Memoirs of the Court and Cabinets of George the Third Volume II Part 40

Yet from that model I am tempted to think we ought to depart in the election for the House of Lords, by choosing for life, and letting the _electors_ sit in the House of Commons. When Lord Castlereagh was here I drew a scheme for that purpose, which he has taken over with him, in order to see which of the two plans is likely to be most palatable to the Irish peerage--this, or the mode followed in the Scotch Union. I own I think that the re-election of so large a number as near fifty Peers in every Parliament would tend almost to destroy the very principle of a House of Lords in our Const.i.tution; nor do I think a body of Peers excluded from Parliament (like the Scotch) by any means a good elective body from Parliament to Parliament. With one vacancy at a time, arising from death, they may more safely be trusted.

You gave me hopes some time since of receiving from you some ideas about provision for Catholic and Dissenting Clergy. I am very anxious for them.

Adieu, I have exhausted my paper and my light.

G.o.d bless you.

LORD GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Cleveland Row, Jan. 10th, 1799.

MY DEAREST BROTHER,

* * * It is for you to send news, and not to receive it, for nothing is interesting just now but what relates to Ireland and the Union. Twelve days bring us to the prologue, to this swelling scene, as Shakspeare calls it. How long it will be before the _denouement_, and what that _denouement_ will be, and what the piece, who shall say?

Your chief Governor, you know, is not given to be very communicative, either to his employers or to any one else; but I collect from the statement in the newspapers that he has resolved to adopt, without further reference here, the suggestions which Lord Castlereagh carried over as to the members of the two Houses in the United Parliament. I am very glad of it as to the House of Lords, not only from parental fondness, but because on solid grounds, as I think, I very much feared the effect of a septennial election of fifty Peers not chosen by the very best possible bodies of electors.

As to the House of Commons, it is almost entirely a question of local expediency as to the best chance of satisfying _Messieurs les interesses_; for you and I, who are not parliamentary reformers (and, thank G.o.d, never were), do not hold very high the superior virtue of a man chosen by one mode of election rather than by another. I am, however, entirely satisfied that the plan of a resident committee at Dublin was impracticable; and even if it had not been so, the universal prejudice was so strong against it here, on the part of everybody of every description who was talked to on the subject, that it put the execution of such a plan totally out of the question. The strongest, and with me quite decisive, argument against it was the introduction into our Const.i.tution of a principle so perfectly novel and anomalous; the merit of the Scotch Union having been, and that of the Irish being intended to be, its simplicity, and the precision with which everything new is accommodated to the existing state of our Const.i.tution and Government. In the Scotch Union, the Peerage was the only exception; and in the present case we are, as you see, labouring to bring even that point nearer to the actual practice.

Ever most affectionately yours, G.

Lord Cornwallis had been avowedly selected for Ireland on account of his military talents. But his Administration did not satisfy the Cabinet.

Lord Grenville, who confesses to the feeling of disappointment with which he reflects upon the results of the appointment, makes allowances for the failure on the ground that Lord Cornwallis undertook the office unwillingly, and from a sense of public duty alone, and that he had experienced nothing but disgusts and mortifications. In this case, however, as in all former cases, the difficulty was to find a successor.

There was, also, another consideration which Lord Grenville points out--the evils that always attended a change of Government in Ireland, even from worse to better.

LORD GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Dropmore, Jan. 28th, 1799.

MY DEAREST BROTHER,

I am much more mortified than surprised at the event of the House of Commons debate on the Union; for though Lord Castlereagh wrote (as he talked) with confidence, yet one saw very clearly the elements of ratting. I rejoice to hear that you think the question recoverable, because I am more than ever of opinion that it must be tried again and again, till it succeeds. With respect to the person in whose hands it has failed, I may say to you (in _our_ confidence) that my opinion does not very much differ from yours, if indeed it does at all. Since he has been in Ireland I have seen no one trait of that character which I thought he had displayed in former situations of great difficulty, and for which I still gave him credit, though a nearer view of his mind had certainly diminished the impressions which I once entertained on the subject.

Sorry I am to confess that I concurred heartily and eagerly in his appointment, a measure, my share in which I shall deplore to the hour of my death, though I certainly have nothing to reproach myself with on that account, having done conscientiously what I then thought the best, though I did not, even then, think it so good as others did.

The question of his removal is, however, a very difficult one indeed--one of the most embarra.s.sing circ.u.mstances attending the present state of Ireland being, that in that office, above all others, the effect of change, even from worse to better, is frequently, if not always, more mischievous than the continuance of the evil. A violent and precipitate removal just now would, I think, totally unhinge the Government, and it would, above all, throw the whole absolutists at the feet of those who _perhaps_ (I think, _certainly_) need not have been made enemies, but who being such, must be guarded against as such. Lord Cornwallis never did like the situation; he accepted it unwillingly, and, to do him justice, I believe solely from a sense of public duty. Since he has held it he has experienced nothing but disgusts of every kind, and mortification in every shape, arising no doubt in a very great degree from his own misconduct, but not on that account the less galling to his mind. He can therefore certainly have no desire to stay, and, I should think, would very probably desire to quit at the close of this session, if the dread of foreign invasion is at that time not very urgent.

But if it is, what officer have we to oppose to the domestic and external enemies whom we should in such case have to meet? In a situation requiring above all others the mixture of civil and military talents, to a degree that the Duke of Marlborough scarce possessed them, and for which we must provide by sending some old woman in a red riband that has not a grain of either.

You see it is easy enough to start difficulties, but I do not think myself quite so ready at expedients as I wish I was. This is, I believe, a case where nothing is to be done just now, but to remain quite steady, announcing an unalterable purpose of carrying this great measure, and a fixed persuasion that we must succeed in it.

And as to all the rest, if Paddy will set fire to his own house, we must try to put it out if we can, and if we cannot, we must keep the engine ready to play upon our own.

I rejoice that you took the determination, both of not speaking or attending this question in the Irish House of Lords, and of giving your proxy to the Chancellor, which was at once showing him a mark of attention and confidence, which he well deserves, and manifesting your own sentiments in the only way at all consistent with your situation. A little more than two months will now close your pilgrimage, from which you will return with the satisfaction of having done a great deal of good, though not quite all that you might have done if others had done their part.

G.o.d bless you.

You will see in to-day's papers the fate of the poor King of Naples. The infatuation of the Emperor is like nothing but that of an Irish Orangeman.

Towards the end of January, Mr. Thomas Grenville again left England on his mission; but his second departure proved even more unfortunate and disastrous than the first. The vessel in which he had sailed was supposed to have made the Elbe, and to have been lost in the ice. The distressing tidings, or rather the terrible apprehensions caused by the absence of any authentic or reliable intelligence, were immediately forwarded to Lord Buckingham. For several days this state of dreadful suspense continued. Every fragment of news that afforded the slightest ground of hope was eagerly seized upon; and, in the anxious solicitude of that affection which appears so touchingly all throughout these letters, Lord Grenville communicated to Lord Buckingham all he could learn from day to day. At last came the joyful intelligence that he was safe! This happy news was rapidly followed by letters from Mr. Grenville himself, and from his Secretary, Mr. Fisher, announcing his landing at Cuxhaven, and his subsequent arrival at Berlin.

MR. FISHER TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Cuxhaven, Thursday, Feb. 7th, 1799.

MY DEAR LORD,

I cannot think of leaving this place without first acquainting you of our safe arrival here, after experiencing a thousand dangers and difficulties in consequence of our s.h.i.+p having run aground on the Newerk bank, at the entrance of the Elbe.

Mr. Grenville, I am delighted to be able to a.s.sure you, is in good health, notwithstanding the extreme fatigue he has undergone since Thursday last. The few hours he stays here being entirely occupied with writing letters of business, he fears he shall not have time to write to you from hence. The same reasons, my dear Lord, will deprive me of the honour of giving you, at the present moment, the details of our misfortunes. The officers and crew are all saved with the exception of thirteen seamen, and one woman and child, who were frozen to death in attempting to gain Newerk from the wreck.

We are without a change of any one article of dress, and we fear there is little probability of saving any part of our baggage. We, however, proceed on our journey in a few hours to Berlin, from whence it shall be my first care to write to you the particulars of the melancholy events of the last week. Mr. Wynne is quite well, and has on every occasion of danger and difficulty shown the greatest fort.i.tude and discretion.

I beg to be recalled to the remembrance of Lady Buckingham. Believe me, my dear Lord, to be ever, with the most grateful attachment, your Lords.h.i.+p's most obliged and most devoted servant,

EDWARD FISHER.

MR. T. GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Cuxhaven, Feb. 7th, 1799.

MY DEAREST BROTHER,

The fatigue which I have undergone, added to the necessity of my writing several letters upon my arrival here, makes it impossible for me to say more to you than that I am alive and well, after a miraculous escape from the 'Proserpine,' which ran ash.o.r.e off Searhorn, and a second danger, scarcely less, yesterday morning, in a long walk to gain this place, during which we were overtaken by the tide and forced to wade for an hour, in the hardest frost I ever felt, against a strong current of tide, which was sometimes up to, and sometimes above our middle. We are all, however, well to-day, and I proceed this evening towards Berlin, as well as my fatigues will allow me. I cannot say enough to you of Mr. Fisher's behaviour in these trials of danger; his resources, his attachment, and his kind attentions in a.s.sisting our poor Henry, and lessening, where he could, the inconvenience of my situation, have ent.i.tled him and ensured to him the sincerest and warmest regard. Henry, likewise, has been a stout mariner, and has shown a fort.i.tude much beyond his years.

I find no Italian news except a report of the French having possession of Naples. They have, likewise, Ehrenbreitstein. When will they have Berlin? We have not a s.h.i.+rt in company. My loss, about 700.

G.o.d Almighty bless and preserve you.

Having arrived safely at Berlin, Mr. Grenville gives a sketch of his first impressions of the King of Prussia and his Court.

MR. T. GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Berlin, Feb. 28th, 1799.

MY DEAREST BROTHER,

The journal which Mr. Fisher has shown to me, and which he proposes to send to you by this messenger, will give you a much more accurate account of our voyage than I could pretend to do if I had time to undertake it; but that is unfortunately so far from being the case, that I can with difficulty catch a short time by this opportunity to write even a few words to you.

We arrived here on the 17th, and I have scarcely yet got through the endless presentations and the weary first suppers of the Princes, which engross the whole evening from six in the evening till one in the morning. I have seen the King hitherto very little, but I am going to dine with him to-day; he is thought to be well-disposed in his general intentions, perfectly aware of all he has to fear from the great nation whom he detests and abhors; but having no original opinions of his own, nor habits of forming his own judgment, he falls unfortunately too much into the hands of the military officers, particularly the aides-de-camp with whom he lives, and their influence is, in consequence, powerful enough to weigh sometimes against the opinions of the Ministers whom he employs.

The general idea here is, that the person who has most weight with him is an aide-de-camp named Kochentz, of whose honesty there is no suspicion, but whose talents and capacity are of a very inferior description, and who is therefore open to the artifices of bad and designing men, who work powerfully through him upon the King.

Haugwiz is believed to be sincere in his apprehensions of the general danger of French republicanism, and is considered as struggling against the more immediate followers of the King, who surround him daily, and haunt him with the dreadful consequences of war to Prussia, and the old jealousies and distrusts of Austria.

If the Court of Vienna should at last act, as I am almost disposed to think they will rather than send back the Russian troops at the requisition of France, the beginning of hostilities from that Court cannot fail of producing a good effect here; the great danger is, that while each is waiting for the other to begin, the time for useful and effective exertion will pa.s.s by.

I have seen Sieyes at Court with his scarf and c.o.c.kade. What Lavater would say of his features I know not, but I have seldom seen a countenance of so bad impression. His manners, conduct and appearance here have produced nothing but disgust in all that are not of the lower ranks of life, but it is to those that his mission is considered as being chiefly addressed, and he is said to have both means and agents enough to work through upon the lower cla.s.ses of men here.

I have heard nothing from England or Ireland since I left Yarmouth, nothing of Union, and nothing of you; but how can I till the summer, if the last ten days of soft weather will not unlock the inhospitable ice of the Elbe at Cuxhaven? We are all well. G.o.d send that you and yours are so. Love to Lord B. and George and Mary. The Major is, I trust, soon expecting you in England.

G.o.d bless you, dearest brother. You will be glad to hear great part of my baggage is saved.