brother of his at Eton, who was subject to violent convulsions, and died of them. Lord Rockingham was extremely splenetic about his health (the consequence of bad,) and some years ago wanted to have his side opened, believing that he had an abscess there. Six weeks ago, I heard that Dr. Warren told him he could not live if he continued in business. Well! no man ever before attained twice the great object of his wishes, and enjoyed it both times for so short a season: the first time but a year-now, not four months. The death of the late Duke of Devonshire, and the want of a leader, set Lord Rockingham at the head of the Whigs, from his rank, great fortune, and fair character. Those were his pretensions and merit. His parts were by no means great: he was nervous, and mere necessity alone made him at all a speaker in Parliament; where, though he spoke good sense, neither flattery nor partiality could admire or applaud. He was rather trifling and dilatory in business than indolent. Virtues and amiability he must have possessed; for his party esteemed him highly, and his friends loved him with unalterable attachment. In the excess of faction that we have seen, he was never abused; and no man in public life, I believe, had ever fewer enemies.* His death may be more remembered than his actions would have been, and may have greater consequences than any plan of his would have had; for he countenanced a system rather than instigated it. Whoever is his successor will not be of so negative a character. This is the second prime minister I have seen die in office. I do not believe the current will glide on as smoothly as it did on Mr. Pelham's death; but that moment was very different from this! I could make divers reflections on all I have seen and known in a long lifebut I will not. Adieu! till to-morrow-not that I expect to be able to tell you more of the Administration then. If you do not hear again by Friday's post, you will conclude that nothing is settled. You have known longer interministeriums. Tuesday, after dinner. The evening comes on, and I must go out, without being able to *The following is a portion of the inscription upon the pedestal of Lord Rockingham's statue, in the mausoleum at Wentworth, from the pen of his friend Burke: "A statesman in whom constancy, fidelity, sincerity, and directness were the sole instruments of his policy. His virtues were his arts. A clear, sound, unadulterated sense, not perplexed with intricate design, or disturbed by ungoverned passion, gave consistency, dignity, and effect to all his measures. In Opposition he respected the principles of government, in Administration he provided for the liberties of the people. He employed his moments of power in realizing every thing which he had promised in a popular situation. The virtues of his public and private life were not in him of different characters. It was the same feeling, benevolent mind, that, in the internal relations of life, conciliates the unfeigned love of those who see men as they are, which made him an inflexible patriot. By his prudence and patience he brought about a party, which it was the great object of his labours to render permanent, not as an instrument of ambition, but as a living depository of principle."-ED. tell you more than I wrote last night. Because they do not know, the town has guessed many successors-as Lord Shelburne, the Dukes of Richmond, Portland, and Devonshire, and Lord Gower. The first and last may be candidates: I believe none of the Dukes are. From my late letters you may perceive that there might be still a sixth person in question, but who certainly will not be,-I mean, not successor: but you must have patience; and it is better not to be surprised, whatever you shall hear. I shall be much surprised, if nothing happens to surprise you. Adieu! LETTER CCCLXXIX. Berkeley Square, July 7, 1782. I Do not pretend to be a prophet; at least, I confess I am one of that wary sort, who take care to be very sure of what will happen before they venture to foretell. I ordered you to expect to be surprised-no very wise way of surprising! In truth, I did foresee that Lord Rockingham's death would produce a very new scene; and so it has but is it possible to give an account of what is only begining? The few real facts that have actually happened are all that one can relate with certainty. They will open wide fields of conjectures to you, and, at your distance, probably not very just ones; nor, as I affect no sagacity, shall I offer you a clue that may lead you as much out of the way. Lord Rockingham died on Monday. On Tuesday it was known amongst the Ministers, that Lord Shelburne was to succeed.* This "Within three hours," says Mr. Nicholls, "after the Marquis of Rockingham's death was known, a friend of mine called on Charles Fox. The question which naturally occurred was, Who is to succeed Lord Rockingham as First Lord of the Treasury? Mr. Fox replied, 'I think it must be the Earl of Shelburne; he is first oars, and I do not see how we can resist his claim." But Mr. Burke had afterwards sufficient influence with Mr. Fox and the other leaders of the Rocking ham party, to prevail on them to resist the appointment of the Earl. He insisted that the Duke of Portland should be sent for from Ireland, and appointed First Lord. This proposal was offensive, even to some of the Rockingham party, particularly to the Duke of Richmond; who said, that, as the Duke of Portland was provided for in Ireland, he himself had a better claim to be considered as the head of the Rockingham party. But this was not acceptable to Mr. Burke. At a meeting held soon after at Earl Fitzwilliam's, Mr. Burke used such coarse language respecting the Earl of Shelburne, that intercourse, even in appearance friendly, could no longer exist between the parties." Recollections, p. 49. Mr. Prior, however, contradicts the assertion, that the resignations which immediately followed, arose from the irritation of Mr. Burke: "On the contrary," he says, "the suggestion came from Mr. Fox, whose importance, from the situation he held, was more directly affected. It is undoubtedly true, that both, while they disagreed with Lord Shelburne on some public points, entertained a strong personal dislike to the man; he, in return, is said to have felt quite as cordial an aversion to them, (particularly to Mr. Burke,) from a jealousy of being constantly outworked and outshone by them in Parliament, added to their greater estimation in popular opinion, and standing in the midst of his path to power." Life of Burke, p. 268.—Ed. was not unforeseen; but did not please those the better who were disposed to dislike it. Lord John Cavendish, who had most unwillingly been dragged into the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, declared, that nothing should make him retain it under any other man than his late friend, for whose sake he had undertaken it. Mr. Fox more directly protested against Lord Shelburne. The Duke of Richmond and General Conway endeavoured to prevent disunion in the new system, and on Wednesday night did not despair; but on Thursday, at Court, Mr. Fox arrived, took Lord Shelburne aside, asked him abruptly, if he was to be First Lord of the Treasury; and, being answered in the affirmative, said, "then, my Lord, I shall resign"-went into the Closet, and left the Seals, which he had brought in his pocket, with the King. The schism begun, has gone farther. Every body knew that the Rockingham and Shelburne squadrons, who had never been cordial even in opposition, had with great difficulty been brought to coalesce in the formation of the Administration; and some knew, that their conjunction had not proceeded with much amity. In the first moment, it was still hoped by moderate men that the breach-I mean the present-would not go far; as many disapprove Mr. Fox's precipitation.* But he and Lord John had not taken their part with indifference. A meeting of the late Marquis's friends was held yesterday at Lord Fitzwilliam's-the nephew or Octavius of the late Cæsar, but no more likely to be an Augustus, than the Marquis was a Julius. After a debate of six hours the whole junto, except the Duke of In the House of Commons, on the 9th of July, Mr. Fox stated, that the cause of his resignation was a difference of opinion upon some essential points between him and those who remained in his Majesty's councils. General Conway, after insinuating that disappointment in a contest for power was the real cause of Mr. Fox's resignation, positively declared that, in his judgment, there was no disagreement in the Cabinet sufficient to justify Mr. Fox in withdrawing himself from it. This declaration from one of the Ministers made it necessary for Mr. Fox to rise again. He acknowledged that the appointment of Lord Shelburne to be First Lord of the Treasury, was one reason which induced him to retire. Since that promo tion, he said, the Administration was no longer that which the Parliament and the nation had brought in; that he had not the least confidence in the present Administration, and that he had, as was his duty, resigned: he did not affect such a stoic indifference for what all the rest of the world earnestly aspired to, as to pretend that he had, without regret, resigned high distinctions of fortune, power, honour, and glory; but he did not hesitate a moment to give up all these advantages, rather than submit to the treachery and infamy of continuing in office, and patronizing by his name an Administration and its measures, which, in his conscience, he disapproved and believed dangerous to the country. Mr. Burke exclaimed, with uncommon warmth, that he had no confidence in the Administration, constituted as it now was; that he saw in them, indeed, 'satis eloquentiæ, sed sapientiæ parum ;' and that in his soul he believed the government was more safely entrusted to the hands of the late Ministry. Mr. Pitt answered them in severe terms; said that their great talents ought to be considered at that time as public property; and that to withhold their assistance from the public when it stood so much in need of them was a species of treachery. He ascribed their resignation to a dislike of men, and not of measures; to private pique, and not to public grounds. See Life of Pitt, vol. i. p. 83, and Life of Romilly, vol. i. p. 237.-ED. Richmond, resolved to secede; but, by whole junto, you must not understand all who have been adherents to Lord Rockingham. Some who had been, would not attend this novel institution of hereditary right, nor understand why the Government is to be permanent in two or three great families, like the Hebrew priesthood in one tribe; General Conway, you may be sure, was not of that assembly. He never would attach himself to either or any faction; and, though they may change their note, the dissidents themselves yet allow that they have no claim to his allegiance, and that he always acts by the rule of right-they forget that that law ought to supersede the ties of party. Mr. Fox's proclamation of his pretensions-which I allow are very good, if qualifications gave a right of succession, (which he did not indeed directly claim, naming the Duke of Portland for successor to Lord Rockingham, who certainly would not degenerate if insufficience proved the true heir,)-has called forth a rival, who it was foreseen, must become so sooner or later. Don't you anticipate me, and cry out "What! Mr. William Pitt?" Yes! he is to be Secretary of State-at two and twenty-that is some glory!* What else is to be, I am sure I cannot tell you. Perhaps by Tuesday night more may be settled; for, as the Parliament is to rise on Wednesday, the posts that may be vacant will be filled up, for the new writs to issue. Guesses I do not name, not to be obliged to contradict them. The new Opposition will be weak in numbers, and have none at all but dignified cyphers in the House of Lords. Lord Rockinham's party was not numerous, though the strongest of any single faction; and it loses its real chief, the Duke of Richmond, and a few more. Fox and Burke are its only efficient men. There are other points on which you might wish to question me; but I do not choose to write more than might be in the newspapers, but with this difference, that I relate nothing but facts that have entity. * Lord Shelburne having been promoted to the head of the Treasury, and Mr. Fox and Lord John Cavendish having resigned their respective situations, Mr. Thomas Townsend and Lord Grantham were made Secretaries of State, and Mr. Pitt Chancellor of the Exchequer. "Thus," says the Bishop of Winchester, "did Mr. Pitt, when he was little more than twenty-three years old, attain the impor tant office of Finance Minister in the House of Commons, where all measures relative to the revenue must originate; and at a time when the pecuniary concerns of the country were known to be in a state of the greatest embarrassment in consequence of a long and expensive war, which still continued. He did not, like other eminent statesmen, who began their political career in the House of Commons, previously pass through some subordinate office; nor did he wait till the period of life which had hitherto been considered as necessary to mature the judgment, and to qualify even men of the most brilliant talents for the higher departments of executive government. He was at once, at this early age, placed in a situation which before had always been filled by persons of tried discretion and long-established character, and which, from peculiar circumstances, was now attended with greater difficulties than had been encountered by any of his predecessors." Life, vol. i. p. 85.-Ed. Monday. The meeting at Lord Fitzwilliam's was not so unanimous as I had heard. Lord Temple was warmly with the Duke of Richmond, and two or three other Lords. The former, it is supposed, will be Secretary of State with his cousin Pitt. The Duke is grossly abused by the new Separatists, as he has been before by the late Administration. When a man is traduced by both sides, it is no bad symptom of his virtue. If a man sacrifices all parties to his momentary interest, he may be universally despised, but he does not provoke. If his change proceeds from conscience, he must be aspersed, that his integrity may not shine. As the Duke was conspicuously more proper for the first post than Lord Rockingham, he had more reason to be dissatisfied with the nomination than to support it. The trifling post of Master of the Ordnance could not be an object worthy of his ambition or selfishness; and, by retaining it, he shows he did not aim at a higher. Tuesday. If any thing extraordinary should happen before Friday, I will write again on that day, as this must go away to-night. I shall go to Strawberry at the end of the week, and come to town very seldom before winter; consequently shall know nothing but general news, which I shall send you as usual. I never trouble myself about the disposition of places; I wish for peace fervently, and must preserve my own, if I cannot contribute to that of the public or of particulars. Luckily, I remember that I am older than almost any man left upon the stage, and will not hobble like Nestor to the Siege of Troy, with boys three hundred years younger than myself, who would be tired of my old stories of their grandfathers. Adieu! LETTER CCCLXXX. Strawberry Hill, July 21, 1782. YOUR letter of the 6th which I received to-day, sets me to writing, though I have no novelty to tell you since the new arrangement of the Administration;* of which I think I gave you a sketch in my *The following is a list of the Shelburne Administration, as finally settled: Lord Shelburne, First Lord of the Treasury; Mr. Pitt, Chancellor of the Exchequer; Lord Grantham and Mr. Thomas Townsend, Principal Secretaries of State; Lord Thurlow, Lord Chancellor; Lord Keppel, First Lord of the Admiralty; Lord Camden, President of the Council; Duke of Grafton, Lord Privy Seal; Duke of Richmond, Master-General of the Ordnance; Lord Ashburton, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster; Sir George Yonge, Secretary at War; Henry Dundas, Esq., Treasurer of the Navy; Colonel Barré, Paymaster of the Forces; Lloyd Kenyon, |