(1) General histories of England for the period 1760-1801:—Lecky, History of England in the 18th Century, 8 vols., 1879-90, from which much help has been obtained. It is a work to which every historian of the period must be deeply indebted, and though faults may be found with its plan, it holds a high place among our histories for learning, moderation, and philosophical treatment. The history of England is carried down to the outbreak of the war in 1793, that of Ireland to the Union. Adolphus, History of England from the Accession of George III., 8 vols., 1840-45, a laborious and impartial record of events, viewed from a conservative standpoint. Massey, History of England, 4 vols., 1855-63, ends 1803, chiefly treating of home affairs; neither animated nor philosophic, written from a liberal point of view, unduly severe to the king, but deriving some value from the author's legal and parliamentary experience. Lord Stanhope, History, 7 vols., edit. 1853, vols. iv.-vii., ends 1783, trustworthy, dull, and whiggish. To these must be added Sir T. E. May (Lord Farnborough), Constitutional History of England from 1760 to 1860, 3 vols., 5th edit., 1875.
(2) The chief manuscript sources consulted:—The great collection of the Duke of Newcastle's Papers in Add. MSS., British Museum, extremely important down to 1767, specially with reference to ministerial intrigues, the old whig methods of government, the negotiations with France in 1761-62, and the growth of the cabinet system. The Pitt Papers, a mass of letters addressed to Pitt (Earl of Chatham) and William Pitt, and some to Lady Chatham, together with various political memoranda. These papers have been sorted into different bundles, to which the numbers given in my footnotes refer, and a manuscript index of them has been made by Mrs. Lomas of the Record Office, where they are at present deposited by their owner. They have been used in the preparation of the Chatham Correspondence, and by Lord Stanhope, but the field is large and may be gleaned with profit. Foreign Office Correspondence (despatches of ambassadors, etc.). With respect to these, the kind and efficient help given me by Mr. Hubert Hall, of the Record Office, is gratefully acknowledged.
(3) Akin to these sources are various publications of the Historical Manuscripts Commission. Among these special reference should be made to the Reports on Mr. Fortescue's Dropmore MSS., 3 vols., containing the papers of Lord Grenville, of the highest interest and importance, specially from 1793; the Duke of Rutland's Belvoir MSS., 3 vols., with inter alia the fourth Duke of Rutland's correspondence while lord-lieutenant of Ireland, 1784-87; the Charlemont MSS., also essential for Irish history; Lord Dartmouth's MSS., vol. 2, American Papers to 1776, and Mrs. Stopford-Sackville's MSS., and Sir E. Strachey's MSS., both throwing much light on the conduct of the war with America.
(4) Of pre-eminent importance is the Parliamentary History, xv.-xxxv., and its complement, Sir Henry Cavendish's Debates of the House of Commons during the parliament of 1768, 2 vols., edit. by Wright, 1841, begins May, 1768, and ends March, 1771. It is much to be wished that the remainder of these valuable reports should be published from the manuscript in the British Museum. Dodsley's Annual Register has historical chapters written by Burke, perhaps to 1778, and chapters in many later volumes probably written under his supervision; they are of course generally excellent. The volumes for the later years of our period contain many useful state papers. Burke's speeches, pamphlets, and letters, of which the edition used here is his Works and Correspondence, 8 vols., 1852. For his life see Prior, Life of Burke, 2 vols., 5th edit. (Bohn's Lib.), 1854, Mr. J. Morley, Burke, a historical study, 1867, and Burke (Engl. Men of Letters Series), 1879.
MEMOIRS AND CORRESPONDENCE.
(5) Political and other memoirs and printed correspondence:—H. Walpole (Lord Orford), Letters, edited by Cunningham, 9 vols., 1880, the letters in vols. i. and ii. are of earlier dates than 1760. A more complete edition, in 16 vols., by Mrs. P. Toynbee, is in course of publication by the Clarendon Press. Walpole's Memoirs of the Reign of George III., 1760-72, edited by Mr. Russell Barker, 4 vols., 1894, and his Journals of the Reign, 1771-83, edited by Doran, 2 vols., 1859. These works are of considerable historical value, but Walpole was not a politician; he was a whig for personal reasons rather than from conviction, and his sentiments were largely determined by filial prejudice and the interests of his friends; his views are generally superficial, and his judgments of persons biassed, sometimes contradictory, and often unjust. Dodington (Lord Melcombe), Diary, edited by Wyndham, 1785, ending with 1761. Harris, Life of Lord Hardwicke, 3 vols., 1847, useful to 1764, and with an account of the circumstances preceding C. Yorke's death in 1770, written by his brother. Bisset, Memoirs of Sir Andrew Mitchell, 2 vols., 1850. Mitchell was ambassador at Berlin in 1760 and later. The Memoirs are based on his correspondence (Add. MSS. British Museum and elsewhere), and throw light on the causes of Frederick's angry feelings towards the British government, and the negotiations for peace in 1762. The Grenville Papers, edited by W. J. Smith, 4 vols., 1852, consisting principally of the correspondence of Richard, Earl Temple, and his brother George, first lord of the treasury, 1763-65, together with George Grenville's diary of "memorable transactions" during his administration, which gives a full account of the relations between the king and his first minister. The Papers are of primary importance for the first eleven years of the reign. [Almon,] History of the Late Minority, 1765, a clever account of the politics of the parliamentary opposition from 1761, attributed to Lord Temple, and written in his interest. Correspondence of John, fourth Duke of Bedford, 3 vols., 1846, well edited by Lord John (Earl) Russell, the last part of vol. ii. and vol. iii. cover from 1760 to 1770. The correspondence and extracts from the duke's diary afford a striking picture of the whig system of government by "connexion"; they have much on the negotiations for the Peace of Paris, the ministerial crises of 1763 and 1765, and the discord between the whigs which was fatal to their chance of effectually resisting the king's policy. The work is a necessary complement to the Grenville papers. A Narrative of the Changes of Ministry, 1765-1767, told by the Duke of Newcastle, edited by Miss M. Bateson for the Royal Hist. Soc. (Camden Series), 1898, from the Newcastle Papers (see sec. 2), giving an interesting account of the king's efforts to supply the place of the Grenville ministry, the difficulties both on the king's side and that of Pitt which kept Pitt out of office, the duke's discomfiture when the king put Pitt in power in July, 1766, and his attempt in 1767 to arrange a coalition between Grafton and the Rockingham party.
The lack of any sufficient biography of Chatham renders The Chatham Correspondence, 4 vols., 1840 (see sec. 2, Pitt Papers), well edited by Taylor and Captain Pringle, of peculiar importance; vols. ii.-iv. contain letters both from and to Chatham, which illustrate the whole of his career during our period. Pitt's political position and conduct, 1761-65, and specially his relations with Bute, are the subject of an interesting study, William Pitt und Graf Bute, by Dr. A. von Ruville, Berlin, 1895. William Pitt, Earl of Chatham (Heroes of the Nation Series), by Mr. W. D. Green, M.P., 1901, is good from 1760, so far as its limits allow. Earl of Albemarle, Memoirs of the Marquis of Rockingham, 2 vols., 1852, an ill-arranged book, has letters of value, exhibits the policy of the Rockingham whigs, their differences with Pitt (Chatham), and their efforts for reform. Autobiography and Political Correspondence of the Duke of Grafton, 1898, edited by Sir William Anson, with an excellent introduction and useful footnotes, gives valuable notices of the first Rockingham ministry, the weakness of the administration formed under Chatham, the collapse of all ministerial vigour during his illness and when Grafton was nominally at the head of affairs, and the views of the whigs with regard to the constitution. The Correspondence of George III. with Lord North, 1768-83, 2 vols., 1867, edited by W. B. Donne, with copious notes and comments, shows the king's system of personal rule through his ministers in full working, the position held by North under it, and his unavailing attempts to resign office when forced to carry out a policy he disapproved, together with much that concerns the conduct of the war. Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice, Life of the Earl of Shelburne (Marquis of Lansdowne), 3 vols., 1875-76, based on papers at Lansdowne House and elsewhere, represents Shelburne's political conduct in as favourable a light as possible; the parts relating to the quarrel between Shelburne and H. Fox in vol. i., the negotiations in Paris in 1782 and 1783, and the quarrel with C. J. Fox, are perhaps specially useful, but the whole work down to 1784 is necessary and authoritative.
Lord Stanhope, Life of Pitt, 4 vols., 2nd edit., 1862, founded on unpublished papers (see sec. 2, Pitt Papers); a good biography and a standard and indispensable work. With this should be read Lord Rosebery, Pitt (Twelve English Statesmen Series), 1891, an admirable appreciation of Pitt's work and character. Lord John (Earl) Russell, Memorials and Correspondence of C. J. Fox, 4 vols., 1853, has many letters of importance, but is otiosely edited, and Life of C. J. Fox, 3 vols., 1859-67, more concerned with politics, which it treats from a strongly whig standpoint, than with biography. Sir G. O. Trevelyan, Early History of C. J. Fox, 1880, written on the whig side, ends with 1774. Court and Cabinets of George III., edited by the Duke of Buckingham, 4 vols., 1853-55 (vol. i. begins at 1782, and 1801 is reached early in vol. iii.), contains the correspondence of the brothers Lord Temple (later Marquis of Buckingham), Thomas, and W. W. Grenville (later Lord Grenville); the letters of the last named are of much value; they are supplemented by the Dropmore MSS. (see sec. 2). Diaries and Correspondence of the First Earl of Malmesbury, 4 vols., 1844, edited by the third earl, chiefly concerned with the foreign relations of Great Britain; his despatches, letters, and journal while minister at St. Petersburg, 1770-80, at the Hague, 1784-88, at Berlin, 1793, and during his mission to Paris in 1796, and to Lille in 1797, are of first-rate importance. In vol. ii. are reports of two conferences with the Prince of Wales on the subject of his debts in 1785. Malmesbury (Sir James Harris) was one of the Portland whigs, joined in their secession, and was much trusted by Pitt. Correspondence of Marquis Cornwallis, 3 vols., 1859, well edited by C. Ross, has several letters relating to the war with America, an account of his interview with Frederick of Prussia in 1785, many despatches and letters written by him as governor-general of India, 1786-92, and a large mass of correspondence during his vice-royalty of Ireland, 1798-1801. Journal and Correspondence of Lord Auckland, 4 vols., 1861-62, edited feebly by Lord Auckland, Bishop of Bath and Wells. Auckland (Eden) was a personal friend of Pitt until 1801. His letters while ambassador at Paris, 1785-87; correspondence relating to the regency question, 1788; his letters from the Hague, 1792-93; some on the course of the war, and those referring to the recall of Fitzwilliam and to the catholic question in 1801, are to be noted. He was chief secretary for Ireland in 1780, and was closely allied with Beresford and the protestant ascendency party. Political Memoranda of the Duke of Leeds, edited by Mr. O. Browning for the Camden Soc., 1884, specially valuable for its account of the whig scheme for a coalition in 1792. Also edited by Mr. Browning, Despatches of Earl Gower, 1885. Gower was ambassador at Paris, 1790-92. Lady Minto, Life of Sir Gilbert Elliot, afterwards Lord Minto, to 1806, 3 vols., 1874; vol. i. contains information as to the illness of the king and the regency question; vol. ii. as to the secession of the Portland whigs; Elliot, whose sister married Lord Auckland, and whose wife was a sister of Lady Malmesbury, was one of the party. His letters, while he was employed on a diplomatic mission at Toulon during the siege, as viceroy of Corsica, at Naples, and as minister at Vienna, 1799-1801, are worthy of attention. Sir N. W. Wraxall, Historical and Posthumous Memoirs, 1772-84, 5 vols., 1884, carefully edited by Mr. H. B. Wheatley, diffuse and amusing. Wraxall's inaccuracies, or worse, have been exaggerated, and his work, which goes to 1789, together with some later "reminiscences," is of value, specially as regards its portraiture of public men of a secondary rank. Wraxall was a follower of North until 1783, and afterwards, until he resigned his seat in 1794, generally supported Pitt. Diaries and Correspondence of George Rose, 2 vols., 1860, edited by L. V. Harcourt. Rose was secretary to the treasury during the whole of Pitt's first administration, and was intimate with him. Vol. i. contains, among other matters, an account of Pitt's resignation; vol. ii. has some reminiscences which the king communicated to Rose in 1804. The Diary and Correspondence of Abbot, Lord Colchester, edited by his son, 3 vols., 1861, vol. i. and Pellew, Life of Lord Sidmouth (Addington), 3 vols., 1847, vol. i. should be consulted for the circumstances of Pitt's retirement. Lord Holland, Memoirs of the Whig Party, 2 vols., 1852, edited by his son, Lord Holland. As the writer was the nephew of Fox, who was much attached to him, and by 1800 was himself a prominent member of the party, these papers have great authority; many of them refer to events and persons belonging to our period. Along with much else which does not concern political history, the Life of William Wilberforce, by his sons, 5 vols., 1838, contains some interesting notices of public affairs before 1801, along with a record of Wilberforce's efforts in and out of parliament for the abolition of the slave trade. See also Private Papers of W. Wilberforce, 1897, with a character of Pitt by Wilberforce.
(6) Miscellaneous books, pamphlets, etc. On public finance, see Hamilton, Inquiry concerning ... the National Debt, 1813; Newmarch, On the Loans Raised by Mr. Pitt, 1793-1801, a highly valuable and interesting treatise; Parliamentary Report, Accounts, xxxiii., 1858, on the national debt, and S. Dowell, History of Taxation in England, 4 vols., 1884. On the commercial treaty with France of 1786, see Count de Butenval, Précis du Traité de Commerce, 1786, Paris, 1869, and Auckland Corr. as above. Some of the articles by Sir G. C. Lewis, Administrations of Great Britain, 1783-1830, edited by Sir E. Head, 1864, are founded on Memoirs, etc., noted in sec. 5, and are excellent commentaries on them. The private life of the king is written by Jesse, Memoirs of the Life and Reign of George III., 3 vols., 2nd edit., 1867, in itself scarcely to be reckoned as of historical value, but giving copious references to authorities. Life at the court is vividly described in Madame D'Arblay's (Miss Burney's) Diary, 7 vols., 1854; a new edition by Mr. Austin Dobson is in course of publication. The Diary should be read with an allowance for the writer's dislike of her work at court, which Macaulay does not perhaps sufficiently consider in his essay. His other essays relating to this period should be read, but the views of history which they present must not be accepted in all cases. Bishop Douglas, Seasonable Hints from an Honest Man, 1761; Case of the Troops Serving in Germany, 1781; Mauduit, Occasional Thoughts on the Present German War, 1761, and other pamphlets. Many of the Caricatures of Gillray, Rowlandson, and others are valuable as historical documents. In default of the originals, see Wright, England under the House of Hanover, 2 vols., 3rd edit., 1852, republished in one vol. as Caricature History of the Georges [1867?].
ON THE AMERICAN REBELLION.