Chapter XXIII: Part 23

All England is again occupied with Admiral Byng; he and his friends were quite persuaded of his acquittal. The court-martial, after the trial was finished, kept the whole world in suspense for a week; after great debates and divisions amongst themselves, and despatching messengers hither to consult lawyers whether they could not mitigate the article of war, to which a negative was returned, they pronounced this extraordinary sentence on Thursday: they condemn him to death for negligence, but acquit him of disaffection and cowardice (the other heads of the article), specifying the testimony of Lord Robert Bertie in his favour, and unanimously recommending him to mercy; and accompanying their sentence with a most earnest letter to the Lords of the admiralty to intercede for his pardon, saying, that finding themselves tied up from moderating the article of war, and not being able in conscience to pronounce that he had done all he could, they had been forced to bring him in guilty, but beg he may be spared. The discussions and difference of opinions, on the sentence is incredible. The cabinet council, I believe, will be to determine whether the King shall pardon him or not: some who wish to make him the scapegoat for their own neglects, I fear, will try to complete his fate, but I should think the new administration will not be biassed to blood by such interested attempts. He bore well his Unexpected sentence, as he has all the outrageous indignities and cruelties heaped upon him. last week happened an odd event, I can scarce say in his favour, as the world seems to think it the effect of the arts of some of his friends: Voltaire sent him from Switzerland an accidental letter of the Duc de Richelieu bearing witness to the Admiral's good behaviour in the engagement.(755) A letter of a very deferent cast, and of great humour, is showed about, said to be written to Admiral Boscawen from an old tar, to this effect:

"Sir., I had the honour of being at the taking of Port Mahon, for which one gentleman(756) was made a lord; I was also at the losing of Mahon, for which another gentleman(757) has been made a lord: each of those gentlemen performed but one of those services; surely I, who performed both, ought at least to be made a lieutenant. Which is all from your honour's humble servant, etc."(758)

Did you hear that after their conquest, the French ladies wore little towers for pompons, and called them des Mahonnoises? I suppose, since the attempt on the King, all their fashions will be `a l'assassin. We are quite in the dark still about that history: it is one of the bad effects of living in one's own time, that one never knows the truth of it till one is dead!

Old Fontenelle is dead at last;(759) they asked him as he was dying "s'il sentoit quelque mal?" He replied, "Oui, je sens le mal d'`etre." My uncle, a young creature compared to Fontenelle, is grown something between childish and mad, and raves about the melancholy situation of politics;(760) one should think he did not much despair of his country, when at seventy-eight he could practice such dirty arts to intercept his brother's estate from his brother's grandchildren! conclusion how unlike that of the honest good-humoured Pope! I am charmed with his bon-mot that you sent me. Apropos! Mr, Chute has received a present of a diamond mourning ring from a cousin; he calls it l'anello del Piscatore.(761)

Mr. Pitt is still confined, and the House of Commons little better than a coffee-house. I was diverted the other day with P`ere Brumoy's translation of Aristophanes; the Harangueses, or female orators, who take the Government upon themselves instead of their husbands, might be well applied to our politics: Lady Hester Pitt, Lady Caroline Fox, and the Duchess of Newcastle, should be the heroines of the piece; and with this advantage, that as lysistrata is forced to put on a beard, the Duchess has one ready grown.

Sir Charles Williams is returning, on the bad success of our dealings with Russia. The French were so determined to secure the Czarina, that they chose about seven of their handsomest young men to accompany their ambassador. How unlucky for us, that Sir Charles was embroiled with Sir Edward Hussey Montagu, who could alone have outweighed all the seven! Sir Charles's daughter, Lady Essex, had engaged the attentions of Prince Edward,(762) who has got his liberty, and seems extremely disposed to use it, and has great life and good-humour. She has already made a ball for him. Sir Richard Lyttelton was so wise as to make her a visit, and advise her not to meddle with politics; that the Princess would conclude it was a plan laid for bringing together Prince Edward and Mr. Fox!(763) As Mr. Fox was not just the person my Lady Essex was thinking of bringing together with Prince Edward, she replied very cleverly, "And my dear Sir Richard, let me advise you not to meddle with politics neither." Adieu!

(754) From the Duke of Cumberland, commander-in-chief of the army. Mr. Galfridus and James Mann were clothiers to many regiments.

(755) Voltaire's letter to Admiral Byng was written in English, and is as follows:@' Aux D`elices, pr`es de Gen`eve. Sir, though I am almost unknown to you, I think 'tis my duty to send you the copy of the letter which I have just received from the Marshal Duc de Richelieu; honour, humanity, and equity order me to convey it into your hands. The noble and unexpected testimony from one of the most candid as well as the most generous of my countrymen, makes me presume your judges will do you the same justice." Sir John Barrow, in his Life of Lord Anson, proves that these letters got into the hands of those who were not friendly to the Admiral, and he suspects that they never reached the unfortunate person for whose benefit they were intended.-E.

(756) Byng, Viscount Torrington.

(757) Lord Blakeney.

(758) It is now generally believed that Byng was brave but incapable. He might have done more than he did; but this was occasioned not by his want of courage, but by his want of ability. He was cruelly sacrificed to the fury of the people, and to the popularity of the ministry.-D.

(759) Fontenelle died on the 9th of January, having nearly completed his hundredth year. M. le Cat, in his `eloge of him, gives the following account of his dying words!--"he reflected upon his own situation, just as he would upon that of another man, and seemed to be observing a phenomenon. Drawing very near his end, he said, 'This is the first death I have ever seen;' and his physicians having asked him, whether be was in pain, or what he felt, his answer was, 'I feel nothing but a difficulty of existing.'"-E.

(760) The following is Lord Chesterfield's account of Sir Charles's mental alienation, in a letter of the 4th, to his son: "He was let blood four times on board the ship, and has been let blood four times since his arrival here; but still the inflammation continues very high. He is now under the care of his brothers. They have written to the same Mademoiselle John, to prevent, if they can, her coming to England; which, when she hears, she must be as mad as he is, if she takes the journey. By the way, she must be une dame aventuri`ere, to receive a note for ten thousand roubles, from a man whom she had known only three days; to take a contract of marriage, knowing he was married already; and to engage herself to follow him to England." Again, on the 22d, he writes, "Sir C. W. is still in confinement, and, I fear, will always be so, for he seems cum ratione sanire: the physicians have collected all he has said and done, that indicated an alienation of mind, and have laid it before him in writing; he has answered it in writing too, and justifies himself by the most plausible argument that can possibly be urged. I conclude this subject With pitying him, and poor human nature, which holds its reason by so precarious a tenure. The lady, who you tell me is set out, en sera pour la peine et les frais du voyage, for her note is worth no more than her contract."-E.

(761) The Pope's seal with a ring, which is called the Fisherman's ring. Mr. Chute, who was unmarried, meant that his cousin was fishing for his estate.

(762) Brother of George the Third; afterwards created Duke of York. He died in 1767, at the early age of twenty-eight.-E.

(763) Sir Charles Williams was a particular friend of Mr. Fox.

363 Letter 211 To Sir Horace Mann. Strawberry Hill, Feb. 13, 1757.

I am not surprised to find you still lamenting your dear brother but you are to blame, and perhaps I shall be so, for asking and giving any more accounts of his last hours. Indeed, after the fatal Saturday, on which I told you I was prevented seeing him by his being occupied with his lawyer, he had scarce an interval of sense--and no wonder! His lawyer has since told me, that nothing ever equalled the horrid indecencies of your sister-in-law on that day. Having yielded to the settlement for which he so earnestly begged, she was determined to make him purchase it, and in transports of passion and avarice, kept traversing his chamber from the lawyer to the bed, whispering her husband, and then telling the lawyer, who was drawing the will, "Sir, Mr. Mann says I am to have this, I am to have that!" The lawyer at last, offended to the greatest degree, said, "Madam, it is Mr. Mann's will I am making, not yours!"--but here let me break it off; I have told you all I know, and too much. It was a very different sensation I felt, when your brother Ned told me that he had found seven thousand pounds in the stocks in your name. As Mr. Chute and I know how little it is possible for you to lay up, we conclude that this sum is amassed for you by dear Gal.'s industry and kindness, and by a silent way of serving you, without a possibility of his wife or any one else calling it in question.

What a dreadful catastrophe is that of Richcourt's family! What lesson for human grandeur! Florence, the scene of all his triumphs and haughtiness, is now the theatre of his misery and misfortunes!

After a fortnight of the greatest variety of opinions, Byng's fate is still in suspense. The court and the late ministry have been most bitter against him; the new admiralty most good-natured; the King would not pardon him. They would not execute the sentence, as many lawyers are clear that it is not a legal one.(64) At last the council has referred it to the twelve judges to give their opinion: if not a favourable one, he dies! He has had many fortunate chances had the late admiralty continued, one knows how little any would have availed him. Their bitterness will always be recorded against themselves: it will be difficult to persuade posterity that all the shame of last summer was the fault of Byng! Exact evidence of whose fault it was, I believe posterity will never have: the long expected inquiries are begun, that is, some papers have been moved for, but so coldly, that it is plain George Townshend and the Tories are unwilling to push researches that must necessarily reunite Newcastle and Fox. In the mean time, Mr. Pitt stays at home, and holds the House of Commons in commendam. I do not augur very well of the ensuing summer; a detachment is going to America under a commander whom a child might outwit, or terrify with a pop-gun! The confusions in France seem to thicken with our mismanagements: we hear of a total change in the ministry there, and of the disgrace both of Machault and D'Argenson, the chiefs of the Parliamentary and Ecclesiastic factions. That the King should be struck with the violence Of their parties, I don't wonder: it is said, that as he went to hold the lit de Justice, no mortal cried Vive le Roi! but one old woman, for which the mob knocked her down, and trampled her to death.

My uncle died yesterday was Se'nnight; his death I really believe hastened by the mortification of the money vainly spent at Norwich. I neither intend to spend money, nor to die of it, but, to my mortification, am forced to stand for Lynn, in the room of his son. The corporation still reverence my father's memory so much, that they will not bear distant relations, while he has sons living. I was reading the other day a foolish book called "l'Histoire des quatre Cic`erons;" the author, who has taken Tully's son for his hero, says, he piques himself on out-drinking Antony, his father's great enemy. Do you think I shall ever pique myself on being richer than my Lord Bath?

Prince Edward's pleasures continue to furnish conversation: he has been rather forbid by the Signora Madre to make himself so common; and he has been rather encouraged by his grandfather to disregard the prohibition. The other night the Duke and he were at a ball at Lady Rochford's:(765) she and Lady Essex were singing in an inner chamber when the Princes entered, who insisting on a repetition of the song, my Lady Essex, instead of continuing the same, addressed herself to Prince Edward in this ballad of Lord -Dorset-

"False friends I have as well as you, Who daily counsel me Fame and ambition to pursue, And leave off loving thee--"

It won't be unamusing, I hope it will be no more than amusing, when all the Johns of Gaunt, and Clarences, and Humphrys of Gloucester, are old enough to be running about town, and furnishing histories. Adieu!

(764) Walpole, in his Memoires, vol. it. p. 152, says, that Mr. Pitt moved the King to mercy, but was cut very short; nor did his Majesty remember to ask his usual question, whether there were any favourable circumstances."-E.

(765) Lucy Young, wife of William Henry, Earl of Rochford.

364 Letter 212 To John Chute, Esq.(766) Sunday night, very late, Feb. 27, 1757.

My dear Sir, I should certainly have been with YOU to-night, as I desired George Montagu to tell you, but every six hours produce such new wonders, that I do not know when I shall have a moment to see you. Will you, can you believe me, when I tell you that the four persons of the court-martial whom Keppel named yesterday to the House as commissioning him to ask for the bill, now deny they gave him such commission, though Norris, one of them, was twice on Friday with Sir Richard Lyttelton, and once with George Grenville for the same purpose! I have done nothing but traverse the town tonight from Sir Richard Lyttelton's to the Speaker's, to Mr. Pitt's, to Mr. Fox's, to Doddington's, to Lady Hervey's, to find out and try how to defeat the evil of this, and to extract, if possible, some good from it. Alas! alas! that what I meant so well, should be likely only to add a fortnight to the poor man's misery! Adieu!

(766) Now first published.

365 Letter 213 To Sir Horace Mann. Arlington Street, March 3, 1757.

I have deferred writing to you till I could tell you something certain of the fate of Admiral Byng: no history was ever so extraordinary, or produced such variety of surprising turns. In my last I told you that his sentence was referred to the twelve judges. They have made law of that of which no man else could make sense. The Admiralty immediately signed the warrant for his execution on the last of February--that is, three signed: Admiral Forbes positively refused, and would have resigned sooner. The Speaker would have had Byng expelled the House, but his tigers were pitiful. Sir Francis Dashwood tried to call for the court-martial's letter, but the tigers were not so tender as that came to. Some of the court-martial grew to feel as the execution advanced: the city grew impatient for it. Mr. Fox tried to represent the new ministry as compassionate, and has damaged their popularity. Three of the court-martial applied on Wednesday last to Lord Temple to renew their solicitation for mercy. Sir Francis Dashwood moved a repeal of the bloody twelfth article: the House was savage enough; yet Mr. Doddington softened them, and not one man spoke directly against mercy. They had nothing to fear: the man,(767) who, of all defects, hates cowardice and avarice most, and who has some little objection to a mob in St. James's street, has magnanimously forgot all the services of the great Lord Torrington. On Thursday seven of the court-martial applied for mercy: they were rejected. On Friday a most strange event happened. I was told at the House that Captain Keppel and Admiral Norris desired a bill to absolve them from their oath of secrecy, that they might unfold something very material towards saving the prisoner's life. I was out of Parliament myself during my re-election, but I ran to Keppel; he said he had never spoken in public, and could not, but would give authority to any body else. The Speaker was putting the question for the orders of the day, after which no motion could be made: it was Friday, the House would not sit on Saturday, the execution was fixed for Monday. I felt all this in an instant, dragged Mr. Keppel to Sir Francis Dashwood, and he on the floor before he had taken his place, called out to the Speaker, and though the orders were passed, Sir Francis was suffered to speak. The House was wondrously softened: pains were taken to prove to Mr. Keppel that he might speak, notwithstanding his oath; but he adhering to it, he had time given him till next morning to consider and consult some of his brethren who had commissioned him to desire the bill. The next day the King sent a message to our House, that he had respited Mr. Byng for a fortnight, till the bill could be passed, and he should know whether the Admiral was unjustly condemned. The bill was read twice in our House that day, and went through the committee: mr. Keppel affirming that he had something, in his opinion, of weight to tell, and which it was material his Majesty should know, and naming four of his associates who desired to be empowered to speak. On Sunday all was confusion on news that the four disclaimed what Mr. Keppel had said for them. On Monday he told the House that in one he had been mistaken; that another did not declare off, but wished all were to be compelled to speak; and from the two others he produced a letter upholding him in what he had said. The bill passed by 153 to 23. On Tuesday it was treated very differently by the Lords. The new Chief Justice(768) and the late Chancellor(769) pleaded against Byng like little attorneys, and did all they could to stifle truth. That all was a good deal. They prevailed to have the whole courtmartial at their bar. Lord Hardwicke urged for the intervention of a day, on the pretence of a trifling cause of an Irish bankruptcy then depending before the Lords, though Lord Temple showed them that some of the captains and admirals Were under sailing orders for America. But Lord Hardwicke and Lord Anson were expeditious enough to do what they wanted in one night's time: for the next day, yesterday, every one of the court-martial defended their sentence, and even the three conscientious said not one syllable of their desire of the bill, which was accordingly unanimously rejected, and with great marks of contempt for the House of Commons.

This is as brief and as clear an abstract as I can give you of a most complicated affair, in which I have been a most unfortunate actor, having to my infinite grief, which I shall feel till the man is at peace, been instrumental in protracting his misery a fortnight, by what I meant as the kindest thing I could do. I never knew poor Byng enough to bow to; but the great doubtfulness of his crime, and the extraordinariness of his sentence, the persecution of his enemies, who sacrifice him for their own guilt and the rage of a blinded nation, have called forth all my pity for him. His enemies triumph, but who can envy the triumph of murder?

Nothing else material has happened, but Mr. Pitt's having moved for a German subsidy, which is another matter of triumph to the late ministry. He and Mr. Fox have the warmest altercations every day in the House.

We have had a few French symptoms; papers were fixed on the Exchange, with these words, "Shoot Byng, or take care of your King;" but this storm, which Lord Anson's creatures and protectors have conjured up, may choose itself employment when Byng is dead.

Your last was of Jan. 29th, in which I thank you for what you say of my commissions: sure you could not imagine that I thought you neglected them? Adieu!

(767) The King.

(768) W. Murray, Lord Mansfield.

(769) Philip Yorke, Earl of Hardwicke.

367 Letter 214 To Sir Horace Mann. Arlington Street, March 17, 1757.

Admiral Byng's tragedy was completed on Monday-a perfect tragedy, for there were variety of incidents, villany, murder, and a hero! His sufferings, persecutions, aspersions, disturbances, nay, the revolutions of his fate, had not in the least unhinged his mind; his whole behaviour was natural and firm. A few days before, one of his friends standing by him, said, "Which of us is the tallest?" He replied, "Why this ceremony? I know what it means; let the man come and measure me for my coffin." He said, that being acquitted of cowardice, and being persuaded on the coolest reflection that he had acted for the best, and should act so again, he was not unwilling to suffer. he desired to be shot on the quarter-deck, not where common malefactors are; came out at twelve, sat down in a chair, for he would not kneel, and refused to have his face covered, that his countenance might show whether he feared death; but being told that it might frighten his executioners, he submitted, gave the signal at once, received one shot through the head, another through the heart, and fell. Do cowards live or die thus? Can that man want spirit who only fears to terrify his executioners? Has the aspen Duke of Newcastle lived thus? Would my Lord Hardwicke die thus, even supposing he had nothing on his conscience?

This scene is over! what will be the next is matter of great uncertainty. The new ministers are well weary of their situation; without credit at court, without influence in the House of Commons, undermined every where, I believe they are too sensible not to desire to be delivered of their burthen, which those who increase yet dread to take on themselves. Mr. Pitt's health is as bad as his situation: confidence between the other factions almost impossible; yet I believe their impatience will prevail over their distrust. The nation expects a change every day, and being a nation, I believe, desires it; and being the English nation, will condemn it the moment it is made. We are trembling for Hanover, and the Duke is going to command the army of observation. These are the politics of the week; the diversions are balls, and the two Princes frequent them; but the eldest nephew(770) remains shut up in a room, where, as desirous as they are of keeping him, I believe he is now and then incommode. The Duke of Richmond has made two balls on his approaching wedding with Lady Mary Bruce, Mr. Conway's(771) daughter-in-law: it is the perfectest match in the world; youth, beauty, riches, alliances, and all the blood of all the kings from Robert Bruce to Charles the Second. they are the prettiest couple in England, except the father-in-law and mother.

As I write so often to you, you must be content with shorter letters, which, however, are always as long as I can make them. This summer will not contract our correspondence. Adieu! my dear Sir.

(770) George Prince of Wales, afterwards George III.

(771) Lady Mary Bruce was only daughter of Charles last Earl of Ailesbury, by his third wife, Caroline, daughter of General John Campbell, afterwards Duke of Argyll. lady Ailesbury married to her second husband, Colonel Henry Seymour Conway, only brother of Francis Earl of Hertford.

368 Letter 215 To Sir Horace Mann. Arlington Street, April 7, 1757.

You will receive letters by this post that will surprise you; I will try to give you a comment to them; an exact explication I don't know who could give you. You will receive the orders of' a new master, Lord Egremont. I was going on to say that the ministry is again changed, but I cannot say Changed, it is only dismissed--and here is another inter-ministerium.

The King has never borne Lord Temple,(772) and soon grew displeased with Mr. Pitt: on Byng's affair it came to aversion. It is now given out that both I have mentioned have personally affronted the King. On the execution, he would not suffer Dr. Hay of the admiralty to be brought into Parliament, though he had lost his seat on coming into his service. During this squabble negotiations were set on foot between the Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Fox, and would have been concluded if either of them would have risked being hanged for the other. The one most afraid broke off the treaty; need I say it was the Duke?(773 While this was in agitation, it grew necessary for the Duke(774) to go abroad and take the command of the army of observation. He did not care to be checked there by a hostile ministry at home: his father was as unwilling to be left in their hands. The drum was beat for forces; none would list. However, the change must be made, The day before yesterday Lord Temple was dismissed, with all his admiralty but Boscawen, who was of the former, and with an offer to Mr. Elliot to stay, which he has declined. The new admirals are Lord Winchelsea, Rowley again, Moyston, Lord Carysfort, Mr. Sandys, and young Hamilton of the board of trade.(775) It was hoped that this disgrace would drive Mr. Pitt and the rest of his friends to resign--for that very reason they would not. The time pressed; to-day was fixed for the Duke's departure, and for the recess of Parliament during the holidays. Mr. Pitt was dismissed, and Lord Egremont has received the seals to-day. Mr. Fox has always adhered to being only paymaster; but the impossibility of finding a chancellor of the exchequer, which Lord Duplin of the Newcastle faction, and Doddington of Mr. Fox's, have refused, has, I think, forced Mr. Fox to resolve to take that post himself. However, that and every thing else is unsettled, and Mr. Fox is to take nothing till the Inquiries are over. The Duke of Devonshire remains in the treasury, declaring that it is only for a short time, and till they can fix on somebody else. The Duke of Newcastle keeps aloof, professing no connexion with Mr. Pitt; Lord Hardwicke is gone into the country for a fortnight. The stocks fall, the foreign ministers stare; Leicester-house is going to be very angry, and I fear we are going into great confusion. As I wish Mr. Fox so well, I cannot but lament the undigested rashness of this measure.

Having lost three packet-boats lately, I fear I have missed a letter or two of yours: I hope this will have better fortune; for, almost unintelligible, as it is, you will want even so awkward a key.

Mr. Fox was very desirous of bargaining for a peerage for Lady Caroline; the King has positively refused it, but has given him the reversion for three lives of clerk of the pelts in Ireland, which Doddington has now. Mr. Conway is made groom of the bedchamber to the King.

A volume on all I have told you would only perplex you more; you will have time to study what I send you now. I go to Strawberry Hill to-morrow for the holidays; and till they are over, certainly nothing more will be done. You did not expect this new confusion, just when you was preparing to tremble for the campaign. Adieu!

(772) "To Lord Temple," says Lord Waldegrave, "the King had the strongest aversion, his lordship having a pert familiarity, which is not always agreeable to his Majesty. besides, in the affair of admiral Byng, he had used some insolent expressions, which his Majesty could never forgive. Pitt, he said, made him long speeches, which probably might be very fine, but were greatly beyond his comprehension, and that his letters were affected, formal, and pedantic; but as to Temple, he was so disagreeable a fellow, there was no bearing him." Memoirs, p. 93.-E.

(773) "I told his Majesty, that the Duke of Newcastle was quite doubtful what part he should take, being equally balanced by fear on the one side and love of power on the other. To this the King replied, 'I know he is apt to be afraid, therefore go and encourage him; tell him I do not look upon myself as king whilst I am in the hands of these scoundrels; that I am determined to get rid of them at any rate; that I expect his assistance, and that he may depend on my favour and protection.'" Waldegrave, p. 96.-E.

(774) The Duke of Cumberland.

(775) The new admiralty actually consisted of the following:-- Lord Winchilsea, Admiral Sir W. Rowley, K. B., Hon. Edward Boscawen, Gilbert Elliott, Esq., John Proby, first lord Carysfort, Savage Mostyn, Esq., and the Hon. Edward Sandys, afterwards second lord Sandys.-D.

370 Letter 216 To Sir Horace Mann. Arlington Street, April 20, 1757.

You will wonder that I should so long have announced my lord Egremont to you for a master, without his announcing himself to you.--it was no fault of mine; every thing here is a riddle or an absurdity. Instead of coming forth secretary of state, he went out of town, declaring he knew nothing of the matter. On that, it was affirmed that he had refused the seals. The truth is, they have never been offered to him in form. He had been sounded, and I believe was not averse, but made excuses that were not thought invincible. As we are in profound peace with all the world, and can do without any government, it is thought proper to wait a little, till what are called the Inquiries are over;(776) what they are, I will tell you presently. A man(777) who has hated and loved the Duke of Newcastle pretty heartily in the course of some years, is Willing to wait, in hopes of prevailing on him to resume the seals--that Duke is the arbiter of England! Both the other parties are trying to unite with him. The King pulls him, the next reign (for you know his grace is very young) pulls him back. Present power tempts: Mr. Fox's unpopularity terrifies- -he will reconcile all, with immediate duty to the King, with a salvo to the intention of betraying him to the Prince, to make his peace with the latter, as soon as he has made up with the former. Unless his grace takes Mr. Fox by the hand, the latter is in an ugly situation--if he does, is he in a beautiful one?

Yesterday began the famous and long-expected Inquiries.(778) The House of Commons in person undertakes to examine all the intelligence, letters, and orders, of the administration that lost Minorca. In order to this, they pass over a -,,whole winter; then they send for cart-loads of papers from all the offices, leaving it to the discretion of the clerks to transcribe, insert, omit, whatever they please; and without inquiring what the accused ministers had left or secreted. Before it was possible for people to examine these with any attention, supposing they were worth any, the whole House goes to work, sets the clerk to reading such bushels of letters, that the very dates fill three-and-twenty sheets of paper; he reads as fast as he can, nobody attends, every body goes away, and to-night they determined that the whole should be read through on tomorrow and Friday, that one may have time to digest on Saturday and Sunday what one had scarce heard, cannot remember, nor is it worth the while; and then on Monday, without asking any questions, examining any witnesses, authority, or authenticity, the Tories are to affirm that the ministers were very negligent; the Whigs, that they were wonderfully informed, discreet, provident, and active; and Mr. Pitt and his friends are to affect great zeal for justice, are to avoid provoking the Duke of Newcastle, and are to endeavour to extract from all the nothings they have not heard, something that is to lay all the guilt at Mr. Fox's door. Now you know very exactly what the Inquiries are-and this wise nation is gaping to see the chick which their old brood-hen the House of Commons will produce from an egg laid in November, neglected till April, and then hatched in a quicksand!

The common council have presented gold boxes with the freedom of their city to Mr. Pitt and Mr. Legge--no gracious compliment to St. James's. It is expected that the example will catch, but as yet, I hear of no imitations. Pamphlets, cards, and prints swarm again. George Townshend has published one of the latter, which is so admirable in its kind, that I cannot help sending 'It to you. His genius for likenesses in caricatura is astonishing--indeed, Lord Winchelsea's figure is not heightened--your friends Doddington and Lord Sandwich are like; the former made me laugh till I cried. The Hanoverian drummer, Ellis, is the least like, though it has much of his air. I need say nothing of the lump of fat(779) crowned with laurel on the altar. As Townshend's parts lie entirely in his pencil, his pen has no share in them; the labels are very dull, except the inscription on the altar, which I believe is his brother Charles's. This print, which has so diverted the town, has produced to-day a most bitter pamphlet against George Townshend, called The Art of Political Lying. Indeed, it is strong.

The Duke, who has taken no English with him but Lord Albemarle, Lord Frederick Cavendish,(780) Lord George Lennox,(781) Colonel Keppel, Mr. West, and Colonel Carlton, all his own servants, was well persuaded to go by Stade; there were French parties laid to intercept him on the other road. It might have saved him an unpleasant campaign. We have no favourable events, but that Russia, who had neither men, money, nor magazines, is much softened, and halts her troops. The Duke of Grafton(782) still languishes: the Duke of Newcastle has so pestered him with political visits, that the physicians ordered him to be excluded: yet he forced himself into the house. The Duke's Gentlemen would not admit him into the bedchamber, saying his grace was asleep. Newcastle protested he would go in on tiptoe and only look at him-he rushed in, clattered his heels to waken him, and then fell upon the bed, kissing and hugging him. Grafton waked. "God! what's here?" "Only I, my dear lord." Buss, buss, buss, buss! "God! how can you be such a beast, to kiss such a creature as I am, all over plaisters! get along, get along!" and turned about and went to sleep. Newcastle hurries home, tells the mad Duchess that the Duke of Grafton was certainly light-headed, for he had not known him, frightened her into fits, and then was forced to send for Dr. -Shaw-for this Lepidus are struggling Octavius and Anthony!(783)

I have received three letters from you, one of March 25th, one of the second of this month, inclosing that which had journeyed back to you unopened. I wish it lay in my way to send you early news of the destination of fleets, but I rather avoid secrets than hunt them. I must give you much the same answer with regard to Mr. Dick, whom I should be most glad to serve; but when I tell you that in the various revolutions of ministries I have seen, I have never asked a single favour for myself or any friend I have; that whatever friendships I have with the man, I avoid all connexions with the minister; that I abhor courts and levee-rooms and flattery; that I have done with all parties and only sit by and smile--(you would weep)--when I tell You all this, think what my interest must be! I can better answer your desiring me to countenance your brother James, and telling me it will cost me nothing. My God! if you don't believe the affection I have for you, at least believe in the adoration I have for dear Gal.'s memory,- -that, alas! cannot now be counterfeited! If ever I had a friend, if ever there was a friend, he was one to me; if ever there were love and gratitude, I have both for him--before I received your letter, James was convinced for all this--but my dear child, you let slip an expression which sure I never deserved--but I will say no more of it. thank you for the verses on Buondelmonti(784)--I did not know he was dead--for the prayer for Richcourt, for the Pope's letter, and for the bills of lading for the liqueurs.

You will have heard all the torments exercised on that poor wretch Damien, for attempting the least bad of all murders, that of a king. They copied with a scrupulous exactness horrid precedents, and the dastardly monarch permitted them! I don't tell you any particulars, for in time of war, and at this distance, how to depend on the truth of them?

This is a very long letter, but I will not make excuses for long ones and short ones too--I fear you forgive the long ones most easily!

(776) "April 6, Mr. Pitt dismissed. Mr. Fox and I were ordered from the King, by Lord Holderness to come and kiss his hand as paymaster of the army, and treasurer of the navy. We wrote to the Duke of Cumberland our respectful thanks and acceptance of the offices; but we thought it would be more for his Majesty's service,.not to enter into them publicly till the Inquiry was over." Doddington, p. 352.-E.

(777) the King.

(778) On the 19th of April, the House of Commons went into a committee on the state of the navy, and the causes which had led to the loss of the island of Minorca.-E.

(779) The Duke of Cumberland.

(780) Third son of William third Duke of Devonshire. He was made a field-marshal in 1796, and died in 1803.-D.

(781) Second son of Charles second Duke of Richmond. He died in March, 1805.-D.

(782) Charles Fitzroy, second Duke of Grafton, lord chamberlain.

(783) Lepidus, Duke of Newcastle; Octavius and Anthony, Pitt and Fox.-D.

(784) A Florentine Abb`e and wit; author of several poetical pieces.-E.

372 Letter 217 To Sir Horace Mann. Arlington Street, May 5, 1757.

You may expect what you please of new ministries, and revolutions, and establishments; we are a grave people, and don't go so rashly to work-at least when we have demolished any thing rashly, we take due time before we repair it. At a distance you may be impatient. We, the most concerned, wait very tranquilly to see the event of chaos. It was given out that nothing would be settled till the Inquiries were at an end. The world very obediently stayed for the time appointed. The Inquiries are at an end, yet nothing is in more forwardness. Foreign nations may imagine (but they must be at a great distance!) that we are so wise and upright a people, that every man performs his part, and thence every thing goes on in its proper order without any government--but I fear, our case is like what astronomers tell us, that if a star was to be annihilated, it would still shine for two months. The Inquiries have been a most important and dull farce, and very fatiguing; we sat six days till past midnight. If you have received my last letter, you have already had a description of what passed just as I foresaw. Mr. Pitt broke out a little the second day, and threatened to secede, and tell the world the iniquity of the majority; but recollecting that the majority might be as useful as the world, he recomposed himself, professed meaning no personalities, swallowed all candour as fast as it was proposed to him, swallowed camels and haggled about gnats, and in a manner let the friends of the old ministry state and vote what resolutions they pleased. They were not modest, but stated away; yet on the last day of the committee, on their moving that no greater force could have been sent to the Mediterranean than was under Byng the triumphant majority shrank to one of seventy-eight, many absenting themselves, and many of the independent sort voting with the minority. This alarmed so much, that the predetermined vote of acquittal or approbation was forced to be dropped, and to their great astonishment the late cabinet is not thanked parliamentarily for having lost Minorca. You may judge what Mr. Pitt might have done, if he had pleased; when, though he starved his own cause, so slender an advantage was obtained against him. I retired before the vote I have mentioned; as Mr. Fox was complicated in it, I would not appear against him, and I could not range myself with a squadron who I think must be the jest of Europe and posterity. It now remains to settle some ministry: Mr. Pitt's friends are earnest, and some of them trafficking for an union with Newcastle. He himself, I believe, maintains his dignity, and will be sued to, not sue. The Duke of Newcastle, who cannot bear to resign the last twilight of the old sun, would join with Fox; but the Chancellor, who hates him, and is alarmed at his unpopularity, and at the power of Pitt with the people, holds back. Bath, Exeter, Yarmouth, and Worcester, have followed the example of london, and sent their freedoms to Pitt and Legge: I suppose Edinburgh will, but instead of giving, will ask for a gold box in return. Here are some new epigrams on the present politics:

TO THE NYMPH OF BATH. Mistaken Nymph, thy gifts withhold; Pitt's virtuous soul despises gold; Grant him thy boon peculiar, health; He'll guard, not covet, Britain's wealth.

Another. The two great rivals London might content, If what he values most to each she sent; Ill was the franchise coupled with the box: Give Pitt the freedom, and the gold to Fox.

ON DR. SHEBBEAR ABUSING Hume CAMPBELL FOR BEING A PROSTITUTE ADVOCATE. 'Tis below you, dear Doctor to worry an elf, Who you know will defend $any thing but himself.

The two first are but middling, and I am bound to think the last so, as it is my own. Shebbear is a broken Jacobite physician, who has threatened to write himself into a place or the pillory: he has Just published a bitter letter to the Duke of Newcastle, which occasioned the above two lines.

The French have seized in their own name the country of Bentheim, a purchase of the King's, after having offered him the most insulting neutrality for Hanover, in the world; they proposed putting a garrison into the strongest Post(785) he has, with twenty other concessions. We have rumours of the Prince of Bevern having beaten the Austrians considerably. I believe, upon review, that this is a mighty indefinite letter; I would have waited for certainties, but not knowing how long that might be, I thought you would prefer this parenthesis of politics.

lord Northumberland's great gallery is finished and opened; it is a sumptuous chamber, but might have been in a better taste. He is wonderfully content with his pictures, and gave me leave to repeat it to you. I rejoiced, as you had been the negotiator--as you was not the painter, you will allow me not to be so profuse of my applause. Indeed I have yet only seen them by candle-light. Mengs's School of Athens pleased me: Pompeio's two are black and hard; Mazucci's Apollo, fade and without beauty; Costanza's piece is abominable. Adieu! till a ministry.

(785) Hamelen.

374 Letter 218 To Sir Horace Mann. Arlington Street, May 19, 1757.

We are not yet arrived at having a ministry, but we have had two or three alarms at one. On Monday, the Duke of Devonshire, impatient for a plaything, took the chamberlain's staff and key--these were reckoned certain prognostics; but they were only symptoms Of his childishness. Yesterday it was published that Mr. Pitt's terms were so extravagant, that the Duke of Newcastle could not comply with them--and would take the whole himself--perhaps leave some little trifle for Mr. Fox--to-day all is afloat again, and all negotiations to recommence. Pitt's demands were, that his grace should not meddle in the House of Commons, nor in the province of Secretary of State, but stick to the Treasury, and even there to be controlled by a majority of Mr. Pitt's friends-they were certainly great terms, but he has been taught not to trust less. But it is tautology to dwell on these variations; the inclosed(786 is an exact picture of our situation--and is perhaps the only political paper ever written, in which no man of any party can dislike or deny a single fact. I wrote it in an hour and a half, and you will perceive that it must be the effect of a single thought.

We had big letters yesterday of a total victory of the King of Prussia over the Austrians,(787) with their army dispersed and their general wounded and prisoner--I don't know how, but it is not confirmed yet. You must excuse the brevity of my English letter, in consideration of my Chinese one. Adieu! (786) Letter from Xo Ho, a Chinese philosopher at London, to his friend Lien Chi at Pekin.

(787) This was the battle of Prague, gained by the King of Prussia on the 6th of May, 1757, over the forces of the Empress-Queen, commanded by Prince Charles of Lorraine.-D.

375 Letter 219 To George Montagu, Esq. May 27, 1757.

I have ticketed you with numbers 5832, 58322, 58323, 58324, 58325, 58326; I think you bespoke six. I do not send them by post, unless you order it: but I have writ your name on each, lest in case of accident my executors should put them into my auction, for which you are so impatient, and then you would have to buy them over again.

I am glad you like Xo Ho: I think every body does, which is strange, considering it has no merit but truth. Mrs. Clive cried out like you, "Lord! you will be sent to the Tower!" "Well," said I coolly, "my father was there before me."

Lord Abercorn's picture is extremely like; he seems by the Vandyke habit to be got back into his own times; but nothing is finished yet, except the head.

You will be diverted with a health which my Lady Townshend gave at supper with the Prince t'other night: "'Tis a health you will all like," she said. "Well! what is it?" "The three P's." The boy coloured up to the eyes. After keeping them in suspense some time, she named, Pitt, Peace, and Plenty. The Princess has given Home, the author of Douglas, a hundred a year. Prince and Princess Edward continue to entertain themselves and Ranelagh every night.

I wish your brother and all heirs to estates joy, for old Shutz is dead, and cannot wriggle himself into any more wills. The ministry is not yet hatched; the King of Prussia is conquering the world; Mr. Chute has some murmurs of the gout; and I am yours for ever.

376 Letter 220 To Sir Horace Mann. Arlington Street, June 1, 1757.

After a vacancy of full two months, we are at last likely to have a ministry again--I do not promise you a very lasting one. Last Wednesday the conferences broke off between the Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Pitt; the latter demanding a full restoration of his friends, with the admiralty and a peerage for Mr. Legge, the blue riband and, I believe, Ireland for Lord Temple, and Mr. Grenville for chancellor of the exchequer, with stipulations that no more money should be sent this year to Germany. The last article, the admiralty, and especially the exchequer, were positively refused; and on Friday the Duke went to the King, and consented to be sole minister, insisting that Mr. Fox should be nothing but paymaster, not cabinet-councillor, and have no power; Sir Thomas Robinson to be again secretary of state, and Sir George Lee chancellor of exchequer. For form, he was to retire to Claremont for a few days, to take advice of his oracle, whose answer he had already dictated. Lord Hardwicke refuses the seals; says, he desires nobody should be dismissed for him; if president or privy seal should by any means be vacant, he will accept either, but nothing till Lord Anson is satisfied, for whom he asks treasurer of the navy. The Duke goes to Kensington to-morrow, when all this is to be declared-however, till it is, I shall doubt it. Lord Lincoln and his principal friends are vehement against it; and indeed his grace seems to be precipitating his own ruin. If Mr. Fox could forgive all that is past, which he by no means intends, here are now provocations added--will they invite Mr. Fox's support? Not to mention what Unpopular German steps the Duke must take to recover the King's favour, who is now entirely Fox's; the latter is answerable for nothing, and I believe would not manage inquiries against his grace as Mr. Pitt has--leniently. In short, I think the month of October will terminate the fortunes of the house of Pelham for ever--his supporters are ridiculous; his followers will every day desert to one or other of the two princes(788) of the blood, who head the other factions. Two parts in three of the cabinet, at least half, are attached to Mr. Fox; there the Duke will be overborne; in Parliament will be deserted. Never was a plan concerted with more weakness!

I enclose a most extraordinary print. Mr. Fox has found some caricaturist(789) equal to George Townshend, and who manages royal personages with at least as little ceremony. I have written "Lord Lincoln" over the blue riband, because some people take it for him--likeness there is none: it is certain Lord Lincoln's mother was no whore; she never recovered the death of her husband. The line that follows "son of a whore" seems but too much connected with it; at least the "could say more" is not very merciful. The person of Lord Bute, not his face, is ridiculously like; Newcastle, Pitt, and Lord Temple are the very men. It came out but to-day, and shows how cordial the new union is. Since the Ligue against Henry III. of France, there never was such intemperate freedom with velvet and ermine; never, I believe, where religion was not concerned.

I cannot find by the dates you send me that I have received yours of Jan. 1, and Feb. 12, and I keep all your letters very orderly. Mine of this year to you have been of Jan. 6, 17, 30; Feb. 14; March 3 , 17; April 7, 20; May 5, 19. Tell me if you have received them.

What a King is our Prussian! how his victories come out doubled and trebled above their very fame! My Lady Townshend says, "Lord! how all the Queens will go to see this Solomon! and how they will be disappointed!" How she of Hungary is disappointed! We hear that the French have recalled their green troops, which had advanced for show, and have sent their oldest regiments against the Duke.(790) Our foreign affairs are very serious, but I don't know whether I do not think that our domestic tend to be more so! Adieu!

(788) The Prince of Wales, who espoused Mr. Pitt; and the Duke of Cumberland, Mr. Fox.

(789) This relates to a print that made much noise, called "The Turnstile." The uncertain figure pretended to be Lord Lincoln, but was generally thought to mean the Prince of Wales, whom it resembled; but in the second impression a little demon was inserted to imply ,The Devil over Lincoln." Yet that evasion did not efface the first idea.

(790) The Duke of Cumberland.

377 Letter 221 To George Montagu, Esq. Arlington Street, June 2, 1757.