Part 28

The subject was renewed at the opening of the session in 1796, with the same result. Mr. Pitt resolved it at once into a question of confidence in Ministers. If the House thought that confidence could not be safely vested in them, the proper course was to address His Majesty to remove them. He still maintained that the French had exhausted their means of carrying on the war; and that, with respect to negotiations for peace, the point to be considered was the probability of obtaining just and honourable terms, which, it was evident from their public declarations, the French were not disposed to admit. The confidence of Parliament in the wisdom and discretion of Ministers was unequivocally testified in the large majority by which the motion was rejected.

Failing to attain their object in this direct form, the Opposition resorted to other means of harassing the Administration. In a motion on the state of the nation, Mr. Grey entered into an examination of the financial condition of the country, exposing the enormous expenditure and heavy taxation entailed by the war, at a time when a more discreet patriotism would have avoided such details. He showed that during the three preceding years seventy-seven millions had been added to the funded debt, and that, in addition to the parliamentary grants, upwards of thirty-one millions had been expended without the consent of Parliament. Notwithstanding these disclosures, however, Mr. Pitt proposed a second loan of seven millions and a half for the prosecution of the war, which the House immediately acceded to.

In both Houses, the efforts of the Opposition to overthrow the Administration were followed up with indefatigable activity in the shape of condemnatory resolutions and motions of addresses to the Throne; and in all instances they were defeated by overwhelming majorities. The session terminated in the middle of May, when Parliament was dissolved by proclamation, His Majesty thanking both Houses emphatically for the uniform wisdom, temper, and firmness by which their proceedings had been characterised.

The destitute condition of the French emigrants who sought an asylum in England on the breaking out of the Revolution, and whose numbers were continually increasing, excited universal commiseration. The attention of Government was earnestly directed to the means of providing for them, and measures were adopted for giving the utmost efficacy to the public sympathy. Amongst the persons who interested themselves actively on their behalf were the Marquis of Buckingham and Mr. Burke. The object to which they mainly addressed their exertions was the education of emigrant children whose fathers had perished in the convulsions of their country, or who were unable to obtain instruction for them. The forlorn situation of these friendless children, in a country with whose language they were unacquainted, had attracted the notice of Mr. Burke, with whom the project originated, and who applied to Government in the first instance for assistance to enable him to carry out his charitable design. The appeal was liberally responded to. A house was taken and fitted up for the purpose in Buckinghamshire, at Penn, near Beaconsfield, the residence of Mr. Burke; and, by an order of the Treasury, the Duke of Portland, the Lord Chancellor, the Marquis of Buckingham, Mr. Burke, and others were appointed trustees for the management of the school, which had been established in the first instance by Mr. Burke at his own expense. The following interesting letter from Mr. Burke contains some particulars concerning this institution, which had just been opened. The "clean and not unpleasing" costume spoken of by the writer consisted of a blue uniform which he had assigned to the boys, with a white cockade bearing the inscription of "Vive le Roi." Those boys who had lost their fathers were distinguished by a bloody label, and the loss of uncles was marked in a similar manner by a black one. At this time Mr. Burke had the sole management of the school, and watched over its progress with unabated solicitude to the end of his life. The Commission nominated by the Government had not, it appears, been communicated to him, and he justly complains to his correspondent of the embarrassing position in which the oversight, or neglect, had placed him. The Marquis of Buckingham took a warm interest in the education and welfare of the boys, and, as a means of fostering a martial and loyal spirit amongst them, made them a present of a pair of colours and a brass cannon, which were exhibited with great pride and exultation on all public occasions.

MR. BURKE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

May 24th, 1796. MY DEAR LORD,

Having received no answer to my last letter, I persuade myself there was nothing in it to displease you; otherwise your general politeness and your kind partiality to me would have led you to give me such instructions as might prevent me from falling into errors in the delicate business in which, under your countenance and with your approbation, I have engaged myself.

We look forward with a pleasure, mixed with some degree of impatience, to the visit which your Lordship and Lady Buckingham have flattered us with the hope of, though I am afraid the heat of the general election will be over before we can enjoy that satisfaction.

I think, however unfortunate I may find myself in all my attempts to please the Bishop of Leon, that your Lordship and Lady Buckingham will feel the same pleasing and affecting interest in what is done here, that all have been touched with who see what is going on. You will be pleased with the celerity, if not with the perfection, of our work. Five-and-forty beds are ready; the rest will be so in a very few days. An old bad stable is converted into an excellent school-room. The chapel is decent, in place and in furniture. The eating-room is reasonably good. Twenty-five boys are received, clad in a cleanly and not unpleasing manner, and they are fed in an orderly way, with a wholesome and abundant diet. The masters are pleased with their pupils; the pupils are pleased with their preceptors; and I am sure I have reason to be pleased with them all. I see them almost every day, and at almost all hours; as well at their play as at their studies and exercise. I have never seen finer boys, or more fit for the plan of education I mean to follow for them, as long as it pleases the Government to continue that charge in my hands. I am responsible, that if they are left to me for six months, a set of finer lads, for their age and standing, will not be seen in Europe.

The only unfortunate part of the business is, that some of them speak not a word of English, and they who are the most forward in it are very imperfect. There is but one of the masters who can be said to know anything of it, and he is far indeed from the ability to teach it. There must be a person who, besides going with them through all their Latin readings and construing them into English, will daily converse with them, and ground them in the principles and the utterance of that tongue which belongs to the nation which alone promises them an asylum upon earth. For many reasons, I should prefer a clergyman of their own persuasion, and of our country. But though I have always known that their number was small, I did not conceive it to be so inconsiderable as I now find it. But some English subject must be found to be about these boys at all hours. It would be a terrible thing to condemn these poor creatures to an universal exile, and to be perpetual vagrants, without a possibility of being in a state of effectual communication with the natives of any country or incorporating themselves with any people. God forbid that, under the pretext of a benefit, I should be the cause of their utter ruin.

The Bishop of Leon has written me a letter which, in my present state of health (by no means the best), gives me a good deal of uneasiness. Hitherto, I have received the boys without any inquiry, as they were successively sent to me by the worthy prelate; considering them as the objects of his selection amongst the candidates for this situation. To my astonishment, in a letter which I received from him last Saturday he tells me that all the vacancies are filled: but that he has had nothing in the world to do with the matter, and that he is no more than a simple clerk. Your Lordship will see by the letters that I have the honour to enclose for your perusal, that after filling up all the places, the pleasure of rejecting the rest of the candidates is reserved for me. He has contrived matters so, that others have all the grace of obliging, and all the pleasure of being useful; and that all which is harsh and odious is thrown upon me, as a reward for all the trouble and expense I have been at in this business. On this I shall make no further remark.

By the letters, your Lordship will see that the Bishop of Leon tells the applicants, that the selection is to be made by certain Lords Commissioners. I never have been apprised by the Bishop of the existence of any Commission, or of any Commissioners for the purpose of a choice. If such a thing at all exists, I should have flattered myself that I should have been apprised of it; of their rules, of its proceedings, and of the times of its sitting. I believe I am the very first person who, having had the honour of proposing a plan to Government, and being permitted to have the management of it, have been kept wholly out of the secret of the appointment of its objects. The name of every boy sent to me was unknown to me to the moment of his arrival; the names of those who are to come are equally unknown. Not one circumstance relative to any of them is come to my knowledge. The poorest country schoolmaster would have been favoured with some better account of his pupils.

I must beg leave to remark to your Lordship, that the account given by the Bishop of Leon to the applicants is wholly different from that which he gives to me. In his two last letters to me (one, and the most explicit, of which I received just now) he tells me that the selection and nomination is not in any Commissioners, but solely in your Lordship, and that he is no more than a clerk. If I had not received it from so good an authority, I could hardly have believed that your Lordship, upon a mere abstract of petitions, without further examination, or any consultation, even with the Bishop of Leon, should have decided upon sixty out of perhaps fourscore applications. But, as I am sure you always act with equity and discretion, I am perfectly satisfied in your having assumed this very delicate and critical of all trusts. I only wish that I had been apprised of your Lordship's having taken on you that office, as, though I should not have ventured to recommend a single person, I really think I might, with all humility, have made some useful suggestions, which your desire of all matters being before you, that might guide you to a sure decision, would make you willing to receive, even from a person so very inconsiderable as I am in every point of view.

I am sure your Lordship wishes that, in the very reprehensible situation in which I stand, I may be able to give some sort of account of my trust; and when I have engaged with Government for the education of sixty boys, I ought to know at whose hands, on what authority, and on whose recommendation I receive them. Certainly they are not recommended or chosen by me; and when I go to the Treasury, and tell the Minister who issues the money to me (whenever it shall be issued) that I have employed it in the maintenance and the education of those whom I do not myself know, nor can tell in any regular and authorised manner from whom I received them, I should make a very despicable, not to say a criminal figure. I cannot take your Lordship's pleasure from the Bishop of Leon; though he tells me he is (not your Lordship's friend and adviser) but your clerk, as you have never informed me of this his relation to you. I therefore, for my voucher and justification, request that you will be pleased (the Committee and the Bishop absolutely disclaiming all choice) to send me a list of the names, circumstances and description of the boys whom you send to me, or have sent, together with a certificate, that having duly examined into the several claims and pretensions of the candidates, you have found these the best entitled.

When I have received this attestation as my authority and voucher, far from cavilling at either the person naming, or the names, I shall receive them most cheerfully; happy that your Lordship having generously and nobly taken to yourself the election, these objects have obtained security for a powerful protection, to place them, as successively they shall be qualified, in some way useful to themselves and to the public. I shall take care that they do no dishonour to your patronage; at least to the moment in which (having received them from your hands) I deliver them back into the same benevolent and protecting safeguard.

My dear Lord, have the goodness to excuse the length of this letter, on account of the weight of my responsibility and the very difficult situation in which I stand.

Mrs. Burke begs leave to join me in the most truly respectful compliments to Lady Buckingham, and if we may be permitted, on very little acquaintance, to Lord and Lady Temple. No persons can more sincerely wish, than we do, all kind of honour and happiness to you and all that belong to you.

I have the honour to be, with the most perfect respect and affection,

My dear Lord, Your Lordship's most obedient and faithful humble servant, EDM. BURKE.

The name of Buonaparte appears for the first time in this Correspondence in the month of August. Supported by the patronage of Barras, whose confidence in his talents and activity were so conspicuously justified by the results, he had recently been appointed to the command of the army of Italy, now augmented by large reinforcements. He was at this period only twenty-six years of age, and had never seen a regular engagement; but his genius inspired the highest hopes, and his extraordinary success gave a completely new aspect to the war.

LORD GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Dropmore, Aug. 14th, 1796. MY DEAREST BROTHER,

I was extremely sorry to hear so indifferent an account of your health, but I hope the worst of the attack is now over. I return you the letter from this unfortunate King, whose restoration to the throne of his ancestors is now, at least, as remote as that of Charles II. ever was--I fear, indeed, a great deal more so. I have heard no more particulars of the attempt to assassinate him, than the account which the Duke de Harcourt showed me, and which was the same which they afterwards put into the newspapers.

The Prince of Hohenlohe's language has always had a leaning to the side of Austria and England; but long experience has satisfied me that, from a Prussian General, language of this sort means no more than to describe to which party in the Berlin politics he may happen to be inclined. We have, however, now made a last effort to ascertain this point, but with very little expectation of success.

I do not wonder that the Navy should wish for a Spanish war, nor that they should be the only set of men in England who do so. I trust it may still be avoided, though the result is certainly very doubtful when treating with such a Court. The distribution of our limited number of sailors, into ships of the line and frigate force, is a very nice and delicate question; but as far as I can flatter myself that I understand it--which is not very much--I have always inclined more to the latter, and I think the experience of this war is in favour of that opinion. The same circumstances would surely operate still more strongly in the case of a war with Spain, whose commerce offers more _prise_ than that of France, and whose line-of-battle force, even separately--and still more if united with French ships--can never be put in competition with ours, ship for ship, or anything approaching to it.

There is an account of a successful _sortie_ from Mantua, in which the French have lost fifteen hundred men; but I do not yet know the particulars, the despatches being gone to Weymouth. The Archduke is at Donawert, or at least looking to that position, which is a strong one, if his army was not dispirited. The reinforcement sent to Italy has hitherto operated very fatally upon the campaign. It remains to be seen what effect it will produce against Buonaparte's army. But it is evidently too late to prevent the plunder of Italy--the great object of that expedition.

Ever, my dear brother, Most truly and affectionately yours, G.

Pray let me remind you of the sheep; though just now my pastures look rather brown, and will, I fear, give them a bad impression of the fare which they will have.

LORD GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Sept. 24th, 1796. MY DEAREST BROTHER,

We have again a report, which seems worthy of credit, of an action at Montauban, on the 14th, previous to Jourdan's crossing the Rhine, at Neuwied, in which he was totally defeated, and lost all his cannon, &c. This seems to accord so well with dates and places, that I have little doubt of the truth. It therefore only remains to see what will become of Moreau. If he is dispatched, and that quickly, there will be time and means to make Buonaparte suffer severely for his late advanced move.

On the whole, the situation is, to be sure, very much improved within these few weeks, but there is still enough for serious alarm. The Directory has sent us the most insolent answer that can be conceived; but as the substance of it is in some degree ambiguous with respect to the main question of granting or refusing the passport, it has been thought better not to leave a loop-hole or pretence to them, or their adherents here, to lay upon us the breaking the business off. Another note is therefore to be sent to-day, by a flag of truce from Dover, in which the demand of the passport is renewed in such terms as seem most likely to bring that point to a distinct issue, ay or no. In other times, this last step would have been not only superfluous, but humiliating; in the present moment, the object of unanimity here in the great body of the country, with respect to the large sacrifices they will be called upon to make, is paramount to every other consideration.

I am extremely anxious to find that the plan in question may appear practicable. The advantages of it would be infinite.

Ever most affectionately yours, G.

The nature of the efforts which were making in England to sustain the war may be partially inferred from the following letter. Lord Grenville, it will be seen, notes with a mark of admiration a subscription of L100,000 from the Duke of Bedford. The circumstance was singular and significant, the Duke of Bedford having all along taken a leading part in the House of Lords in opposition to hostilities, and in calling for votes of censure and opprobrium upon the Ministry. He had been the chief mover of all those resolutions that protested against the expenditure to which the country had been put for the maintenance of the war, and now he was one of the largest of the voluntary subscribers to a fund for its continuance.

LORD GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Dropmore, Dec. 2nd, 1796. MY DEAREST BROTHER,

I have been followed here to-night by a letter, to mention that above twelve millions are already subscribed to the loan, and that it may very probably be full to-morrow, so that I had no time to lose in doing what of course the public will expect from me. I have therefore desired that L10,000 may be subscribed to-morrow in my name; and I imagine that by getting Coutts to advance the two first payments, and transferring the stock, at whatever loss, the moment it is transferable, I shall be able _me tirer d'affaire_, better than I had hoped. It was my intention to have written to you to-morrow, to let you know what other persons in your sort of situation and class had done; but what I have now heard, makes me think that I ought to send to you without delay, in order that you may know how the thing stands, and of course afterwards judge for yourself whether to do anything, and what.

The only names that have been mentioned to me, except among my colleagues, are the Duke of Bridgewater and the Duke of Bedford! each L100,000, and Lord Romney and Lord Carrington each L40,000, besides L100,000, which the house of Smith and Co. subscribe as bankers.

Lord Spencer, Lord Liverpool, Pitt and Dundas, subscribe L10,000, as I have done; the two last will, I believe, have still more difficulty in finding it than I shall.

You will, of course, not imagine that by sending to you in this manner, I have the least idea of saying or suggesting to you to do anything but what may have occurred to yourself, but I thought you would naturally expect to hear these particulars from me.

Other news I have none. There was a report yesterday that Kehl was surprised by the Austrians, but I could not trace it to any certain source.

God bless you, my dear brother.