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upon the occasion, and said, "Undoubtedly."-On my declining an offer of a seat in the cabinet amongst persons who had treated me so injuriously and so unjustly, and who ought not to have called me to a situation of such importance to his Majesty's interest and welfare, if they really thought me guilty of such crimes as merited the punishment they had inflicted; he expressed, (and in a manner that appeared much in earnest,) his most sincere conviction, that in no instance had I acted improperly" in my own opinion." He had stopped me once before to make a protestation to the same effect; he appeared to me much struck with the levity with which I treated the supposed danger from the admission of Roman Catholics into Parliament; the folly of pretending to give credit to a danger to the Church Establishment from half a dozen Roman Catholic gentlemen having seats in Parliament; and the responsibility of those clergy who pretended to talk of conversions to Catholicism. I told him it would better become them to defend the sanctity and purity of our religion by their efforts, than to slander it by their pretended apprehensions: that danger to the establishment in church or state, would never arise from Catholics and Members of Parliament acting in their true character and by true lawful means, but from atheists and anarchists.

Some sentiments of this nature which I threw out seemed to be new to him, and to impress him considerably. Upon the whole his attention was gracious, but he gave no opinion whatever, only as to my intentions. So far for the business of the closet.

I send by the Bishop of Ossory the memorial I presented, but I beg to have it kept perfectly secret; it would be highly indecorous to have it known, or its substance talked about. The fact that I have presented one, I have no objection to being known; on the contrary, let it be known to all the world my anxiety to defend our common cause in every place where it ought to be defended.

I entered yesterday upon our defence in the House of Lords. Lord Milton did the same in the House of Commons. Not having been to the King till Wednesday, I could take no step before; for on Thursday, though I attended Hastings' trial, I was too unwell to hold my head up for a moment. I yesterday called upon Ministers to name their day to make good their charges. Their

CHAP. VII.] HIS TREATMENT BY GOVERNMENT.

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act was of itself an indictment,-it was their duty to proceed with their evidence. They declined, upon the general ground that the removal of a King's servant was not a ground of public discussion; nor was it of necessity that there should be blame anywhere. I enforced my claim, and was backed by Lord Moira, and the Duke of Norfolk, the latter of whom said, it was not for the dignity of the House that such an event should pass without an investigation into its causes; as neither of the parties would come forward and name a day, and state a mode of proceeding though himself unprepared to suggest what would be the most expedient for the occasion, still he would move a summons of the House for Thursday next. I must say it stands precisely upon the footing on which I should wish it to stand. Being brought forward by a third person, I trust I shall find myself in the situation I wish to be in ;-that neutral men will force Ministers to speak out, or take to themselves the disgrace of shrinking from the question. I think it within the reach of possibility that I may enter largely upon the subject on that day. I am convinced they will hang off as long as they can. Lord Grenville looked more sour and angry than it is to be conceived; the same remark was made of Pitt, yesterday, for the first time. I saw the Duke of Portland in the House; we passed with the coldest bow. Lord Grenville does not deign to lay his eyes upon me, and mine do not seek him, or any of them.

When I came out of the closet, Windham, and Lord Spencer were in the antichamber: the former came up to me, with an open countenance. I received him with

decent openness. He is the only one that deserves the least degree of candour. My own opinion is, that not one person pretended to make an effort but him; all was done before he knew anything of it. As for Lord Spencer, shame was upon his countenance, and I did nothing to wipe it off-it was on its proper place. This is the state of things here. I need not say to you, that I expect to be supported by opposition; the ground is too good for them to suffer it to slip by. I may be roughly handled by them, for aught I know; but still they will support the cause. I verily believe public opinion goes much with us, and I shall be much disappointed if the discussion does not work in our favour. I wish I had your abilities to fight it through the day; I would make them sore before

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LORD MILTON'S LETTER ON [CHAP. VII.

the evening. One thing I have to add, that among the common connexions of the Duke of Portland and myself, I hardly know a second sentiment. The Duke of Devonshire, and Lord John, and Lord George* may keep, and I suppose will keep away on the discussion; but I have the satisfaction of feeling confident that if they will permit themselves to think there is a right and a wrong, they do not think me in the wrong. This is a private consolation, though I cannot reflect upon it without feeling how great an alloy there is in the consolation. I shall be anxious to hear, not only of your proceedings in the House, but much likewise of the general temper and inclinations of the public.

I find you introduced your Bill on Wednesday last, and have moved for a Committee on the state of the nation for Monday. I shall be wonderfully anxious for the debate on the latter day. I understand the Bill is positively to be thrown out, to give the lie to my representations.

This must be a general letter to the Ponsonbys, as well as to yourself. Pray communicate it to them, and tell them the truth. I have not time to write, nor new matter worth their reading. Believe me, both yours and theirs affectionately, WENTWORTH FITZWILLIAM.

LORD MILTON TO MR. GRATTAN.

MY DEAR SIR,-Having just left Lord Fitzwilliam oppressed with one of his head-aches, and consequently unable to write to you, I have hurried home, though but just in time, to give you some account of the debate of last night in the Lords. The motion of the Duke of Norfolk was for extracts of such letters as related to the recall of the late Lord-Lieutenant, which was immediately objected to by Lord Coventry, and afterwards by Lord Mansfield, on the general principle of interfering with the King's prerogative of dismissing such of his servants as he thought proper. On the other side, the particular circumstances of the case were considered by Lord Guildford, and particularly by Lord Moira, who, with great force and eloquence, entered into the merits of the measures, and stated his complete approbation of them, and introduced a compliment and panegyric upon you, which your modesty alone could have prevented you from hearing, with the same satisfaction and pleasure with * Cavendish.

CHAP. VII. THE DEBATE IN THE LORDS.

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which it was heard by all your friends. The giant and barefaced corruption which had for a course of years pervaded the Government of Ireland, he strongly animadverted upon, and the mention of Beresford's name drew up Lord Townshend to give his testimony in favour of that gentleman, which he did, shortly stating him as a man of honour, integrity, and so forth; but, previous to his short speech, Lord Westmoreland went into a defence of his own administration, and what he meant as an attack upon Lord Fitzwilliam, the whole delivered in so awkward, incoherent, and disgusting a style, and tone of voice, as to make considerable impression in the house utterly to his advantage. Lord Fitzwilliam replied to him, with great force, great dignity, and great effect, marking very distinctly the impropriety of Lord Westmoreland's embarrassing the succeeding Government previous to his departure, and continuing the same conduct, by his own avowal and confession, upon his arrival in this country. The popularity which, on various occasions, in and out of Parliament, had so uniformly manifested itself towards the King's Government under his administration, he ascribed to the notoriety of his having placed his confidence in you, and the Ponsonbys, and in your connexions, and in his having withdrawn it from it from those who had enjoyed the confidence of the administration to which he succeeded, and on your popularity, on the use you had at all times made of that popularity, on your views, on your character, and on your abilities, he expatiated, with an ease and eloquence that seemed to flow from the nature of the subject and the justice of the cause. The length of Lord Grenville's speech, which was merely upon the impropriety of inquiring into a dismissal, -the futility of Lord Buckingham's, which was merely a eulogy upon Beresford, and Hamilton,-or Lord Spencer's, which was expressive only of his satisfaction from the conduct of Mr. Pitt towards himself, I need not enter into. But Lord Lauderdale's was in a strain that I cannot pass over; the comparison he drew of the speeches of the two Lord-Lieutenants was masterly in the highest degree, and his animadversions upon Lord Westmoreland's most severe; who, when he was declaiming against Lord Fitzwilliam's profusion in making arrangements, claimed the reversion to Wolfe as his own act, and who, when finding fault with his disclosing private communications, had the

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folly and impudence himself to state conversations that had passed between himself and Mr. Pitt (whom he named without any circumlocution) on the subject of the Catholic measure, which Pitt told him was not to pass, and on the subject of the removals, which Pitt told him were not to take place!!!! Excuse me to the Ponsonbys for not writing to them, by shewing them this letter. I wish I may do you the same justice on Tuesday, that Lord Fitzwilliam did you yesterday. We hear of Pelham's declaration with astonishment. Yours ever,

MILTON.

P.S. How the Duke of Portland should have escaped the debate will appear as extraordinary to you as it does to me. Accusations of general duplicity were thrown out, but nothing particular against him. He said a few words at the close of the debate.