ADVERTISEMENT.
Since the publication of the preceding volumes of this work, the Editor has been favoured with some important communications, which call for his public and most grateful acknowledgements.
The Duke of Bedford kindly granted him the use of the valuable collection of letters at Woburn, left by his ancestor, John Duke of Bedford, from which he should have been less sparing in his extracts, had not the publication of the concluding volume of that nobleman’s correspondence been expected in the course of the present year.
The Editor’s inquiries have, in many instances, been materially assisted by the Journal and Correspondence of Sir Gilbert Elliot—the counsellor and intimate friend of Lord Bute, and one of the most accomplished statesmen of his day. His papers are particularly valuable, as constituting, perhaps, the only authority which can be relied on for the views of the Court, at a time that it has been charged with originating a system of unconstitutional interference with the government of the country. Amongst them have been preserved some very interesting letters that passed between Lord Bute and Sir Gilbert, during critical periods of the political career of the former, which throw considerable light on his character and intentions. Whatever benefit may have been conferred on this work by the information thus placed at the Editor’s disposal, is due to the liberality of the Earl of Minto, who readily consented to the Editor’s consulting such of his grandfather’s papers as related to the early part of George the Third’s reign, adding at the same time several explanations which, coming from a member of Sir Gilbert’s family, were especially valuable.
Through the friendship of Lord Brougham, to whom the Editor is also indebted for many valuable suggestions, access was obtained to a collection of George the Third’s Letters to Lord North, in the possession of that nobleman’s accomplished daughter, Lady Charlotte Lindsay, from which the Editor has made rather copious extracts, illustrating, as he conceives, very forcibly, the personal character of the King, and its influence on the events of his reign.
He has also to express his deep obligations to the Duke of Grafton, for placing in his hands, without reserve, the autobiography of his grandfather (the Minister of George the Third), a work in itself of sufficient importance to deserve separate publication, and the appearance of which at an earlier period would have refuted many of the calumnies that have attached to the name of its noble writer. The extracts given in the Appendix relate, almost exclusively, to his Grace’s public conduct during his own administration and that of Lord Rockingham.
It had been the Editor’s intention to insert in the Appendix the biographies of some of the statesmen noticed in these Memoirs, of whom less has hitherto been generally known than might have been expected from their connexion with the politics of the day. With this view he had prepared a life of Marshal Conway, and a selection from his correspondence, two volumes of which were kindly entrusted to him by the Right Honourable Sir Alexander Johnstone, from whom he also obtained much interesting information respecting the Marshal’s pursuits after he quitted office. The Appendix, however, is without such an addition already too large; but should the subject appear not to have been exhausted, the Editor proposes to publish the materials he has collected in a separate volume, under the title of “Notes and Biographical Sketches illustrative of the History of the Early Years of the Reign of George the Third.”
7, Harley Street,
July, 20, 1845.
CONTENTS
OF
THE THIRD VOLUME.
| [CHAPTER I.] | ||
| A. D. | PAGE | |
| 1767. | Debates on East Indian Affairs | [1] |
| Wilkes and the Duke of Grafton | [5] | |
| March 16th. The Houses adjourn for the Holidays | [6] | |
| Expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain | [6] | |
| March 28th. The Houses reassemble | [11] | |
| Parliamentary Discussions | [11] | |
| May 1st. Conversation on Indian Affairs | [15] | |
| May 6th. Court of Proprietors vote themselves a Dividend | [21] | |
| Conduct of Mr. Townshend | [23] | |
| [CHAPTER II.] | ||
| 1767. | May 13th. Proposal to tax the Colonies | [28] |
| Passing of the Resolutions | [37] | |
| Affairs of Lord Chatham | [41] | |
| May 18th. Violent Conduct of the Court of India Proprietors | [44] | |
| May 21st. Motion for Quebec Papers | [45] | |
| State of Catholicism in England | [47] | |
| May 26th. Motion on the Massachusets Act | [47] | |
| Weakness of the Administration | [49] | |
| June 1st. Grant moved to Prince Ferdinand | [50] | |
| June 2nd. Victory of the Court in the House of Lords | [54] | |
| [CHAPTER III.] | ||
| 1767. | Negotiations with the Bedford Party | [58] |
| July 2nd. Close of the Session | [59] | |
| July 5th. Interview of Conway with the King | [61] | |
| July 15th. Treaty with Lord Rockingham | [69] | |
| July 20th. Meeting at the Duke of Newcastle’s | [79] | |
| July 22nd. Interview of Lord Rockingham with the King | [83] | |
| [CHAPTER IV.] | ||
| 1767. | Attempt to procure an Earldom for Lord Holland | [94] |
| July 28th. Walpole sups with the Duke of Grafton | [96] | |
| Sept. 4th. Death of Charles Townshend | [99] | |
| Sept. 17th. Death of the Comte de Guerchy | [102] | |
| Sept. 17th. Death of the Duke of York | [103] | |
| Characters of the Royal Dukes | [105] | |
| French Travellers in England and Ireland | [107] | |
| Generosity of Conway | [108] | |
| Conduct of Lord Townshend in Ireland | [109] | |
| Nov. 24th. Meeting of Parliament | [112] | |
| Debate on the Address | [113] | |
| Nov. 29th. Negotiation with the Bedford Party | [117] | |
| [CHAPTER V.] | ||
| 1767. | Affair of Colonel Brereton with the Duke of Grafton | [132] |
| Tax on Irish Absentees | [133] | |
| Character of Lord Weymouth | [135] | |
| Attempted Treaty with Mr. Grenville | [136] | |
| Dec. 18th. Success of the Negotiation with the Bedfords | [140] | |
| Dec. 21st. The Houses adjourn | [141] | |
| 1768. | Case of the Duke of Portland | [143] |
| Jan. 14th. Dunning made Solicitor-General | [146] | |
| Jan. 20th. Resignation of Conway | [149] | |
| Affair of Lord Bottetort | [151] | |
| Corruption of the Corporation of Oxford | [153] | |
| Bill for Septennial Parliaments in Ireland | [155] | |
| Feb. 1st. Death of Sir Robert Rich | [156] | |
| Beckford’s Bribery Bill | [157] | |
| Feb. 17th. Bill to restrain the Recovery of Crown Lands | [161] | |
| Dissolution of Parliament | [163] | |
| [CHAPTER VI.] | ||
| 1768. | On the Literature of the Early Part of the Reign of George the Third | [164] |
| [CHAPTER VII.] | ||
| 1768. | Walpole determines to resume his Memoirs | [180] |
| Audacity of Wilkes | [182] | |
| March 28th. Beginning of the Middlesex Election | [186] | |
| Riots during the polling | [187] | |
| April 20th. Wilkes surrenders to the King’s Bench | [194] | |
| The General Elections | [197] | |
| Plan for the Expulsion of Wilkes | [200] | |
| Meeting of Parliament | [203] | |
| Riots before the King’s Bench | [204] | |
| May 11th. Petition of the Sailors to Parliament | [206] | |
| May 12th. Mark of Distinction to Aldermen Harley | [207] | |
| Debate on Wilkes in the Commons | [216] | |
| French Designs on Corsica | [217] | |
| Heroism of a Sailor | [219] | |
| June 8th. Renewal of Wilkes’s Outlawry | [223] | |
| June 18th. Sentence of Wilkes for the North Briton and the “Essay on Woman” | [228] | |
| Riots at Boston | [231] | |
| [CHAPTER VIII.] | ||
| 1768. | August 2nd. Lord Bute leaves England for the Continent | [232] |
| August 3rd. Death of Archbishop Secker | [233] | |
| August 9th. Trial of a Soldier for Murder | [235] | |
| Arrival of Christian the Seventh | [235] | |
| Removal of Amherst from Virginia | [239] | |
| Contemplated Disgrace of Lord Shelburne | [245] | |
| Resignation of Lord Chatham | [247] | |
| Lord Rochford made Secretary of State | [248] | |
| Privy Seal given to Lord Bristol | [250] | |
| State of the Country | [253] | |
| Nov. 8th. Meeting of Parliament | [255] | |
| Meditated Expulsion of Wilkes | [256] | |
| Nov. 14th. Sir Joseph Mawbey presents a Petition from him | [260] | |
| [CHAPTER IX.] | ||
| 1768. | War between Russia and Turkey | [262] |
| The King of France’s new Mistress | [264] | |
| Nov. 17th. Death of the Duke of Newcastle | [265] | |
| Affairs of Corsica | [265] | |
| Quarrel between the Duke of Grafton and Lord Hertford | [267] | |
| Nov. 23rd. Debates on Wilkes’s Case | [271] | |
| Ayliffe committed to Newgate | [279] | |
| Dec. 8th. Riots at the Middlesex Election | [283] | |
| Characters of Townshend and Sawbridge | [284] | |
| Character of Colonel Onslow | [280] | |
| Dec. 14th. Election of Serjeant Glynn | [289] | |
| Resolutions on American Affairs | [289] | |
| The Cumberland Election | [290] | |
| Wilkes demands to be heard at the Bar of the House of Lords | [292] | |
| [CHAPTER X.] | ||
| 1769. | Jan. 2nd. Wilkes chosen Alderman | [297] |
| Jan. 13th. East India House rejects the Government Proposition | [297] | |
| Jan. 16th. Argument on Wilkes’s Writ of Error | [298] | |
| Douglas Peerage Claim | [299] | |
| Trial of Macquirk and Balf | [307] | |
| Discussions concerning Wilkes | [310] | |
| Jan 25th. Resolutions on America | [313] | |
| Jan. 27th. Wilkes appears before the House of Commons | [314] | |
| Feb. 2nd. Censure on him passed | [325] | |
| His Expulsion carried | [327] | |
| Republican Party in England | [331] | |
| Mr. Grenville’s State of the Nation | [333] | |
| Burke’s Reply | [334] | |
| [CHAPTER XI.] | ||
| 1769. | American Affairs | [336] |
| Feb. 16th. Wilkes is re-elected | [337] | |
| Feb. 17th. His second Expulsion | [337] | |
| Feb. 21st. Meeting at the London Tavern | [339] | |
| Feb. 24th. Defeat of the Ministry | [340] | |
| Feb. 27th. Agreement with the East India Company | [341] | |
| Feb. 28th. Message on the King’s Debts | [343] | |
| March 16th. Third Election and Expulsion of Wilkes | [347] | |
| Loyal Demonstration | [349] | |
| Address of the Merchants of London | [350] | |
| Riots | [351] | |
| Lutterell appears as Candidate for Middlesex | [353] | |
| April 12th. The Election | [353] | |
| Lutterell declared duly returned | [357] | |
| April 27th. Meeting at Mile End | [361] | |
| May 8th. Lutterell’s seat confirmed | [362] | |
| Close of the Session | [365] | |
| May 24th. Petition of the Freeholders presented to the King | [365] | |
| [CHAPTER XII.] | ||
| 1769. | Election of Pope Ganganelli | [366] |
| Quarrel between the French and Russian Ambassadors | [368] | |
| Agitation after the Rising of Parliament | [372] | |
| Lord Chatham appears at the King’s Levee | [373] | |
| State of the Country | [375] | |
| Horne’s Libel on Onslow | [377] | |
| Aspersions on Lord Holland | [379] | |
| Dr. Musgrave’s Pretended Discovery | [384] | |
| Russian Project of attacking Constantinople | [385] | |
| Conquest of Corsica | [386] | |
| Petitions against the Parliament | [389] | |
| Disturbance at the Execution of two Rioters | [394] | |
| Irish Affairs | [396] | |
| Prosecution of Vaughan | [399] | |
| Remonstrance of Junius to the King | [402] | |
| Story of the Duke of Gloucester and Maria Walpole | [403] | |