for the public. As soon as I return to London, which will be in about ten days, I will attempt to wait on your Ladyship. I am your Ladyship's most obliged servant, SHELBURNE. (1) JUNIUS (2) TO THE EARL OF CHATHAM. (Private and secret: to be opened by Lord Chatham only.) MY LORD, London, January 2, 1768. If I were to give way to the sentiments of respect and veneration which I have always entertained for (1) "En nova progenies!" writes Lord Chesterfield, on the 27th of December; "the outlines of a new ministry are now declared, but they are not yet quite filled up: it was formed by the Duke of Bedford. Lord Gower is made president of the council, Lord Sandwich post-master, Lord Hillsborough secretary of state for America only, Mr. Rigby vice-treasurer of Ireland. General Conway is to keep the seals a fortnight longer, and then to surrender them to Lord Weymouth. Lord Chatham seems to be out of the question, and is at his repurchased house at Hayes, where he will not see a mortal. It is yet uncertain whether Lord Shelburne is to keep his place; if not, Lord Sandwich, they say, is to succeed him. All the Rockingham people are absolutely excluded. Many more changes must necessarily be; but no more are yet declared. It seems to be a resolution taken by somebody, that ministries are to be annual." Early in January, the Earl of Shelburne was removed from his office, and the Earl of Hillsborough and Lord Weymouth were appointed the two principal secretaries of state. (2) This is the first of two private letters addressed to Lord Chatham by this distinguished writer. Fac-similes of the autographs of both will be given in the fourth volume. your character, or to the warmth of my attachment to your person, I should write a longer letter than your Lordship would have time or inclination to read. But the information which I am going to lay before you, will, I hope, make a short one not unworthy your attention. I have an opportunity of knowing something, and you may depend on my veracity. During your absence from administration, it is well known that not one of the ministers has either adhered to you with firmness, or supported, with any degree of steadiness, those principles, on which 'you engaged in the King's service. From being their Idol at first, their veneration for you has gra. dually diminished, until at last they have absolutely set you at defiance. The Chancellor, on whom you had particular reasons to rely, has played a sort of fast and loose game, and spoken of your Lordship with submission or indifference, according to the reports he heard of your health; nor has he altered his language until he found you were really returning to town. Many circumstances must have made it impossible for you to depend much upon Lord Shelburne or his friends; besides that, from his youth and want of knowledge, he was hardly of weight, by himself, to maintain any character in the cabinet. The best of him is, perhaps, that he has not acted with greater insincerity to your Lordship than to former connections. Lord Northington's conduct and character need no observation. A singularity of manners, added to a perpetual affectation of discontent, has given him an excuse for declining all share in the support of government, and at last conducted him to his great object, a very high title, considering the species of his merit, and an opulent retreat. Your Lordship is best able to judge of what may be expected from this nobleman's gratitude. Mr. Conway, as your Lordship knows by experience, is every thing to every body, as long as by such conduct he can maintain his ground. We have seen him, in one day, the humble prostrate admirer of Lord Chatham; the dearest friend of Rockingham and Richmond; fully sensible of the weight of the Duke of Bedford's party; no irreconcileable enemy to Lord Bute; and, at the same time, very ready to acknowledge Mr. Grenville's merit as a financier. Lord Hertford is a little more explicit than his brother, and has taken every opportunity of treating your Lordship's name with indignity. But these are facts of little moment. The most considerable remains. It is understood by the public that the plan of introducing the Duke of Bedford's friends entirely belongs to the Duke of Grafton, with the secret concurrence, perhaps, of Lord Bute, but certainly without your Lordship's consent, if not absolutely against your advice. It is also understood, that if you should exert your influence with the King to overturn this plan, the Duke of Grafton will be strong enough, with his new friends, to defeat any attempt of that kind; or if he should not, your Lordship will easily judge to what quarter his Grace will apply for assistance. My Lord, the man who presumes to give your Lordship these hints, admires your character without servility, and is convinced that, if this country can be saved, it must be saved by Lord Chatham's spirit, by Lord Chatham's abilities. (1) To the Earl of Chathan, &c. &c. &c. &c. at Hayes, near Bromley, Kent (1) It may be remark, that this panegyric on Lord Chatham adds considerable weight to an opinion entertained by many persons; namely, that some of the Miscellaneous Letters inserted in Woodfall's edition of Junius are erroneously attributed to that distinguished writer. The five letters written on the 28th of April, the 28th of May, the 24th of June, and the 19th of December, 1767, and that on the 16th of February, 1768, under the signatures of Poplicola, Anti-Sejanus Junior, Downright, &c., are conceived in a spirit of bitter animosity to that nobleman; and it is incredible, that the same individual should anonymously and privately address a minister in terms expressive of "respect and veneration," at the very time that he was endeavouring to destroy that minister's influence, by publicly ridiculing his infirmities, and giving to the world anonymous libels on his character and conduct. THE RIGHT HONOURABLE JAMES GRENVILLE January 16, 1768. MY DEAR SISTER, I DELIVERED your message this morning to Lord Botetourt ('); who appeared to receive it with tranquillity. His answer upon the spot was, that since this was the case, he intended to ask an audience to-morrow, and then mentioned something about a commission to be procured in the most respectable manner possible to Lord Chatham. The substance of what I related to him from you was as follows: that you were convinced Lord Chatham would not consent to put the seal to the Warmly company's(2) grant, without first hearing the parties who opposed it; that the state of his health made it impossible for him to appoint that hearing at present; and, under these circumstances, you could not ven (1) Formerly Norborne Berkeley, member for Gloucestershire, and a groom of the bedchamber. He was, it will be remembered, Lord Talbot's second in the ridiculous duel with Wilkes, at Bagshot, by moonlight in October, 1762. See Vol. II. p. 192. Junius describes him as "a cringing, bowing, fawning, swordbearing courtier, who had ruined himself by an enterprize, which would have ruined thousands had it succeeded." In the August following, his Lordship was appointed governor of Virginia, in the room of Sir Jeffrey Amherst; and died there in 1770. (2) The extensive works in the hamlet of Warmly, Glouces tershire, for converting copper into brass, were at this time carried on at the expense of several gentlemen of the county, who disposed of them to a company in Bristol. |