of state, with whom your Lordship is in correspondence as commander-in-chief of his Majesty's forces in Scotland. I am, &c. W. PITT. THE EARL OF BRISTOL TO MR. PITT. SIR, Madrid, February 11, 1760. in my GENERAL WALL has earnestly desired me, private letter to you, to assure you how mortified he is to perceive the great distrust, with regard to the Spanish court, which M. d'Abreu in his despatches has represented even the King to be in ('); and as he knows I now send a messenger, he has given me leave to tell you, that nothing can or shall ever let him act contrary to what he looks upon to be the real interest of Spain, which is to live in perfect harmony and a close union with England; that he perceives the Catholic King is really hurt with the want of confidence in him, which M. d'Abreu represents to be the case at his Majesty's court; and that after all the professions and proofs I have given of the King's confidence in the Spanish monarch, which the general has faithfully and repeatedly conveyed to the Catholic King. What must be thought of M. d'Abreu and myself (1) See, on this subject, M. d'Abreu's letter to Mr. Pitt, of the 11th September, 1759, vol. i. p. 350. holding such different language? If you have recourse, Sir, to some of my early despatches after my arrival here, you will there find what is now too much verified, that I scarce flattered myself with gaining the ground I expected at Madrid, till the Marquis d'Abreu was removed. Believe me, with the highest esteem and most sincere respect, Your most obedient and most humble servant, BRISTOL. THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE TO MR. PITT. DEAR SIR, Newcastle House, March 1, 1760. I HOPE to hear you have had a good night, and find yourself much better this morning. Every body attended the council last night but my Lord Temple, whom my Lord Holdernesse forgot to summon. I was extremely sorry for it, for indeed we wanted him. I wonder such unlucky omissions are not avoided. I opened the business with as much strength as I could, in every part; and insisted that the reference should be immediately made to the Judges; and I wished the answer might be returned by such of them as were, or should be, in town. My Lord President ('), with great vehemence, opposed the whole; insisted that it was wrong to () The Earl of Granville. grant a court-martial; that Lord George (') was not triable by a court-martial; that the Judges had nothing to do with it; and that it was wronger still to refer it to them; and insisted that his dissent to the whole might be entered in the minute, as it is. I obeyed your command, in acquainting the Lords with your opinion. I was strongly supported in every thing by my Lord Hardwicke (2); who thought the reference extremely proper in a case of this nature, relating to the jurisdiction of an inferior court. Lord Mansfield concurred; but being a judge, desired his name might not be inserted. We agreed unanimously (except my Lord President), that the first question, viz. about the jurisdiction of the court, should be referred immediately to the Judges; and my Lord Keeper (3) is to receive the King's orders for it this morning, and send them this day, at noon, to the Judges. As to the second question, relating to the punishment which the court could inflict, it was unanimously agreed, that it would be highly improper to refer that to the Judges; as that was, indeed, (1) Lord George Sackville, having demanded a court-martial on his conduct at the battle of Minden, was, on the 23d of January, acquainted that he should have one. It met on the 29th of February; but the trial was postponed, as the court was desirous of having the opinion of the Judges, whether a man no longer in the army was subject to martial law. (2) Ex-chancellor; who, although no longer in office, continued to give his assistance. (3) Sir Robert Henley, afterwards Lord Northington. desiring to know of them what the court was to do, which depended upon themselves. I urged the necessity of having a speedy answer from the Judges, but I feared they would not return any till the whole number was here. Some are already gone, most go on Monday, and my Lord Keeper and my Lord Hardwicke said it was impossible now to appoint serjeants, as all the commissions were made out, and the returns made to them. To supply as well as we could the inconveniences of a delay, we directed the Judge-Advocate to propose to the court to proceed immediately to take all the evidence and examine all the witnesses, whereby the facts would be stated and proved, and nothing left but giving sentence; which, if they thought proper, they might delay till the answer came from the Judges, and the officers (the witnesses) be discharged, and return forthwith to Germany. This was all that seemed practicable in the present case. All the lords, except my Lord President, were greatly surprised at the conduct of the court-martial. I am always, dear Sir, Your most affectionate humble servant, (1) Ten of the Judges (Bathurst and Clive being absent on the circuit) gave their opinion, that Lord George might be tried; but reserved to themselves a further consideration, if any appeal should be made from the sentence. The trial recommenced on the 7th of March, and lasted till the 3d of April. The court pronounced Lord George guilty of having disobeyed Prince Ferdinand's orders, and declared him unfit to serve his Majesty in any military capacity whatever. The King struck THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE TO MR. PITT. DEAR SIR, St. James's, Thursday, 3 o'clock. I SHOULD wait upon you now, but I am just setting out for Claremont, and indeed have nothing more to trouble you with than what is contained in the enclosed papers. I spoke to the Prussian ministers in the sense, and indeed almost in the words made use of by you, and enforced it in the best manner I could. They were a little out of humour at first; would not imagine that the French court did not equally mean to include the King of Prussia in their treaty with us; and finding them in that way, I put down the inclosed minute, read it to them, and Knyphausen corrected it himself. He afterwards read to me a long letter from the King of Prussia, inclosing one from Voltaire to his Prussian majesty, of which he gave me the his name out of the council-book, and forbad his appearance at court. "Lord George's behaviour during the whole process was," says Walpole, "most extraordinary: he assumed a dictatorial style to the court, and treated the inferiority of their capacities as he would have done if sitting amongst them: he brow-beat the witnesses, gave the lie to Sloper, and used the judge-advocate, though a very clever man, with contempt. Nothing was timid, nothing humble, in his behaviour: his replies were quick and spirited; he prescribed to the court, and they acquiesced. An instant of such resolution at Minden had established his character for ever." |