160 Horace Walpole’s Letters (8th May 1783). He thought Pitt’s motion “most dangerous. We know pretty well what good or evil the present state of the House of Commons can do. What an enlargement might achieve no man can tell.” Later on he notes that Pitt was very little supported, but shone marvellously in debate.

161 Mr. Sichel (“Sheridan,” ii, 36) admits the strong personal element in Sheridan’s opposition to Pitt.

162 “Parl. Hist.,” xxiii, 926, 945, 1, 114.

163 “Memorials of Fox,” ii, 113. Jesse, “Memoirs of George III,” iii, 435, states that the Shelburne Ministry had named £100,000 as the allowance for the Prince. I find no proof of this.

164 “Memorials of Fox,” ii, 113, 119.

165 “Buckingham P.,” i, 303–5.

166 “Dropmore P.,” i, 216; also Earl Stanhope’s “Miscellanies,” ii, 23–6, who rightly places the date as 20th July.

167 “Buckingham P.,” i, 304; “Rutland P.,” iii, 70; Stanhope, “Misc.,” ii, 32–5.

168 Ibid., i, 218; “Memorials of Fox,” ii, 131–9.

169 “Parl. Hist.,” xxiii, 1143.

170 “Dropmore P.,” i, 219, 220; Stanhope, “Misc.,” ii, 35.

171 “Life of Wilberforce,” i, 38.

172 Lady Blennerhassett, “Life of Talleyrand,” i, 46. It is strange that the “Talleyrand Memoirs” do not mention the meeting.

173 G. Rose, “Diaries,” i, 32.

174 Wraxall, iii, 122.

175 “Early Life of Samuel Rogers,” 134.

176 D’Haussonville, “The Salon of Mme. Necker,” ii, 50 (Eng. ed.).

177 “Private Papers of W. Wilberforce,” 58. Strange to say, Horace Walpole does not mention the affair in his letters.

178 Horace Walpole (24th Feb. 1783).

179 Milton, “A Free Commonwealth.”

180 See, too, “Memorials of Fox,” ii, 98. Probably the second Bill contained more of the suggestions of Burke.

181 Wraxall, iii, 146, 155.

182 Paper dated 4th Dec. 1783, in Pitt MSS., 354.

183 “Parl. Hist.,” xxiii, 1187–1208.

184 Ibid., 1209–11.

185 I cannot agree with Lecky’s statement (iv, 293) that Pitt’s charges were extravagant. Seven partisan commissioners, jobbing away vast patronage, would have been a canker in the State, whether they acted for their party or the Crown.

186 Pitt MSS., 102. Letter of 25th Nov. 1783.

187 Wraxall, iii, 161.

188 “Parl. Hist.,” xxiii, 1312–86.

189 Wraxall, iii, 150.

190 “Buckingham P.,” i, 289.

191 Ibid., 285.

192 “Parl. Hist.,” xxiv, 196–225.

193 “Memorials of Fox,” ii, 224.

194 Tomline (i, 233) gives the date as 21st December. The date is doubtful, in view of the two perfectly friendly letters of Pitt to his uncle on 23rd December, quoted by Stanhope (“Miscellanies,” ii, 36, 37). Wilberforce places the Earl’s resignation on 22nd December. I incline to place it late on the 23rd.

195 “Dropmore P.,” i, 163, 526–9. The Earl did not gain his desire, and deeply resented the refusal of George III to make him a duke.

196 Quoted in full in “Buckingham P.,” i, 291–3.

197 “Dropmore P.,” i, 239, 240.

198 “Life of Wilberforce,” i, 48.

199 Fitzmaurice, “Shelburne,” iii, 406–13. Pitt soothed the feelings of the Earl by persuading the King to create him Marquis of Lansdowne. (Ibid., 419–25).

200 Grafton MSS. in the Chevening Library.

201 Wraxall, iii, 252.

202 The letter of George III to Pitt, quoted in “Pitt and Napoleon Miscellanies,” rebuts the statement of the editor of “The Cornwallis Correspondence” (i, 162, n.) that there is no trace of any offer of an office to Cornwallis. The letters of the Earl at that time show that he declined office because he believed Pitt’s administration must speedily fall, whereupon “the virtuous Coalition” would return in triumph.

203 “Mems. of the Whig Party,” ii, 5–7.

204 The Duke of Richmond did not join the Cabinet until 13th January. See Lord Carmarthen’s Mem. (“Leeds Mem.,” 94).

205 “Life and Letters of Sir G. Elliot,” i, 91.

206 “Rutland P.,” iii, 73.

207 Lord Carmarthen stated that in the Cabinet meeting of 13th January Pitt talked of giving up the struggle, but this is against all other contemporary evidence (“Leeds Mems.,” 94). These notes on the Cabinet meetings show how long were the discussions there respecting a dissolution, and Pitt’s anxiety to defer it to a favourable moment.

208 Pitt MSS., 353. I cannot accept Mr. Sichel’s statement (“Sheridan,” ii, 45), that Dundas prescribed Pitt’s India Bill, and Burke helped in it. Dundas doubtless helped in its compilation, but Pitt must have conferred directly with the Company and found out how far it was inclined to meet his views.

209 Wraxall, iii, 85.

210 Stanhope, i, App., p. viii.

211 “Ann. Reg.” (1784–5), 271; “Memorials of Fox,” ii, 238–41.

212 Hearn, “The Government of England,” 140–4, 147.

213 “Corresp. between Pitt and the Duke of Rutland,” 9. Cornwallis (“Corresp.,” i, 171) also prophesied after that vote that if Ministers acted wisely, they might hold office for many years.

214 “Leeds Mems.,” 99.

215 “Fox’s Martyrs: a new Book of the Sufferings of the Faithful” (London, 3rd edit., 1784).

216 Letter to Wilberforce, 6th April 1784.

217 I have found in the Pitt MSS. (No. 315) only two references to Pitt’s election for Cambridge. One is a letter of that year from “F. B.” giving numerous hints how this or that M.A. should be “got at” so as to secure his vote, and ending: “Go on and prosper, thou godlike young man, worthy of your immortal father.” The other is a note, not dated, signed J. T[urner?]:

218 Wraxall, iii, 338.

219 For the daily figures see “Ann. Reg.” (1784), 34.

220 “Hist. of Westminster Election,” 483.

221 From the letter of George III to Pitt of 1st May it seems that the High Bailiff had previously decided to grant a scrutiny, if asked for, owing to the many doubtful votes that had been polled.

222 “Dropmore P.,” i, 177.

223 “Memorials of Fox,” ii, 244–6.

224 “Malmesbury Diaries,” iv, 22.

225 “Parl. Hist.,” xxiv, 1006.

226 Necker, “De l’Administration des Finances de la France,” 3 vols. (1784).

227 “Observations on Reversionary Payments,” by R. Price, i, 206. When all the expenses of the war were added, by the year 1786, the National Debt amounted to £245,466,855. See Parl. Paper, No. 443, Sept. 1858.

228 R. Price, “State of the Public Debts and Finances in January 1783,” 5, 8, 19.

229 Pitt reckoned a State lottery as yielding a profit of £140,000; but obviously he disliked this means of raising money (“Parl. Hist.,” xxv, 1307).

230 “Parl. Hist.,” xxiv, 1021.

231 Ibid., 1022–4.

232 “Parl. Hist.,” xxiv, 1015.

233 A. Young, “Farmer’s Letters,” 197.

234 “Wealth of Nations,” bk. i, ch. xi, pt. 3; “Parl. Hist.,” xxiv, 1012.

235 “Wealth of Nations,” bk. v, ch. ii, § 4.

236 Dowell, “Hist. of Taxation,” ii, 183.

237 I owe this interesting fact to the Rev. Dr. Cunningham.

238 R. Price, op. cit., 18, 19 (note).

239 “Parl. Hist.,” xxiv, 1009.

240 “Parl. Hist.,” xxiv, 1354.

241 “Wealth of Nations,” bk. v, ch. ii, § 1.

242 Cunningham, 548.

243 Dowell, ii, 187, 188.

244 In Pitt MSS., 353, I have found a memoir of the East India Company containing this sentence: “Much will he deserve of his country who can devise a mode of anything like equal taxation by any single tax.”

245 “Corresp. of W. Wilberforce,” i, 9.

246 Chevening MSS.

247 R. Price, “Treatise on Reversionary Annuities” (1772).

248 “Parl. Hist.,” xxv, 419–30.

249 Consols which touched 54¼ in January 1785 rose to 69¾-73½ in December of that year.

250 “Memoir and Works of R. Price,” by W. Morgan (1816), i, 120–5; “A Review of Dr. Price’s Writings on Finance,” by W. Morgan (1792).

251 Pitt MSS., 169.

252 “Parl. Hist.,” xxv, 419–30, 1303.

253 Lecky, v, 51.

254 Pitt MSS., 169.

255 “Parl. Hist.,” xxv, 1294–1312, 1367, 1368, 1416–30.

256 These formed the chief charges urged against the Sinking Fund by R. Hamilton, “An Inquiry concerning ... the Management of the National Debt” (1813).

257 “Parl. Hist.,” xxv, 1430–32.

258 “Parl. Hist.,” xxvi, 17–36. Earl Stanhope’s measure will be described by Miss Ghita Stanhope in her monograph on the Earl.

259 J. R. McCulloch, “Taxation and the Funding System,” 3rd edit., 1883, 477–81.

260 Hamilton, op. cit. McCulloch admits only half that amount. In the Pitt MSS. (No. 275) is an account of the stocks purchased for the Sinking Fund up to 5th January 1796. They amounted to £18,001,655 and Annuities equal to £89,675. See, too, Pitt’s Memoranda on the Sinking Fund in “Pitt and Napoleon Miscellanies.”

261 “Parl. Hist.,” xxiv, 998.

262 Ibid., 1383.

263 From Mr. Broadley’s MSS.

264 “Parl. Hist.,” xxiv, 1396.

265 “Corresp. of Wyvill with Pitt,” pt. i, 1796, 13.

266 “Corresp. of Pitt with Wyvill,” pt. ii, 1797, 1–7.

267 In the “Pitt and Napoleon Miscellanies,” I include a Memorandum—“Notes on Reform of Parliament”—from the Pretyman MSS. It is undated; but the notes form undoubtedly the rough draft of the speech outlined above, except that there is no mention of the buying out proposals at the end. May we infer that this was an afterthought, due to Dundas?

268 “Rutland P.,” iii, 202.

269 “Corresp. of Pitt with the Duke of Rutland,” 84.

270 “Corresp. of Wilberforce,” i, 4; “Life of Wilberforce,” i, 77; “Corresp. of Wyvill with Pitt,” pt. i, 15 n.

271 Stanhope, i, xv; Wraxall, iii, 116.

272 Lecky, v, 62, 63; Jephson, “The Platform,” i, 166.

273 “Life of Wilberforce,” i, 191.

274 I agree with Dr. W. Hunt (“Political Hist. of England,” x, 287) in his interpretation of the King’s letter quoted by Stanhope, i, App., xv.

275 “Life of Wilberforce,” i, 113.

276 B.M. Add. MSS., 27808.

277 “Parl. Hist.,” xxvi, 1–5, 178–86; “Life of Wilberforce,” i, 114.

278 “Rutland P.,” iii, 202.

279 “Rutland P.,” iii, 198, 203; Letters of 11th and 23rd April 1785.

280 “Private Papers of W. Wilberforce,” 72.

281 “Corresp. of Pitt with the Duke of Rutland,” 150, 151.

282 Ibid., 174, 175.

283 Pitt MSS., 111. Printed in the “Barham Papers” (ii, 219), edited by Sir John Laughton for the Navy Records Society.

284 “Journals and Letters of Sir T. Byam Martin,” iii, 380–2 (Navy Records Society).

285 Wraxall, iv, 268–70. For some details on the inquiries at Portsmouth and Plymouth see the “Cornwallis Corresp.,” i, 195–8.

286 Porter, “Hist. of the Royal Engineers,” ii, 209–11. The Duke of Richmond was, however, able to fortify some points at Portsmouth before the war of 1793 with France. See “Professional Papers of the Corps of Royal Engineers,” xii (1886), 83, 86. Fort Monckton and smaller forts on Stokes Bay were built.

287 H. Twiss, “Life of Lord Eldon,” i, ch. iv.

288 Wraxall, iv, 436.

289 “Parl. Hist.,” xxvi, 780–832. On 8th May 1789, a similar motion by Beaufoy was defeated by 122 votes to 102 (Ibid., xxviii, 1–41).

290 “Parl. Hist.,” xxiv, 1086–99.

291 Pitt MSS., 353.

292 Mill, “Hist. of British India,” iv, 559 (4th edit.).

293 Lord Acton, “Letters to Mary Gladstone,” 45.

294 “Cornwallis Correspondence,” i, 180, 191.

295 Ibid., 220, 221.

296 Wraxall, iv, 142–4.

297 Malleson, “Life of Warren Hastings” (1894), 456.

298 Malleson, “Life of Warren Hastings” (1894), 455.

299 Wraxall, iv, 250; “Diary of Mme. d’Arblay,” iv, 60 (edit. 1854).

300 Malleson, op. cit., 449.

301 Wraxall, iv, 260.

302 Ibid., 261; “Parl. Hist.,” xxv, 1094–5.

303 E.g., Malleson, op. cit., 450.

304 “Parl. Hist.,” xxv, 1256.

305 The debate of 26th April seems to show that Burke was acquainted with the substance of those papers.

306 “Parl. Hist.,” xxv, 1384–94.

307 “Parl. Hist.,” xxvi, 37–90.

308 “Zamindar” means no more than landowner. Hastings had confirmed Cheyt Singh in his powers. Sir Alfred Lyall and Mr. G. W. Hastings in their works on Warren Hastings lay stress on the fact that Cheyt Singh was a parvenu, not one of the old hereditary princes of India. I fail to see that this has any bearing on the justice or injustice of Hastings’ treatment of him.

309 “Auckland Journals,” i, 127.

310 “Auckland Correspondence,” i, 127; Wraxall, iv, 336.

311 “Parl. Hist.,” xxvi, 115.

312 “Lives of the Lord Chancellors,” ix, 175 (4th edit.). The words quoted above furnish no ground for the assertion of Sir H. Lyall in his “Warren Hastings” that Pitt heard news of Thurlow’s boast just before the debate of 13th June. Campbell’s words are quite vague, and are entitled to little credence.

313 Stanhope, i, App., xix.

314 For new letters of George III see “Pitt and Napoleon Miscellanies.”

315 Wraxall, iv, 342.

316 “Bland Burges P.,” 89, 90.

317 “Life of Wilberforce,” v, 340, 341.

318 “Private Papers of Wilberforce,” 69, 70. A similar remark may be applied to Mr. Gladstone’s replies, which often disgusted simple men.

319 Pitt MSS., 169.

320 This opinion is repeated by Mr. G. W. Hastings, “A Vindication of Warren Hastings,” ch. vi.

321 For a hostile account of Pitt’s conduct here, see the “Bland Burges P.,” 81–9.

322 “Hist. of the Trial of Warren Hastings,” pt. v, 308, 309. His net fortune on 31st January 1786 was given as £65,313, exclusive of £12,000 made over to Mrs. Hastings.