himself sure of this, and had, I know, promised places in consequence. 'T is a strange mystery! Mr. Ridley has laid aside his intention of moving the Lord Mayor's enlargement. The Speaker was so very good to me, and tender of the magistrate's liberty, that he recommended this measure, and wished either I or some of my friends would adopt it; but I was hard-hearted and declined it. I find various opinions about Lord North's speech. (1) Some think it indicated retirement, others the reverse. I am your Lordship's ever obliged and affectionate friend, J. CALCRAFT. extraordinary character, who, if he did not feel the ambition, at least possessed the genius of governing, and who, after a reign of twenty years, retired, like the imperial philosopher of antiquity, into the uttermost solitude, appearing to forget all men and all things, and himself as much forgotten as the greatness of the character he had left behind him allowed. It is said, that he had kept a diary of his life, which, in an unfortunate hour, he destroyed; from an apprehension, that his records, by the imprudence of friends, or the maliciousness of enemies, might be productive of some of the mischief which he had witnessed in those of others." (1) On bringing forward the budget. In the course of his speech, Lord North said, there was nothing to interrupt the peace and prosperity of the country, but the discontents which a desperate faction was fomenting, by the basest falsehoods, and with the most iniquitous views. He was answered by Mr. Burke and Colonel Barré, who maintained, that notwithstanding the glosses of the ministry, it was manifest peace would be of short duration, and stigmatised the lottery as an iniquitous project to bribe the servants of the public to betray their trust. THE EARL OF CHATHAM TO JOHN CALCRAFT, ESQ. . Hayes, Friday, April 12, 1771. MY DEAR SIR, YOUR kind letter by your servant is very interesting, and I am truly obliged to you for the anecdote of the royal language. I have two doubts; first, the certainty of the words being said; secondly, the sincerity of them, if actually said. If said, and with a sincere mind (which I totally distrust), I should judge a change of system intended: whether as to persons or measures I do not say; though if the latter, the first is implied. I see nothing in the appointment of the Prince of Wales's education repugnant to the notion of a change of measures Lord Holderness, upon the whole, the properest person belonging to the King and Queen; the preceptor of no consequence in the political system. He is to form the child in literature, and has little to do with the prince. Is the lord governor Lord Bute's man, or the man of the King and Queen? On the solution of this decisive question, the whole seems to turn. The Speaker's language is material. They feel their ground untenable, as to all the steps which the House has taken, since the sending for the printers; which (if the city's charter is not in the way) is certainly defensible, and the clear right of the House. Every step since that is rank tyranny, and nothing but dissolution can compose this scene of confusion and ruin. I am, most unalterably, yours, EARL TEMPLE TO THE EARL OF CHATHAM. MY DEAR LORD, Pall Mall, April 18, 1771. I TOTALLY agree with you, in respect to the city transactions. I lamented with those of the city whom I first saw, that they did not content themselves with standing upon the impregnable ground of the illegal proclamation; however, that, since they were in the scrape, it must be covered and got out of as well as they could. The incredible imbecility and rashness of the idiot ministry have been very helpful to them; and, upon the whole, the embarrassment and disgrace to the court put them in a lower and more distressful light than if my Lord Mayor had not interfered at all. I am clear, likewise, that at the very end of the session a motion for a dissolution would come with the greatest propriety, and with a proper and forcible protest should point out the proper line for the city. If any thing, my dear Lord, could call me down to the House of Lords, it would be that measure, and I had almost determined upon it in my own mind; but I confess the general state of the Opposition, the implacable division in the city, which the demon of discord hath so plentifully scattered, have, without blaming either side particularly, reduced me to a state of despondency for the public, which makes me think it almost unmanly to step again into any public transaction. What Lord Lyttelton can be induced to do, I can not, with any precision, say. My nephew James I think very proper to make the motion in the House of Commons; and I well know how his own inclinations stand affected. As to the other points of shortening the duration of parliament, and increasing the knights of the shire, my general notion of the former your Lordship knows, and for the latter, in general, I should wish it success, when matured and ripened. (') I am, my dear Lord, Your most affectionate brother, TEMPLE. LORD CAMDEN TO THE EARL OF CHATHAM. MY DEAR LORD, Sunday Morning. [April 21, 1771.] I HAVE the honour of your Lordship's letter, but have yet received no summons for a meeting this (1) Lord Chatham, on the preceding day, had written a letter to Earl Temple, to which the above is the answer. The following extract of that letter was read at a common council held in Guildhall on the 7th of April, 1780, and ordered to be entered on the journals of the court: -"Allow a speculator, in a great chair, to add, that a plan for more equal representation, by additional knights of the shire, seems highly seasonable; and to shorten the duration of parliaments not less so. If your Lordships should approve, could Lord Lyttelton's caution be brought to taste those ideas, we should take possession of strong ground, let who will decline to follow us. One line of men, I am assured, will zealously support, and a respectable weight of law. 'Si quid novisti rectius istis candidus imperti.'” evening, and I really imagined the business of the session was at an end; having been informed that the parliament was to be prorogued on Thursday next. I imagine that many of our friends will be unwilling to second the address for dissolution, and do much fear, that people are at present tired with a repetition of the same subject; but I wait to hear your Lordship's motives, and will, though I did not intend to go to London before Tuesday, contrive to meet your Lordship this evening. I have the honour to be, with perfect attachment, Your Lordship's most obedient, CAMDEN. THE EARL OF CHATHAM TO THE EARL OF SHELBURNE. MY DEAR LORD, Hayes, April 22, 1771. I HAVE not been idle, as far as an aching head would permit, to ascertain the dispositions of some essential quarters, with respect to the objects on which we conversed, when your Lordship had the goodness to let me see you at Hayes. As to shortening the duration of parliaments, I find a real dislike to the measure, in minds very sound about other public matters. The dread of the more frequent returns of corruption, together with every dissoluteness, which elections spread through the |