BOOKS.

THE GRENVILLE PAPERS: VOLUMES THIRD AND

FOURTH.*

Ticreig volumes, concluding the series of the Grenville correspond- ence, diaries, &c., begin in January 1765, when the Ministry of George Grenville might look outwardly healthy, though the deter- mination to get rid of it was settled in the King's mind, and close in 1777, when Earl Temple's health was broken by age, disease, and isolation by the loss of his brother and his wife. From George Grenville's death, in 1770, the stream and the interest of the poli- tical correspondence slackens, and may be said to stop in 1771, as henceforth the letters on public events are few and slight. The great subject of the volumes is the various intrigues and negotiations which preceded the downfall of the Grenville Mi- nistry in the summer of 1765, with similar negotiations, or for that matter intrigues, between the Grenvilles and various parties, especially the Bedfords, in order to get back again. The lesser affairs involve the reconciliation of George Grenville with his brother in May 1765, which was evidently the cause that pre- vented Earl Temple from forming a Ministry with Pitt that would have preceded Rockingham's first Administration ; various commu- nications to Grenville from various persons on the events of the day ; a few epistles on private circumstances and slightly indica- tive of the manners of the times. Politics, however, are the staple of the book,—if that is to be called polities which mainly consists of efforts after place for personal objects very thinly veiled, and often exhibited nakedly. Principle, or the public interest, seems not to receive a passing thought except as a means of attacking opponents; and the little stickling there is for the great question of the day, the right of Parliament to tax the Colonies, is made a matter of personal consistency. If there is an exception, it is in the case of George Grenville, who certainly betrays a resolute if not an obstinate adherence to his own Stamp Act.

The interest of the papers is by no means proportioned to the bulk ; nor in fact are they equal in attraction to those of the pre- vious volumes. This depreciation may be partly owing to repe- tition. The diary of George Grenville when Minister is merely a continuation of what we have had already, and wanting not only in novelty but inherent weight. There is also less variety and less substance in the matter. The first two volumes contained a good deal of biography and family history ; the politics were more real. From the time of Grenville's dismissal, it is now as it were much ado about nothing : correspondence, meetings, discussions, arrangements, which finally leave the parties where they were, to begin again the game of place-seeking. Much of the correspond- ence is hardly so solid as this. Grenville and Temple when out of town had three or four news-writers, who sent them the gossip and reports of the day : often curious, but there is too much of it ; the same thing is repeated too often; and even in the diaries of Gren- ville we sometimes have the matter which has already been told in the letters. If every one who bought the book was an histori- cal student, bent upon studying the period, there might not be more than enough. For general purposes, Mr. Smith would have improved the publication by more numerous omissions.

The impression left by the perusal of the volumes confirms that of all other contemporary documents, or of the commonest his- tories, that the period was one of the most discreditable in our an- nals. The generation that preceded the beginning of the reign of George the Third may have been quite as corrupt as the genera- tion that followed his accession, but the corruption was better covered by a principle, poor as that principle might be. The rule of Walpole and of the great Whig families might be selfish and in- triguing in matters of internal detail,—perhaps something of this obtains among all parties, even in our own days. Though the " historical families ' were narrow and oligarchical, they had en- grafted themselves upon the principles of the Revolution. Freedom and the Protestant religion, opposition to France and banished ty- rants, the house of Brunswick as means to an end, were the party watchwords, and possessed broad fundamental truths, however the leaders might lose sight of them. Those truths, too, were felt by numbers in the nation : and if the Tory satirist may be believed, men went to the extent of private ruin in the cause of patriotism. " What slaughter'd hecatombs, what floods of wine, Fill the capacious squire and deep divine !

Yet no mean motive this profusion draws ; His oxen perish in his country's cause - 'Tie George and Liberty that crowns the cup,

And zeal for that great house which eats him up.

The woods recede around the naked seat ; The Sylvans groan—no matter—for the fleet :

• The Grenville rapers : being the Correspondence of Richard Grenville Earl Temple, H.G., and the Right Honourable George Grenville, their Friends and Con- temporaries. Now first published from the Original MSS. formerly preserved at Stowe. Edited, with Notes. by William Smith. Esq., formerly Librarian at Stowe. In four volumes. Volumes III. and IV. Published by Murray.

Next goes his wool—to clothe our valiant bands ; Last, for his country's love, he sells his lands."

When George the Third, whether rightly or wrongly, whether at his mother's and Bute's instigation or from his own mere motive, determined to break down the power of family con- federations, and ostensibly of parties, selecting Ministers from all classes of politicians, he placed corruption before himself and others stark naked. Zeal for the house of Brunswick, loyalty for the race of Stuart, were exchanged for a personal attachment or a personal servility to a particular monarch ; the animating motive of the " King's friends" being what they could get out of the King, while politicians banded together to try what they could force from him. The pride of the elder Pitt was not proof against blandishments or example for his own benefit. This story from Grenville's diary shows that when the " Great Commoner " lost himself in Lord. Chatham, he managed matters in his own person, which under George the Second he had handed over to a Duke. The year is 1766; Pitt, created Lord Chatham, had formed his Ministry in the summer, and in November Parliament was about to open. " Thursday, November 13th.—Mr. Pitt told Mr. Grenville that Lord Percy did not go to the meeting at the Cockpit; that he held the language of opposi- tion, and told Mr. Pitt that the manner in which his father had obtained the dukedom was as follows. Lord Northumberland went to Lord Chat- ham, and asked him whether he was to be Master of the Horse, or Lord Hertford ; that if it was the latter he should look upon himself as excessively ill-used, and should be mortally offended, thinking that his own services in Ireland deserved at least as well to be rewarded as Lord Hertford's. At this Lord Chatham seemed startled ; said the arrangements were taken, and the offices disposed of. Lord Northumberland said, that did not signify, for un- less he could get a mark of the King's favour before Lord Hertford kissed hands, he should look upon it as the greatest affront to him and his friends, and should act accordingly. Lord Chatham said the time did not allow of it, for Lord Hertford was to kiss hands the next morning. Lord Northum- berland still continued to urge his pretensions, and Lord Chatham then prof- fered honours to him. Lord Northumberland asked of what sort ? Lord Chatham said the highest, a dukedom, if he wished it; to which Lord Northumberland said, the King would not do it. Lord Chatham said he would ; told him he could not then see the King himself, nor write, having the gout, but desired Lord Northumberland to go to the King from him to ask it, and to use his name, saying he came from him. This was in the evening ; and Lord Northumberland objected to the lateness of the hour, and likewise to his Majesty's being at Richmond, where he was to stay till eleven at night. Lord Chatham set all these objections aside; and Lord Northumberland went to the Queen's house, sent in to the King to acquaint his Majesty that he was come to speak to him upon earnest business. The King came out to him ; and Lord Northumberland laid his suit before him, saying he was come from Lord Chatham, and by his direction. The King coloured and looked embarrassed ; said he must take some little time to con- sider what engagements he was under, and named Lord Cardigan. He than went into his closet ; from which he returned in a short space, and told Lord Northumberland he would create him a duke.' " Even Grenville, staid and respectable as he was, (though, by the by, we saw him in the previous volumes guilty of attempting a family job,) did not hesitate to adopt the practices of a Walpole or a first Lord Holland. He did not, however, so well know his business or his man.

"The following. characteristic letter may serve as an interesting illustra- tion of the mode in which some part at least of the secret service money was disposed of. " Lord Say and Selo to Mr. Grenville. • London, November 20, 1763. " Honoured Sir—I am very much obliged to you for that freedom of con- verse you this morning indulged me in, which I prize more than the lucra- tive advantage I then received. To show the sincerity of my words, (pardon, air, the perhaps over-niceness of my disposition,) I return enclosed the bill for 3001. you favoured me with, as good manners would not permit my re- fusal of it when tendered by you.

" ' Your much obliged and most obedient servant, "'SAY AND SELE.'

" P. As a free horse wants no spur, so I stand in need of no inducement or douceur to lend my small assistance to the King or his friends in the pre- sent Administration."

Macaulay's representation of Grenville in the closet is hyper- bolical, but there is little doubt that the Premier's want of tact and of worldly habits, coupled with the grasping pertinacity of the Duke of Bedford's " friends," and the ill manners of the Duke himself, were the real cause of the King's wish to get rid of the Grenville Ministry. The business habits of the Premier must have been liked by the King ; and in politics, as regarded America, they were agreed. Even upon his own showing, Grenville was very perti- nacious in small things, returning again and again to the theme when it was obvious the King disliked it; while it is equally clear that he was addicted to lecturing. The King himself assigned these reasons for wishing to get rid of them. " Tuesday, June 4th.—The King appeared much the same in his behaviour to Mr. Grenville as he had done on Sunday, but never begins the conversa- tion as he used to do, but waits 'till Mr. Grenville speaks. The Duke of Bed- ford told Mr. Grenville that it was now known from Lord Albemarle that the King had told the Duke of Cumberland, that the reason why be wished to change his Ministry was the disunion which reigned amongst them ; that Sandwich and Halifax were pretty easy to be dealt with, because they were afraid to lose their places, but that they did no business ; that the Duke of Bedford and Mr. Grenville were inflexible, not loving each other, and only agreeing to give him the law."

When Grenville went to resign the seals, the King, after hearing a long explanation, of which we omit part, spoke plainly as to the real grievance.

" Wednesday, July 10th.—Mr. Grenville received a letter from my Lord Chancellor at half-past ten, signifying to him the King's commands to at- tend him at twelve o'clock at St. James's with the seal of his office.

" When Mr. Grenville came into the closet, the King told him that from what the Duke of Bedford had said to him the last time he saw him, he un- derstood that the Duke had resigned himself, and in the name of the rest of the Ministers; and that he had therefore found himself at liberty to form another Ministry, which he had accordingly done. Mr. Grenville said he was apprised that his Majesty had understood it so ; that the Duke of Bed- ford had shown to Mr. Grenville the substance of what he had said to his Majesty, viz. that he hoped bie Majesty would be pleased to give his coun- tenance to his Ministers, and for the future let his support and his authority go together, or else that he would give his authority where he was pleased to give his favour' ; that for his (Mr. Grenville's) own part he had not re- signed, nor even if he had intended it should have employed another person to do it for him, having the honour of such constant access to his Majesty, and having seen him both the day before and after the Duke of Bedford had been with him, but that he certainly concurred in opinion that it was abso- lutely necessary that his Majesty's favour and authority should go together ; that be must remind his Majesty that he had told him about two months ago, when he saw that he had withdrawn his confidence from him, that he did not wish to continue in his service after he had lost his favour, that the situation was every way too responsible and too irksome. The King said he remembered he had said so. Mr. Grenville said he had repeated this to his Majesty when, after having intended to dismiss him from his service very lately, he had again recalled him to it, and had besought his Majesty not to suffer him to serve him, if it was with any force upon his mind. • • *

" The King said in general that he had found himself too much con- strained, and that when he had anything proposed to him, it was no longer as counsel, but what he was to obey. " Mr. Grenville started at that word ; said he did not know how to repeat it; that surely his Majesty could not mean that word to him, who knew that there was not that power on earth in whom his Majesty ought to ac- knowledge superiority, but that it was the duty of his servants, sworn to that purpose, to deliver their opinions to him upon such things as were ex- pedient for his government, but that as he could not recollect any instance bordering upon anything that could have given his Majesty such an impres- sion, he begged he would mark it to him. The King named the proposing Lord Weymouth for Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland ; that he himself had thought well of Lord Weymouth, and had a good opinion of him, but thought there were objections to him for that situation. Mr. Grenville de- sired his Majesty to remember that Lord Weymouth was no nomination of his. The King said he knew that, but that he had espoused him because the Duke of Bedford did. Mr. Grenville begged his Majesty would recollect that he had at the same time asked him if he had any person for whom he wished it, and had shown his Majesty how little choice he had of proper subjects, from various circumstances. The King said it was true.

" Mr. Grenville then entreated his Majesty, from his known justice and honour, to clear him from the malice of his enemies, who he found had ven- tured to spread about that he bad been wanting in respect to his Majesty, so far as to threaten to quit his service and to leave the seals at the closet- door. The King, with some emotion, said, ' Never, Mr. Grenville, never! it is a falsehood' ; and repeated it once or twice."

Matters, no doubt, were very loose and unsettled after Grenville quitted office. Indeed, till the accession of Lord North, if not of the younger Pitt, the Ministry was often in the plight which Charles Lloyd described in a letter to Lord Temple. Charles Lloyd had been private secretary to George Grenville, and " dab- bled and wrote in the papers " a good deal; he was also one of the persons to whom the Letters of Junius have been attributed.

"I will not trouble you with any observations, but just mention that the best description of the public situation has perhaps been given by a blunder- ing Irishwoman, a Mrs. Oliver, of Twickenham, whose house having been robbed, and the thief being taken and condemned, is become to her an ob- ject of compassion ; and accordingly she has applied to Lord Hertford, who told her h.- did not know how things were, and he could not ask. She than went to Mr. Conway, who said he was out; and lastly to Lord Shelburne, who told her he was not in; and so the man will be hanged."

Either directly, or through report, George the Third is a very conspicuous figure in the volumes, and maintains the character fur ability in the art of carrying on " the King's government," for which we have always given him credit. The different Ministers he had to deal with were bad enough, and richly deserved dis- missal, though not altogether in his way. The King's objects were generally good, but he proceeded too much on the Jesuit's maxim that the end justifies the means.

In the fourth volume are printed three letters from Junius to Mr. George Grenville, which were found regularly docketed and classed among his papers under A (anonymous). Unless written out of personal regard, or to establish a future claim upon the ex-Premier should he return to power, they seem designed to mystify (for remarks upon a reported auction-duty are scarcely worth the trouble). They all belong to the year 1768, which was before Junius began to write under that signature; and their authorship is only proved by the resemblance of handwriting, the frequent private signature of Junius, C., and a reference to contem- porary writings as his, now known from Woodfall's edition to be so. The question, however, is of small moment, since they prove nothing but what is indicated above, and the writer's wish for absolute secrecy.

These letters, the research which the editorship has entailed upon Mr. Smith, and the discussions he has had or heard with members of the Grenville family upon the authorship of Junius, have given rise to a closely-printed introduction of more than two hundred pages. Mr. Smith's theory is, that Lord Temple was the author and Lady Temple the amanuensis : his arguments turn upon the identity of Junius and Temple so far as regards character, temper, and motives, with many alleged resemblances of style, or accidents of place, &o. That Temple had the temper and the vindictiveness of Junius—that be was utterly unscrupulous in the gratification of these passions—that he had

rigrounds (for him) of hatred towards the Duke of Bed- d and others assailed—is perfectly true. It is also true that he was In a *sides to obtain the best political information ; had ample means, which he did not want practical skill to avail him- self of, to maintain his incognito ; and Temple filled the position as regards rank and fortune which Junius always intimated belonged to him. There is, too, a small coincidence which Mr. Smith over- looks. Unless memory misleads us, one of the notes to Woodfall had " Pall Mall" as a date : Temple's town-house was there; but so was Lord George Sackville's.

The arguments drawn from minute particulars exhibit much

zeal, much research, and they turn up many curious particulars in connexion with the age : but we need not go fully into them ; they are too general to support a conclusion. Mr. Smith is not logician enough to perceive that what is common to many can prove nothing about one. Such are phrases simply peculiar, or in temporary use among classes or sets : even the use of such a phrase as " at the proper time " is pressed into the service. Junius describes the Duke of Grafton's indecorous con- duct with Miss Parsons at the opera, and " the minute details, 8ce. seem to imply that the writer was himself present." The Earl and Lady Temple were fond of the opera, and were possibly present. If both surmises were established, nothing would be proved ; hun- dreds were present too. The arguments drawn from the knowledge of particular facts are often weaker still. They are not information confined to Lord Temple, but sent by Lloyd and other correspond- ents as confidential or coterie gossip, and of course known to many. The really strongest argument of a minute kind is the use of three consecutive adjectives. This, however, stops short ; because the practice is not so much with Temple alone as with other contem- porary writings ascribed to Junius and (by Mr. Smith) to Temple, which in the absence of better evidence is no proof at all. Neither was Junius the first to use it : Johnson's style was loaded with adjectives, and through him it became a sort of fashion.

"Among many other similar phrases in Junius are the following- " 'A verdict perplexed, absurd, or imperfect.'—Vol. i. p. 360. 'His dis- course was impertinent, ridiculous, and unseasonable.'—Vol. i. p. 374. ' Women, and men like women, aretimid, vindictive, and irresolute.'—VoL ii. p. 168. ' Your conduct has been uniform, manly, and consistent.'—Vol.

iii. p. 195. ' It was allowed to be irregular, unprecedented, and extrajudi- cial.'—Vol. iii. p. 290. ' A misrepresentation of Junius, equally pert, fa* and stupid.'—Vol. iii. p. 410. " In the Letter concerning Libels, lg., the same peculiarity may very frequently be found. I select the following- '• The publication of what is false, scandalous, and seditious.'—P. 10. 'A very long, refined, and elaborate speech.'—P. 18. ' The arguments- were so artificial, qualified, and verbal.'—P. 35. ' And where there is a charge against one particular paper, to seize all, of every kind, is extravagant, un- reasonable, and inquisitorial'—P. 59. 'Instead of pursuing the course of established precedents, inviolably, intrepidly, and openly.'—P. 85. 'Nor any more general blessing than an able, uniform, firm, and incorruptible Chief Justice—P. 110. ' It is an inglorious, a disheartening, and a disadvan- tageous thing, to have a successful war followed by an inadequate or inse- cure peace.'—P. 111. 'If they are wilfully false they are certainly malicious, seditious, and damnable.'—P. 40.

"In Another Letter to Almon, also-

" 'The verdict being clear, usual, and legal.'—P. 104. 'The questions cannot be too direct, leading, and pointed.'—P. 183. ' All this is fair, equal,

and just.'—P. 185. "'It cannot be too pointed, personal, or particular.'—P. 188. 'But I

grow old, lazy, and stupid?—P. 198. "In Lord Temple's pamphlet on the Seizure of Papers- " 'They are very ready to purchase exemption from a hard, expensive, and dangerous prosecution.' "In Lord Temple's Letter from Albemarle Street to the Cocoa Tree-

" 'Content to drag on, like a wounded snake, a weak, disgraced, disre- putable existence.'

"In the Principles of the late Changes, by Lord Temple-

" 'An unexampled encroachment upon the most inherent, most funds-

mental, and most essential rights of Parliament.' "In Lord Temple Defence of the North Britain, No. 46— " 'Ever since the Favourite's influence became predominant, the staunch, known, and tried friends of the Royal Family have been depressed.'"

The conclusive argument against the theory, in our mind, is that Lord Temple could not have written the Letters of Junius. The style of the great anonymous was laboured and artificial; when he wrote hastily, or without due preparation, he was loose and diffuse. But while no specimen is presented to justify Mr. Smith's theory, there are many conclusive against it. Lord Temple was perpetually accused by his own age of writing libels him- self and prompting the libels of others ; he continually sent penny-a-lining paragraphs to the newspapers. In the autumn of 1769, when the country was convulsed by the expulsion of Wilkes and the seating of Luttrell, the counties rising to remonstrate, and Junius in the zenith of his power a meeting was held at Ayles- bury for a remonstrance and petition, at which Temple was pre- sent : he subsequently, acoor • to his custom, drew up a para- graph for the papers ; and a very lordly composition it is—as little like Junius as can be imagined.

"The original draft of the communication is still extant in Lord Temple's hand : it is written roughly on the back of a letter, and it was probably copied in a feigned hand for the newspapers. It is as follows- " YOB THE PAPERS.

"Aylesbury, September 14, 1769. "Pao Mamie CHASTE, the ancient and spirited motto of our Lord-Lieu- tenant, Baron le Despenser, has set this whole county on fire; and it appears happily for the Kingdom that these words are deeply engraved in the heart of every honest elector. The transactions of the 12th instant at the general meeting does infinite honour to all the parties concerned. The Earl Temple dined with the freeholdere at 10d. a head, and his well-known zeal upon every point of liberty did not desert him upon this great occasion. His Lordship has now stepped forth, and put himself at the head of the stand which is making in support of the very vitals of the Constitution."

The idea of the connexion of Earl Temple with the Letters of Junius as " alder and abettor" is not new. Temple was not only vehemently suspected of this connexion by his own age, but often

°barged with it, as well as with being the prompter of many other secret libels. Both his own and succeeding generations have se-

nitted him of the authorship, for the reason just alleged: in the wards of Judge Harding*, quoted by Mr. Smith, " Lord Temple had not eloquence or parts enough to have written Junius; but (he adds] I have no doubt he knew the author." Into this ques- tion, however, we need not now enter.