I am, indeed, truly fenfible of the difficulties I am laid under by fucceed ing one in this fituation, to whofe eminent qualities you have born fo juft and honourable a teftimony. However un able I may be to reach the more fhining parts of his character, it will, I truft, be in my power to imitate him in that fincere regard which he always expreffed for you, and that unalterable attachment which he always had to your fervice. And I have a pleasure in reflecting that the proper fense and remembrance which you entertained of his merit and fervices, had the principal fhare in recommending me on this occafion to your notice. One circumftance, however, you will permit me to observe, as it may be the only one which can diftinguish me to any advantage. My father had a great and due regard for the univerfity, as a place fet apart for promoting thofe valuable ends, which he ever had at heart, the advancement of true religion and useful knowledge. But by enjoying, in the earlier part of my life, the advantage and improvement of your inftitution, I received fuch strong impreffions in your favour as can never be effaced, and muft make what was esteem in him, duty and affection in me. The honourable station, which by his majefty's favour, I have fome time filled in the county of Cambridge, and their. unanimous voice in electing me for three parliaments their reprefentative, had before given me fome connection with the univerfity; and I fhall be very happy_if by this nearer relation, in which your favour has placed me, I may have more frequent opportunities of affifting in any deliberations, or concurring in any meafures which may tend to your honour or advantage. My thanks are in a particular manner, due to you for the kind and respectful notice you are pleased to take of my brothers. As most of them received the benefit of inftruction under your care, they have retained the fame grateful fenfe of it, which I do; and if it has been in the power of any one of them, in the course of his profeffion, to do you real and acceptable fervice, he will think himself amply repaid by this public and obliging acknowledgments, which he has the ho nour to receive from you. It is my ardent with, and will ever be my earneft endeavour to promote as far as I can, all the useful and important ends of your inftitution; and particularly to preferve that concord and harmony among you which are ever fo favourable to the attainment of these ends, and fo peculiarly become a feat of learning. By this means you will beft fecure the flourithing ftate which you have long been in, beft fupport your credit in the public eye, and moft effectually obtain, what you are doubtless most ambitious of, the regard and efteem of all good men. I am, with the greatest Respect, Richmond, Jan. 12, 1765. 19 Junii. [Copy.] Some Account of the Paper Squabble of the In's and Out's, felected from the Public Advertiser and the Daily Gazetteer, wherein the Agents on each fide have published their Obfervations.. flection to every one, who is concerned for the peace and profperity of the kingdom." In a fecond letter, the fame writer says, "It will be one of the hardest things in the world to pitch upon any period in the English hiftory, when the affairs of the ANTI-SEJANUS, a fpirited writer, nation have been better conducted than upon the view of an expected change in the miniftry fet out with many, invectives against the noble perfonage he ftiles the Favourite, whofe character he drew with the most inflamed and fevere pencil, and faid, "The gentlemen, who form the prefent administration, (i. e. the late adminiftration) weary to death with being regarded as little better than, fo many cyphers in office, whilft be the fovereign arbiter, difpofed of every place, of profit and honour, imperiously, they were determined either to refign, or to shake off fuch a shameful dependance,.. for two or three years laft paft: though the state machine, when it was put into their hands, was terribly clogged and difordered, yet public bufinefs has gone on in a fimooth and uninterrupted tenor, Malice and envy must own, however unwillingly, that Mr. Grenville is as able and upright a minifter as this or any other kingdom ever experienced: his head is clear, cool, and methodical; and his heart a ftranger to every corrupt and vicious inclination. As to his brethren in power, I fhall only fay, (which is much more than can be faid for the young gentlemen who are talked of to succeed them) that they have been regularly trained up to public business, and have gone through feveral important offices with credit and applaufe. Should fuch men as thefe, let me afk, be removed from the helm, to gratify the little low revenge of a favou rite? Are the honour and fafety of the nation fuch very trifles, that they may be fported away in a wanton fit of passion, chagrin, or prejudice? Surely not: And I fhould be greatly surprised at the duke of -'s interfering to discard them, if I did not clearly perceive that he does it to ferve a turn, to elevate a favo rite of his own into a high office, and aggrandize a family, whom he has raised almost from nothing in a manner as fudden as it was furprifing." To convince the minion that they were in earnest, Mr. Mackenzie, and two or three others were immediately removed from their employments. A bold and perilous ftep, that could not pafs off with impunity, unlefs he had given up all pretenfions to his national motto, Nema me impune laceffit. But a true Scot, you know, never gives up any thing that belongs to his dear country; and one may venture to fay of the great favourite, that he is every inch a Scot. Stung to the quick by this fpirited behaviour of the prefent miniftry, he has ever fince been in defatigable in his endeavours to remove them; and, careless of the repofe of his and the quiet of the nation, has moved heaven and earth to effect it. I own myself extremely fhocked to fee a gentleman, of Mr. Grenville's character, made the sport and pattime of this mush-lows: roon-uphart; a man of whom we may fay with Shakespeare," Take him for all in all, we ne'er fhall look upon his Jike again;" of unblemished reputation, of known abilities, and unfullied integrity; a man who has conducted the affairs of the nation with the utmost refolution, wifdom, and prudence; one in whom all the monied men in the kingdom place the most perfect confidence, and all honeft Is there a fet of men that have not been men with to fee long continued in the adminiftration. That fuch a man thould be taken up for a time, and difmiffed again difplaced and replaced, employed or at his infigation? In the courfe of five thrown by at the wanton pleasure of a years there have been no less than eight fefavourite, must needs be a lamentable re-cretaries of state, three first lords of the In a third letter, he advances as fol "What a contemptible figure has this country made of late, in comparison of what it might have done, had it not been for the fluctuation of our councils? And what, may I afk, has that fluctuation been owing to, but the timid, restless, and fufpicious difpofition of a favourite; to whofe paffions and fear, and revenge, the welfare of the nation has been alternately facrificed? treasury, treasury, and five of the admiralty. Have they ALL misbehaved in their offices? Is there none that has done well? No, not one. If this is the cafe, why have they not been brought to an account for their crimes, and made to anfwer for them publicly? But indeed their crimes have been of a very different nature from what are cognizable in an English parliament, or an English court of juftice. They are only fuch as can be canvaffed in the confiliabulum of a timid and a revengeful favourite; where ferving the public too well, and gaining too much credit with the nation, are confidered as crimes of the blackeft dye. Hinc illa lachryma! Such were the charges brought against Mr. Pitt, the delight and ornament of this kingdom: and fuch was the court, by which he was tried and fentenced! Such too, in all likelihood, will be the fate of thofe, whofe caufe is now in actual hearing, before this imperial tribunal. Never, one may venture to fay, was public œconomy more strictly attended to than by the prefent treasury: Never did a minifter acquire more reputation for his difinterestedness, and for his able management of our finances, than the very worthy and refpectable perfon, who as yet prefides at that board. But, alas! as he began to gain credit in the clofet, in parliament, and in the nation in general, he became formidable to the favourite, who from that moment determined to work his ruin; and his fentence I fear is inevitable! for befides the odium under which every good and great man Jabours in the eye of the chief of the confiliabulum, he has committed an overt act of a molt daring and atrocious nature, has ventured to think that power was not to be trufted with fafety to the brother of the favourite. This is an inexpiable crime, and will draw upon him the fevereft fentence that the offended majesty of the favourite can poffibly inflict, What then have we now to expect? A fummer adminiftration, compofed of rafhnefs, timidity, and corruption -I will not mention names at this time; but I do not think much defcription is neceffary to point out the triumvirate, who are now to be our tyrants: A triumvirate, who if they act up to their own characters and difpofitions, will make us feel all thofe evil effects that a mini ftry, formed on fuch a foundation, may be fuppofed to produce." In answer to Anti-Sejanus, An occafonal Writer appeared, who, with equal fpirit, controverted what he had advanced in favour of the late miniftry, and in particular of Mr. Grenville : "When, fays he, thofe who would be thought great men, condefcend, without regard to decency or probability, to applaud themselves in the public papers; or which is a little lefs mean, and even more ridiculous, when they encourage others to make their panegyric for virtues and qualities which are the last allied to their known imperfections, it naturally excites a more rigorous enquiry into their real characters, it naturally calls up a little indignation in honeft men, who having had fagacity enough not to have been cheated by the fpacious juggle of adminiftration, will never fuffer themselves to be the dupes of the rhetoric of dying fpeeches and laft words, or fnivel at the bedfide of an expiring minifter. The late minifterial junto, which, after having incurred the contempt and hatred of the public, by the use they made of their power, are now in hopes of acquiring fome fort of popularity in their fall. Whilft their reign (to ufe the language of their friend the ordinary) lafted, they knew that we confidered them for what they were: When they come to meet their deferts, though they never had our approbation, they hope to move our pity; and that at laft the good women will cry out, that Jonathan Wild and George the Sadler are well timbered men; and that in the cart Jemmy Twitcher has the air of a lord. I do not mean to defame any man; but it is, I hope no libel to differ from Antifejanus, and to protefs that I am not Shocked, but extremely happy to see the time approach when a gentleman of Mr. Grenville's character is to be removed from all power, all management of bufinefs; and inftead of a foolish application of Shakespear's words, to fay, in the words of every Englishman," That I and all difinterested people, who know, him and his management taking him for all in all, hope we never fball look upon bis like again in public bufinefs. The flatterer fays, " of unblemished reputation, of known abilities, and unsulli ed ed integrity." I take the middle of the fentence firft, and speak of bis known abilities. If it fhould appear that his wonderful management has brought one of the most valuable branches of our trade into that dilemma, that it must be either totally loft, or, if regained, may rifque the bringing on a war with Spain, neither his commercial genius, nor his political capacity will be much admired. The Weft-Indian merchant will know that I allude to the total deftruction which he, as minifter (and perhaps far beyond the legal power of his minifterial fituation) prepared for the trade carried on fo infinitely to our advantage from Jamaica with the Spaniards. If fuch things as impeachments fhould come in fashion, or even fimple enquiries fhould be the tafte of this age of management and humanity, his friends may find themselves now at a lofs to account for the wisdom, or to fupport the honesty of his conduct. But for my part, I have candour enough to take the most moderate fide of the alterative: And when folly will fairly account for a wrong ftep in a minifter, I am unwilling to attribute it to treachery: I therefore only wish to deprecate from pofterity the effects of the want of ability, and the bitter fruits of his laborious and meddling ignorance. This man, who never thought of a regulation in trade but as it was a restraint upon it, who has encouraged fmuggling to us by heavy duties, and deftroyed all fmuggling from us by injudicious restrictions; this is the very man whom this paradoxical libeller reprefents in fuch a degree of favour with the merchants; the man under whom our public credit has been in fo miferable a condition, is he who is held up as the favourite of the monied men. It would be tirefome to enumerate all the inftances of his incapacity, in the management of our commercial interefts. It is indeed on all hands agreed that his delight is to have his fingers black with ink, and to talk about bufinefs and about it, till he has rendered his hearers apprehenfions as confufed as his own, The ignorant part of the world are apt to mistake labour for industry, and plodding for deliberation; but the labour of fuch a man tends but to fortify him in his ignorance; and his plodding only to take away his power of determination." "How came it' men will fay, that at one period Mr. Grenville, deferting a brother to whom he had very great obligations, and quitting fome feemingly rivetted friendships, chofe to adhere to lord Bute, then as much a favourite as he is now; and Mr. Grenville must own, with more power than at prefent? Was it because that favourite was really then in power? How came he about two years fince, to fpread abroad, as moft affuredly he did, or his affociates, a report, that Mr. Pitt and Lord Temple's unconscionable demands broke off the treaty in which Mr. Pitt was fo honourably engaged? How came he and his affociates to take again on themselves to act in such an underling capacity, as their own manifefto acknowledges they have; and it feems by their fame manifefto they were still willing to do while they were fuffered? Was any body ignorant by what means Mr. Grenville and his affociates came into power? Is any one ignorant of the part they acted towards the perfon who brought them into power? Did they in their conduct fhew either the fpirit of the free agents, or the fidelity of inftruments? But it feems, Mr. Grenville was weary to death with being regarded as little better than a cypher, while Lord Bute difpofed of every place of profit and honour: So then this minifter, whofe independent spirit and fituation his emiffaries have been trumpeting about for these two last years in every coffee-house and every news-paper, now turns out, upon his own confeffion to have been no more than a cy pher. If the state of subserviency in minifters to a man in a private capacity, be as it certainly is, a folid objection to them, then thefe minifters are (whatever others may be) by their own account unfit for their places; and if they are weary to death with them let them repose themfelves in fome private fituation, and refign thofe offices, in which they confefs, and in which we always believed, that they were but very cyphers. The fate of fuch minifterial cyphers is what very little concerns the public: But Lord Bute difpofed from these cyphers, and if it is true it is not very wonderful he should, of every place of profit and honour. Not, however, of all, not of every place of profit, nor certainly of every tellership of the exchequer. Neither do I apprehend it can be affirmed with any colour colour of truth, that Lord Bute fet to fale every office in the American depart ment. "To crown the intolerable folly of thefe puppet minifters; they boaft in their libel, of having added to the reft of their acts of violence and oppreffion, the difiniffion of Mr. Mackenzie; not because he had offended their fovereign as an officer, or as a man, or had ever done any act offenfive to them as minifters, but merely in the fport of power and infolence of authority, to fhew what they could do. Truly this is pretty plain fpeaking. I, for one, must profess that this infolence of power is to me full as infufferable, from a man whom neither the king likes, nor the people approve, as from the molt declared favourite. These are the men that have the infolence to attempt to brand those who are now coming in with the general voice of the nation, to reftore our affairs, as acting in fubferviency, to that favourite, to whom they themselves have fo long been tools and inftruments. That they have been fo, though they have denied, inftead of confeffing it, we might readily believe. The dependency of their fortunes, the meanness of their capacity, their total want of confideration with the public, rendered them the fittest persons in the world to be fo. Is this the cafe with those whom the voice of the public has recommended to their fovereign? The highest rank, the most extenfive fortune, the moft really unblemished characters, the belt experience in business, and the first talents for it; the defenders and the martyrs of liberty, are these whom our fovereign has for ever endeared himself to his people by calling to his fervice. I do not intend to pay fo ill a compliment to any of them, as to compare them with those whom they are to fucceed; let us add, that thefe come in with the avowed approbation and fupport of that great man, to whom this nation in a late war, owed that glory and power, which it has been the fole bufinefs of our late minifters to depreciate by their difcourfes, and to destroy by their conduct. This arrangement is carried on under the aufpices of a great prince, whom the diftreffes of his king and country have awakened to a fecond life; and who now is come to the relief of that crown by his counfels, which he had formerly prefcrib ed by his arms. In vain fhall fcribblers endeavour to perfuade us, that the duke of Cumberland, that the duke of Newcastle, the duke of Grafton, the marquis of Rockingham, the families of the Cavendishes and Kepples, that Charles Townfhend, General Conway, Sir George Saville, Sir Charles Saunders, are perfons who could in the way that Mr. Grenville and his affociates have been, be made the tools and inftruments of any favourite. Of all their calumnies, this is the most fenfelefs. It is not the effect of the abfurd endeavours of their fcribblers: no, nor the treacherous family compact of two brothers, which can make the firm fabric of his majefty's pious love, for the. fafety and fatisfaction of his people. There is another family compact form. ed upon other principles, against which their cabal must be dashed to pieces; an union of names too facred to be mentioned with theirs; an union formed upon intentions as much nobler, and of force, as much greater, as it is of a dignity fuperior. Their cabal muft be contemptible indeed, when it is neither joined nor countenanced by that great man, to whose alliance alone the Grenville name owe their dignity and confideration. The confequent letters of Anti-Sejanus, confift of illucidations of what be had advanced in his former, accompanied with the feverelt declamations against the favourite, in which he was joined by a By-fander and a Spittlefields Weaver, who now and then joined in the cry a gainst the Favourite, and in defence of the late minifters. The occafional writer, in fupport of what he had advanced, in a fecond letter fays, "When I accufed Mr. G— of ignorance (for I was tender of him) in deftroying, by wild and childish regulations, a most valuable branch of trade, I expected from those who undertook his defence, fome fort of attempt to prove the one or the other of thefe two points; either that his regulations had no tendency to prejudice that trade, or that this trade was prejudicial to our intereft : This would have been fomewhat to the purpofe. But what do they answer to this important charge? Why, the modeft By-fander gravely tells us, fuaded, that Mr. G he is peracted in this particular, |
