between the two courts, which is already ratified. Choiseul has informed me, in his own hand

as well as from spirit, to secure to ourselves the first blow; that to carry on this war with vigour, it was only necessary to continue our present efforts, and that if any war could provide its own resources, it must be a war with Spain; that their flota had not yet arrived, and that the taking of it would at once disable their, and strengthen our, hands; and that this procedure, so suited to the dignity of the nation, and the insults it had received, would be a lesson to Spain, and to every other power, how they should presume to dictate in our affairs, and to intermeddle with a menacing mediation, and an officiousness as insidious as it was audacious." Lord Bute was the first to oppose these sentiments; he called them rash and unadvisable : Lord Granville thought them precipitate, and desired time for consideration: Lord Temple supported Mr. Pitt: the Duke of Newcastle was neuter, and the Lord Chancellor absent. This was on the 18th of September. A few days afterwards, at a second council, at which all the ministers were present, Mr. Pitt re-urged the necessity of an immediate war with Spain; stating, that he did not ground his resolution of attacking Spain upon what that court had said or might say, but upon what she had actually done. The majority declared themselves not yet convinced of the necessity of the measure, and the cabinet broke up without coming to any resolution. At a third meeting, however, on Mr. Pitt again urging the necessity of recalling Lord Bristol, every other member, with the exception of Lord Temple, objected to the measure. Warmed by this opposition, Mr. Pitt declared, that "this was the moment for humbling the whole House of Bourbon; and if he could not prevail in this instance, this should be the last time he would sit in that council: he thanked the ministers of the late King for their support; said he was himself called to the ministry by the voice of the people, to whom he conceived himself accountable for his conduct, and that he would not remain in a situation which made him responsible for measures he was no longer allowed to guide." The King having rejected the written advice of Mr. Pitt and Lord Temple, they resigned on the 5th of October.See Annual Register, vol. iv. p. 42.; and History of the Minority, p. 34.

writing, that he had done it so, and I acquaint your Excellency with it for your intelligence.

It was not possible for me to write to your Excellency by Choiseul's messenger, because I did not know it in time. This minister believes that they will not come into their memorial; but I am afraid they will, and that if the negotiation is broke off, it will be on our account.

GRIMALDI.

COUNT DE LALLY (1) TO MR. PITT.

SIR,

London, September 29, 1761.

SINCE my departure, now almost five years, from Europe for the Asiatic climates, I am his

() This brave, but most imprudent and unfortunate officer, was of an Irish family, which had followed the fortunes of James the Second. He entered the army at a very early age; and having distinguished himself at the battle of Fontenoy, he was, in 1756, selected to restore the French influence in India, and made governor of Pondicherry. On the surrender of that place, in January 1761, he was made prisoner of war, and arrived in London a few days prior to the date of this letter. Having obtained the desired permission, he hastened to France to confront his enemies, by whom he was accused of having sold Pondicherry to the English; but no sooner had he reached Paris, than he was seized and sent to the Bastile, and, after a confinement of several years, brought to trial for treachery, abuse of authority, and unjust exactions. He was found guilty; and the circumstances of peculiar horror which attended his execution are thus related by Voltaire : — "When the Count's sentence was pronounced, the excess of his indignation was equal

torically acquainted but with two men in this world, the King of Prussia and Mr. Pitt; the one by a series of distress, the other of success; the

to his astonishment: he inveighed against his judges, and, holding in his hand a pair of compasses which he used for tracing maps in his prison, he struck it against his heart; but the blow was not sufficient to take away life: destined to lose it upon the scaffold, he was dragged into a dung-cart, with a gag in his mouth, lest, being conscious of his innocence, he should convince the spectators of the injustice of his fate." Madame du Deffand, in a letter to Horace Walpole, says, "le peuple battoit des mains pendant l'exécution;" to which he replies, “Ah, madame, madame, quelles horreurs me racontez vous là! On a bien massacré des gens chez nous; mais a-t-on jamais vu battre des mains pendant qu'on mettoit à mort un pauvre malheureux, un officier général, qui avoit langui pendant deux ans en prison? un homme, enfin, si sensible à l'honneur, qu'il n'avoit pas voulu se sauver! si touché de la disgrace, qu'il cherche à avaler les grilles de sa prison, plutôt que de se voir exposé à l'ignominie publique!"-In 1783, his son, the celebrated Lally Tollendal, so far obtained a reversal of the judgments passed by the parliaments, as to regain the possession of his paternal estates. In 1789, he was one of the most popular and eloquent members of the constituent assembly; but, perceiving that principles prevailed repugnant to his sense of justice, he retired into Switzerland, and passed the winter at Lausanne with Gibbon. Having returned to France in 1792, he was sent to the Abbaye, whence he escaped during the massacres which took place in the prisons in September, and effected his retreat to England, where he found an asylum in the house of Lord Sheffield. During the consulate he returned to France, where he resided in literary retirement, till the restoration of the Bourbons; when he obtained a seat in the chamber of peers, as a marquis. He died in 1830. Besides several political works, he wrote "Essai sur la Vie du Comte de Strafford," and a tragedy on the fall of that nobleman. Gibbon, in a letter to Lady Sheffield, says: " I perfectly concur in your partiality for Lally; though nature might forget some meaner ingredients of economy, prudence, &c., she never formed a purer heart, or a brighter imagination."

former snatching at fortune, the latter directing her.

But when I shall have seen and heard here of Mr. Pitt all I have already read of him, I shall always remember I am his prisoner, and liberty to me, though a Frenchman, is of an inestimable value; therefore I earnestly beg your interest with his Majesty to grant me leave to repair to my native soil, either upon my parole, or upon the terms of the cartel in accepting of my ransom.

Nothing but my sense of gratitude for this favour can add to the high regard with which I am, Sir, your Excellency's

I TAKE up the pen with more than ordinary desire to succeed in the business I am, by the King's command, to write to you upon. I earnestly wished to have carried to his Majesty some little opening of your mind; something that might have pointed towards that mark of his royal favour he seems impatient to bestow upon you. (')

() Mr. Burke, who wrote the historical portion of the Annual Register for the year 1761, says, that "when Mr. Pitt

As that was not in my power, the King has desired me to mention two ideas; wishing to have the one most agreeable to you carried into immediate execution; but, if neither should be suitable to your inclinations, it is hoped that you will not be averse to give his Majesty a little insight into your own thoughts upon this subject. The government of the province of Canada, with a salary of five thousand pounds, seemed to strike the King most; and that for two reasons: the first, as you would preside over a province acquired by your own ability and firmness; secondly, as it would convey to all the world his Majesty's intentions of never parting with that great and im

resigned the seals, the great person to whom they were redelivered received them with ease and firmness, without requesting that he should resume his office. His Majesty expressed his concern for the loss of so able a servant; and to show the favourable sense he entertained of his services, he made him a most gracious and unlimited offer of any rewards in the power of the crown to bestow. His Majesty at the same time expressed himself not only satisfied with the opinion of the majority of his council, but declared he would have found himself under the greatest difficulty how to have acted, had that council concurred as fully in supporting the measure proposed by Mr. Pitt as they had done in rejecting it. Mr. Pitt was sensibly touched with the grandeur and condescension of the proceeding. I confess, Sir, I had but too much reason to expect your Majesty's displeasure: I did not come prepared for this exceeding goodness: pardon me, Sir, it overpowers, it oppresses me.' He burst into tears. We are far from an attempt to add any colouring to so exquisitely affecting a picture; we are, indeed, far from being able to do justice to perhaps one of the most pathetic and elevated scenes which could possibly be displayed, the parting of such a prince, and such a minister."