Memoirs of the Court and Cabinets of George the Third

I cannot conclude this letter without again expressing to you the heartfelt satisfaction which I derive, under these circumstances, from the sense which you entertain and express of my sincere and zealous affection.

Ever yours,

W. W. G.

MR. W. W. GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

St. James's Square, Nov. 28th, 1789.

My dear Brother,

I have just received your letter. Things remain hitherto on the same footing, with every appearance of doing well. All depends, however, on the ultimate arrangement of the point referred. I own I am inclined to hope better things than you seem to do. Real friendship and connection is, I agree with you, not to be hoped for; but if public appearances are preserved, and public support effectually, even though not cordially, given, all is obtained that is in any degree necessary for public objects; and the present disposition does, as far as I can judge, go the whole length of what I have now stated. It is by no means a difficult or new situation for people to act together in public business without the bond of private connection and friendship. It is indeed very rare, I believe; and what I consider as a most singular and peculiar happiness, that the contrary should exist to the degree to which it does, and it would, I am afraid, be much too sanguine to entertain hopes that this should be extended to the case now in question. I will not fail to let you know as soon as anything occurs on the main point.

There is every appearance that the Flemish revolution is complete. Trautsmansdorf and the patriots are running a race for Luxemburg, where the former means to wait for succours. There are not fifteen thousand troops in the provinces, and there are above forty thousand of the patriots already armed, and the whole country with them. They collect the revenues of the country, on which they maintain their army. They flatter themselves that, allowing for the necessary requisitions for passage, &c., no effectual force can be brought to act against them till the spring; and the style of the Emperor's concessions, as well as the mode of making them, looks as if he was of the same opinion.

Ever most affectionately yours,

W. W. G.

It was some compensation to Mr. Grenville that, in his official capacity as Secretary of State, he had the satisfaction of conveying to Lord Buckingham His Majesty's entire approval of the line of conduct his Lordship had pursued in Ireland. After expressing His Majesty's concern at the state of Lord Buckingham's health, which rendered him unable any longer to serve His Majesty in the situation of Lord-Lieutenant, the letter signifies the royal approbation of his Lordship's attachment and zeal in the discharge of the important duties of his station; adding, "and, particularly, I have His Majesty's express direction to acquaint your Lordship with the satisfaction which His Majesty has felt from your attention to maintain the honour and dignity of his Crown, and to preserve the constitutional connection between his two kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, under the interesting circumstances which were occasioned by His Majesty's late indisposition."

Feeling the delicacy of the position in which he was placed by his relationship to Lord Buckingham, in having to convey this gracious message, Mr. Grenville submitted a draught of the letter to His Majesty for his approval, before it was forwarded. Upon this draught His Majesty made the subjoined minute:

Windsor, October 17th, 1789.

Eighteen minutes past Ten o'clock.

The draught of an answer to the Marquis of Buckingham's letter of resignation meets entirely with my sentiments. If I thought any alteration necessary, it would be by more explicitly stating the allusion to his very commendable conduct, during my late calamitous illness, which would render the approbation in effect more marked.

G. R.

A retirement thus graced and dignified by the special approbation of the Sovereign, left nothing for Lord Buckingham to regret in the scene of party conflict he had quitted. It was an exchange from turmoil to peace, rendered still more acceptable to him by the expressions of regard and attachment it drew from some of the most distinguished men of his time. Well might Lord Fife congratulate him, in one of the numerous letters addressed to him at this period, on the difference he would find between Stowe and the Castle of Dublin.

1790

MR. GRENVILLE'S ELEVATION TO THE PEERAGE.

The events of this year on the continent of Europe offer a striking contrast to the repose of England. While the wise and steadfast policy of Mr. Pitt had secured to this country the blessings of peace, now rapidly expanding into a condition of almost unexampled prosperity, France was undergoing the throes of that desolating Revolution which brought the Sovereign to the scaffold, and laid the train of those disasters which finally expelled the Bourbons from the throne. There are few traces of those disturbing circumstances in the correspondence of Lord Buckingham and his brother, which, in consequence of the frequent opportunities they now enjoyed of personal intercourse, had become scanty, and, so far as public affairs were concerned, unimportant. Slight scraps of intelligence, the last rumour from abroad, or matters of purely personal or domestic interest, form the staple of the letters that passed between them at this period.

It was in this year that Edmund Burke, to the infinite surprise of his old allies, published his famous pamphlet on the French Revolution. The impression it made in England may be accepted as an evidence of the soundness of the national judgment, and the devotion of the people to the established institutions of the country. This healthy condition of the public mind was attributable, in a greater degree than we can venture now to estimate, to the spirit of patriotism and union awakened in the kingdom by the firm Administration of Mr. Pitt and his friends. They had restored the general confidence in the justice and stability of the Government, which the weakness and divided councils of former Cabinets had dissipated; they had struck the happy mean between the prerogatives of the Crown and the encroachments of the Legislature; and, above all, in the recent conflicts on the Regency question, they had successfully asserted the doctrine, that the rights of the Sovereign and the rights of the people were founded on a common basis; and, by showing that their interests were identical, they had reconciled those extreme elements in the Constitution which a powerful party had laboured, with great eloquence and considerable effect, to separate on the grounds of a natural antagonism. Their popularity was unbounded, and saved the country. Paine's "Age of Reason" fell innocuous upon the people; the tidings of the Revolution, and of the massacres that tracked its daily steps in blood, excited wonder and horror, but produced no frenzy of imitation such as they inspired elsewhere; and while Europe was convulsed with alarms, England, strong in her liberties and self-reliance, was united and unmoved.

In Ireland, the departure of Lord Buckingham was followed by a revival of the factious intemperance his energy had for a season suppressed. The Parliament opened in disorder, and carried on its debates in a tone of vindictive hostility to the British connection. The opponents of Government had strengthened their hands by the accession of new orators, and by the occasional lapses into their old violence of others who had given in their submissions to the late Viceroy, and who, now that he was gone, affected an independence of their obligations. The Lord Chancellor Fitzgibbon was growing into increasing disfavour with the Opposition, and becoming, by the force of resistance, more English and less popular than before. The invectives in which the wild passions of party found a congenial vent, descended to the fiercest recriminations, and led to the severance of friendships, and personal rencontres. Fitzgibbon and the Ponsonbys, who had hitherto preserved unimpaired, amidst the contentions of the Senate, their intimate relations in private life, were now cast asunder by an explosion of animosity that tempted the Chancellor to declare "that he would never speak to them again;" even the close bonds that united the Ponsonbys and the Beresfords were imperceptibly relaxed; and Mr. Hobart, to use his own expression, was "obliged to fight Mr. Curran," for which he excuses himself to Lord Buckingham by saying that "in any other country in Europe he would not have met him." In no other country, undoubtedly, from a cause so absurd and unwarrantable, could the necessity for such a meeting have arisen. Numerous letters from Ireland conveyed fragments of news of this kind to Lord Buckingham in his retirement, the old supporters of Administration still seeming to look up to him for encouragement and advice. But these letters are not now of sufficient interest to justify their publication.

Such, indeed, is the general character of the correspondence of the year. One letter, however, announces an incident which cannot be so satisfactorily recorded as in the language of the writer. Mr. Grenville was about to receive that recognition of his great talents and important services which few men had earned so worthily or were destined to wear more honourably and usefully. The absence of all exultation at his approaching elevation to the peerage, and his near assumption of the title by which he is best known in the history of the country, is a characteristic of that nobility of mind which conferred dignity upon, rather than derived it from, the station to which he was advanced.

MR. W. W. GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

St. James's Square, Nov. 22nd, 1790.

My dear Brother,

I send this by a messenger, in order to lose no time in informing you that Pitt wrote yesterday to the King, to propose the measure of my going to the House of Lords, and that he has received His Majesty's acquiescence, in terms very satisfactory to me. The delay has been occasioned by a sort of negotiation which has been pending with the Chancellor for some time past, and which there seemed a prospect of bringing to a point before the meeting. As the determination respecting my peerage might possibly have been affected, one way or the other, by this negotiation, we were unwilling to decide that question finally till the last moment; but as that last moment is now arrived, it seemed, after much deliberation, better to take the step in the present situation of things, rather than to wait the issue of a business, one event of which could much have increased the difficulties of the measure itself.

Pitt is gone to-day to Windsor, to lay before the King the whole of the transaction, and to explain more fully the motives which have induced us to wish for my being removed to the House of Lords. There is no probability that this conversation will alter the full consent which the King expressed yesterday by letter. If it does not, it will be necessary that I should kiss hands on Wednesday, in order to give time, which even that will barely do, for passing my patent, &c., so as to enable me to take my seat on Friday, which is the day on which the King makes his speech, and on which the general Address will be moved in the House of Lords. We mean to fix a separate day for considering the Convention, and to have a particular Address upon it. The precise day for this is of course not yet settled.

This arrangement will necessarily occasion a delay of two or three days before the writ can be moved in the House of Commons, who do not proceed to business till the Monday, on account of swearing the Members; but this does not seem to me to be at all material, and I am persuaded that you will feel with me that it is unavoidable. The writ once moved, the election may come on upon the tenth, or at latest, the eleventh day from the Monday, so that the whole notice will not exceed a fortnight.

I reserve, till I see you, the particulars of the negotiation of which I have spoken, and of our present situation with a view to that important point. I am sorry for the delay in making the other arrangements, but you must allow something for the difficulties which always occur in bringing points of this nature to bear, and for the various loads which press at such a moment as this on Pitt's time, by whose personal negotiations alone all this must be done. Pray let me know, by the return of my messenger, when I may expect you in town.

I am sorry to hear of so long a sick list. Adieu, my dear brother, and believe me

Ever most truly and affectionately yours,

W. W. G.

1791

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CLAIMS – RESIGNATION OF THE DUKE OF LEEDS – FLIGHT OF THE ROYAL FAMILY OF FRANCE – PROSPERITY OF ENGLAND AT THIS PERIOD.

The first object to which the attention of Ministers was addressed at the opening of Parliament in 1791, was a measure for the further relief of the Roman Catholics. The only objection urged against it by the Opposition was that it did not go far enough. Mr. Pitt himself held the same opinion, but did not consider it expedient to act upon it.

The interest which Lord Buckingham never ceased to feel in Ireland, where this question of Catholic disabilities was a spring of constant agitation, led him to regard the subject in relation to that country with much solicitude. Agreeing in principle with Mr. Pitt, he held that the Roman Catholics should be placed on the same footing in both kingdoms; and that whatever privileges were bestowed upon them in England should also, and at the same time, be granted to them in Ireland. Mr. Hobart, who had been his Lordship's secretary during his last Administration, and who was continued in that appointment by his successor, Lord Westmoreland, corresponded with him frequently on this topic; and it may be gathered from his letters that the views of the new Lord-Lieutenant were unfavourable to the demands of the Roman Catholics. In the early part of the correspondence, Mr. Hobart expresses considerable doubt about the policy of placing power in their hands, especially with reference to their admission to the bar, which had been conceded to them in England. His observations on that particular point are curious. In Ireland, he remarks, the sentiments of the lawyers have considerable weight in the discussion of political subjects, which, "whether it arises from the confident and pertinacious loquacity of gentlemen of that profession, or from the deference which is shown and felt for those in whose hands are entrusted the most interesting concerns of every family in the kingdom, and from their frequent intercourse with all parts of it, is matter of no consequence." The influence which the lawyers were thus supposed to possess, weighed strongly with Mr. Hobart as an argument against the admission of the Roman Catholics to the bar. Such a measure might be adopted with comparative safety in England, but it was likely in Ireland to be productive of increased agitation and social disorder. The perplexities of the question were evidently taking a very distinct shape at this time, and occupying no inconsiderable share of the attention of Government. In endeavouring to sift them, and to extricate something like a practical line of policy from them, Mr. Hobart was not a little embarrassed by the example of England, which he could not quite make up his mind either to follow or renounce.

The English Bill has put us under no small degree of difficulty. The circumstances of the two countries, with respect to Roman Catholics, are so different, that what may be extremely advisable in the one, may be just the reverse in the other; and, therefore, for us precisely to follow your Bill, would be to adopt a principle which in its consequences might be productive of the greatest mischief. Nevertheless, if we do not go so far, the Roman Catholics of Ireland will be highly discontented; and if we go further, we shall throw too much power into their hands.

That Lord Buckingham removed Mr. Hobart's objections as to the wisdom of conformity in legislating for the Roman Catholics in both countries, is indicated in a subsequent letter; but that Mr. Hobart differed from his Lordship as to the prudence of maintaining a Government opposition between the two sects is no less apparent. Lord Buckingham's influence in moderating Mr. Hobart's opinions on other points is frankly admitted. Mr. Hobart gave up his objections to admitting the Catholics to the bar, or even to the army or navy, if England should think fit to set the example; but civil offices, or the elective franchise, he still considered highly dangerous.

My opinion, I speak with great deference, does not concur with yours, as to the little importance of supporting the Protestants against the Catholics; it is, in my mind, the link which binds the two countries: break that, and you endanger the connection. Every means should be exerted to prevent the struggle taking place; and, therefore, every indulgence that with any degree of safety can be given to the Roman Catholics, and more particularly at this time, ought to be extended to them. Notwithstanding a variety of objections, I cannot help thinking that the safest principle for the Parliament of Ireland to adopt, is, that of following England upon all questions relative to Roman Catholics; but it is of the utmost consequence, that the Government of England should accede to no measure upon that subject, without a due consideration of its effect in Ireland, and fairly weigh the benefits to be attained in the one country, against the disadvantages that may arise in the other.

The example of England, if adopted as a principle, may be extremely useful as a means of resisting inconvenient pretensions urged here; for, whether avowedly adopted or not, it will always be made use of by the Roman Catholics when they have anything to gain by it; and ultimately they must be successful upon that ground. I would therefore admit them to the bar; and if England opens the army and navy to them, it should follow of course here; but admission to civil offices, or anything that led to voting for Members of Parliament, or sitting in either House, would, I conceive, be highly dangerous in this country; because I am a friend to the Protestant ascendancy, and that can be maintained only through the medium of a Protestant Parliament, aided by a profitable encouragement to those who profess that faith.

The times are growing so enlightened, or so depraved, that a man need not live very long, to have a chance of seeing all religious distinctions abolished; but so long as things remain in their present state, I am strongly impressed with the idea, that the connection between England and Ireland in a great degree depends upon the maintenance of the Protestant ascendancy. It is the principle which attaches the Parliament of Ireland to Great Britain; it is the security for the property of those whose influence gives them power in this country; it is the strength of English government in Ireland. If ever the Roman Catholics should acquire power enough to render the prospect of regaining their properties sufficiently promising for the attempt, they must begin by the destruction of English government. I do therefore consider it indispensably necessary to give every degree of influence to the Protestant interest; but that would be as a drop of water to the sea, unless that interest was supported by the power of England. But as I do not believe John Bull would much like to expend his money in a struggle between the Protestants and Roman Catholics of Ireland, merely on a crusade principle, I would not have him called upon in a case wherein the ground to be maintained was not similar to that which had been sanctioned by the British Parliament, and might therefore, in a certain degree, be considered as the cause of the empire.

You desire me to turn my thoughts to a permanent system. The only permanent, practicable system that I can discover, is, that there should at all times be a perfect understanding and concurrence between the Governments of the two countries upon this subject; that no step affecting the Catholics should be taken in England without a minute attention to Ireland; and that the people of that persuasion should be on the same footing in the two countries.

The entire passage may be accepted as an epitome of the principle on which Lord Westmoreland's Administration in Ireland was conducted; and this authentic exposition of it is invested with some claim to historical importance.

A letter from Lord Grenville in the beginning of the session refers to certain new arrangements which were in progress in the Cabinet, but which did not materially affect its constitution.

LORD GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

St. James's Square, Feb. 4th, 1791.

My dear Brother,

I should have written to you before on the subject of the arrangements, if I had been able to say anything satisfactory or decisive to you about them. But I think it right to mention to you the state of the business, in order that you may know exactly how it stands. An unexpected difficulty has arisen where we least looked for it, on the part of Lord Hawkesbury, who has declined exchanging the Duchy for the Mint, although he has been distinctly told that the Cabinet is to be given him with the latter, and not with the former. Whether he is playing any game in this we are unable to discover, but such is the answer which he has given, after having taken time to consider of it. This, as you see, at once stops the whole business in limine, unless some solution can be found for the difficulty; and I must confess I do not now see what solution there is for it. It was not till two days ago that this great man gave his answer, and therefore it is still, I think, by no means impossible that his stomach may come down when he sees Pitt determined to abide by this as a condition of the other, which there is indeed no temptation to grant him without it. On the whole it may be only a piece of magnificence, in order to give to his admission to the Cabinet the appearance of a favour done by him, instead of one received. But of all this you are as well able to judge as ourselves, and none of us have anything to go upon but conjecture. A few days may probably enable us to form a better judgment, and for that we must wait.

It is, I am sure, unnecessary for me to say how much this unexpected difficulty has hurt both Pitt and myself. I am racking my brains to find a remedy for it, and shall be truly happy if any such should occur either to you or to us.

The accounts of our dear Catherine are now such as I hope to put all idea of present danger out of the question; but it has been a most alarming attack, and I fear is only the earnest of much suffering and frequent illness from the same cause, the existence of which seems now to be but too clearly ascertained.

Everybody in London has been ill. I have not escaped my usual cold, but am now getting well. I rejoice in the satisfactory account which the Bulkeleys give of you.

Ever, my dear brother,

Most affectionately yours,

G.

They have suddenly stirred in Ireland a question about spirits, beer, &c., which they seem to understand no more of than I do, who have had no opportunity of learning anything about it. Lord W., in one of his private letters, mentions some plan of yours about hops, and I think I recollect something passing between us on the subject, but have no trace what it was. I have a clerkship vacant in my office: can it be made useful to any object of yours?

You probably know also that Selwyn's death gives me the disposal of his office in Barbadoes, of between £100 and £500 per annum, but it can be held only by a resident. I feel myself bound, in the first instance, to offer to Nepean, who is killing himself by his labour here, to give it to any proper person who will vacate anything for it here. If that fails, you know I have no other idea of patronage than that of consulting your wishes, or serving our joint objects.

A little stray light is thrown upon this question of spirits and beer in Ireland by Mr. Hobart in a letter to Lord Buckingham. The great evil which demoralized the Irish, including, it appears, even the country gentlemen, was whiskey-drinking; and with a view to diminish it, if possible, the Irish Government brought in a Bill, putting a heavy duty on spirits, and liberating beer, hoping that the measure would act as a prohibition in the one case, and as an encouragement in the other.