LETTER XXXV.

TO THE EARL OF HILLSBOROUGH.

MY LORD, August 29, 1768. THE honourable lead you have taken in the affairs of America hath drawn upon you the whole attention of the public. You declared yourself the single minister for that country, and it was very proper you should convince the world you were so, by marking your outset with a coup d'éclat. The dismission of Sir Jeffery Amherst has given a perfect establishment to your authority, and I presume you will not think it necessary or useful to hazard strokes of this sort hereafter. It will be advisable at least to wait until this affair is forgotten, and, if you continue in office till that happens, you will surely be long enough a minister to satisfy all your ambition.

The world attributes to your Lordship the entire honour of Sir Jeffery Amherst's dismission, because there is no other person in the cabinet who could be supposed to have a wish or motive to give such advice to the crown. The Duke of Grafton and the Chancellor were once Lord Chatham's friends. However their views may now be altered, they must know it would disgrace them in the eyes of the public, to offer an unprovoked outrage to a man whose conduct and execution had contributed not a little to their patron's glory.

The Duke of Bedford and his friends have uniformly held forth Sir Jeffery Amherst as the first military man in this country; they have quoted him on all occasions when military knowledge was in question, and even been lavish in his praise. Besides, they openly disclaim any share in this measure, and they are believed.

The Earl of Shelburne usually finds himself in opposition, therefore is not too often consulted. In this instance he certainly did not concur with the majority. He still is, or pretends to be, attached to Lord Chatham, and I fancy he is not yet so cordially reconciled to the loss of the American department as to dishonour himself merely to oblige your Lordship.

You will not venture to insinuate that Sir Jeffery Amherst was dismissed by the advice of Lord Granby or Sir Edward Hawke. Military men have a sense of honour which your Lordship has no notion of. They feel for a gallant officer

who had his full share in the toils and honour, and had some right to a share in the profits of the war. They feel for the army and the navy. Lord Granby himself has some emoluments besides his power, and Sir Edward Hawke has his pension. Nobly earned I confess, but not better deserved than by the labours which conquered America in America. Besides, my Lord, the commander-in-chief is the patron of the army. It was a common cause which he could not desert without infamy and reproach. Lord Granby is not a man to take his tone from any minister. Where his honour is concerned, he scorns to adopt an humble ministerial language; he never would say, that indeed Sir Jeffery Amherst was rather unreasonable, that his terms were exorbitant, that he had still two regiments left, and might well be contented. This is a language it is impossible he should hold, while he himself is master-general of the ordnance, colonel of the blues, and commander-in-chief, with a whole family upon the staff. He knows the value, and could not but be sensible of the loss, of those honourable rewards which his distinguished capacity, his care of the public money, and his able conduct in Germany had justly entitled him to.

I think I have now named all the cabinet but the Earl of Chatham.

His infirmities have forced him into a retirement, where I presume he is ready to suffer, with a sullen submission, every insult and disgrace that can be heaped upon a miserable, decrepid, worn out old man *. But it is impossible he should be so far active in his own dishonour as to advise the taking away an employment given as a reward for the first military success that distinguished his entrance into administration. He is indeed a compound of contradictions; but his letter to Sir Jeffery Amherst stands upon record, and is not to be explained away. You know, my Lord, that Mr. Pitt therein assured Sir Jeffery Amherst, that the government of Virginia was given him merely as a reward, and solemnly pledged the royal faith that his residence should never be required. Lost as he is, he would not dare to contradict this letter. If he

* His Lordship was less afflicted by age than by hereditary gout. He was subsequently compelled to retire from his nominal premiership. In the quiet of unofficial life he recovered, and soon reappeared, like a giant refreshed, as the leader of the opposition.-ED.

did, it would be something more than madness. The disorder must have quitted his head and fixed itself in his heart.

The business is now reduced to a point: either your Lordship advised this measure, or it happened by accident. You must suffer the whole reproach, for you are entitled to all the honour of it. What then is apparently the fact? One of your cringing, bowing, fawning, sword-bearing brother courtiers* ruins himself by an enterpriset, which would have ruined thousands if it had succeeded. It becomes necessary to send him abroad. Sir Jeffery Amherst is one of the mildest and most moderate of men; ergo, such a man will bear anything. His government will be a handsome provision for Boutetort, and if he frets-why, he may have a pension. Your emissaries lose their labour, when they talk with so much abhorrence of sinecures, non-residence, and the necessity of the King's service. You are conscious, my Lord, that these are pompous words without a shadow of meaning. The whole nation is convinced that the fact is such as I have stated it. But to make it a little plainer, I shall ask your Lordship a few questions, to which the public will expect, and your reputation, if you have any regard for it, demands, that you should give an immediate and strict answer.

1. When the government of Virginia was offered to Sir Jeffery Amherst, did he not reply, that his military employments took up all his time, and that he could not accept the government if residence were expected?

2. Did not Mr. Pitt, then secretary of state, assure him in the King's name, that it was meant only as a mark of his Majesty's favour, and that his residence would never be expected?

3. Has there ever been any further mark of favour conferred upon this gentleman for all those important services which succeeded the conquest of Cape Breton?

But now for questions of a later date.

* Lord Boutetort, lately Colonel Berkeley, M.P. for Gloucestershire, and groom of the bedchamber. He acted as second to Lord Talbot in his ridiculous duel with Wilkes at Bagshot. According to the account of the affair given by Wilkes in his Correspondence, each of the principals discharged a pistol in "exact time." Wilkes then ran up to Talbot, embraced, and retired with him to the Red Lion to discourse of their feat over a bottle of claret.-ED. Alluding to the Warmly Company, for converting copper into brass, of which Lord Boutetort was the head.

1. Was not Lord Boutetort's appointment absolutely fixed on or before Sunday the 31st of July?

2. Had Sir Jeffery Amherst the least intimation of the measure before Thursday the 4th of August?

3. Was it not then mentioned to him in general terms, as a measure merely in contemplation, without the most distant hint that Lord Boutetort, or any other person, was actually in possession of his government.

4. Did not Lord Boutetort kiss hands the next day, that is, on Friday the 5th of August?

5. Did you not dare to tell your sovereign that Sir Jeffery Amherst was perfectly satisfied, when you knew your treatment of him was such as the vilest peasant could not have submitted to without resentment?

Finally, my Lord, is it not a fact, that Sir Jeffery Amherst, having been called upon some time ago to give his opinion upon a measure of the highest importance in America, gave it directly against a favourite scheme of your Lordship; and is not this the real cause of all your antipathy to him? Your heart tells you that it is.

Now, my Lord, you have voluntarily embarked in a most odious, perhaps it may prove to you a most dangerous, business. Your Pylades will sneak away to his government; but you must stand the brunt of it here. For the questions which I have proposed to you, I must tell you plainly, that they "must and shall be answered.

You may affect to take no notice of them, perhaps, and tell us you treat them with the contempt they deserve. Such an expedient may be wise and spirited enough when applied to a declaration of rebellion on the part of the colonies, and God knows it has succeeded admirably. But it shall not avail you here.

Num negare audes? Quid taces? Convincam si negas.

LUCIUS.

LETTER XXXVI.

TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER.

SIR, August 30, 1768. I SHALL not pretend to enter into the merits of Sir Jeffery Amherst's dismission from his government of Virginia. Everybody knows he deserves a great deal of the public; and if

what I have heard be true, even the present administration do not refuse it him. But there are a number of busy incendiaries, who use every means to poison the minds of the good people of England, and to abuse those in power, whoever they are. These neither inquire into the truth of the matter, nor do they fail to show the most disagreeable view of every action of the ministry. An impudent varlet, Y. Z., in this day's paper, talks of forty or fifty lives lost in St. George's fields. When was it? Others have heaped together a parcel of ill-natured lies, and given it the name of an account of the dismission of Sir Jeffery Amherst.

The particulars of Sir Jeffery Amherst's dismission, I am told, are as follow: for very urgent reasons it had been determined the governor-general of every province in America should reside. Upon which Lord Hillsborough wrote a letter to Sir Jeffery, acquainting him of this resolution After making very honourable mention of his service in America, how much his country was obliged to him for that activity, steadiness, and courage, which so eminently distinguished the commander, and which from his example diffused itself through the whole army, by which means the British arms were crowned with success, and the war so happily concluded in that part of the world, he mentioned the very high opinion his Majesty had of him both as a man and as a soldier, and how much it would be to his satisfaction, was it suitable to Sir Jeffery's inclinations and circumstances, to go to Virginia and take upon him the supreme command in that province: but if it was not convenient, he might depend on it, that his Majesty would take the earliest opportunity of doing justice to his merits, by making him a recompense equivalent at least to the loss of his government.

This letter was scarce finished when Sir Jeffery Amherst called at Lord Hillsborough's on some other business. His Lordship took that opportunity to explain the intentions of administration by such a measure, gave him the letter, and Sir Jeffery seemed to be convinced of the necessity of the arrangement, acquiesced in the proposals made to him, and went away to all appearance well satisfied.

If it was next day or not, I know not, but Sir Jeffery very soon after this demanded an audience of his Majesty, and resigned the command of his regiments.

This not being accepted of, and the ministry willing to