Whitehall, Oct. 24th, 1787.
My dear Brother,
Despatches were received yesterday from the Duke of Dorset and
Eden, with a project of a declaration and counter-declaration
for disarming, which the French Ministers were ready to sign.
These will be returned to them to-day with a few alterations,
but of such a nature, that I have myself little doubt of their
being agreed to without difficulty, in which case the whole
business will be immediately concluded, and in a manner which I
think highly satisfactory and honourable to us. You will,
however, naturally suppose that we feel a good deal of anxiety
till the thing is actually done, as some circumstances may arise
every hour to vary it. Although Amsterdam has formally
submitted, there is a fund of much ill-humour there; but I do
not think that much is to be apprehended from it, especially if
proper and vigorous measures are taken for the security and
protection of the present Government in Holland.
The alliance with the Republic will be begun upon immediately;
but it will not be a triple one, from considerations which have
originated not here, but there.
You will see in the papers, that the Bishop of Hereford is dead.
I immediately renewed the application to Pitt, on the subject of
Marylebone, and wrote to the Chancellor myself to state the warm
interest that we both take in Cleaver's advancement. I have this
moment received a note from Pitt, informing me that the
Chancellor has agreed, and in the handsomest manner. I think it
very lucky for Cleaver, that this man died before Lord North. I
have written to him to inform him of the Chancellor's promise.
With respect to myself, I think I see ground to say, with
certainty, that nothing of the sort will take place before
Parliament meets.
Believe me, my dearest brother,
Ever most affectionately yours,
W. W. G.
On the 27th of October, the Duke of Dorset presented a memorial to the
King of France, proposing the discontinuance of warlike preparations at
both sides, which was at once agreed to, M. de Montmorin observing that
it never had been the intention of His Majesty to interfere by force in
the affairs of Holland.
The death of the Duke of Rutland in Ireland, on the 24th of October in
this year, once more placed the office of Lord-Lieutenant at the
disposal of the Administration. As soon as the intelligence was received
in England, communications on the subject were opened with the Marquis
of Buckingham, who, having no longer any grounds of hesitation, personal
or political, accepted the office, and on the 2nd of November wrote to
the Lords Justices to announce his appointment. Public opinion appears
at once to have pointed out his Lordship as the fittest person to
undertake the government of Ireland; and before anything could be known
in that country of the intention of Ministers, Lord Mornington wrote to
the Marquis, commending a special case to his consideration, under the
impression that he would certainly be selected for the office. A passage
in a subsequent letter of Lord Mornington's, dated 4th of November,
written upon the occasion of Lord Buckingham's appointment, possesses
peculiar interest on account of the illustrious individual to whom it
refers. This is, perhaps, the earliest allusion in the correspondence of
the period to Arthur Wellesley, whose name now appears for the first
time emerging from boyhood into that public life in which he was
afterwards destined to act so conspicuous a part. At this time, he was
little more than eighteen years of age.
I sincerely wish you the same success in Ireland which attended
your last Government; your only difficulty will be to maintain
the high character which your Administration bore, in the minds
of every description of people. You will certainly be received
by the sanguine expectations of the whole country; and from my
heart and soul I earnestly hope that you may return home with
the same popularity and credit that you carry out. I must be
lost to all feeling, if I did not take the warmest interest in
the honour and prosperity of your Government, and if I did not
acknowledge myself to be bound by the strongest ties of
friendship and gratitude to contribute everything within my
power to promote its strength, in any way in which you may
please to call upon me.
You may well believe with what pleasure I received your
appointment of my brother to a place in your family, not only as
being a most kind mark of your regard for me, but as the
greatest advantage to him. I am persuaded that under your eye he
will not be exposed to any of those risks, which in other times
have accompanied the situation he will hold. I can assure you
sincerely that he has every disposition which can render so
young a boy deserving of your notice; and if he does not engage
your protection by his conduct, I am much mistaken in his
character. My mother expects him every hour in London, and
before this time I should hope that he had himself waited on
you. Once more, my dear Lord, before I close this part of my
letter, let me thank you most warmly for this flattering
instance of your friendship. Grenville, I hope, has shown you my
letter, in which I declare that I would not have asked you for
this favour, knowing your inclination to attend to my requests,
and apprehending that you might suffer your regard for me to
interfere to the prejudice of your Government; but certainly
this object for my brother was very near my heart, and I accept
it with a gratitude proportioned to the anxiety with which I
desired it, and to the most friendly manner in which it has been
given.
The rest of the letter is filled with recommendations of other
persons--Hobart, Captain Fortescue, Jephson, who had the care of the
stables at the Castle, an office which he had held for twenty years, and
of whom Lord Buckingham seems to have received some unfavourable
impressions, a Mr. Mockler, for whom Lord Mornington solicited "anything
above £70 a year in a _genteel line_" (his own phrase), and others. In
another letter, dated 8th of November, Lord Mornington, in a postscript,
refers again to the appointment of his brother Arthur.
I am sorry to find by a letter from my mother to-day, that her
extreme anxiety to get my brother into your family induced her
to make an application to you through W. Grenville on the
subject; I have already stated, that I never would have urged
this point, though I accept the favour from you with the utmost
gratitude. However, the eagerness which has led her to this
step, affords a sufficient proof of the satisfaction which she
must feel, in the very kind manner in which you had anticipated
her wishes.
The answer of Lord Buckingham to the numerous requests of Lord
Mornington, evinces the promptitude of his desire to promote the wishes
of his correspondent.
I have desired that your brother may buy his men from a Charing
Cross crimp, that he may not be spoilt by recruiting, and am
happy that I can name him as aide-de-camp. Your Mr. Jephson is
a ----, I will not say what, but knowing him to be so, I may
possibly keep him. Your Mr. Mockler shall be ensign as soon as I
can make him one, or some other _genteel thing_. Your Mr. Elliot
may be chaplain, if he likes being at the tail of my list, with
the impossibility of ever getting anything.
And so on through the rest of the catalogue.
The following letters from Mr. Grenville refer to personal matters, and
chiefly to the promotion of Dr. Cleaver, which Lord Buckingham was
anxious to obtain, and which is promised in a subsequent letter from Mr.
Pitt.