Chapter I: Front Matter

MEMOIRS
OF THE REIGN OF
KING GEORGE THE THIRD.

VOL. III.

_J. Cook, sc._

HON. CHARLES TOWNSHEND.

FROM THE ORIGINAL BY SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS.

London. Published by Richard Bentley 1845]

MEMOIRS
OF THE REIGN OF
KING GEORGE THE THIRD.

BY HORACE WALPOLE,
YOUNGEST SON OF SIR ROBERT WALPOLE, EARL OF ORFORD.

NOW FIRST PUBLISHED FROM THE ORIGINAL MSS.
EDITED, WITH NOTES,
BY SIR DENIS LE MARCHANT, BART.

VOL. III.

LONDON:
RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,
Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.
1845.

LONDON:
Printed by S. & J. BENTLEY, WILSON, and FLEY,
Bangor House, Shoe Lane.

ADVERTISEMENT.

Since the publication of the preceding volumes of this work, the Editor has been favoured with some important communications, which call for his public and most grateful acknowledgements.

The Duke of Bedford kindly granted him the use of the valuable collection of letters at Woburn, left by his ancestor, John Duke of Bedford, from which he should have been less sparing in his extracts, had not the publication of the concluding volume of that nobleman’s correspondence been expected in the course of the present year.

The Editor’s inquiries have, in many instances, been materially assisted by the Journal and Correspondence of Sir Gilbert Elliot--the counsellor and intimate friend of Lord Bute, and one of the most accomplished statesmen of his day. His papers are particularly valuable, as constituting, perhaps, the only authority which can be relied on for the views of the Court, at a time that it has been charged with originating a system of unconstitutional interference with the government of the country. Amongst them have been preserved some very interesting letters that passed between Lord Bute and Sir Gilbert, during critical periods of the political career of the former, which throw considerable light on his character and intentions. Whatever benefit may have been conferred on this work by the information thus placed at the Editor’s disposal, is due to the liberality of the Earl of Minto, who readily consented to the Editor’s consulting such of his grandfather’s papers as related to the early part of George the Third’s reign, adding at the same time several explanations which, coming from a member of Sir Gilbert’s family, were especially valuable.

Through the friendship of Lord Brougham, to whom the Editor is also indebted for many valuable suggestions, access was obtained to a collection of George the Third’s Letters to Lord North, in the possession of that nobleman’s accomplished daughter, Lady Charlotte Lindsay, from which the Editor has made rather copious extracts, illustrating, as he conceives, very forcibly, the personal character of the King, and its influence on the events of his reign.

He has also to express his deep obligations to the Duke of Grafton, for placing in his hands, without reserve, the autobiography of his grandfather (the Minister of George the Third), a work in itself of sufficient importance to deserve separate publication, and the appearance of which at an earlier period would have refuted many of the calumnies that have attached to the name of its noble writer. The extracts given in the Appendix relate, almost exclusively, to his Grace’s public conduct during his own administration and that of Lord Rockingham.

It had been the Editor’s intention to insert in the Appendix the biographies of some of the statesmen noticed in these Memoirs, of whom less has hitherto been generally known than might have been expected from their connexion with the politics of the day. With this view he had prepared a life of Marshal Conway, and a selection from his correspondence, two volumes of which were kindly entrusted to him by the Right Honourable Sir Alexander Johnstone, from whom he also obtained much interesting information respecting the Marshal’s pursuits after he quitted office. The Appendix, however, is without such an addition already too large; but should the subject appear not to have been exhausted, the Editor proposes to publish the materials he has collected in a separate volume, under the title of “Notes and Biographical Sketches illustrative of the History of the Early Years of the Reign of George the Third.”

7, HARLEY STREET,
_July, 20, 1845_.

CONTENTS

OF

THE THIRD VOLUME.

CHAPTER I.

A. D. PAGE

1767. Debates on East Indian Affairs 1

Wilkes and the Duke of Grafton 5

March 16th. The Houses adjourn for the Holidays 6

Expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain 6

March 28th. The Houses reassemble 11

Parliamentary Discussions 11

May 1st. Conversation on Indian Affairs 15

May 6th. Court of Proprietors vote themselves a Dividend 21

Conduct of Mr. Townshend 23

CHAPTER II.

1767. May 13th. Proposal to tax the Colonies 28

Passing of the Resolutions 37

Affairs of Lord Chatham 41

May 18th. Violent Conduct of the Court of India Proprietors 44

May 21st. Motion for Quebec Papers 45

State of Catholicism in England 47

May 26th. Motion on the Massachusets Act 47

Weakness of the Administration 49

June 1st. Grant moved to Prince Ferdinand 50

June 2nd. Victory of the Court in the House of Lords 54

CHAPTER III.

1767. Negotiations with the Bedford Party 58

July 2nd. Close of the Session 59

July 5th. Interview of Conway with the King 61

July 15th. Treaty with Lord Rockingham 69

July 20th. Meeting at the Duke of Newcastle’s 79

July 22nd. Interview of Lord Rockingham with the King 83

CHAPTER IV.

1767. Attempt to procure an Earldom for Lord Holland 94

July 28th. Walpole sups with the Duke of Grafton 96

Sept. 4th. Death of Charles Townshend 99

Sept. 17th. Death of the Comte de Guerchy 102

Sept. 17th. Death of the Duke of York 103

Characters of the Royal Dukes 105

French Travellers in England and Ireland 107

Generosity of Conway 108

Conduct of Lord Townshend in Ireland 109

Nov. 24th. Meeting of Parliament 112

Debate on the Address 113

Nov. 29th. Negotiation with the Bedford Party 117