disposition in the Poissardes and Faubourg St. Antoine to assemble, in order to manifest their joy. Bouillé appears to have been in the plot, and is suspended from his command by the Assembly, who have also given orders to arrest him; but I suppose he is too wise to suffer himself to fall into their hands.

Monsieur and Madame are safely arrived at Mons; so that if the King had taken that route, he might probably have escaped. I feel sincerely for him; and still more for the Queen, who, I imagine, must expect to suffer much. Ever most affectionately yours,

G.

LORD GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

MY DEAR BROTHER,

St. James's Square, June 29th, 1791.

Lord Gower's courier arrived this morning, with an account of the King and Queen being brought back to Paris. Everything passed with a black and sullen silence; no mark of respect whatever was allowed to be shown them. Biron and Lafayette were in the carriage with them. The mob followed the carriage into the garden of Tuileries; and on alighting, these wretched captives heard every species of abuse and insult, that even a Paris mob is capable of.

They talk of sending the Queen to the Convent of Val de Grace for the present; and the report is, they mean to try her. The King is to undergo an interrogatory on Tuesday; and on the result of that, it is supposed he is to be deposed, and the Dauphin declared King, with a Council of Regency. These, as you will see, are all reports; but the melancholy certainty is, that neither in Paris, nor in any part of the country which we have heard of, does there seem the least disposition to pity, and much less to assist them.

We have the bad news, that the Austrian Plenipotentiaries

have left Sistovo; but, as they express it, without breaking up the Congress. The armistice is not renewed; but it seems as if it would be continued by a sort of tacit consent. You will have seen in the papers the further demands made by the Emperor, on which the business has stopped.

Ever yours,

The Queen's behaviour is said to have been admirable.

G.

Early in this year, Ministers had moved and carried an Address from His Majesty, reporting the failure of his negotiations to bring about a peace between Russia and Turkey, and desiring to augment his naval forces for the sake of giving more weight to his interposition. This Address was vehemently, but unsuccessfully, opposed in both Houses, on the ground that such a course was calculated to lead to hostilities, and plunge the nation into an unnecessary expenditure. Advantage was taken of the occasion to make it appear that Mr. Pitt wanted to involve the country in the war, and that his policy was essentially injurious to the industry and material welfare of the people. The following interesting passage from a letter of Lord Grenville's, dated the 17th of August, not only disproves the imputation, but shows how anxious Ministers were to secure peace, how much they were relieved and gratified by its accomplishment, and to what a height of prosperity they had succeeded in bringing the commerce and revenue of the kingdom.

We received this morning the account that the negotiations at Sistovo are at last satisfactorily concluded. A definitive

treaty of peace, on the grounds of the status quo strict, was to be signed on the 4th of this month, under the mediation of the Allies; and at the same time a separate Act, by which the Austrians and Turks treat as powers between whom peace is already concluded (and consequently without mediation) for some such arrangements of frontier, and the settlement of a dispute about Old Orsova, which town is to remain in the hands of Austria. You may suppose this event gives me no small satisfaction; and I hope I shall now begin to breathe a little, which I have hardly done since April last. You can hardly form to yourself an idea of the labour I have gone through; but I am repaid by the maintenance of peace, which is all this country has to desire. We shall now, I hope, for a very long period indeed enjoy this blessing, and cultivate a situation of prosperity unexampled in our history. The state of our commerce, our revenue, and, above all, that of our public funds, is such as to hold out ideas which but a few years ago would indeed have appeared visionary, and which there is now every hope of realizing.

The next letter refers to a matter of personal interest. A Rangership had fallen vacant by the death of Lord Orford, and it appeared desirable to Lord Grenville to effect an exchange between that office and the reversion he held of the Chief Remembrancership in Ireland. Upon all questions of this nature, as indeed on all questions that directly affected himself and his own objects, Lord Grenville was always reluctant to decide until he had first consulted Lord Buckingham, in whose judgment and affection he reposed unbounded confidence.

LORD GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

MY DEAR BROTHER,

St. James's Square, Dec. 7th, 1791.

I mentioned to you last week, that there was a subject I wished to talk with you about; but as my getting down to Stowe seems to grow every day more and more uncertain, and as the subject in question is now brought to a point, I am obliged to write to you upon it; though I cannot so easily say all I wish upon it in this manner. It is, shortly, to ask your advice whether, in consequence of Lord Orford's death, I should not exchange my reversion of Lord Cl.'s office, for the immediate appointment to the Rangership, which I apprehend it is clearly in the King's power to grant for life. The different reasons, pro and con, will as readily suggest themselves to you as to me. The great points to be gained by the exchange are, first, the certainty of some provision, instead of an expectancy, which I may never live to enjoy; and what is still more than that, the great advantage of having that provision in this country, instead of looking for it in Ireland, subject to the chance of what injustice party may be able to do in Ireland, which they could not do here, and subject, also, to the general chance of troubles in that country, which I fear are too probable. Against this, is to be set some difference (as I believe) in the value of the two offices, though I have not yet been able to ascertain it; and the degree of invidiousness and clamour which my receiving any new favour (for such this would undoubtedly be considered) would be subject to, especially at a moment when Government are rather under difficulties, and when I must expect so many competitors, for a thing in many respects so desirable.

The impression of my own mind is, I confess, very strongly for taking the step. Pitt is entirely ready to acquiesce in what I judge best, though I can see he is, to a certain degree, alarmed at the impression it may make. The thing has been

generally opened to the King as a possible arrangement, in order to prevent his entering into any other engagements. I cannot describe the real kindness of manner and expression with which he assured me of his readiness to do in it whatever I wished. It rests, therefore, with myself to decide; and although I have, as you see, a strong bias in favour of the step, I do not feel confident enough of my own opinion not to be very desirous of knowing yours. I fairly own to you, that if I was in the same situation as I was a year and a half ago, I should be inclined to let this go by me, and to run my chance for some better opportunity. But I certainly feel that after the conduct which Lord C. has observed towards me on the subject of money, I am (even as with respect to him) hardly as much at liberty as I was to consult my own feelings, supposing that it were possible for me to put out of the question another consideration a good deal more interesting to me.

If the thing is to be done, "then 'twere well it were done quickly," in order to prevent applications from different people, every one of whom might feel, to a degree, offended by the preference, if his wishes were known. You will conceive, therefore, for this reason, and from the anxiety of the suspense, how glad I shall be to hear from you soon, as your affection is the only quarter to which I can look for advice, founded on a view and knowledge of my real situation. I hinted the thing generally to Tom before he left town, but the unfortunate difference of politics makes it impossible for me to talk over with him freely and fully that part of the subject, which is a material one. He is getting well very rapidly.

I have heard from Lord C. from Rome. He gives a very good account of the health of the whole party. He had received letters from his son and Mudge, which he tells me are all he could wish. He desires to be remembered to you.

Adieu, my dear brother,

Ever most affectionately yours,

G.