Memoirs of the Court and Cabinets of George the Third Volume I Part 28

W. Grenville, that he had placed his proxy in the hands of Lord Camelford, who was so embarra.s.sed by the responsibility, that he took counsel with Lord Sydney and Mr. Grenville as to the course he should follow in reference to a particular vote. Mr. Grenville, exercising his usual good sense and practical judgment, strongly recommended his Lordship to withdraw his proxy altogether, rather than to have it exposed to the chance of compromising his opinions.

The unhappy difference between the Marquis of Buckingham and his brother, Mr. Thomas Grenville, was not yet adjusted; and time seems only to have widened a breach which both deplored, and were equally anxious to remove. The proud feelings of the Marquis, wounded by the injustice with which he conceived he had been treated, were peculiarly sensitive to every act on the part of his friends that departed in the slightest degree from the line he had marked out for himself. Perhaps he expected from them more in this respect than the obligations of public life could be reasonably expected to concede; in this instance, at least, he appears to have exaggerated into a personal wrong a vote which was given on pure and independent grounds, without a suspicion that it was open to so injurious an interpretation. Mr. Thomas Grenville's letter on this painful subject is an honourable testimony alike to his integrity and his affection.

MR. THOMAS GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

St. James's Street, Feb. 4th, 1785.

My dear Brother,

Anything that comes from you with the least prospect of bringing back to me those sentiments of affection which, in spite of any political differences, it has always been my first wish to keep alive between us; any intimation of your looking for a brother in one who has never ceased to be so to you; I cannot but be eager to express the pleasure and satisfaction I feel in receiving from you. And if I did not feel shocked and wounded by those expressions which ascribe to my vote motives so foreign to my nature, that I can scarce bear to read or repeat them, my hopes of living with you in the affectionate intercourse of a brother would have kept my attention to that pleasing prospect only, and would have shut my lips upon every past subject of difference. Can I really have to think that you are serious in considering me as having struck at your honour and your life by any vote that I have given? That such an expression can have come from you after a year's reflection, wounds me more than anything that could be said in the first moments of anger; and it is not against such a charge that I can argue to defend myself.

I cannot say with how much concern it is, that I have felt myself obliged to allude to anything that has pa.s.sed, nor could I have been forced now to do it, was it not that to have said nothing upon a charge so cruel might have looked like acquiescing in the justice of it: of that vote I have always said, and G.o.d knows, always truly said, that I made in it no personal attack, felt in it nothing hostile to you, and regretted in it only the misrepresentation and misconception of others. I have said more, and still say, that the misunderstanding of that vote is so grievous to me, that, blameless as my motives were, I would not have given it, if I had thought it liable to the misrepresentations that have been made of it; yet, G.o.d knows, I thought it could be mistaken only by those who did not know me.

I return with pleasure, my dear brother, to that part of your note, in which I hope I find again the prospect of that near affectionate relation, the renewal of which on your part, my mind has ever been anxious for, and ever eager to bring about, from the first moment that political differences had separated us; for, upon political subjects, my mind receives no impression that can stop in it the feelings of relationship, kindness, and affection, all of which I will hope, my dearest brother, the latter words of your note again open the way to--a way in which I cannot too often repeat, how gladly and happily I should go forward in.

Ever your very affectionate brother, Thomas Grenville.

The following pa.s.sage, in the Marquis of Buckingham's hand-writing, apparently cut out of a former letter to which the above is the reply, seems to contain the observations from which Mr. Thomas Grenville extracted the hope of reconciliation. It is enclosed in his letter as if it had been returned to the writer.

When you joined in the vote which impeached my honour, and possibly my life, you forgot the feelings of a brother, and dissolved the ties between us. I loathe the looking back, still less do I mean to reproach: my heart is still alive to those feelings which nature and religion dictate to me.

I have no false pride, and, therefore, have no conditions to propose to you. All that I look for is a _brother_; but in that word I comprehend all the sentiments of affection which I feel I discharged faithfully towards you till the moment of our separation. Consult your feelings, and G.o.d direct them.

In the next letter, Mr. W. W. Grenville communicates a sc.r.a.p of political gossip to his brother.

MR. W. W. GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Oakley, Sunday, August 9th, 1785.

My dear Brother,

Having just heard a most curious piece of news, I take the first moment of acquainting you with it, though, perhaps, you will have been informed of it through some other channel. It is no less than a sudden resolution taken by Wyndham of resigning his office, in consequence of an inflammatory fever with which he was seized at Oxford, on his way back to Dublin. Lord Northington's friends in London have undertaken very kindly to supply his loss, and have offered his secretaryship to Tom Pelham, who has accepted, and waits only for the form of being appointed by Lord Northington to the situation of his confidential Minister and friend.

Their Irish peers are Clements, Matthew, Jonson, Pomeroy, and Mr. Hutchinson; together with Deland, Pennant, and Pennington.

The wags say that this is the second voyage to the North Pole, in which Wyndham has stopped short. I own I think he has used his princ.i.p.al very ill, and himself not very well. The other's accepting is not much less extraordinary.

I should not be quite surprised if Lord Northington should follow his quondam Secretary's example. At any rate, conceive the confusion in which the country must now be, with the harvest, the election, and nothing like a Government; the Secretary not appointed, and the Lord-Lieutenant doing business _on Thursdays, from twelve till two_.

You see Hussy Burgh is not in the list. Should not you write him an ostensible letter on the subject?

I shall go to town in a day or two at furthest, and will write to you from thence.

Adieu, my dear brother, Ever most affectionately yours, W. W. G.

1786.

Mr. W. W. Grenville Joins Mr. Pitt's Administration.

While the Marquis of Buckingham abstained from active partic.i.p.ation in public business, he maintained the most friendly relations with Mr.

Pitt, warmly supporting the Minister in all matters upon which his individual adhesion, advice, and local influence could add strength and character to his Administration. That he persevered, however, in cultivating the retirement he had chosen, in preference to throwing himself personally into the ocean of action, may be inferred from the following letter, which announces the accession of Mr. Grenville to the Government as Vice-President of the Committee of Trade.

MR. W. W. GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Whitehall, August 10th, 1786.

My dear Brother,

I said nothing to you in my last about going to Court, because, as everybody in town had gone on Friday, I did not think it material for you to come up, considering your distance; and I was unwilling to advise your putting yourself to any inconvenience of that sort, which did not appear to be absolutely necessary.

But yesterday's levee was fuller than Friday's, and crowded with all sorts of people, particularly the Opposition, who came from all quarters of the kingdom. This being the case, I cannot help thinking that you would do right to come up for the next levee, which is Friday next; the King keeping the Duke of York's birthday on Wednesday, at Windsor. I mentioned the subject to-day to Pitt, who seemed to think it very desirable that you should do this, as a mark of attention, in return for the many civilities which we have lately received from that quarter. As several places have addressed on the occasion, I think if you would bring up an address from the loyal corporation of Buckingham, it would be a sort of apology for your absence hitherto.

The Committee of Trade is to be declared that day in council.

Lord Hawkesbury is to kiss hands as President, and your humble servant as Vice-President. Lord Hawkesbury also kisses hands for the Duchy, and Lord Clarendon for the Post-Office, in the room of Lord Tankerville, who goes out upon a sort of quarrel between him and Lord Cartaret. Mornington kisses hands to-morrow for the Treasury.

I believe these are all the arrangements that will now be made.

The seat on the Bench is not yet disposed of, and from what I judged by the Chancellor's looks the other day, when I saw him at council, I very much fear that a more extensive law arrangement will soon be necessary. Lord Mansfield is also said to be worse again.

Adieu, my dear brother, Believe me ever most sincerely and affectionately yours, W. W. G.

That the weight of Lord Buckingham's opinions was strongly felt in the nomination of Mr. Grenville and others to office, is abundantly testified by a letter of the same date, in which Lord Mornington ascribes to the favourable recommendations of the Marquis his seat at the Treasury.

LORD MORNINGTON TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

August 10th, 1786.

My dear Lord,

I trouble you with this letter to inform you that Pitt has offered me the vacant seat at the Board of Treasury, and that I have accepted it: nothing could be more flattering or kind than the manner in which this offer was made; I will trouble you with the circ.u.mstances which attended it when I have the pleasure of seeing you. William Grenville's friendship has been exerted with its usual warmth and sincerity on this occasion; and I feel so strongly the effect of your former activity in my favour, that although your absence from town has prevented my applying to you on this occasion, yet I must attribute this, as I shall any future success, to the ground which you laid for me, and to the uniform a.s.siduity with which you have supported my pretensions: therefore, although you have had no immediate concern (that I know) in this specific object, I must beg of you to accept a very large share of the grat.i.tude which I feel to those who have promoted it for me. The Vice-Treasurerships, as I suppose you know, do not go to Ireland.

I hope to have the pleasure of paying my duty to you at Stowe, in the autumn; perhaps I may have the good fortune to see you sooner in town, as I hear that you are coming up with a loyal address. I beg my best compliments to Lady Buckingham.

Believe me, my dear Lord, Ever most sincerely your obliged and affectionate Mornington.

The "object," dimly and cautiously alluded to in the annexed letters, was that of a peerage, to which the high pretensions of Mr. W. W.

Grenville justified him in looking forward; but which his prudence, holding his honourable ambition in check, made him desirous of postponing until he had won even greater distinction as a statesman than he had already attained.