Fund, will originate in the written suggestion of Mr. Sheridan himself; and, in certain circumstances, unless such latitude were allowed on his part, the execution of the Act could not have been attempted.

"At present there is no postponement of his interests but there is an utter impossibility of touching the Subscription Fund at all, except for very trifling specified articles, until a supplementary Act of Parliament shall have been obtained.

-

"By the present Act, even if the Subscription were full, and no impediments existed to the use of the money, the Act itself, and the incidental expenses of plans, surveys, etc. are first to be paid for, then the portion of Killegrew's Patent, then the claimants,—and then the Proprietors. Now the Act is not paid for: White and Martindale are not paid; and not one single claimant is paid, nor can any one of them be paid, until we have fresh powers and additional subscription.

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How then can Mr. Sheridan attribute to any postponement of his interests, actually made by the Committee, the present condition of his affairs? and why are we driven to these observations and explanations?

“We cannot but all deeply lament his distress, but the palliation he proposes it is not in our power to give.

"We cannot guarantee Mr. Hammersley upon the fund coming eventually to Mr. Sheridan. He alludes to the claims he has already created upon that fund. He must, besides, recollect the list of names he sent to me some time ago, of persons to whom he felt himself in honour bound to appropriate to each his share of that fund, in common with others for whose names he left a blank, and who, he says in the same letter, have written engage

ments from him. Besides, he has communicated both to Mr. Taylor and to Mr. Shaw, through me, offers to impound the whole of the sum to answer the issue of the unsettled demands made upon him by those gentlemen respectively.

"How then can we guarantee Mr. Hammersley in the payment of any sum out of this fund, so circumstanced? Mr. Hammersley's possible profits are prospective, and the prospect remote. I know the positive losses he sustains, and the sacrifices he is obliged to make to procure the chance of the compromise he is willing to accept.

"Add to all this, that we are still struggling with difficulties which we may or may not overcome; that those difficulties are greatly increased by the persons whose interest and duty should equally lead them to give us every facility and assistance in the labours we have disinterestedly undertaken, and are determined faithfully to discharge. If we fail at last, from whatever cause, the whole vanishes.

"You know, my dear Sir, that I grieve for the sad state of Mr. Sheridan's affairs. I would contribute my mite to their temporary relief, if it would be acceptable; but as one of the Committee, intrusted with a public fund, I can do nothing. I cannot be a party to any claim upon Mr. Hammersley; and I utterly deny that, individually, or as part of the Committee, any step. taken by me, or with my concurrence, has pressed upon the circumstances of Mr. Sheridan.

A Dissolution of Parliament being expected to take place, Mr. Sheridan again turned his eyes to Stafford; and, in spite of the estrangement to which his infidelities at Westminster had given rise, saw enough, he thought, of the "veteris vestigia flamma" to encourage him to hope for a renewal of the connexion. The following letter to Sir Oswald Moseley explains his views and expectations on the subject:

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· Cavendish-Square, Nov. 29. 1811. "DEAR SIR OSWALD,

Being apprized that you have decided to decline. offering yourself a candidate for Stafford, when a future election may arrive, a place where you are highly esteemed, and where every humble service in my power, as I have before declared to you, should have been at your command, — I have determined to the accept very cordial invitations I have received from old friends in that quarter, and (though entirely secure of my seat at Ilchester, and, indeed, even of the second seat for my son, through the liberality of Sir W. Manners), to return to the old goal from whence I started thirty-one years since! You will easily see that arrangements at Ilchester may be made towards assisting me, in point of expence, to meet any opposition, and, in that respect, nothing will be wanting. It will, I confess, be very gratifying to me to be again elected by the sons of those who chose me in the year eighty, and adhered to me so stoutly and so long. I think I was returned for Stafford seven, if not eight times, including two most tough and expensive contests; and, in taking a temporary leave of them I am sure my credit must stand well, for not a

shilling did I leave unpaid. I have written to the Jerninghams, who, in the handsomest manner, have ever given me their warmest support; and as no political object interests my mind so much as the Catholic cause, I have no doubt that, independent of their personal friendship, I shall receive a continuation of their honourable support. I feel it to be no presumption to add, that other respectable interests in the neighbourhood will be with me.

"I need scarcely add my sanguine hope, that whatever interest rests with you (which ought to be much)will also be in my favour.

"I have the honour to be,

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With great esteem and regard,
"Yours most sincerely,

"R. B. SHERidan.

"I mean to be in Stafford from Lord G. Levison's in about a fortnight.”

Among a number of notes addressed to his former constituents at this time, (which I find written in his neatest hand, as if intended to be sent,) is this curious one :

"Cavendish-Square, Sunday night.

"DEAR KING JOHN,

I shall be in Stafford in the course of next week, and if your Majesty does not renew our old alliance, I shall never again have faith in any potentate on earth. "Yours very sincerely,

"Mr. John K.

"R. B. SHeridan."

The two attempts that were made in the course of the year 1812-the one, on the cessation of

the Regency Restrictions, and the other after the assassination of Mr. Perceval,-to bring the Whigs into official relations with the Court, were, it is evident, but little inspired, on either side, with the feelings likely to lead to such a result. It requires but a perusal of the published correspondence, in both cases, to convince us that, at the bottom of all these evolutions of negotiation, there was any thing but a sincere wish that the object to which they related should be accomplished. The Maréchal Bassompière was not more afraid of succeeding in his warfare, when he said, “ Je crois que nous serons assez fous pour prendre la Rochelle," than was one of the parties, at least, in these negotiations, of any favourable turn that might inflict success upon its overtures. Even where the Court-as in the contested point of the Household—professed its readiness to accede to the surrender so injudiciously demanded of it, those who acted as its discretionary organs knew too well the real wishes in that quarter, and had been too long and faithfully zealous in their devotion to those wishes, to leave any fear that advantage would be taken of the concession. But, however high and chivalrous was the feeling with which Lord Moira, on this occasion, threw himself into the breach for his Royal Master, the service of Sheridan, though flowing partly from the same zeal, was not, I grieve to say, of the same clear and honourable character.