[233:1] MS. R.S.E.
[233:2] The elder of the youths here mentioned, who became afterwards an eminent statesman, was born in 1751. He was for some time attached to the Fox party, and after the dissolution of the Fox and North coalition ministry, he was twice unsuccessfully proposed as Speaker. In 1793, he was selected for the delicate duty of negotiating with the French Royalists. During the British sovereignty of Corsica, in 1794, he was appointed viceroy or governor of the island. But the most brilliant and the best known chapter in his political career, is his policy as Governor-general of India, from 1807 to 1814. He was created Baron Minto in 1797, and Earl of Minto in 1813. He died in 1814.
[234:1] Probably either the young Comte de Boufflers, the son of the lady who was Hume's correspondent, or Sir James Macdonald.
[235:1] MS. R.S.E.
[237:1] Among Hume's papers there is a letter signed "De Bastide, auteur d'un Maison d'Éducation," thanking him for the favourable disposition shown towards him, and desiring an interview.
[238:1] In allusion to the interest taken by the Comtesse de Boufflers in his being appointed secretary of legation. See postea.
[239:1] Minto MSS. The tone of this letter extracted the following criticism from Elliot.
"So you did not permit your friend to write the long intended letter. Your reason for this, I must own, is not to me a satisfactory one. If the secretaryship were now actually vacant, it would of course devolve upon you; nor would the interposition of your friends be necessary. It is Mr. Bunbury's provision then, and not yours, which constitutes the difficulty: he happens to be in possession; his alliance and his connexions are considerable; and the difficulty of his re-election makes it less easy than it would otherwise be to find an equivalent for him. Yet if it could be found, it is impossible to conceive that he would not willingly exchange a situation, the functions of which are performed by another, and which he holds contrary to the inclination of his principal. In such a state of things, I cannot help thinking, that a lively representation of your case, from the warm and persuasive pen of your friend, is the most likely circumstance to engage the active genius of the D. of B. to rouse government from their indolence about finding or creating some proper arrangement for Mr. Bunbury. Lord Holland will probably join his influence, and Lord Tavistock, even on his new friend's account, will most certainly concur. This joint operation, supported by the justice of your claims, and the application of your friends, seems to me the most infallible method to surmount the real difficulty, which you have candour enough to admit stands in the way of administration, though disposed to do you justice. If to all this you object certain delicacies in your own mind, and a disdain to solicit what ought to be bestowed, I can only answer, a British minister is at all times so much the slave of those who are not his friends, that his best friends are almost always obliged to extort justice to themselves by methods often hostile, always indelicate. I write to you popularly, not as a philosopher. I desire, therefore, that your objections to my doctrine may be in the same tone; and, after all, why should you, like the plaintive author of 'Emile,' indulge yourself in a pleasing kind of indignation, as if your countrymen had some unaccountable satisfaction in mortifying a man, who feels so very different treatment even from strangers. Notwithstanding all you say, we are both Englishmen; that is, true British subjects, entitled to every emolument and advantage that our happy constitution can bestow. Do not you speak and write and publish what you please? and though attacking favourite and popular opinions, are you not in the confidential friendship of Lord Hertford, and intrusted with the most important national concerns? Am not I, a member of Parliament, as much at liberty to abuse ministers and administration, as if I had been born in Wapping, or to support them if I think proper? Had it not been for the clamour of a Scott, perhaps indeed I might have been in some more active, but not more honourable or lucrative situation. This clamour we all know is merely artificial and occasional. It will in time give way to some other, equally absurd and ill-founded, when you, if you will, may become a bishop, and I a minister. In the mean time, let us make the best of our present circumstances; I as treasurer of the chamber, you as the idol of whatever is fair and learned at Paris. About the beginning of December I will be at London, ready to assist your operations if you will follow my advice. Yours," &c. MS. R.S.E.
[241:1] It will be seen that the letter had arrived safely.
[243:1] Minto MS. The remainder of the letter is wanting.