LORD TEMPLE TO LORD NORTH.Dublin Castle, May 2nd, 1783.My Lord,The messenger who is this moment arrived with His Majesty's commands upon the subject of the Parliament, has not brought me one syllable in answer to my despatch of the 24th, so interesting to my feelings. Your Lordship, I am certain, does not propose to delay receiving His Majesty's commands upon the many matters contained in it, and yet your total silence upon it, and the very distant day to which the Parliament is prorogued (for which measure the King's servants alone are responsible), do not hold out to me that prospect of release, which I still conceive, from every principle of public duty to this kingdom, and from every personal consideration to me, will not be delayed many days longer. I have sufficiently pressed upon your Lordship's attention these reasons of my conduct. I have only to add, that I have well considered the alternative to which I may be driven, and must again remind your Lordship, that in no contingency do I consider myself responsible for any one of the consequences which may be the result of the public inattention to this Government, under which this high and important office has been left unfilled from the formation of the new Government till the 24th ult., and under which the same interregnum is, in your Lordship's despatch of that date, held out for six weeks longer.And I am the more particularly anxious for this answer, from the heartfelt concern with which I wait for the notification of His Majesty's sense of those assurances of attachment and dutiful respect, which makes me solicitous that no part of my conduct may be liable to misconstruction: to his wisdom I submit those considerations, which touch so nearly the interests of this kingdom, and to his justice, with all humility, those which are personal to myself.I have the honour to be,N. T.
LORD TEMPLE TO LORD NORTH.
Dublin Castle, May 2nd, 1783.
My Lord,
The messenger who is this moment arrived with His Majesty's commands upon the subject of the Parliament, has not brought me one syllable in answer to my despatch of the 24th, so interesting to my feelings. Your Lordship, I am certain, does not propose to delay receiving His Majesty's commands upon the many matters contained in it, and yet your total silence upon it, and the very distant day to which the Parliament is prorogued (for which measure the King's servants alone are responsible), do not hold out to me that prospect of release, which I still conceive, from every principle of public duty to this kingdom, and from every personal consideration to me, will not be delayed many days longer. I have sufficiently pressed upon your Lordship's attention these reasons of my conduct. I have only to add, that I have well considered the alternative to which I may be driven, and must again remind your Lordship, that in no contingency do I consider myself responsible for any one of the consequences which may be the result of the public inattention to this Government, under which this high and important office has been left unfilled from the formation of the new Government till the 24th ult., and under which the same interregnum is, in your Lordship's despatch of that date, held out for six weeks longer.
And I am the more particularly anxious for this answer, from the heartfelt concern with which I wait for the notification of His Majesty's sense of those assurances of attachment and dutiful respect, which makes me solicitous that no part of my conduct may be liable to misconstruction: to his wisdom I submit those considerations, which touch so nearly the interests of this kingdom, and to his justice, with all humility, those which are personal to myself.
I have the honour to be,N. T.
While this letter was on its way to London, it was crossed by Lord North's answer to the despatch of the 24th, containing, in detail, the defence of the Government on the numerous points pressed upon their attention by the Lord-Lieutenant.
LORD NORTH TO LORD TEMPLE.Whitehall, May 5th, 1733.My Lord,The anxiety which your Excellency felt in writing your letter of the 24th of last month, cannot, I will venture to affirm, possibly exceed my surprise at receiving it. Having, during the very little time that I have been in office, made it my object to return the most speedy answers to all your Excellency's letters, and having had the good fortune in every instance to convey the most favourable return all to your Excellency's wishes and commands, you may well suppose that I must have been much struck at reading your complaints of ill-treatment, indelicacy, or something (whatever it may be) that deserves a harsher name. If, in the course of my life, it had not been frequently my lot to see very great offence taken upon very slight causes, the terms of your Excellency's letter would havegiven me more uneasiness. But, upon a calm and dispassionate review of your complaints, and of the conduct of His Majesty's servants, I can, by no means, either in their name, or in my own, plead guilty to the neglects and other misbehaviour which your Excellency thinks proper to lay to our charge.Your Excellency is of opinion, that His Majesty's servants should have employed themselves in endeavouring to find a successor to your Excellency from the receipt of your letter of the 12th of March. If your Excellency will give yourself the trouble to recollect the transactions of that period, you will, I am sure, concur with me in opinion, that it would have been the extreme of folly and presumption for any of His Majesty's present servants to have treated upon this subject with any person breathing before the 2nd of April, when they had the honour of kissing His Majesty's hand. Long after the day of the receipt of your Excellency's letter, it was perfectly uncertain here, to whose hands His Majesty would commit the management of his affairs; nay, your Excellency cannot be ignorant, that, since that time, the expectations (and I doubt not the hopes) of the public were fixed upon seeing your Excellency at the head of the Administration.The 2nd of April was, therefore, the first moment that any of His Majesty's present servants could take any step towards the nomination of a new Chief Governor of Ireland. From that time measures for that purpose have been constantly pursued, till the affair was finally settled, on the 24th of last month. The various impediments which have arisen I need not mention to your Excellency, but the fact is exactly as I have stated; and, as the delay is not unprecedented, nor even very long, I think it is not trespassing too much upon your Excellency's candour to expect that you will believe my assertion.In your last letter, your Excellency seems hurt, that the London newspapers should have announced in Dublin the appointment of the Earl of Northington two days before youreceived my letter. Whatever might have been the information or the conjectures of the news-writers, I assure your Excellency that I wrote within an hour after I received authentic information of that appointment.As to the total and absolute neglect of Irish considerations, on which your Excellency expresses yourself so strongly, you certainly cannot mean to allude to the ordinary and current business (which has been regularly attended to, and has met with the most speedy decision that each case would admit of), but to some great commercial points, upon which your Excellency had written at different times to the late Administration, and which had not, as I collect from your Excellency's letter, been considered, when they quitted His Majesty's service.I well remember, that Lord Carlisle very fully and clearly stated, very earnestly and repeatedly pressed, the demands of Ireland, with respect to the refusal of Portugal to admit their woollen goods. Lord Hillsborough, then Secretary of State, urged the claim of Ireland with much zeal and perseverance in his despatches to the Court of Portugal, and in his conferences with the Portuguese Minister in London. What was done in that business by the late Administration I know not: nothing of that sort has yet come to my knowledge; but, during the few days that we have been in office, the Secretary of State for the Foreign Department has renewed this negotiation with Monsieur de Pinto, and I doubt not but it will be pursued with all the attention that so important a question deserves. But it is singular, that His Majesty's present servants should be criminated for not having finished in the first busy three weeks of a new Administration what has been depending during the two last Ministries, and, notwithstanding the efforts of one of them at least, is by no means so far advanced as to promise an immediate conclusion.That the interests of Ireland should not be separated from those of Great Britain in any commercial treaty with Franceand Spain, and that they should be considered in every arrangement with the United States of America, are important truths, upon which your Excellency, with much propriety, lays a great stress. They cannot be urged too often or too strongly; but whether your Excellency has any particular measures to suggest on these heads, or whether the late Administration, when they signed the provisional articles, and projected the commercial treaties with the House of Bourbon, had formed any detailed and digested plan upon these principles, I am not informed; but this is certain, that it would have been very hasty and rash, for His Majesty's servants in the first hurry of a new arrangement, before any commercial treaty is formed with America, or the definitive treaties signed with France and Spain, to think themselves capable of proposing a well-formed system of commerce, adapted to the new situation of Great Britain with her late and present dependencies.Your Excellency will consider, that we came to the situations we now possess, in the midst of a session of Parliament, with almost all the material business of that session unfinished, indeed, hardly begun, and that, besides Parliamentary affairs, there never was a time in which the Executive Power was occupied with a greater variety of complicated and important questions.Many of the matters to which your Excellency alludes, must necessarily employ the attention of His Majesty's Ministers for a long space of time. Your Excellency will, therefore, I hope, judge of our exertions according to the capacities of ordinary men, and not according to the rapidity of your Excellency's conceptions, and the eagerness of your zeal for the prosperity of Ireland.I beg pardon for detaining your Excellency so long, but I trust that what I have written may serve to justify me to your Excellency, when I confess, that the heavy and severe censuresin your Excellency's letter have produced no other emotions in my mind than those of astonishment.I have the honour to be, with the greatest truth and respect, My Lord,Your Excellency's most obedient humble servant,North.Earl Temple, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland
LORD NORTH TO LORD TEMPLE.
Whitehall, May 5th, 1733.
My Lord,
The anxiety which your Excellency felt in writing your letter of the 24th of last month, cannot, I will venture to affirm, possibly exceed my surprise at receiving it. Having, during the very little time that I have been in office, made it my object to return the most speedy answers to all your Excellency's letters, and having had the good fortune in every instance to convey the most favourable return all to your Excellency's wishes and commands, you may well suppose that I must have been much struck at reading your complaints of ill-treatment, indelicacy, or something (whatever it may be) that deserves a harsher name. If, in the course of my life, it had not been frequently my lot to see very great offence taken upon very slight causes, the terms of your Excellency's letter would havegiven me more uneasiness. But, upon a calm and dispassionate review of your complaints, and of the conduct of His Majesty's servants, I can, by no means, either in their name, or in my own, plead guilty to the neglects and other misbehaviour which your Excellency thinks proper to lay to our charge.
Your Excellency is of opinion, that His Majesty's servants should have employed themselves in endeavouring to find a successor to your Excellency from the receipt of your letter of the 12th of March. If your Excellency will give yourself the trouble to recollect the transactions of that period, you will, I am sure, concur with me in opinion, that it would have been the extreme of folly and presumption for any of His Majesty's present servants to have treated upon this subject with any person breathing before the 2nd of April, when they had the honour of kissing His Majesty's hand. Long after the day of the receipt of your Excellency's letter, it was perfectly uncertain here, to whose hands His Majesty would commit the management of his affairs; nay, your Excellency cannot be ignorant, that, since that time, the expectations (and I doubt not the hopes) of the public were fixed upon seeing your Excellency at the head of the Administration.
The 2nd of April was, therefore, the first moment that any of His Majesty's present servants could take any step towards the nomination of a new Chief Governor of Ireland. From that time measures for that purpose have been constantly pursued, till the affair was finally settled, on the 24th of last month. The various impediments which have arisen I need not mention to your Excellency, but the fact is exactly as I have stated; and, as the delay is not unprecedented, nor even very long, I think it is not trespassing too much upon your Excellency's candour to expect that you will believe my assertion.
In your last letter, your Excellency seems hurt, that the London newspapers should have announced in Dublin the appointment of the Earl of Northington two days before youreceived my letter. Whatever might have been the information or the conjectures of the news-writers, I assure your Excellency that I wrote within an hour after I received authentic information of that appointment.
As to the total and absolute neglect of Irish considerations, on which your Excellency expresses yourself so strongly, you certainly cannot mean to allude to the ordinary and current business (which has been regularly attended to, and has met with the most speedy decision that each case would admit of), but to some great commercial points, upon which your Excellency had written at different times to the late Administration, and which had not, as I collect from your Excellency's letter, been considered, when they quitted His Majesty's service.
I well remember, that Lord Carlisle very fully and clearly stated, very earnestly and repeatedly pressed, the demands of Ireland, with respect to the refusal of Portugal to admit their woollen goods. Lord Hillsborough, then Secretary of State, urged the claim of Ireland with much zeal and perseverance in his despatches to the Court of Portugal, and in his conferences with the Portuguese Minister in London. What was done in that business by the late Administration I know not: nothing of that sort has yet come to my knowledge; but, during the few days that we have been in office, the Secretary of State for the Foreign Department has renewed this negotiation with Monsieur de Pinto, and I doubt not but it will be pursued with all the attention that so important a question deserves. But it is singular, that His Majesty's present servants should be criminated for not having finished in the first busy three weeks of a new Administration what has been depending during the two last Ministries, and, notwithstanding the efforts of one of them at least, is by no means so far advanced as to promise an immediate conclusion.
That the interests of Ireland should not be separated from those of Great Britain in any commercial treaty with Franceand Spain, and that they should be considered in every arrangement with the United States of America, are important truths, upon which your Excellency, with much propriety, lays a great stress. They cannot be urged too often or too strongly; but whether your Excellency has any particular measures to suggest on these heads, or whether the late Administration, when they signed the provisional articles, and projected the commercial treaties with the House of Bourbon, had formed any detailed and digested plan upon these principles, I am not informed; but this is certain, that it would have been very hasty and rash, for His Majesty's servants in the first hurry of a new arrangement, before any commercial treaty is formed with America, or the definitive treaties signed with France and Spain, to think themselves capable of proposing a well-formed system of commerce, adapted to the new situation of Great Britain with her late and present dependencies.
Your Excellency will consider, that we came to the situations we now possess, in the midst of a session of Parliament, with almost all the material business of that session unfinished, indeed, hardly begun, and that, besides Parliamentary affairs, there never was a time in which the Executive Power was occupied with a greater variety of complicated and important questions.
Many of the matters to which your Excellency alludes, must necessarily employ the attention of His Majesty's Ministers for a long space of time. Your Excellency will, therefore, I hope, judge of our exertions according to the capacities of ordinary men, and not according to the rapidity of your Excellency's conceptions, and the eagerness of your zeal for the prosperity of Ireland.
I beg pardon for detaining your Excellency so long, but I trust that what I have written may serve to justify me to your Excellency, when I confess, that the heavy and severe censuresin your Excellency's letter have produced no other emotions in my mind than those of astonishment.
I have the honour to be, with the greatest truth and respect, My Lord,Your Excellency's most obedient humble servant,North.
Earl Temple, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland
Perhaps "astonishment," after all, was the most convenient refuge for Lord North, under the circumstances. But it is clear, throughout the whole correspondence, that, let the responsibility rest where it might, a delay—fraught with the worst consequences to the repose of the kingdom—had been suffered to take place, greatly detrimental to the public service, and personally compromising to Lord Temple. Lord North himself acknowledges that from the 2nd to the 24th of April was consumed in the pursuit of measures which ought to have been carried into operation without delay. The new Ministry confess that they were three weeks looking for a successor to Lord Temple, instead of having come into office prepared to fill that important vacancy at once. They could not plead ignorance of Lord Temple's determination to retire; for he had apprised the Duke of Portland that his mind was made up before the coalition was formed. There was no excuse for the protracted inconvenience—public and private—to which Lord Temple was exposed, except the fact that the Ministry, too eager in the chase of office, had accepted the reins of Government before they were ready to undertake its functions; and that it was not until the situationof Lord-Lieutenant had been offered to one nobleman after another, they at last found a peer who was willing to incur the hazard of serving under them in so responsible a post. That Lord Temple should have expressed his feelings strongly on this occasion, that he should have complained warmly of the personal slight with which he was treated, and that he should have represented with earnestness the injury inflicted on the public service throughout this harassing interregnum, was due equally to his own character, and to the duty he owed to the King. Instead of being enabled to relinquish office to his successor with ease and satisfaction to both, the affair was so hurried, that in the correspondence which ensued between Lord Temple and Lord Northington, a tone of asperity insensibly displaces the amicable dispositions with which it opens, and shows that the political discord which had been sown by the "unprincipled coalition," was not without a damaging influence upon the private relations of public men. Lord Temple, after sacrificing much of his own personal feelings to adapt his withdrawal to the convenience of Lord Northington, at last expressed his resolution—at any risk of consequences—not to be in Dublin on the 4th of June, the anniversary of the King's birthday. To this point the correspondence, interspersed with one or two letters from Lord North, is finally drawn.
LORD TEMPLE TO LORD NORTHINGTON.Dublin Castle, May 6th, 1783.My dear Lord,My former letter will have sufficiently stated to you my full determination that my private feelings should not prevent mefrom showing to you every personal regard, which is so much your due. My line was long since adopted; and standing upon public grounds, I could not yield to the honourable testimonies which I have received, much less to any solicitations from the King's servants,if any such had been made. But for particular reasons I desire to assure you that, neither directly or indirectly, have I received, since the hour of their appointment, any such intimation, or any solicitation to continue in this Government till after your appointment. Forthatattention I should thank them, as I should not have conceived that they could entertain any real wish that I should act with people with whom I did not agree in general principles. But my complaint is, that the kingdom has materially suffered by this delay; that it still suffers; and that this consideration will not permit me to remain, independently of the considerations of a personal nature, which I strongly feel.Under these circumstances, I must strongly press upon your convenience. I feel it, and, with truth, I regret it, as a real misfortune; for, from private friendship, I would do everything which could mark my regard; but you will see, upon your arrival, that I have not exaggerated the difficulties of the country under such an interregnum. I accept your expressions of esteem, as I should, with every wish to return them by real services. I think that I have the means of assisting you by information, and you may command me; but I must be relieved before the 25th of May, for reasons which involve my public character and credit; and when I fix that period, I assure you, my dear Lord, that I sacrifice much of my private feelings to a desire of accommodating you. In truth, I wish to you every success in your undertaking; and I feel a most unpleasant difficulty in the present moment, from my private sensations with respect to you, and the other principles, public and private, which make me appear to fail in attention to you. This is my only uneasiness. But at all events, let me continueto stand well in your regards. As to every article of domestic accommodation, much time might be spared if you would commission our friend Baugh, or send your steward to Ireland. In all this, do as you will; but be assured thatI am, my dear Lord,Your very faithful and obedient servant,(Signed)Nugent Temple.P.S.—When I fix the 25th of May, I allow one month from the day of the notification of your acceptance—a time, I confess, short; but, in truth, I was prepared within that period. At all events, though I mean to urge that day in my despatches to Government, all that I am anxious about is to be relieved before the 4th of June, as you will see particular reasons of delicacy for my not holding that Court. And when you recollect that from the 17th of February the Government of Ireland has been nearly at a stand, you will see the necessity of it in a public point of view; and be assured, that personal impatience or want of regard to you has no share in the resolution which I have taken not to be in Ireland upon that day.Your Lordship will derive little advantage from the communication of my ideas on the subject of Parliament, as the Cabinet, by their prorogation, have decided that arduous question; but be assured, that I have every inclination to show to you every attention of that nature; although I must think that the conduct of the Cabinet has acquitted me of everydutyof communication.I have added this postscript, having kept my letter one day, expecting Mr. Grenville. I must now close it, with every expression of regard and esteem.N. T.
LORD TEMPLE TO LORD NORTHINGTON.
Dublin Castle, May 6th, 1783.
My dear Lord,
My former letter will have sufficiently stated to you my full determination that my private feelings should not prevent mefrom showing to you every personal regard, which is so much your due. My line was long since adopted; and standing upon public grounds, I could not yield to the honourable testimonies which I have received, much less to any solicitations from the King's servants,if any such had been made. But for particular reasons I desire to assure you that, neither directly or indirectly, have I received, since the hour of their appointment, any such intimation, or any solicitation to continue in this Government till after your appointment. Forthatattention I should thank them, as I should not have conceived that they could entertain any real wish that I should act with people with whom I did not agree in general principles. But my complaint is, that the kingdom has materially suffered by this delay; that it still suffers; and that this consideration will not permit me to remain, independently of the considerations of a personal nature, which I strongly feel.
Under these circumstances, I must strongly press upon your convenience. I feel it, and, with truth, I regret it, as a real misfortune; for, from private friendship, I would do everything which could mark my regard; but you will see, upon your arrival, that I have not exaggerated the difficulties of the country under such an interregnum. I accept your expressions of esteem, as I should, with every wish to return them by real services. I think that I have the means of assisting you by information, and you may command me; but I must be relieved before the 25th of May, for reasons which involve my public character and credit; and when I fix that period, I assure you, my dear Lord, that I sacrifice much of my private feelings to a desire of accommodating you. In truth, I wish to you every success in your undertaking; and I feel a most unpleasant difficulty in the present moment, from my private sensations with respect to you, and the other principles, public and private, which make me appear to fail in attention to you. This is my only uneasiness. But at all events, let me continueto stand well in your regards. As to every article of domestic accommodation, much time might be spared if you would commission our friend Baugh, or send your steward to Ireland. In all this, do as you will; but be assured that
I am, my dear Lord,Your very faithful and obedient servant,(Signed)Nugent Temple.
P.S.—When I fix the 25th of May, I allow one month from the day of the notification of your acceptance—a time, I confess, short; but, in truth, I was prepared within that period. At all events, though I mean to urge that day in my despatches to Government, all that I am anxious about is to be relieved before the 4th of June, as you will see particular reasons of delicacy for my not holding that Court. And when you recollect that from the 17th of February the Government of Ireland has been nearly at a stand, you will see the necessity of it in a public point of view; and be assured, that personal impatience or want of regard to you has no share in the resolution which I have taken not to be in Ireland upon that day.
Your Lordship will derive little advantage from the communication of my ideas on the subject of Parliament, as the Cabinet, by their prorogation, have decided that arduous question; but be assured, that I have every inclination to show to you every attention of that nature; although I must think that the conduct of the Cabinet has acquitted me of everydutyof communication.
I have added this postscript, having kept my letter one day, expecting Mr. Grenville. I must now close it, with every expression of regard and esteem.
N. T.
MR. W. W. GRENVILLE TO LORD TEMPLE.Pall Mall, May 7th, 1783.By Lord Northington's Messenger.My dear Brother,I understand from Lord Northington, whom I saw to-day, that both he and Lord North write to you this evening on the subject of his departure, which I understand to be fixed for the beginning of June.I had some conversation with him on the subject, in which I enlarged upon the ideas of your letter, your personal good-will and wishes for his success, the mischief of the delay, and the difficulties of your situation; and particularly stated the circumstances of Ireland with respect to its army, to the Fencibles, and to the different points of commerce which call for the immediate interposition of Government, and which we meant to have settled by having a Parliament sitting at this time, if things had gone on as they were. His observations on all this you will, I suppose, receive to-night.I am in some doubt what to do about coming over to you, as, on account of the Prince's death, there is no levée to-day, nor, I fear, on Friday. If there is, I will set out that evening. It is the more unfortunate, as I wished to know the King's ideas as to your coming away. Your provocation is certainly very great; yet I cannot help fearing that such a step will hurt you here. I still wish to see the King, and will try it, if I can.Pitt's motion comes on to-day; but nobody knows it, though it is imagined to go only to fifty or one hundred Knights, and to some enlargement of boroughs, to take place only on proof of delinquency, as in the case of Cricklade and Shoreham.No news of any Dutch peace, nor can I guess why we are arming, as is said to be the case; but query. Adieu.Ever yours,W. W. G.
MR. W. W. GRENVILLE TO LORD TEMPLE.
Pall Mall, May 7th, 1783.
By Lord Northington's Messenger.
My dear Brother,
I understand from Lord Northington, whom I saw to-day, that both he and Lord North write to you this evening on the subject of his departure, which I understand to be fixed for the beginning of June.
I had some conversation with him on the subject, in which I enlarged upon the ideas of your letter, your personal good-will and wishes for his success, the mischief of the delay, and the difficulties of your situation; and particularly stated the circumstances of Ireland with respect to its army, to the Fencibles, and to the different points of commerce which call for the immediate interposition of Government, and which we meant to have settled by having a Parliament sitting at this time, if things had gone on as they were. His observations on all this you will, I suppose, receive to-night.
I am in some doubt what to do about coming over to you, as, on account of the Prince's death, there is no levée to-day, nor, I fear, on Friday. If there is, I will set out that evening. It is the more unfortunate, as I wished to know the King's ideas as to your coming away. Your provocation is certainly very great; yet I cannot help fearing that such a step will hurt you here. I still wish to see the King, and will try it, if I can.
Pitt's motion comes on to-day; but nobody knows it, though it is imagined to go only to fifty or one hundred Knights, and to some enlargement of boroughs, to take place only on proof of delinquency, as in the case of Cricklade and Shoreham.
No news of any Dutch peace, nor can I guess why we are arming, as is said to be the case; but query. Adieu.
Ever yours,W. W. G.
LORD NORTHINGTON TO LORD TEMPLE.St. James's Place, May 7th, 1783.My dear Lord,Your despatch of the 29th of April, afforded me no small degree of pleasure, as it conveyed to me such flattering assurances of your Lordship's esteem and regard; sentiments perfectly similar to which, I beg to assure your Lordship I entertain for you, with the utmost sincerity and attachment. I feel likewise, with much satisfaction and gratitude, those kind and liberal offers of information and communication upon all points which may tend to give me an early knowledge of the state and situation of that country, and shall hope from such assistance to be the better enabled to encounter the many difficulties and embarrassments which I already foresee against my Administration. I sincerely wish it was in my power to answer that part of your Lordship's letter upon the subject of my speedy departure, as you wish; but although on many accounts, both of a public and private nature, some delay is unavoidable, it is my wish and my intention, as far as concerns myself, that a delay of a moment shall not be created, that is not of absolute necessity for my own indispensable convenience. Some attention is likewise necessary to His Majesty's servants, whose time is now so much employed in the parliamentary discussion of many subjects of great importance. The many objects which claim much consideration, as stated in your Excellency's despatches, and which have been pressed so frequently, and urged so forcibly by your Lordship on His Majesty's late servants, and which appeared to them so weightyin themselves, and of such moment as to require so long a time for deliberation, cannot be suddenly and easily resolved upon by Ministers of so short a date in office, and with such a pressure of public affairs upon them, occasioned by a discontinuance of any active or responsible Government for such a period, for which they cannot be in the least responsible.I could, therefore, much wish your Lordship to believe, that if, in the desire you have to be relieved, your wishes are not met by me to the utmost, that you will not attribute it to any want of a due exertion to remove the difficulties which obstruct my compliance therewith, or the desire of staying here myself a week longer; but that if I am enabled to overcome them sooner, and His Majesty's Ministers are ready to give me their final opinions earlier than I have expected they will be able to do, that I shall embrace with pleasure an opportunity to relieve your Lordship from a situation you feel so unpleasant and irksome to you.I have the honour to be, my dear Lord,Your very faithful and obedient servant,Northington.
LORD NORTHINGTON TO LORD TEMPLE.
St. James's Place, May 7th, 1783.
My dear Lord,
Your despatch of the 29th of April, afforded me no small degree of pleasure, as it conveyed to me such flattering assurances of your Lordship's esteem and regard; sentiments perfectly similar to which, I beg to assure your Lordship I entertain for you, with the utmost sincerity and attachment. I feel likewise, with much satisfaction and gratitude, those kind and liberal offers of information and communication upon all points which may tend to give me an early knowledge of the state and situation of that country, and shall hope from such assistance to be the better enabled to encounter the many difficulties and embarrassments which I already foresee against my Administration. I sincerely wish it was in my power to answer that part of your Lordship's letter upon the subject of my speedy departure, as you wish; but although on many accounts, both of a public and private nature, some delay is unavoidable, it is my wish and my intention, as far as concerns myself, that a delay of a moment shall not be created, that is not of absolute necessity for my own indispensable convenience. Some attention is likewise necessary to His Majesty's servants, whose time is now so much employed in the parliamentary discussion of many subjects of great importance. The many objects which claim much consideration, as stated in your Excellency's despatches, and which have been pressed so frequently, and urged so forcibly by your Lordship on His Majesty's late servants, and which appeared to them so weightyin themselves, and of such moment as to require so long a time for deliberation, cannot be suddenly and easily resolved upon by Ministers of so short a date in office, and with such a pressure of public affairs upon them, occasioned by a discontinuance of any active or responsible Government for such a period, for which they cannot be in the least responsible.
I could, therefore, much wish your Lordship to believe, that if, in the desire you have to be relieved, your wishes are not met by me to the utmost, that you will not attribute it to any want of a due exertion to remove the difficulties which obstruct my compliance therewith, or the desire of staying here myself a week longer; but that if I am enabled to overcome them sooner, and His Majesty's Ministers are ready to give me their final opinions earlier than I have expected they will be able to do, that I shall embrace with pleasure an opportunity to relieve your Lordship from a situation you feel so unpleasant and irksome to you.
I have the honour to be, my dear Lord,Your very faithful and obedient servant,Northington.
LORD NORTH TO LORD TEMPLE.Whitehall, May 9th, 1783.My Lord,Your Excellency may be assured that it is not the wish of His Majesty's servants on this side of the water to detain your Excellency in Ireland a moment longer than the time that will be necessary for your Excellency's successor so to arrange his business here, as to be able to relieve your Excellency in your Government.Since the receipt of your Excellency's letter of the 29th of last month, I have shown to the Earl of Northington all your letters respecting your earnest desire of quitting your presentsituation without delay, and received yesterday from his Lordship the letter which accompanies this packet. I have reason to believe that his Lordship is endeavouring to get himself ready for his departure, with all possible diligence. His letter will best explain to your Excellency when he expects to set out for Dublin.Your Excellency, in one part of your letter, seems hurt, that mine of the 24th of last month did not convey, in terms sufficiently explicit, a communication of His Majesty's gracious acceptance and approbation of your Excellency's services. Your Excellency certainly may infer, not only from that letter, but from the whole tenor of my correspondence, that your Administration of Ireland is approved by His Majesty; and having substantially conveyed the royal sentiments on that subject, I hope that I shall stand excused by your Excellency, if I should not have used any particular form of words, though it might have been more proper on the occasion, and more agreeable to your Excellency's wishes.I have the honour to be, with the greatest truth and respect, My Lord,Your Excellency's most obedient humble servant,North.Earl Temple, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland.
LORD NORTH TO LORD TEMPLE.
Whitehall, May 9th, 1783.
My Lord,
Your Excellency may be assured that it is not the wish of His Majesty's servants on this side of the water to detain your Excellency in Ireland a moment longer than the time that will be necessary for your Excellency's successor so to arrange his business here, as to be able to relieve your Excellency in your Government.
Since the receipt of your Excellency's letter of the 29th of last month, I have shown to the Earl of Northington all your letters respecting your earnest desire of quitting your presentsituation without delay, and received yesterday from his Lordship the letter which accompanies this packet. I have reason to believe that his Lordship is endeavouring to get himself ready for his departure, with all possible diligence. His letter will best explain to your Excellency when he expects to set out for Dublin.
Your Excellency, in one part of your letter, seems hurt, that mine of the 24th of last month did not convey, in terms sufficiently explicit, a communication of His Majesty's gracious acceptance and approbation of your Excellency's services. Your Excellency certainly may infer, not only from that letter, but from the whole tenor of my correspondence, that your Administration of Ireland is approved by His Majesty; and having substantially conveyed the royal sentiments on that subject, I hope that I shall stand excused by your Excellency, if I should not have used any particular form of words, though it might have been more proper on the occasion, and more agreeable to your Excellency's wishes.
I have the honour to be, with the greatest truth and respect, My Lord,Your Excellency's most obedient humble servant,North.
Earl Temple, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland.
LORD NORTHINGTON TO LORD TEMPLE.St. James's Place, May 16th, 1783.My Lord,The last letter which I had the honour of receiving from your Lordship has very sufficiently stated the determinations you are come to with regard to your stay, and that your resolution is fixed, atall events, not to be in Dublin on the 4th of June.I must confess myself perfectly at a loss to conceive what thoseparticular reasons of delicacymay be, which appear to have made such weighty impression on your Lordship's mind, so as to have produced this resolution; but as the consequence will be the placing the Government of the country in other hands, and is a measure which does not seem to meet with the approbation of His Majesty, I shall think it my duty (however greatly my convenience must be the sacrifice) to attend, to the utmost of my power, to His Majesty's wishes, that such an event may not take place.It is my purpose, therefore, to relieve your Excellency from your Government, as you desire, before the 4th of June, and to be in Dublin on that day, under circumstances the most unpleasant and mortifying, an half-formed household, and the impossibility of being able to pay that respect and reverence which is due to the happy event of that day. It is my intention to quit London on the 28th or 29th instant, and to make it a point to be at Holyhead early on the 1st of June, so that if the wind is fair and the tide should serve, I may be in Dublin that night.I cannot too frequently return my thanks to your Lordship for the very kind and friendly intentions you have of affording me every communication in your power, and of allowing me to derive every assistance I can from your Lordship's great knowledge of the country, its interests, and the view of its parties and leading men. It will be with the greatest pleasure I shall ever receive any instance of your Lordship's regard, and I am sure none can be more agreeable, or of more importance to me, than this will be.With regard to the articles of domestic accommodation, I shall reserve the discussion of them to Sir Willoughby Acton and Mr. Fremantle. Sir Willoughby proposes to set out for Dublin on Monday next, and is so obliging as to undertake thistrouble for me. He will have the honour of paying his respects to your Excellency, if you will give him leave.I have the honour to be, my dear Lord,Your most obedient and faithful humble servant,Northington.
LORD NORTHINGTON TO LORD TEMPLE.
St. James's Place, May 16th, 1783.
My Lord,
The last letter which I had the honour of receiving from your Lordship has very sufficiently stated the determinations you are come to with regard to your stay, and that your resolution is fixed, atall events, not to be in Dublin on the 4th of June.I must confess myself perfectly at a loss to conceive what thoseparticular reasons of delicacymay be, which appear to have made such weighty impression on your Lordship's mind, so as to have produced this resolution; but as the consequence will be the placing the Government of the country in other hands, and is a measure which does not seem to meet with the approbation of His Majesty, I shall think it my duty (however greatly my convenience must be the sacrifice) to attend, to the utmost of my power, to His Majesty's wishes, that such an event may not take place.
It is my purpose, therefore, to relieve your Excellency from your Government, as you desire, before the 4th of June, and to be in Dublin on that day, under circumstances the most unpleasant and mortifying, an half-formed household, and the impossibility of being able to pay that respect and reverence which is due to the happy event of that day. It is my intention to quit London on the 28th or 29th instant, and to make it a point to be at Holyhead early on the 1st of June, so that if the wind is fair and the tide should serve, I may be in Dublin that night.
I cannot too frequently return my thanks to your Lordship for the very kind and friendly intentions you have of affording me every communication in your power, and of allowing me to derive every assistance I can from your Lordship's great knowledge of the country, its interests, and the view of its parties and leading men. It will be with the greatest pleasure I shall ever receive any instance of your Lordship's regard, and I am sure none can be more agreeable, or of more importance to me, than this will be.
With regard to the articles of domestic accommodation, I shall reserve the discussion of them to Sir Willoughby Acton and Mr. Fremantle. Sir Willoughby proposes to set out for Dublin on Monday next, and is so obliging as to undertake thistrouble for me. He will have the honour of paying his respects to your Excellency, if you will give him leave.
I have the honour to be, my dear Lord,Your most obedient and faithful humble servant,Northington.
LORD NORTH TO LORD TEMPLE.Whitehall, May 17th, 1783.My Lord,Upon the receipt of your Excellency's letters of the 9th and 10th of this month, I took immediately every step in my power that might forward your Excellency's wishes, and have now the satisfaction of informing your Excellency that Lord Northington will not fail to be at Holyhead on the 1st day of next month; and I am commanded by His Majesty to express to your Excellency his wish, that you will not quit the Government of Ireland before the arrival of Lord Northington. Although your Excellency will, according to this arrangement, be detained a few days longer than the 25th of the present month, yet I hope that the time fixed by Lord Northington is not so remote as to cause any public or private inconvenience.By my letter of the 9th instant, I flatter myself that I have removed the uneasiness which your Excellency has expressed more than once, because His Majesty's approbation of your Excellency's Government has not been notified in a manner the most agreeable to your Excellency. I am sure that when you read that letter, your Excellency was convinced that your former complaint was ill-founded; that His Majesty's gracious approbation of your Excellency's conduct has been substantially conveyed to your Excellency; and that there is nothing in the whole tenor of my letters which can justify your Excellency's opinion, that a total change of system is to be adopted bothwith regard to the Chief Governor, and the measures of Government in Ireland.I have the honour to be, with the greatest respect, My Lord,Your Excellency's most obedient humble servant,North.P.S.—The messenger carries three letters from Lord Northington—one to your Excellency, one to Lieutenant-General Burgoyne, and another to General Baugh.His Excellency the Earl Temple, &c., &c., &c.
LORD NORTH TO LORD TEMPLE.
Whitehall, May 17th, 1783.
My Lord,
Upon the receipt of your Excellency's letters of the 9th and 10th of this month, I took immediately every step in my power that might forward your Excellency's wishes, and have now the satisfaction of informing your Excellency that Lord Northington will not fail to be at Holyhead on the 1st day of next month; and I am commanded by His Majesty to express to your Excellency his wish, that you will not quit the Government of Ireland before the arrival of Lord Northington. Although your Excellency will, according to this arrangement, be detained a few days longer than the 25th of the present month, yet I hope that the time fixed by Lord Northington is not so remote as to cause any public or private inconvenience.
By my letter of the 9th instant, I flatter myself that I have removed the uneasiness which your Excellency has expressed more than once, because His Majesty's approbation of your Excellency's Government has not been notified in a manner the most agreeable to your Excellency. I am sure that when you read that letter, your Excellency was convinced that your former complaint was ill-founded; that His Majesty's gracious approbation of your Excellency's conduct has been substantially conveyed to your Excellency; and that there is nothing in the whole tenor of my letters which can justify your Excellency's opinion, that a total change of system is to be adopted bothwith regard to the Chief Governor, and the measures of Government in Ireland.
I have the honour to be, with the greatest respect, My Lord,Your Excellency's most obedient humble servant,North.
P.S.—The messenger carries three letters from Lord Northington—one to your Excellency, one to Lieutenant-General Burgoyne, and another to General Baugh.
His Excellency the Earl Temple, &c., &c., &c.
LORD NORTHINGTON TO LORD TEMPLE.St. James's Place, May 25th, 1783.My dear Lord,Your Excellency has not been able to remove those unpleasant and mortifying ideas I entertain at the thoughts of being obliged to pay either no attention to a day, to which all honour and respect is due, or to do it in a manner unbecoming, and not suitable to the occasion. Indeed, my information by numerous Irish gentlemen now here, tells me that, although it may not be expected that I should give (what your Lordship says)a dinneron the occasion, it will be expected I shall hold a Court, and that I shall give a ball. Then I understand likewise, from your letters, as you declare your positive and fixed resolution not to hold aCourton that day in the despatch, the last but one which I had the honour to receive, and that from strong reasons of delicacy, both public and private, which, as your Excellency does not explain, at this distance and in my state of ignorance at present I am at a loss to conceive.I have the honour to be, my dear Lord,Your faithful and obedient humble servant,Northington.
LORD NORTHINGTON TO LORD TEMPLE.
St. James's Place, May 25th, 1783.
My dear Lord,
Your Excellency has not been able to remove those unpleasant and mortifying ideas I entertain at the thoughts of being obliged to pay either no attention to a day, to which all honour and respect is due, or to do it in a manner unbecoming, and not suitable to the occasion. Indeed, my information by numerous Irish gentlemen now here, tells me that, although it may not be expected that I should give (what your Lordship says)a dinneron the occasion, it will be expected I shall hold a Court, and that I shall give a ball. Then I understand likewise, from your letters, as you declare your positive and fixed resolution not to hold aCourton that day in the despatch, the last but one which I had the honour to receive, and that from strong reasons of delicacy, both public and private, which, as your Excellency does not explain, at this distance and in my state of ignorance at present I am at a loss to conceive.
I have the honour to be, my dear Lord,Your faithful and obedient humble servant,Northington.
Lord Temple's administration was too brief to enable him to develop the plans he had laid down for the benefit of Ireland; but the most conclusive testimony that can be adduced in favour of his policy is the assurance he received from Lord North, that no intention of deviating from it was entertained by the new Ministers. Although, however, Lord Northington did not openly deviate from the main points of his policy, he followed it up with a luke-warmness and insincerity that rendered it to a great extent inoperative. His Lordship appears to have betrayed, not only in his measures, but in the spirit and tone in which they were brought forward, an unworthy desire to discredit the influence and reputation of his predecessor, who pursued a line of conduct after he left Ireland which—putting aside all obligations to the public—entitled him at least to protection against such sinister attempts to undermine the confidence his zealous services had acquired. Having resigned the Government into the hands of Lord Northington, to whom he frankly offered all the assistance and information his experience enabled him to bestow, he strictly avoided all interference in Irish affairs that might be likely—even remotely—to embarrass his successor. Numerous applications were made to him on a variety of subjects; individuals and parties sought his advice and interposition; but he made the same answer to all—referring them at once to the established authority, and declining to use any influence, upon the most trifling occasions, which in his position he might have legitimately exercised. His magnanimity was thrown away upon a thankless soil. The situation he hadfilled with so much honour and advantage, was now occupied by a nobleman who could neither appreciate nor imitate his lofty example.
The principal objects to which Lord Temple had directed his attention were the Bill of Renunciation, and a wise economy in the public expenditure. The former he carried; the latter it was impossible to consolidate in the short term of six months. In his indefatigable labours for the good of Ireland he never stooped to conciliate faction at the cost of duty, or the sacrifice of principle. He administered his high office to promote the interests, and not to pander to the passions of the people. The Bill of Renunciation was said to have been a scheme of Mr. Flood's; but by taking charge of it himself, Lord Temple deprived it of the mischievousprestigeit might have acquired under such dangerous auspices. The Bill, however, was not Mr. Flood's. Whatever merit, or demerit attaches to it, belongs exclusively to Lord Temple. Lord Northington, overlooking the fact that this Bill was simply a confirmation of the settlement of 1782, and that it really granted nothing new, endeavoured to make it a fulcrum for working further changes and more extensive concessions—not, it may be presumed, without an indirect view to the improvement of his own popularity. The mode in which he thus proposed to carry out Lord Temple's policy provoked the Government, at last, to remonstrate with him. Even Mr. Fox, who could not be suspected of any disinclination to give a patient hearing to Irish demands, seeing the part he had already taken on such questions, felt it necessary to check his exuberantzeal on behalf of the particular party, whose views and opinions he had so injudiciously adopted. On the 8th of November, he wrote to Lord Northington an admonishing letter upon a variety of points connected with Irish affairs, towards the conclusion of which he observed:
I hope, my dear Northington, you will not consider this long letter as meant to blame your conduct; but I think I owe it as much to my friendship for you as to the public, to give you fairly my opinion and advice in your most arduous situation; and I will fairly own there is one principle which seems to run through your differentdespatches, which a little alarms me: it is this—you seem to think as if it were absolutely necessary at the outset of your Government, to do something that may appear to be obtainingboons, however trifling, to Ireland; and what I confess I like still less, is to see that this is, in some degree, grounded upon the ampleness of former concessions. Now I see this in quite a different light, and reason that, because these concessions were so ample, no further ones are necessary. If, because the Duke of Portland gave much, are you to give something? Consider how this reasoning will apply to your successor. I repeat it again, the account must be considered as closed in 1782.[1]
I hope, my dear Northington, you will not consider this long letter as meant to blame your conduct; but I think I owe it as much to my friendship for you as to the public, to give you fairly my opinion and advice in your most arduous situation; and I will fairly own there is one principle which seems to run through your differentdespatches, which a little alarms me: it is this—you seem to think as if it were absolutely necessary at the outset of your Government, to do something that may appear to be obtainingboons, however trifling, to Ireland; and what I confess I like still less, is to see that this is, in some degree, grounded upon the ampleness of former concessions. Now I see this in quite a different light, and reason that, because these concessions were so ample, no further ones are necessary. If, because the Duke of Portland gave much, are you to give something? Consider how this reasoning will apply to your successor. I repeat it again, the account must be considered as closed in 1782.[1]
[1]Extracted from a letter published in the Life of Mr. Grattan.
[1]Extracted from a letter published in the Life of Mr. Grattan.
It may be observed,en parenthèse, that the assertion that the Duke of Portland gave much, is a gratuitous assumption. When his Grace came into office, he found the Renunciation Bill passing through its last stages, and he suffered it to pass; but, as Mr. Fox states in this very letter, with the utmost reluctance. The Duke of Portland, in fact, gave nothing. He submitted to the measure of his predecessors because he could not avoid it, and he would have retreated from it if he could.
No useful result would be gained by a comparison between the intelligible principles and consistency evinced by Lord Temple in his government of Ireland, and the small views and tremulous policy of his successor; but it is something to the purpose of history to note that, while Lord Northington affected to adopt the economical system of Lord Temple, he secretly desired to stultify it, and that so far from being actuated by any sentiment of respect for the government of his predecessor, he suffered the motions of thanks which both Houses of Parliament voted to Lord Temple, when they met in the following October, to pass without a solitary expression of approval on the part of any member of the Administration. These facts are somewhat indignantly stated in a letter addressed to Lord Temple, by Lord Mornington, on the 18th of October, 1783. Respecting the vote of thanks, his Lordship observes:
Government had not the spirit to take a part against the motions of thanks in either House,but I have every reason to think that they would have done it, if there had been the smallest prospect of success in the attempt. You must observe that the vote of the House of Commons is much weaker than that of the Lords; Gardiner was obliged, by the interference of Government's friends, to omit several expressions which, if they had been retained, would have rendered the vote more just to your Lordship's Administration, but would have occasioned debate. The fact is, that no compliment to the Act of Renunciation, or even to the framer of it, can be borne with patience by certain supporters of the present Castle.
Government had not the spirit to take a part against the motions of thanks in either House,but I have every reason to think that they would have done it, if there had been the smallest prospect of success in the attempt. You must observe that the vote of the House of Commons is much weaker than that of the Lords; Gardiner was obliged, by the interference of Government's friends, to omit several expressions which, if they had been retained, would have rendered the vote more just to your Lordship's Administration, but would have occasioned debate. The fact is, that no compliment to the Act of Renunciation, or even to the framer of it, can be borne with patience by certain supporters of the present Castle.
And in the report of his own speech on this occasion,which accompanies the letter, Lord Mornington plainly charges the Government with duplicity in reference to Lord Temple's system of economy. Referring to a passage in the Lord-Lieutenant's speech, where his Excellency, in recommending the establishment of the Genevans, reminded Parliament of their duty to "avoidunnecessary expense," his Lordship expresses a hope that in "other cases, where all profusion would be dangerous, and where the public safety demanded the most rigid economy,in the establishments of Government, his Excellency would think ithisduty to avoid all unnecessary expense;" and then, comparing the recommendation respecting the Genevans with another passage where his Excellency applied for a supply, and in which "his Excellency's economy made no appearance," Lord Mornington goes on to say:
Comparing the two passages of the speech, he [Lord Mornington] was apt to imagine that the expression, "unnecessary expense," was dictated by another spirit, and with other views, than of saving to the public: he suspected that it was meant to insinuate by so special, and seemingly superfluous a recommendation of economy in the further progress of the establishment of the Genevans, that there had been some neglect of economy in the original foundation of the scheme; if that was meant, he called upon the confidential servants of the Castle to avow it; if not, he insisted that they should do justice to the personage who had originally framed this plan, and disclaim his construction of this ambiguous phrase.He knew what had been the language of the Castle on this subject; he knew how this scheme had been decried; and what a damp had been cast upon the proposers of it—such a damp, as he had reason to believe, that the settlement had not advanced one step since thedeparture of Lord Temple; and he would add, in justice both to the late and present Ministry, that he, in his conscience, believed, if the public were put to anyunnecessary expenseby the settlement,it must be attributed solely and entirely to the delays and impediments which had been thrown in its way by the present Castle.
Comparing the two passages of the speech, he [Lord Mornington] was apt to imagine that the expression, "unnecessary expense," was dictated by another spirit, and with other views, than of saving to the public: he suspected that it was meant to insinuate by so special, and seemingly superfluous a recommendation of economy in the further progress of the establishment of the Genevans, that there had been some neglect of economy in the original foundation of the scheme; if that was meant, he called upon the confidential servants of the Castle to avow it; if not, he insisted that they should do justice to the personage who had originally framed this plan, and disclaim his construction of this ambiguous phrase.He knew what had been the language of the Castle on this subject; he knew how this scheme had been decried; and what a damp had been cast upon the proposers of it—such a damp, as he had reason to believe, that the settlement had not advanced one step since thedeparture of Lord Temple; and he would add, in justice both to the late and present Ministry, that he, in his conscience, believed, if the public were put to anyunnecessary expenseby the settlement,it must be attributed solely and entirely to the delays and impediments which had been thrown in its way by the present Castle.
On a subsequent day, moving the thanks of the House to Lord Temple, Lord Mornington delivered an eloquent panegyric upon his Government. He spoke of the Act of Renunciation as having produced an "instantaneous calm in Ireland," and, adverting to other matters, observed:
These were the great public acts of Lord Temple's Government, the nation at large had felt their effects, the Lord-Lieutenant had from the throne applauded them; the House itself had applauded them in detail, and therefore would not object to doing so in the gross, which he now called upon the House to do. With regard to the general attention of Lord Temple to the common duties of his office, and his management of the interior system of government here, he would deliver no opinion of his own; he would appeal to those whose high stations and confidential offices gave them constant access to the person and councils of Lord Temple, to testify his ability and assiduity in business, the extent of his researches, the vigilance with which he penetrated into the secrets of departments where the most gross rapine and peculation had been practised for ages with impunity,and particularly the firm integrity with which he resisted all jobs, however speciously concealed, or powerfully recommended.
These were the great public acts of Lord Temple's Government, the nation at large had felt their effects, the Lord-Lieutenant had from the throne applauded them; the House itself had applauded them in detail, and therefore would not object to doing so in the gross, which he now called upon the House to do. With regard to the general attention of Lord Temple to the common duties of his office, and his management of the interior system of government here, he would deliver no opinion of his own; he would appeal to those whose high stations and confidential offices gave them constant access to the person and councils of Lord Temple, to testify his ability and assiduity in business, the extent of his researches, the vigilance with which he penetrated into the secrets of departments where the most gross rapine and peculation had been practised for ages with impunity,and particularly the firm integrity with which he resisted all jobs, however speciously concealed, or powerfully recommended.
Nothing need be added to this unimpeachable eulogium on the character of Lord Temple's administration of the Government of Ireland. It comes from an authorityabove suspicion, and its statements will guide the decisions of history.
In the midst of these political anxieties there was a private grief, arising out of the sundering of attachments consequent upon the unnatural state of parties, that preyed severely on the sensitive mind of Lord Temple. This painful matter forms the subject of a letter from Lord Temple to his brother, Mr. Thomas Grenville, which has not been inserted in its chronological place, as it would have interrupted the sequence of the preceding correspondence. The tender and affectionate feelings hitherto subsisting unimpaired between the brothers, who, in addition to the rest of their noble qualities, were distinguished beyond most men by their domestic virtues, had been interrupted by one of those fatal divisions in public life, which, during this memorable crisis, separated the closest friends.
The particular occasion which now for the first time produced disunion between Lord Temple and his brother, is not expressly stated in the letter; but it may be surmised from the correspondence which took place early in the preceding year between Mr. Thomas Grenville and Mr. Fox, when the former was employed upon the American negotiation in Paris. Mr. Thomas Grenville, devoting himself to the interests of Mr. Fox, still preserved his allegiance to him under the arrangements of the Coalition Administration; and, from certain expressions in this letter, it would appear that he had ventured to make some overture to Lord Temple, with a view to induce him to reconsider the line of action he had resolved upon, if indeed it did notamount to the distinct proposal of an office under the new Ministry. The exact nature of that offer is veiled under the language of a poignant and bitter regret, which seeks to avoid details the writer was most unwilling to enter into; but it is sufficiently explicit as to the "new connection" Mr. Thomas Grenville had formed, in an opposite direction to that which Lord Temple's devotion to the principles they held in common had led him to embrace. The sensibility manifested by Lord Temple in reference to this unhappy affair, shows that his heart was as impressionable as his judgment was clear and firm.
LORD TEMPLE TO MR. THOMAS GRENVILLE.Phœnix Lodge, May 9th, 1783.Dear Brother,Your letter, which mentions one written some time since, came yesterday to my hands; and upon the same day came a monthly account from Coutts, by which I see that, by Welles's neglect, and by the delay of my stewards, I had unknowingly drawn for the expenses of my departure beyond my state; but as it is proper that your wants should be supplied, I have writ to Frogatt, to order him to let you have some £500 from some money of mine in his hands; and I will let you have more as soon as I can.The remainder of your letter gives me, indeed, the most sensible concern, for it shows me that line broken, which I was still in hopes was only strained; for this is the only interpretation which I can put upon that offer, which (from the most honourable motives) you have made to me; and the only wish which I can now form, is that you may never reflect forwhom, and for what, you have sacrificed that political and intimate connexion, which nature had pointed out, and which till this moment I had not despaired of. One opportunity presented itself in which you could have done me essential service: I never can regret the eagerness with which I entreated from you that proof of affection, because I still feel how much I would have sacrificed, to have preserved our bond inviolate; that, with many other prospects, is now gone, and I am to feel that I have lost that confidence, that good-will and attachment which you have given to a friendship, which, for obvious reasons, I must ever regret. I do not speak this in resentment and reproach, my feelings are far above them, but in sober and earnest grief of mind. I must remind you that no personal friendship, no party or political consideration, could have guided the steps which I took in June last; to which, in terms the most decisive, you marked your line of separation. The same public principles (for with no one person in England have I correspondence) have decided me in the present moment, and in neither path have we met; and parting upon such a question as that of the present system (upon which I feel everything as a public man, and as a private man have the sensations which naturally result from personal insult), I fear that we have (at least for some time) little chance of seeing those affections vibrate in unison which I feel so strongly strained. Once more let me entreat you (for I am not ashamed to entreat) to reconsider this well. If your new connexion replaces to you that affectionate interest which from my childhood I have borne to you; if your line holds out to you that honourable satisfaction, which I trust you would not have lost by a cordial union of objects and dispositions with me, I fear that I speak in vain; but if you give that play to your reason, to your affection, and to every feeling which Providence has given, as the cement of the tenderest and mostintimate connexions, remember that in offering to you my heart, I mean to offer to you everything which the truest love can give you, but what must and can depend only on the closest union. Weigh this well, and may every good angel guide your decision. Adieu.
LORD TEMPLE TO MR. THOMAS GRENVILLE.
Phœnix Lodge, May 9th, 1783.
Dear Brother,
Your letter, which mentions one written some time since, came yesterday to my hands; and upon the same day came a monthly account from Coutts, by which I see that, by Welles's neglect, and by the delay of my stewards, I had unknowingly drawn for the expenses of my departure beyond my state; but as it is proper that your wants should be supplied, I have writ to Frogatt, to order him to let you have some £500 from some money of mine in his hands; and I will let you have more as soon as I can.
The remainder of your letter gives me, indeed, the most sensible concern, for it shows me that line broken, which I was still in hopes was only strained; for this is the only interpretation which I can put upon that offer, which (from the most honourable motives) you have made to me; and the only wish which I can now form, is that you may never reflect forwhom, and for what, you have sacrificed that political and intimate connexion, which nature had pointed out, and which till this moment I had not despaired of. One opportunity presented itself in which you could have done me essential service: I never can regret the eagerness with which I entreated from you that proof of affection, because I still feel how much I would have sacrificed, to have preserved our bond inviolate; that, with many other prospects, is now gone, and I am to feel that I have lost that confidence, that good-will and attachment which you have given to a friendship, which, for obvious reasons, I must ever regret. I do not speak this in resentment and reproach, my feelings are far above them, but in sober and earnest grief of mind. I must remind you that no personal friendship, no party or political consideration, could have guided the steps which I took in June last; to which, in terms the most decisive, you marked your line of separation. The same public principles (for with no one person in England have I correspondence) have decided me in the present moment, and in neither path have we met; and parting upon such a question as that of the present system (upon which I feel everything as a public man, and as a private man have the sensations which naturally result from personal insult), I fear that we have (at least for some time) little chance of seeing those affections vibrate in unison which I feel so strongly strained. Once more let me entreat you (for I am not ashamed to entreat) to reconsider this well. If your new connexion replaces to you that affectionate interest which from my childhood I have borne to you; if your line holds out to you that honourable satisfaction, which I trust you would not have lost by a cordial union of objects and dispositions with me, I fear that I speak in vain; but if you give that play to your reason, to your affection, and to every feeling which Providence has given, as the cement of the tenderest and mostintimate connexions, remember that in offering to you my heart, I mean to offer to you everything which the truest love can give you, but what must and can depend only on the closest union. Weigh this well, and may every good angel guide your decision. Adieu.
Lord Temple must have been the more distressed by the course his brother had taken on this occasion, from the evidences he received of the sanction of other friends, who were governed in their own conduct by his example. These proofs of attachment and approval, while they afforded the most gratifying testimony to the rectitude of his views, touched him deeply in contrast with the alienation of his brother.
Only a few days before he wrote this letter to Mr. Thomas Grenville, we find Lord Bulkeley addressing him in the following terms, alluding to the communication in which Lord Temple had informed him of his determination to resign. "I had great pleasure," observes the writer, "in receiving your last very kind letter, and in learning from yourself the line you meant to take at a critical conjuncture like the present, when the candidates for honour and principle are so reduced in number, that those who forego great situations to bring them forward again, have every title to confidence and support, and deserve every honest and independent encouragement. You may naturally suppose I have not been without solicitations from the Coalition Government; I have given but one answer, which was that I shall certainly act with you, and more especially asyour conduct in resigning gave me, if possible, a greater opinion of and veneration for your character than I could by any means express."
Such testimonies were consolatory in the difficult position in which Lord Temple was placed; but, instead of alleviating the pain he felt at his separation from his brother in public life, they embittered it by the conviction that one whom he loved so sincerely should have adopted a line of action which he in his conscience believed to be erroneous.
It will be observed that in writing to Mr. Thomas Grenville, Lord Temple alludes to a former letter, which evidently had not reached its destination. The circumstance would be unimportant in itself, were there not reason to believe that it formed part of a regular system ofespionnageto which the whole of Lord Temple's correspondence was subjected. The establishment of such an inquisition into the letters of so high a functionary as the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland seems incredible, and nothing short of the most decisive proofs of the fact could justify even a suspicion of its existence. But there are passages in these letters which leave no doubt whatever that Lord Temple's correspondence, both private and public, was inspected in London while he yet held office in Ireland, and that the same course continued to be carried on after he returned to England. Nor was theespionnagelimited to mere perusal, frequent allusions to miscarriages leading to the inference that his letters were sometimes suppressed altogether.
There are no means of determining with whom thissystem originated. All that appears to be certain is, that it was practised during the period of the Shelburne Cabinet, and followed up under the Coalition; and that after it had been detected, no secret was made about it, either by Lord Temple or his intimate correspondents.
Writing to Colonel Dundas, Lord Temple says, apparently under the apprehension that his letter would be read by others, "Obvious circumstances will prevent my going into the discussion of details in a post letter." And to a friend in Ireland, he speaks still more explicitly: "As almost every letter," he observes, "received or written by me is opened, it is possible that this may undergo that operation in London; and if so, they will learn the real regard I bear to you." Mr. Cuff, writing to Lord Temple, from Dublin, in the November of this year, declares that he expects nothing less than that his letter will be opened and read. The passage is too remarkable to be omitted.