The Letters of Phillip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield [3]

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THE LETTERS OF LORD CHESTERFIELD VOL.

THREE

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% THE LETTERS OF

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PHILIP DORMER STANHOPE 4_th EARL OF

CHESTERFIELD EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION, BY

BONAMY DOBR£E ★ IN SIX VOLUMES

Volume Three letters:

1745-1748

1932

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AMS PRESS • NEW YORK

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Reprinted with the permission of Eyre & Spottiswoode From the edition of 1932, London & New York First AMS EDITION published 1968 Manufactured in the United States of America

Reprinted from a copy in the collections of the Harvard College Library.

Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 68-59007

AMS PRESS, INC. New York, N.Y. 10003

THE LETTERS OF PHILIP DORMER STANHOPE FOURTH EARL OF CHESTERFIELD Nos. 27th

April,

819-1579

i745-i6th August,

1748

III. A

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1745 (continued) No. 819 To the Rev. Dr. Chenevix (.Maty II. v!) Dear Doctor,

,

The Hague 27 April N.S. 1745

I told you at first not to reckon too much upon the success of my recommendation, and I have still more reason to give you the same advice now, for it has met with great difficulties, merely as mine, and I am far from knowing yet how it will end. Pray, give no answer whatsoever to any¬ body, that either writes or speaks to you upon that subject, but leave it to me, for I make it my own affair, and you shall have either the Bishopric of Chlonfert, or a better thing, or else I will not be Lord Lieutenant. I hope to be in England in about a fortnight, when this affair must and shall be brought to a decision.1 Good-night to you! Yours, etc. No. 820. To Sir Thomas Robinson The Hague, 28 April N.S. 17452 Holograph. The Queen of Hungary’s success in Bavaria raises hopes. Konigsegg is to take the field on the 1st, ‘but much inferior I doubt in numbers to the enemy.’ {Add. MSS. 23,820, Y87) No. 821. To Lord Harrington The Hague, 30 April N.S. 1745 Battery train. Rumours from Tournay. Conclusion of peace between Austria and Bavaria. Victories in Germany. Russian affairs: Prussian affairs: Saxon affairs. No progress in getting troops from Bonn. (With Trevor. S.P. Holland. 41 o, 1)

f

1See Introduction.

2This is dated the 27th: with ‘Quare 28’ written above.

603

No. 822 To

his Son

(Stanhope ClI) \The Hague\ Dear Boy,

30

April N.S.

1745

You rebuke me very justly for my mistake between Juno and Venus, and I am very glad to be corrected by you. It is Juno’s speech to iTolus, in the first book of Virgil, that I meant, and if I said Venus’s, I said very wrong. What led me into the error at the time, might possibly be, that in that speech (if I remember right) Juno assumes a little of Venus’s character, and offers to procure for ^Tolus, by way of bribe. Your Easter breaking-up is, by good luck, but short, and I hope I shall see you in England before your Whitsuntide idleness; though I flatter myself you will not make it a time of idleness, at least I will do my endeavours to prevent it. I am sure you are now old enough, and I hope and believe that you are wise enough, to be sensible of the great advan¬ tages you will receive for the rest of your life, from applica¬ tion in the beginning of it. If you have regard for your character, if you would be loved and esteemed hereafter, this is your time, and your only time, to get the materials together, and to lay the foundation of your future reputa¬ tion; the superstructure will be easily finished afterwards. One year’s application now, is worth ten to you hereafter; therefore pray take pains now, in order to have pleasure afterwards; and mind always what you are about, be it what it will; it is so much time saved. Besides, there is no one surer sign in the world of a little frivolous mind, than to be thinking of one thing while one is doing another; for what¬ ever is worth doing, is worth thinking of while one is doing it. Whenever you find anybody incapable of attention to the same object for a quarter of an hour together, and easily diverted from it by some trifle; you may depend upon it

604

IJ4$ that person is frivolous, and incapable of anything great. Let nothing deturn you from the thing you are about, unless it be of much greater consequence than that thing. You will be thirteen by that time I shall see you; and, considering the care I have taken of you, you ought to be at thirteen what other boys are at sixteen; so that I expect to find you about sixteen at my return. Good-night to you.

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE SEVEN UNITED PROVINCES (Stanhope CCCCXXXIII) The following account of the Dutch Republic was drawn up by Lord Chester¬ field at the Hague. It was found among Mr. Philip Stanhope’s papers, and had, no doubt, been sent to him for his instruction. The Notes were added by Lord Chesterfield at a later date than the text, probably in 1761, on the death of the Prince of Orange, as appears by his mention of H.R.H. the Gouvernante.—M.

The Government of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces is thought by many to be democratical; but it is merely aristocratical:1 the people not having the least share in it, either themselves, or by representatives of their own choosing; they have nothing to do but to pay and grumble. The sovereign power is commonly thought to be in the States-General, as they are called, residing at the Hague. It is no such thing; they are only limited deputies, obliged to consult their constituents upon every point of any import¬ ance that occurs. It is very true, that the sovereign power is lodged in the States-General; but who are those StatesJThe Members of the Senate, or Vrootschaps, were originally elected by the Burghers, in a general, and often a tumultuous assembly; but now for near two hundred years, the Vrootschaps found means to persuade the people that these elections were troublesome and dangerous; and kindly took upon themselves to elect their own members, upon vacancies, and to keep their own body full, with¬ out troubling the people with an election; it was then that the aristocracy was established.

6o5

IJ4$ General? Not those who are commonly called so; but the Senate, Council, or Vrootschaps, call it what you will, of every town, in every province that sends deputies to the Provincial States of the said province. These Vrootschaps are in truth the States-General; but, were they to assemble, they would amount, for aught I know, to two or three thousand; it is, therefore, for convenience and despatch of business, that every province sends deputies to the Hague, who are constantly assembled there; who are commonly called the States-General; and in whom many people falsely imagine that the sovereign power is lodged. These deputies are chosen by the Vrootschaps; but their powers are extremely circumscribed; and they consent to nothing,1 without writing, or returning themselves, to their several constituent towns, for instructions in that particular case. They are authorised to concur in matters of order; that is, to continue things in the common, current, ordinary train; but for the least innovation, the least step out of the ordi¬ nary course, new instructions must be given, either to deliberate or to conclude. Many people are ignorant enough to take the Province of Holland, singly, for the Republic of the Seven United Provinces; and when they mean to speak of the Republic, they say Holland2 will, or will not, do such a thing; but most 1When the Deputies of the States signed the Triple Alliance with Sir William Temple, in two or three days’ time, and without consulting their principals (however Sir William Temple values himself upon it), in reality they only signed sub spe rati. The act was not valid; and, had it not been ratified by the several constituents of the several provinces, it had been as non avenu. The deputies, who signed that treaty sub spe rati, knew well enough that, considering the nature of the treaty, and the then situation of affairs, they should not only be avowed, but approved of, by their masters the States. 2When the Province of Holland has once taken an important resolution of peace, or war, or accession to any treaty, it is very probable that the other provinces will come into that measure, but by no means certain; it is often a great while first; and then the little provinces know that the Province of Holland has their concurrence much at heart, they will often annex conditions to it; as the little towns in Holland frequently do, when the great ones want their concurrence. As for instance, when I was soliciting the accession of the Republic to the Treaty of Vienna, in 1731, which the Pensionary, Comte Sinzendorf, and I, had made secretly at the Hague, all the towns in Holland came pretty readily into it, except

606

people are ignorant enough to imagine, that the Province of Holland has a legal, a constitutional power over the other six; whereas, by the Act of Union, the little Province of Groningen is as much sovereign as the Province of Holland. The Seven Provinces are seven distinct sovereignties, con¬ federated together in one Republic; no one having any superiority over, or dependance upon any other; nay, in point of precedence, Holland is but the second, Gueldres being the first. It is very natural to suppose, and it is very true in fact, that Holland, from its superiority of strength and riches, and paying 58 per cent., should have great weight and influence in the other six provinces; but power it has none. The unanimity, which is constitutionally requisite for every act of each town, and each province, separately, and then for every act of the seven collectively, is something so absurd, and so impracticable in government, that one is astonished that even the form of it has been tolerated so long; for the substance is not strictly observed. And five pro¬ vinces will often conclude, though two dissent, provided that Holland and Zealand are two of the five; as fourteen or fifteen of the principal towns of Holland will conclude an affair, notwithstanding the opposition of four or five of the lesser. I cannot help conjecturing that William, the first the little town of Briel; whose deputies frankly declared, that they would not give their consent, till Major Such-a-one, a very honest gentleman of their town, was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and that, as soon as that was done, they would agree, for they approved of the treaty. This was accordingly done in two or three days, and then they agreed. This is a strong instance of the absurdity of the unanimity required, and of the use that is often made of it. However, should one, or even two of the lesser provinces, who contribute little, and often pay less, to the public charge, obstinately and frivolously, or perhaps corruptly, persist in opposing a measure which Holland and the other more con¬ siderable provinces thought necessary, and had agreed to, they would send a deputation to those opposing provinces, to reason with, and persuade them to concur; but, if this would not do, they would, as they have done in many instances, conclude without them. The same thing is done in the Provincial States of the respective provinces; where if one or two of the least considerable towns per¬ tinaciously oppose a necessary measure, they conclude without them. But as this is absolutely unconstitutional, it is avoided as much as possible, and a complete unanimity procured, if it can be, by such little concessions as that which I have mentioned to the Briel Major.

60J

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Prince of Orange, called the Taciturn, the ablest man, with¬ out dispute, of the age he lived in, not excepting even the Admiral Coligny,1 and who had the modelling of the Republic as he pleased; I conjecture, I say, that the Prince of Orange would never have suffered such an absurdity to have crippled that government which he was at the head of, if he had not thought it useful to himself and his family. He covered the greatest ambition with the greatest modesty, and declined the insignificant, outward signs, as much as he desired the solid substance of power; might he not there¬ fore think, that this absurd, though requisite unanimity, made a Stadtholder absolutely necessary to render the government practicable? In which case he was very sure the Stadtholder would always be taken out of his family; and he minded things, not names. The Pensionary2 thinks this conjecture probable; and, as we were talking confiden¬ tially upon the subject, we both agreed that this monstrous and impracticable unanimity, required by the constitution, was alone sufficient to bring about a Stadtholder in spite of all the measures of the Republican party to prevent it. He confessed to me, that, upon his being made Pensionary, he entered into solemn engagements not to contribute, directly nor indirectly, to any change of the present form of govern¬ ment, and that he would scrupulously observe these engage¬ ments ; but that he foresaw the defects in their form of government, and the abuses crept into every part of it, would infallibly produce a Stadtholder,3 tumultuously im¬ posed upon the Republic by an insurrection of the populace, as in the case of King William. I told him that, in my U am persuaded, that, had the Taciturn been in the place of the Admiral Coligny, he would never have been prevailed upon to have come to Paris, and to have put himself into the power of those two monsters of perfidy and cruelty, Catherine of Medicis and Charles the Ninth. His prudent escape from Flanders is a proof of it; when he rather chose to be prince sans terre than prince sans tete. 2Monsieur Slingelandt, the ablest Minister, and the honestest man I ever knew. I may j ustly call him my friend, my master, and my guide; for I was then quite new in business: he instructed me, he loved, he trusted me. aIt has since appeared that he judged very rightly.

608

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opinion, if that were to happen a second time, the Stadtholder so made would be their King.1 He said he believed so too, and that he had urged all this to the most consider¬ able members of the Government, and the most jealous republicans. That he had even formed a plan, which he had laid before them, as the only possible one to prevent this impending danger. That a Stadtholder was originally the chief spring upon which their government turned; and that, if they would have no Stadtholder, they must sub¬ stitute a succedaneum. That one part of that succedaneum must be to abolish the unanimity required by the present form of government, and which only a Stadtholder could render practicable by his influence. That the abuses which were crept into the military part of the government must be corrected, or that they alone, if they were suffered to go on, would make a Stadtholder; in order that the army and the navy, which the public paid for, might be of some use, which at present they were not. That he had laid these and many other considerations of the like nature before them, in the hopes of one of these two things: either to prevail with them to make a Stadtholder unnecessary, by a just reformation of the abuses of the government, and sub¬ stituting a majority, or at most two-thirds, to the absurd and impracticable unanimity now requisite; or, if they would not come into these preventive regulations, that they would treat amicably with the Prince of Orange and give him the 1And so he ought to be now, even for the sake and preservation of the Seven Provinces. The necessary principle of a republic, Virtue, subsists no longer there. The great riches of private people (though the public is poor) have long ago extinguished that principle, and destroyed the equality necessary to a common¬ wealth. A commonwealth is unquestionably, upon paper, the most rational and equitable form of government; but it is as unquestionably impracticable, in all countries where riches have introduced luxury, and a great inequality of con¬ ditions. It will only do in those countries that poverty keeps virtuous. In England it would very soon grow a tyrannical aristocracy; soon afterwards, an oligarchy; and soon after that, an absolute monarchy; from the same causes that Denmark, in the last century, became so—the intolerable oppression of the bulk of the people, from those whom they looked upon as their equals. If the young Stadt¬ holder has abilities, he will, when he grows up, get all the powers of a limited monarchy, such as England, no matter under what name; and if he is really wise, he will desire no more; if the people are wise, they will give it him.

6oc)

Stadtholderate, under strict limitations, and with effectual provisions for their liberty. But they would listen to neither of these expedients: the first affected the private interests of most of the considerable people of the Republic, whose power and profit arose from those abuses; and the second was too contrary to the violent passions and prejudices of Messrs. d’Obdam, Bootslaer, Hallewyn, and other heads of the high Republican party. Upon this I said to the Pen¬ sionary, that he had fully proved to me, not only that there would, but that there ought to be, a Stadtholder. He replied, ‘There will most certainly be one, and you are young enough to live to see it. I hope I shall be out of the way first; but if I am not out of the world at that time I will be out of my place, and pass the poor remainder of my life in quiet. I only pray that our new master, whenever we have him, may be gently given us. My friend, the Grefher,1 thinks a Stadtholder absolutely necessary to save the Republic, and so do I as much as he, if they will not accept of the other expedient; but we are in very different situa¬ tions; he is under no engagements to the contrary, and I am.’ He then asked me, in confidence, whether I had any instructions to promote the Prince of Orange’s views and interest. I told him truly I had not; but that, however, I would do it, as far as ever I could, quietly and privately. That he himself had convinced me, that it was for the interest of the Republic, which I honoured and wished well to: and also that it would be a much more efficient ally to England, under that form of government. ‘I must own,’ replied he, that at present we have neither strength, secrecy, nor despatch.’ I said that I knew but too well, by my own experience; and I added (laughing) that I looked upon him as the Prince of Orange’s greatest enemy and upon that 1The Greffier Fagel, who had been Greffier, that is, Secretary of State, above fifty years. He had the deepest knowledge of business, and the soundest judgment, of any man I ever knew in my life; but he had not that quick, that intuitive sagacity, which the Pensionary Slingelandt had. He has often owned to me, that he thought things were gone too far for any other remedy than a Stadtholder.

6 j.o

IJ4-5 prince’s violent and impetuous enemies1 to be his best friends; for that, it his (the Pensionary’s) plan were to take place, the prince would have very little hopes. He inter¬ rupted me here, with saying, Ne craigne{ rien, milord, de ce cote la; mon plan blesse trop Vinteret particulier, pour etre recu a present que Vamour du public n existe plus. I thought this conversation too remarkable not to write down the heads of it when I came home. The Republic has hardly any navy at all; the single fund for the marine being the small duties upon exports and im¬ ports; which duties are not half collected, by the connivance of the magistrates themselves, who are interested in smug¬ gling, so that the Republic has now no other title but courtesy to the name of a maritime power. Their trade decreases daily, and their national debt increases. I have good reason to believe that it amounts to at least fifty millions sterling. The decrease of their herring-fishery, from what it ap1These hot-headed Republicans pushed things -with the unjustest acrimony against the Prince of Orange. They denied him his rank in the army; and they kept him out of the possession of the Marquisat of Tervere and Flessingen,which were his own patrimony; and by these means gave him the merit with the people of being unjustly oppressed. Had he been an abler man himself, or better advised by others, he might have availed himself much more solidly than he did, of the affec¬ tion, or rather the fury, of the people, in his favour, when they tumultuously made him Stadtholder; but he did not know the value and importance of those warm moments, in which he might have fixed and clinched his power. Dazzled with the show and trappings of power, he did not enough attend to the substance. He attempted a thing impossible, which was, to please everybody; he heard every¬ body, began everything, and finished nothing. When the people, in their fury, made him Stadtholder, they desired nothing better than totally to dissolve the republican form of government. He should have let them. The tumultuous love of the populace must be seized and enjoyed in its first transports; there is no hoarding of it to use upon occasions; it will not keep. The most considerable people of the former government would gladly have compounded for their lives, and would have thought themselves very well off in the castle of Louvestein; where one of the Prince of Orange’s predecessors sent some of their ancestors, in times much less favourable. An affected moderation made him lose that moment. The government is now in a disjointed, loose state. Her R.H. the Gouvernante has not power enough to do much good; and yet she has more power than authority. Peace and economy, both public and domestic, should, therefore, be the sole objects of her politics, during the minority of her son. The public is almost a bankrupt; and her son’s private fortune extremely incumbered. She has sense and ambition; but it is, still, the sense and ambition of a woman; that is inconsequential. What remains to he done, requires a firm, manly, and vigorous mind.

611

pears by Monsieur De Witt’s Memoirs of Holland in his time, is incredible; and will be much greater now we are at last wise enough to take our own herrings upon our own coasts. They do not now get by freight one quarter of what they used to get; they were the general sea-carriers of all Europe. The Act of Navigation passed in Cromwell’s time, and afterwards confirmed in Charles the Second’s, gave the first blow to that branch of profit; and now we carry more than they do. Their only profitable remaining branches of com¬ merce are their trade to the East Indies, where they have engrossed the spices; and their illicit trade in America from Surinam, St. Eustatia, Curagoa, etc. Their woollen and silk manufactures bear not the least comparison with ours, neither in quantity, quality, nor exportation. Their police is still excellent, and is now the only remains of that prudence, vigilance, and good discipline, which formerly made them esteemed, respected, and courted.

No. 823 To

the Duke of Newcastle

{Add. HOLOGRAPH

.

,

,

)

MSS 32 804 f 311

The Hague,

4

May N.S. 1745

My Dear Lord,

I received last Sunday your Grace’s and your brother’s letters of the 16th April O.S. and though I shall so soon have the pleasure of seeing you both, I could not refuse myself that of sending you this forerunner, with my thanks for all the marks of confidence and friendship you have both shown me during my stay here. The yacht is not yet arrived, and a Convention with the Council of State con¬ cerning the artillery, contingencies of the war etc., in which 612

I am named, is not yet quite concluded, so that I don’t believe I shall be able to embark before next week. I heartily wish that the negotiation with Prussia had been brought to some consistency some months ago, for so many new difficulties now stand in the way of it, that I con¬ fess I almost doubt of the possibility of success now; and therefore it is worth your considering whether you would make that your point somewhere. The Queen of Hungary, elated with her success in Bavaria, depends, and really I believe with reason, upon the same success against the King of Prussia, and consequently will not agree to this proposal of accommodation unless she be positively told that upon her refusal all the assistance of Great Britain shall be with¬ drawn. The new dispositions of the Court of Russia, and the hopes Lord Hyndford entertains of concluding the treaty,1 makes her success the more probable and her obstinacy the greater. The majority which she thinks she now has in the Electoral College renders the vote of the King of Prussia unnecessary if not useless to her, which would have been her greatest if not her only inducement some time ago to have listened to those proposals. By this time too it is probable that a blow has been struck in Silesia, and if it has, I do not doubt but to the disadvantage of the King of Prussia, considering the nature of the two armies.2 The Pensionary and I, whose sentiments upon that subject your Grace knows are the same with yours, have severally sounded some principal people here upon this point, without, however, letting them into the secret, and I must tell you that we find them extremely desirous to see the King of Prussia reduced, and very sanguine in their opinions that he soon will be so. They say likewise that there will be no quiet for Europe, nor no security for his neighbours, if he should be left in a condition of keeping up that very 1Lord Hyndford had been sent to Russia to try to bring it into the war. See Chesterfield’s correspondence when Secretary of State. 2Chesterfield was wrong.

613

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great force, after a peace, when all his neighbours shall have reduced theirs; for that there is no trusting to any the most solemn engagements with him. I am sensible that it is the great probability there is at present of his being reduced that makes them both talk and think in that way, and should that probability be increased by some success on the Queen of Hungary’s part in Silesia, they would be still more con¬ firmed in those sentiments. I thought it necessary to in¬ form you of this, that you should not depend upon being strongly seconded here. They don’t consider the King of Prussia now as an object that will lengthen the war, and they expect to see him soon reduced to their mind, without their being concerned or exposed. All these considerations vary the state of the question from what it was some months ago, and may possibly make it problematical, whether you should now stake your whole upon that point or wait an event in Silesia, which if favourable to the King of Prussia may better authorise you to do it, and if unfavourable, will make him be glad of a composition, and content himself with the three Duchies he first claimed. I don’t mention our Electoral difficulties or the motives of them, which are obvious, and ought in my mind never to be regarded. But whether you make this your decisive point or not, there is surely one important point which ought not to be neglected, and which in my poor opinion you should insist upon decision in. I mean the speedy and proper disposal of the vacant ribands,1 to the exclusion of Lords Granville, Winchelsea2 and Bath, whatever promises or engagements may be pleaded in their favour. This negative mark should at least be put upon them. And your brother should by all means have one. For if there are neither positive nor negative marks given of their disgrace, God knows how soon they may triumph. I have an account from Hanover 1Of the Garter. “Daniel Finch, Earl of Winchelsea and Nottingham, had been removed from the post of First Lord of the Admiralty when Granville fell.

614

iy+f.5 that the relays for the King are actually ordered, and that Monsieur Freychappelle will be here to-morrow or next day. Notwithstanding which I still do not believe that he will go abroad this year. If my Irish affairs be not finished before my return, it implies a resolution taken of making it impossible for me to continue in my employment, in which they will not be disappointed. But this letter runs into con¬ versation, as if instead of seeing your Grace next week as I hope to do, I were not to see you these six months. I am, etc. No.

824.

To

Lord Harrington

The Hague, 4 May N.S. 1745 Troops from the Court of Bonn. Examination into the behaviour of the Elector of Cologne. Military affairs in Germany. Report from Flanders that ‘Tournay is not only invested, but actually attacked.’ Fortifications of Ostend. Battering train.

(With Trevor. S.P. Holland. 409,/258) No. 825. To

Lord Harrington

The Hague, 4 May N.S. 1745 Holograph. A courtly letter. He is soon to return: he thanks the King; he protests his zeal; he thanks Harrington. {S.P. Holland. 409, f 264)

No. 826 To

the Duke of Newcastle

{Add. MSS. HOLOGRAPH

,

, f320)

32 804

The Hague, 7 May N.S. 1745

My Dear Lord,

I did not propose troubling your Grace any more from hence, but think it necessary to do it now, in order to inform you of an affair, which will not be mentioned in our office letter of to-night to Lord Harrington, in which I am un615

willing ever to insert anything that I can avoid, till absolutely necessary. On Wednesday morning last Monsieur de la Ville1 went to the Pensionary’s house, without giving previous notice as usual, and at an hour when he was sure not to find him at home; about three hours afterwards, Monsieur Hallewyn, Pensionary of Dort, and the Pensionary and Burgomaster of Amsterdam came to him (the Pensionary Vanderheim) and told him that Monsieur de la Ville had been with them severally, and had acquainted them, that the King his master, to prove them his sincere desire of peace, had ordered him to acquaint them that he would not oppose the Great Duke’s being elected Emperor, since by the late turn of affairs in Germany it was probable that his Highness would have a majority in the Electoral College. That this concession of his master’s required in return some proposals from hence for a general peace, which it was inconsistent with his Majesty’s dignity to make first, and that if such proposals could be made before Tournay was taken, so much the better. What answer Monsieur Hallewyn made to this nobody knows, nor nobody cares, it had doubtless been con¬ certed with him before. But the people of Amsterdam asked Monsieur de la Ville whether he had informed the Pen¬ sionary Vanderheim of this, to which he answered that he had that morning been at his house in order to have com¬ municated it to him, but had not found him at home. Upon which they told him that they could give him no answer till they had considered further and talked with the Pen¬ sionary Vanderheim upon that subject. In his conversation with them he dropped that as to the King of Prussia; the King of France, they might depend upon it, had no thoughts of sending an army into Silesia to his assistance. That evening (Wednesday) the Pensionary sent for me to acquaint me with all this, and to concert with me what he 'French envoy at the Hague: later in the year under-secretary at the French foreign office.

616

IJ45 should say to the Amsterdam people about it. They had agreed (I must do them the justice) that it should be com¬ municated to me. The Pensionary and I determined, that in order to be masters of this affair we should not reject it absolutely; and that he should tell the Amsterdammers, and even Mr. de la Ville if he saw him, that the proposals of the Republic were already known to the Court of France, having been given in last year by Monsieur Twickell;1 and that the favourable events which had since happened did not incline them to recede from one tittle of what was then asked. Yesterday morning again Monsieur de la Ville went in the same manner as before to the Pensionary Vanderheim, that is at an hour when he was sure not to find him. I saw him (the Pensionary) again last night; and we have taken the proper measures to prevent any ill consequences that might flow from this insidious attempt, and from the strong disposition of minds here to listen to whatever is called a proposal for peace. And I think I can answer, that this attempt if intended to disunite people here, and to check the progress of our operations (as I believe it is) will not have the intended effect. By next post, it will be more clear, and then it shall be related in the office letter. My yacht is not yet arrived, and if it had I would have given a few days to this affair. Should it arrive to-morrow or next day, I will not embark till I have settled this matter in a way that I can be sure it shall do no mischief, so that it is possible I shall not leave this place till the latter end of next week. A Mr. Hardenberg, a Hanoverian, brother to him in England, is at the army upon the Rhine, and has assured people there that the King will come and command that army himself. But I am apt to think that he is mistaken. Did Mr. Steenberg, when Hanover was lately threatened, make no proposal to Marechal Belleisle2 upon that subject? ■•Count Wassenaer-Twickel. 2At this time a prisoner in England, having been captured on Hanoverian soil in 1744 while on a diplomatic mission to Prussia, an event which caused great excitement in Europe. III. B

6iy

Jr^rS

l P'4^

I believe he did. Notwithstanding the length of this letter, I am, etc. No. 827. To Lord Harrington The Hague, 7 May N.S. 1745

The question of auxiliary ships going better: ‘but as chicanes and delays are but too natural to such a complex and gentle government as this, we cannot desire your Lordship to trust to any thing less convincing than the effect itself.’ Conven¬ tion for battering train concluded. Action at Tournay im¬ minent. The relations between the Queen of Hungary and the Elector of Bavaria embroiled and puzzled. The States wish send a minister to the Porte. (With Trevor. S.P. Holland. 410,f 6) No. 828. To Lord Harrington The Hague, 11 May N.S. 1745 Wassenaer Twickell1 is having difficulty in extracting troops from the Elector of Cologne, who, himself willing, is ob¬ structed by his Ministers. No news from the German army. Queen of Hungary and Dresden and Munich. Marshal Bathiani has surrounded the Hessian troops, and will not let them go until he has proof from the Court of Cassel that they are paid by the allies and not by the enemy. Prince William of Hesse protests loudly. The armies of Flanders are in sight of one another.

(With Trevor. S.P. Holland. 410, f 13) No. 829. To Lord Harrington The Hague, 11 May N.S. 1745 Separate. Treating of ‘some remarkable though probably

artificial and insidious discourses held here within these few days by the Abbe de la Ville.’ He says that France would be ready to withdraw her opposition to the Great Duke as Emperor, seeing the turn affairs have taken in Bavaria, and 1 Count Wassenaer Twickel, the Dutch diplomat: his name will occur fre¬ quently in the correspondence with Sandwich. 6l8

Jr?* Jr?* IJ4$

listen to proposals for pacification. France would not wait for Spain, nor send an army into Bohemia to disengage the King of Prussia. His procedure is, however, suspicious: he does not win the Pensionary’s confidence. (With Trevor. S.P. Holland. 410,/19) No. 830. To

Lord Harrington

The Hague, 11 May N.S. 1745 Apart. Details of the battering train. (With Trevor. S.P. Holland. 410, f 26) No. 831 To Bishop Chenevix

{Maty III. vit) My Good Lord,

The Hague,

12

May N.S.

174c

Now you are what I had positively declared you should be—a Bishop; but it is Bishop of Killaloe, not Chlonfert, the latter refusing the translation. Killaloe, I am assured, is better. I heartily wish you joy, and could not refuse myself that pleasure, though I am in the greatest hurry imaginable, being upon my journey to Helvoetsluys for England. Adieu! Yours, etc. No. 832

To the Duke of Newcastle {Add. MSS. 32,804,/. 330) HOLOGRAPH

The Hague, 14 May N.S. 1745

My Dear Lord,

I little thought to have troubled you again from hence, and my yacht being arrived I intended to have embarked 619

l J-^5

to-morrow, but upon the disagreeable news we received from Flanders early yesterday morning,1 the Pensionary entreated me not to leave him in the general consternation it had put people in here. I thought it necessary to comply with his request, and I have since found it was so. I shall therefore stay till Lord Harrington comes here, to talk with him and the Pensionary together, and then embark the moment he sets out for Hanover; for I will upon no account be here one post after His Majesty’s arrival at Hanover. I shall with decency avoid going to Helvoetsluys to meet the King, which both he and I shall be equally glad of. The necessity of my watching people here, being not only a good pretence, but in truth a good reason, for my not going. Mr. Trevor goes. I am in so great a hurry, and shall see your Grace so soon, that I will say nothing now upon public affairs, in which, however, I fear this accident in Flanders will make a disagreeable change. The finishing my Irish affair, I am persuaded, I owe to your Grace and Mr. Pelham; accept my thanks for it. I wait with impatience for the arrival and departure of Lord Harrington, being im¬ patient to be out of this galley at least, and to assure you in person, even so far out of town as Claremount2 if you please, that I am, etc. No. 833 To

the Duke of Newcastle

{Add. MSS. 32,804, /33(d) HOLOGRAPH

The Hague, 18 May N.S. 1745

My Dear Lord,

If this letter gets to you before I do, it is to acquaint you that I set out the day after to-morrow, for England, 'Of the Battle of Fontenoy fought on the nth, where the French, under Marshall Saxe, defeated the Allied armies under the Duke of Cumberland. •The Duke’s country house, near Esher.

620

IJ4^ where, by your account I shall find Lord Harrington.1 I could not leave this place sooner, and I fear some incon¬ veniences may attend my leaving it now; but so far, I think I have settled things here, that instead of showing their real dejection upon our late misfortune, they will act courage, and send more troops from hence to the army. I can say no more in the hurry I am in, than that I am, etc. No. 834 To

the States-General

(S.P. Holland. 410, f 23) 18 mai N.S. 1745 Hauts et Puissants Seigneurs,

Le Roi, mon maitre, en me permettant de retourner en Angleterre m’a expressement ordonne de renouveler a vos Hautes Puissances, les assurances les plus fortes de son estime et de son amide. II est heureux pour moi qu’une commission si honorable m’impose un devoir si facile. Interprete fidele des sentiments d’une amide sincere, je n’ai garde d’emprunter les expressions flatteuses, dont une amide simulee a besoin de se parer. Qu’une politique rusee emploie pour couvrir ses desseins ambitieux tout ce que Part a de plus seduisant; qu’elle mette tout en oeuvre pour surprendre votre confiance, ou du moins pour vous endormir dans une funeste securite, la vraie amide, telle quest celle qui unit le Roi, mon maitre, avec vos hautes puissances, meprise ces artifices, et deteste ces detours. Elle est simple, et son langage lui ressemble. L’etroite union des deux nations n’est ni l’effet de quelques situations accidentelles, mais une suite reflechie de nos interets reciproques et invariables. La nature nous iwho should have been with the King on his way to Hanover, but had been delayed.

621

l’a marquee, en nous pla^ant comme elle l’a fait, et une experience non-interrompue de pres d’un siecle ne nous permet pas d’ignorer, que notre prosperity mutuelle depend de notre union. Cette verite est si incontestable, que nous devons regarder comme nos ennemis communs, tous ceux qui pretendent la revoquer en doute. Le voisinage n’est pour la plupart des peuples qu’une source funeste de jalousie ou de discorde, au lieu que nous avons le bonheur singulier d’etre voisins d’une maniere propre a nous procurer des avantages infinis, sans qu’il en puisse naitre ni defiances ni embarges,1 si nous n’oublions pas nos grands interets. Telles sont les idees du Roi, et, sur ce que j’ai vu de pres, j’oserai l’assurer que vos Hautes Puissances pensent de meme. Qui peut l’ignorer? Nos allies le savent; nos ennemis le sentent, l’Europe a deja souvent recueilli des fruits precieux de notre harmonie. Que n’en doit-elle pas esperer encore? L amour de la liberte, qui fonda cette Republique, et qui 1 a si souvent signalee depuis; cet amour si noble et si genereux unit encore aujourd’hui vos forces et vos conseils a ceux du Roi, mon maitre. Animes du meme esprit, et tendant au meme but, vos efforts n’ont pour objet que de retablir et d’assurer la liberte et la tranquillite publique. Quel dessein plus louable! Quel ouvrage plus digne d’un fete [?]2 juste et magnanime! Poursuivez, Hauts et Puissants Seigneurs, ce dessein avec votre fermete, et votre sagesse ordinaire; continuez ces efforts sans vous laisser decourager; et puisse le ciel couronner vos entreprises du succes qu’elle meritent. Pour ce qui me regarde, Hauts et Puissants Seigneurs, rien ne pouvait m’arriver de plus flatteur que d’etre chargJ pour la seconde fois, des ordres du Roi aupres de vos Hautes. Puissances; surtout dans une occasion, ou il s’agissait de concerter les moyens de satisfaire aux engageambages ?

622

2paite

JrPKJrf* IJ4.5

merits, que je contribuai a former ici, il y a quelques annees. Je n’oublierai jamais le gracieux accueil, dont vos Hautes Puissances m’ont honore, alors et a present, et ma recon¬ naissance ne finira qu’avec mes jours; mais si vos Hautes Puissances daignent se souvenir de moi, ne m’envisagez, Hauts et Puissants Seigneurs, que du cote de mon zele sincere pour le bien commun des deux nations; de ma veneration respectueuse pour votre gouvernement, et (si j’ose me servir de cette expression) de mon tendre attachement pour cette Republique.1 No. 835. To Sir Thomas Robinson The Hague, 18 May N.S. 1745 Holograph. He is embarking for England to-morrow. ‘Our

misfortune in Flanders . . . scattered at first a general con¬ sternation here, and I dreaded the ill-effect of it; but they are now come to themselves, and are determined to show vigour instead of despair, and send what reinforcements they can to our army.2 The King to arrive in a few days. {Add. MSS. 23,820,/171) No. 836 To

the Earl of Harrington3

(S.P. Ireland, 407) [holograph]

London, 21 May O.S. 1745

My Lord,

Though by the letters of the 28th N.S. from Holland which came in this morning, we have no account of your 1‘Have you Lord Chesterfield’s speech on taking leave? It is quite calculated for the language it is wrote in, and makes but an indifferent figure in English. The thoughts are common, and yet he strains hard to give them an air of novelty; and the quaintness of the expression is quite a la francaise.’ The Hon. P. Yorke to Horatio Walpole. (Letters °f Horace IVdipole. Cunningham. 1906 Ed. i. 361 n.) What higher praise, under the circumstances, could Chesterfield ask for? 2They sent some nine battalions. 3This letter is of interest only in showing the extraordinary detail into which Chesterfield went in his administration. It also shows his particular care to be free from all suspicion of graft.

623

Lordship’s being landed in Holland, I hope this will find you safely arrived, and in good health at Hanover. I troubled your Lordship by the last post with some Irish papers, and by this post I trouble you with more, to be laid before his Majesty that I may receive his commands upon them; and though I have accompanied those papers with the proper office letters in form, yet, as I am always de¬ sirous to have the true motives of whatever I do known, I will beg leave to explain more particularly to your Lordship in this manner, many of the cases mentioned in form in my office letters. With regard to Lieutenant-Colonel Degenne’s memorial, I can say nothing more than that he has a great mind to have a regiment, and that his pretensions to one do not seem to be quite so strong as his inclinations, he being a lieutenantcolonel but of six years’ standing. He insisted upon my transmitting his memorial to be laid before his Majesty, and accordingly I send it. The case of Major Johnston seems much more reasonable. He lost his leg at the battle of Dettingen and is strongly recommended to me by Lord Albemarle. He has agreed, sub spe rad, with Lieutenant-Colonel Titchborne, present Governor of Charlemont, for that government which brings in twenty shillings a day. Mr. Titchborne is a very old man, and Major Johnston an unfortunate one; the case seems compassionate, and their exchange an object quite indifferent to the service; I know neither of them. Major Butler’s demand is new, but in my opinion not very unreasonable, for being a pretty old major, by having the rank of lieutenant-colonel given him as adjutantgeneral, he does not take place of many more than himself. He is an utter stranger to me, and I freely own to your Lordship that my true reason for recommending his request is that he is brother to Lord Lanesborough, is himself, and has many relations, in the Irish parliament. A reason of some weight there, as well as here.

624

IJ4$ I believe I need not (though if there were any occasion I most heartily and humbly would) recommend the pro¬ motion of Sir John Ligonier from brigadier to majorgeneral upon the Irish establishment in the room of General Tyrrell deceased, for his merit and services are so well known to his Majesty that I flatter myself that neither his request nor my earnest recommendation of it will be disagreeable to his Majesty. The resignation of Cornet Flower to Mr. Parker in Lord Cobham’s regiment of horse is most earnestly de¬ sired by Lord Castledurro, father to the former, who has a considerable interest in Ireland, and by what I hear, the service will get by this exchange. The resignation of Lieutenant-Colonel Shuckburg, who is really incapable of serving, causes only regular and regi¬ mental promotions, in which I am sure the service gains. General Bowles desires it extremely, and recommends his son to be youngest cornet, without pay, which I willingly agree to. The promotion proposed in Lord Molesworth’s regiment of Dragoons is not quite so regular; but as his lordship who is a very old, and who passes for a very good, officer, is ex¬ tremely pressing with me for it, I promised to recommend it to his Majesty; I know no one of the parties concerned. The resignation of Captain Owen Wynne in de Grangue’s regiment, and the removes in consequence of it, are all recommended by the colonel. The captain is certainly past service, and the removes are regular. I know none of the people. The exchange proposed between the two ensigns in St. Clair’s and Battereau’s regiments seems absolutely in¬ different to the service, and will be very agreeable to the two colonels as well as to the two ensigns, who are respectively very ill with their present colonels. The removes in General Irwin’s regiment are not strictly regular, but are much pressed for by the general

625

himself and Lord Stair, who thinks them proper. Here I have taken the liberty to recommend the youngest ensign, Mr. Turner’s son of Derby, well known to your Lordship. The resignation of Lieutenant-Colonel Peirson, who from ill-health, age and wounds is really incapable of serving, produces a very regular regimental promotion for the advantage of the service; in this case I take the liberty to recommend Bailey, one of my pages, the son of Mr. Bailey of Derby, to be the youngest ensign without pay. As in all these removes I have only presumed to recom¬ mend two Ensigns, one with and the other without pay, I hope my share will not appear unreasonable, and that your Lordship will, by your good offices, recommend them to his Majesty’s most gracious approbation. As your Lordship is better informed from others than you could be from me, of whatever passes here, it would be indiscretion to trouble you any longer than to assure you of the truth and regard with which I am, etc. No. 837. To

Lord Harrington

Grosvenor Square, 21 May O.S. 1745

Recommending Sir John Ligonier1 to be promoted from brigadier-general to major-general on the Irish establishment. (S.P. Ireland. 407) ‘Afterwards Field-Marshal and Lord, attached to the Duke of Cumberland in the held. He occurs frequently in the correspondence.

626

l J45

45k

No. 838 To (Hist.

MSS.

Comm.

Edward Weston1

Report 14, Part Trevor Papers)

IX,

App.

113.

London, 27 May [O.Y] 1745

I foretold to Lord Harrington the discourse he would hear both from the Pensionary and the deputies; I am sorry they were so well founded in one part of it* for to be sure the Hanoverian Creed, as you justly call it, does not yield to the Athanasian in the mystical confusion of num¬ bers. As to the English part of our force, the deficiency is really our misfortune, not our fault, and the reinforcement we send which is really all we can spare, proves our good intentions. . . . Antimac seems to have recovered his credit at Petersburg, but as I never hoped much from that quarter, so I fear little. All I fear is, that her Imperial Majesty and her two Chancellors2 will upon consideration have a mind to touch some of our subsidies and jilt us afterwards. France makes a merit to Antimac3 of the great detachment carried by the Prince of Conti to join M. de Segur, and assures him it is all to make a diversion in his favour. You and I well know their sincere regard for him. ... At home things stand on the foot of six months’ warning; and at the return from Hanover we are to know our fate, and to be really in, or really out, we are now neither. 'Edward Weston (1703-1770) was the second son of Stephen Weston, Bishop of Exeter. He was secretary to Lord Townshend when the latter was at Hanover in 1729. He became Under-Secretary of State for the Northern Department until 1746, when he followed Harrington to Ireland. In 1741 he was appointed editor of the London Gazette, a post which he held until his death. He was the author of several didactic books, and a classical scholar of some distinction. He appears at this time to have been at the Hague, perhaps left there by Harrington on his way to Hanover. 2Viz. the Great Chancellor Bestuscheff, and the Chancellor Woronzow. 3Frederick the Great.

6X7

No. 839 To Dr.

William Warburton

{Add. MSS. Egerton, ic>55, f 5) London, 4 June

1745

Sir,

It is with great pleasure that I can now offer you to be one of my Domestic Chaplains in Ireland, if you approve of that situation. I hope it will soon enable me to put you in a better. Your merit has long since entitled you to much mote than your fortune has done for you, and I shall be very glad to do justice to the former, and supply the defects of the latter. If this proposal is not disagreeable to you, you will be at Dublin the 25 th of next August where you will meet, Your faithful humble servant, Chesterfield. No. 840 To {Hist.

MSS.

Comm.

Edward Weston

Report 14, Part Trevor Papers') London,

7

IX,

June

App.

114.

[O.S*.] 1745

You cannot conceive the indignation of our admiralty at the state of the Dutch squadron here, which, notwith¬ standing our repeated representations is still in the same useless condition, neither victualled nor repaired. Among the ten that they withdrew were the only three or four useful ships of the whole twenty. You will receive by this post instructions to be very pressing with the States upon that point. I must tell you in confidence that the public here in general is extremely dissatisfied with the Dutch, not only with relation to their contingent at sea, which from twenty is reduced to ten ships, and those useless ones; but 628

Jr?* Jr?*

IJ45

also with regard both to their conduct and strength in Flanders. Those who want to find fault with, and distress our measures, say that the Dutch had not above 12,000 men in the army at the battle, and that even they ran away, and lost us the victory which our own troops had near acquired. The first I know is a lie, I wish there were as little truth in the second. After the battle I can tell you in con¬ fidence that the Duke in a private letter writ word, that the whole army consisted but of 30,000 men: which I con¬ fess I cannot comprehend, since, including the 7000 killed, wounded and lost, it would have consisted before the battle but of 37,000 men, of which number the English and Hanoverians made near 30,000. I am asked here every day, where my 39,000 Dutch troops are, stipulated by the Resultat? I am bewildered in all this, and can make no answer. For my own part, when La Ville shall come to open a little more, I think he should be a little more attended to. Our share of expense is not to be borne; the Dutch neither can nor will continue theirs; how then can we from less efforts next year expect better success, than we have had this? In our present situation I have often told you, that I thought war was not our fait, I am more and more confirmed in that opinion every day from everything I see at home, and from everything I hear of from abroad. No. 841 To Lord Harrington (S.P. Ireland., 407) holograph

London, 11 June O.S. 1745

My Lord,

I have received the honour of your Lordship’s letter of the 13 N.S., and am extremely sensible of his Majesty's goodness in approving of the several recommendations which I took the liberty to lay before him. Mr. Turner’s 629

iy^}S disappointment is very immaterial, and both he and I are perfectly satisfied to wait till another and properer oppor¬ tunity. With regard to Lord Tullamore, since his Majesty is inclined to show him some favour, I am of opinion that the method I have pointed out to your Lordship of a pension of £500 for his life only is much better than what he himself desires, which is an additional salary of £600 a year to his employment, which if once granted would hardly ever be resumed, and consequently become a constant charge upon the government. I take the liberty of sending your Lordship my account as ambassador, which is all upon the usual foot, excepting the £400 extra-extraordinaries, which I can assure your Lordship I paid out of my own pocket in two sums, much as I thought for his Majesty’s service. But as money matters are not very tender to me, your Lordship will be pleased to sign my account and return it me for the Treasury in what¬ ever manner you shall think proper. I may possibly pass for a gainer by my embassy, but I can assure your Lordship I am not. I am, etc. No. 842 To

Edward Weston

{Hist. MSS. Comm. Report 14, Part IX, App. 114 Trevor Papers) London,

n

June

0.5.]

[

1745

Though I have troubled you so lately, I cannot help doing it again now, upon account of some informations we have lately received here from the army in Flanders, which if they are true (which I have too much reason to fear they are) must produce the very worst effects. If you have heard anything of the matter, you will easily guess that I mean the 630

ij^-5

unfortunate disputes between the Duke and the Prince of Waldeck. They seem to have gone much too far already, and if some care be not taken in time, they will probably go much further, in which case it is very obvious how much the public service must suffer. The Duke’s instructions, and still more his intentions, seemed to promise a perfect harmony among the generals, and I can’t help saying that the entire agreement of his Royal Highness with Marechal Konigsegge, is a strong presumption in his favour, and against Prince Waldeck. The resolution of the StatesGeneral gave the Duke, if I remember right, at least the honorary command of the confederate army, which I fear Prince Waldeck now disputes in almost every particular. I never supposed that the Duke was to have the sole and absolute conduct of the combined army, which to be sure neither his age nor his experience can yet entitle him to; but if, as I always supposed, he was to have the command ad honores, with Marechal Konigsegge ad latus, it seems im¬ proper and unreasonable that Prince Waldeck should dis¬ pute him the mere honorary marks of command, which in more than one instance I doubt he has done of late. The ill consequence of this variance is obvious, but the remedy is not so. The only method I can think of is, to do in this case what I am for doing in every case, to have recourse to the prudence, the temper, and the abilities of the Pensionary, whose reasonable interposition in this affair, in whatever manner he may think properest, is the likeliest, if not the only way, to prevent further inconveniencies. I beg you will assure that worthy minister of my respects, and add your own weight to mine (if I have any) in recommending this affair to his most serious consideration and care. This disunion would add great weakness to an army already much too weak, and the present state of affairs is bad enough of itself, and won’t bear the additional misfortune of discord among the considerable actors. You may safely venture to assure the Pensionary that we shall do everything that is 631

possible on our parts with the Duke to calm and compose this matter, and I think I can answer for him, that from his zeal for the public service, he will do everything that decency and his rank will allow him to do. No. 843 To Dr.

William Warburton

{Add. MSS. Eger ton, i£)55, f 7) London, 20 June 1745 Sir,

Though I regret the loss of your company to Ireland, the reasons that deprive me of it are so just, and so uncom¬ mon, that they add to my esteem for you. The offices of filial duty and friendship are so seldom proof against the views of private interest, that where they do prevail over it they deserve particular distinction. I shall therefore always wish and endeavour to show you here, since I can’t in Ireland, the esteem and friendship with which I am, Your most faithful, humble servant, Chesterfield.

No. 844 A

Madame la Marquise de Monconseil1

(Maty I. xiv) A Londres, ce 24 juin V.S. 1745

II est bien flatteur pour moi, Madame, de voir que vous vous apercevez seulement de mon silence; et il me 1Madame de Monconseil, with whom Chesterfield corresponded for many years, was the daughter of M. de Cursay. Horace Walpole visited her when he was at Paris. (Letter to Conway, 12th Nov. 1774.) ‘The originals of the followingjletters were sent to me from Paris, by a noble and respectable friend of the lady to whom they were written. I was laid by her and him under the disagreeable restriction of suppressing her name,.. .that lady’s

632

i y^.5 1 est d autant plus qu’il faut necessairement que ce soit la justice que vous rendez a mes sentiments, et non ma mamere de les exprimer, qui me procure cette attention. ]e vous aurais ecrit il y a longtemps, si un nombre infini de differentes affaires m eut laisse quelques moments a mon choix;.mais ma part a la regence d’ici, et les affaires d’lrlande, ou je vais en six semaines, accablent un paresseux comme moi, qui souhaiterais de passer ma vie dans une tranquillite parfaite, et sans autres soins que ceux de la societe et de l’amitie. Vous m avez envoye, Madame, le plus parfait contraste du monde, votre lettre, et le discours de Monsieur le Presi¬ dent C-. La clarte accompagne tout ce que vous dites et Monsieur le President releve votre chiaro d’un oscuro unique. II faut que ce bon homme se soit donne la torture bien longtemps pour parvenir a ce point de perfection dans le galimatias. Dieu n’a jamais eu l’intention que Phomme pensat de la sorte, comme il n’a pas voulu non plus qu’on marchat sur les mains avec les pieds en l’air; mais, moyennant le travail, il y a des gens qui sont venus a bout de l’un et de 1’autre. Avec tout cela, ce galimatias dont on se moque chez vous, et dont on se moquerait egalement ici, traduit en italien ou en espagnol, serait l’objet de l’admiration de ces deux nations, oil depuis deux cent ans on n’a rien ecrit de plus juste, ou de plus clair. Le poeme de Voltaire1 n’est surement pas dans ce genre; il est d’une grande justesse, et je n’ai pas encore vu de gazette, dans laquelle la liste des morts et des blesses, a la bataille de Fontenoy, ait ete plus fidelement et plus simplement detaillee; je m’imagine que ce n’est que par hazard qu’une relation si exacte est en vers; et apparemment Voltaire, comme Ovide, fait des vers sans y accomplishments and personal virtues are at least equal to her birth and high rank.' (Maty, ii. xliv.) Mahon adds: ‘But on a careful comparison of these letters with other parts of Lord Chesterfield’s correspondence (especially the letter to the lady, of August 1, 1751, with that to his son of July 8, in the same year, both of which refer, though in very different terms, to Madame de Cursay’s illness) there can remain no doubt whatever as to whom these letters were addressed.’ JOn the battle of Fontenoy. III.

c

633

Jr?* Jr?*.

1 y4^

penser. Je trouve qu’il a beaucoup mieux ecrit les relations des batailles de Narva et de Pultowa en prose, puisque la prose convient beaucoup plus a l’histoire. Je vous assure que je souhaite la paix tout autant que vous; et je crois que s il ne tenait qu a nous deux de la laire, elle serait bientot faite; mais comme malheureusement elle ne depend pas absolument de nous, le moyen de l’avoir? Vous la voulez a votre mode, ce qui ne nous conviendrait nullement: nous la voulons equitable, vous la voulez avantageuse, de sorte que je crains qu’elle ne soit plus eloignee que jamais. Nous ne cherchons que la liberte, et la surete de l’Europe, vous n’y cherchez que votre despotisme; comment done s’accorder? Laissez seulement a notre Reine1 ce qui lui appartient, et que vous lui avez garanti, et ne demandez pas pour la votre,2 ce qui ne lui appartient nullement, et alors on pourrait s’accommoder. Me serait-il permis, Madame, d’abuser de votre amitie, et de vous consulter, de vous employer, et de vous ennuyer, sur une affaire qui m’interesse tres sensiblement? II me semble que vous me repondez que oui; je vais done au fait; le voici. J’ai un gar$on, qui a cette heure a treize ans; je vous avouerai naturellement qu’il n’est pas legitime, mais sa mere est une personne bien nee, et qui a eu des bontes pour moi que je ne meritais pas. Pour le gar$on, peut-etre est-ce prevention, mais je le trouve aimable; e’est une jolie figure, il a beaucoup de vivacite, et je crois de l’esprit pour son age. Il parle fran^ais parfaitement, il sait beaucoup de latin et de grec, et il a l’histoire ancienne et moderne au bout des doigts. Il est a present a l’ecole, ou je compte de le tenir jusqu’au mois de mai qui vient: mais comme aux ecoles ici, et meme il faut ajouter, dans ce pays ici, on ne songe pas a former les mceurs ou les manieres des jeunes gens, et qu’ils sont presque tous nigauds, gauches et impolis, enfin tels que vous les voyez quand ils viennent a Paris a l’age de vingt ou vingt-et-un ans, je ne veux pas que mon 'Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary.

634

2 The Queen of Spain.

lj^.5 gar^on reste assez ici pour prendre ce mauvais pli, dont on ne se defait guere, des qu il est une fois pris. C’est pourquoi quand il aura quatorze ans, je compte de l’envoyer a Paris, et le mettre en pension en quelque bonne maison bourgeoise; mais comme il sera alors tres jeune, et qu’il n’aura pas a beaucoup pres fini les etudes necessaires, j’enverrai avec lui un Anglais1 d une erudition consommee, qui continuera et augmentera son latin et son grec, et qui lui enseignera en meme temps sa logique, sa rhetorique, et un peu de philo¬ sophic. Ce savant en sera le maitre absolu, dans la maison, et toutes les matineesj mais comme il ne sera guere propre a lui donner des manieres, ou si vous le voulez le ton de la bonne compagnie, chose pourtant tres necessaire, et peutetre aussi utile que tout le grec et le latin de Monsieur \ adius,2 ne pourrais-je pas trouver a Paris quelque homme, ou quelque Abbe, qui (moyennant de l’argent que je lui donnerais volontiers) se chargerait du soin du gar£on depuis quatre heures l’apres-midi; qui le menerait aux comedies, aux operas, et meme chez vous, si vous vouliez bien lui en accorder la permission? Comme j’aime infiniment cet enfant, et que je me pique d’en faire quelque chose de bon, puisque je crois que l’etoffe y est, mon idee est de reunir en sa personne ce que jusqu’ici je n’ai jamais trouve en la meme personne; je veux dire, ce qu’il y a de meilleur des deux nations. C’est pourquoi je lui destine son pedant anglais, qui est d’ailleurs homme d’esprit, pour l’erudition solide que je lui voudrais, et son precepteur fran$ais des apres-diners, pour lui donner, avec le secours des compagnies ou il pourra le mener, cette tournure aisee, ces manieres, ces agrements, que surement on ne trouve qu’en France. Vous ayant ainsi explique mon idee, ayez la bonte de me dire, Madame, si vous croyez qu’il y ait moyen de la remplir, et de m’indiquer comment. Pourriez-vous trouver un tel homme, sur lequel on pourrait absolument se reposer? 1The Rev. Walter Harte. (See Chesterfield’s Letter to his Son, 4 Oct. 1746.) 2One of the characters in Moliere’s Les Femmes Savantes.

635

Voudriez-vous avoir aussi la bonte de vous informer de quelque bonne maison bourgeoise, ou il y aurait une famille honnete, pour l’y placer? Et, si j’ose le demander, voudriezvous bien lui permettre d’etre quelquefois votre page chez vous le soir, pour donner les cartes, le cafe, et les chaises? En ce cas la, ce serait bien sa meilleure ecole, mais je n ose pas seulement penser. Comme sa naissance pourrait lui nuire chez de certaines gens, je crois qu’il vaut mieux ne la pas declarer, et le donner pour mon neveu, selon 1 exemple des Cardinaux; en cela aussi vous me dirigerez. Vous voyez bien, Madame, et par la longueur et par le contenu de cette lettre, a quel point je compte sur votre amitie, ou pour mieux dire, a quel point j’en abuse; mais, convaincu comme j’en suis, les excuses seraient deplacees, et si malheureusement je m’y trompais, les excuses ne me serviraient de rien, je ne vous en fais done point, et je vous donne le bon soir. No. 845 To

Baron Torck

,

(XIXth Century Sept. 1912, p. S43)

,

A Londres ce 24 juin V.S.

[1745]

Le coup vient de manquer ou nous le croyions le plus sur. Les forces combinees de l’Autriche et de la Saxe destinees pour l’objet favori,1 et par consequent les meilleures, sont battues,2 mais battues dans les formes par l’armee Prussienne, inferieure, disait-on, en nombre et en discipline, et composee de gens forces, et qui n’attendaient que le moment pour deserter. L’Electeur de Baviere ne veut nous vendre son secours qu’a un prix auquel il est impossible de l’acheter; et celui de Saxe intimide en dernier lieu, et toujours faux comme un Presumably that of regaining Silesia from Frederick. *This refers to the battle of Hohenfriedberg, fought on 5 th June.

636

Jr?^Jr^ IJ45

vieux jeton, traine surement quelque chose avec la France. La Russie dit tout net qu’elle ne veut pas agir directement contre le Roi de Prusse; mais a la verite moyennant des subsides enormes, nous offre des troupes pour la Flandre ou pour le bas Rhin, qui pourraient peut-etre arriver dans un an d’ici. Je ne dis rien de la Flandre, ou notre armee n’est precisement que ce qu’il faut pour etre un temoin peu accredite des conquetes que la France jugera a propos d’y faire. Voici au vrai notre situation. Bref, je crois que la neutrality du Roi de Prusse a present, vaut bien la garantie des puissances maritimes pour le traite de Breslau; et apres tout ce que nous avons fait pour la Reine d’Hongrie, il me semble que nous sommes en droit de 1 exiger d’elle, pour son salut aussi bien que pour le notre. Mais tout ceci entre nous. Pour la paix, je la tiens absolument et egalement necessaire pour vous et pour nous. . .. Or je ne vois aucune maniere de porter la France a une paix raisonnable, qu’en lui montrant par cet accommodement avec la Prusse, une egalite ou meme une superiority de forces. No. 846 To

the Earl

of Harrington

(S.P. Ireland, 40 j) HOLOGRAPH

London, 28 June O.S. 174J

My Lord,

I acknowledge the honour of your Lordship’s last, and his Majesty’s goodness in approving of my recommenda¬ tions. I send your Lordship by this post, in form of office, several papers and applications to be laid before the King, which, according to the custom you have indulged me in, I think necessary to explain a little more to your Lordship in this less formal manner.

637

To the two reports of the Lords Justices of Ireland and the Board of General Officers, the one for and the other against General Irwin, I have ordered the several pieces re¬ ferred to in those reports to be annexed, in case his Majesty should have a mind to look into any particular fact. Possibly there is some partiality in each of the reports. As to the three general officers, Parker, Wentworth and Bragge who have all applied for the regiment of Horse, late Cobham’s, his Majesty knows so well their several pre¬ tensions that I will add nothing upon that subject, much less presume to say anything of my own in favour of any one of them. Mr. Wentworth who is here applied to me him¬ self; Mr. Bragge through the Duke of Dorset, and Mr. Parker by memorial. As to the two companies in General Irwin’s regiment the one proposed to be purchased by his son who is now a lieutenant, and the other by Cornet Carter of Molesworth’s; in my humble opinion it seems reasonable to let young Irwin, who is really a very pretty young fellow, purchase a company in his father’s regiment, since his Majesty did not think proper to let his father resign his own to him. And I am informed that the captain whose company he proposes having is much better out of the service than in it; the promotions proposed in consequence of this are regular; I am utterly unconcerned in them, and am acquainted with no one of the persons. The promotion of Cornet Carter to a company, as it is irregular, and yet as I make it my most earnest request to his Majesty, I beg leave to trouble your Lordship with the whole truth. He is son to Mr. Carter, Master of the Rolls in Ireland, who is the leading person in the Parliament there, has very great influence over the Speaker, whose party con¬ stitutes the great majority in that house. He looks upon this request as a reasonable one, presses it very strongly, and would be very much dissatisfied if disappointed. It is there¬ fore singly for his Majesty’s service in Ireland that I take 638

JrV*

IJ4S

the liberty to recommend this affair so earnestly, for I am utterly a stranger to Mr. Carter and his son, but have heard a very good character of the young man. If his Majesty should be graciously pleased to agree to these two promo¬ tions, it seems but reasonable that young Irwin’s commission should be signed the day before Carter’s. The memorial of General Otway’s is in general for some mark of his Majesty’s favour; he pressed me to send it, and said he was sure of your Lordship’s recommendation. The person proposed to fill up the vacant lieutenancy in Battereau’s is recommended by the colonel himself, and Edmond Turner is the person I would humbly recommend to come in as youngest ensign. I took the liberty of recom¬ mending him before, and acquainting your Lordship with the true reason. His family is better known to you than to me, and was always strongly in your interest at Derby. I ask pardon for troubling your Lordship with these long details, but it proceeds from a principle, which, as I am sure your Lordship will approve of, I flatter myself you will excuse the effects of; I mean the principle of laying before his Majesty the only true and real motives of whatever I do in the situation in which I am so undeservedly placed. I am with the greatest truth, etc. No. 847 To

Edward Weston

(Hist. MSS. Comm. Report 14, Part IX, App. 116. Trevor Papers) London,

28

June [0.d\] 1745

Prince Waldeck has of late behaved himself very well to the Duke, who seems well satisfied, and I daresay will omit nothing on his part to keep things well. I believe this is owing to some proper hint the Pensionary gave him. Our generals at least should agree, for I fear our troops

639

don’t, which though not to be wondered at, is to be lamented, as it certainly weakens an army already much too weak. I must tell you too in confidence what I am very sorry I can tell you with so much truth, that the represen¬ tations of our English army to their friends and relations here, of the conduct of the Dutch in the late battle, joined to the ill defence of both town and citadel of Tournay, have excited various passions here against the Republic. One hears of cowardice, treachery, not fulfilling engagements; nay many are absurd enough to accuse the government itself of underhand dealings with France, notwithstanding the men they lose, and the money they spend. They ask where are the 40,000 men they were to have in the field, where their twenty ships, and the most favourable con¬ clusion drawn from all these premises is that at best then, they are a very useless ally. This is the present general dis¬ position of the public, and all we can say (especially I) to the contrary has no weight. I am looked upon as a Dutch¬ man, and both suspected and blamed as such. Indeed, con¬ sidering all the circumstances of the present situation of affairs, I see no salvation but in getting out of it, tant bien que mal, by negotiation; and am therefore very glad of a certain late overture you know of, which I have endeavoured to have thrown into yours and the Pensionary’s hands at the Hague, as much the properest, or rather the only proper ones to conduct it well. And I hope and believe that pro¬ posal will be agreed to at Hanover. As I am convinced that the jealousy the French entertain of Antimac has given occasion to this overture,1 I am as much convinced that we should talk to Antimac at the same time and conclude with him first, if that can be done, as I have reason to think it might, upon the foot of the treaty of Breslau. I am sensible how disagreeable this will be at Vienna, Dresden, and elsewhere, but at the same time I am as sensible how neces¬ sary it is for us. Will not the maritime powers have much ^ee note to letter to Weston, 6th July.

640

IJ4$ better terms from France after one hundred thousand victorious troops are taken out of that scale than before, and consequently when three or fourscore thousand Austrians are at liberty to act against France only? The proposition is too clear to dwell upon especially with you, who know so well the present state of affairs. It is gone to Hanover strongly recommended and enforced from hence; how it will be received there I am curious to learn. I know how I would receive it were I myself a Hanoverian. No.

848.

To

Lord Harrington

London, 3 July O.S. 1745 Holograph. Major Johnson, governor of Charlemont. Re¬

muneration of the post of Muster Master General, now held by Lord Tullamore. {S.P. Ireland. 408)

No.

849.

To

Lord Harrington

London, 6 July O.S. 1745 Holograph. Admitting to blunders in making out his ordinary

and extraordinary expenses during his embassy to the Hague. (S.P. Ireland. 408)

No. 850 To

Edward Weston

(Hist. MSS. Comm. Report 14, Part IX, App. ny. Trevor Papers') London, 6 July [OA.] 1745

I look upon Flanders now as gone, and whatever else the French have a mind to, as going. Where then are we? What will our friend Mr. Nelson say to us?1 I fear he will JAt this period the French approached England to engage in secret negotiations, through a M. Bussy, disguised under the name of Nelson. Antimac, from AntiMachiavel, meaning its author, Frederick the Great.

64I

think himself in a situation to dictate rather than propose. The only way therefore in my opinion to converse with him upon equal terms is first to whisper and agree with Antimac. In which case, and in which case alone, we might either make such a diversion in Germany as may ease us in the Barrier, or receive such a reinforcement in the Barrier as may at least preserve what is left. I am therefore surprised to find that the Pensionary could hesitate which of the two negotiations should take place, and not immediately deter¬ mine to talk first to Antimac. I think it very right as you do, to keep both going on, but I think it very necessary to conclude with Antimac first. The concessions to him are only du plus au moins between him and the House of Austria, in which the maritime powers are not so essen¬ tially concerned, as in the fate of the Netherlands. Whereas the concessions necessary to be made to France, while Prussia continues in its alliance, must all be made at the ex¬ pense of the solid interests of the maritime powers. I con¬ fess I see no salvation but in this method; though I see at the same time all the difficulties that attend it from various quarters especially one. The universal despair here of any one favourable event in war, the burden of carrying it on most sorely felt, and the general suspicion of the objects of all that expense, make it impossible to go on any longer in this way. The notions that prevail here with regard to the Dutch (notwithstanding all I can say to the contrary) are so extra¬ ordinary that they are not allowed to have almost any army, or to be at any expense at all. I could wish therefore, if you could get it, that you would send me a state of their whole military establishment. I mean an account of all their regiments, the numbers of each regiment, and where each regiment is employed. And pray add, if you can, the whole expense of the Republic for this year: that Mr. Pelham may be armed against the various attacks which I foresee will be made upon him in the next session.

642

We expect every hour with a melancholy impatience more ill news from Flanders, and, in the meantime, are doing all we can to put Ostend in a situation of holding out. No. 851 To Sir Thomas Robinson {Add. MSS. 23,820, f. 367) [holograph]

London, 9 July O.S. 1745

Sir, I received the favour of your letter of the 19th June N.S. with all the satisfaction that such expressions of friend¬ ship and esteem can give to one who has the same senti¬ ments for the person from whom he receives them, however undeservedly. Laudari a laudato viro was always reckoned a pardonable piece of vanity, and by that rule I am sure my vanity could not be better flattered, nor less blameable. I know Dr. Cornabe a little personally, and have always heard him very well spoke of; but your recommendation alone is sufficient to make me impatient to do him any service I can, and I wish I had a prospect of serving him sooner: but I must tell you, what you will easily conceive to be my case, that I lie under many previous engagements to some clergymen from old and long acquaintance, and to others from the early importunity of their solicitations, and the weight of their patrons. I can therefore only promise you that I will not forget Dr. Cornabe, when my present engage¬ ments set me at liberty to show him the weight your recom¬ mendation, independently of his own merit, will always have with me. We wait here with impatience for some good news from the Rhine; from Flanders we can expect none; from Bo¬ hemia we rather wish than hope some; and from Italy we have yet no little prelude to teach us what to expect. Our cordial (and indeed we want one) must come from the

643

Jr?h

l J4$

Rhine. We have had several reports of advantages gained over the Prince of Conti, but hitherto they have all proved groundless. I cannot help suspecting the Court of Dresden, which is as apt to Gallicize as ever Pythia was to Phillipize; and distress added to coquetry has made many a whore of women naturally as virtuous at least as that Court. This is certainly a period big with great and decisive events; a few weeks more must necessarily draw up the curtain, till when all speculations are vain. I’ll trouble you with no more of mine, which I own give me no great pleasure; I have much more in assuring you of one plain simple truth, which is that I am with the most perfect esteem and regard, Sir, etc. No. 852 To Edward Weston {Hist. MSS. Comm. Report 14, Part IX, App. 118. Trevor Papers') London, 9 July [O.5.] 1745

I received in due time your very private letter of the 13th N.S. and communicated it to Mr. Pelham, who writes to you by this post. To which letter I refer myself with regard to the Cologne affair, and will only say that after bribing that Elector’s ministers to influence him to take our money, it is a little hard that we must afterwards bribe him himself into it; I take it to be a trick of Mr. Champigny’s in order to go snacks with his master, in a sum which he will say he procured him unexpectedly, and by his own dexterity.

I never in my life saw the public in a worse humour than at present, and I am sorry to tell you that the Dutch and your humble servant are the two principal objects of it. Many are absurd enough to think, as well as say, that the Dutch have an underhand dealing with France, to destroy 644

our trade. In support of this incomparable opinion, they urge the behaviour of their troops at the battle, the shame¬ ful defence of their towns, and their subsequent lenity to the delinquents. In this case I am supposed only to have been the gudgeon, and not to have had penetration enough to discover the collusion. Others say that the Dutch have made no great expense this year, have few troops, and com¬ plain of poverty as misers, not as poor. That in order to have the reputation of bringing them to some stipulations, I agreed to any: and even secretly acquiesced that even those should not be executed, as for example, the 39,000 men stipulated by the Resultat, are, say they, reduced to 22,000. They inquire where the remainder is, and what is become of their pretended establishment of 90,000 men. You easily guess my answer to these reasonings, but you as easily guess too that they must be unsatisfactory to people in such dispositions. As to the war itself, those who from the beginning were against it, now call themselves prophets from the ill success of it which they say they foretold, and those who were the authors and the champions of the war, impute the ill success to the ill conduct of it. But the bulk, I may say eight in ten of the whole nation, feel both the burden and the misfortunes of it, and call for almost any end to be put to it. And some, though God knows what, end must be put to it, for what from the ill success and ex¬ pense of it abroad, and from what the ill humour, the dis¬ tractions, the burdens, and the real poverty at home, I plainly see it will be impossible to carry it on another year. And there is but one way left in my mind to end it, either with common decency or with common safety. I need not tell you that I mean a previous accommodation with Antimac, without which I cannot suppose that Nelson after the rapidity of his successes, and in the present impossibility of our increasing our forces to any degree of equality, will grant us such terms, as we can without the utmost infamy and danger accept. The Dresden proposal concerning the

645

Great Duke I consider only as an artifice to catch the King of Poland, and I think France may very possibly succeed in it, fait comme il est; but I can never conceive that merely for the sake of disappointing the Great Duke, or if you will, to hinder the Imperial dignity from returning this time to the House of Austria, France would give up its allies, and the solid fruits of its successes. We are so convinced here of the absolute necessity of this previous accommodation with Antimac, that you see in what manner we press it at Han¬ over; where, though may be it is not quite so palatable, I am convinced in my conscience, that it is full as necessary as here. If the Pensionary is of our opinion, as I can’t help thinking he is, the knowledge of that at Hanover would have great weight, and help our efforts extremely; as on the other hand any doubts or hesitation on his part, if known there, would recoil upon us with double force. No. 853. To -? 16 July O.S. 1745 Referring to a commission in Irwin’s regiment which he has obtained for his correspondent’s son. (Morrison Coll, and Series. III. 192) No. 854. To Lord Harrington London, 19 July O.S. 1745 Holograph. General Irwin exonerated by a board of General Officers. Army promotions. Recommends the Dublin Society (encouraged by his predecessor, the Duke of Devonshire) for H.M.’s bounty, on the authority of the Archbishop of Dublin. (S.P. Ireland. 408)

646

4,rVi*. Z ^ 4’ 5 ^4^*. No. 855 To Robert Trevor {Hist. MSS. Comm. Report 14, Part IX, App. 120. Trevor Papers') London, 19 July [O.Y] 1745

The ill humour here against our friends the Dutch, was . . . strong enough of all conscience before, but now it exceeds all bounds. The refusals of the governors of L’Ecluse and Lilloe,1 bad enough, to be sure, of themselves, but aggravated by all the letters from our army, down from the Duke to the lowest ensign; the behaviour of the Dutch regiments in the affair of Melle, and the accepting of his Most Christian Majesty’s favourable distinction of them by erecting posts to mark out their boundaries; all these things together, I say, convince nine in ten of this nation that treachery is the single motive of this conduct, and not im¬ potence, parsimony, or ill-government. The obvious con¬ sequence of this persuasion, erroneous I confess, but universally entertained, is the withdrawing of all trust and confidence as to any engagements now subsisting, or that may subsist with the Republic. I have even some consider¬ able friends here who suspect that a party in Holland, enemies equally to the Pensionary and to England, have found means in secret concert with France to bring all these things about, unknown to the Pensionary. This I do not believe neither, for such transactions could never have been carried on without the Pensionary’s dis¬ covering some of them. But be all these things as they will, it is evidently impossible for us to co-operate in a war any longer, and consequently it is as evidently necessary for us to co-operate in a peace. You have seen by letters that have 1Sluys, and Lillo, a Dutch fort at the mouth of the Scheldt, both in the territory ceded to the Dutch by the Treaty of Westphalia. Dutch minor authorities were always making difficulties. These two places were the first to be attacked and taken by the French in 1747.

647

Jr?}

passed through your hands, the preference given somewhere to a previous treaty with France in the chimerical hopes of afterwards getting the long desired piece of the Russian bear’s skin. And you have seen all the arts used from that quarter to defeat the Prussian negotiation, which it was not thought proper or prudent openly and flatly to reject. Notwithstanding which, you will see by the Duke of New¬ castle’s letter of this post, that we remain firm in advising (not to say insisting upon) the previous conclusion of a treaty with Prussia, not thinking it necessary to sacrifice the real interests of the maritime powers to the views of a certain country, which must necessarily be the case, if we were first to conclude with France, before Prussia were detached. Can it be supposed that after these rapid advan¬ tages in Flanders, and in the present unpromising situation of affairs everywhere, that France while connected with Prussia will give us such good terms of peace, as if we were to negotiate with them after they had lost the assistance of one hundred thousand men? Or can it be imagined by the most sanguine German, that when once the maritime powers shall have concluded a peace with France, they will continue to supply the Queen of Hungary with men or money against Prussia, with whom they are not at war? So that in truth the hopes of some people are as chimeri¬ cal with regard to themselves as prejudicial to us. The Pensionary’s expressions have been strangely warped and tortured to produce an opinion very contrary I am sure to his own, only to authorise other people’s. And as he seems to agree entirely in opinion with us, the more clearly and explicitly that opinion of his is known in a certain place, the more ours will be strengthened, and the less handle there will be left to combat it. Moreover, supposing the prefer¬ ence were to be given to the French negotiation, I don’t perceive that they seem so willing to engage in it; for Mr. Nelson is very silent; nor does it appear to us that the French would abandon Prussia, but rather take him along 648

with them in the negotiation for fear he should negotiate without them. So that were I to reason, even as a Hano¬ verian, in the present melancholy situation of affairs, I should not balance one moment in giving the preference to the Prussian affair if I could get it, I mean in order to have something a better peace with France afterwards, for I own I am not sanguine enough to think that, could we bring the King of Prussia to a neutrality, which is the most that can be hoped for, we could, or ought to, continue the war against France in the circumstances we and the Dutch are in. It appears plainly, at least to me, that we have nothing to hope for from Bavaria or Cologne, and I greatly suspect Saxony. With what are we to carry on a war then against France? No. 856 To {Eng. Hist. Review, 1889, IV, 7 5 2) London, 23 July 1745

Mr. Liddel1 showed me your letter by the last post to him, and gave me the enclosed abstract of the Laws of Ireland concerning foreign Protestants, etc. It was the more welcome as I had been some time thinking of the methods of inviting a number of French Protestants to settle in Ireland. That an increase of people, though with¬ out shoes and stockings, if they have but legs and arms, is a great advantage to any nation that is not already over¬ stocked, which is by no means the case of Ireland at present, I take to be an uncontroverted proposition: and that such an increase by Protestants would be particularly advan¬ tageous to Ireland, considering the great number of Papists there, is, I think, as plain a proposition as the former. From these two principles the conclusion is plain, that such an increase of Protestants should be got if possible. Now I 1His secretary as Viceroy. III. D

649

will tell you that it is very possible; and the only difficulty is with regard to the manner of receiving and establishing them. I have a proposal by me from a great number of French Protestants in the Cevennes and Vivarais, who, from long indulgence and connivance during the adminis¬ tration of Cardinal Fleury, grew I believe a little too flippant in the public exercise of their religion, met in great numbers, sung psalms aloud, and have brought a kind of a persecution upon themselves. Of these, who by the way are a hardy laborious kind of people, I can have what numbers I please in Ireland, upon assuring them of a proper establishment and provision there. Many of them I believe are very poor, some would bring means along with them; but in short at the worst all would bring themselves, which I take to be riches. I find the laws in Ireland as they now stand are favourable to them; but that alone, you are sensible, is not sufficient ground for anybody to invite members, or for members to come upon. A settlement, and the nature of that settlement, must first be shown them. It is impossible for me at this distance to point out to myself or others any method to be pursued; nor would I at present if I could. Lord-lieutenants are suspected persons, their proposals have fcenum in cornu, and the answer to any schemes that should take their rise from them, though singly meant for the public good, would be timeo Danaos et dona ferentes. I have therefore given no answer to my Protestant undertaker, but that I would consider of it in Ireland, and then let him know what could, or could not be done. A spirit of party in Queen Anne’s time defeated all the advantages that would have arisen to the public from the establishment of the Palatines here. The same absurd spirit repealed the Act of General Naturalisation soon after, and it now costs a foreigner above a hundred pounds to be naturalised. Moreover, most minds are formed rather to see the little local and partial inconveniencies than the great general good of an extensive plan. Some of these motives,

65o

or possibly all of them, may render a proposal of this nature not only impracticable but unpopular in Ireland, especially coming from me; in either of which cases I have done with it. I leave it in your hands at present, and I think I can’t leave it in abler, to make what use you will or can of this idea. If it is generally liked in Ireland, and called for, I am not only ready to co-operate but contribute, and the people shall be forthcoming. If not, I shall rest content with my good intentions for that kingdom, which surely wants, and in my opinion might make, great improvements; getting people from abroad, and keeping their own money at home, would be two very considerable ones, and are both in their own power. I heartily wish my administration might be an era of some national benefit: whoever can sug¬ gest any will be welcome, whoever can bring it to bear will be still welcomer to, etc. No. 857 A Madame la Marquise de Monconseil {Maty I. xv) A Londres, ce 26 juillet V.S. 1745

II n’y a que vous, Madame, qui aurait pu non seulement pardonner mon indiscretion, mais meme vous y preter. Vous entrez dans mes petits details comme s’ils vous etaient personnels, et vous recherchez des soins, dont les amis vulgaires trouveraient bien moyen de s’excuser, sans pourtant blesser les apparences de l’amitie. J’y suis d’autant plus sensible, que je suis persuade que la veritable amitie se dis¬ tingue plus dans les petites choses que dans les grandes. On n’ose pas manquer aux grands devoirs de l’amitie, on y perdrait trop du cote de la reputation, mais aussi on les remplit souvent plus par interet, que par sentiment, au lieu qu’il y a mille pretextes honnetes pour eviter les petites attentions, qui seraient tres embarrassantes et incommodes,

651

*£5^

Z J^5

>s>'4v

si le sentiment ne leur donnait meme des charmes. Je vous avoue que mon affection, ou si vous le voulez, ma faiblesse pour ce gar$on, fait que tout ce qui lui arrive m’est infiniment plus sensible que tout ce qui me pourrait arriver a moi-meme, et me fera toujours envisager vos moindres bontes pour lui, comme les marques les plus solides et les plus flatteuses de votre amitie pour moi. Par rapport a son arrivee a Paris, cela depend surement, comme vous dites, de la paix, et si elle ne se fait pas dans un an d’ici, il faudra songer a le placer ailleurs en attendant; et en ce cas la je songe a Geneve; mais si la paix se fait avant ce temps la, ce que par mille autres raisons je souhaite, je tiens qu’il n’y a que Paris pour le bien former. Pour la maison oil vous comptez de le placer en pension, je m’en remets entierement a vous, et cela ne sera pas difficile; mais je con^is bien les difficultes que vous me montrez au sujet du polisseur. Je ne m’obstine nullement ni a un abbe, ni a un savant; je demande seulement un homme d’esprit, soit lalque, soit ecclesiastique, qui eut du monde, et qui etant presentable lui-meme, pourrait presenter le gargon dans les bonnes compagnies, et lui donner le ton des honnetes gens. Je serais bien aise aussi qu’il voulut lire avec lui l’histoire moderne, et les ouvrages d’esprit, pour en meme temps l’instruire des faits, et lui former le gout. Son anglais, qui sera avec lui, est un magazin d’erudition grecque et latine, et de ce cote la ne deplaira pas a l’abbe Sallier; mais il ne pourra jamais l’introduire, ni meme l’accompagner chez les gens du monde. A son age il est impossible qu’il y aille seul, surtout aux operas et aux comedies, ou neanmoins il est bon qu’il aille quelquefois. Si un tel homme est a avoir, vous en jugerez mieux que personne, et je m’en rapporte en toute surete a votre choix. J’espere qu’il ne se melera pas de lui parler au sujet de la religion, puisque ce serait ruiner le gargon dans ce monde ici, et surement sans dedommagement dans l’autre. Je suis entierement de votre avis que sa naissance soit absolument cachee, et que dans cette vue, il

652

vaut mieux que je passe pour un parent plus eloigne, et son tuteur, que pour son oncle, mais pourtant je ne voudrais pas en imposer a Monsieur de M[onconseil?] que j’honore trop pour cela, et j’aimerais mieux renoncer a tous les avantages qui resulteraient au gar^on d’etre le galopin de Monsieur son fils que d’en profiter par abus. J’ai ordonne a mon ecuyer, qui se connait parfaitement en chevaux, d’en chercher un par toute 1 Angleterre, qui reponde autant qu’il est possible aux besoins de Monsieur de Nevers.1 Si quelque chose pouvait ajouter du poids a vos ordres aupres de moi, ce serait le plaisir de pouvoir etre utile dans la moindre chose a une personne du merite reconnu de Monsieur de Nevers. J ai mille fois regrette de n’avoir pas eu l’honneur et le plaisir de 1 avoir connu personnellement pendant mon petit sejour a Paris; je me ferai surement une affaire de reussir dans sa commission, mais pour trouver un cheval precisement tel qu il le demande, je crains qu’il faudra le chercher avec une lanterne en plein jour, comme le philosophe cherchait un homme [honnete?], je ne sais pas meme s’il ne serait pas plus facile de trouver une femme pour un autre, qu un cheval, parceque peut-etre elle est moins necessaire, et qu’on s en sert moins! Quand j’en aurai trouve un, je l’enverrai a Monsieur Wolters a Rotterdam, et vous aurez la bonte immediatement de faire dire a quelqu’un de s’annoncer au dit Wolters, pour l’homme que doit recevoir le cheval d entre ses mains des qu’il arrivera. Je pars pour l’lrlande en trois semaines, mais adressez-moi les lettres dont vous voudrez bien m’honorer, a Londres, comme a l’ordinaire: elles me font trop de plaisir pour que je ne prenne pas toutes les precautions possibles pour n en pas perdre une. Adieu, Madame; je vous accable. 1Father of the Due de Nivemais.

2Enghsh agent.

Jr^. IJ45 No. 858 To [Robert Trevor?] {Hist. MSS. Comm. Report 14, Part IX, App. I2j. Trevor Papers) London, 13 August [O..S.] 1745

My journey to Ireland now draws so near that a thousand necessary though frivolous details plague me one-half of the day, and business of a more important nature, though God knows, and so do you, of a very dis¬ agreeable one, employs the rest. The situation of our affairs abroad is, in my opinion, the most melancholy and the most difficult one that I or I believe any one now alive remembers; and the situation of your friends here the most singular one that ever people in their employments found themselves in. They know they are in place but they don’t know for how long, and they know they are not in power, much less in favour, without knowing yet whether they shall ever have either. In such circumstances you won’t wonder that Mr. Pelham sent you no answer to your very important private letter till last Friday, nor that the answer was such a one as it was: your friends here after deliberation, were of opinion that it was necessary to have the Prussian affair finally decided one way or another before the other should be broached at Hanover, where they thought it might add to the unwillingness already evident enough there, to listen to any accommodation with Prussia, though surely such a previous accommodation is absolutely necessary towards obtaining a tolerable subsequent one with France. Could your plan take place, I should not only call it tolerable, but considering circumstances, a most ex¬ cellent accommodation; but we have too much reason to think, not only from the present nature of our situation, but likewise from good intelligence, that the French have no thoughts of restoring all that they have got in Flanders

654

ly^f.5 this campaign, the rapid success of which they say entitles them to raise their demands and not content themselves with what they would have accepted before the opening of it. Whether the loss of their ally, the King of Prussia, will make them more moderate, I don’t know, but I own I see nothing else that probably can. One, almost insurmount¬ able, difficulty I forsee in any negotiation with France, is our new acquisition of Cape Breton,1 which is become the darling object of the whole nation, it is ten times more so than ever Gibraltar was, and people are laying in their claims and protesting already against the restitution of it upon any account. But on the other hand I foresee the im¬ possibility of keeping it. But indeed which way can one nowr look without seeing the most discouraging difficulties? To carry on the war another year is evidently impossible, from our exhausted condition as to our finances, from the universal indisposition of the whole nation, and from the dangers to which we are exposed and but ill provided against at home in case of its continuance. Add to these reasons the general anger and distrust, however unreason¬ able, against the Dutch, which will make our future co¬ operation very lame at least, if not impracticable. To make a peace, I mean only a tolerable one, is not less difficult, and indeed must be necessarily difficult, in proportion to the incapacity in which your enemies see and know you are, to carry on the war with the least hopes of advantage. . .. In five or six days I shall leave, and without regret, this busy disagreeable scene, for one much better suited to my temper and inclinations, where the Duke of Shrewsbury said that he had business enough to hinder him from falling asleep, and not enough to hinder him from sleeping: a pleasing description to a half lazy man as I am. 1In June, Colonel Pepperell, at the head of New England troops, assisted by ships from the mother country, captured Louisburg, the capital of Cape Breton, thus controlling the entry of the St. Lawrence.

655

No. 859 To Andrew Stone, Esq.1

{Add. MSS. j2,joS,f. 129) HOLOGRAPH

Dublin, 31 August 1745

Sir,

I arrived here this day at noon after the best sea passage possible, and am now endeavouring to acknowledge the favour of your letter of the 25 th, which I received at Holyhead the moment before I embarked; but whether (stunned as I am with the noise of cannon, drums, and trumpets) I am able to write common sense you will be the best judge. I am heartily glad that at last some thing is reduced to writing, and signed between us and Prussia; the conditions are even better than I expected, and if they had been worse ought not, in my opinion, to have obstructed the great and main object. The Court of Vienna must, and will comply, if not secretly and indirectly encouraged to stand out. But should that Court (no matter from what motive) refuse to complete this work it will be more difficult, if not impos¬ sible, to give any more subsidies or assistance; for in that case the King of Prussia will not fail to publish the whole transaction,2 and from that moment it is easy to guess what will both be said and thought of the continuance of the war in Germany. As it is reported here that two or three thousand people have declared themselves and have appeared in favour of the Young Pretender in Scotland, and as it may be necessary to have more frequent and speedy accounts from thence 1 Andrew Stone, Newcastle’s secretary, is a mysterious figure who often enters into this correspondence. He seems to have had great influence with both the brothers Pelham, who when not on speaking terms with each other, would communicate through him. He appears to have been consulted in every affair of state and to write to him was the same as to write to Newcastle. Stone even took Newcastle s place as Secretary of State for a short while in 1748, accompanyine the King to Hanover in his stead. J & 2Sir Richard Lodge points out that Frederick had excellent motives for con¬ cealing it, and that Austria was much more likely to publish it. (Correspondence 61.)

656

Jr*\ Jr^ IJ4^

here than we can have by way of England, I shall next Monday send a person, well recommended to me, into that part of Scotland, who (unknown himself there) will by means we have concerted, send me authentic accounts of whatever passes there. By a letter I have just now received from Mr. Trevor, I find to my great surprise that the Pensionary is the only one of our friends in Holland who hesitates about the Prussian affair, but as I find all his friends are zealous for it I am sure he will come into it soon. Pray make my compliments to the Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Pelham. I trouble neither of them by this post, having got nothing to say to either but what both know already, that I am their faithful servant. I assure you, etc. No. 860 To Duke of Newcastle {Add. MSS. 32,yo5,f. 133) HOLOGRAPH

Dublin Castle, 2 September 1745

My Dear Lord,

By way of business in my own department I have nothing yet to trouble your Grace with, but to desire that you will send me a warrant for the Postmaster here to open letters when it may be thought necessary. Sir Marmaduke is squeamish, and won’t stir a step without a proper authorisation. He says he had such a warrant in the Duke of Devonshire’s time, and lately in the Lords Justices’; I believe it may be very necessary now. I was heartily glad to hear from Mr. Stone that something was signed; whatever may be intended, that’s a good step, and not so easily receded from as possibly may be thought. But I am really in hopes that some people are at last con¬ vinced how chimerical their views were, and how great and real their danger. If so, the affair will be soon finished.

65y

IJ45

^-s.

By letters from Scotland here, the Young Pretender’s affair seems every day to grow more serious, but as I can’t very well depend upon those accounts, I have sent a trusty smuggler to the north of Scotland for more authentic in¬ formations. He is gone to the Macdonalds, with whom he has had frequent dealings; and I am assured that I may depend upon his accounts. The little time I have been here has been employed in ceremony and noise, and I am sure I have my drums and trumpets with a vengeance; but by what little inquiries I have yet been able to make, this country appears to be in a most defenceless condition. The forts extremely out of repair, the militia in the several counties absolutely neglected, and the regular troops, as you very well know, very few. I suppose the King is arrived by this time; and I long to hear the consequences of his arrival. Whatever they may be you will find me equally in every and any situation, Your Grace’s etc.

No.

861.

To

the Duke of Newcastle

, 7 September O.S.

1745

(S.P. Ireland.

408)

September O.S.

1745

Dublin Castle

Concerning the enlisting of Irish Protestants.

No.

862.

To

the Duke of Newcastle

,

Dublin Castle

7

Enclosing the petition of an apothecary for himself and his successors to practice their art and mystery for ever. (S.P. Ireland.

408)

^

/VvT>.

No. 863 To [Robert Trevor?]1 {Hist. MSS. Comm. Report 14, Part IX, App. 131. Trevor Papers) Dublin Castle,

7

September

[O.V] 1745

My journey here and the silly forms and ceremonies I have been obliged to go through since have engrossed my whole time for near a month and made me seem negligent of all other duties. . . . An act signed is a great step. The Court of Vienna would, I daresay, have been very glad to have hindered the signing, but now that it is done I am persuaded the Austrian ministers will think twice before they refuse to come into it. The King of Prussia once neuter, and the Great Duke elected Emperor, we may talk to France upon pretty equal terms, and either carry on a practicable war or obtain a safe and tolerable peace, though I confess (considering all circumstances') I prefer the latter, and hope you will soon hear again from Mr. Nelson. I can’t think our friend the Pensionary will stand out, since the others you mention are clear; and si cela vient au fait et au prendre, I am convinced the affair will go glibly enough in the Republic. The same reasons subsist for renewing the Treaty of Breslau that subsisted for making it, strengthened by a great many other circumstances that have happened since; and it seems to me a plain proposition that we must have either a better war or a better peace with our great and natural enemy France, when we have taken the weight of 100,000 men out of her scale.... The renewal of the treaty of Breslau will likewise remove many difficulties [in London] and smooth the way through Parliament. What between the pageantry and the variety of little business of my department here, my time is so much employed that I must now abruptly conclude. 1These letters assigned to Trevor, might possibly be to Weston.

65c)

No. 864 To Duke of Newcastle {Add. MSS. 32,jo5, f. 153) private

My Lord,

, 9 September 1745

Dublin Castle

As your Grace will by this post receive some office letters from me to be laid before his Majesty, you will give me leave to trouble you, as I used to do Lord Harrington, with a letter apart to explain more particularly the contents of the office letters, and to enable your Grace to tell his Majesty the whole truth, which, wherever I am concerned, I am desirous he should know. Judge Gore is so broken with age and infirmities that his resignation is absolutely necessary; the pension he desires, which, by the way, he can’t enjoy long, is two hundred pounds a year less than what has always been granted in the like cases, which two hundred pounds I save to the establish¬ ment by giving a place of that value to one of his sons. That family is very numerous in the House of Commons, and has besides, a very good interest there, so that I think it very much for his Majesty’s service that they should be obliged in this affair. The affair of the Town Major is too trifling to mention, the post is an exceedingly small one, the person who resigns was very unfit, the person proposed to succeed him I am assured is very fit for it. As to the permission which I have humbly proposed that his Majesty should grant for the recruiting of the foot in the north of Ireland, I only propose it provisionally, and in case of an emergency; for I have not mentioned it to any one officer here, nor shall I, if his Majesty should think proper to grant it, till such emergency shall exist. But should there be an immediate occasion to recruit the army here, or to increase it by new corps, or companies, I have 660

Jr2**r* l 745 reason to be convinced that with common care, great num¬ bers of very good men, undoubted Protestants, may in a very little while be got in the northern parts of Ireland. I hope the fate which the Young Pretender will soon meet with in Scotland will discourage any attempts to disturb or invade this country; for indeed it is in a wretched state of defence; the regular troops are but few, the forts and barracks have been so long neglected that they are extremely out of repair, and taking the Papists throughout the king¬ dom they are at least four to one Protestant. I am, etc. P.S.—I had forgot to mention that the ensign in Battereau’s, who it is proposed should resign, is a very improper person in every respect to continue in the service, and indeed ought never to have been in it. I know nothing of his proposed successor, but that he is very well recom¬ mended to me by the colonel. No. 865 To

Duke

of Newcastle

{Add. MSS. holograph

32,yo5,f.

166)

\Endorsed\ received 17 September [1745]

My Dear Lord,

In the hurry I am in I can only thank you for your private letter, and lament with you in the situation of the closet. But I am sure there must be some fear there, which, resolution and steadiness elsewhere, may direct to good purposes. The Prussian affair I see is intended to be broke; but I think you cannot recede from it. And a more popular point you can neither stand nor fall upon. Adieu my dear Lord.1

Yours most truly,

iThis is the first of the really private letters from Dublin, Chesterfield having awaited Newcastle’s invitation.

66l

No. 866 To

the Duke

of Newcastle

{Add. MSS. J2,?o5, f 162) Dublin Castle, 10 September 1745

holograph

My Dear Lord,

Your Grace will make what use you please of the inclosed letter, and show it to the King or not as you shall think proper.1 I proceeded in this way with Lord Har¬ rington while the King was at Hanover, and possibly the frankness of it may sometimes help my recommendations, but of this you are the best judge. I never expected mails with half the impatience with which I now expect every mail from England. Every event both at home and abroad is now important. I trouble you with no speculations of mine beforehand, but end with this certain fact, that nobody is more faithfully your Grace’s, etc. No. 867. To the Duke of Newcastle Dublin Castle, 11 September O.S. 1745 Acknowledging letters of 5th and 6th. (Add. MSS. 32,705,/164)

No. 868 To

Duke of Newcastle

{Add. MSS. j2,po5, f ips) HOLOGRAPH

Dublin Castle, 12 September 1745

My Dear Lord,

Though I have little more time to-day than I had yesterday, yet I can t help acknowledging more particularly ‘‘This was one of the supplementary letters labelled “private,” but might be shown to the King at Newcastle’s discretion. They were almost always written by Chesterfield himself, and composed with great artfulness. They are quite different in character and tone from the really confidential letters.’ (Lodge ) This letter probably refers to that of the 9th. 6

662

Jr■