Duke of Richard Plantagenet Temple Nugent Brydges Chandos Grenville Buckingham and Chandos

“ I have not shrunk from my duty in the worst times, and I will not trifle with it in those which look more prosperous. Much must be done to save the British Government from an infamous and daring combination, which might have been yielded to by a more pusillanimous minister; but could only be met by one confident in his character and conduct. Do not think this the language of vanity; the times have been, and still are much too serious for such a boyish passion: I feel that the dearest interests of both kingdoms are at stake, and nothing but firmness can save it. ”

“ You can hardly form to yourself an idea of the labour I have gone through; but I am repaid by the maintenance of peace, which is all this country has to desire. We shall now, I hope, for a very long period indeed enjoy this blessing, and cultivate a situation of prosperity unexampled in our history. The state of our commerce, our revenue, and, above all, that of our public funds, is such as to hold out ideas which but a few years ago would indeed have appeared visionary, and which there is now every hope of realizing. ”

“ I sincerely wish you the same success in Ireland which attended your last Government; your only difficulty will be to maintain the high character which your Administration bore, in the minds of every description of people. You will certainly be received by the sanguine expectations of the whole country; and from my heart and soul I earnestly hope that you may return home with the same popularity and credit that you carry out. ”

“ As I do not at all partake in the virtuous enthusiasm for the cause of Jacobinism in Spain, I allow myself to hope that things there are going on well. I am entirely of opinion that the war is a most unadvised step on the part of France, and that nothing could be more impolitic, except our having the folly to mix ourselves in the squabble either way by word or deed.
Some wiseacre in the House of Commons has said that Lord Chatham declared that not a gun should be fired in Europe without his leave. ”

“ It is a curious speculation in history to see how often the good people of England have played this game over and over again, and how incorrigible they are in it. To desire war without reflection, to be unreasonably elated with success, to be still more unreasonably depressed by difficulties, and to call out for peace with an impatience which makes suitable terms unattainable, are the established maxims and the regular progress of the popular mind in this country. ”

“ My dear Duke,
You can have no idea how much advantage we derive from the division of the other night, being of much greater importance to the Government than to us, and it is so felt by the Opposition. Nothing could be more absurd than Tierney's conduct, speaking entirely against Creevey, and by his vote identifying himself with the Opposition upon it. Lord N—— was really the height of folly, to call it by no other name, for the division was so miserable a one, and so completely confined to the Opposition, that there was no one reason why he should have come up for it. ”

“ When you joined in the vote which impeached my honour, and possibly my life, you forgot the feelings of a brother, and dissolved the ties between us. I loathe the looking back, still less do I mean to reproach: my heart is still alive to those feelings which nature and religion dictate to me.
I have no false pride, and, therefore, have no conditions to propose to you. All that I look for is a brother; but in that word I comprehend all the sentiments of affection which I feel I discharged faithfully towards you till the moment of our separation. Consult your feelings, and God direct them. ”

“ On the other hand, I must say that I think we, least of all people, and yourself less than any man existing, have reason to feel any particular interest in a system which experience has always shown, at least in our time, to be neither able nor disposed to carry any support to English Government whenever England can think such support material. It has long appeared to me, and I believe to you also, that to make the connexion with Ireland permanently useful to Great Britain, that connexion must be strengthened by a systematic plan of measures, well considered and steadily pursued. ”

“ The impression his Majesty made was not always favourable. "I cannot help suspecting," observes an intelligent cotemporary "that his Majesty's late journeys to see his kingdoms of Ireland and Hanover will not on the whole redound much to his honour or advantage. His manners no doubt are, when he pleases, very graceful and captivating. No man knows better how to add to an obligation by the way of conferring it. But on the whole he wants dignity, not only in the seclusion and familiarity of his more private life, but on public occasions. ”

“ Before I proceed I wish to add, that although I have treated the vanity and personal arrogance of Lord Shelburne as it deserves, yet I will do him justice in acknowledging his merit, as one of the quickest and most indefatigable Ministers that this country ever saw. Many of his public measures were the result of a great and an informed mind, assisted by a firm and manly vigour. And I must ever think the Peace, attended with all its collateral considerations, the most meritorious and happiest event for a kingdom exhausted of men and of credit. ”

“ To me, therefore, I own it seems to be more necessary than ever to make the most active exertions in order to counteract this new shape of evil; and I do hope and trust that, however ungracious and mortifying it may be to military habits and military education to be opposed to what may be deemed petty bands of robbers and incendiaries, Lord Cornwallis will feel the necessity of applying his best military talents in a service where no military glory can be obtained, except as it may be applied to the restoration of the security and tranquillity of the country. ”

“ I see that Charles Wynn and Phillimore are so decidedly disposed to the Opposition, that their minds are at all times on the alert to catch an opportunity of attacking the Government. I certainly do not support or think well of the Government, but I am quite satisfied that nothing short of a total overthrow of everything would induce the Whigs to unite with you; and I am equally satisfied that the only and best prospect of office is to keep terms with the present Government, not with a view of joining them, but of keeping them unfettered and unexasperated for any future arrangements. ”

“ It is certainly a decent and becoming thing, that when all the King's physicians, all his attendants, and his two principal Ministers, agree in pronouncing him well, his two sons should deny it. And the reflection that the Prince of Wales was to have had the Government and the Duke of York the command of the army during his illness, makes this representation of his actual state, when coming from them, more peculiarly proper and edifying. I bless God it is yet some time before these matured and ripened virtues will be visited upon us in the form of a Government. ”

“ I trust the eyes of the nation will soon be opened, as my sorrow may prove fatal to my health if I remain long in this thraldom. I trust you will be steady in your attachment to me, and ready to join other honest men in watching the conduct of this unnatural combination, and I hope many months will not elapse before the Grenvilles, the Pitts, and other men of abilities and character will relieve me from a situation that nothing could have compelled me to submit to, but the supposition that no other means remained of preventing the public finances from being materially affected. ”

“ My estimate of Peel is, I am aware, higher than yours. I agree with you that he cannot supply the effect of one of Canning's glittering, eloquent speeches; still, he combines greater advantages at this moment than any other man in the House of Commons.
Talent, independent fortune, official habits and reputation, and, above all, general character both in and out of Parliament, have, I am persuaded, disposed more men to follow and more to unite with him than any person whom you can name among us. ”

“ I stand well, as I flatter myself, with the people of Ireland, to whom I have administered justice for more than twenty years, with both Houses of Parliament, and with the Bar of Ireland; with all of whom I have lived without a quarrel with any man, but I hope without forgetting what belonged to me to be mindful of. ”

“ You will, no doubt, be as much surprised as I was, to find that the notion of the Prince of Wales's right was brought forward yesterday by Fox in the House of Commons. It was a matter of no less astonishment to many of his own friends, who were by no means prepared for the assertion of such a doctrine. One should lose oneself in conjecture, by attempting to find out what motive can have induced him to take exactly the most unpopular ground on which their side of the question can be rested. ”

“ His policy in domestic affairs was marked by the same far-seeing wisdom, the same intrepid resistance to the blindness of present clamour. He made the most strenuous efforts to uphold the Sinking Fund—that noble monument of Mr. Pitt's patriotic foresight; had those efforts been successful, the whole National Debt would have been paid off by the year 1845, and the nation for ever have been freed from the payment of thirty millions a-year for its interest. ”

“ The general idea is that they mean to try a negotiation. But whether the Prince means that, and whether Pitt ought in any case to listen to it at all, or in what degree, are questions which it is difficult indeed to decide. There could never be a more favourable moment for Pitt's leaving the Government, with a view to his own credit and character. But then, on the other hand, his own personal situation must be so embarrassed: there is so much danger of an imputation of pride, and a factious desire of keeping alive differences, that my opinions fluctuate almost from hour to hour. ”

“ What I most fear in the present moment is the effect of despondency here and abroad, without which I should see no reason why we should not, as you suggest, fight the country over and over again, inch by inch, with means and resources for carrying on the war, such as are out of all comparison superior to those of the enemy. It would have been a flattering and glorious thing, and a brilliant success, to have terminated the war by the favourable result of a plan of offensive operation in Flanders. ”

“ Lord Grey has been particularly active to stimulate the Opposition to violent hostility and censure, but it was supposed yesterday, that in order to avoid the hazard of a permanent and acrimonious split, they would all unite in favour of inquiry as a mezzo termino. Should this be the case, it is almost certain we shall find ourselves in a decided minority; still, the infinite evil attendant upon an inquiry, the irritation which it would create in Ireland, are considerations so weighty that we all think it better to be beaten on such a question than to concede it. ”

“ I have struggled to overcome my passion for my office [Pg 423] in Ireland; but I submit, because I am worn out, or rather am as near being worn out as, I think, a man who wishes to preserve a dignity of character should approach to. I have exceedingly wished to afford your Excellency every assistance in my power during your Administration; and if I retire from the Great Seal, I shall most certainly retain that wish, and display it by such proof as you can desire, and as I can with the warmest attachment afford you. ”

“ We are bound to say, that as a political biography we have rarely, if ever, met with a book more dexterously handled, or more replete with interest. The exertions of Lord George Bentinck in behalf of every assailed or depressed branch of British and Colonial industry—the vast pains which he took in procuring authentic information—and the enormous amount of private labour he underwent in the preparation of those materials which have thrown a novel light upon disputed doctrines of economy—are faithfully chronicled in this most interesting volume. ”

“ It was evident from his language that his Ministry was undecided up to the moment when he left town; for he said more than once, "If my Government remain, or if partial changes take place, which must be the case, it is necessary for them now to meet the questions manfully. The tide of public opinion has changed, and they must profit by it. If they surrender, they give up the monarchy—the constitution—all that we hold sacred; for Lord Grey, by his speech at Durham, has shown his connexion and his determination to unite with the Radicals. ”

“ Every anxiety which I felt, and which my letter so faintly expressed, is relieved by that condescension with which your Majesty has deigned to accept the state of Ireland, and of my situation. Permit me to express my thanks, with every assurance of that attachment which has your Majesty's service as my only object, and of that heartfelt concern which presses upon me at the detail of the situation of your Majesty's health and feelings, as well as of the kingdom. May Providence long secure to us that health and life; a resource upon which our all depends. ”

“ If the Court of Directors concur with me in thinking that Lord Hobart has performed very meritorious services, but that there are at the same time very forcible grounds of expediency why he should not proceed to the higher situation originally destined for him, I can have no doubt, from the known justice and liberality of the East India Company, that they will concur with me in thinking that he ought not to return to his own country without a substantial mark of the approbation and favour of the East India Company. ”

“ Nothing is talked of but Lord Wellesley's business; he really seems to have lost his head, though Plunket and Newport are come full primed and most loud in his defence; the Opposition, I have no doubt, will support him, and I have as little doubt that the Cabinet will do the same; but all the Orange part of the Government are trumpeting forth his misconduct, and folly, and madness. The real fact I believe to be, that he has been guilty of great imprudence, but that the Orange faction in Ireland were determined to drive him away, and Lord Manners was at the head of this faction. ”

“ He answered, that the situation of Ireland weighed very materially with him in his wishes for peace, and that, although he never wished to shift off responsibility, yet he trusted in your integrity and honour; that, if he found it necessary, he should be enabled to state that part of the subject from the best authority. To this I thought myself justified in answering, that most certainly you would never abandon a ground which you had already stated to him, and which every hour made clearer to you; and that such a consideration certainly ought to weigh with Government in making the peace. ”

“ The excellent effect produced by the presence of the English Militia in Ireland, led Lord Grenville to desire the extension of a service which, in many points of view, was admirably calculated to check the insubordinate temper of the people. The English character offered an example of steadiness and discipline which could hardly fail to make some impression on the disordered masses of the population; while the independence of all local interests and sectarian prejudices displayed by those troops might be reasonably hoped to exercise a beneficial influence on the minds of dispassionate people. ”

“ Government have, I think, fallen into the same mistake which they did in the Manchester business, of keeping back their justification, while they allow their adversaries to preoccupy the ground in public opinion. I know enough of the folly and mischievous disposition of W——, to give them full credit for the sufficiency of their reasons; but in the present temper of the country, and in the absence of all confidence in the Administration, I do not conceive it wise to have acted on those reasons, unless they could be publicly and explicitly, though not perhaps officially, avowed. ”

“ In a week's time, there will not be in the Treasury a farthing of money to defray the ordinary and current expenses of the Government! Judge how this will operate upon the seamen and soldiers, who are daily expecting to be paid off, and who, God knows, do not seem to want so strong an inducement to mutiny as must be afforded them by the total want of money. The licentiousness of the people, already arrived at a pitch never known in this country, is daily inflamed by newspapers and pamphlets, while there is no Government whatever to restrain its effects. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Undoubtedly, the abstract right of Parliament to call upon Ministers as responsible for their advice in the exercise of the Royal prerogative, cannot be denied; but the more or less apologetic tone taken by them upon such questions is often of the highest importance. Their wretched fears for themselves—their unworthy submission to insult and indignity of every kind put upon them by the highest as well as the lowest—their abandonment of all that is due to the dignity and authority of the Executive Government, provided they are allowed to continue in the offices of it ”

“ I suppose there never was a situation in which any set of men ever had, at once, so many points to decide, so essentially affecting their own honour, character, and future situation, their duty to their country in a most critical situation, and their duty to their unhappy master, to whom they are unquestionably bound by ties of gratitude and honour, independent of considerations of public duty towards him. ”

“ We have no news here, except of the favourable accounts of the King's situation, which are every hour more and more confirmed. All our present anxiety is, to keep down the too sanguine expectations of our friends, in order to prevent their being too much damped by any check, which Willis considers as an event by no means unlikely, and not such as in any degree to diminish his confidence in the King's recovery. From the general turn of people's conversation here, it seems by no means certain that the Prince will take any step for dismissing the present Government, if the King continues to mend. ”

“ That it cannot be necessary to invest him with the whole regal authority, is, I think, quite evident; and we owe it to the King, both as public men professing allegiance to him, and as individuals bound to him by many ties of gratitude and honour, to take whatever steps we can with propriety to preserve to him, in case of his recovery, not merely his legal rights, of which he cannot be deprived, but also the political means of exercising those rights according to the opinions which he entertains both of public men and public measures. ”

“ His manners, conduct and appearance here have produced nothing but disgust in all that are not of the lower ranks of life, but it is to those that his mission is considered as being chiefly addressed, and he is said to have both means and agents enough to work through upon the lower classes of men here.
I have heard nothing from England or Ireland since I left Yarmouth, nothing of Union, and nothing of you; but how can I till the summer, if the last ten days of soft weather will not unlock the inhospitable ice of the Elbe at Cuxhaven? We are all well. God send that you and yours are so. ”

“ If I do not grossly flatter myself, I am capable of forming an opinion unbiassed by the considerations to which I allude; especially on points where my own honour, or that which I value as dearly as my own, is concerned. I have examined my own heart, and can say, with confidence, that it is not from personal motives that I speak, when I say that you lay upon these points a degree of weight far beyond what they deserve. If you were in a situation of inferiority or dependance, a watchful attention to everything of this sort would be necessary, and therefore commendable ”

“ It is that of the loss of security to this country, both in point of fact and opinion, from rendering that force applicable otherwise than to the immediate protection of Great Britain. I hope that in all cases we should have done our best, according to such judgment as we could form at the time: but I will fairly own to you that I do not myself believe that England would have been now as secure as I trust it is, if we had possessed the power of disposing of the Militia regiments for Channel or Irish service, and much less if that power had also been extended to the continent in general. ”

“ My business calling me often into the city, I speak as an eye-witness to the temper of men at the Royal Exchange, and Lloyd's Coffee-rooms, never did Administration stand so high in opinion of the moneyed and commercial world: throughout the city, the fears of losing Pitt from the finance make as much of the regrets of anticipation, as the fears of losing the King from the throne. Should the change of Ministry (too much apprehended) take place, it is thought that Fox's party—to temporize with the public opinion, too strong directly to meet in the teeth—will propose a coalescence of some sort ”

“ On the whole, there is every appearance that the Declaratory Bill has occasioned a temporary division in the Cabinet, and a run against Dundas, and consequently against Pitt, who stands a willing sponsor for his transgressions, and who supports him through thick and thin. Dundas sticks to Pitt as a barnacle to an oyster-shell, so that if he chose it he cannot shake him off, and everybody believes he does not mean it, let what will be the consequence, because he likes him, and really wants him in the House of Commons ”

“ It was not till Lord North was called to the head of the Ministry, in 1770, that the public uneasiness was allayed, and a Cabinet of the King's own choice was founded in security. Lord North was an especial favourite with the King, whose extraordinary regard for him originated in the promptitude with which he responded to His Majesty's appeal, at a moment of serious embarrassment, when the Duke of Grafton unexpectedly threw up the Government, and Lord North consented to undertake it. "I love you as a man of worth, as I esteem you as a Minister," writes the King to him on one occasion ”

“ There are one or two more individual members in the House of Commons, but nobody of any consequence but the Duke of Queensbury, which, though everybody expected it, is nevertheless a thing that raises my indignation in no small degree.
The popular opinion shows itself every day more and more, and I have no doubt you will hear of addresses, &c. Fox's declaration of the Prince of Wales's right has been of no small service to us. Is it not wonderful that such great talents should be conducted with so little judgment? ”