Ever yours most sincerely,
Wellington.
The state of our foreign relations elicited from Lord Grenville the following characteristic communication, referring to a boastful speech often attributed to Mr. Pitt.
LORD GRENVILLE TO THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.
Dropmore, Tuesday.
I send the petition by the coach. I believe I mentioned to you my wish that nothing should be said upon it, except that you present it in my absence on account of illness.
As I do not at all partake in the virtuous enthusiasm for the cause of Jacobinism in Spain, I allow myself to hope that things there are going on well. I am entirely of opinion that the war is a most unadvised step on the part of France, and that nothing could be more impolitic, except our having the folly to mix ourselves in the squabble either way by word or deed.
Some wiseacre in the House of Commons has said that Lord Chatham declared that not a gun should be fired in Europe without his leave. Lord C—— came into office when this country was involved in a war in which she had so much the worst of it, that all men despaired of the issue. He went out of office before the peace was made, and his merit was that he had by his successes in the war secured the means of making an advantageous peace. Secondly, in which part of his administration did any power of Europe take out a licence for shooting from him? Yet this is the sort of nonsense that passes current. Adieu.