Whitehall, April 30th, 1788.
My dear Brother,
Bastard's motion came on yesterday, and was lost, on the
previous question, by 221 to 169. This division very far
exceeded my expectations, and, indeed, I believe those of most
people, considering the popular nature of the question, and the
many personal considerations which induced people to vote
against us on this point, who do so on no other. It has, I
imagine, entirely put an end to any further discussion of this
subject. It will not diminish your satisfaction on this occasion
to hear that the previous question was moved by me, and that I
had the good fortune not only to satisfy myself, which I have
not done before in the course of this session, but also to
satisfy my friends so well, that the question was rested on my
speech, no other member of Government saying anything.
This event puts an end to all considerations as to any immediate
contingencies to affect our decision of the point which relates
to me. It is therefore not necessary to take any immediate steps
upon it, till we can find some satisfactory solution. You see
that my mind leans at present to taking the Rolls at the
diminished value, but _for life_; thinking, as I do, more and
more, every day, that such a grant would be perfectly legal and
maintainable against all the world, on the ground of precedent,
of authority, and on the words of the statute itself.
The idea of Lord Clanbrassil's office had occurred to me. I have
no difficulty in stating to you fairly my feelings upon it,
because I know you will enter into them, and judge, after
comparing them with the convenience which you would yourself
derive from such an arrangement, preferably to any other. Lord
Clanbrassil's life I had taken from the Peerage at fifty-nine,
but sixty would not materially alter the calculation. Such a
life, on common averages, is stated in Price's book as having an
expectation of living from fourteen years to a little less than
twelve, according to the healthiness of the situation. On
pursuing his calculations, I am inclined to believe, that an
annuity of £2000 for my life, to commence after Lord C.'s, would
not be materially different from an annuity in present for my
life of £1000. But these calculations depend on so many nice
circumstances, that, without being more used to them, and
acquainted with the principles they proceed upon, it is not easy
to be accurate in them. Whatever is the result of such a
calculation, you cannot, I am sure, but feel that, at the
present period of my life, and in my circumstances, a certainty
of £1000 would be worth much more to me, in point of happiness,
than an expectation of twice that value at an uncertain period,
which though, on general averages, it might be expected in about
thirteen years, might not fall even in twice that time.
I state this to you, that you may know exactly what I feel upon
the subject; but, at the same time, I know too much what I owe
to you on this, as on every other occasion, not to be desirous
of accommodating my objects to your convenience. On that ground,
therefore, I leave it entirely to you.
I wish you would send me some answer about Sir H. Hoghton, which
I could show him as a point of civility to a man to whom
civility is due from me. I have not done anything about Sneyd,
because, to say the truth, this other business put it out of my
head. I am now unwilling to communicate your acquiescence to
Bagot till I have mentioned it to you once more. You know the
object which I have in it, and can best judge how far the
inconvenience to you is more than worth while.
I have had Miles with me this morning, to mention that he had
written to you on the subject of a publication respecting Lord
Gormanston's business, but had not received any answer from you.
I told him that I would mention to you what he had said to me
upon it, but that I could not undertake to give him any answer,
as he must receive that from you alone. He desired me to say
that he made the communication as a mark of respect and
attachment. I confess I look upon him as one of those men with
whom connexion or communication, beyond what may be absolutely
necessary, is not desirable; but I may be mistaken in this; and
perhaps that which has already passed may make it better that
you should preserve terms of civility towards him.
The Duke of Athol's statement of his own case has made much
impression on me: pray tell me what you think of it. He says he
can prove that, although my father passed the Bill of 1765, from
the necessity of applying an immediate remedy to the mischief of
smuggling, yet that it was his intention to have entered into a
fuller investigation of the subject the following year. He
presses me to be one of the Commissioners; but this I shall
probably decline, on the real ground of other business.
Alexander Hood is to have the red riband, and not Trevor. He
made a very good speech for it last night. There is not the
smallest ground for believing that Sir G. Howard was actuated by
anything else than a sense of the _great military character_
which he sustains, and perhaps some ground of pique at the
King's having refused to interfere with Mulgrave and myself to
give the Chaplainship of Chelsea to a friend of his. He asked an
audience of the King for the purpose of making this request, and
sent an account of it in a paragraph to the newspapers.
Ever most affectionately yours,
W. W. G.
You may, perhaps, have seen in "The World," a most scandalous
misrepresentation of Mornington's conduct the other evening in
the House of Commons. It will, I am sure, give you pleasure to
be assured, that there is not the smallest ground for so
infamous an imputation; and that his conduct on that occasion is
universally felt, and allowed even by those who are least
favourably disposed to him, to have been perfectly correct and
proper. He spoke remarkably well, and said exactly what his
friends could have wished him to say.
Mr. Grenville had now made up his mind to take the reversion of Lord
Clanbrassil's office (the Chief Remembrancership), in preference to the
Rolls; for which the Duke of Leinster, who had given considerable
trouble to the Government in Ireland, was rather a clamorous candidate.