(Private.) Vienna, Sept. 15th, 1794.
MY DEAREST BROTHER,
You will receive enclosed with this a letter, which I had already
written before the arrival of your last despatches, and which can
only be useful by showing you all that occurred to me upon the
former view of the subject. The conditions which are now attached
to the two questions of loan and subsidy, appear certainly to be
the best which could have been imagined for promising a fair use of
the troops for which we are desired to pay, and would probably
appear to the country to be so, besides really furnishing all the
means which can be supplied to this great stake which we are
compelled to play for. What has passed upon these propositions, you
will have seen pretty amply in the public despatch, which is
written so much at length as to require no great additional
comment. It is manifest, that instead of complying with all the
conditions proposed, they could not easily be brought to consent to
any one of them. Upon the subject of command, there is a soreness
which would be an insuperable bar to the idea of a large combined
force (chiefly Austrian) acting under any English General; and yet
there is so little hope of their acting vigorously under any other,
that the choice lies between two extreme difficulties.
Under the pressure of your letter, which led us to imagine that
Lord Cornwallis is actually gone to Flanders, we have done and said
all that was in any shape likely to assist his situation there; at
the same time, from Wyndham's letter, and from the fall of
Valenciennes, it is possible that his journey may still have been
delayed. Instead, therefore, of writing to him in Flanders, as you
suggested, we have given a letter for him to Colonel Ross, who will
find him either on this or the other side of the water, and will be
best able to communicate to him whatever intelligence from hence it
is material for him to know.
They do not talk heartily here of Clairfayt's co-operating, though
they do not plainly refuse it; and I fear it is but too likely that
they will satisfy their dignity by keeping their army entirely
distinct from ours, a determination which may perhaps but too much
assist the views of the French, if they really make a vigorous
attack upon Holland. All that we could do by threats, entreaties,
and remonstrances, on this very important point we have done, and
will continue to repeat while we stay here.
Upon the subject of transferring the subsidy, I believe they are in
earnest when they say it is out of their power to engage for any
considerable subsidy from the empire to the King of Prussia; and if
it is true that they are now under the necessity of ascertaining
what are their means for the next campaign, it may be true that
they cannot act upon the uncertain speculation of receiving so much
from us as they could promise for the King of Prussia. I know not
whether I am right, but I have thought once or twice that Thugut
has spoken with some marks of dislike to-day to Comte Stahremberg,
whom he appears to suspect of having broached this proposition at
London; to prevent any confirmation of this suspicion, we have not
in any manner quoted Comte Stahremberg in our conferences; and as I
believe you are satisfied with him, I hope I misinterpret the word
or two which Thugut dropped upon this matter.
We are come back again (upon the failure of our overtures) to the
hearing of a reduced scale of military operations, an idea more
like a haberdasher of small wares than the Minister of a great
empire. What the supposed plan of this _contracted_ war is to be, I
never have been able to learn; and, indeed, it requires all the
good temper one can muster to make so discouraging an inquiry.
Meanwhile, orders are said to be already issued for raising sixty
thousand new recruits in the hereditary states of Austria, but no
hopes are given of assistance from Hungary, where the harvest has
been, in many places, uncommonly deficient.
We have done what we could to urge them to be active in Sardinia,
now the French appear to be retiring; and though an invincible
prejudice to that quarter prevents Thugut from doing all he might,
yet he expresses a readiness to concur in an attack upon Nice, if
the English fleet would co-operate, as soon as the equinoctial
snows have fallen to guard the mountains of the Milanes.
There are, however, bad reports of Kosciusko declaring war against
Austria, which will be both a reason and a pretext for suspending
enterprise, if any would otherwise be undertaken. The Duc de Guiche
has a project of collecting the Gardes du Corps, of which he says
he thinks he could soon muster twelve hundred. He and the French
here are grown very anxious about Comte d'Artois' journey to
Rotterdam. We expect impatiently to hear from you of our return.
With respect to Vienna, Lord Spencer having considered this
business as now come to a point, which requires some new shape and
fresh regular negotiation, writes to request leave to return home,
and only waits for it to set out immediately. In that request
(after all the consideration which I can give to it) I feel that I
must likewise beg to be included, so as to return with him at the
same time. The line of foreign mission is one to which I own I
cannot reconcile myself; it leads certainly to a claim for future
competency, but it seems to me little likely to assist those views
of honest ambition, which are certainly, though I hope to no
improper degree, still more forward in my mind than those of
emolument. In this view it was, that upon a former occasion of
arrangement, I had declined the Hague, which certainly is the first
of all the situations in that line, but which still has the
objection of banishing from all connections, social as well as
political, and of cutting across all other expectations except
those of an invalid upon half-pay.
I believe I need not tell you, that upon the proposition which you
suggest of my staying here only to make the detail of the new
arrangements for next year, I certainly would not have refused it,
if I had thought that I could more usefully transact that point for
you; but I am really firmly persuaded, that the only chance of any
good being done here, is by some active and intelligent man
_taking root here_, and acquiring over these Ministers by the
vigour and perseverance of his own mind, influence enough to supply
the total want of it in theirs; but as this must be a work of some
time, so it seems highly important that it should immediately be
undertaken in that regular established shape in which alone it is
likely to succeed, and to which I could very little contribute by
protracting my departure two or three months beyond that of Lord
Spencer; besides, too, that if Ireland is to be looked at, I have
not much time to lose with a view to that subject. Certainly no man
can be more sensible than I am to the _desagremens_ of the Irish
Secretaryship; and if the political arrangements which have taken
place, had admitted of my occupying any situation of business at
home, there is scarce any which I should not prefer to it. I am,
however, very ready to confess, that at the present moment I do not
see any such opening likely to be easily made; and, therefore, the
question is as with respect to myself, whether, even with all my
dislike to the situation, it may not be right that I should take
it, and trust to the course of events to supply hereafter some
other situation more eligible. What much inclines me to this is,
that I shall be able to preserve a much nearer and closer
connection with my family and friends, whom I shall at times have
an opportunity of seeing, and that the business itself may become
in one light highly interesting to me, if I see in it the means of
making myself essentially useful upon a subject certainly not
unimportant.
I am not without considerable apprehensions, as you know, with
respect to the practicability of all that in theory one wishes to
be done in that country; but of those difficulties, it is useless
now to speak. Upon the whole, therefore, I have thought it best to
accept of Lord Fitzwilliam's offer, and have accordingly written to
say so.
I will not unnecessarily add to this letter, as I expect to see you
so soon: we calculate that in about twenty-six days we shall
receive from you our answer, with permission to return; and that we
shall be enabled to set out between the 15th and 20th of October at
latest. Happy, indeed, I am to find, by the conclusion of your
letter, that everything is going on at home upon as good a footing
as we could wish. Every day's experience confirms me in the
conviction, that with the present arrangement of Government, the
peace and prosperity of the country must stand and fall; and
however threatening may be the prospect from without, as long as
everything keeps so right within, I shall continue to be of good
heart.
I am ashamed of having written so much about myself, or rather I
should be so if I was not writing to you; but I have confidence in
your kindness and affection.
God bless you, my dear brother.