Permit me to beg your Excellency"s friendship in this matter, that so much concerns me and my family. Your kindness in it, you may rely upon it, will never be forgotten by me, and I shall transmit the remembrance of it to those who are to come after me. I have now done, and have the honour to be, with the most sincere attachment and respect, my very good Lord, your Excellency"s most faithful and most obedient, humble servant,
Lifford.
His Excellency the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland
The only obstruction to the appointment of Fitzgibbon, was the disqualifying circ.u.mstance of his birth. It was held to be a dangerous precedent to appoint an Irishman to the office; but it was maintained on the other side, that Fitzgibbon"s was an exceptional case, and could not pa.s.s into a precedent. Having come to London, to see Mr. Pitt on the subject, he writes thus to Lord Buckingham:
MR. FITZGIBBON TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.
No. 5, Arlington Street, Oct. 6th, 1788.
My dear Lord,
Immediately after my arrival in England I saw Mr. Pitt, and mentioned to him that I had your Excellency"s authority to say that Lord Lifford had, a very few days before he left Ireland, intimated a wish to resign the Great Seal. Under the impression of the opinion you were so good to give me, I did not go further than to request of Mr. Pitt that he would apprise me of any vacancy which might happen in the first instance, that I might have a fair opportunity of stating my claims, which I considered to be pretty strong, upon the King"s Government, not to be pa.s.sed by in any promotion which might take place in the line of my profession. This he has promised to do; but I have not since heard from him. However, I waited upon the Chancellor a few days since, and he told me that Lord Lifford had, when he was in town, intimated his wishes to Mr. Pitt, as he had done to your Excellency, not to return to Ireland. I am confident, however, that nothing is finally arranged, either with respect to accepting Lord Lifford"s resignation, or appointing a successor to him, or I should have heard from Mr. Pitt.
The Chancellor"s reception of me was very flattering, as he was pleased unequivocally to declare his good opinion of me as a public and a professional man; and from what fell from him, I have reason to suppose that with your Excellency"s support, and Mr. Pitt"s approbation, I shall not meet any opposition from him. What Mr. Pitt"s sentiments upon the subject may be, I have not a conjecture, as he never in any degree opened himself to me, further than in general terms of his personal good opinion of me. With him, however, I must conclude that your Excellency"s recommendation would be decisive.
Lord Lifford returns to London on the 20th of this month, and I must suppose that very shortly after, something decisive will be done. One thing is extremely clear--that if he should return to Ireland, he cannot very long remain in his present situation.
And, circ.u.mstanced as I am in that country, your Excellency cannot wonder that I wish fairly to see my way. I shall therefore certainly endeavour, before I leave London, to possess myself of Mr. Pitt"s sentiments upon this subject; to which end, it will be very material to me that he should be possessed of your Excellency"s. May I therefore request of you, to give me such an answer to this letter as I may show to him. Your Excellency, I am satisfied, most perfectly understands, that I am not by any means anxious to quit my present situation, and that so long as I continue to hold it, I will continue to serve the Crown with zeal and fidelity. My only object at present is, fairly to know the ground upon which I stand on this side of the water. The very open and friendly communications which your Excellency has had the goodness to make to me from your first arrival in Ireland, leave me no room to doubt of my situation there.
I have the honour to be, my Lord, with perfect respect and esteem, your Excellency"s obedient and very humble servant,
John Fitzgibbon.
His Excellency the Marquis of Buckingham.
Up to this time, notwithstanding the interview with the King, Lord Lifford had not relinquished the Seals. Lord Buckingham was in favour of Fitzgibbon"s claims, but seems to have been a little plagued by the incessant correspondence in which they involved him, especially as he had strong reasons for desiring to postpone the retirement of the Chancellor. "I again say," he writes to Fitzgibbon in one of the numerous epistles this affair cost him, "that nothing will make me happier than your success; but for very many reasons, which I frankly stated to you, I trust that the opening will not be made immediately, and I as fairly tell you that I will not _facilitate_ it. You know what I mean by all this mystery." He did _not_ facilitate it; and Fitzgibbon was compelled to wait upon the convenience of Government.
In the meanwhile, some new vexations had arisen between Lord Buckingham and the Ministry; but what they were, does not appear.
MR. W. W. GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.
Castlehill, Sept. 20th, 1788.
My dear Brother,
Your letter of the 14th reached me here this morning. I say nothing to you of the feelings which have been excited in my mind, by your detail of the particulars of your situation, because I am sure that you do justice to my sentiments on such a subject. Pitt has written to desire me to meet him at Burton on Monday next; and in the present state of this business, I feel peculiarly anxious for an opportunity of conversing with him upon it.
It is unquestionably better in every point of view, that I should have such an opportunity before I go over to you; and I am persuaded you would not wish me to neglect this. After I have seen him, as I shall then be within little more than a day"s journey from town, I shall wish to return there for a day or two, even if I should immediately afterwards set out for Ireland. But you may a.s.sure yourself, that if I should see any reason to think that my going over there could be of the least service, or advantage to you, I will not let any personal inconvenience stand in the way of it so long as it continues possible.
It gives me an inexpressible satisfaction to find, from your letter, that Pitt"s conduct to you in this instance has been such as I expected. If I am not grossly deceived in the opportunities which I have had of observing his character and disposition, you will find his behaviour uniformly the same on every other occasion that may occur. I make you no a.s.surances on this occasion with respect to myself, having a pleasure in thinking them unnecessary.
I confess the motive for this whole transaction, in the quarter where it evidently originates, is to me utterly inexplicable; the whole being so entirely inconsistent with every idea that I can form to myself of _his_ situation, his present or future views, his interest, or his personal feelings. I by no means think the circ.u.mstance which you mention sufficient to afford a clue for it; and the more I reflect upon it, the more incomprehensible it seems to me.
Adieu, my dear brother; whatever, and wherever you are.
Believe me ever most sincerely and affectionately yours, W. W. G.
MR. W. W. GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.
(Most Secret.) Whitehall, Oct. 22nd, 1788.
My dear Brother,
I have just received your letter of the 18th. You will have seen, by my last, the delay which has arisen in examining Lord Nugent"s papers, and proving his will, on account of the absence of Macnamara and the Drummonds. I sent off a messenger to the former immediately after I had written to you; and have received an answer from him, by which I understand he will be in town on Thursday night.
23rd.--I was interrupted yesterday, and could not, by any contrivance, return to finish my letter, though I was anxious that you should hear from me, that there has as yet been no sort of difficulty or interruption; and I conclude, therefore, that there will be none.
I have forwarded your letter to the Chancellor, and added to it one from myself. I mean, _if possible_, to see him, though that, you know, is no easy matter, as I understand the Duke of Grafton is asking it, at Selby"s request, for a man who was active against me. I could wish that you would write Wodley a few lines, to explain that you were hampered by former engagements, &c., as I found from a conversation with Camplin, that he had been perfectly satisfied with the explanation you had with him on the subject of Newport, and that he was in expectation of having this. Camplin thinks him of considerable importance.
My impatience, in the letter to which your last was an answer, was owing to my having made no allowance for east winds, which detained the mail near a week, and brought me two of your letters together. You must, therefore, excuse a very unprovoked lecture on punctuality.
I wish I could say to you that anything more is done about your commissions; but this has been, and continues to be, absolutely impossible, for a reason which gives us all no small degree of uneasiness--I mean the King"s illness, which begun with a violent spasmodic attack in his stomach; and has continued with more or less violence, and with different symptoms ever since.
We put as good a face as we can upon it; and, indeed, I hope that the danger is now over, but I cannot but own to you that I think there is still ground for a good deal of alarm. He brought on this particular attack by the great imprudence of remaining a whole day in wet stockings; but, on the whole, I am afraid that his health is evidently much worse than it has been, and that there is some lurking disorder in his const.i.tution, which he has not strength to throw out. I have again mentioned to Pitt the subject of the commissions; and he has promised to endeavour to bring it to a conclusion as soon as the King is sufficiently recovered to allow him to see him on that business. But this may yet be some time, as a part of the King"s disorder is an agitation and flurry of spirits, which hardly gives him any rest. I need not mention to you, that I should not allow myself to say all this, but in the strictest confidence, and that, independently of the King"s great dislike to its being known that he is ill, we have the strongest reasons of policy, both foreign and domestic, in the present moment particularly, to wish that idea not to prevail.
Your conjecture about Denmark and Sweden, and your subsequent reasoning upon it, are both perfectly just. The Cabinet of the former is, in the present moment, entirely subservient to the views of Russia, which are to annihilate Sweden, and thereby to gain the entire dominion of the north. Both Prussia and England have a strong and evident interest to prevent the accomplishment of this plan, but it can be done only by a vigorous exertion.
Such an exertion is now making; and I certainly think that if we had any enemies able to stir, it would involve us in a most unwelcome, though necessary war. But I rely with no little confidence upon the weakness of France, whose difficulties, instead of being at all diminished, are hourly increasing; their public credit falling even below what it was at the time of Neckar"s appointment, and their discontents again getting to the most serious pitch. Add to this, that we have every reason to believe that we have the concurrence and good wishes of Spain in the object which we are pursuing, and I think we have, I may say, nothing to apprehend from measures which would, in any other situation of Europe, be most critical indeed. The K. of P.
has already _required_ Denmark to evacuate Sweden, under the threat of the invasion of Holstein; and we are seconding him with remonstrances very near as strong, though couched in more conciliatory terms. It remains to see what she will do.
I am called away, and have only time to add that the account of the King this morning, from Sir G. Baker, is _much_ more favourable; and that if he does well, there is a plan now, I believe settled, by which the arrangement about which you inquire will certainly take place before the meeting of Parliament.
Ever most affectionately yours, W. W. G.
The lecture on punctuality alluded to, occurs in a previous letter, in which Mr. Grenville said: "I earnestly wish you would answer the questions I put to you about your own business with a little more punctuality. I know your other avocations; but you cannot conceive how distressing your silence often is to me."
In the above letter, which is marked "most secret," we have the first announcement of the King"s illness and its origin. The utmost pains were taken to conceal it from the public; and two days afterwards the King went to the levee, to dissipate suspicion. "I find from Pitt," says Mr.
Grenville, writing on the 25th, "that the King went to the levee yesterday, in order to show himself, but that he was very weak and unfit for business." The effect of the appearance at the levee is subsequently described.
MR. W. W. GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.
Whitehall, Oct. 26th, 1788.
My dear Brother,
I am very sorry to be obliged to give you a less favourable account of the King"s health than that which you received by my last letter. His appearance at the levee on Friday was an effort beyond his strength, but made with a view of putting an end to the stories that were circulated with much industry. He has, however, considerably weakened himself by it, and his physician now declares that rest, and an absolute cessation from all business, are of indispensable necessity to him. I am much mortified at the delay which this occasions in the final conclusion of the business about your commissions; but you must easily see that, in the present crisis, it must be productive of other bad consequences, which you would yourself think of more importance. G.o.d knows what the result of it will be. The present situation is sufficiently embarra.s.sing; but if it turns out ill, all sense of personal inconvenience, mortification, or disappointment, will, I fear, be lost in considerations of infinitely greater moment. At present, however, there is, I believe, unquestionably no danger; but I cannot divest myself of the persuasion that these are only the symptoms of some disorder lurking in his const.i.tution, and which he has not sufficient strength of habit to throw out. I need not say that you may depend upon hearing from me as often as I hear anything authentic as to his situation, and that if I do not write constantly, it will only be because I have nothing new to communicate on which I can at all depend.
There are no fresh accounts from the Bannat. The troops of Denmark, acting in Sweden, had agreed on the 10th to a suspension of hostilities for eight days, and there seemed reason to hope that this period would be prolonged. They had pa.s.sed the Gothelba on which Gothenburg stands, but had retreated again beyond it.
27th.--I have heard no further account of the King. The story which you will see in the papers about Lord Holland, is, I believe, utterly unfounded. I have found the list of the deeds, &c., contained in the iron chest. Camplin says that Colonel Nugent has two duplicates of it. I have therefore directed him to send the list itself over to you by this day"s post. You will see that Lord G. B."s renunciation deed is not mentioned in the list; and Camplin, who made the list, says he never heard of it.
Ever yours, W. W. G.