Books: The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 2

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"False friends I have as well as you,
Who daily counsel me
Fame and ambition to pursue,
And leave off loving thee--"

It won't be unamusing, I hope it will be no more than amusing,
when all the Johns of Gaunt, and Clarences, and Humphrys of
Gloucester, are old enough to be running about town, and
furnishing histories. Adieu!

(764) Walpole, in his Memoires, vol. it. p. 152, says, that
Mr. Pitt moved the King to mercy, but was cut very short; nor
did his Majesty remember to ask his usual question, whether
there were any favourable circumstances."-E.

(765) Lucy Young, wife of William Henry, Earl of Rochford.

364 Letter 212
To John Chute, Esq.(766)
Sunday night, very late, Feb. 27, 1757.

My dear Sir,
I should certainly have been with YOU to-night, as I desired
George Montagu to tell you, but every six hours produce such
new wonders, that I do not know when I shall have a moment to
see you. Will you, can you believe me, when I tell you that
the four persons of the court-martial whom Keppel named
yesterday to the House as commissioning him to ask for the
bill, now deny they gave him such commission, though Norris,
one of them, was twice on Friday with Sir Richard Lyttelton,
and once with George Grenville for the same purpose! I have
done nothing but traverse the town tonight from Sir Richard
Lyttelton's to the Speaker's, to Mr. Pitt's, to Mr. Fox's, to
Doddington's, to Lady Hervey's, to find out and try how to
defeat the evil of this, and to extract, if possible, some
good from it. Alas! alas! that what I meant so well, should
be likely only to add a fortnight to the poor man's misery!
Adieu!

(766) Now first published.

365 Letter 213
To Sir Horace Mann.
Arlington Street, March 3, 1757.

I have deferred writing to you till I could tell you something
certain of the fate of Admiral Byng: no history was ever so
extraordinary, or produced such variety of surprising turns.
In my last I told you that his sentence was referred to the
twelve judges. They have made law of that of which no man
else could make sense. The Admiralty immediately signed the
warrant for his execution on the last of February--that is,
three signed: Admiral Forbes positively refused, and would
have resigned sooner. The Speaker would have had Byng
expelled the House, but his tigers were pitiful. Sir Francis
Dashwood tried to call for the court-martial's letter, but the
tigers were not so tender as that came to. Some of the
court-martial grew to feel as the execution advanced: the city
grew impatient for it. Mr. Fox tried to represent the new
ministry as compassionate, and has damaged their popularity.
Three of the court-martial applied on Wednesday last to Lord
Temple to renew their solicitation for mercy. Sir Francis
Dashwood moved a repeal of the bloody twelfth article: the
House was savage enough; yet Mr. Doddington softened them, and
not one man spoke directly against mercy. They had nothing to
fear: the man,(767) who, of all defects, hates cowardice and
avarice most, and who has some little objection to a mob in
St. James's street, has magnanimously forgot all the services
of the great Lord Torrington. On Thursday seven of the
court-martial applied for mercy: they were rejected. On
Friday a most strange event happened. I was told at the House
that Captain Keppel and Admiral Norris desired a bill to
absolve them from their oath of secrecy, that they might
unfold something very material towards saving the prisoner's
life. I was out of Parliament myself during my re-election,
but I ran to Keppel; he said he had never spoken in public,
and could not, but would give authority to any body else. The
Speaker was putting the question for the orders of the day,
after which no motion could be made: it was Friday, the House
would not sit on Saturday, the execution was fixed for Monday.
I felt all this in an instant, dragged Mr. Keppel to Sir
Francis Dashwood, and he on the floor before he had taken his
place, called out to the Speaker, and though the orders were
passed, Sir Francis was suffered to speak. The House was
wondrously softened: pains were taken to prove to Mr. Keppel
that he might speak, notwithstanding his oath; but he adhering
to it, he had time given him till next morning to consider and
consult some of his brethren who had commissioned him to
desire the bill. The next day the King sent a message to our
House, that he had respited Mr. Byng for a fortnight, till the
bill could be passed, and he should know whether the Admiral
was unjustly condemned. The bill was read twice in our House
that day, and went through the committee: mr. Keppel affirming
that he had something, in his opinion, of weight to tell, and
which it was material his Majesty should know, and naming four
of his associates who desired to be empowered to speak. On
Sunday all was confusion on news that the four disclaimed what
Mr. Keppel had said for them. On Monday he told the House
that in one he had been mistaken; that another did not declare
off, but wished all were to be compelled to speak; and from
the two others he produced a letter upholding him in what he
had said. The bill passed by 153 to 23. On Tuesday it was
treated very differently by the Lords. The new Chief
Justice(768) and the late Chancellor(769) pleaded against Byng
like little attorneys, and did all they could to stifle truth.
That all was a good deal. They prevailed to have the whole
courtmartial at their bar. Lord Hardwicke urged for the
intervention of a day, on the pretence of a trifling cause of
an Irish bankruptcy then depending before the Lords, though
Lord Temple showed them that some of the captains and admirals
Were under sailing orders for America. But Lord Hardwicke and
Lord Anson were expeditious enough to do what they wanted in
one night's time: for the next day, yesterday, every one of
the court-martial defended their sentence, and even the three
conscientious said not one syllable of their desire of the
bill, which was accordingly unanimously rejected, and with
great marks of contempt for the House of Commons.

This is as brief and as clear an abstract as I can give you of
a most complicated affair, in which I have been a most
unfortunate actor, having to my infinite grief, which I shall
feel till the man is at peace, been instrumental in
protracting his misery a fortnight, by what I meant as the
kindest thing I could do. I never knew poor Byng enough to
bow to; but the great doubtfulness of his crime, and the
extraordinariness of his sentence, the persecution of his
enemies, who sacrifice him for their own guilt and the rage of
a blinded nation, have called forth all my pity for him. His
enemies triumph, but who can envy the triumph of murder?

Nothing else material has happened, but Mr. Pitt's having
moved for a German subsidy, which is another matter of triumph
to the late ministry. He and Mr. Fox have the warmest
altercations every day in the House.

We have had a few French symptoms; papers were fixed on the
Exchange, with these words, "Shoot Byng, or take care of your
King;" but this storm, which Lord Anson's creatures and
protectors have conjured up, may choose itself employment when
Byng is dead.

Your last was of Jan. 29th, in which I thank you for what you
say of my commissions: sure you could not imagine that I
thought you neglected them? Adieu!

(767) The King.

(768) W. Murray, Lord Mansfield.

(769) Philip Yorke, Earl of Hardwicke.

367 Letter 214
To Sir Horace Mann.
Arlington Street, March 17, 1757.

Admiral Byng's tragedy was completed on Monday-a perfect
tragedy, for there were variety of incidents, villany, murder,
and a hero! His sufferings, persecutions, aspersions,
disturbances, nay, the revolutions of his fate, had not in the
least unhinged his mind; his whole behaviour was natural and
firm. A few days before, one of his friends standing by him,
said, "Which of us is the tallest?" He replied, "Why this
ceremony? I know what it means; let the man come and measure
me for my coffin." He said, that being acquitted of
cowardice, and being persuaded on the coolest reflection that
he had acted for the best, and should act so again, he was not
unwilling to suffer. he desired to be shot on the
quarter-deck, not where common malefactors are; came out at
twelve, sat down in a chair, for he would not kneel, and
refused to have his face covered, that his countenance might
show whether he feared death; but being told that it might
frighten his executioners, he submitted, gave the signal at
once, received one shot through the head, another through the
heart, and fell. Do cowards live or die thus? Can that man
want spirit who only fears to terrify his executioners? Has
the aspen Duke of Newcastle lived thus? Would my Lord
Hardwicke die thus, even supposing he had nothing on his
conscience?

This scene is over! what will be the next is matter of great
uncertainty. The new ministers are well weary of their
situation; without credit at court, without influence in the
House of Commons, undermined every where, I believe they are
too sensible not to desire to be delivered of their burthen,
which those who increase yet dread to take on themselves. Mr.
Pitt's health is as bad as his situation: confidence between
the other factions almost impossible; yet I believe their
impatience will prevail over their distrust. The nation
expects a change every day, and being a nation, I believe,
desires it; and being the English nation, will condemn it the
moment it is made. We are trembling for Hanover, and the Duke
is going to command the army of observation. These are the
politics of the week; the diversions are balls, and the two
Princes frequent them; but the eldest nephew(770) remains shut
up in a room, where, as desirous as they are of keeping him, I
believe he is now and then incommode. The Duke of Richmond
has made two balls on his approaching wedding with Lady Mary
Bruce, Mr. Conway's(771) daughter-in-law: it is the perfectest
match in the world; youth, beauty, riches, alliances, and all
the blood of all the kings from Robert Bruce to Charles the
Second. they are the prettiest couple in England, except the
father-in-law and mother.

As I write so often to you, you must be content with shorter
letters, which, however, are always as long as I can make
them. This summer will not contract our correspondence.
Adieu! my dear Sir.

(770) George Prince of Wales, afterwards George III.

(771) Lady Mary Bruce was only daughter of Charles last Earl
of Ailesbury, by his third wife, Caroline, daughter of General
John Campbell, afterwards Duke of Argyll. lady Ailesbury
married to her second husband, Colonel Henry Seymour Conway,
only brother of Francis Earl of Hertford.

368 Letter 215
To Sir Horace Mann.
Arlington Street, April 7, 1757.

You will receive letters by this post that will surprise you;
I will try to give you a comment to them; an exact explication
I don't know who could give you. You will receive the orders
of' a new master, Lord Egremont. I was going on to say that
the ministry is again changed, but I cannot say Changed, it is
only dismissed--and here is another inter-ministerium.

The King has never borne Lord Temple,(772) and soon grew
displeased with Mr. Pitt: on Byng's affair it came to
aversion. It is now given out that both I have mentioned have
personally affronted the King. On the execution, he would not
suffer Dr. Hay of the admiralty to be brought into Parliament,
though he had lost his seat on coming into his service.
During this squabble negotiations were set on foot between the
Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Fox, and would have been concluded
if either of them would have risked being hanged for the
other. The one most afraid broke off the treaty; need I say
it was the Duke?(773 While this was in agitation, it grew
necessary for the Duke(774) to go abroad and take the command
of the army of observation. He did not care to be checked
there by a hostile ministry at home: his father was as
unwilling to be left in their hands. The drum was beat for
forces; none would list. However, the change must be made,
The day before yesterday Lord Temple was dismissed, with all
his admiralty but Boscawen, who was of the former, and with an
offer to Mr. Elliot to stay, which he has declined. The new
admirals are Lord Winchelsea, Rowley again, Moyston, Lord
Carysfort, Mr. Sandys, and young Hamilton of the board of
trade.(775) It was hoped that this disgrace would drive Mr.
Pitt and the rest of his friends to resign--for that very
reason they would not. The time pressed; to-day was fixed for
the Duke's departure, and for the recess of Parliament during
the holidays. Mr. Pitt was dismissed, and Lord Egremont has
received the seals to-day. Mr. Fox has always adhered to
being only paymaster; but the impossibility of finding a
chancellor of the exchequer, which Lord Duplin of the
Newcastle faction, and Doddington of Mr. Fox's, have refused,
has, I think, forced Mr. Fox to resolve to take that post
himself. However, that and every thing else is unsettled, and
Mr. Fox is to take nothing till the Inquiries are over. The
Duke of Devonshire remains in the treasury, declaring that it
is only for a short time, and till they can fix on somebody
else. The Duke of Newcastle keeps aloof, professing no
connexion with Mr. Pitt; Lord Hardwicke is gone into the
country for a fortnight. The stocks fall, the foreign
ministers stare; Leicester-house is going to be very angry,
and I fear we are going into great confusion. As I wish Mr.
Fox so well, I cannot but lament the undigested rashness of
this measure.

Having lost three packet-boats lately, I fear I have missed a
letter or two of yours: I hope this will have better fortune;
for, almost unintelligible, as it is, you will want even so
awkward a key.

Mr. Fox was very desirous of bargaining for a peerage for Lady
Caroline; the King has positively refused it, but has given
him the reversion for three lives of clerk of the pelts in
Ireland, which Doddington has now. Mr. Conway is made groom
of the bedchamber to the King.

A volume on all I have told you would only perplex you more;
you will have time to study what I send you now. I go to
Strawberry Hill to-morrow for the holidays; and till they are
over, certainly nothing more will be done. You did not expect
this new confusion, just when you was preparing to tremble for
the campaign. Adieu!

(772) "To Lord Temple," says Lord Waldegrave, "the King had
the strongest aversion, his lordship having a pert
familiarity, which is not always agreeable to his Majesty.
besides, in the affair of admiral Byng, he had used some
insolent expressions, which his Majesty could never forgive.
Pitt, he said, made him long speeches, which probably might be
very fine, but were greatly beyond his comprehension, and that
his letters were affected, formal, and pedantic; but as to
Temple, he was so disagreeable a fellow, there was no bearing
him." Memoirs, p. 93.-E.

(773) "I told his Majesty, that the Duke of Newcastle was quite
doubtful what part he should take, being equally balanced by
fear on the one side and love of power on the other. To this
the King replied, 'I know he is apt to be afraid, therefore go
and encourage him; tell him I do not look upon myself as king
whilst I am in the hands of these scoundrels; that I am
determined to get rid of them at any rate; that I expect his
assistance, and that he may depend on my favour and
protection.'" Waldegrave, p. 96.-E.

(774) The Duke of Cumberland.

(775) The new admiralty actually consisted of the following:--
Lord Winchilsea, Admiral Sir W. Rowley, K. B., Hon. Edward
Boscawen, Gilbert Elliott, Esq., John Proby, first lord
Carysfort, Savage Mostyn, Esq., and the Hon. Edward Sandys,
afterwards second lord Sandys.-D.

370 Letter 216
To Sir Horace Mann.
Arlington Street, April 20, 1757.

You will wonder that I should so long have announced my lord
Egremont to you for a master, without his announcing himself to
you.--it was no fault of mine; every thing here is a riddle or
an absurdity. Instead of coming forth secretary of state, he
went out of town, declaring he knew nothing of the matter. On
that, it was affirmed that he had refused the seals. The truth
is, they have never been offered to him in form. He had been
sounded, and I believe was not averse, but made excuses that
were not thought invincible. As we are in profound peace with
all the world, and can do without any government, it is thought
proper to wait a little, till what are called the Inquiries are
over;(776) what they are, I will tell you
presently. A man(777) who has hated and loved the Duke of
Newcastle pretty heartily in the course of some years, is
Willing to wait, in hopes of prevailing on him to resume the
seals--that Duke is the arbiter of England! Both the other
parties are trying to unite with him. The King pulls him, the
next reign (for you know his grace is very young) pulls him
back. Present power tempts: Mr. Fox's unpopularity terrifies-
-he will reconcile all, with immediate duty to the King, with a
salvo to the intention of betraying him to the Prince, to make
his peace with the latter, as soon as he has made up with the
former. Unless his grace takes Mr. Fox by the hand, the latter
is in an ugly situation--if he does, is he in a beautiful one?

Yesterday began the famous and long-expected Inquiries.(778)
The House of Commons in person undertakes to examine all the
intelligence, letters, and orders, of the administration that
lost Minorca. In order to this, they pass over a -,,whole
winter; then they send for cart-loads of papers from all the
offices, leaving it to the discretion of the clerks to
transcribe, insert, omit, whatever they please; and without
inquiring what the accused ministers had left or secreted.
Before it was possible for people to examine these with any
attention, supposing they were worth any, the whole House goes
to work, sets the clerk to reading such bushels of letters, that
the very dates fill three-and-twenty sheets of paper; he reads
as fast as he can, nobody attends, every body goes away, and
to-night they determined that the whole should be read through
on tomorrow and Friday, that one may have time to digest on
Saturday and Sunday what one had scarce heard,
cannot remember, nor is it worth the while; and then on
Monday, without asking any questions, examining any witnesses,
authority, or authenticity, the Tories are to affirm that the
ministers were very negligent; the Whigs, that they were
wonderfully informed, discreet, provident, and active; and Mr.
Pitt and his friends are to affect great zeal for justice, are
to avoid provoking the Duke of Newcastle, and are to endeavour
to extract from all the nothings they have not heard,
something that is to lay all the guilt at Mr. Fox's door. Now
you know very exactly what the Inquiries are-and this wise
nation is gaping to see the chick which their old brood-hen the
House of Commons will produce from an egg laid in
November, neglected till April, and then hatched in a
quicksand!

The common council have presented gold boxes with the freedom
of their city to Mr. Pitt and Mr. Legge--no gracious
compliment to St. James's. It is expected that the example
will catch, but as yet, I hear of no imitations. Pamphlets,
cards, and prints swarm again. George Townshend has published
one of the latter, which is so admirable in its kind, that I
cannot help sending 'It to you. His genius for likenesses in
caricatura is astonishing--indeed, Lord Winchelsea's figure is
not heightened--your friends Doddington and Lord Sandwich are
like; the former made me laugh till I cried. The Hanoverian
drummer, Ellis, is the least like, though it has much of his
air. I need say nothing of the lump of fat(779) crowned with
laurel on the altar. As Townshend's parts lie entirely in his
pencil, his pen has no share in them; the labels are very dull,
except the inscription on the altar, which I believe is his
brother Charles's. This print, which has so diverted the town,
has produced to-day a most bitter pamphlet against
George Townshend, called The Art of Political Lying. Indeed,
it is strong.

The Duke, who has taken no English with him but Lord
Albemarle, Lord Frederick Cavendish,(780) Lord George
Lennox,(781) Colonel Keppel, Mr. West, and Colonel Carlton, all
his own servants, was well persuaded to go by Stade; there were
French parties laid to intercept him on the other road. It
might have saved him an unpleasant campaign. We have no
favourable events, but that Russia, who had neither men,
money, nor magazines, is much softened, and halts her troops.
The Duke of Grafton(782) still languishes: the Duke of
Newcastle has so pestered him with political visits, that the
physicians ordered him to be excluded: yet he forced himself
into the house. The Duke's Gentlemen would not admit him into
the bedchamber, saying his grace was asleep. Newcastle
protested he would go in on tiptoe and only look at him-he
rushed in, clattered his heels to waken him, and then fell upon
the bed, kissing and hugging him. Grafton waked. "God! what's
here?" "Only I, my dear lord." Buss, buss, buss, buss! "God!
how can you be such a beast, to kiss such a
creature as I am, all over plaisters! get along, get along!"
and turned about and went to sleep. Newcastle hurries home,
tells the mad Duchess that the Duke of Grafton was certainly
light-headed, for he had not known him, frightened her into
fits, and then was forced to send for Dr. -Shaw-for this
Lepidus are struggling Octavius and Anthony!(783)

I have received three letters from you, one of March 25th, one
of the second of this month, inclosing that which had
journeyed back to you unopened. I wish it lay in my way to
send you early news of the destination of fleets, but I rather
avoid secrets than hunt them. I must give you much the same
answer with regard to Mr. Dick, whom I should be most glad to
serve; but when I tell you that in the various revolutions of
ministries I have seen, I have never asked a single favour for
myself or any friend I have; that whatever friendships I have
with the man, I avoid all connexions with the minister; that I
abhor courts and levee-rooms and flattery; that I have done with
all parties and only sit by and smile--(you would
weep)--when I tell You all this, think what my interest must
be! I can better answer your desiring me to countenance your
brother James, and telling me it will cost me nothing. My God!
if you don't believe the affection I have for you, at least
believe in the adoration I have for dear Gal.'s memory,- -that,
alas! cannot now be counterfeited! If ever I had a friend, if
ever there was a friend, he was one to me; if ever there were
love and gratitude, I have both for him--before I received your
letter, James was convinced for all this--but my dear child, you
let slip an expression which sure I never deserved--but I will
say no more of it. thank you for the verses on
Buondelmonti(784)--I did not know he was dead--for the prayer
for Richcourt, for the Pope's letter, and for the bills of
lading for the liqueurs.

You will have heard all the torments exercised on that poor
wretch Damien, for attempting the least bad of all murders, that
of a king. They copied with a scrupulous exactness
horrid precedents, and the dastardly monarch permitted them! I
don't tell you any particulars, for in time of war, and at this
distance, how to depend on the truth of them?

This is a very long letter, but I will not make excuses for
long ones and short ones too--I fear you forgive the long ones
most easily!

(776) "April 6, Mr. Pitt dismissed. Mr. Fox and I were
ordered from the King, by Lord Holderness to come and kiss his
hand as paymaster of the army, and treasurer of the navy. We
wrote to the Duke of Cumberland our respectful thanks and
acceptance of the offices; but we thought it would be more for
his Majesty's service,.not to enter into them publicly till the
Inquiry was over." Doddington, p. 352.-E.

(777) the King.

(778) On the 19th of April, the House of Commons went into a
committee on the state of the navy, and the causes which had led
to the loss of the island of Minorca.-E.

(779) The Duke of Cumberland.

(780) Third son of William third Duke of Devonshire. He was
made a field-marshal in 1796, and died in 1803.-D.

(781) Second son of Charles second Duke of Richmond. He died
in March, 1805.-D.

(782) Charles Fitzroy, second Duke of Grafton, lord
chamberlain.

(783) Lepidus, Duke of Newcastle; Octavius and Anthony, Pitt
and Fox.-D.

(784) A Florentine Abb`e and wit; author of several poetical
pieces.-E.

372 Letter 217
To Sir Horace Mann.
Arlington Street, May 5, 1757.

You may expect what you please of new ministries, and
revolutions, and establishments; we are a grave people, and
don't go so rashly to work-at least when we have demolished any
thing rashly, we take due time before we repair it. At a
distance you may be impatient. We, the most concerned, wait
very tranquilly to see the event of chaos. It was given out
that nothing would be settled till the Inquiries were at an end.
The world very obediently stayed for the time appointed. The
Inquiries are at an end, yet nothing is in more
forwardness. Foreign nations may imagine (but they must be at
a great distance!) that we are so wise and upright a people,
that every man performs his part, and thence every thing goes on
in its proper order without any government--but I fear, our case
is like what astronomers tell us, that if a star was to be
annihilated, it would still shine for two months. The Inquiries
have been a most important and dull farce, and very fatiguing;
we sat six days till past midnight. If you have received my
last letter, you have already had a description of what passed
just as I foresaw. Mr. Pitt broke out a little the second day,
and threatened to secede, and tell the world the iniquity of the
majority; but recollecting that the
majority might be as useful as the world, he recomposed
himself, professed meaning no personalities, swallowed all
candour as fast as it was proposed to him, swallowed camels and
haggled about gnats, and in a manner let the friends of the old
ministry state and vote what resolutions they pleased. They
were not modest, but stated away; yet on the last day of the
committee, on their moving that no greater force could have been
sent to the Mediterranean than was under Byng the triumphant
majority shrank to one of seventy-eight, many
absenting themselves, and many of the independent sort voting
with the minority. This alarmed so much, that the
predetermined vote of acquittal or approbation was forced to be
dropped, and to their great astonishment the late cabinet is not
thanked parliamentarily for having lost Minorca. You may judge
what Mr. Pitt might have done, if he had pleased; when, though
he starved his own cause, so slender an advantage was obtained
against him. I retired before the vote I have mentioned; as Mr.
Fox was complicated in it, I would not
appear against him, and I could not range myself with a
squadron who I think must be the jest of Europe and posterity.
It now remains to settle some ministry: Mr. Pitt's friends are
earnest, and some of them trafficking for an union with
Newcastle. He himself, I believe, maintains his dignity, and
will be sued to, not sue. The Duke of Newcastle, who cannot
bear to resign the last twilight of the old sun, would join with
Fox; but the Chancellor, who hates him, and is alarmed at his
unpopularity, and at the power of Pitt with the people, holds
back. Bath, Exeter, Yarmouth, and Worcester, have
followed the example of london, and sent their freedoms to Pitt
and Legge: I suppose Edinburgh will, but instead of
giving, will ask for a gold box in return. Here are some new
epigrams on the present politics: