : — " I am thoroughly convinced of " the utility you are of to my service ; for though confined " to your house, your name has been sufScient to enable " my Administration to proceed. I therefore in the most '^ earnest manner call on you to continue your Administra- tion"^ — expressions honourable alike to both parties, homage generously paid to greatness, and earned by honest and brilliant service. The most important changes, for my immediate object at least, in the Grafton Ministry were the death of Charles Townshend and the appointment of Lord North to succeed him as Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Cabinet thus lost a man of genius who might have done it mischief, and gained one whose good sense, capacity for business, knowledge of Parliament, talents in debate, imperturbable good humour, and ever-ready wit, not only rendered him invaluable to the Duke of Grafton, but also recommended him to the King and to the representatives of the nation as the Duke's successor. I shall not presume to draw a character which has already been delineated by so many able pencils : neither is it necessary for my purpose to trace the further modifications of the Grafton Administration. It is enough to remark that after Cliarles ' Chatham Corresp.' vol. iii. p. 318. IJSTliUJDUiJTlUJS. ixxxi Townshend's death, and the retirement of Lord Northington and General Conway, a new combination with the Bedford Whigs was completed in December, 1767. Earl Gower replaced Lord Northington as President of the Council ; and Lord Weymouth Conway as Secretary of State. A thii-d Secretary of State, " for the Colonies," was added to the Governmental staff, the American business having become too burdensome and complex for the holder of the Southern Seals. The policy of the Government remained unchanged by these recruits from the Bedford party : the cUnamen towards Toryism increased ; and the North Cabinet, for whicli no one at the moment predicted longevity, retained office, with certain mutations, for twelve years. The patchwork Cabinet of the Dute of Grafton rendered Wilkes more famous and Junius more formidable ; made the House of Commons odious ; revived the slumbering discontent of America ; and bequeathed to Lord North ample room for exercising his virtues of patience and good humour. On the death of the brilliant but unstable Charles Townshend, the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, after being offered to several persons of different parties, was offered to Lord North, at the instance, it is said, of the Princess of Wales. Hitherto he had held the office of joint Paymaster of the Forces. " See," said Charles Townshend, "that great, heavy, booby-looking, " seeming changeling ; you may believe me, when I assure you " as a fact, that, if anything should happen to me, he will " succeed to my place, and very shortly after come to be First " Commissioner of the Treasury." The person so agreeably described was Frederick Lord North, and the prediction was in both its parts fulfilled to the letter. The subject of it indeed had attracted the notice of others as well as that of his predecessor. " Here comes blubberly North," said a gentleman to George Grenville in the Park : " I wonder " what he is getting by heart " (he was probably rehearsing a speech), " for I am sure it can be nothing of his own." " You " are mistaken," replied Grenville ; " North is a man of great Ixxxii iJS'inuvuvTiuiy. " promise and high qualifications, and, if he does not relax in " his political pursuits, is very likely to be Prime Minister."" Frederick Lord North, eldest son of Francis first Earl of Guildford, was in his thirty-sixth year when he became Chan- cellor of the Exchequer. At Eton, and at Christ Church, Oxford, he acquired considerable distinction by his proficiency in clas- sical literature, and his happy citations from Latin poets, when opportunity presented itself, in the House of Commons, while they illustrated his natural wit and humour, proved also that his memory was richly stored. Making, as was usual with the man of rank in those days, the "grand tour," as it was then called, of Europe, he neither sauntered nor indulged in the prevalent dissipation of English travellers." His attention was turned to diplomacy, and he studied, among other branches of political knowledge, the German constitution under the cele- brated Mascove." His parliamentary career commenced in 1754, and during Mr. Pitt's first Administration he occupied a seat at the Treasury Board.'* He was removed by the Rocking- ham Ministry in 1765, but came into ofiice again with Lord Chatham as Paymaster. » 'Memoirs of Rockingham,' vol. i. p. 344; comp. 'European Magazine,' XXX. p. 82. Lord Wortli's rotund figure is a fertile subject for the cari- caturists of the time. See Wright's ' England under the House of Hanover,' where in many copies of caricatures of the period, — " Montani quoqne venter adest abdomine tardus." Lord North's figure exposed him occasionally to what in these days would be regarded as brutal insults in debate. A few days only before he be- came Prime Minister, one of his keenest opponents, Mr. Burke, thus described him in the House of Commons;— "The " noble Lord who spoke last, after " extending his right leg a full yard " before his left, rolling his flaming " eyes, and moving his ponderous " frame, has at length opened his " mouth."— Speech of January 9, 1770, ' Pari. Hist.' xvi. p. 720. It should be added that Lord North was extremely short-sighted, " a great obstacle in the "way of parliamentary eminence." — Lord Mahon, v. p. 254. ' Cowper, ' Progress of Error,' has sketched the ordinary English tourist in some vigorous lines, concluding with the best remembered couplet of them : — " How much a dunce that has been sent to roam Excels a dunce that has been kept at home," ■= Better perhaps known as Mascovius or Mascou. "i In a letter to Mr. Pitt of the 24th of May, 1759, the Duke of Newcastle says, " I this day recommended my " Lord North to the King to succeed " my Lord Bessborough in the Trea- ' ' sury . He is a near relation of mine ; " but I hope his appearance in Parlia- " ment will make the choice approved, "and that he will be in time a very " able and useful servant of the " Crown." — ' Chatham Correspond.' vol. i. p. 409. INTBODUGTION. Ixxxiii In 1767 he was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, and in 1770 First Lord of the Treasury, which office he held until March 1782. On the Duke of Portland becoming First Lord of the Treasury in April 1783, Lord North took the seals of Secretary of State in conjunction with Mr. Charles Fox ; but he only held them till the December following, when he retired from public life. On the death of his father, in 1790, he suc- ceeded to the earldom, and died in August 1792. His skill in financial statement will be mentioned in its proper place ; " and there is universal testimony to his great ability in debate. Lord North is thus drawn by his great opponent Edmund Burke in his " Letter to a Noble Lord : " — " He was a man of '■' admirable parts, of general knowledge, of a versatile under- " standing, fitted for every sort of business, of infinite wit and " pleasantry, of a delightful temper, and with a mind most per- " fectly disinterested ; but it would be only to degrade myself " by a weak adulation, and not to honour the memory of a great " man, to deny that he wanted something of the vigilance and '' spirit of command that the time required." , An interesting picture of Lord North in domestic society, drawn in February 1839 by his only surviving daughter, Lady Charlotte Lindsay, is given by Lord Brougham in the Appendix to the first series of ' Historical Sketches of Statesmen who flourished in the Eeign of George III.' " His religion," says her Ladyship, " was quite " free from bigotry or intolerance, and consisted more in the " beautiful spirit of Christian benevolence than in outward " and formal observances : his character in private life was, I " bebeve, as faultless as that of any human being can be ; and " those actions of his public life which appeared to have been " the most questionable, proceeded, I am firmly convinced, from " what one must own was a weakness, though not an unaraiable " one, and which followed him Ihrougli his life — the want of " power to resist the influence of those he loved." " " Note to Letter 231. I "resist the influence" of the King "■ Lord North, in his inability " to | " whom he loved," resembled the Ixxxiv INTKUVUVTIUJS. Lord North's policy and conduct from 1770 to 1782 is described as the occasion required in the notes to the following Letters ; it is therefore unnecessary to anticipate such notices of him in this introductory sketch. But slight as this sketch is of the state of parties in England during the first eight years of George III.'s reign, it would be still more incomplete without some observations upon the character of the writer of the Letters, so far as it can be ascertained, in 1768. His proper character had now displayed itself: he was terribly alert:" he was inde- fatigable in business, small or great : he was no longer under the dominion of a parent or a favourite ; neither is there, so far as I can discover, any trace or record of the sullen fits of his boyhood. On the other hand, there can be no doubt that his understanding, although active, was narrow, his prejudices numerous, and his obstinacy great. His theory of royal duties was unsound, however specious it may have seemed to himself : he interfered too much with the machinery of Parha- ment and the responsibility of his ministers ; nor was he averse from cabals or intrigues when he had points to gain. To many of his Cabinets he gave only half confidence, and communicated his real thoughts or wishes to persons who were people of Asia, of whom Plutarch, ' de vol. i.p. 159; Earl Kussell's 'Memorials Vitioso Pudore,' 332 E, says, " oVi niv- of C. J. Fox,' vol. i.p. 165; Lord Ma- " Tes 01 tV 'AeriW Karomovi'Tci Ij/i hon, v. p. 254 foil.; ' Memoirs of Eock- " SovXiiovcriv av6pi)s For anecdotes of Lord Korfch's wit " Mijrtoxos 6' api-ous en-oirrf, MrjTtoxos fie t' and humour, temper and peculiarities, .. m "1*"^°''6' ' "" see' Charles Butler's ' Reminiscences,' ''""^"VliitorehiVrarepf. Beijnii. Ca: c. 15. INTB OB UCTION. Ixxxv not constitutionally entitled to aid or advise him. In all his intercourse with Lord North, however, there are no tokens of reticence or imperfect trust. In his own recurring phrase, he " unbosoms " himself to his Minister as to a friend. He dreads nothing so much, in the worst of times, as Lord North's resignation : he is full of gratitude for his services ; he has infinite reliance upon his ministerial and financial ability. He is vexed when the Minister is slackly supported, and indignant when he is rudely assailed. Never was a public servant more implicitly trusted by his master. It was the faith of Henry IV. in Sully, of Charles V. in Granvella, revived. His affection for Lord Bute was grounded upon the habits or the sentiments of boyhood; his affection for Lord North was the deliberate choice of manhood. Their joint Administration — for the King was a part of his own Government — was indeed disastrous for the country: but their common errors should not blind us to their common loyalty to each other. It was indeed most un- fortunate that the stronger imderstanding and the wider expe- rience should have been curbed and controlled by the narrower judgment and the stronger will; that the Minister so often submitted his own convictions to the prejudices of the King. This weakness on the one side and this pertinacity on tlie other rendered the period to which this correspondence relates a painful one to contemplate, and neither the master nor the servant can be excused for having so largely contributed to sever from one another the eastern and the western branches of the English nation, for having persevered in a struggle which none better than themselves must have known to be hopeless long before its close. Upon Lord North and the King must ever rest a large measure of the blame of alienating a vast, and not at first disloyal, portion of the inheritance, bequeathed by their ancestors and enlarged by Pitt, of the Sovereign and people of Great Britain, of making that which was strong feeble for a time, of lowering this country in the eyes of all Europe for many years to come. Yet we shall form a very imperfect conception of George III. VOL. I. g Wxxvi INTB OB UCTION. if we derive it from Ms political acts alone. The scene changes the moment we turn from his public to his private life. In an age when the tribute of hypocrisy was scarcely paid to virtue or even decency, he, in his formal perhaps yet well-ordered living, set an example beyond price. The low morality of the age does not rest on the evidence of Walpole or Churchill, Fielding or^Cowper,- only. It may be inferred from the very writings that were intended to correct it, from the ' Eambler,' the 'Idler,' the 'Adventurer,' and other publications of the kind. The very nature of the remedies proposed in them displays the strength and prevalence of the disease. Lord Chesterfield has incurred a great deal of misplaced obloquy for his celebrated Letters. He was not the preceptor of vice, — he was, undesignedly perhaps, its chronicler. He attempted to refine the coarseness of manners — to put in act Burke's rather questionable maxim, that vice " by losing all its gross- " ness loses half its evil."" We fare little better by consulting the productions of the pulpit or the stage at that time. We find the marks of degeneracy yet more signally stamped in the general character of public men. The King is anxious, but generally unable, to surround himself in his household with men of good character : and he is fain to accept the services of persons who, delineated by the pencil of Tacitus, would appear scarcely less odious than the freedmen of Claudius and Galba. It is much to be regretted that the Letters to Lord North contain scarcely any, if indeed any, glimpses of the private life and pursuits of the writer. He who took so lively an interest in matters not political, — such as the appointment of university professors, presentation to cures, marching of troops, enfranchising copyholds, &c., and who also held the pen of a ready writer, can hardly have failed to indite many letters upon topics that interested him. Had we samples of his Corre- spondence on the foundation, charter, or management of the Eoyal Academy, upon his abortive project for the Order of ' Reflections on the Revolution in France,' p. 113, 2nd ed. INTB OB UCTION. Ixxxvii Minerva," his purchases of books and prints, on his frequent interviews with inventors and men of science, with literary men, with voyagers and travellers, our impressions of George III. would be all favourable. A few of his letters on farming would, I am persuaded, be far more instructive than much of his poUtical communication with his ministers. His shrewdness, his curiosity, his humour, his kindness, we learn from the report of others, and often through imperfect or corrupt channels. The praise lavished on him frequently wears the aspect of satire ; the lampoons and caricatures levelled at him, as frequently strike at laudable, amiable, or at least harmless points in his nature. With what profound feeling he could write is shown in the letters addressed by him, when in deep afSiction, to Dr. Hurd." I have annexed to the King's Letters such notes and illustra- tions as they seemed to me to require, in order to put the readers of them in possession of the circumstances, wherever I could discover them, referred to by the writer. Wherever I have found in any quarter information that threw light upon the King's conduct or opinions, I have extracted it, mostly preferring the words of others to my own. The Notes accord- ingly may be regarded as a " variorum " commentary upon the text of the Letters ; and I have attempted to exhibit in them the opposite sentiments of conflicting parties. The Letters which relate to the American war have their comment in the accompanying notes. To have traced the origin and events of that contest would have far exceeded the « " He was a patron of the arts, after " his fashion ; kind and gracious to the " artists whom he favoured, and re- " Bpeotful to their calling. He wanted " once to establish an order of Minerva " for literary and scientific characters : " the Knights were to take rank after " the Knights of the Bath, and to sport " a straw-coloured ribbon and a star of " sixteen points. But there was such " a row amongst the literati as to the " persons who should be appointed, that " the plan was given up, and Minerva and " her star never came down among us." — Thackeray, ' Four Georges,' p. 139. '' Lord Mahon, Appendix, vol, vii. p. xxxiii. 92 Ixxxviii INTB OB UGTIOK limits of an Introduction, and also been foreign to the purpose of it. I think, however, it may be convenient for readers to have a brief epitome of the principal incidents of that war, as well as a list of the Administrations in which Lord North was a Cabinet Minister. I have not appended particular references to either of these Supplements to 'the Introduction. The opposite views taken of the conduct and policy of England and the United States will be found in Lord Mahon's and Mr. Adolphus's Histories; the 'Annual Eegister' and the 'Parliamentary History;' in Mr. Bancroft's 'History of the United States ' and Mr. Parton's 'Life of Benjamin FrankUn.' The first mention of Americ^an affairs which occurs after the accession of George III. appears in a message from the King, recommending a proper compensation to be made to them for their expenses during the war of 1756." The next is Mr. George Grenville's unfortunate Kesolution, March 9th, 1764, which laid the foundation for the subsequent civil war, viz. — " That towards defraying the said expenses " it may be proper to charge certain stamp-duties on the " said Colonies and Plantations." In February, 1765, this Eesolution passed into a law called the Stamp Act. In his Majesty's Speech at the end of that year, almost the first words that occur are these : that " matters of importance have lately " occurred in some of my Colonies in America." Yet there was but one division during the progress of the Bill, and then the minority did not amount to more than forty. Burke avers that he sat in the gallery during the progress of the Bill, and never heard a more languid debate. — Burke's Works, 8vo., vol. ii. p. 414. In the House of Lords the Act passed without debate, division, or protest. — lb. p. 559. For the disregard in which the Colonies were held at that time, see 'Memoirs of Eockingham,' vol. i. p. 249. So complete a sinecure was the Board of Trade then considered, that a Colonel Bladen, one of the Com- missioners, happening to apply himself to the duties of his » March 14th, 1763. See Adolphus, ' Hist, of England,' Geo. III., 7ol. i. p. 113, INTE OB UCTION. Ixxxix office, the Colonel went by the name of "Trade," while his colleagues were called the " Board." In December, 1765, Mr. Pitt said, " When the Eesolution " was taken in this House to tax America, I was ill in bed : if I " could have endured to have been carried in my bed, so great " was the agitation of my mind for the consequences, I would " have solicited some kind hand to have laid me down on this " floor, to have borne my testimony against it." In February, 1766, Franklin was examined at the bar of the House. He declared that "the authority of Parliament was " allowed to be valid in all laws, except such as should lay " internal taxes : that it was never disputed in laying duties to " regulate commerce : that the Americans would never submit " to the Stamp Act, or to any other tax on the same principle : " that North America would contribute to the support of Great " Britain, if engaged in a war in Europe." In 1766 the Stamp Act was repealed by the Eockingham Ministry, but they unluckily passed a Declaratory Bill also to assert the right of Great Britain to bind the Colonies in all cases whatsoever. In May, 1767, Charles Townshend, Chancellor of the Exche- quer, with the view of pleasing the Country-party by reducing the land-tax, proposed certain small taxes on glass, paper, painters-colours, and tea, to be paid as import duties. The Acts for the purpose passed both Houses without opposition, although Lord Camden to the last protested against the scheme. Lord Chatham was then too ill even to be consulted on the matter. Pownall, who had been Governor in America, uplifted his voice against these irritating taxes, which the deviser of them did not expect would produce for the imperial revenue more than 35,000?. or 40,000Z. a-year. America was greatly agitated in 1768-9, and in 1770 Lord North brought in his Bill to repeal all of these duties except the duty on tea. This he reservecT in order that he might thus practically assert the right of taxing America. The agitation in Massachusetts continued increasing from this period to 1774, when the Boston Port Bill INTBODUCTION. was passed, and the seat of British government transferred to Salem. The first meeting of Congress was held in September 1774. In April 1775 the first blood was shed at the Eaid of Lexington, and in the following June was fought the battle of Bunker's or Breed's Hill. In 1776 General (afterwards Sir William) Howe took possession of New York, and on July 4th of that year the Americans declared themselves Independent, In the autumn of 1777 General Burgoyne and his army surrendered at Saratoga, and this event decided the French Government to join the Americans early in 1778. In 1781 the war virtually came to an end after the capture of Lord Cornwallis and his army, in October, at York-town ; and the Independence of America was acknowledged by Great Britain in the Treaty of Peace concluded at Versailles on the 3rd of September, 1783. ADMINISTEATIONS OF ENGLAND. 1767—1783. 1767. Augustus Henry Duke of Grafton, First Lord of the Treasury. Lord North, Chancellor of the Exchequer. Earl Gower, Lord President. Earl of Chatham, Lord Privy Seal, until October 1768 ; then suc- ceeded by the Earl of Bristol. Earl of Shelburne, Secretary of State for Southern Department. Viscount Weymouth „ for Northern Department. Lord Hillsborough, Secretary for the Colonies (or American Se- cretary). Sir Edward Hawke, Eirst Lord of the Admiralty. Marquis of Granby, Master-General of Ordnance and Commander- in-Chief. Lords Sandwich and Le Despenser, joint Postmasters-General. Lord Camden, Lord Chancellor. William de Grey (afterwards Lord Walsingham), Attorney-General Edward Willes, Solicitor-General. Earl of Hertford, Lord Chamberlain. INTBOBUCTION. 17G8. Viscount WeymoTitli, Secretary for Soutlierii Department, vice Lord Slielburne. Earl of Eockford, Northern Department, vice Lord Weymouth. 1770. Lord North, First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer. Earl Gower, Lord President. Earl of Halifax, Privy Seal. Lord Bochford and Lord \\'eymouth (succeeded by Lord Sandwich), Northern and Southern Departments. Lord Hillsborough, Colonies. Sir Edward Hawke and Marquis of Granby, as in 1767. Sir Gilbert Elliot, Treasurer of the Navy. Lord Barrington, Secretary at War. On Lord Camden's resignation of the Great Seal, it was delivered to the Attorney-General, Charles Yorke ; but he dying before the patent for his peerage, as Lord Morden, was completed, the Seal was put into commission. 1771. Lord Halifax, Secretary of State, vice the Earl of Sandwich, who replaces Sir Edward Hawke in the Admiralty ; and the Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire succeeds Lord Halifax as Privy Seal. In June of this year the Duke of Grafton became Privy Seal, and the Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire Secretary, Southern Department. Mr. Thurlow, Attorney-General. Mr. Wedderburn, Solicitor-General. 1772, Lord Dartmouth succeeds Lord Hillsborough as Secretary for the Colonies (August) ; and Viscount Townshend the Marquis of Granby in the Ordnance. Baron Apsley, afterwards Earl Bathurst, Lord Chancellor. 1775. Viscount Weymouth takes the place of Lord Eochford as Secretary Northern Department. Lord George (Saokville) Germaine becomes Privy Seal. INTBODUCTION. 1778. Lord Thurlow, Lord Chancellor, vice Earl Bathurst. Mr. Wedderbum (Lord Loughborougli 1780), Attorney-General. Mr. Wallace, Solicitor-General. 1779. Lord Stomront, Secretary of State Northern Department. Lord Hillsborough, Southern Department. Earl BathuTBt, Lord President. 1782. Lord North resigns, March 20. Succeeded by the second Rocking- ham Ministry. On the death of Lord Eoctingham, July 2 in this year, the Earl of Shelbume becomes Eirst Lord of the Treasury, and resigns in April,. 1783. Lord North was in neither of these Administrations. 1783 {the " Omlitim Ministry"). Duke of Portland, First Lord of the Treasury. Viscount Stomaont, President of the Council. Earl of Carlisle, Lord Privy Seal. Lord North and Eight Hon. Charles Eox, Home and Foreign Secretaries. Lord John Cavendish, Chancellor of the Exchequer. Viscount Keppel, First Lord of the Admiralty. Viscount Townshend, Master-General of the Ordnance. Eight Hon. Charles Townshend, Treasurer of the Navy. Eight Hon. Edmund Burke, Paymaster. Eight Hon. Eichard Fitzpatrick, Secretary at War. The Great Seal in commission ; Lord Loughborough (Chief Justice of the Common Pleas), First Commissioner. Sir James Wallace, Attorney- General. Mr. John Lee, Solicitor-General. GEOEGE THE THIRD'S LETTERS TO LOED NOETH. Letter 1. ' Queeu's House, Feb. 28th, 1768. 2 ruin. pt. 9 a.m. Lord North, — Nothing can be more honourable for Administration than the division this day, when not expected, and Mr. Dowdeswell will not get great credit for so very weak a manoeuvre. Queen's House, afterwards Buckingliam House, was bought of Sir Charles Sheffield by George the Third in 1761 for 21,000Z., and settled on Queen Charlotte, in lieu of Somerset House, by an Act passed in 1776. Here all the King's children were born, George the Fourth alone excepted. The Queen's House was taken down in 1825 to make room for the present Buckingham Palace. — Cunning- ham^s Handbook of London, p. 86, 2nd ed. The Eight Hon. William Dowdeswell, of Pull Court, in the county of Worcester, was Chancellor of the Exchequer in the first Bockingham Administration, 1765-6. He died at Nice in 1775. For an estimate of his financial abilities, see Sir James Prior's ' Life of Malone,' p. 443 ; and, for his character (by Edmund Burke), Lord Albemarle's ' Memoirs of the Marquis of Eockingham,' vol. i. p. 225. Lord Chatham, who liked not the Eockingham Whigs, used to speak of him as " dull Dowdeswell ; " and Lord Mahon (Hist, of England, vol. v. p. 331) thinks the epithet not ill-bestowed, admitting, however, that Dowdeswell was " upright and well- " informed." The division was probably in a Coimnittee of Ways and Means, but 1 can find no record of its rfeal object. " liettera marked with a single as- terisk have been printed in part by Lord Brougham, Appendix to Sketch of Lord North, Statesmen of the Time of George III., 1858 ed.; and those VOL. I. marked with two asterisks, by Lord Mahon also, now Earl Stanhope, in his History of England from the Fence of Utrecht, &c., fifth ed., 18,58. GEOBGE THE THIBD'S [17 Letter 2. * Queen's House, April 25th, 1768. Lord North, — Thougli entirely confiding in your attachment to my person, as well as in your hatred of every lawless proceeding, yet I think it highly proper to apprize you that the expulsion of Mr. Wilkes appears to be very essential, and must he efiected ; and that I make no doubt, when you lay this affair with your usual precision before the meeting of the gentlemen of the House of Commons this evening, it will meet with the required unanimity and vigour. The case of Mr, Ward," in the reign of my great-grandfather, seems to point out the best method of proceeding on this occa- sion, as it will equally answer whether the Court should by that time have given sentence, or should he be attempting to obtain a writ of error. If there is any man capable of forgetting his criminal writings, I think his speech in the Court of King's Bench, on Wednesday last, reason enough for to go as far as possible to expel him ; for he declared ' l(f umber 45 ' a paper that the author ought to glori/ z?2( and the blasphemous poem 'a mere Itidicrous production. But I will detain you no longer on this subject, and desire you will send me word, when the meeting is over, the result of what has passed, and also how soon you mean to despatch a mes- senger with an account of it to the Duke of Grafton, as I will by the same person send a letter to him. George R. Parliament was dissolved on the 12th of March in this year, and scarcely had the writs for a general election been issued when Jolm « John Ward of Hackney, being convicted of forgery, had been expelled the House in May, 1728. Lord Mahon, Hist, of England, vol. t. p. 227. I" The ' Essay on Woman.' 1768.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NORTH. 3 "Wilkes stepped upon tlie political stage. Ilis appearance was, for certain purposes, admirably timed. There was little or no confidence in public men ; the King was unpopular in the City ; the upper classes were split into two angry factions ; the lower classes were pinched by slackness in trade and the high price of provisions. On his part, Wilkes had every motive for troubling the waters. His situation at Paris, where he had generallj^ resided since his outlawrjr, was become disagreeable. He was deeply involved in debt, and had exhausted his supplies from England. He arrived in the metropolis on the 6th or 7th of February, and was concealed at Mr. Hayley's in Great Alie Street, Goodman's Fields, until the general election came on. He was urged to offer himself for Westminster, but he preferred trying the City, where the Jlinistry was unpopular, and where he was regarded as a martyr to men as bad or worse than him- self. He polled 1247 of the liverymen, but he was in a minority; he immediately offered himself for the county, and the freeholders of Middlesex returned him hj a very large majority. The populace of London was transported with delight ; they made the City ring with shouts of " ^^ ilkes and Liberty," and displayed their zeal by breaking the Earl of Bute's and the Lord Mayor's windows. The new Parliament assembled on the lOth of May ; consequently the Cabinet, at the date of this letter, was consulting how to deal with (he English Clodhis. Two days after it was written, ^\ilkes was in custody of the Marshal of the Kings-Bench Prison. It would be an error to suppose that W ilkes was supported only by the mob. Thousands of respectable electors, if they did not approve the man, applauded the principles he represented, and con- demned the sentence of outlawry under which he was suffering. On this, as on other occasions which will present themselves in these letters, popular violence was really a protest against Parliamentary privilege. A blind instinct was at work in the nation. They felt themselves unrepresented in a Hous^ chosen by family influence on one hand, and open and palpable corruption on the other ; they had not until 1769 the means of expressing their opinions at pub- lic meetings ; they had not representatives in the press ; and accordingly they clustered and clamoured around a man who, in some degree, embodied in his own person their real or supposed grievances. We are enabled to trace pretty nearly Wilkes's progress in public favour. Walpole says, in his 'Memoirs' (vol. iii. p. 187, with which compare his letter to Sir H. Mann, March 31, 1768) : " When " ^^'ilkes first arrived in town, I had seen him pass before my win- " dows in a hackney-chair, attended but by a dozen children and " women ; now, all Westminster was in a riot." Franldin writes B -2 4 GEOBGE THE TEIBD'S [I7fi9. to his son, April 16, 1768: " I went last week to Winchester, and " observed that, for fifteen miles out of town, there was scarce a " door or window- shutter next the road unmarked with 'Wilkes " and Liberty,' and ' Number 45,' and this continued here and " there quite to Winchester, which is sixty-four mUes." Bishop Watson (Anecdotes of the Life of, vol. i. p. 55) says : " I " disliked Mr. Wilkes's mobs, but I did not dislike his cause, judging " that the constitution was violated in the treatment he received " both from the King's ministers and the House of Commons. His '■ case not only made a great noise at home, but was much bruited " abroad ; in cloisters as well as in courts ; amongst monks as well " as politicians. I happened to be at Paris about that time (17()9) ; " and the only question which T was asked by a Carthusian monk, " who showed me his monastery, was, ' whether Monsieur Tilhes or " the King had got the better ? ' " Letter 3. * Queen's House, Jan. 28tli, 1769. 35 min. pt. 9 a.m. Lord North,— Nothing could afford me greater plea- sure than your account of the great majority the last night. I attribute this principally to the ability shown by you, both in planning the measure and in the execu- tion of it. I should be glad if you could call here any time convenient to you before dinner, that I may more fully learn what has passed. On the 27th January Wilkes's petition was taken into considera- tion. Lord North's ability was shown, in the King's opinion, in Ms moving that the petitioner's counsel should confine their argument to two points alone. His reason for so limiting the interposition of the House was plausible. He said that, on all other points, "^VUkes might seek his remedy in the ordinary Courts of Law. " He is " now," said Lord North, " prosecuting in due course of law the " Secretary of State, Lord Halifax, and laying his damages at " 20,000?." The planning divided the Opposition and the supporters of the petition. It appears, from the ' Hardwicke Papers,' that "Wilkes's friends and most of Lord Eockingham's, together with " the young patriots, were for taking in the whole [matter of the 1769.] LETTERS TO LORD NORTH. 5 " petition]. Mr. Grenville thought with Lord North, and defended " the limitation." The motion was carried by a majority of 147 (278—131). Lord Brougham (' Statesmen of the Time of George III.,' p. 67, ed. 1858), however, thinks that this letter refers to the debate upon the resolutions and address to the King respecting the disturbances in America. But 1 cannot reconcile the King's pleasure at Lord North's ability with the debate on American affairs, whereas the minister displayed considerable adroitness in the \Vilkes business. The debate on American disturbances was on the 26th of January. — Parliameniary History, xvi. p. 484. Letter 4. Queen's House, Feb. 2nd, 1769. 24 min. pt. 11 a.m. Lord North, — It gives me great pleasure that you have so far got through the fatiguing business. [I] do not doubt but that this day v^rill finally end it ; at the same time I can not help expressing my uneasiness, least you should suffer by so very close an attendance. The fatiguing lusiness was the debate on AVilkes's Petition. On the 31st of January Wilkes had appeared as a prisoner at the bar of the House. On the next day the House agreed without a di^dsion that the petitioner had not made good the two allegations upon which he had been heard, and that his petition was frivolous. On the 2nd of February he was again at the bar on a charge of breach of privilege, viz. the publication by him, with comments thereon, of a letter addressed by Lord Weymouth, one of the Secretaries of State, to the Surrey magistrates, previous to the riots in St. George's Fields — May 10, 1768 — urging upon them the necessity of vigour and activity. \\'ilkes avowed himself the author of the comments, and claimed the thanks of his country for having made public " Weymouth's bloody scroll." The House however, far from thanking him, resolved by a majority of 103 (239 — 136) that he had been guilty of publishing " an insolent, scandalous, and sedi- " tious libel ;" and on the following day (Feb. 3), on a motion by Lord Barrington, expelled him the House. A long and vehement debate ensued upon this motion ; but it was carried at two o'clock in the morning of the 4th by a majority of 82 (219 — 137). Horace GEOBGE THE THIBD'S [ma AValpole, shrewder than the majority, thought "that, considering " Wilkes's vitter want of parliamentary ability, the House of Com- " mons was the very place where he could do the least mischief.'' (H. ^^'alpole to Sir H. Mann, March 31, 1768.) Letter 5. * Queen's House, Feb, 3rd, ITJO. 5 min. pt. 11 a.m. Lord Nortit, — Nothing could be more honourable for Grovernment than the conclusion of the debate this morning, and promises a very proper end of this irk- some affair this day : I cannot help at the same time expressing some surprise at the very inconsistent part of some of those who opposed on this debate who had supported the day before. " On Lord Harrington's motion for the expulsion of Mr. Wilies, " which was carried by 219 against 137 : the resolution, moved by " the Attorney-General de Grey, of censure on Mr. AVilkes for a " seditious libel, having been carried the day before by 239 against " 136." (Lord Brougham's note, ib. p. 67.; In the words, " very inconsistent part," &c., the King probably refers to the votes of Mr. Grenville and some of his immediate fol- lowers, and to the circumstance of the Solicitor-General (Dunning) and Lieut.-General Conway having absented themselves from the division. Prudent men began to perceive that the House was pushing matters too far — making Parliament odious and Wilkes popular. Letter 6. * Queen's House, March 31st, 1769. 46 min. pt. 3 p.m. Lord Nokth, ~~ I have this instant heard that the grand jury have refused to find bills against any of the persons concerned in the audacious tumult at St. James's on the 22nd, although Sir Alexander 1769.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 7 Grilmour and one of the justices swore to the two men that had struck them in the execution of their offices. This seems so extraordinary that I desire you will enquire into it, and send me a full account of what has passed. Wilkes, after his expulsion from the House on the 4th of Febru- aiy, announced his intention to offer himself again for Middlesex, saying with truth, as well as point, in his " Address to the Free- '■ holders," that, " if once the Ministiy shall be permitted to say " whom the freeholders shall not choose, the next step will be to " tell them whom thej shall choose." ('Ann. Eegister,' 1769, vol. xii. p. 65). The event justified his boast that " no ministerial candidate " would have a chance against him." On the 16th of February he was re-elected without opposition. On the 17th, on a motion by Lord Strange, he was declared " incapable of being elected a member " to serve in the present Parliament" by a majority of 146 (235- 89). On the 10th of March he was again returned for Middlesex. On the 22nd of that month occurred " the audacious tumult at " St. James's," mentioned in Letters 5-7. After the division on the 17th of February the supporters of the Government in the City and the adjoining counties got up demonstrations in its favour as a set-off against the public meetings on behalf of Wilkes, or rather on that of freedom of election. Essex led the wa}% and Essex, as Horace W'alpole observes, "being the great county for calves, it " produced nothing but ridicule." At length, after some disappointments of the ministerialist party and much tumult in London, an Address, helped, it was said, by money from the Treasury, was prepared and presented to the King on the 22nd of Jlarch. The original procession indeed — consisting of six hundred merchants and other loyal and sanguine persons — did not reach St. James's Palace, for two-thirds of its members, maltreated by the W ilkite mob, did not pass the straits of Temple Bar. The valiant residue collected again west of the City-barrier, and arrived in very evil plight at St. James's Palace. Here the tumult surged higher than ever. jMore than once the Address itself narrowly escaped falling into the clutches of its enemies. The chairman of the deputation, who was to have presented it, drenched, blinded, and coated with mud, could not enter the Presence Chamber. Lord- Steward Talbot quitted himself valiantly, and arrested two of the rioters, but his wand of office was broken, and himself forced back into the Palace by fiicnds in the rear and by foes in front. At length, after the King, his ministers and lords-in-waiting, had GEOBGE THE THIBD'S [1769. been kept woiidermg for some hours, the Address got upstairs, was read and answered. The mob somewhat tardily was dispersed by a company of the Guards, and fifteen of them were sent to gaol, but the grand jury of Middlesex refused to fi.nd bills of indictment against them. Prom the following anecdote it would appear that the signatures to the Merchants' Address were not very strictly scrutinised. Mr. Whately writes to Mr. Grenville on March 30, 1769 : — " Among the Merchant Addresses, of which a list was so pomp- " ously inserted in the Gazette, I saw the name of Thomas Broughton, " Esq., and had the curiosity to ask whether that was the Tom " Broughton who was once my father's livery servant, then kept a " punch-house, and is now a broker. The answer I received was, " that, although there were some veiy good names amongst them, " there were not fifty better than Tom Broughton's ; aud that many " were used to see their names in the Gazette, having appeared there '; before, some of them more than once, as bankrupts." (' Grenville Papers,' vol. iv. p. 420.) Tom Broughton had as much right to subscribe to the Address as his betters : but such anecdotes are valuable, as showing that there was a Court-mob as well as a Wilkes-mob, though we hear more of the one than of the other. See 'Franklin's Memoirs and Correspondence,' vol. ii. p. 161, for an account of the Wilkes riots on the 28th of March. Letter 7. *,Queen's House, March 3Iet, 1769. 20 min. pt. 11 p.m. Lord North, — The short state of the bills preferred this day, which I have just received from you, manifests the factious and partial conduct of the grand jury. If there is no means by law to quell riots, and if juries forget they are on their oath to be guided by facts, not faction, this constitution must be overthrown, and anarchy (the most terrible of all evils) must ensue; it therefore behoves every honest man with vigour to stand forth, and by such methods as may seem most effectual to give elasticity to the springs of Government. 17()9.] LETTERS TO LOBD NOBTH. I am ready to take any forward path that the present crisis may require, and I trust that every man not ab- sorbed in faction will now firmly unite to crush this party that aim at the very vitals of all government ; as to your zeal and firmness I know I can thoroughly rely on them. Letter 8. * Queen's House, April 16th, 1769. 27 min. pt. 11 a.m. Lord North,— The House of Commons having in so spirited a manner felt what they owe to their own pri- vileges, as well as to the good order of this county and metropolis, gives me great satisfaction, and must greatly tend to destroy that outrageous licentiousness that has been so successfully raised by wicked and disappointed men ; but whilst I commend this, I cannot omit ex- pressing my thorough conviction that this was chiefly owing to the spirit and good conduct you have shown during the whole of this unpleasant business. On Saturday the 15th of April it was moved by Mr. Onslow, " That Henry Lawes Luttrell, Esq.," ought to have been returned a " knight of the shire to serve in this present Parliament for the county " of Middlesex.'' The division took place at three o'clock on Sunday morning, when the majority for Ministers was 54 (197-143). Letter 9. ' Queen's House, May 9tli, 1769. 38 min. pt. 10 a.m. Lord North, — I received early this morning your account of the very honourable issue of yesterday's de- " Colonel Luttrell, eldest sou of the lately-created Irish peer Lord Irnluuii, vacated his seat for Bossiney, and offered himself for Middlesex. The result of the poll was, for Mr. Wilkes, 1143 ; for Colonel Luttrell, 296. 10 GEOBOE THE THIRD'S [hto. bate, and have this instant received the list of the speakers. The House of Commons has with becoming dignity supported their own privileges, without which they cannot subsist ; it is now my dut}^ with firmness to see the laws obeyed, which I trust will by degrees restore good order, without which no State can flourish. On tlie 8tli of May a petition from the freeholders of Middlesex praying the House of Commons to lescind their motion of April 15th in favour of Colonel Luttrell's return, and to admit Mr. A\ ilkes to his seat, was discussed and counsel heard upon it. After the debate the election of Luttrell was confirmed by a majority of 69 (221-152). See Lord Brougham's note, id. p. 68. Lord Temple, reporting the debate to the Countess of Chatham, writes (' Chatham Correspondence,' vol. iii. p. 357), " Yesterday " turned out again a most glorious day ; not the shadow of an argu- " ment in favour of disqualification, by precedent or otherwise. " A\'edderburne made a most excellent speech with us. It has cost " him his seat in Parliament ; which he has this day vacated, in con- " sequence of Sir Lawrence Dundas's reproaches and desire, from " what I think too generous a delicac}'. The numbers were 221 to " 1 52 ; the greatest minority, I believe, ever known the last day of " a session." Letter 10. * Queen's House, Jan. 7tli, 1770. 5 luiu. pt. 8 p.m. Lord North, — I am so desirous that every man in my service that can with propriety take part in the debate on Tuesday should speak, that I desire you will very strongly ^^ress Sir Gilbert Elliott and any others that have not taken in the last session so forward a part as their abilities make them capable of, and I have no objection to your adding that I have particularly directed you to speak to them on this occasion. 1770.] LETTERS TO LORD NORTH. ' 11 " Tuesday, 9tli January, on the opening of the third Session of the " thirteenth Parliament. The Address was carried by 254 against " 138. In this debate Fox spoke and voted with the Government, " and soon afterwards was appointed a Lord of the Admiralty." — Lord Brougham, ib. p, 68. " The King's Speech began by lamenting a distemper which had " lately broken out among the horned cattle of the kingdom, and " towards the ohecK'ing of which some measures had been taken by " the Privy Council without the assent of Parliament. Blueh lidicule " at the time was showered upon this rcfe: once in the Eoyal Speech ; " and Junius (Letter xxxvi., Febrn.iiy 14, 1770) charged the Duke " of Grafton with having put into his mouth not the true sentiments '■ of a king, but rather 'the misery of a ruined grazier.'" In IL-'CG we shall probably think the clause in the speech of some importance, and the sarcasm of Junius misplaced. If Almon may be believed, there was also some mistimed mirth in the House of Lords. There had been a fair crop of divorces in the previous year, among them those of Lord Grosvenor and the Duke of Grafton ; and when the King made mention of the horned cattle these " two witty peers " bowed to each other. (Lord Mahon's ' Hist, of England,' vol. v. p. 370.) The ' London Gazette ' at this period contains the orders issued by the Privy Coimcil, which it is interesting to compare with the orders in 1865-6. In the last century the murrain quitted Britain when it thought fit — not sooner. Ko remedy was discovered then, and the most efficient treatment seems to have been — surgical. Sir Gilbert Elliot of Minto, father of the first Earl of Minto, was an active member of the Court party, and had stood high in the favour of Lord Bute. He was a Lord of the Admiralty, 1756 ; Trea- surer of the Chamber, 1762 ; Keeper of the Signet for Scotland, 1707 ; and Treasurer of the Navy, 1770. He died in 1 771. Sir Walter Scott (' Lay of the Last Slinstrel,' cant. i. note ix.) commends Sir Gilbert's pastoral song, " My sheep I neglected, I broke my sheep-hook." L E T T E R 11. * * Queen's Houae, Jan. 2:^rd, 1770. 40 mill. pt. 10 a.m. Lord North, — After seeing you last night, I saw Lord Weymoutli, who, by my direction, will wait on }-ou with Lord Gower this morning to press you in the 12 GEOBGE THE THIBD'S [1770. \ _ strongest manner to accept the office of First Commis- sioner of the Treasury ; my own mind is more and more strengthened with the rightness of the measure that would prevent every other desertion. You must easily see that if you do not accept I have no peer at present in my service that I could consent to place in the Duke of Grafton's employment. Whatever you may think, do not take any decision, unless it is the one of instantly accepting, without a farther conversation with me. And as to the other arrangements, you may hear what others think, but keep your own opinion till I have seen you. The Duke of Grafton resigned tlie office of First Lord of the Treasury on the evening of the 28th of January. For the possible motives of his resignation see Introduction. Letter 12. * * Queen's House, Jan. 29th, 1770. 30 miu. pt. 9 a.m. LoKD North, — I hoj)e you will either this morning or after the debate in the House of Commons see Lieu- tenant-General Conway," for I know how much he is pleased at little marks of attention, and that by placing some confidence in him you may rely on his warm support. I wish by a line to be informed how you found Lord Mansfield last night, and whether you had any conversation with Lord Chief Justice Wilmot. * He had a seat in the Cabinet but without office, and resigned it on Lord North's becoming Firat Lord of the Treasury. ,1770.] LETTEB8 TO LORD NOBTH. 13 Letter 13. * Queen's House, Feb. 1st, 1770. 35 min. pfc. 5 p.m. Lord North, — In consequence of my accpainting the Duke of Grafton with the propriety of Colonel Fitzroy's" now deciding whether he chooses to accept the office of Vice-Chamberlain, the Colonel has been with me, and has in the hansomest (sic) manner declined ; you will therefore loose (sic) no time in sounding Mr. Eobinson. Letter 14. * * Queen's House, Feb. 1st, 1770. Lord North, — I am greatly rejoiced at the con- clusion of the debate. A majority of 40 at this particular crisis, considering it is upon the old ground that has been at least ten times before the House, is a very favourable auspice on your taking the lead in adminis- tration. Believe me, a little spirit will soon restore a degree of order in my service. I am glad to find Sir Gilbert Elliott has again spoke. " On the 31st of January, the House iiaving again resolved itself " into a committee on the state of the nation, Mr. Dowdeswell moved, " That by the law of the land, and the known law and usage of Pav- " liament, no person eligible by common right can be incapacitated " by vote or resolution of this House, but by Act of Parliament only.'' (' Pari. Hist.' vol. xvi. p. 800, an. 1770.) The majority was somewhat larger than His Majesty reports it, viz. 45 (226—81). Sir Gilbert Elliot ('Pari. Hist.' ib. 106) "spoke warmly and with " some relation to the question ; he concluded by saying that there " seemed to be a combination to sweep away the old furniture of * Colonel Fitzroy was one of the Rockingham Whigs. See Memoirs of Rocking- ham, Yol. i. p. 219. 14 GEOBOE THE THIBD'S [1770. " St. James's, and to sweep away that Ilouse." Lord Eockingham, imparting the division to Lord Chatham, writes, — " Lord Chatham " will not be much surprised at this majority, as his lordship must " have seen for some years that it is neither men nor measures, ". but something else, which operates in these times.'' (' Chatham Correspond.' vol. iii. p. 414.) Colonel Barre, in the course of the debate, compared the State to a vessel in a storm which had parted with her mainmast (the Duke of Grafton), and was trying to scud under a jurymast (Lord North). Lord North admitted that the storm was great, but told the Opposition that the ship was not yet compelled to hang out distress lights for pilots, and that her own crew was quite able to bring her iato port. Letter 15. * Queen'.? House, Feb. 1 2th, 1770. 28 miu. pt. 10 p.m. LoiiD North, — As the question proiJosed by Mr. Dowdeswell was well calculated to catch many persons, I think it has been rejected by a very handsome majority." Letter 16. *Queeu's House, Feb. 16th, 1770. _ 48 min. pt. 10 p.m. Lord North, — Your information of what has passed this day in the House of Commons does not do Oppo- sition great honour ; I wish to know in what manner Sir Lawrence Dundas has received the an.swer I author- ised you to give him in consequence of his very unrea- sonable and unseasonable application. I suppose you do not wish Mr. Robinson should vacate his seat until the debate of Monday is over. Lord Weymouth ac- " Mr. Dowdeswell moved in a Com- mittee of the whole House that a Bill be brought in " For disqualifying cer- tain Officers in the Revenue from voting for Members of Parliament." The ma- jority against his '■ question " was 75 (263—188). 1770] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 16 quainted me with his intending to wait on you to- morrow previous to the rest of the company that are to dine with you, to talk over the Irish affairs. He proposes saying, that as he understands Lord Townshend would dislike resigning the Lord-Lieutenancy, that he cannot advise the pressing him on that subject ; in con- sequence of that I should think Lord Halifax a very proper person to be apjsointed Privy Seal ; I wish you would in general open the intended arrangements to him, which will be kindly taken. The proper business before the House on this day was that the Eesolution declaring Wilkes incapable of being elected to serve in the present Parliament, was agreeable to the law of the land and the custoni of Parliament, and the division on it was 237 against ] 69. But this happened not to be the business that engrossed the House. The new Speaker, Sir Fletcher Norton, Solicitor-General (1762), had a controversy with Sir W'iUiam Meredith ; the House demanded that the Speaker's " words be taken down." (See Hatsell's ' Precedents of Proceedings in House of Commons.' Hatsell was the clerk who took the words down.) A general uproar ensued : the Opposition attacked the Speaker with vehemence; the Ministry de- fended him. Mr. Dowdeswell moved that the Speaker be censured. His motion was lost. Mr. George Grenville and Colonel Barre were conspicuous for their denunciations of Sir Fletcher Norton's language. This episodical debate lasted from four to nearly ten o'clock in the evening. Letter 17. Queen's House, Feb. 19th, 1770. 5.T min. pt. 2 p.m. Lord North, — If the House is up as early this even- ing as it has been of late, I desire you will direct Mr. Robinson to come at any time before half-hour past ten ; if that cannot be, I shall send the key to you ill the morning, that in case any question should be 16 GEOBGE THE THIBD'S [1770. asked whether he has the possession of it when his writ is moved, that it may be answered in the affirma- tive, and in that case you will appoint him to be with me at half-hour past three. The Honourable Thomas Eobinson, eldest son of Lord Grantham ■was a The Hon. Henry Frederick Thynue [Carteret Haydn],second son of Viscount Weymouth by Lady Louisa Carteret. Mr. Tliynne was now appointed joint Postmaster with Francis Lord Le De- spencer, which office he retained until 1789. In 1784 he was created Baron Carteret, and died in 1826 at the age of ninety-one. (Chatham Correspond., vol. iv. p. 63.) 1770.] LETTEBS TO LORD NORTH.. 47 it Hamburgh, as it confirms my opinion that we shall lot have such offers from the Court of Spain as can inahle me to preserve to my subjects the blessing of )eace. " On the 21st of December a messenger was despatcted to Spain ' to recall our minister, Mr. Harris, and to intimate to the English ' merchants and commanders of ships that it might be expedient for ' them to leave the Spanish ports immediately. This conduct, but ' certainly still more the political changes in France during the ' month of December, brought these long negotiations to a close. ' The Duke de Choiseul, whose voice was for war, was supplanted, ' through Madame du Barry's influence, by a pacific prime-minister, ' the Duke d'Aiguillon ; and Louis the Fifteenth wrote to the King ' of Spain (Charles the Third), with his own hand, 'My minister ' would have war, but I will not.' The Spanish Government knew ' that, without the co-operation of France, they were unable to main- ' tain a war against England. The King of Spain commanded ' Grimaldi to send immediate instructions to Prince de Masserano ' in London to accept the proposals of the British Cabinet. Port ' Egmont was restored ; but, though war was for the present post- ' poned, the convention with Spain was far from giving general ■ satisfaction in England. As soon as Parliament met in the follow- ' ing year the Falkland Islands question became again the subject ' of vivid discussion." — 'Pict. Hist. George III.,' vol. i. p. 108. Parliament reassembled on the 22nd of January. During the 'eoess the following changes took place in the Cabinet and among he Law Officers of the Crown. The Great Seal, which had been in commission since the death )f Mr. Charles Yorke (see 'Mem. of Eockingham,' vol. ii. pp. 156- ^66), Januai720, 1770, was conferred upon the Hon. Henry Bathurst, lyho took the title of Baron Apsley. He was a puisne judge when le became Lord Chancellor, was hardly distinguished in his pro- ession, and was a person of no political note. Lord Sandwich, a Bedford Whig, replaced Sir Edward Hawke at the head of the Vdmiralty Board, bringing to the Cabinet good abilities and bad ■epute. Lord Halifax succeeded Lord Sandwich as Secretary of )tate for the Northern Seals, and gave up the Privy Seal to the Sari of Suffolk. Mr. De Grey (Attorney-General) became Chief- justice of the Common Pleas, and Thurlow Attorney-General. Mr. "edderburne was made Solicitor-General. Several members of wth Houses, who had been personally attached to the late George 48 OEOBGE THE THIBD'S [1770. Grenville, and yiolent in Opposition, now, their leader being gone, went over to the Ministerial henclies. Thnrlow and Wedderbume were the real gains to the North Administration. For a brief yet fuU account of this remarkable pair of political lawyers, see Lord Mahon's ' History,' vol. v. pp. 293-299, where every needftd refer- ence to their history is given. Compare also ' Memoirs of Eocking- ham,' vol. ii. pp. 109, 198. Lord Halifax, who had been Secretary of State when Lord Bute was Prime Minister, died on the 8th of June in. this year. He was replaced by the Earl of Suffolk, and the Duke of Grafton, repenting of his resignation in January, 1770, rejoined the Cabinet as Privy Seal. Mr. Massey, ' Hist, of England,' ii. p. 70, observes, " that after " an arduous struggle of ten years the King had at length pre- " vailed over the "Whig oligarchy. When Parliament assembled at " the commencement of 1771, the Opposition, which had been con- " certed with so much pains and assumed so formidable an appear- " ance only a year before, was almost dissolved. The Bedford party " had lost its chief, and its principal members were attached to the " Administration. The Grenville connection was dispersed. Lord " Temple, after the death of his brother, retired from public hfe. " Lord Suffolk, next to Lord Temple in importance, took ofBce in " the Government. The Eockingham party hardly kept up the " semblance of co-operation with Chatham and his friends ; instead " of seeking to remove grounds of difference, the various sections " of Opposition, untaught by the experience of the last ten years, " were still engaged in cultivating jealousies among themselves, " and in detaching partisans not from the Court, but from each " other." ' Of these changes none excited so much attention as Wedder- burne's attraction into the North Cabinet. Yet, as Mr. Massey observes, " men of ambition and ability can hardly be blamed for " deserting the fortunes of an Opposition so hopeless as this.'"' Circumstances, however, rendered his defection remarkable. He had been conspicuous on the popular side of the great question of electoral rights. The part he took in that controversy had obliged liiTTi to resign his seat for Eichmond, Yorkshire, because the patron, " The private correspondence of the period abounds with proofs of these miserable intrigues. See for some of the new appointments, Chatham Corre- spond., vol. iv. pp. 63-5, 72-5, 8, 81. The Duke of Richmond, writing to Lord Rockingham, December, 1770, says that " Camden is dissatisfied with Chatham, and thinks that with a little manage- ment we shall have him."— Massey, Hist, of England, 1. c. !> Dunning, late Solicitor-General, if he had deserted the Opposition, would have been Lord Chancellor. But he preferred the stuif-gown of a junior barrister and independence to the Seals and subservience. 771.] LETTEB8 TO LORD NOBTR. 49 r Lawrence Dundas, to whom lie owed it, was on the opposite le. " At a great dinner of the Opposition," says Mr. Massey, " at the Thatched House, in May, 1769, he had received the honours jf martyrdom. Among the one-and-twenty toasts given on that occasion, none was received with greater applause than ' The Steward of the Chiltem Hundreds — Mr. Wedderburne.' " Lord Borge Cavendish, on the part of the Whigs, proposed this toast. )rd-Mayor Beckford, on the part of the City, presented him with e freedom of it in a golden box. He was returned to Parliament r Bishop's Castle by Lord Clive, the Indian hero. Almost up to 16 moment of his taking the oaths as Solicitor-General, he was in ose correspondence with the Opposition leaders. " This must be confessed," says Lord Campbell (' Lives of the Chancellors,' vi. p.- I), " to be one of the most flagrant cases of ratting recorded in our irty annals.'' Letter 63. * Queen's House, January 13th, 1771. 46 min. pt. 7 p.m. Lord NoktH, — Not having heard anything of Lord uffolk since Friday, I am desirous of hearing whether ou have not yet seen him. A thought has occurred ) me, if he cannot speak French, which is an absohite equisite for one who's to treat with foreign Ministers, whether Lord Rochford could not transact the whole apartment of Foreign Affairs, which is "the case in very other Court, and then Lord Suffolk might have he Home Department, which would be composed of 11 domestick affairs, with the addition of Scotland and reland. Henry Howard, twelfth Earl of Suffolk and fifth Earl of Berk- bire; on the death of the Earl of Effingham, in 1763, he was ominated by the Duke of Norfolk Deputy Earl Marshal of Sngland. Lord Suffolk (' Grenville Papers,' vol. iv. p. 529) announces to barl Temple his having " kissed the King's hands this morning," anuary 22, 1771. Earl Temple's reply immediately follows. See VOL. I. 15 50 GEORGE THE THIBD'S [1771, also Introductory Notes to 3rd volume of these Papers. Lord Camden is " not surprised but grieved " at Lord Suffolk's and the other appointments to vacant offices : Lord Chatham pronounces " the " part of Wedderburne deplorable ; of Lord Suffolk pitiable." (' Cor- respond.,' iv. pp. 72, 77 ; Lord Mahon, v. p. 292.) Junius (Letter xlii. — Bohn's ed. — January 30, 1771) severely criticises Lord Kochford's French, convicting him in three Hnes of " seven false concords ! " His Lordship, however, had been Ambas- sador to France, 1766-7, where he is said to have quarrelled with the first Minister, the Duke de Choiseul. Junius may underrate Lord Eochford's knowledge of the French language. He may have spoken it fluently, written it barbarously — ^no uncommon case. Letter 64. * Queen's House, Jan. 16th, 1771. 25 min. pt. 1 a.m. Lord North, — If Lord Halifax is desirous of the Northern Seals, I can have no objection to it, though, had I been in his situation and of his age, I should have preferred his motto'.* You will in consequence acquaint the Secretaries with this ; let Lord Rochford order a Council for swearing in Lord Halifax and Lord Suffolk, and let the Seals of the Privy Seal and of the Northern Secretary be delivered this day. Letter 65. Queen's House, Jan. 16th, 1771. 56 min. pt. 11 a.m. Lord North, — To prevent future mistakes in this business, I am willing to give the Northern Seals either to Lord Suffolk or Lord Halifax ; the longer delaying the arrangement I think disgraceful to my service, and therefore expect that, whichever accepts them, it he done this day. " " Otium cum dignitate." 771.] LETTERS TO LOBD NOBTH. 61 Gerald Hamilton, -WTiting to Mr. Oaloraft (' Chatlmm Correspond.,' 1. iv. p. 69, note), says, " On \V'ednesday Lord Suffolk was to bave kissed hands for Privy Seal, and Lord Halifax for Secretary ai State ; but in tis way to Court Lord Suffolk happened to call on Lord North, and ask him if Wedderbnrne was to kiss hands as Attorney upon the same day ; and upon Lord North's inform- ing him that Wedderburne's promotion was what he exceedingly wished, but could not accomplish. Lord Suffolk refused to accept ; and in the evening he was informed by a note from Lord North that the King had ordered him to make an offer of the Seals to Lord Dartmouth, who refused them. Since which I have been told they have been offered to Lord Hardwiche. The negotiation, how- ever, is renewed with Lord Suffolk, and at his own desire ; and I think that the arrangement formerly intended will now take place, as far as relates to him, but not to Wedderburne.'' Though a pompous and shallow man," the accession of Lord Suffolk to the orth Ministry was much prized, because, since the death of George renville, he had been looked upon by many of the Grenville party i their chief (Lord Mahon, v. p. 293.) Letter Q'o. * Queen's House, Jan. 16th, 1771. 10 min. pt. 5 p.m. Lord North, — As Lord Hardwicke has declined ccepting the Northern Seals, I desire yon will this vening call on Lord Dartmouth with the same offer, rhich I hope will be early enough for me to hear his nswer to-night. January 24. — " His Majesty having been pleased to deliver the custody of the Privy Seal to the Eight Hon. Henry Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire, his Lordship was thereupon by His Majesty's com- mand sworn of His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, and took his place at the Board." The Right Hon. George Montagu Dunk, Earl of Halifax, was this ly sworn one of His Majesty's principal Secretaries of State. (' Ann. Agister,' January, 1771, vol. xiv. p. 71.) See Letters 96, 97. His eath is recorded in the ' Ann. Eeg.,' ib. June 8. E 2 52 GEOBGE THE THIBD'S [I77I. Letter 67. * Queen's House, Jan. 17th, 1771. 3 min. pt. 9 a.m. Lord North, — It gives me much pleasure that Lord Dartmouth has desired time to consider whether he will accept of the Seals of Secretary of State, as it shows that inclination to my service that gives me personal satisfaction when it comes from a man of his excellent character. Of William Legge, Earl of Dartmouth, Eichardson, wlien asked if lie knew an original answerable to his ' portrait of Sir Charles Grandison, said it might he applied to Mm, were he not a Methodist. Cowper in his poem of ' Truth' alludes to him : — "We boast some rich ones whom the Gospel sways, And one who wears a coronet, and prays." And the poet's attention was called to Lord Dartmouth not merely by the fact that he was patron of the liying of Olney, and sometimes visited that toWn, but also by that of their having sat side by side in the sixth form at Westminster (1 741-45). Lord Dartmouth did not forget his old schoolfellow when the latter announced his in- tention of publishing a translation of Homer in 1784. (See Southe/s 'Life of Cowper,' vol. i. pp. 20, 243; vol. ii. p. 243; 'Memoirs of Hannah More,' vol. iii. p. 78.) In the following year (August 14, 1772) Lord Dartmouth suc- ceeded Lord Hillsborough as American Secretary of State, and in November, 1776, replaced the Duke of Grafton as Privy Seal. "No " member of the Ministry, and this was acknowledged on all sides, " had more upright or candid views or a more earnest desire to " conciliate the Colonies." (Lord Mahon's ' Hist, of England,' vol. v. p. 320.) Lord Orford says that he " spoke with decency and pro- " priety " iu the House of Lords. (' Mem. Geo. III.,' vol. i. p. 253.) A man of his excellent character. — " The King sometimes observes " to Mr. GrenvUle that there are not among his servants too many " people of decent and orderly characters ; that Lord Hertford is " respectable in that light, and therefore not lightly to he cast " aside." (' Grenville Papers,' ii. 514.) r7i.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NORTH. 53 Letter 68. Queen's House, Jan. 22nd, 1771. 20 min. pt. 10 p.m. Lord North, — Least I should not have clearly enough is day fixed with [youj that Mr. Justice Bathurst is -morrow to receive the Great Seal, I write now that ere may he no mistake ; you will therefore order him id the other two Commissioners to attend with the 3al. January 23.—" The Hon. Mr. Justice Bathurst kissed His Majesty's band on being appointed Lord Chancellor, and on being created a, Baron, by the title of Baron Apsley, of Apsley in Sussex." Ann. Eegister,' 1771, vol. xiv. p. 71.) He succeeded his father Earl Bathurst in 1775, when he resigned the Great Seal. On ithurst taking his seat on the Woolsack, January 25, Lord Chatham ys, " The Kew Great Seal looked like the sun shorn of his beams." Correspond.,' iv. p. 88.) Letter 69. '* Queen's House, Jan. 23rd, 1771. 43 min. pt. 8 a.m. Lord North, — If anything was wanting to confirm y opinion of the worth and disinterestedness of Lord hief-Justice Wilmot, his nohle conduct upon this occa- on must establish it ; as that was not the case, it only Ids to my sorrow at loosing [sic] a man of so much Dnour, which is a little contracted by what you mention ■ his intended successor. I am clear that the pension ight to be 2000/. per annum. Lord Chief-Justice Wilmot.—" Yesterday " (January 22, 1771) " Lord Chief-Justice WUmot took his leave of the Court, and made such a moving speech ' on the occasion as drew tears from some of the Judges and Counsel, he being known to be a gentleman of the greatest probity and honesty, and never to be biassed on any account whatever, and who had always acted with the strictest honour and justice.'' 54 GEOBGE TEE TEIBD'S [1771. March. — " A grant has passed the Seal of 2400Z. per annum to be " paid quarterly to the late Lord Chief-Justice WUmot." (' Ann. Eegister,' vol. xiv. pp. 71, 88.) His successor was the Attorney-General, Sir William de Grey, afterwards Lord Walsingham. Letter 70. Queen's House, Jan. 28th, 1771. 30 min.' pt. 6 p.m. Lord North, — As the only proper candidates for the Vice-Chamberlains were Lord Hinchinbrooke* and Lord Garlies, I have decided in favour of the former, and have acquainted Lord Sandwich that I shall appoint his son as soon as it may suit the County Court. I have had much conversation on the fleet with Lord Howe, whom I find, in opinion, a 'great enemy to guard- ships'" on the late plan, and wishing to see, whenever the peace establishment is adopted, a fleet of ten or twelve ships of the line fully manned, as a greater security, and more easily put in motion. I merely mention this that you may be apprised of both sides of the question before it is the subject of deliberation. Letter 71. Queen's House, Feb. 1st, 1771. Lord North, — I have learnt from Lord Talbot that the Mr. Watts who is recommended by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London for the'.pulpit » " St. James, February 6. — This day " the Right Honourable John Montagu, " commonly called Lord Viscount " JUnchinbrooh, had the honour to kiss " the King's baud on being appointed " Vice-Chamberlain to his Majesty." — London Gazette, 1771, February 5-9, No. 11,116. '■ lu being "a, great enemy to guard- " ships on the late plau," Lord Howe coincided with Lord Chatham. New- castle crippled the British navy by em- ploying a large portion of it merely in defence of harbours at home. 1771.] LETTEBS TO LORD NORTH.. 55 at the Temple is the person I imagined ; he is one of my chaplains, a man of great abilities, and, from my knowledge of him, an excellent preacher ; I therefore consent to his appointment, which you will direct to be prepared. See Letter 79, note. Letter 72. * Queen's House, Feb. 4th, 1771. 23 min. pt. 9 p.m. Lord North, — After the very open communication that has this day [been] made to Parliament of the entire transaction on the dispute with Spain, Mr. Sey- mour's motion has no appearance of candour, and cannot consequently do honour to the supporters of it, but be advantageous to Administration, as it showed so great a majority in their favour. A motion was made, " That an humble Address he presented to His " Majesty that he will he graciously pleased to give directions that " this House be informed whether the Court of France did interfere " in the late negociation with the Court of Spain, relating to the " restitution of Falkland's Islands," &c. — Tellers, Mr. Seymour, Lord John Cavendish. Majority, 116. — Commons' Joiirnals, 1771. Feb. 11°. Letter 73. * Queen's House, Feb. 11th, 1771. 35 min. pt. 9 p.m. - Lord North, — What has passed this day in the House of Commons is a fresh proof that truth, justice, and even honour, are constantly to be given up when- ever they relate to Sir James Lowther ; though this cannot please you, yet it does no ways regard Adminis- tration. 56 GEORGE THE THIBD'S [1771. " This letter refers to Sir William Meredith's motion for leave to " bring in a Bill to repeal a clause in tlie Nullum Tempus Act, giving " parties twelve months to sue, notwithstanding the Act, of which " clause Sir James Lowther had taken advantage by commencing or " giving notice of a great number of actions. Ministers opposed the " motion, but were defeated by a majority of 29 (152-123). They " were also on the 20th of February (see Letter 76) defeated on the •' second reading of the Bill by 15 (155-140). On the 27th of " February the Bill was lost by 10 (164-154) on the motion that " the House go into Committee, Mr. Fox and Lord North strongly " opposing the Bill ; the former defended Sir James Lowther's title, " and the latter pronounced a warm panegyric upon him." Lord Brougham's note on this letter, ' Historical Sketches,' vol. i. p. 74, 1858. Comp. Pari. Hist. xvii. p. 1. This was called the Ghurch Nullum Tempus Bill, the object of which was to secure the posses- sions of the subject against dormant claims of the Church. Lord Mahon, v. p. 302. Sir James Lowther in the following year dis- pleased his Majesty by taking part with his royal brothers the Dukes of Gloucester and Cumberland. At the date of this letter he was unpopular from his connexion with Lord Bute, whose eldest daughter he had married. For a character of Sir James see ' Rock- ingham Memoirs,' vol. ii. p. 69. Letter 74. St. James's, Feb. 13th, 1771, 15 min. pt. m. Lord North, — I perfectly approve of Monday next for investing Mr. Payne with the Order of the Bath. You may acquaint Lieutenant-General Montague that he will at the same time have the other vacant ribband, and you will apprise Mr. Whitehead of both. "St. James, February 18. — The Sovereign having put on the " ribbon, Mr. HUl, Scarlet Eod, introduced Lieut. -General Charles " Montague, Mr. Whitehead, Registrar and Secretary of the Order (in " the absence of]\lr. Horsey, Bath King of Arms), carrying the " ribbons, &c. Lieut.-General Montagus was knighted. " Afterwards Mr: Hill introduced Mr. Balph Payne in the same " order," &c. ' London Gazette,' February 16-19, 1771, No. 11,119. 1771.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 57 Letter 75. ♦Queen's House, Feb. 14th, 1771. 15 min. pt. 11 a.m. LoiRD North, — The great majority yesterday is very creditable for Administration ; the seeing Colonel Bur- goyne's name on the side of the minority appears so extraordinary, that I almost imagine that it is a mistake, and that Nicholson Calvert being put on the majority is also erroneous. "February 13. — The House took into consideration the papers " relating to the Convention with Spain." ' Pari. Hist.' xvi. p. 1358. General Burgoyne's and Mr. Nicholson Calvert's speeches are reported at some length. The General voted in the minority, Mr. Calvert in the majority, on that occasion. There was no error at all. 271 were for and 1.57 against "the Address approving of the Spanish Declara- " tion respecting the seizure of Falkland's Islands." Letter 76. * * Queen's House, Feb. 21st, 1771. 40 min. pt. 8 a.m. Lord North, — I am sorry so very arbitrary a mea- sure as the Duke of Portland's dispute could be ordered to be committed, though glad the majority is lessened, as it may be a means of throwing [it] out before it comes to the House of Lords. I have very much considered the affair of the printers that is now coming before the House. I do in the strongest manner recommend that every caution may be used to prevent its becoming a serious affair. If you are of opinion that any alderman will take the unjusti- fiable part you hinted at yesterday, why may not the messenger be made to understand that on summoning them he could not find them ? It is highly necessary that this strange and lawless method of publishing debates in the papers should be put a stop to ; but is not 58 GEOBGE TEE THIRD'S [1771. the House of Lords, as a Court of Record, the best court to bring such miscreants before? as it can fine as well as imprison, and as the Lords have broader shoulders to support any odium that this salutary mea- sure may occasion in the minds of the vulgar. See also Letters 85 to 89. The printers business mentioned in this letter, though a hems furor of the House of Commons, cannot be more than glanced at within the compass of a note ; for though the bustle of it was great, the incidents are numerous and perplexed. The Commons, un- taught by their experience of the Middlesex election, were stiU in a fanatical fit on the question of privilege, and the result in each case was in one respect similar. The representatives of the nation lost a shadow, and the nation gained the substance. Progress is sometimes as well served by untimely obstruction as by able advocacy. For full narrations of the printers business see ' Annual Eegister ' for 1771 ; ' Pari. Hist.' vol. xvii. p. 58, foU. ; ' Pict. Hist, of England, Geo. III.' vol. i. pp. 111-116 ; Massey, ' Hist. Eng.' vol. ii. pp. 93-1 18 ; ' Memoirs of Eockingham,' vol. ii. pp. 204-209. Lord Mahon, ' Hist, of England,' v. 284-290. The King's advice "to use every precaution to prevent" the printers business "becoming a serioiis affair" was good, although His Majesty was rather arbitrarily disposed towards "such mis- " creants." The House blundered in suffering itself to be led by Colonel Onslow and Sir James Turner, men on a level with each other for sense or influence ; Lord North blundered in makii^ a ministerial question of it ; Wilkes did not blunder, since he made personal if not political capital out of it, and rekindled for a moment his own waning power. " This," observes Lord Albemarle (' Mem. of Eockingham,' vol. ii. p. 209), " was the last popular demonstra- " tion in the City in which for some years anything like unanimity " prevailed." Letter 77. * Queen's House, Feb. 26tli, 1771. 10 min. pt. 7 p.m. LoED North, — There being so many of the principal persons of the Opposition in the minority this day, and yet the number amounting only to nineteen, appears 1771.] LETTERS TO LOBD NOBTE. 59 rather extraordinary. I flatter myself that, if this affair is conducted with that circumspection that I am certain you will think it deserves, the ill consequences will not ensue which I in the beginning very much feared. The papers that are to be sent to the House of Commons in pursuance to the Address that has past in the House of Commons this day I judge to be in consequence of Mr. Pownall's motion. " The minority " at this moment by no means represented the usual strength or even weakness of Opposition, for many of the Whigs voted with Government on the printers business. Among the principal persons who did so were Colonel Barr6, Mr. Burke, Mr. Dowdeswell, Mr. Oliver, Sir George Savile, and Aldermen Saw- bridge and Townshend for tellers. The papers to be sent to the House of Commons related to " The " Spanish Declaration respecting the seizure of the Falkland's Island." Mr. (Governor) Pownall on the 1 3th of February had expressed his dissatisfaction with the declaration, but he appears not to have made any motion on the question. Thomas Pownall had been Governor of South Carolina and other American colonies. He was called " Governor " to distinguish him from his brother John ; for both were antiquaries, and Thomas was a frequent contributor to the ' Archaeologia.' He is frequently men- tioned by Horace Walpole as a collector of prints and " auld knick- " knackets," and his work on the ' Study of Antiquities,' &o., is often cited by Mr. Mitford in the earlier volumes of his ' History of Greece.' He was really able and accomplished, and, from the know- ledge he had gained as " Governor," was regarded as an authority in American affairs — ^at first.' Letter 78. ** Queen's House, Feb. 28th, 1771. 42 miu. pt. 7 p.m. Lord North, — Though I think you could not mis^ take my sentiments this day on the new scene that arises by the sudden death of the King of Sweden, I ■ Pownall was the author alao of ' Administration of the Colonies,' which passed through several editions. 60 QEOBGJE TEE THIBD'S [1771. choose shortly again to sketch them. It has ever oc- curred to me that the gaming the Court of Sweden is no real object of this country, for if after a considerable expense that is effected, it will be impossible to keep her friendship unless a subsidy is granted, for that power cannot subsist without foreign money. Besides, as there is no pubuck mode of obtaining the money that is ex- pended in that corruption, it must be taken from my Civil List, consequently new debts incurred ; and when I apply to Parliament for relieving me, an odium cast on myself and Ministry, as if the money had been expended in bribing Parliament. I therefore think we ought only to feed the opposition to France, that that Crown may carry no essential points, and maybe drove to spend much greater sums to little purpose. " Sudden death of tlie King of Sweden." " Adolphus Frederick expired suddenly about eight o'clock this " evening (February 12), at Ms palace in Stockholm, in the 61st year " of his age and 20th of his reign." ' Annual Eegister,' 1771, voL xiv. p. 78. The annual subsidy of 670,000Z. to the King of Prussia had been withdrawn in 1762. While it was being paid, there can hardly have been a subsidy to Sweden also, since that kingdom was at war with Prussia, withdrawing from the contest at the same time with Eussia on the death of the Empress Elizabeth, 1762. Are we to infer from this letter that small subsidies were at this time granted by the King of England to foreign powers ? K so, they and the current expenditure upon elections and the Court party will account for His Majesty's income being found so often inadequate to the demands upon it. Letter 79. Queen's House, March 4th, 1771. 53 min. p. 5 p.m. Lord North, — Mr. Scot chusing to dechne the living of "Worplesden, I very readily consent to Mr. 1771.] LETTERS TO LOBB NOBTE. 61 Fountayne's obtaining it, and that the former may wait for the living of Simondsburn in Northumberland ; you will therefore direct the warrant to be preferred [sic]. The first two Sovereigns of the House of Hanover had generally left Church preferments in the hands of their ministers, and the levies of the latter, especially the Duke of Newcastle, were crowded by hopeful divines. George the Second, indeed, often consulted his Queen on these matters, nor was the pupU and correspondent of Leibnitz and the friend and patroness of Samuel Clarke an incom- petent adviser when stalls or thrones became vacant ; but, as soon as it was notorious that the King himself dispensed such appoint- ments, the ministerial levies were comparatively deserted, and the loyalty of the clergy was confirmed. The British Josiah, as George the Third was frequently called in the pulpit and in print, took great pains, it must be owned, to ascertain the private characters, as well as the political opinions, of the candidates for preferment, and perhaps the power of nomination could not at the time have been placed in better hands. See Letter 71. Letter 80. Queen's House, March 5tli, 1771. 5 min. pt. 8 p.m. Lord North, — I am not surprised that Mr. Pownall's absurd motion could not produce a very long debate ; indeed, it is a convincing proof that the author of it is not calculated to make a figure in foreign affairs. The only motion mentioned in ' Pari. History,' vol. xvii. p. 75, on the 4th of March, did not relate to "foreign affairs," neither was it Mr. PownaU's, but Colonel Onslow's, "for an ad- " dress to His Majesty to issue a proclamation for apprehending "the printers, "Wheeble and Thompson." The 'Gentleman's Maga- zine,' for the first three months of this year, makes no mention of Pownall. G2 GEOBGE THE THIRD'S [1771. Letteh 81. * Queen's House, March 8th, 1771. 30 min. p. 8 a.in. Lord North, — I sincerely rejoice at the very good conclusion of yesterday's debate, and at nothing more than the wisdom of leaving the Opposition, as they were divided in their sentiments, the whole altercation ; besides, if gentlemen can let their reason guide them to differ with their friends on what they might deem a popular question, it is to be hoped they will by this be encouraged to hold on future occasions the same pro- priety of conduct. Since on the next day to the date of this letter the " proclamation " for apprehending John Wheeble and K. Thompson," printers of the ' Gazetteer ' a*nd ' New Daily Advertiser,' was issued, I presmne the debate related to it ; but I find no mention of any altercation in the House on the 8th of March. Letter 82, * Queen's House, March 8th, 1771. 20 min. pt. 5 p.m. Lord North, — I heard this day that Mr. Yivian, Professor of Modern Languages at the University of Oxford, is dead ; you ought to apply to the Chancellor of the University that a man of sufficient abilities may be proposed for my approbation for filling that ofSce. Lord Brougham's extract from this letter is : — " Desires applica- " tion to the Chancellor of Cambridge to nominate a proper person " to the Professorship of Modern History— Gray; % " and his note, " J Gray the poet, who was appointed." " Oxford" is most legibly written by the King. Gray refused the Professorship of Modem History at Cambridge by Lord Bute ia 1762; was offered, and accepted it from the Duke -of Grafton in 1768. He died on the 30th of July, 1771. Did Lord Brougham 1771.] LETTEBS TO LOBB NOBTR 63 [or Sir James Mackintosh] forget Gray's ode on the installation of the Duke of Grafton as Chancellor of the University of Gambridge, July 1,1769? Letter 83. * Queen's House, March 10th, 1771. Lord North, — Your account of Admiral Pye having yesterday carried the election at Rochester by so great a majority gives me much pleasure. I have also re- ceived your acknowledgment of the note I sent you, desiring you to consult the Chancellor of Oxford as to the properest person for the vacant Professorship, because I think those ofEces, having been instituted for promoting learning in the Universities, ought not to be given by favour, but according to merit. Letter 84. Queen's House, March 13th, 1771. .50 min. pt. 5 p.m. Lord North, — I apprehend the majority must have been much fatigued at being detained till five this morning, but the litigiousness of the minority cannot give them any weight, — on the contrary, must offend every moderate man. " The minority by motions for adjournment and amendments to " the different questions protracted the debate to past four o'clock " in the morning, during which the House had divided between " twenty and thirty times. On these divisions, the numbers ran " from 143 to 70 on the side of the majority; from 65 to 10 on that " of the minority. The result was, that the six printers were " ordered to attend the House." — 'Ann. Eeg.,'vol. xiv. p. 63. The proclamation for apprehending John Wheeble and E. Thompson is published in the ' London Gazette,' March 5, 9, Nos. 11,124-5. 64 GEOBGE THE T BIBB'S [1771. Letter 85. ** Queen's House, March 17th, 1771. LoED North, — Though I sent Lord Hillsborough to you with my opinion, that, as the Lord Mayor has presumed to set the privilege of the House of Commons of ordering printers to be brought to the bar at nought, and even to issue a warrant for committing the Mes- senger to the Compter for executing the duty of his office, the authority of the House of Commons is totally annihilated if it is not in an exemplary maimer sup- ported to-morrow by instantly committing the Lord Mayor and Alderman Oliver to the Tower ; as to Wilkes, he is below the notice of the House ; then a Secret Committee, or any other mode of examining farther into the affair, is open for the wisdom of the House. I wish you would send Jenkinson to Lord ' Mansfield for his opinion as to the manner of enforcing the commitment, if these people should continue to dis- obey; a message of the same kind to the Chancellor might also be right. You know very well I was averse to meddling with the printers, but now there is no retracting ; the honour of the Commons must be sup- ported. "The Lord Mayor was Brass Crosby, who, for a time, almost " rivalled his brother-magistrate, Wilkes, in civic popularity. On " his election as Lord Mayor, in the preceding November, belaid " his hand on his heart, and assured the citizens ' he would protect " them in their past privileges and liberties.' He was possessed of " great natural sagacity, and perhaps, as he started in life as an " attorney, of some knowledge also of the law. His appearance " was coarse, and his manners were rude."-^' Memoirs of Eocking- ham,' vol. ii. p. 205. Charles Jenkinson, Secretary to Lord Bute in 1770, one of the Lords of the Treasury, Vice-Treasurer of Ireland in 1772, December; in 1786 he was created Baron Hawkesbury, and in 1796 Earl of 1771.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 65 Liverpool. Lord Mahon (' Hist, of England,' vol. v. p. 221) ob- serves that " Mr. Charles Jenkinson, a man of slender patrimony, " or perhaps, to speak more truly, of none at all, by his application " and industry gave a lustre to his name. He did not fill any " important post until the close of 1778, when he succeeded Lord " Barrington as Secretary at War, and when the cry of secret in« " fluence, which had died away as regarded Lord Bute, was with " little reason revived against him ; but he rose at last to be Earl " of Liverpool, and his son to be Prime-Minister of England." Letter 86. * Queen's House, March 19th, 1771. 3 min. pt. 9 a.m. Lord North, — The conduct of the majority seems to have been of that firm and dignified kind which becomes those that are on right ground. I am not surprized that the whole House, except Alderman Saw- bridge, Alderman Oliver, and Sir Joseph Mawbey, joined in condemning the conduct of the Lord Mayor, and in asserting the privilege of the House, which, if not in an exemplary manner supported on this occasion, must anihilate [sic] the House of Commons, and thus put an end to the most excellent form of Government which has been established in this kingdom. Gro on with resolution, and this affair will be happily con- cluded. It occurs to me that the mode of conducting the Lord Mayor ought to be well considered, that no rescue may ensue. Might not the conducting him by water be the most private manner ? The debate was on the motion of Welbore Ellis, That the Lord Mayor (Brass Crosby) do attend in his place to-morrow (19th March). The majority was 187 (267 — 80). The King does not give a very correct notion of the debate. Sir Joseph Mawbey and Mr. Alderman Sawbridge indeed went a little further than the rest of the minority on the 18th of March, since they declared against the 66 GEOBGE THE THIBD'S [1771. usurped power of the House, and defended the Lord Mayor's and the Aldermen's (Wilkes and Oliver) proceedings on constitutional grounds ; but most of the minority who spoke, while asserting the privileges of the House, observed that those privileges were always odious when turned against the people ; that electors had privileges as well as honourable members ; that the House from its conduct in the Middlesex election was odious to the nation ; that the prosecution of the printers was a sUly irritating measure : in short, the speakers in the minority told some truth and talked good sense, however dignified and firm the conduct of the majority may have been. See Pari. Hist., vol. xvii. pp. 98-103. Tar from allowing him- self to be " conducted by water, the most private manner,'' the Lord Mayor came from the City in his coach, having for his com- panions his chaplain, Mr. Evans, and Mr. Alderman Oliver, and being attended by a great crowd of very respectable people. See the ' Gentleman's Magazine,' March, 1771, i^'T an account of his tri- umphal procession to and from the City. On his return, he was drawn in his carriage from St. Paul's to the Mansion House, but — not by horses. Letter 87. Queen's House, March 20tb, 1771. 55 min. pt. 9 a.in. Lord North, — I am sorry the business of committing the Lord Mayor could not be concluded last night, for every delay in a breach of privilege of so enormous a kind seems to indicate to the bystander a less attach- ment in the House of Commons to its own authority than every wellwisher can desire ; besides, whatever time is given to the Lord Mayor is in reahty allowing consultation and plans of disturbance to the factious. I owne I could have wished that "Wilkes had not been ordered before the House, for he must be in a jail the next term if not given new life by some punishment inflicted on him, which will bring him new supphes ; and I do not doubt he will hold such a language that will oblige some notice to be taken of him. 1771.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 67 His Majesty, indeed, was very near tlie truth, and showed that, whate'ver the House may have done, he had learnt wisdom from the Middlesex election. There can be no doxibt that the printers' busi- ness did not answer Mr. Wilkes's expectations when he caught at it. "His fortunes," says Mr. Massey (Hist. ii. p. 91), "were again at a " low ebb ; the subscriptions which had flowed so freely to his relief " during the Middlesex elections had fallen off as that excitement " wore away ; the Society for the Support of the Bill of Eights began " to think that their organisation might be available for other objects " than the relief of a patriot's pecuniary necessities. A dispute " had arisen between Wilkes and a former friend and coadjutor, " the celebrated Parson Home ; and, as usually happens with " patriots when they fall out, Wilkes and Home became implacable " foes, and Home, who had proved himself a match for Junius, was " much more than a match for Wilkes." Comp. Lord Mahon, v. p. 299-301. Letter 88. Queen's House, March 21st, 1771. 57 min. pt. 8 a.m. Lord North, — Your account of yesterday's debate has given me great pleasure, as it seems to have been guided witli dignity and with attention to the privileges of the House. The apparent intention of not examining Wilkes meets thoroughly with my opinion, and this unpleasant affair seems now to promise an issue that wiU tend to restore due authority to the injured privi- leges of Parliament. Calcraft to Lord Chatham, March 24, 1771, 'Correspond.' iv. p. 122 : — " The Ministers avow WiLkes too dangerous to meddle " with. He is to do what he pleases ; we are to submit. So His " Majesty orders : he will have ' nothing more to do with that devil " Wilkes.' The Treasury are heartily sick of the other parts of this " business ; reprimand now is the only language." Wilkes was summoned — " had received thi'ee successive summonses " to attend the House." He refused compliance with them, " be- " cause," he said in a letter to the Speaker, " I observe that no notice " is taken of me in your order as a member of the House, and that I " am not required to attend in my place ; both these circumstances 68 GEOBGE THE THIBD'S [1771. " ouglit to have been mentioned in my case, and I hold them ab- " solutely^indispensable. In the name of the freeholders of Middlesex " I again demand my seat, having the honour of being freely chosen " by a very great majorit]^ one of the representatives for the said "county." 'Chatham Correspond.,' iv. p. 123. Comp. Massey, ii. p. 93. Letter 89. Queen's House, March 26th, 1771. 20 min. pt. 9 a.m. Lord North, — Considering the new indecent method of protracting the husiness of Parhament, I am rather surprized you could advance so far last night ; and the great majoritys on each question will show the House means to protect its privileges, without which it must soon degenerate, and, in lieu of the bulwark of liberty, become contemptible. Debate in the Commons on committing the Lord Mayor and Mr. Alderman Oliver to the Tower. Pari. Hist. xvii. p. 119. See ' Gen- tleman's Magazine,' March, 1771. (1.) The previous question being put, &c., 123 (202 — 79). (2.) On Lord North's motion that Morgan, clerk to the Lord Mayor, do attend this House to-morrow morning, &c., 132 (188 — 66). Mr. Wedderbume and Mr. Charles Fox supported Lord Nortli's motion ; Mr. Dunning and Mr. Dowdeswell opposed it. For Charles Fox's zeal on this occasion, see Massey, 1. c. Letter 90. * Queen's House, March 28th, 1771. Lord North, — The conclusion of the debate and division has proved very honourable for the House of Commons, and I trust a due firmness will subdue the violence that has been encouraged by men of some pro- perty who dare not avow it. I rejoice much at your having got without farther insult home, and hope you 1771.] LETTEBS TO LOBB NOBTH. 69 will come to St. James's when I return from tlie House of Lords this day. I would upon no account pass the Bills otherwise than in person at a moment like this. Believe me the spirit you showed yesterday will pre- vent its being often called upon ; they now know you are not to be alarmed, and therefore will not dare "to again attempt what must revolt every man that has any regard to law, or even to humanity. This letter refers to tlie debate upon the motion of Welbore Ellis, March 18. See Letter 86. After a motion that, in consideration of the Lord Mayor's ill state of health, he should be committed to the custody of the Serjeant-at- Arms instead of being sent to the Tower — a favour which his lordship 'declined — the motion was amended, and the question for commitment carried by a majority of 163 (202 — 39). Calcraft to Lord Chatham, March 28, 1771, 'Correspond.' iv. p. 139 : — " The concourse of people who attended the Lord Mayor is " incredible. They seized Lord North, broke his chariot, had got " him amongst them, and, but for Sir AVilliam Meredith's inter- " fering, would probably have demolished him. This, with the " insults to other members, caused an adjournment of business for " some hours." Lord North shared in the King's opinion that " people of some " property encouraged " this " violence." In the course of his speech on the 27th he expressed his conviction that the mob who had attacked him were hired by the minority — a charge which was severely, and probably justly also, rebutted by Mr. William Burke. " The journals of the day announce that on the 30th of March " the Dukes of Manchester and Portland, the Marquis of Eocking- " ham, Earl Fitzwilliam, Sir Charles Saunders, Admiral Keppel, " Mr. DowdesweU, and Mr. Edmund Burke, attended by Messrs. " Baker and Martin [Sheriffs of London], waited on the Lord Mayor " and Mr. Oliver in their apartments in the Tower ; and that a few " days afterwards several of the Ministers and their adherents who " had taken part against the printers were beheaded and burnt in " effigy on Tower Hill. " This was the last popular demonstration in the City in which " for some years anything like unanimity prevailed. Shortly broke " out the quarrel between Wilkes and Home Tooke, when every " City patriot ranged himself under the banners of one or other of 70 GEOBGE TEE THIBD'S [1771. " tlie twoTivals ; and from tliifi period the Whigs and what are now "(1852) termed 'Eadicals' became two distinct sections of the " liberal party." Lord Albemarle, in the ' Memoirs of BocMngham,' ii. p. 209. Letter 91. * Queen's House, April 10th, 1771. 30 miu. pt. 10 p.m. LoED North, — I am glad to find the debate this day has not been so teazing as has been usually the case on the opening the Budget. I hope to hear [from] you to-morrow what ideas seem to occur in the Secret Committee. On the 28th of March a Secret Committee of two " was Chosen by " ballot to examine into the several facts and circumstances relative " to the late obstructions to the execution of the orders of this " House " — that is to say, the refusal of the City magistrates to give aid to the messengers in apprehending the printers, &c. Letter 92. Queen's House, April 26th, 1771. Lord North, — I am sorry you was detained so late last night with so fruitless an afiair as Allen's petition ; and I am sorry any man could have the face to harangue on so invidious an afiair. Every man that ventures into a riot, whether a party or spectator, is liable to be killed ; that the unhappy young man was of the former can be but little doubted. A petition from Allen, father of the young man who was killed in St. George's Fields (May 10, 1768), was presented by Mr. Sergeant Glynne praying an inquiry concerning the murder of his son, and for justice against the inhuman murderers, &c. &c. Mr. Burke and Sir George Savile had " the fiice to harangue" on this rather ancient story. The petition was rejected by a majority of 125 (158 — 33). 1771.] LETTERS TO LOBD NOBTH. 71 Letter 93. * Queen's House, April 2Bth, 1771. 13 mill. pt. 1 1 p.m. Lord North,— The motion of Mr. Sawbridge was in its nature so absurd and so detrimental to trade, that I am surprised he could find so many supporters ; and Mr. Cornwall's so indecent to his brother members, that it cannot raise him in their opinion. Though I am not conscious of having much gall in my composition, I cannot help thinking that the uniform conduct of this disjointed Opposition is a medley of absurdities which tends to nothing less than encouraging a contempt of the laws and of that subordination that alone can preserve liberty, of which they pretend to be the guardians. Alderman Sawbridge's now perennial motion for shortening tte duration of Parliament. It was rejected by 10 majority. Mr. ComwaU's motion on tlie Lottery Bill, tliat no members should be allowed to subscribe for more than twenty tickets, com- plaints having been made that the friends of the/ Chancellors of the Exchequer absorbed them before the public had a chance of sub- scribing. The motion was rejected in a very thin House by a majority of 20 (31 — 11). Mr. Cornwall's indecency consisted in his opposition to this mode of raising supplies, in employing which, however, Lord North merely walked in the ways of his prede- cessors. For an account of Lord North's mode of raising supplies see a letter of Sir Samuel Eomilly's, April 4, 1781. ' Life,' 3rd ed., vol. i. p. 120. The King's phrase, " this disjointed Opposition," is endorsed by Mr.Calcraftinaletter to Lord Chatham, March 26, 1771 ('Chatham Correspond.,' vol. iv. p. 125). "Opposition are in great want of a " leader and a general system. One set are so candid, another so " violent, a third so dissatisiied, that the scene is dreadful." 72 GEOBGE THE THIRD'S [1771. Letter 94. ♦Richmond Lodge, May 7tli, 1771. 15 min. pt. 2 p.m. Lord Nokth,— I thorouglily approve of the Speech, as it contains very exactly my way of thinking. I am as well pleased with the wording of it, except a doubt whether Jiy Good Brother the King of Spain would not be more agreeable to the usual method of speaking from the Throne than His Catholick Majesty. If you would inquire of Mr. Dyson, who is so thorough a master of form, this can easily be solved. I shall im- mediately order everything for my going to the House of Lords to-morrow, which I prefer to Thursday, and on Sunday authorized Lord Rochford to summon the Cabinet for to-morrow morning, in case the business should then be ready. On the 8tli of May an end was put to this long and stormy session. The King, in his Speech from the Throne, congratulated the Houses on those wise exertions which had averted a war, and enabled him confidently to promise a continuance of the blessings of peace. He alluded to the disturbances and groundless suspicions at home. For " it is my earnest wish," said His Majesty, " that my " subjects may not be prevented by any mistakes or animosities " among themselves from enjoying in the fullest extent the blessings " of a mild and legal Government." The King in his Speech says, " The satisfiiction I have obtained " from his Catholic Majesty '' — and this was the usual mode of speak- ing; the King of Spain was entitled the "Most Catholic King" (los Catolicos Eeyes, the title of Ferdinand and Isabella) ; the King of Portugal, "the Most Faithful;" the King of France, "the " Most Christian." Letter 95. Richmond Lodge, May 11th, 1771. Lord North, — I have just received your recom- mendation of the Rev. Mr. Speke, a relation of Lady 1771.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 73 North's, for the living of Curry Mallet in Somerset Shire, for whom I with the greatest pleasure desire you will direct the presentation to be prepared. There is a glimpse of Mr. Speke in the ' Cliatliain Correspondence,' vol. iv. p. 217. The boys (William and James Pitt), writes Earl to Countess Chatham, made a morning's visit to Mr. Speke. " He " showed James a charming mare," &c. Curry Mallet and Bnrton Pynsent, the seat of Lord Chatham, whence the letter is written, are both in Somersetshire. Letter 96. Queen's House, June 7th, 1771. LoKD North, — The sincere regard I have for you makes me, though much hurt at the certain loss of so amiable a man as Lord Halifax, yet with pleasure acquaint you .that, whenever I shall receive the account of his death, I shall immediately appoint you Ranger of Bushy Park. As I am resolved to make out none of those grants but during pleasure, and have done so in the cases of my brothers, I am certain you will very wUlingly accept it on that footing, which, from the conduct you uniformly hold, must be a tenure of a per- manent kind. I cannot conclude without assuring you that every opportunity of showing you the sincere regard I have for you is giving me the greatest pleasure. G-EORGE R. Lord Halifax died on the 8th of June. He was succeeded on the 12th of June as Secretary of State for the Northern Department by the Earl of Suffolk, in whose room the Duke of Grafton was made Keeper of the Privy SeaL See Letters 63, 4, 5. The Bedford Whigs found great fault with the Duke of Grafton 74 GEOEGE THE THIRD'S [1771. for taking office under any condition. Yet Lord Chatliain, whUe Privy Seal, had set an example of holding office withont performing any official duties. The Cabinet was scarcely affected hy these changes, for Halifax was a Whig in name only. The restoration of the Duke, however, called forth much rancour generally, and especially incensed Junius, who had prided himself on having driven his Grace into retirement in January, 1769. Hence the tremendous letter of the 22nd of June in the ' Public Advertiser,' in which, the King was handled as roughly as the Duke himself, and Mansfield, Fox (a Tory then), W'edderbume, Sandwich, and others connected with the Administration, came in for their share of scorching sarcasms. Letters of Junius, xlix. ; ' Pict. Hist. England, Geo. IlL' vol. i. p. 119. Letter 97. Queen's House, June 9th, 1771. Lord North, — As I find Lord Halifax is dead, you will, I hope, have prepared everything for Lord Suifolk's being on Wednesday succeeded either by the Duke of G-rafton or Lord Weymouth; you will also direct the warrant to be prepared for appointing you Ranger of Bushy Park, and cannot help adding the pleasure I feel on bestowing on you what you seem so much to desire. I have ordered on Wednesday sevenight a Chapter of the Garter, when my second son is to have that Order ; and the next vacancy, whether of a subject or a foreign prince, I mean to bequeath this Order on you, which I shall do with the greater pleasure as I never have had any intimation from you that it is an honour you are in the least ambitious of. The ' London Gazette,' July 9, " announces the appointment of " Lady North as Keeper of Bushy Park in or near Hampton Court" No. 11,159. On the 19th of Jime, "Wednesday sevenight," His Eoyal High- ness Frederick Bishop of Osnaburg, then seven years and ten 1771.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NORTH. 75 moliths old, was elected a Knight of the Garter in the room of the late Earl of Halifax— ' London Gazette,' Xo. 11,154— and installed with H.B.H. the Prince of Wales on the 25th day of July (ib. No. 11,164). Shortly before this ceremony the Bishop had assisted at a review in St. James's Park. He did not take the secular titles of Bule of York and Albany in Great Britain and Earl of Ulster in Ireland until 27th Nov. 1 784. Letter 98. Queen's House, June 10th, 1771. 15 min. pt. 2 p.m. LoKD North, — You have done extremely well in writing to the Lords usually consulted, and also to the Duke; he being, as I was told yesterday, at New- market, his answer cannot he received until to-morrow ; but should he decline, Lord Weymouth being in town, in either case the Privy Seal may be appointed on Wednesday. I am much pleased with the manner in which you have received my unasked intimation of conferring the next vacant Grarter. I should not be surprized if it should happen in a few weeks ; as the next brother to the Duke of Gotha died the last of May, that event may, by what I have learnt, very likely release him from the weak state he is now reduced to. See note to Letter 96. Letter 99. * Queen's House, June 11th, 1771. 43 min. pt. 7 p.m. Lord North, — Nothing can be more handsome than the Duke of Glrafton's manner of accepting the Privy Seal, which convinces me that he would have been hurt if it had not been offered to him. I must bear testi- 76 GEOBGE THE TEIBD'S [1771. mony tiiat lie ever thought the confidential Cabinet too numeroTis, and that on Lord Bristol's getting the Privy Seal he therefore desired it might he stipulated that he should not be of those meetings ; and as he thinks the same in his own case, I cannot see any reason for summoning him of [sic] ministerial questions, except when they regard some affair to be debated in the House of Lords ; on other occasions, if his advice is asked, he will undoubtedly give it privately. You will give Lord Suffolk notice to bring the Privy Seal. Lord Bristol became Privy Seal on the resignation of Lord Chatham in Octoher, .1768, and remaiaed in that office xmtil 1770. Letter 100. Queen's House, June 26th, 1771. 35 min. pt. 11 p.m. Lord North, — I am pleased with the attention of sending to me the poll for sheriffs, as the two senior aldermen appear now to have a fair prospect of suc- ceeding. I trust no zeal will be wanting that their success may be as brilliant as possible, the more so as it will unveil what has certainly been all along the fact, that Wilkes has been in his various struggles supported by a small though desperate part of the Livery, whilst the sober and major part of that body have from fear kept aloof. Letter lOL Richmond Lodge, Sept. 30th, 1771. 30 min. pt. 4 p.m. Lord North, — I sincerely rejoice at the prospect of Mr. Nash's success. If the same zeal is shown, the rest 1771.] LET TEES TO LOBD NOBTH. 77 of the poll will greatly tend to restore [the] tranquility [sic] of this greatest trading city in the world ; but if riot is to continue, must soon become despicable. Letter 102. Eichmond Lodge, October 1st, 1771. 38 min. pt. 9 p.m. Lord North, — I am much pleased at your attention in transmitting the prosperous situation of affairs in the City. I wish Nash and Halifax had joined from the first, as it would have prevented any of the factious being returned this year to the Court of Aldermen, and would have been the fullest disavowal of the strange conduct held of late by the Livery. " Two Senior Aldermen ; " " Mr. Nash ; " "Affairs in the City." — The " two senior aldermen" are Plumbs and Kirkman. Mr. Alderman Nash of Cannon Street was the partner of Mr. Benjamin Smith. Mr. John Eohinson, better known as "Jack Eobinson," the minis- terial manager, -wrote to Mr. Benjamin Smith to inform him that Mr. Alderman Harley was to meet his ward in the course of the day, and urge upon them the interests of Plumbe and Kirkman, that the friends of Government would be very active, and that Smith, Nash, and Co. must be on the alert. Jack Eobinson's messenger took the letter to another Benjamin Smith, of Budge Eow, a hot Wilkite. Budge-Eow Benjamin published the letter with an affi- davit of its authenticity. The " senior aldermen " instantly went down, and Alderman Bull, as yet only fourth on the poll, went up ia the City, and Alderman Oliver, on account of his notorious anta- gonism to Wilkes, came out at the bottom of the list of the candi- dates for the Shrievalty. Nash was Lord Mayor elect, and "Wilkes wrote a letter to him against giving French wines at his entertainments. To drink claret was regarded as unpatriotic and unorthodox, while port was considered the proper beverage for lovers' of their country and church. The warning came oddly from Wilkes, and Nash sensibly replied that his brother-alderman might drink, and give to drink, what he pleased ; but, as for himself, he should put French wines on his table in spite of the admonition. 78 OEOBOE THE TEIBB'S [1772. In a contemporary diary, specimens of which are given by Mr. Collet in his ' EeHcs of Literature,' p. 305, is the following mention of this election : — • " June 29. — Never did candidates bribe so high as the present " candidates for the Shrievalty ; for by Mr. Oliver and colleagues we " are promised a reduction of the price of provisions ; by Mr. Wilkes " the preservation of our liberties ; and by Mr. Kirtiinan and Co. " a great and glorious restoration to our senses. Time will show " whether eating, bawling, or court-serving, be the order of the day. " More bets are depending on the event of the present poll for " sheriffs than were ever known on any former occasion. A great " consternation prevails at the west end of the town. The great " folks appear to be afraid that Mr. Wilkes has some deep scheme in " his head by wishing so ardently for the office of sheriff. It seems " as if they were afraid he should ia his turn issue a general war- " rant and take them all up." Letter 103. ** Queen's House, Jan. 2nd, 1772. 10 min. pt. 10 a.m. Lord North, — I return the letters you left with, me yesterday ; Sir Jeffry Amherst's is coutched in civil terms, but not without that commendation of his own services, which, though very great, would not he lessened if he left the appreciating them to others. Lieutenant-General Conway, having very handsomely quitted the Seals, and having at that time had hopes of the Blues, cannot be looked upon as forgetting Sir Jeffry ; the third regiment of Guards has ever been held by a Scotchman ; therefore this instance is also without foundation. Mr. Allen's is only an additional proof of that aver- sion to English Government," and of that avowed pro- fligacy that the gentlemen of that country seem to • In Ireland. For a sketch of Irish affairs from 1770 to the date of his letter, see Grattan's Life, i. pp. 152- 174; Lord Mahon, v. p. 274; Adol- phus, ii. pp. 11-17. The noble his- torian designates the Viceroy Lord Tdwnshcnd "as a man of more ability than sound judgment." 17-2.] LETTEB8 TO LOBD NOBTH. 79 despise masking witli the name of conscience, and must, sooner or later, oblige this country seriously to consider whether the uniting it to this Crown would not be the only means of making both islands flourish. Lord Townshend's idea of a pension to Lord Shannon" when the Session is over seems absurd, to let him do all the mischief he can whilst his assistance could be of use, and then reward him when his good wishes can avail nothing ; but, if he would during the Session come for- ward, that might be worth admitting, provided the Lord-Lieutenant would cut off other pensions to satisfy his demand, for additional pensions must not be granted. The enclosed is the memorial I mentioned yesterday ; if it can be of any use to your family I shall rejoice at it ; if not, I desire it may be looked on as my desire of being of service to them. General Amherst, afterwards Lord Amherst, commanded the land forces at the reduction of Cape Breton, June, July, 1768; took Ticonderoga in the folio-wing year, and Montreal in September, 1760. His campaign in Canada was eclipsed by that of Wolfe, but Mr. Pitt, in the House of Commons, observed that, "If it was in " Yegetius, aU. the world would admire ; it is in America, and no- " body regards it." — Walpole Memoirs, &c., yoI. ii. p. 398. For his services in Canada, Sir Jeffrey had received the appointment of Governor of Virginia, a military sinecure to be held in London, according to the practice of the time. As, however, the troubled state of that province in 1768 did not admit of a non-resident governor. General Amherst, with the unanimous consent of the Cahitiet, was called upon by the King to resign. He proved intract- able, but was superseded by Lord Bottetort, who proved quite as efficient in Virginia as the late non-resident Governor had been in London. The appointment laid ministers open to the taunt that " it was not Virginia that wanted a governor, but a Court-favourite " that wanted a salarj-." — See letter signed ' Valebius,' August 23, 1768, in Junius (Bohn's ed.), vol. ii. p. 209; and Lord Mahon's Hist., vol. v. p. 202. " "If Lord, Shannon Aoea not desert, which is suspected, the Oppcsition will pro- bably be victorious," writes Mr. Grattan, Jan. 13, 1772. ' Life of Grattan,' i. p. 255. 80 OEOBGE THE TEIBB'S [1772. Letter 104. * Queen's House, Jan. 2nd, 1772. 40 min. pt. 6 p.m. LoED North, — When I wrote to you this morning I omitted taking notice of Lord Bellamont's declaration that 'Lieutenant-Colonel Luttrell intends to come and resign his seat for Middlesex. I had heard a week ago a report of it, but thought it too absurd to give any credit to it. I do not yet see how he can effect it, but would insinuate whether Lord Townshend might not receive a private intimation from you not to give him leave to quit his attendance in Ireland, which will at least postpone what might occasion some noise. I suppose Gibbon tbrows some light on Colonel Luttrell's mten- tion in a letter to Holroyd of February 3rd : — " Parliament is per- " fectly (jniet, and^! tbink tbat Barre will not bave tbe exercise of " tbe lungs, except, perbaps, on a message mucb talked of, and soon " expected, to recommend it to tbe wisdom of tbe House of Commons " to provide a proper future remedy against tbe improper marriages " of tbe younger branches of tbe Eoyal Family. Tbe noise of, " Luttrell is subsided, but tbere was some foundation for it. Tbe " Colonel's expenses in bis bold enterprise [tbe Middlesex election] " were yet unpaid by Government. The hero threatened, assumed " the patriot, received a sop, and again sunk into the courtier." Letter 105. Queen's House, Jan. 4th, 1772. 3 min , pt. 5 p.m. Lord North, — My sister has apprized me that tke Duke of Brunswick has ordered Mr. Teronce to apply to you concerning some of his demands relative to the last war, which Major Lutterloh has persuaded the Duke you are willing this Session of Parliament to bring again on the carpet. I assured her it was im- 1772.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 81 possible to enter again into an examination of those affairs. She said Teronce was of that opinion, and therefore meant to write to you to-morrow, hoping to obtain his answer on paper, which he would transmit to Brunswick. If you write, that will end the busi- ness ; if you give it him verbally, he will be ordered to remain here, and will torment you the whole winter. Augusta, eldest daugtter of Frederick Prince of Wales, was born July 31, 1737, and married in 1764 Charles WiUiam Ferdinand, hereditary Prince of Brunswiok-Wolfenbuttel, who was kiUed at the battle of Jena, commanding the Prussian army, October 14, 1806. The character of the princess is thus described by Mirabeau in 1786 : — " A la verite eHe est toute Anglaise, par les goMs, par les " principes, et par les manieres ; an point que son independance " presque cynique fait avec I'^tiquette des cours Allemandes le con- " traste le plus singulier que je connaisse." She was at the date of this letter in England, and returned to Brunswick on the 17th of February. — Ann. Eegister, xv. p. 76. Letter 106. * Queen's House, Jan. 6th, 1772. 15 min. pt. 5 p.m. Lord North, — The sketch of the Speech meets with my approbation. When the sentences are a little more rounded, and that the Foreign Article is added, I doubt not but it will make a very good one. The sentences are rounded, and almost without meaning ; the Foreign Article related to the Falkland Islands. Letter 107. Queen's House, Jan. 20th, 1772. 59 min. pt. 1 p.m. Lord North, — I have signed the new Commission of Irish Excise, and cancelled the former one. I trust I VOL. T 82 GEOBQE TEE THIBD'S [1772. shall hear from you to-morrow the numbers that shall have attended at the Cockpit this evening. Parliament met on the 21st of January. The Addresses passed in both Houses without a division. Contrary to the usual practice of th^t time, there had been no Session in November, or before the Christmas holidays. The New Commission of Irish Excise. — In 1771-2 the Engheh Government determined on increasing the number of Commissioners of the Eevenue. The Irish House of Commons, led by their Speaker, Edmund Sexton Pery, afterwards Lord Pery, decided that a divi- sion of the Boards of Eevenue was unnecessary, and threw out the motion for multiplying Commissioners. In spite of this vote, how- ever, the North Ministry augmented them from seven to eleven. — • Life of Grattan,' vol. i. p. 108. Letter 108. * Queen's House, Jan. 25th, 1772. 2 min. pt. 1 p.m. Lord North, — I hope your cold is better, and should be glad if you could come here, that I may have some conyersation with you on the publications against both Houses of Parliament. For the scurrility of the public journals at this time, especially the 'Middlesex Journal" and the ' Gazetteer,' see Massey's Histoiy of England, vol. ii. p. 76. An increase in the liberty or licence of the press prevailed from the very commencement of this reign. " It is a singular circumstance," observes Lord Macaulay, " that in " this year, 1760, pamphleteers first ventured to print at length " the names of the great men whom they lampooned. George " the Second had always been the K ; his ministers had been " Sir E W , Mr. P , and the Duke of N-— ; but the " libellers of George the Third, of the Princess-Mother, and of Lord " Bute, did not give quarter to a single vowel." " Johnson in 'The Patriot,' 1744, I a vehicle of "secret satire and open mentions the 'Middlesex Journal' as | outrage." 1772.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 83 Letter 109. * Jan. 29th, 1772. 14 min. pt. 7 p.m. Lord North, — There cannot be a greater proof that tlie Opposition is against men, not measures, than that Sir Charles Saunders and Admiral Keppel, who have at all times cried out for an additional number of sea- men, should, now it is proposed, object to it, which will meet with no kind of approbation from any quarter, and have no other effect but detaining you very uselessly for four hours. " On the 29th of January, in a Committee of Supply, Mr. BuUer " informed the House that His Majesty expected they would vote a " considerahle augmentation to our naval force, as additional ships " were required in the Levant, where Eussia was carrying on a "maritime war with Turkey; in the East Indies, whei-e France "seemed to be collecting a force; and in Jamaica and the West " India seas. He said that the whole force need not exceed 25,000 "men, including 6G64 marines Admiral Sir Charles Saunders " opposed this demand of Ministers. ' Twenty-five thousand men,' " said he, ' are a very great number indeed in a time of profound " peace. As a seaman and an of&cer I might be for it, or for any " addition, hut as a member of Parliament, and at a time when we " have had the most pacific Speech I ever heard from the Throne, I " think the demand very extraordinary.' Admiral Keppel asserted " that the Lords of the Admiralty only wanted more good things " to bestow." ' Pictorial Hist, of England,' i. p. 122 ; ' Pari. Hist.' xvu. p. 238, foil. "The City people, however, said that war is "unavoidable." See Keppel's 'Life of Viscount Keppel,' vol. i. p. 408. Mr. BuUer's motion was carried without a division. As the next and several of the following Letters relate to " Thi " BUI for preventing Marriages in the Eoyal Family without the " previous consent of the Crown," I introduce a subject, so im- portant in His Majesty's opinion, with a general note on ' The Koyal Marriage Act.' On the 20th of February in this year a message from the King Was brought dovm to both Houses of Parliament requiring them to 84 GEOBGE THE THIRD'S [1772. pass a law whioli should to a certain extent place the matrimonial alliances of the royal family under the control of the Sovereign. The immediate cause for the King's determination to arm the Crown with this power was the marriages of his brothers. In October, 1771, the Duke of Cumberland had "married Mrs. Horton, widow of Christopher Horton, Esq., of Cotton Hall, Derbyshire, daughter of an Irish peer. Lord Irnhani, and sister of Colonel Luttrell, "the mock member" for Middfesex." In the present year the Duke of Gloucester announced a ]^a,rriage contracted by him several years before with Maria Countess Dowager of Waldegiave, an illegitimate daughter of Sir Edward, and granddaughter of Sir Eobert Walpole. Whatever may have been the feeling of the British nation on this question, the sense of Parliament, which at this time was by no means on every occasion that of the people, expressed itself in large majorities in favour of the Bill. The profane ■ indeed might not unfairly allege that his marriage was the one creditable act in the Duke of Cumberland's Kfe, inasmuch as he had twice before he became a husband himself appropriated the wives of other men. The King, however, was firm ; Parliament was obsequious ; and the royal brothers and their plebeian consorts were banished from Court. Opinions at the time and since have widely differed on the necessity, expedience, or morality of the Eoyal Marriage Act. Gibbon (Letter to Holroyd, February 21, 1772) expresses his approbation of the Bill, but his assent savours of sarcasm ; Johnson disapproved of it, but the reasons for his dissent are rather obscure. Boswell's ' Life of Johnson,' p. 229, 1-vol. ed. Sir James Mackintosh (Works, p. 467, ed. 1857) "cannot contain his indignation at the Act;" and Mr. Massey ('Hist, of England,' vol. ii. pp. 111-116), even more indignant than Sir James, expatiates on its injustice, cruelty, and evU Consequences. Lord Mahon (vol. v. pp. 305-311) applauds the Act itself as a vnse precaution, the King for his "just feehngof " woanded dignity," and concludes his eulogy of both by saying that " happily for us it has continued in force until the present day." The authors of the 'Pictorial History of England' (George HI. vol. i. pp. 126-7) are of opinion that " there were perhaps good and " solid grounds of a political nature for objecting to this kind of " union between members of the royal family and subjects ; but it " is understood that George the Third, still more Queen Charlotte, * There was another and quite as celebrated a "Mrs. Horton" at this time, Nancy Parsons, the well-known mistress of the Duke of Grafton, after- wards Lady Maynai'd. Lord Mahon, 1. 0., calls the Duke of Cumberland's " Mrs. Horton " " the scheming widow," -doubtless on good but not apparent grounds. 1772.] LETTEBS TO LORD NOBTE. 85 , t ■ " who was absolutely fanatic on questious of ancestry, based tbeir " objections and resentments on feelings much more personal ;" and this opinion is fully confirmed by the King's letters. His Majesty, it will be seen, does not pretend that the Act will be good for the nation, the church, or "our glorious constitution," but only for liimself, his family, his dignity, and everything that is his. The Earl of Shelbujne, writing to the Earl of Chatham, March 18, 1772 ('Correspond.,' vol. iv. pp. 199, 203), says that "one tiling " remarkable is, that the King has noJ^ servant in the line of " business ia either House, except the Chief Justice of the King's " Bench (Lord Mansfield) can be called so, who will own the Bill, or " who has refrained fronj every public insinuation against it as " much as can come from those who vote for it, from considerations " declared to be of another nature." Lord Chatham in reply writes, — " The doctrine of the Eoyal Marriage Bill is certainly new- " fangled and impudent, and the extent of the powers given wanton " and tyrannical. And yet I confess that to see a public which slept " so quietly upon the violation of electors' rights and the tyranny " of the House of Commons awake into spirit and activity about " abridging the facility of princely nuptials surprised me not a " httle. This is straining at a gnat after swallowing the camel ! " 'Chatham Correspond.,' vol. iv. pp. 199, 203. In a subsequent letter, p. 209, the Earl says, — " Nothing but the manner of carrying " through that registered edict called the Eoyal Act — still more " impudent than the terms of it — could have excited feeling on that "subject; and as it was, it was confined to within doors." The meaning of this last phrase is, that during the debates in the House of Commons on this Bill none but members were allowed to be present, though many of the peers made earnest application for admission. For some excellent remarks on this Act, and a graphic description of the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland, see Mr. Tom Taylor's 'Life and Times of Sir Joshua Eeynolds,' vol. i. p. 439-41, and comp. note to p. 380, ib. Letter 110. Queen's House, Feb. 4th, 1772. 50 min. pt. 8 p.m. LoKD North, — I am mucli pleased with the draught of the message, and with that of the Bill for preventing marriages in the royal family without_ the previous 86 GEOBGE TEE THIBD'S [1772. consent of the Crown, except the issue of princesses that have or may be married into foreign families ; but am much of opinion that the Addresses of Thanks from the two Houses of Parliament should be seperate, and brought by the usual messengers, as this, though a salutary measure, is of utility to the dignity of my family, and not merely of public advantage, which are the occasions that require the most solemn mode of expressing gratitude to the Throne. Letter 111. * Queen's House, Feb. 5th, 1772, 8 min. pt. 5 p.in. Lord North, — In mentioning to the two Secretaries of State that it might be necessary to alter an ex- pression in the Bill for rendering the consent of the Crown necessary previous to the solemnization of any marriage in the royal family, this occasioned some conversation on the Bill, which gave rise to the idea that to render the Bill perfect it would be right to add, that in case the King should be a minor, then the Regent, with the advice of the Council, should have this right of giving consent, otherways a period might happen when the children of the Crown could, as in a late instance, enter into improper alliances. I therefore desire you will have this addition made to the Bill in words agreable to the Regency Act. Letter 112. * Queen's House, Feb. eth, 1772. 50 min. pt. 5 p.m. Lord North, — I have made some inquiry into Sir Gilbert Elliot's request in favour of his son, who is 1772.] LETTERS TO LOUD NOBTE. 87 undoubtedly a very pretty young man, and, on account of the father, should be glad to place in the army ; but the obtaining at once a captain-lieutenancy would not only occasion clamour in the army, but disoblige many peers and members of Parliament, as it could not be done for their sons ; in short, I shall be glad when I can assist Sir Grilbert, but that must be in an unexception- able mode, for I will not for any man do a wrong thing, or, what is next to it, that whicb opens the door to other unreasonable requests. I have desired Lord Harrington to give you on paper the state of the case, that you may satisfy Sir Gilbert of the impossibility of obtaining what he seems to desire. The commission of captain obtained in an illegal Inethod cannot be a claim to rank at coming in ; it might in time be a plea for advancement. Lord Barrington, Seoretary-at-War. Since Lord Granby's resig- nation in January, 1771, the office of Commander-in-Chief had remained ill abeyance, and the duties of it were discharged at this time by Lord Barrington until October, 1772, when Viscount Townshend, on ceasing to be Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, became Master of the Ordnance. For an account of Lord Barrington's official career see 'Memoirs of Eockingham,' vol. ii. pp. 190-192, and ' Life of Lord Barrington,' by the Bishop of Durham. He helonged to the party, or more properly to the clique, known as the "King's Friends," and appears to have answered to Davie ©ellatley's description of Baillie Maowheeble, " a particularly good " man, who had a very quiet and peaceful conscience that never " did him any harm." Just before he was appointed Seoretary- at-War under the Eockingham Administration, he assured the King of his devotion solely and personally to His Majesty, and of his resolution to support the Government, not because some of his oldest friends were members of it, but because his Majesty had chosen it. He said that "the Crown had an undoubted right to " choose its Ministers, and that it was the duty of subjects to support " them, unless there were some very strong and urgent reasons to " the contrary." And he added, " Sir, I beg you will dispose of my "place" — ^he was then Treasurer of the Navy — '-as shall be most 88 GEOBGE THE THIBB'S [1772. " convenient to you ; and be assured that my conduct shall be exactly "' tbe same when I am only your subject as if I continued your " servant." It is not surprising to find the official career of so good and faithful an Rerodian extending over a period of twenty- four years. See Lord Mahon's 'Hist, of England,' v. p. 116. Letter 113. Queen's House, Feb. 7th, 1772. 23 min. pt. 11 a.m. Lord North, — I am sorry to acquaint you that my mother is grown so much worse, that I cannot appear at Court this day; whenever this tragical scene is ended, I shall give you notice of it, that I may not from any personal afflictions put the least delay to public business. Letter 114. * Queen's House, Feb. 8tli, 1772. 5 min. pt. 10 a.m. Lord North, — What I yesterday expected has hap- pened. My mother is no more. I desire you will call here about one. " This morning, 8th February, between five and sis, H.E. High- " ness the Princess Dowager of Wales departed this life. The night " before her physician felt her pulse, and told her it was more " regular than it had been for some time ; her Highness answered, " ' Yes, and I think I shall have a good night.' She then embraced " the King, and he observed nothing particular in her, except that " she embraced him with greater warmth and affection th^in usual. " He afterwards retired to an antechamber with the physician, who " told him that her Highness would not outlive the morning, which " determined His Majesty to stay there at Carleton House all " night. He did not see her again until she was dead. He was " then informed, and he came and took her by. the hand, kissed it, " and burst into tears." ' Ann. Register,' vol. xv. p. 72. 1772.] LETTERS TO LOUD NOBTE. 89 Letter 115. Queen's House, Feb. 23rd, 1772. 20 min. pt. 10 p.m. Lord North, — The account I have just received from you of the very handsome majority this day gives me infinite satisfaction. I owne [sic] myself a sincere friend to our Constitution, both Ecclesiastical and Civil, and as such a great enemy to any inovations, [sic] for, in this mixed Government, it is highly necessary to avoid novelties. We know that all wise nations have stuck scrupulously to their antient customs. Why are we, therefore, in opposition to them, to seem to have no other object but to be altering every rule our ancestors have left us ? Indeed, this arises from a general dis- inchnation to every restraint ; and, I am sorry to say, the present Presbyterians seem so much more re- sembhng Socinians than Christians that, I think, the test was never so necessary as at present for obliging them to prove themselves Christians. I think Mr. C. Fox would have acted more becomingly towards you and himself if he had absented himself from the House, for his conduct cannot be attributed to conscience, but to his aversion to all restraints." " Lord Brougham, in his sketch of Sir ! WilUam Grant, ' Statesmen,' &o., p. 230, ed. 1858, furnishes an appropriate com- mentary on the sentiments expressed by the King in this letter: — "He," Sir William Grant, '-was the slave of " his own prejudices to such an extent " that he could see only the perils of " revolution in any reformation of our " mstitutions ; and never conceived it " possible that the monarchy could be " safe, or that anarchy could be warded " off, unless all things were maintained " upon the same footing on which they " stood in early unenlightened and in- " experienced ages of the world. The " signal blunder, which Bacon long iigo " exposed, of confounding the youth " with the age of the species, was never " committed more glaringly than by " this great reasouer. He it was who " first, with Mr. Canning, employed the " well-inown phrase of ' the wisdom of " our ancestors ;'.... strange force of " early prejudice ; of prejudice suffered " to warp the intellect while yet feeble " and uninformed, and which owed its " origin to the very error that it em- " bodied in its conclusions— the making " the errors of mankind in their igno- " rant and inexperienced state the guide " of their conduct at their mature age, " and appealing to those errors as the " wisdom of piist times, when they were " the unripe fruit of imperfect Intel- " lectual culture." 90 GEOBGE THE TSIBD'S [1772. The petition presented by Sir William Meredith, on the 6th of February, for relief from subscription to the XXXIX Articles, and the notice of Mr. Montagu's motion for a bUl to repeal the observance of the 30th of January, "seemed," says Lord Mahon, v., p. 303, " to the Protestant Dissenters opportune for urging " their pretensions. Several expressions in their favour had been " heard to fall in the course of these debates from the midst of the " Ministerial ranks. A meeting of the principal pastors resident " in London, and belonging to the various Nonconformist congrega- " tions, was thereupon convened ; and it was resolved to unite their " efforts towards one common end. Their first step was to seek " to dispense with the obligation imposed by the Toleration Act " of William, though not enforced, of subscribing certain of the " Articles ; their final object was, no doubt, a repeal of the Test " Act. With their sanction and support, a bill for the first step wag " proposed by Sir Henry Hoghton, as a leading gentleman ia the " county of Lancaster, and seconded by Sir George Savile, as a " leading gentleman in the county of York Among the " Ministers and Ministerial supporters the prevailing wish was to " comply with the request of the Dissenters," and to unite with them " so far as possible in a Protestant league against the Eoman " Catholics. With this feeling the bill passed the House of Com- " mons speedily, and with only a slight and insignificant minority " against it." — [Minority of 9, teller Sir Boger Newdigate, against a majority of 70. — ' Pari. Hist.,' xvii. p. 440, AprU 14.]—" In the " Lords it was supported by the high authority of Camden, of Shel- " burne, of Chatham, and even of Mansfield. But some of the piin- " cipal prelates, Drummond Archbishop of York, Terrick of Lon- " don, Lowth of Oxford, Hinchclifie of Peterborough, and Banington " of Landaff,*" opposed it with much warmth, as did also Lord Bruce " and Lord Gower; and on a division (May 19) was rejected by " a large preponderance, if not of arguments, yet certainly of num- " bers."— See 'Chatham Correspond.,' iv. pp. 199, 204, 210, 217, 219. " The Duke of Grafton was among the strenuous advocates for religious liberty. Lord Shelburne intimates to Lord Chatham, April 13, that " The " Ministry have changed their resolu- " tion backwards and forwards about " the application of the Dissenters. The " last I heard of was to let it pass the <' Commons, and let the Bishops stop " it in our House," Comp. Chatham Correspond., ib. p. 218. Lord Shel- burne, Feb. 27, 1774, describes to Lord Chatham the usual demeanour of the Bishops during debates : — " Waking, as " your Lordship knovps they do, just " before they vote, and staring on " finding something the matter." It cannot, however, be imagined that tliey even dozed during the debates on " the " Bill for the Relief of Protestant Dis- " senters." ' The Bishop of Bristol, Newtou, intended to make the speech which ifi printed in his Collected Works, vol. i. pp. 254-60. 1772.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 91 Letter 116. ♦Queen's House, Feb. 26th, 1772. 3 min. pt. 11 p.m. Lord North, — I. cannot say that the management of the debate in the House of Lords this day has edified me. I hope there will be a meeting to-morrow to settle the mode of proceeding on Friday. I do expect every nerve be strained to carry the Bill through both Houses with a becoming firmness, for it is not a question that immediately relates to Administration, but personally to myself; therefore I have a right to expect a hearty support from every one -in my service, and shall remember defaulters. The Eoyal Marriage Bill was read a second time. It was moved and carried by a majority of 68 (93 — 35), " That the said Bill be " committed to a committee of the whole House on Friday next," The division was a good one ; but the question being a personal one, His Majesty was rather unreasonable. Letter 117. Queen's House, Felj. 27tb, 1772. 53 min pt. 5 p.m. Lord North, — I am glad you have rejected Sir George Saville's motion with so little trouble. I have seen Lord Denbigh, who tells me that the Country Gentlemen were at first hurt they were not supported in defending Dr. Noel, but that now they are appeased. You ought to consider of the best mode of rejecting Mr. Fred. Montague's proposition of no longer keeping the 30th of January. Your having seen Ld. Mansfield will, I hope, enable you to give good advice to the Lords this evening for the management of to-morrow's debate ; and whatever 92 GEOBGE THE THIBD'S [1772. is agreed upon will, I hope, be decisive, for altering the mode of proceeding when in the House never answers. I hope I sh^ll, either from you or one of the Secretaries, receive a line concerning what passes even to-night, for you may guess how much I am anxious to see this measure well carried through. Sir George Savile, after observing that "this was an annual protest " on his part against the illegality and injustice of this House with " regard to the decision of the Middlesex election,'' moved, " That " leave be given to bring in a bill for more effectually securing the " rights of the electors of Great Britain, with respect to the ehgi- " bility of persons to serve in Parliament." I'he motion was lost by 46 (181— 135).— 'Pari. Hist.,' xvii. p. ai8. Lord Denbigh became a Privy Councillor in 1760, and was now a Lord of the Bedchamber. T]te Oowntry Gentlemen. — On the 30th of January the Eev. Dr. Nowell, Principal of St. Mary's Hall, Oxford, preached before the House of Commons at Saint Margaret's, Westminster, the customary sermon on the Slartyrdom of Charles I., and, on the following day, it was ordered that the thanks of the House be given to that divine, and that he be desired to print his sermon. Apparently the Doctor " cecinit surdis somnove gravaiis." " As " usual," says Lord Mahon, v., p. 302, " the discourse was but thinly " attended; only the Speaker and four other members being present, " and these, perhaps, not very attentive. Motions of thanks and for "printing the sermon were afterwards carried without notice or " remark ; but, when the sermon came to be transmitted to the " members in its printed form, it was found to convey most high- " flovyn doctrines from the school of FUmer and SachevereU, iucul- " eating passive obedience, and repugnant to the principles of the " Eevolution of 1688. Mr. Thomas Townshend, at that time a " speaker of some note, and afterwards a minister vsdth the title " of Lord Sydney, was the first to sound the alarm. He moved " (February 21) that Dr. Nowell's sermon should be burned by the " hands of the common hangman ; and his motion might perhaps " have been carried had riot the House remembered just in time " their own former vote of thanks. Their former vote, combined " with their more recent indignation, made the situation of the " House a little embarrassing, not to say ridiculous. Several acri- " monious discussions ensued. At length it was agreed," after a 1772.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 93 motion by Mr. Boyle 'Walsingliam on the 25tli of February (' Pari. Hist.,' xvii. p. 313), "That the said entry be expunged from the " votes of this House." — See Gibbon's Letter to Holroyd, Feb. 21, 1772; 'Miscellaneous Works,' i. p. 450. "Nowell's bookseller," says the historian, " is very much obliged to the Eight Hon. Tommy " Townshend." Passages from this thanked and thankless sermon maybe read in 'Pari. Hist.,' xvii. p. 312. Of the sentences cited by the Parliamentary chronicler the last seems somevrhat equi- vocal, since it apparently deprecates for George III. the fate of Charles I. Mr. Massey (ii. p. 117) has some excellent remarks "on this excellent fooling." — Comp. Hughes's 'Hist, of England, Geo. III.,' vol. ii. p. 61. Letter 118. Queen's House, March 2na, 1772. Lord North,— There is a great difficulty, if not impossibility, of enfranchising the copyholds at Eich- mond. The appHcation of Lady Fitzwilliams for a special Act to render her land a freehold has given rise to an idea of applying to Parliament for empowering the Queen, as Lady of the Manour during life, to en- franchise such of the copyhold tenants as she may think proper; the true reason is, that there are some pur- chases that may in time be agreeable to me, which I could obtain on easier terms if that boon on such occa- sions could be granted. I have ordered Mr. Sayer to wait upon you and state it more fully, that, if you see no objection to it, a Bill may be prepared for that pur- pose. As it is an ease to the subject, it cannot, I should think, meet with difficulty. Richmond Old Park and Somerset House were settled on the Queen at her marriage. See note to Letter 1. 94 GEORGE TEE THIBD'S [1772. Letter 119. * Queen's House, March 2nd, 1772, 15 min. pt. 6 p.m. Lord North, — I am glad to find Mr. Montague's motion has been rejected, as it will keep many worthy men .in good humour ; besides, the abolition of the day would not be very delicate. Mr. Montagu moved, March 2, that " leave be given to bring in " a Bill to repeal so much of the Act of Charles IT., ch. bO, as " directs that every 30th day of January shall be for ever kept and " observed in all His Majesty's dominions as a day of fasting and " humiliation." The majority against the motion was 28 (125—97). According to the ' Annual Eegister,' it met with a very cool reception (voL XV. p. 81), and this monstrous and almost blasphemous service kept its place in the Book of Common Prayer for nearly another century. By the words " very delicate" the King may allude to the fact that two lineal descendants of " Charles the Martyr" were Kving ■ — the Pretender and the Cardinal of York. Boswell " mentioned" to Johnson "the motion to abolish the fast of the SOth of January." " Johnson : Why, Sir, I could have wished that it had been a " temporary Act, perhaps to have expired with the century. I am " againsst abolishing it, because that would be declaring it was " wrong to establish it ; but I should have no objection to make an " Act continuing it for another century and then letting it expire.'' Boswell's ' Johnson,' p. 229, 1-vol. ed. Mr. Montagu's motion arose out of the debate mentioned in Letter 116. Letter 120. Queen's House, March 6th, 1772. 30 min. pt. 7 p.m. Lord North, — I am desirous of seeing you at St. James's this day, having seen Lord Mansfield last night, and being desirous of putting the Letters of Adminis- tration into forwardness. 1772.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTK 95 The Princess Dowager of Wales liad died without making a will. " His Majesty, before he quitted Carleton House on Saturday, was " pleased to order that all her servants should continue to receive " their usual salaries until he shall provide for them." (' Ann. Eegister,' vol. xv. p. 72.) Letter 121, Queen's House, March 10th, 1772. 8 o'clock a.m. Lord North, — Nothing can be more pleasant than your account of the long debate ; I am desirous of knowing more of it, and therefore wish you would call here at any time that suits you best this evening. On the 4th of March the Bill for the better regulating the future Marriages of the Eoyal Family was brought down from the Lords. " The long debate " was on the 9th of March, but the final division, after other debates as long, was not until the 24th of that month, when on the third division it was passed by a majority of 53 (168— 115), and Lord North was ordered to carry it to the Lords for their concurrence to the amendment. (' Pari. Hist.,' vol. xvii. pp. 384r- 424.) Letter 122. Queen's House, March 12th, 1772. 37 min. pt. 8 a.m. Lord North,— The turn of yesterday's debate is most favourable, as Opposition, or at least the greatest part of it, have been forced to change its ground and admit that there ought to be some regulations made with respect to the marriages of the Royal Family, It IS a known maxim in all military operations that when the enemy change positions that is the right moment to push them with vigour : the rule I look upon as not % GEORGE THE TEIBD'S [1772, less good in Parliamentary opperations [sic] : therefore a continuation of tlie zeal and activity you have shewn in this Bill vs^ill carry it through with great e'clat. The debate lasted till near twelve o'clock, when, question being put that the Speaker do now leave the Chair, the Ayes carried it by 236 (300 — 64), and the House resolved itself into Committee. ('Pari. Hist.,' vol. xvii. pp. 409-19.) Letter 123. ** Queen's House, March 12th, 1772. 48 min. pt. 7 p.m. Lord North's attention in correcting the imjoression I had that Colonel Burgoyne and Lieut.-Colonel Harcourt were absent yesterday is very handsome to those gentle- men, for I certainly should have thought myself obKged to have named a new Governor in the room of the former, and to have removed the other from my Bedchamber. -Colonel Burgoyne was appelated Governm- of Fort William in North Britain, in the room of Lieut.-General William Kingsley, de- ceased. ('London Gazette,' December 5, 1769.) Letter 124. ** Queen's House, March l-tth, 1772. 2 min. pt. 8 a.ni. Lord North, — I think you have advanced farther in the Committee than I expected. The last division was nearer than some persons will have expected, though not more than I thought. I hope every engine will be employed to get those friends that staid away last night to come and support on Monday. If a good 1772.] LETTERS TO LORD NORTH. 97 countenance is kept, I doubt not but you will find your divisions encrease. I wish a list could be prepared of those that went away and of those that deserted to the minority ; that would be a rule for my conduct in the Drawing-room to-morrow. I wish you could bring the list a Httle before three. The House went into Committee on the Eoyal Marriage BUI, Mr. Welbore Ellis in the Chair. On division majority in favour of Ministers was 36 (200—164). Letter 125. Queen's House, March 17th, 1772. 22 min, pt. 9 a.m. Lord North, — Your account of the good majority of yesterday gives me much satisfaction, and is a great proof of the activity you have shown in collecting persons together. I trust those you employ will not be less vigilant to get them to attend to-morrow, when the Committee will certainly be closed. I desire you will call here about two, that I may hear more on the subject. The debate continued till two o'clock in the morning. The diYision on Mr. Dowdeswell's motion to leave out the words " de- " scendants of George II.," in order to insert other words, viz., " child, grandchild, and presumptive heir of George II.," was lost by 62 (222—160). Letter 126. Queen's House, March 17th, 1772. 55 min. pt. 10 a.m. Lord North, — As two o'clock is not convenient to you, a little before three will do just as well. I have VOL. I. n 98 GEOBGE THE THIRD'S [1772. dedicated this unpleasant morning to going througli the whole of the Danish Correspondence, which by the messenger's dispatches seem to be drawing to a con- clusion. Great rancour and an inclination to blacken the affair as much as possible is not wanting; there- fore the decision must be now finally taken. " The Danish Correspondence " consisted prohaWy of the de- spatches of Colonel (soon afterwards Sir Eobert Murray) Keith, at that time the British Minister at Copenhagen. " His despatches," says Lord Mahon— y. p. 308, note — " on this delicate transaction, " are missing from the series at the State Paper OfSce.'' The story of the unhappy Caroline Matilda has recently been retold by the late Sir LasceUes WraxaU, ia 3 vols. 8vo. 1864.' Letter 127. Queen's House, March 18th, 1772, 12 min. pt. 9 a.iu. LOED North, — The very good divisions you had on the last debate, and the Committee having proceeded almost to the end of the last clause but one, makes it evident the Committee will be finally closed to-morrow, and I hope not very late. I look on your abihties and the zeal you have shown in conducting this Bill through the different stages as the means that have brought it thus, and that will crown it with success. Mr. Dowdes- well's clause of incapacitating any one of the family marrying without consent is infinitely more subject to dangerous consequences than any that Opposition can, with[out] begging the question, falsely pretend may at the remotest period be occasioned by any part of the Bill. Diyisions on amendments in Committee were — (1) 86 (188 — 102) ; (2) 57 (197— 140).— 'Pari. Hist.,' vol. xvii. p. 421. 1772.] LETTERS TO LOBD NOBTH. 99 Letter 128. Queen's House, March 21st, 1772. 46 min. pt. 8 a.m. LoKD North, — I am much pleased at finding the Eoyal Marriage Bill has got through the Committee this morning with such handsome majorities. I do not doubt but a continuation of the zeal you have shown on this occasion will carry handsome majorities on the Eeport and on Mr. Fuller's provisoe, for two days' respite is allways more favourable to Administration than to Opposition. Majorities (1) 87 (197 — 110) against the words " contract of mar- " riage:" again (2) 83 (196 — 112) against tlie wliole clause. Letter 129. Queen's House, March 23rd, 1772. 25 min. pt. 10 p.m. Lord North, — Though the majority was smaller than I should have expected this day, yet the division coming on so early in the day very naturally accounts for it; I hope the friends of the Bill will therefore attend in time to-morrow, that the majority may be greater at the third reading; but as you have got through the Report without borrowing part of the night, I am amply repaid any disappointment, as it has less fatigued you. " Eose Fuller moved to insert a clause tliat ' the Act should con- " tinue in force for and during the reign of his present Majesty, " and no longer :' but after a short debate, the question was put — " ' That this clause he made part of the Bill,' when, the House 100 GEORGE THE THIRD'S [1772. "dividing, ttere appeared — Ayes, 132; Noes, 150: so that the " clause was rejected by a majority of only 18." (' Pari. Hist.' xvii. p. 423.) The House broke up at nine o'clock, having got through the Upport of the Amendments in Committee. The clause might very possibly have been carried, had not several of the minority been locked out at the time of the division. Letter 130. Queen's Hoiise, March 30tli, 1772. 5 o'clock p.m. Lord North, — The enclosed packet contains the keys of the scrutores at Carlton House, and of a press with glass doors in the Tapestry Eoom at Kew that contains the keys to aU my late mother's scrutores in that house. I desire you will direct Mr, Martin* to go and open them, and any papers that are in either house to seal them up and transmit them to me. I shall this very evening examine if I have any schedule of the furniture taken at the death of my late father, though I rather expect not to meet with it, as I have already glanced them over. I desire no time may he lost with regard to Kew, as I wish to begin to put things there into order. Gibbon to Holroyd, February 13, says that. — " Her favourite " (the late Princess's), " the Princess of B , " very properly insisted on the King's immediately sealing up all " the papers to secure her from the idle reports which would be so " readily swallowed by the great English monster." " The Princess of B " I suppose to have been Lady Bute. In the ' Pictorial History of England,' vol. i. p. 128, the reading is the Prince of B [ute], a convenient, but not a certain emendation. See ' Bishop Newton's life,' p. 130, for the Princess's disregard of "idle • Samuel Martin, Secretary of the Treasury, and in the service of the late Princees-Dowager. 1772.] LETTERS TO LOBB NORTH. 101 " reports." Wilkes, wLen charged with, his false imputations against her, almost employs Gibbon's words : — " No matter," he said, " it " mil do very well for a North Briton ; the people will swallow " anything." Letter 131. * Queen's House, April 2nd, 1772. Lord North, — As I understand the Petition of the Dissenters is to he presented to-morrow, I take this method of acquainting you that I think you ought not to press those gentlemen who are brought on that in- terest into Parhament to oppose this measure, as thus you [may ?] be driving them out of those seats on a new Parhament ; but I think you ought to oppose it per- sonally through every stage, which will gain you the applause of the Established Church and every real friend of the Constitution. If you should be beat, it will be in doing your duty, and the House of Lords will prevent any evil ; indeed it is the duty of Ministers as much as possible to prevent any alterations in so essential a part of the Constitution as everything that relates to religion, and there is no shadow for this Petition, as the Crown regularly grants a noli prosequi if any over-nice Justice of Peace encourages prosecutions. The course of the debate on Subscription to the Thirty-Nine Articles, Febniary 6, 1772, encouraged the Protestant Dissenters to urge their claims to relaxation of the restrictions on them. On the 3rd of April a Bill was introduced by Sir Henry Hoghton and seconded by Sir George Savile, that " leave be given to bring in a " Bill for the further relief of his Majesty's Protestant subjects " dissenting from the Church of England." After a short but very warm debate, the Bill was carried in the Commons by a majority of 61 (70—9). See note to Letter 115. " Lord Gower told the Earl of Shelbume of the intention of " Government in the House "f Lords to oppose the Bill and support 102 GEOBGE THE THIBD'S [1772. " the Bisliops. It was given out that the King has declared himself " niTich against the BUI." Only a sketch of the debate in the Lords, taken from the newspapers of the day, has been preserved. — ' Chatham Correspond.' iv. p. 218. Letter 132. Queen's House, May 2nd, 1772. 5 min. pt. 9 aan. LoKD North, — ^I am much pleased that Opposition took so absurd a part as to object to the very honorable proposition you made yesterday ; it shows their igno- rance of finances, and that they have no other object but to find fault Avith whatever is proposed. I am certain this measure will do you the greatest credit, and will show that the person I have thought most able to fill the employment of Chancellor of the Exchequer fully answers the opinion I have of him. Debate on the Budget. ' Pari. Hist.' vol. xvii. pp. 485-604. Lord North's proposal found favour with money-changers. " The books " were opened on Monday morning at the Bank at eleven o'clock. " The whole was subscribed before one. The crowd was so gi'eat " that many people were obliged to mount up a ladder to get into " the room." It was during the debate on the Budget of 1772 that Mr. Burke made his celebrated hull. He said, — " The Minister comes down ia state, attended by his creatures of '■ all denominations — clean and unclean. With such, however, as " they are, he comes down, opens his budget, and edifies us aU with " his speech. What is the consequence? One half of the House " goes away. A gentleman on the opposite side gets up and " harangues on the state of the nation ; and in order to keep " matters even, another half retires at the close of his speech. A " third gentleman follows their example, and rids the House of " another half" — (a loud laugh through the House). " Sir," said he, " I take the blunder to myself, and express my satisfaction at " having said anything that can put the House in good humour."— Prior's ' Life of Burke,' p. 133, 6th ed. 1772.] LETTEBS TO LORD NOBTH. 103 Letter 133. Queen's House, May 8th, 1772. 55 min. pt. 9 p.m. Lord North, — I have just received the keys which Mr. Martin has returned to you. Lord Rochford told me that you have perfectly satisfied his mind as to Mr. Fountayne. I desire you will finish the affair of the Glamorgan Shire' Lieutenancy, for the great delay that has arisen undoubtedly much lessens the favour. I find Lord Hardwicke is to come and recommend his brother, the Dean of Lincoln, for a Bishoprick ; I shall certainly explain it cannot be the first given to Cam- bridge, for Dr. Hurd will undoubtedly meet with general approbation. He means also to press that Lord Bread- albane be restored to a seat in the House of Lords on explaining his resolution to support Administration. This is worthy of consideration ; but must require much explanation. The Dean of Lincoln was the Hon. James Yorke. He was made Bishop of St. David's in 1774, and translated to Gloucester in 1779, and finally to Ely in 1781. Dr. Hurd became Bishop of Lichfield, 1774. Letter 134. Kew, June 11th, 1772. 10 miu. pt. 8 p.m. Lord North, — My not receiving the Duke of Cum- berland being a matter publickly known, it would be absurd in the Bishop of Salisbury to summon him. As to General Paoli's desire of seeing me, you need not be supposed to have named the request to me till next "Wednesday ; then I shall hear what has passed, and can with greater propriety fix the time for seeing him. 104 GEOBGE THE TRIED' S [1772. ' The Duke of Gloucester, as well as the Duke of Cumberland, was forbidden the Court ; and so lasting was the royal displeasure, that for ten years neither of the offending brothers was received by King or Queen. The summons was for a " Chapter of the Garter," of which order the Bishop of Salisbury was Chancellor. Letter 135. * Kew, July 6th, 1772. 25 min. pt. 3 p.m. Lord North, — The advice given by you this morn- ing to Mr. Eden was perfectly agreable to the contents of Mr, de Vergenne's letter, bnt it certainly alluded to the plan formed in April ; for the enclosed dispatch of a later date proves that the scheme of changing the constitution of Sweden is to be attempted in the course of this month, agreable to the dispatch I communi- cated to Lord Rochford on Friday, which caused the transmitting that account by that night's packet to Sir John Goodricke. You will send the enclosed dis- pa,tch, when you have perused it, to Mr. Eden. M. de Vergennes was the French Ambassador at Stockholm. " The Senate (of Sweden), on the death of Charles the Twelfth, " had usurped, and ever since had held fast, by far the larger " portion of the Eoyal prerogatives. These prerogatives Gustavus " the Third, a young and ambitious monarch, who had recently " ascended the throne, was eager to resume. Considering how much " the Swedish oligarchy had abused its power, the object might be " free from blame, but in pursuing it the King did not shrink from " false professions and violated oaths. After some cautious delays he " succeeded, by fomenting an insurrection in Scania and a military " movement at Stockholm. He had also been assisted by a subsidy " from the Court of VersaUles, which hoped to resume its ancient "influence in Sweden." (Lord Mahon, voL v. p. 312.) "This " revolution took place in the month of August in this year. It " began on the 12th, and was completed on the 21st." (Note by Lord Brougham.) 1772.] LETTERS TO LORD NORTH. 105 " Tlie affair of Sweden makes considerable noise here — Paris — " at present ; and I believe is far from being disagreeable to a great " many." — Mr. Jardine to Baron Mure, ' Caldwell Papers,' ii. pt. 2, p. 310. Letter 136. *Ke\v, August 1st, 177'J. Lord Nt5RTH, — The dispatches that arrived last night from France are of so serious a nature that I am un- willing to be silent on the subject untill Wednesday ; I therefore mean by this method to convey my thoughts unto you, which will enable you to revolve it in your mind, and to suggest what has occurred to you when we meet next. "Were the members of the French Ministry well settled in their employments, and their King well instructed and able to weigh the consequences of the steps he may take, the language of intending to con- tinue the quai begun the last year at Dunkirk would convince me that there was a hidden desire to enter into a war; but [when I consider how very unsettled everything is in France, and more so the character of the monarch, I am convinced that they do not foresee the danger they are running of drawing themselves into discussions with us, which if not conducted with the greatest temper may draw both nations into that which they ought assiduously to avoidTj I am glad to see that Lord Stormont views it in this light also. Lord Roch- ford (whose zeal makes him rather in a hurry), by a note I received with the dispatches, wanted to write him an answer with strength to oppose the steps that are proposed to be taken. I wrote him in answer that with [what] the Lord Stormont represents to be a principal feature in the character of the King, too much fire might bring things to what no honest man can wish ; that lOG GEOBGE THE THIBD'S [1772. I therefore I thought the affair too delicate to give any directions untill I had received the opinion of such Ministers as shall be in town this week. I do not mean that I am inclined to yield, but I am as averse to make a point of honour of such a trifle as the Quai of Dun- kirk. I would order Lord Stormont, with temper, polite- ness, and* candour, to prove that what is proposed is contrary to the strict letter of treaties ; but I would at the same time consider whether he might not grant a part, if not very material, to put an end to this tiresome correspondence. Lord Stormont's private letter to Lord Rochford seems to state a mode of doing it. You may think me prolix, but it is from not desiring that the heat of a boy may throw me so much off my guard as to draw this country into another addition of 50 milHons to the National Debt ; we must get the Colonies into order before we engage with our neighbours. Viscount Stormont, afterwards the Earl of Mansfield, was English Ambassador Extraordinary at Paris at this time : Lord Eochford was Secretary of State for the Southern Department. The demolition of the fortifications of Dunkirk was an old but never-performed promise of Fiance, included in the Treaty of Utrecht, and repeated among the preliminaries of the Peace of Paris in November, 1762. The boy I suppose to be the Due d'Aiguillon, Madame du Barry's Eirst Minister of France. Letter 137. * Kew, Aug. 9th, 1772. Lord North, — Having received with the mail that arrived yesterday the Letter of Attorney signed by the Queen of Denmark, I take this- method of returning it 1772.] LETTERS TO LOBD NORTH. 107 to you. I also transmit a sketch of sucli alterations in carrying on the American affairs as I think essential, as they will prevent future jarrings of departments. You will see by it that patronage and every emolument re- mains as amply to the American Secretary as whilst those Seals were possessed by Lord Hillsborough. I am certain the good sense and candour of Lord Dartmouth will see that I have no other object but to prevent any uneasiness that might arise in futurity. I have therefore also looked forward to a time of war. The interior police, the trade and improvement of America, are the points that required being taken out of the per- plexed mode of a joint interference of the Southern Secretary and the Board of Trade, and gave rise to that department which cannot be in more proper hands than those of Lord Dartmouth. " Tie Earl of Hillsborough resigned Ids office of Secretary of State " for the American Department, together with his seat at the Board " of Trade, both of which were bestowed on the Earl of Dartmouth, " who upon this occasion quitted his old friends in Opposition. Lord " Hillsborough's resignation was not however the effect of any " difierence with the Court, that nobleman having quitted his places " in great good humour, and being immediately afterwards pro- " moted to an English earldom. But as those measures, which had " caused the greatest dislike and uneasiness in the colonies, had " originated in Lord Hillsborough's Administration, this change " was by many considered as conciliatory with respect to America."" There were other changes a little later which relate to persons mentioned in the letters for 1772. They had no effect on the general system of government, which had become extremely loyal. " The " Earl of Harcourt succeeded Lord Tovmshend in the government " of Ireland, and the latter was appointed Master-General of the " Ordnance. The death of the Earl of Albemarle, October IS, " afforded an opportunity for promoting General Conway to the govern- " ment of the island of Jersey ; and Sir Jeffrey Amherst, who succeeded " For au interview', 1770, between I see Parton's ' Life of Franklin,' vol. i. the Earl of Hillsborough and Franklin, I p. 502-5. 108 GEOBGE THE THIBD'S 1772.] " Tiim in the Ordnance, was soon afterwards called to the Privy " Council. Lard Stormont was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary " at the Court of Versailles, in the room of the Earl of Haroourt, " and Mr. Charles Fox a Lord of the Treasury in the room of Mr. " Jeniinson, who had become joint Vice-Treasurer of Ireland. ' Ann. Eegister,' 1773, vol. xvi. p. 63. Letter 138. Kew, Aug. 22nd, 1772. Lord North, — Having received your letter recom- mending Doctor Vivian, at the request of Lord Suffolk, to succeed Doctor Kelly, Regius Professor of Physick at Oxford, I empower you to direct a warrant to be pre- pared in his favour. I am thoroughly resolved that these employments at both universities shall be faith- fully administered, not held as sinecures ; therefore the gentleman must be acquainted that he will be required to read such a number of lectures as the Heads of Houses may think necessary. I take this opportunity of enclosing to you a list of the servants that I find absolutely necessary to place about my third and fourth sons;" now I put two pre- ceptors to attend them. I have very carefully brought the expense as low as the nature of the thing would admit. £. (Mr. deBude 350 Preceptors l^^^ jl^ g^^^^ 300 Pages of the Back /Mannorlay, "leach, salary 80?. 1 n^n Stairs \ Miller, J for mourning, 20/. J ■ " Housekeeper 50 For keeping three housemaids, each 20/. 60 Porter 30 Watchman 25 Writing master 100 £1115 " Very minute economy." Lord Brougham, ' Sketches,' p. 81. " The Duke of Clarence and the Duke of Kent. 1772.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 109 Letter 139. * Kew, Aug. 24th, 1772. 10 min. pt. 4 p.m. Lord North, — The establishment for my third and fourth sons ought to commence from Midsummer, as those put about them have been from about that time waiting till the house on Kew Grreen could be put into order. I take it the establishment of my elder sons is paid to Lord Holdernesse ; this will therefore also be the same. The death of Calcraft will, I trust, bring the borough of Rochester into its ancient hands. I hope you and your family will enjoy every kind of comfort during the stay in Oxfordshire and in Somerset- shire. If anything should occurr during your absence you may depend on hearing from me. The Earl of Holdernesse was governor to tlie Prince of Wales, and Dr. Markham, then Bishop of Chester and afterwards Arch- bishop of York, and Cyril Jackson, afterwards the celebrated L'ean of Christ Church, were respectively preceptor and sub-preceptor. See 'Chatham Correspond.' vol. iv. p. 150. Mr. Calcraft died on the 23rd of August in this year. ' Chatham Correspond.' vol. iv. p. 214-225. He was possessed of considerable property, but no legitimate children. See ' Ann. Eeg.' xv. p. 1 23, and the ' Memoirs of George Ann Bellamy.' The ' Annual Eegister,' vol. xv. p. 82, throws light on the " ancient hands in the borough of Eochester.'' " At a general " meeting of the free citizens of Eochester at their town-hall it was " unanimously agreed to transmit instructions to their representatives " to support the motion (Alderman Sawbridge's) for shortening the " duration of Parliaments. To these instructions Mr. Gcdcraft re- " turned, that he received them with very particular satisfaction, " and hoped to merit the future good opinion of his constituents, " whose commands he should be ever ready to obey. Vice-Admiral " Pye, on the other hand, writes that, many of his electors being of " a different opinion, he thought it right to act in this business as it " seemed to him to be most for the public good." Compare Letter 83. 110 GEOBGE TEE THIBD'S [1772. Letter 140. Kew, Oct. 2nd, 1772. 10 min. pt. 6 p.m. Lord North. — It is with pleasure I find by your note that Alderman Halifax continues superior to his antagonists, and that Shakespear has also an advan- tage over them. I hope I shall continue receiving an account of each day's poll till the final conclusion of the election. See note to Letter 143. Letter 141. Kew, Oct. 3rd, 1772. 59 min. pt. 7 p.m. Lord North, — I trust by your account of this day's poll that there can be no doubt that it will end favour- ably ; the mob being less quiet this day is a proof that to riot, not numbers, the patriots alone can draw advantage. That there is an almost certainty of the Chancellor- ship of Oxford having been conferred this day unani- mously gives me great pleasure, as the choise [sic] is a compliment to me and a credit to that antient seat of learning. Letter 142. Kew, Oct. 5th, 1772. 46 min. pt. 6 p.m. Lord North, — The unpromising appearance of this day's poll does not in the least surprise me, knowing that Wilkes is not bound by any tyes, therefore would poll non-freemen rather than lose the election ; if he is not one of the two returned, he is lost for ever ; but if 1772.] LETTEBS TO LORD NOBTH. Ill he obtains that, though he may still lose that by a scrutiny, it will enable him to stand again the next year. ' I sincerely congratulate you on the very handsome manner with which the University of Oxford has con- ferred on you the Chancellorship. I am certain this will stimulate you to recommend on vacancies none but men of character and abilities for the Regius Professor- ships ; and I can assure you that I shall expect all those I appoint to perform such duties as the Heads of Houses shall require of them. Lord Xortli was ciiosen Clianoellor of the University of Oxford on the 3rd of October without opposition, and installed on the 6th by the Vice-Chancellor, Proctors, &c., in Downing Street. ' Ann. Eegister,' vol. xv. p. 130-1. I print the following letter, though it is not among those in the Eoyal Library at "Windsor, as a note to the one immediately preced- ing, to show that the King at all times expected work to be done by all whom he employed or appointed. " The King to the Earl of Chatham. "Friday, 15 miu. pt. 3 p.m. August 22, 1766. " Lord Chatham, — I think Lord Hertford will accept of the office " of Master of the Horse without complaining, as he sees a prospect " of the White Staff. I desire, therefore, that you will acquaint " Lord Bristol with my intention of appointing him Lord-Lieu- " tenant of Ireland, but expecting his constant residence while he " holds that office. " George E." " It had hitherto been the custom for the Lord-Lieutenant to go " over to Ireland only once in two years. While there he con- " vened Parliament, which lasted a few months ; lived in a state of " splendid magnificence ; provided for his dependants ; received " freedoms, gold boxes, and complimentary addresses ; and then " hurried back to England with the utmost precipitation, leaving " the government vested in a commission, usually composed of the 112 GEORGE THE THIBD'S [1772. " Lord Primate, the Lord Chancellor, and the Speaker of the House " of Commons.. These gentlemen, called Lords Justices, were hetter " known in Ireland by the name of tmdeirtalc^s." * — ' Chatham Corre- spond.,' iii. p. 51. Letter 143. Kew, Oct. 6th, 1772. 20 min. pt. 10 p.m. Lord North, — By the account of this day's poll it has ended as you foretold yesterday. I hope the scrutiny will be conducted with great exactness, which, if it can be obtained when under the direction of such sheriffs, I doubt not but Wilkes will not only not be returned, but that his little regard to true votes will come to light, which must do him .great injury even among his admirers. The return at the close of the poll on this day was : — For Mr. Alderman Wilkes . . . 2301 Townshend Halifax Shakespear Sir H. Bankes 2278 2126 1912 3 Aldermen Wilkes and Townshend on the 29th of October, after a scrutiny, were declared to have the majority of votes, and the Court of Aldermen fixed upon Townshend to serve the ofSce of Lord Mayor. ' Ann. Eegister,' vol. xv. p. 134. Letter 144. Kew, Not. 7th, 1772. 49 min. pt. 11 a.m. Lord North, — I return to you the two warrants which I have signed and the letters from Lord Towns- » For the meaning of " Undertakers," I "'Undertakers,' a dozen of whom at least in England, see Wilson's 'Hist. " undertook to govern the last Parlia- of James I.,' in Kennet, ii. p. 696. " ment, and they led me."— Rush- James owns to his Parliament, "there worth, vol. i. p. 22. " was a strange kind of beast called | 1772.] LETTEBS TO LORD NOBTH. 113 hend. I do not pretend to be conversant enough in the law to decide whether the patent authorising the Commissioners of Customs and those of Excise to join in appointing collectors of hearth-money is legal; hut as the Chancellor of Ireland is so decided as to its being so, and as there cannot be a doubt of the propriety of the measure, if free from that diffi- culty, I think I am justified in putting my hand to the warrant. Viscount Townslieiid liad been Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland since October, 1767. He was succeeded by Earl Harcourt thirteen days after the date of this letter. The Chancellor was Baron Lifford (James Hewitt), formerly one of the Justices of the King's Bench in England. Letter 145. * Queen's House, Nov. 25th, 1772. .38 min. pt. 6 p.m. Lord North, — I do not doubt but very material reasons must have occurred to make you desirous of altering the article regarding the East Indies. I owne I think the wording of it is very bold. I therefore trust Lord Eochford has acquainted yon with the trans- position, which certainly would make it run better. Though the Speech is softened, I have no objection to that, as I know I may depend on your remaining stiff in treating with the Company. Till now the conduct you have held towards the Directors is much to your honour ; but any wavering now would be disgraceful to you and destruction to the public, but I know you too well to harbour such a thought. TOL. I. ' 114 GEOBGE THE THIBB'S [1772. Parliament reassembled on the 26th of November. The Speech from the Throne contained no allusion to the recent partition of Poland on the 5th of August in this year. Lord Mahon, ' Hist, of England,' y. p. 318, observes, that "The Secretaries of State, the " Eochfords and Suffolis of the day, so far as we can judge from " their own despatches, do not seem to have comprehended the fuU " bearings of the question before them : they say nothing of the " danger of disturbing the balance of power ; they do not dwell on " the ill example from such a violation of the public law ; they " are silent as to motives of compassion for the injured Poles ; " they descant only on the possible interruption and disturbance " of the British trade ! " Compare Mr. Massey's remarks on the foreign policy of England at this time, 'Hist, of England,' ii. pp. 168-171. The Speech turned chiefly upon the affairs of the East India Com- pany, the late bad harvest, the deamess of corn, and the propriety of relieving the poor. There was no opposition in either House to the Address. On the subject of the East Indies the King said, — "It is im- " possible that I can look with indifference upon whatever concerns " either the commerce and revenues of the kingdom at large or the - " private rights and interests of considerable numbers among my " people ; neither can I be insensible how materially every one of " these great objects must be interested in the maintenance and " credit of the East India Company," &c. Eor an account of the Directors and their difficulties see MOl's ' Hist, of British India,' ii. p. 305, foil. Bad government for many years, bad harvests in 1770-1, rapacity on the part of the Company's servants, extravagance and grinding taxation on the part of the Directors, had in 1772 done for Bengal, once the most populous and the richest portion of our Eastern dominions, what Verres did for Sicily — ^beggared the rich, starved the poor, ruined the trade, and rendered the whole province a scene of misery and desolation. At length the distress which their own malversation had caused fell on the Company themselves, and the Directors were astonished, while portioning out their high dividends, to find that bankruptcy was almost at the door. See 'Chatham Correspond,,' iv. p. 234 ; and comp. Mr. Strachan's Letter to David Hume, Oct. 20, 1772, in the ' Caldwell Papers,' vol. ii. pt. 2, p. 206. 1772.1 LETTERS TO LOBB NOBTH. 115 Letter 146. Queen's House, Nov. 2Gth,« 1772. 25 min. pt. .5 p.m. Lord North, — It is with pleasure I learn that the Address passed this day without a division, that a Com- mittee of the whole House is appointed to examine into the high price of the corn, and a secret Committee into the present situation of the East India Company. I cannot omit reminding you that though I trust when the Company finds the Committee has laid the true state before the House, that it cannot avoid coming into such an agreement as may be thought secure for its creditors, and equitable for the public and the pro- prietors; but that if this should not happen that you will be prepared with a plan for conducting those affairs. If you form it yourself it will be just, and there are men of ability in Parliament will certainly support it well in the House ; but if you are open to their ideas nothing will be done, for every one will have schemes incompatible with those of the others you may consult. Letter 147. St. James's, Dec. 3rd, 1772. 1 min. pt. 2 p.m. Lord North, — As Parliament has with so much dispatch gone through some of the Provision Bills, I should not act agreably to my Speech, and the answers to the Addresses of the two Houses, if I delayed passing them till Monday ; though I fear they may not lessen Parliament met on this day, and was opened by the King in person. I 2 116 GEOBOE THE THIBD'S [1772. tte distresses of the poor, yet I would not have it sup- posed that any alleviation had been delayed by me : I shall therefore certainly pass them to-morrow, and those that may be ready the next week can be passed by commission. December 4. — His Majesty came to the House of Peers, and gave his assent to two Acts for the importation of wheat, &c., from any part of Europe and from his Colonies in America " into this kingdom " for a limited time, free of duty." ('London Gazette,' No. 11,306, December 1-5, 1772.) Letter 148. Queen's House, Deo. 7th, 1772. 40 min. pt. 7 p.m. Lord North,- — Nothing could have been more ad- vantageous to prosecuting the affairs of the East India Company than on the motion for a Bill to restrain the Company for a limited time from appointing super- visors, a debate having ensued, and on the division the majority being so great. I trust that, if you proceed with the same assiduity and temper, this business, though arduous, will turn out to the security of the Company, the advantage of the public, and your per- sonal honour. The majority for Ministers was 69 (114 — 45). The debate is reported in ' Pari. Hist.' xvii. pp. 559-67. Lord North moved " that a Committee of Secrecy be appointed to " inquire into the state of the East India Company." (See Burke's account of the difficulties of the Company in ' Ann. Eegister,' 1772, vol. xvi.) Important in itself, this business proved momentous in its consequences : since an attempt to relieve the Directors embroiled England with America. 1772.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NORTH. 117 Lbttee 149. Queen'g House, Deo. 16th, 1772. 2 min. pt. 8 a.m. Lord North, — I have answered the Paper of Memo- randums as clearly as possible to give you as little trouble as possible. I cannot enclose them without just adding a desire that if possible the Secret Committee may make some Efeport before the recess. I am con- vinced that, if they do not, it will give some room to the insinuations of malevolent persons that it is delayed that advantages may be made in the stocks by knowing what will be the Report in January ; if a state of the resources cannot be made out in time, where would be the evil of stating the bad situation, with a declaration that, though the Committee has not advanced far enough to report on the resources, that they can already declare that they shall certainly be able after the recess to make a Report on that head that will give more satisfaction ? Letter 150. * Queen's House, Deo. 19th, 1772. 8 o'clock a.m. Lord North, — I am infinitely pleased at finding that the East India Supervisor Bill passed by so great a majority, but am rather surprised that Lord George Germaine was in the majority and a speaker for what the Rockinghams alone opposed, and also that Tho. Townshend was silent. " Debate on ISth December upon tbe Bill for preventing tlie East " India Company from sending out Supervisors to India for six " calendar months. The Bill was carried by 153 to 28." (Note by Lord Brougham.) Thomas Townshend was one of the tellers on the part of the Noes. (' Pari. Hist.' xvii. pp. 651-675.) 118 GEOBGE THE TEIBD'S [1772. Letter 151. * Queen's House, Deo. 20th, 1772. 40 min. pt. 6 p.m. Lord North, — I omit entering into tlie contents of Lord Townshend's letter concerning the behaviour of Sir WilHam Osborne, as I shall see you to-morrow. I have given notice that I shall to-morrovr in person pass the Land Tax and the Malt, not chusing to neglect any business, and not chusing without real necessity to be continually passing Bills by commission ; those not ready for my assent to-morrow will be passed by com- mission on Wednesday. I have no objection to Mr. Charles Fox's vacating his seat to-morrow. The extract of Mr. Lees's letter to Mr. Robinson shows the Common Council of Dublin to be of the same metal as that of London, and I trust will have as little weight on the minds of the Irish at large as Guildhall patriots have on the sentiments of this island. Grattan (Memoirs of, vol. i. p. 261) writes to Mr. Broome, De- cember 29, — " Sir William Osborne is not yet, as I have heard, " dismissed. It is generally believed he will he turned out, as he " refuses to take the oaths under the new appointment of the Com- " missioners, who are now constructed in a different manner, in " consequence of the division of the hoards." — Comp. Letter 107. '' Mr. Charles Fox " had resigned his oflSoe as one of the Lords of the Admiralty on the 20th of the preceding February, during the debates on the "Eoyal Marriage Bill." (See Gibbon's Letter to Holroyd, February 21, 1772; 'Miscell. Works,' vol. i. p. 449, 4to. ed.) In January, 1773, however, he renewed his connexion with Lord North as one of the Lords of the Treasury, on which occasion he " vacated his seat." He was still, though he was not long to remain so, a violent Tory. He is " attempting," says Gibbon (1. c), " to pronounce the words Couintry, Liberty, Corruption, and so " forth ; with what success time will discover." Fox very soon acquired a very perfect pronunciation of them, as Lord North and His Majesty, as well as time, discovered. 1772,] LETTERS TO LOBD NOBTH. 119 Whatever may have been " the sentiments " of the Common Ooimoil of Duhlin at this time, "Ireland continues in perfect " repose ; except a duel, nothing gives it ente«iainment." (Grat- tan, 1. c.) Letter 152. Queen's House, Deo. 24th, 1772. 50 min. pt. 4 p.m. Lord North, — I desire you will call here at eight this evening, when I will return the warrants and the charts, and will deliver the bank-notes and trifling cash that is in my hands belonging to my late mother. " An^as her savings were generally disposed of in charity, the " small remains of her personal fortune will make a trifling object " when divided among her children." (Gibbon to Holroyd, February 13, 1772.) Horace Walpole, on the contrary, says that the Princess, beside her joiuture of 50,000Z. a-year and a third of the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall, producing 4000Z. a-year, obtained an additional annuity of 10,000Z. from her son. (' Mem. of the Eeign of George the Third,' vol. i, p. 28.) Compare ' Ann. Eegister,' voL XV. p. 73, where the Princess's income is stated to have been 50,000Z. per annum in case she survived her husband, according to Act 10 Geo. II. Letter 153. Queen's House, Dec. 29th, 1772. 8 min. pt. 9 p.m. Lord North, — A messenger is just^ arrived from Lieut.-Colonel Blaquiere with a note he has received unsigned from the Duke d'Aiguillon, who seems much allarmed [sic] at the idea of a fort erected by us on the river St. John in the Gulf of Darien. I do not recollect that any such establishment has been directed from hence, so that I am at a loss to understand what he alludes to. 120 GEOBGE THE THIBB'S [1772. There is also arrived a messenger from the Lord-Lieu- tenant with the account that he has passed the Money Bill ; that in consequence of it Mr, Clements has pressed that a loan for 10 0,00 OZ. may be immediately made ; that doubts having arisen whether this can properly be done untill'the second money is passed, the Chancellor and Mr. Malone, Chairman of the Committee of Supply, have given it as their opinions that it may be done. He has sent into the country for those of the Prime Serjeant, the Attorney and SoUicitor General, which when re- ceived he will also transmit, and wishes to have direc- tions on the subject from hence. He adds a postscript that he -supposes the Money Bill will not be decided upon here till he sends the report of the three last- mentioned lawyers. • Lieut.-Colonel Blaquieie, Secretary to the Embassy at the Court of France ; lie was appointed 10th July previous. (' London Gazette,' 1771, No. 11,162.) "Lord Harcourt's administration commenced in November, 1772, " with many professions of economy and great promise of reduction : " but it proved not less extravagant or more constitutional than " the preceding. It originated one, and altered four money-Mils in " the Privy Council. Its profusion and expense were as improper " and unjustifiable ; and though the House of Commons had in 1757 " unanimously voted that the ' granting so much of the public re- " venues in pensions was an improvident disposition of the revenues, " an injury to the Crown, and detrimental to the people,' and though " complaints on this subject had been general under the preceding " administration, yet from 1772, the date of its accession, to 1777, " when it retired, the list of pensions was augmented from 52,2632. " to 89,095Z." (Memoirs of Grattan, vol. i. p. 263.) The most material questions before Parliament during the next session related to the affairs of the East India Company, and the expedition by the English forces in the West Indies against the Oaribbs of the island of St. Vincent. (See Letter 177.) A Bill for the relief of Dissenters similar to that of the preceding 1773.] LETTERS TO LOBD NOBTH. 121 year was passed in the Ijower, but rejected in the Upper House. The most important measure, however, of the session, regarding its consequences, was Lord North's Bill for enabling the East India Company to dispose of their accumulated stock of tea to the American Colonies. " The Bill appears to have passed without opposition, " nay, almost without remark." (Lord Mahon, v. p. 319.) Burke, in the ' Annual Eegister ' (vol. xvi. p. 108), calls this " a " tedious session, during a great part of which there seemed to be " no business to attend to, and matters of the greatest national and " constitutional importance were brought on when the season for " all busiaess seemed to be over." Opposition was weak and spirit- lees, and in general Ministers carried their motions and plans with great ease. Among the reasons for this ease one was that the " bulk of the Whig party had from the commencement of the Ame- " rican troubles given a general support to the coercive policy of " the Goverimient." (Massey, ii. p. 149.) Letter 154. * Queen's House, Jan. 1st, 1773. 3 min. pt. 11 p.m. Lord North, — Having heard, by the Dutch mail of this day, that the great house at Amsterdam of Clifford and Company is declared bankrupt, that fourteen other houses have met with the same fate, I am desirous to know what effect it has had on merchants in this country. I have been told three houses stopped pay- ment this day. Is not Sir George Colebrooke in a very precarious situation ? The Earl of Shelbume writes to Lord Chatham, on the 17th January, 1773: — "Dr. Price writes to me from London that 'the " times seem at present to be growing more and more dark and " alarming. In consequence of the bankruptcies at Amsterdam " we have had already nine or ten failures, and many more are " expected. It is also expected that we shall soon hear of the " failure of several houses at Hamburgh, nor is it possible to know " how far the mischief may spread, or in what it will end.' " (' Chatham Correspond.,' vol. iv. p. 239 ; comp. ib., p. 242.) 122 GEOBGE THE THIBD'S [1773. " This day, March 31, the banking-house of Messrs. Sir George " Colebrooke, Lessingham, and Binns stopped payment." (' Annual Eegister,' xvi. 87.) " And on the 13th of April Clifford's creditors " held a meeting at Amsterdam, when 15 per cent, was offered, " and 20 per cent, more in six months. A few signed, but a " great majority rejected the proposal with indignation." (Id. xvi. pp. 91, 98.) Letter 155. Queen's House, Feb. 9th, 1773. 13 min. pt. 9 p.m. Lord North, — I was never clearer of opinion than of the impropriety of encreasing the half- pay of the Captains of the navy, therefore am much better pleased that you should have shewn a disapprobation to the measure, and care must be taken to throw it out if it requires a particular Bill in the House of Lords, Upon the whole, you have done your duty, and that is a con- solation that must fully repay any disappoiatment the division may this day have given. Lord North was in a minority of 109 ("154 — 45) on the question of " Increase of Pay of Captains in the Navy." The petition from the Captains was presented by Lord Howe, and supported by Sir Gilbert Elliot, Captain Constantino Phipps, Sir George SavUe, Colonel Barre, and others. Sir George Savile and the members oi the Opposition argued on general political grounds ; Lord Howe and Sir Gilbert on the special merits of the petition. Lord North, Mr. Charles Fox, and Mr. Welbore ElUs opposed it on the plea that the public was heavily burdened, that it was " mali exempli," and, il granted, might lead to similar applications from other servants oi the public. The petition was referred to a Committee, and a second debate took place on the report on the 5th of March. Finally, an address to the King was voted, and the pay of the Captains was increased by two shillings a day. " I am happy," says Lord Chatham to Colonel Barre, February 15, " that the Captains of the navy have triumphed over the misere ol " Downing Street. The eminent majority does honour to thf 1773.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 123 " House. As the Captains hare prospered, I hope the Shipwrights " will too, if their desires are equally reasonahle." — (' Correspond- ence,' vol. iv. p. 249.) Colonel Barr^ tells Lord Chatham (ib., p. 248),—" Sir Gilbert EUigt, the Scotch, and the Duke of Grafton's friends were with us." Mr. John Crawford, M.P., writes to Baron Mure, Feb. 17, 1773 (Caldwell Papers, ii. pt. ii. p. 217) : — '' I have no news to tell you. There is no opposition, and con- " sequently no debates in Parliament. I suppose there will be some " before the session ends, with regard to India matters. Whether " Administration has any settled plan with regard to this great ob- " jeet I cannot teU, but I believe not. Lord North is a very good " member of Parliament (being a man of great readiness and wit), " but I believe he is not a great minister, and that he has neither " the extent of mind necessary to form large views, nor the boldness " to carry them into execution. Is he really and truly Minister ? " Why was he beat the other day by a majority of near 100 on the " question of the Petition from the Navy ? Why did General " Harvey, Sir Gilbert Elliot, &c. &c., vote and speak against him ? " I neither know nor care ; but you, who are a greater politician " than I am, and better acquainted with Sir Gilbert Elliot, may " form your own conclusions." Letter 156, Queen's House, Feb. 16th, 1773. Lord North, — I am much pleased at the very hand- some majority last night. I am curious to know how- people voted on this occasion, therefore wish to see you this evening at nine, that I may have an explanation of what passed ; but, should there be defaulters, it will be highly necessary to punish them. The taking away regiments I can never think adviseable, but Grovem- ments are a very fair prey ; but more of this when you come this evening. The King, or his advisers, had been less scrupulous at an earlier period of this reign. General Conway and other military officers were, in 1764, dismissed from their employments as a penalty for 124 OEOBGE TEE THIBD'S [1773. their votes in Parliament. General A'Conrt was deprived of his command of the second regiment of Foot-Guards. Colonel Barre, when the Speaker chanced to address him by his usual military rank, replied, " Sir, you have given me a title I have no right to; " I am no longer a colonel ; they have dismissed me from my regi- " ment, and from the ofiSce of adjutant-general." — (See Horace Wal- pole to the Earl of Hertford, Feb. 15, 1764.) Conway calls it his " total dismission from His Majesty's service, " both as groom of the chamber and colonel of a regiment," and " the harshest and most unjust treatment ever offered to any man " on the like occasion." He says, " 1 never gave a single vote " against the Ministry, except in the questions on the great con- " stitutional poiat of the warrants." — (' Memoirs of Eockingham,' vol. i. pp. 134, foil.) These sweeping measures were laid at the door of the first Lord Holland, then Henry Pox, and Manager of the House of Commons. Lord Bute is said to have taken care that Fox should bear all the odium of these violent proceedings. How arbitrary, however, the Earl could be appears from an anec- dote of him in Lord Mahon's History, vol. v. p. 216. - Letter 157. Queen's House, March 9th, 1773. 35 min. pt. 7 p.m. Lord North, — The hearing that the four resolutions sent me this forenoon have passed the Committee with- out a division is so very favourable a commencement of the East-India business, that I cannot help expressing the pleasure it gives me, and I trust that, with a con- stant inspection of those affairs. Parliament may yet avert the ruin to which the Company has nearly been plunged into by the ill conduct of its directors and rapine of its servants. For the four Besolutions, see ' Pari. Hist.,' xvii. 805. " The Com- " pany," says Mr. Mill (' Hisfc of British India,' vol. iii. p. 495), " treated these conditions " (Lord North's) " aa harsh, arbitrary, " and illegal; petitioned against them in the strongest terms; and 1773.] LETTERS TO LOBD NORTH. 125 " were supported with great vehemence of language by their own " friends, and the enemies of the Minister, in both Houses of Par- " hament." The affairs of the East India Company, as alluded to in these letters, are so complicated in themselves, and would de- mand such prolixity of annotation, that I must, except in very special instances, refer, for their explanation at this period, to Mr. Mill's ' Narrative,' vol. iii. book iv. ch. 9. Letter 158. ♦Queen's House, March 13th, 1773. 38 min. pt. 8 p.m. Lord North, — The remonstrance, according to the copy you have transmitted to me this day, has un- doubtedly the marks of being the most violent, insolent, and licentious ever presented ; but v?-hen it is known how thin the meeting was that countenanced the pro- ceediug, and their indifference to it, a dry answer rather bordering on contempt than anger, may not be improper. I cannot help suspecting that Mr. Oliver has been advised to be ill, which delays the bringing this flagrant piece of impertinence, whilst the Lord Mayor consults what part he will take, or at least to shew that the Irish party has not been the proposers of this absurd measure. The Petition, Eemonstranoe, and Address went over the old ground — the Middlesex election, the imprisonment of the Lord Mayor, &c. — ahd prayed for a change of Ministers and a dissolution of Parliament. Wilkes did not accompany the presenters, but the Lord Mayor Townshend, Serjeant Glynn, the Eecorder, one of the Sheriffs, Alderman Bull, and others of the City ofiScers went up to St. James's on the 26th of March. The reply was contemptuous, and the citizens, before they were introduced to His Majesty, were informed that they were not to have the honour of kissing his hand ; and, in his reply, were told that their petition was so void of foundation, and conceived in such disrespectful terms, that His Majesty felt convinced they did not seriously imagine it could be 126 GE0B6E THE THIBD'S [1773. complied with. The petition, &o., and the reply to it, are printed in ' Ann. Eeg.,' 1773, vol. xvi. p. 209. For an insult to the King, proposed by Mr. Wilkes at this time, but negatived upon the ground of precedent, see 'Pictorial Hist, Geo. III.,' vol. i. p. 163. Letter 159. Queen's House, March 15th, 1773. 30 Ttiin. pt. 5 p.m. Lord North, — Tlio-ugli Lord Townsliend will cer- tainly, on the death of Lord Tyrawley, receive a mark of my favour, yet I cannot conferr [sic] the regiment of Guards on him, as his being so low on the list of Lieutenant-Generals would give real dissatisfaction to many of his seniors. The having laid his letter before me is all you are authorized to mention to him, and nothing with regard to any favorable intentions I may have towards him. Mr. Robinson's intelligence from the City shews that the City patriots are destroying themselves in the snare meant for others, which is but too often the fate of those who have nothing in view but mischief. The Eight Hon. James O'Hara, Lord Tyrawley, bom in 1(190, Field Marshal of aU his Majesty's Forces, Colonel of the Second or Coldstream regiment of foot guards, and a Privy Councillor, died on the 13th of the following July. He was succeeded by the Earl of Waldegrave in the command of the Coldstream, and Lord Tmms- hend replaced the Earl as Lieut.-Colonel of the Second or Queen's regiment of dragoon guards. Lord Tyrawley had served with distinction in all Queen Anne's wars — in 1727 was envoy-extra- ordinary to the King of Portugal, and commander-in-chief of the troops sent to the aid of that kingdon against the Spanish invasion of 1762. See obituary for 1773 in the ' Ann. Eegister,' xvi. p. 172, where the enumeration of Lord Tyrawley's military and civil em- ployments occupies more than a column. The City patriots on the 11th of March met, under the presidency of the Lord Mayor, to consider a petition to the Throne for a redress of grievances, shortening the duration of parliaments, &c. But it mS.] LETTERS TO LOBD NORTH. 127 does not appear in what manner they were destroying themselves, for the petition was voted by a great majority of the livery, " not above " six hands having been held up against it." And a motion was made and unanimously agreed to, that the Lord Mayor, the City members, &c. &c., " do present the same.'' Letter 160. Queen's House, March 23rd, 1773. 46 min. pt. 8 p.m. Lord North, — It is very material that the two re- solutions passed this day without division, and the general entering on the whole of the business in the speeches, will so far cast the fuel of Opposition before the attack, when your whole plan is before the House, that people will be tired of the subject, and therefore not endure many long speeches that would otherways be produced. 'Pari. Hist.,' xvii. p. 827 :— "Debate in the House of Commons " on the resolutions for restraining the East India Company's divi- " dends." Admiral Keppel writes to Lord Eockingham on the 16th " of March, " I think the House of Commons business and the East " India Courts are fuE as extraordinary as they have been at any " time."— (' Memoirs of Viscount Keppel,' vol. i. p. 411.) Letter 161. Queen's House, April 6th, 1773. 8 min. pt, 7 p.m. Lord North, — The enclosed is the short state[ment] I promised to send you on the present state of affairs in the North. The speaking out is ever the best method, and, upon this occasion, perhaps, more so than any other. "When I see you to-morrow I will explain still 128 OEOBGE THE THIBD'S [1773. farther why I think a firm language will prevent the Court of France from taking the step that alone seems to oblige us to take a part. The Eussian fleet was in the Levant committing great atrocities on thq Turkish population, besides destroying the trade of France and Spain in that quarter. These Powers began to prepare arma- ments for the apparent purpose of expelling the Eussians from the Mediterranean. Against these preparations, England, as the ally of ' Eussia, remonstrated. Again, Prussia and Denmark at this time were threatening to force Sweden into alliance with them against France, and possibly Austria also; and the words, "afeirs in the North," probably refer to both these movements — one French navy in the Mediterranean, and another in the Baltic. Adolphus (' Hist. Geo. III.,' vol. ii. pp. 4-9) gives a very clear account of these rumours of war. The King, as will appear in the next letter, acted with great energy on this occasion ; and " Lord " Stormont " received, as he well merited, the warm approbation of his Sovereign and the Ministers for his sincerity, firmness, and temper. The affair, indeed, created little or no sensation in England, and historians scarcely notice it. — (Comp. Hughes's ' Hist, of Eng- land,' vol. ii. pp. 87-89.) Letter 162. * Queen's House, April 20th, 1773. 1 5 min. pt. 8 a.ni. Lord North, — I received yesterday the dispatch from Lord Stormont, which convinces me, when the Due d'Aiguillon finds we make preparations, that he will give up his promenade; which opinion I am the more confirmed in from a German interception I re- ceived also yesterday of a letter from Creutz, the Swedish Minister at Paris, to the King of Sweden, wherein he declares that M. d'Aiguillon has told that, as England would certainly take umbrage if he sent a 1773.] LETTEBS TO LORD NORTH. 129 fleet to the assistance of Sweden, that he therefore could not think of that mode of succour, for that, at all events, he would avoid a war with England. I instantly wrote to Lord Suffolk to summon a cabinet this evening ; Lord Eochford willj by that time, be also in town. The measure to be taken seems clearly pointed out. Let all the guard-ships be ordered to Spithead ; let them be completely manned, and twenty ships of equal strength be ordered to replace them ; and let the Ambassador's conduct be approved of, and ordered to remain silent till the French Court renew the conversation ; and I trust that, in less than three weeks, the whole of this armament may be counter- manded, I cannot conclude without expressing my approbation of Lord Sandwich's plan of having the guard-ships always ready for immediate service ; that will, I am persuaded, prevent many wars ; for, by that means, we have ever twenty large ships ready before the enemy can equip one ; consequently, about the start of three months, which is an immense advantage in all military operations. The letter (170) of May 21 will show tlie soimdness of His Majesty's opinion. See ' Ann. Eegister,' xvi. p. 96, for the prepara- tions at Portsmouth. " Stocks have fallen from 6 to 20 per cent. : " notwithstanding the Minister still cries — Peace.'' Letter 163. ♦Queen's House, April 25th, 1773. 12 miu. pt. 7 p.m. Lord North, — The letters arrived from Paris this day have proved agreable to what I have uniformly declared, that, on the return of Mr. de Mortanges, the VOL. I. 130 GEOBGE TEE THIBD'S [1773. fleet would be countermanded. I have, in consequence of the Due d'Aiguillon's saying- that the fleet is post- poned, directed the two Secretaries to say pubh'ckly thai the letters arrived from France this day give reason to think the fleet will he countermanded, that, therefore, it is hoped we may do the same in a few days, — and I have ordered Lord Sandwich not to commission any ships, but merely fit out the fifteen, for that I hope, by this day seven- night, even they may be countermanded. We must see what effect our arming has had at Versailles before we can properly give counter-orders, and, within that time, we shall receive the messenger. Mrs. Hood, the wife of Captain Alexander Hood, writes to Lady Chattam, April 25, 1773 : — "Tou will enjoy the fine spirit that " Sir Charles [Saunders] shows, when I relate what he said this " morning to some members of Parliament: 'I hope there will be " some motion made, that I may go down to the House and vote " against Administration. I shall go to the King on Wednesday, " and to Portsmouth on Thursday, and will hoist my flag, and get " into my ship, and never stir out of it while I stay iu England.' " Upon its being said that our equipment would be only a fleet of " observation, Sir Charles said, ' If I sail, it will be a war.' He " asked for a vice and rear-admiral, and, consequently, more " strength, but was answered, in regard to the latter, he had aU " they had ; the other was refused." — (' Chatham Correspondence,' vol. iv. p. 261. Letter 164, Queen's House, April 26th, 1773. 40 min. pt. 5 p.m. Lord North, — I am sensible of your attention in sending to me two accounts concerning the conduct of the weavers ; it seems to me as if they would have remained quiet after the care taken on Friday last, if 1773,] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 131 the same framer of mischief had not afresh exhorted them ; and I am sorry to find the Crown lawyers do not well know that attempting to assemble riotous meetings is criminal. It is no great credit to the laws of this island if they do not provide against what is so detri- mental to civil society. Letter 165. Queen's House, April 26th, ]773. 2 min. pt. 8 p.m. Lord North, — Nothing can be a greater proof of a want of grievances when so trite an affair as the Middlesex election can be hashed up every session, and the dividing it into two questions shows that not reason but obstinacy dictated the conduct of Opposition. The passing any Bill with a tendency to aleviate [sic] the weavers, if they previously assemble, would be quite contrary to my ideas of propriety, for it would be an encouragement to every other body of men riotously to combine as a sure means of obtaining what wild minds may dictate;' it is the quiet member of society that deserves encouragement, not the licentious. Middlesex election : — Mr. Wilkes applied to Sir G. Savile to renew his annual motion. The motion was seconded by Mr. Dowdeswell. There was a very warm debate ending in a majority of 50 for ministers (201-1 51). Letter 166. Queen's House, May 3rd, 1773. 15 min. pt. 10 p.m. Lord North, — The finding that the East India Bill has been ordered without a division is a very favourable K 2 132 GEOBGE TEE THIRD'S [1773. circumstance ; I hope it will be soon brought in and a^ daily progress be made in it. I received the. draught of the Bill, which seems to me to be as perfect as the first attempt of redressing the dreadful evils that the rapacity of individuals have [sic] occasioned, and by annual addi- tions may in the end in some degree curb if not eradicate what otherways must render that trade the ruin instead of a source of restoring the finances of this country.* Letter 167. Queen's House, May 11th, 1773. Lord North, — The resolutions the House came to last night *" are such known axioms of government that it seems to me rather unwise in the friends of any of the fleecers of the East Indies- to have combatted them, though they may attempt, when they are applied to particular persons, to evade them ; but I believe, though the House has very properly come to these resolutions, that the many favours obtained by particular gentlemen will prevent much national justice being obtained. Gibbon in a letter to Holroyd of the same date writes (' MiscelL Works,' vol. i. p. .469), " Tbe House of Commons sat late last night. " Burgoyne made some spirited motions : ' That the territorial " acquisitions in India belonged to the State' (that was the word); " that grants to the servants of the Company (such as jaghires) were " illegal ; and that there would be no true repentance without resti- " tution. Wedderbume defended the nabobs with great eloquence, " but little argument. The motions were carried without a division, " "Debate in the Commons on the Re- sclution for the Regulation of the East " India Company's Affairs." — Pari. Hist, xvii. p. 850 foil. ; Mill, British India, vol. iv. p. 522 ; Ann. Reg. xvi. p. 101. I" " Debate in the Commons on General Burgoyne's Motions relative to the " Conduct of Lord Olive in India."— Pari. Hist. xvii. p. 855. 1773.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 133 " and the hounds go out again next Friday. They are in high " spiiits ; but the more sagacious ones have no idea they shall kill. " Lord North spoke for the inquiry, but faintly and reluctantly." In this debate Mr. Attorney-General Thurlow spoke against Mr. Solicitor-General and "the nabobs." See Lord Campbell's 'Lives of the Chancellors,' vii. p. 182, 4th edit., for an account of this debate. The resolutions were all carried by a large majority. Letter 168. Queen's House, May 15th, 1773. 46 min. pt. 8 p.m. Lord North, — I have just heard from Lord Eochford that the ballot has ended 319 for the question and 149 against it. I trust your whole conduct, which has in the East India business been alone guided by a desire of acting right, will prompt you from this check with redoubled zeal to go forward. I am convinced the House of Commons will so strongly feel the absurdity of the proprietors that they will be the more inclined to come to the question of right, if you, on consulting the ablest of your counsellors in the House of Commons, chuse to avoid coming yet to that. Continue -the Bill of Regulations ; and as the Company do not chuse to be assisted with money, pass, an Act to prevent their having any dividend for the next three years; they must then come on their knees for what they now seem to spurn. The Company's refusal to be assisted with money was announced some months earlier. Gibbon, writing to Holroyd on the 12th of January in this year, nearly coincides in opinion with the King : — " Yesterday the East India Company positively refused the loan ; " a noble resolution, could they get money anywhere else. They " are violent, and it was moved, and the motion heard with some " degree of approbation, that they should instantly abandon India " to Lord North, Sujah Dowlah, or the devil, if he chose to take it." 134 GEOBGE TEE THIRD'S [1773. " While the East India Eegulation Bill was under consideration " in the House of Lords and the Loan Bill in the Commons, a " petition was presented from the Company to the latter requesting " permission to decline its pecuniary assistance on the severe con- " ditions annexed to it. The House, however, at Lord North's sug- " gestion, determined that the option of refusing the loan should not " be left to the Company, but that the acceptance of it should be " made compulsatory by Parliament."— Hughes, '^ist. of England,' vol. ii. p. 85. Letter 169. Queen's House, May 18th, 1773. 23 min. pt. 10 p.m. Lord North, — I am sorry you have been detained so long this day on an affair quite out of season ; I was in hopes the East India Bill would have been read the first time this day. The longer it is delayed the more people will be trying to move vexatious questions to postpone the business ; but I trust your candour wiU not let them carry this too far ; and where intentions are so just as yours, with spirit and perseverance the end will be obtained. Letter 170. * Queen's House, May 21st, 1773. 55 min . pt. 12. Lord North, — I cannot refrain having the pleasure of acquainting you that there is just arrived from Paris a letter from Lprd Stormont dated May 18th, that, on saying to the Due d'Aiguillon that our fleet is suspended, he had instantly answered. Ours is countermanded, les matelots sont renvoyes ; ce nest pas une sicspension, mais une cessation totale ; there is to be no fleet of evolution this year : this [is] so very decided that no farther doubt can 1773.] LETT BBS TO LORD NOBTH. 135 be had, and the Admiralty must now restore things to a state of peace, but the ships had better remain at Spithead. Compare Letter 102, April 20. Letter 171. * Queen's House, May 22nd, 1773. 5 min. pt. 8 a.m. Lord North, — The vote carried this morning is a very strong proof of the propriety of your leaving to private gentlemen the punishing the servants of the East India Company ; and by that wise conduct you as an individual have been in a minority that with every man of honour must do you credit, at the same time that the Minister had nothing to do with it. I owne I am amazed that private interest could make so many forget what they owe to their country, and come to a resolution that seems to approve of Lord Clive's rapine. No one thinks his services greater than I do, but that can never be a reason to commend him in what cer- tainly opened the door to the fortunes we see daily made in that country. I cannot conclude without adding, your conduct has given the greatest satis- faction. NiohoUs C Eecollections,' vol. ii. p. 201) intimates some unfair conduct on the par't of Lord North— that he promised to support the accusation, then deserted the cause, discouraged its adherents, and spoke feebly in debates. The writer in the 'Annual Register' (vol. xvi. p. 107) points out the mysterious circumstances attending the whole transaction. Lord North, he says, spoke in favour of censure on Lord Ulive, and in division went with the minority. Attorney-General Thurlow led the attack, Solicitor-General Wedder- bume the defence. The Court party went different ways ; the most considerable part of the Opposition supported Lord Clive, though he 136 GEORGE THE TEIBD'S [1773. had taken part with Administration against the Company. See ' Ann. Beg.' xvi. pp. 101-3. It is worth observing the difference between Burke defending Clive and the nabobs, and Burke assailing Hastings. Lord dive's rapine. — The King judged of Clive as many of his subjects did. See Lord Macaulay's article, ' Edinb. Eeview,' Jan. 1840, for the feeling of the country towards nabobs in general, and towards the nabob Clive- in particular. Clive, however, in his own defence, admitting many of the charges against him, the arts he had employed to deceive Omichund, the immense sums he had received from Meer Jaffier, justified them, and resolutely said that in the same circumstances he would act in the same manner. On the score of receiving money and gifts, he laid claim, and not without reason, to the praise of eminent disinterestedness. " He described " in vivid language the situation in which victory had placed him : '• a great prince dependent on his pleasure ; an opulent city afraid " of being given up to plunder ; wealthy bankers bidding against "•each other for his smiles ; vaults piled with gold and jewels thrown " open to him alone. ' By God, Mr. Chairman,' he exclaimed, ' at " this moment I stand astonished at my own moderation.' " Colonel Burgoyne, at the close of the debate on May 21, moved, " That Eobert Lord Clive did in so doing" — receiving from Meer Jaffier in English money — " abuse the power with which he was " ratrusted, to the evil example of the servants of the public." This was carried. The Solicitor- General then moved, "That Eobert " Lord Clive did at the same time render great and meritorious " services to this country." And this also passed in the affirmative. ' Pari. Hist.' xvii. p. 882. Lord Macaulay's comment on these opposite decisions is as follows: — "They, the Commons, voted the major and minor of " Burgoyne' s syllogism ; but they shrank from drawing the logical " conclusion. When it was moved that Lord Clive had abused his " powers and set an evil example to the servants of the public, the " previous question was put and carried. At length, long after the " sun had risen on an animated debate, Wedderburne moved that " Lord Clive had at the same time rendered great and^meritorious " services to his country ; and this motion passed without a " division. " The result of this memorable inquiry appears to us, on the " whole, honourable to the justice, moderation, and discernment of " the Commons. They had indeed no great temptation to do wrong. " They would have been very bad judges of an accusation brought " against Jenkinson or against Wilkes. But the question respecting " Clive was not a party question ; and the House accordingly acted 1773.] LETTUB8 TO LOBD NOBTK 137 " with the good sense and good feeling wHcli may always be ex- " pected from an assembly of Englisb gentlemen not blinded by " faction." Comp. Lord Mabon, vii. p. 240. " Such a vote migbt " perhaps be deemed almost a verdict of acquittal. Certainly at " least it showed a wise reluctance to condemn." Mill, ' British India,' vol. iii. pp. 510-12, and especially Wilson's note; and ' Life of CUve,' iii. p. 360. Letter 172. Kew, May 29th, 1773. Lord North, — The hearing that the raising the qualification from 800^. to 1000^. Stock has been carried by so large a majority, gives a very good opinion of the concluding the East India business with propriety this season, and of introducing a continual inspection from Parliament into the state of the Company, which alone can save it from destruction. At the first division on the Qualification clause, whether it should be fixed at IQOOl. stock, the question was carried by 179 to 65. ('Ann. Eegister,' xvi. p. 102.) Letter 173. Queen's House, June 4th, 1773. 46 min. pt. 10 a.m. Lord North, — I wish you could contrive to be at St. James's at half hour past twelve, as it is incon- venient the coming after the drawing-room these late days ; and I wish to talk to you concerning a petition I have received from Lieut.-General Monkton, who, though an honest man, I cannot think so fit for go[ing] through the difficulties of the East Indies as Lieut.- General Olavering. 138 GEOBGE THE THIRD'S [1773. Letter 174. * Kew, June 8th, 1773. 32 min. pt. 7 a.m. Lord North, — Till the Parliament is up I shall continiie coming to town of a Sunday. I am rather surprised that Lieut.-General Monkton has not looked upon the contingency of the command in North America as more suitable to his affairs and constitution than going second in Council to Bengal, and I am clear from this that he is instigated by others to act as he does, not by -his own feelings, which have ever made him accommoda;ting. I am sorry for it, as his name may catch in the House, and make the division nearer than Olavering's delicacy will like ; but I am certain that the latter is most fit for the different sorts of business he must enter upon ; but I hope the command of all the troops in India is clearly given to him by the Bill, for from the beginning he declared without that he could not think of going. I am much pleased at Colonel Monson's going third in Council; I have ever found him desirous of service, and, though not a shewyman, has excellent sense ; Major-General Frazer's conduct is very proper. If any of the Council at Bengal have acted in conjunction with Mr. Hastings, the naming one of them will be right; but if otherways, I can see no reason for putting he [sic] who has done his duty and those who have not on a foot ; as to the other gentlemen that have applied to you, I do not know anything of their personal qualifications, except Mr. Francis, who is allowed to be a man of tallents ; as to Mr. Andrew Stewart, I should think it wrong to take him into the Council when Monkton (very pro- perly) is refused. I owne I think, if the nomination had been made as in all other cases by the executive power, not a branch of the legislature, it would have 1773.] LETTERS TO LOBD NOBTH. 139 prevented the disputing on names this day, which can never please the persons concerned ; the only name that will not succeed and probably have many names will be Monkton ; perhaps the Scotch may make a party for Andrew Stewart.* General Monckton had distinguislied himself in the West Indies by commanding the land forces at the capture of Martinique in 1762. On the 11th of June, at a very numerous meeting of the proprietors of East India stock, Governor Johnstone moved " That " it he recommended to the Court of Directors forthwith to appoint " Governor Monckton ; Commander-in-Chief of the Company's forces " in India" and on the 18th of June an Address was presented to His Majesty, praying that he " would be graciously pleased to confer " some mark of his royal favour upon the Hon. Lieut.-General " Eobert. Monckton — either by a grant of lands in some of the " islands in the West Indies which were ceded to His Majesty by " the late treaty of peace (Peace of Paris), or in such other manner " as His Majesty should think proper." (' Ann. Eegist.,' xvi. p. 117 ; compare Letter of June 12th.) Letter 175. Kew, Juno 10th, 1773. Lord North,; — If a proof was wanting of the good- ness of your heart, your anxiety at the disappointment of Lieut.-General Monkton must for ever entitle you to a great share of that first of good qualities ; I am not wanting in compassion for the imprudence of that good- natured man, and am very ready to give him any reasonable assistance ; but I do not think Myself in a situation to give such a royal present as you suggest. Should that be done. Sir Jeffry Amherst would come " Of Torrance, member for Renfrew- shire from 1774 to 1784. He is described by Colonel Mure (Caldwell Papers, vol. i. p. 34) as " a gentleman of talents and " honour, distinguished in the world of letters as well as of law and politics." 140 GBOBGE TEE THIRD'S [1773. with, a like demand ; but an idea suggests itself to me. It is Parliament that has with great propriety preferred Clavering to Monkton ; why cannot they in return, as a testimony of the services of the latter, recommend him to a grant of some of the unsold lands in the ceded islands ? his conquest of Martinique would be a sufficient grounds, and that would make it particular. Besides, he could then assist his children, who being unlawful are more proper to be public[ly] mentioned in a grant. You will see by this proposition how desirous I am to forward on all occasions your wishes, but my income cannot bear great drains, besides the door that it would open for other applications, and indeed Monkton's de- clining the handsome offer of the command in America is also against him. As to an Irish pension, after the wrangle about Dyson, I cannot approve of that ; and indeed the pension on my sister, the Queen of Denmark, must be made out before I can think of giving one to any other person. I am certain Lord Rochford's intelligence will prove true, not as a thing intended to be come to, but it may give room for delay, which is the sole object of the D. of Richmond. Should they really resign their Charter, it may occasion some difficulty ; but in that case I should think the military ought to be taken quite out of the hands of a new Company, and the Supreme CouncU, which ought to have powers to controul the inferior Governments, and I fear, whilst the Company can carry on wars, they will ever encline from interested motives to it. Jeremiah Dyson, of Stoke, near Guildford, in Surrey, Secretary to tlie Treasury (1762-3), and a friend of Lord Bute. He died Sept. 16, 1776. " Who," said Flood, in the Irish House of Com- mons, in November, 1771, "does not know Jeremiah Dyson, Esq.? " We know little of him, indeed, otherwise than hj his name 1773.] LETTEB8 TO LOBB NOBTH. 141 " on the Pension List. There are others who know him by his " actions. This is he who is endued with those happy talents that '' he has served every Administration, and served every one with " equal success —a civil, pliable, good-natured gentleman, who will " do what you will and say what you please — for payment." In the 'Memoirs of Lord Eockingham,' vol. i. p. 306-310, a full account may he read of Mr. Dyson. As, however, the sketch there drawn of him is not a captivating one, I will mention one good deed of the original's, viz. his benevolence to Akenside. They had become acquainted in Edinburgh, where Dyson was studying law and Akenside physic, and they were probably attracted to each other by the circumstance that both, at that time at least, were Dissenters. " Akenside," says Dr. Johnson, in his Life of him, was (1 749) " at '" London known as a poet, but was still to make his way as a " physician ; and would perhaps have been reduced to great exi- " gencies, but that Mr. Dyson, with an ardour of friendship that " has not many examples, allowed him three hundred pounds a-year." It is pleasant to record that Akenside, by liis will dated 6th of December, 1767, left his " whole estate and effects of whatever " kind " to his friend Mr. Dyson. (P. Cunningham's note to Johnson's ' Life of Akenside.') The King has already mentioned Mr. Dyson's acquaintance with ceremonial law. He seems to have been the " Lord Boyet" of the Court. (See Letter 94.) Letter 176. Kew, June 11th, 1773. 33 min. pt. 7 a.m. Lord North, — I am nrncli pleased at hearing that the East India Bill has passed this morning by so great a majority, and trust that it will prove a remedy to some of the many evils, that, if not corrected, must soon totally prevent any possibility of preserving that great branch of commerce ; besides, it lays a foundation for a constant inspection from Parliament into the affairs of the Company, which must require a succession of regulations every year ; for new abuses will naturally be now daily coming to hght, which, in the end, Parliament alone can in any degree check ; 142 GEOBGE THE THIBD'S [1773. for tlie Directors, from views of self-interest, must court their servants who make rapid fortunes from the desire of remaining at the head of the Company. I suppose there can now be no doubt of the business in the House of Commons being totally finished, so that I may prorogue the Parliament on Saturday the 26th of {his month. According to ' Parliamentary History,' xvii., the date of this letter should be Jime 10th. The next debate on the East India Eegulation Bill was on June 17th. On the 10th the Bill was read a third time, — the majority for passing it was, in the Commons, 110 (131 — 21) ; in the Lords, on a motion by the Duke of Eichmond for a conference with the Commons, 27 (39 — 12). A protest against the Bill was signed by the following members of the Upper House : — " Eichmond, Eockiagham, Fitzwilliam, Portland, Milton, " Devonshire, Ponsonby.'' Parliament was not prorogued until July i. Letter 177j Kew, June 12th, 1773. Lord North, — I return you the minutes of the East India Court of yesterday, which shews the Duke of Richmond's blackness, if it wanted any elucidation, and that his whole conduct is dictated by malevolence, not a desire of preventing the Company from any evils he might pretend t6 foresee ; but this will greatly delay the Session, for I suppose he will fight the Loan Bill through its several stages in the House of Lords, that, till the first week in July, Parliament cannot be pro- rogued. The strange conduct of the Court in nominating Lieut.-General Monkton will, certainly, give a thorough reason for Parliament preventing Clavering becoming useless ; and the former, after the kindness expressed 1773.] LETTERS TO LOBD NOBTH. 143 towards him, will, if you speak to him, I trust, decline the nomination, so that Clavering can then on Monday be named hy a short Act of Parliament, without an- other discussion on the merits of these two men ; and I should think that a very good reason for the House of Commons to propose a grant out of the lands ceded by the Carryhs in St. Vincent's for Lieut. - General Monkton's services at Martinique. " Tte Duke of Eichmond's blackness " consisted in his moving on tke lOth of June ('East India Company's Eegulation Bill '), " That " a conference be desired -with the Commons upon the subject- " matter of the said Bill." This was strongly opposed as an un- necessary application, and one that might lead into a tedious delay of the business. After a long debate, the House divided : — Con- tents 12, Non-Contents 39. Other motions were then made by his Grace, the result of all which was "adjournment tiU Monday " next." (' Pari. Hist.,' vol. xvii. p. 904.) The Blaeh Caribbs of St. Vincent : — They were the descendants of a cargo of negroes, who, having been brought from Africa about a oentuiy before, to be sold in the West Indies, had been ship- wrecked off the island, made their escape to shore, and established themselves among the native population, the Yellow Caribbs. The aborigines, a mild and timid race, yielded to the superior strength, stature, and intelligence of these new-comers, and almost vanished before them. A colony of French adventurers next settled in St. Vincent, harmonized with these African Caribbs, and were allowed by them to purchase and cultivate land. These races were in process of amalgamation with each other — the Caribbs adopting partially the religion and language of the French — when, by the treaty of Fontainebleau, the island was ceded to England. Thence- forward there was little good feeling between the white and black population. The French had, to their credit, always treated the Caribbs as proprietors of the soil ; and the English Government, at the time of the cession, sent instructions that they should not be 'disturbed in their possessions, and that their territories should not be surveyed by the Commissioners for the Sale of Lands. The English colonists, however, thought differently ; they mur- mured at the Caribbs occupying land which they sparsely tilled, and, in 1768, petitioned the Home Government, to take from them a portion of their best territory, offering them lands in another part 144 GEOBGE THE THIRD'S (1773. of th.e island, as well as some pecuniary compensation. The Ca- ribbs, however, who had learnt from their Trench friends to dis- trust and even dislike the English, refused to part with a foot Sf the land demanded from them. The Government now took a high hand ; ordered that the lands should be surveyed, and roads carried through them. The blacks took the surveyors, their attendants, and the soldiers who had been sent to guard them, prisoners, but dismissed them unharmed on receiving a promise that the survey should be stayed until further orders were received from England. The English planters, with the honourable exception of Sir William Young, the First Commissioner for the Sale of Lands in St. Vincent, sent home very unfavourable accounts of the Carihhs, and displayed an indecent avidity for appropriating their territory. They described them as cruel, bold, crafty, and malignant, although they had so recently displayed forbearance in dealing with the surveyors. They dwelt upon their attachment to the French in the neighbouring -island of Santa Lucia, and of the danger of that attachment, in case of a rupture, then by no means improbable, between England, France, and Spain. They urged that these un- ruly blacks should be shipped off to some desert part of Africa, or, at least, be compelled by force of arms to yield up what the peti- tioners coveted to have. There is no evidence of any misconduct on the part of the Caribbs justifying these demands. On the matter of cession, indeed, they remained intractable, and asserted their independence of France and England alike, although they confessed their preference for the former. On the 18th of April, 1772, two regiments were, by order of the Home Government, withdrawn from America, and sent to punish the contumacy of the Caribbs. They defended themselves with great resolution and skill, but were compelled to yield to the superior force brought against them. On their side, the English had little cause to boast of their victory ; 1 50 men were killed or wounded by the blacks, and the climate made yet greater havoc in their ranks. (' Ann. Eegister,' xvi. p. 89.) These mutual sufferings, however, induced each party to make concessions. The deportation scheme was abandoned, the English planters obtained the lands they coveted so unrighteously, and the Caribbs were confirmed in the possession of the unceded territory, and acknowledged the sove- reignty of His Britannic Majesty. On the assembling of Parliament in November, 1772, Mr. T. Townshend brought the expedition of the preceding spring before the Commons ; witnesses were examined at the Bar of the House, much conflicting evidence was given, and three motions were made by Mr. Townshend, which, after a warm debate, and supported by 1773.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTE. 146 a respectable minority, were all finally negatived. Tor the " Debate " in tbe Commons on the Expedition against tbe Caribbs," &c., see ' Pari. Hist.,' vol. xvii. p. 568 ; ' Plot. Hist.,' George III., vol. i. p. 149 ; (Caldwell Papers, ii. pt. 2, p. 216). Letter 178. Kew, June 13th, 1773. Lord North, — I am much pleased at the conduct of Lieut.-Greneral Monkton, and hope you will soon settle his affair in St. Vincent's. Mr. Eigby told me he had sent you word that he thought it would save much time if you would get the Lords, as an amend- ment to your Bill for Regulations, to add, when they name Lieut.-Greneral Clavering, a Counsellor and Com- mander-in-Chief of all the Troops of the East India Company. Least [sic] this should not yet have reached you, I think it right to mention it, but am not clear whether that or the short Act you proposed to me on Friday is best. Letter 179. Kew, June 14th, 1773. 2 min. pt. 9 p.m. Lord North,- — I am infinitely pleased at the opening of the Budget having met with no opposition ; but am not surprised at it, for your abilities and integrity must meet with success. At the review this morning I saw Clavering, who seems rather disheartened at the difii- culties the India Company throw in his way ; but I answered him that I knew his probity, and that, when nothing is in view but doing right, all difficulties will with steadiness soon vanish. VOL. I. 146 GJEOBOE THE THIBD'S [1773. In the 'Parliamentary History,' xvii p. 917, Lord North opens the Budget on the 15th of June. " No reply was made to his " speech." Letter 180. Kew, July 3rd, 1773. 10 min. pt. 3 p.m. Lord North, — I return the warrant I have signed in favour of Mr. Cornwall, who, I trust, will now publickly support the measures of Administration as he did the East India Bill. I flatter myself everything will turn out to your satisfaction at Oxford, and that Lady North will be as well pleased as at Portsmouth. Mr. Cornewall's speech, on the loth of June, is reported in ' Pari. Hist.,' xvii., p. 922. The warrant may he regarded as a royal condonation of Mr. Comewall's speeches and votes against the Eoyal Marriage Act in the preceding year. Charles Wolfran Comewall, Member for Grampound, the de- scendant of an ancient Herefordshire family, became a Lord of the Treasury in 1774. Lord Chatham says of him at this time (' Correspond., vol. iv. p. 333), " If he accepts, Government makes a " very valuable and accredited instrument of public business. His " character is respectable, and his manners and life amiable. Such " men are not to be found every day." A fine figure, a dignified deportment, and a sonorous voice, recommended an easy, agreeable, and persuasive style of eloquence. He contiuued a junior Lord of the Treasury until 1780, when he was chosen Speaker of the House of Commons, which office he held until 1784. Mr. ComewaU died Jan. 2, 1789. His Speakership is commemorated in the ' EoUiad ' (p. 65, 21st ed.) :— " There ComewaU sits, and, oh, unhappy fate ! " Must sit for ever through the long debate. " Painful pre-eminence ! he hears, 'tis true, " Fox, North, and Burke — but hears Sir Joseph too. " LiJce sad Prometheus fasten'd to his rock, " In vain he looks for pity to the clock. " In vain th' effect of strengthening porter tries, " And nods to Bellamy for fresh supplies." 1773.] LJETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 147 Letter 181. * St. James, July ITth, 1773. 10 miu. pt. 2 p.m. Lord North, — I shall with great pleasure receive the second volume of the ' Clarendon Papers,' and authorize you to give the hundred pounds to Mr. Woide towards forwarding his publishing a new edition of La Croye's Coptic Dictionary. On the death of Lord Tyrawley I have so arranged matters to be able to promote Lieut.-Colonel Burgoyne to the Lieut.-Colonelcy of the 14th regiment of Dragoons in Ireland, which, as I know you interest yourself for him, gives me much pleasure. As the name of Lieutenant-General Burgoyne has already ap- peared in these letters in relation to Indian affaire, and will soon be found intimately connected with those of America, I insert at the date of his promotion a brief account of him. An illegitimate son of Lord Bingley, his first advance in life was owing to a run- away match with a daughter of the Earl of Derby. (H. ^^'alpole to Eev. W. Mason, October 5, 1777.) Burgoyne distinguished himself in the war between Spain and Portugal, 17t)2, and as candidate for Preston by expenditure so profuse as to attract notice even in. an age of general corruption. He was a brave officer, though an un- fortunate general ; an effective speaker in Parliament, and a suc- cessful writer for the stage. His ' Maid of the Oaks,' produced at Drury-Lane Theatre, November 5, 1774, was considered a "parti- " oularly good comedy." (Genest's ' Account of the English Stage,' vol. V. p. 442) ; and the same critic (vol. vi. p. 381) pronounces ' The Heiress ' (Drury-Lane, Jan. 14, 1786) to be " the best comedy " since the ' School for Scandal ' "—a verdict which posterity has not confirmed. Burgoyne was one of the authors of the ' EoUiad.' He died in June, 1792, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.— See Tom Taylor's ' Life of Sir Joshua Eeynolds,' ii. p. 82. One of the latest tributes paid to Burgoyne appeared in Gifi'ord's ' Baviad ' 1797. 148 GEOBGE THE THIBD'S [1773. Letter 182. Kew, July 24th, 1773. 1 5 min. pt. 8 p.m. Lord North, — I am much pleased with the measures adopted by the Treasury for carrying into execution the Act relative to the gold coin. Though at first sight the making so great an allowance as six grains for the guineas of the late King seems too much, yet, as the Bank have till now received them on that foot, it might occasion much allarm if less deficiency was re- quired ; but in a few months this may, with prudence as well as justice, be fixed at a more reasonable, indeed half the deficiency now admitted. The Surveyor- G-eneral's Report very satisfactorily shews that the Crown has no right to the land called Suffolk Place. July 31. — At the request of the Lords of the Treasury, the Bani gave notice in this night's ' Gazette ' that any quantity of guineas, half-guineas, and quarter-guineas (cut and defaced agreeable to the Act), not less than fifty guineas in a parcel, will be taken in there on Monday, August 2, and every Monday, "Wednesday, and Satur- day till further notice, at the rate of Si, lis. 10^. per ounce. (' Ann. Eeg.,' xvi. p. 123.) Letter 183. * Kew, July SOth, 1773. Lord North, — I shall with great pleasure receive from your mouth the particulars concerning the mis- tery that attends Mr. Darwin's intended discovery of some great stroke meditated by France whenever a war shall again be commenced. If you are not parti- cularly engaged, I desire you will call here to-morrow at one." » Lord Brougham gives an extract from this letter, but afiFords no clue to Mr. Darwin's discovery — neither can I. 1773.] LETTERS TO LOBD NOBTH. 149 Letter 184. Kew, Aug. 29th, 1773. 39 min. pt. 4 p.m. Lord North, — I am mucli pleased at your entrusting me with the conversation Lord Eochford held with Mr. Rohinson. Lord Suffolk has undoubtedly rather too presdngly twice asked the Grarter, and has received for answer that he could not be surprised that I would not give him a promise, having had many previous appli- cations. You may rely on my not giving Lord Suffolk that order till I do it to his senior Secretary. P.S. — There will be Council of Wednesday, when the meeting of the Parliament ought to be fixed, if necessary, to be assembled before Christmas ; but I hope that can be deferred till January. Parliament did not re-assemble until January 13, 1774. As this and several of the following letters relate to Irish affairs, I introduce them with a brief sketch of the policy of England to- wards Ireland since 1767. With the Lord-Lieutenancy of Viscount Townshend in the October of that year a new system, or, perhaps, a new theory of administration, was inaugurated. The former Lords-Justices were abolished ; the exclusive influence of the Irish oligarchy was thenceforward to be at first undermined and finally extinguished. Hitherto, thi-ee or four territorial grandees had commanded the votes of the Irish House of Commons. When they agreed, they carried a majority on every question ; when they differed, aU business was obstructed. These ^potentates, nearly as powerful and quite as venal as any that had ever swayed the Councils of Venice, were accustomed to stipulate with each new Lord-Lieutenant, whose oface was biennial, and whose residence, when he resided at aU," was for six months only, the terms upon which they would carry the King's lusiness through the Houses. These terms were naturally very favourable to the noble con- tractors. Court-favour, places, preferments secular and spiritual, • 1765 : Thomas Viscount Weymouth, L.L., did not come over. 1766 • William George Earl of Bristol, L.L., did not come over. ' "'""■'^ 150 OEOBGE TEE THIBD'S [1TT3. passed througli their hands, as a recompence for holding their de- pendants in political vassalage." The primary object of Lord Townshend's mission to Ireland was to break up this system of governing. The choice of him for such a purpose was judicious. He was firm, liberal of his own as well as of the public money ,'' genial in his disposition, and convivial in his habits. He supported the demand for septennial Parliaments, for hitherto the Parliaments of Ireland expired only at the demise of the sovereign — a cJiange which the patriots of the time fondly imagined would be a cure for the gross and palpable venality prac- tised by the oligarchal clique and the Lords-Justices. The Septen- nial Bill was, indeed, transmuted by the English Parliament into an octennial one, yet the King was addressed with thanks for this ooncession, and the Lord-Lieutenant's coach was drawn to the Castle by an exulting people. Another Bill, for securing the independence of the judges, though it also was countenanced by Lord Townshend, proved less fortunate. The Irish Parliament resented some altera- tions in the BiU by the English Cabinet, and threw it out. But Lord Townshend, at the first, succeeded only in part. The power of the oligarchy was bent but not broken. The channel of favour, instead of being restricted to a few rivulets, was now divided into numerous streams. The Lord-Lieutenant dispensed every boon, even down to clerkships in the Customs of 40Z. per annum. But the new division of the spoil affected materially the revenue of Ireland, and the deposed oligarchy were so happy as to have a national grievance to lament. The Octennial Bill raised the price of boroughs. Small pensions seldom are productive of the gratitude that may be relied upon in Parliamentary divisions, and the Irish Commons became even more refractory than they had been at times under the former regime. They resisted the claim of the English Council at Dublin to originate money-bills in the Cabinet at London. They threw them out, and denied the Lord- Lieutenant the privilege of protesting in their Journals against such rejection. The Upper House, indeed, was more compliant, and His Excellency's protest was recorded in its Journals. Only two Bills were passed in the stormy session of 1769. On an amendment on the Address at the opening of the session, the Lord-Lieutenant obtained a majority. Yet his victory was doubtful ; his phalanx was neither stanch nor numerous ; and he deferred further experi- ments until he had conciliated or purchased more votes. " Lord Chesterfield, L.L. in 1745-47, felt and deplored the evils of this system. •> His official allowance of 16,000/. a-year far from sufficed to maintain the vice-regal establishment, and his reign of five years involved him in heavy debt. He was not replaced until November 30, 1772. 1773.] LETTERS TO LOBD NORTH. 151 During this administration the public debt of Ireland was seriously increased. The maintaining the English interest — the King's ludness — taxed the financial resources of the island. In February, 1771, Lord Townshend concealed the deficit; but in the following October he was compelled to ask for the means of discharging the arrears weighing on his " Majesty's establishment.'' He had now, indeed, secured for all occasions a majority in Parlia- ment, and on the first two days of the session 1771-2 he carried the question on seventeen different divisions. The remainder of •his tenure of office passed without further opposition, though not without frequent remonstrance. His natural humanity softened as much as possible the rigours of the law against Papists, and by bigots of the Protestant party he was charged with undue lenity to the ancient Church. Lord Harcourt succeeded Viscount Townshend in November, 1772. He continued — there was little more to do, opus operatum erat—th.6 system of his predecessor in maintaining the English in- terest. A good easy man, he was generally content to obey the instructions he received from England, and, except in the matter of the Absentee Tax (Letter 185), made himself acceptable to his employers. How carefuUy he trod in the ways of Lord Townshend appears from a remark made in 1775, that "the Parliament of " Ireland was then as obsequious as that of Great Britain." He governed, indeed, for nearly twelve months without calling Parlia- ment together. The King, it will appear by several of his letters on Irish affairs, did not extend to the "sister-island" the benevolence he felt to- wards such of his British subjects as agreed with him in opinion. He demurs at every concession proposed for the trade of Ireland • says that the Corporation of Dublin is made of the same stuff as the Livery of London ; wiU create no more Irish marquises, &c. &c. Letter 185. Kew, Oct. 19, 1773. 58 min. pt. 5 p.m. ., w«w. ^.y, i, ,u. uo mui. pt. o p.m. Lord North,— Nothing can be more judicious than your collecting the sentiments of the Cabinet previous to returning any answer to the extraordinary manifesto of which you have sent me a copy. I was rather sur- prised at finding Lord Ossory's name to it ; no one can 152 OEOBGE THE TEIBD'S [17"3. be astonislied that those who have any property in Ireland dislike a measure that so nearly effects them ; but this conduct is not calculated to dissuade but to revolt, and will in all probability be laid with your answer before the public. In the summer of this year was brought forward a measure by the Government in the Irish House of Commons — a tax upon Ab- sentees — an imaginary panacea from time to time for the ills of Ireland. A very general resistance to this proposal was offered by the Irish landowners, being English landowners also. A letter signed " Devonshire, Eockingham, Bessborough, Milton, and Upper '* Ossory," was in consequence addressed to Lord North remon- strating against the measure. This letter, dated " October ,'' is printed by Lord Albemarle in the ' Memoirs of Lord Eockingham,' vol. ii. p. 227 — together with a few other letters, "selected from a " bulky correspondence on the proposed tax," pp. 228-234. Lord Eockingham writes to Mr. Dowdeswell, — " November 30th, 1773 : " Yesterday afternoon an account came from Ireland that the " Absentee Bill was rejected after a debate till two o'clock in the " morning." The majority were 122 against the measure and 102 for it. The majority, as stated in the ' Memoirs of Eockingham,' is either a misprint or a misunderstanding of the noble Marquis. " Lord Harcourt," according to Mr. Plowden (' Hist, of Ireland,' vol. ii. p. 168), " had the exclusive merit of having proposed an " Absentee Tax to be paid by all persons who should not actually " reside in that kingdom for the space of six months in each year. " It was not made a Government question, and most of the servants '' of the Crown voted against it. Considering the powerful interest " made against the tax by the most considerable landowners on *' both sides of the water, the small majority by which it was " rejected is rather to be wondered at." For Lord Chatham's opinion on the Absentee-tax, see his Correspondence, iv. p. 305. Letter 186. Kew, Oct. 22nd, 1773. 46 min. pt. 8 a.m. Lord North, — I return signed the two letters to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland for the reunion of the Boards 1773.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 153 of Customs and Excise, and for pensioning the dis- missed members. I am much pleased with the answer to the strange letter from the five noblemen ; it is candid, and at the same time void of comphments, which their manifesto could not have deserved." Letter 187. Kew, Oct. 31st, 1773. 42 min. pt. 6 p.m. LoRB North, — The hearing of Sir Robert Ladbroke's death gives me infinite concern, as it opens a seat in Parhament for the City ; if Alderman Bull can be with success opposed, I should think it eligible ; but if that is not pretty certain, it is best not to interfere. I hope some proper man will be got into the Court of Aldermen. Sir Eobert Ladbroke, Alderman of Bridge Ward Without, and a Member for the City, died on the 31st of October. (' Ann. Eegister,' xvi. p. 175.) There was at this time much discussion in the " Court of Alder- " men." Mr. Wilkes, in a public paper, stigmatised the conduct of the Lord Mayor (Townshend) as violent, tyrannical, and negligent of pubHc business. He was called to account for his language by the Court, but he reiterated and gloried in the charge, and added to Ms former accusations — " partiality and cruelty." Wilkes was a candidate for the Mayoralty, but Alderman Frederic Bull was pre- ferred to him, and the vote of thanks to the outgoing Lord Mayor was accompanied by a motion for censure on his libeller, which was however withdrawn on the intercession of Alderman Townshend liimself. (Adolphus, voL ii. p. 11.) * See note to preceding letter. 154 oeobge the third's [1773. Letter 188. Queen's House, Nov. 4th, 1773. 46 min. pt. 10 a.m. Lord North, — It is melancholy to find so little public virtue remaining in this country ; it is to the want of that, not to the strength of faction, that I forbode no hopes of restoring that order which alone can preserve this constitution ; but men seem to think, provided they do not join in tumult, that they do their duty, and that an indolent indifference is not worthy of blame ; indeed Mr. Long and Mr. Payne appear of this mould, for, when they are told they would succeed, a grain of love of decency, without the strong incentative of that to their country, ought to call them forth. I hope Mr. Beachcraffc and Mr, Peckham are not so cold members of society ; I am sure the merchants of London are as much interested in restoring order in the City as any members of the community, and therefore their private interests, which generally they do not omit, should make them particularly desirous of being useful. The King writes Beachcraft, but it should probahly he Bearcroft. When Sergeant Glynn was appointed Eeoorder of London, in the room of Sir James Eyre who was made a Baron of the Exchequer, Mr. Bearcroft opposed him and failed by only a single vote (13 — 12), November 17, 1773. Mr. Bearcroft was one of Mr. Eoberts's scru- tineers in the following month, after the return of Alderman Bull for the City, December 4. See Letter 196. (' Ann. Eeg.,' xvi. p. 154.) Letter 189. Kew, Nov. 5th, 1773. 30 min. pt. 5 p.m. Lord North, — The having elected a reputable mer- chant as Alderman of Coleman Ward gives hopes that. 1773.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTE. 156 if there is attention to find proper persons to stand for tlie vacancies that will happen in the Court of Alder- men, that by degrees the Magistrates of the City will become again respectable. I hope to hear Mr. Payne yet consent to stand for the City, if there is any degree of certainty that he will succeed. The letter from Ireland rather shows Opposition not unwilling to begin their attack. I should think Mr. Blaquiere's notification of the intention to reunite the Boards rather irregular, but in these days keeping to the matter before the House is but httle practiced. Letter 190. Kew, Nov. 8th, 1773. 40 min. pt. 8 p.m. Lord North, — Undoubtedly the letter from Lord Harcourt" is much more promising than any account as yet received from Ireland. I wish the latter part of it on the Absentee Tax appeared to me in the same light it does to you. Nothing can be more explicit nor honorable than the Duke of Chandos's'' conduct, but it does not surprise me, as I have long known [him] to be a man of sense and uprightness. Letter 191. Kew, Nov. 12th, 1773. 8 mm. pt. 5 p.m. Lord North, — The hearing that an eminent mer- chant" has declared himself a candidate for the City of " Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland from Nov. 1772 to 1777. I" "James, the third and last Duke " of Chandos, at this time Lord-Lieu- " tenant of the county of Hants, In " 1775 he was appointed Lord Steward " of the Household, and died without " male issue in 1789." — (Note in ' Chat- ham Correspond.,' vol. iv. p. 226.) '^ Mr. Roberts, formerly a Director of the East India Company. 156 OEOBOE THE TRIED' S [1773. London gives me mncli pleasure, and I trust, as tbe delay has undoubtedly proved advantageous to the Lord Mayor,* that it will redouble the zeal and activity of the body of merchants that the contest may be crowned with success. Letter 192. Queen's House, Nov. 18th, 1773. Lord North, — I have very carefully examined the two letters from Lord Harcourt. If I did not think him too honest wilfully to have mistaken your correspond- ence on the Absentee Tax, I should not have been at a loss for the reason of his stating this matter so differently ; but I cannot attribute Mr. Blaquiere's proposing this tax to mistake, for he knew from your own mouth that if any independent gentleman proposed this measure, pro- vided everything required was granted, that, this tax making part of the supply, it would not be sufficient reason to risk the putting the revenue on a firm basis by rejecting this tax ; but the Secretary has recom- mended the measure as his favourite idea. I desire, least [sic] from a measure yielded to on strong con- cessions, it should not be deemed a favourite measure of this side of the water, you will write again concerning it to the Lord-Lieutenant, and, if possible, prevent its coming over ; if that cannot be effected, at least make him recollect that without the whole plan is addopted [sic] in Ireland this tax will be rejected here ; and a word at the end of the letter that, as the Lord- Lieutenant does not mean to attempt to influence the ■ Alderman Bull. See note on Letter 196. 1773.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 167 House of Commons, it is expected he will not attempt to influence tbe Privy Council of Ireland. I am much pleased with the favorable account of the meeting last night ; if the merchants are zealous I think Mr. Roberts, though with disadvantages from so late standing forth, may succeed in representing the City. I have Colonel Monson in my eye, and you may depend his going to India will not place him in a more distant situation than he would otherwise have been for a regiment ; the present occasion would not suit, for his own delicacy has pointed out to him that it would appear interested if he did not on succeeding relinquish going to India, and instantly join his regiment ; indeed he has wrote Lord Barrington word that if he suc- ceeded he should thus conduct himself. Lettee 193, Kew, Nov. 23rd, 1773. 2 nmi. pt. 1 p.m. Lord North, — The Castle having succeeded in re- ducing the grants for private jobs from 67,000Z. to 34,000Z. is gaining very material. No step has been taken at least favourable to an Absentee Tax, or it would have been mentioned in the Lord-Lieutenant's letter ; and I trust you wrote last week in answer to the one you then received, which will I trust prevent the taking any active support of the measure. Letter 194. Kew, Nov. 23rcl, 1773. 40 min. pt. 3 p.m. Lord North, — I cannot one instant delay communi- cating to you the contents of the letters transmitted 168 GEOBGE THE TEIBD'S [1773. from Ireland, as you will see by Mr. Blaquiere's letter to Lord Eochford that the Absentee Tax will probably pass, and they do not mean to toutch [sic] on the corn bounty till after Christmas. This totally changes the proposition ; the Absentee Tax is to be returned from hence, consequently without removing what alone in- duces Administration to support otherways a very ob- jectionable tax ; there is a duplicity in this conduct very offensive to my way of thinking. As you probably answer Lord Harcourt's letter this night, I thought it right to let you know that they are in Ireland in my opinion totally defeating this measure that now seems to be meeting with friends on that side of the water. Letter 195. Kew, Not. 24tl], 1773. 28 min. pt. 8 a.m. Lord North, — It is impossible to have wrote more candidly and ably than your letter to the Lord-Lieu- tenant ; it perfectly conveys the point in which I view the Absentee Tax ; I do not think the first Commis- sioner of the Treasury can lose this political question in the Privy Council; for if the regulation of the • bounty on corn does not accompany it, or the Absentee Tax be in a separate Bill from the old additional duties, and thus postponed till after Christmas, you must your- self oppose this tax and risk even the additional duties being passed rather than consent to this measure, which without its proper accompaniment cannot be supported, nay, ought not. 1773.] LETTERS TO LOBB NOBTH. 159 Letter 196. Queen's House, Nov. 28th, 1773. LoED North, — I return the letter just received from you of Lord Harcourt, as well as the one you sent me last night. I fear the Absentee Tax will pass the Irish Commons; but if the Lord-Lieutenant is neuter when brought before the Irish Privy Council, I trust it will be rejected ; but should it not, the coming unattended by the alteration of the corn bounty makes the rejecting it here not only agreeable to your declaration, but indeed absolutely necessary. Tour letter on Tuesday was so full that I do not see there [is] call for any answer. Considering all things, the poll yesterday was very favourable. Mr. Eobinson was very exact in sending me the account early the last evening. I trust he will continue doing so while the poll lasts. " THs day, November 27, came on at Guildhall tte election of a " representative in Parliament for this city in the room of Sir Bdbert '' Ladbroke, knight, deceased. The candidates were Mr. Alderman '' BuU (the present Lord Mayor) and Mr. Boberts, formerly a Director " of the East India Company. Upon the show of hands the majority " was for AldeiTQan Bull, and accordingly the sheriffs declared that " the election was in his favour. But the friends of Mr. Eoberts " having demanded a poll, hooks were opened for that purpose.'' On the 4th of December Mr. Bull was elected by a majority of 214. 'Ann. Eegister,' 1773, pp. 149, 161. Letter 197- Queen's House, Deo. 24th, 1773. 40 min. pt. 10 p.m. Lord North, — Had it not stood in your letter of this day that you should be ready to come at any time agreable, which I understood as a desire of its being at 160 OEOBOJE TBE THIBD'S [1773. an early period, I should not have thought of fixing this evening. I desire you will not, on account of what r wrote, come an hour sooner to town than you would otherways do. I have put the notes and cash of my late mother together, so that, if you wish it to be delivered to Mr. Martin immediately, I can send it to Mr. Robinson, on hearing from you, with a hst of them. As Eenolds is the housekeeper at Carlton House, I will take care that everything shall be attended to there till I see you next, when I will give my final directions. The giving the furniture of the coffee-room to Mr. Duile and the kitchen furniture to the cooks is very proper. I think I have here answered all the memo- randums. I return to you the charts which you sent this morning. See note on Letter 120 for the provision made for the servants of the late Princess Dowager of Wales. The sale of the jewels, trinkets, plate, china, &c., belonging to this Princess took place on the 3rd of the preceding February. ' Ann. Eeg.,' xvi. p. 73. Letter 198. Queen's House, Dec. 28th, 1773. 47 min. pt. 3 p.m. Lord North, — I desire you will intimate -to Lord Guildford that the Queen will direct Lord Delawarr to appoint him to attend her at twelve to-morrow, which will enable him to be presented the same day at my levee. You hinted his wishing to have an audience of 1774.] LETTERS TO LOBD NOBTK 161 me ; this he may ask after the levee to-morrow, which will I trust be the means of giving him the least fatigue. Lord Guildford, father of Lord North, was appointed by the Queen to be her Majesty's Treasurer and Eeceiver-General in the room of Andrew Stone, Esq., deceased. ' Ann. Eegister,' 1773, voL xvi. p. 154. Letter 199. Queen's House, Dec. 31st, 1773. 2 miu. pt. 6 p.m. Lord North, — The letter you have wrote this day to Lord Harcourt so fully conveys my sentiments on the captious jealousy manifested by the Irish House of Commons in starting at the alterations made in the Tontine and Stamp Bills, which consist in nothing but making their own ideas intelligible, for no change is made as to the quantum or mode of levying the taxes. I hope soon to hear that the affair of the coin " is settled, that the Speech may be drawn up. Letter 200. Queen's House, Jan. 10th, 1774. 8 min. pt. 2 p.m. Lord North, — It will be proper for you to answer the Duke of Grloucester's note, that you may mention that you had deferred writing untill you had obtained my leave to attend him, as you could not otherways. • See note on Letter 182. 162 GEOBGE THE THIRD'S [1774. I know your prudence too well to think it necessary to hint that, in the Duke's situation, and the political line he has now taken, the hearing what he has to say, and replying as little as possible, is the only safe path. The Duke of Grloucester's note probably referred to money- matters, and contained a request for an increased allowance. ' I do not know what political line the Duke was taking at this parti- cular moment ; but he voted in the minority, 1 7th June, on the Quebec BOl — Letter 236, note "'" — and we shall find his brother- exile from Court, the Duke of Cumberland, voting in 1775 against Government. Letter 201. Queen's House, Jan. 14th, 1774. Lord North, — It is always a pleasant appearance at the opening of a session to have the first day conclude without debate. I shall appoint half hour past two on Saturday for receiving the House of Commons. When Parliament re-assembled on the day preceding the date of this letter, the King's Speech observed a profound silence on Colonial afiairs, yet the ministers must have been aware of the agitated condition of New England, although the startling intel- ligence from Boston had not yet reached them. The session opened much later than was common at that time ; the King said that the unusual length of the preceding session had made him desirous of giving members as long a recess as the public business woidd allow. The Addresses in each House were voted after little or no debate. — See Letter of March 7th ; and, for an account of the quiet opening of the session, Lord Mahon, v. p. 329. 1774.] LETTERS TO LOBD NOBTH. 163 Letter 202. * Queen's House, Jan. lYth, 1774. 55 min. pt. 4 p.m. Lord North, — I am sorry Lord Dartmouth declines the offer that has been made to him. Your shewing him my note was very proper, as it contained nothing but my sentiments with regard to him. I wish you could call here, either previous to seeing Mr. Frances, or that you would see him so early as to call here still within a reasonable hour ; I mean by that, ten this evening. By a note I have received from Lord Rochford, I know what Mr. Frances has to propose to you; it is, that orders may be immediately sent to Mr. Harris " to return to Madrid, upon which the Spanish Ambassador will communicate his fresh instructions; if this is not complied with, he is to threaten war. I could not help answering Lord Rochford that I thought this a very absurd proposition ; for that, as the Secretary is re- called, we ought to know whether we shall have such terms as we can accept, for otherways we shall be to- morrow ordering him to return, and in less than two days perhaps anew directing him to come home. Letter 203. Queen's House, Jan. 25th, 1774. 34 min. pt. 9 p.m. Lord North,— The account of the Ballot gives me much satisfaction, and has been much increased from • James Harris (afterwards Sir James and Lord and Earl of Malmesbiu'y), Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Spain since Feh. 22, 1771. M 2 164 OEOBGE THE THIRD'S [1774. the supposition that the Directors gave but little assist- ance. I desire you will now have this victory pushed as far as it will go by carrying every question to the Ballot that seems necessary, particularly the one re- lating to the Commander-in-Chief ought to be agitated as soon as possible. Letter 204. * Queen's HouBe, Feb. 4th, 1774. 46 min. pt. G p.m. LoRB North, — Since you left me this day, I have seen Lieutenant- General Grage, who came to express his readiness, though so lately come from America, to return at a day's notice, if the conduct of the Colonies should induce the directing coercive measures. His language was very consonant to his character of an honest determined man. He says they will be lyons, whilst we are lambs ; but, if we take the resolute part, they will undoubtedly prove very meek. He thinks the four regiments intended to relieve as many regi- ments in America, if sent to Boston, are sufficient to prevent any disturbance. I wish you would see him, and hear his ideas as to the mode of compelling Boston to submit to whatever may be thought necessary ; indeed, all men seem now to feel that the fatal com- pliance in 1766Jias encouraged the Americans annually to encrease in their pretensions to that thorough inde- pendency which one state has of another, but which is quite subversive of the obedience which a colony owes to its mother country. General Gage was not the only person who at the time mis- understood the American people and the gravity of the question 1774.] LETTERS TO LORD NOBTS. 165 at issue. — See Governor Hutchinson's opinion on these 'subjects (Letter 240). There was indeed a general disposition in England to undervalue and contemn the colonists, and it was inflamed by the public journals, by the pamphlets of the day, and in the clubs. Doubts were expressed, or affected, whether the Americans pos- sessed the same personal courage as the English. — See Introduc- tion, and 'Pari. Hist.,' xviii. p. 226-446, for the Earl of Sand- wich's speeches in the Lords, and for those of Colonel Grant in the Conunons, 1775 ; Washington's AV'ri tings, ii. p. 406 ; Lord Mahon's Hist, vi. p. 10-11. " The fatal compliance in 1766" was the repeal of the Stamp Act by the Eockingham Ministry. Burke terms this compliance " an " event that caused more universal joy throughout the British " dominions than perhaps any other that can be remembered." On the 2nd of February \\ alpole writes to Mann : — " We have no " news pubGc'of'pnvJEelTjut there is an ostrich-egg laid in Ame- " rica, where the Bostonians have canted three hundred chests of tea " into the ocean, for they will not drink tea with our Parliament. " . . . . Lord Chatham talked of conquering America in Germany ; " I believe England will be conquered some day in New England " or Bengal." Letter 205. Queen's House, Feb. 9th, 177i. 55 min. pt. 8 p.m. Lord North, — I am mucli pleased with the account of the Court of Directors having this day appointed Lieutenant -Greneral Clavering Commander-in-Chief, agreahly to the recommendation of the General Court of Proprietors. This looks as if they were to a degree coming to their senses, and as if they will not be for- ward in proposing unpleasant measures. The changing the candidate for Worcester from Mr. Geo. Kous to Captain Lechemere seems very proper ; and I trust the valiant Welsh knight will come back without any other advantage than the huzzas of the Worcester mob. 166 GEOBGE THE TRIED' S [1774. Letter 206. * Queen's House, Feb. llth, 1774. Lord North, — The hearing Colonel Monson's ap- pointment has been carried by so great a majority gives me infinite satisfaction, as his disinterested con- duct in India gave him a just claim to so honorable a support. Till the receipt of the Minutes of the House of Com- mons, I had not heard of the extreme insolent letter to the Speaker in this day's 'Publick Advertiser;' and though I think, from the call of the House being on Tuesday, that there is but one vian that can have framed that piece of insolence, yet I do not see how the House could avoid taking notice of it, as the whole House seem zealous on this occasion. I trust, if the steps are well considered, that it may end with that proper firmness that, now it has necessarily called the House forth, the atrociousness of the offence requires. On the 25th of Pebmary the foUowing appointments were made : — Colonel Eohert Gordon to be Commander-in-Chief of the East India Company's forces at Bombay ; General John Clavering, Com- mander-in-Chief of the East India Company's forces in India ; the Hon. Colonel George Monson, Commander-in-Chief of the East India Company's forces in India, in case of General Clavering's becoming GoTemor-General of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa. — 'London Gazette,' February, 1774. " By the new Parliamentary authority Mr. Hastings was ap- " pointed Governor-General, and General Clavering, Colonel Mon- " son, Mr. BarweU, and Mr. Francis, the Members of Council, not " removeable, except by the King, upon representation made by the " Court of Directors, during the period assigned ia the Act." — Mill, 'Hist, of Brit. India,' iii. p. 615. Clavering, Monson, and Francis arrived at Calcutta on the 19th of October.— Mill, ib., pp. 572, 584. 1774.] LETT BBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 167 Letter 207. * Queen'a House, Feb. 13th, 1774. Lord North, — I am glad the printer is committed" to the custody of the Serjeant-at-Arms, and that he has confessed Mr. Home to be the person that dehvered the paper to him, who, in consequence, is ordered to attend the House of Commons on Wednesday. Now that this affair has come forward, the House must with spirit proceed. The half-measures taken on the former occasion have certainly taken off the dread that used very necessarily to be had of offending that House, and therefore makes a due degree of severity absolutely incumbent on the House to inflict on the author and also on the printer. This and the preceding letter, and the 209th and 210th, refer to the proceedings taken against Henry Sampson Woodfall, the printer of the ' Public Advertiser,' and the Eev. John Home, the one for publishing, and the other for writing, in that journal, a letter signed 'Strike, biit Hear,' in which the Speaker of the House of Commons was taxed with injustice and partiality. This letter arose out of a petition and counter-petition on an Inclosure Bill presented by Sir Edward Astley, and opposed by Mr. WiUiam Toote. The Speaker complained of this accusation to the House ; and, having obtained the testimony of Sir Edward Astley, who presented both petitions, of Alderman Sawbridge, Colonel Jennings, and Sir John Turner, in favour of his conduct on the particular occasion, declared himself satisfied, and expressed his disregard of the state- ments in the letter. Mr. Herbert moved to bring the libel before the House. Sir Joseph Mawbey thought that the writer's intention was to injure the liberty of the press, and to set the King and the City at vari- ance ; he therefore wished the House to abstain from noticing the libel, and to leave the Speaker for redress to the ordinary Courts of Law. Mr. Charles Fox, agreeing with Sir Joseph as to the writer's ' " He was only ordered to attend the House on the I4th."— Lord Brougham ib. p. 84. 168 GEOBGE THE THIRD'S .[1774. intention, differed from his conoltision. " No man of sense," he said, "cotdd believe the allegations in the lihel; but was any " member, much less the Speaker, to be grossly assailed, and left to " a lawsuit for his remedy ? It would be no less absurd for the " House to appeal to an inferior Court, than for the Court of King's " Bench to apply for protection to the Court of Common Pleas." After a debate of some length the letter was unanimously voted to be a libel, and the printer was ordered to attend. On his interrogatory, Mr. WoodfaU declared the Eev. J. Home the author of the ' Strike, but Hear.' He was then taken into the custody of the Serjeant-at-Arms, but discharged on his own petition and expression of "regret." Mr. Home was next brought before the House, after some demurs relative to the correctness of his name and designation in the summons. One of the objections was the designating of him as the Beverend, since Mr. Home had recently, so far as he could, laid down his clerical character, thrown up his living at Brentwood, entered his name as a student in the Inner Temple, and ostentatiously wore a particoloured raiment. He extricated himself dexterously, and, under the circumstances, decently also, from the accusation. Mr. Woodfall's declaration was not admitted in evidence; he pleaded "Not Guilty," as he might have done in any other Court; and, after much embarrassment on the part of the House, he was discharged. For a full account of this matter, see Stephen's 'Life of Home Tooke ' (he had not at this time taken his second name), vol. i. p. 422. Mr. Adolphus indeed terms the "account of this transaction " lively, but, in many respects, incorrect." — ' Hist.,' iii. p. 54, note ; comp. Lord Mahon, v. p. 329; Hughes's 'Hist, of England,' ii. p. 106. Walpole, on the 14th February, thus describes to Mann the busi- ness then before either House of Parliament, regarding it in each case as mere pastime in comparison with the business that was coming on in a few days : — " The House of Lords is busy on the question of literary property, " a question that lies between the integrity of Scotch authors and '* English booksellers. The other House has got into a new scrape " with the City and printers, which I suppose wUl end to the de- " triment of the press. The ministers have a much tougher busi- " ness on their hands, in which even their factotum, the Parliament, " may not be able to ensure success — I mean the rupture with " America," 1774.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTB. 169 Letter 208. Queen's House, Feb. 15th, 1774. 4 min. pt, 6 p.m. Lord North, — Though the annual motions of Sir George Saville and Mr. Sawbridge are thoroughly threadbare, I did not expect the House could at so early an hour have dispatched them. It gives good hopes that the one on Friday will also not last very long. The more I consider of it, the more it has the air of coming from a weak friend to the Bill ; for the framer of the Bill alone begged it might have a trial of seven years, and owned that, till it had stood the test of the multitude of petitions presented after a general election, it did not deserve to be perpetual ; and now, without the least shaddow of reason, it is proposed to be de- serving of perpetuity before the period when its efficacy is to be tried is arrived ; I think, therefore, every candid man must be for deferring the consideration of this proposal. " Tte annual motion of Sir George Saville " [Savile] was on the subject of the Middlesex election — majority for Ministers, 59 (206 — 147) ; that of " Mr. Sawbridge " was for shortening the duration of Parliaments—majority for Ministers, 127 (221—94); "theEHFis George GrenvUle's ' ControYerted Election Act,' and it required no further trial, since it was working well. — See note on Letter 211. Letter 209. ** Queen's House, Feb. 16th, 1774. 1 min. pt. 7 p.m. Lord North, — The House of Commons could not do less than order Mr. Home to be taken into the custody of the Serjeant-at-Arms for his contempt in not appearing 170 OEOBGE THE THIRD'S [1774. this day, agreable to the summons of tliat House. If my information is true that lie wrote to the Clerk of the House for information whether the summons re- garded him, he having quitted his profession, it greatly agravates the contempt. By what I heard this day of the transaction of Monday, I am greatly incensed at the presumption of Charles Fox in obliging you to vote with him that night, but approve much of your making your friends vote in the majority ; indeed, that young man has so thoroughly cast off every principle of common honour and honesty that he must become as contemptible as he is odious ; and I hope you will let him know you are not insensible of his conduct towards you. The King had conceived a personal dislike to Mr. Fox on account of his opposition to the Eoyal Marriage Bill in 1772. He now displays his grudge in this comment on Fox's conduct with respect to the committal of Woodfall the printer for a breach of privilege. The first rupture between Mr. Fox and Lord North took place early m 1772. "On the 20th of February in that year, Mr. Fox, " being then in his 23rd year, resigned his seat at the Admiralty " Board. His resignation was due partly to some personal discontent " with Lord North, but chiefly to his intention of opposing the Eoyal " Marriage Act, a measure then in preparation (see Letters 110 foU.), " but reluctantly adopted by his Ministers. But this breach was not " of long duration, for ia December of the same year (1772) an " arrangement was made by which Mr. Fox returned to ofiEce and " became a Junior Lord of the Treasury. In 1774, February 24, he " put an end to his connection with Lord North, went into Opposi- " tion, and began to act with the EocMngham party, though he did " not formally join it till 1778 or '79. His independent political " career, after he had broken through his original party ties, may be " considered as commencing from 1774, when he was in his 25th " year." — ^From Sir G. C. Lewis's ' Administrations of Great Bri- tain,' pp. 9, 10. It is said that Fox's dismissal from the Treasury was conveyed to him by Lord North ia the following laconic note : — "Sir, — His Majesty has thought proper to order a new Com- " mission of Treasury to be made out, in which I do not see your 1774.] LETTEBS TO LOBJD NOBTH. 171 "name. — lifcKTH." — Earl Eussell's 'Life and Times of 0. J. Fox, vol. i. p. 38. Horace Walpole, speaking of Lord North, says (' Correspond, vol. i. p. 101), — " With his usual hurry after indolence, he turned " out Charles Fox, as a threat to those who might incline to desert, " but without effect ; " and, writing on the 23rd — 24th February to Mann, says (P.S., 24th), — " The famous Charles Fox was this " morning turned out of his place of Lord of the Treasury for great " flippancies in the House towards North. His parts will now have " a full opportunity of showing whether they can balance his " character, or whether patriotism can whitewash it." Gomp. Lord Mahon, v. p. 330. Jenkinson, and the Secretaries of the Treasury, Onslow, Charles Townshend, and Dyson, voted in the majority against Lord North. Letter 210. * * Queen'a House, Feb. 17th, 1774. 55 min. pt. 10 p.m. Lord North, — It is rather surprising to me that Mr. Home" has been decent and submissive. If to- morrow no charge can regularly be brought against him, I trust the House will make the printer feel its resentment; for, if he escapes easily, the Press will grow more insolent, and the week spent on this busi- ness only tend to encrease the evil every thinking man now complains of. Letter 211. * Queen's House, Feb. 26th, 1774. Lord North, — I am sorry the House of Commons has yesterday been governed by a false love of popu- Lords Brougham and Mahon print " Fox," but it is Horne in the King's letter. 172 GEOBGE THE THIBD'S [1774. larity instead of reason ; but, as passion is a Aort mad- ness, I trust, upon matters tliat particularly regard the business of Administration, you will find tbem ever ready to give you tlie fullest support. " On tte motion of Sir Edward Astley to make the Grenville " Act perpetual, carried by 250 to 122, Lord Xortli, the Attomey- " General, Jenkinson, and Fox voted in the minority. In the " debate Fox made a violent personal attack on Lord North, " although voting with him." — Lord Brougham, ib., p. 84. For a good account of the question discussed on the 25th, see Hughes, ' Hist, of England,' ii. p. 107. _ Letter 212. Queen's House, Feb. 27th, 1774. 10 min. pt. 8 p.m. Lord North, — The Barons of the Exchequer in Scot- land having, upon the reference from the Treasury, reported very favourably on the application of Major- Gren. Prazer, I very [sic\ consent that my recommenda- tion may be signified to-morrow when his petition is presented to the House of Commons. Feb. 28. — "The Attorney-General presented a petition from " Major-General Fraser, praying to have those estates of his father, " Simon Lord Lovat, which were forfeited to the Crown, restored " to him. Major-General Fraser had been compelled by his father " in '45 to take up arms against the Government ; had been offered, " but had refused, a regiment in the French service ; had raised 1800 " men, at his own charge, at the beginning of the last war, 1767-'62, " for His late Majesty's service, &c. &o. Lord North acquainted " the House that the petition had been shown to His Majesty, and " was strongly recommended by him. Mr. T. Townshend said he " had no objection to this, as it was a particular case, but should be " against its being made a precedent; he should therefore second " the motion." — 'Ann. Keg.,' vol. xvii. p. 97, 1774. 1774.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTE. 173 Letter 213. Queen's House, March 7th, 1774. 11 min. pt. 7 p.m. Lord North, — It is carrying a very material point the ordering the Address without a division, and gives a degree of weight to the subsequent steps that will be taken on this business in the House of Commons. "This day the Earl of Dartmoutli, Secretary for the Colonies, " presented to the House of Peers a message froia His Majesty, re- " commerLding to their serious consideration the late disturbances " in America, particularly the outrages committed by the people of " Boston. A similar message was sent to the Commons. In return, " a motion was made for an Address to the Throne to return thanks " for the message respecting the proceedings in December, 1773, at " Boston and Ehode Island ; also for the ' gracious communication " of American papers.' There was a warm debate, but no division." —'Ann. Eeg.,' xvii. pp. 58, 100. Government must have had information of the tea riot in De- cember some time before March 7th, but they awaited the arrival of despatches, correspondence, &c., from either side — a vast mass of which was, on this evening, laid on the table of the House of Commons. I give the following sample of a notice posted at Boston on the 17th of the preceding January : — "Brethren and Fellow-Citizens, — ^You may depend that those " odious miscreants and detestable tools to ministry and governor, '' the tea-consigners (those traitors to their country, butchers, who " have done, and are doing, everything to murder and destroy all " that shall stand in the way of their private interest), are deter- " mined to come and reside again in the town of Boston. " I therefore give you this early notice, that you may hold your- " selves in readiness on the shortest notice to give them such a " reception as such vile ingrates deserve. " Joyce, jun., " Chairman of the Committee for Tarring and Feathering." 174 GEOBGE THE THIBB'8 [1774. Letter 214. * Queen's House, March 14th, 1774. 55 min. pt. 8 p.m. Lord North, — It could not be expected that any proposal on American affairs would pass without oppo- sition, but the Bill " being ordered without a division is a material point gained ; and I trust, if the different propositions are brought as forward as possible, that this arduous business will be gone through with much [less] trouble than was supposed. I have seen Lord Dartmouth this day very firm as to the alteration of the Council of the Masachusetts Bay, but averse to the Bill for trying future offenders in Britain, wanting, in lieu of that, that offenders of that parti- cular province should be amenable to the courts of justice of Nova Scotia, and particularly anxious that the present offenders should be some how or other punished, and much taken with a proposition of Lord Buckinghamshire to disable them at least by Act of Parliament from holding any office in the province, or being Members of the Assembly. The Bill— On the 14tli of March (Monday) Lord North moved for leave to hring in a Bill to remove the Customs, Courts of .Justice, and all Government offices, from Boston to New Salem. The Bill encountered scarcely more oijposition than the Address had done, March 7. Gibbon (March 16 j writes to J. Holroyd, Esq., from Boodles: — " Very little that is satisfactory has transpired of America. On " Monday Lord North moved for leave to bring in a Bill to remove " the Customs and Courts of Justice from Boston, to New Salem — a " step so detrimental to the former town, as must soon reduce it to " your own terms ; and yet of so mild an appearance that it was » Pari. Hist. xvii. p. 1163-70; Lord Mahon, vi. p. 3 ; Ann. Reg. xvii. p. 58, foil. ; Hughes' Hist, of England, ii. p. 109; Massey, ii. p. 147. "America," says Mr. Parton, 'Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin,' ii. p. 1, "became " the universal topic ; there were dur- " ing the next three or four years fifty " ■ field-night debates on the subject of " America alone.' " 1774] LETTERS TO LOBB NOBTH. 175 " agreed to without a division, and almost without a debate. Some- " thing more is however intended, and a Committee is appointed to " inquire into the general state of America. But Administration " keep their secret as well as that of Freemasonry, and, as Coxe " profanely suggests, for the same reason." The same to the same, March 29 : — " The Boston Port Bill passed the Lords last night ; some lively " conversation, but no division." On the 31st of March the Bill received the Eoyal assent. Boston Port Bill. — ^The trade of Boston was for a time destroyed, but both the historian's and the King's anticipations were baffled. "The legislation of 1774," says Mr. Massey (Hist, of England, vol. ii. p. 226), "brought the quarrel between America and Great " Britain to an issue. The people of Massachussets had from the " first fought the battle of the colonists, and, if they were now to " be abandoned to the vengeance of the mother-country, the colonial " cause itself must be abandoned. The revolutionary party at " Boston were undismayed by the proceedings of the British Go- " vernment ; the leaders of that party were prepared for the ex- " tremity which they had long sought, and they made an earnest " appeal to their fellow-colonists to support them in their resistance " to the parent state. The sufferings and privations inflicted upon " the port of Boston, by their exclusion from commercial privileges, " far from mortifying the rebellious spirit of the inhabitants, only " inflamed their resentment, and tended still further to widen a " breach already, perhaps, irreparable. The Provincial Congress, " assembled in defiance of the Governor's proclamation, openly in- " cited the people to assume arms and acquire military discipline ; " while they denounced as enemies of their country all persons " who should presume to supply His Majesty's troops with stores " or military muniments. Pennsylvania, Virginia, Connecticut, " and Maryland followed the example of Massachusetts." Alteration of the Council of Massachusetts Bay. — "During the pro- " gress of the Boston Port Bill through the Commons a petition was " presented from Bollan, the agent of the Council of Massachusetts '' Bay, desiring to be heard against it, but this prayer the House " refused to grant ; and, on the third reading, another petition was " presented by the Lord Mayor of London, in the name of several " natives and inhabitants of North America, who strongly insisted " that it was unreasonable to deprive Boston of its trade, because ■' some of the people had committed unlawful acts ; that the Bill was " harsh and unjust, and that its tendency was to alienate the affec- " tions of America from this country." — ' Pict. Hist.,' Geo. 111., vol. i. p. 159. 176 GEOBGE THE THIBB'S [1774. Letter 215. Queen's House, March 16th, 1774. 8 min. pt. 4 p.m. Lord North, — The letters received from tte Lord- Lieutenant of Ireland are curious, and do no great honour either to the heads or hearts of the Duke of Leinster or the Speaker. The Duke of Leinster and Lord Moira at this time were the leaders of the Opposition of the Lords in the Irish Parliament, and their names appear frequently in protests on the Journals. Earl Harcourt was the Lord-Lieutenant, and remained so until the end of 1776. Letter 216. Queen's House, March 21sfc, 1774. 8 min. pt. 9 p.m. Lord North,— The Boston Port Bill having been read a second time without debate or division, is so very favourable to the measure, that I cannot refrain from expressing the pleasure it gives me, as also at having heard that yesterday the further Eesolutions to be come to on Friday next were drawn up yesterday. Letter 217. Queen's House, March 23rd, 1774. 35 min. pt. 8 p.m. Lord North, — The feebleness and futihty of the opposition to the Boston Port Bill shews the rectitude of the measure, and want of matter, not of goodwill, has been the cause of its having met with so little trouble. The Opposition was divided on the question. Some of Lord Eookingham's followers thought that the Bostonians merited oasti- 1774.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NORTH. 177 gation. Of this number was the Duke of M anche ster. — See his Letter to the Marquis of Eookingham, April 20, ' Memoirs,' vol. ii. p. 242. Illness prevented Lord Chatham from taking part in the debate on the Boston Port Bill, but, in a speech on the motion for quar- tering troops in the colonies (May 27), he condemned the conduct of the Boston people, and ended his speech with something very like a threat. " Should their turbulence," said he, " exist after your " proffered terms of forgiveness, which I hope and expect this " House will immediately adopt, I will be among the foremost of " your Lordships to move for such measures as will effectually pre- " vent a future relapse and make them feel what it is to provoke a " fond and forgiving parent." Letter 218. Queen's House, March 25th, 17T4. 33 min. pt. 9 p.m. Lord North, — It is now so much the custom for poHticians to cast off the mask of propriety, that there is no wonder forty persons could be found ready to admit Mr. BoUand^ in an unacknowledged office of Agent for the Council of Massachusets Bay, though decency must blame them. The debate this day on the Bill at least deserves the same comment, but when Opposition are reduced to such low shifts it renders itself contemptible. Lettek 219. Queen's House, March 28th, 1774. 50 min. pt. 9 p.m. Lord North, — After hearing that there would be a debate this day on the third reading of the Aire Bank ' " Mr. Bollan presented a petition ' from his clients praying that he might ' be permitted to lay before the House ' the ada regia of Queen Elizabeth ' and her successors for the security ' of the planters and their descendants, VOL. I. " and the perpetual enjoyment of their ' ' liberties. 'This petition was received " without difficulty and ordered to lie " upon the table." — Ann. Reg. xvii. p. 62, 1774. 178 GEOBGE THE TRIBD'S [1774. Bill, I feared it would have postponed the motion for leave to bring in a Bill for the better regulation of the Government of the Province of the Massachusets Bay. The finding myself mistaken by the note I have received from you gives me infinite satisfaction. " The Bill to empower tlie Bank of Ayr to grant bonds not less " ttan 50Z. each, in lieu of the annuities already granted, to be made " transferable as personal property, yrsis read a third time, and " passed the House, 176 to 36." Both His Majesty and the writer in the ' Annual Eegister,' xvii. p. 105, spell Ayr, Aire. Letter 220. Queen's House, March 29th, 1774. 30 min. pt. 2 p.m. Lord North, — The very particular regard I have for you makes me receive with pleasure the account of the vacancy of the Deanery of Durham, as it enables me to confer it on Doctor Dampier, whose interest you have so much at heart. You will at the same time direct the proper warrant to be prepared for Doctor Magendie as Canon of Windsor, and for Mr, Fountayne as Pre- bend of Worcester, and let no farther time be lost in promoting the Bishop of St. David's to"^ that of Bath and Wells. The Deanery of Durham was void by the death of Dr. Spencer Cowper. He is thus commemorated by his poetic kinsman : — " Pride may be pamper'd while the flesh grows lean, , " Humility may clothe an English Dean ; " That grace was Cowper' s — his confess'd by all — " Though placed in golden Durham's second stall." ' Tkuth.' These appointments were gazetted on the 9th of April.— ' Ann. Eegister,' xvii. p. 185. 1VT4.] LETTEBS TO LOBB NOBTS. 179 Letter 221. Queen's House, March 30th, 1774. 30 mill. pt. 10 a.m. Lord North, — The knighting Mr. Impey on his going to India, as he is desirous of that honour, cannot meet with the least objection from me. I trust the chief difficulties relating to India are now in fair train to be removed, but am anxious to learn that Mr. Eum- bold is nominated Grovernor of Madrass, that the diiEculty concerning Lord Pigott may not arise. "March 3(1. — Elijah. Impey, of Lincoln's Inn, Esq., Chief-Justice" (the first appointed under Act 13 of Geo. III., June 16, 1773) "of His " Majesty's Supreme Court of Judicature at Port William in Bengal, " to the honour of knighthood." — ' London Gazette,' March, 1774. Among the " chief difSculties relating to India," one, a want of money, was lightened about this time. Gibbon writes to Holroyd, April 2, 1774, — " Great news, you see, from India : Tanjour, " 400,000Z. to the Company ; Suja Dowlah, 600,000/." The Eajah of Tanjour was dethroned, and his dominions were transferred to the Jsawab.— See MilKs 'Brit. India,' iv. 96-117. Mr. Eumbold did not become Governor of Madras until July, 1777, when he succeeded Lord Pigot. "Early in the year 1775 " the question was agitated of a successor to the Governor of Fort " St. George. The Court of Directors, by a small majority, declared " for Mr. Eumbold. A Court of Proprietors, called soon after to " dehberate upon the subject, reversed their decision by a small " majority, and m.ade choice of Lord Pigot."— MiU, ib., p. 114. In 1774 accordingly Mr. Eumbold's nomination was merely in agita- tion. Eumbold originally was a waiter at White's Chocolate House, St. James's Street. Letter 222. * Queen's House, April 3rd, 1774, Lord North, — A letter of the 31st is arrived this day from Lord Stormont containing the intelligence he N 2 180 GEOBGE THE THIBD'S [1774. had just received of orders being issued for fitting out a fleet at Toulon. My reason for instantly conveying this to you is from a desire of mentioning what occurs to me on this subject. I am clear that, untill farther accounts are forwarded by Lord Stormont, the taking any step would be premature, and, when they shall arrive, it will be necessary to examine whether a large or small fleet is equipping ; in the latter case it would, I apprehend, be scarcely civil for us to ask the cause of the armament, for we do the like every summer, and should not think [they] had a right to put to us the question. Lord Stormont thinks the Due d'Aiguillon is still so sore at our forcing him to disarm the last summer, that it would be impossible to make him take a similar step this year ; therefore I beg we may weigh every circumstance before any step is taken, for it may very probably draw us into a war where we have nothing to gain. The conduct of our colonies makes peace very desirable, and that of Russia does not de- serve that we should run any risk to savfe her fleet.^ Letter 223. St. James's, April 14tli,1774. 38 min. pt. 1 p.m. Lord North, — I am sufficiently acquainted with East India ballots to judge of the state of the lists last night how far it is probable that a good Direction will be obtained ; the more I reflect on Lord Mansfield's opi- nion to- you yesterday concerning the alteration of the Charter, the more I am confirmed in the propriety of altering the Council, and I find it so much the wish See note on Letter 161. 1774.] LETTERS TO LORD NORTH. 181 of the Cabinet that I cannot too strongly express my preferring your introducing the Bill to-morrow that is drawn up for vesting the nomination of the Counsellors in the Crown. This was the Bill proposed to be brought in by Lord North on the 28th of March, but on the 15th of April, " to-morrow," he added, " that the nomination of the Council should be by the " Crown." (' Pari. Hist.,' xvii. p. 1197.) " The Bill, notwithstand- " ir^ the earnest opposition of Mr. Dunning, passed the Commons " by a vote of more than three to one." (Bancroft, ' Hist, of the United States,' v. p. 365, ed. 1861.) It was during the debates on this Bill (April 15) that Mr. Van made use of the intemperate language so often cited at the time and since. He said, " If they (the Americans) oppose the measures of " government that are now sent out, I would do as was done of old, " in the time of ancient Britons, — I would burn and set fire to all ".their woods and leave their country open, to prevent that protection " they now have ; and if we are likely to lose that country, I think " it better lost by our own soldiers than wrested from us bj' our " rebellious children." Letter 224. Queen's House, April loth, 1774. 20 min. pt. 9 p.iu. Lord North, — I am infinitely pleased at finding tlie House of Commons have this day read for the first time the Bill for regulating the Grovernment of the Province of the Massachusets Bay, and that the Bill for the impartial Administration of Justice in cases of persons questioned for acts done in execution of the law, and in suppressing riots and tumults in that province, has been moved for;* with a continuation of the assiduity ■ See Pari. Hist, xvii. p. 1192, Marcli 28 ; and p. 1197, April 15. The Boston Poi-t Bill was now before the House of Lords. 182 GEORGE THE TEIBD'S [1774. shewn this day, I trust the Bills will soon be passed into laws. Letter 225. Queen's House, April 22nd, 1774. 10 min. pt. 7 p.m. LoED North, — Your account of the Bill for regu- lating the Grovernment of the Massachusets Bay having been read for the second time this day, after some debate, though without a division," gives me infinite satisfaction, as I trust little more trouble will be given during the subsequent steps in the House of Commons. Letter 226. Queen's House, April 28th, 1 774. 15 min. pt. 9 p.m. Lord North, — I am glad to find the debate has ended earlier than was expected this morning ; Oppo- sition pretended a claim to candour in keeping the debate on the American measures to Monday, which they undoubtedly, after what has passed to-day, have as Kttle right to the shaddow [sic] of it as before to the reality. Mr. Dowdeswell moved for leave to bring up a petition from "William Bollan, agent for the province of Massachusets Bay, which petition, he said, desired that the Bill for regulating the civil government and the Bill for the more impartial administration of justice might not pass into a law until he should have time to j.-eceiye answer from the ahove province to letters he had sent. • Pari. Hist. xvii. p. 1277. 1774.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NORTH. 183 Mr. Dowdeswell's motion was very strongly opposed by Lord North, Attorney-General Wedderburn, Mr. Dyson, &o. At half-jpast six o'clock the question was put that " leave be given to bring up this " petition," and Ministers had a majority of 63 (96 — 32). Letter 227, Queen's House, May 3rd, 1774. Lord North, — I am infinitely pleased at finding by the note I received this morning from you, that the Regulation Bill has passed the House of Commons, and that the majority was so considerable ; I trust that the one for the impartial Administration of Justice, the Canada Regulation and Revenue Bills, as well as the Coinage, will meet with as firm support. A^'alpole wrote to Mann two days before, — " There is, indeed, a " great business in agitation and has been for some time ; but " without the thorough base of Opposition it makes no echo out " of Parliament. Its Parliamentary name is Regulations for Boston ; " its essence the question of sovereignty over America." (See ' Pari, Hist.,' xvii. p. 1300.) Letter 228, Queen's House, May 4tli, 1774. 15 min. pt. 9 p.m. Lord North, — The hearing that the Bill for the im- partial Administration of Justice in the Province of the Massachusets Bay has been reported this day gives me much pleasure ; as several amendments have been made in it, the third reading cannot certainly be sooner than Friday, I agree with you in opinion that the French King's age would render his life very precarious if he had the 184 GEOBGE TEE THIBD'S [1774. small-pox where the distemper is well understood ; but in France, where it is most improperly treated, his chance of recovery is but small ; and no one can foresee who will have credit with his successor, consequently whether the duration of peace can be long expected. " Yesterday's Gazette (May 17) confirms tlie death, of tlie French " King, who expired at three o'clock in the afternoon of the 10th " inst., of the small-pox, at his palace of Versailles, in the 64th year " of his age and the 59th of his reign." (' Ann. Eeg.,' xvii. p. 121.) For some sensible remarks on the character of this sovereign, see Sir N. "W. AVraxall's ' Historical Memoirs,' part i. pp. 100-109. His account of the King's last moments was derived " from particulars " related to him, not long after they took place, by a gentleman, one " of his pages, who attended him throughout the whole course of " his disorder.'' Louis XV. was interred at St. Denys without ceremony, " as is " customary for princes who die of the small-pox." Letter 229. Kew, May 6th, 1774. 51 min. pt. 8 p.m. Lord North,— The Bill for the better Administration of Justice in the Massachusets Bay having been read the third time and passed the House of Commons this day, after a short debate, with a great majority,* gives me infinite satisfaction ; perseverance and the meeting difficulties as they arise with firmness, seem the only means of either with credit or success terminating public affairs. Your conduct on the American disturb- ances is a very clear proof of the justness of that proposition. » The majority was 103 — 127 = 24. On the 11th of May the Bill was read in the Lords a third time : " Contents, 69 ; " Proxies, 23 = 92. JSTot-Contents, 20 ; " Proxies, = 20. A protest against the " Bill was signed by eleven peers." — Pari. Hist. xvii. p. 1316-25. 1774.] LETTEBS TO LORD NORTH. 185 Letter 230. Kew, May 9tli, 1774. 58 min. pt. 1 p.m. LoKD North, — I tave this instant received your account that the Eesolutions concerning the gold coin were come to in a Committee this day, and are to be reported to-morrow ; from the judiciousness of the plan you laid before me the other day, I flattered myself that it would not meet with much opposition, and am happy at not finding myself mistaken. In the speech, from the Throne on the 13th of January the state of the gold coin was particularly recommended to the consideration of Parliament. It was observed that the degree of diminution which the coin had actually suifered, and the rapid progress which the mischief was daily making, were truly alarming. The regu- lations made in the last session had indeed checked the evil, but it was hoped that Parliament would persevere in endeavours for putting the gold coin . upon such a footing as may not only com- pletely remove the present grievance, but also render the credit and commerce of the kingdom sufficiently secure from being again exposed to the like danger. ('Ann. Keg.,' xvii. p. 50 foil., 1774.) Sir Gilbert Elliot writes to Baron Mure from London, May 9, 1774,-^" The account of the King of France's death is hourly ex- " pected ; and though there have been expectations that this and " some other events that may be foreseen might occasion a disso- " lution of Parliament, yet, on the explanation of the gold-coin " resolutions last night, Lord North threw out expressions sufficient " to show that at present he had no intention to recommend the " dissolution at this time." " (' Caldwell Papers,' ii. pt. ii. p. 234.) Letter 231. Kew, May 19th, 1774. 5 min. pt. S a.m. Lord North, — The hearing that there was no divi- sion on the opening the Budget yesterday shews the Op- Parliament was dissolved, somewhat suddenly, on the 30th of September. 186 GEORGE TEE THIBD'S [1774. position is not quite void of sense, for but few would have appeared on that side ; and as your propositions are so amazingly good, considering the great though necessary expenses that have been incurred, that the gentlemen who should have placed themselves in that predicament must inevitably have disgraced themselves. I am pleased at your opinion that the subscription which will be opened on Friday will be soon filled, for, though I always wish the public to have a fair advantage, yet the sub- scribers should not be too severely dealt with, least that should discourage them on future occasions, or be a colour for their raising their terms in futurity. I have appointed the two Houses at half hour past two with their joint Address. I hope you will before that send the answer. Sir N. W. Wraxall thus describes Lord North's still in '■ opening " the Budget " ('^Hist. Memoirs of his own Time,' vol. i. pt. ii.) : — " In opening the Budget he was esteemed peculiarly lucid, clear, " and able. On that account it constituted a day of triumph to his " friends and supporters, who exulted in his talent which he dis- " played, whenever he exhibited the state of the national finances, " or imposed new pecuniary burthens. I was twice present at his " performance of this arduous task; first, in 1781, and afterwards " in the following year, when he executed it for the last time. " Each performance appeared to ■ me very deserving of the enco- " miums lavished on it ; and if compared with the incapable manner " in which the Budget was opened by his successor. Lord John " Cavendish, when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1783, " I still continue of the same opinion. But Lord North could " sustain no competition with the late Mr. Pitt, who on those, as " on all other occasions, manifested a perspicuity, eloquence, and " talent altogether wonderful, which carried the audience along " with him in every arithmetical statement, left no calculation " obscure or ambiguous, and impressed the House at its close with " tumultuous admiration." 1774.] LETTERS TO LOBD NOBTH. 187 Letter 232. Kew, June 4th, 1774. 30 min. pt. 11 p.m. Lord North,— I have been agreably surprised with your account of the conclusion of the Committee upon the Quebec Bill, and that it will be reported on Friday. Considering that the clauses to be examined this day were some of the most material, had not the fire been totally expended the debate must have lasted longer ; I hope therefore no farther trouble will be given in the latter stages of this Bill. Quebec Bill : — " A Bill for making more effectual Provision for " the Government of tlie Province of Quebec, in Nortt America," was brought down from the Lords on the 26th of May, and motion was made that the Bill be now read a second time. The Bill had passed through the Lords without exciting much attention : in the Commons it met with, a very different reception. Ministers, deceived by the acquiescence or supineness of the Upper House in their treatment of this measure, were expecting similar pliancy in the Lower. They had failed to remark that against the colonies the nation went with them — ^ignorance and contempt of America pervading England from the cedar to the hyssop on the wall. But by their proposals for Canada political passions were not excited; a religious element, however, was involved in the question, which, as is usually the case, was provocative of strife. " The minority insisted," writes Burke in the ' Annual Eegister ' for this year (xvii. p. 77 foil.), " that the capitulation [of the Canadas, " 1759] provided for no more than a bare toleration of the Eoman " Catholic religion, which they were wUling they should enjoy in " the utmost extent ; whereas this is an establishment of it. That " the people of Canada had hitherto been happy under that toler- " ation, and looked for nothing further. By this establishment, " said they, the Protestant religion enjoys at best no more than a " toleration. The Popish clergy have a legal parliamentary right " to a maintenance ; the Protestant clergy are left at the Kings " discretion. "Why are not both put at least on an equal footing, " and a legal support provided for both ? " On the subject of religion the conflict was very warm. In the 188 GEORGE THE THIBD'S [1774. course of the debates the Bill " received many amendments, so as " to change it very greatly from the state in which it came down " from the House of Lords ; hut the groundwork remained the same. " Throughout the whole progress of the business, though well " fought, the numbers in the minority were uncommonly small. " It produced, nevertheless, much greater uneasiness and discon- " tent out of doors than any of the Bills for punishing of the old " colonies." Eeligions, as Lord Macaulay has remarked in his review of Eanke's ' Hist, of the Popes' (' Edinb. Eeview,' -October, 1840), have their geographical limits — quos ultra citraque nequit consistere; but it would seem in such cases that distance lends enchantment, for while the Ministers in 1744, and presumeably the King also — since in that year totus componitur orhis — Itegis ad exemplum ■ — were willing to accord complete toleration to the Canadians, they would have refused- to Ireland even the mint and cummin of a similar boon. " This discontent " (out of doors) " called on the attention of the " House of Lords; so that when the Bill was returned to them with " the amendments (June 17) there was a considerable opposition to " it, although in some respects less exceptionable than when it had " passed their House with so little notice ; but, as in all the other " questions, so in this, the minority showed no strength in numbers." — ' Ann. Beg.' ib. The Bill, besides regulating the government, defined the bound- aries of " the province of Quebec," as Canada was then named — which, since its conquest by England, had been much enlarged by the back settlements, not subject to any previous grant or comprised in any previous charter. According to the evidence of the Governor, General Carleton, before the House of Commons, the French inhabitants, all Eoman Catholics, amounted to 150,000, while there were not quite 400 Protestants in the whole province. (' Pari. Hist.,' xvii. p. 1368.) Among the objections against the Bill raised by the Opposition- orators — Dunning and Chatham among them — one was that it would rob British subjects of their British rights, by denying them the privilege of trial by jury in civil — ^it was granted to them in criminal — cases. But this, whatever it may have been to the Opposition, was no grievance to the Canadians. They disapproved of trial by jury, and thought it very extraor- dinary that English gentlemen should think their property safer in the determination of tailors, shoemakers, &c., than in that of the judges appointed by the Crown. Neither did they wish for any- thing in the shape of a Parliament. " In the conversations I have " had with them," said General Carleton before the Committee, " they have all said that, when they found what disputes the other 1774.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 189 " colonies had with the Crown upon acconnt of Assemblies, they " would much rather be without them." - oerte populi quos despioit arctos Felices errore suo. ' ('Pari. Hist.,' xvii. p. 1367 Ml. ; Lord Mahon, vi. pp. 6, 16 ; Adol- phus, ii. pp. 91-93 ; Bancroft, ' Hist, of United States,' v. p. 366-7.) Letter 233. Kew, June 7tli, 1774. 50 min. pt. 6 a.m. Lord North, — I flatter myself your journey to Ban- bury and stay whilst there will be as little unpleasant as such an expedition can prove. I had no notice of the arrival of the ' Porcupine ' in the Delaware the beginning of last month but by your letter the last evening. I am sorry to find the Attorney-General" rather retracts. I feel the propriety of keeping him in his present situation ; and if any kindness from me on Wednesday can effect it, you may rest assured he shall be got into thorough good temper. I shall certainly most readily sign a fresh warrant for the appointment of Lord-Warden of the Cinque Ports. I should most readily have fixed the salary at 4000/., but, as you chose it should not exceed 1500/., I certainly meant that to have been properly stated; therefore this is only fulfilling my intentions, which by some mistake in the Secretary of State's office had been neglected. I shall consider whether I can gratify Colonel Dal- rymple ; there are some regimental objections unto it. » Thurlow. 190 GEOBGE THE THIBD'S [1774. Letter 234, Kew, June 8th, 1774'. 7 o'clock a.m. Lord North, — The hearing that the Committee upon the Quebec Bill has gone through the whole Bill except the clauses relating to the Legislative Council, gives me much satisfaction ; by the small progress made on Monday I had feared it would not have got this day through the Committee, and I see with no less pleasure that the majority has been so considerable. " The chairman read the clause which mentions the numher of " the Legislative Council to be appointed, which is not to be more " than 23, nor less than 17. Mr. Dempster objected to the numberi " and proposed 30. Lord North opposed the amendment, and on " the question being put it was rejected." (' Pari. Hist.,' xvii. p. 1394.) But the majority is not stated. Letter 235. Kew, June 1 Itli, 1 774. SO min. pt. 10 a.m. Lord North, — After so much delay in the Committee on the Quebec Bill, I had thought the opposers to it would not have been so absurd as to have debated again on the Report ; but I cannot think on the third reading that they can possibly give farther trouble. The question before the Committee was on Mr. Mackworth's motion. That a clause should be added to the Bill, " That in aU " trials relating to property and civil rights, where the value shall " exceed a certain sum, either of the contending parties may demand " a trial by jury, constituted according to the laws of England, and " that the issue between the parties shall be determined by the " verdict of such jury, and not otherwise." The object of the clause was to secure the English in Quebec against the French laws. Being put, the question was negatived by 43 (83 — 40). The opposer who gave most trovMe was Mr. Edmund Burke. J774.] LETTERS TO LOBD NOBTH. 191 Letter 236. Kew, June 13th, 1774. 4 min. pt. 9 p.m. Lord North, — On coming home from my walk, I have had the pleasure of your note, and am glad to find you have by perseverance finished the Quebec Bill this day. I hope you v?ill have no more long days this Session, and that now I may prorogue the Parliament next Tuesday. The Bill passed by a majority of 36 (56 — 20) in the Commons ; and on the 17th. by a majority of 19 (26 — 7) ° in the Lords. Parliament was prorogued on the 22nd of June. " The establishment of colonies on principles of liberty is the " peculiar and appropriated glory of England, rendering her " venerable throughout all time in the history of the world. The " office of peopling a continent with free and happy commonwealths " was renounced. The Quebec Bill, which quickly passed the " House of Lords " — " no petition was presented, and no protest " appears on the Journals " (Adolphus, ii. p. 94) — and was borne " through the Commons by the zeal of the Ministry and the influ- " enoe of the King, left the people who were to colonize the most " fertile territory in the world without the writ of Habeas Corpus " to protect the rights of persons, and without a share of power in " any one branch of the government." (Bancroft, v. p. 367.) On the other side. Lord Mahon (vi. p. 6) observes that " it was to " the peace and good government of the Catholics in Canada that " the Bill was mainly, and surely in strict justice, directed. Its " provisions in no degree practically touched any of the dissatisfied " colonies. But since it authorised and sanctioned the Eoman " Catholic faith, as held at that time by an immense majority " [150,000 to 400 Protestants] " of the people in Canada, it afforded " on that account a topic of invective and complaint to the Protestant " zealots of New England." For a full and excellent account of the debates on the Quebec Bill, see ' Pict. Hist, of England,' Geo. III., vol. i. pp. 164-180. The King in his speech on the 22nd applauded especially the measures of Parliament on the " gold coin," and on the-just and humane Bill for the Government of Quebec. ' The King's court-excluded brother, the Duke of Gloucester, voted among the ' seven." 192 GEORGE THE TSIRB'S [1774. Letter 237. June 18th, 1774. Lord North, — The Sheriffs of London have been here this evening with a message as I understand from the Lord Mayor ; I ordered them to be acquainted that I did not receive messages from the City but on Court- days at St. James's. I understand they will there- fore come to-morrow after the Drawing-room. I take it for granted it is to know when the Lord Mayor may bring the petition against the Quebec Bill. Quere whether it is to be called also an Address, and in either case I think it scarcely decent to receive them ; if in the latter mode, there must be an answer, which certainly ought to teach them that they are not proper advisers on political questions. I desire to hear what you have heard on the subject, that I may know what message they are to bring ; upon the whole, I suppose it is just to make a noise on Thursday at their Common Hall. Letter 238. * Kew, June 19th, 1774. Lord North, — I very much approve of the proposed answer to the City Address against the giving my assent to the Quebec Bill ; if the expression no objection can be changed without altering the sense of the answer, I shall not object to it, though I think it very proper ; but am clear, though I hope the Crown wiU ever be able to prevent a Bill it thinks detrimental to be thrown out in one or other House of Parliament without making use of its right of refusing the assent, yet I shall never consent to using any expression that 1774.] LETTEBS TO LORD NOBTE. 193 fends to establish that at no time the making use of that power is necessary. P.S. I shall appoint the City for Wednesday at one o'clock. I hope the Speech is now ready ; I shall order the Cabinet where it is to be communicated for Wed- nesday also. " On the 22nd of June the Lord-Mayor, the Aldermen Crosby, " Lewis, Plomer, and Sawbridge, the Eeoorder, City Officers, and " upwards of 150 of the Common Council, in coaches, went in pro- " cession from Guildhall to St. James's, in order to present their " Address and Petition against signing the Bill for the better govem- " ment of Quebec. They arrived at St. James's at a quarter before " one, just as his Majesty was preparing to go to the House ; and " previous to their admittance, the Lord Hertford delivered to the " Lord-Mayor the following paper : — " ' As your Petition relates to a Bill agreed on by the two Houses " of Parliament, of which his Majesty cannot take public notice " until it is presented to him for his royal assent in Parliament, I " am commanded by the King to inform you that you are not to " expect an answer.' " The Lord-Mayor immediately on reading it sent the Eemem- " branoer to present his duty to the King, and to inform his Majesty " that he waited officially to present an Address from the City of " London agreeable to his Majesty's appointment signified to the " Sheriffs, 18th June ; on which, after some little hesitation, they " were admitted, and the same was read by the Eemembrancer." — ' Ann. Beg.' xvii. p. 130. Letter 239. Kew, June 28th, 1774. 26 min. pt. 4 p.m. LoED North, — By the letters you have received from Ireland, I find Mr. Flood has declined accepting the employment of Aulniger [sic]," and that the Lord-Lieu- tenant intends it for Mr. Blaquiere ; I think this very natural and not improper ; but am of opinion that he * " Aulnager — a measurer (by the ell)."— Richardson. Vol. I. 194 GEOBGE THE THIBD'S [1774. ought not to have the additional pension granted Mr. Hutchinson, otherwise the office will never be on its old foot; besides 1800^. is a much larger provision than was ever given to a Secretary : the Anlniger's place is worth 800/., and a Red Ribband seems amply rewarding the tajlents [sic] of Mr. Blaquiere. Grattan writes to Broome on the 19tli of July, 1774 : — " Mr. Sutchinson (see next Letter) walked as Provost yesterday at " the funeral of his predecessor. He is understood to carry over his " pension of lOOOZ. a-year. Mr. Blaquiere, the cinager, is understood " to have the original salary of 300Z. only, with his predecessor's " pretensions to a pension of lOOOZ." Mr. Blaquiere had heen Lord Harcourt's secretary at Paris, when that nobleman was ambassador to the court of France. " I find " writes Mr. Jardine to Baron Mure (' CaldweU Papers,' ii. pt. 2, p. 304), " that our political system here [Paris] will soon be totally " changed. You have heard that Lord Harcourt goes to Ireland, " and I suppose Colonel Blaquiere also." (June 16, 1772.) Letter 240. * ♦ Kew, July 1st, 1774. 2 min. pK 9 p.m. Lord North, — I have signed the parcel of warrants; this is certainly the proper time for granting the pen- sion of 3000Z. per annum to the Queen of Denmark ;° you will therefore write to the Lord Lieutenant. I have this day signed the warrant for appointing Mr. Hutchinson Provost of Dublin College. Lord Dartmouth brought Mr. Hutchinson, late Go- vernor of Massachusets Bay, too late to be presented at my levee, but I desired he would introduce [him] in my closet, as I was desirous of hearing his account how- matters were when he left his Grovernment, and am ' This pension was charged on the Civil List for Ireland. 1774.] LETTERS TO LOBB NOBTR. 195 now well convinced they will soon submit ; he ownes the Boston Port Bill was the only wise and effectual method that could have been suggested for bringing them to a speedy submission, and that the change in the legislature will be a means of establishing some government in that province, which till now has been one of anarchy. One of the regiments arrived the 1st of June, the day he sailed, and the people of Boston seemed much dispirited. ' Ann. Eegister,' July 1, 1774, xvii. p. 133 :^ " Governor HutoHnson, just arrived in town from Boston, waited " on Ids Majesty, and was most graciously received. Before his " departure from America Le was addressed by the gentlemen of " the law, who assure his Excellency that, on account of his great " abilities, adorned with a uniform purity of principle and integrity " of conduct, they feel the loss of his departure so sensibly, that, " were it not for the amiableness of his successor (General Gage), " and that his Excellency's presence at the court of Great Britain " wiU. afford him an opportunity of employing his interest more " suocessfally for the relief of the province, no other human sources " could aiford them consolation. He was addressed likewise by the " Magistrates of Middlesex county, w^ho likewise assure his Excel- " lency, that, notwithstanding the delusion which prevails in some " parts of the province, his administration has ever to them ap- " peared sincere and uniform with a view to promote its best " interest." Thomas Hutchinson, Governor of the province of Massachusetts, was a native of New England. He had held several important offices in the province before he succeeded Governor Barnard in the administration of its affairs in 1769. He was a man of courteous and pleasing maimers, industrious, well-informed, and of consider- able ability. His ' History of the Colony of Massachusetts ' was, in . its time, a work of high reputation. He was recalled by Lord North in 1774 (April), ' Ann. Eeg.,' xvii. p. 107 ; and both as a native of New England and from his of&cial experience, was justly regarded as able to advise on colonial matters. Hutchinson, however, had been as unhappy in his dealings with the local authorities as his predecessor Barnard, and in common with his two brothers-in-law Andrew and Peter Oliver, the one Lieutenant-Governor, the other Chief-Justice of the province, was extremely unpopular. His advice 2 196 GEOBQE TEE THIRD'S [1774. to the King on this occasion may accordingly have been biassed by his own resentment or prejudices. His letters on American affairs addressed to Andrew Oliver form a memorable episode in the life of FranHin. He expresses in these letters sentiments very palatable on this side of the Atlantic. " There must be an abridgment," he wrote, " of what are called English liberties ; for a colony cannot " enjoy all the liberty of a parent-state.'' He recommended not only coercive measures, but also a material change in the system of chartered government. He expressed " hopes that provisions for " dissolving commercial combinations, and for inflicting penalties on " those who do not renounce them, would be made by Parliament." The troubles of America prevented Mr. Hutchinson from ever returning to his native country, and he died at Brompton in 1780. It may be interesting to read an American character of one who, if he erred in judgment, erred with nearly all Britain, and with a numerous party in America also : — " Governor Hutchinson, in " company with Attorney-General Wedderbume, has been burnt " in efSgy in the streets of Philadelphia, ' with the usual ceremonies, " amidst the acclamations of the multitude.' Hutchinson found it " impossible to endure the abhorrence of his countrymen. He re- " signed his office, and returned to England, where, after dancing " attendance for a while at court, he sank into obscurity. A pension, " barely sufficient for a decent maintenance, was assigned him. " I^pon this he lived a few years, and then died without honour " in England, in America execrated." — Parton's 'Life of Franklin,' vol. i. p. 595. Mr. William Eden, afterwards Lord Auckland, writes to Mr. Lee on the 3rd of August in this year : — " The Bostonians thought Hutchinson a tyrant — I met him on " Thursday night at the Attorney-General's — they might as well " have taken a lamb for a tiger." (' Memoirs of Kockingham,' ii. Provost Hutchinson, mentioned in this letter, was in his way also a very noticeable personage. Thomas Hely Hutchinson, the founder of the Hutchinson family. Earls of Donoughmore, was Principal Secretary of State or the Council, Ireland, in 1777, prime Sergeant- at-Law, Provost of the University of Dublin, and had such avidity for office, and accumulated so many lucrative appointments and honours for himself, and so many for his family and friends, in the revenue, the army," the law, &c., that it was said by Lord Korth, on * It was currently reported of Hutch- inson that for some years he drew the full pay of a Cornetcy in a heavy-dragoon regiment, not for himself, but — for hia eldest daughter! " Quam bene vivebant Sahlimo rege !" 1774.] LETTERS TO LOBD NOBTH. 197 liis application for some new place that had just become vacant, — '' If England and Ireland were given to this man, he would solicit " the Isle of Man for a potato-garden." Grattan (Life of, by his Son, vol. i. p. 276), while admitting Hutchinson to have been " the servant of many governments," says that he was " an Irishman notwithstanding, which was more than could " he said of some others, who had anti-Irish feelings, although they " had Irish birth ; but Hutchinson was self-interested, and wanted " openness and directness of character He wrote an excellent " treatise, entitled ' Commercial Eestraints of Ireland,' for which " he deservedly obtained the^ highest credit. As a speaker he was " good : he possessed perhaps greater powers of satire than any " other man ; it was incomparable, nothing could be better ; it was ^' the finest and severest style, adapted to the highest order of " matter, and in its effects it was fatal. Flood's was very good, " hut Hutchinson's was better." Letter 241. July 6tli, 1774. 30 min. pt. 6 p.m. Lord North, — I return the warrants wliicli I have signed : the postponing the term of receiving light gold in Ireland from the 16th to the 30th of July may be very proper, but the carrying till the 16th of August, as proposed by the Lord-Lieutenant, would inevitably cause great inconvenience in this kingdom if it had been complied with. See Letter 230. Letter 242. Kew, July 22nd, 1774. 50 min. pt. 7 a.m. Lord North, — I am clear that the City does not deserve to know the motives of my conduct ; therefore I am equally ready either from the Throne to declare that in Parliament alone I can take notice of the Bill 198 GBOBGE TEE THIBD'S [1774. agreed to by the two Houses, or to direct the Lord- Chamberlain to acquaint the Lord-Mayor with it, and that therefore no answer is to be expected. I hope you will be rather before one at St. James's. Letteb 243. Kew, August 16th, 1774. Lord North, — The paper of arrangements from Sir John Blaquiere requires some consideration as to the pension to vacat [sic] the Yice-Treasurership. I think that inadmissible, and will within these few days write you my opinion on the subject, which you may convey if you please to the Lord-Lieutenant. I wish you a pleasant journey, and congratulate you on the peace between the Russians and Turks," which I should hope will to a degree keep off the spreading of that de- structive fire farther. Letter 244. * Kew, August 24th, 1774. Lord North, — Having enquired when Mr. Robinson was to send a messenger to you, I avail myself of that opportunity to return the papers concerning the ar- rangements so strongly solicited by the Lord-Lieutenant. I am much pleased at finding, though he had reason given him at the opening of the last Sessions in Ireland (provided the measures proposed were obtained), that he might suggest arrangements that did not exceed the annual income of 12,000^., but the plan enclosed " See Letter 245, note. 1774.] LETTEBS TO LORD NOBTH. 199 amounts only to 10,704^. IS*', 4c?. This makes me in- clined not to object to the large article of 2000^. for Mr. Flood, if a proper method of conferring it can be devised; for I cannot approve of appointing him a Vice-Treasurer of Ireland if it was vacant, as it would be giving an additional employment to Ireland at the expence of providing for a man of tallents [sic] in the English House of Commons ; but when added to the proposition that it must be by the removal of one of the present possessors, I think it inadmissible, for, as they behave well, I look upon it as a point of honour to keep them in their situations, and the granting one of them a pension for life as an equivalent, which may perhaps be agreable to them, I cannot consent to it, as I have solemnly given my promise to Ireland that I will not grant pensions for life or years but on very particular cases ; the one conferred [on] Mr. Dyson for years has made much noise, and ought not to have been granted; and I am resolved never to look on a Parliamentary arrangement as a very particular case ; indeed, if this was admitted, more would follow, but that is not the consideration that weighs with me. I was wrong, after what the Duke of Northumberland'' had declared in my name, in giving the pension to Dyson, and will not therefore get into the same dilemma. The promoting Mr. Langrishe to the Eevenue Board in the room of Sir Francis Barnard is objectionable, as there wiU then be no Englishman at the Board; but as the first vacancy is to be filled up by one from this side of the water, I agree to the proposal, and also to the new offices for Lieut.-Colonel Browne and Mr. Lysaght. Lord Oourtown is a very proper person to be added to the Privy Council. I am glad Mr. Robinson " Hugh, then Earl of Northmnbei'lainl, Lord-Lioutenant 1763. 200 GEOBGE THE THIBD'S [1774. has had directions to obtain a good law-opinion on the term that must be given to the Aulnager ; I am clear against a term of years, and not a friend to granting it for life. The request of the Solicitor-Greneral in favour of Lady Erskine does not raise him in my opinion, but I agree with you that it must be acqui- esced in ; at the same time the pension appHed for by the Duke of Buccleugh, if not already executed, must be prepared. Henry Flood, the early friend and future competitor of Henry Grattan, became one of tlie Vice-Treasurers of Ireland in the Octoher of 1775. He succeeded Charles Jenkinson (Lord Hawkesbury). The firsf speech made by Grattan in the Irish House of Commons, December 15, 1775, had some relation to Flood. It was on the petition of the Yioe-Treasurers, Eobert Viscount Clare and Welbore Ellis, afterwards Lord Mendip, who sought compensation for the loss of official fees. Flood would not sign the petition, though, having just accepted office, he was interested in it. At this time not only were the salaries of GoTernment officials in Ireland out of all proportion to their duties, but the offices were mostly held by Englishmen, who never, unless they chose, crossed the Channel. " This," says Grattan's biographer (vol. i. p. 282), " was a grievance " of long standing; and so far back as 1724, Swift complains in " one of his ' Drapier's Letters,' that all the considerable offices " were enjoyed by those who had weight at the court of England " and resided in that kingdom." Of this arrangement it may be inferred from his letter that his Majesty approved. For Mr. Dyson's pension, see note on Letter 175. Mr. Langrishe was a determined supporter of Government. (See Plowden, ' Hist, of Ireland,' ii. p: 169.) He had distinguished himself in this year by bringing in or supporting Bills for the relief of Eoman Catholics from some of the civil and religious disabilities under which they then laboured. (' Life of Grattan,' vol. i. p. 265-6.) In this year the British Ministry, beginning to be alarmed at the discontent in New England, made some concessions to Ireland, and Lord North instructed Lord-Lieutenant Harcourt to endeavour to conciliate the affections of the Catholics by gradual relaxation of the penal code. (Comm. Journals, Ireland, ix. pp. 27, 28, 114.) Lachj ErsMne, widow of Sir Henry Erskine, and sister of the Solicitor-General (Wedderburn). 1774.] LETTEBS TO LOBB NOBTE. 201 Letter 245. * Kew, August 24th, 1774. Lord North, — I cannot let the letter I have wrote in answer to the one that you sent me last week ac- companying the Irish arrangements [go ?] without just adding on a seperate pajDer a few lines on the calling a new Parliament. The general Congress now assem- bling in America, the peace of Russia with the Turks, and unsettled state of the French Ministry, are very additional reasons to show the propriety of the measure ; besides, I trust it will fill the House with more gentle- men of landed property, as the Nabobs, Planters, and other Yolunteers are not ready for the battle. As soon as you can fix on a proper day for the dissolution, I desire you will write to the Chancellor and Lord- President, but not above a week before the measure is to be [put ?] into execution. The General Congress now assemhling in America. — " On Monday, the 5th. day of September, tlie members of Congress, " meeting at Smith's tavern, moved in a body to select the place for " their deliberations. Galloway, the Speaker for Pennsylvania, " would have had them use the State House, but the carpenters " of Philadelphia oifered their plain but spacious Hall. It was " accepted by a great majority. The names of the members were " then called over : the representatives of eleven Colonies answered " to the call ; Peyton Eandolph, late Speaker of the Assembly of " Virginia, was unanimously chosen President ; the body then named " itseK Congress." (Bancroft, vi. ch. xi. p. 72.) Peace of Bussia with the Turks. — The Peace of Kutchuk-Kainardji, 1774, which ceded Azof, Yeni-karli, Kil-bournou, and Kertsch, the Steppes between the Bog and the Dnieper, and the free navigation of the Black Sea ; and declares the Crim Tartars independent. The unsettled state of the French Ministry. — " Du Barrydom and its D'Aiguillons are gone for ever. Maupeou " and his Parlement have to vanish into thick night. Instead of a " profligate bankrupt Abbe Terray, we have now for a Controller- 202 GEOBGE THE THIBD'S [1774. " General a virtuous philosopHo Turgot. Good old cheeiy Maurepas " is Prime Minister." De Vergennes, French Ambassador at the court of Sweden, in June, 1774, was recalled to Paris and placed at the head of the Foreign Department. (Oarlyle, ' Hist, of French Eevolution,' vol. i. p. 26-6 ; WraxaU's Memoirs, part i. p. 111.) Letter 246. **Kew, September 11th, 1774. Lord North, — The letter from the Quakers of Pen- silvania to some of [the] chiefs of that persuasion ih London shews they retain that coolness which is a very strong characteristick of that body of people ; but I was in hopes it would have contained some declara- tion of their submission to the mother-country ; whilst by the whole tenour they seem to wish for England giving in some degree way to the opinions of North America ; the dye [sic] is now cast, the Colonies must either submit or triumph. I do not wish to come to severer measures, but we must not retreat ; by coolness and an unremitted pursuit of the measures that have been adopted I trust they will come to submit ; I have no objection afterwards to their seeing that there is no inclination for the present to lay fresh taxes on them, but I am clear there must always be one tax to keep up the right, and as such I approve of the Tea Duty. From your interesting yourself for Doctor Jebb, in addition to the good inclination I already had for the Doctor, I will certainly advance him to be Physician as soon as feisible ; but Doctor Thomas has so good a character and has been so many years Physician Extra- ordinary, that it would be unjust to put Jebb over his head ; Sir Edward Willmot is of so advanced an age that an opportunity will soon occur. I doubt whether 1774.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 203 a Quaker can hold an ofEce, but if he can I have no objection to appointing Doctor Fothergill to succeed Doctor Thomas ; I therefore desire you will find whether the thing is practicable. After the Attorney-G-eneral's Report I am clear Sir John Blacquiere ought to hold the Aulnager's place during pleasure. During FranHin's residence in London his " time -was mucli taken " up by fiiends calling contiaually to inquire news from America : " .... on motions made and to be made : mercbants of London " and of tbe manufacturing and port towns on tbeir petitions ; the " Quakers upon theirs." I apprehend, however, that the letter men- tioned by the King was an earlier address communicated through David Barclay, a member of Parliament, a person of great note among the Quakers on either side of the ocean, and in 1776 in intimate correspondence with Dr. Franklin on American affairs. Several petitions from Congress and American munioipalities or clubs are printed in the ' Annual Eegister ' for this year, but one from the Quakers is not among the number. At the beginning of the quarrel with the mother-country the Society of Friends in general either stood aloof from it or sided with the Eoyalists ; but we find a change in their opinions in 1775. Then (May 7) old Christopher Marshall, a retired druggist of Philadelphia, a Quaker expelled for taking part against the King, wrote in his Diary, " It " is admirable to see the alteration of the Tory class in this place " since the account of the engagement in New England : ° their lan- " guage is quite softened, and many of them have so far renounced " their former sentiments as that they have taken up arms and are " joined in the associations : nay, even many of the stiff Quakers, " some even of those who drew up the Testimony, are ashamed of " their proceedings. The Friends held a meeting last Fifth-day " afternoon, in order to consider how to send a supply to the Bos- " tonians, it being a matter they had before treated with contempt " and ridicule." Doctor Fothergill, in combination with David Barclay, laboured hard to eifect an accommodation between England and America through the medium of Franklin. At their joint request, Franklin, though fer from hopeful of the least disposition in the Ministry to an accom- modation, drew up a paper of ' Hints for Conversation ' upon the terms ■ At Lexington, April 19, 177 204 GEOBQE THE THIBB'S [1774. wliicli would probably produce a durable union between Great Britain and her subjects. Tbe principal objection to the ' Hints ' seems to have been, not that they were unjust or immoderate, but that they were not likely to be conceded. The ' Hints ' after revision were laid before Lord Dartmouth, then Secretary for the Colonies, and probably before Lord Xorth also. A rumour too prevailed m the City to the effect that Dr. Franklin and Lord North had agreed upon terma of accommodation, and it had the effect of raising the public stocks three or four per cent. Lord Dartmouth and the Speaker of the House of Commons (Sir Eletcher Xorton) deliberated upon Franklin's paper, admitted some of his proposals to be reason- able, but objected to others as involving humiliation to this country. I need not add that Fothergill and Barclay's efforts were 'in vain; and I doubt, had the King known of the Doctor's share in these conferences, if he would have been so well disposed towards him as this letter proves his Majesty to have been. [For a full account of this matter, see Barton's ' Life of Franklin,' vol. ii. pp. 42-65.] The King's attention may have been drawn to Dr. Fothergill by his having been employed by the Society of Friends to draw up their address to him on his accession. But at this particular time the Doctor was in great repute. "In 1775 and 1776, when an " influenza prevailed, he numbered on an average sixty patients " a day, and his practice was supposed worth 8000L annually." (Hartley Coleridge's Life of Dr. John Fothergill, in 'Lives of Korthem Worthies,' vol. iii. ed. 1852.) Letter 247. Kew, September 25th, 1774. Lord North, — I am sorry to acquaint you that by what Mr. Sayer, the Deputy- Stewart [sic] of West- minster, droped [sic] to me yesterday, there is too much [reason?] to apprehend that the Duke of Newcastle retracts from his agreement of joining Lord Thomas Clinton as a candidate for Westminster with Lord Percy,* " Lord Percy, in the year following, waa engaged in warmer work than even a Westminster election. He commanded twelve hundred men at Lexington — the "Battle of Concord," as it was. some- times termed, almost as appropriately as the Temple of Concord at Rome, on which was affixed the celebrated pa»- quin : — in b.c. 121, epyor atcovolas vahv S/iovotas iroKi. — Plut., C. Gracchus, c.l7. 1774.] LETTERS TO LOBD NOBTH. 205 and this from no nobler an idea than the fear of some scurrilous abuse in the newspapers. I owne it grieves me to see men of birth wanting that [sic] which disgraces the meanest man, resolution. I hope this early informa- tion will enable you to write to him, and without in the least shewing any suspicion press him as a meritorious conduct towards me to nominate his son for West- minster, and you may easily add that Lord Mahon cannot be a very formidable opposer, as he wUl not open any houses ; I understand the Duke's wise scheme is that Lord Percy ought to join Lord Mahon ; now, after the advertisement the latter has published, I do not think him in the least preferable to Humphrey Coates.* " Octolier 4 : at a numerous meeting of the inhabitants of West- " minster, the Lords Mountmorres and Mahon were put in nomina- " tion as proper persons to represent that city in Parliament ; and " at the same time Humphrey Cotes offered his services. They have " since been opposed by Lord Percy and Lord Thomas Pelham " Clinton." And, on the same day, " Lord North was robbed by a single " highwayman, who fired at and wounded the postilion." (' Ann. Beg.' xvii. p. 155.) Letter 248. Kew, September 27th, 1774. 5U min. pt. 1 p.m. Lord North, — The account of the meeting at Mile- end yesterday shews that faction is not supported by the oppulent [sic] part of the county ; but I entirely agree with you that, though this ought to rouze the " He was an intimate friend of Wilkes. At the election in the following month he demanded a poll, but only one hun- dred and thirty electors Toted for him. See Chatham Coi-respond., iv., p. 366, note. — Lord Chatham's correspondent Mr. Sayre, urged his Lordship to use his influence with Lord Temple in dissuad- ing Mr. Cotes from demanding a poll, aa so doing would injure Lord Mahon. 206 OEOBGE THE TSIBD'S [1774. gentlemen to put up proper candidates, that their timidity and want of zeal will leave the representation in the most disgraced hands. I think it not unlikely but that a premature dissolution may in some few places be disadvantageous, yet upon the whole, even in that view, it will not be of much consequence, and, consider- ing the bhapter of accidents, it will I trust prove a very salutary measure, and when that is the case I do not grudge a little additional trouble ; and am thoroughly convinced that with temper, firmness, and due activity, that by degrees the hands of Government will be as strong as before the untoward events that have of late years arisen. Meeting at Mile^end yesterday. — " 26th. At a meeting of tlie free- " holders at Mile-end Assembly-room, agreeable to an advertisement " of the Sherifis, for the nomination of two fit and proper persons " to represent the county of Middlesex, Mr. Sergeant Glynn and Mr. " John Wilkes were almost tmanimonsly approved, there being only "four objectors to Mr. Wilkes's nomination." ('Ann. Eeg.,' xvii. p. 152.) The engagement entered into by the candidates, em- bracing the usual Opposition topics, contains a protest against " the " Quebec Act, establishing Popery" — a piece of political hypocrisy not without its modern parallels. Letter 249. Kew, September 30th, 1774. 57 min. pt. 8 a.m. Lord North, — The City poll promises at least a reso- lution of trying the strength of the two parties, and if it goes prosperously this day may encourage persons to stand forth as candidates for to represent the City. After the account Lord Sandwich gave me of Sir Walter Rawlinson I am not surprised at the pusillani- mous part he takes, but the sounding him was perfectly 1774.] LETTEB8 TO LOBD NOBTH. 207 right. I am thoroughly convinced of the rectitude and wisdom of the measure recommended by the Cabinet, and as such, provided every one will shew as much zeal and activity as you have done in the whole manage- ment of the load of business this day has occasioned, I trust it will be crowned with success. This day Parliament was dissolved by Eoyal proclamation, being the only Parliament that since 1760 received its dissolution before the expiration of seven years. There was only one such dissolution during the reign of George II., viz. in 1746. Letter 250. Kew, October Ist," 1774. Lord North, — I received through the hands of Lord Dartmouth the answer you have got from the D; of Newcastle, whose nerves seem so unaccountably weak that he has entirely mistaken your proposal for Lordj Thomas, which was for the Duke to authorize his standing and take no farther trouble. I hope you will still [find ?] a person willing to step forth. I am de- sirous to know who will be candidates for the City. " On the 1st of October, at a meeting of the Livery of London " at Guildhall, Frederic Bull, Brass Crosby, John Sawbridge, and " George Hayley were put in nomination to represent the City in " Parliament, previous to which they all signed a paper, in sub- " stance like that signed by Mr. WUkes and Sergeant Glynn." " Mr. Oliver and Mr. Baker were likewise nominated, but refused " to sign the above paper." (' Ann. Eeg.,' xvii. p. 155.) * Lord Brougham, p. 86, remarks, generally, upon the King's letters of this month : — " Month of October, Notes on Elections — especially those the City for " and for Middlesex— in which great interest." 208 GEOBOE THE THIBD'S [1774. Letter 251. Kew, October 3rd, 1774. 30 min. pt. 11 p.m. Lord North, — The numbers this day have certainly been less favourable than I hoped, but may be reco- vered; the conduct of Wilkes's four representatives does not surprize me, but, considering the lengths Oliver and Baker have gone, I am a little so at their refusing to take the oath ; I am glad to hear two toler- able candidates are likely to join them. The D. of Newcastle's timidity is highly absurd, and, though I much approve of your having again wrote, do not ex- pect it will be of effect. Letter 252. Kew, October 4th, 1774. 55 min. pt. 7 p.m. Lord North, — I entirely agree with you in ojsinion that the probability is very slender of the two Aldermen regaining the ground they have lost these two days ; the conduct of the two Lords" -in attending an irregular meeting does them no credit ; and if proper men offer, will, I trust, occasion their meeting with the reception they deserve. I see Alderman Hopkins and Mr. Roberts solicit for to represent the City ; I suppose, if no new person appears, Mr. Baker and Alderman Oliver must join them. " Lords Mountmorres and Mahon. For a full and lively account of this election, ee 'Last Journals of Horace Walpole, ' vol. i. pp. 419-424. 1774.] LETTEB8 TO LOBD NOBTH. 209 Letter 253. Queen's House, October 5th, 1774. 56 min. pt. 2 p.m. Lord North, — Just before the receipt of your letter, Lord Abercorn asked an audience, and mentioned his desire of relinquishing his seat. I very fairly told him I hoped it was not his determined resolution, as he was one of the few of the sixteen that had regularly at- tended, and one of the still fewer Peers that attended private Bills. Upon which he said that, my seeing his services in that light, he now desired to be of the sixteen; I therefore have put this letter into Lord Dartmouth's hands to forward it to you, and, as I thought of Lord Aberdeen, have no objection to his waiting till a future vacancy. I shall direct Lord Suffolk to wait for your answer. The King, on several occasions in kis correspondence with Lord North, manifests a lively interest in the composition of " the " Sixteen." Perhaps a clue to this feeling may he found in ' The Eolhad,' though the lines apply to a later period of his reign (p. 155, 21st ed.) :— " Alike in loyalty, alike in worth, " Behold the Sixteen Nobles of the North ; " Fast friends to monarchy, yet sprung from those " Who basely sold their monarch to his foes ; " Since which, atoning for their fathers' crime, " The sons, a.s basely, sell themselves to him: " With every change prepared to change their note, " With every government prepared to vote, " Save when, perhaps, on some important bill, " They know, by second sight, the royal will." Letter 254. Kew, October 10th, 1774. 30 min. pt. 8 a.m. Lord North, — On Saturday evening I received a note from Mr. Robinson (whose assiduity in keeping me informed with what was going forward I cannot VOL. I. 210 GEOBOE THE THIBD'S [1774. enough commend) with the account of Sir Charles Raymund's disgraceful retreat ; the trying every means to get him to step forth is certainly [quite ?] right ; but if he could withstand the very able letter Mr. Robinson wrote him, I do not think that a conversation will have much effect. Mr. Olitherow's conduct is manly and sen- sible, aild his standing without a proper collegue [sic] might keep out Glynn but not Wilkes, therefore I cannot see any reason for his acting ; but in consequence of the part Sir Charles shall take I desire you will regularly acquaint me with the returns of elections as they come to your knowledge. I have apprized Lord Delawarr to have the Horse and G-renadier Guards" privately spoke to for their votes in favour of Lord Percy and Lord Thomas Clinton ; they have a large number of votes. Letter 255. Kew, October lOth, 1774. 58 min. pt. M. Lord North, — Nothing could give me more satis- faction than Sir Charles Raymund having consented to stand for the county;" if the plan for managing the elec- tion proposed by Mr. Robinson be exactly followed, it will undoubtedly be crowned with success ; the opposition in Hampshire may give the late member some trouble, but I should think must prove not very serious. Letter 256. Kew, October 10th, 1774. 33 min. pt. 10 p.m. Lord North, — I am much disappointed at the seem- ing end of the Middlesex contest, but still hope Mr. ■ Lord Thomas Clinton had a company in the Foot-Guard.?. ^ Of Middlesex. 1774.] LETTEBS TO.LOBD NOBTH. 211 Eobinson may set it again, on float. The account of Westminster is very promising : undoubtedly men of the activity of Gen. Clinton and Col. Philips are very fit for that bustling scene ; I have kept the additional list of elections and the polls of London and Southwark. The end of the Middlesex contest appeared on the 20th of this month : — " This day came on at Brentford the election of Knights of the " Shire for the county of Middlesex. Mr. ^Vilkes and Sergeant " Glynn, the two avowed candidates, set off about eight in the " morning in the Lord Mayor's coach and six, accompanied by his " Lordship [Frederick Bull], and a very large train of voters in car- V " riages and on horseback. No other candidates appearing to oppose " them, the Sheriffs declared them duly elected." — ' Ann. Eegister,' xvii. p. 167. For an account of this, the anmm mirahilis in Wilkes's career, see Lord Mahon, vi. p. 20. He was now Lord Mayor elect and member for Middlesex again. Letter 257. Kew, October 12th, 1774. 30 min. pt. 6 p.m. Lord North, — I should fear Sir Abraham Hume has now no chance of representing. Southwark, and Mr. Roberts as little for the City. I can scarcely credit the report of Lord Harrington having solicited his troops" in favour of Lord Mahon, for his house are so zealous for the success of the other candidates, that Lady Har- rington has sent me word that she can prove Lord Mahon not of age till next May, which she will do if he obtains a victory, as that laid before the Committee must incapacitate him, but thought it best to be silent for the present, as otherwise another candidate might have been set up by -the party. I am sorry to see by the papers Mr. Clitherow has openly declined standing for the county. • Comp. Letter 25+, where the King "apprizes Lord Delawarr," &c. p 2 212 GEOBGE THE THIRD'S [1774. Letter 258. Kew, October 14th, 1774. 27 min. pt. 7 p.m. Lord North, — The Westminster poll continues very- prosperous. I am sorry to hear Mr. Dyson has been seized with a stroke of the palsy, but from his former bad state of health I am more hurt on account of the great service he has been of than from any hopes that he would have been able ever more to have been very active. I think the visit to Sir Fletcher Norton " very well timed this evening, who I find by his ally at Guildford was very much enraged that you did not make him the offer at the Levee this morning, which I am sure would have been not a proper place for such a conversation. Letter 259. Kew, October 18th, 1774. 48 min. pt. 5 p.m. Lord North, — The poll for "Westminster could not be more favourable than this day ; I have heard it pretty positively reported that Lords Mahon and Mountmorres polled yesterday many very bad votes. The steps taken with regard to the fire-arms and gun- powder seem very proper."' " October 27. — At the final close of the poll yesterday at Covent- " Garden for representatives in Parliament for Westminster, Earl • Speaker of the House of Commons. •> A proclamation was issued on the 19th, forbidding the exportation of gunpowder, arms, or ammunition, from any part of Great Britain for six months, i nance was exempted, and even prohibiting the carrying of any ' coast-wise without first obtaining a special licence for so doing from the King or his Privy-Council. From this prohibition the Master-General of Ord- 1774.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 213 " Percy and Lord Pelham Clinton were returned ; Lords Mahon " and Montmorres polling niore than 2000 votes less than either of " the successful candidates." ' Ann. Eegister,' xvii. p. 158. Letter 260. Queen's House, October 20tb, 1774. 22 min. pt. 11 a.m. Lord North, — I feel the propriety of your having by letter apprized me of Mr. Stanley's " application to be restored to the Cofferership of the Household if vacated by the stroke that has befallen Mr. Dyson, previous to the time that may require a decision ; the very hand- some manner with which Mr. Stanley conducted himself on that occasion, added to his zealous support on all occasions, makes me instantly take up my pen to answer your note, that he cannot have a competitor in my breast, and stands first for that or any other Privy- Council office that may suit his inclination. Letter 261. *Kew, October 29tli, 1774. 10 min. pt. M. Lord North, — On reading the newspapers I found this morning an account of the death of the Bishop of Bangor ; this seems the proper occasion of placing so worthy and able a man as Doctor Hurd on the Bench ; I therefore desire you will let this appointment be known, to prevent solicitations which otherwise would naturally occur : as to the vacant canonry at Windsor, » Hans Stanley was Cofferer of the I by Act of Parliament in 1782. Mr. Household in 176S. Mr. Dyson sue- Stanley was British Minister at the ceeded him. The office was suppressed | Court of Franco in 17fil. 214 GEOBGE TEE TEIBD'S [1774. I hope you will have one also now to propose, for the in- stantly filling up the preferments saves enumerable [sic] difiiculties which every hour of delay only accumulate. " October 28, at his seat near Worcester, the Eight Eev. Dr. John " Ewer, Lord Bishop of Bangor." (' Ann. Eeg.,' xviii. p. 198.) See note to Letter 266. Letter 262. Kew, November 14th, 1774. 15 min. pt. 4 p.m. Lord North, — I am much pleased at the state of the supposed numbers in the new Parliament. I have sug- gested to Lord Eochford the propriety of the Address of the House of Lords being moved by a peer of some degree of weight, as it must naturally contain strong assurances of supporting the authority .of the mother- country over its colonies, and have mentioned Lord Hillsborough" as every way answering the above de- scription ; he has in consequence wrote, but no answer can as yet have arrived. His Majesty had reason to be "pleased." " Opposition could " muster only thirteen votes in the Upper House ; and in the " Lower only seventy-three." Lord Mahon, vi. p. 20. Comp. 'Last Journals of Horace Walpole,' vol. i. p. 432, who reckons Opposition more formidable ; " but there was no union among them." Letter 263. * Queen's House, Nov. 18th, 1774. 48 min. pt. M. Lord North, — I am not sorry that the line of con- duct seems now chalked out, which the enclosed dis- ' The Ad.lress was moved by the Earl of Hillsborough, and seconded by the Earl of Buckinghamshire. 1774.] LETTERS TO LOBD NORTH. 216 patches thoroughly justify ; the New England Govern- ments are in a state of rebellion, blows must decide whether they are to be subject to this country or inde- pendent. From the time you first mentioned a wish that a Major-General might be sent, I have had it in my thoughts, and am clear that Major-General- Gisborne is the best qualified for the particular sei'vice ; if a second be necessary, Major-General Cuningham will do well; but if it is absolutely necessary to send one who has already been in that country, Major-General Mackay is very proper ; but I should rather pitch on one of the others, as it is not a desirable commission. The Despatches probably announced that " This Congress approve " the opposition of the inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay to the " execution of the late Acts of Parliament ; and if the same shall " be attempted to be carried into execution by force, in such cases " all America ought to support them in their opposition." (8th October.) Two days later they further " declared that every person " who should accept or act under any commission or authority de- " rived from the Eegulating Act of Parliament, changing the" form " of government and violating the charter of Massachusetts, ought " to be held in detestation." The despatches may also have contained an account of the arrival at Aimapolis of the brig Peggy Stuarl from London, laden with tea, on which the owner of the vessel made haste to pay the duty. The people of Maryland resented this submission to a claim which their delegates to Congress were then contesting. The landing of the tea was prevented : public meetings were held ; and the importers and the shipowner jointly expressed their contrition, and offered to burn their obnoxious cargo. Even this did not content the crowd. At length the importers and the owner themselves, in the presence of a vast multitude, set fire to the tea-packages, all of which were consumed, together with the Peggy Stuart, her canvas, cordage, and every other appurtenance. (Bancroft ' Hist, of U. S.,' vi. p. 83.) 216 QEOBGE TEE THIBD'S [1774. Letter 264. * Queen's House, November 19th, 1774. 17 min. pt. 3 p.m. Lord North, — I return the private letters received frora Lieut.-Greneral Gage ; his idea of suspending the Acts appears to me the most ahsurd that can be sug- gested. The people are ripe for mischief, upon which the mother-country adopts suspending the measures she has thought necessary : this must suggest to the colonies a fear that alone prompts them to their present violence ; we must either master them or totally leave them to themselves and treat them as aliens. I do not by this mean to insinuate that I am for advice [sic] [advising] new measures ; but I am for supporting those already undertaken. General Gage found himself after Ms return to Boston, and in spite of a very ceremonious reception there on the 17th of May (see Bancroft, vi. p. 14), in a very disagreeable situation. All the labourers and artificers of the town and the state refused to assist him in the erecting of the barracks wanted for the increased number of troops ; and upon his sending to Kew York for workmen, none would obey his summons, nor supply him with tools or implements. " Gage," says Mr. Bancroft (ib. p. 79), " who came flushed with " confidence in an easy victory, at the end of four months was " careworn, disheartened, and appalled. With the forces under his " command, he hoped for no more than to pass the winter unmo- " lested. At one moment, a suspension of the penal acts was his " favourite advice, which the King ridiculed as senseless ; at the " next he demanded an army of twenty thousand men, to be com- " posed of Canadian recruits, Indians, and hirelings from the con- " tinent of Europe ; again, he would bring the Americans to terms '' by casting them off as fellow- subjects, and not suffering even a " boat to go in or out of their harbours. Out of Boston his power " was at an end." 1774.] LETTERS TO LOBD NOBTH. 217 Lktter 265. Kew, November 27th, 1774. 5 min. pt. 2 p.m. Lord North, — The resolution for the Address of the House of Commons seems fully to express those senti- ments that I trust I shall ever meet with from that body. I have heard a report that Mr. Wilkes is to propose Mackreath for Speaker ; this would appear impossible to be true, if the author's character was not known to be void of decency : might it therefore not be prudent to get him on Tuesday morning to vacat his seat, and not to mention it but in case the motion should be made? It is rather extraordinary if the Bishop of Worcester should recover, but at least the accident has shewn my desire of doing that which must give you pleasure. Mackreth, Mr. (afterwards Sir Eotert), married tiie only child of Mr. Arthur, fromwhom Arthur's Club-house, 69, St. James's Street, derived its name. Mackreth prospered, for he became master of White's Chocolate-house in the same street, his father-in-law's property. (Cunningham, 'Handbook of London,' p. 19, 1850.) Walpole, writing to Mann in 1774, speaking of the new Parliament, says : " Bob, formerly a waiter at AVhite's, was set up by my nephew " for two boroughs, and actually is returned for Castle-Eising with " Mr. Wedderburn — " Curru servuB portatur eodem." Mackreth was afterwards knighted, and is conspicuous in this once celebrated epigram : — " When Mackreth served in Arthur's crew, " He said to Eumbold ' Black my shoe ;" "To which he answered — ' Yea. Bob : ' " But, when returned from India's land, " And grown too proud to brook command, " He sternly answered, ' Nay, Bob.' " Among the records of the club is — "22 March, 1755. That the " names of all candidates are to be deposited with Jlr. Arthur or " Bub " [Mackreth]. See Letter 221 for " Eumbold." 218 GEOBGE THE THIRD'S [1774. Letter 266. Queen's House, November 29th, 1774. 26 min. pt. 6 p.m. Lord North, — I learnt from the Ctancellor at the House of Lords this day, that a clergyman quitted Bath on Sunday morning to solicit him for a living vacated by the death of the Bishop of Worcester on Saturday night ; this I rather think is rather premature ; hut having since heard it pretty positively asserted that accounts are arrived this day from that place assuring he is dead, I trust if true you will have heard it, in which case I desire you will acquaint the Bishop of Lichfield with his being promoted to the See of Wor- cester, and Doctor Hurd to that of Lichfield ; the Bishop of Bangor is, I believe, now certainly dead, which will occasion a promotion that will certainly open a small bishoprick for the Dean of Canterbury, who, having good preferments, can be contented with any that may be conferred on him. Dr. Brownlowe North, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, was preferred to the See of AVorcester in the room of Dr. James Johnson, deceased, November 26. The Dean of Canterbury, Dr. John Moore, became Bishop of Bangor; and Dr. Hurd, Master of the Teniple, Bishop of Lichfield. November 29-30 : — " The House of Commons having re-elected " Sir Fletcher Norton Speaker, the King opened the Session by men- " tioning, with great concern, the continuing prevalence of a daring " spirit of resistance to the laws, which in Massachusetts Bay had " broken forth in fresh violences of a very criminal nature, and was " countenanced and encouraged in other colonies. His Majesty de- " clared his resolution to mthstand every attempt to weaken or " impair the supreme authority of the legislature over all his domi- " nions, the maintenance of which he considered essential to the " dignity, safety, and welfare of the empire." Adolphus, ii. p. 158. " In the Lords the Earl of Hillsborough, in moving the Address, ■' expressed his abhorrence of the principles which Massachusetts ■• maintained ; and when the Duke of Richmond, in proposing an 1774.] LETTERS TO LOBD NOBTH. 219 " amendment, recommended delay for further information, lie was " told that the sooner and the more spiritedly Parliament spoke out " on the subject the better. ' I advised the dissolution,' said Lord " North, ' lest popular dissatisfaction, arising from untoward events, " should break the chain of those public measures necessary to " reduce the colonies to obedience.' ' There are now men,' said " Lord Hillsborough, ' walking in the streets of London, who ought " to be in Newgate or at Tyburn.' He referred to Quinoy and " Franklin ! " For an account of this Parliament, the first in which he sat, see Gibbon's ' Memoirs of his Life,' Misoell. Works, Tol. i. p. 146, and Lord Mahon, vi. p. 19. Letter 267. * Queen's House, December 15th, 1774. 83 miu. pt. 6 p.m. Lord North, — I am pleased at hearing that the Army and Ordnance Estimates passed the Committee of Supply this day without any division. I was much pleased with your ideas concerning the suspension of bounties and other regulations that may be effected this Session towards bringing the Americans to their duty, but am not so fond of the sending com- missioners to examine into the disputes, this looks so like the mother country being more affraid [sic] of the continuance of the dispute than the colonies, and I can- not think it likely to make them reasonable ; I do not want to drive them to despair but to submission, which nothing but feeling the inconvenience of their situation can bring their pride to submit to. " Sufficient information had not yet arrived concerning the " extent of American resistance : the letters hitherto received from " the governors warranted indeed the observations in the King's " speech, but contained neither facts nor inferences which could " justify the Ministry in stating to Parliament the expectation " of an armed opposition. The n\maber of seamen was therefore 220 GEORGE THE THIBD'S [1774. " reduced from twenty to sixteen thousand, and the land forces " fixed at seventeen thousand five hundred and forty-seven effective " men. These estimates, although not regularly opposed, did not pass " without considerable debates, of which the state of America " formed the principal subject." (Adolphus, ii. p. 159.) Letter 268. Queen's HouBe, Decembei- 18th, 1774, 35 min. pt. 4 p.m. Lord North, — The sending a Major-General to Ame- rica will [be] very proper ; but as a general plan is necessary to be formed for that country, would it not be right not to act by detail, but have the whole digested before any step is taken ? Should it be thought right to give the command of the forces in America to Sir Jeffery Amherst, it would be right he should be con- sulted as to the G-enerals tp serve with him ; therefore, if yet you wish a Major-Greneral should be sent prior to the formation of a plan of future conduct, I should think he ought to be consulted who will suit best this kind of service, which requires as much prudence as firm- ness. I should have been sorry if you had attempted coming to St. James's this day, for rest must be neces- sary to strengthen your knee. I close the correspondence of 1 7 74 with a letter from a statesman who viewed the crisis with far different eyes from those of either his Majesty or his Majesty's Ministers : — " Hayes, December 24th, 1774.« " Deae SiE,^Soon after I had the pleasure of seeing you, I re- " ceived the extracts from the votes and proceedings of the American " Congress. I have not words to express my satisfaction that " Chatham Coi rttj)., iv. p. 3'.> 1775.] LETTEB8 TO LOBD NOBTH. 221 " the Congress has conducted this most arduous and delicate bu- " siness with such manly wisdom and calm resolution as do the " highest honour to their deliberations. Very few are the things " contained in their resolves that I could wish had been otherwise. " Upon the whole, I think it must be evident to every unprejudiced " man in England who feels for the rights of mankind, that Ame- " rioa, under all her oppressions and provocations, holds forth to us " the most fair and just opening for restoring harmony and afiec- " tionate intercourse as heretofore. " I trust that the minds of men are more than beginning to " change on this great subject, so little understood ; and that it will " be impossible for free men in England to wish to see three millions " of slaves in America. " Chatham. " Stephen Sayre, Esq.'' Letter 269. * Queen's House, Januaiy 16th, 1775. Lord North, — The frankness with which you have stated in your letter of yesterday your sentiments on the effect of the answer I may finally direct you to give the Duke of Grloucester in consequence of the message he deli- vered to you last Tuesday, gives me real satisfaction ; for openness I look upon as at all times the proper line for an honest man to follow, and that the cause must he very improper when a man is drove to subterfuges : I shall therefore he as clear in my answer to you. To the Duke's desire of going abroad I give my consent; to his offer of selling his two houses on St. Leonard's Hill to me, that I have no intention of making any purchase in that neighbourhood ; and to the re- nevral of his request for a provision for his family, I do not see any reason to give a different answer than the last year." I find from Lord Rochford that he sent you yesterday » See Letter 200, Jan. 10, 1774. 222 GEOBGE THE TSIBD'S [1775. the message tie brought and the answer he returned; but I well recollect that it was on his sending back Lord Eochford with an explanation, that his application had not been alone for his children, but for the lady he has married, to which I replied that I had no answer to give. My dear Lord, I cannot deny that on the subject of the Duke of Gloucester my heart is wounded. I have ever loved him more with the fondness one bears to a child than a brother : his whole conduct, from the time of his publishing what I must ever think a highly dis- graceful step, has tended to make the breach wider; I cannot therefore bring myself, on a repetition of his application, to give him hopes of a future establishment for his children, which would only bring a fresh alter- cation about his wife, whom I can never think of placing in a situation to answer her extreme pride and vanity. Should he be so ill-advised as to have a provision for her and the children moved in Parliament, the line of conduct to be held is plain. As my conduct is proper, I am not unwilling that the whole world may know it ; and all the answer to be given by my Ministers, that it is natural the King should not apply to Parliament for provisions for the children of a younger branch of his family when he has not as yet done it for his own numerous offspring, and totally avoid mentioning the lady. So far for the public; but for yourself, I am certain you know my way of thinking too well to doubt that, should any accident happen to the Duke, I shall certainly take care of his children. To sum the whole up, I do not chuse, for the sake of preventing the affair being agitated in Parliament, to authorize your giving an answer that I do not think it right to give. 1775.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 223 "The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester left England in the " autumn of this year, for the Duke's health, the distress of his " finances, and worn out by the persecutions of the Court, which " had been carried so far, that officers of other regiments were con- " tinually preferred to those in the Duke's own. When Lord Eoch- " ford, before they set out, asked the Duke whither he was going, " he replied, with equal sense, spirit, and severity, ' To Eome, my " Lord, the only place where the Pretender and I can live.' " In " France they were received with the most distinguished honours " by order of that Court ; the King himself invited them to Ver- " saiUes, which the Duke, out of decency to his brother, declined. " At Metz, where the troops were reviewed for them, M. de Castries, " the commanding officer, asking the Duchess who were Knights of "the Garter, and she naming Lord North, he said, 'Pourquoi " I'art-U, lui ? estce pour avoir perdu I'Amerique ? ' The Duke of " Wirtemberg and the Senate of Venice paid them no less respect. " The Pope was as full of attentions, and borrowed a palace for " them." ' Last Journals of Horace 'Walpole,' vol. ii. p. 18. Parliament, which had adjourned on the 22nd of December, re- assembled on the 19th of January, when Lord North presented to the House, by his Majesty's command, " the Papers relating to the " Disturbances in North America " (' Pari, Hist.' xviii. p. 74 foU.), and moved that the said papers be referred to the consideration of a Committee of the whole House on the 26th. On the 20th of January Lord Dartmouth presented the same papers to the House of Lords. After which the Earl of Chatham moved that the troops be withdrawn from Boston (ib. p. 149 foil.). Division— 68 Non-Contents, 18 Contents. This is the majority referred to as " very handsome " in Letter 270. The EooMngham Whigs were aggrieved by Lord Chatham's not communicating the purport of his motion to them. In a letter to Lord Stanhope, 19th January, the Earl says — " Be so good as not to " communicate what, my intended motion is to any one whatever ; " but the more it is known and propagated that I am to make a " motion relative to America the better." Viscount Mahon had re- cently married Lady Hester Pitt, which accounts for this confidence of the Earl's. In his speech, the first he made in the House of Lords after the Christmas holidays. Lord Chatham attacked Lord Eocking- ham's conduct on the Declaratory Act. " It leaves you," he said, " a right to take the money of the Americans when you please." (' Memoirs of Eockingham,' ii. p. 260 foil.). ' The Duke could not go to any other capital, as the King's ambassadors were not allowed to pay their duty to him. 224 GEOBGE THE THIBD'S [1775. There was apparently, at least in Lord Ctatham's opinion, some ' mystery about Lis intended motion. He begs Lady Chatham to ; " send him positive and certain information if the Honse of Lords 1 " meets on Thursday, or not till Friday. I ieax jockey sMp, am re- , " solved to be there on the first day of meeting," &o., January 16 ; and on the 18th Lady Chatham -writes,— "I think it important that you " should know what infinite pains are taken to circulate an authori- " tative report, that you are determined to give yourself mo trovhh ' " upon American afiairs, and that, for certain, you do not mean to " come to town. It is so strong that it proves how much there is • " to be afraid of, oi jocheysMp,'' and whatever is bad" ('Correspond.' iv. p. 370-1). In a letter of the same date the Earl tells- Lady Chatham — " Don't disquiet yourself about the impudent and ridi- " culous lie of the hour. The plot does not lie very deep. It is only " a pitiful device of fear — court fear and faction fear. If gout does " not put in a veto, which I trust in Heaven it will not, I wiU he " in the House of Lords on Friday, then and there to make a motion " relative to America. Be of good cheer.— " ' Yes, I am proud — I must be proud— to see Men, not afraid of God, afraid of me.' " The division on the 20th of January was rendered in some measure remarkable by the King's brother, the Duke of Cumber- land, voting ia the minority of 18. Franklin was present at the debate in the Lords, and in a letter to Lord Stanhope (' Chatham Correspond.' iv. p. 385) says, " Dr. Franklin is filled with admira- " tion of that truly great man Chatham. He has seen, in the " course of life, sometimes eloquence without wisdom, and often " wisdom without eloquence ; in the present instance he sees both " united, and both, as he thinks, in the highest degree possible." On the following Friday, Jan. 27th, Franklin went down to Hayes (see Lord Mahon, vi. pp. 21-23). Letter 270. ' Queen's House, January 23rd, 1775. 3 min. pt. 9 p.m. Lord North, — The events of the day give me infinite satisfaction, and promise a very favourable issue of " This word appears to have been in vogue at the time among politicians. Paine, in his account of his early career, 'Age of Reason,' Part I., says: — "I " had no disposition for what is called " politics. It presented to my mind no " other idea than is contained in the " word ' Jockeysliip.' " 1775.] LETTERS TO LOBD NOBTK 225 the present unpleasant business. Nothing can be more calculated to bring the Americans to a due submission than the very handsome majority that at the outset have appeared in both Houses of Parliament. Debate in. tlie Commons on the Petition of the Merchants of London and Bristol for Eeconciliation with America. Majority for Ministers 127 (192—65.) Letter 271. Queen's House, February 3rd, 1775. 20 min. pt. 10 a.m. LoKD North, — I am much pleased at your informa- tion of the very respectable majority in favour of the Address moved by you on the present rebellious state of America. I should imagine that, after the very flagrant outrage committed by the province of New Hainpshire, some notice ought to be taken of it, for whatever difference prudence may devise between the New English Grovernments and those of the rest of North America, this cannot extend to New Hampshire. The very respectable majority in the debate in the Commons on an Address to the King upon the disturbances in North America (Feb. 2) was: — (1) against Mr. Fox's amendment ('Pari. Hist.,' XTiii.p. 227), 199 (304—105); (2) for Lord North's original motion, 190 (296—106). The flagrant outrage in New Hampshire. — After the royal proclama- tion had been issued in America prohibiting the exportation of warlike stores to the Colonies, a number of armed men in New Hampshire surprised a small fort, called " William and Mary," garrisoned by an officer and five men only, and carried oif the ordnance, gunpowder, and other military stores. VOL. I. Q 226 GEOBGE THE THIBD'S [1775. Letter 272. Queen's House, February Ifh, 1775. 5 min. pt. 9 a.m. Lord North, — I am mucli pleased at finding that you concluded last night the business of the Address, though I feel for the fatigue you must have endured by setting [sic] in the House till this morning at three. On the 6tli of February, when the Address was reported,- there was another warm debate. Lord John Cavendish moved to re- commit the Address. His motion was negatived by a majority of nearly three to one. Majority 190 (296—106); and ia the Lords 103 (Contents 208 ; Xot-Contents 105). "We voted an Address," writes Gibbon to Holroyd, Feb. 8 "(304 " to 105), of lives and fortunes, declaring Massachusetts Bay in a " state of rebellion. More troops, but I fear not enough, go to "America, to make an army of 10,000 men at Boston; three " generals, Howe, Burgoyne, and Clinton. In a few days we stop " the ports of Xew England. I cannot write volumes ; but I am " more and more convinced that, with firmness, all may go weU ; " yet I sometimes doubt." " The Ministry," writes William Pitt to the Countess of Chatham in an account of the debate on the 20th of January, " were violent beyond expectation, almost to madness. " Instead of recalling the troops now there, they talked of sending " more." — ' Chatham Corresp.,' iv. p. 876. " The fatigue you must have endured." — Gibbon to Holroyd, Feb. 8 : •:-" We always sit on the GrenvUlian Committee of Downton from " ten to three and a half; after which, that day (Feb. 6), I went " into the House and sat till three in the morning." Letter 273. * Queen's House, February 8th, 1775. 50 min. pt. 11 a.m. Lord North, — The proposed answer to the Address is highly proper, as it conveys the sentiments that must be harboured by every candid and rational mind. This 1775.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTE. 227 language ought to open the eyes of the deluded Ameri- cans ; but, if it does not, it must set every delicate man at liberty to avow the propriety of the most coercive measures. " The debates on the Address in the Commons were on the 2nd " and 6th, and in the Lords on the 7th of Tebruary. In the latter, " the Address was carried by 104 to 29 ; in the Commons, by 304 " to 105 upon the Address, and by 288 to 105 upon the Eeport." — Lord Brougham's note, p. 87. I cannot, however, reconcile these mimhers with those in the preceding note. Letter 274. Queen's House, February 8th, 1775. 18 min. pfc. 6 p.m. Lord North, — The joint Address of the two Houses of Parliament having been carried by such great majo- ritys, to give it the appearance it deserves with the public nothing now remains necessary but its being presented to-morrow by a large attendance. I there- fore hope you will insinuate the propriety of this, and that the Members may come up with the Speaker from the House of Commons, not join him at St. James's. I have given Lord Rochford a similar hint for the House of Lords. " 9th Feb.— Both Houses of Parliament waited on His Majesty " with a joint Address relative to the present disturbances in North " America."— ' Ann. Eeg.,' xviii. p. 91. For the Address, see ib p. 247. Letter 275. Queen's House, February 11th, 1775. 20 min. pt. 9 a.m. Lord North, — The hearty concurrence of the majo- . rity of the House of Commons in the measures proposed i Q 2 228 GEORGE THE TEIBD'S [1775. to be pursued in New England could not be more evident than in [its] with good humour receiving the motion for the temporary restraining the trade and fishery of that province at so late an hour as six last evening, and consequently being open to a long debate. I find that the preparations the three Major-Generals ° must inevitably make for their expedition to N. America cannot cost them less than 500^. each. They have behaved so very properly, and are so poor, that I wish you could find some means of instructing Lord . Barrington to allow them that sum. I should think, as the service is quite different from any other, this might be effected without establishing a precedent that other officers might avail themselves of on future occasions. " Feb. 10. — Debate in the House of Commons on bringing in tte " BUI for restraining tbe trade and commerce of tbe New England " Colonies. Lord Nortb moyed ' Tbat leave be given to bring in " a Bill for restraining tbe trade and commerce of Massachusetts " Bay and New Hampshire, &c. &o., to Great Britain, Ireland, and " the British Islands in the West Indies ; and to prohibit such " provinces and colonies from carrying on any jBshery on the banks " of Newfoundland, or other places therein to be mentioned, under " certaia conditions, and for a time to be limited.' The question " was called for about twelve o'clock, when the Committee divided : " for the motion, 261 ; agaiQst it, 85." Mr. Bancroft observes that Lord North's prohibition " by keeping the New England fisher- " men at home provoked discontent, and provided recruits for an " insurgent army." — vi. p. 147. By the time the BUI could arrive in America the fishing-season would be over, and could have no effect, tUl a fiUl year should be expired, in distressing the Massa- chusetts. Lord North's temporising or dilatoriness appeared in the manner of conducting this Bill. Burgoyne, Howe, and Clinton. 775.] LETTERS TO LOBD NOBTH. 229 Letter 276. Queen's House, February 14th, 1775. 50 min. pt. 8 a,m. LoED North, — By the Minutes of the House of Lords of yesterday, I find the Land Tax Bill has passed both Houses. I am ready to go to the House of Peers the day that may best suit the other Bills* that may be ready or nearly so now ; I therefore desire, when you have enquired which will be most convenient, that I may have due notice for giving the necessary orders. Letter 277. * Queen's House, February 15th, 1775. 6 min. pt. 10 a.m. Lord North, — I take this method of returning the secret letter from Maryland. The author seems to be a spirited man, and well adapted to the difficulties he may meet with ; but where violence is with resolution repelled it commonly yields, and I owne, though a thorough friend to holding out the olive-branch, I have not the smallest doubt that, if it does not succeed, that when once vigorous measures appear to be the only means left of bringing the Americans to a due sub- mission to the mother country, that the Colonies will submit. I return also the foolish anonimous [sic] letter ; any of that nature I equally despise whilst I have no- thing to lay to my charge. I entirely place my security m the protection of the Divine Disposer of all things, and shall never look to the right or left, but steadily pursue the tract [sic] which my conscience dictates to he the right one. " Among them one for adding 2000 seamen to the navy, which Ministers had refused at Christmas. 230 GEOBGE THE TEIBB'S [1775. As there seems to be no hurry in passing the Land Tax, I will postpone it till Friday, and desire notice may be given that the private [Bills] which can be finished by that day may be passed at the same time. The King, in the words olive-lranch, anticipated a phrase destined to he memorahle. " At this period the Memhers of Congress con- " tinned to profess, and many of them no doubt continued to feel, " a sense of loyal duty to the Crown. For several months ensuing " they avoided (and none more carefully than Washington) to men- " tion the troops from England as the Eoyal, and called them only " the Ministerial, army. On the 8th of July they signed a Petition' " to 'the King's most excellent Majesty,' declaring themselves his " dutiful subjects, and praying that his royal magnanimity and " benevolence might be interposed to direct some mode by which " the united applications of his faithful colonists might be im- " proved into a happy and permanent reconciliation. This appeal, " which, if unsuccessful, they resolved should be their last, they " determined to lay before their Sovereign by the most solemn " means in their power, by the hands of Mr. Eichard Penn, one of " the proprietaries of the province in which they were assembled, " in conjunction with the agents for the Colonies in England. " Mr. Penn accordingly sailed homewards on this important mis- " sion; a mission which then and afterwards was commemorated "in America by an expressive phrase, 'the olive-branch.'" Lord Mahon, vi. p. 62. " On the 17th His Majesty went to the House of Peers, and gave " his royal assent to a Bill for granting an aid to His Majesty by a "■land tax for the service of the year 1775, &c. &c." — 'Ann. Eeg.,' xviii. p. 92. Letter 278. Queen's House, February 17th, 1775. 40 min. pt. 6 p.m. Lord North, — I am much pleased at your sending the canvas of the House of Commons on the American " This Petition was drawn up by John Dickinson and signed by Ben- jamin Franklin. But at this time, how- ever peaceful may have been his words, " war was in his heart." See Franklin's Works, vol. viii. p. 155. 1775.] LETTERS TO LOBB NOBTH. 231 and Middlesex questions, whicli serves to correct the former list of the new Parliament, I return the Secret Service receipt and the proposal of Lieut.-Col. Maclean, which latter deserves attention. See Letter 286. Letter 279. * Queen's House, February 19th, 1775. 8 min. pt. 6 p.m. Lord North, — I very highly approve of the Eesolu- tion proposed to be moved to-morrow in the Committee on the American papers, as it plainly defines the line to be held in America ; and, as it puts an end to Con- gresses, it certainly will have a good effect in this country, and I should hope in at least some of the Colonies. I have seen Lord Suffolk this day, who has assured me that the Solicitor-Greneral will join you on Wednesday, if he can make a real disti^iction to cover him from the strictures of Opposition. He says he is certain Lord Guernsey and Mr. Charles Finch are open to vote with you on that occasion if applied to by you ; and he has promised me that if upon that they shall consult him, that he will say the question is different now than when agitated formerly, and that they are at liberty to take the part you wish. I have also sent to the D. of Newcastle that Lord Thomas Clinton might be recalled from Bath, but have not succeeded. " The Resolution proposed to he moved to-morrow." — On the 20th of February, in a Committee of the whole House, Lord North, to the amazement of all parties, and even of his own followers who were not in the secret, brought forward a conciliatory resolution : — " That, when the governor, council, and assembly, or general court 232 GEOBGE THE THIBD'S [1775. " of any of His Majesty's provinces or colonies, shall propose to " make provision for contributing their proportion to the common " defence, to be raised under the authorities of the general court or " general assembly, and disposable by Parliament, and shall engage " to make provision also for the support of the civil govei-oment and " administration of justice, it will be proper, if such proposal shall " be approved by His Majesty in Parliament, and for so long as " such provision shall be made accordingly, to forbear, in respect of " such province or colony, to levy any duty, tax, or assessment, " except for the regulation of commerce, the net produce of which " shall be carried to the account of such province, colony, or plan- " tation." The resolution was adopted by a majority of 166 (274 — 88). Lord North was strenuously opposed by " the King's Friends," Welbore Ellis, Mr. Eigby, &c. &o., and at one time seenied yielding to the storm. Letter 280. Queen's House, February 2 1st, 1775. 15 min. pt. 9 a.m. Lord North,— I never doubted of the zeal of the House of Commons in support of the just superiority of the mother-country over its colonies ; but the debate of yesterday is a very convincing proof of it ; no one can be niore sincerely of that opinion than myself, though thoroughly approving the resolution taken, which certainly in a most manly manner shews what is expected, and gives up no right. " The debate of yesterday."— BnAe (' Ann. Eeg.,' 1775, p. 95 foil.) gives the following account of this extraordinary debate : — " That numerous high-prerogative party, who always loved a " strong government, in whatever hands it might be lodged, and " accordingly had, upon principle, ever opposed any relaxation in " favour of the colonies, heard the propositions [of Lord Xorth] with " horror, and considered themselves as abandoned and betrayed, " Even some of the old stanch friends of Government, who had " always gone with every administration, and uniformly pursued ■ 1775.] LET TEES TO LOBD NOBTH. 233 " the same line of conduct in all changes of men and measures, " began now more than to waYer. In a word, the Treasury benches " seemed to totter, and that ministerial phalanx, which had been so " long irresistible, to be ready to break and to fall into irretrievable " disorder. The opposition to the Minister's motion, accordingly, " originated on his own side.'' Gibbon thus describes the scene on the 20th to Mr. Holroyd (February 25) : — " We go on with regard to America, if we can be said to go " on, for on last Monday a conciliatory motion of allowing the " colonies to tax themselves was introduced by Lord North in " the midst of lives and fortunes, war and famine. We went " into the House in confusion, every moment expecting that the " Bedfords would fly into rebellion against those measures. Lord " North rose six times to appease the storm, but all in vain : till " at length Sir Gilbert (Elliot) declared for Administration, and " the troops all rallied under their proper standard." Lord Chatham, in a letter to his Countess (' Correspond.,' iv. p. 403), gave Ms account of the ministerial embarrassment : — " Lord North was, in the beginning of the day, like a man " exphded, and the judgment of the House, during about two hours, " was, that his Lordship was going to be in a considerable minority ; " Mr. Ellis and others, young Ackland in particular, having de- " clared highly and roughly against his desertion of the cause of " cruelty. Sir Gilbert Elliot arose and spake ' very brafe and wise " worts ' in the ' imminent and deadly breach,' and turned the " fortune of the day. The warlike Eigby only took notes, and put " them generously in his pocket.'' For a good account of this ministerial alarm, see ' Pictorial Hist. Geo. III.,' vol. i. pp. 205-6 ; ' Ann. Eeg.,' 1775. Letter 281. * Queen's House, February 23rd, 1775. 57 min. pt. 8 a.m. Lord North, — It is impossible that anything could have proved more advantageous than the bringing forward the old affair of the Middlesex election, as it has met with a handsomer majority than in the former 234 GBOBGE THE TEIBD'S [1775. Parliament, and I flatter myself we shall in future not hear that old bone of contention brought into agitation. I do not comprehend the reason of Mr. Solicitor-General's chusing to speak, unless he thinks upon that question being consistent is a veil over that duplicity that often appears in his political deportment ; I owne the frankness of the Attorney is much more to my mind. " Sir George Savile's annual motion relative to the Middlesex " election was this year taken out of his hands, being yielded with " great propriety to the gentleman who was immediately affected " by the decision. Mr. Wilkes, who was now Lord Mayor, and who " represented the county of Middlesex in Parliament, took up in •' person his own cause, and, two days after the debate on the con- " ciliatory motion, moved 'That the resolution of this House of the " 17th February, 1769, " that John Wilkes, Esq., having been in this " session of Parliament expelled this House, was, and is, incapable of " sitting in the present Parliament," be expunged from the Journals " of this House as being subversive of the rights of the whole body " of electors of this kingdom.' " The motion was ably supported by the Lord Mayor, who was " also well seconded ; and a considerable debate ensued. The ques- " tion was overruled by a majority of 68 (239 — 171)." (' Anu. Eeg., xviii. p. 101.) The resolution was not expunged until 1782. " On Wednesday," writes Gibbon to Holroyd (Feb. 25), " we had " the Middlesex election. I was a patriot; sat by the Lord Mayor, " who spoke and with temper, but before the end of the debate fell " fast asleep.'' " Thurlow, Attorney-General, opposed, and Wedder- " burn, Solicitor-General, supported the motion." Lord Brougham, p. 88. In the course of the debate. Van (see Letter 223, note) urged the imputation of blasphemy against Wilkes. WUkes called for the words of the resolution, in which impiety, not hlasphemy, was expressed. " A puppy ! " cried Wilkes to those near him ; " does he " think I don't know what is blasphemy better than he?" 1775.] LETTEB8 TO LOBD NOBTH. 235 Letter 282. * Queen's House, February 28th, 1775. 50 mm. pt. 2 p.m. Lord North, — The vacancy in the Court of Session must be filled up by Mr. Lockbart," agreable to the application of Lord Rocbford, and I consent to the brother of Sir Grilbert Elliot being appointed Gene- ral of the Mint. It will be right to wait the receipt of the applications of the other heirs to the Barony of Clifford, but at the same time the Earl of Salisbury and Lady Egmont, having for their families seats in the House of Lords, are out of the question : the decision must lie between Mr. SouthwelP and the Dowager Countess of Gower ; the former, being descended from the eldest sister, and having an estate sufficient to support the dignity, seems to have a prior claim to favour. Letter 283. * Queen's House, March 6tb, 1775. 38 min. pt. 8 p.m. Lord North, — Though in general it is not just to weigh the propriety of a measure by the event, yet in the case of the Bill reported this day it is fair to declare that the languor of Opposition " are [sic] so from feeling the sense of the nation warm in favour of the proposition. The more I revolve in my mind the line adopted in the American affairs, the more I am con- vinced of the rectitude, candour, and becoming firmness, » "Alexander Lockhart, Esq., to be " one of the Ordinary Lords of His Ma- " jesty's Session in Scotland." March, ' Ann. Register,' xviii. p. 202. ' See Letter 356. " "To the American Bills." - Brougham, p. 88. ■Lord 236 GEOBGE THE THIRD'S [1775. and if properly attended to nnist with time be crowned with success. The languor of Opposition. — This " half-faced fellowship " charac- terised Opposition in the next as ■well as in the present session of Parliament. The Duke of Eichmond wrote to the Marquis of EooHngham on the 11th of December, 1776, — " I confess that I feel very languid about this American business. " The merchants and others stirring upon a particular BUI only " when it pinches them, will do no good. They must be made to " see that the measures, on the whole, are good or bad ; if good, a " particular measure is scarce worth opposing ; but if, upon the " whole, they are ruinous, the whole system must be opposed. Will " they come forth and give general opposition to men they feel are " ruining them and the country ? Till they will, no good can be done. " I see none in maMng, now and then, an effort, sometimes more, " sometimes less strong, for men who, three times out of four, support " that very Government which oppresses them. The ordy thing that " can restore common sense to this countiy is feeling the dreadful " consequences which must soon follow such diabolical measures." (■■ Memoirs of Eockingham,' ii. p. 290.) This letter indeed was written after the American business had assumed a far graver aspect than it wore in March, but, on that very account, the languor is the more remarkable. The Opposition indeed was committed to a contest with " mighty opposites " — the King, the Ministers, the army, the country-party — was itself divided, and, with few exceptions, was ignorant of the strength of the insurgents, and distrustful and supercilious towards the Americans generally. Letter 284. * Queen's House, March 27tli, 1775. 2 min. pt. 7 p.m. Lord North, — As I find, by the letter received tiiis forenoon from you, Lord WejTnouth's ready acceptance of the Gold Key vacated by the death of the late worthy and honourable man that held that employment, having received that badge of office from the present Earl of Bristol this day, I authorise you to acquaint 1775.] LETTEBS TO LOBE NOBTH. 237 Lord "Weymouth that I will confer it on him next Wednesday. If the office of Clerk of the Pells can be vacated and made acceptable to Mr. Ellis, that will make the arrangement proposed for Mr. Flood feesible [sic]." I therefore consent to yonr encouraging any reasonable proposal for that purpose ; but expect in future that office is to remain at the disposition of this side of the water. As the Duke of Marlborough is so very pressing for Lieut.-Colonel Grordon, I will think of his application, hut do not chuse to give encouragement to that in favour of Captain Fitzpatrick ; I do not chuse to fill- my familly [sic] with professed gamesters. The Earl of Bristol tad held " the Gold Key " of Groom of the Stole since 1770. He died oa March 20th, in the fifty-third year of Ms age. Captain Fitzpairiclt was a connexion hy marriage of Charles Fox, whose eldest brother Stephen married, in 1772, Lady Mary Fitzpatrick, the sister of the Earl of Upper Ossory and of Eichard Fitzpatrick. See Walpole's letter to Sir H. Mann, 6th May, 1781. Gamhling had been discouraged at Carlton House. " The " Princess," writes Bubb Doddington ('Diary,' Oct. 15, 1752, p. 161), " having sent to desire me to pass this day with her, I waited " on her between eleven and twelve. As soon as dinner was over " we sat down to comet. She said that she liked the Prince should, " now and then, amuse himself at small play,'' but that Princes " should never play deep, both for the example, and because it did " not become them to win great sums. From thence, she told me " that it was highly improper, the manner in which the Princess " behaved at Bath; that she played publickly all the evening " very deep." One of the reasons alleged by the Princess for keepiug her eldest » Clerk of the Pella in Ireland. Wd- hare ERis was at this time one of the Vice-Treasurers of Ireland, and Henry Flood became one in the following October. The 'Memoirs of Grattau,' ii. p, 282, perhaps throw some light on 'Ann. Register,' this letter. See also xviii. p. 204. ^ Can her Royal Highness have read Suetonius ? "Alese rumorem nuUo modo "expavit, lusitque simpliciter et palam " olleclamenti cauea." Atiguetus, c. 71. 238 GEOBGE TME TEIBD'S [1775. son in seclusion was that tlie young nobles who would have been iis companions were — in addition to other vices — " professed game- " sters." The King's refusal to " fill his family with professed gamesters " was fully warranted by the circumstances of the time. " As the gaming and extravagance of young men of quality," writes Horace Walpole, in his ' Memoirs of Geo. III.,' ii. p. 60, " had " ar;:ived now at a pitch never heard of, it is worth while to give " some account of it. They had a club at Almaok's, in Pall Mall, " where they played only for rouleaus of 501. each, and generally " there was 10,000/. in specie on the table. Lord Holland had paid " above 20,000L for his two sons. Nor were the manners of the " gamesters, or even their dresses for play, undeserving notice. " They began by puUing off their embroidered clothes, and put on " frieze great-coats, or turned their coats inside outwards for luck. " They put on pieces of leather (such as are worn by footmen when, " they clean knives, to save their laced ruflSes) ; and to guard their " eyes from the light and to prevent tumbling their hair, wore " high-crowned straw hats with broad brims and adorned with " flowers and ribbons; masks to conceal their emotions when they " pla,yed at quinze. Each gamester had a small neat stand by him, " to hold their tea, or a wooden bowl with an edge of ormolu to " hold their rouleaus. They borrowed great sums of Jews at " exorbitant premiums. Charles Pox called his outward room, " where these Jews waited till he rose, his Jerusalem Chamber." ' Letter 285. Queen's House, April 1st, 177E. 15 min. pt. 5 p.m. Lord North, — I have enGlosed a paper by way of bringing the sketch drawn up by M.-Gr. Howe to some consistency ; and authorize you to take the steps pro- posed in this paper. » Charles Fox informed Lord Lauder- dale that the deepest play he had ever known was between 1772 and the com- mencement of the American War ; — 60002. was sometimes staked on a single card at faro, and 70,000/. lost and won in a night. Note to Croker's ' Boswell,' p. 501, 1 Tol. ed. The 20,000;. was only one of^ Lord Holland's payments for Stephen and Charles. 1775.] LET TEE 8 TO LOBD NOBTE. 239 " The sketch formed by M.-Gr. Howe bears testimony to the pro- " priety of having nominated him to serve in America." " The forming the two corps of Eangers may become necessary if, " on the arrival of the troops in America, Lt.-Gr. Gage shall think it " expedient ; Lt.-Col. Gorham is qualified to command one of them ; ■' hut the conduct of Major Eogers has in every sense been so improper, " and perhaps criminal, that he cannot be thought of; but Lt.-G-. " Gage will most probably be able to find a proper one among the " officers now settled in America. The Secretary at War ought " therefore to see the proposed plan for raising these corps, that if " reasonable Lt.-G. Gage may be authorised to form them ; btrt the " officers must not obtain military rank, nor be entitled to half-pay, " but may for this instance of zeal be allowed a grant of lands. " Lt.-G. Amherst ought to be shewn the whole sketch, and to be " consulted as to the quantity of artillery demanded for the detached " corps in New York, and if thought reasonable may point out where " it can best be furnished. " And Lord Sandwich to be consulted as to the armed vessels. " The cypher of correspondence seems necessary, and must imme- " diately be prepared. " An established Secretary to a detached General would be drawn " in future as a precedent ; the one employed at New York ought " therefore only whilst the present emergency subsists to be allowed " 10s. per diem for any officer he may employ on such service. " There can be no reason for empowering the Connnander-in-Chief " in America to name to vacant commissions ; the regiments are so " weak that the vacancies may continue without inconvenience till " reported to England. " As M.-G. Haldiman cannot well be employed on the present " unpleasant service, M.-G. Carleton must be apprised that, if any " accident should happen to L.-G. Gage, he is then immediately " to repair to the army, and M.-G. Howe must (if such an event " should happen) conduct affairs until the arrival of his senior " M.-General. " The giving L.-G. Gage a clear line how far he can act without " the assistance of a civil magistrate in the present state of con- " fusion is absolutely necessary, as also for the directions of any " corps that may be detached into other provinces ; and how far the " Commander-in-Chief can delegate any command of troops in other " provinces independent of the Governors."— G. E. » Compare with this testimony Lord Albemarle's opinion of M.-G. Howe as a proper commander to serve in America. ' Mem. of Rockingham,' u. p. 327. 240 GEOBGE THE TEIED'S [1775. Letter 286. * Queen's House, April 4tli, 1775. 15 min. pt. 3 p.m. Lord North, — I am not inclined to say harsh things, but I am so astonished at the very unreasonable demands that Lieut.-Col. Maclean had drawn up ; they have the air either of being actuated by the over-cunning his countrymen are accused of often mistaking for that caution which every wise man ought to accompany his actions with, or from his imagining that his services cannot be supplied by any other person. The only fair plan for employing him would be allowing him pay as Lieut.-Col. Commandant of the corps he is to raise, and the rest of the officers to have the same as the regiments employed in America ; and if they are em- ployed when the business is over, and they disembodied, to be allowed grants of land on the same terms as the officers that served in the last war in America ; Lieut.- Col. Maclean cannot ask more for his wife if he dies during the service than 1001. per annum, which is double what even a colonel's widow ever obtains, and a grant of lands for his children; Major Macdonald in the same situation 50Z., and a smaller grant of lands. If this does not suit the Lieut.-Col., I have no doubt Lt.-Gr. Gage will find officers ready on such advan- tageous terms to undertake what this gentleman may not think advisable to undertake ; the precedent would be so very bad that there would in futurity be no satis- fying any man ; I therefore lose no time in conveying my ideas to you, which I am sure when you have con- sidered you will see the truth of them. I have no other trace of Lieut.-Colonel Maclean than that " The " King, with the utmost secrecy, sent over Allan Maclean of Tor- 1775.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 241 " loish, to entice to the Eoyal standard the Highlanders of the "Old Forty-Seventh Eegiment now settled in North Carolina" (Bancroft, 'Hist, of United States,' vi. p. 176). Letter 287. • Queen's House, April 6th, 1775. 55 miu. pt. 9 a.m. LoED North, — By the ' Public Advertizer ' of this morning, I see the Livery have in Gruildhall yesterday unanimously agreed to make an Address, Eemonstrance, and Petition on the American measures. A meeting where the business was proposed by Capt. Allen cannot be very respectable, nor deserve more civility than the one which fabricated a like production the last year ; I am clear therefore no answer ought to' be returned to it, but, as on that occasion, an intimation to them from the Lord Chamberlain, that, as the last year, no answer will be made. I see the Sheriffs will attend this day, and should think Monday the best day for receiving this ridiculous though insolent production. April 5. — At a Common Hall, held at the request of several of the citizens of London, to consider of a remonstrance and petition to the Throne, respecting the measures in agitation with regard to America, the thanks of the Lord Mayor, &o., were voted to be given to those Lords who protested against the BUI to prohibit the people of New England from sharing in the Newfoundland fishery, &c., and also to those Commoners who voted against the same ; and to several other lords and gentlemen who distinguished themselves iu opposition to these Bills. Comp. Letter 275. Letter 288. Queen's House, April 7th, 1775. 5 min. pt. 9 a.m. Lord North, — In revolving what you dropped yes- terday of its being desirable by some mode or other to VOL. I. R 242 OEOBGE TEE T HI ED'S [1775. avoid receiving the new dish of insolence from the Livery of London in the Council Chamber, it has occurred to me that, if the Sheriffs come this day to know when I will receive the Lord Mayor, &c., I may say that I will consider of the application they have been directed to make, and will transmit them my resolution through the channel of the Lord Chamberlain ; then Lord Hert- ford may be directed to write to the Sheriffs that the Address, &c., may be presented on Monday, but that I shall not receive it on the Throne, nor deliver any answer; this will bring this affair into proper order, and at least make a distinction between the Livery and Common Council, and prevent my sitting in future to hear myself insulted. I wish to hear your opinion as to this mode ; for it is most probable if the Sheriffs come it will be earlier than you can attend. Letter 289. Queen's House, April 7th, 1775. 30 min. pt. M. LOED NoETH, — I thoroughly concurr with your senti- ments on the mode of receiving this fresh insolence from the shop that has fabricated so many, and therefore I shall, if the Sheriffs come this day, appoint the receiving of it on Monday, and then, at the Cabinet dinner to- morrow, the place of receiving it, and whether any answer shall be given, may be there finally settled; I have no wish but that the right mode be followed, and have no objection to any that may seem most proper. P.S. I shall very willingly receive Lord Clive, and think Lady Powis had judged very properly in wishing Lord Hertford may hold the Lieutenancy of Mont- gomeryshire for her son. 1775.] LETTUBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 243 Tlie Eight Hon. Lord Clive was on the 7th of April appointed Lord-Lieutenant of the county of Salop; and the Eight Hon. the Earl of Hertford to be Lord-Lieutenant of the county of Mont- gomery (' Ann. Eegister,'. xviii. p. 202). 10th April. — " The Lord Mayor, attended by Aldermen Bull, " Sawbridge, &o., with the Sheriffs and City Oificers, as usual, " waited upon his Majesty with a petition and remonstrance re- " lative to measures now in agitation against the inhabitants of " Massachusetts Bay, &c. The reason for his Lordship's not being " attended by a greater number was, the Lord Chamberlain having " previously informed the Sheriffs that his Majesty would not " receive more than the usual number of Liverymen. When the " Lord Mayor arrived at St. James's, he was moreover informed by " the Lord in waiting that his Majesty expected his Lordship should " not speak to him. To which the Lord Mayor answered that the " caution was needless, as he never expected or desired that honour " (' Ann. Eegister,' xviii. p. 106). " On the 10th of April, the Lord Mayor, Wilkes, with the Alder- " men and Livery of London, approached the Throne to complain " to the King that the real purpose of his Ministers, whom they " earnestly besought him to dismiss, was ' to establish arbitrary " power over all America.' The King answered, — ' It is with the " utmost astonishment that I find any of my subjects capable of " encouraging the rebellious disposition which unhappily exists in " some of my colonies ;' and by a letter from the Lord Chamberlain " he announced his purpose never again to receive on the Throne " any address from the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, but in their " corporate capacity" (Bancroft, 'Hist, of United States,' vi. p. 175 ; ' Last Journals of Horace Walpole,' voL i. p. 484.) Walpole says, " The King might well be firm; he had summoned a great appear- " ance of his devotees ; the Americans were not popular ; and Wilkes " not only aimed at no afifront, but behaved with so much respect, " that the King himself owned he had never seen so well-bred a " Lord Mayor." Letter 290. * Queen's House, April 11th, 1775. Lord North, — Having obtained a sight of some notes relative to afiairs in America made by M.-G. R 2 244 GEOBGE THE THIBD'S [1775. Burgoyne, I took the enclosed copy/ and think them so worthy of attention that J transmit them to you, and have no objection to Mr. Brummel'^ copying it. I wish, without taking notice of your having seen this, you would send for the General and hear his ideas, as I think you might from, them suggest some additional thoughts *to Lord Dartmouth that might enable him to give Gr. Gage on some subjects more full instructions. I am sorry Howe seems to look so much on the com- mand in New York as the post of confidence, as I think Burgoyne would best manage any negociation ; but a full conversation will send the latter in good humour, who at present feels a little hurt at not having been enough let into the views of Government ; and if he remains at Boston he may be able to suggest what falls in conversation to the Commander-in-Chief, which may prove of great utility. Letter 291. Queen's House, April Wtli, 1775. 22 min. pt. 8 a.m. Lord North, — I desire you will acquaint Major- Gen. Burgoyne that I very much approve of his request of coming home during the time the troops cannot be employed the next winter in America, as it will be of importance to his private affairs ; besides, he will be able to bring you a very full account of the minds and dispositions of the principal people of that part of the globe, and will be able to return with directions for Lieut.-G. Gage that can be the more explicit, as he on coming may be instructed by the » The copy has not been preserved among the letters in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle. 1775.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NORTH. 245 General to state whatever points he has any doubt concerning. I desire you will not mention this to any one, and I shall keep as exact a silence on this subject. P.S. I am glad to see, by the state of the ballot that I received last night, that the election of Directors has turned out as you wished. "21 April. — Tlie Generals Burgoyne, Howe, and Clinton set sail " for Boston on board the Cerberus man-of-war, Captain Sbands." — ' Ann. Register,' xviii. p. 108. Letter 292. *St. James, April 2Ut, 177,5. 30 min. pt. 2 p.m. Lord North, — I cannot refrain from the pleasure of just expressing to you the joy I feel at the good news arrived this day from Paris, and to commend myself for having deferred taking any step until the former bad account should be confirmed. Letter 293. * Kew, April 21 at, 1775. 46 min. pt. 6 p.m. Lord North, — As you seem to interest yourself in favour of Martha Latimer, I autliorize you to direct Mr. Eden to have her respited and the punishment transmuted to transportation. I consent to Sir Watkin Williams being Lieutenant of Merioneth, if he means to be grateful, otherwise favours granted to persons in opposition is not very political ; as also to Mr. Archibald Cockburne succeeding the late Mr. Alston as Deputy Auditor of the Exchequer. Lds. Aberdeen and Grallo- way may with reason wish to obtain the order of the 246 GEOBQE TEE THIBB'S [1775. Thistle, but Lord Fife cannot have the least pretension to it, and his obtaining it would give the noblemen of Scotland real cause of displeasure : it has never been given but to British Peers. I am clear the D. of Argyle ought to have this Ribband, and I will see whether I cannot get him. to ask for it. Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, Bart., was gazetted Lieutenant of the county of Merioneth in the following June. John Earl of Galloway was created a Knight of the Thistle in the following October. He died November, 1806. Letter 294. * Queen's House, April 26th, 1775. 18 inin. pt. 7 p.m. Lord North, — The very warm zeal shewn this day by the House of Commons, as it is so convincing a mark of their attachment, cannot but give me the greatest pleasure. On the 12th of April Lord North delivered a message from the King, that the Palace ia which his Majesty now resides, lately known by the name of Buckingham House, and now called the Queen's House, may be settled on the Queen, for her residence in case she should survive his Majesty, in lieu of Somerset House. He added that he should next year move for paying the King's debts, — see Letter 175 (the salaries of his Household were one year in arrear) — and even for an additional revenue, as part of the debts had been contracted by Ms advice. Parliament met again on the 25th, having been adjourned for Easter on the 13th of AprU.. Eesolutions complying with the King's desire were passed on "April 26th;" and 100,000Z. granted for the purchase of the Queen's House, and for rendering the same convenient for a royal residence, " in consideration of his Majesty's palace of Somerset House being " converted and applied for the future to the purpose of holding " and keeping therein certain public ofiSces." — ' Pari. Hist.' xviii. p. 621. 1775.] *LETTEBS TO LOBB NORTH. 247 Letter 295. * Kew, May 15th, 1775. 30 min. pt. 10 p.m. Lord North, — The great majority in favour of the amendment this day shews how firm the House of Commons are in the support of the just rights of their country. I thoroughly approve of the arrangement in consequence of the declining state of Baron Perrott ;* Mr. Hotham's character qualifies [him] for this pro- motion; and Mr. Morton will prove a more agreable attender in his room. Mr. Hotham may be presented on Wednesday. " Upon bringing np the Eemonstrance of the Assembly of New '' York, Lord North moved an amendment censuring the claim of " the New York Assembly, as derogatory to, and inconsistent with, " the authority of Parliament. The amendment was carried by " 186 to 67." — Lord Brougham's note, p. 89. Letter 296. Queen's House, May 18th, 1775. Lord North, — I have just received the unexpected and melancholy account of the death of my sister the Queen of Denmark, of a putrid fever and sore throat, on the tenth of this month; this will prevent my coming to town till Wednesday, as the mourning cannot sooner be put on. As you had not time to talk over the diiferent notes you had prepared this day, I desire you will, if convenient, call at Kew on Sunday about two o'clock. ' Sir George Perrott had been ap- pointed a Baron of the Exchequer, Jan. 24, 1763, surrendered in this month; " Beaumont Hotham, Esq., to the " honour of Knighthood and to be " one of the Barons of the Exchequer." ' Ann. Register,' xvii. p. 202. For Mr. Morton, see Letter 26. 248 OEOBGE THE THIRD'S ■ [1775. For an official account of the death of this -unfortunate Princess after an illness of five days at Zell, of her funeral, and of the address to the King on this occasion, &c., see ' Ann. Eegister,' xviii. p. 116, and for her character and a description of her last illness, ib. p. 273. Letter 297. Kew, May 24th, 1775. 43 min. pt. 5 p.m. Lord North, — The moment it is a wish of the two Houses of Parliament that I should postpone the pro- rogation untill Friday, I acquiesce in it with great chearfulness ; as I had previously given notice that there will not be a Drawing-room to-morrow, I shall therefore not come till Friday to St. James's. Parliament was prorogued on the 26th of May ; in his speech his Majesty expressed his most perfect satisfaction with the conduct of Parliament at this important crisis. Walpole says, " The King's " Speech was very temperate." 'Last Journals,' vol. i. p. 491. Letter 298. Kew, June 24th, 1775. 54 min. pt. 10 p.m. Lord North, — There can be no opinion formed of the success of either party by the poll of the first day, though I am not sanguine in my expectations. Hayley and Hart having quarrelled this day may encourage the friends of the latter to support the senior Aldermen. Letter 299. *Kew, July 3rd, 1775. 20 min. pt. 5 p.m. Lord North, — The characters of the gentlemen that compose the new General Council for Superintending 1775.] LETTERS TO LOBD NOBTH. 249 tHe Affairs of the East India Company deserved the attention of reading with deliberation their states of the unhappy disputes that have sprung up on the first assembhng of that Board, which is the cause of my having detained thus long these papers. After weighing with the greatest inclination to im- partiality the facts and arguments deduced from them on both sides, I am clearly of opinion that the three gentlemen sent from hence would have acted very wide from the spirit of the intention of sending them to rectify the abuses that have grown so enormous in the management of the affairs of the Company in India, as well as from the letter of the orders they referr to transmitted by the Court of Directors, if they had not entered upon an enquiry into the rise of the war in the Rohilla country ; and whatever may have been the custom of conducting business in India, the Governor-General ought to have considered that the gentlemen sent from hence were in conjunction with him and Mr. BarweU a Supreme Council, not mere successors to the late President and Council of Calcutta, therefore were entitled, as they very properly on the first face of the transaction disapproved of the Company being engaged in the quarrels of the Vizier, in requir- ing the perusal of private letters that might perhaps afford some reason for the having taken a step which the public records noways authorized. If the examina- tion of this transaction had not drawn forth an irrepar- able breach between the members of the Greneral Council, the appeal of the Grovernor convinces me it must soon, from his own confession, have happened ; for towards the end he confesses that the cause of his not publishing the new commission immediately was from being hurt that his power was diminished, and doubtful whether 250 OEOBQE THE THIRD'S [1775. he would accept of the office of Governor-Greneral. This little sentence explains his coldness, his desire of keeping all public transactions to himself; in short, he was re- solved by a mode of conduct to keep that power which he ownes the Commission had not given to the Governor, but which as President he had exercised. The intention avowed by the Governor to receive presents, though he avows the intention of putting at the end of each month the produce into the treasury for the use of the Company, is an avowed breach of the Act of Parliament, and, as these are not fixed, he might keep what part he pleased without detection ; indeed it leaves a suspicion, which it was one of the wise pur- poses of the Act to prevent, that the Council might be bribed. Mr, Barwell's conduct is much more repre- hensible, for he will continue to receive presents for his own advantage, contrary to the express words of the Act. As you are of opinion, from the enclosed state of the produce of the Clerk of the Pells in Ireland, that the bargain is not unreasonably advantageous to Mr. Fox, I give my consent to the finishing that affair, to naming Mr. Jenkinson to that office and Mr. Flood to the vacant V.-Treasurer of Ireland. As to the house Lord Talbot inhabits at Windsor, I would rather Lord Hertford declined applying, as I am not quite decided as to what I may do with that house, and, considering Lady Hertford's dislike to the country, the application would end in putting some one else in that house ; and should I ever make more use of Windsor, it would not be pleasant to have that little retirement out of reach. I desire a proper person may be sent to Guildhall, that an exact account may be had of the transactions of to-morrow. r 1775.] ■ LETTEBS, TO LOBD NOBTH. 261 The operation of the new constitution framed by the Parliament of England— Lord North's " Eegulation Bill," 1773 — was ordained to commence in India after the 1st of August, 1774. The new coun- cillors, however — " the three gentlemen sent from hence" — General Clavering, Mr. Monson, and Mr. Francis, did not arrive at Calcutta until the 19th of October. On the following day the existing government was dissolved by proclamation, and the new Council took possession of its powers. In order to allow Mr. Barwell, who was then absent, to arrive, the meeting of the Board was suspended until the 25th. On the very day on which its deliberations began, some of the discord, visible in this letter of the King's, made its appearance. Before the arrival of the new councillors from England, Hastings and Barwell had not been upon friendly terms ; but after this reconstruction of the Board, Barwell (an experienced servant of the Company) supported the Governor-General. But they had only a minority in the Council, since Clavering, Monson, and Francis appear to have entered upon their office with a determination to inaugurate a system in aU respects opposite to that whicb had been hitherto pursued. The Governor-General indeed possessed a casting vote, but untU the decease of Mr. Monson it availed him nothing against the recently imported triumvirate. There was much indeed in the system hitherto followed requiring abolition or amendment ; but there was this disadvantage in the elements of the new Council — Hastings and Barwell had long experience to guide them ; " the " three gentlemen " had theory only, or perhaps good intentions. They lost no time in reversing nearly every act of the Governor- General. They condemned his dealings with the Vizier, Sujab Dowlah, Prince of Oude ; they recalled the English agent, or rather Hastings's spy, Nathaniel Middleton, from the court of Oude ; they withdrew, not unjustly indeed though perhaps hastily, the English forces from the Eohilla country ; and they instituted, again hastily, if justly, a severe inquiry into the cause and conduct of " the war " in the Bohilla country." But these were prudent and venial mea- sures in comparison with their sweeping reforms of the whole fiscal and judicial system of Bombay and Bengal. The former presidency they threw into inextricable confusion : in the latter they paralysed, and nearly subverted, the authority of England. Owing to their haste and ignorance, life and property were almost without protec- tion, and gangs of robbers plundered and slaughtered with impunity in the very suburbs of Calcutta. Hastings, for a time, was little more than titular Governor-General. He continued indeed to re- side in the Government House, to draw his salary, and to preside at the Council Board, where even the new councillors bowed to his 252 GEORGE THE TSIBD'S ' [1775. superior skill in the oonduct of ordinary business. But the most valuable patronage and the higher powers of government were withdrawn from him, and he was compelled to behold, without having the power to avert it, the demolition of his own work in the Anglo-Indian empire of that day. The " private letters " to which the King alludes were doubtless those, among many others, of Nathaniel Middleton. In these were contained the secrets of Hastings's negotiation with the Emperor of Delhi, the chieftains of the Mahrattas, and the pretexts and motives for " the war in the Eohilla country." " The Council," says Mr. Mill, " required that the correspondence should be laid " before them, which had passed between the Governor-General and " the two functionaries — the commander of the troops. Sir Eobert " Barker, and the agent residing with the Vizier, Middleton. And " when they were informed that a part indeed of this correspondence " should be submitted to their inspection, but that a part of it " would also be withheld, their surprise and dissatisfaction were " loudly testified, their indignation and suspicions but little con- " cealed. As reasons for suppressing a part of the letters, Mr. " Hastings alleged that they did not relate to public business, that " they were private confidential communications, and not fit to " become public. The Directors not only condemned the retention " of the correspondence and sent repeated orders for its disclosure, " which were never obeyed, but arraigned the very principle of a " private agent." Hastings, it is perhaps unnecessary to say, was the first " Gover- " nor-General of India." The title had hitherto been President of Bengal, Bombay, &c. ; neither, until the Eegulation Act came into force, had any precedency been given to Bengal. The coldness of Hastings is mentioned by Mr. Mill (p. 586) : " Mr. " Hastings, upon the first appearance of his colleagues, behaved or " was suspected of behaving coldly. And with jealous feelings this " coldness was construed into studied and humiliating neglect." Among the subsidiary articles of the Eegulation Act of 1773, it was proposed " that no person in the service either of the King or " of the Company should be allowed to receive presents, and that " the Governor-General, the Councillors, and judges should be ex- " eluded from all commercial profits and pursuits." See Mill, 'Hist, of British India,' iii. pp. 480-584; and comp. Lord Macaulay's article on Warren Hastings, ' Edinb. Eev.,' October, 1841 ; and Lord Mahon, vii. p. 252 foil., where an admirable vindi- cation of Hastings's general policy may be read. I cannot help regarding this letter as one of the most remarkable in the corre- spondence with Lord North. It shows the pains which the King 1775.] LETTERS TO LORD NORTH. 253 took to inform Hmself on all public matters ; and if in tHs or in other instances lie judged wrongly, yet we may credit him with the " inclination" to consider "impartially facts and arguments,'' so long as they related neither to America nor the City of London. Letter 300. Kew, July 5th, 1775. 2 min. pt. 1 1 p.m. Lord North, — The state of tte transactions yester- day at Guildhall, as drawn up by Humphreys, shew him to he an honest and [sic] spirit : his insinuation to the Alderman that he ought to have attended is neatly done. If the Common Council can on Friday he pre- vented from taking any step with regard to the rebel- lion in America, it would be desirable, but the comfort is, by the many absurd steps taken by that body, if they act otherwise, it will not be of much effect. I have no doubt but the nation at large sees the conduct of America in its true light, and, I am certain, any other conduct but compelling obedience would be ruinous and culpable ; therefore, no consideration could bring me to swerve from the present path which I think myself in duty bound to follow. Letter 301. Kew, July 9th, 1775. 43 min. pt. 1 p.m. Lord North, — The enclosed copy of the Address and Petition of the Common Council is certainly the most decent and moderate in words that has been for some time fabricated on that side Temple-bar; but the doc- trines are so very subversive to all authority that it 254 GEOBGE TEE THIBD'S [1775. will be difficult to find words as civil as I should wish on the occasion, without seeming to lose sight of the sentiments, which undoubtedly avow that the Legislature has no right to tax its Colonies, — ideas that I will ever vehemently oppose, as they tend to annihilate one of the essential rights of a supreme legislature. Letter 302. Kew, July 14th, 1775. 41 miu. pt. 8 a.m. Lord North, — The proposed answer to the Address of the City is very proper, and must meet with the approbation of all those who are not actuated by some private view. Tliis day the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons of the City of London waited on his Majesty with an humble address and petition. The answer was in the following words : — " I am. always ready to " listen to the dutiful petitions of my subjects, and ever happy to " comply with their reasoDable requests ; but, while the constitu- " tional authority of this kingdom is openly resisted by a part of " my American subjects, I owe it to the rest of my people, of whose " zeal and fidelity I have had such constant proofs, to continue and " enforce those measures by which alone their rights and interests " can be asserted and maintained." For the address and answer, see ' Ann. Eegister,' xviii. p. 255 ; the former was moderate, and indeed loyal in its expressions. See Massey, ' Hist, of England,' ii. p. 190. Letter 303. Eew, July 26th, 1775. 25 min. pt. 8 p.m. Lord North, — The state of this day's poll does not please me, though it causes no surprize. The Sheriffs have been here, but were told I could not receive them but on a levee-day, and that Wednesday will be the 1775.] LETTEB8 TO LOBD NOBTH. 255 first. By the minutes published by the meeting at Gruildhall, I see I shall not be troubled with them,— a resolution being taken not to deliver the Remonstrance unless I receive it on the Throne, which shall never happen again. Lord Dartmouth wished this morning to know my sentiments as to what force should be sent to Gage. I told him very fairly that I feared, except Highlanders and marines, none could be prepared till spring, which agreed with his own ideas ; that prepara- tions ought to be made, and, if possible, some 50-gun ships sent as a reinforcement, the Admiral thinking them the best qualified for that service. I am clear as to one point, that we must persist and not be dismayed by any difficulties that may arise on either side of the Atlantick. I know I am doing my duty, and therefore can never wish to retract. The resolution proposed by the House of Commons is the utmost that can be come into ; and, if people will have patience, this must in the end be obtained. It appears, from the 'Ann. Register,' xyiii. p. 139, that the American party in the City was occasionally in a minority. " 21st " July. — At a Court of Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council " at Guildhall, a motion was made for an answer to he sent to New " York on the address received from thence, which had been laid " tefore that Court, when great debates arose ; but, the question " being put, there appeared 56 for sending an answer, and 69 " against it." We find, indeed, a portion of the Corporation of Dublin coinciding with that of London, and voting " That whoever " refuses his consent to a petition to the King to undeceive Ms " Majesty and prevent the effusion of Mood, is not a friend to the Con- " stitution."— August 28, ' Ann. Eegister,' ib. p. 149. These words are almost an echo of Lord Chatham's in the debate on the 20th January : " If the Ministers persevere in thus misadvising and mis- " leading the King," &c. ' Chatham Corresp.,' iv. p. 384. In the foUowing month the Guild of Merchants at Dublin thanked Wilkes, Lord Ef&ngham, and the English peers who opposed the American war. 256 GEOBGE THE TEIBD'S [1775. Letter 304. Kew, July 28tli, 1775. 12 min. pt. 10 p.m. Lord North, — I return tlie warrant that the ' Lizard ' may carry the 10,000Z, to Canada. The estimates for the next winter will be certainly in your hands on Sunday morning. I have desired Lord Dartmouth to acquaint Lt.-Gr. G-age that, as he thinks nothing farther can be done this campaign in the province of Massachusets Bay, that he is desired instantly to come over, that he may explain the various wants for carrying on the next campaign, I think, on second thoughts, you had better not say anything, but leave the subject of reward un- touched untill his arrival. Howe to command during the Greneral's absence the troops now at Boston, Carleton being fully employed in forming the Cana- dians. Ought not Carleton by the ' Lizard ' to know that Howe will command the troops now at Boston during the absence of Gage, and the cause of it ; and that he will have regulars to strengthen the Quebec army, and render it respectable for opening the next campaign ? If you are of this opinion, I desire you will press Lord Dartmouth to write by this conveyance to the above purpose. I do think the Admiral's removal as necessary, if what is reported is founded, as the mild General's. The Admired is Admiral Graves," Commander-in-Cliief on the American station. News arrived, sutiseqiiently indeed to the date of this letter, that in September he had been beaten with his own » His name is spelt indifferently Greaves or Oraves. We may hear of this Admiral again in 1781, when he was again in command, as senior officer to Lord Howe, and fought a desultory and indecisive action off the Capes of Virginia with the Comte de Grasse. Lord Mahon, Tii. p. 114 ; Parton's ' Life of Franklin,' ii. p. 449. 1775.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTE. 267 sword at Boston \yj an officer of the Eevenue. He was recalled > and arrived in England in the following February. "Graves," Bays Admiral Keppel (' Life of Viscount Keppel,' vol. i. p. 426), in a letter to Lord Eockingham, Sept. 14, 1776, "is ruined for doing " nothing." Ministers threatened to mate a second Admiral Byng of him ; but as there was no popular feeling against him, he was not brought to a court-martial. The mild General I suppose to be Gage, who also returned from America early in 1776. For the motives for his recall, see Lord Mahon, vi. pp. 66-7. It was in- deed the policy, if not the wisdom of Government, at this time, to avoid drawing attention to American affairs, or in any way to arouse the British public^miM as either Admiral or General in question — from its lethargy. Opposition was feeble and inactive. The mercantile and manufacturing bodies had as yet experienced few or none of the inconveniences in trade which the friends of America were predicting. Large majorities comforted Lord North ; and the country-gentlemen and clergy furnished those majorities right loyally, and looked with equanimity on the subsidies that were being voted for the war. Letter 305. Kew, July 30th, 1775. 26 min. pt. 11 a.m. LoED North, — I shall be extremely glad to see Lord Dartmouth and you as soon as it is convenient to you both, that we may talk over whatever is still necessary towards forwarding the American business. A little council of this kind will do more than several separate conversations. Letter 306. *Kew, August 1st, 1775. Lord North, — I received an answer to the orders I had wrote to Hanover last night, and have already given every necessary order that the five battalions VOL. I. s 258 GEORGE THE THIBD'S [1775. will be ready to embark at Stade early in September, consisting of 2355 effectives, officers included, provided money is sent from hence to put them in motion. The officers are poor,* and are not able to prepare their equipage ; many articles are wanting for the men to be able to go on this distant service. I suppose an advance of 10,000?. will effect it. Colonel Paucitt is the officer I propose to send to see they are compleat when they embark. He ought to go within a week, for, though brave on shore. Continental forces fear the sea, and he must preach the little difficulties that will arise in their voyage. He would be the proper person to carry over any draught for money that may be necessary. I should not do justice to my Electoral troops if I did not express that they shew the same zeal for my person they have ever shewn for my ancestors. I shall to-morrow let Sir John Blaquiere have leave to wear the Starr [sic] in Ireland. Gibton writes on the same day to Holroyd : — " We have nothing " new from America ; but I can venture to assure you that Admi- " nistration is now as unanimous and decided as the occasion " requires. Something will be done this year; but, in the spring, " the force of the country will be exerted to the utmost. Scotch " Highlanders, Irish Papists, Canadians, Indians, &c., wiU all in " various shapes be employed." ' Ann. Eegister,' August 31 :— " Lately, the Eight Hon. Sir John " Blaquiere to be Aulnager and Collector of the Subsidies of Aul- " nager, Ireland." See Letter 239. Letter 307. * Kew, August 4th, 1775. Lord North,— Your letter of yesterday arrived this morning. " Comp. Letter 275. 1775.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NORTE. 269 I have made the fullest enquiry both at the Secretary of State's Office and the German Chancery for pre- cedents of the last war, but find every thing past verbally between the D. of Newcastle and Mr. Munch- hausen, assisted at times by one or two commis of each department. If matters had been stated on paper, I should not have been the very considerable loser which from this inaccuracy has occasioned the rejection of many just demands which then would have had the spirit and the letter of justice in their favour. The present transaction is a clear and handsome loan of five batallions [sic] of Hanoverians, each consisting of about 471 effective officers and men, for which I claim nothing but to be reimbursed all expences, that is — 1st, The march through the Electorate, and every other incidental expence for putting these regiments into a state for embarkation, to be fairly stated, and to be paid by Britain. 2d. From the day of embarkation the officers and men of these five batallions to receive the same pay as British troops. 3d. The expence of levying and equipping 2355 men, the deficiency occasioned by the transferring these five battalions to Gr. Britain, to be fairly stated, and to be paid by Gr. Britain. 4th. All expences arising from recruiting these five batts. whilst in the pay of Gr. Britain, • and the convey- ing the recruits to Minorca and Gribraltar, to be paid by Gr. Britain. By these conditions Britain obtains a reinforcement of 2355 men at a much cheaper rate, besides more expedi- tiously, than if raised at home ; to which must be added a most material article — that, when no farther wanted, there will be no half-pay occasioned by this measure. s 2 260 GEOBGE THE TRIBD'S [1775. These are the outlines of the agreement : when Count Taube arrives the exact number of oflScers and men will be stated, and soon after that every article of expence will be known, so that, with the assistance of the War and Pay OiSces, the whole may be clearly, fairly, and conclusively settled ; then it must be entered in the Minutes of the Treasury, and a copy given to Mr. de Alvensleben, which will prevent mistakes in future. " 4th." — This article is referred to in the King's Speech when Parliament reassembled on the 26th of October. " And I have, in " testimony of my affection for my people, who can have no cause " ia which I am not equally interested, sent to the garrisons of " Gibraltar and Port Mahon a part of my Electoral troops, in order " that a larger number of the established forces of this kingdom " may be applied to the maintenance of its authority." — 'Pari. Hist.,' xviii. p. 696. Letter 308. * * Kew, August 9th, 1775. Lord North, — Your letter of the 8th arrived this morning. The case of Mrs. Button appears very de- serving of notice ; you will therefore direct a pension of lOOZ. nett to be paid her, and an advance of 50/, would be a seasonable assistance considering her present destitute state. The making Lord Chatham's family suffer for the conduct of the father is not in the least agreable to my sentiments ; but I should chuse to know him totally unable to appear on the public stage before I agree to any offer of that kind, least it should be wrongly con- strued a fear of him ; and, indeed, his political conduct the last winter was so abandoned, that he must, in the eyes of the dispassionate, have totally undone the merit 1775.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 261 \ of his former conduct. As to any gratitude to be expected from him or. his family, that would be absurd, when the whole tenour of their lives have shewn them void of that most honourable sentiment ; but when decrepitude or death puts an end to him as a trumpet of sedition, I shall make no difficulty of placing the second son's name instead (3f the father, and making up the pension 3000^. It is not easy to divine v^hat gratitude Lord Chatham owed to the Grown, or on what occasions the Earl and his family had shown themselves "void of that most honourable sentiment." In 1766-7, indeed, the King had given Lord Chatham almost carte blanche for ministerial arrangements, but then his Majesty was yearning to be reheved from his Whig Ministers. The phrase, however, is intel- hgible when it is recollected that George the Third regarded all who differed from him in political or personal questions as "trumpets " of sedition." Lord Chatham had assuredly used very strong language in the late session of Parliament, and, unfortunately for the issue, two- thirds of the British nation, in their feelings towards the colonists, endorsed the King's opinion of that statesman. But how far Chatham's plan was from being revolutionary, or his language from being seditious, his speeches, even in the meagre outline of them we possess, abundantly show. In a letter to General Carlton, written in either the April or May of this year. Lord Chatham (' Corresp.,' iv. p. 407) thus states his " whole system for America : " — " To secure to the Colonies pro- " perty and liberty, and to insure to the mother-country a due " acknowledgment on the part of the Colonies of their subordina- " tion to the supreme legislative authority and superintending " power of the Parliament of Great Britain. I beg to say so much, " in order to stand clear in your opinion of any imputation of " countenancing a wild independency in the Colonies'' "Yet Brutus says he was 'seditious,' And Brutus is an honourable man." An anonymous writer, on the 14th of November, 1775, addressed the Earl in terms which prove that he understood him better than his Majesty did. " England and America," the writer says, " need " the intervention of a common friend to adjust their differences, 262 GEOBGE THE TSIBD'S [1775. " and to reconcile the parent-people to its children." He proceeds, — " I wiU not think so meanly of the prevailing party, either here or " in America, as to unagiae that there is wanting one man of each " description who would trust a common friend, and might safely " be trusted by such an one, ia a free communication upon the " subject of the admissibility of terms under the sanction of in- " violable secrecy. But, in what region to discoTer this common " friend ? Alas ! my Lord, Great Britain and America kaow no " foreign power than can assume the name. Some centuries are " past since superstition might, perhaps, have sought the mimic of " such a character in the see of Eome. At present, as far as I can " judge, there is in the uniTerse only one individual qualified to " undertake this important office. My Lord, I mean not to flatter "you— 1 disdain the art — but, in my sincere opinion, that indi- " vidual is your lordship. The dignity and splendour of your name " raise you above the level of other men. Neither of the nations " has forgotten the great debt they both owe you. Fortunate it is " that your long retirement renders you, in appearance as well as " reality, unconnected with the men and the measures, the admi- " nistrations and the oppositions of either nation, as much as if you " were this instant descended from the clouds. Be then, my Lord, " the guardian-angel of this great empire ; decline not the honour- " able office of mediator between Great Britain and America ; unite " the two countries upon a basis of permanent friendship without " regard to the internal factions of either, leaving administrations " and oppositions undisturbed to fight, as they have fought before, " their little battles upon ground less perilous to this great com- " munity." At the time these words were addressed to him, the Earl was again prostrated by sickness, and he may never have read them, for only his nearest kindred were admitted to see him ; there is a long interval in his correspondence ; and no topic that could excite him was mentioned in his presence. Letter 309, ^ Kew, August 18th, 1775. Lord North, — The letter from Captain Acland" contains such laudible [sic] sentiments as a citizen and « See note to Letter 28u. He was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Acland, and m.irried to a daughter of the Earl of Ilohester, Fox's uncle. 1775.] LETTEBS TO LORD NOBTH. 263 I- a soldier, that I thoroughly approve of your having transmitted it to me. I desire you -will contrive, if he is in town, to see him to-morrow, and to acquaint him how much I am pleased with the zeal he shews upon this occasion, that, though I do not chuse as yet to give ear to the raising new corps, if the time shall come that I shall think authorizes such measures, his plan shall be taken into consideration as well as others. The love he bears to the military profession actuated me to encourage Lord Cornwallis to find an opportunity for Captain Acland, though so lately come into the service, to purchase a company. As no new corps are as yet to be raised, he may shew his zeal, and, at the same time, do it to the assistance of his friend and colonel. The 33rd, on the present augmentation, will want near 2Q0 men. If he can raise them in the west, it will be doing a signal service, and make me the more willing, when I see the proper opportunity, to reward the activity of this deserving young man. Many of your friends seem to wish you should avoid appearing at Wells, where probably the asking imper- tinent questions, and putting you in an unpleasant conversation, is the sole aim for the calling on you to appear. As I am not acquainted with what they think it possible to bring to light, or what effect the non- appearance might have, I give no opinion, trusting that you have weighed the matter fully, and in consequence made your determination. There has been much delay in framing a Proclama- tion declaring the conduct of the Americans rebellious, and warning persons from corresponding with them. From the time it was first suggested I have seen it as most necessary ; first, as it puts people on their guard, and also as it shews the determination of prosecuting 264 OEOBQE TEE THIBD'S [1775. with vigour every measure that may tend to force those deluded people to submission. It is now, I think, got into a good train. I have directed Lord Suffolk to have it shewn to you, and, if it meets with your con- currence in its present state, to take such further steps as may be necessary for having it read and ordered to be published by the Privy Council on Wednesday. Major-Gen. Haldimand* is arrived, and seems tho- roughly acquainted with the sentiments of the Ameri- cans. I desire you will, if possible, see him. He says nothing but force can bring them to reason, and ownes that, till they have suffered for their conduct, that it would be dangerous to give ear to any propositions they might transmit ; but, if I am rightly informed, they do not seem inclined to put on even the appear- ance of wishing in the least to recede from doctrines, that it would be better totally to abandon them than to admit a single shaddow [sic] of them to be admitted. If yoji can spare time to call here either to-morrow forenoon or in the evening, I shall be glad to see you, but desire to hear before, that I may be at home. " On the 23rd of August a Proclamation was issued for repressing " rebellion and sedition, and, on the 29th, it was read in Palace- " yard, Westminster, and at Temple-bar, by the heralds, &c., and at " the Eoyal Exchange at noon by one of the Lord Mayor's officers, " accompanied only by the common-crier. After it was ended there " was a general hiss. The Lord Mayor (VVUkes) would not permit " the officers to have horses, as usual on such occasions, nor suffer "the mace to be carried there." — -Ann. Eegister,' xviii. p. 149. The feeling of the City did not, however, extend to the country, neither was it universal even among the citizeais. There is reason to believe that a considerable number of them were hostile to the claims put forth by the Americans. "Certain it is," says Lord Mahon, vi. p. 69, " at least, that loyal addresses declaring, in strong. " See the King's notes on Major-General Howe's ' Sketch,' Letter 285, p. 239. 1775.] LETTERS TO LOBB NOBTH. 265 "' terms, attachment to the throne and constitution, and disappro- " bation of the insurgent colonies, came La at this time spontaneous " and unsolicited from every part of the kingdom, — from the trading- " towns, as Manchester and Liverpool, no less than from the rural " districts." Letter 310. *Ke\v, August 26th, 1775. 2 min. pt. 5 p.m. LoED North, — I have read Lord Barrington's two letters, which do not surprise me. He is diffident as to the raising recruits, but that is as much occasioned from his wish to have the American war alone carried on by sea. I do not see the prospect so indifferent as he- does ; the best time for recruiting is not yet come, and the different arrangements now just set in motion must have a due time given them before any judgment can be formed whether the coming to the very disagreable measure of raising new corps will be necessary; but in that case I shall never agree to the disobliging the whole army by giving them to every young man that pretends he can soon compleat them. I know full well what little good arose from Charles Townshend's plan^ — when the corps were compleated most of them were declared by the generals who received them to be composed of men totally unfit to carry muskets ; besides, a new raised corps will from the time of being com- pleated require at least a year before it can be properly trained for actual service; a regiment composed of good officers and non-commissioned officers will bear a great augmentation, and three months fit them for service. The misfortune is that at the beginning of this American business there has been an unwillingness to augment the army and navy. I proposed early in 260 GEOBOE THE THIRD'S [1775. the summer the sending beating orders to Ireland ; this was objected to in the Cabinet ; if it had then been adopted, the army would have been at least two or three thousand men stronger at this hour. There is now every means using to compleat the old corps, and I cannot agree to putting additional irons into the fire. As to the proposals transmitted by Mr. Romer, they all end in corps of officers, which cannot be done but by Act of Parliament ; the only idea these Glermans ought to addopt [sic] is the being contractors for raising recruits and fixing the price they will deliver them at Hamburgh, Rotterdam, and any other port they may propose. Mr. Romer seems alone to want to finger English money, but that I think should be prevented by giving no money in hand, but promising to pay lOZ. per man ready money on the recruits being ap- proved by the officers sent to receive them in those ports. In a letter to Lord Nortli, dated August 8, Lord Barrington says, " As it is the measure of Government to have a large army in " North America, it is my duty and inclination to make that " measure succeed to the utmost ; though my opinion always has " been, and still is, that the Americans may be reduced by the fleet, " but never can be by the army." (' Political Life,' p. 159.) The market-style of his Majesty's letter is worth comment — " Con- " tractors," " deliver them at Hamburgh," &c. — and goes far to justify the Kiag of Prussia's practical sarcasm. " It is said that, whenever " any of the newly hired Brunswickers or Hessians had to pass " through any portion of his territory, he claimed to levy on them " the usual toll as for so many head of cattle, since he said they " had been sold as such." (Lord Mahon, vi. p. 87.)° The principal graziers with whom the English Government dealt for military stock were the Luke of Brunswick, the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, the Hereditary Prince of Hesse-Cassel, and subse- " Frederick summed up some shrewd remarks on Britain's quarrel with her colonies in these words : — " Enfin, " Messieurs, je ne comprend pas ces " choses-lk; je n'ai point de colonic; " j'espfere que vous vous tirerez bien " de I'affaire : mais elle me paroit un " peu epineuse." 1770.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 267 quently the Prince of Waldeok. The prices given, as appeared from the copies of the treaties laid before Parliament on the 29th of February in the following year, were as follows : — These potentates stipulated to supply a force of 17,742 men, at the rate of 11. 4s. M. a man ; all extraordinary losses in battle or otherwise to be com- pensated by the King. Each of the noble graziers was to receive in addition an annual subsidy in proportion to the number of men : — the Duke of Brunswick 15,519Z. so long as his troops received pay, and double that sum for two years after ; the Landgrave of Hesse 108,281Z., and also to have twelve months' notice before pay- ment was discontinued after his forces returned to his dominions ; to the Princes of Hesse and Waldeok, who contributed near 700 men each, were assigned 6017Z. The dominions of all were guaranteed against foreign attack, for such time at least as their herds were in foreign parts. Letter 311. ** Kew, September 10th, 1775. 46 min. pt. 9 a.in. Lord North, — It is impossible to draw up a more dutiful and affectionate address than the one from the town of Manchester, which really gives me pleasure, as it comes unsolicited. As you seem desirous that this spirit should be encouraged, I will certainly not object to it, though by fatal experience I am aware that they will occasion counter-petitions. One from the merchants of London, if signed by, a great majority of the most respectable names in the City, I should think highly proper, as that would shew that the Corporation of London have not been actuated by the sense of the merchants who are the respectable part of the metro- polis. If the Opposition is powerful! next session it will much surprize me, for I am fighting the battle of the legislature, therefore have a right to expect an almost unanimous support. If there should arise difficulties they will not dismay me, for I know the uprightness 268 GBOBGE TEE THIBD'S [1775. of my intentions, and therefore am ready to stand every attack of ever so dangerous a kind with the firmness that honesty and an attachment to the constitution will support. If, in addition to the addresses you wish to encourage, the nobility and gentry of property would be persuaded seperately in their parishes to give half of a guinea in addition to the levy-money for the encouragement of each of their parishioners enlisting in the army, that would be doing a real service, and is no more than Lord Shannon, Lord Bellamount, and others are doing in Ireland with much success. The applying to the East India Company to desist for four months would be highly proper, and their agents may certainly be employed in finding recruits for the army. I am much pleased to see such care is taking of the army in America. I desire you will order a list to be made out for me of the various articles of provisions and other necessaries that have been sent thither in the course of the year. I am clear that this is the best time for your going to Somersetshire, and have not the smallest objection to your going there as soon as it may suit your own convenience. Should anything arise that requires your immediate presence a messenger shall in consequence be dispatched. It would appear from an " extempore " in the ' Public Advertiser,' that this " dutiful and affectionate address " came from the Jacobites of Manchester : — " When Manchester people subscribe The GoTernment plans to support. We may venture to swear that a bribe Is never unwelcome at Court. " How strangely in thirty good years May politic changes arise ! Those who felt for their heads or their ears. Begin now to open their eyes." L775.] LETTERS TO LOBD NORTH. 269 It is doubful whietlier these addresses benefited Government in le end. In spite of tlie supineness of Opposition — Lord Eockingham, )r example, taking no pains to obtain one &om the county of York -they procreated counter-addresses in many places, and aroused arty-spirit even in quarters where it had lain hitherto dormant. The ' London Gazette ' contains a pretty accurate list of the idresses to the Crown. Some were claimed by the Court on [ender grounds. Great Yarmouth sent a very thinly-signed one : jynn was said to have presented one, but its members, Crisp lolineux and Thomas Walpole, published a letter denying the ssertion, and maintaining that the war with America was un- opular in that town. Leith and Montrose addressed : Edinburgh nd Glasgow refused, in spite of the efforts and influence of their lembers to obtain an address from either. Among the addresses of the time was one from John Wesley to he colonies, ia which he disapproved of their resistance to England, le saw in the proceedings of Congress a conspiracy against mo- larchy. " No Governments under heaven," he wrote, " are so despotic as the republican ; no subjects are governed in so arbi- trary a manner as those of a commonwealth. The people never ' but once iu all history gave the sovereign power, and that was to Masaniello of Naples. Our sins will never be removed until we ■ fear God and honour the king ! " In believing himself to be " fighting the battle of the legislature," Jeorge the Third was confirmed by the feeliugs and the attitude of lis subjects towards the insurgent colonies. A considerable section ven of the Opposition, though averse from taxing the Americans, .sserted the right of the mother-country to regulate their trade and aanufactures. Writing to Holroyd a month after the date of this etter (14th October), Gibbon says, "Another thing which will ■ please and surprise is, the assurance which I received from a man ' who might tell me a lie, but who could not be mistaken, that no ' arts, no management whatsoever, have been used to procure the ' Addresses which fill the Gazette, and that Lord North was as ■ much surprised at the first that came up " (viz. that from Man- hester) " as we could be at Sheffield. We shall have some brisk ' skirmishing in Parliament, but the business will soon be decided ' by our superior weight of fire." (Misc. Works, vol. i. p. 496, ito. ed.) Addresses were presented from both Universities. At Jambridge the opponents of Government relied on what they termed he Whig character of their body, and entertained hopes that " the ' pride which is sometimes not an useless guardian to virtue, would ' take alarm at their being called upon to play second fiddle to the ' Tory University of Oxford." But notwithstanding every effort, 270 GEOBOE THE THIBD'S [1775. the Address was carried. (See ' Anecdotes of Dr. Watson,' vol. i. pp. 88-94.) His Majesty's wish for an Address from the City, " signed hy " respectable names," was gratified on the 14th of October (see ' Ann. Eegister,' xviii. p. 269), in which " 941 merchants and traders " of the city of London expressed their entire disapprobation and " abhorrence of the unjustifiable proceedings of some of the Ame- " rican colonies." But a more numerously signed Address from the " gentlemen, merchants, and traders of London," testifying their disapprobation and abhorrence of the measures of Government, had been presented on the 1 1th of that month. While Addresses in favour of coercion poured in from all quarters, and were hailed with delight by the Ministers, petitions against it from Bristol, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Wolver- hampton, Dudley, and some other places, were consigned to what the Opposition called the " Committee of Oblivion." Letter 312. * Kew, September 16th, 1775. 43 min. pt. 4 p.m. Lord North,- — The only steps that are as yet neces- sary for you to take concerning the proposed expedition to North Carohna is to-morrow to acquaint the Admi- ralty that transports be prepared for four regiments of infantry of 677 men each ; those for the companies of artillery will be prepared by the Ordnance ; the transports to be at Cork by the second week in De- cember. You should also write a private letter to the Lord- Lieutenant, acquainting him that the 15th and 37th regiments, which were to have remained in Ireland till February, though not on that establishment, are to embark for an expedition by the 12th of December; that the 53rd and o4th regiments are also to be on that service, but the two last will be replaced with two regiments from hence, altho Britain will then have 1775.] LETTEB8 TO LOBD NOBTH. 271 )ut five regiments of foot left in the island ; that this s done to give him every manner of ease ; that the lumber of regiments must probably be diminished in ipring ; it therefore behoves him to get an application br foreign troops to be stationed in Ireland. On the 23rd of November Lord Haroourt brouglit this matter 5efore the Irish House of Gommons, requiring in his Majesty's name WOO troops for the American service to be taken into British pay ; md offering, if it were the desire of Parliament, to replace them by iontinental auxiliaries. The House with reluctance consented to his diminution of their national force ; but, leaving the Ministerial larty in a minority, refused to admit the foreign substitutes. Op- josition made an unsuccessful attempt to obtain an act for embody- ng the militia. Letter 313. Kew, September 19th, 1775. 10 min. pt. 5 p.m. Lord North, — I imagined the drawing up an exact state of what has been transmitted to the troops at Boston would require some time, therefore am not sur- )rised that it is not yet finished. I am sorry the Chairman and Deputy-Chairman have lot yet come to your proposal of stopping recruiting br four months. Recruiting wears a better aspect at )resent,'' and I have now great hopes that by March lear four thousand men will be furnished by Lt.-Col. 5cheither, exclusive of the two batallions of Royal American, which seem now to be getting into some legree of maturity. » "In England," if we may trust [oraoe Walpole (' Last Journals,' vol. p. 500), "the Government [In August] " could not get above 400 recruits ; and " failed in their attempt to raise a regi- '* ment of Irish Catholics." 272 GEOBGE TEE THIRD'S [1775. I shall postpone saying anything farther on the Deanery of Rochester nntill I see you to-morrow, as also on the two plans you have received for furnishing men from Germany. The Eev. Dr. Benjamin Newcombe, Bean of BocJiester, died July 22, and the .Eev. Mr. Thurhw, brother of the Attorney-General, was appointed in his place in October. Letter 314. Kew, September 25th, 1775. 5 min. pt. 10 p.m. Lord North, — The proceedings at Mile-end are very worthy of the conductors of it ; that of Hick's Hall is becoming so respectable a body. I find on Wednesday Sir Eyre Ooote will present an address from the cor- poration of Poole ; are the London merchants so tho- roughly absorbed in their private interests not to feel what they owe to the constitution which has enriched them, that they do not either shew their willingness to support either by an address or, what I should like better, a subscription, to furnish many comforts to the army in America ? September 24. — At a meeting of Middlesex justices, at Hicks' s Hall, it was unanimously agreed to address his Majesty to express their readiness to support such measures as should be thought expedient to reduce the colonies to a proper sense of their duty. 26. — At a meeting of the freeholders of the county of Middlesex, at Mile-end, in order to consider what measures were proper to be adopted in the present crisis, much clamour arose : a set of instruc- tions was produced and read to be presented to the county members ; but a protest was made against them, and very little unanimity was observed throughout the whole. The Sheriflfs differed in opinion, and one of them only, Alderman Plomer, signed all the resolutions. ('Ann. Eegister,' xviii. p. 160.) 1775.] LETTJEBS TO LOBB NOBTH. 273 Burke, a year before the date of this letter, writing to Lord Rockingham, mentions the insensibility of the London merchants as ' of a degree and kind scarcely to be credited. Even those who ' are most likely to be overwhelmed by any real American confusion ' are among the most supine. The character of the Ministry either ' produces or perfectly coincides with the disposition of the public." 'Works and Correspondence,' vol. i. p. 236.) For the langv/yr of the public, see Letter 283 and note.) Letter 315. Kew, October 14th, 177o. 46 inin. pt. 11 a.m. Lord North, — The very agreable opening of the [rish Session of ParHament cannot fail to render the Dpening of the campaign on this side of the water the more prosperous. I enclose the papers regarding the commission of the peace for Montgomery. Mr. Pownall has, I trust, waited upon you with the etters from Nova Scotia. The raising a regular regi- ment merely to serve in that province, and solely at the jommand of the Governor, I think highly objectionable, 3ut a corps under the name of Militia or Provincials, - think may be right if having no higher pay than the •egular troops ; a grant of lands may be held out as a )ait, but they must not have either rank in the army, )r any right to half-pay. The Lord-Lieutenant met the two Houses on the 10th of October. The speech of his Excellency " is given in the ' Annual Eegister,' ;viii. p. 266. He alludes to the rebellion existing in a part of his lajesty's American dominions, relies on the zeal and loyalty of reland, and congratulates both Houses on several laws in the British 'arliament highly beneficial to the commerce, manufactures, and griculture of the sister-island, especially to ■' the Act which extends ' the great advantages of British fisheries to Ireland." The session 274 QEOBOE THE THIRD'S [1775. indeed proved less agreeable than its opening. The exportation of Irish linen for America had heen very considerable, hut now this great source of national wealth was closed, since to export was for- bidden by an extraordinary stretch of the royal prerogative. Again, an embargo was laid on the exportation of provisions to America, and black-cattle fell considerably in value. Tenants in many places were unable to pay rent, and public credit was almost extinct. To the withdrawal of 4000 troops from their country the Irish did not object, but they strongly remonstrated against the introduction of an equal number of foreign troops in their place, and the Commons rejected the proposal by nearly as large a majority as the Govern- ment usually commanded. Money-bills were always a tender point with the Irish Commons ; and they were greatly exasperated about this time by Mr. Eigby, who imprudently declared in the British House of Commons that " the Parliament of Great Britain had a " right to tax Ireland in all cases whatsoever, as well as America. " ' Injuncta imperii munera impigre obeunt, si injurise absint; has " aegre tolerant, jam domiti ut pareant, nondum ut serviant.' " (Tacitus, Agricola, o. 13.) Lettee 316, Kew, October 15th, 1775. 20 min. pt. 4 p.m. Lord North, — Every means of distressing America must meet with my concurrence, as it tends to bringing them to feel the necessity of returning to their duty ; I shall therefore very fully weigh the contents of your letter, and will certainly in the course of to-morrow write you word how far I can by Christmas furnish a corps of 2000 men for a Southern expedition ; more cannot possibly be got together, and certainly Ireland must in that case chiefly contribute. I have signed the two warrants. Gibbon to Holroyd on the 14th of October writes, — " The new " levies go on very slowly in Ireland. The Dissenters, both here " and there, are violent and active." He refers also in the same L775.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 276 itter to " some vague but serious conversation about calling out the militia ;" and to " a piece, of intelligence from the best au- thority " that King George, in consequence of some very plain ivances, with his own hand wrote a very polite epistle to Sister itty, requesting her friendly assistance. " Any force between five and twenty thousand men, carte hlanche for the terms," on mdition of serving " not as auxiliaries, but as mercenaries," and la-t " the Eussian general should be absolutely under the command of the British." We shall find, in the letter of November .3, !ing George far from pleased with Sister Kitty's answer. Letter 317. * Kew, October 16th, 1775. 11 o'clock. Lord North, — I have very maturely weighed the dvantages of a winter expedition against the four outhern colonies of North America, and the great iifficulties of assembling 2000 men for that service, but he former is so very material that I am ready to give lirections for the 15th and 37th regiments of infantry leing ordered to embark in the second week in De- ember ; they are not part of the 12,000 men to remain Q Ireland, and would probably have embarked in j'ebruary for America : weak as we are in regiments if infantry in Britain, two regiments shall at that time le sent to Ireland to replace the 53rd and 54th regi- aents, which shall also go on this expedition, being text regiments for foreign service. The 15th, 37th, 53rd, and 54th regiments shall from he recruits raised in Ireland be compleated to 677 each. ["wo companies of artillery must be sent with them, ind eight battalion guns. Sir Eyre Coote, who has listino-uished himself on service, shall have the com- nand when the service is over : he, being a junior leneral to those in America, will join the army when his service is effected. T 2 276 GEOBGE TEE THIRD'S [1775. I am clear the first attempt should be made on North Carolina, as the Highland settlers are said to be well inclined ; they ought to be oflfered grants of lands in the same manner as those raised by Maclean, to be looked on as provincial corps, whilst employed to have the same pay as the regular troops, one corps to remain in the province when the regiments go to the other colonies ; Virginia may also be thus defended. If Coote can raise recruits on the same terms for the army in America, he ought to avail himself of the opportunity. As to the raising a corps of Highlanders, I will fully weigh the measure, and on Wednesday give you my sentiments on that subject. P.S. When the two regiments are sent in December to Ireland there will remain in Britain but four bat- tallions ; though I have great respect for the militia, I think nothing but the present moment could defend the weakening the country so much, and I greatly prefer the calling out the militia to raising new corps. " That North Carolina could te held in obedience through a part " of its own people was believed in England on the authority of its " Governor. With the utmost secrecy the King sent over Allan " Maclean (see Letter 286) of Torloish, to entice to the royal standard " the Highlanders of the old forty-seventh regiment now settled in " that province." (Bancroft, 'Hist, of the United States,' vi. p. 176.) Letter 318. Kew, October 23rd, 1775. 48 min. pt. 1 p.m. Lord North, — The preparing the Lord in Waiting to refuse introducing the petition of the Provincial Con- gress of Georgia, as coming from a body I cannot 1775.] LETT BBS TO LOBD NORTH. 277 acknowledge, is perfectly right, and the treating all Provincial and General Congresses in that manner for the future will be proper. The accession of Georgia, much desired and long delayed, enabled the insurgents thenceforward to speak in the name of the Thirteen United Colonies. " The skirmish at Lexington became known in " Savannah on the 10th of May, and added Georgia to the Union. " At that time she had about seventeen thousand white inhabitants " and fifteen thousand Africans. Her frontier, which extended from " Augusta to St. Mary's, was threatened " by tribes of Indians who might at any moment become allies of England. " But danger could " not make her people hesitate." On the King's birthday the Georgian patriots erected a liberty-pole, "as if to express the wish " still to combine allegiance to the King with their devotion to " American liberty." (Bancroft, vi. p. 211.) Letter 319, * Queen's House, October 25th, 1775. 2 min. pt. 11 a.m. Lord North, — On the receipt of your letter I have ordered Elliot's regiment to march from Henley to Hounslow, and the Horse and Grenadier Guards to take up their horses. -These handbills are certainly spread to cause terror, but they may in the timid Duke I saw yesterday, but I thank God I am not of that make. I know what my duty to my country makes me undertake, and threats cannot prevent me from doing that to the fullest extent. " On the 23rd of October thousands of incendiary papers were ■ disnersed, inciting the people to rise and prevent the meeting of • Parliament. On this the guard was trebled, and their muskets ■ loaded, and thirty-six rounds of powder delivered to them. At ■ the same time papers, telling the people how well the Court was ' prepared, signed by Sir John Hawkins, Chairman of the Bench ' of Westminster Justices, were spread abroad. These rumours 278 GEOBGE THE THIBD'S [1775. " gathered an immense multitude of people together on the 26th, " but everything passed very quietly." Horace Walpole, ' Last Journals,' vol. i. p. 510. " The timid Duke " is the Duke of Grafton, who had an audience of his Majesty on the 24th of October, to acquaint him with his dissent from the American measures of Government. Letter 320. * Queen's House, October 25th, 1775. 40 min. pt. 11 p.m. Lord North, — You have omitted enclosing Lord Sandwich's letter, but I am clear the relanding the regiments is very proper, and the making the expe- dition ° in December consequently consist of seven regi- ments. You will therefore take care that no time is lost in dispatching a messenger for this purpose to Ireland. Parliament reassembled on the 26th of October. Its early meeting was accounted for in the speech from the ITirone by the situation of American affairs. Heavy complaints were made in it of the misrepresentations employed by the leaders of Opposition in the colonies to delude the minds of the people. The views of the Home-government were stated to be — to undeceive rather than punish the insurgents, who had usurped the powers of that govern- ment, and were now in arms against its just authority. Some of the preceding letters show that every available soldier was being shipped for America, and that mercenaries were being actively and expensively engaged. In the Speech, however, it was pretended that small forces only were sent, and that propositions of a con- ciliatory nature accompanied them. The spirit of the British nation, it alleged, was too high and its resources were too great for it tamely to forego what had been gained at a cost of so much blood and treasure ; and clemency, no less than policy, demanded a full exertion of aU the national powers. Allusion was made to the increase of land and sea forces, and to the garrisoning of Gibraltar • To North Carolina. 1775.] LETTEBS TO LOEB NOBTE. 279 and Port Mahon by Hanoverian troops. On tlie condition of sub- mission on their part, promises were held out to the colonies of pardon in such manner and to such persons as the English Govern- ment might deem worthy of it, and assurances were given of the friendly disposition of foreign powers, &c. &c. An abridgment of this gracious and comfortable Speech may be read in the ' Annual Eegister,' xix. p. 55, foil. The vague promises of pardon on condition of submission may remind the reader of very similar promises held out by Charles I. while at Oxford to the Commons and people of England, and were scarcely consistent with the preparations for war by the mother -country, or the King's own words in Letter 316, that " every means of distressing America must " meet with his concurrence," or with those in the Speech terming the insurgents an " unhappy and deluded multitude," who must be made sensible of their error by means of the forces directed against them. As for the friendly assurances from foreign powers — France was awaiting the opportunity for compensating herself for her hu- miliation and sacrifices in 1763 ; the King of Prussia was nursing his wrath at the withdraVal of his pension in 1762; Spain was brooding over her losses in the last war with England; Eussia refused her aid ; and the only " friendly power," Austria, was unable to second her good will by acts. It may be interesting, before we proceed to the following letters of this year, to see what a philosophical historian thought of the controversy between England and America. Hume, it appears, had been asked to draw up an address to the King on that subject for the county of Eenfrew. He proceeds," after refu.siag, in these words : — " I am an American in my principles, and wish we would let them " alone to govern or misgovern themselves as they think proper. " The affair is of no consequence, or little consequence, to us. If " the county of Eenfrew think it indispensably necessary for them " to interpose in public matters, I wish they would advise the " King first to punish those insolent rascals in London and Middle- " sex, who daily insult him and the whole legislature, before he •' thinks of America. Ask him how he can expect that a form of •• government will maintain an authority at 3000 miles distance, ■' when it cannot make itself be respected or even be treated with ■' common decency at home? Tell him that Lord North, though in " appearance a worthy gentleman, has not a head for these great ' operationii, and that, if fifty thousand men and twenty millions of ' money were intrusted to such a lukewarm coward as Gage, they ' could never produce any efi'ect. These are objects worthy of the Letter to Baron Mure, Oct. l!?, 1775, 'Caldwell Papers,' vol. ii. ]>i,. 2, p. 259. 280 GEOBGE THE THIBD'S [1775. " respectable coTinty of Eenfrew, not mauling the poor mifortTinate " Americans in the other hemisphere." Eobertson, writing at nearly the same time, is not " an American" like his brother-historian, but he detects the final purpose of the insurgents, and insinuates the incompetency of the home-govern- ment at this crisis. In a letter, dated October 6, 1775, he says," — " I agree with you in sentiment about the affairs of America. " Incapacity or want of information has led the people employed " there to deceive Ministry. Trusting to them, they have been " trifling for two years, when they should have been serious, until " they have rendered a very simple piece of business extremely per- " plexed. They have permitted colonies disjoined by nature and " situation to consolidate into a regular systematic confederacy ; " and when a few regiments stationed in each capital would have " rendered it impossible for them to take arms, they have suffered " them quietly to levy and train forces, as if they had not known " and seen against whom they were prepared. Prom the beginning " of the contest I have always asserted that independence was their " object. The distinction between taxation and regulation is mere " folly. There is not an argument against our right to tax, that " does not conclude with tenfold force against our power of regu- " lating their trade. They may profess or disclaim what they " please, and hold the language that best suits their purpose ; but " if they have any meaning, it must be that they should be free " states, connected with us by blood, by habit, and by religion, but " at liberty to buy and sell and trade where and with whom they " please. This they will one day attain, but not just now, if there " be any degree of political wisdom or vigour remaining. At the same " time one cannot but regret that prosperous, growing states should " be checked in their career. As a lover of mankind, I bewail it; " but as a subject of Great Britain, I must wish that their de- " pendence on it should continue. If the wisdom of Government can " terminate the contest with honour instantly, that would be the " most desirable issue. This, however, I take to be now impossible ; " and I will venture to foretell, that, if our leaders do not at once " exert the power of the British empire in its full force, the struggle " will be long, dubious, and disgraceful. We are past the hour of " lenitives and half exertions. If the contest be protracted, the " smallest interruption of the tranquillity that now reigns ia " Europe, or even the appearance of it, may be fatal." » See Dugald Stewart's Account of the Life and Writings of Robertson, pre- fixed to the Hist, of Scotland. 1775.] LETTERS TO LOBD NOBTH. 281 Letter 321. Queen's House, October 28th, 1775. 25 min. pt. 7 a.m. Lord North, — I am sorry to find that the House has been again kept sitting so very late"' the last night. I shall very willingly receive the House of Commons at half- hour past two this day, in consequence of which I desire you will give the necessary notice to the Comptroller of the Household. I desire you will be before two at St. James's with the answer to the Address, as I am most anxious to have half-an-hour's conversation with you previous to the visit you are to have this evening. " Some men,'' observes Lord Mahoii (vi. p. 71), " were not wanting, " even among tlie King's official servants, to discern tlie danger of " so extreme a course " as tliat propounded in the recent speech from the Throne. " That document had been prepared with no " common care. It began by inveighing against the ' desperate "conspiracy' and 'general revolt' in Korth America. It called " for decisive exertions, announcing a large increase both in the " land and sea forces, and consequently greater estimates.'' Among those who advocated milder measures was the Duke of Grafton. " In the month of August he had vsrritten to Lord North " warmly urging the necessity of a reconciliation with America. " Lord North did not reply for seven weeks ; when he did, it was " by enclosing a draft of the King's intended Speech.'' Hereupon " the Duke came to town and resigned his post as Privy Seal. In " the audience which he had of the King, as he tells us in his " Memoirs, he ventured to avow his apprehensions. ' I added that, " deluded themselves, his Ministers were deluding his Majesty. The " King vouchsafed to debate the matter much at large ; he in- " formed me that a large body of German troops was to join our » Debate in tbe Commons oa the Addi ess of Thanks, October 26-7. ' Pari. Hist.' xviii. pp. 774-95. The House sat till past four in the morning, when the Address was carried by 278 to 108. In the course of the debate Mr. Sawbridge declared that he had received instruc- tions from his constituents to impeach the Ministers. Lord North is said to have exhibited much alarm. >> The letter of Lord North to the Duke of Grafton, dated October 20, 1775, will be found in the Appendix to the 6th volume of Lord Mahon's History, p. xxxii. 282 GEORGE THE THIBD'S [1775. " forces, and appeared astonished when I answered earnestly that " his Majesty would find too late that twice that number would " only increase the disgrace, and never effect his purpose.' " (Comp. Massey, 'Hist, of England,' ii. p. 198.) " The Duke of Grafton," says Mr. Adolphus (ii.p. 290), " appears " to have been always disposed to repeal the American tea-duty," " although he continued in Administration when that measure was " rejected. On the first day of the session he opposed the Address : " in a short period he resigned the Privy Seal. General Conway' " also abandoned the cause of Administration, but was not removed " from the government of Jersey." Letter 322. * Queen's House, November 3rd, 1775. " 2 min. pt. 8 p.m. Lord North, — The arrival of the messenger from Russia with the answer of the Empress to my letter at the same time yonr note came containing the very handsome majority, prevented my then just acknow- ledging the receipt of it. The fate of yesterday will assist in, I hope shorten, the debates on America, for the House cannot possibly hear the same speeches so frequently repeated, or the House of Commons must be composed of more politeness than formerly. The letter of the Empress is a clear refusal, and not in so genteel a manner as I should have thought might have been expected from her. She has not had the civility to answer in her own hand, and has thrown out some expressions that may be civil to a Eussian ear, but certainly not to more civilised ones. I am curious to know whether the D. of Grafton, as his speeches in Parliament daily become more hostile, does not yet feel that it is at least most to his own credit ' See Mr. Fox's Speech ia the House of Commons, 20th Dec. 1775. '' Secretary of State for the Northern Department. 1775.] LETTERS TO LOBD NOBTH. 283 to resign his employment ; if not, you must certainly feel that I cannot let many days more elapse before I send for his seal. Compare Letter 316, note. The messenger from Eussia was expected earlier, namely, on the 22nd of October ; and the meeting of Parliament was consequently deferred until the 26th. The application for Eussian soldiers — 20,000 was the number stated — was known in Prance by the beginning of September. It was said also that the Empress spoke very fair, but demurred to the number required. On the 14th of October Gibbon wrote to Holroyd, — "When the Eussians arrive " (if they refresh themselves in England or Ireland), vtIU you go " and see their camp ? we have great hopes of getting a body of " these barbarians. Full powers and instructions were sent to " Gunning to agree for any force between five and twenty thousand " men, carte hlanche for the terms ; on condition, however, that they " should serve, not as auxiliaries, but as mercenaries, and that the " Eussian general should be absolutely under the command of the " British. They daily and hourly expect a messenger, and hope " to hear that the business is concluded." " Sister Kitty " may have been offended by the terms " not " auxiliaries, but mercenaries." The Duke of Grafton resigned the Privy Seal on the 9 th of this month. His retirement gave rise to several changes in the Cabinet. Lord Dartmouth succeeded the Duke ; and the American Secretary- ship, which he had held since 1772, was bestowed on Lord George Germaiue. Another of the Secretaries of State, Lord Eoohford, was replaced by Lord Weymouth. All these changes in Administration were indicative of increasing animosity towards the Americans. Lord Weymouth, one of the ablest of the Bedford party, resumed the office which he had held a few years previously; and Lord Lyttelton, who had lately distinguished himself by the violence of his denunciations against the rebellious colonists, was added to the Cabinet CounoU, and appointed to the office of Chief-Justice in Eyre beyond Trent. Administration gained, or rather, for a time, fixed on their side, a florid, ready, and eloquent speaker ; but his versa- tility and caprice rendered his abilities often useless. (Massey, ii. p. 199; Adolphus, ii. p. 292; 'Ann. Eegister,' xviii. p. 204; and for a running comment on these changes in the Cabinet, Horace Walpole, ' Last Journals,' vol. i. p. 519.) 284 GEOBQE THE THIBD'S [1775. Letter 323. * Kew, November 4th, 1 775. 25 min. pt. 2 p.m. Lord North, — The division yesterday was a very good one. I am surprised the Opposition did not take the same_ words proposed in the House of Lords, which seemed oflfensive enough, but that they chose to call the measure contrary to law. Division on tlie debate on Sir James Lowther's motion, "That " the introducing the Hanoverian troops into any part of the " dominions belonging to the Crown of Great Britain without " the consent of Parliament first had and obtained is contrary to " law" — ^majority for Ministers 122 (203 — 81). In the debate in the Lords, Xov. 1, on "employing foreign troops without the con- " sent of Parliament," the Duke of Manchester moved that the bringing into any part of the dominions of Great Britain the Electoral troops of His Majesty, or any other foreign troops, without the previous consent of Parliament, is dangerous and unconstitu- tional. Majority for Ministers, 22 : Contents, 31 ; Non-contents, 53. 'Pari. Hist.,' xviii. pp. 798 foil., 846-859. There seems to have been a lurking jealousy of North Britain at this time' among Englishmen, even as there was in 1760. " I under- " stand," writes Lord Mountstuart to Baron Mure, Nov. 1, 1776, " it is " proposed' to send the English militia, when rais'd (that is to say, so " many regiments), to garrison Scotland. Cannot the Scotch defend " themselves ? I hope to hear from you soon that the Poker Club ' " is revived. I have of my own accord taken a resolution to move " for leave to bring in a Bill to raise the Scotch militia ; thinking " that, when a Bill is passing to empower the King to raise the " English, is the lucky moment for such an attempt, and which, if " not laid hold of, such a scheme will be for ever lost. I have " gained many of the Opposition to support me, and, what is more, " I have gained Lord North ; but I find a lukewarmness in my own " countrymen. Surely that noble spirit which broke out when the ■ The Poker Club was instituted in 17ii2, at a time when Scotland was rtifused a militia, and thought herself affronted by the refusal. The name of the club, " The Poker," was chosen from a quaint sort of allusion to the principles it was originally meant to excite ; as a club to stir up the fire and spirit of the nation. — Mackenzie's ' Life of John Home,' p. 26. 1775.] LETTEBS TO LOBB NOBTE. 285 " last attempt was made is not totally extinguished." ' Caldwell Papers,' vol. ii. pt. 2, p. 264. " The Scotcli faction," says Horace Walpole, " was outrageous at Lord North's indolence, and were for " pushing on the war with the utmost violence." ' Last Journals,' vol. i. p. 519. Letter 324. * Eew, November 6th, 1775. 50 min. pt. 5 p.m. Lord North, — Since you left me this day, I have received inteUigence that, if the Privy Seal is not con- ferred on Lord "Weymouth, he will think himself hardly treated, and will certainly resign his employment, which will certainly much affect Lord Grower" and the rest of his particular friends, and probably make them less zealous. I think this so very material, that I would not lose a moment in communicating it to you. The good sense of Lord Dartmouth will, I trust, engage him to heal all differences. Many that have held the office of Groom of the Stole have attended the Cabinet meet- ings, particularly the late Lord Pembroke.'' I would propose he should attend them ; and unless Lord Wey- mouth should apply for it, I do not think of calling him to meetings. Indeed, Lord Weymouth having been told that he should hold the Gold Key only till another office more to his mind became vacant, seems to give him a prior right to any other person. If I thought Lord Dartmouth in the least lessened by this arrange- ment, I would be the last person to wish it. « Lord Gower, like Lord Weymouth, was one of the Bedford- Whigs. ^ Lord Pembroke was Groom of the Stole from Jan. 9, 1735, to 1750. 286 GEOBGE TEE THIBB'S [1775. Letter 325. * Kew, NoTember 7th, 1775. 22 min. pt. 4 p.m. Lord North, — The account you have sent me gives me infinite concern ; and if Lord Dartmouth would one moment permit his own amiable temper to examine the state of affairs coolly, he would certainly deem the office of Grroom of the Stole equally honourable with that of Privy Seal ; they have ever been esteemed so, and, when called to the effective Cabinet, is certainly so. After matters have so far advanced with Lord Greorge Germain, the leaving the American Department in Lord Dartmouth's hands would be very unpleasant. I feel the evil of either disobliging Lord Dartmouth, Lord Weymouth, or Lord George, and therefore hope the former, as the most cool, will reconsider it ; at all events you shall find me ready to take any step to extricate you from difficulty. You are my sheet anchor, and your ease and comfort I shall in the whole transaction try to secure. As to your offer, it is most handsome, but I can ■ never consent to it ; the profits and honour of your employment are in the best hands, and I shall be glad when opportunities occurr of your acquiring some of the solid advantages for your family. Letter 326. * Kew, November 7th, 1775. 2 min. pt. 9 p.m. Lord North, — Though my finances are in a very disgraceful situation, yet the desire I have to make the situation you are in hapjiy, I cannot require one minute's time for consideration, but most willingly consent to 1775.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 287 give Lord Rochford a pension of 2500^. per annum, and to assure him that at the first Chapter of the G-arter I will confer that Order on him. I have long had some idea of conveying some ideas on the subject to you for consideration. This will vaoat fsic] the Southern Seals. The Southern Secretary ; your letter mentions the Northern Secretary ; does Lord Suffolk wish to change Departments ? if he does, he undoubtedly shall change. In that case Lord Dartmouth or Lord Weymouth to be Secretary of State. The other arrangements I also approve of, particularly Lord Ashburnham" for Groom of the Stole, as I think him, without comparison, the fittest person for the employment of any person in the House of Lords. What you mention of my kindness is agreable to me, and indeed honourable to you, as the affectionate regard I have for you arises from the very handsome conduct you have held when others shamefully deserted my ser- vice. I think the present arrangement will in every light greatly strengthen our hands. Letter 327. * Queen'a House, November 8th, 1775. 2 min. pt. 6 p.m. Lord Nokth, — I found Lord Weymouth as willing to accommodate as you had represented him, and therefore told him that made me the more willing to oblige him ; he upon that decided for the Privy Seal, which gave me the more pleasure as, after what had past with the Spanish ambassador, his being one of the Secretaries of State would not have been desirable. Lord Suffolk has wrote to me desiring to remain in the Northern Depart- » " A Court cipher," according to Walpole. ' Last Journals,' vol. i. p. .520. 288 OEOBGE THE THIBD'S [1775. ment. You will therefore acquaint Lord Dartmouth that I shall conferr the Seals of the Southern Depart- ment on him to-morrow, and give notice to Lord Eochford to send them in a box to me, as he is too ill to come out, and appoint Lord Germain to receive those of the American Department. Lord Gower must attend, that the new Privy Seal and Lord George Germain may be sworn in. You ought to know from the lawyers whether Lord Dartmouth must take the oath again ; I should believe not, as the oath of office is the same. Letter 328. Queen's House, November 9th, 1775. 8 min. pt. 8 a.m. Lord North, — The very handsome division on the voting the army last night hath given me much plea- sure, as it shows the sense of the House of Commons that we must with vigour pursue the means of bringing the deluded Americans to a sense of their duty. Deliate in the Commons on tlie Army Estimates. The Com- mittee of Supply divided on the first resolution. Ayes, 227 ; Noes, 73. Letter 329. Queen's House, November 9th, 1773. Lord North, — After what past yesterday between Lord "Weymouth and me, I am engaged to him, and therefore have it not in my power to advise Lord Weymouth to consent to the other arrangement ; besides, after what has been said, I am certain he would not be interiorly pleased, and therefore that we shall 1775.J LETTEES TO LOBB NOBTE. 289 not see the harmony that will be found if he is Privy Seal. Lord Dartmouth I cannot say has been in the least accommodating ; and I will fairly as a friend tell you the reason ; he is certainly actuated by some person that does not appear to think that he by the instigation of Lord Suffolk is to be removed from the American Department. This hurts his pride, and is the cause of all this perplexity ; for, as a sensible man, he cannot otherways be so foolishly attached to the office of Privy Seal. I offered him G-room of the Stole, which is equal in profit and ease to that of Privy Seal ; that he de- clined. I now get Lord Rochford, much against his inclination, though coming friendly into the arrange- ment, to retire, that Lord Dartmouth may be Secretary of State for the Southern Department, and now he is as little satisfied ; indeed, my dear Lord, this is carrying obstinacy greatly too far. Lord Weymouth and the Court of Spain cannot pleasantly transact business ; LordGreorge Germain cannot treat with the Continent ;'■ therefore let Lord Dartmouth either be Secretary of State for the Southern Department, or take the office of Q-room of the Stole, or take the pension and leave Lord Eochford in his office. It is too much when all things seemed well settled to have them disturbed by the absurdity of one individual, who, abstracted from his conduct on this occasion, I really respect, and trust that in this affair he is guided by others, not his own senti- ments. Indeed, I believe he has that regard for me that when he knows that I was engaged to Lord Wey- mouth prior to his application, and that every subsequent step hath been alone taken to oblige him, he cannot ■ Lord Weymouth could not transact business pleasantly with the Spanish Court because of the part he had taken in the business of the Falkland Islands, 1770 ; and the " hero of Minden " was not forgotten " on the Continent." VOL. I. tr 290 GEOBGE THE THIRD'S [1775. continue so obdurate. The office offered to him is every way superior to the one he quits, therefore no one can be surprised at his accepting of it. Letter 330. St. James's, November 9th, 1775. 55 min. pt. 1 p.m. My dear Lord, — Nothing has given me more pain in the whole puzzle than the seeing you perplexed. I have tried to be as accommodating as honour would allow me ; I remain in the same inclination, and there- fore, provided I feel my own conduct correct, I can have no predilection to one mode of disposing of the vacant offices to another. I have given my word yesterday to Lord Weymouth that I will this day conferr [sic] the Privy Seal on him ; the mode of releasing me of this must be your getting him (who has, except yourself, acted the only proper part) to come and desire me, from the difficulty that has arisen, to let him be Secretary of State. You see this attains the end you wish, but at the same time it makes my line the proper one. I desire you will not think of coming out ; if you will instantly send to Lord Weymouth, this may be arranged this day, provided I receive Lord Eochford's Seals. Letter 331. Queen's House, November 9th, 1775. 35 min. pt. 10 p.m. Lord North, — This evening I have received a letter from Lord Eochford expressing his being too weak to attend to-morrow with the Seals, and desiring the change may be postponed till Monday. I think delays 1775.] LETTERS TO LOBD NOBTH. 291 are improper ; and as I am to give the American Seals on Saturday, I think of desiring Lord Rochford to put his Seals in a box, and then I can conferr them to- morrow, as was settled this day, on Lord Weymouth. If you agree with me in opinion, I shall on the receipt of your answer write accordingly to Lord Rochford. Lord Gower must be desired by you to summon a Privy Council for to-morrow to administer the oaths of office to Lord Dartmouth and Lord Weymouth. Letter 332. Queen's House, November 10th, 1775. 25 min. pt. M. Lord North, — On the receipt of your letter I am clear that it is l^est to delay the arrangement untill Monday, for Lord Weymouth must receive the Seals as early as Lord Dartmouth gets the Privy Seal. I desire you' will therefore on the immediate receipt of this write a note to Lord Weymouth acquainting him that Lord Rochford has desired to deliver up the Seals in person on Monday, that therefore no part of the arrangement can take place till that day. Letter 333. Queen's House, November 10th, 1775. 12 min. pt. 7 p.m. Lord North, — By the votes I see you have not been detained as expected this day. I shall go early to- morrow morning into the country, and hope to learn from you on Monday that Lord Ashburnham " has been » Lord Ashbumbam, on the 1 8th of this month, was gazetted as Groom of the stole and first Gentleman of the Bedchamber to His Majesty. U 2 292 GEOBGE THE THIBB'S [1775. plagued untill he acquiesces to what is so suitable to my service. I fear you was too mild with him this day ; let Mr. "Williams not give him any rest untill he complies. I have found Lord Dartmouth thoroughly sensible of your friendship ; till I had left no remains of suspicion on his mind I did not think the business of the arrange- ment compleat. I have this evening wrote to Lord Barrington con- cerning the corps to be raised by M.-Gr. Fraser," and have answered that you will not object to any reason- able levy-money, that the only object worth attention is the compleating the corps in a short time with good men. Letter 334. Kew, November 11th, 1775. 1 min. pt. 6 p.m. Lord North,— The changing Lieut.-Ool. Scheither's contract to 107. per man is undoubtedly preferable to the mode he had at first ; but I cannot think of erecting under him a nominal Electoral corps ; that has so much the appearance of a cheat that I cannot lend my name to it. The laws of Grermany are very strong against foreign recruiting ; I cannot therefore as Elector go farther than permitting Scheither to contract with England, and to furnish places where the recruits may be secured ; this is the line I first mentioned to you, and from it I cannot depart. This is a fresh scheme of that gentleman, who has always some private end to answer ; he need not go far for recruits, as the " For Major-General Fraser, see note to Letter 212. 1775.] LETTERS TO LOBD NOBTH. 293 moment he acts openly he may have as many Hessians and Brunswickers as he pleases ; his having already assembled 200 men is a clear proof that he need not be hatching any novelties to obtain the 4000 he contracts to raise. I shall very carefully read the pamphlet you have sent. Letter 335. * Kew, November 12th. 2 min. pt. 7 p.m. Lord North, — The having brought Lord Ashburnham to take the posts he is so very fit to fill is a proof of the assiduity Mr. Williams has employed. You will appoint Lord Ashburnham to be at St. James's this day, when I shall give him the gold key. I have no objection to the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel and the Duke of Brunswick being addressed for troops to serve in America ; the former may perhaps be per- suaded, but the latter I should think will decline ; but the Duke's troops certainly shewed so much want of courage the late war, that I think Carleton, who can have but a small number of British troops, ought to have the Hessians. General Howe's reinforcement must be additional men, not corps; and I trust from Grermany we shall acquire men enough to compleat fully his army, which will of course be encreased by the seven regiments now going to the South, and the 6th Eegiment from the West Indies. The enclosed bears strong marks of authenticity ; indeed the contents of it are undoubtedly agreable to the sentiments of the Americans. It is from hence 294 GEOBGE THE TRIBB'S [1775. I have always feared a commission not likely to meet with success, yet I think it right to be attempted, whilst every act of vigour is unremittedly carrying on. Colonel Faucitt, mentioned in Letter 337, was tlie agent to Hesse Cassel and Brunswick. In November, 1775, he received the fol- lowing instructions from Lord Sufiblk : — " Your point is to get as " many as you can : I own to you my own hopes are not very " sanguine in the business you are going upon : therefore, the less " you act ministerially before you see a reasonable prospect of suo- " oeeding, the better. Get as many men as you can ; it will be '■ much to your credit to procure the most moderate terms, though " expense is not so much the object in the present emergency as in " ordinary cases. Great activity is necessary, as the King is ex- " tremely anxious ; and you are to send one or two messengers " from each place, Brunswick and Cassel, the moment you know " whether troops can be procured or not, without waiting for the " proposal of terms." Faucitt, having received his instructions from Lord Suffolk, left Stade on the 24th of November, but, owing to the badness of the roads and the darkness of the nights, did not arrive at Brunswick until the 29th. There he dealt with the hereditary Prince Ferdinand, George the Third's brother-in-law, who persuaded his father Charles, the reigning Duke, to part with some of his troops. His poverty indeed, rather than his will, consented ; for Charles was as fond of drilling and reviewing his little army as the Prussian Frederic William was of inspecting his gigantic regiments. Three hundred light dragoons, which were not wanted, were added to " the 4000 recruits" required by the King. Faucitt, " rather than " appear difficult,'' took them into his contract. There was a good deal of chaffering before the terms were settled finally. Sixty German dollars for each man were demanded as levy-money; inHeu of which, rather more than half of that sum was accepted. Every soldier who should be killed was to be paid for at the rate of the levy-money, and three wounded men were to be reckoned as one killed. Two months' pay was advanced to the troops after some grumbling on the part of the Duke and his son, who demanded originally three months' pay before a soldier stirred. The annual subsidy was fixed, after two days' wrangling, at 64,500 German crowns from the date of the signature of the contract, and twice that sum was covenanted to be paid for two years after the return of the troops to their own country. The parade-loving Duke and Prince Ferdinand were not particular 1775.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTH. 295 about tteir goods being all according to sample. Two of the battalions were answerable to contract : but the rest were Tcidnapped \)y crimps where they could get them, and were in many instances little better than Falstaff's recruits. Altogether Brunswick, during the war, furnished for the British service 5723 men, or such as passed muster for men. The Brunswickers were commanded by Von Eiedesel, a colonel in Duke Charles's service, who now received the rank of major-general. In the choice of him the King was fortunate, for Von Eiedesel was an honourable man as well as an experienced and enterprisiag officer. The Landgrave of Hesse Cassel, Frederick II., had married Mary, fifth daughter of George 11., and was consequently uncle by mar- riage to George III. Her the Landgrave treated with the grossest brutality, as was the conjugal fashion of most German princes at the time. Colonel Faucitt found in Landgrave Frederick a harder chapman to deal with than either Duke Charles or Ferdinand his son. There was indeed no difficulty in persuading him to furnish troops. He even affected a conscience in the matter. He professed a strong desire to help his nephew in forcing the rebels back to their duty ; at one time spoke of leading himself those whom he called " his fellow-soldiers." Not only did he set at a usurious price the pounds of flesh he offered to the English government, but he opened an old account for hospital disbursements during the last war, and it was paid him, though it had already been liquidated. So pressing however was the demand for the American war, that 40,000Z. was considered of little moment by those who were bent on prosecuting it. The levy-money was nomiually the same with that agreed upon with Brunswick, but actually was more ; for as it was to be paid for the officers as well as for the rank and file, the Landgrave had an advantage of twenty per cent. It would occupy far m( 're space than this note already has filled to recount the further exactions of this grasping potentate. It seems that besides the gift of avarice he had that also of wrath in an extraordinary measure, and on this his minister Schliessen traded in bargaining with Colonel Faucitt. Like Gloster, in ' Lear,' he urged "the fiery quality of the" Landgrave, — " How unremoveable and fix'd he was In his own course," — and he appears to have scared the King's agent out of his wits, so that he subscribed to every article in the bond — aa enormous subsidy being one of the covenants therein made and provided. See Bancroft, 'Hist, of U. S.,' voL vii. p. 157 foil. The King, as the event proved, augured rightly about the com- 296 GEOBGE TEE THIBB'S [1775. mission, but his anticipation was probaHy suggested \ry his known reluctance to treat with his rebellious subjects. By the Prohibitory Bill " in its last, and, in design at least, its more conciliatory clause, " the King was authorized to send to America Commissioners selected " by himself with great, nay, it might almost be said, unlimited " authority. They were to grant pardons and inquire into griev- " ances ; they were to have the sole power of judging whether the " whole or any part of any colony showed a disposition to return to " its allegiance, and, on their so declaring it, the restrictions of the " Bill as applied to that colony, or part of a colony, were at once to " cease. Such then, after so many previous failures, was the new '' legislative weapon hurled against America. As Burke some time " afterwards said, bitterly indeed but most truly, ' It affords no '■ matter for very pleasing reflection to observe that our subjects " diminish as our laws increase.' " ' Letter 336. *Kew, November 13tli, 1775. 58 min. pt. 8 p.m. LoKD North, — The debate this day I owne does not surprize me, as Opposition chuse to object to every mea- sure that is proposed. The majority is so very great, that I should imagine it will render the battles less frequent ; but success must not render us inattentive, for Opposition will watch every opportunity to give trouble. Debate in the Commons on raising the land-tax to four- shillings in the pound. Lord North, urging the necessity of quelling the disturbances in America, and then the propriety of applying to the landed gentry for their support at a time when the other re- sources of the state were incompetent to the purpose, moved that the land-tax for 1776 be four shillings in the pound. Sir GeArge Yonge moved an amendment that it should be three shillings instead of four. The majority against the amendment was 136 (182 — 47). Lord Camden, writing to Lord Chatham on February 12th, 1775, says, — " I am grieved to observe that the landed interest is almost • Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol, 1777. 1775.] LETTERS TO LOUD NORTH. 297 " altogether anti- American, though, the common people hold the " war in abhorrence, and the merchants and tradesmen for ohvious " reasons are altogether against it. Nevertheless my opinion of the " justice and the success of it is precisely the same, and does not " yield to the majority within doors, or the powerful assent without." ('Chatham Correspondence,' iv. p. 401.) Letter 337. * Kew, November 14th, 1775. 10 min. pt. 2 p.m. Lord North, — I sent last week orders to the Regency and to Field-Mareshal Sporken that Scheither should be permitted to contract with Colonel Faucitt for raising 4000 recruits for G-reat Britain, and that Stade and Nieuburgh should be the two garrisons where the re- cruits should be closely kept. These orders are certainly arrived this day ; but to prevent any mistakes, I will have a fresh copy sent by the messenger this night. The laws of Grermany are so clear against emigration, that I certainly in going thus far have done as much as I possibly can in my Electoral capacity •, the giving commissions to officers, or any other of the proposals that have been made, I can by no means consent to, for they in plain English are turning me into a kidnapper, which I cannot think a very honourable occupation. Whether his Majesty was accounted a hidTiapper is not on record, but there is no doubt that the enrolment of these foreigners by England was viewed with very general disapprobation both at home and abroad. We have already seen what Prederick of Prussia thought of the matter (see p. 266), and his withers were not easily wrung. In Germany the execration in which the princely dealers in this white-slave trade were held is glanced at by Schiller in his ' Eabale und Liebe ' (act ii. scene 2) ; and in a letter from Frederick to Voltaire we have again his opinion: — " Je vous remercie du " ' Catechisme des Souverains,' production que je n'attendais pas " de M. le Landgrave de Hesse. Vous me faites trop d'honneur de 298 GEOBOE THE THIRD'S [1775. " m'attrilDiier son education. S'il ^toit eorti de mon ecole, il ne serait " point fait Catholique, et il n'auroit pas vendu ses sujets aux Anglois " eomme on vend le hetail four Tegorger." (' (Euvres Postlmmes de Frederick,' torn. i. p. 325. Comp. Bancroft, ' Hist, of U. S.,' vii. p. 160.) But this country, deluded by its rulers, themselves deceived by their agents, was plunging passionately into an unjust and unnecessary war, and, being ill-provided for the unrighteous strife, availed herself without thought or scruple of these bad means for a bad end. "If any men were needed," observes Lord Mahon (vi. p. 87), " was there any lack of them in England ? " Was it wise to inform foreign states tha,t we deemed oursglves " thus dependent on foreign aid? -Was it wise to hold forth to " America the first example of obtaining assistance from abroad? " Above all, if conciliation were the object full as much as con- " quest, how signal the imprudence thus ia the midst of a civil " strife to thrust forward aliens to both parties in blood, in language, " and in manners ! " How the Hessian mercenaries were regarded by the insurgents will be shown in a future note. Letter 338. * Kew, November 15th, 1775. 20 min. pt. 9 a.m. Lord North, — The letters from the two Major- Grenerals* promise unanimity and zeal, the two great engredients that seem to have been wanting in this campaign. Mr. Eobinson's letter to Colonel Faucitt is very proper, and contains every directions in so clear a manner, that I wish other offices had as good writers. The letter of the Directors of the E. India Com- pany is not drawn up with that perspicuity that I think the first essential in conveying directions; but they manifestly neither chuse to hurt Hastings nor his ad- versaries,*" and therefore will most probably disoblige both. ' • Howe and Bui-goyne. >> Francis, Monson, Clavering. 1775.] LETTEBS TO LOBD NOBTE. 299 Letter 339, Queen's House," November 15th, 1775. 35 min. pt. 5 p.m. Lord North, — Monday next is as agreable to me as any other for giving the assent to the Malt Bill.'' I return the letters from Lt.-Q-. G-age, and hope there will [be] some examination that the flower [sic] sent in future be of proper quality. The whole system of commissioners and contractors, at this time, was one of public robbery. The. money supplied so liberally by England was as lavishly wasted abroad. In 1777 Mr. Wedderburn wrote respecting our army in America to a confidential friend, — " The peculation in every profitable branch of the service is repr^ " sented to be enormous, and, as usual, it is attended with a shock- " ing neglect of every comfort to the troops. The hospitals are " pest-houses, and the provisions served out are poison ; those that " are to be bought are sold at the highest prices of a monopoly." (Letters to WUliam Eden, printed from the MSS. in Lord Campbell's 'Lives of the Chancellors,' vol. vi. p. 118; see Lord Mahon's 'Hist, of England,' vol. vi. p. 140.) " The merchants," writes Burke in this year, " begin to snuff " the cadaverous haui gout of lucrative war : the freighting business " never was so lively, on account of the prodigious taking up for " transport-service : great orders for provisions of all kinds, new " clothing for the troops, puts life into the woollen manufactures." Letter 340. * Queen's House, November 26th, 1775. 47 min. pt. 7 p.m. Lord North, — To answer your letters chronologically, I am pleased the very improper tax on the general ' " Their Majesties and the Royal " Family came to the Queen's Palace "for the winter." — -'Ann. Register,' xviii. p. 173. *> " 20th November, His Majesty went " to the House of Peers and gave the " Royal Assent to the Bill for con- " tinning the duty on malt, mum, cider, " and perry, and the Indemnity Bill " to Ministers for garrisoning, during " the Parliamentary recess, Gibraltar and " Port Mahonwitlf Electoral troops." — Id. p. 175. 300 GEOBGE THE THIBB'S [1775. officers has been taken oflf, and in so unanimous a manner. As to the two letters communicated to me this day from Sir John Blaquiere, they neither of them meet with my approbation, for they are drawn up in so strange and loose manner that they convey no plan on either of their important subjects, but require his being directed particularly on what relates to the new Par- liament, his specifying very exactly on paper the whole of his demands before any encouragement can be given. It is to his want of method that many difficulties have arisen, and therefore I thus early recommend caution in drawing up the answers. As to the admitting foreigners into Ireland, he is highly to blame if he presumes to take any public step without having communicated the plan and waited for orders from hence, and I wish he may know that this is my opinion. I had given orders previous to receiving your letter on seeing Lord George Germaine that Lord Cornwallis should go on the Southern expedition,* and shall give the other orders to Lord Weymouth to-morrow. I know Captain Eme- rick's character too well to approve of his being em- ployed in raising recruits. His proposal is shamefully dear. There are sufficient persons already employed for raising foreigners ; more would but come in each other's way. Letter 341. NoTember 28th, 1775. 15 min. pt. 8 a.in. My dear Lord, — I cannot lose a moment in answer- ing your letter concerning Captain Acland. I am certain nothing could give such real grounds of disgust « To Carolina. 1775.] LETTEBS TO LORD NOBTH. 301 to the army as the raising additional new corps ; and nothing but having understood from you that FrazerV corps should be no precedent to apply for others should have made, though perhaps not entirely with my opinion, have forced down that measure that the whole profession are much hurt at. I have no objection to your talking with Lord Barrington concerning him, but honestly I do not see the means of promoting him in Ireland ; perhaps a majority might be got for him by purchase. On the whole, though a spirited young [man], his pretensions are so exorbitant, that I would rather wish he could be prevailed upon to take the civil line, and I would make any arrangement of that kind that could suit him. Letter 342. * Queen's House, November 2Sth, 1775. 46 min. pt. 2 p.m. Lord North, — I can scarcely find words expressive enough at my astonishment at the presumption and imprudence of bringing forward in Ireland a matter of such great delicacy without having had the fullest direc- tions from hence, and the very mode and words of the message, if that had been judged right, approved of from hence. If this kind of conduct is continued in Ireland, one can scarcely sleep in quiet from appre- hension of being daily drawn into diificulties. I know men that will act boldly when authorised, but I highly disapprove of those who, like quacks, engage in all matters from not knowing the magnitude of the under- taking. « See Letter 333. 302 GEOBGE THE TEIED'S [1775. The explanation of this and other letters of the time which re- late to Ireland is to be found in Mr. Thomas Townshend's motion for censure on the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, February 15th, 1776. The Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Harcourt, had sent a message to the Irish House of Commons desiring (prematurely it would seem, or at least without the proper finesse expected of him by his masters) in the name of the King their assent to the removal of 4000 of the regular troops stationed in Ireland to America, assuring them that the* troops thus removed should not remain a charge upon the Irish establishment, and at the same time offering to supply their place with an equal number of Protestant troops from Germany, also without expense to Ireland, as soon as they could be furnished. Mr. T. Townshend denounced this message as a breach of the privileges of the British House of Commons. The Minister, un- authorised by Parliament, had pledged Great Britain to the payment of 80,000Z. per annum, by the removal of 4000 men from the Irish to the British establishment. Again, he had committed a breach of privilege by proposing to introduce into Ireland, without parlia^ mentary sanction, foreign soldiers. The Lord Lieutenant's proposal, it was argued, was as extravagant as it was illegal, and perhaps as absurd as it was extravagant. Great Britain, w^hile she had the use of only 4000 men, was pledged to pay for double the number : Ireland, without any apparent reason, was to be relieved from one-third of her usual military expenditure. Ireland, consenting to part with the 4000, refused to admit the foreigners, and was accordingly left in a very defenceless condition, and that at a time when her linen and provision trade with North America was begin- ning to be affected by the war. The Ministers, being in a scrape, naturally tried to shuffle out of it. They diifered in their opinions about the Lord Lieutenant's message, but they agreed in disclaiming any responsibility for the measures of the King's servants in Ireland. They affected a con- venient ignorance of the motives for the offers complained of: they admitted the bargain to be a very bad one. Some of them affirmed that the Irish Commons had misunderstood the terms of the mes- sage ; others that the terms, although extravagant, were justifiable, inasmuch as the King had at one time pledged himself to main- tain 1 2,000 instead of 8000 troops in that kingdom. Mr. Jenkinson indeed came gallantly to the rescue, and affirmed the principle of ' Hoc volo, sic jubeo.' The Irish members, he said, had not mis- taken the message ; the King had only exerted his just prerogative ; " that the Crown should raise troops of its own will, and then " apply to Parliament to pay them, or enter into treaties for the " same purpose with foreign princes, pledging the national faith 1775.] LETTERS TO LOBD NOBTH. 303 "for a due performance of the articles." The House of Com- mons, as it was then in the habit of doing, made things pleasant to Government, and rejected Mr. Townshend's motion by a majority of224tol06. Letter 343» Queen's House, December 2nd, 1775. 35 miu. pt. 5 p.m. Lord North, — The Irish are the best judges whether 8000 men is preferable to being augmented by a corps of 4000 foreigners. This will alter the mode of em- ploying the Scotch Brigade, but I should hope they may be of use in garrisoning Halifax, St. Augustine, and any of the Southern Colonies that may during the course of the winter be brought to their senses, which will enable the British forces in America to be all em- ployed on active service. On the subject of the troops to be taken from Ireland for service ia the colonies Lord Barrington wrote to the Earl of Dartmouth ('Political Life,' p. 160), — ^'I am not apprised" — he was then Secre- tary at War! — "where they are going; but I conclude they are " intended to act as a separate corps in North America, to the south- " ward. If there should be an idea of such a force marching up the " country, I hope it will not be entertained ; for there must be great " danger of its wanting many essential necessaries, where there is so " little to be had, so much desire to prevent our having that little, " so much difficulty in conveying artillery, stores, provisions, &c., " and so much hazard of losing communication with the ships. Allow " me once more, my dear Lord, to remind you of the necessity there " is, in all military matters, not to stir a step without full consulta- " tion of able military men, after giving them the most perfect " knowledge of the whole matter under consideration, with all its " circumstances." In a letter to Lord North, ib. p. 159, the same Minister writes, August 8, 1775, — " As it is the measure of Govern- " ment to have a large army in North America, it is my duty " and inclination to make that measure succeed to the utmost ; 304 GEOBGE THE THIRD'S [1775. " thougli my opinion always has been, and still is, that the Americans " may he reduced by the fleet, but never can be by the army." Had the King listened to his Secretary-at-War, instead of trusting Lord George Germaine, and forcing Lord North into a course of action he disapproved of, much " dishonour " and " infinite loss " might have been spared to England even at this moment of the crisis. Lettek 344. Queen's House, December llth, 1775. 35 ruin. pt. 7 p.m. Lord North, — The hearing the Bill for preventing intercourse with the provinces in rebellion has past the House of Commons so early this day gives me much satisfaction. I return the draft of the letter of the Directors of the East India Company. On the 20th of November Lord North moved, " That leave be " given to bring in a Bill to prohibit all trade and intercourse with " the colonies of New Hampshire, Massachusett's Bay, Ehode " Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the " three lower counties on Delaware, Muryland, Virginia, North " Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, during the continuance of "the present rebellion," &c. 'Pari. Hist.,' xviii. p. 992, foil. Mr. Charles Fox moved an amendment, which was lost. Majority for the original motion, 128 (192 — 64) ; the second reading, Dec. 1 ; in committee, Dec. 5, 6, 8 ; third reading, Dec. 11. Majority for Ministers, 96 (112 — 16). For some excellent remarks on the Pro- hibitory Bill see Hughes's ' Hist, of England,' vol. ii. pp. 204-207, and compare Lord Mahon, yi. p. 72. " On the llth of December, previous to the third reading of the '' Prohibitory Bill, a motion was made by Governor Johnston, that no " evidence had been laid before the House of the delinquency of the " province of Georgia, which was notwithstanding included in the " same common punishment with the other colonies. Though this " motion passed in the negative, it occasioned a warm debate, in " which the Ministers were hard put to support the charge of " delinquency." The smallness of the minority (16) on this occasion arose from Opposition seeing " that all attempts to withstand the force which 1775.] LETTEBS TO LORD NOBTH. 305 " was carrying the Bill through were utterly futile, and that the " country gentlemen had (as they said) shamefully deserted their " duty and abandoned the public business, most of them. The " Opposition grew weary of so fruitless a contest, and the House " was thinly attended on that side at the time of passing the Bill." 'Ann. Eegister,' xix. p. 113. The despair or supineness of the Opposition appears in several letters contained in the ' Memoirs of Lord Eookingham,' vol. ii. p. 282 foil. Sir George Savile wrote to the Marquis on the 18th of October, " If I could frame to myself any distinct idea, or rather any idea at " all, that any end was to be answered by my being in London before " the day of the meeting of Parliament, I should not hesitate to " put by every consideration of pleasure, rest, or health. Now, by " answering some end, I do not mean having a chance of carrying " some question in Parliament; Lord knows that is far enough out " of the question. On the contrary, I conceive a larger majority " rather than a less than has hitherto divided will appear on every " American question." " I grow stronger in my conviction of " the improbability of subduing the country, yet I protest, were " I put to it for my life, I don't know whether the best argument I " have now for believing the Ministry in the wrong (I mean as to " the success) is, that they have never, I think, been in the right " yet." The Duke of Eichmond writes to the Marquis of Eockingham, 11th December, — ib. ii. p. 260, — " I much approve of your Lord- " ship's opposing the Land-Tax and Militia Bill, nor have I the " least disposition to your opposing the Prohibition Bill," but I " would not make a great struggle for it ; and you may tell the mer- " chants that you cannot get an attendance of the Lords unless they " wiU. take a more decided part, and firmly stand hy them in their " general system of politics." Of the " masterly protest" against the Prohibitory Bill, signed by " Abergavenny, Eockingham, Manchester, Abingdon, Eichmond, " Ponsonby, Fitzwilliam, Chedworth" (' Pari. Hist.,' xviii. p. 1088), Lord Mahon (vi. p. 73, note) says, " I have no doubt of its being " Burke's. Lord Eockingham was wholly incapable of such a com- " position, and on other occasions at least we find Burke employed " in writing the protests for his Lordship's party " (Burke's ' Cor- " The debate on the Prohibition Bill in the Lords was on the 15th of De- cember. The Dukea of Manchester and Richmond, and the Earl of Shelburne, opposed its committal. Lords Lyttleton and Sandwich supported it. On a di- vision, Contents, 48; Proxies, 30 = 78. VOL. I. Non-contents, 1 2 ; Proxies, 7 = 19. On the 20th the Marquis of Eockingham presented a petition from the merchants of Bristol against the Bill. Lord Mans- iield supported the Bill in a, remark- able speech. It was then passed. — ' Pari. Hist.' xviii. pp. 1066-1103. 306 GHOBGE THE THIRD'S [1775. respondence,' vol. ii. p. 14). Indeed the relation between the two statesmen is best described in three words by Horace Walpole, where he speaks of Bnrke as being " Lord Eockingham's governor " (Letter to Sir H. Mann, May 6, 1770). Sir George Savile, in the letter from which I have given an extract, asks, " What do I know of the people, their country, their disposi- " tions, their resources ? " As much and as little perhaps as most of his countrymen at that time. When Franklin, on the 13th of Sep- tember in this year, resumed his duties in Congress, the city of Philadelphia, where a quorum of the Congress was then assembled, " was all astir with warlike preparations. Twice a day the most " zealous of the military companies drilled in the square. The salt- " petre works were beginning to produce a little of that anxiously- " sought commodity. Of sis powder-mills designed, two were nearly " ready to go into operation, which, in the following spring, de- " livered twenty -five hundred pounds of powder a- week. A manu- " factory of muskets was about to open, and turn out twenty-five " muskets a-day, with all the appendages complete. The fortifica- " tions upon the Delaware were advancing towards completion. " Congress, the Committee of Safety, and numerous subordinate " bodies, were in session every day. Arrests of suspected persons " were frequent, and sub-committees of safety boarded arriving " vessels to pick out treason from the letter-bags. Occasionally there " was tarring and feathering of Tories ; but oftener the obnoxious " person chose the alternative of mounting a cart, ' publicly acknow- " ledging his errors, and asking pardon of the crowd.' The ladies " were scraping lint and preparing bandages. Exciting news from " Boston every week ; the enemy reinforced ; New England unanimous "Tor resistance." Parton's ' Life of Franklin,' ii. p. 100. The conduct of the Opposition is thus described by a writer at the time, and by a noble historian recently. Horace AValpole Writes (' Last Days,' vol. i. p. 628), — " 11th Dec. The Bill for destroying the American shipping " was passed in the Commons by 112 to 16. The Opposition had " so deserted (gone to the country) that this was all the force " they could muster. I and others had advised their not coming " to Parliament, but protest against the measures. There had " been some dignity in this, but they could neither assemble nor " retire with propriety, and this neglect could but dishearten the " Americans. On the other hand. Lord George Germaine, as " was foreseen, set out with spirit, seizing two chests of letters " that were going by a common ship to America." Earl Russell, 'Correspondence of C. J. Fox,' vol. i. p. 141, observes, — ■ 1775.] LETTERS TO LOBD NOBTH. 307 " The year 1775 had exhibited the Ministry in all its weak- " ness, and the Opposition iq all its inutility. While on the side " of Government the most culpable improvidence hastened the " loss of America, on the side of the Opposition the most brilliant " talents and the most prophetic wisdom failed to save a shred " of authority, or to avert for a day the most dire calamities. " Folly paralysed the Ministry ; discord shattered the Opposition." " Prorsus dissolutum navigium vel potius dissipatum ; nihil consilio, " nihil ratione, nihil ordine." Cic. ad Atticum, Epist. xv. 11. E E K A T A. I;ETTEB 105. — Page 80, for " Terence ' (sie in MS.), read " de Ferouce." Letter 284.— Page 237. The reference to Walpole should be " Last Journals, vol. i. p. 7." END OF VOL. ]. LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFuRD STKEEt, AND CHARING CBOSS.