Life of William, Earl of Shelburne/Volume 1/Chapter 7

by Edmond George Petty-Fitzmaurice

 

CHAPTER VII

 

THE REPEAL OF THE STAMP ACT

 

1765-1766

 

By the end of 1765 Shelburne had returned to public life. Appearing in the House of Lords, he at once attacked the Stamp Act, though unsupported and alone, recollecting possibly what had followed a similar bold declaration in favour of peace a few years before. The Earl of Suffolk, during the debate on the address on December 17th, in moving an amendment, used language of the most insulting character with reference to the colonists. Shelburne replied. On his way to London he had had an interview with Pitt at Bath, and consequently spoke animated not only with the consciousness of a good cause, but with the knowledge that he was the mouthpiece of a more powerful statesman than himself, though possibly this was one of the occasions when he felt that the Great Commoner had preferred throwing the responsibility of overt action on others, to taking it on his own shoulders.^[1] "I was desirous," Shelburne wrote immediately afterwards to his chief," to act with firmness, and without regard to little views, upon those principles which made part of the conversation you honoured me with at Bath. There were other motives likewise, which incited me very strongly to the part I took. I felt attaching the name of rebellion hastily, and traitors, to the Americans, and comparing them to the Scots at Derby, which was the language used, dangerous: and perhaps both imprudent and unjust. I could not help deprecating as strongly as I could, a motion which seemed to preclude a repeal, before it was considered thoroughly how far it might be necessary; and without committing myself on what might be fit to be done, I endeavoured to distinguish the real ties by which America might be supposed to hold to this country, in order to obviate objections arising from a thousand false lights thrown out on the subject; acknowledging the power of Parliament to be supreme, but referring the expediency of the act to be considered in a commercial view, regard being had to the abilities of the Americans to pay this tax, and likewise to the consequences likely to proceed in any event from the late violences."

With these sentiments he accordingly said, and in language almost prophetic: "Before we resolve upon rash measures we should consider first the expediency of the law and next our power to enforce it. The wisest legislators have been mistaken. The laws of Carolina, though planned by Shaftesbury and Locke, were found impracticable, and are now grown obsolete. The Romans planted colonies to increase their power; we to extend our commerce. Let the regiments in America, at Halifax or Pensacola, embark at once upon the same destination, and no intervening accident disappointing the expedition, what could be effected against colonies so populous and of such magnitude and extent? The colonies may be ruined first, but the distress will end with ourselves."^[2]

Although the prejudice against the Americans on the whole seemed very strong and there was no very decided opinion in favour of the new Ministry, yet, as Shelburne informed Pitt, such was the power of even a changeable Court influence that the Administration divided 80 to 24 against the hostile amendment. "What has passed in the House of Commons," he continued, " you will doubtless hear from better hands. I understand there has been a good deal of debating there on different things without much effect, and not followed by any remarkable division. The last was upon the question of adjournment. I had no idea that my conduct in the House of Lords could be remembered beyond the day; but the next day Lord Rockingham sent Sir Jeffrey Amherst to Colonel Barré, and yesterday sent Mr. Dunning to Colonel Barré and to me, with a great many flattering expressions in regard to Tuesday; and in short, what I am almost ashamed to relate, that if I choose to make a part of the present system, he thought he could answer any opening would be made that I could wish, and that Colonel Barr should have rank in the army or anything else added to the Vice-Treasurership, which had been offered him some time since. My answer was very short and very frank: that, independent of my connection, I was convinced, from my opinion of the state of the Court as well as the state of affairs everywhere, no system could be formed, durable and respectable, if Mr. Pitt could not be prevailed on to direct and head it.

"This produced a certain degree of communication on that head, in which Lord Rockingham expressed himself certain of Mr. Pitt's good wishes, and that they were most ready to be disposed of as he pleased, mixed, however, with a great apprehension in consequence of second-hand accounts and anecdotes, which I do not think worth troubling Mr. Pitt with; and a great embarrassment as to the manner of application to Colonel Barre, who returned a still more explicit answer to the same purpose.

"You will not think I have much merit in this conduct when I add that I am astonished at their infatuation in being persuaded, as they appear to be, of the confidence of the Court, notwithstanding a very particular conduct in Lord Bute, and a party constantly pervading it, of Lord Egremont, Lord Chancellor, Charles Townshend, Lord George Sackville, Sir Fletcher Norton, &c., ready at a moment's warning, to embrace any system.

"'Tis you, Sir, alone, in everybody's opinion, can put an end to this anarchy, if anything can.

"I am satisfied your own judgment will best point out the time when you can do it with most effect. You will excuse me, I am sure, when I hazard my thoughts to you, as it depends greatly upon you whether they become opinions. But by all I find from some authentic letters from America, nothing can be more serious than its present state; and, though it is my private opinion, it would be well for this country to be back where it was a year ago, I even despair of a repeal effecting that, if it is not accompanied with some circumstances of a firm conduct, and some system immediately following such a concession."

Mr. Pitt replied to this letter as follows:—

 

December 1765.

My dear Lord,—I am honoured with your Lordship's friendly and confidential letter, the contents of which bear such marks of kind and flattering sentiments on my subject as I little deserve or can ever forget. The clear view of the outline of men and things which your Lordship gives me, affords a large field for reflection, and certainly demands no small circumspection, with exact and nice limits in action where a conjecture too much or too little must qualify every step, wise or weak, salutary or ruinous.

The line your Lordship took the first day in the House of Lords I should have been proud and happy could I have been able to have held pace with in the House of Commons; being under the strongest conviction that, allowing full force to all the striking topics of upholding in the present instance the legislative and executive authority over America, the ruinous side of the dilemma to which we are brought is the making good by force there, preposterous and infatuated errors in policy here; and I shall unalterably sustain that opinion.

The opening from Lord Rockingham to your Lordship and Colonel Barré, which you are so good as to impart to me, you will easily believe could not surprise me; nothing being so natural as for Ministers, under the extreme double pressure of affairs all in confusion, and a doubtful internal situation, to recur to distinguished abilities for assistance. The further resource to which the very flattering answers made to these openings pointed is indeed such as, without affectation, I blush to read.

Would to God, my dear Lord, that all my vanity, awakened as it may well be by such reputed testimonies, were able to tell me I could really effect any material public good!

The evils are, I fear, incurable. Faction shakes and corruption saps the country to its foundations, nor are the means, such as these wretched conditions could admit, so much as opened in the extent and with an authenticity sufficient to engage a close and confidential deliberation among common friends bent on the same great object. To speak plain, until the King is pleased to signify his pleasure to me that I should again submit my thoughts upon the formation of such a system, both as to the measures and as to the instruments which are to constitute that system, and that in so ample and full an extent as shall leave nothing to the eyes of men equivocal on the outside of it, nor any dark creeping factions scattering doubts and sowing discords within.^[3]

.

.

.

.

.

.

I should not omit, though I am already too tedious, that I have said on proper occasions that I would continue to attribute to such of the Ministers as lately entered on the scene of affairs, good intentions and right principles, until by their actions they obliged me to think otherwise, declaring at the same time that I can never have confidence in a system where the Duke of Newcastle has influence. That must cease as well as many other things before I shall think the ground clear enough to entertain the smallest hope for the public.

Melancholy indeed are the accounts your Lordship mentions from America. Allow me still, my dear Lord, to suggest that allowance must be made for first alarms, as well as that I fear the very air of this mother-country breathes too much partial resentments against those unhappy men provoked to madness.

Lady Chatham and I are infinitely honoured by Lady Shelburne's very obliging remembrance. We both join in sincere congratulations on the happy domestic event,^[4] and offering many respectful compliments, I am, my dear Lord, &c.,

W. Pitt.

 

The session of 1766 was opened with a Royal speech which painfully revealed the doubts and hesitations of the Ministers. It required afterwards the fierce partizanship of Burke to see the repeal of the Stamp Act, "very sufficiently crayoned out,"^[5] when the King said: "If any alterations should be wanting in the commercial economy of the plantations which may tend to enlarge and secure the mutual and beneficial intercourse of my kingdoms and colonies, they will deserve your most serious consideration. In effectuating a purpose so worthy of your wisdom and public spirit, you may depend upon my most hearty concurrence and support."^[6] These words were uttered on January 14th, and on that same day Pitt pronounced a speech against all internal taxation of America by Parliament, which shook to the centre the tottering edifice of the Rockingham Administration. "He had come up to town," as he afterwards sarcastically said, "upon the American affair, a point on which he feared they might be borne down."^[7] His eloquence, disingenuous as it was in many respects, once more turned the Ministers, though "extremely unwilling to admit the Trojan horse," into suppliants at his feet.^[8]

Many years afterwards George III. himself gave an account of what passed about this period to Lord Ashburton, "with a view to impress the latter with an idea of his never having given any of his Ministers on leaving him a ground to complain of him. He said he was not conscious that the country had, or that he had anything to reproach himself with, except that he had suffered himself to be persuaded by the late Duke of Cumberland to quarrel with Mr. Grenville; that Grenville had shown him the plan of measures which he justified, but that he thought it was wrong; that upon some explanation it appeared to be made up, but that in a month or two after Mr. Grenville thought fit to leave him; that he found the Duke of Cumberland had indeed deceived him or himself in thinking he could make up an administration with Mr. Pitt, who he found would have nothing to do with the Duke of Cumberland. The Duke then introduced Lord Rockingham, &c., who never appeared to him to have a decided opinion about things. They sent Lord Shelburne that now is to Bath to get at Mr. Pitt's opinion about repealing the Stamp Act, meaning to do whatever he should advise, but he would give up no opinion;^[9] that Lord North represented to him that the Rockinghams were too foolish to go on with and recommended a change; that he observed to Lord North there would be nothing left but himself and Lord Egmont, and that unless they would undertake it he must send to Mr. Pitt."^[10]

The First Lord of the Treasury had come to the same conclusion as the King.

On the day after the debate he wrote to his Royal Master that it was clear the Administration would be shook to the greatest degree if no further attempt was made to get Mr. Pitt to take a cordial part, as "the events of the preceding day had shown his amazing powers and influence whenever he took part in debate."^[11] At the same time the despondent Prime Minister—conscious in all probability of the contempt which Pitt felt for him—held out little hope that any negotiation which he could set on foot would prove successful, and it was only after many hesitations that with Grafton he conveyed to the Great Commoner the message of the King that he was willing once more to summon him to his councils. The message was verbal, as the King considered sending it in writing to be extremely dangerous.^[12] On its receipt Pitt hastened to town in order to give Shelburne a full account of what had passed relative to it. "The earlier," he writes to him on January 20th, "I can have the pleasure of seeing you the more satisfactory to my impatient wishes of conferring with the person I hold most essential to any good for this country." An interview accordingly took place that same evening at which they settled the terms on which they would join the Ministry, but these terms were most unpalatable to Rockingham and his friends. Although no precise record is preserved, there can be no doubt from what had just passed that the repeal of the Stamp Act, the abandonment of the projected Declaratory Bill, and the exclusion of the Duke of Newcastle were the main points insisted on.^[13] The negotiation at once broke down. "I have seen Lord Rockingham," writes Pitt to Shelburne, the day after their interview, "and am informed that His Majesty does not judge proper upon the report of my answers to have any further proceeding in the matter."^[14]

The Ministry, once more left to themselves again, fell into internal disputes. The King at once took advantage of the position to intrigue for the dismissal of those of his advisers who were most decidedly for the repeal, to which Newcastle, Rockingham, and Dartmouth had at last frankly committed themselves, while Hardwicke, the Chancellor, Barrington, and Charles Yorke were opposed to it. Finally, a common ground was found in the Declaratory Bill. "From the necessity of the times," says Hardwicke, "and the universal clamour which the merchants and manufacturers had raised about the Stamp Act, I concurred in the repeal of it. It was principally owing to my brother that the dignity and authority of the legislature were kept up by the Bill for asserting the dependence of the Colonies."^[15]

In the debates on the Stamp Act Shelburne shared the burden and heat of the day with Camden and Grafton, while the Prime Minister sat by, dumb and speechless;^[16] but in the debate on the Declaratory Resolutions he abandoned the Ministers. "There were only two questions," he said, "for the consideration of Parliament, repeal or no repeal. It was unwise to raise the question of right, whatever their opinions might be. Let them be warned by the example of the statesmen of Vienna, who from a dearly-bought experience, refrained from taxing the inhabitants of Brussels and of Antwerp—cities which he had himself but lately visited—while claiming the right of doing so, a right the existence of which in the case of England and her Colonies, he, to say the least, ventured to doubt."^[17] These being his opinions, he with Camden, Cornwallis, Paulet and Torrington, divided the House against the Declaratory Resolutions. "With these five," says the American historian, "stood the invisible genius of popular reform."^[18] The majority consisted of one hundred and twenty-five peers.

Notwithstanding these differences of opinion and the failure of all his previous attempts, Rockingham resolved upon a last negotiation. Its fate can be read in the two following letters:

 

Shelburne to Pitt.

February 24th, 1766.

Though I was very much ashamed to have troubled you lately upon such an ill-grounded tale, it is not through an apprehension of my having lost any degree of your attention by it, that makes me rather write than wait upon you, to tell you the particulars of a conversation I had yesterday at the French Minister's with Lord Rockingham, very much at his desire; which upon consideration since was so distinct, and had so much the appearance of premeditation, that it certainly must have been intended to be communicated directly to you, or else that, as from myself, it should make part of the first conversation you honoured me with, which I look upon as the same thing. But as I neither gave any opinion, and do profess myself totally unable to form any, and nothing passed which makes it necessary for me to renew the conversation, I think this way of communicating it may be more convenient, than desiring to wait upon you.

Lord Rockingham said he intended waiting on you on Saturday but was prevented; that the time was now come, or coming very soon, when something settled was to be formed, if ever, without regard to the Duke of Bedford's party on the one hand, or Lord Bute's on the other; but that he was glad of an opportunity to tell me where he was under the greatest apprehensions it would hitch, and that all that he could do could not prevent it.

He then stated his own situation with regard to some individuals whom though his opinion led him to be almost sure Mr. Pitt would not treat with harshness in newcasting the system—and was it only himself that was in question, it could not meet with a moment's doubt—yet he could not with any content of mind go into anything where they were to be left to what they might call uncertainty; that, in regard to the Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Yorke, though he had reason to believe they might be brought into everything that was desired, yet it was to be wished that it should be proposed with a certain degree of regard, and that manner might reconcile men's minds to that which it would be impossible ever to force them to.

I observed or at least thought he avoided saying whether the seals were to be Mr. Yorke's object, but seemed carefully to adhere to such general terms upon Mr. Yorke's subject, as I have mentioned. He then spoke of the consequence of offending them, perhaps unnecessarily, in point of numbers in the House of Commons, which I took the liberty of telling him, I could not think him serious in mentioning; but upon the whole came to this point: that from these reasons, as well as others regarding the King himself, who had always since the Duke's death dwelt upon his not being given up blindfold, that he was certain when they came to go into the King, if nothing previous was settled, it would give His Majesty such advantage that everything would be given up without anything certain, and a convulsion would follow which might bring in the late Ministry, or no one knew what; while, if they went in united and in good humour with each other, the King was so hampered by many things that had passed, that without entering into any consideration of the interior of the Court he must certainly agree to it. He spoke a good deal of the Duke of Grafton with regard and friendship as a man, but not quite I thought as a Minister, with that cordiality I could wish. I plainly saw he was convinced the Duke of Grafton and Mr. Conway would bring things to a crisis. He said he had been told from those who had heard it from you, that they had asked more as your friends than he had done, at the same time that you could with great sincerity commend his motives. I told him with great truth that I had never heard any such distinction.

When he spoke of influence about the King I could not help saying something, though as I saw there was little hope of convincing, what I said was so guarded that it amounted to nothing; and as to the rest my aim was to leave it in general where I found it, answering him with great sincerity that I felt myself totally unable to form any judgment in the present confusion, that I could mention even in the greatest confidence to you. And I have only to beg, Sir, that you will not interpret my relation of the conversation into any opinion of my own, which is one among other reasons of my writing it. It is not only such a labyrinth, but a labyrinth so entangled that I have no faculties which lead me to any understanding of it, or any clue to direct the little judgment I have, and as to passions they have some time subsided in regard to it.

Though I believe I have been pretty exact in relating what Lord Rockingham said, yet as he did not expressly desire it to be communicated, I should be sorry that it made the foundation even of an opinion in your own mind, till you had it from better authority. Though he seemed to me to speak with a manner of decision, yet he may have meant it a manner of negociation which I may not understand. At any rate, I have many pardons to ask for troubling you with so long a letter, and in return I will only beg for a very short one either from you or Lady Chatham to tell me, I hope, that you are not the worse for sitting up so late in the House.

I have the honour to be,

Most respectfully yours,

Shelburne.

 

Mr. Pitt replied as follows:

 

Hayes, Monday night, February 24th, 1766.

My dear Lord,—Highly sensible of the honour of your Lordship's very friendly attention in taking the trouble to apprise me of a conversation (certainly meant to be communicated), I beg to assure you of my best acknowledgments, and will in answer obey your obliging commands not to enter into much observation upon the matter. I shall confine myself then just to say that Lord Rockingham's plan appears to me to be such as can never bring things to a satisfactory conclusion, his tone being that of a Minister master of the Court and of the public; making openings to men who are seekers of offices and candidates for Ministry. What his Lordship added of the King not being given up blindfold, since the Duke of Cumberland's death is either totally unintelligible, or if it does really contain any meaning, there is one man who will very shortly set out for Bath after the American affair is over. In one word, my dear Lord, I shall never set my foot in the Closet but in the hope of rendering the King's personal situation not unhappy, as well as his business not unprosperous, nor will I owe my coming thither to any Court cabal or ministerial connection. The King's pleasure and gracious commands alone shall be a call to me; I am deaf to every other thing. I will not say more, for I feel I should say too much. The sum of things is that I am fitter for a lonely hill in Somersetshire than for the affairs of State. I will at present add no more to your troubles than to say that I think I perceive your Lordship's sense of this very ministerial discourse without your directly expressing it. A thousand warm thanks for your kind attention to my gout: my foot is more uneasy to-day, but no other part attacked. I am, with truest esteem and respect, your Lordship's

Most faithful servant,

William Pitt.

 

In order to understand not merely the events just related but those which followed, it is necessary to bear in mind the substantial difference of opinion on the question of American taxation which existed among the members of the Whig party, a difference which soon shewed itself on other questions as well, and together with various extraneous circumstances rendered common action more and more difficult between them.

To decide on the relative merits of the arguments advanced on either side is difficult. The description of the general power of Parliament, including that of taxation, as given by Burke himself in subsequent years, sounds so harmless, and yet might be so dangerous if reduced to practice, that few will wonder at the opposition it excited; for it implied that in a war possibly forced on the unwilling colonies by the policy of the mother-country, the former might be deprived of that very right of refusing supplies, which is the only real means possessed by Parliament itself in the mother-country for regulating the policy of the State.^[19]

The distinction, on the other hand, between internal and external taxation as stated by Pitt and Camden was bound to carry its supporters further than they at the moment foresaw. It was indeed possible to argue with Franklin that the distinction was real, "because an external tax is a duty laid on commodities imported, and the duty being added to the first cost and other charges on the commodity when it is offered for sale, makes a part of the price, that if the people do not like it at that price they refuse it, and are not obliged to pay it, while an internal tax is forced from the people without their consent, if not laid by their own representatives; that the Stamp Act said the colonists should have no commerce, make no exchange of property with each other, neither purchase nor grant, nor recover debts, neither marry nor make wills, unless they paid such and such sums, and thus it was intended to extort money from them, or ruin them by the consequences of refusing to pay."^[20] But when the question was closely examined it became clear, as Mansfield showed, "that the distinction of internal and external taxes was false and groundless, for it was granted that restrictions upon trade and duties upon the ports were legal, at the same time that the right of the Parliament of Great Britain to lay internal taxes upon the colonies was denied. But what real difference could there be in this distinction? A tax laid at any place was like a pebble falling into and making a circle in a lake, till one circle produced and gave motion to another and the whole circumference was agitated from the centre; for nothing could be more clear than that a tax of ten or twenty per cent laid upon tobacco either in the ports of Virginia or London was a duty laid upon the inland plantations of Virginia 100 miles from the sea wherever the tobacco grows."^[21]

It was difficult to controvert the position assumed by the illustrious lawyer, for the whole system, of which the Navigation Act was the foundation, rested on the idea of making the colonies contribute to the wealth, and therefore also, though indirectly, to the revenue of the mother-country, while the moment that the general legislative power of Parliament was admitted it was impossible to deny that it was no greater tyranny to enact that "deeds and contracts should be void unless written on stamped paper"^[22] than it would have been to interfere with the personal liberty of the colonists by some arbitrary law.

The Imperial power in legislative matters was as loudly asserted in theory by Pitt and Shelburne as by Rockingham and Burke, but the former placed an important limitation on its operation. It was a limitation which fitted the circumstances of the time. The Ministry practically admitted its justice when they repealed the Stamp Act. On the other hand the gradual development of the colonies, even if the War of Independence had never taken place, would have forced on Pitt and Shelburne an extension of the cases exempted from the general legislative power of Parliament. External taxation would have had to follow internal taxation, and the general legislative power would have had to sink into abeyance. The right of the English Commons to grant taxes was recognised before their right to intervene in legislation and foreign policy; and the Whig statesmen and American patriots, who in 1765 were slow to ask for more than the recognition of the distinction between a commercial and a fiscal tax, only acted in the spirit of the great founders of English liberty in the seventeenth century, who "required twelve years of repeated aggression, before they learned that, to render the existence of monarchy compatible with freedom, they must not only strip it of all it had usurped, but of something that was its own."^[23]

Such was the first beginning of the great schism of the Whig party, which from that time forward divided it into a less liberal and a more liberal branch. It lasted till after a brief reconciliation, in 1782, the two branches fell apart; and in the time of the French Revolution the party of Newcastle and of Rockingham, of Portland and of Burke, threw in their lot with the Tory power which they had allowed to grow up and overshadow the land, while themselves engaged in quarrelling with the more liberal members of their own connection, because the latter had shewn that they believed Whig principles to consist, not in a blind adoration of the actual results of the Revolution of 1688, but in comprehending that those results were capable of development in accordance with the ever-changing circumstances of the time. The old Whigs forgot that the aristocracy of the Revolution had only been able to surmount the difficulty of their own want of numbers, and the hostility of large and influential interests, because they were the most enlightened, the most liberal, and the most educated class in the country, yet they imagined that they could still continue to hold all the offices and exercise all the patronage of the State when Newcastle and Rockingham and Portland had replaced Somers and Cowper and Godolphin. Over the declining days of their party a lustre was indeed shed by the splendid talents and eloquence of Burke; but it was the glow of autumn, not the brightness of spring heralding a new summer, and if Burke was their most brilliant advocate he was also their worst adviser. More especially was it so on this occasion. As Burke claimed the glory, so must he, the ablest of the old Whigs, bear the responsibility of the Declaratory Act. "Parliament," it has been said in his defence, "was in the opinion of the most judicious and temperate statesmen of the time, legally competent to tax America, as it was legally competent to commit any other act of folly or wickedness, to confiscate the property of all the merchants in Lombard Street, or to attaint any man in the kingdom of high treason without examining witnesses against him or hearing in his own defence."^[24] The argument is correct; but what would have been thought if Parliament, after an unsuccessful attempt at committing one of these acts of folly or wickedness, had met, and in the face of the whole world and at the very time when it was acknowledging the practical impossibility of accomplishing the immoral object at which it aimed, had to this confession coupled a solemn declaration of the right it possessed to try again another time? Posterity would probably have hesitated to pronounce whether the folly or the wickedness of such a course was greatest.

 

From the midst of the stormy scenes just described it is not unpleasant to turn to the diary which Lady Shelburne kept at this time.

 

January 4th.—Lord Shelburne came up to me early and read some of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War. We were particularly struck with his funeral oration to the surviving friends of the Athenians killed in the first war.

January 5th.—Lord Shelburne came up to me soon after breakfast and read part of a sermon of Abernethy's. He was called away by company, and Mr. Townshend made me a visit whilst Mr. Dunning was with my Lord.

January 10th.—Lady Louisa Fermor^[25] told us at breakfast a very genteel repartee of Mr. Greville's to the Duke of Gloucester, who was accusing Lady Waldegrave of affectation for pretending to be ill and looking so well, to which she answered that her's was such an apple face that it never looked sick. "What do you mean by an apple face?" says the Duke of Gloucester. Mr. Greville who stood next her, and saw her at a loss to explain it, answered for her, "A nonpareil, Sir." After breakfast Lord Shelburne lent me a little book called Le Siècle d'Alexandre and I saw him no more till dinner, to which came Colonel Barré. After it I received a short visit from Lady Mary Hume. When she was gone to her other engagements and Lady Louisa to Princess Amelia, Lord Shelburne, Colonel Barré, and Mr. Fitzmaurice came to me and staid till near nine, when the two last went to Northumberland House. We all supped together, and Lady Louisa told us Miss Emily Hervey had run away with Mr. Cope, brother to Mrs. Walker.

Sunday, January 12th.—Lady Louisa went early to St. James's Chapel, and breakfasted with Lady Charlotte Finch. At our breakfast came Dr. Leigh, an American, and Mr. Taylor, who desired Lord Shelburne to assist the Petition he is to present to the House of Commons concerning the Wells election, which he declined on account of not choosing ever to interfere with the decisions of that House. After they were gone I went to see Lord Fitzmaurice, and at my return to my own room I found in it Lord Shelburne talking to a Mr. Case about the construction of pondheads, and desiring him to look at that Mr. Brown is constructing at Bowood on his way to Lord Egmont's, where he works.^[26] He went away and Lord Shelburne read me two sermons before he went out. Governor Vansittart, Mr. Sulivan, Colonel Barré, and Captain Howe dined here. Lady Juliana Penn call'd in the evening. The gentlemen came up to drink tea, and after it Lord Shelburne went out with them and returned to supper. In the meantime Lady Louisa entertained me with reading to me some former letters of Lady Anne Dawson's.

January 13th.—Lord Shelburne read to us a paper concerning the Stamp Act in America. He afterwards rode with Colonel Barré and Mr. Townshend to see my Lord Bessborough's villa at Roehampton.

January 14th.—Lord Dunmore breakfasted here, and went afterwards with Lord Shelburne to the new house in Berkeley Square, and from thence to the House of Lords, the Parliament meeting to-day. Lady Louisa Manners came to us, and Mr. Ehret to me, with whom I begun the Chinese plants that blew at Bowood this summer. Mr. Sulivan, Lady Louisa, and I dined alone, the House of Lords sitting late, and Lord Shelburne going afterwards to the House of Commons, where Mr. Pitt spoke on the repeal of the Stamp Act in America. The Duchess of Bolton, Miss Finches, and Miss Lowther, drank tea here, and Lady Louisa and I were gone to our rooms just as Lord Shelburne returned from Boodle's, where he supped.

January 22nd.—Lady Louisa went to Miss Lowther in the morning to learn the tambour work. Mr. Bull and a Mr. Brooks dined here. Lord Shelburne spent the evening with me. Lady Louisa went out and came home again, and heard part of Abernethy's sermon and of Thucydides' history. Lord Shelburne looked over my fine map-book; we then went to supper, and were going to retire at twelve when Colonel Clarke came and staid with Lord Shelburne till four.

February 14th.—Lord Shelburne went this morning with Colonel Barr to Mr. Pitt at Hayes and dined out. I invited Miss Sophia and Miss Harriett to come to me, and Lady Louisa dined with Lady Charlotte. Major Fitzmaurice was of our party when they were gone I made a short visit to Lady Egmont, and carried Lady Catherine Perceval to Northumberland House, from whence I returned home by half an hour past ten. Lord Dunmore supped with us.

February 23rd.—I had a cold and did not go to church. Lady Juliana Dawkins came to see Lord Fitzmaurice, and admired him as he deserves. I dressed him in garter blue, as the colour that becomes him best. Mr. Nugent sent me his little girl who is very much improved. Lord Shelburne and I dined at the French Ambassador's, where we met Lord and Lady Rockingham, Lady Sandys, Sir John and Lady Griffin, the Count and Comtesse de Saldern, the Duke of Kingston, Lord Ashburnham, Mr. Fitzmaurice, and some foreigners; from thence I went to Lady Hervey's, where I met Lady Bateman and Lady Mary Fitzgerald, Lord Newnham, Mr. Crawford, and some other men I did not know. I staid about twenty minutes and then went to Lady Windsor's; from thence I came home to Lord Shelburne, who read me a sermon out of Barrow against judging others, a very necessary lesson delivered in very persuasive and pleasing terms.

February 28th, 1766.—Lord Dunmore, Mr. Hume, the author, and Mr. Cambridge^[27] dined here. Mr. Hume was Secretary to Lord Hertford's Embassy at Paris, when he was received with uncommon openness, on account of his reputation as an author, and the esteem the English were in then since the late peace. His company was universally courted, and he was the first person that got admission into the Scotch College to see seven volumes of King James the Second's writing there, which he had left to that Society at his death, together with all his correspondents' letters from England, and his heart to be deposited there. The books were all wrote in his own hand, and contained an account of most part of his life. The papers he was not permitted to see, Father Gordon alleging that they contained letters from many people in England to the time of his death, who never had been suspected and might suffer by their names being known. It appears from these books that soon after the triple alliance in 1667, Charles II. concluded a Treaty with Louis XIV. with a view to establish the Roman Catholic religion in England and stipulating for the conquest and subsequent division of the Dutch territory. The only difficulty after this Treaty was which object should first take place. The Duchess of Portsmouth upon this came to England and gaining her point war broke out soon after. The King says in these memoirs that his brother, Charles II. was so bigoted that in the little Council where this Treaty was settled, he cryed for joy at the prospect of bringing in the Roman Catholic religion in England. It was signed by the Lord Arundel of Wardour at Paris on the part of the King. There were likewise several sheets of advice to his son. In them he takes his resolution for granted and advises him of all things to beware of women; he says that very far in life he was seduced by the allurement of the sex and repeats again and again to him to beware of such cattle. He desires him to make it his first and immediate object to get that pernicious Act, the habeas corpus, repealed, and that for the good of the subject. For if that was done the prerogative would be strengthened, standing armies rendered unnecessary, and Government easier executed and less burthensome. He attributed most of his difficulties to his father-in-law, Lord Clarendon, not taking advantage enough of the times to gain more points in favour of prerogative.

Mr. Hume also said the Young Pretender was in England in the year 1753;^[28] that he walked all about London and went into Lady Primrose's, when she had a good deal of company. She was so confounded that she had scarce presence of mind to recover herself enough to call him by the fictitious name he had given her servant. When he went away her servant told her that he was prodigious like the Prince's picture that hung over the chimney. He afterwards abjured the Roman Catholic Religion in a church in the Strand, under the name even of Charles Stuart. He was at different times greatly connected with the first people of reputation in Europe, among others with M. Montesquieu. M. Helvetius did all his business for him from about the year 1750 to 1753, and was intrusted with all his secrets, and told Mr. Hume it was surprising even then how many people kept up correspondence with him from England. These people took great pains in removing prejudices from his character, but it at last ended in his having no religion at all, and by degrees he was given up by them and almost everybody who knew anything of his personal character, on account of the meanness and iniquity of it in every respect. He appears to have but one good quality or rather resolution, which was never to marry, though he has been often pressed to it, particularly by the French Court. He always said he had met with too many misfortunes to wish to contribute to anybody's suffering the like, and was so particular on the subject that he had a daughter by Mrs. Walkinshaw, which he took particular care should be christened at Liége, and then publicly declared to be his natural daughter. The French however made a point of getting her from him, though he parted with her with great regret and difficulty. They have taken care of her, and educated her in a convent in France.

March 5th.—Lady Louisa and I went to Law, the linen draper, to give him the first breadth of the gown she is working for me in the tambour to be calendered, and from thence we went to see a picture begun of Lord Shelburne at Reynolds's, and a famous table at Mayhew's in which I was disappointed. Lord Dunmore and Colonel Barré dined here. Lady Charlotte came to see Lord Fitzmaurice in the morning, admired him, and assured me he was much bigger than any of the Princes had been and than Prince William is even now, though allowed to be a very fine child. She farther flattered me by saying she saw a strong likeness to Lord Shelburne. General Clerke came afterwards and looked at him, and was polite about him; Lord Shelburne spent the evening with us and we had no other company. Lord Shelburne met Lord Winchelsea^[29] at the House of Lords to-day, who told him in conversation that he was seventy-eight years old. He also told Lord Shelburne that the Earl of Devonshire declared in the House of Lords, when the son of King James II. was alluded to as supposititious, that it never was his opinion that he was an imposture, he believed him to be the son of the King, and for that reason urged the more his exclusion. Lord Winchelsea likewise said that the Earl of Devonshire's principal motive was Lord Russell's execution, whose intimate friend he was, and from the moment of his death vowed to avenge it, being himself a man of as great courage as ever lived, a gambler too, and a very lively man.^[30]

Sunday, April 6th.—This day past like the rest till we had just finished tea at seven o'clock in the evening, when Mr. Dunning arrived from the Bristol circuit. I left them to converse together till ten o'clock.

Tuesday, April 8th.—We arrived in town. I was quite surprised at the improvement in my dear little child, who now takes notice of a watch. Mr. Nugent and Colonel Barre dined with us.

Wednesday, April 9th.—Lord Fitzmaurice was put into a tub of water and bore it much better than I expected. General Clerke supped here.

Monday, April 14th.—We all went, after breakfast, to walk over the house in Berkeley Square,^[31] after which I came home. After dinner my Lord came up and called me out of the room and told me that he had received a letter from the country with an account of Mr. Duckett's death, which made it necessary for him to go down the next day as he was to bring in the new member, which would be Mr. Calcraft, as he was under a sort of engagement to him, and if that met with difficulty, Mr. Dunning.^[32] That evening he went to Mr. Pitt.

May 14th.—We got into the coach for Birmingham, and arrived through rough roads at nine o'clock there. We were kindly and politely received by Mr. Garbett; but before I dwell upon the curiosities of this place I must mention having seen some very good portraits at Warwick Castle, particularly one said to be an original of the famous Earl of Essex.

May 15th.—We breakfasted, and went soon after with Mr. Garbett to see the manufactory of buttons and hardwares, which are very curious,^[33] and entertained us very much till dinner-time. Mr. Taylor, the principal manufacturer there, dined with us, and we went afterwards to Mr. Bolden's, who trades much in the same way. His house is a very pretty one about a mile out of the town, and his workshops newly built at the end of his garden, where they take up a large piece of ground which he has named Soho Square. There, as in the morning, we purchased some watch chains and trinkets at an amazing cheap price, and drank tea afterwards in his house, which is a very pleasant one. We returned home to supper between nine and ten, for we kept early hours. Mr Baskerville supped with us.

May 16th.—This morning we went to Gimlett's, where we bought a great many toys and saw his warehouse of watches, &c., one of which I bought for Master Parker. We also went to a quaker's to see the making of guns, but neither Lady Louisa or I being much interested about that, we left Lord Shelburne and Mr. Garbett and went with his son to the toyshops, where we made some purchases. At Mr. Taylor's we met again, and he made and ennamel'd a landscape on the top of a box before us, which he afterwards gave me as a curiosity from my having seen it done. The method of doing it is this: a stamping instrument managed only by one woman first impresses the picture on paper, which paper is then laid even upon a piece of white enamel and rubbed hard with a knife or instrument like it, till it is marked upon the box. Then there is spread over it with a brush some metallic colour reduced to a fine powder which adheres to the moist part, and, by putting it afterwards into an oven for a few minutes, the whole is completed by fixing the colour. We came home, dined, went again to Gimlett's, and from thence to drink tea at Mr. Taylor's villa. This is a very handsome house with a dairy and garden about it. His wife and daughter, a girl of about fourteen, received us, and she played on the harpsichord and sung to us. Mr. Taylor and his son walked about with Lord Shelburne and Mr. Garbett. After this Mr. Frank Garbett went with Lady Louisa and me in the coach to Mr. Baskerville's, which is also a pretty place out of the town; he showed us his garden and hothouse, Mrs. Baskerville the Japan, which business she has chiefly the management of. By this time Mr. Garbett and Lord Shelburne, who walked, arrived; he bought some new books printed by Mr. Baskerville, and I some Japan, and it being now dark we returned home.

May 17th.—As soon as breakfast was over we went to see the making of buckles, papier mâché boxes, and the melting, painting, and stamping of glass. By twelve o'clock we returned to Mr. Garbett's, took some chocolate, and, thanking him for our entertainment at Birmingham, got into our coach to return home, the young Mr. Garbett being of the party till we got through the town. Then we parted, giving him an invitation to Bowood Park, and dined at Shipston; at night we lay at Chappel-on-the-Heath.

May 19th.—After breakfast Lady Louisa went to attend Princess Amelia, and we sent, without success, to Eton to desire leave for Master Parker to come to us. We dined alone, and in the evening Lord Shelburne was so good to write for me the following account of the place we had been so much amused at:

"Birmingham originally had no manufacture except a small one of linen thread, which continues there to this day, though now to the amount of ten or twelve thousand pounds. It is not fifty years since the hardware began to make a figure, from thence begun by people not worth above three or four hundred pounds a-piece, some of which are now worth three or four hundred thousand, particularly a Mr. Taylor, the most established manufacturer and trader; some, however, are beginning to rival him in the extent of his trade. Its great rise was owing to two things, first the discovery of mixed metal so mollient or ductile as easily to suffer stamping, the consequence of which is they do buttons, buckles, toys, and everything in the hardware way by stamping machines which were before obliged to be performed by human labour. Another thing quickly followed, instead of employing the same hand to finish a button or any other thing, they subdivide it into as many different hands as possible, finding beyond doubt that the human faculties by being confined to a repetition of the same thing become more expeditious and more to be depended on than when obliged or suffered to pass from one to another. Thus a button passes through fifty hands, and each hand perhaps passes a thousand in a day; likewise, by this means, the work becomes so simple that, five times in six, children of six or eight years old do it as well as men, and earn from ten pence to eight shillings a week. There are besides an infinity of smaller improvements which each workman has and sedulously keeps secret from the rest. Upon the whole they have reduced the price so low that the small matter of gold on a button makes the chief expense of it, being as three to one including all other materials and manufacture. However, they have lately discovered a method of washing them with aquafortis, which gives them the colour of gold, and are come to stamp them so well that 'tis scarce possible at any distance to distinguish them from a thread button. There are many other manufactures here; most of the spirit of hartshorn consumed in England, and oil of a great quantity, but the greatest manufacture of that is now removed to Preston Pans in Scotland. The reason Mr. Garbett gave for it was, first, secrecy as to the method of making it (which is almost impossible to preserve in Birmingham, there is so much enterprise and sharpness); next, the cheapness of provisions; and, lastly, the obedient turn of the Scotch. Refining of gold and silver, and gun-making to a prodigious amount for exportation, are likewise another branch of their trade, of which they send annually above a hundred and fifty thousand to the coast of Africa, some of which are sold for five and sixpence a-piece, but what is shocking to humanity, above half of them, from the manner they are finished in, are sure to burst in the first hand that fires them. If an Act of Parliament was passed ordering a proof-master to be settled at the expence of the manufacturers themselves, for one shilling more the barrels might be properly bored and finished, so as to secure the buyer at least from certain danger, the trade by this means assured and confirmed in its present channel, and the moral infamy in the individuals who are thus induced to multiply gain, suppressed. This trade, great as it is, is not above twenty or twenty-five years' standing. Another thing they are in great want of is an assaymaster, which is allowed both at Chester and York; but it is very hard on a manufacturer to be obliged to send every piece of plate to Chester to be marked, without which no one will purchase it, where the great object of the whole trade is to make a quantity and thus to reduce the profits as low as 'tis possible. It would be of infinite public advantage if silver plate came to be manufactured here as watches lately are, and that it should be taken out of the imposing monopoly of it in London."

June 16th.—Bowood. As soon as breakfast was over we took a walk and were vastly pleased with the effect of the water which flows into a magnificent river, and only wants now to rise to its proper height, which it comes nearer to every day.

July 14th.—This morning at seven o'clock Mr. Taylor knocked at the door and brought in a letter for my Lord, come by an express. It was from Mr. Pitt.

 

To understand the contents of this letter it is necessary to leave Lady Shelburne and return to politics.

There are some victories which are fatal to those that win them. Such was the victory of the Rockingham administration on the question of the Stamp Act. The popular belief was that they had not consented to the repeal of the obnoxious tax till "bullied into it" by Pitt. Years after, Burke himself witnessed to the intensity of that feeling,^[34] the justice of which has been proved by evidence which not all the eloquence of all the orators can put out of court. It was in that belief that the voice of the nation, notwithstanding the imperfect condition of the means by which it would make itself heard, demanded that Pitt should be again called to the head of the affairs. Rockingham bowed to the storm. Already he saw his colleagues deserting him; but though conscious that Grafton resigned, and Conway wished to resign because he and not Pitt held the helm, he still attempted to remain a little longer at the post of most responsibility, and to treat as an equal with the statesman whom the country wished to see armed with almost dictatorial powers. Not only the country, but the King as well, was hostile to the Whigs. The liberal measures with which Rockingham followed up the repeal of the Stamp Act, though insufficient to neutralize the popular cry, only rendered him more and more obnoxious to the Court, which had one thing—and one only—in common with Pitt, its hatred of the old Whig connection. Thus when the Administration was but a year old, premature decrepitude ended in dissolution and death. Pitt, once more summoned by the King, now refused to treat with any one. He even ventured at last, though ill and suffering, to defy the refusal of the overbearing Temple to act with him. To the friends of Rockingham he offered office, but to Rockingham himself he tendered no invitation.

It has been said that he should have heartily joined with the Whigs, and Rockingham, it has been argued, especially by comparison, showed great moderation at this difficult moment.^[35] But while Pitt desired to act cordially with the Whigs and on Whig principles, he yet was determined not to be dictated to by any connection. He himself declared he "acceded to the present administration, not they to him, and that he brought not a single man along with him that had not voted with him all the last winter."^[36] Whatever faults he was guilty of at this time, were faults of manner and of style arising from his love of stilted expressions and turgid writing. His actions were not susceptible of blame. To Grafton, Conway, Dowdeswell, Lord John Cavendish, Dartmouth, Hertford, Charles Townshend, and the Duke of Portland, he offered places in the Ministry. It was the fault of Lord John Cavendish, not of Pitt, if he, with Dartmouth and Dowdeswell, refused those offers. Whether Rockingham would have consented to fill any place inferior to that which he had so lately occupied is not certain. His presence in that place, and indeed in any other, would have made the Ministry a coalition Ministry. This was precisely what Pitt intended it should not be; and as for the moderation of Rockingham, it was shown by his refusing even to receive Pitt when the latter called at his house.^[37]

In the new arrangements Shelburne was appointed Secretary of State notwithstanding the strongly expressed dislike of the King.^[38] Pitt would not tolerate dictation by the King any more than by the aristocracy, though he veiled his rule over the former in forms and under expressions which, to those even who knew him best, seemed redolent of more than courtier-like servility, and even permitted a place at the Board of Admiralty to be given to Jenkinson, the former Private Secretary of Bute, whose great abilities at least were not in dispute. On the 13th of July he had written to Shelburne, then at Bowood, asking him to come to town immediately, "as he had an earnest desire to see him, and receive his lights and confidential opinions on the important business in which by the King's orders he was engaged." Shelburne hastened from the country,^[39] and, on the 15th, found Pitt at Hampstead so prostrated by illness, and a stormy interview with Temple on the previous day, as to be utterly unfit to see him, and only able to write another letter "to express his warm sense of the confidence and friendship of Lord Shelburne together with a most anxious impatience to be in a condition to see him, and confer on the present crisis."^[40] The illness continuing, no interview was possible till the 20th, when Shelburne "found Pitt much reduced by his fever." At this interview he was offered the seals, and, on the 23rd, the Royal objection to the appointment having in the interval been overcome, his formal appointment was notified to him in the following letter:

 

Mr. Pitt to the Earl of Shelburne.

July 23rd.

Being obliged from my present state of health to get back to the air of North End to dinner, I can only have the honour to transmit His Majesty's most gracious commands to your Lordship to attend him to-morrow at twelve at the Queen's House by this hasty line, instead of waiting on you in person to express my joy at the choice the King has made of a Secretary of State every way so advantageous to His Majesty's service as well as flattering to all my wishes, public and private. Lord Northington, President of the Council; Lord Camden, the Great Seal; your humble servant, Privy Seal. As yet the arrangements are in the King's intentions only. Colonel Barre, Vice Treasurer. The fever still continuing in a small degree, together with some fatigue, forbids me to add more. Words cannot convey my sense of the Royal goodness. I am ever, with affectionate respect,

My dear Lord's

Most faithful friend and humble servant,

William Pitt.

 

Shelburne replied as follows:

 

Hill Street, July 24th, 1766.

Dear Sir,—I am this moment honoured with your letter, and am as much obliged to you for the contents as my sense of my own inability will allow me. Your private wishes being engaged in my fortunes is indeed most flattering to me, and though I suspect they have already led you further on my account than you have told me, I cannot now help requesting most earnestly their continuance as they alone can make the situation you mention honourable or happy, and I can with the greatest truth affirm that they alone encourage the undertaking it. I shall take care to be prepared to attend His Majesty at twelve to-morrow to receive his commands. I shall be very desirous for a few minutes' conversation with you afterwards, and will call at Hampstead in the evening in hopes of it, if the next morning will not be more convenient or another time. I will take care not to abuse your permission by detaining you too long either then or now, as I trust you will believe no individual feels more concerned for Mr. Pitt's health than one who has so much reason to be, with the greatest respect, dear Sir,

Your most obliged

Humble servant,

Shelburne.

P.S.—You must permit me to add how happy I am in the choice of a Chancellor.

 

Thus was formed the administration of the Earl of Chatham, for when Pitt took the Privy Seal from the hands of the aged Newcastle, he at the same time ceased to be a commoner. This was the first mistake which he committed. "Nous ne pouvons comprendre ici," wrote Choiseul^[41] from Compiègne to Guerchy in London, "quel a été le dessein de My lord Chatham en quittant la Chambre des Communes. Il nous paroissoit que toute sa force consistoit dans sa continuation dans cette chambre, et il pourroit bien se trouver comme Sampson après qu'on lui eût coupé les cheveux. Ce que nous avons à craindre c'est que cet homme altier et ambitieux ayant perdu la considération populaire, ne veuille se relever de sa perte par des exploits guerriers, et des projets de conquêtes qui puissent lui procurer de la réputation. Je suis persuadé que la querelle de My lord Chatham avec son beau-frere My lord Temple ne durera pas. Us se raccommoderont, et il y aura encore un nouveau changement dans le Ministère. C'est pour cela que l'on a laissé la place à M. Conway. Je suis persuadé que le Due de Grafton la reprendra, et cédera la sienne à My lord Temple, lequel aura à sa disposition la nomination de celle de My lord Egmont, et de celle des plantations. Alors le Ministère d'Angleterre aura une certaine consistance, sans cela avec l'opposition de My lord Temple, l'ineptie de M. Conway, la jeunesse et peut-être l'étourderie de My lord Shelburne, quoique gouverné par M. Pitt, il ne sera pas plus fort qu'il ne l'étoit ci-devant. My lord Chatham a pris une charge trop forte d'être le Gouverneur de tout le monde et le Protecteur de tous."

In these words did the French Minister sketch his hopes and fears to his colleague in London, but graver misfortunes than either a mistake about an office, or the opposition of any individual however powerful, were to be the causes of the ruin of the Ministry of the Earl of Chatham.

 

1. Sec the character of Pitt in the chapter of Autobiography, supra.
2. The passage is contained in a letter from Hugh Hammersley to Lieutenant-Governor Sharpe, December 1765, quoted by Mr. Bancroft, v. 369.
3. The sentence is unfinished: its meaning is obvious.
4. Lord Shelburne's son and heir, Lord Fitzmaurice, was born on the 6th of the month : the Lord Wycombe mentioned in a later portion of this book.
5. Speech of April 19th, 1774. How completely Burke was thrown off his mental balance in the course of this speech may be seen by a comparison of his denunciations of political compromise as "the constant resource of weak undeciding minds," with his praises of it as "the foundation of Government" in the speech on Conciliation with America, March 22nd, 1775, and in the Reflections on the French Revolution.
6. King's Speech, Parl. Hist. xvi., January 14th, 1766.
7. Autobiography of the Duke of Grafton, 66.
8. Hardwicke to C. Yorke. January 1765.
9. See, too, Newcastle to Rockingham, January 3rd, 1766, in the Memoirs of the Marquis of Rockingham, i. 269. Pitt was justified in refusing to advise the Ministers, but it is impossible to acquit him of disingenuous conduct when immediately after he spoke of himself as "unconsulted."
10. This conversation between George III. and Lord Ashburton took place in 1783, and is recorded in connection with the events of that year. See Vol. II. p. 318.
11. Memoirs of the Marquis of Rockingham, i. 271.
12. Memoirs of the Marquis of Rockingham, i. 271, where the word is "answer." It should be "message."
13. It is important to note that the debate on the introduction of the Bill for repealing the Stamp Act in the House of Commons was on February 21st, as given in Walpole, Memoirs of the Reign of George III., ii. 296, and not on January 21st, as stated in the Parliamentary History, whence the error has crept into many other books. For further details as to the negotiation between Pitt and Rockingham see Bancroft, v. ch. 24, and the authorities there quoted.
14. Pitt to Shelburne, February 1766.
15. Memoirs of the Marquis of Rockingham, i. 284, 285.
16. Grafton to Conway, April 22nd, 1766.
17. Parliamentary History, xvi. 165.
18. Bancroft, v. 413.
19. Speech on American taxation, 1774. It must, however, be remembered that the contention of the advocates of American taxation by the British Parliament was that the war of 1755 had been undertaken for the benefit of the colonies, and that it was legitimate to ask them to contribute to the expenses.
20. Franklin's evidence. Papers presented to Parliament January 28th, 1766, and Works, iv. 412-428.
21. The argument of Mansfield as summarised in the Parliamentary History, xvi. 202.
22. Lord Camden's speech. See the observation of Lord Campbell, Lives of the Lord Chancellors, v. 255.
23. Hallam, Constit. Hist. i. 419.
24. Macaulay, Essay on Earl of Chatham.
25. Aunt of Lady Shelburne.
26. Brown, the famous landscape gardener, commonly known as "Capability" Brown.
27. The poet.
28. Earl of Albemarle to Sir T. Robinson, August 21st, 1754. "It has been positively asserted to me by a person of some note, who is strongly attached to him, but dissatisfied with his conduct, that he, the Pretender's son, had actually been in England in great disguise as may be imagined, no longer ago than about three months; that he did not know how far he had gone, nor how long he had been there, but that he had staid till the time above mentioned, when word was brought him at Nottingham by one of his friends, that there was reason to apprehend that he was discovered or in the greatest danger of being so, and that he ought therefore to lose no time in leaving England, which he accordingly did directly. The person from whom I have this is as likely to have been informed of it at anybody of the party, and could have no particular reason to have imposed such a story upon me, which could serve no purpose." (Lansdowne House MSS.)
29. Lord Winchelsea was President of the Council in the administration of Lord Rockingham.
30. Walpole, Memoirs of the Reign of George II., ii. 22. "The first Duke, besides being the finest gentleman of the age, had succeeded to the merits of his friend Lord Russell's martyrdom."
31. The site had been bought by Lord Bute, who commenced a house upon it. Lord Shelburne bought the site and the building, which he finished. He is said to have had the refusal at the time of what if now the main building of the British Museum. Adams was the architect of Shelburne House.
32. Calcraft was returned. He held the seat till 1768, when Dunning succeeded him.
33. There are a great number of letters and papers from Mr. Garbett on commercial questions among the Lansdowne House MSS.
34. Burke, speech on American taxation, April 19th, 1774.
35. Macaulay, Essay on the Earl of Chatham.
36. Walpole, Memoirs of the Reign of George III., ii. 350
37. Walpole, Memoirs of the Reign of George III., ii. 356.
38. Ibid. ii. 349.
39. Lady Shelburne's Diary, July 14th, 1766.
40. Pitt to Shelburne, July 18th, 1766. The date is incorrectly given in the Chatham Correspondence.
41. This letter is from a copy at Lansdowne House. The original was no doubt one of the many despatches intercepted by the English Government at this time.