THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 \ I 
 
 ] H L
 
 Memoirs of the Poet Richard Glover, the Supposed Author o 
 
 the Junius Letters, with much relating the French and 
 
 Indian War, Major Geo. Washington 
 
 of Virginia, etc. 
 
 95. [GLOVER, RichardJ. Memoirs by a celebrated Literary ; 
 
 Political Character, from the Resignation of Sir Robt. Walpole, in 17 
 
 to the Establishment of Lord Chatham's 2nd Administration, in 17 
 
 London, 1814. $9 
 
 Interesting memoirs, the publication which has been occasioned so] 
 by the diversity of opinion regarding the author of the Letters of Jun: 
 With interesting sidelights on the French & Indian War, the Townsi 
 Bros., Geo. Washington, etc.
 
 / '5^0 /3 
 
 /
 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 BY 
 
 A CELEBRATED LITERARY AND POLITICAL 
 
 CHARACTER.
 
 London : Printed by C. Roworth, 
 Bell-yard, Temple-bar.
 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 By 
 
 A CELEBRATED 
 
 ilitetarj ant) political Cljaracter, 
 
 FROM 
 
 THE RESIGNATION OF SIR ROBERT WALPOLE, 
 
 IN 1742, 
 
 TO 
 
 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF LORD CHATHAM'S SECOND 
 ADMINISTRATION, IN 1757; 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 STRICTURES 
 
 ON SOME OF THE MOST DISTINGUISHED MEN 
 
 Of THAT TIME. 
 A NEW EDITION, 
 
 Ea », ' « « 3 
 
 LONDON, r ^ 
 
 PRINTED FOR JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET 

 
 t c t 
 c t «
 
 C3 
 
 r>» 
 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ix ri 
 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 1 HE publication of this Memoir has 
 
 been occasioned solely by the diversity of 
 
 ^ opinion which has prevailed respecting the 
 
 ^ author of the Letters of Junius, and from 
 
 the failure of all who have laid claim to 
 
 that distinction. 
 
 The Memoir is written by a celebrated 
 ^ character, and is only a part of a collec- 
 § tion of papers which is now in the posses- 
 
 sion of his immediate descendant. He 
 
 8 
 
 v. was the intimate associate of Chatham and 
 
 S the Grenvilles; at once possessed of lite- 
 rary reputation and an ample fortune, a 
 Member of Parliament, and alike ac- 
 quainted with public measures and minis- 
 terial intrigue. 
 
 a 2 After 
 
 4B1506 \ 

 
 ( iv ) 
 
 After the perusal of these pages the 
 reader will be surprised, that among the 
 numerous persons to whom the Letters of 
 Junius have been attributed, the author 
 of this Memoir was never named : and it 
 is remarkable that he should have been 
 overlooked, while the perspicacity of 
 Home Tooke and Wilkes, and the pha- 
 lanx of politicians of his time, was ex- 
 hausted in unavailing conjectures. 
 
 I will not pledge myself that he was 
 Junius, but this I can safely say, that no 
 one yet named, supported by facts, has 
 any claim to stand in competition with 
 him. This Memoir sufficiently marks his 
 political relations ; and numerous docu- 
 ments, long since before the public, might 
 be adduced to strengthen and confirm 
 them. One circumstance however I am 
 authorized to mention, which will serve to 
 shew in what estimation his political saga- 
 city was held in his retirement in the de- 
 cline
 
 ( V ) 
 
 cline of life. During the Shelburne and 
 Portland administrations in 1783, he Avas 
 frequently visited privately by the late 
 Marquis of Buckingham, then Lord Tem- 
 ple,* and closeted with him alone ; his 
 visits were always in the evening, and 
 such was the privacy of these meetings 
 that his name was not announced, and no 
 servant was permitted to open the door 
 when he left the house. 
 
 At some future time I hope to give a 
 sketch of his character. At present I 
 submit these pages to the public ; valu- 
 able, at least, for the information they 
 contain, if not as authority to establish a 
 conjecture on a subject of peculiar literary 
 interest. 
 
 * Eldest son of George Grenville ; bom April 17, 
 1753. First sate in the House of Commons 1774, suc- 
 ceeded to the titles of Earl Temple and Viscount Cob- 
 ham on the death of his uncle, September 8, 1779' 
 Created Marquis of Buckingham, November 5, 1787- 
 
 a 3
 
 PREFACE 
 
 TO THE 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 L HE original publication of this Memoir 
 was only with a view to a literary question 
 already explained. The Editor, there- 
 fore, in this Edition, has had no motive 
 to make any considerable additions. His 
 " Inquiry concerning the author of the 
 Letters of Junius with reference to this 
 Memoir/' is now before the public. There 
 are, however, two points which ought not 
 to be passed over unnoticed. First, that 
 Glover is said by those who may be sup- 
 posed to have known him best, to have as- 
 sumed in this Memoir an importance 
 
 a 4 which
 
 ( viii ) 
 
 which he by no means possessed : And se- 
 condly, that his intimacy with Lord Tem- 
 ple's family is over stated. To refute the 
 first of these statements, it is only necessary 
 to take a cursory review of Glover's poli- 
 tical character as it stands upon record, of 
 which this may serve as a sketch. 
 
 In the year 1739 he was the most po- 
 pular man in the city, and by his influ- 
 ence, zeal, and eloquence, Sir George 
 Champion was set aside from succeeding 
 to the mayoralty. In the year 1745, Ho- 
 race Walpole, writing to Lord H. Sey- 
 mour Conway, sneers at Glover's city elo- 
 quence : — "I can't but think we were at 
 least as happy and as great when all the 
 young Pitts and Lytteltons were pelting 
 oratory at my father for rolling out a twen- 
 ty years peace, and not envying the tro- 
 phies which he passed by every day in 
 Westminster Hall. But one must not re- 
 pine ; rather reflect on the glories which 
 
 they
 
 ( ix ) 
 
 thej have drove the nation headlong into. 
 One must think all our distresses and dan- 
 gers well laid out when they have pur- 
 chased us Glover's oration for the mer- 
 chants ; the Admiralty for the Duke of 
 Bedford ; and the reversion of secretary at 
 war for Pitt/' In 1744, Sarah the proud 
 Duchess of Marlborough speaks of Mr. 
 Glover as a man after her own heart. 
 " Mr. Glover, I believe, is a very honest 
 man, who wishes, as I do, all the good that 
 can happen to preserve the liberties and 
 laws of England," and therefore a proper 
 person to write the life of her illustrious 
 husband. In the year 17o4 Davies, when 
 speaking of his Boadicea, says of the 
 author, " But his poetical fame, though 
 great, Avas inferior to his character as a pa- 
 triot and a true lover of his country." In 
 the year I76O, Dodington speaks with 
 anxious interest, that he may be attached 
 to his party. '' Glover has not determined 
 
 about
 
 ( X ) 
 
 about political connexions, but, I believe, 
 he will come to us/' From 176I to I76S 
 he was in Parliament, always steady to his 
 principles ; and is said to have made some 
 eloquent speeches in the House. In 1773 
 Mr. Woodfall declared to Junius that he 
 knew only one man who could influence 
 his vote, and that was Mr. Glover: and 
 in the year 1775 he was seen at the Bar 
 of the House of Commons, holding the 
 same language and opinions, and exerting 
 himself with the same zeal as had marked 
 his progress through every stage of his po- 
 litical life. 
 
 With respect to Mr. Glover's intimacy 
 with Lord Temple's family, it is now so 
 completely within our means of informa- 
 tion, that it ought not to be a subject of 
 doubt or uncertainty. Many letters of 
 Lord Temple to Mr. Glover are still in ex- 
 istence, in which the most marked and af- 
 fectionate regard is expressed, and during 
 
 Lord
 
 ( xi ) 
 
 Lord Temple's life Stow was often the re- 
 treat of Glover ; and when his Lordship 
 was in town, both himself and Lady Tem- 
 ple were in the habit of dining with him 
 at his house in James-street, Westminster, 
 on a footing of intimacy, and the daugh- 
 ters of George Grenville occasionally dined 
 with him as the intimate friend of their fa- 
 ther. These facts can be all proved by 
 many persons now living, and until they 
 can be shewn to be untrue, it is idle to sup- 
 pose that Glover was an inconsiderable 
 man in their estimation, or that he was 
 only distantly known to that illustrious 
 family. 
 
 Objections have been taken to this Me- 
 moir, as to the probability of its being 
 written by the same person known by the 
 signature of Junius, from the want of a 
 conformity of style to that celebrated au- 
 thor : but when style in writing is to be 
 considered as evidence for, or against, the 
 
 resemblance
 
 / 
 
 ( xii ) 
 
 resemblance of diflerent authors, it is of 
 the utmost importance to attend to the cir- 
 cumstances under which the author wrote, 
 and the object he had in view. To judge 
 of Junius fairly, all his writings should be 
 considered, — his private letters to Woodfall 
 and to Wilkes, his authenticated letters 
 under the signatures of Testiculus, Domi- 
 tian, Vindex, Whig, Cumbriensis, Veteran, 
 Scotus and Nemesis, as well as those of 
 Philo-Junius, should be attentively read, 
 and then it will be perceived that the 
 " highest style of Junius" was neither the 
 natural nor the common diction of that 
 writer. As far as sentiments and opinions 
 mark a resemblance between Glover and 
 Junius, the spirit of the Memoir breathes 
 the same feeling as that of Junius, and is 
 of the same character, allowing for the dif- 
 ference of mere narrative composition in 
 the closet, and the full and unbounded 
 flood of indignant invective studiously po- 
 lished,
 
 ( xiii ) 
 
 lished, to fix and command public atten- 
 tion ; but what is most strikingly remark- 
 able between them is their mental charac- 
 ter, neither biassed by the prejudices 
 nor influenced by the predilections of 
 others. There is throughout the whole of 
 these works the solitary feeling of a man 
 wrapped up in the perfect confidence of 
 himself, wholly trusting to his own resour- 
 ces, unmindful of opinion, and regardless 
 of every consideration but the independent 
 principles of his own mind. Junius pro- 
 claims his thoughts from an unknown ob- 
 scurity, and gives them the unbounded 
 force of invective declamation ; Glover 
 writes the same thoughts to unburthen his 
 mind in the closet, and they are concealed 
 from the public because he has no means 
 of giving them to the world, to be under- 
 stood with the same purity of intention as 
 they were written. Junius and Glover 
 both praise and blame from themselves 
 
 with
 
 / 
 
 { ^iv ) 
 
 with the same political views • and whe- 
 ther right or wrong, they never echo other 
 men's opinions, nor give the sentiments of 
 a party, nor the dogmas of a faction. 
 
 To strengthen the probability that Ju* 
 nius and Glover were the same ; it appears 
 throughout all the private letters of Ju- 
 nius to Woodfall, that Junius knew Wood- 
 fall thoroughly, and it also appears that 
 Junius was conscious Woodfall knew him, 
 and suspected that he might guess who he 
 was in his concealed character, as I have 
 shewn in my " Inquiry." Woodfall, like 
 Junius, was sincerely attached to what he 
 considered Whig principles, and it is no- 
 torious, both from the respectability of his 
 own character, and the political import- 
 ance of his Paper, that he was personally 
 acquainted with most of the distinguished 
 characters of his time whose politics coin- 
 cided with his own. Under these circum- 
 stances, when he is asking Junius to direct 
 
 characters
 
 ( XV ) 
 
 him for whom he should give his vote at 
 the next general election, it is remarkable 
 that he should say, " I have no connexions 
 to warp me, nor am I acquainted hut with 
 one person who would speak to me on the sub- 
 ject, and that gentleman is, I believe, a 
 true friend to the real good of his country, 
 J mean WIr. Glover, the author of Leonidas." 
 
 ^i^^ The Notes are all by Glover, except 
 those marked, Edit.
 
 MEMOIRS, 
 
 4-c. 
 
 Oct. 2. 
 
 Don CARLOS toia me, that it cost ^742. 
 him twelve thousand pounds in corrup- 
 tion, particularly among the Tories, to 
 carry the Westminister and Chippenham 
 elections, and other points, which com- 
 pelled Lord Orford, at that time Sir Ro- 
 bert Walpole, to quit the House of Com- 
 mons. The application of the merchants, 
 which was then depending at the bar of 
 that House, contributed greatly to his re- 
 moval ; their weight and interest being so 
 considerable, that the House postponed 
 the supplies to dispatch their cause, by 
 which means thino;s were brought to such 
 a crisis, that the Court was entirely at the 
 mercy of the House, both for want of 
 money and of the standing army, which 
 
 B could
 
 nev. 
 
 ( 2 ) 
 
 1742. could subsist no longer than Lady-day, 
 and by this time they were advanced con- 
 siderably into February. When I say the 
 Court was at the mercy of the House, I 
 may add, that it was at that juncture in 
 Mr.Puite the power of our great leader, Mr. Pulte- 
 ney, to save this nation, by procuring fre- 
 quent and independent parliaments, by 
 bringing Lord Orford to justice, and by 
 other points tending to diminish and re- 
 strain the encroachments of the Crown, 
 and to throw a larger share of power into 
 the hands of the people. But how une- 
 qual this gentleman proved to so great a 
 task, the following relation will evince. 
 
 The Court being driven to such extre- 
 mities, partly by the shameful secret me- 
 thods abovementioned, as I learnt from 
 Don Carlos, but chiefly, I hope, and really 
 believe, by the general resentment of 
 these kingdoms against Lord Orford, 
 without w hich resentment and spirit with- 
 out doors, it could never have been in the 
 power of our infamous leaders to gain 
 their point, by turning him out and sup- 
 plying his room themselves. The Court, 
 
 under
 
 { 3 ) 
 
 under these difficulties, a few days before 174^2. 
 the adjournment, desired a conference 
 with Lord Carteret and Mr. Pultenej, 
 who understanding that it was intended 
 Lord Orford should be present, absolutely 
 rejected the oifer. This was soon made 
 easy to them, and a conference was held 
 at Mr. Pulteney's house, where himself, 
 Carteret, the Lord Chancellor, Newcastle, 
 and Henr}^ Pelham were present. The 
 courtiers proposed, in the King's name, to 
 make Lord Carteret secretary of state, 
 which he refused, saying, that if he came 
 into the administration, he would be pos- 
 sessed of the vis pot entice, the management 
 of the money, and therefore insisted on 
 being first Lord of the Treasury ; but 
 they replied, that the King designed that 
 office for Mr. Pulteney, upon which Lord 
 Carteret consented to take the place of 
 Secretary: but Mr. Pulteney refusing to 
 come into place at all. Lord Carteret then 
 returned to his former resolution of being 
 first commissioner of the Treasury him- 
 self, and added, that he insisted the rest 
 of the commission should be of his own 
 
 B 2 friends,
 
 ( 4 ) 
 
 1742. friends, from which he would not recede 
 unless Mr. Pulteney took it himself, in 
 which case he would content himself with 
 being Secretary. 
 
 Here ended the first conference, which, 
 though inconclusive, was of this advanta- 
 geous consequence to the courtiers, that 
 they had brought Carteret and Pulteney 
 to act in a most unwarrantable manner, 
 by presuming to treat without the privity, 
 much less the approbation of their party.* 
 
 Soon 
 
 * In June 1747, when Don Carlos was complaining to 
 me of the ill treatment he had received from Mr. Lyttel- 
 ton, Pitt, the Grenvilles, and others, he added, that to his 
 certain knowledge, Mr. Lyttelton had sent a letter to Sir 
 Robert Walpole by the hands of Colonel Selwyn's son, 
 offering terms; among other particulars, taking upon him- 
 self to answer for Don Carlos ; that this letter was sent 
 previous to any accommodation between Walpole and 
 Pulteney, but was received with the utmost contempt by 
 Walpole : and it is certain, if Pulteney deserves any share 
 of credit, that he has constantly accused that part of the 
 opposition, under which Lyttelton was inlisted, of making 
 the first overtures to the minister, and consequently com- 
 pelling him, by their treachery, to precipitate the treaty 
 mentioned at large in the following pages. 
 
 Dr. Ascough told me that he and Colonel Lytteltoft 
 
 were
 
 ( 5 ) 
 
 Soon after, on the — day of February, 1742. 
 1741-2, the Parliament was adjourned; 
 the Thursday following a second confer- 
 ence was held between the same persons 
 as before, at Lord Carteret's house. The 
 courtiers then offered from the King, that 
 since Mr. Pulteney declined being first 
 commissioner of the Treasury, he was de- 
 termined to put Lord Wilmington into 
 that office, and to give the post of secre- 
 tary to Carteret, who persisted to refuse 
 it, saying, he would give up the Treasury 
 to nobody but Pulteney ; but this latter 
 then used his utmost endeavours, and at 
 length with difficulty prevailed upon him 
 to accept the king's offer, and the result 
 of this second conference was, to promote 
 Wilmington to the head of the Treasury, 
 with Sandys, Gybbon, Rushout, and WaU 
 
 were present at the meeting of L} tteltou and young Mr. 
 Sehvyn; that Mr. Lyttelton opened with offering a secure 
 retreat to Sir Robert Walpole, upon which Dr. Ascough 
 ■went out of the rooni taking the Colonel with him, and 
 left the other two by themselves. The Colonel (after- 
 wards Sir Richard Lyttelton) confirmed this account of 
 Ascough to me more than once. 
 
 R 3 ler
 
 ( 6 ) 
 
 1742. ler joint commissioners ; and I believe at 
 the same time it was resolved to put Win- 
 chelsea, Granard, Chetwynd, and possi- 
 bly others, which I do not justly remem- 
 ber, into the Admiralty. This transaction 
 was still without the privity or consent of 
 the party, and being known the next day, 
 gave great uneasiness among them, and 
 indeed destroyed all confidence for the 
 future. 
 
 A meeting was held at the Fountain 
 Tavern* in the Strand, when the whole 
 party assembled, and several who had not 
 been consulted, the Duke of Argyle in 
 particular, fell most severely upon Sandys 
 and the rest, who accepted these employ- 
 ments, but which, to their immortal ho- 
 nour, had been refused by Waller, Gra- 
 nard, and Chetwynd. The names of those 
 
 fa, 
 
 * This meeting was held on February the 12th, 1743. 
 
 This was the Fountain Ckib to which Junius says Lord 
 Barrington belonged. " This worthy man, before he ob- 
 tained his price, was as deeply engaged in opposition to 
 Government as any member of the Fountain Club to 
 which he belonged. He then thought it no sin to run 
 down Sir Robert Walpole, though now he has altered his 
 tone." — Junius, Vol. iii. p. 452. — Edit. 
 
 who
 
 ( 7 ) 
 
 who went in, in this secret manner, are 1742. 
 Carteret, Sandys, Rushout, Gjbbon, and 
 Compton, who supplied Waller's place. 
 The Admiralty was not filled up till some 
 time after. The Duke of Argyle, after 
 this speech at the Fountain Tavern, went 
 home, and I have reason to think, heartily 
 repented, for the next night, being Satur- 
 day, he, the Duke of Bedford, the Lords 
 Carlisle, Chesterfield, Cobham, Gower, 
 and Bathurst, had a meeting, when it was 
 agreed, that Argyle, Bedford, and Carlisle, 
 three the most considerable persons in the 
 nation, should wait on Pulteney to treat. 
 They went accordingly the Monday fol- 
 lowing, and were sent back with this cold 
 answer : " He could do nothing.'^ This 
 was transacted without the knowledge of 
 Don Carlos, who, when they informed him 
 of it, told them, they had been guilty of 
 a lachete, in applying to Pulteney, who 
 must have come to them, had they had 
 patience to wait a few days. However, 
 another conference was held on the Tues- 
 day following, where Mr. Pulteney met 
 these seven Lords ; and it being proposed 
 
 B 4 by
 
 ( 8 ) . 
 
 1742. by him (I presume) that Don Carlos and 
 all of them should go to Court, the Duke 
 of Argyle said, he had no business to go 
 unless he was called to Court, and that 
 sure he had as good pretensions, and was 
 as worthy of notice as Sir J. Rushout; 
 upon which Pulteney replied, I can un- 
 derstand this speech in no other sense but 
 that your Grace wants a j>lace. In fine, 
 the result of this meeting was, that they 
 would be satisfied (for the present must be 
 understood) if the Duke of Argyle was 
 taken in. After this, the leaders of all 
 parties determined to attend the Duke to 
 Court. They went ; the Duke was re- 
 stored to his regiment and command of 
 the ordnance ; every thing which followed 
 was nonsense, folly, knavery, &;c. every 
 man shifted for himself, and the session 
 concluded with screening Lord Orford 
 from justice, deluding the people with the 
 farce of a secret committee and a ridicu- 
 lous place-bill, with the further promotion 
 Hamilton, of liOrd Cobham, Bathurst, Gower, Li- 
 rick. merick, Furnese, Harry Vane, and the 
 creating Mr. Pulteney Earl of Bath. 
 
 The
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 The succeeding winter, 1742 and 3, the ir4s. 
 
 • Oct. 29, 
 
 opposition was renewed with more real 
 vigour, and on clearer principles than 
 ever. Waller was properly the head, who 
 had refused to be commissioner of the 
 Treasury with great spirit and disinterest- 
 edness, though Mr. Pitt being the most dis- 
 tinguished among the younger sort, and by 
 his pompous and sarcastical oratory, uni- 
 versally reputed an excellent speaker, 
 took the lead in the House of Commons. 
 But Lord Cobham, with whom I spent 
 great part of my time that winter in the 
 most intimate manner, seemed to be as 
 much the secret life and spirit of the 
 party, as any one whatever, notwithstand- 
 ing he continued in place, and in my opi- 
 nion saw through the absurdity and mad- 
 ness of Carteret's foreign conduct with 
 admirable discernment. Lord Chester- 
 field, undoubtedly a man of more wit and 
 of more shewy parts than Lord Cobham, 
 did not penetrate so far into the cloud 
 then gathering on the continent;, and 
 Dodington, who made strong attempts, 
 and not without success, to become a lea- 
 der,
 
 ( 10 ) 
 
 1743. der, was, to my certain knowledge, obliged 
 to Lord Cobham for all the lights he could 
 boast of in the transactions of that ses- 
 sions.* Waller and Cobham were one, 
 thoiiph there was a distinctness of con- 
 ception, at least a happiness of explain- 
 ing his thoughts, far superior in Lord 
 Cobham to Mr. Waller. I took the liberty 
 of differing from them all with respect to 
 the power of France, and the impossibi- 
 lity of the Queen of Hungary's main- 
 taining her ground, when they gave her 
 up as irresistibly undone. The event at 
 least justified my opinion. I never thought 
 France so exorbitantly powerful, nor the 
 Queen of Hungary so deficient in strength, 
 as all my friends did. 
 
 The Duke of Argyle was a man of con- 
 
 * It was some time at the beginning of this year, 'or 
 latter end of the preceding, that the Lords Cobham and 
 Gower and Mr. Henry Furnese threw up the employ- 
 ments which had been given them upon the change of the 
 ministry. Lord Carteret, afterwards Earl of Granville, 
 upon the death of his mother, was then in power, sup- 
 ported by Lord Bath, Sandys, Bathurst, Limerick, Win- 
 chelsea, and a few commoners ; it was against Lord Car- 
 teret's measures that the new opposition was formed. 
 
 siderable
 
 ( 11 ) 
 
 siderable parts and wit, though by no i74s. 
 means so great as appeared from an happy 
 and most imposing manner of speaking in 
 pubUc, where a certain dignity and viva- 
 city, joined to a most captivating air of 
 openness and sincerity, generally gave his 
 arguments a weight, which in themselves 
 they frequently wanted; and many would 
 go away charmed with his speeches, and 
 yet be extremely at a loss afterwards to 
 discover that strength of reasoning which 
 they imagined at the hearing to have in- 
 fluenced them so highly in his favour. To 
 style him inconsistent, is by much too 
 gentle an appellation ; for, though from the 
 time he first had a regiment, being under 
 twenty years of age, through the whole 
 course of his great employments, he was 
 never known to sell a place, or even to 
 make those advantages which were uni- 
 versally esteemed allowable and blame- 
 less; yet he was in his own person a most 
 shameless prostitute to power, and ex- 
 tremely avaricious : he indeed would sell 
 nothing but himself, which he continually 
 did with every circumstance of levity, 
 
 . weakness,
 
 ( 12 ) 
 
 1743. weakness, and even treachery ; the last in- 
 stance of which centered within my own 
 knowledge, and is as follows. 
 
 As my good fortune had given me great 
 interest in the city, and had placed me in 
 a manner at the head of it for several 
 years past, the merchants of London made 
 little difficulty of intrusting to my care 
 and management their application to both 
 Houses of Parliament, against tlie Wal- 
 polean coipmissioners of the Admiralty.* 
 This attempt was crowned with such suc- 
 cess in the House of Commons, that the 
 merchants, not without the advice of their 
 friends in both Houses, thought it expe- 
 dient to stop there, and give the Lords no 
 trouble. I was deputed by the merchants 
 to communicate this design to the Duke 
 of Bedford, who had presented their ad- 
 dress, and to Lord Carteret, who had 
 seconded it. This was just after the Earl 
 of Bath and Carteret had acted a part no 
 ways agreeable to the opposition, though 
 
 * " I am an old reader of political controversy,-^ I re- 
 member the great Walpolean battles." — Junius, Vol. m^ 
 p. !;>0B.— Edit. 
 
 the
 
 ' ( 13 ) 
 
 the measure of their iniquity was not com- 1743. 
 plcte at that time. 
 
 The Duke of Argyle, who was just re- 
 stored to the Ordnance, hearing I had 
 been to Carteret, was excessively piqued, 
 and treated me with an unusual degree of 
 coldness; upon which I wrote to him such 
 a letter as gained me admission to his 
 Grace the next morning early. My crime, 
 it seems was, having had the least com- 
 merce with Carteret on the merchants af- 
 fair, who, he said, would immediately re- 
 present to the King, that the merchants 
 had been with him, had consulted him as 
 their friend before any other, and by this 
 means mislead the King into an opinion, 
 that Carteret was very popular in London, 
 whom the Duke treated with many terms 
 of abhorrence, styling him his enemy, and 
 adding, how indifferently and disrespect- 
 fully he himself had been used for the few 
 days he had been at Court. I alleged, 
 that the merchants, and myself in parti- 
 cular, detested Carteret as much as his 
 Grace, but that the common forms of the 
 House of Lords required our waiting upon 
 
 the
 
 ( 14 ) • 
 
 1743. the Duke of Bedford and Lord Carteret, 
 on the putting off our affair, because they 
 were the lords that had brought it into the 
 House. 
 
 I remember the Duke very httle re- 
 garded all I urged, but walked up and 
 down exclaiming against Carteret; but dis- 
 missed me very kindly and civilly. Soon 
 after his Grace, taking offence at the usage 
 from the King and the ministry, threw 
 up all his employments. He was blamed 
 by some for too much precipitation, among 
 which number I was one. What he al- 
 leged for his justification was this : That 
 he went in, as a pledge on the broad 
 bottom plan, which was, to destroy the 
 distinction of Whig and Tory, by the in- 
 discriminate admission of both parties into 
 place, and he, not finding that any such 
 thing w^as intended, which was the condi- 
 tion of his going in, thought it in honour 
 incumbent on him, to quit. The true 
 reason (in my judgment) was the treat- 
 ment he received at Court, not answering 
 his ambitious views, and perhaps not agree- 
 able to his rank and dignity: his views 
 
 were
 
 ( 15 ) 
 
 were to have the sole command of the 1743. 
 army, which reminds me of one of Lord 
 Orford's bold and unguarded expressions, 
 that there were two men who wanted the 
 sole management of the army, the King 
 and Argyle, but, by God, neither of them 
 should have it. 
 
 The Duke of Argyle, not long after he 
 resigned, waited on Lord Chesterfield, 
 before his Grace went to Sudbrook, when 
 he declared, that he was quite happy in 
 himself, perfectly satisfied with his own 
 conduct, and concluded his conversation 
 with a history of his brother Ila, which 
 painted him out in the most infamous and 
 diabolical colours, and then said, can your 
 lordship blame me for not seeing such a 
 brother as this? He went down to Sud- 
 brook, and in about a month sent for this 
 brother, by whose intervention all matters 
 were adjusted between Argyle and the late 
 detested Lord Carteret, who had certainly 
 deluded him with the expectation of put- 
 ting the army into his hands, which was 
 his favourite passion; and tliough his old 
 friends in the opposition continued the 
 
 ensuing
 
 ( 16 ) 
 
 ir4s. ensuing sessions to stand up against the 
 Court, he was determined to have come up 
 to Parliament, and supported Carteret in 
 all his measures, even in the infamous job 
 of the Hanover forces, he, in whom but 
 the year before the whole body of Tories 
 reposed an implicit confidence ; he, who 
 had harangued so pathetically at the Foun- 
 tain Tavern against Sandys and the rest, 
 Avho had taken places a few days before; 
 this very man would have acted the part 
 I have been now relating, had not Lord 
 Chesterfield, from whom I received this 
 account, waited on him in the country, and 
 finding him extremely indisposed, had the 
 good fortune to dissuade the Duke from 
 his purpose, and in some measure saved 
 his reputation. The Duke died about six 
 or seven months after. 
 
 From May to the middle of November 
 in this year 1743, I passed great part of 
 my time near Temple-Mills, an estate and 
 concern purchased and carried on in part- 
 nership with my most intimate, dear, and 
 faithful friend Mr. William Ockenden, of 
 whose unequalled virtue and consummate 
 
 abilities
 
 ( 17 ) 
 
 abilities I shall have frequent occasion to 1743. 
 speak in the course of these memoirs; 
 especially as in consequence of the interest 
 which Temple-Mills must necessarily pro- 
 cure him in the borough of Great Marlow> 
 he will, in all probability, be returned 
 member for that place, and the public will 
 then know that his excellent parts and 
 qualities are not confined merely to the 
 happiness and emolument of his numerous 
 friends in the circle of private life. This 
 situation of mine gave me frequent oppor- 
 tunities of conversing with Mr. AYaller 
 during the summer. He and I agreed en- 
 tirely on the plan of opposition the ensuing 
 sessions. I must confess, though we always 
 drew the same conclusions upon the sub- 
 ject of public affairs, we did by no means 
 agree in many of the piincipies from which 
 those conclusions wxre drawn. I always 
 found an obscurity in him, which I could 
 not but attribute to some degree of indis- 
 tinctness in his conceptions; nor was I 
 singular in that opinion; but^ hitherto, no 
 man can say but that he had continued in 
 opposition to all the enemies of his country 
 
 c with
 
 ( 18 ) 
 
 1713. with perseverance and zeal. When I cam6 
 to London, I received a letter from Lord 
 Chesterfield, desiring me to meet some 
 friends at his house, particularly Pitt and 
 Ljttelton, with whom I have been for 
 many years upon a footing of the most 
 intimate friendship,^^ to consult about the 
 public affairs. The Sunday after, I dined 
 with Lyttelton, who communicated to me 
 the substance of their resolutions at that 
 meeting; where, let me observe, that nei- 
 ther Lord Cobham nor Waller were present. 
 I entirely disapproved of their plan, and 
 the next day wrote to Lord Chesterfield a 
 letter something to the following effect. 
 
 Lawrence Pulteney-hill, 
 Monday morning. 
 MY LORD, 
 
 Had my good fortune brought me 
 to London time enough last week to have 
 had the honour of accepting your lord- 
 ship's invitation on Tuesday, I should 
 have saved you the trouble of this letter. 
 Though I am to see you so soon as next 
 
 * " Lord Lyttelton's Integrity and judgment are unques- 
 tionable." — Junius, Vol. ii. p. 305. — Edit. 
 
 Saturday,
 
 ( 19 ) 
 
 Saturday, I cannot rest without offering 1^43. 
 some crude reflections to your lordship's 
 consideration. I understood yesterday by 
 Mr. Lyttelton, that the plan of this ses- 
 sions, now under deliberation with some 
 of the opposition, consists principally in 
 " replacing the Hanoverians with other 
 hired forces, keeping an army in readi^ 
 ness on the continent, and treating with 
 France in that posture, but under this re- 
 striction, that no step whatever should be 
 taken but in concert with the Dutch.'' 
 "When I am asked, how such a measure 
 will be relished without doors, I freely 
 own, that it will by no means be unpopu^ 
 lar, unless its consequences prove, as my 
 own apprehensions suggest. Let me ask^ 
 " After granting immense supplies and a 
 large army, are you sure the Dutch will 
 take any part with you, and what ? Sup- 
 pose they join you with thirty thousand 
 men instead of ten, are you sure the 
 French will be so far intimidated as to give 
 up immediately all the Emperor's preten- 
 sions, except the single restitution of his he- 
 reditary dominions ?" The conduct which 
 
 c 2 France
 
 ( 20 ) 
 
 ir43. France has to observe, is to me extremely 
 obvious. Not to treat, not to give up any 
 one point, to fill up her barrier towns with 
 strong garrisons, lie behind them with a 
 great army, which her ordinary revenue 
 will enable her to do, and wait till the 
 English and Dutch will make an attack 
 upon her dominions. Let me ask again, 
 will they attack her ? - the consequence of 
 which is a general war, which she knows 
 3^ou are averse to, and the Dutch still 
 more? If we do not attack her, will she 
 not compel us to spin out a whole cam- 
 paign like the end of the last — at an im- 
 mense expense, which will necessarily oc- 
 casion o-reater clamours in Eng-land than 
 ever, and strengthen the pacific party in 
 Holland ? And all this time you are 
 wasting away in so fruitless a manner, 
 Prance runs no risk, is at no other expense 
 than granting subsistence to the Emperor, 
 and consequently will be more stiff in her 
 demands the subsequent year, when she 
 will have saved as many lives, and as much 
 money, as you have been throwing away ; 
 then, what step must England take next, 
 
 in
 
 ( 21 ) 
 
 in a condition so much weaker and more 1743, 
 exhausted than before ? then, my Lord, 
 consider at whose door will the unpopula- 
 rity of this measure fall 
 
 ;'" 
 
 This was the substance of tlie letter, 
 though I cannot call this an exact copy. 
 I waited on Lord Chesterfield at dinner on 
 the day appointed, when I met Pitt, Lyt- 
 telton, and George Grenville, who I be- 
 lieve will make the most useful and able 
 parliament man of the three, though not 
 of equal eloquence with Pitt. They in- 
 formed me that the opposition was now 
 agreed, that it would go on much upon 
 the same footmg as last year, &c. Upon 
 the whole I found the plan I writ against 
 in my letter, which Lord Chesterfield 
 made me many compliments upon, was 
 entirely thrown aside. I further observed, 
 that Waller was acknowledged among 
 them for their head and leader. I like- 
 wise learned something about Dodington, 
 which confirmed me in my suspicions of 
 his being but a rotten member of the op- 
 position. The Sunday se'nnight after I 
 
 c 3 dined
 
 ( 22 ) 
 
 1713. dined with Waller, we agreed in all our 
 conclusions as usual, and I thought he 
 came more into my principles and premi- 
 ses than he used to do. He seemed un^ 
 easy at the difference they had had among 
 themselves upon their measures this ses- 
 sions, and seemed a little dubious, even 
 after I assured him that all was agreed and 
 settled upon his plan, which he was plea-' 
 sed to term his and mine concluded on the 
 preceding summer. I own the state of 
 public affairs, independent of all party 
 considerations, appeared so plain to me, 
 that I am at a loss to find any good motive 
 which could have influenced my friends in 
 differing so much with Mr. Waller upon 
 their measures this sessions. Whether 
 young men, elated with a brilliant charac- 
 ter, might not take upon them too early to 
 be the contrivers, as well as the orators, in 
 behalf of the party, I cannot say. Whe- 
 ther there Avere any worse motives than 
 mere vanity and self-sufficiency for this 
 conduct, I will not say. Neither, per- 
 haps, am I too severe in my judgment of 
 men ; but I must declare, that from this 
 
 accident
 
 ( 23 ) 
 
 accident I conceive less hopes of our pre- 1743. 
 sent opposition than I did. When I use 
 the word hope, I would not be understood 
 to mean that I expect any great benefit to 
 my country from this or any opposition ;* 
 but I had a better opinion of some people 
 than I have just now ; and they are so 
 nearly connected with me by a long friend- 
 ship and esteem, that I most heartily wish 
 that my fears may be misplaced, and prove 
 in the end abortive. 
 
 The apprehensions expressed in the fore- 1743-4. 
 going paragraph were but too justly foun- 
 ded, as appears by the following narrative, 
 collected from my own observation, and 
 the intelligence I received from Lord Coli- 
 ham and Mr. Waller. Durins; the whole 
 
 * " As to the injur)' we may do any future and more 
 respectable House of Conmions, I own I am not now 
 sanguine enough to expect a more plentiful harvest of par- 
 liamentary virtue in one year than another. Our political 
 climate is severely altered ; and without dwelling upon 
 the depravity of modern limes, I think no reasonable man 
 will expect, that, as human nature is constituted, the en- 
 ormous influence of the crown should cease to prevail over 
 the virtue of individuals." Junius, Vol. ii. p. 210. — Edit. 
 
 c 4 summer
 
 ( 24 ) 
 
 1743-4. summer I had observed a disposition in 
 Lords Chesterfield, Gower, Marchmont, 
 Pitt, and Lyttelton, to treat with Mr. 
 Henry Pelham ; their view was, to raise 
 him above Carteret; and then, it was pre- 
 tended, there might be hopes of obtaining 
 some good laws, and possibly of separating 
 the eleetorate of Hanover from the crown 
 of Great Britain. Mr. Waller v/as ever 
 averse to this negociation, having no confi- 
 dence in Pelham, despising his narrow un- 
 derstanding and abject spirit, and detest- 
 ing his mean, equivocating temper. This 
 treaty, however, was certainly attempted 
 by the others, and was the parent of that 
 plan which was communicated to me by 
 Lyttelton, and was adopted by Lord Ches- 
 terfield, from Pitt. To this latter I can 
 trace it : whether any other suggested it 
 first to him, I am not certain ; but I have 
 some suspicion that Bolingbroke had his 
 share in this measure, if he were not the 
 first mover ; and thus much I know as a 
 fact, that a connection was constantly kept 
 up with him by them all. Mr. Pitt and 
 the rest were naturally led into this mea- 
 sure.
 
 ( 25 ) 
 
 sure, supposing it not their own, for this im3-4. 
 plain reason : As they were continual!}^ in 
 expectation of coming into place through 
 Harry Pelham, and at the same time were 
 weak enough to hope that means might be 
 contrived to preserve their characters, this 
 plan, whether of their own or Eoling- 
 broke's, or any other's, is not material, was 
 considered to be the proper means ; be- 
 cause, having once agreed to support the 
 king in his warlike measures, by giving all 
 the English troops the money demanded 
 for the current service, and replacing the 
 Hanoverians with other mercenaries, du- 
 ring the time they were part of the oppo- 
 sition, they could pursue the same steps 
 after they were taken into place, and say, 
 that their conduct was the same as ever, 
 and entirely consistent with itself. Upon 
 the whole, the bare opposition to the Ha- 
 noverians was to be the scape-goat for so 
 great a folly, to give it no severer an ap- 
 pellation. Mr. Waller, and indeed the 
 whole minority besides, except Dodington, 
 (as in its place shall be explained,) were 
 always for attacking the whole measure of 
 
 the
 
 ( 26 ) 
 
 1743-4. the minister, and treated the affair of the 
 Hanoverian forces as a very inconsiderable 
 part of that whole, and of little further 
 service than exasperating the people with- 
 out doors. Mr. Pitt and his few friends 
 had publicly declared their opinion in be- 
 half of the English army in Flanders, hav- 
 ing entirely changed their sentiments since 
 my interview with them at Lord Chester- 
 field's early in December, and when pres- 
 sed by their friend, I may say patron, Lord 
 Cobham, to retract and agree with Waller 
 not to listen to his persuasions but on the 
 following proposition — that a motion should 
 be made in the House of Commons for an 
 address to the King not to proceed any 
 further in the war without some express 
 stipulation with the States General for their 
 full concurrence and support ; and if the 
 Court rejects this motion, says Pitt, I will 
 then join with the rest, and oppose the 
 Endish forces as well as the Hanoverians. 
 This was the sole occasion of that motion, 
 which would not else have been thought 
 of, much less proposed. Mr. Waller ac- 
 cordingly drew up one, which was disap- 
 proved
 
 ( 27 ) 
 
 proved of, and another prepared by Lord 1743-4. 
 Chesterfield, which was done at Lord Cob- 
 ham's house, and was the very exploded 
 piotion that appears in the votes : it was 
 thrown out by a great majority ; and Mr. 
 Pitt being called upon to concur with 
 Waller in opposing the English, the terms 
 upon which the latter had agreed to the 
 motion at all, de&lared that the merits of it 
 having been no ways the subject of the 
 debate in the House, but merely the gram- 
 mar and wording of it, he was left at li- 
 berty to follow his own opinion with re- 
 spect to the English forces as at first ; and 
 accordingly, with Lyttelton and Mr. Chet- 
 wynd, made public interest with the mem- 
 bers of the opposition to vote w4th the 
 court upon the subject of the English in 
 Flanders, and to confine their opposition 
 to the Hanoverians only. They even went 
 so far, and Chesterfield was weak enough 
 to assist, as to declare that the above- 
 mentioned ill-judged, ill-expressed motion 
 v/as Waller's, though he at that time was 
 in possession of it under his own hand : 
 and in the midst of the flame and confu- 
 sion
 
 ( 28 ) 
 
 1743-4. sion this conduct occasioned, Mr. Doding- 
 ton steps in to act his part. Mr. Doding- 
 ton, who never was, nor will be, averse to 
 treat with Mr. Pelham, or any one besides, 
 for a place, was actually of the same opi- 
 nion as Mr. Pitt with relation to the Eng- 
 lish forces before the opening of the ses- 
 sions. Afterwards, finding that Pelham 
 was mean enough to range himself a sub- 
 altern under Carteret, whom, with the as- 
 sistance then offered by the opposition, he 
 might have easily supplanted; finding too 
 that Pitt still continued tenacious of his 
 first opinion, of whom Dodington was ever 
 extremely jealous, and whose character he 
 envied, immediately took advantage of the 
 other's obstinacy, changed his sentiments, 
 came over to Waller, and at last, in the 
 midst of the animosities and divisions just 
 mentioned, procured a general meeting of 
 the minority members at the Fountain Ta- 
 vern just before the 11th of January, the 
 day appointed for the English forces, in the 
 PJouse. 
 
 Pitt, whom pride and resentment on the 
 ill success of his plan would not suffer to 
 
 retract,
 
 ( 29 ) 
 
 retract, had acted more prudently by stay- 1743-4. 
 ing away from this meeting, than by 
 coming, as he did, and endeavouring to 
 persuade the company to vote for the Eng- 
 lish forces. Ilis reasons were, that the na- 
 tion being involved in a war, the ministry 
 ouo'ht not to be disarmed. The whole 
 meeting were of a different opinion, and 
 Mr. Velters Cornwal having made a speech j 
 w^hich obliquely reflected on Pitt and Ly t- 
 telton, they immediately retired with Chet- 
 wynd to one side of the room, and after 
 some conference by themselves rejoined 
 the company; when Mr. Pitt addressed 
 them to this effect : " That since he found 
 the meeting so unanimously of opinion to 
 oppose the English forces the next day, he 
 should pay that regard to the sentiments 
 of his friends as to vote with them, though 
 contrary to his own, but that he hoped 
 they would be contented with his vote, 
 and not expect he should speak.'' The 
 next day being the 11th of January, the 
 court carried their question, and Pitt and 
 Lyttelton, as they had declared, voted 
 with their friends, but did not speak in 
 
 the
 
 Jan, 18. 
 
 ( 30 ) 
 
 1743-4. the debate — a behaviour equally ridicu- 
 lous and absurd, and of ten times more 
 service to the court and of disadvantasje to 
 the opposition, than if both had accepted 
 employments, and publicly joined with 
 the administration. At the same time Pitt 
 hath lost all the confidence of his friends, 
 and entirely eased Dodington of his envy 
 and jealousy, which were, indisputably, 
 all his motives of acting throughout this 
 unhappy affair. 
 
 1744. During the course of this year, 1744, 
 
 the leaders of the opposition, wdio had 
 differed among themselves so widely the 
 year before, were now once more re-united 
 upon one principle, which was, to get into 
 place ; in consequence of this agreement 
 a junto was formed of nine, who were, the 
 Duke of Bedford, Eaii of Chesterfield, 
 Lord Gower, Mr. Pitt, Lyttelton, Lord 
 Cobham, Mr. Waller, Dodington, and Sir 
 John Hynde Cotton : however, this justice 
 is due to the four last, that in all their con- 
 ferences with the other five they strenu- 
 ously insisted on making some terms with 
 Mr. Pelham for the public before they 
 
 went
 
 ( 31 ) 
 
 went into employment. Mr. Dodington 1744. 
 informed me, that one of these conditions 
 was, that the inferior officers of the excise 
 and customs, with some others of the like 
 dependence on the crown, should be de- 
 prived of their votes in all elections for 
 members of parliament ; and I was told in 
 express terms by Mr. Waller, thatPelham 
 himself offered to concur with them in pro- 
 curing a more effectual place-bill, particu- 
 larly to exclude all officers of the army 
 under the rank of colonels, and possibly 
 of the navy under the degree of admirals ; 
 but whether this last article was only de- 
 sired by Mr. Waller and Cobham, Doding- 
 ton and Cotton, or actually promised by 
 Pelham, I cannot determine ; but thus 
 much is certain, that Waller told me a 
 place-bill was offered by Pelham during 
 their treaty with him, and I understood it 
 to have been intended very nearly in the 
 shape I have mentioned. Waller at the 
 same time ascribed this condescension in 
 the minister to very notorious and obvious 
 reasons, i. e. his incapacity and pusillani- 
 mity, which led him to make tliese con- 
 cessions ;
 
 ( 32 ) 
 
 1744. cessions ; not that his mean heart enter- 
 tained the least spark of compunction for 
 the pubhc, but merely that he might sit 
 easy in power, and shelter his inability 
 Peiham. aguiust the weight of Waller's talents and 
 experience, the virulent eloquence of Pitt, 
 the party strength of Gower and Cotton 
 among the tories, the keen and lively parts 
 of Cobham, and the industry and social 
 arts of Dodington ; all which, united upon 
 honest and disinterested views for their 
 country, must have speedily rendered the 
 opposition not only formidable, but dan* 
 gerous to Peiham ; such, however, was 
 the prostitution of Bedford, Chesterfield,*' 
 Gower, Pitt, and Lyttelton, a party 
 
 founded 
 
 * I must here observe, thai it' any one of these five may 
 be distinguished from the rest as the most prostitute and 
 eager to gfit into power and employment, it was the Earl 
 of Chesterfield. He and Lord Cobham were deputed by 
 the junto to treat, in their names, with the Pelhams ; and 
 in ail their private interviews this forwardness of Chester- 
 fiehl could neither be restrained by Cobham, nor did he 
 himself endeavour to conceal it ; on the contrary, he af- 
 fected to act without the other's concurrence or participa- 
 tioHj by private conferences and whisperings, even in the 
 
 same
 
 ( 33 ) 
 
 founded on the base desire of pecuniary 1744- 
 emoluments, partly on the more extensive 
 views of procuring the whole ministerial 
 power to themselves, that they perempto- 
 rily insisted on coming into employment 
 without any stipulations whatever. 
 
 Lord Cobham was at one time so pro- 
 voked at this infamous conduct, that he 
 had thoughts of withdrawing himself from 
 their councils, and to Sir Francis Dashwood, 
 from whom I had my information, made 
 up of the following expressions : " Damn 
 these fellows ! they mean nothing but them- 
 selves ! Will they stand by us ? By God, 
 we will have no further concern with them/' 
 But his resolution did not hold : the truth 
 is, that liOrd Cobham, Dodington, and 
 Cotton, had too much sense not to see the 
 weakness of Pelham, of which they were 
 sincerely desirous to make an advantage, 
 so far as might serve to bring them into 
 power with some degree of character; and 
 
 same room before Cobham 's face ; a procedure so gross, 
 that the latter, as he has often told me in confidence, was 
 frequently provoked to reproach him, and insist on his 
 gpeaking out. 
 
 D thi?
 
 ( 34 ) 
 
 1744. this they very well knew could never 
 be accomplished without obtaining some 
 terms for the people; but at the same time 
 it Avas always evident to mc, who knew 
 them daring the whole course of their 
 opposition, long before they accepted of 
 employments, and their subsequent con- 
 duct has rendered it notorious to all man- 
 kind, that their first regard was to profit 
 and power, that their second was to cha- 
 racter, and much fainter than the first; 
 and that their care for the public extended 
 no further than to preserve some part of 
 their former popularity for a varnish to 
 their avarice and ambition. Mr. Waller 
 went much further; he really meant to 
 serve the public effectually, if he could, 
 as well as himself; but absolute despair 
 of the former made him stoop at last from 
 his reputation and integrity, and embrace 
 his own private advantage. The truth of 
 these observations shall now be evinced by 
 a flagrant and incontestable fact. 
 
 These nine chiefs not being able to agree 
 unanimously among themselves, it was at 
 length proposed, that the question in dis- 
 pute,
 
 { 35 ) 
 
 ''pute, wliether tliey should accept of em- iru, 
 ployments with, or without any previous 
 stipulations for the public, should be put 
 to the vote, and that the whole junto 
 should be determined by the sense of the 
 majority. This act of presumption, for 
 nine men, by a single vote among them- 
 selves, to determine for their whole party 
 without its privity and approbation, to saj 
 nothing of the public, was a step whieh, I 
 should have expected, would have forced 
 Mr. Waller with indignation from their 
 company and councils: but he acquiesced 
 with the rest, and it was carried, to go 
 into place without the least stipulation 
 whatever, by the voices of the Duke of 
 Bedford, the lords Chesterfield and Gower, 
 of Mr. Pitt and Lyttelton, against Lord 
 Cobham, Waller, Dodington, and Sir J* 
 Hynde Cotton : in consequence of this 
 resolution, the office of privy-seal was 
 restored to Lord Gower, a regiment of 
 dragoons given to Lord Cobham, Waller 
 made cofferer, Lyttelton commissioner of 
 the treasury, the Duke of Bedford first 
 commissioner of the admiralty, Dodino-ton 
 
 D 2 trca-
 
 ( S6 ) 
 
 1744. treasurer of the navy, and Cotton treasurer 
 of the chambers ; Chesterfield and Pitt did 
 not come into place immediately, but the 
 first was designed for the lieutenancy of 
 Ireland, and the last to be paymaster of 
 the army. It was not till the year 1745 
 that Lord Chesterfield went to Ireland ; 
 but the manner in which Pitt was brought 
 in at last, requires a detail not unworthy 
 of notice. 
 Mr. Pitt. Mr. William Pitt, during the course of 
 his opposition, had signalized himself by no 
 part of his conduct so much as by the bit- 
 terest and most virulent invectives against 
 the king's German dominions, which drew 
 upon him his Majesty's indignation and 
 hatred, and was for many months an in- 
 surmountable obstacle to his preferment. 
 The King complained to the Earl of Gran- 
 ville, who still retained the first place in 
 his confidence and esteem^ and even to 
 the Earl of Bath, of this ungrateful at- 
 tempt of the Pelhams to force into his 
 service and councils a person whom he 
 held in the utmost abhorrence. The Earl 
 of Bath, who was now become the most 
 
 insigni-
 
 ( 37 ) 
 
 insignificant and contemptible of men, i7u- 
 from a degree of popularity and power 
 which no subject before him was ever 
 possessed of, began upon this occasion to 
 entertain fresh hopes of regaining some 
 part of his former weight and influence, 
 and in this view cherished and cultivated 
 the king's resentment. The Pelhams, 
 alarmed at his majesty's continued obsti- 
 nacy, and still apprehensive of being sup- 
 planted by Granville, as they well knew 
 his superior abilities and peculiar arts in 
 obtaining and preserving their masters 
 favour, at length came to a resolution of 
 attacking the king on his weakest side, 
 his timidity, and to make his refusal of 
 Mr. Pitt the pretence for executing a mea- 
 sure which should for ever fright him from 
 the very thought of employing the Earl of 
 Granville more. It was now the month 
 of February, 174o-0\ when a rebellion, 
 which had sprung from a small beginning 
 in the preceding month of July, continued 
 to prevail, and filled the court and king- 
 dom with a consternation which no time 
 
 D 3 can 
 
 4G1506
 
 ( 38 ) 
 
 ins. can parallel, and no circumstance can 
 justify. 
 
 Charles Edward, son to the Pretender, 
 landed with a few followers in the high- 
 lands of Scotland, and there erected his 
 standard. The first intelligence of this 
 design was treated by the administration 
 with indifference and neglect. The rebels 
 were upwards of 3000 in number, and 
 were masters of the passes on a mountain 
 called Corriarrick, which leads to Fort 
 Augustus, when Sir John Cope, general 
 of the troops in Scotland, and who had 
 not left Stirlins; before the 20th of Auj2;ust, 
 in his march to that fort, was obliged to 
 desist from this undertaking and turn to 
 the eastward, where reaching the town of 
 Aberdeen, he embarked his forces for Dun- 
 bar, south of Edinburgh. On his retreat 
 the rebels quitted those passes, and rush- 
 ing from their mountains without any ob- 
 stacle, soon traversed the lowlands, and 
 were admitted into Ed inburgh ; then march- 
 ing out to meet Sir John Cope, who hav- 
 ing landed his army at Dunbar, was ad- 
 vancing
 
 ( 39 ) 
 
 vancinff against them, save him battle on 1745. 
 the 21st of September, and totally routed 
 the king's troops. Disgraceful was this 
 behaviour, though not uncommon in re- 
 gular forces when assailed by an enemy, 
 whose arms and method of engaging are 
 different from their own; but more dis- 
 graceful, and destined to eternal infamy, 
 was the consternation which at once over- 
 spread this populous kingdom. 
 
 The rebels did not take all the advan- 
 tage of a victory so easily obtained ; they 
 lost some time in a fruitless sieoe of Edin- 
 burgh Castle, instead of proceeding di- 
 rectly to Northumberland ; General AYade 
 got thither in time to oppose that attempt, 
 which obliged them to enter England by 
 Carlisle. Into the very heart of this king- 
 dom did 6000 mountaineers, of whom not 
 .3000 were properly combatants, penetrate 
 unopposed and unassisted; till finding that 
 the Duke of Cumberland was advancins: 
 with an army not inferior to their own, 
 and discouraged at their cold reception 
 from their reputed friends in England, 
 they returned to Scotland without inter- 
 
 D 4 ruption.
 
 ( 40 ) 
 
 1745. ruption, raised contributions on the city 
 of Glasgow, invested Stirling Castle with- 
 out success, surprised the king^s troops 
 , under General Hawley at Falkirk, and 
 gave them another defeat, more owing to 
 his beastly ignorance and negligence, than 
 to their valour and conduct. 
 
 This infamous and disheartening event 
 necessitated the Duke of Cumberland to 
 take the field a second time ; and this re- 
 bellion, formidable only in the apprehen- 
 sions of a pusillanimous and effeminate 
 nation, was brought to a period in a few 
 months b}^ one battle with the highlanders 
 at Culloden, very little to the credit of 
 their pretended Prince, and in its conse- 
 quences not much to the honour of our 
 Rojal Commander, who stained his vic- 
 tory with the most unsparing cruelty. 
 
 The defeat at Falkirk furnished occasioa 
 to the Pelhams of demonstrating their in- 
 gratitude, as well as their factious power, 
 to the king. This crisis they chose, to in- 
 sist on his creating Mr. Pitt paymaster of 
 the army, an office which renders its pos^ 
 
 sessor
 
 ( 41 ) 
 
 sessor a privy councillor. The proposition 1745. 
 was rejected : the Duke of Newcastle re- 
 signed; Granville was appointed secretary 
 of state in his room: upon this, Mr. Pel- 
 ham and all the king's old servants resign- 
 ed likewise. None could be found to ac- 
 cept the vacant offices. Granville, whose 
 arbitrary spirit was not less undaunted 
 than dangerous, boldly counselled the king 
 to summon the Commons, and declare 
 from the throne to them and the House of 
 Lords, what usage he received from all his 
 servants in the midst of a rebellion. Could 
 the counsellor have conveyed with his ad- 
 vice some part of his manly and enterpri- 
 sing temper to the person advised, perhaps 
 the project might have been put into exe- 
 cution ; and considering the king's popu- 
 larity at that juncture, and the odium he 
 would have cast on the Pel hams ; consi- 
 dering too their wavering and timid dispo- 
 sition, it was a project which might have 
 brought them to submission at least, if not 
 overthrown the whole faction. On the 
 contrary, the king submitted to them, and The king. 
 
 was
 
 ( 42 ) 
 
 1745. was seen* to weep when Mr. Pitt appeared 
 first in the drawing-room to kiss hands. 
 
 Disinterested motives, and an object of 
 public advantage extorted from the Crown, 
 would have rendered the measure illustri- 
 ous to all posterity ; but the motives were 
 selfish, the object was power: this con- 
 duct therefore of the Pelhams was ungrate- 
 ful towards a Prince ever profitable to 
 them, and factious towards the State, 
 which they never had served either ably 
 or vigilantly, nor meant to serve in this 
 instance : their single aim was to annihi- 
 late all rivalship, and establish an unboun- 
 ded authority over a weak, narrow, sor- 
 did, and unfeeling master, who, seated 
 by fortune on a throne, was calculated by 
 nature for a pawnbroker's shop, and was 
 easily reconciled to a set of men willing 
 and able to gratify his low avarice, in his 
 ideas, a sufficient compensation for the 
 sacrifice he made them of his resentments 
 and his prerogative. Hating Mr. Pitt, he 
 
 * Mrs. Waller told me, that she stood near the king on 
 the occasion, and saw him shed teais. 
 
 preferred
 
 ( 43 ) 
 
 preferred him : the ministers, who had ins. 
 hurled back his favours in his face, he re- 
 stored not only to employment, but to his 
 confidence, and the sole power of three 
 kingdoms : among so great a number. 
 Lord Harrington Avas the only one he did 
 not forgive, and whom he was permitted 
 to disgrace. Pitt co-operated with the 
 Pelhams in every point, and brought him- 
 self to a level with the Earl of Bath in the 
 public dis-esteem, not more by his votes, 
 than by his hot and unguarded expressions 
 in Parliament ; the most indecent of which, 
 was, a needless encomium on the late Sir 
 Robert AValpole, reproaching himself for 
 his opposition to him, and professing a 
 veneration for his ashes.* 
 
 I write as I think ; I deliver facts as 
 thej fall under my own observation ; my 
 
 * " I have no objection to pay Lord Chatham such 
 compUments as carry a condition with them, and either 
 bind him firmly to the cause or become the bitterest re- 
 proach to him if he deserts it." — Junius, Vol. ii. p. *290. 
 Junius to Woodfall says, " Between ourselves let me re- 
 commend it to you to be upon your guard with patriots." 
 — Junius, Vol. i. p. *2:?8. — Edit. 
 
 reflections
 
 ( 44 ) 
 
 1746. reflections are dispassionate, thus far at 
 least, that I have conceived no prejudice 
 against any person named in these Me- 
 moirs, from any disobligation to myself : 
 far otherwise ; I had intimacies to a de- 
 gree of friendship with most of them ; but 
 as those intimacies were contracted on the 
 public account, when that cause was de- 
 serted by them, their society was aban- 
 doned by me. I'here was a time too^ 
 when I was forsaken by fortune, and en- 
 dured all the calamity which can befall a 
 man in trade; yet, in the day of distress, 
 I returned not to those powerful friends, 
 who were really willing and able to assist 
 me : industry was my resource ; I opened 
 a new scene, repaired my losses, and 
 maintained my independence ; renewed 
 and extended my acquaintance with the 
 greatest, and by that situation obtained an 
 insight into the springs of those actions 
 and events which I now communicate to 
 writing in the year 175?. Should this nar- 
 rative hereafter merit the attention of any 
 reader, let him be reminded that an author 
 who professes to authenticate facts from 
 
 his
 
 ( 45 ) 
 
 his owH knowledge, must of necessity 1745. 
 speak frequently of himself. It would be 
 difficult for the best of writers to characte- 
 rize his own talents and accomplishments 
 without the charge of vanity ; but if with 
 the assent of his conscience he can de- 
 clare, that his intention has ever been up- 
 right, and consistency of conduct his study, 
 such a description of himself may surely 
 pass uncensured ; and it is to the character 
 of an honest and consistent man, that I 
 lay my claim, to nothing further; and so 
 far I think myself entitled to belief. 
 
 I leave to its own notoriety the war with it48, 
 Spain and France. It was concluded in 
 May, 1748, by a general pacification at 
 Aix la Chapelle. I shall only observe, 
 that as our peculiar disappointments were 
 owing to ourselves, wanting both States- 
 men and Commanders, economy, disci- 
 pline, and conduct ; the calamities which 
 involved the rest of Europe, may be justly 
 and primarily imputed to the King of 
 Prussia. On the death of the Emperor 
 Joseph he set up an old and dormant claim 
 to four duchies in Silesia, invades that 
 
 province
 
 ( 46 ) 
 
 1748. province and Bohemia, while the French 
 and Bavarians penetrate into Austria* 
 The Queen of Hungary purchases a peace 
 with the Prussians by a cession of more 
 than he claimed in Silesia : this was ratified 
 by the treaty of Breslavr. She then con- 
 quers Bavaria, whose prince had been 
 newly* elected Emperor by the power of 
 France and Prussia^ drives the French out 
 
 * It must not be forgot, that our king went to Hanover 
 at the time a French army was advancing into Westphaha 
 under Maillebois. I will not affirm that the Electoral 
 Vote was absolutely promised to the Duke of Lorraine, 
 while he was in England ; but I believe he, and every one 
 besides, understood that the king intended to give him his 
 vote. The French army consisted of thirty to thirty-five thou- 
 sand men at most. We had at that time twelve thousand 
 Hessians in our pay and at the king's command, which, added 
 to the Electoral troops, might have encouraged a prince 
 of the least magnanimity to have supported his dignity ; 
 but the fear of Maillebois, and the plain language of his 
 bullying emissary Bussy, compelled the king to vote against 
 the Duke of Lorraine, and in a manner inconsistent with 
 our constitution to send orders, unauthorised by any Eng- 
 lish secretary of state, to Admiral Haddock, then at Gib-* 
 raltar with a powerful naval force, to suffer the Spanish 
 squadron to enter the Mediterranean unmolested ; which 
 afterwards joined the Toulon fleet, and gave battle to 
 ours under Matthews and Lestock. 
 
 of
 
 ( 47 ) 
 
 of Germany with the loss of four score 1748. 
 thousand men, the flower of their troops, 
 and the next year carried terror and deso- 
 lation into France itself, by sending her 
 victorious army across the Rhine. 
 
 France, in distress, bribes the King of 
 Prussia, wiio, in defiance of the late treaty 
 of Breslaw, invades the Austrian domi- 
 nions a second time, commits the most 
 inhuman acts of devastation, compels the 
 Queen to recall her army for her own pro- 
 tection ; and thus relieves, if not preserves 
 the inveterate foe of Europe. I judge not 
 of princes by the rules of morality, before 
 whose tribunal they would all be con- 
 demned in their turns, and undergo the 
 severest punishments, if executioners were 
 not wanting to the laws of nature and of 
 justice, and the folly and servility of man- 
 kind were not the safes^uard of kin^s. I 
 make this reflection, as I pass, merely for 
 its truth. The indignation and hatred of 
 the King and people of England, survived 
 in abuse and execrations on the Kino- of 
 Prussia, till 1755; when, on a sudden, 
 that fiend becomes the brightest of beings, 
 
 and
 
 ( 48 ) 
 
 1748. and the admired Queen of Hungary de- 
 testable ; yet the truth of my reflections 
 remains, in this case, on as permanent 
 foundations as before. 
 Peiham In March, 1754, Mr. Henry Pelham 
 
 1 died, . ' . 
 
 March 6, died. Hc was originally an officer in the 
 
 1754. 
 
 army, and a professed gamester; of a nar- 
 row mind, low parts, of an aftable dissi- 
 mulation and a plausible cunning ; false 
 to Sir Robert Walpole, who raised him ; 
 and ungrateful to the Earl of Bath, who 
 protected him. By long experience and 
 attendance, he became considerable as a 
 Parliament-man ; and even when Minister, <» 
 divided his time to the last, between his 
 office and the club of o;amesters at White's. 
 I will add a few particulars of my own 
 knowledge ; which, from their minuteness, 
 could not have come under public obser- 
 vation, at least, not like many of the above 
 notorious facts. 
 
 In the year 1741, when I appeared at 
 the bar of the House of Commons in be- 
 half of the Merchants against the Com- 
 missioners of the Admiralty, I called for 
 a certain letter, which I knew was upon 
 
 the
 
 ( 49 ) 
 
 the table. Mr. Pelham rose, and in the i7m. 
 most soothing and persuasive manner in- 
 treated me not to demand that paper; I 
 persisted the more, seeing he was solici- 
 tous to conceal that piece of evidence, and 
 being likewise perfectly well apprised of 
 the contents. He rose again, and assured 
 me, the paper contained nothing to my 
 purpose. Mr. Rowland Frye, who stood 
 by me, whispered me upon this, " The 
 false fellow wants to deceive you.'' I still 
 persisted ; and Mr. Pelham rising a third 
 time, was shameless enough to assure me, 
 that as a friend to the petitioning mer- 
 chants, he begged the paper might not be 
 read. This strange debate continued, till 
 the Speaker called out from the gallery, 
 that if the gentleman insisted on the pa- 
 per's being read, it must ; and it was read 
 accordingly, and acknowledged by seve- 
 ral members to me, particularly by Mr. 
 Lyttelton, that it was the most material 
 evidence produced that day. Mr. Frye, 
 who was less engaged than I was, has 
 often repeated to me every circumstance 
 as related above. 
 
 E In
 
 ( 50 ) 
 
 Sam^ton ^" ^^^ J^^^' 17^6, Mr. Pclham had given 
 ^r'john ^^ Sampson Gideon,* and other low mo- 
 Barnaid. nied-Hien, the most abominable job for 
 the loan of that year. Sir J. Barnard not 
 only opposed it, but offered in Parliament, 
 that if the money must be raised by a job, 
 he would undertake to furnish it half a 
 million cheaper. His opposition met with 
 no success ; however, Mr. Pelham had the 
 discretion to consult with Sir John Barnard 
 on those matters ever after. 
 
 In 1738, Sir John undertook to borrow 
 six millions three hundred thousand pounds, 
 by giving to the lenders seven millions of 
 Annuities at 4 per cent. The public sub- 
 scribed as far as nine millions. When Pel- 
 ham heard of this success, without the least 
 communication with his friend and coun- 
 sellor, who had pledged his reputation 
 
 * Of this man, Horace Walpole writing to Henry Sey- 
 mour Conway, Oct. 29, 1 762, says, " I forgot to tell you 
 that Gideon, who is dead worth more than the whole land 
 of Canaan, has left the reversion of all his milk and honey, 
 after his son and daughter and their children, to the Duke 
 of Devonshire, without insisting on his taking the name, 
 or even being circumcised." — Edit. 
 
 that
 
 ( 51 ) 
 
 that no more than six millions three hun- 1754. 
 dred thousand pounds should be borrowed, 
 he resolved to take advantage of the peo- 
 ple's forwardness, and increase the sum to 
 seven millions. Sir John Barnard charged 
 him with the design, he did not deny it ; 
 but on Sir John^s expressing the utmost 
 indignation at this imposition on himself 
 and the public, threatening to make it 
 known, and that he would release the vast 
 number of his own subscribing friends from 
 their engagements, Mr. Pelham yielded, 
 and by his fiattery and hypocrisy soon 
 pacified Sir John, who not only forgave 
 him, but was not less his friend than before. 
 In 1750, Sir John made that celebrated 
 motion in the House for the reduction of 
 interest from 4 to 3h per cent, for seven 
 years, and then to 3 per cent, for ever, on all 
 the public funds. Mr. Pelham indeed con- 
 curred, but trembled at the undertaking; 
 and I must confess, that as Sir John trusted 
 to mere argument, without the least degree 
 of management, it was a bold attempt. I 
 could appeal to Mr. Onslow, speaker of 
 the House of Commons, as well as to Sir 
 
 E 2 John,
 
 ( 52 ) 
 
 4 
 
 1754. John, that I was the second instrument in 
 facihtating the success of this enterprise. 
 There was but one more, a friend of mine, 
 Mr. Broyden by name, who joined us in 
 combating the whole monied interest in 
 the kingdom ; Pelham was awed, and ra- 
 ther discouraged than aided our opera- 
 tions : however, we had influence to pre- 
 vail on numbers to subscribe, and largely 
 at first ; then, by means of those subscri- 
 bers, who in course were become auxilia- 
 ries, the influence grew more extended, 
 and by the help of a little bullying too, 
 the project was accomplished, and three 
 hundred and seventy-five thousand pounds 
 per annum was saved to the nation. 
 
 Sir John Barnard expected, which was 
 more than I did, that Pelham would co- 
 operate with him in the second part of his 
 plan, which was to apply all these savings, 
 and as much more of the sinking fund, as 
 would discharge a million annually of the 
 national-debt ; others expected that at 
 least some of the heaviest taxes on the 
 poorer sort would be abolished on this 
 happy incident. Pelham might have flat- 
 tered
 
 { 53 ) 
 
 tered these expectations in all ; I am sure 1754. 
 he deceived Sir John Barnard, and amused 
 him with the hope of accomplishing his 
 plan at a proper time, which Pelham was 
 determined should never come : in the 
 mean while Sir John was content with the 
 Court and observance paid him, of which 
 the whole Pelham family were ever most 
 profuse, even to servility. I must take 
 notice, that at the time Sir John Barnard 
 made this attempt, 3 per cent, annuities 
 were considerably above par, to the best 
 of my remembrance about 4 per cent., or 
 between 3 and 4: what I call bullying, 
 was nothing more than writing and talking, 
 that those who refused to subscribe to the 
 reduction would be paid off, and conse- 
 quently fare the worse by 3 or 4 per cent, 
 above par; though if the majority had re- 
 fused, we should have been puzzled to have 
 found money for the putting our threat 
 into execution ; and the Legislature's be- 
 ginning the attempt, without the least pro- 
 vision of money in hand, I call mismanage- 
 ment, and an imprudent degree of confi- 
 dence in Sir John Barnard. 
 
 E 3 I am
 
 ( 54 ) 
 
 i^^^- I am now in the 46th year of my age ; 
 the ardour of youth is abated ; the mind 
 grown stronger by experience, familiar 
 with ill-fortune both to mj^self * and my 
 country, guarded against the delusion of 
 popularity, and above the pride resulting 
 from the occasional countenance of un- 
 sought confidence of men in high station, 
 of which I propose to make no further use, 
 than to delineate with accuracy and truth 
 the causes of this nation's fall, which my 
 ill-boding judgment foresees to be inevit- 
 able.-f- 
 
 * Mr. Glover was bora in the year 171'i. Married 
 Miss Hannah Nunn, May 21, 1737, by whom he had 
 two sons, but was divorced in 1 756- His divorce bill, after 
 having passed the House of Lords, was read the first time in 
 the House of Commons, Feb. 5, 1756. — See the Journal 
 of the House of Commons, vol. xxvii. p. 432. — Edit, 
 
 t This was also the melancholy character of Junius's 
 mind. " Both the cause and the public are given up ; I 
 feel for the honour of this countiy, when I see that there 
 are not ten men in it, who will unite and stand together 
 upon any one question. But it is all alike vile and con- 
 temptible." — Junius, vol. i. p.*255. "lam in earnest, be- 
 cause I am convinced, as far as my understanding is ca- 
 pable of judging, that the present ministry is driving this 
 country to destruction." — Junius, vol. iii. p. 202. — Edit. 
 
 To
 
 ( 55 ) 
 
 To paint folly in the various shades and 1754. 
 colours of hope and fear, of exultation, 
 dejection, resentment, and rage, in a vain, 
 dissolute and refractory people, presum- 
 ing still on an imaginary superiority, yet 
 obstinately blind to its own defects and 
 weakness, to describe subjects without 
 subordination, laws uninforced, magistrates 
 without authority, fleets and armies with- 
 out discipline in the midstof an unsuccessful 
 war, to set forth the supineness of an efle- 
 minate gentry, the corruption of a servile 
 and dependent senate, the ignorance, in- 
 capacity, timidity, rashness, pride, and 
 ambition, holding sway by turns at some 
 periods, at others jarring and encountering 
 to the utter confusion of Administration, 
 under a doting, mean, spiritless, covetous,* 
 
 prejudiced, 
 
 * Tlie King's avarice would lead him to actions repug- 
 nant to common honesty. On the death of liis father, the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury dehvered him the late King's 
 will in the Council-chamber: he thrust it into his bosom, 
 walked out, and secreted it ever after. It happened that 
 the Duchess of Kendell, mistress to King George the First, 
 had a duplicate copy of the Will, in which was a legacy of 
 fifty thousand pounds to her daughter, afterwards married 
 
 V. 4. to
 
 { 56 ) 
 
 i~54. prejudiced, undiscerning Prince whose de- 
 cisions, like those of Chaos, serve but to 
 embroil the fray ; to display a scene of 
 this nature, and know it to be a represen- 
 tation of the land one inhabits, at the 
 same time to exhibit truth pure and un- 
 tinctured by passion, requires that uncon- 
 cern which despair alone can produce in 
 the human mind. It is enough to have 
 lamented, and beyond the means of a 
 private station to have opposed the im- 
 pending calamity ; when the measure of 
 popular vices and follies is full, and co- 
 
 to the Earl of Chesterfield. This nobleman consulted 
 Mr. Joseph Taylor, an eminent attorney and member of 
 the House of Commons, on the means of recovering this 
 legacy. Mr. Taylor acted with so much spirit, that rather 
 than have the will brought into the Ecclesiastical Court, 
 the King thought proper to pay the legacy, which he 
 otherwise intended to keep for ever in his own pocket, as 
 he had done till that time. This is an incontestible fact. 
 What other legacies might have been in the Will I pretend 
 not to ascertain. It was said there was some devise of 
 money or jewels to the King of Prussia. Be that as it 
 may, there never was a greater degree of rancour between 
 two persons than the Kings of England and Prussia ; and 
 neither, for many years, could speak of the other, but in 
 the most abusive terms. 
 
 operating
 
 ( 57 ) 
 
 operating with selfish and ambitious rulers, 17H. 
 renders a nation contemptible, an honest 
 individual who can assuage his aching 
 heart with indifference, may stand justified 
 not less to his own conscience, than to the 
 unmeriting herd. 
 
 Composing such a narrative, and en- 
 deavouring to establish such a temper of 
 mind, I cannot at intervals refrain from 
 regret, that the capricious restrictions in 
 the Duchess of Marlborough's Will, ap- 
 pointing me to write the life of her illus- 
 trious husband, compelled me to reject the 
 undertaking. There, conduct, valour, and 
 success, abroad ; prudence, perseverance, 
 learning, and science, at home, would have 
 shed some portion of their graces on their 
 historian's page, and enlivened his cheerful 
 labours; a mediocrity of talent would have 
 felt an unwonted elevation in the bare at- 
 tempt of transmitting so splendid a period 
 to succeeding ages. Truth unadorned, in 
 all the simplicity of a mourner I now pur- 
 sue, and, having unburthened my heart 
 in a melancholy digression, return to my 
 plain narration. 
 
 I have
 
 ( 58 ) 
 
 iy54. X have already observed that Henry 
 Pelham, First Commissioner of the Trea- 
 sury, and Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
 died in March, 1754. His brother Hollis, 
 Duke of Newcastle, succeeded as First 
 Minister, and taking the Treasury under 
 his own management, made Henry Legge 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer, and put Sir 
 Thomas Robinson into the office of Secre- 
 tary of State, which had been held up- 
 wards of thirty years by the Duke. About 
 this time intelHgence came from Virginia 
 of the hostilities commenced between the 
 English and French on the banks of the 
 Ohio ; an alarming event, presaging all the 
 evils which it afterwards produced through 
 the neglect and irresolution of the Minister. 
 A large tract of land between the Ohio 
 and those mountains which the French 
 call the just boundaries of Virginia, had 
 been granted to some planters of that 
 country, and some merchants of London, 
 not many years before. When this society 
 at last began to settle these lands, the 
 French took umbrage, marched against 
 the settlers, and destroyed a small fort, 
 
 which
 
 ton. 
 
 ( 59 ) 
 
 which had been lately erected by the pro- ns*. 
 prietors for the security of their new pos- 
 session. The French abstained from blood- 
 shed, and contented themselves with the 
 expulsion of our people. In resentment 
 of this violence a body of Virginian militia 
 advanced under the command of Major 
 Washington, who put to the sword about Washing- 
 thirty French in the First encounter; but 
 was afterwards surprised himself, and beat 
 back with loss and disgrace. 
 
 The right of these useless lands was not 
 a question worth resolving, in my estima- 
 tion ; but whether they were worth a con- 
 test by the sword, was a point which 
 merited the serious consideration of Eng- 
 land. England was wild for a war singly 
 with France ; a perpetual naval war was 
 the cry of the people promoted by the 
 trading part, whose interested members 
 look on war as their harvest, and are ever 
 ready to feed the sanguine hopes and 
 confidence peculiar to this nation, and 
 which had got to so fatal a height at this 
 juncture. The infectious frenzy spread 
 througrh all orders of men. The Kins; and 
 
 his
 
 ( 60 ) 
 
 i'5f his Minister only were pacific, not through 
 knowledge and judgment, but from per- 
 plexity and cowardice. The same unmanly 
 spirit, which preferring peace through fear 
 could be hurried by the public impetuo- 
 sity into a war, must naturally begin and 
 conduct it with irresolution and tameness; 
 opportunities favourable at first to vigor- 
 ous measures were irretrievably neglected ; 
 every advantage proceeding from delay 
 was given to an enemy superior in national 
 strength directed by their ministry with 
 steadiness at least, and some attention to 
 national honour and welfare. We should 
 either have resolved to relinquish the trifle 
 in dispute, or struck an immediate blow 
 in America; and at the same time had our 
 governors weighed the superior national 
 strength of the enemy against our own, 
 they should have established a general 
 militia, the only means of security to an 
 inferior nation . 
 Charles A plan of opcratiou in North America 
 
 Tow n 3* 
 
 hend. was conccrtcd by Mr. Charles Townshend, 
 then Commissioner of the Admiralty, and 
 myself, and laid before his uncle, the Duke 
 
 of
 
 ( 61 ) 
 
 of Newcastle, about the beginning of Sep- 1754; 
 tember. The proposition was obvious, re- 
 quiring moderate talents in its conception, 
 but spirit and diligence in its execution. 
 It was to conduct directly three thousand 
 regulars for New England, to send three 
 hundred thousand pounds, and a number 
 of old Serjeants and corporals into that 
 province, that the inhabitants of so martial 
 and populous a colony might be trained 
 and enabled to take the field early in the 
 spring, 1755. The French at that time 
 had not a thousand regulars in all Canada ; 
 and allowing the natives an equality with 
 ours in discipline and spirit, they were not 
 imdoubtedly a tenth of our number. An 
 attack on Louisburg or Quebec was my 
 intention, and the men of New England 
 who had taken the former, in last war, 
 were willing to have made an attempt on 
 either, if properly supported by the Mo- 
 ther Country. 
 
 It was on the 15th September, that his 1755. 
 Majesty was pleased to appear again in 
 England, after an absence of four months 
 and a half. His transactions in Germany, 
 
 with
 
 ( 62 ) 
 
 1755. with their consequences in England, must 
 now find their places in this Narration. 
 During the first part of the summer he 
 was amused bj Monsieur de Bussj, the 
 French Envoy, who, it seems, was very 
 acceptable at the Court of Hanover ; 
 though he had appeared there formerly as 
 the bully of Maillebois, when that Mar- 
 shal, at the head of an army in Westphalia, 
 compelled the King to vote for the Em- 
 peror Charles of Bavaria, and to sign the 
 infamous neutrality for the Mediterranean: 
 this Envoy was ordered home about the 
 time that the Due de Mirepoix, ambas- 
 sador from France to the English Court, 
 returned to Paris ; their departure was to- 
 wards the end of July, immediately after 
 the intelligence of the hostilities com- 
 mitted by Boscawen on the French fleet 
 off Newfoundland. On the 18th of the 
 preceding month his Majesty concluded 
 a treaty with the Landgrave of Hesse, 
 whose son was married to the Princess 
 Mary. This treaty was to secure twelve 
 thousand Hessians to serve, as occasion 
 required, in Germany, the Netherlands, 
 
 Great
 
 ( 63 ) 
 
 Great Britain and Ireland, upon terms so 1755. 
 exorbitant, as plainly discovered that his 
 Majesty's economy was confined merely 
 to his private affairs, and not exerted in 
 behalf of the public. On the 30th of Sep- 
 tember following, he concluded another 
 treaty with Russia, calculated for the pro- 
 tection of Hanover against that hated and 
 dreaded neighbour the King of Prussia. 
 The inveteracy of the Empress against a 
 Prince who had formerly espoused that 
 branch of the imperial family, which she 
 had dethroned and banished to Siberia, 
 enabled our negociators to make a treaty 
 upon reasonable conditions; the twelve 
 thousand Hessians were to cost us 300,000/. 
 annually, when in actual seiTice; whereas 
 the expense of fifty-five thousand Rus- 
 sians, and forty to fifty gallics in the 
 Baltic, would amount to no more than 
 500,000/. 
 
 It was further designed to induce the 
 Court of Vienna to act in conformity with 
 the barrier-treaty, by keeping twenty-four 
 thousand men in readiness to act in the 
 Ivow Countries, and at the same time 
 
 make
 
 ( 64 ) 
 
 t?55; make the Dutch augment their troops* 
 The Princess Gouvernante undertook to 
 persuade the States-General, but failed in 
 the attempt. Nor had our endeavours at 
 Vienna any better success. That power 
 would not join with us and Holland to 
 defend the Low Countries, if attacked by 
 France, unless we would assist in the re- 
 covery of Silesia. 
 
 It is remarkable, that the first quarter 
 of the money due on the subsidiary part 
 of the Hessian treaty, was demanded of 
 the Treasury during the interval of Par- 
 liament, and allowed by three out of four 
 commissioners present at the board on that 
 occasion. The three were the Duke of 
 Newcastle, Lord Duncannon, and Nugent, 
 a jovial and voluptuous Irishman, who had 
 left Popery for the Protestant religion, 
 money and widows: the fourth was Mr. 
 Legge, who disclaimed the unconstitu- 
 tional demand in favour of a treaty un- 
 authorised by Parliament, and refused his 
 hand to the warrant. This gallant proce- 
 dure occasioned a change among the place- 
 men. Sir George Lyttelton, of all men 
 
 the
 
 ( 65 ) 
 
 the most unfit, was created Chancellor of 1755. 
 the Exchequer in the room of Mr. Legge. ^^eat^ed''" 
 Fox, a creature of the Duke of Cumber- November 
 land, succeeded to Sir Thomas Robinson ^^^' 
 as a Secretary of State, Lord Barrington 
 to Fox, as Secretary at War. 
 
 These alterations took place in Novem- 
 ber; the Parliament met on the 13th of 
 that month. I think it was some time in 
 December that Mr. Pitt and his party 
 went out of place. In the course of this 
 year, 1755, I had frequent occasion of ob- 
 serving, that a powerful party against the 
 Minister was forming; that men who for 
 years had served the Pel hams in high and 
 lucrative employments, foreseeing the ap- 
 proaching perplexities of a weak Prince 
 and a weak Administration, were pre- 
 paring to break through the cloud of public 
 disapprobation, and step forwards once 
 more upon the theatre of popularity. 
 
 I met Mr. Pitt at Mr. Dodington's; the Doding- 
 Grenvilles his relations, whom I had long 
 known full of family disgusts against him, 
 now repaired to his house after an interval 
 of many years : and had his nature been 
 
 F capable
 
 ( 66 ) 
 
 1755. capable of consistency, and common pru- 
 dence directed his only pursuit, a profitable 
 place, he might with their support and 
 foundation, his own social accomplish- 
 ments, Avit, plausibility, literature, and 
 long experience in the forms of public 
 business, have stood an eminent character 
 in times like these, so destitute of great 
 men. All these qualifications, with the 
 addition of elegance, magnificence and 
 wealth, wanting judgment and discretion, 
 could not protect his old age from ridicule 
 and neglect. So necessary is firmness and 
 uniformity of conduct, to procure even 
 from the imperfect part of mankind, the 
 confidence requisite to maintain the un- 
 worthy pre-eminence among them. 
 
 Among the last of his friends who did 
 
 __^ not desert him, I count myself. Public 
 connexions first made our acquaintance; 
 I was well apprised of his temper and 
 character, therefore was never deceived by 
 him: won by his private good qualities, 
 friendship beyond professions, industry 
 and alacrity to serve and oblige, I always 
 kept up my intimacy, and had really more 
 
 weight
 
 ( 67 ) 
 
 weight with him than any man had, though i75s, 
 less than the least of his own interested 
 projects. I was continually with him all 
 that summer. Fox was there frequently, 
 and seemed anxious for Dodington's 
 opinion and advice. I soon perceived the 
 latter trimming between Pitt and Fox, 
 though assuring me that he would unite 
 with no cabal, but stand on his own 
 bottom, and publicly declare his sentiments 
 unbiassed. This I encouraged, wishing 
 sincerely well to a man whose company 
 gave me pleasure. 
 
 When the Hessian treaty was made 
 known, (that apparent job,) and the spirited 
 behaviour of Legge, it at once struck out 
 a plan of opposition. Dodington was 
 among the foremost; Pitt depended much 
 upon him, and was even deluded by Fox, 
 not indeed from any promise, but indi- 
 cations that he would take part with them 
 on the Hessian treaty: certain it is, that 
 hopes were entertained of Fox's concur- 
 rence in the plan to overthrow the Duke 
 of Newcastle, and that the opposition was 
 to take its rise from both the foreign 
 
 F 2 treaties :
 
 ( 68 ) 
 
 1755, treaties: it is as certain, that the Duke of 
 Newcastle considered Fox as a secret 
 enemy. Fox, by amusing Pitt, provoked 
 him beyond reconciHation ; and by en- 
 deavouring to supplant Newcastle, he 
 frightened him into a diffidence, as hurtful 
 to Fox as Pitt's resentment. 
 Charles The opcuiug of the session was now at 
 
 shend,caii- hand; Charles Townshend, from the mere 
 
 cd silver- 
 
 tongued. plcasurc of fishiug in troubled waters, 
 enlists under Pitt; the country gentlemen, 
 and the public, add their weight: in the 
 midst of all. Fox quits his place as Secre- 
 tary of War, and on the 14th of Novem- 
 ber accepts the Secretaryship of State. 
 As Pitt had for some time past rejected 
 any compromise with the Court on the con- 
 ditions they proposed, and consequently 
 a resignation of employments, or dis- 
 placing him and his friends, was expected? 
 Fox holds up these alluring objects to 
 Dodington; he melts at once, passes a few 
 harmless censures on the Hessian treaty 
 when it was debated in the House, makes 
 his court, in the same breath, to Hanover, 
 shortly after steps into the Treasurership 
 
 of
 
 ( 69 ) 
 
 of the Navy, just vacated by his relation i756. 
 and new confederate George Grenville, is 
 marked for perdition by that party, and 
 becomes despised by every other beyond 
 all redemption of character or weight with 
 the lowest faction. I gave him a cold 
 congratulation, having warned him before, 
 that he could go into no office at that 
 juncture without being the most unhappy 
 of men. Here end the principal transac- 
 tions of the year 1755. 
 
 During the whole sessions Mr. Pitt Pi". 
 found occasion in every debate to con- 
 found the ministerial orators; his vehement 
 invectives were awful to Murray, terrible Murray. 
 to Hume Campbell ;* and no malefactor Campbell. 
 under the stripes of an executioner was 
 ever more forlorn and helpless than Fox Fox. 
 appeared under the lash of Pitt's elo- 
 quence, shrewd and able in Parliament as 
 he confessedly is : Dodington sheltered Doding- 
 himself in silence. 
 
 The troubles of this session, and the ex- George 
 
 Town- 
 shend. 
 * Hume Campbell, only brother to the Earl of March- 
 
 mont. See Horace Walpolc's Works, Vol. v, p. 27. and 
 
 the same Vol. p. 347. — Edit. 
 
 F 3 pectation
 
 ( 70 ) 
 
 1750. pectatioii of national calamity, drew at 
 this juncture, from a state of indolence 
 and oppression, under an inhuman father, 
 a character new indeed > unstained, though 
 long distressed in private life, unconnected 
 with any faction, uninfluenced by any but 
 public considerations ; it was the father 
 of the Militia-Bill, George Townshend, 
 Knight of the Shire for Norfolk. Some 
 detail of his history will prove no inter- 
 ruption to a subject unfolding events, where 
 he bore the part of an able, active, dis- 
 interested Senator, whose domestic and 
 public virtues, severe as I am on others, 
 experience, not less than affection, prompts 
 me to believe, will remain in every situa- 
 tion imcorrupt and unblemished. 
 
 He is son to Lord Viscount Townshend, 
 and heir to ten thousand pounds a year. 
 He acquired a knowledge of the classics 
 by his private study at the University. 
 Returning from thence, he was compelled, 
 by the neglect and perverseness of his 
 father, withholding from him all the means 
 of living equal to his rank, to indulge 
 a natural propensity to arms; and in 
 
 that
 
 ( 71 ) 
 
 that view, with an allowance shamefully 1756. 
 stinted, unaccompanied and almost un- 
 attended, he passed over to Germany, and 
 was a volunteer at the battle of Dettingen. 
 He afterwards made an attempt to get 
 into the Dutch service, but not succeeding, 
 repaired to England, where he was re- 
 ceived into our army, served as an Aide-dC' 
 camp to the Duke of Cumberland in Flan- 
 ders, and at last was promoted in the 
 Guards to the rank of Colonel. 
 
 The disgust between the Duke of Cum- 
 berland and him was notorious, and was 
 certainly the cause of his quitting the ser- 
 vice. The account he gave me himself, is 
 as follows : On a vacancy for a Knight of 
 the Shire, the county of Norfolk invited 
 him to stand ; he carried the election 
 without opposition, except from his father 
 Lord Townshend : an assembly was ap- 
 pointed of all the gentry, and a ball for 
 the ladies on a certain day, where the pre- 
 sence of a young and new elected Member 
 was indispensably necessary. He wrote 
 to Mr. Fox, then Secretary at War, that Fox. 
 the leave of absence from his regiment 
 
 F 4 might
 
 { 72 ) 
 
 1756. might be prolonged a fortnight; this being 
 refused, he came up to London, and made 
 his personal application to the Duke for 
 this reasonable indulgence, which he per- 
 sisted to refuse. Townshend then telling 
 him, that a favour of this nature would be 
 granted with three times the latitude to 
 any officer whose vote in Parliament was 
 firm to the Court, resigned his commission 
 forthwith, and returned to his friends in 
 Norfolk. 
 
 Soon after he married a most excellent 
 woman, Lady Ferrars,* whose ample for- 
 tune, discretion, and economy have ren- 
 dered him easy in his circumstances with- 
 out the least present help from his father: 
 happy in her and a numerous progeny, he 
 can always alleviate at home the painful 
 sensibility of his country's misfortunes: his 
 proper and affectionate behaviour, as a 
 husband and a father, I mention from my 
 own knowledge, as our intimacy, founded 
 on an agreement of opinions, makes me in 
 a manner part of the family, and his house, 
 my home. 
 
 * This lady died September 14th, 1770.— Edit. 
 
 In
 
 ( 73 ) 
 
 In his person, demeanour, and send- nse. 
 ments, he is the most manly of all human 
 beings. Wit, humour, and an uncommon 
 faculty of caricature with his pencil, ren- 
 der him agreeable to his friends, and for- 
 midable to those he dislikes. May time, 
 which impairs every external grace, pro- 
 duce no such change in his virtues, as may 
 ever throw upon my pen the melancholy 
 obligation of altering this character, which 
 truth and impartiality require me now to 
 finish with a few shades ! 
 
 His capital fault is indolence; but when 
 he is engaged in any noble pursuit, that 
 indolence changes not only to activity but 
 impetuosity, which frequently misleads 
 him into hasty and striking judgments of 
 men, either in approbation or censure, and 
 in that temper of his mind he puts himself 
 too much in the power of the artful and 
 designing: vet, in those seasons I have 
 known him open to persuasion, and if not 
 persuaded, acquiescing to the authority of 
 a friend, whose judgment and integrity he 
 reveres. His absence and inattention are 
 extraordinary, and occasion many little 
 
 errors
 
 ( 74 ) 
 
 1756. errors in matters of form both public and 
 private. 
 
 By this gentleman a MiUtia-Biil was 
 prepared and prosecuted against all dis- 
 couragements, — an instance of his un- 
 shaken adherence to right principles and 
 measures. This Bill, repugnant to the 
 sentiments of a court, unpleasing to an 
 effeminate nobility and gentry, and seem- 
 ingly burthensome to a languid and un^ 
 martial conmionalty, passed the lower 
 House without obstruction from the mi- 
 nistry, that it might miscarry in the House 
 of Lords ; where no one distinguished 
 himself more in opposition to it than the 
 Chancellor Lord Hardwicke, masking his 
 own prostitution and servility under reli- 
 gious cant and hypocrisy, by declaiming 
 against the profanation of the Sabbath, 
 which was the day appointed in the Bill 
 for the assembling and training the people 
 to arms. I here close the transactions in 
 
 Parliament, which rose on the 
 
 The French, whose passive conduct in 
 appearance, hitherto had been feeding the 
 English vanity, by abstaining from all 
 
 moles-
 
 ( 75 ) 
 
 molestation of our trade, were at length 175&. 
 discovered to have been preparing all the 
 autumn of 1755, and the beginning of 
 1756, to make a descent on the Island of 
 Minorca. On the 29th of January Sal vert 
 sailed with a squadron from Brest to St. 
 Domingo; D'Aubigny with another, but 
 smaller, from Rochefort to Martinico on 
 the 23d February; and Beaussier, with a 
 third for Canada, some time in March; 
 where, by intelligence afterwards, he landed 
 about 5,000 men, partly at Louisbourg, 
 and partly at Quebec. In opposition to 
 these measures, let our motions be taken 
 into consideration. To enter the field first 
 in America was always the object of our 
 councils. The Generals, Web and Aber- 
 crombie, with two battalions, took their 
 departure from Plymouth for New York, 
 not before the 20th of April. The Com- 
 mander in Chief, Lord Loudon, after many 
 delays of his transports, which carried 
 tents, ammunition, artillery, and entrench- 
 ing tools, was sent away without them on 
 the 20th of May ; and they were not dis- 
 patched till a fortnight after. The Stirling 
 
 Castle
 
 ( 7G ) 
 
 i?o6. Castle man of war, with an hundred thou- 
 sand pounds to reimburse the colonies 
 their expenses in 1755, and put them in 
 motion for the 3^ear 1756, did not sail till 
 the 15th of June. 
 
 The effects of these departures from 
 France and England were easily foreseen. 
 The Marquis de Montcalm, the new 
 General from France, landed his forces at 
 Quebec, before Loudon had made a quar- 
 ter part of his voyage. Web, and Aber- 
 crombie, who sailed a month before him, 
 got to Albany in time to hear of Mont- 
 calm's approach towards Oswego, a capital 
 fort of our's on the Lake Ontario. While 
 our troops were marching to its assistance, 
 and had advanced about half the way, 
 news was brought that the fort had sur- 
 rendered on the 14th of August, an event 
 which greeted Lord Loudon soon after his 
 arrival at New York. He hastens to 
 Albany, finds himself under a necessity of 
 calling in all the garrisons from the Indian 
 country, by which we left those allies at 
 the mercy of the French ; and after the 
 conjunction of all the forces, Loudon was 
 
 never
 
 ( 77 ) 
 
 never in a condition to act offensively, but i756. 
 kept some stationed at proper posts, and 
 employed the rest in throwing up works 
 round Albany. I conclude the affairs of 
 America with observing, that the Ameri- 
 can regiment of 4,000 was not complete in 
 a twelvemonth after it had been voted, and 
 that the conquest of Oswego put an end 
 to the two regiments raised in New Eng- 
 land in 1755, being the chief part of the 
 garrison in that Fort, and consisting of no 
 more than 700 together, though we reckon- 
 ed upon them in England as two thou- 
 sand . 
 
 This summary account, founded on in- Ad. Bjng. 
 contestable dates and facts, would almost 
 evince an utter dissolution of order and 
 method in every office of Government. 
 What shall be said of Admiral Byng's de- 
 parture from S pithead so late as the 6th 
 of April, with ten ships only of the line, 
 unaccompanied by Frigates, Hospital- 
 ship, or Tenders, on an absolute assertion 
 of the Admiralty, that the French could 
 equip no more than seven of the line from 
 Toulon, when afterwards it was made 
 
 clear
 
 ( 78 ) 
 
 1756. clear that our ministry, in every branch, 
 was in possession of intelligence all De- 
 cember, January, and February, that the 
 French were meditating a descent upon 
 Minorca in the spring, and were providing 
 twelve ships of the line with that intent, 
 of all whose names and force, lists had 
 been received within the forementioned 
 time, from a dozen different quarters ? 
 
 On the 13th of April, the French fleet, 
 consisting of twelve ships of the line, five 
 frigates, and eighty transports, sailed from 
 Toulon under La Galissionere ; the troops 
 aboard, to the number of 11,000, were 
 commanded by the Marechal Due de 
 Richelieu: they landed at Ciudadela in 
 Minorca on the 18th. Admiral Byng, af- 
 ter a tedious passage of twenty-seven 
 days, arrived with his ten ships on the 2d 
 of May at Gibraltar, where he was fortu- 
 nately reinforced by one 60 and two 50 
 gun ships, and four frigates, the whole of 
 our naval force in the Mediterranean for 
 many months before, and which had made 
 their escape from the harbour of Mahon, 
 while the French fleet was employed in 
 
 landing
 
 ( 79 ) 
 
 landing their troops on the opposite side irse. 
 of the island. 
 
 Byng sailed from Gibraltar on the 8th 
 of May. Some time in the following 
 month the copy of a letter from the French 
 Admiral, La Galissionere, to his Court, 
 was transmitted to D'Abreu, the Spanish 
 Minister in London, with an account of 
 an engagement between the French and 
 English fleets, very little to the honour of 
 the latter. On this single circumstance Sir sir Edw! 
 Edward Hawke was dispatched to the 
 Mediterranean with orders to supersede 
 both our xldmirals there, Byng and West, 
 and send them home, together with Fowke, 
 Governor of Gibraltar, who was charged 
 with disobedience of orders in not putting 
 on board the Fleet a detachment of 700 
 men from that garrison, pursuant to his in- 
 structions from the Secretary at War. 
 
 It was soon apparent, that no small in- 
 justice had been shewn to West, whose 
 character remains unimpeached. Fowke 
 was tried and broke ; Byng, on his land- 
 ing, was put under arrest, and confined a 
 close prisoner in Greenwich Hospital. 
 
 Those
 
 ( 80 ) 
 
 1756. Those who did not live at this periody 
 cannot by any description conceive the 
 excess of national resentment and rage 
 against that Commander, which was art- 
 fully and industriously fomented by a 
 culpable Administration, that to his 
 cowardice singly the disgrace of our army 
 might be charged, together with the loss 
 of Minorca, which, after a very indiffe- 
 rent defence, surrendered to Richelieu on 
 the 29th of June. Unheard and untried, 
 Byng was immediately devoted to de- 
 struction by King, Ministry, and People. 
 The proceedings on his trial, sentence, and 
 death, form a memorable sera, with cir- 
 cumstances so interwoven with subsequent 
 events, that I here defer to enter into the 
 
 particular detail.* 
 
 Sir 
 
 * I must not omit, that on the 15th of May, 6,000 
 Hessians landed at Southampton, and 8 or 9,000 Hano- 
 verians at Chatham, on the 20th. The fear of an inva- 
 sion had operated so strongly throughout this disarmed 
 and unmilitary nation, that foreign forces were introduced 
 among us, not with much reluctance on one part, Uiough 
 we afterwards raised our spirit just high enough to per- 
 ceive that our apprehensions had been groundless, and 
 
 either
 
 . ( 81 ) 
 
 Sir William Murray, the Attorney-ge- 1756. 
 neral, was in the House of Commons the Mansfield. 
 principal advocate of the minister : aware 
 of his inferiority to Pitt in Parliament, 
 and foreseeing the growing difficulties of 
 the cause he was expected to defend, he 
 had obtained from the Duke of Newcastle 
 an absolute promise of a Peerage, and the 
 office of Lord Chief Justice, in the room 
 
 either through shame or a natural shyness of foreigners, 
 began soon to murmur at their presence ; however, they 
 met with no ill treatment in England ; but through the ad- 
 vice of the King, and the negligence of Government, no 
 proper persons were appointed to receive them on their 
 landing, and no interpreters distributed among them, by 
 which neglect they were exposed to numerous cheats, par- 
 ticularly from our horse-jockeys. No accommodations 
 were provided for them against the winter, not one in the 
 Administration seemed to have remembered that that sea- 
 son would come again in its turn, or to have foreseen that 
 ow publicans were neither able nor willing to house and 
 maintain them at a ruinous expense. Winter returned, 
 these poor people remained in their camps, patient and re- 
 signed, well deserving all the hospitality they experienced 
 from numbers of our gentry. A sum far short of 
 ££20,000 would have prevented their hardships ; but the 
 Parliament did not meet till December : a mere act of 
 humanity would not draw one shilling from the King's 
 own purse. War was declared on the 18th of May. 
 
 Q of
 
 ( 82 ) 
 
 1700. of Sir Dadley llider, who died the 25th 
 of April. 
 
 /The disgrace fid loss of Minorca, and 
 the gloomy aspect of North America, 
 confirmed Murray's resolution of quitting 
 the House of Commons. Indexible to all 
 the persuasions, supplications, and high 
 , offers of the Duke of Newcastle, that he 
 would not desert his post in Parliament, 
 Murray insisted on the promise, and was 
 appointed Lord Chief Justice of the 
 King's-bench, and created a Peer of Eng- 
 land by the name and title of Lord 
 Mansfield, on the 25th of October. 
 
 Fox, one of the Secretaries of State, re- 
 signed his employment some time before, 
 convinced that Murray would not alter 
 his determination, and unwilling as well as 
 imable to bear a part any longer in an 
 Administration sinking under the weight 
 of national calamity and universal indig- 
 nation. The Duke of Newcastle, the 
 most trifling and incapable, yet of all men 
 the most ambitious, struggling to the last 
 for the continuance of power, offers the 
 seals first to Lord Halifax, then to the 
 
 Earl
 
 ( 83 ) 
 
 Earl of Egmont. Them, he finds as averse irss. 
 to enter a faUing edifice as Fox was to re- 
 main there. At length he applies to Pitt 
 throuo-h the channel of Lord Hardwicke, 
 who presents a carte blanche for the admis- 
 sion of him and his friends into the high- 
 est employments of State under the Duke. 
 Pitt, with a haughtiness confounding the 
 meanness of Hardwicke, rejects the pro- 
 position, and disdains all union of actions 
 or counsels with Newcastle. Thus driven 
 to despair, that Minister resigns his em- 
 ployments likewise, leaving his master 
 naked and helpless like himself. 
 
 Mr. Pitt, immediately after the inter- 
 view with Hardwicke, doubting the sin- 
 cerity of his report to the King, paid a 
 visit to the Countess of Yarmouth ; and 
 to obviate the eftects of the Chancellor's 
 disingenuous and fallacious representa- 
 tion, which might be calculated to amuse^ 
 cajole, and gain time, fairly declared the 
 truth to that lady, the King's mistress, 
 amounting: to no less than an absolute re- 
 fusal to unite with the Duke of Newcas- 
 tle ; at the same time he professed his 
 
 G 2 loyal
 
 ( 84 ) 
 
 1756. loyal attachment to his Majesty's person 
 and family, which he was zealous to serve 
 in any situation where his services could 
 be rendered effectual. It is true, that as 
 often as Mr. Pitt's name had been men- 
 tioned to the King, as one necessary to 
 the Administration at this juncture, he 
 broke out into the most ungracious vio- 
 lence of rage, abusing him with every ill 
 name familiar among the most illiberal of 
 his subjects ; yet, when the resignation of 
 Newcastle convinced him of his destitute 
 condition, when he found his subjects 
 flaming with resentment, his enemies tri- 
 umphant abroad, and no one in his court 
 hardy enough to fill the vacant offices of 
 State, he at once sacrificed his pride to 
 his fears, and condescended to make a 
 personage of the Duke of Devonshire's 
 rank his emissary to Pitt, and request him 
 to propose his own terms. 
 
 Pitt. The eyes of an afflicted, despairing na- 
 
 tion were now lifted up to a private gen- 
 tleman of a slender fortune, wanting the 
 parade of birth or title, of no family alii-* 
 ance, but by his marriage with Lord Tem- 
 ple's
 
 ( 85 ) 
 
 pie's sister, and even confined to a narrow irse. 
 circle of friends and acquaintance. Under 
 these circumstances Pitt was considered as 
 the onl}^ saviour of England. True was it, 
 that in the lucrative office of paymaster to 
 the army his conduct had been clear and 
 disinterested. All past offences were bu- ^ 
 ried in oblivion. The love of power, and I 
 an ardent thirst for fame, were noble pas- 15 ^ 
 sions, honourable to him, and beneficial to \^ \ 
 his country, when their views were set in 
 comparison with those which accompany 
 the base attachment to money, the visible 
 bane of our times. His good sense and 
 spirit must surely discover, that neither 
 power, nor fame, can be permanent with- 
 out the foundation of virtue. His friends 
 and relations shared in the public prepos- 
 session, the public overlooking their im- 
 perfections, and zealously promulgating 
 tlieir good qualities. Riot and intempe- 
 rance, or the dissipation of time in idle 
 pleasures, composed no part of their cha- 
 racters. Under Pitt they must be ca- 
 pable and useful in public employment. 
 Such were the reasonings and conclu- 
 
 G 3 sions
 
 ( 86 ) 
 
 vo6. sions among men of all conditions ; and at 
 this crisis I was surprised one Saturday 
 morning, about the end of October, with 
 a visit from Mr. George Townsbend. He 
 told me, he was that instant come off his 
 journey from Norfolk ; invited to London 
 by a letter from Pitt, he addressed himself 
 to me for advice at this important conjunc- 
 ture. I required some further information 
 than either of us then had, of the princi- 
 ples and plan on which the new Adminis- 
 tration was to be established. We set out 
 from my house in the city to dine with our 
 common friend Sir Richard Lyttelton,* a 
 good natured, generous, and benevolent 
 man, by far the best of his family. We 
 there fortunately met with the principal 
 persons of Pitt's small party, Lord Tem- 
 ple, George Grenville, Elliot, and some 
 others of less note. Pitt himself was con- 
 fined to his bed with the gout. It was now 
 twelve years at least, since my own reser- 
 ved behaviour and unpliant principles had 
 
 * He died Oct. 1, 1770. He was brother to the first 
 Lord Lyttelton, and uncle to the, present Lord Lyttelton. 
 — Edit. 
 
 kept
 
 ( 87 ) 
 
 kept me remote from this my once intimate 1756. 
 and most favoured society. They received 
 me with embraces, time seemed to have 
 made no alteration in them towards me, 
 they saluted me with repeating some stan- 
 zas of my own, lately published without a 
 name, which they in compliment ascribed 
 to no one but me, and whose sentiments 
 they professed to adopt : a circumstance 
 which renders the inserting of a few of 
 those lines necessary in this place. 
 
 Ne'er shall discipline or merit 
 
 Britain's feeble standard wield. 
 Or an Inniskilling spirit 
 
 Train her numbers for the field ; 
 Till calamity gigantic, 
 
 Striding o'er the venal land. 
 With unbridled rage and frantic, 
 
 Hath let loose perdition's band : 
 
 Till rude want, and desolation. 
 
 Food to pamper'd vice deny, 
 And despair and indignation 
 
 Absent virtue's place supply ; 
 Then at last may preservation 
 
 In the people's arm be foujid. 
 The torn remnant of a nation, 
 
 Then may staunch the public wound. 
 
 G 4 After
 
 ( 88 ) 
 
 1756. After dinner I had much private dis- 
 
 course with George Grcnville, while 
 Townshend conversed with the rest. Mr. 
 Grenville most frankly revealed their whole 
 plan, consisting of inquiries into past mis- 
 conduct, the establishment of a militia, the 
 excluding from power unpopular and un- 
 deserving men, and sending back the fo- 
 reign forces, whose presence was now 
 grown irksome to a kingdom recovered 
 from its fright. I asked him what will be 
 done with Iloldernesse ? That nobleman 
 was Secretary of State, and had drawn a 
 general odium upon him by a letter he had 
 sent to the Mayor of Maidstone, requiring 
 him to deliver up a Hanoverian soldier, 
 who had been committed to trial for a 
 theft, and whom the party aggrieved was 
 bound over to prosecute in due course of 
 law. I found my question not a little per- 
 plexed my friend ; indeed I put it, know- 
 ing the difficulty which this accident cre- 
 ated between them and the King, who ab- 
 solutely refused to give up Holdernesse. 
 Grenville replied, *' what can we do ? Lord 
 Holdernesse desires to be tried for this sup- 
 posed
 
 ( 89 ) 
 
 posed breach of the Constitution, He i756. 
 offers fairly; can we insist on turning him 
 out, in direct violence to the King's in- 
 clination ; who charges himself with the 
 whole blame, and is likewise willing that 
 the affair should be examined in Parlia- 
 ment ?" This act, I confess, was rather the 
 effect of imprudence than any ill design ; 
 but it raised a clamour which had echoed 
 throughout the kingdom, promoted by no 
 one more than Mr. Pitt, who talked in a 
 very high strain to Lord Hardwicke on the 
 subject. 
 
 There were other reasons for displacing 
 Holdernesse ; he was justly thought une- 
 qual to his office, and a friend of the old 
 ministry; whence it seemed indispensably 
 incumbent on the new to fill his post with 
 a friend of their own. Thus I remonstra- 
 ted to Mr. Grenville, and recommending 
 the necessity of acting up to their plan, 
 without the least concession, I took my 
 leave, with Townshend, to lodge that 
 night at his house. We compared the in- 
 formations we had severally received, and 
 studied the list which was to compose the 
 
 new
 
 ( 90 ) 
 
 1756. new Administration. I observed that 
 Dodington was annihilated to make room 
 for George Grenville, and that the very 
 honourable office of Treasurer of the 
 Household was allotted to Mr. Townshend. 
 We were both much chaorined at the 
 thought of continuino; Holdernesse Secre- 
 tary of State ; we had no other objection 
 to the distribution of offices upon the pa- 
 per before us: Townshend would not ac- 
 quiesce, but wrote that night to Lord 
 Temple, assuring him, that all his services 
 should be devoted to support the proposed 
 plan of public measures; but that, if Hol- 
 dernesse was to remain Secretary of State, 
 he must excuse himself coming into any 
 employment. While he was busied in 
 writing, I set down my sentiments in the 
 following manner, which I here transcribe, 
 in the original phrase, uncorrected and un* 
 polished. 
 
 1. Mr. Pitt should insist on a militia, and 
 the dismission of the foreign troops, — on 
 the strictest inquiry into past misconduct, 
 — and make a reserve, absolutely not to in- 
 volve the nation with the continent, ia 
 
 case
 
 ( 91 ) 
 
 case he should at any time disapprove of i756; 
 such a measure. 
 
 2. He should insist on displacing all the 
 efficient officers of the last Administration, 
 and all others of every kind who are ob- 
 noxious to the public. 
 
 3. He must not give up one of these 
 points to the King. In the present cala- 
 mitous crisis, it is indispensably necessary, 
 not only that the King should not be mas- 
 ter ; but that he should know and feel, he 
 is not and ought not to be so. 
 
 4. This conduct of Mr. Pitt will be uni- 
 versall}' applauded without doors ; if the 
 King will not acquiesce, Mr. Pitt will have 
 done his duty, and will be justifiably dis- 
 engaged . 
 
 5. Calamitous events have set Mr. Pitt 
 in his present high point of light. Fresh 
 calamities will soon succeed, and raise him 
 yet higher, and compel the King to these 
 terms at last. 
 
 6. If it be alleged, that Mr. Pitt should 
 pay some deference to the Houses of Par- 
 liament, the creatures of the late Adminis- 
 tration, it is answered, No. He should 
 
 think
 
 ( 92 ) 
 
 1756. think of no other support, as Minister, in 
 so dangerous a time, but the rectitude of 
 his measures and intentions; if Parliament 
 will not support these, that Parliament 
 may become a victim of public despair, 
 and he have this satisfaction, at least, of 
 being the single man spared by an enraged 
 and ruined nation. 
 Town- Mr. Townshend entreated that he might 
 
 Pitt" ■ communicate these propositions to Mr. 
 Pitt, without concealing the author. Their 
 first interview was on the Monday follow- 
 ing. Townshend frankly declared, that 
 his sentiments upon the present conjunc- 
 ture were contained in a short paper com- 
 posed by an old acquaintance of Mr. Pitt's; 
 and on his inquiring who it was, mentioned 
 my name. He was in bed, and so help- 
 less with pain, that Townshend read the 
 paper to him : he gave his assent, excep- 
 ting to no part, assuring him that that pa- 
 per contained his sentiments likewise. One 
 circumstance, minute indeed, but serving 
 to illustrate his character, must not be 
 omitted. Mr. Townshend told me, that 
 when he came to the fifth article, which 
 
 ascribes
 
 ( 93 ) 
 
 ascribes Pitt's exaltation merely to calami- i756. 
 tous events, without any compliment to 
 his abihties or merit, he shrunk back ; — 
 Townshend perceiving his pride was hurt, 
 interposed a manly comment, that what- 
 ever esteem the author might have for him 
 personally, this was not an occasion to 
 make compliments, but to state facts and 
 argument ; Pitt soon recollecting himself, 
 answered, I understand my friend perfect- 
 ly, I agree with him entirely^. 
 
 From these conversations on the Satur- 
 day, first with a set of men enlivened by 
 the prospect of power and emoluments, — 
 afterwards with Townshend, more anima- 
 ted still with his own zeal and rapid ideas 
 — I passed, on the Sunday following, to a Doding- 
 forlorn interview with one sinking under 
 the dismal certainty of losing his place, 
 without a remnant of public character, or 
 the least consciousness of public virtue to 
 assuage his wounded spirit ; this was with 
 Mr. Dodington at Hammersmith. I can- 
 didly imparted to him the great business in 
 agitation, and gave him warning of his own 
 fate. Nothing, indeed, had passed which 
 
 any 
 
 ton.
 
 ( 94 ) 
 
 n5(j. any party might be ashamed of; nor did I 
 ever find him cajDable of abusing the con* 
 fidence of a friend. By him I learnt some 
 curious incidents from the other quarter. 
 Two main propositions in our pkms, I 
 found, must have taken place without any 
 requisition of ours. 
 
 The Duke of Newcastle, when he re- 
 signed his office, insisted at the same time 
 on a formal scrutiny into his conduct ; and 
 the return of the foreign forces had been a 
 point determined by the King himself, who 
 wanted their services in Hanover, early 
 the ensuing spring. As to the militia, says 
 Dodington, such a one as it will be, you 
 would have had from the old ministry ; 
 and it is most true, that he wrote to me in 
 the summer on that subject, and proposed 
 to consult with Lord Hardwicke upon it ; 
 to this I replied, that alwa_ys suspecting 
 unfair dealing from this channel, and that 
 a snake in the grass would lie concealed 
 even under a militia of his contriving, I 
 earnestly entreated Mr. Dodington to have 
 no concert with the Chancellor oft that 
 head, and for that reason declined to give 
 
 my
 
 ( 95 ) 
 
 ttiy sentiments. It must likewise be ob- usq. 
 served, that after the Duke of Newcastle's 
 unsuccessful application to Pitt, Fox un- 
 dertook to be an emissary, and meeting 
 Pitt on one of the landing-places of the 
 stair-case in Leicester-house, accosted him 
 with saying, that he came from the King, 
 who was very desirous of taking Mr. Pitt 
 into his service. You, Sir.? replies Mr. 
 Pitt with a look which implied the utmost 
 aversion and contempt ; are you come from 
 the King ? Fox persisting to have some 
 more explicit answer, was told by Mr. Pitt, 
 with a haughtiness peculiar to himself, that 
 he had none to give him; Must I under- 
 stand, rejoins Fox, that you refuse to send 
 an answer, because it is through me ? Sir, 
 says Pitt, when his Majesty shall conde- 
 scend to signify his pleasure to me, by any 
 one entitled to my confidence and esteem, 
 I shall not be wanting in expressions of 
 duty to his Majesty, and devotion to his 
 service. This was the substance of their 
 conversation ; the words may difter, and I 
 sincerely believe are rather weakened by 
 my relation. Dodington assured mc, that 
 
 Lord
 
 ( 96 ) 
 
 1756. Lord Granville had used his endeavours to 
 persuade Fox to take upon him the Ad- 
 ministration in defiance of Pitt and all the 
 dangers of the present crisis : Fox most 
 prudently rejected the proposal ; and 
 Granville a few days after united himself 
 with Pitt. 
 
 During the treaty with that gentleman, 
 some new and striking incident, highly to 
 his advantage, became daily the topic of 
 every conversation in the capital, and pro- 
 mulgated by fame to the most distant parts, 
 had animated the minds of people with 
 rapturous admiration, ascribing to their 
 supposed deliverer all the talents, genius, 
 and virtue, which the credulity of hope 
 could suggest, or their own distresses re- 
 quire. A pleasing expectation stole upon 
 the most rigid, effacing the remembrance 
 of past failures, till even those few, who, 
 long harassed with evil times, had quitted 
 all public concerns, on this occasion, stept 
 out of their retirement to join the nation 
 in support of Mr. Pitt. Among the fore* 
 most was the old Earl of Westmoreland, a 
 
 Ld. West- 
 moreland, veteran patriot, slow, but solid; always 
 
 meaning
 
 ( 97 ) 
 
 meaning well, and therefore judging right, i^se. 
 He was the only Whig of note who voted 
 against the Septennial Act, the only mili- 
 tary officer who constantly opposed the 
 army, and spoke in favour of a Place Bill. 
 From his uninfluenced conduct Sir Robert 
 Walpole once drew an argument to shew 
 the little necessity of excluding placemen 
 from the Houseof Commons ; and had the 
 assurance the very next sessions to turn 
 him out of a commission, not given to him, 
 but purchased by him at the expense of 
 6,000/. Unchanged in principles and ac- 
 tions, through the course of a long life, 
 this nobleman gave a sanction to Pitt's 
 elevation. Sir Francis Dash wood and 
 Lord Talbotj eminent, and hitherto con- 
 sistent men, and Earl Stanhope, of the Earistan- 
 most pure and philosophical integrity. Con- 
 curred with the public choice of a Minis- 
 ter. The country gentlemen deserted their 
 hounds and their horses, preferring for 
 once their parliamentary duty ; and under 
 their new Whig leader, the gallant George 
 Townshend, displayed their banner for 
 Pitt. The Prince of Wales and his Court, 
 
 H . the
 
 ( 98 ) 
 
 1756. the powerful City of London, the majo- 
 rity of the Clergy, Law and Army, toge- 
 ther with the whole populace, cordially 
 and full of hope, co-operated in this signal 
 event. 
 
 The only discontented were the King 
 and both Houses of Parliament ; the first 
 grossly retaining his ancient prejudices, 
 the two last dreading a change, which 
 might lessen the price of corruption.* To 
 these may be added two small bands ; one, 
 headed by Lord Egmont and Sir George 
 Lee, formerly the rulers of Leicester- 
 house, but supplanted by Lord Bute, who 
 had introduced Mr. Pitt to the favour and 
 confidence of that quarter; they had re- 
 signed their employments, and now form- 
 ed a little faction of their ' own : the other 
 had no less a leader than the Duke of Cum- 
 berland, with the Duke of Bedford and 
 
 * " The triplet union of Crown, Lords and Commons 
 against England displays itself with a violence and a can- 
 dour, which statesmen in other conspiracies seldom have 
 adopted." — " What has an Englishman now to hope for ? 
 He must turn from King, Lords, and Commons, and look 
 up to God and himself if he means to be free." — JuniuSf 
 Vol. iii. p. 344 and 349. — Edit. 
 
 Fox
 
 ( 99 ) 
 
 Vox for subalterns. Each of these parties 1755. 
 disliked the other, the Duke of Newcastle 
 tnore, but Pitt the most of all. 
 
 The experienced Waller was of all men 
 the most zealous for the new Administra- 
 tioft. Forgetting his former ill-treatment 
 from them, he posts up from Beaconsfield, 
 and appears the next morning in my cham- 
 ber with all the hopes and vigour of youth. 
 He was pleased to approve of what I had 
 said, written, or done ; however, he was 
 unwilling to put the new system in hazard, 
 by persisting too far in the removal of Hol- 
 dernesse, and entreated me to employ my 
 weight with the Townshends, particularly 
 the Colonel, to go into place ; as sufficient 
 numbers seemed wanting to take full pos- 
 session of the Administration. This I re- 
 presented to Colonel Townshend, but made 
 little impression. He said, the part he 
 had to act, was to be the servant of Pitt, 
 while Pitt served his country ; the being in 
 place would not render him more so, and 
 the being out, was more proper, as well as 
 more agreeable to him, who was determi- 
 ned to undertake the whole burthen of the 
 
 H 2 inquiries
 
 ( 100 ) 
 
 ii56. inquiries and Militia-Bill : and it happen- 
 ed that a tolerable shift was made without 
 him. 
 
 At last this great transaction was brought 
 to a conclusion. Pitt and Holdernesse 
 were to be Secretaries of State; Earl 
 Temple, First Lord of the Admiralty ; * 
 the Duke of Devonshire, First Lord of 
 the Treasury ; Legge, Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer ; George Grenville, Treasurer 
 of the Navy; and the Court of Chancery 
 was put into commission, consisting of 
 Lord Chief Justice Willes and the Judges 
 AVilmot and Sniythe. No alteration was 
 made in the army. Pitt did not chuse to 
 make an attack, at that time, on the Duke 
 of Cumberland. By these means Lord 
 Barrington remained Secretary at War, a 
 place much wanted by Charles Town- 
 shend, who, full young for such high pre- 
 tensions, but conceiving more highly of 
 his own desert, accepted, with discontent 
 and disdain, the office of Treasurer to the 
 Chambers, worth, as he told me, 2,700/. a 
 year. 
 
 * Appointed November 20th, 1750.— Edit. 
 
 The
 
 ( 101 ) 
 
 The continuance of Holdernesse in his nss. 
 great office, and the appearance of Nu- 
 gent's name among; the commissioners of 
 the Treasury, staggered many without 
 doors. The crime of the first, in taking 
 the Hanoverian delinquent from the civil 
 magistrate, was altogether imputable to 
 the Privy Council, approving that uncon- 
 stitutional measure under the influence, 
 and by the opinion of two such lawyers 
 as Hardwicke and Murray. A plausible 
 excuse was made, that Holdernesse should 
 be tried for the misdemeanor, and it 
 would be unjust to punish without a trial. 
 I asked Lord Temple why Nugent was 
 left in the Treasury ? he replied, with his 
 usual frankness, that Lord Granville in- 
 sisted upon it, and there was no contend- 
 ing with that new and potent ally, who 
 had so much personal weight in the Cabi- 
 net. 
 
 The Treasury was settled on the l6th 
 November, the Admiralty on the 20th. 
 Mr. Pitt was appointed Secretary of State 
 on the 4th of December, two days after 
 the Parliament met. 
 
 H 3 On
 
 ( 102 ) 
 
 1756. On the first of December, the eve of 
 the Parliament's meeting, an accident lit- 
 tle regarded by the public drew the at- 
 tention of thinking people. The King^s 
 speech being prepared by Mr. Pitt, the 
 most remarkable part of which was the 
 recommendation of a Militia; the ad- 
 dresses of the two houses were settled 
 likewise, one left to the care of Mr. Pitt, 
 the other to the Duke of Devonshire. 
 Lord Temple was at this time confined to 
 his bed with a fever, and was accidentally 
 informed, that in the meeting of the 
 Lords, consulted in drawing up their Ad- 
 dress, the Duke had consented to the in- 
 sertion of a clause of thanks to his Ma- 
 jesty fpr having brought over his electoral 
 troops. Lord Temple knowing that such 
 a clause was not in the Address of the 
 Commons, and provoked at the Duke of 
 Devonshire's acquiescence, without the 
 privity of Mr. Pitt or himself; signified, 
 by a message to the Duke, the day before 
 the Houses were to meet, that if the 
 clause stood, he would come down, sick 
 as he was, and singly oppose it» The 
 
 Duke
 
 ( 103 ) 
 
 Duke of Devonshire replied, about one i756, 
 o'clock the next day, that he was sorry 
 for the accident, but that it was too late, 
 and not in his power to make any altera- 
 tion. 
 
 I was at the House of Lords that day, 
 where Lord Temple, just risen from a sick 
 bed, and with a blister on his back, made 
 a most manly and spirited speech against 
 the clause, and was seconded by no one 
 Lord except Earl Stanhope. Temple 
 was obliged to return home immediately 
 after his speech, and the Address, with 
 the clause of thanks, passed nem, coji. 
 Almost at the same instant the Address of 
 the Commons passed without such a clause 
 i%em, con. likewise. Upon this success in 
 the House of Lords, the King plucks up 
 his perverse spirit, and insists on the re- 
 committing of the Address in the Com- 
 mons, a proceeding extremely unusual, 
 that the same clause of thanks might be 
 inserted. Mr. Pitt at once gave him to 
 understand, that he would not only op- 
 pose any such attempt, but would also re- 
 fuse the seals, in case it were made. The 
 
 H 4 Earl
 
 ( 104 ) 
 
 1756. Earl of Granville here interposed, at 
 whose persuasions the King gave way to 
 Mr. Pitt. This circumstance is men- 
 tioned to shew the spirit of Pitt, as well 
 the little reliance there was to be had on 
 the Duke of Devonshire. 
 
 The new Minister had no sooner va- 
 cated his seat in Parliament by his ac- 
 ceptance of the seals, than he was con- 
 fined to his house by the gout, and nothing 
 material was transacted from that day to 
 the end of the year 1756. 
 
 1757. After the expectation raised by the pre- 
 ceding pages, it is scarcely credible to 
 myself, that, while endeavouring to reca- 
 pitulate the transactions of this interesting 
 sessions, I should find them all within the 
 old narrow circle, trite, trifling, and ini- 
 quitous, except one absurd deviation from 
 the plain track of borrowing money for 
 the annual supplies, where an affectation of 
 doing better than well, ended in disap- 
 pointment and disgrace. 
 
 Sir John Barnard was the Director, now 
 grown old, yet less debilitated in body than 
 in mind. He stole from a poor half- 
 witted
 
 ( 105 ) 
 
 witted zealot, Henriques, his gambling its?, 
 scheme of a guinea-lottery, and prevailed, 
 to establish in effect, a gaming-table in 
 every county, under the sanction of go- 
 vernment, which held the fallacious box ; 
 that unlaxed indigence might be gulled 
 into a contribution, when property only 
 should pay to the public. This lottery 
 consisted of a million of tickets; and out 
 of the million of guineas subscribed, 
 550,000/. was to remain with the govern- 
 ment, and 550,000/. in prizes among the 
 adventurers. The next, was a scheme of 
 raising 2,500,000/. by annuities for lives 
 with a benefit of survivorship. I declared 
 to the principal persons in power my utter 
 dislike, and even contempt, of both these 
 projects.* The lottery was kept open for 
 six or seven months, and was not half 
 filled at last. The sums subscribed to the 
 life-annuities did not exceed an eighth 
 part of the whole. 
 
 Fifty-five thousand seamen and marines, 
 49,749 landsmen for Great Britain, Guern- 
 
 * See Letters of Junius on Lord North's genius for 
 finance, Vol. i. p. 52, and Vol. ii. p. US.— Edit. 
 
 sey,
 
 ( 106 ) 
 
 1757. sey, and Jersey were voted, and proper 
 care taken to relieve the distressed Hano- 
 verians and Hessians, who were re-em- 
 barked for their own country in the spring 
 agreeably to the king's necessities and 
 original design. These were matters of 
 course; not one new measure of conse- 
 quence was accomplished by the new 
 ministry in parliament ; it is true, the ser- 
 vile majority was against them ; * their 
 leader, Mr. Pitt, a great part of the time 
 was restrained, by his indisposition, from 
 attending the House; it may be urged, 
 that from the certainty of losing every 
 question, nothing could be done by them; 
 but it is as certain that nothing of impor- 
 tance was attempted, but by Colonel 
 Townshend ; in those gallant attempts 
 Pitt should have been the principal, or 
 left a second part to him who was altoge- 
 ther pliant and subservient. He pressed 
 the militia in behalf of his country, Pitt 
 
 * Junius always speaks of the Parliament as possessing 
 a limited authority, Vol. i. p. *287, *289, 191, &c. and 
 censures its acts with the same freedom when the decision 
 of the majority was at variance with his opinion. — Edit. 
 
 espoused
 
 ( 107 ) 
 
 espoused it for the sake of popularity ; it nsr. 
 was contrived, however, to mortify its no- 
 ble parent by reducing the numbers to 
 about 30,000, not one half of the old bill, 
 and changing the training day from the 
 Sunday to the Monday, for which purpose 
 the bishops, and the cheap-bought tools 
 among the dissenting clergy, were effec- 
 tually employed, and for whose tender 
 consciences Mr. Pitt expressed a tender 
 concern. In fine, the bill passed modelled 
 to the sense and relish of such court syco- 
 phants as Hardwicke. — 
 
 The inquiry into the loss of Minorca 
 was begun, and prosecuted with equal ac- 
 tivity, diligence, and integrity by the same 
 gentleman, unassisted by any but Mr. 
 Waller and myself. I never left him, ex- 
 amined, and digested all the evidence for 
 him, and am a witness to his undiscouraged 
 assiduity in comparing my collection of 
 the evidence with his own, and with the 
 original documents, transcribing every 
 particular with their proper references in 
 his own hand, and imprinting in his mind 
 both method and matter; no Brief, though 
 
 less
 
 ( 108 ) 
 
 irsr. less comprehensive than his, was ever more 
 accurately arranged, and no pleader more 
 completely prepared. 
 
 This subject must be interrupted, as 
 some facts must be traced back, and anec- 
 dotes revealed, preparatory to the great 
 change which took place in the midst of 
 the sessions, and several days before the 
 opening of the inquiry. 
 
 The king's unalterable aversion to his 
 new servants was notorious, from the cold 
 and slighting reception he gave them on 
 their kissing his hand. Awed by the spi- 
 rit of Mr. Pitt, the King did not break 
 the forms of civility to him. To his 
 counsels he would grant a patient ear, but 
 his heart, still in the hands of others, was 
 unsusceptible of impression. Legge, who 
 had refused to sign the warrant for the 
 first quarter of the Hessian subsidy, and 
 Dr. Hay, who had formerly been made 
 King's advocate, but had frustrated the 
 Duke of Newcastle's expectations of him, 
 were both sinners not to be forgiven. 
 Earl Temple was the most hated of all : 
 he, against his own inclination, was put at 
 
 the
 
 ( 109 ) 
 
 the head of the Admiralty, and was 1757; 
 obliged to transact with the King and the 
 Duke of Cumberland all Pitt's business 
 during his frequent indispositions, which 
 rendered him incapable of personal atten- 
 dance. His life was truly intolerable. 
 His whole intercourse with the Duke of 
 Cumberland consisted in reiteration to ob- 
 tain for an American expedition the 
 troops, which, after so much difficulty, 
 were extorted at last, and were short of 
 the number proposed. In the cabinet, 
 whither this double duty of minister for< 
 the time, and at the head of the admiralty, 
 continually led him, he experienced no- 
 thing but insults and ill manners. Tem- 
 ple seldom failed to express a manly and 
 noble resentment on these occasions, and 
 thereby rendered himself the more ob-^ 
 noxious. His demeanour in office was 
 frank, ingenuous, unaftecting, and obliging 
 to all, whether applying for his favour, or 
 assisting him with advice and intelligence. 
 Thus stood the new administration at 
 court. 
 
 In the House of Commons the first who ,, 
 
 appeared
 
 ( no ) 
 
 mr. appeared against them were Fox and Lofd 
 Egmont. Soon after the meeting, when 
 Mr* Grenville had made a motion to quar- 
 ter the foreign troops during their stay in 
 England, these gentlemen took occasion 
 to inveigh against the measure of sending 
 such a force out of the country before 
 our own troops were complete. Gren- 
 ville, who supplied the place of Pitt, 
 made answer, that there was a necessity 
 for sending those troops back, intimating, 
 that they were wanted, by the king, 
 abroad. Lord Egmont, with a sneer, sig- 
 nified his wish, that no question might be 
 put, because he was unwilling that it 
 should go against the administration by a 
 great majority. It is certain if a motion 
 had been made to address his Majesty for 
 the further detention of the foreign forces, 
 it would have been carried against the ad- 
 ministration. For my own part, I wish it 
 had been made and carried, that the 
 House might have undergone the mortifi- 
 cation of the King's positive refusal. An- 
 other small opposition was formed to a 
 Very rational step of Mr. Pitt, the raising 
 
 two
 
 ( 111 ) 
 
 two regiments in the Highlands, and trans- irsr. 
 porting them to North America under the 
 command of Mr. Montgomery and the 
 master of Lovat, both men of character 
 here, and of interest in Scotland. The 
 Duke of Cumberland, who cared little for 
 America, threw all the obstacles he could 
 in the way, and when he could not succeed 
 in defeating the project, refused to give 
 the commanders the rank they were en- 
 titled to, and, instead of colonels-com- 
 mandant, would make them no more than 
 lieutenant-colonels. Montgomery told me 
 that the duke refused the assistance of 
 some old Serjeants and corporals to train 
 the men, and that a considerable time was 
 spent before their arms could be procured 
 from the Tower. 
 
 Not three months were now elapsed 
 since the meeting of parliament, when it 
 became apparent to the public, that the 
 complexion of the King, Lords, and Com- 
 mons, was so unfavourable to Mr. Pitt, 
 that he was understood by all to be only 
 a nominal minister without a grain of power, 
 which he confirmed in those very words 
 
 by
 
 { 11^ ) 
 
 1757. by a declaration in the House. His bodily 
 infirmities, together with these provoca- 
 tions, added peevishness to pride, and, 
 growing daily tnore inaccessible and re* 
 served, he rather lost than gained adhe* 
 rents. On one occasion he ran the hazard 
 of being deserted by all the country gen- 
 tlemen, hitherto his warmest friends, and 
 to whom he had made some court. 
 
 It was about the middle of February 
 when he had resolved to move for a vote 
 of 200,0001. to assist his Majesty in form- 
 ing an army of observation, &c., and to- 
 wards enabling him to fulfil his engage- 
 ment with the King of Prussia, &c.; thiS: 
 he determined -without condescending to 
 consult the countj-y first ; or even Colonel 
 Townshend. I chanced to visit that gen- 
 tleman on the eve of this intended motion. 
 I found him much disconcerted and dis- 
 pleased ; he told me this particular, and 
 that all his friends took it most unkindly 
 of Mr, Pitt. I soon perceived that the 
 word unkind was used in a sense much 
 stronger than its natural meaning. Mr. 
 Townshend added, that Mr. Pitt intended 
 
 to
 
 ' ( 113 ) 
 
 to postpone the militia, which was the or- iTsr. 
 der of the house the next day, to make 
 room for his motion. In fine it was pro- 
 bable, that an opposition would be made 
 by the disgusted country gentlemen. I 
 represenced to Mr. Townshend the misfor- 
 tune and weakness of destroying a whole 
 system, because Mr. Pitt had been inad- 
 vertent and peevish; I conjured him to 
 allow for his ill state of health and hasty 
 temper; that he would pay him a visit 
 the next morning, and use all his interest 
 to mollify his ill humours, which were 
 gathering. He replied, that he had ah'cady 
 discoursed with Legge and George Gren- 
 ville upon the subject, yet they seemed 
 afraid to talk with Pitt about it, and had 
 referred the task to him ; yet he did not 
 see that it was his affair more than theirs, 
 and that he would not undertake a thing 
 where he had no chance of success. He 
 protested that this was not the effect of 
 pride in himself; that he would run after 
 any man with a prospect of serving the 
 public, but in the present case the mis- 
 chief was done, and past his power to re- 
 trieve. Upon this I rose, took him by the 
 
 I hand,
 
 ( 114 ) 
 
 ^^^T. hand, and delivered myself thus : " My 
 dear Mr. Townshend, I have no further 
 arguments to use, but I will not quit this 
 house till you promise to follow my ad- 
 vice." To this he most obligingly replied, 
 *' I promise you I will merely because you 
 insist upon it, though I am still uncon- 
 vinced, and without hopes of doing any 
 thing." This accidental interview of mine 
 with Townshend prevented all the im- 
 pending mischief. He mollified Viner, 
 North ey. Sir Charles Mordaunt, and the 
 other country gentlemen ; the next morn- 
 ing, he saw Pitt, and was one of the mem- 
 bers who introduced him to the house: 
 his long fit of the gout, and his two re- 
 lapses, had prevented his taking his seat 
 there ever since it was vacated by his ac- 
 ceptance of the seals. Mr. Pitt's motion 
 passed nem. con. and old Viner himself 
 made him a compliment on the occasion. 
 It must be said, there never was a cheaper 
 Hanoverian bargain, and the most pala- 
 table too, as it included the interest, at 
 least the name, of the idolized King of 
 Prussia ; but that merit, so endearing to 
 Mr. Viner and his friends, served but to 
 
 weaken
 
 ( 115 ) 
 
 weaken Mr. Pitt still more with the court, ^757, 
 and its prostitute instruments, the two 
 houses of parliament.* The King was con- 
 vinced by long experience that any other 
 minister would have sacrificed much more 
 to the safety of Hanover. The court 
 members had constantly been lavish of 
 their sneers on Mr. Pitt's connection with 
 Tories and Jacobites. Mr. Fox, more 
 ably, on the 18th of February, the day of 
 Pitt's motion, reminded him of some pas- 
 sages in the last sessions, referring to the in- 
 consistency of his language then, and now, 
 on the subject of continental measures. 
 
 Mr. Fox now stepped from behind the Fox. 
 curtain, where he had been acting a con- 
 siderable part, supported by the Duke of 
 Cumberland, secretly encouraged by the 
 King, and animated by the apparent 
 decline of Mr. Pitt's popularity. That re- 
 markable instance of popular instability, 
 resulting from the fate of Admiral Byng, Ad. Byng. 
 renders the story of his trial and sentence 
 
 * " There is no act of arbitrary power which the King 
 might not attribute to necessity, and for which he would not 
 be secure of obtaining the approbation of his prostituted 
 Lords and Commons." — Junius, Vol. ii, p. 360,. — Edit. 
 
 I 2 necessary
 
 ( 116 ) 
 
 »^^7. necessary in this place. The inquiry itself^ 
 so impatiently demanded, was advisedly 
 suspended by Mr. Townshend, waiting the 
 issue of this trial, which was to unravel a 
 conduct so nearly connected with the loss 
 of Minorca. 
 
 On the 28th of December, the Court 
 Martial assembled on board the St, George, 
 in the harbour of Portsmouth; the prisoner 
 was tried under the 12th article of war, 
 which runs thus,: — :" Every person in the 
 fleet, who, through cowardice, negligence, 
 or disaffection, shall in time . of action 
 withdraw, or keep back, or not come into 
 the fight or engagement, or shall not do 
 his utmost to engage, take, or destroy 
 every ship, which it shall be his duty to 
 engage, and to assist and relieve all and 
 every one of his Majesty's ships, or those 
 of his allies, which it shall be his duty to 
 assist and relieve; every such person so 
 offending, and being convicted thereof by 
 the sentence of a Court Martial, shall 
 suffer death." Let unprejudiced minds 
 determine, whether the plain sense of this 
 article be not as follows: — 
 
 *' Every person keeping back in an en* 
 
 gagement
 
 ( 117 ) 
 
 gagement through cowardice, neghgence, i76r. 
 or disaifection, or under the circumstances 
 described, not doing his utmost through 
 cowardice, negligence, or disaifection, shall 
 suffer death/' Hence it is evident, that 
 no instance of misconduct, not proceeding 
 from those motives, is deemed a capital 
 crime by this article. That the Court 
 IVIartial understood the article, as compre- 
 hending error in judgment among the 
 number of capital offences, is evident be- 
 yond all controversy. By their 36th re- 
 i^olution, on the 28th of January, they 
 unanimously declare, that Admiral Byng 
 appears to fall under part of the 12th 
 article, to wit, " Or ^hall not do his utmost 
 to take, or destroy, Sic." Under these 
 words absolutely, without assigning any 
 motive whatever, they adjudged him to 
 die, by their sentence on the 28th. The 
 sentence then proceeds to an acquittal 
 from the charge of cowardice or disaffec- 
 tion, and passing over in silence the third 
 criminal motive, negligence, concludes 
 with an earnest recommendation to mercy. 
 The sentence is transmitted to the Lords 
 
 I 3 of
 
 ( 118 ) 
 
 1757; of the Admiralty, accompanied by a letter 
 unanimously setting forth " the distresses 
 of their minds, which they cannot help 
 laying before their Lordships on the oc- 
 casion, in finding themselves under the 
 necessity of condemning a man to death, 
 from the great severity of the 12th article 
 of war, which admits of no mitigation, 
 even if the crime should be committed by 
 an error in judgment only ; and, therefore, 
 for their own consciences' sake, as well as 
 in justice to the prisoner, they pray their 
 Lordships in the most earnest manner to 
 recommend Admiral Bying to his Ma- 
 jesty's clemency." What, but an unfeeling 
 Prince; Counsellors, criminal themselves; 
 and People, blind with womanish rage, 
 could impute to Earl Temple, as a most 
 unpardonable offence, his hesitation to 
 concur with a sentence like this, from 
 Judges, who unanimously declare the 
 person condemned to be undeserving of 
 his fate, illiterate, inconsistent, unappre- 
 hending judges, demonstrably such on the 
 evidence of their own words and decision I 
 Earl Temple lost not a moment in laying 
 
 this
 
 ( 119 ) 
 
 this strange sentence and epistle before 1757. 
 the King, who ordered the warrant for his 
 immediate execution ; and for his inflexi- 
 biUty was called an heroic Prince, by 
 subjects who had ever despised him before. 
 Every Commissioner of the Admiralty then 
 in town, Temple, Forbes, Hunter, and the 
 two civilians Hay and Elliot, demurred, 
 in eftect, refused to sign the warrant till 
 the opinion of the twelve Judges could be 
 obtained on the legality of the sentence. 
 Their opinion was obtained, and the sen- 
 tence declared legal by them all. 
 
 These transactions were nosoonerknown, 
 than the First Commissioner began to share 
 with the criminal himself in the public in- 
 dignation and fury. Temple assured me 
 in the most solemn manner, that the guilt 
 or innocence of Byng made no part of his 
 own consideration ; but, that the putting 
 any man to death under such a sentence, 
 accompanied by such a letter, without the 
 least revision, was a manifest violation of 
 justice, in which he would not tamely 
 concur, whatever the consequence might 
 prove to himself. In this he was sup- 
 
 I 4 ported
 
 ( 120 ) 
 
 irsT. ported by the opinions of the Attorney 
 and Solicitor General, by the Earls of 
 Westmoreland and Lord Stanhope, the 
 most unspotted of all the nobility ; by Sir 
 Francis Dash^vood and Mr. Waller, ad- 
 herents to the new Administration on 
 principle ; by the most considerable of its 
 adversaries hkewise. Lord Egmont, Sir 
 George Lee, Sir John Gust, and Mr. 
 Dodington, who all went so far, on a peru- 
 sal of the trial, as to pronounce the person 
 condemned innocent of any capital crime. 
 At length Sir Francis Dashwood, and Sir 
 John Gust, one a friend, and one an 
 enemy to the Ministry, mentioned their 
 difficulties in Parliament; on this occa- 
 sion Mr. Pitt, for the first time, delivered 
 his sentiments, without his accustomed 
 warmth, but in terms of moderation, de- 
 claring his desire, that mere justice might 
 be done, which he thought would suffer, if 
 so inconsistent and preposterous a sentence 
 should take place without any further ex- 
 amination. This modest use of a privilege 
 common to all, thinking for himself, and 
 thus producing his thoughts, at once threw 
 
 down
 
 ( 12T ) 
 
 down the image of public adoration, pol- 1757. 
 luted and defaced by the despicable 
 hands which had raised it : Pitt became 
 hateful to the people of Great Britain, 
 like Anson, like Fox, or Byng.* 
 
 The late contrition of some of By n'g's 
 judges, Mr. Keppel in particular, his sig- 
 nifying in Parliament a desire to be ab- 
 solved from his oath of secrecy, a Bill 
 passed by the Commons for that purpose; 
 and rejected by the Lords, predetermined 
 to wash away, if possible, the stains of the 
 old Administration by the blood of an in-~ 
 significant victim, together with the absurd 
 and inconsistent behaviour of Keppel 
 himself, and others of the Court Martial 
 at the bar of the Lords, are incidents 
 which scarcely deserve the slight mention 
 already made. The \^hole concluded in 
 the criminal's execution. His trial is in 
 
 * The sltuatioi; of parties respecting Admiral Byng is 
 thus described by Lord Chesterfield. 
 
 " Byng is reprieved for a fortnight; what will become 
 of him at last God knows : for the late Admiralty want to 
 shoot him, to excuse themselves; and the present Ad- 
 miralty want to save him, in order to lay the blame upon 
 their predecessors." — Edit. 
 
 print
 
 ( 122 ) 
 
 1757. print. Whether it furnishes evidence to 
 prove the cowardice of v/hich he stands ac- 
 quitted in his sentence, or the neghgence 
 for which he is condenuied by implication, 
 or whether his not having done his utmost, 
 simply and independently of any criminal 
 motive assigned, be a capital offence 
 existing in the law, or merely in the empty 
 heads of his judges, are points which I 
 leave to the decision of unprejudiced pos- 
 terity. 
 
 'On the l4th of March Byng was shot, 
 memorable only in his fall ; innocent or 
 guilty, equally the occasion of dishonour 
 to his countrymen ; whether we consider 
 theirintemperate rage, artificially fomented 
 by the more guilty against him, unheard 
 and untried, or their more unmanly and 
 petulant levity towards Pitt, for an act of 
 moderation untinctured with selfishness, 
 and wearing the aspect at least of justice 
 and humanity. It is to shew so strong an 
 instance of a fickle and worthless people, 
 that I have dwelt so long on this subject. 
 Mr. Pitt was deemed impolitic by many, 
 ivho, ignorant of the intrigues at Court, 
 
 imputed
 
 ( 1^3 ) 
 
 imputed his speedy dismission from em* 1757. 
 plojment, in a great measure, to his con- 
 duct on this occasion, which, disgusting 
 his friends, the people, had encouraged the 
 King and the Cabinet cabal to deprive 
 him of his high office. On the contrary, 
 his nearest friends for two months before, 
 seeing the impracticability of any un- 
 dertaking for the public, wished him and 
 his party out of the Administration, and 
 were quickly satisfied, that their wish was 
 every day growing nearer its accomplish- 
 ment, from the King^s own disposition, 
 and the perseverance of the Duke of Cum- 
 berland, to form a ministry of his own. 
 A decisive opportunity presented itself to 
 the Duke: being ordered by the King to 
 embark for Germany, and command the 
 Army of Observation there, he made a 
 difficulty of complying, unless he left 
 behind him an Administration well in- 
 clined to his person and measures : his 
 father most readily consented, and by the 
 5th of April, the day that Mr. Pitt, by the 
 King's command, resigned the seals, (the 
 Duke departed for Harwich the 9th,) this 
 
 new
 
 ( 1^4 ) 
 
 i^'^^ new and once popular ministry was no 
 more. 
 
 The instant Mr. Pitt was removed, he 
 became more popular than before. The 
 freedom of London was presented to him 
 and Mr. Legge, a compliment seconded 
 by most of the great corporations in 
 England ; the crime of screening Byng 
 was at once buried in oblivion ; invective 
 was changed into applause ; even the ex- 
 ploded Duke of Newcastle was invited by 
 the public to unite with Pitt, and compel 
 the King, perplexed and confounded at 
 this reflux of Pitt's popularity, to replace 
 him in the full possession of power. 
 
 Truly deserving of censure from a well- 
 advised and impartial nation, was the cold 
 countenance Pitt had given to the Militia, 
 and his inactivity and negligence in pro- 
 secuting the inquiry. Should it be asked, 
 why the spirit and activity of Mr. Town- 
 shend delayed to open that interesting 
 transaction till the 25th of April, full six 
 weeks after the determination of Byng's 
 destiny, 1 can from my own knowledge 
 reply, that Mr. Townshend's original re- 
 solution
 
 ( 125 ) 
 
 Solution was, to leave the time, method, irsr, 
 and direction, to Mr. Pitt; and purposing 
 himself to act a subordinate part, was 
 content to see the glory engrossed by one 
 man, on whom the success confessedly 
 depended, provided justice could be ob- 
 tained for his country. Mr. Townshend's 
 anxiety at this suspense, and the universal 
 propensity, in this important crisis, to a 
 coalition with the Duke of Newcastle, 
 induced me to wait upon Mr. Pitt himself, 
 without reserve or partiality, to deliver 
 my sentiments on the public situation and 
 his own, and expecting a return of candour, 
 in consequence of his many intimations 
 conveyed through Lord Temple and others, 
 of an earnest desire to see me, I made him 
 two visits within a few days after his resig- 
 nation. Our conversation and demeanour 
 were suitable to the intimacy and friend- 
 ship which had commenced with ouryouth, 
 and subsisted for no inconsiderable part 
 of our lives. 
 
 The neglect and indifference on my side 
 for the last twelve years, seemed to have 
 made no impression upon him, and the 
 
 remem-
 
 ( 126 ) 
 
 i76r. remembrance of his frailties, which had 
 created my former disgust, was lost in the 
 expectation, which all men conceived from 
 his altered principles and conduct. The 
 substance of our conferences may be re- 
 duced to the following heads : 
 
 He frankly disclosed, under my promise 
 of secrecy, the most material occurrences 
 between him and the King, who most ap- 
 parently had never reposed the least con- 
 fidence in him ; yet awed by his spirit and 
 popular name, had treated him with a ci- 
 vil, though inflexible reserve. He asked 
 me in what manner I would advise him to 
 word his answer to the City of London^ 
 upon the compliment they intended to 
 make him of his freedom.* I advised him 
 to be very general in his expressions, and 
 to retain in his private thoughts as little re- 
 gard to their presentapprobation,as he had 
 done^to their censure in the case of Byng ; 
 to form, as an honest man, the best opi- 
 nions he was able, and ever keep in re- 
 membrance, that 
 
 * See Mr. Pitt's answer at the end, 
 
 Justum
 
 ( 127 ) 
 
 J ustum ettenacem propositi virum 1757. 
 
 Non civium ardor prava jubentium, 
 Non vultus instantis tyranni, 
 Mente quatit solida, 
 
 That his greatest trial was immediate ; all 
 orders and conditions of men were now 
 united in one cry for a coalition between 
 him and the Duke of Newcastle, whose 
 instability, treachery, timidity, and ser- 
 vile devotion to the King, were indispu- 
 tably known; and to whom, interposed 
 Mr. Pitt, all our public 1 misfortunes are 
 more imputable than to any other man. 
 But what must be done ? we are now in 
 the most desperate and flagitious hands, 
 capable of any violence. The Duke of 
 Cumberland would not hesitate to silence 
 the complaints of an aggrieved people by 
 a regiment of the Guards, a measure which 
 Fox would as little scruple to advise ; I 
 grant them, said I, to be the heads of a 
 Catilinarian band ; but will your union 
 with Newcastle prevent the mischief? Do 
 not imagine, replied he, that I can be in- 
 duced to unite with him, unless sure of 
 power ; I mean power over public mea- 
 sures :
 
 ( 1528 ) 
 
 175T. sures: the disposition of offices, except 
 the few efficient ones of Administration, 
 the creating Deans, Bishops, and every 
 placeman besides, is quite out of my plan, 
 and which I willingly would relinquish to 
 the Duke of Newcastle. Give me leave, 
 said I, to suppose you united in Adminis- 
 tration with him ; then let us consider the 
 part which he (admitting him to be sin- 
 cere) will have to act. You have no com- 
 mand in either House of Parliament, and 
 have experienced the personal dislike of 
 the King. You must depend altogether 
 on the Duke of Newcastle for a majority 
 ia Parliament, and on his fighting your 
 battles in th^ closet; and, to speak plain- 
 ly, using his efibrts to alienate a father from 
 a, favoured son, who is your declared 
 enemy; ' -.'('' 
 
 '- Supposing Newcastle sincere, is his com- 
 position stern enough for such encoun- 
 ters } But, kiKiwing him false, selfish, and 
 insatiable of power, v.^ill he not rather 
 hiake his own wayj and re-establish him- 
 self in the King's favour by every servile 
 gratification of his will ? Then shall I be 
 'i»'' '■ grieved
 
 { 129 ) 
 
 grieved to see you, the first man in Great i^^r. 
 Britain, at this juncture, become a sub- 
 altern to the lowest. Sir, you are governed 
 by a noble principle, the love of fame ; do 
 not hazard that glorious acquisition on such 
 precarious ground. As you are the only 
 object in the nation's eye, every wrong 
 measure, every miscarriage will be impu- 
 ted to you. You may say you can but 
 quit your situation again : true; but are 
 you sure of returning to the same situation 
 of character and importance which you 
 now possess } Necessity brought you in, 
 the last time ; you soon found there was no ' 
 raisino; an edifice without materials : the 
 materials cannot exist, till calamity has 
 utterly changed the temper, manners, and 
 principles of the whole nation. Calamity, 
 perhaps, is not very distant from us : when 
 you can command your materials, and ne- 
 cessity puts the power in your hands, then 
 resume your task. To conclude, I mean, 
 that with such a coadjutor as Newcastle, 
 and with such a House of Commons, it is 
 impossible for an honest man to serve this 
 country : and I am satisfied, that your 
 
 K niag-
 
 ( 130 ) 
 
 1757. magnanimity, experience, and discern- 
 ment, must see this coalition in a worse 
 light than 1 am capable of representing it. 
 After all, Sir, if you must yield to the 
 pressure of all your friends, and the whole 
 public, soliciting and clamouring for this 
 measure, remember, I compare you to 
 Curtius, whose courage I should have ad-^ 
 mired when he leapt into the gulph ; 
 though, as his friend, I never would have 
 counselled him to take that leap. I then 
 took occasion to pass some compliments 
 upon him, which, together with my prece- 
 ding discourse, drew this answer: 
 
 I am quite happy in the good opinion 
 you entertain of your old acquaintance. 
 Let me assure you that 1 have drawn a line, 
 which I will not pass : so far, perhaps, I 
 may be driven, but beyond it — never. I 
 then wound up the conversation with re- 
 minding him of the inquiry and the mili* 
 tia : the first, then pending in the House ' 
 of Commons, I took for granted he would 
 prosecute with vigour ; and just hinted, 
 that at all events it was highly material for 
 him not to omit so fair an opportunity of 
 
 evincing
 
 ( 131 ) 
 
 evincing to mankind the utter incapacity i75r. 
 of his predecessors in Administration. He 
 seemed struck with the thought, and gave 
 me assurances that he would take his part 
 in that inquiry ; but at the same time, I 
 perceived, he did not mean to go any great 
 leni^ths ; that is, would content himself 
 with shewing the incapacity, &c. without 
 insisting too earnestly on either punish- 
 ment or censure. 
 
 The militia was at this time in the House 
 of Lords. The training day, a most es- 
 sential part, Mr. Pitt had consented to 
 alter from Sunday to Monday; but the 
 number still stood for 67,000 men, which 
 it was apprehended tlie Lords would re- 
 duce to 30,000. U pon this subject I spoke 
 as follows : If a coalition must take place, 
 the Duke of Newcastle has it now in his 
 power to give a proof of his sincerity. Let 
 him pass the Militia Bill in its present 
 shape, 1 would then consent to treat with 
 him. Leaving this to his consideration, I 
 rose to depart. He followed and took me 
 by the hand, and in the most solemn phrase 
 repeated his former assurances. To this 
 
 K 2 decla-
 
 ( 132 ) 
 
 1757. declaration of prescribing certain limits to 
 his conduct, I gave two interpretations ; 
 one in a loose and general sense, that he 
 would not embark in any foreign measures 
 to the prejudice of this coinitry ; the other, 
 in a particular sense, that in all events he 
 would ever withhold his consent from the 
 sending of British troops to Germany. 
 
 This interview was on the 9th of April, 
 1757, the 25th was the day fixed for open- 
 ing the inquiry. During the interval Mr. 
 Pitt was indisposed, and desired Mr. 
 Townshend to procure a previous meeting 
 at his house of the principal members, to 
 settle the several resolutions that should be 
 moved in Parliament. 
 
 It was not till the 23d, on the Saturday 
 night preceding the Monday morning, the 
 day appointed for this long expected and 
 important affair, that Mr. Townshend could 
 obtain the meeting. As an instance of 
 their tardy and lukewarm proceeding, he 
 shewed me a letter from a principal gen- 
 tleman of the number, where he excused 
 himself from attending, on account of a 
 prior and indispensable engagement. Mr. 
 
 Townshend,
 
 ( 133 ) 
 
 Townshend, highly provoked, sent him so i75r. 
 spirited an answer, as obliged him to break 
 his engagement, and appear. I was the 
 only man out of Parliament who was ad- 
 mitted, and made a malicious discovery, 
 that this great man's engagement amount- 
 ed to no more than a promise of waiting on 
 some ladies to the Play. Sixteen members 
 of Parliament were present. Mr. George 
 Grenville seemed to have taken some pains. 
 The evidence had been already digested 
 and methodized by Mr. Townshend. The 
 design of the meeting was to draw up the 
 necessary resolutions, which for want of 
 time, and through the apparent indifterence 
 of most present, were very imperfect, I 
 prevailed on them to reassemblq on the 
 Sunday evening, when, at two in the 
 morning, the most material resolution of 
 any, after a tedious and indecisive debate, 
 was left for me to prepare ; which, through 
 mere lassitude and waste of spirits, I was 
 incapable of performing: consequently no 
 resolution on that head was provided at 
 all. It related to an invasion, which 
 might have been proved, from undoubted 
 
 o 
 
 K ^ intelligence
 
 ( 134 ) 
 
 1757. intelligence then before the House, to have 
 been founded on the most trilling and ab- 
 surd reports ; and, that the most rational 
 and best-grounded part of the Govern- 
 ment's advices asserted the contrary. 
 
 The ministerial side took advantage of 
 our neglect, as appears by the first resolu- 
 tion of the committee on the 3d of May, 
 on which day the whole was brought to a 
 conclusion. 
 
 First, *' It appears to this committee, 
 that his Majest}^ from the 27th of August, 
 17 o5, to the 20th of April, 1756? received 
 such repeated and concurrent intelligence 
 as gave just reason to believe, that the 
 French King intended to invade his Ma- 
 jesty's dominions of Great Britain or Ire- 
 land." 
 
 Another resolution was as follows:— 
 " That on the 1st of April, 1756', there 
 were twenty-seven of his Majesty's ships 
 of the line cruizing on the following servi- 
 ces, that is to say, fourteen ships of the 
 line cruizing between Brest and Rochefort, 
 under the command of Sir Edward Hawke; 
 five more of the line, ordered under the 
 
 command
 
 ( 135 ) 
 
 command of Admiral Holbourne, to join nsr. 
 Sir Edward Hawke ; one between Cape 
 Clear and Scilly, one between Scilly and 
 Ushant, two off tiie Isle of Bass, one off 
 Cape Barlleur, two in the Downs under 
 the command of Admiral Smith, and one 
 at Cork ; and twenty-eight ships of the 
 line in commission at home, that is to say, 
 seventeen fitted for sea; ten fitting, and 
 one in harbour service ; all which were ex- 
 clusive of the squadron under the com- 
 mand of Admiral Byng, then under orders 
 to sail for the Mediterranean ; and that 
 the complement of the said twenty-eight 
 ships of the line at home, amounted to 
 14,640 men ; and that there were borne on 
 the said ships-books 9891 nien, and 7^^49 
 mustered/' 
 
 The next resolution shews, that at the 
 same time there were forty-five frigates, 
 sloops, and armed vessels, nearly in the 
 same stations as above; and seventeen 
 more fitted or fitting at home, which did 
 not want more than two-fifths of their com- 
 plement. It must be observed, that ad- 
 mitting the design of an invasion, a few 
 
 K 4 more
 
 ( 136 ) 
 
 175T. more ships might have been spared for the 
 Mediterranean. 
 
 The number and force of the French 
 fleet, their design upon Minorca, and the 
 timely intelligence thereof, were facts as- 
 certained by other resolutions ; and likcr 
 wise, that the garrison in Fort St. Philip 
 amounted to no more than 2860, officers 
 included ; that thirty-five military officers 
 were absent from their duty, including the 
 Governor and Commander in Chief of the 
 Island, the Governor of Fort St. Philip, 
 and the Colonels of the four regiments 
 there : the committee, notwithstanding all 
 which is related above, concluded with 
 the following resolution ; 
 
 " That the squadron of his Majesty's 
 ships in the Mediterranean, in the month 
 of December, 1755, consisted of one ship 
 of sixty guns, two of fifty guns, four fri- 
 gates, and one sloop ; and that the garri- 
 son of Fort St. Philip, in the said month 
 of December, according to the last re- 
 turns, made the 31st July, 1755, consist- 
 ed of 2860, (officers included ;) and that 
 it doth appear, that no greater number of 
 
 ships
 
 ( isr ) 
 
 ships of war could be sent to the Med iter- *'^7. 
 ranean, than were sent on the 6th of April, 
 1756, nor any greater reinforcement than 
 the regiment which was sent, and the de- 
 tachment equal to a battalion, which was 
 ordered (vi^. from Gibraltar) to the re- 
 lief of Fort St. Philip, consistently with the 
 state of the navy, j^nd the various services 
 essential to the safety of his Majesty's do- 
 minions, and the interest of his subjects/' 
 
 During these several long debates on 
 this subject, Mr. Pitt spoke with vehe- 
 mence, and directed his invective against 
 Lord Anson, the late First Commissione 
 of the Admiralty. Colonel Towhshend ac- 
 quitted himself with great temper, cool- 
 ness, and ability i and my worthy friend, 
 Mr. Samuel Martin, late Secretary to the 
 Treasury, was distinguished above all for 
 the best digested speech delivered on the 
 occasion; and with a degree of integrity 
 which no one could equal but Townshend 
 himself. 
 
 In two or three days after the 3d of 
 May, the period of the' inquiry, I had the 
 honour of a second interview with Mr. 
 
 Pitt,
 
 ( 138 ) 
 
 itoT. Pitt. Our converstition principally turned 
 on the same topics as before, a coalition 
 with the Duke of Newcastle. I repeated 
 and enforced all my arguments against it 
 He heard me with attention, shewed much 
 regard, and some acquiescence, seemingly 
 so at least, possibly, at the instant, real 
 and sincere. At length he assured me, 
 that no consideration should induce him 
 to close with the measure, unless the Duke 
 of Newcastle would pledge himself, and 
 • his whole party, in the hands of the Prince 
 of Wales. Hence it Avas evident, that 
 Leicester-house was an additional pressure 
 on Mr. Pitt. 
 
 Between this time and the 19th of May, 
 a negociation was carried on, frequently 
 broke off, frequently renewed. I had ob- 
 served, in my last visit to Mr. Pitt, that 
 he spoke of Mr. Legge with some indiffe- 
 rence, and took notice with a tone and as- 
 pect of censure, that he had been silent 
 during all the debates on the inquiry : 
 Legge, to my knowledge on that subject, 
 had been very cool and inattentive; and 
 one morning in particular, at Lord Tem- 
 ple's
 
 ( 139 ) 
 
 pie's house, he expressed a wish that the i^s?. 
 inquiry might not be prosecuted, alleging, 
 that while it remained unexplored, the 
 odium would be more permanent on the 
 authors of our disgraces at Minorca, than, 
 if they should be exculpated in the resolu- 
 tions of the committee, of which he made 
 no doubt, and perhaps stand approved, 
 either through the want of evidence, . or by 
 parliamentary partiality. I will not affirm, 
 whether this reasonino- was or was not the 
 result of an opinion unbiassed and disinte-- 
 rested ; he was certainly justified in some 
 measure by the event. 
 
 1 remember I answered him, that hav- 
 ing perused the evidence with some care, 
 I could venture to assert, that negligence, 
 ignorance, and incapacity, could be made 
 apparent ; that an inquiry had been so- 
 lemnly promised to the public, was ex- 
 pected, and could not be dispensed with ; 
 to this he readily acquiesced, and declared 
 his satisfaction on my report of the evi- 
 dence. This passed about ten days before 
 the meetings at Townshend's house, where 
 it was notorious, that Legge took no part, 
 
 either
 
 ( 140 ) 
 
 ifbr. either through indolence, despair of suc- 
 cess, or the apprehension of rendering a 
 coahtion more difficult. The last proba- 
 bly was no small motive to this behaviour; 
 a suspicion appearing but too well ground- 
 ed from the following anecdote, known to 
 few besides myself, and fully explanatory 
 of Mr. Pitt's indifference and haughtiness 
 towards Legge. It is certain that the lat- 
 ter, without the other's privity, went singly 
 to the Duke of Newcastle, while the nego- 
 ciation for a coalition was pending with 
 Pitt, who, for a considerable time, had 
 treated the Duke with the utmost stiffness 
 and reserve; a conduct extremely neces- 
 sary, and which was not a little discon- 
 certed by Legge's forwardness to negociate 
 by himself. I was first apprised of this 
 incident by Lord Temple; but as Mr. 
 Legge afterwards very candidly related the 
 whole to me himself, I shall defer giving 
 any conclusive judgment, till the order of 
 tiftie shall introduce his own narration in 
 its due place. 
 
 The public were perpetually arhused with 
 reports about this coalition ; one day it 
 : ' ' I " was
 
 ( l-il ) 
 
 Was said to be concluded, another day to 1757. 
 be more distant than ever. In the mean 
 time no Administration was formed. Fox, 
 indeed^ had the dexterity to procm'e for 
 the lives of himself and his two sons, the 
 reversion of Dodino;ton's office of the Pells 
 in Ireland, a sinecure worth upwards of 
 2000/. a year; but did not dare, perhaps 
 cunningly did not choose, to accept imme- 
 diately of any high office in 'England. 
 Not one of the vacancies was filled up, 
 except in the Admiralty; a department 
 whose operations in time of war cannot be 
 suspended. 
 
 Lord Temple, who had received to his i^d.Xem- 
 
 , . 1 , , - - ' - „ pie. 
 
 care a sickly and shattered navy from 
 Lord Anson, left it in a promising condi- 
 tion when he was dismissed from his post;* 
 a situation he had accepted with reluc- 
 tance; and afterthe exertion of unimpeach- 
 ed fidelity, diligence, and honour, most 
 cheerfully relinquished it to a temporary 
 successor, the Earl of Winchelsea. 
 
 No successors were appointed to Mr. 
 
 * Lord Temple was appointed.to the. Admiralty April 
 6, 1757, andresignedin the following June.' — Edit. 
 
 " ' " ' ' Pitt,
 
 ( 142 ) 
 
 1757. Pitt, Mr. Leggc, and Mr. Greiiville ; and 
 the Duke of Devonshire, the head of the 
 Treasury, had declared his intention to 
 resign, as soon as ail the monej should be 
 provided for his Majesty's service. The 
 19th of May was to finish that work, as a 
 demand of a vote of credit for a million 
 was then laid before the House. Mr. Pitt 
 on this motion declared, that, while he 
 was in his Majesty's service, he was given 
 to understand, that no farther sum would 
 be required for the service of the Conti- 
 nent, than the 200,000/. granted for that 
 purpose in February last, and proposed an 
 amendment to the present motion. The 
 amendment limited the application of the 
 vote of credit to British services only, ex- 
 cepting a small portion, which he agreed 
 might be given to the Hessian troops un- 
 der the head of forage, in consideration of 
 the scarcity and unexpected rise in the 
 price of that article. He laid down an 
 absolute position, that Great Britain should 
 be no otherwise concerned upon the Con- 
 tinent, than in keeping the war alive there 
 in a defensive manner ; that her oftensive 
 -i* efforts
 
 ( 143 ) 
 
 efforts should be confined to the sea and 1757. 
 North America : this was opposed by Lord / 
 
 Egniont and Sir George Lee, both decla- 
 ring without reserve, that this nation ought 
 to engage on the Continent in operations 
 of the utmost extent; and that all others 
 had been proved by recent experience to 
 be uncertain and ineffectual. However, 
 th6re was no division on the question, 
 which was carried in its original words. 
 
 After the House was up I joined several 
 of Pitt's friends ; and having been inform- 
 ed, that all treaty with the Duke of New- 
 castle had been broken ofi' two or three 
 days before, I gave them my congratula- 
 tions on the event, and received this reply 
 from Mr. George Grenville. " Have you 
 not observed from what passed to-day, 
 what rotten ground we must have stood 
 upon ? You see, that no coalition could 
 take place without our plunging into every 
 Hanoverian measure." This was on the 
 19th of May ; yet, the negociation be- 
 tween Pitt and Newcastle was revived be- 
 tween that day and the 27th, and vanish- 
 ed again on Pitt's insisting to create George 
 
 Grenville
 
 ( 144 ) 
 
 4757. Grenville Cliancellor of the Exchequer in 
 preference to Legge. 
 
 On the 27th I dined at Sir Francis Dash- 
 wood's with Legge : the two Townshends, 
 Samuel Martin, and others ; that day s'en- 
 nisht we were all entertained by Mr. 
 Lecrse; and then it was universally under- 
 stood, that every hope of a coalition was 
 utterly annihilated, to the visible mortifi- 
 cation of most in company. The part I 
 took was to wish them all joy ; which I 
 did most cordially : at the same time, in 
 the presence of Legge and Martin, after 
 the meeting broke up> I freely declared 
 to Grenville my entire disapprobation of 
 Pitt's conduct ; first, in negociating at all; 
 lastly, in resting the coalition on a mere 
 personal point. This circumstance was 
 artfully turned to Mr. Pitt's disadvantage, 
 by the Duke of Newcastle, ever dexterous 
 at these interested transactions, and no 
 others. By his solemn protestations, that 
 no difference had arisen between him and 
 Pitt on the subject of public measures, but 
 merely on the nomination of a Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer^ he misled Colonel 
 
 Town-
 
 ( 145 ) 
 
 Townshend and all the country gentlemen 1757. 
 into a disapprobation, if not a dislike, of 
 Mr. Pitt. I plainly perceived in many of 
 them, that this disgust proceeded from 
 some disappointment in the hopes they 
 had conceived of obtaining employments 
 by means of a coalition. Another inci- 
 dent, hinted at already, Mr. Legge's sto- 
 len interview with the Duke, gave that old 
 and cunning courtier another advantage, 
 of which he made an effectual use with 
 those who were ready to embrace any pre- 
 tence of coming again into office. In fine, 
 the coalition took place, and Lord Hard- 
 wicke at that juncture appeared once more 
 a principal character on the political 
 stage. 
 
 It was on the 27th or 28th of June, that. 
 I waited on my friend Mr. Samuel Mar- 
 tin. Mr. Legge came into the room, and 
 with the aspect of a man sinking under 
 self-condemnation and despair, burst into 
 the following exclamation—" AVell, I must 
 go into office again ; I have accepted the 
 Chancellorship of the Exchequer under 
 that false and perfidious Duke of Newcas- 
 
 L tie/'
 
 ( X40- ) 
 
 t75r. tie." Upon this he drew out a paper, 
 where he had committed to writinor all 
 which had passed at that ill-judged inter- 
 view between himself and the Duke. 
 
 It appeared to me that the principal er- 
 ror consisted in his having taken that step 
 without the privity of any one friend. He 
 had not made any concession to the detri- 
 ment of his country, or his party ; his de- 
 claration against Fox was contained in the 
 following allusion : " The scum isnow risen 
 to the top of the pot; if your Grace will 
 lend us your skimmer we will take it all 
 off." This meeting was held under the 
 most sacred promise of mutual secrecy. 
 After it was over, and when it was too late 
 for advice, he communicated the transac- 
 tion to his friend Martin, who immediately 
 blamed his indiscretion, and so counselled 
 him to lose not a moment in representing 
 the truth to Mr. Pitt, as the only repara- 
 tion which was left in his power to make. 
 Legge assented at once, then starting up, 
 recollected that he had pledged his honour 
 to the Duke not to divulge a tittle; and 
 
 half
 
 ( U7 ) 
 
 half out of his senses ran from Martin's itor. 
 chamber. 
 
 The Duke was not so punctilious. 
 Within an hour after Legge had quitted 
 him, he put all his treacherous arts in prac- 
 tice, by imparting the whole to his instru- 
 ment Stone, the busy, intriguing Primate 
 of Ireland, who authorized, nay, enjoined 
 by the Duke, took the first opportunity of 
 informing Pitt. 
 
 Not many days following, I had an in- 
 timation of it from Lord Temple, who 
 closed his discourse by saying, " there is a 
 difference between a wholesale grocer and 
 a retail one ;" alluding to the Grocer's 
 Company, of which Pitt and Legge had 
 lately been made members. Mr. Legge 
 by this proceeding undoubtedly furnished 
 just cause of suspicion, that he meant to 
 undermine or get the start of Pitt. I ra- 
 ther impute the whole to mere eagerness, 
 which is generally productive of impru- 
 dence and rashness ; and I am the more in- 
 clined to this, the most favourable con- 
 struction, from the affecting relation, which 
 Martin, the sincerest of mankind and 
 
 L 2 strictest
 
 ( 148 ) 
 
 i75r. strictest observer of truth, gave me of 
 Legge's misery at this irretrievable act of 
 absurdity. For many mornings succes- 
 sively he would come into Martin's bed- 
 chamber before he was up, and roll upon 
 the floor like a man tortured with bodily 
 pain, and vent expressions of compunction 
 little short of phrensy. During my visit at 
 Martin's, I had observed such real dis- 
 tress in Mr. Legge's countenance and be* 
 haviour, that I not only then administered 
 to him every argument of consolation, but 
 wrote the next day a letter to Martin, in 
 which, taking notice of Mr. Legge's in- 
 tended departure from town, I expressed 
 the utmost concern at the distracted tem- 
 per of mind which that gentleman would 
 carry with him into the country. Mr. 
 Martin's answer is so explanatory of all 
 which I have already related, that I think 
 it material to insert it here, and to shew 
 at the same time the good sense and sin- 
 cerity of the writer. 
 
 " Dear Glover,^ 
 
 *' It is very true, that the gentle- 
 man
 
 ( 149 ) 
 
 xjian you mention did go out of town much i^sr. 
 dissatisfied and uneasy at the part which 
 he thought himself bound to take ; but this 
 part was the acceptance, not the refusal 
 of office. The indiscretion he had com- 
 jnitted in having a secret interview with 
 the Duke of Newcastle, (although the sub- 
 ject matter was perfectly pure and blame- 
 less,) had given his friends a handle to im- 
 pute to him the high terms which the Duke 
 (jemanded for himself; and the gentle^ 
 man suspected in his own mind, that the 
 step he had made might have conduced 
 in some degree to inspire his Grace with 
 that confidence. From hence he looked 
 upon it to be a point of honour due to his 
 friends, not to disorder their system by 
 withdrawing himself from it; which other- 
 wise he had certainly done for several rea- 
 sons, some of a private and personal na- 
 ture. I think the time is not far off, Avhen 
 he and some others of my friends will set 
 themselves right in the world's regard. I 
 suppose, the state of things is well known 
 to you by this time; and therefore I need 
 not trouble you or myself with an history 
 
 L 3 of
 
 ( 150 ) 
 
 17S7. of particulars. I am, dear Glover, what- 
 ever may be the fate of this or that politi- 
 cal man, faithfully and sincerely your's, 
 
 *' Samuel Martin/* 
 
 Mr. Pitt, at this juncture, appears to 
 have stood almost single, deserted by the 
 country gentlemen, declining in popula- 
 rity, and disunited with Legge ; his only 
 foundation was Leicester-house, and his 
 principal hope of a coalition at last rested 
 on the Duke of Newcastle's horror of Fox. 
 In the midst of their mutual perplexity. 
 Lord Hardvvicke interposes with his speci- 
 ous and artful assistance ; by the 29th of 
 June a new Administration is formed : the 
 seals are redelivered to Pitt without any 
 reality of power; Newcastle becomes head 
 of the Treasury, reserving to himself the 
 disposal of all offices ; Legge, Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer, without the least weight 
 or influence at the board ; Hardvvicke re- 
 l^laces his unpopular and obnoxious son- 
 in-law, Lord Anson, in the Admiralty ; 
 and Fox, whose prudent refusal of any 
 powerful office in the ministry, not a little 
 
 contributed
 
 ( 151 ) 
 
 contributed to this final settlement, had 1757. 
 interest enough with the King to obtain 
 the paymastership of the arm}', a lucra- 
 tive employment, accountable in its own 
 department singly, and in no phrase in- 
 volved with the general Administration. 
 Temple is created Lord Priv3' Seal, his 
 brother George remains Treasurer of the 
 Navy; Charles Townshend, affecting the 
 highest discontent, continues Treasurer of 
 the Chambers : Sir Robert Henley is made 
 Lord Keeper; Mr. Pratt, Attorney Gene- 
 ral; Lord Plardwicke's third son, Mr. 
 York, Solicitor ; and himself, though out 
 of employment, possesses the confidence 
 of the King, and is equally courted by 
 Newcastle and Pitt : the scene closes with 
 the retreat of Colonel Townshend and the 
 country gentlemen from London, all dis- 
 gusted, some from generous, most from in- 
 terested motives. 
 
 I close this subject with one remark. D.ofNew- 
 The Dukeof Newcastle was a man of whom 
 no one ever spoke with cordial regard, of 
 parts and conduct which generally drew 
 animadversions bordering on contempt, of 
 
 L 4 notorious
 
 ( 152 ) 
 
 1757. notorious insincerity, political cowardice, 
 and servility to the highest and the low- 
 est; yet, insincere without gall, ambitious 
 without pride, luxurious, jovial, hospitable 
 to all men, of an exorbitant estate, affa- 
 ble, forgetful of offences, and profuse of 
 his favours indiscriminately to all his ad- 
 herents ; he had established a faction by 
 far the most powerful in this country : 
 hence he derived that influence which en- 
 couraged his unworthy pretensions to mi- 
 nisterial power ; nor was he less indebted 
 to his experience of a Court, a long prac- 
 tice in all its craft, whence he had ac- 
 quired a certain art of imposition, that in 
 every negociation with the most distin- 
 guished popular leaders, however superior 
 to himself in understanding, from the in- 
 stant they began to depart from ingenu- 
 ous and public principles, he never missed 
 his advantage, nor failed of making them 
 his property at last, and himself their 
 master. Lord Cobham, Chesterfield, the 
 Duke of Bedford, Pitt, and others, found 
 him so in 1743, when he took them into 
 his confederacy to rout the Earl of Bath 
 
 and
 
 ( 153 ) 
 
 and Granville. Pitt found him so in 1757. 
 1757, when this new coalition was formed 
 to destroy the Duke of Cumberland and 
 Fox. 
 
 The
 
 ■( 154 ) 
 
 The Answer of The Right Hon. William 
 Pitt ^0 the Lord Mayor aiidCiTY of 
 London, on receiving the Freedom of the 
 City, on the lothof April, 1757. Addressed 
 to Sir Thomas Harrison, Chamberlain. 
 
 [Referred to in page 126.] 
 
 *' Give me leave. Sir, to request the fa- 
 vour of you, to present, in the most ex- 
 pressive terms, to the Lord Mayor, Alder- 
 men, and Common-Council of the City of 
 London, the high sense I have of the dis- 
 tinguished honour they have been pleased 
 to do me, in conferring on me the freedom 
 of the City. 
 
 " I have ever been zealously devoted to 
 the support of the liberty, trade, and pros- 
 perity of that great and respectable body ; 
 and I am now proud, and happy to have 
 such cause to add the sentiments of truest 
 gratitude for so generous a mark of their 
 favour ; and for so unmerited an approba- 
 tion of my insufficient endeavours to carry 
 into effect the most gracious intentions, 
 and paternal care of his Majesty, for the 
 preservation and happiness of his people/'
 
 AN EXPLANATORY INDEX 
 
 OF Tn£ 
 
 PRINCIPAL NAMES MENTIONED IN THE MEMOIR^ 
 
 GEORGE IT, born October 30, l683, succeeded to the 
 throne June 11, 1727; died October 25, 1760, aged 77. 
 
 Frederic Lewis, Prince of Wales, born January 20, 1707; 
 married April 27, 1736; died March 20, 1751. 
 
 Duke of Cumberland, born April 15, 1721 ; died October 
 31, 176'5. 
 
 Frederic III. King of Prussia, born Jan. S-t, 1712; suc- 
 ceeded to the crown May 20, 1740; died August 17, 
 178^. 
 
 Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, born May 
 3, 1717; succeeded to the throne Oct. 20, 1740; 
 died Nov. 29, 1780, in the 6"4th year of her age. 
 Page 
 
 1 Sir Robert Walpole, born Aug. 26, 1676; first sate in 
 Parliament in 1700; created Earl of Orford Feb. 9, 
 1742;, died March 10, 1745. 
 " In private life, Sir Robert Walpole was good-natured, 
 cheerful, social ; inelegant in his manners, loose in his morals. 
 He had a coarse, strong wit, of which he was too free for a 
 man in his station. He was very able as a minister, but with- 
 out a certain elevation of mind necessary for great good or 
 
 great
 
 Ib6 EXPLANATORY INDEX. 
 
 great mischief. Profuse and appetent, his ambition was sub- 
 servient to his desire of making a great fortune. He had more 
 of the Mazarine than of the Richelieu. He would do mean 
 things for "profit, and never thought of doing great ones for 
 glory. He was both the best parliament-man and the ablest 
 manager of Parliament, that I believe ever lived. He was an 
 artful rather than an eloquent speaker, but he had a most ex- 
 traordinary talent of persuading and working men up to his 
 purpose. He was excessively open to flattery, even of the 
 grossest kind. He was loved by many, but respected by none; 
 his familiar and illiberal mirth and raillery leaving him no 
 dignity. He was not vindictive, but on the contrary very 
 placable to those who had injured him the most." — Chesterfield 
 
 i William Pulteney, created Earl of Bath in July, 1742 j 
 died July 8, 17^4, aged 82. 
 
 " Lord Bath has left above twelve hundred thousand pounds 
 in land and money. — The legacies he has left are trifling ; for, 
 in truth, he cared for nobody. The public, which was long 
 the dupe of his simulation and dissimulation, begins to explain 
 ■upon him ; and draws such a picture of him as I gave you 
 long ago." 
 
 " He had a quick and clear conception of business, could 
 equally detect and practise sophistry. He could state and 
 explain the most intricate matters, even in figures, with the 
 utmost perspicuity. His parts were rather above business ; 
 and the warmth of his imagination, joined to the impetuosity 
 and restlessness of his temper made him incapable of conduct- 
 iiig it long together with prudence and steadiness. He was a 
 most complete orator and debater in the House of Commons. 
 His breast was the seat of all those passions which degrade our 
 nature, and disturb our reason. There they raged in perpetual 
 conflict, but avarice, the meanest of them all, generally 
 triumphed, and ruled absolutely, and in many instances, 
 which I forbear to mention, most scandalously. He was an 
 able actor of truth and sincerity, but he could occasionally 
 
 lay
 
 EXPLAIJATORY 1>JDEX. 15? 
 
 lay them aside to serve the purposes of his ambition or 
 avarice." — Chesterfield. 
 
 3 Lord Carteret, born April 22, 169O, succeeded to his 
 father's barony 1695, became Earl of Granville on the 
 death of his mother in 1744; died Jan. 2, 1763. 
 " Lord Granville had great parts, and a most uncommoa 
 share of learning for a man of quality. He was one of the 
 best speakers in the House of Lords, both in the declamatory 
 and argumentative way. He had a wonderful quickness and 
 precision in seizing the stress of a question, which no art, no 
 sophistry, could disguise in him. In business he was bold, 
 enterprising and overbearing. He had been bred up in high 
 monarchical, that is, tyrannical principles of government, 
 which his ardent and imperious temper made him think were 
 the only rational and practicable ones. He would have been 
 a great first minister in France, little inferior, perhaps, to 
 Richelieu; in this government, which is yet free, he would 
 have been a dangerous one, little less so, perhaps, than Lord 
 Strafford. He was neither ill-natured nor vindictive and had a 
 great contempt for money. His ideas were all above it. In 
 social life he was an agreeable, good-humoured, and instruc- 
 tive companion ; a great but entertaining talker." — Chester' 
 field. 
 
 3 Lord Hardvvicke, the Chancellor, born Dec. 1, 169O; 
 created a Peer Nov. 23, 1733 ; made Chancellor Feb. 
 21, 1736-7 ; died March 6, 1764. 
 " Lord Hardwicke was, perhaps, the greatest magistrate 
 that this country ever had. He presided in the Court of Chan- 
 cery above twenty years, and in all that time none of his de- 
 crees were reversed, nor the justness of them ever questioned. 
 Though avarice was his ruling passion, he was never in the 
 least suspected of any kind of corruption : a rare and merito- 
 rious instance of virtue and self-denial, under the influence of 
 such a craving, insatiable, and increasing passion. 
 
 " He
 
 158 EXPLANATORY INbEX. 
 
 *' He had great and clear parts ; understood, loved, and cul- 
 tivated the bdks Idtres. lie was an agreeable, eloquent 
 speaker in parliament, but not without some little tincture of 
 the pleader. 
 
 " Men are apt to mistake, or at least to seem to mistake, 
 their own talents, in hopes, perhaps, of misleading others to 
 allow them that which they are conscious they do not possess*^ 
 Thus Lord Hardwicke valued himself more upon being a great 
 minister of state, which he certainly was not, than upon being 
 a great magistrate, which he certainly was. 
 
 " All his notions were clear, but none of them great. Good 
 order and domestic details were his proper department. The 
 great and shining parts of government, though not above his 
 parts to conceive, were above his timidity to undertake." — 
 Chesterfield. 
 
 3 Thomas Holies, Duke of Newcastle, born Aug. 1, l693; 
 created Duke of Newcastle Aug. 2, 1715 ; died Nov* 
 17, 1768. 
 
 " The Duke of Newcastle had been a minister for above 
 forty years together, and in the last ten years of that time 
 first minister. 
 
 " The public opinion put him below his level : for though 
 be had no superior parts, or eminent talents, he had a most 
 indefatigable industry, a perseverance, a court craft, and a 
 servile compliance with the will of his sovereign for the time 
 being ; which qualities, with only a common share of com- 
 mon sense, will carry a man sooner and more safel}' through 
 the dark labyrinths of a court, than the most shining part? 
 would do without those meaner talents. 
 
 " He was good-natured to a degree of weakness, even io 
 tears upon the slightest occasions. Exceedingly timorous, both 
 personally and politically, dreading the least innovation, and 
 keeping, with a scrupulous timidity, in the beaten track of 
 business as having the safest bottom." — Chesterfield. 
 
 3 Henry
 
 EXPLAXATOUY INDEX. 15^^ 
 
 3 Henry Pelham, born 1696; first sate in Parliament 1718 ; 
 
 died March 6, 1754: Brother to the Duke of New- 
 castle. 
 
 " Mr. Pelham had good sense, without either shining parts 
 or any degree of literature. He had by no means an elevated 
 or enterprizing genius, but had a more manly and steady re- 
 solution than his brother the Duke of Newcastle. He had a 
 gentleman-like frankness in his behaviour, and as great point 
 of honour as a minister can have, especially a minister at the 
 head of the treasury, where numberless sturdy and insatiable 
 beggars of condition apply, who cannot all be gratified, aor all 
 with safety be refused. 
 
 " He was a very inelegant speaker in parliament, but spoke 
 with a certain candour and openness that made him be well 
 heard, and generally believed." — Chesterfield. 
 
 4 Mr. Lytteiton, afterwards Sir George Lyttelton, born 
 
 1709; first sate in the House of Commons 17*15 
 created a Peer Nov. Ip, 1757 ; died Aug. 22, 1775. 
 
 4 Colonel Lyttelton, afterwards Sir Richard Lyttelton ; 
 
 died Oct. 1, 1770: Brother to George Lord Lyttelton. 
 Uncles to the present Lord Lyttelton. 
 
 5 Earl of Wilmington. Sir Spencer Compton, third son of 
 
 James, the fifth Earl of Northampton, elected Speaker 
 of the House of Commons 1714; created Baron Wil- 
 mington 1727, and Earl of Wilmington 1730; died un- 
 married 1743, and the title became extinct. — Vide 
 Horace Walpol^s Reminiscences, for some account of this 
 Nobleman, Vol. IV. p. 294. 
 
 5 Samuel Sandys, first sate in the House of Commons 
 
 1717; created a Peer Dec. 20, 1743; died Dec. 2^, 
 
 1768. 
 5 Sir John Rushout, first sate in Parliament in 1710; died 
 
 Feb. 2, 1775, aged 9I: Grandfather to the present 
 
 Lord Northwick. 
 
 6 Daniel,
 
 l60 EXPLANATORV INDEX. 
 
 6 Daniel, seventh Earl of Winchelsea, first sate In the 
 House of Commons 1711; succeeded to his father's 
 titles Jan. 1, 1729 — 30: appointed First Lord Com- 
 missioner of the Admiralty March l6, 1741: died Aug. 
 2, 1769, in the 81st year of his age. Uncle to the 
 present Earl of Winchelsea. 
 
 6 John Duke of Argyle, born 168O; succeeded to his 
 
 father's titles Sept. 28, 1703; died Oct. 3, 1743. 
 
 " The Duke of Argyle, though the weakest reasoner, was 
 the most pleasing speaker I ever knew in my life. He 
 charmed, he warmed, he forcibly ravished the audience ; not 
 by his matter certainly, but by his manner of delivering it. A 
 most genteel figure, a graceful noble air, an harmonious 
 voice, an elegant style, and a strength of emphasis, conspired 
 to make him the most affecting, persuasive, and applauded 
 speaker 1 ever saw. I was captivated like others ; but when 
 I came home and coolly considered what he had said, strip- 
 ped of all those ornaments in which he had dressed it, I often 
 found the matter flimsy, the arguments weak, and I was con- 
 vinced of the power of those adventitious concurring circum- 
 stances, which ignorance of mankind only calls trifling ones." 
 
 Chesterfield, I,etter 205, Dec. 5, 174,9. 
 
 This account of the Duke of Argyle, by Lord Chesterfield, 
 is inserted to compare it with Glover's opinion of the same per- 
 son, p. 10 in this Memoir. 
 
 7 John Duke of Bedford, born Oct. 20, 1710; succeeded 
 
 to the Dukedom Oct. 23, 1732 ; died Jan. 14, 1771 : 
 Grandfather to the present Duke. 
 " The Duke of Bedford was more considerable for his rank 
 and immense fortune, than for either his parts or his virtues. 
 
 " He had rather more than a common share of common- 
 sense, but with a head so wrong-turned, and so invincibly ob- 
 stinate, that the share of parts which he had was of little use 
 to him, and very troublesome to others. 
 
 " He was passionate, though obstinate ; and, though both, 
 
 was
 
 EXPLANATORY INDEX. l6l 
 
 was always governed by some low dependants, wlio had art 
 enough to make him believe that he governed them. 
 
 " His manners and address were exceedingly illiberal ; he 
 had neither the talent nor the desire of pleasing. 
 
 " In speaking in the House, he had an inelegant flow of 
 words, but not without some reasoning, matter, and method. 
 
 " He had no amiable qualities ; but he had no vicious nor 
 criminal ones : he was much below shining, but above con- 
 tempt in any character. 
 
 " In short, he was a duke of a respectable family, and with" 
 a very great estate." — Chesterfield. 
 
 7 George Compton, first sate in the House of Commons 
 1722; appointed one of the Lords Commissioners of 
 the Treasury Feb. 2, 1742 ; succeeded to the Earl- 
 dom of Northampton on his brother's death Oct. 3, 
 1754 ; died Dec. 6, 1758, in the 66i\\ year of his age. 
 Great uncle to the present Lord Northampton. 
 
 7 Lord Carlisle died Sept. 2, 1758, aged 63 : Father to the 
 present Lord Carlisle. 
 
 7 Lord Chesterfield, born Sept. 22, 1694 ; first sate in the 
 House of Commons in 1714; succeeded to his father's 
 titles Jan 27, 1725-6 ; died March 24, 1773. 
 
 7 Lord Cobham. Sir Richard Temple was created Baroa 
 Cobham Oct. \'^, 1714: died Sept. 13, 1749. 
 
 84 Earl Temple, born Sept. 26, 17U ; first sate in the 
 House of Commons 1734; succeeded to the Earldom 
 on his mother's death, Oct. 6, 1752; died Sept. 11, 
 1779: Nepliew to Lord Cobham, 
 
 21 George Grenville, born Oct. 14, 1712 ; first sate in Par- 
 liament 174J ; died Nov. 13, 1770: Brother to Earl 
 Temple. 
 
 vii Marquis of Buckingham, born June 18, 1753 ; became 
 Earl Temple on his uncle's death Sept. 12, 1779; 
 
 M created
 
 / 
 
 l62 EXPLANATORY INDEX. 
 
 created Marquis of Buckingham, Nov. 30, 1784 ; died 
 Feb. 11, 1813: Eldest son of George Grenville. 
 
 7 Earl Gower, born August 4, 1721 ; first sate in the 
 House of Commons 1744; succeeded to his fathers 
 titles Dec. 25, 1754; created Marquis of Stafford, 
 Feb. 28, 1786; died Oct. 26, 1803: Father to the 
 present Marquis. 
 
 7 Lord Bathurst, born Nov. l6, l684 ; created a Peer 
 Dec. 31, 1711 ; died Sept, 14, 1775, aged 91 : Father 
 of the Lord Chancellor Bathurst. 
 
 9 William Pitt, born Nov. 15, 1708 ; first sate in the House 
 of Commons Feb, 1735 ; created Earl Chatham July 
 30, 1766; died May 11, 1778. 
 
 <) George Bubb Dodington, born 1691 ; created Lord Mel- 
 combe April 3, 1761 ; died July 28, 1 762, and the 
 title became extinct. 
 30 Sir John Hinde Cotton died Feb. 4, 1752, in the 64th 
 year of his "age. 
 
 50 Sir John Barnard, born at Reading, l6S5 ; first sate in 
 Parliament 1722 ; received the honour of Knighthood 
 1732; served the ofHce of Lord Mayor of London 
 1737 ; died at Clapham 1764. 
 
 59 Major Washington, born in Virginia 1732; served as a 
 Colonel in the British service in 1755 ; in June, 1775, 
 he was appointed Commander in Chief of the Ameri- 
 can army in opposition to the British Government ; 
 died Dec, 14, 1799- 
 
 64i Henry Bilson Legge, second son of William Earl Dart- 
 mouth ; made Chancellor of the Exchequer April 6, 
 1754; resigned Nov. 22, 1754; reappointed Nov. 15, 
 1756; resigned April 9, 1757; reappointed July 2, 
 1757: died August 21, 1764. 
 
 "He
 
 Explanatory index. i6o 
 
 '* He was designed, in his younger years, for the service of 
 his country, in the Royal Navy, but that service being at 
 that time inactive, he quitted it after one or two voyages, 
 and becoming known to Sir Robert Walpole, was received 
 into the family and confidence of that Minister; and after 
 having filled the station of his Secretary for some years, he 
 obtained a seat in Parliament, and passed through the several 
 offices of Secretary to the Treasurer; Secretary to the Duke 
 of Devonshire as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland ; fcne of the Com- 
 missioners of the Admiralty; Envoy Extraordinary to the 
 Court of Berlin; Treasurer of the Navy; Chancellor and 
 Under-Treasurer of the Exchequer, and one of the Commis- 
 sioners of the Treasury, and he continued, to the last, one of 
 his Majesty's Privy Council, 
 
 " Mr. Legge, with a penetrating apprehension, and a me- 
 mory remarkably tenacious of substantial knowledge, had a 
 judgment so clear and sound that it seems hardly possible for 
 any human mind to be more accurate, unembarrassed, and 
 comprehensive of all the ideas that related to the subject be- 
 fore him, as well as of all the consequences which followed 
 from comparing them." — Dr. Butler, Bishop of Hereford. 
 
 60 Charles Townshend, first sate in Parliament 1747; died 
 Sept. 4, 1767, aged 42: Brother to George Town- 
 shend. 
 
 69 George Townshend, born Feb. 28, 1724; succeeded to 
 ,his father's title March 12, 17^)4; created Earl of 
 Leicester May 18, 1784, and Marquis Townshend 
 Oct. 27, 1787; died Sept. 14, 1807: father to the 
 late Marquis. 
 
 €5 Henry Fox, born 1705, first sate in the House of Com- 
 mons 1735; created Lord Holland April 16, 1763; 
 died July 1, 1774: Grandfather to the present Lord 
 Holland. 
 
 77 John Byng, fourth son of George Byng first Viscount 
 
 Tonington : 
 
 /
 
 Ib'i EXPLANATORY IXDEX. 
 
 Torrington: made a Post Captain Aug. 8, 1727; made 
 , Rear Admiral of the Blue Aug. 9, 1745: Shot by 
 sentence of Court INlartial, March 14, 1757. 
 
 79 The Marquis d'Abreu was Envoy Extraordinary from 
 the King of Spain to the British Court, till May 27, 
 1760, when His Excellency the Count de Fuentes 
 succeeded him as Ambassador Extraordinary and Ple- 
 nipoleijtiary. 
 
 79 Admiral Hawke made a Post Captain March 20, 1733; 
 made Rear Admiral of the White Flag July 15, 1747. 
 Created a Peer May 20, 1776 ; died Oct. 17, 1781 : 
 Grandfather to the present Lord Hawke. 
 
 81 Sir William Murray, born 1705; created Earl Mans- 
 field Oct. 19, 1776 ; died March 20, 1793, aged 88. 
 
 84 William, the fourth Duke of Devonshire, succeeded to 
 his father's title Dec. 5, 1755; died Oct. 2, 17^4, ia 
 the 44th year of his age. 
 
 88 Lord Holdernesse died 1778, when the title became ex- 
 tinct. 
 
 96 John, the seventh Earl of Westmoreland, first sate in the 
 House of Commons 17O8; succeeded to the Earldom 
 on the death of his brother, June 4, 1736; died Aug. 
 26, 1762. 
 
 George Lord Anson made a Post Captain Feb. 1, 1723 ; 
 made Rear Admiral of the White Flag April 23, 1745. 
 Created a Peer June 13, 1747; died June 6, 1762. 
 
 Harry Paulet, born Nov. 6, 1720; first sate in the 
 House of Commons 1754; made Vice Admiral of the 
 White, Dec. 9j 176O; became Duke of Bolton on his 
 brother's death, July 5, 1765: died Dec. 25, 1794, 
 and the title became extinct. 
 
 Loudon : Printed by C. Roworlli, 
 Bell Yard, Temple Bar.
 
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