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your judgment is far superior to any general conclusions I could draw, I submit the whole and exact state of facts.

"That your Lordship's efforts may succeed I most heartily pray, to the securing for your Lordship for ever a steady friend near the King, be whatever party prevalent in Government; to the doing an act of justice to a much injured prince, and to the saving our Sovereign's character in the present as well as future ages from the stain with which all the inhabitants of the Continent think it, and without reserve declare it, tainted, by the unrelenting conduct of his Majesty towards his brother; a precedent sovereigns and their subjects both condemn and scorn to aid in carrying into execution, a precedent most of them declare unfrequent and vicious in the most arbitrary countries, but absolutely new in the history of England, where the same events have happen'd before, but never were follow'd by such effects.

"I flatter myself the Duke of Gloucester has that opinion of my sincere and faithfull attachment to his interest that he will believe a wish to promote his happiness and advantage is the sole motive of what I say or do respecting him. Yet I fear I run the risk of his displeasure in saying what I do, but from my particular observations I am most solemnly of opinion that if his Royal Highness dies it will be of a broken heart, however his fortitude may conceal the effects of it from others who have known less than myself. The vexation and anxiety of mind which have prey'd on him for these last seven years have brought him to the condition in which he is in, not the distemper to which the family are subject, that being but a secondary and very inferior

cause.

"I trust to your Lordship's generosity to put the best interpretation on what may have perhaps rather imprudently escaped from my pen, yet if it produces any good to the Duke I care very little for its consequences to myself."

Endorsed:-"For your Lordship's private perusal only."

MR. JENNINGS to LORD GEORGE GERMAIN.

Same date. A formal letter sending the Duke's thanks to the King for his kind message, which has been a great comfort to his Royal Highness.

THE SAME to THE SAME.

[1777.]" In full confidence of your Lordship's honour I again pass the bounds of prudence in writing what others less sincerely attach'd to his Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester might hesitate in doing lest they should doubly expose themselves to the Duke's displeasure and the King's resentment for their interference between them; but having had the honor of his Royal Highness's confidence and friendship for several years, I feel that the best return I can make for his kind intentions towards me is to promote his and his family's happiness and

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welfare by all the means I can, without heeding little forms, and trust to the purity of my intentions for my justification.

"I must premise that I have no authority whatever from his Royal Highness to write this letter to your Lordship, and that I do it purely with the hopes of enabling your Lordship to complete what you have so nobly and successfully begun with greater facility, in acquainting you with the state of things which my being near His Royal Highness enables me to be acquainted with.

"In consequence of your Lordship's powerfull influence the King wrote a letter to the Duke dated August 18th, which arrived at Trent on the 3rd of September. On the 5th (being the next post day) his Royal Highness with great difficulty did contrive to write an answer in his own hand to the King. These letters contained, on the one part, an assurance of protection to his children in case of the Duke's death, and on the other, an acknowledgement of the King's kindness in so doing; they were both written in warm and affectionate terms. Excepting enquiries from his Royal Highness's servants, &c., &c., &c., by the King, Queen, and Prince of Wales, which indeed have been very constant and strongly marked, I know of nothing further which has passed at this time. To bring about an interview on the Duke's return yet remains to be done, and to ensure the continuance of the inter

course.

"If the King intends a compleat, open, and general reconciliation without any reserve whatever, His Majesty will probably cause his commands to be signified to the Duke of Gloucester, who is (I am confident) disposed to receive them with all due respect and to pay obedience to them. If it is requisite that the Duke should begin first, His Royal Highness will (I understand) ask the King's permission to wait on him to thank him for what has past, and as the Queen and Prince of Wales have severally made enquiries, he will also ask to pay his acknoledgments to them, and as it is a circumstance of material consequence to bring the children acquainted with each other, the Duke will desire leave to present his to the King and Queen, &c., provided any hint is given that it will be agreable. Their Majesties will not (it is hoped) omitt to desire a repetition of these visits and a continuation of this intercourse, both in general terms and in some particular invitations. Your Lordship will be pleased to remember in the arrangement of these things, that the Duke is and will be quite unable to walk or even stand up without succour, and that this circumstance must be provided for: the pre-arrangement of these little things may tend to take off all appearance of coolness and distrust between the family, and it may save His Royal Highness some little awkwardness in being under the necessity of mentioning them to your Lordship, to find you have already prepared everything. The Duke will, I understand, acquaint your Lordship of his arrival and proceed in the affair under your Lordship's counsels.

"Trusting to your bright and steady abilities, and your real good intentions, I assure myself that the public prints of Europe

will soon announce the compleat and happy reconciliation of the Royal Family of England through your Lordship's mediation, an event which there will not probably be another opportunity (if the present fails) ever to bring about, and which, if longer delay'd, may lay the foundation of a settled enmity between the two branches, and produce the worst of evils to posterity.

"Although I write with the utmost freedom, I beg your Lordship will not believe I do so with any impertinent design of dictating to your better judgement; on the contrary I feel a strong deference, and submit myself entirely to it, and assure your Lordship that for your noble procedure towards my Royal Friend and Patron, whatever so private and inconsiderable an individual as myself may ever have in his power to do to shew his attachment to you shall be executed with the most gratefull alacrity."

MARIA, DUCHESS OF GLOUCESTER, to LORD GEORGE GERMAIN.

1779, Aug. 26. "Pavillions," Hampton] Court.-Recommending Mr. Edward Roberts, a very deserving young man, and asking his Lordship's influence with Lord North on his behalf. THE SAME to THE SAME.

"Pavillions."-Thanking him for his, kind

1779, Sept. 5. response to her request.

THE DUKE OF GLOUCESTER to LORD G. GERMAIN.

[Undated.] Gloucester House, Sunday morning.-Will most certainly be very glad to see him when convenient, and will then express his thanks for his Lordship's very kind and manly behaviour.

XV.-INDIA.

SIR ROBERT FLETCHER (Commander-in-Chief at Madras) to LORD GEORGE GERMAIN.

1776, September 21. Fort St. George.-I beg to offer my congratulations to your Lordship on your taking charge of a department so worthy of your distinguished abilities, and as I think it not improbable that the transactions of India may shortly be connected with that department, I hope you may not think me too forward in my present address. Affairs here fall little short of American confusion, and party contests never before rose to such a height. Those of Bengal have lately been submitted to decision at home. "It is much to be regretted that abilities both in the Cabinet and the field such as the Council of Bengal possess, could not be got to co-operate for the public good. A man of more public ability for the administration of India than Mr. Hastings possesses lives not. The other members possess each very distinguished merits."

As to this Presidency, "I will only say that opposition in our Council ran to such violence between the majority, of which I was a member, and the minority, led by Lord Pigot, that matters came at length to mutual suspension, or rather expulsion, of each side. Lord Pigot expelled first the majority and took possession of the Fort. We, to prevent bloodshed, were obliged to arrest his person the day thereafter, outside the Fort, an act happily executed, and which prevented civil war."

I have done all in my power to put this army on a respectable footing, "my powers, as Commander-in-chief, as lately established by the Company, being sufficiently ample for the regulation and direction of the troops. But one of Lord Pigot's first measures was to supersede those powers, and to assume them in his own person on his expedition to Tanjore."

France has still an ambitious eye on this country, but if we keep up our harmony with our best ally, the Nabob, and are supported from home, I am confident that she will find her attempts in the Carnatic ineffectual. It is fortunate that the Nabob's cavalry is in some order, and that he has not disbanded many of his troops, for Hyder Ally's army is very numerous and in good order, and his joining the French is to be apprehended.

I am uneasy at the unfinished state of our fortifications, but for this Lord Pigot is to blame. I enclose the Resolutions which the Governor General and Council in Bengal have passed against him for violating the rights of the Nabob of the Carnatic, guaranteed by the Treaty of Paris. Lord Pigot's treatment of him was such that his Highness, in a fit of despair, assembled his friends and declared that "since he had been so grossly and so publicly dishonoured his life was not worth preserving, calling them to witness that if he was found dead in the morning Lord Pigot was the sole and only cause of it."

Postscript. October 6.-We have just received from the Governor and Council of Bengal a complete and unanimous approbation of our conduct and condemnation of Lord Pigot. In duplicate.

Enclosing,

A copy of the Resolutions of the Council of Bengal against
Lord Pigot, dated August 7, 1776.

LORD NORTH to LORD GEORGE GERMAIN.

1779, December. Downing Street.-Enclosing the answer of the Secret Committee of Directors of the East India Company to the ideas stated to them by his Lordship, and requesting an opinion upon the draft of his reply.

THOMAS POPLETT to THE SAME.

1780, Oct. 5. Goree.-Gives an account of a dispute between Governor Wall and Captain Adams of the 75th Regiment. The troops at Goree are supplied with but little fresh meat, although the beef is better than that in the West Indies, "and the ordinary

price of two bullocks is a piece of Baff, which is generally sold by the East India Directors for about 15s. sterling, and great quantities of cattle are to be had daily."

Governor Wall has appointed the writer "by warrant, Barrack Master of this garrison and island, in lieu of a little boy, about eight years old, that formerly was nominated to that office, named Fortye, now in England."

[ARCHIBALD?] CAMPBELL to [LORD GEORGE GERMAIN ?].

1780, Nov. 2. "On board the Kingston at Sea."—" I have this moment borrowed a quire of paper and a pen with a determination to write you, my own things in the hurry and confusion of our embarkation being stored away the Lord knows where; but I feel myself so overloaded with matter that I am totally at a loss where to begin or how to arrange in any kind of order the multiplicity of ideas that crowd on my imagination; however, I shall endeavour to dash them down as I can separate them, without reserve or partiality, having a thorough reliance on your friendship and judgment for the suppression of anything that either the heat of my disposition or unripe judgment may lead me to advance. And as the critical situation of affairs in this country is of much greater consequence than a recital of my private adventures, I shall suppress them till I have the happiness of seeing you, and confine myself entirely to what has and is likely to happen in this quarter of the globe.

"I suppose it is unnecessary to tell you anything more of Sir Thomas Rumbold's conduct at Madras than that he ruined the country, drained the Treasury without putting any one place in a proper state of defence, and finding nothing more was to be squeezed out of the oppressed natives, resigned the government at the very time he ought to have exerted himself most, and set sail for Europe with his illgotten wealth, which I hope will not prevent his being hanged on his arrival, although everybody here seem to think a proper application of it will smother all enquiry into his iniquitous behaviour and procure him a peerage at least. The best comment on the conduct of his successor, Mr. Whitehill, is the present deplorable situation of the Company's affairs; it will be both tedious and disagreeable to trace him through all his blunders, but some of them are so very unaccountably curious as to force me to mention them, such as his suffering Hyder Ally to enter the Carnatic at the head of an immense army without his taking any steps to prevent him, not even so much as assembling the army, and when he appeared within sight of Madras, exclaiming, 'Who the devil would have thought it,' notwithstanding his being repeatedly admonished of it by some members of the Council, whom he caused to be suspended for their officiousness, &c. "For the very same reasons that I touch so lightly on the political conduct of Mr. Whitehill, I leave the manoeuvres of General Monro in the Cabinet to be related by himself, if he can get any one to attend to him, and follow him into the field, which I can safely venture to do on paper. I wish the poor fellows whom his stupidity and obstinacy has absolutely sacrificed had gone no

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