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MEMOIRS

CORRESPONDENCE

GEORGE, LORD LYTTELTON,

From 1734 to 1773.

COMPILED AND EDITED
BY ROBERT PHILLIMORB,
LATE STUDENT OF CHRIST CHURCH.

" Cujus erant mores, qualis facundia, mite
" Ingenium.'''  — Juven. Sat. IV.
¦ Letters of affairs from such as manage them or are privy to them,
are of all others the best instructions for history, and to a diligent
reader the best histories in themselves." — Lord Bacon's Advancement
qf Learning, Human and Divine, Second Book.

IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
LONDON:
JAMES RIDGWAY, PICCADILLY.
1845.

CONTENTS OF VOL. II.

CHAPTER XI.
PAGE
1748—1753 . . . . . .425
CHAPTER XII.
1754—1756.
Resignation of the Duke of Newcastle, and elevation of Lyttelton
to the House of Peers .... 482
CHAPTER XIII.
Literary History, 1756, to the death of Lyttelton, 1773 . 546
CHAPTER XIV.
1757—1760.
Beginning of Mr. Pitt's Administration to Accession of George
the Third . . . . . .583
CHAPTER XV.
1760—1766.
From the Accession of George the Third to the close of the
Rockingham Administration . 627
CHAPTER XVI.
1766—1768.
From Pitt's second Administration to the end of the first Parlia
ment of George the Third .... 705
CHAPTER XVII.
1768 (March)— 1773 (August).
From the Meeting of the second Parliament of George III. to
the death of Lord Lyttelton .... 746

Appendix ..... 793

CHAPTER XI.
1748—1753.

[Hagley MSS. — Coxe's Pelham Administration— Chatham Corres
pondence, vol. i. — Walpole's Memoirs of George the Second,
vol. ii. — Chesterfield's Letters— Lord Marchmont's Diary, vol. ii.
— Lord Waldegrave's Memoirs — Lord Mahon's History of Eng
land, vol. iii.]

We now return to Lyttelton's career in the political 1748.
world. About the year 1748, the party of the
Prince of Wales became again formidable. This
was owing to the unpopularity of the King, the
affability and revived popularity of the Prince,*
the prospect of his speedy succession to the throne,
to large sums of money lavished on elections, and
also to the unionf of the remains of the former
* After the peace, quantities of French goods were introduced
into England. The Prince and Princess forbad any one to appear
at their court in dresses of French manufacture, and made their
children act Addison's Cato. The Duke of Newcastle's election to
the Chancellorship of Cambridge had increased the dislike borne
to him by the Prince, who had been a candidate for that office.
f It is remarkable that Burke in his memorable " Thoughts on
the present Discontents," ascribes to the advisers of Frederic,
VOL. II. 2 F

426 PARTY OF THE PRINCE OF WALES.
1748. opposition with some, who, like Sir John Hynde
Cotton had deserted their party. The leaders in the
House of Commons were Lord Egmont and Bubb
Doddington, to whom the Prince had promised a
peerage, and whom, on his quitting the Government
and his place of Treasurer of the Navy, he had made
Treasurer of the Chambers. But by far. the ablest
as well as the most respected of the parliamentary
chiefs was Dr. (afterwards Sir George) Lee, a civilian
of great eminence and profound learning, a politician
of acknowledged integrity, and a debater of great
power. The Prince was also at this time at enmity
with the Duke of Cumberland, and the King's par
tiality for the younger embittered the opposition of the
elder brother. The meetings at Leicester House be
came frequent and notorious, and provoked the wrath
equally of the King and his ministers. The breach
was widened by Bolingbroke. The councils of Leicester
House were (till his death, in 1751) chiefly influenced
by this veteran and indefatigable intriguer, who now
more than seventy years old, resided at Battersea, and
was the bosom counsellor of the Prince.
Excluded by the general distrust of all parties from
any share in government, he still lent no mean aid to
Prince of Wales, the project, afterwards attempted to be executed
by Lord Bute and George the Third, of forming two systems of
Administration, one in the real confidence of the Crown, the other
merely ostensible, to perform the official and executory duties of
Government. This system of a '• double cabinet!' and " King's-
men," is now best known from the immortal writings in which it
is denounced. See p. 639 of this volume.

bolingbroke's PATRIOT KING. 427
any cause which he chose to espouse by the magic of 1748.
his pen. Soon after the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, he
published some remarks on the melancholy state, as
he thought proper to describe it, of the nation ; and not
long afterwards he gave to the world his " Idea of a
Patriot King," a work which has been much cele
brated, and will probably be always read for the
eloquence of its language and the beauty of its
style, though inferior in these respects to his letter to
Sir W. Wyndham, and perhaps also to the Dissertation
on Parties, but which can scarcely be said to have
any other merit. It propounds a theory of govern
ment not very intelligible or consistent, and perfectly
impracticable, if desirable ; the Patriot King is, of
course, the Rising Sun, Prince Frederick. A great
part of this essay, as of his historical works, is a mere
vehicle for the abuse of Walpole's policy. It is not, I
believe, generally, if at all, known that this book was
originally dedicated to Lyttelton, at least I have never
found the fact asserted in print : but the following
letters leave no doubt upon the subject. The copy
of the first, as well as the endorsement, is in Lord
Lyttelton's hand-writing.
" This letter was writ upon the publication of Lord
Bolingbroke's Idea of a Patriot King, which was ori
ginally writ in the form of a letter to me. I being
then in the Prince's service. I have it in manuscript
as it was writ, and in my Lord's own hand."

2 f 2

428 bolingbroke's patriot king.
174$. a " London, April ye 14th, 174$. Cj
" My Lord,
" I am prevented by unavoidable business from
waiting on you this morning, as I intended to do,
in order to talk with your Lordship upon the subject
about wh ch you sent Mr. Mallet to me, which I have
thought much upon since, and with no little uneasi
ness. Any publick mark of your Lordship's esteem and
partiality for me, as it would be the highest honour,
so it would be the greatest pleasure to me ; but as I
am now in the most intimate connection of friendship
with many of the best and nearest friends of the late
Lord Orford, and have even received obligations from
some of his family, who would be extreamly offended
at a work which so severely reflects on his memory
being now published and addressed to me, it is an
honour, which, however flattering and agreeable it
would be to me in other respects, I am on that account
compelled to decline. I must, therefore, though with
the utmost reluctance, beg of your Lordship, if you
resolve to publish it now, that you would leave out
the part that relates to me ; but I should much rather
wish, and, if I might presume to judge for your
Lordship, should think it more eligible for you your
self, to defer the publication of it to a more proper
time. That a very disagreeable use will be made of
it I am very sure, and there is a great difference
as to the consequences and effects of it in the world,
between an imperfect copy of it being stole into print
in a magazine, and this avowed and authorised publi
cation, which will draw the attention of all mankind.

bolingbroke's patriot king. 429
But in this point your Lordship must think for your- 174s.
self. I only entreat you to forgive the necessity which
I am under of declining, in my situation, what in any
other 1 should most ardently wish ; and to believe me,
in all situations, with the most perfect respect and most
grateful sense of your favours to me,
" My Lord, " Your Lordship's
" most obliged
" and most faithful humble servant,
" G. Lyttelton."
LORD BOLINGBROKE TO MR. LYTTELTON.
" Battersea, April 15th, 174/5. 9
" Dear Sir,
" I would not answer your letter that came yes
terday to my hands, till I could tell you, as I can
now do, that every word will be left out of the papers
which have given you so much uneasiness, and out
of the introduction to them that may even seem to
have been addressed to you. I have had my uneasi
ness too ; that of being forced to reveal the turpi
tude of a man with whom I had lived long in the
intimacy of friendship, and that of being obliged by
your commands to suppress any marks of my esteem
and affection for you. I have obeyed you ; and it
was reasonable that I should : but I cannot take your
advice, nor think it eligible for me to defer the publi
cation of these papers to a more proper time. They
should not have been made public at all, if I could
have helped it. But since they must be made so,

430 DEATH OF LORD BOLINGBROKE.
174g. what time can be more proper for me to publish them
than the present? I must either suffer them to be
sent abroad uncorrected, in such a manner as I would
not have published them myself, and with every thing
in them which you are so desirous to have left out, or
I must do what I am doing, let them appear corrected
and less unfit for the public eye. If any use dis
agreeable to others be made of this forced publication,
I shall be sorry for it. As to its consequences and
effects relative to myself, I am under no concern.
For though age and infirmities press me hard, and I
stand almost alone in the world, yet I find vigour
enough remaining to defend myself against any
attack, with truth, reason, and the cause of this
country on my side. Thus I think for myself, and, I
hope, not unreasonably.
" As to you, I shall continue to think as I have
always thought, with true esteem and a pure affection
in whatever situation you are, and shall profess myself
as long as I live, " Dear Sir,
" Your faithful friend,
" and most obedient humble servant,
" B."
This is the last letter which the Hagley MSS. contain
of this extraordinary man, who died in December,
1751, and who at one time had acquired considerable
ascendancy over the mind of Lyttelton, and to whose
talents he paid to the last, unfeigned homage. His
character was drawn by a common friend and keen

HIS CHARACTER BY CHESTERFIELD. 431
observer, Lord Chesterfield. It was on the occasion 1749.
of sending to his son a copy of the Patriot King.
" I desire (he writes)* that you will read it over
and over again, with particular attention to the style,
and to all those beauties of Oratory with which it is
adorned. Till I read that book, I confess I did not
know all the extent and powers of the English lan
guage. Lord Bolingbroke has both a tongue and
pen to persuade ; his manner of speaking in private
conversation, is full as elegant as his writings ; what
ever subject he either speaks or writes upon, he adorns
it with the most splendid eloquence ; not a studied or
laboured eloquence, but such a flowing happiness of
diction, which (from care perhaps at first) is become
so habitual to him, that even his most familiar con
versation, if taken down in writing, would bear the
Press, without the least correction either as to method
or style. If his conduct, in the former part of his life,
had been equal to all his natural and acquired talents,
he would most justly have merited the epithet of all-
accomplished. He is himself sensible of his past
errors : those violent passions, which seduced him in
his youth, have now subsided by age ; and, take him
as he is now, the character of all-accomplished is more
his due than any man's I ever knew in my life.
" But he has been a most mortifying instance of the
violence of human passions, and of the weakness of the
most exalted human reason. His virtues and his vices,
his reason and his passions, did not blend themselves
by a gradation of tints, but formed a shining and
* Chesterfield's Letters, clxxv.

432 chesterfield's character
1749. sudden contrast. Here the darkest, there the most
splendid colours; and both rendered more shining
from their proximity. Impetuosity, excess, and almost
extravagancy, characterized not only his passions, but
even his senses. His youth was distinguished by all
the tumult and storm of pleasures, in which he most
licentiously triumphed, disdaining all decorum. His
fine imagination has often been heated and exhausted
with his body, in celebrating and deifying the prosti
tute of the night ; and his convivial joys were pushed
to all the extravagancy of frantic Bacchanals. Those
passions were interrupted but by a stronger, Ambition.
The former impaired both his constitution and his
character, but the latter destroyed both his fortune
and his reputation.
" He has noble and generous sentiments, rather than
fixed reflected principles of good-nature and friend
ship ; but they are more violent than lasting, and
suddenly and often varied to their opposite extremes,
with regard even to the same persons. He receives
the common attentions of civility as obligations, which
he returns with interest; and resents with passion the
little inadvertencies of human nature, which he repays
with interest too. Even a difference of opinion upon
a Philosophical subject, would provoke, and prove
him no practical Philosopher, at least.
" Notwithstanding the dissipation of his youth, and
the tumultuous agitation of his middle age, he has
an infinite fund of various and almost universal know
ledge, which, from the clearest and quickest concep
tion, and happiest memory, that ever man was blessed

OF LORD BOLINGBROKE. 433
with, he always carries about him. It is his pocket- 1749.
money, and he never has occasion to draw upon a
bank for any sum. He excels more particularly in
History, as his historical works plainly prove. The
relative Political and Commercial interests of every
country in Europe, particularly of his own, are better
known to him, than perhaps to any man in it ; but
how steadily he has pursued the latter, in his public
conduct, his enemies, of all parties and denominations,
tell with joy.
" He engaged young, and distinguished himself in
business ; and his penetration was almost intuition.
I am old enough to have heard him speak in Parlia
ment. And I remember, that, though prejudiced
against him by party, I felt all the force and charms
of his eloquence. Like Belial in Milton, " he made
" the worse appear the better cause."* All the inter
nal and external advantages and talents of an Orator
are undoubtedly his. Figure, voice, elocution, know
ledge ; and, above all, the purest and most florid dic
tion, with the justest metaphors, and happiest images,
had raised him to the post of Secretary at War, at
four-and-twenty years old ; an age at which others are
hardly thought fit for the smallest employment.
" During his long exile in France, he applied himself
to study with his characteristical ardour; and there
he formed, and chiefly executed the plan of a great
philosophical work. The common bounds of human
knowledge are too narrow for his warm and aspiring
imagination. He must go extra jlammantia mcenia
* Sic in orig.

434 REDUCTION OF THE INTEREST
1748 9. Mundi, and explore the unknown and unknowable
regions of Metaphysicks ; which open an unbounded
field for the excursions of an ardent imagination ;
where endless conjectures supply the. defect of unat
tainable knowledge, and too often usurp both its name
and influence.
" He has had a very handsome person, with a most
engaging address in his air and manners : he has all
the dignity and good breeding which a man of quality
should or can have, and which so few, in this country
at least, really have.
" He professes himself a Deist ; believing in a
general Providence, but doubting of, though by no
means rejecting (as is commonly supposed) the immor
tality of the soul, and a future state.
" Upon the whole, of this extraordinary man, what
can we say, but alas, poor human nature !"*
Directly after the peace Mr. Pelham proceeded with
the great object of his administration, relieving the
country from taxes, then considered, in happy ignorance
of the future, to be enormous. He effected this by the
wise and statesman-like measure, (imitated since these
pages were first written, by the present Government) of
reducing the interest on the public debt. In 1717, the
interest had been lowered from six to five — in 1727,
from five to four per cent average. The accumulation
* In another letter, he writes : — " Lord Bolingbroke joined all
the politeness, the manners, and the graces of a courtier, to the
solidity of a statesman, and to the learning of a pedant ; he was
" omnis homo." — Chesterfield's Letters, vol. iii. ccxl.

ON THE PUBLIC DEBT. 435
of capital since the accession of George the Second, 1750.
had brought down the actual rate of interest to three
per cent., and to this rate Mr. Pelham carefully, and
without violence, reduced the interest on the national
debt. The public credit of Great Britain was imme
diately raised on the Continent, and the fame and suc
cess of the measure excited, even as a similar measure
has done in our own day, the envy and admiration of
Europe. Nevertheless Mr. Pelham began to experi
ence considerable difficulties in the conducting his mea
sures of Government. The Duke of Bedford, Secre
tary of State, and his friend Lord Sandwich, First
Lord of the Admiralty, began to cabal with the Duke
of Cumberland and the Princess Amelia, who had
been offended with the Duke of Newcastle ; while
the jealousy of this selfish man induced him to make
partisans in the Government against his brother. Pitt
began at this time rather to court the Duke, while Fox
attached himself to Mr. Pelham : at the same time the
Cobham party, which, with the exception of Lyttelton
and Pitt, were never, perhaps, identified with the
administration, opened a secret communication with
the Prince of Wales. Before the close of the year
1750, Lvttelton's health seems to have been much
affected. The following letters of Mr. Pitt are inter
esting from the amiable light which they throw upon
his character. The first is to William Lyttelton.
" South Lodge, July 14th, 1750.
" Dear Lyttelton,
" I have been running about ever since I re
ceived the honour and pleasure of your very obliging

436 pitt's letters.
1750. letter, or I should have returned you my best
thanks for it sooner. I am for some days set down
quiet in my little retreat of Enfield ; and find my
self so absolute an hermit, that I hardly know how
to write to a man of the great world, fresh from the
Court of Compiegne, and consequently filled with
all that is great and gallant. While I am sitting in
much leisure under my tree, I have the pleasure of
thinking that you are much better employed ; whe
ther it be a courir le crrfwith the King; or if for gentler
sports you quit the savage field, and are forming your
style to purity and elegance, in the delightful school
of some Court beauty, — however you are occupy'd, I
have the satisfaction to know that you are on the road
to every accomplishment travelling is intended for,
and I hope you find the journey pleasurable. I desire
you will sometimes let me hear from you, and if I
am an irregular correspondent, you must impute it to
my rambling about : for I lead so vagabond a life,
that no letter scarcely reaches me so soon as it might.
Believe me, my dear Lyttelton, my sincere wishes, and
very affectionate esteem go along with you wherever
you are. I will end without form.
" Your's most faithfully and truly,
"W. Pitt."
The two next are to the subject of these memoirs.
"Pay Office, Sept. 20th, 1750.
" My dear Lyttelton,
" I am infinitely concerned at the present low
state of your health : and did immediately upon
the reading your letter send for Burgess, who I

pitt's letters. 437
thought a good judge of your constitution, to con- 1750.
suit what might be properest for you to do ; whether
to go southward or return to England : he is
strongly of opinion that a more northerly climate
is best for you ; that is, the air of England ; and
advises that you should lose no time in leaving Paris,
delay in cases of this hectic nature being sometimes
of great consequence. Remembering how George
and Harry Grenville had been recovered by elixir of
vitriol, I ask'd Burgess if it was proper for you ; and
he recommends it of all things, provided you have no
complaint upon you ofthe bowels : this elixir of vitriol
may be taken twice a-day in winter (provided the
water be good and not of the Seine,) from forty, fifty,
sixty, to a hundred drops ; you are desired not to
make great journeys, and if you can bear it, get out
of your chaise, on horseback, and gently ride for half
a post, now and then, if the weather be good. Let
me add my earnest desires to Burgess's advice to you
to lose no time in leaving Paris. I am most sincerely
anxious, my dear Lyttelton, for your health : much
encouraged however to hope a speedy good effect from
a good air, such as that of Hagley. I have been ill of
an ugly quartan ague, and am not well able to write
long, therefore without more ceremony, God in heaven
bless you, my dear Lyttelton.
" Your ever affectionate, " W. Pitt.
" Don't be anxious about Parliament. You will
have time to get well before it meets, but of this make
no mention."

438 pitt's letters.
1750> "Bath, October 13, 1750.
" Dear Lyttelton,
" Your letter since your arrival in England has
given me much sincere pleasure. The account you
give of your amendment with respect to the alarm
ing part of your disorder, leaves me no doubt that
I shall have the satisfaction of hearing better and
better news of you very soon. Be assured, my dear
Lyttelton, no one wishes you more health and hap
piness than I do ; as no one is more sensible than I am
how highly you deserve both. 1 rejoice with your
brother and you upon the present state of Bewdley ;
few things can import your family more than the
securing that place. I am much obliged to you for
your concern for my health. I have had no return of
my ague this month, and find the waters agree perfectly
well with me. They don't allow me to write much :
so, my dear Lyttelton, adieu.
" Your very affectionate, "W. Pitt.
"My best compliments to Sir Thomas and all the
family." Soon after the meeting of Parliament in January
1751, Mr. Pelham proposed the unwise reduction of
the seamen from ten to eight thousand. It was vehe
mently opposed by the Prince's friend, Lord Egmont,
and strongly supported by Mr. Fox ; the proposition
was carried by 167 against 107. But Pitt, Lyttelton,
and George Grenville, all voted in the minority. Pitt,
indeed, protesting great regard for Pelham, spoke
against it in bringing up the report. The Duke of
Newcastle wrote to his friends in approbation of Pitt's

LYTTELTON S SPEECH ON FOREIGN SUBSIDIES. 439
conduct. In this, as well as other instances, the good 1751.
temper and good sense of Mr. Pelham alone pre
vented an open rupture between the brothers. At this
time, while the Duke of Newcastle was (to borrow H.
Walpole's expression) " countenancing Pitt against
all," the Duke of Bedford was endeavouring to set
up Fox against Mr. Pelham. During this Parliament,
great discussions took place on the Mutiny Bill, raised
inadvertently it should seem by Colonel * Richard
Lyttelton, younger brother of Lyttelton, member for
Brockley, and a favourite with the Prince. Lyttel
ton (now Sir George) delivered a set speech,!'
elaborate and well reasoned, in favour of the mea
sure. During this session, Pelham proposed that
£40,000. a-year should be paid to Bavaria for six
years, £20,000. by England and £10,000. by the
Empress Queen, and by Holland, According to Wal
pole (whose Parliamentary sketches, divested of their
personalities, form the most valuable part of his me
moirs,) " Martin made a speech of great wit against
" it, Lyttelton a learned one, and Murray, Solicitor
" General, a very masterly one for it." Pitt spoke
vehemently, and with the three Grenvilles and Con
way (alone of English Whigs) voted against Mr. Pel
ham, on a petition for a Parliamentary inquiry into
the conduct of a General Anstruther on a court mar
tial. It does not appear that Lyttelton deserted Pelham
on this or on any other occasion than that already
mentioned, the reduction of the seamen : but there
is no doubt that he was engaged in a plan for conci-
* He is the person whom Glover eulogises in his Memoirs.
f Printed in his works as corrected by himself.

440 DEATH OF FREDERICK PRINCE OF WALES.
j-75!. liating the Prince of Wales, not however as it appears
to me, for the purpose of overthrowing Mr. Pelham.
That Minister was at this time thwarted by three
parties (1.) secretly, by his brother and Pitt, (2.) and
by the Duke of Bedford, Lord Sandwich, and Fox, the
latter of whom had become adherents of the Duke
of Cumberland, (3.) and openly by the Prince of
Wales. The Prince died of a pleurisy, on the 20th of
March, 1751.* Then follows a story told by H. Wal
pole, and resting on his authority alone.t " Soon after
the Prince died, an unlucky discovery was made.
* The best trait of the Prince is his kindness to Flora Mac Ivon. —
See Lord Mahon's History of England, vol. iii. c. xxix.
The following verses were written (except the lines in italics,
which I suspect to be a recent insertion,) about this time.
" Here lies Hanover Fred
Who was alive and is dead ;
If it had been his father
1 had much rather;
If it had been his brother
Better than any other;
If it had been his sister
Nobody would have missed her;
If it had been his son
No harm would have been done;
If it had been the whole generation
The better for all the nation —
But as it is only Fred,
Who was alive and is dead,
Why— there's no more to be said."
t "I must guard you (writes Professor Smythe) against the
historical publications of the celebrated Horace Walpole. Look for
entertainment in them, and you will not be disappointed ; but give
him not your confidence, indeed you will soon see from his lively
and epigrammatic style of narrative, that he cannot deserve it." To
the same effect Mr. Hallam in his Constitutional History.

DEATH OF FREDERIC, PRINCE OF WALES. 441
" George Lyttelton had written a lamentation on that 1751.
" occasion to his father, an antiquated baronet in Wor-
" cestershire, telling him that he and his friends had
"just renewed their connection with the Prince of
" Wales, through the mediation of Dr. Ayscough ;
" which, though not ripe for discovery, was the true
" secret of their oblique behaviour this session in Par-
" liament. This letter he had delivered to a gentle-
" man's servant who was going into that county ; but
" the fellow having some other letters for the post, had
" by mistake given in the private negotiation which
" was only subscribed to Sir Thomas Lyttelton. It [/
" was opened at the Post-office, and carried to Mr.
" Pelham. Had it been seen by no other person
" the secret had been safe, and the treachery con-
" cealed as carefully as if he had been in the conspiracy
" itself, instead of being the object of it ; but it was
" talked of from the Post-office, though obscurely for
" some time, till at last it was carried up some how or
'' other, and arrived at the King's ears, who grew
" outrageous, and could not be hindered from exa-
" mining Shelvocke, the Secretary of the Post-office
" himself ; here he got very little further light, for
" Shelvocke had been instructed to affirm that the let-
" ter was sent back to Mr. Lyttelton unopened ; but
" Lyttelton who had not been so well instructed in his
" own secret, avowed it ; and as if there was nothing to
" be ashamed of but the discovery, he took pains to pal-
" Hate no other part of the story." This is followed
by a caricature of Lyttelton's personal appearance and
character, and is the version of one who bore such
2 G

442 LEICESTER HOUSE PARTY DISSOLVED.
1751. a malignant hatred against him, that alone of all
contemporaries who have written or spoken about
Lyttelton, he affected to disbelieve the sincerity of his
religious feelings ; and who at the very time he was
sweltering this posthumous venom, was subscribing
himself in private letters Lyttelton's " admirer." The
MSS. before me throw no light on this transaction; but
it was clearly one of which Lyttelton was not ashamed ;
and there is every proof that Mr. Pelham's regard for
him continued unabated till that gentleman's death.
The letters to Doddridge make it probable that this
was a negotiation through Dr. Lee, not Dr. Ayscough,
for a reconciliation with his old master, (the estrange
ment from whom his affectionate nature had never
ceased to lament), by which whoever else was, Mr.
Pelham was not to be sacrificed. Whatever was the
cause Dr. Ayscough was immediately removed from
his place of tutor to the young Prince. The po
litical party of Leicester House was for the time
dissolved. The Princess threw herself into the arms
of the King, who received her with unfeigned affec
tion. The Pelhams bestirred themselves and greatly
strengthened their administration. They excluded
the Duke of Cumberland from the Regency,* which
* "The death ofthe Prince of Wales (writes Lord Chesterfield to
his son), who was more beloved for his affability and good nature,
than esteemed for his steadiness and conduct, has given concern to
many and apprehensions to all. The great difference of age in the
King and Prince George, presents the prospect of a minority; a dis
agreeable prospect for any nation ! but it is to be hoped, and is
most probable, that the King, who is now perfectly recovered of his
late indisposition, may live to see his grandson of age. He is

NATURALIZATION OF THE JEWS. 443
they conferred on the young Princess, assisted by a 1751.
council of twelve, which included the Duke of Cum
berland. Pitt supported this measure with all his
energy, but Lord Cobham spoke against the council,
as did Fox. The next step of the Pelhams was to
drive out the Duke of Bedford and Lord Sandwich,
detaching however from the latter his father-in-law,
Lord Gower. Lord Anson was made First Lord of
the Admiralty, and Lord Granville sunk into complete
insignificance, quietly accepted the Presidency of the
Council. From this time the placidity of the Govern
ment continued undisturbed till the death of Mr.
Pelham in 1754, except by the debates on the Jews
Naturalization Bill, which the Minister warmly sup
ported. Early in the year 1753, an Act which passed
the Lords without opposition, and with the approval of
several Bishops, passed the Commons after some debate;
it was entitled, " An Act to permit persons professing
" the Jewish Religion to be naturalized by Act of Par-
" liament, and for other purposes therein mentioned."
seriously a most hopeful boy : gentle and good-natured, with a good
sound sense. This event has made all sorts of people here histo
rians as well as politicians. Our histories are rummaged for all the
particular circumstances of the six minorities we have had since
the conquest, viz.— those of Henry III. Edward III. Richard II.
Henry VI. Edward V. and Edward VI.; and the reasonings, the
speculations, the conjectures, and the predictions, you will easily
imagine must be innumerable and endless in this nation, where every
porter is a consummate politician Doctor Swift says, very hu
morously, * Every man knows that he understands religion and
'politics, though he has not learned them; but many people are
* conscious they do not understand many other sciences from having
* never learned them V — Adieu." — Letter ccxvii.
2 g 2

444 SPEECH OF LYTTELTON.
1753. The bill, in fact, only extended to foreign Jews, natura
lized here, the privileges enjoyed by the sons of Jews
born here. So violent an outcry was raised against
the measure as destructive of the Church and Chris
tianity ; so incredible was the ferment into which the
nation was thrown by it, that Ministers thought it ex
pedient to repeal it that same year. Some discussion
took place as to the repeal and the words employed.
Among others, (to borrow Horace Walpole's words,)
" Pitt, who was just come abroad again, after a year
" of sullen illness, defended the words and the repeal,
" and it passed by a majority of 150 to 60." Lyttel
ton delivered one of those studied orations in which
both Walpole and Lord Waldegrave pronounce that
he excelled. In the course of his speech* he said, " Re
solution and steadiness are excellent qualities; but
" it is the application of them upon which their value
" depends. A wise Government will know where to
" yield as well as where to resist : and there is no
" surer marks of littleness of mind in an administra-
" tion than obstinacy in trifles. Public wisdom on some
" occasions must give way to popular folly, especially
" in a free country, where the humour of the people
" must be considered as attentively as the demand of
" a King in an absolute monarchy. Under both forms
" of Government, a prudent and honest ministry
" will indulge a small folly and will resist a great one.
" Not to vouchsafe now and then a kind indulgence
" to theformer, would discover an ignorance of human
" nature. Not to resist the latter would be a meanness
* See vol. iii. of Lyttelton's works.

DEATH OF MR. PELHAM. 445
" and servility." He also observed in the course of his 1754
speech, that " the worst mischief that can be done
" to Religion, is to pervert it to the purposes of
" faction. Heaven and hell are not more distant than
" the benevolent spirit of the Gospel, and the malig-
" nant spirit of party ;" that he " who hated another
" for not being a Christian was himself not a Christian ;"
that " Toleration was the basis of all public quiet — a
" charter of freedom given to the mind, more valua-
" ble, he thought, than that which secures our persons
" and estates."*
On the 6th of March, 1754, Mr. Pelham died.
" Our tranquillity, (writes Lord Waldegrave,) both at
home and abroad died with him." " Now I shall
have no more peace," exclaimed George the Second.
In truth he had been an able, wise, and honest Mini
ster, under whom this country greatly flourished. As
to his private character, Lord Chesterfield truly ob
served, " that he had many domestic virtues and no
vices." And the Detractor-General, H. Walpole,
allowed that he had lived without abusing his power,
and died poor. Very different was the character of
his brother the Duke of Newcastle, whose high rank,
powerful connections, indefatigable industry and per-
* Well would it have been for the country if such'opinions had
been generally prevalent among his contemporaries. Speaking of
the period a few years before the date of this speech, Burke
accuses Lord Chesterfield of duping the credulity of Papists in
Ireland, while he was " urging penal laws against them in a speech
from the throne, and of stimulating with provocatives the wearied
and half-exhausted bigotry of the then Parliament of Ireland." —
Letter to Sir Hercules Langrishe.

446 duke of Newcastle's government.
1754. severance, and intrepidity in debate, scarcely redeemed
him from the contempt to which his constant perfidy,
his mean jealousy, servile timidity and low ambition of
place and power, almost universally consigned him.
Pitt, Fox, and Murray, were by far the ablest debaters in
the House ; and the candidates out of whom the world
imagined Mr. Pelham's successor would be chosen.
Murray set his heart on being Lord Chief Justice,
and wisely resolved to cling to his profession : the
Duke of Newcastle was determined to outwit both
Fox and Pitt. Fox was at this time bribed by the
Duke of Cumberland, as not long afterwards Pitt was
by Leicester House, which had again become the
theatre of habitual intrigue, under the Princess Dow
ager and her son, then nearly eighteen years old, the
future George the Third. Lyttelton, George Gren
ville, and Legge were the most considerable persons
in the House, after the three whose pre-eminence was
generally admitted. The Duke of Newcastle offered
Fox the Secretaryship of State, and on his acceptance
clogged it with such humiliating conditions, that he
knew it must be refused. He then placed a creature
of his own, Sir George Robinson,* in that important
post ; he was not less unacceptable to the King, be
cause not only wholly ignorant of continental politics,
but utterly without the faculty of explaining himself in
intelligible language — no slight requisite in a leader
of the House of Commons. He soon became the
derision of the House under the incessant baiting of
Pitt and Fox, who remained Paymaster of the Forces
* Afterwards Lord Grantham.

duke of Newcastle's government. 447
and Secretary at War. Lyttelton who had become 1754.
sincerely attached to Mr. Pelham's principle of go
vernment, which he believed the Duke meant to carry
into execution, was made Cofferer,* George Grenville,
Treasurer of the Navy, an office vacant by the pro
motion of Legge to the Chancellorship of the Exche
quer. Horace Walpole says, that Lyttelton " under
took to be a factor for his friends," and unauthorised
answered for Pitt's acquiescence under a new plan.
This period brings us to a remarkable epoch in Lyt
telton's life — the causes which led to the rupture of
" the historic friendship" f with Pitt. Fortunately the
story can be told in their own language. The corres
pondence of Pitt, from the death of Mr. Pelham till
the close of the year 1754, and Lyttelton's paper of
observations thereupon, constitute not the least curious
and interesting portion of the manuscripts at Hagley.
Lord Waldegrave in his agreeable and trustworthy
memoirs observes, that at this time " Mr. Pitt's fol-
" lowers were scarce a sufficient number to deserve
" the name of a party, consisting only of the Greh-
" villes and Sir George Lyttelton. The latter was
" an enthusiast both in religion and politics — absent
" in business, not ready in debate and totally ignorant
" of the world ; on the other hand his studied ora-
" tions were excellent, he was a man of parts, a scho-
" lar, no indifferent writer, and by far the honestest
" man of the whole society." I should here observe,
that the manuscripts before me show no trace of any
* He made his brother William sub-cofferer.
f H. Walpole's expression.

448 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT.
acquaintance subsisting between Lyttelton and Lord
Waldegrave. FROM PITT TO LYTTELTON.
" Bath, February 16th, 1754.
" Dear Lyttelton,
1754. " I AM extremely sensible of your friendly and
kind remembrance of your faithful servant, now under
the wholesome but painful discipline of fit the second
of gout in both feet ; I was just beginning to use my
feet when I lost them again, and have been for this
week in much pain, and nailed fast to my great chair.
I rejoice much in the health of the Lytteltons; at
least of Hill-street, for as to Sir Richard, I have not
the pleasure of hearing any boasts of his defying the
severe winter we have had. I hope, however, he is not,
as I am, laid up. Your bustle about putting the troops
at Madras, &c. under martial law was, I imagine,
not great; a more reasonable and indeed necessary
proposition could not, in my opinion, be moved. A
greater state solecism can hardly be imagined than
foreign mercenary troops, not under the controul of
martial law ; and that in a place exposed every hour
to war. Le Harpe stands you a long chase : I sup
pose you partake of the sport, with what keenness
I know not. The affair, though not of the first mag
nitude, has, I believe, a good deal of dirt at the bottom
of it, and is well worthy of the exertion of that great
Right of Enquiry, which is to be exploded in a few
years more. A thousand thanks to my dear Lyttelton,
for his very obliging tender of his company to the

CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT. 449
sick : I hope, before it is very long, to repeat these 1754.
thanks to you in London, and enjoy the pleasure of
that conversation you have goodness enough to offer
me in my present state of tribulation. I rejoice things
at Oakhampton are likely to go well. Believe me,
" My dear Lyttelton,
" Most affectionately yours,
" W. Pitt.
" I am much Mrs. Mary West's humble servant, and
rejoice in her health."
" (Secret.) "Bath, March 10th, 1754.
" Dear Lyttelton,
" I am much obliged to you for your dispatch, and
am highly satisfied with the necessary reserve you
have kept with respect to the dispositions of your
self and friends. Indeed the conjuncture itself, and
more especially our peculiar situation, require much
caution and measure in all our answers, in order to n
act like honest men, who determine to adhere to the
public great object ; as well as men who would not be
treated like children. I am far from meaning to .
recommend a sullen, dark, much less a double con
duct ; all I mean is to lay down a plan to ourselves ;
which is, to support the King's government in present
and maintain the Princess's authority and power in
a future contingency : as a necessary consequence of
this system, I wish to see as little power in Fox's
hands as possible, because he is incompatible with the
main part and indeed of the whole of this plan ; but

450 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT.
1754. I mean not to open myself to whoever pleases to
sound my dispositions, with regard to persons espe
cially, and by premature declarations, deprive our
selves of the only chance we have of deriving any
consideration to ourselves from the mutual fears and
animosities of different factions in court : and expose
ourselves to the resentment and malice in the closet of
the one without stipulations or security for the good
offices and weight of the other there in our favour.
But do I mean then an absolute reserve, which has
little less than the air of hostility towards our friends
(such as they are) at court; or at least, bear too
plainly the indications of intending a third party or
flying squadron ! by no means : nothing would, in
my poor judgment, be so unfit and dangerous for us.
I would be open and explicit (but only on proper
occasions) " that, I was most willing to support his
Majesty's government upon such a proper plan as I
doubted not his Majesty, by the advice of his Minis
ters, would frame ; in order to supply, the best that
may be, the irreparable loss the King has sustained in
Mr. Pelham's death : in order to secure the King ease
for his life and future security to his family and to
the kingdom: that my regards to the ministers in
being were too well known to need any declarations ;"
this and the like which may be vary'd for ever, is
answer enough to any sounder. As to any things said
by Principals in personal conference, as that of the
Chancellor with you, another manner of talking will
be proper, though still conformable to the same pri
vate plan which you shall resolve to pursue. Pro-

CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT. 451
fessions of personal regard cannot be made too 1754.
strongly; but as to matter, generals are to be
answered with generals ; particulars, if you are led
into them, need not at all be shunn'd ; and if treated
with common prudence and presence of mind, can
not be greatly used to a man's prejudice; if he says
nothing that implies specific engagements, without
knowing specifically what he is to trust to recipro
cally. Within these limitations, it seems to me, that
a man whose intentions are clear and right, may talk
without putting himself at another's mercy or offend
ing him by a dark and mysterious reserve. I think
it best to throw my answer to the Chancellor into a
separate piece of paper, that you may send it to his
Lordship. I am sorry to be forced to answer in
writing, because not seeing the party, it is not possible
to throw in necessary qualifications and additions
or retractations, according to the impression things
make. " As far as, my dear Lyttelton, you are so good
to relate your several conversations upon the present
situation, I highly applaud your prudence. I hope
you neither have nor will drop a word of menace, and
that you will always bear in mind that my personal
connection with the Duke of Newcastle, has a peculiar
circumstance which yours and that of your friends has
not. One cannot be too explicit in conversing at this
Unhappy distance * on matters of this delicate and criti
cal nature, I will, therefore, commit tautology, and
* Pitt, says H. Walpole, was at Bath, " where he had, or had
" unluckily acted, very ill health."

l~

452 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT.
1754. i repeat what I said in my former dispatch : viz. that it
j enters not the least into my plans to intimate quitting
J the King's service ; giving trouble, if not satisfied, to
Government. The essence of it consists in this : attach
ment to the King's service, and zeal for the ease and
quiet of his life, and stability and strength to future
government under the Princess ; this declared openly
and explicitly to the ministers. The reserve I would
use should be, with regard to listing in particular
subdivisions, and thereby not freeing persons from
those fears which will alone quicken them to give
us some consideration for their own sakes : but this
is to be done negatively only ; by eluding explicit
declarations with regard to persons especially; but
by intimations qf a possibility qf our following our
resentments ; for, indeed, dear Sir George, I am deter
mined not to go into faction. Upon the whole, the
mutual fears in Court open to our connection some
room for importance and weight, in the course of
affairs : in order to profit by this situation, we must
not be out of office : and the strongest argument of
all to enforce that, is, that Fox is too odious to
last for ever, and G. Grenville must be next nomi
nation under any Government. I am too lame to
move. " Your ever affectionate " W. Pitt."

Lyttelton's ingenuous nature was ill qualified to
follow the dark and tortuous course prescribed to him

CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT. 453
in this memorable letter;* that the writer, however, 1754.
was fully able to practise what he taught will be seen
from the enclosure to Lord Hardwicke. His mode of
hinting, that if Fox is made Chancellor of the Ex
chequer, he will accept the Secretaryship at War, will
amuse the reader.
" (Ostensible to Lord Hardwicke.) "Bath, March 10th, 1754.
" My dear Sir George,
" I beg you will be so good to assure my Lord
Chancellor, in my name, of my most humble services
and many very grateful acknowledgments for his
Lordship's obliging wishes for my health. I am still
under an utter impossibility of travelling, with much
gout and pain in both feet : it is particularly mortify
ing to me not to be able to wait on his Lordship to
receive Iris commands in this unhappy and difficult
conjuncture, when the King and kingdom have sus
tained an irreparable loss. The best which can be
done must leave, I fear, the public exposed to many
disagreeable and perhaps dangerous contingencies —
that this best, wherever it is to be found, will be done,
I can safely trust to my Lord Chancellor's wisdom,
authority, and firmness, in conjunction with the Duke
of Newcastle's great weight and abilities, as soon as
his Grace can recover into action again. I can never
* Full of what Mr. Burke so admirably designates as " signifi-
" cant, pompous, creeping, explanatory, ambiguous matter, in the
" true Chathamic style." — Burke's Corres., vol. i. p. 173.

454 correspondence with pitt.
1754. sufficiently express the high sense I have of the great
honours of my Lord Chancellor's much too favourable
opinion of his humble servant ; but I am so truly and
deeply conscious of so many* of my wants in Parlia
ment and out of it, to supply in the smallest degree
this irreparable loss, that I can say with much truth
were my health restored and his Majesty brought
from the dearth of subjects to hear of my name for
so great a charge, I should wish to decline the honour,
even though accompany 'd with the attribution of all
the weight and strength which the good opinion and
confidence of the master cannot fail to add to a
servant ; but under impressions in the Royal mind
towards me, the reverse of these, what must be the
vanity which would attempt it ? These prejudices,
however so successfully suggested and hitherto so
unsuccessfully attempted to be removed, shall not
abate my zeal for his Majesty's service, though they
have so effectually disarmed me of all means of being
useful to it. I need not suggest to his Lordship that
consideration and weight in the House of Commons
arises generally but from one of two causes — the
protection and countenance of the Crown, visibly
manifested by marks of Royal Favour at Court, or
from weight in the country, sometimes arising from
, opposition to the public measures. This latter sort
of consideration it is a great satisfaction to me to
reflect I parted w ith, as soon as I became convinced
there might be danger to the family from pursuing
opposition any further ; and I need not say I have not
* Sic in orig.

CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT. 455
had the honour to receive any of the former since I 1754.
became the King's servant. In this humiliating
and not exaggerated view of my situation within the
House, of how little weight can I flatter myself to be
there ? And how even would it be for me, were I in town,
to assume anything like the lead, even though encou
raged to it by as animating a consideration as my
Lord Chancellor's protection, without the attribution
of a weight, which does not belong to myself, and
can arise to me only from marks of Royal Countenance
towards me and my friends. Perhaps some of my n
friends may not labour under all the prejudices that
I do. I have reason to believe they do not : in that
case should Mr. Fox be Chancellor of the Exchequer,
the Secretary at War is to be filled up. I can not leave j
off without repeating again the high sense I have of
the great honour of my Lord Chancellor's good opi
nion. I fear I have very little else to merit any
degree of it but unutterable good wishes for the
security, ease, and quiet of his Majesty's reign, and
a firm attachment to the maintenance and stability of
the Princess's authority as established in case of a
minority, which God avert ! And I hope I need not
add, that no one is more respectfully and gratefully
attached to his Lordship than I am, Farewell, my
dear Sir George, your ever affectionate,
" W. Pitt."
The Lord Chancellor on the day he was created Earl
of Hardwicke and Viscount Royston, wrote to Mr.
Pitt this answer. *
* Published in the Chatham Correspondence, vol. i. p. 89.

1754.

456 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT.
THE EARL OF HARDWICKE TO MR. PITT.
" Powis House, April 2, 1754.
" Sir, " After having read your letter to Sir George
Lyttelton, which he was pleased to shew me, I take
shame to myself for having omitted so long to do
myself the honour of writing to you. But I must
own (besides the pain of leaning down to write during
the violence of my cough), another kind of shame has,
in part, restrained me from it ; for I blush even when
I refer to that letter. I am penetrated with the good
ness which it breathes for me; but that goodness
carried you to say some things which, as I am sensible
I neither do, nor ever can deserve, I dare not take to
myself. Besides this, I have lived in such continual
hurry, ever since the day of our great misfortune,
Mr. Pelham's death, —
" Ille dies, quem semper acerbum,
Semper honoratum (sic Di voluistis,) habebo," —
that I have had no time for correspondence.
" The general confusion called upon somebody to
step forth ; and the Duke of Newcastle's overwhelm
ing affliction and necessary confinement, threw it
upon me. I was a kind of minister, ab aratro, I
mean the chancery-plough, and am not displeased to
be returned to it, laborious as it is to hold. I never
saw the King under such deep concern since the
Queen's death. His Majesty seemed to be unresolved ;
professed to have no favourite for the important em
ployment vacant; and declared that he would be

CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT. 457
advised by his cabinet council, with the Duke of 1754.
Devonshire added to them ; and yet I could plainly
discern a latent prepossession in favour of a certain
person, who, within a few hours after Mr. Pelham's
death, had made strong advances to the Duke of
Newcastle and myself. I gained no further ground
for four days, and remained in a state of the utmost
anxiety, as well for the King's dignity, as for the
event. " To poll in a cabinet council for his first minister,
which should only be decided in his closet, I could by
no means digest ; and yet I saw danger in attempting
to drive it to a personal determination. My great
objects were to support the system of which Mr. Pel
ham had been, in a great measure, at the head; by
that means to preserve and cement the Whig party,
and to secure the election of a new parliament upon
the plan he had left, though unfinished ; which I
inculcated to be the immediate fundamental object.
This I stuck close to, as I saw it carried the greatest
force ; and I took advantage of the King's earnestness
for a good House of Commons, to show him the
necessity of fortifying his interest there, not only by
numbers, but by weight and abilities.
" Under this head, it might have the appearance of
something which I would avoid being suspected of, if
I told you all I said of particular persons. I was not
wanting to do justice to true merit, nor backward to
show him how real strength might be acquired.
Some way I made, though not all I wished ; and I
threw out intimations that, upon this occasion, open-
2 H

458 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT.
1754. ings would be made in very considerable employ
ments, in whicli some of those I named should be
regarded. I sincerely and without affectation wish
that it had been possible for you to have heard all
that I presumed to say on this subject. I know you
are so reasonable, and have so much consideration for
your friends (amongst whom I am ambitious to be
numbered), that you would have been convinced
some impression was made, and that, in the circum
stances then existing, it could not have been pushed
further without the utmost hazard.
" It would be superfluous and vain in me to say to
you, what you know so much better than I, that there
are certain things which ministers cannot do directly ;
and that in political arrangements, prudence often
dictates to submit to the minus malum, and to leave it
to time and incidents, and perhaps to "ill-judging
opponents, to help forward the rest. Permit me to
think that has remarkably happened, even in the
case before us. An ill-judged demand of extraordi
nary powers, beyond what were at last in the royal
view, has, in my opinion, helped to mend the first
plan, and to leave a greater facility to make use of
opportunities still to improve it. This situation, with
the Duke of Newcastle (whose friendship and attach-
• ment to you are undoubted and avowed) placed at the
head of the treasury, and in the first rank of power,
affords a much more promising prospect, than the
most sanguine dared to hope when the fatal blow was
first given.
" It gave me much concern to find by your letter to

CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT. 459
the Duke of Newcastle, which his Grace did me the
honour to communicate to me in confidence, that you
are under apprehensions of some neglect on this decisive
occasion. At some part of what you say I do not at
all wonder. I sincerely feel too much for you, not to
have the strongest sensibility of it ; but I give you my
honour, there was no neglect. I exerted my utmost,
in concurrence with, and under the instruction of, the
Duke of Newcastle ; whose zeal in this point is equal
to your warmest wishes. That an impression was
made to a certain degree, I think appears in the
instances of some of your best friends, Sir George
Lyttelton, and Mr. George Grenville ; upon whom
you generously and justly lay great weight. I agree
that this falls short of the mark ; but it gives encou
ragement. It is more than a colour for acquiescence
in the eyes of the world ; it is a demonstration of fact.
No ground arises from hence to think of retirement,
rather than for courts and business. We have all of us
our hours wherein we wish for those otia tuta ; and I
have mine frequently : but I have that opinion of your
wisdom, of your concern for the public, of your re
gard and affection for your friends, that I will not
suffer myself to doubt but you will continue to take an
active part. There never was a fairer field in the
House of Commons for such abilities, and I flatter
myself that the exertions of them will complete what
is now left imperfect.
" I need only add to this my best wishes for the
entire re-establishment of your health. Those wishes
are as cordial as the assurances which, with the utmost
2 h 2

1754.

460 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT.
1754. sincerity and respect, I now give you, that I am
always, Sir, " Your most obedient,
" most faithful, and
" most humble servant,
" Hardwicke."
"Bath, March 20th, 1754.
" Dear Lyttelton,
" Your letter by the post has left me in daily ex
pectation of further information by an express. I
conclude that things still remain unsettled, because
I hear nothing from you, or any other friends, relating
L to them. I cannot yet fix any time for my leaving
this place, for I cannot yet use my legs. I am much
recovered in all other respects, and begin to flatter
myself with the hope of a degree of health hereafter.
The experienced in gout here, promise me the re
covery of my feet, as soon as the weather becomes a
little milder. The moment I am able to stand, I will
set out for London. I need not tell you my impa
tience to be with my friends. I endeavour to kill my
time with the Essay on Human Knowledge.* The
work contains a vast compass of reading ; it is writ
with much clearness, great eloquence, as much wit,
and still more arrogance ; but I find it in some parts,
not a few, filled with repetitions, from my Lord's
fondness of the matter. The arrogance is so exces-
* Lord Bolingbroke's Philosophical Essays, published by Mallet
on the clay of Mr. Pelham's death ; a coincidence made memorable
by Garrick's well known epigram.

CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT. 461
sive, that great as the performance is, it becomes often 1754.
even ridiculous. There was, not many years ago, a man
in Bedlam, of very fine parts, and a scholar, who used
to entertain all the spectators of that place, with very
rational discourses, and talked with wit and eloquence ;
but always concluded by assuring his hearers, that he
alone, of all the world, was in his right senses, and
they, and all mankind, were mad, and had conspired
to put him in that place.
" Adieu, dear Lyttelton,
" Your ever affectionate, "W. Pitt.
" I should hope a week or ten days may set me'
upon my legs." " Bath, March 24th, 1754.
" Dear Lyttelton,
" Being much tired with long deliberation, and
writing a very long letter to the Duke of Newcastle, as
well as unfit to write much to-day, from a restless night
by the late arrival of your packet, and the effects of
Bath waters, I shall say but a few words. First, the in
closed directed for the Duke of Newcastle, I desire you
will read, together with Lord Temple, and his brothers,
and then seal it, not with my arms or crest, but with a
head, and send it, or rather carry it, if you please, to the
Duke of Newcastle, and deliver it with your own hand.
I judge it upon the whole, necessary to remonstrate as
fully as I have done. I hope it will meet with the joint
approbation of you all. My plan still continues fixed,
not to quit employments ; merely quitting is annihila-

462 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT.
1754. tion ; quitting to disturb Government, and make our
selves be felt, must at this time be faction ; and
. faction for others' benefit, not our own : it must
increase the present confusion, and produce a system
I never think right for this country. Were this conduct
sure to turn to our own benefit in the scramble, I
can never bring my mind to engage in faction, in so
dangerous a public conjuncture. Adieu, my dear
Lyttelton ; I desire you will say all you suppose I
feel towards the Chancellor, as when I tell you I think
him sincere in his professions, and reverence his wisdom
before any man's. The Duke of Newcastle, I don't
charge with insincerity intentionable, or want of good
will ; but I impute all that's wrong there, to an influ
ence that overrules his mind, of which we shall dis
course more largely when we meet.
" Your ever affectionate, " W. Pitt."
It is to be regretted, observes the editor of the
Chatham Correspondence, that no draught of Mr.
Pitt's letter, here referred to, has been preserved.
The Duke of Newcastle's is preserved, and published.*
The writer vainly endeavoured to avert the wrath
which he justly foresaw the appointment of such a log as
Sir T. Robinson to the Foreign Secretaryship, over the
head of Pitt, would draw down upon him.
" Whenever I have the honour (he writes) of one
quarter of an hour's conversation with you, I am certain
* Vol. i. p. 95, Chatham Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT. 463
I shall convince you of the contrary, and that, in the 1754.
late arrangements, I have had all the regard and atten
tion to your connexions, which it was possible for me to
show ; and that if I had attempted more, I should have
exposed my own weakness, mortified those whom I
meant to serve, prevented even what I have been able
to obtain, acted the part which those who wish us ill
had laid for me, given them great cause of triumph
over us, and perhaps have flung every thing into their
hands. * * *
" A plan was at first made, with a view to make my
going to the head of the treasury the more palatable
to those who might be supposed to be the least pleased
with it. That, for certain reasons, did not take place ;
upon which, the King himself, from his own motion,
declared Sir Thomas Robinson secretary of state.
Those, who are honoured with your friendship,
thought that the most favourable measure that could be
obtained. An honourable and able man, extremely
well qualified in every respect for the execution of that
office, sincerely attached to our system, and who,
without departing from that rank and figure which
belonged to his office, had not those parliamentary
talents which could give jealousy, or in that light set
him above the rest of the King's servants there ; so
that their situation did not receive the least alteration
from his promotion ; and since, from circumstances
(which you know I have long lamented) it was im
possible to put one into that office, who had all the
necessary qualifications both within and out of the
House, nothing sure could show so great a desire to

464 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT.
1754. soften or alleviate that misfortune, as the giving into
a nomination of Sir Thomas Robinson, under the de
scription above mentioned.
" The choice of Mr. Legge was made with a view
to please all our friends. We knew he was well with
the old corps, we knew he was happy in your friend
ship, and in your good opinion and that of your con
nection ; and you must allow me to say, that I could
never have thought one moment of removing you,
in the high light in which you so justly stand, from
the office you now possess, to be chancellor of the
exchequer, with another person at the head of the
treasury. " These dispositions being thus made, it was my first
view to shew you that regard, in the person of your
friends, which it was impossible to do in your own,
to the degree which you might reasonably expect.
The two first vacant offices — that of treasurer of the
navy and cofferer — were by my recommendation given
to your two first friends, Mr. Grenville and Sir George
Lyttelton ; two employments as agreeable to them
both, as I believe could be found out ; and the rest of
the vacancies plainly filled with a view to the House
of Commons, and the providing for the most efficient
men there.
" I have now very truly stated to you the state of
the late promotions, and the reasons upon which they
were made. Had it been possible for me to have sur
mounted those difficulties which you hint at, I may
venture to assure you, that your situation would be
very different from what it is, and no one complaint

CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT. 465
should have remained, that I could have removed. I 1754.
am happy, in some measure, to have had the same
considerations with yourself, and to have acted with
success in consequence of it : viz. that the best allevia
tion that could be to you, would be the placing your
friends in honourable and agreeable employments ;
and I happen to have pitched upon those mentioned
in your letter."
Pitt answered* coldly and haughtily, that " The
suffrage of the party in one instance, and a higher
nomination in another, operating to the eternal ex
clusion of a man, can leave him (under a resolution
not to disturb Government) no wish but that of re
treat ; not a retreat of resentment, but of respect, and
despair of ever being accepted on equal terms with
others, be his poor endeavours what they may." He
trusted " a retreat neither dishonourable nor disagree
able, might, when it was practicable, be opened to him."
In the following letter to William Lyttelton, he
congratulates him on his appointment of Sub-Cofferer,
and praises Legge's appointment. "Bath, April 1st, 1754.
" My dear Lyttelton,
" Nothing could give me more pleasure than to
hear that you are agreeably placed under your brother,
except the hearing that justice had been done to your
talents and virtues by the highest powers. I wished
* Chatham Correspondence, p. 102.

466 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT.
1754. to see you put into the stream of promotion, which, by its
natural current, and the right of succession in the gra
dation of office, (though not always held indefeasible,)
commonly bears men to fortune ; however, I heartily
rejoice at this secondary mode of being placed ; nor
is the thing inconsiderable. A thousand grateful and
affectionate thanks to you, for your kind alarm about
me. I am much better in my general health, though
far from quite well. I am still too lame to stand
without two sticks. Adieu, my dear Sub -C offerer ;
may you in no long course of years, (with Sir
George's leave,) come ' to sleep within the chariot that
you drive ;' for all the cares of office will be yours,
while the Cofferer reposes in the shades of Hagley,
and dispenses his own fat bucks, as you will do those
of His Majesty's parks and forests.
" Most affectionately yours,
" W. Pitt.
" My affectionate compliments to Sir George and
Sir Richard. I rejoice extremely at the accession to
Legge's landed property."
" Bath, April 4th, 1754.
" Dear Lyttelton,
" I am extremely happy to hear of your recovery
at the same time I hear that you have been ill. I
hope your health will be quite established before you
attempt a journey to Oakhampton. I have, myself, a
cold in my head, and a slight sore throat, which unfits
me for writing. I have answered the Chancellor's

CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT. 467
letter, and the Duke of Newcastle's, by this messenger, 1754.
I must therefore be short to you. The Duke of New
castle's letter to me is not only in a temper very diffe
rent from what you saw his Grace in, but is writ
with a condescension, and in terms so flattering, that
it pains me. I am almost tempted to think there is
kindness at the bottom of it, which, if left to itself,
would before now have shewed itself in effects. If I
have not the fruit, I have the leaves of it in abundance ;
a beautiful foliage of fine words ; and if lulling one to
sleep would satisfy his Grace, I am quite disposed
a m'endormir, d V ombre de ses Lauriers, not as de Retz
says of the Prince of Conde, of my own. The Chan
cellor's letter is the most condescending, friendly,
obliging thing that can be imagined. I have the
deepest sense of his goodness for me ; but I am really
compelled, by every reason fit for a man to listen to, to
resist (as to the point of activity in Parliament) farther
than I like to do. I have intimated retreat, and
pointed out such a one in general as I shall really like.
Resolved not to disturb Government, I desire to be
released from the oar of Parliamentary drudgery. I am
willing to sit there, and be ready to be called out into
action when the Duke of Newcastle's personal interests
might require, or Government should deign to em
ploy me as an instrument. I am not fond of making
speeches (though some may think I am). I never
cultivated the talent but as an instrument of action
in a country like ours : these ideas of men's fitness for
office are changed. I wish the error may not be seen

468 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT.
i754# and felt too late. My best compliments to my Lady
Cofferer. I am " Dear Sir George's
" Most affectionate "W. Pitt.
" I would write to G. Grenville if I was able to
write any longer. My best wishes attend him ; and
many thanks for his letter." "Bath, May 20th, 1754.
" Dear Sir George,
" I have continued much in the state Lord Temple
saw me in, that is, in very good health, but weak in my
feet, and lame in my hand. His Lordship was so
good to charge himself with my thanks to you, for the
pleasure of your letter from Oakhampton, and my
excuse for not writing, which it was inconvenient to
me to do. I use a pen with some difficulty still, and
my feet, in so hobbling a manner, that I find myself
neither very fit, nor in much haste, to make my bow
in London — " mihijam non Regia Roma; sed vacuum
Tibur placet aut imbelle Tarentum." The country
here is delightful! ; and the taste I find in me for
quiet, every hour takes deeper root in my mind.
What can I do so well as yield myself up to this
taste ? to the tranquil comforts of indolence and inno
cence? I don't dare think I ever could have done
much good ; but since it is now become evident, that
I am never to be suffered to try to serve my country,
I have nothing left in my power but to resolve not

CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT. 469
fo hurt it. I believe I shall hardly be in town by 1754,
the 31st; be so good to let me know how many
days the Parliament is to sit. My hand begins to
fail. " Most affectionately yours,
"W. Pitt.
" I hope the Duchess of Bridgewater* is in a good
way. My affectionate compliments to Sir Richard."
" P.S. I hope my answer to the Chancellor will not
be disapproved ; it contains my poor plan in the exactest
limits and extent of it ; and equally to this answer I
should wish to form my whole conduct, and language
(when I thought proper to use any). I desire you
will be so good to read it to the Chancellor, and
if he desires to keep it, I have no objection. I wish to
have it communicated to the Duke of Newcastle, and
by you. If the Chancellor does not keep it, you
will also be so good to communicate it before delivery
to the three brothers ;* as well as my letters at large to
you. I have not intimated, you see, any thing with
regard to what consideration I might expect for
myself. I think it better that should arise from them
selves, at least not come from me. If they are in
earnest to avail themselves of me against what they
* Sir Richard Lyttelton married the Duchess of Bridgewater.
f Lord Temple, George and James Grenville. When Mr. Burke
used the same expression, he included Lord Chatham : — " What
think you of the three united brothers." — Burke's Correspondence,
vol. i. p. 103.

470 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT.
1754. fear, they will call me to the cabinet ; though a cabinet
council office may be impracticable at this time,
in future it may not, and I may be better able to un
dertake one. Whether they will do all they can for
us, I cannot tell ; but their wants are so great, and
will infallibly grow so fast upon them, that if God
grants us all health, our poor, depressed, betrayed,
persecuted band, will have its weight, if we keep our
tempers, and hold employments, and act systematically,
without haste and fluctuation to the great plain objects
of public good : the present security, and quiet of
Government, and the maintenance of the future Go
vernment under the Princess, ' est et fideli tuta silentio
mer ces? Silence is an inestimable jewel in these nice
conjunctures. Little said, soon mended, is an axiom
to be writ in gold. I mean silence to persons unautho
rised to question, sounders : frankness with prudence
to principals who talk with authority. I must have
tired you to death ; I am sure I have myself. Before
I lay down the pen, I will say, nothing can be so
glaring, as to say to you in one and the same breath,
it was wished I was in town to take the lead, and to
lay in a claim to plead the King's alienation of mind
against me. Who could his Lordship think he was
talking to ? I, however, really honour and respect
the Chancellor, and think him a great resource in
these times. You cannot be too careful of these
sheets, not to leave them in your pockets, or drop
them. Pardon all these cautions ; but we are beset
with snares and dangers. I beg you will mend the

CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT. 471
English in my answer to the Chancellor, if there are 1754
slips." Rather a singular ending from so great a master of
English. The letter to Lord Hardwicke bears an
earlier date than this, but was as follows.* "Bath, April 6, 1754.
"My Lord,
" No man ever felt an honour more deeply, than
I do that of your Lordship's letter. Your great
goodness in taking the trouble to write, amidst your
perpetual and important business, and the very conde
scending and infinitely obliging terms, in which your
Lordship is pleased to express yourself, could not fail
to make impressions of the most sensible kind. I am
not only unable to find words to convey my gratitude ;
but I am much more distressed to find any means of
deserving the smallest part of your Lordship's very
kind attention and indulgence to a sensibility carried,
perhaps, beyond what the cause will justify, in the eye
of superior and true wisdom. I venerate so sincerely
that judgment, that I shall have the additional un
happiness of standing self-condemned, if my reasons
already laid before your Lordship continue to appear
insufficient to determine me to inaction.
" I cannot without much shame so abuse your Lord
ship's indulgence, as to go back, but for a moment, into
an unworthy subject that has already caused you too
much trouble, and which must unavoidably be filled
* Chatham Correspondence, vol i, p. 103.

472 correspondence with pitt.
1754. with abundance of indecent egotism. But permit me
to assure your Lordship, in the first place, that far
from having a doubt remaining on my mind, that
more might have been done in my favour on this occa
sion, I think myself greatly indebted to your Lord
ship's goodness, and will ever gratefully acknowledge
the kind efforts you were pleased to make, to remove
impressions that have entered so deep; but I hope
your Lordship will not think me unreasonable, if I
conclude, from the inefficacy of these efforts in such a
want of subjects to carry on the King's business in
Parliament, and under his Majesty's strong sense of
that want, that these impressions are immoveable.
" Your Lordship is pleased kindly to say, that some
way is made, and that some future occasion may be
more favourable for me. I am not able to conceive
any such occasion possible. God forbid, the wants of
his Majesty's Government should ever become more
urgent ! Such an unhappy distress can only arise from
an event so fatal to this country, and which must de
prive me of one of the two great protectors whose
friendship constitutes the only .honour of my public
life, that I will not carry my views or reasonings
forward to that melancholy day. I might likewise
add (I conceive not unreasonably), that every acquies
cence to his Majesty's negative (necessary as I am
convinced it was to acquiesce) must confirm and
render more insurmountable the resolution taken for
my perpetual exclusion.
" This, I confess, continues to be strongly my view of
my situation. It is very kind and generous in your

CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT. 473
Lordship to suggest a ray of distant, general hope to 1754.
a man you see despairing, and to turn his view forward
from the present scene to the future. But, my lord, after
having set out under suggestions of this general hope
ten years ago, and bearing long a load of obloquy for
supporting the King's measures, and never obtaining
in recompense the smallest remission of that displeasure
I vainly laboured to soften, all ardour for public
business is really extinguished in my mind, and I am
totally deprived of all consideration by which alone I
could have been of any use. The weight of irre-
moveable royal displeasure is a load too great to move
under : it must crush any man ; it has sunk and
broke me. I succumb ; and wish for nothing but a
decent and innocent retreat, wherein I may no longer,
by continuing in the public stream of promotion, for
ever stick fast aground, and afford to the world
the ridiculous spectacle of being passed by every boat
that navigates the same river. To speak without a
figure, I will presume upon your Lordship's great
goodness to me, to tell my utmost wish : — it is, that
a retreat, not void of advantage, or derogatory to the
rank of the office I hold, might, as soon as practicable,
be opened to me. In this view, I take the liberty to
recommend myself to your Lordship's friendship, as
I have done to the Duke of Newcastle's. Out of his
Grace's immediate province accommodations of this
kind arise, and to your joint protection, and to that
only, I wish to owe the future satisfaction of my life.
" I see with the greatest pleasure, the regard that has
been had to Sir George Lyttelton and Mr. George
2 i

474 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT.
1754. Grenville. Every good done to them will be, at all
times, as done to me. I am at the same time per
suaded that nothing could be more advantageous to
the system. Sir George Lyttelton has great abilities
for set debates, and solemn questions : Mr. Grenville
is universally able in the whole business of the House,
and, after Mr. Murray and Mr. Fox, is certainly one
of the very best parliament men in the House.
" I am now to ask a thousand most humble pardons
of your Lordship for the length, and, I fear, still more
for the matter, of this letter. If I am not quite un
reasonable, your Lordship's equity and candour will
acquit me : if I am so unfortunate as to appear other
wise, where it is my ambition not to be thought
wrong, I hope your Lordship's generosity and hu
manity will notwithstanding pardon failings that flow
from no ill principle, and that never can shake my
unalterable wishes for the quiet and security of go
vernment. I rejoice in your Lordship's recovery from
your late indisposition, and am, my Lord, &c.
"W. Pitt."
The next letter announces the marriage of the Great
Commoner into a family, which, with the accession of
his name and abilities, might and would, had they
been always united, have wielded the most powerful
political influence ever exercised by any family in
these kingdoms. A family of which it has been truly
and eloquently said, that " it has produced so many
eminent men, and formed such distinguished alliances,
that it exercised in a regular and constitutional man-

CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT. 475
ner an influence in the state, scarce inferior to that, !^54-
which, in widely different times, and by widely dif
ferent arts, the house of Neville attained in England,
and that of Douglas in Scotland. During the latter
years of George the Second, and through the whole
reign of George the Third, members of that widely
spread and powerful connexion were almost constantly
at the head either of the Government or the oppo
sition. There were times when the cousinhood, as it
was once named, would itself have furnished almost
all the materials of an efficient cabinet. Within the
space of fifty years, three first Lords of the Treasury,
three Secretaries of State, two keepers of the Privy
Seal, and four First Lords of the Admiralty were
appointed from among the sons and grandsons of the
Countess Temple."* " October, 31, 1754.
" My dear Sir George,
" Your warm and kind assurances of the joy you
receive from an approaching event, full of every hap
piness and honour to your friend and servant, is a
circumstance of additional pleasure and satisfaction
most sensibly felt. I am, indeed, a most happy man.
You, who know what it is tenderly and passionately
to love the object of your perfect esteem, and entire
confidence, will best be able to estimate this happiness
truly. I can add, if I may without vanity, that I
have the pride as well as joy, to find every taste of
my mind, and more serious purposes of my life, cor-
* Mr. Macaulay's Essays, vol. iii. p. 13, on Sir W. Temple.
2 i2

476 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT.
1754. respond to those of Lady Hester Grenville. Would
I could add that my nature was as free from defects
and weaknesses ! I write this from Marlbro' so
much happier than when your letter reached me, as
I am nearer to the source of every felicity. My ob
ligations to Lady Hester are indeed infinite : for what,
my dear Lyttelton, have I to lay at her feet, in return
for the invaluable present her goodness makes me,
but a fortune very far from tempting, and a health
shattered and declined ? The manner in which you
receive my warmest wishes for your brother William's
fortune and figure is most obliging. Nothing could
add to it but adopting so kindly the idea I ventured
to intimate concerning Bewdley. Many, many cordial
thanks to you for all your kind wishes for my welfare
in general, which you do me the honour to express so
largely. Accept in return of the warmest and sin
cerest wishes of my heart for all you wish to yourself
of honour or of advantage. Give me leave to com
prehend all Hagley in this letter of grateful thanks.
I would do myself the honour to write to Lady Lyt
telton separately ; but that I know this will give her
less trouble, as well as more pleasure coming to her
through you. I am ever
" your affectionate
" and happy friend,
"W. Pitt.
"If Miller is with you, my kindest remembrance
to him."

CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT. 477
Then follows, in Lyttelton's own handwriting, and 1754.
evidently after the accession of George the Third, these
" Observations on Mr. Pitt's Letters of 1754."
" For fear of saying anything that Mr. Pitt might
think too much or too little, I contented myself with
delivering his letter to Lord Hardwicke without any
comment upon it, either in talking to his Lordship, or
to the Duke of Newcastle. The peculiar circumstance
in Mr. Pitt's personal connexion with his Grace, which
he desires me always to bear in mind, was his being
brought by his Grace into Parliament for one of his
family boroughs. But this he forgot soon, as he did
many other things declared by him in these letters :
for instead of being ready to be called out into action
as often as the Duke of Newcastle' s personal interests
might require it, he acted the next session with much
personal malignity against the Duke of Newcastle, in
conjunction with Fox, whom he speaks of as so odious.
By which conduct, though he did not lay down his
employment, he forced the administration to let in
Fox; and then, having gained Leicester House and
the Tories, with the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
Mr. Legge, formed so powerful a faction, that, when
in consequence of his opposing all the measures of
Government, he and his friends were turned out, in
the year 1756, such difficulties were brought upon
the administration, as, concurring with the unfortunate
loss of Minorca in the following summer, put an end
to it, and made him Secretary of State before the
Parliament met. But he could not hold it long
without a reconciliation with the Duke of Newcastle,

478 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT.
1754. as I had always foreseen. Their union, which was
the point I had constantly at heart, proved the safety
of the kingdom in that conjuncture. Pitt's opposition
at first was the effect of a jealousy, that his Grace's
inclination was to make Mr. Murray Secretary of
State instead of him, which I knew to be false at that
time ; Mr. Murray having declared a fixed resolution
to adhere to his profession. Lord Hardwicke, to keep
down Fox,* his personal enemy, most ardently desired
the advancement of Pitt, as soon as the obstacles in
the closet could be removed ; but that was really a
work of much more difficulty than Pitt's impatience
would believe. An attempt to force the King to it so
early as he wished, after the death of Mr. Pelham>
would have had no effect, (as I have frequently heard
Lord Hardwicke say) but to drive his Majesty into
the arms of Fox, who, with a very considerable
number of the Whigs, was ready to support him
against such a compulsion, and might probably have
made his party good : Mr. Pitt's popularity not being-
yet acquired. Whereas, his Lordship made no doubt,
that if Pitt would have been quiet and friendly to the
Government, the King would have been persuaded to
give him the seals before the end of the year. It was
quite impossible for me, as a man of honour and
integrity, to join in an opposition which, at the
beginning of it, in the year 1754, and through the
ensuing session of 1755, had not even the pretence of
any public cause, but was purely personal against the
* Fox, in opposing the Chancellor's famous Marriage Act, had
most unfairly and unwisely made a personal attack upon him.

CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT. 479
Duke of Newcastle, to whom, at the desire of Mr. !754.
Pitt himself, I had given a pledge of my friendship,
by receiving from him the honourable office of
Cofferer a little before, and to whose brother, Mr.
H. Pelham, I had greater obligations than to any
other friend ; he having, without any application to
him from me, or in my behalf, refused to give the
office of Treasurer of the Navy to Mr. Legge on Mr.
Doddington's resignation, till after I had declined the
offer of it from him, and having also, but just before
his death, most strongly recommended me to the
King for a peerage. Nor did I ever give the least
hope, in any conversation with Mr. Pitt or his friends,
after I was made Cofferer, that I would come into
any measures to subvert the administration of the
Duke of Newcastle, but, on the contrary, protested
very warmly against it, as no less inconsistent with
my political system, than with my obligations and
engagements ; because I thought it would tend to set
up Fox ; seeing that without him or the Duke of
Newcastle for a colleague, it was not possible for
Pitt to maintain himself long in power, as things
then stood. In the session of parliament which
began in November 1755, the main point of public
business was the attack or defence of the treaties
with Hesse, Hanover, and Brunswick, and with the
Empress of Russia ; all formed for the same end, to
keep the war out of Germany. Mr. Pitt opposed the
last as offensive against the King of Prussia, which
had it really been, I also would have joined in that
opposition ; but it was purely defensive, and con-

480 CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT.
]754. sidered as such by that sagacious Prince himself; who,
therefore, acceded to it by a treaty of the same nature
concluded with us the next year. The other treaties,
before mentioned, Mr. Pitt declared against as
Hanover jobs, because the chief object of them was
to guard the Electorate against a French invasion ;
but to me it seemed, that if his Majesty's German
dominions were attacked in a war purely British,
wherein they had no interest or concern whatever,
merely in revenge for what was done by the Elector
of Hanover as King of Great Britain, our honour and
interest were no less concerned in their defence, than
in the defence of the territories of any other ally
endangered for our safety. If this kingdom be drawn
into quarrels on the Continent, from causes foreign to
its own immediate interests and security, for the
interests of his Majesty's German dominions, and to
serve their ends, as in the quarrel with Sweden about
Bremen and Verdun, that is truly and properly a
Hanover job ; but when those dominions are exposed
to the fury of an enemy, who is only theirs from being
ours, and because they are under the same prince ; in
such a case the defending of them is a truly British
'neasure, and cannot with honour be refused, unless
it appears that we are wholly incapable of doing it
with effect. It might be indeed better for us if
territories on the Continent were not under the same
Prince ; for which reason, when I had the favour and
confidence of the late Prince of Wales, I strongly
urged him to resign them to his brother, the Duke of
Cumberland ; but a separation of them at the time

CORRESPONDENCE WITH PITT. 481
when this question was agitated being impossible, 1754.
we were to consider how to act in that state of things.
The suffering them to be conquered by France in the
war, with a view to recover them again at the peace,
was an idle proposition ; because no English Minister
would have dared to treat for the restoration of them
by any cession of our rights and conquests in America,
which would have been the only means of getting
them restored : for though France would probably
not have kept them herself, she might have parcelled
them out to some of her German allies, and to Sweden ;
or, at best, have left them quite ruined. How widely
Mr. Pitt departed afterwards from the language he
held at this time to gain popularity, and distress the
court he opposed, I need not observe. The wonder is,
that in doing so, he did not lose that popularity ; but
this must chiefly be accounted for by his almost
miraculous success in the war."

CHAPTER XII.
1754—1756.
RESIGNATION OF THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE, AND
ELEVATION OF LYTTELTON TO THE HOUSE OF PEERS.

1754

[Hagley MSS. — Horace Walpole's Memoirs of George the Second,
Posthumous History, vol. i. — Lord Mahon's History of England
vol. iii. — Doddington's Diary — Waldegrave's Memoirs — Burke's
first Letter on a Regicide Peace.]

When Parliament met in November, the Duke of
Newcastle, whose wretched jealousy had already dis
gusted and insulted Legge, his new Chancellor of the
Exchequer, found that the most formidable opposition
to his Government would emanate from his Paymaster
and Secretary at War, whom he did not dare to dis
miss from their offices. A common sense of having
been deceived and ill-treated, united for the moment
Pitt and Fox, and these members of the Government
divided the duties of opposition between them. Pitt
undertaking to quell the eloquent and gifted Murray,
and Fox to torment Robinson till he resigned the place
for which he was grotesquely incompetent.
On the 25th November that scene took place in the
House of Commons, which H. Walpole has so ad
mirably sketched, when Pitt rushed from the gallery

Pitt's quarrel with lyttelton. 483
into the body of the House, and poured out a tre- j^
mendous philippic on those who had made them
selves merry on a question of bribery at an elec
tion, observing, that unless great efforts were made
" we should only sit to register the arbitrary edicts
of once too powerful a subject. This thunderbolt,
(writes the author who was present at the scene)
thrown in a sky so long serene, confounded the
audience. Murray crouched silent and terrified.
Legge scarce rose to say, with great humility, that he
had been raised solely by the Whigs, and if he fell,
sooner or later, he should pride himself in nothing but
being a Whig."
On the 29th of November the breach between Lyt
telton and Pitt, (which the latter had been preparing
since the date of his last letter) was openly avowed :
the immediate cause of it, was an unsuccessful attempt
of Lyttelton to conciliate the Duke of Bedford. Horace
Walpole tells the story in his own way ; he seems to
have first suggested the possibility of such reconcilia
tion, and as it should seem from his own statement,
chiefly for the sake of mischief. Newcastle gave
Lyttelton carte blanche for the negotiation, which was
"overset by his awkward (Walpolice for honest) policy."
The Duke of Bedford flatly refused all terms, sent
for Pitt who conceived that he had been slighted, " and
broke openly with Sir George."
The Parliament met in February. The session 1755.
was memorable for the displays of extraordinary
eloquence which now night after night disturbed
the long slumber of the Senate, and struck terror into

1755.

484 FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
the heart of the Duke of Newcastle. He had sought
in vain to soothe Pitt by offer of high place, and sub
ordinate power. Lord Waldegrave says, " Terms
being proposed, Pitt was very explicit and fairly let
them know that he expected to be Secretary of State,
and would not be content with any meaner employ
ment. Neither was it his intention to be a Secretary
merely to write letters according to order, or to talk
in Parliament like a lawyer from a brief, but to be
really a minister. He also declared against continental
measures and against all treaties of subsidy ; but as this
declaration was reserved to the last, it seems possible
it might have been totally forgot if the answer to
the preceding articles had been satisfactory. * *
The Duke of Newcastle was not sufficiently intimidated
to make any man minister who had frankly told him he
would not be directed."
Meanwhile the aspect of Foreign affairs was lower
ing Ever since the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, both
in India and North America a war had been
smouldering, indeed, every now and then had
actually burst out into a flame, between the English
and the French. Lately, a British force under General
Braddock had been sent off. Sir Edward Hawke
(afterwards so illustrious) had beaten several French
merchantmen in the West Indian seas. At present,
indeed, the French, " with folded arms, beheld these
hostilities;"* and after letters of marque had been
issued by our Admiralty (in August) released the
man-of-war they had taken, which was conveying
* H. Walpole, i. 392.

FOX SUCCEEDS TO ROBINSON. 485
William Lyttelton to his Government of South 1755.
Carolina. But continental war was clearly at hand,
and the King was determined to subsidise every
power in Europe that would be subsidised for the pre
servation of Hanover. While in Hanover his Majesty
concluded treaties for this purpose with Russia and
Hesse ; being subsidiary, they required the signature
of the Chancellor of the Exchequer ; but Legge, who
had been writhing under the petulant insolence of
Newcastle, and had become secretly leagued with
Leicester House, refused to sign the Treasury Warrant
for the first payment of the Russian troops, without
the consent of Parliament. The Duke could not be
lieve his eyes, and was at his wits end. It was clearly
impossible that the Government should get through
another session, large as their majority was, without
some substitute for Robinson. Pitt having been suppli
cated in vain, and Murray still adhering to his resolu
tion never to quit his profession, the Duke was obliged,
however reluctantly, to dismiss Robinson, and to admit
Fox on his own terms into the vacant office, and into
the Cabinet. The Government acquired a great
accession of strength ; for Fox was not only the best
debater (except perhaps Murray) in the House, but
his boldness revived the drooping spirits of Murray,
now Attorney-General, who " laid in wait to profit
by any slips which Pitt might make during a debate,"*
and more than once foiled his most vehement attacks.
Pitt declared open irreconcileable war with Fox, joined
himself with Legge, and through the all-powerful
favourite of Leicester House, Lord Bute, with the
* H. Walpole, vol. i. p. 429.

486 PITT'S ATTACK ON LYTTELTON.
J 755. Princess Dowager and with the future George the
Third* — who was early induced, by respect and affec
tion for his mother, to intrigue against his grandfather
— Pitt prepared his deadliest wrath for the new Se
cretary of State, and for the new Chancellor of the
Exchequer, who was his old friend Lyttelton ;
" whose appointment," says Lord Waldegrave, " was
resented with the greatest acrimony by the whole
cousinhood." On the 13th of November Parliament met, and the
debate on the Treaties called forth, first the opposi
tion of George Grenville, who f " in a fine pathetic
speech drew a picture of the future bad peace, and
made an encomium on the late cautious minister. J
He was followed by Lyttelton. Sir George Lee,
" the representative of the Princess's sentiments,"
spoke, and a variety of other members ; and then Pitt
burst forth " like a torrent long obstructed, with more
commanding impetuosit}r. He and Legge§ opened
their new opposition in the very spirit of their different
characters. The one, humble, artful, affecting
moderation, gliding to revenge. The other, haughty,
defiant, conscious of injury, and supreme abilities."
In the course of the debate, " half turning with an
air of the greatest contempt to Sir George Lyttelton,
* Pitt said " he could not avoid turning from the venerable age
of the King to his amiable posterity, born among us, yet given up
by some unskilful Minister or Ministers," &c. — H. Walpole's Me
moirs, vol. i. p. 438.
t H. Walpole, 409. % Pelham.
§ There seems to be no ground for supposing this caricature to
resemble the original.

GRENVILLES AND PITT DISMISSED. 487
he said, a gentleman near me has talked, too, of 1755.
writers on the Law of Nations — Nature is the best
writer, she will teach us to truckle to men and not
to power." Thenxame his well-known comparison of
the coalition of Fox and Newcastle to the junction of
the Rhone and Saone at Lyons. He denounced the
treaties as un-British measures, and said our proper
force was our Navy, to which, in the last war, we had
owed the restoration of the barrier and Flanders,
because it had made us masters of Cape Breton.
On the 15th Fox received the seals. On the 20th
Lord Holderness (Secretary for the Southern Depart
ment) wrote to Pitt, Legge, and George Grenville,
that his Majesty had no further occasion for their
services. Pitt is said to have written a submissive
answer. James Grenville resigned the Board of Trade.
Walpole ridicules the appointment of Lyttleton to the
Exchequer, saying that " They turned an absent poet
to the management of the revenue, and employed a
man as visionary as Don Quixote to combat Demos
thenes." This is, of course, a sacrifice of truth to
antithesis ; but undoubtedly Lyttelton's new office was
one in which he was not calculated to shine, though
there seems to be no reason for supposing that he ever
neglected the duties of any office which he held,
or that the legend in Nicholls's Literary Anecdotes
of his inability to comprehend the easiest sum in
arithmetic, is founded on fact. It was not without
great pain, though with a perfect conviction of the
uprightness and consistency of his conduct, that
Lyttelton clung to the Pelham standard when his

488 pitt's quarrel with lyttelton.
1755. adherence to it separated him from those to whom
personal as well as political friendship of many years
had bound him ; but, to use his own words, it seemed
to him a less evil to differ from them than from him
self, and from all the rules which had hitherto guided
his conduct.
H. Walpole,* who idolized Pitt, and hated Lyttel
ton almost as much as Lord Temple, says, — " Pitt
and Temple resented Lyttelton's negotiating for them,
though it is certain he had used all his endeavours to
serve them; but as they meant to have the sole power
of serving — not to be served — they treated him as ill
as if he had sold them." Lyttelton's conduct does
not appear to me to need any defence in this matter.
No one calmly reviewing the history of this time,
the fact that Pitt had joined the Duke's administra
tion, in which he was actually Paymaster when he
delivered his memorable philippic — the language of
his letters to Lyttelton before and after he had accepted
the Coffership — and, above all, his subsequent adoption
of the very subsidising measures against which he now
thundered — can doubt that mortified personal ambi
tion, and not patriotism, was, at this particular period,
the spring of his actions. No one, even if they dissent
to this position, can for a moment vindicate not merely
the breach of long and true private friendship, but
the bitter personal hostility into which the boiling
haughtiness of his nature betrayed him for a season.
But Lyttelton, who in " the dazzling fence of
rhetoric," and the energy of conception and purpose
* Vol. i. p. 359.

pitt's quarrel with lyttelton. 489
requisite for a statesman in the hour of trouble, was 1755.
so far inferior to the Great Commoner, yielded to no
one in jealous regard for his own honour and for steadi
ness of attachment to his friends. I find among the
manuscripts the following : —
" ^°Py °f Part of a letter to a common friend on the
occasion of my political quarrel with Mr. Pitt and
Lord Temple and his family, in the year 1755.*
" You express your concern at the coldness be
tween me and some of my friends, which, you say,
they impute to my having differed from them in my
political conduct. I did, indeed, differ from them
when they differed from others who were equally
friends to them and me, and to whom I was bound by
very great obligations, greater than I had received
from them or any others. The difference gave me
pain ; but it seemed to me a less evil to differ from
them, than from myself, and from all the rules which
hitherto have guided my conduct. That has ever
been perfectly consistent and uniform. From the
time that I first went into the King's service, on
Lord Granville's going out, I have lived in sincere
and constant friendship with those Ministers whom I
came in to support. I loved Mr. Pelham: I had
great cause to love him ; he honoured me with his
friendship ; he gave me such proofs of it, as my heart
will ever feel with gratitude and pride. When I had
the misfortune to lose him, I continued to live in the
same connexion of friendship with his brother, the
* In Lyttelton's own handwriting.
2 K

490 pitt's quarrel with lyttelton.
1755. Duke of Newcastle, and his friend Lord Hardwicke.
Asa mark that I did so, I accepted a high office in
the new settlement of the administration; but in
taking this part, you well know, I was not single : I
took it in conjunction with my friends and relations;
I took it at their express desire. The only distinction
between them and me is, that I have adhered to it,
not seeing any cause to depart from my engagements,
or alter my attachments : if they think they saw
proper cause for altering theirs, I let them judge for
themselves, and should not have thought it necessary,
or expedient, or becoming, to break off our private
friendship on that account, if they had not chosen to
do it, very unwisely, I think. You know, Sir, how
much I was their friend — a friend who on all occasions
has ever set their interests above his own. Were Mr.
Pelham alive he would testify this, and there are some
living Ministers who could bear the same testimony ;
but I desire no witnesses to the truth of all 1 say
except their own hearts. I was their friend, but I was
not their retainer. I was not their bondslave. I was
not obliged to follow wherever they led, against my
own conscience, against what I thought and still
continue to think, my honour and my duty required.
That would not be friendship ; it would be servility
and baseness of mind. Every generous spirit must
loath and disdain it. I do not believe any one of
those gentlemen expected it from me : certain I am
tbat I never gave them cause to conceive such a
thought. I would not, for all the crown can give,
serve the King on such terms. When I dislike the

LETTER FROM GENERAL CONWAY. 491
measures of his Government, I will lay down my 1755.
office and oppose them ; but while I think them good
and wise, founded on the same principles, and directed
to the same ends as those I have approved, in concert
with my friends and family, for many years past, let
who will oppose them, I shall not be sorry, or ashamed
to support them.
" A parasite or a sycophant, to make his court
for a faction which appears very powerful, may
abuse me for this, and call it (if he pleases) deserting
my friends ; but that no worthy man will think the
worse of me for it, I dare be confident, and therefore
willingly trust my cause to your judgment."
It does not appear to whom this letter was sent,
but probably to General Conway, with whom Lyt
telton had formed rather an intimate acquaintance.
This gentleman, the brother of Lord Hertford, had
been appointed Secretary to Ireland, to assist the
Lord Lieutenant, the Duke of Dorset, in restoring
tranquillity to that ever troubled kingdom He was
a person of no mean endowments, both natural and
acquired, and was in correspondence with Lyttelton
at this time. <« Dublin Castle, December 12th, 1755.
" Dear Sir,
" I am much ashamed of the appearance of neg
lect you may have too much reason to think there is
against me in not having taken an earlier opportunity
of congratulating you on the new mark of his Majesty's
2 k 2

492 LETTER FROM GENERAL CONWAY.
1555. favour you have received, and assuring you of my
sincere satisfaction in everything that any way con
tributes to yours. I must not mix compliments of
condolence for your predecessor with those of con
gratulations to you ; but I believe we shall agree in
wishing he had not been, or were not to be lost, as I
doubt he will.
" I hear of nothing but your wars and battles in
this fierce Parliamentary campaign, in which I rejoice
to hear you have Providence and le plus fort escadron
so much on your side : may it long continue ! but if
a certain ally on their side becomes a principal, as I
apprehend, I fear their numbers will improve, though
I hope not their fortune.
" Lady Ailesbury has been as idle as I have, but
has not the excuse of being half so busy ; in truth,
never were two lives that past so much together so
much unlike even of husbands and wives. She does
nothing but what she likes, at least what she pleases,
and I nothing I like from morning to night ; being in
a constant state of the most tormenting little business,
for so the generality of it is, though I am naturally
and en litre d'qffice a gras, statesman, and at once
both Secretary at War, and Secretary of State: if
some of your friends, or rather foes, have any of
Caesar's ambition, or Satan's, and think it enough to
be in high station, be it when it will, I would most
willingly resign my pre-eminence ; as far, at least, as
inclination goes ; being heartily tired of it, for reasons
I shall have more time to tell you one day or other.
" I can say little to you on the late melancholy

LETTER FROM GENERAL CONWAY. 493
accident in my Lord Lieutenant's family: it was felt 1755.
as sorely as you'll imagine, both by the Duke and the
rest of them ; in truth, to a degree very painful to
those about them, and who love and honour that very
singular affection that reigned among them.
" Adieu, dear Sir : I left a sentence unfinished
above, in which I was going to say, that by our
idleness we have heard less of you and Lady Lyttelton
both than we wish. I believe you hate writing, and
have little time for idle correspondencies, which, in
truth, prevented my troubling you before, as I think,
in such a state of banishment, it must be a mean
correspondence indeed that is not worth purchasing
at the rate of such a scrawl as this.
" Accept my best compliments to you both, and
to the Governor, particularly in his new appointment,
and believe me, " Dear Sir,
" your most
" faithful and obedient servant,
" H. S. Conway."
Only a part of Lyttelton's answer is preserved.
" Dear Sir,
" I am as much ashamed of not having writ to
you in so long a time as you say you are of not
having writ to me ; but we are both of us busier
than we could wish, and can trust in each other'9
affection without having assurances of it under our

494 lyttelton's letter to conway.
1755. hands. I need not tell you, to whom I am so well
known, that I should have thought myself a much
happier man if Legge had remained in his office,
than in being his successor; but when he and his
new allies had taken such a part, as made it impos
sible for him to continue Chancellor of the Exchequer,
the offer of succeeding him was made to me in so
very obliging and pressing a manner, not only from
the Duke of Newcastle, but also from the King, that
I could not in duty and honour refuse it ; being, as
I am, entirely convinced that the measures of Govern
ment are such as I ought in conscience to support,
and that everything has been done that possibly
could be done, to obtain the support of those who,
for reasons I cannot approve, have put themselves
at the head of the opposition made to them ; an oppo
sition from which I foresee many consequences, of
very great detriment and danger to the republick.
The storm rises high, and beats fiercely upon me ;
but God forbid that to shelter myself from its fury
I should run into any harbour, while my friends
think I can do them and my country any service by
being at sea.
" I have this satisfaction, and a great one it is,
that I find the publick in general approves of my
promotion. The King is gracious to me beyond all
my hopes, and I have all the marks I can desire of
the most friendly and cordial regard and support
from the whole administration." * * *

DEBATE ON THE MILITIA. 495
In December debates took place on a motion made 1755.
by the brilliant and eccentric George Townshend,
for a committee to inquire into the laws relating to
the militia. Pitt unfolded his own plans on them
with " plain precision," and masterly clearness. H.
Walpole, who tells us this, adds, " As it did not pass
the Lords, I shall drop any further account of it till
it came thither, except to mention some pretty homage
which Sir George Lyttelton's awe made him pay to the
genius of his offended friend Mr. Pitt :" (any one else
would have praised Lyttelton's candour, a quality which
was universally ascribed to him) — " after the latter's
exposition of his plans, Sir George compared a militia
to the longitude, necessary, but hitherto sought in vain.
He had often, he said, heated his imagination with
the topic, but his judgment had cooled it again. If
soldiers assisted the plan, he should hope better of it.
They might avoid the errors of civil men. That hints
from Mr. Pitt were important advices— a sketch from
him was almost a finished picture, but it ought to be
finished, the lines ought to be very correct. The
whole people would not betray the whole people, but
sixty thousand might. The most material part of
our affairs was our finances — if this institution would
hurt them, it was not admissible. The smaller the
number, the more practicable — yet there might be
danger of another kind. He never wished to see
foreigners, except when no other force was to be had
— with ever so great a militia, you may want them —
you cannot march militia abroad."
On the 10th and 12th of December fierce debates took

496 DEBATE ON THE TREATIES.
1755. place on the treaties. Hume Campbell (Lord March -
mont's brother) made a very powerful attack upon
Pitt's system of invectives ; but was annihilated in Pitt's
reply, by a discharge from the weapon which he de
precated. " Sir George Lyttelton said he did not
mean to restrain invectives — desired no man's mouth
should be free from them but his own — urged that the
treaty specified, if we were attacked ourselves, that we
should not be obliged to furnish twelve ships to Mus
covy : that if either treaty tended to war, or to pro
voke Prussia, they would deserve censure ; but they
were merely defensive : — the troops were not to move
unless we required it — defence is not injury — provision-
is not provocation. The King of Prussia would have
a higher esteem for our Government ; he knows that
whoever desires peace must prepare for war. Despair
is the worst and weakest of councils. Fortitude and
wisdom will find resources, as the Queen of Hungary
did in 1741 . We (were) not in so bad a situation by
a thousand degrees. Had we then retained the Rus
sians, the war had been prevented : hence there were
no plans of partition. Unallied, we could make no
diversion to France — France, unassisted, would not
dare to disturb the peace of the empire. Would you
have trusted to France for not violating the law of
nations ? Ccesar ashamed ! has he not seen Pharsalia ?
Our trade would not be preserved if the balance of
Europe overturned, nor that balance overturned with
out some assistance from hence. Subsidiary treaties
must be struck at lucky moments when the occasion
offers itself." Legge answered Lyttelton. Pitt made

CHANGES IN THE ADMINISTRATION. 497
a remarkable declaration in favour of Sir R. Walpole, 1755.
that both he and Lord Townshend "had withstood
Hanover," that the former was " a truly English
minister, and kept a strict hand on the closet — as soon
as he was removed, the door was flung open." Minis
ters had a majority of 289 to 121. On bringing up the
report, Pitt answered Murray, Dr. Hay, and Lord
Egmont, "in a speech of most admirable and ready
wit, that floated from him for the space of an hour
and half." The Russian treaty was approved by 263
to 69, the Hessian by 259 to 72.
The Parliament then adjourned for the Christmas
holidays ; during the recess, sundry changes were
settled in the administration. The Duke of Bedford
was propitiated, by the appointment of his brother-in-
law, Lord Gower, to the Privy Seal. Charles Town
shend was dismissed ; Doddington restored to his old
place of lucre and jobbing, the Treasurership of the
Navy. Other appointments were made, and pensions,
places, and reversions lavished in the most unscrupulous
manner, by the Duke of Newcastle, in the vain hope
of securing to his " little petulant mechanic activity,"*
a longer lease of power unshared by Pitt. H. Wal
pole follows up an enumeration of these abuses by a
very striking picture of the House of Commons " in
so rhetorical an age ;" he says, " But if this traffic,
for a partial revolution in a system still upheld, was
scandalously inglorious, at least it called forth a display
of abilities that revived the lustre of the House of
* Charles Townshend's description of the Duke, his great uncle.
Vol. i. p. 468.

498 SKETCH OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.
1756. Commons, and in the point of eloquence carried it to
a height it perhaps had never known. After so long a
close of genius, there at once appeared near thirty men,
of whom one was undoubtedly a real orator, a few
more most masterly, many very able, not one was a
despicable speaker. Pitt, Fox, Murray, Hume Camp
bell, Charles Townshend, Lord George Sackville,
Henry Conway, Legge, Sir George Lyttelton, Oswald,
George Grenville, Lord Egmont, Nugent, Dodding
ton, the Lord Advocate of Scotland, Lord Strange,
Beckford, Elliot, Lord Barrington, Sir George Lee,
Martin, Dr. Hay, Northey, Potter, Ellis, Lord Hills
borough, Lord Duplin, and Sir Francis Dashwood:
these men, perhaps, in their several degrees, compre
hended all the various powers of eloquence, art, rea
soning, satire, learning, persuasion, with business, spirit,
and plain common sense. Eloquence, as an art, was
but little studied, but by Pitt : the beauties of lan
guage were a little, and but a little more cultivated,
except by him and his family; yet the grace and
force of words were so natural to him, that when he
avoided them, he almost lost all excellence." The
writer proceeds with an elaborate criticism on Pitt's
eloquence, rating it most highly, though admitting its
great inferiority in point of argument to that of Mur
ray especially, but also to that of Fox. He enters into
detail of but few of the rest, but he observes " Sir
George Lyttelton, and Legge were as opposite in their
manners — the latter concise and pointed, the former
diffuse and majestic — Legge's speeches seemed the

lyttelton's budget. 499
heads of chapters to Sir George Lyttelton's disser- 1756.
tations." During the course of the winter, a treaty was made
with the King of Prussia to prevent the introduction
of foreign troops into the empire. The object was —
under the plea of aiding the House of Austria— to pre
vent the Russians in our pay from attacking Frederic,
the consequence was, that the Court of Vienna perceiving
that it had no further chance of British assistance in
recovering Silesia, made peace with the common
enemy, France, and was joined by the Czarina, and the
elector of Saxony. Then began the most memorable
period of Frederic's glory, who struck the first blow
on enemies yet unprepared. As to England, it was
clear that a continental war, or the shameful desertion
of her only ally was her sole alternative. Pitt saw
his day could not be far distant.
Parliament met again in January, and still, for all
accounts of what passed within its walls, we must rely
chiefly upon Walpole's Memoirs of George the Second ;
bearing always in mind the necessity of carefully
distinguishing between the facts related, and the
comments of their narrator, discoloured by petty anti
pathies, and the constant sacrifice of truth to epigram.
On the 23rd of January we are told,* " Sir George
Lyttelton, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer,
opened the ways and means for the supplies of the
year. The matter he unfolded well, but was strangely
awkward and absent in reading the figures, and dis-
* Vol. ii. p. 3, 4.

500 PITT ATTACKS LYTTELTON.
1756. tinguishing the sums. Pitt ridiculed and beset him,
yet he made a good reply, and told Pitt that truth
was a better answer than eloquence ; and having called
him his friend, and correcting himself to say the gen
tleman, and the house laughing, Sir George said, " if
he is not my friend, it is not my fault. Pitt was sore
in his turn, and the dialogue continued with great
professions of esteem from Lyttelton, of contempt from
Pitt, who at last grew into good humour ; but as with
regard to the imputation of eloquence, said he found
there were certain ways of annoying certain men."
The same author, in his private letter to General Con
way, says, " yesterday, our friend Sir George opened
the budget ; well enough in general, but was strangely
bewildered in the figures. Pitt attacked him pretty
warmly on negociating the sinking fund. Sir George
kept up his spirit, and returned the attack on eloquence.
It was entertaining enough, but ended in high com
pliments — and the division was 231 to 56." Then
followed debates on employing foreign troops and
foreign officers in America with certain English privi
leges, which the opposition contended, was a breach
of the Act of Settlement.*
On February the 25th, Lyttelton " opened the plan
of supplies and taxes for the current year. The first, a
duty on wrought plate calculated to bring in £30,000.
a year ; another on bricks and tiles, and a double duty
on cards and dice ; the actual duty produced £10,000.
a year, but as doubling the tax would not double the
produce, the addition was estimated at only £7,000.
* Vol. ii. p. 24.

DEBATE ON THE PLATE TAX. 501
a year. ' This,' said Sir George, ' some will think a tax 1756.
on necessaries ; the legislature calls gaming a vice, but
the legislators, who can best expound their own laws,
seem by their practice to think otherwise.' Legge
objected to either tax on plate or bricks, and shewed
with singular art how much greater a master he was
of the nature of the revenue and commerce, than his
successor. Sir George seemed to repeat an oration
on trade, that he had learned by rote ; Legge talked
on it like a merchant. He urged that plate was not
a prejudicial commodity, but a dead treasure to be
resorted to on emergency : — if sold, it would go abroad,
if coined here, it did not increase the national stock.
He shewed that bricks would be a partial tax, as many
parts of the kingdom employ only stone." George
Townshend, Murray, Lord Strange, Vyner, took part
in the debate ; the plate tax eventually passed, but
the tax on bricks was exchanged for one on alehouses.
It will be seen by Lyttelton's letters how nearly
Government were defeated, and why. On the first
reading of their bill on the third of March, came the
report from the committee on the plate tax. Walpole's
account of what ensued is very remarkable. " It was
a day of total ignorance, Fox, Hume Campbell, and
Pitt, all shewed how little they understood the sub
ject. The shrewdness of the first, the assertions of
the second, the diction of the latter were ridiculously
employed on a topic that required only a common
sense, and a little knowledge of business. Legge alone
shone. He entered beyond his usual brevity into a
detail of the nature of coin, exchange, gold, silver,

502 lyttelton's reply to legge.
1756. premiums, and the mistaken or real advantage of those
manufactures. He observed that this plate was not
luxury, that this tax would cease where luxury began,
for the greatest lords were not to pay beyond 2,000
ounces,* but a national way of hoarding," &c. He an
swered Locke's first treatise, and remarked on the
uses which Louis XIV. and Charles I. had made of
this resource.
On the second reading of the bill, Legge renewed,
with greater vehemence, his attack upon the tax : he
said, that if gathered loosely, it would not be worth
having, and if strictly, it would amount to triple its
estimate ; that France would think us bankrupt for
resorting to such a last resource, used only in such
extremities as sieges and civil wars ; that our silver
smiths would go to France, and a manufacture paying
labour alone £30,000. a year, be lost to the country ;
that it was our register of personal estate, and an in
vitation to the housebreaker. It will be seen that
some of Legge's hints were adopted before the measure
became law.
" Sir George Lyttelton remarked that Legge's ar
guments were against all inland duties in general, and
that as little wealth ought to lie dead as possible.
That on laying the coach tax, the coach makers came
to the treasury, and complained that they should be
ruined, yet the trade had increased since. If we took
a galleon would it be advisable to lay up a treasure
against a day of calamity ? He defended the method
of collecting this duty by excisemen; did not find that
* It was increased to 4,000 ; vide Lyttelton's letter.

lyttelton's reply to legge. 503
excise was now so terrible. Sir Francis Dashwood 1756.
had proposed an excise on meat, and he had not per
ceived that it had much shocked the house. ' In fact,
no powers,' he said, ' were more gently exercised than
those of excise,' — (with what satisfaction must Sir Ro
bert Walpole's son have heard and noted down these
words !) — 'no complaint had been made on the coach
tax ; this was to be under the same regulation : our
trade would not bear more customs, nor could we
support the war but by a despotic mortgage of the
whole sinking fund ; his chief partiality to the plate tax
arose from the poor being exempt from it.' ' Lyttelton
was followed by George Grenville, who spoke well
against the tax, chiefly censuring it as a tax to be paid
on honour. It was carried by 245 to 142. Fox, it is
said, preventing Newcastle from abandoning it; its
produce was £18,000.
It will be recollected, that Lyttelton's brother
Charles was in holy orders ; that Sir Richard continued
in opposition with Pitt, and that William Henry
had been appointed Governor of the South Caro
linas, on his way to which he had been captured, but
immediately set at liberty by the French.* He seems to
havebeen Lyttelton's favourite brother : to him Lyttel
ton wrote a sort of journal of all the memorable events
in the political world, till his return from America-t
These letters, written by one who had access to the
best sources of information, form a very interesting
portion of the MSS. at Hagley.
The first is as follows : —
* Pitt's Letters to Lord Camelford.
t Extending from 1756 to 1766.

504 LETTER TO WILLIAM LYTTELTON.
1756- " Hill Street, April 28, 1756.
" My dear Billy,
" I have delayed writing to you some time, in
order to tell you some news of importance. That
which at present employs our thoughts most, is an
intelligence we have just received that the Due de
Richelieu set sail for Minorca on the 12th of this
month, at the head of an army of 16,000 men, escorted
by a squadron which, according to the best accounts
we can get, consists of eight capital ships of the line,
two more armed en flute without their lower tier of
guns, and two fifty-gun ships, besides three or four
frigates. To oppose them, Bing and West are gone
with a squadron of ten great ships of the line ex
tremely well manned, so that the force is pretty near
equal, exclusive of a small squadron under Com
mander Edgcombe, which is in Port Mahon Harbour.
It was supposed that these would join Bing in the
Bay of Gibraltar, but Edgcombe has thought proper
(and Lord Anson says not unwisely) to remain in
Port Mahon Harbour, and keeps his ships and seamen
to be employed in the defence of the harbour
and fort. It is, therefore, very probable that the
French fleet will fight ours, as they are rather supe
rior ; and upon the success of that battle the fate of
the peace may in great measure depend : because, if
Bing be victorious, he will reinforce the garrison there
with a regiment he has on board, and several officers,
and putt the besieging army under great difficulties
for want of provisions. You will ask why he was
not sent out with more strength ? I can make you

BRITISH FLEET. 505
no answer but that Lord Anson thought he had no 1756.
more to spare, and it was hoped he would arrive -at
Minorca before the French could get thither ; and
being joined with Commodore Edgecombe, who has
two ships of the line, a fifty gun ship, and two frigates,
would be more than a match for the Toulon squadron;
but this hope has failed by a few days. In all proba
bility the French got to Minorca by the 17th or 18th,
and he could hardly be there till about a week after.
Sir John Ligonier tells me he thinks that the fort, if
reinforced by Byng, may hold out two months. Many
here seem very confident it will not be taken, particu
larly Lord Tyrawley : but I cannot help thinking
that Monsieur de Richelieu* would not have putt
himself at the head of this enterprise if he had not in
his own mind been sure of success. Blakeney and
Edgecombe write with great spirit, and as if they feared
nothing. The first is a good officer, but rather
superannuated. The other a mettled young man,
without much experience or knowledge. Sir Ed
ward Hawke is cruizing off of Brest, with a fleet of
sixteen ships of the line. Some say the French have
as many there ready to sail : but Lord Anson does
not believe it. However, it is certain they are not
* One of the very few inaccuracies in Lord Mahon's 4th Vol. of
the History of England, is an assertion, (p. 104,) that, " up to this
time (i.e. the defence of Minorca) Richelieu had gained no dis
tinction in arms." That he had served with great gallantry at
Fontenoy is recorded by Voltaire, Siecle de Louis XV., c. 15., and
by Lord Mahon himself, in an earlier volume. I owe this, as
well as many other valuable remarks, while preparing this volume
for the press, to the kindness of Mr. William Wynn.
2 L

506 HESSIANS AND HANOVERIANS.
1756. much inferior, and they have also a squadron at
Rochefort. " Boscawen is going with eight large ships more to
join Hawke and Holbourne; but it is supposed that
when he arrives, some of Hawke's will come home,
as they have been out a great while. Two are gone,
and two more are going soon to America to escort
LordLoudon's forces. Lord Anson tells me he designs
to send Smith to Jamaica, and speaks with much
disgust of West's having desired not to go thither.
Indeed, officers should not object to any employment
in time of service, and so says our good brother* as well
as his Lordship. Hetty and I went to see him last
week, and were two days with him at Deal, which
made him very happy. I think he seems better than
ever I knew him. Our new regiments are completed by
the assistance of the Lord Lieutenants in their several
counties ; and to add to our regular disciplined troops,
the Parliament has not only approved of the requisi
tion his Majesty had made of his Hessians, but advised
him to bring over eight thousand Hannoverians, with
their train of artillery, &c. in the room of the Dutch,
whom we had very prudently declined to accept of, upon
the conditions they offered to come. The Hessians,
we hope, will be here in a few days, and the Hanno
verians soon afterwards. The consequence of this is,
that the Marshal Bellisle and the French Ministry
are much out of humour with the Duke de Mirepoix,
* Admiral Smith was Lyttelton's illegitimate brother ; he was
President of the Court-Martial on Byng.

PITT AND TEMPLE. 507
for having made them believe that the bringing over 1755.
foreign troops, Hannoverians especially, at this time
into England, was a measure that could not be carried
in Parliament. They say the success of it has dis
concerted their whole design, and they much doubt
whether, at present, it will be practicable to attempt
the invading this kingdom. When the address for the
Hannover troops was moved in the House, Mr. Pitt
was in the country with a swelled face, which it was
thought he would gladly avail himself of to avoid
that debate ; but Lord Temple went down and hauled
him to the House, with blisters behind his ears, and
flannel over his cheeks. The Tories, his Lordship
told him, were all to be gained by it. Sir Richard
had made a great dinner for them, and this would
confirm the treaty of alliance. But he was scarce
seconded by any of them in the House of Commons ;
and when the question came into the House of Peers,
every Tory Lord, to a man, staid away. Lord Temple
maintained the debate almost single ; and Lord
Winchelsea, who that day was inspired with wit be
yond his usual powers, lashed him and his friends
with greater severity and more cruel ridicule than I
think I ever heard upon any occasion. His Lordship
replied, but made little of it, and the mortification of
the day was complete. In all probability they will
not long be the better with the Prince of Wales him
self, for having opposed a measure so necessary and
so desired by the nation for the security of the king
dom he is to inherit. But all their politicks are of
a piece, taken up in a heat, or founded on false and
2 l 2

508 PLATE TAX.
1756. groundless presumptions. Since you went we have
had some scuffles in Parliament about the Plate
Tax. Mr. Legge, having declared that he would
not oppose it at the first reading, our friends did not
attend, and some of his having divided the House on
the question, we carried it but by two votes. This
gave a great and unpleasant alarm ; but we rallied
our forces, and had a great debate on the second
reading, in which, I am told, I gained some honour,
and had the pleasure of carrying the question by a
majority of more than a hundred. Mr. Pitt was not
there, being confined by his cold and swelled face.
Mr. Fox took his part very fairly and zealously upon
the occasion. In order to remove the most weighty
objections against the bill, it was thought proper to
tax no plate below a hundred ounces, so to levy but
five shillings on that, and advance by five shillings
more on every hundred ounces as far as four thousand,
which brings the highest sum to ten pounds as before,
but makes the tax less unequal, and better propor
tioned. I was myself very desirous of making this
alteration, to give greater ease to the lower sort of people,
by whom alone this tax would be painfully felt. The
only objection to it was, that it would lessen the
revenue proposed to be raised by it ; but as the
licences were like to produce a considerable surplus,
I was not much concerned at the loss. People in
general were satisfied with it, and I flatter myself the
opposition to the Plate Tax will not be more popular
than that to the Prussian and Hessian Treaties.
" Besides the six millions for which we have provided,

MILITIA BILL. 509
there must soon be voted £500,000. for the Hessians, 1755.
Hannoverians, and regiments brought from Ireland,
since I opened my Budget. There must also be a
vote of credit for a million, which, I suppose, will not
go off without opposition. The sinking fund will
produce the £500,000. besides what was wanting to
raise the six millions, as it is to be hoped that our
trade will not decrease much this year by the war, and
there is now in the Exchequer £250,000. produced
by it from Christmas to Lady Day last, which having
no charge upon it, may be taken immediately to
answer a part of our present demands. Four quarters
more, I doubt not, will produce all the rest that we
want, if some grievous calamity does not befall us.
The loss of Port Mahon would be a bad stroke in our
Mediterranean trade, and I am afraid the French
squadron that is gone to America will take some rich
prizes there, before we can send such a force to those
parts as may protect our merchants, and even our
islands. However, I hope it will not be very long
before we shall be superior, both in those seas and the
Mediterranean ; for when our foreign troops are
arrived, we shall not be obliged to keep so great
a fleet for the defence of our coasts as we have been
under the necessity of doing till now. I cannot dearn
where Commodore Keppel is gone— perhaps it is to
America, or perhaps he may join Byng at Gibraltar.
It is certainly better that the service he is upon is
kept a secret than if it was known. I do not exactly
know what force he has with him.

510 LETTER TO WILLIAM LYTTELTON.
1756. " The fate ofthe Militia Bill is yet undetermined,
but I believe it will pass the House of Commons, and
be thrown out of the House of Lords. For my own part
I must own I wish it success, more, I am sure, than those
who brought it in, and meant nothing else by it than
to hurt the administration by the unpopularity of
throwing it out. There are many objections to it, and
many great difficulties that will attend the execution
of it, if it should pass ; but I would have something
attempted to putt this nation in a better and more
permanent state of defence than our occasional arma
ments, when the danger is instant, than the uncertain
resource of bringing over foreign troops can possi
bly give. Should France begin her next war against
England (as she probably will) with a naval force not
inferior to that of this kingdom, and no diversion in
our favour can be made on the Continent, we may be
invaded and ruined before such an augmentation of
our land forces can be completed, or such an assis
tance brought over from Germany as would enable us
to make any resistance.
" Now, my dear Billy, I have told you all I can con
cerning the present state of our publick affairs, every ¦
thing else remaining much as you left it. As for my
health, my jotirney to Deal has done me good. My
wife is still very full of complaints, and I believe much
out of order. All the rest of the family are very well.
* # * *
" We flatter ourselves that you are by this time
arrived in your Government.

PANIC OF THE COUNTRY. 511
" All happiness and prosperity attend you there, 1756.
my dear brother."
About this time a panic of the French invasion alluded
to in these letters had seized Great Britain. It was a
moment — a short moment, but one of memorable dis
grace to this country. " I remember (says Mr. Burke)
in the beginning of what has lately been called the
seven years' war, that an elegant writer, and ingeni
ous speculator, Dr. Browne,* upon some reverses which
happened in the beginning of that war, published
an elaborate philosophical discourse, to prove that the
distinguishing features of the people of England had
been totally changed, and that a frivolous effeminacy
was become the national character. Nothing could be
more popular than that work. It was thought a great
consolation to us, the light people of this country, (who
were and are light, but who were not and are not
effeminate), that we had found the causes of our mis
fortunes in our vices. Pythagoras could not be more
pleased with his leading discovery. But whilst in that
splenetic mood we amused ourselves in a sour critical
speculation, of which we were ourselves the objects,
and in which every man lost his particular sense
of the public disgrace in the epidemic nature of
the distemper: whilst, as in the Alps Goitre kept
Goitre in countenance ; whilst we were thus aban
doning ourselves to a direct confession of our inferi-
* See Davies' Life of Garrick, Vol. i. p. 197, and Walpole's Me
moirs of George the Third, for some accounts of this author and
his writing, Vol. ii. p. 79.

512 PITT'S ATTACK ON THE FOREIGN TROOPS.
1756. ority to France, and whilst many, very many, were
ready to act upon a sense of that inferiority, a few
months effected a total change in our variable minds.
We emerged from the gulph of that speculative
despondency, and were buoyed up to the highest point
of practical vigour. Never did the masculine spirit
of England display itself with more energy, nor ever
did its genius soar with a prouder pre-eminence over
France, than at the time when frivolity and effemi
nacy had been at least tacitly acknowledged as their
national character by the good people of this king
dom." Such is the remarkable language of Mr. Burke,
describing the whole duration of the period of which
we are now at the beginning. It was impossible that
the people should feel confidence in a Government who
sent for Hessians and Hanoverians to protect our
shores. Pitt's voice, in spite of his blisters and flannels,
was heard thundering, more powerfully than Lyttelton
tells his brother, against such an acknowledgment of
pusillanimity. " Were we to engage mercenaries be
cause France did ? She had not blood enough in her
own veins for the purposes of universal monarchy.
There was no administration. One was head of the
treasury, one of the navy, one of the army; but
when they were attacked they shifted and shuffled the
charge from one to the other : the general said he
was not the treasurer, the treasurer that he was not the
admiral. From such an unaccording assemblage of
separate and distinct powers with no system, a nullity
resulted."

DEBATE ON THE VOTE OF CREDIT. 513
This declamation spoke the truth. But it must be 1756.
admitted that the militia bill, the only substitute for
a foreign sword, ill understood and conducted as it was,
deserved Walpole's name of a " distant and forlorn suc
cedaneum." A militia bill is not an army, Lyttelton
observes in his fourth letter to his brother. Early in
April it was discovered that the preparations of the
French at Toulon had been intended for the invasion of
defenceless Minorca. On May the llth Fox delivered
a message from the Crown upon this subject, and the
treaty with Prussia. On the next day Lyttelton moved
for a vote of credit for a million. It was much can
vassed. The sums already lavished were enumerated ;
the incapacity of Newcastle was stated as the real cause
of the lowering state of affairs, equally in America
and the Mediterranean : might not common provi
dence on the part of the minister have averted the
perils which threatened us in both these quarters.
Lyttelton replied that the money would be restricted
and subjected. Were Government to be deserted on
their first misfortune ; or because one had happened
were we not to guard against another ? If indeed our
coasts had been left insecure, ministers would be
blameable; but it was their security which enabled the
supplies to be raised, and when the foreign troops
arrived our fleet would be at liberty.
" Pitt made a fine lamentation on the calamitous
situation of affairs and the incapacity of the ministers."
He asked for what the vote was intended. — " If Sir
George could not say for what it was designed, would
he at least peremptorily say for what it was not dfe-

514 QUARREL IN THE HOUSE BETWEEN
1756. signed? Still, he was of so compounding a temper,
that he would assent, though votes of credit had been
so much abused." He alluded to Mr. Pelham, who,
he said, had been dragged into foreign resources by
one who had now got the treasury ; compared the
Duke of Newcastle to a child driving a go-cart to the
edge of a precipice in which was the precious freight
of the old king and his family ; prayed God that the
king might not have Minorca as well as Calais written
on his heart ; and concluded by proposing to take the
words of the last vote of credit. " Sir George
Lyttelton answered with great modesty, that the
administration had not suffered by Mr. Pelham's
death except by his advancement. Let it be con
sidered who was at the head of the treasury, admiralty,
chancery, &c. ; could it be said that we had done
nothing, when we had taken 8000 French seamen ?
Here he would rest the whole : no one calamity had
happened yet." George Grenville followed ; praised
Lord Anson, and hinted that if his advice had been
followed, forces would have been sent to the Mediter
ranean. It would appear, however, from Lyttelton's
second letter that Anson was not without blame.
Fox defended, it must have been a hard task to him,
the delay. Then occurred the following scene.
" Pitt took little notice of Fox, only rising again to
lash Sir George Lyttelton, who had called it an opposal
of epithets : very little proper to come from him, said
he, whose character is a composition of epithets. But
what ! did we meet as an academy of compliments ?
but Lyttelton had mistaken the day, for himself, he

PITT AND LYTTELTON. 515
said, had used no epithets that day. If Lyttelton 1756.
would say he had no more resources, he would tell
him he was incapable, and when he disclaimed having
had any hand in drawing the words of the question, he
saw Sir George was not at liberty to change them.
Lyttleton, much hurt, but firm, cried, he says I am a
thing made up of epithets ; was not this the language of
Billingsgate ? The world complained that the house
was turned into a bear-garden. He should not envy
Mr. Pitt the character of being the Figg or Broughton
of it ; yet if he assumed fewer airs of superiority it would
do him more honour. Pitt, redoubling contempt,
said with a sneer, we once lived in a road of epithets
together : Lord ! that my friend, with whom I have
taken sweet counsel of epithets, should now reproach
me for using them ! Lyttelton, he said, was a pretty
poetical genius ; with his pen in his hand nobody re
spected him more ; but what ! were not Billingsgate
and Broughton epithets ? He at once described Lyttel
ton as an innocent,* and would have fixed the use of
invectives on him. Sir George terminated the alterca
tion and debate by protesting it was not his fault if he
did not still live in friendship with Mr. Pitt."
This seems to have been the last personal altercation
between these two former and future friends. Re
luctantly as Lyttelton was forced into these conflicts
with an adversary so much more powerful and ex
pert at his weapons, his bearing seems to have been
* Apparently a favourite phrase with the Great Commoner. See
below his attack on Hume Campbell.

516

THE PRUSSIAN TREATY.

1756. always courageous and dignified. He never suffered
himself to be crushed like Hume Campbell. Many
under less provocation would have used that beautiful
apostrophe — " Uncivil man,
Here our long web of friendship I untwist."
But Lyttleton's great object was to discharge his public
duty fearlessly and uprightly, though, if possible, in such
a manner as not to preclude the possibility of a recon
ciliation with his earliest private friend. He might be
"much hurt" by the unnecessary personalities of his
old friend, but he was " firm" in maintaining his
position — even according to Walpole. His own
account will be seen below.
On May the 14th, Lyttelton opened the Prussian
treaty to the house. It stipulated that the King of
Prussia should pay £51,000 due on the Silesian loan.
But admitted that £20,000 was due to him, which the
Parliament was desired to grant. Pitt attacked a
treaty which gave £20,000 to Frederick as compensa
tion for ships which our Court of Admiralty had
pronounced justly seized, and in vindication of which
Murray and Lee had drawn up their famous un
answered memorial. Murray replied to Pitt with his
utmost subtlety. The Committee, by a majority of
210 to 55, voted the money, and four days afterwards
war was openly proclaimed with France.
We learn from Doddington's diary an anecdote as
to the progress of the million voted in committee,

THE MILLION BILL. 517
curiously illustrative of Lyttelton's character.* " May 1756.
17. I went to the Duke of Newcastle's. He would
have talked about what had passed the day before in
the House of Commons upon the committee of the
Million Bill, which gives the Treasury the unlimited
power of borrowing without limiting the rate of in
terest. Sir George Lyttelton's candour in opening it
made him inform the House with this dangerous and
unnecessary innovation, which produced a debate and
division, when the Treasury rejected the limitation
¦ offered to be inserted by one voice only. None of us
were acquainted with the innovation, or of Sir George's
design to go into the committee that day, so that
the numbers were but thirty-six and thirty-seven.
I declined talking with his Grace on the subject, telling
him it was too bad." It is strange that this incident
should have escaped Walpole.
On the 27th of May the Parliament was prorogued.
In June, the future George the Third attained the age
prescribed for his majority. A circumstance that
added to the embarrassments of the ministry ; for the
King was anxious to separate the Prince from his
mother and Lord Bute, between whom a close
and certainly suspicious intimacy existed; while the
Prince, under their dictation, and aided by Legge and
Pitt, respectfully, but firmly and successfully, resisted
the attempt. The result was, that Lord Waldegrave,
as honest a servant as ever Prince had, resigned his
office of Governor to the Prince, and that Lord Bute
* Doddington's Diary, p. 386.

518 MURRAY MADE CHIEF JUSTICE.
1756. was placed as Groom of the Stole to the new
household. On the 14th of July came the disgraceful tidings
of the capture of Minorca by the French, an event to
be rendered still more shameful to England by the
judicial murder of Byng which followed it. Addresses
poured in from every part of the country, and the
terrified Duke of Newcastle so far prostituted his own
high office, and the honour of the crown, as to make
the King promise the city of London to screen no
delinquent from justice.
Troubles fell like hail upon the perplexed Duke. At
this time the death of Sir Dudley Rider left vacant the
Lord Chief Justiceship. Murray demanded, " without
a competitor, being above competition," the cherished
object of his ambition. Unheard of offers, both as to
pensions and places, mingled with abject entreaties,
were made to him by the scared minister. Murray
plainly told him, that if the Chief Justiceship were
withheld, he would not remain Attorney-General, or
give the slightest support to the Government. He
was made Chief Justice and Lord Mansfield. Murray,
(Walpole says) had been the Duke's buckler, both
against his ally Fox, and against his antagonist
Pitt. Lyttelton's second letter to the Governor is in a very
altered strain, but it contains a lively picture of the
state of affairs in England, and in the Cabinet.

CAPTURE OF MINORCA. 519
" Radway, August 8th, 1756. 1756.
" My Dear Billy,
" Or rather, (as you are now in your Govern
ment) may it please your Excellency, I heartily con
gratulate you upon your arrival in S. Carolina, and
upon your finding all quiet there. How long the
French will let you remain so, will, I presume, depend
upon the success of our arms in the more northern
parts. God send us better luck there than we have
had in Europe, or this unhappy war will be our un
doing. In my last letter, which I hope you have by
this time received, I told you that we had sent a
squadron of ten ships of the line to the Mediterranean
under Admirals Byng and West. When they came to
Gibraltar they were joined by Commodore Edge
combe with three more ships of the line, and four
frigates, the Commodore having left Port Mahon
Harbour upon the first notice of the French having
landed at Citadella in Minorca. Byng had positive
orders to do all he could to destroy the French fleet,
and relieve Minorca. How he executed these orders
you will see by the public papers, which I understand
are sent over to you, and still better by the inclosed
copy of a letter from Captain Young, which I send
you as the most particular of any I have seen. I
will only add to that account this aggravating circum
stance, that had he destroyed the French fleet, as it
evidently was in his power to do, there is the greatest
reason to think their army would have raised the
siege of St Philip : but having afterwards received a

520 CAPTURE OF MINORCA.
1756. reinforcement from France of seven battalions, and
all the artillery-stores and provisions they wanted,
they made a desperate attack on all the outworks at
once, sword-in-hand ; and having carried three of
them, and taken Colonel Jefferies, who was the second
in command under Blakeney, the consequence was
that the garrison, intimidated and despairing of any
relief from our fleet, which they had seen retire from
an inferior, or, at most, equal force of the enemy,
surrendered upon an honourable capitulation. Sir
John Ligonier says that he knows but one instance of
a town having been taken by such an assault, and that
was Valenciennes by Louis XIV. in the height of his
glory; that if Blakeney had expected it, in all probability
it would not have succeeded, or at least it must have
cost the French a great many more men ; and that he
does not think the success of it would have made
Blakeney surrender the fort, as the body of the place
was still entire, if he and his garrison had not been
disheartened by Byng's shameful retreat, and by their
despair of any assistance. You will see by the papers
that the Governor of Gibraltar had disobeyed the
King's orders to send another regiment aboard of
Byng's squadron besides what he took with him, or
a detachment equal to it, for whicli he has since been
recalled, and will soon be tried by a court-martial ;
but had the Admiral only landed that one in the fort,
and beat off the French fleet from the coasts of
Minorca, he would have done the great business for
which he was sent, and probably changed the whole
face of the war. To what his abominable behaviour

CAPTURE OF MINORCA. 521
was owing it is hard to conceive; a sudden panic 1756.
must have seized him, though he never was reckoned
a coward before, or, as some people think, he must
have been bribed by the French ; but I rather impute
it to an impression of terror which came over him on
seeing the French fleet somewhat stronger than he
had expected, for Edgecombe had told him, that when
they came to Citadella there were but eight ships ofthe
line, and four frigates. Whatever was the cause, the
effect has been fatal, and should he die by the sentence
ofthe court-martial which is going to sit upon him,
(as he probably will, or by the hands of the mob if
he should be acquitted) his death will make a poor
satisfaction to his country for the mischief he has done
it. Admiral West's behaviour has done him great
honour, and he has been very graciously received by
the King, though upon the first accounts that we had
of the action, it had been thought necessary to send
for him home as well as Byng. His evidence must be
taken in the trial of the latter, and then, I believe, he
will be made a Vice- Admiral, and sent out to another
and higher command, unless the influence of the
Grenvilles over his mind should make him quit the
King's service and enter into theirs, as it possibly may.
His son, who was with him, behaved like a hero, and
shewed he had in him the blood of old Balchin. His
father would have had him go into a frigate, but he
begged with tears to stay in his ship, fought like a
dragon, and when he was wounded in the thigh by a
cannon ball, said to his father, who saw him fall, " I
2 M

522 CAPTURE OF MINORCA.
1756. believe I am killed, but pray do?i't mind me," and after
the action, when his father lamented that he had not
gone into the frigate, as he had desired him, his
answer was, " / had rather be wounded as much as
I am, and worse, than not have been in the battle." It
is hoped he will recover so as not to be a cripple.
You know the temper of the nation too well to suppose
that their anger for the loss of Minorca will be con
fined to Admiral Byng. All arts are used to inflame
them against the Administration, and particularly
against the Duke of Newcastle. His old friends, and
worst enemies, are trying their utmost to make him
responsible for this misfortune. The sum of their
charge against his Grace, I take to be this : — Why
was not a fleet yet stronger than this sent into the
Mediterranean a month or two sooner ? The answer
is — because my Lord Anson and the whole Cabinet
Council were unanimously of opinion that it could
not be done with any security to the coasts of
Great Britain. Lord Granville declared he thought
it unsafe even to send this squadron so soon. The
reason is, that the French designed to invade us, that
they had a squadron at Brest, and at Rochefort, little
inferior to ours in the Channel ; that we had no de
fence but our ships to which we could trust ; that we
had lost a great number of our seamen by sickness ;
that as many were in hospital as aboard of our fleet,
and that the enemy knew the state we were in as well
as we ourselves. Upon the whole, as our shield was
not broad enough to cover the whole body, it was

STATE OF EUROPE. 523
better to expose our limbs than our heart. This is the
defence of the Cabinet Council, and they add besides,
that if Byng had done his duty, the force they did
send would have come time enough, and have, been
fully sufficient to relieve Port Mahon. There is truth
and sense in all this, but truth and sense may not be
able to prevail against clamour in an affair of this
nature. However, I wish that there was no danger
but to the Administration, in consequence of this
blow. The worst evil is, that the nation is engaged
in a ruinous war : the loss of Minorca will render it
still more difficult for us to make a peace, and France
will draw great advantages from it during the war ;
but the greatest danger of all is, that the firmness of
Spain to her friendship with England may possibly
yield to so great a temptation offered by France, as
the restoring to her this island. Yet hitherto, God
be thanked, the good faith of that nation, and the
honour and virtue of the King of Spain have most
nobly resisted those solicitations, and our ministry
seem to rely with a great deal of security on the
assurances given by our friend Mr. Wall, that his
court will inviolably preserve their neutrality. Swe
den, I hope, is too much taken up with domestic
dissensions, of whicli you will see an account in the
papers, to interfere in this foreign war ; but we are
under some apprehensions that Denmark may send a
fleet into these seas, to protect their illicit commerce
with France, which may draw us into a naval war
with that kingdom. There is, however, less danger
2 m 2

1756.

524 STATE OF EUROPE.
1756. of this, as they will not now be assisted by Sweden, with
whom they designed to act in conjunction. But on
the other hand, the friendship of Russia to us, which
was the strong curb both on Denmark and Sweden,
may be cooled by the alienation of the Court of
Vienna, who have taken such offence at our treaty
with Prussia, though not in the least offensive to theim
as to enter into a close connection with France.
This most unnatural and absurd conduct in them, has
produced such an alteration in the system of Europe,
that the King of Prussia is now our surest ally, and
our greatest apprehensions of mischief on the continent
are from our old friends. As the ship which carries
this letter may possibly be taken in her passage, I
dare not write to you so fully and freely upon either
our foreign or domestic affairs as I should otherwise
do. I will only add that at home all remains as it
was, but still more embroiled. Passion governs some
persons instead of reason ; and it is said that even the
principal counsellors there, or he who expected to be
¦ the principal counsellor, and cannot even endure to be
less, has expressed much disgust, and lost much of his
credit on that account. The Queen of Hungary and
he have acted much the same part, leaving their old
and best friends from causeless suspicions and cause
less resentments, and concerting with those whom
they cannot go on with in any true friendship without
undoing themselves.
" The French threaten us still with a great invasion,
but we are now so prepared to resist them, that I hope

QUARREL WITH PITT. 525
they will suffer by the attempt, or see the folly of it, 1756.
and give it up.
" My health is much better since the Parliament
rose, and I hope to lay in a good stock of strength for
the winter campaign. Mr. Murray will be made soon
Chief Justice and a Peer, so the whole stress of the
battle will fall every day on Fox and me. I fear we
shall have difficulty enough to sustain it, junctis umbo-
nibus. The last session concluded with a warm com
bat between Pitt and me. Stetimus tela aspera
contra contulimus que manus,* and if I may believe the
whole voice of the publick, it ended with still more
advantage to me than the former, which happened
while you were in England. The Duke of Newcastle
made his report of it to the King in these words,
" Sir George Lyttelton answered Mr. Pitt's arguments
and repelled his abuse, with the judgment of a minis
ter, the force and wit of an orator, and the spirit of a
gentleman." The King seemed much pleased, and
asked Mr. Fox, who also confirmed his Grace's report,
whether the House appeared to be on my side ; Fox
told him truly that it was very much so, at which he
was so good as to express great satisfaction ; neverthe
less, you will believe me, when I say that I felt more
pain in the contest, than pleasure in the success, and
always shall avoid the having any with him, as far as I
can ; but if I were struck by Hercules, I should strike
again. " Adieu, my dear Billy, I am glad that the weather
* Afterwards applied by Mr. Canning to Mr. Brougham.

526 LETTER TO WILLIAM LYTTELTON.
1756. was so temperate at your landing. When the great
heat of the climate comes on, I hope you will stand it
as well, and as stoutly as you would a French fire, if
there should be occasion. I am going to Hagley, where
I purpose to stay till the end of this month. My
wife is complaining, but all the rest of the family, and
all our friends are well. I am ever,
" My dear Billy,
" Your most affectionate brother,
" G. Lyttelton."
The next letter to the Governor, contains the history
of our disasters in North America, the continued
panic of a French invasion, and an emphatic account of
the amazement and admiration with which the exploits
ofthe King of Prussia, whom England regarded as her
last hope, filled Europe ; and yet the writer does not
seem to foresee the approaching dissolution of the
Cabinet of which he was a member. " London, Oct. 6th, 1756.
"My dear Billy,
" I have just received your letter of the 19th of
July, which gave me great pleasure in every particular,
except the account that you give of your health. I
don't like to hear of your having had indigestions and
cholics ; but as, notwithstanding the extraordinary
heat and extraordinary business which you have gone
through, you are still pretty well, I flatter myself
the danger is over, and that you will be inured and
seasoned to the climate, which will now mend upon

STATE OF AMERICAN COUONIES. 527
you every day. I pray God that the winter may not 1756,
bring on other perils, which neither you nor your
Colony may be able to resist. We hear Oswego is
taken by surprise, and from the accounts Lord Loudon
sends of the condition and readiness in which he finds
the American forces, I expect little good from this au
tumn's campaign, and apprehend a great deal of dan
ger from the attempts that the French may make
in the winter against our Southern Colonies, if it be
true (as I hear) that they have stole over a considera
ble force of regular troops into Louisiana. However,
I hope that all possible care will be taken by us here
to prevent their designs. And the grants your Assem
bly has very wisely made for building the fort so much
desired and wanted by your Indian allies, as well as
fortifying Charles Town, may be of great use to secure
you against them in all events. I have talked with
Lord Anson about the convoy you ask, and though I
am afraid we have no ships to spare, yet I think that
his Lordship will pay such a regard to my solicitations,
as well as to the importance of the Carolina trade, that
it will be done to your satisfaction. He told me he
would order an answer to be sent by the first ship, in
which he would explain to you the most proper
manner of protecting that trade, and give you all the
strength he possibly could. I pressed him to go be
yond the usual proportion, assuring him that I would
think it a very great favour done to myself. He ex-
prest a very hearty desire to oblige both you and me,
and I hope the effects will make good those professions.
I wrote to you lately a very long letter by the

528 LEICESTER HOUSE POLITICS.
1756. 'Charming Nancy,' Captain White. I hope she will
escape the French in her passage, and deliver it
safe ; for though I wrote with some reserve, I should
be sorry to have it miscarry. This, I think, comes to
you by a safe hand, and I will write somewhat more
freely, as he has promised me to throw it over
board if the ship should be taken. Our domestic
affairs are mended so much since I wrote to you last,
that the two Courts are come to a good understanding.
The Prince of Wales is to have his family settled to
his own satisfaction, Lord Bute being to be made his
Groom of the Stole, which was the condition, sine qua
non, of this treaty ; and he is also to stay with the
Princess his mother. In return they are to make the
proper returns of gratitude and duty and union with
the King. Whether in consequence of this Mr. Pitt
and his brothers will accede to the Government, I can
not tell, nor even if the -Government will offer such
terms to them as they can accept, or any terms at all.
But the difficulty of the times and the temper of the
Ministry incline me to think that they would be treated
with now, if they were in tractable dispositions. Their
dispositions, I suppose, will be sounded ; much will
depend on the credit they think they shall preserve at
Leicester House, after this accommodation. Legge, it
is thought, has the chief credit there; perhaps he
may be treated with easier than they. If they remain
still in opposition, it may possibly be opposition for
life. One difficulty they will have in coming in now,
is the intemperate language talked by Pitt the last
session. Strong declarations against any support to

STATE OF EUROPE. 529
the German dominions in any event, and violent abuse 1756.
of the whole Administration with whom he must act,
if he comes into Government, will be unpleasant im
pediments in his way, and not forgotten by the House of
Commons. Affairs abroad have taken a very strange
turn. The King of Prussia having had clear and un
deniable proofs of a league formed against him by the
Courts of Vienna, Petersburg, Dresden, and France,
which was to be executed next year, and intended no
less than his utter destruction, resolved to repel the
blow, and fall on his enemies before they were ready
to attack him. His resolution was executed with a
celerity that no power in Europe can act with but he.
At the head of an army of 60,000 men he marched
into Saxony, and possessed himself of that country
without any resistance in a very short time. But the
King is retired to a very strong fort, under the Castle
of Koningstein, with about 116,000 men. This is an
obstacle in the way of his Prussian Majesty ; but it is
supposed that before this he has either forced the King
of Poland to an accommodation, or attacked him in
his camp. In the meanwhile he has sent two armies
into Bohemia, where General Brown has drawn some
forces together which will be probably put between
two fires. The Russians will not be ready this year to
come into the Empire, and it is a doubt whether
France can or will give any speedy and effectual as
sistance to her new friend in the present conjuncture.
The King of Prussia writes to his Minister here with
the utmost confidence of success in this vigorous en
terprise. A very short time will shew whether that

530 KING OF PRUSSIA.
1756. confidence is well or ill founded. If the King of Po
land submits, and Brown is beat, probably the Queen
of Hungary will be forced to give up her unnatural
French alliance, for all her Ministry are against it,
Count Kaunitz excepted, and will gladly avail them
selves of any events that can disgust her of it and
break it. But if the Prussian arms receive any check,
she will obstinately adhere to the part she has taken,
and the consequences next year may be fatal to Prus
sia, as the Russians may then break into that Duchy,
and the French not only succour the Queen in Bohemia,
but make themselves masters of Cleves, and from thence
invade Hanover, which is the great object they have
in view. Against that danger we must necessarily
make some provision, an unpleasant thing in our cir
cumstances, and not very easy to be done so effectually
as we could wish, if the King of Prussia should meet
with any misfortune. But our situation would still have
been worse if we had joined with the Queen of Hungary
to attack him ; and that we would not do so is the
sole cause of her having gone into these with France.
Had we complied with her madness, and bought her
friendship upon those terms, France would then
have united with Prussia ; and as he was apprized of
all her designs, they would have probably been de
feated this year before we could have brought the
Russians to act in the Empire against him. We
should have then been most justly accused of having
lighted up a Continental war, against the faith of
treaties, in conjunction with an ally whose slowness and
weakness had almost undone us in the last war ; and to

KING OF PRUSSIA. 531
gratify passions which had been before indulged a 1756.
great deal too much. It would have been said that
the treaty with Russia was (as the opposition declared
it), offensive ; that it had thrown the King of Prussia
into the arms of France, and brought on all the
calamities so eloquently predicted by Mr. Pitt.
Whereas now, whoever shall blame the conduct of
England, must say that we ought to have joined the
Queen of Hungary in an offensive league against
Prussia, for the recovery of Silesia to her, against our
own express guarantee ; and it would be curious to
hear those gentlemen take that language next session,
who declared so loudly in the last for a union with
Prussia, as the only means of salvation to England,
and painted the danger and mischief of any quarrel
with him in such horrible colours. I will say no more
on this subject, but that in all probability, the spirit
of Popery has helped to drive the very bigotted Court
of Vienna into these schemes, and that the oppression
of the Protestant Religion in Germany, is at the heart
of the Empress, as well as the recovery of Silesia, in
the alliance contracted with France. The same spirit
has alienated her from our friendship, and may pos
sibly draw other Catholick Powers into a League with
France against England. But the celerity of the
King of Prussia may stop all these projects before
they are matured, and preserve us as well as himself.
God send him success, for there is no other thatfighteth
for us, and I am sure we have need of some help.
The bearer of this, Mr. Lockwood, has an appeal to
your Excellency, and your Court, and desires me to

532 RESIGNATION OF FOX.
1756. recommend him to your protection, so far as the justice
of his cause will permit. By his own account great
wrong has been done him ; he seems a modest, discreet
and sensible man. I add that all the family are well,
except my wife, who is still ailing. I go to Hagley
to-morrow for a week. Adieu, my dear Billy, Heaven
protect and bless you. I am ever from my soul,
" Your most affectionate brother,
" G. Lyttelton."
" Considering the character of the King of Prussia,
it is not impossible that he may make peace with
the Empress this year, and leave us in the lurch ; but
the danger is greater, if he should be defeated. For
if he succeeds, it is most probable that he will chuse
to make peace for us, as well as himself, in order to
preserve the friendship of England, which might be
of great use to him in future occasions. I can hardly
believe that France will desire to have Silesia restored
to the Empress. For in all permanent views, it is
against her true interest. I have shewn the Duke of
Newcastle your letters. He is much pleased with your
conduct, and will support very strongly your request
to Lord Anson. So will Lord Hallifax, whom I saw
this morning. His Lordship also expressed very great
satisfaction in what you had done, and great good
will to you. He is much as he was with the Ministry,
but he seems very friendly to me."
Fox, sick of Newcastle's treacherous dealings with
him, knowing that the King had not forgiven him
for supplanting Robinson, and having no fancy for

lyttelton's peerage. 533
defending the loss of Minorca against Pitt, resigned 1756.
about the middle of October. The Duke's position
was desperate ; after some abortive writhings to retain
power, and attempts, haughtily repulsed, to negotiate
with Pitt, seeing the terrific storm which was darkening
all around, and his " nudum remigio latus," he at
last actually resigned. " He was followed (says Lord
Waldegrave) by his friend the Earl of Hardwicke, who
resigned the Great Seal, much to the regret of all dis
passionate men, and indeed of the nation in general."
One of the last acts of this Government was to create
Lyttelton (who also resigned his office) a Peer, by the
title of Baron Lyttelton of Frankley in the County of
Worcester. It was obvious that Pitt alone could form the new
ministry. With Newcastle or Fox he steadily refused
to act, much to the discomfiture of both. He chose
the Foreign Secretaryship for himself, made Legge
Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Temple first Lord
of the Admiralty ; the Duke of Devonshire became
first Lord of the Treasury, and the Duke of Bedford
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. The two following
letters from Lyttelton to his brother the Governor, give
a full account of all that passed in the political world
upon Pitt's advent to power. "HiU Street, Nov. 25th, 1756.
" My dear Governour,
" If you are not killed, or taken prisoner by
the French (as you may if some news I have
heard should be true) this is to inform you, that
since I wrote to you last, Mr. Fox having determined

534 LETTER TO WILLIAM LYTTELTON.
1756 to lay down the seals, because, as he said, he had not
support, or power enough to carry on the King's
business in the House of Commons, considering the
great difficulties that would attend it this Session, an
offer was made of them to Mr. Pitt ; but he refused to
serve under the Duke of Newcastle, who, he said, as
Prime Minister, was answerable for the misfortunes
and misconduct of the war ; and that to reassure and
reanimate the people of England, another head of the
Administration was absolutely necessary ; and he
pointed out the Duke of Devonshire to be that head,
in a conversation with Lady Yarmouth, whom he then
made a visit to for the first time in his life, though the
negotiation with him had been opened by my Lord
Chancellor, and his first answer went through his
Lordship to the King. In consequence of his refusal
to serve under the Duke of Newcastle, his Grace
thought it prudent, and for the King's service, to
resign his employment, and my Lord Chancellor de
clared he would also lay down. All the world then
expected that Pitt and Fox would have run into each
other's arms, as it was thought that neither of them
could form any strong and lasting Administration
without the help of the other, and as Mr. Fox, when
he declared his design to lay down, advised that
the seals should be given to Pitt. But to his surprise,
and that of all others, Pitt refused to admit him into
any share of power. He seemed inclined to be Pay
master, but even that was denied. He is therefore
gone out of all employment. Pitt will be Secretary
of State as soon as the gout, of which he has

LETTER TO WILLIAM LYTTELTON. 535
lately had a sharp fit, will give him leave to kiss the 1756.
King's hand. Lord Temple is First Commissioner of
the Admiralty, G. Grenville Treasurer of the Navy,
the Duke of Devonshire First Commissioner of the
Treasury, Legge Chancellor of the Exchequer. These
are the Ministers. The rest of the Temple family
are taken good care of, and Potter is joint Paymaster
with my Lord Dupplin, whom they have been gra
ciously pleased to continue in his office. Some other
friends of the Duke of Newcastle stay in, even in con
siderable offices ; and Fox has many friends advanced
and promoted. If you ask who is first minister, I
cannot inform you. I saw yesterday an intimate friend
of Mr. Pitt's, who said he vas ; but the same day,
an intimate friend of the Duke of Devonshire assured
me, that title belonged to his Grace. Mr. Fox's
friends think he is out of employment, but not out of
power, or at least will not be so long ; and the Duke
of Newcastle has been more visited, and had greater
professions of attachment made to him, than when at
the head of the Treasury. Men of ordinary capacity
think it very strange, that if Mr. Pitt was determined,
from his own inclinations, or those of Leicester House,
to set Mr. Fox and his friends at defiance, he did not
unite to the Duke of Newcastle, and keep together
that strength by which alone such a faction could be
kept down for any long time; but great genius is not
conducted by the rules of common prudence. Fox,
too, seems to have erred in not better knowing what
would be the consequence of his own act ; but he is
now very skilfully availing himself of his adversary's

536 LETTER TO WILLIAM LYTTELTON.
1756. errors. In the meanwhile, you may judge what has
been and what is still the state ofthe publick. For a
month past there has not been even the form and
appearance of an Administration. How much more
there is now than appearance and form, is matter of
doubt ; but it seems to be clear, that if it not much
strengthened it will not hold long. For my own part,
I wish it may, as such frequent changes in times of
such danger are hurtful to the publick, and may be
fatal. One great difficulty in the new Ministry, will
be how to lay, or how to direct the storm they have
raised. Enquiries are promised. The nation demands
them ; but the conduct of those in Parliament is no
easy matter. In the addresses for enquiries, a Jacobite
spirit has mixed itself very strongly with the discon
tent infused or encouraged by the late opposition.
How is that spirit to be satisfied or suppressed ? A
new Parliament is demanded — a Parliament chose
without any corruption ; a law for triennial Parlia
ments, and other such propositions. Mr. Pitt is said
to have promised these things, particularly the first.
The foreign troops are to be also sent away, and eight
thousand men to be sent to America. What will
remain for the defence of the kingdom ? The Militia
Bill is to pass ; but will the bill be an army ? Will
it supply the void of these regular troops before a man
is disciplined by it, or even raised ? Another declara
tion is, that we are to pay no subsidies to any foreign
Prince. What will become of the Kino; of Prussia
next year ? What will become of Hanover ? I only
sketch out these things, because I don't know into

LORD HALIFAX. 537
what hands my letter may fall. Many particulars I 1756#
could wish to inform you of, but it would not be
proper. I shall therefore add no more than what re
lates to myself. My good friends were pleased to say
they would annihilate me; but my annihilation is a
Peerage* given me by the King, with the most gra
cious expressions of favour, esteem, and approbation of
my services, that my heart could desire. I have also
the satisfaction to find, by many sure marks, that I go
out of employment with as good a reputation, and
even a better, than I came in. No publick misfortunes
are imputed to me. My conduct in my late office is
generally approved of, and all those whose esteem I
value the most, have taken this occasion to declare it,
in terms very honourable to me, and beyond my
deserts. In short, I am as happy in this revolution, as
my concern for my country, and some domestic unea
sinesses, will allow me to be. I wish you may gain
by it. The Dean says, he hears it is likely you will.
Nothing could give me more satisfaction. Lord Hal
lifax (who, by the bye, is not of the present Ministry,
but better than ever with the Duke of Newcastle),
gives you great praise for your conduct in your Govern
ment. He mentioned to me a circumstance which
does you great honour, and which I had not heard
from yourself, — your having refused a present offered
you by the Assembly, and which had been usually taken
by your predecessors — made tua virtute. I shewed
* Pitt, who had sat for Aldeborough in Yorkshire, a Pelham
Borough, was now returned for Oakhampton, so long represented,
and now vacated by Lyttelton. See above, p. 64.
2 N

538 LETTER TO WILLIAM LYTTELTON.
1756. him your last letter, in which you say you shall want
more presents for the Indians. He said he would give
it the proper attention ; and in my present situation
I must leave it to his Lordship. Upon looking over
my accounts, I find a year's annuity due to your Ex
cellency out of my estate, at Michaelmas last, half a
year at 2s, and half a year at 4s in the pound, amount
ing together to £277. 10s, which I desire to borrow
of you for Hagley House, at 4 per cent, from the time
it was due, and the next year in the same manner.
I would also beg you to let me have your salary here
on the same terms ; but Sir Richard tells me you have
engaged to pay him with that the £1400. for which I
was bound.
" I wrote to you lately by a young man who pro
mised to deliver my letter safe into your hands, if he
got to South Carolina without meeting the French, but
to throw it into the sea, if his ship was taken. This
goes by Mr. Shubrick's care in the usual manner. I
have sent you the best of the political pamphlets that
have been writt since you left us, and with them the
King of Prussia's vindication of his conduct. I wish
His Majesty could as easily insure success to his cause,
as he has proved the justice of it, and the bad faith of
his enemies. But those enemies are so strong, that if
they remain united, and jointly attack him next spring,
one can hardly conceive how he can find strength to
resist them. The Gazettes, which I suppose are sent
over to you, will have informed y^u of his victory on
the frontiers of Bohemia, and extraordinary operations
in Saxony; but though he has done ably, and justly,

KING OF" PRUSSIA. 539
and gained much glory in his valour and conduct, his 1756.
army was detained so long in besieging the Saxon
camp, that he has failed of establishing himself in Bo
hemia, as he hoped to have done, before the winter
came on ; and all his difficulties will increase by every
delay. Surprising things may be done by such a
Prince at the head of such troops ; and perhaps the
Czarina may be shewn how dishonourably she has
been imposed upon by the Courts of Vienna and
Dresden, and may be brought to resent it ; by which
means the most dangerous part of the storm which
threatens the King of Prussia may be diverted.
Adieu, my dear Governor. Heaven bless and protect
you, and the good people under your care. I wish
this country had a prospect of being as well governed
as South Carolina. But you will say, perhaps those
damned French may come and take away my Govern
ment from me. I answer, perhaps they may take this
country too, if we don't soon see an end of our fac
tions. Nevertheless, I will trust in God, and in the
genius of England, that never yet has crouched under
that of France. In all chances and changes,
" I am ever
" your most affectionate
" Brother, Friend, and Servant,
" Lyttelton."
"Hill Street, Dec. 9th, 1756.
" Since I wrote the foregoing letter, some things
have happened that are well worth the mentioning
to you. The King's speech, as you will see, men-
2 n 2

540 LETTER TO WILLIAM LYTTELTON.
1756. tions the determination of sending away the Hanover
forces. A clause is inserted in the address of the
Lords, thanking the King for having brought them
over pursuant to the advice of both Houses. This
was thought a proper return of gratitude and ac
knowledgment on the part of the House, and neces
sary to vindicate His Majesty's honour, which had
been aspersed in many infamous libels, and even some
addresses, as if he had brought them over of his own
accord, without the desire or consent of the Parlia
ment. But in the address of the House of Commons,
this clause of thanks was not inserted ; and to the
great surprise of the Lords, as soon as the motion for
the address was made in their House, and had been
seconded, and thirded, up got Lord Temple, and with
great vehemence opposed that clause. He said, (as
was true,) that he was but just recovering of a fever,
and had scarce strength to say a few words to their
Lordships ; but he must say them, in order to ex
press his dissent to that clause: that he desired
union as much as any man in the kingdom, but that
clause was not calculated to produce union. That he
had opposed the bringing over the Hanoverians last
year, and therefore he could not thank the King for it
now. But (what was of much more importance) a
great majority of the nation had disapproved of their
coming, and therefore this would prevent unanimity
in the nation, which was of much more consequence
than unanimity in that House. That he would
sooner have cut off his hand, than have put any words
into the address to blame the bringing them over, be-

ADDRESS ON THE KING'S SPEECH. 541
cause he did not desire, or think it expedient, to revive 1756.
that question now ; but why an approbation of it
should be put in, he could not conceive. He hinted,
too, at its being omitted in the address of the Com
mons ; and concluded with saying, that he would not
be satisfied without entering his protest against it in
the manner he had done ; and then immedately walked
out ofthe House.
" The Duke of Bedford, taking no notice of his being
gone out, replied with great strength, that what
ever respect might be due to that Lord, the House
was to consider what was their own Act, and what,
thereupon, it became them to do ; that his Lordship's
consent, and every single Lord's, was included in the
address for bringing over those troops, which the House
had agreed to ; that as the King had been graciously
pleased to comply with the desire and advice of the
House, they certainly ought to return him their thanks
for that condescension, which was always esteemed a
favour and grace, whatever reasons there might be at
present for sending them back ; and that no Lord had
any right to complain of their doing what was so
highly their duty, because he had differed from them
in his personal capacity, and while the question was
yet in debate. Lord Stanhope said a few words in sup
port of Lord Temple, and then the debate ended with
out any division. You may imagine the observations
and discourse of the world upon this event. In all the
journals of Parliament, there never was any instance
of a Cabinet counsellor having opposed any part of the
address in return to the King's speech at the opening

542 LETTER TO WILLIAM LYTTELTON.
1756, of a session, unless he was understood to be just going
out. Lord Temple is just come in, and people natu
rally ask one another, did he not see the address which
always is settled at the Cabinet Council ? why did
he not then oppose this clause ? Or, if he did, how
came it about that his opposition had no effect ? And
why did he not choose to keep his own secret, rather
than tell the House of Lords, that he had no credit
in the administration ? What surprised every body
still more, was, that in the House of Commons, Mr.
Pitt had declared the same day, that the bringing the
Hanoverians into England, was not a Court measure,
but the measure of Parliament. I am now informed
that Lord Temple, being ill of a fever, was not at the
Cabinet Council the day that these words were in
serted ; that having notice of it in the evening, he
wrote to the Duke of Devonshire, to desire his Grace
that they might be left out. That his Grace did not
comply, though he likewise was talked to by Mr.
Pitt, upon which my Lord Temple resolved to take
the part that he did in the House, but whether with,
or without Mr. Pitt's approbation, I cannot learn.
This morning there was a talk of a motion in the
House of Commons to re-commit the address, and add
a clause to the same purpose as that in the address of
the Lords. But Mr. Pitt, who had not yet received
the seals, declared he would not take them if that was
done ; upon which it was stopped. You see, my dear
Billy, what a blessed union there is among these great
men ! It is a new married couple who fall out, and
fight on their wedding day. In the House of Com-

king's SPEECH. 543
mons, Pitt's speech was moderate and discreet. He 1755.
would blame nobody before an inquiry was made, nor
even till it was ended. He owned the loss of the
Hanoverians would make a dangerous gap in our force
at home ; but that gap must be supplied. He owned
we had no ships to spare, and that the French fleet
was very dangerously strong. He poured cold
water on the head of Alderman Beckford, who had
vaunted in his usual style on the grand strength of
England, &c. ; in short, he spoke like a minister, and
unsaid almost all he had said in opposition. Beck
ford praised Fox and him ; and assured him, in the
name of all the Tories, but without any authority from
them, of his, and their most cordial support. He
grossly abused the Duke of Newcastle, who was de
fended with a great deal of spirit by the Marquis of
Granby, and by Sir Thomas Robinson. Lord G.
Sackville said, when he knew how Mr. Pitt would fill
up the gap which would be made by the Hanoverians
being sent back, effectually and immediately, he would
say what he thought of the sending them back at this
juncture of time. These were the principal events of
the day. The King's speech was drawn by Mr.
Pitt. It is in an high style ad Populum, and seems to
promise great things. But there is certainly enough
of Germany in it, and it by no means agrees with the
publick declarations made by Lord Temple of no foreign
subsidies, much less with the language talkt the last
year. Adieu, my dear brother, I have writt till I am
quite tired.
" I have just seen a letter from your excellency to

544 LETTER TO WILLIAM LYTTELTON.
1756. Mr. Pickering, dated the 7th of September, which
gives me the pleasure of knowing that you were well,
and under no apprehensions except from the Creoles.
But I wish the greater danger may not be from the
French Regulars at the Mississippi. The loss of
Oswego is so fatal a misfortune, that I fear the effects
of it may extend even to you, if, in consequence of it,
the Six Nations should waver in their alliance with us,
which would make it impossible for Lord Loudon to
succour our more southern provinces, if they should
be attacked. If your new fort is finished, it will be a
good barrier to the Province that way, but I doubt
whether it can in so short a time ; and if you are
attacked, I supppose it will be before that is com
pleted. I shall be glad to hear you got safe through
the month of October, for then I presume there will
be no danger till the next spring.
Our affairs at Bewdley (I should rather say yours,
for if I keep the Borough it will be for you) stand
much as they did, only that old Tom Moysey is
dead. He has left a debt to the Government for
licences, not accounted for, of above £200., which I
am to pay as being one of his sureties, and the other
being insolvent. His effects, altogether, are not worth
above £20. Sir Richard was offered the White Stick
as controller, (a very honourable office,) but being
forced to decline it, because it required a man that can
walk, he has now, after some difficulties, got the Jewel
Office ; Lord Breadalbin having taken Lord Sands's
place, who is made speaker of the House of Lords,
it being his destiny to be a speaker. Charles

PITT AND FOX. 545
Townsend has also accepted the office of Treasurer of 1756.
the Chambers, in the room of Lord Hillsborough, who
is made an English Peer. He does not appear to be
satisfied with it, as it is not an office of business, or
power ; nor did he think it worth having at the price
of a contested election at Yarmouth, but he is to be
brought in at another place.
" The public papers will give you all the other pro
motions, or the Dean, who is a good supplement to
their defects. Mr. Pitt is again laid up with the
gout. Mr. Fox is gone out of town, and says he does
not intend to return these six weeks, though the ad
journment is but for a week.
" This declaration is pretty extraordinary, as indeed
are all the events of this time.
" Adieu, my dear Governor, you shall hear from me
again as soon as they ripen into any decision.
" I can't help adding that the Duke of Newcastle
has acted with great dignity, prudence, and modera
tion in this revolution."

CHAPTER XIII.
LITERARY HISTORY, 1756, TO THE DEATH OF
LYTTELTON, 1773.

[Hagley MSS. — Campbell's Notices of the Wartons and Gray in
Specimens of British Poetry— Walpole's Letters to SirH. Mann,
vols. ii. and iii. first series, vol. i. concluding series — Memoirs of
Mrs. Elizabeth Carter, vol. i. p. 213, &c> — Schlosser's Geschichte,
vol. iii. Literatur und Bildung Englands. — Wool's Life of
Warton — Davies' Life of Garrick, vol. i. — Boswell's Life of
Johnson, vols. i. and ii. — Chalmers' Life of Mickle — Forbes' Life
of Beattie.J

1756-73. It was in the year 1755 that Bower had good rea
son to congratulate himself on having acquired the
friendship of one who had deserved the name of
" Lyttelton, the friend." About this period, Bower
printed his " Motives of Conversion from Popery
to Protestantism ;" the work was criticised by Dr.
Douglas, in a publication* which was generally!
considered to contain a complete detection of
* See page 334.
f " Here Douglas retires from his toils to relax,
The scourge of impostors, the terror of quacks :
Come all ye quack bards, and ye quacking divines,
Come and dance on the spot where your tyrant reclines,
When satire and censure encircled his throne,
I feared for your safety, I feared for my own :"
" But now he is gone, and we want a detector."
Goldsmith's Retaliation.

BOWER AND GARRICK. 547
Bower as an impostor. Among other persons, Gar- 1756-73.
rick openly discussed this question in society. Bower
stood his ground, however, and in a summary of his
case appended to one of the volumes of his History
of the Popes, severely attacked both Garrick and one
of his friends. Garrick determined on taking his
revenge in his own line by bringing the character of
Bower upon the stage,in the character of the mock con
vert. Being however on intimate terms with Lyt
telton, whose protection of the intended victim was
well known to him, he announced to this common
friend his intention. Lyttelton wrote so strong a dis
suasive, that Garrick, though reluctantly, forewent his
revenge. Lyttelton seems fully to have shared the admiration
of his contemporaries, for this wonderful actor,* who
* Lyttelton and Pitt became first acquainted with him in 1743.
One of the happiest efforts of the licentious and gifted Churchill,
is his description of Garrick in the Rosciad.
" The judges as the several parties came,
With temper heard, with judgment weighed each claim,
And in their sentence happily agreed,
In name of both great Shakespeare thus decreed —
' If manly sense, if nature linked with art,
If thorough knowledge of the human heart,
If powers of acting, vast and unconfin'd,
If fewest faults with greatest beauties join'd,
If strong expression and strange powers which lie
Within the magic circle of the eye,
If feelings which few hearts like his can know,
And which as few so well as his can shew
Deserve the preference — Garrick ! take the chair,
Nor quit it till thou place an equal there !' "

548 garrick's letter. -
1756-73. was occasionally a guest at Hagley, and whose house
was a favourite resort (his biographer tells us), " of
the learned, the elegant, the polite, and the accom
plished in all arts and sciences" — " so, (he adds),
that he was continually drawing from the great
fountains of wisdom and knowledge — from Warburton
and Hurd, from Camden and Mansfield, from the
Earl of Chesterfield and George Lord Lyttelton,
frem Dr. S. Johnson and Edmund Burke, from Sir
J. Reynolds and Sir W. Chambers, from Dr. Warton
and his brother, from Mr. Berenger and Topham
Beauclerc, from Mr. Paul and Mr. William Whitehead,
from Mr. Cambridge and Mr. Colman, from Dr.
Douglas and the Dean of Carlisle, from Dr. Robert
son and Mr. Wedderburne, and from all that was emi
nent for their worth or distinguished by their genius."
To this list might be added the Duke of Devonshire
and Lord Chatham.
The only letter from Garrick in the Hagley MSS.
is the following : — " London, October 15th,
" My very dear Lord,
" The letter I had the honour of receiving from
you yesterday, gave me at once the most exquisite
pleasure and the most disagreeable sensations. It is
my utmost pride and ambition to deserve the kind
thoughts of the great and good, and my wishes
are completely fulfilled in yonr letter. Your affec
tionate declaration to me is felt in my heart of

garrick's letter. 549
heart, as Shakespear feelingly calls it, and I flatter 1756 73.
myself, though you will find greater qualities in your
other friends, you will never experience more sincerity,
warmth, and true attachment than in your humble
servant. " Since I revell'd in delight upon the hills at Hagley,
I have had a drawback with some attacks of my old
disorder to make me sensible of my mortal condition,
I am now, as I may say, well again, and I have put
my philosophy to the trial— I drink no wine, eat but
one thing, and don't so much as smell at supper. This
regulation with a spoonfull of Castor oyl every night
and a moderate use of honey and barley-water, will
I am persuaded, make me whole again. I have pro
duced no less than two or three small stones* with
very little pain for many days. The Faculty have given
me spirits by assuring me that I shall get rid of small
ones. To any heart but your own, my Lord, all this
would be impertinence, but I know something of cha
racter and I am assur'd that you wish to hear all about
me. May Lord Valentiaf prosper in Ireland ; I most
devoutly wish it, because I sincerely believe that his
Lordship's cause is a just one ; exclusive of that,
whatever gives Lord Lyttelton pain or pleasure v, ill
and shall glance upon me, and I glory to have my
share of both.
" That your Lordship has any object for the exercise
* He died in 1779 of this painful disorder.
f He married Lyttelton's daughter Lucy.

550

garrick.

1756-73. of your resignation and patience, most truly affects
me. If you had not these stops in the course of your
life, your change from this world to a better would
not have sufficient contrast — to enjoy a good share of
health, the good wishes of all good men, and be the
praise of all parties, with a circle of friends whose
taste, knowledge, and genius, can enjoy yours — these
are blessings few can boast of, and 1 hope I may mo
rally pray God, that you may long enjoy them, and
survive all the objects of your patience and resigna
tion. Mrs. Vesey is a most agreeable woman, Mrs.
Montagu is herself alone. Were they eighteen, and
I an Adonis of twenty-one, I should love one and
adore the other — I would kiss the hands of the Sylph,
but fall at the feet of the Minerva. Such are my
feelings about them, and if your Lordship can work
up a little jealousy out of this declaration, I beg you
will make the best of it. You deserve a small por
tion of mischief at my hands, for raising the vanity of
Pid-pad to such a height, that all my assum'd dig
nity cannot lower her. I must not scold, and find fault,
but she throws your Lordship at my head ; and in
short, for I begin to grow angry, if you and Pid-pad
grow as fashionable as other folks, I must have satis
faction, and to have the most full and complete satis
faction, I shall desire your Lordship to meet me in
Hagley Park. " Most devotedly your Lordship's
" D. Garrick.
"Pid-pad sends her love."

literary society. 551
Among the MSS. I find in Lyttelton's handwriting 1756-73.
the following verses :— " Pid-pad"* is probably the
enchantress of the second stanza : —
" Garrick, behold the Fairy King,
To you my choicest gifts I bring,
To you whose power surpasses mine,
This wand, (my sceptre) I resign.
You can all forms assume with ease,
Secure in every form to please,
I can the elements controul,
But you command the human soul.
Yet one there is whose gentle sway,
Ev'n you with all your spells obey,
Whose magic binds in pleasing chains
Your heart, and there triumphant reigns ;
To whom each sister Grace imparts,
Her sweetest charms, her finest arts !
Oft may she tread this hallowed green,
And she shall be the Fairy Queen."
The house of Garrick had in fact succeeded to the
villa of Pope. Here — in the drawing-rooms of Mrs.
Vesey — sometimes of Mrs. Thrale — and often, at a later
period, of Mrs. Montague, Lyttelton frequented that
kind of society which subsisted on literary gossip;
and which, except when Johnson sat enthroned, was
too often a poor imitation of French manners, as the
works of the day were, with some very considerable
exceptions, feeble copies of that French style, thought,
and expression, which the writings of Bolingbroke
and Voltaire had made generally fashionable.
In the enumeration of places to which Lyttelton
* Mrs. Garrick had been a celebrated dancer.

552 LITERARY SOCIETY.
1756-73. dedicated his social hours, the Palace at Lambeth must
not be forgotten. Here probably he found the so
ciety most congenial to his disposition ; and to the cu
rious and excellent library which it contains he appears
to have had frequent recourse during the composition
of his History. The learned and excellent Seeker
succeeded Shelton in the Archbishopric of Canter
bury in 1758, and Lambeth seems to have been open
to all men of letters and fair character. It was much
frequented, as was Montague House, both by Lord
Bath and Lyttelton. Here it was that he became
acquainted with Mrs. Elizabeth Carter, the translatress
of Epictetus, a lady who united a sincere piety to accom
plishments of no mean order. A charitable occasion first
brought Lyttelton into communication with her. In
1755 she wrote to him, whom she did not then
know, on behalf of the children of a poor woman. He
immediately sent her twenty pounds ; and again, in
1756, desired her, if her wants should be pressing, to
draw upon him for a specified sum of money, while
he exerted himself to procure for her a pension at the
Treasury. Nobody appears to have better appreciated
Lyttelton's character, or more sincerely lamented his
death, than Mrs. Carter.* I should mention here that
it does not appear that Lyttelton was ever enrolled
among the members of that celebrated society which
existed for some time without name, but which at
Mr. Garrick's funeral, became distinguished by the
title of the Literary Club.
* She died herself in 1806, having been born in 1717.

DIALOGUES OF THE DEAD. 553
One of Lyttelton's first acts on the acquisition of 1756-73.
his peerage was to offer the elder Warton (Joseph)
his Chaplainship. " I shall think it an honour to
my scarf if you will wear it," he writes. The offer
was gladly accepted. With both the Wartons
(Joseph and Thomas) Lyttelton seems to have lived
in habits of great intimacy. Our literature is con
siderably indebted to these brothers, who were per
haps the most finished scholars of the time.
About this time Lyttelton published his Dialogues
of the Dead. They were reprinted in 1765, when
four new dialogues were added, the " chief design of
which was," as he tells us in the preface,* " the
illustrating of certain principles and certain characters
of importance, by bringing in persons who have acted
upon different systems to defend their own conduct, or
to explain their own notions by free discourse with
each other, and in manner conformable to the turn
of their minds, as they have been represented to us by
the best authors." These Dialogues, of which three
were " by a different hand,"f were written in avowed
imitation of Lucian, Fenelon, and Fontenelle. In
truth, like the Persian Letters, they were framed, ac
cording to the fashion of the day, on an entirely
French model. Some of them are ingenious and
amusing, as well as instructive. The style is always
clear, and sometimes eloquent.
* See Preface to the edition of 17G5.
f Dialogue 26, Cadmus and Hercules. — Dialogue 27, Mercury
and a modern fine Lord.— Dialogue 28, Plutarch, Charon, and a
modern Bookseller.
2 O

554 DIALOGUES OF THE DEAD.
1756-73. Dr. Johnson's dislike of Lyttelton has been often
mentioned, and it is visible in his criticism on this
work. — " That man (he said) sat down to write a
book to tell the world what the world had all his life
been telling him." Must not this be the case vuth
most books which are the fruit of reading, meditation,
and experience of life ? — and in what lies the intended
sting of this remark ? Horace Walpole writes the
following characteristic criticism in a letter to Sir H.
Mann : — " Along with the machine I have sent you some
new books — Lord George's Trial, Lord Ferrers's, and
the account of him — a fashionable thing called Tristram
Shandy, and my Lord Lyttelton's new Dialogues of
the Dead, or rather Dead Dialogues. * * * *
For the other noble author, Lord Lyttelton, you will
find his work paltry enough ; the style a mixture of
bombast, poetry, and vulgarisms — nothing new, except
making people talk out of character is so. Then he
loves changing sides so much that he makes Lord
Falkland and Hampden cross over and figure in like
people in a country dance — not to mention their
guardian angels, who deserve to be hanged for murder.
He is angry, too, at Swift, Lucian, and Rabelais, as
if they had laughed at him of all men living, and he
seems to wish that we would read the last's Dissertation
on Hippocratis instead of his History of Portugal.
But I blame him most when he was satirising too
free writers for praising the King of Prussia's poetry,
to which anything of Royle is harmless. I like best
the Dialogue between the Duke of Argyle and the
Earl of Angus, and the character of his own first wife
under that of Penelope. I need not tell you that

DIALOGUES OF THE DEAD. 555
Pericles is Mr. Pitt." The blame ascribed to Pericles 1756-73.
by Cosmo, who admits his many virtues and abilities,
is that of trusting solely to his personal influence,
without acting upon, or preferring, any system of Go
vernment — like an architect, whose only care was that
the building should last the term ofthe owner's life.
The Dialogues between Swift and Addison, Chris
tina and Oxenstiern, Pope* and Boileau, which contain
a good deal of criticism on English and French writers
generally, will well repay perusal.
In the last dialogue is introduced a criticism on
Voltaire : it conveyed some censure upon his writings,
but which certainly did not err on the side of severity,
nevertheless it irritated this philosoper (who was one
of the many examples of the truth of Moliere's well-
known satire upon Philosophers, in the Bourgeois Gen-
tilhomme ;) and in 1761 he wrote to Lyttelton as
follows. LETTER OF MR. VOLTAIRE TO LORD LYTTELTON.
" I have read the ingenious Dialogues of the
Dead, I find (page 134) that I am an exile, and guilty
* Boileau reproaches Pope with having wasted his genius in
editing Shakspeare. Pope replies : —
" The principal cause of my undertaking that task was zeal for
the honour of Shakspeare : and if you knew all his beauties as well
as I, you would not wonder at this zeal. No other author had
ever so copious, so bold, so creative an imagination, with so perfect
a knowledge of the passions, the humours and sentiments of man
kind. He painted all characters, from kings down to peasants, with
equal truth and equal force. If human nature were destroyed, and
no monument were left of it except his work, other beings might
know what man was from those writings."
2 o 2

556 VOLTAIRE.
1756-73. of some excesses in writing. I am obliged (and per
haps for the honour of my country) to say I am not
an exile, because I have not committed the excesses
the author of the Dialogues imputes to me.
" No body rais'd his voice higher than mine in favour
of the rights of human kind ; yet I have not exceeded
in that virtue. I am not settled in Switzerland as he
believes I live in my own lands in France. Retreat
is becoming to old age, and more becoming in one's
own possessions. If I enjoy a little country-house
near Geneva, my mannors and my castles are in Bur
gundy ; and if my King has been pleased to confirm
the privileges of my lands, which are free from all
tributes, I am the more addicted to my King.
" If I was an exile I had not obtained from my
court many a passeport for English noblemen. The
service I rendered to them intitles me to the justice
I expect from the noble author.
As to Religion, I think, and I hope he thinks with
me, that God is neither a Presbiterian, nor a Luther-
ian, nor of the lower Church, nor of the high church,
but God is the father of all mankind, the father of
the noble author and mine. " I am with respect,
" His most humble servant,
" Voltaire."
" Gentleman of the King's Chamber.
" At my Castle of Ferney in Burgundy."
Lyttelton's answer was as follows : —

VOLTAIRE. 557
" Sir, 1756-73.
" I have receiv'd the honour of your letter dated
from your Castle of Ferney in Burgundy, by which I
find I was guilty of an error in calling your retire
ment an exile. When another edition shall be made
of my Dialogues, either in English or French, I will
take care that this error shall be corrected ; and I am
very sorry I was not apprised of it sooner, that I might
have corrected it in the first edition of a French trans
lation of them just published under my inspection in
London. " To do you justice is a duty I owe to truth, and
myself; and you have a much better title to it, than
from the Passeports you say you have procured for
English noblemen ; you are entitled to it, Sir, by the
high sentiments of respect I have for you, which are
not paid to the privileges you tell me your king has
confirmed to your lands, but to the noble talents God
has given you, and the superior rank you hold in the
Republic of Letters. The favours done you by your
Sovereign are an honour to him ; but add little lustre
to the name of Voltaire.
" I entirely agree with you that God is the Father
of all mankind ; and should think it blasphemy to
confine his goodness to a sect, nor do I believe that
any of his creatures are good in his sight, if they do
not extend their benevolence to all his creation. These
opinions I rejoice to see in your works, and shall be
very glad to be convinced, that the liberty of your
thoughts and your pen upon subjects of philosophy
and religion never exceeded the bounds of this gene-

558 VOLTAIRE.
1756-73. rous principle, which is authorised by revelation as
much as by reason ; or that you disapproved in your
hours of sober reflexion any irregular sallies of fancy,
which cannot be justified, though they may be ex
cused by the vivacity and fire of a great genius.
" I have the honor to be, Sir,
' ' Your most humble servant,
" Lyttelton."
Soon afterwards came another letter from the same
quarter :
" Au Chateau de Ferney, par Geneve,
" 19 Juillet, 1761.
"My Lord,
" My esteem for you is so great, that j presume
the name of Corneille shall be honour' d with your
name. J dare sai such an attonement for the little
displeasure you had caus'd to me, is a favour which
j'U ressent great deal more than my little pain.
" Je suis avec bien du respect,
" My Lord, " Votre tres humble et tres
" obeissant serviteur, " Voltaire."
The object of this unintelligible letter was to procure
Lyttelton's name and subscription to an edition of
Corneille, which Voltaire was preparing, and the
profits of which were to be devoted to the benefit of
that distinguished person's* great niece. Voltaire
wrote to Pitt on the same day, begging to place his
name at the head of the subscribers. Mr. Stanley,
* The work was published in 1764, in 12 volumes, 8vo.

LETTER TO THE KING OF PRUSSIA. 559
writing to Pitt on the 26th of August, says, " I have 1756-73.
received the enclosed letter from Voltaire, whom I
never saw, on my subscribing to an edition of Cor
neille. You will judge whether I have got off as well
as my Lord Lyttelton."
I may mention in this place that in the same year
I find among the Hagley MSS. a document endorsed
in Lyttelton's handwriting —
" Draft of my letter to the King of Prussia's Secre
tary, on his sending me the Book of Poems pub
lished by his Master."
It is written in good French, but contains only the
compliments usual in such cases.
Horace Walpole writes to Sir H. Mann —
" Voltaire has been charmingly absurd. He who
laughed at Congreve for despising the rank of author
and affecting the gentleman, set out post for a hovel he
has in France to write from thence and style himself
Gentleman of the Bedchamber, to Lord Lyttelton, who
in his Dialogues of the Dead, had called him an exile.
He writes in English and not a sentence is tolerable
English. The answer is very civil and sensible."
The following letter to Lyttelton from Mr. Phelps
is on the same subject, and contains a curious account
of Voltaire's character from an eye-witness.
"Blandford, 9th March, 1791.
"My Lord,
" Having been from quarters some few days on
account of my health I had not an opportunity of
seeing Mr. Voltaire's letter to your Lordship, and the

560 VOLTAIRE.
1756-73. answer till yesterday. The frequent opportunities I
had of conversing with that great genius, during my
last stay abroad, gave me a thorough insight into his
character ; and I remember it was not without that
sensible pleasure with which I read all your Lordship's
writings, that I observ'd with how much delicacy you
treated him in your Dialogues of the Dead.
" I find that he is much hurt at the name of exile,
and yet that voluntary banishment which he now
chuses to call his retreat in Suisse, was always consi-
der'd by the sensible people of that country as the
effect of prudence rather than of choice.
" He had taken a house at Lausanne on a lease of
nine years ; he had paid the rent for the whole term
in advance, and had expended a very large sum, in
fitting it up according to his own taste and convenience.
It was at this time, that I was first known to him, was
with him frequently in his hours of gaiety, and those
of a very different complexion. His favourite theme
in all humours, was, Je ne sais pas Francais, except
when his vanity prompted him to read us the accounts
which he regularly received of real or imaginary
victories gained by his countrymen. He was upon
these occasions as arrant a Frenchman as the most
illiterate of his nation, and received the most glaring
political absurdities upon trust. He was the most in
consistent, whenever he talked of the King of Prussia ;
and I remember when we first heard that the united
Imperial and French army, was marching down to
drive the King of Prussia out of Saxony, that I saw a
billet which M. Voltaire wrote to a gentleman who

VOLTAIRE. 561
lived in the next street, exprest in these terms, " Ce 1756-73.
Monsieur de Brandenbourg qui a fait presenter quatre
bayonettes au ventre de ma niece en a quatre vingt
milles en arret contre lui." This alluded to his niece
being refused admittance to him, when he was under
arrest at Francfort. Some few days after, we were
informed of the French defeat at Rosbach. M. Vol
taire's billet was much changed ; " J'admire le Roy de
Prusse, je plains les Francais, et je me tais. He was
as consistent too with respect to the English ; some
times we were Islanders fit for the element that sur
rounded us, without taste of life, or sense of manner ;
at other times, Monsieur, vous etes Anglais, Grand
Dieu ! que je vondrais l'etre. He indeed did us the
honour in his hours of dislike, to treat us with hatred
rather than with contempt. Such was the Voltaire that
I left in Suisse about three years ago, when I went into
Italy, and such I found him upon my return last year,
but the limits of his retreat were then much confined.
He had during my stay in Italy, acted a very unhand
some part, with regard to some of the Clergy at
Lausanne, and his behaviour had been resented, as it
ought. The quitting his house in that place was the
necessary consequence. He was therefore last year
endeavouring to extend his limits on the side of Geneva,
which however it is hardly possible for him to do,
without touching upon the territories of his own King.
He might then perhaps apply to his great patron the
Duke of Richelieu, and might easily obtain the privi
leges he talks of, in those outskirts of France, however

562 VOLTAIRE.
1756-73. obnoxious he may have rendered himself at home.
He had bought lands on that side, and was even build
ing upon them, when I was in that country about last
Easter. Their distance was not very great from his
little country house near Geneva, and I am apt to sus
pect that these are the Manours and Castles of which
he talks in his letter to your Lordship. Wherever
these Manours and Castles are, they make but little
difference as to M. Voltaire's letters, except that I
think the ridicule would be a little heightened. * *
I am in one respect pleas'd with M. Voltaire's letter, as
it gives me his real portrait, and as much as I dislike
national reflections, I cannot help saying, that I see too
in it a strong characteristic of his country.
" The last four years which I pass'd abroad, have
made me often wish, that we took a little more pains to
conciliate people to us by our pens. The learned in
all countries know how to do us justice, but I would
not have it totally confined to them. The French in
sinuate themselves into the opinion of foreign nations,
by keeping up a good correspondence, with almost all
the writers employed in conveying intelligence. I
think they carry it too far, but do not we, my Lord,
neglect this article a little too much ? I wish to see
Voltaire's letter circulate wherever English and French
are read, there is in it the true character of the author,
and the genuine complexion of his country. I would
fain flatter myself too, that whilst foreigners do jus
tice to your Lordship, they will at the same time dis
cover some strong national features in your Lordship's

VOLTAIRE. 563
noble reply. I have the honour to be with all possible 1756-73.
respect, " My Lord,
" Your Lordship's most obedient,
" and most humble servant,
" Richard Phelps."
In 1757 appeared two poems, whose genius and
lyrical fire, startled the feeble versifiers of the time.
These were Gray's two odes, " The Progress of Poesy,"
and " The Bard." In vain did Johnson's monstrous
criticism strive to destroy by clumsy ridicule, what
it had no power to appreciate. They will never lose
their place in English literature.* Horace Walpole's
criticism on them is conveyed in the following letter
to Lyttelton. " Strawberry Hill, August 25, 1757.
" My Lord,
" It is a satisfaction one can't often receive, to
show a thing of great merit to a man of great taste.
Your Lordship's approbation is conclusive, and it
stamps a disgrace on the age, who have not given
themselves the trouble to see any beauties in these
odes of Mr. Gray. They have cast their eyes over
them, found them obscure, and looked no further, yet
perhaps no composition ever had more sublime beauties
than are in each. I agree with your Lordship in pre
ferring the last upon the whole ; the three first stanzas
and half, down to agonizing king, are in my opinion,
equal to anything in any language I understand. Yet
* See Mr. Campbell's admirable criticism in his Specimens of
British Poets.

564 walpole's letter.
1756-73. the three last of the first ode please me very near as
much. The description of Shakespeare, is worthy
Shakespeare : the account of Milton's blindness, though
perhaps not strictly defensible, is very majestic. The
character of Dryden's Poetry, is as animated as what
it paints. I can even like the epithet Orient ; as the
East is the Empire of fancy and poesy, I would allow
its livery to be erected into a colour. I think blue
eyed Pleasures as allowable; when Homer gave eyes of
what hue he pleased to his Queen-Goddesses, sure Mr.
Gray may tinge those of their handmaids.
" In answer to your Lordship's objection to many
twinkling, in that beautiful Epode, I will quote autho
rity to which you will yield. As Greek as the expres
sion is, it struck Mrs. Garrick,* and she says on that
whole picture, that Mr. Gray is the only Poet who
ever understood dancing.f
" These faults I think I can defend, and can excuse
others, even the general obscurity of the latter, for I
do not see it in the first ; the subject of it has been
taken for music, it is the power and progress of har
monious poetry. I think his objection to prefixing a
title to it was wrong — that Mr. Cooke published an ode
with such a title. If the Louis the great, whom Vol
taire has discovered in Hungary, had not disappeared
* Pid-Pad, see Garrick's letter above.
•f The classical reader will remember the beautiful passage in the
Odyssey. cifjcpl Se Kovpoi
npwdrjfiai laravro, cai'ifioveQ opxyB polo
lUTrXnyor Se -^opuv Bziov -noalv avrap 'Qdvcratvc,
Map/iapvyae, drjtiroftoCuiv, davfxa^e ct Oufjui. — 0. 262 — 5.

walpole's letter. 565
from history of himself, would not Louis Quatorzehave 1756-73.
annihilated him ? I was aware that the second would
at first have darknesses, and prevailed for the insertion
of what notes there are, and would have had more ;
Mr. Gray said, whatever wanted explanation, did not
deserve it, but that sentence was never so far from
being an axiom, as in the present case. Not to men
tion how he had shackled himself with Strophe, Anti-
strophe and Epode, (yet acquitting himself nobly), the
nature of prophecy forbade his naming his Kings.
To me they are apparent enough — yet I am far from
thinking either piece perfect, though with what faults
they have, I hold them in the first rank of genius and
poetry. The second strophe of the first ode is inexcus
able, nor do I wonder your Lordship blames it ; even
when one does understand it, perhaps the last line is
too turgid. I am not fond of the Antistrophe that
follows. In the second ode he made some corrections
for the worse. Brave Urion was originally stern :
brave is insipid and common-place. In the third
Antistrophe, leave me unblessed, unpitied, stood at first,
leave your despairing Caradoc. But the capital faults
in my opinion are these — What punishment was it to
Edward the First to hear that his grandson would
conquer France ? or is so common an event as Edward
the Third being deserted on his death-bed, worthy of
being made part of a curse that was to avenge a nation.
I can't cast my eye here, without crying out on those
beautiful lines that follow, Fair smiles the morn !
Though the images are extremely complicated, what

566 walpole s letter.
1756-73. painting in the whirlwind, liken'd to a lion lying in
ambush for his evening prey, in grim repose ! Thirst
and Hunger mocking Richard IL, appear to me too
ludicrously like the devils in the Tempest, that whisk
away the banquet from the shipwrecked Dukes.
From thence to the conclusion of Queen Elizabeth's
portrait, which he has faithfully copied from Speed,
in the passage where she mumbled the Polish Ambas
sador, I admire, I can even allow that Image of Rap
ture hovering like an ancient grotesque, though it
strictly has little meaning, but there I take my leave ;
the last stanza has no beauties for me. I even think
its obscurity fortunate, for the allusions to Spencer,
Shakespeare, Milton are not only weak, but the two
last returning again, after appearing so gloriously in
the first ode, and with so much fainter colours, ener
vate the whole conclusion.
" Your Lordship sees that I am no enthusiast to Mr.
Gray, his great lustre hath not dazzled me, as -his ob
scurity seems to have blinded his cotemporaries.
Indeed, I do not think that they ever admired him
except in his churchyard, though the Eton ode was
far its superior, and is certainly not obscure. The
Eton ode is perfect : these of more masterly execution,
have defects, yet not to admire them is total want of
taste. I have an aversion to tame poetry, at best
perhaps the art is the sublimest of the difficiles nugw ;
— to measure or rhyme prose, is trifling without being
difficult. " I am sensible that encouraged by your Lordship's

walpole's letter. 567
criticism, I have indulged myself in it too much, and 1756-73.
I would as willingly keep silence on the melancholy
situation of our country, sunk — whither ! but there
is to me a private part of it, now become a public one,
and one that should, and I will trust in God, may yet
be reserved for the public in a happier light, on whom I
cannot keep silence, dear Mr. Conway. Your Lord
ship asks my opinion — alas ! my Lord, you have
spoken my opinion — is France so invulnerable ? Can
we afford to risk our best officers, our best ships, our
best soldiers ? what if they perish ! Is our danger so
remote, that we must send for it, mark its route with
our own best blood ! I tremble as an Englishman, and
more as a friend — what must poor Lady Ailesbury*
do, who sees the most reasonable system of happiness,
and the most perfect in every shape that ever existed,
exposed to such imminent peril ! My heart bleeds for
her. Adieu ! my Lord, this is a theme that cuts short
all other reflections ! My best compliments to my Lady
and the Dean ; I grieve for the ill health of the former.
There is a question I must still ask ; how does King
Henry ? I ask this as a reader, not as a printer ; not
as Elzevir Horace, as Mr. Conway calls me, but as
" Your Lordship's admirer,
" and obedient humble servant,
" Horace Walpole."
* Whose second husband was General Conway, then employed
with Sir John Mordaunt in the useless attack on Eochefort.

568 CORRESPONDENCE WITH MICKLE.
1756-73. About 1760, Lyttelton entered into correspondence
with an unknown person, apparently endowed with con
siderable genius, and struggling with severe distress, —
William Julius Mickle, the translator of the Lusiad,
the author of Syr Martin, and of the popular and
well known song, " There's nae luck about the House,"
and of the affecting ballad of Cumnor Hall, known to
most English readers, since it became the basis of
Walter Scott's Kenilworth. He had been brought
up in a brewing establishment, at Edinburgh, but had
early shewn an enthusiastic love for poetry. He sub
mitted several of his early poems, and among them
" Providence," to Lyttelton's supervision. Lyttelton
seems to have treated him with the greatest kindness,
both by letter, and in a personal interview, when having
been surety for an insolvent friend, who became
bankrupt, he came to London in 1764. He had
previously written to Lyttelton, under the assumed
name of William More, describing himself " as a
young man friendless and unknown," begging to be
allowed to dedicate to him a second edition of
" Providence," and that an answer might be sent
to him at a Coffee House in Holborn. Before the
answer could arrive there, the utter derangement of
his affairs had driven him from his home, and he
had reached London in the greatest distress. While in
this perplexity, he received a cheering letter from
Lyttelton, warmly commending his genius, but con
taining several criticisms on his poems, urging him to
acquire greater harmony of versification, to take care

HISTORY OF HENRY THE SECOND. 569
that his diction did not loiter into prose, or become 1756-73.
harsh by new phrases or words unauthorised by the
usage of good authors. Mickle took in good part
this and other criticisms, from which he always
professed to have derived considerable advantage.
When he thought of seeking his fortune in Jamaica,
Lyttelton gave him a letter of recommendation to
his brother, who was at that time governor of the
island. He afterwards obtained the office of cor
rector of the Clarendon Press at Oxford ; and in
1780, was appointed joint agent at Lisbon for certain
valuable naval prizes. He realized a small sum of
money, and died in 1788.
In July, 1759, Lyttelton received a letter from
Lord Hardwicke, which, as it concerned chiefly poli
tical matters, will be found in the ensuing chapter ;
a portion of it, however, related to the progress of
Lyttelton's great literary labour, to which he answered
as follows : —
" I thank your Lordship for your obliging concern
about my health. It is much better since I came into
the country, and I hope will be quite re-established by
the exercise and amusement of a tour I am going to
make into North Wales. At my return from thence,
I intend to resume the task of my history, encouraged
very much by the favourable opinion your Lordship
has of it ; but I do not hope to complete it in less
than two or three yeare. The Collationis Mora et
Tcedium, which Cicero says, deterred him from writing
the history of his country, is what makes me so slow
2 p

570 HISTORY OF HENRY THE SECOND.
1756-73. in finishing mine ; for I know the critical spirit
of my countrymen, who would not forgive an inac
curacy in a fact, or a date, if I could write with the
eloquence of Cicero himself; and I am particularly
unfortunate in the many subjects of controversy that
occur during the period contained in my work : but
if I can make it deserve your Lordship's approbation,
I shall think no labour too great."
An account of the tour in North Wales, referred to
in this letter, was written in two letters to Mr. Bower,
and is published in the last volume of Lyttelton's works.
The history of Henry the Second had been the
labour of the greater part of Lyttelton's life. Inter
rupted as that labour had been by his official and
parliamentary avocations, it had never been wholly
laid aside, though the expectation, which he men
tioned in his letter to Pope,* in 1741, of finishing his
work within two or three years, had been completely
frustrated. Many of his letters, it has been seen,
refer to this darling project, the ambition^ of his early,
and the religion J of his matured years, conspired to
render this undertaking a labour of love to him.
Lyttelton's regard to the critical accuracy of his coun
trymen, mentioned in the extract from his answer to
Lord Hardwicke, induced him to make alterations in
the press, which are said to have cost a thousand
pounds ; and also to adopt a precaution, which was
extraordinary, and unhappily unavailing. A person
* See above, p. 184. -j- See Letter to Pope, p. 184.
J See Letters to Doddridge, chap. x.

HISTORY OF HENRY THE SECOND. 571
of the name of Andrew Reid, persuaded Lyttelton 1756-73.
that he possessed the secret of correct punctuation,
and was employed by him at a great price to point
the pages of Henry the Second. Johnson scoffed at
the idea, that "another man could point his sense
better than himself." " It may be doubted, (observes
Mr. Croker,*) whether Johnson's dislike of Lord Lyt
telton did not here lead him into an error. Persons
not so habituated with the details of printing as he
was, may have been less expert at these conventional
signs. Lord Byron wrote to Mr. Murray, ' Do you
know any one that can stop ? I mean point, commas
and so forth, for I am, I fear, a sad hand at your
punctuation."f Unfortunately, Reid died, and Saun
ders who took his place, appended to his edition a list
of errors occupying nineteen pages.
Not many years before the publication of Lyttelton's
work, Dr. JohnsonJ had observed, that it was a charge
often brought against England, that though she had
produced many authors eminent for almost every
species of literary excellence, she had been hitherto
remarkably barren of historical genius. The truth of
this charge Johnson questions, instancing Raleigh,
Clarendon, and most especially Knolles, the historian
of the Turks. His estimate§ of the qualifications
* Croker' s edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson.
f Moore's Life of Byron, vol. i. p. 417.
% In 1751. See 122nd Number of the Rambler.
§ Dryden, in his admirable preface to the translation of Plutarch,
after enumerating several ancient and modern continental historians,
2 P 2

572 HISTORY OF HENRY THE SECOND.
1756-73. requisite for an historian was extremely low, confining
them, it should seem, to industry in searching tradi
tionary records, clearness of narrative, (which however
he admits to be a rare and difficult attainment,) and skil
fulness of arrangement. The application of philosophy
to this department of human knowledge finds no place
in his catalogue, though it is difficult to conceive such
an omission by one acquainted with the writings of
Thucydides, Tacitus, and of Clarendon. At the time,
however, when Johnson thus wrote, the works of our
illustrious countrymen who clothed history with a
different character — Hume, Robertson, and Gibbon,* —
had not appeared. Since the Revolution, the demand
says, Ji I am sorry that I cannot find in our own nation, though it has
produced some commendable historians, any proper to be ranked
with these. Buchanan, indeed, for the purity of his Latin, and for
his learning, and for all other endowments belonging to a historian,
might be placed amongst the greatest if he had not too much leaned
to prejudice," &c. But greatly did Dryden differ from Johnson in
his estimate of history and historians. According to the former,
' ' History is an argument formed from many particular examples
or deductions ;" again, " All history is only the precepts of moral
philosophy reduced into examples, &c.
* Gibbon however was present, and silent, when Johnson said,
" We must consider how very little history there is ; I mean real
authenticated history; that certain kings reigned, that certain battles
were fought we can defend as true ; but all the colouring, all the philo
sophy of history is conjecture." — Boswell's Johnson, vol. ii. p. 318,
8vo. edition. Again, " Great abilities are not requisite for an his
torian ; for in historical compositions all the greatest powers ofthe
human mind are quiescent." See, too, the Essay in the Rambler
cited above.

HISTORY OF HENRY THE SECOND. 573
for natio'nal annals produced the compilations of 1756-73.
Bishop Kennet, Rapin, and the great labours of
Carte. In 1754, Hume published his reigns of James
and Charles the First. His second volume appeared
in 1757, his third and fourth in 1759, and his two
last in 1762. The ill reception of the first volumes
being forgotten in the blaze of success which covered
the later publications. In 1759, Robertson gave to
the world his History of Scotland ; and in the pre
ceding year, Smollett had published, in four quarto
volumes, that history of England which was destined
to show how dull and bad a history might flow from
the pen of a very clever novelist. It was in this state
of historical writing, that Lyttelton, who had begun to
print in 1755, produced three volumes in 1764 ; a
second edition of them afterwards in 1767, a third
edition in 1768, and the conclusion in 1771. The
work was entitled, " The History of the Life of Henry
the Second, and of the age in which he lived, in five
books ; to which is prefixed, a History of the Revolu
tions of England, from the death of Edward the Con
fessor, to the birth of Henry the Second." It was
most favourably received atthe time of its publica
tion. In our day, the number of its volumes, and the
remote period of which it treats, deter the mere general
reader of history from its perusal ; but the vast extent,
and careful accuracy of the information which it
contains, have secured to its writer a lasting place
among the historians of his country. I observe, that
there is no author to whom Mr. Hallam, in the

574 HISTORY OF HENRY THE SECOND.
1756-73. chapter on the "Constitution of England," in the
" History of Europe during the Middle Ages," refers
more frequently, or apparently with greater confi
dence. Lyttelton's own opinion of his work may
be seen in the following letter to Dr. Wharton.*
" Hagley, Aug. 15th, 1767.
" Dear Sir,
" As you know how much I value your appro
bation as a critic, I need not tell you that your letters
give me great pleasure. It particularly pleases me
that you distinguish that part I laboured most — the
account of laws, manners, arts, learning, &c. during
the times of which I write. I could have made it
more amusing if I would have treated it more super
ficially ; but if the historic muse will search for truth
among the ruins and cells of Gothic antiquity, some
dust and cobwebs will stick to her, and she will not
look so fine as if she had been only gathering flowers
or straining cream. The most entertaining period of
my history is still to come, viz. — that which contains
\ Earl Strongbow's achievements in Ireland — the con
quest of the island by King Henry the Second, or (to
speak more accurately) the submission of it to him — the
revolt of his wife and children — his victory over the
rebels — the King of Scotland's captivity, and the
subjection of his kingdom to the sovereignty of Eng
land in consequence of that event — the relapse of
* Wool's Life. Letter 72.

HISTORY OF HENRY THE SECOND. 575
Henry's eldest son into another rebellion, and his 1756-73.
death-bed repentance — the loss of the Holy Land, and
the Crusade for the recovery of it against the great
Saladin — and lastly, the new treasons of Henry's
children against him, which caused his death.*
" These bright parts of my subject, which will be
comprehended in the last volume, admit of more elo
quence, and a higher dignity of style than any of the
foregoing ; and if God grants me health and leisure,
I hope 1 shall finish that volume to your satisfaction
in about a twelvemonth from this time. The greatest /
delay will be from what I have yet to write concerning
the Courts of Justice and the Criminal Law of that
age at the end of my Fourth Book. The investigation
of these matters is tedious and difficult, but I must
go through it or leave the work incomplete. The
favourable judgment you pass on what is already
published will not a little animate me to proceed in
my task.
" I hope your brother is well, and shall be proud if
his suffrage agrees with yours ; for he too is a critic
* Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, surnamed Strongbow, vol.
v. p. 67.— sails to Ireland, p. 82— his exploits there, pp. 86, 87, 89, 93,
94, 99, 100,101, 103, 242, 243, 341, 342— his death, vol. vi. p. 30.
The revolt of Eleanor and his children, vol. v. p. 136— defeat of the
rebels, pp. 161. Captivity of the King of Scotland, p. 191— homage
done for Scotland, pp. 234, 235. Relapse of Henry's eldest son into
rebellion, vol. vi. p. 172— his death, pp. 180, 181. Great council
for the relief ofthe Holy Land, p. 214. New treasons of Richard,
p. 333— of John, p. 345. Henry II.'s death, pp. 346, 377.— 8vOi
edition.

576 HISTORY OF HENRY THE SECOND.
1756-73. of whose approbation I am very ambitious, either for
my verse or prose. But I give notice to you both,
that you will find some inaccuracies, not only of the
press, but the style in the first edition, corrected, in the
second, which I hope will soon come out. I am, with
great truth and esteem, Dear Sir,
" Your most obed. humble servant,
" Lyttelton."
Horace Walpole, to whom Lyttelton appears to
have lent a printed volume of his history, but before
its publication, wrote as follows : — t=r
" Strawberry Hill, June 2fith, 1758.
" My Lord, '
" I was unluckily at Park-place when your
Lordship sent to my house in town ; and I more un
luckily still left Park-place the very day your Lord
ship was expected there. I twice waited on you in
Hill Street, to thank you for the great favour of lend
ing me your History, which I am sorry I kept longer
than you intended ; but you must not wonder. I read
it with as great attention as pleasure : it is not a book
to skim, but to learn by heart, if one means to learn
anything of England— you call it the history of
Henry 2nd. It is literally the History of our
Constitution, and will last much longer than I fear
the latter will ; for, alas ! my Lord, your style, which
will fix and preserve our language, cannot do what
language cannot do, reform the nature of man. I beg
to know whither I shall send this book, too valuable

HISTORY OF HENRY THE SECOND. 577
to be left in a careless manner with a servant. I re- 1756-73.
peat my warmest thanks, and am, my Lord,
" Your Lordship's much obliged, and
" most obedient humble servant,
" Hor. Walpole."
I find also among the Hagley MSS. a card with
the following inscription : —
" Lord Chesterfield sends his compliments to Lord
Lyttelton, with many thanks for the pleasure that his
History gave him, and begs of him to finish imme
diately his third volume, which he hungers after, the
two former volumes having disgusted him of most
other historys."
Bishop Warburton wrote as follows : —
" Prior Park, Jan. 22, 1768.
" My Lord,
" I have this morning been honoured with
your Lordship's favour of the 20th, accompanied with
the notice of a still greater — a copy of your noble
work— a morsel, at last, of Ancient English History,
full both of sublime entertainment and sage instruc
tion, after the famine of an age in our historic world ;
for so long, I think, it is since Lord Chancellor Hyde
wrote. What hath been since given us to stay our
stomachs hath been so much after this island-dressing,
that our polite neighbours (even in their highest en
comiums on English Literature) have given up the

578 HISTORY OF HENRY THE SECOND.
1756-73. district of History, as a soil lying yet waste and un
cultivated. Yet our history is read; for History must
be read, for, as Pliny the younger says, ' Historia
quoquo modo scripta delectat homines, natura. curiosi,
nuda rerum cognitione capiuntur.' How much, then,
is the world indebted to historians like your Lord
ship, who not content to gratify their curiosity with
naked facts, store the mind with that useful wisdom
to be collected only from an investigation of humanity,
which detects all the hidden causes of our actions.
" I have the honour to be, my Lord,
" Your Lordship's most obliged and
" Obedient humble servant,
" W- Gloucester."
In the course of the dialogue between George the
Third and Dr. Johnson, recorded by Boswell, his
Majesty " asked him what he thought of Lord Lyttel
ton's History which had been just published. — Johnson
said, he thought his style, pretty good, but that he
\ had blamed Henry the Second rather too much. —
Why, said the King, they seldom do these things
by halves.— No, Sir, answered Johnson, not to
Kings." And on another occasion, when Boswell
remarked that "Toryism prevailed in this reign,"
Johnson answered, "I know not why you should
¦ think so, Sir. You see your friend, Lord Lyttelton, a
nobleman, is obliged in his history to write the most
vulgar Whiggism." A very opposite opinion of the
treatment Henry the Second met with from Lyttelton

HISTORY OF HENRY THE SECOND. 579
was formed by a contemporary, who had the reputation 1756-73.
of a scholar, and ranked among the literary persons of
his day. Mr. Godwyn, a Fellow of Baliol College, writ
ing in August 1767, to a correspondent from that place,
says, — " Lord Lyttelton's history is generally read,
and highly esteemed, by the lawyers. It contains a
great deal of law antiquity, the antient constitution
ofthe kingdom upon which much of our present law
is founded. The composition is good, and the facts
related with a great deal of good sense; but yet,
three large volumes in quarto, with a fourth which is
to be added some time hence, will be likely to tire the
reader. I think, too, that the author says too much /
in praise of his hero — Henry the Second — speaking
of his amour with Rosamond, he calls it ' the amiable
extravagance of a good heart.' "*
Lyttleton's acquaintance with Burke has been
already noticed ; it probably began soon after the pub
lication of the Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful, in
1757. I should not omit to mention that Hume, in
his correspondence with Adam Smith, cites more than
once Lyttelton's authority as an historian. Among
the literary MSS. before me is a correspondence with
Lord Monboddo.f but as it turns almost entirely upon
a dispute as to whether an Ourang-Outang be a man
in his most degraded state, or the connecting link
between man and animal, and as this question may
* See Nicholls' Literary Anecdotes, vol. viii. p. 238, 248.
•f His Essay on the Origin and Progress of Language appeared
in 177%

580 BEATTIE.
1756-73. be said to have fairly survived any interest it ever
excited, I forbear to insert the letters. In the
year 1767, Lyttelton introduced himself to Lard-
ner,* the author of the well known work on the
Credibility of Gospel History, for the sake of thank
ing him for the pleasure he had derived from its
perusal. Lardner being quite deaf, Lyttelton carried
on his conversation with him on paper, during the
course of which he maintained his firm belief in Bower's
innocence, but complained of Bower's having cited in
accurately his account of Becket. f His last literary ac
quaintance was with Beattie, who isnow more deservedly
esteemed for his " MinstreF'J than for the Essay on
Truth,§ which procured him more popularity at the
time, though it was soon seen that even the advantage
of a better cause made him no match for Hume against
whom his Essay was directed. In a letter which Lyttel
ton wrote to Beattie,|| after bestowing very high praise
on his Essay, he said : —
" It has often given me great pain to see Bishop
Berkeley, a most pious and learned man, overturn the
main foundations of all religion and all knowledge, by
the most extravagant scepticism concerning the real
existence of matter in some of his writings ; and then
* Bom 1684, died 1768.
t Gentleman's Magazine, vol. 60, part 1, p. 194.
J First part appeared in 1771; second, in 1774
§ His Essay on the Immutability of Truth in opposition to
Sophistry and Scepticism, appeared in 1770.
|| Lord Lyttelton to Dr. Beattie ; Letter 39, Forbes" Life of Beattie.

BEATTIE. 581
fancy, that in others he could, by any force of argu- 1756-73.
ment, establish the evidences of Christianity, which are
a perpetual appeal to the truth of our senses, and
grounded on a supposition, that they cannot deceive
us in those things which are the proper and natural
objects of them, within their due limits. Can one
wonder that the sceptics should lay hold of the former
in answer to the latter ? And can any more useful
service be done to Christianity, than to shew the fal
lacy of such whimsies as would make the body of
Christ, which his disciples saw and felt, no body at all?
and the proof of his resurrection, from that testimony
of their senses, a mere delusive idea ?
" Berkeley certainly was not sensible of the conse
quences of these doctrines, no more than Locke of those
you reprehend in his Essay ; but whatever respect may
be due to the persons of authors, their writings must be
censured, when they deserve censure, and especially on
such subjects. This the friends of Mr. Hume have no
more right to complain of than those of Berkeley or
Locke. Nor can the censure of systems, which attempt
to shake the great pillars both of natural and revealed
religion, be delivered by a believer in terms as cool as
if only a speculation on the nature of electricity or the
causes of an aurora borealis were in question. Mr.
Hume, as a man, from his probity, candour, and the
humanity of his manners, deserves esteem and respect;
but the more authority he draws from his personal
character, or from the merit of his other books, the
more care should be taken to prevent the ill impressions

582 BEATTIE.
1756-73. which his sceptical writings may make ona number of
readers, who, having been used to admire him, and
trust in his judgment, are disposed to let him also judge
for them in these points, where the being misled must
be fatal."
In March, 1771, Mrs. Montagu sent the Minstrel
to Lyttelton, " it seemed to me," (he wrote to her),
" that my once beloved Minstrel, Thomson, was come
down from heaven, refined by the exercise of purer
spirits than those he lived with here, to let me hear him
sing again the beauties of nature, and the finest feelings
of virtue, not with human but with angelic strains."
How highly Beattie estimated Lyttelton's virtues
and talents will be seen at the close of these memoirs.

CHAPTER XIV.
1757—1760.
BEGINNING OF MR. PITt's ADMINISTRATION TO
THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE THE THIRD.

[Hagley MSS. — Pari. History, vol. xv. — Annual Register, beginning
1758. — Lord Mahon's History of England, vol. iv. — Lord Walde
grave's Memoirs — Doddington's Diary — Coxe's Memoirs of Lord
Walpole — Chatham Correspondence, vol. ii.

The correspondence of Lyttelton with his brother, 1757.
the Governor of South Carolina brings us back to the
events ofthe political world. The penultimate chapter,
it will be remembered, ended with the formation of a
new government under Pitt, Devonshire, Temple, and
Legge, to the exclusion of Newcastle, Fox, Lyttelton,
and Anson. FROM LYTTELTON TO HIS BROTHER WILLIAM.
" Hill Street, Jan. 30th, 1757.
" My dear Governour,
" I stopt a packet I designed to have sent to you
some time ago, till I could let you know the fate of
Admiral Byng, which it was thought would have been
decided much sooner, but remains yet undecided,

584 COURT MARTIAL ON BYNG.
!757. though sentence of death is now past upon him, the
Court-Martial who past it, having recommended him
to the King's • mercy. The reason they give for that
recommendation you will see in the sentence and letter
to the Admiralty, of which I send you a copy, with
some observations of my own on those reasons. It re
duces the King to a painful dilemma. The nation in
their addresses have desired strict justice against all
who have occasioned the loss of Minorca by any failure
or breach of their duty ; and now a Court-Martial
recommends very strongly to his Majesty's mercy, one
whom they themselves have unanimously found guilty
of not having done what he could, and what he ought
to have done to relieve it. Under the difficulty, what
the King will think proper to do, is uncertain: I am
very glad I am not to be his adviser. I have sent you
all the good political papers that have come out since
the forming of the new Administration, you will see by
them that Mr. Pitt is accused of a coalition with the
Tories ; and certain it is that he has become the Cocoa-
Tree Toast, from being the object of their aversion last
year. What has caused the change is hard to say.
He denies any promise of advantage to them ; but
the alarm has been taken so strong by the Whigs that
if the Duke of Newcastle and my Lord Hardwicke
would have joined with Mr. Fox to turn him but, it is
certain they might have done it before this time,, and
may do it to-morrow. Perhaps you will ask me why
they did not ? — I answer, that, besides the difficulty of
that union, they are too wise, and too honest to pull
down the Ministry at such a time of publick danger

DIFFICULTIES OF THE NEW GOVERNMENT. 585
without being sure that another will form itself, able 1757
to carry on the publick affairs. The present Ministers
have undoubtedly talents sufficient to disturb and con
found a Government they oppose, and they have
shewn they will do so, if they are not employed. It is,
therefore, best for the publick that they should try their
talents in government rather than opposition, unless
they act so as to make it impossible for any Whigs to
support them. But they have made their bottom so
narrow that they will find a great difficulty to carry the
Government with their own strength alone, and if
they are to be maintained by Tory assistance, they
must pay such a price for it as will undo them. How
they will extricate themselves out of this labyrinth
time only can shew ; much will depend on the events of
the war, but to hope they will prove very favourable to
us, is to be very sanguine.
" Among other difficulties, Mr. Pitt has his own bad
health to contend with. Since he has been Minister
he has been able to go but twice to the King, and is
still indisposed and wrapt up in his flannels. The
Bishop of St. Asaph* says, he must go out soon, he cant
stay in.
" The Duke of Newcastle was attackt in the House
of Commons last week, by Alderman Beckford, as
First Commissioner of the Treasury, for encouraging
smuggling. But it turned out even upon the evidence
the Alderman brought, and by the testimony of those
he appealed to, that no man at the head of the Trea-
* Dr. H. Drummond.
2 Q

586 ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE
1757. sury Board had done so much to discourage smuggling
as the Duke of Newcastle. Mr. Legge himself, as in
justice bound, gave testimony for him with regard to
some facts that Beckford had mentioned, and Sir G.
Lee made a very warm speech in his honour, and against
calumnies upon hearsay. But the Alderman said it
was notorious to every body that his Grace was at the
head of a smuggling county, and he had done him a
service to give him an opportunity of clearing his cha
racter in that respect— an admirable plea for all false
accusations ! I will venture to foretell that, when the
enquiry is over, his Grace will be found to have just
as much guilt in the loss of Minorca as he has in the
Sussex smuggling, and I hope his accusers will justify
themselves for charging him with it, by the Alderman's
argument. " An attempt has been made to assassinate the King
of France. He was stabbed, in the breast with a knife
going into his coach ; but the wound proved not mor
tal, and he now goes abroad. The assassin has been
a servant in several families and it is said he has been
guilty of robbing some of his masters. He did not
try to escape but gave himself up very calmly, and
seems a mad enthusiast, but of what sect, (that is,
whether of the Jesuit or Jansenist party) I cannot yet
learn. If of the former, no reason appears for his
killing the King, who had just exiled the Parlia
ment to please the Church ; if of the latter, it was of
no use to their cause unless he had killed the Dauphin
too, who hates the Jansenists worse than his Father,
and is a much greater bigot. Some say, he declared

THE KING OF FRANCE. 587
that there was a design against the Dauphin too, even 1757.
before he was tortured ;* but it seems very improbable,
that he should give him such warning when the tor
ture could not make him confess his accomplices. I
rather suppose he has none, but is a single madman.
However, the wretch will be tortured much more be
fore he dies. If, indeed, he was set on either by the
Church or the Jansenists, it may produce great confu
sion in France and do us some good. I am glad to
hear by your letter to Sir Richard, of December the
6th, that you have prepared for war in all events. You
say nothing there of your health ; so I hope you are
well. I and all the family are so, but my wife ; who is
still confined at Hagley, by her ill health, malade de
corps et d' esprit. ******
" Adieu, my dear Governour, I am ever,
" Your most affectionate brother,
" Lyttelton."
Lyttelton wrote to Admiral Smith, the President of
the Court Martial, as follows :
" Hill Street, Jan. 31st, 1757.
"My dear Admiral,
" If you and the other gentlemen of the Court
Martial have any reasons to give in favour of Mr.
Byng, which you have not given in your sentence,
and in your letter to the Admiralty, you ought to
* " The lifted axe, the agonising wheel,
Luke's iron crown and Damien' s bed of steel."
Goldsmith's TraveUer.
2 q2

588 LETTER TO ADMIRAL SMITH.
1757. transmit them forthwith to the Admiralty, that their
Lordships may lay them before the King. Upon
those you have given, I will only observe to you,
that his not having shewn any symptoms of fear,
when he was in scarce any danger, will not be suffi
cient to acquit him of cowardice in the sense of the
law. His not going into danger, when he ought to
have done so, is that criminal negligence which the
law has made capital. You seem to think that law
too severe ; but it was the intention ofthe legislature to
make it severe, and, till they repeal it, the judges of
a Court Martial must act in a strict conformity to
it ; and you know the whole nation has called on the
King to let the law have its course against any offender
who shall be found, by a breach or neglect of his
duty, to have occasioned the loss of Minorca, which
petition His Majesty has promised to grant.
" You know my heart is inclined to compassion ;
but though I dare say, had I been one of his judges,
my eyes would have been no dryer than yours when
sentence was passed upon Mr. Byng, I cannot say
that, without stronger reasons than those you have
mentioned in the latter part of your sentence or letter
to the Admiralty, I should have thought my conscience
concerned in his being saved from the penalty con
tained in that sentence. If, then, you have stronger
reasons to urge, for God's sake lose no time, but
write them to the Admiralty that they may be laid
before the King. My influence can do nothing, if my
opinion were ever so clear ; but the King's heart is
inclined to mercy, and it is the duty of the Admiralty

SENTENCE ON ADMIRAL BYNG. 589
to lay before him those grounds on which you desire 1757.
it upon this occasion.
" I am heartily sorry for the very painful task
you have had to go through, but hear with great
satisfaction the honour you have done yourself in the
discharge of it with so much humanity, justice, and
dignity of behaviour. Believe me ever,
" My dear Admiral,
"Your most affectionate brother,
" Lyttelton."
" If you mean that the Admiral's neglect of his
duty was only an innocent error of judgment, you
ought to show some probable reasons that could
mislead his judgment so much, where the rule of his
duty was so clear and plain. Otherwise, a wrong
judgment may always be pleaded to excuse bad
behaviour." To the reasons conveyed in this letter, Lyttelton added
in his comments on the back of the copy of the Court
Martial, the following : — " If they had found upon
evidence any impediment, or justifiable cause that
hindered Admiral Byng from doing his duty in
attacking the French, assisting his own ships, or
endeavouring to relieve St. Philip's Castle, they
should have acquitted him." And again, if there
were " probable reasons" for shewing that his had
been " an innocent error in judgment," they were not
tied down by the words of the law to condemn him
to death, for the law could mean only a criminal
negligence, and an error in judgment on probable

590 sentence on admiral byng.
1757. grounds may be fairly distinguished from such a
construction." Lord Temple, First Lord of the Admiralty, signed
most reluctantly the warrant for executing the sen
tence of which he disapproved. Some doubts he
raised were overruled by the judges; his representa
tions to the Crown, in favour of Byng were fruitless,
as were those of Pitt, and the Duke of Bedford ; and
after some strange inconsistent proceedings on the part
of several of the members of the Court Martial, the
Admiral was consigned to his fate. No man ever met
death with greater intrepidity.* The King had been
for some time disgusted with Temple, and retained
undiminished aversion to Pitt. The wretched busi
ness of Byng embroiled these ministers still more
with the King ; and the Duke of Cumberland mur
mured against commanding the Electoral army in
Hanover under the control of Pitt. In April, Temple,
Pitt, and Legge were dismissed ; then followed what
Walpole calls an interministerium, lasting between two
and three months. In the labyrinth of negotiations
in which this period is involved, the characters of the
principal actors were fully displayed. The meanness
and love of power of Newcastle, the haughtiness and
magical popularity of Pitt, the obstinacy of the King,
the intriguing ambition of the Princess Dowager,
the profligate avarice of Fox.f The dexterity and
* Walpole, speaking of his failure at Minorca, says cleverly and
truly, "he was a coward of his glory."
t " The more we consider the dissensions, and political intrigues
that followed the death of Mr. Pelham, and lasted till the formation

NEW GOVERNMENT. 591
talent of Chesterfield, produced a coalition of these 1757.
discordant materials. The result was the renowned
administration of Pitt and Newcastle ; when the
mighty genius of the former animating with his own
greatness of purpose and energy of action, the fallen
spirits of his countrymen, raised the glory of Great
Britain to its highest pitch .
In the following letter from Lord Hardwicke, some
account is given of the new Government. It will
be seen that Lyttelton expected to have been a member
of it. "Powis House, July 4th, 1757.
"My dear Lord,
" Though I was much mortified by being deprived
of the pleasure of waiting on your Lordship the day
before you left the town, yet I was extremely obliged
to you for your very kind letter of that night. It
of the Pitt and Newcastle Administration in 1757, the more plainly
does it appear, that, though they originated from the Duke of
Newcastle's love of power, they were prolonged by the ambition
of the Princess Dowager, and her jealousy of the Duke of Cumber
land. It was the connection of Fox with His Royal Highness, that
made him the object of aversion at Leicester House. It was Pitt's
"aiming at the reversion," when he became sensible .of the hollow-
ness and insincerity of the Duke of Newcastle's professions, that
dissolved his incipient friendship with Fox, and prevented the two
great leaders of the House of Commons from forming a permanent
coalition. The Duke of Newcastle, false, timid, and ambitious,
feared both, and cared for neither. For a time, he held the balance,
and seemed to hesitate between the two rivals ; but the rising star
of Leicester-house prevailed, and determined him iu his preference
of Pitt."— Edin. Rev. Vol. 39, No. 33.

592 letter from lord hardwicke
]757. breathes all that generosity of public-spiritedness
which has been so remarkable in your Lordship's
conduct, however uncommon it may be in the present
times. The merit which your partiality gives me,
I have not the vanity to ascribe to myself, though in
all respect and friendship to your Lordship, I have
not, nor shall ever fail. At the same time, I cannot
help feeling much concern at the impression which
you seem to retain of some neglect in the Duke of
Newcastle towards your Lordship. How the case
stood in the beginning of last November, I have for
merly acquainted your Lordship with great truth and
exactness; and injustice to His Grace, beg leave now
to inform you with equal truth, that, in the new
arrangement lately made, it was not in his power to
include you. I am intimately acquainted with the
high value and esteem which my Lord Duke has for
your Lordship ; but, to my certain knowledge, there
were not employments enough to satisfy such de
mands, as were necessary to be complied with, in
order to come to any settlement, and, consequently,
none in any degree agreeable to your Lordship's rank
could be made practicable. Time and opportunity
may afford new openings, wherein I hope what is now
amiss will be corrected. In the interim, the candour,
indulgence, and confidence of our friends must be
hoped for, and relied upon. I rejoice to find your
Lordship so clear in your opinion, that this adminis
tration is the best that could be framed in our present
circumstances. As to the share I have had in the
transaction, I never directly interposed till I had

ON THE NEW ADMINISTRATION. 593
the King's positive orders from his own mouth ; and 1757.
ever since that time I have anxiously laboured to pro
cure some quiet to His Majesty, and some settlement
for the public. How far my part has been wise or
politic I will not pretend to judge; but sure I am,
it has been honest and disinterested. I have thrown
aside every private concern or partiality of my own ;
for, as to the restitution of Lord Anson, it was the
King's own option, and one of his three points sine
quibus non. I gave up for my' son Charles a point of
professional honour, by letting Mr. Pratt be put
before him as Attorney-General, in order to finish,
and to prevent things training into a length which
the circumstances of the King's affairs would not
endure. This has been brought about by the dis
position of the Great Seal, which I believe was the
only thing in the arrangement not settled when you
went out of town. My Lord Mansfield, and the
Master of the Rolls, were too prudent to listen to it
in the present situation ; the King would not give
Peerage with it, which put my Lord C. J. Willis out
of the case, so that it has fallen into Sir Robert
Henley's hands, with the style of Lord Keeper. In
other parts of the terms, the King has been very
gracious to him, for he has granted the reversion of a
Teller's Place to his son for life ; and given him a pen
sion of £1500. per annum on Ireland, to commence and
become payable only in the case of his being removed
from the Great Seal, before the Teller's place falls in
possession to his son, and to be absolutely determined
whensoever that place shall come into possession. I

594 LETTER FROM LORD HARDWICKE
1757. look upon this as the best disposition that could be
made at present, and much better approved in West
minster Hall than a Commission, which is always
disliked, and should never be continued long. Sir
Robert Henley has abilities and law, and I hope will
do very well, if his health admits of it. One thing I
am sorry for, which is, that your countryman, and my
friend, my Lord Sandys, seems to be much dissatisfied
with it, especially as no place has been yet found for
him, which he says he was promised. But his Lord
ship knew his commission to be only temporary and
provisional, hardly to be expected to continue so long ;
and I hope any promise, which was then made him
(though I was not privy to it) will be made good to
him. " This disposition of the Great Seal, not only made
way for Mr. Pratt, but also for another favourite object
of Mr. Pitt's, in representing the city of Bath, whereof
he was very ambitious. In order to it, he has taken
that little stewardship, which you see in the votes, to
vacate his seat ; for no new Secretary of State having
been appointed in his room, nor his commission re
voked, he found himself in the case of Mr. Pelham,
upon the resignations of 1745, and could not have a
new patent.
" Thus things are settled for the present, and some
calm and better humour restored. Happy it is that
they were settled before the bad news came of the
King of Prussia's defeat, which I only refer to, and
cannot bear to enlarge upon. Had the King then
remained without any ministry at all, it would have

ON THE NEW ADMINISTRATION. 595
vastly increased his inquietudes, and caused the 1757.
greatest confusion ; and besides, I fear the terms of
the new settlement might have been greatly raised.
Indeed, the fear of some bad success, was one material
ingredient with me to hasten to a conclusion ; and I
was further of opinion, that it was necessary for His
Majesty's service to constitute his administration of
such persons, and to put so much of the popular mix
ture into it, as might be able to sustain some bad
success, at least for the present. I say for the pre
sent, for what is unsuccessful can never be long
popular. " I hope to hear that the air and exercise, and
amusements of Hagley, have re-established your Lord
ship's health ; and that the history of Henry II. will
receive its completion this summer. I was so de
lighted with the last, which your goodness indulged
me with, that I eagerly long to be entertained with
the entire piece.
" I am, with the greatest truth and respect,
" My dear Lord,
" Your Lordship's most obedient,
" and faithful humble servant,
" Hardwicke."
Lyttelton answered at some length, speaking in the
highest terms of praise of Lord Hardwicke, expressing
his despair (as Chesterfield and H. Walpole did at this
time) as to the foreign prospects of the country, and
expresses " his particular satisfaction at Lord Anson's
being so honourably restored to an office which no

596 LETTER TO GOVERNOR LYTTELTON.
1758. other man in the kingdom is capable of filling with
equal ability, and from which he had been removed by
the clamour of faction and the madness of the times."
To the Governor, Lyttelton writes as follows : — <7
" Park Place, January the 23rd, 1758. '
" My dear Governour,
" So many Carolina ships have been taken that I
have not received any letters from you since that of
January the 1st, in which you say you shall draw upon
me for £1 18. 6s. 3d. nor has Mr. Pinkney. However,
I paid him that sum last week. In my last letter I
told you that Mr. Pitt and Mr. Legge were not only
ministers but the favourites of the people, particularly
of the Tories, which favour and honour has since been
confirmed to them in a most glorious manner by their
receiving the freedom of the City of London, and
several towns and boroughs, particularly of the most
loyal City of Worcester, in gold or silver boxes. But
it is hard to be at once the favourites of the people and
of the King. Lord Temple's behaviour to the King
in his closet gave so much offence, that his Majesty
declared he never had been so treated by any servant or
subject since his accession, and that he would rather
give his crown to my Lord than live with him another
month. In consequence of this, upon the Duke's
going abroad his Royal Highness persuaded the King
to turn him out. It was supposed that Mr. Pitt and
the whole Grenville connection would immediately
have resigned, but as they did not, a day or two after
wards Pitt was dismissed, and then the rest followed.

PITT AND NEWCASTLE ADMINISTRATION. 597
Lord Winchelsea was put at the head of the admin- 1758.
istration, but the question was who should fill the
other employments. I must tell you, that if the Duke
of Newcastle would have joined Fox, Pitt and Com
pany might have been safely turned out before Christ
mas, or any day throughout the session, for the ma
jority was plainly against them, and they carried ques
tions only by the Duke of Newcastle's assistance.
His Grace refused to join Fox for very wise and good
reasons, and continued firm in that resolution, with
his good friend, my Lord Harkwicke, when the Duke of
Cambridge had too precipitately determined the King
to turn out the Pitt faction without knowing whom to
employ in their stead. By this means we have been
for some time without any administration. Treaties
were carried on to form one by a junction ofthe Duke
of Newcastle and Pitt, Mr. Fox desiring only to be
Paymaster under them. At first Pitt's terms were so
high that the Duke of Newcastle was forced to break
off the negotiation, but as he did not go any nearer to
Fox, it came on again by the mediation of friends,
particularly Lord Bute, and they agreed on condi
tions to which his Grace acquiesced. But they ap
peared to the King so dishonourable to him that he
would not endure them, and having endeavoured in
vain to bring the Duke of Newcastle to accept of the
ministry without Pitt and his friends, he resolved to try
to form one without his Grace. Last Saturday was
se'nnight, Fox was to have kissed hands as Chancellor
ofthe Exchequer, and the Exchequer Seal was brought
to the King by Lord Mansfield, in whose custody it had

598 LETTER TO GOVERNOR LYTTELTON.
1758. been. But his Majesty having asked his Lordship's
opinion upon what he was doing, was told it was im
practicable, it could not hold. The day before, Lord
Holderness had resigned his seals as a testimony of
his disapproving the measure then taken, and other
resignations were talked of at Court. Fox was dis
graced in the House of Commons, by losing a question,
which though of no consequence in itself was thought
a mark of his weakness, very few dividing with him,
and much ridicule ensuing thereupon. All this stopped
the King, he sent my Lord Mansfield to the Duke of
Newcastle, to my Lord Hardwicke, with orders to re
new the negotiation with Pitt. The issue is at last,
that Pitt is Secretary of State ; Lord Temple, Privy
Seal ; the Duke of Newcastle, First Commissioner of
the Treasury ; Legge his Chancellor of the Exchequer ;
Lord Anson, First Commissioner of the Admiralty ;
G. Grenville, Treasurer of the Navy, Mr. Fox, Pay
master. Thus, amende honorable has been made to the
Ministry which was displaced by Pitt's opposition. The
clamour of that opposition was all against the Duke of
Newcastle, Lord Anson and Fox. They are all in
office again, two of them in the same that they were
in before, and Pitt must either say, that when he called
them in the House (as he did often last session) Des
troyers qf their country, bad heads or bad hearts, inca
pable ministers, children in go-carts, and other such ap
pellations he wronged them extremely, or that he can
serve with knaves and fools, without scruple or shame,
when he and his family have carried the points they
have at heart. He finds, indeed, that he and his family

PITT AND NEWCASTLE ADMINISTRATION. 599
are not able to govern the country alone as he sup- 1758.
posed at first that they could, and so denounced war
against Fox and the Pelhams, with no allies but the
Tories. That error he has seen, but how will he now
deserve the gold boxes which were sent him for having
turned out those vile ministers ? I suppose he will
have thanks from the same deep politicians, for having
now brought them in, especially as by this time they
may begin to perceive that while he was in, he did
nothing else but tread in their steps and pursue the
same measures they had pursued. Lord Hardwicke
was pressed again to take the Great Seals, but desired
to serve his Majesty out of employment; though he
has been a principal agent of this reconciliation.
And, he has done in it, as he always does, like a wise
and honest man. He said, that if the Royal Family
remained disunited no ministry could stand upon
solid foundations, or have strength enough to carry on
the war we are engaged in, or make the peace that we
want in any event. The present plan reconciles all,
unites all, and will give all the strength to the Go
vernment that can be brought together in the nature
of things.
" How long it will hold together is the great question ;
but if it holds no more than one year, it gives us
some chance of saving our country. I, therefore, re
joice at it very sincerely, though I desired myself for
many reasons to be out of the scramble. The only
misfortune of any importance in this new arrangement
is, that Lord Hallifax has been disgusted and resigned
his Board of Trade. Dupplin, I hear, will be in his

600 LETTER TO GOVERNOR LYTTELTON.
1758. place. I am glad you will have so good a friend there,
and I hope Mr. Pitt will co-operate with him in all
things for your service. We are in hourly expecta
tion to hear of a battle between the Duke and the
French. They have 50,000 men, we but 30,000 ; pe
rilous odds, but he is encamped in a strong fort. Some
think he will quit that camp and repass the water, but
he cannot easily do so as the French are so near. The
Gazettes will tell you as well as I can what situation
the King of Prussia is in before Prague. His bom
bardment of the town may destroy it, but will not
make Prince Charles and his army surrender either
that or themselves. Famine may force them to both,
if they are not relieved very soon. I hope the thou
sand men that Lord Sandon had orders to send you,
have saved you and your colony from the intended
attack ofthe French. God send us some luck in our
American war ; but I fear our fleet will come late, and
perhaps not strong enough to overpower the French,
if they have sent a strength in those parts as we hear."
*Jt. -U. Jt. M. Jt
*/r "Jv- -w- "Tv tt
" We have had a sad blow by the loss of Calcutta
in the East Indies, which has been taken and pillaged
by a Nabob. It was entirely owing to the bad
management of the Company in not fortifying their
place as they ought to have done, and the scoundrel
and negligent behaviour of the Governor. The
damage of the Company and private men is computed
at £3,000,000. sterling ; but we hope that the place
will soon be retaken, and that Watson will be able to
make himself master of the French fort adjoining,

CAPTAIN CLIVE. 601
as he is at present superior to the French in those 1758.
parts, Captain Clive,* our hero, is marched from
Coromandel to Calcutta upon this event."
The next letter from Lyttelton to his brother was
dated Jan. 30, 1758.
" My dear Governour,
" I have received no letter from you since one
that was dated 12th of July, but have heard of some
packets from you directed to me being thrown dver-
board; and by a letter which Hetty has just received
I know you are well.
" That you do well is the unanimous voice of the
Province of S. Carolina, Planters, and Merchants, and
the Board of Trade are as well satisfied with you as
they. Lord Hallifax told me lately, he could find no
words strong enough to express his approbation of
your whole conduct, and added that he would have
made you Governour of Jamaica, if during the inter
val of the last summer, when he looked on himself as
out of the Board of Trade, and did not act there, the
Duke of Newcastle had not appointed Mr. Halden,
which appointment he thought he could not overturn
* According to one of Horace Walpole's animated sketches of
his speeches, when Parliament met in December, 1758, Pitt "burst
" out into an eastern panegyric. There he found Watson, Pococke,
" and Clive — what astonishing success had Watson with only three
" ships &c. He was supported by Clive — that man not born for a
« (jggk  that heaven-bom general, whose magnanimity, resolution,
" determination, and execution would alarm a King of Prussia,
" and whose presence of mind astonished the Indies."
2 R

602 MILITIA BILL.
1 758. upon his reconciliation without offence to that gentle
man and to the Duke."
He then gives an account of the failure of the attack
on Rochefort — one of those expeditions against the
French coast, on which Pitt wasted so much blood and
treasure, even though it be allowed that they diverted a
portion ofthe French army from attacking Prince Ferdi
nand. He mentions the popular outcry against Sir J.
Mordaunt and General Conway, the conductors of the
expedition, and its injustice with respect to the latter.
He continues : —
" I shall only add here that Legge and Pitt have
not been the dear friends that they were — but that the
former has been forced to submit, and has ruined
himself in that place where he desired and hoped to
ruin the other. Sir Richard can tell you more of this
matter. You ask if I have had any occasion to speak
since I came into the House of Lords ? Never but
once, and that quite extempore upon a clause in the
Militia Bill. Lord Talbot and I had a sparring, and
my reply to him drew out some arguments upon the
nature of the Bill, which Lord Hardwicke did me the
honour to take notice of the next day, as being of very
great weight, and the Duke of Newcastle was loud in
praise of the whole speech. But I shall not seek, and
don't believe I shall find any occasion of speaking this
year. I write my history but lazily, and without
much of the spirit of an author upon me. I begin to
grow old, my dear Billy, and am willing enough to
let my life sleep and learn to love its end. However, I

GOVERNOR LYTTELTON. 603
will not forsake the Muses entirely till they forsake i758.
me, nor more serious affairs when I think I can do any
good to my country, or credit to myself by acting a
busy part. * * * *
" Adieu, my dear Governour. Made tua virtute.
I shall never need to give you any other advice.
They tell me you grow fat, in spite of all your cares :
continue to do so ; for my part I am lean in spite of
my leisure."
Enclosed in this letter was one from General Huske
to a friend, who, happening to be acquainted with Lyt
telton, forwarded it to him. The picture which it ex
hibits of the mode in which patronage was bestowed
in the Colonies at this time, as well as its testimony to
Governor Lyttelton's character, made me think it fit to
be inserted here.
" I am sorry I was not at home when you called.
A few days ago I saw a gentleman of good sense and
close attention to American affairs, who lately arrived
from South Carolina. He tells me that of all the Go
vernors he ever knew in America, where he resided for
many years, and has been more than once through the
whole Continent, none has governed with so much
dignity, spirit and propriety as Governor Lyttelton ;
which has given the whole people under his govern
ment entire satisfaction, and procured him their highest
respect and deference. He has very carefully avoided
patronizing any party, and manifested the utmost in
dignation against dirty lucrative jobs and the projec
tors of them. And he is not less regardful of the
2 r 2

604 GOVERNMENT PATRONAGE
1758. people's rights and privileges, than he is jealous ofthe
prerogative of the Crown. In short, he bids fair to
rival all American Governors in the art of governing
without offence to his superiors at home, or dissatisfac
tion to the people of the province, which will not only
do honour to himself and his family, but to his Ma
jesty's Ministry that sent him ; who, with sorrow I speak
it, have been so careless for many years past of the
characters and abilities of the civil officers appointed
for America, that most of the places in the gift of the
Crown have been filled with broken Members of
Par  1, of bad, if any, principles, pimps, valet de
chambres, electioneering scoundrels, and even livery
servants. In one word, America has been for many
years made the hospital of Great Britain for her decayed
courtiers and abandoned worn-out dependants. I can
point you out a Chief Justice of a province appointed
from home, for no other reason than publicly prosti
tuting his honour and conscience at an election. A
livery servant that is secretary of a province, appointed
from hence. A pimp, collector of a whole province,
who got this place of the man in power for prostituting
his handsome wife to his embraces, and procuring him
other means of gratifying his lust. Innumerable are
instances of this sort in places of great trust, and would
be of great honour if properly filled. Which, added
to the great number of non-resident officers, who em
ploy the man to do their business who will do it
cheapest, is one ofthe principal causes of the weak and
wicked management of our colonies, and of the weaken
ing the authority and superintendency of the mother
country.

IN THE COLONIES. 605
" I can't gratify your other request, for I hear no 1758.
news. Call upon me when you come this way again,
and believe me to be,
" Your most faithful humble servant,
" Huske."
" Mr. Stevens gave me the above account of Governor
Lyttelton, and mentioned to me several instances of
fine conduct.
" Governor Reynolds is just returned from Georgia,
where he behaved in such a manner as to become the
object of contempt and ridicule to the whole people.
You may remember I told you this would be the case,
for I hardly ever knew it otherwise with a man bred in
the navy and made a Governor. There would have
been just as much propriety in making an Indian
Sachem, Captain of a man-of-war, as Reynolds a
Governor of a Province."
"Hill Street, May 5tb, 1758.
" My dear Governour,
"lam desired by Lady Fanny Shirley to recom
mend Mr. Cooper, the bearer of this, to your Excel
lency's protection. She is still so fair a lady, that you
owe a respect to her recommendation, on that account ;
and you know I have always been her admirer.
" Since my last, by Mr. Pickering, I have no news
to tell you of our foreign affairs, but that the Maga
zine of last month will inform you of. The King of
Prussia is in motion, and a battle is expected soon
between him and the Austrians. Mr. Osborne's success

606 HAWKE AND BOSCAWEN.  AMERICAN WAR.
1758. in the Mediterranean, and Sir Edward Hawke's having
stopt the French squadron at Rochefort, will give Bos
cawen beau jeu, in the enterprise against Louisbourg
and all his operations in the American seas; for though
a small squadron is since sailed from Brest, his force
will be so superior to that ofthe French, as to make their
going thither rather desirable to us, because it is pro
bable they may be taken by him ; and the Brest squad
ron is weakened by their departure, so that it will
hardly be able to oppose our designs against them this
year, if we form any in Europe (as by a great encamp
ment which we are going to make in the Isle of Wight,
it is supposed we shall do.) There is certainly great
activity and spirit in Government, and it has a great
force to act with both by sea and land, so that we have
reason to hope some success from the operations we are
commencing.. I only wish we had a General in Ame
rica more equal to the extent and importance of the
command. The Duke of Marlborough, (quod felix
faust umque sit) is to command the troops in the Isle of
Wight ; if Mr. Conway was employed under his Grace,
as he wished and desired to be, I should think nothing
would be wanting in that command, but the same
reasons that made Mr. Pitt and his faction refuse him
in America, have also prevailed to exclude him from
any employment in Europe, which I fear will be,
magno reipublicce detrimento. God knows we have not
more good Generals than we want, and none better
than he. In our domestick affairs the most memorable
event since I writ to you last was a speech of Mr.
Pitt, in whicli he attacked, with a great deal of con-

HABEAS CORPUS ACT. 607
tempt, the Treasury plan of taxes this year, and even
adopted against it a wild idea, thrown out by Alder- jj,58_
man Beckford, to the great surprise of the House and
embarrassment of the good cities and boroughs of Eng
land, who had sent so many gold boxes to Legge in
conjunction with him, and supposed them brothers in
politicks, as well as in administration. You will na
turally think, that after this attack, either Legge must
go out or Pitt, but both will stay in, and the Duke of
Newcastle is very easy about it. In truth, Pitt meant
no more than to vent his ill-humour against Legge in
this speech, which he should have kept in for his own
sake ; but his tongue is ruled by his passions, not by his
reason. He is also engaged in another affair not very
prudent for a minister, an attempt to extend the pro
visions of the Habeas Corpus Act,* in cases of private
* The act of Charles II, referred only to cases where a criminal
offence was charged. Pitt's and Pratt's proposal was to extend it to
all cases of confinement. The measure, as amended by a suggestion
made in this debate by Lord Hardwicke, was carried in 1816.
The opinions of the Judges were taken. " But," says Horace
Walpole, " they were discordant and inconclusive, and so little was
gained by the delivery of their opinions, that Lord Temple now
pleaded for the Bill on the disagreement of the Judges, and moved a
long question — the purport of which was, that an affidavit of con
finement ought to be a probable cause for the Judges to grant the
writ. Lord Lyttelton saying that in any other place, that question
would be a defamatory libel on the Judges; Lord Temple started
up and said, ' This is impertinence I will not bear.' This occa
sioned much confusion. Lord Lyttelton explained himself
handsomely, saying, he had applied words to words — not to per
sons : he was sorry if he had given offence ; he had meant less
offence to Lord Temple than to any body : he revered the manes of

608 HABEAS CORPUS ACT.
1758. confinement, and oblige the Judge, underthe penalties
prescribed by that act, to grant the writ on a bare
affidavit of actual confinement, against the opinion of
the twelve Judges, Lord Hardwicke, and Lord Keeper,
who say it will be productive of the greatest incon
veniences, and full of absurdities beyond imagination.
He has no lawyer of eminence with him but Mr. Pratt,
his own Attorney -General ; however, he has carried the
Bill through the House of Commons, but it will be
thrown out in the House of Lords. In the debates
he treated the lawyers with as little respect as Fox did
on the Marriage Bill, and as you know he treats every
body who dares to differ from him in any opinion.
But his chief battery was levelled against my Lord
Mansfield,f who will never forget or forgive that ill
their former friendship : he hoped the ashes were not extinguished
past return. To all this Lord Temple said nothing : and when the
House insisted on their giving their words that it should proceed no
further, Lord Temple sullenly endeavoured to avoid it by shifting
the asking of pardon on Lord Lyttelton. The latter engaged with
frankness to drop it, always the most sensible way when words have
passed in public, which are sure of being prevented from further
discussion. Lord Lyttelton was known to want no spirit : Lord
Temple had been miserably deficient."
* Horace Walpole gives the following vivid picture of Lord
Mansfield's speech on this occasion. " The fate of the Bill which
could not be procured by the sanction of the Judges, Lord Mans
field was forced to take on himself. He spoke for two hours and a
half ; his voice and manner, composed of harmonious solemnity,
were the least graces of his speech. I am not averse to own that I
never heard so much argument, so much sense, so much oratory
united. His deviations into the abstruse minutiae of the law served
but as a foil to the luminous parts of the oration. Perhaps it

lyttelton's speech. 609
usage, and an attempt was made in the City by some of 1758.
Mr. Pitt's faction to raise a popular storm on him there,
with so little foundation, that the agents in it were forced
let drop the charge with disgrace and confusion. The
story is too long to write, but it appears to me one of
the blackest and most infamous practices that ever I
heard of in all the history of our factions. These
things will be treasured up against the day of wrath,
which will come sooner or later, according to the suc
cess we meet with in the war. Pitt's conduct is the more
strange, because I find 'he does all his business with the
King by the Duke of Newcastle, and at the same time
that he attacked the Treasury scheme in the House of
Commons, and acts so offensively against Lord Mans
field, and with so little management for Lord Hard
wicke. I took the occasion of the late treaty with
Prussia, to shew the House of Lords the fearful con
sistency of the King's measures in foreign affairs, since
the first apprehension of an attack upon Hanover in
consequence of a war between us and France ; which,
shewing the inconsistency of the opposition then made
to those measures, with the support given to them now
by our patriot Ministers, provoked Lord Temple to a
rude but silly answer to me. Both my speech and my
was the only speech, that in my time at least, had real effect ; that
is, convinced many persons. Nor did I ever know how true a,
votary I was to hberty, till I found I was not one of the number
staggered by that speech. I took as many notes of it as I possibly
could ; and prolix as they would be, I would give them to the reader,
if it would not be injustice to Lord Mansfield to curtail and mangle,
as I should by the want of connection, so beautiful a thread of
argumentation."

610 lyttelton and temple.
1758. reply were received with greater applause than any
that I ever made in my life. The praises given me
upon both, not only by all my friends, but by people to
whom I was a stranger, and by many of other connec
tions were so high and so warm, that I can impute
them to nothing but a detestation in mankind of Lord
Temple's pride, and a conviction ofthe truth of all that
I said ; I may add, too, a desire to have that truth
freely spoken. I told the Duke of Newcastle it was
well for him, that there was one friend of his who
durst defend all his measures, past as well as present,
and would not embarrass his Grace by so doing, with
his new allies. He smiled at my compliment, and I
know was not at all displeased in his heart. Lord
Hardwicke expressed the highest approbation both of
the matter and manner of my speech and reply. I
kept my temper in both, and the decorum that suits
and pleases the House of Lords. Temple did not, and
had no wit to atone for the want of decorum. You
will laugh when I tell you that the report to Sir
Richard was, that his Lordship, by his reply, had cut
me to pieces* So their cabal goes on — flattering them-
* " Lord Lyttelton spoke well, distinguishing between two parts of
administration, and too ridiculously ascribing whatever had been done
well to the Duke of Newcastle. Lord Temple answered him with
vehement abuse, and applied to him a passage out of Tully, which
Lord Lyttelton had formerly inscribed on a temple at Stowe— the
gentle conclusion of it was to call him « hominem detestabilem im-
becillum.' Lord Lyttelton, as usual, replied with firmness, but with
too little asperity considering hovv unrelenting towards him was the
nature of that, faction."— Walpole's Mem. of G. II. p. 294.

LYTTELTON AND TEMPLE. 611
selves and scarce hearing the sense of the world upon 1758.
their behaviour. By this time, I imagine, they will
know the truth, and perhaps, will revenge themselves
upon me by the infamous pen of some pamphleteer, for
in Parliament I don't see what revenge they ean take.
But that kind of attack will, I think, do more harm to
themselves than to me. If they are so mean as to take
it, I shall go on to support all their measures, while
they pursue the same principles upon which I have
acted, and will continue to treat their persons and
characters with proper respect : but I will defend my
own conduct whenever I see a proper occasion, and if
they call that hostility, I cannot help it. However, I
believe that few occasions will arise of doing this any
more, nor do I desire that there should, for all that I
wish is otium cum dignitate. The troops encamped in
the Isle of Wight will be about four thousand, but
whether all will be sent upon this expedition that seems
to be designed by the Ministry, is not yet known, no
more than the object of that expedition. Some conjec
ture that it is only a feint to amuse and keep the French
alarmed on their coast; but I have good reason to believe
that much more is meant by it, and that it may have
more than one object. God send us better success than
in our secret expedition last year, and those we have
usually met with from such undertakings. If I am
rightly informed, we are building some flat-bottomed
vessels which may be of great service in making descent.
" All my family are doing well, little Tom is at Eton
and very happy there. His sister is in town, but goes to
Ebrington soon : she is a good girl, and does not want

612 THE NAVY.
1758. understanding, mais peu de Genie point de Graces.
Her face and figure I believe will turn out very well, if
awkward tricks do not spoil them. Perhaps time may
improve her in many respects, but it will never make
her a large fortune. From Tom I hope all that a
parent's heart can desire, if God gives him life, and he
continues to improve as he has done hitherto.
" Adieu, my dear Governour, may heaven prosper
your endeavours for the good of your colony, and give
you a long life to enjoy the reputation you are acquir
ing. I am proud of my eleve, and flatter myself that
Carolina is obliged to me in some measure for the
virtues they admire in you, as well as for sending you to
them at a time when they wanted those virtues so much.
" Pitt has a very bad fitt of the gout. Some physi
cians, who know his constitution, declare that if he con
tinues a Minister, he will not live long."
The British navy, whicli, in spite of the calamitous
beginning of the war, was destined under Hawke, Rod
ney, Boscawen, Saunders, and Keppel, to triumph in
every quarter ofthe globe, was even now beginning to
sustain her ancient renown. The French seem to have
seriously meditated an invasion. At Havre, Toulon,
Brest, Dunkirk, preparations were made on a large
scale. Admiral George Rodney was sent to bombard
Havre, and Sir Edward Hawke, Brest. Pitt had
called out the militia, and with it the public spirit of
his countrymen, who at this time did all but worship
him. Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick had, at the re
commendation of the King of Prussia, succeeded to the

admiral rodney's expedition. 613
command of the Hanoverian army. On the 13th of 1759.
July, Lord Egremont* wrote to Lyttelton: —
" I fear Admiral Rodney's bombarding expedition
will scarce turn out to be worth the powder and shot
fired away. If we have no invasion, I shall never ima
gine it was prevented by his setting fire to one maga
zine, and if we have one, perhaps the bombardment
may exasperate our enemies, and make them still more
mischievous. His letter in the Gazette, puts me in
mind of Earl Poulett's shooting with bow and arrows
at geese. Being interrogated how many he had slain,
his Lordship's answer was, ' None killed, not one, but I
put them all into the utmost consternation.' I rejoyced
at your Lordship's account of Saunders being sailed
in good health. I hope and believe he will do his
business, but how Prince Ferdinand will get out of
his present situation, or how we shall get out of the
situation the ruin of his army and the losses in Lower
Saxony would put us into, God only knows. I am
afraid to think about it. If my remains of gout let
me come to town, before your Lordship sets out for
the north, I shall wait upon you, if not, I wish you a
pleasant and good journey. Lady Egremontf charges
me with her sincerest compliments. I am, my dear
* His sister married Mr. Grenville; they were children of Sir
W. Wyndham, who died 1740.— See p. 148.
f Lyttelton wrote some verses on Lady Egremont — in a dialogue
between Fame and Virtue— the latter says,
' ' I know the best of wives and mothers ;
Who never pass'd an useless day
In scandal, gossiping or play :
Whose modest wit, chastis'd by sense,
Is lively, cheerful innocence ;

614 LETTER TO WILLIAM LYTTELTON.
1759. Lord, with the greatest respect, and most unalterable
truth, " Your Lordship's most obedient
" and most faithful servant,
" Egremont.
" Petworth, July 13, 1759."
Soon afterwards Lyttelton wrote again to his brother.
" Hill Street, July 20, 1759.
" I am just setting out for the Highlands of
Scotland. My old house being down, and my new
one not yet quite fit to inhabit, I take this time for a
northern tour, which will entertain me very agreeably,
if while I am amusing myself in the north, the French
don't land in the south, as they threaten to do. Their
preparations to invade us, are greater than any that
have been made, since the Spanish Armada."
Then follows an account at great length of the bom
bardment of Havre (which will be found below in
Rodney's own letter) — of the King of Prussia's move
ments — of the probable death of the King of Spain, —
and ofthe delight Lyttelton took in the promise afforded
by the opening talents of his son — it continues —
"We have had, and still have, the finest summer here,
Whose heart nor envy knows, nor spite,
Whose duty is her sole delight ;
Nor rul'd by whim, nor slave to fashion,
Her parent's joy, her husband's passion.
* * * * *
'Tis princely Petworth' s noble dame ;
'Tis Egremont— go, tell it, Fame."
Lyttelton's Works, vol. iii. p. 169.
Upon these verses Lord Hardwicke wrote some extempore lines in
praise of Lyttelton. — ibid.

rodney's letter. 615
that ever was known. Adieu, my dear Governor, God 1759.
prosper you and your Government, and may you find
England at your return triumphant over France. The
Petits Maitres at Paris talk of nothing now but the con
quest of it by their Grand Monarque, nous croquerons
l'Angleterre, is the Word a la Mode, le bon ton. But
I hope the rascals will find it a very tough morsel, and
that it will stick in their throats and choak them.
" You are advised to send me the following seeds : —
Great and small Magnolia ; Umbrella Tree ; Red
Accacia ; Purple Berrice Bay. I must also renew my
petition for wood ducks, the French having taken and
eat those you sent."
The two next letters are from Admiral Rodney to
Lyttelton. " Deal, October 20th, 1 759.
" My Lord, — This day I had the honour to be
favoured with your most obliging letter, with one en
closed from Mr. William Hawes, which I would answer,
if I knew his direction, his account of Havre is exactly
the same as I have received from the masters of many
neutral vessels that have come from that port. Your
Lordship may please to remember that I foretold the
strength of the enemy ; but what will in some measure
surprise you is, that after all my waiting, I was sent on
the second attack, with only three mortars of 13 inch,
and two mortars of 10 inch, when the enemy had in
creased their strength, with the addition of upwards of
fifty mortars, several new batteries on shore, beside
three large floating batteries on the sands, and 1 3 armed
galleys, and vessels with oars — each with a heavy
cannon in their prow. Had the enemy concealed their

616 BOMBARDMENT OF HAVRE.
l759 strength till I had placed the bombs, they might have
had ample revenge, but their own eagerness to con
vince me they had not been idle during my absence,
prevented his Majesty's arms receiving that disgrace
that must have ensued, had I persisted in the bombard
ment ; as the bombs must have been exposed to all the
fire of the galleys and batteries without a possibility of
covering them with the ships, the water being so shoal.
However I have kept them in continual apprehension,
have blocked up the Port, and permitted nothing to
enter the river, till the late very hard gale at south
west, dispersed my squadron, and drove me into the
Downs, where my stay will be very short. I have one
pleasure since being here, that the wind has blown
very hard upon the French coast, and must have pre
vented any embarkation of troops, not but what I
must as a friend tell your Lordship, if the danger to
England is to proceed from Havre, I have not half
sufficient strength to destroy them, should they come
out, viz. one ship of fifty guns and three frigates all
very foul, and of course sail bad. I have represented
this to my masters, and desired some heavy ships; by
their answer, I conclude they think no danger can
ensue from thence, as they inform me they will send
me a reinforcement when they can spare ships from
more important services. I own this letter gave me
comfort, as I imagined their intelligence must be good,
for I own to your Lordship that I thought all the
danger that threatened England was from Havre, as I
knew they had 300 flat bottom boats, of two or three
hundred tons each, with a large army in their neigh
bourhood, ready to embark.

rodney's letter. 617
" However, let what will be the consequence, I shall 1758.
do my duty, and endeavour to destroy all that's pos
sible ; but as a friend, I cannot help suggesting to your
Lordship, that if they had the spirit of men, the
enemy would venture out the beginning of a dark
night with a southerly wind ; if by chance they should
get the start of us, before discovered, with fifty or one
hundred of their boats in the rear, which would make
a battery of so many heavy cannon if they kept close
together, they might greatly annoy us before we
could possibly get up with them, and in all probability
might dismast some of the ships. For this reason, if
your Lordship pleases to recollect, I proposed having
another squadron off Beachy, to intercept the enemy
if by chance they should escape the vigilance of the
sauadron off Havre. If I had a sufficient force, I
should station them in such a manner, as to have the
enemy between two fires should they venture out, and
as Thurot is now sailed, (if there is any danger), I sup
pose Havre will be more attended to. I know your
Lordship too well to think you will look upon this
letter in any other light than as my private sentiments
to one whom I esteem it as an honour to call my friend ;
I do assure you I have not wrote in this style to any
other person or made the least complaint, and there
fore hope you will not communicate its contents to any
person, but my old dear friend the Admiral, to whom
I beg your Lordship will pay my best respects.
" Give me leave again, my Lord, to beg your assist
ance in an epitaph ; the Admiral, who knew her, will
tell vou her character, 'tis what my heart is set on, and
2 s

618 rodney's letter.
1759. t^e greatest obligation you can possibly confer on him,
who is, with the utmost sincerity and respect,
" Your Lordship's most obedient,
" and most humble servant,
" G. R. Rodney."
" P.S. Pardon the incoherencies in this letter and
remember I am a sailor."
The next letter is dated —
" In the Road of Havre, Nov. 3rd, 1759.
" My Lord,
" I believe I may now congratulate you, on the
invasion from this Port being suspended for this
winter, the Duke de Harcourt, and all the troops (two
battalions excepted), having left the town, and marched
into the country, all their encampments being likewise
broke up, and the flat bottom boats continuing at
Rouen. Had the enemy really intended to make
their embarkation from hence, they never could have
had a more favourable opportunity than has offered for
these ten days past, and which in all probability will
not return again in many months. The wind has been
between the south and east, with light airs, hazy
weather, and remarkable smooth water : had they come
out, it would have been impossible for my little squa
dron who were becalmed for three days, to have inter
cepted them. However, I have been for several days
past at an anchor before the town, and shall so con
tinue while the weather is favourable, though this
advanced season will soon oblige me to retire, it being
impossible to keep this station in bad weather, which at

LETTER TO WILLIAM LYTTELTON. 619
the same time that it drives me off, will prevent the 1759.
enemy's putting to sea.
" My friend the Admiral (to whom I beg my best
respects), knows full well the anxiety I have endured
for some time past ; however, if it has answered the
desired effect, and kept the enemy in awe, I submit to
it with pleasure.
" Your Lordship will do me but justice in being
assured that I have the honour to be with real regard
and respect, " Your most obliged,
" and most obedient humble servant,
" G. R. Rodney."
W. Lyttelton was made Governor of Jamaica about
this time. Our victories in the East and West Indies,
and the conquest of Canada, had changed the despond
ing tone of his brother's correspondence into one con
tinued song of triumph.
" HiU Street, Dec. 4, 1759.
" All joy to you, my dear Billy — joy of your
recovery, joy of your new Government, joy of all the
very prosperous events of this year, in which it is
hard to say whether we owe more to the fortune of
our army, or the valour of our troops. Never was
there such a series of happy and glorious events ! —
Guadaloupe conquered, just before a reinforcement
arrived; our East Indies saved when the Company
themselves had despaired of their safety ; the battle of
Minden won, when the King expected nothing but
2 s 2

620 VICTORIES ABROAD.
1759. that the French would be master of his Electorate ;
the King of Prussia on the point of repelling all his
enemies, and regaining all Saxony, after having been
brought by his battle with the Russians to the very
brink of destruction ; the French and Canadian army
beat, and Quebec taken by Wolf, when he himself had
just writt to the Government here in a style so
desponding tbat all hopes of success in that quarter
were given up for this year ; Roscommon meeting with
and beating Le Clerc after his squadron had gott
through the Straits, and so preventing their junction
with the Brest fleet ; and lastly, Sir Edward Hawke
defeating that fleet by a change of the wind, which
brought him out of Torbay, where, if he had been de
tained three days longer, Marshall Conflans would
have conveyed an army of 14,000 men into Ireland,
and Thurot would have probably landed in another
part of it with 1500 more. There was, indeed, some
ill-luck in the stormy weather and darkness which
prevented Sir Edward Hawke from entirely destroying
all the French fleet ; but even as it is, their Marine has
received such a blow as it cannot recover during this
war : — their schemes of invasion are defeated, their
reputation at sea is quite sunk, and the spirit of the
nation must be sunk too by the ignominious behaviour
of their fleet in an action upon which they seemed to
have placed all their hopes, and staked all their credit.
I send you no particulars, because you will see
them in the publick Papers, which I know are sent to
you by Mr. Wright. Just before our sea-victory,
his Majesty and the King of Prussia had declared to

UNION AT HOME. 621
all the belligerent powers that they are ready to send 1759.
Plenipotentiaries to the place which ¦ shall be thought
most proper, in order to treat conjointly of a general
peace. The first view of this overture was to shew
our moderation ; but being followed by our success
in Quiberon Bay, it may possibly produce some offers
from France, which may bring on a beginning of
negotiation. If the war lasts another year I think the
French will turn their whole strength against Han
over, and let out their men-of-war to their merchants
for privateers, as they did in Queen Anne's time, to
prey on our trade, and make our merchants desirous
of peace. Their finances are in the utmost disorder ;
their credit is destroyed ; their government and even
their army full of faction and discord. Yet I think
they will be able to hold out a twelvemonth ; and if
they can get the Russians back, all Germany may yet
undo the King of Prussia, and make Hanover pay for
Quebec. Indeed, it is not yet certain that his Prussian
Majesty will be able to recover Dresden this winter.
Thank God we have perfect union* at home, which
is both the cause and the consequence of our success,
and our credit is as high as can be desired ; yet the
eight millions which are to be raised the next year
will be a terrible burthen upon us, and it will be hard
* "Punch — Who is that? Luckless— That is an Orator,
Master Punch. Punch — An Orator ! — what is that ? Luckless —
Why an Orator is — egad.I can't tell what: —he is a man that nobody
dares dispute with." — Fielding's Pleasures of the Town. H.
Walpole's motto to the Year 1758. — Vol. ii. Memoirs of George the
Second.

622 WILLIAM LYTTELTON.
1 759. to find specie to answer so much paper. This, my dear
Billy, is our general political state : private politicks
I reserve till I have the pleasure to see you ; and
indeed I trouble myself but little about them. I come
now to what regards only yourself. The Government
of Jamaica will, I hope, be as agreeable as profitable
to you, if the prepossession which your new subjects
have in your favour can be preserved, and by your
prudence I hope it will, though they are a very factious
people, and hard to rule. All the chief planters here,
except the great Beckford,* have been to compliment
me upon your being their Governor, and exprest the
highest satisfaction on that account. Mr. Pitt, I
suppose, will make Beckford your friend, or at least
keep him quiet ; but he is a strange fellow. I am
afraid you will lose a great deal of money by coming
to England, and the gentlemen of the island say you
ought to be there for the publick service at present ;
but as Lord Hallifax has a mind you should come to
receive his instructions, and you seem yourself to
desire it, I cannot oppose it. * * *
I shall, therefore, have the pleasure of your company
at Hagley in the first opening of my new house, and a
great joy it is to me that you will be a partaker in the
jollity of that day. My house, my dear Billy, is now
my own again, and consequently yours. I past the
last summer most agreeably in a tour through the
North of England and Scotland, as far as Inverary.
The weather was the finest I ever saw in my life, and
* Famous for his wealth — his influence in the city — his devotion
to Pitt, and for being the father of the author of Vathek.

GOVERNOR OF JAMAICA. 623
I had as great honours done me by the nobility and 1759.
the principal cities in Scotland, as if I had been a first
minister, or the head of a faction. But much the
greatest pleasure I had in my tour was from the com
pany of my son, whom I carried along with me, and
from the approbation (I might say admiration) which
his figure, behaviour, and parts drew from all sorts of
people wherever we went. Indeed his mother has
given him her don de plaisir, and he joins to an excel
lent understanding the best of hearts, and more dis
cretion and judgment than ever I observed in any
young man, except in you.
" As Brigadier Townsend has brought over from
Canada a young savage boy for his friend, Lord G.
Sackville, I think you should bring a young savage
girl for your friend my Lord Hallifax. You will say
we have wild girls enough in this country.
" I must tell you a story of G. Townsend's boy.
When the bonfires were lighted here for Sir Edward
Hawke's victory, he concluded that they were kindled
to roast him alive, a-la-mode de Canada, and begun to
sing his death song with a very dismal face, till means
were found to explain to him what the cause of them
was, and that no harm was intended to him."
In a note to page 27 of vol. ii. of Walpole's Memoirs
of George the Third, the Editor makes the following
remarks: —
" The accomplishments of Lord Lyttelton were un
deniable. Unfortunately they were overshadowed by
an infirmity of judgment that materially lessened the

624 THOMAS LYTTELTON.
1759. dignity of his character. He seems to have been the
easy dupe of Archibald Bower. There was often much
misplaced sentiment in his conversation. His letters
teem with foolish conceits, and the extravagant notions
he entertained of parental authority made him so
severe and injudicious a father, as to afford some
excuse for the gross misconduct of his son, a young
nobleman whose brilliant abilities he was almost the
only person unwilling or unable to appreciate. His
public and private life had been irreproachable."
Now I believe this account to be most erroneous as to
his conversation — hisletters — and his conduct to his son.
His conversation was esteemed by contemporaries who
were no mean critics — not one of the many letters
before me betrays any foolish conceit —and many of
them show, like the last, that so, far from " being
unwilling or unable to appreciate" the abilities of
his gifted and unhappy son, he took the utmost pride
and pleasure in witnessing their development. They
contain also abundant evidence of the warmth of
affection and lenity of temper which induced him to
forgive, while he strove to correct those failings and
vices which impaired the fortune, and embittered the
declining years of his life. I had not intended to
have touched again upon this painful subject, but I
thought this vindication due to the memory of Lord
Lyttelton. In the Hagley MS. of this year are letters from
Lord Marchmont, and the Duke of Newcastle, but not
sufficiently interesting to be printed, The following
letter from Rodney to a friend is worthy of perusal.

rodney's letter. 625
" A storm drove me in here, and still detains me. 1759.
I suppose you have heard of the five flat bottom boats,
loaded with cannon and shot, that I drove on shore,
and destroyed at Port Bassin ; as likewise of the ten
others, that, with great difficulty, escaped into the
River Orne, leading to Caen. The enemy had the
confidence to sail from Harfleur in the middle of the
day, with their colours flying, and making all the
parade possible, wliile the hills on each side the river?
and the walls of Havre, were covered with spectators,
who were astonished that the English squadron made
no motion whatever. I feared it would be to no pur
pose till the vessels had passed the river Orne, as
they had it in their power to take shelter in several
small ports. However, I kept my eye constantly on
them, and had given directions to my squadron to
have all ready the moment I made signal to chase.
When the enemy got the length of Caen River, they
kept standing backward and forward upon the shoals,
and I plainly perceived intended to push for it after
dark ; thereupon, I gave directions to my small
vessels, the moment it was dark, to make all the sail
possible for the mouth of the river Orne, to cut off
the enemy's retreat ; and with my other ships, made
the utmost dispatch, without signal or light, for the
steep coast of Port Bassin. This had the desired
effect. The enemy were met by two of my squadron,
disguised like Dutchmen off Point Percee, who turned
them ; when, perceiving their retreat cut off, they
run ashore, and met the fate I have told you. They
are remarkably fine vessels, upwards of one hundred

626 rodney's letter.
1759. feet long, and capable to contain from three to five
hundred men for a night's run. This success has had
the desired effect, the enemy having unloaded a
hundred others that were ready to sail, and sent them
all up again to Rouen. I forgot to tell you each
vessel carries two eighteen pounders ; and as they
were scuttled when run ashore, we could not get them
off, especially as the enemy's troops appeared nu
merous, and were entrenched so as to flank the land
ing. Many thanks to you for your intelligence, and
believe me to be " Your obliged and obedient
" humble servant,
" G. R. Rodney."

CHAPTER XV.
1760—1766.
FROM THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE THE THIRD TO THE
CLOSE OF THE ROCKINGHAM ADMINISTRATION.

[Hagley MSS.— Walpole's Memoirs of George the Third, vols. i. & ii.
— Chatham's Correspondence, vols. ii. iii. — Burke's Correspon
dence, vol. i. — Parliamentary History, vols. xv. xvi., Annual
Register for each year — Adolphus' History of England, vol. i. ed.
1841 — Burke's Observations on a late state of the Nation, and
Thoughts on the present Discontent.]

" In times full of doubt and danger to his person, 1760.
and family, George the Second maintained the dignity
of his crown connected with the liberty of his people,
not only unimpaired but improved for the space of
thirty- three years. He overcame a dangerous rebel
lion abetted by foreign force and raging in the heart
of his kingdoms, and thereby destroyed the seeds of
all future rebellion that could arise upon the same
principle. He carried the glory, the power, the
commerce of England to a height unknown even in
this renowned nation in the times of its greatest pros
perity, and he left his succession resting on the true,
and only true, foundations of all national and all
regal greatness — affection at home, reputation abroad,
trust in allies, terror in rival nations." Such is part
of the magnificent panegyric of Mr. Burke upon the
reign we have just closed ; but those who look back
from the eminence of nearly a century since those words

628 ACCESSION OF GEORGE THE THIRD.
1760. were written — those who consider the state of the
criminal law and the almost entire neglect of the edu
cation of the people, at the time when science devoted
to the production of physical comfort, was daily calling
into existence that enormous manufacturing population*
at which our age stands aghast, as at a phenomenon with
which it is as yet but imperfectly acquainted- — those who
agree in the opinion I have ventured to express about the
state of the churchf and the general tone of society, will
hesitate before they adopt the glowing conclusion of
this panegyric. " The most ardent lover of his coun
try cannot wish for Great Britain a happier fate than
to continue as she was then left — a people emulous as
we are in affection to our present sovereign, know not
how to form a prayer to Heaven for a greater blessing
upon his virtues or a higher state of felicity and glory
than that he should live and should reign, and when
Providence ordains it, should die like his illustrious
predecessor." But whatever difference of opinion may
exist upon this matter there will be none as to the fact,
that few kings ever ascended the throne in a brighter
sunshine of popularity than George the Third. " A
passionate, domineering woman," says Sir R. Walpole,
* Arnold's VII. Lecture has some admirable remarks on the
evils incident to a state " where the Church seemed to have, but
had not, the whole nation within its pale," and where " the popu
lar party took no care that liberty should be the mother of virtue,"'
while " the antipopular party restrained without educating." It
is instructive to compare the deep wisdom of these pages with the
shallow remarks of Schlosser. — (See Vol. ii. p. 193, Geschichte
des actzehnten Jahrhunderts.) f Chapter x.

PITT'S RESIGNATION. 629
" and a favourite without talents soon drew a cloud ^gj.
over this shining prospect." It must I think be
admitted that Lord Bute was the immediate instru
ment, whatever might be the remoter causes, of bring
ing the constitution of this country into great jeopardy;
but for me it remains only to notice those events
in the next twelve years in which the subject of
these memoirs was more immediately concerned.
Soon after the accession of the young monarch,
Pitt found himself perpetually thwarted by a secret
influence in the Cabinet — and his was not a spirit
to brook such treatment. Pursuing his scheme for
humbling the House of Bourbon he discovered the
famous Family Compact between France and Spain,
and demanded that our ambassador should be recalled
from Madrid, and war immediately declared against
Spain — this demand being overruled by the majority of
the Cabinet, he and Lord Temple resigned on the 5th
of October, 1761. So ended the first administration
of Mr. Pitt — and looking to the suddenness of the
change from despair to triumph, effected by it in the
minds of the people— to the rapidity, variety, and
extent of the conquests achieved, pregnant with results
yet imperfectly developed, but affecting the des
tinies of half the globe — to its uninterrupted course of
brilliant success — to the homage paid during its exist
ence to the British name throughout the globe — looking
to these things, it is difficult to deny that no War
Minister of these realms had ever so brilliant a career.
On the 17th of "this month Lord Hardwicke wrote
to Lyttelton: —

630 lord hardwicke's letter.
j^gj " Grosvenor Square, Oct. 17th, 1761.
" My dear Lord,
" Under the greatest* afflictions, it is some degree
of consolation to be kindly remembered by our most
valuable friends at a distance. In this light I consider
the honour your Lordship has done me by your most
obliging letter, which demands my best thanks. I am
too sensible how little pretence I have to any of those
great qualities, which your partiality gives me ; but I
have learned, both as a man and a Christian, to submit
with humble resignation to the wise dispensations of Pro
vidence, however severe and trying — resigno quce dedit ;
though I cannot forget my own melancholy situation
kept me for some time out of the world, factious and
disagreeable as it is. The extraordinary events which
your Lordship mentions, have happened since my
strictest confinement was over : and when I see your
Lordship (a pleasure which I perceive is not far off) I
will acquaint you with such circumstances as have
come to my knowledge, too long, and some of them not
quite so proper for a letter by the post. The world is
surprised at the last scene ; since which I have had a
conversation with Mr. Pitt, who talks with much tem
per and moderation. I hope that temper will be pre
served, and am persuaded that, when he accepted these
graces from the King, it was his intention, servetur ad
imum, though I find that begins to be doubted of.
" It is no news to you that Lord Egremont has the
Seals of the southern province. You know how much
I esteem and honour that noble Lord, and I fear
nothing in his case but his precarious health. I heartily
* This alludes to the death of his wife.

pitt's quarrel with grenville. 631
wish that this addition of one friend more of yours to 1752.
the administration, may turn out as it ought to your
Lordship's advantage ; — I should have added to that
of the public, and of your humble servant. The Duke
of Newcastle is much flattered by your obliging re
membrance of him ; makes no doubt of the sincerity of
your good wishes ; and hopes you do not distrust his.
" As Mr. G. Grenville is to have the conduct of
business in the House of Commons, Mr. Prowse* is the
person thought of for Speaker. In this dearth of objects
for the chair, I am very creditably assured that this is
not at all disagreeable to the Whigs ; but, whether he
will accept or not I have not yet heard.
" I hope your Lordship enjoys good health, — happy
amidst the beauties of Hagley, — inter Sylvas reptare
salubres, curantem quicquid dignum sapiente bonoque est.
" I am always, with the utmost truth and esteem,
my dear Lord, your Lordship's most faithful and
obedient humble servant, " Hardwicke."
The Duke of Newcastle deserted Pitt, hoping to be
considered the head of the administration he had left,
but his treachery was unrewarded, and his own resig
nation but for a short time delayed. Lord Bute was
considered first minister. About this time began Mr.
Pitt's quarrel with Mr. Grenville, which made a severe
breach in that powerful party.
" The valour of the people had taken such a bent,
(says Horace Walpole,) that Lord Bute would not
check it, nothing but a peace could chain it up." On the
* M.P. for Somersetshire: he declined on the ground of ill-health.
Lord Bute procured the election of Sir John Cust.

632 rodney's account of the
!762. 22nd March, in the ensuing year, the news of the con
quest of Martinico by General Monckton and Admiral
Rodney arrived. The people ascribed, probably with
justice, the scheme to Pitt. Here follows the victor's
account of it to Lyttelton.
"Martinico, June 29th, 1762.
" My Lord,
" Yesterday I was favoured with your Lordship's
letter of the 27th of June, and find myself unhappy
that I cannot so soon have it in my power to obey
your commands as I could wish, the Stirling Castle
being gone upon the expedition with Sir Geo. Pocock
against the Havannah. I must needs say that Captain
Everet is to blame ; had he acquainted me that your
Lordship had a relation on board his ship, I should
certainly have taken him with me and provided for him
long since. I will, however, write to Mr. Keppel either
to make him a lieutenant, or send him by the first oppor
tunity to me, that I may convince your Lordship how
very much I shall always respect any person who has
the honour to be recommended by you. Give me
leave to return your Lordship my most sincere thanks
for your kind congratulations on the success of his
Majesty's arms in this part of the world.
" It ill becomes me, who had the honour of being one
of the happy instruments employed on this occasion to
talk much on the subject, but as I well know from your
Lordship's zeal for the welfare of Britain and her
armies, and as I have had time thoroughly to examine
into the nature of the conquests we have lately made
I am sure your Lordship will be glad to know my
opinion as far as is consistent with the safety of those

CONQUEST OF MARTINICO. 633
islands which have long been under his Majesty's 1762.
government. The more I have reflected upon the
consequence of Martinico, the more I am astonished at
the behaviour of the French court, who could neglect
to support a colony upon which, not only depended
their own empire in these seas, but likewise that of
Great Britain, for the island of Martinique is so happily
situated by nature, that whoever possesses it, can at
pleasure command off the others, and in itself, if per
fectly supported, is impregnable, from the whole coun
try being one entire fortification by nature. It is
astonishing to me, as they have been superior in these
seas during this war, that they did not overrun
all our islands, sweep all the slaves, and destroy the
plantations, for to keep our islands would not have been
worth their while. Martinique being capable to make
more sugar than all our islands put together.
" I, my Lord, have had an opportunity of visiting all
the English islands, none of which are capable to make
the least defence ; and I would answer to take the
whole with two thousand men in a month. I have like
wise conversed with the principal and most sensible
part of the inhabitants of Barbadoes, Antigua, and
St. Christopher's, who all agree that the neutral islands
will never be settled by Englishmen if Martinico is
given up. The vicinity of that island is an invincible
obstacle to their settlement ; as, in a few hours' sail,
their labour and expense of several years might be
destroyed before they could receive succour from
Europe, or even from the old English islands, and to
keep garrisons of troops in islands overrun with wood,
2 T

1762.

634 CONQUEST OF MARTINICO.
must be attended with the deaths of thousands before
they could possibly be cleared to yield any profit to
their mother-country. The planters are divided be
tween avarice and fear, they think if Martinique is
retained, they will be obliged to lower the price of their
sugars. On the other hand, if it is given up, they fear
the loss of their own plantations in case of another
war, and that the French will overrun them before
they can receive succours from Europe, which, as I
said before, they may easily do, and the example of this
war has taught them a lesson, which I fancy they will
never forget. Thus, my Lord, you see the opinion of
the inhabitants of this part of the world ; and, as a sea
man, I must own that the Port of Fort Royal and the
Carenage is of more consequence to us, as a maritime
power, than all the English islands put together, none
of which have a harbour except Antigua, an island
without wood and water, and whose harbour is very
difficult of entrance, and only capable to receive a very
few men of war, and none above sixty-four guns, and
is an island at the northern extremity of the Caribbees,
while Martinique is happily situated in the centre of
the whole. Its harbour is capable to contain the fleet of
Britain, extremely well wooded and watered, and can
at all times send succours to any of our islands, who
may be in danger from an enemy, and during the
hurricane months, its carenage can contain a number
of the largest ships of war, in perfect safety. I am sure
at home the Administration know the importance of
these islands ; and I flatter myself your Lordship will
only look upon this letter as wrote to a private friend,

CONQUEST OF THE HAVANNAH. 635
for whom I shall ever retain the most sincere respect, 1762.
and whose valuable friendship I shall esteem as the
greatest honour. Permit me, therefore, to assure your
Lordship, that I am, with the utmost sincerity,
" Your Lordship's
" most obliged,
" and most obedient humble servant,
" G. R. Rodney.
" P.S. — I beg my best respects to Admiral Smith.
" P.S. — I make no doubt but success has attended his
Majesty's arms at the Havannah.
"Right Hon. Lord Lyttelton."
Rodney's expectation was justified. Early in Sep
tember the news arrived of the conquest of the
Havannah by the three brothers, Lord Albemarle,
Commodore and Colonel Keppel. " Such a victory
seemed (says Walpole) to infuse as little joy into the
Court of St. James's as into that of Madrid." And
in truth no victories would have deterred Lord Bute and
the Court from making peace ; it was an object which
had but one rival in their affections, that of freeing
themselves from the controul of the Whig aristocracy.
The Dukes of Newcastle and Devonshire had been
driven out, Fox brought in, and Bute become first
Lord ofthe Treasury. " The conquest ofthe Havannah
(wrote Mr. Burke in 1769) was achieved by the highest
conduct, aided by circumstances of the greatest good
fortune. He knows the expence both of men and
treasure at which we bought that place. However, if
2 t2

636 PEACE OF PARIS.
] 762. it had so pleased the peace-makers, it was no dear pur
chase, for it was decisive of the war and the terms of the
treaty ; the Duke of Nivernois thought so. France,
England, Europe considered it in that light — all the
world except the then friends of the then ministry, who
wept for our victories, and were in haste to get rid of
the burthen of our conquests."
The peace so much desired by this faction was con
cluded before the close of the year. And, however
inadequate its terms might be to what the position of
Great Britain entitled her to demand, the Peace of Paris
was not inglorious to her. It accomplished the original
purposes of the war ; its capital error, according to Mr.
Burke, was the omission to take any security, that
" the Spanish monarchy was not melted down into the
cabinet of Versailles." According to Mr. Pitt, the
permission accorded to the French with respect to
the American Fisheries, and the abandonment of
the King of Prussia, were the darkest blots upon
this treaty. A few months before this event, Lyt
telton's old leader, Lord Bath, published a pamphlet,*
attacking the Duke of Newcastle, and vindicating the
admission of the Tories to power. He now wrote to
Lyttelton as follows : — "August 26th, 1762.
" My Lord,
" I am much obliged to your Lordship for your
letter and the good news it brought, though it be no
thing more than report and ship news ; yet from the many
particulars mentioned, I hope it may be true. I think
* Entitled, "Seasonable Hints from an honest man on the present

lord bath's letter. 637
the terms of the Peace are now pretty generally known, 1762.
and I perceive they give satisfaction to most people
here ; some few indeed grumble that any part of the
fishing is allowed France, but every sensible man in
England is convinced that she would not have con
sented to peace without some share of it ; but while
Halifax is ours, and that we maintain our superiority
at sea, that portion of the fishery we allow them will
always be in our power, or help to keep them in awe,
or to take from them, if they give us any real offence.
I am glad to hear that your health is so well established ;
travelling about (as you have done) has been of great
service to you. The waters here have been of
use to me, though I use them very ungratefully, and
shall quit them much sooner than I did last year, and
yet I am afraid I shall not be in town time enough to
see you before you go to Sandleford, nor be able to
get there till you have left it. When you go to Lord
Hardwicke's be so good as to assure him of my respects.
I hope we may all meet well together in winter, have
an easy session in Parliament, and be in perfect good
humour, congratulating each other on the happy
event of the birth of the Prince of Wales, and join
ing together without the least acrimony, to look into
abuses, and think of some scheme for reducing the
monstrous national debt.
" I am most truly and faithfully,
" your Lordsdip's most humble
" and obedient servant,
" Bath.
"Tunbridge, Aug. 28th, 1762."
On the 2nd of December Lyttelton wrote to his brother

638 perry and cider tax.
1 763. " We have got peace abroad, and I think, on the whole,
a good one ; but things seem to tend to war at home,
which will do not less harm than if it had broken out
before we had peace abroad. For my own part, I am
more a spectator than an actor in the new political
scene." After the Duke of Newcastle's dismission, the
great Whig families, headed by the Duke of Cumber
land, began to form a powerful opposition to the go
vernment of Lord Bute; they presented a phalanx which
the favourite vainly endeavoured to corrupt or divide :
meanwhile, three millions and a half were required for
the supplies ; and blind to the fate of Walpole, Lord
Bute introduced a tax on Perry and Cider, extending
the regulations of the excise to the collection of this
duty. It was a fatal error, — the country petitioned,
and Pitt thundered in his most awful tones against it ;
the House of Lords for the first time divided upon a
money bill ; Lord Hardwicke made his last speech
against this measure, and was supported by a minority,
respectable for its numbers, and formidable for its influ
ence. Lyttelton spoke so well against it on the second
and third reading as to extort the praise of Walpole.*
On the 19th of April, soon after the passing of this
obnoxious measure, Lord Bute amazed the political
world by his resignation. " Single (he said) in a
cabinet of my own forming, no aid in the House o^
Lords to support me except two Peers, (Lords Denbigh
and Pomfret,) both the Secretaries of State silent, and
the Lord Chief Justice, whom I myself brought into
office voting for me, yet speaking against me ; the
* The act was partially repealed in 1766.

LORD BUTE S RESIGNATION. 639
ground I tread upon is so hollow, that I am afraid, not 1763.
only of falling myself, but of involving my Royal
Master in my fall. It is time for me to retire."
It is said, that except in the ministerial changes
more immediately consequent on his resignation,
he never afterwards exerted any influence in poli
tical affairs. The reverse was generally believed at the
time. The balance of evidence seems in favour of his
having intrigued for some years, at least, after his re
signation ; but be this as it may, the system which he
helped to form, and which was fraught with so much
evil to this country continued long after this time. This
system of a double cabinet, which appears to have been
originally framed in the Court of Frederic Prince of
Wales, was probably devised as one method of carry
ing into execution the theory of " The Patriot
King," viz. : of governing without the aid of any
party in the State. This plan of separating the
court from the administration, of carrying everything
from national connexion to personal regards, and of
forming a regular party for that purpose, under the
title of King's men — this system qf favouritism " formed
on a supposition that the King is something external to
his Government, and that he may be honoured and
aggrandised even by its debility and disgrace," has
been embalmed for the warning of posterity in Burke's
admirable " Thoughts on the cause of the present Dis
contents," from which the foregoing expressions are
taken. " Thus for the time (he says) were pulled down
in the persons of the Whig leaders and of Mr. Pitt, in
spite of the services of the one at the accession of the

640 lord egremont's death.
1763. Royal Family, and the recent services of the other in
the war, the two only securities for the importance qf
the people ; power arising from popularity ; and power
arising from connexion." On the resignation of Lord
Bute, Fox, ejected from the pay office, was created Lord
Holland, Mr. Grenville became first Lord of the
Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer,* his brother-
in-law and Lyttelton's friend, Lord Egremont, and Lord
Halifax, Secretaries of State. Soonf afterwards occurred
the well known affair of Wilkes' 45th number of the
North Briton, which brought into question the legality
of General Warrants. Both this matter and the sudden
death of Lord Egremont, whose abilities were consider
able, enfeebled the government. Mr. Grenville wrote
to Lyttelton.
" My Lord,
" The concern which you so kindly express for
us upon the great misfortune which we have sustained
in the death of Lord Egremont, demands our warmest
and sincerest thanks. The blow was indeed a severe
one, and particularly to those who were connected with
* Fox having, according to Walpole, refused to accept them.
f " Parties awoke again, one hardly knows how or why, and their
struggle during the early part of the reign of George the Third, was of
such a character, that after studying it attentively, we turn from it as
from a portion of history equally anomalous and disagreeable. Yet
its uninstructiveness in one season is instructive in another : and I
will venture to call your attention to that period in which the most
prominent names— alas ! for the degraded state of English party-
are those of John Wilkes and Junius."— Arnold's Lectures in
Modern History, i. 7.

lord bute's intrigue with pitt. 641
him in friendship and in alliance. The high regard 1763.
and the real affection which he bore to you, must, I
know, make his loss very sensibly felt by your Lord
ship. Every circumstance both public and private
concur to make it lamented by me. Lady Egremont
continues tolerably well. My wife has been extremely-
ill since this melancholy event, but is now I hope in a
fair way to get well again. I will not omitt to inform
Lord Thomond of your obliging attention to him upon
this unhappy occasion."
No long time after this event Mr. Grenville, paying a
visit to Buckingham House, was startled at finding Mr.
Pitt's gouty chair, (the boot of which, he used to say,
was as well known as if his name was written upon it)
at the door of the palace. This abortive intrigue of
Lord Bute to subvert a minister, whom he could not
make his passive instrument, was defeated, partly per
haps by the haughtiness of Pitt, but chiefly by the
narrow-minded obstinacy of the King, — though the
former declared if examined upon oath, he could not
tell upon what point the negotiation had broken off.
Some account of it is to be found in the following
letter : —
" Hagley Park, September 27th, 1763.
" My dear Governour,
" Lieutenant Parry, who brings you this, is the
son of the parson of Clent, and I hear has behaved
himself very well in the service. He desires me to
recommend him to your favour and countenance while

642 lord bute's attempt
1763. he continues at Jamaica. Since my last I have re
ceived your despatch relating to the affairs of your
government, which 1 shall make a proper use of when
it may be of any service, and a charming letter from
the fair Governess, for which I desire you to return
her my most hearty thanks. I have also your letter
of the 1st of June notifying your having sent me a
pipe of Madeira, for which I am much obliged to you,
but it is not yet received. The books you mention are
come, and the last post brought me an account of
three turtles, with which I have made three epicures
happy. The only private news I have to tell you
since my last letter is, that as the difficulty of making
settlements till my son is of age renders it impossible
for him to marry Miss Warburton before that time, I
have consented to Sir Richard's desire of sending
him abroad for a twelvemonth, the expense of his tra
velling being borne by Sir Richard. He is just
setting out from France to go to Italy, and I hope
next summer to come to him at Florence and make
with him the tour of the Milanese part of Germany,
and all Switzerland by the end of October.
'' As for our public affairs, they are in great confu
sion, Lord Egremont is dead : a crude attempt has been
made by Lord Bute to bring in Mr. Pitt, and some of
the heads ofthe opposition. Pitt had a conference
with the King, but in talking over the system, Pitt's
demands were thought too high and rejected. The
Duke of Bedford has been since made President of the
Council; Lord Egmont First Commissioner of the
Admiralty ; Lord Hillsborough First Lord of Trade,

TO BRING IN PITT. 643
in the room of Lord Shelburne who has resigned ; 1763.
Lord Hallifax and G. Grenville continue in their offices,
though the negotiation with Pitt was opened by Lord
Bute without their participation, and they are thought
to be on very bad terms with his Lordship. This state of
things does not seem made for duration, and some
suppose that Lord Holland, who is coming back into
England will in effect be first minister. In the mean
while the French, seeing the weakness of our Govern
ment, do not execute some important articles of the
Peace. A new war is apprehended with France and
Spain : we have one with the Indians in North America
— our stocks fall very low — the people are full of discon
tent — and everything seems to tend to distraction and
ruin. My best comfort is, I have done all that was in
my power to endeavour to strengthen the Government
at this critical time, and believe that if others had
acted with the same temper and moderation, (I will
not say with the same prudence), things might have
had a better issue. Lord Egremont's death was one
of those strokes which no prudence can remedy, and
I feel it painfully, both on publick and private ac
counts. If the Government settles in the hands it
seems going into, I will have nothing to do with it,
which is all I can say at present. My most affec
tionate compliments to the Governess, and believe me
ever, " Your most affectionate brother,
" Lyttelton.
" I suppose you have heard from other hands of
Dr. Ayscough's* death. He has left ten thousand
* Vide pp. 29, 440, 1, 2.

644 lord bute's attempt
1763. pounds to his wife and at her death to his children. It
is hoped she will have a pension.
" Sir Richard is in England and in good health."
The next letter is from Lord Hardwicke's eldest
son to Lyttelton.
"Wrest, Sept. the 13th, 1763.
" My Lord,
" The hospitable, polite, and easy reception which
I met with at Hagley, has left too agreeable an im
pression upon my mind, not to make it almost a point
of social obligation, to return your Lordship my par
ticular acknowledgments for it, and to accompany them
likewise with Lady Grey's.*
" We returned hither from our travels the 1st inst.
having seen everything we proposed in our journey,
and been particularly lucky in weather at Chatsworth.
We were likewise witnesses there to the remarkable
incident, ofthe express from the Great Commoner which
carried his Grace up in such haste to town. The con
veyance I write by does not allow me to enter far into
the late extraordinary transaction, some parts of which
I really do not comprehend, but this I will venture to
say, that it appears in its original plan, to have been
intended as a counterpart to what your Lordship was
acquainted with not long ago, and consequently on too
* Lord Royston married Jemima Marchioness Grey, and Baroness
Lucas of Crudwell, only daughter of John third Earl of Breadalbane,
by Amabel de Grey, eldest daughter and coheiress of Henry de Grey,
third and last Duke of Kent.

TO BRING IN PITT. 645
narrow a bottom to be attended with success. I am 1763°
inclined to think that disgust was taken at some par
ticulars which were urged in a certain audience, and
the manner might likewise displease, — though certainly
nothing of that kind was intended. The going too
far at first setting out, is not the way which should be
taken in Courts, where unfavourable impressions must
be removed before the foundations are laid for a new
superstructure. The consequences, however, of this
abortive attempt seem to shut the door more than ever
against union and reconciliation ; and of course your
Lordship and myself have a bustling and disagreeable
winter to expect. The person who set this overture on
foot, seems to have disobliged all sides ; his own, by not
concerting it with them, the others, by not carrying
it through when it was begun.
" I must not forget Lady Grey's compliments to
Miss Lyttelton, nor my own to Mr. Lyttelton, if he is
now at Hagley. " I am, with the greatest respect,
" your Lordship's most faithful
" humble servant, " Royston.
" P.S. — I had the pleasure to leave Lord Hardwicke
well at his place yesterday morning. He desired to be
remembered to your Lordship."
Lyttelton's answer to Lord Royston was as follows : —
"Hagley, September 19, 1763.
" My Lord,
" I am glad the weather was so fine to shew you

646 letter to lord royston.
1763. Chats worth. The express from the Great Commoner,
which his Grace received while you were there, must
have surprised you as much as the first account of it
did me. I should have thought he would have been
the last, instead of the first, with whom the great Lord
would have treated : but he loves to make short turns,
and, I presume, was apprehensive of others going before
him. In my humble opinion his Lordship judged very
ill, for perhaps there never was an opening of a nego
ciation, in which a prudent mediator would have been
of more service. I entirely agree with your Lordship's
judgment, that the going too far at first setting out is
not the way which should be taken in courts, when
unfavourable impressions must be removed before the
foundations are laid for a new superstructure. My
old friend was once a skilful courtier; but since he
himself has attained a kind of royalty, he seems more
attentive to support his own majesty than to pay the
necessary regards to that of his Sovereign. The conse
quences of this error will be mischievous to the publick,
and very unpleasant to those who wish to see it served
in this difficult and critical time, by a union of all who
can conciliate to the government the affection and con
fidence of the nation. Till that is done things will go
on from bad to worse ; but that cannot be done till the
King himself is convinced, by a gentle and temperate
language, that nothing is desired but his service.
" I don't wonder at what your Lordship tells me of
the hurt that the first mover of this crude negociation
has done himself with both parties. But I much wonder
how those whom he left out of his secret in so important

WILKES. 647
a transaction can still continue ministers, or imagine 1763.
to themselves any safety in the new system !"
" Thus (says Walpole), from a strange concurrence
of jarring causes, there sprang out of great weakness
a strong and cemented Ministry, who all acquiesced in
the predominant power of Grenville.* The favourite
hated had tried to shake him off, and he knew it."
In November the Commons resolved number 45
of the North Briton to be a false, scandalous, and
seditious libel, and that it should be burned by the
hands of the common hangman. They then resolved
that the privilege of Parliament did not extend to the
writing and printing seditious libels. A severe debate
ensued in both Houses. In the Commons, Pitt though
pronouncing the writer to be " the blasphemer of his
God, and the libeller of his King," reprobated in his
severest style the facility with which the House sur
rendered its privileges. In the Lords (where Wilkes
had been previously attacked for a blasphemous, obscene,
and stupid Essay on Woman,) an animated debate took
place. Lyttelton spoke with great earnestness and
considerable ability. It is the only speech preserved of
* " If he was ambitious, I will say this for him, his ambition was of
a noble and generous strain. It was to raise himself not by the low
pimping politics of a Court, but to win his way to power through
the laborious gradation of public service ; and to secure himself a
well-earned seat in Parliament, by a thorough knowledge of its con
stitution, and a perfect practice in all its business." This is part of
Mr. Burke's celebrated character of Mr. Grenville, certainly not
drawn by a hand disposed to flatter in this, if in any, instance.— Speech
on American Taxation.

648 lyttelton's speech on privilege.
1763. the debate in the Lords.* During the course of it he
observed, " There are two advantages upon which our
public welfare and strength particularly depend, both of
which these wicked libellers have most diligently and
maliciously laboured to destroy; I mean the union of the
two kingdoms of England and Scotland ; and that extinc
tion of party spirit, the bane of all public spirit, I say my
Lords, that extinction of party spirit, which crowned
with happiness and with glory the latter years of our late
most gracious Sovereign, and the beginning of his present
Majesty's most auspicious, most benignant, and most
prosperous reign. Of these inestimable blessings these
execrable writings have attempted to deprive us : they
have breathed a spirit of discord, which, if great care be
not taken to stop the farther progress of it, will avenge
the enemies of this country of all the evils they have
suffered from that invincible force and energy, which a
very different spirit, a spirit of union and concord, enabled
us to exert. What can be more injurious, more
fatal to our happiness than weekly and daily libels sent
all over the kingdom, which have a strong and manifest
tendency to break those ties of mutual interest and
mutual affection, which bind and knit us together ; and
to raise animosities, jealousies, deadly feuds, and civil
wars between the two nations ? If the detected authors
of such writings, by being members of Parliament, a
circumstance which in reality much enhances their
guilt, may go on with full security, in open defiance of
all law and legal authority, to inflame the wounds they
have made, to infuse into them new venom, till they
be rendered incurable ; if this indeed be English liberty,
* It is printed in Vol. 3 of Lyttelton's Works.

lyttelton's speech on privilege. 649
then, I am sure, our constitution will be felo dese, and 176L
wants no enemy but itself to bring itself to destruc
tion." " Upon the whole, I am confident your Lordships
will on no account depart from that maxim, which is
the corner stone of all government ! that justice
should have its course without stop or impediment.
" ' Jus, fas, lex, potentissima sint.' This, my
lords, is the very soul and essence of freedom. Ob
struct this, and you immediately open a door to all
violence and confusion, to all the iniquity and all the
cruelties of private revenge, to the destruction of
private peace, the dissolution of public order, and
in the end to an unlimited and despotic authority,
which we must be forced to submit to as a remedy
against such intolerable evils. The dominion of law
is the dominion of liberty. Privilege against law, in
matters of high concernment to the public, is
oppression, is tyranny, wheresoever it exists."
The opinion of a very intelligent bystander at this
debate, to whom I have before referred, is thus ex
pressed in a letter to his friend : —
" I suppose I need not tell you that the present
Ministry have a great majority in the House of Com
mons. When a motion was made in the House of
Lords that Privilege of Parliament shall not extend to
the authors of seditious libels, Lord Mansfield, very late
at night, made a speech which lasted two hours, and
spoke so well that the persons present would have been
content to have heard him two hours longer. Lord
2 u

650 droit le roi.
1764. Lyttelton spoke on the same side extremely well, and
the motion was carried by a majority of 114 to 35."*
Lyttelton also spoke on the question of the riots
which took place at the burning of Wilkes' book.
In February the following year, the House of
Commons had a great and long debate on the illegality
of General Warrants, and it was only by a majority of
fourteen that the ministry carried the adjournment of
the question for four months. On the last day of this
debate, Lyttelton, seconded by the Duke of Grafton,
acquainted the Lords, that on the following Tuesday
he should lay a complaint before them against a new
book (a sort of revived Filmer), called Droit le Roi.
On the 21st he moved for a censure on the book as
Jacobitical, violating the Bill of Rights, and the Revolu
tion ; and reproved ministers who, falling severely
on seditious pamphlets, had yet overlooked one sub
versive of all liberty. The book was sentenced to be
burnt and the author ordered to be taken into custody.
On the 16th Lyttelton wrote to " the Governor."
" The political world is still in a good deal of
ferment, and I will not pretend to prophesy into what
state it will subside. I have at present little intercourse
with any of the ministry, though I lately spoke for
them with much zeal and more than usual applause,
on the question concerning privilege in criminal cases.
But I think I shall differ from them through the rest of
the session. This conduct you will think does not lead to
preferment. I think so too, but considerations superior
to interest have determined me to it ; and I am paid
* See Nicholls' Lit. Anec. vol. 8, 238-48.

GENERAL CON WAY'S DISMISSION. 651
for it, not only by the approbation of my own conscience, 1 764.
but by the impressions I find it has made in my favour
among the wiser and better part of the court and
country. At the same time I discharged my debt of
gratitude to Scotland, for the great kindness shewn me
there, by expressing a just detestation of the scurrilous
libels against that nation, which nobody else had animad
verted upon with a proper resentment in either House.
I believe I may hope from the sensibility of the Scotch
to their national honour, that this zeal of mine in their
cause will not be easily or soon forgotten. Of the
King's gracious acceptance of my endeavours to serve
him on this and other occasions, in the course of the
last year, I have had all the marks I can desire. So
much for politicks." ******
General Conway voted against ministers on the
question of the legality of General Warrants, and was
immediately dismissed from his Lordship of the Bed
chamber, and his command of a regiment of Dragoons.
This severe, impolitic, and unjust act, greatly injured
the administration. Conway's character was fair, his
talents good, his friends many and powerful, and one
of them, Horace Walpole, was delighted to concentrate
the mischief and malignity of his nature upon the task
of injuring Mr. Grenville. The Dukes of Newcastle
and Devonshire, Lord Rockingham, Charles Townshend
and Yorke, and a large body of Whigs were ready to
form an opposition, but nothing could be done without
Mr. Pitt, who stood aloof, angry with the ministers,
affronted with the opposition ; to reconcile the opposi
tion with Mr. Pitt, for the sake of injuring Grenville
2 u 2

652 CHARLES TOWNSHEND'S SCHEME.
1 764. and avenging Conway, was the darling object of Horace
Walpole, whose powers of intrigue were considerable —
to reconcile Mr. Pitt and Lord Temple with Mr.
Grenville, to unite the brotherhood again, and with
these to form a party against the Court faction and
Lord Bute, with or without the aid of the Duke of
Bedford's party, was the straightforward and honour
able object of Lyttelton ; for this he of course incurred
the rancorous abuse of Walpole, who had vainly endea
voured to make him his tool. Lyttelton had lately
been reconciled to Pitt and Temple, and entertained a
sincere regard for Conway, upon whose conduct Pitt
bestowed, according to Walpole, " civil applause," but
refused to see him.
One of the most extraordinary persons of this
period, but of whose talents we have scarcely any
vestige, except the recorded admiration of his contem
poraries was, to borrow Mr. Burke's expression, "that
prodigy* Charles Townshend ;" he was a younger son
of the able and honest coadjutor of Walpole, (Viscount
Townshend,) — his extreme political versatility, which
* See Burke's speech on American Taxation. — "In truth, Sir, he
was the delight and ornament of this House, and the charm of every
private society which he honoured with his presence. Perhaps there
never arose in this country, nor in any country, a man of a more
pointed or finished wit, and (where his passions were not concerned)
of a more refined, exquisite and penetrating judgment. If he had not
so great a stock, as some have had who have flourished formerly, of
knowledge long treasured up, he knew better by far than any man I
ever was acquainted with, how to bring together within a short time
all that was necessary to establish, to illustrate, and to decorate that
side of the question he supported," &c. " He is the orator, (said
Mr. Flood), the rest are speakers."

CHARLES TOWNSHEND'S SCHEME. 653
procured for .him the nickname of the weathercock,* 1764.
alone counteracted the influence of his brilliant abilities.
He wrote to Lyttelton as follows : — " May 2, 1764.
" My dear Lord,
" I have the honour of sending you the copy you
desired of my letter to the Duke of Newcastle, and I ^
would have sent it sooner, if I had not thought it
prudent to vary, and I hope improve the expressions in
some of the most delicate parts of it. They will occur
to your Lordship and perhaps have your approbation.
" I dined yesterday at Devonshire House, and, after
the ladies had retired to coffee, conversation turned
upon politics. I took the opportunity of asserting the
necessity of union and immediate activity ; union
declaredly with Mr. Pitt and Mr. Yorke, and activity
both in a summer and a winter plan. Mr. Conway
and Mr. Walpole were present : the Duke made strong -'
general professions ; Mr. Conway seem'd to think with
me, and Mr. Walpole went before me in many points,
but no final issue ; no plan, no positive answer as to
great individuals, and the whole ended in indecision.
" I shall see Mr. Yorke this evening at eight o'clock,
and I wish you may have had some previous conversa
tion with him.
" Mr. Onslow and Mr. T. Townshend have been at
Hayes, and they, as I hear, have represented Mr. Pitt
as very angry upon the dismission of Mr. Conway, and
* One of the squibs in the newspapers of the day was, "We hear
that the Right Hon. Charles Townshend is indisposed at his house in
Oxfordshire, of a pain in his side, but it is not said in which side."

654 CHARLES TOWNSHEND'S SCHEME.
1764. very explicit in his opposition. They are-young agents
and may speak from their own wishes.
" On Friday I go to Claremont, it will be a day of
some importance : much will depend upon Mr. Yorke's
answer this evening, for, as to myself, if the general
union be not now formed, and a consequential system
adopted, I will despair, and shall abandon the ungrate
ful and hopeless office.
" I shall certainly not fail of giving your Lordship
the earliest communication of whatever I learn, that is
interesting, and am with the truest personal regard,
" My Lord,
" your affectionate humble servant,
" C. Townshend.
"Grosvenor Square, May 2, 1764."
The enclosed letter to the Duke of Newcastle was as
follows : —
" My dear Lord,
" I have this evening the honour of your Grace's
letter whicli is writ upon so many very interesting sub
jects that I am not able to resist the desire it has raised
in me of speaking my sentiments fully to your Grace,
though with the utmost deference.
" Your Grace's knowledge of the world and great
experience in public business, necessarily make me dis
trust any opinion of mine from which you differ, yet
upon further reflection, I have not found reason to
change the idea I lately expressed to you, of the tem
per, character, and deadness of the time we live in.
Recollect, my Lord, the ingratitude you yourself have

CHARLES TOWNSHEND'S SCHEME. 655
met with : the desertion of the majority of the Whigs : 1764.
the many great names and families who have aban
doned all union from obligation and consanguinity upon
the frivolous distinction of supporting the person of
the King : the successful attack made upon the free
dom of the press : the quiet reception of every act
of violence offered to persons and to things : and the
perfect state of tranquillity in the city and the coun
ties which now seemingly take place under a ministry
lately so odious and still so rash. Are not these proofs
that the national temper is subdued — that opposition
by so often deceiving has lost the power of raising
confidence, and that indifference and distrust are be -
come habitual and general ? I wish any degree of
spirit, care, or attention, were able to reform this error
or to awaken men to a sense of danger, but I expect
it not, and I should disguise if I did not frankly con
fess to you that I despair of any such revolution.
" Your Grace seems to regret that a stand was not
made upon the unjustifiable treatment of our friend
the Duke of Devonshire.* I had not at that time
the honour of being in his Grace's confidence, and
therefore know not what he himself wished, but
certainly the gradual overthrow of the Whigs at
court was too quietly submitted to in the several
preliminary steps, and could never in my opinion
have been completed, if it had been at first re-
* After the dismission of the Duke of Newcastle in 1762, the
Duke of Devonshire, during the negotiation for the Peace, refusing
to attend the Council board, was dismissed from the Lord Cham-
berlainship, and the King with his own hand erased his name from
the list of Privy Councillors.

656 CHARLES TOWNSHEND'S SCHEME.
1764. sisted. Each separate personal injury, was, I fear, too
far considered as an individual case, whereas if the
very first attempt had been made a common cause,
the defence of the whole would probably have been
not difficult. I agree with your Grace that the mi
nority, in defiance of all disadvantages, made the
ministry and the crown look pale upon their numbers,
in one part of the last session, and it is now said,
perseverance and activity would have given success.
Perhaps this may be true, but if it be, what was the
sudden and secret cause which slackened their activity ?
Some impute it to jealousy, but to jealousy in whom,
and of whom ? others to inattention ; these to dis
union, and those to want of suitable and interesting
questions of business. As to the visit to Cambridge,*
I know how loudly I have been condemned for that ab
sence ; but, my Lord, such loose censure does not even
dwell upon me, especially when it comes from men
with whom I have acted voluntarily, not by compact ;
from opinion not obligation ; and who have no right to
circumscribe any one sentiment or direct any one
action of my political conduct; in whose plans I had
originally no participation, whose systems I am not
bound to adopt, and to whom I stand in no sense or in
any degree accountable. Let them distribute their
* Lord Hardwicke's death caused a vacancy in his High Steward
ship of Cambridge. Lord Sandwich and Lord Hardwicke's son and
successor were rival candidates for the office. The contest was waged
with the keenest animosity. On the day of election the votes ap
peared to be equal, though each side claimed a majority of one.
The King's Bench pronounced a decision in favour of Lord Hard
wicke.

CHARLES TOWNSHEND'S SCHEME. 657
wild panegyric over their glass, as wine warms and 1764.
prejudice dictates, I shall still, unmortified by their
harmless disapprobation, be ever pleased with having
obeyed your commands, and endeavoured at least to
assist my friend Lord Hardwicke and his family at
Cambridge. I say this as often as I hear it, which is
almost every day, from some of our most zealous friends,
who continually speak of this event either in direct terms
of blame or by insinuations which are more offensive.
" The Duke of Devonshire and Lord Rockingham
have done me the honour of dining with me this day,
but we were not alone, and our conversation was at
large. Your Grace hoped something would have been
settled, and you see the necessity of a summer plan
preparatory to the winter. I have said this, but my
idea goes further, and you will forgive me if in this
critical minute, perhaps the last of deliberation, I
should open my mind freely; in the language of a man
that would bring things to decision ; and who being at
liberty to act as his judgment advises, waits for the
communication of such a systematical and probable plan
as may induce and justify those who shall again embark.
" For myself, I am of opinion, my Lord, that the
minority should be strengthened, if it can be done upon
proper terms, by a connection with Lord Bute or with
Lord Holland, or by the reconciliation of Lord Tem
ple and Mr. Pitt with Mr. Grenville ; because I think
the party in the House of Lords is weak, in the Court
odious, and in itself not sufficient for success ; at least
with this parliament, when there is only one court, so
young a king, and at the close of an unpopular war,

658 CHARLES TOWNSHEND'S SCHEME.
1764. and in an age of extravagance, indigence, immorality,
and indifference.
" I presume not to enter into the reciprocal aver
sions and late sentiments which may be considered
under this head : too new in the confidence of your
Grace ; unaccustomed to hear the sentiments of my
friend the Duke of Devonshire upon topics so near to
him, and too much a stranger to the voice ofthe Duke
of Cumberland, to approach so delicate a subject ;
I only express my wish, and presume to suggest what I
think expedient and necessary to give opposition force.
" Could both of the former of these be done, or
could the family reconciliation be accomplished, the
next thing would be to review the minority, and allot
to particular men their separate departments in speak
ing to individuals ; from which revisal and explanation
it would be learnt how .far late inactivity has lessened
numbers ; what may be hoped from another trial and
what assistance is requisite.
" To gain upon the minds of the people, a daily
paper, upon the plan of one of the present prints,
should be set up and circulated diligently but quietly ;
and two good pens should be employed to write from
materials suggested by men of knowledge, and subject
to their inspection. Some leading men in each town
through the several counties should be admitted to
confidence, and be persuaded to give their clubs and dis
tricts the tone of conversation recommended from hence.
" A Committee should be appointed to consider and
prepare heads of business for the next winter ; and in
one word, the kingdom should be kept warm and the

CHARLES TOWNSHEND'S SCHEME. 659
chiefs attentive and laborious during the recess. Sir 1764.
William Baker should be desired to put the city in
motion, both as an example to other counties, and as
an attack nearest home.
"Your Grace will perhaps say that this is mighty well ;
but reconciliations with Lord Bute and Lord Holland,
and the restoring of harmony between warm and
alienated relations are all impossible ; and I shall be
lieve it upon your testimony ; presuming only to add,
that if that be the case, I should apprehend the mi
nority unable, as it now stands, to break the ministry,
unwilling to accept the only allies useful and necessary,
and itself composed of parts not perfectly united may
possibly not much advance, in another session, weak
ened by the conclusion of the last, perhaps lessened
in numbers certainly in public opinion : no General
Warrants to arraign ; no extraordinary measures, and
no ground of debate, but the army, the navy, and the
several disputable speculations which may occur about
the state of the debt and the condition of public credit.
" I must again beg pardon for taking up so much
of your time, but my mind is full both of matter and
anxiety. I could not resist the impression, and it is
perhaps right I should take an opportunity of saying
not only what, but all I think, to your Grace.
" My view in doing it is honest, for I profess I wish
to see decision and have long tried to enforce that
doctrine. As things now stand the ministry are
strong. The minority not in strength or reputation :
Lord Bute forced to keep a neutrality at least ; and the
public grow familiarised to an administration they see
so little opposed. Mr. Legge, I fear, will not recover.

660 CHARLES TOWNSHEND'S SCHEME.
1764. Mr. Pitt seems withdrawn into himself, and retired
to his family and amusements. Other men act as they
did, seldom seen and inexplicit, while the Ministry
diligently pick up individuals every day, who see no
other prospect, nor hear of any other union. For my
own part, I prefer, it is evident, the characters, claims,
and interests of those I have voluntarily supported, to
those of all other men, and if any hope should remain
of success, there is no situation or advantage I would
not risque or sacrifice. But, my Lord, it must
be a reasonable hope of success, resulting from union,
plan, activity and strength. I am far from being in
a condition to make even this prudent, after my
family disappointments, and the little favour I have ever
met with from former administrations, but there is
nothing I would not do to support those I prefer, upon
a system which has in it any evidence of real concert,
consistent plan, and the solid grounds of strength.
" I have now suggested the means which have oc
curred to me, but I am as open to consider any other,
and only dread the loss of more time in more broken
consultations, imperfect plans, and undecisive seasons.
Let me add that the generous manner in which Mr.
Pitt behaved to the whole party last year, his name,
his weight, his talents, all make his concurrence "a
necessary part of any union, and I should very muc'1
fear any plan would be found ineffectual which had
not both the lustre of Mr. Pitt's accession to it, and
the declared and active support of Lord Hardwicke's
family, few men in the country being equal to Mr.
Yorke in that importance, which, thank God, still
results from abilities, integrity, and independence."

PITT AND SIR W. PYNSENT. 661
It will be remembered,* that in the early part of his 1765.
life Pitt had received the unexpected legacy of
£10,000 from the old Duchess of Marlborough.
Early in 1765, Sir William Pynsent, a Somersetshire
baronet, died and left his whole fortune (in real and
personal estates said to be worth at that time above
£40,000,) to Pitt, to whom he was in no ways related
and whom he had never seen. Admiration for Pitt's
general public conduct, but especially for his opposition
to the legality of General Warrants, seems to have
been the cause of the bequest.
" Fortune, (Lyttelton wrote to his restored friend)
" comes to you in the only manner in which you would
give her a hearty welcome ; she is brought by virtue,
and attended by honour. I most heartily congratu
late Lady Chatham, Miss Pitt, and your young family
on the agreeable method Sir William Pynsent has
found of expressing the sense of the public, and what
is at this time the best act of patriotism, helping to
pay the public debt."
On the 7th of February Mr. Grenville brought for
ward his fifty-five resolutions, afterwards incorporated
into an Act of Parliament, for laying nearly the same
stamp duties on the colonies in America as were pay
able in England.
They were carried by a majority of 245 against
49, and scarcely noticed by the opposition except by
a very eloquent invective of Colonel Barre, which is
the only fragment ofthe debate preserved. That he in
veighed against it seems certain, but that he uttered at
* See above, p. 233.

662 AMERICAN STAMP TAX.
1765. the time the invective ascribed to him, seems doubtful.
Burke, who sat under the gallery, said, that he " never
heard a more languid debate." It is well said by Wal
pole (in the recently published memoirs of George
the Third) with reference to this memorable Stamp
Act — " It removed the burden of a tax to distant
shoulders and the most momentous acts are seldom
much discussed when no immediate interest occurs to
oppose them." Probably Mr. Grenville's Act only
hastened the inevitable tendency of these colonies to
emancipation from the mother country, they had been
long overlooked and neglected, and the recent conquest
of Canada, freeing them from the apprehension of
French aggression, rendered British protection no
longer necessary.
It is a curious trait of Walpole that he shrunk with
instinctive sagacity from the suggestion that he might
derive a revenue from taxing these colonies.
Lyttelton wrote to the Governor on new year's day.
"London, Jan. 1, 1765.
" I am much pleased with the conversation of your
friend, Mr. Ford, especially as I learn so authentically
from him into how good a state you have brought the
affairs of your government. I find you are now as
popular in Jamaica as you were in Carolina ; a great
atchievement, my dear brother, considering the tempers
you had to deal with, and their long habits of anarchy
and insolence to their governors ! The subduing faction
there is an exploit as much harder than your triumph
over it in Carolina, as the labour of Hercules in

MR. YORKE. 663
subduing the Hydra was beyond his killing the snakes 1765.
that attackt him in his cradle. I congratulate you on
your victory and the happy peace that has followed it,
which I heartily wish may be lasting. After you have
enjoyed it some time, you shall come over to England
and teach our ministry here, who want a little teaching
the art of suppressing faction, and establishing tran
quillity. Since I wrote last no alteration has taken
place in the political scene, except that Mr. Charles
Yorke has accepted of a patent of precedence between
the Attorney and Solicitor-General, that he might shew
a willingness to receive a favour from the King, and v
go on more agreeably in the line of his profession. He
did not choose to be Attorney-General again, as he was
much pressed to be : but took this feather instead of it,
for which he is much blamed by those against the
Court, and not much praised by the Court. Time will
shew whether he is nearer by it to any great object.
As for me, I am just in statu quo, and had rather remain
so, till I see such measures taken as I think will
strengthen this country, bothat home and abroad, much
more than the present system appears to me to do it,
in this perilous crisis.
" My son is in France, where I believe he will stay
till about the beginning of April. His match is off. If
you ask the reason, I can give it you in no better words
than those of Rochefoucault, who says that, " une
femme est un benefice qui oblige a la residence." A
happy new year and many, to you and yours, my dear
Governor. I have the pleasure to hear my lady
governess as much praised as you for the good example

664 the king's illness.
1765. she sets to the ladies of Jamaica, in all domestic virtues
and for the amiableness of her behaviour, which makes
her a useful helpmate to you in your government.
God bless you both, and your several little ones, whom
I long to see and to love. I am, ever most cordially,
" your very affectionate brother,
" Lyttelton."
The Session had not far advanced before the King
was attacked by an alarming illness, the precursor of
that which clouded the latter years of his life, though
believed at the time to be of a consumptive character.
In his next letter*/to his brother, Lyttelton wishes him
joy on the birth of a son, laments the dissipation,
extravagance, and gaming of his own son in Italy;
consoling himself, however, by remarking, that " by
his letters it appears that there is a great energy and
force in his understanding ; and as his faults are only
those of most of our young travellers, I hope his return
into England and cool reflection on the mischief of his
past follies will enable his reason to get the better of
any recent ill habits contracted by him abroad, and
that the natural goodness of his heart will give a right
turn to the vivacity of his passions. But I need not
tell you that anxiety for fear it should happen other
wise, has taken away much of the pleasure of my life.
However my health remains (God be thanked) pretty
good, and when I compare it with that of other men of
my age, I find no cause to complain. * * *
" I have heard with surprize ofthe late extravagant
behaviour of your Jamaica Assembly, which has
* Written March 1 1 .

the king's illness. 665
disturbed the good harmony that seemed before so well 176.5.
established between your Excellency and them ; but I
can have the pleasure to assure you that all their
countrymen here, Beckford, Fuller, &c. are clearly
against them and approve of your conduct ; so I hope
that the receipt of letters from England will bring
them to their senses.
" No alteration has happened in the political world
since I wrote to you last, but God be praised, the
King, who has been very ill of a fever and inflammation
of the lungs, is now well recovered. His health is not
so firm as the great importance of it to the nation
would make one wish it to be ; but it may be hoped
that the ill effects he has lately experienced from colds
will produce more caution for the future." * * *
The King, immediately on his recovery, compelled
his Ministers to introduce into Parliament a Regency
Bill, which was to vest in him the power of appoint
ing from time to time, by instruments under his sign
manual, either the Queen or any other person of the
royal family usually residing in Great Britain, to be
the guardian of his successor, and Regent of the king
dom, until such successor should attain the age of eigh
teen years, subject to the like restrictions. In an act
passed in the twenty-fourth year of George the Second,
a power had been granted to the late King to add, by
his will, four persons to the Regent's Council ; but to
grant the secret nomination of the Regent himself, v as
a great additional concession to the Crown.
As no speech of the debate in the House of Lords
on this important constitutional question has ever
2 x

666 THE REGENCY BILL.
1765. been printed, I am tempted to insert in this place the
arguments urged by Lyttelton on this occasion ; they
are printed from the MSS. in his own handwriting.
" My Lords,
" It is with the utmost reluctance, and the deepest
concern I ever felt in the discharge of any publick
duty, that I find myself obliged to express to your
Lordships my disapprobation of one very material part
of this Bill, which is now under your consideration.
I do not object to the principle of the Bill. On the
contrary, it appears to me a fresh instance of his Ma
jesty's royal goodness and tender care of the publick,
that he has called upon us to make an early provision,
as much as possible to alleviate the greatest misfortune
that might befall his Royall family or the people he
governs. God be thankt that his age, and the present
state of his health, render it very improbable that such
a misfortune should happen : but the chance of a
Minority is a natural evil, incident to all kingdoms ;
and how to guard against the dangers, which always
threaten a state in that situation, so far as human
prudence can guard against them, by wise and timely
precautions, is a capital object of policy, the neglect of
which, or not doing it in a proper manner, which may
be worse than neglect, has been fatal to nations. My
Lords, in taking such precautions, the first and greatest
care of a wise government ought to be, that it may be
done in a manner conformable to the spirit and general
principles of the Constitution. This indeed is a requi
site without which nothing salutary, nothing good can
be done ; and in this requisite I must think this Bill
defective.

THE REGENCY BILL. 667
" My Lords, the main pillar, the corner house, 1765-
upon which the whole system of our Government rests,
is this great maxim, that in all matters of high concern
ment to the general weal of the kingdom, not belong
ing to any branch of the Royall prerogative, the will
of the Sovereign does not act alone, but in conjunction
with the opinion and advice of his Parliament. This,
I say, is the basis of our whole Constitution : and so
far shall we depart from it, if this Bill should pass,
that in a point of the highest moment to the safety of
the publick — nothing less than a delegation of the
Royall authority, possibly for a long time, — no advice
can be given, no opinion or judgment can be formed
by the Parliament, because no knowledge is or will be
vouchsafed to them, into what hands the King will
committ that authority, and another trust, very
nearly of equal importance, the guardianship of the
successor. He is empowered by this Bill to confer
both these trusts, either on the Queen, or any other
person of the Royall family usually residing in Great
Britain, according to his own secret pleasure, uncom-
municated to Parliament, and changeable as often as
he shall think proper.
" My Lords, I am as sensible as any Lord in this
House, that no Prince has ever merited the confidence
of his people in a higher degree, or would make a
better use of it in its utmost extent, than our present
gracious Sovereign. It is my desire to put all trust
in his Majesty, which the Constitution has put in any
King : but that must be the limitation of our confi
dence in this House : otherwise, where would it stop ?
2x2

668 . THE REGENCY BILL.
] 765. If our opinion of his virtues were to be the measure of it,
it would be unbounded : but it must have those bounds
the Constitution prescribes : for the virtues of a King-
die with him ; but the liberty of this nation will, I
hope, be immortal.
"My Lords, I beg to know on what precedent this
concession is founded. In all the annals of our history I
can find nothing like it, nothing in the least approaching
towards it, except, perhaps, in one reign, which I have
too much respect for the present Government, and for
the present Legislature, even to name to your Lordships
as an authority or example. In the first message that
preceded the last Regency Bill (the best precedent that
we can look to), the King named to his Parliament a
Regent of the kingdom and guardian to his successor,
which nomination was received with universal satisfac
tion. But how can the people be satisfied with a
settlement, which leaves their greatest interests under
the greatest uncertainty ? Or what foundation can it
be for publick tranquillity, that, to take care of the
Royall family, to take care of the nation in the most
perilous circumstances, somebody will be appointed,
but no man can tell who ?
" If His Majesty had been pleased to nominate at
this time a Regent and a guardian, as his Royall
grandfather did, with what respect the authority of
that nomination would have been received by his Par
liament, I need not say. A choice made by him would
incontestibly be the choice of his perfect understand
ing : but there is a time when human wisdom yields
to human infirmity ; when nature sinks on a death
bed : and we are desired by a most unaccountable

THE REGENCY BILL. 669
policy to give our consent, that acts ofthe highest im- 1765.
portance to the safety of the State may finally be
determined in that hour of weakness, without even a
possibility of any assistance from the wisdom of Parlia
ment, which can no more be consulted, with relation
to this matter, after this Bill has been past.
" My Lords, this is a great deviation from the plan
of policy laid down in the last Regency Bill ; a plan
formed by the greatest Lawyer and one of the wisest
Statesmen that ever sat in this House, not merely to
answer a present expediency, but as establishing
principles proper and right in all times, when the state
of the Royall family would allow them to be followed.
In that Bill a just regard was decently and prudently
paid to the honour of Parliament : we were not com
pelled to act blindfold : we saw, we approved, we con
firmed. Now we are required to approve and confirm
without seeing : we are required to give up to one part
of the Legislature the power of the whole : we are re
quired to forget that the Crown called us hither as the
Great Council of the nation, to consult and to delibe
rate on the arduous affairs of the kingdom, not to vest
in the King alone that discretion and that judgment,
which the Constitution of our country has committed
to us in conjunction with him.
" My Lords, to what end is this done ? If a Regent
and guardian, nominated by the King and confirmed
by the Parliament, should happen to die before him,
what difficulty would there be in His Majesty's coining
again to his Parliament and nominating another ?
Are we afraid that the good affection between him and
his Parliament should be lessened by time ? I hope it

670 THE REGENCY BILL.
1765. will be increased ; I trust in his royall virtues and the
grateful loyalty of his people that it will never dimi
nish : but I must say that the advisers of this extra
ordinary measure have not taken the best method to
promote or maintain it.
" Need I shew to your Lordships the clanger of the
precedent you are going to establish ? Unconstitutional
powers once given can never again be resumed. They
are given at first to the most deserving of Princes : they
will be afterwards claimed by the most undeserving ;
and the better the times are when the precedent is
made, the more irresistible will it be.
" Reflect, my Lords, upon the nature and extent of
this power. Reflect, that the providing for the safety
of the State, in the exigence of a Minority, by a
proper choice of a Regent, is a right so constitution
ally inherent in Parliament, that, after the decease of
King Henry the Fifth, they did,not scruple to exercise
it in direct contradiction to an appointment ofthe King;
that appointment having been made without their
knowledge ; though made by a Prince the most beloved
and respected, and in favour of another very popular
in the nation. Indeed, my Lords, next to the appoint
ment of a successor, the greatest power that can be
exercised by King and Parliament joined, is the appoint
ing of a Regent : nor is there any other in which the
interest of the people is so deeply concerned ; or in
which their representatives, and your Lordships, whose
interests are inseparable from their's, are bound to
proceed with a more perfect knowledge, or with a
more deliberate caution.
" Upon the whole, I am satisfied, that it would be

THE REGENCY BILL. 671
a less evil not to make any settlement of a Regency 1765.
now, upon the distant prospect of a contingency which
I trust in God will not happen, than to do it in this
manner, which is in reality unsettling the whole Con
stitution. It is desiring the Parliament to put out their
own eyes where they ought to see clearest : it is making
a precedent so injurious to the dignity of the peerage
and both Houses of Parliament, that it must lessen
the estimation of them in the thoughts of all Europe :
and it may be introductive of much confusion and dis
cord, instead of answering the good end which His
Majesty has in view, the establishing of universal con
cord and union, which are the best guards to the Throne
and to the happiness of a people in the infancy of a
King. Could I possibly see this Bill, as it is modelled
at present, in a different light ; could I believe that it
tended in any degree to allay the fears of a nation if
any accident should endanger His Majesty's health, or
that it did not essentially hurt the Constitution, no
man would be more zealous for it than I : but, seeing
it as 1 do, I must violate my duty both to the King and
the publick, if I did not declare my dislike of it,
and beg your Lordships to consider, with your most
serious thoughts, what the consequences may be of so
unnecessarily making such a compliment to the Crown.
At the same time I would use my utmost endeavours to
reconcile that respect, which I feel for the motives and
purposes of this Bill, with the principles upon which
my opposition is founded ; and to secure to the nation
that benefit from it which I am persuaded His1 Majesty
intends to give them ; to which end I beg leave to
make your Lordships the following motion : —

672 THE REGENCY BILL.
1765. " That an humble Address be presented to His
Majesty, &c.
" I have no copy of this address ; but the purport
of it was to desire the King to name a Regent of the
kingdom and guardian of the successor.
" It being objected that the proper time for consider
ing this Address would be after the question for com
mitting the Bill, and the debate upon the question
having continued till the evening, the consideration of
the Address was postponed till the next morning, when
I opened the debate in the following words, (to the
best of my recollection) : —
" My Lords,
" After the candour and indulgence with which
your Lordships were pleased to hear me yesterday on
this subject, I will not trespass very long upon your
patience to-day, but shall only beg leave to recall to your
remembrance, on what principle the humble Address to
His Majesty, which you are now to consider, is founded.
That principle is, that the power of appointing a
guardian of the successor and a Regent of the king
dom, in the case of a Minority, being of the highest
importance to the safety of the State, and not belong
ing to any branch of the Royall prerogative, it ought
not to be exercised by the King alone, but in conjunc
tion with the opinion and advice of his Parliament ;
which opinion and advice the Parliament cannot give
under a total uncertainty, on what person the inclina
tion and choice of the King may conferr those
arduous trusts. In the natural order of things, as
well as by the practice established here, it belongs
to the King to nominate such a guardian, to nomi-

THE REGENCY BILL. 673
nate such a Regent ; and it belongs to the Parlia- 1765.
ment to give him faithfull counsel upon that nomina
tion. Their respect for him will incline them to
approve his choice ; but their respect for themselves,
and the duty they owe to tlieir country, will forbid
them to approve what they are no way informed of —
will forbid them to judge and confirm without know
ledge. It is the genius and principle of our Constitu
tion, that all great acts of Government regarding the
internal peace of the kingdom and the well-being of
the people, should be open and manifest ; not concealed
in the obscurity and secresy of a closet, not hid under
the cover of instruments sealed up, but publick, appa
rent, and solemn : to the intent that the Ministers and
counsellors of the Crown may be responsible for it, if
anything wrong should be done. There are some
circumstances under which the best may err ; but a
wise King, who fixes the publick safety and felicity
upon his own judgment assisted by that of his Parlia
ment, fixes them on a rock ; and whoever advises him,
in a matter of great moment, to deprive himself of the
benefit of that united wisdom, gives him bad counsel.
" It has been said indeed, that the power given by
the Bill which was yesterday under your considera
tion, is nothing more than a trust committed to the
King for the benefitt of his children : but allow me to
say, it is a trust in which the nation is deeply con
cerned ; and if the reasoning be just, that the tender
ness of a father is sufficent security against any improper
use of that trust, that reasoning, my Lords, will go
very far. Whatever is good for the state is good for
the successor; whatever hurts the state consequentially
hurts him : shall, therefore, absolute power in all acts

674 THE REGENCY BILL.
1765. of state be committed to the King, upon a presumption
that a father will do nothing to hurt the true interest
of his child ? Very different is the reasoning of the
English Constitution — that Constitution supposes a
King to be fallible, and not mpted from the in
fluence of passions or of counsels. It supposes that the
counsels to which he can best and most safely trust,
are those of his Parliament. It requires him to consult
and advise with his Parliament in all affairs of great
consequence, not immediately belonging to his Royall
prerogative. It trusts the Legislature and the Great
Council of the kingdom with all the interests of the
Kingdom ; but it restrains them from committing that
trust to the Crown.
" These, my Lords, are the foundations of the
motion now under your consideration : a motion cal ¦
culated, if possible, to produce unanimity in this im
portant affair. There is nothing I so much desire to
see as union in the Royall family, and union in the
Kingdom. It is necessary for us even in our present
circumstances ; — and we are not out of reach of such
events as would make it still more necessary, as would
make it the only means of salvation to the State. But
union never was founded, and never will be founded, on
the basis of uncertainty, or on a delegation of power
repugnant to all the principles of our excellent Consti
tution, and introductive of a precedent very dangerous
to the freedom and honour of Parliament, the great
bulwark of all liberty, and the great guard against all
abuse of power.
" My Lords, I say this once for all. I say it now,
that it may not be necessary for me to come again to

THE REGENCY BILL. 675
the House, upon other occasions of a similar nature, 1765.
merely in order to say it. I am not very fond of un
necessarily repeating political creeds. I had rather that
my actions should speak my sense than my words :
but yet I don't seek for action whenT think it in
effectual to any good purpose : I don't love to blame
where I can't see the means to mend : I don't wish to
pull down without a hope to build up."
The utter want of concert in the Ministry and their
alienation from the Court were signally displayed during
this debate. The Duke of Richmond gave notice of
a motion that the persons capable of the Regency
should be the Queen, the Princess Dowager, and all
the descendants of the late King usually resident in
England. The Princess's name, originally omitted,
was inserted at the suggestion of Horace Walpole, who
suspected that Ministers wished to exclude her from
the possibility of being Regent, and saw an opportu
nity of doing mischief. Meanwhile, the judges who
had been consulted, declared by the mouth of Chief
Justice Pratt, that the Queen was naturalised and ca
pable of being Regent ; then, to the surprise of every
body, Lord Hallifax, Secretary of State, intimated the
King's wish that the Bill should be recommitted, and
himself made the Duke of Richmond's motion, but
leaving out the Princess Dowagers name. Lord Bute's
friends were thunderstruck, and the Duke of Bedford
(it is said) danced about the House for joy. In the
Commons, however, the name was re-inserted by an
adherent of the Court, and not opposed by Mr. Gren
ville. It was believed that the King had been sur-

676 THE KING DETERMINES
1765. prised into this affront upon his mother ; certain it is,
that the event determined him to get rid of his mi
nisters. It is the strongest possible proof of the vast
personal influence of Pitt, that it seemed universally
admitted to be impossible to form any administration
to which he did not lend the magic of his name, in
fact, of which he was not the head.*
The following letter from Lyttelton to his brother,
contains the history of the transactions which ended
in the formation of the Rockingham ministry, and
from this narrative, as well as from the published me
moirs of this time, the high estimation in which Lyt
telton's abilities were held, and the unswerving inte
grity of his character may be fairly deduced.
"London, July 28th, 1765.
" My dear Governour,
" Since I wrote to you last, I have had two letters
from your Excellency, dated in January and March,
1765 ******
* " Nothing, (writes Burke to Flood) but an intractable temper
in your friend Pitt, cau prevent a most admirable and lasting system
from being put together, and this crisis will shew whether pride or
patriotism be predominant in his character; for you may be assured
that he has it now in his power to come into the service of his
country upon any plan of politics he may choose to dictate, with
great and honourable terms to every friend he has in the world,
and with such a stretch of power as will be equal to everything
but absolute despotism over the King and kingdom. A few days
will shew whether he will take this part, or that of continuing on
his back at Hayes, excluded from all ministerial, and incapable of
all parliamentary service, for his gout is worse than ever, but his
pride may disable him more than his gout." — Burke's Corrcsp.
vol. i. p. 80.

TO DISMISS HIS MINISTERS. 677
It would be impossible for me to give you a full ac- 1765.
count of the late transactions with regard to the Ad
ministration within the compass of a letter ; but a
short sketch of them you shall have as follows. Not
withstanding the merit which the late Ministry thought
they had with the King by a compliance with his plea
sure in the Regency Bill, and by carrying all his other
business through both Houses of Parliament with very
little difficulty ; and though in the great department
of the Treasury, Mr. G. Grenville had given a pretty
general satisfaction, and gained some reputation, yet
the illwill of Lord Bute to him and others of the Ca
binet, but more especially to the Duke of Bedford,
and something disagreeable in their manner and beha
viour to His Majesty had so alienated him from them,
that a little before the close of the Session, he deter
mined to part with them. The first step to the execu
tion of this design was a reconciliation between him and
his uncle the Duke of Cumberland which Lord Bute
advised and effected. The next was, that his Royal
Highness was sent to Hayes to acquaint Mr. Pitt,
that His Majesty had resolved to dismiss his principal
Ministers, (which had been signified to them the day
before) and desired him to come in as Secretary of
State, and Lord Temple as President of the Council,
with Lord Northumberland as First Commissioner of
the Treasury, the Duke of Newcastle as Lord Privy Seal,
and Charles Townshend, as the other Secretary of State.
This was firmly rejected by Pitt and Temple; the conse
quenceof which was, that another Administration was to
be formed without delay; or those who knew the King's

678 LYTTELTON DESIRED TO
1765. intention to displace them must have continued in
their offices against his will. In this emergency I was
sent for by the Duke of Newcastle, and told by his
Grace, that he had advised the Duke of Cumberland to
mention me to His Majesty as the fittest person to be
put at the head of the Treasury ; that the Duke had
done so, and the King had very readily and willingly
approved of the choice. My answer was negative, but
soon afterwards I was sent for by the Duke himself,
who said " it was necessary, that the King's standard
should be set up, and that he and the King were
persuaded there was no man in England under whom
there would be so general a resort to that standard as
there would be under me." I exprest a proper sense
of the great honour done to me in this opinion, but
declined to accept the Treasury, which he offered. He
prest me to take it in the strongest and warmest
terms : said my duty and my loyalty to the King
required it ; that his authority was insulted, and his
person ill-used ; mentioned the danger of popular
insurrections, which the weavers had begun in the
capital, on the House of Lords having thrown out a
Bill to encourage their manufacture by greater re
straints on the importation of foreign silks ; and added,
that in such circumstances the King must have a
Government, and not a moment could be lost, especially
as Lord Sandwich had said in the House of Lords, that
whoever advised the King to turn out the Duke of
Bedford, in that state of things, was an enemy to his
country, as it would have the appearance of making
him a victim to the fury ofthe mob, who had attempted

FORM A GOVERNMENT. 679
to murder him and to pull down his house.* It would 1765.
be too long to tell you all I said in answer to this, but
the result of it was, that in so unsettled and dangerous
a state of the nation at home and abroad, I could not
hope to do the King the service he seemed to expect
from me in any system of Ministry that could possibly
be formed without Mr. Pitt. That I was certain
Lord Temple's being at the head of the Treasury was
a necessary circumstance to Mr. Pitt's satisfaction in
any office, and that I did not despair, if his Royal
Highness would empower me to renew the negociation
with an offer from the King of that place to Lord
Temple, of bringing his Lordship to accept it, and that
Pitt might then consent to be Secretary of State, if
the King agreed to those measures, which he had
declared he would advise, and to such arrangements as
might be necessary for His Majesty's service. To
this he consented, and I so far succeeded that I pre
vailed upon Lord Temple to see his Royal Highness ;
* Horace Walpole's account, Mem. of G. III. v. ii. p. 154, is,
that " The very day on which the Regency Bill passed, the Lords
had another Bill sent from the Commons for imposing as high duties
on Italian silks as were paid on those of France ; and on this founda
tion, that the French sent their silks to Genoa and Leghorne, and
then entered them there as Italian merchandize. This Bill had
passed the Commons with little notice, all attention having been en
grossed by the plan of the Regency. When it was read by the
Lords, the Duke of Bedford alone spoke against it ; nobody said a
word for it, and it was thrown out,"— and very wisely, for it was a
barbarous project. It happened that at the time many Spitalfield
weavers were unemployed, who, of course, looked upon the voters
against the Bill as their worst enemies.

680 PITT AND TEMPLE.
1765. but an alarm of a mutiny in the House of Lords, and
some umbrage taken at a reconciliation which was
just then made between his Lordship and Mr. G.
Grenville, with some impatience in the King at the
difficulties thrown into the treaty by Pitt and Temple,
drove His Majesty back again to his former Ministry,
before their final answer was given. Yet so offended
was he with some of the conditions which that Minis
try* imposed upon him at their return, that as soon as
the Parliament rose, he negociated again with Mr.
Pitt, and after two conferences with him, agreed so
entirely with all he proposed, that Pitt was willing
to come in as Secretary of State and Prime Minister,
; if Lord Temple would consent to be at the head of the
\ Treasury. His Lordship was sent for from Stowe, —
saw the King, and refused. He putt his refusal on
the difficulty of carrying on business in the House of
Commons, as he himself was a Peer, and Mr. Pitt
declared, that he could not in the infirm and uncertain
state of his health, answer for any attendance on the
affairs of that House ; to which he added, that he had
* After Lyttelton's refusal, the Duke of Cumberland advised the
King to retain his old Ministers. He asked, on what conditions they
would remain in office. Mr. Grenville, after a conference with his
colleagues, mentioned^we.
1 . That Lord Bute should not interfere directly or indirectly in
the affairs of the Government. 2. That Mr. Stuart Mackenzie, that
Lord's brother, should be dismissed from the office of Keeper of the
Privy Seal. 3. That Lord Holland should be deprived of his office
of Paymaster of the Forces, which should be held a member of the
House of Commons. 4. That the Marquis of Granby should be at
the head of the army. 5. That the Government of Ireland should
be left to the discretionary arrangement of the Ministry.

PITT AND TEMPLE. 681
tender and delicate reasons, which he did not explain to 1755.
His Majesty, nor, so far as I can find, to Mr. Pitt.
The publick suppose they mean engagements with his J
brother and with the Duke of Bedford, which he \
denies. " My own opinion is, that he was willing to make
a common cause with them against Lord Bute, and
wished that in the end his brother might again be
brought into the Treasury, but had no present hope or
thought of putting him there. He has since talked
to some people of a dissatisfaction arising in his mind
from what Mr. Pitt had agreed to, of letting Lord
Northumberland be made Lord Chamberlain, and Mr.
Stuart Mackenzie restored to his office of Privy Seal
in Scotland, which the former Ministers had deprived
him of on their return to the King, though his Majesty
then declared, that he thought his honour concerned
in continuing him in it, as he had promised not to
remove him, when he gave him that office, instead of
a patent place, which had been offered to him. Mr.
Pitt distinguished between the place itself, and the
government or administration of Scotland annexed to
it, which he told the King must not be left to the
brother of Lord Bute. But Lord Temple said nothing
of this matter to the King ; nor would he suffer Mr.
Pitt to mention it afterwards to His Majesty, as a con
dition upon which his acceptance would depend, that
Lord Northumberland or Mackenzie should not have
those places. In a third conference with Pitt, the
King prest him to give in without Lord Temple, which
he declared he would have done, if his health would
2 Y

682 PITT AND TEMPLE.
1765. permit him to attend the House of Commons; but,
under the incapacity of doing that, he persevered in
declining it, though vehemently and repeatedly urged
to it by His Majesty. Another administration was,
therefore, to be formed. The Duke of Cumber
land undertook it, and you will know by the publick
papers and other letters from England in what hands
it is placed. I was offered the Cabinet with any
honourable and lucrative office I pleased, it being sup
posed that I would not choose an employment of much
business, as I had before refused the Treasury. My
answer was, that I should have been willing and happy
to take part in any arrangement, if Mr. Pitt and Lord
Temple had been at the head of it ; but could not
think of it without them. I must here inform you that
Mr. Pitt,* with the warm concurrence of Lord
Temple, had meant to bring me into the Cabinet in a
very high office if their system had taken place, and
as honourable mention had been made of me to the
King by Mr. Pitt, in one of his audiences, before Lord
Temple refused. The present state of things is this —
Mr. Pitt is convinced, that if Lord Temple had ac
cepted, the Ministry formed by and under them would
, have had nothing to fear from Lord Bute ; that the
King relished the measures, both foreign and domestic,
* See Pitt's letter, dated June 30, 1765, in the 3rd vol. of the
Chatham correspondence, in which he considers himself fortunate
to have done himself the honour of mentioning as he ought the name
of Lord Lyttelton. The original, in Pitt's handwriting is before
me ; there is also a letter from Mr. Conway, from which it appears
that he sought Lyttelton's good offices with Pitt on this occasion.

lord Rockingham's ministry. 683
which he had proposed ; and that he can never hereafter ] 7^5.
come in so agreeably to himself or so usefully to the
publick, the time being critical with respect to fore'gn
affairs. Nor do I think he will ever co-operate with
Lord Temple in any measures of opposition taken by
his Lordship, in conjunction with his brother and the
Duke of Bedford, or accede to them as a Ministry,
though he is reconciled to G. Grenville as a relation.
He talks doubtfully of coming to town next winter,
but if he does, will support the present administration
in all they do conformably to the system and principles
he had recommended in his conference with the King.
Lord Chief Justice Pratt is made a Peer, and Saunders
and Keppel are Lords of the ^Admiralty, in pursuance
of advice which he had given, and with his entire
approbation. Yet he declares he had no hand in form
ing this Ministry, and will by no means be answerable
for their sufficiency, or have anything to do in direct
ing their measures. Lord Rockingham, who is at the
head ofthe Treasury, is so infirm in his health, that
it hardly seems possible for him to stand an active
session of Parliament. One ofthe Secretaries of State
is a very young man, and the other new in the busi
ness. In general they want authority, and seem to
have no head except the Duke of Cumberland, whose
health and life are thought to be very precarious.
The desire of Mr. Pitt in the public is inexpressibly
strong, and nothing will satisfy them without him.
I believe he is also much desired in the Court. When
it comes to be thoroughly known and understood that
he was perfectly satisfied with the King, and only
2 y 2

684 LORD rockingi-iam's ministry.
1765. hindered from going in by Lord Temple's refusal, the
nation, I fear, will be very angry with his Lordship,
and not well pleased that Mr. Pitt did not go in with
out him. What coolness this difference in their senti
ments and conduct at such a critical juncture may
produce between them hereafter, or what can be done
to bring them to act together, from a conviction that
when separate they must act very lamely, — time will
show. I did my utmost to bring Temple to get over
his difficulties, and not ruin so fair a prospect of good
in his country, his family, and his friends ; but it was
all to no purpose. He is now at Stowe and will be at
Hagley about the end of next month. Mr. Pitt is
gone to take possession of his Somersetshire estate, and
purposes to stay there till about the middle of
November. On all this you will make your own re
flections ; but don't communicate them to me, till you
have a very safe hand to convey them to mine.
" I am sorry to find that the madness of your As
sembly still continues. If you and the Council can't
get the better of them, the King and Parliament must."
*****
It appears from the following letter to Lord Temple
that Lyttelton was again pressed to take office under
the Rockingham administration. " Curzon Street, July 11, 1765.
"My dear Lord,
" On Monday last I returned to London, after a
week's excursion from it on a party of pleasure, which

LORD ROCKINGHAM S MINISTRY. 685
I made on purpose to be out of the way of all business. 1765.
But on Tuesday morning, Mr. Conway came to me
from the Duke of Cumberland, and pressed me to take
a part in the new arrangements.
" My answer was, that I should have been willing
and happy to do so, if Mr. Pitt and your Lordship had
been at the head of it, but could not think of separating
myself from you in any system of administration .
" I went to-day to Hayes where I thought to have
found Mr. Pitt and informed him of this transaction ;
but as he is with your Lordship I must beg you to
shew him this letter." * * *
About this time, Governor Lyttelton's wife died ; Mr.
Grenville, observes in a letter of condolence to Lyttel
ton, in allusion to the struggles that v ere then taking
place between the Assembly and Governor of Jamaica,
" I agree entirely with you that nothing is more likely
to have that effect than the difficult scenes of public
business in which he is engaged, for however vexatious
and anxious they may be, I am fully persuaded that
they will end as much to his reputation and honour, and
with as much approbation from the King, and from
every man of sense in this country, as the first part of
this transaction has already done ; for I cannot believe
that these new-fangled and desperate doctrines, — 'that
the assemblies in our several colonies have all the same
absolute and independent powers in the several pro
vinces, as the Parliament of Great Britain has in this
island will find advocates to support them in Council
or in Parliament when the fatal consequences of them
come to be seriously weighed and well considered.' '

686 AMERICAN DISTURBANCES.
1765. Parliament was assembled on the 17th of De
cember ; for the purpose, as the King's Speech
alleged, of considering the recent events in America.
Lord Hardwicke* moved an address of thanks, ex
pressing " the resolution (of the House) to do
everything which the exigency of the case may
require." An amendment, couched in language
much stronger and more condemnatory, was moved
by Lord Suffolk, and supported by Lords Temple,
Lyttelton, Graves, Halifax, Sandwich, and the Duke
of Bedford. Lord Shelburne deprecated the amend
ment as precluding, upon insufficient information, the
possibility of repealing the Stamp Act, and Lord Cam
den left the House — from both these circumstances it
was justly inferred that Pitt was in favour of the repeal.
Lord Mansfield besought Ministers to agree to the
motion. The Chancellor, Lord Pomfret, and the Duke
of Grafton opposed the motion — the amendment was
rejected by 80 to 24. The opposition being disap
pointed of Lord Bute's support, which (says Walpole)
they expected in all questions relating to America.
The part which Lyttelton took in this debate, has never
been printed, but is thus recorded in his own hand
writing. " Speech in the House of Lords on the Debate on
the amendment, proposed by Lord Suffolk to the
Address, in answer to the King's Speech, Dec.
17, 1765.
* Succeeded as second Earl in 1 764, when Lyttelton's friend the
Chancellor died.

american disturbances. 687
" My Lords, 1765.
" I make no apology for rising to speak at this late
hour — the importance of the matter I am sure will
excuse it — the arguments indeed have been exhausted,
but the duty of delivering an opinion remains.
" My Lords, so far as I am able to collect the ob
jections made to the amendment which the noble Lord
has proposed, I think they all amount to this, thai we
have no knowledge of what has been done in America :
would to God it were true ! but to me it appears that
we know a great deal too much; so much as to
make it our indispensable duty, in common decency to
the Crown, from our regard to the Colonies, from our
regard to the Government, from our regard to the
honour, the dignity, the authority of the whole legis
lature, not to sit here one day, without expressing to
the King our just indignation at those proceedings,
without asserting the dependence of the colonies on
this kingdom, and without assuring his Majesty of our
zeal to support him in maintaining that dependence.
For this, my Lords, no papers, no informations are
necessary, unless we want to be informed, that an open
and violent disobedience to law is an insult upon Go
vernment ; and that a languid coolness in Parliament,
alrind of indifference about the continuance of that dis
obedience, would be a worse insult. I must, therefore,
not only agree to this amendment with my whole heart
and soul, but must also lament, with deep concern, the
concern of a well-wisher and friend to the Government,
that the Crown was not advised to call the Parliament
sooner, in order to strengthen his Majesty with their

688 AMERICAN DISTURBANCES.
1765. opinion, their advice, and their support, at so critical
a juncture of time, when it was publick and notorious
to all the world, that the sovereignty of Great Britain
over its colonies had been denied and resisted ; that
sovereignty, which consists in their being subjected,
not to the authority of the King alone, but of the King
and the two other estates of the kingdom in Parliament
assembled. If the colonies have been taught, that they
are under another constitution of government; and
if there be a moral certainty, that the King will not
consent to the dismembering of his kingdom, nor the
Parliament be disposed to abrogate their own power,
the colonies ought to know it without delay : for to
them delay may be fatal. But yet, as desirous as I was
that the Parliament should be called some time ago, I
had infinitely rather that the meeting of it had been
still longer deferred, than that this Address should go
forth without the Amendment proposed ; because 1
think it would be a most unpardonable failure in our
duty to the King ; and because, if the Address should
go to America as it is now worded, I should not be at
all surprised at the people of the colonies conceiving an
opinion, that all their proceedings are authorised, or, at
least not condemned, by the present sense of this House.
" How to compose the disturbances that have
arisen in those parts, especially now that they have
gone so far, I am sensible is a work of no little
difficulty. But I have too good an opinion of the
wisdom of Government to suppose that it can find
no better expedients to get over a difficulty than
by sacrificing rights of the highest importance.

AMERICAN DISTURBANCES. 689
Other expedients must be found, and a higher po- 1765.
licy followed, in the present state of this nation, or all,
I am sure, will go to wreck. We have many difficul
ties to contend with, and many rights to maintain.
The eyes of Europe are upon us : if they see us bend in
this point, where our sovereignty is concerned, the
same flexibility will be expected in others of a more
disputable nature. If we are afraid to maintain the
inherent rights of our kingdom, essential, unalienable,
indefeasible rights, against our own rebellious subjects,
how shall we dare to support more ambiguous claims
against foreign powers ? Such a symptom of weak
ness appearing in the Government, would be an en
couragement to our enemies to raise their demands,
and to be obstinate in resisting ours. Here, therefore,
we must make our stand ; the authority of the legis
lature must be supported : but by what means to do
this ; what is wisest, what is safest, what is practicable
in such nice and perilous circumstances, requires more
information than we can have at this time. I wish
that we had sooner been called hither to receive it !
The delay may be productive of many and great evils :
but receive it we must, before we can presume to give
an opinion, beyond asserting the right which the co
lonies have disputed by acts against their allegiance.
Only this I will say, that, whatsoever we do, we ought
always to consider the people of those colonies, as the
children of Great Britain. Parental tenderness pleads
even for undutiful children : but that tenderness would
be weakness ; it would defeat its own purpose, if it
were indulged to the destruction of the parental autho-

690 AMERICAN DISTURBANCES.
1765. rity. The law of nature has placed that authority in
the parent for the benefit of the children. It is not in
his power, if he would, to give it up ; because it is not
in his power to destroy the relation upon which it is
founded. " My Lords, if our colonies think they are contend
ing for liberty, they would do well to consider that all
liberty in this nation is secured by the constant pro
tection of Parliament. There is no other power which
can effectually guard it at all times, and in all places,
against oppression : the Provincial Assemblies, I am
certain, cannot. But, by withdrawing themselves from
the power of Parliament, they necessarily lose its pro
tection. Obedience and protection must go together.
" My Lords, when the law we made the last session,
relating to America, was depending in this House,
where it past without a single dissentient vote, I had
much talk on the subject of it with the noble Lord who
spoke last ; and as 1 then had the happiness to find
my judgment on the principle of that bill, and the
right asserted in it, confirmed by his, so I must now
agree with him, that, if there had been any doubts
concerning that right, the time to debate it was then,
before the honour of the Legislature was so much en
gaged to support it, as it is at present. I likewise feel
with great pain, that the nature of the opposition made
to that Act renders it vastly more difficult to shew that
temper of conciliation, that desire of agreement where
discord is so hurtful, which would otherwise be thought
right, by every sober and dispassionate man in this
kingdom, to whom the real state of it is Dot unknown.

REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT. 691
But still, my Lords, in all circumstances, however per- 1766.
plexing, you have a great rule to guide you, salus
populi suprema lex esto. The wisdom of this House,
upon due and full information, when such information
shall be given, will I doubt not take those measures
that the publick safety requires. But the foundation
of such measures, that which is necessary to give them
the proper force and effect, must be an immediate and
express assertion of that great and fundamental right,
on which all your authority, all your power depends.
" In the other parts of this Address I most heartily
concur. The domestick happiness of his Majesty, and
the increase of his royal family, are sensible blessings
to his people ; and the loss which he has lately sus
tained in his family, is a grievous one to the kingdom."
When Parliament met on the 14th of January,
Government had resolved to repeal the Stamp Act, and
to pass at the same time an Act declaratory of the su
preme authority of Great Britain. This measure* Pitt
advocated in the Commons, while in the Lords, Temple
and Lyttelton acted' in concert with Mr. Grenville,
speaking strongly in debate, and signing two protests
against the five resolutions which embodied it, and
were submitted to Parliament. As there is no other
report of this very important debate, except the valu
able notes of Lord Hardwicke, printed in the Parlia
mentary History, I insert in this place the elaborate
and careful speech which Lyttelton delivered on this
occasion, in which the abstract right of taxing the
* The debate was memorable not only for Pitt's eloquence, but
for Burke's first speech in Parliament.

692 REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT.
766. colonies, is clearly and forcibly urged ; it is preserved
in his own hand-writing.
" Speech on the Tumult occasioned in the North
American Colonies by the Act of Parliament im
posing a Stamp Duty, anno 1766.
" My Lords,
" I entirely agree with the noble Earl who spoke
last in wishing that this question had never been agi
tated. It never should have been agitated, being
already decided by the law of the land, and by
powers inherent in the Legislature itself. But it
has been agitated in our North American colonies :
our right has there been disputed, and the sovereignty
of Great Britain insulted, which brings the considera
tion of it before this House. In giving your Lordships
my thoughts on so important a subject, I am under a
difficulty, whicli I never before was under in Parlia
ment, and probably never shall again. When I con
sider the question on which we are debating, the
proposition appears to me so undeniably clear, so
incapable of admitting any reserve or exception, that,
in speaking to support it, I must tire your Lordships
with repeating the most obvious and self-evident
truths, which the general sense of mankind, in all
age and all nations, has acknowledged and confirmed.
But, when I consider the great parts, the great know
ledge, the great authority of some from whom I differ,
it makes me doubt my own reason, and apprehend
that there must be something most profoundly mys
terious at the bottom of the question, which my under-

REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT. 693
standing can't fathom. This, my Lords, is perplexing : 1766.
and if their authority can have such an effect upon me,
what it may have upon our North American colonies,
where the passions of men correspond and sympathise
with it, I tremble to think ! But I hope they will
hear, that there is likewise great authority against
their opinions ; and the greatest of all, the autho
rity of this House. For my own part, 1 am sen
sible of my inability, by any thing I can say, to add
to that conviction, which the first stating of the ques
tion must naturally produce ; but, as I think that to
be silent upon such an occasion is hardly consistent
with duty, I beg leave to set before your Lordships a
few general principles, not of party, or faction, which
I most heartily join with the noble Duke in detesting,
but of policy and government ; which no statesman,
which no lawyer has ever yet contradicted, and by
which, without entering into any refinements, or (to
use the words of the noble Earl) any Utile litigious
arguments, this great dispute may be properly and
clearly determined.
" The first foundation of all government, and of all
Legislature, I understand to be this, that mankind, in
a state of civil society, has, ipso facto, by entering into
that state, and by what may be justly called the Origi
nal Compact, entrusted to Government a right over
their property, a right over their liberty, and a right
over their persons, for the safety, and for the benefit of
the whole common weal. From hence arises that
power, which is claimed and used by all governments
in their legislative capacity, to lay taxes of all kinds on

694 REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT.
1766. all their subjects; to restrain them by coercive and
prohibitory laws from many natural rights, to compel
them to expose their persons to dangers, which they
would wish to avoid ; and to inflict upon them pains
and penalties, extending even to the loss of life itself,
for certain offences, which in a state of nature would
be no offences at all. With what forms, and by what
persons, this power is to be exercised, depends entirely
upon the laws and constitution of government in each
particular country ; but when those laws have been
made, when that constitution is settled, every act of
legislation, past according to the rules which the con
stitution prescribes, is the act of the whole community
past in all its several members, which no part of that
community, however situated or circumstanced, can
be exempt from obeying (when required so to do)
upon any pretence whatsoever : because there cannot
be two rights, contradictory to each other, and co
existing together in the same state, a right in the Go
vernment to make laws for the people, and a right in
the people, or any part of the people, to disobey or
control them. The least breach that is made in the
legislative authority destroys the whole. It is
like a breach in a dyke raised to keep out the sea,
which, if not instantly stopt, demolishes the whole
fence, and opens the way to a fatal destructive inun
dation. " Another great fundamental principle of policy is,
that there ought never to be imperium in imperio, a state
within a state : but in all Governments, whether mo
narchies, aristocracies, or democracies, or all the three

REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT. 695
mixed together, there must be always one supreme 1766.
and sovereign Legislature, the power and authority of
which within the bounds of the state, not acting
repugnantly to the divine laws which transcend all
human authority, cannot be fettered or confined by
any limitations, unless we suppose an entire dissolu
tion of Government ; I say, my Lords, unless we
suppose a dissolution of all Government : because I do
hold it possible, though the supposition is odious and
hardly fit to be made, that the Legislature itself may
so essentially violate the trust reposed in it, as to
produce an entire dissolution of Government : but
without such a dissolution, I repeat it again, the power
and authority of any supreme legislature, not acting
repugnantly to the divine laws, cannot be fettered or
confined by any limitations within the compass of that
state to which it belongs. On the acknowledgement
of this truth, without any subtle distinctions, depends
the whole peace and order of society. Nevertheless,
this does not exclude the existence of local inferior le
gislatures, which every country that has colonies, or
even great corporations within itself, must necessarily
admit of, with greater or lesser powers, as conveniency
may require ; but yet subject in all places to the su
perior authority of the national legislature, active as
well as coercive; because otherwise these would be
imperia in imperio, and break the unity of the whole
political system. That our colonies were not freed, by
the change of their situation, or the establishment of
their local subordinate legislatures from the dominion
of ours, the many statutes made to bind them, from

696 REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT.
17C6. the time of their first settlement, incontestably prove.
And how, my Lords, I beg to know, could it possibly
have been otherwise in the nature and reason of
things ? They went out of this country the subjects
of the Crown of Great Britain ; and unless they can
show a new covenant, any pacta conventa, by whicli
the King and the Parliament (for the King alone could
not do it) have agreed to renounce their sovereignty
over them, either in the whole or part, they must re
main subject to it by all the most indissoluble bonds of
allegiance : for the allegiance of a Briton is to the
King in his Parliament, and their united authority,
much more absolute than it is to the King in his
palace, or in his Privy Council. What he does in
those places may be overruled by his Parliament ; but
what he does in his Parliament nothing; can overrule,
till the realm itself is destroyed. The pacta conventa
between Great Britain and her colonies, so far as any
appear, are clear and strong the other way ; and where
none appear, the implied compact leaves them just
upon the foot of other British subjects, under the laws
of their country, and under that form of legislature
and government, which those laws have established.
They complain indeed, that by laying internal taxes
upon them we deprive them of the right granted to
them by their charter, to tax themselves : but this
complaint is unfounded. For how, my Lords, does it
follow, that using our right is taking away theirs ?
They will remain in full enjoyment of that local au
thority, given to them by the Crown, by which they
are empowered to make laws and bye-laws in their pro-

REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT. 697
vincial Assemblies, for the local purposes of each pro- 1756.
vince; though we occasionally exercise that higher
authority, which the Constitution gives us, for the
general benefit of the whole, at such times and in such
manner as the wisdom of Parliament shall direct. The
fallacy lies in supposing that the local authority was
given by the Crown exclusive of the other, which in
fact is not true, and in theory is absurd ; as it would
imply, that one branch of a mixed legislature, consist
ing of three estates, can give away or annihilate the
power of the whole.
" My Lords, the last principle I beg leave to recall
to your memory, is that general maxim of our Go
vernment, and indeed of every free Government, that
no subject is bound by any laws whatsoever, to which
he has not either personally or virtually consented. I
say, my Lords, is not bound by any laws whatsoever ;
for, till this controversy began with our American co
lonies, what freeman ever said, what freeman ever
imagined, that his life, his liberty, or his honour, may
be justly taken from him by virtue of laws made
without his consent, but his property cannot : or, what
is still much more unaccountable, that one species of
his property alone is sacred, and all the rest lies at
mercy ? What a vision is this, that gilds only one
portion of British property in America with the sun
shine of liberty, and leaves the rest in utter darkness !
The British liberty extends, from the centre of the
system, its equal beams to all parts ; it pervades, it
enlightens, it cherishes the whole without distinction.
But we are now desired to create a new Government
2 z

698 REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT.
1766. for our colonies, nine-tenths of which are composed of
absolute tyranny, subjecting them to the rigour of
many grievous restraints, and laying upon them the
burthen of several impositions, by the authority of
laws, to which, according to the tenets of this new
invented doctrine, they have no way consented. And
this, my Lords, has been called, giving liberty to the
colonies ! A precious liberty indeed ! but I will ven
ture to prophesy, that if you don't very much enlarge
your gift, they will not thank you for it. They tell
us, that not being properly or conveniently represented
in the Parliament of Great Britain, they cannot submit
to the Stamp Act past here the last session, without
the loss of their freedom. — But if this reasoning be
good, it extends to all taxes, it extends to all laws.
Nor is it possible to conceive that the North American
merchants, who feel themselves crampt in their trade
by the Act of Navigation, and many other statutes,
which from time to time have been made on the policy
of that Act, will not apply the same argument, if they
find that attention is given to it here, to get rid of
those fetters,, but confine their liberty to the narrow
imaginary line of internal taxation, instead of making
their claim of exemption co-extensive with the univer
sality of the reason upon whicli it is founded ?
That they already set at nought this chimerical
limitation is sufficiently proved by the papers that are
now on your table, by some of their own declarations,
and by the testimony of those who know them best.
Governor Colden, who has lived the longest among
them, says in his letter to Mr. Secretary Conway, of

REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT. 699
the 7th of November, 1765, — "People in general are 1766.
averse to taxes of any kind. The merchants in this
place think they have a right to every freedom of trade
which the subjects of Great Britain enjoy?'
"And their great champion, Mr.Otis, whose book they
have adopted as the best exposition of their rights,
disclaims and derides the distinction between internal
and external, or commercial, taxes. Since he pub
lished that book they have honoured him with a trust
of the highest dignity and importance; they have
made him a deputy to the Assembly of their States
General. His authority therefore is most weighty to
prove their intentions. They do not indeed all speak
exactly the same language in their publick declara
tions : some are more cautious and more reserved than
others : but the apparent object, to which all their
reasoning tends, is to erect their assemblies into full
and compleat Parliaments, independent of ours : and
so far they are right, that if the principle be admitted
that their consent is not virtually included in the acts
of the Parliament of Great Britain, as much as that of
many millions of their countrymen here, who have no
votes in elections, every act of that Parliament, by
which they are affected, equally injures their freedom.
We may weave our web of policy very subtle and fine;
but it is too fine to hold them. They will surely
break through it, and their deliverance from all those
commercial restrictions, which are so galling to them,
and so necessary for us, will be no remote consequence
of our having given way to them in this first attempt,
which should rather be considered as the beginning
2z2

700 REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT.
1766. than as the sum of their demands. But, to put our
dispute on its true and proper foundation, there is only
one point to be discusst. Are they a part of the domi
nions of the Crown of Great Britain ? If they are
not, their resistance to an unlawful authority is un
doubtedly lawful. We have exceeded the bounds of
our proper jurisdiction, and not only the Stamp Act,
but every other law relating to our colonies, from their
first migration to this day, is null and void. But, if
they are, as many statutes have declared them to be,
and no man has yet denied, a part of the British do
minions, they must then be proper objects of the Bri
tish Legislature without reserve or exception. By
declaring them exempt from the authority of one law,
we should exempt them from the authority of the
whole Legislature, which is cutting them off from the
body of the State. They would no longer be subjects
of the Imperial Crown of Great Britain ; they would
be aliens ; they would be small independent commu
nities, not entitled in any danger to demand our pro
tection, and not liable in any case to be controlled by
our power. What friend to Great Britain, or what
friend to our colonies, would wish to see this separation?
And yet, my Lords, this dissevering, this dismem
bering of our empire, calamitous as it must be to us
and to them, would not be the worst evil that must
attend any cession or relaxation of our right in a con
test of this nature. If Parliament once should allow,
or by any act of timidity encourage an opinion, that
the private judgments of subjects, their speculative
notions concerning the nature of representation, or the

REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT. 701
original inherent rights of the people, are the rule and 1766.
measure of their obedience to laws, and can supersede
the authority of the whole legislature, there is an end
of all government. Every man will invent a Constitu
tion for himself: we shall have many legislatures,
controlling that of the Parliament, in the several clubs
of this city ; we shall have Soions and Lycurguses in
every coffee-house, in every tavern, and in every gin-
shop. Things are tending to anarchy. It is already
begun in our North American colonies ; but I fear it
will not end there. The seeds of it are scattered over
many other parts of the British dominions. It imports
your Lordships to check the hasty growth of those
seeds, while it is yet in your power. Whoever may
gain by the harvest, when it shall come to maturity,
you I am sure have much to lose. The weight of
taxes lies heavy on many people in this island who have
no other share in electing Members of Parliament, and
who may willingly learn from their brethren in America,
that not being represented they ought not to be taxed.
" A right in all men to a state of perfect equality
indefeasible by the tone of any civil institutions, and
the inadmissible dominion of the many over the few,
have within these few days been publickly asserted in
printed papers. From principles of this sort an easy
inference may be drawn by the unruly populace of this
city, that it is contrary to the natural rights of man
kind for one man to be a lord and another a mechanic ;
for one man to enjoy great wealth with ease, and for
another to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow.
If, in opposition to these notions, you should talk to

702 REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT.
1766. them of laws, they may find that the shortest answer
to so troublesome an objection would be burning the
law books.
" My Lords, this is no season for sporting with
curious speculations in matters of government. Whe
ther the entire political system of this nation be abso
lutely perfect; whether it might not be possible to
imagine a more equal or more extensive plan of re
presentation ; whether some changes might not be
equitably made in the number and qualifications of the
representative body, or in the number and qualifi
cations of those who elect them, I by no means think
it proper to discuss at this time. The smaller parts of
a fabrick may be safely and easily altered ; but it is a
most dangerous thing to try our ingenuity in altering
fundamentals. We have not at this time a Constitu
tion to form ; but we have one to maintain, which
with all its faults and defects is the envy of the world.
Let us maintain it, my Lords ; but in the first place
let us keep entire and inviolate the legislative autho
rity; for without that we can neither redress any
grievance, nor correct any fault, nor secure any benefit
of our present Constitution. There have been times
when false ideas of independence and liberty have been
carried in this kingdom to the destruction of the
monarchy, and to the destruction of the peerage : but
Cromwell himself did not say, that the right of tax
ation, in any mode of government, however tender of
freedom, could be separated from the power of the
supreme legislature. We have had many great de
bates in both Houses of Parliament concerning the

FRUITS OF THE ROCKINGHAM ADMINISTRATION. 703
limits of the authority belonging to each House, or 1766.
belonging to the Crown, in their separate functions :
but concerning the limits of their whole united autho
rity there was never one, till this session, from the
earliest records of our journals: and I dare affirm to
your Lordships, that to say that a part is not contained
in the whole would not be a proposition more repug
nant to reason, than what you must maintain, if you
should be brought to dissent from this resolution
without coming to another, that our colonies are no
part of the British dominions."
The Rockingham Administration, which began its
career on the 10th of July, 1765, expired on the 30th
of July, 1766, having existed one year and twenty-one
days. Burke wrote its epitaph in most durable cha
racters, entitled, " A Short Account* of a late Short
Administration." " In that space of time (he said) the
distractions of the British empire were composed by
the Repeal of the American Stamp Act — but the con
stitutional superiority of Great Britain was preserved
by the Act for securing the dependance ofthe colonies.
Private houses were relieved from the jurisdiction of
the excise by the Repeal ofthe Cyder Tax. The personal
liberty of the subject was confirmed by the resolution
against General Warrants ;— the lawful secrets of
business and friendship were rendered inviolable by
the resolution for condemning the seizure of pa
pers." To those merits, he adds, the setting free
* " It did justice to their integrity," says H. Walpole, " and it
could not do too much."

704 FRUITS OF THE ROCKINGHAM ADMINISTRATION.
1766. the Trade of America from injudicious and ruin
ous impositions by one act, and by another im
proving the market for our own manufacture, by
the opening the ports in Dominica and Jamaica, —
that the Government encouraged public meetings of
merchants — reconciled jarring interests — procured an
advantageous treaty of commerce with Russia — liqui
dated the Canada Bills — and revived the question of
the Manilla ransom — kept aloof from Lord Bute —
sold no offices, neither practised, nor were suspected of
practising corruption — were supported by the confi
dence of the nation, and traversed by an opposition of
place-men and pensioners : " and having held their
offices 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." Pitt's declaration that he had no confidence in the
Government, and his refusal to take office with them,
the Duke of Grafton's resignation, and the intrigues
of Lord Chancellor Northington, conspired with the
King's dislike, to effect their overthrow.

CHAPTER XVI.
1766—1768.
FROM PITT'S SECOND ADMINISTRATION TO THE END
OF THE FIRST PARLIAMENT OF GEORGE THE THIRD.

[Hagley MSS.— Walpole's Memoirs of George the Third, vol. ii.
— Chatham Correspondence, vol. iii. — Parliamentary History,
vol. xvi., Annual Kegister for each year— Adolphus' History of
England, vol. i. ed. 1841.]

In July the King wrote to Mr. Pitt, desiring to learn 1766.
his thoughts as to the formation of a new Government ;
Pitt sent a bombastic answer, and at a subsequent
interview, in an evil hour for his fame, undertook the
task himself; but Lord Temple was also consulted,
and the result of his audience with the King was ex
pressed by his Majesty in a letter to Mr. Pitt, written
in very barbarous English, but from which it ap
pears, that Pitt meant "to take the present Admi
nistration as a basis to build on," while Lord Temple,
the King said, " though he only kept in generals
seemed to incline to quarters very heterogenous to my
and your ideas, and almost to a total exclusion of the
present men." Lord Temple's own account of the
matter, which is still obscurer, is contained in a letter

706 BREACH BETWEEN PITT AND TEMPLE.
1766. to his sister, Lady Chatham : — " I should most wil
lingly have considered with you the subject of the
present times, but the contents of your letter make it
indispensably necessary for me not to leave you a
stranger to the indignation with which I received the
proposition, of being stuck into a Ministry as a great
cypher, at the head of the Treasury, surrounded with
other cyphers, all named by Mr. Pitt, of a different
complexion from me, with some of whom I had so
essentially differed on many accounts, and more es
pecially with all during the last session. But I was
determined my temper should be equal to my firmness,
conversing with an old friend whom I had much
esteemed, and to whom I had with so much par
tiality, so much deferred through life, labouring as he
did at the time under bodily infirmity. My brother
James is no stranger to my thoughts on this matter,
even after cool reflection on my pillow, and I told the
King and my Lord Chancellor to this effect, amongst a
variety of other things, that though I was most willing
to sacrifice my brother's* pretensions, as he was him
self, to Mr. Pitt's indisposition towards him, for the
sake of public and general union, yet, as that in my
opinion was not the plan, I would not go in like a
child to come out like a fool /" Lord Temple had de
manded the Presidentship ofthe Council for Lyttelton,
and why Pitt rejected one, whom he had himself so
recently appointed to a cabinet office, is difficult to
understand. It is said, however, to have been the
* George Grenville, with whom he had been recently reconciled.

LETTER TO LORD SHELBURNE. 707
immediate cause of his breach with Lord Temple, and 1766.
to have dissolved a friendship, strengthened by so many
ties, as to have appeared to justify the boast, not un-
frequently made, that it was indissoluble,
I find in Lyttelton's handwriting, this " draught of
my letter to Lord Shelburne, in answer to his of the
8th of August, 1766." " Stourhead, August 9, 1766.
" My dear Lord,
" From the time of your Lordship's being ap
pointed Secretary of State, I almost despaired of the
honour and pleasure of waiting upon you at Bo wood,
and think myself greatly obliged to you and Lady
Shelburne, that in your present situation you were so
good as to have it in your thoughts. Political events
may make my private friendships more or less happy
to me, but will never alter them if they are not at
tended with circumstances of a personal nature, which
I ought to take ill. I am therefore no less your Lord
ship's friend, than if I had a share in that Administra
tion to which you have been called, and in which your
great talents will have their proper employment. I
only wish for your sake, as well as for my country's,
that some others of more importance than I had been
joined with you in it; which advantage, if it had
depended upon me, I would gladly have procured
for you and the publick, by a total exclusion of
myself. " It gives me great pleasure that your Lordship is so

708 LETTER TO LORD SHELBURNE.
1 766. well satisfied with my brother,* whose conduct, in his
Government will, I hope, recommend him to the
favour of those on whom the reward of his services
must depend.
" My daughter joins with me in most respectful
compliments and thanks to Lady Shelburne for her
goodness to us both. She will take every opportunity
of cultivating a friendship which is so great an honour
to her, and which she values as she ought. Your
Lordship, I hope, will also permit me to endeavour to
find some leisure hours, when publick business will
not suffer, by your enjoying the pleasures of private
friendship, and conversing as you used to do, with
" My dear Lord,
" Your Lordship's most obedient
" and most faithful humble Servant,
" Lyttelton."
* Governor Lyttelton was about this time appointed Ambassa
dor to Portugal, and Lord Chatham wrote to him as follows : —
"Bath, Oct. the 23rd, 1766.
" Dear Sir,
" Nothing but want of the use of my hand, which I have just be
gun to recover, could have made me defer acknowledging the honour
of your obliging letter. I now embrace the earliest opportunity in
my power to congratulate you on the late marks of the King's
favour, in appointing you to a mission of such importance to the
commercial interests of his subjects. Having received the King's
commands to consider of the ablest persons for such a destina
tion, I could not have a conversation with Lord Shelburne on the
subject without your name occurring to us, on which occasion, our
ideas concerning the King's service were sure to meet. I sincerely
hope tbat you will find all personal satisfaction where you are
going, and I doubt not the publick service will receive great advan-

CHATHAM ADMINISTRATION. 709
Pitt became Earl of Chatham, and formed that ad- 1766.
ministration immortalized by Mr. Burke's painting,
" so checkered and speckled * * * a piece of
joinery so crossly indented and whimsically dove
tailed, a cabinet so variously inlaid ; such a piece of
diversified mosaick : such a tesselated basement with
out cement ; here a bit of blackstone, and here a bit
of white ; patriots and courtiers ; king's friends and
republicans ; whigs and tories ; treacherous friends and
open enemies— that it was a very curious show— but
utterly unsafe to touch, and unsure to stand on."
To such an administration* was opposed— the true and
faithful Rockingham party— Conway only excepted,
who took office for a while under Pitt— the Duke of
Bedford, Lord Temple's party, and the Duke of
Richmond. Much ofthe Great Commoner's popularity
was extinguished by his earldom. Still he never ceased
to believe that he could detach any separate man from
any connection. In any state of circumstances his
difficulties would have been great, but they were im
measurably increased by that strange conduct which
tage from your zeal and abilities.— I am with great truth and con
sideration, " Dear Sir,
" your most obedient
" and affectionate humble Servant,
" Chatham."
* The Duke of Grafton, head of the Treasury; Charles
Townshend Chancellor of the Exchequer ; Lord Shelburne Secre
tary for the Southern Department ; Lord Camden Chancellor ; Lord
Northington Privy Seal; Lord Granby Commander-in-Chief;
Conway remained Secretary of State.

710 OPPOSITION TO
1766. still is, and probably always will be, wrapped in
mystery. No sooner was the ministry formed than its
creator secluded himself from all intercourse with
them. He was the first man, H. Walpole wittily
remarks, " who ever thought of retiring into the office
of Prime Minister." To this kind of demeanour suc
ceeded another, flowing principally if not entirely
from bodily disease, which shewed itself in an hyste
rical form, rendering the afflicted person totally in
capable of transacting any business.
The harvest of this year failed both in England and
on the Continent ; the price of bread rose, and a panic
of scarcity filled the country with alarm. A proclama
tion was issued against forestallers and regraters, and an
embargo was laid on ships preparing to sail with cargoes
of grain. Parliament was summoned in November.
Lord Chatham defended the embargo as an act of
power, justifiable during the recess of Parliament on
the ground of necessity, and quoted Locke ; so far all
was well : unfortunately Lords Nottingham and
Camden, declared that the crown had a legal right,
in cases of necessity, to interpose even against a posi
tive act of Parliament ; this called up Lord Mansfield,
who entirely demolished their position ; Lyttelton and
Lord Temple followed on the same side, but the
address was carried without a division. Soon after
wards, however, the discussion was renewed, it being
found necessary to pass an act of indemnity ;* Lord
Chatham treated it with lofty disdain, desiring it might
* When Conway presented the Bill to the House, he disclaimed
in strong language Lord Camden's doctrine.

lord Chatham's government. 711
be made as strong as possible, and include those who 1766.
advised as well as those who had executed the measure ;
but Lord Camden repeated his former arguments and
said, very unhappily, that it was " at most but a forty
days' tyranny." The advantage was not lost by his
opponents ; his arguments were met by very able and
eloquent speeches, from Lords Mansfield, Lyttelton,
and Temple, — which, though no details were recorded
of this debate, are preserved in a Pamphlet, called
" a Speech against the Suspending and Dispensing
Prerogative," written by a Mr. Mackintosh, under
the direction and with the assistance of Lords Lyttelton
and Temple.*
This debate in both Houses, warned Lord Chatham
that a powerful coalition was formed against his
Government. He endeavoured to propitiate the Duke
of Newcastle, by bestowing Lord Edgecumbe's place
on Sir John Shelley, but the act disgusted many of
his friends. The Duke of Portland, Lord Egmont,
and Lord Chatham's favourite admirals, Saunders and
Keppell, withheld their support : another and far
bitterer disappointment awaited the Prime Minister.
His mind had been full of a vast scheme for forming a
* It is printed at length in the 16th volume of the Parliamentary
History, page 251, a double motto was prefixed to it.
" It is but a forty days' tyranny at the outside." — per legem, terrce.
" Populus Romanus beneficii et injurise memor esse tolet — nemo
civis, qualis sit vir, potest latere. Quemdam, hominem nobilem,
factiosum, novis rebus studere, advorsum quem, neque leges va-
lerent, neque modestia, neque modus contentionis erat. Sed eos
frequens Senatus judicavit contra Rempublicam et salutem omnium
dixisse." — Sail.

712 BILL FOR AN ANNUITY
1767. grand alliance of the northern powers with England,
against France, Spain, and Italy, and he counted on the
willingness of his old admirer Frederic to aid the scheme;
but Frederic was still sore from the Peace of Paris,
and detested the English, while the frequent changes
of administration made him doubt the stability of our
Government : the scheme therefore failed. About this
time Burke wrote to Lord Rockingham, " there is still
little twilight of popularity remaining round the great
peer, but it fades away every moment." In the House
of Commons his character was continually attacked,
and rarely defended : his Chancellor ofthe Exchequer
was defeated on a question of finance by Mr. Grenville,
who moved the amendment.* An important question
which followed soon after, relating to the interference
of Government with the affairs ofthe East India Com
pany, revealed how much disunion prevailed in the
administration. Burke described Chatham as " a great
invisible power, that left no minister in the House of
Commons. The greatest integrity, (he said, meaning
Conway,) had no power there, the rest approached
him veiling their faces with their wings."
Before the close of the session, a bill was brought in
for giving £8000. per annum to each of the King's
brothers, the Dukes of York, Gloucester, and Cumber
land, as well as a marriage portion of £40,000. to the
Princess Caroline Matilda, Queen of Denmark. Mr.
Grenville in the Commons, and Lord Temple in the
Lords, opposed that part of the bill which entailed
* II. Walpole says, it was the first important question lost by the
crown, since the fall of Sir R. Walpole.

TO THE KING'S BROTHERS. 713
the establishment upon the issue of the Princes; 1767.
and Lyttelton delivered the following able and con
stitutional speech which I print from his own ma
nuscript. " Speech on the Bill for settling a Revenue of £8000.
per annum on their Royal Highnesses the Dukes
of York, Gloucester, and Cumberland, 1767.
" My Lords,
" In giving your Lordships my opinion on this very
important and very delicate subject, I must begin with
supposing what the Constitution supposes, and what
your Lordships would be offended if 1 did not suppose,
that the Bill which is under your consideration, was
framed by the advice of the Ministers of the Crown,
and is by no means such a personal and immediate
act of the King, as those which the noble Earl with
the white staff, who spoke last, has mentioned to your
Lordships, very improperly (I must think), and not
so consistently with the freedom of debate in this
House as he generally speaks upon other occasions.
" My Lords, as I know nothing more important to
the happiness of the King, or to the happiness of the
kingdom, than perfect union and harmony in the
Royal Family, it is with the most sincere and cordial
satisfaction, that I see any new mark of his Majesty's
kindness and tender affection for his Royal brothers,
who are so well deserving of it, and so endeared to
their country, as well as to him, by many amiable
virtues : but I can't help lamenting, that, in the man
ner of carrying the generous purpose of His Majesty
3 A

714 SPEECH ON THE ANNUITIES
1767. into effect, a proper regard is not paid to another
excellent sentiment, no less rooted in his heart than
even his love for his brothers, that sentiment of
paternal goodness for his people, which has ever dis
posed him rather to make them partakers of his Royal
bounty and munificence, than to add anything to the
burthens with which they are loaded.
" The first act that distinguished the auspicious
beginnings of His Majesty's reign, and in the praise of
which I must join, (though not for just the same
reasons) with the noble Earl who spoke last, was the
manner of settling the Civil List. I well remember of
what prejudice it was to the late King in the opinion
of the people, that his Civil List had been settled in a
different manner. For, though upon an average of
the whole reign, the revenues produced no more, or
but very little more, than a clear annuity of eight
hundred thousand pounds, they were supposed to
produce at least a million ; and the odious circum
stance of the publick's being obliged to make good
any deficiency that might happen, without being en
titled to receive any benefit from an eventual surplus,
naturally tended to create a dissatisfaction in the mind
of the subject, and to excite an idea, the most unhappy
for the Crown that can be conceived, the idea of a
separation and opposition of interests between the
King and the publick ! The mischief of this was so
great, that if, upon the accession of his present Ma
jesty to the Crown, it had been proposed to continue
the Civil List on that footing, though I had been the
single man in either House to oppose it, I would have

TO THE KING'S BROTHERS. 715
stood forth, and have loudly protested against it, out 1767.
of duty to the King, and still more for his sake, than
for the sake of the publick. But I most gladly con
curred in the settlement of a fixed and certain re
venue, payable out of the aggregate fund, into which
all the revenues which had composed the late King's
Civil List were then carried, with the consent and at
the desire of his present Majesty himself, who thereby
gave, (as the Act of Parliament most justly exprest it)
the most substantial proof of his tender concern for the
welfare of his people, and that the same is superior in
his Royal breast to all other considerations. Such, my
Lords, was the language of Parliament on this sub
ject : but let me observe to your Lordships that the
very same Parliament, with hearts full (as they them
selves declared) qf the warmest duty and gratitude,
thought they made a sufficient and adequate return,
and gave ample testimony of their great affection to
his Majesty, by the revenue they settled, which they
declared to be competent for defraying the expenses of
His Majesty's Civil Government, for supporting the
dignity of the Crown of Great Britain, and to enable
His Majesty to make an honourable provision for the
Royal Family, which they could not but foresee would
be likely to increase : for though he was not then
married, yet his marriage was most confidently hoped
for and expected. And now, my Lords, let me ask,
did any Prince ever sit upon the throne of this king
dom, who had, or who could desire to have, a Parlia
ment more attached to his person and interests, or
more affectionately and more generously liberal to
3 a 2

716 SPEECH ON THE ANNUITIES
1767. him, than that Parliament to this King ! But His
Majesty's clear receipt has since that time been aug
mented, on the death of the Duke of Cumberland, by
the addition of fifteen thousand pounds per annum ;
an addition just equal to that which His Majesty is
desirous of making to the annual income of his Royal
brothers, over and above that provision which his
Royal grandfather made for the younger sons of the
Crown. He desires that an annuity of twenty thou
sand pounds should be given to each of his brothers :
and had he been advised to apply this sum to that
purpose, or to take it from the overflowings of his Irish
revenue, or from any improvement of that which he
draws from America, and which is not included in his
Civil List, the receiving of the whole from the bounty
of the most gracious of Sovereigns, and most amiable
of brothers, during the term of his life, would have
been a great increase to the happiness of those princes,
and, allow me to say, a much better precedent to all
future times. Instead of that, the Royal Family is se
parated from itself by this new method of proceeding.
It is- not from the Crown, it is not from the proper reve
nue of the Crown, from that revenue which was given
as an honourable provision for the whole Royal Familv,
that the brothers of the King are supported. The
Civil List is disencumbered of part of the charge
which lay upon it before for their maintenance and
support, and an annuity for their lives of four-and-
twenty thousand pounds, divided in three equal por
tions, is to be given by the people, who can consider
this charge in no other light, than as an addition to

TO THE KING'S BROTHERS. 717
the Civil List, made at a time when that revenue is 1767
richer, by fifteen thousand pounds a-year than when
it was granted, and the publick poorer by many,
many millions !
" My Lords, I must think that the Crown has un
happily been ill-advised in this matter. — It was a
saying of the great Lord Treasurer Burleigh, that he
hated to see the royal Treasury sivell, like a distem
pered spleen, when the other parts of the commonwealth
were in a consumption. Apply those words to these
times. Is this a season to increase the private wealth
of the Crown, when the wealth of the kingdom is de
clining, and hardly able to supply the necessary demands
for the safety of the whole ? Does the enormous load of
our debts and taxes, does the failure of our specie, does
the diminution of our exports, does the decrease of our
foreign trade in some of its best and most profitable
branches, authorise such a proceeding? From all
these causes combined, and from the dearness of all
the necessaries of life, the distress of the poor is so
grievous, that in many parts of the kingdom they are
ready to rise, and take up arms, for want of bread.
Will it appease those commotions to have them told
that the Parliament, which has done nothing effectual
to give them relief, is making presents to the Civil
List, as if there were a superfluity of wealth in the
nation, which invited liberality, and called upon those
who have the honour of advising the King, to make
their court by employing their credit in Parliament to
enlarge the narrow bounds of former grants to the
Crown, and to shew the superiority of their genius in

718 SPEECH ON THE ANNUITIES
1767. business by the greater extent of their bounty? —
Where will that bounty stop, and what will be the
next demand ? — The noble Duke who presides at the
head of the Treasury, who cannot be unacquainted
with the circumstances of the kingdom, and who feels
for the publick as much as any man living, I dare be
confident wishes, in conjunction with his friend and
very able assistant, the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
that a system of frugality might begin to prevail : but
I am sorry to say his wishes are no security to the
publick, even in matters relating to his own high
office. Alas, my Lords, I have used a very improper
word — there is no office that can be called a high
one. They are all sunk, all degraded, and the state
itself will sink with them, if the ancient spirit of the
Constitution does not rouse itself up from that insen
sible languor into which it is fallen, and shake off the
servile chains m ith which it is fettered !
" Before your Lordships concur in any bounty of
this nature, you ought at least to be very well in
formed, whether in giving additions to the King's
Civil List, you really give to the King. For my own
part I much doubt it; I much doubt whether the
King will be made any richer, though the publick is
made poorer. It is not those expenses, which can
properly be charged to his account, that exhaust his
revenue. In the whole catalogue of them not one can
be found that bears the stamp of any vice ; and virtue
never yet impoverished a prince. Compassion for
distress, protection and encouragement to eminent
merit, to those sciences that enlighten, to those talents

' TO THE KING'S BROTHERS. 719
that improve, to those arts that embellish civil society, 1767.
these, my Lords, are the chief, I might almost say the
sole articles of His Majesty's private expenses. But
it is not the well regulated and moderate indulgence
of such elegant tastes, or of such humane dispositions,
that makes it necessary now, or ever will make it ne
cessary, for a King of Great Britain, possessed of such
a revenue as his present Majesty is possessed of, in this
kingdom and in Ireland, to come to his Parliament and
desire to have it augmented. The gulf that swallows v
up all the wealth of the Crown, is the modern prac
tice of trading and bargaining with the Crown for the
buying of men into offices, or for the buying of them
out ; it is the setting up a new kind of Court insurance,
to indemnify and secure political traders from any
apprehensions they may have of losing their ventures,
or making a bad voyage ; it is the accumulating of
pensions, it is the adding to the parade and to the ex
pense of the Government without adding to its
strength : this, I say, is the gulf which not the utmost ,
liberality, either of the King or of the Parliament will
ever be able to fill. If there be really a distress in the
administration of Government from the indigence of
the Crown, and your Lordships are desirous of remov
ing that distress, you must endeavour to change the
spirit ofthe times. For of this be assured, so long as
that shall continue, if that be not effectually driven
out of the Court, if a very different spirit does not arise
and prevail, a spirit of disinterestedness, a spirit as
incapable of trafficking with the Crown as of betraying
the publick, though all the treasures of both Indies

720 SPEECH ON THE ANNUITIES BILL.
J7C7 should be added to those of the empire of Great Bri
tain, they would be found insufficient, all would be
wasted, all consumed : though administrations should
be changed with every change of the moon, let who
will be removed, let who will come in, unless this
change be effected the kingdom is ruined.
" My Lords, I am very sorry to have been forced to
say what I have said ; but I thought it my duty : and
I should hold myself most unworthy of a seat in this
House, if, when a sense of duty bids me speak, any
other motives had power to close my lips. It is not
the provision made for the three Royal brothers against
which I object, but the manner of making it. I think
that manner unprecedented, impolitick, dangerous : I
think it destroys the whole principle, the whole po
licy, ofthe Civil List Act. I think it might have been
done more conformably to the wishes of the King him
self, as exprest in his message ; more beneficially to
the Princes ; without detriment to the publick, and
without risking the least diminution of that which
His Majesty thinks his most valuable treasure, the
affection of his people, that affection which must be
his great resource, to draw him out of those difficulties
which embarrass his Government more and more every
day, and those dangers which hang, like a black and
threatening cloud, over the state of his kingdom. I
could not, therefore, sit still, and seem by my silence
to approve what my judgment condemns ; though I
do not mean to oppose the passing of a Bill, the pur
port of which I think right, and which it is not in our
power to alter or amend."

lord Chatham's health. 721
In the list of speakers preserved in the Hardwicke 1767.
papers, of those who opposed on the 17th of June a
motion for a conference with the House of Commons,
on the Bill for restricting the East India Company's
dividend to 10 per cent., Lyttelton's name appears
on two occasions, with Temple, Richmond, Mansfield,
Newcastle, Bedford, Weymouth, Suffolk, and Gower.
At this time, Lord Chatham's health was generally
believed to be irrecoverable. To repeated letters from
the King, requesting his advice, he wrote feeble
answers, declaring his " utter inability" to act, and
recommending that the Duke of Grafton should be
placed at the head of the Treasury, and should name
his own Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Govern
ment meanwhile was divided in itself. The Duke
of Grafton, Lord Northington, and Lord Camden,
looking upon Lord Shelburne as a secret enemy, and
persuading the King that he was so ; while he se
cretly, and C. Townshend openly, detested them : and
while Conway was eager to rejoin the Rockinghams.
In this state of things, negotiations were opened with
the Grenvilles, among whom Lyttelton was now again
to be reckoned, the Rockinghams and the Bedfords.
and on these the following documents throw considera
ble light. LETTER FROM MR. GRENVILLE TO LYTTELTON.
"Wotton, July 14th, 1767.
" My dear Lord,
" Lord Temple and I agreed yesterday at Stowe,
that the most expeditious, and the safest way of trans-

722 Rockingham's negotiation
1767. mitting to you an account of what has passed upon
the subject of Lord Rockingham's negotiation, would
be to send Mr. Loyd, who is with us, and who is fully
apprized of all the particulars, to relate them to you,
together with what we have said and done upon it.
I own I doubt very much of its success ; but whether
it is intended to succeed or not, I am very glad that
the failure of it can never be imputed to the ambitious,
or interested views of Lord Temple or myself.
Having left it, I think upon the properest ground, we
have nothing to do but to wait the event, and to act
accordingly. Let me know, as soon as the bustle is
over, when we may hope to see you in Buckingham
shire, and when you are to be in Worcestershire, that
I may, if possible, avail myself of it. You see my
thoughts are turned to the country, from the busy
scene of politics, and to my private friends from public
connexions. The truth is, I have almost had enough
ofthe latter, and much too little ofthe former ; I there
fore wish, if I can, to make the balance more even,
whicli I think, at present, is a wish not unlikely to be
gratified ; but this is owing to my particular situation,
which makes that both honourable and desirable for
me, which is by no means so for you. I will not,
however, enter in this disquisition any farther, than
to assure you that these are the real sentiments, of my
dear Lord, " Yours most affectionately,
" and faithfully,
" George Grenville."
" Right Hon. Lord Lyttelton."

WITH THE GRENVILLE PARTY. 723
"July 19th, 1767. 1767.
" On Tuesday, the 7th of this month, a negotiation
was opened with Lord Rockingham, by a message
from the King, through the Duke of Grafton, which
was delivered at a meeting held at General Conway's
house. After some previous compliments, the Duke
of Grafton told Lord Rockingham, that the King
wished that Lord Rockingham, and his friends, might
form his Administration, and that he intended his
Lordship should resume the office of First Lord of the
Treasury. Lord Rockingham having asked whether
he was at liberty to communicate this to others besides
his own friends, was answered that the question had
been foreseen, and that he might communicate it;
but it seemed intended, that this was meant to the
Duke of Bedford, and his friends only.
" The Duke of Grafton made an offer of himself to
serve under Lord Rockingham, and expressed some
hopes that the remains of Lord Chatham's friends
might be treated with some indulgence. Upon being
desired to explain himself, he mentioned the Chancellor.
Lord Rockingham, in the account of his conference,
which he gave by letter to Lord Albemarle, v
speaking of this intimation concerning the Chancellor,
sayS :_." But your Lordship knows my sentiments
so well upon this point, that my determination is
taken, though I did not then enter into the detail of
it.<! Lord Albemarle, who was then at Woburn,
shewed Lord Rockingham's letter, as he was desired,
to the Duke of Bedford, in the conclusion of which
was a proposition from Lord Rockingham to come

724 Rockingham's negotiation
1767. to Woburn, if the Duke of Bedford and his friends
were disposed to act with them in the Administration.
The answer given, was, that the Duke of Bedford
and Mr. Grenville were one, and that he would not
proceed without consulting Mr. Grenville. The
intended visit was therefore postponed till that was
done ; and Mr. Rigby, who was then at Woburn, as
well as Lord Gower, proposed to go to London to
inquire whether Mr. Grenville was returned from the
West, and to give Lord Rockingham the meeting
that evening, which he did accordingly, and repeated
to him their resolution not to do any thing without
consulting Mr. Grenville, and that they were deter
mined not to be separated. In consequence of this,
Mr. Rigby went to Wotton on Friday the 10th, and
assured Mr. Grenville, in the strongest terms, of the
Duke of Bedford's regard and union with him, both
in system and in principles, and his own determination
to cultivate it to the utmost. He said he had told
Lord Rockingham that neither the Duke of Bedford
himself, nor he, as an individual, would ever depart
from the ground taken, to assert and establish the
entire sovereignty of Great Britain over her Colonies.
That he was told in answer, that he, Lord Rockingham,
hoped that might be settled to their satisfaction. Mr.
Rigby added, that Lord Rockingham declared for a
wide and comprehensive system ; but it is not. known
that any thing, either with regard to measures or men,
has been talked of in detail, nor is it certain to what
degree Lord Rockingham is authorizedf\) Mr. Gren
ville, after acknowledging the sense which he had of

WITH THE GRENVILLE PARTY. 725
the behaviour of the Duke of Bedford, and his friends, 1767.
towards him, answered, that as to measures, his
opinions were well known, especially with regard to
the capital one, ascribing and establishing the sove
reignty of Great Britain over America, in which he was
happy to find that the Duke of Bedford and his friends
so perfectly agreed with him. That as to arrange
ment of offices, as no message was sent to him, so he
had no answer to give ; nor if there had, would he
have given one without Lord Temple. That he
entirely approved of a wide and comprehensive plan
for an Administration, as the likeliest to produce vigour
and permanency, without which no system for the
public good could be pursued. That upon these prin
ciples he should be extremely pleased to see his friends
honourably placed in the King's Government, and
would cheerfully support an Administration formed
upon them:- that he would support it out of office ;
and Mr. Grenville insisted that his name should not
be mentioned for any office whatsoever, as it had long
been his determination not to be obtruded upon the
King. Mr. Rigby went on Saturday the llth to
meet Lord Rockingham, at Woburn. Mr. Grenville
went the same day to Stowe. On Saturday the 12th,
Mr. Rigby came over to Stowe, and told Mr. Gren
ville, that the Duke of Bedford and Lord Gower were
extremely satisfied with his answer, to which Lord
Temple agreed in every particular; and Mr. Gren
ville, and Lord Temple, both assured Mr. Rigby that
no factious or interested views of theirs should stand
in the way of any public settlement, which, if possible,

726 Rockingham's negotiation
1767. they sincerely wished to see made upon those princi
ples in which Mr. Rigby assured them that they all
concurred. Mr. Rigby's language in both visits was
as open and as amicable as could be. Mr. Grenville's
real wish on this occasion is, that his friends could be
honourably placed in the King's Government, upon
principles which he can neither depart from himself,
nor advise others to leave ; and will be happy, if, by
waving any pretensions of his to office, he might con
tribute to that great purpose, instead of getting an
office for himself, which might give jealousy, and
must lessen his claims for provisions for his friends.
" It must be observed, that neither Lord Temple, nor
Mr. Grenville, bound or pledged themselves to any
thing. They spoke tlieir opinions upon the two pro
positions, as stated by Lord Rockingham to the Duke
of Bedford, the one of a broad wide bottom of Govern
ment, the other of adopting proper measures, and par
ticularly respecting America."
The next letter from Mr. Grenville's private secre
tary, contains the account of the failure of this
negotiation. "July 24th, 1767.
"My Lord,
" My ignorance of your Lordship's motions has
alone prevented my attempting to meet your Lordship
with a letter at some of your stages. I now hear
that you proposed to be at Bristol about this time,
but still not with that certainty which would encourage

with the grenville party. 727
me to send your Lordship the detail of what has past, 1767.
in a packet by the coach. I can only hazard a line
by the post, which, if it should miscarry, and be opened,
will not disclose any wonderful mysteries to the cu
riosity of a country post-master. Your Lordship is,
I understand, apprised of the first part of the nego
tiation, which has been carrying round the circuit of
Wotton, Stowe, and Woburn, and which at last cen
tered in town, upon Lord Rockingham receiving a
letter from the Duke of Grafton to inform him that
the King was willing to admit him to an audience ; his
sentiments concurring in the idea of a comprehensive
plan which should exclude no denomination of men.
His Lordship hereupon desired the Duke of Bedford
to come up and assist him in forming an arrangement.
They met first on Monday evening with the Dukes of
Newcastle, Richmond, and Portland, Lords Sandwich
and Weymouth, Mr. Dowdeswell, and Mr. Rigby;
and again on Tuesday, when none but the Dukes of
Bedford and Newcastle, the Marquis of Rockingham,
Mr. Rigby, and Mr. Dowdeswell, were present.
Some difficulties arose on a letter written by Mr.
Grenville to Mr. Rigby, and then produced, in which
Mr. Grenville repeated the condition he all along
insisted on, as necessary to his concurrence with any
Administration, that the capital measure of asserting
and establishing the sovereignty of Great Britain over
its Colonies, should be such as he could approve of.
The discussion of this matter was however at last
postponed to future consideration, and then Lord
Rockingham named Mr. Conway to be Secretary of

728 Rockingham's negotiation
1767. State, and the Minister in the House of Commons.
The Duke of Bedford objected to it, saying that he
thought Mr. Conway chose the military line, and that
on no account could he consent to placing him in
such a situation : Lord Rockingham strenuously in
sisted upon it. The Duke absolutely refused to agree
to it, and the conference thereupon broke off, each
party declaring the other entirely at liberty from all
engagements, as much as if nothing had passed be
tween them. His Lordship has since had a short
audience, and it is said that he is going out of town ;
the whole affair being to all appearance entirely at an
end. Your Lordship, who are more solicitous for the
characters, than the situations of your friends, will
hear with pleasure that the Duke of Bedford has
maintained the greatest firmness and temper in these
conferences, and that the moderation, the publick
spirit, and the prudence of Lord Temple and Mr.
Grenville, meet with the highest approbation, even
from those who have no prejudices in their favour.
" I have the honour to be,
" with the greatest respect,
" Mv Lord,
" Your Lordship's most obedient,
" and most humble Servant,
" Thomas Whately."
' ' Parliament Street,
"24th July, 1767."
" I shall be anxious to know that this does not miss
you, and shall therefore be obliged to your Lordship
for a line to acknowledge the receipt of it."

with the grenville party. 729
The next letter is from Mr. Whately (Mr, Gren- 1767.
ville's private Secretary) ; — "July 30, 1767.
" My Lord,
"I am favoured with your two letters from Bristol
by the post, and with your parcel by the coach : I
have obeyed your Lordship's commands, and have
forwarded your packet to Mr. Grenville by a servant
who was going to Wotton, and that to Lord Temple
by the Buckingham coach. Nothing remains, I think,
which your Lordship has given me in charge, but to
satisfy your inquiries into our political situations.
Lord Chatham's state of health (I was told authen
tically yesterday) is certainly the lowest dejection and
debility that mind or body can be in. He sits all the
day leaning on his hands, which he supports on the
table ; does not permit any person to remain in the
room : knocks when he wants any thing ; and having
made his wants known, gives a signal without speak
ing, to the person who answered his call, to retire.
In such a condition it is needless to say that he has
been no actor in the late transactions: he has hardly
been a spectator ; nor has he been so much affected by
them as to resign. But he seems to be considered as
unconcerned in the event : though the physicians say
it is possible for him to recover, speaking of it, how
ever, as a distant possibility. Lord Rockingham is
gone out of town, some fruitless attempts having been
made, by some ministers, though I believe witliout
any authority, to prevail upon him to accede with his
pwn friends only, since the great negotiation broke off.
3 B

730 Rockingham's negotiation
1767. At the end of which he was informed that the offer of
the treasury had never been made to him. Since his
departure nothing has passed, nor does there appear
any symptoms of an immediate alteration, either great
or small, with a view to strengthen or dissolve the
present tottering system. That the blow given to it
is fatal hardly admits of a doubt : how long it may
linger I am not state physician enough to know. I
have some thoughts of going to Stowe and Wotton
next week, and I fear I shall be engaged in another
part of the country at the time they set out for Hag
ley ; I should, if it were in my power, have been very
happy to have paid my respects to your Lordship
there ; and it gives me great pleasure to hear that your
health is so entirely recovered, that you will be able
to enjoy all the beauties of that delightful place, where
illness and confinement would be intolerable.
" I have the honour to be,
" with the greatest respect,
" My Lord,
" your Lordship's most obedient,
" and most humble Servant,
Thomas Whately."
" London,
" 30th July, 1767."
On the 2nd of August Mr. Grenville writes from
Wotton :—
" My dear Lord,
" Nothing material that I know of has happened in
the political world since the date of your letter of the

WITH THE GRENVILLE PARTY. 731
27th of last month. I desired Mr. Whately, who was 176/
upon the spot, to inform you of the breaking up of the
negotiation with Lord Rockingham, and of all the par
ticulars which had attended it ; since which the pub
lick reports are, that things are in a greater confusion
and uncertainty than ever. It is said that the King
told Lord Rockingham that he had never authorised
the Duke of Grafton to offer to his Lordship the office
of First Lord of the Treasury. This must necessarily
make a disagreable mistake between them, but to
.which of the two Lords it is owing I have not ma
terials sufficient to determine. I am extremely happy
in the full approbation which you express of the part
Lord Temple and I have taken upon this occasion.
When I intimated that there might be a difference
between your situation and mine, I meant only, that
whatever might be said of me, it could not be pre
tended that you was in the case of being forced and
obtruded upon the King, and that therefore if every
thing else were settled as it should be, there would be
no colour for your not filling an honourable office which
you are in all respects so well entitled to. This, my
dear Lord, is the only difference between us, and the
only one, I hope, there ever will be. You certainly
have made a mistake, or I myself have made one in
my letter to you, when you mention our coming to
Hagley in the month of August. We always under
stood that about the beginning or middle of Septem
ber was the time the most agreeable to you, and which
was fixed for our party there. We mentioned this to
3 b 2

732 Rockingham's negotiation.
1767. Mr. Pitt* as the time settled, and he promised to meetus
at Hagley accordingly. We have fixed all our own com
pany here during the course of this month, and the first
week ofthe next, when our Eton boys who are just come
home, are to leave us. It will therefore be impossible
for us to wait upon you at Hagley before that time,
but if your own engagements and arrangements should
carry you from home by the end of this month, I beg
you will not suffer any thought of us to keep you there
a moment longer than you intended, as we had much
rather defer for another year the pleasure which we
propose to ourselves from so agreeable a party than
put you to the least inconvenience ; we hope, however,
at all events, not to be deprived of that part of it,
which in all places will ever give us the greatest satis
faction ; and we flatter ourselves that if this unlucky
mistake should prevent us from seeing you at Hagley,
that you will at least make it up to us as far as you
can by giving us the more of your company at
Wotton. Our proposition was to have gone to Lord
Aylesford's, at Packington, about the 7th or 8th of
September, and after three or four days' stay there,
to have gone on to Hagley, but we would change the
order of our march, and come first to you, if that had
suited you better. Lord Temple comes here on thei 1th
of this month, and is to be at Eastbury on the 13th, and
from thence intends to go on upon his western progress
to Mount Edgecombe, &c. and probably to Boconnock
if Mr. Pitt is there. He proposes to be absent between
* Father of the first Lord Camelford.

townshend's sudden death. 733
three weeks and a month in the whole. The inhabi- 1767.
tants of Wotton all join in their kindest compliments
to you. My wife hopes that she is much better for
her journey. " I am ever, my dear Lord,
" most affectionately,
" and most faithfully your's,
" George Grenville."
All these negotiations failing, Charles Townshend
was seized with the ambition of exchanging his Chan
cellorship of the Exchequer for the office of Prime Mi
nister. It appears that his wish was gratified : and that
he had even begun to make appointments, when, in
the prime of life, and just touching the goal of his
hopes, his career was arrested by an unexpected death.
This event revived the difficulties of forming a Go
vernment ; after some delay, Lord North accepted
the Chancellorship of the Exchequer under the Duke
of Grafton, as Prime Minister, though Lord Chatham
still retained his place. The following letter refers
to these events. "Thursday, 17th Sept. 1767.
" My Lord,
" As I shall take it for granted Mr. Grenville has
left Hagley by the directions given about his letters,
I trouble your Lordship with one word, just to say
that the Secretaries of State were yesterday in with
the K— two hours. That the ministerial people are
in high spirits, determined to go on, and that Lord

734 GRAFTON AND NORTH ADMINISTRATION.
1 767. North is to accept the Exchequer Seals. The lan
guage held is, that though North has not Mr. Towns
hend's brilliancy, yet he has great abilities, and will
draw with Mr. Conway. Great appearance of ill-
humour in the Court of France towards us. All this
intelligence you may depend on. — It comes to me from
a secret channel of unquestionable authority.
" Your Lordship's most respectful Servant,
" Ch. Lloyd."
Parliament met on the 24th of November. Lyttel
ton came to town, and wrote the following very
curious account to Lord Temple of his interviews
with the principal leaders of the Opposition.
Indorsed — " Lord Temple unexpectedly coming to
town, this letter was not finished." " London, Nov. 25, 1767.
" My dear Lord,
" My first conference upon my coming to town,
with any person of importance, was with Lord Hard
wicke, in which I think nothing passed that was very
material, except that his Lordship seemed inclined to
have some topicks of opposition touched upon the first
day in both Houses of Parliament, and carried on
through the session by his friends and ours in con-
j unction. On my desiring to know what those to
picks were in which he thought that the Rockinghams
would agree with us, he first mentioned Portugal,
about which he seemed much heated, saying, they had
broke all their treaties of commerce with England,

lyttelton's interview with lord hardwicke. 735
and nothing was done on our part to obtain satisfaction. 1767.
I told him what my brother William had written to Sir
Richard, that the Court of Lisbon had exprest to him
as good dispositions, and promised as fair in all points,
as could be desired ; but between promising and
performing there might be a difference, or at least a
distance of time : that Court being very slow in all
its proceedings. Upon more talk I found that what
made him so particularly eager on this matter was,
that he thought my Lord Rockingham and those in
the ministry with him, would get some honour, by its
appearing that they alone of all the ministries since the
peace had stirred in that business. ' He then came to the
points relating to America, upon which he was very
full of doubts and fears, but on my mentioning what
had lately been done in Carolina, he said he would
join with us in any measures to force the colonies
to obey our commercial laws. It is remarkable that
through our whole conversation he avoided to talk of
what had past in the late negotiation for a change of
the ministry, but seemed to agree in what I once or
twice threw out, that even supposing a successful oppo
sition in Parliament, it was impossible that my friends
and Lord Rockingham should agree in forming a mi
nistry, or in carrying on a Government. I took occa
sion to say that I did not see the same difficulty with
regard to him and his family, or to the Duke of New
castle : and that they and our friends combined might
do very well without him or his, if we had power in
our hands, at which he smiled, but said nothing.
" My next conference was with Lord Mansfield. I

736 interview with lord mansfield.
1 7&7. found that he wished your Lordship would have been in
town at the meeting of Parliament, as the Duke of
Bedford intended to say something the first day. I
answered him, that if his Grace called you would
come, and had signified so to his Grace. He said you
would not be sent for, but he thought you had better
have been in town at this time, as the Duke was eager
to speak, and your being at his side, and taking the
same part, when the tone was to be given to the en
suing session, might have good effects, and your ab
sence might be liable to misinterpretations.
" I told him I would have let you know his
opinion, if there had been time sufficient for you to
come to town upon it before the Parliament met : but
it was then past ten o'clock on Sunday night. In
talking about the future operations of the session, he
often said there was nothing to be done by squibs ; that
Lord Hardwicke understood nothing of the affairs of
Portugal : that it was not so clear as he supposed that
any thing had been done there in direct breach of
treaties ; that Urello had offered to negotiate last year,
but could not get an audience, or any attention from
our ministers upon that subject.
" That something might arise from the quarter of
America, but yet no opposition would signify any
thing, if the ministers held together. That the King
mediated between them, and kept them from breaking:
that he was the most efficient man among them, that
he made each of them believe he was in love with
them, and fooled them all. That unless that mad man
Lord Chatham should come and throw a fire-ball in

INTERVIEW WITH LORD MANSFIELD. 737
the midst of them, he thought they would stand their 1767.
ground : but what that might do he could not tell.
That Lord Bute alone could make a ministry which
would last, that if he was dead no other man could do
it so well. That he (Bute) had just causes of com
plaint against Mr. Grenville, but was much less his
enemy than Lord Rockingham, or Mr. Conway, or
Lord Camden, or Lord Holland.
" Speaking of the late negotiation for a change in
the ministry, he exprest great contempt of the manner
of carrying it on, so publickly, and with such num
bers admitted to the conferences. He said Lord
Rockingham was a fool not to humour the Duke of
Bedford in all he desired, after you and your brother
had declared you would not come in ; and that part
of the Court which had set this treaty on foot should
have boggled at nothing, from that time, to bring it to
a conclusion ; because the Bedford connexion once in
witliout you two, would have remained separated from
you, of which he was more sure, as the Duke of Bed
ford himself had told him, after Rigby's return from
Stowe, that if a ministry should be formed, and you
did not both keep your . promise to support it out of
office, he would tie you down to your honour given,
or quite detach himself from you, and adhere firmly
to them. But of all things Lord Mansfield ex
claimed against the madness of his Grace in conjunc
tion with Lord Rockingham, proposing a sweep of the
Court, to the extent that they did, and much lamented
that your Lordship had permitted Rigby to express
your consent and concurrence in so wild a scheme,

738 INTERVIEW WITH LORD MANSFIELD.
1767. which had been reported at Court, and had cer
tainly done you great harm. I said I understood
you were passive, not active, in that scheme, and,
that you might not think it for your honour to
protect Lord Bute or his friends, when others pro
posed to destroy them, though you did not propose
it yourself. He replied it was understood to have
been no less agreeable to you than to them : and
then dwelt a good deal on the certainty of a fixed
resolution in the King not to change his army,
but only the generals of that army. That to force
him from this resolution would be exceedingly diffi
cult in any conjuncture, but impossible at this time;
and if it could be effected, would in the end ruin
those who should put that force upon him. That he
thought if the present ministry should fall to pieces by
their own internal weakness or divisions, and another
were to be formed, the king should be left to choose
who should be at the head of it ; and if you or your
brother were proposed, Lord Rockingham should desire
his friends to go in ; and if he was preferred, you
should do the same by yours. On my saying, that I
would not be one of those friends, he expressed some
dislike of that determination, especially as I carried it
not only to Lord Rockingham's, but to any other
ministry of which you were not a part. However, he
afterwards confined his idea of such coalition to inferior
friends on both sides, who might be more eager to go
in than I, and would not think themselves under the
same restraints. He spoke a good deal upon the king's
disgust against G. Grenville, which he seemed to think

INTERVIEW WITH LORD MANSFIELD. 739
not quite groundless, and took occasion, in talking 1767.
upon the state of our colonies, to observe to me what
great difficulties he (Grenville) would be under if he ^
were now to be minister, with relation to them ; and
how eligible, how desirable, it was for him, that some
other man should take the necessary measures to set
things right there. That every step he could take
would raise a violent flame and meet with much more
resistance, both there and in this kingdom, than the
same measure undertaken by any other minister.
These were the most material parts of a conversation
that lasted till after one in the morning. During the
course of it, he said, that he found in all parties a
general good disposition and kindness towards me, but
that those who were averse to your brother's being
placed at the head of the treasury were no better dis
posed towards you. He seemed very desirous that the
present ministry should not continue, but equally
unwilling that the king should be forced to remove
them ; full of contempt for Lord Rockingham and the
Duke of Richmond, of hatred to Lord Chatham and all
his friends, and of managements for Lord Bute, without
much esteem of him or affection for him. I tried to
draw from him what had passed in his two conversa
tions with the king : he said the king's talk to him was
gracious, but loose and inconclusive. He assured your
brother, upon his honour, that nothing important had
past. I understand he has much credit with the
Dukes of Bedford and Newcastle, yet perhaps less
than he thinks. His great use to our party is in the
House of Lords ; for in his intrigues he is warped by
many different views, by managements for various

740 INTERVIEW WITH DUKE OF BEDFORD.
1767. connections, by a great attention to the closet, and by
the uncertainty, the timidity, and over-refining turn of
his mind.
I am next to give your lordship an account of my
conference with the Duke of Bedford, which, after the
usual chit chat, his grace began by saying, that Lord
Rockingham was stark mad, for he had told the Duke
of Bridgewater, who talked to him about a union with
his friends, that he would hear of nothing in which there
was a Grenville. He then entered into some detail of
what had passed in the summer, and on my observing
that even then his Lordship had in effect excluded the
Grenvilles, by proposing to be himself at the head of
the Treasury, and that he only now spoke more plainly
what he always intended, his Grace replied, that his
own scheme was to have balanced the power of Lord
Rockingham and his friends in the ministry to be
formed, by many friends of the Grenvilles, and some in
the highest offices, particularly myself, whom he meant
to propose for President of the Council, the power of
which office he said was now very great. That on
this he would have insisted, but that in this second
meeting he found the Marquis quite changed from
what he had been in the first. I exprest a proper
sense of the honour his Grace had done me, but said
that in my opinion things had ended much better by
the treaty breaking off, as such a ministry could not
long have held together. He said he meant to have
been a mediator between them in any differences or
disputes that might have arisen among them, and
hoped his mediation might have been effectual. That
.he presumed Mr. Grenville would not think at this

LETTER OF STANISLAUS AUGUSTUS. 741
time of reviving the Stamp Act, and that he himself 1767.
should prefer making an example of some one seditious
fellow in the colonies, who could be convicted of
eminently distinguishing himself in opposition to the
laws and sovereignty of Great Britain, by which others
would be deterred from acts of that nature, to Mr.
Grenville's test, or any other measure that might
unite all the colonies in one common cause. I an
swered that the test proposed by Mr. Grenville could
unite none in opposition to it, who were not already
united in a determined opposition to the cause of
Great Britain, which his Grace resolved to support,
and something effectual must be done or it could not
be supported. " Lyttelton.
" London, November 25th, 1 767."
About this time Frederic Augustus II. King of Poland
closed his disastrous reign, and Catherine the Second
procured, by intrigue and violence, the election of her
lover, Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski, to the throne of
that kingdom— one of those unprincipled nobles of this
most unhappy country, who bought the patronage of St.
Petersburg by shameless treachery to Warsaw. The new
King had been an old acquaintance of Lyttelton's, who
wrote to him on this occasion, and received for answer
the following letter: — " le 21 Novembre, 1767.
" My Lord Comte Lyttelton, — La part que vous
prenez, my Lord, a. mon elevation presente me flatte
d'autant plus, qu'elle me rappelle l'accueil que j'ai recu
de vous il y a dix ans, lorsque j'avais le bonheur de

742 STATE OF POLAND.
1767. m'instruire dans votre Patrie, et dans la conversation
du legislateur des Troglodites.* Je me trouverai
heureux de pouvoir appliquer avec succes dans l'exercice
de rna place les notions si sages et si vertueux que j'ai
puisee dans votre entretien, et dont les souvenir vous
assure les sentimens d'estime et d'amitie, dans lesquels
je suis my Lord Comte de Lyttelton.
"Votre tres affectionne,
" Stanislas Auguste RoY."f
A letter from Mr. Harris^ accompanied this royal
despatch ; it contains a slight sketch of the wretched
state of Poland, torn by intestine licentiousness, and
the helpless prey of foreign rapine.
"Warsaw, November 21st, 1767.
" My Lord,
" I had the honour of receiving your letter some few
posts after my arrival here, and had almost the same
day an opportunity of delivering your message to the
King. He expressed great satisfaction at hearing it,
and seemed to feel all that pleasure a sensible man
must have in being recollected by a man of your
Lordship's character.
* See the Persian Letters, x — xxi. and vol. i. p. 56.
f The cover is directed, 'A My Lord Comte de Lyttelton, A
Londres.' X Son of James Harris, the justly celebrated philologer, who had
been also successively a Lord ofthe Admiralty and the Treasury, and
Comptroller of the Household to Queen Anne. His son and heir, the
writer of this letter, having acquired a considerable diplomatic repu
tation at the courts of Madrid, St. Petersburgh, and the Hague, was
created Baron Malmesbury in 1788; Viscount Fitzharris and Earl of
Malmesbury in 1800. He died in 1820.

STATE OF POLAND. 743
" You have, without doubt, been sufficiently informed 1767.
of the turbulent state of this unfortunate kingdom,
till the meeting of the present Diet. The great internal
confederation that menaced intestine discords at home,
and the violent measures of the Court of Russia, are
facts not unknown to you. Should I be the first in
informing your Lordship of the step taken since, I
shall esteem myself very happy. You will easily see
that they are such as a free people never would have
consented to, had it not been overawed by some su
perior power.
" The first day of the assembly, a project was pro
posed by Prince Radzivil, for the Diet proroguing
itself till February, after having resigned the power of
treating, and even concluding, to a certain number of
deputies, who should then lay their determination be
fore it, for their approbation. The singularity of such
a proposal seemed to shock the whole house.
" The Bishop of Cracow and Kiovie were vehement
in opposing it ; and there appeared not the least pro
bability of its being carried. The next day changed,
however, the face of things ; the unruly prelates
being both hurried away by the Russian troops in the
night, and the like fate being threatened to all those
who should presume to imitate them, made it pass
nem. con. Delegates were named, and the diet pro
rogued itself, keeping the insignificant right of ap
proving, not of rejecting, the resolutions they should
come to.
" This delegation has met twice, and sometimes
oftener each week alternately, at the Primate's and

744 STATE OF POLAND.
1767. Russian ambassador, and the day before yesterday it
came to a final determination on the affair of the dis
sidents. It was resolved, that, in point of religion,
they should be put on a perfect equality with the
Catholick — should be left in a free and undisturbed
possession of their churches, &c. &c, and be entitled
to bury and christen, without soliciting the leave, and
paying that enormous fee, as formerly, to the Bishop
of the diocese. That they should also be capable of
being selected as Nonces at the Dietines ; of accepting
all employments, as well those of emolument, as of
civil duty ; of being Ministers of State, Officers of the
Crown, and even Senators. To leave, however, suffi
cient room to prove the other religion the predomi
nant one, it was inserted, that the King must be chosen
from among the Cathohcks, and that if he married a
Protestant, she should not be crowned. Moreover,
from henceforward, any Catholick tempted by the ad
vantages to forsake his religion, should not reap
the benefit here allowed, but should be subject to the
rigour of the former laws against the dissidents.
" These, and some few other articles have been their
result till now ; there remains to be settled some
points relative to Courland, and some other subjects
of smaller consequence. All things will be as Russia
thinks proper, the fate of the poor Bishops having
most effectually sealed up the mouths of the patriots.
" Voltaire has published a small pamphlet in defence
of the Dissidents, and seems to have taken more pains
to inform himself of the subject, and to make use of
more argument, than he usually does ; this will, as

STATE OF POLAND. 745
they say, bring him a considerable pecuniary present 1767,
from Russia, and perhaps the red riband.
They say, that soon ministers will be sent from
hence to the foreign courts, which is a most necessary
step for the republick to take ; as at present, it is in
the most complete ignorance of whatever passes in
other countries.
" I beg pardon for having thus long trespassed on
your Lordship's patience ; I will fatigue it no more
than in begging leave to subscribe myself, with the
other most distinguished sentiments,
" My Lord,
" your Lordship's most obedient,
" and obliged faithful servant,
" J. Harris."

3 c

CHAPTER XVII.
1768 (march)— 1773 (august).
from the meeting of the second parliament of
george iii. to the death of lord lyttelton.

[Hagley MSS. — Annual Register for each Year — Parliamentary His
tory, vol. xvi. — Adolphus' History, vol. i. e. 1841 — Chatham
Correspondence, vol. iv. — Burke's Correspondence, vol. i.]

1 768. On the 12th of March, the first Parliament of George
the Third was dissolved. The dissatisfaction at its close,
equalled, if it did not surpass, the satisfaction generally
prevalent at its commencement. Such was the unpopu
larity of the Court, and the ministers, that it clothed with
popular power any object of their dislike, even such a
wretch as Wilkes, who reappeared in England about this
time. Abroad, the honour of England had been ill
sustained. France had been allowed, without a shadow
of pretext, to seize upon the Papal territories of
Avignon, andtheVenaissin,and — what even the shadow
of Pitt's name should have prevented * to annex to her
* " Though confined to your house (the King writes) your name
has been sufficient to enable my administration to proceed." —
Chatham Correspondence, vol. iii. p. 318.

RESIGNATION OF CHATHAM. 747
dominions Corsica, struggling gallantly but in vain for 1768,
national freedom. Lord Chatham, at the earnest request
of the King, allowed the Privy Seal to be put in com
mission, when its possession entailed the necessarv
transactions of some business of which his infirmities
rendered him incapable. But the dismissal of Sir
Jeffrey Amherst, and Lord Shelburne, by the Duke of
Grafton, added to the disgrace of the Corsican affair,
determined him, in spite of the most urgent entreaties
from the Crown and the Duke of Grafton, to resign
on the 12th of October in this year.*
During the course of this year, Lyttelton seems to
have been active in endeavouring to reunite the Gren
ville party with Lord Mansfield, while the Bedfords
aware of the tottering state of the Government, cast
* "As for his Majesty, I always found every thing gracious and
amiable in the closet ; so amiably condescending, as a promise in
every repeated audience, not only to forgive, but to supply the de
fects of health by his cheerful support, and by the ready assist
ance of all his immediate dependents, &c. Instead of this, the
obstacles and difficulties which attended every great and public
measure, did not arise from those out of Government : they were
suggested, nourished, and supported, by that secret influence I have
mentioned, and by the industry of those very dependents ; first,
by secret treachery, then by public influence afterwards, in public
councils. Along train of these practices has at length unwillingly
convinced me, that there is something behind the throne greater
than the King himself. As to the noble Duke, there was in his con
duct, from the time of my being taken ill, a gradual deviation from
every thing that had been settled, and solemnly agreed by His
Grace, both as to measures and men : till at last there were not left
two plauks together ofthe ship which had been originally con
structed."— Lord Chatham's Speech, 2nd March, 1770.
3 c 2

748 LETTER TO LORD MANSFIELD.
1768. their eyes towards the Rockingham party. The two
following letters are among the MSS. of this year.
" Copy of my letter to Lord Mansfield. "June 9th, 1766. t
" My dear Lord,
" At going out of town, I beg leave to trouble
you with a few more last worlds. If things should
work to a change, and there should be a desire of
bringing in the Grenvilles, I think it would be better
to apply to Lord Temple than to his brother; because,
if he is not satisfied, his brother, I am sure, will not
come in : and because, in this crisis, the offer of the
first post in the Administration to him, would do more
to lay the ferment in the minds of the people, than
the making it to his brother, or any other person in
the whole nation. What means would be necessary
to incline him to accept of such an offer, if made, your
Lordship's sagacity will enable you to judge much
better than I can. Certainly he will not be willing
to lose his credit with the people for the sake of coming
in ; nor would it be for the King's service that he
should ; but a sober use of that credit may do much
good, and I know he is disposed to consider all the
delicacies of his brother's situation, as well as of his
own. Nor is he insensible of what the King's honour
may require, as things are now circumstanced, nor
unable to bring others to submit to his judgment. I
will add, that a revival of just the old ministry of his
brother, with the Bedfords, would not at present give
to Government that strength and authority it so much

LORD TEMPLE TO LYTTELTON. 749
wants. Your Lordship will make what use you please 1768.
of these hints, if you see a time when you think they
may be useful, or keep them only between you, and
" Your most affectionate, &c.
" Lyttelton."
from lord temple to lyttelton.
"Stowe, Sunday morn, Aug. 14th, 1768.
" My dear Lord,
" I have hitherto left your Lordship's last letter un
answered, having nothing to write worth your attention ;
and though the same reason still subsists, yet cannot
I find in my heart to let the Grenville cargo depart
for Hagley, without bearing along with them a testi
monial, under my hand, of my kindest regard for all
Fairy Land, and the Apollo thereof, for Fairy Land
has its Apollo as well as other regions. Four lines to
Lady Elizabeth, and but two apiece to the others,
is in my mind and heart strict poetical justice.
Now for Politics. I saw Ge. * yesterday, and
upon comparing notes, I find the whole of all intelli
gence amounts substantially to just nothing. Lord
Egmont, however, has, I believe, certainly been offered
Shelburne's place, which he has certainly refused,
saying that he delighted not in dancing upon the ropes,
but should be happy to serve the King whenever Go
vernment shall be placed upon a solid ground. It
is also said, that Lord Halifax has been offered the
same, and refused ; if true, these are mortal symptoms,
especially as it is most confidently asserted that the
Duke of Grafton has declared to his brother ministers
* So in the original.

750 MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.
1768. how much he is averse to continuing ; and that Brad-
shaw has said to the friend of my informer, that no
consideration will make His Grace continue another
year. It is said, he, the Duke, recommends Lord
North to succeed him. Thus have I daubed my
paper with a sufficient quantity of doubtful nonsense
to make a decent epistle ; there remains only for me
to add one assertion of absolute certainty, which is,
that I remain with the warmest affection, ever, my
clearest Lord's most devoted " Temple."
The state of the Colonies had become most alarming.
The ministry had passed Acts of Parliament, laying
duties on certain articles of commerce exported to
America ; but now, this hitherto unquestioned right,
of imposing what were called external taxes, was denied.
The province of Massachusetts took the lead in
opposing these measures. Parliament met in De
cember, and votes of censure on the Americans, and
various resolutions were proposed in the Lords, carried
without a division, and sent down to the Commons.
The conduct of Lyttelton and his friends appears
from the Hardwicke MSS : — " Lord Temple declared
that he thought them all nugatory — a paper war with
the Colonies — and then went out of the House."
" Lord Lyttelton, and Lord Mansfield, were not there;
the Lord Chancellor was silent." Before the close of
the year Lord Chatham was reconciled to Lord Temple
and Mr. Grenville.
The debates in the Commons on the American

"horned cattle session." 751
resolutions, the expulsion and re-election of Wilkes, 1769.
the Middlesex Riots, the phsenomenon of Junius, in
fact, no matter of public importance during this year,
derives any light from the Hagley MSS. In July,
the Administration were scared by the sudden appear
ance of Lord Chatham at St. James'. He remained
for twenty minutes in the Royal closet, and was gra
ciously received.
Parliament met on the 9th of January.
The King's Speech begun with an allusion to a recent
distemper among horned cattle, and ended with a recom
mendation to both Houses to avoid heats and animo
sities among themselves ; it was unsparingly ridi
culed, and the Session was nicknamed the Horned
Cattle Session. Lord Chatham's vigorous opposition
to the Address, proved the reality of his resurrection
to life and energy ; speaking, in answer to Lord
Mansfield, on the proceedings of the House of Com
mons, with respect to the Middlesex Election, he said,
" Power without right is the most odious and detes
table object that can be offered to the human imagina
tion ; it is not only pernicious to those who are subject
to it, but leads to its own destruction. It is what my
noble friend (Lord Lyttelton) has truly described it,
' Res detestabilis et caduca? " There is no other trace
of Lyttelton's speech in this debate. The union be
tween Lord Chatham, the Grenvilles, and Lyttelton,
and the Rockinghams, was now cemented, and so* it was
afterwards formally announced to be by Lord Chatham
in the House of Lords. In this debate, Lord Chan-
* In his speech on the 22nd of January.

752 LORD MORDEN.
1770. cellor Camden, declaring that he had accepted the seals
without conditions, and that he had been trammelled
too long, applauded all that had fallen from Lord
Chatham, and accused the ministry of conspiring
against the liberties of the country.
On the 15th of January, Lord Rockingham gave
notice, that he had a motion of great importance to
make, and moved, " that all the Lords be summoned
on the 17th instant." Lord Weymouth moved to
adjourn to the 22nd ; a debate arose, and on a division
the adjournment was carried ; but a strong protest
was entered, alluding to the adjournment having for
its object " the removal of the Lord Chancellor of Eng
land, the speaker of this House," on account " of the
part so honourable to himself, but perhaps so offensive
to administration, which that noble Lord had taken, the
first day of this session." The difficulty of supplying
his place was very great. After most urgent personal
entreaties from the King, Mr. Yorke, the great Lord
Hardwicke's second son, accepted the seals, which his
abilities and reputation well entitled him to hold.
The accomplishment of his ambition was, however,
fatal to this distinguished person. The conflict of his
feelings produced a derangement of mind, to which his
life became a victim. On the one hand was the natural
and laudable anxiety to obtain the unprecedented
honour of succeeding his father on the woolsack, and
Ihe difficulty of resisting- the urgent importunities of
his Sovereign ; and on the other, was the repugnance
to join an Administration of whose conduct and prin
ciples he disapproved. He fell by his own hands three

lord rockingham's motion. 753
days after he had received the Great Seal, and before 1770.
his patent of Baron Morden of Morden, in Cam
bridgeshire, was completed. To these circumstances
Lord Rockingham alluded in the following letter : —
"Jan. 20th, 1770.
" My dear Lord,
" I did myself the honour of calling upon your
Lordship this morning, and wished to have been
lucky enough to find you at home, that I might shew
you the enclosed sketch of a Protest, and which I should
desire your Lordship to shew to Lord Temple, for in
some parts, I imagine, it will require correction. I
am not sure, also, whether the allusion to what
passed in the House of Lords on the first day of the
session, is not irregular.
" I am, with great difficulty, my dear Lord, got
thus far in_ my letter relative to the business which
presses. The Duke of Richmond went out of town,
and will be back to-morrow. He had undertaken this
matter, or I would have communicated earlier. The
event of this evening has affected me to the greatest
degree. Your Lordship knows what I must feel, most
probably from your own feelings. In truth, my good
Lord, abstracted from every political idea, the happi
ness of life consists in private friendships, and howso
ever different ideas, or even principles in politicks,
may estrange men, yet I hope my dear Lord, that
there may be an honourable distinction, in feeling even
the calamities attending private friendships; and at
the same time, that I may adhere to those principles of

754 lord Rockingham's motion.
1770. public honour in politicks, which will not always
allow personal private friendships to operate on the
mind. " I should be glad of the honour of seeing your
Lordship to-morrow morning. I am much agitated,
and I hardly know whether I shall be able to proceed
so early as Monday.
" I am, my Lord,
" with great truth and regard,
" your Lordship's
" most obedient and humble servant,
" Rockingham.
" Grosvenor Square, Jan. 20th, 1770.
Saturday night, near 9 o'clock."
On the 22nd of January, Lord Rockingham brought
in his motion : he ascribed the general discontent not
to any temporary cause, but to one which had grown
upon usby degrees ever since His Majesty's accession, —
"That the persons in whom His Majesty had confided
had introduced a total change in the old system of
English Government ; — that they had adopted a maxim
which must prove fatal to the liberties of this country,
viz : that the Royal prerogative alone was sufficient to
support Government, to whatever hands the Administra
tion should be committed." America, Corsica, the
Civil List, were all included in the objects of his
censure. The Duke of Grafton replied, and was
answered by Lord Chatham in a speech of all his
former vigour and effect. The House agreed to the
24th day of January for taking into consideration

lord north's administration. 755
the State of the Nation, but the motion was adjourned 1770.
to the 2nd of February : but before that time, to the
surprise of the world, the Duke of Grafton resigned the
premiership. Lord Granby and Dunning also deserted
the Government.
George the Third had sat ten years upon the
throne when he dismissed his sixth Administration ;*
the seventh was now organized by Lord North
— celebrated for its duration of twelve years, and for
the mighty revolution, the herald of so many great
events to the civilized globe, which happened during
this long period of misgovernment, — during which the
foreign empire of Great Britain was rent in twain,
while at home the pillars of her constitution were
shaken to their foundation; the constituent body jarring
with the representative, and the people learning that
lesson, fatal to the liberty of mixed governments, of
looking elsewhere than to Parliament for the support
of their rights and the redress of their grievances.
The opposition took up warmly the question of the
power of the House of Commons to incapacitate a
member from being elected, as they had done in the
case of Wilkes ; and on the 2nd of February, Lord
Rockingham brought in a Resolution condemnatory of
this act, in which he was strenuously supported by
Lord Chatham.
* Prime Ministers, 1760-70.— Mr. Pitt, at the accession of
George the Third, October, 1760; Earl Bute, 1761; Mr. Grenville,
1763; Marquess of Rockingham, 1765; Earl Chatham, 1766; Duke
of Grafton, 1768; Lord North, 1770.

756 lyttelton's speech on
1770. The following fragment of Lyttelton's speech on
this occasion is preserved among the Hagley MSS.
" On the Question of the Middlesex Election,
anno 1770.
" My Lords,
" I am very glad that some digression has
been made from the question, because it has given
an opportunity to a noble and learned Lord,* to
state the truth of certain facts which I find have
been grossly misrepresented, and which are ex
ceedingly interesting, not only to those who love
and honour his Lordship (as I am proud to say I do),
but also to the whole community of this nation, deeply
concerned in the wisdom and rectitude of his conduct,
which has always hitherto, and I dare be confident
always will, come out the brighter for having been as
persed and questioned. Whether the fixed rules of law
and judicial proceedings, relating to libels, are just as
a lover of liberty would desire I have my doubts : but
of this I am sure, that a judge upon the bench must
conform himself to them ; his duty and his oath require
him to do so, till the legislature shall tell him that
they are not to be observed. As for the question be
fore us ; after all the united powers of eloquence,
reason, and learning, have been exhausted in this and
former debates on this subject, through the whole
course of last session, I would not trouble your
Lordships upon it now, if I considered this motion in
* Lord Mansfield.

THE MIDDLESEX ELECTION. 757
any other light than as merely renewing a claim of 1770.
right for the people. I could heartily wish no occasion
had ever been given to agitate this question. It would
have been better for the Parliament and better for the
people, that the utmost limits of their rights with
f' elation to each other had not been brought into de
bate. But that veil, which prudence kept over a most
undesirable and most unhappy dispute, the rash and
violent hand of angry passion has torn. The point has
been discussed ; it was necessary for me to take my
part upon it, and when I took it, after long and most
impartial deliberation, I took it for my life. Questions
of expediency change from year to year ; but constitu
tional principles can never change, so long as the Con
stitution itself exists. If such principles should be
rendered as flexible and as subject to occasional varia
tions as the measures of a Government, or the measures
of a party, this kingdom would soon be irrecoverably
enslaved ; but while it continues to preserve its free
dom, these great fundamental truths, that no power,
except that qf the whole legislature, can in any manner
create a new incapacity, and that every legal right
which the subject enjoys, is secured to him by that law
from whence he derived it, must ever remain in full
force. No resolution of one House, or both Houses of
Parliament, can weaken that force ; no length of time
can wear it out.
"As for the utility of renewing this claim at
this time, I can only say to your Lordships,
that the people must not think their rights are for
gotten, when their strongest efforts may be wanting

758 lyttelton's speech.
1770. for the defence of a country endeared to them by those
rights. I had rather the two Houses should quarrel
with each other than the nation with them both. To
prevent the bad effects of an increasing distrust and
despondency in the people, at this important conjunc
ture, is well worth our endeavours ; though I must own
I conceive so very little hope of doing good to this
country in the present state of things ; I see it so dis
united, so deprived of all system, and of all materials
out of which a system can be formed, so ill pre
pared to contend with innumerable difficulties, in
ternal and external ; so weakened by the loss, the
most deplorable loss, of one of its ablest supports,* which
the hand of Providence has thrown down when our
need of it was greatest ; — that I am convinced even
those who are most called by their talents into publick
action, have much more to hold them back than
encourage them to go on. For my own part, I well
know to how very narrow a sphere my poor abilities
are, and probably will be, confined for the short
remainder of my life. But I will endeavour to act
within that narrow sphere consistently with myself: I
will depart from no principle I have ever declared : I
will retain moderation without losing  "
Lyttelton's name appears also in the long Protests
which took place on this occasion ; and when on the
first of May, Lord Chatham brought in a Bill for
reversing the adjudication of the House of Commons
against Wilkes, it was supported by Lord Temple,
Lyttelton, and the Duke of Richmond, who afterwards
* Mr. Grenville.

motions of the opposition. 759
signed a Protest against its rejection. Lyttelton's name 1770.
appears again in a minority on the same Lord's motion,
touching the King's answer to the remonstrance of the
city of London.
The session closed on the 19th of May, after the
opposition had proposed a set of resolutions in which
the whole ministerial system with relation to America
for several years past, was considered : all these
resolutions were rejected ; the Administration contriv
ing to get rid of a troublesome question, without enter
ing much into a discussion or refutation of the charges
brought against them.
Before Parliament met again, the seizure of the
Falkland Islands (Isles Malouines), by the Spaniards,
had raised a great outcry against the Government. It
was truly said by Johnson* "that of which we were
almost weary ourselves we did not expect any one to
envy." No possessions could be of less value than these
unproductive spots in the Atlantic, in which weak settle-
mentsweresupportedbyremittancesfrom England. But
the insult was not less on this account, and was clearly
premeditated. The Government, however, do not
appear to the impartial observer of this day to have been
remiss in seeking or obtaining ample reparation.
On the 22nd of November, the Duke of Richmond
moved for an Address to the Crown for the production
of all papers received by the Ministry between the 12th
of September 1769 and the 12th September 1 770. He
was supported by a brilliant declamation from Lord
* See his "Thoughts on the late transactions respecting the
Falkland Islands."

760 captain hunt. — Falkland islands.
1770. Chatham, who reminded the House that when Mr.
Grenville was Prime Minister, and the French took
possession of Tortuga,* he did not negotiate, but made
a peremptory demand, and despatched a courier to
Paris, who returned in a few days with orders for instant
restitution, not only of the island, but of all effects
belonging to the English. He ended by warning
them of their danger — " if they are forced into a war,
they stand it at the hazard of their heads — if by a
compromise they should stain the honour of the
Crown, or sacrifice the rights of the people, let them
look to their consciences and consider whether they
will be able to walk the streets in safety."
Lyttelton spoke on the same side, with the Duke of
Manchester, Lords Rockingham and Gower. The
motion was of course defeated. Captain Hunt of the
Tamer brought to England the news of the seizure of
these islands. After the failure of the Duke of Rich
mond's motion, Lord Chatham, with the sanction of
Lord Rockingham, made two motions for the examin
ation of Captain Hunt. He wrote to Lyttelton.
" Hayes, Tuesday night.
" My dear Lord,
" I hardly know how to take the liberty I am
doing : and as little to let it alone. I intend to-morrow to
move for Captain Hunt, who came home in the Tamer,
the beginning of June, to attend the Lords; perhaps,
too, I may add something relative to the vigilance
and activity of Government about Falkland's Island.
* Turk's Island in the West Indies, 1764.

lord Chatham's motions defeated. 761
I do not presume to desire your appearance, otherwise 1770.
than as the thing may be totally to your Lordship's
own interior satisfaction of mind. The country is on
the brink of a precipice; and my ideas may go beyond
the notions of some in point of prudence; but if I err, it
is upon cool reflection. The veil must be stript which
covers the supine neglect, or wicked treachery of the
Court ; and Government be awakened and stimulated to
our defence; or something will come, like that woe-be-
gone figure which drew " Priam's curtain in the dead of
night, and would have told him half his Troy was burnt,
but Priam found the fire e'er he his tongue.
" Decrepit age may sleep and be excusable, but
youth steep'd in sloth, and arming itself with nothing
but insensibility and obduracy, is the consummation of
what wants a name.
" I am, with sincere and affectionate esteem,
" My dear Lord,
" your Lordship's most obedient
" and most humble servant,
"Chatham."
On a motion for examining Captain Hunt at
the bar, and on another relative to the same sub
ject, Lord Chatham was defeated. His opposition
had never been fiercer against any Government, nor
had it ever been sustained by greater displays of elo
quence—that eloquence which three years ago neither
friend nor foe had ever expected to hear again. But
Lord North's Government, apparently of so frail a
texture and exposed to such vehement assaults, received
3 D

762 DEATH OF MR. GRENVILLE.
1771. about this time an accession of strength upon which no
one had calculated. The death of Mr. Grenville* not
only removed a most formidable adversary, but broke up
the band which his abilities and character held toge
ther, and which formed one of the most powerful sec
tions of the opposition. Many of Mr. Grenville's ad
herents joined the Government '[" in the ensuing year; at
the early part of which Lord Weymouth's seals were
given to Lord Rochford ; Mr. Bathurst became Baron
Apsley and Lord Chancellor ; Thurlow, Attorney, and
Wedderburne Solicitor General. The defection of the
latter from his party was deeply felt and much resented,
and henceforth we find Lord Chatham's correspondence
teeming with complaints of the moderation of Lord
Rockingham, and the "no-plan of Lord Temple."
The political history of this year is chiefly occupied
with contests between the House of Commons, and the
City of London, arising out of an order of the former
to arrest certain printers, guilty of a breach of privi
lege, by having published the debates.^ The magis
trates of the City were not contented with resisting an
illegal proclamation, which had been most foolishly
* He died 1 3th November, 1770.
f See the violent attack on Mr. Whately, Mr. Grenville's private
secretary, in Junius. " Mr. Grenville, your friend, your patron,
your benefactor, who raised you from a depth compared to which
even Bradshaw's family stands on an eminence, was hardly cold in
his grave when you solicited the office of go-between to Lord North,"
&c. &c— vol. iii. p. 310.
X The mismanagement, and abortive nature of these proceedings,
emboldened, instead of intimidating the printers, and from this
period is to be dated the open printing of the votes.

PRIVILEGE OF PARLIAMENT. 763
obtained from the Crown, and which offered a reward to 1771,
those who apprehended the offenders against the privi
leges of the House of Commons, but in the course ofthe
contest they put themselves so clearly and entirely in
the wrong, that Lord Chatham, and those who acted
with him, were far more embarrassed than aided by
the tumults excited against the Government.*
The correspondence of Lord Chatham, with Lord
Temple and Lord Shelburne, at this time, contains
indisputable proof of the high estimation in which Lyt
telton's character was held : —
" Allow a spectator (Lord Chatham writes in the
April of this year to Lord Temple) in a great chair, to
add, that a plan for a more equal representation, by
additional Knights of the Shire, seems highly seasona
ble, and to shorten the durationf of Parliament not less
so. If your Lordship should approve, could Lord
* In January, 1770, Lord Chatham writes to Lord Shelburne,
"A headlong self-willed spirit has sunk the City into nothing.
Attempting powers it has no colour of right to, it has lost the
weight to which it was entitled."
" The Corporation of London," Arnold observes, '< could not pre
tend to be a national, but merely a local body ; and London has
never exercised such an influence, over the country, as that the
chief magistrate of London should be recognised as the popular
leader of England. The popular party, then, as I have said before,
having no official organ, spoke as it best could through self-ap-
' pointed individuals, and through the press." — Lecture VII.
f This extract of Lord Chatham's letter was read at a Common
Council, held at Guildhall, on the 9th of April, 1780, and ordered
to be entered on the Journals of the Court. — Note to p. 155 of vol.
iv. of Chatham Correspondence.
3d2

764 lord Chatham's
.1771. Lyttelton's discretion be brought to taste those ideas, we
should take possession of strong ground, let who will
decline to follow us."
The two points mentioned in this letter were at this
period warmly advocated by Lord Chatham. There
was also another subject of more immediate applica
tion, on which he was most urgent : — a motion for the
dissolution of the Parliament at the close of the
session ; and on this matter, also, he appears to have
been most anxious for Lyttelton's support and con
currence. "What Lord Lyttelton (writes Lord
Temple) may be induced to do, I cannot with any
precision say." And Lord Chatham writes to Lord
Shelburne, " My letters are doomed to be tidings of
ill to the public. I learnt yesterday that Lord Lyt
telton is totally averse to attending a motion for disso
lution. I have the mortification to hear from Lord Cam
den that he disapproves, and cannot attend it. I found
in the Duke of Northumberland no inclination to such
a motion, or expectation of support from others, though
to do His Grace justice,full himself of right and worthy
dispositions towards the constitution and public welfare.
I need not say that we have little support to expect from
the other quarter of opposition." In a former letter he
had complained, that " the narrow genius of old-corps'
connection, has weakened whiggism, and rendered
national union, on revolution principles, impossible."
Every day proved the value of Mr. Grenville's cha
racter and services, in the difficult art of heartening
and keeping together a party, restraining at the same
time individuals from making desultory attacks in

SCHEME OF OPPOSITION. 765
which the whole party could not be induced to join, 1771.
and which are the rocks on which most oppositions
make shipwreck. Noman, perhaps, ever lived, better
skilled than Lord Chatham, to sound in Parlia
mentary debate that trumpet which kindles war by
its blast, and stirs the hearers to conflict ; but his
characteristic excellence in this respect, was pur
chased at the price of a failure in the other qua
lifications of the leader of a party. In the times of
necessary inactivity, when there was no opening for an
attack, he seems to have been incapable of restraint,
and intolerant to those, who like Lord Camden,
departed, though with painful reluctance, from the
measures which he propounded for their adoption.
On the 30th of April, the question of the Middlesex
Election was again brought before the House of Lords,
by the Duke of Richmond. With the full concurrence
of the Rockingham party, he moved, " That the reso
lution of this House, of the 2nd of February, 1770,
' that any resolution of this House, directly or indi
rectly impeaching a judgment of the House of Com
mons, in a matter where their jurisdiction is competent,
final, and conclusive, would be a violation of the con
stitutional rights of the Commons, tends to make a
breach between the two Houses of Parliament, and
leads to great confusion,' be expunged." Lord
Chatham strenuously supported the measure, saying,
"our forefathers exercised the right in the case of
Ashby and White, and received the applause of the
whole nation." After a long debate, the motion was
rejected by 55 against 35.

766 lord Chatham's cause.
J771. On the 1st of May, Lord Chatham moved an
Address to the King, to dissolve the Parliament after
the end of the session, and to call a new one with con
venient dispatch. He supported this by a speech of
great eloquence, containing a general attack on the
administration. The debate lasted till a late hour,
when the motion was negatived by 72 against 23.
The session ended on the 8th of May.
About this time the heir at law to Burton Pynsent,
made an attempt to set aside the wdll which bequeathed
that property to Lord Chatham. The attempt was
unsuccessful. On the 7th of May, Lord Chatham
writes to Lyttelton from Hayes : —
*' Hayes, Tuesday, May 7th, 1771.
" I need not use many words, my dear Lord, to
persuade you of my present satisfaction on the events
of my cause : allow me to hope that as few are neces
sary to assure your Lordship, that the kind joy you
are so good to express on the occasion, sweetens and
ennobles my own pleasure, in a success not a little
interesting to my children. Your Lordship will, I
believe, give me credit for a kind of sentiment which
renders the unanimity of the judges, in my sight, very
affecting. To have what one thinks one's own, is
well ; to have all the world think so too, is a source of
higher satisfaction. I had not heard of the new light
thrown upon my cause by Lord Mansfield. Saga
city, I well know, to be his peculiar gift; and justice,
I could not doubt, to be his virtue. Lady Chatham
desires to present her best compliments, and sincere

ROYAL MARRIAGE ACT. 767
thanks to your Lordship, for the kind part you take 1771
in our success.
'¦' Believe me, with truest esteem and affection,
" My dear Lord,
"your most faithful friend, and
" humble servant,
" Chatham."
During the recess Lord Halifax died, and Lord
Suffolk succeeded to his Secretaryship of State. The
Duke of Grafton accepted the Privy Seal, which Lord
Suffolk had held ; and Lord Hyde, the Chancellor
ship of the Duchy, vacant by the death of Lord
Strange. The Government was strengthened by these
changes, while the opposition became daily weaker.
In the summer of 1771, the Duke of Cumberland,
one of the King's brothers, had privately married Mrs.
Horton, widow of Christopher Horton, Esq of Cotton
Hall, in the County of Derby, and daughter of Lord
Irnham. The King forbad them the Court : never
theless, in the early part of 1772, the Duke of
Gloucester avowed his marriage with the Countess
Dowager of Waldegrave, whom he had espoused in 1766.
These proceedings produced the famous Royal Marriage
Act. On the 21st of February, Lord Rochford intro
duced " an Act for the better regulating the future
marriages of the Royal Family," which made it un
lawful for any descendants of George the Second, being
the grandchildren and presumptive heirs of the reign
ing King, male and female (other than the issue of
Princesses who have married, or may hereafter marry

768 ROYAL MARIUAGE ACT.
1772. into foreign families), to marry without the previous
consent of the King, and his successors; unless being
of the age of twenty-five, they should give notice to the
Privy Council, twelve months before, of their intention
to contract marriage ; and unless, during that time,
both Houses of Parliament should expressly declare
their disapprobation of such intended marriage. The
measure met with a fierce opposition in both Houses
of Parliament. Lord Chatham condemned it. Lords
Rockingham, Camden, and Lyttelton, opposed it.
Questions were put to the Judges as to the King's
prerogative, with respect to the education and marriage
of the Royal Family; and the proceedings in 1718
were referred to. A very well written abstract of the
arguments is to be found in the Annual Register;
but unfortunately scarcely any trace of this important
debate is preserved, and I can only surmise from the
following letters that Lyttelton took an active part
in it. "Feb 28th, 1772.
" My Lord,
" When your Lordship asked me in the House of
Lords this evening, whether we had thought of any line
to draw relative to the extent of who was to be included
under the description of Royal Family, I answered
your Lordship, that I rather thought it might be too
difficult to draw. I expect, to-morrow, some friends
to dine here, and some to come in the evening. I
shall have some good law advice, so that some idea
may be formed. I am inclined to think, that if we

ROYAL MARRIAGE ACT. 769
take the line precisely drawn by the Judges, we 1772.
may be well able to defend it, from the advantage we
shall have in debate, by asserting that it is the extent
of what the present judges, in their opinion, can go
to. If the friends of a more diffusive power object
to a line so drawn, as being too limited, we may well
urge, that for the present, and probably for a long time,
this line may answer every purpose of restraining the
very near of kin to the Crown, from marrying without
the Crown's consent, till they are of those years of dis
cretion, which ultimately the Bill may fix.
Whenever, from fatality, the actual state of the per
sons under that description become too few, the
Crown may again apply, and Parliament may again
(if they think proper,) extend the line. I have some
doubt, whether the line drawn in the Statute of Pre
cedence, drawn in 31st, H. 8th, would not have been
a better line, adding also to it the presumptive heir.
But then we go further than the present judges have
authorised us. I should be much obliged to your
Lordship, if you would give the matter a considera
tion; and if you could communicate to me your
Lordship's thoughts to-morrow, at any time before
dinner, I might be the better informed, and of course
the better able to judge afterwards, what line may be
best to draw. I was quite exhausted in the end of the
debates of this evening : indeed my old stomach com
plaints never fail visiting me when I sit long in the
House of Lords, and am obliged to take any part in
debate, which always agitates my mind exceedingly.
I am much better now, and had the satisfaction, when

770 ROYAL MARRIAGE ACT.
1772. I came home, of finding Lady Rockingham arrived in
very good health.
" I have the honour to be,
" my Lord,
" with great truth and regard,
" your Lordship's most obedient,
" and most humble servant,
" Rockingham."
" Friday night, near 12 o'clock,
Feb. ye 28th, 1772." "March 3rd, 1772.
" My dear Lord,
" It gave me much pleasure this morning, to
hear that your Lordship was quite well. I own I
infinitely regret that your Lordship was unable to
go on, in the course of the argument which you had
so happily and ably begun ; and indeed I cannot but
still wish, both for my own private satisfaction, and
also the information of the Lords, that somehow, your
Lordship might again take up that very essential line
of argument. I should have no objection to start
something which might necessitate the Bishop of
Gloucester to speak again. I should even not mind,
whether I was or was not precisely correct in touching
upon what fell from him, and which I truly think
much Wants explanation.
" I am ever, my dear Lord,
" your Lordship's most obedient,
" and humble servant,
" Rockingham.
" Grosvenor Square, Tuesday, 1 o'clock,
March f 3rd, 1772.

ROYAL MARRIAGE ACT. 771
" Perhaps it would be still the best way, if your 1772.
Lordship would even take up this matter entirely
yourself." The measure ultimately passed into a law, — but
whether it has not been productive of more evil than
it has prevented, to the Royal Family, and to the
State, is a problem which I am not called upon to
solve in this work.
Early in the year, Lyttelton received the following
letter from Lord Chatham. " Burton Pynsent, Feb. 16, 1772.
" My dear Lord,
" The sincere satisfaction I feel, on what I hear of
Mr. Lyttelton's return, with all the dispositions you
could wish, will not allow me to be silent, on so in
teresting an event. Accept my dear Lord, my felicita
tions upon these happy beginnings, together with
every wish that this opening of light may ripen unto
the perfect day. I know what it is (thank God) to be
happy hitherto in my children ; and I grieve for those
who meet with essential disappointments in that vital
part of domestick happiness. May you never again
know anguish from such a wound to your comfort,
but the remaining period of your days derive as much
felicity from the return, as you suffered pain from the
deviation. I have passed through a severe salutary fit
of the gout, which has been making a kindly retreat
for above this fortnight ; and I am now again on my
legs, your Lordship will not think I grow older, by

772 GARRICK.
1772. finding me versifying. The inclosed paper will tell
its own contents. I meant it should have followed
you and Mr. Garrick to Hagley ; but partly in doubt
if it was worth the sending, and knowing your prepa
rations for the fair ambassadress, it did not go ; read
ing it again lately I have taken heart (and it asks not
a little) to send it to you, which is nothing less tre
mendous than showing up to the doctor. It is now, my
dear Lord, at your disposal, and I shall esteem it
equally a favour, if you will be so good to commit it
to the flames, or give it to Mr. Garrick, as your
Lordship may judge, bona fide, it deserves. I will
only add that the verses suppose Mr. Garrick at
Mount Edgecumbe, the better to adopt the answer. I
know not yet when I shall set my face eastward : the
metropolis is no inviting scene. The place where I
am is as comfortable winter quarters as Hayes : the
climate softer, the plough affords some amusement —
my garden will soon give more, so perhaps the close
of winter may still find me here among my ever
greens, cestatem increpitans seram zephyrosque morantes.
For the present, adieu, my dear Lord ; and believe me
always with true regard, " Your very faithful,
" and affectionate humble Servant,
. " Chatham."
The verses were in truth a very indifferent produc
tion : the writer described himself, and no doubt
really believed himself to be one, with
"Ambition cured and an unpassioned mind."

MR. LYTTELTON'S MARRIAGE. 773
Lyttelton's answer of thanks to this letter is printed in 1772.
the Chatham correspondence.* On the 26th of June,
Lyttelton's returned son married Apphia,f daughter
of Mr. Broome Watts, of Chipping Norton, and widow
of Joseph Peach, who had been Governor of Calcutta ;
it was an ill-omened marriage, and soon followed by a
separation; but was hailed at the time by Lyttelton him
self and all his friends, in the hope that it would effect a
permanent change in the habits of Mr. Lyttelton. Lord
Chatham wrote as follows : —
" Burton Pynsent, July 22, 1772.
" My dear Lord,
" I have a most longing wish to be able to be the
bearer of warm felicitation to your Lordship and the
happy pair, on the completion of an union, which
knits you all together for life, in the sweet triple
bonds of paternal, filial, conjugal love, and domestick
happiness ; may the virtues of your race guard the
pious work, and fix the felicity of your family, that
fortuna domus et avi numerentur avorum ! I could
not but smile to hear that Cupid knew his Hagley for
true Paphian ground, and had taught his slow brother
Hymen, to mend his pace in so delightful a race, and
am sure your Lordship more than forgave your flesh
and blood this amiable impatience. From all I hear of
Mrs. Lyttelton, I have not the least doubt that Hymen
now will have his turn, and lead Love, for his insepa
rable companion. Lady Chatham desires to be in-
« Vol. iv. p. 195.
t She lived to a great old age, dying in April, 18-10.

774 lord Chatham's congratulations.
1772. eluded in the same cordial sentiments with myself,
on whatever interests your Lordship's happiness, and
that of your family. The young dramatis personam,
too, full of your Lordship's goodness to them, hope
to be allowed to offer their compliments. I will now,
my dear Lord, conclude where I began, by repeating
how truly I wish to be with you at Hagley; but num
berless occupations indispensably requiring me here
the short remains of this summer, I am forced to
postpone that satisfaction, and must place the waiting
on your Lordship, in scenes early and long endeared,
among my best pleasures to come. Believe me always
with perfect esteem and affection,
" My dear Lord,
" your most faithful
" Chatham."
Lyttelton's answer is printed in the Chatham
correspondence.* After expressing his disappoint
ment at the postponement of Lord Chatham's visit
to Hagley, he adds : " with how much regret we
give it up, I can hardly express; and it grieves me
the more, because my park is this year in a higher
degree of beauty than I ever beheld it, and I think
you would see it — especially all the environs of my
house — with the same kind of pleasure as you would
the full maturity of a fine child,f whom you had been
fond of in his infancy, and had partly formed yourself,
after several years of absence. You give me indeed
the prospect of the favour of your company at some
* Vol. iv. p. 220. f See vol. i. p. 279.

REPEAL OF THE TEST LAWS. 775
future time; but alas ! my dear Lord, before another 1772.
summer comes, a high wind may blow down some of
my finest old trees within the view of my house, or a
cold wind may blow down me.
" However, I will trust that our destinies will permit
us to meet again at this place in good health and good
spirits, and that you will find all its beauties unim
paired." Another summer came, but before it passed away
the foreboding of the writer had come to pass — the
cold wind had blown him down.
One of the various measures discussed in the House
of Lords during the session, was a motion to repeal the
Test Laws ; it appears that Lyttelton spoke in favour of
the Repeal. It had passed the Commons apparently with
the full consent of the ministers, though there seems
reason to suppose that they calculated on its being
thrown out by the Bishops in the Lords — and this was
the fate it met with; but it was warmly supported by
Lyttelton, the Duke of Richmond, Lords Chatham
and Shelburne. It was rejected by a majority of
102 to 29. I have not been able to discover the
nature of the subject to which Lord Chatham refers,
at the beginning of his next letter.
" Burton Pynsent, Oct. 22nd, 1772.
" My dear Lord,
" An excursion to Lyme, for the pleasure of sea
views, occasioned my receiving your Lordship's kind
letter some days later than its due course; the ex-

776 BECKFORD AND LORD APSLEY.
1772. pressions in my Lord Chancellor's* letter to your
Lordship, on my subject, are extremely flattering, and
I should be much obliged to your Lordship, if you
would let my Lord Apsley know, on any proper op
portunity, how much I feel the honour his Lordship
does me, in giving any weight to my opinion on a
matter not a little critical. I am extremely glad to
learn the intention with regard to young Beckford ;
persuaded still more and more, from having had the
pleasure of having him with us here for a week this
summer ; that the present plan for him interests no
less the future welfare and figure of this fine boy, than
the immediate happiness of the mother. I compute
this will find your Lordship about your arrival at
Stowe, where I hope you will be enjoying all the de
light it abundantly affords, without any mixture in
your thoughts of the unpleasant kind intimated to
wards the conclusion of your Lordship's letter. I fear
the opportunity of further discourse on this, or other
subjects must be at a greater distance than your Lord
ship had understood, as London, or its vicinity, does
not enter into our plan for the winter ; in the mean
time, Lady Chatham and 1 are not undelighted to
rock the cradle of tragedy, and have even ventured to
* Allen Bathurst was created Baron Bathurst in 1711, and Earl
Bathurst in 1722. In 1771 his second son Henry (who afterwards
succeeded to his father's title) being then one of the Judges of the
Court of Common Pleas, was made Lord High Chancellor, and created
Baron Apsley. This double distinction of the father and the son is the
subject of Burke's memorable panegyric and apostrophe in his
speech on Conciliation with America in 1775.

STANISLAUS AUGUSTUS. 777
wish that your Lordships was partaking with us in 1772.
this parental amusement. Gout is beginning to
threaten : if he kindly abstains for a time, the Cothur
nus will very soon again display itself. Lady Chat
ham presents her best compliments to your Lordship,
and the young tribe beg to offer theirs.
" I am ever, my dear Lord,
" Your Lordship's most faithful
" and affectionate humble Servant*
" Chatham.
" Please to present all loves at Stowe."
Towards the close of this year a portion of the
Rockingham party were anxious to try the effect of
seceding, as Wyndham* and others had done on the
Spanish Convention in Sir R. Walpole's time, from
their attendance in Parliament ; but even those who
were of this opinion were by no means agreed as to
whether the secession should be absolute, and on some
definite measure, or partial, and from certain measures
only ; however, according to Mr. Burke,t " the invin
cible repugnance" of Lords Temple, Lyttelton, and
Camden, put an end to the scheme.
About the beginning of this year Stanislaus wrote
again to Lyttelton. It would be difficult, if not im
possible to conceive a country in a more deplorable
state, than that in which Poland had been, since the
last letter of Stanislaus to Lyttelton. It is due, how
ever, to the former to say, that he made great efforts
* See vol. i. p. 120.
f See Burke's Correspondence, vol. i. pp. 358-9, and 378.
3 E

778 STANISLAUS AUGUSTUS.
1 772. to efface the infamy of the means whicli procured his ele
vation to the throne. He wielded well, in most respects,
the power he had so ill acquired — confirming the aboli
tion of the liberum veto — restraining the licence of the
hetmansand grand marshalls, affording some encourage
ment to science and to commerce. But Poland was in an
almost irretrievable state — it is the sad consolation of the
lover of freedom, that she would probably have perished
from the internal canker in her vitals, even if the vul
tures which surrounded her had been driven from
their prey. The Dissidents, abetted by Russia, de
prived of the few remaining rights left to them by
former persecutors, waged destructive war with the
Catholics, whose patroness was Austria. Some of the
Anti-dissidents or Catholics formed a confederacy at
Rov, and made an abortive attempt to carry off
the King by violence. To this act allusion is made in
the following letter — " Warsaw, 18th Jan. 1772.
" My Lord Earl of Lyttelton,
" The letter by which you so friendly congratu
lated me on my escape of the 3rd of November last,
did not reach my hands, before the 10th instant, by
some impediments of the post, now so common in this
unhappy country. I thank you with that inmost
sense of gratitude, which is the effect equally of my
great regard for your person and character, and of
the persuasion, that your wishes in my favour, are
not mere compliments, but the real desire of your
noble heart. If Heaven deigns to continue and com-

LETTER OF STANISLAUS AUGUSTUS. 779
plete the protection, which it has so wonderfully 1772.
shown me, on that late occasion, I shall at last reap
the fruits of the maxim, which I constantly pursued
in spite of all difficulties, nunquam esse de republica
desperandum. " This I was teached among you Englishmen : may
your goodwill and assistance, help me to the harbour,
towards which I must tend, showing so dangerous cliffs
on both sides. Though I know that I am not master
of your language, I rather chuse to shew you, even
by that, my partiality to all what is yours. Besides,
I hope you will always perfectly understand, the sin
cere though incorrect expressions of the man, whose
youth you have been pleased to instruct and adorn by
your example and conversation, in that happy time of
my life, when I was in your country. I owe and
give you many thanks, for the kind reception you
actually honour my nephew with. May he learn in
England under your eyes, to become once a useful
patriot of his own country. Farewell, my Lord, and
may your life and happiness make long the joy of your
friends and friend. " Stanislas August, R.
" A My Lord Comte de Lyttelton,
" a Londres.''
Catherine the Second, Frederic the Second, and Maria
Theresa (who at least might have learnt from suffering to
pity the sufferer,) daily encroached more and more, under
the various hackneyed pleas of tyranny, upon the Polish
territories. Russia let loose upon them hordes of sa
vages, whose acts of barbarous cruelty are too horrible
3 e 2

780 letter from Stanislaus Augustus,
1772. to relate; while Prussia and Austria kept armies at
free quarters upon this unhappy country. Towards
the close of this year Russia disembarrassed herself of
the Turkish war, and the detestable scheme of the
confederates was ripe for execution; then was con
summated that act of atrocious political iniquity, that
fatal precedent, which recoiled upon its authors with
such righteous retribution during the French Revo
lution, which England to her great disgrace tamely
beheld, and of which to this day Europe feels the evils
— then was effected the first partition of Poland. The
next and last letter from Stanislaus to Lyttelton is
written some months after this event.
EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM THE KING OF POLAND.' Mars. 18.
" Lorsqu'on dit qui'l n'a tenu que a. moi de prevenir
les malheurs dela Pologne en prenant les Dissidens
sous ma protection quand j'ai ete abandonne par le
parti Catholique, la verite des faits est tres fort alteree.
" Lorsqu'on m'accuse d'avoir fait une faute en refu-
sant le commandement de I'armee Russe il y a a. re-
pondre que lors de la declaration de guerre par les
Tures nous n'avions encore eprouve de tyrannie politi-
queque de la Russie. Les Tures en se declarant cotre
I'ouvrage de la Russie fait icy en 1767 ouvroient une
esperance de seconer le joug impose a, la Pologne par la
Russie. Si j'ai fait une faute politique en me refusant
aux propositions, d'ailleurs pas bien claires, que Repnin
m'a faites alors, jene l'ai faite que par patriotisme, mai
gre le danger personel auquel l'inimitie des Tures

KING OF POLAND. 781
declaree contre moi meme m'exposoit, I'exemple de 1772.
Jean Sobieski trompe par les memes leurres me con-
seilloit la precaution. La conquete de la Vatachie et
la Moldavie (suppose meme que Ton eut voulu me les
laisser, ce que la position actuelle contredit) seroit
devenue pour les Tures, et les puissances qui les sou-
tenoient, un sujet eternel de guerre contre la Pologne,
a. laquelle cependant la Russie n'accordoit pas une force
d'armee nationale, ni une solidite de gouvernement
telle qu'il lui en fandroit pour se resoudre a se donner
un ennemi redoubtable, tel que la Turquie. Vous me
direz, mais cette meme Turquie etoit deja votre ennemie
declaree. Elle ne l'etoit que contre moi personelle-
ment ; et cela par une occasion momentanee, et par la
fougue insensee du Vizir d'alors, qui en se declarant
contre moi a agi contre l'avis de la france, qui lui
representoit vainement que cela me forceroit justement
a. rester toujours dans une espece de dependance de la
Russie. D'ailleurs Repnin ne m'offroit qu'une expli
cation tres equivoque sur la garantie, et cependant
comptoitme brouiller sans retour avec ma proprenation,
et aigrir entierement les maisons de Bourbon, et
d'Autriche contre moi, en me tentant du vain titre de
Commandant de l'armie Russe. On a vu dans la per
sonne de l'Empereur Charles vii de Baviere a. quelles
humiliations, a. quels chagrins est reduit un Prince,
qui avec un grand titre, et aucune puissance propre,
accepte dans son propre pays le titre de generalissime
des troupes d'unvoisin tres puissant. Mais sur toutje
vous repete que Repnin ne m'a fait accune proposition
positive on claire.
" Quant a la troisieme assertion comme sij'avois fait

782 LETTER FROM STANISLAUS AUGUSTUS,
1772. des propositions secrettes au Roy de Prusse, elle est
enti'erement fausse : — je n'. y. ai jamais songe : vous
pouver l'assurer hardiment.
" Mais ce que je vous prierois de dementir tont
aussi fortement, ce sont les deux dernieres calomnies
dont le Roy de Prusse cherche a me noircir ; l'une
que j'ai insinue moi meme aux Dantzigois de se rendre
a lui ; l'autre queje separe mes interets d'avec ceux de
I'etat. Je n'ai pas cesse au contraire d'encourager les
Dantzigois de resister au Roy de Prusse : vous savez
mieux que personne combien je travaille a leur pro
curer des secours. Vous pouvez assurer positivement,
car vous le savez, qu'il est absolumment faux que dans
la moindre chose j'ai separe mes interets d'avec ceux
de I'etat, et de ma nation ; et ma conduite ne le demen-
tira jamais la dessus.
" Le Conseil du Senat n'auroit fait rien de plus au
premier de mars qu'au huit de fevrier; et la Diete
n'auroit rien fait de mieux au mois de Juin qu'elle ne
fera au mois d' Avril si l'Angleterre nous abandonne :
Et en attendant l'augmentation journaliere des impots
de bleds et d'argent dont les trois cours nous accablent,
1'extension des saisies dont leurs troupes s'emparent ;
et la fausse monnoie que les Prussiens continuent de
repandre, sont des maux qui font jetter des hauts cris,
non pas a moi, mais a la nation, qui sent absolumment une
fin quelconque, etqui prete dejal'oreilleaux insinuations
des trois cours, et surtout du Roy de Prusse, qui par ses
emissaires dit dans nos Provinces que c'est mon obsti-
nation contre ses vues qui aggrandit les malheurs de la
Pologne, landis qu'il tient un langage si different dans
d'autres pays.

KING OF POLAND. 783
" Faites moi voir des moyens de resistance, et vous I772.
me verrez agir avec la meme vigeur a la diete pro-
chaine, qu' au conseil du Senat d'Octobre dernier. Si
je plie,ce n'est pas parceque je suis en danger personelle-
ment, ou parceque je n'ai plus de quoi vivre; mais
parceque les trois cours disent clairement qu'elles par-
tageront le reste de la Pologne, si nous refusons a. en
signer le demembrement tel qu'il a ete annonce
au mois de Septembre. Quand je leur objecte
l'extension journaliere de ce demembrement, elles
repondent, " si vous signez celui de Septembre le sur
plus vous sera rendu, mais en attendant ceci doit vous
servir d'avertissement, et d'annonce du partage total si
vous vous. y. refusez : Vous n'aurez ni tribunals ni jus
tice, ni revenu jusqu a. la diete, et apres la diete vous
n'aurez meme plus de Patrie, si vous resistez." Quand
je leur parle de la surete de ce peu qu'ils pretendent
nous laisser encore, de la liberte de notre commerce, de
l'amelioration de notre gouvernement, Benoit, (ministre
Prussien) repond le moins ; Stackleberg et Rzenriski
(ministres Russe et Autrichien) me disent tout bas si
vous signez de bonne grace le demembrement
propose nous vous donnerons du contentement sur ses
objets, et nous y. engagerons le Roy de Prusse. Mais
la Russie croit avoir besoin du Roy de Prnsse; 1'
Autriche le craint ; qui sait done si dans cette occasion
les deux Imperatrices ne se laisseront pas dieter la loi
par lui. II a fait accroire a. la Russie, que sans lui, elle
n'obtiendra jamais des Tures une paix telle qu'elle la
desire : Malheureusement elle a attache son point d'
honneur a. l'independance des Tartares, — a la propriete

784 STATE OF POLITICS.
1773. de deux Fortresses dans la Crimee ; au commerce sur la
mer noire, et par la dans la mediterranee ; et a un
remboursement enorme pour les fraix de la guerre.
Les trois premiers articles sont trop durs a, digerer aux
Tures. Ce n'est cependant qu'apres qu'elle sera debara-
see de la guerre Turque qu'elle puisse brider le Roy de
Prusse." Here the letter ends abruptly.
To return to affairs in England—* " At home
Administration had carried everything with such
irresistible force in the last session that Opposition
seemed to be reduced to little more than a name :
and could afford only a weak and unavailing dissent
to measures which it was not capable of impeding ;
whilst its members were weary of fruitless exer
tions, in which the inequality was so great as scarcely
to admit of a struggle. In this state of things it
seemed as if nothing but disunion or intrigue in the
cabinet was capable of obstructing the views, or
endangering the security of the minister : and these,
if there were such, were not of a sufficient magnitude
to answer either of these purposes." Such is the de
scription given by Mr, Burke of the political state of
this period, — and he is an authority not easily gain-
sayed on this subject. It does not appear that Lyttelton
took any part in the great measure which at this time
chiefly engrossed the attention of Parliament — the re
adjustment and control ofthe affairs ofthe East India
Company. That the invitation to Hagley was renewed to Lord
Chatham, appears from his answer, which follows here.
* Annual Register for 1773, chap. vi.

LETTER FROM LORD CHATHAM. 785
"Lyme Regis, June 21st, 1773.
"My dear Lord,
" The double favour of your Lordship's two letters
came safe to me at this place, and I beg to offer
thanks and acknowledgments more than two-fold for
so kind an attention. I have been at Lyme almost a
fortnight, breathing the purest and softest air imagin
able ; which, together with the frequent use of my
horse, promises much benefit to me, in a state of limbs
a good deal weakened. This necessary arrangement
must, I fear, be of short duration, and will hardly
admit of my gratifying my ardent wishes, to wait on
your Lordship in Worcestershire, once more to enjoy
with you the well-known beauties of Old Hagley, as
well as to admire the charms and glories of the new.
This unfortunate contretemps will be a plentiful source
of regrets to more than myself, as Lady Chatham and
the young tribe, so kindly remembered by your Lord
ship, must share the disappointment : my only resource
is to hope that next summer may repay my loss in
this. You cannot but smile, my dear Lord, at plans of
future excursions in your co-seval in years and much
your senior in infirmities : but ideas of good to come
are the inexhaustible consolations of life, and I will
indulge the best I may this pleasing vision ; in the
meantime, allow me, my dear Lord, to dwell with
satisfaction on the flattering reality of knowing your
Lordship's very friendly and kind wishes to receive so
large an emigration from Somersetshire. I cannot
conclude without begging to add that I regret the loss

1773.

786 LAST ILLNESS AND
1773. of an occasion to be introduced to the honour of Mrs.
Lyttelton's acquaintance.
" I am, ever very affectionately,
" Your Lordship's most faithful and
" obedient humble Servant,
" Chatham.
" My two eldest boys, who are my companions here,
beg to offer their best respects to your Lordship."
This amiable letter was the last ever written by this
great man to his old and valued friend ; for in truth
the " co-aeval in years " was not the " senior in infirmi
ties." Lyttelton's bodily infirmities were less apparent
but more fatal than those of Lord Chatham. He was
enjoying the summer glories of his park, and the spa
cious comfort of the excellent mansion he had built at
Hagley,* when he was seized with an internal disorder
of which he died on the 22nd of August.f The cir
cumstances of his last illness and death are thus related
by Dr. Johnstone, a physician of Kidderminster, who
attended him : —
" On Sunday evening the symptoms of his Lord
ship's disorder, which for a week past had alarmed us,
put on a fatal appearance, and his Lordship believed
himself to be a dying man. From this time he suf
fered by restlessness rather than pain, and though his
nerves were apparently much fluttered, his mental
faculties seemed stronger when he was thoroughly
awake. His Lordship's bilious and hepatic com-
* See p. 662.
f His former friend, Lord Chesterfield, died on the 24 th of
March in this year.

DEATH OF LORD LYTTELTON. 787
plaints seemed alone not equal to the expected mourn- 1773.
ful event, his long want of sleep, whether the con
sequence of the irritation in the bowels, or, which is
more probable, of causes of a different kind, accounts
for his loss of strength and for his death very sufficiently.
Though his Lordship wished his approaching dissolu
tion not to be lingering, he waited for it with resigna
tion. He said, ' It is a folly, a keeping me in misery,
now to attempt to prolong life ;' yet he was easily
persuaded for the satisfaction of others to do or take
anything thought proper for him. On Saturday he
had been remarkably better, and we were not without
some hopes of his recovery. On Sunday, about eleven
in the forenoon, his Lordship sent for me, and said he
felt a great melancholy, and wished to have a little con
versation with me in order to divert it. He then pro
ceeded to open the fountain of that heart from whence
goodness had so long flowed, as from a copious spring.
' Doctor !' he said, k you shall be my confessor : when I
first set out in the world, I had friends who endea
voured to shake my belief in the Christian religion. I
saw difficulties which staggered me, but I kept my
mind open to conviction. The evidences and doctrines
of Christianity, studied with attention, made me a most
firm and persuaded believer of the Christian religion.
I have made it the rule of my life, and it is the ground
of my future hopes. I have erred and sinned, but
have repented, and never indulged any vicious habit.
In politics and in public life, I have made the public
good the rule of my conduct. I never gave counsels
which I did not at the time think the best. I have
seen that I was sometimes in the wrong, but I did not

788 LAST ILLNESS AND
1 773. err designedly. I have endeavoured, in private life, to
do all the good in my power, and never for a moment
could indulge malicious or unjust designs upon any
person whatever.' At another time, he said, ' I must
leave my soul in the same state it was in before this
illness ; I find this a very inconvenient time for solici
tude about anything.' On the evening when the
symptoms of death came on him, he said, ' I shall die ;
but it will not be your fault.' When Lord and Lady
Valentia came to see his Lordship, he gave them this
solemn benediction, and said, ' Be good, be virtuous,
my Lord. You must come to this.' Thus he con
tinued giving his dying benediction to all around him.
On Monday morning a lucid interval gave some small
hopes, but those vanished in the evening ; and he con
tinued dying, but with very little uneasiness, till
Tuesday morning, August 22nd, when between seven
and eight o'clock he expired almost without a groan."
On the 29th of August, Dr. Beattie wrote to the
Earl of Kinnoull : —
" Mrs. Montagu's state of health is very indifferent :
she complains of a feverish disorder, which has
haunted her the greatest part of the summer. She is
greatly afflicted at the death of our great and good
friend, Lord Lyttelton. This event was unexpected ;
it is little better than a fortnight since I received a very
kind letter from him. The loss to his friends and to
society is unspeakable, and irreparable ; to himself his
death is infinite gain ; for whether we consider what
he felt here, or what he hoped for hereafter, we must

DEATH OF LORD LYTTELTON. 789
admit that no man ever had more reason to wish for a 1773.
dismission from the evils of this transitory life. His
Lordship died, as he lived, a most illustrious example
of every Christian virtue. His last breath was spent
in comforting and instructing his friends. ' Be good and
virtuous,' said he to Lord Valentia,* ' for know that to
this you must come.' The devout and cheerful resig
nation that occupied his mind during his illness, did
not forsake him in the moment of dissolution, but fixed
a smile on his lifeless countenance. I sincerely sym
pathise with your Lordship on the loss of this excellent
man. Since I came last to town, I have had the
honour and happiness to pass many an hour in his
company, and to converse with him on all subjects :
and I hope I shall be the better, while I live, for what I
have seen and what I have heard of Lord Lyttelton."f
The day after the foregoing lines were written, Lord
Chatham sent the following letter of condolence to
Lyttelton's son and successor: —
"Burton Pynsent, August 30th, 1773.
" Dear Sir,
" The most unexpected, afflicting account of the sad
event at Hagley has filled all here with deep concern.
Lady Chatham and I truly feel how great a loss you,
my dear Sir, in particular, and all the family and
friends of our departed truly virtuous friend have sus
tained, in the decease of Lord Lyttelton. The best
consolation his friends can receive is from the reflection
* Who married Miss Lyttelton. See vol. i. p. 335.
f Forbes's Life of Beattie, page 292.

790 character of
1773. that those virtues which endear his memory, rendered
his last moments tranquil and full of comfort. The
melancholy news found Mr. and Mrs. Hood here,
whose feeling on this unhappy occasion her own letters
will express. Your presence in the mournful scene of
Hagley must be of the greatest utility to your whole
family, however severe the trial. Lady Chatham desires
to express by me her wishes, very sincerely united
with mine, that your health may receive no impression
from the loss you have sustained, and the sad offices in
which you are engaged.
" I am, ever, with truest esteem,
" My clear Sir,
" Your faithful and affectionate humble Servant,
" Chatham.
" We beg you will be so good as to offer our due
compliments." So ended the mortal career of the subject of these
memoirs. Some of his contemporaries had acquired
a more brilliant, but none a more desirable reputation ;
it was built upon a sure foundation — the devotion of
intellectual gifts, and attainments to their right end,
" the glory of God, and the relief of man's estate."*
His natural abilities were good ; and though not of
the highest order, were continually strengthened by
careful and unremitting cultivation. His ambition of
improvement, springing from a deep 'sense of the obli
gations which wealth and station impose upon their
possessor, was constant to the hour of his death — to
press forward in the pursuit of knowledge, not di-
* Bacon's Advancement of Learning, book i.

LORD LYTTELTON. 791
verted from the chase by early success and extravagant 1773.
admiration of moderate efforts ; " to scorn delights,
and live laborious days," had been the occupation of his
life. Its fruits were visible in the variety of his ac
complishments, and the fullness of his information
upon the subjects to which he had devoted himself.
During the course of his life he had maintained an
oral or epistolary intercourse with the most celebrated
persons of his day, both in England and Europe.
Making ample allowance for the language of cotempo
raneous flattery, it is impossible to ascribe to that alone
the very general estimation in which his opinions
were held by all who had any pretensions to almost
any kind of literature. Nor indeed is the verdict of
posterity greatly at variance with the judgment of his
own time. Of how few can it be said, that they have
left behind them works in History, Poetry, and Divinity,
which after the lapse of nearly a century, maintain
an honourable place in the literature of their country ?
And of how very few, that they combined with suc
cess in these pursuits, a laborious and distinguished
share in the duties of public life ?
The political scenes in which he had been an actor,
were many and various. In the stormy debates which
preceded the fall of Walpole, and whose subsiding
fury overthrew the brief and baseless reign of Carteret—
in the calm and wise administration of Pelham, — and
in its enfeebled- and fretful continuance under New
castle, his services were meritorious and eminent,
and fairly earned for him the distinction of the
Peerage. Retiring, like other inferior luminaries
during the meridian splendour of Pitt's glorious sway,

792 character of lord lyttelton.
1773. he reappeared, and shone with a calm, steady, and
useful light, during those perplexed events, and political
intrigues, which obscure and disgrace the earlier part of
the reign of George the Third. Throughout this period,
his opinions seem to have been held in high esteem.
He spoke upon several subjects of great public inter
est, and always with considerable effect ; an homage
paid partly, perhaps, to the unimpeachable reputa
tion of the speaker, as well as to the merits of the
speech ; but the deliberate applause of so great a
master of the art as Lord Chatham, and of so acute
and invidious a critic as Horace Walpole, (to say
nothing of other authorities,) would never have been
bestowed upon one who had not great claims to orato
rical fame.
Of his private character there can be but one opi
nion. Rejecting the degenerate standard of his age,
he illustrated, in his practice, those nobler views,
which he derived from the example of his ancestors,
of the requisite education and attainments of an Eng
lish gentleman. Sincerely and earnestly religious,
when to be so was unfashionable, a devoted husband,
an affectionate but unhappy father, never deserting
his friend, ever opening his hand to distress in every
form, he closed a wise and good life by an edifying
death. He bequeathed to his posterity both the title
which his public services had justly won, and the
more valuable distinction which public opinion had
prefixed to it, as the meed of his private character;
and he is still remembered, with just admiration and
respect, as " George, the good Lord Lyttelton."

APPENDIX.

3 *

CONTENTS.
PAGE.
1. Various ways in which the name of Lyttelton is spelt in
" Littleton's Tenures" . . . . .795
2. Pope's Letter ...... 796
3. Fragment of a Speech on Triennial Parliaments . . 799
4. Speech on paying £40,000 to the Duke of Aremberg 804
5. Speech to inquire into the Conduct of the Earl of Orford 812

APPENDIX.

i.

Various ways in which the name of Lyttelton is spelt in
the oldest editions of " Littleton's Tenures."

The name of the Author ~\_ Printed about 1480, by Letton and
does not appear in
either of these two

editions.
Leteltun, on Title page \
LYTYLTON,on Colophon j
Lytylton LlTILTON LytteltonLyttyltonLittelton
Littleton

}
}

Machlinia.
1481, by Machlinia.

year 1516, by Pynson.
. . 1528, Do.
about 1550, by Redman.
year 1567.
. . 1577.

Drawn up by G. Appleyard, Esq., Secretary to Earl
Spencer, from the old Editions of the Tenures at Spencer-
House.
3 p2

796 APPENDIX.

II.

The following letter from Pope was accidentally omitted in
the first volume. The date is uncertain, but it was probably
about 1741, and the last letter which Lyttelton received from
him. See pp. 185 and 232 of the first volume.
" Dear Sir,
' Of all the kind opinions you entertain of me, there is one
which I deserve, the opinion that I am sincerely yours ; and
that I love virtue for I love you and such as you : such are
listed under her banners, they fight for her ; Poets are but
like Heralds, they can only proclaim her, and the best you
can make of me, is that I am her poor Trumpeter.
" The Prince's visit to Lord Bathurst, was too quick for a
letter which I intended him on that occasion. It was a letter of
instructions, in what manner a great man should treat a Prince
when fortune gives him the leading of one ; especially if the
Prince happens to be a little short-sighted : what things one
should make him see and how far ? what kind of notions to
give him, of the extent, nature, and situation of the land about
him ? — above all, the two great arts so successfully practis'd by
my lord on other people, and so much more useful to be prac
tis'd on a Prince ; that making him imagine what is highway
or common field to all his subjects, to be his own walks and
royalties, and that of imposing upon him what was the work
of our own hands but yesterday, for the venerable structure of
our ancestours.
" But I have something at present to tell you which is more
material: the result of the conference with Sir W. W. and the
disposition in which it left him.
" He seem'd strongly touched with a sense of the indignity,
the folly, and the danger that attend the present state arid

APPENDIX.

797

conduct of the Opposition. He feels (though a little unwilling
to own it), that these are ow'd to a neglect of harkening five or
six years ago to the warning a friend then gave him : who ap
prehended then what is now evident : viz. that the Opposition
would be drawn off the original principle on which it was
founded by two persons : one of whom never meant, and the
other meant only by fits and starts the public good ; and to
that end a change of measures as well as of men : that these
two persons would by their own overbearing and the indolence
of others, get a sort of prescriptive right to a negative, in all
proceedings : and that the Opposition by consequence would
become nothing more than a bubble-scheme, wherein multi
tudes which intended the publick service, would be employed
to no other purpose than to serve private ambition.
" He is fully persuaded that the part taken by his R. H.
opens an opportunity of rectifying these errors, by retrieving
and preventing these mischiefs: but thinks his R. II. should
exert his whole influence, first to prepare and then to back the
new measure, who, the moment it takes place, will be the head
of the party, and those two persons cease so far to be that
instant. " That it is proper to continue to live with them howeve^
iu all the same terms of friendly intercourse, and with the
ame appearance of intimacy : may so strengthen their plea to
him, by shewing how extremely they have been trusted, de
ferred to, and comply'd with.
" That all persons, (many of which there certainly are), as
may be determined to join in the pursuit of the original mea
sures of the Opposition, should be so determin'd by all sorts of
private application, whether (Whigs or Torys), but by no
means apply'd to in the collective body, or too generally, but
in separate conversations and arguments.
" That upon every 'Important occasion, the things resolv'd
upon should be pushed by the persons in this secret, how much

798 APPENDIX.
soever the others may hang off: which will reduce them to
the dilemma, of joyning with the Court, or of following their
friends with no good grace.
" Sir W. declared he had no difficulty of proceeding in this
manner, nay thought on the contrary, that if Sir Tho. saw
himself and any two or three old Members more, with the
phalanx of young Members, led on such an opposition in a
debate, they would be followed by numbers even at first, that
these numbers would increase every day, that a new opposi
tion would be thus created, or rather the old one reviv'd, and
in a word, that this must be done, or nothing can be done by
any man of sense or virtue.
" This you may depend is the present disposition of Sir W.
in which you and Lord C. may certainly confirm him, if you
throw oil not water, on it. That such a spirit should be raised
in him, was the hint given me by the person in whose room
you and I parted last. I see no harm if you had told him
who has done thus much ? but surely he must strongly be told
who only can corroborate and render practicable the effects
of it, " Pray assure your Master of my duty and service : they
tell me he has every body's love already. I wish him popular
but not familiar, and the glory of being beloved, not the
vanity of endeavouring it too much. I wish him at the head
of the only good party in the kingdome, that of honest men :
I wish him head of no other party. I think it a nobler situa
tion, to be at the head of the best men of a kingdom, than at
the head of any kingdom upon earth. For one is only a proof
of his birth, the other of his merit. And God knows meerly
to be popular, that is, to be at the head of a mob, (for partyes
are but higher and more interested mobs), is as much below
a Prince, as keeping low company is below a gentleman,
though the first of the Club. And our people of England
admire a King but as a clown does a squire. They are enough

APPENDIX. 799
to spoil a gude King, as the Scotsman said of them when they
followed James the First. (This quotation Lord Bathurst
sent me in a letter tother day, and it is a good one). Adieu,
make my services to Lord Chesterfield, and take them your
self from " Your sincere Servant,
" A. Pope."

III.
The following fragment of a speech relates chiefly to the
question of Triennial Parliaments. Having originally in
tended to confine these memoirs within the compass of a
single volume, I did not print this fragment as I should
otherwise have done in the first volume. See p. 55 of vol. 1.
The date of the speech is uncertain.
" First with regard to Triennial Parliaments. I shall readily
own, that if there was reason to think that by this alteration
Parliaments would be more purely chosen, or consist of mem
bers more independent, the change ought to be made, not
withstanding any inconvenience that may result from it in
other respects. I shall therefore begin by considering the
question in this light alone. Can any gentleman think that
a Court would be less desirous to obtain a majority in a Par
liament chosen for three years than in one chosn for seven ;
or that if they would use corruption for procuring it in the
last, they would not employ the same means to procure it in
the first ? No doubt they would ; because a majority chosen
against them in a Triennial Parliament would be as effectual
to overturn an administration as in a Septennial one, and
therefore self-preservation would demand this security as much
in one case as in the other. What then, would be the con-

800 appendix.
sequence? Why, country gentlemen must be obliged to
undergo the expence of contesting for their elections against
the Court twice in seven years instead of once. Could their
fortunes endure such a reiterated and redoubled charge ? No,
they must sink under the weight of it, or give up the contest :
and what then will become of the freedom of Parliaments ?
But it may be said, that it will not be worth the while of a
Court to bribe so high for the chusing a Parliament to serve
only three years as for one to serve seven. Let us try the
truth of that argument in another instance. Does not the
Government at this very time pay as much levy money to
those who list in the present exigence but for three years, or
even for one, as they did before to those who listed for life ?
This may seem to offend the rule of proportion, but it
is done because the Government stands in need of their
service, and must have it at any rate. May there not be a
necessity of another kind, but equally strong, which may in
duce a bad Administration, and against a bad one only we are
providing, to be as profuse of their levy money for the
engaging of members into their service in a Triennial Parlia
ment as in a Septennial one? And will they not in this case,
as we see it is done in the other, measure the degree of expence,
not by the length or duration of the engagement, but by the
degree of their own danger and present necessity ?
"If then it does not appear that this alteration will lessen the
expense of elections to Parliament, unless by a total acqui
escence and yielding them up to the will of the Court, how
many other inconveniences are sure to attend it I need not
explain ; they must be sensible to every gentleman's mind. I
will touch only on one, which I think of the greatest im
portance. It is the first article of my political creed that this
country cannot be delivered from the various evils it now
labours under, at home and abroad, but by a cordial union of
all honest men in the public service, without distinction of
parties. It is certainly so. All the virtue and wisdom that is

APPENDIX. 801
now in the nation, united together and acting conjointly to the
same end, is not too much — I pray God it may be sufficient — to
save the nation. Now, Sir, how much that necessary union
may be obstructed by the unavoidable heats and animosities
that attend on general elections to Parliament, I leave those
to judge that are most conversant in scenes of that nature, and
know how much harder it is to establish anything like coalition
upon those occasions than anywhere else. As to annual Par
liaments, that would be a still more violent change, and God
knows what inconveniences it might produce. I will mention
but one, to show that instead of procuring more freedom to
Parliaments, it might very possibly destroy all freedom
there. What if a Court should, by its influence over returning
officers, obtain a majority in an Annual Parliament by false
returns ? Before a tenth part of those returns could be tried,
there would be an end of the Parliament, and in the mean
while all the business of the Court would be done by the ma
jority so obtained. But if this could be obviated, numberless
other difficulties would certainly occur to make such an altera
tion either wholly impracticable or exceedingly dangerous. In
answer to this we are told, that Annual Parliaments were a
part of our old Constitution. I allow that they were, during
some periods, though it was not the general course ; but does
it follow from thence that we ought to return to them now ?
No, by no means. I could name many parts of our old Con
stitution, that it would neiiher be wise nor safe for us to revert
to again in the present state of our Government — many that not
only the character of the people of England, but the genius
itself of our present Constitution would not be able to bear.
We have a free Government as much as our ancestors, proba
bly more, but though it is founded upon the same principles,
we have it in many respects under a different form, and the
form being changed, so must the methods by which it must be
preserved. Indeed the wisest states have adhered to the

802 APPENDIX.
principles, but varied the laws by which they were governed,
according to those variations which time introduced into their
circumstances, bending the rules of their policy to the dispo
sition and order and harmony of things ; not vainly and
obstinately trying to bend the form of their state to those
ancient rules which were established under a different form,
and suited to that alone. For want of considering this, there
is a modern republic which has brought itself almost to the
brink of destruction by adhering tenaciously to one original
part of its Constitution, when other circumstances are changed,
I mean the United Provinces. In the original frame of their
government every town, in every province, has a negative
voice, and nothing of moment can be concluded without the
unanimous consent, ofthe whole. At first this was not attended
with any great inconvenience, because their people were un-
corrupted, because they were animated with a strong spirit
of liberty, which made them unanimous in all great affairs,
and because they had then the power of a Stadtholder to awe,
and keep down all factions, and to cement and knitt together
undistinct aristocracies, of which their state is composed. But
what happens now ? Corruption has got among them —flagrant
corruption ; the spirit of liberty is mixed with a spirit of
faction ; and there is no longer a Stadtholder to prevent or
overrule their divisions ; so that the best, the most salutary,
the most necessary measures are often obstructed by the oppo
sition of one single town, perhaps the least in the province: an
opposition fomented, and sometimes bought, by their worst
enemies. Sir, I am assured, that a late very great man in
that commonwealth bequeathed it on his death bed, as his last
advice to his country, either to restore the office of Stadtholder,
or take away the negative voice of the small towns. Because
the one without the other was hurtful, and might be pernicious.
Now, Sir, to apply this directly to the question before us. The
statute of Edward the 3rd, which declares that a Parliament
ought to be holden once every year, or oftener if necessary, if

APPENDIX. 803
you understand it as I do, not only of Annual Sessions, but
Annual Elections, there being no prorogation known till the
21st of Henry the VHIth, that law, I say, might consist very-
well with the whole state of our Government then, but can we
infer from thence that it would do so now ? Are our electors
— are the people of England as uncorrupted now as they were
in those days, or is there now in the Crown the same strength
of prerogative to balance the factions and temper the ferment
which such a law might introduce under the present corrup •
tions? No, Sir, there is not; and I hope there will never
again be such a weight of power in the Crown as there was in
those days. But, on the other hand, would the reviving this
law revive the ancient manners again — the same love of order,
the same respect to the laws, the same reverence of Govern
ment, the same sense of religion as this country was blest with
in the reign of Ed wai d the 3rd ? or would it give us the spirit,
the honesty, the noble simplicity of our old Saxon ancestors,
in their annual Witenagemotes ? — supposing those assemblies
to be annual, which I very much doubt. If it would, Sir,
it would be a blessed alteration indeed. But, alas ! the causes
of our corruptions are much too various, and extended too far,
to lie in the reach of any one remedy ; nor do I think
this would help it in any degree; it would rather, I fear, make
it worse. I could pursue this argument a great deal further.
I could show how many great reformations ought to be made,
which yet it would be impracticable to make at present, before
this alteration could have a chance of producing anyone good ;
whereas the evils it would produce are certain and terrible, no
less, indeed, than anarchy itself, till the ferment subsided
into absolute power. But I am afraid of tiring the house,
and therefore I rest it upon the arguments I have already
used."

804 APPENDIX.

IV.

This Speech was also omitted, for the same reason as the
fragment on Triennial Parliaments in the First volume, see p.
230, vol. i.
" On a motion to censure the issuing and paying .£40,000 to
the Duke of Aremberg, in the year 1742.
" Mr. Speak. i. r,
" I took the liberty some time ago to make you a motion con
cerning the payment of Forty Thousand pounds, to the Duke of
Aremberg, for putting the Austrian troops in motion in the
year '42, which I thought at that time, upon the face of the
article, as it then stood in the account brought into this house,
to be a dangerous misapplication of public money, and de
structive to the rights of Parliament.
" The opinion, Sir, of this House was not then taken upon
that point ; it was put off by a previous question, the debate
was adjourned, and several papers relative to it have since been
brought in, and you have now heard them read as the autho
rities upon which this money was paid : Sir, from those papers
themselves, from those very authorities, I am more strongly
confirmed in my former opinion, that it was done without law,
against law, not only against one single law, but against the
whole spirit and genius of this Constitution,
But before I proceed to observe any further upon this evi
dence, I beg leave to remind you, that all the money granted
by Parliament, for the year '42, had been tied down by the
most strict appropriation ; and that besides a very great army,
kept up for her service abroad; besides a powerful fleet in the
Mediterranean, assisting her there, no less a sum than
£500,000 had been given that year to the Queen of Hungary,
£300,000 of which was for her own immediate use, and the

APPENDIX. 805
rest for her ally, the King of Sardinia : so that this house
had judged how far it was proper for this nation to go, as an
auxiliary power, in the support of an ally, and judged, Sir,
allow me to say, not with the sparing frugality of an old
English Parliament, but with such a profuse liberality, as this
country will feel for years to come. Yet notwithstanding that
judgment of Parliament, notwithstanding the fetters laid on
the Ministry, as strong as the power of Parliament could
possibly lay, they did think fit by their own transcendant
authority, to superadd the gift of Forty Thousand pounds more,
out of their own grace, and bounty, at the expence of the
people of England !
" Sir, it is impossible not to take notice upon the hearing
these papers read, how very imperfect, how very obscure, how
very lame they seem to be as to the methods, and forms, by
which this money was paid. It is said in Lord Stair's letter
to my Lord Carteret of November 24th, that but eighteen
thousand five hundred pounds had then been paid of the forty
thousand given by the King ; and yet a receipt had been signed
the 17th of October, by the Duke of Aremberg and M.
de Nobilly for £20,000, paid by the deputy paymaster upon a
warrant drawn by Lord Stair. What can be the meaning of
this contradiction ? It is likewise declared in His Majesty's
warrant for allowing that article in the accounts of the Pay
master General, that forty thousand pounds had been paid in
two equal payments, of twenty thousand pounds each, by his
deputy at Amsterdam, for putting the Austrian troops in
motion, out of money remitted by him for that purpose, pur
suant to the orders, and warrants of the Earl of Stair; and
yet it does not appear how the Paymaster Genera] had been
empowered to comply with those warrants, or that he had in
his hands any money at all, for the use of the Queen of
Hungary. These are the strange inconsistencies and irregu
larities which, from the papers now on your table, appear in
this transaction, irregularities unheard of before ; but whatever

806 APPENDIX.
excuse may be given for them — if all the forms of office had been
observed with the utmost exactness in the issuing this money, if
the methods of doing it had been ever so regular, the act itself,
would still be illegal ; because the Crown can give no authority
which is not in itself, and the disposal of public money, against
the express appropriation of Parliament, is not in the Crown.
It would be just as agreeable to our Constitution for you, Sir,
to issue out warrants in the name of this house, directing the
motions of His Majesty's army in Flanders, as for any officers
of the Crown, civil, or military, to issue out warrants, or for
the King himself to give directions for the disposing of money
granted by Parliament, to other uses than those for which it
was granted. If these separate powers break in upon one
another, there is an end of the form of our Government, and
not the form alone, but the whole substance, and vital spirit of
it is lost. This is so clear a point, that 1 should think it mis
spending ) our time to dwell on it longer ; it only remains to be
considered, what could induce an Administration, that had any
reverence for the laws of their country, any respect for the
rights of Parliament, or any awe of its power, to take such an
act as this upon themselves ! What were the mighty services
that were performed in the year '42, or so much as attempted
to be performed, the prodigious importance of which was so
irresistible to the minds of our Ministers, as to bear down
before it all the fences and bulwarks of this Constitution ?
'' Sir, — We are told in Lord Stair's letter of July the
13th, that the Duke of Aremberg had represented to him,
that the Queen of Hungary was in so great distress for want
of money, he was afraid she might very soon not be in a condi
tion to make the weekly payments to her troops, and therefore
his Lordship proposes, that the King should assist her Hun
garian Majesty as he should think proper, either in th : shape
of an additional subsidy, or as a part of the subsidies to be
granted another year. It does not appear that t ¦> this any
answer at all was made by our Court, or that the demand was

APPENDIX. 807
ever renewed ; so that we are to conclude, the Queen of
Hungary did pay her troops without any further assistance
from us ; that want was supplied some other way, and has
nothing to do with the question before us. About six weeks
after, another demand was made upon a very different foot :
it was then for the forming a body of Hussars, for the mount
ing of cannon, and for other uses not specified there. This is,
with some variations, pursued and explained by my Lord Stair,
in a letter dated September 1st, which has a memorial
inclosed, containing particulars of the expences that would be
necessary, for enabling the Queen of Hungary's forces to act
in concert with ours, according to the project concerted at the
Hague, and approved by his Majesty, all which particulars
amounted together upon a very extraordinary computation in
most of the articles, to the round sum of Forty Thousand
pounds. Sir, what this project was, we are entirely left in the
dark: whether it was a practicable scheme, whether in a
political view it bore the appearance of being usefull, or hurt-
full to England, whether it might not tend to draw us in to
make ourselves principals in a war with France without the
Dutch, and before we had been attacked by that crown, what
was the nature, or object of it, is wholly concealed from us ;
but this we know, that the money was paid upon that account.
Even the last payment made so very late as the 2nd of January,
was not for any new service to be performed, but as an arrear due
upon what had been granted for the operations projected the
autumn before,* though the project itself had been quite dropt
for several months, and had never proceeded to any one opera
tion at all It is also very remarkable, that although this money
is said to be indispensably necessary for enabling the Austrian
forces to act, no part of it was paid till the 1 7th of October,
when the season for action was in great measure already past,
so that, supposing the project to be a good one, it must have
been spoilt by this delay, and when it was spoilt, then the
money was paid. * See Letter, 24th November.

808 APPENDIX.
" Sir, I have now gone through the whole matter contained in
the very surprising defence of this very surprising transaction .
We only can judge upon what we know; and, as far as
appears to us, nothing was done in the Netherlands, nothing
attempted, in the year '42, which could have justified the
application of publick money to any purposes there, even under
the sanction of a vote of credit : I say, Sir, it would havebeen
misapplying the credit given by Parliament, had anybeengiven,
to have paid Forty Thousand pounds of English money, over
and above our other great subsidies, for the sake of the
motions made by the Austrian troops in that part of the world,
through the whole course of the year '42 And yet — Good
God ! those motions, of which scarce any footstep is to be
found, they are to justify paying this money not only with
out the authority, but against the express direction of Par
liament !
" Sir, I have read in history of a great General, I think it was
Epaminondas, who having ventured to protract his command
three or four months beyond the time prescribed by the laws,
and being to answer for that offence, confest himself guilty, and
ready to suffer the penalty he had incurred, which by their
Constitution was capital, but only desired, that the great things
he had done for his country in those four months might be
inscribed upon his tomb. This was the noblest defence that
could be made of an illegal act, and his country did well in
forgiving him upon the strength of it, because the things he
had done were great indeed. But I will venture to say, that
if the honourable persons concerned in this illegal proceeding,
have no better inscription to putt upon their monuments than
the exploits of the Austrians in the year '42, they will not be
entitled to any place in Westminster Abbey, however they
may to one in Westminster Hall.
" Sir, had the service for which this money was paid, been
ever so clearly advantageous to England, yet the manner of
doing it in direct opposition to the law of the land, the danger

APPENDIX. 809
of setting a precedent, even upon fair and plausible motives,
which might be hereafter abused to the utter destruction of our
most sacred constitutional rights, would have been always
enough to make a good and a wise Minister tremble : but, to let
the name of a project, a mere abortion, which never was ripened
into any effect, to let this overthrow the most essential forms of
our government, to let it dispense with the most binding laws,
to let it shake the foundations upon which the whole power of
Parliament stands, is the most dangerous act of ministerial
presumption, — is the most wanton usurpation of power that can
be conceived ; take it in all its circumstances, consider the
time, the manner, the motives, the consequences, the long
concealment of it from the knowledge of Parliament ; a whole
Session past over without one word being said of it, a Bill of
Extraordinaries brought into this House, and no sort of notice
taken of it there, putt all this together, I will be bold to affirm
it is the most daring attack upon Parliament that ever any
Ministry has ventured to make, which was resolved to carry
prerogative to the highest excess, and to depress this House
into the lowest degree of subjection.
" Sir, what is the reason that Votes of Credit have always
been thought such dangerous things by all lovers of liberty ? —
the reason is this, because they give too great a facility of
squandering away the publick money upon improper, or trifling
demands ; whereas when Ministers act without such an autho
rity to screen their profusion, they act at their own peril, and
nothing less than the most evident and pressing necessity,
ought to be ever admitted as a defence for any issues of public
money so illegally made : but if they may be defended by the
bare requisition of an ally, or of a general, if it is justification
enough to say upon such an occasion, ' the money was given
because it was askt, and we suppose it was askt because it was
necessary,' — there will then be no need of Votes of Credit for
the sheltering of Ministers ; this will be giving them a greater
facility to misapply public money, than even the largest and
3 G

810 APPENDIX.
most unlimited Vote of Credit cou'd possibly give ; it is a dis
pensing power lodged in their hands, which they will use at
discretion ; whenever we ask an account of any sum disposed
of in this new manner, the same ready answer will always
occur, and if we approve it now, there can be no doubt but
that it will always meet with the same approbation.
" Sir, I will not say that the honourable persons who have
concurred in this extraordinary act, might not have done it
with good intentions as to his Majesty's service abroad : but
good intentions are no defence of illegal proceedings in high
matters of Government. It is the condition of slaves to depend
upon the intentions of those who govern them : we have a
better security than good intentions, we have good laws, we
have the forms of a free Government, which are so many
barrs against the danger of mal-administration ; but if we
suffer them to be broke, whenever our Ministers think proper
to plead their good intentions, we give up the advantages of
our Constitution, we no longer enjoy the distinguishing privi
leges of a free people.
" Sir, what the force would be of a real, apparent, important
necessity to vindicate this or any other extraordinary act, I
shall not dispute : all the restraints of a free Government, how
stubborn soever, must bend to that, because if they did not
bend, they would break ; but are they therefore to bend to
every idle breath of a Minister, to every light demand made
under that name. No — God forbid ! — if once you admitt of
such a plea, if once you trifle with the pretence of necessity,
you trifle with your destruction.
" Sir,when necessity itself does come upon us, there is no help,
we must compound with it as well as we can ; but that is an
enemy which will seldom attack us ; our much more constant
danger will be from the name of necessity, it is that name we
ought to dread, it is that against which we shou'd be always
on our guard ; for from the fatal abuse of that name, almost
all the Governments, ancient or modern, that had any resem-

APPENDIX. 811
blance to ours, have been overturned. I cou'd prove this
from Rome, I cou'd prove it from France, I cou'd prove it
from Burgundy, and from Castile ; I heartily wish that poste
rity may not be able to prove it from England too. The Con
stitution, Sir, of this country has, I am afraid, been long
undermined ; but a more open war is made on it now : to the
secret attempts, to the dark work of corruption, is added the
violence of an encroaching prerogative ; the most dangerous
engine of absolute power, a pretended necessity is beginning
to play upon our liberties ; the breach is already made ; but,
thank God, we are yet iu a capacity of defending that breach,
of dismounting that engine, if we have spirit enough to do our
duty. At least, Sir, 1 shall have the comfort of having done
mine, by calling upon you to the support of your rights, and
trying to wake that spirit of Parliament, which has slumber'd
too long under the insults offer'd to your authority. It is with
this view, it is with this hope, that I repeat to you now the
motion I made you some time agoe — a motion supported and
strengthened by that very evidence, which has been brought to
justify the matter complained of: I therefore humbly move,
that the issuing and paying to the Duke of Aremberg the sum
of Forty Thousand pounds, to putt the Austrian troops in mo
tion, anno 1742, was a dangerous misapplication of public
money, and destructive to the rights of Parliament."

812 APPENDIX.

V.

The following speech was delivered, according to the date,
early in 1744, and it appears to have been on a motion brought
forward by Lyttelton himself. He spoke on similar motions of
Pulteney and Lord Limerick in March, 1742, but I have not
been able to find any trace of the debate in which this speech
was made. Nor was I aware of its existence till quite lately ;
for it had been accidentally omitted in the Hagley MSS. origi
nally laid before me, and was sent to me after the first volume
was printed It is like the other speeches, written throughout
in Lyttelton's handwriting — see vol. i. p. 212.
" Speech for renewing the inquiry into the conduct of the
Earl of Orford, during the last ten years of his administration.
Anno: D. 1743-4.
" Mr. Speaker,
" I rise up to make you a motion, the importance of
which I take to be such, that it deserves your attention in pre
ference to all other business, as much as the satisfaction ofthe
whole people of England, the reputation and honour of Par
liament, the support of national justice, and the preservation
of this Constitution are above all other considerations.
" Sir, so far as this motion, which 1 am going to make,
affects the person of that Noble Lord who is concern'd in it,
I do it with pain, and with reluctance ; but as I am convinc'd
it is essentially necessary to all those great ends I have men
tioned, I must now, and I hope I always shall, as long as I
sitt in this House, acquitt myself of the duty I owe to my
country, preferably to all other regards whatsoever. And
allow me to say, that nothing less than the most pressing sense
of that duty, cou'd have imposed that task upon me which I
am now about to perform: for though justice requires it,
though the nation demands it, yet the pursuing a particular

APPENDIX. 813
man has something in it painfull to one's own mind ; and
which may appear to others in a disagreeable light : but I
trust to my future conduct to convince the world that no per
sonal motives, no private enmity, no malignity of temper
inspire me upon this occasion, but singly that zeal for the
publick, by which our actions here must be directed, or the
trust reposed in us betray'd.
" Sir, this House thought proper, last Session, out of a due
regard to the unanimous sense of the nation, to begin an
enquiry into the conduct of a great Minister, the Earl of Or
ford, during the ten last years of his administration. That
enquiry, Sir, was then grounded upon no other foundation,
than the public and flagrant notoriety of the bad situation of
our affairs, and the suspicions arising from thence of great
mismanagements at home and abroad ; but so strong did those
general reasons appear, so well were they supported by every
gentleman who had opposed the late Administration, and so
much regard was paid at that time to their weight and autho
rity, that the House resolved to enquire ; and was backt in
that resolution by a more universal assent of mankind without
doors, than 1 ever remember to have attended any proceeding
of Parliament.
" In order to carry on this enquiry with more effect, and
greater dispatch, a secret Committee was then appointed, to
which were delegated those Parliamentary powers, that are
essentially necessary to the investigation of publick offences,
especially such as are of the most secret and dangerous nature.
But it quickly appeared by repeated and sensible proof, that
those powers cou'd not be exercis'd in so effectual a manner as
the publick service required, without the assistance of the whole
Legislature. That assistance, therefore, was askt by this
House, but it was denied to us, I will not presume to guess
for what reasons. Unwilling evidences (and most were un
willing ones who were brought before the Committee), were
left in possession of a perpetual plea for hiding all that they

814 APPENDIX.
had no mind to tell, under a real, or a pretended apprehension
of the risk they might run in accusing themselves; and out of
the few that might have been willing ones, several, no doubt,
were deterred from it by the same difficulty. Thus the House
was reduced to the dilemma, either of breaking through natural
justice, in forcing men to endanger themselves by their own
evidence ; or of suffering truths to be concealed from them of
the highest importance to the whole state, at the discretion
of those whom they had a right to interrogate, and whose
silence wou'd have been criminal, and, therefore, punishable,
had that objection of danger been taken away. What a check
this was to the enquiry, how near a total extinction of it I need
not say ; the thing speaks itself: but I wish I cou'd say that
only this check had been given to it ! I wish I cou'd say that
even a higher authority than that which denied the Bill of In
demnity had not been used to stop the enquiry in one of its
most material parts ! A day may come when it will be proper
to say a great deal more upon this article, but I restrain myself
now, and only mention it to shew, with how many obstacles
the enquiry was clog'd at that time. Yet under all these dis
couragements, under this load of difficulty, did the Committee
form a Report, which lies now upon your table, containing
matters of as alarming a nature as ever excited the attention
and dread of a free people : an application, Sir, of the power,
the influence, the offices of government to the most fatal pur
pose of invading and tainting the freedom of your elections ; a
profusion of publick money almost incredible; methods of
issuing and receiving that money no less unprecedented, and a
suspicion of the use that was made of it so glaringly strong,
leading directly to facts so dangerous, so destructive to liberty,
and to the fundamental rights of this nation, that it is impos
sible for any man not hardened to slavery, to consider the con
sequences of it without horror, I cou'd almost say without
despair of the Commonwealth ! Such, Sir, was this Report,
struck out of that darkness, which corruption and fraud had

APPENDIX. 815
spread over the objects of your enquiry, without any of those
lights and assistances, which willing offices and favouring courts
have usually given to other enquiries of the same nature, car
ried on against Ministers, who were really and truly removed
out of the sanctuary of power ; all those helps were wanting ;
and surely, it does most strongly appear how great occasion
there was for an enquiry, when so much cou'd be produced
out of one obstructed and crampt by so many difficulties. Nor
is it a little honour to those worthy gentlemen who were the
members of the secret Committee, that their application,
conduct, and knowledge of business, cou'd supply so many
wants, and advance so far through such embarrassing and
unusual impediments.
" Sir, this Report being made, the Committee proceeded
to an examination of a different kind, but of equal importance,
in which the honour and trade of the nation were as deeply
concerned, as its liberty was in the other ; I mean the papers
relating to the Convention : an enquiry free from some of
those difficulties that had obstructed the other, and therefore
likely to have been more effectual : an enquiry necessary to
retrieve the reputation of a magnanimous people, brought under
the reproach of pusillanimity by those transactions ; an enquiry,
which not England alone, but all Europe expected of this pre
sent Parliament, as the best pledge we cou'd give to the world
of our resolution to come into no peace with Spain, inconsis
tent with the rights of the nation, and the honour and dignity
of the English name. But in the midst of this examination,
while the expectations of all men were rais'd, and fix'd on the
event of it, the royall prerogative was interposed, the King
was advised to putt an end to the existence ofthe secret Com
mittee by proroguing the Parliament.
Need I say any more ? Do the facts I have related want
any comment ? Does not every gentleman already anticipate
the motion I am going to make ? It was objected last year,
that we wanted foundations for an enquiry : Will any man

816 APPENDIX.
living tell us so now ? If we have not before us now enough to
demand a Parliamentary inquest, then, Sir, I am sure that
part of our duty is a mere empty name without any meaning,
and can never be exercis'd by us at all. What excuse cou'd
we make to the people of England for stopping here ? In my
poor apprehension, not to pursue an enquiry, that has opened
to us such matters as these, wou'd be as strange a neglect, as
if a man who had found a train of gunpowder laid under his
house, should go to sleep in quiet security, instead of examining
how far it reached, what mischief and ruin it might occasion, or
by what means the guilty person who laid it might be disco-
ver'd, and brought to justice. Nay, Sir, the case is as much
stronger here, as the safety of a whole nation is a greater object
than that of a private family.
" I must therefore suppose that it will be very unnecessary
to take up more of your time upon this subject, than just to
make it my humble motion —
" That a Committee be appointed to enquire into the con
duct of Robert, Earl of Orford, during the ten last years of his
being Chancellor of the Exchequer, and one of the Lords
Commissioners of the Treasury."

THE END.

v//

NORMAN AND SKEEN, rRINTEES, MAIDEN LANE, COVENT GARDEN.