The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford Volume I Part 57

(900) "February 13. Talking upon this subject with Horace Walpole, he told me confidentially, that Admiral Matthews intercepted, last summer, a felucca in her pa.s.sage from Toulon to Genoa, on board of which were found several papers of great consequence relating to a French invasion in concert with the Jacobites; one of them particularly was in the style of an invitation from several of the n.o.bility and gentry of England to the Pretender. These papers, he thought had not been sufficiently looked into and were not laid before the cabinet council until the night before the message was sent to both Houses." Mr. P. York(,@'s Parliamentary Journal.-E.

(901) Afterwards Earl of Egmont.

(902) The Duke of Marlborough and Lord Stair had quitted the army in disgust, after last campaign, on the King's showing such unmeasurible preference to the Hanoverians.

361 Letter 130 To Sir Horace Mann.

Thursday, Feb. 23, 1744.

I write to you, in the greatest hurry, at eight o'clock at night, whilst they are all at dinner round me. I am this moment come from the House, where we have carried a great Welsh election against Sir Watkyn Williams by 26. I fear you have not had my last, for the packet-boat has been stopped on the French stopping our messenger at Calais. There is no doubt of the invasion: the young Pretender is at Calais, and the Count de Saxe is to command the embarkation. Hitherto the spirit of the nation is with us. Sir John Norris was to sail yesterday to Dunkirk, to try to burn their transports; we are in the utmost expectation of the news. The Brest squadron was yesterday on the coast of Suss.e.x. We have got two thousand men from Ireland, and have sent for two more. The Dutch are coming: Lord Stair is general. n.o.body is yet taken up-G.o.d knows why not! We have repeated news of Matthews having beaten and sunk eight of the Toulon s.h.i.+ps; but the French have so stopped all communication that we don't yet know it certainly; I hope you do. Three hundred arms have been seized in a French merchant's house at Plymouth. Attempts have been made to raise the clans in Scotland, but unsuccessfully.

My dear child, I write short, but it is much: and I could not say more in ten thousand words. All is at stake we have great hopes, but they are but hopes! I have no more time: I wait with patience for the event, though to me it must and shall be decisive.

361 Letter 131 To Sir Horace Mann.

March 1st, 1744.

I wish I could put you out of the pain my last letters must have given you. I don't know whether your situation, to be at such a distance on so great a crisis, is not more disagreeable than ours, who are expecting every moment to hear the French are landed. We had great ill-luck last week: Sir John Norris, with four-and-twenty sail, came within a league of the Brest squadron, which had but fourteen. The coasts were covered with people to see the engagement; but at seven in the evening the wind changed, and they escaped. There have been terrible winds these four or five days . our fleet has not suffered materially, but theirs less. Ours lies in the Downs; five of theirs at Torbay-the rest at La Hague. We hope to hear that these storms, which blew directly on Dunkirk, have done great damage to their transports. By the fortune of the winds, which have detained them in port, we have had time to make preparations; if they had been ready three weeks ago. when the Brest squadron sailed, it had all been decided. We expect the Dutch in four or five days. Ten battalions, which make seven thousand men, are sent for from our army in Flanders, and four thousand from Ireland, two of which are arrived. If they still attempt the invasion, it must be a b.l.o.o.d.y war!

The spirit of the nation has appeared extraordinarily in our favour. I wish I could say as much for that of' the ministry.

Addresses are come from all parts, but you know how little they are to be depended on-King James had them. The merchants of London are most zealous: the French name will do more harm to their cause than the Pretender's service. One remarkable circ.u.mstance happened to Colonel Cholmondeley's regiment on their march to London: the public-houses on all the road would not let them pay any thing, but treated them, and said, "You are going to defend us against the French." There are no signs of any rising. Lord Barrymore,(903) the Pretender's general, and Colonel Cecil, his secretary of state, are at last taken up; the latter, who having removed his papers, had sent for them back, thinking the danger over, is committed to the Tower, on discoveries from them; but, alas! these discoveries go on but lamely.(904) One may perceive who is not minister, rather than who is. The Opposition tried to put off the suspension of the Habeas Corpus -feebly. Vernon (905) and the Grennvilles are the warmest: Pitt and Lyttelton went away without voting.(906) My father has exerted himself most amazingly - the other day, on the King's laying some information before the House, when the ministry had determined to make no address on it, he rose up in the greatest agitation, and made a long and fine speech On the present situation.(907) The Prince was so pleased with it, that he has given him leave to go to his court, which he never would before. He went yesterday, and was most graciously received.

Lord Stair is at last appointed general. General Oglethorpe (908) is to have a commission for raising a regiment of Hussars, to defend the coasts. The Swiss servants in London have offered to form themselves into a regiment; six hundred are already clothed and armed, but no colonel or officers appointed. We flatter ourselves, that the divisions in the French ministry will repair what the divisions in our own undo.

The answer from the court of France to Mr. Thomson on the subject of the boy (909) is most arrogant: "that when we have given them satisfaction for the many complaints which they have made on our infraction of treaties, then they will think of giving us des 'eclairciss.e.m.e.nts."

We have no authentic news yet from Matthews: the most credited is a letter from Ma.r.s.eilles to a Jew, which says it was the most b.l.o.o.d.y battle ever fought; that it lasted three days; that the two first we had the worst, and the third, by a lucky gale, totally defeated them. Sir Charles Wager always said, "that if a sea-fight lasted three days, he was sure the English suffered the most for the two first, for no other nation would stand beating for two days together."

Adieu! my dear child. I have told you every circ.u.mstance I know: I hope you receive my letters; I hope their accounts will grow more favourable. I never found my spirits so high, for they never were so provoked. hope the best, and believe that, as long as I am, I shall always be yours sincerely.

P. S. My dear Chutes, I hope you will still return to your own England.

(903) James Barry, fourth Earl of Barrymore. He died in 1747.

See ant'e, p. 269. Letter 74.

(904) "Some treasonable papers of consequence were found in Cecil's pockets, which gave occasion to the apprehending of Lord Barrymore. They were both concerned in the affair of transmitting the Pretender's letter to the late Duke of Argyle; which it was now lamented had not then undergone a stricter examination. I observed the Tories much struck with the news of this being secured." Mr. P. Yorke's Parl.

Journal.-E.

(905) Admiral Vernon.

(906) "Lord Barrington's motion for deferring the suspension was thrown out by 181 against 83. Pitt and Lyttelton walked down the House whilst Lord Barrington was speaking, and went away; so did Mr. Crowne, though a Tory; but most of that party voted with the Ayes. Lord Chesterfield told the chancellor there was no opposition to this bill intended amongst the Lords; not even a disposition to it in any body; and greatly approved the limiting it to so short a time." Mr. P. Yorke's Parl. journal.-E.

(907) "Lord Orford, though he had never spoken in the House of Lords, having remarked to his brother Horatio that he had left his tongue in the House of Commons, yet on this occasion his eloquent voice was once more raised, beseeching their lords.h.i.+ps to forget their cavils and divisions, and unite in affection round the throne. It was solely owing to him, that the torrent of public opposition was braved and overcome."

Lord Mahon, Hist. vol. iii. p. 273.-E.

(908) General James Oglethorpe, born in 1698. His activity in settling the colony of Georgia obtained for him the friends.h.i.+p and panegyric of Pope-

"One, driven by strong benevolence of soul, Shall fly, like Oglethorpe, from pole to pole."

He was one of the earliest patrons of Johnson's "London," on its first appearance, and the Doctor, throughout life, acknowledged the kind and effectual support given to that poem. The General sat in five parliaments, and died in 1785, at the age of eighty-seven. For a striking pen-and-ink whole.length sketch, taken a few months before that event, while the General was attending the sale of Dr. Johnson's library at Christie's auction-room, see "Johnsoniana," 8vo.

edit. p. 378.-E.

(909) Charles Edward, the young Pretender. His person, at this time, is thus described by Lord Mahon: "The Prince was tall and well-formed; his limbs athletic and active. He excelled in all manly exercises, and was inured to every kind of toil, especially long marches on foot, having applied himself to field-sports in Italy, and become an expert walker.

His face was strikingly handsome, of a perfect oval, and a fair complexion; his eyes light blue; his features high and n.o.ble. Contrary to the custom of the time, which prescribed perukes, his own fair hair usually in long ringlets on his neck. This goodly person was enhanced by his graceful manners; frequently condescending to the most familiar kindness, yet always s.h.i.+elded by a regal dignity: he had a peculiar talent to please and to persuade, and never failed to adapt his conversation to the taste or to the station of those whom he addressed." Hist. vol. iii. p. 280.-E.

363 Letter 132 To Sir Horace Mann.

March 5th, 1744, eight o'clock at night.

I have but time to write you a minute-line, but it will be a comfortable one. There is just come advice, that the great storm on the 25th of last month, the very day the embarkation was to have sailed from Dunkirk, destroyed twelve of their transports, and obliged the whole number of troops, which were fifteen thousand, to debark. You may look upon the invasion is at an end, at least for the present; though, as every thing is coming to a crisis, one shall not be surprised to hear of the attempt renewed. We know nothing yet certain from Matthews; his victory grows a great doubt.

As this must go away this instant, I cannot write more-but what could be more? Adieu! I wish you all joy.

364 Letter 133 To Sir Horace Mann.

March 15th, 1744

I have nothing new to tell you: that great storm certainly saved us from the invasion-then.(910) Whether it has put an end to the design is uncertain. They say the embargo at Dunkirk and Calais is taken off, but not a vessel of ours is come in from thence. They have, indeed, opened again the communication with Ypres and Nieuport, etc. but we don't yet hear whether they have renewed their embarkation. However, we take it for granted it is all over-from which, I suppose it will not be over. We expect the Dutch troops every hour.

That reinforcement, and four thousand men from Ireland, will be all the advantage we shall have made of gaining time.

At last we have got some light into our Mediterranean affair, for there is no calling it a victory. Villettes has sent a courier, by which it seems we sunk one great Spanish s.h.i.+p; the rest escaped, and the French fled shamefully; that was, I suppose, designedly, and artfully. We can't account for Lestock's not coming up with his seventeen s.h.i.+ps, and we have no mind to like it, which will not amaze you. We flatter ourselves that, as this was only the first day, we shall get some more creditable history of some succeeding day.

The French are going to besiege Mons: I wish all the war may take that turn; I don't desire to see England the theatre of it. We talk no more of its becoming so, nor of the plot, than of the gunpowder-treason. Party is very silent; I believe, because the Jacobites have better hopes than from parliamentary divisions,-those in the ministry run very high, and, I think, near some crisis.

I have enclosed a proposal from my bookseller to the undertaker of the Museum Florentinum, or the concerners of it, as the paper called them; but it was expressed in such wonderfully-battered English, that it was impossible for Dodsley or me to be sure of the meaning of it. He is a fas.h.i.+onable author, and though that is no sign of perspicuity, I hope, more intelligible. Adieu!

(910) "The pious motto," says Mr. P. Yorke, "upon the medal struck by Queen Elizabeth after the defeat of the Armada, may, with as much propriety, be applied to this event-"Flavit ventO, et dissipati sunt;' for, as Bishop Burnet somewhere observes, 'our preservation at this juncture was one of those providential events, for which we have much to answer."' MS.

Parl. Journal.-E.

365 Letter 134 To Sir Horace Mann.

London, March 22, 1744.

I am .sorry this letter must date the era of a new correspondence, the topic of which must be blood!

Yesterday, came advice from Mr. Thompson,(911) that Monsieur Amelot had sent for him and given him notice to be gone, for a declaration of war with England was to be published in two days. Politically, I don't think it so bad; for the very name of war, though in effect, on foot before,, must make our governors take more precautions; and the French declaring it will range the people more on our side than on the Jacobite: besides, the latter will have their communication with France cut off. But, my dear child, what lives, what misfortunes, must and may follow all this! As a man, I feel my humanity more touched than my spirit-I feel myself more an universal man than an Englishman! We have already lost seven millions of money and thirty thousand men in the Spanish war-and all the fruit of all this blood and treasure is the glory of having Admiral Vernon's head on alehouse signs! for my part, I would not purchase another Duke of Marlborough at the expense of one life. How I should be shocked, were I a hero, when I looked on my own laurelled head on a medal, the reverse of which would be widows and orphans.

How many such will our patriots have made!

The embarkation at Dunkirk does not seem to go on, though, to be sure, not laid aside. We received yesterday the particulars of the Mediterranean engagement from Matthews. We conclude the French squadron retired designedly, to come up to Brest, where we every day expect to hear of them. If Matthews does not follow them, adieu our triumphs in the Channel-and then! Sir John Norris has desired leave to come back, as little satisfied with the world as the world is with him. He is certainly very unfortunate;(912) but I can't say I think he has tried to correct his fortune. If England is ever more to be England, this sure is the crisis to exert all her vigour.

We have all the disadvantage of Queen Elizabeth's prospect, without one of her ministers. Four thousand Dutch are landed, and we hope to get eight or twelve s.h.i.+ps from them. Can we now say, Quatuor maria vindico?"(913)

I will not talk any more politically, but turn to hymeneals, with as much indifference as if I were a first minister. Who do you think is going to marry Lady Sophia Fermor?(914)-only Lord Carteret!-this very week!-a drawing-room conquest. Do but imagine how many pa.s.sions will be gratified in that family! her own ambition, vanity, and resentment-love she never had any; the politics, management, and pedantry of the mother, who will think to govern her son-in-law out of Froissart.(915) Figure the instructions she will give her daughter! Lincoln is quite indifferent, and laughs. My Lord Chesterfield says, "It is only another of Carteret's vigorous measures." I am really glad of it; for her beauty and cleverness did deserve a better fate, than she was on the point of having determined for her for ever,. How graceful, how charming, and how haughtily condescending she will be!

how, if Lincoln should ever hint past history, she will