(1778), are the most important of those belonging to the present period. СНАР. dence. The Correspondence of LORD CORNWALLIS,' whose Cornwallis military and political career extended from 1776 to Correspon1805, is of value in connexion with Indian and American history. His command in the American War was during the period 1776 to 1781, and during the last two years he exercised an independent control of the English forces in the only quarter where active operations were carried on. His first administration as governor-general in India commenced with the year 1786, and lasted till 1793, during which time he was engaged for two years in the Mysore War, and also drew up the fiscal and judicial regulations which continued for more than half a century to be in force in the Presidency of Bengal. Letters. A series of Letters, addressed by SIR SAMUEL RO- Romilly's MILLY2 to his brother-in-law, the Rev. Mr. Roget, at Lausanne, contains some account of the principal events occurring in England during the period 1780-83. The Memoirs of the Court and Cabinets of George III.,3 which purport to have been compiled by the DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM, are valuable on account of the correspondence they contain, to which, indeed, the editor has 1 Correspondence of Charles, first Marquis Cornwallis, edited with Notes by Charles Ross, Esq. 3 vols. 2nd edit. 1859. 2 Memoirs of the Life of Sir Samuel Romilly, written by Himself: with a selection from his Correspondence. Edited by his Sons. 3 vols. 1840. 3 Memoirs of the Court and Cabinets of George the Third, from origi nal family Documents. By the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. Vols. i. and ii. (2nd edit.) 1853; vols. iii. and iv. 1855. [The task of editing the first two volumes of these papers was unfortunately confided by the duke of Buckingham to an incompetent person, who was also completely igno rant of the times and characters with which they are concerned. A large number of the more important errors were pointed out by a writer in the Quarterly Review, (vol. xcii., pp. 421-446); they remain, however, for the most part uncorrected in the second edition of the first two volumes.] Duke of ham's Me Bucking moirs of George III. СНАР, Rose Corre done little more than supply the connecting links. They commence with the year 1782, and extend to 1800. The letters are chiefly those that passed between different members of the Grenville family, and of these, those of Mr. William Grenville (afterwards lord Grenville) to his brother, the Marquis of Buckingham, are by far the most important. Among the subjects which the volumes for this period serve to illustrate are the administration of lord North, the formation of the Coalition Ministry and breaking up of the Whig party, and the king's first illness. Two other collections, which date from the same spondence. period, are the Rose Correspondence' and the Auckland Correspondence, the former terminating with the year 1815, the latter a year earlier. Both GEORGE ROSE and Auckland LORD AUCKLAND were the confidential advisers of the Corresponyounger Pitt, and the former was in frequent comdence. munication with the chief politicians of the time. The latter, whose name is associated with the reform of the penal code (1778) and the commercial treaty with France (1786), was a nobleman of highly cultivated and dispassionate intellect, but his want of 'anti-Gallican instincts' rendered him unpopular with the country. His Journal and Letters should be read in conjunction with those of lord Malmesbury and George Rose, in both of which his conduct and motives are somewhat unfavourably represented. Horace, Horace Walpole's Memoirs of the Last Ten Years of Walpole's George II3 and his Memoirs of the Early Reign of George Memoirs. Diaries and Correspondence of the Right Hon. George Rose: containing original Letters of the most distinguished Statesmen of his Day. Edited by the Rev. Leveson Vernon Harcourt. 2 vols. 1860. 2 The Journal and Correspondence of William, Lord Auckland, with a Preface and Introduction by the Bishop of Bath and Wells. 4 vols. 1861-2. Memoirs of the Last Ten Years of the Reign of George 11. By Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford. 2 vols. 1822. СНАР. X. III. (which comprise the first twelve years) are perhaps the most really useful contemporary chronicles. His position and connexions enabled him to acquire the best information respecting court intrigues and state diplomacy, while his abstention from active political life probably led him to form a somewhat less prejudiced estimate of men and measures. He has, however, been censured for the severity and partiality of many of his judgments; and the discrepancies in his recorded opinions of the same individuals in different parts of the Memoirs His own are obvious. Walpole himself alleges that they are the description memoirs of men who had many faults, written by a man character. who had many himself.' The contradictory opinions,' he says, 'which may appear in them from being written at different periods, forbid this work to aim at the regular march of history. As I knew men more, I may have altered my sentiments of them; they themselves may have changed' (Memoirs of George III., i. 3). of their His Notes on the Debates in In one important respect the service rendered by Walpole in his earlier work is deserving of note. We have already seen (supra, p. 384) of what imperfect and doubtful materials our earlier parliamentary history is composed-the Journals of the two Houses and the Rolls representing the primary sources, supplemented by the biassed accounts of contemporary writers. It was not, indeed, until after the brief but decisive struggle of 1771 that the right of the press to publish reports of debates in either House was admitted and recognised. Prior to that time, the Gentleman's Magazine, TheGentleof which the first volume appeared in 1731, and the man's Memoirs of the Reign of George III. By Horace Walpole. Now first published from the original MSS. Edited, with Notes, by Sir Denis Le Marchant. 4 vols. 1845. 2 See on this subject Massey, Hist. of England, ii. 93-124; Trevelyan, Early Life of Charles James Fox, c. viii. Parlia ment. Magazine, CHAP. and The Annual Register. Cavendish's Debates. Annual Register, which commences in 1758, had ventured on little more than an occasional report of a speech of special interest delivered in the House of C-ns,' and a list of the supplies annually voted by Parliament. Special reports, by members of the House, such as those already described (see chapters vii. & viii.), still lurked in manuscript. Of no period subsequent to the reign of James I. are the reports more meagre than those of that which intervenes between the fall of Sir Robert Walpole (1742) and the outbreak of the War with America (1758), and the value of Horace Walpole's earlier work consists to no small extent in the fact that it in some measure supplies this deficiency by the accounts furnished for the years 1750-60. He himself regularly attended the more important debates in the House of Commons, and took notes of the speeches; these he subsequently wrote out at greater length, with comments on the manner in which each speech was received by the House, and other details. The criticism contained in his later work is scarcely less valuable; his remarkable insight into character, combined with his great literary power, giving to these Reports an altogether exceptional interest. For the second Parliament of George III. (May 1768 to June 1774), known as the Unreported Parliament,' we have the Debates left in manuscript by SIR HENRY CAVENDISH. This collection, the publication of which was never completed, comprises in the printed volumes a large number of speeches by Burke, before unpublished, together with much curious matter appended by 1 Sir Henry Cavendish's Debates of the House of Commons, auring the Thirteenth Parliament of Great Britain, &c. Edited from the original MSS. by J. Wright. 2 vols. 1841-3. [The publication of this work was broken off when it had progressed as far as the year 1771.] Mr. J. Wright, the editor, from letters, private journals, and memoirs. СНАР. X. The Letters of Junius, which appeared between Letters of January 1769 and November 1771, attracted the atten- Junius. tion of the political world no less by their boldness, vigour of thought, and striking literary merits, than by the intimacy they indicated with cabinet secrets and the curiosity they thus excited as to their authorship. As a feature in the history of the times, their chief significance is in the evidence they afford of the intense animosity with which the reactionary policy of the dukes of Grafton and Bedford was regarded by the people. The arguments brought forward by the editor of the Grenville Papers (see supra, p. 384) to prove that lord Temple was the author and not Sir Philip Francis, are not generally regarded as conclusive. The Diary of BUBB DODINGTON' (afterwards lord Bubb Dod Melcombe) dates from 1748 to 1761; it is the journal of ington's Diary an active politician who, after having been a warm supporter of Walpole, more than once changed sides after his leader's downfall. Part of the Diary is devoted to reminiscences of earlier years, among which we have an amusing account of the dispute between George II. and the prince of Wales in 1737, a matter in which the narrator took an active part. Williani (B.) Biographies.-The Life of Mr. Pitt (3 vols., 1811) Lives of by BISHOP TOMLINE, his college tutor, is a dull and somewhat disingenuous performance which has been ' Junius: including Letters by the same Writer under other Signatures, now first collected. To which are added his confidential Correspondence with Mr. Wilkes, and his private Letters addressed to H. S. Woodfall. With a preliminary Essay. 1875. 2 A Diary of the late George Bubb Dodington, from Mar. 8, 1748-9 to Feb. 6, 1761. With an Appendix containing many curious and interesting Papers referred to in the Diary. Published from his Lordship's original MSS. by H. S. Wyndham. 4th edit. 1809. |