Whitehall, April 7th, 1789.
MY DEAR BROTHER,
I have just received your letter of the 3rd, and though I have
nothing new to say to you upon the point of Captain Taylor, he not
having yet sent his answer, I cannot help writing a few lines, lest
you think the subject is out of my mind. With respect to the
promotions of peerage, the fault, if there is any, is mine; because
I felt, and still continue to feel, that under the present
circumstances, and till this business of Taylor is settled, the
other _ought_ to be postponed; nor can I imagine any real
inconvenience to arise from it. I am, however, by no means sanguine
in my expectations of the event of this business. I have already
expressed to you my sense of the King's treatment of you in this
instance, and my determination to abide by any measures that you
may think it right to take in this situation. I cannot, however, in
justice to you or to myself, avoid saying, that I most sincerely
wish you to consider well the step which you are about to take; and
that not only with a reference to your _present_ situation or to
your _immediate_ feelings, but with a view to the interpretation
which the public will put upon it, and with a view to any future
political object of ours. With respect to the latter, I am
persuaded you must see that it is impossible for you to resign the
Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland at this time, and on this ground,
without making up your mind at the same moment finally to renounce
all ideas of our taking any part hereafter as public men in this
country. If you will consider what our situation would be, after
such a step, with the King, with the Prince, with Pitt's friends,
and with Fox, and lastly with the public at large, you will, I am
sure, think that the consequence which I state is not overstrained.
I can, without affectation, assure you, that though I am not
indifferent either to the recollection of what we have already
done, or to the prospects which are now before us; yet that I could
perfectly well make up my mind to a different line of life, and
that I am confident I possess sufficient resources within myself to
reconcile myself to such a step, provided it were taken for an
object which I felt to be _tanti_. And such I certainly do consider
the object of marking to you, and to the world, and of discharging,
in a manner satisfactory to my own feelings, my gratitude and
affectionate attachment to you, in an instance where I entirely
agree with you in thinking you ill-treated, at a time when you had
deserved best.
It remains, therefore, for _you_ to consider what step it may be
best for you to take under all the present circumstances. Even if
your mind should ultimately lean to the idea of resigning, I should
certainly strongly press you not to carry this idea into effect
till you have closed your session in Ireland; and in this advice,
at least, I am certainly disinterested, because my situation would,
in the interim, be more disagreeable and embarrassing than it could
be under _any_ other circumstances. But I am _sure_ that if you
were to quit _immediately_, as you now talk of doing, you never
could induce any one to believe that this step was not taken with a
view to escape from present difficulties, instead of being intended
to mark your sense of personal ill-treatment; and that when the
impression of the present moment upon your feelings was over, you
never would forgive yourself for having concluded the transactions
of this winter by such a termination.
I have only to add that I am not indifferent, and that I am
persuaded you are not, to the public consequences of our conduct.
It is one of the circumstances which are necessarily attendant
upon a public situation and a public line of life, that a person
who is engaged in it cannot act even in those points which most
nearly concern himself without producing consequences which are
often of great public importance. It will certainly not be a
pleasant reflection to me to have materially contributed to the
overthrow of that system of public men and public measures which I
believe to be of the utmost importance to the welfare and
prosperity of my country. On the best reflection which I can give
to the subject, weighing what I owe to you and to myself, and what
I owe to others, I shall feel myself _justified_, whatever may be
the consequences; but certainly my feelings upon them will be such
as to prevent my ever again putting myself into a similar
situation, even if the circumstances to which I have alluded in the
beginning of this letter did not, as they probably will, render
such an event absolutely impossible.
When I speak of contributing to the overthrow of the present system
you certainly understand me to refer to the probable consequences
of our withdrawing ourselves from it, and not to any idea of your
being led, which I am persuaded is impossible, to contribute
actively to the triumph of a most wicked and profligate faction. I
should feel that I gave you just cause of offence, if I thought it
necessary to say, that this is a point to which no consideration
could lead me.
You will excuse me if I have said so much in this letter upon my
own subject, in treating of a point which relates to your conduct
and to your situation. I feel that the two subjects are too
intimately connected for me to speak of them separately, and I felt
that you could not but be desirous, in the moment of deciding a
step so interesting to us both, that I should open my heart to you
in as free and unrestrained a manner as I have now done.
One thing more I must recommend to your serious consideration.
Nothing is clearer to my mind than the propriety of the step you
have taken in dismissing Ponsonby, of the intimation which you have
given to Lord Shannon of the necessary consequences of his present
conduct, and of the measures you have adopted for securing to
yourself efficient assistance by the removal of Fitzherbert, and by
the nomination of Hobart on the persuasion which you entertain of
his ability to serve you. But I must entreat you to reflect that
this line of conduct is only to be justified on the supposition of
your being to remain in Ireland; while, on the other hand,
entertaining as you now do the idea of quitting your situation, it
is surely a duty which you owe to yourself, as well as to the
public, to leave to your successor his decision as free and open as
your own is now, on points which may be of such infinite importance
to his Government. To have failed in this instance would, I am
sure, much add to the many grounds of regret which will press
themselves upon your mind.
I will say no more on all these points. I have now written you a
dissertation, instead of a few lines, as I had intended, but my
anxiety on the subject has drawn me on. The groundwork of all this
difficulty may, after all, be removed by Taylor's refusal, or by
Pitt's exertions; but I again repeat that I am not sanguine on that
head, and it is certainly more reasonable that we should prepare
our minds for a contrary event.
Believe me ever, my dear brother,
Most affectionately yours,
W. W. G.
Why should you feel yourself offended because particular marks of
favour have been shown to Burrard and Lenox, two most steady, warm,
and deserving friends of ours at all times, and in all
circumstances?