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MY DEAR LORD,

Mr. Pitt to Earl Temple.

Thursday night,
Oct. 30, 1783.

I am again upon English ground, and regret very much that I am too late to join the party at Stowe. I should still be tempted to break in upon you for a day or two, but as I find we are to have the pleasure of seeing you in town soon, and I know nothing that passes at present, I believe that I may find it of use not to quit the neighbourhood of London. I will not anticipate, especially by the post, the many subjects we shall have to talk of when we meet; though I shall be very ready to satisfy the curiosity of Ministers in due time. In the interval I shall wait impatiently for your arrival, and shall be happy to receive your commands if anything should occur to you before that time. I am in a house my brother has taken in Berkeley Square. I am, my dear Lord,

Most faithfully and affectionately yours,

W. PITT.

MY DEAR LORD,

Mr. Pitt to Earl Temple.

Tuesday

(Dec. 23, 1783, morning).

It has been decided still to try whether we can fill up the offices, and to take our chance, such as it is, in the House of Commons. What that is, the event must show us, if we succeed so far as to make an

arrangement. I will call upon you the first moment I

can. Ever, my dear Lord,

Most affectionately yours,

W. PITT.

MY DEAR LORD,

Mr. Pitt to Earl Temple.

Berkeley Square, Tuesday, 5 o'clock (Dec. 23, 1783, afternoon).

I called just now to tell you that we have taken the step of filling up the offices. Lord Sydney and Lord Carmarthen have taken the Seals, and the Duke of Rutland Privy Seal, for how many days or weeks remains to be seen.1 I wish extremely to see you, and will take my chance of calling again in the course of the evening.

Ever most faithfully and affectionately yours,

W. P.

1 It proved to be not for days or of them, so far as Mr. Pitt was weeks, but for years-and seventeen concerned.

THE ENGLISH FRIENDS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.

JANUARY-JUNE, 1792.

THE following Letters, derived from the originals at Chevening, may serve to illustrate the correspondence at an interesting period between the English Amis de la Révolution (then very few in number) and their leading allies in France. It will be seen, how from a shortsighted and one-sided but not ungenerous enthusiasm, these gentlemen had become or many points the dupes of their own hopes. It will be seen, how all through the early months of 1792, and on the very verge of such tremendous excesses as the triumph of the populace on the 20th of June-the butchery of the Swiss Guards and the arrest of the Royal Family on the 10th of August-or the massacres in the prisons of Paris in the first days of September-they still continued to pour forth the most confident predictions of security, order, and good government.

Nor will it be overlooked how deep and fierce was at this time the hatred of the priests.

Of the writers in this correspondence, the Duke de la Rochefoucauld Liancourt found it necessary to make his escape from France only a few months afterwards. He proceeded to America, and subsequently published, in eight volumes, an account of his travels in that country.

He became a member of the Corps Législatif under Napoleon, and a Peer of France under Louis XVIII., and he died in 1827, at the age of fourscore.

M. Français de Nantes greatly modified in after life the opinions which these letters express. He supported the re-establishment of the Roman Catholic Religion in France. He accepted from Napoleon the title of Comte de l'Empire and the office of DirecteurGénéral des Droits Réunis. In 1814 the Comte Français lost his place, but in 1831 he was made a Peer of France by Louis Philippe, and he survived till 1836.

Etienne Dumont, of Geneva, is well known to the present age by his Commentaries upon Bentham, and still better by his Recollections of Mirabeau.' "All the former Mirabeaus," says Lord Macaulay, "were daubs in comparison." This most agreeable work was not published till 1832, three years after the author's death.

It is striking to observe in M. Dumont's letter of June, 1792, that, even after the events on the 20th of that month, and when there were so many symptoms full in view of the coming anarchy, men of high intelligence could still employ themselves in calmly weighing lesser changes in the administration of the law.

S.

Le Duc de la Rochefoucauld (Liancourt) au Comte

MY LORD,

Stanhope.

Paris, 14 janvier, 1792. J'ai bien reconnu, dans les deux lettres que vous

m'avez fait l'honneur de m'écrire les 18 et 22 décembre,

les sentimens qui vous animent toujours pour la cause de la liberté et de l'humanité. A ces deux titres la Révolution Française a excité et mérite votre intérêt. Vous en avez suivi les progrès, et si vous avez reconnu et blâmé quelques fautes dans la marche et dans les opérations de l'Assemblée Constituante, le général de ses travaux a reçu votre approbation.

Vous avez été surtout frappé des maux que pouvait entraîner l'intolérance religieuse qui n'était point dans les principes de notre Assemblée mais à laquelle elle s'était laissée entraîner en croyant servir par là la cause de la liberté. Vous avez vu que l'Assemblée nouvelle s'y livrait encore davantage; et tout en approuvant la pétition de quelques membres du département de Paris, vous avez craint qu'il ne résultât de ces oppositions manifestes de principes une fermentation fâcheuse. Vous avez cherché les moyens de l'apaiser, et ceux que vous avez fournis sont très-bons; mais comme d'autres événements ont détourné l'attention publique de dessus les prêtres, il a paru raisonnable de ne pas l'y reporter, et de remettre à un autre temps à profiter de vos vues, si les principes de liberté en ce genre ont encore besoin d'un voile léger.

Je ne vous entretiendrai pas plus longtemps, parceque vous aurez pour vous donner sur ce sujet et sur beaucoup d'autres tous les détails que vous pourrez désirer beaucoup mieux qu'une lettre, puisque la mienne vous sera remise par M. de Talleyrand, auteur de la pétition, et dont le nom n'a pas besoin d'être accompagné d'une recommandation. Il désire avoir l'honneur de vous connaître, et je suis bien sûr que ce désir sera

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