¹ The Countess of Yarmouth, George II's mistress.

² Thomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of Newcastle, First Lord of the Treasury, 1754–56 and June 1757–May 1762. Newcastle, to Devonshire, , 5 09 1759Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32895, f. 193.

³ Richard Temple Grenville, 2nd Earl Temple, head of the Grenville connection and brother-in-law to Pitt, Lord Privy Seal since 1757.

⁴ Devonshire wrote in the left margin: ‘Temple with hard name’.

⁵ William Pitt, Secretary of State for the South, Dec. 1756–Apr. 1757 and since June 1757.

⁶ Devonshire added on the left-hand page the following: ‘Pitt told Duke of Newcastle that he should declare himself an unfavoured minister; he did not say he would resign but that he would try whether he could not remain the minister of the public to perhaps well and neither Court or to that effect.’

⁷ To Lady Yarmouth.

⁸ Neapolitan envoy in London, 1753–63.

⁹ George II.

¹⁰ Charles III, King of Spain, former King of Naples, who in Sept. 1759 had succeeded his brother Ferdinand VI.

¹¹ Shortly after his accession Charles III had issued a Declaration in which he emphasized his concern that the British victories in North America might disturb ‘the equilibrium in America established by the Treaty of Utrecht’, and announced his desire to mediate. Gray to Pitt, 27 Sept. 1759 (copy), Add. MSS. 32896, ff. 131–3; Bristol, to Pitt, , 26 09 1759Google Scholar, S.P.F. 94/160.

¹² Charles Emmanuel I, King of Sardinia, had ceded the Duchy of Placentia to Don Philip, younger brother to Charles III of Spain, in 1748, on condition of a reversion to Sardinia on Don Philip's death without issue or on the succession of the King of Naples to the throne of Spain.

¹³ George Grenville, brother to Temple, Treasurer of the Navy.

¹⁴ News of the fall of Quebec, which reached London on 16 Oct. had greatly strengthened Pitt's position.

¹⁵ George II.

¹⁶ There were two Münchhausen brothers, the elder Gerlach, Minister of State in Hanover, the younger Philip Adolph, Hanoverian Minister in London.

¹⁷ Georg Friedrich von Steinberg, Hanoverian envoy to Denmark.

¹⁸ The letters relayed vaguely worded peace proposals from France and an offer by Denmark to mediate. Newcastle, to Hardwicke, , 31 10 1759Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32897, f. 513.

¹⁹ Compensation for the devastation of Hanover by the retreating French army in 1758, in the form of the Bishoprics of Hildesheim, Paderborn and Osnabrück.

²⁰ Montreal was not taken until Sept. 1760.

²¹ The residence of the Prince of Wales and the name given to his political adherents.

²² Robert D'Arcy, 4th Earl of Holderness, Secretary of State for the North.

²³ Here Devonshire resumed his account of his conversation with Lady Yarmouth.

²⁴ Devonshire was right. Tension between Pitt and Leicester House had originated in the year preceding, over his not properly consulting the Prince of Wales and Bute over the despatch of British regiments to Germany.

²⁵ As Hardwicke observed in his letter to Newcastle of 6 Oct.: ‘I should think if by this means the King could gain Mr. Pitt from Leicester House it ought to be a strong reason with him to do it.’ Add. MSS. 32896, f. 322.

²⁶ Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, Lord Chancellor, 1737–56. Newcastle, to Hardwicke, , 11 09 1759Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32895, f. 326; Hardwicke, to Newcastle, , 12, 20 09 1759Google Scholar; Add. MSS. 32895, ff. 326, 361–4; 32896, ff. 1–3.

²⁷ See p. 24.

²⁸ The future George III.

²⁹ The Privy Seal.

³⁰ 4th Earl of Rochford,Lord of the Bedchamber and Groom of the Stole to George II, 1755–60.

³¹ Parliamentary History, xv. 947–50Google Scholar. Newcastle, to Pitt, , 14 11 1759Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32898, ff. 245–6.

³² i.e. the war in North America.

³³ Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick,Commander-in-Chief of the allied army in Germany.

³⁴ In late September Sir Joseph Yorke, Hardwicke's third son, who was British Minister at the Hague, had received several letters from the Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst under the pseudonym of Mdme. de Beaumer. Add. MSS. 35419, ff. 26–9. She was mother to Catherine, the wife of the Czarevitch Peter, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, nephew to the Empress Elizabeth. The daughter was the future Catherine II the Great. Yorke relayed the letters to Newcastle who, without informing Pitt, disclosed them to the Prussian Minister Dodo von Knyphausen and Holderness. Holderness divulged the matter to Pitt who soundly rated Newcastle and Yorke.

³⁵ See Devonshire, to Newcastle, , 15 11 1759Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32898, f. 261.

³⁶ As Countess Temple suo jure in 1749.

³⁷ At this time Britain and Prussia were preparing to issue a joint declaration calling for a Congress, from which George II hoped to win territorial gains for Hanover. For the Declaration presented at the Hague by Yorke on 25 Nov., see Thackeray, , ii. 470–1.Google Scholar

³⁸ See Newcastle, to Hardwicke, , 16 11 1759Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32898, ff. 284–9.

³⁹ William Murray, 1st Baron, later Earl of Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice of England since 1756.

⁴⁰ See Memorandum 22 Nov. 1759, Add. MSS. 32899, ff. 35–6. ‘Dédommagement’ came to nothing: The King never secured the three bishoprics.

⁴¹ Francesco Guiseppe, Count Viry, Sardinian Minister in London.

⁴² John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute.

⁴³ See p. 26.

⁴⁴ Gilbert Elliot, M.P.

⁴⁵ This entry of 17 Nov. 1759 would seem to refer to a hitherto unknown attempt by Bute at a reconciliation with Pitt. The first attempt of which record previously existed was in May 1760, when Elliot tried to secure Pitt's agreement to Bute's taking the Treasury whenever the Prince of Wales might succeed, to meet with a decided rebuff. Elliot, 362–5.

⁴⁶ Whereby the Empress-Queen, in return for yielding to the Duchies of Parma and Guastalla to Don Philip, Charles Ill's brother, was to receive the allodials of the House of Medici in Tuscany and a portion of the Presidii.

⁴⁷ The King of Sardinia.

⁴⁸ See p. 26, n. 190.

⁴⁹ An allusion to Newcastle, the Princess of Wales and Bute.

⁵⁰ George, Prince to Bute, , 16 11 1759Google Scholar. Sedgwick, No 34.

⁵¹ Henry Fox, Paymaster General and friend of Cumberland, the King's third son.

⁵² On 21 Nov. 1759 Newcastle wrote to Hardwicke: ‘My real opinion is, that Mr. Pitt's present intention is to unite himself most cordially and confidentially with your Lordship and me and our friends.’ Add. MSS. 32899, ff. 7 8.

⁵³ Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony.

⁵⁴ Archbishop Prince Clement Augustus of Bavaria.

⁵⁶ See p. 29, n. 34.

⁵⁶ See p. 30, n. 27.

⁵⁷ Admiral 1st Baron Anson, First Lord of the Admiralty.

⁵⁸ Count Felix d'Abreu, Spanish Ambassador in London.

⁵⁹ Dated 5 Dec. 1759. See Pitt, to Bristol, , 1759Google Scholar (secret), S.P.F. 94/160.

⁶⁰ Pitt to d'Abreu, 13 Dec. 1759, S.P.F. 94/160.

⁶¹ Because his eldest son was mentally defective, Charles III had devised a settlement whereby his second son Charles would succeed as King of Spain and his third son Ferdinand to Naples and Sicily.

⁶² General Richard Wall, Prime Minister of Spain.

⁶³ See p. 26, n. 12.

⁶⁴ Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748.

⁶⁵ Marquis de Squillaci, Neapolitan Foreign Minister.

⁶⁶ Evidently the Memorial had been drafted and despatched by Squillaci on orders from Charles III whilst he was travelling from Naples to Spain.

⁶⁷ The Queen of Spain, Maria Amelia of Saxony.

⁶⁸ Count Bernado Tanuci, Neapolitan Prime Minister.

⁶⁹ Bristol, to Pitt, , 4 and 19 12 1759Google Scholar, S.P.F. 94/160.

⁷⁰ Admiral 4th Viscount Howe.

⁷¹ Duke of Aiguillon, Governor of Brittany.

⁷² Rather tactlessly, d'Aiguillon showed Howe the full powers given him by Choiseul to treat for peace on English soil had the invasion succeeded. See Anson to Newcastle, 27 Dec. 1759, Add. MSS. 32900, ff. 351–3.

⁷³ The Empress Maria Theresa.

⁷⁴ See Hardwicke, to Newcastle, , 30 12 1759Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32900, ff. 423–4.

⁷⁵ See Newcastle, to Hardwicke, , 29 12 1759Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32900, ff. 399–401.

⁷⁶ Pitt realized too that once peace between Britain and France was in sight, parliamentary support for Frederick II's subsidy would be unobtainable. See Newcastle to Hardwicke, 2 Jan. 1760, Add. MSS. 32901, f. 42.

⁷⁷ Joseph Yorke, see p. 29, n. 34.

⁷⁸ Count d'Affry, French representative at the Hague.

⁷⁹ Yorke, to Newcastle, , 1 01 1760Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32901, ff. 1–4.

⁸⁰ Intelligence (Versailles), 24 Dec. 1759, Add. MSS. 32900, ff. 270–3.

⁸¹ Friedrich August von Finck, defeated by the Austrians at Maxen that October.

⁸² William Beckford, M.P., Alderman of the City of London.

⁸³ Sir John Philipps, 6th Bart., M.P.

⁸⁴ To assure the requisite property qualification of £300 p.a. in land for knights of the shire.

⁸⁵ See Newcastle, to Hardwicke, , 26 01 1760Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32901, f. 479.

⁸⁶ 1st Viscount Ligonier, Field Marshal and Commandcr-in-Chief since Cumberland's resignation, 1757.

⁸⁷ Lord George Sackville, M.P., third son of the 1st Duke of Dorset, court-martialled after his disobedience at the battle of Minden.

⁸⁸ General the 2nd Baron Cadogan, Governor of Gravesend and Tilbury.

⁸⁹ The court martial was requested by Sackville himself.

⁹⁰ Lieut-General James St. Clair.

⁹¹ General Richard Onslow, Governor of Plymouth.

⁹² Holderness, to Ferdinand, Prince, 22 01 1760Google Scholar, S.P. 87/37, ff 8–9.

⁹³ Frederick II had been heavily defeated at Kunersdorf and Maxen.

⁹⁴ Henry Pelham, First Lord of the Treasury, 1743–54, when his brother Newcastle succeeded him.

⁹⁵ See p. 26, n. 19.

⁹⁶ See p. 35.

⁹⁷ i.e. to Lady Yarmouth.

⁹⁸ About the King's alleged coolness.

⁹⁹ To the proposed Congress, which never met. See p. 35, n. 84.

¹⁰⁰ 2nd Marquis of Rockingham, Lord of the Bedchamber since 1751, who was to receive the Garter at the same time as Temple and Prince Ferdinand.

¹⁰¹ Temple, to Devonshire, , 31 01 1760Google Scholar, Chatsworth MSS. 402/5.

¹⁰² Temple, to Devonshire, , 31 01 1760Google Scholar (two letters), Chatsworth MSS. 402/6.

¹⁰³ Newcastle, to Devonshire, , 31 01 1760Google Scholar, Chatsworth MSS. 182/136.

¹⁰⁴ Princess Augusta of Wales, sister to the Prince of Wales, the future George III.

¹⁰⁵ Prince William, third son of Frederick Prince of Wales and younger brother to George III, received the Garter in 1762 and was created Duke of Gloucester in 1764.

¹⁰⁶ Edward, Duke of York, second son of Frederick Prince of Wales and senior brother to George III, had been nominated K.G. on 13 Mar. 1752, the day before his fourteenth birthday, and was installed on 4 June following.

¹⁰⁷ Sir Andrew Mitchell, British Minister to Prussia, to Holderness, 12 Feb. 1760, S.P.F. 90/75.

¹⁰⁸ Elizabeth of Russia and Maria Theresa.

¹⁰⁹ René François, Baillie de Froulay, Maltese representative in Paris, 1741–66. The letter was conveyed by a young Prussian nobleman, Georg Ludwig von Edelsheim. The overture proved abortive but Edelsheim was subsequently sent to London to submit the relevant correspondence. Newcastle sent copies to Devonshire on 18 Apr. 1760, Add. MSS. 32904, f. 260; Chatsworth MSS. 260/268.

¹¹⁰ 2nd Earl of Bristol, Ambassador to Spain, to Pitt (secret), 11 Feb. 1760, S.P.F. 94/161.

¹¹¹ Marquis d'Ossun, Spanish Ambassador in Madrid, 1759–79. Count Rosenberg, Austrian Ambassador in Madrid, 1756–65.

¹¹² Alexander Boswell, Lord Auchinleck, Lord of the Court of Sessions, to Robert Dundas, Lord Arniston, Lord Advocate, 20 Mar. 1760, Add, MSS. 32903, ff. 400–3.

¹¹³ Boswell, to Holderness, , 12 10 1759Google Scholar, Eg. MSS. 3434, ff. 246–7. Holderness to Boswell, [Jan. 1760], Eg. MSS. 3434, ff. 280–1.

¹¹⁴ Ferdinand, Prince to Pitt, , 23 05 1760Google Scholar (copy), Add. MSS. 32906, ff. 229–30.

¹¹⁵ Pitt, to Newcastle, , 06 1 1760Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32906, f. 410.

¹¹⁶ Against Belleisle, which Pitt had planned but Newcastle opposed.

¹¹⁷ The militia was a hobby-horse of Pitt but always disliked by Devonshire, Newcastle and Hardwicke, and by the King. Although the militia never captured the popular imagination in the way Pitt had hoped, he now proposed making the institution perpetual.

¹¹⁸ Hardwicke, to Newcastle, , 12, 19 10 1760Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32913, ff. 67–71, 207 10.

¹¹⁹ Philip Yorke, Viscount Royston, M.P., Hardwicke's eldest son, had as Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire run up against popular opposition to the militia during the autumn of 1757.

¹²⁰ Andrew Stone, M.P., a commissioner of trade, formerly private secretary to Newcastle.

¹²¹ A general election was due in 1761.

¹²² 13 Nov. 1759, in the debate on the Address.

¹²³ Devonshire's meaning is obscure. Temple was trying to convey that Pitt and his following could not consent to a postponement, but that he personally would be ready to see the militia dropped once the war was over.

¹²⁴ To take Belleisle.

¹²⁵ George II died early in the morning of 25 Oct., to be succeeded by his grandson George III.

¹²⁶ In Nov. 1756.

¹²⁷ Horatio Walpole was Ambassador to Paris, 1724–7. The 1st Earl Waldegrave was chargé d'affaires until Mar. 1738. George I deposited 3 copies of his Will, with Dr. Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury, the Imperial Chancellery at Vienna, and Augustus William, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. George II extracted all three, the second in return for a guarantee of the Pragmatic Sanction and the third in return for a subsidy.

¹²⁸ Alternately Leicester House.

¹²⁹ To take Belleisle.

¹³⁰ On 30 Apr. 1760 Gilbert Elliot, a friend to both Pitt and Bute, had spoken to Pitt about the suggestion that Bute might assume the head of the ministry as First Lord of the Treasury whenever the new reign might come about. Much to the annoyance of the future George III, Pitt had refused even to consider the matter. At seven o'clock, following the first Privy Council of the new reign on Oct. 25, Bute saw Pitt and assured him that he had abandoned all thought of taking the Treasury. Elliot, , 362–5Google Scholar; Sedgwick, , 44–6Google Scholar. See p. 11.

¹³¹ From the outset, Newcastle, Hardwicke and Devonshire wrongly convinced themselves that Pitt, so far from keeping Bute in his place, had struck a deal to back his taking the Treasury in place of Newcastle.

¹³² The German Will was dated 3 Apr. 1751 (O.S.), the English Will 11 Apr. 1751 (O.S.). Copies of George II's Wills and Codicils are in the Niedersäscheisches staatsarchiv Hanover K.G. Gal. Or. Des 3 Abtl. I, No. 35. See also ‘Opinion of King's Advocate Hay, Attorney-General Pratt and Solicitor-General Yorke on the bequest made by King George II of his Jewels.’ 12 Feb. 1761, T.S. 18, 249, part 1. 08320.

¹³³ The Battle of Dettingen, 1743.

¹³⁴ The general purport is plain: Cumberland had made no attempt to conceal his contempt for Bute and Devonshire had been asked, certainly by the King, to remonstrate.

¹³⁵ Hardwicke, to Newcastle, , 29 10 1760Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32913, ff. 426–9.

¹³⁶ 4th Duke of Bedford, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, had left Dublin having completed his term of residence, and began regularly to attend Cabinet meetings in London.

¹³⁷ The reference is unlikely to be to Hardwicke, because Devonshire has objected to his advice. Stone or Dupplin are very possible.

¹³⁸ Charles I, Duke of Brunswick, his brother Prince Ferdinand and his son Charles the Hereditary Prince.

¹³⁹ Sackville had been court-martialled in Mar. 1760 and declared ‘unfit to serve His Majesty in any military capacity whatsoever.’

¹⁴⁰ George, III to Ferdinand, Prince, 19 12 1760, S.P. 87/38.Google Scholar

¹⁴¹ Hardwicke, to Newcastle, , 29 10 1760Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32913, ff. 426–9.

¹⁴² George II's funeral.

¹⁴³ Cumberland, to Devonshire, , 30 10 1760Google Scholar, Chatsworth MSS. 332/10.

¹⁴⁴ The residence of Augusta Princess of Wales.

¹⁴⁵ Hanoverian Minister in London.

¹⁴⁶ A reference to the codicils to the English and German Wills, dated respectively 6 Oct. 1757 and 15 Sept. 1759; see p. 44, n. 132.

¹⁴⁷ Identity not known.

¹⁴⁸ An allusion to Count Heinrich von Brühl, Prime Minister to Augustus III, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland.

¹⁴⁹ Sackville had presented himself at the King's first Levee, to be received graciously.

¹⁵⁰ Pitt seems to be suggesting that the King was to be used to protect Sackville.

¹⁵¹ George III's Declaration to the Privy Council on the first day of the reign, composed by Bute, had ended with these words:‘… as I mount the throne in the midst of a bloody war, I shall endeavour to prosecute it in a manner most likely to bring an honourable arid lasting peace.’ Pitt had insisted upon the substitution in the published verison of ‘expensive but just and necessary’ for ‘bloody’, and that the words ‘in concert with our allies’ be added.

¹⁵² i.e. to Prince Ferdinand.

¹⁵³ To Belleisle.

¹⁵⁴ Admiral Hawke's reply to Anson's request for a report on the feasibility of the Belleisle expedition, in which he not only advised against the scheme but suggested the establishment of a permanent bridgehead on the French mainland. In Pitt's opinion Hawke went beyond his proper terms. Hawke, to Anson, , 17 10 1760Google Scholar, Add. Mss. 32913, ff. 163–6.

¹⁵⁵ The Royal Household.

¹⁵⁶ 2nd Earl Gower, whose sister Gertrude was the Duchess of Bedford.

¹⁵⁷ The then Master of the Wardrobe.

¹⁵⁸ Gower became Master of the Wardrobe and Robinson was compensated with a peerage as Lord Grantham.

¹⁵⁹ By the end of 1760 Prince Ferdinand had been driven out of Hesse.

¹⁶⁰ The Glorious Revolution of 1688.

¹⁶¹ The King's Speech. To select Hardwicke was a change, for Pitt had insisted upon drawing up the Speech for the four previous Sessions.

¹⁶² Bute called the militia ‘this most constitutional idea’. Bute to George Townshend, 19 Nov. 1760, Bute MSS. 107.

¹⁶³ A most remarkable departure for Devonshire.

¹⁶⁴ This must refer to a Council meeting made up of Bute, Pitt, Hardwicke and Devonshire. Over the militia Bute will have sided with Pitt.

¹⁶⁵ John Clavering, Groom of the Bedchamber to George II.

¹⁶⁶ i.e. to sit the watch over the late King's body.

¹⁶⁷ As Lord of the Bedchamber.

¹⁶⁸ The House of Lords had in 1711 passed a resolution condemning the conferment of peerages of Great Britain upon Scots peers, who were deemed represented by the 16 peers allowed under the Act of Union of 1707. Bute entered Parliament in 1761 as a representative Scots peer but the objection was circumvented by the creation of the barony of Mountstuart of Wortley for Lady Bute, which must pass together with the earldom of Bute to their eldest son.

¹⁶⁹ Which had still to be arranged.

¹⁷⁰ Sir Richard Grosvenor, 7th Bart., became Baron Grosvenor and John Spencer Viscount Spencer in 1761.

¹⁷¹ Probably Gilbert Elliot.

¹⁷² 1st Earl of Bath.

¹⁷³ Richard Cromwell, Lord Protector, 1658 9.

¹⁷⁴ Andrew Stone.

¹⁷⁵ Against Belleisle, on 13 Nov. Yorke, iii. 311.

¹⁷⁶ Henry Bilson Legge, M.P.

¹⁷⁷ Meaning unclear but Pitt was almost certainly referring to himself, not the King. Hardwicke to Newcastle, 7 Nov. 1760, Add. MSS. 32914, ff. 169–70.

¹⁷⁸ See p. 56, n. 168.

¹⁷⁹ James Grenville, a lord of the Treasury and younger brother to Earl Temple and George Grenville.

¹⁸⁰ He had been Groom of the Stole to George II.

¹⁸¹ i.e. domestic politics.

¹⁸² In June 1760, following the collapse of the Yorke-d'Affry talks, d'Affry was succeeded as Spanish Ambassador by Count Fuentes.

¹⁸³ The first mention of the ‘Spanish grievances’. For years Spain had challenged the British ‘right of search’ on the high seas in time of war. On 9 Sept. Fuentes had presented Pitt with two Memorials, the one advocating Spanish claims to participate in the Newfoundland Fisheries, the other relating to the British right to cut logwood in Honduras, S.P.F. 94/162.

¹⁸⁴ Pitt to Bristol, 26 Sept. 1760, notifying him of the Cabinet decision to reject the Spanish claim to participate in the Newfoundland Fishery but offering to continue negotiating over logwood, S.P.F. 94/162.

¹⁸⁵ Pitt had given merely a verbal acknowledgement of the two Memorials, at which he expressed considerable surprise. Résponde verbale faite à M. le Comte de Fuentes par M. Pitt, 16 Sept. 1760, S.P.F. 94/162.

¹⁸⁶ Arthur Onslow, Speaker of the House of Commons since 1727.

¹⁸⁷ General Richard Wall, Prime Minister of Spain.

¹⁸⁸ Fuentes had been Spanish Minister at Turin, 1754–8, and a strong opponent of France.

¹⁸⁹ In the late reign surplus was rare and at best negligible.

¹⁹⁰ Memorandum, 26 Nov. 1760, Add. MSS. 32915, f. 78.

¹⁹¹ The Militia Act of 1757 was for five years.

¹⁹² Privy Council of Ireland, 26 Nov. 1760, S.P. 63/418, f. 344. Bedford MSS. XLII, No. 221 (Two bills enclosed).

¹⁹³ George Stone, Archbishop of Ireland and Primate of Armagh, 1747–64.

¹⁹⁴ This letter has not been traced.

¹⁹⁵ Bedford as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was insistent that, after the usual principle, the Lords Justices be required to transmit the money bill. Bedford, ii. 421–3.Google Scholar

¹⁹⁶ Hardwicke, to Newcastle, , 2 12 1760Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32915, ff. 246–7.

¹⁹⁷ Newcastle, to Hardwicke, , 3 12 1760Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32915, ff. 268–71. Hardwicke had been absent from Council owing to a severe cold.

¹⁹⁸ Viscount Fitzmaurice was in 1761 to succeed as 2nd Earl of Shelburne and Lord Wycombe in the peerage of Great Britain. He had distinguished himself as an officer in the army of Prince Ferdinand, and had attached himself to Bute.

¹⁹⁹ Lord George Lennox, brother to the 3rd Duke of Richmond, Lord of the Bedchamber. Richmond resigned in protest, which effrontery George III never forgave. Devonshire to Bute, 9 Dec. 1760, Bute MSS.

²⁰⁰ Charles Fitzroy, M.P., A.D.C. to Prince Ferdinand and younger brother to the 3rd Duke of Grafton.

²⁰¹ Newcastle, to Devonshire, , 4 12 1760Google Scholar, Chatsworth MSS. 182/157.

²⁰² 4th Earl of Oxford.

²⁰³ 2nd Baron Bruce, after 1776 Earl of Ailesbury.

²⁰⁴ George Pitt, M.P.

²⁰⁵ Norborne Berkeley, M.P.

²⁰⁶ William Northey, M.P.

²⁰⁷ Devonshire, to Newcastle, , 5 12 1760Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32915, f. 286.

²⁰⁸ All these appointments were Tory.

²⁰⁹ Newcastle, to Yorke, Joseph, 5 12 1760Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32915, f. 308.

²¹⁰ Devonshire inserted in the left margin: ‘he [Newcastle] thought some might be necessary.’

²¹¹ i.e. that he would have the choice of the new Parliament.

²¹² Frederick II's letter of condolence to Pitt of 7 Nov. 1760, upon the death of George II, wherein he outlined his views on peace and expressed his confidence in Pitt. Chatham, ii 77–9.Google Scholar

²¹³ Dodo Heinrich, Baron von Knyphausen, Prussian Minister in London.

²¹⁴ Knyphausen's report to Frederick II, 5 Dec. 1760. Talks were in progress between London and Berlin, with a view to a new agreement allowing Britain to make a separate peace, which article IV of the treaty of 1758 had forbidden. Conditions of a new treaty were to be that Prussia receive security guarantees together with an increased subsidy. D.Z.A., Rep. 36. 33. D, ff. 135–6.

²¹⁵ A reference to the events of 1746 and 1754–7, when Pitt and his Grenville brothers-in-law were considered to have pressed their own interests further than decency allowed.

²¹⁶ Spencer, John to Newcastle, , 27 11 1760Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32915, ff. 115–16.

²¹⁷ George III to Bute, [mid-Nov.] 1760, Sedgwick, 49.

²¹⁸ Which he did next day. See Minute of Newcastle's conversation with Count de Viry, 9 Dec. 1760, Add. MSS. 32915, ff. 358–60.

²¹⁹ 9th Earl of Kinnoull, formerly Viscount Dupplin.

²²⁰ Hardwicke, to Newcastle, , 11 12 1760Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32915, ff. 399–400.

²²¹ A lengthy document entitled Précis de la Dépêche, sent to Frederick II on Dec. 12, in which he was asked to submit his financial requirements in the event of a separate peace between Britain and France.

²²² Holderness, Secretary of State for the North, had the right to conduct Prussian correspondence.

²²³ John Garteret, 2nd Earl Granville, Lord President of the Council.

²²⁴ The Council discussed terms for a separate negotiation with France acceptable to Frederick II. Knyphausen was to be informed that as on the following day, 12 Dec. the Prussian subsidy was due for a final renewal before the treaty expired in May 1762, a statement of his master's intentions was necessary, especially with a view to his seeking an accommodation with Austria and Russia. Charles Jenkinson, Memorandum, Add. MSS. 38333, ff. 40–61. Knyphausen to Frederick II, 5 and 12 Dec. 1760, D.Z.A., Rep. 96. 33. D. Vol. XV, ff. 135–8, 157 8.

²²⁵ The appointments to the Bedchamber.

²²⁶ The 1st Earl of Powis, Lord Lieutenant of Salop. For Bath's successful intrigue to oust Powis see Namier, L. B., The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (1939), 325Google Scholar et seq.

²²⁷ Devonshire, to Newcastle, , 17 12 1760Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32916, f. 152.

²²⁸ Bath's unsuccessful attempt to put up his son Viscount Pulteney as candidate for Shrewsbury.

²²⁹ Powis, to Devonshire, , 16 12 1760Google Scholar, Chatsworth MSS. 320. 9A.

²³⁰ Henry Bridgeman, M.P.

²³¹ Brooke Forester, M.P.

²³² Lieut-General William Whitmore, M.P.

²³³ Old Whigs of the Powis connection.

²³⁴ On 2 Feb. 1737, when Walpole defeated by a narrow margin the opposition motion to augment the Civil List provision for Frederick Prince of Wales.

²³⁵ Powis accepted the Lord Lieutenancy of Montgomeryshire in lieu of Salop. However on Bath's death in 1764 Powis was reappointed to Salop.

²³⁶ Thomas Orby Hunter, M.P., to Bute, 10 Dec. 1760: ‘As to Winchelsca election. Desires the King's protection’; Register of Bute's correspondence, Add. MSS. 36796, f. 59.

²³⁷ The 2nd Earl of Egremont.

²³⁸ Devonshire had spent the Christmas holiday at Chatsworth.

²³⁹ Admiral Edward Boscawen, M.P., died on 10 Jan. 1761, after a short illness.

²⁴⁰ Sir Edmund Thomas, 3rd Bart., M.P.

²⁴¹ First cousin to Newcastle, for whom he acted as agent in Sussex, and at present a Lord of Trade.

²⁴² John Yorke, M.P., was appointed to the Board of Trade that March.

²⁴³ Identity not known.

²⁴⁴ Viscount Villiers, M.P., who became a Lord of Admiralty.

²⁴⁵ See pp. 69–70.

²⁴⁶ The first mention that Bute might become Secretary of State for the North in place of Holderness.

²⁴⁷ Over the Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst's letter, see p. 29, n. 34.

²⁴⁸ A report prepared by the Crown lawyers at George III's request, dated 13 Jan. 1761, on the two Wills of George II, the English and the German. It was the unanimous opinion of the lawyers that by the terms of the German Will, jewels which George II had bought with his own money or had been left to him by his ancestors, were to pass to George III, whilst by the English Will all the other jewels were to go to Cumberland. T.S. 8/249, Pt. 1; Chatsworth MSS. 622.2. Unfortunately the report followed the Wills in not making a clear distinction between the German and the English effects of the late King and to specify the jewels that might be deemed the property of Cumberland.

²⁴⁹ Newcastle, to Hardwicke, , 20 01 1761Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32917, f. 435.

²⁵⁰ William III.

²⁵¹ Pitt was in fact referring to William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland. It was his son the 2nd Earl who was given a dukedom by George I in 1716.

²⁵² 1st Earl of Albemarle.

²⁵³ Bute's Scots and Stuart descent.

²⁵⁴ Recently George Grenville had been moving away from Pitt in Bute's direction, largely through the instrumentality of Charles Jenkinson.

²⁵⁵ Grenville never became Speaker. He was admitted to the nominal Cabinet that February.

²⁵⁶ Newcastle ascribed.Bute's hesitancy ‘to a jealousy that we have more management for Mr. Pitt than he wishes or designs we should have.’ Secret Memorandum, 27 Jan. 1761, Add. MSS. 32918, ff. 82–6.

²⁵⁷ Mitchell, to Holderness, , 3 01 1761Google Scholar (secret), S.P.F. 90/77.

²⁵⁸ For Frederick's terms see ibid.; Frederick, II to Knyphausen, , 19, 21, 28 12 1760Google Scholar, 3 Jan. 1761; Politische Correspondenz Friedrichs des Grossen, ed. G.B. Volz et al., 46 Vols. (1879–1939), xx. 162–8, 175–7.Google Scholar

²⁵⁹ Pitt had always suspected Mitchell of an unnecessary compliance towards Frederick II. In 1758 he had briefly contemplated Mitchell's recall but relented after a personal intervention by Frederick.

²⁶⁰ Pitt was not accusing Frederick II of some conspiracy with Louis XV, but he perceived the unnatural element in the alliance between France and Austria.

²⁶¹ The christening of the son of the and Earl of Ashburnham.

²⁶² The 3rd Earl of Albemarle, an old military favourite of Cumberland.

²⁶³ escritoires.

²⁶⁴ Of the persons authorized to examine the late King's jewels.

²⁶⁵ By a royal warrant, 31 Oct. 1760, T.S. 18/249, Part 1.

²⁶⁶ Pending a suit.

²⁶⁷ The 1st Earl of Hertford became Lord Lieutenant in 1765. On this occasion Halifax applied to Bute for the office and held it, 1761–3. Halifax to Bute, 2 and 26 Mar. 1761, Bute MSS. (Cardiff) Bundle 2, Nos. 112–13.

²⁶⁸ The first admission by Viry to Devonshire of Bute's intention to oust Newcastle.

²⁶⁹ Because of Pitt's refusal to support Bedford in Irish affairs.

²⁷⁰ The Princess Dowager.

²⁷¹ See p. 73, n. 248.

²⁷² See also Memorandum on the question of the ownership of the jewels left by George II, Chatsworth MSS. 622.01.

²⁷³ Holderness to the Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General, 3 Feb. 1761, T.S. 18. 249, part I. The matter was ultimately settled by George III buying out Cumberland's share.

²⁷⁴ Charles Pratt, M.P.

²⁷⁵ Charles Yorke, M.P.

²⁷⁶ William Breton was not returned to Parliament.

²⁷⁷ Thomas Worsley, a friend of Bute and the King.

²⁷⁸ Viscount Parker, heir to the Earl of Macclesfield.

²⁷⁹ Townshend was at present member for Great Yarmouth.

²⁸⁰ Legge, Chancellor of the Exchequer, had incurred the enmity of George III over the 1759 Hampshire election. That March Legge was dismissed without compensation, Bute explaining ‘that it was the King's own disgust and dislike of the man; that it was not his Lord Bute's doing.’ Add. MSS. 32919, f. 42.

²⁸¹ Legge's wife had been created Baroness Stawell on 21 May 1760.

²⁸² As Treasurer of the Chamber.

²⁸³ Sir Francis Dashwood, 2nd Bart., M.P., a follower of Bute, who became Treasurer of the Chamber in March.

²⁸⁴ Bute, to Newcastle, , 12 02 1761Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32918, ff. 465–66.

²⁸⁵ James Oswald, M.P., a Lord of the Treasury.

²⁸⁶ Bute, to Newcastle, , 12 02 1761Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32918, ff. 465–6. To which Newcastle made a most compliant reply, Add. MSS. 36796, f. 75. His real sentiments appear in his letter to Hardwicke of 13 Feb. 1761, Add. MSS. 32918, ff. 500–1.

²⁸⁷ An account of this meeting is given in Elliot to Bute, [22] Feb. 1761, Bute MSS.No. 73.

²⁸⁸ Memorandum on Events (C.V.) 26 Feb. 1761, Add. MSS. 32919, ff. 285–9. It was during this meeting with Temple that, according to Viry, Bute said: ‘I supposed, your Lordship does not mean to look up[on] me as a bare Croom of the Stole—the King will have it otherwise.’ To which Lord Temple replied: ‘Certainly, so, I look upon you as a Minister and desire to act with you as such.’

²⁸⁹ Newcastle had suggested making Oswald Lord Register of Scotland in compensation for his loss of a place at the board of Treasury. Memorandum, 27 Feb. 1761, Add.MSS. 32919, fF. 314–17.

²⁹⁰ Word crossed out and illegible in MS.

²⁹¹ 2nd Baron Edgecumbe, Comptroller of the Household. Dec. 1758 until his death on 10 May 1761.

²⁹² Lord North, M.P., eldest son of the 1st Earl of Guilford and the future Prime Minister, was then a Lord of the Treasury.

²⁹³ Newcastle's seat in Surrey.

²⁹⁴ See p. 83.

²⁹⁵ Newcastle's sister-in-law Lady Catherine Pelham, widow of his brother Henry, espoused the claim of her late husband's secretary, John Roberts, to be chosen M.P. for Harwich. She involved her son-in-law the 9th Earl of Lincoln, Newcastle's nephew and heir, who had married his first cousin. The King had promised any vacancy to Charles Townshend but in 1761 both he and Roberts were returned.

²⁹⁶ At first Newcastle was ready to accommodate both Oswald and Elliot at the Treasury but Hardwicke warned him against having two Scots. Hardwicke to Newcastle, 14 Feb. 1761, Add. MSS. 32918, f. 513.

²⁹⁷ James Ogilvy, 6th Earl of Finlater (1714–70), Commissioner of Customs, 1754–61.

²⁹⁸ The 14th Earl of Morton, Lord Clerk Register of Scotland.

²⁹⁹ The 3rd Duke of Argyle, who managed Scotland for Newcastle.

³⁰⁰ Legge was referring to his wife's peerage as Baroness Stawell.

³⁰¹ Newcastle Memorandum, 3 Mar. 1761, Add. MSS. 32919, f. 400.

³⁰² An account of what passed with the King this morning, 6 Mar. 1761, Add. MSS. 32919, ff. 481–7.

³⁰³ Pitt was ill for eight weeks. Knyphausen to Frederick II, 23 Jan., 3, 20, 24 Feb., 13 Mar. 1761, D.Z.A., Rep. 96. 33. Vol. E, ff. 43, 56, 80–1, 84–5, 116–17.

³⁰⁴ Substance of what passed in my conversation with Lord Bute this day, 10 Mar. 1761, Add. MSS. 32920, ff. 64–70.

³⁰⁵ Dashwood was to be returned by George Bubb Dodington for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis. Namier and Brooke, ii. 301.

³⁰⁶ As Baroness Mountstuart of Wortley, see p. 56, n. 168.

³⁰⁷ Bute had to inform Pitt of his appointment as Secretary of State, because Devonshire was ill.

³⁰⁸ Cofferer of the Household.

³⁰⁹ The King wanted the 3rd Duke of Rutland, Lord Steward, to succeed Bute as Groom of the Stole, so as to appoint the and Baron (shortly 1st Earl) Talbot Lord Steward. But Rutland did not wish to be Groom of the Stole, a less dignified position. The way was found by making Rutland Master of the Horse in place of the 10th Earl of Huntingdon. Add. MSS. 32920, ff. 119, 158–9, 162–6. Also Bute to Devonshire, 14 Mar. 1761, Chatsworth MSS. 590/4.

³¹⁰ 4th Duke of Leeds, who became a Privy Councillor but was not of the Cabinet.

³¹¹ Cofferer of the Household, the post vacated by Leeds.

³¹² 1st Baron Sandys.

³¹³ The 1st Duke of Dorset, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, who had been born in 1688, lived until 1765.

³¹⁴ St. Lucia, Dominica, St. Vincent and Tobago, declared neutral under the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748. But the geographical position of Martinique had made easy a French colonisation. St. Lucia and Dominica were taken in 1761 and St. Vincent in 1762.

³¹⁵ Holderness, to Bute, , 14, 15 03 1761Google Scholar, Bute MSS. (Cardiff) Bundle 2, Nos. 56, 58.

³¹⁶ Thomas Pelham, second cousin to Newcastle.

³¹⁷ To vacate the Mastership of the Horse and become Groom of the Stole.

³¹⁸ Toward the end of Mar. Choiseul had forwarded to London proposals for a Congress to be held at Augsburg, to which Frederick of Prussia was agreeable, together with a separate negotiation between Britain and France over colonial issues. On Apr. 4 Britain and Prussia consented to the Congress and on Apr. 7 the Cabinet authorized Pitt to accept Choiseul's other proposal.

³¹⁹ For the importance of the Fisheries, see ‘Questions and Answers Relative to the State of the French and British Fisheries at Newfoundland’, Add. MSS. 35913, DLXV, ff. 75–92; P.R.O. 30/8/85, ff. 345–66.

³²⁰ i.e. cod trade.

³²¹ See p. 59, n. 183.

³²² Memorandum (Secret), 18 Apr. 1761, Add. MSS. 32922, f. 32.

³²³ Prince Ferdinand's spring campaign had initially miscarried.

³²⁴ Viry, to Bute, , 17 04 1761Google Scholar, Bute MSS. (Cardiff) 7/55.

³²⁶ Bute, to Newcastle, , 7 04 1761Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32922, f. 24.

³²⁶ The Earl of Morton.

³²⁷ James Stuart-Mackenzie.

³²⁸ 3rd Earl of Marchmont.

³²⁹ The former George Bubb Dodington.

³³⁰ Newcastle, having put Bute in as Secretary of State, expected him to protect his department against Pitt's vindictiveness over the commissariat. ‘My Lord Bute should be made sensible, that I have drawn all this upon myself, by the part I have acted with and towards him and consequently, that his honour and (I think) his interest are concerned to take a strong part in defence of the Treasury.’ Newcastle, to Devonshire, , 19 04 1761Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32922, f. 66.

³³¹ Account of my conversation with my Lord Bute, 21 Apr. 1761, Add. MSS. 32922, ff. 108–10.

³³² From Turin, where he had been British envoy since 1758.

³³³ In succession to the 3rd Duke of Argyll, maternal uncle to Bute and Stuart-Mackenzie, who had died 15 Apr. Bute, to Stuart-Mackenzie, , 21 04 1761Google Scholar, Bute MSS. Bundle marked odd papers.

³³⁴ Ferdinand, Prince to Bute, , 13 04 1761Google Scholar, S.P. 87/40.

³³⁵ See p. 73.

³³⁶ Early in Apr., Britain and France had agreed to exchange special envoys.

³³⁷ Pitt, to Choiseul, , 8 04 1761Google Scholar, accepting the French offer to negotiate; printed in Thackeray, ii. 511–12.

³⁸⁸ Account of my conversation with Lord Bute (copy), Newcastle to Devonshire, Add. MSS. 32922, ff. 108–10.

³³⁹ By the spring of 1761 Prince Ferdinand had lost most of Hesse-Cassel to Broglie, for which he blamed Newcastle's mishandling of the commissariat. Prince Ferdinand to Holderness, 30 Mar. 1761, S.P. 87/40.

³⁴⁰ Lords of the Treasury to Granby, 23 Apr. 1761 (copy), Add. MSS. 32922, ff.145–8; Bute to Newcastle, 26 Apr. 1761, S.P. 44/139.

³⁴¹ 1st Baron Henley, Lord Chancellor 1761.

³⁴² Bute, to Ferdinand, Prince, 24 04 1761Google Scholar, S.P. 87/40.

³⁴³ As Newcastle and Hardwicke were both present, no correspondence between them was necessary. So far as the editors are aware, Devonshire's account stands alone.

³⁴⁴ Choiseul, to Pitt, , 19 04 1761Google Scholar (memoirs enclosed), S.P.F. 78/251.

³⁴⁵ In his initial Memoire of 31 Mar. 1761, Choiseul had left the epochs open to future negotiation.

³⁴⁶ Which followed the principle of uti possidetis, the dates being 1 May 1761 in Europe, 1 July 1761 in the West Indies and Africa, and 1 Sept. 1761 in India. Pitt would have preferred the epochs to have remained open, so as to leave room for further conquests. Thackeray, , ii. 509.Google Scholar

³⁴⁷ François de Bussy, the proposed French envoy.

³⁴⁸ Hans Stanley, M.P., was a great favourite with Pitt.

³⁴⁹ General A. von Massow, assistant director of the Commissariat.

³⁵⁰ Colonel Richard Pierson, Director-in-chief of the Commissariat.

³⁵¹ Raised in 1760, consisting of five battalions. On 25 Mar. a whole battalion had been taken prisoner.

³⁵² Newcastle Memorandum, 13 May 1761, Add. MSS. 32923, ff. 49 50; Newcastle, to Hardwicke, , 13 05 1761Google Scholar, ibid., ff. 63–71.

³⁵³ Stanley's Instructions of 18 May 1761 are printed in Thackeray, , i. 506–9.Google Scholar

³⁵⁴ Granville.

³⁵⁵ In Jan. 1760, in reply to the earlier declaration of Britain and Prussia calling for a European Congress, see p. 34.

³⁵⁶ Minute with the Prussian Ministers, 13 Mar. 1760; Chatham, ii. 29–30.Google Scholar

³⁵⁷ Frederick had since consented to a separate negotiation between Britain and France, see p. 76, n. 258.

³⁵⁸ To accept the principle of uti possidetis.

³⁵⁹ Because of illness Devonshire could not attend the Councils of 20, May 16, 24 and 26 June. On 16 June the epochs relating to uti possidetis were decided, two months later than Choiseul had proposed.

³⁶⁰ Devonshire, to Newcastle, , 12 07 1761Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32925, ff. 28–9.

³⁶¹ Bedford, to Newcastle, , 2 07 1761Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32924, f. 384. Newcastle, to Devonshire, , 28 06 1761Google Scholar, Chatsworth MSS. 182:77A.

³⁶² Newcastle, to Devonshire, , 4 07 1761Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32924, f. 410.

³⁶³ A wealthy merchant banker in London.

³⁶⁴ Bedford, to Bute, , 9 07 1761Google Scholar, Bute MSS. 478; Bute, to Bedford, , 12 07 1761Google Scholar; Bedford, iii. 22–5, 29–35.Google Scholar

³⁶⁵ In return for participation in the Newfoundland Fisheries on the Utrecht basis, France was to demolish the fortifications of Dunkirk in accordance with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. Britain could never have consented to the annexation of West Flanders, the price originally agreed by Austria for the French alliance.

³⁶⁶ Choiseul was negotiating secretly with Charles III of Spain, with a view to an alliance, which culminated in the Second Family Compact, signed on 13 Aug. 1761. Also, he may have been waiting upon recent French successes in Germany. ‘Intelligence’ Versailles 16 July 1761, Add. MSS. 32925, ff. 91–3. But the British defeated the French at Wellinghausen onjuly 16.

³⁶⁷ George Cressener, British Minister to Cologne, 1755–63. Intelligence from Cressener, 2 July 1761 (copy), Add. MSS. 32924, ff. 280–3; Cressener to Bute, 8 July 1761, S.P.F. 81/39.

³⁶⁸ Charles de Rohan, Prince of Soubise.

³⁶⁹ ‘It is expected that Lord Bute and Mr. Pitt are agreed.’ Newcastle, to Hardwicke, , 18 07 1761Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32925, f. 156.

³⁷⁰ There is no evidence of this.

³⁷¹ The new French Commander, the Count of Broglie, had enjoyed some successes in Hesse.

³⁷² This paragraph relating to July 16 was entered by Devonshire before his account of July 15 and transposed by the editors.

³⁷³ Newcastle, to Bute, , 17 07 1761Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32925, f. 131.

³⁷⁴ John Thomas, Bishop of Lincoln.

³⁷⁵ The prospective Queen's Household. The King's marriage to Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz took place in September. Bute, to Newcastle, , 17 07 1761Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32925, f. 133.

³⁷⁶ Thomas Sherlock, Bishop of London, died that year after a long illness. Newcastle correctly suspected the King proposed to fill the vacancy without consulting him. Thomas Hayter, Bishop of Norwich, Preceptor to George III as Prince of Wales, was translated.

³⁷⁷ Devonshire does not record himself as present and Newcastle sent him an account of the proceedings on 28 July 1761, Add. MSS. 32926, ff. 28–9.

³⁷⁸ Stanley, to Pitt, , 14 07 1761Google Scholar, enclosing the French Memoire of 13 July S.P.F. 78/251. Two meetings were held to discuss the dispatch, the first on 21 July and the second as described here by Devonshire.

³⁷⁹ In his letter of 14 July, Stanley denied having given Choiseul any hope of an eventual share in the Newfoundland Fisheries. Thackeray, , ii. 543.Google Scholar

³⁸⁰ Pitt.

³⁸¹ Choiseul, in the preliminary draft of his Memoire of 13 July, had made mention of Spanish grievances which he deleted when Stanley protested. Stanley, to Pitt, , 12 07 1761Google Scholar, S.P.F. 78/251.

³⁸² Choiseul agreed to abandon Canada but expected the return of either Senegal or Goree.

³⁸³ Dunkirk was not mentioned in the French Memoire of 13 July, though shortly before Choiseul had complained to Stanley:‘… that the demolition of Dunkirk is a new condition which cannot be insisted upon according to the terms of uti possidetis already agreed on both sides: the Treaty of Utrecht having by your [Britain's] own avowal ceased at the war.’ Stanley to Pitt, P.S. to 5 July 1761, S.P.F. 78/251.

³⁸⁴ This entry is a précis of Stanley's dispatch, separate in cypher, of 12 July 1761, referring to a conversation between Stanley and Choiseul of 8 July.

³⁸⁵ Marquis of Grimaldi, Spanish Ambassador in Paris, 1753–63.

³⁸⁶ Stanley's dispatch of 12 July.

³⁸⁷ Pitt with unanimous support in the Cabinet refused either Cape Breton or St. John. No territory sufficiently extensive to attract French colonisation could be allowed, no matter what the safeguards.

³⁸⁸ In his dispatch of 17 June, Choiseul had agreed to evacuate all the French conquests in Germany, including the possessions of Prussia on the Rhine, Wesel, Gueldres and part of Cleves. Now, having drawn closer to Madrid, Choiseul repudiated his position on the ground that the areas involved had been administered in the name of the Empress, whose consent was necessary. Bussy, to Pitt, , 23 07 1761Google Scholar, P.R.O. 30/8/85, f. 199.

³⁸⁹ Permit the free exercise of the Roman Catholic religion.

³⁹⁰ Caribbees. Dominica and St. Vincent.

³⁹¹ Hence Choiseul's demand for Senegal or Gorec.

³⁹² Of Cologne, whose Elector was on the French side.

³⁹³ Together with his Ultimatum of 13 July, Choiseul forwarded a separate Memorial detailing the Spanish grievances, which Pitt warmly rejected with unanimous Cabinet approval. Pitt, to Bussy, , 24 07 1761Google Scholar, S.P.F. 78/251.

³⁹⁴ Choiseul's championing the Spanish grievances.

³⁹⁵ In his reply to the French proposals of 25 July, Pitt had informed Stanley that the demolition of the fortifications of Dunkirk in accordance with the Treaty of Aix, rather than the more stringent provisions of Utrecht, would be acceptable, rather than jeopardize the whole negotiation.

³⁹⁶ A meeting summoned to discuss the French Ultimatum of 5 Aug. and Stanley's dispatch of 6 Aug. 1761, reproduced in Thackeray, , ii. 577–8Google Scholar. The proceedings open with the reading of the dispatch.

³⁹⁷ Sir Robert Henley, 1st Lord Henley, Lord Keeper June 1757 and Lord Chancellor since October 1760.

³⁹⁸ In a letter presented by Bussy to Pitt on 5 Aug. Choiseul wrote: ‘Sa Majesté Louis XV on à chargé de déclarer a V.E. que tant que l'Espagne l'approuvera, le Roi se mêlera des intérêts de cette Couronne, sans s'ârreter aux refus de la Puissance qui s'y opposerait.’ S.P.F. 78/252.

³⁹⁹ TO their respective German allies.

⁴⁰⁰ The interests of Spain.

⁴⁰¹ Of Pitt's letter of 25 July.

⁴⁰² Stanley, to Pitt, , 6 08 1761Google Scholar: ‘I then told him that the austerity of language which he called imperious and which I must call plain and ingenuous arose in my opinion from three causes, from the part he had taken contrary to my earnest and humble representations of intermixing the British disputes with Spain, from the delay of his last answer and from the appearances of retraction which his error about the return of Wesel carried with it.’ P.R.O. S.P.F. 78/252.

⁴⁰³ According to Bussy, Stanley made vague promises, for which he had no authority, about the Fisheries. This, of course, Stanley denied.

⁴⁰⁴ In his Memoire of 13 July Choiseul had offered to restore Minorca in exchange for Guadeloupe and Marie Galante and asked for the return of Belleisle without equivalent. Now he simply proposed that Britain and France retain their respective conquests.

⁴⁰⁵ Here Devonshire comes very close to the actual wording of Stanley's dispatch. Stanley to Pitt, 6 Aug. 1761, Thackeray, , ii. 577.Google Scholar

⁴⁰⁶ A point made clear in Stanley's dispatch.

⁴⁰⁷ Already in July Choiseul had warned Stanley ‘that propositions had been opened to France in case she chose to continue the war.’ The hint was ‘they would have new allies,’ indicating Spain. Stanley, to Pitt, , 5 07 1761Google Scholar, S.P.F. 78/251.

⁴⁰⁸ Louis XV.

⁴⁰⁹ Dauphin and Mdme. de Pompadour.

⁴¹⁰ The Prussian territories and the Spanish grievances.

⁴¹¹ Stanley to Pitt, 6 Aug.: ‘I am fully and deeply convinced that the sole cause of the failure of this treaty is the determined resistance of the French as to the entire concession of the Fishery, although they have brought other matters already into the negotiation and will I doubt not ascribe the rupture to the more generous and popular motive of hdelity to their foreign alliances.’ S.P.F. 78/252.

⁴¹² The same Council of 13 Aug. At this point, the reading of Stanley's dispatch off Aug. concluded, the discussion opens.

⁴¹³ Pitt's dispatch of 25 July 1761 to Stanley containing the British reply or Ultimatum to Choiseul's Memoire of 13 July.

⁴¹⁴ Held on Friday, 24 July 1761. Hardwicke disliked Pitt's style, ‘haughty and dictatorial’, adding that if, after long deliberation, such ‘liberties are taken the whole may as well be left to one man.’ Hardwicke, to Newcastle, , 2 08 1761Google Scholar, Add. MSS 32926, f. 141.

⁴¹⁵ Wherein France was granted a share in the Newfoundland Fisheries provided thi fortifications of Dunkirk were reduced.

⁴¹⁶ For Bute's essential compliance in Pitt's obdurate policy, see Bute to Pitt [24Jun 1761], P.R.O. 30/8/24, f. 321; Newcastle to Hardwicke, 1 Aug. 1761, Add. MSS. 32936 ff. 125–6; Jenkinson to Grenville, 21, 25, 28 July 1761, Grenville, i. 376–80.Google Scholar

⁴¹⁷ See p. 106, n. 395.

⁴¹⁸ The letter Pitt drafted was discussed at the Council of 15 Aug., see p. 111.

⁴¹⁹ Bussy, to Pitt, , 5 08 1761Google Scholar, S.P.F. 78/252.

⁴²⁰ The English Memorial of 25 July and the French reply of 5 Aug.

⁴²¹ The lengthy account of the discussion of Stanley's dispatch of 6 Aug. ends at this point.

⁴²² Canada.

⁴²³ Bute suggests that Pitt had agreed to hand back Guadeloupe out of regard for Beckford and the West India interest. For the true situation see Namier, 273–82.

⁴²⁴ In this connection, see Stanley to Pitt, 18 June, 1, 14, 30, July, I Aug. 1761, S.P.F. 78/251.

⁴²⁵ Miquelon or St. Pierre: No fortifications and a resident English Commissary. Stanley to Pitt, 6 Aug. 1761, S.P.F. 78/252.

⁴²⁶ Newcastle, to Devonshire, (most secret), 5 08 1761Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32926, ff. 187–93.

⁴²⁷ Newcastle recommended John Douglas, Bishop of Salisbury, for the expected vacancy in the Primacy of York, only to be overruled again. Newcastle, to Bute, , 7 08 1761Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32926, f. 292; Newcastle, to Devonshire, , 12 08 1761Google Scholar, ibid. ff. 382–3.

⁴²⁸ Devonshire's entry of 15 Aug. describes the Cabinet of the previous day, a continuation of the meeting of 13 Aug. which had ended in an instruction to Pitt to draft a reply to Stanley's dispatch of 6 Aug. containing the French Ultimatum of 5 Aug.

⁴²⁹ Hardwicke criticised the letter as ‘much too long and too irritating.’ Hardwicke, to Royston, , 15 08 1761Google Scholar, Yorke, , iii. 320–1.Google Scholar

⁴³⁰ Granville.

⁴³¹ 1st Viscount Cobham.

⁴³² William III.

⁴³³ 1st Baron Somers, Lord Chancellor, 1697–1700.

⁴³⁴ 1st Duke of Marlborough.

⁴³⁵ Louis de Cardevac, Marquis ot Havrincourt, French Ambassador to Sweden, 1749–62.

⁴³⁶ Choiseul had written on 30 July 1761: ‘Sa Majeste s'est determiné à continuer la guerre mais comme il est important de cacher encore un mois cette resolution à la cour de Londres nous entretriondrons encore quelques semaines la négotiation avant de la rompre.’ Choiseul to Havrincourt (copy), Add. MSS. 32926, f. 67.

⁴³⁷ The Council meetings of 13 and 14 Aug.

⁴³⁸ At a meeting with Devonshire on 16 Aug., the King had deplored the lack of harmony within the Cabinet, and suggested a further Council which Bedford might attend. As instructed, Devonshire gave a full account of this conversation to Bedford. Bedford, iii. 36–9Google Scholar. In his reply Bedford reaffirmed his desire to remain absent, unless personally summoned by the King. Bedford to Devonshire, 17 Aug. 1761, Chatsworth MSS. 286/8; Devonshire to Bute (enclosing a summary of Bedford's letter), 18 Aug. 1761, Bute MSS. 584.

⁴³⁹ Entitled ‘Sur les limites de Louisianne’, 18 Aug. 1761 (copy), Add. MSS. 32927, f. 100.

⁴⁴⁰ Cape Canso, by the strait of Canso, on the east coast of Nova Scotia.

⁴⁴¹ Devonshire, to Bedford, , 18 08 1761Google Scholar: ‘I have had much discourse with Lord Bute and we shall not differ tomorrow, for whatever may have been his former opinion, you will find he will give it up and be with me.’ Bedford MSS. XLIV. 8, f. 136. Bedford replied consenting to attend. Bedford to Devonshire, 18 Aug. 1761, Chatsworth MSS. 286.9.

⁴⁴² Newcastle's notes on this meeting: ‘An account of what passed yesterday at Council’ 20 Aug. 1761, Add. MSS. 32927, ff. 131–2.

⁴⁴³ Probably Bristol to Pitt, , 27 07 1761Google Scholar (rec. August 18), reporting his talks with Wall on Italian affairs and on the logwood question, S.P.F. 94/163.

⁴⁴⁴ To be equally divided, the apportionment fixed by treaty.

⁴⁴⁵ Both demanded by Pitt.

⁴⁴⁶ Choiseul refused to evacuate Prussian territory on the Rhine and insisted that France and Britain withhold support from their German allies once a treaty was signed.

⁴⁴⁷ Captures made by Britain before war was declared.

⁴⁴⁸ On the last day of 1758 France and Austria had signed a revised treaty of alliance, by which Louis XV renounced his interest in West Flanders.

⁴⁴⁹ Once the French had lost Canada, they adopted a very extended theory concerning Louisiana, which brought the retort: ‘all which is not Canada cannot be Louisiana.’

⁴⁵⁰ The territories of the Indian nations between the Mississippi and the Thirteen Colonies.

⁴⁵¹ As fixed by Choiseul in Bussy's Paper, Louisiana comprised most of the Indian lands, the Ohio valley and even Lakes Michigan and Superior.

⁴⁵² Of 17 June 1761.

⁴⁵³ A base for French fishermen.

⁴⁵⁴ Marquis of Vaudreuil, last Governor of New France.

⁴⁵⁵ Sir Jeffrey Amherst, Commander-in-Chief of the British army in North America.

⁴⁵⁶ By the Capitulation of 8 Sept. 1760. Here the line drawn by de Vaudreuil followed the Ohio and Wabash rivers, from the confluence of the Ohio and the Mississippi to the source of the Wabash, thence continuing along the height of land to Lac Rouge at the headwaters of the Mississippi.

⁴⁵⁷ Duke of Mirepoix, French Ambassador in London, 1752–5.

⁴⁵⁸ ‘Whatever concessions … too near’ a lengthy marginal note by Devonshire.

⁴⁵⁹ St. Pierre.

⁴⁶⁰ 2nd Earl of Halifax, President of the Board of Trade.

⁴⁶¹ 2nd Marquis of Rockingham, a Lord of the Bedchamber since 1751, who became Prime Minister, July 1765–July 1766, and February June 1782.

⁴⁶² of 26 August, from the date of Bute's letter.

⁴⁶³ Bute, to Devonshire, , 26 08 1761Google Scholar, Chatsworth MSS. 530/11.

⁴⁶⁴ Devonshire, to Bute, , 27 08 1761Google Scholar, ibid. 260/339.

⁴⁶⁵ Paper from the King to be shown by Devonshire to the Lords of the Bedchamber, 27 Aug. 1761, Chatsworth MSS. 622.3.

⁴⁶⁶ Princess Augusta, eldest sister to George III.

⁴⁶⁷ Endorsement by Devonshire.

⁴⁶⁸ Stanley, to Pitt, , 1 08 1761Google Scholar (secret), S.P.F. 78/252.

⁴⁶⁹ Stanley, to Pitt, , 4, 6, 8 09 1761Google Scholar (received 11 September), ibid.; Newcastle, to Bedford, , 13 09 1761Google Scholar, Bedford, iii. 43–6.Google Scholar

⁴⁷⁰ In Silesia at the beginning of Sept.; Mitchell to Bute, 1 Sept. 1761, S.P.F. 90/78.

⁴⁷¹ The Cabinet meeting of 15 Sept., see p. 120.

⁴⁷² Temple had hinted to Bute and others his readiness to become First Lord of the Treasury should Newcastle retire.

⁴⁷³ Ferdinand, Prince to Pitt, , 5 and 7 09 1761Google Scholar, P.R.O. 30/8/90, Part 2.

⁴⁷⁴ Captain William Charles Sloper, A.D.C. to Prince Ferdinand.

⁴⁷⁵ The Northern Department, of which Bute was Secretary of State.

⁴⁷⁶ Choiseul, to Broglie, , 27 08 1761Google Scholar (intercepted), Add. MSS. 32928, f. 117.

⁴⁷⁷ The Count of Stainville, subsequently Duke of Praslin, French Foreign Minister after Oct. 1761. He and Choiseul were not brothers but cousins.

⁴⁷⁸ Choiseul, to Stainville, , 27 08 1761Google Scholar (intercepted), enclosed in Yorke, to Bute, , 13 09 1761Google Scholar, S.P.F. 84/493 and Add. MSS. 32928, f. 119.

⁴⁷⁹ The wife of the Duke of Duras, former French Ambassador to Spain.

⁴⁸⁰ Newcastle Memorandum, 15 Sept. 1761, Add. MSS. 32928, ff. 185–8.

⁴⁸¹ Bristol, to Pitt, , 31 08 1761Google Scholar, S.P.F. 94/164, Part I.

⁴⁸² Privy Seal.

⁴⁸³ Wall, to Bristol, , 28 08 1761Google Scholar, enclosed in n. 481.

⁴⁸⁴ Spain had been unable lo obtain redress in the Courts for the depredations against her merchant marine by British privateers.

⁴⁸⁵ See p. 59.

⁴⁸⁶ ‘Memoire de la France sur la reponse de l'Angleterre remise au Due de Choiseul le l^er Septembre par M. de Stanley,’ dated Sept. 9 and submitted by Bussy 15 Sept.; printed in Thackeray, , ii. 619–23.Google Scholar

⁴⁸⁷ In the preamble Choiseul insisted that in the event of no treaty the entire negotiation would be without prejudice to either party.

⁴⁸⁸ The reference is to Article I of Pitt's Ultimatum of Sept. 1.

⁴⁸⁹ The boundary between Canada and Louisiana drawn by de Vaudreuil and submitted by Pitt in his Ultimatum of 1 Sept. See also p. 115.

⁴⁹⁰ Britain had agreed a period of one year during which French settlers could leave Canada with their possessions and migrate elsewhere under the French crown.

⁴⁹¹ By the word dependencies Pitt meant that Canada must comprise the relevant coast-line and all islands in the vicinity of the St. Lawrence and Newfoundland, especially Cape Breton and St. John.

⁴⁹² Anamabu and Dakar.

⁴⁹³ A share in the Newfoundland Fishery on condition that the fortifications of Dunkirk were demolished in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. See p. 106.

⁴⁹⁴ Choiseul proposed to retain the harbour which, he claimed, was too small to receive men of war.

⁴⁹⁵ The length of Miquelon.

⁴⁹⁶ Under the Treaty of Paris of 1763, St. Pierre and Miquelon were ceded to France as abris.

⁴⁹⁷ France accepted the division of the Neutral Islands, provided St. Lucia and one other were hers.

⁴⁹⁸ Article VI offered France the return of Belleisle together with Guadeloupe and Marie-Galante.

⁴⁹⁹ Article VII affirmed that Minorca be restored to Britain.

⁵⁰⁰ That France evacuate Prussian territories along the Rhine.

⁵⁰¹ The French Ultimatum of 5 Aug. See Thackeray, , ii. 566–9.Google Scholar

⁵⁰² See p. 104, n. 388.

⁵⁰³ The treaty obligations of Britain and France to their respective allies.

⁵⁰⁴ Devonshire's précis from the French Memoire: ‘Le Roi détermine, pour le bien de la paix, à faire les sacrifices les plus considérables, est en même temps irrévocablement résolu de ne rien accorder, dans le futur Traité de paix, qui soil contraire aux stipulations auxquelles il s'est engagé avec ses Alliés.’ S.P.F. 78/252.

⁵⁰⁵ Return of compensation for French ships taken before the declaration of war.

⁵⁰⁶ Louis XV.

⁵⁰⁷ Hostilities to cease on the ratification of the peace preliminaries.

⁵⁰⁸ The future of the French East India Company.

⁵⁰⁹ Over the release of prisoners of war.

⁵¹⁰ Louis XV.

⁵¹¹ Devonshire suggests that Pitt's obduracy over the Fisheries led to the Second Family Compact between France and Spain, signed on 15 Aug. 1761.

⁵¹² Commodore Augustus Keppel.

⁵¹³ Sir Charles Saunders, Commander-in-Chief the Mediterranean.

⁵¹⁴ These totals do not correspond with the figures.

⁵¹⁵ Probably Ashburnham.

⁵¹⁶ The Lords of the Bedchamber.

⁵¹⁷ Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, whom the King had married on 6 Sept.

⁵¹⁸ Hardwicke's Minute, 18 Sept. 1761, Yorke, , iii. 275–6Google Scholar. Newcastle's Memorandum, 18 Sept. 1761, Add. MSS. 32928, ff. 227–32. Hardwicke makes clear that he was present, although his wife was mortally ill and died the day following. Devonshire was probably not present, which may account for his not writing his account until after his entries for 25 Sept. This has been transposed by the editors for the sake of chronological order.

⁵¹⁹ Wall's Declaration of Aug. 28, see p. 121.

⁵²⁰ The alliance between both branches of the House of Bourbon, which Versailles could not afford to abandon.

⁵²¹ In accordance with the request of the British Minister, Sir Benjamin Keene, the orders for the destruction of illegal logwood settlements, issued in 1754 by Ensenada were suspended pending further enquiry. Keene, to SirRobinson, Thomas, 17 06, 31 07 1754Google Scholar; Wall, to Keene, , 15 09 1754Google Scholar, S.P.F. 94/147.

⁵²² See p. 25, n. 11.

⁵²³ Draft of an answer to d'Abreu, 13 Dec. 1759, S.P.F. 94/160.

⁵²⁴ Fuentes, to Pitt, , 9 09 1760Google Scholar, ibid. 94/162.

⁵²⁵ Pitt, to Bristol, , 26 09 1760Google Scholar, ibid.

⁵²⁶ The intercepted letters between Fuentes and Grimaldi, printed in Chatham, ii, 93–7. 139–44.Google Scholar

⁵²⁷ Stanley, to Pitt, , 19 08 1761Google Scholar, S.P.F. 78/252.

⁵²⁸ Pitt continues, or resumes after a short break.

⁵²⁹ The treaty with Spain negotiated by Pelham in 1751 reaffirmed most-favourednation treatment for British exports, which had originated with the Anglo-Spanish Treaty of 1667. War with Spain could not be undertaken without severe detriment to British mercantile interests.

⁵³⁰ Stanley, to Pitt, (private), 2, 6 09 1761Google Scholar, includes the following sentence: ‘I have recently seen an article drawn up between France and Spain in which the former engages to support the interests of the latter equally with her own in the negotiations of the peace with England; it was entitled article 10. I am as yet a stranger to the other nine but shall endeavour to get them.’ S.P.F. 78/252. Stanley was relying on espionage.

⁵³¹ The editors can find no Sir G. Byng in 1761. This could be a reference to Sir George Byng, later 1st Viscount Torrington, who in 1718 was ordered by the 1st Earl Stanhope, then Secretary of State, and Pitt's uncle by marriage, to undertake a preemptive strike against Spain reminiscent of the action Pitt was proposing in September 1761. On 11 Aug. 1718 Byng destroyed the Spanish fleet off Cape Passaro and thus wrecked the ambition of Philip V of Spain to upset the Italian provisions of the Treaty of Utrecht. Possibly Pitt interrupted Hardwicke's discourse and ‘ordered’ is used in the sense of ‘cited’.

⁵³² Wall in a note to Bristol on 28 Aug. 1761 had suggested that the injection of Spanish grievances into the negotiations between Britain and France would not have been attempted had his government realised the offence. Bristol to Pitt, 31 Aug. 1761, S.P.F. 94/164, Part I.

⁵³³ Wall in his conference with Bristol on Aug. 28 had undertaken on behalf of Charles III that British logwood cutters could operate freely until an agreement was reached.

⁵³⁴ Britain was not at war with Russia, although the Empress Elizabeth was at war with her ally Frederick of Prussia. The Baltic trade was a deterrent to an extension of war, and Spain might provide a parallel.

⁵³⁵ Here Hardwicke's discourse ended and he left early because of his wife's illness. Hardwicke to Newcastle, 20 Sept. 1761, Add. MSS. 32928, ff. 259–62.

⁵³⁶ A question presumably addressed by Pitt to Anson.

⁵³⁷ Sir James Douglas, Commander the Leeward Islands station.

⁵³⁸ The estimated strength of the Spanish military establishment.

⁵³⁹ Blank in MS. but the reference must be to Spain.

⁵⁴⁰ Pitt was planning to send Commodore George Rodney to take Martinique.

⁵⁴¹ A brief memorandum dated Sept. 18 and entitled ‘Advice in Writing’. This contained Pitt's arguments in favour of immediate war with Spain. Grenville, i. 386–7.Google Scholar

⁵⁴² Which had surrendered on 7 July 1761.

⁵⁴³ Blank in MS.; see however the figures given in Add. MSS. 35710, f. 304.

⁵⁴⁴ At the informal meeting of Sept. 19, Bute suggested that all opposed to Pitt's policy of war with Spain set down their objections in writing. After some discussion this plan was abandoned, it being decided that each minister give his reasons to the King verbally, which took place at a special audience of 26 September. Hunt, W., ‘Pitt's retirement from office, 5th Oct 1761’, E.H.R., xxi (1906), 124–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁵⁴⁵ vall's approval of Choiseul's Memorial of 15 July endorsing the Spanish grievances.

⁵⁴⁶ Refers to the statement in the French Memoire of 15 July:‘… il [King of France] ne peut pas dissimuler à l'Angleterre le danger qu'il envisage et qu'il sera forcé de partager si ces objets qui paroissent affectir sensiblement S.M. Catholique déterminent la guerre.’

⁵⁴⁷ No orders were sent to Bristol at this time. He was ordered on 2 Nov. 1761 to ask for his passports in a despatch from Pitt's successor the 2nd Earl of Egremont.

⁵⁴⁸ The notes jotted down by Devonshire on the Cabinet meeting of 21 Sept. Why these do not follow immediately on his account of the meeting is unclear.

⁵⁴⁹ Newcastle, to Hardwicke, of 21 09 1761Google Scholar also makes clear that Pitt spoke later, stressing the need for immediate action and that no time was to be lost. Hunt, E.H.R., xxi, 124–5.Google Scholar

⁵⁵⁰ Saunders.

⁵⁵¹ See p. 129, n. 532.

⁵⁵² 18 Sept.

⁵⁵³ At the turn of 1758–9. Pitt to Keith, 2 Jan. 1759, S.P.F. 91/67.

⁵⁵⁴ 21 Sept. For Newcastle's notes on this meeting, see his letter to Hardwicke written later that day, printed in Hunt, E.H.R. xxi, 124–5.Google Scholar

⁵⁵⁵ Hardwicke and Granville were not present.

⁵⁵⁶ The capture of Spanish prizes, the Newfoundland Fishery and logwood in Honduras. Britain never accepted that Spain had the slightest claim to participate in the Fisheries, a point on which Pitt had the unanimous support of the Cabinet. The British attitude over prizes was generally unsympathetic. Answer to the Spanish Memorial, presented to Fuentes on 1 Sept. 1760, Thackeray, ii. Appendix, 486–95.

⁵⁵⁷ See p. 136.

⁵⁵⁸ That afternoon of 21 Sept. Pitt drafted his orders to Rodney for the Martinique expedition.

⁵⁵⁹ 8th Earl of Home, Governor of Gibraltar, 1757–61.

⁵⁶⁰ Bute.

⁵⁶¹ Pitt and Temple.

⁵⁶² Newcastle, to Hardwicke, , 21 09 1761Google Scholar, makes clear that Bute expected Pitt's resignation at this point; Yorke, , iii. 325–6.Google Scholar

⁵⁶³ 22 Sept. 1761.

⁵⁶⁴ George, III to Bute, , 19 09 1761Google Scholar, Sedgwick, , 63.Google Scholar

⁵⁶⁵ Pitt's demand for a declaration of war against Spain.

⁵⁶⁶ The House of Lords. Following Pitt's resignation on 5 Oct. Temple attacked Bute bitterly ‘in that House’ on 14 Nov. 1761.

⁵⁶⁷ Stanley, to Pitt, , 15 09 1761Google Scholar, S.P.F. 78/252.

⁵⁶⁸ In view of the Family Compact, this was chicanery.

⁵⁶⁹ Stanley, to Pitt, , 15 09 1761Google Scholar (private), S.P.F. 78/252.

⁵⁷⁰ Choiseul's sister.

⁵⁷¹ Newcastle, to Hardwicke, , 23 09 1761Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32928, ff. 325–6. Hardwicke was absent because of the recent death of his wife.

⁵⁷² On 19 Sept, see p. 131, n. 544.

⁵⁷³ Because of the continued defiance of the Irish Parliament over money bills. Halifax, to Pitt, , 11 09 1761Google Scholar, S.P. 63/416.

⁵⁷⁴ Pitt had clashed with Bedford, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland June 1757–Mar. 1761, over policy in Feb. 1758 and Dec. 1760.

⁵⁷⁵ Stanley, to Pitt, , 19 09 1761Google Scholar, S.P.F. 78/252.

⁵⁷⁶ Pitt, to Stanley, , 15 09 1761Google Scholar, Stanley MSS. 10.M55/127, No. 44.

⁵⁷⁷ Stanley, to Choiseul, , 20 09 1761Google Scholar, printed in Mémoire Historique sur la negotiation de la France et de l'Angleterre (Mouton, reprint 1966), 184–5.Google Scholar

⁵⁷⁸ Bute ought to have realized that Fox, by his panic resignation of 15 Oct. 1756, had forfeited all claim to popular esteem. Newcastle would never have endorsed his return or have accepted Grenville at the Exchequer. As he explained to Hardwicke in his letter of 26 Sept.: ‘The moment Mr. Grenville is Chancellor of the Exchequer, it is to him only, to whom the King and his minister will apply; and it is he, who will have singly the King's confidence … I should not pass one easy moment in the Treasury after that was done.’ Newcastle to Hardwicke, 26 Sept. 1761, Add. MSS. 32928, ff. 3623.

⁵⁷⁹ It would seem that Devonshire was alone in suggesting Bedford as Pitt's successor. By his opposition to Pitt, Bedford had put spine into Bute and he was without doubt one of the ‘great lords’ to whom Pitt disparagingly referred at the Council of 2 Oct., the last he attended as Secretary of State.

⁵⁸⁰ George, III to Bute, , 09 1761Google Scholar, Sedgwick, , 65.Google Scholar

⁵⁸¹ Newcastle and Hardwicke saw Stanley after his interview with the King. Hardwicke, to Newcastle, , 30 09 1761Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32928, f. 440. Hardwicke, Memorandum, Add. MSS. 35421, f. 102. ‘l saw the King …. Duke of Newcastle and Lord Bute’ entered by Devonshire after his account of the Council and transposed by the editors for the sake of chronology.

⁵⁸² Grimaldi, to Fuentes, , 13 09 1761Google Scholar (intercepted and a translation read), Chatham, ii. 141Google Scholar. Grimaldi did not wish the failure of the negotiation with France to be attributed solely to the Spanish grievances.

⁵⁸³ Mansfield also present.

⁵⁸⁴ Devonshire's version of Pitt's speech corresponded closely to Newcastle's account, printed in Hunt, E.H.R., xxi, 132.Google Scholar

⁵⁸⁵ Word illegible.

⁵⁸⁶ The circumstances of their friendship were personal.

⁵⁸⁷ Secretary-at-War since Mar. 1761.

⁵⁸⁸ Probably Wall's Declaration of 28 Aug., see p. 126, and Bristol's letter of 31 Aug., see p. 121, n. 481.

⁵⁸⁹ Pitt, to Stanley, , 11, 15 09 1761Google Scholar; Stanley MSS. 10.M55/127. MS. Nos. 41, 44.

⁵⁹⁰ Pitt's home in Kent.

⁵⁹¹ Pitt's observation must be linked with the request he shortly made for a peerage for his wife Lady Hester, which would enable him to remain in the House of Commons.

⁵⁹² Temple's seat near Buckingham.

⁵⁹³ Grenville, i. 410–14.Google Scholar

⁵⁹⁴ Earlier that day Bute had written anxiously to Newcastle: ‘…. that the storm runs high in the City and I hear some of them Pitt's supporters are rash enough to say they will have their minister again. This may subside, but a weak administration …. will not tend to silence it.’ Add. MSS. 32929, f. 75.

⁵⁹⁵ On the rearrangements see Schweizer, K., ‘John Stuart 3rd Earl of Bute and George Grenville, October 1761’, Historical Journal, xvii. 2 (1974), 435–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁵⁹⁶ Bartholemew Burton, M.P., was Governor, 1760–2.

⁵⁹⁷ Thomas Walpole, M.P., a prominent banker.

⁵⁹⁸ Bristol, to Pitt, , 14 09 1761Google Scholar, S.P.F. 94/164, Part I.

⁵⁹⁹ The 2nd Earl of Egremont had no political experience except as Lord Lieutenant of Cumberland since 1750.

⁶⁰⁰ Bedford had incurred hostility because of his part in forcing Pitt's resignation. Bute suggests that Egremont as Pitt's successor was Mansfield's suggestion, which has not previously been known. Egremont was appointed Secretary of State for the South on 8 Oct.

⁶⁰¹ Bedford had never shown a desire for household office.

⁶⁰² Charles Pratt, M.P.

⁶⁰³ Charles Yorke, M.P., Hardwicke's second son.

⁶⁰⁴ The office of Lord Chancellor.

⁶⁰⁵ pratt was Pitt's protegé and on the formation of the Pitt and Newcastle ministry in July 1757 had been appointed Attorney-General over the head of Yorke, who had to be content with becoming Solicitor-General. With Pitt out of the way Hardwicke hoped to get Pratt removed and see his son Attorney-General, in which event the office of Lord Chancellor might be his. Lord Chancellor Henley could have been given a sinecure.

⁶⁰⁶ Bute was annoyed because Newcastle and Devonshire were pressing him to appoint Hardwicke Lord Privy Seal in succession to Temple. Hardwicke was no longer inter ested and liked a frequent retirement to Wimpole, his seat near Cambridge. Newcastle to Devonshire, 9 Oct. 1761, Add. MSS. 32929, ff. 139–42.

⁶⁰⁷ Robert Wood, M.P., who had in 1757 abandoned a distinguished career as Homeric scholar to serve as Pitt's under-secretary. He remained in office until 1763.

⁶⁰⁸ Bute, to Pitt, , 6 10 1761Google Scholar; Chatham, ii. 146–8.Google Scholar

⁶⁰⁹ The pension granted Holdernesse in return for his enforced resignation in Mar. 1761 to make way for Bute.

⁶¹⁰ That Pitt must receive an emolument of at least £5000 p.a.

⁶¹¹ A suggestion Bute acted on when he wrote to Pitt that day.

⁶¹² Kinnoul was Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, 1758–62.

⁶¹³ A pension equivalent to the salary.

⁶¹⁴ Devonshire was wrong and Bute was right. Pitt's request for an endowed peerage for his wife Lady Hester was granted but Temple resigned.

⁶¹⁵ 7 Oct. in MS. but Bute wrote on 6 Oct. Bute, to Pitt, , 6 10 1761Google Scholar; Pitt, to Bute, , 6 10 1761Google Scholar; Chatham, ii. 146–50Google Scholar. On the evening of 6 Oct. Elliot called upon Pitt. To him Pitt expressed his desire for an endowed peerage for his wife.

⁶¹⁶ 8 Oct. in MS. Hardwicke to Charles Yorke, 10 Oct. 1761, refers to Bute's visit taking place ‘yesterday noon’. Yorke, , iii. 330Google Scholar. Hardwicke, to Newcastle, , 9 10 1761Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32929, ff. 144–5.

⁶¹⁷ A peerage for Lady Hester Pitt as Baroness Chatham together with a pension of £300 p. a. upon the lives of Pitt himself, his wife and their eldest son.

⁶¹⁸ Pitt, to Bute, , 8 10 1761Google Scholar, Bute MSS. (Cardiff) Bundle 5, No. 53. The Gazette of 10 Oct. announced the resignation of Pitt and Temple, together with the endowed peerage for Lady Hester. It was long suggested that by publishing these honours and the resignations in the same number, Bute sought to undermine Pitt's reputation for disinterestedness. But as Pitt had requested the peerage and the pension, the announcements came quite naturally. The Gazette did include an intelligence report from Madrid stressing the peaceful intentions of Spain, which there is reason to believe Pitt resented. Schweizer, K., ‘Lord Bute and William Pitt's Resignation in 1761’, Canadian Journal of History, viii. 2 (1973), 111–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁶¹⁹ 12 Oct. in MS. but see Hardwicke to Newcastle, 13 Oct. 1761, Add. MSS. 32929, f. 227.

⁶²⁰ Newcastle, to Hardwicke, , 20 10 1761Google Scholar, bm Add. MSS. 32929, ff. 406–7.

⁶²¹ To rebut popular criticism, Pitt had on 15 Oct. addressed an open letter to Alderman Beckford, his chief City supporter, explaining his resignation and justifying his acceptance of a pension. The letter was published in the major newspapers and swiftly restored his popularity.

⁶²² Bedford, to Newcastle, , 19 10 1761Google Scholar, Bedford, iii. 53.Google Scholar

⁶²³ See p. 126.

⁶²⁴ Treaty of Fontainebleau, the first Family Compact, 25 Oct. 1743.

⁶²⁵ Fuentes was disingenuously arguing that the provisions of the second Family Compact of 15 August were covered by the Treaty of 1743, which was untrue. The new Treaty required that Spain enter the war on the side of France by 2 May 1762.

⁶²⁶ See p. 126.

⁶²⁷ To ask for his passports.

⁶²⁸ The draft of a despatch sent eight days later. Egremont to Bristol, 28 Oct. 1761, pro S.P.F. 94/164; (copy) Chatsworth MSS. 260/353.

⁶²⁹ Devonshire is paraphrasing Newcastle to Hardwicke, 20 Oct. 1761, Add. MSS. 32929, ff. 406–7. On the following day, Newcastle complained further to Hardwicke that Bute, together with Egremont and Grenville, were taking the decisions. Newcastle, to Hardwicke, , 21 10 1761Google Scholar, ibid., f. 421. Newcastle, to Devonshire, , 12 10 1761Google Scholar, Chatsworth MSS. 182/205. Two days later Newcastle was again grumbling over Grenville's amendments to Hardwicke's draft of the King's Speech. Newcastle, to Hardwicke, , 23 10 1761Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32929, f. 472.

⁶³⁰ Newcastle and Devonshire do not appear to have grasped that the Spanish grievances were a deliberate and insincere pretext.

⁶³¹ James Stuart-Mackenzie, M.P., brother to Bute.

⁶³² Samuel Martin, M.P., Secretary to the Treasury since 1758.

⁶³³ Pratt.

⁶³⁴ The office of Lord Chancellor. A knighthood was conferred upon Pratt on 22 Nov. Hardwicke got his way in consequence of the death on 15 Dec. of Sir John Willes, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. Pratt was forced to succeed him, which necessitated his departure from the House of Commons. Yorke became Attorney-General in Jan. 1762.

⁶³⁵ A treaty between Pitt and Bute was very unlikely.

⁶³⁶ An allusion to Pitt's letter to Beckford, see p. 144, n. 621.

⁶³⁷ A frock denoted ‘an upper garment worn chiefly by men; a long coat, tunic or mantle.’ Hence frock-coat or frock-uniform, being undress uniform. Shelburne was a Colonel in the Buckinghamshire militia, which Temple as Lord Lieutenant commanded.

⁶³⁸ Duke of Cumberland, to whom Devonshire presumably owed the information in this paragraph.

⁶³⁹ Fox had recently tried unsuccessfully to obtain a peerage for his wife Lady Caroline.

⁶⁴⁰ Sir George Savile, M.P., connected with Rockingham and Newcastle. Newcastle, to Rockingham, , 3 11 1761Google Scholar: ‘It is certainly a very honourable offer to him and comes in an honourable manner. I conclude they wish to get some of our considerable friends over to them.’ Add. MSS. 32930, ff. 299–300.

⁶⁴¹ It seems that Devonshire did not recognize Bute as a danger to Newcastle.

⁶⁴² On 9 Nov.

⁶⁴³ Grenville feared Fox, lamenting to Newcastle: ‘What a figure shall I make. Mr. Fox has superior parliamentary talents to me; Mr. Fox has a great number of friends in the House of Commons, attached strongly to him. Mr. Fox has great connexions, I have none …’ Newcastle to Devonshire, 31 Oct. 1761, Add. MSS. 32930, ff. 225–6.

⁶⁴⁴ An early instance of Shelburne's maladroitness, which led him to a breach with Fox and was responsible for that general distrust which hindered him through life.

⁶⁴⁵ Assured by Bute that his wife would receive the coveted peerage ‘before the end of the next session,’ Fox agreed to attend the House of Commons, give Grenville every support and ‘enter no sort of engagement with anyone else whatever.’ Shelburne to Bute, 31 Oct. 1761, Bute MSS. (Cardiff) Bundle 5, No. 57.

⁶⁴⁶ Held on 10 Nov. Newcastle, to Hardwicke, , 9 11 1761Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32930, f. 374.

⁶⁴⁷ Copies of the correspondence relating to the disputes between Britain and Spain, most of which was printed by the government in one volume entitled Papers Relative to the Rupture with Spain (1762).Google Scholar

⁶⁴⁸ Lord George Augustus Cavendish was appointed Comptroller of the Household.

⁶⁴⁹ Bristol to Egremont, 2 Nov. (received 14 Nov.), S.P.F. 94/164, Part 1. Egremont, to Newcastle, , 14 11 1761Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32931, f. 41.

⁶⁵⁰ 6th Earl of Coventry, a Lord of the Bedchamber.

⁶⁵¹ In the debate on the Address of 13 Nov. Barrington, to Newcastle, , 13 11 1761Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32931, ff. 19–20.

⁶⁵² A further reference to the events of 1746 and 1756. See also pp. 8, 66.

⁶⁵³ Bute and the King offer the Privy Seal to Hardwicke after Devonshire's assurance of 7 Nov. that a refusal was certain.

⁶⁵⁴ Bedford became Lord Privy Seal on 25 Nov. 1761.

⁶⁵⁵ Grenville's adherence to Bute when Pitt resigned caused a breach with his brother Temple.

⁶⁵⁶ Devonshire's account of the debate in the House of Commons of 11 Dec. 1761 on the motion put forward by Pitt's adherent's George Cook and William Beckford that the Papers relating to the negotiations with Spain be put before the House. George Grenville and Thomas Robinson led for administration.

⁶⁵⁷ George Cook.

⁶⁵⁸ 3rd Viscount Midleton.

⁶⁵⁹ The Gazette of 10 10 1761Google Scholar, see p. 143.

⁶⁶⁰ Colonel Isaac Barre.

⁶⁶¹ Charles Yorke.

⁶⁶² Egremont Memorandum, 6 Jan. 1762, P.R.O. 30/47/21.

⁶⁶³ War had been officially declared on Jan. 4.

⁶⁶⁴ Newcastle, to Hardwicke, , 10 01 1762Google Scholar. Add. MSS. 32933, ff. 179–82.

⁶⁶⁵ The Bailli de Solar, whom Devonshire here termed M. Soldano, Sardinian Minister in Paris. On 17 Nov. Bute had re-opened the negotiation with France through the channel of Viry writing to Solar. This was known only to George III. The Cabinet remained in ignorance until now, when Devonshire was apparently one of the first to be let into the secret. A complete transcript of the correspondence between Viry and Solar is in four volumes (9–12) of the Shelburne papers in the Clements Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

⁶⁶⁶ George Pitt, M.P., recently appointed British envoy at Turin, 1761–8.

⁶⁶⁷ Viry, to Solar, , 13 12 1761, 5 and 12 01 1762Google Scholar, Shelburne MSS. Vol. 9, ff. 13–16, 36–7, 39–41.

⁶⁶⁸ Bedford, dissatisfied with Bute's failure to overrule Newcastle and Devonshire anc to end at once the war in Germany, proposed bringing matters to a head by moving in the House of Lords for the immediate withdrawal of British troops. Newcastle, to Hardwicke, , 16 01 1762Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32933, f. 320.

⁶⁶⁹ Bute, to Bedford, , 30 01 1762Google Scholar, Bedford, iii. 72–3.Google Scholar

⁶⁷⁰ Newcastle, to Devonshire, , 4 02 1762Google Scholar, Chatsworth MSS. 182/220.

⁶⁷¹ See SirCaldwell, James to Newton, Lord, 20 02 1762Google Scholar, P.R.O. 30/8/70/5, ff. 26–49; Parliamentary History, xv. 1218–20.Google Scholar

⁶⁷² Shelburne, who sat by right of his G.B. peerage.

⁶⁷³ Devonshire lists Bedford, Lord Privy Seal, together with the fifteen peers who followed him in voting against administration, noting particularly those with employments.

⁶⁷⁴ Col. the 72nd Regt. of Foot since 9 May 1758.

⁶⁷⁵ Lord Warden of the Stannaries since 1751.

⁶⁷⁶ Lord of the Bedchamber since 1755.

⁶⁷⁷ Great Master of the Wardrobe since 1760.

⁶⁷⁸ Lord of the Bedchamber since 1760.

⁶⁷⁹ A.D.C. to the King.

⁶⁸⁰ The editors know of no documentary evidence of such orders.

⁶⁸¹ On 12 Jan. Bute had instructed Sir Joseph Yorke, British Minister at the Hague, to ascertain from Prince Louis of Brunswick, guardian to William V, Prince of Orange, who was a minor, whether the Dutch were prepared to enter the war on the British side.

⁶⁸² The French representative at the Hague.

⁶⁸³ Of their naval and military forces.

⁶⁸⁴ Peter Steyn.

⁶⁸⁵ Henrik Fagel.

⁶⁸⁶ Yorke, to Bute, , 5 02 1762Google Scholar, S.P.F. 84/495.

⁶⁸⁷ The negotiation initiated by the Dutch East India Company following their defeat by the British in Bengal in 1759. Yorke's dispatches to Bute, S.P.F. 84/493 and 495.

⁶⁸⁸ Mir Jaffir Ali Khan.

⁶⁸⁹ See intelligence in Yorke to Newcastle, 2 Feb. 1762, Add. MSS. 32934, ff. 145–7.

⁶⁹⁰ Prince Louis of Brunswick.

⁶⁹¹ The proposed Spanish invasion of Portugal never got under way. Britain sent a contingent to Lisbon as by treaty bound. Maria Theresa disliked the Family Compact between France and Spain with the implied diversion of French resources towards the invasion of Portugal. Also, she was negotiating a marriage between the Archduke Leopold, the future Emperor Leopold II, and a daughter of Charles III.

⁶⁹² Newcastle, to Hardwicke, , 22 02 1762Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32935, ff. 913.

⁶⁹³ Elizabeth, Czarina of Russia, had died on 5 Jan. 1762. Her successor Peter III, an ardent admirer of Frederick of Prussia, at once withdrew from the war.

⁶⁹⁴ The Treaty of Westminster guaranteeing a subsidy to Prussia of £670,000 p.a. had just expired. Bute, supported by the entire Cabinet, was considering not the renewal of the treaty but the continuation of the subsidy by parliamentary grant.

⁶⁹⁵ Frederick, II to Knyphausen, , 29 01 1762Google Scholar (intercepted), Add. MSS. 32934, ff. 62–3.

⁶⁹⁶ The wrath of Frederick arose from the British demand that he make peace when his fortunes had been transformed by the accession of Czar Peter III.

⁶⁹⁷ Bute, to Mitchell, , 8 01 1762Google Scholar, S.P.F. 90/79.

⁶⁹⁸ Robert Keith, British Minister at St. Petersburg, 1757–62.

⁶⁹⁹ A letter to this effect was sent four days later. Bute, to Knyphausen, and Mitchell, , 26 02 1762Google Scholar, D.Z.A., Rep. 96. 33. F, ff. 69–71.

⁷⁰⁰ Yorke, to Bute, , 19 01 1762Google Scholar, S.P.F. 84/495.

⁷⁰¹ Halifax, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, had informed Egremont that the Irish Catholics, anxious to prove their loyalty, were prepared to serve on the Continent. Halifax to Egremont, 6 Feb. 1762; Egremont, to Halifax, , 23 02 1762Google Scholar, Calendar of Home Office Papers, 154–5, 159Google Scholar. George III to Bute (early February), 1762, Bute MSS. (Cardiff) 8/398.

⁷⁰² Emden in East Friesland.

⁷⁰³ Choiseul's reply to Viry's letter of 12 Jan., see p 155.

⁷⁰⁴ Choiseul, to Solar, , 23 01 1762Google Scholar, Shelburne MSS. 9, ff. 46–9.

⁷⁰⁵ Solar, to Viry, , 1 02 1762Google Scholar, P.R.O. 30/47/1; copy in Add. MSS. 32924, ff. 121–4.

⁷⁰⁶ Devonshire found the French papers ‘not at all satisfactory’ and Choiseul's note ‘mere verbiage.… full of impertinence.’ But he thought the negotiation should continue. Devonshire to Bute, 4 Mar. 1762, Bute MSS. (Cardiff) Bundle 1, No. 206.

⁷⁰⁷ Newcastle, to Hardwicke, , 3 03 1762Google Scholar. Preliminary drafts of the letter Bute suggested were discussed at Cabinet meetings of 9 and 18 Mar. But following news of the capture of Martinique, which arrived in London on 21 Mar., no letter was sent.

⁷⁰⁸ This is the merest gossip. Bute, far from desiring Devonshire's place as Lord Chamberlain, was deep in an intrigue to oust Newcastle, whom he proposed succeeding at the Treasury. Newcastle had just learned that Samuel Martin, Secretary to the Treasury, was supplying Bute with figures and information intended to force his resignation.

⁷⁰⁹ Fagel, after consulting Yorke, had written early in February to Wassenaer, asking him to make informal enquiries as to the disposition of Spain towards peace. Yorke to Bute, 16 Feb. 1762, S.P.F. 84/495.

⁷¹⁰ So far the negotiations were known only to the King and Cabinet.

⁷¹¹ Eeremont's preliminary draft of 21 Mar. 1762, Add. MSS. 32936, ff. 1–8 (copy).

⁷¹² The maritime and colonial conflict only.

⁷¹³ Viry, to Solar, , 27 03 1762Google Scholar, Shelburne MSS. 9, ff. 88–96.

⁷¹⁴ The original paper, in George III's hand together with the replies. Add. MSS. 33040, ff. 309–11.

⁷¹⁵ Martin, to Bute, , 18 03 1762Google Scholar: ‘Mr. Samuel Martin to the Earl of Bute. The Duke of Newcastle suspects that he has given his Lordship some hints about the King's extra revenues in the Exchequer: which he will not disown.’ Bute MSS. (Cardiff) Bundle 4, No. 66 (copy); Register of Bute's Correspondence, Add. MSS. 36796.

⁷¹⁶ Council, 29 Mar. Newcastle's Minute, 29 Mar.1762, Add. MSS. 32999, ff. 454–5.

⁷¹⁷ Declaration issued to the assembled Foreign Ministers in St. Petersburg on 23 Feb. 1762, Add. MSS. 32935, ff. 467–8 (copy).

⁷¹⁸ The withdrawal of the Czar from the war must prevent Maria Theresa recovering Silesia.

⁷¹⁹ It was unanimously decided that Keith express the ‘highest satisfaction’ with the Czar's Declaration. Bute, to Keith, , 9 04 1762Google Scholar, S.P.F. 91/69.

⁷²⁰ Over the Schleswig-Holstein dispute in which the Czar as Duke of Holstein-Gottorp had a personal interest.

⁷²¹ Keith, to Bute, , 12/23 02 1762Google Scholar, S.P.F. 91/69.

⁷²² Jan Lodewijk Wassenaer, Dutch Ambassador to Spain, 1747–62, to the Greffier Fagel, 1 Mar. 1762 (copy) enclosed in Yorke, to Bute, , 19 03 1762Google Scholar (secret), S.P.F. 84./495.

⁷²³ Bute, to Yorke, , 9 04 1762Google Scholar, S.P.F. 84/496.

⁷²⁴ ‘Extrait du Madrid’, 1 Mar. 1762, in Yorke to Bute, 19 Mar. 1762, S.P.F. 84/495. Minute, 29 Mar. 1762, Stowe MSS. S.T. 103, ff. 12–14.

⁷²⁵ It was agreed that Egremont, ignoring the negotiation through Viry and Solar, write to Choiseul, offering to treat on the basis of the ultimatums of 1 and 9 Sept. 1761, ‘subject to such variations as may naturally arise from the alterations of circumstances on either side.’ Cabinet Minute, St. James, 29 Mar. 1762, P.R.O. 30/47/21; Add. MSS.32999, ff. 454–5; Egremont to Choiseul, 7 Apr. 1762, Add. MSS. 38198, ff. 115–19.

⁷²⁶ The proposal was to withdraw the garrison and demilitarize. Troops were needed for service in Portugal.

⁷²⁷ Gertrude, Duchess of Bedford, had a reputation for telling the duke what to do.

⁷²⁸ John Calcraft, M.P.

⁷²⁹ See ‘Memorandum relating to the Prussian Letters, 31 Mar. 1762’, Add. MSS. 32936, f. 229.

⁷³⁰ To gain some insight into Prussian policy.

⁷³¹ The practice of intercepting correspondence increased significantly during this period. Rigby, to Bedford, , 16 09 1762Google Scholar, Bedford MSS. Vol. 46, f. 2.

⁷³² Cumberland's informant was Newcastle. Cumberland, to Devonshire, , 22 02, 15 04Google Scholar, Chatsworth MSS. 332/13, 14.

⁷³³ Count Canales, Sardinian Minister at Vienna, 1752–73.

⁷³⁴ A regulation costume worn by those who attend Court.

⁷³⁵ Probably Ashburnham.

⁷³⁶ Richard Myddleton, M.P., Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire since 1748.

⁷³⁷ Earl of Lichfield.

⁷³⁸ April 10 in MS., but see Newcastle to Harrington, 8 Apr. 1762, Add. MSS. 32936, ff. 440–1. Egremont's Minutes of 8 Apr. 1762, P.R.O. 30/47/21.

⁷³⁹ Martinho de Mello, Count of Galvas, Portuguese Ambassador in London, 1756–70.

⁷⁴⁰ King Joseph I.

⁷⁴¹ An extraordinary subsidy of £200,000 was also granted. Newcastle's Minute, 8 Apr. 1762, Add. MSS. 33000, ff. 41–2.

⁷⁴² Frederick II gave no reassurance about his projects and, as Bute surmised, was angling for help from Russia against Maria Theresa in return for supporting Czar Peter III's interests in Schleswig-Holstein.

⁷⁴³ The Duke of York was given permission to join the fleet under Hawke. George III to Bute, Apr. 1762, Sedgwick, 89–90.

⁷⁴⁴ Ernest of Mecklenberg-Strelitz.

⁷⁴⁵ The King did in her name. George III to Bute, Apr. 1762, ibid. 90–1.

⁷⁴⁶ Viry, to Devonshire, , 18 09 1762Google Scholar, Chatsworth MSS. 580/18.

⁷⁴⁷ Charles Yorke.

⁷⁴⁸ Devonshire was right to disbelieve Viry. Relations between Pitt and Temple on the one hand and Hardwicke and Newcastle on the other were very cool.

⁷⁴⁹ That of 8 Apr.

⁷⁵⁰ During a conversation of 16 Apr., see Devonshire, to Newcastle, , 16 Apr. 1762Google Scholar, Add. MSS. 32937, ff. 181–2.

⁷⁵¹ The Court of Sardinia depended upon Austrian goodwill to maintain their gains under the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.

⁷⁵² James West, M.P., joint secretary to the Treasury since July 1757.

⁷⁵³ Hardwicke, to Newcastle, , 18 04 1762Google Scholar, Yorke, , iii. 351–2.Google Scholar

⁷⁶⁴ The number of Lords present. George Grenvillc was absent because of illness, Grenville, i. 442.Google Scholar

⁷⁶⁵ See p. 134, n. 556.

⁷⁵⁶ The Treaty of Madrid of 1667, the Treaty of Münster or Westphalia of 1648 and the Treaty of Madrid of 1670 were re-enacted under Article II of the Peace of Paris.

⁷⁵⁷ See also p. 121. Originally, Britain had offered one year, which Choiseul rejected as too short.

⁷⁵⁸ Crossed out in MS. and restored by the editors.

⁷⁵⁹ Marginal note by Devonshire.

⁷⁶⁰ The terms put forward in the British Ultimatum of Sept. 1761.

⁷⁶¹ This concession, agreed by the Cabinet in late Aug. 1761, had been despatched to Choiseul on 1 Sept. Yorke, , iii. 271–4.Google Scholar

⁷⁶² The restitution of Gorce had been decided by the Cabinet on 18 Mar.1762. Minute, 18 Mar. 1762, P.R.O. 30/47/21.

⁷⁶³ The cunette or canal at Dunkirk was later inspected by a British engineer who advised on demolition before any treaty was signed.

⁷⁶⁴ See p. 106, n. 395.

⁷⁶⁵ Crossed out in MS. and restored by the editors.

⁷⁶⁶ Marginal note by Devonshire.

⁷⁶⁷ Those present were Henley, Granville, Devonshire, Newcastle, Hardwicke, Ligonier, Egremont and Grenville. Egremont Minute, P.R.O. 30/47/21.

⁷⁶⁸ The French counter-proposal to Egremont's letter of Apr. 7, see p. 164, n.725. Choiseul to Siolar, 15 Apr. 1762, Shelburne MSS. 9, ff. 118–27.

⁷⁶⁹ The latest despatches from St. Petersburg and Berlin indicated that Czar Peter III and Frederick II were planning to extend the Continental war by an attack on Denmark. Mitchell, to Bute, , 2, 21 04 1762Google Scholar, S.P.F. 90/80. Fear of subsidising such a venture decided the Cabinet against a renewal of the Prussian subsidy.

⁷⁷⁰ William Gerard Hamilton, M.P., Chief Secretary to Halifax, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, was aiming at a rich sinecure.

⁷⁷¹ Elliot and Oswald, both lords of the Treasury, had supported Bute and Grenville against Newcastle over the vote of credit. Newcastle, to Hardwicke, , 2 05 1762Google Scholar, Add.MSS. 32938, ff. 20–1.

⁷⁷² Almost certainly Viry. Cumberland to Devonshire, 22 Feb. 1762; Viry to Devonshire, 20 May 1762, Chatsworth MSS. 332/14, 580/23.

⁷⁷³ 11th Viscount Dillon.

⁷⁷⁴ Colonel David Graeme, M.P.

⁷⁷⁵ Presumably a lady of the court at Strelitz.

⁷⁷⁶ Graeme's parents were Jacobite, though he missed personal involvement in the '45. Contracts with Prince Ferdinand's army secured by Bute for him and Oswald were cancelled in 1760 for dishonesty. After George III's accession Bute had Graeme promoted full colonel in the British army and in June sent him to escort the future Queen from Strelitz. Namier, and Brooke, , ii. 523–4.Google Scholar

⁷⁷⁷ Devonshire enters the events of 23 July after his entries for 29 July. The editors have transposed in the interests of chronology.

⁷⁷⁸ The routine announcement sent to all ministries abroad, announcing Newcastle's resignation and Bute's appointment as First Lord of the Treasury, did not give the customary assurances that existing policies would continue. Grenville succeeded Bute as Secretary of State for the North.

⁷⁷⁹ Yorke, to Bute, (most secret), 19 01 1762Google Scholar, S.P.F. 84/495.

⁷⁸⁰ On 24 June Prince Ferdinand had decisively defeated the French at Wilhelmsthal.

⁷⁸¹ The marriage between Charles, Hereditary Prince of Brunswick, the son of Duke Charles I, and the King's eldest sister Augusta was solemnized in 1764.

⁷⁸² At not recovering Silesia.

⁷⁸³ Intelligence from Paris, Cressener to Grenville, 5 and 13 July 1762, S.P.F. 81/141.

⁷⁸⁴ Various futile attempts were being made by friends common to Pitt and Newcastle to effect an alliance. Erskine, H. to Bute, , 14 06 1762Google Scholar, Bute MSS. (Cardiff) Bundle 5, No. 185; Namier, , 331, 334, 341–2.Google Scholar

⁷⁸⁵ The restitution of St. Lucia had been undertaken in a private letter from Bute and Egremont to Viry, with the knowledge of the King but without that of the Cabinet. The deception was kept up for a month, then stormy Cabinet meetings followed, Grenville and Egremont standing out for higher terms.

⁷⁸⁶ Early in June Spain had made clear that she would treat only on the basis of the Spanish grievances, which was unacceptable. It was therefore decided to deal with France first and Spain separately. Shelburne MSS. 10, ff. 99–103.

⁷⁸⁷ Choiseul, to Egremont, , 16 04 1762Google Scholar, P.R.O. 30/47/1.

⁷⁸⁸ The King had been ill the previous month.

⁷⁸⁹ At the Cabinet of 28 July, Grenville agreed to surrender St. Lucia provided France withheld support from Spain. Grenville, i. 449Google Scholar et seq.

⁷⁹⁰ Bedford was appointed plenipotentiary to sign the peace preliminaries on 1 Sept. and Ambassador extraordinary on 12 Nov.

⁷⁹¹ Following Newcastle's resignation on 26 May.

⁷⁹² Contained in Choiseul, to Solar, , 21 07 1762Google Scholar, Shelburne MSS. 10, ff. 361–75.

⁷⁹³ Newcastle, to Devonshire, , 27 07 1762Google Scholar, Chatsworth MSS. 182/266.