Inclosed you will receive two draughts for two different terms, which
will each be ready for your commands.--I must delay the pleasure of
seeing you; but _hope_ I shall write oftener than usual. I wish you
joy of the fair ending of the Year. May 1780 be still more propitious
for public and private happiness.
I am,
Most truly yours,
E. GIBBON.
[Sidenote: HOLROYD STANDS FOR COVENTRY.]
385.
_To Colonel Holroyd, at Coventry._
London, Monday, February 7th, 1780.
*When the A. G. informed me of the Express he had just sent down to
Coventry,[447] I had not the least doubt of your embracing the bolder
resolution. You are indeed obliged to him for his real friendship,
which he feels and expresses warmly; on this occasion, I hope, it
will be successfully, and that in a few days you will find yourself
among us at St. Stephen's in the heat of the battle. But you know
that I am a dastardly, pusillanimous spirit, more inclined to fear
than to hope, and not very eager in the pursuit of _expensive_
Vanity. On this vacancy the celerity of your motions may probably
prevent opposition; but at the general election, your enemy, the
Corporation, will not be asleep, and I wish, if it be not too late,
to warn you against any promises or engagements which may terminate
in a defeat, or at least a Contest of ten thousand pounds. Adieu. I
could believe (without seeing it under her paw) that my lady wishes
to leave Coventry. No news! foreign or domestic. I did not forget
to mention the _Companies_, but find people, as I expected, torpid.
Burke makes his motion Friday; but I think the rumours of a Civil
War subside every day:[448] petitions are thought less formidable;
and I hear the Sussex protest[449] does not gather signatures in the
country.*
[447] "The character of my friend (Mr. Holroyd)," says Gibbon in
his autobiography, "had recommended him to a seat in Parliament
for Coventry, the command of a regiment of light dragoons, and an
Irish peerage." The seat for Coventry was vacant by the death of
Walter Waring, M.P.
[448] Towards the end of 1779, and in January, 1780, Yorkshire,
Middlesex, Hampshire, and many other counties petitioned the
House of Commons to grant no more taxes till the expenses of
Government were reduced and sinecure places abolished. The tone
of several of these county meetings seemed almost to threaten
Civil War. Devonshire is said to have voted a fund for buying
arms. The Yorkshire petition was presented by Sir George Saville,
February 8, 1780.
[449] In Lord Sheffield's edition of this letter (Gibbon's
_Miscellaneous Works_, vol. ii. p. 239), the words are given as
"I hear your Sussex protest gathers signatures in the country."
The protest was suggested and promoted by Colonel Holroyd.
386.
_To Colonel J. B. Holroyd._
Brookes's,[450] Saturday Night, February (12th), 1780.
I rejoyce in the successful progress, and am convinced that for the
_present_ at least the catastrophe will be happy. Your last was
safely conveyed to Lord Charles Spencer in the few hours that he
happed to be in town. Though I hate to go out in the morning I will
be at the Admiralty with Lord Mulgrave, Lord Lisburn and Penton
to-morrow at ten o'clock.
[Sidenote: VICTORY OVER THE SPANISH FLEET.]
Burke[451] opened his ingenious partial scheme of public economy
yesterday, but I cannot give you a speech of three hours in three
lines, and you will hear and see enough about it. What is of much
more consequence than this Parliamentary prattle (I talk to you now
as a free mason) is the business of which we have received to-day
the certain though not official information. Rodney encountered the
Spanish Fleet off Cape St. Mary's;[452] the Commodore (90 guns) blew
up, three line of battle-ships taken, two more likewise taken, but
so much shattered and dismasted, that they were separated and forced
by an unlucky gale of wind into the Port of Cadiz. The letters from
thence express despondency and fears (which for us are hopes) of
several other ships. Patriots very dull, the Duke of Grafton who is
now standing by the fire, looks blacker than usual. I dined with
Wedderburne (at Lord Carlisle's), who was to see one of your Agents
to-night; he is earnest and sanguine--God send a good deliverance to
the Colonel and Secretary.
[450] Brooks's Club, originally in Pall Mall, was moved to 60,
St. James's Street, in 1778. Gibbon, proposed by Mr. St. John,
was elected in 1777. In Richard Tickell's verses celebrating the
Hon. John Townshend's return for Cambridge in 1780, occur the
following lines:--
"And, know, I've bought the best champagne from Brookes.
From liberal Brookes, whose speculative skill
Is hasty credit, and a distant bill;
Who, nursed in clubs, disdains a vulgar trade,
Exults to trust and blushes to be paid."
[451] On February 11, Burke brought forward his scheme for
securing the independence of Parliament, and for Economical
Reform, in a speech which Lord North said was "such as no other
member could have made." Besides other reductions of expense,
he proposed to abolish altogether the Board of Trade, the Civil
Branch of the Ordnance, and the third Secretaryship of State.
Lord North allowed the Establishment Bill to be brought in,
the only member who opposed its introduction being Lord George
Gordon. The House of Commons went into Committee on the Bill,
March 8, 1780.
[452] On January 16, 1780, Rodney encountered the Spanish Admiral
Langara off Cape St. Vincent, won a complete victory, relieved
Gibraltar, supplied Minorca, and proceeded to the West Indies.
The _San Domingo_ (70 guns) blew up; the flagship _Phœnix_ (80
guns), and three other ships of 70 guns, were taken. The _San
Julian_ (70 guns), after her prize crew was put on board, ran
ashore. Another ship, after her officers were shifted, was
totally wrecked. Four, more or less damaged, escaped into Cadiz.
387.
_To his Stepmother._
Bentinck Street, March 10th, 1780.