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DIAUY AND COEUESPONDENCE

CHAELES ABBOT, LOED COLCHESTER

VOL. I.

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THE

DIAEY AND COBEESPONDENCE

CHAELES ABBOT, LOED COLCHESTEE

SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS 1802-1817

EDITED BT HIS SON
CHAELES, LOED COLCHESTEE

IN THREE VOLUMES

VOL. L

LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET
1861

3.^5-

\a

5S.%

o

PEEFACE.

The foUowing extracts from the diary and correspondence
of the late Lord Colchester have been selected from a
great mass of MSS. papers left by him, including a com
plete coUection of his official and other speeches whUe
Speaker of the House of Commons ; memoranda of his
life previous to his entrance into Parhament in 1795 ;
and a regular diary from that date to the very last day of
his life.
Those portions which related to strictly private or
family affairs have been excluded as uninterestiag to the
Pubhc ; those now submitted to the reader may, it is
hoped, assist to iUustrate the pohtical transactions of an
important era in the history of the country.
December, 1860.

A 3

CONTENTS

THE FIRST VOLUME.

CHAPTEE I.
1795.

Conversation witb tbe Duke of Leeds on tbe State of tbe Country at tbe
Date of tbe Opening of tbis Diary (Oct. 1795). — Meeting of Parliament.
— Tbe King insulted. — Division on tbe Address. — BiU for tbe Safety of
bis Majesty. — Bill for the Prevention of Seditious Assemblies. — Ad
vantages gained over the French by the Austrians. — "Westminster
Meeting. — Secession of Fox and bis Party. — Mr. Abbot's Comments
on Fox's violent Language. — The Budget. — King's Message on Peace.
— Loan Committee.. — Lord St. Helen's View of Foreign Aftairs. — Cha
racters of tbe principal Speakers in tbe House of Commons . Page 1
CHAP. II.
1796.
Birth of tbe Princess Charlotte. — Aj-mistice between France and Austria.
— Ireland's Shakespeare Forgeries. — Cause of the Duke of Leeds' Resig
nation of his Office in 1791. — Trial of Stone. — Whitbread's Bill on
Wages opposed by Pitt. — Forged News of Peace to affect tbe Funds. —
Mr. Grey's Motion for an Address for Peace negatived. — Mode of the
Publication of tbe Statutes. — Burke's Letter to the Duke of Bedford.
— Jekyll's Motion against Pitt on tbe Hamburgh Transactions. —
Hunterian Museum. — Mr. Abbot's Intercourse with tbe Speaker on tbe
Subject of the expired and expiring Laws  25

CHAP. III.
1796.
Bill for Abolition of the Slave Trade lost. — Quarrels between the Prince
and Princess of Wales. — Pitt's Habits. — State of Trade, &c., in the
Port of London. — Mr. Abbot makes Pitt's Acquaintance. — History of
Pichegru. — Mr. Abbot moves for a Committee on the Statute Law. —
Is invited to stand for Abingdon. — BiU for Duty on Succession to Eeal
A 4

Vlll CONTENTS OF
Estates. —Eules which the Speaker lays down for his casting Vote. —
Dissolution of Pariiament. — Mr. Abbot is re-elected for Helston.— West
minster Election. — Comparative Strength of Parties in the New Pariia
ment  ^^0^44

CHAP. IV.
1796.
Opening of the new ParUament. — Defeat of tbe French on the Maine. —
Mr. Pitt's War Measures. — Mr. Abbot moves for a Committee upon the
Promulgation of the Statutes. —Lord Malmesbiiry's Negotiations in Pans.
— Tbe Budget. —Fox opposes the Eussian Loan. — Moves a Vote of
Censure on Pitt  ^*

CHAP. V.
1797.
Pitt requests Mr. Abbot's Aid on tbe Poor BiU. -^ Quakers' BiU. — Landing
of the French at Fishguard. — Suspension of Cash Payments. — Committee
on the State of tbe Bank. —Battle of St. Vincent's. —Military and naval
Strength of the Kingdom. — Prince of Wales wishes to visit Ireland. —
Eeport of the Finance Committee. — Mutiny at Spithead . . 82
CHAP. VI.
3797.
Second Mutiny. — Supply. — Defeat of Mr. Grey's Motion against Pitt. —
Letter from Lord Olifden on the State of Ireland. — Mr. Grey's Motion
for Eeform in Parliament lost. — Mutiny at the Nore. — Conversation
with the Lord ChanceUor on the Promulgation of tbe Statutes. — Eeport
on tbe Customs. — Eeview of the Ligbt-horse Volunteers. — Proroga
tion  101

CHAP. VII.
1797.
Tbe Due de Bourbon. — Seditious Meeting of the London Corresponding
Society. — Coup d'Etat of 18th Fructidor in Paris. — Meeting of Par
liament. — ¦ Debate on Negotiation with France. — Address on the War.
— Eesolutions on tbe Treble Assessed Taxes. — Correspondence with tbe
Duke of Leeds oh Mr. Abbot's Support of tbe Increase of the Assessed
Taxes  117
CHAP. VIIL
1798.
Volimtary Contribution Fund. — Eeport of the Finance Committee. —
Eeturns of the Emoluments of Office from the Judges, &c. — Propriety of
demanding such Eeturns doubted, but establisbed. — Suggestions for
Amendments in tbe Customs Office BiU  1.32

THE FIRST VOLUMR. IX
CHAP. IX.
1799.
King's Messag'e on Union with Ireland. — Canning. — I'itt brings forward
the Union in the House of Commons. — Secession of tbe Opposition. — .
Committee on expiring Laws. — Copper Committee. — Letter from Mr.
Wickham on London Police, &c. — Treason Forfeiture Bill. — Budget.
— Measure for tbe Augmentation of the Judges' Salaries. — Letter from
Lord Clifdeu about Ireland. — Secret Expedition sails. — Captm-e of tbe.
Dutch Fleet at tbe Texel. — Capture of Seringnpatam. — The King desires
tbe Houses to adjoiu'n ........ Page 108
CHAP. X.
1800.
Buonaparte's Letter to the King. — Mr. Abbot moves for a Committee on
the State of tbe Public Eecords. — Budget for 1800. — Debates on tbe
Union. — Tbe King is shot at in Hyde Park and at Drury Lane. — Illness
of Pitt. — Opening of the new Session. — Corn Committee. — Debate on
Negotiation with France. — Unwillingness of the Scotch Clergy to make
Returns of tbe Population  194
CHAP. XL
1801.
Meeting of tbe new Parliament (the first of tbe United Kingdom). —
Difficulties with the King about Concession to the Eoman Catholics. —
Eesiguation of the Ministry. — Mr. Addington becomes Prime Minister.
— Sir John Mitford becomes Speaker. — Mr. Addington's high Opinion of
Mr. Abbot. — Mr. Abbot becomes Chief Secretary for Ireland. — Incapacity
of tbe Eev. J. Horne Tooke to sit in Parliament .... 220
CHAP. XII.
1801.
Mr. Pitt (though out of Office) proposes the Measures of Supply which he
had arranged. — Lord Hardwicke becomes Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. —
Tbe King iU. — Idea of a Eegency. — Conduct of the Prince of Wales. —
Eoman Catholic Meetings in Ireland. — Tbe King recovers. — Weakness
of Mr. Addington's Ministry, and Proposals for a Coalition. — Dundas's
Proposal for Pitt to resuitne Office  241
CHAP. XIII.
1801.
Tbe Irish Budget — Disturbances in the West of England. — Lord Eldon
becomes Lord Chancellor. — The Battle of Copenhagen. — Murder of the
Emperor Paul. — Sir William Meadows appointed Commander-in-Chief in
Ireland. — Measures to be adopted m Ireland. — Mr. Abbot proposes the
Martial Law Bill. — Mr, Abbot goes to Ireland .... 26.3

X CONTENTS OF
CHAP. XIV.
1801.
State of Ireland during tbe latter part of 1801. — Frequent Outrages in many
Districts. — News of Peace with France. — Violent Conduct of Lord
Clare. — Eeforms undertaken by Mr. Abbot. — Death of Lord Clare. —
Sir John Mitford becomes ChanceUor of Ireland. — Mr. Abbot is elected
ker  Page 275

CHAP. XV.
1803.
Meeting of the new Parliament. — Mr. Abbot re-elected Speaker. — In the
Debate on the Address Mr. Fox supports tbe Ministers. — Debts of the
Prince of Wales. — Conversation with Mr. Addington about Pitt's Eetum
to Power. — Negotiations between Pitt, Addington, &c. — Eenewal of
War. — King's Message to Parliament. — Great Debate on the Address in
reply. — Clergy Eesidence Bill. — Fox's Motion on Russian Mediation. —
Motion for Censure of Ministers. — Proposed Increase of tbe Eegium
Donum  411

CHAP. XVI.
1803.
Differences between Pitt and Addington. — Letter from Mr. Croker about
tbe Outbreak in Dublin. — From Lord Eedesdale, Lord Hardwicke,
and Mr. Wickham, and from Lady Hardwicke. — Secret Report on the
Insurrection. — Letter from Emmet to Mr. Wickham . . .431

CHAP. XVIL
1803.
Proposal to fortify London. — Sheridan's Motion on the Volunteers. — Pro
rogation of Parliament. — ParUament meets again in November. — Mr. Fox
protests against tbe System adopted in Ireland. — Letter from Lord
Eedesdale. —Ai-my Estimates. —The Prince of Wales applies for mUitary
Employment. —Apprehensions of, and Preparations for, Invasion. —Letter
from Mr. Wickham  461
CHAP. xvni.
1804.
Activity of our Fleet imder Admirals CornwaUis and Nelson. — Letter from
Lord Eedesdale on CatboUc Emancipation. — The King ill, but recovers.
— The GrenviUes begin to unite with Fox. — Pitt's Motion for Papers on
tbe naval Defence of the Country. — Addington seeks Support from tbe
Prince of Wales's Party  474

TITE PIR.ST VOLUIIK. XI
CII.VP. XIX.
1804.
Letter from Lord Hardwicke on English Parliamentary Proceedings. —
JMr. Abbot's Reply. — From tbe Bishop of j\Ieath on Irish Ecclesiastical
Promotions. — Mr. Drake's Imprudence. — Mr. Pitt withdraws his Support
from Addington. — The Budget. — The Prince of Wales supports the
Opposition  Page 490

CHAP. XX.
1804.
Mr. Pitt resumes Office. — Tbe King refuses to admit Mr. Fox into the
Cabinet. — Letter from Lord Eedesdale on tbe new iVrrangements. — Tbe
King's Eegard for Mr. Addington. — List of tbe new Cabinet — Pitt's
Army BUl. — Mr. GrenvUle's Language about tbe new Ministry. — Slave-
Trade Abolition BUl passed. — Civil List Debts. — Parliament prorogued. —
Loyalty Loan. — Letters from Mr. Pitt, Lord Eedesdale, &c. — Unguarded
Conduct of the Princess of Wales. — Lord Wellesley's Conduct in India.
— Seizure of the Spanish Frigates ....... 506

CHAP. XXL
1805.
Letter fi-om Mr. Vansittart. — Understanding between Pitt and Addington.
— Buonaparte's Letter to the King. — Proceedings previous to Pitt's Re
sumption of Office. — Budget. — Negotiations of tbe Irish Catholics with
Pitt. — Charges against Lord MelviUe. — Letters from Lord Auckland. —
Conversation with the Pi-ince of Wales. — H. R. H's Friends object to
pressing the Claims of the Roman Catholics  5.34

MEMOIE OE
CHARLES ABBOT, LORD COLCHESTER,

Charles Abbot, created in 1817 Baron Colchester, was the
younger of the two sons of the Rev. John Abbot, D.D., fellow of
Balliol College, Oxford, and Rector of All Saints, Colchester, by his
marriage with Sarah, daughter of Mr. Jonathan Farr, citizen of
London.* Dr. Abbot, died in April 1760, at the early age of forty-
three, highly respected for his learning and moral worth. Dr. Abbot's
ancestors had lived for some generations at Shaftesbury, in the
county of Dorset, and the family appears to have been settled in that
neighbourhood from a very early period, Richard Abbot having been
High Sheriff of the county of Dorset, a.d. llOCj His son Charles
was born at Abingdon in Berkshire, on the 14th of October 1757 ;
and in March 1763 he was placed, together with his brother, as a
home boarder at Westminster School, of which Dr. Markham,
afterwards Archbishop of York, was then head-master. In 1770
he was elected a King's Scholar, and went into College captain of
his election. After remaining five years upon the foundation, he
he was elected off to Clirist Church, Oxford, in May 1775, and
admitted a student at the following Christmas. In 1776 he
obtained the first College prize for Latin Verse, and the following
year the University prize for Latin Verse, the subject being the
Czar Peter. The Empress Catherine of Russia, to whom a copy of
these verses had been presented, sent to Mr. Abbot, througli the
Secretary of State, one of the gold medals struck by her command
upon the Peace with the Turks. Among the acquaintances formed
by Mr. Abbot at Westminster and Christ Church, and whose
* Mrs. Abbot subsequently married Jeremy Bentham, Esq., of Lincoln's Inn,
father, by a former marriage, of Jeremy Bentham, the celebrated writer on juris-
prndence ; and Samuel, K.S.G., a brigadier-general in the Eussian service, and
some time inspector of naval works, &c.
f From the re.searches kindly communicateil to me by a learned genealogist,
J. T. Abbott, Esq., of Darlington.

XIV MEMOIR OP
friendship he retained through life, were, Mr. Henry Bankes, for
many years M.P. for Corfe Castle, and afterwards Dorsetshire ;
Dr. Pett, Canon of Christ Church; Mr. W. Wickham, Chief
Secretary for Ireland ; Dr. Hall, Dean of Christ Church ; Lord
Trentham, afterwards Marquis of Stafford and Duke of Sutherland;
the Honourable Henry Legge ; and the two Censors, William Jackson*
afterwards Bishop of Oxford, and Randolph, Bishop of London.
The public lectures then given at Christ Church, as planned by
Dr. Markham (afterwards Archbishop of York), were, 1. A course of
Elementary Mathematics, comprising the first six books of Euclid,
Plane and Spherical Trigonometry, and Maclaurin's Algebra, as
far as Quadratic Equations ; and 2. A course of Logic, Rhetoric,
and Poetry, in which the works of Aristotle upon those subjects
were taken for the text-books, and illustrated by the Lecturers'
remarks. His private readings were chiefly a course of Ancient
History, and an occasional excursion among the Greek tragedians.
The Four Evangelists were also part of his College studies. No
English author entered into the plan, except Locke's lesser tract, " On
the Conduct of the Human Understanding," and Harris's " Hermes "
and Treatises; but (he states in the notes ofhis early life) "I found
leisure to read Bacon's Treatise ' On the Advancement of Learning,
and his Essays. I also attended the University Lectures on
Natural and Experimental Philosophy, and the College Lectures on
Anatomy." t Mr. Abbot's regular residence at Oxford closed in
the summer of 1778, and he then went to Switzerland for the
purpose of studying Civil Law ; residing chiefly at Geneva, where
he went through the public exercises, wore the habit, and took
the degree of Doctor in Civil Law. In the autumn of 1779 he
returned to England, and began to keep terms in order to be called
to the Bar, residing with his elder brother (Mr. John Farr
Abbot) in chambers near Lincoln's Inn. During the riots raised
by Lord George Gordon in the summer of 1780, Mr. Abbot "was
enrolled in the Temple to bear a musket in the company commanded
by Howorth, and drew lots with his brother and the rest of his
party to fire through a window that looked up Mitre Court leading
to Fleet Street, which was one of the avenues by which the mob
was expected to come. Mansfield, King's Counsel (afterwards
Lord Chief Justice of Common Pleas), commanded the whole force
of the Temple ; Erskine (afterwards Lord ChanceUor) commanded
a company at the gate next Essex Street ; and Heath, then a Serjeant-
at-law, and since Judge, commanded at the gate leadino- to
» To Cyril Jackson, afterwards Dean of Christ Church, Mr. Abbot always
expressed great obligation for his instruction and countenance during the early
years of his life.
t " My Life, from 1757 to 1795."

CHAELES ABBOT, LOED COLCHESTEE. xv
Blackfriars. The mob, however, only r.ssaulted the outer gates of
the Temple, and the Northumberland Militia constituted the real
protection within." *
Being elected a Vinerian scholar by the University of Oxford in
November 1781, and fellow in 1788, he renewed his residence there
by visiting Oxford occasionally till October 1792, when he resigned
that fellowship and finally ceased to reside. In Easter Term 1783
Mr. Abbot was called to the Bar by the Middle Temple, aud com
menced practice in the Court of King's Bench, and joined the Oxford
and Chester Circuit and Oxford Sessions ; but subsequently he con
fined his practice to the Courts of Equity ; and though his success in
his profession was such as to hold out the expectation of his gaining
the highest objects it offers, feelings which are best described in his
own words led him in 1794 to renounce such views, and to accept
a more modest but less laborious office.

LETTEK TO THE EEV. PHINEAS PETT, CHKIST CHUECH, OXFOBD.
October 20th, 1794.
My dear Pett, — I should not pardon myself, if I did not acknow
ledge your two most kind and friendly letters. The melancholy
subject which occasioned them has extremely shaken my health, which
was before but too much affected by the long and unceasing labours of
my particular station at the bar; and the prospect of their continuance
with aggravated anxieties for an indefinite number of years to come
— absorbing every other idea than that of paper, tape, and guineas, and
extinguishing every other sentiment, and excluding every possibility.
of rational, social, or domestic comfort — had induced me for some
time back to wish that I could shift my flag, and, without quitting the
service, place myself in some occuj)ation less destructive of happi
ness. Very few such posts exist, and fewer still are within reach ;
but for some such I had actually taken steps, little imagining that a
more short and sorrowful road was to be opened. Nevertheless
Providence so ordained ; and I was suddenly compelled to say that
I would, or would not, at such a moment, take such a lot of life as pre
vious and long deliberation had taught me to think the most eligible.
Acting, therefore, at a time when reflection was not very prac
ticable, upon principles which prior reflection had led me to adopt,
I took the appointment which became vacant. I am painting to
you the true history of my thoughts upon this occasion. It is a
satisfaction to me to communicate them to you even by this mode,
as we are not likely very soon to meet ; and I feel a particular
gratification in depositing them where I know they will be received
with so much personal kindness for me. As to the general list of
• "My Life, from 1757 to 1795."

X^•l MEMOIE OF
one's acquaintance, as far as the measure I have taken forms a
topic of the day for their conversation, I take it for granted tbey
will talk, whether they think or not, in various ways ; thus much I
am sure of, that their censure or approbation will not alone con
stitute my happiness ; and this I am stiU more sure of, that, judging
only by exterior circumstances, they have none of the more material
data upon the knowledge of which such a judgment as my own
was to be most necessarUy formed. Not to tire you too much, I
have exchanged a course of life composed (without exaggeration) of
unceasing and ungrateful toil, from daybreak till midnight, through
out the year, excepting only two of the autumn months, for an
ofiice which employs me not necessarily more than four months of
the year, and that never to any degree of excessive trouble or
anxiety. I have insured the means of health, society, and tbe
choice of other pursuits, literary or parliamentary (as they moi'e
probably will be), and an income much larger than any reasonable
man can want, and much larger even than my profession at the bar
produced*, and this beyond the reach of diminution by any altera
tion of my own health, or any caprice of fortune in law or politics.
So far, you wiU not think, probably, the scale preponderates against
me. As to the rest, if it be more wise to make ambition an acci
dental and not an essential ingredient of happiness, the change is
still not much to my disadvantage. The prizes which I am sup
posed to forego are those which in the lottery of life I might never
have attained ; as the chances of competition and politics are
calculated and controlled about as easily as the winds. Other prizes
interesting enough to any honest ambition may remain, and with
the difference that their sorts and the roads to them are more
various and less perilous ; added to which this main consideration,
that the intermediate space of life is of itself stocked with present "ood
instead of present evil. I should not deal fairly with you, or with
myself, if I were to say that such a step, at such a time of my life,
cost me no disquietude. I have experienced a good deal in debating
it with myself. Of course I have some circumstances to reo-ret in
the change, but the alternative is not of my own making, and
having struck the balance of the account, I certainly have much
reason to thank Heaven that the total is such as I find it. Adieu.
Let me never fail to see you when you visit London, which will be
my residence for the greater part of the year ; and the almanack
win show you our terms. Fare you weU, and believe me most
faithfully and affectionately, Yours ever C. A.
* Mr. Abbot's profits at the bar averaged for the last four years 1540/. a year
thc last being at a higher rate than any preceding year. The income of Clerk of
the Rules in the King's Bench was 2700/.

CHARLES ABBOT, LOED COLCHESTEE. Xvii
" The melancholy subject" .alluded to in Mr. Abbot's letter was
the death of his elder brother, who held at the time the office of
Clerk of the Rules in the King's Bench. Mr. John Abbot had
married, in 1785, Miss Pearce, great niece of Dr. Pearce, Dean of
Westminster and Bishop of Rochester. She died at Naples in tbe
preceding winter of consumption, and her husband fell a victim to
the same disease after his return to England in August 1794. The
fatal nature ofhis cornplaint was, however, unsuspected by his family
till withi n the last ten days of his life.
Mr. Aobot took the office, thus become vacant, in October 1794»
and shortly afterwards received the following letter from Mr. Erskine
(afterwards Lord Chancellor) : —
" If I had not been so incessantly engaged in the manner you know
I have been, I should long ago have called upon you to give you my
hearty and friendly welcome into your seat here. You gave up a
great deal for it, in giving up what your abilities must have given,
but in my mind you have nevertheless acted most wisely. I am a
tolerable judge at this moment of the drawback upon comfort which
attends the labours of the profession.
" I always am very sincerely yours, T. E.
"Nov. 7th, 1794."
Although Mr. Abbot had taken the office of Clerk of the Rules
in the Court of King's Bench, as a less fatiguing occupation than
that of a practising barrister, he did not confine his labours to
the mere necessary routine of his oflSce, as appears by tbe following
entry : " Between October 1794 and the expiration of the following
year, I compiled a complete survey of the office, its duties, profits,
and circumstances in every particular. I added a junior-clerk to
the establishment, qualified in Latin, court-hand, and arithmetic, as
a person to be educated for the office business, and to be trained up
in succession. I collected all the records belonging to the office,
which had been theretofore kept in a ruinous garret in the Temple,
and caused them all to be chronologically arranged and indexed,
and deposited in a set of chambers just become vacant by the
removal of the Masters in Chancery out of Symond's Inn into their
new office. In the summer of 1795 I set on foot a series of indexes
to all the books of the entry, and printed all the General Rules and
Orders of the Court subsequent to the year 1761 ; allotting the
profits of the publication to the purchase of law books for the use
of the Court of King's Bench at Westminster. The books were
accordingly provided and bound under my directions, and lodged in
Court for the use of the bench and bar. In aid of the former fund,
and for the purpose of providing some useful books for the accom
modation of the Chester Circuit at each assize town, I also published
VOL. I. a

xvill MEMOIE OF
the Rules and Orders of the Chester Circuit from my own MS.
digest ofthem; with a preface treating at large of the jurisdiction,
and discussing the propriety of abolishing it."
In June 1795 a wider sphere of usefulness and distinction was
opened to Mr. Abbot. Upon the recommendation of the Duke of
Leeds, to whom the electors of Elelston in Cornwall looked up as
the head of the Godolphin family, Mr. Abbot was elected to serve
in Parliament as the representative of that borough, Sir Gilbert
Elliott having vacated that seat by accepting the Vice-Royalty of
Corsica. "My obligation to the Duke of Leeds," writes Mr. Abbot, "for
this signal act of friendship I can trace to no other cause what
ever than his having known me at Westminster School, and seen me
accidentally, but very seldom, at the Westminster plays and meet
ings." The line of conduct which Mr. Abbot proposed to himself
to pursue is thus stated iu a letter written to his friend Mr. Richards*,
who was to be his colleague in the representation of Helstone, after the
dissolution which was then expected. " In entering that place (the
House of Commons) my purposes are, having no permanent call
slsewhere, to pay a constant and vigilant attention to all the
ordinary business of Parliament ; next, upon aU general occasions,
;o vote in support ofthe minister ofthe day, be he Pitt or Fox; for
;o me they are as indifferent as Pompey or Ctesar, and I hate,
jecause I disapprove, a teasing, barking, cavilling, unprincipled
jpposition. In the next place, upon particular and important
luestions, open by their nature to the discussion of all men, I should
;ive my voice upon the balance of tbe question, either silently, or
vith reasons, if I could contribute information, or should think it
lecessary to avow principles or assign reasons; proud ofthe station,
f during a parliamentary life, my former habits or knowledge, with
'uture efforts, should compass any material improvement in our
egislative employment. AU tbis may seem to you very fine and
•omantic, but you know me reasonably well, and that I seldom
mdertake a duty without something like a deliberate system of action.
Secondly, as to the duration of our seats. From a part of what I
lave already said, it is very possible that you may see mine very
hort-lived, and me in possession of the Chiltern Hundreds during
his very winter. Not that I have anything like certain ground for
uch a supposition, but I cannot be any man's blackamoor, and if I
liould think it right to give a current support to one side, while our
•lend should take a line decidedly opposite, although I should not
* Afterwards Lord Chief Baron. Mr. Richards and Mr. Abbot liad been
itimate friends at the Bar, aud continued so in Parliament tiU 1806, when an
ifortunate misunderstanding respecting the election for the University of Oxford
lused all intercourse between them to cease.

CHARLES ABBOT, LORD COLCHESTER. xix
conclude unnecessarily that he meant me to follow in his train, yet
I should not bo unprepared to quit upon notice. I say again that I
have nothing like certain or even prob.able ground from him for
such a supposition; for he and I, strange as you may think it, never
have exchanged one syllable upou politics, he never having even
intimated more than by telling me that Mr. Fox had moved for the
writ. As to your seat, if I go, aud you stay, I see no reason for
yours to cease; and ifwe both stay, I do not know why cither should
cease, except ho, after his second son comes of age, should desire
it  Adieu. Read this and burn it, for althous^h I
wish you to know my inward heart, perhaps it may be as well that
no other mortal, less friendly, should have so much in his power.
" Yours ever, C. A."
Parliament was not dissolved, as had been expected, in the
autumn of 1795, but met again in October, and Mr. Abbot's flrst
speech in the House of Commons was made on the 3rd of December of
the same year, in the debate upon the third reading of the Seditious
Assemblies Bill, which liad been brought in by Mr. Pitt's Govern
ment, and violently opposed by Mr. Fox and his friends. Mr.
Abbot supported the measure ; his speech was well received by the
House, and he received the warm congratulations of his professional
and political friends. This success did not, however, induce him to
speak very frequently in debate ; but when he did so, it was " with the
best consideration which he could give to the subject in hand ; for
not being under any obligation to trouble the House with any crude
or unpremeditated opinions, he thought he showed more respect to
his hearers, and was more likely to give effect to his opinions, by
putting them to the understandings of his hearers in the shortest
and most conclusive mode which he couM."* He preferred turning
his attention to the introduction of practical improvements in legis
lation, and in this same Session he obtained a Committee to inquire
into the manner of dealing with Expiring Laws. Their report
established the practice of making complete annual tables of the
Temporary Laws of the United Kingdom ; so that none, as had
formerly happened, should expire unobserved! He next, in 1797,
brought before Parliament a plan for the due promulgation of the
statutes to all public offices, courts of justice, and magistrates, by
furnishing them with a copy of all Acts of Parliament as soon as
printed ; thus enabling them to see readily the state of the law
which they had to administer, instead of being obliged to refer to
private collections of Acts, which were not everywhere accessible,
and seldom reached down to the existing time. Mr. Abbot was also
" exceedingly desirous to have introduced a more improved style
and diction in all public acts, but the matter was full of difficulties,
* Eeflections, 1817.
a 2

XX MEMOIR OF
and though exhorted by all, he was helped by none." * The pro
ject, therefore, fell to the ground.
The Finance Committee appointed by Mr. Pitt in 1797, and of
which Mr. Abbot was chosen the chairman, occupied the greater
portion of his time during that and the following year. This
Committee made thirty-six reports upon the different branches of
the public establishments. Those relating to the Revenue, the
Exchequer, and tha Courts of Law were prepared by the chairman.
The reports on the other subjects were drawn up by different
members of the Committee. Many of the measures of improve
ment recommended in these reports were carried into execution
by the Government, and the proceedings of this Committee were
long considered as the model for subsequent Committees of Fi
nance. Among the best fruits of this Committee was a Bill
" for charging Public Accountants with the Payment of Interest,"
whereby the balances -which used to be retained indefinitely by
successive paymasters and others, in and out of office, becoming
chargeable with interest, have not since been retained. In 1800
Mr. Abbot moved for a Committee for an investigation into the
National Records, out of whose report arose the Royal Commission
for the better arrangement and preservation of the Public Records
of the Realm, which received the sign manual in the summer of the
same year. In the beginning of 1801, Mr. Abbot introduced a BiU
for ascertaining the Population of Great Britain, with the increase
or diminution thereof. This was the first of those Acts which have
since been passed decennially, with increased scope of inquiry, fully
elucidating questions of statistical knowledge previously but little
understood. In December 1796 Mr. Abbot married Miss Elizabeth Gibbes,
eldest daughter of Sir Philip Gibbes. By this marriage he had two
sons: Charles, who succeeded him in the title of Colchester; and
Philip Henry, who was called to the Bar in 1826, and died in
January 1835, having married, in 1829, Frances, daughter of Dr.
Talbot, Dean of Salisbury, and his wife Lady Elizabeth, daughter
of Henry, fifth Duke of Beaufort.
Upon the formation of Mr. Addington's administration in February
1801, Mr. Abbot received the appointment of Chief Secretary to the
Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland; and the office of Keeper of the Privy
Seal of Ireland was afterwards added as a compensation for the
loss of his office in the Court of King's Bench, which Mr. Abbot
relinquished on becoming Chief Secretary. The state of Ireland
at this time demanded no small amount of judgment, firmness,
and tact in the Lord-Lieutenant (Lord Hardwicke) and his chief
adviser, to conduct its affairs successfully ; and they were not found
* Reflections, 1817.

CHARLES ABBOT, LORD COLCHESTEE. Xxi
wanting to the occasion. The peace of Amiens, whicli was signed
on the 1st of October, relieved the Irish Government from its
military anxieties, and ilr. Abbot was then enabled to give
his undivided attention to the reform of tho civil departments
of the administration, and to the development of the natural
resources of the country. Various improvements had been already
carried out, and others were in progress, when the death of tho
ChanceUor of Ireland, Lord Clare, caused the removal of Mr. Abbot
to a now sphere of duty. Lord Clare was succeeded in his office by
Sir John IMitford (created Lord Redesdale), thou Speaker of the
House of Commons ; aud Mr. Abbot was elected to fill the vacant
chair on tbe lOtb of February 1802. This distinguished position
he continued to hold for fifteen years, having been four times chosen
Speaker unanimously after his first election. In 1806* he was
chosen by the University of Oxford as one of its members, and con
tinued to represent that learned body in the Plouse of Commons so
long as he remained there. As Speaker, Mr. Abbot established a
great improvement in the conduct of Private Bills, by setting up a
" Private Bill Office," precluding all possibility of any party sur
prising the other by sharp practice in the many Bills involving
private rights of property ; as inclosures, roads, canals, town im
provements, 8sc. The regulations proposed by the Speaker were
finally matured and adopted upon a report from a Select Com
mittee. Another improvement was effected by Mr. Speaker Abbot
in the printing of the votes, the delivery of which, from the in
creasing quantity of business transacted by the House, had by
degrees been so much delayed as to be usually two days, and some
times a whole week, in arrear. By introducing an abstracted form
of votes, showing the business done on the preceding day, and also
the business to be done on the day of delivery, members were each
morning put in possession of the current business of the day,
instead of having to seek for it as best they might.
As the "Diary and Correspondence" will relate the chief topics
which came under the consideration of Parliament during the
Speakership of Mr. Abbot, it will be only necessary here to advert
to a few in which he took a more prominent part. In the Session
of 1805 Mr. Whitbread brought forward charges against LordMelvUle
(then First Lord of the Admiralty), founded upon the Tenth Report
of the Commissioners of Naval Inquiry, for misapplication of public
money while holding the office of Treasurer of the Navy. Mr. Pitt,
in reply, stated the case of Lord Melville, his friend and colleague
from the commencement of his first administration ; not defending
the regularity of his proceeding, but remarking upon the explana-
* Mr. Abbot had continued to sit for Helston till the Parhament of 1802,
when he was returned for the borough of Woodstock.

XXU MEMOIE OP
tions which the case might receive if inquired into by a select com
mittee ; and concluded by moving the previous question. A long
debate ensued, and upon the division the numbers were 216 for, and
216 against, the motion; thus leaving the decision to the casting vote
of the Speaker. This vote Mr. Abbot prefaced by a brief statement
of the three charges brought forward by Mr. Whitbread, and of the
reasons urged on the other side for further inquiry, before the
House came to a decision ; concluding with his own opinion, that
upon the best attention he had been able to give to the result of this
important debate, it appeared to him that although such further
information might be applicable to the latter charge (participation
in the illegal profits of his subordinate, Mr. Trotter), it could not
have any reference to the former charges, which were confessed and
established, and fit for the immediate judgment of the House ; and
that he should accordingly give his vote with the Ayes.'' The main
question was accordingly put and carried, and the subsequent ones
also without a division. The Speaker's conduct on this occasion
gave general satisfaction, and the Ministers themselves admitted
that he could not have done otherwise. Lord Sidmouth the next
day expressed himself perfectly satisfied with Mr. Abbot's vote, and
told him that Mr. Pitt and Mr. Robert Dundas (Lord MelviUe's
son) had also acknowledged the propriety of the Speaker's conduct.
These proceedings led ultimately to an impeachment of Lord
Melville, who was tried by his Peers in Westminster Hall, and
acquitted of all the charges laid against him by the managers for
the House of Commons.
Tn September 1809, upon the resignation of Lord Castlereagh and
Mr. Canning, Mr. Perceval offered to Mr. Abbot the seals of Secretary
of State ; but Mr. Abbot unhesitatingly declined them, expressing his
intention to continue in the chair of the Plouse of Commons so long
as the House were disposed to retain his services.
The question of removing the political disabilities imposed on per
sons professing the Roman Catholic faith had occupied the attention
of Parliament from time to time ever since the union with Ireland ;
and, after the death of Mr. Perceval in 1812, a motion made by Mr.
Canning for taking the claims of the Roman Catholics into con
sideration in the next Session was carried by a large majority. In
consequence of tbis resolution, early in 1813 Mr. Grattan brought
into the House of Commons a Bill to provide for the removal of the
Civil and Military disqualifications under which the Roman Catholics
then laboured. This Bill was read a second time (by a majority of
42), and its success was considered certain by its promoters ; but on
going into committee Mr. Abbot rose to oppose the first clause,
which enacted that Roman Catholics might sit and vote in either
House of Parliament. He contended that Parliament ought, in

CUAULES .\BBOT, LOED COLCHI'iSTEE. Xxiii
conformity to the established constitution of the empire, to withhold
from tho Roman Catholics all capacity of political power and
jurisdiction ; but at the same time widely and liberally to lay opou
before them the field of profitable and honourable reward for dis
tinguished exertions and services, and in matters of religion to
render their legal toleration complete. Those arguments were
urged with so much ability that tho clause was rejected by a
majority of 4 ; the numbers being ayes 247, noes 251. The pro
moters of the measure, having thus faUed in their principal object,
abandoned the Bill altogether, and every subsequent motion for a
committee upon the Roman Catholic claims, during the four years
which Mr. Abbot continued to be a member of the House, was
negatived. Besides the duties of the Speaker more immediately
connected with Parliament, many others had at this time been cast
upon his office which had reference to subjects of an entirely
different nature, by naming him as First Commissioner for the
execution of public works carried on by public grants. Of these,
the principal which employed Mr. Abbot's time were, the Public
Records of the realm and the improvements of the highlands of
Scotland ; besides inferior trusts for improvements in Westminster,
Westminster Bridge, the British Museum, Royal Military Canal,
Nelson and Wellington grants, &c. Mr. Abbot was also latterly
called upon by the Secretary of State for the Home Department to
take the direction in a Committee for regulating and superintend
ing the establishment of a new General Penitentiary at Millbank, —
a labour which, superadded to tho rest, deprived him of the only
portion of the day previously reserved for air and exercise, and
completed the destruction of his health. He suffered much during
the Session of 1816 ; and, in April 1817, an attack of erysipelas in
the head, which prevented his taking the chair from the 28th March
to the 24th of April (including the Easter holidays), and returned
again on the 19th May, obliged him to send in his resignation on
the 28th ; as owing to the absence of any provision at that time for
supplying the vacancy in the chair, when the Speaker was personally
unable to be present, the whole business of tho House of Commons
was suspended during his absence from illness or other cause. A
peerage (by the title of Baron Colchester) was immediately con
ferred by the Prince Regent upon the retiring Speaker ; and apension
of 4000/. a year to himself, and 3000/. a year to his next successor
in the title, was voted by the House of Commons, to enable him to
support his new dignity. A vote of thanks "for his eminent and
distinguished services during the long and eventful period in which
he discharged the duties of Speaker, with a zeal and ability alike
honourable to himself and advantageous to the service of the House,"
was also passed with general concurrence.

XXIV JIEMOIE OF
Soon after his first election to the chair of the House of Commons
Mr. Abbot purchased from Lord Abergavenny the house and
property of Kidbrooke, in Sussex, and made it his residence during
those portions of the year when Parliament was not sitting, only
quitting it once, after the peace of 1815, to make a short visit to
Paris and Brussels. These intervals of relaxation from official
labours were not allowed to pass unemployed. The earlier portion
of Mr. Abbot's residence in Sussex was at a period when the whole
nation was in arms to repel a threatened invasion, and he took the
commission of Lieutenant-Colonel in " The North Pevensey Legion,"
then raised as a Volunteer Corps of Horse and Foot, 1200 strong,
collected from the different parishes on the borders of Ashdown
Forest, and commanded in chief by Lord Sheffield. The horse
consisted of two troops, one of which Mr. Abbot commanded as
captain, and drilled by the help of the knowledge and practice he
had acquired while serving under Colonel Herries in the London
and Westminster Light Horse Volunteers* from 1797 to 1801.
The duties of a justice of the peace with sittings every fortnight,
and occasional attendance at the lieutenancy meetings, also filled up
much of his time. His leisure was occupied in the improvement of
his house and grounds, and subsequently in planting and bringing
under cultivation a tract of several hundred acres of heath land,
which he added to his original purchase of Kidbrooke. His reading
during these years (1802 — 1817) was, as he states, of course very
desultory ; whatever was of a parliamentary nature superseded any
other general literature, but he failed not steadily to pursue his
course of Scripture reading ; first, by abstracting their substantial
contents, and making such chronological lists of events, and
compiling such views of the prophecies, as might lead him always
to take up, with more regularity and comprehension, any portion to
which he might afterwards desire to turn his attention. f
The state of Lord Colchester's health prevented him from taking
any active share in public business for the two years following his
retirement from the Speakership, and in the summer of 1819 he went
abroad and remained on the Continent tUl 1822, passing his winters
successively at Genoa, Rome, and Nice, and traveUing during
the intervening summers through the principal portions of Italy
and France.
Lord Colchester returned to England in May 1822; and his health
being now sufficiently restored to enable him to take an active part

* This corps consisted entirely of gentlemen, and numbered in its ranks many
who became distinguished statesmen, as Perceval, Yorke, &c.
f Reflections, 1817. This course appears to have commenced in 1795, and to
liiive been continued till his death in 1829."

CHARLES ABBOT, LORD COLCHESTER. XXV
in the proceedings of Parliament, he became a constant attendant in
his place in the House of Lords. In June of this year he moved
the amendment to the Bill introduced by the Duke of Portland for
admitting Roman Catholic Poors to seats in the House of Lords.
This measure he opposed as leading necessarily to the concession of
all the other claims of the Roman Catholics to political power which
he considered could not be conceded with safety to theProtestant Insti
tutions of the country ; while at the same time he was of opinion that
the whole career of civil honours and emoluments should be laid open
to them. These sentiments Lord Colchester maintained to the close
of his life, and proved their sincerity by supporting (in 1824) the Bill
for enabling the Duke of Norfolk (a Roman Catholic) to exercise his
office as Earl Marshal, and that for enabling Roman Catholics to hold
situations in the Revenue Departments ; while he was found in the
final struggle among those who opposed their admission to Parliament.
In the following year (1824) Lord Colchester was placed in the
chair of the Committee on the Appellate Jurisdiction of the House
of Lords, which suggested various measures for remedying the
inconvenience loudly complained of, arising from the arrear of
appeals waiting to be heard. These measures he explained in a
speech delivered on the 1st July ; and the adoption of those for
more frequent hearings of Appeals in the House of Lords speedily
reduced the existing arrear ; but a Bill proposed for shortening the
forms of proceedings in Scotch Appeals was thrown out in the
House of Commons in the following Session. Lord Colchester was
also placed on the Select Committee upon the State of Ireland,
which heard evidence on a great variety of subjects. The result
produced upon his mind was, that " The Emancipation required
(by Ireland) was from poverty ; The Grant, a means to work,
and find that industry is profitable." In 1824 he took an active
part in the new arrangement of the office of Clerk of the Parliament;
and also occupied himself in facilitating the general business of the
House, by obtaining the completion of the Index to the Statutes ;
the printing of the Standing Orders, and of the Daily Minutes of
proceedings ; and the promotion of a Library of Reference, on the
same plan as that of the House of Commons. Besides these various
occupations at the House of Lords, Lord Colchester, from 1823 till
1827, attended frequently the Judicial meetings of the Privy
Council; there being at that period no established Judicial Com
mittee, but the Lord President summoned, from time to time, such
Privy Counsellors as he judged most fitted to assist him in hearing
the causes brought before the Council. In 1826, the defective esta
blishment of clerks and disordered state of records in the Council
Office being subject of complaint, he arranged with the Lord Presi
dent (Harrowby) a revision of the establishment, with the addition of
VOL. I. b

XXVI MEMOIR OP
a law clerk and a new scale of salaries to be sanctioned by the King
in Council. In 1827 Lord Colchester supported the amendments
proposed by the Duke of Wellington in the Corn Bill (of Mr.
Canning's Government) sent up from the House of Commons. In
his speech on this question, after objecting both to the policy and
leading provisions of the Bill, he pointed out in detail the mode in
which the House of Lords should proceed when differing with the
Commons on questions of Bills of Supply, by making its own amend
ments, and leaving it to the Commons to originate a new Bill
incorporating the substance of the Lords' amendments.
In the autumn of 1827 Lord Colchester made a journey to the
northern highlands of Scotland, to view the various public improve
ments which had been made under the direction of the Parliamentary
Commission of which, as Speaker, he had been the First Com
missioner from 1802 to 1817 ; and of which, after retiring from that
office, he had been speciality named a Commissioner. The works
included a canal (the Caledonian) from sea to sea; roads to the
extent of 900 miles, besides many large bridges, completed at the
joint expense of the public and the highland counties. Churches
had also been built in remote districts under the Parliamentary
grant. This visit to a country which in early life he had traversed
in its wild condition, but which now everywhere bore symptoms of
improving civilisation, was in itself a very gratifying occurrence ;
but its pleasure was much enhanced by the reception which he
experienced in the districts through which he passed, the country
gentlemen proffering their hospitality, and the municipalities of
Tain, Dornock, and Inverness conferring upon him the freedom
of those Royal Burghs, in token of their estimation of the benefits
conferred upon their country by the Commission under his personal
guidance. The Parliamentary Session of 1828 was memorable for the
passing of the Bill for repealing the Test and Corporation Acts,
and for the last successful resistance to the admission of Roman
Catholics to seats in Parliament. Upon the motion for going into
committee upon the former Bill Lord Colchester expressed his
concurrence in the removal of the Sacramental Test by which
Dissenters were excluded from taking office, upon the ground, that
the practice of the last fourscore years, of passing an Annual
Indemnity Act, had practically annulled the security originaUy
intended by the Test Act ; leaving only the inconvenience of placing
the clergy often in the situation of being called upon to administer
the Holy Sacrament under unsuitable circumstances, and inducing
the Dissenters to take offices, under the expected protection of the
Indemnity Act, to which offices they were at the same time, by the
permanent laws of the country, inadmissible.

CHAELES ABBOT, LORD COLCHESTER. XXVU
The admission of Roman Catholics to political power Lord
Colchester continued to oppose upon the same principles which he
bad ever advocated ; and upon Lord Lansdowne's motion (upon the
loth of June) to concur with a resolution of the House ot Commons,
to consider the state of the laws affecting the Roman Catholics,
with a view to such a final and conciliatory adjustment as might
be conducive to the peace and strength of the Realm, and the
stability of the Protestant Establishment, he spoke at length against
concurring with the resolution ; arguing from the doctrines con
cerning the spiritual and temporal power of the Pope at present
avowed by the Roman Catholic Church, and the conduct of the priests
in Ireland, that no measures of domestic legislation which could be
adopted would lead to the general satisfaction and concord expressed
in the resolution ; and that the mode suggested of obviating these
difficulties by a direct intercourse with the See of Eome, for the
purpose of obtaining from the Pope a Bull to regulate the affairs of
the Roman Catholic Church within these realms, would be a direct
step towards the overthrow of the Reformation in this country
by re-establishing in it the jurisdiction of the See of Rome. The
resolution being also opposed by the Duke of Wellington, then
Prime Minister, it was negatived by a majority of forty-five votes ;
but some expressions in the Duke's speech led the public to believe
that it was his intention, before long, to introduce himself some
measure of concession. The subject in consequence became the
general topic of discussion during the autumn, both in public and in
private society. Under these circumstances Lord Colchester re
solved, as the best mode of disseminating his recorded opinions on
the question, to publish a collection of his speeches on the subject in
both Houses of Parliament, with notes, and " preliminary obser
vations on the present state of the question." These were sent to
the press in November, and he was soon afterwards attacked by a
severe return of the same complaint which twelve years before had
obliged him to retire from the chair of the House of Commons. He
went up to London previous to the meeting of Parliament in
February 1829, but was not well enough to attend the debate on the
King's Speech when the Government announced their intention of
bringing forward measures for settling the Roman Catholic question
by large concessions including admission to Parliament. On the
16th of February he exerted himself to go to the House to present
a petition against the Roman Catholic claims, and to take that oppor
tunity of declaring that his opinions had undergone no change, not
withstanding the unexpected sanction which hadbeen given to these
claims ; and that he could not sacriBce his opinion and principles to
the fears of His Majesty's Ministers, or to their apprehensions of
danger from the discontented and disturbed state of the Roman

XXYlil MEMOm OF CHAELES ABBOT, LOED COLCHESTEE.
Catholics in Ireland. Then, after suggesting the propriery of a
dissolution bv which His Majesty would obtain the fullest knowledge
of the opinions and wishes of his people, and the people might
choose those representatives whom they would prefer for treating of,
and consenting to, the great measures of which they would have
heen thus previously apprised, he concluded by asking, whether
the Government intended to embody their proposed measures in
one or more BiUs : and in which House of Parliament they might
be expected to originate. The Duke of WeUington in his reply,
while declining to give the information desired, and denying that their
measures had been suggested by fear or by intimidation, bnt were
founded upon the clear and decided opinion that this question ought
to be settled, aUuded to the sacrifices made by himself and his
coneagues, and in so doing "he begged the noble Lord on the cross-
bench (Lord C.) to believe that not the least considerable, or the
least disagreeable, sacrifice on his part, was the necessity imposed
on him of differing from the noble Lord on this subject." *
This was the last time that Lord Colchester addressed the House
of Lords. In the course of the following month (March) his malady
had so much increased that he was confined to one floor of his
house, but he continued to enjoy the society of his family, and to
receive the visits of his poUtical and private friends ; and the
physicians, though they considered the malady as painful and
tedious, expressed no alarm as to the ultimate results. In this state
(with some variations) he continued during the month of April and
the first week of May. On the evening of the 7th his medical
attendants paid their usual visit, and left him at ten o'clock to retire
to rest, apparently in the same state as usual, but soon after mid
night he complained of violent pain, and before any medical advice
could be procured he expired, almost without a groan, in the seventy-
second year of his age. His mortal remains were buried in the north
transept of Westminster Abbey ; where his ashes rest in the same
vault w4th those of the great statesmen over whose debates he had
during life presided. * Vide H.ini.'u-d.

K RliA T A.

Vol. I.

Page 105, hne 15, for "Hood," read "Flood."
„ 108, „ 1, ybr " Hervie," read "Herries.'"
„ 118, „ 5 (note), /or "ReutolV'rcarf" Re wbell."
„ 125, Mr. Abbot's letter should have " no date."
,, 125, Duke of Leeds' letter should be dated, "North Mims, Dec. .31,
1797."
„ 126, Mr. Abbot's letter, "Pall Mall, Jan. 2, 1798."
„ 142, line 22, for "upon," read "up, as."
„ 143, „ 5, /or "the right," read "thought."
„ 150, „ 8 (from bottom), /or " Bonami," read " Buuvorie."
„ 172, „ 11 (from bottom), d«/e "," between "Tyrwhitt" and "Jones,"
place " and " before " Wilberforce," and dele " and " after
" Wilberforce " (the name being " Wilberforce Bird ").
173, „ 9, /or "lands," read "laws."
198, „ 2 (from bottom), /or "fees," read "teas."
254, „ 23, for " duke," read " marquis."
256, „ 26, a/(er "should," inser* "not."
267, „ 12, /or " it's," read " it."
301, „ 4, /jr " Littlepales," read " Littlehales."
307, „ 9 (from bottom), /or "county," read "country."
Vol. II.
Page 39, line 3, /or "Lygan,'' read "Lygon."'
„ 52, „ 1 0, /)r "resolution," read "revolution."
„ 52, „ 12, /or "resolution," read "revolution.''
„ 74, „ 32, /or "Lady Devonshire," read "Lady Downshire."
„ 110, „ 8 (from bottom), /or " oflSce," read " offer."
„ 140, „ 7,/or "falls," read "fell."
„ 140, „ 19,/or "30th," read "March 3rd."
„ 143, „ 25,/or "Sturges Browne," read "Sturges Bourne."
165 (note 2), /or "Burnard," read "Burrard."
Vol. III.
Page 14, Une 15, /or "kotin,'' read "kotou."
„ 16, „ 15,/or "Poryang," read "Poyang."
„ 17 (note), for " port," read " poet."
„ 18, line 2, for " Simbelaus," read " Timbclans.''
., 20, „ 28, /or "1822," read "1812."
„ 25, „ 1, /or "Mariii," rend "Mercer."
„ 440, „ 34,/or"De" read "Dr."

DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE

CHAELES (ABBOT) LOED COLCHESTEE.

CHAPTER I.
1795.
CONVERSATION WITH THE DUKE OF LEEDS ON THE STATE OF THE COLTNTRT AT
THE DATE OF THE OPENINC OF THIS DIART (oCT. 1795).  MEETING OF
PARLIAMENT.  THE KING INSULTED.  DIVISION ON THE ADDRESS.  BILL
FOR THE SAFETY OF HIS MAJESTY.  BILL FOR THE PREVENTION OF SEDI
TIOUS ASSEMBLIES.  ADVANTAGES • GAINED OVER THE FRENCH BY THE
AUSTRIANS.  WESTMINSTER MEETING.  SECESSION OF FOX AND HIS PARTY.
 MR. abbot's COMMENTS ON FOx's VIOLENT LANGUAGE.  THE BUDGET.
 king's MESSAGE ON PEACE.  LOAN COMMITTEE.  LORD ST. HELEN's
VIEW OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.  CHARACTERS OF THE PRINCIPAL SPEAKERS
IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.
Tuesday, Oct. '21th  I arrived in town, and the next
day dined with the Duke of Leeds *, with whom, after
dinner, I had a long private conversation. He dis
coursed generally about the probable subject of the
King's Speech ; and expressed his own readiness for a
pacification even upon the Uti possidetis. '\ I agreed with
* The Duke of Leeds, when Marquess of Caermartben, had been one of
the Secretaries of State on the first formation of Pitt's Ministiy, but had
resigned that ofiice in 1791. He had the principal influence in the borough
of Helston, for which place Mr. Abbot was M.P.
f t The events of the war during the first year had been on the whole
rather unfavourable to the French. Prussia, Holland, and Spain had indeed
made peace with them, acknowledging the Republic, and engaging not to
oppose the extension of the French frontier to the Rhine. But, on the other
hand, we had made fresh treaties with Russia and Austria, engaging to
VOL. I. B

2 DIARY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. T.
him on the desirableness of peace now that we had, by
a war* just and necessary in its origin, outlasted aU the
danger of contagion from French Revolutionary prin
ciples; as the French themselves had abjured club
government and the fraternisation of other countries :
but I expressed my wish to see exactly what the
King's Speech would be, and what would be the proposed
amendment, if any. So we parted, and very cordially.
The best publications of the moment were Lord
Auckland's on the appearance of things in Oct. 1795,
and D'lvernois on Assignats.
29!fA. — Parliament met. The King was scanda
lously insulted on his way to the House of Lords;
and as he arrived within a few yards of Henry
yilth's Chapel, one of his coach-glasses was pierced
by a stone, or bullet as it was rather supposed
from the small circular hole which it made in passing
through. There was an immense mob ; violent cries
of "No War," "Down with Tyrants," "No King,"
&c. ; and stones and dirt were thrown in great quan
tities at the state carriage both in going and returning.
The King was uncommonly collected and firm. After
the supposed shot (for he himself conceived it to be
such), he entered the House of Lords and read his
speech with extraordinary firmness and spirit.
When the shot was fired, Lord Westmoreland and
Lord Onslow, who were in the coach with the King,
supply the latter Power with large subsidies, which had enabled the Em
peror, though defeated at Loano, inthe north of Italy, by Augereau andMas-
sena, to check the French on the Rhine, where Clairfait and Wurmser had
retaken Manheim, and forced the French lines at JIayence. The British
fleets had taken the Cape of Good Hope, and under Admhal Hotham and
Lord Bridport had defeated the French in the Mediterranean and the Bay
of Biscay ; on the other hand a descent of the emigrants on the coast of La
Vendue, which we had endeavoured to support, proved a complete failure.
One of the most important events which took place at home in 1795, was
the prosecution of Home Tooke, Hardy, and others, for high treason ; in
which trial Mr. Erskine, afterwards Lord ChanceUor, distinguished him
self greatly as counsel for the prisoners.
* Hostilities had been commenced by a declaration of war against Eng
land being issued by the French Repubhc, Feb. 3rd, 1793. .

Oct. 1795.] .THE KINGS SPEECH. 3
were extremely agitated, but the King bade them be
still ; afterwards he said, " My Lords, you are supposing
this and proposing that, but there is One who disposes
of all things, and in Him I trust." When a stone was
thrown at one of his glasses in returning home, he said,
" That is a stone, — you see the difference from a bullet."
When another stone was thrown which lodged in his
sleeve, he gave it to Lord Onslow and said, " My Lord,
keep this as a memorandum of the civilities which we
have received."
The Prince of Wales delayed coming to the House
of Lords till night; the Duke of York came at the
usual time, and though hooted, was not personally hurt.
Mr. Pitt, &c. passed in the same manner. The Lords
did no other business than examine witnesses about the
outrages of the morning. At eleven at night they held
a conference with the House of Commons to desire their
concurrence in an Address; owing to informalities in
the message from the Lords, the Commons could not
proceed that night.
In the House of Commons, the King's Speech being
read, and the Address moved, Sheridan opposed it, but
moved no amendment — Jenkinson answered him. Fox
spoke next, and moved a long multifarious amendment,
ending with a prayer to the King, to take immediate
and decisive measures for peace. Pitt answered, and
upon this point declared that " if the present crisis in
France established the new Constitution * then under
acceptance, as far as- regarded this country he saw no
* The revolution of the 8th Thermidor (July 26th), 1794," which ;had
destroyed Robespierre, was not consummated till the summer of this year,
when the Revolutionary Tribunal was suppressed by a formal decree, and a
new Constitution was promulgated, dividing the Assembly into two Councils,
to be called the Council of 500 and the Council of Ancients ; and vesting
the executive power in a Directory, to consist of five members. The Jaco
bins and Royalists, however, coalesced to resist this new Constitution, and
organised a formidable riot, which was crushed by the vigour of Napoleon
Buonaparte, who had distinguished himself at the siege of Toulon in 1794,
and to whom Barras, who was to be one of the Directors, now committed
the mihtary arrangements for the suppression of the disturbances.
B 2

4 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. I.
obstacle to negotiation." The division was 240 for
the Address ; 59 against it. The Opposition had ex
pected to divide about 100. About 30 of the minis
terial side were attending in the House of Lords, and
were shut out from the division ; among whom was
Mr. Wyndham, Secretary at War. And of the opposite
side, some who came to town to vote with Mr. Fox,
after hearing the amendment, went away without voting
at aU. Sir J. Thorold, M.P. for Lincolnshire, was
one of this number.
2,0th. — In the Lords the King's Speech and Address
were debated ; but, upon Lord Grenville making a de
claration, similar to that of Pitt, the Duke of Bedford
withdrew his amendment, which was a copy of Fox's.
31s^. — Both Houses went up with a joint Address
to the King upon the outrage to his person. Fox went
with this. (Each House also presented its separate
Address upon the King's Speech.)
Tuesday, Nov. Brd. — The business of the House of
Commons was brought forward. Pitt moved some
immediate measures, and for the rest proposed a select
committee. Fox gave a liberal and ready concurrence
and approbation.
Ath. — In the Committee of Supply, 110,000 seamen
were voted, being the same number as for the preceding
year. Qth. — Lord Grenville brought a BiU into the House
of Lords for the safety and preservation of His Ma
jesty's person and Government against treasonable and
seditious practices and attempts, according to the pre
cedent of stat. 13 Car. II. c. 1, which passed in 1661,
upon the meeting of the first Parliament after the
Restoration. Lord Grenville prefaced the introduc
tion of it by alleging the recent outrages on the King,
and the tumultuous meetings of Thelwall, &c., at
Copenhagen House, in the fields near Hampstead. In
the evening I received the foUowing note from the Duke
of Leeds : —

Nov. 1795.] TEE-VSOX BILL. 5
St. James's Square, Xov. Gth, l"'.!.").
My Dear Sir, — I am much flattered by your gooeines.s in
sending me a copy of your very useful work on the sui ij ect ot
the rules and orders of the Iving's Bench and Great Sessions iu
Wales. I wish much to have some conversation with you
respecting the present Bill respecting High Treastiu, in order to
gain some legal information on so very important a subject.
The principle of the BiU I highly approve of, and sincerely
lament the circumstances which seem to have rendered such a
measure necessary. Lord Eadnor, who, you know, is now aud
then singular in his opinions, strongly enforced the necessity of
mal-i'iig an afte)!jjf to destro-y the Constitution High Treason.
as well as any similar attempt on the person of the King. The
want of such a law, or at least such an interpretation of the
existing laws, has always appeared to me a lamentable defect in
our jurisprudence. Ever, Dear Sir, affectionately yours, Leeds.
I answered this note immediatelv, acceding fuUv to
the principle of the BiU and to the principle suggested
by Lord Radnor.
7 th. — I caUed on the Duke and talked over the
whole subject. None of the general histories, such as
Eapin, Burnet, or Macpherson, nor any of the Debates
in Lords or Commons, notice the stat. 13 Car. II. c. 1,
very particularly. But by the Journals of the Housl-
of Commons, May 14th, &c., 1661, it appears that Ser
jeant Maynard*, and Finch, SoUcitor-General (after
wards Lord Nottingham), penned some of the provi
sions, and that the BiU was much considered in the
Commons, and Lord Hale, 1 P. C. c. 13, comments
upon it.
lO^A. — In the House of Lords the Treason Bill
was read a second time. Lord Thurlow spoke against
it, but went away without voting. The Duke of Nor
folk spoke against it but did not vote upon it, though
he stayed the division. The Duke of Leeds spoke for
the BiU and voted for it; the division was 59 to 7.
* "Sir John Maynard, the most learned lawyer of his time." — 2£acau-
lay's Hist, of England, vol. ii. p. 23. B 3

C DIAEY OP LORD COLCHESTEE. [Ch. I.
In the House of Commons Mr. Pitt moved for leave
to bring in a Bill for the more effectual preventing
seditious assemblies; after warm speeches from Mr.
Fox, Mr. Sheridan, and Mr. Grey*, answered by Mr.
Wyndham and Mr. Wilberforce, the House divided, 214
for the motion, 42 against it; Sheridan in his speech
called the King's ministers " ten unacquitted culprits."
This was a part of his invective. A call of the House
was moved by Mr. Fox and assented to by the minister,
¦with the general concurrence of the whole House.
ll^A. — Government received the account of the
Austrians having driven the French back over the
Rhine. In the evening the Lords went through the
Treason Bill in a committee. Lord Thurlow again
spoke against the Bill, and went away. Lord Kenyon
spoke for the Bill.
I'ith. — The Seditious Assembly Bill was read a first
time (in the House of Commons). Three divisions
upon it took place : 1 . Whether the debate should not
be adjourned. 2. Whether the Bill should be read.
3. Whether the words "on Tuesday next,'' should
stand part of the question for the second reading of the
Bill. On the fourth question, whether the BiU should
be read a second time on Tuesday next, there was no
division. Fox was not down during any part of the
debate. The numbers were 134 v. 22,-133 v. 23, —
132 V. 21.
12,th. — The Corn Committee resolved that Govern
ment should no longer buy corn for the public, but
bounties should be given for the importation. 20s. per
quarter for Europe South of Cape Finisterre, to the
amount of 700,000 quarters; 15s. for America, tothe
amount of 300,000 quarters; and 15s. for the rest of
Europe to the amount of 500,000 quarters, till August
31, 1796.
The Treason Bill passed the Lords; minority, 5.
* Afterwards, as Earl Grey, Prime Minister from 1830 to 1834.

Kov. 1795.] WESTMIXSTEE MEETING. 7
IQth. — Early in the morning a stage was erected in
Westminster Hall for Fox's meeting of the inhabitants
of Westminster to address the King upon his escape
from assassination, and to petition Parliament against
the two BiUs pending, viz. the BiUs against treasonable
and seditious practices, and against the seditious assem
blies. The Courts sat as usual, and at half -past eleven
Gen. Tarleton mounted the stage and adjourned the
meeting into Palace Yard, to prevent the disturbance
of the Courts, which would have been more effectually
prevented if the meeting had not been advertised for
^Vestminster HaU, and if no stage at all had been built
there. At twelve. Fox, the Duke of Bedford, Grey,
Lord Lauderdale, Sheridan, &c., appeared on the new
stage in Palace Yard : they proposed their address and
petition, and severally harangued the mob; Lord Hood
also spoke to announce his protest against that mode of
taking the sense of the inhabitants. He was heard with
great respect and temper, and at half-past one the
whole mob dispersed; they occupied the area between
the terrace of New Palace Yard and the stand of coaches
along the Exchequer Walk, bounded on one side by the
passage from Bridge Street straight down to West
minster HaU, and on the other by the streetway from
Parliament Street to Margaret Street. I should sup
pose they were not in all more than 2000 : some said
3000. Lord Hood, in the House of Commons, said the
outside guess was 5000; Fox called them in debate
30,000. The Treason Bill from the Lords was read a first
time : the House rose at one in the morning : division
for the reading, 147 ; against, 24. In the course of the
debate. General Tarleton charged the Speaker * (most
untruly) with partiality, and with calling the Oppo
sition side to order when the other side of the House
was in a greater uproar. The Speaker demeaned him-
* Mr. Addington, afterwards Prime Minister; and, as Lord Sidmouth,
Home Secretary in Lord Liverpool's Ministry.
B 4

8 DL^RT OF LORD COLCHESTEE. [Ch. I.
self with great dignity and feeling. The general at
length made some sort of apology, and the House
agreed that nothing respecting the charge should ap
pear in the journals,
17^A. — The Seditious Assembly BiU was read a second
time. The debate lasted tUl two in the morning : for it,
213; against, 44.
19th. — Stone was arraigned for high treason in the
King's Bench. Serjeant Adair and Erskine were as
signed to him as his counsel ; but his trial was post
poned tiU next term, on afiidavits of the absence of
material witnesses in America and Scotland. The
Treason BUl was read a second time in the House of
Commons. For it, 64 ; against it, 22, but no debate,
Fox giving notice that he should debate it on the ques
tion of the Speaker leaving the Chair.
20th. — Army Estimates voted: viz., 49,000 guards
and garrisons ; 77,000 for colonies and plantations ;
42,000 militia; 13,000 fencible infantry; 10,000 fenci-
ble cavalry; besides yeomanry, infantry, and cavalry;
and besides the Indian army. Reduction from pre
ceding year about 25,000 men ; in expense above
800,000^ Division on the fencible cavalry ; for, 60 ;
against, 16.
2Brd. — The order of the day was for going into a
committee on the Bill (from the Lords) for the Safety
and Preservation of His Majesty's Person and Govern
ment, &c. ; but there arose a debate upon a pamphlet
incidentally mentioned by Mr; Sturt, who presented a
petition against the Bill ; it was a pamphlet aUeged to
be written by Mr. Reeves, chairman of the Crown and
Anchor Association*; and the passage complained of
* On the first outbreak of the French Revolution, several societies avow
ing objects nearly similar had been set on foot in England, such as the
London Corresponding Society, mentioned in the next page ; The Friends of
the People, &c. And in November, 1792, the Crown and Anchor Associa
tion was foimded by a body of persons of opposite opinions, with the object
" of defending the laws and Constitution, preserving liberty and property
against republicans and levellers, assisting the civil magistrate in prevent
ing tumults," &c. &c. — Tomline's Life of Pitt, vol. iii. p. 462.

Nov. 1795.] ME. EEEVES'S PAMPHLET. 9
(inter alia) stated that " the King made the laws," and
that " the kingly government could go on in all its
functions without Lords or Commons." The whole
pamphlet was read ; the Master of the Rolls * then
moved, according to the precedent in Hasting's case, or
rather Stockdale's case, that this debate should be ad
journed, in order, as he said, to give each member time
to read the whole before any vote upon it was to be
proposed. Sheridan moved a censure upon it in the
terms of the motion in Sacheverel's case, and pressed
the vote immediately; but the House agreed to the
Master of the RoUs' motion for adjourning the debate
till Thursday. The order of the day was also adjourned
tiU Wednesday. In the close of the debate, Fox stated,
Sheridan re-asserted, and Grey explicitly declared, that
if these biUs became law, and the people of England
asked " what they ought to do," they should answer
that " it was a question of prudence, and not of duty ;
and that nothing but prudence should restrain them from
resistance." The words were much questioned, and
their substance often repeated. Pitt said that, if the
time was now come to draw the sword, he hoped those
who armed for a good cause would show equal courage
with those who drew the sword in a bad cause. The
House rose at a quarter-past two. No division. Upon
this very day the London Corresponding Society
printed and distributed a sheet of paper setting forth
their principles for the equality of rights and laws,
Universal Suffrage, and Annual Parliaments ; they
concluded with asserting that if necessity should come,
they would arm.
2A.th. — I received a petition from Helston, signed by
twenty -four persons, as from the inhabitants of Helston,
against the Seditious Assemblies BiU. I presented it
to the House of Commons ; and I wrote by the same
* Sir R. Pepper Arden, previously Attorney-General, and subsequently
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas ; raised to the Peerage as Baron Alvanley
in 1801.

10 DIAEY OP LORD COLCHESTER. [Ch. I.
post to the Mayor to acquaint him that I had done so :
but that my judgment was in favour of the principle of
the proposed Bill for the prevention of Seditious As-
sembUes which they petitioned against, and that, subject
to certain modifications and a limitation to three years,
I should support it.
The whole sitting of the House was taken up by the
call : and a division on the excuse of Lord Blandford,
absent in Scotland : for whom a fortnight was asked on
one side and opposed on the other (136 for it, 52 against
it) ; and by the presentation of petitions together with
the conversations upon each. Grey to-night explained
his position of resistance to be theoretical, which in the
preceding night he had stated to be practically applica
ble to the present occasion. The House rose at half-
past two.
25^A. — In the House of Commons the debate on the
Seditious AssembUes BiU proceeded. Mr. Grant, K.C.,*
made an admirable speech on the general state of
political opinions and actions in the country at the pre
sent crisis, as warranting the lesser evil, and justifying
the proposed Bill in preference to the risk of those evils
which threatened us from the hostile principles and
conduct of the disaffected individuals and societies now
showing themselves. Mr. Fox repUed upon the nature
and adequacy of the provisions in the Bill as applied
to the alleged state of the nation. The House divided
on a motion to adjourn the debate for a week — (for it,
70; against it, 269); and afterwards for the Speaker
leaving the chair, 272 ; against it, 70.
26^7* — The House voted that a pamphlet entitled
" Thoughts on English Government," printed by J. Owen,
168, PiccadUlyf , is a malicious, scandalous, and seditious
libel, &c. Fox, Sheridan, Pitt, Wilberforce, Adair, and
Erskine spoke for the vote. The Attorney J and
* Afterwards Sir W. Grant, Master of the RoUs.
t Mr. Reeves's pamphlet.
X Sir John Scott, afterwards, as Lord Eldon, Lord Chancellor of Eng
land,

Nov. 1795.] SEDITIOUS ASSEilELY BILL. 11
Solicitor-General * stated their reasons for not giving
any opinion or vote, as they might subsequ.ently be
required to prosecute. Wyndham and Sir W. Dolben
spoke and voted in exculpation of the pamphlet, but
they were not supported by any other voices. After
wards the House, according to a precedent in 1707,
appointed a committee to inquire who was the author.
In the Court of King's Bench, Yorke, alias Redhead,
convicted of sedition at the summer assizes for York,
in consequence of his conduct and language at Sheffield,
1794, was sentenced to a fine of 200/. and two years' im
prisonment, and to give sureties for his good behaviour
for seven years.
In the House of Commons, the whole House went
into committee on the Seditious Assembly Bill. Fox,
and Grey, Lambton, Erskine, JekyU, Curwen, Whit
bread, &c. immediately left the House ; and Sheridan
also seceded as soon as the committee had gone through
so much of the first clause as made it appear that the Bill
was not to affect any meetings whatever upon the
subject of any impending law; assigning as his reason
that he would not endeavour to make the Bill less
odious than it was, and declaring it ineffectual even for
its own purpose, if it left unprohibited such meetings
as might be convened about laws pending in Parlia
ment, inasmuch as they might serve very well for
500,000 persons assembled at Copenhagen House ;
the Committee went through the whole Bill, and cor
rected it very materially upon some points, which I
should otherwise have voted against.
At one in the morning the. Committee divided
on the question of making it capital not to disperse
in an hour after the proclamation. For it, 80 ; against,
13. At half-past three another division took place
for making the duration of the Act three years, 47 ;
against it, 3. The House received the report of the
* Sir John Mitford, afterwards, as Lord Redesdale, Lord ChanceUor of
Ireland.

12 DIARY OP LORD COLCHESTER. [Ch. I.
Committee, ordered it to be printed, and rose at
four. 30;/!. —At one I saw the Duke of Leeds upon the
subject of the Seditious Assembly BiU. In the House
of Commons a debate arose upon the question of the
Speaker leaving the chair.* For, 203; against, 40.
Afterwards in the committee ; for the duration of the
Act for the life of the King, 129 ; against it, 7. The
House rose at half-past twelve.
Tuesday, Dec. 1st. — The Report of the Seditious
Assembly Bill was taken into consideration. Upon
the question for a second reading of the amendments
made by the Committee, Mr. Fox objected to the clause
respecting houses opened or used for debates, &c., as un
intelligible, unless it included aU inns, &c., where poli
tical conversations might incidentaUy be had upon public
occasions. After stating his objection, he seceded with
his friends. The House proceeded in their business,
and amended the amendments in this very particular
amongst others, requiring such houses, &c., only to be
licensed where the discourses or debates were had for the
purpose of collecting money. The House rose at nine.
2,rd. — In the House of Commons the Seditious
Assembly Bill was read a third time. Division ; for,
266; against, 51. The House rose at three. In the
course of the debate I spoke for the BiU, being my first
speech in Parliament. It had the good fortune to be
well received by. all my professional and political
friends, and to overset Mr. Fox from his bias in that
debate^ The Attorney and Solicitor-General, An-
* To go into Committee on Bill for safety of his Majesty's person. —
Comm. Journ.
t Mr. Abbot's speech called forth an express reply from Mr. Fox ; given
in his speeches, vol. vi. p. 61, where it is prefaced by a statement that "Mr.
Abbot, having made pointed reference to a former speech of Mr. Fox "
(alluded to above, Nov. 23rd), in which he had declared that if these laws
should he ratified by the Royal sceptre, he should tell the people of England
that it was no longer a question of duty, — that it was no longer a question
of moral obligation, — it was a question of mere pradence alone whether they
should obey or resist," — demanded "whether, if these laws should be

Dec. 1795.] THE BUDGET. 1,1
struther. Grant, the ]\Iaster of the Rolls, and aU my
other professional friends, congratulated me.
Ath. — The Treason Bill was considered on the report.
The Opposition again seceded. Mr. Reeves's Committee
was revived, and the consideration of the libel ad
journed to this day week, in order to receive further
evidence. Lord Mornington, Canning, Sir W. WiUiams
Wynne, &c. &c., complimented me on my 'speech of the
preceding day.
hth  Dined with the Duke of Leeds. He told
me the history of his commission from the Duke of
Portland, &c. to the King for forming a new Ministry,
in August 1792*, and his subsequent interview with
Mr. Pitt. The Duke told me upon the subject of par
hamentary conduct, that he looked to our living together
as friends, and that he did not consider himself as
having to intimate any wishes of his own about voting,
as if to a dependent. For my own personal account
and my gratification in the event, he expressed to every
body the fullest sense of his own satisfaction and delight,
but as to the particular measure (the Seditious As
sembly BiU), he should certainly vote against it when it
came in the House of Lords to a third reading.
1th. — The Budget was opened by Mr. Pitt, and a di
vision took place at eleven in consequence of a dispute
as to the preference due between two sets of contrac
tors. 137 to 27. RoUe, M.P. for Devonshire, told me
passed, he would again repeat his signal to the people of England, and bid
them unfurl the standard of rebellion ? "
* This negotiation in 1792 had reference to the proposed coalition be
tween the Whigs and Pitt's Ministry, for which the Duke of Portland and
his friends were very anxious, and to which Fox, though at first reluctantly,
gave his consent, provided it could be so managed that " it should appear
that they had not acceded to Pitt's Ministry, but had joined it on fair and
equal conditions." " The Duke of Portland's idea was that Pitt should not
keep the Treasury, but that some neutral man should be put there, such as
the Duke of Leeds ; " and the Duke of Leeds undertook to open the matter
with the King because he conceived himself to be in especial favour with
His Majesty. — See Lord 3£almesbury's Biary for 1795, especially June 13th,
July 25th, July 29th, vol. ii. pp. 425— 4A0.

14 DIARY OP LORD COLCHESTER. [Ch. I.
that the King had on Saturday spoken of me and Grant
as the two persons who had distinguished themselves on
the Seditious Assembly BiU.
%th  Inthe House of Commons, with the King's
message for a vote of credit came an addition to it, an
nouncing that the crisis spoken of in his speech on the
opening of the session had brought about that order of
things in France, which removed all obstacles to nego
tiating a general peace whenever the enemy would treat
upon terms consistent with the justice of our cause, &c.
&c. The caU of the House was ordered to stand for
Friday next, upon an intimation from Mr. Ryder,
Chairman of the Corn Committee, that a report would
be brought up the next day, with the opinion of the
Committee that an association should be entered into
by the Members of the House, to take such steps of
economy individuaUy, as should tend to relieve the
difficulties arising from the present scarcity of corn.
9th. — In the House of Commons the King's message
on the subject of Peace was taken into consideration.
An amendment was moved, praying His Majesty to
treat immediately, and professing that no present or
other form of government in France ought ever to
stand in the way of treating for peace. The amend
ment was afterwards withdrawn.
10th — In the House of Commons the Treason Bill
from the Lords was read a third time, and passed; divi
sion at twelve o'clock. For, 226; against, 45. At the
close of the debate, Fox, being caUed on about the doc
trine of resistance, stated it to be this : " That if these
bills passed and were executed to their full extent
against the wiU of a great majority of the people of
England, and no peaceable means of redress were left,
then he should think obedience no longer a duty, but a
question of prudence. And, moreover, he should teU
the people he still thought it more prudent not to
resist." Query, with aU these new qualifications does
it amount to less than this, that the passing of these

Dec. 1795.] SCARCITY OF WHEAT. 15
bills brings about a precise case which warrants a
general insurrection if the people so ])lease ?
In the course of the evening Taylor held a conversa
tion with me, in which, among other matters, he told
me that Thelwall had been (as the Duke of Bedford
had told him three days before) with the Duke of
Bedford about a petition, and that the Duke had sent
for him upstairs at his house in town, and had talked
with him half an hour, but thought him a duU man.
The Duke had told Thelwall if these bUls passed he
must stiU be peaceable or else he, the Duke, should be
as adverse as any man to him. I immediately related
this, as it was not told me in any confidence, to
Annesley, M.P. for Reading, who was a friend of
Taylor, and was sitting by me at the time, and also to
Sir George CornwaU, who was sitting next to Annesley.
I thought it right to teU it also to Garthshore and
Canning^, and afterwards to Francis Burton in the
course of the evening, who advised me to make a
memorandum of what had passed on this subject.
11th. — The call of the House of Commons was dis
charged, and the House agreed to an engagement, to be
signed by such members as chose it in the office of the
Clerk of the Journals, the effect of which was to reduce
their own consumption of wheat bread by one-third,
either by actual abstinence from one-third of their
usual quantity of wheat bread, or by consuming bread
mixed with substitutes of any sort, such as barley, rye,
Indian corn, &c., wherein wheaten flour should not
exceed two-thirds. They resolved also to communicate
this resolution to the Lords in a conference. The
principle of this association was professed to be the
precedent in the reign of King Wilham, when the
members were caUed up to the table individually to
sign or decline an engagement for the defence of the
King. By the third Report of the Corn Committee,
taken this day into consideration, it appeared that the
deficiency of wheat for the current year was from one-

16 DIAEY OF LORD COLCHESTER. [Ch. L
fourth to one-fifth, compared with an average crop, and
the like as to rye; but barley and oats nearly the
double of 1794, and one-fifth better than an average
crop. lAth. — The House of Commons was very thinly at
tended upon the motion of Sheridan for buming Reeves's
pamphlet by the hands of the hangman. At twelve the
House resolved to address the King to direct the
Attorney- General to prosecute him as the author or
pubUsher. A division took place upon the final amend
ment about some formal words. For the address, 24,
against it, 4; consequently the House adjourned.
In the Lords the Seditious Assembly BUl was read a
third time : the Duke of Leeds spoke and voted against
it, so did Lord Thurlow, Duke of Norfolk, Duke of
Bedford, &c. : 14 besides proxies, to 67 besides
proxies. N.B. Breaches of privUege of ParUament, Hke con
tempt of Courts of Justice, seem distinguishable into
actual and constructive : the first, being such as arise
by violence or insult offered to its members or officers,
from the necessity of the case require instant and
summary punishment, which the offended party should
inflict without delay, by commitment, attachment,
&c. ; the latter, viz. the constructive, by Ubels,
&c., seem to require no deviation from the ordinary
course of judicial procedure before the ordinary tri
bunals. In 1723, Dr. Middleton was fijied summarUy
for a Ubel on the Court of King's Bench (see G. Med.
& Fortescue, 20). But since that time no such punish
ment seems to have been enforced. Abnon, who was
so prosecuted, escaped by an informaUty ux the affidavits,
and Bingley, after two years' imprisonment under at
tachment, was discharged, although he refused to
answer interrogatories. In the House of Commons
" Droit le Roi," and " The Crisis," were ordered to be
burnt by the hangman, in the beginning of George III.'s
reign, but Murray and Stockdale were prosecuted by

Dec. 1795.] THE WHIG CLUB. 17
information. See the precedents cited in the votes Dec.
14th, fol. 354, 355.
IQth. — I presented to the King an address from
the Volunteer Corps at Helston, signed by W. Johns.
Major Commandant. The King asked me how long I
had been in ParUament. I told him " Six months, in
the room of Sir G. EUiott." He said, " You have left
the Bar." " Yes, Sir." " You would have done veiy
weU there." " My health. Sir, obUged me to quit it."
He then passed on. The levee was uncommonly
crowded with addresses. Dined with the Duke of
Leeds. After the rest of the company left us, the Duke
and I got upon general poUtics, Fox, &c. I held the
same language as I have ever done when invited to talk
upon the subject, namely, " my high opinion of Fox's
talents, temper, and UberaUty of sentiment, together
with my low estimate of his judgment, and regret at
the facUity with which he has ever suffered mean men
to govern him. That whilst I had a seat in ParUa
ment I should ever look to that combination of men
and measures which promised best for the countrv,
without regard to one set of names in the Court Ca
lendar or another. That in the present conjuncture,
the union to be dreaded was that which I beUeved to
have taken place between the Whig Club and the
London Corresponding Society and its friends. That
in other times the danger was comparatively smaU
between contending parties, each holding principles
within the compass of our constitutional existence:
whereas our modem reformers professed universal suf
frage, &c., and were, in fact, overturning us with the in
struments of French repubUcanism." The Duke equaUy
professed his abhorrence of the lengths to which the
Duke of Bedford and Lord Lauderdale were running.
Upon the subject of our opposite votes on the Seditious
Assembly BUl, he freely discussed aU his own reasons,
and at the same time expressed the most entire satis
faction with my conduct and the sentiments of my
speech; and that if I had had four votes instead of one,
VOL. I. c

18 DIARY OF LORD COLCHESTER. [Ch. L
he should most willingly have agreed to my giving
them as I had done my own. He had decUned to
present the Helston or HuU petitions against the BUls,
as theywere sent up to be presented either by the Duke
of Bedford or himself.
17!^^. — The Loan Committee sat at the House of
Commons in the room over the Long GaUery ; W. Smith
in the Chair. Mr. Morgan's examination occupied
from eleven to four. Adjourned to the next day at
eleven.* Dined at J. Bentham's. Met Lord St. Helens f, WU-
berforce, and RomiUy. Continental aUiances, treaties,
and subsidies, as occasions of expense to this country,
were decidedly condemned by Lord St. Helens, upon
his own experience and knowledge. Wilberforce strongly
coinciding ; and so I have thought always, and that the
balance of power is not an object worth our lavishing
great sums of money upon.
Russia. According to Lord St. Helens, the Empress
personally well informed on all subjects of government.
She has altered the inscription on Fox's bust, by putting
on it, " In honour of the Charles Fox of 1791," viz. the
time of the Russian armament and pacification. J
Spain. According to Lord St. Helens, the state of
society amongst the higher ranks exactly the same as
represented in Gil Bias. The Grandees of Spain live
all the year round in Madrid; they go once every day
* The Loan Committee was an open Committee, at which every one had
a right to vote who attended, not a Committee of the whole Iiouse, as had
been de.sired by the Opposition. The charge brought against Pitt by Mr.
"W. Smith was, that in distributing the loan lately raised, favour bad been
shown to those who had supported the Government on the Treason and
Sedition Bills. — Hansard, vol. xxxii. p. 765.
t Lord St. Helens, as Mr. Alleyne Fitzherhert, had been our Ambassador
in Spain from 1789 to 1794 ; and had previously been employed in the same
capacity iu Russia and at the Hague.
J In 1701, on the occasion of Fox opposing the meditated interference of
England in the war hetween Russia and the Porte, the Empress Catharine,
in testimony of her admiration of his eloquence, sent an order to her Am
bassador, in England to send her his bust, stating that it was her intention
to place it between those of Demosthenes and Cicero. — Moore's Life of
Sheridan, vol. ii. p. 113.

Dec. 1795.] SPAIN. ]9
to mass and to Court, to see the King dine, who never
speaks to them, and rarely notices them by a nod to
anybody. The Ministers of State are iU paid — thc
Minister for Foreign Affairs has about 1500^. a year for
his table. They are all laborious, and accessible at all
hours, not giving in to the pleasures of the table or of
society. The officers of the army or navy never come
to Madrid. The Grandees never go into the country to
their estates, except they are exiled to them ; their rents
are paid in kind ; and, as their estates are under per
petual entails, there are sometimes eight or ten large
properties centered in the same family ; these are
managed by their stewards, who barter the produce of
one estate with that of another, and bring the surplus
to market; but the great expense of such families
is the largess of corn, oil, and wine, &c., distributed
daily at their gates to the different attached families
which belong to them as clients. A major-general, who
by inheritance may be so attached, would make no
scruple of sending every morning for his ration to the
gate of the Duque d'Ossunas. The Inquisition is still
an object of dread and reverence to Spaniards of all
degrees. At Madrid a Spaniard will rather go any way
round about than through the street of the Palace of the
Inquisition. The Duque de Medina, although one of
the bucks of the Court, is an alguazil of the Inquisition,
and has been known more than once to go at midnight
\vith the officers of the Inquisition to seize even a
menial servant who has been denounced. Justice is
venal, and imprisonment frequent and long ; but other
punishment is rare — especially capital punishment.
All the handicraft trades have been for many years
exercised by Frenchmen. When the Revolution in
France broke out, and the two nations quarrelled,
150,000 Frenchmen are supposed to have been expelled
from Spain.
The ladies of Spain are ill "educated; those of Peru
or Mexico extremely well. In Spain it is hardly thought
proper for a man and his wife to be seen in the same
c 2

20 DIARY OF LORD COLCHESTER. [Ch. I.
carriage. Jealousy is unknown, — their visiting parties
dull, reserved, and uninteresting to foreigners. Portugal
in all respects a more enUghtened and enterprising
nation. Townsend's " Travels in Spain " perfectly er
roneous in its picture of society: his own manners
precluded him from being weU introduced into the
interior circles ; and Spanish is the only language there
spoken. His physical remarks are also said to be very
incorrect. Franklin signed the treaty at Paris, whereby Great
Britain acknowledged the American Independence, in
the same coat which he had worn at the Privy Council
when attacked by Wedderburn. It was the more
remarked, because the Court of France was at that time
in mourning; and several successive days having been
appointed, on each of which some cause had arisen for
postponing the business, he put on this old coat upon
each of those days. He had particularly directed to
have it packed up when he came from America to
Europe ; and when the inutUity of bringing an old coat
to France was objected to him by the people about him,
he persisted, and said he had his reasons. Caleb White-
foord. Secretary to the Embassy for negotiating th^
Treaty, signed a written declaration denying this cir
cumstance of Franklin's dress; but Lord St. Helens
brought it afterwards distinctly to his recoUection, and
he admitted it.
La Fayette at the same time solicited to be sent
Ambassador to Great Britain, that he might, as he
expressed it in English, " go to St. James's and insult
George, with his American uniform on his back."
18 th. — The Treason Bill, and the Seditious Assembly
BUl passed this day, and received the royal assent by
commission. No appearances whatever of riot.
I9th — I attended the Loan Committee from eleven
tiU four. It was their third day's sitting. Mr. Morgan,
the petitioner, stUl under examination. Mr. Fox,
Mr. Grey, Mr. Sheridan, Mr. Francis, Mr. Hussey, Sir
R. Burrell, Sylvester Douglas, Steele, Charles Townsend,

Dec. 1795.] SPEAKERS IN PARLIAMENT. 21
and the two Secretaries of the Treasury, Lord Morn
ington, Robert Smith, &c. &c., attended generally.
2Brd. — Attended the Loan Committee. Adjourned
till the 20th January.
2 Ath. — House of Commons adjourned tiU February
2nd. 27th. — I read through an excellent book by David
Davies, Rector of Barkham, Berks, upon the case of
labourers in husbandry and their inadequate pay. It
contains the proposition upon which Whitbread's Bill
was brought into the House of Commons before the
holidays, for enabling the justices not only to set a
¦maximum of wages, but also a minimum — their earnings
at present not being equal to their necessary expenses.

At the end of this, Mr. Abbot's first Session as
Member of ParUament, he recorded his opinion of the
principal speakers in the two Houses of ParUament in
the foUowing short characters.
IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS.
Lord Grenville  Secretary of State for the Foreign
Department; and the Chancellor, (viz. Lord Thurlow,
until upon his becoming refractory he was succeeded
by Lord Loughborough,) with Lord Spencer, Lord
Hawkesbury, &c. ; were opposed by Lord Guildford*,
the Duke of Bedford and Lord Lauderdale, the Duke
of Norfolk, &c.
Lord Grenville and Lord Guildford. — Both of them
powerful, and argumentative, but not elegant speakers.
Lord Loughborough  With a dignified and orna
mented elocution, very feeble in argument, and uncon
nected in his arrangement.
Lord Thurlow  Infinitely more masterly in arrange
ment and profound in argument, and more powerful in
language, with a singular talent of commanding his
audience by the imposing gravity of his manner.
* Son of Prime Minister, Lord Noith,
c 3

¦12 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. I.
Lo7'd Lauderdale  Fluent and acute, but raving with
personal rancour and Jacobin violence.
IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.
Mr. Pitt, acting with Secretary Dundas and a few
personal friends, and supported by the generaT respect
and goodwill of the country gentlemen and of the
nation at large, was opposed by
Mr. Fox and a few of his own personal friends,
together with the wreck of Lord North's party ;
abandoned recently by the Duke of Portland, Mr.
Wyndham, &c., and supported chiefly by the republican
party in the country. His constant coadjutors in
Parliament were Mr. Grey and Mr. Sheridan.
Mr. Pitt. — Without a rival as a Parliamentary speaker
in arrangement and elocution ; and fairly matched with
Mr. Fox in matter of argument.
Dundas — In argument bold and cogent : always
bearing upon the material point in debate ; and con
ciliating all individuals by his frankness and good
humour. Miserably Scottish in his accent, and in
elegant in his arrangement and diction.
Wyndham. — Subtle, unguarded, fretful, and totaUy
unapt for the transaction of public business in a pubUc
assembly. His friends always in pain while he is
speaking, and his enemies clamouring to hear him in
preference to any competitor for pre-audience.
The Attorney -General (Sir J. Scott)  Argumentative
and copious in his matter, but involved in his style;
always quaUfying his assertions to a degree which does
away their force, and too much inclined to draw the
whole debate into a question about the vindication
of his own conduct. One night, whilst he was in tears
upon this topic, old Jack Robinson, who sat close to
me, Avas snoring out loud.
^ Grant, William — Speaking seldom, but always heard
with the utmost attention and respect by aU parties.
In manner of elocution rising very little above the
familiar tone of discussion, but always prepared with

Dec. 1795.] FOX. 2.3
important materials of argument, shrewdly and logic
ally treated, lucid in their arrangement, impressive in
the progress of their development, and by dint of ex
ceUent composition Avithout any affected ornament,
conclusive in their result and effect upon the minds of
his hearers. At the bar of the House of Lords he was
early distinguished in Scotch causes by Lord Thurlow,
who said of him that he could turn an argument upon
a pivot. In private Ufe he is the coldest and most re
served man I ever kncAV.
Mr. Fox. — Vehement in his elocution, ardent in his
language, prompt in his invention of arguments,
adroit in its use; comprehensive in his view of the
given subject, and equal to his political rival in the
power of agitating the passions; but offending contin
ually by the tautology of his diction and the repetition
of his arguments. He feels this himself so much, as to
think it necessary to vindicate it in private. And he
so feels also his own inferiority in the selection of ap
propriate terms, that he says, " although he himself is
never in want of words, Mr. Pitt is never without the
very best words possible." In political judgment, and
for guiding the helm of affairs and the interests of a
party, his inferiority is perhaps stiU more marked than
in any other point of his public character. Witness his
conduct on the Coalition, in 1782; on the Regency,
in 1788; and on the Seditious Assembly Bill, in
1795. Grey. — Angry, declamatory, and verbose ; implacable
in his enmity to Pitt, and unconciliatory of the audi
ence which he is daily addressing.
Sheridan  Fluent in speech, shrewd in his concep
tions, dexterous in argumentation, neat and ever terse
in his prepared speeches, witty often when his subject
requires gravity ; the most active and mischievous
partisan of the republican faction, playing off Fox as
a constitutional opposer of the King's ministers, and
acting himself, hand and heart, with the most des
perate Jacobins, Witness his conduct upon the Trials
c 4

24 DIARY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. I.
for Treason, in 1793, and his triumphs, with Erskine
to his house, upon the acquittal of Thelwall.
Ershine. — Seldom attending the House ; always
elegant in his diction in Parliament, as at the Bar;
equaUy desultory in his compositions, equaUy fond of
making his own panegyric the principal theme. His
power of commanding the passions of a jury, so justly
celebrated beyond the reputation of all his predecessors
in Westminster HaU, wholly faUs of its effect in Parlia
ment; perhaps the chief cause of this is the little de
gree of personal respect and consideration which he
has established by the extravagance of his poUtical
harangues out of doors, at party meetings, and in his
professional employments.
Jekyll. — First rate for convivial wit and pleasantry,
and admired by all; is a frequent speaker, but posi
tively without weight even in his own party; ran
corous in language, feeble in argument, and empty of
ideas ; few people applaud his rising, and everybody is
glad when he sits down.

It seems agreed on aU hands that the style of
Parliamentary debating is grown intolerably diffuse
and prolix. The most marked period of the intro
duction of long speeches was Sheridan's five hours'
speech upon the charge against Hastings, respecting
the Begums.
The news writers take notes by connivance in both
Houses of ParUament, although it is a breach of
privilege. It has been under consideration with distinguished
members of both Houses to appoint short-hand writers,
in order that as the debates are published, they may at
least be correct; the party editors at present possibly
misrepresenting or curtaiUng the speeches adverse to
the interests which they are engaged to maintain.
The debaters themselves very rarely take any notes
at aU during the speeches which they intend to answer.
Pitt and Fox, never.

25

CHAP. II.
1796.
BIRTH OF THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE.  ARMISTICE BETWEEN FRANCE AND
AUSTRIA. — Ireland's Shakespeare forgeries. — cause of the duke
OF Leeds' resignation of his office in 1791. — trial of stone. —
whitbread's bill on wages opposed by pitt. — forged news of
peace to affect the funds. — jir. grey's motion for an address
FOR peace negatived. — MODE OP THE PUBLICATION OF THE STATUTES.
 BURKe's letter TO THE DUCHESS OF BEDFORD.  JEKYLl's MOTION
AGAINST PITT ON THE HAMBURGH TRANSACTIONS.  HUNTERIAN MUSEUM.
 ME. abbot's INTERCOURSE WITH THE SPEAKER ON THE SUBJECT OF
THE EXPIRED AND EXPIRING LAWS.
Thursday, January 7th. — The Princess of Wales was
brought to bed of a daughter at twenty minutes after
nine this morning. I caUed on the Duke of Leeds,
who bad been in attendance all night at Carlton
House with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Chan
ceUor, the Lord President, Duke of Gloucester, Duke
of Devonshire, and Lord Thurlow. The Prince of
Wales much agitated during the Princess's labour, which
was long and difficult. It was by the Prince's parti
cular invitation that the Dukes of Leeds, and Devonshire,
and Lord Thurlow attended at Carlton House. The
other persons were present as officers of State. The
only memorial made was (according to precedent) by
a paragraph for the Gazette, signed by the persons present.
Sth  The news arrived of a truce between the
Austrian and French armies on the MoseUe, and of
the pacific declaration ofthe French Directory. — N.B.
The news of the capture of Trincomalee came on the
Wednesday preceding.
lO^A  Dined with the Master of the Rolls, and
met Sir W. Wynn, Sir W. Scott, and Dr. Pitcairn.
The practice of physicians is so much altered of late
years, that even in Dr. Mead's time (who died 1754)

26 DIARY OP LOED COLCHESTER. [Ch. IL
no physician visited the ward of any hospital, nor ever
saw the greater number of his patients. The business
was transacted by consultations held at the physician's
house with the apothecaries, who related the patients'
cases. Dr. Mead used to go into the city to Batson's
Coffee House and meet aU the apothecaries, hear them,
and prescribe. Dr. Friend and Dr. RadcUffe were
both of them Members of the House of Commons.
Uth. — Dined at Butt's, with the Solicitor-General,
Sir W. Scott, Sir W. Musgrove, M alone and Cracherode,
— the authenticity of Ireland's newly produced plays,
&c., of Shakspeare was discussed. Malone, Sir W.
Scott, and Butt against it; Cracherode and Sir W.
Musgrove rather hesitating.
ISth. — King, one of the Under Secretaries of State,
told me the exact emoluments of each Under Secretary,
viz., net 1500Z. per annum, without any deduction
or perquisite. Mr. Guest, when he resigned, was ap
pointed Commissary-General of Musters, and Secre
tary of Greenwich Hospital, worth together, 15001. per
annum, and Burges from the same office was appointed
to a place of 5001., a year, viz.. Knight Marshal, with
reversion to his son, and also had a pension for his
own life of 1000?. a year, and a baronetage.
20th  I attended the Loan Committee, which was
adjourned from before the holidays to this day. The
examination of Mr. Boyd was finished, and that of Mr.
Giles, Governor of the Bank, was begun.
22nd. — Attended (for the last time) the Loan
Committee, the issue of which ought most manifestly
to be favourable to Mr. Pitt's conduct, and estabUsh
the rectitude of his conduct in the negotiation of it
with Boyd, Benfield, & Co., and their co-contractors.
Went to Mr. Ireland's, in Norfolk Street in the
Strand, by appointment of Sir Philip Gibbes, to meet
the Portuguese Ambassador D' Almeida, and see the
newly produced manuscripts of Shakspeare. We saw
the MS. play of Lear, and an entire new play of
Vortigern and Rowena. Also his profession of faith.

Jan. 1796.] IRELAND'S FOEGEEIES. 27
letters to and from him, accounts, receipts, and
deeds, &c., innumerable; besides his supposed library
of books, to the number of seventy volumes at least,
such as Spenser, and various chronicles and pamphlets
of the time he lived in, interspersed with his marginal
observations. A love-letter to his mistress, Ann
Hathaway, whom he afterAvards married, and a lock
of his hair enclosed. Sir Isaac Heard, who was pre
sent, and had often seen these articles before, was
firmly persuaded of their authenticity. / am not;
doubtless the number of pieces produced makes the
supposition of a forgery more difficult ; but my opinion,
as far as any can be formed on such an inspection,
and hearing the accompanying narrative, is against
their authenticity: 1. Because there is no great
variety of Shakspeare's MSS. extant by which the
authenticity of this specimen of handwriting can be
judged of. 2. Because'the paper appears to be artifi-
ciaUy stained or darkened; and especially upon the
printed books in those places only where the handwriting
is inserted. 3. Because I do not think any ofthe com
positions which I saw surpass the merit of many daily
imitations in the newspapers. 4. Because if the in
ternal evidence faUs, or is inconclusive, the external
evidence is of aU others the most suspicious, and nearly
destructive of their being true originals; for Ireland
refuses to say where or from whom he procured them,
and even^ denies that he knows it; they being de
livered, as he says, by his son to him, and received by
his son from some gentleman who wiU not suffer
himself to be named. His story is further the more
suspicious, because Shakspeare's reputation has now
for so many years been celebrated, and yet no one fair
or entire copy of any one of his numerous plays has
ever been found; and here is not only a whole fair
copy of the long play of Lear, but two new entire
plays, also pretended to be entirely in his handwriting,
whose titles never before were knoAvn, Adz., Vortigern
and RoAvena, and King Henry II. It is to be noted

23 DIARY OF LORD COLCHESTEE. [Ch. II.
also, that a deed of trust from Shakspeare to Hem-
mings, the player, speaks of a play entitled Henry IIL,
but even that deed does not mention Henry II.
I remember also, in a conversation with Mr. ]\Ialone,
hearing him instance the foUoAving circumstances to
prove the imposture: — 1. That Lord Southampton's
handAvriting, produced by Ireland, is quite unlike aU
the specimens in the British Museum. 2. That Hamp
ton Court, caUed HamtoAvn by Queen Elizabeth, in a
supposed letter under her hand, never was so called
Avithout the addition of " Court " in her time. 3. That
the words " derangement " and " acceded to " are
modernisms, and unknoAvn in Shakspeare's time, &c.
&c. K the whole be a forgery, as I think it must be, — at
least tUl these two new plays are submitted to the
pubUc eye and judgment, for their contents to be ascer
tained and appreciated, — it is certainly a very elaborate
forgery, and an unprecedented attempt to impose on
the Uterary judgment of the pubUc. Chatterton's were
comparatively few and soon detected.*
24^A. — Called upon the Duke of Leeds. WhUst I
was Avith him, he read to me passages out of his poU
tical memoranda of events, before and during his being
a Cabinet Minister. One of the passages was an ac
count of Lord Holdernesse's resignation of the office of
Governor to the Prince of Wales and the Duke of
York, Avith the consequent dismission of Markham,
then Bishop of Chester. Another was of the Regency
business, and the proposal of sending Lord Lough-
boroughf to the ToAver, if he had persisted in his doc-
* Sheridan, who at this time was manager of Drury-lane Theatre, bought
" A''ortigem " for representation, giving 300/. and half of the profits for sixty
nights, but it failed completely. And Moore says that Sheridan himself
never believed in the authenticity of the play, and refused to sign a paper
drawn up by Dr. Parr, in which 'the genuineness of the papers produced by
Ireland was asserted. — Life of Sheridatt, vol. ii. p. 195.
t Lord Loughborough addressed to the Prince of Wales a paper, stating
"that the administration of Government devolved to him of right,"' and
had urged him, " by his own authority, to place himself upon the Tlu-one."
But when a rumour of his having given this advice got abroad he solemnly

Jan. 1796.] STONE's TEL\L. 29
trine of devolution. A third was of the Duke's oaati
resignation on the business of the Russian armament,
on principle, and not from pique. His refusing to sign
the Instructions to the British Minister at BerUn, re
tracting the prior engagements Avith the King of
Prussia against Russia; the signing of them by Lord
GrenviUe*; and the declaration of Lord Thurlow that
such a measure was a new disgrace to be swaUowed by
the King's ministers, in addition to those which they
had swaUowed before.
2%th  Stone's trial for High Treason, in the Court
of King's Bench, at bar; began at nine; 178 names
were returned on the panel, of whom 111 were called
over before a jury could be made, the rest being either
absent, or, for the greater part, not qualified in the
freehold to any amount. At half-past eleven, the At
torney-General, Scott, opened the prosecution. At
half-past two the evidence was begun, and, nineteen
Avitnesses being examined out of forty, the Court, at
half-past nine, by consent, adjourned to the next morn
ing at nine, not having taken any refreshment during
the whole day. In the course of the day. Lord Lauder
dale, Sheridan, and W. Smith, M.P., were examined, to
prove that Stone had an interview with them, which he
had solicited, for the purpose, as he said, of having
their authority to send word by an American friend to
Paris, that an invasion of England would be unsuc
cessful. This American friend was the Irish Rev. Mr.
Jackson, afterwards convicted of High Treason at
Dublin. Sheridan adAdsed Stone to have nothing to
do Avith Jackson, and to disclose the business to the

denied it, disclaimed the docti'ine in his place in Parliament, and supported
a motion for a Committee to inquire into the King's health. — Lord Camp-
helVs Lives of the Chancellors, vol. vi. pp. 187-195.
* Lord Grenville, in his coiTespondence as published by the Duke of
Buckingham (Com't and Cahiuets of George IIL), makes no mention what
ever of his signing the papers mentioned above ; nor, though he mentions
the resignation of the Duke of Leeds, does he state the reason of it, but-
rather implies that it arose from private motives, which the duke did not
vrish to be generaUy knovra.

30 DIARY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. II.
Secretary of State, but he never disclosed it himself;
and Smith, M.P., and Vaughan, M.P., each gave Stone
papers upon the subject, to show the impracticability
of an invasion, with any chance of success for France.
Sheridan, &c., who thought it treasonable, and did not
themselves disclose it to any minister or magistrate,
certainly were guUty of misprision of treason, by Stat.
1 & 2 W. and M.
29^A  The Court sat at nine. The cAddence for the
CroAvn closed at eleven. Mr. Serjeant Adair for the
prisoner spoke till two, and the witnesses to the pri
soner's character and general conduct occupied an hour.
At three Mr. Erskine summed up the prisoner's case in
a speech of tAvo hours, and at five the Solicitor-General
replied, which lasted tUl seven. Lord Kenyon summed
up the whole in fifty minutes. The Jury withdrew at
eight, and at eleven brought in a verdict of Not Guilty,
upon which there was a loud huzza. Lord Kenyon
fined one Thomson 201. and committed him.
31s^. — No frost or snow hitherto during the whole of
this winter, except a slight fall one evening in Novem
ber last, not sufficient to cover the pavement.
Tuesday, Feb. 2nd. — Parliament met. Addresses of
course were voted to the King and to the Queen on the
birth of the Prince of Wales's daughter. Grey gave notice
of a motion on Peace with France for Monday the 15th.
Ath. — No business of importance in the House. The
telegraph at the Admiralty was finished this week, and
the signals conveyed to Deal in seven minutes by the
medium of thirteen intervening telegraphs.
Sth — No Ministers in the House of Commons to-day,
nor since Wednesday last.
11th — First day of frost this winter. Maurice
Robinson made his motion in the House of Commons
for preventing Members from contracting or sharing in
foreign loans guaranteed by Parliament. For the mo
tion, 19 ; against it, 70.
12^A. — In the House of Commons, Mr. Pitt opposed
the second reading of Mr. Whitbread's BiU for enablino-

P£B. 1796.] THE FUNDS. 31
Magistrates to fix a Minimum for the Wages of La-
bourers in Husbandry. He objected that it Avas either
creating an engine of oppression if the magistrates in
the exercise "of their poAver fixed the rate too low, or a
source of profusion if they fixed it too high ; and that
if they had information and ability enough to adjust it
accurately, it was only doing Avhat Avould happen better
by leaving labour to find its OAvn value, Avhich it Avould
do if left unfettered. He threw out as a better scheme
of poUcy the expediency of facilitating this purpose by
unfettering the poor from their restraints under the
present laAV of settlement, and allowing them to seek
employment in any parish Avithout being removable on
account of their becoming casuaUy chargeable. He
suggested also the propriety of giving pecuniary relief
only to the impotent, and to those families which ex
ceeded a certain number of children; of giving relief
to others not in money, but in employment, for which
they should receive hire : of establishing schools of in
dustry for educating the children of the poor according
to Lord Hale's and Mr. Locke's projects; and of sub
jecting the whole to a new system of inspection and
Parliamentary control, with an annual report, in the
nature of a budget, on the subject.
A forged gazette from Paris was circulated to-day,
containing a pretended treaty of peace between France
and the Emperor.
ISth — I received a letter from my constituents, re
questing me to support the Abolition of the Slave
Trade ; which I answered by acquainting them that I
had bestowed attention upon the subject, and, as I had
made up my mind to the same conclusion, I should have
great pleasure in voting conformably to their wishes.
Two mUUons were sold out of the Stocks yesterday
at an advanced price, on account of the forged neAvs of
peace between France and the Emperor. But the
Stocks, which had risen from 67^ to 70, fell doAvn again
in the course ofthe same day.*
* It was subsequently proved in a court of law that the forgery was the
work of the proprietors of the Morning Post, and that it was sent by them

S2 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. U.
15th. — Went Avith Brooks to Lloyd's Coffee House,
and met Messrs. Curling and BeU, two of the Com
mittee of Underwriters, with whom we conferred,
and left a paper requesting the underAvriters and
merchants interested in whatever concerned the agents,
pUots, packets, correspondence, &c., of the SciUy Is
lands, to communicate their observations and Avishes
to the Duke of Leeds, who, as Lord Proprietor and
Governor of the Islands, would give their Avishes the
most effectual support in his power.
This day the House of Commons negatived Mr.
Grey's motion for an address to the King, desiring
him to communicate directly to the Government of
France his disposition to treat for peace. Mr. Pitt
aUedging that things were now in train to receive
offers or make offers if France was sincerely disposed
to treat. For the motion, 50; against it, 189. Ad
journed at half-past seven in the evening.
IBth. — Informed myself from the King's Printer,
Strahan, of the mode in which the Statutes are pub
lished from the original record. Each separate Act is
engrossed upon a separate roU by the Clerk of the
ParUament, and dated Avith the day when it receives
the royal assent, and is deposited in the Parliament
Office, Avith a number put upon it according to its
numerical place in the order of passing; but it has
no sections marked in the body of the engrossment,
nor are there any breaks or divisions into clauses or
paragraphs, otherwise than by the introductory words
of each clause being engrossed in German text. They
are not punctuated, nor are there any marginal notes
of their contents.
From the ParUament Office there is deUvered an
office copy of each Act, or sometimes a printed Bill
compared Avith the roU (for expedition's sake), to the
to the other English newspapers in order to discredit them as the channels of
early intelligence. The Telegraph, which had been deluded into the publi
cation of the pretended armistice, brought an action against the proprietors
of the Morning Post, and recovered 1001. damages.

Feb. 1796.] FEINTING OP THE STATUTES. 33

King's Printer, who afterwards corrects his proof by
the original roll. But the printed numerical series of
chapters differs from that of the rolls, because the
printer only prints the Acts which are of a public
nature or made public by the Statute itself, and he
confines his series of numbers to this distinct class of
Statutes. Whereas the original rolls are numbered
thoughout and in their order of passing, comprising
private and public together. It also sometimes hap
pens that, if the subject of the Statute require unusual
despatch in printing, it takes priority also in the
number affixed to it by Avay of chapter, and precedes
in tlie book even those which were passed before it.
The printer also numbers the clauses and affixes the
marginal notes expressing the principal matter of each
clause. He also puts in the punctuation, and more
over subjoins an abstract of each Act.
As the Road Acts are always numerous, and not
public in their nature, yet are made so by a special
clause for the purpose, of late years these are printed
separately from the other public Acts, and make no
part of their numerical series. The black-letter type
ceased to be used in 1792, and the small Roman type
was first used for the Acts of 1793 ; the expense of the
printing is not much reduced by that change, but the
bulk is reduced about one-fourth, and the reading ren
dered more easy to common eyes.
ISth. — Went to the Marine Society, where I com
municated to Lord Romney and Sir Jos. Andrews the
offer of the Duke of Leeds to grant one of the smaller
SciUy Islands, or a part of one of the larger, for the
use of the Society, if they conceived it useful and con
sistent with their plan for the Education of Channel
Pilots. Went afterwards to Mr. Strahan, the King's Printer,
and inquired of him further particulars respecting the
mode of printing the Statutes. About 1200 copies are
printed annually for the use of Members of both Houses
and for the Public Offices, containing what are caUed
VOL. I. D

34 DIARY OP LORD COLCHESTER. [Ch. H.
the Yearly Collections, and about 3000 copies of the
quarto which are printed from the folio. The chapter
ing the Statutes is a modem introduction into the
Yearly Collections, and the numbering of the sections
in that edition was begun in 1792 or 1793. The Trea
sury pays the whole expense of printing out of the CivU
List. In the House of Commons leave was given to bring
in a BiU for AboUshing the Slave Trade in a time to be
limited. Wilberforce moved it, Pitt and Fox spoke for
it, Dundas and Sir W. Young against, and Jenkinson
also. Carried by 93 to 67. Adjourned at ten o'clock.
19;^. — In the House of Commons leave was given to
bring in a BiU for making the Westminster Police Act
perpetual, which after strong debate was granted.
The Treasury letters of notice to Members of the
House of Commons who support Administration are
distributed by four carriers according to Usts left by
the Secretary of the Treasury at the Stationery Office
in the New Palace Yard.
20th  Dined at the Speaker's. We were twenty in
number. Lord Bridport, Sir George Beaumont, Sir A.
Edmonstone, Sir W. Scott, Lascelles, Colonel Beau
mont, Mr. Adams, Sir H. G. Calthorpe, Bankes, Burton,
Wilberforce, PoAvys, Parker, Coke, Metcalfe, E. Bou-
verie, Bramston, and Mr. Gipps and the Chaplain. We
dined in a vaulted room under the House of Commons,
looking towards the river, — an ancient crypt of St.
Stephen's Chapel. We were served on plate bearing
the King's arms. Three gentlemen out of livery, and
four men in full liveries and bags. The whole party
full-dressed, and. the Speaker himself so, except that he
Avore no sword. The style of the dinner was soups at
top and bottom, changed for fish, and afterwards changed
for roast saddle of mutton and roast loin of veal. The
middle of the table was filled Avith a painted plateau
ornamented with French white figures and vases of
flowers. Along each side were five dishes, the middle
centres being a ham and boUed chicken. The second

Fbb. 1796.] VOTE OP CREDIT BILL. 35
course had a pig at top, a capon at bottom, and the
tAVO centre middles were turkey and a larded Guinea
foAvl. The other dishes, puddings, pies, puffs, blanc
manges, &c. The wine at the corners was in icepails
during the dinner. Burgundy, champagne, hock, and
hermitage. The dessert was served by drawing the
napkins and leaving the cloth on. Ices at top and
bottom ; the rest of the dessert oranges, apples, ginger,
Avafers, &c. Sweet wine was served with it. After
the cloth was drawn a plate of thin biscuits was placed
at each end of the table and the wine sent round, viz.
claret, port, madeira, and sherry. Only one toast given
— " The King." The room was lighted by patent
lamps on the chimney and upon the side tables. The
dinner-table had a double branch at top and at bottom,
and on each side of the middle of the table. Coffee and
tea were served on waiters at eight o'clock. The com
pany graduaUy went out of the room, and the whole
broke up at nine.
The rule is for the Speaker to give his first Saturday's
dinner to the Ministers and their friends in office, who
are Members of the House of Commons. His first
Sunday is for the Opposition, and afterwards his parties
are promiscuous, — chiefly his private friends and those
who Adsit his levee on Sunday evenings. There were
twenty-three persons at the Ministerial dinner. At
the Opposition were three persons not in fuU dress, nor
powdered, viz.. Grey, Whitbread, and General Tarleton,
but he came in his uniform. Fox was fuU dressed and
powdered. 22nd. — In the House of Commons, Grey moved to
put off the third reading of the Vote of Credit Bill for
three weeks. Grey and Fox insisted that the true use
and meaning of such a vote and BUl were for the
supply of extraordinaries which might occur after the
rising of Parliament, and during the summer recess :
for which reason it was an unconstitutional measure
to bring it forward early during the sitting of Parlia
ment as a mode of paying past instead of future ex-
B 2

36 DIARY OP LORD COLCHESTER. [Ch. IL
penses. Pitt insisted that it was more constitutional
to bring it forward with the ways and means as a part
of the general revenue of the year, it having been ex
pressly included in the calculation of the amount of
the supply required : and therefore more fair than to
bring it forward at the close of the session to be thrown
into the unfunded debt. For postponing the third
reading, 25 ; against it, 102.
W. Smith, upon the report of the Loan Committee,
moved a long string of resolutions which were ordered
to be printed, and the debate was adjourned to
Friday. 2Brd. — Went to the Parliament Office in Abingdon
Street, and inquired the state of the Statute Rolls
which are lodged there, from 12 Hen. VII. to the pre
sent time. Each Statute on a separate roU numbered
according to the order of their receiving the royal
assent, indiscriminately, without distinction of public
and private. No material business to-day in the House
of Commons.
Rigby, Lord Hawkesbury, and Lord Stafford, and
old Drummond the banker, in a company, where HatseU
was present, upon calculation, estimated the outside
living expenses of every person having toAvn house and
country house of his own to be 6000Z. a year.
2Ath  Burke's letter against the Duke of Bedford
appeared, upon the subject of the motion respecting
Burke's pension. In his best style of imagery and
invective against sansculotte dukes, but with no de
tails about his OAvn particular pension. Lady Jersey
is said to have put the Privy Seal to a grant of timber
in CornwaU, which has been cut doAvn, and the money
paid to her. And about six months ago Macewan and
another of the pages, supposed to have been privy to
it, were sent to live in Scotland.
To-day the House of Commons negatived a motion
for leave to bring in a Canal BiU, upon a report from
the usual Committee. This is the second of the sort
within these ten days, both considered as uncommon.

Fbb. 1796.] PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. 37
but warranted by the larger proportion of dissenting
landowners. The first was the Kennet and Avon
Canal, this the Great Western Canal from Bristol to
Poole. 25^7i. — Saw Mr. PhiUips, the Duke's Steward of the
ScUly Islands, and heard his answer to the complaints
made against him by Captain Brown, commanding
officer of the garrison.
A few nights ago. Lady Jersey was iuAdted Avith the
Prince's party to the Queen's House, and put to a card-
table AAdth the Princess Augusta and Lady Hol
dernesse. The Prince of Wales in the course of the
evening repeatedly came up to her table, and pubUcly
squeezed her hand. The King sees and disapproves
of the Carlton House system. The Queen is won over
to the Prince's Avishes by his attention and presents in
jewels, &c. ; the Princess says, her father (the Duke
of BrunsAvick) told her to observe everything, but say
nothing. The pubUc entertainments for this winter are. The
Opera on Tuesdays and Saturdays; Drury Lane and
Covent Garden every night. The Antient Music,
twelve Wednesdays in the Opera House Room; the
Opera Concert twelve Mondays at the same place;
and Salomon's Concert at the Hanover Square Rooms
on twelve Thursdays ; besides Oratorios on Wednesdays
and Fridays in Lent.
2Qth  In the House of Commons, upon Mr. W.
Smith's motion of censure upon Mr. Pitt, for his con
duct in the Loan, the debate lasted till half-past three
in the morning. For the motion, 23; against it, 171.
27th  Bread 15d. the quartern loaf.
A slight faU of snow; the first this Avinter since
November. 2Sth. — Sunday. Dined at Edward Law's * ; supped
at the Archbishop of York's. Burke's history was the
subject of conversation at both places. The Solicitor-
* Afterwards Lord EUenborough, Lord Chief Justice of England.
s 3

38 DURY OP LORD COLCHESTER. [Ch. IL
General said he knew that Burke started in life with
19,0007. He was first employed under the Duke of
Northumberland, when' Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland * ;
and wrote all the papers of that time extremely well :
he was afterwards brought into Parliament by Lord
Verney; and Charles Townsend, the then minister,
compUmented him on his first speeches, and proposed
to his friends, as his circumstances were narrow, a seat
at the Board of Customs or Excise, which would have
excluded him from Parliament. He gave 21,0007. for
Gregory's, at Beaconsfield: i.e., he paid 11,0007. and
mortgaged the estate back for 10,000^. It consisted
of house, 200 acres of park, and farms besides, pro
ducing a rental of 450/.
The Archbishop of Canterbury told me that Lord
Auckland had shoAvn him, printed at Paris in a collec
tion of papers belonging to the late King of France, a
letter from young Burke to the King, dictating to him
in imperious terms particular measures for his conduct,
and assuming the tone of more than an equal. The
letter was docketed by the King as from Mr. Burke, the
son. In all companies Burke's letter upon the Duke of
Bedford is condemned as injudicious, though admired
for its wit and imagery.
Feb. 2 9 ifA.— Attended the Wakefield BUl Committee.
Wilberforce invited me to dine Avith him. In the
evening a debate arose upon Jekyll's motion against
Mr. Pitt, upon the transaction of the Hamburgh BiUs.
Division , against the first motion, 109 ; for it, 24.
Afterwards, in the direct motion of censure, the
Speaker declared the Noes to have it; but Sir W.
Young insisted that the Ayes had it, whereupon a
second division took place. Ayes, 8 ; Noes, 108. And
Sir W. Young divided Avith the Noes. As soon as the
division was over, Mr. Grey complained to the Chair
against Sir WiUiam Young's conduct, and desired the
Speaker's opinion. The Speaker said it was unbecom-
* In 1763.

March, 1796.] SLAVE TRADE. 39
ing, and inconsistent with the rules and practices of the
House. Sir William Young cited a precedent of Sir
James Johnstone, who had done the same thing in
1772 Avithout censure. Mr. Whitbread, General Tarle
ton, and others, pressed for a vote of censure, but were
at a loss how to frame it. Mr. Ryder and Mr. Pitt
maintained the right of any member to divide the
House, Avhether he voted with or against those whom he
had asserted to be the majority. The discussion ended
by proceeding to the order of the day.
The Speaker's foundation for his opinion was that,
whoever contradicted the Speaker's assertion as to
Avhich were the majority, ought to support his assertion
by his opinion expressed by voting accordingly. Mr.
Pitt's argument was that the right turned not upon a
contradiction of the Speaker's declaration, but upon a
right to ascertain the numbers, which could only be
done by denying the Speaker's assertion ; that in prac
tice the minority, when they divided the House, never
professed to believe that they were the majority, and
that the practical utility required that the House and
the public should be enabled to see and estimate the
proportion of assents and dissents expressed upon any
question. HatseU says that usage is as the Speaker
now insisted.
Tuesday, March 1st — In the House of Commons the
Legacy-tax BOl was reported and re-committed. In a
committee upon the high price of corn, all sides agreed
that, though there was a scarcity, it was much exagger
ated ; and that corndealers were an advantage to the
country by aiding in the distribution, according to the
relative wants of the country.
Brd. — In the House of Commons, upon the second
reading of the BiU for the Abolition of the Slave Trade,
the division was : — For it, 64; against it, 31.
Ath — Communicated to Francis Burton the outline
of my proposed motion; and report respecting the
expired and expiring laws. In the House of Commons
Curwen moved for leave to bring in a BiU to repeal the
j> 4

40

DIARY OP LORD COLCHESTER. [Ch. II.

Game Laws. For the question of adjournment, 27;
against it, 50. It was then resolved that the House
would resolve itself into a committee of the whole
House on * to take the Game Laws into con
sideration. 5th  The Duke of Leeds told me this morning that
the Duke of Grafton was Avith him yesterday, and com
mended Belsham's " Memoirs and History of the House
of Brunswick and George III." The Duke of Graftonf
has written notes in the margin of the first volume for
the author's use upon a second edition. Lord OrfordJ
also speaks highly of the book, though it is not correct
in aU its anecdotes. The Duke described Burke's last
pamphlet to be " Billingsgate in Buskins."
^th  Brigadier-General Bentham is at length ap
pointed Inspector-General of the Navy, with a nominal
salary of 750/., and additional incidents amounting to
5007. a year more. His first merit with the Admiralty
has been their plan of improvements at Portsmouth
Dockyard, by enabling them for their present estimate
to treble the capabilities of the Dockyard for the public
service. He has also constructed two ships of war and
two advice boats with double keels upon a new scheme
of body and rigging.
7th. — Attended at one a committee for inquiring into
the utUity, durability, and value ofthe late Mr. Hunter's
Museum. Examined Mr. Home and Dr. BailUe, the
trustees; also Messrs. Cruikshank, Blizard, Cline, and
Abemethy, surgeons and lecturers. In the House there
was a division upon the motion for the Speaker leaving
the chair, and then going into a committee on the BiU
for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Against the
committee, 37 ; for it, 78. Went through the Bill and
reported it. This and aU the preceding debates upon
the business, except the first, this year, have been dull
and ill-sustained by the Anti- Abolitionists.
* Blank in the original.
t The same duke who had been Prime Minister in 1756.
X More generally known as Horace Walpole.

March, 1796.] DEARNESS OP BREAD. 41
This the tenth day of frosty weather. Bread at Is. 3d.
the quartern loaf; finest wheaten flour per assize. The
second bread is sold by the bakers at Is. 2d. per quartern.
10th. — Attended the Committee on Hunter's Museum,
and examined Sir Joseph Banks, Pres. Roy. Soc, Sir
George Baker, M.D., Sir C. Blagden, M.D., Dr. For-
dyce, Dr. Pitcairn, Dr. Grey, Dr. Shaw, and Mr. Planta.
Vansittart's* answer to Morgan's pamphlet upon the
finances was published to-day. In the House of Com
mons Mr. Grey moved for a committee on the state of
the nation, particularly respecting its finances. His
chief charges were, a Adolation of the Appropriation
Act, by transferring sums to services for which they
AA'herc not granted; and a false statement of payments
in the Disposition paper. He objected also to the bar
racks. Transport Board, use of the Vote of Credit, and
magnitude of the Bank advances. Neither Mr. Pitt
nor Mr. Fox spoke. Mr. Dundas and Sheridan were
absent. At eleven the House divided. For the motion,
45 ; against it, 207.
11th  In the House, JodreU's motion for leave to
bring in a Bill for anatomising the bodies of convicts
executed for burglary and highway robbery was nega
tived, as tending to confound the distinction of crimes,
as that sentence hitherto belonged only to murder.
Leave was given on Mr. Curwen's motion to bring in a
BiU for repealing certain laws made for the preservation
of game. Division on the question of the Speaker's
leaving the chair: for it, 36; against it, 27.
Burton mentioned to the Speaker f my idea of a
Report upon the Expired and Expiring Laws. The
Speaker was extremely civil; begged me to send him
my papers, and to call upon him on Monday morning
at eleven.
IBth  Yesterday the weather changed and the
* Lord Bexley.
t " I had not been many months in Parliament when Mr. Addington,
then Speaker, received me with that entire confidence whioh gave me the
countenance and support which were of the greatest help to all my Parlia
mentary undertakings, and more especially upon my outset in the Iiouse of
Commons." — C. A. 1817.

42

DIARY OP LORD COLCHESTER. [Ch. IL

thermometer, which for ten days preceding had been
at 30°, rose to 50°. The Speaker sent me a note,^ ex
pressing " the great satisfaction which he had received
from the perusal of my papers," and appointing me to
caU on him to-morrow morning at eleven.
I dined at Sir PhUip Gibbes's, and met Lord Hard-
Avicke, Bryan Edwards, the historian of the West
Indies, and Monckton, M.P. for Stafford. Bryan
Edwards gave us an account of the insurrection, in
1791, at St. Domingo, of which he had been an eye
witness. He had thought of pubUshing a narrative
of it, and has actually printed it. He, together with
Lord Penrhyn and Mr. MinshuU of Jamaica, has held
conference Avith Mr. Dundas upon the gradual abolition
plan. Bryan Edwards is a heavy looking man, thick made,
and middle sized, not unlike Sir W. Young or Paul
Benfield; his conversation on his own subjects is
interesting, but his language very awkward and in
elegant ; which surprised me the more, as the style of
his history is in general excellent, and in many parts
uncommonly beautiful.
lAth. — At eleven I went by appointment to the
Speaker. He repeated the satisfaction which he had
received from reading my papers, and said that they
contained many very important matters ; that he sup
posed they must have taken me much time, and that
I had not originaUy in Adew the idea of a rcAdsion ofthe
whole Statute Law. That he much approved of the idea
of promulgation, and that it was most surprising that
this should stand upon its present footing; that pro
bably it would be best to enlarge my proposed instruc
tion to the committee, so as to comprehend aU that
the report extended to; or to divide the matter by
first limiting it to a register of expiring laws, and then
upon a suggestion in that report " that other important
considerations had occurred to the committee," a
further instruction might be grounded to enlarge the
powers of the committee so as to comprehend the

Mabch, 1796.] REVISION OP THE STATUTES. 43
whole subject; that as to promulgation, it might per
haps be best at the end of each session to appoint a
committee to report upon what Acts ought to be
transmitted to the sheriff for the use of magistrates, and
thereupon, from the King's Printer's copy, each county
might print at its own expense a sufficient number for
its OAvn use.
He desired my leave to keep the papers for a few
days ; that there was nothing in them that he did not
highly approve, and even in the phraseology of them.
That he wished to show* the papers to two or three
persons, and particularly to Mr. HatseU*; and that he
would afterwards beg to see me again. He asked me
if I had any particular idea as to bringing forward the
matter this session or the next. I told him I had no
particular wish as to time, although I thought the
expiring laws should be investigated this session. But
I should be happy in every part of the matter to be
governed whoUy by his directions, as it could not
possibly be in better hands.
In the afternoon Burton went to the House and
spoke to the Speaker, who expressed himself pleased
and " astonished ; " Burton also mentioned the matter
to Pitt, who expressed his cordial approbation and his
intention to talk Avith the Speaker on the subject, and
Avith me also.
To-day I met the Committee at Hunter's Museum,
and saw it. It was proposed that the Surgeons' Com
pany should have the care of it, and the use of it
for public lectures, if Government would purchase it.
* Chief Clerk of the Iiouse of Commons.

44 J)IARY OF LORD COLCHESTEE. [Ch. HI.

CHAP. III.
1796.
BILL FOR. ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE LOST.  QUARRELS BETWEEN
THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF WALES.  PITt's HABITS.  STATE OF TRADE,
ETC., IN THE PORT OF LONDON.  MR. ABBOT MAKES PITt's ACQUAINT
ANCE.  HISTORY OF PICHEGRU.  MR. ABBOT MOATES FOR A COMMITTEE
ON THE STATUTE LAW.  IS INVITED TO STAND FOE ABINGDON.  BILL
FOR DUTY ON SUCCESSION TO REAL ESTATES.  RULES WHICH THE SPEAKER
LAYS DOWN FOE HIS CASTING VOTE.  DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT. —
MR. ABBOT IS RE-ELECTED FOR HELSTON.  WESTMINSTER ELECTION. —
COMPARATIVE STRENGTH OF PARTIES IN THE NEW PARLIAMENT.
March 15th  The House of Commons to-day proceeded
to the question of taking into consideration the report of
the Bill for aboUshing the Slave Trade. Pitt and Fox
spoke for it ; and Dundas and Rose against it. For
postponing it to this day four months, 74 ; against it,
70. The House rose at half-past eleven.
IQth  In the House of Commons the project of
wet docks for the city was referred to a select com
mittee. The Prince of Wales has been endeavouring to per
suade the Duke of Wirtemburgh's Commissioner to
ask the Princess Augusta instead of the Princess
Royal. The Queen openly patronises Lady Jersey.
The Prince and Princess of Wales within these three
days have had an open difference, but at the Opera
last night affected an extraordinary cordiality.
17^7* — Dined at Butt's with the SoUcitor-General
and Lord Muncaster. Lord Muncaster was an early
political friend of Mr. Pitt, and our conversation
turned much upon his habits of Ufe. Pitt transacts the
business of all departments except Lord GreuAdlle's and
Dundas's. He requires eight or ten hours' sleep. He
dines slightly at five o'clock upon days of business, and

March, 1796.] PEIVILEGES OP COUNTY MEMBERS. 45
on other days after the House is up ; but, if thrown out
of his regular dinner of one sort or the other, he be
comes completely UI and unfit for business for a day or
two. This has happened to him in the present session.
He AviU not suffer anybody to arrange his papers, and
extract the important points for him. In his reception
of the merchants, when they wait upon him, he is par
ticularly desirous of satisfying them that his measures
are right. Lord Hawkesbury, on the contrary, enter
tains them with teUing them what he knows of their
business, instead of hearing what they have to teU
him. Lord Howe is made Admiral of the Fleet, 1600/.
per annum, in the room of Admiral Forbes, just dead.
It is an old promise of thirteen years' standing; and
the King gave Lord Howe his hand to kiss the other
day at court, upon this appointment, without any pre-
Adous soUcitation, or even Lord Howe's knoAving that
Forbes was dead. Lord Howe stUl keeps the command
of the Channel Fleet.
The Archbishop of York and Mr. Morris, late the
American minister at Paris, were conversing this even
ing upon the best books for political knowledge of
governments. The archbishop named Dionysius of
HaUcarnassus's account of the reign of Servius TuUius,
and his account of the institution of the Comitia Cen-
turiata, to exclude the rabble from power, instancing
the fate of Cicero, whose sentence of exile was obtained
from the Comitia Tributa, convened by the tribune,
and reversed by the better citizens convened in the
Comitia Centuriata. Mr. Morris preferred MachiavelU
on the first decade of Livy, and next to him Montes
quieu. That the favourite of the people and idol of
the rabble becomes always by necessity a tyrant.
Tarquin, Dionysius, Agathocles, &c., were mentioned.
ISth  No business in the House of Commons; but
Popham, an old M.P., represented to me that I was
disorderly in wearing my spurs in the House, as none
but county members were entitled to that privilege.

46

DIAEY OP LORD COLCHESTEE. [Ch. III.

The SoUcitor-General and James EUot afterwards told
me the same.
20th.— Adair called upon me, and we fully dis
cussed the practicability and utUity of a revision of
Statutes, and an immediate report upon the expired
and expiring laws. At half-past nine I went to the
Archbishop of York, being the last pubUc evening for
the season, viz., the last Sunday before Easter.
21s^.— In the House of Commons, General McLeod
moved an Address to the King for an account of the
Maroon War in Jamaica, upon intelUgence that blood
hounds had been imported from Cuba for the purpose
of hunting them, but the motion was AvithdraAAm Avith
out a division, no certain information being received of
any use being made of these dogs.*
22nd. — The House of Commons went through the
report of the Personal Succession Tax BiU.
23rd. — I attended the Committee on the General
Enclosures BiU, and suggested some amendments.
Dined at Wilberforce's Avith the Bishop of Llandaff
and others. The bishop said, 1000 copies, viz. the
whole ofthe first edition ofhis "Apology for the Bible" f
had been sold off in the course of the preceding week.
* Lord Balcarras, the Governor of Jamaica, published some letters in the
newspapers, avowing that he had sanctioned the importation of the dogs,
which had taken place " at the instance of the General Assembly of Ja
maica ; " and justifying the measm'e on the gTOund that it had been adopted
notforpiu'poses of aggression, but for the defence and protection ofthe inhabi
tants against " a most dangerous and ungi-ateful rebellion." He affirmed
that, by the confession of some of them who had been taken, " the Maroons
had taken an oath to kiU eveiy white person ; " that they were superior in
numbers to om- own ti-oops ; that they occupied an almost inaccessible dis
trict in the centre of the island, suited for all kinds of ambushes, in planning
which they exerted consummate skUl and ability; and that from these
ambuscades there were no other means of driving them out but by the employ
ment of these hounds. And he laid down, as a general principle, that means
were permissible in self-defence which were not allowable for objects of
attack, instancing the custom of regular war, which allows a fort when attacked
to employ red-hot shot, but forbids a ship of war to employ it iu attacking.
t Dr. AVatson. The book in ciuestion was written in reply to Thonias
Paine's " Age of Reason," and the bishop was apparently justifying its title
from an objection made to it by the King, who at the levee praised his book,
but said '¦ he did not know that the Bible wanted an apology."

Mabch, 1797.] TEADE OP LONDOIST. 47
He justified his giving to his book the title of " Apo
logy " upon the authority of TertuUian, Minutius FeUx,
and aU the Fathers who had written in defence of
religion. To-day I received from Mr. Manning, M.P., who
presented the petition of the merchants, &c., for the
new wet docks at Wapping, some papers of which the
foUowing are extracts, showing the progress of the
port of London in trade and shipping.

OUTAVAEDS FKOM GREAT BEITAIN.

16881792

Tons, English.
190,633
1,396,003

Tons, Foreign. Tons. Value.
95,207 285,800 £4,086,087
101,152 1,665,154 £24,905,200

BEITISH TEADE.

Port.
London

Year.
. 1751

Inwards. Outwards.
Ships. Tons. Ships.
1,498 198,023 1,139

Tons.
140,792

-11

. 1792

2,489 451,188 1,708
rOEEIGN TRiDE.

310,724

London

. 1751

184 36,346 162

33,051

»

. 1792

1,186 152,243 601

87,708

SHIPPINa BELONGING TO THE POET OF LONDON.

1732

No.
1,417

Tons. Under 200 Tons. 200 to 500
178,557 1,212 203

. 700 to 1300.

1792

1,860

374,000 1,109 634

95

N.B. — In 1732, ten ships of 500 tons, and none larger except two of 700.
In 1792, twenty-two ships between 600 and 700 tons.
2Aih. — In the House of Commons, Long, Secretary
ofthe Treasury, told me that he was extremely glad
that I had undertaken the matter of expiring laws, and,
as an instance of the necessity of such an investigation,
he mentioned the Expiring Law BiU at that moment
receiving the royal assent, which, among other Acts,
continued one that would have expired to-morrow.
In the evening I went to Montague's, where Mr.
Morris, the American, was invited. Morris is a tall,
well-made man (with one leg), an open, bold, and

48 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. III.
manly countenance, an intelligent look, and a clear,
distinct, oracular way of talking upon aU political sub
jects. His freedom of speech made the French apply
for his recaU from Paris, where he had resided as Ame
rican minister. He was of opinion that the Duke of
Brunswick's retreat from Champagne was merely the
effect of an extraordinarily rainy September, which
stopped all his supplies. That the true road to
France lay by Dunkirk, Calais, and the course of the
Seine, taking shipping for convoys and retreat; that
Alsace and Flanders were both of them impregnable
frontiers ; that the failure of success on the part of the
Allies first arose from their inconsistent professions and
projects of dismemberment, which made all Frenchmen
prefer belonging to France distressed rather than be
come the subjects of Austria, &c., at peace.
He had traveUed over Scotland, and mentioned the
Forbeses of CaUendar, as a family risen from a capital
of 300/. Forbes having told him his history from a
petty tradesman in Scotland, through his employment
in coppering the Eoyal Navy, &c., tiU he had bought
as part of his property an estate of 10,000/. a year.
The credit given to punctuaUty by all commercial men
in this country afforded him the means of obtaining
this surprising elevation.
25th. — Finished my Lord Berkeley of Stratton's
Journal, MSS., a very interesting diary of the life of a
very honourable man who had passed many years in
the service of the late and present King near their per
sons ; as Captain of the Yeomen, Captain of the Pen
sioners, Treasurer of the Household, and Constable of
the Tower. His anecdotes are curious, and most of the
characters well drawn. Great detaUs of court etiquette
and manners ; with striking portraits of Lord GrenviUe,
the Duke of Newcastle, Lord Hardwicke, the first Lord
Chatham, Mr. Fox, Mr. Legge, Mr. Charles Townsend,
Lord Bute, George II. , and the present king.
2Sth — At twelve I went to Sir John Sinclair's
Committee on the Enclosure BiU, and stayed tiU four.

HUrch, 1796.] ENCLOSUEE COMMITTEE. 49
Mr. Pitt, Wilberforce, Barker, Solicitor-General, Master
of the Rolls, &c. &c., and others attended it. Some of
the first clauses were amended; but two principal diffi
culties arose, and the Committee, after much desultory
conversation, adjourned to Wednesday. These difficul
ties were, first, the sort of tribunal : quarter sessions,
commissioners, or who they should be, who should be
empowered to ascertain the right of the persons claiming
title to the commons to be enclosed. And secondly,
the ratio of compensation to each lord of the manor and
tithe owner.
2dth. — Brooks applied to Rose for the actual and ap
proaching vacancy of boatmen's places at Helston;
which Rose readily promised, and expressed himself
obUged to the Duke of Leeds for personal civilities. I
accordingly wrote to Helston. N. B. The Duke told
Brooks that he thought it odd that he and I should
have differed on the only two political questions of this
session ; but that he did not care much to talk about
such matters.
30th. — At twelve I attended the Enclosure Com
mittee. Mr. Pitt there. Various clauses were dis
cussed, but we ended in the same difficulty about find
ing a proper tribunal for the preliminary adjustment of
the rights of parties. We rose at four. In the course
of the Committee I had occasion to make some remarks,
which upon reconsideration I do not think were very
weU founded. Mr. Pitt came round the table and talked
them over with me. This is the first time that we ever
exchanged a word or appeared to know each other, and
the first of the Cabinet Ministers who ever spoke to me
since' I came into Parliament.
In the evening sketched out some provisions for the
purpose of removing one difficulty of the morning.
31s^. — This morning the Solicitor-General came to
talk over my proposed clauses for the Committee on
Waste Lands. Afterwards I went to the Master of the
Rolls and stated to him my ideas of the best mode of
deciding the preliminary questions of right upon enclo-
VOL. I. E

50 DLVEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. III.
sure agreements. I showed him the detaU upon paper,
which he approved as the best mode hitherto proposed
for this part of the BiU, but expressed his conception
of the impracticabUity of the BiU as a universal mea
sure ; and suggested the idea of trying it at first for
some one county only. He desired to keep my papers
tiU the afternoon.
A curious circumstance occurred to me to-day, de
monstrating the absolute necessity of a complete register
of expiring laws. Shelton, Clerk of Arraigns at the
Old Bailey, a very correct and intelligent officer, to
whom I had written for information on the subject,
mentioned the instance of the Act 25 Geo. III. cap. 46,
for removing offenders in Scotland to places of tem
porary confinement, which was suffered to expire in
1788, when the Act 24 Geo. III. cap. 56, for the re
moval of offenders in England, was continued by Stat.
28 Geo. III. cap. 24 ; and this accidental expiration of
the Scotch Act was so much unnoticed that Muir and
Palmer were actuaUy removed from Scotland and trans
ported to Botany Bay, though there was no statute
then in force to warrant it.
Saturday, April 2nd. — The Waste Land Committee
was attended as usual by Mr. Pitt, Wilberforce, Dundas,
WaUace, &c. &c. I proposed my clauses, which were
received. The Committee expressed themselves much
obUged to me, and Mr. Pitt told me that I had done
more for Sir John Sinclair than anybody had.
I dined at Montagu's, and went afterwards with him
to the representation of Vortigern, a pretended play of
Shakspeare, but in truth a miserable cento and parody,
patched up principally from Macbeth, with a character
of Queen Katharine, and a scene or two imitated from
As You Like It. ISFothing for which an original cha
racter or idea might not be found in Shakspeare, and
nothing not expressed in the worst taste. The play
was heard with patience into the third act, then it was
laughed at, and hissed and laughed at to the end and
then not suffered to be given out again.

Apkil, 1796.] PICH^eGEU. 51
Ath  Called on Sir John Sinclair by his desire, and
settled the draught of a clause for the Enclosure Bill
according to the minute which I had prepared at the
last meeting of. the Committee ; went to the House.
Walked home with the Master of the Rolls, who told
me he had communicated to Mr. Pitt at Holwood, the
motion upon which I had given assistance in the Waste
Lands Committee.
5th. — The Waste Lands Committee sat again and
proceeded to settle and adopt my proposed clause.
Serjeant Adair attended; Mr. Pitt did not. In the
House the Dog Tax was agreed to.
Qth  Mr. Pitt sent me in the evening a printed copy
of his BiU for the ReUef, Instruction, and Maintenance
of the Poor.
7th. — At eleven IcaUedupon Sir John Sinclair, and
settled some of the clauses of his Bill; at twelve,
Bankes and I went and settled some more of them in
the Committee, where I stayed till after three.
At half-past five D'lvernois and some others dined
with me. Pichdgru's history, as D'lvernois told it, is
this : — First he was a monk, then ran away and
enUsted; was bought off; enUsted again : rose from the
ranks to be Quarter-Master. In that capacity, between
subaltern and officer, he studied much; made himself
inaster of Latin ; Studied Caesar's Commentaries ; and
when the late King was forbidden to go to St. Cloud,
Pichegru, being then at Strasburg, in garrison, told
his general that it was time to draw his sword for the
King; then or never. His general thought otherwise.
Pichegru told him that if that was to be the case he
did not think himself bound to stand by a party that
must inevitably lose. He resigned ; retired into Franche
Comte, his native country; became instantly a colonel
of a volunteer regiment, and rose rapidly to the rank
of general, in which station even the emigrants spoke
respectfully of his conduct and honour.
Sth — I went to the House. Upon the question of
Inquiry into the Barrack Accounts, there was a debate ;
E 2

52 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. HL
and at ten a division. Against the Inquiry, 98; for
it, 24. The chief argument for barracks, besides their
conducing to good discipline, was, that it cut off all
improper intercourse of the soldiery with the people at
evening hours, in public houses, where seditious or
traitorous seduction might be practised; without pre
venting their general intercourse at other times
sufficiently for them to have a common sentiment with
the public.
Lord Maiden pays 21/. a year for the enclosure in
front of his house, next the Green Park.
The Princess of Wales dines always alone; and sees
no company but old people, put on her list by the
Queen, Lady Jersey, &c. She goes nowhere but airings
in Hyde Park. The Prince uses her unpardonably.
10th. — Sir John Sinclair sent to see me about his
Bill. Lord Muncaster desired to thank me in the name
of the country gentlemen, for the time and pains which
I had bestowed upon the Bilk
11th. — At eleven I went by appointment to the
Speaker. He made apologies for having kept my
proposed Report so long. Said he had communicated
it to HatseU and Ley. That nothing in his time or
before his time, that he knew of, had been proposed of
a nature so useful ; and spoke much of the ability, &c.,
with which the whole was drawn up. Approving, also,
upon reflection, of the particular mode in which the
motion was framed, although it had at first struck him
differently. He settled the list of the Committee that
I should name. He wished me to give notice to-day,
and move it to-morrow; and if possible, bring up the
Report within a fortnight or three weeks : even if some
parts of the Appendix of Expired Laws were less
complete than they might be rendered by some future
Committee ; the main object being to have the Report
laid upon the table and printed, and put into the pos
session of the pubUc against another year. He desired
to keep my Report till Wednesday, that he might show
it to Mr. Pitt.

April, 1796.] WASTE LANDS. 53
At twelve I attended the Waste Lands' Committee,
and staid there till after three. Between four and five
I gave notice of my motion*, and suggested that, as it
would not probably occupy for many minutes the
attention of the House, by possibility Mr. Sheridan
might allow it to precede his motion which stood
for to-morrow. Mr. Sheridan said he conceived it
must occupy a much longer time, but he did not mean
to go at length into his own motion, and therefore it
might come on. Having spoken to the Master of the
EoUs, Adair, Powys, C. Townshend, Sir Adam Ferguson,
J. Mainwaring, I wrote in the evening also to the
Attorney- General, Solicitor-General, Charles Yorke,
and Hawkins Browne, to have their leave for naming
them on the Committee.
12th  1 wrote to the Duke of Leeds to acquaint
him with my intended motion: and at half-past four
I found the House sitting and unemployed. This day's
motion was postponed. I made mine. Serjeant Adair
seconded it very warmly, and I then named the Com
mittee. The Speaker told me afterwards that he was
glad to see the House took the matter well.
15th. — Ordered my Committee to be summoned for
Wednesday the 20th at one o'clock. The Speaker
returned my papers to me.
ISth  The Speaker gave leave for the Waste Lands
BiU to be printed as I settled it, with the clauses num
bered, and marginal notes added to each clause in
explanation of its contents : this being the first in
stance of the sort. But this innovation was afterwards
countermanded. In the House, Mr. Pitt this day
opened his supplemental budget of services to the
amount of 7,500,000/. ; the interest of a loan for this
sum, being 575,000/., he proposed to provide for by a
tax of 20/. per tun on port vsdne, being, at the rate of
an importation of 30,000 tuns, like the preceding year,
600,000/. A debate ensued which lasted till twelve
o'clock, but no division.
* For Committee on Expiring Laws.
E 3

54 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. III.
19th. — The Attorney and SoUcitor-General re
turned me my draught of proposed report on the
Temporary Laws, with a few corrections in pencil.
20tli. — Before I left my chamber I prayed (as I
have uniformly done upon every material event of
my life) for success in the principal business of the
day — my Committee on the Statute Law. At one
o'clock the Committee met in the room over the long
gallery. I was put into the chair. Of the fourteen
members of the Committee there were present thirteen ;
Sir Wm. Scott alone being absent. We went through
a complete detail of evidence upon the existing state
of the ParUament Rolls, Statute Rolls, printed compila
tions of the Statutes : examining Mr. Topham of the
State-paper Office, and Mr. Strahan the King's Printer,
besides inspecting the Long and Short Calendar of
Statutes in the Parliament Office. Agreed to move
for leave to report from time to time, and adjourn from
place to place.
21st. — I moved for power to the Committee on
Temporary Laws to adjourn from time to time and
from place to place, and sit notwithstanding the adjourn
ment ofthe House: and to report from time to time.
22nd  Sir John Sinclair Brought up the report
of his Waste Lands BUl. Ordered to be printed.
25th. — In the House the Dog-tax BiU of Mr. Dent
was thrown out, and Mr. Pitt gave notice of a new Bill
for the Revenue. The Westminster Police BiU was
agreed to be continued for five years, and to the end of
the then next session.
25th. — In the House, Adair gave notice of his BUl
in ease of the Quakers, and to render their affirmation
admissible in evidence upon criminal cases. Harwood,
Wilberforce, the Attorney-General, and myself of the
Committee. 27^A. — Met the Committee on Temporary Laws at
the British Museum : inspected three papers in the
Harieian MSS. and divers passages in the journals and
other printed books. The Committee Clerk entered

M.VT, 1796.] CHANGES IN THE CABINET. 55
them upon our minutes. And the Committee autho
rised me to write to the principal public offices for their
accounts of expired and expiring laws.
2Sth. — The House was this day employed in a debate
upon the production of papers respecting the West In
dian Expedition, but no division. On the second
reading of the Bill for the Maintenance of Curates, a
question arose whether this was not a Money Bill, and
ought not to have originated in the. Commons. Ac
cordingly, the order of the day for the second reading
was postponed tiU Monday.
29^/t. — The report is. Lord Aucldand is to be the
Secretary of State for the Home Department, vice
Duke of Portland, who is to be President of the Coun
cil, vice Lord Mansfield, who retires. — N.B. But this
did not happen.
30th  Selwood, Town Clerk of Abingdon, and
Bowles, of the Corporation, caUed me out of the Court
of the King's Bench. The electors at Abingdon * are
240 scot and lot; about 70 of them take money. About
half of the 240 go with the corporation. The Dis
senters, headed by the Tomkiss's and Fletchers, are the
next best interest. ChUd, the brewer, and his friends,
have also considerable weight. If all three sets can
agree, they carry the place in defiance of aU opposition.
The corporation sent to sound me. I answered as to
my present secure situation, but would think of it, and
endeavour to know what Child thought of me ; but the
whole subject to my further consideration. The elec
tion (unopposed) would cost within 300/., and annual
subscriptions afterwards about 100/. a year. Politics
free. Monday, May 2nd. — Colonel Cawthornef was expelled
the House. A division took place on the question of ad-
* Ahingdon was Mr. Abhot's , native town, but he ultimately declined
the offer of representing it in Parliament, from consideration of his obliga
tions to the electors of Helston and to the Duke of Leeds.
t Colonel Cawthorne had been convicted of fraud and embezzlement by
court martial, and the House proceeded on that verdict, without itself
entering into any investigation of the charges taken to have been proved.
E 4

56 DLVEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. III.
journment. For adjourning, 12 ,; against it, 108.
Colonel C. read a defence in his place. Mr, Pitt
amended the question of expulsion by inserting the
reasons extracted from the charge and sentence, ex
pressing his conduct to be infamous, &c.
3rd.— In the evening the Curates' BiU went to a
committee in the House of Commons. An Amendment,
for empowering bishops, in case a living exceeded 450/.
per ann., to add one-sixth of the excess to the curate's
stipend, was negatived; 33 to 14.
Ath.— At four o'clock, there being only 28 members
in the House, it adjourned ; and consequently the im
peachment question, which was to have been moved by
Mr. Grey, went off.
5th. — The House went through the Curates' BiU.
A division took place on the Real Succession Bill,
whether the Speaker should leave the Chair. Against
it, 24; for it, 65.
Qth. — At one o'clock had the third meeting of the
Committee on the Temporary Laws. I communicated
to them the different returns made from the public
offices, &c. &c. Delivered in a statement of instances
of statutes which had expired undesignedly, and of an
important nature. Received the direction of the Com
mittee to prepare the Report. In the House, Mr. Grey
moved Resolutions for Censure, as a ground of im
peachment against Mr. Pitt, for a violation of the Ap
propriation and Pay Office Acts; on both of which
grounds Mr. Pitt made a fuU and complete defence.
For the motion for the order of the day, 209 ; against
it, 38. Adjourned at nine to the next day, though it
was Saturday.
7th. — Kydwake, for insulting the King on the 29th
of November, on his way to Parliament, was sentenced
by the Court of King's Bench to-day to five years' im
prisonment in the Penitentiary House at Gloucester, to
be pilloried at the end of the first three months, and to
give security at the end of the five years for his good
behaviour for ten years more, in his own recognisance
of 1000/, The House met for business of course.

Mat, 1796.] FOX'S MOTION. 57
9th — In the House there was a division upon the
Real Succession Tax: 81 for it; 52 against it.
lO^A — In the House Fox moved an Address upon
the state of the nation, with regard to the war. He
spoke from half-past five till a quarter before ten. Mr.
Pitt spoke till a quarter past twelve. Fox replied for
three quarters of an hour. The division at one was : —
For the Address, 42; against it, 216.
The Lords sat on a similar motion by Lord Guild
ford, till three; for it, 10; against it, 110.
ll^A. — My Committee met for the last time. We ex
amined Mr. Cowper, Clerk- Assistant to the House of
Lords ; and then my Report was read and agreed to.
12^7t  Settled with the printer as to the form of
printing my Report and Appendix. Presented my
Report to the House, and afterwards the Speaker gave
leave for printing 1000 copies, and the order for print
ing a sufficient number for the use of the members ; 75
copies to be delivered to my order. Upon the Bill
for a Duty on Succession to Real Estates, three divi
sions took place. For reading the Bill now, a third
time, 42; against it, 46. For reading the Bill this
day three months, 53; against it, 54. For reading
it to-morrow, 54 against 54. Whereupon, the num
bers being equal, the Speaker said it became his
duty to give the casting vote ; that upon aU occasions
when the question was for or against giving to any
measure a fiirther opportunity of discussion, he should
always vote for the further discussion, more especially
when it had advanced so far as a third reading ; and that
when the question turned upon the measure itself, — for
instance, that a biU do or do not pass, — he should then
vote for or against it, according to his best judgment of
its merits, assigning the reasons on which such judg
ment would be founded. Accordingly, the question
was carried for a third reading to-morrow; but Mr.
Pitt then said, upon a measure where the numbers were
so equaUy balanced, retaining his opinion in favour of
the Bill, he should himself to-morrow move to postpone
it for three months ; meaning to give it up.

58

DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. IIL

lAth. — In the House, upon the third reading ofthe
Quakers BiU, Robert Smith, M.P. for Nottingham,
proposed a clause by way of rider, for discharging out
of prison two women in gaol at Nottingham, committed
by process out of the Ecclesiastical Court for contempt in
not appearing to a suit brought for trying the vaUdity
of their marriage ; which process they refused to obey
on account of scruples of conscience peculiar to their
mode of faith. The Speaker acquainted the House that
the thing was unusual, it being an enactment upon a
new matter never before mentioned on the original
bringing in of the Bill, nor in any prior stage, and that
the title of the BUl had no relation to any such object.
The Master of the RoUs vehemently objected on the
same ground, and on the mischievousness of such a
practice in other cases. The clause was then with
drawn, and Sir Wm. Scott suggested a mode of Ubera-
tion independent of any parliamentary interposition.
15th.. — Went with Vernon to Stainforth's in Berkeley
Square. He promised us the writs for Cornwall imme
diately from the Chancellor's house whenever they were
sealed, and before they were carried to his deputy.
Ours was the fifth promised in this convenient way.
Vernon got it for us by means of his friendship with
one of Stainforth's intimate friends, and our engage
ment of honour to deliver it as fast as possible.
19th — At one I went down to make a House. At
three the King came. The mob very inconsiderable
and very orderly. The day beautiful. The state coach,
which had been broken 29th October, was repaired, and
the glass panels all round removed, and their place
filled up with solid panels. In going from the House
of Commons to the House of Lords the rush of people
interloping from the clubs' rooms and passages was
indecent and highly inconvenient. The strangers ex
cluded most of the House of Commons from their places
below the bar of the House of Lords.
The Speaker made a long, grave, and dignified speech,
recounting the principal topics of the whole session.

June, 1796.] PEINCESS OP WALES. 59
The King's Speech also was long; it announced at tlic
outset his intentions immediately to call a new Parlia
ment; and it complimented the present Parliament
upon its transactions from the first session after its elec
tion. The Chancellor then prorogued the Parliament
tiU the Sth of July. Upon the Speaker's return to the
House of Commons he read a copy of the King's Speech,
and then the House separated.
27;A  The Helston election came on at eleven. The
Corporation assembled at the inn and we all proceeded,
to the haU, Ofthe 19 electors 16 were present. The
absentees were Mr. Rogers, Mr. Harris, and Mr. HaU,
detained by the gout at Penzance. The election was
unanimous. We had been previously desired not to
give any election entertainment, but to commute that
expense for a subscription of 100 guineas each to re
move the Cornage HaU and rebuild it in a more conve
nient part of the town.
31st — Went to the opera. The Princess of Wales
upon her entrance and departure was applauded with a
transport of affectionate respect. She was unattended
except by her household, viz.. Lady Carnarvon, Mrs.
Fitzroy, and her Vice Chamberlain. Prince Ernest
was at the opera, but did not go into her box. The
Duke of Leeds sat in the Princess' box the whole
evening. She said, " she supposed the public had been
acquainted with what was only ' trop vrai.' That the
Prince had not spoken to her for three months past ;
but that she had nothing to reproach herself with,"
&c. &c.
Monday, June 13th  At three o'clock to-day the
Westminster election ended. Fox was 300 ahead of
Gardner. Between four and five o'clock his procession
through Pall Mall, He was carried in a gilt state chair
mounted on a small platform, and backed by an alcove
of laurels. Immediately before him went a dozen
butchers with marrowbones and cleavers, and three ban
ners inscribed " Fox and Peace," " Fox and Li
berty," " The Man of the People," besides a banner for
each parish in Westminster, The mob appeared to

60 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. HI.
consist of about 2000 persons. It moved on very
quietly, huzzaing from time to time, and deposited Mr,
Fox at Devonshire House, from whence he was drawn
in Lord Robert Spencer's carriage, between five and six
o'clock, to the Shakespeare Tavern to dinner. No mis
chief happened; and in the evening there were some few
iUuminations, IQth. — Went to the Parliament Office in Abingdon
Street to compare the proportion of Private and Public
Acts in each session. Found, upon an average of ten
years, that the Private Acts were always one-third ofthe
whole mass ; and in three or four instances amounted
to the half. Afterwards by appointment to Strahan,
the King's Printer, to discuss the best means of increas
ing the promulgation of the public statutes without
augmenting the expense to the public ; and at the end
of an hour and a half the best project seemed to be to
exclude from the present large impression which is
made at the public cost and for the public use, all the
Public and Private Acts, such as roads, canals, bridges,
churches, drainage, &c., being two-thirds of the total
mass of Public Acts ; and to employ the cost of that
portion in increasing the number of copies of Acts
strictly public, nevertheless printing also about 200
copies of the Public and Private Acts, and 100 of the
Private Acts for reference when wanted by the persons
interested in the matter of them. The distribution of
Public Acts to be made, besides the 1000 copies now
printed additionaUy, also to all clerks of the peace, and
under sheriffs, and acting justices of the peace, and the
chief magistrates of all towns corporate. The public
ones to be distributed to clerks of the peace and
under sheriffs over and above the superior courts of
justice, inns of court, royal, university, and other public
Ubraries. The private to be only deposited in the
superior courts at Westminster, inns of court, and such
Ubraries as are above specified,
18^/i. — In consequence of a message from Mr. Strahan
I caUed upon him. He showed me that upon examin
ing the accounts of the contents of each class of statute

JoNE, 1796.] PEINCESS OP WALES. 61
upon on average of ten years the Acts strictly of a
public nature were about one-third of the whole num
ber; the other two- thirds being Local Public Acts, such
as canals, bridges, chvirches, &c., besides the Road Acts,
which were less in amount than the strictly Public Acts ;
and he was of opinion that if upon the whole present
impression of 1126 copies of Acts Public and Local
Public, the latter class were deducted and only 200
copies of them were printed, it would enable him to
supply above 1500 additional copies of the Acts which
were strictly pubUc, and as such wanted for general
circulation. Upon his account the average expenses
to the public of printing aU the Acts appeared to be
about 6000/. The distribution of the 1126 copies is
988 in sheets, almost all of which are waste, and the
rest in bound copies, viz. 60 Privy Council, 13 House
of Lords, 1 M. RoUs, 1 King's Proctor, &c.
Afterwards I obtained from the Crown Office in the
RoUs' Yard a proclamation writ, and a list of the
counties, cities, towns, &c. to which royal proclamations
are sent. It is remarkable that none are sent to Wales.
19th  The conduct of the Princess of Wales seems
to have been the most discreet and amiable which in
her peculiar situation could be expected. She has
addressed herself to those whom the Prince has pointed
out to her as his friends and friends of the Royal
FamUy, viz. Lord Thurlow, Duke of Leeds, &c. The
King is StiU in ignorance of great part of the trans
actions relating to this disagreement.
20^A. — Delivered to Mr. Forster, at the King's Bench
office, a list of twelve instances in which the Judges of
the King's Bench and their clerks had of late years, in
breach of the ancient practice of the Court, and for
their own emolument, and in diminution of the stamp
duties and evasion of the stamp laws, assumed a power
of making orders at chambers instead of deciding the
matters in question by Rule of Court, in all which
instances, without being over strict in attention to my
own profits, there certainly was great injustice done to
my office, and for which the remedy was not very easy.

62 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. III.
as the appeal lay to the judges themselves, whose
interest was directly against me.
Burton dined with me and showed me his Oxford
election bills ; viz. : for three days' joint canvass, and two
days of election for Burton and Annesley's committee
of charges, 600/. ; after which the interest of Burton and
Annesley having been separated, the charges incurred
between the evening of the second day of election and
the middle of the third day, when the election closed,
were 1108/. Add to these expenses about 400/. London
expenses. The Woodstock election expenses used to be about
300/. to Burton, when he changed for the City of Oxford
at the request of the Marlborough family.
2Ath. — Sir Francis d'lvernois came to talk about
Pinto's treatise on Circulation and Credit, pubUshed
forty years ago, containing an idea referred to in
Smith's Wealth of Nations, 3rd vol., but without men
tioning Pinto's name ; viz. : that the national debt is a
new capital, and quoad hoc a national benefit. Smith
condemns it. D'lvernois conceived the idea to be well
founded before he discovered it either in Pinto or
Smith. Indeed I think that Pinto is right so long as
the debt created maintains its credit and value by not
being carried beyond the reputed means of paying its
interest. Government borrows of a merchant one
guinea; pays that over to a soldier and gives to the
merchant an inscription on the bank books which is
accepted by him as of equal value ; thus the represen
tative sign of wealth is doubled and continues to be so
whilst the stocks continue transferable with a regular
payment of interest.
Sunday, July 3rd, to 10th. — I was on a visit to Briscoe
at Hookwood : we had fires on account of the coldness
of the weather on the 4th. There was a strong white
frost on the morning of the 8th, and it rained more or
less every day.
2Ath. — I rode up to Hampstead with the Master of
the Rolls, where the Chancellor joined us. As he had

July, 1796.] NEW PAELIAMENT. 63
not noticed to me the fate of the Bill which I drew for
him last November by desire, I rode apart with some
other friends, until, upon joining company the Chan
cellor apologised " for not having thanked me for the
BiU which I had been so good as to draw for him ; but
that he had not been able to prevail in Doctors' Com
mons ; that they were prodigiously alarmed, and afraid
of being touched. They were a Diana of Ephesus ; that
at his first conference with Sir W. Scott, Sir W. had
said if something must be done, a short BUl might be
brought in requiring aU wiUs of personal estate to be
signed by the testator." And so this part of the con
versation ended.
30th. — In the Gazette of this day there appeared a
Proclamation for the meeting of Parliament on the 15th
of September next, " for the despatch of divers weighty
and important affairs."
Upon an analysis of the new Parliament, the num
bers of each component class seem to be nearly these :
Irish Peers  17
Eldest sons of British Peers  33
Other sons of Peers, English, Scotch, and Irish . . 83

133
Knights and Baronets  89
Professions — Law  38 t
„ Merchants, &c  55 > 151
„ Militaiy, &c  68 J
Dead  • . . . 2
Double election  II

658
Of whom 168 were new Members, never having served in any Parliament.
Harvest for wheat and oats began in the first week
of August about Ramsgate, and in the course of the
month no grain was left standing in the Isle of Thanet
except a little barley. In the last week of August ar
rived the Leeward Islands and Mediterranean fleets : 300
sail. One of the West Indiamen was totally lost
upon the Goodwins the night after its arrival in the
Downs, and every person perished. The gale being
too violent for relief to be given.

64 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. IY.

CHAP. IV.
1796.
OPENING OF THE NEW PAELIAMENT.  DEFEAT OF THE FRENCH ON TUE
MAINE.  ME. Pitt's wae measures.  me. abbot moved foe a COM
MITTEE UPON THE PEOMULGATION OF THE STATUTES.  LOED MALMESBUEY's
negotiations in PARIS.  THE BUDGET.  FOX OPPOSES THE EUSSIAN
LOAN.  MOVES A VOTE OF CENSDEE ON PITT.
September 27th, 1796. — The new Parliament was
opened by Commission. At two o'clock such members
as were sworn and present proceeded to elect a Speaker.
Lord Frederic CampbeU proposed, and Mr, Powys at
considerable length seconded, the Right Honourable
Henry Addington. General Tarleton added a few
words of commendation, and Mr. Secretary Dundas
also. The new Speaker returned his thanks : the
House rose at three: he did not make the disquali
fying excuses which were usually made in former
times. 2Sth. — At twelve o'clock I took the oaths before
the Lord Steward's Commissioners * in the office of
the Clerks of the House of Commons: and received
from them the form of a particular of my qualification,
which I filled up and signed.
At one o'clock, there being about 200 members present,
the Speaker, full dressed in black, but without his sword
and his robe, took the Chair, Soon afterwards Black
Rod knocked and acquainted the Speaker that the Lords
Commissioners desired the attendance of the House of
Commons at the bar of the House of Lords,
* By the Sth Elizabeth all Members before they come into the Parliament
House were required to take the Oath of Supremacy before the Lord Steward
for the time being, or his deputy or deputies for that time, to be appointed.
This provision was repealed in 1829. — See HatseU's Precedents of Proceed
ings in ihe House of Commons, vol. ii. p. 86,

Sept. 1796.] OPENING OP PAELIAMENT. 65
The Speaker went up, supported on each side by Lord
Frederic Campbell and Mr. Powys, and attended by all
the members. The Speaker acquainted the Lords Com
missioners that the choice had fallen upon him, &c. ;
the Lords Commissioners, by the voice of the Lord
ChanceUor (one of them), signified the King's appro
bation. The Speaker then prayed the antient pri
vileges of the Commons, and particularly freedom from
arrest for their persons, &c., servants, &c., freedom of
speech, &c. &c. The Lords Commissioners signified in
general terms the King's consent to their petition.
Upon the Speaker's return to the House, he ac
quainted the House with the King's approbation of
their choice, and repeated his own thanks, and en
treated their indulgence and support. He next pro
ceeded to state that the first business was, for all the
Members who had been sworn before the Lord Steward,
&c., to take the oaths at that table. He himself alone
first took them, and then the Clerk called over the
Members by the entry in the books of the Clerk of the
Crown ; as soon as twenty appeared to their names they
were sworn together, and afterwards, retiring to their
seats, they were called up singly to sign the Roll of
Oaths, paying the fee of two shillings to the Clerk at
the table.
N.B. I asked HatseU and Ley (the Clerks) upon
the following day, why privilege for servants was prayed
for since the Act for taking it away. They agreed it
to be absurd, but that it had been persisted in imme
diately after passing the Act, and upon full considera
tion at that time, and with the concurrent approbation
of Lord Bathurst, Sir Fletcher Norton, and the best
informed members of both Houses  See HatseU, vol. u.
p. 164.
29th. — At two o'clock the Speaker took the Chair;
and prayers were read for the first time by Mr. Burly, a
new Chaplain; whose appointment was not noticed
otherwise than by his entering the House after the
Speaker, and making three bows as usual, to the Chair,
VOL, I. p

66 DUEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. IV.
on his way to the table. The Ust of defaulters on the
RoU was then called over again ; and many who had not
answered on the preceding day were sworn at the table.
30th. — The House of Commons met again to swear
Members, and adjourned at two o'clock, to the Wednes
day following. This proceeding seemed extraordinary
as compared with the King's declaration, that as soon
as they were sworn he would acquaint them with the
causes of calling the ParUament ; a reason which would
require their continuing assembled. But a precedent
of the same sort was found in the reign of Queen Anne,
as Mr. Ley, the Clerk- Assistant, informed me.
Sunday, Oct. 2nd. — The Lieutenants of the Navy
have just had their pay raised to 5s. Qd. per diem.
The total increase of cost to the public is 25,000/. per
annum. Ath. — Dined at Wilberforce's with Lord St. Helens,
&c. At a play written by the Empress of Russia, in
the Russian language, ridiculing Martinism, as it is
called in Germany, viz. ghost-seeing and visions. Prince
Potemkin told Lord St. Helens, in answer to his
question what sort of stuff it was, that it was very sad
stuff, and not a soul would be in the theatre to see it if
the piece had been written by an ordinary author.
The Empress overheard part of the conversation, and
desired to hear the rest ; and, on being told it, joined in
the laugh with the most perfect good humour. During
her journey to the Crimea, her coach had six persons in
it, and every one of her company had leave to sleep, of
course, whenever they chose it. She traveUed every
morning from nine, till six in the evening. She stopped
tAVO months at Kiow, while the snows were melting, and
spent six months in the journey. She took an English
Opposition newspaper the whole time; and when her
physician, an Englishman, had changed it for a Govern
ment paper, thinking she never read it, she noticed it,
and said she Avould settle the matter between them, and
ordered one of each sort.
5th. — News arrived of the defeat of Jourdain and

Oct. 1796.] ADDEESS. 67
Marceau*, and of the arrival of the passport from the
Directory. Qth. — At two the Speaker took the Chair in the
House of Commons. At half-past two the King came,
and went at three. Several Members were sworn, and
the Grand Committees were appointed, and the standing
orders made.
At four o'clock the Speaker acquainted the House
that he had been to the House of Lords, where the
King had made a speech, &c., of which he now read the
copy. Lord Morpeth moved, and Sir W. Lowther
seconded the Address. Mr. Fox rose next, and declared
that he did not mean to move any amendment, but
thought it necessary to explain his opinions upon some
of the topics in the Address, in order to guard against
misconstructions from his present acquiescence. He
spoke about three quarters of an hour. Mr. Pitt replied
for about an hour. Mr. Fox's speech was a poor per
formance in matter and manner. Mr. Pitt's, one of his
very best and most splendid performances. The House
was supposed to contain 400 Members. Mr. Sheridan,
though in town for several days preceding, did not take
the oaths, or attend, Mr, Grey remained in North
umberland, The Address was voted nem. con. The
Plouse rose soon after six.
There was no division in the Lords. They rose before
seven. 7th. — The House of Commons met at three. The
usual orders were made upon the reception of Petitions
for Contested Elections, of which four were presented
at the table. The Report of the Address was read
twice and agreed to, I acquainted the Speaker that I
should soon trouble him with papers.
Sth. — At two o'clock went up with the Address of
* The Archduke Charles defeated Jourdain at Amberg, August 24th ; at
Wurtzburg, September 2nd ; and finally, with Marceau, at AschafFenhurg,
September 16th. The passport sent from the Directory was for a British
envoy to proceed to Paris to open negotiations with a view to a general
peace. Lord Malmesbury was sent; but the negotiation was eventually
broken off before the end of the year. F 2

68 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. IV.
the House of Commons. The Speaker was attended by
about twenty Members and the Ministers. The King's
answer was emphatically delivered as to his negotiations
being for terms adequate, and his reliance on his people
for prosecuting the war with redoubled energy and vigour
if such terms should be refused.
From Burton I learnt that the Rev, Mr, Burt, of
Twickenham, actually married the Prince of Wales
to Mrs, Fitzherbert, and received 500/, for doing it, as
he himself declared to his family on his deathbed.
10th. — No business was done in the House of Com
mons, except opening the Committee of Supply, and
voting a supply in general terms.
13th. — Nothing material was done in the House of
Commons, Serjeant Adair gave notice of renewing his
Quakers' Bill, and Rose gave notice of moving for the
supply of seamen for 1797,
lAth — The same number of seamen was voted as for
the preceding year without opposition.
17^A. — At the House of Commons I had some con
versation with the Speaker, He said that in his time
no public measure, except political measures of the
day, had ever been brought forward of equal impor
tance with that which I had engaged in ; that Mr. Pitt
had it very much at heart to enter seriously into the
business; that the statute-book was a matter to be dealt
with only by the two Houses of ParUament; and that
Ministers in their separate departments neither could
be warranted to authorise any undertaking upon the
subject, nor would any private authority carry with it
a sufficient sanction. That I might have heard of Mr.
Plowden, a Roman Catholic, who had some time ago
appUed to Ministers, and offered to undertake that
gigantic and stupendous task, which was too much for
any man. And that he had required a sum not less
than 6000/. for the business, which, for aU these reasons
had been laid aside. He thought that a Committee of
the House of Commons, somewhat in the way in which
I had suggested, would be the most proper course,

Oct. 1796.] INCEEASE OP THE AEMY. 69
and as I had begun with it I must go through with it.
He promised to read my papers in the course of the
week, and said he should wish to engage Mr. Pitt's at
tention thoroughly on the subject, as such measures
never could be carried through with proper effect and
respect without the countenance of the leading persons.
He promised me his free and unreserved opinion upon
my proposed report.
I told him that I wished him to look at it with a
jealous eye ; that I talked over the details with Strahan,
who, he agreed with me, was a very Uberal man ; I told
him also that I had read over my papers to Burton,
before I had ventured to send them ; and that, since I
had sent him the fair copy, I had also sent the rough
copy to Sergeant Adair, and these were the only steps
I had taken. Unless I had the entire approbation
ofthe Speaker, &c., I did not wish to have it brought
forward at aU.
Adair moved for leave to bring in his BUl for the
Relief of Quakers, and stated the grounds of it. I se
conded the motion, and was named with him to bring
it in. ISth. — In the House of Commons, Mr Pitt, in a
Committee, to which part of the King's speech was re
ferred, moved for leave. to bring in three BiUs: 1. For
raising 15,000 men for land and sea. 2. For 6000
supplemental miUtia, to be raised in proportion to the
returns of fit men from each county (in which respect
the present mUitia is disproportionately raised), and to
be trained for 20 days together, one sixth at a time.
3. 20,000 cavalry, and 7000 gamekeepers to be made
serviceable in arms, if called out.
Mr. Fox denied that the particular exigency required
the particular measure ; spoke upon various extraneous
topics; the general question ofthe war; the demerits of
the last Parliament ; the bills against treason and sedi
tion, &c, ; but said he should vote for the present reso
lutions, reserving to himself the liberty of opposing the
BiUs when brought in, Mr. Dundas, Mr. Sheridan,
F 3

70 DLVEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. IV.
and Mr. Pitt again spoke in the debate. There was no
division. The House rose at half-past eight,
20th  In the House of Commons the Quakers' BiU
was brought in and read a first time.
21st. — In the House of Commons upon the subject
of the army estimates, a question being started by Mr.
Fox upon the subject of the Maroon War, Bryan
Edwards (the historian) got up to give a history of the
Maroons from the first settlement of Jamaica, and to
vindicate the Assembly upon their final measures of
transporting them to Halifax. His coarse elocution
and language, his boldness of manner and pertinacity of
debate upon a point in itself foreign to the question of
the day, seemed to prepossess the House very much
against him.
22nd  Called at the Crown Office to search for pre
cedents of commissions of the peace formerly granted
to districts for which they are not now granted.
Found many discontinued since the reign of EUzabeth.
23rd  Adair came to me by appointment to give
me his opinion upon promulgation, &c. He entirely
and warmly approved of the proposed report, as well for
itself as for the further step which it took towards the
great and ultimate work of a reform in the body of the
statute laws, by commissions, sub- commissions, &c.
With respect to the report itself, the only point on
which he doubted was one of the alterations which I
had suggested for supplying the want of local magis
trates, viz., that of charters of justice, which, although
he personally approved very much, yet, he thought, it
might not be generaUy liked, and that the other propo
sition of local commissioners was equaUy good and less
objectionable, as I myself seemed to have stated. He
also talked over the Quakers' BiU, and the chanceUor's
concurrence, which he had received in a long conversa
tion yesterday, after a discussion of various doubts
which had been suggested,
2Qth  In the House of Commons the Speaker told
me he had sent for five or six successive nights to see

Oct. 1796.] OPINION OP THE SPEAKER. 71
Mr. Pitt, but the constant answer was, that he was gone
to Wimbledon, to return the next day at twelve o'clock.
The Speaker thought my report of so much public im
portance that he wished it to have the direct counte
nance of Ministers; and he would mention the matter
also to Mr. Fox, that it might have the concurrence
of both sides of the House. He wished the motion, &c.,
for promulgation not to be expressly circumscribed by
Umits of expense, conceiving it tended to degrade the
measure, although there might be no impropriety in
mentioning it incidentally, as well upon opening the
motion to the House as upon the conclusion of the
report. He wished the whole matter of the statutes
to be carried through with dignity and effect, and
thought much might be done, even in the course of the
present session.
27th. — Dined with Bankes. He told me the Speaker
was most earnestly disposed on every ground, public as
well as personal to me, to adopt and support whatever
I might have to propose for the improvement of parlia
mentary forms ; that talents, knowledge, leisure, &c.,
&c., singularly coincided to render me a most valuable
member, and that no man felt more strongly than the
Speaker the necessity of accommodating parliamentary
forms to the variation of times, in order to preserve its
respect and utility in the opinion of the nation. He in
stanced the idle and inconvenient rules about printing
BiUs in blanks, and wasting time in going through the
forms of committees to render Bills inteUigible before
they could become the subjects of oral discussion,
28^A. — Transcribed into my collection of original
MSS. a minute of two conversations between Dr.
Franklin and Sir Philip Gibbes, in 1777 and 1778, at
Paris, upon the subject of American independence,
with, or without, a federal union with Great Britain.
In the House of Commons, as soon as prayers were
over, the Speaker desired to speak with me in his room.
He said he was now at Uberty to talk with me about
my proposed report on promulgation, &c, ; that he had
r 4

72 DUEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE, [Ch. IV.
talked it over with Mr, Pitt, who gave his fuU sanction,
approbation, and concurrence, and was eager for pro
ceeding upon the rest of the design for digesting the
statutes. The Speaker himself added, that it certainly
was a gigantic and stupendous work, and would require
a great deal of co-operation, I replied, "And also a
previous committee, to prepare the preliminary matters
necessary to such an undertaking." " That," said the
Speaker, " you know very weU that you must do your
self; you must do the previous business of the previous
committee." He then reverted to the report, on which
he said that Mr, Pitt and he both agreed in excluding
the idea of limiting the measure by any consideration
of expense ; at least, that it should be only an incidental
remark upon the advantage of any specific plan, but
not stated as an essential ingredient in the motion —
that it degraded the proposition below its true dignity ;
although I had confined my views within the bounds
of economy, as a recommendation of it to Ministers,
We agreed that the less was said to expose the de
formed and shapeless condition of the present mode of
giving publicity to our laws, the more discreet it would
be. It was settled that I should give notice to-day of
my intended motion for the foUowing Monday, but that
in the interim I should see him upon the further ar
rangement of the terms of the motion and formation of
the committee, so that they might draw with me, and
not impede the project.
Accordingly, I gave notice in the House of my in
tended motion, Mr, Pitt brought forward his proposi
tion for funding 12,000,000/, of Navy and Exchequer
Bills, which was strongly controverted by Mr, Fox,
Hussey, and Sir W, Pulteney; but no division. The
Quaker's Bill was read a second time without oppo
sition. 30th — At a quarter-past ten this morning, I went to
the Speaker by appointment. We read through the
whole of my proposed draught of Report upon the Pro
mulgation of the Statutes, word by word; and, vdth

Oct. 1796.] PEOMULGATION OP STATUTES. 73
some few slight verbal alterations, he gave it his fuUest
approbation. He discussed incidentally several topics
arising out of the report, and settled the form of the
motion, and choice of the committee. He undertook to
speak to the Lord Advocate of Scotland *, to be an ad
ditional member of the Committee, instead of Sir Adam
Ferguson (not now in Parliament), and to Wilberforce,
instead of Charles Townsend (also not in this Parlia
ment); and he promised to desire Wilberforce would
second the motion, in case of Adair's absence. The
Speaker also undertook to have the Annual Committee
on Expired and Expiring Laws opened immediately,
and to look into my proposed form of the report which
such committee should make in future. Accordingly,
I sent it to him in the course of the day. He also
agreed in the propriety of delivering the reserved
number of Reports on Temporary Laws to the Mem
bers of the present Parliament,
In talking over the propriety of an Act to declare
which was the legal Parliament upon a demise of the
Crown, he mentioned that Mr, Ley was at this moment
desired to prepare such a BiU; and the Speaker sug
gested that, if I had no objection, I might be the
proper person to bring it in.
We had a full discussion upon the importance and
difficulty of a general revision of the statutes. He
urged me to prosecute it strenuously, and agreed that
such an undertaking must have the highest sanction
and the ablest co-operation that the House of Commons
could give it ; but insisted that the whole must depend
upon me, and that if it was not now done it could
never be looked for.
With great professions of readiness to assist me upon
aU occasions, and to receive me whenever I wished to
see him, we parted, at the end of two hours.
I should add that his original objections to any
limitation of economy in the promulgation, &c,, seemed
to be nearly abated, when we came to strike it out of
* Mr. K. Dundas.

74 DIAEY OP LORD COLCHESTEE. [Ch. IV.
the motion, and only suffered it to remain in as the
statement of the committee.
31s^. — In the House of Commons ray motion for a
Committee, ¦ &c., did not come on; the evening was
fiUed with the Report upon the Funding of the Navy
BiUs, &c., and the Committee on the Supplemental
MUitia BiU. Upon the resolutions in the Committee
of Ways and Means for setting the terms of funding
the Navy BiUs, there took place the first division in
the new Parliament; 208 to 48.
Tuesday, November 1st. — In the House of Commons
the business was upon the Militia and Cavalry BUls.
Debates (but no division) till twelve.
2nd  In the House of Commons I moved the
Committee upon the Promulgation of the Statutes, Wil
berforce seconded. A great many Members before and
afterwards expressed their great satisfaction that it
was taken up. I had a long conversation with the
Lord Advocate, to whom I communicated the outline,
of which he much approved.
A division took place on the Cavalry BiU ; for it,
140 ; against it, 30.
5th. — At one o'clock the Committee on the Promul
gation, &c., met. — I was in the Chair. There were
present the Master of the Rolls, the Solicitor-Gene
ral, Mr. Wilberforce, the Lord Advocate of Scotland,
Mr. Serjeant Adair, Mr. Hawkins Browne, and Mr.
Hobart. We examined Mr. Strahan, and also the
first Clerk of the Crown Office in Chancery, and a
clerk from the Parliament Office, and inspected various
books, papers, and original records. I produced also
all the returns of towns and justices which I had
received throughout Great Britain. The Committee
came to several fundamental resolutions, by which the
basis of my proposed report was established.
7th, — In the House of Commons no material busi
ness was done. As an instance of the little attention
to appearances of obsequiousness or servility which a
minister personaUy experiences, when Mr. Pitt came
into the House to take the Cavalry BiU off the table

Nov. 1796.] ME. PITT. IS
and carry it to the Lords, although there were sixty or
seventy Members in the House, nobody foUowed him ;
and when he turned about at the door to see whether he
had the necessary number of eight to go to the Bar of
the Lords, he did not find a single person rise to follow
him, and had to wait several minutes in the doorway
tiU some people in office got up to make the number.
9th  The Promulgation Committee met at twelve
and sat tiU three. Went through Mr. Cowper's ex
amination, and the inspection of various books and
papers. At the end of the day I was desired to
prepare a report to be circulated afterwards among the
members of the Committee; and the Committee ad
journed to Thursday, the 24th.
11th  Douglas suggested the idea of a standing
committee for revisal and redaction of every BiU as
to its style and arrangement in the course of its pro
gress through ParUament; and that I should be per
petual chairman of such a committee at a large salary.
The latter circumstance I put aside, but agreed in the
utiUty of providing some such operation. The Speaker
when I saw him, talked of the propriety of printing not
only the report, but also such resolutions as might
be framed upon that basis by way of superstructure.
19th. — Dined at Hawkins Browne's, with Montague
and others. Montague told me that Pitt's celebrated
speech upon the Budget of 1792, was taken down in
short hand by Montague himself, at the desire of Lord
GrenviUe and Lord Mornington, and corrected after
wards by Mr. Pitt himself for the press.
2Sth  The House of Commons met. Lord Maiden
applied to me to be nominee for his friend Mr. PuUen,
upon the Leominster Petition, which I declined.
Mr. Pitt being asked the other day how Charles
G  , LordW  ^'s brother (a great bore) came
to be a Privy Councillor, said, " he really did not know;
he supposed by dint of solicitation; " and added, " For
my own part, I would rather at any time have made
him a Privy CounciUor than have talked to him."
Lord Malmesbury, after La Croix's note, asking how

76 DIARY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. IV.
often Lord M. meant to send couriers to London, and
Lord M's. answer, " As often as there should be occa
sion," at the end of the foUowing interview, mentioned
to La Croix, that the Directory had not pubUshed his
answer. La Croix  "Do you particularly wish it?"
Lord M. — "Mais, oui, c'est que j'ai la petite vanite
d'un auteur ; et surtout puisque vous faites Ies frais
de I'imprimerie."
La Croix. — " Monsieur, il me semble que vous
traitez Ies choses serieuses bien Mgferement."
Lord M. — " Non, Monsieur, ce n'est que Ies choses
ridicules." 29th — Frost set in and lasted twelve days.
Thursday, December 1st. — The loan for 18,000,000/.,
was this day settled; after all the apprehensions of a vo
luntary subscription with compulsive clauses, 8,000,000/.
were subscribed the same day,
2nd — The loan was filled this day up to 13,000,000/,
5th. — The Committee for Promulgation, &c,, met
and agreed to the Report which I afterwards presented
to the House,
The Civil List is now in debt 350,000/,, accumulated
in thirteen years according to Rose.f The current
expense of the Navy is 12,500,000/., although the
expense of it for last year was 10,000,000/., owing to
transport service, &c. The expense of the ensuing
year is taken at 27,000,000/., although only eighteen
are raised by loan.
HatseU agreed to the reason of bringing in all Bills
with the blanks fiUed up ; but objected to it as an in
novation merely, and upon the general principle that
he would resist all changes, great or smaU, upon the
single reason of their being changes.
7th — In the House at a quarter past five, Mr, Pitt
opened the Budget, His speech *?ook two hours and a
haU, Mr. Grey took half an hour, Mr. Pitt half an
* La Croix was the French Minister for Foreign Affairs at this time.
t Mr. Kose was Secretary to the Treasmy.

Deo. 1796.] POS AND OPPOSITION. 77
hour, and Mr. Fox half an hour. The taxes for the
interest of 18,000,000/., &c., are 2,110,000/., divided
among seventeen different heads of taxation. The
articles of taxation entirely new were a duty upon car
riage by inland navigation, and a duty upon carriage
of parcels by land carriage. Total supply, 27,640,000/,
The taxes were not objected to except that upon
inland navigation, to which Mr. Fox objected on prin
ciple; to the rest he only objected that some were taken
too high, viz., the Post Office.
Sth. — Upon the report of the Committee of Ways and
Means, Mr. Fox insisted that the loan to the Emperor
of 1,200,000/. during the current year had been illegal,
and a grievance great enough to precede the considera
tion of supply. He relied on principle and authority,
that expenses were not to be incurred without the con
sent of Parliament, and much less without its know
ledge whilst it was sitting, and for purposes of foreign
subsidy. Mr. Pitt answered. First, that inasmuch as
the 1,200,000/. was no part of the present sums in the
report, the objection was irrelevant to the question of
agreeing to the report. Secondly, that the loan itself
was a legal application of public money under the Act
for a vote of credit " to enable His Majesty to take such
measures as the urgency of affairs might require."
Thirdly, that the King's Ministers were justified in
point of discretion for so applying such a sum to such
a measure as being of sufficient urgency. For post
poning the consideration of the Report till to-morrow,
58 ; against it, 264. The House rose at nine.
Alexander Morris, in the custody of the Sergeant-at-
Arms, was ordered to be committed to His Majesty's
gaol of Newgate, for a breach of privilege in not attend
ing as a witness upon an Election Committee after being
summoned. An inquiry as to his having been tampered
with to stay away was postponed generally, by with
drawing the motion in order that the approaching trial
of the second election petition might not be affected by it.
lAth. — House of Commons. Mr. Fox moved a vote

78 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. IV.
of censure upon His Majesty's Ministers, who had, with
out the consent of Parliament, and during the sitting
of Parliament, remitted money (viz., the 1,200,000/. ) to
the Emperor.
The argument for the motion insisted upon the general
principle of the Constitution, that no public money
should be applied without the previous consent of Par
Uament ; it insisted that the excepted cases of Army and
Ordnance Extraordinaries, Navy Debt, and Vote of
Credit were modem and mischievous exceptions. It
reUed upon the doctrine in HatseU's " Precedents of Par
Uament," title, " Supply;" and concluded that no vote of
credit, &c. could be applied to justify any application
of money to a purpose like the present, viz., a purpose
foreseen, and not communicated to Parliament though
sitting at the time; as happened actuaUy in this case
during the time when most of the remittances were
made, they being principaUy in Oct., Nov., and Dec.
1796. On the other hand, the general principle was admitted;
the excepted cases were contended to be essentially
necessary to provide for the pubUc service in time of
war. And the practice of the present century was re
Ued upon to justify appUcations of money for foreign
subsidies during the sitting of Parliament, without com
municating them at the time. It was contended that
in fact also these issues (though made during the ses
sion) were the performance of agreements made with
the Emperor during the recess in the summer; and it
was finally argued that sufficient security was given to
the Constitution for the proper appUcation of such
monies by subjecting Ministers to the judgment of Par
Uament when the supplies for these purposes were to be
voted ; and that the Vote of Credit Act warranted the
strict legality of the payment, by granting the money
"for the purpose of enabling His Majesty to take such
measures as the exigency of affairs might require." The
proper application of the money to the use of the Em
peror in the particular case was admitted on aU sides.

Dec. 1796.] VOTE OP CEEDIT. 79
The precedents cited were several, viz., 1701, 1704,
1705, 1706, 1707, 1712, 1718, 1734, 1742, 1758, 1787,
and 1794. But those most relied upon and discussed
were those of 1706, respecting the subsidy to the Duke
of Savoy; 1742, respecting the money to the Duke
D'Aremberg, viz., 40,000/. sent by Lord Carteret during
the sitting of Parliament; 1787, the money paid for
secret service during the Revolution in Holland ; and
1795, the money paid to the Emperor, advanced in the
autumn of 1794, and paid out of the money of 1795
after discussion, but without opposition on this point.
For the vote, 81 ; against it, 285.
An amendment was afterwards voted without a divi
sion, declaring that this measure was justified by the
Vote of Credit (though not to be drawn into a prece
dent without special necessity), and that it was calcu
lated to produce events highly useful to the common
cause. Other amendments were afterwards proposed
by Mr. Fox to defeat the object of the amended motion,
but these were negatived without a division. Mr. Fox
declared he would not let the question rest here, but
annuaUy move to rescind or expunge these votes till he
should succeed. The House rose at three.
10th. — In the House General Fitzpatrick moved to
address the King to intercede vnth the Emperor for
the liberation of La Fayette*, &c., their detention being
injurious to the common cause of His Majesty and his
AUies. This was opposed; Mr. Pitt agreeing in the
commiseration of the distress stated, if true ; promising
to let it be distinctly understood at Vienna that His
Britannic Majesty did not consider himself as having
any claim of interference for the detention; but objected
* In 1792, La Fayette, being then in command of the army stationed at
Sedan, endeavoured to prevail upon the soldiers to march upou Paris and
put down the Jacobins. Failing in this attempt, he was denounced by
Eobespien-e and Danton, and fled across the frontier, intending to escape to the
United States ; but he was seized by the Austrians and confined at Olmutz,
where he remained tUl the close of this year, when Buonaparte, after
his victories in the north of Italy, compelled the Emperor to agree to his

80 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. IV.
to an address for interceding, as contrary to general
poUcy between independent powers in matters respect
ing their separate administration of government. For
the motion, amended by Mr. Wilberforce, omitting
"injurious, &c.," 51; against it, 134. The original
motion was negatived without a division.
19th. — The printed Report on Promulgation, etc.,
was delivered at the House. HatseU told me he
approved of it aU very much, except that he had some
doubts about the practicability of punctuation upon the
engrossment; he conceiving (what I do not) that it
can only be done in the Lords, which would in many
cases be giving them the power to make sense or non
sense of Money Bills. The Speaker desired me to give
notice that I would, after the recess, bring forward some
propositions for carrying into effect the measures pro
posed by the Report.
The news came of the Empress of Russia's death.
20th  Dined at Mr. Hope's with two French emi
grants: 1. M. De Launay, formerly Colonel in the
Gardes du Corps to Louis XVL, and brother to the
Governor of the Bastile who was executed by the mob
of Paris. This gentleman now keeps a perfumer's shop
in Tottenham Terrace. 2. M. Fouacke, arrived five
weeks ago from Havre, a merchant of that place, once
worth 300,000/., now worth nothing but the remainder
of some plantations in St. Domingo, under the EngUsh
Government. M. De Launay was going to the Opera.
21st. — In the House of Commons, gave notice that I
should after the recess submit to the House some
measures founded upon the statements contained in the
Report of the Committee on Promulgation, &c.
The Southwark Election Committee came this day
to a most absurd determination. They first resolved
that Mr. TheUusson, having treated within Stat. 7 W. &
M. at his preceding election for this ParUament, was
ineUgible upon this second return. And secondly, that
Mr. Tierney, his opponent, was duly elected. And
thirdly, that Mr. Thellusson's defence was not frivolous

Dec. 1796.] SOUTHWAEK ELECTION. 81
and vexatious. Id est, that the statute which only
vacates the very return upon which the treating took
place, extends also to all subsequent elections. 2nd.
That this ineligibiUty was so notorious to the electors
as to make all their votes thrown away which were
given to him. And thirdly, that Mr. TheUusson, being
notoriously ineligible, nevertheless did not know of his
own ineligibility occasioned by his own treating, for else
his defence to the petition must have been frivolous and
vexatious. 2Qth. — The King's message was deUvered in each
House of Parliament respecting the termination of the
negotiations with France.

VOL. I. G

82

DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. V.

CHAP. V.
1797.
PITT REQUESTS ME. ABBOT'S AID ON THE POOE BILL.  QUAKEES' BILL. 
LANDING OF THE FBENCH AT FISHGUAED.  SUSPENSION OF CASH PAY
MENTS.  COMMITTEE ON THE STATE OF THE BANK:.  BATTLE OF
ST. Vincent's. — militaey and naval strength of the kingdom. —
PRINCE OF WALES WISHES TO VISIT IRELAND.  REPORT OF THE FINANCE
committee.  MUTINY AT SPITHEAD.
Tuesday, January 2 Ath. — The Attorney-General ap-
j)lied to me to become nominee * for his brother. Sir Wm.
Scott, upon the Downton Committee. I told him my ob
jections, and that I wished him not to ask me; but that
if he did I should certainly accept it at his personal
request, and so we parted; he saying that I distressed
him beyond measure.
In the course of the morning I met Sylvester
Douglas f, who said he was authorised, and indeed
desired, by Mr. Pitt to obtain my assistance in improv
ing the forms and style of the Poor BiU; that he,
Sylvester Douglas, conceived it would be a desirable
opportunity for me to make an experiment of my ideas
of more concise forms of diction upon so important a
Bill as this, &c. &c. I told him that I approved of the
principles stated in the original opening of the subject
by Mr. Pitt in the preceding year, and proposed in the
present Bill ; and that they concurred with all the best
opinions that I had found in the writers on the subject ;
but that the BiU itself seemed to me as bad in the mode
* By the Act for deciding election petitions, carried by Mr. G. Grenville
in 770, besides the thirteen Members of the Committee who were selected
by ballot, the petitioners and the sitting Member each nominated one Member,
who was no doubt expected to vote for his own friend, whatever might be
the evidence.
t Afterwards Lord Glenbervie.

Feb. 1797.] QUAKEES' BILL. 83
as the principles were good in substance. And that I
should be perfectly ready to lend any assistance in my
power, &c. &c.
Saturday, Feb. 11th. — This day I desired Perceval
to propose me for the Volunteer Light Horse.
\hth. — At ten went to Lambeth,' when the Arch
bishop of Canterbury stated to me his grounds for ob
jecting to the Quakers' BiU, and showed me a statement
of the returns from aU the bishoprics, except Norwich,
Exeter, and Durham, not yet received; whereby it
appeared that in twenty years, only six suits for tithes
had been instituted in the Ecclesiastical Court against
Quakers, whereof two were by laymen and five had
been settled, and one only had gone the length of im
prisonment, viz., from March to July, 1789.
At one went to the levee, and was presented, upon
my marriage, by the Duke of Leeds.
In the House of Commons I presented a petition from
the ship-owners belonging to and frequenting the Port
of London, in favour of wet docks.
16^A. — Went to the Drawing Room, and was pre
sented, upon my marriage, to the Queen, by the
Duke of Leeds. The King talked to me about my
attendance in Term time at Westminster Hall, my
office, &c.
ISth. — The Downton Committee met; when the
petitioners desired to waive being heard, on account of
the great probable length and expense, -and that the
party chiefly interested was a minor. Hoping that, as
the question had already been disputed seven times, and
was extremely compUcated, it might not be reported
that the petition was frivolous and vexatious. This
was agreed to on the other side, and by the Committee,
which accordingly ended in ten minutes.
I went to the Speaker's. We read over my draught
of the resolutions to be moved upon Promulgation,
&c. He conceived that the whole ought to be done
rather by BUl than Resolutions, as more imperative and
permanent. Also that the particular regulations res-
g2

84 DIARY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. V.
pecting fees on Private Bills and their office copies, in
the Parliament Office, would require a BiU which must
originate with the Lords. He promised as soon as he
should receive the Resolutions corrected according to
this idea, he would also take the opinion of Mr. HatseU
upon them. He also wished that this part ofthe scheme,
and also the standing orders, should be carried through
during this session. Also that the Annual Report
of expired and expiring laws should be made, in order to
render the Committee and its Report of last year
permanently useful.
19 th. — I sent the corrected draft of the Resolu
tions, and also a copy of proposed standing orders to
the Speaker. The Speaker, at his levee in the evening,
told me that he thought, upon consideration, the pro
mulgation must be by one BiU, and that originating in
the Lords.
20tli. — In the House of Commons, the BiU for regu
lating the trial of causes arising in counties of cities
and towns corporate, was read a second time, and
l-eferred to a Committee upstairs, to be recommitted
afterwards to a Committee of the whole House ; i. e. in
effect to be altered to a new BiU, chiefly drawn by
Mr. Justice Lawrence.
2 Isf. — The Speaker appointed Saturday to converse
with me upon the proposed resolutions and standing
orders. He objected to any punctuation of the statutes.
22nd. — Went to the levee, where the King talked to
me a great deal about the business of the Court of
King's Bench. No business in the House of Commons.
23rd. — Lord Mendip mentioned a BiU which passed
the House of Commons in his time, about the year 1753,
or 1754, caUed Potter's BiU, for the purpose of obtain
ing a complete enumeration of the people. It was
thrown out in the Lords, and chiefly by the bishops.
He talked also at large upon the ancient his
torians, and the difficulty of modern historians, under
monarchical governments, in knowing the real causes
of events, a knowledge suppUed but very imperfectly
by private memoirs or occasional State Papers.

Feb. 1797.] QUAKEES' BILL. 85
2Ath. — In the House of Commons, the order of the
day was for going into a Committee upon the Quakers'
Bill. The Speaker's leaving the chair was opposed, and
a division took place; 33 for it, and 33 against it.
The Speaker accordingly voted, and gave his vote for
going into Committee ; assigning as his reason that he
had prescribed to himself an invariable rule of voting
for the further discussion of any measure which the
House had previously sanctioned, as in this instance it
had by having voted for the second reading. But that
upon any question which was to be governed by the
merits, as for instance, "that this Bill do now pass," he
should always give his vote according to his judgment,
and state the grounds of it.
The arguments against the principle of the Bill were
— first, that it was unnecessary, no grievance existing
on the part of the Quakers, as it appeared, by the returns
of the Ecclesiastical Courts, that not more than one
imprisonment (viz. for four months) had occurred in
twenty years ; and by inquiry in the Court of Exchequer,
that not more than seven suits had been instituted
against Quakers, as such, since the reign of Queen
Anne. Secondly, that the religious scruples of Quakers
against the payment of tithes was a scruple hostile to
the laws of property, and incompatible with the civil
government, as weU as the ecclesiastical establishments
of the country; and that one half of the tithes in
England were in lay hands. Contra: it was argued
for the BiU, first, that the Quakers had been treated
with indulgence ever since the reign of King WiUiam,
when the jurisdiction for the recovery of tithes before
Justices of the Peace was established; and that the
present BiU, in extending the limits of that jurisdiction
by allowing sums of more than 10/, to be recovered
there, only followed up the principle of former laws.
Secondly, that although the instances of positive im
prisonment endured in resistance to payment of tithes
were few; yet that it was a great evil to cause the
violations of conscience in Quakers by the terrors of
G 3

86

DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTER. [Ch. V.

imprisonment, if other process could be introduced
which should secure the tithe-owner without exposing
the Quaker to this grievance; and that such process
was proposed by this BiU, and might perhaps be stUl
more aptly framed in the Committee,
It was urged against the BiU, and not denied by the
friends of it, that the body of Quakers did not solicit
this reUef. It was stated also that in various instances
the Quakers now acted as tithe-collectors, and were
tithe-owners. Mr. Pitt was absent : the Master of the RoUs, Attorney
and SoUcitor-General, and King's Advocate, Perceval,
Sutton, CampbeU, Richards; most of the lawyers voted
against the Bill.
Mr. Fox, WUberforce, the Thorntons, Bankes, and
myself were amongst those who voted for going into
the Committee.
The admission of affirmation in criminal cases was
very slightly touched upon by any of those who spoke
on either side. It was objected only that it ought to be
the subject of a distinct BiU. The House rose at half-
past nine.
25th. — At twelve I went to the Speaker by appoint
ment. After discoursing over the points of the debate
of overnight, we read through my draft of the reso
lutions and standing orders. With some alterations it
was agreed that I should move them all as resolutions,
and afterwards communicate them at a conference to
the Lords, leaving them to bring in a BiU upon aU that
regarded statutes, and intending (when their Bill came
down) to enforce by standing orders such regulations
respecting Bills as the Lords did not comprise in their
BUl. We discussed the mischiefs of a lax and redun
dant and ambigu.ous style in Acts of Parliament, and
the difficulty, if not the impossibility, of rectifying that
by any standing order: conceiving that it must be
rather accomplished by example and precedent in a
better mode of framing the Government BiUs.
2Qth. — The news came yesterday of 1200 French

Feb. 1797.] OEDER IN COUNCIL. 87
having landed in Fishguard Bay ; and to-day of their
having aU laid down their arms to Lord Cawdor.
27th. — This morning an Order in Council appeared
requiring the Bank to suspend the issuing of cash until
the sense of Parliament could be taken.
N.B. The King was present at the council held to
day upon this business, and was to have signed the
order or proclamation, but was prevented by Lord
Liverpool as being too much for His Majesty to appear
in personaUy at such a time.
The subject matter of the order, and the proceedings
at the councU, were known within half an hour after
wards. In the House of Commons Mr. Pitt delivered a
message from the King, with the Order in Council an
nexed, and moved to take it into consideration to
morrow; giving notice that he should then move an
address in answer to the message, and a committee of
inquiry into the debts and means of the Bank, and
propose a law for pledging the faith of the nation in
support of the Bank paper to a certain limit ; and
another law authorising the receipt of bank paper by
Government from the public debtors of Government.
Upon being pressed repeatedly to say whether he meant
to propose that bank notes should be a legal tender, he
declined to give any intimation of any opinion what
ever upon that subject.
Sheridan moved a resolution against issuing .more
specie to the Emperor untU the sense of Parliament
could be taken upon any such advance. Mr. Pitt
moved the order of the day. For it, 247; against
it, 70.
The House rose at half-past seven.
At this time Bolton of Birmingham is coining rupees
by contract with the E. I. Company, by an engine
which coins 30,000 in an -hour. It is by the same
mechanism that he proposed to have coined copper for
Government a few years ago, when Lord Liverpool
broke off the treaty upon a difference of terms.
g4

88 DIAEY OP LORD COLCHESTEE. CCh. V.
2Sth. — Sent the Speaker my corrected draft of the
proposed resolutions upon Promulgation, &c.
In the House of Commons, Mr. Pitt moved for a
secret committee of fifteen to inquire into the demands
upon the Bank of England and its funds to answer the
same; and also into the necessity of confirming and
continuing the present measure. Mr. Sheridan moved
an amendment, that the same committee should also
inquire into the causes of the present necessity, and of
the Order in CouncU. It was replied that whether the
present embargo upon the Bank should or should not
be continued, was to be governed by whether it was
necessary or not ; and that the inquiry into causes was
at least extraneous and distinct, though important.
For the amendment, 86 ; against it, 244.
Mr. Pitt then moved for leave to bring in a BiU for
enabling the Bank to issue smaU notes : which was
agreed to.
The House rose at twelve. The Prince of Wales sat
under the gallery during the whole debate, and his
friends voted in the Opposition.
Wednesday, March 1st  In the House of Commons,
Mr. Fox moved for a committee upon the causes of the
necessity of the Order in CouncU. Mr. Pitt objected to
having a distinct committee, upon the ground of its being
more expedient to refer this inquiry to the same com
mittee as already appointed, although it should not be
instructed so to inquire, until after it had reported upon
the points already referred to it. The chief topic in
debate was the propriety of baUoting Usts being circu
lated for previous instruction of members. It was
admitted by Ministers that lists were so circulated;
and retorted on Opposition, and vindicated on its con
venience, as amounting in substance to a nomination on
either side, without the indecorum of personal remarks
upon individual names as they were proposed ; and
leaving it open to everybody to supersede or vary as
they pleased the proposed list. Against Mr. Fox's
motion, 161; for it, 67.

March, 1797.] BATTLE OP ST. VINCENT. 89
Afterwards, upon Mr. Sheridan's motion to add Mr.
Fox's name to the secret committee when its names
were read: against it, 146; for it, 53.
The House rose at half-past twelve.
At the beginning of the day leave was given to bring
in a BiU for suspending the Acts prohibiting the
issue of small notes by bankers; and the Bank of
England BiU for authorising the issue of small notes
was read a second time, and at the close of the sitting
the Bill was read a third time and passed.
2nd. — In the House of Commons the BiU for sus
pending the prohibition of small notes by country
bankers, &c. was committed.
3rd. — The emigrants in London, according to their
declarations filed in the Secretary of State's office
last autumn, were about 6000, but according to the
Bishop of St. Pol de Leon, about 8000. Total in
England computed to be about 14,000, besides prisoners.
News of Sir John Jervis's victory over the Spanish
fleet, off Cape Lagos*, with capture of two ships of 112
guns, and one of eighty, and one of seventy-four guns,
besides six transports. Sir John Jervis's strength was
fifteen saU of the Une, and four frigates. The Spanish
fleet, twenty-seven sail of the line and eight frigates.
In the House of Commons, Mr. Whitshed Keene and
Sir Charles Bunbury moved an address to the King to
confer some mark of Royal favour on Sir John Jervis.
But this was withdrawn upon the ground of its being
too quick an interference and distrust of the Crown,
The Thanks of the House were voted afterwards on the
motion of Mr. Secretary Dundas, to the admirals,
officers, and ships' crews, &c.
The Bill for suspending the prohibition against the
issuing of small notes by bankers and manufacturers
was read a third time and passed, but with much
reluctance and apprehension,
Mr, Whitbread's motion for an inquiry into the con-
* Better known aa off Cape St. Vincent. It was fought Feb. 14th.

90

DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. V.

duct of Administration whUst the French fleet was off
Ireland, was answered by a speech from Mr. Secretary
Dundas, relating aU the transactions, and producing
letters and minutes in proof of his assertions. After
which he moved the previous question, for the purpose
of having these papers printed, and leaving the inquiry
open if it should afterwards be thought necessary.
Division for the previous question, 209 ; against it,
62. During the debate Mr. Secretary Dundas stated the
British fleet for defence of the British seas only to be 50
saU of the Une ; and that there were now 100,000 men
in arms in Great Britain who would become 200,000
when the late augmentations and levies were completed.
Upon the Secret Committee the Bank valued their
buUdings and an estate of 2000/. per annum, at 60,000/,
only. Ath. — Mr. Pitt was this day examined by the Secret
Committee for three hours and a half, for the purpose
of confirming and continuing the effect of the Order in
Council. All the questions and answers were written
down. The Attorney-General and Mr. Grey conducted
the examination upon the two opposite sides.
Qth. — In the House of Commons the Quakers' BUl
was thrown out upon a division against the Speaker's
leaving the chair. Ayes, 12; Noes, 28.
7th  In the House of Commons the Committee of
Secrecy made its second report, viz., that it was neces
sary to provide for the confirmation and continuance of
the measures required by the Order in Council. Mr.
Pitt gave notice that he should move to take both
reports into consideration on Thursday next ; and also
for a Committee to inquire into the causes of the neces
sity. And at an early day for a Committee upon the
state of our finances, the debt incurred by the war, the
provision made for it, the further expenses requisite,
and the ways and means for supplying them.
9th. — In the House Mr. Pitt waived bringing in any
BUl to guarantee the Bank, as being altogether unneces-

Mabch, 1797.] COMMITTEE OP SECRECY. 91
sary. He moved for leave to bring in a Bill for con
firming and continuing the measures taken in conse
quence of the Minute of Council, which was not
opposed. He also moved to revive the Committee of
Secrecy, and refer to them to inquire whether any
necessity had existed for the Order in Council, and
what were the causes of that necessity. For it, 174;
against it, 65,
For adding Charles James Fox to the Committee, 60 ;
against it, 157.
In the course of the debate Mr. Fox and Mr. Grey
both stated distinctly and expressly, and without con
tradiction, that the nature of a Committee of Secrecy
was only that it excluded from their proceedings aU
strangers; but that the Members of the Committee
were no otherwise bound to individual secrecy out of
the Committee, than as their own sense of duty or pro
priety might suggest, according to the nature and
object of their inquiry.
Sir John Sinclair to-day assembled about thirty
Members of Parliament as an armed neutrality. They
resolved: 1. To vote for Economy. 2. For Peace.
3. Against Mr. Pitt's Bank measures. 4. Against Mr.
Fox's motions for repeal of the Acts against Treason
and Sedition.
10th — In the House of Commons I moved that the
House should resolve itself into a Committee of the
whole House on Friday the 17th, to consider of the
Report from the Committee on Promulgation of Laws.
Upon Mr. Pitt's motion to appoint a Select Com
mittee by BaUot *, an amendment was moved that the
BaUot should be now. For the amendment, 40 ; against
it, 123. Upon Mr. Sheridan's motion for repaying
immediately to the Bank such advances as they had
made to the Government, Mr. Pitt moved the previous
question, arguing that the original motion was prema
ture pending the two Committees. For the previous
question, 185; against it, 45.
* The Finance Committee, mentioned above on March 7th.

92

DIARY OP- LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. V.

13th.— In the House of Commons, Mr. Harrison's
motion for an inquiry into the reUef to be procured for
the pubUc necessities by reduction of salaries of useless
places and offices, &c., was disposed of by the previous
question, and referred to the General Committee of
Finance by a special instruction. For the previous
question, 169 ; against it, 77.
On the motion of Mr. Sheridan for adding Mr. Fox
to the Committee, Ayes, 75 ; Noes, 148.
Upon the report of the scrutineers upon the BaUot,
the Ust circulated by the Minister was appointed.* •
lAth.—At 12 o'clock the Committee met, except Mr.
Stanley. I was put into the chair; and the rest of the
day was spent in moving for papers, according to the
terms of reference made to the Committee, and I after
wards signed eleven orders for preparing and producing
the answers required.
15^A.— Met the Speaker^ and HatseU in Hyde Park,
and conversed upon the proposed resolution for Pro
mulgation, &c. HatseU objecting to the putting mar
ginal notes, or printing the Private Acts. At the
House I examined the Minutes of the Committee of
Finance. IQth. — Went to the Speaker by appointment, and
finaUy settled the resolutions to be moved in the Pro
mulgation Committee, by omitting all those about
numbering and margining the clauses and riders of
Bills: and agreed further that the resolutions when
adopted by the House should be sent by message to the
Lords ; who, if they agreed to them, should address the
King and communicate to the Commons their address,
vdth the King's answer. After which the Commons
should address the King to direct the requisite measures,
and assure him that the Commons would make good the
compensation from time to time.
* The following Members formed the Committee : — Mr. Thomas Stanley,
Mr. W. Baker, the Right Hon. T. Steele, the Right Hon. R. B. Sheridan,
Mr. C. Yorke, Mr. C. Abbot, Hon. A. St. John, Right Hon. Dudley Ryder,
Mr. R. Pole Carew, Mr. J. Carew, Mr. F. Gregor, Mr. J. Hiley Addington,
Mr. R. Burdon, Mr. H, Thomson, Mr. J. Harrison,

March, 1797.] FIXANCE COMMITTEE. 93
17;f7t  The Select Committee on Finance met, but
no papers being ready according to their former orders,
they adjourned.
In the House on the Inverkeithing BaUot the name
of the Right Hon. Dudley Ryder* being drawn, he
stated his appointment and service upon the Select
Committee as an excuse if the House thought fit to
allow it. It was opposed by Mr. Fox, Sir W. Young,
and Mr. Vansittart; but on the question being put, it
was allowed without a division.
ISth. — The Finance Committee went through the
examination of, 1. an account of the public debt, and
its increase since 5th January 1793, viz., 88,000,000/.
2. An account of the permanent taxes existing prior
to 1793, and during the same period. And 3. An ac
count of the produce of the new taxes during the
same period.
23rd. — The Finance Committee went through aUthe
papers before them, and directed me to move that the
Committee should have authority to order the printing
for their OAvn use of a sufficient number of copies of aU
papers and accounts laid before them.
In the House passed eight resolutions through a
Committee of the whole House upon the Report of the
Committee upon Promulgation. Reported them to the
House for printing; and adjourned the consideration of
the report of the resolutions tiU this day se'nnight.
27th — From the 20th to the 27th I was every
morning in the Finance Committee, and was employed
every evening in preparing papers for the next day.
Pole Carew, Ryder, HaU, &c. conferred with me occa
sionally, and gave their observations upon the draft
of the report as it advanced. Sheridan attended the
Committee every day, and this day for the first time
we divided against his motion, and carried it 7 to 5.
In the House upon the Bank BiU in the Committee
there was a division; 88 to 218.
* Afterwards Lord Harrowby.

94 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. V.
The capture of the island of Trinidad by Admiral
Harvey was announced to-day,
80th  The Finance Committee met at eleven and
waited tiU two for Mr, Sheridan, Read through the
first half of the Report, and ordered it to be printed
with the Appendjx so far.
31st. — I presented the first Report from the Commit
tee of Finance.
Monday, April 3rd  The Committee of Finance met
again to proceed upon their second Report. I put off
my Promulgation Report tiU after the recess.
The Prince of Wales having some time ago been per
suaded by Lady Anne ConoUy to wish for a mission to
Ireland, received lately a request signed by Grattan
and the leaders of the Irish Opposition desiring him to
obtain from His Majesty an authority to visit Ireland
and pacify the discontents of that country by conces
sions. The Prince of Wales sent this letter to Mr. Pitt,
desiring him to lay it before the King. Of course, the
proposal was negatived. The Prince then wrote to
Lord Fitzwilliam, and also to Mr. Fox, &c., offering to
put himself at the head of their party at home, and to
oppose openly all measures of the present Administra
tion. They all dissuaded him from that Une of conduct ;
but on Saturday, the 25th of March, Mr. Fox, Erskine,
the Duke of Norfolk, &c., dined at Carlton House.
Ath. — Finance Committee. In the House Sheridan
moved for a Committee to consider of the propriety of
advances to the Emperor ; alleging that any advances
would at present do us more harm than they could do
good to the Emperor. Mr. Pitt contended that the
good to the Emperor was the actuaUy enabUng him to
carry on offensive war instead of defensive war. And
to us it was, in point of economy, our cheapest mode of
calUng off the enemy from our own country ; that in
increasing our safety it increased our credit, and
that in preserving our communication open with Ger
many it continued our trade and the support of our
manufactures. Added to which the Emperor had

Apbil, 1797.] FINANCE COMMITTEE. 95
recently rejected overtures from France, declaring that
he would treat only in conjunction with us. Mr. Fox,
Sir W. Pulteney, and Lord G, Cavendish were the
only other speakers,
Sheridan in the course of his speech said that the
Finance Report was very truly stated, and that he
concurred in almost every figure of it ; that it had been
very fairly conducted ; and that there was no conceal
ment, or omission, except what the pressure for time
had rendered necessary; that such objections to it as it
appeared Uable to he had stated in the Committee,
Division at nine o'clock, Forthe motion, 87 ; against
it, 266,
It is remarkable that 90 members who attended the
call on the preceding day were absent from this divi
sion. Mr, Pitt told me after the debate that our Report
on Finance was one of the clearest papers he had seen.
5th  3 per cents, at 49 this day.
Qth  Finance Committee. In the House, Slave
Trade motion, by Mr, Charles Ellis, for an address to
the King to direct his governors to recommend to the
Legislative AssembUes of the West Indian islands to
diminish the necessity of the slave trade, &c., by ame
liorating the condition of the slaves, &c.
For the motion there spoke Bryan Edwards, Dundas,
Lord Hawkesbury, Mr. Wyndham, and others. Against
it, WUberforce, Pitt, Fox, Ryder, and others. My ob
jection to the motion was, first, that it assumed a neces
sity for the trade, which was not demonstrated, and
which I deny. Secondly, that the measures proposed
were in themselves nugatory, because they were unne
cessary if the AssembUes were sincerely disposed to do
the thing ; and ineffectual if the Assemblies were not so
disposed. Thirdly, that these measures were contrary
to the plan for an immediate abolition, by holding out
to the colonies the advice of abolishing the trade gra
duaUy. Also, the fact is, that, although the planters
in England are honestly desirous of such a gradual
aboUtion, yet the merchants here, and the Assemblies

96 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTER. [Ch. V.
there, do not desire it. For the motion, 99 ; against
it, 63. The House rose at half-past one.
lOth. — Finance Committee. In the House, Mr.
Pollen moved an address that the King would take
means to obviate the misconception of his intentions
upon Lord Malmesbury's negotiation, &c. &c. Mr,
Pitt stated the overtures already renewed for a general
peace, and that Mr. Hammond was to go immediately
with further instructions to Vienna. Upon the ques
tion for the order of the day, for it, 291 ; against
it, 85,
I consulted the Speaker upon the propriety of our
Committee inquiring into the arrears of the CivU List,
and he agreed in the propriety of the line we had taken,
by looking into the amount of Civil List monies ad
vanced to the public services, but not into the arrears
of the Civil List payments to its own proper creditors,
without a special request from the Crown, or as an ori
ginal direction from the House,
ISth — In the morning, caUed upon Mr, Irving, In
spector-General of Customs. Mr, Thomas Irving is a
Scotchman by birth ; he was appointed Inspector-
General of the Customs in North America, by the
Duke of Grafton, He was Member of the CouncU in
So\ith Carolina, and the first civU officer of the British
Government who was put in prison upon the revolt of
the colonies. Upon his return to England, he was un
employed till 1786, when his opinions being known
upon the then pending questions of American inter
course with the colonies, he was examined before the
Committee of the Privy CouncU ; and, having been also
consulted upon the subject of the Irish propositions, to
which his own opinions were also adverse, his character
became so weU estabUshed for knowledge upon these
subjects, that Mr. Pitt appointed him assistant to Mr.
Pelham, then Inspector-General of the Customs; and
Mr. Pelham dying in three months, Mr. Irving suc
ceeded to his office.
In this situation, when consulted upon commercial

Apkil, 1797.] FINANCE COMMITTEE. 97
questions within that department of the revenue, he
proposed to Mr. Pitt to have annual and complete
statements of all branches of the revenue, including
the Customs; and not only for England, but also for
Scotland, and afterwards for aU the foreign dominions
of the British Empire. He afterwards extended his
plans to similar statements of the commerce and navi
gation ofthe empire; and compiled above eighty volumes
of statistical tables on these heads, carrying back their
accounts for twenty-five years. At present a hew sum
mary is made for every year, whereof one copy is for
Mr. Pitt, one for the Secretaries of the Treasury, and
the third is kept by Mr. Irving himself.
Mr. Irving has visited the West Indies, and travelled
over a great part of Europe. He made himself ac
quainted with the financial details of the old Govern
ments of France and Holland, by researches in these
countries before the Revolution. He was well known
to Adam Smith. He showed me the French finance
accounts of 1788, made up in the official forms of the
French department of Finance.
20th. — The Finance Committee met. We read over
a draft of a second report, viz., on the taxes imposed
in 1796; and I presented to the House the Supple
mentary Appendix to our First Report.
21st. — Saw Sir J. Sinclair upon his Waste Land Re
port; the Committee settled the Second Finance Re
port, and afterwards presented it to the House.
22nd — Finished an abstract of the regulations pro
posed in the twenty-five Reports of the Commissioners
of Public Accounts, and of Inquiry into Offices and
Fees, for the use of the Finance Committee.
23rd. — The seamen of Portsmouth returned to their
duty.* * The first outbreak of the sailors, known as the mutiny at Spithead, was
of a very pardonable character. The sailors laboured under real grievances,
and they preferred their complaints in an orderly and respectful inanner.
The grievances of which they demanded the redress were : — 1. The
insufficiency of their pay, which remained at the rate fixed in the reig-n
of Charles IL, though prices had. risen, as they tnily and moderately
VOL. I. H

98 DIARY OF LORD COLCHESTEE. [Ch. V.
25^A. — Finance Committee. Examined Mr. Lewis,
Under-Secretary at War, upon the outstanding de
mands of the army, not included under the heads of
the Pay Office Accounts.
26itA"'.— Middlesex County Rate BiU. Divisions, first:
—For it, 76; against it, 82. Second: — For it, 81;
against it, 77. Ordered to be read a second time that
day se'nnight. Budget. Mr. Pitt stood upon the
statement of the Finance Committee, and spoke of it as
an able and perspicuous view of the subject. Mr. Fox
saw no abiUty in it, but several marks of carelessness.
Mr. Sheridan did not see any material objections to its
statements, nor think there were any faUacies in it,
though he had not agreed to many of the points stated
in thfe committee. There was a division upon the
Newspaper Tax. Against it, 41 ; for it, 153.
27th. — Finance Committee upon the outstanding
debts of the army. In the House the Promulgation
Resolutions were agreed to, and a message ordered to
desire a conference with the Lords, upon the subject of
providing more effectual means, &c. I carried the

stated, 30 per cent, since that time. 2. The insufficiency and badness
of their provisions, owing chiefly (as they alleged) to the rapacity and
dishonesty of the pursers. 3. The fact that while the Chelsea pensions
had been raised to 13?., the Greenwich pensions remained at 71. 4.
They also, and with imdeniable fairness, reijuired that when wounded in
the service of their coimtiy they should continue to receive their pay till
they were cured and discharged. They also entreated to have more liberty
of going ashore when in harbour.
The Board of Admiralty went down to Portsmouth to examine into their
complaints, and granted most of their demands ; raising the pay for able-
bodied seamen to Is. a day, aud that of the rest in proportion, augmenting
the Greenwich pensions to 101., &c.
The second outbreak was caused solely by a fear that these concessions
would not be confii-med ; and they demanded an Act of Parliament to ratify
them, but subsequently confided in the promises of Lord Howe, who was sent
down to pacify them.
The leaders of the third, or the mutiny at the Nore, in Admiral Duncan's
fleet, scarcely alleged any grievance, except some inequality in the distri
bution of prize-money. They used the most threatening language, and pro
ceeded to the most violent acts. The mutineers were disowned by the other
fleets, and as the Government behaved with great resolution, they were soon
crushed by a display of the force which was being prepared against them,
and the ringleaders tried and executed.

May, 1797.] FINANCE COMMITTED. 99
message, and the Lords appointed Monday next. I
afterwards reported their answer to the House.
2Sth. — Finance Committee. Began to examine the
state of offices, &c. ; and, our papers being complete
upon the office of Secretaries of State, we began with
these first. In the House the Kent Election Ballot
failing for want of 49 members qualified and willing to
serve, a caU was ordered (under the last Act) for to
morrow; and, according to the precedent of 1793, it
was also ordered that the names of those who did not
answer upon the Ballot, should be set apart, and they
ordered to attend on Monday, and to be taken into
custody, if no sufficient excuse were given.
Monday, May 1st. — Finance Committee. In the House,
at a quarter before four, I moved that managers might
be appointed for the conference, and named them ; after
which I moved that a printed copy of the Report on
Promulgation, &c., might be communicated with the
Resolutions. The managers were then called over.
1st. The Master of the Rolls, who, as first manager,
took the papers from off the table, and went forth. I
was caUed next ; the Attorney- General ; SoUcitor-
General, &c.
At the Conference we stood up uncovered ; the
Master of the Rolls in the middle; and I at his right
hand; the rest of the managers in a Une. The Lords
came in covered: viz.. Lord Sydney, the Bishop of
Bristol, Lord Auckland, &c. The Master of the Rolls
then read the words explanatory of the purpose of the
conference, which were prefixed and subjoined to the
resolutions ; and delivered the resolutions and report to
Lord Sydney. The Lords then bowed and withdrew.
The managers returned to the House of Commons ;
and the Master of the RoUs read at the Bar a report of
the conference, viz., in terms similar to those upon the
conference on the Irish Propositions : Com. Journ.,
vol. 40. The Speaker quitted the chair during the
absence of the managers; and aU business was sus
pended till after their report. H 2

100 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTER. [Ch. V.
Upon the vote of a loan to the Emperor, Mr. Fox
moved that the chairman should leave the chair, in
order to postpone the vote. Ayes, 50; Noes, 191.
2nd. — In the House the Canterbury Committee
Ballot, upon which a debate took place how to proceed ;
when the petitioners in the interest of the candidates.
Sir J. Honeywood and Mr. Gibbs, objected to other
petitioners (who disputed the rights of candidates and
sitting members), that they were in collusion with the
sitting members, and ought not to be allowed to chal
lenge as distinct parties. Upon a motion that this
petition was in coUusion with the sitting members, and
ought to be rejected, there was a division. Ayes, 44;
Noes, 128. But these petitioners thought it advisable
immediately to disclaim their right of challenge, which
put an end to all further difficulties.
5th  Read over draft of third report to the
Finance Committee.
News arrived from Sir Morton Eden at Vienna,
that the Emperor had signed preliminaries of peace*
with Buonaparte, reserving a right to the Allies to
treat at a Congress at Berne.
* The Austrians, after 'having received several defeats in the north of
Italy from Buonaparte in 1796, and having lost Mantua, and having been
defeated at Rivoli and in other actions of less importance in the beginning
of 1797, on the 9th of April signed preliminaries of peace at Leoben, and
Conferences for the establishment of permanent peace were opened at
MontebeUo, which in the autumn resulted in the conclusion of the peace
of Campo Formio.

Mat, 1797.] SECOND MUTINY. 101

CHAP. VI.
1797.
SECOND MUTINY.  SUPPLY  DEFEAT OF ME. GEEY's MOTION AGAINST
PITT.  LETTER FROM LORD CLIFDEN ON THE STATE OF IRELAND. 
MB. GEEy'S MOTION FOR REFORM IN PARLIAMENT LOST.  MUTINY AT
THE NORE.  CONVERSATION WITH THE LOED CHANCELLOR ON THE
PROMULGATION OF THE STATUTES.  EEPOET ON THE CUSTOMS.  EEVIEW
OF THE LIGHT-HOESE VOLUNTEERS.  PROROGATION.
May Sth. — News of a second mutiny at Portsmouth.
Our Finance Committee by common consent adjourned
vrithout doing any business. In the afternoon the
telegraph brought news of the sailors having returned
to their duty.
In the House of Commons, Mr. Pitt moved the
resolution for the amount of supply equal to the sti
pulated increase of pay. Entreating the silent judg
ment of the House upon the question ; and professing
to abstain from all particulars of the circumstances
which gave occasion to the vote. Mr. Fox and Mr.
Sheridan both spoke for the vote, but required expUcit
accounts of the transaction. Mr. Pitt gave none. The
House rose at half-past one. And a copy of the votes
certified, as (I saw) to be a true copy by HatseU, and
signed by him, was carried to the Admiralty at the
instant the House rose.
9th. — The Finance Committee agreed to a third re
port. In the House of Commons the Seamen's Bill was
read a first, second, and third time, and passed. It was
carried through the House of Lords in the same mode,
and received the Royal Assent. No divisions: but
violent criminations of Ministry for having delayed
the measure so long as to produce the second mutiny.
lO^A  In the House Whitbread moved a vote of
H 3

102 DUEY OP LOED COLCHESTER. [Ch. VI.

censure against His Majesty's Ministers for not causing
to be prepared, &c. an estimate at an earlier period,
.&c. Ayes, 63; Noes, 237.
11th. — Finance Committee. I presented the third
report. 15th. — Finance Committee resolved to proceed
upon the concluding branch of its instructions by di
viding its labour. As Chairman, I undertook to pre
pare the introductory statement ofthe preceding inquiry
by the Commissioners under the Act of Parliament,
and the effect of their reports, &c. ; a report on the Cus
toms ; a report on the expenditure of the pubUc for
the management of the PubUc Debt; a report upon
aU the Exchequer officers.
Other members took each a department; and the
Committee resolved to meet every day at half-past
three, to consider of further papers if wanting, and to
postpone a general meeting tiU summoned at the
instance of some member specifying the particular
purpose. In the House Mr. Wilberforce moved for leave to
bring in a BiU for the AboUtion of the Slave Trade.
I did not attend. He lost his question by about 80 to
60. I summoned the Finance Committee for Friday on
the expenditure for management of the pubUc debt.
And, after advising vdth the Speaker, discontinued the
custom of sending our orders for accounts, &c. through
the Treasury, and directed them to be carried by
the messenger to the respective officer to which they
related. In the House Mr. Grey moved a vote of censure on
Mr. Pitt for his conduct as it appeared upon the report
ofthe Secret Committee. For it, 60; against it, 206.
Only Mr. Grey, Mr. Pitt, and Mr. Fox spoke. The
debate began at half-past six, and lasted tiU one in the
morning. 17th — The Finance Committee met at half-past
three as usual.

Mat, 1797.] STATE OF IRELAND. 103
In the House of Lords I spoke to the Chancellor,
and he said no time should be lost in bringing forward
the Promulgation Resolution.
In the House of Commons the Limited Jurisdiction
BUl was brought in by Parker Coke. Went to a com
mittee, but before the clauses could be'entered upon the
House was counted out.
19th. — In the House motion of Alderman Combe to
dismiss Ministers. Ayes, 59; Noes, 243. No leader
of Opposition nor any of the Ministers spoke. The
division took place at half-past nine.
From Ireland I received the following letter from
Lord Clifden*: — Dublin, May 15th, 1797.
My dear Abbot, — I return you many thanks for yours of the
fifth and tenth. This last mutiny at Portsmouth excited lively
sensations here. The loyal were dismayed even to make one
laugh. The United Irishmen were elated even to make one
rage and swear ; both parties are now more tranquil. I hope to
send you by this night's mail the reports of the secret commit
tees of the Lords and Commons. Such a system of treason has
seldom been seen. The North is deeply infected. The Southern
districts are yet, I hope, pure. There have been in the course
of last week some actions in the North, in one of which fifty
yeomen defeated 300 United Men, and cut many to pieces. In
a second about 100 Dublin militia, Dundalk yeomanry cavalry,
and Watkin's Ancient British Fencibles, defeated above 1000,
and cut a vast number to pieces. There were about sixty
militia, the rest cavalry. I hope to go to my house at Grouran
to take the command of my yeomanry in about a fortnight. I
am delayed in town by measures to be brought forward in Par
liament in consequence of the reports. Every effort has been
made to seduce the militia and army with no effect. There is a
vast force now in this country, and more coming from Britain.
Many lives must be lost, but these traitors will in the end be
exterminated. If the war goes on and the French effect a
landing here, which they will certainly attempt, this island will
be the scene of blood and confusion for a long time ; but in the
end Britain, aided by the property of the country, must re
conquer it. I had no conception, till lately, how widely and
* Lord Clifden was clerk to the .Priv.y Council in Ireland. _
H 4

104 DIAEY OF LORD COLCHESTER, [Ch. VI.
deeply the roots of insurrection spread. I feel happy that my
wife, children, and all I hold most dear, are safe and at a
distance from the flame that may consume this land. I think
my property will, in the end, be secured to my family ; and for
the danger, it must be faced, and I think, come what may,
though many may rfall, the good cause will prevail. Notwith
standing the unpleasant prospect I feel in good spirits, which I
reckon a positive good, for many appear in strange and most
useless dismay. I am, dear Sir, yours very sincerely, Clifden.
I beg my respects to Mrs. Abbot.
22nd  In the Finance Committee I read the draft
of a report upon the expense of managing the pubUc
debt. 23rd. — In the House Fox moved the repeal of the
Treason and Seditions Acts, Ayes, 52 ; Noes, 260,
The di^/ision took place at half-past nine. Nobody
spoke on Fox's side but himself. The Ministers were
all silent. Those who spoke against the repeal were
Serjeant Adair, Lord Morpeth, and one or two
others. 2Ath. — Gave the ChanceUor my papers of proposed
proceeding upon the Conference Resolutions of Pro
mulgation. Lord Auckland moved to take them into
consideration on Tuesday next. In the House of Com
mons the Augmentation of the Army Pay was proposed
and not objected to,
25th. — Drawing Room after the Princess Royal's
marriage. 26^/i. — House of Commons. Mr, Grey's motion for
Reform of Parliament. Mr. Grey opened and Mr.
Erskine seconded. Mr. Pitt answered, and was fol
lowed by Sir Francis Burdett, Thornton, Sir R, HUl,
Lord Hawkesbury, Mr, Sheridan, &c, ; and Mr, Fox
closed the debate.
Grey's speech was moderate and discreet. 1. He
disclaimed theoretical principles either in favour of the
rights of man and universal suffrage on the one side ;
or as founded upon the inequaUty of local representation

Mat, 1797.] REFORM. 105
on the other. His object and ground were practically
to make the House of Commons the more immediate
image of the people and the guardian of its interests.
This he contended they were not at present, as appeared
by their support of Ministers who wasted their money,
&c. 2. His plan was to make the 92 county members
113, by giving 2 to each Riding of Yorkshire, and
division of Lincolnshire, &c. ; and to substitute in lieu
of all other rights of election of the 400 other Members
one general scot and lot right for householders divided
into districts. 3. He argued that the present time was
the very best, the redress being the most necessary
when the people were most discontented.
Mr. Fox argued for the plan of scot and lot, &c., as
approaching nearest to Mr. Hood's plan, which he
thought the best. He relied upon this as the ancient
common law right of borough election, and so decided
by Serjeant GlanviUe's Committee in James I.'s
reign. He argued on the subject of instruction that
the very reason of leaving Members free from the con
trol of instruction from their constituents made it the
more necessary to abolish close boroughs, of which the
representative holds himself bound in honour to act
consonantly with the opinion or instructions of the
patron, peer, or commoner who placed him there, or to
resign his seat.
Mr. Pitt resisted the time and plan. The time, be
cause when all other circumstances agitated the public
no change was so likely to stop at the point which its
own projector proposed; and as to the plan, that scot
and lot was practicaUy found to be the worst naode of
elective franchise, the most corrupt and violent ; and
that the present variety of franchises caused the present
variety of professions and characters which blended aU
distinctions, and made up an assembly more like the
mixed mass of the people than any one principle of
election could produce. Division at two o'clock in the
morning. Ayes, 91; Noes, 256.

106

DIARY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. VL

Received the following letter from Lord Clifden :—
Dublin, May 23rd, 1797.
My dear Abbot,— I feel very much obliged to you for your
different letters on the subject of the fleet; and was happy to
hear by yours of the 15th, that the dispute is at last settled.
Upon the latter part of your letter I think the best thing for
you to know, is the state of the case as far as I know it. In
consequence of the opposition at Oxford, on the last election^
"Wm. Spencer was very active and very useful, and has, I believe,
an assurance of that seat in the event, so much talked of, that
our friend Burton should be made a Judge. So, I believe the
matter stands ; but not having it from the best authority, it
amounts only to belief. I think there will be a seat at Heytes-
bury vacant before that in Oxford ; but however this may be, I
suppose you can talk to Burton upon your own business ; who,
being on the spot, is more au courant than I am, who have
already been absent three months, and may be twelve more. I
believe there is every good disposition towards you felt by the
Chief*, and considering your character in the world, and the
reputation you have so well gained, both by yom- talents and
industry in Parliament, I am well convinced they would be
very glad to have such a friend. I am sure I need not say
that this is only to yourself. I must go to the county of
Kilkenny in three or four days to encounter that spirit of re
bellion which has already spread into the neighbouring counties;
it begins by oaths of secrecy, adherence, and obedience to orders,
which lead directly to assassination. A strong proclamation
has been issued by the Council, under which the Lord Lieu
tenant has ordered the military to act everywhere without the
civil magistrate in dispersing all illegal assemblies, &c., seizing
arms ; and, I believe, that it is understood, that wherever arms
are demanded, not given up, and on searching are found, the
houses are to be burned. Kildare is in a flame from end to
end ; Carlow is beginning, and if you look on your map you
will see Kilkenny joins the latter county. My corps (cavalry)
consists of fifty men and four officers, including myself.
We have agreed to patrol through our district every night. One
officer and twelve men will be on duty each night ; so that
tinless on a sudden attack or any extraordinary cause, a man
may sleep three nights and ride for his health the fourth. I
suppose by use it will become as pleasant as riding in Hyde
* The Duke of Marlborough.

May, 1797.] STATE OP lEELAND. 107
Park. Excellent corps of Fencibles are landing every day from
England. I think, unless a powerful invasion takes place, we
shall soon settle this business ; but it can only be by the
sword. Already, I hear the United Irishmen in the North
begin to be dismayed, and as the troops are spread over the
country, all who joined them through fear, one half their num
ber on paper, will turn against them and probably prove their
bitterest enemies. Still, if the war continues, and the French
can really invade with a large body of troops, this island must be
a scene of blood and confusion. Under these circumstances it
appears to me that a vacancy for Heytesbury may take place.
Is Lord CornwaUis coming here ? If the war is to continue,
it seems very wise to send him. It vsdll give great confidence to
those who swear with life and fortune to support the King and
Constitution. It is strange that the preliminaries between Austria
and France are still unknown.
I sent you the report of both Houses here, which I see is adver
tised now in London. The activity of these traitors is extreme ;
but I am as happy to tell you as you will be to hear, that they have
almost entirely failed on the military of all descriptions. Some
severe examples have been made on a very few whom they
seduced, and a spirit of indignation has been raised in the
different corps that will make them act with the utmost vigour.
I am ashamed of the length of this letter, and will only add
that I am. My dear Abbot, yours most sincerely, Clifden.
30ih. — In the House of Lords Lord Auckland moved
the Lords to concur in the resolutions of the House of
Commons, and to vote an address and a message to the
Commons signifying the same. Cowper* raised diffi
culties throughout to impede Lord Auckland, although
he admitted to me (immediately before the business
came on) that there was no objection.
31st. — From ten till four was on horseback with the
Light Horse Volunteers. At one we went to Hyde
Park, mustering about 150 file and 18 officers, besides
two brass six-pounders with a detachment of 20 Horse
ArtUlery and 2 officers from Woolwich. We were in
spected by General Grosvenor; and after the review
paraded through Grosvenor Square and Berkeley Square
* Mentioned later as Assistant Clerk to the House of Lords.

lOS DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. VI.
to Colonel Hervie's house in Grafton Street, where the
colours were lodged.
Thursday, June 1st. — In the House of Lords upon
inquiry I found that Cowper had never sent any message
in consequence of the Tuesday's vote, nor even entered
the proceeding in the minutes of the House. Lord Auck
land was extremely surprised, and desired me to write
him a note stating the omission, in order that he might
act upon it.
2nd. — Finance Committee. Burdon read the first
part of the Report on the Post Office.
In the House. The Lords' Message came down ; and
I moved (by the Speaker's desire) that it should be taken
into consideration on Wednesday next.
Mr. Pitt moved an address upon the King's message
for considering of some effectual laws to punish the
seduction of Army or Navy.
3rd. — Mr. Pitt went through the BiU for punishing
the Instigators of Mutiny in Army or Navy ; and it was
read a third time nem. con. Irving retracted the
negative he had given the day before. A BUl for pun
ishing those who hold intercourse with mutinous ships
was also read a first, second, and third time.
5th. — At eleven about 160 members met inthe House
of Commons on the Committee upon the Bill for cutting
off intercourse with the mutinous ships. It was read
a third time and passed. Upon the question for the
third reading Sturt, M.P. for Bridport, divided the
House, or attempted to do so. He was the only No.
The Ayes went forth. Upon our return the Speaker
acquainted the House that he had appointed the At
torney-General and Mr. Baker teUers for the Ayes, and
Mr. Sturt teUer for the Noes ; but there being no other
teUer for the Noes, it was his duty to declare " The
Ayes had it." The BiU was nevertheless (upon the
question for the passing) passed, nemine contradicente,
and entered so, of which, the Speaker told me after
wards, he doubted the propriety.
The Drawing Room was fuU. I talked with the

June, 1797.] FINANCE COMMITTEE. 109
Duke of Montrose and Mr. Pitt about the Volunteer
Lio-ht Plorse. Mr. Pitt wished they were 2000, and
spoke of some recruits soon to be added.
At Mr. Pitt's before dinner the Speaker told me he
had had a long conversation with the King at the Draw-
ino- Room, to whom he had talked about the Promulga
tion of the Statutes, and mentioned me, &c. &c., and
that the King spoke of it in terms of great approbation.
Qth.  Finance Committee at twelve. The two Mu
tiny Bills passed the Lords, and received the Royal
Assent. 7th. — At twelve Finance Committee. Burden's Re
port on the Post Office proceeded. In the House, the
Lords' Address on Promulgation was agreed to, and I
was sent with the message to the Lords. I mentioned
to the Speaker my desire of examining Irving on parti
cular points respecting collection of the revenue, and
particularly the Customs.
9th  Finance Committee; Burdon's Post Office Re
port. I carried up the message to the Lords communi
cating the agreement of the House of Commons to their
Address. Intimation was given to me that I might
examine Irving.
Received the foUowing letter from Lord Clifden: —
Dublin, June 7th, 1797.
My dear Abbot, — I am much obliged to you for yours of the
27th of May and the 3rd of June. This mutiny is the most
unfortunate of all things at this moment ; but I hope and think
some means will be devised to put an end to it. I have the
satisfaction to tell you things improve here very fast, which, it
was evident must be the case, when Government used vigorous
exertions. Whole districts in the North are coming in to take
the oath of allegiance, and, what is of more value, giving up
their arms. A letter from a friend I can rely upon says, " That
in our parish 1400 guns, with pikes and swords innumerable,
have been given up." The leading traitors in Belfast and Newry
are escaping as fast as they can. No day passes without infor
mations being received, and in fact they are betraying each
other as fast as you can desire. The last proclamation, aided
by the military who search for arms, and if not delivered on

110 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. VL
demand and afterwards found concealed, burn the houses, has
produced the salvation of this country. There are strong reports
of peace. I hope it may take place ; but if the war continues
we shall suppress the rebellion, disarm the traitors and dis
affected, and have only to fight the French, instead of having
invasion in the South and rebellion in the North at the same
time. The army shows the best disposition in all places and on all
occasions. The British Fencibles and Irish militia try who shall
shoot or cut in pieces United Irishmen fastest. I shall go to the
county the day after to-morrow to raise another corps of yeo
manry, and I shall stay there till the contest is over. I am
happy to say the South of Ireland is in the best state, and
all men are ready to suppress the smallest appearance of riot or
disturbance. The entire defeat of the Northern projects will, I
think, secure the rest of the kingdom in tranquillity. There is
a general report here that Pitt was out on Saturday last at noon.
I perceive you had not heard this news at half-past five in the
evening. Put an end to this sad business in the navy and all
will yet be well. I am, dear Abbot, yours most sincerely, Clifden.
I beg my respects and best compliments to Mrs. Abbot.
12th  Finance Committee, Went through the re
mainder of Burdon's draught of the Post Office.
At six in the evening the Light Horse Volunteers
were ordered to repair to their stables, a meeting of the
Corresponding Society being appointed to assemble in
Pancras Field. It met, but very soon dispersed quietly,
and without any authority, civil or military, being caUed
in. At eight we were dismissed. About thirty-five of
the corps met at an hour's notice in Gray's Inn Road,
and another body in Worship Street.
14^A. — Parker the delegate at the Nore, and Davies
his deputy, and many others, were apprehended ; and aU
the ships except five returned to their duty.
Stocks 3 per cent, were 54^.
The House of Lords sent a message to the Commons
acquainting them that the King had appointed to
morrow at half-past three to receive the Promulgation
Address, I moved that " Four Members of this House
do go with the Lords mentioned in the message to wait

JcKE, 1797.] FINANCE COMMITTEE. ill
upon the King with the Address." (The Lords had
appointed the Lord President and Lord Viscount Syd
ney.) I then moved that Lord Stopford, Lord C. So
merset, the Master of the RoUs, and Mr. Ryder do go
with the Lords mentioned with the Address, &c., which
was ordered accordingly. The Speaker pursued the
precedent of 31st March, 1756.
I5th.  Finance Committee, Mr. Harrison read his
draft of report on the Barrack department.
The Master of the RoUs reported to the House the
King's answer : — " That he would give immediate
directions for promulgating the statutes according to
the Resolutions of both Houses,"
17 th. — The ChanceUor sent for me out of the Court
of King's Bench into his room, where we had the con
versation of which the minutes are given below.
1, The ChanceUor desired me to consider of the best
mode of giving effect to the resolutions of both Houses
for promulgation of the statutes ; and to communicate
it to the Duke of Portland*, viz., the proper form of
issuing the King's orders to his printer for that purpose,
and any notification to the magistrates that they would
receive the statutes accordingly ; and said that he, the
Chancellor, should to-day deliver the resolutions and
address (which he then held in his hand) to the Duke
of Portland.
2. He said the King had read the resolutions, and
highly approved of them, and desired to have the report
also, that the whole might be complete ; and that if I
would have them put up together, Uke the volume which
I had sent to him (the Chancellor), he would deUver it
to the King.
3. The Chancellor asked me whether it was not true
that the Bankruptcy Laws would expire soon. I told
him the 5 Geo. II. would expire this session ; but that
aU or most of the other Bankruptcy Statutes were
perpetual. The Chancellor thought this had better also
* Secretary of State for the Home Department at this time.

112 DIARY OF LORD COLCHESTER. [Ch. VI.
be made perpetual, and he asked whether there was not
a Committee for these expiring laws.
I told him there was, but that, in the way in which
that Committee was conducted, it only looked to laws of
revenue. He said he would mention it to the Attorney-General,
and desire him to give notice of a BiU on Monday.
4. I told the Chancellor that Lord Hardwicke wrote
to me a few days ago, mentioning also that the Act for
regulating all the Volunteer Corps, would expire to
morrow if there was peace. He said that Act also was
very important and required consideration.
5. He mentioned an Act of Mr. Ryder's, which was
to come on yesterday about corn; and that he had
notice of it yesterday ; but that it was not a proper way
of requiring a commission to be made out ; and that
no commission could now be ready tUl Monday, and
the matter must do as well as it could. And he added
that he thought there had been a clerk about the House
of Commons, whose business it was to look to these
Public Bills, So our conversation ended.
In consequence of it I obtained a letter from the
Duke of Portland to Mr, Strahan, directing him to carry
the resolutions into practical effect, and to report the
same to the Duke. Also an order for the Gazette,
notifying the proposed distribution by a transcript of
that part of the resolutions containing the Ust.
Cowper, Assistant Clerk of the House of Lords, was
preparing, by Lord GrenvUle's direction, a Bill to provide
for the meeting of a new Parliament in the case of the
King's demise after a dissolution and before the next
Parliament had assembled. Also a Bill was under con
sideration for enabling the King to call Parliament
together in fourteen days, notwithstanding a proroga
tion, 18^7i. — Irving came to me after church, and settled
the plan of questions for the examination before the
Finance Committee.
Dined at the Master of the Rolls'. There were Mr.

June, 1797.] PROMULGATION OP THE STATUTES. 113
Justice Lawrence and Mr. Smelt. The latter told me " it
was the King's wish that I should execute my plan of
promulgation according to my own ideas." Ryder told
me that the King said to the Joint Committee of Lords
and Commons on the Promulgation Address, that " he
was glad this measure had taken place in his reign."
20th.  In the Finance Committee we proceeded to
examine General Delancey in the Barracks, and to read
Burdon's Post Office Report.
21st. — I went to the levee, where the Chancellor had
taken my copy of the Parliamentary Proceedings on the
Promulgation of the Statutes. The King received it
from the Chancellor, and talked to me a short time
about it. The Duke of Portland told me that the King's
suggestion was the best, viz., that it should be left to
me to give my own directions about the mode of carry
ing the plan into execution.
In the evening I had a long consultation with Strahan
to settle aU the details; and it was agreed that he
should obtain from the Duke of Portland a letter to the
Postmaster-General, directing him to forward the
statutes by the general penny-post; and one circular
letter to all Under-sheriffs, directing them to keep them
for pubUc inspection, and to assign them over to their
successors in office. Another circular letter also to
every Clerk of the Peace, to the same effect, and direct
ing them to signify His Majesty's pleasure to the
Chairman of the Quarter Sessions, at the ensuing Mid
summer Session, that arrangements should be made for
dividing the number of copies aUotted to each juris
diction among the Quarter Sessions, Petty Sessions, and
District Meetings, and for other uses most advantageous
to the public service.
22nd. — I wrote to Lord Walsingham to desire he would
move for a Committee in the House of Lords to carry
the fifth resolution into effect, by settling the compen
sation for the Clerk of the Parliament, &c., in private
Statutes, He afterwards told me he had put my letter
into Cowper's hands.
VOL. I, I

114 DIARY OF LORD COLCHESTEE. [Ch. VI.
23rd.— In the Finance Committee I read the first
part of my proposed report on the Customs.
2Ath  Read the further continuation of it,
2Qth. — Strahan settled with me the further detaUs of
his plan, in consequence of his communications with
the Secretary of the Post Office. The first distribution
took place to-night. It amounted to 550 sets, including
aU the Under-sheriffs and Clerks of the Peace in th^
kingdom. To-morrow the penny-post distributes the'
London set, and the resident acting Justices are to have
theirs. The one Act first sent as a trial and beginning
of the plan was the new Stamp Duty Act.
27th. — At twelve. Finance Committee. Mr. Ryder's
report on the Treasury not being ready, we completed
the Barrack Report.
2Sth. — 'The Light Horse Volunteers assembled on
Clapham Common. The King, Queen, Princesses, the
Prince of Wales, Duke of York, and Duchess of York,
Prince Ernest, and the Prince of Orange, came to the
ground upon Wimbledon Common at ten, where we
were reviewed without accident or disgrace. Amongst
our corps were the following : — The Duke of Montrose,
the Hon. Spencer Perceval*, Mr. Manners Sutton f,
Mr. Vansittart |, Mr. Garrow §, Mr. Launcelot Shad-
weU II, Mr. C. W. Wynn, and Serjeant Adair. At twelve
the review ended. ^
In the House of Commons I had a conversation with
the Speaker, Mr. HatseU, and Mr. Ley, about the Pro
mulgation Resolutions, and the execution of the seventh
and eighth.
* Afterwards Prime Minister.
t Afterwards Speaker of the Iiouse of Commons ; raised to the Peerage
as Lord Canterbury.
X Afterwards Chancellor of the Exchequer; raised to the Peerage as
Lord Bexley.
§ Aftei'wards a Baron of the Exchequer.
II Afterwards Vice-ChanceUor of England.
^ The foUowing printed instructions for their appearance were issued to
the L. H. V. on this occasion : —
" Hair powdered and greased, six inches long, close to the head ; tm'ban
of the helmet and feather cleaned or renewed ; black leather stock and tum-

July, 1797.] FINAXCE COMMITTEE. 115
29th. — Finance Committee. Ryder read part of a
report on the Treasury.
30th. — Finance Committee. Thornton examined a
principal clerk from the Ordnance.
In the House, Mr. Pitt proposed new taxes in lieu of
the turnpike, &c., which he had abandoned.
Parker, the leader of the delegates at the Nore, wa.s
hanged. Saturday, July 1st. — Finance Committee; Ryder went
through the rest of his report on the Treasury,
3rd. — Finance Committee, Examined witnesses from
the Salt Office and Customs.
Ath. — Examined witnesses from the Tax Office. I
moved for leave to bring in a Bill to perpetuate 30
Geo. II. c. 30.*
Under the new Act for increasing prisoners' allow
ances, 40 received notes for 3s. Qd. per week, and 30
were discharged for want of it.
Qth. — Finance Committee. McGregor read the rest of
the report. We examined Irving, and reported the case
of the Messengers' Fees to the Speaker. From this day
to the 13th I was occupied literally every hour of every
day from nine in the morning till eleven at night (the
hour of dinner alone excepted) in the business of the
Finance Committee, either at the House of Commons
or at home.
13th. — At half-past eleven I went by appointment
to the Speaker. He agreed in the facility with which
the seventh resolution of Promulgation might be exe-

over ; new Hussar jacket ; swords well polished ; cross-belts well whitened,
and pistol belts over them; white wash-leather gloves; white leather
breeches ; regimental boots and spurs ; one pistol only, and that in the left
holster; the right for a handkerchief or anything else; chain bridoons;
horse collar and coat-case weU cleaned and whitened.
" The officers to have no saddle-cloths at the review. They are to have
waist-belts under the jacket, with gold sword-knots, and the sash over the
cartouch-belt. " New sword slings will be at the stables in Gray's Inn-lane on Wednes
day, much more convenient than the old."
* This was an Act for further bounty on vessels employed in the herring
fisherj'.

116 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. VL
cuted. But it was agreed to postpone it tUl the next
session. He spoke of the great want of an efficient
chairman of Ways and Means to look at the Pubhc
BUls, 20th. — From Thursday last to this day my attendance
upon the Finance Committee was constant. Our hours
were from twelve to five, — six to seven. And on the
intermediate Sunday Ryder and I met in the House of
Commons to look over some of the draughts of reports.
Yesterday I presented seventeen reports, and to-day
the remaining two, with concluding remarks. And the
Parliament was prorogued.

July, 1797.] THE DUG DE BOURBON. 117

CHAP. VII,
1797,
THE DUC DE BOURBON. — SEDITIOUS MEETING OF THE LONDON CORRE
SPONDING SOCIETY.  COUP d'etat OF 18TH FRUCTIDOR IN PARIS. 
MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.  DEBATE ON NEGOTIATION WITH FRANCE. 
ADDRESS ON THE WAR.  RESOLUTIONS ON THE TREBLE ASSESSED TAXES.
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE DUKE OF LEEDS ON ME. ABBOt's SUPPORT
OF THE INCREASE OF THE ASSESSED TAXES.
July 2Qth. — I went to the levee, being the last this
season. Lord Mornington took leave for Madras, and
Anstruther for Calcutta. Tom Sutton kissed hands as
Anstruther's successor for his Welsh Judgeship.
27th  The Due de Bourbon, Lord Hardwicke, and
others dined with us. The Due de Bourbon stayed till
between ten and eleven. His air is melancholy. He
does not decUne talking upon French affairs, but speaks
of them with great reserve. He was married at sixteen
to a sister ofthe last Duke of Orleans (Philippe Ega-
litd). She remained in France. His own father, the
Prince de Conde, andhis son, the Duke d'Enghien, are
at this time with the Condean' army in Germany.
31st. — At one o'clock the Light Horse Volunteers
assembled in Gray's Inn Lane, and the Corresponding
Society in a field behind the Veterinary College at
Pancras. At two the chair was taken by Bians, the secretary,
who began by reading the Corresponding Society's ad
vertisement, and the Bow Street Magistrate's advertise
ment, and then proceeded to speak for the right of the
people to universal suffrage, upon which he was imme
diately tahen into custody. In the same manner three
others: Fergusson, Barron, and Trichey were appre
hended. The Light Horse Volunteers were then
marched into the field in a close column, and the popu-
I 3

118 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTER. [Ch. VH.
lace dispersed, after which the Light Horse Volunteers
came back to Gray's Inn Lane, and were dismissed in
the field opposite the stables at four o'clock.
On September 4th three of the Directory of France
deposed and banished the other two, together with
sixty-four members of the councUs; sentenced the
printers of thirty-two newspapers to transportation, and
annuUed the elections of fifty departments, without
proof or even charge of any specific fact, except as to
Pichegru, whom, nevertheless, they did not bring to a
trial.* Monday, Sept. 25th. — Mr. Pitt's circular letter, an
nouncing the probability of the meeting of ParUament
early in the first week of November, was issued.
Saturday, Oct. 2Sth. — The King's declaration was
issued.f * This is the coup d'etat known in the annals of the French Revolution
as the 18th Fiiictidor. At the beginning of July Lord Mahmesbury had
been sent to Lisle to negotiate for peace ; and before the end of the month
he reported to the EngUsh Cabinet the existence of great dissensions in the
French Directory. Barras, EeuteU, and Reveilliere Lepaux being the
violent, Camot and Barthel^mi the moderate party. (See Lord Malmes-
hiry's Biary, ^c, voL iii. pp. 418, 452, 479, 522.) At last, on the 17th
Fructidor (3rd September), they ordered the Generals Augereau and Home
to approach Paris with their troops. On the 4th they adopted the measures
mentioned in the text. The pretext for them was the (real or pretended)
discovery of a plot formed by Pichegru to restore the Bourbons ; and it was
said that evidence of the reality of this plot was discovered by Buonaparte
among the papers which he seized at Venice. Many, even of the French Re
publicans, believed these papers, or the greater part of them, to be forged.
In Lord Malmesbury's opinion this transaction frustrated the conclusion of
peace of which he had previously had sanguine hopes, for the three Direc
tors now dominant recaUed those who had hitherto conducted the nego
tiation, sending in their place two men — Trechard and Bonnier — of violent
politics and manners, who on the 17th broke oflF the whole negotiations,
and desired Lord Malmesbury to quit Lisle in twenty-four hours, unless
he would at once consent to an article engaging for " the restoration of all
the possessions taken either from France or from her allies by Great Bri
tain." — Lord Malmesbury, vol. iii. pp. 541, 543, 562, 571.
t This declaration was an announcement to the nation at large of the
means which the King had taken to bring about peace with France ; of the
extravagant and offensive demands which the French negotiators had
advanced, which had made it " manifest to France, to Europe, and to the
world," that he had no alternative but to continue the war, " unless he was
prepared to surrender and sacrifice to the imdisguised ambition of his ene
mies the honour of his Crown and the safety of his dominions." He assm-ed
his people " that he would not be wanting to them," and expressed his
confidence " that they would not be wanting to themselves."

'iHoy. 1797.] FINANCE REPORTS. 1 19
During the vacation I received a letter from the
O
Board of Customs, desiring copies ofthe Finance Reports
to enable them to prepare the Bills requisite for carrying
into effect such measures as the fourth report had sug
gested. This letter I forwarded to the Speaker, with
one from myself.
Thursday, Nov. 2nd. — Parliament met, and on the
3rd the proceedings of the negotiation were laid before
Parliament. Neither Mr. Fox, Mr. Grey, nor Mr. Sheridan at
tended in the House of Commons; nor the Duke of
Bedford, Lord Guildford, &c., in the House of Lords.
10th. — A debate on the last negotiation with France.
.Mr. Pitt's speech, equally disclaiming the pusillanimity
of Sir John Sinclair's amendment deprecating war, and
Lord Temple's extreme Burkisms against peace, so far
satisfied everybody that the amendment was withdrawn.
No Fox, Sheridan, or Grey.
Settled with the Speaker, Lord Walsingham, and Mr.
Strahan about the proceedings for printing the Promul
gation Statute. Also delivered to the Speaker my
papers entitled " A Recapitulation of the Proceedings
of the Finance Committee, and of their Reports. With
considerations for the further Prosecution of such In
quiries." 15th. — Both Houses went up with the Address upon
the War. The King read his answer with great spirit
and energy. In the House of Commons, Mr. Pitt
moved for the revival of the former Bank Committee,
adding Lord Belgrave instead of Mr. Povrys (created a
peer).* Sir John Sinclair desired to know whether the
Finance Committee was to be revived. Mr. Pitt said he
was so far inclined to the measure, that he should take
an early opportunity of stating to the House the
measures actuaUy taken by the Executive Government
towards carrying into effect such of the recommenda
tions of the Committee as appeared to be practicable.
* By the title of Lord LUford.
I 4

120 DIARY OF LORD COLCHESTEE. [Ch. VII.
The vote of 110,000 seamen (instead of 120,000 ac-
cordmg to last year's vote) being proposed, Mr. Hussey
objected to any reduction, and Lord Arden stated that
the number borne upon muster had been 116,000 or
117,000. IQth  In the House of Commons I gave notice of
moving, to make the 7th and 8th Resolutions for the
Promulgation of Statutes, standing orders.
17 th. — The Speaker and WUUam Ley being of opinion
that resolutions of a former session having of course
ceased with that session, it was necessary to move those
resolutions anew, and then to make them (so renewed)
standing orders, I accordingly took this course, and
the 7th and 8th resolutions were made standing
orders. Mr. Ryder asked my leave to obtain from the
Speaker my papers on the Finance Committee and its
reports, in order that Mr. Pitt might take them with
him to HoUwood on Sunday.
Bankes and Gifford are the two editors of the new
weekly paper, to appear to-morrow — the " Anti-
Jacobin." 20th. — In the House of Commons, Mr. Wyndham
moved the resolutions upon the Army Estimates, and
noticed the omission of any charge for the War Office
salaries, inasmuch as a Fee Fund was to be established,
and fixed salaries to be given in Ueu of fees, according
to the recommendation of the Finance Committee. At
the same time he argued at considerable length in dis
paragement of the very measure which he recommended
the House to adopt.
21s^. — Ryder told me that my Finance Committee
Papers, which he had received from the Speaker, were
left in the hands of Mr. Pitt ; that they had looked into
them at HoUwood on Sunday, but the Budget was so
much more urgent, that their whole attention had been
occupied by that subject. The Speaker also told me
that Mr. Pitt was much pleased with them; and he
promised that he would have them returned to me.

Dec. 1797.] FINANCE EEPOETS. 121
23rd  Mr. Pitt asked me in the House of Commons
whether I had any objections to his naming that day
fortnight for moving to refer the report of the Finance
Committee to a Committee of the whole House, and
considering of the re-appointment of the Committee;
and, upon iny assenting, he expressed also his satis
faction at the papers which had been communicated to
him, and gave notice to the House for Tuesday, Dec.
7th. H. Addington also expressed his own satisfaction
with respect to these papers which Mr. Pitt had lent him,
2Ath  Mr. Pitt opened his proposed plan of trebling
the assessed taxes. Neither Mr. Fox, Mr. Grey, nor
Mr. Sheridan present.
27th  House of Commons. The Tewkesbury re
turn of there having been no election on account of a
mistake in the hour of giving notice, was disposed of
by allowing fourteen days for any petition, before the
House could order a new writ.
30th. — Called on Mr. Way, and heard the arrange
ments made about the Clerk of the Papers in the
King's Bench. The supposed value of the office is from
1700Z. to 2000?. nett annual receipt. I understood
5000/. to have been paid for it. Lord Kenyon had no
share in the appointment; he only did not disapprove
of the nominee.
Monday, Dec. Ath  House of Commons. Mr. Pitt
brought forward his detaUed resolutions upon the Treble
Assessed Taxes. In the course of the debate, Mr. Pierre-
point declared his regret that no part of the Royal
Family contributed to the taxes for the present support
of the war. Mr. Tierney joined in the same regret.
The Speaker (the House being in a Committee) from
the gallery, spoke to declare his knowledge of the in
tention of several to contribute beyond the obligations
of law, whose habits of expenditure would not other
wise subject them to a fair proportion of the public
burdens in comparison with their means. Division for
the Resolutions, 214; against, 15.
5th. — The Speaker told me of the plan settled vsith

122 DIAEY OP LORD COLCHESTER. [Ch. VH.
HatseU for arranging the matter of Enclosure BUls by
the Lords, likely to be by them communicated to the
Commons. We had a conversation also upon the volun
tary contributions. The consideration of the Finance
Committee's Reports was postponed by Mr. Pitt till
Monday, 18th.
7th. — Mr. Tierney moved for an account of Lord
Buckingham's TeUership, for the last four years; its
profits, deductions, &c. Notice of motion upon the
16th Finance Report for Thursday, the 14th. Debate
for the second reading of the Assessed Tax BiU : for
Monday next, 58 ; for Thursday, 5.
Sth. — Mr. Nichol's motion for Umiting salaries, &c.
of officers during pleasure under the Crown, made and
withdrawn. See the excellent speech of Mr. Pitt.
10th. — Ryder mentioned his having been at work
the day before with Mr. Pitt, upon the Finance Re
ports ; and that they are much assisted by my papers,
which enabled them also to check some similar papers
drawn up by Rose.
11th. — Dined at Mr. Pitt's. At coming away Mr.
Pitt thanked me for my papers which I had lent him
through Ryder. Expressed his satisfaction with them ;
and desired to have half an hour's conversation with
me before the business came on in ParUament, as there
were some points, and particular sums stated as savings,
which he wished to have more fully explained.
14^A  Second reading of Increased Assessed Tax
Bill : Opposition came down for the first time *, except
* Mr. Fox and most of his immediate foUowers had latterly, as a general
rule, absented themselves from all discussions in ParUament ; and at a great
meeting of his constituents held in October of this year, Mr. Fox had justi
fied his conduct on this point to them by an assertion that through the
exertion by the Mmister of undue influence upon Members of ParUament,
and especially upon the country gentlemen, he had secured himself a ma
jority, which conducted every thing in such a manner that he himself
" could not serve either his country or his constituents by attendance in
Parliament." N.B. At this time the Duke of Leeds wrote Mr, Abbot a letter which
led to a long correspondence, the Duke expressing a wish that Mr. Abbot
should not vote for the increase of the Assessed Taxes, and Mr. Abbot
avowing (with sincere regi-et) that he conceived it to be his duty, in the

Dec. 1797.] THANKSGIVING DAY. 123
Mr. Grey, absent in the country. Little was said
about this secession by Ministers or by themselves.
Division at 12 o'clock. For it, 175 ; against it, 50.
15th. — House of Commons. Mr. Tierney's motion
for an address upon the improper increase of patronage
and expense by the divisions of the State officers into
three departments. Negatived without a division, or
even a speech from anybody but Mr. Tierney, in sup
port of the motion.
17th. — Went at three to Mr. Pitt's upon the as
sessed taxes, according to a letter of invitation. There
were present the Attorney and Solicitor-General, Steele,
Ryder, Rose, Long*, Sargent, Hawkins Browne, Douglas,
Yorke, Lord Carysfort, Elford, Bragge, Perceval,
Serjeant Adair, Burdon, and Shaw Lefevre. Mr. Pitt
stated to us the outline of his proposed alterations and
modifications; stating his own most sincere opinion
that, as matters now stood, it was absolutely and indis
pensably necessary to carry through such a measure
for raising a considerable part of the supplies within
the year. Its computed produce he now put at
5,000,000?. We came away, after some desultory con
versation, at 5 o'clock.
ISth. — In consequence of a message from Mr. Way,
I called upon him, and the subject of his conversation
was the patronage and grants under the Chief Justices
according to Stat. 6 Edw. VI. 6.
House of Commons. Committee on Assessed Taxes
BUl. For Speaker's leaving the chair, 174 ; against it, 19.
19th  At eight went to the House of Commons,
when the House was called over and went to St. Paul's.f
existing circumstances, to support that measure ; he offered at once to resign
his seat for Helston, but to that the Duke would not consent; and the corre
spondence terminated by his leaving Mr. Abbot entirely free to follow his
¦ own judgment for the future in all matters that should be brought before
Parliament. The whole coiTespondence is given at the end of this year.
* Afterwards Lord Famborough.
t The occasion was that of a general thanksgiving having been appointed
on this day "for the several victories obtained hy His Majesty's fleets."
The King, the Royal Family, both Houses of Parliament, the Foreign Mi
nisters, and a great number of naval officers who had been present in the
different battles, went in procession from Palace-yard to St. Paul's, and
returned in the same order.

124 DIARY OP LORD COLCHESTER. [Ch. VH.
Returned at half-past three. The King weU received
everywhere : Mr. Pitt not ill received.
A beautifully bright and mUd day. Many of the
window sashes were taken out from the houses in the
Strand and Fleet Street for the spectators to see the
procession. No accident anywhere. In the church
the presenting the French, Spanish, and Dutch flags
had a remarkably impressive effect upon the whole
assembly of persons.
20th  Went to the levee. The King talked to me
about the rank and habit of King's Serjeants, &c.
House of Commons. Went through part of the
Assessed Tax Bill in a Committee.
21st. — House of Commons. Further progress of
Assessed Tax Bill in Committee.
22nd. — The Speaker desired me to move a resolution
respecting the Private Acts, so as to make it optional
in the parties to pay for the printing, and have their
Acts made Public. I moved it accordingly, and carried
it to the Lords for their concurrence.
The House in a Committee went through the rest of
the Assessed Tax Bill, and rose at twelve. Several
divisions on the clauses of reUef to particular clauses.
N. B, The American Congress use HatseU's book as
authority for their proceedings.
2Sth  1 reported that I left with the Lords our
resolutions about Private Bills. The House of Com
mons went into consideration of report of the BiU for
increasing the Assessed Taxes. Rose at twelve.

Copies of Correspondence between the DuJce of Leeds and Mr.
Abbot, on the offer made by the latter to resign his seat in
Parliament, im, consequence of his differing from the DuJce
on the question of the increase of the Assessed Taxes.
North Mims, Dec. I3th, 1797.
Dear Sir, — Although convinced of the necessity of raising
very large supplies under our present difficulties, I disapprove
so extremely of the very oppressive, as well as vexatious, project
brought forward by Mr. Pitt, who surely might have devised

Dec. 1797.] ASSESSED TAXES BILL. 125
some other means far less liable to objection, and infinitely more
productive, that I could wish no person in Parliament whom I
have the honour to be connected with, should give it their support.
I understand many friends of Mr. Pitt have endeavoured to
persuade him (though in vain) to give it up ; but that he thinks
himself personally committed upon the event, and therefore,
coute qui coute, it is to be crammed down our throats.
Ever, my dear Sir, affectionately yours, Leeds.
C. Abbot, Esq. North Mims, Dec. 81st, 1797.
My Lord, — Undoubtedly the measure for increasing the
Assessed Taxes must bear very heavily on everybody , but I
have the satisfaction to inform your Grace that, in the debate of
last night, it was declared that great alterations are to be made
in the Bill when it is in Committee, and such as, it is hoped,
will remove the main objections to its present tendency.
I have the honour to be, my Lord,
Your Grace's most faithful Servant, C. Abbot.
PaU MaU, Jan. 2nd, 1798.
Dear Sir, — Notwithstanding the several alterations made in
the Increased Assessment Bill by the Committee, the same
serious objections to its principle still remain in my mind, that
I ventured to mention to you in an earlier stage of its progress
through the House of Commons.
I still consider it as an oppressive and vexatious measure,
notwithstanding the several modifications it has undergone ; its
oppressive operation has indeed very properly been removed
from certain objects, and has fallen with increased weight on
others, certainly more able to bear it without absolute destruc
tion; but for its vexation when carried into effect, that still
retains its original force unabated, though not quite undisguised,
as it, in many instances, is introduced under the specious name
of relief.
Such being my opinion of this (in my mind) ill-judged, im
politic, and violent measure, it must be needless to point out the
conduct I most certainly wish any parliamentary friend of mine
to adopt, with respect to such a Bill passing into a law : at all
events, I flatter myself with the hopes that you, my dear Sir, will
not think it necessary to support it with your vote any further.
Believe me, my dear Sir,
Your very affectionate and faithful Servant, Leeds.
C. Abbot, Esq.

126

DIARY OF LORD COLCHESTER. [Ch. VII.

North Mims, Jan. 4th, 1798.
My dear Lord,— In consequence of your Grace's former letter
upon the subject of the Increased Assessment Bill, I have not
failed to bestow the fullest and most anxious attention upon the
principle of the measure itself, and upon the successive modifi
cations which the Bill has received in its progress through the
Committee, and upon the Eeport; and, after all its mitigations,
nobody can be more thoroughly aware than I am, that it must
still press with great weight indeed upon the middle and higher
classes of men in this country. But in this present contest for
our very existence as an independent nation, which our enemies
have now declared to be the sole issue of this war, I am deeply
persuaded that the sacrifices which we have yet to make on our
part for our defence must also be great indeed. And having no
other mode of raising the supplies proposed as an alternative for
my choice, I should think, according to the most deliberate
judgment which I have been able to form upon a reiterated
consideration of this question (erroneously very probably, but
certainly with the strictest sincerity) that I should be wanting
to my public duty if I withheld my assent from the further
progress of the Bill.
In forming this opinion, I assure your Grace most unaffect
edly, that after the long and great kindness which I have ex
perienced from your Grace's friendship, it has been with real
regret that I have found myself under the necessity of think
ing differently from yourself upon a political measure of such
magnitude. And I should have been infinitely gratified if I had
been able to bring my mind to the same conclusions.
Circumstanced nevertheless as I feel myself, your Grace, I am
certain, would be the first to be surprised, if my conduct and
opinions were formed at variance with each other upon subjects
of the greatest public importance and in times of the greatest
public difficulty.
Should your Grace, however, think it more expedient that
in future the political sentiments of your parliamentary friends
should be similar to your own, I hope that no personal consider
ation of goodwill towards me will prevent you from exercising a
discretion upon what your Grace alone is competent to decide.
And, in any event, I assure you that the remembrance of your uni
form kindness will continue to attach me most sincerely to the per
sonal interests of your Grace, and of every branch of your family.
I have the honour to be ever, with the greatest respect,
Your Grace's most obliged and faithful Servant, C. Abbot.
The Duke of Leeds,

Jan. 1798.] CORRESPONDENCE WITH DUKE OF LEEDS. 127
North Mims, Jan. 4th, 1798.
Dear Sir, — Although I must confess myself both disappointed
and hurt at the contents of your letter of the 2nd inst., I cannot
but acknowledge the very polite and friendly manner in which
they are expressed.
Admitting to the utmost extent the necessity of raising large
supplies to meet the formidable difficulties we have to encounter,
I still disapprove of the specific measure in question, as being
oppressive and vexatious, inconsistent with sound policy, and not
even justified by necessity.
Such being the sentiments I entertain of the increased Assess
ment Bill, and having communicated them to those friends in
Parliament with whom I flattered myself I was politically as
well as personally connected, I certainly entertained a hope that
they might think their attendance no longer necessary during
the remainder of its progress through their House of Parliament ;
and I was the more sanguine in this expectation as I did not
recollect that either of them had taken any part in the debates
which took place, either in the former part of its discussion, or
while in Committee.
It certainly must be highly desirable to every person that the
political sentiments of their Parliamentary friends should cor
respond with their own, otherwise I do not see of what use
Parliamentary interest can be ; and surely there might be found
many objects more worth the trouble and expense of procuring
such interest, if affording no influence over the conduct of
friends of that description.
I must desire you not to think of retiring at present, but that
you will be convinced of the continuance of that sincere personal
esteem and regard to which you have long been justly entitled,
and of the little probability there is of your being in future
troubled on any political subject, by him who will ever remain.
Dear Sir, your very faithful and affectionate friend, Leeds.
C. Abbot, Esq. PaU Mall, Jan. 5th, 1798.
My Lord, — I have the honour this morning of receiving your
Grace's letter of yesterday, communicating to me your Grace's
sentiments upon the influence of your Parliamentary interest
over the conduct of your Parliamentary friends, which certainly
I have no right to controvert. But such being their tenour,
although your Grace is pleased to desire that I will not think of
retiring at present, yet your Grace must pardon me for thinking
it absolutely necessary under these circumstances that I should

1-28 DM.RY OP LORD COLCHESTER. [Cu. VH.
retire now. And I cannot but persuade myself tbat your Grace
will, upon reflection, think me justified in this determination,
when I recollect the footing upon which I originally accepted
the honour of being introduced to my present seat ; evinced still
more plainly by the circumstances which occurred on the first
great question that arose after I was returned to the House of
Commons ; and which, I had every reason to believe, were not
unsatisfactory to your Grace's sentiments respecting the mode of
conduct which I was at liberty to pursue, although in the par
ticular instance it had the misfortune to differ from your own.
I am sure that I shall also be pardoned for proceeding to call
to your Grace's recollection as a justification of my continuing
to hold the same opinions, that, previous to the general election
in 1796, with your Grace's approbation, I actually declined the
offer of another seat in Parliament for my own native town,
where my political conduct was left to my own free choice.
Such, therefore, being my principles upon the subject, which
upon these grounds I had understood also to have your Grace's
concurrence, I am persuaded that, in consequence of the intima
tion now given to me, I ought not, in justice to myself or to your
Grace, to delay quitting my present situation. And I do now
consider myself as having actually resigned it, postponing my
application for the Chiltern Hundreds, only till I can hear from
your Grace at what time it would be most convenient to your
own arrangements that the election should be brought on.
The present difference which I have to lament between your
Grace's sentiments and my own, not resting, as I apprehend,
upon any question of general politics, but upon the precise
tenure of the seat, perhaps it might be unnecessary for me to
explain myself in any respect on that subject. Lest, however,
your Grace should include any such considerations in your
present determination, I think I owe it to your Grace to state
explicitly, that no personal attachment to those who are now in
Administration, nor any personal disinclination to those who
oppose them, has at any time governed my conduct in Parliament:
but the settled opinion that the general system of the present
Government is that alone by which the safety of the country
(however dearly bought) can be maintained. And the language
and conduct of the present Opposition, made plainer from day
to day, threaten the utmost danger to all orders of the State, and
to the genuine liberties of the British Constitution, leaving me
no hesitation as to the public part to be taken, whatever be the
last issue, and come it whenever it may.
Upon any other subject I should think myself under the

Jan. 1798.] CORRESPONDENCE WITII DURE OP LEEDS. 129
necessity of making great apologies to your Grace for the length
of this letter ; and, as I can most entirely distinguish between
the political difference which I have now many causes for
regretting, and your Grace's private and personal kindness for
me, I beg leave to assure your Grace that I remain most un-
feignedly and unalterably,
]My Lord, your Grace's very faithful servant, C. Abbot.
The Duke of Leeds. North Mims, Jan. 9th, 1798.
Dear Sir, — I cannot but apprehend from the marked distinc
tion between the words " not at present " and " now," in your
letter of the Sth, that you have put a different sense on a passage
in mine of the 4th, than that it was meant to convey.
" I must de.sire you not to think of retiring at present," were,
if I mistake not, the very words I made use of; expressing (as I
meant) a wish not only to deprecate the act of vacating your
seat, but the very idea of such a step as the result of what had
passed between us in respect to the Bill in question ; and in the
latter part of that letter I assure you of the little probability of
my hereafter troubling you on political subjects ; and, of course,
your Parliamentary conduct being hereafter to be considered as
totally free from any interference whatever on my part.
I cannot add a word more to what I stated respecting Par
liamentary connections ; my position on that subject I thought
could admit of no exception, unless such as might arise from
special circumstances by no means applicable to the present
question. I perfectly remember our taking different lines on the Sedition
Bill, which I was sorry for ; but I also recollect our having a
good-humoured conversation on the subject, in which I mentioned
my forgiving your vote for the sake of your speech ; in which,
you may recollect, you had very ably attacked one of Fox's ill-
judged (to say no worse of it) assertions. I confess I cannot
recollect any special condition or engagement whatever being
entered into on your first Election for Helston; but perfectly
remember your declining Abingdon in favour of your former
seat, at the General Election in 1796; a preference which I
thought highly flattering ; I likewise remember with gratitude,
the obliging offer which you, my dear sir, and Mr. Eichards
made, of vacating your seats if desirable, on my son's account.
I cannot but regret your supposing such a step expedient in
consequence of what has recently passed : of this, however, you
alone are competent to decide; and I cannot but reflect with
VOL. I. K

130 DIAKY OP LORD COLCHESTER. [Ch. VH.
real concern that a mere misunderstanding (in the strictest sense
of the word) should be likely to produce an effect which a much
more serious difference could (in my mind) alone have justified.
At all events, however, I shall remain unalterably, dear Sir,
Your very faithful and affectionate friend, Leeds.
C. Abbot, Esq. Wimpole, Jan. 14th, 1798.
My Lord, — My absence from London and the interruption of
the post have delayed my answering your Grace's last letter and
acknowledging the very obliging terms in which it is expressed.
I am happy to find that, although my parliamentary conduct
may have occasionally differed from that which would have had
more of your Grace's approbation, yet your Grace does not con
ceive that there has been on my part any breach of engagement
or condition expressed, implied, or understood. And, as it
appears to be your wish that I should continue in my present
seat, and, as I suppose, there cannot now remain any doubt in
your Grace's mind of my determination not to sit in Parliament
without the perfect liberty of regulating my pubhc conduct by
my own judgment alone, I shall certainly have the sincerest
satisfaction in owing my place there to your Grace's friendship
and good offices.
If, however, any thing should have yet occurred which may
induce your Grace to prefer that I should vacate the seat, for
your disposal to any other person under any circumstances, your
Grace, upon the present occasion, will have only to intimate
your desire in a single line, and I shall readily and instantly
take my part accordingly.
Permit me to assure you, that in every situation of life I
shall be anxious to testify the sincere respect and attachment
with which I have the honour to be. My Lord,
Your Grace's obliged and faithful Servant, C. Abbot.
The Dnke of Leeds. North Mims, Jan. I7th, 1798.
Dear Sir, — I was favoured with yours of the 14th, from
Wimpole, yesterday morning, and am happy to find that neither
the public nor your immediate constituents are likely to be
deprived of your services at so important a moment as the pre
sent, in consequence of what has passed between us on the
subject of the Increased Assessment Bill.
Nothing could be further from my thoughts than the least

Jan. 1798.] CORRESPONDENCE WITH DUKE OF LEEDS. 1.31
suspicion that you could at any time be capable of a Ijreach of
engagement or condition, whatever, or however expressed.
Wliat the nature of our parliamentary connection might in my
own opinion imply, and in whatever light I may have understood
it, it is now needless to discuss.
Your determination not to sit in Parliament without the
perfect liberty of regulating your public conduct by your own
judgment alone, is highly honourable ; and I can only wish your
example were more generally followed in both houses.
I cannot however but flatter myself that, from my letter of
the 4th inst., you are already sufficiently convinced of my not
troubling you in future on political subjects, even supposing you
had adopted a less decisive line of conduct. You will, I trust,
accept my best acknowledgments for your polite offer to accom
modate my wishes respecting any other person, or any other
circumstances ; but, on the present occasion, I have nothing to
trouble you with on that subject.
Believe me, dear Sir,
Your very faithful and affectionate Servant, Leeds.
C. Abbot, Esq.

132 DIARY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. VIH.

CHAP. VIII.
1798.
VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTION FUND.  EEPORT OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE.
 EETURNS OF THE EMOLUMENTS OF OFFICE FEOM THE JUDGES, ETC. —
PEOPEIETY OF DEMANDING SUCH EETUENS DOUBTED, BUT ESTABLISHED.
 SUGGESTIONS FOB AJIENDMENTS IN THE CUSTOMS OFFICE BILL.
Wednesday, January 3rd. — House of Commons.
Debate on the third reading of the Assessed Tax BiU.
At half-past eleven, Mr. Pitt moved to adjourn the
debate. Sixteen or seventeen persons had spoken, but
none of the leaders on either side.
Ath. — The adjourned debate was resumed, and at
half -past four in the morning the House divided upon
the third reading. Ayes, 202; noes, 75.
Mr. Fox spoke from half-past eleven till three in the
morning. Mr. Pitt from three till four.
5th. — Wickham fixed as Under Secretary to the
Duke of Portland in the Home Department.
23rd  Went to the Bank and subscribed for 500^.
in the book for " Yoluntary Contributions and Assessed
Taxes," payable in six instahnents at the same periods as
the Increased Assessment imposed by the Act.* Mr.
Newland, the Cashier, by his language and demeanour,
very much discountenanced the whole proceeding. He
stated the amount of all the moneys subscribed (either
* The " Voluntaiy Contribution Fund " was set on foot in consequence,
apparently, of Mr. Addington's suggestion (mentioned above, Dec. 4th), hy
the Lord ChanceUor, Lord Ronmey, Lord Kenyon, and other supporters of
Tsh. Pitt, who, with the Minister himself, subscribed 2000/. a year. The
King subscribed one-third of his Privy pm-se, or 20,000^. a year as long as
the war lasted. At the end of this year Mr. IPitt announced in the House
of Commons that the entire sum thus contributed would amount to
2,000,000^. But the contribution, as weU as the increase of the Assessed
Taxes, were both discontinued at the end of 1799, being superseded by the
Income Tax. — See Life of Lord Sid-nundli, vol. i. p. 198.

Jan. 1798.] VOLUNTAEY CONTEIBUTION FUND. ' 133
as contribution or payment by anticipation), in all the
books, tobe at this time about 85,000/., but not 90,000/.
In my subscription, my meaning was to charge myself
with a fair fiftli of my net disposable income :
1. Because having voted for imposing one-tenth
upon others, I was willing to prove my own opinion
of the propriety of the measure by my own conduct.
2. As a professional man holding a public office, I
thought such an example and tribute the more proper.
3. As having already recommended and being likely
to have occasion to recommend again for the Finance
Committee the regulation and suppression of offices,
such a conduct on my part seemed to be more pecu
harly necessary.
25th. — I went to the Speaker to relate to him the
discouragement shown at the Bank to the voluntary
contribution. Lord Bridport came in while we were
talking about it, and afterwards Mr. Pitt.
2Qth. — Saw the Speaker. It was to mention to me
the King's intended subscription of 20,000/. a year,
viz. one third of his privy purse during the war ; that
the King had no savings whatever ; that even this sum
would now be borrowed; and that the Hanoverian
savings were an absolute trust for the Electorate.
After the particular difi^erences in Parhament upon the
measure of opening voluntary subscriptions, it was not
difficult to understand that there might have been sub
sequent differences in the Cabinet; that Lord Gren
ville had subscribed, but with iU wiU ; that the
Speaker meant even on the birthday (if the King had
given him the opportunity) to mention the subject;
that Mr. Pitt had at length written on Monday last ;
and that on the preceding evening he had received the
King's answer, couched in the handsomest terms ; that
the measure would now be carried on with spirit ; the
Duke of Gloucester had only waited for the King. The
Bank Directors would call a meeting of the Proprietors
to subscribe a part of their stock. The Corporation of
London would contribute. A general plan for receiving
K 3

134 DUEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE, [Ch. VHI.
contributions would be adopted all over the kingdom,
and even in the West and East Indies ; which at present
paid nothing by taxation towards the expenses of the
Empire and its estabhshment.
Mr. Pitt was dining alone with the Speaker when the
King's letter came, and with Mr. Pitt's approbation
the Speaker had written his note to me. He had not
yet mentioned the matter to any body but Bragge.
A Treasury minute would be made to-day, and com
municated to the Bank. Mr. Pitt had shown him a
letter from the Marquis of Buckingham, fifteen years
ago, stating " that his conscience would not sufifer him
to profit by the increased emoluments of his tellership
so far as they derived their increase from the extra
ordinary amount of the pubhc expenditure."
Mr. Pitt thought that he had perhaps too far main
tained the Marquis of Buckingham's strict right to the
unlimited profits of this office; and that it must be
altered. I related to the Speaker the substance of a con
versation which I had had with the Archbishop of
Canterbury on the subject of the assessed taxes, and the
voluntary contribution. The Speaker said that his own
reason for making 2000/. the measure of his subscription
was that it amounted to about the sum which Parhament
had given him out of the Consolidated Fund, in addition
to the former profits of his Speakership. That in fact it
was more than one-fifth of his income ; but that the
strict fifth would have carried too much the appearance
of minute calculation. He spoke of my contribution
as one of the handsomest things that had been done, and
I stated to him upon what footing I had thought it a
proper step for me.
He wished to see the Jacobin " list of the majority
upon the Assessed Tax Bill ; with their reasons."
When I went to Westminster Hall I wrote to the
Archbishop of Canterbury to acquaint him ofthe King's
intention. Sunday, Feb. Ath — Mr. Poole called upon me to men
tion Mr. Colquhoun's idea of a Board of Police Revenue,

Feb. 1798.] FINANCE EEPORT. 135
to be constituted by a union of the Hackney Coach
Office, and Hawkers' and Pedlars' Office, engrafting
upon it such other regulations of Police as might
become a productive source of revenue.
Colonel Herries mentioned to me his intention of pro
posing an auxiliary body of Infantry to be attached to
our Light Horse Volunteers, and to make a joint
Legion. He also (in a long and warm conversation,
to which Phelps ofthe L.H.V. was a party) agreed to
the propriety of declaring against the proposal of any
ahenation of the funds of the Corps for any pubhc pur
pose foreign to the Institution. And also against any
individual subscription of sums to be given upon any
occasion in the name or on account of the Corps.
Sth. — Mr. Pitt moved to refer the Finance Report
to a Committee on Monday se'nnight; having pre
viously asked me whether that day would suit me. I
mentioned that there were several departments to which
the Treasury had written, but from which they had
received no answer when their last account of the pro
ceedings were printed ; I also inquired whether he had
any special instructions to propose, or object to point
out; but he said "those which we had suggested as
unexamined ; and the same line of inquiry would be as
proper as any, and we should have half an hour's con
versation to go through the office point by point, as to
what had been done."
20^A. — At a quarter past twelve, went to Mr. Pitt
by appointment ; he went through my summary of all
the measures recommended by the Committee, article
by article, noticing the consequent measures taken by
the Treasury, or the reasons against their adoption.
At the end of this he agreed in the propriety of our
proceeding upon the particular departments pointed
out in my report for further consideration. He agreed
also in the utility of having another annual account
of the total revenues (like Irving's table in the 4th
report), and an annual account of the increase and
diminution of establishments. He suggested also the
K. 4

136 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. VKI.
propriety of a report during the session, of the addition
to the public debt ; and another report stating histori
cally how far the report of the preceding session had
been carried into execution.
Upon this latter point he suggested the convenience
of such a report as Mr. Rose had formerly laid before
the Committee. I stated, in answer to this, my objec
tions to present to Parliament a report which was not
our report, when we were responsible for it. And the
particular omission of the reduction of the bank allow
ance in 1786, whereby 24,000/. a year had been saved
to the public.
21st. — In the House of Commons, Mr. Pitt; without
preface, went into the Committee upon the Finance
Report, and moved for leave to bring in one Bill for the
suppression of the vacant patent offices in the Customs,
and the providing a Superannuation Fund ; postponing
any regulation respecting the fees of the outdoor offices :
a second BiU for abolishing Holydays in several de
partments ; and a third for transferring the Salt office
to the Excise, and a fourth for expediting the collection
of the Land and Assessed Taxes in Scotland. He
postponed any Bill for the transferring the Hawkers'
and Pedlars' and Hackney Coach offices to other re
venue Departments ; it having been recently suggested
to him that some new arrangement might be proper
with respect to these offices, by superadding other
regulations of a similar nature connected with matters
of police, and not with a view to the production of
Revenue. He also moved to revive the Committee, and sug
gested that after these BiUs and others which it might
be found necessary to superadd, were carried into laws ;
and, after such other communications should be made
to the House as were in train respecting the measures
taking by the Executive Government, he should pro
pose to refer it to the Finance Committee to report on
the whole matter how far their recommendation had
been carried into efiect, and how far they were satisfied

Pbb. 1798.] CIVIL LIST. 137
with the objections stated to such as it might be thought
expedient not to carry into effect.
He proposed also that, as the reports themselves
which the diligence of the Committee had already pre
pared, were voluminous, and the communications of the
Executive Government were as yet incomplete, that the
Committee of the whole House should be kept open,
until gentlemen had an opportunity of making them
selves masters of the whole subject ; when the discussion,
if any was desired, would be more conveniently taken
up. Accordingly the Committee of the whole House
was adjourned to Monday se'nnight.
In the House, Mr. Pitt having desired my leave to
have my MSS. observations, &c. copied, I had assented
to it ; but preferring afterwards to have them copied
under my own eye, and to prevent them passing into
strange hands, I wrote to Mr. Pitt, promising, without
loss of time, to send him a copy of the papers instead
of the originals, in which he willingly acquiesced.
22nd. — Inthe Finance Committee I was again called
to the chair, and we made orders for returns from the
Privy Council Office, the Privy Seal Office, the Mint,
the Stationery Office, Chelsea Hospital, Greenwich
Hospital, the Crown Lands, the Crown Woods and
Forests, according to a general form of return, which I
had prepared for the purpose.
23rd — Finance Committee. Made orders for returns
respecting Police Offices, Criminal Prisoners, Convicts
within Great Britain, Convicts abroad.
2Ath. — Westminster meeting at the Thatched
House Tavern. Present, Archbishop of York, Bishop
of Exeter, Bishop of Carlisle, Bishop of Rochester.
The Lord Chief Baron, Mr. Baron Hotham, Sir W.
Dolben, Lord Amherst, Lord Kinnoul, and others.
2Qth — ^Saw the Speaker upon the subject of the
proposed addition to our Committee; and upon the
propriety of our Committee entering upon the Civil
List and Courts of Westminster HaU.
N.B. No addition was ever made; though parti-

138

DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. Vm.

cular persons were frequently moved as intended to be
added. In the Committee ordered Naval Accounts.
Thursday, March Sth.— Saw the Speaker upon the
subject of the CivU List, and precedents of cases in which
the House of Commons interposed without previous
message from the Crown, viz. 1701, 5th May and 23rd
May, and 1780, AprU 6th, &c. Also upon inquiries
into Courts of Justice, and Duchy of Lancaster. Also
on the new Land Tax plan.
Mr. Gibbes's appeal against the order for suspending
him from his seat in the CouncU of Barbadoes, was
heard in the Privy CouncU before the Lord President
(Lord Chatham), the Chancellor, Duke of Portland,
and Chief Justice Eyre, and was argued for Mr. Gib
bes by Grant and Perceval. The result not made
known, it being customary first for the Privy CouncU
to report to the King.
Nepean, Secretary to the Admiralty, told me that the
measure of seizing the French fishingboats was known
upon the coast of France even before the order had
been signed by the Secretary of State for the War De
partment, to be sent to the Admiralty.
13^/i. — Spoke to Way and Forster upon the subject of
the inquiries by the Finance Committee. Saw Richards
at night on the same subject. Consulted Burton also.
15^/j. — In the Finance Committee, issued orders for
accounts of the salary and emoluments of the ChanceUor,
the Master of the RoUs, the Chief Justices of the dif
ferent courts; and examined the Deputy Custos Brev.
of the Common Pleas, the Secondary of the King's
Bench, &c. &c.
21st. — Saw Mr. Secretary Dundas upon the subject
of the Signet Office.
22nd. — At twelve I went to Chief Justice Eyre. I
assured him that (talking with him upon the same
footing of private acquaintance as he had used to me)
there could be no wish more strongly impressed upon
the Committee than the desire of maintaining the respect

Maboh, 1798.] FINANCE COMMITTEE. 139
due to the Judges, consistently with the discharge of
their duty to the public. We went over various points,
and we particularly mentioned the Error Office as that
from which he derived about 500/. a year : and the Chief
Justice of King's Bench, he supposed, about 1500/. a
year, " for which to be sure there was nothing to be
said." I mentioned to him that, consistently with all
that we had hitherto proposed in the way of Reform,
we were not hkely to propose any measure prejudicial
to the present rights of possession or patronage be
longing to persons now in office. He was to see the
ChanceUor by appointment at three.
Accidentally I met the Speaker at one, rode with him,
and discussed all the points ; and in conclusion he quite
agreed to the propriety of my opinions and conduct.
In the evening, at the Ancient Concerts, Eyre said
the Chancellor was piqued ; that he foresaw an entangle
ment ; he doubted the propriety of caUing upon Peers
in the form practised by the Committee. He also asked
if we were apprised of the Commission, &c. in 1733.
22nd  CaUed onthe Speaker, and heard all the same
points we discussed between him and the ChanceUor,
and the propriety of my conduct as Chairman in pro
ceeding in that personal communication to the Chan
cellor, &c., vindicated by the Speaker. Mr. Pitt had
been spoken to by the Chancellor, but was clear with
the Committee, and sturdy in his opinion of their right.
I satisfied the Speaker of the propriety and formality of
our proceeding. See 3 HatseU, 2nd Ed. p. 7, and Lord's
Journals, 30th March, 1608.
Memoranda. Upon the right of the Committee to
inquire into Courts of Justice, under the concluding
instructions given to them :
1. The general spirit of the instructions for inquiry
into expenditure and reductions.
2. The precise letter, viz. Salaries and Emoluments of
Public Officers. Are not officers in courts of justice
public '?
3. As to the inquiry being directed to any increase

140 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. VDl.
or diminution since 1782. If it be supposed that this
by implication restrains the inquiry to such offices alone
as were then inquired into, viz. by Commissioners of
Account and Inquiry.
Contra. 1. There was no inquiry dated 1782 ; for
the Commission of Accounts was erected 1780, and the
Commission of Inquiry 1786.
2. The debate upon which the Committee was op
posed did not proceed upon any reference to them ; and
the only specific instance was " Barracks." N.B. Mr.
Harrison says he mentioned " Lord Stormont's lucrative
office." 3. The only reference to those Commissioners was
by the Finance Committee itself; which in the Fourth
Report expressly says, " They conceive all public offices
to be within their instructions." In their Fourteenth
Report they say they begin their inquiries with such
only as have been previously examined, &c. ; and in
enumerating those which for want of time they have
not inquired into, they distinctly specify " Many other
public departments not reported upon by the Commission
of Accounts or of Inquiry, namely, the Privy Council
Office, &c. &c., the Courts of Westminster HaU, and the
Civil Government of Scotland, &c. &c."
The Committee was revived in Feb. 1798, for the
express purpose (as asked and admitted, and stated re
peatedly) of inquiring into those departments which
the Committee itself had stated itself to have stopped
short of only for want of time. (See my conversation
of Feb. Sth with Mr. Pitt.)
At Lady Harewood's Lord Auckland spoke to me
against the power and propriety of the Committee pro
ceeding to inquire into Greenwich Hospital.
25th. — Went to the Speaker by appointment. He
told me the ChanceUor had agreed to write to me ; and
the Speaker settled it with me that if it was urged I
might state to the Committee that objections had been
raised to the expediency of the inquiry into Courts of
Justice ; and by several Members of the House even to

March, 1798.] FINANCE COMMITTEE. 141
the competency of the Committee upon this subject under
its present powers ; and I might propose to the Com
mittee to apply to the House for information and direc
tions how to proceed ; as being desirous to fulfil our
duty, bi;it not to exceed the limits of that authority
which it was intended to give us.
2Qth. — In the Committee, Yorke and Carew objected
and doubted about the propriety of our proceeding upon
Courts of Justice, and suggested that there was a dis
position not to comply with our wishes. I dined at
Wickham's; and in the evening, upon reflecting that
these objections were such as required immediate atten
tion on the part of the Committee, I wrote to the nine
attending members to say that I should the next day
submit to their consideration a point respecting our
future proceedings.
27th. — Eight attended; Bankes* being engaged in
the Prisoners of War Committee. I stated the impro
priety of the Committee proceeding if they had doubts,
without resolving those doubts by applying to the
House for directions. Yorke opposed it as premature ;
because no refasal was as yet made ; and if any were
made we might think proper not to enforce our order ;
or even if a return were made we might not think fit to
report upon the subject. Carew opposed it, because he
thought the whole inquiry improper, and wished to get
rid of it by letting the matter drop in Committee. Ry
der opposed it, on doubts, both as to the propriety of
the inquiry and the propriety of applying to the House,
and wished precedents to be searched for. The rest of
the Committee thought the inquiry proper, but that it
was yet too early to suppose that there would be any
refusal to obey our orders.
Adjourned the consideration of this matter indefi-
* " At Westminster School began that friendship between Bankes and
myself which has lasted uninterruptedly to this time. During my profes
sional years there was necessarily a less frequent intercourse ; but from the
time of my entering Parliament it has never slackened, and I owe to his
steady affection many very important services in support and vindication of
my conduct officiaUy and personaUy." — C. A. 1817.

142 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. Vm.
nitely; leaving it open to resume the discussion when
ever fresh cause arose.
In the evening I wrote to the Speaker an account of
what had passed.
2Sth. — Lord Auckland came to me by appointment,
upon the subject of Greenwich Hospital. He objected
to the propriety of our inquiry, but read to me a
general statement of the Constitution, and particulars
of the establishment and its administration, which he
proposed to complete with any further particulars
which I would suggest. Lord Auckland desired me,
on the part of the ChanceUor, to speak to him on the
Courts of Justice, &c.
In the Committee we made orders to caU for returns
to most of our original orders issued in February.
In the House of Lords, I went to the ChanceUor on
the Woolsack, and told him that I understood from
Lord Auckland that he wished to speak with me. He
desired to see me at his house in the evening, I went
accordingly ; he received me very civiUy, He said he
wished to speak vpith me upon the subject of our orders,
which he had taken upon a common cause, on account
of his situation, and particularly from his having
nothing in his own instance to conceal from the pubhc
eye ; but that he was afraid we should not be masters
in the Committee of aU the consequences of our own
inquiry, and that the public, which had hitherto con
sidered the Courts of Justice with respect, would be led
to suppose abuses, and to treat them with disparage
ment; that all the detaUs would be laid open to the
public eye, which would begin to speculate upon points
to which the Committee itself did not advert, or mean
to attempt any charge, &c. &c. He admitted and U-
lustrated a variety of existing defects in the present
constitution of the courts, and particularly in Chancery;
he discoursed at large upon the decline and rise of busi
ness in the different branches of judicature during the
present century. He went into the whole history of
the Registrarship in Chancery, and the Duke of St.

March, 1798.] COUET OF CHANCEEY. 143
Albans' right. He mentioned that the present pay
ment was only 800/. a year to the Duke [N.B. It
is 640/.] ; and instanced this as a faUing off in the
quantity of business, it not being very probable that
Charles II. would have the right of giving 800/. a year
to NeU Gwynne, or that she would have accepted of
such an insignificant bounty. He spoke of the strange
state of the office of the Custos Brevium, when he was
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, when one of the
patentees was a woman, another a Catholic, another a
lunatic, and the fourth an infant. He referred to the
proceedings upon the Address of the House of Commons
in 1732, and the subsequent commission, and particu
larly urged a review (if any) by commission as the
fittest ; and pressed that if the Committee were to end
with proposing or causing a commission, the matter
might as well begin with a commission.
He mentioned also his own attempt to have bought
out the right of the Duke of St. Albans with Chancery
money, for the sake of improving the situation of the
* Registers, but that it failed, the Duke's right
being mortgaged. The ChanceUor also said that he
had to-day heard from the Lord- President of the Court
of Session in Scotland, who wished to know what he
was to do ; for, except the judge who had salaries and
no fees, aU the rest of the court was of officers, not paid
by the public, but deriving their emoluments from
their own earnings ; and that in England, where offices
were held as freeholds, the officer might allege that
tenure, and refuse to answer as to his profits.
To this I replied : Undoubtedly such a return might
be made, and in such a case it would also be for Parlia
ment to decide whether it chose to desist from its
inquiry. To all the abuses, &c., I said little; and
nothing at aU to controvert their existence. I stated
our object to be the examination of the establishments
in the Courts of Justice, with a view to apply the same
* "Word iUegible in MS.

144 DLyRY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Cu. VIII.
maxims of state economy as in other departments, viz.
where ancient offices appeared by lapse of time and
altered modes of business to have become pure sine
cures, to propose that (without disturbance to any
present right of possession or patronage), a plan should
be provided for gradually doing them away, and con
verting the profits of such offices into a saving to the
public, either (in case of the suitor) by abolishing the
fees, or by applying the amount to supply the present
inadequacy of payment to the Puisn^ Judges, and other
efficient officers, which might appear at present to be
underpaid; or even to establish a superannuation fund,
which might render it unnecessary to apply to Parha
ment when the cases were proper for affording a retreat
from the duties of active employment.
His remark upon this was that the Committee could
not do these things or ensure them, and that in the
meantime such places as Lord Mansfield's, in the
King's Bench, might be looked at by the public vsdth a
very different purpose. He mentioned that he had but
a few minutes' conversation with Mr. Pitt on the sub
ject many days ago, at Lord GrenvUle's office. That
he had recently seen Mr. John Yorke on the subject
(viz. Patentee Clerk of the Crovm), and that he un
derstood Mr. Carew, his son-in-law, and Mr. Charles
Yorke, his nephew, had opposed the inquiry, and that
Mr. Ryder had doubted.
¦ N.B, The ChanceUor said we had a right to look
into the Hanaper and Crown Offices, as really not
being parcel of the Court of Chancery. {Note  These
are the very places which Mr. John Yorke now holds.)
My answer to aU this was, that " we did not pubhsh
our debates, but that certainly any such objections by
these persons were very recent, as none such had been
stated tiU within these two days, and that the Com
mittee had, notwithstanding these doubts, nevertheless
persisted hi proceeding upon the inquiry; and that the
present situation was this, that all the orders were now
made and issued.

March, 1798.] COUET OP CHANCEEY. 14S
The ChanceUor said he supposed there was no occa
sion to be precipitate, and that nothing pressed for an
immediate answer. That something must be considered
of which it would be proper to do, and desired that I
would converse with the Speaker on the subject.
This, I said, I would certainly do, and take a very
early opportunity for the purpose.
The Chancellor then talked about Mr. Gibbes's
affairs, &c., and that the order must be rescinded as it
could not possibly stand, and the only question was, if
Mr. Gibbes were back or wished to reside and act there,
whether Governor Ricketts ought not to be recalled,
and that he had desired the Duke of Portland to see
General Morshead as to what had passed, &c. &c.
N.B. The Chancellor, after our resolution to report
upon the Courts of Justice was enforced, sent for the
order of Council upon Mr. Gibbes's affair that it might
be settled under his own directions. And the order
when made, although it rescinded the order of suspen
sion, contained a parenthesis " (whatever degree of
blame might be otherwise imputable to Mr. Gibbes)," or
to that effect.
29th. — By appointment met the Speaker; related aU
that had passed on the preceding day with the Chan
ceUor; agreed that for the present we should in the
Committee expect returns to our orders, but in the
meantime (if new doubts or occurrences made it proper)
we should come to the House for further directions.
In the Committee made some revenue orders.
31s^. — The House sat on the BUl for the Defence of
the Country.
Monday, April 2nd — Mr. Pitt opened his Land Tax
Redemption. 3rd — Went to the Speaker, who told me that Mr.
Pitt was fixed in his opinion that the Finance Commit
tee should proceed upon the Courts of Justice;, that
Ryder was a convert to this opinion; that the Chief
Justice ofthe Common Pleas had privately expressed to
the Speaker his entire readiness to conform to whatever
VOL. I. L

146 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. VIII.
was thought expedient, and that Mr. Pitt's wish was
that we should come to the House for an explanation
upon our objects of inquiry, which he would decidedly
maintain to the extent proposed by us. I mentioned
my wish to know Mr. Pitt's intentions about certain
accounts of revenue, &c., and suggested the time for his
making any special instructions upon that subject, for
having the other explanation also made. It was agreed
that I should see Mr. Pitt upon the whole matter.
Wilberforce's motion on the Slave Trade for leave to
bring in a BUl for the aboUtion within a time to be
limited. All the seceders attended, and Mr. Fox spoke.
For the motion, 83; against it, 87.
Ath  Went to Mr. Pitt by appointment. He agreed
to move the special instructions to the Finance Com
mittee for stating the accounts of Revenue, Debt, and
Reduction of Debt, as originally proposed by him at our
meeting in February. As to the powers of inquiry into
Courts of Justice, he thought that we ought not to
come to the House upon any loose surmises, and that,
for the present, matters had better rest as they were.
The Speaker, whom I saw before and after this
meeting, thought otherwise, and that we had sufficient
grounds for stating our situation to the House, and de
claring our intention to proceed, unless the House gave
us any intimation to the contrary.
In the Committee Rundle Ford came to me individu
ally from the Six Clerks' Office, to express their desire
that they might not be considered in contempt for not
obeying our order hitherto, as they had been directed
by the Lord ChanceUor to suspend their return.
The House divided upon the Land Tax Question at
eleven. For proceeding to a Committee, 105 ; against
it, 13.
5th. — Adjourned the Committee till after the holy-
days. Divided the papers between the Members of the
Committee. Qth  General Bentham came from the Admiralty
for his papers upon Naval Works; but they being in

April, 1798.] LETTEE TO MB. PITT. 147
the custody of the Committee which was adjourned,
the redelivery of them could not be considered.
7th. — At three o'clock in the morning got up to dress
and arm for the Light Horse Volunteers. At a quarter
before five was at the stables at Worship Street in con
sequence of orders the day before. At half-past five,
the first troop with the colonel and officers of that
troop and the adjutant went to the Tower to escort
O'Connor* and the other prisoners upon the road towards
Maidstone for their trial. The fourth troop remained
with the Lieutenant Colonel and its own officers, and
went to Gray's Inn Lane to wait for further orders.
At half-past nine a file arrived from Colonel Herries
with orders to acquaint us that he was proceeding with
out interruption on his road to meet a relief of the
Kentish Yeomanry Cavalry, and that we might be dis
missed. At ten I returned home.
12th. — Began to draw first report of the Finance
Committee, Second Session. (N.B. Afterwards called
23rd Report.) The subject to be the statement of the
Pubhc Revenue of Great Britain for 1797, according to
a new arrangement of matter, and in conformity to Mr.
Irving's abstract for 1796. Superadding observations
upon all new circumstances affecting the branches of
revenue reported upon last year, and giving a detailed
account of the rest which were not then enumerated or
described. Received a letter from the Lord President of Session
in Scotland, and sent my whole correspondence with
him to the Speaker.
lAth — Sent to Mr. Pitt the foUowing letter.
Dear Sir, — As I see that the third reading of the Customs
Office Bill stands for Monday next, I have looked into it again,
and am satisfied that it ¦will be necessary to move an amend-
* Arthur O'Connor was arrested with others, some of whom were mem
bers of the Corresponding Society, on a charge " of holding treasonable
correspondence with the French Government." They were acqiutted from
a deficiency of legal proof, though according to Lord CampbeU {Lives of tlie
Chancellors, vol. vi, p. 512), it is certain that the charge " was perfectly
well-founded." L 2

148 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Cn. VIII.
ment, by inserting the offices of " Customers at the out ports,"
amongst those which are to be abolished absolutely by the first
clause, instead of leaving them to be abolished and regulated
anew afterwards by the 2nd and 3rd clauses. That they
ought to be abolished absolutely and for ever was the opinion of
the Commissioners of Accounts. They say (15th Eep., p. 173),
" The office of Customer is wholly useless : ought in consistency
to have been suppressed upon the change introduced into the Cus
toms by the appointment of collectors subsequent to the year 1671,
and has been permitted to exist too long by about a century."
And, p. 175 : " We have arranged the officers into two classes.
The first comprehends the office of Customer, where it is ex
pedient that the whole office should be suppressed, &c. The
second contains the Patent Comptrollers and Patent Searchers,
where the regulation reaches no further than the sinecure branch
of each office, &c."
The present Board of Customs are also of opinion that these
customers and their deputies ought to be abolished; and they
have accordingly returned a list of 100 officers falling within
this class. See 4th Eep. Finance Committee, Appendix, B. 1,
p. 40, and C. 1, p. 50.
Knowing the multitude of more important objects with which
your attention is occupied I have taken the liberty of recalling
this matter to your recollection, which I did point out to your
notice in the Committee, and mentioned again to Mr. Eose upon
the Eeport. With these explanations I trust you will see the
necessity of this amendment, which I shall think it my duty to
move accordingly when the Bill is read a third time, if it is not
moved on the part of the Government ; which, on many accounts,
I should very much prefer. I have the honour to be, &c. &c.
C. Abbot.
IQth — Finance Committee met again. Rose spoke
to me in the House about the Customs Office Bill,
and put.it off till Wednesday, Sir Wm. Pulteney came
to me by appointment about proposed savings in the
Naval Service, &c., to the amount of 2,500,000/. per
annum, and promised to get leave from his friends to
communicate to me the particulars.
1. There are many old ships at each port irreparable,
but continued for the purpose of receiving certain
warrant officers, at a great expense of pay, provisions,
moorings, men to look after them, stores, &c.

April, 1798.] FINANCE COMMITTEE. 149
2. Church ships, slop ships, and hulks of different
sorts commanded by commissioned officers and crews,
most of them useless.
3. A crowd of gunboats, of little use heretofore;
some of them may be so at this time, if properly fitted
and commanded, but many are unfit from their con
struction, and are generally wretchedly manned and
commanded. 4. Agents of transports at aU the ports in England
and many abroad, of no use and much expense ; some
of them have lately been recalled.
5. Many transports at high freights, permitted to
remain unemployed at the Cape (some there have been
recalled), Lisbon, West Indies, &c.
6. Armed and hired cutters, an immense number:
most ofthem belonging to Dover, Winchelsea, Sandwich,
&c. ; half of them have hitherto been of no use.
7. Armed ships at a great expense, and in general
unfit either for defence or attack, and bad vessels in
aU respects.
8. Ships long kept in commission after they were
reported unfit for service, or were under great repair.
Army. — A vast expense incurred by removing
troops from place to place, and great inconvenience
occasioned thereby to the farmers and inhabitants.
Foreign Conquests. — The Cape, and the island of
Ceylon have each enormous establishments, which are
likely to be even increased. It can be shown as to
Ceylon, that it could be kept at an expense of from
60,000/. to 80,000/. ; and the revenue which the Dutch
drew from it exceeded that sum very much.
ISth. — Finance Committee examined Mr. Lewis
of the War Office. In the House, Mr. Rose played
me tricks about the third reading of the Customs Office
BiU. 19th. — Finance Committee examined the Comp-
troUer of the Stamp Office. In the House, Mr. Rose
attempted to play fresh tricks upon me about the third
reading of the Customs Office BiU.
I. 3

150 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. VIIL
20th  Saw the Speaker upon the subject of the
Customs BiU. In the Finance Committee. Examined
Admiral Pasley upon measures of retrenchment in the
dockyards, and divided upon the question of calhng
Sir W. Pulteney next. Ayes, 3 ; noes, 4. The like as
to calling Lord Keith. Ayes, A ; noes, 3.
In the House, a message from the King, announcing
the embarkation of troops and stores in France, Flan
ders, and Holland, for the invasion of this country ;_
and calling upon ParUament for measures adequate to
the crisis. Sheridan spoke (and professed for Fox in
his absence the same sentiments) of present cooperation
and service, with and under His Majesty's ministers
for the defence of the country — pronounced the
strongest invectives against France and French ty
ranny, barbarity, and perfidy, and exhorted to con
tributions and arms by all ranks. But he insisted
upon the impolicy of military measures against the
Irish; and denied the necessity of suspending the
Habeas Corpus, but on account of any conspiracies
supposed to exist in that country. An unanimous
address voted.
Then a message came from the Lords desiring the
House to continue sitting. Answer : — That the House
would continue sitting according to their Lordships'
desire. Then came a message from the Lords with a
Bill for suspending the Habeas Corpus Act, tiU the
1st of February next.
It was immediately read a first time.
Upon the motion for reading it a second time there
was a division : for it, 189 ; against it, 5 : viz. Sheridan,
Bonami, Thompson, Lord John Russell, Lord W. RusseU,
and the Tellers, Hobhouse and Qreen.
In the Committee another division upon an amend
ment to limit the continuation to the 1st of November.
For the amendment, 13; against it, 109.
The BiU was then read a third time and passed.
23rd. < — The Finance Committee examined Lord
Keith on retrenchments in the Naval Service. On the

Aprii, 1798.] LOED CHANCELLOE'S EMOLUMENTS. 151

second reading of the Land Tax Bill there was a
division. For it, 153 ; against it, 38.
2Ath. — Finance Committee. Examined Stamp Office
people. Yorke and Carew moved to summon the
whole Committee for Friday, to consider of the pro
priety of renewing the orders respecting the Courts of
Justice. 25th. — Examined Lord Keith in the Finance Com
mittee on the Dockyard retrenchments.
Mr. Pitt opened his budget for 28,400,000/. whereof
the provision by ways and means was
Land and Malt  £2,750,000
Assessed Taxes  4,500,000
Volimtaiy Contributions  1,500,000
2J per Cent. Exports and Imports . . . 1,500,000
10,250,000
Lottery  200,000
Bank Advance  8,000,000
13,450,000
Loan  15,000,000
£28,450,000
Taxes on salt, tea, and armorial bearings, to defray
interest on 1,000,000/., and upon a part of Navy Debt
Funded. 27th. — The Finance Committee being summoned at
the instance of Mr. Yorke, to consider of the propriety
of renewing the orders to such of the Courts of Justice
as had made no return; a division took place. For
renewing them, nine ; against it, two.
30th. — The Honourable John Cochrane came to me
by Sir W. Pulteney's desire, to explain a paper of
inquiries respecting transport expenditure."

LETTEE FEOM THE LOED CHANCELLOE TO ME. ABBOT, AS
CHAIEMAN OP THE FINANCE COMMITTEE, ON THE
SUBJECT OP THE EMOLUMENTS OF HIS OFFICE. AprU 28th, 1798.
Sir, — An order, "signed by you, as Chairman of the Select
Committee of Finance, on, the .27th, was left at my house this
L 4

152 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. VIH.
evening. This paper recites a prior order, dated the 15th of
March; and subjoins the following explanation : — "This order
is understood by the Committee not to extend to anything which
may concern the Office of Speaker of the House of Lords."
From the attention thus expressed to the Privileges of the
House of Lords, it is just to conclude that the Committee has
no intention to intrench upon them in any manner ; and that
it must have escaped their attention, that the office of Lord
Chancellor and Keeper of the Great Seal is inseparable from
that of Speaker of the House of Lords, constituting one indivi
dual office : essentially inherent in that House, whether it is
held by a Peer or by a Commoner.
It would ill become me to suppose that the office can admit
of any separation, or be detached in any respect from the House
of Lords, nor would it be fit for me to overlook the Declaration
of that House against the Peers submitting themselves to the
Orders of the other House.
I am at the same time averse to the raising a discussion on
either of these points, which Inight unjustly be imputed to a
design of avoiding an inquiry which (wTiether necessary or not)
it is my wish to meet, for there can be no secret in the state of
the office I have the honour to hold.
From these considerations I have deposited with you, as a
person I very much respect, and to be used as you think fit,
the state of my office for the last year and the two preceding
years, though I can make no return to the Precept of the Select
Committee of Finance.
The account is of the sums paid to my use. Of the gross
amount, or the deductions to which the fees may be liable in
the several offices where they are. collected, I have never
received nor required information, relying on the known integrity
of the officers in each department, that they would neither
receive more, nor accouut for less, than they ought.
Of other deductions beyond that which is retained or paid for
the public service, it is impossible to state any estimates ; they
being subject to no measure, but the disposition of the person
who is to support the office.
I am, with great regard, Sir, Your obedient humble Servant,
LorGHBOEOUGH.
The Lord Chancellor's Salary] .... £5000
Deduct Land Tax  :S550
Paid at the Exchequer , . 375
 925
Nett Salary  4 075

April, 1798.] LOED CHANCELLOE'S EMOLUMENTS. 153
Amount of Fees : — 1797 . . .£5,809 17 11
„ 1796 . . 5,770 18 6
„ 1795 . . 5,330 18 5

^)16,986 14 9
Amoimt on three years' average . 5,C(J2 4 10
Tuesday, May 1st  Inthe House of Commons, finding
that Mr. Rose had passed the Customs Regulation Bill
without the amendments which he had agreed to make, I
told him "that I must be excused for saying I could never
take his word again for any Parliamentary matter."
He insisted first that the amendments were actuaUy
made; and when he found that they were not, he
said the BUl should be altered in the Lords : and, if
necessary, a new Bill should be brought in and passed
with the first and second clauses amended as I desired.
Query, whether this wiU be done? (N.B. It was so
done afterwards.)
In the evening the Lord ChanceUor sent me a letter
declining to make a return to the Select Committee of
Finance, but enclosing a brief statement of the Salary
and Fees of his office. I sent the letter to the Speaker.
At my office, Woodroffe, one of the Prothonotaries of
the Court of Common Pleas, came to know what we
conceived to be our right for requiring the Law Returns,
and I told him the foundation on which the Committee
had proceeded.
2nd  Lord Chief Justice Eyre sent his return.
Saw the Speaker this day and also the next morning at
nine, about augmenting the Judges' salaries. (N.B. I
mentioned this again to the Speaker, Dec. ith, but
nothing was done this year.)
30th — Lord Kenyon* sent his return to me at my
office. Mr. Justice BuUer sent his with a letter, and
several returns were made to the Committee from Law
Officers. Qth. — Sir Sidney Smith returned from France,
having made his escape, f
* He was C. J. of the King's Bench.
t Sir Sidney Smith had been taken prisoner by a superior force in April

154 DLiEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. Vni.
7 th  Finance Committee examined Captain Schanck
on the transport service.
Sth. — Examined General Bentham. Mr. Tierney's
motion for inquiring into Lord Onslow's conduct.
Ayes, 22; noes, 141,
1 6 ^/i,— Finance Committee, The Cursitors, by re
turn under Seal, contended that the Committee are not
authorised to require answers to such questions as they
had proposed.
1 7th. — Sir Richard Heron caUed to state to me his
readiness to make his return as Treasurer's Remem
brancer; and said he would make it this week as it was
ready, but he did not.
Finance Committee. Read the Report on Sick and
Hurt, &c.
ISth  The Prothonotaries individuaUy refused to
answer to the order of Committee ; and two of the
Cursitors did the same.
19th. — The Committee agreed to a special report
upon this refusaL
2\st  In the House I presented the special report
of the Finance Committee, and moved to have it taken
into consideration the next day.
22nd. — Mr. Pitt moved to take the special report of
the Finance Committee into consideration ; and moved a
resolution " that the Committee were authorised to
require from the Cursitors and Prothonotaries such
returns as they had ordered. "
25th. — House of Commons, Mr, Pitt brought in a
Bill to repeal protections from pressing for six months.
It passed both Houses the same day, after a debate which
produced a duel between Mr, Pitt and Mr. Tierney.*
1796, and by a scandalous violation of the rights of war had been kept
prisoner on the simple pretence that he was a spy.
* The pretext for the duel was an expression used by Mr. Pitt in reply.
In bringing forward his motion he had justified both the Bill, and his pro
posal to pass it through all its stages in one day, by the precedent of 1779,
when a similar measure had met with complete success. . Mr. Tierney had
opposed it because it was " brought in without previous notice," and because
<' he could not see how this celerity was necessary," adding, that " after

May, 1798.] FINANCE COMMITTEE. 155
Finance Committee. Baker took the papers for
Scotland : York for the Dockyards, &c. ; and Thornton
for the VictuaUing Office.
29th. — The Attorney General told me that Judge
BuUer was quite overcome by the letter proved upon
the trial about the sternness of the Judge : and occa
sioned by the presence and behaviour of Fox, Sheridan,
&c. But that he should certainly prosecute Lord
Thanet, &c.*, for the attempt to rescue.
30th. — The Cursitors and Prothonotaries having
this day made their returns to the Committee, I ac
quainted the House and moved to discharge the order
for the further consideration of the special report.
some recent transactions that had taken place he should be exti'emely jealous
of every thing the right hon. gentleman proposed to do, and at present he
considered him as calling upon the Iiouse to surrender the few remaining
liberties of the country." Mr. Pitt., in reply said, among other things, that
" the hon. gentleman seemed to have something in his mind which it was
to be wished that he had spoken out more distinctly, when he said he enter
tained a jealousy in consequence of some things whioh had recently taken
place ; " and after giving reasons which rendered the immediate passing of
the BiU necessary, concluded by saying, " If the hon. gentleman therefore
meant to oppose the present measure he should conclude that the only motive
by which he was actuated was that of impeding the service and defence
of the country." On this, Mr. Tierney threw himself on the protection of
the Chair. The Speaker said, if Mr. Pitt had used the language of which
Mr. Tierney complained, " it certainly was disorderly and imparliamentary.
It was, however, for the House to determine whether such was the language
or not ; and the House would wait for the right hon. gentleman's expla
nation." Mr. Pitt refused to give any explanation, and maintained that
though " he had no right to impute any particular motives to any gentle
man, he had a right to infer motives from arguments ; and therefore, if he
was right in saying that no man could be justified in opposing the present
measm-e, and that to oppose it was to impede the defence of the country, it
was fair for him to state those arguments, which he believed to be con
clusive, and which he would submit to the judgment of the House, but
which he would not iu the slightest degree retract." And later in the
same evening, his language having been commented on by another Member,
he said " that he would abide by his words, and would give no explanation."
The Speaker hiterposed no further. The next day Mr. Tierney challenged
Mr. Pitt, and on the 27th they fought on Wimbledon Common ; Mr. Eyder
being Mr. Pitt's second, and Sir Gr. Walpole Mr. Tierney's.
* After O'Connor was acquitted, he was again arrested in court on a
Secretary of State's warrant, and a riot took place through the endeavours
of some of his friends to effect a rescue from the oiScers. Lord Thanet and
Mr. Cutlar Fergusson were afterwards prosecuted by the Crown for sharing
in this attempt to rescue him, and in spite of all the efforts of their counsel,
Mr. Erskine, they were convicted.

156 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. VHL
Saturday, June 9th. — At dinner the Dean of Raphoe
mentioned that he saw O'Coigley* once in Ireland, habited
as a Roman Catholic Priest, stop a murderer on his way
to the gallows, who had been confessing his guilt; and
after some moments' conversation the man denied the
whole, and went to his fate protesting his innocence. N.B.
So did O'Coigley himself when executed at Maidstone.
lOifA. — Mr. Irving passed the whole day with me
from ten o'clock in the morning tiU past one o'clock
on the Monday morning; except the hour of dinner,
from four to eight, we were employed the whole time in
settling the 23rd and 24th Reports of the Finance
Committee. ll^A. — House of Commons upon the motion respec
ting O'Connor's arrest after his trial.
lAth. — Mr. Sheridan's motion upon the state of
Ireland. Mr. Baker moved the standing order to be
read for excluding strangers ; and I concurred in the
propriety of enforcing it ; hoping that it would be done
effectually, and declaring that if any representation
should be published afterwards of anything that should
be supposed to have been said on either side of the
House in that debate, it would be treated as a high
breach of privilege, and receive the severe animadversion
of the House. The debate lasted till half-past twelve.
Ayes, for the motion to appoint a Committee, 43;
noes, 159.
15th. — No account appeared (either in the morning
or evening papers) of the preceding night's debate. —
Finance Committee. I read my report on the Courts of
Justice. IQth. — Finance Committee. Baker read his report on
Civil Government, Scotland.
19th. — Debate on the Militia going to Ireland.
Division, 43 to 114.
20th. — The Bill passed. Division, 11 — 47.
22nd. — Lord George Cavendish's motion on the state
"* O'Coigley had been one of those who had been tried at Maidstone with
O'Connor. He was the only one who was convicted.

JoNE, 1798.] FINANCE COMMITTEE. 157
of Ireland. Mr. Fox attended. Debate lasted till half-
past four. Division, 66 — 214.
23rd. — Finance Committee. Pole Carew read his
Police Report.
2Qth. — I presented the reports on : —
23rd. PubUc Revenue of 1797.
24th. Debt and Expenditure, ditto.
25th. Privy Council Office.
26th. Privy Seal Office.
27th. Courts of Justice.
31st. Admiralty, Dockyards, and Transports.
32nd. VictuaUing.
35th. Army Expenditure.
30th. CivU Government of Scotland.
27th. — I presented the remaining reports upon : —
28th. Police and Convict Establishments.
33rd. Sick and Wounded.
34th. Chatham Chest. Greenwich and Chelsea
Hospitals.
29th. Stationery.
30th. Offices of Secretary at War. Judge Ad
vocate-General, andthe Military Govern
ments in Great Britain.
2Sth. — CaUed onthe Speaker, and delivered him a list
of our reports for the Finance Coirimittee. He desired
me to meet Ryder and Douglas at twelve, in his room,
at the House, upon a question of single Bill or double
BUl, vrith regard to fees claimed by the officers of the
House ; and after two hours' examination of the agents
and clerks, with respect to the general rule contained in
the report and resolutions of 1751, the table of fees
and the precedents, as compared with the particular
BUl in question, we were clearly and unanimously of
opinion that this Bill was within the letter and spirit of
the standing orders, such as entitled the officers to their
fees as for three double Bills. This was a drainage BiU
for the East Riding of Yorkshire, with one clause enact
ing that under one set of commissions two distinct
drainages should be made, payable out of distinct

158 DLVEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. VIH.
funds, and levied upon two different classes of persons.
We held this to entitle the officers to fees as for two
double BiUs. And a precedent of a Scotch Road BUl
was produced (a Forfarshire BiU), when for different
pieces of road (whereof the expense was defrayed by
seven different classes of persons, though under the
same Commissioners) seven double fees had been paid.
Another question arose in one case upon another clause,
where for the more effectual draining, and also for the
removal of obstructions of the navigation of the
Humber, the Corporation of LIuU, the Trinity House
and the Dock Company, also were made severally to con
tribute in different sums to the works directed by the BiU.
The officers claimed a double fee also upon this
enacting clause, as for a distinct matter, to which we
agreed. It seemed, indeed, that according to the
resolution of 1751, the officers might in strictness have
demanded a double fee from each of those Corporations ;
for, though there was but one object for the application
of the money, yet each Corporation had a distinct
interest in accompUshing it.
29th. — Parliament was prorogued.
Edwards assured me that notwithstanding the taxes,
&c., &c., all the prime articles in books, engravings,
&c., sold now for eEs much as, or more than before the
war. Pictures during this Spring sold for very large
prices ; one for lOOOZ. ; one for 1400Z., &c. &c.
Tuesday, July 2Ath. — Lord St. Vincent's account of
his detachment under Sir Horatio Nelson * was, " that
no fleet, either as to condition of ships, quality of crew,
or ability of officers ever surpassed this ; " and that it
" would beat double its numbers, even if the enemies
were English."
31st. — Received the following letter from Lord
CUfden, and sent it to the Speaker : —
Dublin, July 27th, 1798.
My dear Abbot, — I am very much obliged to you for yours
of the 19th. I was meditating a letter to you which I ought to
* That with which Nelson gained the victory of the Nile on the 1st of
August in this year.

July, 1798.] STATE OF lEELAND. 159
have written long ago on the subject of this country. The
papers have given you a pretty accurate account of the pro
gress and various events of the rebellion.* It is now broken
and suppressed, so far as to its being formidable to the State ;
but the rebels, no longer assembled in large bodies, are plunder
ing and murdering in small parties through the mountains of
Wicklow and the neighbouring country. I fear it will be a long
time before perfect tranquillity is restored. Their emissaries
have endeavoured to stir the people to insurrection through
Tipperary and Cork. They have failed, but were the military
withdrawn, I doubt there would be a formidable rising in many
places. If the French can be kept off by patience and a steady
perseverance in strong and decided measures the kingdom may
and will be restored to permanent tranquillity. The juries have
done their duty in Dublin. The two Sheares, McCan, and Byrne,
four leaders of this conspiracy, have been hanged in the last
fortnight. Oliver Bond was to have suffered yesterday, but was
respited for very good reasons, as, it is said, great discoveries are
expected from him and some who are to be tried. The public
mind is excessively dissatisfied at the respite of this man, one
of the most guUty ; I believe one of the five directors ; and
unless good cause appears, the Grovernment will find themselves
in difficulties. Mercy is the order of the day, which does not
please those whose lives, properties, and families are marked for
destruction by these miscreants.
The Lord-Lieutenant f acts from himself, and consults but
little in the Cabinet here. I hope it may tm"n out well, but
time only can prove this. You have sent us ships and men,
and have proved your anxiety about this country, on which the
safety of Britain depends; but you have sent us forty-seven
Grenerals (so many there are, I hear, on the staff), one-half of
whom are said to be incapable and ignorant. There certainly is
a great want of discipline, and the strongest spirit of plunder
in the troops. The north is quiet, and will, from all I hear,
remain so. They don't like to have their throats cut by the
southern Catholics. Some good priests there are, and many
loyal Catholics, but the mass of them are rebels, and the priests
who are infected with this villany excite them to massacre the
Protestants as a means, together with the hope of plunder, to
* This rebellion had broken out at the end of May. Lord Edward Fitz
gerald, the head of it, was apprehended on the 21st of that month.
t "Lord CornwaUis had just gone over as Lord-Lieutenant, having been
appointed expressly for the purpose of dealing with this rebellion. , A great
many details of the chief events in it, and of the character and actions of
the chief prisoners, wiU be found in his Correspondence; vol. iii.

160

DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. VIII.

drive them on in the rebellion. It is a miserable thing to
say, but, from all I have seen and know, I am perfectly
convinced that while every thing round them has improved,
the minds and feelings of the lower class of the Cathohcs of
Ireland are exactly what they were in 1641. This is possible,
and what I could not have believed four months ago, nor at all,
had I not seen the proof with my own eyes. They are, how
ever, to be brought to reason, as Cromwell brought them then,
and by no other means, as the event will prove. In my opinion,
an Union would be the salvation of both islands. It will be diffi
cult to bring it about, and never can be by the present Chief
Governor. He is a good and a brave man, but the public enter
tain no high idea of his capacity. If it is attempted it must be
by some man of talents and experience, and above all, possessed
of a knowledge of this country. Perhaps no man unites these
more than Lord Auckland, who has the advantage of the last,
withoitt which nothing can be done. Your account of the
revenue is in the highest degree satisfactory. The revenue here
goes on well in the midst of all this confusion.
Yours, dear Abbot, always most truly. *
Friday, August lOiA. — Went to Tonbridge WeUs;
whUe there received the foUowing letter from F.
Burton f : — Mold, Aug. 26th, 1798.
Dear Abbot, — Many thanks for your six paragraphs and yom-
welcome postscript about a. Though I cannot return you any
history of a b, I will see whether little Mold will furnish half
a dozen paragraphs.
First, then, the circuit has hitherto proved idler than the
idlest you can remember. Three causes entered at Pool, but
only one little one tried. At Ruthyn, one undefended. Here
also, a single cause. No prisoner anywhere committed for trial.
One manslaughter on voluntary surrender. No contested motion
of five minutes, and no more than threats of two equity hear
ings, neither of them likely to be ready this twelvemonth.
Mauley, Ewen, and Benyon seemed to share the little harvest.
Secondly, as well as this little business allows me to judge, I
* There is no signature to the original, nor to many of Lord Clifden's
letters from Ireland, a fact which shows the apprehension which he enter
tained of his letters falling into wrong hands.
t Mr. Francis Burton was one of the Welsh Judges. Mr. Abbot, while at the
bar, had gone the Welsh (Chester) Circuit. This separate jurisdiction was
abolished in 1832.

August, 1798.] OUTBEEAK IK lEELAJN-D. 161
like my chief's manner* of doing it — calm, considerate, clear,
and concise; civil and attentive to communications, and in his
manner frequently inviting it. That manner is indeed so un
commonly cold, dry, and reserved at all times, that very many
would probably be disgusted with it, though it suits me very
well. A question always received an answer, the shortest that
may be, but never begets conversation. But every now and then
a question is returned, and perhaps once or twice in a day a short
observation finds its way out. He rises early, I believe seldom
later than six, and seldom goes to bed later than ten. He is neat,
quiet, regular, and well-tempered as well as accommodating.
But we interfere with each other's fancies as little as a fashionable
husband and wife. I offer to show him about the country, and
so we occasionally walk together ; but he as often, or oftener,
walks alone, and of course I the same. He is a great reader,
and very evidently a still greater thinker. We often pass hours
together without a word, and frequently some of them without
book or pen in either of our hands. To give you the best idea
I can of his silence, in comparison with him I seem to myself a
very rattle. We are, however, I think, calculated to agree in
comparably well. Now that I can read so much less than
iformerlyf, I could wish to provoke a little conversation now
and then. Yet, upon the whole, I think George Hardinge
would be apt to term us " The well-associated Solitudinarians."
N.B. Paragraph two not for the vulgar.
Thirdly. Sir WatkinJ is adored in Taffyland, and deserves
it much. Besides what you have heard of his spirit, it is cer
tain he acted a mere volunteer often enough to partake in five
actions when no duty required it.
Fourthly. Major Wardle dined with us yesterday, having
served here on the Grand Jury. He too has distinguished him
self so much as to have been greatly employed in training the
corps of Irish Yeomanry ; and is now in high health and spirits,
without a scratch, after assisting (as I heard, not from himself)
in sixteen actions. The rebels (according to him) were far more
formidable than I had before imagined them ; their discipline
being good, their attacks well executed, and their retreats well
effected; insomuch that we were frequently out-manceuvred
* Mr. Grant, afteiwards Sir W. Grant, Master of the Eolls, had lately
been appointed Chief Justice of Chester.
t He afterwards lost his sight entirely, which obliged him to retire from
Parliament and his profession.
X Sir W. Wynn. He was on duty in Ireland with his regiment of Welsh
Fencibles.
VOL I. M

162 DLVEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. VIH.
and out-generaled. Surprise was their forte ; and in the attack,
instead of marching in column and forming afterwards in line,
they made no difficulty, with the help of their pikes, in running
through the fields, as it were, in a scattered and extended line,
over hedge and ditch, and forming at once when arrived at
their point of destination. The want of fire-arms was their only
deficiency, except that they could not be restrained from plun
der whilst they ought to have been cutting off our supplies.
Clearly no French officers among them. No known evidence to
the contrary, except finding a French uniform on one man
killed in an early action. As clearly, I think, they must have
been commanded by Irishmen excellently trained in the French
armies. By some who know Ireland, it is believed that the whole
country will be quiet in a fortnight, the rebellion forgotten in
six weeks, and in eight months every Protestant massacred.
Fifthly. Wheat here abundant, without smut or blemish, and
almost entirely well harvested ; oats nearly the same ; barley
thin, and ripens at twice, the last and largest part yet greenish.
Harvest wages never so low, excepting the first week : latterly,
fourteen pence, now no more than a shilling a day.
Sixthly, The single cause here dead of a reference.
Seventhly. Old Waring has survived two paralytic strokes,
which affected his memory ; he got the better of an asthmatic
fit still more alarming. Yours truly, F. B.
31sif. — Returned from Tunbridge.
Monday, Nov. 12th. — In the morning saw the Speaker,
and had a long conversation with him about Finance
Reports, Irish Unens, Income Tax, &c.
15th. — The Attorney-General brought up for judg
ment the pubUshers of Wakefield's answer to the Bishop
of Llandaff; and gave notice that he should prosecute
Reviews, if they became the vehicles of sedition.
I received a letter from Sir PhiUp Gibbes, desiring
me to lay his case before the Attorney-General on the
capacity of a slave to inherit land and negroes in Bar
badoes. 19th. — ^W-ent to the Cockpit in the evening to hear
the King's Speech. Two-thirds ofthe room were fiUed
with strangers and blackguard news-writers. Mr. Pitt
came in at half-past nine with Mr. Secretary Dundas,

Dec. 1798.] BEUCE, THE AFEICAN TEAVBLLEE. 163
the Lords of the Treasury, Master of the Rolls, At
torney- and SoUcitor-General, &c. The Speaker absent
from iUness.
20th. — The Session opened.
The Address was moved and seconded by Lord
Granville Leveson Gower* and Sir W. Mildmay. The
former made a very sensible and impressive speech upon
the state of the country, and the impossibility of looking
to peace whilst France preserved her present temper
and system such as they appeared to be in their conduct
towards America and Switzerland. The only other
speeches were two, very absurd and ill-judged, by Sir
John Sinclair and Sir Francis Burdett. No division
nor amendment. Mr. Pitt rose only to give notice of
his Finance propositions fOr Monday sen'night.
22nd. — I went to the Drawing Room. The Address
of the House of Conunons was presented after the
Drawing Room, and the Speaker read it by candleUght
to the King. The Princesses stopped to see the cere
mony. 29th. — Thanksgiving Day. Sermon at St. Margaret's
before the House of Commons, by Dr. Rennell. About
forty Members present.
Saturday, Dec. 1st. — Sent to Mr. Pitt a copy of the
representation of the Grand Jury for Middlesex respect
ing the defect of means for the prosecution of present
ments by Constables, and a note to him upon the sub
ject of the Police Revenue. Saw Wickham, and settled
finally with him the proper mode of sending the Acts,
&c., post free from the county post-masters to the resi
dent acting justices.
2nd. — In the evening went to Lord Mendip's, who
mentioned to me in conversing about Egypt, &;c., that
Bruce had shown him six sketches of buildings and
landscapes which the King, when he bought the rest,
desired Bruce to finish; and that Bruce took them to
Scotland, and upon his return showed them to Lord
* Afterwards created Earl GranviUe.
M 2

164 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. VIII.
Mendip, finished in the same exquisite style as the rest.
A Mr. Brovra, now lately arrived from Egypt and the
Kingdom of Darfour, in the interior of Africa, has
borne testimony to the general truth of Bruce's having
been received in Abyssinia with the highest favour, and
has also borne testimony to the accuracy of his descrip
tions and drawings of the animals of those regions.
But the Abyssinians whom Mr. Brown saw assured him
that Bruce himself never was at the sources of the NUe,
but took his description from those whom he sent in
different directions to explore.
Srd. — I sent down to Helston the opinions of Gibbs*
and Le Blanc, " that the Corporation had no right to
enclose or let improving leases of Helston Down." The
Mayor also by this post sent me the resolutions of the
Corporation, agreeing with the City of London as to the
necessity of a more equal mode of raising the supplies.
House of Commons. This day Mr. Pitt opened the
Supplies and Ways and Means of the year; viz.. Sup
plies, nearly 30,000,000^. Ordinary Ways and Means,
6,000,000/. ; extraordinary, 1. By tax of one-tenth on
income, 10,000,000/. 2. Loan, 14,000,000/.; of which
4,500,000/. would in 1799 be counter-balanced by an
equal sum applicable by the Commissioners for Reduc
ing the National Debt; and the rest, viz. 9,500,000/.,
must be counter-balanced by continuing the tax on in
come for a further year.
He spoke two hours and a half with the greatest per
spicuity of detail, and in the best style of his most ani
mated eloquence. His analysis of national income was
very curious and masterly.
Ath. — Called upon the Speaker. Amongst other
things, talked over the proposed addition of 500/. a year
to the judges ; Mr. Pitt being inclined to charge it upon
the Consolidated Fund, and to carry the fees of lapsed
sinecures in the law to the same fund, in ease of its
charge. Dr. Rennell's sermon, and the custom of sub
mitting such sermons to the Speaker for correction be-
* Afterwards Sir Vicary Gibbs, Attorney General.

Dec. 1798.] COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY. 165
fore they are preached, which Dr. R. had in this instance
partly evaded. I desired to have back my copy of a
proposed annual report upon the Expiring Laws. Mr.
Pitt had asked the Speaker whether I had prepared any
abstract, &c., before the Speaker had mentioned it to
him. Came with Vansittart to the House. Vansittart, by
a different mode of calculation upon different data had
actually valued the annual" income of the nation at very
nearly the same amount as Mr. Pitt.
lO^A. — Sir Francis Burdett moved for a list of the
persons in gaol under the Habeas Corpus Suspension
Act. Agreed to by Mr. Pitt. Afterwards the Budget
of Loan for 3,000,000/. was stated by Mr. Pitt. 100/.
Consols taken at 52/. 10s. being market price; 87/. 9s.
Reduced, at 46/. 12s. l^d., being more than the market
price. Bonus, 13s. Ad. Total, 99/. 15s. 5^d.
lAth — House of Commons met for consideration ofthe
Report from the Committee upon the Income BiU.
Mr. Pitt argued that taxation could only be on general
consumption, or upon individuals directly. That, the
first being impracticable to the amount proposed, viz.,
10,000,000/., or, if it were practicable, yet requiring a
stUl larger burthen to be raised in order to receive such
a sum net into the Exchequer, resort must be had to
individual taxation. This could only be on capital or
on income. That taxation upon the capital of property
would be the most difiicult, as to the mode of estimating
it ; and the most unproductive, because all reversionary
property would escape taxation, as the reversioners had
nothing to pay with; that income therefore was the only
other head.
As to income, that although some sorts arose from
the possession of an absolute interest in permanent
property, and other sorts from temporary rights, such
as annuities, &c., and others from interests supported
by the personal labour and industry of the owner;
such as official, professional,, and commercial in
comes, yet the same rate of taxation must apply to all :
M 3

166 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. VIH.
First, because even taxes on consumption do not
in practice, when they are resorted to, vary in their
amount as to the income out of which they are to be
paid. Secondly, personal taxes for country rates and
parochial levies make no such difference. Thirdly, that
the tax on income leaves every such inequality where it
found it, and the inequality after the tax is taken out
of the given sorts of income is neither more nor less
than it was before. And that this tax is not to be
expected more than any other to aim at any equalisa
tion of incomes in the different classes and occupations
of Civil Society. Noticing, also, that the Landed In
come, if it has the advantage of greater permanency,
and the capacity of descending to the family of the
owner, yet has the disadvantage of yielding upon the
capital invested in this sort of purchase a lower rate
of interest. Whereas the income from capital coupled
with industry, if it be less permanent, is accompanied,
however, with a much larger rate of interest. And
that aU which could be done vdth respect to the
smaUer incomes of a precarious nature, was to aUow
the individual who might choose to provide for a saving
by insurance for his family, to deduct the annual pre
mium in estimating his net income. He did not now
enter into the particulars of the scale, nor into the
mischiefs or policy of disclosure in mercantUe cases.
Division. For proceeding, 183; against it, 17; at
eleven o'clock.
17th. — House of Commons, Committee on Land
Tax Redemption BiU, and afterwards on Income Bill.
Went through preamble, and afterwards the two first
clauses. Only speakers against it, Wigley, Tierney,
and W. Smith. Division on the question for taxing
aU incomes without discrimination: for it, 123; against
it, 9.
19th  Committee on Income BiU. Two divisions.
Opposition 4 and 9.
The Speaker, on the remarks of Sir W. Geary and Sir
W. Pulteney, acceded to the necessity of being jealous

Dec. 1798.] INCOME-TAX BILL. 167
of great amendments on any BiU ; either by riders, or
clauses on the report, as precluding the free discussion
which such measures required.
21s?. — Second reading of Habeas Corpus Suspension
Act. For it, 69; against it, 6.
22nd, — House of Commons. Income BiU through
the Committee. The Speaker debated and voted for
it. 2Qth. — House of Commons. Habeas Corpus Sus
pension Act continued tUl May.
27th. — Thermometer 15°, snow. House of Com
mons. Tierney's motion against the Times, respecting
Lord Auckland. And on report of Income BUl, ad
journed at nine.
2Sth — House of Commons. Income Bill tiU two
o'clock in the morning. Thermometer 10°.
29th  Thermometer 37°. House of Commons sat
on Income BiU tUl seven.
31s?. — In the House of Commons, read Income Tax
BUl a third time. I spoke upon it. Division : for it,
93; against it, 2.

168 DIAEY , OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. IX.

CHAP. IX.
1799.
king's message on union with ieeland — canning. — pitt beings
roewaed the union in the house of commons.  secession of the
opposition.  COMMITTEE ON EXPIEING LAWS.  COPPEE COMMITTEE 
LETTEE FROM ME. WICKHAM ON LONDON POLICE, ETC.  TEEASON FOE-
FEITUEE BILL.  BUDGET.  MEASUEE FOR THE AUGMENTATION OF THE
judges' SALARIES.  LETTEE FEOM LOED CLIFDEN ABOUT lEELAND. —
SECEET EXPEDITION SAILS.  CAPTUEE OF THE DUTCH FLEET AT THE
TEXEL.  CAPTUEE OF SEEINGAPATAM.  THE KING DESIEES THE HOUSES
TO ADJOUEN.
Wednesday, January 2, — The House of Commons
passed the Income BiU.
7th — House of Commons. The Speaker acquainted
the House that he had received notice of the Bank's
intention to pay in cash all fractional sums below 51,
9th. — Examined Lord Hale's MSS. in Lincoln's Inn
Library: apparently not a very valuable coUection,
though containing some few old copies of the Early
Statutes in parchment books iUuminated.
House of Commons. I mentioned to Mr. Pitt my
intention to move for an account of the Income and
Charges of the ConsoUdated Fund for the year ended
Jan. 5, 1799. Also for an account of the ordinary
revenues and extraordinary resources, constituting
the pubUc income of Great Britain, for the same year.
He agreed to them; and I moved them accordingly.
These accounts are similar in their description to
those presented by the Finance Committee for the
preceding year, viz., twenty-third Report, and should
be annually caUed for. They exceed in compass and
perspicuity, all the ParUamentary accounts hitherto in
use.

Jan. 1799.] KING'S MESSAGE ON THE UNION. 169
The Income Tax BiU received the royal assent.
17th. — Saw Booth, who gave me the History of
Canning's intended removal from Lord GrenvUle's
Ofiice. Irving came to me in the evening, and we finished
the form of account which he was to call for, under the
order of the House of Commons, upon my motion for
an account of the Pubhc Income.
ISth. ¦ — Lord Camelford was this day Uberated from
the custody of the King's messenger.
22nd. — House of Commons. Mr. Secretary Dundas,
brought a message from the King respecting the
" Union," though it did not use the word union. Re
solved to take it into consideration to-morrow. Sheri
dan gave notice, that he should oppose the assurance of
the House being disposed to enter upon the measure
at this time.
23rd. — At ten, I went to the Speaker, gave him
my abstract of proceedings respecting the Union,
talked upon the projected mode of transacting it ; and
the mode finaUy resolved on. Also Lord Camelford's
affair, the Montreal pardon, &c. Also the proposed
Secret Committee upon papers to be presented re
specting the conspiracies, to produce the separation of
Ireland. Also the Under Secretaries of State, and
their proposed augmentation of salary. Mr. Huskisson,
&c. In the House of Commons, Mr. Secretary Dundas,
simply moved the address. Sheridan, in a speech of
an hour and a half, proposed his amendment.
He argued, first, that the transaction of 1782,
giving independence to Ireland, was treated by the
EngUsh ParUament as a final settlement. Secondly,
that, in the present state of Ireland, it could not give a
free assent to any settlement. Thirdly, that a forced
assent to an union would tend to produce hereafter a
separation, by implanting a rooted resentment against
Great Britain, for the advantage taken of its distressed
state in inflicting the union. Fourthly, that the Irish

170 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. IX.
ParUament is incompetent to surrender its own inde
pendence, &c. &c.
Canning answered at great length. Mr. Tyrrwhitt
Jones and Mr. Martin spoke a few sentences ; but, be
fore the question was put, Mr. Pitt rose, and, in a
speech of about an hour, went through all the leading
topics with a great display of abUity and conclusive
reasoning. 1. To show the necessity of some further settlement,
he stated the history of Irish poUtics from the year
1782 to the present time, the commercial propositions
and the regency, contending that the only connection
now subsisting was the unity of the Crowns *, which
might be dissolved by the sUghtest accident if the
pubhc interests of the two countries clashed, or were
supposed to clash on any future question of general
concern, such as peace or war.
2. That the state of parties and religious distinctions
was such as to render it impossible for either Cathohc
or Protestant to hold the legislative power with satis
faction, or with fair advantage to the adverse party,
and that nothing but a legislative union with Great
Britain could create an impartial tribunal, by which
the concerns of each country might be administered
with a just and parental regard to the weU-being of the
whole empire; and that the same incorporation by a
thorough intercourse of traffic and manners would
operate gradually to give better habits of life to the
people of Ireland than they could hope to acquire
under the exclusive domination of either party.
3. That the Parliament of each country was com
petent to consent to such an union, because the
Sovereign power resides nowhere else, according to
the constitution of each country; and, if it were not so,
we must deny the validity of the Scotch Union, and the
* An Act of Henry VIL, known as Poyning's Act, taking away from the
Irish Parliament all power of independent legislation, had been enforced and
made more stringent by a fresh Act, passed in the reign of George I. ; but
in 1782 both these Acts had been repealed by Lord EocMngham's Ad
ministration.

Jan. 1799.] UNION WITH lEELAND. 171
legality of every act done by the Parliament of Great
Britain since it existed.
There was no division ; and the further consideration
was adjourned to Thursday 31st.
Fox was not down; and Grey and Tierney, though
present, sat three rows behind Sheridan, who was upon
the floor. They went away after Sheridan's speech.
Before the House rose, Mr. Secretary Dundas moved
to refer the papers presented by him to a secret com
mittee. The precedent of 1794 was foUowed ; the
Committee to be 13, and to be named to-morrow by
ballot. 2Ath. — We went to the Drawing-room. The King
talked to me as usual about Westminster Hall, the
Light Horse Volunteers, and the House of Commons.
The Secret Committee was baUoted.
2Qth. — News arrived from Ireland, where the Address
for considering of an Union was carried in the Lords by
43, and in the Commons by 2.
31st. — Mr. Pitt opened the propositions for a legis
lative union with Ireland, in a speech of three hours.
Mr. Sheridan, Lord Hawkesbury, and Dr. Lawrence
spoke. Mr. Pitt having proposed to go into a Com
mittee for the purpose of laying the articles before the
House, in order to a discussion on the Thursday
foUowing, a divisi?)n took place. For the Speaker
leaving the chair, 140; against it, 19.
Monday, Feb. Ath, — Frost intense, and much snow
on the ground for some days past ; some hackney
coaches driving about with four horses (as in the year
1740), and others decUning to leave their stable yards
or ply in the streets.
7th. — House of Commons. Debate on the Union.
Two divisions: first on Mr. Sheridan's resolutions.
For them, 25; against them, 141. Afterwards, on the
Speaker's leaving the chair, for it, 149 ; against it, 24.
House rose at half-past one. Mr. Pitt did not speak on
the main question. Dundas and Windham made ex
cellent speeches, each in his own best manner. Grey's

172 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. IX.
was the only good speech on the opposite side; but
evidently not co-operating with Sheridan or Tierney.
9ifA.— Having spoken to the Attorney-General yester
day, who told me that I had his approbation, and his
hearty approbation, in bringing forward a measure to
prevent the accidental expiration of temporary Acts, I
sent my papers to the Speaker.
ll^A  Debate on Speaker leaving the chair, and for
Committee on Irish Union. Division : 131 to 19.
Rose at 12. Mr. Pitt asserted, and re-asserted, that
Lord FitzwiUiam had never been authorised to make
any concessions which he had afterwards been directed
to retract. And he asserted that after what was caUed
the final settlement of 1782, the Duke of Portland, as
Lord Lieutenant, had, moreover, pecuharly directed his
attention, by orders from the Government here, to a
substitution of some system of connection between the
two countries, in lieu of that renounced by the recog
nition of independence.
12th. — In the House of Commons, Committee on the
Irish Union. The opposition seceded. Bankes spoke
against the Union; the Speaker for it; after which
some explanations took place between Mr. WUberforce,
Bird, Mr. Pole Carew, and Mr. Pitt, respecting the ar
ticles of Commerce and Finance. House rose at 10.
14^A — House of Commons agreed to the report on
the resolutions for an Union. Debate tiU 11. Lord
Temple ordered to pray a conference vnth the Lords
upon the matter. Sheridan and Grey did not attend.
Hobhouse, Tyrwhitt, Jones, Bankes, WUberforce, and
Bird, spoke against it. Lord GranviUe Levison, Lord
Morpeth, Lord Belgrave, and Mr. Peel for it.
18^A — Went to the Speaker at 11, and stayed tiU 1;
in the course of which we discussed the mode of making
an annual report upon the Temporary Laws ; and also
entered into a very confidential conversation respecting
the measures of the rest of the session : Sedition Bills,
Tithes, &c., and the probable changes among the
officers of the House, and Chairmen of Ways and
Means, &c.

March, ]79h.] EXPIEING LAWS COMMITTEE. 173
22nd. In the House of Commons I moved: 1. For
an account of Exports and Imports for the last twelve
years. 2. Of the nett produce of the Permanent
Taxes for the last two years. 3. For an account of the
actual expenditure within the year 1798.
23rd. — Went to the Speaker to communicate to him
the amended form of moving for the Committee, &c.
2Qth. — I gave notice of the motion for Expired and
Expiring Lands Committee : and moved for amounts
of Exports and Imports, &c. And amongst the rest for
an account of Enclosure Bills, Canal BiUs, &c. ; like the
account laid before the Lords' Secret Committee on the
Bench in 1797.
2Sth. — The Speaker doubted about the power of the
House of Commons to send an order to the Clerk of the
Parhament for accounts of BiUs passed, &c., he being
a servant of the Iiouse of Lords. But upon conver
sation with Mr. Ley and myself, he agreed that the
Clerk of the Parhament, quoad the custody of the
Statute Records, was equaUy the servant of the King,
the Lords, and the Commons, and bound to give access
to all the King's subjects.
Friday, March 1st. — In the House of Commons I
moved for the Expiring Laws Committee : and the At
torney-General seconded me. The Speaker mentioned
that HatseU objected to the power of the House of Com
mons extending to the Clerk ofthe Parliament; because,
if so, the House of Lords might caU on the Clerk of the
House of Commons, and wished me to discharge the
order. I objected ; because the statutes were in com
mon custody for the use of all the three Estates of the
Realm. That the Clerk of the Parliament had two
capacities in which he acted, the one for the separate
business of the Lords in their Chamber of Parliament ;
and the other as servant to the entire Parliament. Also
that the precedents showed the power of the House of
Commons, or even of a Committee to send for a Lord
of Parliament. (HatseU, vol.* p.) And if a Com
mittee could send for one of the Masters of the Clerk
* Blank in MS.

Mr. Long.
Mr. Wilberforce.
Mr. Mainwaring.
Mr. Hawkins Browne.
Mr. Bankes.
Mr. Bragge.
Mr. Shaw Lefevre.

174 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. IX.
of the ParUament, a fortiori, the whole House could
send for the Clerk himself, &c.
Query. Might not the King's Printer, or the Clerk
of the House, be ordered to lay before the House a
list, &c. &c. LIST OF THE COMMITTEE.
Mr. Abbot.
Master of the Rolls.
Attorney-General.Solicitor-General.
Lord Advocate for Scotland.
Lord Belgrave.
Mr. Ryder.
Mr. Douglas.
Debate on the abolition of the Slave Trade. For it,
54 ; against it, 84. Adjourned at one o'clock.
Ath. — I saw the Speaker about the order upon the
Clerk of the Parliament. HatseU and Ley were there.
HatseU persisted in denying the authority of the House
of Commons, and said it must be done by a Committee
of the House of Commons, who might send for what
persons or records they wanted. I contended against
the idea of the House delegating a power if they had it
not ; and, if they had, the Committee was unnecessary.
The Speaker and Ley were of my opinion ; but wished
the matter not to be pressed; to which I agreed in
every respect, except not allowing that in point of
reasoning I was in any degree of opinion against the
authority of the House to require the execution of its
order, if it thought fit. The Speaker also represented
to me that although there was no obligation upon
members to communicate their intended motions to the
Speaker, yet it was a general usage, and convenient that
it should be so.
The Committee upon Expired and Expiring Laws.
Bankes and I verified the continuation of the Register
to the Report of 1796; and made an order upon the
Treasury for account of what Trade or Revenue Laws
wanted revising, &c.
Qth. — Committee on Expiring Laws. Agreed to the
General Report; and referred the Acts upon Trans-

March, 1799.] CIVIL LIST PAPEES. 175
portation, Insolvents, and Pawnbrokers to the Master
of the RoUs, Attorney, and Solicitor General for their
opinion. Sth.  Bankes and I completed the Ust of Expired
and Expiring Laws; Mr. Pitt brought forward the
Civil List papers ; and provision for P. Edwards.
Division, for it, 83 ; against it, 4. Only Pitt and
Tierney spoke.
ll^A.  I spoke in the House on the Report of the
Committee of Supply, on the provision for the Princes
out of the Consolidated Fund.
12th. — In the House of Commons I moved for the
Corporation Account of Hereditary Revenues, &c. ; and
the CivU List from 1777, to 1799.
ISth  I moved in the House of Commons for the
account of the arrears and balances of aU Public
Accountants. 19th. — Committee on Expiring Laws. Agreed to
some resolutions on Revenue or Trade Laws. The
Master ofthe RoUs, &c., did not attend. In the House
of Lords, Lord GrenviUe moved the resolutions upon
the Union with Ireland in a speech of four hours;
putting the arguments on strong grounds of detailed
pohtical necessity.
20th. — Went to the Speaker and had a long con
versation with him about his pointed speech on the
Union ; and upon my proposed motion for an account
of the farther proceedings of the Treasury, &c., upon
the report of the Select Committee on Finance. In the
House I mentioned my intention to Mr. Pitt and
Mr. Long.
21st. — I moved for a new writ for Helston upon
Richards's vacancy ; he having written for the Chiltern
Hundreds. The office of Steward of the ChUtern Hun
dreds is an appointment under the hand and seal of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer : and the fees for it are 14/.
Thursday, April Ath. — In the House of Commons
a Committee was appointed upon the Copper Mines
and Trade.

176 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. IX.
5th. — The Copper Committee met and examined
witnesses. Mr. Pitt, Lord Hawkesbury, Mr. WaUace,
Mr. Vansittart, Mr. Hawkins Browne, Mr. Gregor,
Mr. Rashleigh, Mr. Garthshore, Mr. J. Pitt, and Sir J.
Mordaunt attended.
The Lord Advocate of Scotland moved for leave to
bring in a BiU for increasing the bail in certain crimi
nal cases, and for taking away the privilege altogether
in cases of sedition.
Qth. — Copper Committee at eleven.
9th. — Copper Committee. Although Mr. Chinnery
had promised faithfuUy that the PubUc Accounts moved
for by me should be presented on Friday last, and then
on Saturday, and then on Monday, and then on Tues
day, yet to-day Mr. Rose made excuses for not presenting
them till to-morrow.
lO^A. — Expiring Law Committee. Agreed to seve
ral resolutions respecting the laws about Transporta
tion, Penitentiary Houses, Scotch Bankrupts, Insolvent
Debtors. 11th. — In Copper Committee, examined Bolton of
Birmingham. 12th, 13th  Copper Committee.
15^7i  CaUed on the Speaker, communicated to him
my intended motion on the Forfeitures for Treason,
and sent him a copy of it.
In the House, Mr. Pitt postponed the business tiU
Friday next.
19^/i — House of Commons. Mr. Pitt opened the
outlines of his measures upon the Report of the Secret
Committee, and I urged the necessity of. providing
for the continuation of the Law of Forfeiture for High
Treason, which by the death of the Cardinal of York
would come to an end. No division.
22nd — Final Debate on the Address for the Union.
No division. Rose at twelve.
2Ath — I presented six BiUs for making perpetual or
continuing Pubhc Laws.

Mat, 1799.] COPPEE COMMITTEE. 177
25th, — Lord Thanet and Mr. Cutlar Fergusson were
tried at the bar ofthe Court of King's Bench.
28!fA. — The Speaker told me that Mr. Pitt quite
agreed to the measure of maintaining the Forfeiture for
High Treason. I drew out heads of an account of the
Hereditary Revenues ofthe Crown.
30th. — At one o'clock went to the Chancellor in his
room behind the Court of Chancery to communicate
my intentions of briaging in a BiU upon the subject of
Forfeitures ; he approved entirely, and said Mr. Yorke's
book was conclusive. He also talked about the neces
sity of shortening the delays of trials for misdemeanour.
Also about the judgment to be given in Lord Thanet's
case. In the House, I moved for the fiirther proceedings
of the Treasury upon the Finance Reports, and gave
notice of moving upon the Forfeitures for High Treason.
Thursday, May 2nd. — Copper Committee. Also met
Mr. Pitt, Lord Hawkesbury, the two Mr. Vansittarts,
and Mr. Fordyce upon the Select Committee on the
London Docks, and agreed to put Lord Hawkesbury in
the chair. Order papers and meet that day se'ennight.
5th. — Irving came to me at one to settle the General
Revenue Account.
Qth. — In the House of Commons went through the
Committee on Seditious Society BiU. I moved the clause
for excepting the University Presses and the King's
Printer from the regulations imposed on other printers.
9th. — Dock Committee (arbitration between parties).
Mr. Pitt attended it. In the evening, in the Commit
tee of the whole House on the Report of the Committee
of Secrecy, I moved for leave to bring in a BiU to re
peal so much of the Acts of Anne and George II. as
put an end to Forfeiture for High Treason on the
death of the Pretender and his Sons. Dr. Laurence
spoke against it, and the Master of the Rolls for it.
10th — CaUed on the Speaker at eleven. Mr. Pitt
had expressed himself to be extremely well pleased with
VOL. I. N

178 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. IX.
what had passed in the motion respecting Forfeiture.
In the Dock Committee, we examined Mr. Dodd's plan
for rebuilding London Bridge with an arch lofty enough
to let ships pass with their masts standing, and for
buUding wharves on the river on each side with ware
houses, from London Bridge to Blackfriars; and Mr.
Pitt moved to refer this and the improved plans to the
merchants and City of London, to the Commissioners of
Customs, and the Trinity House for their opinion.
In the House all my BUls for perpetuating or continu
ing the Temporary Laws were read a third time and
passed, and we carried them to the Lords.
21st  Dock Committee met at eleven, and examined
Mr. Dodd and Colonel Twiss. In the House Sir Francis
Burdett's motion, and the Report upon Cold Bath
Fields' Prison came on. Sheridan attended and sup
ported Sir F. Burdett. On the question for re-commit
ment: for it, 6; against it, 147. The House rose at
twelve. 29th  Dock Committee. I proposed to'Mr. Pitt my
outline for the Desiderata for the Port of London, to
which the rest ofthe Committee in general agreed; and
orders were accordingly made for a survey of the
soundings between Blackfriars Bridge and London
Bridge, and for a survey of London Bridge and of its
state of repair.
To-day the news came through France that the Brest
fleet was got into the Mediterranean, and had passed
Lord St. Vincent.
30th. — Dock Committee. Sunday Newspapers BUl.
Second reading of the Forfeiture BiU postponed.
Saturday, June 1st. — Saw Mr. Forster, Governor of
the Russian Company, and of the Royal Exchange In
surance Office, upon the subject of a letter and resolu
tion from a Committee of the merchants of London
which was deputed to attend me upon their proposed
River Police BiU, and to request me to present it to
the House of Commons.
Ath  At half-past five I was at the rendezvous of

Jdne, 1799.] THAMES POLICE BILL. 179
the Light Horse Volunteers in Gray's Inn Lane, and
at half-past six the whole corps marched away to Hyde
Park (mounted being about 350, and dismounted 150),
where we kept the ground in conjunction Avith the
Surrey Yeomanry during the review of the Volunteer
Corps of the Metropolis. These amounted to above
8000 infantry. The King came on the ground at nine,
and the review ended at twelve. I went to the Draw
ing Room, where the King talked to me with great
satisfaction of the manner in which the ground was
kept by us, and also of the good appearance of the
Bloomsbury and Inns of Courts Regiments.
5th. — Dock Committee. Examined the state of Lon
don Bridge. Examined also Alderman Hibbert and
Anderson on the provisions of the Bill for the Isle of
Dogs. At two, Mr. Forster, Mr. Robert Thornton, Mr. B.
Lay, and Mr. Sansom came to me by deputation from
the Committee of Merchants on the Thames Police Bill
proposed by Colquhon. Rose told me the accounts
were aU completed except the Crown Revenue. In the
House Lord Hawkesbury moved for committing the
Isle of Dogs Bill to a Committee of the whole House,
and opened the points on which it was proposed to
carry the clauses.
Received the following letter from Mr. Wickham* : 
Whitehall, June Sth.
My dear Sir, — Grovernment has no other objection to the Bill
you mention being brought forward immediately but the wish
to bring forward a general improved plan of police for the
Metropolis at one and the same time, with which it is appre
hended that any partial project may interfere.
It is this apprehension that has induced Mr. Pitt to promise
the sum of 2000/. a year in aid of the Marine Police Establish
ment, in addition to the sum, whatever it may be, furnished by
the West India merchants. This sum exceeds by 140/. what
was originally promised to be paid by Government.
I am inclined to think that Mr. Pitt would grant a still larger
* Mr. Wickham was Private Secretary to the Duke of Portland.
N 2

180 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. IX.
sum, if necessary, rather than go to Parliament with any plan
that should be confined to this establishment alone; at the
same time I have every reason to believe that both Mr. Pitt and
the Duke of Portland are as persuaded as the merchants can be
that the greatest utility may be, and has been aheady, derived
from it.
You are no doubt aware that this very thing was in contem
plation when a seventh office (viz. that of Shadwell") was added
to the six originally intended to have been established by Mr.
Burton's very excellent BiU. And I have not the least hesita
tion in sayiifg, as well from my thorough knowledge of the
system itself, as of several of the very excellent magistrates who
now conduct it, that every benefit holden out by this new office
might have been acquired if the merchants had contributed from
their ovm funds to the Shadwell Office the money they have
furnished to the new one. And I most entirely agree with you,
on the principle of justice to Mr. Burton and the magistrates
who have acted under his Bill, if for no other reason, that either
the Shadwell Office ought to be transferred to the Marine Police
Office, or the Marine Police Office to Shadwell ; either of which
may be done, as I conceive, by Mr. Burton's Bill.
The Shadwell Office cannot be transferred elsewhere, because
there really is no want of any more police offices in London ;
nor will it, I conceive, be either just or fair or wise to abolish it
altogether because it did not do what really it had not the means
of doing. Believe me ever, with the sincerest esteem and regard,
My dear Sir, most faithfully yours, W. Wickham.
June Qth. — House of Commons. The Treason For
feiture Bill was read a second time without any debate.
7th — Port of London Committee. Accounts ordered ;
clauses considered. In the House of Commons, a de
bate upon the voted subsidy of 820,000/. for 45,000
Russians, respecting the object of the war with France,
which Mr, Pitt stated to be the attainment of a secure
peace, depending not only upon the territorial limits of
France with any view to a status quo, but also upon the
reduction of the power of France ; and still more upon
a change in the system, conduct, and character of the
Government of France in the purposes to which it
applies its power.
After this question, Mr. Pitt, in a speech of two
hours, opened the Budget. Supplies, 31,000,000/. —

June, 1799.] WAYS AND MEANS. 181
Ways and Means, beyond the surplus of the Consoli
dated Fund, and Lottery, and Income Tax, a Loan of
15,500,000/., whereof 11,000,000/. to be charged upon
the Income Tax, and 4,500,000/. to be countervailed
by the amount of the Sinking Fund, to redeem stock
to the same amount. In order to defray the dividends,
and 1/. per cent, on the stock created by the 4,500,000/.,
the means proposed were a tax of twopence upon smaU *
notes, estimated at the amount of 1,500,000/., renewed
once in two years, and a reduction of the drawbacks
upon sugars and cofiee imported.
The loan was contracted for at 125/. Consols, and
50/. Reduced 3 per Cents., with the usual discount for
prompt payment; which, taken together at the correct
price of stock, were worth less than 100/., and for which
the loan contractors were to pay the full sum of 100/.,
there being no bonus whatever upon this loan, and
three sets of contractors, who had each offered to take
it upon these terms. No dissentient voice upon these
resolutions, nor any debate.
10th. — I complained in the House of Commons of
the delay of the accounts, and Rose admitted them to
be all completed, except the Crown Revenue ; but made
excuses that the Lords of the Treasury had not had
time to look into them. The Treason Forfeiture Bill
was put off.
11th. — In the Court of King's Bench, the return to
the Habeas Corpus for bringing up the Cambridge
printer was argued, upon the alleged iUegality of the
order of the Lords for inflicting fine and imprisonment
on the printer for a libel on the Bishop of Llandaff. f
Printer remanded. Dock Committee, conferred with
the merchants. House of Commons: Sunday News-
* Small notes were those for sums less than 40s.
t In May Lord Grenville had brought under the notice of the Iiouse of
Lords an article in the Cambridge Intelligence); commenting on a speech of
the Bishop of Llandaff (Watson), which he declared to be a breach of
privilege. The Bishop himself was no party to the proceeding, but the
Iiouse sentenced Mr, Flower, the pi-inter of the paper, to a fltue of 100^. and
six months' imprisonment. The Court of King's Bench remanded Mr.
N 3

182 DUEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. IX.
paper BUl thrown out ; Treason Forfeiture BUl again
postponed. 12th.— In the House of Commons, Mr. Pitt moved
the resolution for augmenting the salaries of the
Judges, and providing a Superannuation Fund.
13!;A. — At ten o'clock I went to the Speaker, and
had a long and confidential conversation with him
about the plan of proceeding for augmenting the sala
ries of the Judges, and the steps which had recently
taken place on the subject. In the House of Com
mons, Mr. Long presented the accounts. No. I., which
I had moved for; and upon moving to print them, he
represented my complaint of delay as unreasonable,
and I repUed. The Attorney and Solicitor-General
attended, in expectation of the debate on the Treason
Forfeiture BiU; but owing to other business it was
again postponed, and I left it to take its chance. Mr.
Pitt was not there. It was, in fact (as I found after
wards), put off tiU the next day se'ennight.
lAth. — House of Commons. Debate on the com
pulsory clauses in the Isle of Dogs Dock BiU. Divi
sion, 12 to 26.
17th  House of Commons: Dock Committee. The
Speaker told me there was certainly to be an Address
for a Survey of the Courts of Justice in Scotland,
and that the Treason Forfeiture BUl is to pass this
session. In the evening, Irving came about the Hereditary
Revenue, &c., and was to take the Treasury order the
next day, upon my representation that the Temporary
Excise granted by 12 Car. II. c. 23, and continued
to Geo. IL, ought to be inserted in his account.
ISth. — In the House of Commons, Mr. Rose pre
sented copies of the Proceedings of the Treasury upon
Flower, on the ground that commitments by Parliament for contempt cannot
be inquired into by a court of law ; but, according to Lord Campbell (Lives
of Chief Justices, vol. iii. p. 60), Lord Kenyon, who had warmly supported
Lord GrenvUle's motion in the Iiouse of Lords, "justly incurred consider
able obloquy " by the asperity with which he treated Mr. Flower's counsel
on moving for the writ.

Jdne, 1799.] ME. EOSE AND ME. LONG. 183
the Finance Reports, and afterwards the accounts (as
he called them) of balances paid by Public Account
ants, and the state of Hereditary Revenue. I moved
successively for the printing of each ; and upon the
last notice, Rose * got up to state that this account was
necessarily imperfect, and chiefly so because the nature
of the accounts required very laborious calculations,
which could not be finished for the whole period
required during the present session ; and he also com
plained of the hardships thrown upon the public offi
cers, at a time of general pressure, by the additional
burden of such accounts as these, commending Irving
(not by name) for his general diligence, despatch, &c.
I replied, that I should not now inquire into any
delays which had occurred in the beginning to make up
these accounts. I agreed to the peculiar difficulty of
the year 1787; and in the present pressure, and in the
commendations due to Irving; and congratulated the
House, however, that these accounts were now before
them, as being extremely interesting and valuable to
the House and the pubhc.
Long f upon this got up and said, that as I had inti
mated an improper delay to have taken place in be
ginning upon these accounts, he wished to know whether
I had not been told by Mr. Irving that he could not
enter upon the Hereditary Revenue Account until after
the General Income Account was finished, and whether
I did not know this at the time of my complaint to the
House ?
I rephed to this, that what the Hon. Member had
last delivered did fiU my mind with a wonderful degree
of surprise (N.B. What Long said was not true, as
apphed to the subject); but that I should not dweU
upon that subject now nor pursue it. That I had been
charged with impatience upon this subject, but that
the only impatience which I felt was at the apparent
Ml-. Kose was the Senior Secretary to the Treasury.
t Mr. Long, afterwards Lord Famborough, was the then Secretary of
the Treasury. N 4

184 DUEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. IX.
neglect and disrespect shown to the orders and authority
of the House ; a neglect and disrespect to be presumed
from the delay, tiU explained; but that I sincerely
rejoiced in the production of these accounts, which the
House would find to be highly creditable and satis
factory, and beyond any hitherto laid before the pubhc,
either as to extent, or detaUs, or practical service.
19^A.— Went to the Speaker to tea. Explained to
him, 1st, that a conversation aUuded to by Long was
perfectly confidential and private between me and
Irving; 2ndly, that it could not relate to the accounts,
with which Irving had no concern, viz., the defaulters
and the Treasury proceedings ; 3rdly, that of the other
two, it could not have happened untU the two were
ordered; and the first was ordered 9th January (viz.,
the Public Income), and the latter on the 12th March
(viz., the Crown Revenues), which at least supposed
by necessity that the first order had been two months in
existence and unexecuted ; and that, in fact, the conver
sation did not take place till May ; so that even this
conversation, so improperly aUuded to, did not excuse
the delays imputed as to the beginning to make up
those accounts. Mr. Speaker was perfectly satisfied;
and in the course of the day I stated the same thing
to Douglas, and on a subsequent day to Steele.
20th  Dock Committee at one. In the House
Tierney moved a string of resolutions on the state of
the Pubhc Income and Expenditure; and Mr. Pitt
moved to adjourn the debate till the 28th inst., upon an
understanding that the resolutions should be printed in
the meantime.
25th  House of Commons. Treason Forfeiture
BUl was committed. A debate took place on the question
for the Speaker leaving the chair. I spoke first ; after
wards Sir F. Burdett, Hobhouse, JoUiffe, Hawkins
Browne, and Tyrwhitt. Division for it, 57; against
it, 8.
2Qth  Dockyard Committee. Examined evidence
on the accumulation of soil in the River Thames, &c.

JcLT, 1799.] DOCK COMMITTEE. 185
In the House, the Treason Forfeiture Bill was read a
third time and passed. I carried it to the Lords.
27th. — Allen Chambre was made a Baron of the
Exchequer in the room of Perryn resigned. And, as
he could not be called a Serjeant in vacation, he was to
be created such by Act of Parliament.
2Sth  Dock Committee. I proposed heads of a
further report. Examined evidence as to the bed of the
river. I spoke to the Chancellor about the Treason
Forfeiture BUl; who said that Lord Thurlow perfectly
agreed to it. In the evening I drew the rough draft
of the full report on the Improvement of the Port of
London. 29th. — Vansittart and Irving came to settle about
the materials for the report.
30^A  Finished the report.
Monday, July 1st. — Reading report to the London
Dock Committee. Eight Members present. It was
agreed to.
3rd, '¦ — In the House of Commons, Mr. Pitt and Mr.
Irving debated Mr. Pitt's resolutions on Finance.
Ath. — In the Dock Committee received Custom House
Report, and Irving's Evidence on the Warehousing
System. 5th. — London Port Committee. In the House of
Lords, the Slave Limitation Bill.
10th. — Vansittart and I settled the report on the
Improvement of the Port of London ; and added
Smeaton's opinion given in 1763, on the alteration in
London Bridge, and its effects on the navigation and
waterworks; and also added the Excise opinion upon
the extension of the Warehousing System.
ll^A. — Presented the Report to the House of Com
mons ; I moved for amended returns from the Auditors'
Office ; which were immediately presented.
12th. —Went to Ramsgate.*
At Ramsgate I received the foUowing letter from
Lord CUfden: —
* Parliament was prorogued on the 12th.

186 DUEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. IX.
Gouran, July 17th, 1799.
My dear Abbot, — As I know you will be glad to hear something
of this country, I will tell you shortly what I have learnt since
I came here. The country is perfectly quiet, and likely to
continue so. The rebels and Papists, — I am sorry to say the
terms are almost sjmonymous, — perceive there is no hope in
rebellion, and that death and ruin pursue those who try it.
They will continue therefore peaceable, I believe, and are now
become great friends to Union : partly through malice, partly
through fear; no matter, they everywhere come forward in
favour of the measure ; and I am happy to say several cotmties,
Cork, Kerry, Mayo, Waterford, have declared strongly, and
almost unanimously in favour of it. Others will do so before
Parliament meets. We are getting resolutions signed in Kil
kenny at present. I don't know whether it is yet decided when
Parliament is to meet. Some think in October ; others in
January. A sufficient majority being secured, the thing wUl
be carried without the smallest disturbance; and unless they
manage miserably indeed, they may have numbers sufficient.
There is, however, but one way to gain them, and that is by
ample compensation and remuneration for the sacrifices made by
individuals. This, I believe, they are well disposed to do.
Without it, believe me, the measure will never be carried. All
Ireland will gain, and this all Ireland begins to perceive, except
boroughmongers and speculators in Parliament, of which there
are several in this House of Commons, the seats having been
sold very cheap. These persons must be gratified ; and this, I
believe, they most wisely are resolved to do.
The counties will continue to return two members each, which
makes sixty-four members; the great towns about fourteen;
and the remaining twenty-two will be thrown among 100
boroughs, making districts of four or five boroughs to return a
member, as in Scotland. This, or something near it, will, I be
lieve, be the mode adopted. In defiance of madness, villany,
and rebellion, this country is increasing in revenue and general
prosperity. Suwarrow continues to beat the French, which
more and more contributes to secure internal tranquillity here.*
I remain, my dear Abbot, yours always most faithfully,

* Though Moreau had taken the command of the French anny in the
north of Italy, SuwajTow, in the course of May, had recovered MUan and
Tm-in. On the 19th of June he gained a gi-eat victory over Macdonald at
Garofalo, on the Trebbia ; while, in consequence of this victory, Mantua was
recovered by the Austrians a few days after this letter was written. On tho
14th of August Suwarrow gained the great victory of Novi over Moreau and
Joubert.

Aug. 1799.] EXPEDITION TO HOLLAND. 187
Friday, August 2nd. — Rose came in the Custom House
yacht, with Lord Eldon, &c. In the course of the day
Rose said to me that " if Mr. Dundas became Prime
Minister he would be a short-lived Minister, and his
power would be tripped up like a scene in a panto
mime." 3rd and Ath. — Fifty-six transports for the secret
expedition came into the harbour.
13th  The fleet saUed, amounting to 200 sail, carry
ing 13,000 men, under Sir Ralph Abercrombie.
23rd and 24!fA.— Asecond camp of 16,000 men having
been formed on Barham Downs, 3000 of these marched
to Deal and embarked under General Dare.
27th.—Tlh.Q first embarkation landed at the Helder
and defeated the Dutch.
2Sth and 30th.— The Dutch fleet at the Texel sur
rendered; and General Dare went with the second
English embarkation.
Wednesday, Sept. 11th  The third English embarka
tion sailed under Lord Chatham and Prince William of
Gloucester, preceded by the Duke of York.
Proclamation of the 9th for the meeting of Parliament
came to Ramsgate.
The foUowing circular was issued by Mr. Pitt:-^-
Downing Street, Sept. 14th.
Sir, — The importance of following up the successes which
have been recently obtained, rendering it extremely desirable to
provide as speedily as possible a further augmentation of dis
posable military force, it has been thought advisable that Par
liament should be assembled without delay, in order to give an
opportunity of proposing an Act to enable His Majesty to avail
himself for that purpose of the services of volunteers from
the militia to a greater extent than is authorised by the Act of
last session. As this measure will be proposed immediately after
the meeting, which is fixed for Tuesday the 24th instant ; and
as no other public business is intended to be brought forward,
the session will probably be of very short duration ; but a full
attendance is particularly desirable.
I am, Sir, your most faithful Servant, W. Pitt.
23rd and 2Ath  Came to Town from Ramsgate.

188 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. IX,
The session opened with King's Speech upon the suc
cesses of the campaign ; and in the House of Commons
an Address was moved by Mr. Shaw Lefevre, and se
conded by Colonel Elford. No debate.
25th  In the House the Address was reported. Rose
moved for the Committee on the Expired and Expiring
Laws in the old fashion.
2Qth  I caUed upon the Speaker. It was agreed
that I should move an instruction upon the plan of our
Expiring Laws Committee of the last session. The
House went up with the Address. Upon its return,
the thanks were voted to Admiral MitcheU*, Sir Sidney
Smith f. Sir R. Abercrombie, &c. ; and upon a motion
for leave to bring in a Bill for further drafting the
MUitia, Dundas, Tierney, Wyndham, Sheridan, and Mr.
Pitt spoke. At the rising of the House I moved the
instruction agreed upon.
27th. — In the Committee upon Expired and Expiring
Laws I proposed the General Report, which was agreed
to; and we afterwards adopted Rose's resolutions for
the continuance of particular Acts. I reported to the
House. 30^A — The House went into a Committee on the
MUitia Volunteer BiU.
Tuesday, Oct. 1st. — Rode with the Speaker by appoint
ment. Settled the motion for copies of the Admiralty
proceedings and the Finance Reports. Also agreed
upon the plan for a Committee upon the state of the
Public Records during the ensuing winter. Settled the
time and mode of giving notice of the motion. The
concurrence and sanction of Mr. Pitt was signified at
the time, the names of the Committee to be appointed,
&c. The conversation proceeded thus: —
1st. Upon the actual state of the Record, &c. of the
* Admiral Mitchell was the commander of our fleet to which the Dutch
fleet under Admiral Stray simendered.
t The service for which Sir S. Smith was thanked had no connection
with the Dutch expedition, but was the defence of Acre against Buonaparte.

Oct. 1799.] STATE OF THE PUBLIC EECOEDS. 189
Exchequer, as well on the law side as in the five offices
which had been noticed by the Finance Committee
(23rd Report). To this the Speaker added the pressing
necessity of some better arrangement of the House of
Commons papers ; and the importance of those in the
Tower, as requiring publication, had been recently
urged by Dr. Laurence.
2ndly. Upon the expediency of ParUament taking up
the inquiry as a great public concern during the ensuing
session, when no other general inquiry of magnitude
was on foot.
3rdly. Upon the propriety of Mr. Pitt giving it his
avowed and decided support, with an understanding
that any pecuniary remuneration to persons employed
under the direction of the Committee would be made
good. 4thly. Upon the giving notice before the approaching
recess, as a warning for preparation in the different,
offices to meet the inquiry.
5thly. Upon the ease and utUity of forming a new
succession of persons versed in the knowledge necessary
for these matters, by their necessary intercourse with
the older and more experienced, so as to improve and
continue the traditional stock of information, which at
present is gradually declining.
6thly. Upon the lapse of time since the last inquiry
ofthe sort, viz., in 1732.
My points in this plan are : — First, an useful public
work which no other person is apparently disposed to
undertake. Secondly, by an occupation coinciding with
my former habits and pursuits, and tending to those
which I am most desirous of cultivating in future,
as connected with my Parliamentary and professional
views. In the House I communicated to WaUace my in
tended motion for a production ofthe Admiralty proceed
ings upon the Finance Reports.
2nd — In the House I moved for copies of the pro
ceedings of the Lords of the Admiralty on the several

190 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. IX.
matters stated in the Reports of the Finance Committee ;
so far as they regarded the Naval Department. Wallace
did not oppose the motion, but explained the progress
made, and that proceedings on the Admiralty, Dock
yards, and VictualUng Office, would be completed for
the House. I replied.
3rd. — The Speaker told me he had mentioned the
inquiry into the Records to Mr. Pitt, whose answer,
though not in words, was in effect, non equidem invideo,
miror magis, &c.
Ath. — I saw Topham upon Corporation business, and
afterwards consulted him upon the propriety of the
Record Inquiry, and the Desiderata ; and the probable
assistance. I also examined the box of the Commissioners of
Public Accounts, which began their proceedings in
August, 1780, and ended in August, 1787. In the box
there is a fair schedule of all its contents, consistino- of
journal, precepts, disbursements, accounts, and papers
laid before the Commissioners ; letters, examinations, &c.
In January, 1787, the Commissioners having finished
their 15th Report, viz. upon the Customs, came to a set
of resolutions explanatory of the opinions upon the
original objects of their institution, and of the mode
and degree in which they had attained them; and
also a resolution to communicate their proceedings and
opinions to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
From January to August, the rest of their meetings
were employed in revising their journal and scheduling
their papers to be delivered up to the House of
Commons. From Mr. Lane, who was Secretary during the latter
part of the Commission, I have understood that this
Commission cost the public above 10,000/. a year in
salaries and office expenses.
Wallace presented the Report of the Admiralty on
their own establishment, as approved by the King in
Council, under the Order of the House of Commons of
Wednesday last.

Oct. 1799.] STATE OF THE PUBLIC EECOEDS. 191
Secretary Dundas moved the thanks to Lord Morn
ington.* 5th  Wrote to the Speaker upon the subject of the
Public Records, stating the proceedings under Lord
Halifax, in Queen Anne's reign ; and the language of
the unanimous Address of the House of Commons in
1732; and leaving the question (of my undertaking
the measure at present) upon Mr. Pitt's thinking fit to
declare in the House that it should have his approbation
and support.
7 th. — News arrived of the battle of Alkmaar.f
9th. — Met the Speaker, who had shown my letter to
Mr. Pitt, and he expressed his perfect readiness to
support the measure I had proposed.
In the House accordingly I gave notice that I should
take an early opportunity, after the approaching recess,
of moving for an inquiry into the state of the Public
Records of the Kingdom, for the purpose of ascertain
ing their present condition, of providing more effectually
for their preservation in future, and for rendering the
use of them more convenient to His Majesty's subjects.
At the same time I thought it proper to add that the
plan which I had it in view to propose, was the same as
was undertaken by Lord Halifax, in the reign of Queen
Anne, and adopted by the House of Commons after
the buming of the Cottonian Library, in the reign of
his late Majesty.
Mr. Pitt immediately rose to say, that it gave him
great satisfaction to find that I had turned my thoughts
to this subject; and as he thought the measure ex
tremely desirable, he should certainly be glad to co
operate with me to the utmost.
11th. — Searched the papers of the House of Commons
* For the capture of Seringapatam, the news of which had just reached
England. t There were no less than three battles at Alkmaar ou the 19th Sep
tember, 2nd and 6th of October, in each of which the Didce of York, at the
head of a British and Russian army, gained the advantage over the French,
though not one of a character sufficiently decided to enable him to maintain
his footing in HoUand, which he soon afterwards evacuated.

192 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. IX,
from 1697 to, 1797, and also the proceedings of the
Lords from 1793 to 1797, for precedents of proceedings
respecting improvements or rebuilding of the Houses of
Parliament, and others contiguous thereto.
12th. — The House of Commons sat between eleven
and twelve to receive BiUs from the Lords, and to
attend the House of Lords upon the passing. After
this business Mr. Pitt acquainted the House that it was
His Majesty's desire that the House should adjourn to
Tuesday the 21st of January.
Upon a motion made to that effect immediately after
wards, it was opposed by Tierney, on the ground of its
being an unusual hour to proceed upon public business
without notice that it would come on at such a time.
The Speaker was called upon to give his opinion upon
the propriety. This he declined; but stated to the
House that it did not appear by the precedents any
delay had ever taken place between such intimation
from the King and the subsequent motion.
N.B. — The last precedent was on the 2nd of August,
1785, for an adjournment to the 27th October, foUow
ing, viz. upon the Irish propositions, to prevent their
faUing to the ground by prorogation. Two divisions
of 38 to none, except the teUers, upon amendment to
adjourn to 12th November, and to adjourn the debate
tiU this day at four o'clock.
lAth — Rode to Wapping, BlackwaU, and the Isle of
Dogs, where 100 men were at work in digging the canal
across it ; they had been at work ten days, and the soil
below the surface was extremely dry and hard. Hard
frost the last ten days of the year.

EECAPITULATION OF 1799.
During the whole of this Session, also, the principal
leaders of Opposition continued to secede. Mr. Fox
did not come once. Grey came and spoke once against
the Union ; and Sheridan opposed it in several stages.
Tierney never acted with them; but maintained his

Dec. 1799.] EECAPITULATION OF THE SESSION. 193
own line of opposition, especially in questions of finance ;
and brought forward a set of resolutions on the debt
and taxes and resources in June, which were superseded
by another set of resolutions proposed by Mr. Pitt in
July. The provision for the Dukes of Kent and Cumber
land, proposed in March, brought forward the state of
the Civil List, and I moved for a comparative .account
ofthe revenues enjoyed by George IL, and of the CivU
List, annuity, and grants enjoyed by His present Ma
jesty. The account was accordingly produced, and
showed manifestly the disadvantage to His present Ma
jesty, although the account was not completed for want
of time.
The Report from the Secret Committee on the trea
sonable practices of the English and Irish Jacobins
gave me occasion to bring in a Bill to perpetuate the
Law of Forfeiture for Treason. The BiU was brought
in upon grounds which were stated by me in a way, I
beUeve, very satisfactory to the House in general; but
by the negligence of Administration, and a teasing
opposition, it was made to linger through the House
from AprU to the end of June ; when it passed by a
division of 57 to 8. This was the only division that
took place in any stage of it in the House of Commons.

VOL. I.

194 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. X.

CHAP; X.
1800.
Buonaparte's letter to the king. — me. abbot moves foe a committee
ON THE state OF THE PUBLIC EECOEDS.  BUDGET FOE 1800.  DEBATES
ON THE UNION. — THE KING IS SHOT AT IN HYDE PAEK AND AT DEUET
LANE. — ILLNESS OF PITT.  OPENING OF THE NEW SESSION.  CORN
COMMITTEE.  DEBATE ON NEGOTIATION WITH FRANCE.  UNWILLINGNESS
OF THE SCOTCH CLEEGY TO MAKE EETUENS OF THE POPULATION.
Saturday, Jan. Ath. — Went to St. James's Vestry
from eleven to one o'clock, to attend the receipt of
subscriptions to the soup fund. According to the
vestry clerk there are in this parish 4700 houses, 2000
poor, 207 alehouses, and the poor-rates are 18,000/. per
annum. The living is 1100/.
lAth — Lord Eldon came by appointment to talk
over the Record Inquiry, &c. He agreed most
cordiaUy in the general measure and discussed several
of the subordinate parts, such as Bishop's Registers,
Parochial Registers, Heralds' Books, the Patent Office,
the Baga de Secretis, &c. He promised to send me
his own vindication of his opinion upon the Record in
Lord Thanet's case, and considered himself " pledged
to Parliament " upon another matter, viz. his BiU
for shortening his time of trial for misdemeanours.
Upon the subject of the Registration in Scotland he
was clearly of opinion that a General Registry through- .
out England would be of great public utility. Upon
my suggesting the necessity of preserving the affidavits
made at Judges' Chambers for obtaining orders there,
he agreed so entirely with me in consequence of his
own experience, that he had actually taken steps on
the subject in his own Court. The King has now left
off port wine, and with all his excessive fatigue of

Jan. 1800.] BUONAPAETE'S LETTEK TO THE KING. 195
exercise, drinks but one glass of Madeira. He has
taken to wear a spencer and pantaloons.
ITfji^^ — ^ent to Lord Frederick CampbeU's* upon
the subject of the Register House in Scotland, and by
his desire sent him the fuU set of questions to be
answered. He sent me a printed memorial upon the
state of that office in 1788. Afterwards I met Planta
at the Museum, read over his draft of the proposed
Return; corrected it, and sent him the full set of
questions. Also had his consent to propose him as a
person ready to give his assistance to a Committee of
the House of Commons if required.
I9th. — A civil reply from Buonaparte through
TaUeyrand to Lord GrenvUle's hostUe note.
20^A. — Saw the Attorney-Generalf upon the subject
of the Record Committee, and explained to him my
plan, to which he agreed.
21st  House of Commons met for the first time
since the adjournment in October. Sheridan gave
notice of a motion upon the Dutch Expedition ;
Tierney of a caU of the House ; Mr. Pitt, of a message
on the overture of France.^ I moved for the annual
* Lord Register of Scotland. He died in 1817, in the 87th year of his
age. Lord Colchester then speaks of him, as " possessing a mind to the latest
hour endowed with the highest vigom- ; manners noble, gracious, and of
never faiUng gaiety : and a heart most affectionate towards all for whom he
entertained any value."
t Sir John Mitford, afterwards Lord Redesdale, and Lord ChanceUor of
Ireland. X On Jan. 4th, Lord Grenville had transmitted to M. Talleyrand, Minister
for Foreign Affau's in France, a note in reply to one which M. Talleyrand
had sent to England by a special messenger, addressed to the King by Buona
parte in his character of First Consul. (In November the French Directoiy
had been terminated, and by the Eevolution known as that of the 19th
Brumaire (Nov. 9), the Council of 500 had been dissolved by Buonaparte by
force of arms, and the Government of the Consulate had been established,
the three Consuls being Buonaparte, Cambaceres, and Le Brim.) Buona
parte's letter professed a desire for " a general pacification ; " and Lord
Grenville's reply, though stating that "His Majesty saw no reason to depart
from those forms which have long been established in Europe for transact
ing business with Foreign States," expressed an equal desire "for the
reestablishment of secure and permanent tranqiuUity in Europe." The two
letters are to be found in the Ann. Reg. for 1800 ; Buonaparte's in the
History, Lord Grenville's among the State Papers in the Appendix,
o 2

196 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. X.
accounts of Revenue and Trade. (Mr. Pitt said the
account of Parliamentary Income would necessarUy take
time to prepare.) Tierney moved for several particular
accounts respecting particular taxes and dealings ,with
the Bank.
22nd. — In the House of Commons I moved for the
expenditure and unfunded debt accounts, also for the
further proceedings of the Treasury and Admiralty on
the Finance Reports. Upon the Admiralty questions,
some altercation took place between me and Wallace.
Tierney moved a caU of the House for 5th February.
Ayes, 32; noes, 115.
2Ath. — I mentioned to Mr. Justice Le Blanc the
subject of keeping affidavits at Judges' Chambers, and
he agreed to the necessity of some better regulation.
27th. — The business in the House of Commons upon
Buonaparte's overture was put off on account of Mr.
Pitt's indisposition tiU Wednesday.
2Sth. — House of Commons. I moved for a more
complete account of the Crown Revenues and Civil
List. Also of the arrears and balances of pubhc
accountants, stating at the same time " that I had it in
contemplation at some future time to propose some
measures of the same sort as those which were adopted
in the wars of King WiUiam and Queen Anne for
charging public accountants with interest upon the
public money remaining in their hands." Debate in
the Lords on the King's message. Division, 92 to 6.
29th. — Mr. Pitt's Ulness continuing, the debate upon
the King's message was put off till Monday next.
30th. — I went to the Speaker by appointment; we
settled the plan for the Record Committee, the form of
motion, &c. ; and he proposed Luders to me as a sort of
secretary to the Committee in the arrangement of their
materials. Monday, Feb. 3rd  Debate on peace and war.
The House sat till three. Division for negativing
Buonaparte's overture, 265; against it, 64.
ISth. — In the House of Commons, I moved the two
concluding accounts of my annual series, viz. the

Fjsb. 1800.] PUBLIC EECOEDS COMMITTEE. 197
Pubhc Funded Debt, and the progress made in its re
duction. Also I moved for the inquiry into the state
of the Public Records, which was well received on all
sides of the House, as I perceived at the time, and heard
also afterwards. The Master ofthe RoUs seconded it.
Names of the Committee : — Besides myself, the
Master ofthe RoUs, Attorney General, Solicitor General,
Lord Advocate of Scotland, Sir William Scott, Lord
Hawkesbury, Mr. Douglas, Mr, Percival, Mr. Bragge,
Mr. Hawkins Browne, Mr. Bankes, Mr. W. Var^sittart,
Mr. R. Ryder, Mr. Charles Yorke. Afterwards Mr.
Rose, at his own instance, was proposed and added to
the Committee, and upon a subsequent day, Mr.
Williams Wynn.
21st — Dr. Jackson* dined with us, and mentioned to
me the Speaker's havingformaUy declined Oxford, and that
Thomas GrenviUe was likely to be elected with Sir Wil
liam Scott upon the next vacancies for the university.
22nd — Record Committee met at eleven at the British
Museum, and proceeded from thence to visit the foUow
ing offices : — Enrolment Office in Chancery ; Six
Clerks' Office ; Report Office ; Crown Office ; Petty Bag
Office; Examiners' Office; RoUs' Chapel ; King's Bench
Office, Temple; Prothonotaries' Office; Offices of Com
missioners for auditing Public Accounts ; Duchy of
Lancaster, Duchy of CornwaU, Lord Treasurer's Re
membrancer, Pipe Office, Somerset Place ; and the
State Paper Office, Scotland Yard, and Treasury.
23rd, — Sir Francis D'lvernois brought me the MSS.
of a new work on the comparison of the expenditure of
the British Monarchical Government, and the French
Repubhcan form. He received from me aU the data
upon the British expenditure ; and I corrected many
details in the constitutional part.
2Ath — The Speaker settled that I should make my
* " At "Westminster School I first became known to Dr. Cyril Jackson,
then sub-preceptor of the Prince of Wales and afterwards Dean of Christ
Church, to whose early kindness in directiag my studies, and effectual exertions
in securing my election for the University of Oxford, I am certainly indebted
for the greatest portion of my success and happiness in life." — C. A. 1817.
o 3

195

DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE.

[Ch. X.

own arrangements with the Post Office respecting the
returns to the orders of the Record Committee. And I
adopted Lord Auckland's proposal, to have them sent
under cover to the Secretary of the General Post Office,
marked at the corner, "House of Commons Record
Committee." Mr. Pitt opened the Budget, and proposed 39,500,000^.
for the supply of the year (over and above interest and
charges of the PubUc Debt), to be provided for by the
ways and means foUowing : —

Navy ....
Army, Ordinary .
„ Extraordinary .
Ordnance
Miscellaneous Services .
Interest on Exchequer
BiUs
Deficiency on former
grants
Deficiency on Land and
Malt
Estimated Deficiency on
Income Tax 1799 .
Estimated Deficiency on
Aids and Contribu
tions
Vote of Credit 1799
charged on Supply ia
1800
Subsidies
Annual Fee Debt .
Surplus ,

For 100 sterling

Supply.
13,619,000

Ways and Means.
AnQual, in lieu of Land

8,850,000
2,500,000 1,695,000 750,000

and Malt .
Lottery Convoy Tax
Income Tax estimated

2,750,000 20,000
1,250,000

860,000

forl800at7,000,000Z.after deductions
Vote of Credit .

5,300,000 3,000,000

447,000

Surplus of Consolidated

350,000

Fund
Bank for renewal of

6,500,000

2,500,000

Charter
Loan (besides Ireland) .

3,000,000
18,000,000

1,079,000

1,914,000
8,000,000 200,000
1,736,000
39,500,000

Loan at 61 or at 62.
. 110 consols
47 reduced
Discount

98 2

18
16

II 7

39,500,000

68 4 0
29 9 10

97 13 10
2 16 7

98 18 II
Interest and charges on I57Z. (three per cents.) .
Total permanent charge on 6,000,000^. borrowed from the
Sinking Fund 
The rest, viz. 13,000,000^. charged on the Income Duty.
Taxes, 5 per cent on Fees above 2s 6d. .
„ British and Foreign spirits at 5d per gallon .

100 10 5
4 14 2i
313,500130,000
220,000350,000

March, 1800.] THE BAGA DE SECEETIS. 199
2Qth. — Went to the Lev(5e. The King talked to me
about promulgation, expiring laws, &c. &c. At half-
past four the Record Committee met, and made orders
for an account of the Hundred RoUs, and House Rolls,
and copies of some of the special judgments of the
Curia Regis in the Chapter House. Also for the de
livery of Proceedings under Special Commissions, 1746,
1780, 1792-4-6-8, from Mr. Barlow and Mr. Knapp,
for the purpose of placing them in the Baga de Secretis
of the King's Bench Treasury.
28th. — House of Commons. Tierney's motion for
declaring that it was neither just nor -necessary to
carry on the war for the restoration of monarchy in
France. For it, 34; against it, 142.
Saturday, March 1st. — Met the Record Committee at
eleven in Lincoln's Inn Library. Viewed the reposi
tories in the office of the Masters in Chancery. After
wards the offices of the Consistory Court of London,
the Court of Arches; the Prerogative Court; Ad
miralty; Prize; and Delegates; the Heralds' Office;
and the Tower.
5th. — Saw the Master of the RoUs and the Attorney-
General and Dealtry and Barlow upon the subject of
the Baga de Secretis, all of whom agreed upon the
absurdity of Lord Kenyon's conduct. At the Crown
Office I found Lord Chief Baron Parker's letter in 1750
speaking of the Attainder Records as fit to be deposited
there, " for the benefit of the Crown, and such of His
Majesty's subjects as may be interested therein." Also
a note of depositing some of the Records of the Rebel
Trials of 1746 in the Baga de Secretis, by Lord Chief
Baron Parker in 1767, all the bags being brought
there by an officer of the Court.
Qth — House of Commons. Report of Corn Com
mittee considered. The Speaker at great length urged
the making bread of the whole grain. Lord Hawkes
bury moved the resolutions according to the Report of
the Committee.
7th — Sir S. CottereU came to me respecting the
o 4

200 DUEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. X.
Return from the Privy Council ; ofiered to me an order
which Lord Chatham thought should have been ad
dressed to him. Went in the evening to Lord Mendip's,
and met HatseU. ' He was now of opinion that the
House of Commons would not caU upon the Clerk of
the Parliament for an account of Records in his custody
(even such as did not belong to the Lords in their
separate proceedings) without a message : and that the
Committee could not order it.
Sth, — By appointment caUed on the Speaker. Con
versed upon intended alterations in the arrangement of
fees and salaries to the Clerks and Officers of the House
of Commons, including the Chairman of Ways and
Means. Also discussed the points belonging to the
Record Committee respecting Lord Chatham, Lord
Kenyon, and the ChanceUor. He wished the latter
(respecting the Clerk of the ParUament) to be left for
a few days tiU he could see Cowper and talk it over
with him, but was quite clear for the power of the
House or of a Committee, and seemed to think that to
send a message was waiving the right.
This day the Records from over the ceiling of the
House of Commons were removed into a Committee
Room to be sorted.
9th — Sir John Cox Hippesley came to relate the
history of the King's pension to Cardinal York.
10th. — Planta brought the return of the British
Museum. Met Rose at the House, and went through
his Chapter House Return with queries and notes.
He took it back to complete.
11th. — London Port Committee. Mr. Pitt attended.
Agreed to give the Wapping Docks a compulsory
clause for wine, brandy, and tobacco.
lAth — Dock Committee. Orders, for Sheriffs of
Scotland. House of Commons. Second reading of the
Potato BiU. House counted out.
18^7i. — General Bentham told me Lord Spencer
saw nothing in Sir Andrew Hammond's objections to
his Dockyard Plan,

Apbil, 1800.] DOCK COMMITTEE. 201
19^7j. — London Port Committee. Sent questions to
the ship builders. Record Committee to view Records,
&c., brought over from the House of Commons.
20th, — London Port Committee. The Speaker
mentioned the difficulties persisted in by the Lords in
acknowledging our order upon the Clerk of the Parlia
ment. 21s^. — Met Chinnery* and told him that I should
want returns to the orders for accounts] moved in
January last. He promised them for Friday the 28th
or sooner.
22nd. — I wrote to Rose to accelerate return of
accounts moved by me in January, and for the further
proceedings upon the Finance Reports.
25th. — Rose told me that there was no reason why
the Accounts of Expenditure, Unfunded Debt, and
Balances moved by me two months ago, might not
have been presented at any time in three days. Never
theless, only two of the eight sets of accounts have been
presented in a complete state. He made excuses about
the delays of further proceedings in the Finance
Reports. I moved for a further account of Balances
transferred from the late Auditors to the present Com
missioners. Tuesday, April 1st. — Went to the Speaker about the
Clerk of Parliament. Now it is to be neither enforcing
the order of the Committee, nor sending any message
to the Lords.
2nd. — Spoke to Long about the Finance Accounts,
and Tierney afterwards complained to the House that
the delay was indecent and disrespectful.
Ath — House of Commons. The arrears and balances
from five different offices were presented and ordered
to be printed.
Sth — Called on Goodenough (Tax Office) about
charging pubhc accountants with interest,

* Mr. Chinnery's delays are accounted for in G. Rose's Correspondence,
vol ii. p. 486-96,

202 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. X.
9th  I saw Astle and Topham, who promised to
proceed upon their order forthwith, respecting the
selection of unpubhshed Records. Went to the Chapter
House, where Caley, Hewlett, and Richards completed
their search for the Hundred RoUs, which they found
nearly complete when added to those in the Tower.
Also examined some Assize RoUs of Richard I., King
John, and Henry III.
IQth  London Port Committee. Sent invitations
to architects to deliver plans and estimates for a new
London Bridge.
17 th. — Went to the Attorney-General and consulted
him on the Attainder Records to be deposited with the
Record Committee; and upon the BUl for charging
pubUc accountants with interest. Irish business put
off. 18^A  Income Tax put off.
21s^. — House of Commons. Irish Union. Debate
tUl twelve. Division on agreeing to the first article,
234 against 30. In the morning went to the Speaker
about my PubUc Accountants' Interest BUl. Also
spoke to him about the message to the Lords, and about
the Lord President of Session's letter to me in July,
1799, and about the delayed accounts.
22nd. — House of Commons agreed to the fifth and
seventh articles of the Union. I wrote to Mr. Pitt
about the Public Accountants' Interest BiU.
23rd. — London Dock Committee. House moved
and carried a message to the Lords respecting Pubhc
Records ; and brought back answer.
24^7j  House of Commons. Union question put
off. 25th. — House of Commons. Fourth article of the
Union. Division on Grey's motion with a view to reduce
100 Irish members to 85 ; and to strike off 80 borough
members. For it, 34; against it, 176.
2Sth. — I sent my Interest BiU to the Attorney-
General. Wool Evidence in the House of Commons.
Thursday, May 1st, — Attorney- General and Lord

May, 1800.] PLAN FOE NEW LONDON BEIDGE. 20,3
Advocate both agreed to the nature of my Interest BiU.
Union ; commercial article passed in the Committee.
2nd, — House of Commons. Report of Articles of
Union. Division against them, 26 ; for them, 208.
Ath. — CaUed on Bishop of Durham by appointment,
who promised to fix immediately upon some proper
mode of getting a return from the Church of Durham.
Saw Sir Francis D'lvernois ; and Mr. Pitt's note ad
vising him to proceed in the publication of his MSS. on
the French finances under Buonaparte ; including a
chapter on the Comparative Economy of the British
and French Governments.
5th. — House of Commons. Report of fourth and
other articles, and address and message for a conference
with the Lords. One division, upon one of Grey's
amendments. Qth. — House of Commons. The Speaker (in a Com
mittee upon the Enclosure BiUs) opened his plan for
hmiting the emoluments of the Clerk and Assistant
Clerk, after the expiration of the interest of the present
patentee and reversioner (HatseU and Ley), and
appropriating the surplus to defray the extra aUowance
of the Speaker and other officers of the House, and to
improve the situation of the inferior clerks.
7th. — The Speaker gave me the form of the motion
which he wished to have made respecting the Clerks'
fees, and I made the motion accordingly.
Sth. — Attorney- General finally settled my BiU for
charging Public Accountants, &c. ; and showed it to
the SoUcitor-General, who saw no objection. Tyrwhitt
Jones's motion for Peace. For it, 8; against it, 68.
9th — Committee on Port of London at one. Pro
posed questions to Mr. Mylne. 1st. On the state of
the River. 2nd. On the state of London Bridge. 3rd.
On the effects of taking it away. Received a plan and
estimate for an iron bridge from Mr. Telford of Shrop
shire, with additional proposal for embankments and
wharves on each side of the river between Blackfriars
and London Bridge,

'^?i!5

204 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. X.
Iron bridge four arches and two land arches . . .£204,000
Wharves and embankment, about  370,000
Excavating the river to 15 feet deep at low water . . 50,000
Compensation  50,000
Temporary bridge  10,000
Committee on Public Records. Approved Wyatt's
plan for fitting up repositories at Somerset House in
vaults under the East Street. Ordered a plan and
estimate for an office contiguous to the Chapter House.
Conversation with Mr. Rose respecting measures on
recommendations of Finance Committee. He took
notes of matters to be done, as to Customs, Stamps,
Scotch Assessed Taxes, Hackney Coach, &c.. Offices,
Pension Duty coUection, checks on forage for uneffective
horses, &c. &c.
Union amendments by the Lords considered, and
agreed to, and ordered to be presented by four Privy
CouncUlors, in conjunction with two peers named by
the Lords. The King went out of town without wait
ing for them.
12th — House of Commons. I gave notice of moving
for leave to bring in a BUl for more effectually charging
Public Accountants with interest. I wrote to Mr. Pitt
with a copy of the BiU.
lAth — In the House moved for extraordinaries of
the army expended in 1799.
15th. — At a review of the Grenadier Guards this
morning the King was shot at, but the ball missed him
and struck a Mr. Ongley within a few yards of hun. In
the evening, as soon as he entered Drury Lane Theatre
he was fired at by a man with a pistol from the pit ;
the man was immediately secured.
IQth — House of Commons. Conference with Lords,
and a joint address to the King on his safety.
The Judges desired me to think of a biU for prevent
ing the mischief to parties from the use of stamps qf
an improper sort, though of duty equal to or beyond
that required by law  Ex. gratis : To enact "that if
any instrument in writing, on which any stamp is

June, 1800.] PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT'S BILL. 203
required by law, has been stamped previous to its exe
cution with a stamp inapplicable by law to the sort of
instrument, but paying an equal duty, or a greater
duty than the proper stamp, such instrument may at
any time be stamped with the proper stamp upon the
duty being paid for the same, and a penalty of [treble]
the amount of the duty."
19 th. — I moved for leave to bring in the BiU for
charging PubUc Accountants with interest.
20th. — In the House of Commons I presented my
BUl. 21st. — Address of both Houses carried up.
23rd. — I went to the Lev^e. The Oxford Univer
sity address was presented. House of Commons,
Second reading of Public Accountants' Interest BUl.
No opposition. I mentioned to Mr. Pitt my intention
of moving clauses for aUowing interest to PubUc Ac
countants, and for putting balances in suit, to neither
of which he objected. I mentioned also Baker's inten
tion to move a clause for charging Interest in future
upon the balance of accounts already settled, about
which he hesitated.
The Lords this evening debated the Adultery BIU,
and passed it by 77 to 69.
2Qth. — House of Commons. First reading of the
Adultery BUl, and order for reading It a second time.
For it, 150; against it, 38. Committee on Income
Tax. 27th, — Committee on the Accountants' Interest BiU.
29th — Pole Carew brought me the remarks of the
auditors upon my blU.
30th — House of Commons recommitted and reported
Public Accountants' Interest BiU.
Thursday, June 5th  House of Commons ; London
Bridge Committee. Report of Public Accountants'
BiU ; I added a clause requiring a list every session of
cases In which the Crown interposed to stop the recovery
of debts. Income Tax debate.
10th. — Record Committee ; I read the heads of the

206 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. X.
proposed Report. Adultery BIU thrown out on debate,
143 against 104.
13^A  Saw the Speaker. Supported his motion for
a BIU to regulate the offices of Clerk and Clerk
Assistant. 21s^. — Received a letter from the Duke of Portland
desiring me to support Colquhoun's BUl for the estab
lishment of a PoUce on the Thames.
2Ath, — Union BiU passed the Commons.
26^A. — Hatfield* tried at bar.
21th  Debate on question for caU of the House by
Sheridan. For it, 27 ; against It, 124.
Tuesday, July 1st. — Settled the Thames PoUce Bill
with the Attorney-General and Mr. Tomlins, and left
the heads of it at Mr. Dundas's office. The Master of
the RoUs gave me back the draft of my Record Report
vsdth his approbation. I sent one copy to Rose, and
another to Hawkins Browne.
2nd — The Royal Property BUl was read a second
time. The Prince of Wales signified his consent by
his Solicitor General (Sutton). The Attorney-General
made an able argument for it.
Ath — At the Committee; read and agreed to the
Reports on the PubUc Records. Presented the first.
Mr. Secretary Dundas moved the preUmlnary resolu
tions on the Thames Police BUl.
9th. — Debate, Peace and War. On Mr. Western's
motion for a Committee on the State of the Nation,
for the Committee, 26; against it, 148. Mr. Pitt did
not speak.
lO^A. — Light Horse Volunteers' Review. Drawing
Room. The King told me "he had been fighting my
battle ; he had assured Herries that I was at the
Review, for I was certain always to be doing my
duty." 12^^. — Douglas went with me to breakfast at Van-

* He was the man who had shot at the King at Drury Lane, He was
proved to be insane.

July, 1800.J DOCK COMMITTEE. 207
sittart's, Avhere we met Lord Hawkesbury, Ryder,
Hawkins Browne, and Sir Andrew Hammond. Pro
ceeded to London Bridge to view the proposed situa
tion for a new bridge and its terminations on the City
side at Angel Lane, and on the Borough side at St.
Saviour's Church.
From thence went to the London Tavern, and met
Mr. Pitt, Lord Spencer, the ChanceUor, Mr. Dundas,
Rose, Long, Steele, Sir Joseph Banks, &c. &c., and the
Chairman and Directors of the Dock Company of the
Isle of Dogs. Went afterwards In procession to see
the first stone laid for the new warehouses ; I carried
Lord Spencer, Sir Andrew Hammond, and Douglas.
We returned by water in barges, and I came back in a
Trinity boat with Mr. Pitt, &c.
I5th. — London Port Committee. Mr. Pitt came
and discussed the various plans for London Bridge.
It was agreed to report in favour of rebuilding the
bridge above the present site, viz. in a line from St.
Saviour's Church in the Borough, to Angel Lane on
the City side. The bridge itself to be of Iron, on the
improved plan of the Sunderland Bridge (Burdon's at
Wearmouth), with Inclined planes added, paraUel to
the sides of the river, according to the plan suggested
by Douglas and Telford. And the approaches, open
ings, and masonry to be executed by Dance.
Thames Pohce BIU went through a Committee.
11th — At the House the Speaker communicated to
me Mr. Pitt's assent and his own to a Commission for
Records, &c., to Commoners only. Mr. Pitt delivered
the King's answer to the Record Address.
18^A — At one went to the Committee for enlarging
the House of Commons. In the House the Austrian
Subsidy was voted; the Princess of Wales was in the
gallery. 19^A — Got the Record Commission at the Duke of
Rutland's Office, signed by the King, and countersigned
by the Duke of Rutland. Met Mr. Pitt at the Com
mittee for enlarging the House of Commons, and showed

208 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. X.
him the Commission. Delivered It into the hands of
the Speaker as First Commissioner.
Parliament was prorogued.
Out of town from July 24th to October 30th.
Dalrymple, the geographer, told me that It was now
near three years since he had been appointed hydro-
grapher to the Admiralty; and it was only within the
last three months he had obtained leave from the
Admiralty to prepare charts for the naval service.
At Heaton House, Lord Grey de Wilton showed me
a lock of the hair of Edward IV., taken from the head
of that king when his tomb was opened at Windsor in
Lord Grey's presence. And another lock of the same
king's beard. The first was bright brown, and the
latter had a red cast, both apparently perfect and
fresh. To my great dissatisfaction, the Secretaries of State,
finding that the Record Commissioners had called upon
the State Paper Office for information, obtained Mr.
Pitt's assent to their names being inserted in a new
Commission jointly with the original Commissioners. Woodley, Oct. 23rd.
My dear Sir,- — I really cannot describe to you how much I
feel hurt by the purpose of my troubling you with this letter.
You may probably have heard that Mr. Pitt is unwell. He was
considerably so last week, and having been urged to allow him
self some respite from the pressure of public business, he came
with me to Woodley on Friday last, where he has since remained.
Sir«.Walter Farquhar, who came here yesterday from town with
a disposition to induce Mr. Pitt to proceed immediately to
Cheltenham or to Bath, was of opinion, as soon as he saw him,
that he had received very material benefit from his excursion ;
and accordingly advised in the strongest terms that he should
continue in his present quarters. Perfect ease and quiet seem
to be the medicines of which he still stands in need (and I
incline to believe the only ones) to enable him to meet Parlia
ment with the full powers that the occasion calls for, &c. &c.
Most truly yours, Henkt ADDiNaiON.

Nov. 1800.] CONVEESATION WITH ME. PITT. 209
Tuesday, November Ath. — Called on Mr. King, the
American Minister, and left a note desiring an account
of the Acts and Proceedings respecting numeration and
registration In America. Also examined the Harieian
MSS. respecting the population returns, 1603, &c.
5th. — Wrote to Mr. Pitt and the Speaker to apprise
them of my Intention to move for a BUl to ascertain the
population of Great Britain.
Qth. — Lord Hawkesbury and Vansittart came to me
about the London Port Report. Saw France, and pro
posed the Statute business to him.
1th. — On my return home, I found a letter from
Mr. Pitt (asking me to move the Address In conse
quence of the absence from London of Sir John Wrot-
tesley, who was to have moved It ; and to call upon him
between three and five to talk it over). At half-past
three I went to him. On my entering he received me
very civiUy, but said that the meeting was become in
fact unnecessary, by the unexpected arrival of Sir John
Wrottesley in town. He then proceeded to discuss the
proposed Bill for ascertaining the population, &c.,
which he agreed to be a measure highly desirable ; but
only doubted how far It stood so Immediately connected
with the question of scarcity, as to make It fit to bring
forward on the second day of the session, which would
be intimating an opinion that this was considered as a
sort of remedy for the prevailing evU: and that he
should rather wish it to be postponed for a few days. I
explained to him that my reason for bringing It forward
so early was the disposition of people at present to
accede to any measure having a tendency to furnish
Information, with the amount of the demand or the
causes of the scarcity ; and that, so far, this would show
the extent of the demand for which a supply was to be
made. That, although Its result could not be known
till the session was advanced, yet even the prospect
of the ensuing year after the present short harvest,
would make such information desirable. That it would
also, by showing an Increase of numbers beyond the
VOL. L p

210 DUEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. X.
common calculations, show one of the causes of the
dearness of provisions of late years, and strengthen
the arguments for an Increase of tiUage : besides its
ulterior uses In matters of War and Finance, as to
positive Information, and hereafter to show the Increase
or decrease of population whenever the same operation
should be repeated. This was admitted, and I proposed
to give notice on Friday next for the Tuesday foUowing,
and to ask WUberforce to second it.
He then showed me the King's Speech, and stated
to me the sum of the negotiations with France for an
armistice ; and we parted, with expressions of thanks to
me for my wlUIngness to oblige him upon the occasion
on which he supposed he should have stood in need of
my assistance.
Sth. — Examined lists for the expiring laws and report,
with Garratt.
11th. — The Session opened. The House of Commons
met In the painted chamber. The Address, moved by
Sir John Wrottesley, and seconded by Dickenson, was
voted without a division. Sheridan, Sir F. Burdett,
and Grey differed much with each other, and Tierney did
not speak. Importation BiUs were moved for, and
others for. stopping distiUerles, &c., and notice given of
moving for a Committee of Inquiry. Newbolt spoke
to me about the Justice of the Peace's Penalty Bill, by
the Chancellor's desire, and wished me to bring It for
ward. I spoke to Tomlins and France about the
Statutes. Saw the Speaker In the morning, and settled
the distribution of the Record Report.
12th. — I moved for Committee on Expiring Laws
with instructions to state all temporary laws In force
which had been enacted from the commencement of the
reign of King WiUiam to the present time. Report of
Address ; Bills brought In, &c.
13^/i. — Newbolt and I conversed again about the
Justice's Penalty BIU, and agreed to defer It till the
United Parhament  House of Commons. Committee
on Expiring Laws. Agreed to two Reports. Scarcity

Nov. 1800.] POPULATION BILL. 211
Committee met, the Ministers attended. Read thc
Government returns, and debated upon recommending
an Address for a Proclamation on Frugality. House
went up with the Address. The Negotiation Papers
were presented.
i4,th.  Provision Committee. Examined members
upon their knowledge of the produce of the crops. In
the House I presented the two Reports on Expiring
Laws, and gave notice of a Bill to ascertain the Popula
tion of Great Britain.
I5th. — Corn Committee, which was attended by Pitt,
Wyndham, &c.
11 th. — Corn Committee. Read the Spanish Census
with Francis Jackson. Sheridan's motion on the Nego
tiation postponed.
i9th. — Wrote to Lord Carrington about the returns,
not being to be made to the Board of Agriculture. In
the House of Commons, moved for leave to bring In. the
Bill to ascertain the population of Great Britain.
20^/4. — Went to Mr. Pitt by appointment at eleven.
Stayed with him nearly an hour : settled the questions
and form of answer for the schedules of the Population
Bill. In the House I presented the Population Bill.
Read a first time. Ordered to be read a second time
next Tuesday, and to be printed immediately.
22nd. — Corn Committee to settle Report. Mr. Pitt
proposed statements assuming the population to amount
to a number which he professed to be unknown but he
hoped soon would be known.
25th. — Read Population BiU a second time. Not a
word passed.
2Qth. — House of Commons. Corn Report considered.
A debate and violent altercation between Wilberforce
and Grey, &c. ; I cleared the House, and the debate
ended. 21th. — I saw Rose at half-past nine on the Population
Bill. In the House of Commons, Tierney's motion for
a Committee on the state of the Nation. Division at
half-past one. For it, 37 ; against It, 137.
p 2

212 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. X.
«
28th  Spoke to Mr. Pitt on doubtful points in the
schedules of the Population BIU, and settled them.
Went through the Committee on the BIU pro formd, to
fill up blanks, &c. Reported it, and moved to print It
as amended.
Monday, December 1st. House of Commons. She
ridan's motion on the French Negotiation. An exceUent
speech from Dundas. Division, 35 to 156.
Ath  House of Commons. Report on Population
BiU recommitted.
5th  House of Commons. Third reading of Popu
lation Bill. Carried it to the Lords. Mr. Pitt said he
would speak to Lord GrenvUle about it. I saw Lord
Hardwicke, and sent him a copy of the amended BUl
vdth hints upon It.
8^7i. — Population Bill read a second time in the
House of Lords. I talked with the ChanceUor upon It,
who spoke of It very favourably. The same day I re
ceived letters from the Lord Advocate*, with a represen
tation by Dr. Blair, in the name of the Clergy of
Edinburgh, objecting to the Scotch Clergy being em
ployed in the execution of the BiU. I sent aU the
papers and letters to Mr. Pitt, with a note desiring his
sentiments. 9th. — Mr. Dundas wrote to say he also had had a
letter from the Advocate. I met him at the Corn Com
mittee at one ; and agreed to postpone the business tUl
the next day, I not having received Mr. Pitt's answer.
At three I received his note. Desired Lord Hardwicke
to forward the BiU through the Committee, gave the
amendments to Lord Walsingham, and wrote to Mr.
Dundas. Another letter to me from the Lord Advocate,
with clauses.
10th. — This morning I found that the ChanceUor,
notwithstanding Mr. Pitt's note to me, had objected
to the clauses requiring the Scotch Clergy to act,
had put off the Committee, and had carried away the
* Mr. H. Dundas. His letter, that of Dr. Blair, and the Eepresentation
of the Clergy, will be found at the end of the chapter.

Dec. 1800.] ¦ POPULATION BILL. 213
Bill last night from the House of Lords : Cowper re
lated this to me. I went to Lord Hardwicke to press
the matter. He came to me from ,the House of Lords,
and told me the Chancellor stiU persisted, and the Bill
was again put off. The Chancellor had proposed to
strike Scotland entirely out of the Bill. I wrote
again to Mr. Pitt, enclosing the Amendments to the
BIU as proposed by me ; and also' the Lord Advocate's
clauses, desiring him to say what it was fit to do.
11th. — Mr. pitt wrote to desire he might see me.
And, when I went, he stated so much apprehension on
the part of Mr. Dundas, about the averseness of the
Scotch Clergy, that he thought we must give way to
their prejudices however unreasonable. Accordingly,
it was agreed that the Lord Advocate's two clauses should
stand ; and I gave them, with the BIU altered accord
ingly, to Lord Hardwicke for the Chancellor. But the
ChanceUor did not go Into the Committee. The Master
of the RoUs came to me about the Expiring Laws Com
mittee, which must be continued into the next session.
12th. — This day the Population Bill went through
the Committee In the House of Lords ; but the altera
tions in the money clauses appearing to be such as
must lose the BUl in the Commons, I wrote to the
ChanceUor In the evening stating the circumstance, and
proposing to avoid that consequence by striking Scot
land out entirely ; he answered me at length, saying
that the next day he should be down, and would do as
I pleased. 13th. — At two I went to the Speaker, and agreed
upon leaving out Scotland, &c. ; but, when the Chan
ceUor came to the House of Lords, he would not go
into the report at all, nor agree to leaving out Scot
land, but postponed the Bill till Monday, saying that
the newspapers had some paragraphs about curates ;
and that Lord GrenvUle and Lord Spencer wished to see
and consider the BiU, &c. All of which, if it were true,
was very strange and inconsistent with his letter of the
night before. T 3

214 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. X.
15^A.— The Cha,nceUor in the House of Lords put
off the Report on the Population BiU tlU Wednesday,
because (as he said) Lord GrenviUe had not read it.
16i;A.— Settled Ust of deUvery of Record Report to
PubUc Offices, and had the Speaker's authority to
direct the Issue; limited In the first instance to 220.
11 th. — Saw Mr. Pridden, who agreed to be employed
upon the Statutes. Saw Telford's plan for a bridge of
one arch over the Thames. In the House of Lords,
saw Lord GrenviUe, and settled with him the plan of
amendments, and of a new Population Bill. He
moved his amendments; and struck out the Clergy of
England from any share In numbering the people,
the Chancellor having struck out the Clergy of Scotland.
18^A. — Corn Committee proceeded to forestall
ing, &c. In the House I moved to fiU up the
clauses in the Army Seduction BUl, by continuing it
for the same duration as the Irish Act of the same
nature; viz. to the 1st August, 1807. Upon this a
debate arose, in which Hobhouse, Tierney, Yorke, Lord
Hawkesbury, Ellison, the Attorney-General, and the
SoUcitor-General, spoke. It passed for my proposition
without a division.
The Lords sent down the Population Bill with amend
ments. 19th. — Second meeting of Record Commissioners, at
the Speaker's house. Ordered various matters to be
set on foot, and, among the rest, appointed subcommis-
sioners for Scotland, printers, &c. ; and transfer of
proceedings under special commission in 1794. Also
ordered an authentic and complete edition of the
Statutes to be prepared, and appointed eight subcom-
mlssiojiers. Ordered the printing of the House Rolls.
Directed a request to be made to the Speaker to cause
a selection to be made of Reports of the House of
Commons not inserted in the Journals. And letters to
be written to the two Archbishops to enforce the
annual transmission of parish register copies to each
diocesan or his chanceUor, according to the canons of

Dec. 1800.] COEN COMMITTEE. 215
1603, &c. &c. N.B. Also the Speaker delivered to
our secretary, our first commission, to be exchanged
against another (of the same date), including the three
Secretaries of State.
In the House of Commons I moved for leave to bring
In a new Population BiU, stating at the same time that I
saw not any impolicy or Impropriety in employing the
Clergy ; though the Lords had struck them out of the
operative part of the BIU respecting the numbering of
the people. Bill brought in and read a first and second
time the same day. I wrote to the Lord Advocate on
both subjects.
20th. — Grimwood came to me about the Reform of
Exchequer Offices, and I gave him the draft of a Bill
for enforcing the coUection of fines imposed by Justices
out of sessions ; to be framed as a BiU for regulating
the collection of the casual revenue of the Crown.
Telford came about his plan and model for a bridge of
one arch over the Thames instead of London Bridge.
Vansittart wrote to desire the use of one of the rooms
at the Royal Academy for the model to be set up in.
In the Corn Committee Mr. Pitt came to a Com
mittee upon the Bread Bill : and we had a meeting
with the American merchants. Nepean spoke to me
In the House, to desire I would put off my motion upon
the Dockyard Papers till Monday se'ennight ; with a
representation that they would In all probability be
ready then. Population Bill committed and reported.
21s^. — General Bentham came about Dockyards, &c. ;
to the same effect as Nepean's communication.
22nd  Population BiU read a third time, arid
passed. 23rd — I carried up the Population Bill to the Lords.
21th. — The Population BiU passed the Lords.
28^7i. — Met Wyndham, who talked to me upon the
necessity which he felt for referring the plan of clothing
the Army, and changing the Army Agency ; in con
formity with the measures recommended by the Finance
Reports in 1798. p 4

216 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. X.
29th. — Corn Committee. In the House I gave
notice of a motion next session, If necessary, for a
detailed communication of the Admiralty proceedings
and correspondence with their respective officers and
subordinate boards, respecting the management of the
King's Dockyards. Lord Arden said that such a
report was prepared, and would be ready In a week.
31st. — The King closed the Session with a Speech
from the Throne, adverting to the Union, and to the
violent acts of Russia. Sleet and snow.

EECAPITULATION OF 1800.
House of Commons. In February, Fox came upon
the question of treating for peace with Buonaparte, and
upon no other occasion during the session. Grey
came upon the Union only. Tierney attended through
out, and moved his Annual Finance propositions. Upon
the opening of the session in November, aU the Oppo
sition came and attended regularly, except Fox.
The Union question upon the first article was carried
by 234 to 30, on April 21st; and the last reading
was carried on May 9th.

Letters on the Subject of Scruples entertained by the Clergy
in Scotland on assisting in procuring Returns of the
Population; and their Memorial expressing their Objec
tions. Edinbm-gh, Dec. 3rd, 1800.
Dear Sir,- — I received yesterday, at the same time with the
copy of your Bill, the enclosed representation from the Edin
burgh Clergy, and a relative letter from the venerable Dr. Blair.
I concur most heartily in what they have stated. The same
objection was stated when I brought in the Militia Acts for Scot
land, and the Ministers were immediately struck out of that
Bill. The general odium which the Schoolmasters of Scotland
incurred under that Act, proves the justice of the apprehensions

Dec. 1800.] POPULATION BILL. 217
of the Clergy on the subject. The Presbyterian Church holds
itself as entirely unconnected with all civil duties and employ
ments ; and reading a Eoyal Proclamation from their pulpits is,
I believe, the only civil duty they ever perform. One or two
instances have very lately occurred of their being put into the
Commission of the Peace, but these were accounted improper,
and some have, I believe, been expunged from subsequent com
missions. You can obtain your purpose as effectually by devolving the
duty on the Ju.stices of the Peace, and their constables, jointly
with the Sheriff Depute and his substitute in the counties ; and
on the Magistrates of the Boroughs within their jurisdictions.
They may be appointed to meet in a general meeting summoned
for that purpose, and to employ their constables and officers to
go through each parish or division of a parish, and to report to
the next general meeting summoned on a day certain thereafter,
to receive the schedules and reports. The clause as to payment
of fees and expenses incurred under the Act (p. 7), should also
be altered that the Sheriff should fix and ascertain and pay the
reasonable expenses, and be empowered to charge these in his ac
count annually passed in the Court of Exchequer at Edinburgh.
I remain with regard.
Your humble and obedient servant, E. Dundas.*

My Lord, — I transmit to your Lordship a representation
from the Ministers of Edinbiu-gh respecting the part they are
required to take in the Population Bill lately brought into
Parliament ; and I persuade myself your Lordship will find what
they represent to be of sufficient weight to give them ground
to hope for your interposal in their favour in this affair.
It occurs to me that the accounts given of the population
of the different parishes of Scotland by the ministers who had
the fullest opportunities of information in their respective
districts, of the whole of which an abstract has been published
in the Statistical Accounts, affords as much information as can
now possibly be given by the Clergy; and as the Statistical
Account has been given within the last eight or ten years past,
the alteration respecting population cannot now be considerable.
I should therefore imagine that as much information concerning
* Mr. R. Dundas was Chief Baron of the Exchec[uer in Scotland, and
a cousin and son-in-law of Mr. Henry Dundas afterwards Lord Blelville.

218 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. X.
the inhabitants of Scotland as can well be expected is already
.before the public in the Statistical Eeports.
I have the honour to be with the highest respect and esteem,
My Lord,
Your Lordship's most obedient, faithful, humble servant,
Hugh Blaie.
Argyle Square, Dec. 2, 1800. Edinbm-gh, Dec. 2, 1800.
The Ministers of Edinburgh, having met to take into con
sideration the parts assigned to the Ministers and Schoolmasters
of Scotland by the Bill now depending in Parliament for ascer
taining the population of Great Britain, unanimously agreed to
represent respectfully to the Lord Advocate of Scotland, that,
as far as they know, this is the first instance in which the
Ministers of the Church of Scotland have, by an Act of the
Legislature, been required, under pains and penalties, to execute
a civil office ; and that it may be regarded as tending towards
an infringement of the constitutional privileges of the body to
which they belong. Yet so anxious are they, in these eventful
times, to strengthen the hands of Grovernment, that, if no other
objection lay against the measure of employing them in this
service, they would have waived their privileges on this occasion,
and have waited with submission for the orders of the Legis
lature. But they are deeply impressed by a persuasion that it
would not be for the public good to commit this duty to their
charge. Their influence and their usefulness, both as teachers
of religion and friends of civil government, depend essentially
on the harmony which prevails betwixt them and their people ;
and they have good reason to know that there are prejudices,
at once of a religious and political nature, which would render
it impossible for the Clergy to perform this service without
giving great offence.
They believe at the same time that the object which the Act
has in view, may be as effectually answered by the employment
of civil officers, and without occasioning the evils which would
result from employing either Ministers or Schoolmasters, The
latter could, no more than the former, engage in this service
without a material injury to the public interests. They would
waste the time which should be devoted to professional duties,
and would increase the odium which was unintentionally
brought upon them by the Militia Act. The Ministers of
Edinburgh therefore beg leave to represent further, that the

Dec. 1800.] POPULATION BILL. 219
Eegisters of Births, Marriages, and Burials, to which the Clergy
of Scotland have access by their situation, are, from the state of
the law respecting registration, so extremely imperfect, that they
could not afi'ord any information that would answer the ends of
political calculations.
On these grounds the Ministers 'of Edinburgh earnestly
request the Lord Advocate to interpose his good office,?, for the
purpose of exempting the Ministers and the Schoolmasters of
Scotland from the services proposed to be required from them
by the Act above mentioned.
Signed in the name, and by appointment of the Ministers of
Edinbm-gh. Hugh Blaib, D.D,, Senior Minister of Edinburgh.

220 DUEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XI.

CHAP. XL
1801.
MEETING OF THE NEW PAELIAMENT (tHE FIRST OF THE UNITED KINGDOM).
 DIFFICtJLTIES WITH THE KING ABOUT CONCESSION TO THE EOMAN
CATHOLICS.  EESIGNATION OF THE MINISTRY.  ME. ADDINGTON BECOMES
PEIME MINISTEE.  SIR JOHN MITFORD BECOMES SPEAKER. — -ME. ADDING-
TON's high OPINION OF MR. ABBOT.  ME. ABBOT BECOMES CHIEF
SECRETARY FOR IRELAND.  INCAPACITY OF THE EEV. J. HORNE TOOKE
TO SIT IN PARLIAMENT.
Thursday, Jan. 1st. — The King this day held a
Council upon the Union to declare his titles, armorial
ensigns, &c. The guns were fired at three.
11th. — Received a circular from Mr. Pitt respecting
the meeting of ParUament. Also one from the Bishop
of London about the defectiveness of the Parochial
Registers, by their not noticing burials of sectaries ia
private burial grounds.
18^A. — Topham came to me about the Archbishop
of York's return to the Record Commission and Popu
lation Bill. Conversation vdth Mansfield, who proposed
to me to bring in the BUl for Amendment of the
Law, which was brought In by Lord Kenyon fifteen
years ago. He agreed In the utility of the General
Register Bill.
22nd. — In the House of Commons, Pelham and
Yorke moved and seconded the appointment of the
Speaker, who spoke In disquaUficatlon, though not
declining. Wilberforce also spoke in testimony of the
unremitting attention paid by the Speaker to private as
weU as to public business ; and after the Speaker had
returned thanks to the House from the chair. Lord
Hawkesbury made some complimentary observations on
the choice of the House, and moved to adjourn.

Jan. 180I.J MEETING OP THE NEW PAELIAMENT. 221
23rd  Lord Kenyon told Dealtry that he had
represented to the ChanceUor and Lord Eldon how
Improper It was to take any account of the Records in
the Baga de Secretis, and that they both agreed in the
Impropriety of it ; but he supposed he must submit to
superior authority. The Attorney- General afterwards
told me that Lord Eldon had complained to him of the
same thing, and in a way that made it necessary for
him to have it explained to him.
In the House of Commons. The Roll of the House
for England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland was called
over once, and the members as they answered, were
sworn at the table.
23rd. — Took the oaths In the House of Commons.
IS^epean told me the Admiralty Report on the Dock
yards was signed ; and Lord Spencer had spoken to have
a day fixed for the Privy Council to take it into consi
deration. That the compensation to the shipwrights for
chips would amount to 50,000Z. a-year ; and that It was
not clear they would be satisfied with it. That the
report was right so far as it went ; and that It pointed
at other radical changes which would be proper in time
of peace : such as a different classification of officers
amongst the artificers, &c. That it should be stated to
be ready when the l^avy Estimates were presented;
and as soon as the Privy Council had ratified the
Report, with or without alteration, it should be laid
before the House.
2Qth. — General Bentham came to tell me the manner
in which Lord Spencer had at last signed the Dockyard
Report. The House of Commons went on swearing.
Attorney-General told me he had sent the copy of our
order respecting Baga de Secretis to Lord Eldon.
29th. — The King, who was to have opened the
session, did not come.
Sunday, Feb. 1st  Sturges * told me of his ap
pointment to succeed Wickham.
* Afterwards better known as Mr. Sturges Bourne,

222

DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XI.

2nd— House of Commons. Address on King's
Speech. Grey moved an amendment for inquiring
Into our relations with the Northern Powers. Division
—For Address, 245 ; against it, 63. Pitt unweU. Grant
(Sohcitor-General) made an admirable speech.
3rd  Tierney moved some tax accounts ; Hobhouse
his annual account of Increase or diminution of salaries
of office, &c.
5th. — Saw the Speaker, and learnt the new arrange
ment. In the House I moved my annual set of ac
counts, except the defaulters ; Sheridan's motion was
postponed on account of Mr. Pitt's gout.
Minutes of what passed at the Speaker's : —
I went to give him the Ust of PubUc Libraries In the
three Kingdoms where copies of all papers printed by
order of the House of Commons should be deposited.
I then settled with him the form of moving for a Com
mittee for extending the promulgation of the Statutes
to Ireland; and for an Address to have the Irish
Statutes laid upon our table.
The Irish matters he wished me to defer till next
week; and upon the report that Lord Liverpool was
dead (which afterwards proved to be unfounded), he
then proceeded to tell me what he had not then com
municated to anybody but the parties concerned, and
his own brother, and Bragge.
That, on Thursday last, the King had come to an ex
planation with his Ministers, who had pledged them
selves, without his participation, for granting to the
Irish Catholics a free admission to aU offices and seats
In Parliament ; and for repealing the Test Act, &c. ;
and some project upon tithes that they had persisted
In, and he had peremptorily refused to agree, saying that
It was a question not of choice but of duty, and that he
was bound by his coronation oath.
That on Friday evening he had sent for the Speaker,
and desired him to undertake the conduct of affairs,
&c. ; that he (the Speaker) had endeavoured to re
concile matters, and that until the beginning of this

Peb. 1801.] CHjUSTGE of MINISTEY. 223
week there had been hopes, but all was now decided.
The King had declared he would never part with Mr.
Pitt If he would never press these points ; but that Mr.
Pitt as positively insisted upon tliem. That Mr. i'itt,
Lord Grenville, Mr. Dundas, and Mr. Wyndham were
to go out. That the Speaker had communicated to
them the whole, and all the letters that had passed;
and that, with their concurrence and promise of sup
port, he had consented to form an Administration of
his own, as the best thing to be done, rather than drive
matters to extremities and worse consequences. That
he should want me as a colleague. I told him, on that
point, that he knew my ways of thinking, and that I
knew his principles and had the fullest reliance on
them ; and that he might be assured of my assisting
him In any way in which he could make me useful.
He was determined that his Administration should be
an independent one. Lord Eldon should have the Great
Seal, and he should endeavour to persuade the Chan
ceUor to take the Presidency of the Council, and if
possible to make Grant abandon his profession and
devote himself to politics, by making him ChanceUor of
the Duchy for life.
In the House of Commons he told me afterwards he
had seen the ChanceUor, who had only learnt the state
of things the day before, and was all consternation,
seeing the Government must be dissolved, without his
knowing by what means It was to be suppUed ; and he
begged the Speaker to dispose of him In any way that
suited his other arrangements.
Feb. Qth  1 went to the Speaker in his room
between three and four. He had again seen the Chan
cellor (but not yet Lord Eldon, matters not being yet so
far advanced) ; that the ChanceUor had proposed several
persons, to none of whom had the Speaker agreed;
saying, in general, that the description of persons to be
selected must depend on character, talents, and their
being his own personal friends.
He showed me a long letter from the King, dated

224 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XI.
Feb. 5th (probably written on the 4th), promising
him his fuUest support, and his affection : speaking of
the Duke of Portland's conduct on the occasion as
extremely handsome, hke all the rest of it since he had
come Into office; and with the King's letter was the
letter itself from the Duke of Portland.
The King said he would speak to aU his present
ministers who were to go out, as that might make
them accede more cordially to the change. That he
wished the Speaker to take his own time to make his
arrangements, promising to ratify them ; and that he
should claim It of Mr. Pitt to remain tlU the whole
was settled.
That he (the Speaker) had spoken to Pelham, and
Yorke, and Mitford, fuUy; that he meant Pelham to
be Secretary of State for the War Department, Steele
to be Secretary at War, Ryder to be Secretary of State
for Foreign Affairs, Lord Macartney to take the Indian
Board on an understanding that he was to keep it tUl
Lord WeUesley's return. That the Duke of Montrose
or Duke of Buccleugh should manage for Scotland,
and in Westminster Hall, if Grant was removed, then
to make Law* Attorney-General, and Percival Solicitor-
General. He should wish to make Lord Chatham
Clerk of the Pells (if Barr6 died), and perhaps send
him to Ireland.
That Lord CornwaUis f and Lord Camden were so
much implicated In the Catholic business that they could
not be employed. That Lord Westmoreland must re
main Privy Seal, as the line taken was to remove none
but those whom the cause of change required to be re
moved. That Mr. Pitt had desired him to be kind to
Canning, which he had promised In the fullest manner
(this, indeed, he told me yesterday) ; but to-day he
said Canning had declared his resolution to go out.

* Afterwards, as Lord EUenborough, Chief Justice of the King's Bench.
t At this time Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. His correspondence was lately
published.

Pbb. 1801.] CHANGE OF MINISTEY. 2J.^
He did not say who were to be Speaker, Treasurer of
the Navy, or Paymaster.
He then said to me that he meant that I should
have a seat at the Treasury Bench, ^vlth his brother.
To this I replied that I was grateful to him for
thinking of me In such a way, but that I was appre
hensive that it was a situation quite inconsistent with
my office In Westminster Hall. Pie said " Not at all,"
that I attended there only during term, and the rest
might be easily managed. But I took up the subject
again afterwards, and told him I could only state it as
a matter of feeling, and that to my feelings It was a
situation Incompatible with my present and former
habits of life ; and that, so far as I had any choice, I
should have preferred anything more immediately con
nected vsdth my profession. The subject then changed,
and he went to the House.
In the House I moved for the Accounts of Arrears
and Balances of Public Accountants, and gave to Lord
Castlereagh copies of the motions for Irish Accounts,
which I meant to move for next week.
In the evening at seven o'clock I wrote to the
Speaker, stating that " further consideration had
strengthened the Impression of my first feelings : that I
was satisfied that my present situation and the other
which he had had the goodness to propose to me were
entirely incompatible and Inconsistent In character,
that my own peculiar circumstances would render it
impracticable for me to rehnqulsh my present office for
the other, and that two such offices were never yet
holden together by the same person. But that he
might be assured that, in stating this to him without
reserve, I should be equally (or If possible more)
desirous than ever, either In the House or out of the
House, by taking any part which he might think useful
to the common cause, at all times and at all hours, to
promote the success and stability of aU his plans and
measures; as I was satisfied that i^pthlng else could
at present save us from the worst of evils," &c. &c.
VOL. I, Q

226 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XI.
7th  In the King's Bench, Mitford (Attorney-
General) desired at the Coffee House to speak to me
apart. He supposed I knew aU the changes which were
likely to take place so unfortunately ; that it was a time
when all persons who wished to prevent matters from
being worse must be called upon, each in their way, to
sacrifice their particular views, and undertake situations
where they might best serve the public. That it had
been proposed to him to quit his profession and his
office, which for other reasons, as he had no longer Mr.
Pitt to rely on, he should be the less unwUling to do,
although to do It unnecessarily would be unfair. That
It had been proposed to him to be Speaker, a situation
indeed which HatseU had advised him to think of
several years ago, when the election of the present
Speaker took place ; but that his then situation In his
profession made It quite unadvlsable to him, especially
knowing that Addington was then thought of. That
at present even he felt it Irksome and contrary to his
feelings, to forego aU the qualifications which he had
been for so many years labouring to acquire, In order to
fill some judicial office, having particularly had in view
the Mastership of the Rolls. And that he was aware
that the Speakership was a far less certain and indepen
dent office. Even now, however, he should wish to
know the disposition of the House toAvards himself, and
how far any body else might have been thought of.
That he did not think it so arduous a place as some
persons chose to represent It, and he was of opinion It
only required diligence, civility, and firmness. And
that* Michael Angelo would have done nearly as well as
anybody else. That the present change was so sudden
and unexpected tliat he did not suppose anybody else
could have had this office In contemplation, or could
have been thought of for it.
I then told him of the offer made to me, and the
' Afteiwards known as Mr. M. A. Taylor.

Feb. 1801.J CHANGE OP MINISTEY. 227
grounds of my refusal, to which he perfectly assented.
I told him that my object had been to employ my time
in such pursuits as would be most useful to the public
and creditable to myself ; but such a place as a Lord
ship of the Treasury would be ridiculous for me In my
situation, and that I could not there be of any use what
ever ; my tongue would be tied ; and so I had sent back
the 1500/. a-year.
He said he was at present disposed upon the whole
to accede to the proposal made to himself, although he
should no longer, by his change of habits, be able to
accumulate a fortune as he was now doing, but that he
was a single man ; and his brother's children were all
sufficiently provided for.
The Chancellor was then coming into Court, and so
we parted.
Sth. — After breakfast I went to the Speaker. I ex
plained to him the circumstances alluded to In my note,
respecting the state of my private fortune and the
income of my office.
He said my office was the only embarrassment, or he
would make me a Privy Councillor to-morrow ; that I
must however come forward ; that I must support him,
and sit by him, and be In his most Intimate confidence ;
and he must endeavour to make me amends by greater
things afterwards. Mitford was to be Speaker, but
that might not last long, and he wished me to look to
the Chair; that was my point and everything favoured
it. That the Master of the Rolls was to be Chief Justice
of the Common Pleas with a peerage whenever it
became vacant. This had been settled when Lord
Eldon was appointed, although Mr. Pitt could never be
prevailed upon to tell Mitford of it.
I then said Mitford had mentioned to me the
Speakership &c. ; but that he should certainly prefer
the Chief Justiceship of the Common Pleas, and that
the place he thought himself best of aU qualified for
was the RoUs. I told the Speaker that for his own
«2

228 DLVEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XI.
sake he must oust the Cardinal de Retz (meaning the
ChanceUor) from his Cabinet, or he would prove an
insidious foe ; that I had no doubt he was affecting to
coincide with the Speaker in opinion merely to keep his
own place.
The Speaker then said he was actuaUy going this
very morning to take a step towards that point : and
that he was afterwards to see Lord Eldon. And if that
step succeeded, Mitford must be placed at the RoUs,
and the Chair would be open to me at once.
He was also to see Grant, and Lord Hawkesbury,
and Lord Hood ; and Vansittart was then waiting for
him. He had his dinner of twenty-six people yester
day, aU of whom knew the state of things, and behaved
in a most satisfactory way, except Canning, who was
evidently dejected and sullen. Mr. Pitt was to dine
with him tete-a-tete to-day ; and in the evening he was
to have his lev^e.
In the course of this day the outUne of the arrange
ment became generally talked of.
9th. — I went to the Speaker at half-past ten. Prince
WUliam came while I was there : also Grant, Law,
Lord Glenbervie, Lord Arden, &c., came there.
The Speaker told me he had yesterday carried his
point completely, of removing the Chancellor by his own
act and consent. Lord Eldon had accepted the Great
Seal : Grant was to be Master of the Rolls : Mitford
Speaker : His Honour (Sir P. Arden) to be a Peer* and
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas ; Law, Attorney-
General, and Perceval, Solicitor- General ; Lord St.
Vincent, First Lord of the Admiralty (probably);
that Dundas had Implored the continuance of Huskis
son ; I told him on Wickham's authority that Huskisson
and Talleyrand employed the same stockbroker during
the negotiation at Lisle ; he was struck with It. He
added that Wickham was an able man, and he should
try to employ him. Steele was to remain In his pre-
* He was created Lord Alvanley.

Feb. 1801.] A CHANGE OF MINISTEY. 229
sent situation. Yorke to be Secretary at War. Pelham
had declined.
He said to me that, sorry as he should be to part
with me, he wished Lord Hardwicke to go to Ireland,
and me to go with him as his friend and adviser. That
the scene was great, and the business would be to ren
der the nominal union a real union. That I might
afterwards come back at the end of a year or two, and
be ready for anything. I told him all this was very
novel ; that I could not relinquish my present office
without some adequate provision. He said Mr. Pitt
did not see the difficulty as I did, and that I should be
glad to know that Mr. Pitt had the highest opinion of
me. I said that Mr. Pitt could not judge of my
peculiar situation as I must, living as I did. In the
focus of Westminster HaU, and that I felt that I could
not hold together that office and such other appoint
ments as were proposed to me.
At the House, after prayers, the Speaker told all his
friends that this was the last day of his being Speaker.
I had a short conversation with him : I said, that I had
better tell him at once fairly, that I had made up my
mind about the banishment to Ireland. That I could not
afford to quit my present independence and permanence,
without an equivalent as permanent, and that I knew he
had not the means of giving it to me ; that even if he
could, I should look upon it as a sacrifice, but never
theless a sacrifice I would wiUIngly make for him,
though for no other minister. He said he was truly
sensible of this, and he supposed I should prefer being
made useful at home. He wished, he said, very much
to talk more with me about myself. I then added, " Sir,
it Is possible whilst you are In power that the Chief
Justiceship of Chester may become vacant in the course
of time ; if it does, I hope you will not let it go to any
body else, and that you will speak to Lord Eldon in time
to prevent other engagements." He said he was greatly
obliged to me for mentioning it, and would not forget
it. I foUowed this by saying that It was not Impossible,
Q 3

230 DIAI^y OP LOED COLCHESTEE* [Ch. XI.
from Burton's increasing bUndness, that in ten weeks,
or ten days, *he might be desirous of resigning his
Judgeship ; in which case I hoped he would let me have
It. He repeated that he thanked me very much, and
perceived that I should like some appointment con
sistent with my profession.
In the House there was the fullest attendance I ever
saw; before four o'clock about 350 members; every
body talking and inquiring about the change, and the
Speaker receiving congratulations. Sir John Ander
son said he had been up to the Speaker, and in shaking
him by the hand, said, " Sir, I cannot do as others are
doing, give you joy; for I pity you sincerely." To
which the Speaker replied, " It was too late now to
look back, he must go forward and surmount the diffi
culties before him." The Speaker afterwards told me
Plumer* (in Opposition) had gratified him much by
saying, " Nobody, Mrs. Addington excepted, could re
joice more than he did in the Speaker's elevation."
Afterwards, within the same quarter of an hour, Plumer
said to me, " He was surprised and greatly concerned
at all that had happened ; and that he had no Idea of
the Speaker for a Chancellor of the Exchequer, or as a
man fit to take Mr. Pitt's place." Baker, who came
into the House from the country, on hearing from me
the outline of the new arrangements, said this ministry
could not last a fortnight. Vansittart, the new Secretary
of the Treasury (vice George Rose), said he would go
to Botany Bay wiUingly to bring the last ministers
back again. Sir Robert Buxton said, for his part, he
wished he himself had no business to be In the House.
General Gascolgne moved for a call of the House
that day three weeks. Sturt postponed his Ferrol
motion till Thursday ; neither Mr. Pitt nor Mr. Dundas
being In the House. Grey gave notice of a motion for
this day se'nnight upon the state of the nation. Some
ordinary business was gone through respecting the
standing orders. I moved for copies ofthe proceedings of
the Admiralty and Treasury upon the Finance Reports.
* Afterwards Master of the EoUs.

Feb. 1801.] CHANGE OP MINISTEY. -23]
I never saAV greater trepidation in the House, or more
anxiety and concern on the Ministerial side, or more
eagerness on the Opposition side.
lO^A  The Bishop of Gloucester called upon me, on
the returns of registers under the Population Act.
The Bishop of Durham spoke to me on the same
subject in the House of Lords. I advised them to let
the Archbishop of Canterbury settle It AvIth Lord
Auckland. In the House of Commons, at four o'clock, the House
being very crowded, Mr. Pitt came in. Mr. Ley, the
Clerk, desired gentlemen to take their places : he then
read the Speaker's letter of resignation, and Mr. Pitt
immediately rose and said " That he had His Majesty's
commands to desire the House would proceed to the
choice of a new Speaker ; and for that purpose he
should now move to adjourn until to-morroAV." Sir
Wm. Pulteney (who had risen at the same time Avith
Mr. Pitt) then proceeded shortly to state his regret on
the resignation of the Speaker from the Chair which
he had fiUed so ably and impartially without making a
single enemy; and he did not doubt that he would
carry into any other public station the same Integrity,
and never deviate from it. The House adjourned.
In the House of Lords, Lord Darnley having on a
former day summoned the Lords for a motion to dismiss
ministers, a conversation now arose about putting It
off; In the course of which Lord Grenville came in, and
stated the cause of the resignation on the Catholic
question; his gratitude to his Sovereign and to that
House for their indulgent kindness and support during
his official service ; and that he and his coUeagues Avere
resolved to give to their successors a constant, complete,
and efficient support, so long as they pursued the same
course of public policy, as had hitherto prevailed.
Lord Spencer spoke to the same effect. The Lord
Chancellor and Lord Westmoreland intimated that they
Avere of a different opinion on the Catholic question
q4

232 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XI.
from the preceding speakers; but the Chancellor hinted
he should not remain In office.
Lord HoUand, and Lord Moira, Lord Carlisle, Lord
Radnor, and Lord Suffolk spoke violently on the pre
sent change of ministers as a feeble and wretched sue-
cession ; and Lord Holland having spoken vehemently
for Cathohc Emancipation, he was answered intrepidly
by Lord Clare.
In a conversation to-day between Dundas and
Lady  , he said the King had been long adverse to
the Catholic Question ; he had said to Mr. Dundas at
his levee, " those who are friends to it inight be his per
sonal enemies : and he hoped others would rally round
him, who were not infected by these factious principles."
Mr. Dundas replied, fearing at the same time that the
bystanders would hear it all, " that the King could not
have reason to think the ministers factious ; but they
Avould write to him." The King replied that " they
might save themselves the trouble." And in point of
fact the King has never seen his ministers upon the
point, but they have all written to him without effect ;
and so they resigned.
N.B. — To me It appears, upon the Speaker's repre
sentation, and also on Lord GrenvIUe's speech, and on
Dundas's anecdote, that the ministers were absolutely
unjustifiable in resigning upon such a point, when the
King was ready to go Avith them in the defence of the
country in its present constitution of Church and State.
Considering that the ministers leave the country sur
rounded by domestic difficulties, and a new accumula
tion of foreign wars ; and know that the alternative is
a factious ministry, or such an Intermediate adminis
tration as must proceed on the former system without
equal means to maintain It.
ll^A. — At four o'clock, the House being extremely
fuU, Lord Hawkesbury rose to propose Sir John Mit
ford for Speaker, and Hawkins Brown seconded him;
Sheridan proposed Charles Dundas, who was Ineligible,
not having taken the oaths. Mr. Pitt replied to

Feb. 1801.] VIEAVS OF UR. ABBOT. 233
Sheridan with a panegyric on the proposed candidate,
and on the late Speaker, of Avhom he said " he doubted
not he would with the same character discharge the
duties of every office in which he should be placed."
Nichols spoke In commendation of Mitford, and so did
Martin. He was led to the chair and thanked the
House ; afterAvards Lord Arden moved the adjournment.
At the Ancient Music, the Master of the RoUs told
me that Mr. Pitt had had a long audience of the King
to-day, and that he had not had any audience * whatever
throughout the whole of their difference on the Catholic
Question. Lord Castlereagh told me in the House that
he had put my motions in the hands of Mr. Corry, who
was more famUIar with those matters than he was.
12th. — This morning at nine I received a verbal
message from Mr. Addington, desiring to see me on my
way to Westminster Hall. He said, " he Avished to see
me ; Lord Hobart was Secretary of State for the War
Department ; Pelham, after twice refusing, had con
sented to become a part of the Administration ; he
had said he would not at first stand in the way of the
former ministers returning ; but that point being noAV
fixed, he was ready to serve ; he would probably be at
the Board of Control."
I said, " This sort of conduct nevertheless deserves to
have a note put upon It," Mr. A. said, "I told him
that I myself had not acted tUl Mr. Pitt had declared
his Intention of retiring to be fixed and Irrevocable;
and If I had suffered two days to be lost, the whole
would have been over."
He then said to me, " We must have you with us : I
cannot do without you, and I know your wish Is to do
whatever may be useful." To this I bowed (but I
believe with some apparent reserve). He then said,
"My wish Is that Vansittart and you should act
together, and that the office of Secretary to the Trea-
This statement is corroborated by Lord Malmesbury in his Diary, vol.
iv. p. 3 ; and generally the facts here recorded and the opinions here ex
pressed tally with Lord Malmesbmy's statements, pp. 2-10.

234 DIAE^ OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XL
sury might be made very respectable ; and that in our
hands he should be sure no jobs could get In. It was
a situation that he was ready formerly to have taken
under Mr. Pitt." I objected that I could not accept
the sort of situation, and that It would not be such as
I should choose.
He said ag-ain, " If I refused It I should have a seat
at the Treasury Board, and that Lord GrenviUe did
not feel my objection any more than Mr. Pitt." I said
my objection was this, " That I had no power to act
by deputy, and that character (the little I had of It)
was the only thing I had to stand upon in the world ;
and that I would not be the first person to tum an
efficient office in Westminster Hall into a sinecure."
He said, " That made the whole difference ; but he
and the others had thought I had the power of acting
by deputy."
After Avhich he went on to say " That he had taken
steps for me about the Chief Justiceship of Chester ;
he h9,d mentioned me to the Klqg, and had abused me.
That the King Avas very desirous that I should be
noticed. That the King, seeing he had something on
his mind, had pressed him to say what it was ; and he
had deposited Avith the King my wish. That the King
had asked whether Mansfield was sick : " Is he sick ?
Is he sick ? Is he sick ? " Mr. A. had said " No," but
this was a sort of object which he had understood to
be consistent AAdth my other views.
The King said, '* There is Burton, would he like to
have his office ? would he like to be a Welsh Judge ? "
Mr. A. then said Lord Glenbervie had been waiting
for him an hour, and he had a letter from the King ;
and rose.
I then interposed and said, " That at aU events these
things were very distant. But I Avished him to under
stand that I was not the only person who would not
make sacrifices upon the present occasion, and I would
go to Ireland If I could be useful there on a larger
scale than In these little places. I would not desire a

Feb. 1801.] VIEWS OP ME. ABBOT. 2'ir,
Scotchman's* equivalent, but I could not quit the inde
pendence I had without some certainty of a subsistence
afterwards. That there was much to be done in
Ireland, and that if I Avent I would do it manfully." He
said he was sure of that, and he would talk to me more
of these things. He was heartily glad I had said so
much ; he would keep this open ; but that I must not
depend upon Its being Lord HardAvicke; it might be
Lord Winchelsea who was to go." I said (I think
incautiously), " That would not be so material to me,
as it must be a person chosen by him as fit for the
situation." As we were at the door he said he very
much wished I Avould come and be with him In their
phalanx In the House. I said, " I thought not ; he
must recollect that other persons had formerly given
offence by sitting in too forward a situation by Minis
ters.*" He said, " He only meant within reach of a
Avord or two in the course of debate." I said that I
reaUy thought otherwise, and until I was ostensibly a
Member of Administration, I was a more useful friend
In my usual seat." To this he then assented. He
then showed me the King's letter to him of this morn
ing, expressing his satisfaction at the matter of Sir
John Mitford's election to be Speaker. He said Lord
Glenbervie had hinted at Ireland, but Mr. A. had
blocked that out completely. He doubted about
placing him at the Indian Board, knowing his merits,
but not liking the probable effects of his Scotchness.
House of Commons at four. The Black Rod came
and ordered the House to attend the Commissioners" in
the House of Peers. The Speaker elect went up and
acquainted the Lords Commissioners that the election
had fallen upon him. The Chancellor read a message ;
and then t^e Commission was read: the Chancellor
then addressed Sir John Mitford ; to AvhIch he replied,
with due acknowledgments of His Majesty's favour.
In the House I moved an Address for a printed copy
of the Irish Statutes, and gave notice of a Committee
on the Promulgation to Ireland. A debate afterwards

236 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XI.
took place about the Cold Bath Fields prison; and a
division, 40 to 23.
13th. — I wrote the foUowing letter to Mr. Adding
ton. My dear Sir, — If you wish me to think seriously of going to
Ireland, I shall be very glad to know your final determination
as soon as circumstances enable you ; for of course many of my
own arrangements must depend upon it, and some of them that
cannot conveniently be settled on the sudden.
The country itself is by no means new to me ; I have
travelled over the whole of it, north and south : I have seen the
manners of it in families of every description, and have long
been familiar with most of the ordinary questions concerning its
internal policy : but as these were to me only objects of curiosity
hitherto, I should be desirous of informing myself more exten
sively and accurately of the details of its government by con
fidential intercourse with the best informed persons here, in the
short interval that might take place before I went there.
I am certain that I need not dwell upon the necessity of
giAdng adequate power and support to all those who Avill be
interested in establishing the tranquillity of that country and
promoting its civilisation and internal prosperity, so as to give
us a real union, by imparting to Ireland the blessings of a
British government ; and with such views and such aids I doubt
not that Ireland, which has hitherto recollected with gratitude
the prosperity which attended it under Lord Strafford's vigorous
and prudent administration, would have to acknowledge yours
as the continuation of this present constitution, and the source
of greater blessings to come. Chakles Abbot.
Received a note from Hiley Addington, appointing
me at nine In Palace Yard : I went.
He first showed hie a letter from the King, saying
he thought it would be more creditable to me to resign
my situation In the King's Bench upon my appoint
ment to be Secretary of State for Ireland, and that Mr.
Addington might give an Intimation to Lord Kenyon,
which would facilitate the appointment of some credit
able successor to me.
He then told me he had shown my letters to the

Feb. 1801.] THE KINO S OPINION. 237
King ; that the King highly approved of my being ap
pointed to be Secretary of State for Ireland, and to
hold Lord Castlereagh's situation ; that I should imme
diately be made a Privy Councillor ; and that, to
ensure me an Independence, there were tAVO offices for
life, namely, the Duchy of Lancaster and the Clerkship
of the Pells, and if I pleased I might have the PeUs :
only deducting Its amount out of my appointments of
my office of Secretary of State, &c., so long as I held
it. I said that was what I myself should prefer; It was
aU I Avished for : I only Avished when out of office to
find such a retreat as the Pells, which would put me
back upon the same footing of independence as I was
about to quit. He said the appointment of Secretary,
&c. was from 4000/. to 5000/. a year; that I must be
in England during the session, and do the Parlia
mentary business of Ireland; that I should have an
office for the purpose to attend to; and after each
session I should go over to Ireland and make that my
country house.
That Sir C. Stuart was to be Commander-in-Chief in
Ireland ; but it was not yet settled who should be
Lord-Lieutenant: either the Duke of Montrose, or
Lord Winchelsea, or Lord Hardwicke. He then made
me write doAvn the names of the Cabinet and all the
subordinate arrangements.

CABINET.

Mr. Addington
Lord Eldon .
Duke of Portland
Lord Hobart .
Lord Hawkesbury
Lord St. Vincent
Lord Pelham .
Lord Chatham
Lord "Westmoreland

J First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor

of the Exchequer.
Lord Chancellor.
Secretary of State, Home.
„ V^ar.
„ Foreign.
First Lord of the Admiralty.
President of the India Board.
President of the Council.
Privy Seal.

233 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XL

SUBORDINATE APPOINTMENTS.
Charles Yorke . . Secretary at War.
, ,-.,,, . .^, , f Joint Paymasters, Lord G. to under-
LordGlenberviewithl . J ^^^ the Privy Council business and
L ParUamentary Kesearehes.

Mr. Steele. J

Lord C.Spencer and! _ joint Postmasters.
Lord Auckland J
Lord Arden . . . Master of the Mint.
Adams and Garthshore . Lords of the Admiralty. .
Hiley Addington 1 _ Secretaries of the Treasury.
and vansittart J
He showed me a singular correspondence with Can
ning, who had acted most absurdly, and put himself
completely in the wrong.
Mem. — The King said to Hiley Addington, at the
Drawing Room, " The opposition should, for their own
sakes, have proposed Mr. Abbot ; and. If they had, how
would you have voted ?" Upon this the remark made
by Mr. Addington to me was, " You may guess by that
how the King knew my wishes to have been." This
circumstance satisfies me that, after the Speakership
had been held out to me, It was against Mr. Adding
ton's wishes that I was put by ; and by some incident,
unknoAvn to me, which must have happened in the
course of Sunday last.
lAth. — At twelve I met Corry (the Irish Chancellor
of the Exchequer) and Beresford (first Commissioner
of Revenue), and went through the heads of my motions
on Irish Finance.
IQth. — Mr. Addington proposed that my writ should
be moved on Thursday next : as to Ireland, he said it
lay with the Duke of Montrose, who Avas to give his
answer to-day. I said I had not talked of my own ap
pointment ; but he desired I would not deny It. I
told him I hoped he would mention to the King what
concerned me and the Pells, Avhich he said he would do.
He showed me a note from the King, who was confined
to his bed by a severe cold.
In the House of Commons Horne Tooke took his
seat for Old Sarum ; and Lord Temple gave notice that

Feb. 1801.] lEISH SECEETAEYSIUP. 239
If no petition against It was presented Avithin fourteen
days, he should submit a motion upon the incapacity of
Mr. Tooke to sit in that House, he being In priest's
orders. Upon the question of Army Estimates and the
Speaker's leaving the chair, a debate arose, In which
Harrison, Hobhouse, Whitbread, and Sheridan opposed
it: Mr. Pitt, Dundas, Sir Robert Buxton, and Hiley
Addington for it. Mr. Pitt said that whether he should
hereafter support the measure (of Catholic Emancipa
tion), Avhich he had thought it his duty to propose to
the Crown for its sanction, depended upon the views he
might entertain of Its affecting the tranquIUIty of the
kingdom, if proposed in any other way.
llth. — House of Commons. The Speaker thanked
Mr. Addington from the chair ; when Addington re
plied. He came at four o'clock unexpectedly, and
went away immediately afterwards. Lord HardAvicke's
opinion is In favour of the Catholic Emancipation, and
repeal of the Test LaAvs, &c. : but not for trying it
now, against the positive refusal of the executive
Government. ISth. — I went to Mr. Addington at ten. He said
he had an hour and a half's conversation with the King
yesterday. He had deposited with him my arrange
ment for the PeUs, saying that he thought it necessary
to do so, in case anything should happen to himself.
The King entirely approved of It; he said there was
only one other mode of disposing of the Pells which
could have been equally gratifying to him ; namely,
either to Colonel Addington or Mr. Bragge, if their
cases had required it. Mr. Addington then told the
King that It was proposed for me to hold the Pells In
part of any other appointment I might hold from the
public, and in reduction of the public charge pro tanto,
exactly as Lord Grenville held the audltorship of the
Exchequer. That my object was to find myself here
after (if out of other offices) upon a footing of indepen
dent provision, not Avorse than that which I quitted in
the law; and that I relied for that on his Majesty's

240 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XL
justice. That the price which I might receive upon the
sale of my office Avould in part be sunk In necessary
equipment, and the rest was a separate advantage for
my famUy, not more than was reasonably just, con
sidering the sacrifice I had made In parting with an
office, comparatively of ease, for another of so great
labour and responsibihty. He then said that the Duke
of Montrose having decUned the Ldrd-LIeutenancy
(though In the handsomest way), on account of his
opinions upon the Catholic Question, he had proposed
It to Lord Winchelsea. Upon their InterAdew, Lord
Winchelsea had said that, from the first rumour of the
change, his OAvn thoughts had been turned to consider
in what way he might be of any use to Mr. Addington ;
but for the Lord-Lieutenancy he felt himself so entirely
unfit, that he should ever reproach himself If he urider-
took it, and should not have any peace of mind upon It.
I then told him of Lord HardAvIcke's Adsit to me yester
day ; his thoughts, his discussions, and his apparent
willingness to go. And Mr. A. then said he thought It
would now do, but he must take the King's pleasure
upon it to-day. That untU the Lord-Lieutenant was
appointed, my appointment could not be declared, nor
writ moved for, &c. ; but so soon as he knew I should
know. He said that in forming his Administration and ap
pointments his line had been this : not to require any
pledge upon the principle of refusing further indul
gence to the CathoUcs, &c. ; to erect no standard of
proscription against any men upon the abstract ques
tion, or on the propriety of doing more for the Ca
tholics hereafter ; but that It was enough for Ireland
and at home to be of opinion, that now was not the
time, nor these the circumstances, for entering upon
any such change.*

Feb. 1801.] LOED HAEDWICKE LORD-LIEUTENANT. 241

CHAP. XII.
1801.
MR. PITT (though out OF OFFICE) PROPOSES THE MEASURES OF SUPPLY
WHICH HE HAD ARRANGED.  LORD HAEDWICKE BECOMES LORD-LIEU
TENANT OF IRELAND.  THE KING ILL.  IDEA OF A EEGENCY. 
CONDUCT OF THE PRINCE OF WALES.  ROMAN CATHOLIC MEETINGS IN
IRELAND.  THE KING RECOVERS.  WEAKJSTESS OF MR. ADDINGTON'S
MINISTRY, AND PROPOSALS FOR A COALITION.  DUNDAS'S PROPOSAL FOR
PITT TO RESUME OFFICE.
House of Commons. Mr. Pitt opened the Budget for
a loan of 25,500,000^, on account of Great Britain,
which he had negotiated In the ninth year of the war
at 5^ per cent., and even for this large loan at these
low terms, two sets of bidders had offered. The taxes
to defray the Interest (viz., 1,794,000Z.) were upon
tea, paper, printed cottons, sugar, timber, pepper,
fruits, horses, stamps, and Post Office.
No Opposition Member made any comment whatever
upon the taxes, and they seemed to meet with general
approbation. 20th. — Mr. Addington sent to desire I would ask
Lord Hardwicke, if he would go to Ireland in case he
was asked. I went, and Lord HardAvicke consented
upon aU the pubhc grounds, viz., that he was against
now agitating the question, reserving himself for other
times and circumstances upon the principle; and hold
ing, that peaceful acts and peaceable demeanour were
to be the future claims for such a boon as the Ca
thohcs were now expecting. That he desired no
further honours, &c. Reserving himself only for
further deUberation with Lady HardAvicke oh domestic
considerations of family, &c., for which purpose he
sent an express to bring her to toAvn. I repeated this
to Mr. A.
VOL. I. E

242 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIL
21s^  At night Lord Hardwicke sent me a letter,
to inform me that he had agreed to go to Ireland.
22nd. — Saw Lord and Lady Hardwicke. Mr. Ad
dington had told him that he had proposed the Lieu
tenancy to Lord Chatham; and that he, from the
very first, had thought of Lord Hardwicke, if circum
stances should permit him to propose It. That his
nomination was approved of by all the Cabinet Minis
ters ; that he was probably to go In a month.
I met Lord Aucldand, who said the Bulletin at the
Queen's House was, " that the King had had a cold,
and an indifferent night, and was a little feverish."
He said, he thought this was an lU-soundlng account,
considering the King's constitution.
23rd. — I went at half-past nine to Mr. Addington.
He said, that Lord LcAvIsham (who had sat two years
on the Secret Committee on Indian affairs, and who
had been offered the Government of Bengal by Dundas),
had accepted the Board of Control, and was to be
called up to the House of Lords. He then said, " This
was all the good : now for the bad."
The King had been apparently much hurried last
week ; and Dr. GIsborne had giv^n him James's pow
ders on Monday last for his cold. He had seen Mr.
Addington every day, arid on Thursday Mr. Addington
had so much apprehension from his affectionate and
affecting way of talking, that he dreaded the reception
of his new Ministers on Friday ; but that all that busi
ness had gone off extremely well, and on Saturday the
King was better. But yesterday he was very unwell
Indeed, and the physicians were quite at a loss. The
Princess Elizabeth, in the Queen's name, had begged
Mr. Addington would do what he thought best.
Young Dr. Willis was there; and upon being asked
whether he thought his father's assistance would be
useful In this case, said, certainly; and Dr. Willis
was sent for. Mr. Addington had communicated the
whole to the Prince of Wales, Duke of York, and all
the Ministers, and to Mr. Pitt, Lord GrenviUe, and

Feb. 1801.] ILLNESS OP THE KING. 243
Lord Chatham. He had declared his own decided
opinion that the plain course to foUoAV was that of
1788 ; he added that Lord Loughborough (still Chan
cellor), and the Duke of Portland would now have to
act a different part. He shoAved me a letter from the
Duke of York, saying that the King had borne the
Introduction of the Two Strangers, and had gone to bed
quietly. The King had seen Lord Eldon for an hour and a
half on Thursday, which had added to his agitation ;
and the intemperate language of persons about him, as
to his oath, and Papal dominion, &c., had irritated him
very much. He had told Mr. Addington, " My bodily
health Is reasonably good: I have (I trust) good com
mon sense, and I believe a good heart, but my nerves
are weak. I am sensible of that. Your father said
tAvelve years ago, that quiet was what I wanted, and
that I must have."
At one, the Bulletin at the Queen's House was, "His
Majesty has had some hours' sleep last night, but stIU
has fever."
Lord Chesterfield told me that the King on Friday,
after his levee and .audiences, could not eat chicken,
but had eaten some roast mutton and drank some
wine. Batt called on me ; he understood from good autho
rity (Lord Malmesbury) that Mr. Pitt had relented
much In the last fortnight upon his OAvn conduct on
the late question; and Lord Grenville had been im
pelled by Lord Buckingham, who was much Influenced
by his Avife (a Catholic), and that Thomas Grenville
had on this subject departed from his usual moderation,
and grown as violent as the Marquis.*
It is understood that Lord Grenville had a long
audience of leave after the King's public reception of
his new Ministers on Friday last.
In the House of Commons nothing passed but or-
' Compare Lord Malmesbury, vol. iv, p. 9, 20.
K 2

244 DUEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XH.
dinary business. In the City TheUusson told me the
King was said to be mad again. ^
2Ath. — Went to Mr. Addington. He said, " The King
is certainly better ; but in a day or two it may be neces
sary to adjourn for a week. Old Dr. WUlis is not to
come up; he is eighty -three, but he is also rough
and violent." Mr. Addington had felt . great anxiety
about me, and had talked upon my situation to Mr.
Pitt last night, who agreed entirely that the faith
and justice of the country were pledged to provide for
me. Lord Gower and Canning had resigned many days
ago; and on Thursday last Lord Gower's letter had
been laid before the King ; their successors had kissed
hands on Friday last, and to-day they had sent to
Mr. A. a message that as Mr. Pitt remained in, they
did not consider themselves as having resigned.
The BuUetIn was, " His Majesty Is thought not to be
worse to-day, but stiU continues to have fever."
I met Lord Eldon.* He said the first word he had
heard of the King's indisposition was now In the Park
by meeting Lord St. Vincent. Mr. Addington had
appointed him to-day at a quarter before eleven, but
Avas gone out when Lord Eldon got there five minutes
before eleven. Lord Eldon had on Friday last four
hours' conversation AvIth the King, from ten till two,
and never saw him in a state to talk more rationaUy,
nor heard truer Avisdom upon any subjects than from
the King In that audience. It had been proposed that
Lord Eldon should have surrendered his office imme
diately to accelerate the other arrangements ; but the
King said, " Stay tUl you have the Seals, before you
part with your Chief Justiceship," and to-morrow he
was to have taken them.
In the House of Commons nothing said about the
* This tallies exactly with a conversation between Lord Eldon and Mr.
Eose. — Rose's Diaries, ^c, vol. i. p. 312 ; and generally Mr. Rose's account
of these transactions, pp. 288-332, corresponds very closely with that given
above.

Feb. 1801.] ILLNESS OF TIIE KING. 24.5
King. A commission came down to the Lords to pass
a Bill (the Repeal of the Brown Bread Act), signed
this afternoon by the King. The Chancellor told Lord
Hardwicke he had carried the commission to the Queen's
House, and sent it into the King in his bedchamber ;
but he had not seen the King.* The Duke of Norfolk
Avas very curious to examine the signature.
25th. — Bulletin: "His Majesty's fever continues,
but the symptoms are not worse." I had It to-day
from good authority that on Friday last the King said to
Lord Chatham, " As to my cold, that is well enough ;
but what else I have I owe to your brother." Yesterday
his pulse was at 140. He talked a great deal, but the
endeavour was to keep him quiet. The Duke of York
told Mr. Pennington to-day, " You may depend upon It,
His Majesty is much better." At night, Mr. P. came
to me from the Queen's House. The King's periodical
paroxysms had not returned this evening, and his
pulse was 110. Idis disorder seemed to be turning to
a black jaundice. Old Dr. WiUis, who had been sent
for, countermanded, and sent for again, arrived this
evening. In the House of Commons I attended the Corn Com
mittee, upon Sir John Sinclair's proposition for relieving
Ireland by a vote of money according to the precedent
of an Address in 1783, for advancing money to relieve
the pressure of scarcity In the Highlands. I gave
notice of moAdng for a Committee to consider of extend
ing the Promulgation to Ireland.
2Qth  Went to Mr. Addington. His account of
the King was this. His symptoms In the beginning of
his IUness are the same as they were last time in his
convalescent state; but It was apprehended for some
time that worse symptoms might appear. None such
however have appeared; and all that relate to pulse,
tongue, skin, &c., bespeak amendment. The season at
* Lord Malmesbury says the King, when signing, " declared very distinctly
his opinion upon it, and said it was a very good BiU." — p. 16. But Lord
M. is incorrect as to the day, for he says it was signed on the 25th.
B 3

246 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIT.
this time Is pecuharly favourable, for in his former
iUness, Dr. Addington had said all along that In
February he would mend, and recover in March.
Mr. Addington has been tAvice every day, and is the
only person, not of his attendants, who had seen him.
Mr. Addington has also seen the Prince of Wales re
peatedly, who always behaves to him Avith the greatest
civility and propriety.
The Government cannot go on without some change
next week, on account of the money business. The
mode of proceeding has been discussed. Four ways are
possible. 1. To keep the Administration as it is.
2. To bring it back to what It was. 3. To complete It
as the King Intended it. 4. To make a general sweep.
Mr. Pitt upon the discussion gave no opinion. Mr.
Addington formed his, but did not communicate It
except to Bragge. This happened on Tuesday. Yester
day Mr. Pitt went to the Prince of Wales, and
represented to him that respect towards the King, and
the Prince's OAvn Interest, equally required that, so
soon as the Regency came to him, he should complete
the arrangements as Intended by the King ; which the
Prince assented to.* Mr. Pitt then came and told the
whole to Mr. Addington, and they two dined together
yesterday, and interchanged opinions ; which had exactly
coincided. Mr-. Pitt is to see the Prince again to-day.
Lord Moira and Jack Paynef advise the Prince to the
same conduct, and the Prince certainly has not yet
seen any of the Opposition. The forms of proceeding
are all agreed upon In the outline ; and next Wednesday
(If It should be then necessary) the first steps are to be
taken towards a Regency: and all the changes will
follow in a few days.
As to me, Mr. Addington said he would expressly
stipulate, before he entered into the Prince of Wales's
* Lord Malmesbury's account implies rather less agreement between the
Prince and Pitt. He also adds that Pitt himself was " very unwell much
shaken, gouty, and nervous." — p. 17.
t Admiral Payne.

Feb. 1801.] ILLNESS OP THE KING. 247
councils, that the Pells should be mine, or he Avould not
belong to his Administration.
I aftei'AVards saw Pennington, who said the King had
certainly been in a continued state of amendment for
the last twenty-two hours.
The Bishop of Durham told me, Lord Grenville, in
taking leave of the King, had asked a pension of 1500/.
a year for Lady GrenviUe.
In the House of Commons, Mr. NlchoU gave notice
that to-morrow he should make a motion on the subject
of the King's Ulness. I moved for my Promulgation
Committee. 21th. — Bulletin: " The King's fever continues, but
without any Increase." The private intelligence is that
he was quieter yesterday afternoon, and slept well; but
about two o'clock In the morning the irritation re
turned, and the fever rose with it. Sir Francis Milman
and Sir Lucas Pepys attend him, besides old Dr. WUlis
and his son.
In the middle of the day I met Mr. Pitt, who said
the King was certainly better. And in the House of
Commons, when Mr. Sheridan deprecated Mr. NichoU's
motion, M. Pitt said he had ardent, and he believed
well-founded hopes that no event was likely to require
a communication to Parhament ; although he felt him
self bound by the duties of his situation to make such
communication if it should become necessary.
N.B. Mr. Grey had declared his Intention to oppose
Mr. NichoU's motion ; but Sheridan had the dexterity
to anticipate his Intention by starting up abruptly, in
the midst of the private business, with the order-book
in his hand, as If he had unexpectedly seen the notice
of motion entered in it.
In the Proinulgatlon Committee we delivered our
plan to Lord Castlereagh and the Irish Members to
consider of a scheme for Ireland suitable to ours.
2Sth — Saw Mr. Addington. The King Is much
better. He slept two hours and a half last night unin
terruptedly. His former mode of talking, — his " what,
B 4

248 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIL
what, what?" returns. He undresses himself In the
usual way, and eats as usual. They now give him
¦bark and port wine. Mr. Pitt thinks It unnecessary
to deliberate on modes of Regency, &c. He has not
seen the Prince of Wales since Wednesday. The exi
gencies of Government avUI require Money Acts to be
done by the King before Wednesday se'nnight. The
WiUIses think the King may recover very speedily in
deed ; at a reasonable allowance Avithin ten days, and to
a certainty within three weeks.
BuUetIn: "His Majesty's fever continues, but Is
somewhat abated."
I told Mr. Addington of Lord Loughborough pre
tending to have recommended Law to him. He said
we must soon have a meeting AAdth the Attorney- and
SoUcitor-General, Yorke, Grant, &c., and talk over the
three great questions. 1. Catholic Emancipation. 2.
Neutral Powers. 3. Peace and War; and prepare for
some stout debates, and not rely too much upon the
support of the Ex- Ministers.
I sent to Mr. Addington, Reeve's pamphlet on the
Coronation Oath.
Sunday, March 1st. — Called on Lord Kenyon, who
approved highly of Reeve's pamphlet. Lord Lough
borough gives out that he retires by choice.
The King was a little unweU last night, but very
much recovered this morning; and the Queen, and aU
the family, and the physicians spoke and looked as if
the King's recovery was sure and speedy. The Bulletin
was, " His Majesty's fever continues to abate, and he Is
better In all respects."
The Prince of Wales sent Admiral Payne to Mr.
Addington this morning to say that he had already
intimated his wish to see Mr. Addington; and the Ad
miral added that he thought the earlier the more agree
able to H.R.H. Mr. Addington explained that not
having had H.R.H.'s commands before, he had willingly
forborne to call, as It must appear either courting a
situation, which he would by preference (on personal

Maech, I80I.] ME. ADDINGTON AND THE PEINCE. 249
grounds) decline; or it must appear to be seeking for
that declaration of favours which he understood there
was a disposition to show to him ; but that being com
manded, he should now go Immediately. Admiral Payne
added that the Prince had been told Mr. Addington
had obtained the King's signature on Tuesday last to
the commission, and had expressed great displeasure at
it, till Pelham had assured him that it was impossible.
In point of fac^ Mr. Addington told me that he had
positively refused to carry the commission to the King ;
and that when he mentioned this In the Cabinet, Lord
Loughborough said he would take It upon himself, and
had done so accordingly.
Mr. Addington told Mr. Payne this misrepresentation
was one of the ten thousand falsehoods which had been
circulated, and which would be found to be untrue in
good time ; but that he should certainly not go to make
a professed explanation on the subject.
He went to the Prince, who received him very gra
ciously, and said that, if necessary, he should look to
him for his assistance ; and that Lord Spencer, who had
just been there, had spoken of Mr. Addington's conduct
throughout as highly correct and honourable. The
Prince had pressed him for his opinion on the Chan
ceUor's improper conduct about the commission, but
Mr. Addington uniformly contented himself Avith saying
he had nothing to do Avith It, and he must beg to be
excused gmng any opinion on the conduct of others.
We rode together. He also talked over Lord Hawkes-
bury's case as Third Secretary*, and the clause in the
Act of Union respecting the twenty persons holding
places under the Irish Government.
2nd. — Bulletin : " His Majesty's fever increased some
what yesterday afternoon, and has not yet subsided."
From Dr. Reynolds I heard (through Mr. Harris) •
* Lord Hawkesbury declined taking his seat from a doubt as to his
eligibUity, on account of the disqualifying clause respecting the Third Secre
tary of State, " or Secretary for the Colonies, in the Act of 1782, commonly
called Burke's Act." — Rose's Biaries, vol. i. p. 321.

250 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XII.
that the King was worse last night than ever. The
Master of the RoUs told me that it was OAvIng to having
given him too strong a dose of calomel.
The letters* said to be from Mr. Pitt and Lord Corn
waUis, pubUshed at Dublin, respecting the future sup
port of the Catholics, have alarmed and disgusted aU
reasonable men here. Mr. Pitt certainly did not Avrite
that Imputed to him, but he saw It before it went. It
Is said Lord CornwaUis sent for the Titular Archbishop
of Dublin, and communicated It to him; and the
Catholic Committee Immediately published the sub
stance of both the declarations of Mr. Pitt and Lord
CornwaUis. N.B. The Opposition had regular meetings. On
Saturday evening, at Lord FItzAvUUam's, where Mr.
Fox now Is, there was a numerous meeting. Mr. Fox
has written to the Chancellor a letter which he said he
must show to his colleagues In office, wherein Mr. Fox
signifies that he and his party shall not object to a
Regency on the footing of the Bill in 1789.
House of Commons. Yery full, but no Ministers or
Ex- Ministers. Mr. Fox took his seat, also Mr. George
Ponsonby. The motions of Mr. Grey upon the State
of the Nation, and of Lord Castlereagh upon Martial
Law in Ireland, were postponed tiU next week. In a
Committee upon the report for offering premiums on the
cultivation of potatoes, Horne Tooke made a strange
paradoxical speech, the drift of which was to show that
the price of provisions must and ought to rise ; and the
only sufferers would be stockholders and annuitants,
whose incomes and dividends would suffer In proportion
as their annual receipts would obtain less of the neces
saries of life. He enlarged also upon his having always
in his speeches and writings adhered to established
forms of government and religion, and always opposed
inijovatlon. * These papers were given by Lord CornwaUis to Lord Fingall and Dr.
Troy, expressly to be circulated by them among the principal Catholics in
diiFerent parts of Ireland. — Memoirs and Correspondence of Lord Castlereagh,
vol. i. p. 73.

March, 1801.] IMFEOVEMENT IN TIIE KING S HEALTH. 251
N.B. The Primate of Ireland told Baker that the
letter handed about in Ireland as from Mr. Pitt, re
specting the Catholics, was an authorised notification of
his sentiments, though not Avritten by Mr. Pitt himself.
3rd  Bulletin: "His Majesty has had a very good
night, and his fever is much abated."
In fact the King slept from eleven last night to four
this morning. He then woke in a calm and composed
state : his pulse was eighty-four ; and in half an hour
he feU asleep again, and slept tUl eight. He then
began to ask where he Avas. He remarked that it was
not his own bed. He was told it was Princess Mary's.
He said he was sorry she had been disturbed. He
was afraid he had been ill a long time. He desired
the physicians might be sent to and told how good a
night lie had passed. Dr. Turton was with him for
two hours In the course of to-day. The Queen and
Princesses went out airing.
In the House of Commons the call was postponed till
this day fortnight ; and it was ordered that no Members
should go out of ToAvn without leave. Some obtained
leave to go out of Town and attend the Assizes.
Ath — BuUetin: " His Majesty's fever has somewhat
further abated."
Lord Carleton told me of the two Catholic meetings
at Dublin, which had treated the Intended concessions
and excuses in Mr. Pitt's letter, as communicated by
Lord CornwaUis, with the greatest contempt.
5th — CaUed on Lord Hardwicke. Saw Lord Corn-
walUs's letter to him respecting his OAvn return ; and
his endeavour to soothe the CathoUcs, which he stated
to have been useful. From Lord Glenbervie and Lord
Hawkesbury It was evident that on the Friday before
the King's iUness his audience of leave with Lord Gren
vUle was tranquU, but his audience afterwards Avith Mr.
Dundas agitated him. Mr. Dundas told Lady H. that
it was merely upon subjects of general civility and kind
ness to him respecting his future plans of Ufe, bidding
him not part with Wimbledon.
The King to-day had the Duke of Kent to breakfast

252 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XII.
with him. The BuUetin was, " His Majesty's fever Is
StUl further abated." It Is said the physicians advise
his going to Kew on Saturday or Sunday next. He
was so dangerously IU on Monday last between twelve
and four that the physicians caUed aU the Royal Family
together, and declared that they could not ansAver for
his life.
Qth. BuUetIn : " His Majesty's fever has not yet
subsided, but still continues to abate." The King saw
the Queen to-day, and was much better In the after
noon. Dr. Willis said, If he had not been acquainted
with his recent illness, he should not have suspected It
from any appearance to-day.
Between twelve and one, Mr. Pitt appointed a
meeting at Lord Hawkesbury's office, upon Lord
Castlereagh's motion for continuing the Lord-Lieu
tenant's power to enforce martial law in Ireland. The
determination was to move for a BiU for three months,
viz. to 24th June, in order to aUow time in the Interim
for an inquiry by a Secret Committee Into the State of
Ireland and the necessity for a prolongation of this law.
The questions upon Lord Hawkesbury's seat as Third
Secretary of State, and of the re-elections of Yorke and
Lord Arden, who had vacated upon accepting offices,
and were re-elected before their appointments, were also
discussed. 1th. Bulletin : " His Majesty's fever continues to
abate, and gives the fairest prospect of a speedy
recovery." In fact he was well enough to play three parties of
piquet last night, and to play at backgammon this
morning. He saw the Queen twice yesterday, and
talked over the circumstances of his Illness with his
family, and expressed great satisfaction at all that had
been done, and not done during his Illness.
Went at night to the Chancellor's, and met the Bishop
of London and the Archbishop of Cashel. From the
latter It appeared that Dr. Moylan, the Titular Bishop
of Waterford, much in the confidence of the Castle,

March, 1801.] EECOVEEY OP THE KING. 253
had never heard ofthe alleged promise of Catholic Eman
cipation, nor wished for It. He came over here expect
ing some arrangement of a pecuniary support for the
Catholic Clergy, like Avhat is allowed by the Irish
Government to the Dissenters.
Sth. Bulletin: "His Majesty has had a good night,
and his fever gradually decreases."
9th. BuUetin : " His Majesty is much better in all
respects, and seems to be fast approaching to a recovery."
The Prince of Wales was with Mr. Addington to-day
for an hour.
10th. Bulletin : " His Majesty Is In all respects
much better, and still continues to make progress to
recovery." The private accounts are, that he Is much
debilitated by the fever; that his legs have sweUed
during the last two days, and there is some danger of a
dropsical tendency in his habit.
House of Commons. — Debate and division on the
question of Examining Witnesses at the Bar, to prove
Horne Tooke a Priest; or adjourning with a view to
refer fact as well as law to a Select Committee. 150 for
examining witnesses; 66 against it. Fox spoke often
and with great vehemence. He claimed the right of
speaking a second time, alleging his intention to make a
motion, viz. to adjourn; and this (though Avith great
resistance) was allowed to be orderly.
llth. BuUetin, announced to be the last: "His
Majesty is perfectly free from fever, but it may require
some time, as Is always necessary after so severe an
Ulness, to complete his recovery."
Went in the evening to Mr. Addington, and stayed
with him an hour. The King saw him to-day, and
expressed a great desire to have all the arrangements
completed Instantly. He spoke Avith great sensibility
of the general attachment shoAvn to him by the people,
and by his own family. His mind was as calm and as fit
for business as at any time of his life, but his bodily
strength much lowered. It is proposed that, in the
course of next week, he should go out of town, and not

254 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XH.
have any levees for some days. The seals of Chancellor
of the Exchequer avUI probably be transferred on Friday
or Saturday to Mr. Addington. The King had, before
his Illness, taken leave of aU his Ministers except
Mr. Pitt. Lord GrenviUe, at his last audience, asked
for a floating pension for Lady GrenviUe, by way of
jointure, of 1500/. a year. Mr. Dundas Is to have
1500/. a year added to the Privy Seal of Scotland
(which is 3000/.), making in aU 4500/., in order to
enable him to keep Wimbledon.
Within the last four or five days attempts have been
made by Lord CarUsle and others, to make a junction of
part old and part new Administration; to which the
objections were the impossibility of Mr. Addington
glAing up his friends who had consented to act Avith
him ; and the equal impossibility of Mr. Pitt remaining
in office after the resignation of his former colleagues.*
The possible variations In the former arrangements
Intended by Mr. Addington may be : —
Mr. Pelham . . Secretary for the Wai- Department.
Lord Hobart . . Secretary for the Home (vice Duke of Poi-tlaad).
Duke of Portland President of the Council (vice Lord Chatham).
Lord Chatham . Master-General of the Ordnance (vice Duke CornwaUis).
As yet Sir Charles Stuart has not been spoken to.
The whole patronage of the army in Ireland wIU be
here under the Duke of York.
There is to be no Secretary of State for Ireland : the
Secretary of State for the Home Department avIU do the
State business for Ireland since the Union. The signet
now held by Lord Castlereagh Is to be separated from
the office of Chief Secretary ; and perhaps (if the King
will consent) It avUI be given to Lord Castlereagh as a
* See Lord Mahnesbw-y's Biary, vol. iv. pp. 33-45, from which it would
seem that, in his belief, Pitt having given up all idea of again mooting the
Catholic question, since he saw the effect it had on the King's mind, was
desirous to retain office, only would take no steps himself to that end,
expecting that the overture should come from Addington. His coUeagues
in general wished him to stay in, and to resume their old places, and Lord
CornwaUis even wi-ote to Lord Castlereagh, stating that he considered (now
that the Catholic question was given up) " those who had resigned as bound
to continue their services." — Ibid. p. 42.

March, 1801.] EUMOUES OF CHANGES. 255
sinecure for his life ; but he will have no concern in the
office of Chief Secretary, Avhich avIU be the efficient
office, and is intended for me with the rank of Privy
CounciUor, at the fixed salary of 4000/. a year, and 500/.
more for travelling expenses, making the Avhole (as I
Avas told originally) betAveen 4000/. and 5000/. a year.
The office of Chief Secretary avIU not vacate my seat,
as It is supposed to be In the ostensible gift of the Lord-
Lieutenant. Mr. Addington understood that there was now an
establishment for the Irish office here, much overloaded
with appointments, viz., a head clerk with 1500/. a
year, and a second with 1000/., which he thought should
be cut doAvn to 1000/. or 800/. a year, and to 500/. a year.
He believed EUiott, at the head of this office, had
resigned, and these tAvo appointments would be in my
patronage ; and that I should do weU to look out for a
fit person. He wished me to take an opportunity of
talking with Lord Castlereagh upon these arrangements,
and his establishment, and the business of his office.
But, in respect to the division of Signet and Chief
Secretary, not to touch upon that, as Lord C. did not
know of Mr. Addington's intention to speak with the
King upon that subject. Nor was it by any means clear
that the King would consent to it, as he was very angry
with him. He also said that there were two offices In
Ireland, one of them held by Lord Liverpool's brother,
which were Intended to be suppressed and merged in
this office.
Since the King's recovery. Dr. Willis (the younger),
was relating the King's Inquiries about the conduct of
persons, and Mr. Pitt came In at the time, when Dr.
WiUis proceeded to relate that the King asked how much
Pitt was affected, " for he must know to what causes
all my illness has been owing." Mr. Pitt was struck ex
tremely with this relation, and begged the King might
be assured that he would never give him any disquiet
upon this subject. He asked afterwards whether Dr.
Willis thought that such an assurance might be mate-

2.56 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XH.
rial to his health. Dr. WilUs said, certainly, and to
his life also. Mr. Pitt then desired a direct message
might be deUvered to the King from him to that effect.*
It Is still a mystery (and Mr. Addington himself
thinks so) why Mr. Pitt and his colleagues retired
upon a question which they were not pledged upon to
anybody, which the Catholics did not desire, and which
they can now so easily forego.
Upon my return home I wrote a letter to Mr. Ad
dington on what occurred to me upon the proposed
division of Lord Castlereagh's present situation. In
which I stated that I found that in the list of Offices of
State reserved by the articles of Union AvIth Scotland,
the PrlA^ Seal is expressly named, which, as we all
know, is and was meant to be a sinecure office of high
rank in that part of the kingdom; and, therefore, that
I thought that if Lord Castlereagh's present situation
was to be divided there would not be any possible ob
jection to the same arrangement for Ireland; that, as
there were two seals, I thought the Signet, which was
one of them, might be given to a separate officer, for
life or otherwise, with the title of Keeper of the Privy
Seal. But that I thought It material that the holder
of it should not retain the style of Secretary of State,
but the efficient office, that of Secretary for Ireland,
should be even nominally overshadowed by the sinecure
office, so as to become a sort of Under Secretary 6f
State. But that I thought that the seal which properly
belongs to the Secretary of State should be retained in
the office of the Lord Lieutenant's chief Secretary, since
I believed it would turn out that by the constitution of
the Irish Government there are acts which necessarily
require the seal of the Secretary of State in Ireland to
be stUl preserved, so that the name of that office could
* Lord Malmesbury's accoimt is that the King " directed Willis to speak
or write to Pitt ; " that WiUis wrote, and that " Pitt, in his answer which
was most dutiful, humble, and contrite, said he would give up the Catholic
question." But it is evident that Lord Malmesbury had not such accurate
information as Mr. Abbot, since he does not profess to be quite sure of which
Dr. WUlis he is speaking, p. 31.

March, 1801.] ME. PITT'S DEBTS. 257
not be abolished, although the corresponding and trans
acting of business always has been and ought to be
carried on through the Secretary of State for the Home
Department in England.
12^/i. — House of Commons. Debate on the Irish
Martial Law Bill. Lord Castlereagh made a masterly
speech in moving for leave to bring it in. Sir Law
rence Parsons opposed It, but was the only Irish mem
ber who did. It was supported AvIth great abiUty and
eloquence by Mr. Fitzgerald, Dennis Browne, Martin,
Westenra, Mr. Lee, M.P. for Dungarvon, and others.
The opposition would not divide. Rose at twelve.
13th  Mr Pitt has taken the remainder of a lease
for a year of a furnished house in Park Place, lately
occupied by Mr. Fisher, Under Secretary of State In
Lord GrenvIUe's office. His debts are stated to be
30,000/. at least (Rose told me three years ago they
were 20,000/.).* He must part ivith Holwood, and it is
also said that he has In some way mortgaged his War-
denship of the Cinque Ports.
15th  Went to Mr. Addington. He received the
Seals of Chancellor of the Exchequer yesterday, and the
King wiU to-day sign the warrant for appointing him
First Lord of the Treasury.
My situation was again discussed. Mr. Pitt has my
letter which I wrote on Wednesday night. It Is per
fectly agreed that there shall be no Secretary of State
for Ireland. It Is properly the Signet, and. If Lord
Castlereagh keeps It, the name will be Keeper of the
Signet. It is not a political office; so little so, that
Lord Castlereagh had It In contemplation to resign it to
some other person, even whUst he himself held the office

* Pitt's debts at this time were found, on examination, to be above
4:5,0001. Some of his friends wished to propose a Parliamentary grant to
pay them, ou the ground that they had been incurred by his devotion to the
affairs of the nation, which had made him neglect his own. To this Pitt
would not consent. The King desired to pay a large proportion of them
out of his Privy Purse. Ultimately a private subscription was raised by
Pitt's o-svn friends to pay off the most pressing claims. — See Rose's Biaries,
&c., vol. i. pp. 336, 338, 402.
VOL. I. S

258 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XII.
of Chief Secretary for Ireland, which is the name stiU
of the efficient office. It was always understood be
tween us that the efficient situation which Lord Castle
reagh occupied as Secretary for Ireland should be taken
by me.
Mr. Pitt considers the offices of Secretary of Ireland
and Treasurer of the Navy as the two greatest and
highest offices under Government next after the Cabinet
Ministers. As to emoluments, as there are not only tra
velling expenses, but In some degree also two families of
servants to be maintained, one here, and one in Ireland, It
was now agreed that the income should be 5000/. a year.
Mr. Addington said particularly that there should not
be any person with the style of Secretary of State for
Ireland, Inasmuch as that was a name which would
eclipse the efficient office, as weU as mislead by a con
fusion with the Secretary of State for the Home Depart
ment; that Lord Castlereagh seemed to have no desire
to retain even the Signet ; but that certainly some mark
of honour and distinction should be conferred upon him
for accomplishing the great work of the Union. That,
If he resigned the Signet at aU events. It would be better
for me not to vacate my seat till the Easter recess, as
we must all be in our places for the first debate.
During the last few days, Dundas, AvIth a set at
Wimbledon, have been caballing and endeavouring to
j-epresent that the King's iUness has introduced a new
state of things, so that the old ministers might still re
tain their offices, and proAdde some great and eminent
situation for Mr. Addington. For a time Mr. Pitt gave
way to their Instances, and authorised a message to the
Duke of Portland that, if it should be the King's
earnest wish, and also Mr. Addington's earnest wish to
have the former administration restored, he was pre
pared to discuss the circumstances. To this Mr. Ad
dington answered, that It never was his wish to quit
his former situation, that the former Ministers had
declared their oAvn irrevocable determination to resign ;
and they had advised his accepting the Government as

March, 1801.] PEOPOSED CHANGE OF ADMINISTEATION. 259
the only thing that could stand between the CroAvn and
ruin, and that even now his own personal Avish Avould
be to be restored to his OAvn family, and to give them
back the power they had resigned, if it could be done
consistently with their own honour and the King's
desire. That they might open the matter to the King
if they pleased, but he would not propose it, and he
trusted they would think fit prcAiously to consult the
King's physicians as to the effect such a proposition
might have upon him In his present state of health.
That Mr. Pitt had at length said that he thought the
project utterly Improper, and that he Avould hold no
Intercourse with those who would not concur in a
strenuous support of the New Administration; nor
should he think those persons friends to himself who
croaked about their instability. The suggesters of this
return to power were mainly Dundas, aided by Pelham,
Lord Camden, &c. ; those who were most Indignant at
It were Lord Chatham, Steele, &c.
When the King dehvered the Seals of ChanceUor of
the Exchequer to Addington he embraced him, and
said, " You have saved me."
Dined at the Attorney General's. Met (among others)
Dr. Duigenan, who was strenuous against granting any
stipendiary establishment to the Irish Clergy.*
16^7^ — I called on Lord Glenbervlef upon the sub
ject of Ireland. He explained to me the constitution c^
the Treasury, and answered me as to some particulars
respecting the constitution and arrangement of the
Secretary's office.
I received a letter from the Common room of Christ
Church, Oxford, informing me that there was a rumour
of the representation of the University becoming va
cant, and requesting me not to engage myself.
* Dr. Duigenan was Judge Advocate, and from his extreme opinions was
often causing difficulties to the Ministers whom he supported. — See Lord
Corn-waUis's Biary, vol. iii. pp. 63, 89, and Yonge's Life of the Bake of Wel
lington, vol. i. p. 108.
t As Mr. Sylvester Douglas, he had been Secretary for Ireland in 1793,
in the latter part of Lord Westmoreland's Loi-d-Lieutenantcy.

260

DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XH.

In the House of Commons there was a debate on the
second reading of the Martial Law BIU, but no divi
sion. Mr. Pitt sat on the right hand of the chair, in the
third row from the floor; he spoke several times In the
course of the evening on the different orders of the day.
17^A  The King held a councU to-day, at which
Lord Hardwicke was sworn In and declared Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland.
At four I went by appointment to Mr. Addington, who
told me that he had seen Lord Castlereagh, who doubted
whether he ought not to resign the Privy Seal of Ire
land (and that it was not the Signet) ; but Mr. Adding
ton had proposed to him to hold It for his life, which
was now under his consideration. He added, that he
found from Lord Castlereagh that the office of Chief
Secretary for Ireland was a much more considerable
office than he had supposed, and the emoluments as
they now stood were very large Indeed, even without
the Privy Seal.
ISth  House of Commons. Rose promised the
Treasury proceedings on the Finance Committee imme
diately. He said he had signed the last letter to the
Board to-day ; and It might be better to wait for their
answers rather than leave the matter Incomplete. He
expressed also a strong desire to have the Revenue
Board established. Debate on the Irish Martial LaAV
Bill, In a Committee. Division on one of the amend
ments, 100 to 18. Rose at 12.
19th. — House of Commons. Revived London Port
Committee. Debate on Report of Martial Law Bill,
and Master of the Rolls BiU. Division for it, 62;
against it, 41. Debate on Lord Hawkesbury's seat as
third Secretary of State, and agreed It did not dis
qualify him.
20th. — Saw Mr. Addington. Lord Castlereagh had
declined taking the Privy Seal of Ireland for life ; the
Chancellor not to resign till the beginning of next week.
House of Commons. Martial Law Bill passed.

March, 1801.] LONDON POET COMMITTEE. 261
House of Lords. Debate on Lord Darnley's motion
for an inquiry Into the state of the nation. Division
at half-past tAVO in the morning. For it, 25 ; against
it, 107. Lord Bute, the Marquis of Buckingham, Lord
Bulkeley, and the Duke of Somerset voted with the
Ministry. 22nd. — Went to Lord Castlereagh at eleven, and
talked over the establishment of office, minor measures,
and engagements, &c. He gave me a paper of the
Irish Office establishment in London ; and also a paper
ofthe project for granting stipendiary allowances to the
Catholic and dissenting clergy in Ireland.
23rd. — House of Commons. In the London Port
Committee agreed to the twenty-one questions to be
sent to eminent mathematicians and engineers on the
project, drawing, plans, and estimates of an iron
bridge of 600 feet span across the Thames, as proposed
by Mr. Telford.
In the House of Lords heard Lord Clare on the Mar
tial Law Bill.
2Ath. — In the House of Commons, spoke to Mr.
Addington, Mr. Corry, and Sir John Pamell about the
Irish Election Committees, and agreed to settle a plan
after the Easter recess.
25th. — House of Commons. State of the nation.
Grey moved for a Committee, and stated five points.
1. The conduct of the war. 2. Foreign relations and
the neutral question. 3. Internal situation of Great
Britain In finance and provisions. 4. Ireland. 5.
Secession of old Ministers, and formation of new Ad
ministration. Dundas answered. Lord Temple, ElU-
son. Sir WiUiam Young, and May spoke. After which,
Mr. Pitt spoke, and Mr. Fox replied. Mr. Addington
spoke, and Mr. Grey closed the debate at four o'clock In
the morning. For the motion, 105; against it, 291.
21th. — House of Commons. Jones's motion on
Egypt.* Mr. Addington told me that Lord Castle-
* This was on the subject of the Convention of El Arish, which Sir Sidney
Smith, without any authority, had concluded with the French in the pre-
8 3

262 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XII.
reagh had given up the Privy Seal of Ireland, and, as
he wished me to have some certainty, if I approved of
It, he would, on the first day he went to the King on
business, propose me for the Privy Seal during my life ;
value 1500/. a year, with a floating pension of 1000/. a
year, to go in part of the 5000/. a year during my hold
ing the Chief Secretaryship; and to be afterwards In
lieu or in part of the emoluments of any situation of
equal or greater emolument which I might hold under
the Crown; such as the Pells, or the like.
The King, according to good Intelligence, Is perfectly
well In mind, but weak in body, and so much so, as to
make It undesirable that he should hold a councU or do
any complicated business at present.
31s^. — Lord St. Helens came to desire I would ex
press his readiness to be employed In the diplomatic
line, which I did immediately by note to Mr. Addington.
He mentioned a conversation of tAvo hours AvIth the
Prince of Wales, Avho told him the circumstances of the
King's illness, and his own readiness to conduct his
father's government by the same Ministers (with the
addition of Lord Moira), and upon the same principles.
Walked Avith Thomas Grenville, Avith whom I con
versed on the best mode of deciding controverted elec
tions from Ireland. Also rode with Mr. Pitt, and
talked with him on the same subject. The best mode
which occurred to Mr. Pitt was to preserve the name
and form of the Grenville Committee, but to superadd
a power of directing Issues to be tried in Ireland upon
controverted facts ; the verdict to be returned to the
Committee, who might thereupon finally decide and
report. ceding year, and which the French themselves, on finding that he had acted
without authority and was likely to be disavowed at home, had at once
broken, though the Opposition now tried to represent its annulment as en
tirely the act of Pitt. ,

April, 1801.] DISTUEBANCES IN THE WEST. 263

CHAP. Xin.
1801.
THE IRISH BUDGET.  DISTUEBANCES IN THE WEST OF ENGLAND. — LORD
ELDON BECOMES LORD CHANCELLOE.  THE BATTLE OF COPENHAGEN. 
MURDER OF THE EMPEROR PAUL.  SIR WILLIAM MEADOWS APPOINTED
IRISH COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.  MEASURES TO BE ADOPTED IN IRELAND.
 MR. ABBOT PROPOSES THE MARTIAL LAW BILL.  MR. ABBOT GOES TO
IRELAND.
Wednesday, April 1st  House of Commons. Irish
Budget; Motion for Secret Committee on State of
Ireland ; and practices of disaffected persons In Ireland
and Great Britain.
2nd. — BaUot for Secret Committee. It consisted
of Addington, Lord Hawkesbury, Charles Yorke, Pitt,
Dundas, Corry, John Beresford, Lord Cole, Lord
Castlereagh, Theophilus Jones, Wilberforce, Hawkins
Browne, Abbot, Blackburne, Bragge, Lord Yarmouth,
Buxton, Attorney-General, Solicitor-General, Pelham,,
and Burdon.
News of risings in the West.* The King certainly
better. All the family agree that a Regency would
overset him for life. Great bodily weakness ; but his
mind and his letter-Avrltlng as good as ever. Sir
Charles Grey has declined Ireland, on account of his
age and health. His letter to the Duke of Portland
and his private letter to Lord St. YIncent agree In
this. Ath — At twelve went to the Committee of Se
crecy. Pelham was voted into the chair; the Com-
* A general disposition to riot was shown all through the west of Somer
setshire and Devonshire, caused partly by the scarcity. To such an extent
had it spread among the Dockyard men at Plymouth that the Commissioner
had thought it necessary to spike the cannon. — See letters in Lord Sid-
moutli's Life, vol. i. p. 363. s 4

264 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIH.
mittee clerk was solemnly enjoined to secrecy, and all
the members of the Committee pledged themselves
to the same. Agreed on the course of proceeding.
Sent Mr. Addington my statement of the question
respecting stipendiary aUowances to Catholic priests.
1th. — Harrison came and took Instructions for the
BiUs proposed In favour of Ireland, viz. 1. The ex
emption Bills from Assessed Taxes and Income Tax.
2. Bonding Duties on Importation of sugar, wine, and
spirits Into Ireland. 3. Drawbacks on tea, to be
repaid Instantly on exportation to Ireland.
Secret Committee. Sent papers on the state of the
Protestant Church and- Public Schools of Ireland to
Lord HardAvicke and Mr. Addington.
Lord Mulgrave declined going as Commander-in-
Chief to Ireland.
Sth. — At eleven I went to Lord Castlereagh, discussed
several points, and amongst the rest, the Place BIU.
Cooke* came ; we went through the consequences of It,
and stated the remaining places which would be com
patible with Parliament for persons likely to attend.
They appeared to be about fifteen ; besides the fifteen
or sixteen law sinecures, and some of each class are
always likely to be held by Peers.
13^7i  Secret Committee agreed upon their report.
In the House Pelham presented the Report. Division
upon taking it into consideration to-morrow. For It,
128; against it, 31.
lAth. — Suspension of the Habeas Corpus Bill brought
In and passed. On two divisions: first, 189 to 42;
second, 190 to 34.
The Great Seal was this day delivered to Lord
Eldon in Council.
15th. — The news from Denmark.f
llth. — Mr. Addington told me that the alternative
on Tuesday last was, only to transfer the Great Seal,
or to do many other things. And the unanimous
* Under Secretary for Ireland.
t The battle of Copenhagen had taien place on the 2nd of April.

April, I80I.] THE EMPEEOE PAUL ASSASSINATED. 265
«
advice Avas, that the King should only do one thing that
day. 18;;^. — To-day the King rode to see the Princess
of Wales at Blackheath.
20th. — House of Commons. Third reading of the
Seditious Assemblies BiU. For it, 152; against it, 35.
2Ath. — Lord Hobart came about the Irish Process
BUl. I declined taking any part in It, as having no
concern In Irish affairs officiaUy; and understanding
that the measure was generally acceptable to the
House of Commons, and the judges and law officers
In Ireland.
House of Commons. Ponsonby moved his Bill.
Addington assented for Lord Hobart. Corry dis
claimed opposition for himself; but interceded for
inferior officers. Lee supported the BIU, but spoke
also for the Inferior officers. Parnell, In favour of the
Chancellor of Exchequer and inferior officers.
The King better, though he had a relapse on
Sunday or Monday last. Either Prescot or Mulgrave
to be Commander-in-Chief in Ireland; but not yet
decided. 21th. — Mr. Addington told me In the House, that
Lord Castlereagh would resign the Privy Seal of Ire
land this week, and that I should be sworn of the
Privy Council, at the next Council, at the furthest
on this day se'nnight, with Grant and Wallace, and
that this might take place while I was out of Parlia
ment. 2Sth  Lord Nelson's private letters were shown
to me with his detailed reasons for the armistice.
Woronzow anxious for re-establishing peace with Great
Britgiin. The Emperor Paul was foUowed Into his room at
night; made to consent to abdicate, which he did,
begging his life; but, when left with one person to
guard him, he made a violent effort to seize his guard by
the throat, and Immediately others came In, knocked
him down, and strangled him with his OAvn sash.

266 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIH.
At night, went by appointment to Mr. Addington,
and had two hours' conversation.
Settled (among other things) that
Pelham was to resign the office of Secretary of State ;
either the office was to be wholly suppressed, or rather
annexed to the office of Chief Secretary, on account
of Its Inherent powers of committing for treason and
seditious libels, and of ordering the Postmaster- Gene
ral to open letters.
The money for engagements of the Union, as
authorised to be taken out of the Privy Purse, to be
settled between Mr. Pitt and Lord Castlereagh. Irish
Bills ; the following to be expedited : —
Tax Exemption: 1. From Income and Assessed
Taxes. 2. From Import Duties on private movables.
Bondings, wine, sugar, and spirits to be settled with
Vansittart. Tea draAvbacks, and the like.
Election Bill to be settled with Bragge, Lee, &c.
The rest to wait for another Session.
Private Bills for roads, &c., to proceed, as In the
Irish Parliament, cost free this session, and the ex
pense of commutation to clerks to be covered by an
address, and put to the account of mIsceUaneous service
for next year.
30th. — Lord Howe declined going as Commander-
in-Chief to Ireland, on account of age and infirmities ;
Lord HardAAdcke wrote to Mr. Addington to signify his
approbation of Lord Dorchester, but It turned out that
the Duke of Portland objected to his temper. Sir
Wm. Meadows is now to be thought of.
Secret Committee; we worked at the Martial Law
papers. Mr. Pitt brought the news of the defeat of
Menou's * army.
House of Commons. Mr. Addington gave notice of
moving the Irish Tax Exemption BiU.
Saturday, May 3rd. — Mr. Addington told me that the
Commander-in-Chief was agreed upon by the Duke of
* He had been defeated at Alexandria by Sir K. Abercromby on the 21st
of March.

Ma7, 1801.] IIOENE TOOKE'S INELIGIBILITY. 267
York, Lord Hobart, Lord Plardwlcke, and the Duke
of Portland, viz. Sir W. Meadows. That the phy
sicians Avere of opinion that the King should not hold
a Council yet awhile, unless urgent business required it,
and therefore the Houses must Avait, the Privy CouncU,
&c. But that to-day Mr. Pitt would see Lord Castle
reagh upon his resignation, and he, ]\Ir. Addington,
would then write to propose my appointment to the
King, and he saw no reason Avhy my Avrit should not be
moved on Wednesday next.
Ath  At two went to the Secret Committee, com
municated Lord Longuevile' letter from Cork, and its
was agreed that the Duke of Portland should send off
an express for more particulars ofthe Intended massacre
In Muskerry.
House of Commons. Debate tiU three in the morn
ing on Horne Tooke's Ineligibility.* Division, for the
previous question, 94; against it, 53.
5th. — Mr. Addington told me that Meadows was
not yet publicly appointed, but that at the Avorst, Lord
CornwaUis had recommended General Johnstone as fit
for the command in Ireland, where he is now on the
staff. He also desired me to draw the Clergy Dis
qualifying Bill, which I did, and sent it at night.
Qth. — Mr. Addington read me the copy of the letter
which he meant to send to the King respecting the
office of Privy Seal of Ireland, to be granted to myself
for life; and offered, if I desired It, to move my writ
to-day, but represented that the ChanceUor had been
with him, stating that Lord Thurlow had urged the
impropriety of suffering the King to do anything in his
present state of seclusion beyond the ordinary course
of business ; and that, if more were done, some Inquiry
* It having been proved that Mr. Tooke was a priest of the Church of
England, Lord Temple moved a new writ for Old Sarum, for whioh borough
he had been returned to Parliament, on the ground that such a return had
been iUegal on the face of it ; but as there was a doubt about the law, the
previous question was carried, and Mr. Adding-ton subsequently brought in
a Bill to declare all Clergymen incapable for the future of being elected
Members of the House of Commons.

26S DUEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XHI.
would be made In ParUament. He added, that he had
settled A\dth the Chancellor to see the King on Satur
day. He then gave me the King's letter of the 13th
February last respecting myself to copy, and signed
the extract which I took, wherein the King expressed
his approbation of my being Secretary of State for
Ireland, and desired that I should previously resign my
office in the Court of King's Bench.
1th  In the evening I went to Mr. Addington by
appointment, and we settled the private Instructions
for the Lord-Lieutenant, according to my proposal,
with some slight variations, and transacted other Irish
business. He had not received any letter from the
King, but was to go doAvn to him to-morrow.
Sth. — This day Sir W. Meadows accepted the Chief
Command of the forces in Ireland, and proposed to set
off In a week. Lord Hardwicke also fixed next Thurs
day for his departure. The King wrote a long letter
to-day to Ijord Hardwicke upon his approaching depar
ture, containing the kindest expressions of favour, and
some very prudent recommendations as to the proper
conduct of a Lord-Lieutenant, and the character of
the men in whom he might most safely confide, Avdth
discriminations of the degree In which they were seve-
raUy to be made parties to the Government.
lO^A  Lord HardAvicke showed me a letter which
he had received from the King, with His Majesty's
Intimations upon further points respecting the Govern
ment of Ireland, the State of the Church, Public Edu
cation, Civilisation, &c.
I went to Lord Clare * by appointment. Stated to
him my desire that he would allow me at all times
to ask his opinion and advice upon Irish affairs, assur
ing him of my disposition to show the utmost respect
and attention to his wishes, and that his advice. If he
thought fit to give it, would not be undervalued; that
I should always take the liberty of speaking to him
* Formerly Mr. FitzGibbon. Pie had been Lord ChanceUor of Ireland
ever since 1789.

Mat, I801.J CONVEESATION WITII LOED HAEDWICKE. 269
with frankness, and In the most unreserved way,hopIng
that he would deal with me In the same manner. He
assured me that he ahvays would be upon that footing
with me, and we talked over the present state of Ire
land; the mode In which the Catholic question was left
suspended; the laAV promotions, past and future; the
Place Bill, Election BIU, and Copyright Bill.
IQth. — Lord Hardwicke showed me a strange letter
he had received from the Duke of Portland, respecting
his private instructions, and the person who had sug
gested them, his unacqualntance with the forms of
transacting business in public departments, &c.
llth. — Saw Lord Hardwicke, Avhohad seen Mr. Pitt,
and discoursed Avith him upon several Irish points ; viz.
the conduct to be holden towards Foster*, the Catholic
Clergy's provision (AvhIch Mr. Pitt said he understood
they were not likely to require at present) ; Tithes,
and the residence of the Clergy. Mr. Pitt was for civil
treatment of Foster, but not to let him govern. He
said Foster had broken faith with him upon the Union ;
not by opposing It, (for he had always professed his
objections to it,) but by taking a lead against It, which
he had distinctly promised not to do. As to tithes,
he thought Sir Henry Mildmay's BIU for leasing tithes
was the best idea hitherto started, and like what had
been in his oaati contemplation. As to patronage, he
thought it would not admit of being reduced In Ireland,
but Lord Hardwicke said his object would be to render
the sinecure officers efficient gradually. If he was di
rected by a special Instruction to Inquire Into the state
of the pubhc offices.
Afterwards I met Mr. Pitt, and told him of my
satisfaction in the conversation he had held Avith Lord
Hardwicke ; he wished me also to send him the draft of
the Irish Contested Election Bill. At night he sent
me the proof of the Report of the Secret Committee
with his corrections, and I forwarded It to Bragge.
ISth  Lord Hardwicke was desired to stay one day
* Mr. Foster had been Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, and was
subsequently created Lord Oriel.

270 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIH.
longer, and take his leave of the Prince of Wales and
Duke of York. I saw him at eleven, with Charles
Yorke; and we again discussed the private instruc
tions, and the Duke of Portland's pitiful, splenetic, and
Ignorant conduct.
21s^.  At one I went to the Queen's House; at
twenty minutes before two the Council sat, and Sir W.
Grant, myself, and Wallace were sworn In; we took
the oath of allegiance kneeling; and then the Privy
Councillor's oath was administered to us standing.
After which we kissed the King's hand, and shook
hands with each Privy CounciUor present; beginning
with the Chancellor at the King's right hand, then
going behind the King's chair to the Lord President on
his left, and round the rest of the table.
After we were sworn in, the Clerks of the Council
stood on each side of the King, and the Lord President
rose, up and read a paper ofthe business to be transacted :
viz. proclamations, orders, &c. And upon each article
the King read aloud from the margin what his pleasure
was to have done ; which the Clerk repeated aloud from
his duplicate.
After the business was finished the King rose and
spoke to all the Council individually, by going round
as at the lev4e ; to each of us, when we kissed hands
upon being sworn, he spoke. He asked me how soon I
should go over to Ireland; I answered In about a
month ; he answered, " You must stay as long as you
can upon this side of the water; we cannot spare
you."' He looked extremely well, and stout and
upright, and joked as usual with his Ministers after
the Council broke up.
2Qth. — The Seals were brought. I went by appoint
ment to meet Lord Hobart, at Lord Clare's, on the
Irish Place Bill. The only point settled was an ex
ception for Beresford.
21th. — In the House of Commons I moved tol)ring
in the Martial Law Bill ; and gave notice of the Elec
tion Bill and Place Bill for to-morrow.

June, 1801.] INTEEVIEW WITH THE KING. 271
Saturday, June 7th  Went to Mr. Addington.
Talked over several Bills ; the Irish Place Bill, in Avhich
he agreed to persist, &c. The Union engagements,
Avhereof a copy was delivered by Lord CornwaUis to
Lord Hardwicke, and another copy to be delivered by
Mr. Pitt, to Mr. Addington.
9th. — At half past twelve, went to Kew, with Yorke,
Steele, and Corry, to meet the Duke of Portland, and
Lord Leicester, and present a joint address of both
Houses for the promulgation of the Statutes.
The King received us at two. The Duke of Portland
I'ead the address, and delivered It with the resolutions to
His Majesty, who immediately answered thus :
" Nothing can be more useful than a prompt and
methodical promulgation of the laws; and I will
forthwith give orders to carry these resolutions into
effect." He then addressed us generaUy, and said it
had been greatly wanted ; was very surprising that It
had not been thought of sooner ; and that the whole
merit of it was mine.
After this he fell into conversation upon general
topics of the State of Europe ; Lord HardAvIcke's arrival
In Ireland; the anecdotes of leading characters in
Ireland In former times ; the present business in Parlia
ment, divorces, &c. ; the abolition of fees In public
offices, and the inconvenience and neglect ensuing
before the plan of fixed salaries. In this sort of con
versation, intermixed with a great many very judicious
remarks, and carried on with vivacity and pleasantry,
he detained us half an hour.
In the House of Commons, the Martial Law BiU
Committee went off.
lO^A. — House of Commons. Irish Place BUl passed
on third reading ; with debate but no division. Mar
tial Law Bill Committee. Debate. I proposed to fiU
up the continuance " during the present war, " &c., as
suggested by the Report of the Secret Committee.
Ponsonby opposed violently. Addington said he had
not understood it to be so intended to be limited; and

272 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIII.
proposed untU 25th March, 1802. Grey, Whitbread, and
TIernej'' abused me for severity of disposition, and as
unfit to be Minister for Ireland, with such arbitrary and
sanguinary views. I defended myself. Steele, Corry,
and Yorke vindicated me and my public conduct, &c.
The House sat till two.
llth  House of Commons. Debate on the English
Indemnity Act ; carried, 92, to 17.
12th  House of Commons. Read Martial Law Bill
a third time, and carried it to the Lords. Went
through Irish Tax Exemption Bill In Committee ; and
afterwards, pro formd, through the Election Bill, and
filled up the blanks.
15th. — At twelve discussed with Mr. Addington
various topics.
1. Union list of engagements, not yet deUvered by
Mr. Pitt to Mr. Addington.
2. Cooke's money not yet paid, because no letter yet
written by Mr. Pitt to the King.
3. Irish Baronets promised before the Union are all
to be British.
4. Private Instructions are to be given to me before
I go ; and I am to go to Wimbledon next week, when
Addington ¦will be at Dundas's.
5. Windsor uniform allowed to me by the King's ex
press permission.*
6. Peerage to Sir C. Grey, &c., earnestly desired by
Sir C. Grey.
7. Copyright BUl, explained again and agreed to by
Mr. Addington.
8. Also Irish Election BiU, &c.
16!;7i.— Attwowent to the Queen's House ; kissed the
King's hand, as Secretary of State for Ireland. He
asked me when I went. If I took my family with me ;
how many BiUs were stiU in Parliament, &c. &c. A
Council was held afterwards.
* The Windsor unifoi-m was worn only by the King's household, and such
other persons as received the King's permission. There were no ministerial
uniforms at this date.

Jtot, 1801.] lEISH ELECTION BILL. 273
House of Commons. Tax Exemption Bill read a
third time and passed.
llth  House of Commons. Debate on Irish Election
Bill, from seven tiU one In the morning. Divided 43 to
7 In favour of the clause for a commission to examine
witnesses in Ireland.
23rd  House of Commons. Reported the Irish
Election BIU; supped at Mr. Addington's, and talked
over the remaining changes in the Cabinet, Lord
Pelham, and Duke of Portland — peace and war — Mr.
Pitt's friendly and manly conduct — Scotland, &c.
23rd. — House of Lords. Prevailed on Lord Ross-
lyn * to bring in a BIU enabling the judges in Ireland
and Scotland to swear witnesses upon Estate BiUs re
ferred to them.
House of Commons. Irish Election Bill read a third
time. Dawson spoke against It; I and Corry for it.
Martin against it, but voted for it. No division.
24^A. — House of Commons. Irish Indemnity Bill
read a first time. Absentee Tax Repeal reported.
2Sth. —House of Lords. Lord Thurlow objected to
my Copyright BiU ; not to the principle, but to some
of the phrases; and, when they were shown to be justi
fied by preceding Acts, he still objected.
30^A. — The Chancellor called. He said If he had
known the CopjTlght Bill to be mine, he would have
taken as much care of It as If it had been his oAvn. Ac
cordingly, the BiU passed, though not without some
difficulty in the Commons, upon the effect of the
amendments made by the Lords (at my instance) for
giving a copy of every new book to the library of the
King's Inns.
Friday, July 3rd — Settled bridges at Bangor and
Conway Ferries, with WiUiams and Rennle. The
mercantile and landed Interest in Wales desire It. It
Is to cross Bangor Ferry at Ynys y Moed. One arch,
450 feet, iron, 100,000/. Conway, two arches, 200 feet
* Lord Loughborough had just been created Lord Eosslyn.
VOL. I. T

274 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIII.
each. The iron about 15,000/. The surveys to be
completed immediately, and the plans and estimates to
be ready before November.
Ath.— Went doAvn with Addington to Wimbledon,
and slept there. Discussed many points. Desirable
to add 2000/. a year to Pitt, by increase of Cinque
Ports, or by Duchy of Lancaster. Dundas to be a
peer by Christmas. Inclined to send him to East In
dies. Civil List to be augmented next year, by
100,000/. CivU List debts to be cleared by sale of *
Prince of Wales has borrowed of the King, .pledging
his oAvn revenues for one year more than under the
ordinary course, for liquidating his present debt, by
reason of Increased expenses of family and the Prin
cess. Overtures from Canning.
Qth. — Wrote to Mr, Addington in the evening, with
observations on the proposal for Increasing the Reglum
Donum. 7th. —Mr. Addington undertook to speak to Mr. Pitt
for his list of Union Engagements ; to Lord Pelham, on
Cooke's affair; and to the Duke of York, on the
patronage of the Irish army. He also repeated his
desire to amalgamate the two countries In one Govern
ment, by appointing Irishmen to the Treasury, Ad
miralty, &c.
Sth. — Met Lord Pelham at the Duke of Portland's,
and afterwards related the whole conference to Charles
Yorke, upon the dlAdsIon of military power between the
Lord- Lieutenant and the Commander of the Forces In
Ireland. 9th  Set off for Ireland. * Blanlc in MS.

I80I.] STATE OF lEELAND.

CHAP. XIV.
1801.
STATE OF lEELAND DURING THE LATTER PART OF 1801.  FnEQUEKT
OUTRAGES IN MANY DISTRICTS.  NEWS OP PEACE WITH FRANCE. 
VIOLENT CONDUCT OF LOED CLARE.  REFORMS UNDERTAKEN Br -MR.
A'BBO'I.  DEATH OF LORD CLARE.  SIR JOHN MITFORD BECOMES IRISH
CHANCELLOR.  MR. ABBOT IS ELECTED SPEAKER.
July. — We arrived in Ireland on the 20th July,
1801, and stayed there tiU 30th January, 1802.*
Of these six months, the two first were a time of
war, and daUy expectation of Rebellion and Invasion.
During this period the chief business of the Irish
Government was to revise the proceedings and sen
tences of aU courts martial for the execution of the
Martial Law Act, and to correspond with the generals
of districts upon the civil and mihtary state of the
country. Upon the news of the French preparations In
the Channel, the Irish Government obtained the offers
of aU the Irish militia regiments to volunteer for ser
vice in England, if it should be attacked. Proclamations
Avere also Issued for regulating the mode of driving
cattle in all the maritime counties, and the secret
orders were renewed to each general, directing his line
of conduct, according to the plans laid down by Lord
CornwaUis. The regular forces in Ireland, Including fencibles
during this period, was about 30,000, and the militia
* WhUe in Ireland Mr. Abbot omitted to make daily notes in his .lournal,
but drew up a summary account of his official proceedings in Ireland
after his return, which, with the correspondence inserted at the end of this
chapter, gives a very complete account of the transactions in Ireland diu-ing
Mr. Abbot's tenure of office in that country.

276 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
30,000 more : the yeomanry corps of infantry and
cavalry were about 60,000; the cavalry part being
about 12,000.
The Irish Ordnance being now consolidated with the
British, a change took place in the Constitution of the
Irish Board; who were now placed almost entirely out
of the control of the Lord- Lieutenant, and of the Com
mander of the Forces; great difficulties occurred In
adjusting the details of this and other branches of the
Military Finance, In consequence of the recent con
solidation of the whole army since the Union.
Lord CornwaUis's plan for the defence of Ireland
led him to reduce the ArtlUery to a very small force.
He Avithdrew almost all the heavy guns from aU the
fortresses on the coast ; and proposed to employ very
little of even Horse Artillery in the field; and Lieu
tenant- General Floyd concurred with other officers who
spoke with me upon the subject in thinking it much too
small. The principal outrages during this time were com
mitted in the county of Limerick, though they were
frequent also In other parts ; and lights at night upon
the mountains of Wicklow and Wexford, and the re
appearance of the disaffected In Dublin, excited con
siderable alarms.
During the month of August I made a short tour
with the Lord-Lieutenant to the Military Road, In the
county of Wicklow, to the Gold Mines of Croaghan,
and to Arklow, where we saw the field of battle between
the rebels and General Needham, In which Father
Murphy was killed. We went also to view the Harbour
of Wicklow. In consequence of this tour a large ex
tension of the Military Road was resolved upon, and
special reports were ordered to be made upon a more
effectual plan for working the Gold Mine, and also for
Improving the Harbour of Wicklow.
I went afterwards with Colonel Littlehales, in Sep
tember, to Athlone, where General Scott guarded the
passage of the Shannon with a light brigade of 3000

1801.] AFPAIES OF lEELAND. 27 r
men, formed from all the Ught companies of the Irish
MUitia; and from thence we Avent by Aghrim and
BaUInasloe, to the Bay of Gahvay, returning by Por-
tumna to Birr and Banagher, along the line of the
Grand Canal to PhillpstoAvn, &c. The pohcy of con
structing Internal fortresses for the defence of Ireland
was made so evident upon this tour (from miUtary
memoirs, conversation, and observation), that a full
despatch was afterwards forAvarded to England upon
this separate matter.*
On Sunday the 4th October, AvhUe I Avas preparing
In the Phoenix Park an arrangement in detail of pro
clamations, orders, and guards for the tranquillity of
Dublin (like those which Avere adopted on the landing of
the French In Bantry Bay) ; and making out a list of
persons to be arrested in case of the expected Invasion,
despatches came from England announcing the signature
of the preliminaries. I went straight to the Lord-
Lieutenant, who was then at the Castle, and Immediately
communicated the news by letter to the Lord Mayor of
Dublin; the Lord-Lieutenant Avrote also to the Chan
ceUor and to the Primate.
The State prisoners In Ireland were soon afterwards
graduaUy liberated; and by the Chancellor's directions
a special Commission was sent Into the counties of
Wicklow and Kildare, to try some of the most san
guinary of the rebels.
During the same two months of August and Sep
tember, we had some very Important matters to transact
respecting the future system of Government for Ireland,
In which we were counteracted by Lord Pelham and the

* At p. 28, No. 28, of the 5th volume of the Buke of Wellington's Sup
plementary Beqiatehes, is to be found a long letter (written apparently
without any knowledge of the despatch mentioned in the text), in whicli
Sir A. WeUesley, after explaining the impossibUity of fortifying the whole
Irish coast, recommends the establishment of a naval station in Bantry Bay,
and the construction of five forts ; one in Munster, Connaught, and Ulster,
and two in Leinster, " of the second or third class of fortification, sufficient
to hold the magazines and stores, and to resist any attempt to carry them by
a coup de main," T 3

278 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
Duke of Portland In England, and by Lord Clare and
Mr. Cooke (then my Under-Secretary for the Civil
Department) In Ireland.
Lord Pelham sent over a most extraordinary pro
position (nominally with the approbation ofthe Cabinet)
for reducing the Lord-Lieutenant (In Lord Pelham's own
phrase) to a mere Lord-Lieutenant of a county; and
for transferring all the business and patronage to be
executed and administered by the Secretary of State for
the Home Department.
An ansAver Avas sent to this by the Lord-Lieutenant,
at great length, controverting the proposed plan ; and
Colonel Littlehales was sent over to England with
Avritten Instructions upon the general question, and
iipon numerous points of detail for immediate adjust
ment Avith Mr. Addington, Lord Pelham, and the Duke
of York.
Mr. Addington and the majority of the Cabinet, upon
receiving the Lord-Lieutenant's answer to Lord Pelham's
proposal, laid aside the discussion of the proposal,
and it Avas never resumed. Accordingly the Lord-
Lieutenant proceeded as before, to act upon the original
authority of his commission. And Lord CornwaUis
very strenuously supported Lord Hardwicke's system by
communicating to Mr. Addington his decided opinion
in its favour. But the Duke of York yielded nothing
of the military patronage, and the Lord-Lieutenant
never obtained a single ensigncy for any Irishman
whom he recommended, and he recommended none
others. Lord Clare conducted himself dIsrespectfuUy and
disingenuously towards the Lord -Lieutenant upon many
occasions, public and personal, and Impertinently
toAvards me by his letters and language to other people,
but it made no difference in the uniform propriety with
Avhich Lord Hardwicke treated him; and by my In
difference to It, he at last thought fit to say that I had
set my foot upon his neck. After having abused Cooke
Avithout measure upon former occasions, he now became

180I.J AFFAIES OP lEELAND. 279
his confidential friend; and in the same manner coun
tenanced Lord Tyrawley, whose character he had
formerly been accustomed to treat with the indignation
and contempt It merited. The death of Lord Clare In
the month of January 1802, delivered the Irish and
also the British Government from great trouble. He
had rendered signal service to his country in a crisis of
great violence * ; but his love of poAver and the restless
ness of his temper, made him unfit for the station of
ChanceUor, when no longer coupled with the overruling
authority which he had exercised as a Minister before
the Union.
Mr. Cooke, dissatisfied with his situation under a
Lord-Lieutenant and Secretary, Avhose confidence he
forfeited by his Insolent language and froward manner,
Avithdrew himself In October, by desiring to resign
upon a sinecure office and pension, which he applied
for through Lees, the Secretary to the Irish Post
Office. The leading persons who served Lord HardAvIcke's
Government effectually and cordially were Sir W.
Meadows (the Commander of the Forces), Colonel
Alexander Hope (the Adjutant-General), Mr. Corry
(the Chancellor of the Exchequer), Annesley (Commis
sioner of Revenue), and Lord Kihvarden (Chief Justice
of the Court of King's Bench) ; besides Marsden and
Littlehales (the Civil and MUitary Under-Secretaries).
Mr. Foster, who was ready to lend his assistance to
Lord Hardwicke's Administration, provided he could
also have had the sole direction of it, was treated with

* Lord Clare, when Attorney-General in 1789, had been the principal
support of Lord Buckingham's Administration on the Regency question:
when the Opposition, headed by Lord Charlemont in one House of Parlia
ment, and by Grattan in the other, carried an Address to the Prince of AiA'ales,
requesting him to assume the Eegency {Hardy's Life of Charlemont, vol. ii.
p. 174) ; but the character given him {Ibid. p. 403) corresponds very nearly
with that attributed to him above, as Hardy speaks of him as " ambitious,
acrimonious, impatient, overbearing," at the same time doing him justice as
" above aU circumvention or corruption," and too kind-hearted to use,
though too fond of " speaking daggers." T 4

280 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
cIvIUty and respect, but not invited to assume the reins
of Government. He resided the whole of my time in
the county of Louth, and visited Dublin only occa
sionally. The Primate *, from whom we expected material aid
In Church matters, and In correcting the notorious
abuses of the public charities throughout Ireland, upon
which I had repeated conversations with him In Lon
don and Dublin, took unreasonable offence very early
at Bishop Beresford's translation from Clonfert to KU-
more, and from that time remained sullen and inactive
at Armagh.
Much as these matters engaged our attention, the
principal object of lasting policy to which our exertions
Avere directed was the regulation of the several offices
of Revenue and Expenditure, and the accommodating
all details of Finance as much as possible to the British
model. In consequence of general conversations with Mr.
Addington, and also upon this point with Mr. Pitt
before I left England, I Issued circular orders In the
month of August, calling upon aU the departments of
Government, civil and military, in the Lord-Lieute
nant's name, to make returns of their establishments,
duties, salaries, &c., in the same manner I had prac
tised in the British Parliament when Chairman of the
Finance Committee. Several returns to these orders
were made during the time of my continuance In Ire
land, but very reluctantly, and sometimes evasively.
Those from the Customs and Excise were very Im
perfectly delivered, within a few days only of my de
parture from DubUn.
Some Boards, however, underwent revision, and were
considerably reformed.
The Revenue Board was divided Into Customs and
Excise, according to a plan long ago proposed under
successive Lords-Lieutenant, but never till now exe-
* The Hon. AV. Stuart, who in 1800 had been translated fi-om St. David's
to Armagh.

1801.] AFFAIES OP lEELAND. 281
cuted. The two Senior Commissioners were super
annuated, and others appointed to the head of each
separate Board, with the addition of two ncAV Surveyors-
General. By an examination of the different Reports
formerly made by Commissioner Beresford (who stayed
In the north of Ireland during all this autumn), and
by further inquiries through Mr. Croker, the Acting
Surveyor-General of the Port of Dublin, the frauds
long extensively practised upon the Quay of Dublin
were greatly checked, and a stricter discipline esta
blished throughout this department, where, by the
confession of all the principal Commissioners, taken
doAATi by myself In writing, it had been shamefuUy and
corruptly relaxed.
The Board of Accounts was Instructed in making up
Its annual account of defaulters according to the modes
used In England.
The Stamp Office was new modelled throughout, and
the consignments to distributors, as well as their form
of appropriation in their returns, were settled in a way
to be practically correct and useful. This office (like
the English Stamp Office), having the management of
a revenue which had risen gradually from small begin
nings to a considerable degree of Importance, had been
whoUy neglected and produced little.
The Board of Works, whose accounts had not been
settled for many years, and whose conduct, under Lord
Tyrawley, was demonstrated to be criminaUy negligent,
if not corrupt, was made the subject of a special
inquiry by three Commissioners, viz., the Right Hon.
Sackville Hamilton, the Right Hon. Richard Annesley,
and the Hon. Colonel Napier, Comptrollers of Army
Accounts ; and upon their report the office was new-
modelled, and directed to act according to a new set of
instructions framed under the Lord-Lieutenant's par
ticular direction.
The Mihtary Finance was, by a long negotiation
between the War Offices of England and Ireland, assi-
jnilated in many important points.

282 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
Several other matters were brought under the con
sideration of Government during the same period. The
distiUerles, fisheries, mines, canals and harbours, and
the state of the pubUc charities and hospitals In Dublin,
and the condition of the poor throughout Ireland.
The question of opening the distUleries after the
dearth of grain In the preceding years, produced a
long and detaUed despatch from the Lord-Lieutenant
to Lord Pelham, in which, by the aid of Mr. Corry,
the general taxes were fuUy discussed, and the par
ticular circumstances of the crisis minutely detaUed.
This despatch Avas received with approbation in Eng
land, and the distilleries were afterwards opened in
both countries.
The consideration of the state of the Fisheries led
to a strong opinion that the Nymph Bank was the only
part of the Irish seas deserving attention, and an ex
perimental survey of the bank was projected for the
ensuing season.
Upon the Mines, Mr. Kirwan was prevailed upon to
draAv up the heads of a Bill for establishing a Mining
Board, which should bring over from England and the
Continent persons sufficiently skilled to work the knoAvn
mines, and explore others, particularly of coal, which
are supposed to abound In different parts of Ireland.
The Navigation Board, having received various plans
for extending the canals and improving the navigation
of the Shannon and the Dublin Harbour, ncAV surveys
of the Shannon were ordered, and Mr. Rennle Avas
brought over to survey and report upon Dublin Har
bour ; which he did accordingly, with remarks upon the
plans of Sir Thomas Page and others, who had been
antecedently employed for the same object.
The public charities and hospitals of Dublin Avere
recommended to Parliament for an augmentation of
their annual support; and Lord Hardwicke gave 300/.
and I gave 200/. towards the establishment of a Fever
Hospital In Dublin.
Lord HardAvicke gave audience in Dublin Castle two

1801. J AFPAIES OP lEELAND. 283
days In every Aveek till my arrival. His Excellency
then limited his audience days to Tuesday, which was
the regular day for holding a Privy Council; and I
gave audience twice a w^eek; besides attending In
Dublin Castle every day In the week, from eleven till
five o'clock.
The Lord-Lieutenant attended Divine Service, with
his family, at the Castle chapel, till It was shut up
to be repaired or rebuilt ; and then he went regularly
from the Park to St. Werburgh's, the parish church of
the Castle. He gave public entertainments In St.
Patrick'sHall,andin the state apartments in the Castle;
and kept up a splendid table at the Park, to which all
persons of distinction belonging to the different branches
of Government In Dublin, and those who passed through
It to or from England, were constantly Invited. In the
Castle a library Avas formed of books upon Irish affairs
and British history and politics, Into which the coUec
tion formerly belonging to the Irish House of Lords
was brought ; and many parliamentary reports and
papers Avere added to It from England.
The Parliament House was sold during this period to
the Governors and Company of the Bank of Ireland, for
40,000/. ; with a private agreement that the two Cham
bers of Parliament should be accommodated to the uses
of the Bank in some such manner as should completely
alter their former size and appearance.
The invalids of the Royal Hospital at Kilmalnham
were placed upon a more liberal allowance of clothing
and diet, with the intention of giving them advantages
equal to those of Chelsea Hospital.
A complete survey of the City of Dublin was made
out by the Commissioners, of wide streets, under my
directions ; marking out aU the actual and Intended im
provements under their management. And I brought
this Board and the Ballast Office to act in conjunction
for widening and extending the quays along both sides
of the LIffey up to the Barracks and the Royal Hospital.
The University of Dublin conferred upon me the

284 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
degree of LL.D. before I went over. In consequence of
the privUeges I had obtained for them in the Irish
Copyright Act; the Corporation of the City gave me
their freedom in October; and afterwards. In AprU,
voted me an address of thanks for my services, which
they presented to me by deputation In London, AvIth a
silver box and inscription, &c.
I arrived In London on the 30th of January, and on
the second of February, I rendered to Mr. Addington
a fuU account of the last six months' Administration in
Ireland, by reading a detaUed summary* of Its pro
ceedings, and explaining each of them more fully In
conversation ; at the same time I produced heads of the
business of Ireland for the ensuing session of Parlia
ment. Lord Clare having died during my journey from
Dublin to London, Sir John Mitford agreed, within a
few days after my return, to accept the Great Seal of
Ireland, with a peerage, and a salary of 10,000/. nett
British, and the retiring pension of 4000/., which the
King Is by Act of ParUament authorised to grant in
Ireland, as well as in England, to any person who
has been ChanceUor.
By the joint advice of Charles Yorke and myself,
Wickham, already a Privy CounciUor, was recom
mended to Mr. Addington and to Lord Hardwicke as
my successor ; and I was elected Speaker of the House
of Commons on the tenth of February. Sir W. Grant,
Master of the RoUs, proposed me for the chair, and
Baker, M.P. for Hertfordshire, seconded the motion;
Charles Dundas, M.P. for Berkshire, was proposed by
Sheridan, and Lord George Cavendish, but the vote
passed without a division.
I delivered copies of aU my Irish papers to Wickham
from time to time, and as, upon Lord Mendip's death,
which happened at this juncture, I could not vacate
my seat for Helston to take the seat for Heytesbury,
* This summary is given in the Appendix to this year.

1801.] EETUEN TO BNGL,WfD. 285
which was vacated by Lord Clifden, Wickham came
into Parliament, with the Duke of Marlborough's assent,
for that borough.
The details of establishment, and expenses attending
the taking possession of the office of Speaker appear
amongst my accounts. To Lord Redesdale, I paid
about 1060/. for the state coach, built In 1701, and
repaired in 1801. I paid him also, for wines, about
1000/., and for furniture about 500/.
The business of the session was light, except the
debates on the Peace, when we had, one debate till six
o'clock In the morning, and another till four.
Before the close of the session a committee reported
on the additions wanting to the House of Commons
for committee rooms, &c. ; and I represented to the
Treasury the damp Insecure state of the Speaker's
House, in consequence of which the family part of it
was pulled doAvn In the autumn, and new foundations
laid in a manner to secure the building from any
risk of damp In future. A side-wall ten feet deep
was built parallel to the new foundations, and about six
feet In front of them; the foundations themselves were
twelve feet deep, and laid upon a bed of hard grouted
materials, which served as a bed to the original wall
buUt at least as early as Henry VIII.
The session was terminated on the 28th of June, by
a speech from the King, and on the foUoAving day the
Parliament was dissolved. My speech to the King
was printed, according to the usage which Addington
told me that he had introduced in order to prevent
misrepresentation. Fifty copies Avas the whole im
pression, and these were sent to the principal officers
of State In Great Britain and Ireland, &c.
We spent the months of August and September at
Eastbourne, where Mr. Addington came for a great
part of the time ; and I had much confidential communi
cation with him upon the events of the last two years,
and .^the general state of politics at home and abroad,
both in Europe and India ; but more particularly upon

286 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
the affairs of Ireland, the CathoUcs, &c., relative to
which latter point, I wrote at large with his approba
tion to Lord HardAvicke, Lord Redesdale, and Wickham ;
the substance of the communication was: "That no
thing more than occasional relief, and in the nature of
a compassionate aUoAvance, could be granted to the
Irish Catholic priests, and this to be expressly marked
as carrying with It no recognition of their establish
ment, jurisdiction, titles, or assumed authority ; " adding
also to the same communication, "that even this
could not be done but after, and subservient to, some
leading measures for making a better provision for the
Protestant Established Church." All this had been
previously discussed and agreed to by most of the
Cabinet, and also by Lord Castlereagh.

MINUTES OF PEOCEEDINGS IN lEELAND PEOM JULY TO
DEC. I80I ; AND OUTLINES OF lEISH BUSINESS FOE 1802,
EEPOETED TO AND EEAD OVEE WITH ME. ADDINGTON,
FEB. 1802.

IRISH AFFAIRS, JAN. 1802.
I. Their present state, including a detailed Account of the
Government Transactions there during the last Six Months,
II. O'Utline of the Public Business of Ireland for the Year
1802. I. The GrOVEENMENT.
1. Lord-Lieutenant — Unsettled powers; question whether a
Lord -Lieutenant from Engla,nd, administering the protection
and patronage of the Crown subordinately to the King's
.Ministers — or a Grovernment by Lords Justices, setting up for
themselves, and tyrannising over their countrymen — or en
deavour to govern Ireland entirely by a Secretary of State at
Whitehall. N.B. — No communication has been made to Lord Hardwicke
in answer to the paper transmitted by him to Lord Pelham,
containing remarks upon Lord Pelham's proposition.
2. Chief Secretary. — Unsettled emoluments of the OfiSce in
Ireland. Unsettled footing of the Irish Office in London.

1 802.] lEISH AFPAIES. 287
Query. — Suppress its establishment as an Office accredited
with the Secretary of State for the Home Department ; and as
hitherto employed for soliciting Civil Patents and Military
Commissions in the place of the old office of Eesident Secretary
(Fremantle and Jenkinson). And transfer the agency and fees of
this business to the Secretary of State's Office ; leaving no
establishment in London for the Chief Secretary to transact his
business, except what assistance he may personally obtain for
himself from Dublin Castle, &c.
N.B. — The salary and fees of this Office upon Peace Establish
ments, viz. about 5000/. British, are not more than adequate to
the necessary expenses of the office conducted Avith economy ;
having houses and servants in each country ; and the removal of
a family twice a year across the Channel.
3. Private Secretary. — Unprovided present subsistence, and
no certain future provision.
4. Lord Chancellor (Lord Clare). — Hostile to any Govern
ment by Lord-Lieutenant. Desirous himself to be Lord-Deputy,
or at the head of Lords Justices; and for Mr. Cooke to be
Secretary of State under him.
5. Commander of the Forces. — Sir W. Meadows, cordially
co-operating with the Lord-Lieutenant.
6. Royal Buildings, &c. — In the Castle a library for printed
books upon Irish affairs. Orders also given for arranging the
State Papers, &c., in the Birmingham Tower. Plans and
estimate ordered for rebuilding the Castle chapel, and adapting
it to choir service.
Parliament House. — A proposal transmitted to the King's
Ministers for selling it to the National Bank of Ireland, or
appropriating it to Public Offices.
Phosnix Park. — Walls and roads ordered to be repaired;
rights of Park officers ascertained ; encroachments defeated.
7. Union Engagements. — Many liquidated. No vacant office
has been given away without considering to what promise it
could apply. II. Finance.
1. Treasury Statements of Annual Income and Expenditure
of Ireland assimilated to the British series of Public Accounts,
and adapted to the same annual and quarterly periods.
2. Eevenue Board. — Examination into its past state by
personal conference with each of the four senior Examiners ; all
of them agreeing that it was corrupt and inefficient; proved also
by lists of Officers accused and protected ; proved also by reports

288 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
of Mr. Beresford, in 1792 ; and of the Acting Surveyor-General,
Mr. Cooke, in 1800.
Division of the Board into Customs and Excise, as projected
in Lord Tovmsend's and Lord Buckingham's Administration, and
executed now in the manner prescribed by Mr. Beresford, in a
letter written by himself on a former occasion ; a copy whereof
was delivered to me by Mr. B., Avith a recommendation of its
being adopted for this purpose at this time.
Dublin Quay Eegulated. — Tobacco stores, gate notes, &c.,
under advice of the Board, and upon suggestion and report of
Mr. Croker, who was appointed acting Surveyor-General of the
port, Avith joint approbation of Mr. Beresford and Mr. Annesley,
and established in the Office of Surveyor-General by Lord
Hardwicke. Eegulations enforced prohibiting all Eevenue Officers from
being traders.
Eevision and Amendment of the Distillery Laws considered.
Throughout Ireland the Surveyors- General ordered to report
quarterly from their actual surveys.
N.B. Dublin Customs' duties are one half, and Dublin Excise
duties one quarter of all Ireland.
A mode settled for passing Collectors' accounts in Dublin with
more expedition, and (as in England) without their personal
attendance. Cruisers called in ; inspection of repairs ordered, and a report
upon the future complement of men for their Peace Establish
ment. Additional officers appointed, not for patronage, but upon
special reports of the Board, and upon considerations of personal
merit, viz. two Surveyors-General, one Inspector-General, and one
Inspector, and two Landwaiters in the Port of Dublin.
General plan for prevention of smuggling and illicit distilleries
prepared for consideration.
Commercial regulations between Great Britain and Ireland
considered, and reported upon by the Commissioners of Ee
venue. 3. Auditors of Public Accounts. — Their accounts methodised
on the British plan, and brought up to 5th January, 1802,
shovfing the actual amount of debts due from Public Accountants.
4. Stamps. — After a previous investigation by the Treasury
and personal conference repeatedly with the Commissioners.
Establishment settled on the British model, and report upon
the building purchased for the use of this Office before the
Eebellion.

1802.] AFFAIES OP lEELAND. 289
Consignments to distributors, and the appropriation of their
receipts new modelled.
Debts from deceased and dismissed distributors called in ;
securities of distributors raised.
Inspectors-General ordered upon survey throughout Ireland,
and to make quarterly reports ; and two new inspectors added
at inferior salaries, with prospect of succession to the higher, if
merited. Eevision and amendment of the Stamp Laws prepared.
N.B. Last summer, in the counties of Wicklow and Wexford,
several Justices of Peace refused to convict in penalties for
evading the Stamp Duties.
5. Crown Lands. — A report upon their state, extent, and
value ordered to be made out in thirty-two books for the thirty-
two counties.
6. Board of Works. — Appropriation of issues between May
1801, and August 1801, viz. 20,000/. having been called for, and
no account being produced of time or place, of articles supplied,
or work done, nor any check appearing ; an inquiry directed for
settling an efficient system of checks for the future ; report
made and instructions issued to take effect prospectively from
Sth January, 1802.
N.B. By Comptroller of Accounts (who has controlled the
Barrack Accounts), and two Privy Councillors.
All the old accounts ordered to be balanced and closed to Sth
January, 1802, where a debt stated in November to be 11,000/.,
was stated in January to be a debt of 37,000/. ; though no new
work was ordered or executed in the interval. And it appeared
also that no final accounts had been settled Avith the tradesmen
for * yea,rs. How many years ?
N.B. — During the period within which this debt was incurred
there was an annual issue to the Board of from 25,000/. to
32,000/. a year. No new building, except one house, which cost
3000/., was erected. The Castle or public apartments are worse
fm-nished than any private gentleman's house in England.
Note. — The First Commissioner of the Board, consisting of
seven, is also sole Barrackmaster-General ; and has the sole
expenditure of nearly 300,000/. a year. And the latest of his
accounts delivered in to be audited, viz. March, 1800, did not
come down to a later period than 25th March, 1796.
N.B. Lord Tyrawley, from a very moderate beginning, is
reputed to have made a landed property of 10,000/. a year, out
* Blank in MS.
VOL. I. U

290 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
of private trusts (viz. law arrears, &c.), and out of public offices,
viz. the Board of Works and Barrack Office.
As to the economy of his department, ex uno disce omnes,
Eeady-made sentry-boxes sent in carts from Dublin to Cork.
Extravagant expense of carriage, and destruction of the articles
themselves.

III. The Law. — Official Appointments.
1. Solicitor-General to be Baron of the Exchequer ; approved
by the Chancellor.
2. This made way for an Union engagement to Mr. McClelland.
3. Dr. Browne appointed Prime Serjeant upon the advice of
Lord Clare, in the place of Mr. Stanley, removed to the Board
of Accounts.
4. Lord Kilwarden recommended Mr. Moore to be Third
Serjeant; an office Avithout emolument, and long vacant and
tmsolicited ; now filled by a very respectable laAvyer and M.P.
In the execution of martial law (August, 1801), Lord Hard
wicke discontinued the special powers (of inflicting any punish
ment short of death) given by Lord CornwaUis to Sir James
Duff — Sir James admitting theywere no longer necessary.
N.B. At Sir James Duff's instance no public notice was
given of this alteration. Sir James stating apprehensions of
bad consequences following if the discontinuance of the powers
was known (but Lord Clare and Mr. Cooke made it known every
where to everybody).
Also general orders were given for attendance of a barrister as
Deputy Judge-Advocate, and a more regular taking doAvn of all
proceedings before these courts.
After news of the preliminaries of peace (October 4), no more
Court Martials were ordered.
Special Commissions sent (December, 1801) to try the rebels
in the counties of Wicklow and Kildare.
Eefusal to proclaim districts of the county Limerick under
the Insurrection Act, though desired by some Limerick magis
trates in Quarter Sessions, January, 1802.
State prisoners and others. All county gaols cleared of all
prisoners ordered for transportation. State prisoners in Kil-
mainham and Newgate detained simply under the suspension
of the Habeas Corpus Act, liberated by advice of the Chan
cellor a few days before the expiration of the Act.
N.B. Napper Tandy to be banished, and not to be transported.
See Lord CornwaUis's letter to the Duke of Portland.

1802.] AFFAIES OP lEELAND. 291
Fort George prisoners detained under the same Act, brought
to Ireland, and bailed, and liberated.
The rest included in the Banishment Act, reserved for fresh
pardon to be conditioned for transportation.
Military Depot at New Geneva cleared by transportation or
enlistment, or liberation.
Dublin Prisons cleared partly by trial under Special Com
mission, and partly remain to be liberated before expiration
of Martial Law Act.
Dublin Penitentiary re-established ; Crown Solicitor's Office
divided into six circuits. rv. Church.
Castle Chapel. - — Service re-established and since transferred
to the parish church till the chapel is rebuilt. A rota of
chaplains appointed for every month in the year. Four of the
most distinguished Fellows of Trinity College, Dublin, have
volunteered to preach in their turns.
Promotions. — Archbishop of Cashel (Agar) to Dublin ; an
Union engagement. Bishop of Kilmore (Brodrick), recom
mended to Cashel (upon excellence of character). Hesitation
about translatiQg the Bishop of Clonfert (Beresford) to Kilmore.
Mr. Alexander to be made a Doctor of Divinity, by University
of Dublin (at the instance of Lord Hardwicke), and destined
for the vacancy on the Bench. (This an Union engagement.)
Dissenters. — In the Synod of Ulster, the Lay Elders have
obtained a preponderance over the Minister ; that is, the
population party over those attached to the Government.
Catholics. — No movement amongst them; they profess to be
contented for the present.
All Catholic chapels, remaining unsurveyed or damaged
since the Eebellion in 1798, have been ordered to be surveyed,
or repaired, or rebuilt, in the same manner as the rest have
been throughout Ireland.
Maynooth College. — Being visited by Lord Kilwarden,
Lord Norbury, and Lord Avonmore, in the summer; Lord
Kilwarden reported to the Lord-Lieutenant the apparently novel
establishment of a school for lay education; there being a
dormitory erected on Government ground for boys to be taught
by the priests in their College ; and reported it as a matter
foreign to the original objects of the institution.
Lord HardAvicke desired an intimation to be given to the
agent of the College, that this lay school should not be per
sisted in, and that ii should gradually subside.
u 2

292 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
Lord Clare sent for Dr. Ivory, and bade the College proceed.
Conversation and explanation from Lord Clare to the Lord-
Lieutenant, and written statements obtained from Lord Clare
and Lord Kilwarden of their different understanding of the
nature of this institution.
V. Army.
1. Ordnance. — Consolidated Avith the British into one sys
tem under the Master-General.
2. Transport Service. — Put under the transport Board in
London. 3. Irish Militia. — Volunteered for defence of England during
the war.
4. Safety of Dublin provided for against insurrection.
5. Proclamations issued for driving the maritime counties,
and fixing depots for cattle, &c.
6. Eecruiting for the Army and Navy, stopped upon the
news of preliminaries of peace.
7. Militia Colonels called upon to name their depots for
arms, accoutrements, &c., upon the return of peace, according
to the Irish Militia Act.
8. Yeomanry. — Exercise days reduced to one in a fort
night. 9. Commissioners and expenses suspended? and stores sell
ing. 10. Military roads projected, and authority for executing
them desired from the Ordnance in England.
11. Plan for internal defence by erecting fortresses submitted
for consideration.
12. Assimilation of British and Irish Military Finance con
sidered, reported and consulted on, in London and Dublin.
VL The Country at larse.
1. Public Boards. — Well affected to the Government; the
City of Dublin by addresses ; Trinity College by various tes
timonies ; Yeomanry by offers of continuing their services in
peace, &c.
Proposition for granting to the University of Dublin the
privilege of printing Bibles, &c., in concurrence with the King's
Printer in Ireland, who now has that right postponed by Lord
Pelham, upon a misconception of the facts.
2. Leading Persons. — Lord Clare, professedly disaffected to
a Government by a Lord-Lieutenant, aijd hostile and incon
sistent m his letters and conversations.

1802.] AFFAIES OF lEELAND. 293
Mr. Foster, distant, but professing to have laid aside a.nti-
Union feelings. A long and free conversation with me on Irish
politics. 3. Mass of Inhabitants. Population, 3,000,000, says Dr. Dui
genan, and above 4,000,000 says Mr. Foster.
Peaceable, except in a small district in the country of
Limerick, where there is a violent pai'ty spirit.
Industrious, and turned to farming, ploughing matches,
draining. Ballinasloe Farming Society. Dublin Society.
Emigration, ascertained to amount to about ISOO persons in
ordinary years ; and from 500 to 700 in the two last years of
scarcity (viz. 1796, and 1800). All from the Northern parts.
Publication of extracts from Travels in America circulated
by Government at a cheap rate through the North, to check the
spirit of emigration.
Value of property in houses and land rising ; twenty years'
purchase the average price hitherto. Lands near Dublin rose
in the last year greatly ; and all houses in Dublin except six
or eight family residences.
Cottagers well subsisted on potatoes, milk, pig, and fuel, but
ill-paid in wages ; their potatoe grounds, usually a quarter of
an Irish acre*, being let to them at a rent of from 51. to 8l. an
acre. And that rent to be paid in day's labour, low rated ; viz.
from Ad. to 8d. a day in most counties.
Charities — In Dublin, Cork, &c., for improving the condition
of the poor, and relieving the sick ; patronised and extended.
New plans received.
4. Manufacttu-es. Linen reviving. The new doctrines in
bleaching hazardous; and their effect hitherto bad; though
Mr. Foster patronises the process of the chjonists. Cotton
trade, little and declining. Thread trade thriving.
5. Money. All the South and Midland supplied by paper ;
and an excessive number of small notes from three to five
shillings, called silver notes.
Gold only in the North, and in the Linen Counties.
Expense of discount for subsisting the army, nearly 14,000Z.
per annum, on its present establishment. Means for reducing
this expense are under consideration.
The difference of currency between Ireland and Great Britain
immaterial in mercantile transactions, but heavily complained
of by individuals passiag between Ireland and Great Britain ;
and desirable so far that it should be done away. Query ? By
* An Irish acre is rather more than an acre and a half English. Eight
Irish acres are equal to thirteen English. u 3

294 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
a new copper coinage, whereof by law only twelve pence should
go to the shilling in Ireland.
N.B. Such a measure might bear hard practically on the day
labourer, who would probably get less for a shilling at twelve
pence, than for a shilling at thirteen pence, e. g. six shillings
will now buy thirteen pounds of meat at six pence per pound,
but after the currency is made British, the same six shillings
will only buy twelve pounds, et sic de ceteris.
So also the tenant paying rent would not find his guinea tell
for so much as before, by one shilling and ninepence. And
therefore he must either pay in fact a higher rent by getting
more guineas towards it : which would be unjust ; or his land
lord must reduce his nominal rent-roll by 8 and one-third per
cent., to make it correspond Avith the value of the coin which he
is to receive.
The difference of exchange, strictly commercial, can only be
turned by the balance of trade upon a revival of the linen
exports and exports of corn.
N.B. Perhaps the whole difference taken together, viz. of
currency and mercantile exchange, being upon an average of 1 1
or 12 per cent., may for a time operate as a salutary induce
ment to many of the Irish Country Gentlemen to reside upon
their own estates.
6. Navigation. — Agreements for canals, by making new lines
or reducing old tolls, nearly completed to the extent of the
500,000L granted before the Union.
A report of a plan for improving Dublin Harbour is preparing
upon a further survey, and a reconsideration of all the former
plans. N.B. Also a survey and report upon Holyhead Harbour, and
the means of improving it ; which appear to be important in
their object and easy of execution.
N.B. Alsq a plan and estimate for a bridge across the Menai.
7. Corn Trade. — Malting and distillery resumed.
All persons, mercantile and agricultural, desire an open trade
to Great Britain.
Only some doubt whether it might not be better to begin by
keeping some sort of limit to the exporting price, as a protection
against starving in seasons of great scarcity.
Mr. Foster is for the open trade ; but thinks no measure upon
it should be taken without a previous inquiry, in council, or in
Parliament, during the session, to satisfy the public.
Mr. Beresford seems to think some limit to the export price
might be useful.

1802.] AFFAIES OP lEELAND. 295
The Dublin cornfactors and brewers are strongly of opinion,
with the landed proprietors, in favour of an unrestricted inter
course. •
Ireland, subsisting chiefly on potatoes, and using corn as a
surplus for trade, may be made the granary of the United King
dom. This is the best and shortest way of introducing industry,
opulence, and civilisation.
8. Mines. — The gold mine in the county of Wicklow has been
accurately surveyed under Mr. Kirwan's direction, and an effec
tual trial of it is projected for this year.
A general plan of a Mining Board has been suggested by Mr.
Kirwan, the object of which is to obtain the aid of practical
mineralogists from foreign countries (viz. Saxony, &c.), at the
public expense ; and to give the assistance of their skill gratis to
all persons disposed to adventure in working old mines, or open
ing new mines.
The policy of such an institution is to make the employment
of capital in mining less hazardous and more profitable.
Coals. — The great desideratum in Ireland ; and the collieries,
though numerous, are ill-worked.
9. Fisheries. — A general report upon their state, and the best
means of improving them, is in preparation. But the Nympli
Bank, off the coast of Waterford and Cork, is represented by the
most intelligent persons as the only fishery which promises much
success. An experimental survey of it is ordered to be begun in
April, 1802.

IRISH BUSINESS FOR THE TEAR 1802.
I. In England.
Besides, 1. Settling the powers of the Lord-Lieutenant; and
2. The official establishment and provision for his chief secretary.
And 3. For his private secretary.
In Parliament, measures to be brought forward.
Budget to be opened for Ireland conjointly with the British.
N.B. The estimated increase of Irish revenue for 1802 is
about 300,000?.
Annual public accounts of income and expenditure for Great
Britain and Ireland.
Query. — The whole series to be moved for by Vansittart as a
Government measure.
Eebellion Laws. — Eepeal of Insurrection Law.
N.B. Eevoke the existing proclamations, amend and perpetu'
u 4

296 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
ate the County Police Act for constables, &c. Eevive and per
petuate the Chalking Act.
Query. — A separate Bill for so much of the Insurrection Act
as makes the examination of persons murdered, or kept away by
force from being witnesses, admissible in evidence.
Query. — So much of the Insurrection Act as requires arms to
be registered, and smith's forges to be licensed.
Query. — Whether to give any notice of proceeding upon these
matters, before signing the definitive treaty.
N.B. To confer upon them with the Lord Chancellor, and
Lord Clare, if in England, and the Attorney and Solicitor-General.
N.B. Let the Martial Law Act expire with 25th March, 1802,
unless the definitive treaty be signed much sooner.
Elections. — Continue the Bill for trial of contested elections.
Query. — Five years ?
Eevenues. — Eepeal so much of 14 & IS Car. II. c. 9. (Irish Act)
as relates to collectors passing their accounts in Dublin person
ally. See Eeport of Commissioners of Eevenue on this subject,
llth January, 1802.
Additional salaries to Commissioners of Appeal, &c., to be
charged on revenue establishment.
Trade. — Bills for regulating the commercial intercourse be
tween Great Britain and Ireland. Query. Any wanting ? And
for exempting M.P.'s from duties on private effects passing
between the two countries. Query. Exemption for eight persons?
Post Office. — Extend franking privilege to Irish officers for
public business now transacted in England; viz. Chancellor of
Exchequer, Secretary of Treasury, Secretary of Commander of
the Forces, War Office, Clerk for Pay Lists, Irish Bishops to and
from their diocesan houses.
Query. — Has this privilege been given to the Secretary of the
Commander of the Forces in Scotland, or to the War Office
Clerk for Pay Lists in England ?
Corn Trade. — Query. Open entirely, or facilitate the importa
tion by altering the exporting price from Ireland?
On Local Establishments. — Query. Increased votes for, 1.
Dublin Society ?
N.B. This must be granted, if at all, upon a joint estimate
and proportional contribution, until there is a surplus of the
Irish Consolidated Fund, which, by the Act of Union, may then
be applied to local purposes.
2. Farming Society, and to incorporate ?
N.B. Policy of subjecting these bodies as much as possible
to the King's Government.

1802.] AFPAIES OF lEELAND. 297
3. House of Industry?
4. Lock Hospital ?
5. Hibernian Soldiers' School ?
6. Kilmainham Eoyal Hospital?
N.B. To put this on the same footing as Chelsea.
Concordature. — N.B. Much exceeded the last two years by
pressure of cases of misery.
Gold Mine. — N.B. It has hitherto repaid itself, but requires a
more effectual experiment, as advised by Mr. Kirwan.
N.B. The Act of 1797 appears to be expired; and the au
thority for working it is gone. Paving Board. — Debts. Wide
Street. — Debts and Defective Ftmds. Board of Works.— Debt.
New Votes (or Bills) for encouragement of Fever Hospitals in
Dublin, Cork, &c.
N.B. This is to be only where the hospital has been actually
established, and a very large proportion — say three-fourths or
two-thirds — actually subscribed and paid by individuals, and
so annually. ^
Query. — The like for encouragement of schools of industry
and friendly societies.
Penitentiary House of Correction in Dublin. — See the Irish
Act of * , authorising the Lord-Lieutenant to establish it.
N.B. No prison but Newgate, or the county gaol, for persons
sentenced to be transported, and unfit for transportation by age,
sickness, youth, &c.
Military Eoads. — For peace of the country as well as for field
operations. N.B. The military roads in Scotland are defrayed by annual
grant. Query. — Any expedition through Connaught, or parallel to
the Shannon ?
Query. — Mining Board. — A grant for rewarding skilful miners
employed in surveys, or superintendence of miners.
Bridge over the Menai. Structure of Holyhead.
Query. — On joint estimate for Great Britain and Ireland, in
proportional contribution by public grant? It must be joint.
N.B. The harbour of Dublin may in another year want a
further grant beyond the 500,000?. granted to the Navigation
Board, if its proposed contracts Avith the inland canals should be
sanctioned by Parliament.
Also in Pai-liament expect Process Bill, for the Court of
King's Bench, Common Pleas, or Exchequer in Ireland, to be
brought forward by Lee and Ponsonby.
* Blank in MS.

298 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Cn. XIV.
N.B. The twelve judges of Ireland have drawn a Bill, and
they agree in the utility of the measure.
The only difficulty is in the mode of sending a proper com
pensation to the Exchequer officers, who may be injured by the
change of practice.
Bill to disqualify revenue officers from voting at elections
(like Crewe's English Bill).
Bill for encouragement of drainage.
N.B. Mr. Foster talked to me about a Bill once prepared by
him for this purpose, like my amendment of the General En
closure Bill.
Bill to fix times of holding circuits in Ireland.
This was prepared a few years ago, but laid aside on an un
derstanding that the judges would go at regular seasons. But
this year Lord Avonmore fixed the Connaught circuit in Oc
tober. Yet in England no precise law has been made upon the
subject; and it may be injurious to the character of the Irish
judges to press a law upon them which is not required here.
Motion for producing returns of official establishments in
Ireland. N.B. They are under consideration in Ireland by the King's
Government, in the constitutional exercise of his prerogative,
and Parliament will not interpose its visitatorial powers until it
sees that the exertion of the prerogative has failed, or has been
misapplied. Motion for repealing the 6 per cent, duty on retailers.
N.B. There is no such tax in England ; and it produces only
* in Ireland.
Bill for more effectually ascertaining the qualification of the
40 shilling freeholders, and regulating the same.
N.B. Much wanted. The increase of registered freeholds is
enormous, and increasing. The frauds are said to be flagrant.
Bill for charging interest upon debts against public account
ants in Ireland, as in England.
Query. — Unobjectionable; but requires minute examination
into the technical rules of accounting in Ireland.
2. Business to be transacted with the officers of state —
military finance.
Assimilation of the British and Irish practice, to be arranged
in the War Office, through the Secretary of State, upon the
foundation of a despatch from the Lord-Lieutenant, which will
be sent upon that subject, together Avith regulations proposed by
the Comptroller of the Army Accounts in Ireland.
* Blank in MS.

1802.] AFFAIES OF lEELAND. 299
Estimates for nine months — particularly barracks.
Cavalry to be foraged by the Commissary-General, or sub
sisted by the innkeepers in Ireland.
N.B. See opinion of Sir W. Meadows, &c., for Ireland.
Quarter-Master-General's Accounts to be audited according
to the regulations submitted by the Comptroller of Army Ac
counts in Ireland.
Quarter-Master- General's department to be regulated as will
be proposed in the Lord-Lieutenant's despatch, if approved of
by His Majesty.
Medical Board to be continued during peace.
Yeomanry to be reduced as shall be settled, upon consider
ation of the statements to be produced for Ireland.
Militia reductions to be effected.
1. By discharge of aged, infirm, &c. N.B. This already
ordered. 2. By enlisting the light brigade into the line. Query. —
This may require an Act.
3. Disembodying the rest, either gradually, and employing
them intermediately in making military roads, &c., or disem
bodying them at once, immediately after the definitive treaty.
N.B. They will be previously marched to their proper coun
ties : the Linen Board mean to give looms to the colonels of
regiments, for such men as can use them, and be settled to the
trade. See also the return of the periods for which they are liable to
serve, and the numbers of each period.
4. A new ballot upon the establishment of peace.
Query. — Any new proportion of quotas for the counties ?
This to be inquired of the most intelHgent M.P.'s., who are
Militia Colonels, or otherwise intelligent in county business.
Query. — On half-pay ?
Enable the King to dispense Avith the restriction of not re
ceiving half-pay with any other office of profit.
N.B. According to the last Irish Acts, the King had not the
same power in Ireland as in England.
II. In Ireland.
1. General election. See lists of expected returns and their
disposition. Settle between contending interests, to which Go
vernment support shall be given.
2. State matters. — Eevoke proclamations of disturbed dis
tricts, previous to bringing in the Bill for Eepealing the In
surrection Act.

300 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.'
3. Civil arrangements. — Exchequer and Treasury. Settle
Auditor's Office. Ditto Tellers.
N.B. The Teller has about from 50,000?. to 70,000L in his
hands, as he tells me ; his security is (I believe) 30,000?.
Eevenue Boards.— Appoint Chairman and Deputy Chairman,
with additional salaries.
Query. — Divide the Boards by Law ? See Lord Olive's draft
of a Bill for that purpose ; but perhaps not expedient in that
mode, on account of the increased number of officers which
would have become necessary, viz., Collectors.
Settle Eeceiver-General's office.
N.B. His profits are in exact proportion to his receiving bills
at long dates, instead of cash from the Collectors.
Establish an effectual plan for preventing smuggling and dis
tilleries, by combining civil and military authority. See Mr.
Cooke's Eeport in January 1802.
4. Military arrangements. — Barrack Master-General's Office
to be suppressed — (Query, with compensation ?) and the business
to be conducted by the Deputy Barrack Master-General, under
superintendence of the London Barrack Office for the whole
army. N.B. Lord Tyi-awley has recently proposed to retire ; and he
might now have compensation for life from the Commissioners ;
as for a loss consequent upon the consolidation of the army since
the Union.
5. Ecclesiastical. — Visitation of the four provinces by the four
Archbishops. Appropriation of funds to the building of parsonage houses
and purchasing glebes.
N.B. In the hands of the Treasurer of First Fruits, Arch
bishop Agar, 44,000?. ; compensation for ecclesiastical dues,
45,000?. ; total, 89,000?.
6. Miscellaneous. — In the Lord-Lieutenant's Household Es
tablishment. King's Chaplains (as in Scotland) in the Civil
List ; and take them from Trinity College, Dublin.
Historiographer for Ireland to be appointed in like manner
as in Scotland.
N.B. It is important to have such a body as Trinity College,
Dublin, attached to the Government.

1802.] lEISH CHUECH. 301

Papers relating to Ireland, and Letters written or received by
Mr. Abbot during the latter part of 1801, and ihe beginning
of 1802, from Lord Hardwicke, Lord Redesdale, tke Bishop
of Meath, Colonel L'lttlepales, &c. : also from Lord Hard-
ivicl-e to Mr. Addington, Lord Kilwarden to Lord Hardwicke,
d'c. : also some to Mr. Abbot from Mr. Jackson, our Minister
at Paris.
Heads of Private Instructions to be observed by the Earl of
Hardwicke in the execution of his office of Lord Lieutenant
of Ireland, namely :
I. For the support and advancement of the Church of Ireland
as by Law Established.
II. For the better administration of the King's revenue.
III. For the re-establishment of good order, and the preserva
tion of the King's peace.
IV. For the introduction and encouragement of general habits
• of industry amongst the people.
I. As TO THE Church.
Besides the strict attention to be paid upon this subject to
the articles of youi- Public Instructions*, the following points
must be specially observed : —
If you are apphed to by or on behalf of the Eoman Catholics
respecting the making of any provision at the public expense,
or otherwise, for the maintenance of the parochial clergy of the
Eoman Catholics, you are to give for answer that you have not
received any instructions from His Majesty on that head.
Secondly. With respect to any change in the system of
tithes, or their mode of collection, if any application should be
inade to you upon that subject, you are to give the hke answer.
Thirdly. You will give the Protestant Dissenters to under
stand, that there will not at present be any variation in the mode
or amount of allowance made to nonconforming ministers. But
that it is your intention to take that subject into your consi
deration at a very early period.
Fourthly. You will pay strict attention to the support and
encouragement of the Established Church, and to the due ob
servance of its rites and ceremonies ; more especially by your
own example in your own household and residence in the Castle
of Dublin.
* The " public instructions " appear to be the same that are given to all
Lord-Lieutenants.

302 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
And for the better maintenance of its discipline, you will with
due circumspection exert your whole authority for dissolving and
preventing the unnecessary union of benefices, and for the
erecting of churches and glebe houses, and providing glebes
upon all benefices where they are severally wanting. You will
also encourage and enforce the residence of the parochial clergy
to the utmost of your power ; and transmit from time to time
for His Majesty's information, the names of all Archbishops,
Bishops, and other dignitaries of the Church who shall absent
themselves from Ireland.
Fifthly. You will also inform yourself of the state of the
Public Schools throughout Ireland ; and of what may be ne
cessary for rendering them more especially serviceable for the
promotion of religious and moral instruction.
II. As TO the Eevenues.
In addition to the matters required by the several articles of
your Public Instructions upon this head, you will inform yourself
how far the collection of His Majesty's Eevenues may be ren
dered more simple and less chargeable, without detriment to
his service. And also how far the expenditure thereof may be
more effectually checked and controlled. And you will transmit
in writing, what shall appear to you as fit to be done therein,
either by instituting a commission for stating and taking the
public accounts of that part of the kingdom, or otherwise.
You will also be particularly careful to observe the 21st
Article of your Public Instructions, for not confirming or grant
ing Reversions. III. As TO THE Peace of the Ebalm.
Besides a strict observance of the Articles of your Public
Instructions respecting the administration of justice, you will be
careful, in the execution of the powers committed to you by
Parliament for exercising Martial Law, that you proceed
therein, so long as those powers shall exist, with the most
anxious solicitude for the due discharge of the trusts reposed in
you ; so that justice be administered with the utmost regularity,
promptitude, and efficiency ; and that mercy may nevertheless
be extended to all cases where the exercise of it will not coun
teract the purposes of the law.
You will also forbear to pardon offenders who are not recom
mended by the Judges of the Court before whom they have been
tried and convicted, unless upon special circumstances, whereof
you shall cause a minute to be made and transmitted to His

1802.] AFFAIES OP lEELAND. 303
Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department
in London. IV. As TO THE Habits of National Industry.
First. You will endeavour to infuse a spirit of industry
into the body of the people, and to turn them from habits of
idleness to the pursuit of any objects which may employ them
in labours profitable to themselves and useful to the country.
Secondly. With the same view you will encourage them to
engage in all plans of internal improvement, namely, canals,
drainage, roads, and the like ; and especially in agriculture,
for the increase of tillage to their own emolument, and for the
exportation of grain to supply the consumption of Great Britain.
With reference to this last important point, you will also take
into yoiu- consideration the expediency of reviving the bounties
upon the inland carriage of corn (chargeable upon the revenue
of Ireland, or upon the general revenues of the United King
dom) ; and such other means as may appear most likely to
restore Ireland to the state of an exporting country, which it
began to be within the last thirty years, and continued to be in
a largely increasing proportion. Until the repeal of the said
bounties, and the late u.nfavourable seasons, and unhappy dis
turbances.

Considerations upon the situation of the Lord-Lieutenant and
his Chief Secretary, Drawn up by Lord Pelham,, Secretary
for the Home Department, and by him communicated to
Lord Hardwicke in September 1801.
The Union would seem to create a necessity for a very deter
minate change in the political situation of the Lord-Lieutenant
of Ireland and his Chief Secretary ; and yet the powers of each
in the relation in which the countries stand have not yet been
settled or defined. The former acts under instructions nearly
similar to those which governed the conduct of his immediate
predecessors, and the latter possesses the same authority that the
former Secretaries had.
If the chief object professed in proposing the Union was to
identify the interests of both countries, which had before been
considered as distinct, it follows, I think, that even the appear
ance as well as the reality of separate councils directing the
Government of each, ought carefully to be avoided. Now, as it
is generally understood,* that the Government of a country resides

304 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
wherever the power of selecting men for official situations is
exercised, it would seem that appointments in general to offices
in Ireland ought as much as possible to appear at least to ori
ginate in the . British Cabinet, or in some power in England
immediately deriving from the source of all patronage in the
empire. But how far the reality ought to accompany the ap
pearance is a question not so easily determined. A few obser
vations, however, preliminary to the consideration of it, may not
be useless.
In settling what should be the character and situation of the
Lord-Lieutenant now that the Union has taken place, some
assistance may be collected from the experience of His Majesty's
reign, during which period Ireland has been at one time governed
by British laws ; at another it has been governed by its own
Parliament alone ; and now it is subject to an United and Impe
rial Parliament. During the first period the Lord Lieutenant
did not always reside. The sessions of Parliament were only
once in two years, and his Secretary was not always a member
of it. The Chancellor and many of the Judges were English
men ; the concerns of Ireland were frequently discussed in the
British Parliament, and the minister of the day took the lead in
those questions.
During the second period, when the Independence of the Irish
Parliament was admitted, annual sessions were the inevitable
consequence, and the political importance ofthe Lord-Lieutenant
and his Secretary were materially affected. The former became
constantly resident, and the latter gradually acquired the power
and influence of a minister entrusted with the management of
an independent Parliament, and many of the offices which had
been held by persons residing in England, such as_ the Chancel
lor of the Exchequer, and Vice-Treasurer of Ireland, were made
efficient by the creation of a Board of Treasury, and a resident
Chancellor of the Exchequer. Together with these causes there
were others which operated powerfully in augmenting still further
the political consequence of the Irish Government. The impor
tant questions agitated in Parliament, together vrith the danger
to which the state was exposed by disturbances in different parts
of the country, created so urgent a necessity for the exercise of
all the power and influence that the constitution would admit of
on the part of the Lord-Lieutenant and his Secretary, that their
recommendations even to those offices reserved by the King in
his patent and instructions to the former, were so uniformly at
tended to that they had, in point of fact, the disposal of them ;
and when their augmentation of power was conferred, the salaries

Sept. 1801.] AFPAIES OF lEELAND. 305
attached to the two offices of Lord-Lieutenant and his Secretary
were proportionally increased ; however, during this period the
residence of the Chief Secretary was not indispensably required
excepting during the session of Parliament. And even in the
year 1783, the Attorney-General acted as the minister in the
House of Commons, and the Secretary seldom spoke except in
cases where the interest of Great Britain, or anything personally
affecting the Lord- Lieutenant, was discussed ; and occasions have
arisen (in this period too) where the Secretary has not been in
Parliament. It was not till the year 1796 that the principal share ofthe
debate on the part of the Government was supported by the
Secretary, and then, for the first time, the office of Secretary of
State was added to that of Chief Secretary, in order to give the
latter more rank and consequence in the country. By the ex
tinction of the separate Parliament of Ireland all the ministerial
duties connected with its existence are transferred from the
Lord-Lieutenant and his Secretary to the King's Ministers in
London. A similar transfer is made of the duties which a
distinct military establishment created, and, as the financial in
terests of the two countries are united, except in instances speci
ally provided for in the articles of the Union, the duties of that
important department also must in a very considerable degree
be transferred ; so that the two stations of Lord-Lieutenant and
Secretary are reduced far below their political importance, even
previous to the year 1783.
With duties so abridged it is evident that the present local
administration in Ireland cannot require more than a small
portion of the patronage which it before found necessary, con
sidering it, as it always should be, the means only of carrying
on the Government, not a right, the possession of which can be
claimed further than the occasions of the State require the em
ployment of it.
The situation of Ireland, considered with reference to the
dispositions prevalent among the inhabitants, and its distance
from the seat of Government, requires a strong, vigilant, and
energetic local executive, directing its chief attention to the
police of the country, but acting in immediate subordination
to the general executive government of the empire. In order
to enable the Lord-Lieutenant to discharge this line of duty,
the selection of men proper to exercise the offices of assistant
barristers, together with all other offices immediately connected
with the police of the country inay rest with him, that is, his
nominations to such offices, when vacant, should in general be
VOL. I. X

306 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
conclusive, although his express powers should only extend to
the recommendation of persons to fill them.
All reports touching the internal state of the country from
the Judges and other officers, as well military as civil, whose
duty it is to furnish them, should be made to him, and the sub
stance of them, when deemed of importance sufficient to merit
the attention of the Imperial Government, should be conveyed
by him to the Secretary of State for the Home Department ;
the Lord-Lieutenant, however, to be invested with discre
tionary authority to act without communication on such re
ports, as well as in all other instances where promptitude and
immediate decision may be deemed by him indispensably neces
sary ; in short, he must be the only acknowledged channel of
communication between Ireland and the Government of the
Empire, in discharge of which duty he will have an opportunity
of representing the conduct of individuals, which will neces
sarily give him an influence in Ireland ; and his local knowledge
of its interests and situation- will give a weight and authority,
not only to his opinions upon measures, but also to his recom^
mendation and protection of individuals.
To define with precision the extent of his patronage is im
possible ; his practical power and authority, under these circum^
stances, may easily be conceived, and will be felt sufficiently to
answer every legitimate purpose of executive government.
The patent and instructions must be altered in every point
which gives a separate and independent authority, especially in
military concerns ; and he must, in consequence of such altera
tions, be released from all responsibility on those points. A
power, perhaps, of ordering the movements of troops, for the
purpose of preserving the peace, should be specially given.

" A Counter Statement in Answer to the Paper of Consider
ations, &c.," drawn up by Lord Hardwicke, Oct. 1801.
The paper containing the statements and opinions of His
Majesty's confidential servants, delivered by Lord Pelham to
Colonel Littlehales*, and communicated to Lord Hardwicke,
entitled " Considerations upon the situation of the Lord-Lieu
tenant and his Secretary," appears to convey a general outline
* Colonel Littlehalea was the Military Under-Secretaiy of the Irish Go
vernment.

Oct. 1801.] LOED HAEDWICKE'S OPINION. 307
of the alterations proposed to be made in the patent and instruc
tions to the Lord-Lieutenant.
It is necessary therefore maturely to consider, before any final
resolution is taken upon this important subject, how far such a
change in the powers and duties of the Lord-Lieutenant is con
sistent with the preservation of His Alajesty's interests, and
the due administration of his affairs in Ireland. In regard to
the historical statement of the powers represented to have been
exercised by the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland at different periods,
both before and since the independence of the legislature. Lord
Ilardwicke forbears to enter into any consideration of that part
of the subject ; not being prepared to accede to there having been
so great a difference in the powers entrusted to the Lord-Lieu
tenant in these different periods ; but conceiving that the only
question which appears in the opinion of His Majesty's confiden
tial servants to be at present material to discuss and determine,
is. What may be the best practical mode of administering the
King's Government in and for this part of the United Kingdom.
Upon the question of patronage, which seems to be a principal
point in the paper of considerations, Lord Hardwicke will offer
such observations as appear to be necessary upon this particular
subject, both with reference to the line proposed to be drawn,
and his own view of the principles upon which a different line
may be more expedient. And he will afterwards submit to the
deliberation of His Majesty's Ministers the many important
powers contained in his patent and instructions, which it is pro
posed to revoke ; pointing out such of them as in his judgment
appear to be indispensably necessary to the safe and successful
administration of His Majesty's affairs in Ireland, upon British
principles, conformably to the true spirit of the Union.
In treating of this matter of patronage, it is stated in the
paper of considerations that "the situation of Ireland, when
viewed with reference to the dispositions prevalent among its
inhabitants, and its distance from the seat of Government, re
quires a strong, vigilant, and energetic local executive, directing
its chief attention to the police of the county, but acting in im
mediate subordination to the general executive government of
the empire."
Lord Hardwicke is fully impressed with the policy and neces
sity of a strong, vigilant, and energetic executive in Ireland, and
admits that " patronage should always be considered as a means
only of carrying on government, and not as a right, the posses
sion of which can be claimed further than the occasions of the
State require the employment ofit;" but he does not conceive
X, 2

SOS

DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.

that the occasions of the State will be sufficiently answered by
restricting the patronage of the Lord-Lieutenant to the power of
" recommending persons proper to exercise the office of assistant-
barristers, and other offices connected with the police," or to any
description of appointments of so limited a nature. Neither
will the opportunity of representing the conduct of individuals
necessarily give a sufficient degree of weight and authority to
make the King's Government in Ireland respected and efficient.
In order to preserve a complete view of the principles on
which alone Lord Hardwicke thinks the King's Government in
Ireland can maintain its proper respect and beneficial influence,
and most effectually promote the measures of the King's
Ministers, both in and out of Parliament; he begs leave to sub
mit the following considerations : —
To administer the principal part of the patronage of the
Crown through the hands of the Lord-Lieutenant, must, as Lord
Hardwicke conceives, give to the King's Government a greater
degree of respect and influence, because from local knowledge,
information, and constant habits of observation, he must have
better means of forming a correct judgment of the character of
individuals and state of affairs in Ireland than it is reasonable to
suppose can be obtained at a greater distance. The information
of the Lord-Lieutenant will arise from continual opportunities
of comparing the communications which he may receive as ap
plicable to the same persons in various relations, without the
risks of being misled to surrender the interests of the King's ser
vice to the importunity of ill-founded pretensions, or the mis
representations of interested individuals and their connections.
Lord Hardwicke also conceives that in the hands of a Lord-
Lieutenant, patronage can be more advantageously applied than
if the management of it were removed to England, because from
a more intimate knowledge of the true circumstances of the
country in which he is resident, he will be frequently enabled to
conciliate and attach leading interests by a judicious distribution
even of the lesser favours of the Crown amongst the objects of
its protection.
Concurring entirely with the opinion expressed in the paper
of considerations, that a strong, vigilant, and energetic local
executive is essentially necessary in Ireland, Lord Hardwicke
begs leave to observe that the just and fair administration of this
patronage will add considerably to the strength of the King's
Government there. And this circumstance is of itself a further
proof of the expediency of administering it in Dublin rather than
in London ; always bearing in mind that it is to be subordi-

Oct. 1801.] POSITION OF TIIE LOED-LIEUTENANT. 309
nate to the measures and views of the King's Ministers. For, in
Lord Hardwicke's judgment, the degree of strength necessary to
be given to the King's Government in Ireland, cannot with pru
dence or safety be estimated by its present state of tranquillity,
when it is recollected of what individuals the population of this
country is composed, and that it contains at present an army of
more than 50,000 men, independent of all the armed volunteers.
In submitting the necessity of continuing to the Lord-Lieu
tenant this degree of power and authority. Lord Hardwicke in
variably bears in mind that the Lord-Lieutenant must and
ought always to be the confidential agent and servant of the
King's Ministers ; and, of course, cannot be suffered to apply
this patronage to any other object than the support of their views
and measures, from which there is no longer any possibility of
departing since the removal of the local Parliament.
But it is manifest that frequency and facility of communica
tion between people of all descriptions and the local executive
is indispensably necessary iu a country composed of such active
and discordant members ; and, whatever may be the state and
condition of Ireland at some distant period, it is now much too
soon to consider it on the footing of an English county.
Lord Hardwicke further submits whether His Majesty's con
fidential servants are prepared to consider this country as suffi
ciently settled for such a mode of administration ; and whether
a Lord-Lieutenant with contracted and enfeebled powers can
soothe or allay the bitter tempers, party animosities, and divi
sions of the inhabitants. If this duty be left to the Com
mander of the Forces, the country may possibly be kept in a
state of tranquillity, but such a system will surely never add to
the strength or prosperity of the empire.
In the opinion of Lord Hardwicke, consequences of two sorts
must inevitably and immediately follow from suoh a reduction
in the power of the Lord-Lieutenant, as is proposed in the paper
of considerations.
The pageant of an office with authority so inadequate to the
rank and name which it is still proposed to continue, must
speedily lead to its abolition ; and the Ministers would be again
driven to the necessity of committing the powers and confidence
of the Government to interested and irresponsible individuals,
by which means the true interests of the country would be
endangered, and, instead of the wholesome principle of British
Government, a spirit of faction, cabal, and party would prevail
throughout the country, and excite the discontents of the
people. X 3

310 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
Another evil to which Ireland would be most fatally exposed,
and to which it is already grievously subject is, that of misrepre
sentation. Any communication made to the British Government of
matters passing in Ireland, is at present easily referred to the
Lord-Lieutenant and investigated by him; falsehood is de
tected, and the true representations may be acted upon before
much mischief results from the delay. But, should the seat
of business and favour be transferred to a greater distance,
all statements made to the Ministers, or in Parliament, must
remain uncontradicted for a length of time, and after the im
pression has been made, the truth may be ascertained and told
to very little purpose.
With these views of the question. Lord Hardwicke has endea
voured to consider the extent of authority proposed to be
assigned to the office of Lord-Lieutenant, and the line most
expedient to be taken in any reduction of it which may be
necessary. In regard to the limits of patronage, Lord Hard
wicke feels it his duty to pay the greatest deference to the
opinion which seems to be entertained of the impossibility of
defining with precision the extent of the patronage proper to
be vested in a Lord-Lieutenant; but he is unable to satisfy
himself upon that point, inasmuch as in the patent delivered
to him and to every preceding Lord-Lieutenant, a clear and
distinct line is drawn, by reserving to the Crown certain enu
merated honours and offices, and leaving all others to the
absolute disposal of the Lord-Lieutenant. Lord Hardwicke,
however, has always been perfectly disposed to admit the
necessity, upon true Union principles, of abridging in some de
gree the patronage which has hitherto been annexed to the office.
The following are the offices which the Crown, by the terms
of the patent, has hitherto thought fit to reserve to its own
immediate disposal : —
1. Chancellor. — 2. Treasurer and Under-Treasurer ; Two
Lords Commissioners of the Treasury. — 3. Judges. — 4.
Attorney- ; and 5. Solicitor-General. — 6. Military Governors;
7. Archbishops. — 8. Bishops. — 9. Deans.
In addition to these, Lord Hardwicke conceives, and submits
it to the consideration of His Majesty's Ministers, that it may
be very proper and expedient to enlarge this enumeration in
the patent, and to leave in the hands of His Majesty's Minis
ters the following honours and offices, divesting the Lord-
Lieutenant of the power which he has hitherto been permitted
to exercise in regard to any of them : —

.Oct. 1801.] PATEONAGE OP THE LOED-LIEUTENANT. 311
1. All honours exclusively, (excepting the discretionary and
occasional use of ordinary knighthood). — 2. Privy Council
lors. — 3. Privy Seal. ¦ — 4. Chancellor of the Exchequer. —
5. Clerk of the Pells. — 6. Auditor. — 7. Teller. — 8. Post
master-General. — 9. Provost of Trinity College.
If His Majesty's Ministers should think it advisable to leave
the remaining patronage in the hands of the Lord-Lieutenant,
upon public grounds and for public uses. Lord Hardwicke will
endeavour to the best of his ability to conduct the King's Go
vernment in Ireland ; and desires it may be explicitly under
stood, that it will be his invariable object to employ these
means for the advancement of His Majesty's interests, and the
support of the measures of his Administration. If any other
line be taken, he cannot forbear expressing his strong appre
hension, that a greater reduction of the patronage hitherto
entrusted to the Lord-Lieutenant may prove materially injurious
to the general influence of Government, by lessening the re
spect due to the office of Lord-Lieutenant, and by depriying
him of the means of conciliating and attaching the supporters
of the King's Government, and of rewarding the meritorious
services of persons unconnected with Parliamentary interest.
It is proper to be observed, that the description of patronage
which, upon this view of the subject, will remain with him, is
the more necessary to be left in the hands of the Lord-Lieu
tenant, as, since the union of the two countries, and the con
solidation of the army, the whole of the military patronage has
been taken from him.
Lord Hardwicke perfectly concurs in the opinion that the
Lord-Lieutenant must be the only acknowledged channel of
communication between Ireland and the Government of the
Empire. He also agrees to the propriety of leaving to the Lord-
Lieutenant a power of ordering the movement of troops for the
purpose of preserving the peace.
With regard to the patent and instructions to the Lord-
Lieutenant, which it is proposed to alter " in every point which
gives a separate and independent authority," Lord Hardwicke
thinks it necessary now to state that the following powers, as
given by the patent and instructions, are, in his opinion, essen
tial to the authority of a Lord-Lieutenant, and necessary to be
recognised and continued : — ¦
1. The power of pardoning crimes (except treason against the
King's life), of remitting fines, and issuing proclamations for
regulating the police. X 4

312 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
2. Of ordering issues of money from the Treasury. And,
3. Compelling accountable officers to account to the Ex
chequer. He is equally of opinion, and submits it accordingly, that the
following powers and directions contained in the instructions
(which appear to have been originally drawn with great equity
and vnsdom) are also necessary to be retained.
Article 1. Inquiry into the state of the kingdom.
2nd. Settling Church matters, and bestowing Crown livings
upon proper persons.
4th. Calling upon the Commissioners of the Eevenue to give
an account of their proceedings in the management of their
commission, and the execution of their trust.
20th Article. " Offices reserved to the Crown not to be filled
up without communication with the Lord-Lieutenant."
Having specified these articles of the patent and instructions
as necessary to be retained. Lord Hardwicke is equally im
pressed with the propriety of communicating with His Majesty's
Ministers upon any of the points herein contained of public and
general importance, previously to his making any definitive ar
rangement concerning them. Lord Hardwicke understands, with
much satisfaction, that it is the intention of His Majesty's
confidential servants, that the grace of communicating the grant
of favours from the Crown, in regard to all civil appointments
in Ireland, shall be vested exclusively in the Lord-Lieutenant ;
and to this circumstance Lord Hardwicke attaches considerable
importance, as it will clearly manifest to His Majesty's subjects
in Ireland a system of cordial and entire co-operation in all the
acts and intentions of His Majesty's Ministers, in respect to this
part of the United Kingdom.
Upon these principles, therefore, Lord Hardwicke feels fully
disposed to concede and relinquish all the remaining powers in
the patent and instructions, with which his Sovereign was
graciously pleased to invest him, and upon the foundation of
which he undertook the administration of His Majesty's affairs
in Ireland; and, in deference also to what appear to be the
views and wishes of the King's Ministers, so far as in conscience
and honour he feels himself at liberty to yield to them, as well
as in consideration of the terms of personal respect and esteem
which His Majesty's confidential servants have been pleased to
express, and by which he feels himself highly gratified. Hardwicice.

Aug. I801.J COLONEL LITTLEHALE'S INSTEUCTIONS. 313
Instructions given to Colonel Littlehales (xvhen going to Eng
land), for confe7'ring with Mi: Addington. [iVb date, but
apparently drawn up at the end of August, 1801.]
[Most Secret.]
The fullest information of every description touching the ad
ministration of His Majesty's affairs in Ireland must be given to
Mr. Addington, and his approbation and concurrence obtained
for communicating the whole of your instructions, or any part of
them, to any of the departments therein named, with such ad
ditions or variations as he may direct.
Independently of the several matters to which these instruc
tions relate, you are to confer with Mr. Addington exclusively
on the following most important considerations.
1. The principle of Government.
As the Government of Ireland has been delegated to a Lord-
Lieutenant, he must necessarily be entrusted with the exercise
of so much of the prerogative of the Crown in the dispensation
of favours as will make that form of government effectual ; and
it will always appear by his public conduct and official corre
spondence how far those powers have been truly and faithfully
applied to their proper object, the real interests of the King's
service. Unless such weight and influence are granted to the Lord-
Lieutenant for the time being, that form of government cannot
either manage the political concerns or promote the local welfare
of the country, and no person will feel any motive, inducement,
or advantage in addressing himself to the King's representative
there. The inevitable consequence of rendering the office of
Lord-Lieutenant inefficient will be the transfer of the powers of
Government to some of the principal individuals or families
in Ireland, whose local passions and interests peculiarly dis
qualify them, however honourable in character, from governing
their countrymen ; and the aversion to the Union, which ob
tained very strongly in many parts of Ireland, and still con
tinues unabated, will be unhappily confirmed to the incalculable
injury of the empire.
In addition to the beneficial effects which may justly be
expected from placing an English nobleman of high respect
ability at the head of the King's Government in Ireland, the
most important step towards cementing the Union will be the
employment of Irishmen of character in ostensible offices in
England ; and it is further to be desired that, in all practicable
instances, they should feel the parental influence which governs
the country of the United Kingdom.

314 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
2ndly. The finance of Ireland.
You are to submit to Mr. Addington the expediency of my
proceeding to regulate the collection of the public revenue in a
more systematic, impartial, correct, and effectual manner than at
present obtains, without individual severity or oppression.
You will also submit to him the expediency of establishing
more effectual and satisfactory checks on the public expendi
ture, with reference to the proper economy of official establish
ments, civil and miUtary, and also to the due application of all
the public monies to public services.
3rdly. You will likewise take the sentiments of Mr. Adding
ton on the most advisable mode of proceeding to correct such
abuses as may appear in these important subjects, submitting to
him, whether the same should be undertaken simply by the
authority of the Executive Government, or delegated hereafter
either to a Committee of the House of Commons, or to a Com
mission to be estabUshed by Act of Parliament.
In case the powers of the Executive Government in Ireland
should be found on experience inadequate to these ends, it will
then be observable that a proceeding by committee will be
better, so far as it carries with it the favour of public opinion,
and a greater degree of despatch and efficacy, and may never
theless withhold its inquiries from every retrospect which might
be inconvenient or embarrassing, without producing any ade
quate benefit to the public ; whereas the execution of a Parlia
mentary Commission, being placed beyond control, might
digress into inquiries prejudicial to the interest of good govern
ment, and applicable to no useful purpose.
4thly. It seems requisite that some latitude of action should
be recognised as belonging to the office of Lord-Lieutenant, in
any unforeseen situation to which his instructions may not
specifically apply, and on which he may be prevented by circum
stances from receiving His Majesty's commands from England.
Hardwicke.

LETTEE PEOM COLONEL LITTLEHALES TO ME. ABBOT.
Ji
[Private and Confidential.] London, Sept. 9th, 1801.
My dear Sir, — I irequest that you would be good enough to
state to the Lord-Lieutenant that I took the earliest opportunity
of bringing before Lord Pelham the instructions which His Ex
cellency was pleased to give me, after I had obtained Mr.

Sept. I80I.] LOED PELHAM'S VIEWS. 315
Addington's permission for that purpose. Accordingly I had
yesterday the honour of a long interview with his Lordship, in
wliich, entering fully into the discussion of the various objects of
my mission, I endeavoured as much as possible to impress on
his Lordship's mind that it was not a question of unnecessary
consequence and authority for which His Excellency was anxious,
but merely that the several points of my instructions might be
brought to a satisfactory conclusion ; a circumstance the more
requisite, inasmuch as since the Union it was admitted generally
that a definitive arrangement as to the precise duties and powers
of the Lord-Lieutenant was urgent and indispensable, and that
on public considerations it might possibly be deemed advisable
not to weaken or diminish the influence of the Chief Governor
in Ireland beyond what might be proper for carrying on the
King's service. I endeavoured also to demonstrate to Lord
Pelham that I was prepared, in compliance with His Excel
lency's command, to discuss my instructions upon Union prin
ciples. Lord Pelham had the goodness to give me a patient hearing,
and in the progress of the discussion made the following obser
vations, which his Lordship wished to be received as such, or
rather as intimations to me, to be informally communicated to
His Excellency.
1st. In regard to the correspondence with the Secretary-at-
War being considered of a distinct and direct nature — in point
of fact it is not strictly so — the Lord-Lieutenant is not in the
habit of writing to him, but of requesting his opinions from
time to time on military regulations, through the medium of
his Chief or Under-Secretary for the War Department.
2ndly. It seems proper that His Excellency should send
separate despatches to the Secretary of State on the three points
in my instructions, under the head of the Lords Commissioners
of His Majesty's Treasury, with His Excellency's opinions and
sentiments fully thereon ; and likewise, that under that part
which relates to the Secretary-at-War, a distinct communication
should be made by His Excellency to Lord Pelham, as to the
subject of provision for the clothing of the army now serving
in Ireland intermediately between the new and old periods, and
previous to the commencement of the new regulations, for the
payment of which no fund has hitherto been appropriated.
His Lordship seemed to think that the amount of the sum, and
the best means of defraying the charge, should equally be stated
by him.
Lord Pelham was further of opinion that His Excellency

316 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
should, through him and not the Secretary-at-War, move His
Majesty as to the necessity of appointing District Field Officers
and Paymasters, as an obvious measure connected with the late
arrangements for carrying on the recruiting service in Great
Britain and Ireland.
As far as I could collect from Lord Pelham, there seemed no
disposition on his part to withhold from me any opinion respect
ing my instructions ; and, in desiring to be understood as not
making any complaint, his Lordship said that every communica
tion on the part of the Lord-Lieutenant which was not made
directly to the Secretary of State for the Home Department was
apparently informal: and although his Excellency might with
propriety obtain occasionally, in the manner hereinbefore stated,
the opinions of the Secretary-at-War or Commander-in-Chief,
on military matters, yet the correspondence of that description
must be considered as indirect, no Act of Government of Ireland
being regular or conclusive on which the King's commands,
through the Secretary of State, had not been previously given.
Lord Pelham, in illustration, cursorily remarked that a Cabinet
on Irish affairs could only be convened by him as Secretary of
State; that the points touching my instructions to the Lords
Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, mooting questions of
public magnitude and state policy, could alone be taken up by
him upon full representations from his Excellency.
I also understood, privately, from Lord Pelham that, in regard
to the subjects, extent, and periods of the correspondence be
tween him and the Lord-Lieutenant, they must be indefinite;
but that they ought to be frequent and general upon all points
connected with the administration of the King's Government in
Ireland. For example, in consequence of the late severe scarcity
of grain and provisions, and the effects resulting therefrom, it
seems obvious that a full and, as far as possible, comprehensive
detailed despatch on the state of the harvest in Ireland is re
quisite to be transmitted to him, for the information of His
Majesty's confidential servants; and, in reference to martial law,
and the necessity and expediency of its continuance, reports
should be procured from the Judges of their opinions of the
situation in which they found the several parts of the country
through which they passed in the course of their late circuits ;
and the same, it should seem, ought to be forwarded to his Lord
ship by His Excellency, with his own remarks upon them deduced
from, other sources of information.
There are a variety of subjects emanating from the letter and
spirit of the King's instructions, which ought to form, in his

Sept. 1801.] ME. ADDINGTON'S VIEWS. 317
Lordship's view of the matter, constant sources of communication
with him ; and the intercourse and understanding in this respect
between the Lord-Lieutenant and Secretary of State should be
perpetual, and classed under the usual heads of official, private,
confidential, and secret correspondence.
Lord Pelham, however, merely threw out these ideas generally
to me ; adding that as my instructions embraced a State question
of importance, he should, in all probability, convene His Ma
jesty's Ministers upon them, and take the whole into serious
consideration, conferring with me from time to time until a
definitive arrangement was settled and approved by His Majesty,
upon any points on which his Lordship mi^ht require His Ex
cellency's sentiments; in the interim, however. Lord Pelham
remarked that the public business of Ireland with Great Britain
would of course be prosecuted uninterruptedly between the
Lord-Lieutenant and the Secretary of State.
I am, my dear Sir, &c. &c., most faithfully yours,
E. B. Littlehales.

[Secret.]
Eoyal Hotel, Pall MaU, Sept. 20th, 1801.
My dear Sir, — The interview which I have had with Mr. Ad
dington this morning has been generally very satisfactory on the
subject of Irish affairs ; and although his other serious occupa
tions prevented him from entering sufficiently into my instruc
tions to enable him to make any direct communication on the
subject, yet it appeared to me that he was fully impressed with
the necessity of a latitude of action being granted to the Lord-
Lieutenant; but thought that on Union principles exclusively,
whenever there was time for a communication with His Ma
jesty's Ministers, and for the reception of their sentiments
through the regular channel of the Secretary of State, it was
highly expedient that that line of proceeding should be adopted.
I felt it my indispensable duty to bring forward again, and to
state in the most unreserved manner, the incalculable mischief
that would Laevitably arise to the tranquillity and well-being
of Ireland, if it was in the contemplation of His Majesty's
confidential servants to establish that particular form of govern
ment for that country which seems so objectionable in the opinion
of all those who are in any degree capable of viewing the
subject on rational and impartial grounds. I repeated that how
ever honourable in character, wisdom, integrity, and utiUty cer
tain respectable Irishmen might be, it was quite impossible for

318 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Cn. XIV.
them to divest themselves of native prejudices, partialities, and
animosities, which rendered them more immediately in Ireland
incapable of administering the King's Government on liberal and
advantageous principles. Mr. Addington appeared fully to
concur with me in this chain of reasoning, and to admit generally
my position. He further confidentially remarked, that with those
with whom he acted, there could only, he conceived, be one sen
timent on this important point.
Mr. Addington said, " Be so good as to tell Abbot that I have
been seeking for an opportunity of writing to him ; but that the
magnitude and extent of my avocations (for which he will give
me credit when he knows them) have entirely prevented me
from fulfilling my intentions."
I am, my dear Sir, &c. &c., most faithfully yours,
E. B. Littlehales.

[Private and Confidential.] * London, Sept. 24th, 1801.
My dear Sir, — . . . I went yesterday to Wimbledon and
returned this morning. I had a very general and unreserved con
versation with Mr. Addington in regard to the situation of things
in Ireland ; and, although he thought it unnecessary to discuss
my instructions seriatim at present in the way in which he had
formerly proposed, in consequence of Lord Pelham's being about
to prepare some statement touching the powers of the Lord-Lieu
tenant, which is to be submitted to the Cabinet, yet he appeared
to think that any alteration in the present form of Government
in that country was entirely, at this period, out of the question ;
and, on my observing that it seemed requisite not to diminish
the due and proper weight, influence, and dignity, which ought
necessarily to attach to the Viceroy, as any degradation of actual
authority would tend to lessen the King's interests in Ireland, he
stated generally, that his opinions went to strengthen, as far as was
consistent and right, the consequence of the Lord-Lieutenant, to
enable him to administer impartially, and with temperance, energy,
and decision, the public concerns of that country. At the same
time he wished me to understand that these sentiments were in
conformity to those which he had lately given to me, and which,
I have conveyed to you.
Upon the whole, Mr. Addington is, I conceive, deeply im
pressed with the policy of governing Ireland upon Union prin
ciples, and that, at least, for a considerable period, this object
can best be accomplished by placing at the head of affairs there

Sept. 1801.] LETTEE TO ME. ADDINGTON. 319
an English nobleman of respectability. Until the subject, how
ever, comes formally under discussion before the Cabinet, I
rather apprehend that Mr. Addington allows me to use his name
confidentially to you, for the information of His Excellency, to
dispel any apprehension that may have been entertained as to
the supposed intentions of the King's servants to propose any
change of system in Ireland ; and to satisfy Lord Hardwicke's
mind, that there is no alteration on his part, of opinions generally
in respect to the mode of administering the public concerns of
Ireland, from what there was when His Excellency took his
departure from London 
I am, my dear Sir, very faithfully yours, *
E. B. Littlehales.

EXTEACTS FEOM A LETTEE PEOM ME. ABBOT TO
ME. ADDINGTON. Dublin Castle, Sept. 27th, 1801.
My dear Sir, — . . . Having broken in upon your atten
tion so far, I cannot help proceeding to assure you of the satis
faction which we have derived from Colonel Littlehale's account
of your kindness to him during his present visit to England. It
is a great consolation to us, placed in a scene not without its
pecuUar difficulties, to know that your mind has received a true
and correct impression of our views in this Government. Union
principles are those by which we most cordially wish to have
every modification of its powers regulated. We have always
thought that the notion of an i/mperium, in imperio would be
absurd in itself since the Union, and possibly fatal to the very
measure itself; but we have at the same time wished it to be
kept in view that, whatever be the local form of Government, it
must be rendered efficient for its professed ends. Of unreserved
communication and intercourse there cannot be too much ; and, if
it is thought most beneficial to do away with the old practice and
letter ofthe King's instructions, which direct an immediate corre
spondence upon revenue matters with the English Treasury, and
that this, as well as every other correspondence, should pass
through the Secretary of State for the Home Department, no
possible objection can occur on this side of the ChanneL All we
wish to know upon this matter is, how we are to act, and it will
be most constantly and punctually observed : et sic de cceteris.
In Colonel Littlehale's last letter, he gives to understand in
directly, that the aboUtion of the Irish Office in London is
looked to as a probable measure. Have the goodness to under-

320 DL\.EY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
stand, that in this and any other arrangement which may be
supposed more personally to affect me, I shall not object at all,
if the arrangement, after full and thorough consideration, is
deemed expedient. Only, I think that the British Minister in
the House of Commons will scarcely wish, upon system, to em
barrass himself with the conduct of all the inferior parliamentary
business in Ireland — the bills of official detail, of local interest,
of municipal regulation, &c. — which the current business of a
country, as yet, in many respects, unlike England, must con
stantly require. And if the Prime Minister does not undertake
for these bills and proceedings, I should wish to have it consi
dered to what place are the Irish Members of the House of
Commons, the parUamentary clerks and agents, the mercantile
and manufacturing interests, whose concerns may be in discus
sion before the House of Commons, to resort for the purpose of
conferring with any person in the King's Government who may
have the conduct of these matters in the House of Commons.
I apprehend it must be thought impracticable for all these
persons, with their tribe of followers, messengers, &c., to have
a daily and hourly access to the private house of any member
of Parliament holding the situation in which I am placed;
besides which clerks and accommodation for th6m must be pro
vided by him to do the business which he has to transact in
respect of his official character. I beUeve this never yet hap
pened ; and I think the inconvenience must be manifest. It is
not, I assure you, for any unnecessary accommodation or pa
tronage to myself that I shall ever be found earnest, for I am
not so blind as to suppose my official life to be a matter of per
manent consideration. We all, I am confident, look only to the
system in itself, and that which may suit those also who are to
follow us. . ... . .
Believe me ever, my dear Sir, most truly yours,
C. Abbot.

LETTEE FEOM ME. ABBOT TO COLONEL LITTLEHALES.
[Private and Confidential.] Dublin Castle, Oct. 3rd, 1801.
My dear Sir, — Judge of the difficulties which are thrown in
the way of our Government by treachery and misrepresentation
whilst we are in the hands of our enemies, by the fact which I
have to state.
You will recollect that His Excellency thought fit to ask Sir

Oct. 1801.] LOED HAEDWICKE'S LETTEE TO ME. ADDINGTON. 321
James Duff, whether he thought in his district martial law
should continue to be executed under tlie special powers given
by (or extorted from) Lord t-astlereagh. You may recollect
his answer, that he had not meant to proceed longer upon that
authority ; but that if the revocation tvas hioiun, the mischief
to the country might be great.
You may next recollect the reply, that His Excellency
approved of Sir James Duff's proposed course of not acting
longer under his special powers, but for the reasons assigned by
Sir James Duff, His Excellency would not make any public
communication of this alteration.
Now would you expect, or can any man living approve of the
Lord Chancellor's writing to any body that these powers had
been revoked, 'passing over him, as he says {H'mcillce lacrymce!)
who by the way was then in England : and that the person to
whom he communicates this, should read this letter to other
persons ; from whom I by chance heard it yesterday at third
hand : and that the person who so makes public the fact
should be my first under-secretary ! * He has thought fit to
propose to retire. And so he must. Yours ever, C. Abbot.
P.S. — Your own personal knowledge of these characters, from
the facts which you have formerly stated to me from your own
knowledge, renders all commentary superfluous.
N.B. — This change of Sir James Duffs powers (as well as the
famous Militia proposal) took place before Lord Pelham was in
office ; and whilst the Duke of Portland never would answer
Lord Hardwicke's letters.

LETTEE FEOM LOED HAEDWICKE TO ME. ADDINGTON.
[Private and Confidential.] Dublin, Oct. 24th, 1801.
My dear Sir, — I take the opportunity of Colonel Littlehales's
return to England, to thank you for your letter of the 14th inst.,
by the kindness of which I could not fail to be highly gratified
and obUged. I had no doubt that Colonel Littlehales would con
duct himself entirely to your satisfaction ; and to that of the other
members of the administration with whom he had occasion more
particularly to communicate. And I still flatter myself, not-
¦withstanding appearances of difficulty which are too prominent
* Mr. Cooke.
VOL. I. Y

322 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Cn. XIV.
to be concealed, that the result of his mission will be finally
advantageous. The paper of considerations on the situation of the Lord-
Lieutenant and his Secretary, which Colonel Littlehales was
directed to deliver to me, has been considered with that atten
tion and respect which is due to a paper, the delivery of which,
at least, has been sanctioned by the Cabinet. And detailed
observations upon the Une professed to be laid down in that
paper, have been dravm up with the greatest care and de
liberation, and will be communicated to the Cabinet by Lord
Pelham. But I should not make a proper return to that confidence and
good opinion of which you gave me the strongest proof, in pro
posing to me, at a very critical and difficult period, so honourable
and distinguished a situation, if I did not state to you, with all
that reserve of expression upon certain topics of influence and
patronage which a paper to be submitted to the Cabinet neces
sarily requires, the real and undisguised sentiments of my mind
upon a subject which is no further interesting to me personally,
than it may be connected with character, public opinion, and
the faculty of being useful ; but which is of essential impor
tance to the future good government of Ireland.
I take it for granted there is no difference of opinion in regard
to the propriety of maintaining, at least for a considerable time,
the form of Government which is now established. And it
appears to me that the real question at issue is whether the
whole or the greater part of the patronage of the Crown in this
country shall be transferred from the Lord- Lieutenant to the
Secretary of State. The great object to the King's Minister in
the exercise of patronage, must be the management of the Parlia
ment, and the quiet and orderly government of the country.
And, in considering this question as far as it regards Ireland, it
is right to observe that the Lord-Lieutenant is, and ought to be,
as much the agent of the Prime Minister in the disposal of
patronage, and the proper application of influence, as the
Secretary of State for the Home Department. He cannot be
supposed to have any distinct interest of his own, nor would he
be permitted to retain his situation if he did not concur in the
support of the Government of England.
I can by no means, therefore, consider it as a point undeniably
proved -that the removal of the Parliament necessarily implies,
even with a view to Parliamentary influence, the removal to
England of the whole of the patronage of the Grown in Ireland.
The agency of the Lord-Lieutenant in the disposal of the patron-

Oct. 1801.] PATEONAGE. 323
age, and the intercourse which he maintains with the gentlemen
of the country, are materially connected with the influence of the
Government in Parliament, and must always tend to maintain
it in a manner agreeable to their feelings and their habits. But
this intercourse, which, independently of what is gained by it in
a Parliamentary view, is of essential use to the Government in
the scale of its general influence, would soon be entirely discon
tinued if the Lord-Lieutenant were to be deprived of the power
to dispense the favours of the Crown, so far as respects the
gentlemen of Ireland, who represent their country in the two
Houses of Parliament.
If the Secretary of State is a Peer he is still further removed,
even in England, from an intercourse with the people, and a
knowledge of the great body of its representatives ; and it does
not appear that the patronage of Ireland would be administered
with more economy of effect in his hands than in those of the
Lord-Lieutenant, subject to the direction of the ministers in
regard to all the principal offices, and in concurrence with his
views of the general interests of Government in regard to the
whole. Much of the influence arising from patronage is merely nomi
nal, and the office of Lord-Lieutenant would certainly lose more
in real weight and dignity by the loss of the patronage than
would be gained by the transfer of the same proportion of it to
the disposal of the Secretary of State. The general effect of it
which is at present widely diffused, would be entirely lost in
regard to the Government of Ireland, and no more would be
gained in England than the mere operation and effect of each
particular object in detail. The transferring of the entire man
agement of the ParUament to England by the avowed removal of
the patronage, would soon obUge the minister to resort to the
assistance of some of the Chiefs of the country, and revive a sys
tem which would again render Ireland the sport of party and
cabal. It cannot be denied that there are some men in this country,
who, from having acted in the highest situations of political
power, and having been engaged in its most impassioned and
animated contests, have acquired a tone and activity which, it is
to be feared, disdain subordination. If the minister contracts
for the parliamentary business of the country it must be with
these men ; who, if the power of the Lord-Lieutenant is reduced
but a very little below its previous level, will soon become his
rivals, and if he is removed will become the tyrants of their
countrymen. T 2

324 DUEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
I have little doubt that these consequences will inevitably, and
at no great distance of time, follow so great an alteration in the
system of Government, and that when the Lord-Lieutenant is
reduced, as he will be, to the situation of a mere pageant, the
office, which by the respectable part of the community is now
considered as a shield against the passions and ambition of their
countrymen, as well as some security for the impartial exercise
of the powers of Government, will be found totally inefficient to
every useful purpose, and must either be entirely abolished, or
restored, if possible, to some degree of its former authority.
These opinions are, I assure you, not formed upon any sudden
or partial view of the question, neither are they taken up with
out some knowledge of the sentiments of highly respectable
individuals, who have as much experience of the feelings and
temper of their countrymen and as just a sense of their true in
terests upon Union principles, as many who pretend to a mono
poly of knowledge and experience upon those points, and as
others have, who after having contributed to the success of the
great measure of Union, are anxious to see it converted, by
a radical change of Government, into an engine of power to
themselves. To those who are prepared to say that Ireland can now he
governed in the same manner as Scotland, observations of this
sort, of course, cannot apply. In my opinion, the proposition
laid down in the paper of considerations, upon which a distinct
and explicit decision is necessary, although any sudden determi
nation is much to be deprecated, will tend to the direct esta
blishment of that system much sooner than the country can bear
it. For when the Lord-Lieutenant is reduced to a mere Super
intendent of Police, and his powers of patronage limited to the
recommendation of Assistant Barristers or Chairmen of the
Quarter Sessions, he is in truth neither more nor less than the
Irish Under Secretary of the Secretary of State for the Home
Department. In regard to the point of limiting the correspondence with the
Secretary of State's office, there can be no difficulty in conceding
it, if it is thought more proper and convenient. I must, never
theless, remark, that it will introduce a degree of circuity and
delay contrary to the tenor of the existing instructions, which
direct in many instances an original communication with the
Treasury, and may produce great occasional inconvenience in
matters of revenue.
I am desirous of avoiding anything that may appear personal,
or that applies to my own situation ; but I cannot refrain from
observing upon the hardship, . or, if I may be permitted to say

Oct. 1801.] GOVEENJIENT OP lEELAND. 325
so, the injustice, of what has been determined in regard to the
situation of Private Secretary. From the heavy mortgage * upcm
the patronage of this country, I was aware of the difficulty or
remote prospect of providing for a Private Secretary ; and you
may remember my troubling you on that subject; but without
desiring any promise or definitive answer. But under this un
certainty I cannot help being hurt at the idea that the request I
made last summer for a salary and provision for my private
Secretary, for which there was a precedent in the case of my
predecessor, and no precedent of any Lord-Lieutenant being so
shackled in regard to engagements, should at the end of two
months be negatived as inadmissible.
I cannot, however, even in so strong a case, be desirous of
postponing a single engagement; and I think it but fair to
Dr. Lindsay f to request that you will take the trouble of reading
the enclosed letter, which he sent me immediately after I had
communicated to him the answer brought by Colonel Littlehales.
You will therefore see the sentiments he expresses on the
subject ; and I may safely leave the case in your hands.
The opinion I have formed upon the whole of this important
question, is greatly confirmed and strengthened by what I under
stand to be the sentiments of impartial and enlightened men
upon an apprehension that has been recently revived (from what
quarter I know not), of an actual intention of governing by
Lords Justices. This apprehension is not unworthy of notice,
because it has produced discussions applicable to the general
question which is now under your consideration, and it is in that
view only that I have mentioned it, for I knew it to be entirely
contrary to your declared opinions. I am further convinced that
if the arrangement now under consideration should terminate in
the degradation of the local Government of this country, those
who may contribute to it will hereafter see occasion to regret
their concurrence in the introduction of a system which, I am
confident, will be found inconsistent with the tranquillity, good
humour, and true interests of Ireland.
Of those who have been recently in this country, there is no
one who is more capable of forming an impartial and a wise
opinion in regard to the policy which may be required by the
change of circumstances occasioned by the Union, than my im
mediate! predecessor, who had an opportunity of seeing so
* Lord H. means the great number of promises given by Lord Corn
waUis at the time of the Union, which were not yet all fulfilled.
t His private Secretary, afterwards Bishop of Kildare.
X Lord Cornwallis. Y 3

326 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Cu. XIV.
much of the interior, and of judging of the secret springs and
motives of political men. Upon the actual point now in agitation
there is no direct opportunity of knowing the sentiments of Lord
Cornwallis ; but if there should be an opportunity, and you see
no objection to Colonel Littlehales communicating to him the
papers with which he has been charged, his opinion may not
be altogether without its use ; and, you may be very sure, will be
impartial and disinterested.
I am sincerely impressed witb the value of your friendship
and good opinion ; and whether I continue in a situation in which
I may be likely to be useful in this country, or ireturn to a private
situation at home, I shall feel no change in those sentiments.
Being always with the truest esteem, my dear Sir,
Your very faithful servant, Hardwicke.

LETTEE FEOJI ME. ABBOT TO ME. ADDINGTON.
[Private and Confidential.] Dublin Castle, Oct. 27th, 1801.
JMy dear Sir, — In my last letter I mentioned that I should
take a separate occasion for transmitting to your consideration
one important point, which Lord Hardwicke concurred vrith me
in thinking was fitter for your separate judgment than to be
inserted in the general paper for the Cabinet respecting the true
principles and policy to be observed in settling the Executive
Government in Ireland.
This point, which is more for your separate and personal con
sideration, is the management of the legislative business of
Ireland in the House of Commons.
In discussing it let us consider, 1st, Does it require any
special superintendence ? 2ndly, Who is to take charge of it ?
3rdly, How is it to be executed ; namely, by the Secretar)' of
State for the Home Department and his immediate Under-
Secretaries, or by the Lord-Lieutenant's Secretary as a peculiar
servant of Government ? and this upon constitutional gi-ounds,
as well as those of public economy and efficacy for the King's
service. 1st. That it must be undertaken by the Administration, or it
will fall into the hands of Opposition, seems to be very clear,
for it never can remain neutral and unclaimed ground; and
surely it cannot be prudent or just to leave it to the random and
unguided movement of their personal or local interests, whether
mercantile or agricultural ; nor can it be wise to abandon it as a

Oct. 1801. j MANAGEMENT OP THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 327
prey to the active and designing leaders of a minority who will
be always on the watch for an accession of strength to their
numbers, by showing marked attentions, and tendering their
services upon Bills or Committees to those who seem to have no
rallying point held out them.
2ndl3'. Who then is to undertake the care of this branch of
parliamentary business? The JMinister who takes upon himself
the general conduct of public affairs in the House of Commons
cannot have the inclination or time ; nor it is any part of his
duty to descend into details of this description. Some Member
of Administration subordinate to him must be entrusted with
this province ; and if he has the trust he must also have the
power and the means of discharging it. He should maintain a
constant personal intercourse with the Members for Ireland,
entering into their local concerns and interests, and canvassing
with them the more public objects which the friends or adversaries
of Administration may have in view for parliamentary discussion ;
maturing the projects which may be useful, repressing those
which may be injurious, and each in their earliest stages ; satisfy
ing them that there is an authorised person in office, with whom
they may have an intercourse of society, and to whom they may
at all times have ready access. With such assistance it may
reasonably be supposed that the Minister will find his parlia
mentary labours in this part alleviated, his time spared for
higher and more general concerns, and the personal goodwill of
individuals as well as the public interests secured.
Srdly. By whom is this to be executed, if it be fit that it
should be so given in charge to any one ?
There are but two departments from which the Minister can
derive this assistance, namely, the Secretary of State for the
Home Department and his under secretaries, or the Lord-Lieu
tenant's secretary. For amongst these all the details of Irish
business are deposited.
Can the Secretary of State for the Home Department give the
assistance ? Most certainly he may, if in the House of Com
mons ; and if he be there, and make himself master of all the
local details of Ireland as of Great Britain, nothing more is
wanting. But if he be a Peer it is equally clear he cannot be
the auxiliary to his Minister in this business. If he cannot, can
his Under-Secretaries fill his place in this respect ? Can they be
spared from their official duties not merely to attend, but to take
this sort of lead in the House of Commons ? Have they ever
been of that description? Is their rank and weight such as
would induce the great country gentlemen of Ireland to act with
\ 4

328 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
or under them ? Will the gentlemen of Ireland attend in the
ante-chamber of a Peer to transact their House of Commons
concerns with his under-secretary? Is it to be expected or
desired that they should feel this to be their situation as a con
sequence of the Union ?
If this cannot be, see then what other officer of Government
can be made most useful. Probably the person who holds
nominally the same office, though less in weight, with whom
they were accustomed to transact their business before the
Union ; the officer who comes with them to ParUament, who
goes back vrith them to their own country, who sees and inter
mixes with them there in society, hears their histories, sees their
local projects, knows their biases, and is, as it were, naturalised
amongst them, at the same time that the tenure of his office
obliges him always to feel that his primary and paramount duty
is that of fulfilling the views and executing the measures of His
Majesty's Ministers in England, to whom he is subservient and
responsible. If this be his trust, let it next be considered what are to be
his means of executing it. He must have the ordinary assistance
of clerks to carry on his correspondence with Ireland, for direct
ing his own department during his absence, and also for ma
turing the details of business which he is expected to furnish
daily to the Minister who has the chief management of the
House of Commons. For this end, what so natural or proper
as that he should bring with him some of his own subordinate
clerks from Ireland, and establish them in London as a detach
ment from Dublin Castle ? This is a strict and legitimate conse
quence of his following the Parliament which has been transferred
from DubUn to London. And the expense is no new expense
whatever to Great Britain ; it is a part of the expense of tbe
Irish Government, and may not add at all even to the expense
of the Irish Government, if the Lord-Lieutenant's secretary is
required to defray that expense in the whole, or in part, out of
the surplus emoluments of his own office (after its intended reduc
tion), which, if he has any zeal for His Majesty's service, he
cannot hesitate to do, and which at all events he should be
required to do.
Jealousies of such an office, so employed for the immediate
ease and assistance of the Minister in the House of Commons,
and constantly subject to his orders and those of the Secretary
of State, can never be entertained on any just grounds. It may
not be a very pleasant office to fill, but it surely is no very great
object of distrust. In the novelty of an establishment not

Oct. 1801.] IRISH OFFICE IN LONDON. 329
planned by me, nor finally settled even by those who established
it, it is very possible that some irregularities of correspondence
may have taken place. Whenever any such have been noticed
they have been immediately corrected. No interruption or
delay ofthe direct correspondence between the Lord-Lieutenant
and the Secretary of State is proposed. All that has been sug
gested is the necessity of giving the means of knowing the
current bu.siness of Ireland to those persons who were required
to attend to it.
Look to the Bills of the last session, and those which may
come on in a future session, and let it be considered who will
take charge of them without the power and the means of carry
ing them forward with effect ; for the person who may be quali
fied for such business in the House of Commons is not Ukely to
put himself very forward, or make himself responsible for that
which he has no means of performing. The Election Bill,
Place Bill, Copyright Bill, Tax Exemption Bill, &c., of last year,
could not have been carried on without clerks, counsel, and a
house in which to meet them and the members of parties inter
ested from day to day. Is this sort of establishment likely to
be less necessary when the commercial regulations, distilleries,
corn laws, navigation laws, &c., come under discussion hereafter ?
In the view of Mr. Pitt, Lord Cornwallis, Lord Castlereagh,
and (at that time) of the Duke of Portland, the Irish Office in
London was estabUshed for this very purpose. (See despatch of
Lord CornwaUis to the Duke of Portland, November, 1800.) It
has now been fitted up at a considerable expense, which is passed
and paid. The under-secretaries and clerks may be more or less
in number, but they are now estabUshed, and the means of pay
ment may be proved economically for the public. May not
great utility be derived from the continuance, and may not great
and irretrievable mischiefs arise from its suppression ?
4thly. I have the less difficulty in stating this question ex
plicitly, because, as I have always said, and most conscientiously,
I look upon my own personal concern in the business as nothing.
If I did suffer it to weigh with me, I should be very unfit in
deed for my present situation ; but to those who think otherwise
of me (only, as I hope, because they know le^s of me) surely it
is very obvious that my personal and private motions must be
all contrary to the policy which I am urging. To fill a con
siderable office, without parliamentary trouble or responsibility,
cannot in itself be undesirable. To be less diligent in attending
Parliament, and to look on during a debate, is always more
•pleasant to the individual than to feel the weight and anxiety

330 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
which belong to the discharge of a public duty ; for it must be
quite manifest that active assistance and labour cannot be re
quired or had from any parliamentary friend to whom the
means are denied of making his own assistance and labour pro
fitable to the ministers under whom he is serving.
In settling the whole of this system for managing Irish
affairs, both in the executive Government and in the conduct of
the Parliamentary business, we should look to the establishment
of such a system as may be practically efficient for its own ends,
and coincide in form with existing constitutional arrangements.
To deprive the system of its efficacy, is destructive of the true
ends of Government, slackens its ties with the people, and sows
the seeds of lasting dissatisfaction.
I am sorry to find my letter so long ; but I thought it a debt
of justice and friendship to open the whole of my mind to you
upon this subject, at a time when I know you are pressed to
come to a speedy and final determination upon it.
Believe me, ever yours most faithfully, C. Abbot.
MINUTES OF A CONVEESATION BETWEEN ME. ABBOT AND
ME. KNOX (THE AGENT TO MAYNOOTH COLLEGE). Dec. 24th.
I [Mr. Abbot] sent for Knox as agent to the Colleges, and
told him that Lord Kilwarden had reported his visitation to his
Excellency, and had noticed the lay school as a change from the
original institution.
That his Excellency thought it better to avoid having any
question raised unnecessarily upon it, and authorised me to say
that in order to prevent any formal proposition to Government
on the part of the College in favour of a lay school, to which
proposition Government might be under the necessity of giving a
formal negative, it was his Excellency's wish that the school
should subside gradually, and the matter end sub silentio.
Mr. Knox thanked Government for the kind manner of giving
the intimation ; said he saw exactly how the thing was. His
friend the secretary of the College was a discreet man, and
through him he could easily settle the matter.
EXTEACTS PEOM A LETTEE FEOM LOED HAEDWICKE TO
ME. MAESDEN. Dec. 24th.
As some misapprehension appears to have arisen respecting
the intimation given to Mr. Knox, I shaU be obUged to you if

Dec. I80I.] MAYNOOTH. ,'331
you will take an early opportunity of explaining to Dr. Troy
what was the precise object and extent of it.
The idea of a lay boarding school being annexed to IMaynooth
College, the intention of which was understood to be the educa
tion at home of a sufficient number of j)ersons for the priesthood,
appeai-ed to present itself as a new proposition, thc discussion of
\vhich I certainly thought it desirable to avoid. Upon this
ground an intimation was given to Mr. Knox, in the most
friendly manner, tliat it was the wish of Government that no
further expense should be incurred or measures taken with a
view to such an establishment.
It never was my wish or intention that the lay pupils now in
the College should be at once withdrawn from it, but that the
establishment should not be fixed as a part of the College.
When you see Dr. Troy, have the goodness to say further that
it will tend greatly to prevent misapprehension on such points,
if, when any doubt arises, he will address himself directly to the
Government, as he may be assured that he will at all times be
received with attention, and listened to with fairness and candour.

MINUTE OF A CONVEESATION BETWEEN DE. TEOY AND
ME. MAESDEN. Dec. 24th.
Dr. Troy said the School was distinct from the College, and
in that respect like any other school.
Though it was built upon the Government ground, it was not
built out of the public money, but out of the entrance money
paid by the priests.
He insisted upon this vindication, and did not insist upon it
as part of the original plan.
MINUTE OF A CONVEESATION BETWEEN ME. MAESDEN
AND DE. TEOY, AT DUBLIN CASTLE.
Friday, Dec. 18th, 1801.
Dr. Troy said, " The Chancellor sent for me and asked me
how things were going on at Maynooth." I told him that no
alteration had taken place. He said, it was the most absurd
and extravagant thing that ever entered into the mind of man, to
prevent laymen being educated at the College. That every
country schoolmaster might teach, and why not those who were
better qualified, and who were under the control of Govern
ment?

332 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
Dr. Troy said ; My Lord, I understand that it was Lord
Kilwarden who made the representation to Government against
the establishment of the school. No such thing, said the
Chancellor. I have asked Lord Kilwarden about it, and he
told me, that in conversation with Lord Hardwicke he had
mentioned his visitation to the College, and how much to his
satisfaction he found everything there; and that he noticed
the school merely as matter of conversation, without in any degree
complaining of it.
Mr. Marsden. Did you understand from the Chancellor that
Lord Kilwarden now approved of it ? Dr. T. I did distinctly.
— Mr. M. Did he say so ? D7\ T. I do not know that he
said so exactly ; but what he said implied it.
The Chancellor desired me to write down to Maynooth to go
on just as usual, and to take no notice. I accordingly wrote
to Dr. Dunn, and I thought the matter was over, and we should
have no more of it.

MEMOEANDUM OF THE SAME CONVEESATION DEAWN UP
BY DE. TEOY. Dublin, Dec. 21st, 1801.
In consequence of a note from Mr. Marsden, Dr. Troy
waited on him, at the Castle on Friday last.
Mr. Marsden began the conversation by asking what, if any
thing, had been done concerning Maynooth College. Dr. Troy,
not conceiving what was precisely meant by the question,
replied, " In what respect ? "
" In regard," said Mr. Marsden, " to the education of lay
scholars there, on which the Lord-Lieutenant is teased by Lord
Kilwarden and others." Dr. Troy answered, " Nothing had
been done ; and that in consequence of a conversation he had
with the Lord Chancellor, he had notified to Dr. Flood, that
no change was to take place, and recommended silence on what
was said of it, in order to prevent further uneasiness on that
head. Dr. Troy then repeated his conversation with the Lord
Chancellor as follows : — That his Lordship had sent for him
on Friday the 4th, on other business, but took an occasion to
mention that of Maynooth College : and observed, there was no
law prohibiting the education of lay Catholic scholars there ; that
it appeared absurd to permit it everywhere else, and to prohibit
it where only the Government had an inspection and control.
That on Dr. Troy's mentioning a report that Lord Kilwarden
had suggested the prohibition to the Lord-Lieutenant, the

Dec 1801.] MAYNOOTH. 333
Lord Chancellor said, "No such thing. I spoke to Lord Kil
warden on the subject; he assured me he had only related the
fact of lay education at jMaynooth to His Excellency, without
expressing any disapproval of it."
Mr. ^larsden asked. " Did the Lord Chancellor really tell
you so?" Dr. Troy answered, he really did, and added that
His Lordship concluded the conversation by saying ; " Let
things go on as they are at Maynooth. It is better not to speak
of any intended change."
These are the particulars in substance, as far as Dr. Troy can
recollect of what he mentioned to Mr. Marsden concerning the
Lord Chancellor's conversation with him on the subject of May
nooth College. Dr. Troy not having charged his memory
with it or with his late interview with Mr. Marsden, is not,
probably, as accurate in stating either as he wishes, or as the
Lord Chancellor may expect. J. S. Trot.

MINUTE OF A CONVEESATION BETWEEN HIS EXCELLENCY
AND LOED CLAEE, AT THE CASTLE. Deo. 20th, 1801.
I. His Excellency having put into Lord Clare's hand the
paper written by Mr. Marsden, as containing Dr. Troy's nar
rative of his interview with Lord Clare on the 4th inst., respect
ing ilaynooth. Lord Clare said,
1. That the old gentleman (Dr. Troy) had gi-eatly misre
presented what had passed.
He had sent for Troy on the business of Lord Dunboyne's
will ; that Troy was not with him three minutes. (Or " that his
conversation about Maynooth College did not last three minutes."
Lord H.)
2. That Lord Kilwarden had mentioned to him (Lord Clare) his
having repeated his visitation to Maynooth, and his observations
there, as matter of fact ; without any sentiment of approbation
or disapprobation.
3. When His Excellency said that it would have an awkward
appearance if the intimation of the Government to the College
through Mr. Knox (their agent), which was in its nature tanta
mount to an order, was to be superseded by another order from
His Lordship to Dr. Troy, which must have appeared most ex
traordinary in the eyes of the public.
Lord Clare said, — It had never entered into his thought so
to do.

334 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
4. All he had done was to give Dr. Troy the explanation of
what he had understood to be His Excellency's meaning when
he had conversed with him at the Castle, after the intimation
had been given.
(Query. — If there was a doubt, why did he not send Dr. Troy
to His Excellency, or to his Secretary who had given the inti
mation, for an explanation ?)
That he had told Dr. Troy the boys were not to be taken away,
and that they were to go on as they were ; but that no public
money was to be laid out till the question was determined.
(N.B. — In Lord Clare's former conversation with His Excel
lency he had expressly declared his opinion that all Catholic
questions during the King's life had better be kept out of sight.)
5. He asked who had taken down the conversation between
himself and Dr. Troy ; and His Excellency told him it was Mr.
Marsden, who, upon Lord Fingall's representations had sent for
Troy, that there might be no misunderstanding.
6. Lord Clare desired to have the paper (which he would
return), and said he would send for Troy and speak to him.
II. Lord Clare then entered into the history and policy of the
original measure.
1. He complained that Lord Pelham and Dr. Troy had con
trived the college between them (without his participation) to be
a Catholic College for educating priests only, and had got a grant
of 8000?., as a sole grant for establishing it.
2. That, when the subsequent grant^ came before ParUament
he had thrown out the Bill.
(N.B. — Lord Clare threw out the Bill without any previous
notice or consultation with Lord CornwaUis or Lord Castle
reagh.) And upon communication with Lord Cornwallis it had
been thoroughly understood it should be a place for the joint
education of priests and lay children.
(N.B. — But in the course of this conversation Lord Clare
stated that the rules of the Catholic priests prohibited them ex
pressly from educating their priests promiscuously with laymen.)
III. — 1. His Excellency having then proposed that during the
holidays he should state in writing his observations upon this
measure, as it might become necessary to have it considered by
the King's ministers ;
Lord Clare said he would do so, and transmit them to His
Excellency. '
2. His Excellency suggested to him that the three points for
consideration were : (1.) The leaving the question sui) silentio.

Dec 1801.] MAl'NOOTH. 335
(N.B. — Here Lord Clare said, I am afraid the Government
will take the first course, and like that best.)
(2.) The establishing the lay school.
(3.) The negativing it ; and also suggested the propriety of
considering the situations of unlicensed Catholic schoolmasters,
which he had much dwelt upon in former conversations.
3. Lord Clare said he would also consider their case, and he
proceeded to remark upon the inconvenience of the control now
exercised by the priests over the people, without any check on
the part of Government ; and that they, in fact, exercised a more
effectual government over the people than the lawful Governors
of the country.
This check he considered as easily attained by holding out the
probability of re-establishing some of the penal laws against their
clergy, and keeping them in order by that sort of terror.
4. He afterwards talked of Bishop Caulfield's reply to Sir
Eichard Musgrave ; the letter of Littlehales in the Appendix
addressed to " The Most Reverend Dr. Troy," &c. ; and the dis
turbed state of the country, and the murders still going on, as
proved on the trials at Kildare before Judge Chamberlain.
(N.B. — All these trials were (under the special commission)
of men sent down from the Provost in Dublin, for offences during
the rebellion.)
Mem. — 1. His Excellency proposes to send for Dr. Troy, and
explain to him his own meaning in the intimation which he
ordered to be given.
2. To send a statement of the whole transaction by private
letter to ]\Ir. Addington.
3. If Lord Clare's observations, when communicated to His
Excellency, should render it expedient to have a Cabinet decision
from England, in that case also to obtain the Primate's written
sentiments on the same subject.

LETTEE FEOM LOED CLAEE TO LOED HAEDWICKE.
Mount Shannon, Deo. 28th, 1801.
My Lord, — In consequence of what your Excellency men
tioned to me in the last interview which I had the honour to
have with you, I desired Dr. Troy to call upon me on the follow
ing day, when he informed me that the message communicated
to the Master of the College of Maynooth through Mr. Knox
was understood by him distinctly to convey an order from' your
Excellency for the immediate dismissal of the lay pupils who
are now educated in that seminary, and Lord Fingall, from whom

336 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
I, as the first visitor of it, had the first intimation that such an
order had been given, seemed to me very distinctly to under
stand that his son was immediately to be dismissed from the
College of Maynooth in consequence of the order. This, how
ever, I have since explained to Dr. Troy, and, to avoid all mis
conception on the subject I beg to repeat here what I stated to
him: "That, if the message delivered in your Excellency's name to
the Master of Maynooth College was considered by him to con
vey an order for the immediate dismissal of the pupils now edu
cated there, it was misconceived. That your Excellency only
desired that this part of the institution should not be extended,
nor any additional expense incurred for the purpose, until the
propriety of such a measure could be fully considered ; but that
the pupils who had already been received there were not to be
disturbed." From the written report made to your Excellency by Mr.
Marsden of the answers made by Dr. Troy to him, when he inter
rogated the Doctor as to a private conversation which passed in
my chamber (which report I have the honour to return to your
Excellency), I thought it right to desire of the Doctor to bring
to me a vn-itten memorandum of what had passed between Dr.
Marsden there on that subject, a copy of which I have the
honour to transmit to your Excellency, and shall only observe
upon the whole transaction that, if your Excellency had at once
intimated your desire to know what had passed between Dr.
Troy and me in my chamber upon that or any other subject,
you should have had from me a frank and full explanation of it.
In compliance with your Excellency's desire I have the honour
to send you a statement, as correct as my memory enables me to
make it, of the Institution at Maynooth ; and I am confident
that of the many serious and important topics which remain to
be fully considered and finally arra.nged for the settlement of
this country, this institution will be found to be one of the
most prominent. I have the honour to be, &c. &c. Clare.
MINUTE OF A CONVEESATION BETWEEN ME. ABBOT AND
LOED KILWAEDEN, AT COEK ABBEY. Deo. 25th, 1801.*
In the course of this conversation, which lasted above an hour,
the following points were distinctly stated and restated by Lord
Kilwarden. * This Minute is given also in the CornwaUis Correspondence, III.

Dec. 1801.] MAYNOOTH. 337
I. The original purpose of the College of Maynooth was to
educate only priests. The proofs of it are : —
1. That it originated in the circumstances of the times which
had revolutionised the Continent, and rendered the former places
of education for the Irish priests (viz. St. Omer, Paris, &c.) unfit
and unsafe ; and rendered it desirable to educate them at home.
2. The speech of the JMinister (Mr. Pelham) in opening the
measure to Parliament, pointed only to that object.
3. Lord Kilwarden, who was then Attorney-General, and was
commissioned by Lord Pelham to confer with the Catholics, had
no conference but with Dr. Troy (titular Archbishop of DubUn)
and another priest ; and when, under his general instructions to
talk with them, he wished them to make the College a joint
school for laity and clergy, they would not hear of it, and stated
it to be prohibited by their own rules.
Lord Kilwarden, in illustration of this, incidentally stated the
case of the present Bishop of Meath, who was educated for the
priesthood at the Sorbonne; and, having come over for his
health to Ireland, was refused to be readmitted at the Sorbonne,
on account of his having proceeded with his education here
(N.B. — I believe in Trin. College, Dublin, CA.) promiscuously
with the laity.
4. A further proof that such was the original plan was this,
that the College had not from its foundation ever taken any other
shape than for priests, though certainly the Act was expressed in
general terms.
II. As to any subsequent compact, such as I told him Lord
Clare says was made after he threw out the Bill in 1798 ;
Lord Kilwarden said he knew of none ; it might have been
some expectation held out to Lord Fingall ; he did not believe
any passed with Lord Cornwallis ; but, if it did, Colonel Little
hales would know it most probably.
III. As to his report of his visitation at Maynooth to Lord
Hardwicke, Lord Avonmore had authorised him to report to
Government the appearance of this lay school, the novelty of
which had surprised them both.
The building for the lay boys is a dormitory, at the distance
of a field or two, but upon the College ground, and within the
same fence; it contained no school room, and therefore he
supposed the boys must go to the Priests' College for their lessons.
That as visitor he had only to report the fact ; but personally
he had also expressed his individual opinions upon the novelty
and impolicy of the measure.
VOL. L Z

338 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV,
IV. I then related to Lord Kilwarden what had passed sub
sequently to the report.
Upon stating the intimation which I had given to Mr. Knox
by his Excellency's direction, he desired (with excuses) to know
whether I was sure of my recollection as to the substance and
mode of the intimation.
I repeated to him the whole, 'as nearly as possible, in the
•manner which I noted for Lord Hardwicke, and which he sent to
England to Mr. Addington ; and I added that I believed it was
so communicated in ipsismmis verbis.
He said he wished to be accurately possessed of it, because it
had been quite otherwise represented, though he was not at
liberty to say how, or by whom.
I told him I knew Lord Clare had otherwise represented it ; but
I wished to know if he had it from Mr. Knox himself, or whether
Mr. Knox did represent it differently ; that I was in some degree
anxious about that, although I was very sure of my own precise
recollection of a matter which naturally appeared to me of
moment, both before and since it had occurred.
Lord Kilwarden said he did not hear it from Mr. Knox ; nor had
he indeed seen him. He seemed much surprised that Knox had
not been to me, and that I had not received any communication
from him upon the subject.
I said whatever difference of opinion might fairly be enter
tained by the most honourable men upon the general question of
policy ; and although no man was from high official character,
learning, and knowledge of the country more entitled to be
heard respectfully, and with the greatest deference than Lord
Clare ; yet it was quite impossible that any orders given by the
Lord-Lieutenant should be superseded by any other person how
ever high. And, when his Excellency had given an intimation
that the lay school was not to go on, it could not be permitted
that any other persons should direct it to proceed.
That this had been explained to Lord Clare, who disclaimed
the intention, though he certainly had done the thing, as appeared
by Dr. Troy's narrative (taken down by Marsden and admitted by
Dr. Troy to be true). I then told him that Lord Hardwicke had
thought it necessary to send a written direction to Mr. Marsden
to assure Dr. Troy of the kind disposition of Government to all
descriptions of the King's subjects, but that they must come to
the Lord-Lieutenant for explanations of the Lord-Lieutenant's
orders, and not go elsewhere, or to that effect.
Lord Kilwarden said, certainly there could be no Lord-
Lieutenant, if any other man was to do away his orders. He

Dec 1801.] MAYNOOTH. 339
lamented that this led to such a dispute, because the intimation
could only point at Lord Clare ; but that it was certainly neces
sary to preserve the Lord-Lieutenant's authority, &c. &c.
V. Upon the policy of such a mixed school :
1. To my question whether he had told Lord Clare that he
was of opinion for going on with this school, and for educating
such boys, with such priests, in such an institution, he said. Most
decidedly not.
I said Dr. Troy represented the Chancellor to have said so of
Lord Kilwarden.
Lord Kilwarden said, on the contrary, he had told the Chan
cellor there could not be a worse education.
And when he told the Chancellor of the nature of their ex
amination of an hour at the visitation, about St. Augustin and
Origen, and their coarse vulgar jokes and manner at the dinner.
Lord Clare seemed much surprised at it ; and seemed not to
know they were of such a description.
2. As to the abstract policy. Lord Kilwarden would advise
the Crown and Parliament, vsdth a view only to the present race,
to govern by a strong military force, and keep down the Ca
tholics by the bayonet : but, with a view to posterity, he should
¦wish to educate the Protestants and Catholics together.
And such was the object of opening Trinity College Dublin
to the Catholics.
I told him that now, at Trinity College, the Provost ac
quainted me there were many sons of opulent Catholics, and
that their numbers of this class increased. Lord Kilwarden
said he knew it to be so. But the Chancellor did not admit it,
and ought to be put in full and unquestionable possession of
the fact.

MINUTE OP A CONVEESATION BETWEEN ME. ABBOT AND
ME. KNOX. Dec. 28th.
[I said] I wished to see you upon the subject of a com
munication which I made to you some time ago, respecting the
School for lay boarders at Maynooth College.
I understand from His Excellency that, since that time, other
conversations have been had upon the subject ; and subsequent
orders have been sent down by Dr. Troy.
My object at present in desiring to see you, is to acquaint
you by Lord Hardwicke's direction (to the same effect as he has
desired Mr. Marsden to speak to Dr. Troy), thatthe Lord-Lieu-
Z 2

340 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
tenant desires that, if at any futm-e time any explanation is
wished for respecting any communication made by him or by
his orders, that you would have the goodness to apply for it to
him, or to those by whom his orders have been given.
You will always be received with the utmost candour and
gOod will ; but he desires that his own orders may be explained
by himself, and through the same channel by which they were
given. Knox said, that he had officially communicated to the College
the message which I had delivered to him.
He then went on to relate Lord Fingall's visit to Lord Hard
wicke, and Lord Clare ; and his now being sent for to Lord
Clare to relate what had passed between him and me; and
Lord Clare's repetition of it in the street in a way that pained
him extremely.
In the course of his conversation, Knox said, that the great
men of the country had been used to manage everything, and to
meddle with everything. They were enfans gates ; and forgot
their correct line ..of duty upon these matters.
After much mixed and private conversation, in which I only
mentioned Lord Clare once, saying that I had always maintained
a due respect towards him, notwithstanding what I might know
to be his language personally of me, we parted ; with my dis
tinctly repeating that I was now authorised and ordered to make
this second communication to him as agent to the College :
Namely — That His Excellency desired whenever any orders
or communications were made by his authority to the College,
they, the College, would, for the very purpose of cultivating a
good understanding with them, and a good will towards them,
if they had any wish for explanation of such orders, apply
directly to His Excellency, that His Excellency might give his
own explanation of his orders, and thereby prevent all mis
apprehension whatever.
Knox said in reply, that he would not fail to communicate
this exactly as it was meant. He saw the perfect propriety of
it; and thought he could enforce it with full effect by many
arguments of his own.

LETTEE FEOM LOED KILWAEDEN TO LOED HAEDWICKE.
New Lands, Jan. Sth, 1802.
My Lord, — I had yesterday evening the honour of your
Excellency's letter of the first inst., in which you are pleased
to desire me to furnish your Excellency with a statement

Jan. 1802.] MAYNOOTH. 341
of what I recollect of the original intentions and objects of
Government in the institution of the College of Maynooth, as
well as of any changes that have been made at any subsequent
times, either tacitly or otherwise, in the system which it was
, understood the Government intended should be followed; more
particularly with reference to an exclusive education for the
priesthood, or a mixed education to which lay scholars might be
admitted. I lament that I have it not in my power to give your Excel
lency all that information on the subject which you wish to ob
tain ; that, I believe you can receive from those only who, when
the College was founded, had the honour of being placed in the
highest department of the Government of Ireland. I was then
in the office of Attorney-General, and was not always informed
of every resolution of Government, even on subjects on which I
had the honour of being consulted. I have endeavoured to
bring to my recollection whatever I knew respecting the subject
of your Excellency's inquiry, and all that I can recall I beg
leave to state.
I am certain that I had several conversations with the present
Lord Pelham, then secretary to Lord Camden *, on the establish
ing a college for educating young men for the priesthood in the
Eomish Church. What passed in such conversations I cannot,
at this distance of time, particularly recollect, but the impression
on my mind most strongly is, that the object of Government was
stated to me to be to provide a seminary for the education of
persons designed for orders in the Irish Eomish Church, in order
to remove the difficulty arising from the destruction of the
colleges on the Continent, in which the clergy had been edu
cated previous to the French Eevolution ; and I have not the
least recollection that in any of these conversations the edu
cation of the laity was ever under consideration.
I have perfect recollection that, in the conferences which I
had the honour to have with Lord Pelham, I suggested that,
for attaining the object of Government, it might be proper to
found and erect a college contiguous to Trinity College, to be
a member of the University of Dublin, of which college the
head, feUows, professors, and tutors, should be of the Popish re
ligion, and in which students for orders should be educated, and
that the University should be enabled to confer degrees on such
students, and that the new college should be part of the
University, and subject to visitation in like manner as Trinity
.* Lord Camden was Lord-Lieutenant .from 1789 to 1792.
z 3

342 DLA.EY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
College is; and I also perfectly recollect that, among other
reasons in support of this suggestion, I urged that placing the
new Popish Seminary contiguous to Trinity College, would tend
gradually to remove prejudices, and to heal animosities ; and,
above all, by the unavoidable intercourse that would arise be
tween the members and students of both societies, to open and
enlarge the minds of the students, and perhaps others of the
Popish Seminary.
Lord Pelham, some days after I offered this suggestion for
his consideration, desired, on the part of Government, that I
should confer with Dr. Troy on the subject at large, and par
ticularly should ascertain what the nature of the institution
would be, and what was desired for persons designed for orders
in the Eomish Church. And, accordingly. Dr. Troy, accom
panied by a gentleman who appeared to be a Popish priest,
came to my house in Leicester Street, where the subject was
considered at large. I proposed the scheme of a coUege, as I
had suggested to Lord Pelham. Dr. Troy at once decidedly
said it could not on any account be adopted, for it was a rule
and principle for their church never to permit students in
tended for holy orders to mix with those intended for worldly
pursuits. And this objection of Dr. Troy was strongly, and with
a degree of peremptoriness, enforced by his companion. I then
told Dr. Troy that I conceived the Government could not with
justice or propriety authorise the conferring of degrees, but
through the University of Dublin ; and I desired to know
whether he and his brethren had considered in what manner
degrees were to be conferred, if what I proposed were inad
missible. His answer was, that degrees were not necessary to the ad
mission into holy orders ; that a power to confer degrees was
not desired ; that what they desired was a distinct seminary,
under their own distinct Government.
The substance of this conversation I reported to Lord Pelham ;
and in the course of it I do not recollect or believe that a word
passed respecting the subject of lay education.
Thus I have stated to your Excellency all I recollect to have
fallen within my knowledge previous to -passing the Act by
which the College of Maynooth was founded. It cannot, how
ever, escape your Excellency's observation that much may have
passed respecting the subject, of which I was uninformed.
I continued to entertain my original impression ofthe objects
of Government in this institution, until the visitation, held last
summer at the College, when the President of the College:

Jan. 1802.] MAYNOOTH. 343
cursorily — as the visitors amused themselves in a walk through
tbe grounds, previous to their entering on business — showed
them a small neat building at some distance from the College,
but within the enclosure of its grounds, which the President
said was intended for the education of lay students. Eecol-
lecting instantly the conversation I formerly had with Dr. Troy,
I felt surprised at this lay institution within the precincts of
an ecclesiastical seminai-y; but, not knowing whether Govern
ment had approved or permitted it, I forbore at that time to
make any inquiry into the matter.
With respect to the other object of your Excellency's inquiry,
" whether any changes have been made at any time, subsequent
to the original institution, either tacitly or otherwise, with
respect to the system which it was understood Government in
tended should be followed with respect to education for the
priesthood, or to a mixed education, to which lay scholars might
be admitted," I am altogether uninformed; certainly, I have
not heard of any ; nor indeed do I recollect that I have had any
intercourse with Government on the subject, until after the
visitation of last summer.
I have the honour to be, my Lord, with the greatest respect.
Your Excellency's most obliged and obedient, humble servt.,
Kilwarden.
LETTEE FEOM THE BISHOP OF MEATH * TO ME. ABBOT.
[Private and Confidential.] Ardbraccan House, Jan. llth, 1802.
Dear Sir, — I have still to complain of that state of health
which I assigned to you before Christmas as my apology for not
submitting to you the statements I promised relative to the
College at Maynooth. I could wish to make them as full and
satisfactory as everything that proposes to occupy your time and
attention ought to be ; but, as the time of your going to England
is probably approaching, I must content myself with doing the
best I can.
In a paper which I put into your hands in London, I con
sidered this subject pretty much at large ; but, as I think you
said that Mr. Addington had that paper, I request you to read
the tivo extraxis which I enclose, from letters which I wrote to
Lord Castlereagh. The first was in consequence of the vote of
the House of Lords against allowing the sum proposed by
* Dr. O'Beime. See page 337.
z 4

344 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.,
Government for that estabUshment ; and the second in answer
to some papers which Lord Castlereagh showed me for my
opinion, and to the intimation he gave me of the Chancellor's
intention to bring in a new Bill on this subject.
An account which I received in the course of the last month,
that the Irish Seminary and College at Paris had, on the in
tervention of Dr. Hussey, been restored to their original pur
poses, made me first wish to call your attention at this time to
this business, which I conceive to be of the greatest moment to
the peace of this country. The first object of the institution is
to educate the Eoman Catholic clergy at home, and to prevent
them from being tied up under the system that was originally
framed in the foreign seminaries, for the purpose of having so
powerful a body of men in the very heart of the country, pre
judiced against its constitution, and leagued against its Govern
ment. We know that this was the object which Philip the
Second avowed, when he encouraged the establishment of those
seminaries in his dominions ; and how well they answered his
expectations many a bloody and gloomy page in the histories of
both kingdoms can testify. It is therefore evident that the most
decisive measures should be taken to prevent the Eomish clergy
from resorting to these foreign seminaries for education, and to
preclude persons educated there from exercising any clerical
functions whatever in this country.
When it was in contemplation to give the Eoman Catholic
bishops and priests an establishment, for the wise purpose of
bringing them under the influence of Government, and making
them independent of their own people, the mode of doing this
appeared to be easy. It was only to make a condition that no
person so educated should enjoy the allowance from Govern
ment, and that a certificate of having studied at Maynooth
alone should be a necessary title to it. If that measure should
be given up, the object can only be answered by Parliamentary
regulations, and an absolute prohibitory law to this effect, sup
ported by penalties. I need not observe to you, for example,
what hopeful missionaries we are to expect from Paris, or what
dangerous auxiliaries some future revolutionists might have
ready fashioned to their hands in the pupils of such schools
as are likely to be formed there. But in order to be able to meet
this danger effectually, and to take grounds on which the Legis
lature might have a right to insist on the CathoUc body's enter
ing into its own views on this important poiat, it is obvious that
it will be necessary to make provision for educating at Maynooth
what they shall prove to be the number necessary for the dis-

Jan. 1802.] MAYNOOTH. 345
charge of the parochial duties through the kingdom. The ex
pense can be of no consideration, as, without precluding this
foreign education, and interdicting the priests who shall have
received it, the expense you are now at for that establishment
can never answer its purpose, and is absolutely thrown away.
It occurred to me, and I mentioned the idea to Lord Castle
reagh, that when peace should be established, and if ever a
good understanding should subsist between our Court and France,
and the other countries in which such foundations have been
provided, it might not be difficult to obtain consent to have the
funds by which the establishments are supported, transferred to
our Government for the benefit of the College at Maynooth, and
so for the purposes for which their founders designed them. I
mean such part of those funds as were the gift of British subjects,
for I understand that many Frenchmen and other foreigners be
stowed part of their property on these pious institutions.
On consulting vrith the Eomish Bishop of this diocese, who is
one of their great leaders, on' this idea, and asking his opinion,
I found that I was not the only person to whom it had occurred,
but that he and many of his brethren thought that it might be
accompUshed — the funds of the Seminary and College in Paris
alone, I mean the funds settled by British subjects, are very
considerable indeed; and if transferred, would greatly lessen
the expenses of the Maynooth establishment. How far the
First Consul would be disposed to listen to such a proposal from
Lord Cornwallis, at Amiens, you probably will, with me, be dis
posed to doubt ; but I do not think the thing impracticable at
some future day, provided the Eoman Catholic Clergy of Ireland
would become the suitors, through the Pope, or in any other
way that the Government would allow them.
But all this, by the way : the danger to be apprehended
from tolerating that mode of education, for the Eoman Catholic
priests, which has been one of the most powerful instruments
in producing all the distractions of this country since the days
of Queen EUzabeth, cannot escape the penetration of the dullest
observer ; and there is an absolute necessity of meeting it ia
the most effectual way that the wisdom of the Government can
devise. Ther^ are some other points on which I find myself en
couraged by your anxiety to gain information on every subject
that is connected with the welfare of this country, to offer you
my opinion. But I suffer so much from a complaint in my
head that I must defer them to some more favourable oppor
tunity. I cannot, however, but beg to call your attention to the

346 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
shameful abuses that have long prevailed in our public schools,
whether of Eoyal or private foundations. During Lord Cam
den's administration much attention was paid to this subject.
There was not one of the schools founded by James the First
that he did not find in the possession of persons who held them
as absolute sinecures, or merely kept up a show of a school.
On the death of Mr. Noble, who held the great school of Ennis-
killen, he appointed a person who certainly was in every respect
quahfied to be at the head of so fine an establishment, and who
took it on the express condition of reUnquishing every other
pursuit, and confining himself altogether to the forming and
conducting such a school as the funds and conveniences gave
Government reason to expect to see there. Some Uttle diffi
culties came in the way of this gentleman (Dr. Burrowes) at
first ; but at present, I am told, the school is flourishing. An
other of these schools, that at Eaphoe, vsdth very ample endow
ment, was in the hands of Mr. Alley, who had not a single
pupil, and was ia every way unqualified for it. Lord Camden
removed him, and in his place nominated a Mr. Irwin, who was
recommended to him, and justly, by the late Primate, as one of
the fittest men in the kingdom for such a situation. But unfortu
nately a tree that fell on his head caused a temporary derange
ment, and I am afraid he is not going on as well as otherwise he
would have done.
On Lord CornwaUis's succeeding, it was hope& that the same
system would be followed up ; but on the very first vacancy that
happened — the school of Bannagher, in my diocese, endowed
with lands that bring at present nearly three hundred a year, —
Bower Daly, then in most furious opposition, applied for it,
and got it for WUUam Ponsonby's son, who of course never
could be expected to keep a school himself, and who does not
even think of employing a substitute, or doing any thing for
the income beyond what his predecessors had done. I make no
doubt but on investigation you will find many other abuses
in this estabUshment equally flagrant ; and in the endowments
made by private persons, and even in the diocesan schools, they
are numberless.
In correcting this abuse in the foundations to which Govern
ment appoints the remedy is easy. Suppose each Bishop should
be called upon to report upon the state of such schools as may
be in his diocese, who the masters are, and what number of
scholars they teach; Government, where they found such an
instance as I have alluded to, might follow Lord Camden's ex
ample, deprive the man, and. substitute a proper person in his

Jan. 1802.] MAYNOOTH. 347
place. As to schools endowed by individuals, whose families
appoint to them, instructions might be sent to the Bishops to
bring them before the committee for inquiring into the abuses
of charitable legacies, which was substituted on the Union for
that which sat regularly every year for that purpose in our
House of Lords. I have two such in my diocese, and I should
be happy to have the orders of the Lord-Lieutenant to report
upon them, and his sanction for taking the necessary steps to
force these families to answer the intentions of their ancestors
instead of putting the funds into the pockets of their younger
brothers, or into their own.
One word about the Board of First Fruits, the appropriation of
the compensation money, and indeed the whole of their economy
and proceedings. Leave it not to the Bishops to regulate them.
Take it into your own hands, form your own decisions, and your
own plans, and get them enforced by an Act of Parliament.
You never will completely accomplish your object in any other
way, as I could easily prove to you. I should be sorry to be known
to give this advice, as you may well suppose, but I do it conscien
tiously and for reasons in no way disrespectful to my brethren ;
but suggested to me by my uniform observations in every matter
that I have ever yet known referred to them 
I am, with the sincerest regard and attachment, dear Sir,
Your obliged and faithful Servant, J. L. Meath.
Fi/rst Extract referred to in the preceding Letter.
One of the great objects of the institution was to bring the
education of the Eoman Catholic Clergy, on whom the morals
and conduct of the Eoman Catholic body depend almost exclu
sively, under the inspection of the Government, and, as far as it
might be done without violence to their religious prejudices,
under its control.
In the accompUshment of this object, I thought, from the first,
that the Board of Trustees was improperly constituted. A great
majority were Eoman Catholics, and the few Protestants who
were joined to them seemed to have been nominated rather as
a compliment to these Trustees than as forming any efficient or
necessary part of their body. It is certain that in no instance
(and one or two of very great importance, such as the removal
of Hussey, and the expulsion of the United Irish students, have
occurred; did any of the Protestant Trustees interfere, nor have
they ever been called upon by the others. I submit to your
* Maynooth,

348 DUEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XlV..
Lordship whether occasion might not now be taken to correct what
I account a great error. Whether, in addition to the present num
ber of Protestant Trustees, the Archbishop of Dublin, as Metro
politan, the Bishop of Kildare, as Diocesan, and some additional
officers of the Crown should not be appointed ; whether it should
not be provided that, for all the great objects of the institution,
in its management, its discipline, or the nomination of its mem
bers, no meeting of the Board should be held -without proper
notice being given to the Protestant Trustees, and a specific
number of them being present ; and whether, of the whole body
appointed, a majority should not be Protestants 
I perfectly agree with the Chancellor, that a Protestant
Government and a Protestant Legislature would act a most
absurd and inconsistent part in continuing, at an immense
national expense, an establishment, the managers and con
ductors of which maintain and inculcate on the pupils a
principle of inextinguishable opposition and enmity to the Es
tablished Church. But if his speech be properly reported in the
newspapers, he has taken no notice of what is most dangerous
and insupportable in that system, on which the Eoman Catholic
Bishops have combined to act : I mean the regulation of de
terring, by means of excommunication and immediate exclusion
from all the benefits and blessings of their Church, all parents
who shall send their children to be educated at Protestant
schools. The worst enemy of Ireland could not have devised a
scheme more effectually calculated to keep this description of
His Majesty's subjects a distinct people for ever, and to propagate
eternal hatred and enmity between them and the Protestant
body. It was obviously a scheme of .Hussey's to raise a spiritual
wall of separation between them, in the place of that temporal
wall which the Legislature had removed, and to counteract the
effects of that liberal intercourse which every friend of the
country rejoiced to see so generally taking place; but by which
the Eoman Catholic priests, imprudently left to depend for their
subsistence on the number of their votaries, naturally dreaded to
be sufferers. This is precisely the same tyranny of which they
had themselves so long complained, as violating the first prin
ciples of nature by denying the parent the right of educating
his own child as seemed best to himself. It differs only in the
nature of the punishment, and is the more oppressive as they
are more inexcusable in inflicting their spiritual, than the legis
lature ever was in enforcing its civil, penalties.
But this was not the only evil that was to be apprehended
from this system of exclusive education. It was obviously cal-

Jan. 1802.] MAYNOOTH. 349
culated to bring into the hands of the Popish clergy the educa
tion of all the lower orders throughout the kingdom. Of this
I had myself a convincing proof in the Diocese of Ossory. In
several parishes the ministers complained that their school
masters had thrown up their schools ; the Eoman Catholics had
withdraAvn all their children, and the Protestants were not suffi
ciently numerous to afford them a livelihood by continuing to
teach them. As the rule is universal the consequence must
become equally so ; and, as the Protestants of the middling and
lower orders must necessarily procure some education for their
children, the instruction of the youth of those classes, must in
evitably be engrossed by the Eoman Catholic Clergy, who have
the entire direction of their schools. I need not observe how
much more effectually this system is calculated to diminish the
number of Protestants in Ireland than those institutions which,
at a great pubUc expense, have been established to increase
them. Somewhat connected with this abuse, and tending to the
same object, is that part of the system alluded to in the report
of the ChanceUor's speech, that forbids all Eoman Catholics to
enter a Protestant church, or to assist at a Protestant sermon or
exhortation, or to receive any kind of moral or religious instruc
tion from a Protestant minister.
As this is one of the greatest objects of their dread, as threat
ening most immediately to trench on their emoluments by
lessening the number of their congregations, they inexorably
punish all who transgress with public excommunication.
With us, in Ireland, excommunication has fallen into disuse,
but even when it made a part of the practical discipline of the
Church, it required a settled and legal course of proceeding in
the Ecclesiastical Courts. But the Eoman CathoUc bishops and
priests exercise this dangerous engine of their power at discre
tion, and in every instance to which they think proper to attach
this penalty ; but most generally to deter from heresy. Amongst
them it is accompanied by all its ancient terrors ; the excommu
nicated person is driven from all society, no one converses with
him, no one will serve him, no one employ him. You will judge
whether it is an instrument to be left in such hands, unregulated
and uncontrolled : and how far it is to be borne that those men
should exercise an authority unknown to the laws of the land,
assuming a power above these laws, and tending to deprive the
subject ofhis legal rights beyond the most arbitrary and tyrannical
abuse of the civil powers. No man will attempt to deny that such
a system deserves to be reprobated by the Government and the

350 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
legislature. It is equally undeniable that an establishment con
ducted by persons engaged in reducing this system to practice, and
in which is provided a succession of persons trained and instructed
to perpetuate it, should not be so much as tolerated, much less
supported at the public expense.
But there is a wide difference between abolishing the estabUsh
ment, and regulating it, between violating in a moment the
faith of Government and the impUed pledge of ParUament, and
endeavouring to correct the abuses that frustrate the intentions
of Government and ParUament, in providing for an institution,
which, if properly conducted, must be productive of the greatest
public good.
I would enter into a thorough explanation with the Eoman
Catholic bishops on all these points. I would insist on their
formally and practically renouncing this dangerous system in all
its parts, and on their giving a pledge that no such doctrines as
have been broached by Hussey in his " Pastoral Letters " relative
to it, should be taught in their divinity schools, or enforced by
their parochial clergy. I would insist on their bringing their
discipline of excommunication within the observation of the civil
powers and the direction of law. But unless they refuse com
pliance, and consequently make it manifest that the tendency of
any institution for the supply of their priests must be to per
petuate religious divisions and animosities, and to propagate the
system of Hussey's pamphlet, I should think it an unwise
measure to suffer the education of the Eoman Catholic clergy to
return to its old course, from which so much mischief has fol
lowed to the empire.
On that event they must either go for their education to
countries hostile to England, where, in addition to their religious
prejudices, they will imbibe those civil prejudices, and that spirit
of hatred and resentment of which France and Spain have unre
mittingly availed themselves since the days of the Eeformation
to raise a party for themselves to foment domestic disturbances
in Ireland ; or they will be left to pick up such an education as
they can find at home, amidst all the poverty, ignorance, and
low vicious habits of the class from which they are generally
taken. Even since the establishment of the college at Maynooth
I have observed a very flagrant abuse of this nature ; and, in an
official return which I made to Mr. Pelham of the number of
schools in Kilkenny, I pointed it out to him. Under a pretext, or
rather taking advantage from the want of a provision at May
nooth for a sufficient supply of their parochial clergy, such as
Hussey, with the assistance of their bishops, returned the num-

Jan. 1802.] MAYNOOTH. 351
ber, they put in force a regulation of the Council of Trent,
and established a seminary under the direction of the bishop in
every diocese. This abuse tends in the first place to multiply
their clergy beyond calculation, and to make them swarm in a
country where, having no adequate provision, they will, in all
probability, minister to the vices of the lower orders to get bread.
In the next place, as the students of these seminaries do not
reside in them, but come there occasionally, and at stated periods,
as I saw practised at Kilkenny, they must spend the greatest
part of their time among their parents and friends, acquiring
habits of idleness, and of all the vices which abound among their
own class, and must of course become a profligate and abandoned
priesthood. If Government in its wisdom should make a provision for the
full supply of their clergy, they ought to be under regulations
as the Established Church is ; and they could have no reason to
complain at the suppression of all private seminaries for the
education of priests, or that it should be required of their bishops
not to give orders but to persons educated at Maynooth.
Second Extract.
In a letter from London I submitted to you my ideas respect
ing the Trustees. Some of my objections to that Board, as then
constituted, are to be done away by the projected Bill of the
Chancellor; nor can I see any objection to the admitting some of
the principal Eoman CathoUc laity among the visitors, nor even
the titular Archbishop of Dublin, as I understand your Lordship
has lately consented to. But then I hope that some of the acting
trustees shall be Protestants, without a certain number of whom
being present nothing material should be done ; and that the
majority of visitors shall be Protestants, and that the Archbishop
of DubUn, as metropolitan, and the Bishop of Kildare, as dioce
san, shall be of the number. The present prejudices of the Popish
Bishops may repugn at this ; but, if Government be firm in re
quiring it, they will give way, and as these prelates will probably
be the most watchful and assiduous of the Protestant visitors,
they will best answer the purposes for which this mixture of
Protestants is designed.
I should further hope that the attention and attendance of the
visitors will not be discretionary or reserved for particular occa
sions and occurrences, but that it shall be provided that they
shall visit at regular and fixed periods, at which the acting
trustees shaU be accountable to them for everything essentially

352 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
connected with the establishment, its discipline, its internal re
gulations, its revenues, the character and conduct of all bearing
office, of the professors and students, and every matter mto
which they should think it expedient to carry their inquiries.
With respect to the course of theological studies, and the doc
trines of their school, it may be fortunate that the majority of
their bishops, their present president, and, if I am rightly informed,
the whole of their professors and masters, have been educated in
the different seminaries estabUshed for the education of the Irish
Eoman CathoHc Clergy in France. In that case they wiU have
the less objection to submit to some such regulations as prevailed
in that kingdom, and by which the whole system of their clerical
education was kept under the immediate inspection and control
of the civil Government. They will have the,, less objection to
make the immunities of the GalUcan Church, and the boundaries
which it established between the civil and spiritual power, and
against the encroachments and usurpations of the See of Eome,
the basis of their national church in Ireland. Nor will it sound
new to them to require that the Government should possess the
same control over the doctrines they teach, as the Government
of France exercised, so far as to see that nothing shall be incul
cated or taught by their professors contrary to the peace and
tranquillity of the country, the dignity of the Crown, the
King's title or authority, the free, unrestrained exercise of the
Protestant religion, or the security and permanency of the es
tablishment. The mode which the Professors of morals and theology fol
lowed under the old regime, was to compose and commit to writing
in books for that purpose, their annual course of studies ; out of
these they dictated from day to day to the students, who wrote
down what was dictated, and were afterwards occasionally ex
amined out of it. These books or cahiers were inspected by per
sons appointed for that purpose by the Government, and at the
end of each course, when some of the more distinguished of each
school were appointed to hold disputations, or what they called
Theses, in public, there were officers appointed for inspecting
into the doctrines contained in these theses, nor could any dis
putation be held upon them in the schools, until they were first
signed by the professor of the class, and approved by the public
censor. I make no doubt, but that the Professors ofthe College of May
nooth follow the same method in delivering their lectures, nor
can I see how they should feel any difficulty in submitting their
course of morals and theology to the inspection of persons

April, 1802.] ENDOWMENT OP EOMAN CATHOLIC CLEEGY. 353
appointed for the purpose, and responsible to the Government
for the doctrines they teach, or that their theses should be signed
previous to disputation, by the respective Professors, and copies
of them sent to the acting Trustees, the Visitors, and the
Principal Secretary.

State of the Question upon the proposed Grant of a
Stipendiary Allowance to the Roman Catholic Priests
in Ireland, drawn up by Mr. Abbot.
1. THE SUPPOSED PLEDGE. — 2. THE POLICY.  3. THE MODE AND
MEANS.
1. The supposed Pledge.
Proposition: — Itis said that a direct assurance was given
last year to the Eomanists (and Presbyterians) that such a
provision should be made ; and that this assurance was given
with the knowledge and approbation of His Majesty.
Contra : — It is said, however, that the Catholic Clergy will not
now accept this maintenance, inasmuch as the laity have not
obtained the benefit of those concessions of power which they
expected. But the Presbyterians are still desirous ofthe increased bounty
intended for them. 2. The Policy.
General preliminary considerations : —
Was the Eeformation a right or a wrong measure ? And is
it fitting for a Protestant Government having the power to
strengthen its own establishment and extend its effects, to stop
its own progress, and check its growth by any irrevocable Act ?
Particular considerations of advantage and disadvantage in
adopting the measure : —
1. Pro. It may attach the Eoman Catholics to the State.
Contra. Will it, in fact, attach them to the State ? Ought
not every true Eomanist to reject every offer which invites him
to a dependence on a Government which he deems heretical,
and tends to give stability to a power which it is his first duty
to destroy ? Will it not increase the power of the Eomanists
without mending their dispositions ? And have they become
better subjects since the concessions in 1793 ?
VOL. I. A A

354 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
2. Pro. It may detach the Eoman Catholic priests from
a servile dependence on their parishioners.
Contra. Can you detach the priests from their present de
pendence upon their parishioners, without giving them a pro
vision at least equal to what they now receive ? And if you
give it to them, wiU they not become objects of distrust to their
own parishioners, and cease to have that control over them
(vhich it is wished to connect with the State ? And wiU notthe
people rather place their confidence in priests not so paid,
and consequently not suspected of bias to the Protestant govern
ment ? of which latter description there are seven or eight priests
in some parishes.
3. Pro. It may detach them from a dangerous adherence to
the Court of Eome.
Contra. Can you detach them from the Court of Eome as
long as they deny the king's supremacy ? which they have in all
ages denied invariably.
4. Pro. It may introduce a better and more moral and en
lightened description of persons, into the rank and functions
of priests.
Contra. Can this be done without multiplying colleges and
seminaries in Ireland for that express purpose at the expense of
the Protestants ? inasmuch as the Eoman Catholics have com
paratively no property, and have in fact never contributed to
the College at Maynooth. The magnificent cathedral which they
are now building, at Kells, near Dublin, is a proof that they are
wilUng to make greater exertions for a display of power than
for rendering themselves useful subjects.
5. Pro. The expediency of providing at the public expense for
the support of those who dissent from the established religion of
the State has been already allowed by founding the College at
Maynooth for the Catholics, and by the grant of King William
to the nonconforming ministers of the Protestant Church.
Contra. The opposite policy has prevailed for a much greater
length of time ; by Eoyal and Parliamentary Acts for establish
ing and supporting parochial schools, diocesan free schools, royal
free schools, and Protestant charter schools, during 250 years,
for the express purpose of promoting and extending the
established religion of the State, and Protestantising the country, -
as the surest means of giving it an identity of interests with
Great Britain.
3. The Mode and Means.
1. Pro. By taxing the Catholics to maintain their own clergy.

April, 1802.] ENDOWMENT OP EOMAN CATHOLIC CLEECiY. 35,5
Contra. This would impose upon them a double tax for reli
gion, as they already pay tithes to the Protestant clergy.
2. Pro. By allotting to them some share of the present provi
sion of the Established Church.
Contra. Inadmissible — because the Church is not at present
too rich, especially when the united benefices come to be dis
united, for there are at present only 1100 benefices in all Ireland
though the number of parishes exceeds 2200.
3. Pro. By a separate charge on- Ireland and an indiscriminate
tax upon all its inhabitants.
Contra. This would impose a tax upon the Protestants for the
sole purpose of maintaining the Catholics, their inveterate
enemies. 4. Pro. By a joint charge and tax upon the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland.
N.B. There are no other modes by which this charge could be
defrayed. Contra. This would give a direct claim to all who dissent
from the EstabUshed Church in Great Britain, viz. CathoUcs,
Presbyterians, and all other sectaries whatever, and would create
an entirely new head of charge, when the present charges are
already extremely burthensome.

Further Reasons against the Measure, considered only with
respect to the Catholics.
1. The necessity of tiansacting any such arrangements with
the Catholics through the Court of Rome, in order to make it
acceptable to the Catholics, or binding upon them ; and the
endless difficulties in controlling the discipline and customs of
their Church so as to prevent its hostility to the State. Ex.
gratia: — 1st. Eestricting the number of Eoman Catholic agents
resident at Eome, each bishop now having one. — 2ndly. The
exclusion of all regulars from bishoprics; the present titular
Archbishop of Dublin is a Dominican Friar. — 3rdly. The exclu
sion of all priests educated abroad, &c. (see the Bishop of Meath's
papers). 2. The arrangement, if made, must depend for its duration
upon the continuing consent of successive Popes, upon whose
will, therefore, either free or influenced by other Continental
powers, Ireland must depend daily for its peace and safety.

A a 2

356 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
Further Reasons against the Measure, considered with respect
to the Protestants.
1. In Ireland. It would form a lasting and irrevocable bar
to the long established policy of gradually protestantising the
country, and wearing out the attachment to the Catholic religion.
It would establish a rival power in everlasting hostility to the
Established Church {res olim insociabiles), and might even tend
to detach the Protestants of Ireland from their affection to the
Parliament and Crovm of the United Kingdom.
2. In Great Britain. It would lay the foundation of a similar
claim, not only for the Eoman Catholics here, but equally for
all other persons dissenting from the Established Church ; and
those of every description would require a State provision for
their preachers and teachers ; viz. Presbyterians, Methodists,
Moravians, Quakers, Anabaptists, &c. &c.
Lastly, the whole question of policy with regard to Ireland is
momentary; for if peace were restored, rebellion would lose the
hope of foreign aid, and the demand of any further concessions
would cease to be formidable. A systematic and comprehensive
plan for reforming the abuses of the Protestant Church in
Ireland, might then be undertaken, and, if temperately but
firmly executed, might gradually enlighten the people, soften
their manners, and, by building churches and glebehouses,
enforcing residence, and improving and multiplying the parochial
and diocesan schools, &c., prevail so far, as to reduce the weight
and strength of the Eoman Catholics to a state which would
relieve the Government in time to come, from all anxiety for
the public safety.
Aprn 4th, 1801.

Letters, ^c, on the General State and Condition of
Ireland, Sfc.
LETTEE FEOM SIE JOHN PAENELL TO ME. ABBOT.
March 28th, 1801.
Dear Sir, — I feel myself very much obliged to you for the
attention which you have been so obliging as to give to my
appUcation to you respecting the importation of East India rice
into Ireland. I believe the measures which have been taken
will prove effectual. Lord Hobart applied yesterday to the
Governor and Deputy Governor at the India House, to procure

June, 1801.] STATE OP lEELiVND. 357
a private letter to be sent to St. Helena to remove auy difficidty
which might arise from the expressions or limitations contained
in the public despatch.
Though the Company cannot give directions respecting
the cargoes, which are private property, they can give their
orders to the captains of East Indiamen, who may arrive at a
later season. A quantity of rice has been ordered by the Irish
Government, which is expected to arrive shortly from the
Carolinas in Dublin. I shall be very thankful if part of it may
be permitted to be sold to the inhabitants of the Queen's County.
I have opened a subscription there. Lord Castlereagh told me
that Government would add a moiety to the money subscribed.
i\Ir. Coke's letter, offering a like bounty to the inhabitants of
Cork has been pubUshed.
I have the honour to be with greatest respect,
Your most obedient, humble servant, J. Parnell.

LETTEE FEOM DE. LINDSAY (PEIVATE SECEETAEY TO THE
LOED-LIEUTENANT ) TO ME. ABBOT.
Dublin, June Oth, 1801.
Dear Sir, — I enclose for your information, the promised memo
randum. 1. This day I received a monthly report of the state of the
district in which General Eoss commands, dated Youghal, in
which he gives a very pleasing account of the returning industry
and peaceable behaviour of the peasantry in that quarter, from
whom, he says, nothing is now to be apprehended, unless they
should have their hopes revived by the actual descent of an
enemy. He gives also a most consolatory prospect of returning
plenty, as the price of provisions continues to decUne.
2. I am to transmit regular copies of these reports as they
reach me, to His Grace the Duke of Portland, and I acquaint
you with this circumstance, because it may be extremely useful
to you to have them laid before you, in transitu, unless there
should be a pressing necessity, to transmit them to the Secretary
of State by the most direct channel. The multiplication of
copies is certainly to be avoided, and in case of any serious in
formation, you would of course have it by some other channel ;
but upon the whole, I should wish you to give me your opinion
on this head. At the same time I do not desire you to give me
a formal answer to it, because your silence upon it, may convey
your opinion as well as your writing. A A 3

358 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
3. I have had a conference to-day with Mr. Sackville
Hamilton, touching the harbour of Dublin, and internal navi
gation. He brought me a vast bundle of papers for the Lord-
Lieutenant's perusal; but, as I saw the improbability of his
reading them in any reasonable time, I suggested the con
venience of letting them remain till I should signify his pleasure
to have them ; the more particularly as I might venture to say
His Excellency would not be contented with a slight knowledge
of their contents. I remain, &c. &c. Charles Lindsay.

MEMOEANDUM MENTIONED IN THE PEECEDING LETTEE.
Agriculture.
It is evident how essential it is to improve the agriculture of
every part of the United Kingdom. Ireland is capable of the
greatest improvements. The English Market is a sufficient
bounty, if properly managed.
Agricultural spirit has gone abroad: Farming Societies are
establishing in different counties. It would be politic to make
use of this spirit ; it might be wise that the Lord-Lieutenant
should become a member ; that publications should be diffused
on the subject; and that a connection should be formed with the
Board of Agriculture in England ; that the expenditure of the
Dublin Society should be overlooked, and turned to the best
purpose. It is of the utmost consequence to engage the public mind in
various pursuits, and speculations distinct from politics.
Mr. Foster is the best person to consult with on this subject:
but he is very fond of his own ideas.

LETTEE FEOM ME. C. LINDSAY,
[Private and Confidential.] Dublin Castle, June 23i-d, 1801.
My dear Sir, — I am happy to learn that we have a prospect
of seeing you before long, and I may add that your presence
will be felt very materially : till you come, the arrangements of
business cannot be complete, for no person has his duty ex
actly ascertained among us new folks.
1. Amidst this confusion, I believe affairs move on, however,
without much detriment. The Lord-Lieutenant himself has
had the address to put an end to one circumstance which would

JoHE, 1801.J DUBLIN YEOMANEY. 359
have embarrassed him, and you also. Some mischievous per
son had propagated a report that the Yeomanry were to be called
upon immediately for permanent duty, and that a preparatory
review was to take place last Friday. The Corps of Lawyers
has not been out, it would appear, for two years, and, whether
owing to the dread of the review, or to ill humour on account of
the Union, Mr. Saurin, its Commander, enclosed his commission
to Mr. Marsden, accompanied with an explanatory letter, and
his resignation. The Lord-Lieutenant, upon this, wrote a
letter addressed to Mr. Marsden, though intended for IMr.
Saurin, in which he stated his apprehensions of the effect of
such a step at this critical time. With respect to the Yeomanry,
he said, he knew of no such intention at the present time as
to put them on permanent duty ; that it would be every man's
duty to resist the enemy, if they should effect a landing in
force; that he had not even the thought of a review, and
the sum of his intentions at present was to invite the Com
manders of the Dublin Yeomanry Corps to the Pbcenix Park,
when he got there, in order to be made acquainted with the
persons of gentlemen to whom the country had certainly been
indebted for its safety.
This, being couched in very obliging terms, and complimentary
to Mr. Saurin, brought him again into good humour ; the com
mission is again in his pocket, and the Commanders of such
corps are to dine with the Lord- Lieutenant on Friday se'nnight at
the Phoenix Park. I should have attached very little import
ance to this subject, now passed over, had I not learned that a
mischievous paragraph in the newspapers had worked the same
effect upon all the corps in Dublin, who are not yet reconciled
to the Union. Had Mr. Saurin began, the rest would have fol
lowed. In regard to him, certainly hisjudgment must have been
formed upon some other materials than newspaper or other re
ports; but I am confident when the dinner has taken place, there
will be no danger of his ill example, should it unfortunately
happen, which there is no reason for apprehending. For those
who can thus be moved by an anonymous report, must be
equally sensible of civility, as their whole conduct would seem
to depend upon impressions and not upon principles.
2. Another point of material consequence I have had
myself the good fortune to parry.
The streets of Dublin are lined with beggars : partly from the
scarcity, and in part from the rebelUon, which has brought the
widows and children of rebels, and perhaps of the sufferers from
rebellion, from the country into Dublin, in addition to its own
A A 4

360 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
poor. Hitherto soup has been distributed at a halfpenny a
quart ; tickets are bought by charitable persons at shops
appointed to seU them, and with these the poor are supplied as
alms from individuals. Of course the beggars of the most
address obtain most tickets, and sell them to persons still more
wretched than themselves. This would be a smaU inconvenience, ¦
but the subscriptions of parishes, and the bounty of individuals
begin to diminish, and the poor have relied upon this species of
relief, tUl their natural idleness has become habitual, and now,
in the midst of summer, Dublin remains as full of destitution as
in the depth of winter.
Perplexed, therefore, with this natural consequence of indis
criminate bounty, the parishes, ten days ago, held vestry meetiags
for the purpose of con.sidering how to make a better provision
for persons unable to work, and to dispose of those who are fit for
labour. The result of this deliberation was to send deputations
from each parish to join, on a certain day, in an application to
the Lord-Lieutenant for some legislative measures.
This application, without plan or concert, would actually
have taken place if I had not by accident one day sat next to
Archdeacon Fowler, who in conversation told me of it. I repre
sented to bim the embarrassment which so decided a step would
occasion. Without plans to offer, or any feasible suggestions
to make, what could they expect from a new Lord-Lieutenant,
whose administration as to all matters of internal policy must
be imperfect till the arrival of the Chief Adviser "? That no
delay would be occasioned by pausing, for Parliament would not
sit long enough to be moved upon such a topic with any effect,
and certainly there would be time enough after your arrival to
hold such consultations as would be indispensably necessary to
be held, before any outward demonstration of solicitude on such
a subject should be shown on the part of the parishes.
The House of Industry, he said, was full ; 1700 people being
within its walls, and nothing further could be done for the relief of
the poor, if the bounty of Government should cease in making
good the difference between the actual sale and prime cost ofthe
soup ; but that he saw the hopelessness of the plan in agitation,
and, if he could stop it by using his influence in his own parish,
he would. In such a case he hoped the other parishes would
also pause. This has been done, and the subject is at rest, as I
was informed yesterday by Mr. Fowler. Whether that gentle
man meant to be consequential or not, I cannot say, but I am
assured from other quarters that some such thing has been in
agitation.

July, I80I.] DEAINAGE OF BOGS, 361
When the Lord-Lieutenant is more at leisure, several persons
wish to communicate with him upon the subject of the poor, and
among the number is Dr. Browne of the College.
Yours most faithfully, Charles Lindsay.
LETTEE FEOM SIE JOSEPH BANKS'* TO ME. ABBOT.
Soho Square, July 15th, 1801.
My dear Sir, — Your questions on the subject of drainage are
so general that I am not sure I shall be able to answer them
to your satisfaction. The drainage of bogs, with which Ireland
abounds, and that of marshland lying near the sea, are acts
extremely different from each other. The first, which I ap
prehend Ireland is most in want of, I have never had occa
sion to study, nor do I know that any books have been published
on the subject; detached observations, however, occur in the
Surveys of Counties, published by the Board of Agriculture ; and
possibly in some other works. Of these, Mr. Arthur Young can
give you a much better account than I can do.
The drainage of marsh lands near the sea is, I beUeve, com
petently understood by all our principal civil engineers. Eennie
is the man I have employed in the Lincolnshire drainage, for
which an Act passed this year : and he has made his plans mnch
to the satisfaction of the proprietors of 6000 acres. And Mr.
Chapman, who has been much in Ireland, also understands this
business very well. This branch of the art I consider as com
paratively much better understood than the other, for I do not
at present recollect any one instance of a large bog having been
effectually drained and reclaimed. Mr. Elkinton, the great
drainer of small bogs by sapping them, has undertaken a middle-
sized one, but how far his success has been complete, I do not
know ; his health, however, has so much declined of late, that
I fear the strength of his mind is broken down 
Believe me, my dear Sir, your faithful humble servant,
Joseph Banes.
lettee feom the et. hon. john beeesfoed to me.
ABBOT.
Walworth, near Derry, August 17th, 1801.
My dear Sir,
The country hereabouts is very quiet at present, and I am
* President of the Boyal Society.

3G2 DIAEY OP LORD COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
informed that the lower order of the people are much changed
in their opinions. They say that the farmers set them on to re
bellion ; that they beUeve that the famine they have suffered for
two years, was a punishment from God ; that the farmers who set
them on, instead of assisting them in their distress, took advantage
of them, and made fortunes at their expense that the gentlemen
of the country made subscriptions to assist them, and Govern
ment brought in provisions which saved them from starving ;
they are therefore at this moment friends of Government. What
a very abundant harvest may do, I cannot say ; our people are
very saucy when their bellies are full.
Never was there such a prospect of a harvest seen in this coun
try, and every sign of good weather to get it in safe ; they are
reaping in all parts of the country. The consequence will be that
you will very soon have applications made to you to permit malt
ing and distilling; it is therefore prudent in you to consider
beforehand what ought to be done.
I have no hesitation to give it as my opinion that, in case the
harvest is well got in, it would be right to permit malting as
soon as may be done, for the country is in great distress, both
for malt liquor and for spirits, that is, in short, for drink. And the
consequence is that, if they cannot get it legally, they will cer
tainly get it as they can ; and the scarcity, and of course the
high price, is such a premium to the private malting and dis
tilling, that it will be carried on to an enormous extent, and the
corn will be used and the people supplied with both beer and
spirits ; and neither the malt nor the spirits will pay duty, and
the people who set out in the private trade will stick to it for
a long time ; and as the pressure of the times obliged the army
to be so cantoned that they may easily be dravm together, it
will be impossible to make revenue arrangements of the military,
which may enable the revenue officers to suppress the clandes
tine trade, and we are therefore to expect more fraud than
ever. My dear Sir, yours very sincerely and faithfully, J. Beresford.

EXTEACTS OF LETTEES FEOM MB. CHAELES YOEKE TO
ME, ABBOT,
[Private.] War Office, July 16th, 1801.
Dear Abbot, — .... The arrangement of affairs with Eussia is
matter of real congratulation, as well as our continued successes

Acq. 1801.] PEOSPECT OP PEACE. 363
in Egypt. The landing of the Bombay* army at Suez must in
all probability put an end to the contest on the side of Cairo.
How long Alexandria may hold out I have no means of judging
at present. Portugal is Ukely to be a thorn in our side ; it is
hazardous and almost impracticable to afford her any effectual
assistance, and yet it is strongly demanded. Our first care,
however, must be to take care of ourselves.
Yours ever, C. Yorke.
[Private and confidential.] Charles Street, Aug. 18th, 1801.
My dear Abbot, — . . . . You are probably as well apprised of
what is going on with respect to matters military and civil as I
am, or better. The secret of the Cabinet appears to be well kept.
Tant mieux. I think, however, I collect from some words lately
dropped, that great efforts are making to procure peace, if it can
be had on any terms short of absolute ruin and dishonour,
which I very much doubt. One report is that our ultimatum
is actually gone over within these few days; and that a
settlement is not so distant as some imagine ; and in the city, if
one is to augur at all from the appearances there, they seem to
be of that opinion. The funds are very high. A friend of ours
made the observation that if the war continued two years longer,
we might find ourselves aground in matters of finance, and
obliged in the middle of success to make a worse peace from
necessity than we might do now. In answer also to a question
about the probable assembling of Parliament, it was observed
that, if a peace should take place, it would be advisable to obtain
the opinion of Parliament as soon as possible, otherwise not till
near Christmas,
By the bye, these measures of extraordinary precaution, lately
adopted, will cut. deep into the treasury ; on the other hand, no
one, I think, can doubt of Buonaparte's inveteracy. It is, I
believe, extreme against this country ; and, notwithstanding all
that has been said of his magnanimity and wisdom, for my part
I give him credit for neither, in their true sense. He has the
great qualities of a great villain and successful robber, and no
other ; and in the present state of France, I would not give a
twelvemonth's purchase for any peace, however fair upon the
face of it, that can be had with it. At the same time we
certainly require breathing time, and the people will not be
* This wao a force sent by Lord WeUesley from India under General Baird
to co-operate -with Abercromby, but it did not arrive tiU after the battle of
Alexandria, and the surrender of Cairo.

364 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
satisfied without the name of it. It is astonishing how few
really seem to appreciate the true difficulties and dangers of
Europe, and Great Britain. In this view of the subject, the
short period which remains for the existence of the present
ParUament is very material to be considered.
France on her part, I mean the military despots of France,
may possibly incline to a truce, with a view to throwing us off
our guard, and procm-ing the laying up of our navy, and dis
banding the greater part of our army. When this is done,
Ambassador Bernadotte or Joseph Buonaparte is instructed to
offer some insult, pick a quarrel, pass over to Calais, and in a
week's time the garrisons of Flanders and the Netherlands
embark on the Maese and Scheldt, and are in the mouth of the
Thames, perhaps on the coasts of Kent and Essex. The sub
stance of this idea should be embodied in a few words, and
written in large letters over the doors of both Houses of Parlia
ment, and on the canopy of the King's throne.
The question of our internal defence and preparation must
indisputably be very different from what it was formerly, and a
very serious and weighty question it will be. Every shilUng
that can be spared, or by any means scraped together, must be
scrupulously and zealously devoted to this object. Libertas et
anima nostra in dubio est. En attendant, the fall of Cairo,
and failure of Gantheaume in his attempt to land his troops,
(which seems now to be clearly ascertained, though Government
at first undoubtedly believed other-srise,) have in all probability
by this time produced the fall of Alexandria, and consequently,
the evacuation of Egypt by the French.* But will this make
them more reasonable in their terms ? I doubt it. Must we not
keep some garrisons there, to prevent the French falUng on it
again ? and would this be consistent with, or admissible into,
any terms of peace ? And who shall guarantee the inoffensive
possession of Malta and Egypt, as in times of yore ? . . .
Adieu, C. Yorke.
[Private.] Charles Street, Oct. 12th.
My dear Abbot, — . . . The Union must of course bring
on the necessity of material changes in the former mode of con
ducting the business of Ireland, and must induce a more
* In fact, Belliard, the Fi-ench General at Cairo, had capitulated on May
22nd, on condition of being conveyed with his soldiers to France, and Menou,
though he held Alexandria some time longer, surrendered that city a fort
night after the date of this letter.

Sept. 1801.] NEGOTIATIONS FOE PEACE. 365
frequent and more immediate interference of the principal
branches of Government here with the Irish administration.
One point I understand to be decidedly settled and agreed upon,
and it is certainly the most material of all ; viz. that Ireland
must continue to be governed by a Lord-Lieutenant sent from
hence ; a proposition of which hitherto many had doubted, and
that doubt had given room to much uncertainty and unsteadiness
in particular with respect to the degree of support and coun
tenance that the present Government was to receive ; at least, I
suspect so. This proposition, however, being once decided in
the affirmative, the practical corollaries to be deduced from it
appear to me pretty ob\'ious ; and among others, the necessity
of retaining an Irish office, upon whichwas Littlehales will tell
you, I agree in the main with you, and particularly with regard
to the more convenient and expeditious way of carrying through
the detail of business in ParUament, which must be undertaken
by somebody (either the Chief Secretary, or Irish Chancellor
of the Exchequer *), and never will be by the Prime Minister.
I have told Lord Pelham and Addington my sentiments, but the
former appears decidedly of a different opinion, and when it is to
be settled I know not. If for the Abolition, you, I presume, will
be inclined to think that your duty is in future to be considered
as principally applied to Ireland, at Dublin. And I, for one, do
not at all like the idea of missing your attendance on the
Treasury Bench at Westminster ....
Adieu, ever affectionately and truly yours, C. Yorke.

EXTEACT OF A LETTEE FEOM ME. G. WATSON f TO
ME. ABBOT.
[Private.] London, Sept. 7th, 1801.
My dear Sir, — We understand that the negotiations must
come to an issue in a few days, but that it is not expected to be
in favour of peace. A very ingenious foreigner, much patron
ised by Government, for whom he also writes, informs me that
Buonaparte's preparations are to the full extent of his means ;
and that, conceiving the armaments in the ports of Holland and
the Netherlands to be the right wing of the attack, those in the
Channel the centre, and those on the western coast of France the
left wing, the chief attempt will be from thence upon Ireland,
the other two operating as feints. The sooner this effort is
* This office was abolished in 1824.
_ t Afterwards known as Mr. Watson Taylor. He had at this time a situR-
tion in the Irish Office,

366 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV
passed the better ; it is the last that can be made immediately
against us, and failing, as it must do, I hope the Chief Consul
will find it necessary to accommodate all differences with a
power which he cannot humble 
Yours most faithfully, Gi. Watson.

Letters and Papers having reference to the Defence of
Ireland, both generally and in reference to an expected
Attempt of the French at the Moment.
CIECULAE FEOM COLONEL BEOWNEIGG, ADJUTANT-GENEEAL,
TO GENEBAL OFFICEES COMMANDING DISTEICTS.
[Secret.] Horse Guards, July 21st, 1801.
Sir, — ^I have the Commander-in-Chief's commands to acquaint
you that from unquestionable intelligence there is the strongest
reason to believe that an immediate descent upon the coasts of
the Channel is intended by the enemy. I am therefore to
recommend you from His Eoyal Highness that you give orders
for the utmost vigilance to be observed throughout your district,
particularly by the troops stationed immediately upon the coast,
and that in general they may be held in readiness to act with the
greatest promptitude and effect against the enemy. And His
Eoyal Highness is pleased to desire that you will communicate
for his information any circumstances that may strike you as
being necessary for the better defence of the district under your
command, on which you may not already have received instruc
tions. I have, &c. Egbert Brownrigg.
EXTEACT OF A LETTEE FEOM COLONEL BEOWNEIGG TO
COLONEL HOPE.* Dated, July 21st, 1801.
The intelligence received within these few days, of the formid
able state of preparation the enemy is in to carry their purpose
of invasion into execution, gives little reason to doubt but that
they will risk the enterprise very speedily.
I enclose a copy of a circular letter I have written by this
day's post, to the Generals commanding districts.
* Colonel Hope was Adjutant-General in Ireland.

Jolt, 1801.] EXPECTATION OP INVASION. 367
Should affairs here become serious, and should the enemy
arrive in such force as to gain a footing in the country, you must
be prepared to send in a reinforcement of a few thousand men,
as you will certainly in that event be called upon.
FEOM COLONEL HOPE TO LOED GAEDNEE.*
[Secret and Confidential.] Royal Hospital, Dublin, July 29th, 1801.
My Lord, — I am desired by the Commander of the forces to
intimate to your Lordship that a letter which I have this day
received from Colonel Brownrigg, states the preparations in the
narrow seas to be so formidable as to warrant the expectation of
a powerful attempt being made to invade England.
Every preparation by sea and land is made to invade by the
enemy, and sanguine expectations may be entertained that a
signal defeat in the first instance may render all further precau
tions unnecessary. His Eoyal Highness the Commander-in-
Chief, however, judges it wise that we should be prepared to
reinforce, if necessary, from this country.
I have, therefore, the honour to intimate to your Lordship
that such a reinforcement would consist in the first instance of
nearly 5000 men from Cork, if the west of England was the
object. If Scotland or the side of Liverpool was the point, a
similar force might be sent from the north and Dublin. In this
latter instance perhaps shipping for the purpose might be seized
in Belfast and Dublin ; and Sir W. Meadows is very solicitous
your Lordship should turn in your mind the possibility of trans
porting the force from Cork on board His Majesty's ships now
under your command. He is desirous no preparation should be
made from the trade of Cork, which would cause a dangerous
alarm in the country, by providing for a service which in all
probability may not be demanded. For the same reason no
communication is made to the army in the south upon this
occasion. Sir William Meadows further directs me to request your
Lordship will hurry the departure of the Dutch Eifle Corps,
which, by a report from Major-General Myers, ought to have
embarked before now for the Isle of Wight, and it is with great
deference submitted to your Lordship whether some exertion
could not be made for the immediate despatch of the 4th Dutch
regiment to the same point, now waiting for transports.
General Myers has sufficient authority to embark this corps
* The Admiral commanding the fleet on the west of Ireland.

368 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
upon its being signified to him that shipping is ready to receive
them. I have the honour to be, &c. A. Hope, A.G.
EXTEACT OF A LETTEE TO COLONEL BEOWNEIGG FEOM
COLONEL HOPE.
[Secret.] Eoyal Hospital, July 29th, 1801.
It seems admitted that the question of reinforcing England
depends upon an actual footing having been gained in the
country by the enemy, otherwise this country is endangered
unnecessarily. This preliminary settled, we will reinforce to the
full bent of our means, and place the yeomanry of the country
upon permanent duty. The most obvious means of reinforcing
would be to England from Cork ; to Scotland or the centre of
England from the north, either by Lough Swilly, Carrickfergus,
or Dublin. A previous assembly of the troops destined for
either case would be unwise ; they are already contiguous to
Cork. The assembly in the north would be made in the time
requisite to bring the shipping to receive them.
LETTEE FEOM THE PEINCE DE BOUILLON TO LOED
HOBAET. Jersey, August 20th, 1801.
My Lord, — Enclosed I have the honour to transmit to your
Lordship the continuation of communications from the head
quarters of the western army (Bernadotte's), where it appears
decided the expeditions from Brest and Eochfort are to be kept
in a state of preparation, to avail themselves of any movement
that may be made to the eastward in their favour. Notwith
standing the affectation with which the Cape of Good Hope and
India are spoken of at Brest, the opinion at head-quarters is
always that Ireland is the object of one if not both these
divisions. I am, &c. D'AuvERGNE, Prince de Bouillon.*
Copy [mentioned above'\.
CONTINUATION OF THE COMMUNICATIONS FEOM THE
HEAD-QUAETEES OF THE WESTEEN AEMY.
'August 17th, 1801.
The General-in-Chief, Bernadotte, is still at Brest, but is-
• The Prince was at this time a Post Captain in our Naiw.

Sept. 1801.] PEEPAEATIONS FOE INVASION. 369
about proceeding to - La Eochelle. The number of troops at
Brest has not been increased since the last reports. Two line-
of-battle ships, of 74 guns each, have been substituted for the
Ocean (120 guns) in the division destined for sea.
It appears decided that the expedition will be ready to put to
sea about the time of the equinox.
Orders are given to grant no leave of absence for more than
twenty-four hours to any of the officers attached to this ex
pedition. The General of Division, Laborde, is not yet arrived at Bre.st.
The expedition preparing at La Eochelle is completing with
every expedition. It is still composed of eight line-of-battle
ships and three frigates, to be commanded in chief by Admiral
Bruix (who has nearly recovered his health), with Eear-admiral
Treguet under his orders.
The ships of this division have already embarked four select
battalions of infantry, completed to 600 men each ; and the
56th demi-brigade is on the spot under orders for embarkation.
General Oudelot, it appears now, will not have the command
in chief of the troops destined for embarkation, but it will be
confided to a General of Division not yet named.
A battalion of 600 men of 82nd demi-brigade, that was to
have gone from Morlaix to St. Maloes to be embarked on board
the flat gun-vessels, has not yet left the former place, although
those vessels only await their garrison party to proceed towards
the general rendezvous, Boulogne.
The new frigate, the Consolante, at St. Maloes, Ukewise
only waits the completing the crew and garrison party to be fit
for sea.
The Ministers of Marine and Maritime Prefect of Brest are
equally pressing for more disposable troops.
The gunbrig Hargneuse a,nd cutter Souffleur remain at
Granville; eighteen of the officers commanding the flat gun-
vessels at St. Maloes have orders to keep them in constant
readiness for service. D'AuTERGNE, Prince de Bouillon.
Jersey, August 20th, 1801.
CONTINUATION OF COMMUNICATIONS FEOM BEEST DIEECT.
Sept. 16th, 1801.
The crews of the division for sea have been paid this morning,
five months ; the three last of the ninth year, and the two first,
in advance, for the tenth year.
VOL. I. B B

370 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
There are 400 troops on board each of the sixteen line-of-
battle ships; they are under the orders of General Humbert,
who is himself embarked in the Cisalpin, with Admiral
Dordelin : the division is perfectly ready to put to sea. Orders
are given for all the launches to be finally hoisted in this
evening. Head-Quarters of the Western Army. Sept. 7th, 1801.
The division prepared for an expedition at Brest has been
reported to the Commander in Chief to consist of sixteen sail of
the line, French, several corvettes and avisos, upon all of which
troops are to be embarked ; and it is now said here that neither
Spanish ships nor any person of that nation will have any
share in the first expedition. The Vanguard is under the com
mand of M. Magon, an officer of merit, having considerable
property in the Isle of France. The returns state that the
desertions of the army about Brest increase to an alarming
degree: the soldiers' example is follovred by many of the
sailors of the fleet ; and they are met in numbers every day,
returning to the interior, all manifesting a great dislike to the
forced embarkation.
All the ammunition and warlike effects embarked on board
the ships of the expedition are parcelled out in cases calculated
to be borne by two men. These have been sent from Paris, with
orders that all the effects should be packed in as portable par
cels as possible.
It has been mentioned with affectation, by directions from,
Government, that Gibraltar was the object of the expedition;
which still continues imder the supreme command of Villaret ;
and the troops imder that of General Humbert are composed as
follows : —

Infantry .
Artillery and Gimners
Marines for debarkation
Pioneers .
Seamen drilled to arms

4200 2.50
1500 200
1200

Total of Humbert's Division 7350 rank and file.
Government has also directed that it should be mentioned with
affectation of mystery, that the army of the expedition against
Portugal that is still in Spain, remains there to await the junc
tion of the Brest fleet at Cadiz, to proceed against Gibraltar :
but it is certain that the arms, ammunition, and intrenching tools
&c., precedingly embarked in the ships, are still on board, under
the directions of, and at the disposal of, all the Generals who were

Sept. 1801.] PEEPAEATIONS FOE INVASION. 371
heretofore designed as those to whom the execution of the plans
projected for Vindemiaire (against Ireland), were confided, and
which officers are still attached to the expedition, and are em
barked for it.
General Humbert, who is the intimate friend of Villaret, is
the only chief officer of the land forces in good intelligence with
Villaret and the other naval chiefs ; he is a zealous promoter of
the object of the expedition; and is embarked on board the
Cisalpine with Admiral DordeUn.
The staff of the engineer department are embarked in a store
ship, deeply laden, and reported so bad a sailer, that they uni-
versaUy ask their friends' commissions for England.

EXTEACT OF A LETTEE FEOM THE PEINCE DE BOUILLON.
Jersey, Sept. 24th, 1801.
Notwithstanding the insinuations that appear purposely cir
culated by the French Government, the weight of the present
armament at Brest is destined against Ireland, at the same
time that a general attempt is made from all quarters on every
point of His Majesty's dominions in Europe.
EXTEACT FEOM A LETTEE FEOM LOED CASTLEEEAGH.
Mt. Stewai-t, Sept. 23rd.
My dear Sir,
I understand from Major Houghton that it is in contemplation
to appoint district paymasters for the purpose of subsisting re
cruiting parties, as well as counteracting the present exorbitant
discount on bank paper. — The services of this officer were so
very distinguished throughout the whole period of disturbance
and rebellion in the north, that in bearing my testimony to his
character and services ... I trust His Excellency will
acquit me of any disposition to trouble him with any em
barrassing appUcation 
I cannot learn that there is any active spirit of organisation in
this quarter. There is a general expectation of invasion, which
is an object anxiously looked for, as you may imagine, by a large
portion of our former rebels ; but I cannot trace any measures
for arming or disciplining. Singing and dancing parties by
night, which bring together eighty or one hundred young men,
have been observed of late to be more frequent, and I am told
B B 2

372 DIAEr OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
the persons so assembled consider themselves as belonging to the
same rebel company. I am persuaded, however, that the tran
quillity of the north will remain undisturbed until the enemy
shall have established himself not only in force, but in possession
of a considerable portion of the country.
Believe me, dear Sir, vrith great truth, most faithfully yours,
Castlereagh.
exteact of a lettee feom me. h. legge* to
ME. ABBOT.
Irish Office, Oct. 2nd, 1801.
Dear Abbot, — . . I give you joy of the signing prelimi
naries between Lord Hawkesbury and Mr. Otto. News is
arrived from Egypt this morning, and I understand that Menou
offered to capitulate on the 24th. . . .
Yours ever truly, H. Legge.
LETTEE FEOM ME. ABBOT TO ME. ADDINGTON.
[Private and confidential.] Dublin Castle, Oct. 5th, I80I.
My dear Sir, — I have already troubled you with one letter
to-da,y upon the most fortunate news f which this country could
have received. Permit me to state one or two points immediately
growing out of this event. The first of them is for immediate
consideration. I have just proposed to the Lord-Lieutenant to suspend from
this day all further orders for Courts Martial under the Martial
Law Bill, until we know your opinion upon this point. The con
tinuance of the war, as feeding the rebellion witb hope of foreign
aid, was the foundation of the necessity for the measure itself.
That has ceased ; and special commissions, if called for by any
new and violent outrages, may suffice for extraordinary cases till
the spring circuits come again. In Parliament you may yourself
possibly think it right to move a repeal of the law which other
wise is to continue to March 25th, or the repeal of it may, and
probably will, be moved by Opposition ; and in either case it wiU
be desirable to show the earliest disposition in Government to
revert to the ordinary course of ju.stice. Besides which, the
public impressions that tranquillity as well as peace is restored
to the country is of the highest importance to its welfare.
* The Hon. H. Legge, fifth son of the second Earl of Dartmouth, who at
this time held a situation in the Irish Office.
t The conclusion of the peace with France.

Oct. 1801.] FEELINGS OP THE lEISH AT THE PEACE. 373
Pardon me if I take also the very first moment to urge tiie
necessity of executing Lord CornwaUis's ideas of establishing two
or three great fortresses in this country, which his military views
of its defence had convinced him to be essentially necessary for
its safety.* A large army cannot, and perhaps ought not to be
disbanded vgry quickly in this country, and the construction of
such works, as well as the extension of military roads fijr com
munication and civiUsation, will furnish the natural and easy
means of (living occupation to the voluntary labours of soldiers
who may thus gradually disperse, and revert to the habits of
peace and industry 
Yours ever, my dear Sir, most faithfully, Charles Abbot.

EXTEACTS FEOM A LETTEE FEOM ME. ABBOT TO ME.
ADDINGTON. Dublin, Oct. 16th, 1801.
My dear Sir, —  In the course of the last three
days a great number of Irish members are gone over. I have
seen most of them in their passage. Beresford, who has been in
the north all the summer, sails to-day for England. Parnell
goes over, but the Ponsonbys do not go. Corry f left us on Fri
day. He has been a very serviceable and kind friend to us, and
from him you may hear all that you can wish to know of us and
our situation, our objects, our successes, our difficulties, and our
enemies open and secret, who, of course (as always has happened
with regard to Ireland), traduce those who are serving her, and
endeavour by misrepresentations to undermine them in Eng
land. It is not very probable that you will find in the Irish aiiy
other sentiment at present, than a real gratitude for peace,
which has saved their lives and their estates from destruction.
But j^oufcwill soon have desultory conversations about Catholic
establishment. Dissenters' provision, tithes, &c., all of which
will, of course, be easily put by till they come to be debated
regularly and distinctly upon specific propositions of policy, for
the whole of the United Kingdom. And if a general election is
soon expected, that object alone will engross all their attention.
The reduction of the military force in Ireland, involves more
* See Lord CornwaUis's Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 379. There is also
a very interesting despatch on the subject of fortresses proposed to be
erected in Ireland, in the Sth vol. of the Supplementary Despatches of the
Duke of Wellington, p. 28.
t The Irish Chancellor of Exchequer.
BB 3

374 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
difficulties of detail than in England. The militia is composed
of not less than four different descriptions of men in each
regiment, enlisted for different periods of service. The returns
are collecting which will show you the best course to be taken.
Sir WUliam Meadows thinks that none of the yeomanry should
at present be disbanded (except perhaps the cavalr^r), but that
their days of exercise should be reduced in number, which will
reduce the expense, and yet keep each corps connected for
purposes of occasional exertion in maintaining the internal
tranquillity of the country. Upon these points, when the
materials are completed, a regular despatch will be sent to Lord
Pelham. In revenue, I think we shall do very well for next year with
out any new tax whatever. The malting and distilling will
produce, at the least, 400,000?. or 500,000L, in addition to the
Eevenue of last year, besides a large increase in the Customs
and Excise from a growing trade, and a more strict and vigilant
collection. And in consequence of a system of regulations,
which has occupied a great deal of time between Corry and
me, I think we may confidently expect a very large increase
upon the present receipt from the existing stamp duties.
My dear Sir, most faithfully yours, Charles Abbot.

LETTEE FEOM ME. COEEY TO ME. ABBOT.
Oct. 29th, 1801, Six o'clock.
The day has gone off in the House of Commons incomparably
well. Fox in a few sentences concurred in the Address. Pitt
followed him. Wyndham expressed his disapprobation of the
peace, as the source of future evils, possibly to the ruin of this
country. He was answered by Addington with great ability and
address, who deprecated the thought of taking refuge under any
inability of the empire to continue the war. Sheridan said it
was a bad thing, but good to have ; a peace worthy of the war
concluded by it. But the whole of the debate upon the peace
is by common consent postponed till Tuesday next for the pre
liminaries ; and the Friday following, for the pacification with
Eussia, Denmark, and Sweden. Thanks to Lord Keith *, Hutchin-
* Lord Keith and Sir John Hely Hutchinson who had succeeded to the
command of the army in Egypt on the death of Sir Ralph Abercrombie
(killed in the battle of Alexandria, March 2Ist), were thanked for their
operations against the French in that country ; and Sir James Saumarez for
an attack made by him, with 5 sail of the line, I frigate, and a couple of

Oct. 1801.] THE PEACE OF AMIENS. 375
son, and Sir James Saumarez, to be moved by Mr. Addington.
. . . . Ever yours most truly, Isaac Corrv.
EXTRACT OF A LETTEE FEOM ME. COEEY TO ME. ABBOT.
... I have talked upon many matters with Addington, and the
plan is to take a vote of supplies for three months on the present
establishments ; if any saving in that period from reduction or
otherwise, it will come in as means for the remaining part of the
year; and we are recommended to pursue the same plan. I
therefore write so much as caution, which you, as a great
miUtary character, will understand, and after the breakfast of
Monday next, which I am to have with Vansittart, I will give
you the word for the manner and scale and period of the
estimates that may be thought most proper 
Lord Castlereagh interrupted me by a call. I am happy to
say that he supports the peace.
Ever yours most truly, Isaac Corrt.
EXTEACTS FEOM LETTEES FEOM ME. H. LEGGE TO
ME. ABBOT. Irish Office, Oct. 31st, 1801.
Dear Abbot, — ... I have from time to time sent you all
such intelligence as I have been able to pick up relating to the
state of parties here, and the private opinions of individuals with
regard to peace. You know, I suppose, that Lord Castlereagh
supports it, and though I tell you, you must not tell again,
that Lord Grenville says that if Mr. Pitt had talked to him with
half of the openness and half the good sense which he has heard
upon the subject ffom Lord Castlereagh, he doubts much whether
he should have taken the line in which he must now continue.
The King is supposed to be in his heart averse to the treaty,
and great speculations are probably going on with a view of
turning his sentiments to the advantage of a party who would be
glad to belong once more to administration. There probably
will be an attempt to overthrow Mr. Addington's administration
by Wyndham, Lord Spencer, Lord Eosslyn, if he can return
from Bath, and some others who have been paying- their court
at Weymouth ....
Yours ever most sincerely, H. LeGGE.
small vessels, on a French and Spanish squadron, vmder Admirals Linois
and Moreno, of 9 sail of the line (2 being of 112 guns) and a frigate ; iu
whioh the two Spanish first-rates were blown up, and one French 74 taken.
The action was fought near Gibraltar, July 13th.
B B 4

376 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
P.S. Colonel Littlehales has just come in. I am rejoiced to
find from him that nothing will be settled with regard to our
suppression till you come to England, and that we are likely to
see you soon, notwithstanding the desire expressed for your
remaining in Ireland. L-ish Office, Nov. 4th, 1801.
Dear Abbot, — . . . I congratulate you upon last night's
debate in the House of Commons. After all the vaunting upon
the great and respectable minority which was to oppose the
peace, who would have expected to see them shrink from a divi
sion ? Mr. Pitt, I hear, outdid himself, and though, perhaps, he
had of all men in the House, the most difficult task to perform,
in defending articles of peace, which (without reviling them
one may say) contradict all his recorded principles upon the
subject ; yet his was the speech which produced the effect upon
the House, destroyed the hopes of the Opposition, and prevented
the division. Ever most sincerely yours, H. L.
LETTEE FEOM ME. COEEY TO ME. ABBOT.
London, Nov. 4th, 1801.
No congratulations are adequate to the day which we witnessed
on the preliminaries of peace yesterday. The utmost unanimity
of both Houses, the temper and moderation of all parties in the
House of Commons, the suppression of acrimony'by those here
tofore engaged in mutual invective, the general attention to
everything that had for its object the public advantage, and
the concurrence of opinion as to the means, as well as of senti
ment as to the object, of future safety ; all these united exhibited
a sketch of British patriotism that gives a prospect of future
strength and prosperity worthy of the exalted part which this
country has acted in the war that is now drawn to a conclusion.
The symptoms that have shown themselves of probable co-opera
tion hereafter on all hands for retrieving the state of the empire,
must produce considerable effects on France and throughout
Europe, whilst at home it forebodes to the present Ministry
stability if not tranquillity for the winding up the complicated
businesses that press on all sides.
Had you been present you would have received infinite satis
faction. Lord Hawkesbury was able and successful in his
speech beyond former character. Lord Castlereagh, able ; Mr.
Pitt, excellent ; Charles Fox, strenuous in praise of the peace.

Xov. 1801.] DEBATES ON TIIE PEACE. 377
though not unmindful of some attack on Pitt and others of the
late Ministry. Lee was very well in seconding, though rather
long in the estimation of the House. To-day we are to hear
Wyndham, Wilberforce, Dr. Lawrence, and others.
Ever yours truly, Isaac Corry.

FEOM THE SAME. London, Nov. Sth, 1801.
Wyndham was yesterday ingenious and extravagant, in his
best manner, however, and with extraordinary ability. His
principles lead to unlimited warfare as to duration, and he
tailed in showing how, in any degree, the effect was to be pro
duced of coercing or repressing France from her present
situation by any system of hostility that Great Britain could
pursue. He was admired, but disapproved.
Dr. Lawrence made the most substantial speech that was
delivered on the occasion, and was patiently heard.
Elliott made a speech that did him much credit with all
sides. He displayed great judgment in the selection of what he
brought forward, great taste in the composition, and great powers
in the delivery. He was short, well heard, and universally
applauded. Addington, in a short winding-up, leant heavy on the late
Ministry, parties to the treaties of Lisle and Paris ; and pointed
his censures, with a saving in a certain degree of Wyndham,
more directly against Lord GrenviUe, meaning that that dis
tinction should be taken unequivocally. He is. wonderfully im
proved in speaking, and, in a whisper, when I have told him so,
accounts for it by the agitation which all the circumstances of
the session then caused, and his being at this time less embar
rassed by a thousand considerations. He is in high estimation
and great strength, his situation widely differing, as he observed
to me, from that in which he and I first met last year in Palace
Yard at our first interview 
Yours always truly, I. C.

FEOM THE SAME.
[Secret] Nov. 14tb, 1801.
 I had yesterday conversation with Lord Castle
reagh respecting corn. He asked me whether the system was to
be considered, and thought it ought to be inquired fully into
before any discussion in ParUament, either before the Privy

378 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
Council, in the respective counties, or before a committee above
stairs. I think that, if he or others like him are of that opinion,
inquiry could not be refused. And having this day communi
cated with Vansittart, he is of the same opinion, Vansittart also
concurring with me in thinking that your absence, and the pro
priety of not agitating the public mind on the subject before
decision may immediately follow discussion, afford a sufficient
reason for not opening the subject in Parliament or to the
public in any way during the present sitting. After Christmas
it may be taken up, and in the meantime I submitted that pro
ceedings on the part of Government should in both countries
mature it for Parliamentary consideration.
 There is an Act here of 1799 prohibiting the
use of wheat in distilling. On consultation with Vansittart it is
determined to let Ireland stand as she does where it is not pro
hibited till that subject be taken up at large. On that point you
will therefore be prepared in case of application to you.
Yours always most sincerely, Isaac Corry.

FEOM THE SAME. London, Nov. I4th, 1801.
On the Convention Lord Hawkesbury yesterday was excellent :
his character in the House of Commons rises daily and justly.
His speech was better than that on the peace. You will see by
the papers that Grey, Erskine, and Tierney gave testimony in
favour of the Convention, and the last the unequivocal declaration
of his support to the Ministry. This " Ministry of six weeks,"
as it was described last year by the discerning patriots, seems to
wax solid and substantial rather beyond their hopes. It is a
smooth and, I hope, not a deceitful tide in which they are float
ing with full unruffled sail.
Yours very faithfully, I. CoRRT.
P.S. After the House.
Littlehales writes to C. Yorke*, desiring if youare in England
that he will show you his letter, therefore having just been
shown it I may tell you the contents.
The Plenipotentiary arrived at Paris the 7th. His reception
on the way, at Calais, Amiens, Beauvais, &c., respectful and
magnificent by the military and municipal bodies; at Paris
similar attentions from the Ministers, &c. The illuminations
superb, and the concourse of the people was immense ; not the
* From Paris.

Nov. 1801.] DEBATES ON THE PEACE. 379
smallest irregularity took place, owing, as he says, to a police of
singular vigilance, activity, and efficiency ; aided by a body of
troops respectable for their numbers, and celebrated for their
disciphne. How far the aid mentioned and the commentary to be deduced
from that scene is a diplomatic report of a good, substantial,
militai^ Government, I leave to the decision of the ingenious
reader.

EXTEACTS FEOM A LETTEE FEOM LOED MUNCASTEE TO
ME. ABBOT. London, Nov. 14th, 1801.
My dear Sii-,^ — . . . You do not need from me any
character of the debate, but I cannot help saying to you that
Lord Hawkesbury's was the most chaste speech of a man of
business I almost ever heard. Pitt, whose conduct throughout
does him high honour, made, under all the obvious difficulties
of the circumstances, a most admirable speech. He dwelt, how
ever, upon the importance of the Cape. Fox seemed to labour
to unsay what he had previously said at the Tavern *, and Wynd
ham not only spoke with his usual imprudence, but to my view
of things (though not perhaps intentionally on his part), with a
mischievous tendency. I own I felt considerably disappointed
with Mr. J. Granville, for he had nothing to put to the account
of thinking him afraid of his own voice, which, last night, was
the case with young Eyder, who happily got over it, and made
an excellent speech, seconding the motion on the northern
business. Lord Hawkesbury was better and more splendid than
ever upon the treaty with France. Mr. Addington spoke ex
tremely satisfactorily upon the report of that business. . . .
Very faithfidly yours, Muncaster.

EXTEACT OF A LETTEE FEOM ME. H. LEGGE TO
ME. ABBOT. Irish Office, Nov. 10th, 1801.
Dear Abbot, — .... There is much talk here of strengthen
ing the hands of Government, by calling some persons into office
who are at present without employment. It is imagined by some
people that Mr. Addington and Mr. Fox are flirting a little
together, but of that I believe nothing. Mr. Tierney has

380 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
certainly left Opposition, as I am told, and expects to be
employed in the East Indies. I think it very likely that places
may be found for Lord Camden and Lord Castlereagh. All this
is mere conversation, such as I occasionally pick up, and such
as perhaps you have no objection to hear, unless you are better
informed. Yours ever most truly, H. L.

EXTEACT OF A LETTEE FEOM LOED LIMEEICK TO
ME. ABBOT.
[Private.] Dorant's Hotel, Albemarle Street,
Nov. 4th, 1801.
My dear Sir, — . . . His Majesty's Ministers were so
good as to fix upon me to second the Address approving of the
Peace : I did so, and I hope I did not disgrace myself, or lower
that character which I know you stated to them.
The House sate till five this morning. The principal speakers
were Lord Spencer, more able and impassioned than usual ;
Lord Grenville, one of the most impressive and powerful
speeches I ever heard : he laboured to prove with considerable
ingenuity that the terms obtained were perfectly inadequate to
what, from our relative situation, we had a right to expect ; that
by them all the sources of our prosperity were laid at the feet
of France, that from the peace we might date our ruin, as we
were completely at the mercy of France, our ancient and in
veterate rival, who had never kept faith -with us one instant,
when it was her interest to break it. The weak part of his
speech was that its tendency obviously went to the impossibility
of making peace on almost any terms with -republican France.
He also broadly and distinctly stated that by the cession of
the Cape, and by the establishment of the French at the mouth
of the Amazon Eiver, in time of war, we could not (from having
no place to touch at) send a single battalion to the East Indies,
as the men on their arrival would, from the length of the pas
sage, be recruits for the hospital rather than for the country.
Lord Pelham spoke very ably and discreetly, particularly on
the delicate subject of Portugal. The Chancellor spoke well and
argumentatively. His speech, however, savoured strongly of the
profession to which he belongs.
Believe me with great truth, your most faithful servant. Limerick.

Dec. 1801.] DEBATES ON THE PEACE. 381
EXTEACTS FEOM A LETTEE OF LOED SHEFFIELD TO ME.
ABBOT. WhitehaU, Nov. llth, 1801.
My dear Sir, —
We have had a very easy time compared to that of 1783.
The discussion in both Houses was very satisfactory, and made
more than usual impression. It seemed to prove that the com
parative situation of this country is better, and that the pre
dominancy of France is not so decisive nor threatening as has
been imagined ; on the first debate relative to the preliminaries.
Lord Hawkesbury, Pitt, and Lord Castlereagh, were very able.
Charles Fox was much inferior to what I have heard him. Very
late, and after Addington had entirely given up all notion of
speaking, he unnecessarily attended to the call of Lawrence, and
being apprehensive that he could not take up the business fully,
he was not at his ease ; but the next night, in the report, he spoke
admirably, with a good manner and in the best tone.
Yours very sincerely, Sheffield.
EXTEACTS FEOM A LETTER OF ME. H, LEGGE TO
ME. ABBOT. Irish Office, Dec. 14th, 1831.
Dear Abbot, — .... I hardly know what to believe upon the
subject of changes in or additions to Administration. I cannot
help thinking however that Grey will not come in; and I almost
believe that Tierney would be Paymaster if the death or resigna
tion of Lord Liverpool should so far set things afloat as to
remove Mitford to the Eolls, and to place Lord Glenbervie in
the Speaker's chair. I am sure that Lord Glenbervie would
approve this arrangement, and I suspect it is his aim. Tierney
is very much attended to by Mr. Addington, is much consulted
on the subject of finance (as they say), and possesses the
Minister's ear, into the which he frequently whispers in the House
of Commons. Yom-s most truly, H. Legge.
FEOM ME. COEEY TO ME. ABBOT.
London, Dec. I9th, 1801.
. . . I am just returned from a walk of an hour with
Addington. The mutiny* in the fleet gave great agitation ; that
was the sole object for extending the sitting to next Monday, as
• Vide infra, p. 395.

382 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
Hiley Addington told me yesterday. Thank God,all apprehension,
and with it all necessity for Parliamentary interference, is past.
I talked over -with Addington corn and distillery again, and
pressed decision for all your matters yet in suspense ; but, as
Addington writes to-day to Lord Hardvricke, I need say nothing
further just now.
Lord Castlereagh has had a long conversation with Addington
on com: he is just what might be wished. There is every
appearance that the measure of the present period will be rather
an extension of the limits for export from Ireland to Great
Britain as to prices, than a free and open intercourse.
Yours very truly, Isaac Corrt.
EXTEACT FEOM A LETTEE OF ME. H. LEGGE TO
ME. ABBOT. Irish Office, Dec. 19th, 1801.
Dear Abbot, — . . . There was a report yesterday of diffi
culties in the way of negotiation, arising from (it was said) a
refusal on the part of the Spaniards to cede Trinidad. Lord
Grenville, I was told, was in high spirits, and Wyndham, I am
sure, looked merrier than usual. That noble Lord (Grenville)
took great pains to persuade Lord Castlereagh to head an
opposition in the House of Commons in concert with him in the
House of Lords, which Lord Castlereagh at once refused.
Ever yours most sincerely, H. Legge.
LETTEE FEOM LOED HAEDWICKE TO ME. ADDINGTON.
[Private and Confidential.] Phoenix Park, Dec. 2nd, 1801.
My dear Sir, — As I am under the necessity of troubling you
upon a subject which I understand has been recently brought
under your consideration, I shall make no other reference to my
former letter which was delivered to you by Colonel Littlehales,
than to assure you that I have not.been unreasonable enough to
expect an acknowledgment of it during the continuance of your
business in Parliament, in addition to every other.
The point to which I feel it necessary to call your immediate
attention is the propriety of imposing upon the Privy Council in
Ireland the consideration of the important question of a free
corn trade between the two parts of the United Kingdom. I
have great doubts how far the advantage which might be ex
pected from such a mode of collecting information upon that

Dec. 1801.] COEN-TEADE WITH IEELAND. 383
subject, would not be entirely counterbalanced by the incon
veniences which might result from it. In the first place, it
would certainly afford great temptation to those who might be
expected to take a lead upon such questions, to convert the
Privy Council into a theatre of debates ; and party differences of
opinion, upon a subject so peculiarly interesting to the City of
Dublin as their supply of corn, might not only be attended
with very unpleasant consequences, but prevent a free and im
partial discussion upon its own merits.
The country in general (where potatoes are the common food),
and the county members, would in all probability be favourable
to a free intercourse in corn ; but, in Dublin — where the people
are greater consumers of bread, and where the inquiry must be
carried on — the apprehensions would probably be that their in
terests would suffer, that English capital would inevitably carry
their corn, that would otherwise remain for their own supply,
and that, consequently, the price of bread would be raised to
them. I rather think, too, that we should be cautious at present
of establishing here any meeting for debate upon questions of
greater interest and importance ; for, if a precedent is now
made in regard to the corn trade, it may be used in other in
stances, and would serve as an engine of influence and power, as
well as a source of information upon similar subjects.
This is shortly the substance of what I really feel upon the
question of inquiry before the Privy Council ; but if, after all,
you think upon reflection that no inconveiuence will result
from it, we shall be ready to undertake it in the best manner
we are able; and there -will be time to signify your wishes
by a despatch from the Secretary of State's Office, which, if
written a day or two after the arrival of this letter, will reach
me in time to order an inquiry in the course of this month.
As I have not received from Lord Pelham any intimation
of the wishes of Government in regard to an inquiry before
the Privy Council, I have not written to him upon the subject,
at present, and have merely submitted the above points for your
consideration, in order that you may judge whether it may be
advisable to carry on the inquiry here, or by a Committee of
the House of Commons, where the county Members from all
parts of the United Kingdom will have an opportunity of com
municating their local information, and where all parties who
are desirous of it may be heard upon the subject.
I remain, my dear Sir, yours most truly,
Hardwicke.
, The Right Hon. H. Addington.

384 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. ECh. XIV,

LETTEE FEOM ME. COEEY TO ME. ABBOT.
London, Dec. 6th, 1801.
I have received your letters of the 28th and 30th. Yesterday
Vansittart moved a Bill for prohibiting distilling from wheat
in Ireland. Addington, resolved not to yield to the solicita
tions of those who wish further to suspend the distilling from
grain beyond the 1st of January, wishes to throw in this measure
for preserving the wheat of Ireland as a future resource in case
of need, to satisfy them so far in their apprehensions. I ob
jected to Parnell's proposal to add oats to the prohibitory Bill,
meaning that no corn should be acted upon besides wheat,
which assimilates to this country, till after due investigation.
Enough on this point from time to time. You were to have
had your despatches upon com investigation sent off ten days
ago. Vansittart was very anxious, and Addington had decided with
him, to give to the Lord-Lieutenant a power to permit the ex
portation of wheat, notvrith standing that the average price should
be such as to prohibit export. To that I made strong objections,
as going to a partial, sudden superseding of the corn system of
Ireland without notice or investigation ; and as being, for that
reason, even though the measure were otherwise wise, highly
objectionable. I was obliged to call on Addington, and I suc
ceeded in my representations to him upon the point, so that it is
not to be now introduced. I am sure that his Excellency and
yourself will both join me in the more deliberate and more
secure policy of the short delay, till investigation of the subject
at large.
Since -writing so far before I went out, I have received your
letter on the Com Committee of Council proposed in Ireland.
I have also seen Lord Hardwicke's to Mr. Addington on the
same subject ofthe same date, and I admit that there is great
weight in the objections made to an investigation in DubUn.
The true question is amongst the considerations on both sides,
not which is totally unobjectionable, but which is least objec
tionable. I won't now proceed to say anything on the whole of
it in addition to what I -wrote to you on the 2nd of December,
because I find by the date of Lord Hardwicke's, and of yours,
viz. Nov. 28th, that mine was not then received when yours were
¦written. I have, however, found opportunity on their arrival to
press Mr. Addington to come to a decision ; and he promises that
* The Right Hon. Isaac Corry, Chancellor of the Exchequer for Ireland.

Oct. 1801.] EMBASSY TO PARIS. 385
in the course of a few days — within next week certainly — he
will proceed upon it. He in the meantime desires me to ac
quaint His Excellency that no precipitate decision will be taken
as to the mode of proceeding ; and you may rely on his having
every consideration on both sides fully brought before him.
I am sincerely grieved to acquaint you that poor Parnell*,
who was debating with us last night, died this morning of an
apoplexy. Believe me always faithfully yours, Isaac Corrt.

EXTEACTS FEOM LETTEE FEOM ME. JACKSON TO ME.
ABBOT. London, Oct. 30th, 1801.
Dear Abbot, — ... I am at this moment experiencing
the good effects of your efforts in my favour. You supposed
truly that the event of peace would put the diplomatists in
motion. I had some hopes upon the subject, but I certainly
could not anticipate the more than friendly manner in which
Mr. Addington has behaved to me. I had no right to expect it,
and with all the vanity and self-conceit that I can muster up
upon the occasion, I conceive myself that it is to your partial
representation that I am chiefly indebted for a treatment which,
even if it produced no more substantial benefit than that of
being thought of by such a man, would be inestimable.
It has been determined to send a Minister to Paris to reside
there during the Congress at Amien.s, and until Lord Whit-
worth's arrival, who is to be the Ambassadeur Eepresentant :
and Mr. Addington, in terms which after what I have said I
need not describe, made me the offer of this situation. I did
not of course hesitate, and I am now waiting till Lord Cornwallis
has obtained from Buonaparte the assurance that he -will at the
same time send a minister here. It has been suggested that I
should go immediately and carry with me provisional letters of
credence, but I hope and rather think that this will be given
vip, and that they will wait the return of a messenger from the
Marquis, who sets off early on Monday morning. The truth is,
that they do not know how to make out credentials to the Chief
Consul, and between ourselves I have no great ambition to assist
at the Fete of the Ninth.f I cannot forget the idea that a

* Sir John PameU ; father of Sir Henry Pamell, created Lord Congleton.
¦j-. The Gth of November was selected, as the anniversary of the Revolution
of the 18th Brumaire, for the "Fete poui la paix g^nerale." Lord
Cornwallis was present, and was treated -with especial distinction, his car-
VOL. I. C C

386 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
Frenchman frequently conceals under an ostensible civility some
implied insult. However, we are to give credit for much sin
cerity and good will. Buonaparte sent an amazingly civil
message to Lord Cornwallis, desiring to see him before the Con
gress commenced ; in consequence of which his Lordship will
stay a few days at Paris, and return to Amiens. It is expected
that the business -svill not last above a couple of months. It
will be the first Congress that ever ended successfully in that
time. I give you the dramatis personce as at present cast for the
scenes that will be performed after the signature of the Definitive
Treaty: — Lord Whitworth to Paris; Tiemey, Secretary of the
Embassy ; Frere to Madrid as envoy, — there will be no Am
bassador there; Lord E. Fitzgerald to Lisbon; Listen to the
Hague; Wickham* to succeed Lord Carysfort at BerUn, who
goes to St. Petersburg ; Arbuthnot to Stockholm ; Sir James
Crawford to Copenhagen ; Drummond to Constantinople ; Drake
to Naples; and Jackson to America. This, I believe, is the
present intention, though nothing has been said to me by Mr.
Addington or Lord Hawkesbury upon the latter appointment. .
You have of course heard of the pleasant jumble of parties
which the peace has occasioned. I went yesterday to the
House of Lords to hear Lord Grenville's reasons for opposing it,
but he reserved them for Tuesday ; and I had no other satis
faction than to hear a very good speech from Lord Lilford, ¦n'ho
seconded the Address.
Wyndham is himself. There are few like unto him.
Ever most truly yours, F. J. Jackson.

LETTEES FEOM COLONEL LITTLEHALES.
[Private.] Paris, Nov. 2Ist, 1801.
My dear Sir, — . . . Lord ComwalUs will, in all probability,
proceed to Amiens in five or six days f ; but from some circum-
riage being the only one which was allowed to appear in the streets of Paris
on that day. M. Thiers, who records this (Histoire du Consulat et de
I'Empire, iii. 191), adds that on the same day, at the feast at the Guildhall
in London (the Lord Mayor's feast), which he mistakes for an entertainment
especiaUy intended to celebrate the peace, the guests drank -with enthusiasm
the toast " Au premier Consul Buonaparte, a la liberty, au bonheur de la
ESpublique Franjaise."
* Mr. Wickham, however, succeeded Mr. Abbot as Chief Secretary for
Ireland ; and Mr. Jackson succeeded Lord Carysfort at Berlin.
t On Lord CornwaUis's appointment as our plenipotentiary to conclude a
permanent peace, see his Correspondence, iii. 385 — 488. Colonel Littlehale
was acting as Lord CornwaUis's private secretary.

Nov. 1801.] APPEAEANCE OP PAEIS. 387
stances that have lately occurred, I am apprehensive that the
final adjustment of his Lordship's important embassy will be
longer than was supposed on his first arrival in this country. I
shall, of course, hold myself in readiness to return to my post in
Ireland, whenever His Excellency or you consider my services
there to be necessary.
I have not yet been presented to the First Consul, nor has
any person belonging to Lord CornwaUis's suite, but we have
all received very marked attention from the Officers of the
French Government, and also from the people in Paris of all
descriptions, and we have dined with the several Ministers of
this Government.
I went yesterday to see the session of the Corps Legislatif
open ; the members were all in grand costume, the ceremony
had more the appearance of a miUtary procession than a legisla
tive body, and in many parts of the House sentinels with fixed
bayonets were posted. I never saw a country possessing more of
the semblance of liberty than France at present, and less of the
reality. None of the Ministers scarcely ever appear without
an escort, and Buonaparte, who goes seldom into public (except
to the theatres), is never unescorted.
The spectacles are in general (at least three or four of
them) brilliant and entertaining ; and the public libraries and
" cabinets " are extremely well stored and classed. The cele
brated Oriental linguist L'Anglas, showed me some extraordinary
manuscripts, amongst which was " Fenelon's Telemachus," and
Le Sage very poUtely did the honours of the Cabinet de I'Ecole
des Mines when Fox arrived. I am anxious to hear from
DubUn, having written three letters to His Excellency.
'¦••¦¦¦a Very faithfully yours, G. B. Littlehales.

[Private.] Paris, Nov. 29th, 1801.
My dear Sir, — The unexpected intention of the First Consul
to proceed to Lyons, for the purpose, as it is generally under
stood, of uniting the Cisalpine and Ligurian republics, will, in
aU probability, protract the formal proceedings of the negotia
tion of the Definitive Treaty ; and as my returning to my duty
in Ireland may, under such circumstances, be of more conse
quence than my remaining here, I propose, with the concurrence
of Lord Cornwallis, to be in London about the 22nd of next
month  Yours most faithfully, G. B. Littlehales.
c c 2

388 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
EXTEACT FEOM LETTEE FEOM ME. JACKSON TO ME. ABBOT.
Paris, Nov. 26th, 1801.
Dear Abbot, . . . The first part of your kind wish has
been accompUshed, for I got well to Paris amidst all the dis
tinction that could be conferred by firing of cannon, guards of
honour, escorts of cavalry, speeches from the municipalities, and
(though last not least interesting) songs and bouquets from the
women of the different towns through which I passed. There
was nothing very extraordinary in all .this, but the demonstra
tions of joy of the people at Boulogne.* I slept there the first
night, and found the town illuminated so generally, and -with
60 much empressement of its inhabitants to welcome me, that
it was evident it could not be an act of Government. I imagine
that the feelings of happiness at their late escape added some
thing to the brilliancy of their candlelights 
I shall have my audience in the course of next week, if his
Corsican Majesty should be still in this metropolis, and disposed
to honour the corps diplom,atique with a sight of his dear
person, — an honour which neither they nor any of his liege
subjects are allowed to enjoy frequently.
That the world will shortiy be surprised -with a project which
at present he supposes confined to his own bosom, and which
perhaps might have remained there but for the inconvenient
necessity of a great man employing agents for the purpose of
conveying baggage, &c. ; — this plan is to condescend to the
wishes of the Cisaljjine and Ligurian republics, and to undertake
to organise a form of government for them. For this purpose
they are to send deputies to Lyons, whither Buonaparte will
repair in person to enlighten them with his wisdom.
This is all we know of his intention ; but it is strongly con
jectured that he means to amalgamate the Cisalpine, the Li
gurian, and Piedmont, and form a snug little sovereignty to
which he might retire, either in case of necessity, or when
fatigued ¦with the care of governing this more extensive and
more combustible repubUc. Whence the necessity and con
sequent wish of retirement may arise, whether from a plan, for
which he has obtained credit with a few, of restoring the ancient
dynasty, or from the apprehension of an impending storm, we
cannot yet know. Certain it is that he is surrounded by
enemies, and, as far as I can learn, he has not one friend ; for
* Boulogne had been attacked by Nelson on August ISth, 1801.

Nov. 1801.] APPEAEANCE OF PAEIS. 389
even Berthier, who was the companion of his military exploits,
and very instrumental to his different successes, is now alienated
from him, and totters in his place. As for his other ministers
and generals, he literally treats them like so many slaves, and em
ploys them' individually to answer some particular purpose, which
once effected, they retire to their wonted distance, and wait in
due submission another occasional nod to approach his presence.
So much for yourself. As for your lords and ladies I am
afraid I shall not have anything very interesting for their eyes
or very fit for their ears. A recital of the common occurrences
of Paris being little more than an uninterrupted picture of
vulgarity and profligacy. I can say this from the observation I
have made in the ten days I have passed here, and still more
safely from the report of those who have made a longer resi
dence. There is no society but what you meet at the theatres
or at great ministerial dinners ; no petits comites. At the
theatres it seems as if the one and two-shilling galleries, and
the back rows of the front boxes were emptied into the best
places in the house.
The great dianers at which I have assisted are a bad repre
sentation of a bad dinner in the great room at the London
Tavern, or Crown and Anchor ; only that in the latter the
appearance of the waiters, as well as of the company, would be
infinitely better than what we have here.
What do you think of Lord Cornwallis, with all his dignity of
decorum, dining the other day at a table of thirty covers with
the kept mistresses, and being obliged ex officio, to- hand out the
ugliest and frailest of them, because she was in keeping of the
Minister for Foreign Affairs ? I am going to dine to-day -with
Fouche de Nantes, the ingenious and humane inventor of the
Mariages Republicains, under Eobespierre. He is now Minister
of Police.
You ¦will judge, my dear friend, from this sort of tableau, how
much we are under the necessity here of keeping our thoughts
at home, and whether it is any comfort to find occasionally a
safe depository for them.
On the other hand, we have many wonderful exhibitions of
national magnificence and liberality ; founded, in some instances,
on national plunder. Of the latter the most striking are the
galleries where they have placed the paintings brought from.
Italy, Flanders, Germany, and Holland, and the statues from the
first of those countries ; among which are the Laocoon and the
Apollo Belvidere. They are open three days in every decade to
the public, and six days exclusively to artists and to foreigners.
c c 3

390 DUEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
The scientific institutions are likewise upon a great scale, and
well supported : but of this more by and by.
Yours affectionately attached, F. J. Jackson.
Paris, Dec. 23rd, I80I.
Dear Abbot, — . . . The difficulties of the present moment
are not for individuals who, with a very common share of pene
tration, and that insight into the progress of foreign poUtics
which an exclusive attention to the subject will afford, can but
too well ascertain the tendency of what passes ; they are for
states and statesmen, whose business and whose interest it is to
avert that tendency and its final result. It must be confessed
that these difficulties are very great ; and much as I was im
pressed, by my communications before I left England, -with those
which would have attended the continuation of the war, I now
am at a loss to say whether they should have outweighed the
considerations of the danger which at present surrounds us and
the rest of Europe. This indeed is a mere matter of speculation;
and, although I am irresistibly led to express such a doubt by
the impulse of every sense and faculty I possess, yet there can
be 910 doubt that we must now go on with the experiment, and
prepare ourselves by economy and repose for the contest in
which, ere it be very long, we must inevitably engage.
Without saying that France is intentionally working her way
to universal sovereignty, — a pursuit which I trust we may stOl
consider as chimerical, — I can assert that her politics were never
more exclusively selfish than at the present moment. She
acknowledges no law but her o-wn will, and no will but such as
increases her o^wn influence and aggrandisement at the expense
of her neighbours. It appears perhaps more wonderful to me,
who have had so many occasions of observing the .sturdy pride of
the Germans, and the haughtiness of the Autocratical empire, to
see them now reduced to a suppliant posture before the Great
Nation. The demeanour of their ministers is an exact type of
their own submission and dependence. Many of the corps
diplomatique are nothing more than tools of the French
Government ; there is not one of them that dare encounter the
disgrace of the First Consul, or look his minister fuU in the face.
Lucchesini* put his finger in his eye and cried, but did not
venture to pout, because Buonaparte took offence at something
he had done, and reproached him at a public audience. His
colleagues had the weakness to laugh at him as a naughty boy ;
" He was the Prussian Ambassador at Paris.

Dec. 1 801.] STATE OF THE CONTINENT. 391
and he, poor feUow, has been obUged to endeavour to make
amends for his fault by the most assiduous and servile attentions
to Talleyrand's mistress. Judge what a set I should have to act
with, if it were not that I find I have nothing for it but to stand
firm on my own ground. Thank God, it is yet an exalted
station, and I can look at and pity them at a distance.
The plan of which I gave you the earliest intimation in my
last letter, which is now officially announced to the public, is on
the point of being carried into execution. In my next I may be
able to tell yon in what precise way this is done, though it is
immaterial how that is brought about, which we know to be the
ultimate object of the whole proceeding, viz. the subjection to
the dominion of Buonaparte of Piedmont, the Milanese, Genoa,
part of the ex- Venetian territories, the Bailiage of Switzerland,
and the Eomish Legation. The most plausible idea that I have
yet heard, is that which I before mentioned to you, of Buona
parte's keeping this, no matter under what present form of
government, as a snug retreat for himself. In the meantime,
he feeds an army in these different provinces, which may one
day be sufficiently alienated from its native country to obey him
exclusively ; a means which has always been wanting to the
different heads of parties which the country has seen during the
Eevolution. By that mean he would be enabled to make himself
respected, or at least feared on every side ; and to support or con
trol any party in the interior of France itself. You -will see the
outline of the Cisalpine Consul ta, and its intended operations in
the Monitewr of the 21st, a most iamo'yxB pot pourri they will
have at Lyons.
At no other period, as I presume, in the history of Europe,
would such a transaction have been seen with indifference and
inactivity by other powers. After what I have said above, this
is no longer a subject of surprise. They think here little more
of the interference of Austria than of the Landgrave of Hesse
Cassel. The other day only, before the Court of Vienna had
given way upon the business of the elections at Cologne, and
Munster, Moreau, who is the most moderate, as well as the
most able, and in every way the most respectable of their
Generals, talked of a Promenade a Vienne, as you would
of a ride through the Phoenix Park ; and there is but too much
reason to think he would have performed it with nearly the
same ease.
It is fortunate for us that these dispositions in and out of
France, are attended with such circumstances as may perhaps
check their powers of exertion abroad. I don't know that we
c c 4

392 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
shall be ultimately benefited by any changes that can take
place, but at least, in the confusion they ¦will create here, we
shall have a Uttle breathing time.
Buonaparte's enemies increase daily in number : and the
attempts to cover the despotism of his government under the
sanction of Senates, Tribunales, Legislative Bodies, &c., occasion
only fresh instances of mortification to him. The proceedings
of these different bodies are of late become somewhat interest
ing ; and worthy of attention by the opposition which they dis
play to the measures of the Court.
Besides this, there are parties formed amongst different
classes of people, which sooner or later must bring about the
overthrow of the present order of things. Do not be surprised
if you hear of this happening at an early penod.
The First Consul sets out in five or sLs days for Lyons. Two
of his ministers precede him.
Your old friends the S-wiss are not better treated than their
neighbours. This Government has just caused the Valais to be
occupied, but will shortly restore it on condition of keeping a
militai-y road into Italy, along the left bank of the Ehone. The
new Government there established by the Eevolution of the
28th October last is to be acknowledged: and the Swiss are
endeavouring to persuade the other powers to acknowledge
their Government also, that it may thereby become a Uttle more
independent of France.
You see the whole navy of France has sailed for the West
Indies, with no less than 30,000 men on board ; probably the
number is much greater. This is a serious consideration, and
the precautions which we are forced to take axe expensive.
I understand that a stout resistance ¦will be made at St.
Domingo. Toussaint L'Ouverture has 15,000 regulars, and
three times that number of armed irregulars, under his com
mand. Should the attempt upon him fail, the French arma
ment must be turned to some other account; and it is only
another proof of the same spirit of aggrandisement which I have
before mentioned, to tell you that Spain has lately ceded to
France, as the price of the establishment of the Bang of Etruria,
Louisiana, and the two Floridas, together ¦with six saU of line-of-
battle ships.
I need hardly add to this long epistle by saying that the
whole of it is only for the perusal of you and yours, Salut, et
haute consideration,
F, S. J.

Feb. 1802.] STATE OP PAEIS. 393
Paris, Feb. 2nd, 1802.
My dear Abbot,—. . . . You are of course looking, as
we are here, to the result of the transactions at Amiens ; it is
indeed time that you should be satisfied, and that we should be
really at peace. If we are successful in our endeavours to remain
in that state any length of time, it is, I think, more than the
rest of Europe can expect.
You have in the newspapers the proceedings at Lyons fully
detailed, and can make better observations on them than any I
can offer ; those I do make are not of a very pleasant nature.
Let me caution you, however, against believing that everythmg
passed -with such perfect unanimity as people here would
willingly persuade you. The Cisalpines wished for a governor
from amongst themselves, and would have named M. de Melzi,
their present Vice President ; but Buonaparte has a large army
in the country, and they must needs obey him.
The citizens of the Italian republic are neither flattered nor
pleased. . The inhabitants of the rest of Italy are alarmed ; and
those amongst the French who think that they might find
enough to do in healing the deep wounds which their country
has suffered, look upon this as a bad prognostic of the peaceful
reign of their present sovereign.
I believe when I last wrote to you the operation of straining
the representation of the French people through a consular sieve
had not begun. Buonaparte was annoyed with the opposition
he met with in the Tribunate of the Corps Legislatif, and sent
a message to the Senate to proceed aux termes de la Constitution
to eliminer those two bodies ; that is, to re-elect them, with the
exception of the persons marked upon his black list, and who
are thus to cease their functions. This seems almost ludicrous,
but it is perfectly true. When this " Old Inn new revived " is
opened, he vrill proceed ¦with his Code Civile, and publication
of the Concordatum, on which most of the Clergy of every
rank who have resigned will be reinstated. This will happen
March 22nd.
I am extremely glad to hear that you have been so quiet in
Ireland ; and only wish you would extend the efforts of your
police to keeping at home a parcel of disorderly women, who come
abroad ¦without bringing anything with them that does credit to
the national character. There is Lady C  , who is one day
taken up by the Police, and carried to the Bureau Central, for
persisting to drive in the Champs Elysees at forbidden hours and
through forbidden roads : another day she quarrels with people

394 DUEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
at the Masquerade ; a third, she invites a dozen French men
and women to her house, and abuses them all for slaves.
Then we have Lady M  , whose dear friend is H. M.
WiUiams *, and who gets into all the bad company at Paris ;
you must suppose it is very bad, when here it is reckoned
mauvais ton.
You really should keep these people at home. As for your
swindlers, of whom there has been a nest here for some time,
they are not near so troublesome or so disgraceful, for there are
s^svindlers in aU coimtries ; and the poUce here is very good.
Most truly yours, F. S. Jackson.
[Private.] Paris, March 15th, 1802.
My dear Abbot, — .... I have been long ¦wishing
to write to you at some length, and had intended to do so this
day ; but I am now obliged to send off my messenger in a hurry
with the horrid account just received of the beginning of the
expedition to St. Domingo.
You will very shortly see in print the substance of the des
patches of the French general and admiral, which tell us that
the to^wn of the Cape f was fired by the blacks on the approach
of the French fleet. I question if we shall know, even when
the private letters are delivered, the extent of the mischief and
havock that must have ensued : but I know that there ¦was not,
when the despatches came away, a single house left in a fit state
to receive Madame Leclerc and her family, who were on that
account obliged to remain on board ship. (You know this lady
is Buonaparte's sister, and was sent upon this expedition by her
brother, in consequence of her having been found in rather an
awkward situation -with La Fond, an actor de la Comedie
Frangaise.) There is too much reason to apprehend that
Port au Prince has also been destroyed, and that much blood
must be shed before the French will gain even a partial posses
sion of the island. Their loss, although they say little of it,
must already have been considerable  I send you
by this messenger a copy of the intercepted papers so nobly de
livered over by his Eussian majesty to this Government, in
which many great names, and among the rest your friend
Wickham f, make a conspicuous appearance. They are published
* Miss Helen WiUiams ; a political writer of republican principles and
bad reputation.
t The to-wn Cape Franjais, then the capital of the island.
X Mr. Wickham had been our minister in S^witzerland during the cam
paigns of SuvarofF,

Dec. 1801.] MUTINY AT COEK. 393
at this time only to answer the purpose of making Buonaparte
believe that he is still more than he really is dependent on his
Minister of Police, the famous Fouch^ de Nantes, of Noyades
celebrity. Most truly yours, F. J. Jackson.

Letters relating to the Mutiny in Bantry Bay,
FEOM LOED GAEDNEE TO ME. ABBOT.
[Secret.] " Princess Charlotte," Cork Harbour, Dec. Oth, 1801.
Sir, — Having received a despatch at eight o'clock yesterday
evening, of a serious nature, from Vice-Admiral Sir Andrew
MitcheU, commanding a division of His Majesty's ships of the
Channel Fleet at Bearhaven, dated the 7th instant, I consider
it my duty to transmit to you copies thereof, and its enclosures,
Nos. 1, 2, 3, which I am to desire you will please to lay before
His ExceUency the Lord-Lieutenant for his immediate infor
mation. The officer entrusted with Sir Andrew Mitchell's despatches
for the Admiralty, arrived at Cork at five o'clock p.m. yesterday ;
and by setting off immediately for Waterford, he was in hopes
of arriving there in time to proceed in the packet which will
sail thence this day for England. He therefore very properly
sent my despatches by a dragoon to Cork.
I am exceedingly concerned at the spirit of mutiny and
disobedience which has sho^wn itself in two of the large ships, the
"Temerarre," and "Formidable." And from Sir Andrew Mitchell's
letter, I very much fear it will spread to others of His Majesty's
ships. Their conduct is in the highest degree criminal, and, if
they are not speedily brought to a sense of their error, there
must be an end to all naval discipline and good order. I have
expressed a hope to Sir Andrew Mitchell, that ¦with the assist
ance of the officers of every description under his command, and
the reasoning of the orderly and well-disposed part of the crews
of the different ships, he will be able to check the mutiny which
has broken forth, and to bring these deluded men to a proper
sense of their duty.
I have also acquainted him, that I should communicate his
despatch to me to his Excellency the Lord-Lieutenant, that
Government may have timely notice, and be prepared in the
event of its being judged necessary to order any troops into the
neighbourhood of Bearhaven.
I have the honour to be. Sir,
Your most obedient and humble servant, Gardner.

396 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.

Enclosure No. 1.
FEOM VICE-ADMIEAL SIE ANDEEW MITCHELL TO ADMIEAL
LOED GAEDNEE.
[Secret] " Windsor Castle," Bearhaven, Dec. 7th, I80I.
My Lord, — Since the arrival of the last secret despatches
from the Admiralty to me of the 18th ultimo, by the Admiralty
messenger, who waited on you at Cork on his return, at that
moment I had nothing to communicate. But now I have the
very great mortification to state to your Lordship the unex
pected conduct of the crews of His Majesty's ships named m
Temerairc, the margin, who were ordered to complete to five
Formidable. months' pro^visious and stores. They are determiued
not to Uft their anchors from this haven, without being ac
quainted where they are going ; and nowhere ¦will they move
but to England.
Enclosed, your Lordship ¦will receive copies of the letters I
received from Eear- Admiral Campbell, stating to me what has
been done by him and Captain Grindall, ¦with the conduct of
their ships' companies.
The companies of the " Majestic " and "Vengeance " have not
yet taken an active part in this resolution not to sail except to
England ; but Captains Gould and Duff informed me, they are
assured from appearances and their ovm. observations, and other
circumstances, that their crews are equally engaged in it.
I have thought it necessary (with the opinions of the Ad
mirals here) to send express to the Admiralty with this \m-
pleasant information. I shaU leave your Lordship to judge
how anxiously I shall wait for instructions from their Lordships
for my further proceedings. I have the honour to be, my
Lord, your Lordship's most obedient humble servant,
A. Mitchell.
No. 2.
FEOM EEAE-ADMIEAL CAMPBELL TO SIE A. MTCHELL,
" Temeraire," in Bearhaven, Dec. 6th, 1801.
Sir, — I beg leave to inform you, that shortly after the sails
were bent, the major part of the ship's company of H. M. S.
" Temeraire" were heard cheering on the lower deck : lowered the
ports, and were in the act of barring them in, when Lieutenants
Douglas and Bro-wn immediately went amongst them, when the
ship's company exclaimed, "We ¦will fight for our King and

Dec 1801.] MUTINY AT COEK. 397
country as long as the war lasts, but we will not start an anchor
except for England," and proceeded to unship the ladders. The
hands were then turned up, but it was sometime before they
came aft, except a small part of the crew which were in the
middle deck, who came up quickly, immediately they were
called. Upon the First Lieutenant telling the rest it was the
Admiral's -wish they should come on deck, they said, " they had
been aft, and wanted to go to England," but they came aft slowly.
I then asked them what was the cause of their making that dis
turbance below ; their answer was, " they understood the squad
ron going to sea was bound for the West Indies, and it was the
ship's company's determination not to start an anchor except for
England." I told them it was impossible for me to tell them
where they were going, and asked if they at any former period
ever were told where they were going ; but they still persisted
in what they had before said, relative to theu- not starting the
anchor. I then asked if they could state any grievance, and
whether the greatest attention was not paid to their comforts
in every respect. They repUed, " Grievance we have none ; in
that we are well satisfied."
I then pointed out to them that we could not yet call it
peace, and that our service was still required. I told them
the time was near at hand for going to sea, and that I expected
they would readily unmoor the ship (or words to that effect),
and made use of other language to enforce obedience. They
instantly cried out, " No, no, no ; they would go to England."
Captain Eyles as well as myself was vritness to the whole of these
proceedings, and I am under the painful necessity of saying that
it is his as well as my own opinion that they wUl not proceed to
sea but for England.
Herewith I beg leave to transmit to you a letter from Captain
Grindall, stating to me that the " Formidable's " ship's company
axe in the same state, and also beg leave to remind you of what
Captain Gould said in your cabin this morning. Under these
circumstances I have to request your advice for my further pro
ceedings. Sir, your most obedient and very humble servant,
Geoege Campbell.
To Sir Andrew MitcheU, K.B.,
Vice-Admiral of the White, &c. &c,

398 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.

No. 3.
FEOM CAPTAIN EYLES TO ADMIEAL CAMPBELL [APPAEENTLT
ENCLOSED IN THE PEECEDING.]
"Temeraire," Bearhaven, Dec. Sth, 1801.
Sir, — I beg leave to state to you that a boat from His Majes
ty's ship " Formidable," with an officer on service, came on board
this ship about eleven o'clock a.m., that in less than five minutes
afterwards I went upon deck to receive Captain Duff, when I
perceived a body of men collecting fast upon the forecastle.
The officer of the watch. Lieutenant Gore, said, " I believe. Sir,
there is something going on amongst the people." I repUed that
I thought so too. WTien I was going to announce Captain Duff
to the Admiral, he said, " they are coming aft." I answered, I
would be up instantly ; and I took this opportunity, when below,
to name the circumstance to the Admiral. I then went upon
deck, when I saw the major part of the ship's crew of seamen
speaking to Lieutenant Douglas, First Lieutenant and officer of
the watch. I requested to know what they were come aft for,
and what it was they wanted. Alexander Bruce, Quartermaster,
and John Snowden, Gunner's mate, and James Ward, Captain
of the forecastle, appeared before the body of men, saying they
were called upon deck, and hustled aft by them to say " that
the ship's company wanted to know where the ship was going,
and that they would not start an anchor but to go to England."
I said, I did not know where she was going, but that I expected
orders would be obeyed as usual, and desired they would go
quietly below again.
I now observed. Sir, you were coming upon deck, when you
requested me to inform you what was the matter ; I said, they,
viz. the crew, wanted' to know where the ship was going, when
the Admiral asked them, " Did you ever know where you were
going, or make a request of that sort before." They said, " No,
but it is now peace." When the Admiral repUed, "We do not
know it is peace, nor can I teU you where we are going ; " when
the Admiral and myself ordered them quietly below, which was
done. I now asked Lieutenant Fricker of the "Formidable" if
anything of this kind had taken place on board that ship. He
said, there had been men aft to speak to the Captain to ask
where they were going.
I have understood since from good authority, that the men
do not intend to weigh anchor until they know whether the
ship is going to England or not. And that they have whispered

Jan. 1802.] lEISH MILITIA. 399
fore and aft, that if anybody should get drunk before the
business is settled, they will be severely cobbed.
I am, sir, your most obedient servant, Thomas Eyles.
To George CampbeU, Esq.,
Rear-Admiral of the Blue, &c. No. 4.
FEOM CAPTAIN GEINDALL OF THE " FOEMIDABLE " TO
ADMIEAL CAMPBELL.
[Gives nearly the same account of the proceedings on board that
ship.] DEAFT OF A DESPATCH FEOM ME. ABBOT TO LOED
PELHAM, ON THE MILITLA. Dublin Castle, Jan. 1802.
My Lord, — Having in my letters of the  and  ac
quainted your Lordship -with the extent of the reductions which
may be expected to take place in the Militia of Ireland upon
the conclusive of a definitive treaty of peace ; and having also
stated the very short periods for which the remainder of the
MiUtia is Uable to serve after such a treaty ; and that even
these periods do not appear by the returns to be very clearly
ascertained; I shall, accordingly to the desire expressed by
your Lordship of the  , proceed to offer to your Lordship
such observations as appear to me very necessary for the con
sideration of His Majesty's Ministers in determining the
future peace establishment of this country, so far as regards the
MiUtia. Having conferred -with the Commander of the Forces and
several general officers upon the establishment ¦with respect to the
military resources of Ireland, in furnishing them for the defence
of the Empire, I find it to be their concurrent opinion, that as the
regular forces are the most economically raised and maintained,
and the most useful for service, it would be most desirable in a
military point of view to recruit in Ireland for the line, without
raising any Militia whatever.
In England, however, and in Scotland, there is at present
an establishment of Militia, and, for the sake of the consti
tutional precedent, it may be desirable to preserve a similar
description of force in Ireland; in favour of which there are
some circumstances well deserving of attention ; although there
are others also which may appear to preponderate, unless means

400 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
can be devised to obviate the consequences to which they might
ultimately lead.
In favour of maintaining a Militia in Ireland, it is no unim
portant consideration that it intends to induce many of the
leading country gentlemen to look to the Crown for favour, and
that the desire of obtaining the honour and emoluments belonging
to the command of these regiments naturally inclines them to
give a local support to the King's Government.
This institution has also the advantage of bringing the
gentry of Ireland into more intimate connection with the
lower classes of their countrymen, and creating a reciprocal
good -will between them, from the continual experience of
protection on the one part and fidelity on the other ; it has
also the effect of bringing together the Protestants and Ca
tholics more closely ; so that by serving together their religious
animosities abate, and their minds and habits also become
gradually blended and assimilated.
On the other . hand, it is impossible not to entertain some
apprehension from the danger of arming so large a body of the
people where the large proportion of Catholics is so con
siderable, and their sentiments and actions have been too
frequently in hostility to British connection and Government.
To retain the service of so great a military force, and
to obviate any of these mischievous consequences, the only
course which has occurred to me as desirable would be to esta
blish, if it could be accomplished, an interchangeableness of the
Militia, to be raised in every part of the United Kingdom. (The
Irish have at all times been reputed to be bad soldiers at home
and excellent abroad.) And with regard to Ireland itself, it
appears to me that the political benefits of this measure ought
to outweigh all other considerations; thoroughly persuaded
as I am that such an intercourse, by bringing the inhabitants
of different parts of the United Kingdom into closer acquaint
ance, with their respective habits and manners, would go further
towards cementing the connection of both countries, and im
proving the habits of the lower classes of the less civilised
country, than any other measure which could be carried into
execution. If with a view to this great political object it should be thought
upon the whole advisable to maintain a Militia in Ireland, many
points will nevertheless remain to be considered, arising from
the pecuUar mode in which it is now constructed, which differs
essentially from that of England.

Jan. 1802.] MAYNOOTH. 401
Lastly, it will be for the consideration of His Majesty's Minis
ters whether it will not be necessary for giving effect to any
such plan that proper depots should be provided in each country,
or in certain places of safety, for collecting and preserving the
arms of the Militia (as well as of the Yeomanry) during peace.
And also that a permanent law should be passed, either empower
ing the King to move the Militia of either country into the
other at his o-wn pleasure during war ; or at least to enable him
in such times to accept the voluntary offer for this purpose,
without the necessity of waiting for the special sanction of
ParUament. These observations I have thought it my duty to communicate
to your Lordship m order that this important subject may
receive the fullest consideration of His Majesty's Ministers ; and
as circumstances may possibly bring the present Militia to an
end at no very great distance of time, it is very desirable for
the interest of His Majesty's affairs in this country that it may
receive an early determination.
I have the honour, &c. Chas. Abbot.

A PAPEE FOE"WAEDBD BY ME. LINDSAY TO ME. ABBOT.
Not knowing what plan, or if any, is to be pursued upon the
religious state of Ireland, little can be suggested. Two points
exclusive of any general princij51es of policy demand attention.
1, With respect to the students at Maynooth.
2. With respect to country schoolmasters.
1. Out of any number of boys or young men educated for the
priesthood, not above one-fifth actually will submit to the duties
of holy orders.
If this position be true in the ratio asserted, out of every him-
dred youths educated for the priesthood at Maynooth only ten*
become priests, and ninety persons taken from the lower classes
of life obtain an education at the public expense which unfits
them for the duties of their natural walk of life ; gives them
neither profession nor employment to follow, and they are then
turned loose upon the world without occupation, and therefore
liable to be discontented.
This class of persons which was of course found in the Irish
colleges abroad, formerly refusing to become priests from inclina
tion, or prohibited from ordination by their ill-behaviour, sought
* There is evidently some mistaks here, as one-fifth would be equivalent
to twenty in a hundred, not to ten.
VOL. I. D D

40-2 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
bread for themselves by becoming country schoolmasters ; and
almost all the country schoolmasters of the Popish reUgion in
Ireland were educated originally for priests. It has been ob
served that this body of men has been remarkably seditious and
promotive of rebellion in all parts of the country.
In the repeal of the Popery Code the power of the state over
Popish schoolmasters has been repealed, and they are not subject
to any license.
Some regulation ought to be proposed as to the College of
Maynooth; possibly the following : —
1. That each boy on entering the College should give security
that if he does not take orders after so many years' residence he
shall pay such a sum for his education.
2. That no person removed from the College for ill conduct,
or for that reason prohibited from ordination, shall be allowed
to keep a school.
3. That no Popish schoolmaster shall be allowed to teach in
school -without a certificate as to his morals and principles from
the Catholic priest and CathoUc bishop of his parish and diocese.
Query. Should our ordinaries have the power of suspension ?

EXTEACTS FEOM A LETTEE FEOM ME. ABBOT TO
ME. YORKE.
[Private] Phcenix Park, Jan. 21st, 1802.
Dear Yorke, — . . This part of the United Kingdom is
much altered since Lord Hardwicke arrived here. War and
rebellion were extinguished together by the preliminaries with
France ; and our thoughts of military affairs have been confined
to the more pleasant speculations of reduction. Before Little
hales's arrival we had taken some important steps ; and he is
rapidly proceeding, so far as yet is prudent, to place our ex
penditure for military purposes upon its intended peace estab
lishment 
Before the war finished we had not been inattentive to the
Civil Department of the State; and, considering the strife
necessary to be maintained with the ill-willed and the corrupt,
we have upon the whole, I think, obtained a fair support from
the general opinion of the public. Our calumniators are now
fallen back, and the rest of our course, so long as we are allowed
to have any, will be unresisted and approved. Of the two famous
tyrants, if a free country could be said to have any, whom the
Irish have idolised, we have too much cause to impute to the
one an insolent and illiberal opposition, not sustained even by

Jas. 1802.] FINANCES OF lEELAND. 403
an open avowal to us of the hostility which he boasted of to his
sycophants and news-gatherers. I am unfortunately furnished
with too many proofs of his very discreditable conduct ; but at
present he is not very likely to annoy us much more, unless hi.s
medical assistants are much deceived. Truly it is a great pity
that, with extraordinary talents and eminent services, there
should be much to blame and ridicule in the same character.
Of the other great lord, or rather commoner *, we have seen
little; not from our faults, for civilities numberless were
proffered ; but he doubted our stability, and affected to think
we decUned his advice and assistance, and never came near us,
though frequently in DubUn. At length, however, I have had
a full and apparentiy amicable conference with him on all the
leading Irish topics ; Corn Trade, Linen Trade, Farming Society,
Mines, Fisheries, Na-vigation, Exchange, Poor Laws, &c. His
countrymen, however, give him so much credit for craft and
tergiversation that it will require the large stage of an united
Parliament to liberalise his manners; civility he is most un
questionably well entitled to ; but I much doubt whether he
will repay confidence in sterling gold.
Our financial matters are, I think, on a good foundation.
Some of the subordinate branches have been completely settled,
and I think very satisfactorily. The Board of Works, which is
of no moment but as it is before the eyes of every man, has
been a salutary model of improved regulation; and the per
secuted saint. Lord Tyrawley, (who certainly would not join in
the ancient prayer of having a glass -window in his bosom,) has
concluded his -vindication of that department by acknowledging
a debt of 37,000L upon a service of which the usual estimated
grant has hitherto been from 25,G00L to 32,000L, and no bills
have been settled for many years 
The Stamp Eevenue has been placed, I trust, upon a soUd founda
tion. Like ours in England it had grown up from small
beginnings, and had never been attended to. Of this you may
judge when I tell you no distributor in Ireland kept an account
of the sorts of duties for which he sold his stamps. Evasion,
peculation, and insolvency have naturally been the characteristics
ofthis department.
The great department of revenue in Ireland is that which is
emphatically caUed the Eevenue Board ; viz. Customs, Excise,
Assessed Taxes, Hearth Money, &c. &c. What was wanting here
you will best judge by hearing that each individual of the four
senior commissioners dictated to me the state of his department,
"* Foster.
BD 2

404 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
whilst 'I took it dovm in his presence in my o^wn apartment,
within a month of my arrival, by describing it as a Board com
posed of ignorance, partiality, conniving at frauds in every
subordinate office ; and that the Board itself, by its relaxed
system of conduct, rendered all other evils incurable. Old
Beresford,. who was the first to relate this singular narrative,
has certainly had much merit in tracing out some of the frauds,
and bringing forward meritorious officers, capable, if supported,
of correcting or preventing them. But he acknowledged that
be had not obtained obedience to the orders which he had
prevailed on the Board to issue ; and the subsequent production
of papers, accounts, reports, &c., which have progi-essively come
before me, established these facts to an extent which an English
man would think incredible.
As to public bodies I have reason to know that we stand well
with the Corporation of Dublin, the University, the bench of
Judges, and (except for the pending business of Kilmore)
extremely well in the opinion of the Church. You see that I
have trusted much to the interest you must take in every cir
cumstance connected with Lord Hardwicke's administration;
and that I have troubled you to a length which would otherwise
be inexcusable. It may happen, however, that in the hurry of
business, on my first return to London, you may not have time
for this sort of detailed intelligence by conversation, and
therefore it is that I give you this previous notice of the main
points of our situation. Ever yours, Chaelbs Abbot.

LETTER FEOM THE BISHOP OF MEATH TO ME. ABBOT.
Ardbraccan House, March Sth, 1802.
Dear Sir,— ... I went to town [DubUn] the week
before last, to assist at the Board of First Fruits, and much as I
was grieved to find everything going on in the old way, without
the least appearance of any expectation or thought of change,
you are prepared to hear that the Primate was not there. The
Archbishop of Dublin presided, and gave in his accounts. After
stating the amount of the sum he had laid out in the purchase
of debentures, according to the order of the last year, and of
the grants then made, it appeared that he had a balance in his
hand this year of 31,222?. We examined vouchers, we signed

March, 1802.] BOAED OF FIEST FEUITS. 40.5
accounts, grants were made for 2,750L for this diocese, and of
about 5001. for the rest. Some applications from me and other
bishops were refused as barred by the present regulations of the
Board, and there the business ended.
Not a question was asked as to the general state of the fund,
nor any inquiry or regulation made respecting the application of
the large balance that still appeared to be in hand.
I inspected the general statement as prepared by Mr. Burgh
in case it should be called for, and I shall give you a faithful
abstract of the round sums as they stood on Jan. 5th, 1802.
Balance in hand of Parliamentary Grants .... .£15,361
„ on Primate Boulter's Fund  13,404
„ on First Fruite  2,457
Total Balance 31,222
State of the Capital.
Productive Stock in the different funds .... 70,699
Balance this year  31,222
Gross total of Capital 101,921
Of the productive Stock 12,600Z. is in Bank Stock, which is
now seUing at 1801., and therefore would, if sold, admit an
increase of  10,080
101,921
Making in aU . . 112,001
This amount was drawn out before the 18,000L of the compen
sation money was paid in ; and that sum formed no part of it.
So that when the 45,000L for the three Ecclesiastical Boroughs is
added to the account, the gross capital the Board may possess
will be 157,000?., and the balance now in hand, adding the
18,000?. received, is 49,222?.
WTiat might not be done -with such a fund, and the usual annual
ParUamentary grant towards all the purposes of the Board of
First Fruits in this country ! How speedily might we obtain
from it a general residence for the Clergy, places of worship
wherever they are wanting or falling into decay, and even, in
process of time, the increase of such U^vings as are not adequate
to the support of a minister ! The plan which I proposed for
that purpose, counting on this capital, was founded on the sketch
of a bill to be brought into Parliament by Mr. Foster, which he
showed me some years ago. The greatness of the fund would
render some things in that sketch unnecessary, and particularly
the exchanging of tithes for lands, which I agree with all the
Bishops, would be a very dangerous measure.
Having now other cares to occupy your thoughts, and engross
S D 3

406 DIARY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
your attention, you may think it hard that I should break in
upon you with Irish grievances. But besides that I feel myself
bound to do everything that my conscience suggests to me on
this subject, as likely to be of any use, I conceive of you and
others who have gone before you, as I do of those blessed spirits
who have ¦winged their way into a better region, and a happier
planet, but stiU feel interested in the destinies of those less
favoured beings whom they have left behind them.
I have the honour to be, &c. &c., dear Sir,
Your most obliged and faithful servant, J. L. Meath.
EXTEACT OF A LETTEE FEOM ME. MAX^WELL BLACKER
TO ME. ABBOT. Dublin, May 27th, 1802.
My dear Sir,- —  Everything in this country
proceeds smoothly and quietly. Plenty abounds; yet the
scarcity of past times lives in the recollection of the husband
man, and excites his industry. The tradesmen alone in the
metropolis and other great towns, unmindful of the past, and
ungrateful for the present, have turned out en masse for higher
wages ; and finding an easy subsistence in the abundance of the
season, refuse to return to their former employment and accus
tomed wages. The rage for farming still prevails amongst our
gentry ; and the price of lands throughout the country rises again.
Lord and Lady Hardwicke preserve their popularity in all
ranks of society. Adieu, my dear Sir.
Yonr much obliged, Max^well Blacker.
EXTEACTS FEOM LETTERS FROM LORD REDESDALE TO
ME. ABBOT. Cork Abbey, Aug. 15th, 1802.
My dear Sir, —  Since I have been in this*
country I have had more and more reason to applaud your con
duct in it, and to be persuaded that it is to be governed for some
years to come only by a strong hand and a reforming spirit.
The injury which the last job has done us in point of reputation
is incalculable. Lord Castlereagh's ideas of making men
"amiable" must be forgotten. If this country is to be kept, it
is to be by other politics. I believe it to be generally true in
* Lord Redesdale had been appointed Chancellor of Ireland on the death
of Lord Clare, at the beginning of this yeai.

Adg. 1802.] PEINCIFLE OP GOVEENMENT FOE lEELAND. 407
the government of a country that " corruption wins not more
than honesty."
But in this country I am persuaded that the maxim which
Shakspeare puts in the mouth of a fallen statesman ought most
religiously to be adhered to. The good they expect from the
Union is the destruction of that corruption which they are
aware has ruined their country ; and they are as much disposed
to submit to the privations which the destruction of corruption
may impose on individuals, as the French are disposed to sub
mit to despotism in remembrance of all their sufferings from
revolutionary governments. Every job weighs against the
Union ; everything which shows a disposition to put an end to
job weighs for it. There seems to be but one voice on this sub
ject with persons who consider this as their country, and who
are not of the remnant of jobbers. They detest the idea of
making men "amiable;" and above all things they detest it
where the administration of justice is to be sacrificed. They
feel that justice has not been administered in Ireland as it has
been in England, and that a reform there is the first step to
every other reform. A Lord-Lieutenant — an English Lord-
Lieutenant — an English Primate, indeed English Bishops gene
rally, and an English Chancellor, they consider as essential to
the reform they ¦wi.sh for, and they think that in every depart
ment Englishmen are more likely to do them justice than Irish
men. Even the tenants prefer an English to an Irish steward.
 In fine, if Ireland be not governed for some years
on the principle on which the French are at this moment
governed, only with a more honest spirit, and a desire of making
them really a free and happy people, I know not what dangers
may not be apprehended. The rebelUon was a Eoman Catholic
rebellion, a Papistical rebellion, a Presbyterian rebellion, &c. &c.;
that is, reUgious principles were used to make the ferment more
violent, but Jacobinism was the leaven which worked the whole,
and that spirit, I am sorry to say, is still prevalent, though it
seldom walks abroad. In this country it is at present much
kept under, but it is slumbering only to watch the opportunity
for wakefulness and activity, and instead of decreasing it is
manifestly increasing amongst one description of men, or rather
two — the Papists and the Eoman Catholics, as they are called
to distinguish them. The principles which distinguish the
Eoman Catholics from the Papists have a tendency to Jacobinism,
good as they are in themselves ; and I have had occasion to mark
this in England as well as here. The adoption of Jacobinical
principles by the Papists is more extraordinary, but it is not the
s D 4

408 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
less true, and it is the more dangerous. The Jacobites were led
by opposition to Whig Ministers to adopt principles from the
highflying Whigs, because they were useful for the purposes of
opposition, but they used them most mischievously for the
country, and produced by them some of the greatest misfortunes
which befell it during the reigns of the two first princes of the
House of Ha,nover.
I have said that this country must be kept for some time as a
garrisoned country. I meant a Protestant garrison. Whether
that is to be the case I cannot say  Dr. Priestley
contemplated ¦with delight the imagined fall of some of the lofty
pinnacles of the Church, which he considered as tottering fi-om
their foundations ; and he means to overturn them from their
foundations. Dr. Troy, and gentlemen of the same description,
have no objection to a little tumbling of pinnacles, and would
even consent to total subversion rather than that the edifice
should remain in the hands of the present occupiers ; but they
would rather walk into the vacant building and take places on
the empty thrones and states ; and their hopes already tend to
that point. The first step to this is to give them a foretaste, —
to let them lick blood ; we are to treat them as our foolish Saxon
ancestors treated the Danes, — bribe them to leave us alone. If
we should be guilty of such folly, we shall find, as our Saxon
ancestors did, that we give encouragement to new depredations,
to more formidable invasion, and finally to conquest and sub
jection. Can we make this country Catholic, as Scotland is
Presbyterian ? If we can, the country may be safe. Can we
have a Concordat ? If we can, the country may be safe ; but
any half measure must destroy it. England was as happy under
Canute as under Ethelred or Edward the Confessor ; but it was
because Canute had the government. It suffered from the
Norman Conquest, but it flourished under the Norman govern
ment. If Ministers should have the boldness to take the first
step they ought to dare to go further ; and a Concordat will
perhaps be the only means of safety 
Yours very truly, Eedesdale.
Ely Place, Dublin, Nov. 19th, 1802.
My dear Sir, —  I am daily more and mqre
convinced that the most important measure to be pursued
instantly and without relaxation is to make the country Pro
testant, and I am persuaded it may be done. Much pains haye
been taken to make the gentry Protestants, and -with success.

Dec. 1802.] PRINCIPLE OP GOVEENMENT FOE lEELAND. 409
Comparatively speaking the gentry of Ireland are Prot&stants,
or profess to be Protestants. No pains have been taken to make
the peasantry Protestants, and scarcely an Irish Protestant is to
be found among men of that class. I think if the same means
had been used to diffuse the reformation amongst the peasantry
as amongst the gentry, the effect would have been the same.
Having failed in making the peasantry Protestant, because no
pains have been taken for the purpose, it seems now resolved to
make the whole population Papists, by taking the very measures
which ought long ago to have been taken to make the peasantry
Protestants. By making every part of the country comfortable
to Papists, and uncomfortable to Protestants : by giving to Papists
every facility for the exercise of their religion — every facility in
religious education, every advantage derived from the residence
and respectability of an established clergy, and taking no
measures for giving the same advantage to Protestants. In the
greater part of Ireland a Protestant peasant cannot reside and
remain a Protestant. In every part of Ireland a Popish peasant
is assisted and encouraged, as well as protected. In fine, I am
persuaded that if the eyes of men are not to be opened on this
head, and quickly, Ireland must be separated from England, or
united to it by conquest  Faithfully yours, Eedesdale.
Ely Place, Dec. 30th, 1802.
Dear Sir, — I am much obliged to you for your kind and
instructive letter. A few words from a person sitting in your
seat conveys much. You look upon the whole, as you would
survey London from St. Paul's, or Milan from the Cathedral —
but with this advantage, that you are not so much elevated as to
prevent your seeing pretty distinctly, and hearing, and even
overhearing much. It always struck me that a Speaker from
his chair, hearing something of characters, and having, whilst
attending to every babbler, much leisure for contemplation, had
great advantages in forming judgments of men and things;
especially if he kept on tolerable terms with all parties, though
in the confidence of one.
Your opinion of Irish affairs and mine since I came here
iave been nearly the same ; and why ? because we have seen
Ireland since the Union. And Ireland since the Union and
Ireland before the Union are very different things 
I think I can see an eager wish for moderate reform, for too
many persons are implicated to admit of a general -wish for

410 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIV.
strong reform; and compensation has become so favourite a
word that they are inclined rather to wait till reforms can be
made without compensation, than to induce the burthen of
making compensations.
I have thought much on the measures to be pursued, for,
as you term it. Protestantising Ireland. I incline to think, if
circumstances in England will permit, the first step ought to
be commutation of tithes ; I believe the country will never he
quiet enough for the general residence of a Protestant clergy
till that shall be done ; and it would conciliate much, and be
highly beneficial to the present clergy. What I should prefer
would be Bankes's scheme. To value the tithes as they now
stand for a twenty-one years' lease, and to make an additional
valuation every seven, preserving always a term of fourteen
years, at the old rent, and the last seven years' valuation. The
valuation to be made at the expense of Government in the first
instance, and of the several parishes at every seven years ; and
to be made in all cases by sworn Commissioners appointed by
Government for the different districts, with appeal to a jury ; if
the appellant shall be the clergyman, the jury to be laymen ; if
the appellants shall be the parish, the jury to be clergymen.
The whole parish to be charged ¦with the rent, and the Com
missioners to vote the apportionments amongst the parishioners
in the first instance, and afterwards they to assess themselves
under the control of an appeal to the Session or some such
regulation  Perhaps it would be advisable to
make some fixed composition for potatoes, which would only
affect the landholders among themselves ; and I would propose
something like this, that a rood of potatoes should be deemed
equal to a rood of the best corn land in the parish ; and I think
it would be advisable to make, if possible, the apportionments of
the rents as permanent as the rents, viz. from seven years to
seven years. Ever affectionately yours, Eedesdale.

Nov. 1802.] ME. ABBOT EE-ELECTED SPEAKEE. 411

CHAP. XV.
1803.
MEETING OF THE NEW PAELIAMENT.  ME. ABBOT RE-ELECTED SPEAKER. 
IN THE DEBATE ON THE ADDRESS MR. FOX SUPPORTS THE MINISTEES. 
DEBTS OF THE PRINCE OF WALES.  CONVERSATION WITH MR. ADDINGTON
ABODT PITT'S RETURN TO POWER.  NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN PITT,
ADDINGTON, ETC.  EENEWAL OF WAE.  KING's MESSAGE TO PAELIAMENT.
 GEEAT DEBATE ON THE ADDRESS IN REPLY.  CLERGY EESIDENCE
BILL.  fox's MOTION ON RUSSIAN MEDIATION.  MOTION FOR CENSURE
OF MINISTERS.  PEOPOSED INCEEASE OF THE EEGIUM DONUM.
The new Parliament met on Tuesday the 16th of No
vember, 1802, and I was unanimously elected Speaker;
Sir W. Scott proposed me, and Mr. Lascelles seconded
the motion. Mr. Thomas Grenville, who had been
talked of as a competitor, was not present ; and three
days afterwards, when he took his seat, he acquainted
me that he had purposely absented himself, because he
would not give countenance to the report of his op
posing me; rejoicing (as he was pleased to say) as
much as any of my warmest friends on my being
re-elected to an office, for which I was so well quahfied.
I was approved on the 17th by Commission. The
swearing of ]\iembers lasted till Tuesday the 23rd,
when the King came do-wn and made his speech from
the Throne.
The motion for the Address and the Eeport were
the subject of long debates; as were also the votes for
the Army at 90,000 regulars, and the IS^avy at 50,000
seamen; but no division took place upon any one
question. JSTor did the Opposition move any amend
ment upon the Address, or propose any original ques
tion on their part during this portion of the session.
]\Ir. Fox and his friends supported the IMinisters.
Their opponents were principally; Mr. Wyndham,

412 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XV.
]\Ir. Thomas Grenville, Mr. W. EUiott, Dr. Lawrence,
Admiral Berkeley, Lord Temple, Lord Folkestone,
Lord Proby, Sir W. W. Wynn, C. W. Wynn ; besides
another party, -viz. IVIr. Canning, Sir H. l^Iildmay,
Sir John Wrottesley, Lord Gran^ville Leveson, Lord
]\lorpeth, Mr. Sturges, ]\Ir. Cart-wright, Sir R. Lawley.
A few days before the Christmas recess, ]\ir. Adding
ton, upon mo-ving for an issue of Exchequer Bills, took
occasion to state at length the financial and commer
cial situation of the country, with the distant prospect
only of a small eventual loan being necessary towards
the close of the session. This speech was received with
the greatest satisfaction, and the funds rose in one day
nearly five per cent.
The last measure before the recess which became the
subject of debate was the Bill for appointing Commis
sioners to inquire into the abuses in the Naval Depart
ments. The Bill was brought in by the Admiralty in
a state to require much alteration in the Commons, and
much more was made in it by the ChanceUor in the
Lords, perhaps not greatly to its improvement.
The rebuilding and altering the Speaker's house,
which ]\Ir. Wyatt had promised to complete before
winter, proceeded very slowly; but the great dining
room remaining untouched, I was able to give occasional
dinners to several members of the House of Commons,
&c. 
SUMMAEY PEOM JANPAEY 1ST, TO MAY I6TH, 1803.
I passed the month of January at Kidbrooke,* during
which time I received letters from Lord Redesdale and
]VIr. Addington respecting the religious estabUshments
of Ireland. f
In February, upon the meeting of Parliament, the
House of Commons proceeded upon election petitions,
of which thirty out of fifty-one were disposed of in this
session without having a caU, and IVIichael Angelo Tay-
* Mr. Abbot's seat in Sussex, -]• Griven in Appendix.

April, 1803.] DEBTS OF THE PEINCE OF WALES. 413
lor's Bill, authorising the balloting of these Committees
upon a day was found very useful.
I had a correspondence about the same time with
Garter King-at-Arms, about the precedence between
the Speaker of the House of Commons and a Peer of
Ireland, whilst a member of the House of Commons,
upon any occasion out of Parliament where strict rank
was to be observed, such as in signing solemn instru
ments of state. Garter King at Arms inclined strongly
to think that such Irish Peer would have the precedence,
notwithstanding the express words in the Act of Union
as to the loss of privileges.
About the middle of February a message was brought
from the King, recommending the Prince of Wales's
situation to the consideration of Parliament. Long and
singular debates took place, and the Prince's friends,
at the same time that they expressed the acquiescence
of H. R. H. in the extent of the provision proposed,
signified his readiness to accept a larger assistance if
ParUament were ready to pay his latter debts as weU as
to restore him to his full income.
But, before this question was terminated, a message
was brought from the King on the Sth of March,
acquainting Parliament that France was arming; — and
the militia was called out.
At Easter much expectation was formed of a change
of Administration. Subjoined is a minute of my con
versations with ]\Ir. Addington upon the subject : and,
also, with Lord Redesdale, who was with Mr. Pitt at
Bromley HiU* during the same week.

MINUTE OP MY CONVEESATION WITH ME. ADDINGTON,
APEIL 19TH, 1803.
Mr. Addington related, that in January intimation
came to him on the part of Mr. Pitt, that Mr. Pitt was
less disinclined to return to power.

* Mr. Long's house.

414 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XV.
Mr. Addington told Steele, Perceval, Long, and
others of Mr. Pitt's friends, that he, Mr. Addington,
would be no obstacle to so desirable an end.
But Mr. Pitt stayed at Walmer during February and
March. In March Lord Melville came to town, and, after a
conversation with Mr. Addington, went to Walmer, and
carried Mr. Addington's consent to any arrangement
that should bring Mr. Pitt to a junction -with those who
had approved the leading measures of the present Ad
ministration.

On March 22nd, Lord Melville* wrote a long
letter from Walmer, that Mr. Pitt was dissatisfied with
many acts of Government, and particularly " fatal
errors in statement of finance, revenue, and charge."f
That Mr. Pitt was ready to act if desired in that
quarter, and with the concurrence of those who might
be included in the arrangement. But that Mr. Pitt
must be First Minister, &c.
N.B. This letter was dictated by Mr. Pitt to Lord
MelvUle, and Mr. Pitt took a copy of it.
Lord MelviUe on his return proposed for Pitt to be
Chancellor of the Exchequer, and for Mr. Addington to
go to the Lords -with a provision, e, g,, as Speaker of
the House of Lords.
Mr. Pitt was ready to join on the basis of the present
Administration, with some one friend.
Mr. Addington was disinclined to go to the Lords,
but, if he went, must have, not a new provision of the
sort proposed, but a regular office and duties.
* This letter is published (as weU as most of the others here aUuded to)
in Lord Sidmouih's Life, vol. ii. p. 114.
t From Rose's Biary, vol. ii. p. 23. It seems that Mr. Pitt had pointed
out these errors "in detail" to Mr. Addington himself; but he complained
that Mr. A. was so thoroughly " ignorant of the whole matter that he could
not make him comprehend the extent, or even the nature, of his gross
blunder." Mr. Pitt's account of these conferences is to be found in Rose,
p. 31-40, and coincides very generally in that given above on the authority
of Mr. Addington.

Makcb, 1803.] NEGOTIATIONS WITII ME. PITT. 415
Then Long was empowered to communicate this, and
went to Walmer and did so.
N.B. Lord GrenviUe arrived as Long was getting
into his chaise to come away.
Long returned; reported Mr. Pitt "wiUing; hoped
only Grenville was not to be proscribed.
April 10th  Conversation opened by Mr. Pitt.
That it was indispensable for Lord Melville, Lord
Spencer, Lord Gren-viUe, and Wyndham to be of the
Cabinet. There must be a general sweep ; and the
change must be made by the King's desire, and -with
the recommendation of the King's present confidential
servants. llth. — Mr. Addington came away on Monday, giving
no hopes of acceding to such an arrangement, but
promising to communicate with his coUeagues.
12^^. — Mr. Addington wrote to Pitt his own opinion,
on reflection, that it was impossible for him to recom
mend or approve of any such proposal. But he would
communicate it to his coUeagues the next day ; and he
offered to go to Bromley Hill on the 14th, and hoped
that Mr. Pitt would not adhere to the full extent of his
opinion. 13th. — Mr. Pitt answered: " The grounds mentioned
must be the only grounds on which he could consent to
enter into any plan of arrangement. It would be an
unnecessary trouble for Mr. Addington to come to
Bromley HiU on the next day, unless his coUeagues
should consent to these, the only grounds," &c. &c.
lAth  Mr. Addington replied that, "notwithstanding
the intimation in the preceding letter, he thought it
proper to acquaint Mr. Pitt that he had communicated
with his coUeagues, who were earnestly desirous of
every addition to the strength of the present Govern
ment, by the accession of those who had expressed their
approbation of the leading measures."
But they could not concur in advising His Majesty
to caU into his ser-vices those whose declared opinions
had been adverse to the maintenance of the present

416 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XV.
Government, and would therefore, in their judgment,
not promote the public interests.
lAth. — Mr. Pitt rejoined in two lines, " that the letter
which he had received only required that he should
acknowledge its receipt." But
15th  Mr. Pitt wrote a very long letter to Mr. Ad
dington, to ob-viate the possibility of any misappre
hension upon certain points :
1. He, Mr. Pitt, had never made any proposition.
2. That he had always insisted he could not under
take any plan of arrangement, unless that wish was
expressed from the highest quarter, and unless it was
by the recommendation of the King's present confiden
tial servants.
3. That, if so caUed upon, he must propose those who
had been of the former Administration to be included in
the plan for His Majesty's consideration; but that the
whole plan must be submitted to His Majesty for his
approbation or rejection, and to be accommodated to
his judgment and inclination.
But that, if His Majesty should not approve of those
persons being included whom Mr. Pitt thought neces
sary for the conduct of public affairs, it would remain
for him, Mr. Pitt, to determine whether, under such
circumstances, his services could be useful.
However, he considered the whole matter to be now
at an end.
19^A. — Mr. Addington, after showing the draft to
Lord Melville and Lord Castlereagh, wrote to Mr. Pitt
an answer to his explanation, showing that from the
first, by the letter of Lord Melville, it had always been
understood that Mr. Addington's wish was to have Mr.
Pitt's services for the King's Government, to strengthen
it, but not to change, much less to subvert it, &c.
Mr. Pitt left town to go to Walmer. His conduct in
the whole transaction is very much disapproved by
Lord Melville, Lord Chatham, Lord Castlereagh, Lord
Hawkesbury, Steele, &c.

April, 1803.] NEGOTIATIONS WITH PITT. 417
20th.  I saw Lord Redesdale, who had been at
Bromley Hill, and talked with Mr. Pitt on the Thurs
day and Friday the 14th and 15th, and was there
when Mr. Pitt wrote his letter of the 15th to Mr. Ad
dington. He was quite satisfied that Mr. Pitt had gradually
shifted his ground in the transaction, and, from a wiU-
ingness to support, had ended in a desire to subvert,
being overborne by Lord GrenviUe.* Lord Redesdale
had told Mr. Pitt, that to come in with the GrenviUes
in this manner, would naturally create a belief that the
Catholic measure, for which they had resigned, was
now to be resumed upon their aU returning back into
office. •
It was believed Canning had been principaUy instru
mental in working upon Mr. Pitt to the temper of
mind which had produced this end of the transaction ;
but that Canning had not been an agent in the imme
diate transaction itself.
Mr, Pitt was now going to Walmer, to stay there in
active, because he could not be present in Parliament
-without expressing his disapprobation of much that was
doing ; and yet he was unwilling to do so ; and, upon
the whole. Lord Redesdale believed Mr. Pitt was
heartily glad that his own desire had faUed, and that
he was now rid of any junction with the GrenviUes.
The Dean of Christ Churchf called on me the same
day. He had heard the whole, and talked, freely -with
the Duke of York ; and that Mr. Addington's conduct
was perfectly proper throughout.
* This is probably a correct view of the fact. In the Courts and Cabinets
of George III., vol. iii. p. 282, is given a long narrative of the negotiation
dra-wn up by Lord Grenville, and from his account (p. 286 especially) of the
language he held to Pitt onthe subject of the Catholic question, and of what
was due to Pitt's o'wn position, &c., it is quite evident that his unaccommo
dating temper inclined him to throw many more difficulties in the way of
an aiTangement than Pitt of himself was disposed to entertain. It may be
remarked, however, that Lord Malmesbury (iv. 276) looked on Adding.
ton himself as insincere in the transaction, and as employing artifice to
injure Pitt with the King.
t Dr. Cyril Jackson, who had been tutor to the Prince of Wales and the
Duke of York.
VOL. I. E E

418 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XV.
The Duke of York thought things might yet come
about ; but the Dean thought not.
2Sth. — Mr. Addington told me through Steele, Mr.
Pitt had said he saw no reason why there should be
any ill-humour on account of what had passed ; and, if
the issue of the negotiation was war, he should be ready
to support the Government.
29th. — Mr. Addington told me that after his letter in
answer to Mr. Pitt's, on the 15th inst., he had received
another from Mr. Pitt, admitting the substance of aU
Mr. Addington had stated, but desiring his o^wn letters
during the negotiation might be laid before the King;
and, upon the following day, had sent a further letter
desiring Lord ^elville's from Walmer might also be
laid before the King.
To which Mr. Addington had answered that he would
lay aU the letters before the King ; and that he could
not give a stronger proof of his desire to comply with
Mr. Pitt's wishes than by laying Lord Mel^vUle's, in
which there were many sentiments repugnant to his
o-wn feehngs, and many statements the justice of which
he could not admit.
29th. — Vansittart told me that the old opposition
had made advances to the King through the Duke of
Northumberland. No discussion or question took place in Parliament
between the Sth of March and the Gth of May; the
pubUc remaining in suspense as to the issue of the
question with France.
On Friday the 6th of May, it being knovsm that Lord
Whitworth was recalled, and that General Andr^ossi
had desired his passports, a debate arose upon the ques
tion of adjourning from Friday to Monday.
The speakers for the adjournment were, Mr. Adding
ton, Lord Hawkesbury, Lord Castlereagh, Sir Robert
Peel, and several others.
The speakers against the adjournment were princi
paUy, Mr. Fox, Mr. Grey, Mr. Whitbread, Mr. Sheridan,

M.i.Y, 1803.] NEGOTIATIONS WITH PITT. 419
Mr. Ryder, Mr. Canning, Lord G. L. Gower, Mr. Wynd
ham, &c.*
On Monday the 16th of May, General Andr^ossi left
London. A CouncU was held at t-\po o'clock, at the Queen's
House, when a message to both Houses of ParUa
ment was signed by the King, and letters of marque
and reprisal against France were ordered to be issued.
The message was delivered in the House of Commons
by the ChanceUor of the Exchequer, and this day se'n
night was fixed for taking it into consideration. Some
observations were made by Grey and Fox upon the
silence of the message in respect of the letters of
marque and reprisal ; but all discussion of the question of
peace or war was reserved till the papers should be laid
before the House, which Lord Hawkesbury, in answer
to Mr. GrenviUe, assured the House would contain the
whole discussions, at least all the material discussions
between this country and France subsequent to the
Treaty of Amiens.
An excellent pamphlet was published this day, de
tailing Leibnitz's Memoir to Louis XV. upon the pro
ject of conquering Malta and Egypt as the short road
to universal dominion over the nations of Europe.
Tuesday, May llth. — The resolutions for consolidating
the Customs' duties went through Committee ; and all
opposition to the tonnage duty was waived on account
of the war.
ISth. — In the House, reprimanded John Simpson,
Mayor and Returning Officer of Great Grimsby. Upon
the Ilchester Election Report the House proceeded to a
further consideration ; and resolved to order the Attor
ney-General to prosecute Mr. Davison and twenty-five
persons. The Master of the RoUs argued, as on the
former occasion, where there was a statutory prosecu
tion given to the common informer, the House of Com-

* At this point the Diary, which has been broken off for some time, is
resumed iminterruptedly. £ E 2

420 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XV.
mons would not, and ought not, to order a second
prosecution for the same offence.
Bragge and others argued contra; 1st, that the
House of Commons should vindicate its own privileges,
and not leave them to litie chance of the common in
former, subject to collusion, &c., nor wait till the two
years given to the common informer were expired; 2ndly,
that this case consisted of two offences, the individual
bribery, for which alone the common informer could sue
his penalties ; and also, a conspiracy to bribe the whole
borough, which was a distinct and a larger offence.
Division upon the previous question, 44 ; against, 56 ;
for the prosecution, 60; against, 38.
20th. — Mr. Pitt took his seat for the first time in
this Parliament. He told me he thought the debate
not likely to be long on Monday, if confined to the ques
tion of war with France ; though, to be sure, if aU the
points in aU the papers of correspondence were gone
into, there could be no saying where it would end. He
said he had been a long time truant, and did not stay
the debate.
Lord Hawkesbury brought up the papers ordered
yesterday; and a long and desultory but important
conversation took place on a great variety of points.
Grey, in the course of it, said, that as we were now at
war upon the question of supporting the Cro-wn, there
could be but one opinion, whatever might have been the
conduct or misconduct of Ministers.
The great charge against -them upon this and the
preceding day was the want of written documents to show
the formal and official remonstrances against the aggres
sions of France, and the formal and official answers
to them on the part of France ; and it was strongly
urged that the points in the correspondence and those
stated in the King's declaration, had been left too much
to verbal conference.
22nd. — Saw Mr. Addington and the draught of
Address as prepared by Lord Pelham. Not approving
of this, Mr. Addington sat down and -RTote another.

May, 1803.] EENEWAL OF THE WAE. 421
Mr. Addington had not seen Mr. Pitt, nor was there
any probabiUty of it. Mr. Pitt was expected to leave
town on Tuesday next after the debate. Mr. Grey
also. A division on Monday was scarcely expected, as
the Address was to put the question only upon the
cause of England against France. Lord Hawkesbury
is to go up to the House of Lords immediately after
these questions.
23rd. — The Duchess of York, with Lady Ann Smith,
&c., came through my house to hear the debate in the
gallery of the House of Commons. The Duchess supped
here after the debate.
2Ath. — Settled with the Serjeant-at-Arms and Mr.
Ley that tlie gallery door should be opened every day,
if required, at twelve; and the Serjeant would let the
housekeeper understand that the " newswriters " might
be let in in their usual places (the back row of the
gallery), as being understood to have the order of par
ticular Members, like any other strangers.
House of Commons. Adjourned debate on the Ad
dress. Divided at three o'clock in the morning. For
the amendment, 67; against it, 398.
In the debate* Mr. Fox spoke from ten o'clock till one ;
and in these three hours delivered a speech of more art,
eloquence, wit, and mischief than I remember to have
heard from him. His principles were rather protested
against than argued by the Attorney-General and
Wyndham. 25th. — Mr. Wyndham sent me a note -with " The
Oracle" of Tuesday, containing the complaint of the
newswriters for being shut out of the gaUery by acci
dent f on Monday; in which he states his opinion that
Lord Malmesbury, vol. iv. p. 256, mentions that Pitt's .speech in this
debate was " the iinest he ever made ; never was any speech so cheered, or
such incessant and loud applause. It was strong in support of the war, but
silent as to Ministers, and his silence was naturally construed into negative
censure." t Lord Malmesbury, vol. iv. p. 256, says, " By a new arrangement of the
Speaker, strangers were excluded till so late an hour that the newspaper
printers could ilot get in, and of course no part of Pitt's speech can be
printed." £ E 3

422 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XV.
" the claim thus openly made, however qualified, is a
matter that calls for animadversion."
House of Commons. Notices of motion were given for
Friday by Fox upon the Russian mediation ; and by
Canning and Patten upon production of papers and
resolutions of censure upon Ministers.
2Qth. — In the House of Commons the Clergy Resi
dence Bill was read a third time and passed. The
Attorney-General (Perceval) in an able speech seemed
to me to establish : 1st. That the interference of the
common informer was made nugatory and ineffectual
by this Bill. 2nd. That exemptions and dispensations
by license for causes enumerated and non-enumerated
were created to an extent nearly as great as the whole
number of livings in England. 3rd. That the non-
residence authorised by this Bill was more mischievous
than that allowed to pluralists, who, by the very terms
of their dispensation, were required to reside on one
of their livings, and to live also for two months in the
year at their other living.
Wyndham defended the BiU, upon what also appeared
to me to be its true ground; viz. not as reaUy enforcing
residence, but rather as meliorating the condition of
Churchmen, by allowing more causes of absence from
their benefices, whereby at the same time that the Church
would be served by the curate, the incumbent might
hold other employments with his li-ving, and by this
facility of cumulative provision, more persons of talent,
learning, and rank might be induced to enter into the
Church. But query ? Does not this system destroy the ad
vantage of duly endowed ministers living upon their
benefices, in the sufficient means of hospitality, charity,
and maintaining their relative importance with the
gentry of the country ?
21th. — The Dean of Christ Church, Dr. Cyril Jackson,
came to state that from various circumstances he was
led to believe Mr. Pitt to be at present disposed to an
arrangement for entering into Administration without,

Mat, 1803.] NEGOTIATIONS WITH PITT. 423
brino'lng with him the GrenviUes or Cannings, &c. ; and
that if this could be done, placing Mr. Addington upon
a bed of roses, in a dignified and official station, it was
thought to be highly desirable by the Duke of Portland
and Duke of York for the King's sake ; for that, unless
this could be done now, it might be soon too late, as Mr.
Pitt might enter by right of conquest ; whereupon the
King being /orcei, &c., the worst of consequences might
foUow. That, as signs of probable success, Mr. Pitt
had certainly stopped the debate on Thursday in the
Lords, when the motion of censure on the present
Ministers was to have been made, and that he said his
friends mistook his wishes if they thought he desired
such proceedings ; that nobody did his cause so much
disservice as Lord GrenvUle in the House of Lords,
except Mr. Canning in the House of Commons; and,
upon aU these grounds, Mr. Pitt having desired to see
the Duke of Portland on Saturday next, for the purpose
of thanking him for his kind and friendly representation
of him (Mr. Pitt), to the King, it was -mshed that Mr.
Addington might countenance a proposition on the part
of the Duke of Portland to sound Mr. Pitt on his pre
sent disposition to resume his office of Prime Minister,
1st, making Mr. Addington Secretary of State for the
Home Department; and 2ndly, disclaiming the Gren-
¦villes, &c. ; so that Mr. Addington's removal should be
non fug a sed profectio, &c.
N.B. It seemed also to have been an old idea that
the Duke of Portland should be Lord Chamberlain, and
live much in the King's family as his confidential ser
vant as weU as Minister.
I agreed to communicate aU this, which I did within
an hour, to Mr. Addington, who was not a stranger to
a great deal of it, but declined wholly to make any ad
vance whatever after what had passed at Easter : 1st,
that he was not permitted to do so without the King's
command ; 2ndly, that he felt personally no disposition
to do so, with the experience of aU he had suffered of
unkindness, injustice, &c. £ E 4

424 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XV.
House of Commons. Mr. Fox's motion for the Rus
sian mediation brought on Lord Hawkesbury's declara
tion that dispositions to that effect had been already
signified to Russia and the principal states of Europe,
and Mr. Pitt's declaration of his opinion in favour of
that line of conduct ; aU sides agreeing that hostUities
should nevertheless not be suspended during such
negotiations; and Mr. Fox withdrew his motion. A
universal satisfaction at this coincidence of opinion
was loudly manifested on all sides of the House.*
2Sth  The Dean of Christ Church came to know the
result of my communication with Mr. Addington. Ex
pressed himself not surprised, but added as fresh grounds
for thinking Mr. Pitt's return to office not impossible,
that Lord Chatham had declared so yesterday; and
that he understood Mr. Pitt not unwilling to submit
himself and his opinions to the King in his closet.
It appeared that at Easter last Mr. Pitt had mentioned
his taxes as quite ready ; and that, in the wide changes
which he had proposed to make, being asked whether he
had thought of any change in the Speaker, he had
answered that no such thought had entered into his
mind. Wednesday, June 1st  House of Commons. New
writ moved for Southwark, Tierney f being appointed
Treasurer of the Navy.
The arrangements at present understood, are : —
Bragge .... Board of Control (-vice Lord Castlereagh).
Lord Castlereagh Admiralty (Lord St. Vincent retiring).
Yorke . ... . Secretary of State for the Home Department (Lord
Pelham, to be Chancellor ofthe Duchy of Lancaster ! !).
? Secretary at War (-vice Yorke).
2nd. — Called in Do-wning Street. The appointment
* Lord Malmesbury's account of this debate coincides with that given
here, but adds that " it " (Fox's proposal to ask for the mediation of Kussia)
" is a Cabinet, not a Parliamentary measure, and Ministers, by suffering it to
originate ft'om the Opposition bench betrayed wealmess, and authorise a
new and most dangerous precedent." — Vol. iv. p. 259.
t Lord Malmesbury's comment on this appointment is, " This seems to be
an indication of Pitt's never taking office any more."

June, 1803.] VOTE OP CENSUEE PBOPOSED. 425
of Tierney had been accelerated by the intention
having transpired sooner than was meant. The . . .
. . had talked of it, and the borough was in a state
of canvass by another candidate.
Great difficulties about the motion of to-morrow.
Mr. Pitt was inchned only to move the previous question
or orders of the day, upon Colonel Patten's motion of
censure. The Ministers would not agree to this *, but
insisted upon a direct negative on the motion of censure.
They would have desired a moderate vote of justification
of their conduct, but Mr. Pitt would not hear of it, —
" it was thro^mng down the gauntlet." Lord MelviUe
was ready to negative any motion of censure. Mr.
Addington showed me Lord MelviUe's letter, and his
o-mi answer refusing to agree to the previous question,
or orders of the day, &c.
The Lords sat tiU half-past four in the morning, on
the motion for censure.f
3rtZ.— House of Commons. Colonel Patten moved
the resolution of censure upon Ministers for their
conduct in the negotiation with France. Several
Members spoke shortly tUl about half-past nine, when
Mr. GrenviUe entered into the whole argument in a
very able speech for nearly two hours. Mr. Addington
answered him, and concluded with conjuring the House
to proceed now to their final vote of condemnation or

* The account of this transaction, given in Lord Sidmouth 's Life, vol. ii.
p. 138, on the authority of "Mr. Milnes Gaskell's notes," are a proof how
little verbal statements are to be relied on, as it is there said that Lord Sid
mouth " used to relate that Pitt, repenting of his pledge " (which he pro
bably had never given) " to support Colonel Patten's motion for censure, &c.,
sent Lord Melville to Mr. Addington to endeavour to compromise matters,
and to convey an offer from him to move the order of the day. On my
instantly refusing, &c.. Lord Melville begged me to reconsider this deter
mination;" but Mr. A. declared that " nothing should induce him to remain
in power a single day after an indirect censure had been passed on the
Government." But it is plain from the letters, which Mr. Abbot actually
saw, that this communication did not take place by conversation at all.
t It was brought forward by Lord Fitz-wiUiam, and was met by an
amendment "for an adjournment," moved by Lord Mulgrave, and supported
by Lord MelviUe. The adjournment was rejected by 106 to 18, and the
resolutions by 96 to 14.

426 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XV.
acquittal, that the Ministers might know whether they
were to stand or fall ; and the country might have their
full exertions for conducting the war, or set them aside
by an explicit declaration of censure if they deserved it.
Mr. Pitt immediately rose, to state that he could not
agree to the censure; nor would he say the Minister
was without blame. He would not discuss the question
itself, but should inove to put it by and proceed to the
orders of the day ; and advise the House to devote its
whole exertions to the military and financial defence of
the country ; and that, as the Cro^mi stiU honoured the
present Ministers with its confidence, to drive them out
of office by a vote would only throw the country into
confusion by the necessity of making arrangements for
new Ministers, &c. — a hazardous, and probably long
interval of suspense, with such an enemy before us, &c.*
Lord Hawkesbury, Lord Castlereagh, and the Master
of the Rolls, aU contended for instant decision, and that
Mr. Pitt's motion implied the very censure it professed
to avoid, &c.
Mr. Fox would not vote either way ; he thought the
Ministers blamable in their conduct, but would not
give a vote that should tend to remove them, because
he thought them more pacific than any other Ministers
who would succeed them.
On Mr. Pitt's motion, the Ministers, the GrenviUes, and
most of Mr. Fox'sfriends divided together against reading
the orders of the day. For the motion, 56-1-2 tellers,
58 ; Against it, 333 + 2 tellers, 335. Afterwards
Mr. Pitt and most of his friends went out of the House f ,
and then upon the main question thus di^vided : —
* Mr. Addington in his notes records his opinion that "Mr. Pitt's
amendment on Colonel Patten's motion was an act of direct hostility ; it
was universally so considered : and from that time his opposition was never
relaxed whenever it coidd be sho^wn." — Lord Sidmouth's Life, vol. ii. p. 140.
Lord Malmesbury's opinion differs fi-om Mr. Addington as to Pitt's object,
but in reference to its effect on Pitt's own influence, caUs it " certainly not a
judicious measure, though kindly intended towards the Government by Pitt.
Its effect is to furnish a plea for tiie many to desert Pitt, and blame him." —
vol. iv. p. 260.
t Fox and Sheridan did the same, and did not vote on the main question. ^

June, 1803.] BUONAPAETE'S LANGUAGE TO MASCOFF. 427
For the resolutions of censure, 34-|-2 tellers, 36;
against them, 275-1-2 tellers, 277. The house adjourned
at half-past four.
Ath. — Birthday. The King in high spirits. His
household took pains to say he was much pleased with
the event of the preceding night.
5th. — Lord CornwaUis has offered to serve as Com
mander of the forces in Ireland. Bond is to be Secre
tary at War.
Qth. — .Army Estimates. Mr. Pitt assented to the
principle of a new and further le-vy beyond the regular
establishment, and urged expedition, and proffered him
self as ready to associate with others in sharing the
obloquy of harsh measures of defence and finance at
such a crisis. Wyndham urged the same principles.
\()th. — House of Commons; 40,000 more seamen
voted to the navy. This day Mr. Pitt saw the outline
of the proposed Budget, which Steele communicated to
him. He said the magnitude of the supplies to be
raised within the year exceeded his expectation, and
fuUy met his wishes ; as to the details, he saw no ma
terial objection.
Woronzow communicated to Lord Hawkesbury Mas
coff s account of Buonaparte's behaviour to him at a levee
lately. Buonaparte said to Mascoff, " that Russia had
acted a double part, and that Russia was ungrateful to
France for the favours received from France."* Mascoff
made no reply, but sent in a strong memorial to Talley
rand, complaining of such language, upon such sub
jects, at such places, and denying the charge.
Vith — Lord Castlereagh and Wickham came by ap
pointment to settle the form of applying to Parliament
for an increase of the Regium Donum to the Presbyte
rians of Ireland.
I told Lord Castlereagh I understood that he did not
* Lord Maltnesbury's account (vol. iv. p. 266) corresponds with that given
above, with the addition that Buonaparte suspected the duplicity of Kussia
to be G-sving to -Woronzow's own preference for the English. Lord M. thinks
Buonaparte was offended at what had taken place in the House of Commons
in the debate on the Russian Mediation.

428 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XV.
come to ask my opinion upon the policy of such a
measure ; for upon that point I certainly had a very
distinct opinion; but upon the form of proceeding he
should have the best assistance I could give him.
And with Mr. Ley it was settled that the regular
way would be for the Synod of Ulster (to whom, as
non -conforming ministers, the Regium Donum had
been given to distribute amongst themselves ever since
the reign of King William) to petition the House of
Commons, stating generally the insufficiency ofthe means
hitherto furnished; the increase in 1792 by the Parlia
ment of Ireland, and the desire of a further increase.
That this petition should be signed by the Prseses,
Moderator, or other officer accustomed to sign for the
body ; and that such petition, if the prayer of it were
recommended to the consideration of the House, would
be referred to a Committee upstairs; and their report
in its favour would afterwards be referred to a Com
mittee of the whole House; in which Committee some
specific sum might be voted to be applied by His
Majesty in such manner and on such conditions as he
should think fit. And this grant would then be in
corporated in the General Appropriation Act.
It was upon this plan understood that the conditions
would be previously proposed to the Synod, and agreed
to by them before their petition should be presented.
And that, unless the conditions on the part of the
Crown were accepted, the petition would not be coun
tenanced; and, unless also they were fulfilled, the
Crown would at any time withhold the moneys which
Parliament should place in its hands.
The conditions to be offered to the Synod were in
substance the plan communicated to me by Lord Castle
reagh in 1801.
13th  House of Commons. Budget: Mr. Addington
opened it in a speech of two hours; at the close of
Avhich no member offered a single observation upon it.
Mr. Pitt was present.
lAth. — House of Commons. Report of the Budget.
Mr. Pitt again present, but said nothing. Many Mem-

June, 1803.] AEMY OF EESEEVE BILL. 429
bers spoke upon the whole, and several articles of the
Budget, in a desultory debate of three hours ; but with
general approbation of the plan.
IQth. — Mr. Cowper having disputed my opinion
that the original Record of every general Statute is
not the BiU in the Parliament Office, but the Enrolment
delivered into Chancery, I sent him an extract from
Lord Hobarfs Reports, fo. 109, where the point is ad
judged upon a decree by the Chancellor, " with the
uniform consent of the Judges and Master of the
Rolls." I sent an extract of the same passage to
Lord EUenborough, and showed it to the Attorney-
General. N.B. Lord Eldon was clearly of the same opinion,
V. hifra, July 17th.
20th. — House of Commons. Yorke brought for
ward the plan for additional force. Wyndham op
posed; Addington supported. Pitt expressed his
satisfaction on the principle of the measure which
his Right Honourable friend the Chancellor of the
Exchequer had supported, reserving all observations
upon the details for the further progress of the measure.
Corry brought forward the Irish Budget, which was
weU received.
23rd. — House of Commons debate, the second
reading of the Army of Reserve Bill, which Mr. Pitt
strongly supported against Mr. Wyndham, &c.
2Ath. — House of Commons : debate on additional
War Tax on malt, &c. A division against the addi
tional Malt Tax: 11 to 51.
27^/t. — House of Commons. Committee on Army of
Reserve BiU, sat till one o'clock. Yorke and Pitt
had met and worked together upon the clauses of the
Army of Reserve BiU.
30th. — House of Commons. Debate on third read
ing of Army of Reserve Bill. Colonel Crawford stated
his opinion on the military practicability of invading
England and taking London. Yorke cleared the
gallery. The debate lasted till one o'clock in the
morning. The Bill passed nem, con.

430 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XV.
Friday, July 1  Dean of Christ Church caUed.
The hey to the past transactions between Mr. Ad
dington and Mr. Pitt seems to have been this. Certain
persons, the Prince of Wales (Lord Moira, &c. &c.),
by exasperating the King's mind against Mr. Pitt,
and retailing the King's accidental or hasty expres
sions in his disfavour, irritated Mr. Pitt, and led him
to believe that Mr. Addington was secretly his enemy
and played falsely. This irritation, fomented by
Canning and the GrenviUes, made him disposed to
enter the Cabinet by force, aud treat Mr. Addington
as a perfidious friend, who had supplanted him,
&c. Mr. Addington, on the other side, having never
deviated from the strictest sincerity in his respect and
affection for Mr. Pitt, felt himself highly offended by the
repulse which he met with in the negotiation at Bromley
Hill, &c. &c. And Mr. Pitt, after the unsuccessful
attempt to overthrow the Administration by the di
vision upon the vote of censure upon Ministers, having
his eyes open to the conduct of those who had stirred
him up to that step, and having been con-vinced of the
injustice of his suspicions of Mr. Addington's sincerity,
now believes thoroughly that the fairest intentions
have been always entertained towards him.
Lord Melville's negotiation at Bromley Hill seems
to have failed from an ignorance of the secret causes
of Mr. Pitt's distrust and suspicion of Mr. Addington's
sincerity. He now never sees Canning.
When the new Administration was planned by Mr.
Pitt at Easter, his intention was to have sent Canning
to Ireland, and to have emancipated the Cathohcs,
repealed all tests, &c.
5th  This day the surplus of the Consolidated Fund
for the quarter ending this day was 1,500,000^.
Qth. — House of Commons. The Irish Additional
Army Bill was committed. A long military debate.
The gallery cleared.
\lth  Went to see the effect of the fire in West
minster Abbey on Saturday, which had burnt down
the roof of the Square Tower over the choir.

July, 1803.] DIPFEEENCBS OF PITT AND ADDINGTON. 431

CHAP. XVI.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PITT AND ADDINGTON. — LETTEE FROM MR. CROKER
ABOUT THE OUTBREAK IN DUBLIN  FKOM LORD REDESDALE AND LORD
HARDWICKE, AND MR. WICKHAM, AND FROM LADY HARDWICKE.  SECRET
ACCOUNT OF THE INSURRECTION.  LETTER FROM EMMET TO MR. WICKHAM.
Wednesday, July 13th — Upon the first proceeding
upon the Income Duty BUl, Mr. Pitt moved an instruc
tion to the Committee, that it do make provision in the
said BUl for the like abatements, &c., in respect of
income derived from land and funds as are made upon
income derived from other descriptions of property,
trades, &c.
N.B. The difference in the BiU related to income
from QOl. to 150^. per annum.
I stated my doubts to the House upon the regularity
of such an instruction, as being unnecessary. That the
purpose of an instruction was to give a power to a
Committee to do that which it could not do without
that power. Whereas, with a view to the present
object of making abatements, the Committee were
competent already so to do. Also I stated that no
instruction was in itself obligatory.
This latter point Mr. Addington afterwards iUus-
trated by pointing out that even the Committee could
not act upon the instruction -without a question put
upon the thing to be done, which of itself implied that
the instruction was not conclusive upon the Committee.
Mr. Pitt cited a precedent suggested by Mr. Rose
(Journal, vol. xix. Anno. 1721), where a Committee
upon a BiU for appointing Commissioners to take ac
counts, &c., was instructed to appoint the same persons
as on a former Bill.
The question was debated on the form and the sub-

432 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XVI.
stance of the instruction, and upon a division the
instruction was negatived by 150 to 50.
Words of considerable asperity, or rather language
in a tone of great asperity, passed from Mr. Pitt towards
Mr. Addington in these discussions.
N.B. Upon search of the Journals no instruction of
this sort appears in Mr. Onslow's* time, nor any later
than 1721, though several may be found pnW -to that
date. Query ? If there may not be some even later : and
yet, if very rare, whether general usage and course of
not giving instructions, except for a power, do not con
stitute the proper course of proceeding ?
lAth. — House of Commons. Mr. Addington gave
way to the suggestion of exemptions for land and stocks
between 1501. and 60^.i.per annum, for the sake of
carrying through his BUl with general concurrence.
Committee on the BiU sat till after twelve.
15th  House of Commons. Proceeded on the In
come Tax. Mr. Pitt maintained a strong debate upon
the mode of computing the taxable income of occupiers
of lands, and divided the Committee. With him, 24;
against his proposition, 91.
17^A. — The ChanceUor came to me upon the
Wool Manufacturers' Bill. 1st. Agreed in the impro
priety of having any new BiU to continue the proceed
ings upon the present Bill tiU the next session ; and
that the precedent in Reimbold's case applied only to
cases of criminal proceeding to prevent failures of
justice, for other^wise the prerogative of the Crown to
terminate all proceedings by prorogation would be sub
verted. 2ndly. Determined upon the necessity and
propriety of a new Bill to rectify a mistake in the last
Clergy Residence Bill, viz. the omission of the word
" Benefice," in the clause of penalty upon farming; and
also to rectify another mistake, viz. the recital of the

* Mr. Onslow's Speakership lasted dm-iug the whole of the reign of
George 11.

July, 1803.] MILITAEY DEFENCE BILL. 433
title of Statute Henry VIIL, whicli was recited with
an "&c.," as in the printed Statute Book; whereas,
upon the Parliament Office Bill or in the Statute Roll
in Chancery, there was reason to expect the statute
would be differently entitled. The Chancellor said he
agreed entirely "with me that Lord Hobart's opinion
(Hob. Rep. fo. 109) was the true law upon the subject,
and that the record of a pubUc statute enroUed and
sent into Chancery must be taken to be the original
record of such a statute, and not the BiU in the public
office. 3rdly. We agreed upon the mode of fiUing up
the vacant offices at the British Museum, &c.
ISth. — House of Commons. Military Enrolment
BUl: Yorke brought it in ; read a first and second
time, committed, reported, ordered to be printed. In
the debate Wyndham, Pitt, and Fox all concurred in
the propriety of such a measure ; but charged Ministers
with inexcusable delay in not bringing it forward
sooner. Lord Hawkesbury, Lord Castlereagh, and
Mr. Addington defended Government. Sir Francis
Burdett said that the only way to give spirit and
energy to the people, and to make the country worth
defending, was to repeal every Act since the accession
of His Majesty.
22nd. — House of Commons. Third reading of the
General Defence J3iU: passed nem. con., after six hours'
debate, not upon the BiU, but on the different modes of
n^iilitary defence for the country ; fortifications by
field works on the coast, and upon the roads of
approach to London.
25th  House of Commons, voted surplus of Consoli
dated Fund without objection or remark from those
who had disputed Mr. Addington's statements ever
since Christmas last. Voted also 60,000^. and 16,000^.
a year during pleasure to the Prince of Orange ; and
2,000,000Z. vote of credit.
2Qth  House of Commons. Debate on Mr. Bar-
ham's motion respecting the taxing Sugar ad valorem.
The motion "withdra^sYn at last upon a declaration that
VOL. I. P F

434 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XVI.
the subject should be thoroughly investigated next
session. 2Sth. — A message from the King.* The Irish Martial
Law BiU, and suspension of Habeas Corpus passed
both Houses nem. con,
LETTEE PEOM BIE. JOHN CEOKEE f
(Grvnsre an acco-unt op the outbreak; in Dublin).
Dublin Custom House, July 25th, 1803.
My dear Sir, — When I saw you last I little thought that we
were on the eve of a rebellion ; you may judge our surprise at
having received information, about two o'clock on Saturday last,
that a rising of the people was intended that night ; which took
place accordingly about half-after nine or near ten o'clock in
that part of the city called the Liberties, Thomas Street, and
James's Street, and extended itself very close to the Castle. The
information when first received was not believed; however some
little preparation was made towards the evening. The rebels
rose in very considerable numbers ; their first act was to stop
the carriage of Lord Kilwarden, the Chief Justice of the King's
Bench, as he and his nephew and daughter were returning from
his house in the country ; and, after asking him who he was,
they inhumanly piked him in many parts of his body; his
nephew ran off, but soon met his uncle's fate, and, surprising to
relate, his daughter escaped to the Castle. His Lordship and
nephew were buried yesterday evening. The Liberty Eangers
were the first to encounter these fellows, who stood three volleys
before they broke, when there were a number of them killed
and wounded. The alarm became general ; the drums beat to
arms, and the army and yeomanry turned out in every quarter,
but by no means were the latter in a state of preparation : how
ever the insurgents were at length subdued, but not before
Colonel Browne -of the 21st Eegiment and four or five of the
Liberty Eangers were killed. The Colonel was met as he was
going, it is thought, to join the army, and was piked. The Liberty
Eangers were killed as they were going singly to parade.
A number of their proclamations were found, and their depot
* The message announced the breaking out of rebellion in Ireland ; and
called upon Parliament " immediately to adopt measures for the protection
and security of the King's sulyects in that part of the kingdom."
t Surveyor-General of the Port of Dublin.

July, 1803.] OUTBEEAK IN DUBLIN. 4S.5
of arms and pikes, amounting to above 20,000, were taken with
a vast quantity of ammunition.
I need not state the ferment that this produced that night.
Yesterday arms and ammunition were distributed at the Castle,
and every corps appeared in the best way they could at their
respective parades, the greater number without uniform, arms,
or ammunition ; but they were very soon after furnished with
both. Patrols of horse and foot were sent into different parts
of the city and suburbs, and every yeomanry corps was under
arms the entire of last night, as an attack from the country was
expected. The Privy Council met in the morning and ad
journed till four o'clock ; then met and adjourned to this day.
"We are not yet certain of the measures which Government
intends to adopt, but they must of course be strong ones, as
there is nothing else now left to preserve the country. There
are a number of the rebels taken ; we are ignorant of the state
of the interior, but we hope things are not very bad ; yet report
says they are up in considerable force in Kildare and Meath.
The mail coaches came in on Sunday morning without molesta
tion, and the same this morning ; the city was put in the best
possible state of defence, and volunteers are pressing for ad
mittance into the Yeomanry ; I never beheld so many redcoats
at so short a notice, nor so many men determined to lose their
lives in defence of their country.
Since vnriting the foregoing, reports have been circulated that
Belfast had been attacked on the same night, and that the
rebels were repulsed with considerable loss ; but this requires
confirmation. Their proclamation was just wet from the press,
and was distributed from coaches in the streets ; and pikes were
strewed about to induce the multitude to arm themselves. They
are much smaller than those used in the former rebellion, but
have long light handles. I regret I could not procure one of
their proclamations to send you. It is dra-wn up in the true
spirit of the French Eobespierrian principles, with very con
siderable ingenuity and ability, and of the wickedest tendency.
One of our officers who went to visit a distillery that night,
was refused admittance for a long time, but at length being-
admitted he was ordered not to proceed further and was taken
into custody, and a man armed with a blunderbuss was placed
over him ; in which situation he was kept until four o'clock on
Sunday morning ; when he was liberated on finding their projects
were unsuccessful.
You will no doubt receive a detailed account of this horrid
business from those whose situation gives them more opportunity
F r 2

436

DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. X-VI.

of knowing the extent of this insurrection ; but lest you should
not, I thought if it produced nothing more, it would at least
afford me an opportunity of assuring you of the sincere respect,
gratitude, and esteem with which I am, my dear Sir,
Your ever faithful and obedient servant, John Ckokee.
To the Right Hon. the Speaker of
the House of Commons.
EXTEACT OP A LETTEE PEOM LOED EEDESDALE.*
Ely Place, Dublin, Aug. 2nd, 1803.
We are here in a state which to you will be intelligible : per
fectly calm, as the garrison of a citadel, which the besiegers are
undermining, is calm. Whilst external batteries do not assail
the walls, and the enemy does not prepare to mount a breach so
made, the garrison can only resist by countermining and by
sallies. We have a most formidable battery of proclamation,
covering the Dublin papers, and serving for news to the Irish
readers ; threats, bribes, orders to the military and magistrates.
We can do no more, unless our enemy will come out and fight
us handsomely. I learn by a letter from Corry to his Excel
lency that Hutchinson has given notice of a motion respecting
the Eoman Catholics. I do not deprecate the motion, if Minis
ters will firmly say they -will not give an inch. Nothing, in my
opinion, can be more despicable than the conduct of the Eoman
Catholics, with a few exceptions ; and nothing more abominable
than the conduct of their priests. The canting hypocrisy of Dr.
Troy (whom I would no more trust than his namesake and rela
tion whom we have in custody) is to' me disgusting. I cannot
believe that the Catholic priests were all perfectly ignorant that
there existed a disposition to insurrection in the minds of the
lower orders of the communion. I cannot believe that so many
men could have confessed their sins to their spiritual advisers,
and yet withheld this sin. If they had, it is because they have
been taught by their spiritual directors that rebellion in the
cause of religion is not a sin, or one not necessary to be confessed.
I am decidedly of opinion that you cannot safely grant any
thing. That you must raise the Protestant, not the Eoman
Catholic Church. To make them your friends is impossible.
The College of Maynooth vomits out priests ten times worse than
ever came from the Spanish colleges. I would withhold all
* Though some of the foUo-wing papers are of a later date, it seems
more convenient to insert in this place all those relating to this Irish insur
rection.

AcG. ISC').] OUTBEEAK IN DUBLIN. 437
supply to that establishment, and, were I Minister, would
abolish it. Eedesdale.

lEELAND.
[Private and confidential.] Dublin Castle, Aug. Sth, 1803.
My dear Sir, — I thank you very kindly for your two letters.
The first of which informed me of the promptitude with whicli
the ]\lartial Law Act, and the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act
had passed through both Houses of Parliament*; and the second
of the 4th inst. conveyed to me a most friendly hint of what
was felt in certain quarters in regard to the supposed want of
information as to the state of affairs in Ireland.
By the same mail which arrived this morning I had the satis
faction of hearing from my brother that His Majesty had ex
pressed himself favourably as to Irish Grovernment, and that he
was displeased at the insinuations against it which had been
made from certain quarters. I can, however, easily reconcile
both these accounts. The exaggerated reports both of private
letters and of newspaper accounts gave reason to imagine that no
details had been given, whereas in truth my letters to Lord
Pelham of the 2'lth, 25th, 27th, and 28th ult. contained all that
was to be said of the subject of what had passed in Dublin on
the 23rd of July. The operations of the rebels were confined to
Thomas Street, James's Street ; their numbers did not exceed
400 people, and though the atrocious acts they had an oppor
tunity of committing at the commencement can never be suffici
ently regretted, their attack was by no means formidable, having
been repulsed by the Guard of the 21st regiment at their
barrack in James's Street.
It is unlucky that the Martial Law Act has only a prospective
operation. It has not enabled me to try those who were taken
in arms on the 23rd ult. I would most willingly have taken
upon myself any responsibility ; but both the Chancellor and the
Attorney-General were decidedly of opinion that it was not
possible to bring those people before a Court Martial ; and after
what had been said of the manner in which the powers of the
Act would be exercised, I thought myself entirely precluded
from acting not only without the advice, but against the opinion,
* The House of Lords sat late on July 28th, to receive the Bills after
they had passed the Commons ; and then also carried them through all their
stages that night, and they received the Royal assent the next day.
I r 3

438 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XVI.
of Lord Eedesdale. It is very unlucky on account of the delay,
and the number of criminals who will be convicted at once
before the Special Commission ; and whom it would have been
desirable to have divided into classes of rebels in arms, and
conspirators, or leaders.
I remain always, my dear Sir, yours most sincerely,
Haedwioke.
Right Hon. the Speaker.
EXTEACT OP A LETTEE PEOM ME. WICKHAM.
[Private.] Dublin Castle, Aug. I2th, 1803.
Dear Abbot, — . . . . There were faults committed, but by no
means those which are reproached to Government. The Govern
ment was not surprised ; on the contrary, the greatest praise is due
to it for its vigilance. It was the knowledge that the Government
was well informed, and about to act vigorously, that caused a
premature explosion; and, and, and, — if, if, if, — not a rebel
would have escaped. The truth will come out soon : when it
does come out you will learn that the General who had taken
upon himself the command of the garrison of Dublin ! ! so that
Sir C. Asgill and Dunne could not act without his orders, was
sent for to the Castle at two o'clock, informed that the insurrec
tion would break out that night, and desired to employ his
whole force and suppress the insurgents.
Sir Charles {ex abundante cautela) was also sent for, and
Marsden* kept him -with him to a mutton chop at the office,
waiting for the General's orders ; and would not suffer himto dine
out as he had intended, lest the insurrection should begin sooner
than was expected.
Between eight and nine the General sent for Sir C. Asgill
and General Dunne to Kilmainham ; till tttat moment he had
given them no orders whatever ; on their return they were nearly
massacred. They passed along one end of Thomas Street,
whilst Colonel Browne was massacred at the other.
The whole, of the business was done by two companies of the
Eegulars ; one at the Barrack in James's Street ; the other at the
f . Not a yeoman was engaged, or the garrison
put under arms.
There was not a cartridge at the Castle, the Ordnance, without
communication with the Lord-Lieutenant, had removed them
all away. * The Under-Secretary at Dublin.
t Left blank in MS.

Sept. 1803.] CONDUCT OP GENEEAL FOX. 439
But there was no occasion for Yeomanry ; half the regular
garrison would have been sufficient to have taken almost every
man prisoner, and to have made an example, that would have
left us at rest for years to come, in the city of Dublin. In one
word, an opportunity has been lost that never can be recovered.
. . . . Yours, &c. William Wickham.

LETTEE PEOM LADY HAEDWICIiE TO MES. ABBOT.
Dublin Castle, Sept. 10th, 1803.
It would be difficult for you to believe, my dear Mrs. Abbot,
how much I have written to you of late, if you measure your
belief by what you have received, but there is no person more
apt to prate on paper than myself, or less apt to send my gos-
sipings when I have written them.
I cannot write a mere wind and weather letter to such a friend
as yourself: one, too, who has been in the vessel with us in
stormy weather : therefore I have sometimes written my whole
heart to you -with all the impressions of the moment, but I have
duly burnt the communications, lest I should have gone too far
in giving them even to you ; but now that our Commander of
the Forces is recalled, I may speak without hesitation, and tell
you that he is equally infirm in body and mind. No mis
representations of surprise could have taken place had he given
his orders to his officers and men, to have themselves in readi
ness to sally forth on the first appearance of tumult. The
troops in the garrison, the guards at the Castle, a whole regiment
in the old Custom House in Parliament Street just by, were more
than sufficient for any possible desultory force that could be
brought against the city, or could rise up within it. Lord
.Hardwicke brought General Fox down to the Castle, in his own
coach at three o'clock, at Marsden's desire, and to use his o'wn
words " on no slight grounds." He left him thoroughly pos
sessed with the necessity of preparation, and immediate arrange
ment, but the stupid soul sent orders to his officers to come and
receive instructions from him at Kilmainham at a quarter after
nine o'clock. The tumult began before they arrived, and some
of them very narrowly escaped. Even then a series of irresolu
tions and imbecilities passed : and that the insurgents were
quelled with so little bloodshed proves that the attempt was a
very weak one. It was neither the part of the Lord-Lieutenant,
nor of the Secretaries, to give military instructions to the inde
pendent Commander of the Forces ; and yet Mr. Marsden did
r r 4

440

DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XVI.

suggest and request at the conference at the Castle, that the
Guards at Chapel Yard might be doubled, which they accord-
inofly were. All these circumstances, ¦with many more, I write to
you, my dear friend, with the intention of your sho^wing them to
the Speaker. Lord Hard-wicke was too much harassed by busi
ness to have time himself, and I was most anxious that Mr.
Abbot should possess the knowledge of our situation here.
General Fox was protected by the Duke of York, always jealous
of his o-wn authority ; he was besides particularly high in the
estimation of Mr. Yorke, who had the greatest opinion of, and
friendship for him. Had General Fox, therefore, been supported,
what could Lord Hardwicke have done ? To resign at such a
moment was next to impossible : and it was worse still to
remain responsible for the safety of this country ¦with such a
General !
Although I had Lord Hardwicke's permission to send the
letter I had written, I hesitated to do so, and was well pleased
to withdraw it entirely, on seeing that Mr. Yorke was fully sen
sible, though ¦with the utmost regret of General Fox's inca
pacity, which perhaps might have been ovping to the effects of a
very long and severe illness in the Mediterranean, which he has
never thoroughly recovered. The good man's own system of
treating Dublin in the time of war and rebellion, like a garrison
town in the time of peace, completely settled their opinion : his
forbidding the soldiers to wear their side arms, even after the
23rd, was leaving them defenceless to the people; the order
has not been recalled, but the breach of it has been, I believe,
connived at. He disgusted all the officers at first, by relaxing
discipline, dress, and parade; and by recommending that the
men should mix with the people ; at the same time the taking
away their arms effectually offended them, for they never had
deserved such a censure: and he intimated that the officers'
should not wear regimentals except on parade, himself and the
family setting the example. His order forbidding the military
to give any assistance in drilhng the Yeomanry, was looked on as
an insult. Lord Hard^wicke represented it to him himself, and
it was immediately -withdrawn. I mention this that you may be
aware how thoroughly matters are misstated in the newspapers,
where it was said that Lord Hardwicke ordered the Secretary at
War to recall the order.
With respect to the phrase of " daggers dra^wn," I must add
that the worthy man shows no ill-^will, no jealousy, no bad dis
position ; but utter inability. Would he were gone ! His late
illness, a boil on his thigh, was a very sufficient excuse for his

Sept. 1803.] EMMET'S INSUEEECTION. 441
not being present at the Lord- Lieutenant's review of the Dublin
Yeomanry in the Phoenix Park. It was a glorious sight ; above
5000 men, attended by more than 20,000 spectators. The
Captain, and second Captain of each corps, dined afterwards in
St. Patrick's Hall, with about twenty grandees, in all ninety-six.
The number has twice by mere chance been the same, ninety-
six; and proves to be the year that the Yeomanry was first em
bodied. A pretty little foolish remark of my ovm.
How we regret that Lord Cornwallis does not come as Com
mander of the Forces ! The dislike and the prejudices of these
same Yeomanry were already giving way in the recollection of
his military name : as Lord-Lieutenant they would have dis
liked it, but not as a military man. Already they had reasoned
that he was forced to measures, not always his own, for the sake
of the Union : in short, a speech, a review, and a dinner would
have rendered these hasty spirits friends and admirers. The
undefined situation of Lord-Lieutenant and Commander of the
Forces, would never have been at odds with two such temperate
men as Lord Cornwallis, and Lord Hard-wicke. Perhaps the
Catholic Question ms.y have interfered at home ? but in his
military capacity he was totally removed from all such questions,
and he is too little attached to modes of faith to have meddled
with that dangerous subject. By the bye, my dear friend, what
can you possibly mean by saying, " I am so delighted to hear
that old Dr. Troy begins to lose ground in your good opinion ? "
Dr. Troy never possessed it in any way. This same Dr. Troy,
whom I never saw, and scarce ever thought about, has no foot
ing whatever in the Castle Yard. Lord Hardwicke's is the only
administration that has never given the Heads of the Catholic
Clergy an invitation to the Castle : he in no way recognises them
further than the law admits them to be priests. Dr. Troy's ex
hortation was held either very useless, or very hypocritical ; if he
had no weight with the people it was mere words ; and if he had,
he could probably have prevented or disclosed the plot which
his clergy were probably well aware of.* Sir Edward Littlehales,
whom you fear may be talked over by him, has no sort of inter
course ¦with him, nor, I fancy, has his titular grace seen any of
the Government Acts in the way of examination. I hope, if his
nephew is guilty, that proof will not be wanting : do not fear too
much lenity, justice equal to all parties, is much required here ;
but lenity would be injustice to the community. I very well
remember that you used to swell when Sir Edward talked of
* Dr. Troy was the Roman CathoKc Archbishop of Dublin.

442 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XVI.
the brilliancy of the Consular Court, which your letter recalls to
me ; but we must take folks as they are, and you must remember
that it was not the politician, but the smart man last from
Paris that was narrating. By the way, he can, in no way, from
his office be blamed for the events of the 23rd : though he gave
much assistance that night.*
And now, I think, you will be happy to hear, for the sake of
your friend Mr. Marsden, and not less for the sake of truth, that
nothing can be more grossly misrepresented than he has been.
The whole course of information, and the steps taken on it, have
been laid before His Majesty ; and Mr. Yorke, at Lord Hard
wicke's desire, will show them to the Speaker. The violence
here has gradually subsided ; it was said that he would receive
no information; probably he was often obliged to break off
vague and general conversation full of alarm, but directed to no
point, that he might resort to those real and solid facts from
which the others were detaining him. The hours pass in desul
tory talk, and here it is not as in England, where no man breaks
in on a minister, but every one will be heard at length ; facts,
too, are soon stated, but mere assertion is tedious. In Cobbett's
wild paper, which I dare say you have read, he states four men
as more particularly illtreated by Mr. Marsden on that occasion;
three of the number are literally his friends, and all have given
their full testimony in -wi'iting to the contrary of that statement.
It is worth while that I should state to you the circumstances
of Clark, the manufacturer at Palmerston, one of those particu
larly specified. On the 21st he came to Mr. Marsden, as he was
often in the habit of doing, and told him he feared there was
mischief among his men. Next day he returned, and assured
him -with joy that he was satisfied he was wrong; he had had the
strongest assurances of fidelity from them, and he believed them.
But on the 23rd he returned in renewed fears, and on his infor
mation it was that Mr. Marsden sent for the Lord-Lieutenant
and the Commander of the Forces (the former he had seen in
the morning). At six the same night Mr. Clark came again
with the accoimt that his men had demanded their wages at an
early hour, and that they had dressed themselves in their best
clothes, and were coming into town for bad purposes. This is
the man whom Cobbett asserts to have been driven from Mars
den's presence with reproaches and contempt. He was afterwards
wounded in the street, but it seems doubtful whether it was by
his own men. He was brought by his own request back to Mr.
* Sir E. Littlehales was Military Under-Secretary.

Sept. 1803.] EMMET's INSUEEECTION. 443
Marsden's house, and certainly no man can be more sui-prised
than he now is, to find himself specially named as having been
illused and browbeaten by poor Marsden. One thing is worthy
of remark ; in the whole of this clamour Fox is scarcely named,
though whatever blame may be, rests wholly with him. But
his situation exposes him less to the envy and illwill of many
than that of the other, who has made his way by his o^wn
abilities. The ignorant or angry letters from Dublin are believed
in England, and the impressions last; here all blazes and expires.
Already they respect that Government which withstood their
clamours for martial law, unsanctioned as it then was by Parlia
ment (though, had the mischief spread, Lord Hardwicke has
always declared he would have taken the responsibility on him
self). In their intemperance they loudly declared their belief
that no jury would dare to find the rebels guilty, or that if they
did, would Government dare to punish them. In spite of all
their violence, they have seen that the slow but steady march of
justice can overtake the offender, even in this lawless country.
No attempt has been made to rescue the prisoners, and the
trials and the executions have been undisturbed, though in the
midst of multitudes. The sentence being put in force the follow
ing day has struck much awe on the minds of those who talked
so loud of the fear or weakness of their rulers.
Several sentences in your letter, my dearest friend, have
induced me to give you these particulars; being perfectly certain
that you will be happy to know the real state of affairs here,
where you were once even more interested than now.
I have shown Lord Hardwicke my letter, which sanctions me
in wishing, rather presumptuously, that you would show it to the
Speaker himself. As you are not in London, some of the parti
culars may be new to you, or at least may appear in a different
point of view. All minde will be occupied -with the trial of
Emmett next week. Eedmond is recovering to meet his destined
fate. Unhappy young man, he seems to have been a fit instru
ment for the ambition of Emmet to work ¦with. General Eus
sell is now confined in the Birmingham tower. He talks it well
of honour and duty. Strange perversion of language ! I ¦will
now conclude this very long letter, which I am almost ashamed of
having vsritten. Adieu ! My love to your boys.
I remain very sincerely and affectionately yours,
E. HAEDWICKE.
I must not omit to mention how much we are surprised at
the accounts of Dublin in the English papers. The conflagration

444 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XVI.
of the Parliament House, and other fires breaking out at the
same time ; blazing when the express came away ; — had a very
odd effect on us, who knew of no fires except those in the kitchen,
which the alarms of the last month have not extinguished.

COPY OF A DOCUMENT SENT BY ME. WICKHAM TO THE
SPEAKEE.
[Marked "Most Secret."]
Account of the Insurrection in Dublin of the 23rd July, 1803,
and of the circumstances by which it was preceded; prepared
from the Evidence on the late State Trials, from the secret
examination of several of the accomplices, and from various
secret documents, particularly from intercepted letters, and
from papers found in the 'possession of several of the con
spirators.* Early in the year 1801, Mr. Eobert Emmet, went over to the
Continent with a mission to the French Government from the
Executive Directory of the United Irishmen here. He was
accompanied by a Mr. Malachi Delany of the county of Kildare,
now in custody on suspicion of having been concerned in the
late insurrection. Delany had been formerly an officer in the
Austrian service, and was deeply engaged in the rebellion of
1798. They travelled through England, and embarked at Yarmouth,
for Hamburgh ; Emmet (against whom there was no charge)
under his own name, and Delany under the name of Bowers.
They resided some time in Hamburgh, until at last they
obtained passports from General Augereau, commanding the
French army on the Lower Ehine, and proceeded to Paris. At
Paris they had communications with the French Government in
the course of the year 1801. What wa's the particular object of
their communications is not known ; but, whatever it was, they
were put an end to by the peace which was soon after concluded,
when Emmet left Paris and came to Brussels to meet his
brother Thomas Addis Emmet, who had been discharged from
Fort George.
He returned to this country in November, 1802, where he
remained unmolested, as he had done before, there being no
* One or two other important documents relating to this rebellion are
to be found in the Castlereagh Correspondence, vol. iv. But this, which
is the most important of all, it is believed, has never yet been published.

AvG. 1803.] EMMETS INSUEEECTION. 445
charge against him ; the circumstance of his having been on this
treasonable mission having only been discovered since tlie
insurrection of the 23rd July.
Delany, who returned nearly at the same time, was brought to
trial in the county of Kildare at the last Spring assizes, on a
charge of murder committed by the men under his command
during the late rebellion. On this trial he was acquitted, and
as the evidence of his being a rebel leader*was the same whicli
was brought forward to prove the murder, he was entitled from
the moment of his acquittal to the full benefit of the Amnesty
Act. About the time of Eobert Emmet's return to Dublin, a pro
ject of insurrection in Ireland of a very serious nature was
formed in Paris, to take effect in time of pjeace. The French
Government appears to have been privy to it, meaning however
to use it as a war measure, or rather as the precursor of an
immediate declaration of war.
An expedition was prepared for Louisiana, in which all the
Irish in Paris were to embark, ostensibly as settlers. General
Humbert *, who was sent for home from St. Domingo, was to
have the command. He was to throw up his commission in the
French service, as if in disgust, engage in this expedition as a
private adventurer, and take -ndth him a number of discharged
officers and soldiers in the guise of settlers and common
labourers. They were to have put to sea from Havre as if for
Louisiana, and then to have landed in Connaught.
Colonel McDonnell, a Connaught rebel, and Gannon, a
Connaught priest (who served as interpreter to General
Humbert when in Ireland), were to have preceded them. These
two men were the agents who communicated between the dis-
affected Irish in Paris and the French Government ; which
Government always continued to speak of the expedition as if it
were intended really for Louisiana. McCabe, a banished traitor,
settled at Eouen, and Sweeny, another gentleman of the same
description, settled at Havre, were parties in the plot. They
were engaged in purchasing cast arms, of which a depot, intended
to amount to 4000, was begun to be formed at Havre.
It appears from an intercepted letter of Napper Tandy's, that
an expedition to Louisiana, in which the Irish were to take a
part, had been intended by the French Government so early as
* General Humbert was the commander of the force whioh had effected
a landing at Killala in 1798 ; but which afterwards surrendered to Lord
Cornwallis.

446 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XVI.
June or July 1802. But, whether it was then in contemplation
to' give this expedition an Irish direction seems doubtful.
This at least is certain, that Napper Tandy was to have em
barked in it with the rank and pay of a General of Division.
Early in February Quigley, Ware, and McDermott, three
banished traitors of the county of Kildare, received orders from
McCabe, who came to Paris for them to come do^wn to his
house at Eouen, and wait there for further directions. The next
day they received from Russell ten guineas apiece, and two of
them (Quigley and McDermott), set out for Eouen ; the third
remained behind.
At Eouen they were told that they must embark immediately
for Ireland under the care of Hamilton, who would introduce
them to the person there from whom they were to receive their
future orders.
[Hamilton had a commission in the French service, was on
board the French fleet that was defeated by Sir John Warren in
1798, off the coast of Donegal, was taken prisoner in the action,
but was not discovered, and was regularly exchanged as a French
officer. He married a niece of Eussell.]
The third day McDermott, tired ¦with waiting for Hamilton,
who never appeared, returned to Paris.
On the fourth day Hamilton arrived, when he and Quigley set
out for Havre, passed over in the regular packet boat to England,
and so, by Oxford and Liverpool to Dublin.
On their arrival in Dublin, Quigley was introduced to Emmet,
as to the person from whom he was to receive his orders.
They were followed towards the end of March by Eussell, who
came over to Dover from Calais, passed some days in London
with John Eussell his brother, an officer in General Huet's office,
and father to Mrs. Hamilton, and then proceeded quietly to
Dublin, where his arrival was immediately discovered, and
became the subject of much alarm. Both Hamilton and Eussell
came over with Lord Whitworth's passports, though under
feigned names.
It seems that the Irish in France were at this time split into
two parties: at the head of one of which was O'Connor; of the
other Emmet.
It does not appear as yet quite clear whether Emmett and
McNe^vin, who did not reside in Paris, were originally parties
to the Louisiana scheme, or not. It is probable that they were ;
because Eussell, Hamilton, and McCabe, who were privy to this
last business, and parties in it, were all concerned in the
Louisiana scheme.

Aug. 1803.] EMMET'S INSUEEECTION. 447
It appears doubtful also, whether Hamilton was sent over
here to prepare the way for that particular scheme, or on a
separate scheme of their own ; and equally doubtful whether the
French Government was privy to their intention, supposing the
scheme to have been a separate one. It is to be observed that
Hamilton and Quigley not only left France, but arrived in
Dublin before the king's message to Parliament of the 16th- May
had been delivered. It is remarkable also (which makes it
probable that whatever their scheme was, it was to be executed
in time of peace), that Emmet told Quigley when he first saw
him, that they should not have more troops to oppose them in
all Ireland, than had formerly been brought against the county
of Kildare alone ; and if the project was to have been executed
in time of peace, it is scarcely possible that they would have
undertaken it ¦without the promised support of the Louisiana
scheme, or some secret foreign assistance, which France alone
would furnish. It appears certain, however, that no Irishman
came over from France on the late occasion, but the three men
above mentioned ; that there was not a Frenchman in the
country connected with the insurrection, and that not one penny
of money was received from France.
It happened most imfortunately for poor Lord Elwarden and
the other victims of the night, as well as for the reputation for
¦vigilance of the Irish Government, though it may now be said,
most fortunately for the country, that soon after the arrival of
Eobert Emmet, in November, old Dr. Emmet died ; viz. on the
9th December, and left near 30001. to his son Eobert. This
sum, which to the eager mind of the young man appeared an
inexhaustible treasure, first suggested the idea of the depot, and
was the sole fund from which it was created.
But for this sum, we may now say providentially given to
him, for the -wisest purposes, we should have heard of no insur
rection in Ireland as yet; but the country would probably at
this moment have been in a very serious state of disturbance,
-with means of precaution and preparation, on our side, very in
ferior to those we have now taken.
When Emmet came over in November, he applied himself,
together with Mr. Patten, nephew to Mr. Colville, the Governor
of the Bank, to the tanning business, which they were to learn
from a notoriously disafi"ected, but a very ingenious man of the
name of Norris, whom they took into a sort of partnership.
Patten furnishing the money.
There is every reason to believe that at this time they con
sidered their party as without resources in Ireland, and were

448 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XVI.
determined to have gone all three together, and settled in
America. It seems, ho-wever, that the acquisition of Eobert Emmet's
fortune, followed immediately by strong appearances of approach
ing hostilities between Great Britain and France, determined
him to remain here and make an efi'ort for the cause in which
he and all his family had been actively engaged; and that
he did immediately write to his brother*, to send over some
confidential person, to concert measures with him here, and to
carry back to France a statement of his own views, and those
of his friends whom he meant to engage in the conspiracy ; and
that Hamilton was sent over by Thomas Emmet at the end of
December. At least, this is the tendency of the e-vddence of
which Government is in possession.
There is, however, some reason to believe, on the one hand,
that this first visit of Hamilton to Ireland, in December, was
accidental, and unconnected ¦with any treasonable views, and
that Eobert Emmet made his proposals to him here, and sent
him back with them to France ; on the other, that he was sent
over here by the Irish in France, with the knowledge of the
French Government, for the purpose of communicating -with
the disafi'ected in Ireland, and preparing the way for the
Louisiana Expedition. The truth can be easily ascertained, as
Hamilton would make a full disclosure, if his life were spared,
but it is not thought expedient to show him any mercy while
there remains a hope of obtaining this information from any
other quarter.
Whichever of these opinions may be the true one, it is cer
tain that Hamilton (the same who afterwards brought over
Quigley to Ireland), did come over here a first time about the
end of December, or rather the beginning of January last ; that
he was at that time exceedingly poor, and obliged to borrow
money in London, to pay his passage to Ireland ; that he re
mained only nine or ten days in Dublin, seeing Emmet fre
quently during that time ; that he returned, having seventy or
eighty guineas in his pocket, through London to Paris, where
he arrived late in January ; that the Louisiana Scheme, under
the direction of General Humbert, having Ireland for its real
object, was then actively pursued in Paris ; that a day or two
This would appear to show that his brother was at large in Belgium,
but according to Phillips's Life of Cun-an (p. 283) he was in prison ; and
not released tiU 1804, when he went at once to America. It is quite evi
dent that the statement of the text must be correct, and that Mr. PhiUips
was mistaken.

Aug. 1803.] EMMETS INSUEEECTION. 449
after his arrival there he set out for Brussels, with the avowed
purpose of bringing Thomas Emmet and Dr. Macnevin to Paris,
where they were to reside, as the acknowledged agents of the
United Irishmen ; and where O'Connor, to his great disappoint
ment, found them established as such, when he returned to Paris
on the breaking out of hostilities. That it was shortly after
Hamilton quitted Paris for Brussels that McCabe came to Paris
as before mentioned, and that Quigley was sent to Eouen ; that
Hamilton, during his short stay at Paris, did see and communi
cate with McDonnell, and the other Irish connected -with the
Louisiana Scheme, and that he was soon after followed to Eng
land, and from thence to Ireland, by Eussell, who lived habitually
with McDonnell, and who arrived in Dublin about the end of
March. It appears that during the interval that passed between
Hamilton's two -visits, much communication among the dis
affected had taken place ; and that the general opinion amongst
them was, that nothing ought to be attempted. Some talked of
waiting for the French ; but the great majority desired only to
be quiet, and not engage in any new disturbances.
That this was really the case does not rest on the event only,
but on e^vidence that does not leave a doubt in the minds of
those who have had opportunities of carefully examining and
considering the whole.
It was nevertheless determined by Emmet to proceed, and
Hamilton, Eussell, Allen, Stockdale, Dowdale, and a few more :
(none of them of any property or character except one, Philip
Long, a merchant, and young Patten, Emmet's partner), formed
together the plan of arming in secret, unknown to the rest, on
the principle (calculated on the general disaffection of the
country), that if they could surprise Dubhn, they would be
joined by all who had refused to take a part -with them, and
that the whole country would immediately rise in insurrection.
Calculating on the same general disaffection, they wished
to have no organisation in or out of Dublin ; a system which
they thought must ine^vitably lead to discovery, — consequently
they had no arms in the hands of the people from one end of
the country to the other. But they applied to different persons
concerned as subordinate leaders in the last rebellion, desiring
them to be ready against the French should come.
They sent Quigley into the county of Kildare, where he only
remained two days, during which, however, he ensured the service
of some active agents, who continued at work in the county,
after he had disappeared from it. They entered into communi-
VOL, I. G G

450 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XVL
cation with the Wexford leaders, Grey, Carty, and Clooney, who
at first entered into their schemes, but positively refused having
anything to do "with them, when they knew the nature of them,
and saw how few persons of any consequence were engaged "with
them. And during the whole of this time, i. e., from the begin
ning of April till the 23rd of July, Emmet was employed forming
a depot of arms with such secrecy that the principal conspirators
themselves never went near it, nor knew exactly where it was.
It was conducted by Quigley, and three or four other per
sons, bricklayers and carpenters, who had been subordinate
leaders in the late rebellion. Quigley never left the place
from the time he returned first from Kildare, to the 23rd of
July, except occasionally at night.
Emmet himself never went near it till after the explosion at
Patrick Street, which happened on the Saturday preceding the
23rd of July, from which time he made it his habitation. The
whole was conducted by Quigley with his associates, eight in
number ; increased to twenty during the last week.
The house in Patrick Street, where the explosion took place,
was taken by one of them named Mcintosh ; not for the purpose
of manufacturing powder, as was long supposed, but of making
rockets, and other combustibles, for the purpose of filling hollow
beams that were to be laid across the streets, and caused to ex
plode in the line of march of the troops.
The explosion in Patrick Street determined them to fix an
early day for the insurrection ; and Emmet did in fact send
down an express to Eussell and Hamilton, who had gone down to
to the North, to say positively, that the rising should take place
on the 23rd. But, of the few persons that were in the secret in
Dublin, I believe the greater part was against the attempt ; and
that they did continue to believe during the greater part of the
week, that the thing would not be attempted.
It appears from the evidence of McCabe on Eedmond's trial,
that even on Saturday morning, the 23rd, there was a difference
of opinion amongst the few who had adhered to Emmet.
Emmet, however, determined to make the attempt, being per
suaded, as he said, that the depot must be discovered in the
course of a day or two.
Accordingly, on Monday evening the Kildare people were sent
for, and on Friday evening only the subordinate leaders of the
old rebellion, resident in Dublin, were informed of what was in
tended, and desired to assemble the lower orders of the people,
in their respective neighbourhoods, on the afternoon of Saturday,.
jind wait, each about his own quarters, for further orders.

Aug. 1803.] EMMET'S INSUEEECTION. 451
On reading the evidence of McCabe above alluded to, the
history of what passed in different quarters of Dublin with
persons of similar descriptions and situation in life -will appear
evident. They were desired to assemble- their neighbours in
the manner above mentioned, and were then left to themselves
without orders of any kind, after they had each collected a set
of old rebels about them, ready for any mischief, and expecting
to have arms put into their hands by their leaders.
This is the real history of what has been said in answer to the
fact that appeared in e-vidence on the trials, " that there were
only 200 or 300 men in Thomas Street."
Many persons say they witnessed groups forming in other
parts of the to"wn, and their account is probably correct, but
they were of the nature of those just described, and all un
armed. On the 23rd, in the morning, about ten o'clock, there was a
grand consultation between Emmet and his friends, when all
but himself strongly objected to having anything to do with the
business. All above the rank of common artisans were clearly
of that opinion, for the officers in splendid green uniforms who
adhered to Emmet were no greater men than Quigley, and
Stafibrd, a baker in Thomas Street. The man in the red coat,
who appears on Felix Eourke's trial to have encouraged the
mob to attack the Castle, was one James Bannan, who had been
a common soldier ; the generals in green had fied before this
man came forward.
About eleven o'clock the Kildare deputies arrived, being about
eight or ten in number, all known to the Government, and most
of them in custody. These gentlemen had heard that the
Dublin people would not act, and therefore they began by
questioning Emmet very closely. They insisted on being intro
duced to the other leaders, and that they should be shown the
depot of arms. Emmet refused peremptorily to introduce them
to the other leaders, but consented to show the depot to two of
them immediately. These two were conducted there by Emmet,
and on their return, reported to their co-delegates that there was
a quantity of pikes, of ball-cartridges, and of combustibles, but
no fire-arms ; on which the Kildare people to a man declared
that they would have nothing to do with it, and the whole of
them returned to their homes, sending back their followers
whom they met on the road. Some few of these latter only,
who had straggled into the town in the morning, were concerned
in the rising.
The country people who came into town were those of Pal-
GC 2

452 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XVI.
merstown principally, and the immediate neighbourhood of
Dublin, to whom no counter-orders were sent.
Between six and seven, Emmet, who had then had a second
meeting -with his Dublin friends, who all continued of the same
opinion they had expressed in the morning, told Quigley it
would be folly to attempt an attack on the Castle, or on any
other place ; and that he had determined to lead all the people
that should assemble to the Wicklow mountains, unless they
should come in numbers much greater than he expected.
Accordingly at a little before nine the pikes were distributed
from the depot, together with about twenty blunderbusses, and
Emmet with his two Lieutenant-Generals, sallied forth a little
after nine, proceeding directly down Thomas Street towards
Francis Street, with no other intention than to gain the country
by New Street, the nearest road they could take, without passing
by any barrack, or other military post.
The two Lieutenant-Generals were employed on the rear,
endeavouring to bring the men up, but they refused to follow
any order or direction whatever, and Emmet and his friends,
including Quigley and Stafford, amounting in the whole to ten
persons, made off down Francis Street and fled to the mountains,
leaving the rest to take care of themselves.
All this time no blood had been shed, except in the skirmish
with Mr. Wilson and the police officers. [N.B. Since this was
¦written, it appears from a re-examination of Quigley, that a
German had been murdered before they left the depot.] The
dragoon who was murdered in Thomas Street passed Emmet
and his party close to the Market House at the moment they
were making off towards Francis Street. They heard the shots
in their rear, but did not think it right or prudent to turn back,
either to assist their friends in case of need, or to prevent them
from committing acts of cruelty.
All the atrocities that were committed were the acts of the
mob that remained behind with the blunderbusses and pikes in
their hands, with no one to head them but the soldier already
mentioned. Felix Eourke was in the street, and was with them
at the murder of the dragoon ; but I believe he remained there
because he had lost his party, and did not know how to separate
himself from the pikemen. He was not in uniform, which, as
he was a man of more note than either Quigley or Stafford, is,
among other circumstances, a proof that he was not there with
the intention of taking a command. He was probably detained
at his brother's house in Thomas Street.
This is the case exactly as it passed on the part of the insur-

Aug. 1803.] EMMET'S INSUEEECTION. 453
gents. From which it may be collected that nothing could have
been more fallacious and incorrect, than the first accounts given
of the whole business, or more unwarranted than the first
impressions received of the strength, numbers, and description
of the insurgents, or of their intentions on the night of the
23rd July. W. WiCIiHAM.
An extract from an intercepted letter, written by-
Robert Emmet, a fe"\v days before his execution, to his
brother, is annexed to this statement : —
EXTEACT FEOM EMJCET'S LETTEE.
The whole of this plan was given up by me for the want of
means, except the Castle and lines of defence, for which I
expected 300 Wexford men, 400 Kildare men, and 200 Wicklow :
all of whom had fought before, to begin the surprises at this
side of the water, and by the preparations for defence, so as to
give time to the town to assemble. The county of Dublin was
also to act the instant it began. The number of people
acquainted ¦with it, I understood to be 3000 or 4000. I
expected 2000 to assemble at Costigan's Mill, the grand place
of assembly. The evening before, the Wicklow men failed
through their officers. The Kildare men, who were to act parti
cularly ¦with me, came in, and at five o'clock went off again from
the Canal Harbour, on a report from two of their officers that
Dublin would not act. In Dublin itself it was given out by
some treacherous or cowardly persons, that it was postponed till
Wednesday. The time of assembly was from six till nine, and
at nine, instead of 2000 men, there were 80* men assembled.
When we came to the Market House they were diminished to
18 or 20. The Wexford men did assemble j, I believe, to the
amount promised on the Coal Quay ; but 300 men, though they
might be sufficient to begin on a sudden, were not so when
Government had five hours' notice by expresses from Kildare.
Add to this, the preparations were, from an unfortunate series of
* Though Emmet's account of his numbers was confirmed by the dying
declaration of Mcintosh, yet there is reason to believe that there -were at
least 200 men assembled in Thomas Street -with pikes in their hands. —
W. W.
t Emmet was probably led into this error by the assertion of Redmond,
who was guilty of the most notorious falsehoods. There is every reason
to believe that there were not 20 Wexford men assembled. — W. W.
GG 3

454 . DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XVI.
disappointments in money, unfinished, scarcely any blunder
busses bought up. Money came in at five o'clock, and the
trusty men of the depot, who alone knew the town, were obliged
to be sent out to buy up blunderbusses, for the people refused
to act without some.
To change the day was impossible, for I expected the counties
to act, and I feared to lose the advantage of sm-prise. The
Kildare men were coming in for three days, and after that it
was impossible to draw back. Had I had another week, had I
had lOOOL, had I had 1000 men, I would have feared nothing.
There was redundancy enough in any one part to have made up,
if complete, for a deficiency in the rest, but there was failure in
all — plan, preparation, and men.
I would have given it the respectability of insurrection, but I
did not -wish uselessly to spill blood. I gave no signal for the
rest, and they all escaped.
I know there are men -without candour who will pronounce on
this failure without knowing one of the circumstances that
occasioned it; they will consider only that they predicted it.
Whether its failure was caused by chance or by any of the
grounds on which they made their prediction, they will not care;
they will make no distinction between a prediction fulfilled and
justified ; they will make no compromise of errors ; they will
not recollect that they predicted also that no system could be
formed, that no secrecy nor confidence could be restored, that
no preparations could be made, that no plan could be arranged,
that no day could be fixed without being instantly known at the
Castle; that Government only waited to let the conspiracy
ripen, and crush it at their pleasure ; and that on these grounds
only they predicted its miscarriage.
LETTEE PEOM ME. WICKHAM TO ME. ABBOT.
[Private] Dublin Castle, Sept. 22nd, 1803.
My dear Abbot, — I am very greatly in your debt, but I have
worked myself almost to the bone in my endeavours to make use
of the late conspiracy as the means of securing to the capital at
least, and its vicinity, a fair prospect of solid and permanent
tranquillity. I think I can now confidently say that this object
is nearly accomplished.
We are at the very roots of the conspiracy, and every new
light that we gain, convinces us more and more that we were not
mistaken in the idea we had formed of the improving state of the
country. If, amid the clamour you have heard on the subject,
you will not trust a less important ¦witness, you will at least give

Sept. 1808.] EMMET'S INSUEEECTION. . 455
credit to Emmet himself, who admitted that when he sat down
to ¦write his Proclamation (for the whole was his own, and we
have the rough manuscript ^vith the corrections, as the whole
proceeded from his brain, all in his own handwriting), that his
conscience would not permit him to assign an existing grievance,
and that he was obliged to have recourse to the crimes and
follies of preceding times. This opinion he confirmed in a very
proper letter addressed to me, written an hour before he went to
the gallows, in which, among other things, he says that the con
duct of the present Administration, on which he bestowed high
praise, hastened instead of retarding his determination to over
throw the Government. The trial, which I sent you yesterday,
as it is well reported in the " Evening Post," will satisfy you
that we are in possession of a mass of evidence such as has
seldom or ever been produced on a similar occasion.
I can assure you, however, that we did not put forth our
whole strength, and that we did not bring forward, out of twenty
witnesses that were examined, a single one of whom we had rea
son to be afraid. Nor among so -great a number was there the
slightest contradiction, and yet not one of the four who turned
king's evidence has had the remotest promise or hope of pardon
holden out to him.
Emmet himself was so struck with this, that he observed to
his counsel, that though some things were sworn of which he had
no knowledge, yet all that was sworn against him of which he
had knowledge was so fairly and accurately given, that he gave
implicit credit to the rest.
The law-officers have conducted themselves in a manner to
gain the full approbation and confidence of the public. They
have also shown very distinguished talents, — I mean the
Attorney and Solicitor-General *, and Plunkett. The speech of
the latter is ill given in the papers which I send you to-night.
It was, I understand, most eloquent, and most masterly. It was
delivered on purpose to show his entire and unqualified renunci
ation of his former principles, his determination on due and
mature reflection, to support the Union after having been its
inveterate opposer, and to stand or fall -with the present Ad
ministration. You may naturally suppose that this is the pre
lude to closer connection f, and that it -will be the death-blow
to the anti- Union party at the Bar.
* The Attorney and Solicitor-General were Mr. John Stewart, and Mr.
James M'CleUand.
t Mr. Plunkett was made Solicitor-General before the end of the year.
G G 4

456 DUEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XVL
You will be glad to hear that on Eourke's trial, McClelland
completely put down George Ponsonby, who was the only one,
among six several counsel employed for the prisoners (all more or
less of opposition principles), who did not reprobate the insur
rection itself, and the pretence of existing grievances. Ponsonby
confined himself to the reprobation of the murder of Lord
Kilwarden. You will be greatly surprised when I tell you, that I have in
my hand a letter from Mr. Curran, beginning in these words,
" I have again to offer His Excellency, my more than gratitude,
the feelings of the strongest attachment and respect; to you
also, sir, I am most affectionately grateful for the part you have
been so kind as to take."*
All this is very comical, but not the less true, and it is equally
so, what perhaps you -will have heard, that only one man of all
concerned in the present insurrection that has yet fallen into
our hands, was not also concerned in the last, and pardoned for
his treason.
We have pardoned no man before trial, and only two after
conviction ; one, the person above mentioned, the other a man
who has voluntarily made very useful discoveries, he himself
being one of the lowest order.
We have had only one acquittal, owing entirely to a most ex
traordinary summing up of the Judge (Baron Daly), to which
the Jury paid respect, contrary to their own opinion.
We have uniformly refused to enter into any compact -with
any of them. Even the ofi'ers of Eourke and of Eedmond were
rejected, because they insisted on affixing to them the condition of
not being brought forward as witnesses. These gentlemen took
their revenge in two very different ways. Eourke tried to make
himself pass for a martyr, by protesting his innocence in the
most solemn manner ; Eedmond by shooting himself.
The morning after Emmet's conviction, Luke White waited
upon me to say that he would immediately take 500,000^. in Ex
chequer Bills at par. And the bargain was forthwith concluded.
So much for our civil proceedings, which will ensure the peace
of the country, if the French do not come. But if they do, and
in force, God help us ! Be assured we are not prepared to meet
them.

* Curran's daughter, -without his having any idea of the fact, was attached
to Emmet (she died of a broken heart not long afterwards). And his house
was searched, but it was proved that he had no suspicion of any of Emmet's
designs.

Sept. 1803.] EMMET'S INSUEEECTION. 457
Do not cite me for this opinion ; I have given it over and over
again in the strongest manner, a qui de droit. It may justly be
thought wrong in me to hold that language to others.
 Believe me to be
Ever yours most affectionately, W. WiCKHAM.

LETTEE PEOM ME. EOBEET EMMET TO ME. WICKHAM.
September 20th, 1803.
Sir, — Had I been permitted to proceed with my ¦vindication,
it was my intention, not only to have acknowledged the delicacy
with which I feel ¦with gratitude, that I have been personally
treated; but also to have done the most public justice to the mild
ness ofthe present administration of this country, and at the same
time to have acquitted them, as fai- as rested with me, of any charge
of remissness in not having previously detected a conspiracy,
which, from its closeness, I know it was impossible to have done.
I confess that I should have preferred this mode, if it had been
permitted, as it would thereby have enabled me to clear myself
from any imputation under which I might in consequence lie, and
to have stated why such an administration did not prevent,
but, under the peculiar situation of this country, perhaps
rather accelerated my determination to make an effort for the
overthrow of a government, of which I do not think equally
highly. However, as I have been deprived of that opportunity,
I think it right now to make an acknowledgment which justice
requires from me as a man, and which I do not feel to be in the
least derogatory from my decided principles as an Irishman.
I have the honour to be. Sir, with the greatest respect.
Your most obedient, humble servant, Eobeet Emmet.
The Right Hon. W. Wickham.
EXTEACT OP A LETTEE PEOM ME. WICKHAM TO ME.
ABBOT. Nov. 30th.
[After detailing the labour the investigation had cost him,
he proceeds] — As daylight broke in upon us our opinions
gradually changed, and we were astonished how accurately the
information received previously to the 23rd July, as to the
nature, object, and extent of the conspiracy, and the persons
engaged in it, tallied -with what turned out to have been the

458 DUEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XVI.
real history of the Insurrection ; nay more, how the very
accuracy itself of that information tended naturally to deceive
us -with respect to the formation of the depot, or rather to
the possibility of any such depot being formed. . . . .
Now pray attend to what was the nature of the information
received from the channels in which confidence was placed.
1. That Quigley, a banished traitor, and an inferior leader of
the rebellion in the county of Kildare, had come over from
France in March last, visited the county, and exhorted the people
to arm themselves, and prepare for the coming of the French.
That some of his friends went into the county of Meath for
the same purpose. That the people in this latter county were
not only adverse to the business, but positively declined having
anything to do with it. That the mass ofthe people in the county
of Kildare were as disaffected as ever, and, to a man, ready to
rise ; but that the principal farmers, who had all been engaged
in the last rebellion, declined taking a part in any new disturb
ance. The correctness of this information was soon after confirmed
by several gentlemen of both counties, whose tenants had in
formed them of the fact of Quigley's being in the county, and
expressed their opinion that, unless he were taken, the counties
of Kildare and Meath would be again disturbed. Letters to
the above effect from both counties, agreeing in all material
points, are in the office.
On this information, Marsden authorised the said gentlemen
to offer 300L reward for apprehending Quigley ; and was about
to repeat and enforce the offer by a government proclamation,
but was prevented doing so by the advice and entreaties of the
gentlemen themselves, particularly of Colonel Wolfe, who
thought that such a measure might put notions of rebellion
into the heads of many who as yet had never dreamt of such a
thing. It appeared at the same time certain that Quigley had
left the country.
2. That Eussell and Hamilton had returned to Ireland in
March, and were about some mischief with young Emmet,
Allen, Dowdale, and Stockdale. That they talked of a rising, but
that all the disaffected considered such an attempt to be madness,
without the assistance of the French. That the country most
positively was not organised anywhere, except in the county of
Kildare, where the old system had never been discontinued.
That Eussell and Hamilton were going down to the North, for
the purpose of raising that county ; and that they were certainly
preparing arms in or about DiMin. '

Nov. 1803.] emmet's INSUEEECTION. 459
Now observe, that with this evidence, came the most positive
assurance from other channels, that Arthur O'Connor, Thomas
Emmet, and Dr. McNevin had arrived from Paris, and Neilson
from Hamburgh. These four were men of consequence, capable of
raising all Ireland ; the others, EusseU perhaps excepted, were
men of no general influence, and of but little comparative
estimation. It was asserted, also, that several others of the old
rebels of Dublin, who had been pardoned in 1798 and were then
in Dublin, were concerned with Allen and Emmet and their
companions. The falsity of both these reports was discovered
by Marsden ; but unfortunately his attention was more directed
to these people, as of greater consequence, than to the few who
were really conspiring against the State, and whom he knew to
be conspiring ; but whom he thought, as appeared to be the case
by the sequel, quite incapable of doing anything efficient -with
out the aid of the others.
So things went on till the 10th or 12th of July, when Eussell
and Hamilton went down to the North, and our friends from
hence followed them ; and, reasoning a priori from the character
and known talents of the persons concerned, those were the two
men among the conspirators whom I should have desired to
have had most closely watched.
3. Three days before the insurrection broke out, news came
from Belfast that orders had been sent from Dublin to attempt
a rising in the North. Positive information was also given here
that an attempt would be made in Dublin, at the end of the
week ; not from people running to the Castle with any news
they could collect, but from good intelligence. In consequence
of this information, Marsden did ¦write to request that the
Habeas Corpus Act should be suspended; but contradictory
information was immediately afterwards received from a safe
source. But how, you ¦will say, can such a source be called a safe
source, when the event turned out other-wise ?
To this I answer, that the event has proved that the persons
who gave the information, and who were persons of note
compared -with those who took a part in the insurrection, did at
that time consider the thing as given up, and that it was in fact
so given up by every gentleman, if gentlemen any of them could
be called (Emmet excepted), who had taken any share in the
business, or to whom it had been communicated.
The truth really is that the insurrection of the 23rd July was
Emmet's, and Emmet's alone.
Hamilton and Eussell, deceived by his representations, and

460 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XVI.
corresponding with him alone, did attempt to raise the North,
than which attempt nothing could have been more futile, or
more ridiculous. But in no other quarter was there a finger
holden up, except in Kildare and Dublin, nor was there a
creature of any consequence in Dublin ever privy to the trans
action 
W. Wickham.
EXTEACT PEOM ANOTHEE LETTEE PEOM THE SAME TO
THE SAME.
Dec. 2nd.
I may say to you in confidence, that much of the concealment
of Emmet's project was due to our want of information from
France. — Eussell and Hamilton should have had all their
motions watched dn Paris, instead of being suffered to come
over ¦with Lord Whitworth's passports.

Aug. 1803.] PEOPOSED POETIFICATION OP LONDON. 461

CHAP. XVII.
PROPOSAL TO FORTIFY LONDON.  SHERIDAn's MOTION ON THE VOLUNTEERS.
 PROROGATION OF PARLIAJIENT.  PARLIAMENT MEETS AGAIN IN NO
VEMBER. — MR. FOX PKOTESTS AGAINST THE SYSTEM ADOPTED IN IRELAND.
— LETTER FROM LORD EEDESDALE.  ARMY ESTIMATES.  THE PRINCE OF
WALES APPLIES FOR MILITARY EMPLOYMENT.  APPREHENSIONS OF AND
PREPAEATIONS FOR INVASION. — LETTER FROM ME. WICKHAM.
July 30th. — News ofthe capture of St. Lucie.
Monday, August 1st. — House of Commons passed the
Property Tax BUl -without observation.
2nd  House of Commons. Division at three in the
morning upon ]\Ir. Fox's motion for a IVIilitary Council;
38 for it, 63 against it. In the course of the debate
Colonel Crawford stated that he had conversed over
night with General Pichegru, who did not approve of
Lord Cathcart's plan for fortifications round London.
Mr. Tyrwhitt and several other members urged the
giving a forward station and distinguished rank to the
Prince of Wales in the military arrangements, H. R. H.
having offered his services, which had not been accepted,
and that he remained only a Colonel, though the Duke
of York was Commander-in-Chief, and each of his
other brothers had the rank of a Lieutenant-General.
Sir Wilham Erskine, -with great animation and display
of military knowledge, disputed Colonel Crawford's
opinions, and resisted every attempt to make a defence
by throwing up lines upon the coast and round the
metropolis. Ath. — The Dean of Christ Church came, and men
tioned the King's dissatisfaction at not having detailed
accounts from the Lord-Lieutenant; I wrote to Lord
Hardwicke. N.B. Government had letters in London from Paris,

462 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XVIL
dated 12th July, describing exactly the plot which
broke out in Dublin, July 23rd.
N.B. Servants drilled to the use of firearms; mine
in the Cloister Gardens.
House of Commons. Debate in the Committee on the
amended Defence Bill.
5th. — ^The Lords having doubts upon the Curates
Stipend BiU as a tax, Cowper came to me; and I
afterwards went to the Chancellor at Lincoln's Inn
HaU, and satisfied him that this BUl was not within
the rule; nevertheless, in the House of Lords he threw
it out on its merits.
House of Commons passed the Defence Amendment
BiU. 10th. — House of Commons. Sheridan's motion for
thanking the Volunteers ; tiU ten o'clock much debate :
voted nem. con. Speaker to ¦write letters to the Lord-
Lieutenants. llth  ]\Ir. Hutchinson's motion upon the state of
Ireland, and for information respecting the late occur
rences in Dublin; debate tiU past twelve o'clock; no
division. On the same side -with ]\Ir. Hutchinson,
though on different grounds, were ]Mr. Wyndham, W.
EUiott, Dr. Lawrence, Lord Temple, &c.
12th. — The King came to the House of Lords and
prorogued the Parliament.
[During the Parliamentary recess, IMr. Abbot did not
continue his diary.* On the 19th of November he
returned to town to be ready for the opening of the
new session, which took place]
Monday, November 22nd. — The King opened the
session. In the House of Commons, after ]^r. Ashley
and ]\Ir. Burland had moved and seconded the Address,
lyir. Fox signified his readiness to concur, explaining
* No events of importance took place in the interval ; but the apprehen
sions of a French invasion excited such a general enthusiasm in all parts of
the country, that before the end of August, Mr. Addington estimated the
number of volunteers at upwards of 300,000 ; whUe the regulars, mUitia,
and army of reserve amounted to 140,000 more. — Lord Sidmouth's Life, ii.
226.

Nov. 1803.] ME. M^VESDEN'S PAPEES. 463
himself only on two points : 1st. That he expected
some notice to have been taken of the Russian media
tion; 2nd. That he warned the House against con
sidering that the present system of governing Ireland
was to be considered as a proper and lasting policy;
IVIr. Addington answered, that the Russian mediation
had not produced any successful issue ; and that, if
ever the Irish question was discussed (which it ought
not now to be), he should be ready to state his own
sentiments and to hear those of others. The Address
was voted unanimously.
23rd. — Upon the report of the Address, ]\Ir. Wynd
ham said a few words expressing his dissatisfaction
with the present IVIinisters for their incompetency.
No reply was made to him. The House on the first
day contained between 300 and 400 members ; and on
this day about 200.
The Bishop of KiUaloe dined ¦with me; he brought
over the papers coUected by Mr. IMarsden upon the
conduct of the Ci-vil Government, on the 23rd of July
last. And IMr. Addington to-day showed me General
Fox's statement of his o-wn conduct, with an appendix
of letters from ]M[r. IVIarsden, &c., in the course of the
evening of the 23rd. IVIr. Addington and Lord Castle
reagh both agreed -with IVIr. Yorke that no good could
arise from discussing the question of blame between
the Ci-vU and IMiUtary Departments; but that it was
clear the whole of the Government taken together had
taken sufficient measures to repress the whole of the
Insurrection according to its extent, as proved upon
the trials; and that the deaths of Lord KUwarden,
Colonel Bro-wne, &c., were the effects of accident in the
tumult, and not of any specific design which could
have been counteracted. To me it was e-vident that the
CivU Government had not given sufficient credit to the
information they had received ; and that General Fox,
though excusable for not taking more prompt and
extensive measures of precaution, might, -with more
activity and a truer judgment of his own responsibility,
have easily prevented the whole mischief.

464 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XVU.
2Sth. — It is said that good anchorage for seven ships
of the line is found in a bay near Brest, caUed Douar-
neney.* Friday, Dec. 2nd. — ]\Ir. Yorke brought in the two
Bills for suspending the Habeas Corpus Act, and for
authorising martial law in Ireland.
3rd. — Saw Mr. Addington ; no prospect of any
money being wanted till April, and then 10,000,000l
at the most. Sir F. Baring of opinion that Stocks wiU
then be up at 60.
Monday, 5th. — Debate on second reading of Irish
Martial Law Bill. Speakers : Wyndham, Francis, Col.
Crawford, Hutchinson. In opposition to the Adminis
tration, but for the BiU. They were answered by
Mr. Yorke, Lord Castlereagh, Mr. Addington, Mr,
Wilberforce, &c. ; Dr. Lawrence alone spoke against
the Bill: no division.
1th. — Mr. Dyson came about my wine supply, as
Speaker, from the Board of Green Cloth. Upon in
quiry as to the Speaker's right to his chair, it appeared
that formerly the House of Commons was furnished
every three years by the Lord Chamberlain, but when
the reform took place in 1782 this ceased; and the
House has not since been new furnished above twice.
Mr. Addington, when the House was last furnished,
claimed and took away his chair. At Lord Onslow's
house in Surrey there are the ten chairs in which Mr.
Onslow sat during his two Parliaments.
House of Commons : debate on report of the Irish
Martial Law Bill, but no division.
Received the foUoAving letter from Lord Redesdale : —
Ely Place, Dublin, Dec. 5th, 1803.
Dear Sir, — ... I think I can venture to say that the
judgment we formed of this country is just; namely, that the
* This anchorage was continually used by the fleet blockading Brest,
during the latter part of the war, and obtained among the seamen the
name of "Do Nothing Bay."

Dec. 1803.] IGNOEANCE IN lEELAND. 465
events of 1798 are deeply impressed on the minds of the lower
as well as of the higher orders ; and that fear for their property
will operate on all who have any property, however small, and
fear for their persons on all the rest, except a few desperadoes,
and a few enthusiasts and bigots. From the Protestant dis
senters, I think there is nothing to fear. The Catholics (the
laity) are of three descriptions : the gentlemen, who are generally
strongly inclined to monarchy ; the new men, many of whom
have a strong republican bias ; and the vulgar, who are deeply
tainted -with French revolutionary principles. The priests, who
have greatly contributed to give this taint, are now afraid of
their o'wn work. They perceive in the abolition of titles, the
destruction of their hopes of great temporal establishments, to
which they have been fondly looking for some time. They are,
therefore, preaching, and, I believe, in general with some sincerity,
anti-Grallican doctrines ; but mixed with so much of acrimony
towards the Protestants, and so little of solid loyalty towards the
Government, that I do not think their preaching does much.
The apprehensions for property and personal safety operate
more strongly, and, I believe, will greatly prevail. I daily dis
cover, more and more, the ignorance of the people, even in this
country, of the true style of the Eoman Catholic clergy, and the
reason for thinking them formidable. The ignorance in Eng
land we have often remarked ; but the ignorance here is more
surprising. I think eyes begin a little to be opened. Scully's
foolish pamphlet, Troy's, and some other pastoral addresses, and
looking back to what has been, and what is; have, I think,
brought many to feel that the hope of a change, excited first for
political purposes about fifty years ago, eagerly caught at by the
Catholics, pursued and forwarded in various ways, and at a great
expense to the body ; and, lastly, the sort of terror produced
among the Protestants, and the folly of those amongst their own
body who have constantly held out to them that, by their own
energies, by the fears of Grovernment, and not by any liberality
on the part of the Protestants, they have gained what they
have ; they are astonished and intoxicated with success, far
beyond their original hopes; and they are confident that, by
perseverance, they shall gain their end, which they privately
vdll allow to be the destruction of the Protestants, and the sub
stitution of Eoman Catholic establishments, to which the zealots
add, extirpation of the Protestants. All the Eoman Catholics,
but a few weak well-meaning men, foresee separation from
G-reat Britain as almost an inevitable consequence. Many are
un-willing to believe this, though they clearly apprehend it —
VOL. I. H H

466 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XVII.
many wish it. Some men of liberal minds and large fortunes
dread it ; and, I think, upon more occasions than one, two or
three such men have lately acted upon the same policy which
guided the Protestant Dissenters in England, when they sub
mitted to severe laws for fear of the Eoman Catholics. I have
had an opportunity of knowing that there is so little real
liberality amongst these advocates for toleration, that the argu
ments most prevalent to keep them quiet are founded in appre
hension that the Protestant Dissenters must, upon the grounds
on which they can offer themselves to Parliament, have what
ever can be given to them.
I think, therefore, they mean to be coy ; and if Mr. Pitt and
his friends were now to offer them all that was intended to be
offered to them, on the recommendation of Lord Cornwallis and
Lord Castlereagh, they would decline the offer. In fine, that
they would accept of nothing but participation in the establish
ment, if they would take less than the whole. I had related to
me lately a conversation between a Eoman Catholic gentleman
and a Protestant, of an old Eoman Catholic family, on this sub
ject (the converted families are considered by the Eoman
Catholics as only Protestants for convenience), pretty open,
though held amongst persons esteemed friends, in which the ex
pectation of the establishment was avowed ; and it was asked,
why should not the younger sons of Eoman Catholic families
raise their fortunes in the church, as well as Dr. Stuart, Dr.
Brodrick, Dr. Beresford, &c. ? This expectation must be re
pressed, or the country will not be quiet. The idea that im
proving the education of the priests will make the country more
quiet in a political sense, is ridiculous. It may tend to civilise
the country, but it ¦will not make the country politically quiet.
It will rather have a contrary tendency ; it will tend to in
crease the number of the ambitious, and the ability of the
ambitious. Why are the Eoman Catholics in the Empress* of
Eussia's and King of Prussia's dominions quiet ? Because they
can hope for nothing by disturbance. They may lose ; they
cannot gain. But give the Eoman Catholics of Ireland what
you will, until you give them cdl they will hope for all.
I wonder that such statesmen as Lord Grenville and Mr. Pitt,
could have thought (if they really thought) otherwise. In fine,
the Catholics of Ireland must have no more political power.

* It is a singular proof of the impression that the vigour of the Empress
Catharine's Government had made, that Lord R. here speaks of the Empress of
Russia, though since her Paul had been, and Alexander now was, Emperor.

Dec. 1803.] AMBITION OF THE EOMAN CATHOLICS. 46t
They have already so much as to be formidable : and they have
daily increased in strength and pretensions from 1753* to 1803.
From 1690 to 1753, they were subdued, they had no hope, and
they were quiet. You refuse to the majority of the people of
every country, political power, and you give that power to the
feiu who have property. MTiy ? Because, if those who have no
property, but have the physical force, had, in addition to their
physical force, an equal share of political power, such is the
nature of man, that they would soon gain the property of the
minor number. So, if in Ireland you give to the Eoman
Catholics an equal share of political power, having superior
numbers, they would take everything else.
I cannot forbear looking to St. Domingo, and desiring those
who argue that, because the Eoman Catholics are the most
numerous of the inhabitants of Ireland, they ought, therefore,
at least to have an equal shai-e of every description of power and
emolument in proportion to their numbers, to consider whether
this was not the very thing which has desolated that island,
deluged it with blood, and will probably extirpate the white
inhabitants and proprietors, or drive them from the country,
notwithstanding all the efforts of France and all its despotic
proceedings to support them. They may be angry at a com
parison between the Blacks and the Catholics, or between the
Amis des Noirs and the friends of universal toleration, as they
call themselves. But they cannot give a rational answer to the
question ; nor indeed can they say why Jews and Mahometans
have not right of conscience as sacred as Eoman Catholics.
The philanthropists have been the bane of the age, from one
end of the world to the other. Their supposed philanthropy is
mere weakness ; it springs from- an indolent yielding to sensations
implanted in us for wise purposes, but which, if indulged beyond
the Hne of wisdom, ¦will lead to the same excesses as the indul
gence of any other passion.
I have been led to trouble you with an immense letter ; but
this is a subject on which my mind is apt to run a little wild ;
* During almost the whole of the reign of George IL, the Irish Pariia
ment had been making attempts to emancipate their country from the
restraints imposed by Great Britain, through which, and the indulgence of
the British Government, by the year 1749, " few proofs remained of their
legislative dependence on the Cro-wn " {Coxe's Pelham, vol. ii. p. 286) ; and
under the administration of the Dulce of Dorset, as Lord-Lieutenant, they
carried their pretensions higher, till, in 1752-1753, they omitted the usual
clause, "by the previous consent of his Majesty," and in effect successfidly
asserted the right to apply the surplus of their own revenue to their o-wn
national pm'poses. — Co.ve, ibid. H H 2

468 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XVII.
strongly impressed with the persuasion that a due consideration
of it is the most important to the well-being and almost to the
existence of the Protestants of Ireland, and the maintenance of
the Union between the two countries : in fine, that Catholic
Ireland cannot be English Ireland.
I am yours, my dear Sir, most truly, Eedesdale.
9th, — House of Commons. Reported the acknow
ledgments of the vote of thanks to the Volunteers.
Yorke presented the return of corps and numbers,
amounting to 379,900 for the United Kingdom, so far
as made up to that time.
Debate on the Army Estimates. Mr. Pitt approved
of the outline for estimates for an increase of the
regulars to a practicable extent, and of the volunteer
numbers, and distribution of arms; recommended
their being formed into battalions, having a field officer
and adjutant (from the regulars) to discipline them,
and giving pay for a number of days beyond twenty-
one days ; urged the necessity of giving the benefit of
exemptions from militia, &c., as held out originally,
and bringing in a Bill immediately for that purpose.
He also urged the expediency of a BiU after the recess
for strengthening the discipline by regulations and
fine, &c.
Wyndham, GrenviUe, and Fox contended against
any reliance on the volunteers as arrayed like regulars.
Fox also declaimed upon the King's refusal of rank
and command to the Prince of Wales ; on the necessity
of a military council; and much at large upon General
Fox's removal from his command in Ireland, criminating
Lord Hardwicke, and exculpating the General,
Yorke replied -with great dignity and spirit,
lO^A, — The House sat, and Yorke brought in a BiU
to explain and amend the Volunteer Exemptions.
12th. — House of Commons. Debate on the report of
the Army Estimates till eleven o'clock, chiefly on Mr.
Pitt's proposition of appointing a field officer to every
volunteer battalion of 500 men, and Mr, Wyndham's
fundamental objection to the whole volunteer system.

Dec. 1803.] PEENCH PEOJECT OP INVASION. 469
News came that the 23rd demi-brigade at Boulogne
had mutinied against the order to embark.
20th. — Read Lord Redesdale's correspondence with
Lord Fingal, charging the Irish Catholic priests, and
great part of the Catholic body, with adhering to the
See of Rome, and, so far, as being disloyal subjects, on
their own principles, to a Protestant Government. The
fact of adhering to the See of Rome not denied by
Lord Fingal; the correspondence originating in Lord
Fingal's application to be appointed a Justice of the
Peace, 2Ath  General Bentham brought me his corre
spondence with the Admiralty and Navy Board, upon his
non-recoil principle of fitting guns and carronades on
board merchant vessels, to serve for coast, defences.

INVASION.
25th, — Saw Mr. Addington at three o'clock this
afternoon, and again at night between ten and eleven.
We had two long and interesting conversations. The
substance was as foUows : —
From France, news dated Paris, Sunday 18th, was
received in London on Thursday last, the 22nd, that the
French troops were aU in motion ; that Buonaparte was
on the point of lea-ving Paris ; that the army of reserve
at Compi^gne was marching for the coast ; that the
Military Prefect of Paris (Duroc) was marching -with
15,000 men for Brest; that the French were slaughter
ing oxen at Bordeaux, for the immediate victualling
of their fleet ; that 5 sail of the line and 70 transports
were ready to sail from the Texel, and 15 sail, with 150
transports, were ready for sea at Brest ; that Christmas-
day was the time appointed for sailing ; and that the
army at Boulogne was expected to wait till the Irish ex
pedition had sailed and landed, before they made their
attempt to cross the Channel.
Our naval preparations stood thus : — Thomborough
with 5 sail of the line, and frigates, off the Texel. Sir
H H 3

470 DUST OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XVII.
Sidney Smith and frigates watching Flushing. Lord
Keith and 6 saU of the line in the Dovms; besides
6 blockships fit for Channel service, lying at the Nore ;
a cruising squadron of frigates and lesser ships of war
in the Straits; 5 sail of the line at St. Helens; Sir James
Saumarez cruising with frigates off La Hogue, Jersey,
&c. ; Admiral Cornwallis with 15 sail of the line off.
Brest ; a ship of the line and frigates off L'Orient ; Sir
Edward Pellew with 5 sail of the line off Ferrol ; besides
a frigate watching Bordeaux, and Sir Richard Strahan
with a ship of the line off Cadiz ; Lord Gardner with 5
sail on the coast of Ireland.
Admiral CornwaUis's rendezvous off the Lizard, in
case of his fleet being blown off Brest, so as to go for
Ireland, and to follow the French up Channel, if they
get out in either direction ; should the French run for
the Downs, the 5 sail at Spithead would also follow
them, and Lord Keith would, in addition to his 6 and
6, have the North Sea fleet also at his command.
Army. Lord Cornwallis had been sent for, and was
expected on Monday, to take the command of the
central army, being the real reserve of Volunteers and
all the producible force of the kingdom, in case the
French made any impression on the coast.
The King's plan to move to Chelmsford if the land
ing was in Essex, or to Dartford if in Kent, taking with
him Mr. Addington and Mr. Yorke of the Cabinet.
The Queen, &c. to remove to the Palace at Wor
cester. The Bank books to be moved to the Tower, and the
duplicate books, and treasure to the Cathedral at Wor
cester, in thirty waggons, under Sir Brook Watson's
management, escorted from county to county by the
Volunteers. The merchants to shut up the Stock Exchange.
The artillery and stores from Wool-wich to be trans
ported inland, by the Grand Junction Canal.
The press to be prohibited from publishing any
account of the King's troops, or ofthe enemy, but by

Dec. 1803.] PEEPAEATIONS FOE EESISTANCE. 471
authority from the Secretary of State, to be communi
cated officiaUy t-wice a day to all newswriters, indiscri
minately who may apply fof it. Else their presses to
be seized and their printers imprisoned.
The Privy Council to be sitting in London, to issue
aU Acts of Government. Other attending ministers to
be the Duke of Portland, the Chancellor, Lord Hawkes
bury, Lord St. Vincent, together with Lord Rosslyn,
the Master of the Rolls, Sir William Scott, &c.
Lord Castlereagh to go to his MUitia Regiment in
Ireland, &c.
2Qth. — No news to-day from the coast, except that
the gale had not done any material damage at Ports
mouth. Lord Cornwallis arrived and accepted the charge in
tended for him.
No further news from France, except through Ire
land, where the expectation of an immediate invasion
prevaUed strongly.
Amongst other measures, if the French land here in
force, the Exchequer vsdll be removed as weU as the
Bank, and the suspected persons wiU be immediately
arrested. 21th. — No news. An eyewitness has given an ac
count of Buonaparte's review of the flotilla at Boulogne
in November, where 100 gunboats, manoeuvring in the
outer road, were driven in by a gale. Ten of them
kept at sea all night, and five were driven on shore,
and all the people dro-wned.
2Sth. — Money transactions in the City go on more
favourably every day, although the appearances of in
vasion are stronger, and the expected issue of doUars, it
is thought, will bring back the hoarded sUver into cir
culation. Alderman Rowcroft's account of trade to
Lord Castlereagh is, that colonial produce is readUy and
easily carried into the Dutch ports. East India pro
duce with less facility, and British manufactures with
some difficulty. But they are nevertheless exported to
the continent. The ordinary insurance is 4 per cent.,
H H 4

472 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XVII.
whereof 3 per cent, is for sea risk only, and the extra
20s. cover all the rest ofthe difficulties of delivery; but
for 8 per cent, the delivery may be made, if required,
directly to a French agent.
The news from Wickham to-day is that McCabe, a
principal Irish rebel, is arrived at Belfast with intelli
gence that the fleet from the Texel wiU sail for the
north of Ireland, and the Brest fleet for the south
of Ireland, by the very first favourable wind.
Admiral CornwaUis's fleet is blown off its station and
much dispersed. Nine of his ships are accounted for;
several of them have come in to be refitted.
29th. — No news to-day of Admiral CornwaUis, or of
our fleet upon the Dutch coast. Admiral Colpoys,
Port Admiral at Portsmouth, has 10 sail ready for sea.
30th. — No ship news from the Dutch coast or conti
nent. Admiral CornwaUis is supposed to have been
seen on Tuesday off the Lizard, returning to his station.
No news from Ireland.
Ordnance department in Ireland completely supplied,
all the troops armed. 18,000 stand of arms in reserve.
English field train 600 pieces mounted, and 150 in re
serve at Wool-wich, ready to march. The supply of
muskets slow. London supplies not more than 500 per
week. None come from Birmingham, nor from the
continent. Apprehension that they wiU. be bad when
they come.
The Ordnance have reported in favour of the non-
recoil principle of mounting guns for the Na-vy.
Lord CornwaUis's opinions and advice highly service
able since he came to London.
31st. — Admiral Cornwallis seen off the Ramhead on
the 29th, -with two more threedeckers, steering for. his
former station. AU his ships accounted for, and none
materially damaged.
No news from the Dutch coast or France.

Dec. 1803.] CONDITION OP lEELAND. 473

EXTEACTS PEOM A LETTEE OP ME. WICKHAM, DATED
DECEMBEE 25TII.
Under the instructions which Lord Cathcart* has received,
which have been transmitted here and sanctioned by the Secre
tary of State, and under the const'Tuction ivhich the military
men here put upon them, it is impossible for the Lord-Lieutenant
to be responsible for the peace and safety of the country.
The Lord-Lieutenant has no orders to give.
This is the real state of things, respecting which, at the mo
ment, all circumstances considered, it is perhaps better that
nothing should be said.
With the enemy at our gates, we ought not to be fighting
among ourselves.
P.S. — On the subject of Lord Cathcart's instructions, as I
have mentioned them to you, I ought to tell you that they were
strongly objected to here, but that assurances were thereupon
given by Mr. Addington and Mr. Yorke that the Duke of York
and Lord Cathcart had both most unequivocally acknowledged
the supremacy of the Lord-Lieutenant, so that the instructions
could not possibly bear the construction which we were disposed
to give them. To this assurance Yorke added the private advice
to his brother, " that it would be more desirable for him to re
sign at once, and recommend himself that the whole Grovernment,
civil and military, should be put into the same hands, than to
introduce at the present moment any discussion on the subject
of Lord Cathcart's instructions."
Lord Cathcart, however, soon after his arrival did give me a
con-yincing proof that he considered himself bound by his in
structions, and that he did not conceive himself subject to
receive orders from the Lord-Lieutenant. This fact I concealed
from the Lord-Lieutenant and from the Chancellor. They are
now acquainted ¦with it. Under the private advice above given,
I say this is a point to be discussed privately between the two
brothers. * The new Commander of the Forces in Ireland.

474 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XVm,'

CHAP. XVIII.
1804.
ACTIVITY OF OUE FLEET UNDER ADMIRALS CORNWALLIS AtTO NELSON 
LETTEK FROM LORD REDESDALE ON CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION.  THE
KING ILL, BUT KECQ-VERS. — THE GRENVILLES BEGIN TO UNITE WITH
FOX. — Pitt's motion for papers on the naval defence of the
COUNTRY.  addington SEEKS SUPPORT FROM THE PRINCE OF WALES's
PARTY.
Monday, Jan. 2nd. — Admiral Cornwallis came into
Torbay on Saturday, and saUed yesterday to take with
him 11 sail from Plymouth to Brest. This was his
first return to port since May, 1803.
Qth. News of to-day. Capture of 5 gunboats by
the Immortalite, in the straits of Dover. Surrender of
4000 French troops at St. Domingo, carried into
Jamaica. 1th. — Admiral CornwaUis has found the French fleet
lying at Brest, as before. The Admiral began his cruise
off Brest on the 16th May; came into Torbay by stress
of weather 31st December, and sailed again for Brest
on the 15th of January, where he arrived the next day.
Sth  Sir Evan Nepean has consented to go to Ire
land as Secretary (in the room of Wickham, who has
resigned) when Lord Hardwicke's consent is received;
and to be ready to set off this day fortnight.
Lord Cornwallis is to be second in command, and be
•with the King, but his appointment, by his desire, not
to take place tUl things are nearer.
A Bishop wanted amongst the heads of Houses at
Cambridge. Mansel is recommended. I suggested
Paley or Gisborne, as names fit to be considered. Mr.
Pitt had formerly wished to make Paley a Bishop, but
there were objections to his political opinions which
then prevented it.

Jan. 1804.] CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. 475

LETTEE PEOM LOED EEDESDALE.
[Private.] Ai-duin, Jan. 12th, 1804.
My dear Sir, — I am happy to find you agree with me in
opinion with respect to Protestants and Catholics in Ireland.
I find no reformed person, not biassed by particular interests or
passions, who is of a different opinion, and I am persuaded that
if I could once get Mr. Pitt in Ireland, and disposed to consider
the subject dispassionately, he would lament that he went so far.
From many circumstances I am persuaded that the force of Pro
testants united is the superior force, and I think the majority of
the Northern Dissenters now see clearly that their interest is
not union with the Catholics, and that Catholic emancipation
would be their destruction as well as that of the Established
Church, if they did not both exert themselves to prevent their
common ruin. Butwhat is Catholic emancipation ? I can get no
man to tell me. You have probably seen in the papers a gross
misrepresentation of a correspondence into which I was led with
Lord Fingal, by entertaining an opinion that his integrity was
unquestionable. I have found, however, that in a weakminded
and bigoted man integrity is easily overcome by designing
persons, so far as to make it highly imprudent to rely on such a
man. I dare say, no art could draw Lord Fingal into rebellion,
or even into any manifestly dishonourable act ; but it has been
easy to prevail on him to disclose a private correspondence, and
give it to the public, not indeed in print, but in written copies,
so numerous as to be almost as easily circulated, and more
liable to mi.srepresentation. I have endeavoured to learn from
his Lordship what he desires, and I find it to bean indescribable
something " to be conceded to the Eoman Catholics, without
danger to the Protestant Establishment." Now the lower orders
have everything which can be conceded without danger to the
Protestant Establishment. What then can they want more?
Plunder — exemption from tithes, which is pluhder — lands, in
the true system of Mr. Spence, the author of Pig's-meat, a coun
tryman and an old friend of Lord Eldon. ThesO, of course, are
the worst sort of the lower order ; but what do the better sort
want ? I believe, if their priests would let them alone they
want nothing. But what do the priests want? The lower
orders amongst them want tithes, glebehouses, &c. ; the higher
sigh for episcopal palaces, gorgeous apparel, equipages, &c., -^
and power, — that is, power openly exercised, for they do exercise
power, and far from secretly, in breach of all the old laws of the

476 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. CCh. XVIII.
realm before the Eeformation. Divorces they particularly grant
for money, and for the purposes of influence, and their scandalous
conduct with respect to marriages makes legitimacy often a very
doubtful question in a Catholic family, and that son is legitimate
from whom the priest expects most. Some regulation by law
with respect to marriages in this country is absolutely necessary.
The existing laws have been contrived so that they might be
evaded, and must have been formed either profligately or igno
rantly. My wards are continually carried off, and whether
married or not I frequently find difficult to discover. But in
some instances the illegality of the marriage alleged is clear,
and I generally require a second marriage to prevent disputes
on legitimacy. The general profligacy of this country, derived
partly from the corruption of their Parliament, and partly from
the corruption^ of the Catholic Church, which is less reformed
here than in any Catholic country in Europe, is astonishing to
an Englishman. Compensation is required for everything, and
enormous compensation. Desire an apothecary to attend a poor
labourer ; he charges enormously for medicines, and five shillings
a day for attendance. An apothecary at the Black Eock thought
me shabby for not giving more than five shillings a day for at
tending a poor man at Stellarogue in a twenty-one-day fever. I
desired him to consider that, if he had five persons constantly
under his care, his salary for attendance, besides his charge for
medicine, would be A501. a year.
Time ¦will, I trust, correct this with other enormities. Our
very charity children are brought up to be fit for nothing but
rogues and whores ; the boys are only taught what leads them
to forgery, and the girls what leads them to the streets and an
hospital. What do you think of our ladies, governesses of
the foundling hospital, not letting the girls assist in cleaning the
house, because they did not like to see them dirty ? Thip hos
pital is rapidly improving under the care of the Bishop of Derry,
who is a very useful man, and the support of it is, I think, a
great national object, as a nursery for Protestants, They want
Parliamentary assistance, and I think it ought to be given with
this view. It breeds up as Protestants a number of children,
the greater part of whom would otherwise perish, or be bred
Papists  Very truly yours, Eedesdale,
llth. — The King had a slight attack of the gout in
his foot.
ISth. — Called at the Queen's house to make inquiries
after the King's health. Answer that he was better.

Jan. 1804.] MIDDLESEX PETITION. 477
In the course of the day he walked about for an hour
or two.
19th. — The squadron opposed to the Boulogne flotilla
consists of five frigates, with sloops of war, &c., an
chored off Dungeness, which sail upon every east wind,
and anchor in Boulogne Roads.
2Ath. — Met Dent, who told me that no stone had
been left unturned to prevaU on Mr. Pitt to take a
decided part, and join in an opposition to the present
Administration ; but, as yet, he had not declared him
self for that system, though extremely bitter against
their conduct.
30^A. — Dined at Batt's; he told me from Wm. Cour-
tenay, that Canning had been so much hurt with the
statement in Peregrine Courtenay's pamphlet, called
" A plain Answer to the Cursory Remarks," " that Mr.
Pitt had disapproved his conduct," that, by dint of
soUcitation, he had prevailed on Mr. Pitt to interpose
and authorise an alteration in those passages, after four
editions had been published of the original pamphlet.
31s^  Sir Francis Burdett came about the petition
of Middlesex freeholders against his election, stating a
question which he was advised to make upon the infor
maUty of the petition, inasmuch as the petitioners did
not " claim therein a right to vote at such election,"
but only described themselves to be freeholders. Mr.
Warren, his counsel, had within these few days started
the objection, and Mr. Fox thought it a valid objection.
He -wished to know in what mode he could bring it on,
and it was agreed that I should give him my opinion
to-morrow; the baUot standing for Thursday.
Upon looking into the forms of these petitions in the
Parliament of 1796, all state themselves in some way
or other to claim a right of voting ; and so in the present
Parliament, except in two cases already passed by in
which the objection had not been noticed, and in one
more (Hereford City) yet to come.
N.B.  Lord Thurlow, during the Middlesex election,
used the most earnest soUcitation to prevail on Cator

478 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XVIII.
to vote for Sir Francis Burdett, who nevertheless could
only be prevaUed upon to be neutral.
Wednesday, Feb. 1st. — Attended Board for Reduction
of National Debt. The sinking fund suppUes 1,500,000Z.
to be laid out in the next quarter, and the capital stock
redeemed is above 100,000,000Z.
The Governor of the Bank produced Mr. Bolton's
pattern dollar, a most beautiful coin produced by
merely stamping an old dollar afresh under his power
ful engine, and containing the exact silver of the old
dollar without addition or abatement. Seventy are
struck in a minute, and the whole charge of work,
coinage, guard, &c. is less than one farthing per doUar.
By a magnifying glass the impression of the original
doUar may be traced upon the surface of the altered coin
and this affords a great security against counterfeits.
In the House of Commons which met this'day for the
first time after the Recess, Mr. Fox gave notice of his
motion to discharge the order for hearing the Election
Petition of the Freeholders of Middlesex, as not satisfy
ing the words of 28 G. III. cc. 52, 81, which requires
such a petition to be subscribed by persons " claiming
therein to have had a right to vote at the election," &c.
2nd. — In the House, the Freeholders' Petition was
moved by Mr. Fox to be discharged, but the motion
was negatived; 96 to 24.
Mr. GrenviUe spoke against Mr. Fox's motion.
12th. — Mr. JodreU, brother to Sir Paul JodreU,
physician to the Nabob of Arcot, brought over a Per
sian letter, enclosed in a gold tissue bag, from Siefful
Mulk, claiming to be Nabob of the Carnatic, as brother
and next heir to the late Nabob. He had received
similar letters for the King, the Prince of Wales, the
Chancellor, the ChanceUor of the Exchequer, and Lord
Cornwallis. 13^A. -:— Debate in the House of Commons upon Irish
Currency and Exchange. Lord Henry Petty distin
guished himself very much. It was his first speech,
and wholly in reply to Mr. Corry.

Feb. 1804.] HEALTH OP THE KING. 479
lAth  The King, whose attack of the gout had at
first appeared to be slight, though it had never com
pletely left him, appears to have been worse lately ; and
yesterday the fever was very high. He talked for five
hours incessantly last night. His head at times much
affected. He did not get to sleep till this morning.
loth, — The King to-day no better. On Thursday
last he was apparently well at the Council. On
Friday he is said to have drunk cold water, and to
have been worse since. Last night he slept two hours.
His legs have swelled, but do not appear to have en
larged in the last twenty-four hours. His pulse about
80. His mind much affected; but his animal functions
not deranged,
IQth, — CaUed on Mr, Addington, but did not see
him. The Cabinet were sitting, and the physicians going
into the room.
Mr. Addington was with the Prince of Wales at
eleven. The BuUetin of to-day was " That no material altera
tion had taken place since yesterday," The King slept
two hours last night, and his legs were scarified,
llth  Saw Mr, Addington for the first time since
the King's illness. The King had foreseen his illness
coming on, and had made arrangements in case of his
death. For a short time he suffered a sort of paralysis,
which created great apprehensions for his life ; but there
soon appeared no ground for that alarm. The disorder
has now taken the decided character of a complete
mental derangement, p^is health, however, is better
now than it was at the commencement of his Ulness in
1801. The Willises have not yet been introduced ; that
remains to be done, Mr. Addington desired me to
contradict absolutely the assertion in the public papers
that he, Mr. Addington, had been averse to the Willises
being introduced. On the contrary, he had from the first
said that, so soon as it was said to be proper, he would
take them in his o-wn carriage. The Queen and family

480 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XVIII.
had put themselves entirely in the hands of the Minister,
and the Cabinet Council had examined the physicians.
It remained only now to ascertain what was the pro
bable duration of the disorder. If it should appear to
be permanent, or of considerable duration, a Regency
must ensue. That he had completely made up his o-wn
mind upon the business ; and that, so soon as matters
were put into a settled train, he would tell me the whole
state of his mind on all that had passed. Copies had
been kept of all his letters ; and Lord Castlereagh, and
Lord Hawkesbury with him, had dra-wn up a narrative
of the whole progress of what had passed. The WUlises
were now waiting in his (Mr. Addington's) house.
Bulletin : " That the King had several hours' sleep in
the night, and appeared much refreshed to-day."
In the House of Commons, Mr. Addington told me
that the going of the WiUises to the Queen's house was
postponed unavoidably.
ISth, — The Bulletin was, " The King is much the
same as yesterday ; but we do not apprehend danger."
Mr. Addington and Mr. Yorke both mentioned to me
that the King's mind was at this time completely de
ranged, although there was every reason to believe
from past experience that his illness would not be of
long duration. Mr. Addington seemed to think that
the public business might go on without a Regency
until within a week of the Mutiny Bill requiring the
Royal Assent, viz. the 25th March, unless events from
France should make it suddenly proper to expedite it.
19th, — To-day I had it from unquestionable au
thority that Mr. Fox had, upon the invitation of the
GrenviUes, agreed to join them in Parliamentary
measures; and had written to his friends to know if
they would support him; Erskine had not yet returned
an answer.
Bulletin : " The King is better to-day."
Colonel McMahon told me that the Prince had lost
eighty-four ounces of blood in his last iUness ; but was
now quite well.

Fjjb. 1804.] THE KING'S ILLNESS. 481
20th. — Saw Mr. Addington. The King is reco
vering fast; and had yesterday a long interval of
reason and composure, but has every day the strait
waistcoat. He has always expressed an opinion, when
well, that the Willises used him with unnecessary
rigour. He submits cheerfully to the restraints which
he believes to be necessary, and is perfectly contented
under the management of Dr. Simmonds, of St. Luke's
Hospital, who now attends him. Dr. Simmonds says,
that relapses in this disorder are frequent, and many
persons return to St. Luke's at intervals ; but that the
attack is always slighter upon each successive fit.
Dr. Warder before his death said that the King would
have these, but that each would be weaker than the
preceding. The Prince has repeatedly seen Mr. Addington, but
nothing has passed upon poUtical subjects; and the
Prince has professedly abstained from them. He is by
no means well.
The GrenviUes have made overtures to Mr. Fox, who
has acceded, but many of his party declare that they
will in that case separate from him. So have said the
Duke of Norfolk, Sheridan, Erskine, and others.* Mr.
Pitt palliates the conduct of the GrenviUes, though he
does not join them, and declares what his own line will
be. He speaks with great spleen and ill-humour of the
measures of the Government.
21s^ — House of Commons adjourned for want of
100 Members.
The King is " the same as the last two days." He
slept six hours last night. Lord Castlereagh told me
that the physicians had said the Chancellor might
have seen him to-day, and would have found him,
to all appearance, as weU in understanding as before
his iUness.
Yesterday Sheridan obtained from the Prince of
* It would seem from Moore's Life of Sheridan, vol. ii. c. xix., that a
formal remonstrance against this junction was dra-wa up by Erskine, and
numerously signed, and presented to Fox by the Duke of Norfolk.
VOL. I. II

482 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XVIII.
Wales the Receivership of the Duchy of CornwaU,
vacant by the death of Lord Eliot, worth 2000Z. a
year; but the Prince had before given it to General
Lake in reversion, by a deed now in the possession of
' General Lake's brother, which he produced.*
22nd  The King to-day better. Had six hours'
sleep last night.
I sent heads of a Bill to amend the Election Com
mittee Laws for Mr. Ley's consideration, to remedy
a few inconveniences experienced in our ballots of last
year and the present, including such of Mr. Grenville's
suggestions as were proposed in his Bill of 1795, but
which never passed, except his proposal of reducing the
committees from 15 to 11, the accession of Members
by the Union making it now less necessary.
23rd  Saw Mr. Addington. The junction of the
GrenviUe and Fox party is called by them a co-opera
tion. Their language is, that they mean to turn out
the present Administration, that the King may be free
to choose other Ministers. They have none to propose.
This was my inteUigence, and he had heard the same.
Mr. Pitt has recently acknowledged to Lord Chatham
that he had no ground of complaint against Mr. Ad
dington ; and, through Steele, had sent a private assur
ance that he entertained no feeUng whatever of personal
hostUity, but it was wished on both sides that this
understanding should not be made pubUc, lest cabals
might be set on foot.
The King, by the private accounts, had a good night,
but is rather hurried this morning. The public account
was that he was much the same as yesterday ; and Sir
Francis Milman said he was to-day " perfect wisdom."
2Ath. — House of Commons. Last day of receiving
private petitions ; 172 this session. Average about 200 ;
last year 300. The profits of the Clerk of the House
of Commons last year amounted to above 12,000^.
25th. — The King much as yesterday.
* It appears, however, from Moore's Life of Sheridan, vol. ii. c. xix., that
Sheridan enjoyed the office.

Feb. 1804.] EECOVEEY OF THE KING. 483
2Qth. — This day was remarkable for a prayer issued
by the Archbishop of Canterbury with a thanksgiving
"for the hope and prospect of His ^lajesty's speedy
recovery;" and a bulletin issued by the physicians,
that " His Majesty is going on favourably : though
any rapid amendment is not to be expected."
Both were issued without any previous communi
cation to the Ministers; and produced an extra
ordinary effect, as the fact was that the King was
reaUy much' better.
The prayer upon such occasions has usually been
submitted to the Pri-vy Council, and issued by royal
authority : no other being competent to alter or add
to the Liturgy. But the Archbishop's declining state
of mind appeared to have made him forget the proper
course ; and a message was sent to him from the Min
isters to-day, by Sir Wm. Scott, and Sir Wm. Wynn,
remonstrating, and restraining such proceedings for the
future. The physicians, when they came to the Ministers,
were much surprised to find that their words were
understood to import an opinion that the King's iUness
was likely to be of long duration, and that they had
laid the ground for some proceedings in Parliament
by those who would so understand the buUetin. They
stated that, so Uttle was that their meaning, that they had
actually prepared two forms, the first of which would
have been, that His Majesty was in a progressive state
of recovery ; but that they had adopted the latter from
a desire to repress any overhasty expectation in the
pubUc ; and they added that, at this very time the King
was perfectly competent to any act of government ; al
though it was prudent not to put him to any exertion
that was unnecessary.
A singular proof of the King's minute recoUection
and attention to the details of his household occurred
this very day, for in the morning he desired Dr.
Simmonds to send some orders to the stables about
transferring some ofhis Hanoverian horses from London
I I 2

4S4 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XVIIL
to Kew ; and Dr. Simmonds having purposely declined
delivering this verbal message, and requesting His
Majesty to give his orders in writing (that the King
might be put to this sort of exertion), pen and
ink and paper were sent in to his apartment, and . he
gave very particular directions about these horses
by their names, &c. The Chancellor took a copy
of the letter, and forwarded the original to its destina
tion. 21th. — Saw Mr. Addington. A lettdt from the
Duke of Cumberland arrived, pressing the propriety of
not suffering the physicians to give accounts worse
than the reality would justify.
In the House of Commons, Sir Robert Lawley moved
an adjournment upon the ground of the King's pre
sumed incapacity to act. Mr. Addington asserted that
there was no necessary impediment to his Majesty's
exercising his royal functions. The question was
spoken to by Mr. Fox, Mr. GrenviUe, and Mr. Pitt, but
no division.
Debate upon the second reading of the Volunteer
BiU till three o'clock in the morning ; but no division.
General discussion on the defence of the country.
This day the physicians were examined by the
Cabinet. Mr. Addington read to me the written
minute of their examination. They all agreed that
the King was perfectly competent to do any act of
government, although, if it required much previous ar
gument and long discussion, it might fatigue him.
And so far it was prudent to avoid it if possible ; that,
although it might fatigue him, he was clearly able
to transact it ; and, if he went on for the next ten davs
as he had for the last ten days, he would be perfectly
well. 2Sth. — Bulletin. "We entertain the same favourable
opuiion of His Majesty's progress towards recovery as
yesterday." 29^7i  " His Majesty is nearly the same to-day as
he was yesterday."

Feb. 1804.] lEISH L.\W OP MAEEIAQE. 485

LETTEE PEOM LOED EEDESDALE.
Ely Place, Dublin, Feb. 27th, 1804.
Dear Sir, — I am much obliged to you for your kind infor
mation. I hope the King's recovery will proceed without in-
teruption ; and that his health will be fully re-established. It is
unpleasant to learn that some attempts will be made to bring
the question of Regency into discussion. It cannot be agitated
without producing what every well-disposed person must wish
to avoid.
You seem to apprehend that Dr. Duigenan may, upon his Bill,
say something which you would wish not to be said. If provoked
I think he may be indiscreet, and probably very violent ; but,
unless thwarted, I think he -will confine himself to his subject.
I think, however, his Bill vri.ll not put an end to the evil. You
propose to enact that no person shall be admitted to orders
in Ireland before the age required by the law of England. But
orders may be given in the Isle of Man or in America, and
every improper person who is refused orders in Ireland, goes to
the Isle of Man, and is ordained by Bishop Crigan. This is an
evil which requires remedy. I think it would be done by enact
ing that no person who has received orders out of England or
Ireland, shall officiate as a clerk in holy orders, according to the
rites and ceremonies of the United Church of England and
Ireland, unless such person shall have received confirmation
of orders from a bishop of England or Ireland ; for which purpose
such bishop shall previously examine such person, and declare
his fitness for the ministry.
This vrill have the effect also of preventing Eoman Catholic
priests here, who have been for improper conduct suspended
from exercise of religious functions by their own Church, pre
tending to conform, and then acting as clerks in orders of the
United Church. Most of the couple beggars, as they are called,
are of this description ; and, when they marry Protestants, call
themselves clergymen of the Established Church ; and when
they marry Catholics, call themselves Eoman Catholic priests.
The law of marriage in this country is in a dreadful state, and
requires much reform. The legitimacy of half the country is at
the mercy of the priests, who make this a great source both of
influence and revenue. For they hold their Ecclesiastical Courts
(contrary to their oath) as regularly as if they were the Established
Clergy of the land; and pronounce sentences for and against
marriages, and sentences of divorce, &c. &c., with appeals to
I I 3

486 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XVIH.
Eome, for all which they are handsomely paid. I cannot help
thinking that marriage ought to be so far regulated by law, that
the fact of marriage ought to be clearly ascertained. It gives
civil rights; it determines the legitimacy of children, and, so
far, no man of sense can pretend to say that the legislature ought
not to interfere. Why not require every marriage to be re
gistered somewhere ? And if the law allows marriage by Eoman
Catholic priests to be a good marriage, why not enact that a
marriage once so solemnised, shall not be dissolved without the
authority of the legislature? I believe the Eoman Catholic
priests would clamour against this, and cry out that the Great
Diana would be set at nought. But is the Parliament of
George III. to be afraid of doing what the Parliaments of
Henry II., Edward I., Edward III., and Eichard II. did not
hesitate to do ? It appears to me that Government has been
strangely bullied, noodled, duped, and misled for the last fifty
years, on this subject. The rascals of different parties about
that time discovered that the physical force of the Eoman
Catholics of Ireland, aided by the -wildness of modern philosophy,
commonly called liberality and philanthropy, might be used as a
great political engine to batter the works of the opposite party ;
and all parties in their turns have been weakly sacrificing them
selves as well as their opponents, to this idol.
It is time the country should recover its senses on this point as
well as on others. It is high time when we are told by the Eoman
Catholics themselves that they expect everything from their own
energies. The day is fast approaching when we must say, you
shall go no further, or we must perish. I think it ought now to
be said ; for, in the present temper of the Catholics, I think one
jot more cannot safely be yielded to them; and I believe half
their supporters in England would think so too, if they knew
what would stare them in the face if they came to Ireland.
I am sure the Protestants are now the strongest party, though
the least numerous ; and if Government will now be firm, the
errors of past times may be retrieved 
Very affectionately yours,
Eedesdale.
Thursday, March 1st — " His Majesty is better to
day than he was yesterday."
2nd. — " His Majesty is going on favourably."
3rd. — " No material alteration to-day."
I attended a Committee of the Privy Council upon
coin. It was agreed to recommend to the Bank to issue

March, 1804.] EECOVEEY OP THE KING. 487
Bolton's re-coined dollars, varying the reverse of the
coin, and putting upon it, " Bank of England dollar, to
be taken for five shillings." Also directed an engineer,
whom Sir Joseph Banks should recommend, to examine
the Tower process of coining, and Bolton's improved
machinery ; and report upon the means and expense of
introducing a better mode of coining at the Mint.
Ath. — " His Majesty is better than he was yesterday."
Mr. Yorke sent me Lord Hardwicke's case in answer
to General Fox's statement. Lord Hardwicke, in his
statement, detailed all the particulars of the information
given to General Fox, in the afternoon of the 23rd of
July. And the rest of the statement, taken apparently
from Sir Charles AsgUl's communication, made General
Fox's inactivity whoUy inexcusable.
5th  " His Majesty is going on very favourably
towards a recovery."
Yesterday, the ChanceUor, as I learnt from Mr. Ad
dington, was -with him ; and to-day Mr. Addington saw
him. In each House of Parliament the King's consent
was given to Bills in which the interest of the Cro-wn
was concerned.
Qth. — " The King going on favourably." In the
House of Commons; Committee on Volunteer BiU.
1th. — Dr. Simmonds's private note to Mr. Addington
was, " that he had the happiness to say His Majesty
was better to-day than at any time since his iUness."
House of Commons. Sir John Wrottesley's motion for
an inquiry into the conduct of the Irish Government
previous to and on the 23 rd of July. Mr. Pitt stayed
away, Mr. Fox and his friends, Mr. Grenville and his
friends. Canning, Sir Henry Mildmay, Sturges, &c.,
divided for the motion, 82; against it, 178. In the
debate frequent reference was made to Lord Redesdale's
correspondence with Lord Fingal, which Mr. Canning,
Mr. Fox, Mr. Wyndham, &c., censured as indiscreet
and injudicious on the part of Lord Redesdale;
erroneous in opinion, and mischievous in policy. The
Attorney-General defended Lord Redesdale.
I I 4

488 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XVHI.
Sth  Bulletin : " No material alteration to-day."
9tK. — BuUetin : " Going on favourably." Royal as
sent by commission given to several pubUc and private
Acts. House of Commons. On Irish Permanent Duties, a
debate. Mr. Foster objected to the proceeding as
affecting the rights of the Crown, without the King's
consent. Committee put ' off till to-morrow. Mr.
Grey doubted the sufficiency of the King's recovery;
but no reply was made.
The embargo laid by us on all ships, except for dis
tant voyages, relates to the projected blocking up of
the entrance of Boulogne Harbour. The boats there
are supposed to be about 800, and twenty-five seamen
per boat. The troops encamped on the coast are about
30,000. llth.—'-'- His Majesty is better to-day than at any
time since the commencement of his Ulness."
12^A  House of Commons. Committee on Irish
duties, and afterwards on Volunteer BiU. Mr. Pitt,
Mr. Fox, Mr. Grey, Mr, Sheridan, and the Gren-viUes
divided, 69, upon a clause against Mr, Addington, &c.,
who divided 126.
lAth. — His Majesty recovers daily. House of Com
mons : motions respecting the war in Ceylon and the
Mahratta War.
I5th. — " His Majesty advances towards a recovery."
House of Commons : ]!dr, Pitt's motion for papers upon
the naval defence of the country. Upon the contested
papers, Mr, Pitt, Mr, Fox, and the GrenviUes divided
forthe motion, 130; Mr, Addington (with the Prince
of Wales's friends *), 201, Rose at two o'clock,
* Some of those more especially reckoned aa the Prince's friends, such as
Sheridan and Erskine, were about this time oifered office by Addington.
Erskine would have -willingly become Attorney-General had not the Prince,
on being consulted by him, made such a reply, as (whUe professing to leave
it to Erskine's o-wn judgment) showed his disapprobation of such a step, and
it is probable that it was only the knowledge of His Royal Highness's secret
feelings on the subject that prevented Sheridan from joining the Miuistry.
The Prince, however, had approved of the remonstrance presented to Fox
by the Duke of Norfolk. — Moore's Sheridan, vol. ii. c. xix.

Makch, 1804.] VOLUNTEEE BILL. 489
19th. — Saw Mr. Addington upon the Bishop of Ox
ford's proposed Bill for allowing colleges to purchase
livings without the restriction imposed by the Mort
main _ Act, to which he professed his goodwill if ap
proved by the ChanceUor and Sir WiUiam Scott.
House of Commons. Report of the Volunteer Bill;
division upon a clause; for Mr. Pitt's amendment, 56;
against it, 179. Another division afterwards upon
another amendment by Sir John Wrottesley. For the
amendment, 37; against it, 79.

490

DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIX.

CHAP. XIX,
1804.
LETTER FEOM LOED HAEDWICKE ON ENGLISH PAELIAMENTAET PEOCEEDINGS.
 ME. abbot's EEPLT.  FEOM THE BISHOP OF MEATH ON lEISH ECCLE
SIASTICAL PROMOTIONS.  ME. drake's IMPRUDENCE.  ME. PITT WITH
DRAWS HIS SUPPORT FEOM ADDINGTON.  THE BUDGET. — THE PEINCE
OF WALES SUPPOETS THE OPPOSITION.
LETTEE PEOM LOED HAED-WTCKE TO ME. ABBOT.
Dublin Castle, March 16th, 1804.
Mt dear Sir, — I am much obliged to you for your note of the
9th, and most sincerely rejoice that the favourable account which
it contained of the King's health has been succeeded by others
that I trust have by this time left little doubt of a complete
recovery. His Majesty's illness has however given the different
parties of Opposition a motive for rallying their forces which
probably would not otherwise have existed ; and it is much to
be regretted that the state of parties should be so very un
favourable, and that public affairs should be in so critical a
state. A strong, or at least an able Opposition, and a protracted
war, without the immediate prospect of any decisive event, or
of any turn in our favour upon the Continent, cannot fail to add
to the anxieties of the King, and to render the situation of the
Ministers very embarrassing. The attack upon the Admiralty
will, I fear, be followed up by other motions, though possibly
by none which will be so strongly pressed. The motion on the
insurrection in Dublin was not well chosen, if it was intended
as a trial of strength ; and, as far as respects numbers, it was
certainly satisfactory. It has not, however, contributed to give
on this side of the water an idea that the Ministers are as
anxious to support their friends as good policy seems to require ;
and this has arisen from the style of defence adopted by Lord
Castlereagh, who spoke first on the side of Grovernment, and
whose speech was certainly a defence and -vindication of General
Fox and the military precautions taken on the 23rd July. This,
I understand, is the opinion generally expressed in the letters

March, 1804.] DUBLIN INSUEEECTIOI^-. 491
of the Irish JMembers to their friends in Dublin, and is attributed
to the system originally adopted of making a general defence,
and considering General Fox as a party attacked.
If the General had acted with the Ministers instead of coming
forward as an accuser and an injured party, this system might
have been very fair, and might have answered the purpose ; but,
as the event has proved, the great unwillingness that has been
manifested to meet the inquiry, and the too great anxiety to
avert it, has induced the Opposition to bring it forward as a
ground of attack upon the Administration, and the latter have
been hampered and embarrassed by the line originally taken.
I did not know, till you were so good as to mention it, that you
had expressed your opinion in favour of putting General Fox's
statement into my hands. I have never very well kno-wn how I
ought to proceed to obtain a sight of it, but that it would have
been fair in General Fox to have sent it to me, and that the
ilinisters should have made a point of it with the Duke of
York, who lent it to Mr. Addington, is perfectly certain. Of
General Fox I do not feel personally that I have any other
reason to complain ; for, as to his want of alertness on the
evening of the 23rd, I think privately it was in great measure
o-sving to Colonel Beckwith, who, on his return to the Castle, told
him that the idea of an insurrection in Dublin was absurd and
ridiculous. That he was undecided and, to use a vulgar phrase,
bothered, is also true ; but beyond that I have never attached
any blame to him. I presume now there will be a quietus upon
the subject ; and the times certainly require, except where actual
guilt is improbable, that we should look forward, and endeavour
to keep the French out of the country. If a considerable force
should be landed in Ireland we must expect a severe struggle,
and insurrections in parts of the country where they are least
suspected. This I conjecture from a few disaffected persons who
have been at work, not very recently, however, in the county of
Fermanagh, which ^ou know has more Protestants of the Esta
blished Church than any county in Ireland.
Of those -with whom I have conversed, the Bishop of Elphin
is the most alarmed, and the most apprehensive of the Eoman
Catholics. He says they are all republicans (speaking of Con
naught), and that they look to the French as the means of
separating their country from England, of recovering their lands,
and establishing their religion. He probably -writes his opinions
very fully, though, I presume, very confidentially, to Lord
EUenborough ; and though I hope and trust his apprehensions
are not entirely warranted by the state of the county to which

492 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIX.
he more particularly refers, I should be sorry to see the truth
of them put to the test. There is certainly more irritation on
the subject of religion than has been observable since my know
ledge of the country ; at least so I am informed by those -with
whom I have an opportunity of conversing. If, however, the
session should pass over without the subject being brought
forward, I think that we shall avoid any public discussion of the
question in Ireland. If it should be agitated, it will be very
desirable to know the extent of the wishes of the Eoman
Catholics, but it will be difficult to bring them to any final and
positive declaration on the subject.
I remain, my dear Sir, yours very sincerely,
Hardwicke.
EXTEACT PEOM ME. ABBOT'S EEPLY.
London, March 24th, 1804.
The enemy, we think, -will try all points at once, and Ireland
of course, -will have its share. I am sorry to hear that Fer
managh is tainted in any degree, and that irritations prevail on
the subject of religion in any greater degree than formerly.
There is no present appearance of our hearing of them in Par
liament ; and as to the extent of the wishes of the body of
Eoman Catholics (or those who lead them), if that were the
object of inquiry I have no difficulty in saying that, from what
I have ever read, heard, or seen of them, I think they would be
limited to a very few points, though not very inconsiderable ;
viz. 1st. Possession of all the revenues of the Protestant Church
in Ireland. 2nd. Possession of all the Protestant lay property.
3rdly. A separation from Great Britain to enable them to keep
the two former  I am thoroughly convinced
that these are the opinions upon which every man holding them
ought to act without reserve, when it is necessary to act at all.
EXTEACTS OP A LETTEE PEOM THE BISHOP OP MEATH*
TO ME. ABBOT. Denmark Street, March 21st, 1804.
Dear Sir, — Having had many proofs of the interest you take
in the concerns of the Church in this kingdom, and knowing the
conviction you entertain of the necessity of rendering it effectual
to all the purposes of its establishment, I take the liberty to
» Dr. O'Beime.

March, 1804.] lEISH CHUECH. 493
trouble you with this letter, and to request that you will let me
mark it most secret and confidential  I have
ever felt it my duty .... to suggest whatever occurred to
me as likely to promote the interests of the Estcddished Charch,
on the preservation of which it is my firm persuasion that the
present order of things amongst us, and the connection between
the two countries, essentially depend. I know that in this per
suasion you entirely agree with me, and the share you have had
in procuring those most liberal grants which, notwithstanding
the pressure of the times and the public exigencies. Parliament
has bestowed upon us to establish a resident clergy in Ireland,
proves that you have made in this, as in other instances, a wise
and happy use of your residence in this country, and have seen
where the danger to the establishment was principally to be
looked for, and how it was most effectually to be remedied.
But will it not be obvious to the same enlightened zeal to
which we owe the prospect of the advantages this measure opens
to us, that unless care be taken to have this resident clergy of
such a character, and so regulated imH governed, as to answer all
the objects of their institution, you will increase instead' of
removing the evils against which you are so laudably anxious to
secure the country ? And will it not be equally obvious that, in
order to provide such a clergy, the very first step must be to see
to the character ofthe Episcopal Bench ; and that, as the govern
ment of the church and the discipline of the clergy so essentially
depend upon them, no one should be raised to it but men who
promise to be equal to the important trust ? If family connec
tions and Parliamentary influence be sufficient to recommend to
the vacancies of that bench, without any consideration being
had of the character of the persons, of their learning, their
talents, their habits, or their manners, how nugatory must every
effort prove to accomplish the great objects which you and all
who co-operate with you, have had in view ; in the great things
you have done and still design to do for this church. To this
system, and to the uses arising from it, every person acquainted
-with what passed in the interior of France during the reign of
Louis XV. must ascribe that universal contempt for the religion
of the country and its ministers, in which the dreadful Eevo
lution had its principal source. How much greater the danger
must be to the established religion in this country from the
adoption of such a system, the circumstances in which that
church is placed are too well known to you to require that I
should remind you.
When the engagements extorted by the Union had been

494 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIX.
fulfilled, we flattered ourselves that the system of taking the
bishops from the college, and the most meritorious ofthe parochial
clergy in either kingdom, would be adopted ; and the appoint
ment of Dr. Lindsay to the see of KiUaloe was received -with
great satisfaction, as holding to that system, in the estimation of
all who had an opportunity of knowing him, and being acquainted
-with his sentiments on the subjects of this church. But the
reports that are afloat on the present vacancy, and the persons
whom we hear named as still claiming Union or other promises,
and the difficulties arising from intended promises, which, we
are told, persons are gone from here to throw in the way of the
Lord-Lieutenant's recommendation, give the most serious alarm
to all who feel as I do on this important point.*
Dear Sir, your much obliged and faithful servant,
J. L. Meath.

March 22nd. — " His Majesty is much better, and in our
opinion a short time will perfect his recovery." At the
same time it was announced that no further attendance
would be given at St. James's for the purpose of receiv
ing inquiries.
23rd — Saw Mr. Addington on the British Museum
business. He received very favourably our Museum
proposal of purchasing Dr. Hunter's coins instead of
letting them go to the University of Glasgow, and pro
mised to consider of our application for money (or a
lottery, as in the year 1753) for the erection of build
ings to receive our present collection of Egyptian anti
quities, and our expected accession of Mr. Townley's
marbles, and Mr. Payne Knight's as well as Sir Joseph
Banks's library, and Mr. Gough's topographical coUec
tion. House of Commons. Aylesbury Election Committee.
Sir George CornwaU, as Chairman, moved for a Bill to
prevent bribery, &c., in Aylesbury, waiving all prose
cution of individuals. Leave granted. Mr. Rose gave
notice of a motion for prosecuting Mr. Bent, against
* The rest of the letter is of a personal character, discussing the quali
fications of different persons whom rumour pointed out as aspiring to the
Bench.

April, 1804.] VICTOEIES IN INDIA. 495
whom the Committee had reported bribery, and whose
seat they had vacated. Lord Lichfield and the Master
of the Rolls protested against any implied approbation
of the plan for laying open the right of election to the
freeholders of the three adjoining Hundreds.
Monday, April 2nd to 9th  During this week news
arrived of General Lake's and General Wellesley's vic
tories* over the Mahrattas, and the cessation of hos
tihties between General WeUesley and Scindiah. Also
of a more favourable turn in Ceylon.
14fA...-_Went to the Tower. Saw the new works
established for stocking and fitting muskets. No
muskets were ever stocked or fitted at the Tower till
March 1st, 1804. Upon that day Pole began to
set up his works, prepare shops, materials, tools, and
men ; and on the 12th of March the first musket was
stocked at the Tower. All the gunsmiths of London,
till that time, did not stock more than 107 in a week.
The Tower now stocks 350 in the present week, and will
proceed progressively to the stocking of 1000 per week,
-without taking a single man from the trade in the em
ploy of the contractors, and this at as low, or a lower,
rate than the contract price. 2000 firelocks, con
demned as useless, are now refitting by these means;
and new barrels and locks are making at Birmingham,
to be stocked also at the Tower.
10th  House of Commons. Debate on the third
reading of the Irish Militia Augmentation Bill. For it,
128; against it, 107. Mr. Pitt, Fox, GrenvUle, &c.,
voted in the minority.
In the beginning of the day Lord Morpeth mentioned
Buonaparte's detection of Mr. Drake's supposed corre
spondence with the conspirators against Buonaparte, and
TaUeyrand's note to all the Foreign Ministers in France,

* In the course of 1803 Lord Lake defeated Scindiah's forces, under
French officers, in the north of India, at Allighur, Delhi, Agra, and
Laswaree ; and General WeUesley (afterwards the Duke of WeUiugton)
defeated Soindiah himself at Assaye, in September, and at Argaum in
December.

496 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIX.
and their answers. Mr. Addington, with indignation,
denied any instruction or countenance given by His
Majesty's Government to Mr. Drake, or any other Mi
nister or person whatever, to act in any manner con
trary to the acknowledged laws of nations, even in a
war of the bitterest hostility. He stated also that no
accounts had been received from Mr. Drake relative to
the transaction in question.*
ISth. — Mr. Pitt ha-ving an attack of the gout, the
Army of Reserve BiU. was read a second time without
debate, and Mr. Long gave notice of his intention to
debate that Bill in the next stage, on Friday next, and
to take the sense of the House upon it. Mr. Fox's
motion was put off till Monday.
22nd. — A meeting was held this evening at Mr.
Addington's upon the course of debate for to-morrow.f
23rd. — House of Commons. This day the King held
his first councU since his iUness, and signed proclama
tions for a general fast, &c.
House of Commons. Debate on Mr. Fox's motion for
a Committee on the Defence Bills, and to consider of the
further measures necessary for a complete and perma
nent defence. Mr. Fox, IVIr. Pitt, and Mr. Wyndham
for the motion ; Mr. Addington, Mr. Yorke, the Attor
ney-General, and Mr. Tierney against the motion. Mr.
Pitt made a long speech of great hostiUty towards the
conduct of the Administration.
Di-vision at three o'clock : ayes, 204; noes, 256.
N.B. In this and the foUowing division Mr. Fox's
friends were very doubtful of deriving any benefit from
the co-operation with Mr. Pitt. Mr. Courtnay said,
" We are the pioneers digging the foundation; but Mr.
* Mr. Drake was om Minister at Munich, and he was cajoled by M.
Meh^e de la Touche into negotiations, having for their object the subversion
of the existing Government of France, which being betrayed by M. de la
Touche to the French police, whose agent he was, were magnified by
Buonaparte into a design to procure his assassination, a charge which was
whoUy destitute of foundation.
t According to Rose's Biary, vol. ii. p. 113, it was on this day that " Mr.
Pitt wrote a letter to the King, stating his inabUity any longer to support
Addington's Administration."

April, 1804.] LOYALTY LOAN. 497
Pitt will be the architect to build the House, and to
inhabit it."
It was afterwards said, that upon this and the fol
lowing debate ^Ir. Pitt had written to the King, stating
at great length the reasons of his votes upon these
questions. 2Ath. — Saw Mr. Addington, in very good spirits and
perfectly at ease about the consequence of these divi
sions. House of Commons : Mr. Dent's motion on the Loy
alty Loan Act. A curious transaction as to parliament
tary proceedings upon a loan. 1st. The resolution
differed in terms from the paper communicated to the
Bank upon which the loan was subscribed ; 2nd. The
Bill differed from the resolution ; and 3rd. The amend
ments made in Committee differed from all the antece
dent terms. The difference being as to the notice to
be given by the subscribers when they should caU for
repayment. Alterations stated, and agreed never to
have happened in any like case or any other instance,
and perfectly unexplained and unaccounted for by Mr.
Pitt now. Mr. Rose did not speak upon the question.
Division: for Mr. Dent's motion, 76 (Mr. Pitt and
Mr. Fox speaking for it) ; against it, 100.
Three divisions in the Lords upon the Militia BiUs.
For Ministers, .94; against them, 61.
25th  House of Commons. Upon the division for
my leaving the chair on the Army of Reserve Sus
pension BiU, Mr. Pitt opened his plan for keeping
up the army of reserve with modifications for maldng it
a permanent supply to the regular troops, and, at the
same time, proposing gradually to reduce the mUitia,
&c. Mr. Fox, Mr. Whitbread, and Mr. Wyndham
spoke in support partiaUy of this measure with a mix
ture also of hesitation as to an ultimate approbation of
the whole. Mr. Yorke, Lord Castlereagh, Mr. Ad
dington, &c., spoke for proceeding with the Suspension
Bill. Division at half-past 1. For the question, 240 ;
against it, 203.
VOL. I. K K

498 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIX.
2Qth. — I caUed on Mr. Addington, and told him that
I thought these successive di-visions obliged him either
to give up the Government, or exert the utmost power
of the Cro-wn to support it. He said aU his measures
were taken, and the Cabinet were prepared. In the
course of the day I hear he went -with the ChanceUor
to the King, and this evening there was to be a Cabinet.*
21th  House of Commons. Irish loan agreed to in
a Committee of Ways and Means; and divers services
voted in a Committee of Supply.
It has not yet transpired that the administration
have determined to resign, or to make extraordinary
exertions for -withstanding the combination of parties
against them in Parliament. The King is said to
understand their relative situations, and the Cabinet to
have met repeatedly on the subject.
29th. — Saw Mr. Addington. The King dreads a
defeat of his Ministry in Parliament as the forerunner
of a Regency. To keep his health safe is the cause of
the country. At present, if necessary, he may stiU
change his Ministry without being driven to it by a
forced junction of the three oppositions. Mr. Pitt is
not now pledged to any men ; but the King is ready to
avert this by the utmost exercise of his authority, if
that can, all things considered, succeed ; and Parliament
would be dissolved now, if the state of business and
public, affairs did not preclude that measure. It is
now for consideration whether the battle can be fought
-with a certainty of success, or else the evil would only
be aggravated and passions exasperated. The King is
earnest to do for Mr. Addington everything and more
than he can desire or may choose to accept ; but to
belong to any new arrangement Mr. Addington is
resolved not to consent.
Budget to-morrow, ten millions loan. Interests
* According to Lord Malmesbiuy {Biary, vol. iv. p. 296), Addington this
day communicated to the King the impossibUity of his continuing to con
duct the present Administration, and " he " (Addington) " reports that the
King received this -with gi-eat marks of concern and indignation, and pro
posed an immediate dissolution."

April, 1804.] PEINCE OP WALES'S CONDUCT. 499
recovered and revenue increased, viz., war taxes to
12,000,000^. by, 1st. Additional import duties; 2nd.
Raising wine to the tax first proposed last year; 3rd.
A stamp consolidated Act. No service now unpaid;
and army and na-vy and ordnance at a higher charge
than ever.
The rumours of to-day carry the expected minority
in the Lords for to-morrow to ninety-three. Ministers
expect an increase of ten to fifteen for their next
division in the Commons.
This day Lord Stafford gave a grand dinner. Mr.
Pitt, Lord Grenville, &c., dined there. A Ministerial
arrangement was handed about, filling up the principal
offices thus : —
Lord Stafford  President of the Council.
Lord Rosslyn  Chancellor.
Mr. Pitt  ChanceUor of the Exchequer, &c.
Lord GrenviUe and Lord MelviUe . Secretaries of State.
Lord Spencer  First Lord of the Admiralty.
ISIr. Rose  Treasurer of the Na-vy.
Mr. Canning and Mr. Steele . . Joint Paymasters.
Mr. Sturges Bourne  One of the Secretaries of the Treasury.
Mr. Long and Mr. George Rose . Lords of the Treasury.
30th. — After I had taken the chair, about half-past
four, news was brought from the House of Lords that
Lord Hawkesbury had desired to put off Lord Stafford's
expected motion upon the defence of the country, alleg
ing that the House was to give him credit for not pro
posing this upon slight grounds, at the same time that
he must decUne stating what those grounds were. A
debate of an hour ensued, which ended in postponing
the motion.
I was then told by another Member, that the Prince
of Wales, who had hitherto given no answer to any
party, had at last declared openly for the Opposition,
and had sent expresses for Lord Moira from Scotland,
and Mr. Tyrwhitt from Devonshire.
N.B. Mr. Cowper, the Clerk of the House of Lords,
computed the di-vision would have been 111 to 111,
including 32 proxies for the Opposition, and 39 for the
Administration. E K 2

500 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIX.
Another account supposed it would have been 102
to 115, making a majority of 13 for the Ministry.
The total number of Peers at this time, including
Scotch and Irish Representative Peers and Bishops, is
about 352.
When Mr. Addington came into the House, he came
to me in the chair, and mentioned Lord Hawkesbury
having put off the business in the House of Lords. I
asked him what this meant; he said it was upon the
ground which he had suggested to me yesterday, — that
the King dreaded his closet being forced. There was
no want of zeal, or honourable attachment and fidelity
to the support of his present Ministers, but a want of
confidence in the success of the contest, according to
the King's view of the state of affairs ; and therefore
a communication had been made (not through Mr.
Addington), which would for the present suspend all
proceedings upon contested measures, and I should
not see him upon the Treasury Bench for more than a
very few days. He added that if a division' had taken
place that evening in the Lords, the majority was not
expected to exceed ten ; and in the Commons the next
division was not expected to be more than 22 in favour
of the Administration.
He then went through his budget with great clear
ness, and apparently with great satisfaction to the
House; and not a remark was made upon it by any
one member.
At the close of the resolution, Mr. Fox rose and
adverted to what had passed in the other House,
which, whether it was more or less mysterious, was
understood to prevent for some few days any discussion
of public measures; and he asked if the Uke reasons
applied to the state of business in this House.
Mr. Addington answered that the same reasons
certainly did apply, and the Government did not mean
at present to bring forward any controverted measures.
After which all the notices and orders of the day were
deferred indefinitely, and the House broke up in a dis-

Mat, 1804.] CHANGE OP JILNISTEY. 501
turbed state, but without any further conversation ;
and Avithout any clamour or any apparent exultation.
Mr. Fox and his friends seemed to be gloomy, and the
Gren-viUe party was entirely silent.
The next day Sargent told me that he believed the
Cabinet resolutions, or rather Mr. Addington's and the
ChanceUor's, were taken finally in the middle of the day.
He had met the Chancellor much disturbed about two
o'clock, who said he was going to Carlton House.
(When the Chancellor represented to the Prince the
effects of his opposition to the King's Government, the
Prince is stated to have represented to the Chancellor
the impropriety of the King having been permitted to
see the Duke of York before the rest of his family ; and
of the Duke of York obtaining at that time military
appointments, viz., Chelsea Hospital, &c.)
This turned out not to be correct intelligence, the
determination must have been taken on Sunday; for
WiUiam Dundas told me the ChanceUor went to Mr.
Pitt at- eleven on Monday morning to signify to him
the King's pleasure.
N.B. It was in fact taken at the Cabinet held late
on Sunday night.
Mr. Pitt, when he came into the House of Commons,
(as was also observed whilst he was in the House of
Lords to-day) was evidently much embarrassed. Mr.
Fox appeared to have had no previous intimation of
the King's message to Mr. Pitt.
Tuesday, May 1st. — I saw Mr. Addington, but not
alone ; he mentioned that the Prince of Wales, who had
it in his power a week ago to have stopped a change of
Ministers if he had stood by the King, had thrown
himself entirely into the Opposition ; that he, Mr.
Addington had formerly taken, and was now relin
quishing his office, upon one and the same principle,
that of maintaining the King's peace of mind, and
saving him from the outrage of having a Minister
forced upon him rudely and violently, to the degradation
of royalty. That even now, the Ministers had proposed
K E. 3

50-2 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIX.
to resign before the last extremity, that the King might
have the grace of making a new choice without absolute
compulsion. And it was done at a time when it was
hoped that Mr. Pitt was yet unpledged ; although his
O'wn conduct might eventually make him feel the ne
cessity of some junction to support him against the
dissatisfaction of those in Parliament who had dis
approved of the means by which he had forced his way
back into power. Mr. Addington distinctly expressed
to those who were present (Sargent and Hobhouse)
that he should wish all his o-\vn friends, who could do
it consistently with their own sense of propriety, not to
decline acting with or under Mr. Pitt in Adminis
tration. He added, "There is one thing I can assure
you, I shaU not make any professions about my future
line of conduct; I will not even tell the King that I
shall support his Government."
I met Lord Eliot on my way home ; he highly ap
proved of the good sense and moderation with which
the Ministers were quitting office, before Mr. Pitt (as
he hoped) was pledged, but he strongly deprecated any
coalition between Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox, and made no
scruple of declaring his aversion to Lord Grenville as
a Minister. The Attorney- General told me he had the offer of
the Chief- Justiceship of Chester, and should take it;
although if Mr. Pitt wished him to continue in office,
and did not join ]\Ir. Fox, he should not decline to
serve under him.
May 2nd. — Saw Mr. Addington, who had walked
-with the King yesterday an hour and a half in his
garden. The King perfectly well, and not to be called
an invalid.
Mr. Pitt has not yet seen the King * : it is not near
* According to Rose's Diary, vol. ii. p. 113, though ever since Mr. Pitt's
letter of AprU 22nd, frequent communications between the King and him
had taken place, they had all been conveyed verbally, through the medium
of Lord Eldon ; but on this day Mr. Pitt wrote a letter to the Chancellor
(to be communicated to His Majesty), urging the desirableness " that an
Administration should be formed on a broad basis, combining the best
talents, &c., of the country." — Compare Tioiss's Life of Eldon, vol. i. p. 442..

May, 1804.] ME. ADDINGTON'S VIEWS. 50,3
to that point yet. Mr. Pitt is supposed to be much
more committed with the rest of the Opposition than
has yet appeared.
Mr. Addington has made up his own mind to his o-wn
part. He will not take any office -with any arrangement
of Mr. Pitt. He will not accept from the King any rank
or emolument of office. It shall not be said that he has
compromised to secure his o-^vn interest, and sacrificed
his friends by the surrender of the King's Government.
The King has pressed him to take the Duchy of Lan
caster for Ufe, and will not hear of any peerage less
than an earldom ; for a barony, he says, was earned by
Mr. Addington's ser-vices in the chair. These offers
Mr. Addington -will desire to be delivered to him in
writing; and then, when the King's part is performed,
and the King has shown that he does not part with
a Minister, who has served him with fidelity and
honour, unrewarded, Mr. Addington will decUne the
whole ; he has made up his mind, and wishes not to
have this to discuss with any of his friends.
The King told the Duke of Kent yesterday, that in
losing Mr. Addington for a Minister he should see
more of him instead of less; but Mr. Addington is
equaUy resolved not to act the part of a man marked
by special royal favour out of office, and has satisfied
himself as to his future course of conduct, &c. In the
meantime he wiU go on with the Money Bills upon his
loan untU the change is made.
The Chancellor is said to have seen more of the King
of late than Mr. Addington has; and it is also sup
posed that he has led the King to think more of Mr.
Pitt than might otherwise have happened. In the
course of the day I also heard that Mr. Pitt has, upon
every recent occasion after speaking or voting in the
House of Commons, written to the King an account
of the grounds upon which he has thought himself
bound to take such a course.
3rd  House of Commons. Thanks to Lord Wel-
lesley. The previous question moved by Mr. Fox. The
E K 4

504 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XIX.
main question carried without a di-vision. Unanimous
thanks to General Lake and his army.
Vansittart dined with me. He proposes retiring
to the bar, with a view to an independent situation
unconnected with party, and some employment at the
cockpit and the House of Lords.
Mr. Addington did not see the King yesterday, nor
was he to see him to-day. The Chancellor alone, of
the King's retiring Ministers, sees him at present.
Lord GrenviUe, in the House of Lords, stated that a
change of Ministers was under His Majesty's con
sideration ; and Mr. Fox put off his Hanoverian motion
to Monday next.
This day Mr. Pitt delivered in writing his proposed
arrangements for His Majesty's consideration.
5th. — Saw Mr. Addington. After seeing the King
on Tuesday last, he forbore to go to the Queen's
House on Wednesday, and declined going on Thurs
day; but Mr. Pitt's proposition having been sent
in writing to the King on Thursday, and the King
having settled his written answer yesterday, Mr.
Addington, being sent for, went, and the whole was
communicated to him. Mr. Pitt's proposition was
general, and very broad as to parties to be included.
The answer tended to a modified arrangement.* Three
weeks ago a communication was made to Mr. Adding
ton from authority, inducing him to believe that
a change of Administration, if made at this time,
would render an arrangement less exceptionable, as
neither Mr. Pitt nor Lord Gren-viUe were engaged to
Mr. Fox and his friends, which appeared to be less
true now than had been represented or beUeved. The
Chancellor, who conducts the negotiation, is sometimes
* The purport of the King's letter is given in Rose, vol. ii. p. 117. It
demanded an express renunciation of any intention to bring forward the
Catholic question or the repeal of the Test Act, blamed the conduct of Lord
GrenviUe and Mr. Dundas, put a decided negative on Mr. Fox, and " ex
pressed a hope that Mr. Pitt, in forming a new Administration, would
include as many of his present servants as possible." Mr. Pitt " returned
a very temperate and respectful answer."

Mat, 1804.] CHANGE OP MINISTEY, 505
delighted with his success, and sometimes frightened.
It seems now as if Mr. Pitt were willing to take into
his arrangements some of the present Ministers, in the
room of other persons named in his first proposition.
Mr. Canning gives out that a high office (the Duchy of
Lancaster) is to be offered to Mr. Addington, but Mr.
Addington wUl hear of nothing with or from a joint
Administration of Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox.
N.B. The King's answer to Mr. Pitt's proposition
was not given till this morning.
House of Commons went a stage upon the Money
BiUs. Qth — Nothing was settled this day respecting the
new Ministry. General dissatisfaction amongst Mr.
Pitt's friends, and the public in general, at the idea
of his forming a joint Administration with Mr. Fox.

506 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XX.

CHAP. XX.
1804.
JIE. PITT RESUMES OFFICE.  THE KING REFUSES TO ADMIT ME. FOX INTO
THE CABINET.  LETTER FROM LOED EEDESDALE ON THE NEW ARRANGE
MENTS.  THE king's REGAED FOR ME. ADDINGTON.  LIST OF THE NEW
CABINET.  Pitt's army bill.  me. grenville's language ABOUT
THE NEW MINISTEY.  SLAVE-TEADE ABOLITION BILL PASSED.  CIVIL
LIST DEBTS.  PARLIAMENT PEOEOGUED.  LOYALTY LOAN. — LETTEES
FROM ME. PITT, LORD REDESDALE, ETC.  UNGUARDED CONDUCT OF THE
PRINCESS OP WALES.  LOED WELLESLEy's CONDUCT IN INDIA.  SEIZURE
OF THE SPANISH FRIGATES.
Monday, May 1th. — House of Commons. Mr. Rose
said, " He was authorised to acquaint the House that
an Hon. Member had received His Majesty's personal
commands to submit to his consideration an arrange
ment for a new Administration." This he said upon
occasion of Mr. Fox deferring his motion for papers
respecting the transports for removing the Hanoverian
troops from the Continent.
Mr. Sheridan came up to the chair, and told me that
Mr. Pitt had seen the King to-day ; that the King had
told Mr. Pitt he should consider it as a personal insult
if Mr. Fox was pressed upon him ; that he had no ob
jection to Mr. Fox's friends having any share in the
Government, but could not allow of Mr. Fox holding
any office which should give occasion for any personal
intercourse with him ; that Mr. Fox's friends had just
held a meeting at Carlton House, where Mr. Fox* had
* « Pitt never had any personal interview with Fox ; never made him
any specific pledge further than saying that, if the time ever came when he
should be caUed on to frame an Administration, he would name him (Fox)
as a person whose great abilities might be usefuUy employed at the present
crisis, but that if the King objected to the admission of him into his Councils,
he should not press Fox on his Majesty, but endeavour to form a Govern
ment according to the King's pleasure. This was perfectly understood by
Fox so long ago as March." — Lord Malmesbtiry, vol. iv. p. 299.

Mat, 1804.] CHANGE OP MINISTEY. 607
mooted the matter in such a way as might be expected
from him; desiring his friends to take their share in
the Government, but that they had all resolved not to
do so; that Mr. Pitt was now employed with Lord
Grenville in forming a plan of Administration.
8^/i. — Saw Mr. Addington. In consequence of Mr.
Fox's not being received into the new Administration,
Lord Grenville's party, at a meeting between Lord
Gren-viUe, Lord Spencer, and Lord Fitz-wiUiam, Mr.
Gren-viUe, j\Ir. Wyndham, &c., have decUned accepting
any situations in the Administration to be formed by
Mr. Pitt*, who, it is now expected, must endeavour to
form a ]\Iinistry out of his own separate friends, and
some of the present Administration.
The King, as Mr. Pitt says, astonished Mr. Pitt yes
terday by his good state of health, and Mr. Pitt's
remark was that "his mind was more considerable
than he had known it to be for many years past." To
day also the King is remarkably well.
Mr. Addington repeated his determination to accept
no rank or emolument for himself or his personal con
nections. He was set much at ease in respect to
Braggef, who, with nine children, and only WOOL
a year, had yesterday succeeded, by the death of an old
lady, to the Ledney estate, which was entaUed upon
him, worth 2500^. per annum.
9th — The King held a council to-day, to swear in
Lord Chief Justice Mansfield, and the new King's
Council kissed hands ; to-day the King went out for the
first time in his coach -with the Queen and two of the
Princesses, and passed through many of the streets in
his airing.
Mr. Pitt has not yet proposed his new Ministry.
* Lord GrenviUe's letter to Pitt, announcing this resolution, is to be
found in Courts and Cabinets of George III., vol. iii. p. 352. Pitt was
highly indignant, and said " he would teach that proud man that, in the
service and -with the confidence of the King, he could do without him ;
though he thought his health such that it might cost him his Ufe." —
Tioiss's Life of Eldon, vol. i. p. 449.
t Mr. Bragge was married to Mr. Addington's youngest sister.

508

DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. X^.

House of Commons. Mr. Fox moved for papers
respecting the Hanoverian troops, but did not advert
to the present state of affairs. The papers were granted
without debate.
lOth. — I called upon Mr. Addington at ten; but he
was gone to the Queen's House to resign the Seals of
Chancellor of the Exchequer. At half-past twelve, when
I called again, he was returned, and the ChanceUor was
with him, and Yorke and Steele came in.
He told us he had resigned, and should pack up his
awls, and get out of that house as soon as possible. To
me separately he mentioned that he had fought his last
battle, and carried his point with the King in refusing
everything of rank or emolument. He desired to see
me to-morrow morning.
HatseU, whom I met when I went from Downing
Street, told me, that the King had written a long letter
last night to Mr. Addington, pressing peerage, &c., and
saying that he had given orders for making out a patent
of earldom, &c., to which Mr. Addington had also last
night written his answer, declining everything of the
sort. Mr. Addington's private fortune from his father was
2000Z. a year, to which he had added a considerable
fortune by his marriage — about lOOOZ. a year more ;
and this, with the Pells to his son, made a -total in-"
come in the family of about 6000^. a year, or about
5000Z. for himself to spend for some years, till his son
was grown up and sattled in life.
Nothing of the new arrangements has yet transpired
beyond Mr. Pitt's own appointment, except a rumoured
offer to Lord Hawkesbury and Lord Castlereagh to
continue, and Lord MelviUe to go to the Admiralty.
House of Commons. Mr. Addington sat, as usual,
upon the Treasury Bench, and Mr. Long, from behind,
moved a new writ in the room of the Right Honourable
W. Pitt, who had accepted the office of First Lord of
the Treasury and ChanceUor of the Exchequer. Long
afterwards told me that no other part of the arrange-

Mat, 1804.] CILVNGE OF MINISTEY. 509
ments was declared, and it was not settled whether more
writs would be moved to-morrow. Sturges Bourne is
to be one of the Secretaries to the Treasury, the other
is not yet settled.
LETTEE PEOM LOED EEDESDALE TO ME. ABBOT.
Ai-di-im, May Sth, 1804.
My dear Sir, — I think ilr. Addington has judged well in not
resisting till driven from his office. The consequence must
have been His ^Majesty's surrender at discretion. At present
he has at least some short time to consider how he ought to
act. I conclude ]Mr. Pitt must be the ^Minister, and that he
must be permitted to form such an Administration as in his
judgment will enable him to conduct the affairs of the country.
Considering his experience, it would be absurd to suppose that
he could accept office on other terms.
At this distance it is difficult for me to form a correct judg
ment of the extent to which it will be necessary for him to
make changes ; but I am well persuaded that it will be most
¦wise to retain the influence of Grovernment as it stands, making
as few changes as possible. Nothing tends so much to render
the power of Ministers precarious as the apprehension of ex
tensive changes ; and nothing, therefore, tends so much to give
solidity to Administrations, as such, as percei-ving that fidelity
to a preceding Administration in all inferior situations, is a
recommendation to their successors. The language which
Shakespeare (who was a great politician by the force of talent,
as well as a gi-eat poet), puts into the mouth of Henry IV.,
addressing the Bishop of Carlisle, is the language of a great and
profound politician.* I do not expect those who surround
'Mr. Pitt, to entertain in general, sentiments so just. They are
principally urged by • the desire of power and profit. But
]\Ir. Pitt himself, I trust, is differently moulded ; and therefore,
I hope, will see his true interest ; at the same time I know his
disposition to yield to inferior minds, and I have seen too much
not to know that this is the weakness of all great men. They
can resist those who approach them in point of talent, because
* The passage to which Lord Eedesdale aUudes is in Richard IL, act v.
scene 6 : — " As thou liv'st in peace die free from strife ;
For though mine enemy thou hast ever been,
High sparks of honour in thee have I seen."

510 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XX.
they feel the force of rivalship, and the jealousy of competition ;
but they yield to those from whom they fear neither ; and they
yield perhaps because they are wearied by resistance to others.
I therefore do not expect perfect consistency or perfect -wisdom
in all the measures to be now pursued : I only hope that
they -will be less violent than if the power fell into other hands,
or than if Mr. Pitt himself took the Cabinet by storm, at the
head of the combined forces of Opposition. It was truly said
by one of those who joined the Earl of Essex in his mad pro
ceedings against Queen Elizabeth, that they meant the most
profound respect to the Queen's person, but that he was com
pelled by reflection to confess that it was impossible to say,
however innocent their intentions might be as to the person of
the Queen, to what lengths they might have been driven, when
once engaged, by necessary regard to their own safety, or the
violence or indiscretion of their instruments ; to whom they
might be compelled, against their -will, to yield, even to the
death of the Queen.
These reflections ought to make us very un-willing to engage
deeply in political contests ; but, alas ! men will ever be am
bitious of power, of rank, of distinction ; covetous of wealth,
envious of others, and railing against all — we are too apt
ourselves, even unknown to ourselves, to fall into the very
courses which in our cooler moments of reflection we have
condemned. When, therefore, the ferment is high we must
look to the worst. I dread the consequences of changes much
more for this country than for England separately ; but dreading
the consequences for this country, I dread them for the country
at large. Our Irish Marquis*, who has lately been fighting
the battles so strenuously in the House of Lords, has said most
truly, that the legislative Union is but a rope of .sand ; that
there requires much more to make the Union perfect. He
does not, I fear, see very far into the millstone ; but he sees
thus far, and I am afraid he so far sees more than His Majesty's
late Ministers, who formed the Union, very distinctly saw.
When I look at the compact then made, and compare its terms
with the language of those who soon after retired from His
Majesty's service, declaring that they did so because they could
not carry measures in direct breach of that contract, I am all
astonishment. Did they mean what they said in the Union
compact ? or did they mean what they said when they retired
from office ? Could they mean both ; or in both did they
* Lord Headfort.

May, 1804.] PEOSPECTS OP lEELAND. flU
deceive themselves, or were they deceived ? Can you answer
these questions? I cannot without supposing that men of
great talents, of great experience, of great political knowledge,
acted without reflection, or without integrity, or from mere
caprice, or that they were deceiving and endeavouring to over
reach each other, some meaning one thing, some the direct
contrary. Or, perhaps, that their conduct was produced by
a combination of all these inconsistent motives ; a sense of the
difficulties in which by duplicity they had involved themselves,
and a want of resolution in some to avow their errors, and
tread back the steps they had falsely taken. Could those who
recalled Lord Fitzwilliam think as they then did when they ad
hered to Lord CornwaUis's unaccountable declaration* ? and how is
that declaration to be made consistent with his subsequent con
duct ? All these considerations together alternately agitate my
hopes and fears for this country ; and in the fate of this country
perhaps the fate of the empire, perhaps the fate of Europe, is
involved. You have seen enough to know and to feel the force of
these reflections and their importance, and I am sure that you
must agree -with me that the result must produce in those whose
object is the public good most awful considerations. I some
times flatter myself with the hope that many have' seen their
error ; that the eyes of people in general begin to open on
the true state of this country, and that they have a faint glim
mering of its dangers sufficient to give them some alarm. I
anxiously hope that in this I am not deceived ; but I confess
my fears are almost equal to my hopes ; and every day brings
to my mind some new proof of the reasonableness of my ap
prehensions ; and of the dangers to which the country is ex
posed. All its present miseries are to be traced to one source ;
and for fifty years past the Ministers in England have been
gradually giving additional strength to the stream which flows
from it. Farewell, my dear Sir, and believe me faithfully yours,
Eedesdale.
The Eight Hon. the Speaker.

Mr. Pitfs second Administration.^
llth, — On my way to Mr. Addington I met the At
torney-General, who told rae that he had yesterday
* See the CornwaUis Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 347, and seq.
t The King received Mr. Pitt with the utmost kindness and cordiality,
saying "he was regaining an old friend." — Rose, vol. ii. p. 121.

.^12 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XX.
received a message from Mr. Pitt, through Lord
Harrowby, desiring him to continue in his present
office ; to which the Attorney-General said he must beg
first to have it understood, first, that Mr. Fox was to
be no party to the Administration ; secondly, that there
was to be no criminating retrospect of the measures of
Mr. Addington's Administration ; thirdly, that there
was to be no bringing forward of the CathoUc question.
On the first point it was said, that Mr. Fox was cer
tainly not a member of the new Administration ; but
there was no undertaking that he never would be ; and
upon this the Attorney-General had closed, distinctly
stating that his own acceptance therefore must be as
conditional as the offer. On the second point it was
said that Mr. Pitt, who had blamed the measures of his
predecessors before he became Minister, was not to ab
stain from censuring them at present, but, it being
added that certainly no vindictive course was to be
taken in these respects, the Attorney- General had ac
quiesced in that explanation. On the third point it
was said, that Mr. Pitt had already repeatedly stated '
that he would not only not propose it now, but should
resist it if brought forward by any other person. The
Attorney-General had said that this must be more
clearly understood on his part ; and that he should cer
tainly not only resist it as to the question of time, but
should think it his duty to resist it at all times, upon
its principle and its consequences. And if this repre-
sentation of his intention should create any impediment,
he must beg to know it. And he was accordingly to
have an answer in that case last night; but had re
ceived none.
Mr. Addington resumed our conversation of yester
day. The King had written to him the night before last,
in consequence of a previous understanding that aU ar
rears of business at the Treasury were cleared off; and
appointed yesterday morning for him to bring the seals
of office.

Mat. 1804.] THE KING'S LETTEE TO ME. ADDINGTON. fll3
In that letter he 'had said that his friendship for Mr.
Addington was too deeply engraven on his heart to be
diminished by any change of situation, or to suffer him
to leave his service without discharging what he con
ceived to be a duty to the public and to his own
character, by conferring a peerage upon him, and re
commending the House of Commons to make a pro
vision for him in consideration of his long services as
Speaker, and extending it to his family. With refer
ence to Mr. Addington's small ¦ patrimonial estate de-
-vised to him from his ancestors, -who were Royalists in
the reign of Charles I., near Banbury, in Oxfordshire,
and to Mr. Addington's late residence in Berkshire, he
would not hear of any dignity less than an earldom, the
titles to be Earl of Banbury, Viscount WaUingford, and
Baron Reading. (N.B  The King had always a desire
to suppress the spurious title of Earl of Banbury, as
sumed by the Knowleses under a creation of James II. ,
after his abdication.) All this, as the King told Mr.
Addington afterwards, Mr. Pitt had agreed to be per
fectly proper.
To the King's letter Mr. Addington had answered on
the same night, with all proper expression of gratitude,
&c., but absolutely declining the honours and pro-
-visions proposed to him, and entreating upon every
consideration towards his o-wn happiness and satis
faction of mind, that he might be aUowed to retire
¦without any alteration of his rank in life or addition to
his fortune.
Upon his interview with the King yesterday. His
Majesty had, with great earnestness and some agita
tion, returned to his desire of pressing the earldom,
pension, &c., but had at length allowed Mr. Addington
to act in the way which he thought most suited to his
own happiness and future life.
The King, however, had urged him to have a grant
of the house in Richmond Park, as a jointure house for
Mrs. Addington, which Mr. Addington had equally re
sisted, as it could only be done by Act of Parliament ;
VOL. I. L L

514 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XX.
and, as the King would not endure to hear of his quit
ting it, he had, in coincidence with the Chancellor's
opinion, who was present, not thought it possible for
him " to refuse " (as the King expressed it) " living in
a house only because it was the King's."
Mr. Addington however said to me that he should
only consider himself to be there as a tenant on suffer
ance; and the living in it at aU was the only angle
which broke in upon the integrity of his feeUngs at this
moment. The list of the new administration, as stated (by
Mr. W. Dundas) to-day, was supposed to stand
thus : —
Mr. Pitt  Treasury.
Lord Eldon  Chancellor.
Lord Hawkeshury  Secretary of State.
Lord Mulgrave  Ditto.
Lord Harrowhy or Mr. Canning . . Ditto.
Duke of Portland  Lord President.
Lord Camden  Lord Privy Seal.
Lord Chatham  Ordnance.
Lord MelviUe  Admiralty.
Lord Castlereagh  Board of Control
This is the Cahinet.
Mr. Kose  Treasurer of the Na-vy.
Mr. W. Dundas and Lord Euston . . Joint Paymasters.
Mr. Huskisson and Mr. Sturges Bourne Secretaries to the Treasury.
Mr. Long  A Lord of the Treasury.
Perceval  Attorney-General.
Duke of Montrose  The favourite for Ireland.*
Qu. Who ?  Secretary at War.
N.B. Mr. Canning is gone out of to-wn in dudgeon.
\2th — I saw Mr. Addington. He showed me the
King's letter, written to him on Wednesday evening,
after Mr. Pitt had left him. It was to the same effect
as he had stated to me yesterday. He also showed me
his answer. He said his o-wn line in ParUament would

* The Duke, however, came into the Cabinet as President of the Board
of Trade and Postmaster-General. — Rose, vol. ii. p. 135. The other varia
tions from the list given above were, that Lord Mulgrave was made Chan
ceUor of the Duchy of Lancaster ; Lord Westmoreland, Privy Seal ; Lord
Camden, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies.

Mat, 1804.] VOLUNTEEE BILL. 515
be perfectly quiet, certainly wishing well to the ease of
the King's Government, and attending upon all days of
material business.
13^/j. — It seems to be understood that the place
of Secretary at War is reserved for Canning. Rose
said to-day that nothing was settled about his own
appointment. lAth. — Saw Mr. Addington, he had just been with
the King. Canning is Treasurer of the Navy, and Mr.
Wm. Dundas Secretary at War. Lord Lovaine a
Lord of the Treasury. Lord Dartmouth Lord Cham
berlain. The new Ministers kissed hands at the Queen's
House. 15th  General Bentham called with his papers upon
arming vessels, which he was to send to-day to Mr. Pitt,
-with a brief statement of the principle and success of
its appUcation to all sorts of vessels, proved by ex
periment and experience, and recommended repeatedly
by the Ordnance to the Admiralty for general adoption.
The Lord Steward being out of office, no Member
could be sworn this day.
23rd  The Lords' amendments to the Yolunteer
BUl were debated and agreed to, except in a few in
stances which appeared to be contrary to our own
pri-vileges. In one of the amendments, the Lords had altered the
day of making the first return which should entitle volun
teers to certain exemptions from hair powder duty, &c.
from May to June ; upon the ground that, as the Bill
was still depending before the Lords in the then month
of April, the first appointed time in May would be
either elapsed before the Act passed, or so near at hand
as to make it an impracticable date for making the
necessary returns all over the kingdom.
This, however, was argued to be an amendment
touching a tax; and, therefore, such as either should
induce the Commons to lay aside the Bill altogether,
or at least should induce them to disagree to an endea
vour of the Lords to alter money regulations.
t L 2

516 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XX.
To this it was answered, — 1. That though in Bills
of aid and supply the Commons would not allow the
Lords to make any alteration whatever, yet in BiUs of
regulation, civil or military, where money clauses were
matters of incidental provision, the Commons would
not consider any amendment made by the Lords in such
clauses as a reason for necessarily rejecting the -whole
Bill. They would reject it if the amendment were
considered to be an avowed attempt to dispute the
privileges of the House; but other-wise the Commons
would only disagree to the particular amendment.
2. That, as to the partial amendment of May for June,
it had been frequently agreed to, where it was caused
by the day named by the Commons ha-ving become an
impossible day, on account of its having expired during
the progress of the BiU through Parliament, and where
the amendment was such as to be in furtherance of the
Commons' intentions.
The precedent and principles which I stated from the
chair, supported these arguments ; and the House acted
accordingly, with an amendment to the Lords' amend
ments as to May and June, which the Commons now
altered to July,

EXTEACTS PEOM A LETTEE PEOM ME. WICKHAM TO
ME. ABBOT. May 2l8t.
It may be material for you to know, as I do from unquestion
able authority, that all is not as it should be at Buckingham
House. With perfect powers of mind during many hours of the
day, there are moments when things are done and said which it
is most important to conceal from the public. My information
on this important and distressing subject comes from anxious
friends, and not from enemies. Lord Liverpool considers Lord
Hawkesbury's removal to the Home Department as a disgrace,
and is sorry that it was submitted to. I have reason to believe
that Lord Hawkesbury's health will not allow of his remaining
long in office. But Lord Hawkesbury cannot go back ; for it
was the condition of Lord Stafford's giving his support to Mr.

Joke, 1804.] SLAVE TEADE. 517
Pitt that we should not be disgraced as we hcui been in the eyes
of foreign powers, by total incapacity, &c.
Lord Camden is to have the management of the Irish Members.
It is thought that he will go back to Ireland whenever the
vacancy shall happen. This vacancy may happen sooner than is
expected, because I understand that Lord Hardwicke has
positively refused to send over the recommendation of Lord
iiobert Tottenham.*
30th. — Mr. Pitt deferred his notice on military
defence. House of Commons. Sla-ve Trade motion;
for aboUtion, 124 ; against it, 49. Thirty Irish
Members voted for aboUtion. Mr. Addington spoke
shortly against the motion ; Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox for
it. Also Mr. Barham, a West Indian planter of large
property, who had hitherto always opposed it.
31st. — Mr. Addington called here. He is determined
to attend all great questions, and to remark freely on
the measures of the new Government ; desirous of being
justified in supporting them, but not forbearing to
comment upon them.
Saturday, June 2nd. — Lord Wilton said the King
was much better yesterday than when he saw him some
days ago. He has written some very able letters, par
ticularly one to Lord Harrowby, upon the conduct of
correspondence with foreign powers.
Ath — The King's birthday. A drawing-room, at
which the Queen and Princesses, but not the King,
were present. The Prince of Wales was not there;
but drove through the streets upon the coach-box of his
barouche. The Princess of Wales was there.
About this time the Cabinet, ha-ving called upon the
physicians for a report upon the King's state of health,
they made a long and complicated statement nearly to
the foUowing effect :
" That his Majesty's deviation from his ordinary
habits was the most promising sign of amendment.
That he was competent to the functions of government,
* For an Irish Bishopric. He was one of those against whom the Bishop
of Meath, in the letter from which extracts were given, had most strongly
protested.

£18 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XX.
provided they were not of an extraordinary sort ; and
that the attendance of his physicians was still necessary."
Tierney told this to me, and Bathurst said he had
seen a copy of it in the hands of Sir J. C. Hippesley;
corrected by Mr. Grey, it having been communicated to
the Princess of Wales.
5th. — House of Commons. Mr. Pitt brought in his
Army Bill. No division, but opposed by Mr. Wyndham,
Fox, and Mr. Addington.
1th. — House of Commons. Slave Trade Abolition
Bill, second reading, debated till two o'' clock in the
morning. For it, 100; against it, 42.
Sth. — House of Commons. Debate on second
reading of Mr. Pitt's Army Bill, till half-past two.
For it, 221; against it, 181.
9th. — The Opposition (Mr. Fox's party) resolved to
muster their whole strength for Monday next, and
try another division. Mr. Pitt also sent expresses
everywhere for his friends.
Cobbett has delivered up to the Attorney- General the
original MS. of Juverna's letter, for wliich he is now
convicted ; but the Attorney-General has protested
against any engagement or understanding, direct or
indirect, that such surrender is to alter the conse
quences of the con-viction. It appears that the original
is in the handwriting of Judge Johnson, of Ireland;
and that it came by post to Cobbett.
llth  House of Commons. Upon the question for
my leaving the chair on Mr. Pitt's Army BiU : for it,
219; against it, 169.
12th. — Division for going into a Committee on the
Slave Trade : for it, 79 ; against it, 20.
13th. — Lord Glenbervie caUed to state his plan for a
superintending Board of Commissioners, to execute the
measures proposed for encouraging the growth of naval
timber in the royal forests, by naming the Speaker and
other officers of state at the head of it, whose authority
might surmount the present impediments created by the
interest of powerful indi-viduals.

June, 1804.] AEMY BILL. 519
House of Commons. After a considerable quantity
of common business the House Avas counted out upon
the hearing counsel against the Bill for abolishing the
Slave Trade.
lAth. — Mr. Foster's Avrit moved as Chancellor of the
Exchequer, and a Lord of the Treasury for Ireland.
15th. — House of Commons. Army Bill Report. Di
vision at six o'clock unexpectedly. 69 against noiv
reading the amendments a second time; 63 for it. Then
a debate and division on putting them off for three
months. For reading them on Monday next, 214;
against it, 186.
The first division was so unexpected that I had not
taken the usual step of clearing the gallery before the
question was put ; by which it happened that, whilst the
strangers were issuing forth, several members came into
the House ; and, after the Tellers had given at the table
the separate numbers of each side, but before they had
walked up to the table to report them, exception was
taken that several members so circumstanced ought not
to have their votes allowed. Upon this a debate arose
of considerable length, and each member who spoke sat
covered. At the end, Mr. Fox in particular, whose
vote was questioned, declaring himself unable to say
whether he was or was not within the " precincts " of
the House, when the question was put; Mr. Fox de
sisted from disputing his vote, and the numbers were
reported by the Tellers as originally taken down, and
so declared by me.
Mem. — The word " precincts " was used in this de
bate ; but I explained it to mean " within the outer
doors." I ought to have said, " within those doors
which are required to be locked upon every division."
ISth. — Proceeding upon the report of Mr. Pitt's
English Additional Forces Bill. Mr. Addington spoke
against it at eleven ; Mr. Sheridan against it at twelve ;
Mr. Pitt for it at one ; Mr. Fox against it at half-past
two. Division at half-past three. For the engrossing
the Bill, 265 ; against it, 223. After the division Mr.
L I. 4

520 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XX.
Pitt told me his calculation on the latest information
had been, 269 for him, and 231 against him; but of
these numbers about 30 had been subject to unascer
tained biases.
Total in the House present at the division, including
the TeUers and Speaker, 493.
This appears to have been the largest number present
since 1741, when upon the Silesian papers a Committee
was moved for, and upon a division the numbers present
were 508. It is to be remembered, however, that the
493 includes a proportion of the 100 members for Ire
land added by the Union.
19th  The BiU was read a third time and passed
¦without a division.
But a singular and interesting discussion took place
between Mr. Grenville and Mr. Pitt, in which Mr.
Grenville, for himself and friends, denied that they had
ever expressed themselves as likely to be satisfied with
any Government into which Mr. Pitt alone was to be
taken, and asserted that they had uniformly insisted
upon the necessity of including in it all the great talents
of the country. Mr. Grenville repeatedly stated that
they had never given any promise of support to such a
Government as the present, and that he saw with pain
and regret Mr. Pitt in his present situation.
20th. — Foster opened his Irish Budget in the House
of Commons, and proposed 1,250,000^. of taxes, which
met with little or no opposition.
21s^. — Saw Mr. Pitt upon the subject of the Bill for
enabling the King to employ foreign troops, viz. the
Hanoverians, who had come over since the evacuation
ofthe Electorate.*
22nd — House of Commons. Motion of censure upon
the Lord Advocate of Scotland, on account of a letter
-written by him in December last to the Sheriff of the
County of Banff, upon the case of a Mr. Morrison,
"¦ Hanover had been occupied by the Prussians in 1801, and on the break
ing out of the war in 1803, it was seized by the French, who occupied it
tiU 1814.

JcLY,I804.] CIVIL LIST DEBT. 521
who had dismissed his servant for attending an inspec
tion of volunteers. Debate till half-past two. For
reading the orders ofthe day, 159; against it, 82.
In the course of the Lord Advocate's defence, he
gave an interesting and important account of the powers
and duties of the office of Lord Advocate, and of the
circumstances which, since the Union, had caused all
the authority of the great officers of state and of the
Scottish Pri-vy CouncU to centre in the office of Lord
Advocate. 25th. — House of Commons. Counsel upon the report
of the Slave Trade BiU.
2Sth. — Slave Trade Abolition BUl passed on a divi
sion, 69 to 33.
29th. — Mr. Rose came about vacating his seat upon
his appointment to be one of the Joint Paymasters. He
had accepted this office six weeks ago, and had vacated
according to 6 Anne, c. 7, sec. 26, and had been re
elected ; but upon now receiving the appointment while
actually in ParUament, he thought it better to vacate
again than to risk incurring the penalty of the statute,
c. 29, the law officer being of opinion -that the penalty
of 500/. attached upon the acceptance of offices of trust,
under sec. 26, as well as of new offices under sec. 25.
Monday, July 2nd. — House of Commons. Received
the petition of the British Museum for a grant to erect
a building for the Egyptian antiquities and other pieces
of sculpture. Some conversation tooli; place upon this
subject, and upon the present difficulties of access for
strangers to see the Museum. The House ordered
a copy of the plan and estimates to be laid before
them, -with an understood reservation of the question
whether a committee should be appointed to consider
of them.
In a Committee of Supply Mr. Pitt moved the reso
lution for paying the Civil List debt, and opened his
proposition for increasing the CivU List revenue by
adding 60,000?. a year, and taking off charges not
properly belonging to it, amounting to 140,000^. more —

522 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XX.
total addition 200,000?. a year. These resolutions pro
duced some discussion, but little or no opposition.
In the Committee of Ways and Means Mr. Pitt pro
posed the Stamp Duties, as opened by Mr. Addington
in his Budget, with some variations ; total estimated at
740,000?. a year.
ISth. — Went to Mr. Pitt upon the Lords' Amend
ments to the Corn Bill. Agreed that they must be
laid aside, and a new Bill brought in, which being
for money, trade, &c., must go through aU the regular
stages, and would cost a week's more sitting for Parlia
ment; there being only one instance in the last 100
years, viz. the Sinking Fund Bill, in 1792, where the
House of Commons had proceeded with any expedition
upon a Bill relating to public money, and then even
had allowed four separate days to the progress of the
Bill through the committee.
23rd. — Met the Dean of Christ Church, who told me
that Tierney was expected by Mr. Pitt to join him,
and that it was supposed he would be Chief Secretary
for Ireland.
31s^. — Vansittart called, and related to me the
motives, or rather distinct propositions, made to him
from the King through the Duke of Cumberland (with
Mr. Pitt's knowledge), offering him the place of Chief
Secretary for Ireland. His own answer to be laid
before the King, and communicated accordingly, " That
he was ready, &c. &c., but could not be useful in any
situation unless accepted with Mr. Addington's appro
bation." And the Duke of Cumberland's subsequent
interview with Mr. Pitt, since which nothing had
transpired. This day the King came in person and prorogued
Parliament. He looked extremely well, and read the
Speech weU with great animation, but accidentally
turned over two leaves together, and so omitted about
one-fourth of his intended Speech. It happened, how
ever, that the transition was not incoherent, and it
escaped some of the Cabinet who had heard it before
the King delivered it.

Jdlt, 1804.] GOVEENMENT OP lEELAND. 523

EXTEACT OP A LETTEE PEOM LOED EEDESDALE.
[Confidential.] Ely Place, July 21st, 1804.
I cannot be free from apprehensions for the consequences of
that power which is transferring from the Lord-Lieutenant to
another. Two Grovernments of Ireland cannot go on well ; but
it seems now determined to establish three, f)erhaps four. One,
a government of form under the Lord-Lieutenant ; a second, a
government of influence under Air. Foster ; a third, a govern
ment for military affairs, under the Duke of York ; and a
fourth, for formal communication -vvith the Lord-Lieutenant,
under His Majesty, through the Secretary of State. His Ma
jesty and the Lord-Lieutenant are -to be the ciphers. The
Secretary of State will know as much of the government of Ire
land as of that of Kamschatka, and the real ruler will be an in
dependent Prince, under the name of First Lord of the Treasury
and Chancellor of the Exchequer for Ireland, whom Mr. Pitt
will find will be the humble servant of the First Lord of the
Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer in England. Instead
of increasing the power of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it
ought to be abolished. Corry had far too much ; and if the
Lord-Lieutenant had had that which is necessar}' to maintan
the dignity of his situation under such circumstances, he would
have insisted on Mr. Corry's dismission, and on the suppression
of the office. He has now put his neck under the feet of Mr
Foster, and must expect to be trampled on. Under these circum
stances I keep myself as much as I can out of the political
world, and heartily wish I had never become Chancellor of
Ireland. Very faithfully yours, Eedesdale.
The Right Hon. the Speaker.
I spent the parUamentary recess at Kidbrooke.
During this time the letters from England to India
intercepted by the French were published in the French
papers.* Upon the arrangement to be made with the holders

* Among them there were two remarkable letters from Mr. Henry Wel-
lesley and Lord GrenvUle to Lord WeUesley, giving an account of the
negotiations between Pitt and Addington in the preceding year, which,
however, diflFered in no important particulars from that previously given
in this Diary.

524 DLAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XX.
of the Loyalty Loan, I received the subjoined letter from
Mr. Pitt: — Do-wning Street, Sept. 19th, 1804.
My dear Sir, — The occasion of my giving you this trouble
arises out of the Act of the last Session, respecting the Loyalty
Loan. The Lords of the Treasury are thereby empowered to
declare on or before the 20th inst., their option for granting to
the holders of each hundred pounds stock, either one hundred
pounds Navy-five per cents., with such a portion of three per
cents, reduced, as -will bring the value to a hundred pounds
sterling ; or to give the whole of such value in these three per
cents. By an unlucky continuance of the inaccuracy which
seems to have pervaded all the Acts respecting the Loyalty
Loan, the value of these stocks is to be ascertained by the
average price of the last ten transfer days previous to the tenth
of October ; instead of previous to the twentieth of September,
on which day the option must be made.
This circumstance is of no consequence as far as relates to the
three per cents., which are now shut, and in which there will be
no more transfer days till after the 10th of October. But as the
Navy five per cents, will continue open till that day, and as the
holders of Loyalty Stock are not bound to determine whether
they accept the proposed terms till the Sth of October, an in
terval would occur in which measures might be taken for
artificially depressing that stock previous to the average being
computed, and an unfair advantage might be taken against the
public, in the event of the Treasury making its option for five
per cents, in preference to three.
This option it is certainly desirable to make, as the capital to
be created in five per cents, will be less by twelve millions than
in three. On consulting -with the Grovernor and Deputy Gover
nor of the Bank, they have agreed with me in thinking that the
only effectual remedy against any such imfair practices as I
have described would be to give a discretional power from the
Commissioners of the National Debt to purchase in the five per
cents, at any time during the interval in which the price of that
stock should be materially depressed below the proportion which
it now bears to the three per cents.
A depression of one or two per cent., the Grovernor and
Deputy seem to think, might not unnaturally take place, but
anything beyond it they think must be artificial. On these
grounds we have prepared an authority to the cashier to include

Sept. 1804.] LOYALTY LOAN. 525
the five per cents, in their purchases when they shall be so
directed by the Governor ; and have drawn up a minute ex
plaining in what manner we wish his discretion to be exercised.
As there are only three Commissioners within reach, I have
thought that you would excuse my inclosing these papers to you,
and troubling you with this long detail. I flatter myself that
you will think that the measure proposed is so evidently for the
public advantage, and so fair in its effects towards individuals,
that we ought not to hesitate in adopting it.
In that case I will request you to have the goodness to return
the papers to me with your signature. I hope that you have
been enjoying your holidays during our second summer ; and
you will probably be enabled to extend them through much of
the autumn, as it is not proposed that Parliament shall meet
till the 27th of November. I am, with great regard.
My dear Sir, faithfully and sincerely yours, W. Pitt.

LETTEE PEOM LOED EEDESDALE TO ME, ABBOT.
Ely Place, Dublin, Sept. Sth, 1804.
My dear Sir, — I came here this morning from my farm that
I might look into the Acts to which you refer. According to my
recollection one case of this kind occurred while I was Speaker,
and upon consultation with HatseU, Mr. Ley, and Mr. Addington,
I declined issuing the warrant. The 24 George IIL, c. 20,
clearly does not apply. The Act, incorporated with and made
part of the Act of Union, applies only to the case of a vacancy
certified to the Chancellor of Ireland by the proper warrant,
•without authorising the issuing of that warrant. It seems to
me, therefore, that no authority for issuing a warrant in the ex
isting case is given by any Act ; and I think it would be very
difficult to frame a law on the subject. The writ of summons
is the ground of the warrant in the case of succession to a Peer
age of Great Britain ; but if that writ has not issued, however
clear the right to it may be, the Speaker cannot issue his
warrant. In the case of succession to an Irish Peerage, it must, for
the purpose of election, be^laimed and allowed by the House of
Lords ; but I apprehend that this claim and allowance is not
necessary for all purposes ; and that, therefore, a person who is
member for an Irish county, &c., becoming entitled to a Peer-

526 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XX.
age, his seat must be deemed to be the seat vacated, whether he
shall have claimed or not, if his title be clear.
Other-wise, in the case of succession to a Scotch Peerage, the
Peer might continue to sit, notwithstanding his Peerage ; and
the Irishman, by not claiming his Peerage, might do the same.
But this cannot be left, I think, to the Speaker : for, if the
Member becoming an Irish Peer represents an English county,
&c., he may remain a Member if he so pleases. It seems to me,
therefore, that the difficulty cannot be removed with any degree
of prudence, and must, therefore, remain.
The same difficulty applying to a Scotch Peerage must have
been in the view of the Legislature when the Act of the 24
George IIL, was made, and not providing for it, they seemed to
have admitted it could not be provided for.
I recollect having some doubt as to the proper evidence of
succession to a Peerage in the case of Lord Donelly, Henry
Sadleir Prittie. That was merely asserted to the House by Mr.
Corry, in moving for the writ. But the same thing happens
in the case of the acceptance of a place, &c., the House relying
on the assertion of its Member. But suppose on the death of
the late Lord Annesley, Mr. Eichard Annesley, his brother, had
represented an Irish county or borough. He asserts himself to
be, and is by Government styled. Earl Annesley ; yet there is a
person claiming to be the legitimate son of the late Lord who
is disputing his right to the title and estate. In such a case, I
apprehend, there would be no ground for issuing a warrant for
a writ, even if the words used in the Act of Parliament had been
more loose.
The state of politics, my dear Speaker, is very uncomfortable.
The violence of party, I understand, to be great ; the Prince of
Wales highly discontented ; the Queen, the Princesses Augusta
and Elizabeth and the Dukes of Clarence, Kent, and Sussex,
taking his part ; whilst the Dukes of York, Cumberland, and
Cambridge, and the younger Princesses, adhere to the King :
and I am told the breach every day grows -wider. You mention
that the Princess Charlotte is to be sent to Windsor for educa
tion : I hear strange rumours on that subject ; and that the mar
riage of the Princess of Wales is to be impeached. Surely this
cannot be seriously thought of by any but the Roman Catholics :
they talk pretty loudly that Mrs. Fi^herbert is the lawful -wife,
and that the Princess of Wales is not lawfully married. One's
blood runs cold at such language. Surely the eyes of men must
soon be opened to the danger which threatens us. But the
ignorance of even generally well-informed people here is extra-

Oct. 1804.] ME. ADDINQTON's CONDUCT. 527
ordinary. I have scarcely met with a man here who was aware
that the Irish Eoman Catholic oath of allegiance is rather
against than to the Protestant succession, under certain
possible circumstances, to which they evidently look; and I
found Dr. Graves, of the College, the other day, quite igno
rant of the existence of convents in Ireland, and staring with
surprise at a legacy of 500Z. to a Franciscan Convent, to be
made a fund for ever to pray for the soul of the testator ; a
sort of legacy which Dr. Duigenan says comes continually under
his view. At the same time the Clergy of the Established
Church are so negligent of their duties, and the Bishops in
general so intent on the accumulation of wealth, and of prefer
ments in their families, and Lords insisting that their booby
sons must be Bishops, however unfit for the duties even of a
curate; that the overthrow of the establishment must take
place if a reform should not early be made. These melancholy
ideas press perhaps too much on my mind, and unfortunately
the Ministers in England will not believe that there is ground
for any apprehension on the subject.
Very faithfully yours, Eedesdale,
At Lord Sheffield's, on the 27th September, I met
Sir James Pulteney. He stated the defence of Kent
and Sussex to consist of 50,000 men ; that materials
were laid upon the shore on several parts of the coast
for building towers, but no further preparations or pro
gress; that the state of the beacons was now under
survey. On the 29th of October Mr. Addington came, and
left us on the 30th. We had a full conversation on the
state of things, and upon his o-wn future line of conduct.
His line wiU be that of frequent, but not constant,
attendance in Parliament, and to deliver his sentiments
freely upon aU questions of importance, whether for or
against the measures of Government ; but with a wish
to be able to support them, for the King's ease and the
pubUc service, which he considers at this time as pe
culiarly identified ; to disclaim aU appearance of making
or keeping together any party of his own. This he had
distinctly told to Lord Hobart, Tierney, and others.
The total failure of Mr. Pitt's BiU for raising men for
the army he considers as the completest refutation of

528 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XX.
the aUeged merits of the plan on which Mr. Pitt raised
himself to power ; and the productiveness of the revenue
received from the war-taxes he considers as the fullest
justification of his financial measures ; appealing to the
finance resolutions of the House of Commons, at the
close of the session, as recording the merits of his
Treasury administration. Vansittart is preparing a
statement to be published in explanation of the matters
contained in those resolutions. The naval defence, as
planned by Lord St. Vincent, has not been superseded
by any better plan; and no attempt to prevent the
French small craft from assembling at Boulogne had
succeeded. The King is wonderfully recovered by his journey to
Weymouth ; and all agree that he is perfectly weU. He
has sent one picture of himself for Mr. Addington's
room at the White Lodge, in Richmond Park, and pro
poses to send another in his fuU robes, to be placed in
the great dra-wing-room there. Mr. Addington showed
me the King's letter announcing this latter picture.
The expressions in the letter were in the highest de
gree kind and flattering ; it says " he has chosen to be
painted in the royal robes, and in that state of cere
mony in which he had been accustomed to hear the
most honest and upright Speaker whom the House of
Commons had ever chosen, recapitulate, at the end of
each session, the proceedings of Parliament, in a
manner reflecting the highest honour on his o-wn
moral, religious, and constitutional principle." These
were nearly the words.
The Queen lives upon ill terms with the King ; they
never sleep or dine together. All the books and pic^
tures are remo-ving from the Queen's House in London
to Windsor Castle.
A reconciliation between the Prince of Wales and the
King is to be attempted next week. Mr. Pitt and
Tierney have laboured at it incessaintly. The place of
Chief- Secretary in Ireland was offered by Mr. Pitt, in
August last, to Tierney, who declined it for temporary

Oct. 1804.] CONDUCT OP FOX. 529
reasons, in reply to which Mr. Pitt said the appoint
ment did not press, and he hoped he should be able to
renew the offer under more propitious circumstances.
This is Mr. Tierney's o-^vn narrative.
Mr. Addington, in June, 1803, and February, 1804,
received overtures from Mr. Fox for joining him, but
put them aside. In jMarch last the ChanceUor had a
tete-a-tete dinner with Mr. Pitt, of which he acquainted
]Mr. Addinorton a month afterwards; and after Mr. Ad-
dington had resolved upon his own resignation in order
to give the King a freer choice of a Ministrj^, the
ChanceUor delivered to the King a letter from Mr.
Pitt, in which there were expressions injurious to Mr.
Addington. Against this proceeding Mr. Addington
remonstrated with the ChanceUor on the night before
the new Ministry was formed; and told him at a
cabinet meeting that to have done so was unpardon
able. The King considered the proposal of ]\Ir. Fox only
as an ostensible measure, and told Mr. Pitt so; and
Mr. Pitt did not press it. The proposal was made in a
letter from Mr. Pitt to the Chancellor, which the Chan
ceUor was to show to the King, and which he did show
accordingly. But the ChanceUor himself said to Mr. Addington
that to have such a proposal made by Mr. Pitt must
give the deepest regret and disgust to aU Mr. Pitt's
personal friends; and to those who were attached by
honest prejudice to Mr. Pitt's general system of past
government, it could be considered -with nothing short
of execration. These words had made a lasting im
pression on ]\Ir. Addington's memory.
The Princess of Wales gives great uneasiness by her
unguarded conduct. The Duchess of York is soon. to
return to Germany.
The Prince of Wales means to dispute the King's
right to educate the Princess Charlotte of Wales.
After Canning's attack upon Lord Hawkesbury, when
he was transferred from the Foreign to the Home De-
VOL. I. MM

530 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XX.
partment. Lord Hawkesbury wrote to Mr. Pitt, and
resigned. Mr. Pitt wrote in explanation, and offered
to dismiss Canning if required. But Lord Hawkesbury
did not insist: Lord Liverpool has the letters, and
shows them. Lord Harrowby is expected to resign soon
on account of his health, and Lord Castlereagh to suc
ceed him; Tierney probably to be President of the
Board of Control.
Mr. Addington had not as yet mentioned his own
proposed line of conduct to anybody, except to HatseU,
on his way do-wn to me. I reminded him of my former
advice to him to have accepted the peerage, &c., but
under present circumstances entirely concurred with
him in thinking the line he proposed to be the best,
urging the necessity of strictly avoiding all party
colouring in his speeches, and avoiding also in his pri
vate habits of society all frequency of intercourse with
persons who were, or might wish to be thought, party-
leaders or intriguers.
He said repeatedly, speaking of his accidental con
versations vdth Lord MelviUe, that nothing could induce
him to accept any share of the present government, but
that, considering himself as the party injured, he could
not in honour or -with any utility make any approaches
to a reconciliation with Mr. Pitt, but that a single ex
pression of genuine kindness and sense of justice towards
him would be fully sufficient to renew with him the
sentiments of early and long friendship, although it
could never be again what it had been.
December. — The war with Holkar, now said to be
terminated favourably for the Company, has been un
dertaken by Lord WeUesley without communication
with his Council, or the other Presidencies, or any
notification of it to the East India Company (so the
Chairman of the Company told me), or any to the
King's Government (so says the Board of Control).
Lord WeUesley issued his own orders to the army, atid
no official account of the beginning or end of it has
reached England. A Spanish war certain. The Dutch

Dec. 1804.] QUAEEELS IN THE EOYAL FAMILY. £31
Admiral refuses to act under military orders from the
French in HoUand.
The King is harassed by family disputes. The
Queen persists in Uving entirely separate. The Prince
of Wales was understood at first to have consented to
the King having the education of the Princess Char
lotte, but now he denies it. Mr. Pitt assured the King
that it was consented to on the authority of Lord Moira ;
but Lord Moira denies that he ever authorised Mr. Pitt
to say so. In the meantime the Princess Charlotte is
removed to Carlton House, and the matter is to be liti
gated. The Prince, it is said, sometimes denies and
sometimes admits that he had consented, but that it
was before he had seen the King at Windsor.
His Royal Highness has made an affidavit in Chan
cery upon the question between Lord Hugh Seymour's
family and Mrs. Fitzherbert, about removing Lord
Hugh's daughter from Mrs. Fitzherbert. His affidavit
is that Mrs. Fitzherbert is the fittest person for educat
ing the child, and, he verUy beUeves, will never inter
fere with the reUgious part of her education. Mrs.
Fitzherbert has made an affida-vit also to the same effect.
It is reported that Lord Harrowby, before his accident,
complained that the orders for detaining the Spanish
frigates were signed on the 18th, but that he was not
made acquainted with the fact untU after he had an
interview -with the Spanish Ambassador on the 25th.
His accident, however, as well as his preceding iU
health, are considered as rendering it impossible for him
to continue in his office. Lord Macartney has posi
tively declined the seals. Lord Malmesbury is said to
be so much recovered in health as to be thought of, and
Lord Mulgrave is also spoken of.
The Duke of York is much complained of as involving
the country in great and unauthorised expenses.
Lord MelviUe has sent Lord Glenbervie's proposition
for a standing committee of Council to superintend the
management of the woods and forests to the Treasury
for official consideration.

532 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XX.
Mr. Pitt and Mr. Addington. On Wednesday last,
Dec. 12th, Mr. Pitt, with the previous sanction of the
King, sent Lord Hawkesbury to Mr, Addington with
overtures for a junction, as related to me by Vansittart
on Saturday, Dec. 15th.
Lord Hawkesbury : Mr. Pitt is desirous of renewing
his ancient habits of friendship with Mr, Addington,
and living upon the same terms of personal and confi
dential intimacy as formerly when they constituted his
happiness ; and thus far without any reference to future
political arrangements and without retrospect. It
would, however, be most satisfactory to have their
friendship reestablished in the public opinion by Mr.
Addington's accepting a share in the Government.
Mr. Addington : Perfectly desirous of renewing a
friendship which it had always been his greatest satis
faction to enjoy; but he had no desire whatever to take
any office.
Lord Hawkesbury : That the reconciliation would
not be considered by the public as complete whilst Mr.
Addington remained out of office. That, after the situ
ations he had filled, he could not Avith propriety remain
a secondary person in the House of Commons, and that
it was proposed that he should be called up to the
House of Peers and become Lord President of the
Council; that it was understood that there were four
persons in the House of Commons for whom he must
naturally expect provision to be made, viz., Bathurst,
Hiley Addington, Bond, and Vansittart; that for the
two latter Government had offices actually vacant;
Bond to be Judge Advocate General, and Vansittart
Chief Secretary in Ireland. And that for the other two,
it was hoped, offices inight soon be found.
Mr. Addington : He was always averse to a peerage ;
he had formerly refused it in the most peremptory but
respectful manner when pressefd by the King, but, for
the present object, and considering the weight of the
reasons which belonged to present circumstances, he
would not make his own repugnance a bar to the gene-

Dec. 1805.] NEGOTIATIONS WITH ADDINGTON. , 533
ral arrangement. That, besides the persons named in
the House of Commons, there were two in the House
of Lords whom he must wish to have considered : Lord
St. Vincent and Lord Hobart, now Lord Buckingham
shire. Lord Hawkesbury : Mr. Pitt entertained very high
respect for the former, and every disposition to consider
him, but could not say he had the same feelings towards
the latter.
Mr. Addington added, as a matter of private friend
ship, he should be glad if something could be done for
Hobhouse. Lord Hawkesbury was to report the conference to
Mr. Pitt.
The King was to see Mr. Addington.
The Duke of Cumberland told Vansittart on Monday
last that Vansittart was now to go to Ireland as for
merly intended, but that it would make part of a more
extended arrangement than had been then proposed.
Mr. Addington communicated this to Vansittart on
Thursday, and was to see him again on Saturday.
EXTEACT OP A LETTEE PEOM LOED EEDESDALE.
Arduin, Dec. 31st, 1804.
Sir Wm. Scott gave me the first intelligence which I could
depend upon of the reconciliation. He attributed it in a great
degree to the exertions of Lord Melville and Lord Hawkesbury,
seconded by His Majesty.

534 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XXI.

CHAP. XXL
1805.'
LETTER FE03I ME. VANSITTAET.  UNDEESTANDING BETWEEN PITT AKD
ADDINGTON.  BUONAPAETe's LETTEE TO THE KING.  PEOCEEDINGS
PEEvious TO Pitt's eesumption of office. — budget. — negotiations
OP THE lEISH catholics WITH PITT.  CHAEQES AGAINST LOED MELVILLE.
 LETTEES FEOM LOED AUCKLAND.  CONVEESATION WITH THE PRINCE
OF WALES.  H.E.h's FEIENDS OBJECT TO PEESSING THE CLAIMS OF THE
EOMAN CATHOLICS.
LETTEE PEOM ME. VANSITTAET TO ME. ABBOT.
[Most Secret.] Bisham Abbey, Jan. 1st, 1805.
Mr dear Speaker, — I am just returned here from Eichmond
Park, between which and to-wn I have spent the last three days.
If I had written to you on any one of them I should have led
you into some error, as whatever appeared fixed on one day was
unsettled the next. Two great points, however, appear to be
ascertained ; first that the intercourse between the two principal
parties is of a really cordial and confidential nature ; and se
condly that Mr. Addington has conquered his reluctance to the
House of Lords ; a circumstance which has always appeared to
me essential to the stability of their union. Much, however,
remains to be done ; and unless greater activity is used than has
hitherto appeared, things will be in a very confused state at the
meeting of Parliament.
With respect to myself nothing seems clear, except that I am
not to go to Ireland ; and therefore that you will be spared the
trouble of a great number of inquiries. What is not the least
extraordinary circumstance is that Canning is the person now
talked of. I shall remain in the country till Thursday the 10th,
when Mr. Pitt is to give us a dinner at Eoehampton. He has
behaved with great civility to me, and explained the business of
July last so far as it is capable of explanation.
Believe me, my dear Sir, faithfully yours, N, Vansittart.

Jan. 1805.] BUONAPAETE WEITES TO THE KING. 5^5
Saturday, Jan. 12th — Saw Mr. Addington with Mr.
Pitt in Downing Street. Mr. Pitt put into my hands
the draft of the King's speech, and a copy of Buonaparte's
letter to the King (which arrived this week), proposing
peace in general terms. It began " Monsieur mon frere,"
and ended " Votre bon frere." The beginning of it
annouTticed that he had been caUed to the throne by
Providence, the senate, the people, and the army; and
the rest of the paper, which was very long, consisted of
reasonings, expostulations, and insinuations (in the
true TaUeyrand style), aU urging the sincerity of Buona
parte's wishes for peace, and the policy which should
induce England to accept these offers for putting an
end to a war without object and without end, &c. &c.
We had some conversation afterwards upon House of
Commons business; and I left them together. Their
manner towards each other was cold and constrained.
lAth  At a council to-day Lord Sidmouth was ap
pointed President.*
Vansittart told me the progress had been thus. On
Saturday, 29 th December, Mr. Addington wrote to Mr.
Pitt, repeating his desire to remain in the House of
Commons ; at the same time that he was ready to sup
port the King's Government without office. But if it
was deemed necessary that he should go up to the
House of Peers he must hold some high office, and bring
with him into the Cabinet one of his former colleagues,
naming Lord Hobart (now Lord Buckinghamshire), as
well as place some of his personal friends — Bond, Van
sittart, and Bathurst f — in official employments. To
this, on Monday, December 31st, Mr. Pitt replied at con
siderable length, preferring the latter course. The
Duke of Portland was then written to, and he declined
continuing Lord President, or taking the Duchy of
Lancaster; and consequently these two offices were
vacant for Mr. Addington and Lord Hobart, Of the
subordinate arrangements none were finally settled, but
* Mr. Addington was created Lord Sidmouth a day or two before.
t Mr. Bragge had lately taken the name of Bathurst.
M M 4

536 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XXI.
it was understood that Bond was to be Judge Advocate,
and Vansittart one of the joint paymasters. The Chief
Secretaryship of Ireland undisposed of.
In the course ofthe day " JVIoniteurs" were received
by the newspaper editors containing Buonaparte's speech
to his senate, and his expose of the state of the French
Empire, of great length and particularity; and insist
ing expressly, as to England, that a consent to abide
by the terms of the Treaty of Amiens and the surrender
of Malta were the requisite proofs of a pacific disposi
tion. 15th. — [Parliament opened.] The King read his
speech with uncommon spirit and distinctness.
In the House of Commons Mr. Fox and Mr. Wynd
ham commented on the Address without opposing it ;
noticing the omission of any mention of the Catholics,
or of the failure of the Bill for augmenting the Army.
Mr. Pitt replied shortly, and the House rose before six.
lOifA. — House of Commons ; no debate on the report
of the Address. Dr. Duigenan desired me to mention
to Mr, Pitt his intention of mo-ving for a Bill to enforce
residences in Ireland, and to put the draft of the BiU
into his hands, which I did accordingly.
20^^. — Went to Richmond Park to Lord Sidmouth,
and had a long conversation with him upon aU that
had occurred in the recent changes.
Lord Sidmouth related to me the whole from begin-'
ning to end, and showed me the King's letter, and his
own to Pitt, and Pitt's answer, -with authority to
mention any or every part of the transaction at my
own discretion, as I might think useful.
The first step was taken by Mr. Pitt in a letter to
the King, towards the approach of the session, stating
that he had thought it his duty to consider of .the state
of parties with a view to the support of his Majesty's
Government, and submitting, &c. &c.
After which Lord Hawkesbury, by Pitt's desire,
under the King's approbation, wrote to Mr. Addington
to request a meeting on the subject ; and accordingly, on

Jan. 1805.] NEGOTIATIONS WITH ME. ADDINGTON. 537
Wednesday the llth of December, Lord Hawkesbury
and Mr. Addington met.
The substance of this conversation is the same as I
have noted in my journal of 14th December, with these
additional circumstances.
After Lord Hawkesbury had opened his commission,
Mr, Addington stopped him, to ask distinctly whether
what he was authorised to propose originated in a sense
of the difficulties of Government ; or in a corrected and
altered feeling towards him. To which the answer
was, that the proposition to be made was accompanied
with the most thorough cordiality and personal confi
dence, &c. And upon this explanation of the senti
ments which accompanied the overture it proceeded.
At the close of the conversation, Mr, Addington,
besides naming the persons who were to be considered
as his attached friends, if ^any arrangement took place,
also stated that there were others whom it was neces
sary to mention at this time, though they stood in rela
tions not justifying him in proposing them for Mr.
Pitt's consideration, because they were entitled to con
sider themselves as older or more attached friends to
Mr. Pitt than to himself: Steele and Yorke, for such
and such reasons respectively.
On the Friday following, the difficulties of admitting
Lord Buckinghamshire into the Cabinet, &c. &c., were
considered to be such that the matter came to an end.
Mr. Addington abided by his proposition ; Lord Castle
reagh endeavoured in vain on the Sunday to alter his
determination, and he went to Wiltshire for the follow
ing week.
Upon his return to Richmond Park on Saturday the
23rd, he received a note from Lord Hawkesbury, that
the difficulties were at an end. On the Sunday Lord
Hawkesbury and Mr. Addington met, and it was agreed
that what remained could only be settled personally
between Mr. Addington and Mr, Pitt.
On the Monday they met at Combe Wood. Lord
Hawkesbury quitted the room before Mr. Pitt came

538 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XXI.
into it, and Mr. Pitt, upon entering, stretched out his
hand to Mr. Addington ; " I rejoice to take you by the
hand again," The interview continued three hours
without any third person present; and, as may be
imagined, not without some emotion. The general
outlines were discussed between them, of public affairs
and the proposed arrangements; Mr. Addington pro
fessing then and throughout his anxious wish to con
tinue in the House of Commons, supporting the King's
Government with a seat in the Cabinet, that he might
share the responsibility, but without office or honour.
Tuesday, 25th [Dec], the King -wrote to Mr, Adding
ton, and to Mrs, Addington and to Mr, Pitt, express
ing in the warmest terms his satisfaction at the inter-
-view which had taken place, and the, revival of " early
beatitudes of friendship " between two persons most
attached to him, and to their, country, &c. This letter
I saw. Wednesday, 26th [Dec], Mr, Pitt and Mr, Addington
dined together alone, and renewed the topics of their
former conversation, upon which Mr, Addington was to
give his further determination on the Friday foUowing
to Mr. Pitt, who would meet him at HatseU's.
On the Friday, by some accident, Mr. Pitt did not
keep his appointirient.
On the Saturday Mr. Addington wrote a letter to
Mr. Pitt, containing the result of his deliberation, and
adhering to his original desire of remaining in the
House of Commons, unless Mr. Pitt should think the
peerage absolutely necessary towards making the
junction effectual, in which case the office he was to
have must be efficient. The Duchy of Lancaster he
would not consent to take for life as a provision ; nor
did he consider it as the office which would answer the
purposes proposed.
On the Sunday Mr. Pitt (who had in the meantime
explained and excused his not keeping the appointment
for the Friday) announced that upon the fuUest con
sideration he did think the Peerage essential, and with

Jan. 1805.] NEGOTIATIONS WITH ME. ADDINGTON. 539
respect to the office, he would write to the Duke of
Portland. This was replied to by Mr. Addington consenting to
it; and so the arrangement was completed. These
three letters I saw.
On the Saturday it happened that, after Mr. Ad
dington had sent off his letter to Mr. Pitt (without
consulting or showing it to any of his friends or family,
except his son), the King came unexpectedly to Rich
mond Park, and had a long conversation, expressing
his sa^sfaction at the reconciliation, and proceeding to
talk of the Princess Charlotte's education, &c. Upon
which subject he commanded Mr. Addington to come
to him at Kew on the Wednesday foUowing.
Upon the Wednesday Mr. Addington went to Kew,
where the King was dining, and commanded him, as he
does any equerry, to be seated whilst the dinner was
going on. But no conversation whatever took place
then respecting the official arrangements to be made.
Nor did the King make the smaUest allusion to that
subject at any time, until afterwards, upon Mr. Ad
dington's kissing hands for the Peerage, the King said,
" I am glad to have you -with me again." This proof
of the King's honourable and exclusive confidence in his
Minister, and his abstaining to hold communication
with the person most interested in the future arrange
ment until it was completed by the Minister himself,
was mentioned by Mr. Addington to Mr. Pitt, and
made a strong impression.
Beyond this, Mr. Addington told Mr. Pitt that it
was impossible but numberless accidents inight occur
of words or things ascribed to one or other of them,
which, if unexplained as they arose, might tend to
create uneasiness in future ; and urged that they might
always be communicated instantaneously, as the surest
extinction of any future misunderstanding which, after
the dreadful lesson they both had received, would be of
the utmost importance to them.
Before a complete support was promised, explana-

540 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE, i^B. XXl,
tions took place ; first, upon the Spanish war and its
grounds ; secondly, on the Defence Bill.
Steele and Pitt shook hands on Thursday last. As
to Long, no difficulty arose in an immediate recon
ciliation with Addington; but as to Canning, Mr,
Addington said, his feelings never could be altered ; he
never could meet him, but he had no desire to interfere
with his private friendships or prospects of success.
23rd. — Vansittart called. The arrangement for
Mr. Addington's friends not yet settled.
2Qth. — At dinner I told Mr. Pitt of my disposition
to contribute my endeavours towards introducing a
better legislative style into our biUs ; and that the best
way appeared to me to be, by putting the original
formation of them upon better principles, as to expres
sion, enactment, &c., to which he entirely agreed; and
I am to give notices to Harrison, &c. ;
Monday, February llth. — Debate on the address
upon the Spanish papers till one in the morning.
Then adjourned. Mr. Pitt opened the debate in a
speech of two hours and a half; Mr. Grey as long;
Lord Castlereagh, Lord Temple, and Sir John MchoU,
each an hour.
12th. — Adjourned debate upon the Spanish papers,
lasted till five in the morning. Division; for the
address, 313; against it, 106.
15th  BiU ordered for the abolition of the Slave
Trade. Went through Irish Habeas Corpus Sus
pension Bill in Committee. Division upon filling up
the blanks, on Lord Henry's Petty's motion for two
months, with a -view to a Committee of Inquiry;
for the two months, 54; against it, 159.
ISth — Budget supply. Great Britain, 37,000,000^. ;
joint contributions, separate charge, 7,000,000^. ; total
44,000,000Z. Ways and Means, Surpluses, 7,000,000/.; War
Taxes, 15,000,000/,; Loan, 22,000,000/,; total,
44,000,000/, Taxes to defray Loan ; increase on Post Office, salt,

Feb. 1805.] PITT'S SENTIMENTS ON EMANCIPATION. 541
horses, and legacies; besides 25 per cent, increase on
Property Tax.
21st. — House of Commons. Mr. Wyndham's mo
tion for a Committee on the Defence Bills; for it, 96;
against it, 242. The only speakers were, Mr. Wynd
ham for three hours and a half, and Mr. Camjing in
reply; and after a few words from Sir Wm, Young,
the division took place at half-past ten, Mr, Sheridan
gave notice of a motion for repealing the Defence
Bill, on Tuesday, March 5th.
2Qth  Sir Evan J^epean* came about papers or
dered by the House of Commons to be returned from
Ireland. He explained his difference with Lord Hard
wicke there.
Last summer, Marshall (formerly private secretary
to Marshall Conway, afterwards to Lord Castlereagh,
and for a few weeks my private secretary) came to
Sir E, Nepean from Mr, Scully, the Catholic barrister
and pamphleteer, to say that the Catholics -wished mucli
to know Mr, Pitt's sentiments, and that they would
communicate to Sir E, l^epean, for Mr, Pitt's informa
tion, all their proceedings, provided he. Sir E. Nepean,
would not make it known to the Lord-Lieutenant, or
Lord Redesdale, or any of the Irish Government. That
accordingly they did so, and Sir E, I^epean reported
it regularly to Mr. Pitt. That Lord Fingal, an hon
ourable but weak man, ostensibly communicated
between the Catholics and the Lord-Lieutenant; but
that, at last, the Lord-Lieutenant had discovered this
private intercourse, and had complained that he was
counteracted by his own chief secretary, &c. &c, and
therefore had refused to hold any further official com
munication with him. Sir E. IJ^epean had answered
the Lord-Lieutenant's letter denying that he had
counteracted, &c., insisting that he had enforced the
same measures; and avowing that his private inter
course -with the CathoUcs was with the privity of the
English Government. I told him that I thought it
* He had lately been Irish Secretary.

542 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XXI.
might well admit of a difference of opinion, whether
any one in the situation of chief secretary to the Lord-
Lieutenant was at liberty to accept information of that
nature, accompanied with a condition of concealing it
from the Lord-Lieutenant, without having the Lord-
Lieutenant's sanction for such a proceeding. Sir E.
Nepean allowed this to be the matter at issue ; and so
we ended this part of our conversation.
2Sth. — House of Commons. Slave Trade BiU;
second reading put off for six months, 77 to 70.
Wednesday, March Qth. — House of Commons.
Sheridan's motion for repeal of Mr. Pitt's Defence
Act. Debate till half-past three; for it, 127; against
it, 267.
llth. — House of Commons. Middlesex Sheriffs
heard by council upon the e-vidence from the Com
mittee. Sent to Newgate for their misconduct at the
election of 1802 -without a division. The Solicitor-
General, Gibbs*, made his first speech, and was ex
tremely well heard. Neither Mr. Pitt nor Mr. Fox
spoke. 12th. — Husbandry Horse Duty Bill of 7s. Qd. each
thro-wn out on second reading: 76 to 73. Salt Duty
Bill, third reading, passed by 92 to 54. Passed the
Additional Property Duty Bill.
13th — Lord John Thynne had sat and voted since
his re-election (having accepted the office of Treasurer
of the Household) without taking the oaths, &c We
looked through the Acts of Parliament, and settled the
course of proceeding. The Bishop of Oxford came
about his BiU for repealing the restriction of the Mort
main Act, which prevents colleges from purchasing
more livings than are equal in number to one half of
their fellows.
After the Bishop left me I went to Mr. Pitt, and
stated to him Lord John Thynne's case ; also the Bishop
of Oxford's intended Bill ; and proposed to him to take
it under his protection when it came to the House of
* Afterwards Sir Vicary Gibbs, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas.

March, 1805.] NAVAL EEPOET. 543
Commons; which he expressed himself to be desirous
of doing. After conversing upon the business of the
session, he told me that the prospect of continental co
operation was highly flattering ; and that if no unto
ward accidents intervened, there was a well-founded
expectation that Austria and Russia would join in curb
ing France; and that there would be 400,000 men in
arms against France at the beginning of the campaign.
We talked over the failure of the Bill of the preceding
evening ; and he said " he would be ready -with another
tax to supply its place, to be carried through before
Easter; about which time the subsidy question would
be ready."
He asked me at parting what would be the proper
time for beginning public business every day. I said I
thought half-past four, if he could come. He said by
aU means ; it was just as easy for him to come at that
hour as at any other. He actually came at five.
1 Sth  House of Commons. Steele moved Lord John
Thynne's -writ; and afterwards leave to bring in a bill
of indemnity for him for having sat and voted since his
re-election -without taking the oaths. It was accord
ingly brought in and read a first time.
19th. — House of Commons. Mr. Fox gave notice
that he should on Monday present the Catholic petition.
Mr. Grey (for Mr. Whitbread) fixed Thursday fort
night for a motion upon the Tenth Naval Report.*
* The Committee for inquiring into the state of our naval establishments
presented a series of reports, in the tenth of which, relating to the office of
the Treasurer, they reported, among other things, that " The sums standing
in the name of the Treasurer of the Navy at the Bank had been for the
most part considerably less than the unappropriated balances ; " that Mr.
Trotter, the Paymaster, " had acknowledged that he had been in the practice
of drawing money from the Bank in large sums, and lodging it in the hands
of private bankers ; and that Lord Melville had admitted that he had per
mitted Mr. Trotter to do so." Mr. Trotter, "moreover, had admitted that
he had occasionally laid out (in compliance with Lord Melville's instruc
tions) 10,000Z. or 20,000Z. for his use or benefit, without considering whether
such advances were made out of public or private balances." That Lord
Melville "had declared that he could not say what had been done with,
some of these sums without disclosing delicate and confidential transactions
of Government, which his duty to the public must restrain him from reveal-

544 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XXI.
23rd. — The ChanceUor came to discuss the British
Museum appointments. Whilst he was with me it was
agreed that he should write to the Archbishop of Can
terbury to claim our right * of being consulted upon the
election of trustees; and to state our intention of
ha-ving the persons considered whom we then were to
appoint to the vacant offices. The Archbishop of Can
terbury came to my levee in the evening. He said in
a complaining sort of tone that the ChanceUor had been
so good as to give him a great deal of advice and in
struction about the British Museum appointments and
elections; that he wished Lord St. Helens to be a
trustee; that the ChanceUor had proposed no name,
and pressed me much to name persons. I told the
Archbishop that I would fairly tell him that the prin
ciples which should, in my opinion, govern the choice
were rank and literary character conjointly or severally,
general respectability of character, and residence for a
considerable part of the year in London.
25^A. — House of Commons. Mr. Fox presented the
Catholic petition, and gave notice of a motion upon it
for the 9 th of May. No observations were made upon
the merits of it by any member, except Mr. Cart-wright,
who expressed his regret that the question was now
brought forward when it was known that it could not;
succeed. I have seldom seen the House fuller.
2Sth. — No declaration from Mr. Pitt as yet of the
part he means to take upon the Tenth Report. The
rest of the Cabinet unacquainted -with it. In the House
of Commons much dissatisfaction amongst the general
supporters of the Administration.
29th. — Canning gave me a short statement by way
of letter from Lord Melville to the Commissioners of
ing;" and "had objected to inform the Committee whether he had derived ,
any profit or advantage from the use or employment of money issued for
carrying on the current service of the navy, on the express ground that no
one was compellahle to answer any question whioh might tend to crimi
nate him." — See the whole report, Hansard, 15th ser., vol. iii. p. 1147.
* As ex-officio trustees.

April, 1805.] CIIAEGE AGADSTST LOED MELVILLE. 545
Naval Inquiry, aUeging Trotter's confusion of his ac
counts of pubUc and private money as the reason why
it was impossible for Lord MelviUe to swear that, in the
advances made to him by Trotter as his private agent.
Lord MelviUe might not have had some use of public
money in Trotter's hands. I returned the statement at
night. Monday, April 1st  Mr. Pitt moved for a copy of
Lord Melville's letter to the Commissioners of Naval
Inquiry. N.B. It is understood that Lord Sidmouth, Lord
Buckinghamshire, and Lord Hawkesbury have expressed
their opinion that Lord MelvUle, notwithstanding his
explanatory paper, should either stand an inquiry or
resign altogether.
Ath. — Bishop of London called on the Curates' BiU.
Sir Wm. Scott brought in this Bill in 1803, which was
thrown out by the Lords at the end of the session, upon
a groundless objection, as a tacking BiU. The Chan
ceUor at the time admitted to me that it was groundless.
Sir Wm. Scott undertook to bring it in early in the
next session of 1804, but brought it in late, and let it
drop. Now, in 1805, he hesitates, and thinks his con
stituents at Oxford -will disapprove of it.
5th. — House of Commons. Mr. Francis's motion for
a resolution to adhere to the principles of 1782, and the
subsequent Acts against extension of territory in India.
Previous question carried by 105 to 46.
Qth — Went in the evening to see the young Roscius*
in Achmet, in Barbarossa. Perfect grace of action ; an
eloquent eye, and powerful expression of countenance,
though with features regular and elegant; a distinct
and varied elocution, and a just conception of his cha
racter. His voice, however, rather thick and clouded,
an occasional tendency to rant, and some false cadences ;
upon the whole an astonishing performance for his years,
highly pleasing and interesting.
* A boy of the name of Betty, at this time about ten years old.
VOL. I. N N

546 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XXI.
1th. — Called upon Mr. Pitt by appointment, and gave
him my collection of precedents applicable to the busi
ness of to-morrow ; telling him at the same time, as the
truth was, that " I had not had any intercourse with
anybody upon the subject, which had not sought me,
nor had I sought it." He thanked me, and told me
that he understood from Grey through Canning that
the course intended by Opposition was, first to go into
a Committee of the whole House, and then to move
resolutions of fact deduced from the Tenth Report;
concluding with some resolutions of censure. That his
present intention was to move for a Secret Committee
to be appointed by baUot, by whom the examination of
the many points arising upon the report could be more
conveniently conducted than by any debate in the House.
But that he was expecting the Master of the RoUs and
Attorney and Solicitor Generals upon the subject.
He then showed me instructions which he had just
received from Cambridge University to support the
Bishop of Oxford's Bill for repealing the restrictions in
the Mortmain Act which prevent coUeges from pur
chasing more advowsons than half their own number of
fellows. I also mentioned the Curates' BiU, which Sir
W. Scott had abandoned, but he said the Attorney-
General, who was not so easily intimidated, had under
taken it. Here our conversation ended.
In the course of my ride from Do-wning Street, I met
Lord Sidmouth in the King's Road, who made me get
into his chaise, that he might relate to me what had
lately passed as to Lord Melville. It was as foUows:—
That from the time of his conversation with me upon
the Museum election, he had not had any opening -with
Mr. Pitt upon the subject tiU yesterday se'nnight; when
Mr. Pitt first asked his opinion upon it. That he had
then distinctly told Mr. Pitt, -without reserve, as an
opinion pronounced to him for the first time, and un-
communicated to any other person whatever, not only
the improbability but the impossibility of Lord MelviUe
clearing himself -with the public; that he (Lord Sid-

April, 1805.] CHAEQE AGAINST LOED MELVILLE. 547
mouth) had not talked upon the subject with his OAvn
friends to bind, or even to sound them, as to their
proposed conduct; but he could have little doubt of
their sentiments, and how they would act, particularly
those who had held public situations. He warned Mr.
Pitt of the danger of committing himself in a defence
of Lord MelviUe, by which he must hurt himself -with
the nation, and which would render it impracticable for
him. Lord Sidmouth, to continue of the same Govern
ment, even if Lord Melville should ultimately -with
draw. Mr. Pitt said, such an event would be destruction ;
and that, if Lord Sidmouth's friends concurred in the
proposed vote of censure, it must and would be carried.
Lord Sidmouth suggested that the only course to be
taken was to refer the inquiry to a Committee, which
would relieve Mr. Pitt from the dangerous task of at
tempting to defend Lord Mel-ville ; and would also make
Lord Mel-viUe's faU, if he was to faU, the work of other
hands, and not Mr. Pitt's o-wn act.
After this conversation, nothing material had passed
tiU Thursday last, when Lord Sidmouth went to Mr. Pitt
in the country, and urged distinctly the measure of a Com
mittee ; Lord Hawkesbury had all along been strongly
for it ; and Lord Castlereagh latterly. On Friday this
was communicated to Lord Melville, who had very
reluctantly acceded to it.
A Cabinet was to be held further on this business
to-day, at four o'clock. He had told Mr. Pitt that I
ought to be spoken to as soon as the measure was agreed
upon; and Lord Sidmouth undertook that I should
know to-morrow morning the precise determination
taken. He was also of opinion that Lord Melville
ought to relieve the King's Government from any hazard
of suffering by his case, and retire during the approach
ing recess at Easter.
Sth. — Lord Melville censured.
House of Commons. Mr, Whitbread, according to
notice brought forward his motions upon the tenth
report, and opened, in a speech of three hours, the
N N 2

548 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XXI.
history of Lord MelviUe's conduct in his office of
Treasurer of the Navy, and the constitution of the
office, the irregularities of Mr. Trotter, &c, &c.
Upon the first motion being put to the question, Mr,
Pitt stated the case of Lord MelviUe, not as defending
or justifying, but remarking upon the explanations
which the case might receive if inquired into by a
Select Committee; and concluded by moving the
previous question.
, Lord Henry Petty followed in a very able speech, and
the debate was continued by the Attorney-General,
Mr. Tierney, Canning, the Master of the RoUs, George
Ponsonby, Fox, Wilberforce, &c., till four o'clock in the
morning. Upon the division, the numbers being 216 and 216,
it came to me to give my casting vote.
I spoke to the House as foUows : —
In proceeding so to do, I shall beg leave to state very briefly
the reasons which will govern my vote. Three charges have
been advanced against the noble lord, — violation of the Act of
Parliament (25 George III. c. 61); connivance at the profits
illegally made by Mr. Trotter for his own private use out of
the public moneys ; and participation in those profits. On the
other hand, it has been urged that material information may be
derived from a further inquiry, which ought to influence the
House in its final decision upon these charges. But, upon the
best attention I have been able to give to the result of this
important debate, it appears to me that although such further
information may be applicable to the latter charge, it cannot
have any reference to the former charges, which are confessed
and established; and fit for the immediate judgment of the
House. I shall accordingly give my vote -with the ayes. And
so the ayes have it.
The main question was accordingly put and carried,
and several more; the last of which contained the
charge that Lord Mel-viUe, by his connivance, &c., was
guilty of a gross -violation of the Act of ParUament,
and a high breach of duty. This was also carried
¦without a di-vision,
Mr. Pitt then propo^sed to put off any further pro-

April, 1805.] CHAEGE AGAINST LOED MELVILLE. 549
ceedings upon the charge till Wednesday, which Mr.
Fox agreed to, upon condition that the House was also
adjourned to that day, as he would not consent to its
doing any business whatever whilst the public affairs
remained in the hands of a disgraced Ministry.
Adjourned at five in the morning.
9th  Lord Sidmouth was perfectly satisfied with my
vote as the only way by which the character of the
House of Commons could have been rescued. He
afterwards saw Mr. Pitt, and, when I met him again,
he told me that Mr. Pitt had -written to the King, that
"the Speaker had necessarily voted for the question." Mr.
Pitt had acknowledged the propriety of my conduct,
and so had Robert Dundas, Lord Mel-viUe's son.
Corry, Rose, and everybody who spoke to me upon
this business, agreed that it was equally advantageous
to the House, and also of essential convenience to the
Ministers, by putting an end to the question of Lord
Mel-viUe's guilt or innocence.
Lord Melville resigned this day.
10th  Met Mr. Pitt in my ride, and had a con
versation of a sort perfectly civil and friendly, as to
the probable proceedings of this day; the length of
adjournment, &c
House of Commons. Mr. Pitt announced Lord
MelviUe's resignation. Mr. Whitbread moved an address
to remove Lord Melville from His Majesty's presence
and councils for ever. This produced, a long and in
teresting debate ; the House not seeming prepared for
so strong a vote until the rest of the inquiry had been
gone through. The motion was withdrawn, but the
House came to an unanimous resolution to lay their
former resolutions before His Majesty; and to carry
them up by the whole House.
llth  After common business, commissioners went
up to St. James's -with the resolutions ; none of the Minis
ters went, nor Messrs. Fox, Grey, Sheridan, Wyndham,
Gren-viUe, &c. Whitbread apologised for indisposition.
The resolutions were entitled, like the votes, " Lun«
S N 3

55« DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XXI.
8 ApriUs, " &c., and the Deputy Clerk signed his name
at the foot; to the whole was prefixed half a sheet, on
which were the foUowing words :
Most Gracious Sovereign, — We, your! Majesty's most duti
ful and loyal subjects, the Commons of Great Britain and
Ireland in Parliament assembled, have come to the following
resolutions ; and have unanimously resolved that they be laid
before your Majesty.
The King gave for answer: —
Gentlemen, — I shall on all occasions receive with the greatest
attention any representation of my Commons, and I am fully
sensible of the importance of the matter which is the subject of
your resolutions.
The House before it went to St. James's adjourned
to this day fortnight. I saw Mr. Pitt in the course of
the morning upon the mode of arranging the business.
I left London.
EXTEACTS OP A LETTEE FEOM LOED AUCKLAND TO
ME. ABBOT. Palace Yard, April 23rd, 1805.
My dear Sir, —  Things are in a strange state ;
I have had the advantage since yesterday of seeing several
leading individuals of opposite persuasions. The ins are much
dejected, and the outs are elated; perhaps the fears of the one
and the expectations of the other are somewhat exaggerated.
But, at best, the embarrassment is very serious. The mere con
signment of such an inquiry to a Committee of your House is,
in a great degree a dereliction of the powers of Government ;
for, if that Committee should be appointed, as I conceive it
must be, -with a majority of individuals disposed to push the
inquiry, no bounds can be put to the proceedings; to their
duration, or to their consequences.
" Fertm- equis amiga, neque audit currus habenas."
Lord Melville has retained counsel, and talks (I am told) of
being heard by counsel against some Bills of restraint, &c., ex
pected to be brought forward.
In the meantime it has been found impracticable to induce
anybody to take the Admiralty in any way that can give weight

April, 1805.] CHAEGE AGAINST LOED MELVILLE. 551
or numbers. I do not believe that Mr. Yorke will be the
person, nor Lord Hawkesbury, nor Lord Hood, nor any of those
who have been named. I rather think that we shall hear to
morrow of some new and actual nomination ; possibly of the
description of Sir Charles Middleton, or of some individual still
less expected.
Some measures are to be brought forward in your house on
the subject of Army expenses.
I conceive that Mr. Whitbread's motion will be postponed
till Friday or Monday. Believe me, my dear Sir,
Ever yours most sincerely, Auckland.
P.S. I am privately told that Mr. Pitt is by no means well
in health.25th. — Returned to town. Received a note from
Vansittart [saying that he had caUed "in order to
mention to me some occurrences not unimportant
which had happened within the last few days"].
The events alluded to were the appointment of Sir
Charles Middleton (created Lord Barham) to be First
Lord of the Admiralty, without any previous notice
to his colleagues in the Cabinet; and Lord Sidmouth
ha-ving signified his own and Lord Buckinghamshire's
determination to resign if that appointment took place ;
considering it to be an affront to the House of Commons
to appoint to such a situation the preceptor of Sir Andrew
Hammond; and the person who had chosen Jlr. Fordyce
for his colleague in the commission for reforming the
ci-vU concerns of the Na-vy.
Hause of Commons, Grey complained of a libel in
the " Oracle " upon the majority of the 8th inst. against
Lord MelvUle ; and the printer was ordered to attend
to-morrow, Whitbread moved fqr a Select Committee on the Tenth
Report generaUy, Mr, Pitt moved an amendment to
restrict it to certain points, leaving the matter of
amounts and participation of profits to a suit for an
account in the Court of Exchequer,
Di-fision for Mr. Pitt's amendment, 229; against it,
151, And another division upon balloting for the Com-
N K 4

552 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XXI.
mittee instead of proposing it by name. For Mr. Pitt's
motion for a baUot, 251; against it 120. Adjourned
at one o'clock. *
2Qth, — Met Lord Sidmouth. Went -with him to Van
sittart's. He then told me the growing causes of his
dissatisfaction with Mr. Pitt's conduct towards him;
his having prevented Mr. Pitt from undertaking (as he
had intended) the justification of Lord MelviUe before
the recess ; his endeavours, during the recess, to obtain
some proper arrangement of the Admiralty; his suc
cessive propositions of placing there Lord Hood, or
Lord Castlereagh, or Lord Hawkesbury, or Mr. Yorke ;
and the preference given to Sir Charles Middleton, to
which he had objected very decidedly. His o-wn offer
to take the seals of the Home Department, in case Lord
Hawkesbury went to the Admiralty, which had been
put by with an announced intention to put Lord Cam
den there in case of Lord Hawkesbury quitting it.
That all these and other points had been discussed
when Mr. Pitt dined with him on Friday, the 19th
inst. ; that Mr. Pitt had promised to be with him the
next day, to settle the arrangements, that he had not
come that day nor Sunday; but, on Monday last,
had -written to Lord Sidmouth a note (which he showed
me), acquainting him with his having -written to the
King to recommend Sir Charles Middleton, &c. To
this, by the same messenger. Lord Sidmouth returned
an answer (which he showed me), declaring that, in
consequence of this determination, he must resign his
situation in His Majesty's Government, &c. *
On Tuesday they dined together at Windsor, but no
conversation took place. It was the installation day.
On Wednesday they had a fuU conversation, in which
Lord Sidmouth had persisted in his opinion and de
termination; and Mr. Pitt, regretting it, had, at the
same time, admitted that he had no cause of complaint
whatever against any part of his conduct since their
* Mr. Pitt's and Lord Sidmouth's letters are given in the Life of Lord
Sidmouth, vol. ii. p. 35

April, 1805.] CHANGES IN THE MINISTEY. 553
last junction, nor before it ; that the scene was painful
and affecting.
That yesterday, before Lord Melville's further ques
tions Avere brought forward, lest the event, whatever it
might be, should appear to have influenced his decision,
he had again written a letter (which he showed me),
requesting Mr. Pitt no longer to delay laying before
the King his resignation.
Lord Buckinghamshire had -written to Lord Sid
mouth a letter (which I also saw), to the same effect :
that he should unquestionably resign also for the same
reason. •
House of Commons. Printer ofthe " Oracle " brought
before the House for a paragraph reflecting on the con
duct and character of the House of Commons, for their
vote of the 8th inst. After some debate he was com
mitted to the Serjeant.
Lord St. Vincent mentioned to Mr. Fox the resigna
tions, and Mr. Fox mentioned them to the Prince of
Wales; and it was generally kno-wn to the principal
persons at the dinner of the Royal Academy.
28^7i. — Saw Lord Glenber-vie. From him I learnt
that yesterday morning Sir H. Mildmay had declared
his friends had now got rid of Mr. Addington, which
they had long wished for, and were heartily glad of.
And yesterday evening it had been the general talk of
the opera that the resignations had taken place ; that
the Duke of Gordon had insisted it was not true, and
quoted Lord Chatham as having said " he inclined to
believe it was not true."
Saw Lord Auckland. On Friday or yesterday Lord
Chatham had talked with Lord Sidmouth, and in vain
endeavoured to bring him to a waiver of the resigna
tion ; but, in fuU discussion, had admitted that nothing
could be said against it. Lord Hawkesbury had written
a long expostulatory letter against the resignation for
such a cause as Sir Charles Middleton's appointment ;
to which Lord Sidmouth had -written a fuU answer,
stating this appointment not to be the one cause, but

554 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XXI.
the last and final event of many which had been long
leading to the same end.
Yesterday there was to have been a council, but
Lord Sidmouth declined attending, and it could not be
held. That Lord Chatham had at last been desired by
Mr. Pitt to acquaint Lord Sidmouth that Mr. Pitt
would not send the resignations to the King, but
wished to see him upon the subject; in consequence
of which they met yesterday at four o'clock.
Saw HatseU. He gave me the sequel. The dis
cussion between Lord Sidmouth and Mr. Pitt was full.
Lord Sidmouth pressed him to declare if he had any
cause of complaint respecting his conduct. Mr. Pitt :
" None since our junction ; nor before." — Lord Sid
mouth: "Yes, before; there was the pamphlet." — Mr.
Pitt : " Oh no, I have been satisfied about that long
ago." The result was that it was agreed to suspend
the resignations, upon three conditions, which Lord
Sidmouth was at liberty to declare to all his friends, as
well as to mention aU that had passed. Conditions : -^
1. That Sir Charles Middleton's appointment shaU be
announced to be only temporary. 2. That aU naval
abuses shall be effectuaUy prosecuted. 3. That Lord
Sidmouth's friends should be at liberty to act as they
pleased, without its affecting the present state of the
parties. Lord Sidmouth, who was to have seen the
King to-day, agreed to postpone it, and meet Mr. Pitt
again, saying that he was not yet convinced of the ne
cessity of not persisting in his resignation, but had no
objection to see Mr. Pitt on it once more. Vansittart
came in and confirmed all these particulars. The King
says Sir Charles Middleton's is a foolish appointment.
LETTER PEOM LOED AUCKLAND.
[Confidential.] Sunday, 9 A.M.
My dear Sir, — You -will have heard, or will hear this morning,
that the rumoured dififerences and separations are in a train of
arrangement. It is sometimes possible that a shake which

MiY, 1805.] CIIAEGE AGAINST LOED MELVILLE. 555
threatens the downfall of the building may eventually contri
bute to its permanency and security. Still, however, for the
character of the edifice, and for the feelings of those who live
under its roof, I could wish that the "settlement" in the foun
dation had not become the object of public observation. Iu
truth, I was well electrified yesterday, when I found that a
secret on which you and I had not ventured to speak, not even
to each other, was known in an assembly of 200 politicians and
painters. Yours ever most sincerely, Auckland.
In my walk to-day I met the streets fuU of persons
of aU ranks, discussing upon the contradictory rumours
of the resignation.
29th. — House of Commons. Ballot reported. De
bate on motion for proceeding against Lord Melville for
account. Amendment to proceed criminally. For the
account, 223; against it, 128.
Vansittart came home -with me. He had seen Lord
Sidmouth, and did not understand that any specific
measures or changes were agreed upon to take place
now, or at any stipulated time, as the conditions of the
reconciUation. 30th. — Sir Charles Pole caUed. He had seen Lord
Sidmouth, and did not find any circumstances or con
ditions upon which the reconciliation had been founded,
and he had told Lord Sidmouth, after hearing him out,
that this was not the first time he had been taken in.
AU Lord St. Vincent's friends very angry.
House of Commons. Whitbread's motion to strike
out Lord Castlereagh from the Committee : 86 against
219. Thursday, May 2nd. — House of Commons. Printer
(of the " Oracle ") petitioned to be discharged. Division,
123 to 142. Reprimanded and discharged. Thanks
voted to the Commissioners of Naval Inquiry; long
debate, but no di-vision.
3rd. — Great alarm for the West Indies.*
* The French fleet had escaped fi;om Nelson in the Mediterranean and
gone there ; but he had pursued them with such energy and unparalleled
sagacity and skill, though with a fleet of less than half their force, that
he had prevented them from doing us the slightest injury.

556 DIAEY OP LOED COLCHESTEE. [Cn. XXI.
Qth. — Lord Sidmouth and Bond called. The recon
ciliation grounds were stated by Lord Sidmouth in the
same way I had before understood them, and that Lord
Sidmouth had concluded with telling Mr. Pitt that he
was willing to try it as an experiment.
As to Lord Melville, on Saturday last Mr. Pitt made
up his mind to give way to Whitbread's motion ; the
only question with him was the mode, whether by letter
from Lord Mel-viUe proposing it, or by Mr. Pitt antici
pating the debate by announcing it, or by hearing Mr.
Whitbread's motion, and then, upon the apparent sense
of the House, deferring to that sense, if so expressed.
But Mr. Pitt was to let Lord Sidmouth know his de
termination yesterday ; to-day at one o'clock he had not
even yet heard from him.
House of Commons. At the sitting of the House,
Bond told me that as he and Lord Sidmouth went from
me, they met Mr. Pitt going do-wn to his examination
before the Select Committee ; and he had told them that
he should prevent the expected debate of to-day, by an
nouncing that Lord Melville was to be struck out of the
Privy Council. Accordingly, after Mr. Whitbread had
made his speech, and moved to take the King's answer
into consideration, Mr. Pitt acquainted the House that,
although he had conceived there not to have been a
disposition at the time of the vote against Lord Mel
ville to press this measure, he had, from the debates
since, and from the intercourse with individual mem
bers, found the present disposition of the House to be
decidedly for that measure, and he had therefore thought
it his duty to ad-vise His Majesty to erase Lord Mel
ville's name from the Council, which His Majesty had
directed to be done at the next CouncU which should
be held.
Some further speeches foUowed, in which Mr. Fox
triumphed in the victory of the House over the Minis
ter; Mr, WiUiam Dundas made a hot and indiscreet
vindication of Lord MelviUe, and an attack upon Mr.
Fox, as the son of Lord Holland, who had made profit,

Mat, 1805.] CIIAEGE AGAINST LOED MELVILLE. 557
when paymaster, out of the public money; to which
Mr. Fox replied, by contrasting the different situations
of the offices before and since Lord Melville's* and Mr.
Burke's Acts.
Mr. Pitt this day, in his examination before the Com
mittee, stated that in 1797 he had with Mr. Dundas's
consent borrowed upon security 4000/. surplus of naval
moneys, to enable Boyd and Benfield to make good an
instalment due upon their loan.
1th. — House of Commons. Angry motions for papers
respecting Lord St. Vincent's naval administration.
Sth. — At the Antient Music the Prince of Wales en
tered into a long conversation with me, condemned the
altercations in the House of Commons about naval
papers, expressed his surprise at Mr. Pitt saying one
day that he would not advise Lord MelviUe's being
struck out of the Privy CouncU, and announcing upon
a subsequent day that he had advised it. Spoke very
favourably of Whitbread's manner of opening the
charge and carrying on the proceedings against Lord
MelviUe. Wondered Lord MelviUe did not offer him
self for examination ; thought that nothing was now
left but impeachment. Spoke of the Master of the
RoUs's two last speeches as having fallen much below
his expectations. Endeavoured to persuade all his
friends not to meddle -with these quarrels, but to look
to the greater concerns of the country in these times of
external danger. Ridiculed the idea of Lord Barham,
at eighty-two, becoming First Lord of the Admiralty
and having a peerage for himself and daughter, accom
panied -with an intimation that he was only a temporary
First Lord, and not to last many weeks. He mentioned
also the Catholic question ; said that he had so far pre
vailed -with Mr. Fox as not to think of bringing forward

* The Act which Fox here speaks of as Lord Melville's, was one passed
in 1785, for regulating the department of Treasurer of the Navy, when the
salary of the Treasurer was raised from 2000Z. to 4000Z. a year, in lieu of all
profits, fees, or emoluments he might before have derived from allowances of
the public moneys in his hands.

558 DIAEY OF LOED COLCHESTEE. [Ch. XXI,
the whole claim, but to soften it down to a question for
a Committee. That he had not succeeded quite so
easily -with his friend Lord Grenville, &c., and then
went into high encomiums on his talents, &c.
9th — Dr. Beche caUed; his report is that the Duke
of Northumberland, Sheridan*, Tierney," and several
leading persons of Opposition have declared their de
cided disapprobation of the Roman Catholic claims.
Lord Auckland came to talk over the Lords' proceed
ings in Lord Melville's case. The Lords' standing
order of 20th Jan. 1673, and the cases of Lord Tor-
rington, 1690, Duke of Leeds, 1695, Lord Somers, 1701,
Bishop Atterbury, 1723, Lord Sandwich, 1769, &c.
Lord HaAvkesbury came afterwards upon the same
matter. He stated to me the precedents, and the argu
ments and doubts of the Lords, upon which they were
to meet again to-day ; and, upon the whole, it seemed
best to us that the Lords should (upon all the papers
before them, and their knowledge of our votes) assume
that there were points upon which Lord Melville stood
accused, and therefore answer us by a message that they
had referred the matter of our message to a Committee
of Privileges, — that, in the meantime. Lord Mel-viUe
had applied to the Lords for leave to be examined by
the Commons, and that they had given him leave to go
and be examined if he should think fit upon the matters
referred to the Select Committee (according to Lord
Sandwich's case, 19th Dec. 1768), except such as had
been already made an accusation against him, by the
resolution of the Sth April, meaning thereby to main
tain the principle of their standing order.f
10th  Cowper came by my desire to talk over the

• This is the more probable, as from Moore's Life of Sheridan (vol. ii.
c. xix) it appears that Sheridan did, at the instance of the Prince, endeavour
to prevail on Fox not to present the Eoman Catholic petition, though his
attempt failed, because Fox had already promised to present it. But at a
later period Fox himself agreed in the propriety of not moving the question
during the King's lifetime.
t See upon this point HatseU, vol. xiii, p. 7, and vol. iv. pp. 139-317.

Mat, 1805.] THE CATHOLIC PETITION. 559
precedents of messages requiring the attendance of
peers to be examined by the Committees.
House of Commons. Mr. Jeffreys made his motions
upon the Admiralty. A long conversation, in which
Lord St. Vincent's friends complained of the attack,
and this mode of inquiry by papers, urging a Com
mittee, and a Secret Committee if necessary.
Panegyric upon Lord Barham and his services, his
abUities, and present acti-vity of body and mind, pro
nounced by Mr. WUberforce; and no adverse comment
made upon it.
The Lords debated the Catholic Petition tiU three
in the morning ; and then adjourned till Monday. The
Duke of Cumberland, Lord Sidmouth, Lord Hawkes
bury, and Lord Redesdale spoke against the claim
as inadmissible at any time.

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