entirely decide for Rotterdam as the place for landing; but wish to know whether the going from thence to Utrecht can, at this time of the year, be performed by water, or whether the carriages must be ordered to that place.'

"I have examined the case of the two unhappy convicts lately transmitted from Scotland. As to the young man, I am very willing to show mercy; as to the woman, I cannot see it quite in the same light, but think it may not be improper to send to the proper officer in Scotland for a report with regard to the woman, as I am ever desirous to be perfectly convinced there is no room for mitigating the rigour of the law, before it takes its course.

The King to the Right Hon. Henry Seymour
Conway.

"QUEEN'S HOUSE, Sept. 24, 1766, m p' 7 P. M. "LIEUTENANT-GENERAL CONWAY:-As there seems to be so real a distress from the present excessive dearness of the corn, and a great probability that, if a prohibition is not issued to prevent the further exportation of it, the evil may greatly increase before the Parliament can possibly put a stop to it, I am glad the Council have unanimously thought it expedient that such prohibition should be immediately ordered. I desire, therefore, the

'The Princess Caroline embarked at Harwich on the 3d of October; landed at Rotterdam on the 9th of that month, and the same day departed from thence, in the Prince of Orange's yacht, for Utrecht.

proclamation may be prepared for my signing on Friday. I think it would be but right you should acquaint the lord president with the result of this day's council."

The next letter from the king is interesting, as evincing at how early a period he entertained those wise and enlightened views in regard to the position of the East India Company, the adoption of which, in our time, has led to the reconstruction of that anomalous government. Supported as Lord Chatham was at this period by the king, it was the grand object of his heart, not only to institute a searching inquiry into the overgrown powers and unholy tyrannies of the company, but, if possible, to bring the Empire of the East under the government of, and to annex the company's possessions to, the dominions of the British Crown. "I think it the greatest of all objects," he writes to the Duke of Grafton, "according to my sense of great." This bold scheme, it should be stated, had not only met with opposition in his own Cabinet, but it was apparently not till a strong pressure had been brought to bear upon Conway and Charles Townshend, that they were induced to acquiesce in the preliminary investigation demanded by their leader. "I need not tell you," writes Lord Chatham to Townshend on the 2d of January, "how entirely this transcendent object, India, possesses my heart and fixes my thoughts."

The King to the Right Hon. Henry Seymour

66

Conway.

QUEEN'S HOUSE, Dec. 6, 1766, m pt 7 a. M. "LIEUTENANT-GENERAL CONWAY:- The debate of yesterday has ended very advantageously for administration. The division on the motion for adjournment will undoubtedly show Mr. Grenville that he is not of the consequence he figures to himself. I am so sanguine, with regard to the affair of the East India Company,' that I trust Tuesday will convince the world that, whilst administration has no object but the procuring what may be of solid advantage to my people, it is not in the power of any men to prevent it. Indeed, my great reliance on its success in the House of Commons is in your abilities and character; and I am certain I can rely on your zeal at all times to carry on my affairs, as I have no one desire but what tends to the happiness of my people.

"GEORGE R."

In the summer of this year the king and queen gratified Horace Walpole by paying a visit to his

1 On Tuesday, the 9th, Alderman Beckford, at the instigation of Lord Chatham, made a motion in the House of Commons for the production by the East India Company of certain papers connected with the government and revenue of Bengal. It was met by George Grenville with a counter-motion for an adjournment, which, as he himself informs us, was defeated by 164 votes against 54.

celebrated villa, Strawberry Hill. "The king and queen," he writes to Sir Horace Mann, on the 9th of June, "have been here this week to see my castle, and stayed two hours. I was gone to London but a quarter of an hour before. They were exceedingly pleased with it, and the queen so much, that she said she would come again." Nearly thirty years afterward - when Walpole was in his seventy-ninth year-the queen was as good as her word. To General Conway, Walpole playfully writes on the 7th of July, 1795: “The queen was uncommonly condescending and gracious, and deigned to drink my health when I presented her with the last glass, and to thank me for all my attentions. Indeed my memory de la vieille cour was but once in default. As I had been assured that her Majesty would be attended by her chamberlain, yet was not, I had no glove ready when I received her at the step of her coach; yet she honoured me with her hand to lead her upstairs; nor did I recollect my omission when I led her down again. Still, though gloveless, I did not squeeze the royal hand, as Vice-Chamberlain Smith did to Queen Mary."

court,

" I

'Walpole evidently alludes to a well-known question, said to have been put by Queen Mary II. to one of the ladies of her what a squeeze of the hand denoted? Being told that it meant "love," "Then," she said, "my vice-chamberlain must be violently in love with me, for he always squeezes my hand."

CHAPTER IV.

Lord Chatham's Haughtiness Offensive to His ColleaguesChanges in the Ministry - Decline of Chatham's Influence Weakness of the Government - Anxiety of the King - Prostration of Chatham's Health - Charles Townshend, Chancellor of the Exchequer - His Proposal to Reimpose Taxes on the Colonies - Carried in Both Houses - Death of Mr. Townshend - Death of the King's Brother, Prince Frederick Career and Death of the Duke of York-Return of John Wilkes as Member for Middlesex-Wilkes Committed to the King's Bench Prison — Attempt of the Populace to Force the Prison - Riot and Loss of Life-Wilkes at the Bar of the House of Commons Elected a Second, Third, and Fourth Time for Middlesex - Not Allowed to Take His Seat Popular Tumults-Lord Bute Retires to the Conti

nent.

AMONG the personal defects which throw a shade over the otherwise exalted character of Lord Chatham, were an imperiousness of manner and an almost insolent assumption of superiority in his political communications with others, which could scarcely fail to give offence to his party, and consequently tend to weaken his administration. Such haughty, such despotic language as he used, said Conway, had never been heard west of Constantinople. Thus, his arrogance had already given great offence to his colleagues, and especially to such of them as had served under Lord Rocking