Stephenson had been obliged to retire under the chariot, and with great difficulty got into Guildhall Coffee-house in great disgrace, and trampled under foot. It was with no small labour the chariot got up to the gate of Guildhall, where the constables and peace officers, being numerous, prevented further mischief; but had there been a furlong further to go, the mob would certainly have cut the harnesses in pieces, and probably gone to greater extremity. At night, his lordship took the opportunity to get into the Lord Chancellor's state coach, and went away with him, and by that means got home quietly; but I have not yet heard how he rested. I am, Madam,

Your most obedient servant,

T. NUTHALL. (')

(1) Mr. Burke, in the volume already quoted, states that "the conduct of Mr. Pitt when the new parliament met, in which he made his own justification, without impeaching the conduct of any of his colleagues, or taking one measure that might seem to arise from disgust or opposition, has set a seal upon his character." From the strictness with which the standing order of the House of Commons for the exclusion of strangers was enforced during the whole of this session, no regular report of the debates has, unfortunately, been preserved. The following passages in the letters of Mr. Symmers to Mr. Mitchell will, in some measure, supply the deficiency. Mr. Symmers may be considered as Mr. Mitchell's own resident, or agent, at the court of St. James's. He had many friends in office, and was proposed by Lord Hillsborough to Lord Bute for his private secretary, at the time when Mr. Jenkinson was appointed :

"Nov. 20. Happy it is for us that we have at the head, and in the heart of the nation, a young King who appears to want neither spirit nor conduct. He will support the weight of the

THE BISHOP OF GLOUCESTER TO MR. PITT.

HONOURED SIR,

Grosvenor Square, March 26, 1762.

I WAITED on you yesterday to know if you had any particular commands to Bath or Prior Park,

affairs of the public, in case of any defect or division in the ministry; which is but too much the case at present. Since the great commoner laid down the reins of administration, it does not appear who has taken them into their hands. The members of the house seem to be at a loss what to think; whether they shall have a quiet or a turbulent session; but it is the general opinion it will be very much either the one or the other. The house was to deliberate on the King's speech upon Friday last, when, as it was known Mr. Pitt was to speak, it was generally expected that matters would be brought to a crisis, and perhaps to a rupture of opposition. He spoke with temper and firmness, and rather recommended unity than encouraged opposition. He entered a little on the justification of his own conduct during his administration; but referred a further detail till some future occasion. He adhered to the system he had followed of carrying on the war in Germany; of pushing the French wherever they could be attacked in Europe and in their colonies; and of not being checked in the course of these vigorous measures from the apprehension of a war with Spain. This he looked upon to be the only means of procuring a safe and an honourable peace. No warm debate arose in the house upon what was thrown out there. People out of doors seem to be more divided, and warmer in their different opinions. The city, and the trading part of the nation, adopt Mr. Pitt's measures, and support his personal interest, or rather popularity."

"Dec. 11. The question came to be decided on Wednesday last in the house, upon the motion then made for renewing the treaties with the King of Prussia, the Landgrave of Hesse, &c. The crowd in the house was inconceivable. It was a measure fixed, that the war was to be continued upon the same footing as before.

The resolution was, therefore, without a division, and

whither I am going. going. The necessary attendance on your health and on public business so engrosses

unanimous ; but, in the course of the debate some things appeared, that showed not much of good humour. George Grenville, who is in intimate connexion with the present ministry, throughout his whole speech carried on a covered attack against the administration of a relation of his lately in power, as Mr. Rigby, the Duke of Bedford's friend, did against the same person, in a manner more open. On the other hand, Mr. Pitt, with a great deal of temper, entered into a defence of his conduct through all the different periods of it; and at the same time that he justified himself, he did not spare those whom he had succeeded in power, nor those who had attacked him.

"Yesterday, when the report was made from the committee, and Mr. Pitt was not present, a new attack was made upon him, by some members who had not spoken the day before. Colonel Barré, whom Lord Shelburne brought into parliament, renewed the debate with unusual warmth, making use of expressions extremely harsh, such as that of a profligate minister,' and the 'execration of the people of England.' He was censured by Charles Townshend and Mr. Beckford. Lord George Sackville took occasion to speak that day for the first time since his disgrace; and, it is said, spoke with great address and great caution, but in opposition to the measures of a German war.

"A motion for the Spanish papers to be laid before the house is the business of to-day; and as it is a trying point, will probably keep the house late. In the meanwhile, the house has thought fit to exclude all strangers. This resolution was owing to an odd whim that has prevailed this session among the ladies. They had taken it into their heads to come to hear the debates; and so many had interest to get in, as to fill the side galleries, so that the end being only left for the gentlemen, the tumult occasioned by so great a crowd confined to so narrow bounds, obliged the house to come to this resolution."

"Dec. 25. It is remarked by political bystanders, that at this time there are no less than four different parties, or rather separate interests, afloat; viz. the Duke of Newcastle, with his old and established interest; Mr. Pitt, with his popularity without door; Lord Bute, with the weight of the crown; and

your time, that it was religion in me not to intrude upon it, otherwise I would have ventured any imputation rather than the shadow of a suspicion, that the duties of gratitude and friendship were not always first in my thoughts. They are in their own nature the most sacred of all private ties, and mine to you, Sir, are the strongest and most en

the Duke of Bedford and Mr. Fox, with their old connexions. It is further thought there is a good understanding between the two first of these, and between the two last. If that should be so, we shall then have two parties effectually formed, and God knows when there may be an end of party! Some of a more sanguine and well-wishing disposition flatter themselves that all these jarring interests may once more be jumbled into one; the object of which will be to carry on the war with spirit, till a safe and honourable peace be attained. They go so far as to fancy, that the long adjournment to the 19th of January is with a view to this."

“Jan. 29, 1762. Would you know a little of the humour of parliament, and particularly with regard to Mr. Pitt? I must then tell you that Colonel Barré, a soldier of fortune, a young man born in Dublin of parents of a mean condition, his father and mother from France, and established in a little grocer's shop by the patronage of the Bishop of Clogher; a child of whom the mother nursed (these particulars I have from Mr. Millar, upon his own certain knowledge); this young man (a man of address and parts), found out, pushed, and brought into parliament by Lord Shelburne, had not sat two days in the house before he attacked Mr. Pitt. I shall give you a specimen of his philippics. Talking of the manner of Mr. Pitt's speaking, he said

There he would stand, turning up his eyes to heaven, that witnessed his perjuries, and laying his hand in a solemn manner upon the table, that sacrilegious hand that had been employed in tearing out the bowels of his mother country!' Would you think that Mr. Pitt would hear this and be silent; or would you think that the house would suffer a respectable member to be thus treated? Yet so it was." Mitchell MSS.

dearing, both on accountof the bestower and of the benefits. All I mean by this is only to show how much without reserve I am, when I profess myself, honoured Sir,

Your most obliged and

most devoted Servant,
W. GLOUCESTER.

P.S. Give me leave, Sir, to congratulate you on the success at Martinico. (') I do it with singular propriety; for it is the effect of an impulse (I hope not yet ceased), which your glorious administration had imparted to the whole political machine.

SIR RICHARD LYTTELTON TO MR. PITT.

Rome, April 14, 1762.

MY DEAR SIR, I CANNOT forbear congratulating you on the glorious conquest of Martinico, which, whatever effect it may have in England, astonishes all

(1) Shortly before the resignation of Mr. Pitt, an expedition had been projected against Martinico; and the war being concluded in North America, we were enabled to draw from thence a considerable part of the army. General Monckton commanded the land forces, and Admiral Rodney the fleet; the former consisting of twelve thousand men, the latter of eighteen ships of the line. On the 7th of January the armament arrived before the island; on the 16th effected their landing at Cas Navire; and on the 12th of February the whole island surrendered.