Walpole's desires for peace. His plan of life. (March 22.)— Measures for a new Administration. Lord Shelburne March 26.-Interministerium. Formation of a new Ministry. Lord Shelburne and Lord Rockingham. List of the Cabinet. Reflections upon politics and freedom. Illness of Lady William Campbell. The island of St. Christopher's taken by the April 7.-The loss of Minorca thought little of in England. General Murray and the Duc de Crillon. The new Ministry popular. Ministerial appointments. Mrs. Damer. Lord Or- ford removed from the Rangership of the Parks. Expected reconciliation with Holland. Rupture with Ireland. Iniquities May 5.-New appointments and preferments. Success of Admiral Barrington. Bills of Reformation in the House of Commons. Sir Thomas Rumbold. Unsettled state of Ireland. Marriage of one of the Duchess of Gloucester's daughters, Coldness of the spring. Bon-mot of George Selwyn. The Pope and the Emperor of Germany. Character of the new Administration. Brilliant talents of Mr. Fox. Mr. Conway at the head of the PAGE LETTERS FROM THE HON. HORACE WALPOLE ΤΟ SIR HORACE MANN. LETTER CCLXII. Arlington Street, Dec. 20, 1776. I CANNOT write to you myself, my dear sir, for I have the gout in my right hand and wrist, and feel enough of it about me to fear that it will make its general tour; which, by this third year's experience, seems to have grown annual instead of biennial: however, I am still so partial to the bootikins, as to believe that it is they that save me from having near so much pain as other gouty people complain of; and, while I do not suffer much, there is no great hardship in an old man's being confined to his own house. It is not, however, to talk of myself that I send you this; but to tell you that I have received your letter for Lord North, and, as I could not carry it myself, I sent it to him by a friend, and do not doubt but so just a request will be attended to. VOL. III.-NEW SERIES. B It looks very much as if we should know soon whether America is to be subdued or saved by a French war. We heard on Tuesday last that Dr. Franklin himself was landed in France-no equivocal step ;* and on Wednesday came a full explanation. General Howe had made two movements, which threatened enclosing Washington, and cutting him off from his magazines: a small engagement ensued, in which the Americans were driven from a post without much loss on either side. Washington has since retired with his whole army to other heights, about five miles off, seeming to intend to protract the war, as was always thought would be their wisest way; but, as the Americans do not behave very heroically, and as the King's fleet will now be masters of the coast, it is supposed that Washington must retire northward, and that the Howes will make great progress in the south, if not prevented by the rigour of the season. As nearly as I can make out, Dr. Franklin must have sailed a day or two after Washington's retreat; + and therefore it is natural to * In September, 1776, three Commissioners were appointed by Congress to take charge of the affairs of America in Europe, and endeavour to procure a treaty of alliance with France. The Commissioners were Dr. Franklin, Silas Deane, and Arthur Lee. The Commission continued till February, 1778, when a treaty of amity and commerce, and also a treaty of alliance, were concluded, and Dr. Franklin appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of France.-ED. + Washington's retreat took place about the 20th of October, and Dr. Franklin sailed from Philadelphia on the 26th, and reached Paris on the 21st of December. Madame du Deffand, in a letter to Walpole of the 18th, says, "The object of M. Franklin's visit remains a problem; and, what is still more singular, nobody can tell whether he is actually in Paris or not. For the last three or four days, we have been told in the conclude that he is come to tell France, that she must directly interpose and protect the Americans, or that the Americans must submit to such terms as they can obtain. If I am not wrong in my reasons, the question is thus brought to a short issue, and there I leave it.* I am never fond of speculations, and not at all so when I am not quite well. Adieu! LETTER CCLXIII.* Arlington Street, Jan. 24, 1777. In my last, a month ago, I told you I had the gout. It is now gone, and I have been once out to take the air. As I love to make the best of everything, I call this a short and favourable fit, having, from its first moment to my airing, lasted but six weeks; morning that he had arrived, and in the evening that he had not yet come.", On the 22nd she again wrote, "Yesterday Franklin arrived at two in the afternoon. He slept the night before at Versailles. He was accompanied by two of his grandsons, one seven years old, the other seventeen, and by his friend, M. Penet. He has taken lodgings in the Rue de l'Université."-ED. * Mr. Burke, in a letter of the 6th of January, to the Marquis of Rockingham, throws out the following conjecture as to the object of Franklin's visit. "I persuade myself he is come to Paris to draw from that Court a definitive and satisfactory answer concerning the support of the Colonies. If he cannot get such an answer (and I am of opinion that, at present, he cannot), then it is to be presumed he is authorized to negotiate with Lord Stormont on the basis of dependence on the Crown. This I take to be his errand; for I never can believe that he has come thither as a fugitive from his cause in the hour of its distress, or that he is going to conclude a long life, which has brightened every hour it has continued, with so foul and dishonourable a flight."—ED. |