Charles Street, Jan. 1st, 1794.
MY DEAR BROTHER,
I had no sooner received your letter, than I communicated it to
Lord Grenville; and desired him to write to you as soon as he
could. It gives me great pain to see, by the language of it, how
very much your mind is oppressed and disturbed in the impression
under which you write. Of the proposition which you suggest, it
certainly does not in any shape become me to offer any opinion; I
am precluded from doing so, both by the magnitude of the question,
and by its being of a nature upon which I cannot have either the
pretence or the means of exercising any judgment; and I so
expressed myself to Lord Grenville, when I read your letter to
him; all that, on my part, can be for me to do is, what I am sure
you will believe is the honest feeling of my mind, to express to
you the anxious and earnest wish of my heart, that all disquietude
and uneasiness may vanish from your mind; and that you may heartily
and happily continue to co-operate with Lord Grenville and Pitt, at
a time when the greatest interests which this country ever knew
seem to me to be at stake. For myself, you know that I am but a
private man, and have no other concern in these great public
questions, than that sense of common danger and common interest,
which ought, I think, to produce but one common voice in the
country. Mr. Wilberforce, you see, thinks otherwise, but does not
change my opinion by having changed his.
I am much obliged to you for the naval letter, which the post of
to-day brings me from Stowe; I will make the use of it which you
allow me to do, and will then return it to you. I hope Dr. Pegge
will find Lady B. better. I take for granted we shall soon meet
here.