Dublin Castle, Jan. 23rd, 1788.
Sir,
Your letter, enclosing one from Mr. Curran, reached me at a
moment when my attention was taken up with other business, else
I should have immediately answered it.
I am very sensible of the candour with which you have declared
your intentions of supporting me, and of your exertions to
induce Counsellor Curran to act with you in that line of
conduct. The offer of the seat, on his part, is handsome; as is
likewise your refusal of it.
I am much honoured by the confidence which you have shown me on
this occasion, and have the honour to be,
Sir,
Your very obedient and faithful humble servant,
N.B.
Richard Longfield, Esq.
The arrangement for the establishment of Arthur Wellesley as one of the
aide-de-camps to Lord Buckingham, alluded to in a recent letter from
Lord Mornington, suffered an interruption on the threshold from a
proposal made by Sir George Yonge, then Secretary at War, for reducing
the gentlemen holding those appointments to half-pay. Lord Mornington,
who was still in England, resented the proposal indignantly, and brought
the affair under the notice of the Lord-Lieutenant. He writes on the 8th
of January,
Sir George Yonge had retreated into Devonshire before I received
your letter; but I have ventured to disturb his retirement by an
epistle of four sides of paper, to which I could not yet have
received an answer. I cannot conceive what he can mean by this
man[oe]uvre, because I cannot see any advantage to him in the
reduction of any, or of all your aide-de-camps to half-pay; and
I am clearly of opinion, that there is no argument which can be
drawn in favour of the reduction of any, which will not equally
apply to all. I do not exactly understand, by the papers which I
received from you, what was the nature of his proposal with
respect to the 9th and 10th companies. I have threatened, that
my brother shall join his regiment in India. This business is
now very unfortunate to Arthur, as his men are now all raised,
and he has concluded an agreement for an exchange, which only
waits the mighty fiat of the Secretary at War. I fear he must
wait for the decision of that great character; for I think under
the present circumstances he cannot safely leave England.
However, I hope the Secretary will deign to temper his grandeur
with a little common sense in the course of a few days, and then
I will consign your aide-de-camp to you by the first mail-coach.
Lord Mornington, however, had no necessity to carry out his threat of
sending his brother to India. That service was reserved for a later day.
Sir George Yonge's project appears to have been over-ruled, at least so
far as Arthur Wellesley was concerned, and the young aide-de-camp was
duly forwarded to his post of honour. In the month of April, Lord
Mornington writes again to the Viceroy, thanking him for the kindness
with which he has treated his _protégé_.
My principal reason for intruding on you now, is to express my
warm and hearty thanks for your great kindness to my brother, of
which I have not only received the most pleasing accounts from
himself, but have heard from various other quarters. You will
easily be persuaded, that I must feel your goodness to him as
the strongest and most grateful instance of your regard for me.
I must also do my brother the justice to assure you that he
feels as he ought to do on this subject, and that you have
warmly attached him to you. All his letters that I have seen,
not only to me, but to many others totally unconnected with you,
speak the most sincere language of gratitude and affection for
the reception you have given him. He also expresses great
obligations to Lady Buckingham, whom I must beg you to thank in
my name.
Mr. Grenville's correspondence with his brother was now resumed with the
same activity as before, ranging over every question of public moment
affecting the foreign and domestic policy of the country. One of the
topics which began to occupy a large space in the public mind about the
beginning of the year was the contemplated movement for the abolition of
the Slave Trade. The abstract justice of the abolition, and the
practical difficulties in the way of effecting it, were equally obvious
to Mr. Grenville.
The business of the Slave Trade is referred to the Committee of
Trade. It is a very extensive investigation, and by no means a
pleasant subject of inquiry at such a board, because I take it
the result will clearly be what one knew sufficiently without
much inquiry--that on every principle of humanity, justice, or
religion, the slave trade is unjustifiable, and that at the same
time it is, in a commercial point of view, highly beneficial,
though I believe not so much as those who are concerned in it
pretend. On this view of the question I have certainly formed my
opinion, that the duty of Parliament is that which would be the
duty of each individual sitting there, namely, to sacrifice
objects of advantage to principles of justice. It is, however, a
great question, and of no little embarrassment to Government,
who run the risk of offending a numerous and powerful body of
men. I am told that there is an idea of calling the county of
Bucks together, to petition as other counties have done. This
will be very distressing to me, because, although my opinion is
formed, it would not be very decent for me to declare it
publicly, while an inquiry is pending at the Board of which I am
a member.
The subject was new and startling at this time, and Lord Buckingham took
alarm at the notion of a sudden and complete measure of abolition.
Having communicated his doubts to Mr. Grenville, the reply of the latter
expresses a general concurrence in his views.
Our ideas do not seem very different as to the Slave Trade. I
never entertained an idea that we could liberate the slaves
actually in the Islands, except by some such gradual measure as
you mention. But I am very sanguine in thinking that a law
preventing the carrying any more slaves to the Islands in
British ships (the only vessels that can legally trade there)
may be passed and enforced without considerable difficulty or
danger.
Towards the end of January Lord Mornington writes:
We are all very eagerly engaged in considering a plan for the
abolition of the Slave Trade, which is to be soon brought
forward by Wilberforce. I hear that Burke is to prove slavery to
be an excellent thing for negroes, and that there is a great
distinction between an Indian Begum and an African Wowski.
That some of the supporters of the Administration did not consider Mr.
Wilberforce the fittest person to bring forward the question is frankly
avowed in several of these letters. Sir William Young, a constant and
lively correspondent, communicates his apprehensions on this point to
Lord Buckingham. His letter is dated the 20th of February.
The French have offered our people of Liverpool (hearing that we
are on the eve of surrendering our Slave Trade) no less than £5
per ton premium to carry on the trade between Africa and the
French islands. When Wilberforce intends to come forward is not
settled, nor what his precise motion. I cannot help feeling its
absurdity _d'avance_, knowing my friend Wilberforce to be a mere
utopian philanthropist on a subject which a little needs the
practical politician.
On the 9th of May following, Mr. Pitt, taking the question into his own
hands, moved a resolution pledging the House to the consideration of the
Slave Trade in the ensuing session. Upon this, Sir William Young
remarks:
The Slave Trade, obviously from the debate on Friday last, will
be made an election tool to work at the Dissenters with, and
gain the hurra' of the lower people. When Pitt shall come
forward to unite humanity and justice with policy and the public
necessities, and produce early next session some measures of
legislation for the colonies, and of regulation in the trade, I
foresee the clamour will be "What! regulate rapine and murder!
and legislate slavery in the British dominions!" and all of the
measure, as to the abolition of the trade which is wisely put
by, will be artfully taken up to discredit what is humanely
done. And this is the mischief of leaving such business to the
good and brilliant, but little-wise or solid Wilberforce, who
did not know, that in a business of such extent as to the
interests of the public, their feelings should not have been
excited to go beyond the mode or degree of practicable remedy to
the evil; that to give hopes of something is to render the full
accomplishment more grateful; and that to anticipate the most
that can be done, is to render the doing less thankless, and as
nothing. Adopting the strongest wishes for the full abolition of
slavery and the Slave Trade, was it not folly in the extreme to
throw out the idea of full abolition previous to investigation
of how far it was possible to go, and where a stop of necessity
must be made. Wilberforce hath everywhere canvassed addresses
for total abolition!
These passages, collected from the Correspondence, possess some
historical value from their immediate bearing upon the state and action
of opinion, at the time when this question was originally introduced
into Parliament. Wilberforce was confessedly not considered a practical
politician, and his support was regarded by Pitt with apprehension. His
sincerity was admitted by everybody, but there seems to have been a
strange want of confidence in his judgment. By agitating the country for
total abolition, before the public had had an opportunity of
investigating the bearings of the question, he showed more zeal than
discretion, and seriously embarrassed the proceedings of the Minister.
Wilberforce had the best intentions in the world, but, like other
politicians, sometimes erred in carrying them out.
Not the least charm of these letters is the insight they afford into the
characters of the principal persons concerned in them; and the slightest
passages that assist us to a nearer view of men who occupied so large a
space in their own times, and whose actions enter into the history of
the country, have a distinct attraction in this point of view.
Allusion has already been made to the sensitiveness of Lord Buckingham
on personal points of form and etiquette, which sometimes disposed him
to fancy discourtesy or indifference where none was really contemplated.
It can hardly be supposed that this trait could have been generated in
the mind of a statesman of such tried ability and acknowledged influence
from any distrust in his own powers, or in the high position he held
amongst his contemporaries; and it must, therefore, be regarded entirely
as a matter of temperament. It was the weakness of a nature capable of
the sincerest attachments, and jealous of every appearance of neglect in
those whose regards it cherished. Between his Lordship and Lord Sydney
there existed a strict bond of friendship. It had been tested in the
struggles of public life, and cemented by many interchanges of
confidence in their private relations. Lord Sydney, however, appears
upon some occasion to have forgotten, in his official capacity as
Secretary of State, the formality with which the Lord-Lieutenant of
Ireland should have been addressed, and to have lapsed, perhaps
unconsciously, into that familiar tone which, no doubt, sat more easily
upon him in writing to his friend, Lord Buckingham. The particular
subject is of no importance; but, whatever it was, Lord Buckingham was
dissatisfied with his correspondent's style, and indicated so much to
him. Here is Lord Sydney's answer, marked "private;" admirable as a
specimen of excellent feeling and indomitable good-humour.