Pall Mall, Saturday, Dec. 7th, 1782.
My dear Brother,
I received your packet late on Thursday night, or rather, I
believe, early on Friday morning. As soon as I was up I sent the
enclosed letter to Lord Shelburne and to Townshend. I received
from Lord Shelburne an answer appointing me in an hour's time.
When I went there, after waiting a considerable time (which I
can easily excuse when I reflect upon the business of this
moment), I was shown into a room, where he was with Townshend.
It is difficult for me to say whether I was more surprised or
mortified at his telling me, as soon as I came in, that he could
only see me for a minute or two. He then entered upon the
subject of your letter, by saying that he had not read Mr.
Townshend's despatches, but only your letter to himself and the
bill which you enclosed to Townshend. With respect to the bill,
he said nothing could be done without consulting the Chancellor
and the other lawyers of the Cabinet; that I must see the
Chancellor, and explain the business to him; that the rendering
a judgment null might be objected to. I answered that I was
persuaded _that_ was the part on which you was least bent, and
that you would be fully satisfied if the enacting clause went
only to prevent any future decisions, provided the preamble
expressed the principle. To this he said, that it was impossible
to go on if everything of this sort made a necessity for new
measures, and that when a ground was once taken, it ought to be
stood to. My answer was, that your ground was very materially
changed, and that this overturned the only reasoning upon which
you had been able to go on at all, namely, the pledging your own
personal faith, and the honour of Government here, that the
repeal of the G. I. was considered as a renunciation on the part
of Great Britain of all legislation and jurisdiction. He asked
whether I meant external as well as internal? I said,
undoubtedly. He said, that he had understood from your
conversation before you went, "that you meant to make your stand
upon the external legislation;" and for this he appealed to
Townshend, who said he had understood the same. It was
impossible for me to contradict this, as it referred to
conversations to which I was no party. He said that he thought
you was reasonable upon the subject of the dissolution, and that
this other business was not to be taken up suddenly. I asked
what then he wished me to do. He told me to wait upon the
Chancellor. I objected that the question was not a legal one,
but wholly political. I urged the consequences of delay. Still,
however, I could get no answer from him, but only that I must go
to the Chancellor; and at last he grew so impatient as to leave
the room while I was talking, and to tell Townshend that he
might find him in his (Lord Shelburne's) office. The whole
conversation did not last above four or five minutes at the
utmost. I turned to Townshend, and asked him if he thought it
possible that the Government of Ireland could go on in this
manner. He pressed me to go to the Chancellor, and said that he
could tell me, _en ami_, that I should do more good there in
three minutes than I could do elsewhere in as many hours.
By the way, I must say here, that by some inaccuracy I must have
explained myself very ill to you about Townshend, who seems to
me to have acted the most friendly and honest part towards you
in the course of the whole business, and who has sacrificed his
time to me for an hour or an hour and a half for several days;
while during the fortnight I have now been here, I have not seen
Lord Shelburne for twenty minutes in the whole.
I have been very particular in detailing the above conversation
to you, because I think it opens two things of infinite
importance to your personal comfort and your personal honour. I
think it extremely plain that the object of Lord Shelburne is to
gain time, and that let me press ever so eagerly, _which I shall
not fail to do_, still I am not to expect any final answer till
the negotiation is settled, and the peace, which they evidently
look upon as certain, is secured and announced. What effect
these delays may have in Ireland, and what appearance this state
of uncertainty must bear to those who know the proposal you have
made, you are best able to judge, but I know enough of it to be
very much alarmed. But the second consideration affects me much
more, as I think it affects your honour, and my own as involved
with it. What I mean is this: I threw out to you in my former
letters that Lord Shelburne appears to me much more disposed to
narrow than to extend the rights and concessions yielded to
Ireland by Great Britain. I think when you compare the evident
reluctance he showed to agree to the resolutions first proposed;
his telling me that he had thought of a paragraph in the King's
Speech to do instead of them; his then showing me a paragraph
relating merely to commercial advantages, and his telling me we
were not ripe for the word rights; when you compare all this
with his evident dislike to this bill, and with the expression
stated above about external legislation, it is not very
difficult to collect that he means to do nothing till we have
peace, and when we have, he means, to use his own expression, to
make the stand upon that point.
Possibly I may agree with him, that it might have been well for
the general interest of the empire if that ground had originally
been explained, decisively taken and maintained. But I am sure I
know too well the situation of that country and of this, to
think that it can now be held out without the most fatal
consequences to both; and I think I know your feelings too well
to imagine that you will suffer yourself to be made an
instrument of deceiving any man or body of men whatever, still
less a whole country, especially in contradiction to the
language which you have invariably held, at least as far as I
can recollect (ever since you accepted of your situation), both
to people in Ireland and to Government here, that the repeal was
a complete renunciation.
It is a singular pleasure to me to observe how exactly our ideas
have hitherto corresponded since I left you; so that while you
have been taking your measures in Ireland, I have been
recommending the same to you from hence. If they should continue
to do so in this instance, the line of conduct which I apprehend
would be proper for us to adopt on our different posts is this.
I am to see the Chancellor to-morrow, and immediately upon
leaving him mean to write to Lord Shelburne, pressing him again
most eagerly to allow me an opportunity of stating to him _at
length_ what I have in commission to say to him from you. If he
should comply, I will then go into the whole state of Ireland;
will mention to him the credit which ought to be given to
representations proceeding from you, in preference to those of
interested individuals; will enlarge upon the necessity of
decision; and will press that a Cabinet may be held in
performance of Townshend's promise to me. In the meantime, I
should think you would do well to write a letter to Townshend,
stating your ideas upon the necessity of good faith, and the
impossibility of resistance, even upon the ground of simple
repeal, still more upon the more narrow one of external
legislation; and desiring an explicit answer _from the Cabinet_
on these points. This, if you would entrust me with it, I would
suppress in case the Cabinet should have met and come to any
satisfactory decision; and if not, I would deliver it to
Townshend, with every personal expression to him of regard, &c.,
&c.
The advantages which I propose by this conduct, and the mode of
reasoning upon which I support it, are as follows: In the first
place, if it is really their intention to reserve the external
legislation, the sooner you know it, and are able to wash your
hands of it completely, by returning to England, the more
popular you will be in Ireland, and the better ground you will
have here, both to your own conscience, and as a man who may be
called upon to defend his conduct. You will observe that I take
it for granted you agree with me as to the utter impossibility
of ever exercising such a right, and the impolicy as well as bad
faith of reserving it, to become, like the tea-duty, a ground
for contest and ill-blood; without the possibility of advantage.
Lord Shelburne seems to imagine that by a peace he should be
able to enforce it; you know the contrary, and that the hearts
and voices, and even hands, not of the Volunteers only, but of
the people, and even of Parliament, would be against it. And
with what face, supposing the thing in itself practicable and
honest, could we maintain that ground, after having repeatedly
stated the contrary, and pledged ourselves to it in resolutions,
and now in a bill offered under your recommendation for the
English Parliament? In this event, therefore, I think that by an
immediate resignation you will have satisfied your own feelings,
and at the same time found an honourable solution to a very
unpleasant situation--unpleasant from the situation of things
there, and possibly not less so from the complexion of affairs
here.
If, on the other hand, this measure drives them into an
immediate acquiescence with your proposals, you will certainly
stand in a much pleasanter situation in Ireland, especially as a
peace will give you a fair ground for dissolving the Fencibles,
if you think proper, without ever coming to Parliament to vote
money for them. The advantages which we shall have from putting
an end to this almost intolerable scene of delay and temporizing
are obvious; and if the measure comes from Townshend, and is
seconded by me, as I shall propose, it will give you all the
credit of the adherence to good faith, &c., &c., instead of its
being forced upon Government, as it will otherwise be, by Lord
Beauchamp, or Commodore Johnstone, or any person disposed to do
mischief.
I have said that
O. l Fo2c TolB 3Fo3 the complexion of affairs here makes
evident intention
it more unpleasant. Lord Shelburne's c21bc93 193c931m9 is
make cyphers colleagues
to 70Ic aw6FckT of his amddcol2ct. Rayneval's arrival at his
not known
house at eight in the morning was 9m3 I9ms9 to Townshend
till twelve, nor to others till after four.
3ldd 3scd2c, 9mk 3m any of the m3Fckt 3ldd oE3ck Em2k.
They be much pleased, they mean
3fcw cannot hc 72af 6dcotch, but sill it is imagined 3fcw 7co9
to remain.
3m k370l9. I have had no opportunity of speaking about the
Vice-Treasurership since your last letter; I had spoke before.
will observe Barré's place is kept
You sldd mhtck2c Hokkct 6doac lt also Ic63 open.[1]
_Quorsum hæc tendunt_, God only knows.
Ever yours,
W. W. G.
[Footnote 1: Portions of numerous letters in the correspondence
contained in these volumes are written in cypher. The above passage is
given merely as a specimen, which will be sufficient to show the
character of the cypher.]