Page images
PDF
EPUB

keep such a man in the service, and not wishing to give cause for his resignation, endeavoured to reason with him; upon which he (Sir Jeffery Amherst) delivered or sent to the Duke of Grafton the following articles of accommodation.

1. A British peerage to himself, and failing heirs of his body, to descend to his brother the colonel.

2. A recompense equivalent to the loss of his govern

ment.

3. An exclusive right of working the coal mines at Louisbourg to him and his heirs for ever.

4. A grant of lands in America to a certain extent.

5. And in case it should be judged expedient to create American peers, that he should have the pre-eminence.

The Duke of Grafton, on receiving this, begged to see Sir Jeffery, who sent him word, if the interview was intended to induce him to lower his demands, it was totally unnecessary. His Grace then went to him, and gave him the following

answers.

1. British peerages were generally given to such whose opulent fortunes enables them to support that high dignity. This reason he apprehended Sir Jeffery could not plead.

2. It always had been his Majesty's intentions to make him a recompense equivalent to his government.

3. Reasons political and commercial forbade the working of the American coal mines at all.

4. He might have the grant of lands in America when, where, and to what extent he pleased; but he did not apprehend there was the least reason to make the fifth demand, as he supposed a creation of American peers would never take place.

Sir Jeffery Amherst's regiments are not given away.

I shall make no comment on this. I tell it as a fact which I have heard from what people call good authority. The dismission of an experienced and deserving commander requires some attention, and there can be no harm in making the public acquainted with it. The number of falsehoods that have been spread abroad about this transaction have induced me to send you this.

I must tell you, however, that my information is second hand; but it may have this good effect, even if not true, to induce those who know the contrary to do as I have done. I

shall therefore conclude with this question: are these things true or not?

LETTER XXXVII.

CLEOPHAS.

TO THE EARL OF HILLSBOROUGH.

MY LORD, September 1, 1768. IN the ordinary course of life, a regularity of accounts, a precision in points of fact, and a punctual reference to dates, form a strong presumption of integrity. On the other hand, an apparent endeavour to perplex the order and simplicity of facts, to confound dates, and to wander from the main question, are shrewd signs of a rotten cause and of a guilty conscience. Let the public determine between your Lordship and me. You have forfeited all title to respect; but I shall treat you with tenderness and mercy, as I would a criminal at the bar of justice

In your letter signed Cleophas you are pleased to assume the character of a person half informed. We understand the use of this expedient. You avail yourself of everything that can be said for you by a third person, without being obliged to abide by the apology if it should fail you. My Lord, this is a paltry art, unworthy of your station, unworthy of everything but the cause you have undertaken to defend. While you pursue these artifices it is impossible to know on what principles you really rest your defence. But you may shift your ground as often as you please; you shall gain no advantage by it. Your Lordship, under the character of Cleophas, is exactly acquainted with particulars which could only be known to a few persons, while you totally forget a series of facts known to thousands. You can repeat every article of your own letter to Sir Jeffery Amherst*, though your own memory

* This letter was at length published November 2, and is as follows:"SIR, "Hanover Square, July 27, 1768. "I am commanded by the King to acquaint you that his Majesty, upon a consideration of the despatches lately received from Virginia, thinks it necessary for his service that his governor of that colony should immediately repair to

be too weak to recollect on what day Lord Boutetort's appointment was fixed, on what day he kissed hands, and on what day the design was opened to Sir Jeffery Amherst. These, it seems, are circumstances of no importance; and, to say the truth, I believe they are such as you would willingly forget. I am glad to find, however, that the acknowledgment of Sir Jeffery Amherst's merit and services could not be more full

his government, and at the same time to express to you the high opinion his Majesty has of your ability to serve him in that situation. But it is not the King's intention to press you to go upon that service, unless it shall be perfectly agreeable to your inclination as well as entirely convenient to you. His Majesty does not forget that the government of Virginia was conferred upon you as a mark of royal favour, and as a reward for the very great services you have done for the public, so much to your own honour and so much to the advantage of this kingdom, and therefore his Majesty is very solicitous that you should not mistake his gracious intention on this occasion. "If you choose to go immediately to your government, it will be extremely satisfactory to his Majesty; if you do not, his Majesty wishes to appoint a new governor, and to continue to you in some other shape that emolument which was, as I have said before, intended as a mark of the royal sense of your meritorious services. It is a particular pleasure to me to have the honour of expressing to you these very favourable sentiments of our royal master. To add anything from myself would be a degree of presumption; I will therefore only request the favour of your answer as soon as may be convenient, and take the liberty to assure you that I am,

"HILLSBOROUGH."

The following short note was published immediately in reply to it :— 66 TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER.

"SIR, "November 5, 1768. "To prevent any impression which may arise to the prejudice of Sir Jeffery Amherst from a letter circulated by the Earl of Hillsborough, and now in print, it is only necessary to observe that it is dated the 27th of July, and that the government of Virginia was given to Lord Boutetort on Sunday, the 24th. This being the fact, the humble fawning language of the secretary of state's letter, instead of a compliment, is a real mockery and insult. A true idea of the treatment which Sir J. A. has received can only be had by observing the order of the facts. The government is given away on Sunday; the secretary of state writes his letter on Wednesday; he and Sir J. A. meet on Thursday. Not the most distant hint is given him that his government is actually disposed of, and Lord Boutetort kissed hands next morning. This, Sir, is the treatment which Sir J. A. considers as an affront, not an injury, and which he resents as he ought. If Lord H. had not published his letter, I should not have thought of reviving a question on which the public was before completely satisfied.

"A. B."

and formal than as it is stated in your letter to him. Upon that point, then, we are agreed.

You say Sir Jeffery Amherst, at your first conversation, seemed satisfied. My Lord, I must tell you, that when a secretary of state assures Sir Jeffery Amherst that any particular measure is necessary for the King's service, he is too good a subject to set his private interest in opposition to the public welfare. But did you tell him that his government had been given away four days before? Did you not speak of it as a measure in futurum, which was not to take place till he was perfectly satisfied? In short, did you tell him that Lord Boutetort was to kiss hands next morning? Answer these questions like a man and a gentleman.

When Sir Jeffery Amherst found that all this pretended necessity of the King's service ended in a provision for a ruined courtier, he felt the indignation of a man who has received an affront, not an injury. Your emissaries affect to say, that he was desired to repair to his government, and upon his refusal was dismissed. This you know was not the fact, so that every reasoning built upon it falls to the ground. You never did nor could propose to him to return to America in a rank subordinate to General Gage. It never was a question; and indeed how should it, when his government was given away on the 31st of July, and he had not the most distant intimation that such a measure was thought of, until Thursday, the 4th of August. Mark these dates, my Lord, for you shall not escape me.

After the affront had been fixed upon him in the grossest manner, he was desired to consider what satisfaction he would accept of. He then sent to the Duke of Grafton the demands which you have stated to the public. These, and the answers to them, shall now be considered. The word demand is peremptory, and unfit to be made use of by a subject in a request to the crown. It was not made use of by Sir Jeffery Amherst, though, for the matter of it, I assert without scruple, that a man of distinguished public merit, who has been signally insulted, is not in the case of a suppliant, but has a right to a signal reparation.

The Duke of Grafton's idea of the proper object of a British peerage differs very materially from mine. His

Grace, in the true spirit of business, looks for nothing but an opulent fortune, meaning, I presume, the fortune which can purchase as well as maintain a title. We understand his Grace, and know who dictated that article. He has declared the terms on which Jews, gamesters, pedlars, and contractors (if they have sense enough to take the hint) may rise without difficulty into British peers. There was a time indeed, though not within his Grace's memory, when titles were the reward of public virtue, and when the crown did not think its revenue ill employed in contributing to support the honours it had bestowed. It is true his Grace's family derive their wealth and greatness from a different origin-from a system which it seems he is determined to revive. His confession is frank at least, and well becomes the candour of a young man. I dare say that if either his Grace or your Lordship had had the command of a seven years' war in America, you would have taken care that poverty, however honourable, should not have been an objection to your advancement; you would not have stood in the predicament of Sir Jeffery Amherst, who is refused a title of honour because he did not create a fortune equal to it at the expense of the public.

For the matter of a recompense equivalent to his government, he repeatedly told your Lordship that the name of pension was grating to his ears, and that he would accept of no revenue that was not at the same time honorary. Your Lordship does not know the difference, but men of honour feel it.

If reasons political and commercial forbid working the coal mines in America, that, I allow, is an answer ad hominem. It may be a true one; yet I do not despair of seeing these very mines hereafter granted to support the chastity of a minister's whore, the integrity of a pimp, or the uncorrupted blood of a bastard.

His Grace is wonderfully bountiful in the article of lands. I doubt not he would with all his heart give Sir Jeffery Amherst the fee simple of every acre from the Mississippi to California. But we shall be the less surprised at his generosity when we consider that every private soldier who served a certain time in America was entitled to two hundred acres, and that not one man, out of perhaps twenty thousand claimants, has yet settled upon his estate.

« PreviousContinue »