The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford Volume I Part 75

The Prince has dismissed Hume Campbell(1158) who was his solicitor, for attacking Lord Tweedale(1159) on the Scotch affairs: the latter has resigned the seals of secretary of state for Scotland to-day. I conclude, when the holidays are over, and the rebellion travelled so far back, we shall have warm inquiries in Parliament. This is a short letter, I perceive; but I know nothing more; and the Carlisle part of it will make you wear, your beaver more erect than I believe you have of late. Adieu!

(1155) The Duke of c.u.mberland entered Carlisle on the 31 st of December; but his pursuit of the Highlanders in person was interrupted by despatches, which called him to London, to be ready to take command against the projected invasion from France.-E.

(1156) "Hawley," says Lord Mahon, "was an officer of some experience, but dest.i.tute of capacity, and hated, not merely by his enemies, but by his own soldiers, for a most violent and vindictive temper. One of his first measures, on arriving at Edinburgh, to take the chief command, was to order two gibbets to be erected, ready for the rebels who might fall into his hands; and, with a similar view, he bid several executioners attend his army on his march." Vol. ii. p. 357.

(1157) Lucy Fortescue, sister of Lord Clinton, first wife of Sir George, afterwards Lord Lyttelton. [She died in January 1747, at the age of twenty-nine.

(1158) twin-brother to the Earl of Marchmont; who, in his Diary .of the 2d of January, says, "My brother told me he had been, last night, with Mr. Drax, the Prince's secretary, when he had notified to him that the Prince expected all his family to go together to support the measures of the administration, and that, as Mr. Hume did not act so, he was to write him a letter, discharging him, In the conversation, Mr. Drax said, that the Prince was to support the Pelhams, and that his dismission was to be ascribed to Lord Granville. My brother said, that he had nothing to say to the Prince, other than that he would support all the measures he thought conducive to the King's interests, but no others."-E.

(1159) The Marquis of Tweedale was one of the discontented Whigs, during the administration of Sir Robert Walpole; on whose removal he came to court, and was made secretary of state, attaching himself to Lord Granville's faction, whose youngest daughter, Frances, he afterwards married, He was reckoned a good civilian, but was a very dull man.

461 Letter 192 To Sir Horace Mann.

Arlington Street, Jan. 17,1746.,

It is a very good symptom, I can tell you, that I write to you seldom -. it is a fortnight since my last; and nothing material has happened in this interval. The rebels are intrenching and fortifying themselves in Scotland; and what a despicable affair is a rebellion upon the defensive! General Hawley is marched from Edinburgh, to put it quite out. I must give you some idea of this man, who will give a mortal blow to the pride of the Scotch n.o.bility. He is called Lord chief Justice; frequent and sudden executions are his pa.s.sion. Last winter he had intelligence of a spy to come from the French army: the first notice our army had of his arrival, was by seeing him dangle on a gallows in his mufti and boots. One of the surgeons of the army begged the body of a soldier who was hanged for desertion, to dissect: "Well," said Hawley, "but then you shall give me the skeleton to hang up in the guard-room." He is very brave and able; with no small bias to the brutal. Two years ago, when he arrived at Ghent, the magistrates, according to customs sent a gentleman, with the offer of a sum Of money to engage his favour. He told the gentleman, in great wrath, that the King his master paid him, and that he should go tell the magistrates so; at the same time dragging him to the head of the stairs, and kicking him down. He then went to the town-hall; on their refusing him entrance, he burst open the door with his foot, and seated himself abruptly: told them how he had been affronted, was persuaded they had no hand in it, and demanded to have the gentleman given up to him, who never dared to appear in the town while he stayed in it. Now I am telling you anecdotes of him, you shall hear two more. When the Prince of Hesse, our son-in-law, arrived at Brussels, and found Hawley did not wait on him, the Prince sent to know if he expected the first visit? He replied, "He always expected that inferior officers should wait on their commanders; and not only that, but he gave his Highness but half an hour to consider of it." The Prince went to him. I believe I told you of Lord John Drummond sending a drum to Wade to propose a cartel. Wade returned a civil answer, which had the King's and council's approbation. When the drummer arrived with it at Edinburgh, Hawley opened it and threw it into the fire, would not let the drummer go back, but made him write to Lord J. "That rebels were not to be treated with." If you don't think that spirit like this will do-do you see, I would not give a farthing for your presumption.(1160)

The French invasion is laid aside; we are turning our hands to war again upon the continent. The House of Commons is something of which I can give YOU no description: Mr. Pitt, the meteor of it, Is neither yet in place, nor his friends out. Some Tories oppose: Mr. Pelham is distressed, and has vast majorities. When the scene clears a little, I will tell you more of it.

The two last letters I have had from you, are of December 21 and January 4. You was then still in uneasiness; by this time I hope you have no other distresses than are naturally incident to your miny-ness.

I never hear any thing of the Countess(1161) except just now, that she is grown tired of sublunary affairs, and willing to come to a composition with her lord: I believe that the price will be two thousand a-year. The other day, his and her lawyers were talking over the affair before her and several other people: her counsel, in the heat of the dispute, said to my lord's lawyers, "Sir, Sir, we shall be able to prove that her ladys.h.i.+p was denied nuptial rights and conjugal enjoyments for seven years." It was excellent! My lord must have had matrimonial talents indeed, to have reached to Italy; besides, you know, she made it a point after her son was born, not to sleep with her husband.

Thank you for the little medal. I am glad I have nothing more to tell you-you little expected that we should so soon recover our tranquility. Adieu!

(1160) Glover, in his Memoirs, speaks of Hawley with great contempt, and talks of "his beastly ignorance and negligence,"

which occasioned the loss of the battle of Falkirk.-D.

(1161) Lady Orford.

463 Letter 193 To Sir Horace Mann.

Arlington Street, Jan. 28, 1746.

Do they send you the gazettes as they used to do? If you have them, you will find there an account of another battle lost in Scotland. Our arms cannot succeed there. Hawley, of whom I said so much to you in my last, has been as unsuccessful as Cope, and by almost every circ.u.mstance the same, except that Hawley had less want of skill and much more presumption. The very same dragoons ran away at Falkirk, that ran away at Preston Pans.(1162) Though we had seven thousand men, and the rebels but five, we had scarce three regiments that behaved well. General Huske and Brigadier Cholmondeley,(1163) my lord's brother, shone extremely - the former beat the enemy's.

right wing; and the latter, by rallying two regiments, prevented the pursuit. Our loss is trifling: for many of the rebels fled as fast as the glorious dragoons- but we have lost some good officers, particularly Sir Robert Monroe; and seven pieces of cannon. A worse loss is apprehended, Stirling Castle, which could hold out but ten days; and that term expires to-morrow. The Duke is gone post to Edinburgh, where he hoped to arrive to-night; if possible, to relieve Stirling.

Another battle will certainly be fought before you receive this; I hope with the Hessians in it, who are every hour expected to land in Scotland. With many other glories, the English courage seems gone too! The great dependence is upon the Duke; the soldiers adore him, and with reason: he has a lion's courage, vast vigilance and activity, and, I am told, great military genius. For my own particular, I am uneasy that he is gone: Lord Bury and Mr. Conway, two of his aides-de-camp, and brave as he, are gone with him. The ill behaviour of the soldiers lays a double obligation on the officers to set them examples of running on danger. The ministry would have kept back Mr. Conway, as being in Parliament; which when the Duke told him, he burst into tears, and said nothing should hinder his going--and he is gone!

Judge, if I have not reason to be alarmed!

Some Of our prisoners in Scotland (the former Prisoners) are returned. They had the Privilege of walking about the town, where they were confined, upon their parole: the militia of the country rose and set them at liberty. General Hawley is so strict as to think they should be sent back; but n.o.body here comprehends such refinement: they could not give their word that the town should not be taken. There are two or three others, who will lay the government under difficulties, when we have got over the rebellion. They were come to England on their parole; and when the executions begin, they must in honour be given up--the question indeed will be, to whom?

Adieu! my dear sir! I write you this short letter, rather than be taxed with negligence on such an event; though, YOU perceive, I know nothing but what you will se in the printed papers.

P.S. The Hessians would not act, because we would not settle a cartel with rebels!

(1162) "Hawley was never seen in the field during the battle; and every thing would have gone to wreck, in a worse manner than at Preston, if General Huske had not acted with judgment and courage, and appeared every where." Culloden Papers, p.

267.-E.

(1163) The Hon. James Cholmondeley, second son of George, second Earl of Cholmondeley. He served with distinction both in Flanders and Scotland. In 1750, he became colonel of the Inniskillen regiment of dragoons; and died in 1775.-D.

464 Letter 194 To Sir Horace MANN.

Arlington Street Feb. 7, 1746.

Till yesterday that I received your last of January 27, I was very uneasy at finding you still remained under the same anxiety about the rebellion, when it had so long ceased to be formidable with us: but you have got all my letters, and are out of your pain. Hawley's defeat (or at least what was called so, for I am persuaded that the victory was ours as far as there was any fighting, which indeed lay in a very small compa.s.s, the great body of each army running away) will have thrown you back into your terrors; but here is a letter to calm you again. All Monday and Tuesday we were concluding that the battle between the Duke and the rebels must be fought, and nothing was talked of but the expectation of the courier. He did arrive indeed on Wednesday morning, but with no battle; for the moment the rebel army saw the Duke's, they turned back with the utmost precipitation; spiked their cannon, blew up their magazine, and left behind them their wounded and our prisoners. They crossed the Forth, and in one day fled four-and-thirty miles to Perth, where, as they have strong intrenchments, some imagine they will wait to fight; but their desertion is too great; the whole clan of the macdonalds, one of their best has retired on the accidental death of their chief. In short, it looks exceedingly like the conclusion of this business, though the French have embarked Fitzjames's regiment at Ostend for Scotland. The Duke's name disperses armies, as the Pretender's raised them.

The French seem to be at the eve of taking Antwerp and Brussels, the latter of which is actually besieged. In this case I don't see how we can send an army abroad this summer, for there will be no considerable towns in Flanders left in the possession of the Empress-Queen.

The new regiments, of which I told you so much, have again been in dispute: as their term was near expired, the ministry proposed to continue them for four months longer. This was last Friday, when, as we every hour expected the news of a conclusive battle, which, if favourable, would render them useless, Mr. Fox, the general against the new regiments, begged it might only be postponed till the following Wednesday, but 170 against 89 voted them that very day. On the very Wednesday came the news of the flight of the rebels; and two days before that, news from Chester of Lord Gower's new regiment having mutinied, on hearing that they were to be continued beyond the term for which they had listed.

At court all is confusion-. the King, at Lord Bath's instigation, has absolutely refused to make Pitt secretary at war.(1164) How this will end, I don't know, but I don't believe in bloodshed: neither side is famous for being incapable of yielding.

I wish you joy of having the Chutes again, though I am a little sorry that their bravery was not rewarded by staying at Rome till they could triumph in their turn: however, I don't believe that at Florence you want opportunities of exulting.

That Monro you mention was made travelling physician by my father's interest, who had great regard for the old doctor.(1165) if he has any skill in quacking madmen, his art may perhaps be of service now in the Pretender's court.

I beg my eagle may not come till it has the opportunity of a man-of-war: we have lost so many merchantmen lately, that I should never expect to receive it that way.

I can say nothing to your opinion of the young Pretender being a cheat; nor, as the rebellion is near at end, do I see what end it would answer to prove him original or spurious.

However, as you seem to dwell upon it, I will mention it again to my uncle.

I hear that my sister-Countess is projecting her return, being quite sick of England, where n.o.body visits her. She says there is not one woman of sense in England. Her journey, however, will have turned to account, and, I believe, end in almost doubling her allowance. Adieu! my dear child; love the Chutes for me as well as for yourself.

(1164) Lord Marchmont, in his Diary of Feb. 9, says, "My brother told me, that on the ministry insisting on Mr. Pitt being secretary at war, and the King having said he should not be his secretary, Lord Bath had gone to the King and told him, though he had resolved never to take a place, yet now, finding his ministers would force a servant on him, rather than he should be so used, he would undertake to get him his money.

The King said. the ministers had the Parliament; Lord Bath said, his Majesty had it, and not they: and that hereupon the King thanked him; and it was expected the ministers would all be out."-E.

(1165) In 1743, Dr. John Monro was appointed, through the influence of Sir Robert Walpole, to one of the Radcliffe travelling fellows.h.i.+ps. In 1752, he succeeded his father as physician to Bridewell and Bethlehem Hospitals. In 1758, he published "Remarks on Dr. Battie's Treatise on Madness," in which he vindicated his father's treatment of that disorder.

He died in 1791.-E.

466 Letter 195 To Sir Horace Mann.

Arlington Street, Feb. 14, 1746.

By the relation I am going to make, you will think that I am describing Turkish, not English revolutions; and will cast your eye upwards to see if my letter is not dated from Constantinople. Indeed, violent as the changes have been, there has been no bloodshed; no Grand Vizier has had a cravat made of a bowstring, no Janizaries have taken upon them to alter the succession, no Grand Signior is deposed--only his Sublime Highness's dignity has been a little impaired. Oh! I forgot; I ought not to frighten you; you will interpret all these fine allusions, and think on the rebellion--pho! we are such considerable proficients in politics, that we can form rebellions within rebellions, and turn a government topsy-turvy at London, while we are engaged in a civil war in Scotland. In short, I gave you a hint last week of an insurrection in the closet, and of Lord Bath having prevented Pitt from being secretary at war. The ministry gave up that point; but finding that a change had been made in a scheme of foreign politics, which they had laid before the King, and for which he had thanked them; and perceiving some symptoms of a resolution to dismiss them at the end of the session, they came to a sudden determination not to do Lord Granville's business by carrying the supplies, and then to be turned out: so on Monday morning, to the astonishment of every body, the two secretaries of state threw up the seals; and the next day Mr. Pelham, with the rest of the Treasury, the Duke of Bedford with the Admiralty, Lord Gower, privy seal, and Lord Pembroke,' groom of the stole, gave up too - the Dukes of Devons.h.i.+re, Grafton, and Richmond, the Lord Chancellor, Winnington, paymaster, and almost all the other great officers and offices, declaring they would do the same. Lord Granville immediately received both seals, one for himself, and the other to give to whom he pleased. Lord Bath was named first commissioner of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer; Lord Carlisle, privy seal, and Lord Winchilsea reinstated in the Admiralty. Thus far all went swimmingly; they had only forgot one little point, which was, to secure a majority in both Houses: in the Commons they unluckily found that they had no better man to take the lead than poor Sir John Rushout, for Sir John Barnard refused to be chancellor of the exchequer; so did Lord Chief Justice Willes to be lord chancellor; and the wildness of the scheme soon prevented others, who did not wish ill to Lord Granville, or well to the Pelhams, from giving in to it. Hop, the Dutch minister, did not a little increase the confusion by declaring that he had immediately despatched a courier to Holland, and did not doubt but the States would directly send to accept the terms of France.

I should tell you too, that Lord Bath's being of the enterprise contributed hugely to poison the success of it. In short, his lords.h.i.+p, whose politics were never characterized by steadiness, found that he had not courage enough to take the Treasury. You may guess how ill laid his schemes were, when be durst not indulge both his ambition and avarice! In short, on Wednesday morning (pray mind, this was the very Wednesday after the Monday on which the chance had happened,) he went to the King, and told him he had tried the House of Commons, and found it would not do!(1167) Bounce! went all the project into s.h.i.+vers, like the vessels in Ben Jonson's Alchymist, when they are on the brink of the philosopher's stone. The poor King, who, from being fatigued with the Duke of Newcastle, and sick of Pelham's timidity and compromises, had given in to this mad hurly-burly of alterations, was confounded with having floundered to no purpose, and to find himself more than ever in the power of men he hated, shut himself up in his closet, and refused to admit any more of the persons who were pouring in upon him with white sticks, and golden keys, and commissions, etc. At last he sent for Winnington, and told him, he was the only honest man about him, and he should have the honour of a reconciliation, and sent him to Mr. Pelham to desire they would all return to their employments.(1168)

Lord Granville is as jolly as ever; laughs and drinks, and owns it was mad, and owns he -would do it again to-morrow. It would not be quite so safe, indeed, to try it soon again, for the triumphant party are not at all in the humour to be turned out every time his lords.h.i.+p has drunk a bottle too much; and that House of Commons that he could not make do for him, would do to send him to the Tower till he was sober. This was the very worst period he could have selected, when the fears of men had made them throw themselves absolutely into all measures of Government to secure the government itself; and that temporary strength of Pelham has my Lord Granville contrived to fix to him: and people will be glad to ascribe to the Merit and virtue of the ministry, what they would be ashamed to Own, but was really the effect of their own apprehensions. It was a good idea Of somebody, when no man would accept a place under the new system, that Granville and Bath were met going about the streets, calling odd man! as the hackney chairman do when they want a partner. This little faction of Lord Granville goes by the name of the Grandvillains.

There! who would think that I had written you an entire history in the compa.s.s of three sides of paper?(1169) ***Vertot would have composed a volume on this event. and ent.i.tled it, the Revolutions of England. You will wonder at not having it notified to you by Lord Granville himself, as is customary for new secretaries of state: when they mentioned to him writing to Italy, he said-"To Italy! no: before the courier can get thither, I shall be out again." it absolutely makes one laugh: as serious as the consequences might be, it is impossible to hate a politician of such jovial good-humour. I am told that he ordered the packet-boat to be stopped at Harwich till Sat.u.r.day, till he should have time to determine what he would write to Holland. This will make the Dutch receive the news of the double revolution at the same instant.

Duke and his name are pursuing the scattered rebels into their very mountains, determined to root out sedition entirely. It is believed, and we expect to hear, that the young Pretender is embarked and gone. Wish the Chutes joy of the happy conclusion of this affair!

Adieu! my dear child! After describing two revolutions, and announcing the termination of a rebellion, it would be below the dignity of my letter to talk of any thing of less moment.

Next post I may possibly descend out of my historical buskin, and converse with you more familiarly--en attendant, gentle reader, I am, your sincere well-wisher,