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III. Lord North and Mr Robinson, 1779

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2011

H. Butterfield
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Extract

The letters of Lord North have made us familiar with the portrait and the general posture of a Minister who was in the habit of behaving like a prisoner seeking release—a man “tied to the stake”as he once said—a Minister who repeatedly urged that his continuance in office would bring certain disaster upon the nation; who cursed the futility of what he privately called that damned American war; who complained of illness, depression of mind, loss of memory and general unfitness for his post.

Type
Research Article
Information
Cambridge Historical Journal , Volume 5 , Issue 3 , 1937 , pp. 255 - 279
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1937

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References

1 [British Museum.] Add. Mss. 38,209–38,217. The Robinson papers in the hands of the Marquess of Abergavenny have been calendared, with a very brief and imperfect clue to their contents, in H[istorical] M[anuscripts] C[ommission, 10th Report, Appendix, Pt. VI, Manuscripts of the Marquess of] Abergavenny [etc.] (1887), pp. 1–72.

2 Abergavenny Mss. No. 208, Robinson to George III, 13 Mar. 1779; and H.M.C. Abergavenny, pp. 24–5, No. 209, George III to Robinson, 13 Mar. 1779.

3 Add. Mss. 38,213, ff. 110–12, Robinson to Jenkinson (Most Private), 2 Feb. 1780.

4 H.M.C. Abergavenny, p. 33, No. 285.

5 Add. Mss. 38,212, ff. 248–53, Robinson to Jenkinson, 28 Nov. 1779.

6 Add. Mss. 38,211, ff. 171–4, Robinson to Jenkinson, 30 June 1779.

7 Add. Mss. 38,212, ff. 248–53, Robinson to Jenkinson, 28 Nov. 1779.

8 Add. Mss. 38,214, ff. 51–2, Robinson to Jenkinson [endorsed June 1780], cf. ibid. ff. 19–21, Robinson to Jenkinson, 13 June 1780: “But I could not possibly by any Means draw his [North's] Attention to that [i.e. Ireland] or even any thing relative to the Steps to be taken in Parliament here on these Outrages or to fix a Meeting for that purpose, and therefore I left him.”

9 Add. Mss. 38,212, f. 326, Robinson to Jenkinson, 27 Dec. 1779; cf. Abergavenny Mss. No. 489, where North on 10 Dec. 1782 appeals to Robinson because Sandwich has demanded papers for an impending naval debate and North has to confess that they are in chaos, “so that it is totally impossible for me to find them and useless to look for them”; cf. also Add. Mss. 38,210, ff. 22–5, Robinson to Jenkinson, 18 Apr. [1779 mistakenly dated 1778]: “You know also what many causes I have of dissatisfaction and what, I may say, infinite increased difficulties I have from the manner and mode of conducting Business.”

10 Add. Mss. 38,212, f. 210, Robinson to Jenkinson [endorsed 4 Nov. 1779].

11 Abergavenny Mss. No. 116, George III to Robinson, 8 Oct. 1776.

12 [Sir Fortescue, John], [The Correspondence of King George the Third,] (1927–1928), III, 478–9Google Scholar; cf. H.M.C. Abergavenny, p. 18, No. 146. By kind permission of the King's Librarian I have checked these with the originals at Windsor Castle

13 H.M.C. Abergavenny, p. 31, No. 266.

14 Abergavenny Mss. No. 433, Sandwich to Robinson, 15 Feb. 1782.

15 [British Museum: Auckland Papers.] Add. Mss. 34,416, ff. 233–79, Correspondence of W. Eden, Jan. and Feb. 1779.

16 He found North arranging a pension at least nominally larger than what the King had conceded, a pension also that was to be for life. He claimed that this would infallibly become a precedent, and wondered if Jenkinson could secure a tactical delay. His objections were urged in much the same form by the King to North (Fortescue, iv, 302–3) and Eden was induced to consent to a pension “during pleasure” only. Robinson, however, insisted that the concession was only illusory and the pension still, in reality, a pension for life. Also he was afraid that the King's consent might be ‘surprised’. Add. Mss. 38,210, ff. 324, 325, —, 350, 352, Robinson to Jenkinson, 5, 6, and 19 Mar. 1779. Robinson was jealous of North's readiness to grant emoluments for life and speaks bitterly of one case which he resisted but “it was afterwards carried when I was ill and he [the recipient] has ever since been captious and ruined”. Ibid. f. 325, cf. Add. Mss. 38,211, f. 20: “The system that I have been near five years fighting for and had been attained will be kicked down and government distressed by a desire to substitute personal favours to improper men instead of acting on publick principle and on a regular plan.”

17 Add. Mss. 38,210, ff. 293–7, Robinson to Jenkinson, Private, 25 Feb. 1779; Fortescue, IV, 286.

18 Works of the Rt. Hon. Edmund Burke(1803), III, 321Google Scholar

19 Abergavenny Mss. No. 212, Robinson to North, 11 May 1779.

20 Add. Mss. 34,416, ff. 391–2, Eden [to North], 25 Aug. [1779]; cf. Fortescue, IV, 496.

21 Add. Mss. 38,210, ff. 22–5, Robinson to Jenkinson, 18 Apr. [1779; mistakenly dated 1778].

22 Fortescue, IV, 326–7.

23 Add. Mss. 38,210, ff. 22–5, Robinson to Jenkinson, 18 Apr. [1779].

24 Abergavenny Mss. No. 212, Robinson to Jenkinson, 11 May 1779.

25 Ibid. No. 214, Robinson to Wedderburn, 13 May 1779; Fortescue, IV, 340.

26 Add. Mss. 34,416, f. 506, Wedderburn to Eden, undated (but before Easter 1779).

27 Fortescue, IV, 340.

28 Abergavenny Mss. No. 214, Robinson to Wedderburn, 12 May 1779.

29 Add. Mss. 34,416, ff. 516–17, Wedderburn to Eden, undated, but immediately after the above.

30 Abergavenny Mss. No. 216, Robinson to North, 14 May 1779.

31 Fortescue, IV, 342; cf. ibid., IV, 343.

32 Add, Mss. 38,211, ff. 171–4, Robinson to Jenkinson, 30 June 1779. The bills in question were for doubling the Militia and for speedily manning the Navy. Robinson's letter gives an interesting picture of North in the Cabinet. Wedderburn, it seems, “called strongly on Lord North why he did not absolutely stop the Lords in the Cabinet yesterday from pursuing this Plan [i.e. the amendment of the bills in question] to which Lord North said that they were all violently strong against the Measure, particularly Lord Weymouth and Lord Gower, that they apprehended Tumults and Insurrections would happen probably at the moment of invasion, that he told them it certainly would disgrace him but that he could not put his disgrace against Tumults and Insurrections and that he could not bring his mind to put a Veto on the opinions of the Cabinet and take all the measure on himself”.

33 Fortescue, IV, 388–9; Add. Mss. 38,212, ff. 56–9, Robinson to Jenkinson, Most private, 11 Aug. 1779.

34 Add. Mss. 38,211, f. 193, Robinson to Jenkinson, 3 July 1779.

35 Add. Mss. 38,212, ff. 56–9, Robinson to Jenkinson, Most Private, 11 Aug. 1779. North on one occasion authorized Robinson to approach Wedderburn concerning his wishes in regard to this post. (Fortescue, IV, 329–30.) When there was the rumour of Wedderburn's resignation at the beginning of July it was reported also that he would be appointed Secretary of State. (Add. Mss. 35,615, ff. 266–8, Aust to Hardwicke, 3 and 6 July 1779.) Dundas agreed with Robinson that Wedderburn was being pushed “to look for the office of Secretary of State though [he] would not speak out explicitly to Lord North” (Fortescue, IV, 349). Robinson still held the view in November that Wedderburn was desirous of becoming Secretary of State (ibid., IV, 481). Although Eden in August suggested Wedderburn as a person who might be induced to take this office, he said that he for his part would not recommend him to leave his professional career (Add. Mss. 34,416, f. 392, Eden to [North], Private, 25 Aug. [1779]). Wedderburn in an undated letter to Eden which belongs to the spring of this year seems to come to the same conclusion, but shows that the question had been raised (ibid. f. 506).

36 In the above-mentioned letter to Eden (note 35) Wedderburn states his approval of the policy of “taking advantage of a critical moment to drive a bargain”—apparently thinking, however, that such a policy is “the very opposite to [his] temper”. He declares that “full confidence and a reasonable attention to what I might propose” was the promise which North had once given him but since broken. The formula is illuminated when we see the King in this very period giving the instruction—and making a curious glance at what is obviously the case of Wedderburn when he does so—that Dundas shall have “the confidence concerning measures in Parliament but not concerning the filling of Employments” (Fortescue, IV, 327–8). Cf. earlier draft in Windsor Castle MSS. Dundas was at this time being brought forward as an able lawyer who might if necessary take the place of Wedderburn in the House of Commons (ibid., iv, 384).

37 Add. Mss. 34,416, f. 391, Eden to [North], Private, 25 Aug. [1779].

38 Ibid.f. 508, Wedderburn to Eden [undated].

39 Add. Mss. 34, 416, f. 467, W. Eden to M. Eden, 29 Oct. 1779; cf. North's relations with Stormont, p. 274 below.

40 [Public Record Office,] S[tate] P[apers], 63/465, f. 366, Buckingham to Weymouth, 12 July 1779.

41 [Grattan, Henry], [Memoirs of the Life and Times of the Rt. Hon. Henry Grattan], (1839), II, 405–6Google Scholar

42 Ibid. II, 407–8.

43 S.P. 63/467, ff. 225–6, Buckingham to Hillsborough, Private, 9 Dec. 1779; cf. Buckingham's earlier complaints about Weymouth as a correspondent. , H.M.C. [9th Report, Pt. III, The Manuscripts of Mrs] Stopford Sackville(1884), pp. 61–2.Google Scholar

44 Add. Mss. 38,212, ff. 31–2, Robinson to Jenkinson, 23 July 1779.

45 Ibid. ff. 56–9, Robinson to Jenkinson, Most Private, 11 Aug. 1779.

46 Add. Mss. 38,212, ff. 61–2, Robinson to Jenkinson, 16 Aug. 1779.

47 Add. Mss. 38,307, Jenkinson to Robinson, 17 Aug. 1779.

48 The renewed activity of Robinson comes after urgent requests had been made from Dublin for instructions concerning the King's Speech for the opening of the Irish Parliament—and had received a somewhat perfunctory reply from Weymouth on the 24th (Grattan, I, 378–82; cf. S.P. 63/466, Sir Richard Heron to Sir Stanier Porten, 16 Sept. 1779).

49 Add. Mss. 38,212, ff. 115–16, Robinson to Jenkinson, 27 Sept. 1779.

50 Ibid. ff. 126–7, Robinson to Jenkinson, 30 Sept. 1779.

51 Add. Mss. 38,212, ff. 137–8, Robinson to Jenkinson, 3 Oct. 1779.

51 See Ibid. f. 140, Robinson to Jenkinson, 9 Oct. 1779; cf. Add. Mss.38,344, ff. 5–11. The materials produced by Robinson and Jenkinson are the ones to which Hillsborough alluded in the House of Commons on 1 Dec. to prove that “every possible attention had been paid to the affairs of Ireland and every means employed to procure such information as could be collected” (Parl. Hist, XX, 1171).

53 Add. Mss. 38,344, ff. 1–96.

54 Add. Mss. 38,212, ff. 204–5, 324, 326, 337–8; Add. Mss. 38,213, ff. 89–98, 99–104, 110–12, Robinson to Jenkinson, 30 Oct. 1779 to 2 Feb. 1780.

55 S.P. 63/467, ff. 237–44, Buckingham to Hillsborough, Most Secret, 15 Dec. 1779.

56 H.M.C. Stopford Sackville, p. 97.

57 Fortescue, IV, 452–63.

58 H.M.C. Abergavenny, p. 26, No. 228.

59 Ibid. p. 26, No. 229.

60 Fortescue, IV, 465–6.

61 Add. Mss. 38,212, ff. 177–8, Robinson to Jenkinson, 18 Oct. 1779; cf. H.M.C. Abergavenny, p. 27, No. 231.

62 Correspondence of the Rt. Hon. John Beresford, edited by his grandson the Rt. Hon. William Beresford (privately printed), 1854, I, 73–5, cf. I, 85–91. Robinson at a later time handed his Irish papers to Beresford, and a selection from his Irish correspondence from August 1779 to March 1780 can be found in the above-mentioned work, I, 46–127, cf. Ibid. p. 6.

63 Add. Mss. 38,212, ff. 227–32, Robinson to Jenkinson, 20 Nov. 1779.

64 Fortescue, IV, 493–5.

65 H.M.C. Abergavenny, p. 26, No. 227.

66 Fortescue, IV, 483–4; H.M.C. Abergavenny, p. 27, No. 233.

67 Fortescue, IV, 489–90.

68 Add. Mss. 38,212, ff. 248–53, Robinson to Jenkinson, 28 Nov. 1779. In the following January, when Thurlow's hostility to North was undiminished, Robinson wrote to Jenkinson: “I wish you could continue to see him [Thurlow] as often as may be without seeming to overdo it. I even wish I could see him more than my time generally allows me. I think he would like it. I think the attention would please him and I think openness would do good. He has humour, he is overbearing perhaps…his superior abilities may lead to this but he…would be of infinite service…and his judgment is sound.”

69 Add. Mss. 38,212, ff. 248–53, Robinson to Jenkinson, 28 Nov. 1779.

70 Fortescue, IV, 500.

71 Ibid., IV, 500–5.

72 Ibid. f. 261, Robinson to Jenkinson, Most Private, 3 Dec. 1779.

73 Fortescue, IV, 471–513.

74 Add. Mss. 38,212, ff. 337–8, Robinson to Jenkinson, 29 Dec. 1779.

75 Add. Mss. 38,213, ff. 79–82, Robinson to Jenkinson, 27 Jan. 1780. Thurlow complained, e.g., that “business is never so formed when brought before them [i.e. the Cabinet] as to enable them to judge properly”. In an account of the same interview which he gave the day before Robinson wrote: “His description of each Member of the Cabinet is as unfavourable”, Ibid. ff. 77–8, Robinson to Jenkinson, 26 Jan. 1780—Both above marked Most Private.

76 Abergavenny Mss. No. 160, Robinson to North, 11 Jan. 1778.

77 Abergavenny Mss. No. 212. Robinson to North, 11 May 1779.

78 See above p. 263.

79 Add. Mss. 38,214, ff. 51–2, Robinson to Jenkinson [endorsed June 1780].

80 Abergavenny Mss. No. 145, George III to Robinson, 12 Sept. 1777.