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are Under-Secretaries in the Southern Province, and perhaps Mr. Rivers, who under the name of Interpreter of Southern Languages, has also acted as an Under-Secretary, I should think it a high honour to serve Mr. Pitt in either of those employments, and should be obliged to you if you would only mention my name and situation to him, in case he should want anybody in those stations. I mean on this occasion not to use any kind of interest to which I cannot pretend, but so far only as the representation of the case, and the little experience I may have acquired in the Secretary's Office, by serving as a volunteer in it, may recommend me; and as to my political sentiments, or any other qualifications of which it would be improper to speak myself, I must refer you to Lord Harcourt. Excuse this trouble from,

Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant,

CHARLES JENKINSON.

LORD HARCOURT TO MR. GRENVILLE.

Cockthrop, near Witney, November 21, 1756.

SIR, Whatever may be the effect of your generous and friendly endeavours to serve Mr. Jenkinson, it is impossible for me not to take the earliest opportunity of thanking you for so extraordinary an instance of your goodness to a young man, whom you have already laid under an everlasting obligation.

The awkward situation I have been in has made it impossible for me to serve him, though I have wished to do it, because I know he is a very deserving man. If he should be so fortunate as to succeed to the employment you have recommended him to, I should hope

that his abilities and application will recommend him to Mr. Pitt. But whether Mr. Jenkinson does, or does not succeed, yet your uncommon goodness to my friend, and the great regard which you have shown me upon this occasion, will make me ambitious of deserving your friendship, on which no one can set a higher value than, Sir, &c., &c. HARCOURT.

MR. JENKINSON TO MR. GRENVILLE.

Bond Street, Tuesday (November 30, 1756).

SIR,-I send you with this some papers which I drew up at the latter end of last summer for the use of Lord Harcourt, upon a subject' which has of late been thought of great national concern: I will beg of you, therefore, to honour them with your perusal, and if you would favour me with your opinion upon them, whether it may be of service at present to commit them to the press as they are, or with any alterations, or whether I should throw them wholly into the fire, it will be acknowledged among the many other favours I have received from you, by Sir, your obedient Servant, C. JENKINSON.

EARL TEMPLE TO THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE 2.

4 o'Clock, December 1, 1756.

MY LORD,-I am much concerned to hear that some words now stand part of our Address to which there are

1 Mr. Grenville has endorsed this letter as referring to a Pamphlet about the Militia. The Pamphlet was published by Mr. Jenkinson, about this time; it is entitled, A Discourse on the Establishment of a National and Constitutional Force in England.

*The Duke of Devonshire was now first Lord of the Treasury,

the highest exceptions; I mean that part in which we are to thank His Majesty for bringing over his Electoral troops, the various improprieties of which are so striking, that it seems the whole Cabinet, at which I had the great misfortune of not being able to attend, unanimously declared against them'. It imports me so much to take a public part against them, that if it be possible for me at any rate, I will go down to the House of Lords tomorrow, and lay my thoughts before them in the fullest and clearest manner; and if I should not be able to do it then, I will take the first opportunity I can of disculpating myself and my own honour. This is a very unfortunate step at the outset, and such a one as Mr. Pitt and I judge will tend to the speedy dissolution of a system of which I cannot make a part longer than I am able to prove myself consistent with myself.

I feel very unhappy at being obliged to give your Grace this trouble, but it is very unfit for me, in my present state, to attend so much to business as to write even thus much, but I cannot resist such sensations, and I am sure I owe it to justice, and to the frankness

1 Lord Waldegrave, in his Memoirs, p. 89, alluding to this part of the Address, describes it as "a compliment of mere decency, His Majesty having ordered them over at the request of both Houses of Parliament. But the new chief of the Admiralty (Earl Temple) was of a contrary opinion; he came, as he told the Lords, out of a sick bed, at the hazard of his life (indeed he made a most sorrowful appearance), to represent to their Lordships the fatal consequences of the intended compliment. That the people of England would be offended even at the name of Hanover, or of foreign mercenaries; that the thanks proposed might raise suspicions that a total change of measures was not intended, which would break that harmony and union now so happily established. He added many other arguments of the same kind, without mentioning the true reason of his disapprobation, namely, the Duke of Devonshire's having added this compliment without consulting

and sincerity your Grace has always treated me with, to apprize your Grace of my intentions the very first moment I can.

Excuse the confused manner of my writing, and be assured that I am, with the highest degree of respect and esteem, My dear Lord, &c., &c.

TEMPLE.

MR. JAMES GRENVILLE TO MR. GRENVILLE.

(December 2, 1756.)

1

I SEND the King's Speech inclosed with my copy of the Address. The former I must beg the favour of you to let me have early to-morrow morning, as I have no other copy of it, and must show it to Sir John Phillips about ten o'clock. Nothing made a bad figure at the meeting, in my opinion, but the change in the line of battle, from Lord Granby to Mr. Sandys; an immense fall by way of anticlimax.

Mr. Yorke', I find, has been wearisome and loquacious, and no more: but of this no farther than just

between us.

THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE TO EARL TEMPLE.

London, December 2, 1756.

MY LORD,-My time was so much taken

up

last night that it was impossible for me to acknowledge the receipt

1 Sir John Phillips, afterwards M.P. for Pembrokeshire; he died in June, 1764. His son was made Lord Milford, in the Peerage of Ire

land.

2 John, Marquess of Granby.

Edwin Sandys, M.P. for Bossiney.

4 Charles Yorke, second son of the Earl of Hardwicke.

of your letter. I am very sorry to find your Lordship has such difficulties in regard to the words proposed in the Address to thank His Majesty for bringing over his Electoral troops. I could have wished them out, because I think there is an impropriety in thanking the King for bringing over his troops, and taking no notice of their going back at a time when the danger is very near as great on the other hand, your Lordship will forgive me if I own that I do not see any great objection to merely thanking the King with having complied with the advice of his Parliament.

Your Lordship is, however, most certainly the best judge where you think your own honour concerned; and I shall only add, that it will give me great concern to see a system that I flattered myself might be a means of preserving this country, and restoring it to a state of tranquillity, demolished upon a point of this sort.

I am, with great truth, my dear Lord, &c.

DEVONSHIRE.

MRS. GRENVILLE TO MR. GRENVILLE.

Saturday, December 4, 1756.

THE times have been a little feverish, as you will find from Mr. James Grenville, who, I hear, intends to make part of his journey this evening, after the House of Commons, if no new event happens to prevent him, but lest any should, I will not omit telling you that Mr. Pitt did not kiss hands yesterday. A report prevailed that the Address of the Commons was to be