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Lord Howe was very graciously received at Court. The ships in the River Villaine cannot be destroyed, but it is thought they must suffer by lying there.

It is said that the Irish riots' are totally at an end.

You may depend upon it, that the pamphlet I sent you was Lord Bath's. He very near owns it. It is very much cried up. I have, &c., &c. C. JENKINSON.

MR. JENKINSON TO MR. GRENVILLE.

London, January 8, 1760. DEAR SIR,-I trouble you with a letter, though I have no news to send you.

Everything is in the greatest agitation in Saxony, but there is nothing decisive. The King was still at Freiburg when the last messenger came from him. The Hereditary Prince was then so near the King that the whole affair is probably before now determined.

Our King has expressed great disapprobation at the sending of this detachment from the army of Prince Ferdinand, and it has been feared that he was in dan

ger

of being attacked, but from what has passed I think that danger seems to be diminished. All the accounts talk of the cold that has been abroad with horror.

I go on with my work, but do not overhurry myself, as I do not see that the appearance of a Peace approaches. I shall hope, however, to have arrived at that part which relates to the neutral islands by the

1 They were in consequence of an apprehension that an Union with England was in contemplation by the Houses of Parliament.-See Mr. Rigby's letter to Mr. Pitt in Chatham Correspondence, vol. i. p. 468.

time you come to town, when I shall trouble you for the materials we have mentioned.

I have, &c., &c.

C. JENKINSON.

EARL TEMPLE TO THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE.

January 31, 1760.

MY LORD, The Duke of Newcastle, your Grace knows, has informed me that he had moved His Majesty to confer upon me the great honour of the Garter, in pursuance of his most gracious destination of it for me, but that the King had refused it at present "as a work of supererogation," adding, that he had promised it only at the end of the sessions, at which time he would do it. Your Grace well knows how much I declined from the beginning acquiescing under conditions of any sort, and how little I can reconcile my mind even to the appearance of them.

As your Grace was commissioned by His Majesty to make me the offer, I take the liberty of troubling you to lay me at his feet, and in the most humble manner to inform him that I now find myself under the necessity to decline accepting it, since His Majesty no longer leaves me any room to flatter myself that I am to receive it "as a public and most distinguished mark of His Majesty's favour and protection."

Happy, however, that I had it in my power to do a pleasure to the King, which he at that time condescended to think essential to his service, it is my duty, and I have no merit in it, to continue to exert my best endeavours to serve His Majesty, and to extricate my country from the perils which still surround it. I may,

VOL. I.

however, with great respect, persist in indulging the wish that I had been allowed to give proofs of my zeal for His Majesty's safety and glory out of his service. I am, with the most sincere esteem and regard, my Lord, &c. TEMPLE.

THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIRE TO EARL TEMPLE.

Devonshire House, January 31, 1760.

MY LORD, I take for granted Mr. Pitt has acquainted you with what passed, which I flatter myself will have effectually removed any doubts that might have arisen in your Lordship's breast. I hope to have the honour of seeing you to-morrow morning, any time after ten that is most convenient to your Lordship, when I will faithfully relate to you what has passed.

I hope you excuse my not waiting on you personally this morning, but being obliged to go to all the courts I really had not time, and I had sent to Mr. Pitt before I received your Lordship's letter.

I saw the Duke of Newcastle at the Treasury, and informed him of His Majesty's intentions, which, to do him justice, seemed to give him great pleasure, and now your Lordship is at full liberty to acquaint your friends'. I sincerely congratulate you on this event, and am, my Lord, &c., &c. DEVONSHIRE.

1 The King had at last consented to bestow the Order of the Garter upon Lord Temple. "It is well known that George the Second, who, though he generally yielded to Ministerial violence or importunity, yet manifested often great reluctance, and even ill-humour, in his manner of compliance on these occasions, strongly disliked Lord Temple. Being, however, compelled, in consequence of political arrangements very repugnant to his feelings, to invest that nobleman with the Order of the Garter, the King took so little pains to conceal his aversion,

THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE TO EARL TEMPLE.

Newcastle House, January 31, 1760.

MY DEAR LORD,-I have too much real pleasure in the justice which His Majesty has this day done to himself and to your Lordship, to delay one moment expressing my sense of it. I have long most ardently wished that His Majesty would do what was so right for his own honour and interest.

My wishes are now completed, and I am extremely happy. I most sincerely congratulate your Lordship upon it, and am, with the greatest truth and respect, my dear Lord, your most obedient and most affectionate humble Servant, HOLLES NEWCASTLE.

THE EARL OF BUTE TO EARL TEMPLE.

Tuesday night (February, 1760).

MY DEAR LORD,-I congratulate your Lordship very sincerely on the mark you have received of His Majesty's favour; situated as you are, you could, in my opinion, have no competitor. I have given my noble friend so many strong proofs of unlimited friendship on every occasion that appeared to me material for his interest and honour, that I hardly think it necessary to mention the satisfaction I have in this feather. I have the

both to the individual and to the act, that instead of placing the ribbon decorously over the shoulder of the new Knight, His Majesty, averting his head, and muttering indistinctly some expressions of dissatisfaction, threw it across him, and turned his back at the same instant in the rudest manner.

The aversion of George the Second towards Lord Temple, originated partly in personal, but more from political motives and designs."Wraxall's Historical Memoirs, 8vo, 1836, vol. i. p. 129.

honour to be, my dear Lord, very sincerely and affec

tionately yours,

BUTE.

MR. ELLIOT TO MR. GRENVILLE.

Admiralty, Monday evening (March, 1760). MY DEAR SIR,-I came so late this day from Kensington that I found everybody had been acquainted with the late action before it came to my knowledge. Nothing can so much increase the satisfaction I feel on this occasion as the very cordial and friendly part you take in what more immediately concerns my brother', and consequently me, on this fortunate event. If it had not been for your friendship, he might not so soon have been in the way of doing so much credit to himself and his friends. Believe me ever yours most affectionately, GILB. ELLIOT.

MR. JENKINSON TO MR. GRENVILLE.

London, May 17, 1760.

DEAR SIR, -The mail arrived this day has brought no news from the army, and there is no intelligence from any other parts.

I understand that Mr. Pitt has got a fit of the gout that confines him.

When you have read the papers you took with you into the country I should be glad (if you could do it with convenience) that you would send them to town.

1 Captain Elliot, with three frigates under his command, had captured the French squadron under Thurot, after they had sailed from Carrickfergus, where they had made a descent upon Ireland, levying contributions, and carrying off the Mayor and some of the principal inhabitants. Thurot made a gallant defence, and was killed in the action.

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