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CORRESPONDENCE
OF
WILLIAM PITT
EARL OF CHATHAM.
EDITED BY THE. EXECUTORS OF HIS SON, JOHN, EARL OF CHATHAM,
AND PUBLISHED
FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS IN THEIR POSSESSION.
VOL. I.
LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
MDCCCXXXVIII.
London :
Printed by A. Spottiswood^,
New- Street- Square.
HA if S3
TbA3
TO ILLUSTRATE AN EVENTFUL PERIOD OF ENGLAND'S STORY,
AND TO DEVELOPE THE CHARACTER OF AN HEROIC STATESMAN,
THESE PAPERS
WILLIAM PITT, EARL OF CHATHAM,
ARE PRESENTED TO
THE BRITISH PUBLIC,
BY
HIS GREAT-GRANDSONS, THE EDITORS.
July 12th, 1838.
William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, was born No- vember the 15th, 1708. He was the younger son of Robert Pitt, of Boconnock in Cornwall, Esq., by Harriet, sister of John Villiers, Earl of Grandison, and he was grandson of Thomas Pitt, sometime governor of Madras.
He received his education at Eton ; from whence he was sent, at the age of eighteen, to Trinity College, Oxford. Upon quitting the University he made a tour through part of France and Italy. His limited income making it advisable for him to select some profession, he obtained a cornetcy in the Blues.
In 1735, he took his seat in Parliament for the borough of Old Sarum, where he quickly became distinguished for his abilities and eloquence. Sir Robert Walpole resented his opposition by de- priving him of his commission. He was then appointed groom of the bedchamber to His Royal Highness Frederick, Prince of Wales ; and in the administrations which followed the retirement of Walpole, he successively filled various official situations, and was chosen of the Privv Council.
VI
At length, on the 4th of December 1756, Mr. Pitt kissed hands as Secretary of State. In the following April, he was commanded to resign ; but so strongly was the public opinion of him expressed, that the seals were re-delivered to him on the 27th of June.
No sooner did he take the lead than the spirit of the nation was roused into action, and all parties united for the common good. His virtue gave dignity to the policy of England ; his genius taught enterprise to the leaders of her armaments ; — the wisdom of his measures was rewarded by a series of conquests throughout the world ; and for a period of four victorious years the British flag- waved triumphantly in every clime : but his vigorous measures ceasing to be supported in the Cabinet as he conceived they ought to be, he re- signed, October the 5th, I76I.
In July 1766, Mr. Pitt was again summoned to form an administration ; when, retaining for himself the office of Privy Seal, he was created Earl of Chatham.
The gout, to which from his very boyhood he had been subject, had for some years increased, both in the severity and duration of its attacks; and
Vll
in the early part of 1 767, he was so severely afflicted, that for several months he was absolutely incapaci- tated from all attention to business. In this help- less condition, he had nothing to wish for but retirement : an assurance, however, from his Sove- reign, that his name alone was sufficient to give stability to his Government, induced him to con- tinue nominally attached to the administration. But, in the following year his recovery appearing hopeless, and feeling dissatisfied with some of his colleagues, who adopted measures of which he could not approve, he again resigned, October the 12th, I768 ; nor did he ever afterwards take office.
Throughout the disputes between England and her American Colonies, he had ever been a zealous advocate for conciliation, and had strongly urged the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766. In the House of Lords, he continued to recommend the abandonment of coercive measures, especially in 1774. His warning voice, however, was dis- regarded, and in 1776, the Colonies proclaimed their independence. Even then he relaxed not in his endeavours to induce the Government to effect a reconciliation : — but the announcement of a Treaty of Amity between France and America in 1778 called forth the proud indignation of the patriot.
Vlll
His last attendance in the House of Lords was on the 8th of April, in that year. The Duke of Rich- mond having moved to withdraw the British troops from America, and insisting on the necessity of the measure, Lord Chatham, with enthusiastic energy, opposed the motion. The Duke having replied, his Lordship attempted again to rise, but his strength failing, he fell in a convulsive fit ; from the effects of which he died on the 11th of May, at Hayes, in Kent.
This great man was buried in Westminster Abbey, at the expense of a grateful country, and public monuments record his fame.
He married, in 1754, Hester, only daughter of Richard Grenville, of Wotton, Esq., and of Hester, Countess Temple. On his retirement from office in l?6l, his wife was created Baroness Chatham, with a pension of 3000/. per annum, for three lives.
They had five children, three sons and two daughters, of whom William, the second son, inheriting his Father's abilities and patriotism, has stamped the name of Pitt with a double im- mortality.
CONTENTS.
1741. Page
Mr. Pitt to the Earl of Chesterfield, August 6. — Laments the state
of affairs abroad - - - 1
The same to the same, September 10. — Congratulations on the Earl's recovery. Court of France. Cardinal Fleury. Lord Waldegrave - - - 2
1746. Peregrine Furye, Esq. to Mr. Pitt, July 31. - -5
1746-7. Thomas Orby Hunter, Esq. to Mr. Pitt, March 7. — State of the British forces in Flanders - - - 7
1747. The same to the same, April 4. — Preparations for opening the
campaign - - - - - 11
The same to the same, April 14. - - - 14
The same to the same, April 21. — French invasion of Dutch
Flanders - - - - - 16
The same to the same, April 25. - - 17
The same to the same, May 9. - - - 19
The same to the same, July 7. - - 20
Mr. Pitt to the Duke of Newcastle, July 10. — Congratulations on
Admiral Anson's victory off Cape Finisterre. Death of Captain
Thomas Grenville - - - - 22
1747-8. The Hon. Henry Bilson Legge to Mr. Pitt, January 8. — Regrets
the death of his own brother - - - 24
The Duke of Newcastle to Mr. Pitt, January 19. — His endeavours
to preserve peace with Prussia. Mr. Legge's mission to Berlin - 26
1748. The Hon. Henry Bilson Legge to Mr Pitt, May 10—21.— Con- gratulations on the prospect of peace - - - 28
X CONTENTS.
1750. Page
The Duke of Newcastle to Mr. Pitt, March 31.— Narrates a con- ference with his brother on the composition and state of the ministry - - - " - 31
The same to the same, July 4 — 15. — The subject renewed. Election of a King of the Romans. French encroachments in America - - - - - 34?
The same to the same, August 12 — 23. — Announces the com- pletion of the treaty with Bavaria - - 43
Mr. Pitt to the Duke of Newcastle, August 24. — Congratulations on the treaty, and on the union between the brothers - 44
The Duke of Newcastle to Mr. Pitt, September 9—20. - 47
Mr. Pitt to the Duke of Newcastle, October 10. - - 48
The Right Hon. Henry Pelham to Mr. Pitt, October 12. — Announces the conclusion of the treaty with Spain - - 49
The same to the same, October 20. — Sends him a copy of the treaty with Spain - - - - 52
The Duke of Newcastle to Mr. Pitt, November 17. — Fraternal altercations. Threats of resignation - - - 54
Mr. Pitt to Horatio Walpole, Esq. December 3. — Returns thanks for his Observations on the Spanish treaty - - 56
1751.
Mr.Pitt to his nephew, Thomas Pitt, Esq. September. — Recom- mends an attention to Pope's numbers. Virgil. Homer. Dryden's Fables. Terence - - - 57
The same to the same, October 12 - - - 62
1752.
Mr. Pitt to Horatio Walpole, Esq. February. — Thanks him for his Speech against the new Subsidiary Treaties - - 63
1754.
Mr.Pitt to Thomas Pitt, Esq. January 12. — Congratulations on his settlement at Cambridge. Use of learning. Love of pleasure. Early rising. Hours of reading. Plan of studies. Books to be read - - - - - 64
The same to the same, January 14. — Advice on the choice of companions. Conversation. Religion - - 70
The same to the same, January 24. — Behaviour. Politeness - 76
The same to the same, February 3. — Study of Locke. Use of our own reason. French language. Geography - - 81
Mr.Pitt to the Duke of Newcastle, March. — Death of Mr. Pelham. General election. Sir George Lyttelton - - 85
CONTENTS. XI
Page
Mr. Pitt to Thomas Pitt, Esq. March 30. — Course of reading. Early rising - - - - 88
The Earl of Hardwicke to Mr. Pitt, April 2. — Details embar- rassments occasioned by the death of Mr.Pelham. Agitations on the choice of a successor. Unsuccessful exertions to introduce Mr. Pitt - - - - 89
The Duke of Newcastle to Mr. Pitt, April 2. — Details pro- ceedings for forming a new administration. Sir Thomas Robinson. Mr. Legge. Mr. George Grenville. Sir George Lyttelton. Labours to surmount the King's prejudices against Mr. Pitt - - - - " 95
Mr. Pitt to the Duke of Newcastle, April 5. — Expresses his mor- tification at his exclusion in the recent arrangements ; and his wish for retreat - " 100
Mr. Pitt to the Earl of Hardwicke, April 6. — States his reasons for his determination to inaction ; and gratitude for the exertions on his behalf. Laments the King's personal dislike. Satisfaction at the appointment of SirGeorgeLyttelton and Mr. George Grenville 103
Mr. Pitt to Thomas Pitt, Esq. May 4.— Proposes a course of English history. Recommends Oldmixon's 'Remarks,' and Nathaniel Bacon's 'Observations.' . " 107
The Right Hon. Henry Fox to Mr. Pitt, August 20. — Recommends the case of the Chelsea pensioners to his consideration - - 110
Mr. Pitt to the Right Hon. Henry Fox, August 20. — Promises to devise a measure of relief - - - 1 1 1
Mr. Pitt to Thomas Pitt, Esq. September 5. — Common-place books. Lord Clarendon. May's History of Parliament - 113
Horatio Walpole, Esq. to Mr. Pitt, October 19. - - H6
1755.
Thomas Pitt, Esq. to Mr. Pitt, March 29. - - 117
Mr. Pitt to Thomas Pitt, Esq. April 9. — Avis au lecteur - 118
Thomas Pitt, Esq. to Mr. Pitt, April 12. — Gives an account of his
literary journey. Selects 'An omnc solum '&c. for a declamation 119 Mr. Pitt to Thomas Pitt, Esq. April 15. — Approves his choice of
a thesis. Danger of the affirmative maxim ' Omne solum, ' &c.
Ludlow. Bolingbroke - - - 121
Thomas Pitt, Esq. to Mr. Pitt, April 20. — Describes the effects
of his uncle's encouragement. Wishes and hopes to become
a conspicuously good man . ■- 122
The Right Hon. Henry Fox to Mr. Pitt, April 25. — Details his
negotiation with the Duke of Newcastle. The King refuses him
the lead in the House of Commons - - - 124
The same to the same, April 25. — Encloses his letter to the King,
and asks advice thereon - - - 126
Xll CONTENTS.
Page The Right Hon. Henry Fox to the King, April 25. — Relinquishes the lead in the House of Commons ; but hopes to be summoned to the cabinet council - - - 128
The Right Hon. Henry Fox to Mr. Pitt, April 25. — Alterations in
his letter to the King - - - - 129
Mr. Pitt to the Right Hon. Henry Fox, April 25. — Thinks the
alterations therein liable to misconstruction - - 130
The Right Hon. Henry Fox to Mr. Pitt, April 25. - - 131
The same to the same, April 26. — Announces that the King admits
him into the cabinet council - - - 132
Mr. Pitt's remarks on the preceding correspondence - - 134
Thomas Pitt, Esq. to Mr. Pitt, May 18. - - 138
Mr. Pitt to Thomas Pitt, Esq. May 20. — Congratulations on his
declamation - - - - 138
The same to the same, July 13. — True knowledge. Fame - 140
The same to the same, July 24. - - - 141
Thomas Pitt, Esq. to Mr. Pitt, July 27. - - 142
The same to the same, August 27. - - 143
Horatio Walpole, Esq. to Mr. Pitt, September 15. — Answer to
his inquiry on the state of public affairs - 144
Mr. Pitt to Thomas Pitt, Esq. September 25. — Enquires after his progress in English history. Recommends Welwood's Me- moirs. Sir. John Davis's Ireland. Blair's Chronology - 146 Thomas Pitt, Esq. to Mr. Pitt, October 7. — Details progress of his
historical journey. Davis's Ireland. Burnet. Pere Orleans - 148 Mr. Pitt to Thomas Pitt, Esq. December 6. - - 150
1756.
The same to the same, January 13. — Commends his nephew's elegy on his mother's picture. Recommends Vitriarius's Jus Publicum - - - - -151
Thomas Potter, Esq. to Mr. Pitt, May 11.— Prior Park. Ralph Allen - - - - 153
Mr. Pitt to Thomas Pitt, Esq. May 1 1. — Inquires after the progress of his historical studies - - 155
The Earl of Bute to Mr. Pitt, June 3. — Thanks for his zeal in behalf of the Prince and Princess of Wales - - 156
Thomas Potter, Esq. to Mr. Pitt, June 4. — Interview with Dr. Stone. Death of chief justice Ryder. Rumoured changes. Charles Yorke. Arrangements of the Duke of Newcastle. Temper of the House of Commons - - - - 158
The Right Hon. Oeorge Grenville to Mr. Pitt, June 7. — Laments the result of Byng's engagement. Culpability of the executive - 163
The Right Hon Henry Bilson Legge to Mr. Pitt, June 16. — Re-
CONTENTS. Xlli
Page commends SirW. Moreton for solicitor-general to the Princess of Wales. Rear-admiral West - - - 166
The Earl of Bute to Mr. Pitt, July 15. — Complains of neglect of the Prince of Wales's letter to the King - - 169
The same to the same, July 20. — States the wish of the Prince to have the free choice of his servant - - - 170
Mr. Pitt to Thomas Pitt, Esq., October 7. - - - 172
The same to the same, October 10. — Announces the birth of a son. A father's first wish - - - - 173
Thomas Pitt, Esq. to Mr. Pitt, October 12. — Details the progress of his studies - - - - 174
Thomas Potter, Esq. to Mr. Pitt, October 17/ — Precarious state of the ministry - - - - - 1 78
Sir Richard Lyttelton to Mr. Pitt, November 2. — Details the nego- tiations for forming a new ministry. Mr. Fox's interview with the King - - - - .179
The Right Hon. Henry Legge to Mr. Pitt, November 3. - 183
William Beckford, Esq. to Mr. Pitt, November 6. — Urges the necessity of a change of measures. Volunteers his services to Mr. Pitt - - - - 185
Earl Temple to Mr. Pitt, November 9. — Narrates the progress of the negotiations for forming a new ministry - 186
The same to the same, November 11. — Terms for coming into administration. Duke of Newcastle resigns. New ministry settled. Mr. Pitt secretary of state - - 190
The Right Hon. George Grenville to Mr. Pitt, November 18.
Preparations for meeting parliament. King's speech - 196
The Right Hon. Henry Fox to Mr. Pitt, November 28 ; enclosing letters from Lord Tyrawly - - 199
Lord Tyrawly to the Right Hon. Henry Fox, August 20. — Minorca. Gibraltar - 200
The same to the same, August 27. - - - 201
The same to the same, September 20. — Defenceless condition of Gibraltar. Wishes to resign his government thereof - 204
Andrew Mitchell, Esq. to the Earl of Holdernesse, December 9. — Character of M. de Knyphausen. Designs of the French in the East and West Indies. Projected invasion of England - 206
Mr. Pitt to Sir Benjamin Keene, December 14. — Assurances of personal regard, and of a determination to cultivate a good understanding with the court of Spain. General Wall - 209
1757. Sir Benjamin Keene to Mr. Pitt, January 11. — Friendly disposition
of the court of Spain - - - - -212
Gilbert Elliot, Esq. to Mr. Pitt, January 13 ; enclosing letter
from Sir James Stewart - - - 214
XIV CONTENTS.
Page
Sir James Stewart to John Stewart, Esq. — State of the King of Prussia's army and resources - - - 215
The Hon. George Townshend to Mr. Pitt, January Jo. - 21G
Lord Tyrawly to Mr Pitt, February 1. — Entreats permission to return home. Operations of the French at Minorca. State of the works at Gibraltar - 217
Mrs. Osborn to Mr. Pitt, February 17. — Implores his intercession with the King, in behalf of her brother, Admiral Byng - 220
Mr. Pitt to Mr. Thomas Cumming, February 19. — Encourages his design against the French settlements in Africa - - 221
The Hon. George Townshend to Mr. Pitt, February 14. — Entreats him to support the militia bill in parliament - - 222
The Earl of Bute to Mr. Pitt, March 2. — Congratulations on the success of his measures in behalf of the King of Prussia - 223
Andrew Mitchell, Esq. to Mr. Pitt, March 12. — Communicates the King of Prussia's thanks for his speech on the treaty - 225
Mr. Pitt to Andrew Mitchell, Esq. March 31. — Expresses senti- ments of veneration and zeal for the King of Prussia. [Mr. Pitt commanded to resign, note.'] - - 226
The Earl of Hardwicke to Mr. Pitt, May 25. — States that the Duke of Newcastle solicits a conference - 227
The Archbishop of Armagh to Mr. Pitt, May 29. — Plans for forming a new ministry. Duke of Newcastle's irresolution. [Ineffectual negotiations for forming a new administration, note.']- 230
The Earl of Hardwicke to Mr. Pitt, June 22. — Disposition of the great seal _ . _ _ 232
The Earl of Hardwicke to Mr. Pitt, June 25. — Narrates his interview with the King on the disposal of the great seal. Chief justice Willcs makes a peerage the sine qua non of acceptance. Sir Robert Henley's terms. [Mr. Pitt re-appointed Secretary of State. The new administration settled. Disastrous state of public affairs, note.] -____. 233
The Duke of Newcastle to Mr. Pitt, July 11. — State of the British forces in North America. Sir John Ligonier's peerage. Death of the Queen of Prussia. [Inglorious retreat of Lord Loudoun and Admiral Holbourne, note.] - - - 237
John Wilkes, Esq. to Mr. Pitt, July 14th. — Announces his return for Aylesbury. Expressions of esteem and admiration. Promises of support -_..._ _ 240
The Earl of Bute to Mr. Pitt, Aug. 5. — Defeat of the Duke of Cumberland at Hastenbech. Deplores the dreadful state of affairs ; but takes hope at seeing Mr. Pitt in office - - 240
The Duke of Newcastle to Mr. Pitt, Aug. 13. — Regrets the delay in the sailing of the expedition to Rochfort. Suggests an attempt on Corsica - 241
CONTENTS. XV
Page
The Right Hon. George Grenville to Mr. Pitt, Aug. 14. — La- ments the distressful state of affairs. Defeat of the Duke of Cumberland. Situation of the Landgrave of Hesse. Death of Admiral West - - . 243
Mr. Pitt to Sir Benjamin Keene, Aug 23. — Instructs him to sound the Spanish government concerning an exchange of Gib- raltar for the island of Minorca ; the disposition of the royal family with respect to the succession ; and the designs of the house of Austria --._._ 247
Mr. Pitt to Thomas Pitt Esq., Aug. 28. ... 256
Thomas Potter, Esq. to Mr. Pitt, Sept. 11. — Gives an account of disturbances from the attempts to carry the militia act into ex- ecution - _-.___ 257
Sir Benjamin Keene to Mr. Pitt, Sept. 26. — Regrets the decline of his health, and solicits his recall - 262
The same to the same, Sept. 26. — States the result of inter- views with M. Wall. British usurpations in Spanish America. Restitution of Gibraltar. Composition of the Spanish ministry. Picture of the court ..... 263
Thomas Potter, Esq. to Mr. Pitt, Oct. 11. — Discontents at the return of the expedition against Rochfort ... 277
William Beckford, Esq. to Mr Pitt, Oct. 22. — Regrets the failure of the Rochfort expedition. Urges an armament against Cape Breton - - - - - 278
Mr. Pitt to Thomas Pitt, Esq. Oct. 27. - - 282
Dr. Warburton to Mr. Pitt, Nov. 21. — Expresses his gratitude for his promotion to the Deanery of Bristol ... 283
Mr. Pitt to the Duke of Bedford, (Lord Lieutenant of Ireland,) Nov. 26. — Disturbed state of the country. Resolutions of the Irish parliament against pensions. Stoppage of the supplies. Advises measures of conciliation and union - - 284
The Duke of Bedford to Mr. Pitt, Dec. 5. — Will endeavour to conciliate the Kildares and Ponsonbys. Complains of the mis- representations of the primate's faction. - -288
The Earl of Exeter to Mr. Pitt. — Complains of the Rutlandshire militia being ordered to march, and asks why he has been de- ceived - - - 292
Mr. Pitt to the Earl of Exeter, in reply ... 293
1758. M. D'Abreu (envoy from Spain) to M. Wall (Spanish minister
for foreign affairs), March 3. - - - - 294
The same to the same, March 10. .... 298
The Earl of Bute to Mr. Pitt March 11. - - 301
The Duke of Newcastle to Mr. Pitt, March 17. - - 302
Xvi CONTENTS.
Page Mr. Pitt to the Duke of Newcastle, April 4. — Urges the necessity
of reducing the army estimates - - 305
The Duke of Newcastle to Mr. Pitt, April 5, in reply - 306
The King to Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, April 28. — Expresses his approbation of the Prince's conduct, and urges him to pursue the enemy beyond the Rhine - 309
The Duke of Newcastle to Mr. Pitt, May 10. — Expedition against
St. Maloes - - - - - 31 1
The Earl of Holdernesse to Mr. Pitt, May 10. — Conduct of the
Landgrave of Hesse - - - - 313
Dr. Warburton to Mr.Pitt, May 15,with a copy of the Divine Lega- tion - - 315 The Earl of Bute to Mr. Pitt, June 4. — Laments the total loss of public spirit - - - - 316 The same to the same, June 16. — Regrets the failure of the
expedition against St. Maloes - 318
The same to the same, June 27. — Prince Edward's appointment 319 The same to the same, June 28. — Congratulations on Prince
Ferdinand's successes at Crevelt ... 320
Mr. Pitt to Lady Hester Pitt, July 1. — Expresses his anxiety for
the fate of Louisburgh, &c. - - -321
The Earl of Bute to Mr. Pitt, July 2. — Laments the return of the expedition to St. Helen's .... 322
EarlTemple to Mr.Pitt, July 5. — Expresses his regret at the return of the fleet re infecta, and anxiety for the issue of the attempt against Louisburgh - - 323
Lord George Sackville to Mr. Pitt, July 3. — Complains of General Blighe's appointment, and desires to be struck off the staff - - - - - 326
William Beckford, Esq. to Mr. Pitt, July 10. — Recommends at- tempts on the French coast, and sending cavalry to the assist- ance of Prince Ferdinand - 327 Major General Amherst to Brigadier General Wolfe, Aug. 6. - 330 The same to the same, Aug. 8. - - 332 The Duke of Marlborough to Mr. Pitt, Aug. 15. — State of the
British army in Germany - 334
The Earl of Bute to Mr. Pitt, Aug. 20. — Regrets the repulse of
General Abercrombie at Ticonderoga. - - 335
The Duke of Marlborough to Mr. Pitt, Aug. 18. — Complains of improper promotions in the Hanoverian army, and solicits a general's commission - 337
The Right Hon. George Grenville to Mr. Pitt, Aug. 23. — Laments the miscarriage at Ticonderoga, and death of Lord Howe - - . 338
CONTENTS. XVII
Page
Colonel Give to John Payne, Esq., Aug. 24. — Revolution in the Carnatic. Deplorable condition of the East India Company's civil affiairs. Necessity of a thorough reform - -341
The Hon. George Townshend to Mr. Pitt, Aug. 27. — Congratu- lations on the taking of Louisburgh. Wishes to be employed in one of the expeditions to the French coast ... 345
The Duke of Marlborough to Mr. Pitt, Sept. 1. — Returns thanks for his general's commission. Situation of the British army in Germany ____._. 34.8
The Earl of Bute to Mr. Pitt, Sept. 8. — Congratulations on the King of Prussia's victory at Zorndorff ... 34,9
M. D'Abreu to Mr. Pitt, Sept. 11. — Complains of the King's marked conduct towards him .... 350
William Beckford, Esq., to Mr. Pitt, Sept. 11. — Victories of the King of Prussia. Necessity of reducing the power of France. Urges a southern expedition - - - - 352
Lord Barrington to Mr. Pitt, Sept. 20. — Repulse at Ticonderoga. Preparations for a new expedition - 354
Sir Joseph Yorke to Mr. Pitt, Sept. 22. — Release of the Surinam ships. Embarrassments of the Princess Royal of Holland -358
The Duke of Newcastle to Earl Temple, Sept. 28. — Replies to the Earl's application for the vacant garter. Claims of Lord Holdernesse and the Marquis of Rockingham - - 359
Earl Temple to Mr. Pitt, Oct. 1. — States his reasons for not making him a party to the application ... 352
Mr. Pitt to Earl Temple, Oct. 2., in reply - 363
The Earl of Bristol to Mr. Pitt, Oct. 9. — Projects for re-marrying the King of Spain. [TheKing's melancholy situation and death, note] - _ 364
Thomas Potter, Esq., to Mr. Pitt, Oct. 25. - 365
Lord George Sackviile to Mr. Pitt, Nov. 11. — Complains of alterations in his instructions as commander in chief of the British forces in Germany. Movements of the armies. Expense of contracts _..__. 357
Brigadier-General Wolfe to Mr. Pitt, Nov. 22. — Ofieis to serve in America -.__._. 379
The Earl of Bristol to Mr. Pitt, Nov. — . - - -371
Lord George Sackviile to the Earl of Holdernesse, Dec. 7. — Thanks him for leave to return to England - - 374
William Beckford, Esq. to Mr. Pitt, Dec. 18. — Presses him to undertake the siege of Quebec. And of Montreal - - 376
Major-General Wolfe to Mr. Pitt, Dec. 24. — Navigation of the river St. Lawrence - ... 378
Lieutenant Caldwell to Major-General Wolfe, Oct. 27. - 381
Lieutenant Leslie to Major-General Wolfe, Oct. 30. - - 384
a
XV1U CONTENTS.
Page 1750.
The King of Prussia to Mr. Pitt, Jan. 5. — Returns thanks for the attention paid to his interests - 385
Colonel Clive to Mr. Pitt, Jan. 7. — Details the actual state of Affairs in India. Expediency and practicability of further aggrandizement. Decline of the French power - - 387
Andrew Mitchell, Esq., to Mr. Pitt, Jan. 7. — King of Prussia's approbation of the measures taken in his behalf - - 393
The same to the same, Jan. 8. — King of Prussia solicits Earl Marischal Keith's pardon .... - 394
Sir Joseph Yorke to Mr. Pitt, Jan. 9. — Release of the Dutch ships. Efforts to adjust the differences. Illness and death of the Princess of Orange. - 396
Mr. Pitt to Andrew Mitchell, Esq., Jan. 26. — Announces the Earl Marischal pardon - 400
Mr. Pitt to the King of Prussia, Jan. — Returns thanks for his Majesty's letter - - - - - 401
Major-General Wolfe to Mr. Pitt, May 1. — Details the progress of the expedition against Quebec - 403
Andrew Mitchell, Esq., to Mr. Pitt. May 20. — Conversation with the King of Prussia respecting peace - 407
The Duke of Newcastle to Mr. Pitt, May 24. — Mr. Hampden and Lord Besborough appointed post-masters-general. Lord North placed in the Treasury _____ 408
Mr. Pitt to Andrew Mitchell, Esq., June 12. — Exertions in behalf of the King of Prussia. Expressions of gratitude and veneration - - - - - _ -410
The Duke of Newcastle to Mr. Pitt, June 23. — Lord Ligonier. Powers of the master-general of the Ordnance - -411
Baron de Knyphausen to Mr. Pitt, July 1., enclosing a letter from the King of Prussia - - - - 411
The King of Prussia to the King of England, June 20. — Pro- poses a joint declaration in favour of a negociation for peace - 413
Earl Marischal Keith to Mr. Pitt, July 30. — Returns thanks for his pardon - - - - _ - - _ 415
The Earl of Bute to Mr. Pitt, Aug. 7. — Complains of inattention to the requests of the Prince of Wales. Application in behalf of Lord George Sackville - - - - - 416
Mr. Pitt to the Earl of Bute, Aug. 15. — Announces the King's leave for Lord George Sackville to return to England - 417
The Earl of Bristol to Mr. Pitt, Aug. 27. — Solicits the appoint- ment of a consul-general _____ 418
Admiral Rodney to Mr. Pitt, Sept. 3. — Details operations of the expedition against Havre _____ 420
Mr. Pitt to Lord George Sackville, Sept. 9. — Wishes a successful result to the court-martial ; but regrets that he cannot give his support - - - - - - - 423
CONTENTS. XIX
Page
Major -General Wolfe to Mr. Pitt ; on board the Sutherland, at anchor off Cape Rouge, Sept. 9. — Details the operations of the fleet and army. Laments the ruin of his constitution, without having done any considerable service to the state. [Conquest of Quebec. Death of Wolfe, note.] - - 425
Rev. Dr. Markham to the Duchess of Queensbury, Sept. 25. — Solicits her Grace's assistance with Mr. Pitt to procure Mr. Edmund Burke the British consulship at Madrid - - 430
Mr. Pitt to the Duke of Newcastle, Sept. 27. — Expresses his deep mortification at the refusal of the vacant garter to Earl Temple, and desires to learn the King's final determination - - 433
The Duke of Newcastle to Mr. Pitt, Sept. 27. — Regrets the ill success of his many representations to the King - - 434
The same to the same, Sept. 28. - 436
The same to the same, Oct. 4. 436
Mr. Pitt to the Duke of Newcastle, Oct. 4. 437
Earl Temple to Mr. Pitt, Oct. 13. — [Earl Temple's resignation, and resumption of office. Presented with the garter, note.] - 438
Mr. Pitt to Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, Oct. 16. — Announces the conquest of Quebec, and death of Wolfe - - 459
Archbishop Seeker to Mr. Pitt, Oct. 17. — Returns congratula- tions on the conquest of Quebec - 440
The same to the same, Oct. 19. — Public thanksgiving - - 441
Sir Richard Lyttleton to Mr. Pitt, Oct. 18. — Conquest of Quebec. Loss of Wolfe - - 442
The Earl of Hardwicke to Mr. Pitt, Oct. 18. — Conquest of Quebec. Overtures of peace - - 443
Andrew Mitchell, Esq., to Mr. Pitt, Oct. 22. — Desperate state of the King of Prussia's affairs. His opinion of Mr. Pitt - 444
The Duke of Newcastle to Mr. Pitt, Oct. 23. — Concerning anony- mous proposals for peace - - 445
Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick to Mr. Pitt, Oct. 25. — Answer to congratulations on the conquest of Quebec - - 446
The Duke of Newcastle to Mr. Pitt, Nov. 3. — King's speech on opening the session - 443
Mrs. Wolfe to Mr. Pitt, Nov. 6. - - - - 450
Mr. Pitt to Mrs. Wolfe, Nov. 8. — Condolence on the loss of her son. [Speech on moving for a monument to his memory, note.] 451
Brigadier-General Townshend to Mr. Pitt, Nov. 19. — Character of Admiral Saunders. Sir Edward Hawke's victory - - 452
The Hon. Horace Walpole to Mr. Pitt, Nov. 19. — Congratulates him on the lustre he has thrown on his country - _ 455
Mr. Pitt to Lady Hester Pitt, Nov. 19. - - - 457
Mrs. Wolfe to Mr. Pitt, Nov. 27. - 459
a 2
XX CONTENTS.
-t>age Mr. Pitt to Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, Nov. 27. — Perilous
situation of the King of Prussia. Overtures of peace - 460
Mrs. Wolfe to Mr. Pitt, Nov. 30. - 462
Memorandum transmitted by Lord Howe to Mr. Pitt, Nov. 30. — Conversation with the Due D'Aiguillon at Vannes concerning a negociation for peace - 463
The Right Hon. Richard Rigby to Mr. Pitt, Dec. 2. — Gives up
his seat at the board of trade - * - * 465
The Earl of Bristol to Mr. Pitt, Dec. 3. — Felicitations on the
successes of the year - 466
The Right Hon. Richard Rigby to Mr. Pitt, Dec. 5. — Gives ac- count of the riot in Dublin, and attack on both houses of par- liament - - 468 Sir Richard Lyttlcton to Mr. Pitt, Dec. 11. - - 471 The Earl of Bristol to Mr. Pitt, Dec. 19. - - - 473 The Earl of Bute to Mr. Pitt, Dec. — Congratulations on Sir
Edward Hawke's victory ... 475
The Right Hon, Richard Rigby to Mr. Pitt, Dec. 23. — Motives and causes of the riot in Dublin. Disturbed state of Ireland. Congratulations on the successes of the year - - 476
PRINCIPAL OFFICERS OF STATE, From 1741 to 1759.
Lord Chancellor.
1741 Earl of Hardwicke.
1756 Sir John Willes, knt. lord chief justice of the Common
Pleas ; Sir Sidney Stafford Smythe, knt. one of the barons of the Exchequer ; Sir John Eardley Wilmot, knt. one of the justices of the King's Bench — Commissioners of the Great Seal.
1757 Sir Robert Henley, knt. Lord Keeper.
First Lord of the Treasury.
1742. Feb. Earl of Wilmington.
1743. Aug. Right Hon. Henry Pelham.
1754. Mar. Duke of Newcastle.
1756. Nov. Duke of Devonshire.
1757. April. Lord Mansfield. 1757. July. Duke of Newcastle.
President of the Council.
1742. Feb. Earl of Harrington.
1744. Dec. Duke of Dorset. 1751. June. Earl Granville.
Lord Privy Seal.
1742. Feb. Lord Gower.
1743. Dec. Earl of Cholmondeley.
1744. Dec. Lord Gower.
1755. Jan. Duke of Marlborough.
1756. Dec. Lord Gower.
1757. June. Earl Temple.
First Lord of the Admiralty.
1742. Mar. Earl of Winchelsea.
1744. Dec. Duke of Bedford.
1748. Feb. Earl of Sandwich.
1751. June. Lord Anson.
1756. Nov. Earl Temple.
1757. April. Earl of Winchilsea. 1757. July. Lord Anson.
XX11
Principal Secretaries of State.
1742. Feb. Lord Carteret.
1744. Nov. Earl of Harrington.
1746. Feb. 10. Earl Granville.
■,„a„ -c u 1 1 f Duke of Newcastle. 1746. Feb.l4.|EarlofHarrington
1746. Nov. 4. Earl of Chesterfield, vice Earl of Harrington.
1748. Feb. Duke of Bedford, vice Earl of Chesterfield.
1751. July. Earl of Holdernesse, vice Duke of Bedford.
1754. April. Sir Thomas Robinson, vice Duke of Newcastle.
1755. Nov. Right Hon. Henry Fox, vice Thomas Robinson.
1756. Dec. Right Hon. William Pitt. Commanded to resign, April,
1757.
1757. June 27. Right Hon. William Pitt.
Chancellor of the Exchequer.
1742. Feb. Right Hon. Samuel Sandys.
1743. Aug- Right Hon. Henry Pelham.
1754. Mar. 9. Sir William Lee, lord chief justice of the King s Bench.
1754. Apr. 6. Right Hon. Henry Bilson Legge.
1755. Dec. 20. Sir George Lyttelton, bart., afterwards Lord Lyttelton.
1756. Nov. 16. Right Hon. Henry Bilson Legge.
1757. April 9. Lord Mansfield, lord chief justice of the King's
Bench. 1757. July 2. Right Hon. Henry Bilson Legge.
Master-General of the Ordnance.
1742 Duke of Montagu.
1755 Duke of Marlborough.
1757 Lord Ligonier.
Treasurer of the Navy.
1744 George Bubb Dodington, Esq., afterwards Lord Mel- combe.
1749 Right Hon. Henry Bilson Legge.
1754 Right Hon. George Grenville.
1755. George Bubb Dodington, Esq.
1756 Right Hon. George Grenville.
1757. April. George Bubb Dodington, Esq. 1757. June. Right Hon. George Grenville.
Secretary at War.
1746 Right Hon. Henry Fox, afterwards Lord Holland.
1755 Viscount Barrington.
Paymaster-General.
1746 Right Hon. William Pitt.
1755 Earl of Darlington.
1755 Viscount Duplin, afterwards Earl of Kinnoul.
1757 Right Hon. Henry Fox, afterwards Lord Holland.
XX111
Joint Postmasters- General.
174, f Earl of Leicester.
\ Sir John Eyles, knt. I74*i f Earl of Leicester. I Sir E. Fawkener. I7V7 f Earl of Besborough. \ Hon. Robert Hampden.
Speaker of the House of Commons. Right Hon. Arthur Onslow.
Master of the Rolls.
1741 William Fortescue, Esq.
1750 Sir John Strange, knt.
1754 Sir Thomas Clarke, knt.
Attorney-General.
1741 Sir Dudley Ryder, knt.
1754 Hon. William Murray, afterwards Earl of Mansfield.
1756 Sir Robert Henley, knt., afterwards Earl of Northing- ton. 1757 Sir Charles Pratt, afterwards Lord Camden.
Solicitor-General.
1742 Hon. William Murray, afterwards Earl of Mansfield.
1754 Sir Richard Lloyd, knt.
1754 Hon. Charles Yorke.
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
1743 Duke of Devonshire.
1745 Earl of Chesterfield.
1747 Earl of Harrington.
1751 Duke of Dorset.
1755 Duke of Devonshire.
1757 Duke of Bedford.
Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant. 1757 Right Hon. Richard Rigby.
FAC-SIMILES OF AUTOGRAPHS In Vol. I.
; PLATE
I. Duke of Newcastle.
Right Hon. Thomas Pelham. Thomas Orby Hunter, Esq. Right Hon. Henry Bilson
Legge. Earl of Hardwicke.
II. Thomas Pitt, Esq., afterwards Lord Camelford.
HI. Earl of Tyrawly.
Lord George Sackville.
Right Hon. Henry Fox, after- wards Lord Holland.
Earl of Holdernesse.
Thomas Potter, Esq.
William Beckford, Esq.
Viscount Barrington.
Sir Joseph Yorke.
Andrew Mitchell, Esq., after- wards Sir Andrew Mitchell.
Gilbert Elliot, Esq., after- wards Sir Gilbert Elliot.
John Wilkes, Esq.
Sir Benjamin Keene.
M. D'Abreu, Spanish envoy at the court of London.
IV. Rt. Hon. George Grenville.
V. Earl Marischal Keith. Earl of Exeter, Horatio, afterwards Lord,
Walpole. Dr. Warburton, afterwards
Bishop of Gloucester.
VI.
VII.
Mrs. Osborn, sister of Ad- miral Byng.
Mrs. Wolfe, mother of General Wolfe.
Mr. Pitt.
VIII. Admiral, afterwards Lord, tiodney.
Sir Jeffrey, afterwards Lord, Amherst.
Baron de Knyphausen, Hano- verian minister at the court of London.
Dr. Markham, afterwards arch- bishop of York.
Dr. Seeker, archbishop of Canterbury.
Earl of Bristol.
Earl of Kinnoul.
Duke of Marlborough.
Duke of Bedford.
Hon. George, afterwards Mar- quis, Townshend.
Prince Ferdinand of Bruns- wick and Lunenburg. IX. Earl Temple.
Earl of Bute.
X. "| Frederick the Second, King XL J of Prussia.
XII. General Wolfe.
Hon. Horace Walpole, after- wards Earl of Orford. Right Hon. Richard Rigby.
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CORRESPONDENCE,
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MR. PITT TO THE EARL OF CHESTERFIELD. (•)
Clifden, August 6, 1741.
My Lord, * # * * I think, with your Lordship, the scene abroad a most gloomy one. Whether day is ever to break forth again, or destruction and darkness is finally to cover all — impiaque ceternam merue- runt scecula noctem — must soon be determined. As the Austrian thunder of my Lord Carteret (2) has not yet waked the child in cradle, there is
(!) Philip Dormer Stanhope, fourth Earl of Chesterfield. The Earl was at this time at Paris, whither he had gone, at the close of the session, for the restoration of his health. On the union of parties in 1744, he was appointed ambassador-extraor- dinary to the Hague ; whence he proceeded, in the following year, to Ireland, of which he had been appointed Lord Lieu- tenant. On his return to England in 1746, he was made prin- cipal Secretary of State, and, in 1748, he retired from office and took no part in any future administration. He died in March, 1773.
('-') An allusion to Lord Carteret's speech in the House of Lords, on the 9th of April, upon the address to the King. See Parliamentary History, vol. xii. p. 154.
VOL. I. B
2 CORRESPONDENCE OF 1741.
no hope that an Aurora Borealis will light us to salvation. I wish his Imperial Majesty a good nap : it is very fit children should sleep, and I only wish, in this great crisis, every man in England may awake. I hope my letter of the 26th of July came to your hands : where this will find your Lordship, I do not know ; that it may find you well is all I have to wish. France, by her in- fluence and her arms, means, to be sure, to undo England and all Europe : by her air and climate she may do the reverse, if they confirm the health of the only man who can save us.
I am your Lordship's most faithful and most obedient servant,
W. Pitt.
MR. PITT TO THE EARL OF CHESTERFIELD.
London, September 10, 1741.
My Lord,
I am afraid my two last letters to your Lordship may have miscarried, especially the first of them, which is of so old a date, that it must have reached you long ago, if it was not stopped. Since I have had the pleasure of hearing from you, I have often had that of hearing of you, which has made me some amends; for every account of you concurs in saying you are perfectly well. I write to you now,
1741. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 3
to make his Royal Highness's (') compliments of felicitation to yon upon the recovery of your health, or, to give your Lordship a truer idea of the pleasure he expresses at it, to tell you he feli- citates himself upon it, as the happiest event to him and to the nation. That it is so, is a most indubitable truth ; and your presence here will, I doubt not, make it be understood and felt to be so by all mankind. Till you do give yourself back again to your friends and servants here, I wish you all the pleasures a fine climate and an agree- able people can give you. I hope you liked the Court of France as well as it liked you. The un- common distinctions I hear the Cardinal (2) showed you are the best proof that, old as he is, his judgment is as good as ever. As this great respect- able minister has taken so much of his idea of the men in power here, from the person of a great negotiator who has left the stage (3), I am very
(!) Frederick, Prince of Wales, eldest son of George the Second, and father of George the Third. It was upon the address of congratulation to the Throne on the occasion of his Royal Highness's marriage, in April, 1736, with Augusta, Princess of Saxe-Gotha, that Mr. Pitt delivered his first speech in the House of Commons. In September, 1737, he was ap- pointed groom of the bed-chamber to his Royal Highness, and continued for some time attached to his household.
(2) Cardinal Fleury, prime minister of Louis XV. He died in January, 1743, in his ninety-first year.
(3) James, first Earl of Waldegrave. In 1727, he was ap- pointed ambassador to Vienna, and, three years afterwards, succeeded Horatio Walpole in the still more important embassy to the court of Versailles, where he resided till the year 1740.
B 2
4 CORRESPONDENCE OF 1741.
glad he has had an opportunity once before he dies of forming an idea of those out of power, from my Lord Chesterfield.
I am your Lordship's most faithful and obedient servant,
W. Pitt.
P. S. — It is reported here, that you sup with ladies, and keep ill hours. (') If you have health enough to live, not only with French men but with French women, I conceive the whole learned faculty will pronounce your health sufficiently con- firmed. If this be your happy state, I do maintain (without talking patriotism), that your Lordship has more business which indispensably requires your presence here, than any man in England. I hope to kiss your Lordship's hands at London soon.
He died in April, 1741 ; his eldest son, the author of " Historical Memoirs from 1754 to 1758," succeeding to his titles and pro- perty.
([) During the Earl's short stay at Paris " he was," says Dr. Maty, " a most acceptable guest in the best societies, and a partaker of their pleasures. The hotels of Coigny, Matignon, Noailles, were open to him, as well as the houses of Mesdames de Tencin, de Monconceil, Martel, ladies equally distinguished by their rank, their merit, and their wit. He frequently saw some of the principal literati of that country, such as Sellier, Crebillon, Fontenelle, but chiefly his old friend Montesquieu. — Memoirs, vol. i. p. 101.
1746. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 5
PEREGRINE FURZE, ESQ., TO MR. PITT.(i)
Paymaster-General's Office, July 31, 1746.
Sir,
Since I had the honour of writing to you, the 22d instant, the Treasury, without memorial, directed 50,000/. in further part of the pay of the Hanover troops, which has been issued at your office in the usual manner to Baron Stein- berg. A warrant for the like sum is prepared at the Treasury, payable to Baron Wassenaer for the Austrians ; but no direction yet given upon the Exchequer, which is bare of money at this time. It is said a Bill will pass this day se'nnight for enabling the Bank to circulate 500,000/. in Exche- quer bills, upon the like sum voted for extraor- dinary services of the current year, which will put the public into better circumstances.
The sum voted for the pay of the Dutch troops has been received; by which is replaced the 20,000/. lately remitted to Mr. Hunter on the head of extraordinaries. Upon payment of the subsistence to the 24th of next month, there is remaining in your hands about 23,000/. I think the Treasury
(') Mr. Furze was secretary and accountant in the pay- master's office. In the preceding May, on the death of Mr. Winnington, Mr. Pitt had received the appointment of pay- master of the forces, and was made a member of the privy council.
B 3
6 CORIiESrONDENCE OF 1746.
is not in a condition of directing the 137,000/. for extraordinaries of last year ; yet they will give what they can in part of it.
I have laid before the Chancellor of the Ex- chequer the draught of the warrant to indemnify you in the remittance for extraordinary services abroad. This draught is so far approved by him, that he has advised me to take the sense of the Deputy Auditors upon it, in order to render it the more effectual ; and I believe if they are concurrent in their opinion, as I am in hopes they will be, from a conference I have already had with one of them, you will have such a warrant as will fully answer your purpose and intention.
The transports are ready for the embarkation of the regiments in Scotland, but they had not received their last orders when the Duke (]) left Edinburgh. Charleroi has been given up to the French, in the same dishonourable manner as other towns defended by Dutch garrisons.
The Pretender is wandering, in a most infirm condition, on one of the mountains with one O'Neil. Two detachments — one of dragoons and another of foot — are after him, and it is mentioned without reserve, that they have orders to dispatch him, wherever he can be found. Mr. Townley, with the other prisoners, was executed yesterday f2), not-
(') His Royal Highness William Augustus, Duke of Cum- berland, third son of George the Second.
(2) On Kennington common, for high treason.
1746. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 7
withstanding a letter from M. D'Argenson (') came the day before in his behalf, by the canal of one M. Carpentier, to the Duke of Newcastle.
Mr. Pelham directs me to acquaint you, that the armies in Flanders are so near that there may be an action, if both are equally inclined to it ; but in his private opinion the French will rather avoid it, as they have a probability of doing their business without it.
I am, with the greatest respect, Sir, Your most obedient, and
most faithful humble servant,
Peregrine Furze.
THOMAS ORBY HUNTER, ESQ. (a) TO MR. PITT.
Rotterdam, March 7, N. S. 1746-7. Sir,
Since my arrival in Holland I have been at the Hague to receive his Royal Highness's com- mands. I have, since my return from thence, paid two of his Royal Highness's warrants of 100,000 gilders each to the contractor for forage, and in a short time I am to expect warrants in favour of the
(') The French secretary of state for foreign affairs.
(-) Mr. Orby Hunter was, at this time, deputy-paymaster of the forces in Flanders. He was afterwards commissioner of the admiralty, and commissioner of the treasury. He died in 1769.
B 4f
8 CORRESPONDENCE OF 1746-7.
same for as much more. As the magazines that were ordered are nearly completed, the payments to this contractor will absorb the 40,000/. you re- mitted for that purpose.
The troops have received their subsistence to the 24th of March, except a regiment or two which lie at some distance separate from the rest. Till the army assembles and the final agreements are made for the field, it will be impossible for me to form any judgment of the current extraordinary expenses. In the mean time I should imagine that a remittance of 30,000/. per month will be sufficient to answer those expenses, and if the nature of this campaign should be such as to re- quire a greater supply than I am at present aware of, the demand can hardly be so sudden but that I shall have due notice to apprize you of it.
Upon an express received last Saturday by Count Hawach, the Queen's (') minister for the Congress, from Lord Sandwich (2), he immediately set out for Breda, which incident lias greatly increased the expectations of a peace on this side. If to be
(!) The Queen of Hungary.
(2) John Montagu, fourth earl of Sandwich. In November, 1746, his lordship was constituted minister-plenipotentiary to the States-General during the conferences at Breda, and assisted in the settling those preliminaries of peace which were ratified at Aix-la-Chapelle in October, 1748. He afterwards became ambassador to the court of Spain. In 1762, he was appointed first lord of the admiralty; in August, 1763, secretary of state for the home department; and in 1771, again first lord of the admiralty. He died in 1792.
174.6-7. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 9
obtained upon tolerable terms, I hope we shall see it soon : howsoever well prepared we may have had reason to expect to be for the ensuing cam- paign, I greatly fear our numbers will fall con- siderably short of what has been promised ; for on the side of the Austrians I can learn but of one regiment of three battalions, that of Neiperg, to be on the march for the Low Countries : this is the only new corps I can hear of to join our army. The other reinforcement consists in recruits which are arriving indeed in good numbers ; but I question much if they will do more than replace the loss of men last campaign, and in winter quarters. Upon this footing, I am sorry to conjecture how far short they will be of the 60,000 proposed.
The Dutch discipline is so much worn out, that I have heard it much doubted whether the positive orders given by their Government will have had weight enough with their officers to complete their corps. The national regiments will find great difficulties to recruit ; so that upon the whole, it is to be feared that this body will come short of ex- pectation into the field.
On the other hand, the preparations of the enemy show them to be upon the defensive scheme; which is some argument that they acknowledge the pros- pect of our being superior in the field, and yet it is positively asserted that their King(') is to command. Marshal Saxe is expected to-morrow at Brussels,
(!) Frederick, King of Prussia.
10 CORRESPONDENCE OF 1746-7.
and I understand that several regiments are filing off from different places to assemble at Antwerp. There seems to be a trial of skill who shall get to- gether the first into the field; and indeed upon that will the hopes of success this campaign in a great measure depend. (')
I am ashamed to have detained you so long upon conjectures of my own ; nothing will give me greater pleasure than to find myself mistaken. When I have more certain information I will have the honour to communicate it to you, and give you notice constantly of any thing that happens of consequence.
I have the honour to be, with great regard, Sir, Your most obedient, and
most humble servant,
Thomas Orby Hunter.
(*) " In consequence of the arrangements at the Hague for an early campaign, the Duke of Cumberland, who was again intrusted with the command, took the field in February. But the British court soon discovered, that they had overrated the zeal and means of their allies ; for munitions of war were scantily provided, and the Dutch and Austrians were lamentably defi- cient in their promised quotas. The confederate forces were, therefore, harassed for a month by useless movements, while Marshal Saxe retained his troops in quarters provided with every requisite, and was prepared to resume the contest with effect on the advance of the season." — Coxes Pelham Adminis- tration, vol. i. p. 358.
1747. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 11
THOMAS ORBY HUNTER, ESQ., TO MR. PITT.
Rotterdam, April 4, (N. S.) 1747- Sir,
I had the honour of your letter of the 8th March (O.S.) yesterday, when three packets ar- rived together. I was then but just returned from the Hague, where I had been by order of his Royal Highness.
I found every thing preparing there for his set- ting out the end of this week, in order to draw the army together out of their winter-quarters. The Austrians were to be, as this day, all passed the Maese, to come into cantonments upon the Dutch territories at hand, so as to be able to join the whole body immediately. The Hanoverians, who were the most remote, have likewise been in motion for some days, to draw nearer together ; so that by the end of the week, the whole will be ready for the general rendezvous. Lord Sandwich is strong in the belief, and assured me, that by that time there would be an army of 110,000 men, effectives; which he reckoned thus ■ — En- glish, Hanoverians, and Hessians, 38,000, Dutch 30,000, and Austrians 42,000 ; in which compu- tation he had allowed a deficiency of 5000 to the Dutch, who should be 35,000, and 6000 to the Austrians, who call themselves 48,000 effectives,
12 CORRESPONDENCE OF 1747-
but none to our corps : to these he said there would speedily he joined 6000 more, which the Dutch have taken into pay from Germany, and 2000, our expected transport from Ireland ; so that he was positive we should have an army of about 120,000 effective men very soon in the field.
If this shall prove true, we may have reason to hope for a successful campaign ; for it is hardly probable that the enemy can be so strong, for the beginning of the campaign at least : but, by all the private information I can get, his Lordship will be deceived in his computation, of the Dutch strength at least ; but upon the whole, I think it very cer- tain we shall have full 100,000 effective men to- gether. Lord Sandwich returns in two or three days to Breda. I could perceive, from his Lord- ship's conversation, that a breach between the courts of France and Spain was a more probable expectation, than any accommodation among the powers at war. The young Pretender is returned to Paris, after a voyage of much discontent to Madrid ; where he was allowed but a very short stay, and dismissed with a present of four thousand dollars to bear his expenses.
The French letters mention, that there was ac- tually in the press a declaration of war against the Dutch, or at least a manifesto to be sent to the ministers of all courts, setting forth the reasons and motives the King had to attack the Dutch territories.
Marshal Saxe is at Brussels, some say much out
1747. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 13
of order. The French succours were not arrived at Genoa. Since my last to Mr. Grenville(1), I have paid two warrants to the forage contractors, for about 20,000/. ; so the whole paid to them is now about 40,000/. I observe by your letter, that you have made a further remittance of 40,000/. for the service of extraordinaries. I begin to foresee that forage will be an immense article this campaign ; for half the magazines made, being upon the Maese up to Maestricht, will not probably be used, as it is expected the troops will move another way, and I find great schemes going forward for a further sup- ply of an immense quantity, over and above the magazines already contracted for.
I have great pleasure in receiving your com- mands to correspond with you ; I must, however, beg your indulgence to make allowances in the news I shall write you, for the greatest part I hear is very uncertain ; but I shall endeavour to distin- guish such as I think you may depend upon, and be very constant in giving you accounts of what I hear, without any expectation of putting you out of your way in writing to me often er than it suits your leisure and conveniency. I concluded Mr. Grenville would communicate to you what I wrote to him ; or you should not have been so long with-
(!) The Hon. James Grenville, third son of Richard Gren- ville, Esq., at this time member for the town of Buckingham, deputy-paymaster to the forces, and one of the lords of trade. In 1756 he was appointed a lord of the treasury, and died in 1783.
14) CORRESPONDENCE OF 1747
out hearing directly from myself. I am, with great truth and regard,
Sir, your most obedient,
and most humble servant,
Thomas Orby Hunter.
THOMAS ORBY HUNTER, ESQ., TO MR. PITT.
Rotterdam, April 14, 1747, N. S.
Sir,
Since my last I have had nothing very material to trouble you with.
Lord Sandwich returned suddenly and unex- pectedly from Breda yesterday. Perhaps the arrival of the young Pretender at Paris may have occasioned his coming away ; as I understand that gentleman's removal from Paris was the fixed pre- liminary to the first meeting at Breda.
It seems confirmed from all quarters, that of the French embarkation for Genoa, 1100 prisoners are sent to Savona by Mr. Medley ; about 400 men arrived in Genoa, and the rest were driven back into the ports of France.
The Duke is at Tilbourg. His kitchen was burnt down there, but no other harm done. To- morrow our troops march out of Bois-le-duc, and next week I believe the whole will be assembled to commence operations. The French give out
174-7. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 15
they will come immediately to a decisive action ; if so, they certainly must be stronger than us, which I cannot believe, though I am still of opinion that our force will be far short of what we had reason to expect, and I believe the calculations I have sent you upon that head will be found not to fall very short of the reality.
I am, with great truth and esteem, Sir, Your most obedient, &c, &c,
Thos. Orby Hunter.
THOMAS ORBY HUNTER, ESQ., TO MR. PITT.
Rotterdam, April 21, N. S. 1747. Sir, Since I had the honour of writing my last to you, this country has been put into great confusion by the enemy's invading the island of Cadsand in Dutch Flanders, where they entered the 16th or 17th, and have possessed themselves of several posts and fastnesses there, so as to cut off all com- munication from Sluys, which is regularly invested and must fall in a few days, as there is a disappoint- ment in the effect of the inundation, and but a weak garrison to defend it. Philippine is taken after a short resistance, and Sas Van Ghent in- vested. While this has been doing towards the coast, another body of the French have taken Perle
16 CORRESPONDENCE OF 1747.
fort and the Doel, higher up the Scheldt ; so that by this time they are masters of all that river to the sea on one side, so that we can have no navi- gation upon it, even up to Lillo. The Zealanders have taken up arms, 'tis said for a Stadth older. God knows what this may produce ! I hear the people of Amsterdam are very unwilling, even as yet, to look upon this violence as a breach of peace. All Dutch Flanders, reckoned strong both by art and situation, is lost as in a dream. If by con- nivance, what can we think ? if by a fatality, I fear the people of this Government are of such a de- jected complexion, as to be frightened by it into any compliance to the common enemy ; against which there will be no remedy but an appeal to the populace, from those who are well-inclined patriots in the Government.
Our army moves to-day : the Dutch weakened by the detachments they are obliged to make to Zealand ; the Austrians not all passed the Maese ; yet I hope the French will not be stronger, as they have such separate corps another way ; for the gain of a battle is, in my idea, the only thing that can give a turn to the success of the campaign, which has begun already so much against the interest of the common cause. The French secre- tary at the Hague gives out, that their army will move out of their lines to meet and give us battle ; if so, I hope in a few days to write something that will make amends for the desponding letters I have hitherto been obliged to send you.
1747- THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 17
Two French Indiamen of their outward-bound fleet have been forced back by a storm ; one of them is lost coming into port. A French ship of war of forty guns has been so ill treated by one of our privateers, that she sunk coming into port, and all the people except the captain and five or six others were drowned. People are so frightened here, that all insurance upon homeward-bound ships was refused this day upon 'Change. Lord Sandwich is returned to Breda.
I am, with great truth, Sir,
Your most obedient, &c,
Thos. Orby Hunter.
THOMAS ORBY HUNTER, ESQ. TO MR. PITT.
Rotterdam, April 25, 1747.
Sir,
I imagine my last has given you curiosity enough to expect another letter from me by this post. Sluys is surrendered, but the news of the Philippines being taken was not true ; as it seems the inunda- tions took place better there and at the Sas Van Ghent, so that it will cost the enemy some longer time to make themselves masters of them. The Zealanders continue in their vigorous resolution of defending themselves, and we have now ten men- of-war before the city of Middleburg, viz., Com- modore Mitchell with five of his squadron, and such
vol. i. c
18 CORRESPONDENCE OF 1747.
convoys and cruizers as were near or at Helvoet. This seems to have given great satisfaction to the Dutch : to-morrow the states of Holland meet at the Hague, and we have great curiosity to hear what resolutions will be taken. Their determin- ation, in my opinion, will turn upon which of their fears is the greatest, that of France, or that of the populace.
The army was to be all assembled on the 23d, and the Duke's quarters were last night at Alphen, within two good marches of the enemy. They were to move forward as this morning ; so that to- morrow may bring the two armies within sight of each other. I wish our heavy train may get up in time ; it has been long delayed for want of boats, most of which fitting for this service having been employed in carrying hay for the French to Ant- werp ; who have kindly stopped their return.
Lord Sandwich is returned to the Hague, and, I believe, for some time. He told me that he had not seen the French ministers this last time at Breda; perhaps for the reason I hinted to you in a former letter.
I am, with great truth, Sir,
Your most obedient, &c,
Thos. Orby Hunter.
1747. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 19
THOMAS ORBY HUNTER, ESQ. TO MR. PITT.
Rotterdam, May 9, 174-7. Sir,
The great work I have been advising you of, in its progress, for some posts past, being now completed, the Prince of Orange being declared stadtholder of the Seven United Provinces, and general of the Union, I have nothing further to detain you upon that head, but to congratulate you upon such a happy prospect of giving a good turn to affairs in this dangerous crisis.
Upon the 3d of this month, the French attacked, with great fury, the fort of Sandberg, an important outwork of Hulst, but were beaten back. They have renewed the attack since in nine different assaults in the space of seven hours, which has proved very fatal to them, having lost, as is com- puted, upwards of two thousand men, and been obliged to retire. The post was defended by three Dutch battalions and the Royals ; our loss is about five hundred men. Colonel Abercrombie is shot through the leg (some say killed), and Major Sir Charles Erskine is killed.
Our army is still in the same camp, waiting for the battering train, which is not yet gone from Dort. They are ill situated for forage, which is obliged to be carried to them in carts and wag-
c 2
20 CORRESPONDENCE OF 1747-
gons five leagues, and one of the contractors in- formed me to-day, that the expense of this trans- porting amounts to 200/. per diem, which, for this month, will come to 6000/. : so I see no end to the expenses, which multiply in new shapes so fast, that I can form no judgment for a calculation of supply ; however, I hope success will make amends for this heavy, though unavoidable charge. I am, Sir, &c,
Thomas Orby Hunter.
THOMAS ORBY HUNTER, ESQ. TO MR. PITT.
Rotterdam, July 7, 1747.
Sir,
Upon receiving the favour of your leave to attend my election in England ('), I set out for Flushing to pass over to Dover ; but being there detained four days by a contrary wind, I was out of all time to expect to get soon enough for the election, which comes on this day ; so I returned yesterday.
I obeyed your commands in leaving the public service in careful good hands, and have not re- assumed the direction since my return, for this reason : I intended to take your advice in it, had
(!) Mr. Orby Hunter represented the town of Winchelsea in parliament for more than twenty years.
1747. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 21
I been so lucky as to have made my passage ; but that failing, I am obliged to this manner of ac- quainting you, that I have some doubt whether I can hold this employment with a seat in parliament, as the last place bill stands. Therefore, to avoid any inconveniency that may arise on that head, I hope you will think well of my resigning my em- ployment as your deputy for the payment of the troops abroad, trusting, that, if it is consistent with my sitting in parliament, you will receive favour- ably my application to be continued in the office, but if it is not, that you will look upon me to have resigned. In the mean time, I have put every thing into the hands of Mr. Nichol, who was my chief clerk. As he acts in every particular under my eye, and by my advice, the public service has the same care as before, and I look upon myself to be bound and responsible to you for his care, fidelity, and discretion.
I have the less reason to beg that you will not think me guilty of the least slight to your friend- ship in this affair, as it is a transaction that cannot of itself exist, but under the supposition of having your leave ; and the suddenness of the occasion obliges me to have recourse to this formal expe- dient of caution, which I flatter myself you will approve of, when I shall inform you of my principal motive to it, a properer subject of conversation than a letter.
It grieves me that I have no better news to send you, than the inclosed relation of the unfortunate
c 3
22 CORRESPONDENCE OF 1747.
battle of the 2d. (') Our army is marching down the Maese, so that the French will lay siege to Maestricht. Their accounts from Brussels make their loss 11,000 men. Colonel Conway is pri- soner. The killed and wounded we have no cer- tain accounts of. The lists will come out by next post, when I will send you the copies. I am, with great regard, Sir, &c.
Thomas Orby Hunter.
MR. PITT TO THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE. (*)
[May — , 1747.] My Lord Duke,
I cannot defer till your Grace's return from
Clermont doing myself the honour to make a
thousand acknowledgments for the favour of your
(x) The battle of Laffeldt, in which the Duke of Cumberland was defeated.
(2) Thomas Pelham, eldest son of Lord Pelham, was born in 1693. By the will of his paternal uncle, John Holies Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, who died in 1711, he was left his adopted heir, assumed the name and arms of Holies, and succeeded to a great part of his vast estates. In 1715, he was created Duke of Newcastle, and, in the same year, he married the Lady Harriet, daughter of the Earl of Godolphin, and grand-daughter of John, Duke of Marlborough. In 1724, on the dismissal of Lord Carteret, he was appointed principal secretary of state ; which situation he held till 1754, when he was appointed first lord of the treasury. He retired from public life in 1762, and died in 1768.
1747. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 23
letter. I most heartily wish your Grace joy of this important defeat of the naval designs of France ('), which cannot fail to have considerable effects upon their affairs in general. As for me, I will own to your Grace my public joy is quite sunk in pri- vate concern. The high esteem and love I had for poor Grenville (2), and what I feel for his most afflicted brothers, reduces me to the hard (and, I hope, pardonable) condition of being a mourner in the midst of public rejoicing. Your Grace's good-natured and humane attention for the family, at a time when you had not a moment's leisure, and so much else to engage your thoughts, I was sure would be felt in such a manner, that I lost no time in communicating it to all the brothers. (3) They are most sincerely and sensibly touched with your Grace's goodness, and have desired me to assure your Grace, in the warmest manner, of the lasting
(!) The victory of Admiral Anson, off Cape Finisterre, on the 3d of May, in which he took six French men-of-war, several frigates, and great part of a numerous convoy.
(2) Captain Thomas Grenville, of the Defiance, who fell in the action. He was the fifth son of Richard Grenville, Esq., by Hester Temple, eldest daughter of Sir Richard Temple, Bart., of Stowe. He was a young man of the most amiable character and promising genius, and died universally lamented. He was severely wounded in the thigh, and submitted to his fate with the most heroic resignation. His last words were, " How much better it is to die thus, than to stand arraigned before a court- martial!" His uncle, Lord Cobham, erected a column to his memory in the gardens at Stowe.
(3) Richard, George, James, and Henry ; whose only sister, Hester, Mr. Pitt afterwards married.
c 4
24 CORRESPONDENCE OF 174-7-8.
impressions it has made on them, and of the real obligation they feel for it.
I will trouble your Grace no longer than to assure you, that I have the honour to be, with the greatest truth and respect,
Your Grace's most devoted humble servant,
W. Pitt.
THE HON. HENRY BILSON LEGGE (') TO MR. PITT.
Woburn Abbey, January 8, 1747-8. Dear Sir,
I shall always remember, with the greatest gratitude and affection, the kind concern you ex- press for me, at a time when, if real consolation is to be obtained, I am sure it can only be derived from the friendship and society of such men as yourself. The loss of my brother (2) was the stroke I dreaded most, and is the severest I could have felt; and
(!) Mr. Legge was the fourth son of the Earl of Dartmouth, and, at this time, a lord of the treasury. A few days after this letter was written, he was appointed envoy extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the court of Berlin ; whence he returned in the following January. He became chancellor of the exchequer in March, 1754, and again in 1756. He was dismissed in 1761, and died August 23. 1764.
(2) The Hon. Edward Legge, fifth son of the Earl of Dart- mouth. He was commodore of a squadron in the West Indies, and died there in September, 1746. He had recently been elected member for Portsmouth.
1747-8. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 25
though I know nothing is more vain and childish than to lament the death of a mortal man, except founding one's happiness upon the life of a seaman, yet, to you, let me own my weakness. It has gone deep into that provision of happiness which I had foolishly laid up for my future life, and damped that ambition which could have been much more active in his behalf, than ever it will be in my own. It was one article of that ambition which I often counted upon, to have made him thoroughly known to you ; and the more he had been so, I dare say, the higher he would have stood in your love and esteem. But these are the frigida curarum fo- menta, which fill one's head all night long, and cannot be too soon forgotten. Poor Grenville (') tries all he can to teach me that lesson, and, I am afraid, is very far from having learnt it himself.
I am sorry you do not give me a better account of your health : the word middling falls very short of my wishes upon that head ; but I hope more Bath waters, the approach of the spring, much riding, and, let me throw into the prescription, another trip to the Lodge (2), will perfectly re-
(*) The Hon. George Grenville, second son of Richard Gren- ville, Esq., at this time a lord of the treasury. In 1754, he was appointed treasurer of the navy; in May, 1762, secretary of state ; in October of the same year, first lord of the admiralty ; and, in 1763, first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer. He resigned July, 1765, and died in November, 1770.
(2) South Lodge in Enfield Chase, a favourite retreat of Mr. Pitt; whose taste in laying out grounds was very great.
26 CORRESPONDENCE OF 174-7-8.
establish you. As to my own health, I never knew it more robust in my life.
I do assure you, dear Sir, I have often lamented that our acquaintance could not begin earlier ; but though our friendship was born late, it has brought a good constitution into the world with it, and I beg that the inference to be drawn may be, that we have the less time to lose in the mutual exercise of it. Believe me ever,
Your most faithful and affectionate friend and humble servant,
H. B. Legge.
All here are well, and play strenuously at Brag every night.
THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE TO MR. PITT.
Newcastle House, January 19, 1747-8.
Dear Sir, I am extremely sorry to hear you are not quite free from your disorder. I hope, in a very short time, your health will be perfectly re-established.
One scene in the gardens of the Lodge, which was designed by him, that of the temple of Pan and its accompaniments, is mentioned by Mr. Whateley, in his " Observations on Modern Gardening," as one of the happiest efforts of well-directed and appropriate decoration.
1747-8. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. QJ
The public, and your friends, are infinitely con- cerned in it. During your absence I have not failed to use my best endeavours towards promoting a perfect union and good correspondence with Prussia. I have, in some measure, succeeded beyond my expectations, though I cannot say I have had much assistance in it. The King has been pleased to agree to the instructions that were prepared ; and I scarce know what could be added to them. There may be some few things in which, I dare say, we shall meet with no difficulty.
The great point was to find a proper person (*) to execute these instructions ; and I think I have thought of one, to whom the King has this day readily agreed. It is Mr. Harry Legge. There is capacity, integrity, quality, rank, and address — all necessary qualifications, and nobody can think that Mr. Legge is sent away at this time only to save appearances. However, I have the satisfaction to have done my part ; let others, if any there are,
(!) " Instead of deputing as ambassador to Berlin," ob- serves Mr. Coxe, " a person of high distinction, who possessed the full confidence of his sovereign and was provided with specific instructions, much time was wasted in selecting an envoy, who was not, at last, entrusted with full powers. Sir Everard Fawkener was at first designated ; but, at length, the choice fell on Mr. Legge, who, though a man of great talents for business, was unfit for a foreign mission, and of a character ill suited to the temper of that ' powerful casuist, whose extra- ordinary dogmas were supported by 140,000 the most effectual but convincing arguments in the world.' His mission to Berlin only exposed him to the caprice and insolence of the Prussian monarch." — Memoirs of Lord Walpolc, vol. ii. p. 304.
28 CORRESPONDENCE OF 1747-8.
who blame me, do better ; more honestly, I am sure they cannot.
The last letters brought very good accounts from abroad. All apprehension of an attack upon Holland, during the winter, seems to be over. The Dutch are getting their troops together apace ; and Lord Sandwich thinks he may depend upon 40,000 Dutch, before the arrival of the Russians, who were to begin their march last Saturday. By the last letters it also seemed clear that the King of Prussia did not at present intend to give any disturbance ; so that I hope Mr. Legge, who will set out immediately, will find things in a tolerable good disposition there ; at least no party taken against us. I am, with the greatest respect, dear Sir,
Your most affectionate
humble servant,
Holles Newcastle.
THE HON. HENRY BILSON LEGGE TO MR PITT.
Berlin, May 10-21, 174-8. Dear Pitt, Though it is too much the practice of god- fathers and godmothers to neglect all they promise and vow in the name of those they represent, yet give me leave to say, you, Sir, have made yourself
1748. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 29
so responsible to the public for the conduct of your humble servant, that it imports you now and then to inquire a little what he is about. For my own part, I shall think I have a title to write to you, as much and as often as I please, and upon any thing I please ; and, however you may neglect your duty, I shall at least preserve the ancient and decent ceremony of asking your blessing from time to time.
In the first place, I congratulate you and every reasonable Englishman upon the signing of the pre- liminaries. (') As much as I leant that way from speculation only, before I left England, I own, when I took a nearer view of the state of affairs, saw how little promises of the most formal sort and performance tallied together, that we were growing ridiculous and contemptible, and should, as it were, jlagitio damnum addere, my noble ardour for peace was greatly heightened. I think I may use that expression ; for, if I do not greatly mistake, true courage has, for some time past, lain on the side of peace.
In the mean while, I am far from despairing of the republic. The abilities and good intentions
(*) The preliminaries of a general peace, which had been signed at Aix, on the 19th of April. For taking the negotiation relative to the bishopric of Osnaburg out of the hands of the King's own agent at Berlin, and for an indiscreet expression imputed to him, that his majesty's arrival at Hanover had de- feated this design, Mr. Legge incurred the royal displeasure to such a degree, that he was summoned to Hanover, and received a severe reprimand — See Coxes Pelham, vol. i. p. 441.
30 CORRESPONDENCE OF 1748.
of some honest men I know, will, I dare say, in a few years, by the arts of peace and good economy, put England into more substantial health than vio- lent remedies could ever have done ; and I know you hold for regimen against physic. Dispositions here are very favourable, at least in all appearance : much might have been done formerly by proper application, and still I think there is room to en- o-ao-e a great fund of the best appointed strength in the world, for the future security of the liberties of Europe. I hope we shall not lose time, or think of coquetting with a jilt, but bind her down by solemn league and covenant to her own true interest as well as ours, and the rather because, from the disgust it may possibly give, that we have been so unreasonable and absurd as to think of our own salvation, perhaps we may be obliged to come hither at last for a succedaneum. I hope that option will never be put to us, and that we shall be able to gain the one and keep the others ; but, at all events, I should think we ought not to lose any op- portunity of gaining so powerful a coadjutor in the common cause.
You see I have repeated my catechism to you, though you have not called upon me, as you ought to have done. I hope you have perfectly reco- vered your health, and that the indisposition I left you under did not fasten upon you : change of air, travelling, and new occupations of mind have entirely restored me. I wish you would try the same remedy upon the same road, if you are
1750. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 31
not already as great a despiser of medicine as I wish. Believe me, dear Sir,
Your most faithful, and affectionate humble servant,
H. B. Legge.
THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE TO MR. PITT.
Newcastle House, March 31, 1750. Dear Sir,
As you are so good as to interest yourself in every thing that relates immediately to my brother and myself, and to express a very kind concern for the result of the conference which we had yester- day, and with the design of which I was weak enough to be pleased, I think, in justice and grati- tude, I am obliged to give you an early account of what passed.
I am very sorry to say I found, at the first open- ing, that I was much mistaken in the motives that had produced it, which — instead of arising (as I had hoped) from an inclination to come to a per- fect agreement upon the composition and situation of the administration at home (without which all other considerations are fruitless), and a mutual inclination and disposition to hear and understand one another upon points relative to foreign affairs, upon which there may have been difference of
32 CORRESPONDENCE OF 1750.
opinion — the meeting was opened with oblique reflections, ill-natured constructions upon the con- duct of foreign affairs for this last year, and direct complaint of the manner in which the Bavarian negotiation had been begun. This necessarily drew from me a justification of myself, the measures I had pursued, and particularly the conduct of the treaty with the Elector of Bavaria, which I did and do assert to be as agreeable, as the nature and form of business would admit, to what was determined with Mr. Pelham at our previous meeting ; and this my Lord Chancellor (') will testify, who was present at all that passed, and which you will your- self see by the draught of the article proposed, which I take the liberty to send you inclosed.
After these very useless and very disagreeable altercations about foreign affairs had taken up about two hours, as I was to leave England in less than three weeks, I thought it honest and necessary to consider the situation of things at home ; which I had vainly thought had been one principal object of the meeting. I found an unwillingness to enter at all into it, and when I mentioned the late trans- action about the Regency, a pretended ignorance of almost every thing relating to it. This laid me under a necessity of making a declaration, which I now repeat to you, that no considerations shall induce me to remain where I am, after my return to England, if things are to remain, mother respects,
(]) Philip Yorke, Lord Hardvvicke.
1750. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 33
as they are. (') To which I had the answer I had reason, from the former part of our conference, to expect, viz., that I might do as I pleased, that my brother would neither assist nor obstruct any measure of that kind that I might propose.
Thus, Sir, you see I am left to myself, and to take care of myself. I shall do it in the best manner I can. I will do nothing rashly, and I hope I am incapable of taking any step that, by all impartial people, will not be thought becoming a sincere, honest man, a faithful servant and friend to my king and my country, and to those to
(') "In addition to the difficulties which Mr. Pelham at this time experienced in conducting the measures of government in the House of Commons, against a violent opposition, supported by the influence of the Prince of Wales, he had to encounter further obstructions from the political rivalry subsisting between his brother and the Duke of Bedford, and the endless bicker- ings which arose from their discordant tempers. The independent spirit and impatience of control, which marked the character of the latter, soon produced such discordance, that the Duke of Newcastle made some ineffectual attempts to liberate himself from so intractable an associate in office. — But although the two brothers widely differed in opinion upon some particular points, and were occasionally so irritated, as to express their feelings in querulous language, yet their fraternal affection for each other was rather interrupted than diminished. The re- storation of harmony was effectually aided by their common friends, the Lord Chancellor and Mr. Stone : in fact, their quarrels, if we may use so strong an expression, were invariably followed by a better understanding; and, as the Duke himself aptly observed in one of his letters, seemed to verify the adage of the poet —
Amantium ira?, amoris integratio est ! "
Coxes Pelham, vol. ii. p. 108. VOL. I. D
34> CORRESPONDENCE OF 1750.
whom I profess friendship. Yours I always depend upon, and it shall be my study to convince you, that I am, in reality, what I now give under my hand, dear Sir,
Your very affectionate friend,
and obliged humble servant,
Holles Newcastle.
P. S. I refer you for the truth of this relation to my Lord Chancellor and Mr. Stone, who were present. (')
THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE TO MR. PITT.
Hanover, July 4-15, 1750. (2)
Dear Sir, According to my promise, I take the oppor- tunity of the first messenger, to repeat my thanks for the honour of your most affectionate letter, and to write more fully to you than I could do by the post.
(]) Andrew Stone., Esq., formerly private secretary to the Duke of Newcastle, but at this time under-secretary of state. He was greatly respected by the two brothers, and, as well as the Lord Chancellor, frequently acted as a mediator, in re- conciling the differences between them. Lie afterwards filled the important office of sub-governor to Prince George. He was also appointed keeper of the State-Paper office, and, on the marriage of George the Third, treasurer to the Queen. He died in 1773.
('-') In his visit to Hanover, immediately after the close of the session, the King was accompanied by the Duke of Newcastle.
1750. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 35
I must begin with what you are so good as to mention, and in the kindest manner to interest yourself in, — the satisfaction my brother had showed at the confidential intercourse there had been between us since I left England. (') I had, I own, flattered myself before the receipt of your letter, that the unreservedness with which I had wrote upon all subjects, the strict adherence to what I had promised upon points where, perhaps, there might still remain some little difference of opinion, and the unexpected success (as far as present appearances could go) in all I had under- taken, and what he seemed to wish, had made a strong impression upon him, and in those hopes I was greatly confirmed by your letter ; but I am sorry to say, that by some letters I have received since, my satisfaction is greatly abated. I find a great alteration in style and manner, little or no approbation of any thing, suspicions and jealousies without the least foundation, and contrary to direct and positive assurances ; and, what is still worse, I can attribute this unaccountable and sudden change
(!) " I have had a long discourse with Pitt. He seems mighty happy with an opinion, that his interposition, and his truly friendly offices, have had a good effect in bringing you and me nearer to each other. I most sincerely desire you to go on in your correspondence with him, with all the frankness and cordiality you can ; I do so, in all my conversations with him. I think him, besides, the most able and useful man we have amongst us ; truly honourable, and strictly honest. He is as firm a friend to us, as we can wish for ; and a more useful one there does not exist." Henry Pelham to the Duke of Newcastle. — Newcastle Papers.
D 2
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to nothing but a confidential letter I wrote to him, wherein I expressed my thoughts upon the late public demonstrations which have been given by a part of the Royal Family, of preference, coun- tenance, and offensive support of that part of the administration, which is so universally thought to be in opposition to me(l); and I could not but lament the weakness and unkindness of my parti- cular friends, who had been drawn in to make part of the show : — and is this sufficient to give a different turn to all I am doing, and all I profess ? Whether I shall keep my word or not, time will show — that I have kept it hitherto, facts, undeni- able facts, do show.
The two points that you must remember were the most strongly recommended to me (with some sort of doubt and diffidence, as to the execution) were, first, the not concluding the treaty of Bavaria, without a positive or sufficient security for the electoral vote ; the second, the setting imme- diately about that affair, and, if possible, the bring- ing it to bear, even this summer. Upon these
(*) " I think it a little hard, that the Duke of Cumberland and the Princess Amelia should use me so cruelly as they have done : excommunicate me from all society, set a kind of brand or mark upon me, and all who think with me, and set up a new, unknown, factious young party" [meaning Lord Sandwich and the Duke of Bedford] "to rival me, and nose me every where. This goes to my heart. I am sensible, if I could have submitted, and cringed to such visage, the public appearances would have been better, and perhaps some secret stabs been avoided ; but I was too proud and too innocent, to do it." The Duke of New- castle to Mr. Pelham, Hague, May 9th-20th. — Neiccastle Papers.
1750. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 37
two points, I have not only acted up to, but gone much beyond what was prescribed me, or I believe, thought practicable by any one man alive. I have declared in writing, both to the court of Vienna and to the Elector of Bavaria, that if his Electoral Highness does not give us sufficient security, that he will give his vote for a King of the Romans (understood to be the Archduke Joseph), the King will not proceed in the negotiation with Bavaria (') ; and I have since declared shortly to M. Hashing (2), that the electoral vote is a condition sine qua non, and that it is to no purpose to be spending time in negotiation : with that, we will agree ; without it, we will not on any account whatever, and Haslang has no doubt of the com- pliance of his court.
I have wrote so strongly to the court of Vienna, of the necessity of their immediately setting about this work, and showing all possible and reasonable facilities on their part for the success of it, by re-
(!) " Notwithstanding the disputes on the Barrier treaty, the King endeavoured to secure the Imperial dignity in the Austrian family, and was anxious to prevent the evils, likely to result from a vacancy in the Imperial throne, by obtaining the election of the Archduke Joseph, as King of the Romans. This expedient had been occasionally adopted, when the heir of the reigning sovereign had attained his majority ; but the young prince being only in his tenth year, the attempt to elect a minor was not justified by any precedent, since the accession of Rodolph of Hapsburg, the founder of the Austrian dynasty." — Coxes Pelham Administration, vol. ii. p. 119.
(2) Count Haslang, the Bavarian minister.
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38 CORRESPONDENCE OF 1750.
moving any cause of jealousy and uneasiness that the electors and princes of the empire may have, and particularly by redressing the grievances of the Protestants in the empire ; — that we have had the most affectionate, the most satisfactory, and the most promising answer from the court of Vienna, that the most sanguine man could wish or hope for; and for the truth of all these facts, I appeal to papers in writing, and measures actually taken, pursuant to them. Orders are actually given for the redress of the principal grievances complained of by the Protestant princes, and the others put in a method of being tried, and determined accord- ing to the treaties : and to show the real desire of the Emperor and Empress to bring this great measure to perfection, and that forthwith ; an un- exceptionable man of weight and confidence, per- fectly versed in the laws and constitution of the empire, is not only named to come hither, but I believe actually upon the road, to concert the proper measures of immediately bringing about the election of the Archduke to be King of the Romans : and whilst we are thus negotiating, and fixing our objects with the courts of Vienna and Munich, we have not neglected others necessary for our great view ; and I do not say too much, if I assure you there is the greatest reason to think that we shall very, very soon be secure of the votes of Mayence, Treves, and Palatine ; which, with the Electors of Bavaria, Cologne, Bohemia, and Han- over, make seven out of the nine, and that, without
1750. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 39
any farther subsidy, but what is given to Cologne, and is now negotiating with Bavaria.
If this is brought about, I will say, let who will deny it, it is as great and as successful a negotia- tion, as ever was brought to perfection in time of peace ; and one might say more, considering the present circumstances of Europe. If my expect- ations do not succeed, and I should miscarry in one, or in every point, there is no hurt done j there is no money given, but upon the very terms that were more wished than expected, when I left London ; and you must remember the difficulty we had in wording an article, which is now proposed to be done, by a positive declaration in writing, to be given by Haslang, at the time of signing the treaty, though to be called Declaration Verbale. To all this, the republic of Holland consents, and M. Hop is actually coming here, with ample power to sign the treaty of Bavaria, engaging to pay one third of the subsidy.
At the same time that I have been endeavour- ing to promote the success of a system, which I think will greatly tend to secure the future peace and tranquillity of Europe, in which we are so essentially concerned, I have not neglected the immediate interests of Great Britain, but have or- dered such strong remonstrances to be made at the court of France, against the late violent and hostile proceedings of their governors in America, as have produced a direct disavowal of M. de la Jonquiere, and of all their proceedings, a promise of redress
d 4-
40 CORRESPONDENCE OF 1750.
and satisfaction, and an admission by M. de Puis- sieulx(1), that as what was done was within the peninsula, they could not be justified (2). My Lord Albemarle (3) had, as I wrote you word, done very well himself, before he received orders from hence ; but since the receipt of those orders, he has ex- erted [himself] further, and met with more success; and I have had the mortification of a letter from my brother, " that he feared, had my Lord Albe- marle received my strong orders, he would not have had so satisfactory an answer ; " which since appears to be contrary to fact.
This is my comfort, and this is my reward ; but, however, I will do my duty, and hope this will pass over. I have also sent to the Duke of Bedford (4),
(!) The French secretary of state for fore'gn affairs.
(2) Notwithstanding the stipulation by treaty, that all things should remain on the same footing as before the war, the French made constant encroachments in America, and not only evinced an intention of appropriating the islands of St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and Dominica, which had hitherto been regarded as neutral, but had actually taken possession of Tobago, which was considered as belonging to England. The forcible remon- strances, however, of the Duke of Newcastle, induced them to abandon their settlements in Tobago, after having destroyed the forts ; but the evacuation of St. Lucia and St. Vincent was still delayed, under various pretences. See Coxe's Pelham, vol. ii. p. 123.
(3) William Anne Van Keppel, second Earl of Albemarle, ambassador at the Court of Versailles, knight of the garter, groom of the stole, &c. He died suddenly at Paris, December 22, 1754.
(4) John Russell, fourth Duke of Bedford, at this time joint secretary of state with the Duke of Newcastle. In 1757, he
1750. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 41
that the Commissioners may be furnished with all the proofs to support our right to the extended boundary, and on no account to depart from it. The present disposition of the French ministry enables us to do these things, and talk this language, without running the risk of a rupture ; and this, therefore, is the time when a king of the Romans should be elected, and every measure taken that is proper and necessary for future security, though perhaps it may not be agreeable to the wishes and future views of France.
As to my private negotiation with M. de Mire- poix Q, it is now at a stand. I have had a letter from him, that they had made the proposal (it is Mirepoix's proposal) to Sweden, and that they had rejected it ; so that we must wait, he says, for some other expedient, and recommends it to the King to be thinking of one, and gives great assurances of the French King's good disposition, and inclination to concur in any proper measure for the security of the peace of the North. I shall
was appointed lord lieutenant of Ireland; in 1761, lord privy- seal ; in 1762, minister plenipotentiary to the court of France ; and in 1763, president of the council. He died in 1771.
(!) The Marquis de Mirepoix, (afterwards Duke, and Marshal of France,) ambassador to England. " He was much esteemed," says Horace Walpole, " in England, having little of the manners of his country, where he had seldom lived ; and, except a passion for dancing, and for the gracefulness of his own figure, there was nothing in his character that did not fall in naturally enough with the seriousness of the English and German courts." He died at Montpellier, in 1757.
42 CORRESPONDENCE OF 1750.
answer him, that we can suggest nothing new ; we had suggested the giving reciprocal declarations, which France rejected; he, Mirepoix, had proposed another expedient, which Sweden had rejected ; so we must endeavour to keep things quiet till some other method should offer. All parties are disposed to keep peace, and therefore peace will be kept. France is perfectly satisfied with us ; and indeed, they cannot be otherwise, when we would have accepted their own proposal.
I believe you begin, by this time, to be weary of your new correspondent. I never can be so, in writing to you, and opening my whole heart to you. I know your affection, and I know your discretion, and therefore I send you all these confi- dential particulars to make such use of as you think proper. If you cannot make a good one, I am sure you will make none at all. In all events, let me have the pleasure of hearing often and freely from you, but always by messengers. They come every Friday from London hither. Mr. Brown, at the Duke of Bedford's office, or Noble, the chamber-keeper of my office, will always con- vey your letters safe. The Duchess of Newcastle desires her compliments to you. I am, dear Sir,
Ever most affectionately yours,
Holles Newcastle.
1750. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 43
THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE TO MR. PITT.
Hanover, August, 12—23, 1750.
Dear Sir, Though I am quite tired with writing, I could not let the messenger go from hence with a treaty, made and signed by me, of the consequence of that concluded here last night, without saying one word upon it, to one who is so good as to interest him- self in every thing; that concerns me, and who is able to judge of what I do, and so desirous that it should be well done. I believe my brother will show you the account I send him of this whole transaction. (') It has been carried on, and is now finished, upon the principles that he, you, and I, all agree in. I send you, in the greatest secrecy and confidence, a copy of the declaration for the electoral vote : nothing can be stronger, and it is plainly a condition of the treaty. The subsidy is indeed continued for six years ; but the Empress Queen takes one fourth part of it upon her, and the Elector of Bavaria accepts that and has dis- charged us of it, so that we have all the benefit of
(') " Your account of Pitt gives me great pleasure, and the more., as it is accompanied with the kindest reflection, from yourself, imaginable. I wish you would show him my letter about our foreign affairs ; I believe it would please him. I shall write him two words by this messenger." Duke of Newcastle to Mr. Pelham, August 12-23. 1750.
44 CORRESPONDENCE OF 1750.
the treaty for two years longer, and only pay 13,000/. more in the six years.
I think I have been a good economist for the public ; at least I hope my friends will be pleased with me. This certainly lays a foundation of a solid system for the preservation of the peace, without giving offence to any body. But I am enlarging further than my time permits ; I cannot avoid, how- ever, thanking you for that kind and affectionate and successful part you have acted with my brother and I. He is as full of it as I am ; we are both truly grateful and truly obedient. I have received the kindest and the wisest letter that ever man wrote. I have wrote him as kind a one in answer, and I hope as wise a one, because I entirely give myself up to his advice. I can say no more at present ; I am full of business, full of joy upon public trans- actions, full of the goodness of my friends, and if I hear a good account of my dear friend, the Duke of Richmond, full of joy upon all accounts, and Ever and unalterably yours,
Holles Newcastle.
MR. PITT TO THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE.
Pay-Office, August 24, 1750.
My Lord, I found, upon my return from Stowe last night, the honour of your Grace's most obliging letter of
1750. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 4.5
the 12th, O. $. The contents of it have filled me with every kind of satisfaction. I rejoice on the public account at the success of a most wise and salutary measure; I rejoice most sincerely on your Grace's personal account, that the King, the nation, and all Europe owe this to your honest and able conduct; and let me add, the private and par- ticular joy I feel in the justice your Grace does me to believe, that I warmly interest myself for your success and your glory. I think the last word not at all too strong for the event ; provided the election of the Archduke be accomplished, in consequence of the treaty you have been able to carry through so many difficulties, to a happy con- clusion. The object all must applaud, and the greatest economists cannot complain of the ex- pense ; for it is but justice to own, you have paid with ability more than with money. May this great work go forward, and your Grace will bring the King home to meet the nation, with as much lustre as his most faithful and zealous servants need to wish.
I find Mr. Pelham in the highest satisfaction at this event, and truly happy with the kind cor- respondence between you. You are both infinitely too good to mention, as you are pleased to do, my poor little part between you. My good wishes were sincere, and wishing well was all I could possibly have to do. I should be foolishly vain with a witness, if I ascribed the least part of the perfect union between you to any thing but your
46 CORRESPONDENCE OF 1750-
own good hearts and understandings. I need say nothing of the interior of administration. Your Grace and Mr. Pelham, united as you are, must certainly be masters to give it such a shape as may best suit your situations and views ; of which you alone must be judges. Whatever determin- ation you come to, I heartily wish it may more and more secure and strengthen power and au- thority in your hands.
I congratulate your Grace on the Duchess of Newcastle's recovery, and beg leave to assure her Grace of my most respectful compliments. I am truly sorry to have condolence to mix with so much joy and congratulation. I heartily lament your great loss of the Duke of Richmond.1 I am, with perfect attachment, Your Grace's most devoted humble servant,
W. Pitt.
(') Charles Lennox, second Duke of Richmond, knight of the garter, and master of the horse. He died August 8, 1750, at the age of forty-nine. " Death or retreat," writes Mr. Pel- ham to his brother, " has taken away all our old friends and fellow servants, the Duke of Grafton, Lord Chancellor, and yourself excepted. In a little while there will be but one man in the cabinet council, with whom we began the world, or carried on business, till within these very few years. I own this reflection often strikes me, and makes me greatly fear new experiments. It is extraordinary that three of our own ages, pretty near, all old and intimate acquaintance, should die out of that body in less than a year." — Newcastle Papers. The two other friends here alluded to were Henry Herbert^ ninth Earl of Pembroke, who died suddenly, January 9, 1749-50, in his forty-eighth year ; and John, Duke of Montagu, master
1750. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 47
THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE TO MR. PITT.
Hanover, September 9 — 20, 1750.
Dear Sir,
The kind approbation you have been pleased to give of the success of my endeavours for the public service, has made all the impression that must arise to one who knows the value of your friendship, and the weight and consequence of your opinion, as well as I do. I have not failed to acquaint the King with that proper zeal, satis- faction, and regard for his Majesty's honour and service, which is shewed in your letter, and I may say, it was not thrown away.
I have had further difficulties with Bavaria. I think they will all be got over by to-morrow night, and the ratifications exchanged. I think our af- fair at home will take a very lucky turn. The King proposes himself, and from himself, an alter- ation, and I have some reason to hope that such a one may be found out, as may be accepted with pleasure, at least seemingly so. My brother will explain this further to you, more fully than I have time to do at present, the messenger being just setting out. I take most kindly the part you
general of the ordnance, who die J, July 6, 1749, in the same year of his age.
48 CORRESPONDENCE OF 1750.
take in my late inexpressible loss, and in every thing that concerns me. The Duchess of New- castle begs her most sincere thanks for your con- cern for her.
I am ever, dear Sir,
most affectionately yours,
Holles Newcastle.
P. S. I believe the 22d of October, O. S„ his Majesty will leave this place, on his return to England.
MR. PITT TO THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE.
[Extract of a Letter. Date probably October, — , 1750.]
The alteration thought of at home I have al- ways seen so full of difficulties in itself and in the consequential arrangements, that I felicitate your Grace upon seeing your way through it. What- ever it be the King proposes in this matter, himself, and from himself (as your Grace terms it), I can only say with great truth for one, that I wish it may meet with perfect acquiescence from all quar- ters. I find Mr. Pelham (whatever inconveniences he may apprehend) in all the general dispositions to acquiesce and accommodate, that your Grace could wish. I understand from him, that the arrangement for the Duke of Bedford will probably
1750. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 49
lie between master of the horse and President; and fortunate I shall think it, if he is quieted and disarmed by either ; which it is, I imagine not very material.
I cannot conclude without assuring your Grace of my warmest gratitude for the kind use you were so good as to make of some expressions in my letter : nothing can touch me so sensibly as any good office in that place, where I deservedly stand in need of it so much, and where I have it so much at heart to efface the past by every action of my life. I am,
Your Grace's most devoted,
and most obedient, &c,
W. Pitt. (')
THE RIGHT HON. HENRY PELHAM TO MR. PITT.
October 12, 1750. Dear Sir, I cannot help sending to you the most agree- able public news I have received since the treaty of Aix. Last night came an express from Mr.
(!) The part which Mr. Pitt had taken against the system of foreign subsidies was very displeasing to the King ; nor did his Majesty ever entirely forgive the vigorous opposition which had been made by him in Parliament, in 1743 and 1744, to the measures proposed for the defence of Hanover. VOL. I. E
50 CORRESPONDENCE OF 1750.
Keene (*)> with a treaty signed by him and Mr. Carvajal. (2) I had but just time to read it cur- sorily over, but I think it answers almost all our great national points. It may to willing minds, be liable to cavil, and some popular objections ; but, on the whole, to those who really know our situation both at home and abroad, in my poor opinion, it must rather seem a wonderful event, that Spain should separately conclude with us, at a time when France is, if she knew it, in a con- dition almost to dictate her own terms to all Eu- rope. I hope and believe, when you see it and consider the whole, you will be of opinion, that my friend Keene has acted ably, honestly, and bravely ; but, poor man ! he is so sore with old bruises, that he still feels the smart, and fears another thrashing. (3) I know nothing of what our brethren, here or abroad, think of what he has done. I know he was authorised to close with worse conditions ; and therefore, excepting to yourself, I have only told the fact, that a treaty is signed. When I know more, and hear more, you shall have another letter from me. What strikes me the most is, that we now know the ground we
(J) Benjamin Keene, afterwards knight of the bath, for many years British ambassador at the Court of Madrid.
(2) Don Joseph Carvajal, the favourite minister of Ferdi- nand VI.
(3) Mr. Keene had been much abused by the Opposition in Sir Robert Walpole's time, under the name of " Don Benjamin," for having concluded the Convention with Spain, in 1739.
1750. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 51
stand upon : there can be no resort to quibbles or doubtful constructions ; the thing is right or wrong, and that is always to be governed by times and circumstances.
I had a letter from the Duke of Newcastle this day. He sets out from Hanover next Monday, but as he takes a circuit, not only to Looe and the Hague, but afterwards to Calais, where he meets the Duchess of Newcastle, I question whether he will be in England before the King. His Majesty has not positively named the day that he will leave Hanover ', but most people agree that it will be the 29th or 80th of this month. If so, he cannot be here till the second week in November ; and as I understand he will keep his birthday in a short time after he comes here, I thought you would be willing to know how the Hanover dis- position was, that you might order your affairs accordingly.
I conclude we shall scarce see you, till the time of his Majesty's intended arrival. I own I don't wish it, for I am satisfied the Bath waters will do you good; and if I see rightly into our domestic affairs, I should be sorry to think of your return- ing to Bath, after we have once seen you here.
I could give you, at the close of this letter, a disagreeable account of a certain correspondence ; but, as I am determined it shall have no effect, I think it as prudent not to mention it at all. If national things go right, and we are to deal with honest gamesters, whether they play well or ill,
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cunningly, or foolishly, good cards will win the game. You see I am in spirits, notwithstanding what I conceal. I shall now set heartily to work with the South Sea Company, and if I can bring them into terms, in my department, all will go well. The Bank and I are agreed ; they will pay off all the unsubscribed annuities at their House and the Exchequer, and take 3 per cent. I hope the South Sea will do the same.
I am, dear Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant,
H. Pelham.
THE RIGHT HON. HENRY PELHAM TO MR. PITT.
October 20, 1750. Dear Sir,
I send you, according to your desire, an exact
copy of the treaty lately concluded at Madrid, and
as Mr. John Pitt (*) will deliver it into your own
hands, there is no danger of its falling into any
other. I am no great critic in treaties, but I think
this is a plain renewal of all the advantageous
ones we have had with Spain ; that of 1670, which
I understand is what they call the American
treaty, is confirmed by the treaty of Aix, and of
consequence is included in that. Every article of
(') Son of George Pitt, Esq. of Strathfieldsay, at this time one of the lords of trade, and member for Wareham.
1750. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 53
the treaty of 1715 is specifically mentioned in this, excepting that agreement which was made between some of our merchants and the people of St. Andero in the year 1700. That Spain would on no account come into, as thinking it repugnant to their own honour and sovereignty amongst themselves. I have made some inquiry into it, and find it was rather a puff of the times than any thing essential in itself; no use has been made of it from that time to this, nor have any of our mer- chants ever applied about it. The great thing is done ; we know the ground we stand upon, and a friendly treaty is concluded between us and Spain, without the intervention of any other power. The sum paid to the South Sea Company is small : they think so, and will therefore hope for better terms from us than I am willing to give them. Some advantages they ought to have, and I will work hard to bring them into reasonable ones.
There is no news from Hanover by the last mail. The Duke of Newcastle did design setting out as last Monday, but I conclude this treaty will keep him a day or two longer. No one thinks of the King being here before the 4th of Novem- ber ; I hope we shall see him by that time, or soon after. I find Jack Pitt is very anxious about quitting his seat in Parliament, in order to be chosen at Dorchester. (') You know the only diffi-
(]) In the following January, he vacated his seat for Ware- ham, and was elected for Dorchester.
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54 CORRESPONDENCE OF 1750.
culty. I have assured him I will do my best when the King comes over ; had I left it to be managed at Hanover, I am morally sure it would not have ended well. But I hope, when I can speak my- self, it will do. I must beg you to make him easy. I believe he is satisfied as to my intentions, and I should do wrong by him, if I was to venture the success, for the sake of saying I have wrote strong upon the subject.
I am, dear Sir,
Your most faithful and
most obedient Servant, H. Pelham.
THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE TO MR. PITT.
Claremont, November 17, 1750.
Dear Sir, Your goodness to me encourages me to give you the trouble of reading a voluminous corre- spondence ; at the same time that it convinces me, I may do it with the utmost security. You will see by the particulars in the inclosed letters, how hard my fate is. I think it is impossible for one brother to write more truly through heart and soul to another than I do, and that in the most affectionate manner ; no single circumstance con- cealed, or any forced construction put upon any part of my intelligence. Of what nature are the
1750. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 55
answers, you will now be able to judge. There are two things, I think plain : first, that the notion of removing the Duke of Bedford came originally and solely from the King, without any condition or restriction of his Grace's consent to take any other place, and at first, without even the condition of the consent of the Council, which was added afterwards. Secondly, that my good brother was always afraid lest it should take place, even though both the King and the Duke of Bedford should agree to it. And yet I am so unhappy, that his Majesty now is pleased to say he never meant any thing further than that the Duke of Bedford should ex- change his employment, if it was agreeable to him, and not otherwise, and my brother now affirms he wishes the exchange upon that condition.
I have in these letters sufficiently showed him the terrible situation I should be left in. That at least, I think, should have made him more cautious ; but the bait was too strong to be lost, and the op- portunity too good to be neglected. The thing is over, and I am every hour more convinced that it is impossible for me to stay with ease and reputa- tion, much less with credit and influence. I shall take an opportunity of talking to the King ; after that, upon full consultation with you and my Lord Chancellor, I must take my resolution. Q)
(') The Duke's threats of resignation were not put into exe- cution ; but his displeasure against his brother was carried to such a degree, that all private intercourse between them was suspended. However, in the following January, an overture
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56 CORRESPONDENCE OF 1750.
There are many things in these letters that con- cern third persons whom I love and honour. I am sure that part also is safe with you ; I show you the whole, because I will conceal nothing, that you may judge the better what advice to give to him, who, you see is without reserve,
Dear Sir, Most sincerely and affectionately yours, Holles Newcastle.
MR. PITT TO HORATIO WALPOLE, ESQ. (•)
December 3, 1750.
Dear Sir, I return you, with a thousand thanks, the ob- servations on the Spanish treaty (2) ; which are so material and instructive, that I could have wished to have kept them longer in my hands. I
made by Mr. Pelham, through the medium of his son-in-law, the Earl of Lincoln, was readily accepted by the Duke, and a cordial reconciliation ensued.
(') In June, 1756, created Baron Walpole, of Wolterton. He died in the following February, in his seventy-ninth year.
(2) Having discovered, what he considered an important omission in the definitive treaty of Aix, Mr. Walpole drew up some observations, which he styled a Rhapsody of Foreign Poli- tics. " I shall communicate them," he says, in a letter to Lord Hardwicke, " to none but friends, and to but few of them. Mr. William Pitt, who I look upon as very zealous for the adminis- tration and very discreet as well as able, has had a perusal of them."
1751. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 57
shall, with great pleasure, take the first oppor- tunity of waiting on you, in hopes of some farther conversation upon this very national concern. I am, with a very sincere sense of your great good- ness to me,
Your, &c. &c,
W. Pitt.
MR. PITT TO THOMAS PITT, ESQ. (1)
[September — , 1751 ?] (2) My dear Child,
I am extremely pleased with your translation
now it is writ over fair. It is very close to the
sense of the original, and done, in many places,
with much spirit, as well as the numbers not
lame, or rough. However, an attention to Mr.
Pope's numbers will make you avoid some ill
(') Thomas Pitt was the only son of Mr. Pitt's elder brother, Thomas Pitt of Boconnock in the county of Cornwall. He was born in March 1737, and sat in several parliaments for the borough of Old Sarum, of which he was the proprietor. He was appointed a lord of the admiralty in 1763, and created Lord Camelford in 1783. In July 1771, he married Anne, daughter and co-heir of Pinkney Wilkinson of Burnham in Norfolk, by whom he had one son, Thomas, his successor, who was killed in a duel in 1804, and one daughter, Anne, who was married, in 1792, to William Lord Grenville. He died at Florence in 1793.
(2) The above is the first of a series of twenty-three letters, written by Mr. Pitt to his nephew, and published by Lord Gren- ville, in 1804-. They are introduced by the following appropriate Dedication and Preface : —
58 CORRESPONDENCE OF 1751.
sounds, and hobbling of the verse, by only trans- posing a word or two, in many instances. I have,
" To the Right Hon. William Pitt.
Dropmore, December 3, 1803.
" My dear Sir, " When you expressed to me your entire concurrence in my wish to print the following letters, you were not apprized that this address would accompany them. By you it will, I trust, be received as a testimony of affectionate friendship. To others the propriety will be obvious of inscribing with your name a publication, in which Lord Chatham teaches how great talents may most successfully be cultivated, and to what objects they may most honourably be directed.
" Grenville."
" Preface.
" The following letters were addressed by the late Lord Chatham to his nephew, Mr. Pitt, (afterwards Lord Camelford) then at Cambridge. They are few in number, written for the private use of an individual during a short period of time, and contain- ing only such detached observations on the extensive subjects to which they relate, as occasion might happen to suggest in the course of familiar correspondence. Yet even these imperfect remains will undoubtedly be received by the public with no common interest, as well from their own intrinsic value, as from the picture which they display of the character of their author. The editor's wish to do honour to the memory both of the per- son by whom they were written, and of him to whom they were addressed, would alone have rendered him desirous of making these papers public. But he feels a much higher motive in the hope of promoting by such a publication the inseparable interests of learning, virtue, and religion. By the writers of that school, whose philosophy consists in the degradation of virtue, it has often been triumphantly declared, that no excellence of character
1751. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 59
upon reading the eclogue over again, altered the third, fourth, and fifth lines, in order to bring them
can stand the test of close observation ; that no man is a hero to his domestic servants, or to his familiar friends. How much more just, as well as more amiable and dignified, is the opposite sentiment, delivered to us in the words of Plutarch, and illus- trated throughout all his writings ! ' Real virtue,' says that inimitable moralist, ' is most loved where it is most nearly seen : and no respect which it commands from strangers can equal the never-ceasing admiration it excites in the daily intercourse of
domestic life.' T-^ dkrftivvjs dpeT7J$ KaKkuna. ipdiverai to, fJidXiinroc <paivo[AEVCC' Kal tuv dya^sSv dvZpuv ovdlv ovru 5a.v[/.d<7tov too; exTOf, uq o ko.%' rjfAEfav filo$ ro*V (rwovcriv. — Plut. Vit. Periclis.
" The following correspondence, imperfect as it is, (and who will not lament that many more such letters are not preserved ?) exhibits a great orator, statesman, and patriot, in one of the most interesting relations of private society. Not, as in the ca- binet or the senate, enforcing by a vigorous and commanding eloquence those councils to which his country owed her pre- eminence and glory ; but implanting, with parental kindness, into the mind of an ingenuous youth, seeds of wisdom and virtue, which ripened into full maturity in the character of a most ac- complished man : directing him to the acquisition of knowledge *, as the best instrument of action ; teaching him by the cultivation of his reason, to strengthen and establish in his heart those prin- ciples of moral rectitude which were congenial to it ; and, above all, exhorting him to regulate the whole conduct of his life by the predominant influence of gratitude, and obedience to God, as the only sure groundwork of every human duty.
" What parent anxious for the character and success of a son, born to any liberal station in this great and free country,
* Ingenium illustre altioribus studiis juvenis admodum dedit; nonut nomine magnifico segne otium velarut, sed quo firmior adversus fortuita Rempublicam capesseret. — Tacitus.
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nearer to the Latin, as well as to render some beauty, which is contained in the repetition ot words in tender passages ; for example : —
" Nos patriae fines, et dulcia linquimus arva ;
Nos patriam fugimus : tu, Tityre, lentus in umbra, Formosam resonare doces Amaryllida sylvas."
" "We leave our native land, these fields so sweet ; Our country leave : at ease, in cool retreat, You, Thyrsis, bid the woods fair Daphne's name repeat."
would not, in all that related to his education, gladly have re- sorted to the advice of such a man ? What youthful spirit, ani- mated by any desire of future excellence, and looking for the gratification of that desire, in the pursuits of honourable ambition, or in the consciousness of an upright, active, and useful life, would not embrace with transport any opportunity of listening on such a subject to the lessons of Lord Chatham ? They are here before him. Not delivered with the authority of a preceptor, or a parent, but tempered by the affection of a friend towards a disposition and character well entitled to such regard.
" On that disposition and character the editor forbears to en- large. Their best panegyric will be found in the following pages. Lord Camelford is there described such as Lord Chatham judged him in the first dawn of his youth, and such as he continued to his latest hour. The same suavity of manners and steadiness of principle, the same correctness of judgment and integrity of heart, distinguished him through life ; and the same affectionate attachment from those who knew him best has followed him beyond the grave.
Quae Gratia vivo — Eadem sequitur tellure repostum ! "
The remainder of this excellent preface will be found appended, in the way of notes, to the letters to which they especially refer. The letters of Mr. Thomas Pitt to his Uncle are now for the first time printed.
1751. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 61
I will desire you to write over another copy with this alteration, and also to write " smoaks " in the plural number, in the last line but one.
You give me great pleasure, my dear child, in the progress you have made. I will recommend to Mr. Leech to carry you quite through Virgil's ^Eneid from beginning to ending. Pray show him this letter, with my service to him, and thanks for his care of you. For English poetry, I recom- mend Pope's translation of Homer, and Dryden's Fables in particular. I am not sure, if they are not called Tales instead of Fables. Your cousin, whom I am sure you can overtake if you will, has read Virgil's iEneid quite through, and much of Horace's Epistles. Terence's plays I would also desire Mr. Leech to make you perfect master of. Your cousin has read them all. Go on, my dear, and you will at least equal him. You are so good that I have nothing to wish but that you may be directed to proper books ; and I trust to your spirit, and desire to be praised for things that deserve praise, for the figure you will hereafter make.
God bless you, my dear child.
Your most affectionate uncle,
W. Pitt.
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MR. PITT TO THOMAS PITT, ESQ.
Bath, October 12, 1751. My dear Nephew,
As I have been moving about from place to place, your letter reached me here, at Bath, but very lately, after making a considerable circuit to find me. I should have otherwise, my dear child, returned you thanks for the very great pleasure you have given me, long before now. The very good account you give me of your studies, and that delivered in very good Latin for your time, has filled me with the highest expectation of your future improvements. I see the foundation so well laid, that I do not make the least doubt but you will become a perfect good scholar ; and have the pleasure and applause that will attend the several advantages hereafter, in the future course of your life, that you can only acquire now by your emu- lation and noble labours in the pursuit of learning, and of every acquirement that is to make you superior to other gentlemen.
I rejoice to hear that you have begun Homer's Iliad ; and have made so great a progress in Virgil. I hope you taste and love those authors particularly. You cannot read them too much : they are not only the two greatest poets, but they contain the finest lessons for your age to imbibe : lessons of honour, courage, disinterestedness, love of truth, command of temper, gentleness of be-
1752. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 63
haviour, humanity, and in one word, virtue in its true signification. Go on, my dear nephew, and drink as deep as you can of these divine springs : the pleasure of the draught is equal at least to the prodigious advantages of it to the heart and morals. I hope you will drink them as somebody does in Virgil, of another sort of cup :
" Ille impiger hausit spumantem pateram." I shall be highly pleased to hear from you, and to know what authors give you most pleasure. I desire my service to Mr. Leech : pray tell him I will write to him soon about your studies.
I am, with the greatest affection, My dear child,
Your loving uncle,
W. Pitt.
MR. PITT TO HORATIO WALPOLE, ESQ.
[February — , 1752.]
Dear Sir,* I return you the packet you were so good as to send me, together with a thousand thanks for the favour. Your speech(1) contains much very weighty
(!) The speech here referred to is one made by Mr. (after- wards Lord) Walpole in the House of Commons, on the 22d of January, on the subsidy to the elector of Saxony. " Mr. Pitt," says Coxe, "although he had warmly defended the Bavarian treaty, coincided with Mr. Walpole in disapproving
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matter, and, from beginning to end, breathes the spirit of a man who loves his country. If your endeavours contribute to the honest end you aim at, namely, to check foreign expenses, and prevent entanglements abroad, under a situation burdened and exhausted at present, and liable to many alarming apprehensions in futurity, you deserve the thanks of this generation, and will have those of the next.
I am, with great regard, dear Sir, Your most obedient,
and most humble servant,
W. Pitt.
MR. PITT TO THOMAS PITT, ESQ.
Bath, Jan. 12, 1754. My dear Nephew,
YouRletter from Cambridge affords me many very
sensible pleasures : first, that you are at last in a
proper place for study and improvement, instead of
losing any more of that most precious thing, time, in
London ; in the next place, that you seem pleased
with the particular society you are placed in, and
with the gentleman to whose care and instructions
the new subsidiary treaties, was much struck with this effusion, and requested him to consign it to writing." — Memoirs of Lord Wulpole, vol. ii. p. 340.
1754. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 65
you are committed ; and above all, I applaud the sound, right sense, and love of virtue, which appear through your whole letter. You are already possessed of the true clue to guide you through tins dangerous and perplexing part of your life's journey, the years of education ; and upon which, the complexion of all the rest of your days will infallibly depend : I say, you have the true clue to guide you, in the maxim you lay down in your letter to me ; namely, that the use of learning is, to render a man more wise and vir- tuous, not merely to make him more learned. Macte tud virtute. Go on, my dear boy, by this golden rule, and you cannot fail to become every thing your generous heart prompts you to wish to be, and that mine most affectionately wishes for you.
There is but one danger in your way ; and that is, perhaps, natural enough to your age — the love of pleasure, or the fear of close application and la- borious diligence. With the last, there is nothing you may not conquer ; and the first is sure to con- quer and enslave whoever does not strenuously and generously resist the first allurements of it, lest by small indulgences, he fall under the yoke of irresistible habit. " Vitanda est improba siren, Desidia" I desire may be affixed to the curtains of your bed, and to the walls of your chambers. If you do not rise early, you never can make any progress worth talking of; and another rule is, if you do not set apart your hours of reading, and
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never suffer yourself or any one else to break in upon them, your days will slip through your hands unprofitably and frivolously ; unpraised by all you wish to please, and really unenjoyable to yourself. Be assured, whatever you take from pleasure, amusements, or indolence, for these first few years of your life, will repay you a hundred fold, in the pleasures, honours, and advantages of all the re- mainder of your days.
My heart is so full of the most earnest desire that you should do well, that I find my letter has run into some length, which you will, I know, be so good [as] to excuse. There remains now nothing to trouble you with, but a little plan for the be- ginning of your studies, which I desire, in a parti- cular manner, may be exactly followed in every tittle. You are to qualify yourself for the part in society to which your birth and estate call you. You are to be a gentleman of such learning and qualifications as may distinguish you in the service of your country hereafter; not a pedant, who reads only to be called learned, instead of con- sidering learning as an instrument only for action. Give me leave, therefore, my dear nephew, who have gone before you, to point out to you the dangers in your road ; to guard you against such things, as I experience my own defects to arise from ; and at the same time, if I have had any little successes in the world, to guide you to what I have drawn many helps from.
I have not the pleasure of knowing the gentle-
1754. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 67
man who is your tutor, but I dare say he is every way equal to such a charge, which I think no small one. You will communicate this letter to him, and I hope he will be so good [as] to concur with me, as to the course of study I desire you may begin with, and that such books, and such only, as I have pointed out, may be read. They are as follow : Euclid ; a course of Logic ; a course of experimental Philosophy ; Locke's Conduct of the Understanding ; his treatise also on the Under- standing ; his treatise on Government, and Letters on Toleration. I desire, for the present, no books of poetry, but Horace and Virgil : of Horace the Odes, but above all, the Epistles and Ars Poetica. These parts, " nocturnd versate manu, versate diurnd." Tully de Officiis, de Amicitia, de Se- nectute ; his Catilinarian Orations and Philippics. Sallust. At leisure hours, an abridgment of the History of England to be run through, in order to settle in the mind a general chronological order and series of principal events, and succession of kings. Proper books of English history, on the true principles of our happy constitution, shall be pointed out afterwards. Burnet's History of the Reformation, abridged by himself, to be read with great care. Father Paul on beneficiary Matters, in English. (l) A French master, and only
(!) A translation of father Paul Sarpi's " History of Ec- clesiastical Benefices, with notes and observations by Amelot de la Houssaie," appeared in 1727. Orme, in his Bibliotheca Biblica, describes it as " a work which does great honour to the talents and character of its amiable author."
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Moliere's plays to be read with him, or by your- self, till you have gone through them all. Spec- tators, especially Mr. Addison's papers, to be read very frequently at broken times in your room. I make it my request, that you will forbear drawing totally while you are at Cambridge, and not meddle with Greek (*), otherwise than to know a
(*) "It will be obvious to every reader, on the slightest perusal of Mr. Pitt's letters to his nephew, that they were never intended to comprise a perfect system of education, even for the short portion of time to which they relate. Many points in which they will be found deficient were, undoubtedly, supplied by frequent opportunities of personal intercourse, and much was left to the general rules of study established at an English university. Still less therefore should the temporary advice addressed to an individual, whose previous education had laboured under some disadvantage, be understood as a general dissuasive from the cultivation of Grecian literature. The sentiments of Lord Chatham were in direct opposition to any such opinion. The manner in which, even in these letters, he speaks of the first of poets, and the greatest of orators, and the stress which he lays on the benefits to be derived from their immortal works, could leave no doubt of his judgment on this important point. That judgment was afterwards most un- equivocally manifested, when he was called upon to consider the question with a still higher interest, not only as a friend and guardian, but also as a father.
" A diligent study of the poetry, the history, the eloquence, and the philosophy of Greece, an intimate acquaintance with those writings which have been the admiration of every age, and the models of all succeeding excellence, would undoubtedly have been considered by him as an essential part of any general plan for the education of an English gentleman, born to share in the councils of his country. Such a plan must also have comprised a much higher progress, than is here traced out, in mathematics, in the science of reason, in natural and in moral
1754. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 69
little the etymology of words in Latin, or English, or French ; nor to meddle with Italian.
philosophy* ; including in the latter the proofs and doctrines of that revelation by which it has been perfected. Nor would the work have been considered by him as finished, until on these foundations there had been built an accurate knowledge of the origin, nature, and safeguards of government and civil liberty ; of the principles of public and municipal law ; and of the theory of political, commercial, financial, and military administration, as resulting from the investigations of philosophy, and as ex- emplified in the lessons both of ancient and of modern history. ' I call that,' says Milton, ' a complete and generous education, which fits a man to perform justly, skilfully, and magnanimously, all the offices, both public and private, of peace and war.'
" This is the purpose to which all knowledge is subordinate ; the test of all intellectual and all moral excellence. It is the end to which the lessons of Lord Chatham are uniformly directed. May they contribute to promote and encourage its pursuit! Recommended, as they must be, to the heart of every reader, by their warmth of sentiment and eloquence of language ; deriving additional weight from the affectionate interest by which they were dictated ; and most of all enforced by the in- fluence of his own great example, and by the authority of his venerable name." — Lord Grenville.
* " A passage has been quoted above (see p. 59.) from the lafe of Pericles. The editor cannot refrain from once more referring his reader to the same beautiful work, for the description of the benefits which that great statesman derived from the study of natural philosophy. ' The lessons of Anaxagoras,' says our author, 'gave elevation to his soul, and sublimity to his eloquence ; they diffused over the whole tenor of his life a temperate and majestic grandeur ; taught him to raise his thoughts from the works of Nature to the contemplation of that Perfect and Pure Intelligence from which they originate ; and (as Plutarch expresses it in words that mio-ht best describe a Christian philosopher), instilled into his mind, instead of the dark and fearful superstition of his times, that piety which is confirmed by Reason and animated by Hope : avrl t?j <po£ep*i; xal •pXey/xatvainrtx; JeKriSai^o- vj'af t»v ao-tyahn uir' i\-!rfiuv ayaAyn luc-kZuav tvEpya^ETO.' " — Lord Grenville.
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I hope this little course will soon be run through.
I intend it as a general foundation for many things,
of infinite utility, to come as soon as this is finished.
Believe me, with the truest affection, my dear
Nephew,
Ever yours,
W. Pitt.
Keep this letter and read it again.
MR. PITT TO THOMAS PITT, ESQ.
Bath, January 14, 1754.
My dear Nephew, You will hardly have read over one very long letter from me, before you are troubled with a second. I intended to have writ soon, but I do it the sooner on account of your letter to your aunt, which she transmitted to me here. If any thing, my dear boy, could have happened to raise you higher in my esteem, and to endear you more to me, it is the amiable abhorrence you feel for the scene of vice and folly (and of real misery and perdition, under the false notion of pleasure and spirit), which has opened to you at your college, and at the same time, the manly, brave, generous, and wise resolution and true spirit, with which you resisted and repulsed the first attempts upon a mind and heart, I thank God, infinitely too firm
1754. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 71
and noble, as well as too elegant and enlightened, to be in any danger of yielding to such con- temptible and wretched corruptions.
You charm me with the description of Mr. Wheeler (*), and while you say you could adore him, I could adore you for the natural genuine love of virtue, which speaks in all you feel, say, or do. As to your companions, let this be your rule : — Cultivate the acquaintance with Mr. Wheeler which you have so fortunately begun, and, in general, be sure to associate with men much older than your- self; scholars whenever you can, but always with men of decent and honourable lives. As their age and learning, superior both to your own, must ne- cessarily, in good sense, and in the view of ac- quiring knowledge from them, entitle them to all deference, and submission of your own lights to theirs, you will particularly practise that first and greatest rule for pleasing in conversation, as well as for drawing instruction and improvement from the company of one's superiors in age and know- ledge, namely, to be a patient, attentive, and well- bred hearer, and to answer with modesty ; to deliver your own opinions sparingly, and with proper diffidence ; and if you are forced to desire farther information or explanation upon a point, to
(!) " The Rev. John Wheeler, prebendary of Westminster. The friendship formed between this gentleman and Lord Camelford at so early a period of their lives was founded in mutual esteem, and continued uninterrupted till Lord Camel- ford's death." — Lord Grenville.
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do it with proper apologies for the trouble you give ; or if obliged to differ, to do it with all possible candour, and an unprejudiced desire to find and ascertain truth, with an entire indifference to the side on which that truth is to be found.
There is likewise a particular attention required to contradict with good manners ; such as, begging pardon, begging leave to doubt, and such like phrases. Pythagoras enjoined his scholars an ab- solute silence for a long noviciate. I am far from approving such a taciturnity ; but I highly recom- mend the end and intent of Pythagoras's injunc- tion, which is, to dedicate the first parts of life more to hear and learn, in order to collect ma- terials, out of which to form opinions founded on proper lights and well-examined sound principles, than to be presuming, prompt, and flippant in hazarding one's own slight crude notions of tilings, and thereby exposing the nakedness and emptiness of the mind — like a house opened to company, before it is fitted either with necessaries, or any ornaments for their reception and entertainment.
And not only will this disgrace follow from such temerity and presumption, but a more serious danger is sure to ensue, that is, the embracing errors for truths, prejudices for principles ; and when that is once done (no matter how vainly and weakly), the adhering perhaps to false and dangerous notions, only because one has declared for them, and submitting, for life, the understand- ing and conscience to a yoke of base and servile
1754s THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 73
prejudices, vainly taken up and obstinately re- tained. This will never be your danger ; but I thought it not amiss to offer these reflections to your thoughts.
As to your manner of behaving towards those unhappy young gentlemen you describe, let it be manly and easy : decline their parties with civility ; retort their raillery with raillery, always tempered with good breeding : if they banter your regularity, order, decency, and love of study, banter in return their neglect of them, and venture to own frankly, that you came to Cambridge to learn what you can, not to follow what they are pleased to call pleasure. In short, let your external behaviour to them be as full of politeness and ease, as your inward estimation of them is full of pity, mixed with contempt.
I come now to the part of the advice I have to offer to you, which most nearly concerns your welfare, and upon which every good and honour- able purpose of your life will assuredly turn ; I mean the keeping up in your heart the true sentiments of religion. (*) If you are not right towards God,
(') " We recommend," say the Edinburgh Reviewers, " these admirable passages to all those light and thoughtless persons, who are pleased to regard every sentiment, of a moral or religious tendency, as the growth of monkish seclusion and ignorance of the world, or as the offspring of a sullen bigotry and weakness of understanding ; only premising that they are the earnest, undisguised effusions of an unrivalled statesman and orator, poured forth at the very moment in which his whole mind was distracted by the weight of affairs, and the intrigues
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you can never be so towards man : the noblest sen- timent of the human breast is here brought to the test. Is gratitude in the number of a man's virtues ? if it be, the highest benefactor demands the warmest returns of gratitude, love, and praise. " Ingratum qui dixerit, omnia dixit." If a man wants this virtue where there are infinite obliga- tions to excite and quicken it, he will be likely to want all others towards his fellow-creatures, whose utmost gifts are poor compared to those he daily receives at the hands of his never-failing Almighty Friend. " Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth," is big with the deepest wisdom : " The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom ; and, an upright heart, that is understanding." This is externally true, whether the wits and rakes of Cambridge allow it or not : nay, I must add of
of a factious court. But, in every line of these interesting relics, we discover features of a mind as lovely, as we know that it was powerful and accomplished. We discover unerring proofs that Lord Chatham was as amiable in the private re- lations of life, as the annals of the old and new world proclaim him to have been transcendantly great in the management of affairs. We are constantly delighted with traits of an union, extremely rare in the human character, of the stronger passions and grandest powers of the mind with its finer feelings and nicer principles. We meet with perpetual evidence, that neither the intrigues of courts, nor the contentions of popular as- semblies, had ever effaced from this great man's heart those early impressions of virtue and of piety, with which almost all are provided at their outset, but which so few are enabled to pre- serve even from the dangers and seductions of an obscurer fortune." — Vol. iv. p. 378.
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this religions wisdom, " Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace," what- ever your young gentlemen of pleasure think of a whore and a bottle, a tainted health and battered constitution.
Hold fast, therefore, by this sheet-anchor of happiness, religion : you will often want it in the times of most danger ; the storms and tempests of life. Cherish true religion as preciously as you will fly with abhorrence and contempt superstition and enthusiasm. The first is the perfection and glory of the human nature ; the two last the deprivation and disgrace of it. Remember, the essence of religion is, a heart void of offence towards God and man ; not subtle speculative opinions, but an active vital principle of faith. The words of a heathen were so fine that I must give them to you : —
" Compositum Jus, fasque animi ; sanctosque recessus Mentis, et incoctum generoso pectus honesto." (l)
Go on, my dear child, in the admirable dispo- sitions you have towards all that is right and good,
(l) Persius, Sat I., thus translated by Dryden : •
" A soul, where laws both human and divine, In practice more than speculation shine ; A genuine virtue, of a vigorous kind, Pure in the last recesses of the mind."
And again, by Giflford: —
" A mind.
Where legal and where moral sense are join'd
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and make yourself the love and admiration of the world !
I have neither paper nor words to tell you how tenderly
I am, my dear Nephew, yours,
W. Pitt.
MR. PITT TO THOMAS PITT, ESQ.
Bath, January 24, 1754.
I will not lose a moment before I return my most tender and warm thanks to the most amiable, valuable, and noble-minded of youths, for the infinite pleasure his letter gives me.
My dear nephew, what a beautiful thing is genuine goodness, and how lovely does the human mind appear in its native purity (in a nature as happy as yours), before the taints of a corrupted world have touched it ! To guard you from the
With the pure essence ; holy thoughts, that dwell In the soul's most retired and sacred cell ; A bosom dyed in honour's noblest grain, Deep-dyed."
" Persius," adds Mr. Gifford, " may be more easily admired than translated. These two lines are not only the quintessence of sanctity, but of language. Closeness would cramp, paraphrase would enfeeble their sense ; which, like Juvenal's abstract idea of a perfect poet, may be felt but cannot be expressed. None of the versions of them which I have seen satisfy me; and, least of all, ray own,"
1754s THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 77
fatal effects of all the dangers that surround and beset youth (and many they are, nam varies illu- dunt pestes), I thank God, is become my pleasing and very important charge ; your own choice, and our nearness in blood, and still more, a dearer and nearer relation of hearts, which I feel between us, all concur to make it so. I shall seek, then, every occasion, my dear young friend, of being useful to you, by offering you those lights, which one must have lived some years in the world to see the full force and extent of, and which the best mind and clearest understanding will suggest imperfectly in any case, and in the most difficult, delicate, and essential points perhaps not at all, till experience, that dear-bought instructor, comes to our as- sistance.
What I shall, therefore, make my task (a happy, delightful task, if I prove a safeguard to so much opening virtue), is to be for some years, what you cannot be to yourself, your experience ; experience anticipated, and ready digested for your use. Thus we will endeavour, my dear child, to join the two best seasons of life, to establish your virtue and your happiness upon solid foundations : Miscens autumni et veris honores.
So much in general. I will now, my dear nephew, say a few things to you upon a matter where you have surprisingly little to learn, consi- dering you have seen nothing but Boconnock ; I mean behaviour. Behaviour is of infinite advantage or prejudice to a man, as he happens to have formed
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it to a graceful, noble, engaging, and proper man- ner, or to a vulgar, coarse, ill-bred, or awkward and ungenteel one. Behaviour, though an external thing, which seems rather to belong to the body than to the mind, is certainly founded in consider- able virtues ; though I have known instances of good men, with something very revolting and of- fensive in their manner of behaviour, especially when they have the misfortune to be naturally very awkward and ungenteel, and which their mistaken friends have helped to confirm them in, by telling them they were above such trifles as being genteel, dancing, fencing, riding, and doing all manly ex- ercises, with grace and vigour : as if the body, because inferior, were not a part of the composition of man ; and the proper, easy, ready, and graceful use of himself, both in mind and limb, did not go to make up the character of an accomplished man. You are in no danger of falling into this prepos- terous error ; and I had a great pleasure in rinding you, when I first saw you in London, so well dis- posed by nature, and so properly attentive to make yourself genteel in person, and well-bred in behaviour.
I am very glad you have taken a fencing- master : that exercise will give you some manly, firm, and graceful attitudes, open your chest, place your head upright, and plant you well upon your legs. As to the use of the sword, it is well to know it ; but remember, my dearest nephew, it is a science of defence, and that a sword can never be employed
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by the hand of a man of virtue in any other cause. As to the carriage of your person, be particularly careful, as you are tall and thin, not to get a habit of stooping ; nothing has so poor a look. Above all things, avoid contracting any peculiar gesticulations of the body, or movements of the muscles of the face. It is rare to see in any one a graceful laughter ; it is generally better to smile than laugh out, especially to contract a habit of laughing at small or no jokes. Sometimes it would be affecta- tion, or worse, mere moroseness, not to laugh heartily, when the truly ridiculous circumstances of an incident, or the true pleasantry and wit of a thing call for and justify it ; but the trick of laughing frivolously is by all means to be avoided — risu ineptOy res ineptior nulla est.
Now as to politeness ; many have attempted definitions of it. I believe it is best to be known by description ; definition not being able to comprise it. I would, however, venture to call it bene- volence in trifles, or the preference of others to ourselves in little daily, hourly, occurrences in the commerce of life. A better place, a more com- modious seat, priority in being helped at table, &c. what is it, but sacrificing ourselves in such trifles to the convenience and pleasure of others ? And this constitutes true politeness. It is a perpetual attention (by habit it grows easy and natural to us) to the little wants of those we are with, by which we either prevent or remove them. Bowing, ceremonious, formal compliments, stiff civilities,
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will never be politeness ; that must be easy, natural, unstudied, manly, noble. And what will give this, but a mind benevolent, and perpetually attentive to exert that amiable disposition in trifles towards all you converse and live with. Benevolence in greater matters takes a higher name, and is the queen of virtues. Nothing is so incompatible with politeness as any trick of absence of mind. (')
I would trouble you with a word or two more upon some branches of behaviour, which have a more serious moral obligation in them than those of mere politeness, which are equally important in the eye of the world. I mean a proper behaviour, adapted to the respective relations we stand in, towards the different ranks of superiors, equals, and inferiors. Let your behaviour towards superiors, in dignity, age, learning, or any distinguished ex- cellence, be full of respect, deference, and modesty : towards equals, nothing becomes a man so well as well-bred ease, polite freedom, generous frankness, manly spirit, always tempered with gentleness and sweetness of manner, noble sincerity, candour, and openness of heart, qualified and restrained within the bounds of discretion and prudence, and ever limited by a sacred regard to secrecy in all things intrusted to it, and an inviolable attachment to your word.
(!) "We challenge the admirers of Lord Chesterfield to produce a more winning, and at the same time a more judi- cious and ingenious defence of all that part of manners which is worthy of a reasonable being's regard, in the whole writings of their master." — Edinburgh Rev. vol. iv. p. 384.
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To inferiors, gentleness, condescension, and affa- bility, is the only dignity. Towards servants, never accustom yourself to rough and passionate language. When they are good, we should consider them as liumiles amici, as fellow Christians, ut conservi ; and when they are bad, pity, admonish, and part with them if incorrigible. On all occasions beware, my dear child, of anger, that demon, that destroyer of our peace : —
" Ira furor brevis est, animum rege, qui nisi paret, Imperat: hunc frenis, hunc tu compesce catena." (^
Write soon, and tell me of your studies.
W. Pitt.
MR. PITT TO THOMAS PITT, ESQ.
Bath, February 3, 1754.
Nothing can, or ought to give me a higher satis- faction, than the obliging manner in which my dear nephew receives my most sincere and affectionate endeavours to be of use to him. You much over- rate the obligation, whatever it be, which youth has to those who have trod the paths of the world before them, for their friendly advice how to avoid the inconveniences, dangers, and evils, which they themselves may have run upon for want of such
(') " Anger 's a shorter madness of the mind : Subdue the tyrant, and in fetters bind."
Francis's Horace. VOL. I. G
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timely warnings, and to seize, cultivate, and cany forward towards perfection, those advantages, graces, virtues, and felicities, which they may have totally missed, or stopped short in the generous pursuit. To lend this helping hand to those who are beginning to tread the slippery way seems, at best, but an office of common humanity to all ; but to withhold it from one we truly love, and whose heart and mind bear every genuine mark of the very soil proper for all the amiable, manly, and generous virtues to take root, and bear their heavenly fruit — inward, conscious peace, fame amongst men, public love, temporal and eternal happiness — to withhold it, I say, in such an instance, would deserve the worst of names.
I am greatly pleased, my dear young friend, that you do me the justice to believe I do not mean to impose any yoke of authority upon your under- standing and conviction. I wish to warn, admonish, instruct, enlighten, and convince your reason, and so determine your judgment to right things, when you shall be made to see that they are right ; not to overbear, and impel you to adopt any thing before you perceive it to be right or wrong, by the force of authority.
I hear with great pleasure that Locke lay before you, when you writ last to me ; and I like the ob- servation that you make from him, that we must- use our own reason not that of another, if we would deal fairly by ourselves, and hope to enjoy a peaceful and contented conscience. This pre-
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cept is truly worthy of the dignity of rational natures.
But here, my dear child, let me offer one distinction to you, and it is of much moment ; it is this — Mr. Locke's precept is applicable only to such opinions as regard moral or religious obligations, and which, as such, our own consciences alone can judge and determinefor ourselves: matters of mere expediency, that affect neither honour, morality, or religion, were not in that great and wise man's view ; such are the usages, forms, manners, modes, proprieties, decorum, and all those numberless ornamental little acquirements, and genteel well-bred attentions, which constitute a proper, graceful, amiable, and noble behaviour. In matters of this kind, I am sure your own reason, to which I shall always refer you, will at once tell you, that you must, at first, make use of the experience of others ; in effect, see with their eyes, or not be able to see at all ; for the ways of the world, as to its usages and exterior manners, as well as to all things of expediency and prudential considerations, a moment's reflection will convince a mind as right as yours, must neces- sarily be to inexperienced youth, with ever so fine natural parts, a terra incognita. As you would not therefore attempt to form notions of China or Persia but from those who have travelled those countries, and the fidelity and sagacity of whose re- lations you can trust, so will you as little, I trust, prematurely form notions of your own, concerning that usage of the world (as it is called) into which
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you have not yet travelled, and which must be long studied and practised, before it can be tolerably well known.
I can repeat nothing to you of so infinite conse- quence to your future welfare, as to conjure you not to be hasty in taking up notions and opinions : guard your honest and ingenuous mind against this main danger of youth. With regard to all things that appear not to your reason, after due examina- tion, evident duties of honour, morality, or religion, (and in all such as do, let your conscience and reason determine your notions and conduct) — in all other matters, I say, be slow to form opinions, keep your mind in a candid state of suspense, and open to full conviction when you shall procure it, using in the mean time the experience of a friend you can trust, the sincerity of whose advice you will try and prove by your own experience hereafter, when more years shall have given it to you.
I have been longer upon this head than I hope there was any occasion for ; but the great import- ance of the matter, and my warm wishes for your welfare, figure, and happiness, have drawn it from me. I wish to know if you have a good French master. I must recommend the study of the French language, to speak and write it correctly, as to grammar and orthography, as a matter of the utmost and indispensable use to you, if you would make any figure in the great world. I need say no more to enforce this recommendation ; when I get to London, I will send you the best French
1754. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 85
dictionary. Have you been taught geography and the use of the globes by Mr. Leech ? If not, pray take a geography master, and learn the use of the globes ; it is soon known. I recommend to you to acquire a clear and thorough notion of what is called the solar system, together with the doctrine of comets. I wanted as much or more to hear of your private reading at home, as of public lectures ; which I hope, however, you will frequent for ex- ample sake.
Pardon this long letter, and keep it by you, if you do not hate it. Believe me, my dear Nephew, Your ever affectionate uncle,
W. Pitt.
MR. PITT TO THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE. (l)
[From a draught in Mr. Pitt's hand- writing.]
Bath, March—, 1754.
My Lord Duke, I am extremely sorry that I continue still so weak in my feet, though much mended in my general
(!) On the 6th of March, the ministry had been suddenly- left without a head by the death of Mr. Pelham. Having re- linquished the seals of secretary of state, to accept the man- agement of the treasury, the Duke of Newcastle proceeded to select his immediate colleagues. His choice for a chancellor of the exchequer was directed to Mr. Legge, from a conviction,
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health, as not to be able to attend your Grace ; an honour I particularly ought to do myself at this time, to receive your Grace's commands, with regard to the ensuing election. If the very great honour you intended me be still in your thoughts, and that such a very useless though unalterable humble servant to your Grace as I must be, is destined to be chosen at Aldborough ('), I should beg the favour
that in him he should find a dependent, neither ambitious in himself, nor likely, by influence or abilities, to aspire to a higher share of power. Mr. Legge, however, being ill-calculated to act as leader in the House of Commons, no other resource re- mained than to consign the seals of secretary of state to a member of that body, who, by his abilities or influence, might manage the house under his Grace's directions. Three persons were more particularly adapted for this post, by their oratorical talents and personal qualifications, Mr. Pitt, Mr. Fox, and Mr. Murray, Solicitor General. The Duke of Newcastle was aware that the royal dislike against Mr. Pitt had not wholly subsided. Mr. Murray, besides the prejudices entertained against him as a native of Scotland, had been exposed to obloquy, during the feuds in the household of the Prince of Wales. Mr. Fox was indicated by the public voice as the person best calculated to fill so important a situation. An overture was accordingly made to him, through Lord Hartington, offering the seals, with the management of the House of Commons ; the arrangement was considered complete; for, on the 12th of March, the sanction of the king was obtained : but the next morning, when Mr. Fox waited on the Duke of Newcastle, he found that he was not to be acquainted with the disposal of the secret-service money, to share the patronage, or even have a voice in the ar- rangements of the approaching elections ; and as he was un- willing to assume the character of leader in the House of Commons without the powers necessary to be attached to it, he took the resolution of declining the seals.
(J) At the ensuing general election in April, Mr. Pitt was returned for the borough of Aldborough in Yorkshire.
1751% THE EARL OF CHATHAM, 87
of your orders, -whether it be necessary I should appear there on the occasion, as I cannot imme- diately undertake such a journey, or indeed any, without extreme difficulty and some hazard to my health. I shall esteem it an addition to this great favour, if I may be allowed to remain a little longer here till I can recover my feet, and where the waters are of infinite service to me.
Sir George Lyttelton (') had flattered me with the expectation that I might have the honour to re- ceive some commands from your Grace here. I hope your Grace's health continues unaltered, and equal to all the load of various business that now lies upon you. That all your Grace's labours for the King's service may succeed is the very sincere wish of
Your Grace's most obedient
and most humble servant,
W. Pitt.
(J) Sir George Lyttelton was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Lyttelton of Hagley, by Christian, daughter of Sir Richard Temple of Stowe. On the 6th of April he resigned his situation of one of the lords of the treasury, and was made cofferer of the household and a privy councillor; and in December 1755, he was appointed chancellor of the exchequer ; an office which he resigned in 1757- On the dissolution of the ministry in that year, he retired from public life, and was elevated to the peer- age, by the title of Lord Lyttelton. He died in August 1773, leaving behind bim, " Observations on the Conversion of St. Paul," a treatise to which, in the opinion of Dr. Johnson, " in- fidelity has never been able to fabricate a specious answer," " Dialogues of the Dead," the " History of Henry the Se- cond," and a volume of Poems.
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MR. PITT TO THOMAS PITT, ESQ.
Bath, March 30, 1754. My dear Nephew, I am much obliged to you for your kind remem- brance and wishes for my health. It is much re- covered by the regular fit of gout, of which I am still lame in both feet, and I may hope for better health hereafter in consequence. I have thought it long; since we conversed. I waited to be able to give you a better account of my health, and in part to leave you time to make advances in your plan of study, of which I am very desirous to hear an account. I desire you will be so good as to let me know particularly if you have gone through the abridgment of Burnet's History of the Refor- mation and the treatise of Father Paul on Bene- fices ; also how much of Locke you have read. I beg of you not to mix any other English reading with what I recommended to you. I propose to save you much time and trouble, by pointing out to you such books, in succession, as will carry you the shortest way to the things you must know to fit yourself for the business of the world, and give you the clearer knowledge of them, by keeping them unmixed with superfluous, vain, empty trash. Let me hear, my dear child, of your French also ; as well as of those studies which are more properly university studies. I cannot tell you
1754«. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 8Q
better how truly and tenderly I love you, than by telling you I am most solicitously bent on your doing every thing that is right, and laying the foundations of your future happiness and figure in the world, in such a course of improvement, as will not fail to make you a better man, while it makes you a more knowing one. Do you rise early ? I hope you have already made to yourself the habit of doing it; if not, let me conjure you to acquire it. Remember your friend Horace :
"Etni Posces ante diem librum cum lumine ; si non Latencies animum studiis, et rebus honestis, Invidia vel amore vigil torquebere." (')
Adieu.
Your ever affectionate uncle,
W. Pitt.
THE EARL OF HARDWICKE TO MR. PITT.
Powis House, April 2, 1754.(2) Sir,
After having read your letter to Sir George
Lyttelton, which he was pleased to show me, I
take shame to myself for having omitted so long
(') " Unless you light your early lamp, to find
A moral book ; unless you form your mind To nobler studies, you shall forfeit rest, And love or envy shall distract your breast."
Francis's Horace.
(2) The lord chancellor was this day created Earl of
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to do myself the honour of writing to you. But I must own (besides the pain of leaning down to write during the violence of my cough), another kind of shame has, in part, restrained me from it ; for I blush even when I refer to that letter. I am penetrated with the goodness which it breathes for me ; but that goodness carried you to say some things which, as I am sensible I neither do, nor ever can deserve, I dare not take to myself. Besides this, I have lived in such continual hurry, ever since the day of our great misfortune, Mr. Pelham's death, —
" Ille dies, quern semper acerbum, Semper honoratum (sic Dii voluistis), habebo/' — (')
that I have had no time for correspondence.
The general confusion called upon somebody to step forth ; and the Duke of Newcastle's over- whelming affliction and necessary confinement, threw it upon me. I was a kind of minister, ab aratro, I mean the chancery-plough, and am not displeased to be returned to it, laborious as it is to hold. I never saw the King under such deep concern since the Queen's death. His Majesty
Hardwicke and Viscount Royston, of Gloucestershire. He had held the seals from 1736, and continued to do so till 1756, when he resigned. He died in 1764.
(!) "And now the rising day renews the year; A day for ever sad, for ever dear."
Dryde?is Virgil, Mn. 1. v.
1754. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 91
seemed to be unresolved ; professed to have no favourite for the important employment vacant ; and declared that he would be advised by his cabinet council, with the Duke of Devonshire (') added to them ; and yet I could plainly discern a latent prepossession in favour of a certain person, who, within a few hours after Mr. Pelham's death, had made strong advances to the Duke of New- castle and myself. (2) I gained no further ground for four days, and remained in a state of the utmost anxiety, as well for the King's dignity, as for the event.
To poll in a cabinet council for his first minister, which should only be decided in his closet, I could by no means digest ; and yet I saw danger in at- tempting to drive it to a personal determination. My great objects were to support the system of which Mr. Pelham had been, in a great measure, at the head; by that means to preserve and ce-
(!) William, third Duke of Devonshire. His Grace filled the office of lord lieutenant of Ireland from 1737 to 1744, and that of lord steward of the household from that year till June 1749 ; when " disgusted," says Coxe, "with the feuds in the cabinet, and perplexed with the jealous disposition of Newcastle, and the desponding spirit of Mr. Pelham, he resigned his office, and withdrew to a dignified retirement at Chatsworth, prepared, on all occasions of importance, to give his support to government. He died in December, 1755.
('-') " Mr. Pelham died about six o'clock on Wednesday, the 6th. Mr. Fox was at. the Marquis of Hartington's before eight that morning. Negotiations begun. The Duke of Devonshire was sent for the same day." — Dodingtoris Diary, p. 238.
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merit the Whig party, and to secure the election of a new parliament upon the plan he had left, though unfinished ; which I inculcated to be the immediate fundamental object. This I stuck close to, as I saw it carried the greatest force ; and I took advantage of the King's earnestness for a good House of Commons, to show him the ne- cessity of fortifying his interest there, not only by numbers, but by weight and abilities.
Under this head, it might have the appearance of something which I would avoid being suspected of, if I told you all I said of particular persons. I was not wanting to do justice to true merit, nor backward to show him how real strength might be acquired. Some way I made, though not all I wished ; and I drew out intimations that, upon this occasion, openings would be made in very considerable employments, in which some of those I named should be regarded. I sincerely and without affectation wish that it had been possible for you to have heard all that I presumed to say on this subject. I know you are so reasonable, and have so much consideration for your friends (amongst whom I am ambitious to be numbered), that you would have been convinced some impres- sion was made, and that, in the circumstances then existing, it could not have been pushed farther without the utmost hazard.
It would be superfluous and vain in me to say to you, what you know so much better than I, that there are certain things which ministers cannot do
1754. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 93
directly j and that in political arrangements, pru- dence often dictates to submit to the minus malum, and to leave it to time and incidents, and perhaps to ill-judging opponents, to help forward the rest. Permit me to think that has remarkably happened, even in the case before us. An ill-judged demand of extraordinary powers, beyond what were at last in the royal view, has, in my opinion, helped to mend the first plan, and to leave a greater facility to make use of opportunities still to improve it. This situation, with the Duke of Newcastle (whose friendship and attachment to you are undoubted and avowed) placed at the head of the treasury, and in the first rank of power, affords a much more promising prospect, than the most sanguine dared hope when the fatal blow was first given.
It gave me much concern to find by your letter to the Duke of Newcastle, which his Grace did me the honour to communicate to me in con- fidence, that you are under apprehensions of some neglect on this decisive occasion. At some part of what you say I do not at all wonder. I sin- cerely feel too much for you, not to have the strongest sensibility of it; but I give you my honour, there was no neglect. I exerted my utmost, in concurrence with, and under the instructions of, the Duke of Newcastle ; whose zeal in this point is equal to your warmest wishes. That an impres- sion was made to a certain degree, I think appears in the instances of some of your best friends, Sir George Lyttelton, and Mr. George Grenville j
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upon whom you generously and justly lay great weight. I agree that this falls short of the mark ; but it gives encouragement. It is more than a colour for acquiescence in the eyes of the world ; it is a demonstration of fact. No ground arises from hence to think of retirement, rather than for courts and business. We have all of us our hours wherein we wish for those otia tuta ; and I have mine fre- quently : but I have that opinion of your wisdom, of your concern for the public, of your regard and affection for your friends, that I will not suffer myself to doubt but you will continue to take an active part. There never was a fairer field in the House of Commons for such abilities, and I flatter myself that the exertion of them will complete what is now left imperfect.
I need only add to this my best wishes for the entire re-establishment of your health. Those wishes are as cordial as the assurances which, with the utmost sincerity and respect, I now give you, that I am always, Sir,
Your most obedient,
most faithful, and
most humble servant,
Hardwicke.
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THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE TO MR. PITT.
Newcastle House, April 2, 1754. Dear Sir,
The great load of business, which at present I am forced to go through as well as I can, must be my excuse for not having sooner returned you my thanks for the honour of your letter of the 24th of March. (J) It adds much to my painful situation, to see the uneasiness that you are under, which I own I have long lamented for the sake of the public and your friends ; but it comes more home to me, and affects me in the most sensible manner, whenever I perceive the least indication, that any part of it could, in your opinion, have been removed or alle- viated by any thing that has depended upon me. Whenever I have the honour of one quarter of an hour's conversation with you, I am certain I shall convince you of the contrary, and that, in the late arrangements, I have had all the regard and atten- tion to your connexions, which it was possible for me to show ; and that if I had attempted more, I should have exposed my own weakness, mortified those whom I meant to serve, prevented even what I have been able to obtain, acted the part which those who wish us ill had laid for me, given them great cause of triumph over us, and perhaps have flung every thing into their hands.
(!) It is to be regretted that no draught of Mr. Pitt's letter here referred to has been preserved.
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These facts cannot be explained by letter. May I, therefore, beg your patience, and a suspension of your judgment till I have the honour to see you. I honour, esteem, and, if you will allow me to say so, most sincerely love you ; and upon this principle I think I have acted. I am sure my intention was to do so. Feel the melancholy and distressed situ- ation that I was in — forced by the commands of the King and the entreaties of my friends, to part with an employment which I loved, was in some degree master of, and where I had gained some little re- putation, to go to one where I was entirely unac- quainted, exposed to envy and reproach, without being sure of any thing but the comfort of an honest heart, and a serious design to do my best for the service of the King, my country, and my friends.
A plan was at first made, with a view to make my going to the head of the treasury the more palatable to those who might be supposed to be the least pleased with it. That, for certain reasons, did not take place ; upon which, the King himself, from his own motion, declared Sir Thomas Robinson (^ secretary of state. Those, who are honoured with
(l) In 1745, Sir Thomas Robinson was appointed minis- ter plenipotentiary at the court of Vienna; in 1748, joint plenipotentiary with Lord Sandwich, at the congress at Aix-la- Chapelle ; in 1749, one of the lords-commissioners of trade and plantations; in 1750, master of the great wardrobe, and oie of his Majesty's privy-council. In 1761, he was created Lord Grantham, and in 1765 appointed one of the post-masters general. He died in 1770.
1754. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 97
your friendship, thought that the most favourable measure that could be obtained. An honourable and able man, extremely well qualified in every respect for the execution of that office, sincerely attached to our system, and who, without departing from that rank and figure which belonged to his office, had not those parliamentary talents which could give jealousy, or in that light set him above the rest of the King's servants there ; so that their situation did not receive the least alteration from his promotion ; and since, from circumstances (which you know I have long lamented) it was impossible to put one into that office, who had all the necessary qualifications both within and out of the House, nothing sure could show so great a desire to soften or alleviate that misfortune, as the giving into a nomination of Sir Thomas Robinson, under the description above mentioned.
The choice of Mr. Legge was made with a view to please all our friends. We knew he was well with the old corps, we knew he was happy in your friendship, and in your good opinion and that of your connection ; and you must allow me to say, that I could never have thought one moment of removing you, in the high light in which you so justly stand, from the office you now possess ('), to be chancellor of the exchequer, with another person at the head of the treasury.
These dispositions being thus made, it was my
(l) Paymaster-general of the forces. VOL. T. H
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first view to show you that regard, in the person of your friends, which it was impossible to do in your own, to the degree which you might reason- ably expect. The two first vacant offices — that of treasurer of the navy and cofferer — were by my recommendation given to your two first friends, Mr. Grenville and Sir George Lyttelton ; two em- ployments as agreeable to them both, as I believe could be found out ; and the rest of the vacancies plainly filled with a view to the House of Commons, and the providing for the most efficient men there.
I have now very truly stated to you the state of the late promotions, and the reasons upon which they were made. Had it been possible for me to have surmounted those difficulties which you hint at, I may venture to assure you, that your situation would be very different from what it is, and no one complaint should have remained, that I could have removed. I am happy, in some measure, to have had the same considerations with yourself, and to have acted with success in consequence of it : viz. that the best alleviation that could be to you, would be the placing your friends in honourable and agreeable employments ; and I happen to have pitched upon those mentioned in your letter.
I sincerely thank you for the cordiality and freedom with which you write. I have endeavoured to do the same ; and as I stand more in need of your friendship now than ever, I flatter myself I shall have it. I will do every thing in my power to
1754. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 99
deserve the continuance of it. When his Majesty laid his commands upon me to take this new office, lie did it with all the marks of goodness and con- fidence imaginable ; and though some things were not to be attempted, I think by the late dispositions it appears that his Majesty will support his service and his servants. I hope some prejudices which I have long lamented will be got over, when the King sees and feels the good effects of his having got them over to a certain degree. Nothing shall be wanting on my part that can contribute towards it. My Lord Chancellor, with whom I do every thing, and without whom I do nothing, has had a most material hand in all these arrangements. He sees and knows the truth of what I write, and he judges as I do, that no other method but this could have been followed with any prospect of success.
I rejoice to hear that your health is so well re- established. I hope we shall soon have the honour and pleasure to see you in town. I dare say we shall then be able to represent things in a more favourable light than they appear to you at present. I don't wonder that you feel : I feel for you ; but allow me to say (because I think it), that even with regard to yourself, the dispositions are not so morti- fying as they might have been, and with regard to your friends, more favourable than perhaps was to be expected. That I am sure I rejoice at. The other I shall do my utmost to alleviate, by endeavouring to procure an alteration of manner and behaviour.
I am afraid I have wrote too freely. My love and h 2
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affection for you are my only, excuses. When once I begin to write to a friend like you, I write all I think upon the subject. And am
Most unalterably yours,
Holles Newcastle.
MR. PITT TO THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE.
[From a draught in Mr. Pitt's handwriting.]
Bath, April 5, 1754. My Lord Duke, I received the honour of your Grace's letter of the 2d instant yesterday evening, and I take this opportunity of the post, to return you my sincerest, humblest thanks, for the great condescension and very kind manner in which it is written. I should make a very ill return to your Grace's goodness, if I were to go far back into the disagreeable subject that has occasioned you the trouble of writing a long and very obliging letter. Amidst all your business, I should be ashamed to teaze your Grace's good nature with much repetition of an uneasy subject, and necessarily so stuffed with impertinent egotisms. Whatever my sensations are and must be of my situation, it is sufficient that I have once openly exposed them to your view, as I thought I owed it to your Grace and to myself to do.
As to the chancellor of the exchequer, I hope
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your Grace does not think me filled with so im- pertinent a vanity, as to imagine it any disparage- ment to myself to serve under your Grace, as the head of the treasury. But, my lord, had I been proposed for that honour, and the King reconciled to the thought of me, my honour would have been saved, and I should have declined it with pleasure in favour of Mr. Legge, from considerations of true regard for his Majesty's service. My health at the best is too unsettled to expose his Majesty's business in Parliament to depend upon so pre- carious a thing, and to stop short perhaps in the middle of a session. The case is not the same as to the other office ; though very high and important, from many circumstances, uninterrupted health is not so essentially necessary ; and were I to fail in it from want of health, or what is still more likely, from want of abilities and proper knowledge of foreign affairs, a fitter person might be substituted at all times, without inconvenience to the King's business.
I promised your Grace not to enter again far into a disagreeable subject ; but though your Grace has very obligingly suggested, as a consolation to me, that I might have been more mortified under another arrangement than I am under the present, I will own very freely I should have thought myself much less mortified as to my own person, if Mr. Fox had been put at the head of the House of Commons by the King's favour, than I
h 3
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am at present. I should in that case have been mortified for your Grace and for my Lord Chan- cellor ; very little for myself. Had Mr. Murray's situation been such, that he might have been placed at the head of the House of Commons, I should have served with pleasure under him, as I acknowledge his superiority in every respect. My mortification at present arises not from a silly pride, but from being manifestly excluded in an arrange- ment, by a negative personal to me — the effect of displeasure not removable.
As for the rest, be assured my attachment to government shall ever be found as unalterable, as my inability to be of service to it is become manifest to all the world. The suffrage of the party in one in- stance, and a higher nomination in another, ope- rating to the eternal exclusion of a man, can leave him (under a resolution not to disturb government) no wish but that of retreat : — not a retreat of re- sentment, but of respect and of despair of being ever accepted to equal terms with others, be his poor endeavours what they may. Very few have been the advantages and honours of my life ; but among the first of them, I shall ever esteem the honour of your Grace's favourable opinion. You have tried me, and have not found me deceive you : to this your Grace's favourable opinion and to your protection I recommend myself, and hope that some retreat neither dishonourable nor dis- agreeable may (when it is practicable) be opened to me.
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I am, with the most constant attachment, your Grace's devoted, and
most faithful humble servant,
W. Pitt.
MR. PITT TO THE EARL OF HARDWICKE.
[From a draught in Mr. Pitt's handwriting.]
Bath, April 6, 1754.
My Lord, No man ever felt an honour more deeply, than I do that of your Lordship's letter. Your great goodness in taking the trouble to write, amidst your perpetual and important business, and the very condescending and infinitely obliging terms, in which your Lordship is pleased to express your- self, could not fail to make impressions of the most sensible kind. I am not only unable to find words to convey my gratitude ; but I am much more distressed to find any means of deserving the smallest part of your Lordship's very kind attention and indulgence to a sensibility carried, perhaps, beyond what the cause will justify, in the eye of superior and true wisdom. I venerate so sincerely that judgment, that I shall have the additional unhappiness of standing self-condemned, if my reasons already laid before your Lordship continue to appear insufficient to determine me to inaction.
h 4>
104 CORRESPONDENCE OF 1754.
I cannot without much shame so abuse your Lordship's indulgence, as to go back, but for a moment, into an unworthy subject that has already caused you too much trouble, and which must unavoidably be filled with abundance of indecent egotism. But permit me to assure your Lordship, in the first place, that, far from having a doubt re- maining on my mind, that more might have been done in my favour on this occasion, I think myself greatly indebted to your Lordship's good- ness, and will ever gratefully acknowledge the kind efforts you were pleased to make, to remove impressions that have entered so deep ; but I hope your Lordship will not think me unreasonable, if I conclude, from the inefficacy of these efforts in such a want of subjects to carry on the King's business in Parliament, and under his Majesty's strong sense of that want, that these impressions are immoveable.
Your Lordship is pleased kindly to say, that some way is made, and that some future occasion may be more favourable for me. I am not able to conceive any such occasion possible. God forbid, the wants of his Majesty's government should ever become more urgent ! Such an unhappy distress can only arise from an event so fatal to this country, and which must deprive me of one of the two great protectors whose friendship constitutes the only honour of my public life, that I will not carry my views or reasonings forward to that melancholy day. I might likewise add (I conceive not unreasonably),
1754. THE EARL OF CHATHAM. 105
that every acquiescence to his Majesty's negative (necessary as I am convinced it was to acquiesce) must confirm and render more insurmountable the resolution taken for my perpetual exclusion.
This, I confess, continues to be strongly my view of my situation. It is very kind and generous in your Lordship to suggest a ray of distant, general hope to a man you see despairing and to turn his view forward from the present scene to a future. But, my lord, after having set out under suggestions of this general hope ten years ago, and bearing long a load of obloquy for supporting the King's measures, and never obtain- ing in recompense the smallest remission of that displeasure I vainly laboured to soften, all ardour for public business is really extinguished in my mind, and I am totally deprived of all consideration by which alone I could have been of any use. The weight of irremoveable royal displeasure is a load too great to move under : it must crush any man ; it has sunk and broke me. I succumb ; and wish for nothing but a decent and innocent retreat, wherein I may no longer, by continuing in the public stream of promotion, for ever stick fast aground, and afford to the world the ridiculous spectacle of being passed by every boat that navi- gates the same river. To speak without a figure, I will presume upon your Lordship's great good- ness to me, to tell my utmost wish : — it is, that a retreat, not void of advantage, or derogatory to the rank of the office I hold, might, as soon as prac-
106 CORRESPONDENCE OF 1754.
ticable, be opened to me. In this view, I take the liberty to recommend myself to your Lordship's friendship, as I have done to the Duke of New- castle's. Out of his Grace's immediate province accommodations of this kind arise, and to your joint protection, and to that only, I wish to owe the future satisfaction of my life.
I see with the greatest pleasure, the regard that has been had to Sir George Lyttelton and Mr. George Grenville. Every good done to them will be, at all times, as done to me. I am at the same time persuaded that nothing could be more ad- vantageous to the system. Sir George Lyttelton has great abilities for set debates, and solemn questions : Mr. Grenville is universally able in the whole business of the House (J), and, after Mr. Murray and Mr. Fox, is certainly one of the very best parliament men in the House.
(!) It is impossible to read this passage, written in April 1754, without being reminded of Mr. Burke's panegyric on Mr. George Grenville, in his speech on American taxation, in April, 1774 : — " Undoubtedly, Mr. Grenville was a first rate figure in this country. With a masculine understanding, and a stout and resolute heart, he had an application undissipated and unwearied. He took public business, not as a duty which he was to fulfil, but as a pleasure he was to enjoy ; and he seemed to have no delight out of this House, except in such things as some way related to the business that was to be done within it. If he was ambitious, I will say this for him, his ambition was of a noble and generous strain. It was to raise himself, not by the low, pimping politics of a court, but to win his way to power, through the laborious gradations of public service, and to secure to himself a well-earned rank in parliament, by a
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I am now to ask a thousand most humble pardons of your Lordship for the