Chapter XII: Front Matter (12)

If this difficulty stood alone, it would be sufficiently great. The
principle on which Pitt had always acted in forming this junction,
and the justification which he has used to those of his friends who
disapproved or doubted about the measure, was, that he sacrificed
to it the situation of none of the former Government, or its
supporters; but that he used such openings as presented themselves,
and such as he could create without removals, for the purpose of
bringing into the public service a large and respectable
description of persons, actuated by the same view as himself of the
present state and circumstances of the country. Yet it hardly seems
possible that, without breaking in upon this principle, Lord F.
could now be appointed. I am, however, persuaded that if this had
been the only difficulty, some expedient would have been found to
remove it, though it is not easy to say what that expedient could
have been. But certainly for such an object as the maintenance of a
system on which the fate of the country seems so much to rest,
great sacrifices would and ought to have been made.

But it now appears that the reports which had reached us were in a
very great degree, if not indeed wholly, founded in the real truth
of what had happened. There is, I fear, no reason to doubt that
some of the very expressions I have mentioned have actually been
used, and that Lord F. has pledged himself too far to recede, with
respect to a total new system, both of men and measures. The first
point of this system goes to no less than the dismission of the
Chancellor, who was, as I understand, to be replaced by Adair. On
this subject, Pitt and myself cannot but feel that the only ground
on which the Ponsonbys can desire the Chancellor's removal, is the
conduct he held during the Regency in support of Lord Buckingham's
Government, and that our consent to such a step must therefore be
utterly dishonourable and degrading to us. But independent of this
consideration, it is my sincere opinion that there cannot be
adopted any measure more certainly destructive of the peace and
tranquillity of that country. The system of introducing English
party into Ireland, the principle of connecting changes of
Government here with the removal of persons high in office there,
and particularly the marking that system in the instance of a
person of Fitzgibbon's situation, weight, and character, are all so
utterly irreconcilable with every view that I have of the state of
that country, that I should really be inexcusable if I could make
myself a party to such a measure; and in this opinion Pitt entirely
concurs.

On every principle, therefore, of duty and character, we are
obliged to say that we cannot consent to this step, and we can only
regret that, if it was originally intended, so capital a feature in
the new arrangement was not brought forward earlier. The same
observation applies to the whole idea of holding out a new system
of men and measures in Ireland. If that was meant before the
junction was made, it ought surely to have been stated then, in
order that we might judge whether it did not oppose an
insurmountable bar to the whole scheme. If it has only been
conceived since that period, it ought certainly to have been
communicated and concerted here, before any pledge or assurance was
given to individuals who might be concerned in it there.

When I say this, you must not suppose that there enters into our
minds anything like warmth or resentment on the subject. The manner
in which everything else has been conducted since we acted
together, convinces me that the evil has arisen from precipitation
and indiscretion, and not from any concerted plan of committing us,
without our knowledge, to measures which we could not be supposed
willing to adopt. And if it were still possible that the thing
could be settled without discredit to either party, not only my
sense of the public interest, but my personal feeling towards them,
would make me think that no means ought to be left untried for that
purpose. I am, however, obliged to confess to myself that I see no
possibility of this. The publicity which has been given to the
whole business seems to render it utterly impracticable. The
assurances which have been given are well known, and the breach or
performance of them must be discreditable to one of the _two_
parties, for such, unfortunately, they now are again.

I never can enough regret your absence from this country while this
has been going on. I am sure if you had been here the whole thing
would have been avoided. As it is, what determination you will take
respecting your own line I know not, and I feel myself too deeply
interested in it to think myself a fair or competent adviser.

Nothing can be more unfortunate to the public interest than this
incident; but the sense of it would certainly be very much
aggravated to me if it were to lead, which I still hope it may not,
to the placing us two again on different lines, and in opposite
systems. Whatever you decide in that respect, I cannot help
flattering myself that you will do justice to our conduct; and
without calling upon you to condemn others, I cannot help
entertaining the belief that you will think no part of this great
misfortune imputable to us. With respect to my own personal
opinions of the importance of forming and maintaining the union,
you were, I am sure, enough a witness to them to make it very
unnecessary for me, in writing to you, to dwell much on that point.

I have written this to you, though the thing has not yet taken its
final turn, because any delay might possibly prevent your receiving
it before your arrival here, for which I now look with increased
impatience and anxiety.

God bless you, my dearest brother.

The weak point of the Government was its combination of opposite parties; and the consideration which finally determined the course of Ministers, was the necessity of preventing their differences from coming to an open rupture--a result that would have jeopardized the very existence of the Administration. With that paramount object in view, Lord Grenville, writing again to his brother, analyses the difficulties of the situation, and points out the only paths that could be opened to an honourable and creditable accommodation.

LORD GRENVILLE TO MR. THOMAS GRENVILLE.

Dover Street, Oct. 24th, 1794.
MY DEAREST BROTHER,

Since I wrote my last letter I have received yours, written the day
of your leaving Vienna, and I calculate that this will probably
find you at the Hague. Our situation, with respect to the point on
which I wrote to you so much at large, has been a little, and but a
little, improved by a conversation between the Duke of P. and Pitt.
Nothing having since passed, we conclude that there is a desire to
wait for the benefit of your opinion and Lord Spencer's upon this
difficult and distressing subject--a desire in which I need not say
we most heartily concur.

As far as anything can be concluded from a conversation which did
not lead to any decisive issue, I hope that we have been too easily
alarmed by Irish reports on the subject of a _new system_, and
that, probably in the imagination of those who have first given
rise to those reports, some loose and general expressions have been
construed into pointed and specific assurances. Be this however as
it may, it is certain that infinite mischief has already been done
by the prevalence of those reports, and both the settlement of the
points in discussion here, and the subsequent task of the future
Governor of Ireland, whoever he may be, have been rendered much
more difficult than they would have been if more reserve and
caution had been used. It is, however, useless to regret what is
past, and all our endeavours ought to be applied to remedy the
present evil. I most anxiously wait for the moment of talking over
with you the means of doing this, which I am confident every one
concerned joins in wishing, though all are obliged to confess the
difficulty of it.

Three points are to be considered--Has Lord F. still kept himself
sufficiently open with respect to his engagements with Grattan and
the Ponsonbys, as to be able to undertake the Irish Government with
honour and satisfaction to himself, without displacing the old
tenants of Government to make room for their opponents, and without
giving to the Ponsonbys in particular more influence and power than
belongs to their situation as one among several of the great
connexions in that country? If not, there seems no hope of any
permanent agreement on this subject, even if it were so patched up
for the present as that he could go to Ireland. The next is whether
it is possible for him to undertake the Government without
insisting on the removal of Fitzgibbon? If this cannot be done, the
thing must come to an immediate stop, as we are more and more
convinced that we cannot in honour or duty accede to that measure.
And lastly, supposing any or all of these considerations to oppose
an insurmountable obstacle in the way of his going, ought that to
prevent his continuing to hold his present situation? and can the
Duke of P., Lord F., and _others_, be justified in bringing on the
country the infinite mischiefs of the dissolution of the present
united Government, on no stronger ground than because alterations,
however desirable in their opinion, in the system of governing
Ireland cannot be adopted.

I have said nothing in all this of the question about Lord
Westmoreland's removal. I should readily agree with what you say in
your last letter on that subject, that he ought to wait for a
provision, if I did not see that even this is rendered more
difficult by the _eclat_ of what has happened. Still I should think
he ought to forego his claim; but if he thinks otherwise, he has a
positive promise, which of course cannot be broken. But I always
feel a confidence that this point would in some manner be arranged,
because I am sure that we should all be willing to make almost any
sacrifice rather than let it be said by the enemy, that after
having professed to unite on public principle, we had separated on
a mere squabble about the distribution of places.

The other points are those from which I fear the most. It is,
however, a satisfaction to me to think that I see on both sides (I
know it exists on one) a very sincere and earnest desire to prevent
the fatal consequences which a division amongst us, at such a
moment as the present, must infallibly produce. And I can truly add
that, on our part, this desire is increased by the manner in which
everything else had gone on before this unhappy subject was
started.

You are coming from a bad scene and to a bad scene; but we must
hope the best, both at home and abroad, and at least we ought all
to be quite sure that we can tell ourselves we have each done our
best to prevent the misfortunes which seem to hang over us.

God bless you, my dearest brother.

LORD GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Dover Street, Oct. 30th, 1794.
MY DEAREST BROTHER,

I received your letter the day before yesterday at Dropmore. Mr.
Pitt, who had left me that morning, had shown me your letter to
him, with respect to which I say nothing, as I understood he meant
to write to you upon the subject. The whole business to which it
relates is in a situation, the final issue of which is extremely
doubtful. With my impression of the advantage, and even necessity,
of uniting at this time in the public service the great bulk of the
landed property of the country, and doing away all distinctions of
party between those who wish the maintenance of order and
tranquillity here, I shall very deeply regret, as a great public
misfortune, any event that leads to the dissolution of a system so
lately formed. But, on the other hand, I have certainly no
intention of making myself a party to any system of government in
Ireland that is incompatible with my views of the interest of this
country there. And in any case, I certainly neither have, nor can
take, as far as relates to myself, any step upon the subject which
has its origin in any other motive than a sense of public duty
under circumstances of much difficulty.

I considered the subject of my brother's acceptance of the
situation offered to him in Ireland as being, as in fact he appears
to have stated it to you, very undecided, even if any arrangement
were made for Lord Fitzwilliam's going there. I could have no
motive to keep it back from you, but felt it due to him to leave it
to him to do what I was sure he would be anxious to do. The whole
subject appears now in some degree suspended till his arrival. When
I see him I should of course state to him, as far as I am able to
do it, your ideas respecting it.

I am still of opinion that it will turn out that the alarm created
in Ireland, and the impression given here has originated in very
loose reports, magnified, as usual, by persons repeating them
according to their interest and wishes; but I state this as matter
of opinion only.

I expect my brother here every day. They left Vienna in the
beginning of this month, without having concluded any treaty,
though they seem to have established a juster sense of the present
crisis than prevailed before.

Our Prussian ally has had his payments stopped, and is withdrawing
his troops. In the meantime, the Empress of Russia has done his
business, or rather her own, in Poland, the Polish army being
completely defeated, and Kosciusko, who was the soul of the
enterprise, taken prisoner.

God bless you, my dearest brother.

Believe me ever most affectionately yours,
G.

The conduct of Lord Fitzwilliam had been reprehensible from the beginning. The suggestion of the Lord-Lieutenancy had scarcely taken a definite shape, when he opened a communication, as appeared afterwards, with the heads of the Irish party, and announced the system on which he intended to govern the country. In any case, such a proceeding would have been inexpedient and indefensible, its inevitable effect being to commit the policy of the Administration beforehand, to deprive it at once of all dignity and independence, and to revive those heart-burnings and dissensions which had already so nearly endangered the connection of the two kingdoms.

But, composed as the Cabinet was of men who were known to entertain different opinions in reference to Ireland, the premature and unwarrantable publicity given by Lord Fitzwilliam to his own views was calculated to precipitate still more injurious results. So far back as the 23rd of August, he had written to Mr. Grattan, who was then personally unknown to him, apprising him of his approaching appointment; and, in plain terms, calling in that gentleman and his party to his future councils. From the very first paragraph of his letter, it is evident that at the time when this ill-judged communication was made, the arrangements respecting the Lord-Lieutenancy had not advanced sufficiently far to justify him in taking any ostensible step whatever in reference to Ireland. His own language was abundantly explicit on this point: "Though I have not as yet the honour of an appointment to succeed Lord Westmoreland, there certainly is great probability of that event taking place very soon." Yet in this early stage of the ministerial negotiations, he did not hesitate to inform Mr. Grattan that he intended to look to "the system of the Duke of Portland, as the model," by which he should regulate his conduct; and that, in order to enable him to render that system effective, it was necessary he should be supported by Mr. Grattan and his friends. "It is, Sir, to you," he observes, "and your friends, the Ponsonbys, that I look for assistance in bringing it to bear," adding, "it is that assistance which I am therefore now soliciting." The letter concludes by inviting Mr. Grattan to form an "intimate, direct, and avowed connection" with the Castle, which he had never hitherto "approached in confidence and avowed friendship;" and in the postscript he gives Mr. Grattan this significant caution: "It may seem a little inconsistent, and that this letter is written rather prematurely, when I beg not to be quoted as having announced myself in the character of a Lord-Lieutenant elect; my nomination not having yet been mentioned to the King, on account of his absence at Weymouth."[C]

This indiscreet and unjustifiable line of proceeding placed the Ministry in a dilemma, from which the escape, either way, was surrounded by dangers. They selected that alternative which appeared, under all circumstances, to be the least hazardous; and on the 10th of December, Lord Fitzwilliam attended the levee to kiss hands on his appointment.

Mr. Thomas Grenville, however, declined the office of Secretary, which was conferred on Lord Milton.

[Footnote C: This letter is published in full in the Life of Mr. Grattan.]

1795.

LORD FITZWILLIAM'S ADMINISTRATION IN IRELAND.

The line of policy Lord Fitzwilliam intended to adopt was intimated at the opening of the Parliament in January. Mr. Grattan moved the Address in answer to the Speech; a little later Mr. Conolly withdrew his opposition to the prorogation in deference to the wishes of Government; and the old supporters of the Administration were displaced by the Ponsonbys and their connections. Remembering how all these men had acted in the Regency business, the obstructions they had thrown in the way of the public service, and the vindictive opposition they had given to his measures, Lord Buckingham was deeply wounded by the apparent sanction extended to this complete change of system, which he regarded as a disavowal of the course he had pursued in Ireland, and, in some sort, as a personal indignity. In his communications with Lord Grenville he stated his feelings on this subject without reserve. He considered that in assenting to the appointment of Lord Fitzwilliam, after the damaging disclosures that had taken place, the Cabinet had abandoned him to the obloquy of that party against whose inveterate hostility he had successfully preserved the executive union of the two kingdoms; and this consideration was embittered by the reflection that Lord Grenville, from his position in the Ministry, had contributed influentially to place him in that humiliating light before the public. Lord Buckingham, with his acute sense of what was due to his own honour, looked at the question from that point alone; but Lord Grenville, in the discharge of his responsibilities as a Cabinet Minister, was compelled to take a more comprehensive view of it. Whether he decided rightly or wrongly, there can be no doubt that he decided conscientiously, and that it was impossible he could resolve upon any conclusion likely to be painful to Lord Buckingham which his affection for him would not render equally painful to himself. But he felt at the same time that his duty demanded at his hands the sacrifice of his private feelings, and that this was a case in which any hesitation upon such grounds would be attended by the gravest consequences to the Administration. It may be seen, also, from the following letter, that he did not put the same construction upon these transactions as that which was so sensitively urged by Lord Buckingham. His more practical mind discerned in the irresistible necessity of the position a sufficient answer to all individual scruples; and maintaining, as he had stated in a former letter, that the security and repose of Ireland depended, not upon this or that set of men, which his observation of the character of the people and their politics had led him to regard with comparative indifference, but upon the soundness of the measures applied to her condition, he could not admit that the decision which had been come to with respect to Lord Fitzwilliam implied, even remotely, a disavowal of the line of conduct Lord Buckingham had so successfully pursued under totally different circumstances.

LORD GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Dover Street, Jan. 5th, 1795.
MY DEAR BROTHER,

As I keep no copies of my letters to you, and have neither time
enough, nor a mind sufficiently disengaged, to measure my
expressions, nor have ever accustomed myself to do so in writing to
you, all I can say on the subject of my last letter is, that if it
conveyed to you any impression different from that of the sincere
friendship and affection which dictated it, it very ill expressed
my feelings.

With respect to the rest, I can only say that, to the best of my
understanding, I have neither disavowed nor abandoned you, but
given a _very strong_ proof of my determination to do neither; that
I cannot believe that any such impression exists anywhere; that not
knowing the proofs of its existence, to which you refer, I can only
guess at them, and I therefore forbear to make upon them the
remarks to which, if my conjecture is right, they are so obviously
liable. But that I am at a loss even to guess at the meaning of
that part of your letter, which speaks of proofs laying before you
of some compact made on this subject above twelve months since, not
having, in my own mind, the smallest idea of the fact to which this
can refer.

Having never had any intention to disavow you, or to consent to any
system or measure to which I thought you could wish to object, it
was impossible for me to make to you any previous communication of
such intention.

The detail of all that passed respecting Lord Fitzwilliam's
appointment would be too long to go into now; and I have reason to
believe that you are not unacquainted with many of the
circumstances which would prove how very little idea there was of
concealment or mystery on my part respecting that subject. From the
first moment that you stated to me that you considered the idea of
giving to the Ponsonbys a share of office in Ireland as a measure
injurious to you, I explained to you my reasons for viewing it in a
different light. But I anxiously reconsidered the object in my own
mind, and I then acted, as I was bound to do, on my deliberate and
fixed opinion respecting a point which, in either view of it, was
of much too great public importance to make it possible for me to
decide it merely on the desire I must ever feel to consult your
wishes in preference to my own. Which of us is right in our view of
this question, it is not for me to say. The motives and grounds of
my opinion remain the same; and I see with regret that they do not
make on your mind the impression they have made on mine.

It would be a painful and invidious task to discuss the question
further; but I cannot receive from you a letter in which you tell
me that you feel you have lost my affection, without repeating to
you the assurance, which I still hope is not indifferent to you,
that this is not, in the smallest degree, the case. I have intended
to do nothing towards you but what should be the _most_ kind and
affectionate. I think I have so acted; but I am sure that I have so
meant to act. If any contrary impression produces in your mind any
feelings different from those which have made so great a part of my
happiness throughout life, I shall deeply regret what seems to be
annexed as a curse inseparable from the pursuit of a public life;
but I will once more beg you to be assured that neither those
feelings on your part, nor anything which they can produce, will
vary my sincere and heartfelt affection towards you, and that
whether my judgment has been right, as I still think it has, or
wrong, as you think it, my heart is, and shall be, uniformly and
invariably the same towards you.

It is with these sentiments that I shall ever be, my dearest
brother,

Most sincerely and affectionately yours,
GRENVILLE.

Lord Fitzwilliam had scarcely arrived in Ireland when he collected about him the party with whom he had been in previous communication, and commenced his new system by a series of dismissals of the former supporters of Mr. Pitt's Government. Announcing his conviction that the immediate concession of the Catholic claims was indispensable to the tranquillity and security of the country, he followed up his objects with a vigour and expedition that created considerable alarm in England. The Attorney-General was to be displaced, to make way for Mr. George Ponsonby; the Solicitor-General was also to be removed, and Mr. Beresford, who was Purse-bearer to the Chancellor, and Mr. Cooke, Secretary at War, were to be dismissed. The dismissal of Mr. Beresford was regarded as a measure of such extreme violence that it brought matters to an issue between Lord Fitzwilliam and the Cabinet. Some letters at this time from Mr. Cooke to Lord Buckingham present a striking _coup d'oeil_ of these affairs, as they appeared to one who was deeply interested in their progress. Lord Fitzwilliam, it should be observed, arrived in Ireland on the 5th of January, and the rapidity of his official movements may be inferred from the date of the first of the following letters, which was written only ten days afterwards.

MR. COOKE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Dublin Castle, Jan. 15th, 1795.
MY DEAR LORD,

As it was through your Lordship's kind and affectionate partiality
that I was placed in the War Office, I think it my duty to give you
the earliest information of my removal.

Since Lord Fitzwilliam's arrival, I have merely seen his Excellency
at levee. With his chief secretary, Lord Milton, I have daily
transacted official business, without a syllable passing of a
nature in any degree confidential. The removal of Mr. Beresford, of
the Attorney and Solicitor-General, had created alarms; but there
were assurances from an English quarter that Mr. Hamilton and I
were not to be meddled with.

The reverse has taken place. About four o'clock to-day, Lord Milton
conveyed to Mr. Hamilton his Excellency's pleasure that he should
retire from office, with a desire that Mr. Hamilton should state
his situation after removal, as it was his Excellency's intention
to make him a provision.

About half an hour after, Lord Milton sent for me, and delivered a
similar message; stating, upon conversation, that his Excellency
did not in any degree mean to reflect upon my conduct, but that my
retirement was necessary for his arrangements, and that he was
disposed to make me a fair provision; at the same time, upon
conversation, his Lordship intimated that it was possible his
Excellency might differ as to the provision which I might expect
and he might think reasonable.

I have thought it my duty to submit these particulars to your
Lordship. From your Lordship I received my office; the Government
with which you have been connected I have supported to my utmost;
and I have the happiness to feel assured that I shall ever retain
your Lordship's kindness and regards till I cease to deserve it.

Believe me, my dear Lord, with the utmost respect,
Ever your most devoted and humble servant,
E. COOKE.

The Most Noble the Marquis of Buckingham, &c. &c.

MR. COOKE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

(Most Private.) Dublin, Sackville Street, Feb. 7th, 1795.
MY LORD,

I am to thank your Lordship for your most friendly and flattering
letter; and as you seem curious to know the feelings of myself and
colleagues on our removals, as well as the nature of our
compensations, I will endeavour to detail them as well as I can.

With respect to Mr. Wolf, the first act was to claim the reversion
recommended for him by Lord Westmoreland, and promised above a year
ago by Mr. Pitt, and which the King had actually signed, as a
measure for negotiation. Wolf _in vain_ argued that the reversion
was not a subject for negotiation. They offered him a Peerage for
his wife, and a Chief Judge's place. Wolf, in addition, asked
precedency at the Bar. After some days, the precedency was refused,
and the promise of a Chief Judge's place was retracted. Wolf
insisted on the promise. He was threatened that if he insisted, he
should be superseded. He did insist, and the promise was at length
renewed, in case a vacancy should happen.

Mr. Wolf gains nothing but the Peerage for his wife, for the
reversion was actually his own, and had been signed by the King;
the promise of a Chief Justiceship is very precarious, and he is
degraded in his profession.

Mr. Toler, having in his pocket the promise of succeeding to the
Attorney-Generalship, is to be superseded for Mr. Curran. He has
asked for a Peerage to his wife, and for the succession to Lord
Carleton. Upon his first demand, nothing has been said to him; upon
his second, it has been intimated that he may _look_ for any seat
on the Bench short of Chief Justiceship. Your Lordship must guess
that Mr. Toler feels himself _gratified_, especially when he
recollects that, after having boldly and manfully, at the risk of
his person, set himself against all the seditious and levellers in
and out of the House, he is sacrificed to make way for Mr. Curran,
who has been the most seditious incendiary in Ireland ever since he
became a public character.

Mr. Beresford your Lordship may have probably seen. He, it seems,
was dismissed because he was king of Ireland, as Bowes Daly
authoritatively informed him in his Excellency's name. The object
with respect to him was to publicly degrade him, give him a
provision during pleasure, then attack him, and have a pretext to
ruin him, if he should defend himself with spirit. He has been
acquainted that, in pursuance of a resolution of the House of
Commons, he is to have his salary of L2000 a-year on Excise
Incidents--not for his services, but his long and laborious
_attendance_. The attempt has been to stigmatize him, to degrade
him, and to make him dependent. I hope the last will not be the
case--the two former cannot.

Mr. Hamilton had merely fifty years of the most laborious and
faithful service to plead, under all Administrations, whether
adverse to each other or combined. He loses L1200 a-year by
removal; he loses the comforts of settlement, he loses the prospect
of providing for his sons; he is, however, informed that something
will be done for one of them!

I am equally removed from a station of much advantage and
opportunity. If I do not resort to my bargain with Thornton, I lose
L1800 a-year; if I do, I lose L1300 a-year. I am told that I am not
to expect compensation for my losses, but that his Excellency, on
review of my situation, will make compensation for my services.
As, however, Lord Milton was pleased to state to me that his
Excellency did not mean to cast in any degree any imputation on my
conduct, and that he removed me merely on the principle of
_accommodation_, and to make room for arrangements which he thought
necessary for his Government, I thought it my duty to claim
compensation, not for my services, but for my losses, and to throw
myself upon his Excellency's justice and honour.

I have heard that my having ventured not to appear satisfied in my
dismissal, has given offence; and it has been intimated, though not
from authority, that there is not an intention to compensate me at
all, but merely to indemnify Thornton for what, by agreement, he is
in honour obliged to pay me.

When Lord Fitzwilliam seized upon the Provostship and the
Secretaryship of State, the patronage of which absolutely belonged
to Lord Westmoreland, his Lordship was obliged to forced measures,
in order to extricate himself from specific promises; he therefore,
on this principle, included Lord Glentworth in Sir L. O'Brien's
patent of Clerk of the Hanaper. Sir L. lately died. Lord Glentworth
felt the luckiest of men; in a few days, Lord Fitzwilliam sent for
him, and acquainted him that he could not suffer him to remain in
that office; that, however, he had a high respect for him; that he
had been particularly recommended to him by Mr. Pitt, and that he
should hope to do something for him. The Duke of Leinster, being
very hungry, has swallowed the office.

With regard to coalition here, or the slightest appearances of it,
there are none. Parnell is the only old servant of the Crown who is
at all consulted, and he only so far as concerns his situation. The
whole is very strange. The Ponsonbys are all-powerful, and appear
to direct everything. I know not at all what measures are intended,
or whether an opposition will start up; but the giving up all the
powers of the State to one family does not please.

The idea of removing all the remaining restraints from the
Catholics is not relished; the worst is, that an appeal has been
made to the Catholic democracy, and I know they are not to be
depended upon; they look to the abolition of tythes and a reform of
Parliament on numerical principles. Ever since the first movements
of the Roman Catholic Committee, the lower classes have been in a
state of fermentation, and they continue their disorders and
insurrections.

I write this _confidentially_, and beg your Lordship to accept my
best acknowledgments for your kind sentiments.

Ever most respectfully, your Lordship's most faithful and obedient
servant,

E. COOKE.

The result of Lord Fitzwilliam's vigorous attempts to force upon the Cabinet a line of policy which reason and justice alike rejected, is well known. A Cabinet Council was called on the 19th of March, for the purpose of taking the whole subject into consideration, when it was unanimously resolved to recal Lord Fitzwilliam "as a measure necessary for the preservation of the empire." The most remarkable incident connected with this proceeding was the fact that the Duke of Portland, upon whose "system" Lord Fitzwilliam had based his operations, and who was supposed, all throughout, to have supported him in them, was present at this meeting of the Cabinet, and concurred in its decision.

But Lord Fitzwilliam had not done with Ireland yet. On his return to England, he brought the subject before the House of Lords and demanded an inquiry, which was refused. On this occasion some letters which had been addressed by him to Lord Carlisle were published, and in one of them "imputed malversations" were attributed to Mr. Beresford. In consequence of this statement, Mr. Beresford addressed the following letter to his Lordship:

MR. BERESFORD TO THE EARL FITZWILLIAM.

No. 11, Beaumont Street, June 22nd, 1795.
MY LORD,

Your Lordship must have seen two letters to the Earl of Carlisle,
which have been published in your name, and in general circulation.
I have for a long time hoped, that they would be disavowed or
explained by your Lordship; I was unwilling to suppose that such a
publication had ever been sanctioned by you; I could not bring
myself to believe, that your Lordship, possessing the feelings of a
man, and the honour of a gentleman, could avail yourself of the
power and the trust which had been committed to you by His Majesty,
wantonly to traduce a private character, by insinuations expressed
in terms so vague and unqualified, as to make it impossible
publicly to refute them. From the rank which you hold in society, I
must presume, if you thought it your duty to impeach my conduct as
a servant of the Crown, you would have adopted the fair and manly
course of advancing direct and specific charges against me, which
must have led to my conviction, if they had been founded. Direct
and specific charges I could fairly have met and refuted; but
crooked and undefined insinuations against private character,
through the pretext of official discussion, your Lordship must
allow are the weapons of a libeller.

The publication in question, states that you recommended my removal
from office, "because I was a person under universal heavy
suspicions, subject to the opprobrium and unpopularity attendant on
maladministration and much imputed malversation." The aspersions
contained in this paragraph, are so utterly ungrounded, so
unprovoked, unmanly, illiberal, and false, that I could not believe
your Lordship could have meant to apply them to a gentleman, by
birth your equal, and I will tell you, of reputation as unsullied
as your own at any period of your life; there is no charge, however
monstrous, of which the idea is not here conveyed; and yet there is
none to which the paragraph points directly, so as to afford an
opportunity for vindication.

Your Lordship will, I trust, feel the justness of the warmth with
which I express myself on those aspersions of my character; and
that when I give the lie to such aspersions, I give it upon
reasonings as essential to your honour, as they are to mine; and if
anything were wanting to induce me to believe that your Lordship
will concur with me in this opinion, I should be satisfied of it,
from the communications which were made to me by persons authorized
to convey your Lordship's sentiments upon my projected removal from
the Board of Revenue, and from the official communication made to
me by Lord Milton on the same subject.

Considerations of domestic calamity might sufficiently explain the
silence I have hitherto observed; but in other respects I should
have been unwilling perhaps to have addressed you sooner. I would
not appear to avoid any inquiry into my conduct, which insinuations
originating from such high authority might be expected to provoke;
it became me, therefore, to await with patience the result of the
discussions respecting Irish affairs which were taking place in
both Parliaments, and even until the close of the session had shown
that it was not your Lordship's intention, nor that of either
House, to take any further step in the business. I cannot now
repent of my own forbearance, as it served, at least, to bring
forward testimonies most highly honourable to me, from many
individuals of the first weight and character in the age in which
we live; these testimonies having been so repeatedly and so
publicly urged in your Lordship's presence, and without
contradiction on your part, cannot but have convinced you, that you
had formed a wrong judgment respecting me, or that you had been
deceived by others; in either case, I am entitled to hope and to
presume that you will render to me, and to my character, that
justice which one man of honour has a right to expect from another.

I have the honour to be,
Your most obedient and humble servant,
BERESFORD.

Earl Fitzwilliam.

To this letter Lord Fitzwilliam transmitted the following reply:

EARL FITZWILLIAM TO MR. BERESFORD.

Milton, June 23rd, 1795.
SIR,

I had the honour of receiving your letter of the 22nd this morning.
The letters you allude to, were written by me to Lord Carlisle; and
those printed, though not printed by my direction, at my desire, or
with my privity, I believe to be substantially copies of the
letters I sent to Lord Carlisle; and certainly are so with respect
to the quotation in your letter to me, which, therefore, I cannot
permit any person whatever to charge with falsity.

It is difficult for me to leave this place abruptly (domestic
considerations require a little management); but I will be in
London in the course of a few days, where I trust I may rely upon
your remaining for the present.

I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your most obedient and very humble servant,
WENTWORTH FITZWILLIAM.

Rt. Hon. John Beresford.

In consequence of this letter Mr. Beresford sent his friend Mr. Montgomery to Lord Fitzwilliam, who refused to enter into any explanation. The usual arrangements were then made for a hostile meeting, Lord Townshend acting as the second of Mr. Beresford, and Lord Moira attending Lord Fitzwilliam. When the parties met upon the ground, however, at Kensington, the duel was prevented by the interference of a peace officer.

The correspondence of Lord Grenville with Lord Buckingham appears to have been suspended during the greater part of the year, but it was resumed towards its close. By this time the allies were gradually retrieving their losses.

LORD GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Pall Mall, Nov. 12th, 1795.
MY DEAREST BROTHER,

You will receive by this post the "Gazette," with the account of
the late successes of the Austrians. These accounts came in
yesterday at so many detached periods, and that circumstance, with
others, occupied every moment so completely, as to make it really
impossible for me to send you any detail of them by the post. I
enclose for your better understanding the "Gazette," a Prussian map
of the siege of Mentz, when the French occupied it. The position of
the French in this business has been very nearly the same with that
of the allies, as marked in this plan.

Craufurd's account of the successes is certainly understated, but
particularly in what relates to the loss of the French; because,
besides the killed and wounded--the number of which all the private
accounts state to have been exceedingly great (as it must be in
that precipitate retreat)--the enemy have lost very great numbers
by desertion.

No doubt is entertained of our having Manheim very soon. I am not
sanguine enough to hope that Pichegru will stay to be surrounded by
Clerfage, who is marching up the left bank of the Rhine, or that he
will suffer the latter to force him to a battle, which he may so
easily avoid by retreating towards his own frontier, now covered by
Landau, Luxembourg and Tours, &c., &c. The disappointment of the
French projects, and the destruction of so great a part of the army
which had been employed in them, are therefore, I fear, the chief
advantages we shall reap from these successes, except in what
relates to the impression produced here and on the continent, the
effect of which is almost beyond calculation.

Our Bills are going triumphantly through the two Houses. The
general impression of the House of Commons was, I understand, as
favourable as it could possibly be, and you need not be told what
the feelings of the House of Lords are on this subject. We shall
not have Pitt's Bill up till after the call. If you should not then
be in town, I should much wish you to send your proxy; and if you
have no objection to do so, and had rather put it in my hands than
any other, I will disengage myself in the interim from one of those
I now hold.

What have you done about our meeting? Shall I attend it or not? Let
me know which you wish, and I will do accordingly.

Ever most affectionately yours,
G.

I should be much obliged to you to return my map when you have done
with it, as I keep all these _historical_ maps that fall in my way.

1796.

THE PROSECUTION OF THE WAR SUSTAINED BY REPEATED MAJORITIES IN PARLIAMENT--MR. BURKE'S SCHOOL FOR THE EDUCATION OF EMIGRANT CHILDREN--BUONAPARTE APPOINTED TO THE COMMAND IN ITALY--LORD MALMESBURY'S MISSION TO PARIS.

The motion for negotiations with France had been again brought forward towards the close of the last session of Parliament, and was again negatived. Mr. Pitt still insisted upon the impossibility of France being enabled to prosecute the war, with her finances in a state of ruin, and seven hundred and twenty millions of assignats in circulation. Great changes had undoubtedly taken place. The National Assembly had been dissolved, and a regular form of Government established in its place; and although at that time Mr. Pitt rejected the idea of proposing any terms of peace to the Republic, he admitted without hesitation that if the new Government were put into activity with the acquiescence of the nation, so as that the voice of the people could be heard through their representatives, all obstacles and objections to negotiation would be removed. Thus the question stood at the close of the year 1795.

The subject was renewed at the opening of the session in 1796, with the same result. Mr. Pitt resolved it at once into a question of confidence in Ministers. If the House thought that confidence could not be safely vested in them, the proper course was to address His Majesty to remove them. He still maintained that the French had exhausted their means of carrying on the war; and that, with respect to negotiations for peace, the point to be considered was the probability of obtaining just and honourable terms, which, it was evident from their public declarations, the French were not disposed to admit. The confidence of Parliament in the wisdom and discretion of Ministers was unequivocally testified in the large majority by which the motion was rejected.

Failing to attain their object in this direct form, the Opposition resorted to other means of harassing the Administration. In a motion on the state of the nation, Mr. Grey entered into an examination of the financial condition of the country, exposing the enormous expenditure and heavy taxation entailed by the war, at a time when a more discreet patriotism would have avoided such details. He showed that during the three preceding years seventy-seven millions had been added to the funded debt, and that, in addition to the parliamentary grants, upwards of thirty-one millions had been expended without the consent of Parliament. Notwithstanding these disclosures, however, Mr. Pitt proposed a second loan of seven millions and a half for the prosecution of the war, which the House immediately acceded to.

In both Houses, the efforts of the Opposition to overthrow the Administration were followed up with indefatigable activity in the shape of condemnatory resolutions and motions of addresses to the Throne; and in all instances they were defeated by overwhelming majorities. The session terminated in the middle of May, when Parliament was dissolved by proclamation, His Majesty thanking both Houses emphatically for the uniform wisdom, temper, and firmness by which their proceedings had been characterised.

The destitute condition of the French emigrants who sought an asylum in England on the breaking out of the Revolution, and whose numbers were continually increasing, excited universal commiseration. The attention of Government was earnestly directed to the means of providing for them, and measures were adopted for giving the utmost efficacy to the public sympathy. Amongst the persons who interested themselves actively on their behalf were the Marquis of Buckingham and Mr. Burke. The object to which they mainly addressed their exertions was the education of emigrant children whose fathers had perished in the convulsions of their country, or who were unable to obtain instruction for them. The forlorn situation of these friendless children, in a country with whose language they were unacquainted, had attracted the notice of Mr. Burke, with whom the project originated, and who applied to Government in the first instance for assistance to enable him to carry out his charitable design. The appeal was liberally responded to. A house was taken and fitted up for the purpose in Buckinghamshire, at Penn, near Beaconsfield, the residence of Mr. Burke; and, by an order of the Treasury, the Duke of Portland, the Lord Chancellor, the Marquis of Buckingham, Mr. Burke, and others were appointed trustees for the management of the school, which had been established in the first instance by Mr. Burke at his own expense. The following interesting letter from Mr. Burke contains some particulars concerning this institution, which had just been opened. The "clean and not unpleasing" costume spoken of by the writer consisted of a blue uniform which he had assigned to the boys, with a white cockade bearing the inscription of "Vive le Roi." Those boys who had lost their fathers were distinguished by a bloody label, and the loss of uncles was marked in a similar manner by a black one. At this time Mr. Burke had the sole management of the school, and watched over its progress with unabated solicitude to the end of his life. The Commission nominated by the Government had not, it appears, been communicated to him, and he justly complains to his correspondent of the embarrassing position in which the oversight, or neglect, had placed him. The Marquis of Buckingham took a warm interest in the education and welfare of the boys, and, as a means of fostering a martial and loyal spirit amongst them, made them a present of a pair of colours and a brass cannon, which were exhibited with great pride and exultation on all public occasions.

MR. BURKE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

May 24th, 1796.
MY DEAR LORD,

Having received no answer to my last letter, I persuade myself
there was nothing in it to displease you; otherwise your general
politeness and your kind partiality to me would have led you to
give me such instructions as might prevent me from falling into
errors in the delicate business in which, under your countenance
and with your approbation, I have engaged myself.

We look forward with a pleasure, mixed with some degree of
impatience, to the visit which your Lordship and Lady Buckingham
have flattered us with the hope of, though I am afraid the heat of
the general election will be over before we can enjoy that
satisfaction.

I think, however unfortunate I may find myself in all my attempts
to please the Bishop of Leon, that your Lordship and Lady
Buckingham will feel the same pleasing and affecting interest in
what is done here, that all have been touched with who see what is
going on. You will be pleased with the celerity, if not with the
perfection, of our work. Five-and-forty beds are ready; the rest
will be so in a very few days. An old bad stable is converted into
an excellent school-room. The chapel is decent, in place and in
furniture. The eating-room is reasonably good. Twenty-five boys are
received, clad in a cleanly and not unpleasing manner, and they are
fed in an orderly way, with a wholesome and abundant diet. The
masters are pleased with their pupils; the pupils are pleased with
their preceptors; and I am sure I have reason to be pleased with
them all. I see them almost every day, and at almost all hours; as
well at their play as at their studies and exercise. I have never
seen finer boys, or more fit for the plan of education I mean to
follow for them, as long as it pleases the Government to continue
that charge in my hands. I am responsible, that if they are left to
me for six months, a set of finer lads, for their age and standing,
will not be seen in Europe.

The only unfortunate part of the business is, that some of them
speak not a word of English, and they who are the most forward in
it are very imperfect. There is but one of the masters who can be
said to know anything of it, and he is far indeed from the ability
to teach it. There must be a person who, besides going with them
through all their Latin readings and construing them into English,
will daily converse with them, and ground them in the principles
and the utterance of that tongue which belongs to the nation which
alone promises them an asylum upon earth. For many reasons, I
should prefer a clergyman of their own persuasion, and of our
country. But though I have always known that their number was
small, I did not conceive it to be so inconsiderable as I now find
it. But some English subject must be found to be about these boys
at all hours. It would be a terrible thing to condemn these poor
creatures to an universal exile, and to be perpetual vagrants,
without a possibility of being in a state of effectual
communication with the natives of any country or incorporating
themselves with any people. God forbid that, under the pretext of a
benefit, I should be the cause of their utter ruin.