Dover Street, Oct. 30th, 1794.
MY DEAREST BROTHER,
I received your letter the day before yesterday at Dropmore. Mr.
Pitt, who had left me that morning, had shown me your letter to
him, with respect to which I say nothing, as I understood he meant
to write to you upon the subject. The whole business to which it
relates is in a situation, the final issue of which is extremely
doubtful. With my impression of the advantage, and even necessity,
of uniting at this time in the public service the great bulk of the
landed property of the country, and doing away all distinctions of
party between those who wish the maintenance of order and
tranquillity here, I shall very deeply regret, as a great public
misfortune, any event that leads to the dissolution of a system so
lately formed. But, on the other hand, I have certainly no
intention of making myself a party to any system of government in
Ireland that is incompatible with my views of the interest of this
country there. And in any case, I certainly neither have, nor can
take, as far as relates to myself, any step upon the subject which
has its origin in any other motive than a sense of public duty
under circumstances of much difficulty.
I considered the subject of my brother's acceptance of the
situation offered to him in Ireland as being, as in fact he appears
to have stated it to you, very undecided, even if any arrangement
were made for Lord Fitzwilliam's going there. I could have no
motive to keep it back from you, but felt it due to him to leave it
to him to do what I was sure he would be anxious to do. The whole
subject appears now in some degree suspended till his arrival. When
I see him I should of course state to him, as far as I am able to
do it, your ideas respecting it.
I am still of opinion that it will turn out that the alarm created
in Ireland, and the impression given here has originated in very
loose reports, magnified, as usual, by persons repeating them
according to their interest and wishes; but I state this as matter
of opinion only.
I expect my brother here every day. They left Vienna in the
beginning of this month, without having concluded any treaty,
though they seem to have established a juster sense of the present
crisis than prevailed before.
Our Prussian ally has had his payments stopped, and is withdrawing
his troops. In the meantime, the Empress of Russia has done his
business, or rather her own, in Poland, the Polish army being
completely defeated, and Kosciusko, who was the soul of the
enterprise, taken prisoner.
God bless you, my dearest brother.
Believe me ever most affectionately yours,
G.
The conduct of Lord Fitzwilliam had been reprehensible from the
beginning. The suggestion of the Lord-Lieutenancy had scarcely taken a
definite shape, when he opened a communication, as appeared afterwards,
with the heads of the Irish party, and announced the system on which he
intended to govern the country. In any case, such a proceeding would
have been inexpedient and indefensible, its inevitable effect being to
commit the policy of the Administration beforehand, to deprive it at
once of all dignity and independence, and to revive those heart-burnings
and dissensions which had already so nearly endangered the connection of
the two kingdoms.
But, composed as the Cabinet was of men who were known to entertain
different opinions in reference to Ireland, the premature and
unwarrantable publicity given by Lord Fitzwilliam to his own views was
calculated to precipitate still more injurious results. So far back as
the 23rd of August, he had written to Mr. Grattan, who was then
personally unknown to him, apprising him of his approaching appointment;
and, in plain terms, calling in that gentleman and his party to his
future councils. From the very first paragraph of his letter, it is
evident that at the time when this ill-judged communication was made,
the arrangements respecting the Lord-Lieutenancy had not advanced
sufficiently far to justify him in taking any ostensible step whatever
in reference to Ireland. His own language was abundantly explicit on
this point: "Though I have not as yet the honour of an appointment to
succeed Lord Westmoreland, there certainly is great probability of that
event taking place very soon." Yet in this early stage of the
ministerial negotiations, he did not hesitate to inform Mr. Grattan that
he intended to look to "the system of the Duke of Portland, as the
model," by which he should regulate his conduct; and that, in order to
enable him to render that system effective, it was necessary he should
be supported by Mr. Grattan and his friends. "It is, Sir, to you," he
observes, "and your friends, the Ponsonbys, that I look for assistance
in bringing it to bear," adding, "it is that assistance which I am
therefore now soliciting." The letter concludes by inviting Mr. Grattan
to form an "intimate, direct, and avowed connection" with the Castle,
which he had never hitherto "approached in confidence and avowed
friendship;" and in the postscript he gives Mr. Grattan this significant
caution: "It may seem a little inconsistent, and that this letter is
written rather prematurely, when I beg not to be quoted as having
announced myself in the character of a Lord-Lieutenant elect; my
nomination not having yet been mentioned to the King, on account of his
absence at Weymouth."[C]
This indiscreet and unjustifiable line of proceeding placed the
Ministry in a dilemma, from which the escape, either way, was surrounded
by dangers. They selected that alternative which appeared, under all
circumstances, to be the least hazardous; and on the 10th of December,
Lord Fitzwilliam attended the levee to kiss hands on his appointment.
Mr. Thomas Grenville, however, declined the office of Secretary, which
was conferred on Lord Milton.
[Footnote C: This letter is published in full in the Life of Mr.
Grattan.]
1795.