in my mind, I have not forgot our schemes to finish in this School
of freedom and equality the education of the future Baroness of
Roscommon,[68] and Deyverdun agrees with me in thinking that a
couple of years spent at Lausanne would be of infinite service to
her. But as I am convinced that she has attained the age in which
it would be the most beneficial and the least dangerous, I would
recommend speedy and decisive measures. If you could be satisfied
with an ordinary plan (I hate the name and idea of a boarding school)
Maria might be entrusted to a Madame Ostervald (Lord S. knew and
liked her under the name of Mademoiselle Bourgeois), who educates
with reputation and success several young ladies of fashion. But as
your daughter deserves a special and superior guide, we have cast
our eyes (without knowing whether she would accept it) on a lady,
who, by her birth, station, connections, understanding, knowledge,
and temper, appears, in the judgment of Deyverdun, her particular
friend, to be not unworthy to supply your place. She lives next door
to us, and _our_ eyes and ears (two pair) would be continually open.
If you found an opportunity of sending Maria in the spring with any
proper travellers, We would meet her at Geneva, Lyons, &c. With
such a hostage, I should be sure of seeing Lord S. and yourself,
and a year's trial would determine you to leave or remove her. If
you listen seriously to this idea, I will send you more particular
accounts, and take every proper step. If you cannot resolve, accept
this _bavardage_ as a proof of love and solicitude.
*I have all this time been talking to Lord S.; I hope that he has
dispatched my affairs, and it would give me pleasure to hear that I
am no longer member for Lymington, nor Lord of _Lenborough_. Adieu.
I feel every day that the distance serves only to make me think with
more tenderness of the persons whom I love.*
On reading what I have written, I must laugh at my sudden and
peremptory recommendations about Maria, yet I coolly think it the
best scheme. You oblige me beyond expression by your kindness to Aunt
Kitty. N.B. I always desire double letters.--I find I shall have
some commissions for you (Sheffelina), but I do not suppose you in
town till after Christmas.
[67] Simon André Tissot (1728-1797) was one of the most skilful
physicians of the day, excelling, says Madame de Genlis, alike in
the theory and practice of his art. Among his voluminous works
in Latin and French were _Avis au peuple sur sa santé_ (1761),
and _De valetudine litteratorum_ (1766), which he translated into
French under the title of _De la santé des gens de lettre_ (1769).
[68] Baron Sheffield of Dunamore (1781) was, in September, 1783,
created Baron Sheffield of Roscommon, with remainder to his
daughters severally. His heir was at this time his daughter, the
Hon. Maria Holroyd, afterwards Lady Stanley of Alderley.
486.
_To Lord Sheffield._
Lausanne, November 14th, 1783.
*Last Tuesday, November 11th, after plaguing and vexing yourself all
the morning about some business of your fertile creation, you went
to the House of Commons, and passed the afternoon, the evening, and
perhaps the night, without sleep or food, stifled in a close room by
the heated respiration of six hundred politicians, inflamed by party
and passion, and tired of the repetition of dull nonsense, which,
in that illustrious assembly, so far outweighs the proportion of
reason and eloquence. On the same day, after a studious morning, a
friendly dinner, and a chearful assembly of both sexes, I retired to
rest at eleven o'Clock, satisfied with the past day, and certain that
the next would afford me the return of the same quiet and rational
enjoyments. _Which has the better bargain?_
Seriously, I am every hour more grateful to my own judgment and
resolution, and only regret that I so long delayed the execution of
a favourite plan, which I am convinced is the best adapted to my
character and inclinations. Your conjecture of the revolutions of my
face, when I heard that the house was for this winter inaccessible,
is probable, but false. I bore my disappointment with the temper of a
Sage, and only use it to render the prospect of next year still more
pleasing to my imagination. You are likewise mistaken, in imputing
my fall to the awkwardness of my limbs. The same accident might have
happened to Slingsby himself, or to any _Hero_ of the age, the most
distinguished for his _bodily activity_. I have now resumed my entire
strength, and walk with caution, yet with speed and safety, through
the streets of this mountainous city. After a month of the finest
autumn I ever saw, the _Bise_[69] made me feel my old acquaintance;
the weather is now milder, and this present day is dark and rainy,
not much better than what you probably enjoy in England. The town is
comparatively empty, but the Noblesse are returning every day from
their Chateaux, and I already perceive that I shall have more reason
to complain of dissipation than of dulness.
[Sidenote: OLD ACQUAINTANCES AT LAUSANNE.]
As I told Lady S., I am afraid of being too rash and hasty in
expressing my satisfaction; but I must again repeat, that appearances
are extremely favourable. I am sensible that general praise
conveys no distinct ideas, but it is very difficult to enter into
particulars where the individuals are unknown, or indifferent to our
correspondent. You have forgotten the _old_ Generation, and in twenty
years a new one is grown up. Death has swept many from the World,
and chance or choice has brought many to this place. If you enquire
after your old acquaintance Catherine Crousaz, you must be told, that
she is solitary, uggly, blind, and universally forgotten. Your later
flame, and our common Goddess, the Eliza,[70] passed a month at the
Inn. The greatest part of the time either in fit or taking the air
on horseback. She came to consult Tissot, and was acquainted with
Cerjat, but she appears to have made no conquests, and no fountain
has been dedicated to her memory.*
And now to business. By this time those who would give me nothing
else have nobly rewarded my merit with the Chiltern Hundreds. I
retire without a sigh from the Senate, and am only impatient to
hear that you have received the sum, which your _modesty_ was
content to take for my seat. Sir Andrew[71] is an honourable man,
yet I am satisfied that you have not neglected any of the necessary
precautions. It will be advisable to have the odd hundred in
Gosling's shop and to pay the thousand to Messrs. Darrel, Winchester
Street, who will vest it for me in the three per cent. We must take
advantage of this stupendous fall of the Stocks, which amazes and
frightens many poor souls here who apprehend that poor old England is
on the brink of ruin. But this same circumstance is equally hostile
to the sale of Lenborough, and though £200 or 300 a year and some
part of my tranquillity depend on being released from the claws of
my Mortgagee, yet I am much afraid that in the present state of
things an _equal_ purchaser will not easily be found. But your
native vigour excited by friendship will remove mountains and perform
impossibilities. My salvation would be more assured if I had half as
much faith in any body else.
*With regard to meaner cares, these are two, which you can and will
undertake. 1. As I have not renounced my Country, I should be glad to
hear of your Parliamentary squabbles, which may be done with small
trouble and expence. After an interesting debate, Miss Firth or My
lady in due time may cut the speeches from Woodfall. You will write
or dictate any curious anecdote, and the whole, inclosed in a letter,
may be dispatched to Lausanne. 2. A set of Wedgewood China, which we
talked of in London, and which would be most acceptable here. As you
have a _sort_ of a taste, I leave to your own choice the colour and
the pattern; but as I have the inclination and means to live very
handsomely _here_, I desire that the size and number of things may be
adequate to a plentiful table.
If you see Lord North, assure him of my gratitude; had he been a
more successful friend, I should now be drudging at the board of
Customs, or vexed with business in the amiable society of *the Duke
of M[anchester].* To Lord Loughborough present a more affectionate
sentiment; I am satisfied with his intention to serve me, if I had
not been in such a fidget. I am sure you will not fail, while you are
in town, to visit and comfort poor Aunt Kitty. I wrote to her on my
first arrival, and she may be assured that I will not neglect her.*
Any occasional hints from Bath will be wellcome, but nothing from
hence must ever transpire. *To My lady I say nothing; we have now our
private Correspondence, into which the eye of an husband should not
be permitted to intrude. I am really satisfied with the success of
the Pamphlet;[72] not only because I have a sneaking kindness for the
author, but as it shows me that plain sense, full information, and
warm spirit, are still acceptable to the World. You talk of Lausanne
as a place of retirement; yet from the situation and freedom of the
Pays de Vaud, all nations, and all extraordinary characters, are
astonished to meet each other. The Abbé Raynal, the grand Gibbon, and
Mercier,[73] author of the Tableau de Paris, have been in the same
room. The other day, the Prince and Princess de Ligne,[74] the Duke
and Dutchess d'Ursel, &c. came from Brussels on purpose (literally
true) to act a comedy at d'Hermanches's, in the Country. He was
dying, and could not appear; but we had Comedy, ball, and supper. The
event seems to have revived him; for that great man is fallen from
his ancient glory, and his nearest relations refuse to see him. I
told you of poor Catherine's deplorable state; but Madame de Mesery,
at the age of sixty-nine, is still handsome. Adieu.*
[69] The north-east wind.
[70] Lady Elizabeth Foster.
[71] Sir Andrew Snape Hamond, R.N., created a baronet in
December, 1783, for his services in the American War, was
apparently treating for the seat of Lymington.
[72] Lord Sheffield's _Observations_. See note to Letter 481.
[73] Sébastien Mercier (1740-1814) was the author, among other
works, of _L'An 2440_, a dream of the future (1771), and of the
_Tableau de Paris_ (1781), in which he advocated many useful
reforms. For this latter work he was prosecuted, and took refuge
in Switzerland.
[74] The Prince de Ligne (1735-1814) served with distinction as
a general of the Austrian troops in the Seven Years' War and the
War of Bavarian Succession. He was noted for his wit, and was
a voluminous author both in prose and verse. He died at Vienna
during the Congress in 1814.
487.
_To Lord Sheffield._
Lausanne, December 20th, 1783.
*I have received both your Epistles; and as any excuse will serve
a man who is at the same time very busy and very idle, I patiently
expected the second, before I entertained any thoughts of answering
the first.*
[Sidenote: SALE OF LENBOROUGH.]
And so poor Lenborough is at length sold; poor indeed I may call,
for I must confess that I am most woefully disappointed in the
price. Without going back to the Golden Age in which we looked down
with disdain on the round twenty, you may remember that even this
summer we scarcely allowed our most timid expectations to sink below
seventeen, and this sum for which it is now sold falls £1400 short of
that amount, without deducting the promised gratuity to Christie.
You might indeed reckon on my impatience to be delivered from a
heavy burden both of fortune and of mind which I have often deplored
with so much energy, but that burthen was much alleviated by my
_rational_ retreat from a scene of tumult and expence, and I always
understood that we should take the chance of the winter and of the
rise of stocks before we tryed the decisive and almost irrevocable
measure of an auction. However the blow is struck, and I have already
reconciled my mind to this new loss. I should have been afraid of
writing thus much to Hugonin, but your nerves are more firmly strung,
and through these expressions of disappointment, you discern, that
instead of being displeased with your conduct, however inadequate to
my hopes, I feel myself inexpressibly obliged to your pure fervent
and persevering friendship. You will watch over the conclusion of
this business, and whatever steps on my side may be necessary shall
be diligently executed as soon as you send me the proper papers and
instruction. When the money is paid (in February) you will leave
the residue, a wretched fragment, in the hands of the Goslings on
my account. I have not absolutely determined how I shall employ it.
Something must be done in the way of annuity, and the French funds
which are very fashionable in this country are wonderfully tempting
to a poor man by the high interest, but I am aware of their slippery
foundation, and you may be assured that I shall do nothing of that
kind without full and mature and even cautious investigation. For
the same reason, instead of paying the money to Darrel, I could wish
that the £1100 or £1000 for Lymington (for we must not haggle about
trifles) may likewise slumber for a little while in the shop in Fleet
Street. Yet I should not be sorry to hear that the direction comes
too late and that they are already more actively employed.
Sure I have been particularly unfortunate in my connections
of business, for in good truth, Winton, Lovegrove, and Sir H.
Burrard[75] are more than should fall to the share of one man.
[Sidenote: PRIDE IN FOX'S FAME.]
Yet the last mentioned beast is no fool, and when that affectionate
kinsman has squeezed the Minister to the utmost, he will be satisfied
with _all_ that he can get, and will not suffer his farm to lye
fallow without being of any value either to landlord or tenant. *I
therefore conclude, on every principle of common sense, that, before
this moment, his own interest and that of the Government, stimulated
by your active zeal, have already expelled me from the House, to
which, without regret, I bid an everlasting farewell. The agreeable
hour of five o'Clock in the morning, at which you commonly retire,
does not tend to revive my attachment; but if you add the soft hours
of your morning committee,[76] in the discussion of taxes, customs,
frauds, smugglers, &c., I think I should beg to be released and
quietly sent to the Gallies, as a place of leisure and freedom. Yet I
do not depart from my general principles of toleration; some animals
are made to live in the water, others on the Earth, many in the air,
and some, as it is now believed, even in fire. Your present hurry of
Parliament I perfectly understand; when opposition make the attack--
----Horæ
Momento cita mors venit, aut victoria læta.
But when the Minister brings forward strong and decisive measure, he
at length prevails; but his progress is retarded at every step, and
in every stage of the bill, by a pertinacious, though unsuccessful,
minority. I am not sorry to hear of the splendour of Fox; I am proud,
in a foreign Country, of his fame and abilities, and our little
animosities are extinguished by my retreat from the English Stage.
With regard to the substance of the business, I scarcely know what to
think: the vices of the Company,[77] both in their persons and their
constitution, were manifold and manifest; the danger was imminent,
and such an Empire, with thirty millions of subjects, was not to be
lost for trifles. Yet, on the other hand, the faith of Charters,
the rights of property! I hesitate and tremble. Such an innovation
would at least require that the remedy should be as certain as the
evil, and the proprietors may perhaps insinuate, that _they_ were as
competent Guardians of their own affairs, as either *George North or
L. Lewisham.[78]* Their acting without a salary seems childish, and
their not being removable by the Crown is a strange and dangerous
precedent.
But enough of politics, which I now begin to view through a thin,
cold, distant cloud, yet not without a reasonable degree of curiosity
and patriotism. From the papers (especially when you add an
occasional slice of the Chronicle) I shall be amply informed of facts
and debates; from you I expect the causes rather than the events, the
true springs of action, and those interesting anecdotes which seldom
ascend the garret of a Fleet-Street editor.
[Sidenote: LORD NORTH'S INSIGNIFICANCE.]
You say that many friends (alias acquaintance) have expressed
curiosity and concern; I should not wish to be immediately forgot.
That others (you once mentioned Gerard Hamilton) condemn Government
for suffering the departure of a man who might have done them some
credit and some service, perhaps as much as Antony Storer himself.
To you, in the confidence of friendship, and without either pride or
resentment, I will fairly own that I am somewhat of Gerard's opinion;
and if I did not compare it with the rest of his character, I should
be astonished that Lord N[orth] suffered me to depart, without even
a civil answer to my letter. Were I capable of hating a man, whom
it is not easy to hate, I should find myself most amply revenged
by the insignificance of the creature in this mighty revolution of
India, his own peculiar department. But the happy Souls in paradise
are susceptible only of love and pity, and though Lausanne is not
a paradise, more especially in Winter, I do assure you, in sober
prose, that it has hitherto fulfilled, and even surpassed, my warmest
expectation. Yet I often cast a look toward Sheffield-place, where
you now repose, if you can repose, during the Christmas recess.
Embrace My Lady, the young Baroness, and the gentle Louisa, and
insinuate to your silent Consort, that separate letters require
separate answers. Had I an air balloon, the great topic of modern
Conversation, I would call upon you till the meeting of parliament.
_Vale._*
[75] Sir H. Burrard, Bart., the proprietor of the preponderating
interest in borough of Lymington.
[76] Lord Sheffield was sitting on a Select Committee appointed
to inquire into frauds committed on the revenue.
[77] Early in 1781 two committees of the House of Commons were
appointed to inquire into the affairs of India. One, a Select
Committee, considered the best means of governing the British
possessions in the East Indies; the other, a Secret Committee,
inquired into the causes of the war in the Carnatic, and the
condition of the British possessions in those parts. On April 9,
1782, the Lord Advocate, Henry Dundas, the chairman of the Secret
Committee, moved that the reports of that committee be referred
to a committee of the whole House. On April 25 he laid three sets
of resolutions on the table. The first set, which were postponed,
related to the general misconduct of the Company; the second set,
condemning the administration of the Presidency of Madras, was
voted; the third, containing criminal charges against Sir Thomas
Rumbold, the President of the Madras Council, was also voted. On
these two sets of resolutions was founded a Bill of pains and
penalties (April 29) against Rumbold; but on July 1, 1783, a
motion was carried to adjourn the further consideration of the
Bill till October 1. The proceedings, therefore, fell to the
ground and were not resumed.
Meanwhile, the resolutions as to the general misconduct of the
Company were severally agreed to by the House on May 28, 1782. On
them was founded a resolution, calling on the directors to remove
Warren Hastings, Governor-General of India, and William Hornsby,
President of the Council of Bombay. This resolution being
carried, the directors passed an Order of Recall; but the order
was rescinded on October 31 by the General Court of Proprietors.
Side by side with these proceedings, the reports of the Select
Committee were also considered. On April 24, 1782, their
chairman, General Smith, presented a series of resolutions which
were carried, and on them an address was presented to the king to
recall Sir Elijah Impey, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of
Bengal.
On November 20 and 26, 1783, Fox brought in two India Bills:
(1) vesting the affairs of the Company in the bands of seven
commissioners; (2) providing for the better government of the
territorial possessions of the Company. The first Bill passed the
House of Commons on a division of 208 to 102, after long debates,
in which the House frequently sat till 5 a.m., on December 8,
1783, and was carried up to the House of Lords on December 9. The
first reading took place on December 9, and the second reading
on December 15. A motion for adjournment was carried against the
ministers by 87 to 79, and on December 17 the Bill was rejected
by 95 to 76.
On the following day the king called upon the Secretaries of
State to resign their seals; and on the 19th the rest of the
Cabinet were dismissed.
The new Ministry was thus composed:--
William Pitt First Lord of the Treasury and
Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Earl Gower President of the Council.
Lord Thurlow Lord Chancellor.
Lord Sydney } Secretaries of State.
Marquis of Carmarthen }
The Duke of Rutland Lord Privy Seal.
Lord Howe First Lord of the Admiralty.
Duke of Richmond Master of the Ordnance.
Henry Dundas Treasurer of the Navy.
The first seven on the list formed the Cabinet.
The Duke of Dorset replaced the Duke of Manchester as Ambassador
at Paris, and Daniel Hailes succeeded Anthony Storer as Secretary
to the Legation.
Lord Temple, the "stormy petrel" of politics, accepted office as
Secretary for the Foreign Department on December 19, but resigned
on December 22.
[78] The Hon. George Augustus North (afterwards Lord Guilford)
and Lord Lewisham were two of the seven commissioners named in
Fox's India Bill.
488.
_To his Stepmother._[79]
Lausanne, December 27th, 1783.
DEAR MADAM,
Were we strangers to each other, I might amuse myself with deducing
the causes of my silence; the long expectation of your answer
and the propriety of taking a clear view of the ground on which I
stood before I could transmit a just and satisfactory account of my
situation. But it will be better to acknowledge that the old man, my
ancient and habitual enemy, touched me with his wand, and that I am
just awakening from the enchanted slumber. My silence however may be
fairly interpreted as an evidence of content. Indeed, my Dear Madam,
I _am_ happy, with as few exceptions as the condition of human Nature
will allow, and among the first of these exceptions I reckon the
interval of time and space which separates me from Bath.
Since I formed and executed this plan of retiring into Switzerland
I have not once repented, I have not felt a single moment of
disappointment, and my only regret is the having so long neglected
to obey the dictates of my reason; a more early obedience would have
saved me some years of dependance, of anxiety, and of indiscretion. I
have always valued far above the external gifts of rank and fortune
two qualities for which I stand indebted to the indulgence of Nature,
a strong and constant passion for letters, and a propensity to view
and to enjoy every object in the most favourable light. The first has
composed the daily happiness of my life and ensured the perpetual
enjoyment of the most pleasing labours; the success of my works has
given me a pure and extensive, perhaps a permanent reputation, and
if the more substantial rewards have too easily slipped through
my hands, I must ascribe their loss to the obstinancy with which
I struggled to support a style of life to which the remains of my
fortune were no longer adequate.
My propensity to be happy has been exercised on the most unfavourable
materials; you have commonly seen a smile on my conversation and my
letters, and as you never distrusted the sincerity of my professions
you must have been surprized at the success of my endeavours. Yet
what could be more adverse to my character than the life which for
some years past I have led in London. With the warmest love of
independence I have stooped the slave of Ministers. Without talents,
or at least without resolution for a public life, I have consumed
days and nights a silent spectator of noisy and factious debates.
Conscious that true happiness is founded on œconomy, the disorderly
state of my affairs has never allowed me to measure my income and my
expence, and I have never dared to cast my eyes on the disbursment
of the past or the supplies of the future year. How different is
the prospect which I now enjoy. I find myself in a state of perfect
independence and real affluence, and if I continue to enjoy a
tolerable state of health, I cannot easily discover what event is
capable of disturbing my tranquillity.