as his friend, he wished it excessively, and as a friend to administration, he thought it might accelerate further arrangements; alluding, I believe, to the Duke of Bedford's. (') He did hint, with a good deal of address, something of the same sort to me ten days ago; but I own I felt, and knew from experience, all that to be such dangerous ground, that I did not like to be forward to take it up. I now, however, mention it to your Lordship, as it is in all respects proper I should mention it. I have not let half a day pass, since I received your Lordship's letter, without thinking how I He (1) The following account of a conference, said to have taken place at this time at Bath, between the Duke of Bedford and Lord Chatham, appeared originally in the Political Register, and has found a place in the several memoirs and histories of the period: "Lord Chatham opened the conference with his Grace, by making the strongest assurances, that he should be particularly happy to see the King's administration countenanced and supported by his Grace's approbation and interest. The Duke, making no reply to this exordium, Lord Chatham proceeded by saying, that he would frankly lay before his Grace the principal measures he intended to pursue. intended; first, to keep the peace inviolate, and to keep a watchful eye over the princes upon the Continent, that they did the same; secondly, to enter into no continental connections, and to make no subsidiary treaty with any European power; thirdly, to observe such a strict and rigid economy, as should command the approbation of the most frugal member of parliaThe Duke replied, that these were the very measures for which he had always contended: they were his measures, and he would certainly support them, whether or not his friends were in power. Not a word was spoken of the subject of America, nor of any arrangements. They parted in similar conceptions, that this interview was merely preparatory to another; and this accounts for a great part of the Bedford interest being neuter at the meeting of parliament." ment. could forward the commission. The lawyers have assured me, that every thing will be ready for the Chancellor to-night. I intend seeing him as soon as possible, to know whether they have kept their word. Our foreign negotiations are at least safe : I hope I should not flatter your Lordship or myself, if I were to say that they are even getting upon better ground in general. However, I am at the end of my line, and can go but little further without your Lordship's advice: but as you give me hopes of seeing you so soon, I forbear to trouble you at present on that head. I am, with truest esteem and respect, Your Lordship's most obliged, SHELBURNE. THE EARL OF CHATHAM TO THE EARL OF MY LORD, SHELBURNE. Bath, October 29, 1766. I SIT down with particular satisfaction to return your Lordship many thanks for the honour of the letter Sir James Gray was so good as to be the bearer of. I have the pleasure to be able to acquaint your Lordship that, at last, this forlorn embassy to Spain is fixed, and I think very happily for the King's service; as Sir James Gray, who will carry very adequate abilities to the important work, will also carry another necessary ingredient to a foreign minister, I mean a cheerful and zealous attachment to the great business with which he is charged. He did indeed express at first some doubts, more of modesty than disinclination; though as to wishes, they certainly did not lead him again abroad: but I must do him justice in saying, that a very commendable sense of duty to the King and true zeal for his Majesty's service soon determined his resolution; and he obeys the King's gracious commands with becoming cheerfulness and devotion to that duty. The continuation of the pension granted as a reward of past services seems very unexceptionable, and I understand has been already favourably received when your Lordship mentioned it. I am happy to hear that the special commission was ready for signing, and I will trust that no delays can happen in your Lordship's power to prevent. My Lord Chancellor will not fail to co. operate in expediting this necessary and much desired measure. Accept, my dear Lord, my best acknowledgments for the trouble you have allowed me to give you, with regard to the intended offer of the embassy; in which matter Mr. Conway has been very obliging to drop his intention. Your Lordship's goodness in facilitating my wishes for Lord Cardross claims likewise many warm thanks. As I hope to have the pleasure of embracing your Lordship by the middle of next week, I will not touch on business, foreign or domestic, further than to say, I wish either topic were more inviting. I am, with truest esteem and respect, My dear Lord, your Lordship's most obedient and affectionate humble servant, CHATHAM. (1) The (') The parliament met on the 11th of November. scarcity formed the principal topic of the King's speech. The address was opposed in both Houses, and amendments moved, importing an intention to bring in a bill to indemnify those who had advised the embargo. No details of the debate have been preserved in any collection; but the speech of Lord Chatham, who was sufficiently recovered to take his seat this day in the House of Lords, will be found ably reported in the following letter from Mr. Henry Flood to the Earl of Charlemont: "Opposition began with Lord Suffolk. It was urged, that the matter treated of being illegal, a bill of indemnity would be necessary to indemnify the persons concerned, and the constitution: it was added, that parliament might and ought to have been called sooner, and that if it had, perhaps this illegal act might have been avoided. "Lord CHATHAM (who began with a very eloquent description of his feelings, from the new situation in which he spoke, in an unaccustomed place, before the most knowing in the laws, in the presence of the hereditary legislators of the realm, whilst he could not look upon the throne without remembering that it had just been filled by majesty, and by all the tender virtues which encompass it), allowed, that it was physically possible to have called the parliament a fortnight or three weeks sooner, consistently with the order of prorogation subsisting at the time when the alarm was first suggested; but that this, instead of being of service, would have been detrimental, for that it would have deprived the country, in the very article of danger, of the presence of the principal persons of it, whose authority had been of so much weight in suppressing these tumults. That this was the fact certainly; and though it could not be pretended that this was exactly foreseen, yet he could not but rejoice that THE RIGHT HON. HENRY SEYMOUR CONWAY TO THE EARL OF CHATHAM. Little Warwick Street, November 22, 1766. MY LORD, I HAD the honour of your Lordship's note, acquainting me with the intention of dismissing Lord nothing was done to deprive the country of such an effectual interposition: that parliament now met earlier than usual, and that it was not in itself desirable to hurry away upon every rumour all the principal persons of the nation from every extremity of the kingdom, and to crowd them into the metropolis. That such a conduct would be a mark of weakness and temerity, especially in a country in which sudden distresses are so liable to be created and aggravated, either from lucrative views, or from a factious spirit. That had he advised the calling of parliament upon the first intelligence he received, (which was but a suggestion of apprehended scarcity, and could be no more, as the harvest was not threshed out or known) he would justly have been censured for the alarm to the public, and the inconvenience to individuals, which a precipitate convention of parliament must have occasioned; a step which would have created an imaginary scarcity, though a real one had not existed. That these considerations determined his Majesty, with the advice of his council, to issue that order of prorogation under which parliament now met: that under the former prorogation parliament could not meet consistently with usage, for that it was always usual in the last proclamation of prorogation preceding the session, to declare the parliament to be prorogued to a certain day, then to meet for the despatch of business, a material notification not inserted in the former, because it was not decided to meet then. That a new prorogation therefore was necessary, and that the usage was never to give less than forty days' notice. That this was a very salutary custom, and that nothing could be so perilous as sudden and surreptitious conventions of parliament. That it might well be considered as the law of usage and of parliament, though not perhaps of the land, that |