 
Unpublished letters of the two Pitts, Lord Chesterfield, and Lord Stanhope "As keys do open chests So letters open breasts." James Howell (1595-1666). "Letters of affairs from such as manage them, or are privy to them," writes Lord Bacon, "are, of all others, the best instructors for history, and to a diligent reader, the best histories in themselves." Hence the peculiar and exceptional value of the autographs of Statecraft and Diplomacy as important sources of reliable information in dealing with the annals of any given period of national life. Writers like Frederic Masson have discovered that the faded and forgotten correspondence of men and women of fashion constitute a veritable treasury of knowledge concerning the manners and customs of our ancestors during the past three centuries. Almost all the American autographs of great value Eighty years ago it is evident the money value of the letters of celebrated statesmen in no way corresponded with their worth as potential aids to history-making. The chronicler of 1827 already alluded to makes no secret of the fact. "Hands which the reins of empire might have swayed," he frankly confesses, "are hands of very inferior value on paper. Sir Francis Walsingham, the able and upright secretary of Queen Elizabeth, must have five other celebrated persons added to mount up to 9s. The price of the great Sir Robert Walpole, who discovered the price of more than half the House of Commons, and made the whole of the Government run smoothly, is 18s. Mr. Pitt, the Pilot that weathered the storm, and Mr. Perceval, who fell by the ball of an assassin, join hands to reach 13s.; and Lord Castlereagh, who once towered high above the heads of the people, now needs the help of Lord Grenville, and a Lord Chief Justice, to lift him up to a like sum. The average value of a common Lord Chancellor is about 2s. 6d. Lenthall, the Speaker of the House of Commons in the Long Parliament, and Thurloe, the Secretary of Oliver Cromwell, are valued together at 52s. 6d." I am hardly disposed to altogether credit this statement, as large sums, comparatively speaking, were paid even then for documents signed by Thomas More, the Earl of Pembroke (Shakespeare's friend), and Francis Bacon, who, according to the writer, would be pitilessly relegated to the half-crown class. In Frederic Barker's catalogue for 1887 I find a Privy Council letter, signed by At the present moment, when the sixth generation of our Royal Family is represented in the Senior Service, two letters of the elder Pitt, the Great Commoner, arranging for the entry into the Navy of the first Prince of the House of Brunswick to join it, cannot but be interesting. These letters were addressed in 1759 to Lord Holdernesse, and concern the Duke of York, a younger brother of King George III. William Pitt (afterwards Earl of Chatham) to Lord Holdernesse. past 5 o'clock Dear Lord,—I have the very great satisfaction to acquaint your Lordship that the King has been graciously pleased to approve that Prince Edward should go on board the fleet and enter into the Department of the Navy. His Majesty, at the same time signifyd his Intentions to the Duke of Newcastle not to allot any appointments to the Prince on this account. Proper representations, however will be made for an allowance for Table at least, which it is hoped will not be without effect. I am doubly happy, my Dear Lord, at the favourable and speedy determination of this very important arrangement, and cannot do sufficient Justice to the Instant and efficacious attentions paid to the Intentions of Leicester House, which I had the great honour to be commanded to make known. I am ever The King reviews the Cavalry Monday next. William Pitt (afterwards Earl of Chatham). Monday ½ past 4 My Dear Lord,—I am able to put your mind entirely at ease as to some doubts which seemed to have arisen, by acquainting your Lordship that in consequence of the signification of the King's pleasure by me, the Lords of the Admiralty have ordered Captain Howe to enter Prince Edward in the Ship's books, as a volunteer for wages and victuals, and his Retinue as part of the allowed complement of the Ship. This is the Form and puts everything out of doubt. The King is pressing for the Departure of the Expedition, and has named General Bligh to command the Forces. Lord Ligonier is gone to the General to acquaint him of the King's pleasure. I conceive Howe will sail by Thursday at latest if the weather permits. Preparations having been ordered to be made for the Reception of Prince Edward on Board of Captain Howe's own ship, Mr. Cleveland informs me that everything will be provided for His Royal Highness's accomodation if Bligh accepts (for such is the style of our army) and the King should approve the Draught of Instructions to be laid before His Majesty tomorrow, nothing but a wind will be wanting. Prince Ferdinand recommends the continuation of attack on their coasts as la guerre la plus sensible À la France de l'attaquer dans ses Foyers. And yet this great Prince is certainly a Stranger to the Common Council, Beckford and the Buchaneers. Olmutz may draw into some length; 10,000 men in the Place and old General Marshall defending it with great vigour. I could not possibly see General Elliot this morning, Ever my dear Lord's Seven years later, on the afternoon of February 22, 1766, the Premier, after a tempestuous debate, concluded a letter to his wife in the country thus:— Love to the sweet babes, patriotic or not, tho' I hope impetuous William is not behind in feelings of that kind. Send the saddle horses if you please, so as to be in town early tomorrow morning. I propose and hope to execute my journey to Hayes by 11. Your ever loving husband W. Pitt. The patriotism of William Pitt the younger, born in the very year Prince Edward joined Captain Howe's ship as a "volunteer for wages and victuals," was soon to blossom forth not only in an infantile drama, ON POETRY Ye sacred Imps of thund'ring Jove descend. Immortal Nine, to me propitious, bend Inclining downward from Parnassus' brow; To me, young Bard, some heav'nly fire allow. Assist my Labours and attend my Pray'r. Inspire my Verse. Of Poetry it sings. Thro' Her, the Deeds of Heroes and of Kings, Renownd in Arms, with Fame immortal stand; By Her, no less, are spread thro' ev'ry Land Those Patriot names, who in their Country's cause Triumphant fall, for Liberty and Laws. Exalted high, the Spartan Hero stands, Encircled with his far-renowned Bands, Who e'er devoted for their Country die; Thro' Her their Fame ascends the starry Sky. She too perpetuates each horrid Deed, When Laws are trampled, when their Guardians bleed. Then shall the Muse, to Infamy prolong Example dread, and theme of trajick Song, Nor less immortal than the Chiefs resound The Poets' names, who spread their deeds around. Homer shall flourish first in rolls of Fame; And still shall live the Roman Virgil's name. With living bays is Lofty Pindar crowned, In distant ages Horace stands renowned. These Bards, and more, fair Greece and Rome may boast And some may flourish on this British coast. Witness the man, on whom the Muse did smile, Who sung our parents' Fall, and Satan's Guile. A second Homer, favour'd by the Nine, Sweet Spenser, Johnson, Shakespear the Divine, And He, fair Virtue's Bard, who rapt doth sing The praise of Freedom, and Laconia's King. But high o'er Chiefs and Bards supremely great Shall Publius shine, the Guardian of our State. Him shall th' immortal Nine themselves record With deathless Fame, his gen'rous toil reward. Shall tune the Harp to loftier sounding lays And thro' the world shall spread his ceaseless praise. Their hands alone can match the heav'nly String And with due fire his wond'rous glories sing. Harriett Pitt, May 1771, 13 years old. LAST PAGE OF UNPUBLISHED HOLOGRAPH POEM IN HANDWRITING OF WILLIAM PITT, MAY, 1771. LAST WHIP ISSUED BY WILLIAM PITT AND SIGNED BY HIM, DECEMBER 31, 1805. SIGNATURE OF SIR ISAAC HEARD, GARTER, ON CARD OF ADMISSION TO THE FUNERAL OF WILLIAM PITT 1806. Here is a letter written by him thirty-three years later, after his return to office on the resignation of Addington. It shows conclusively that his share in helping the Fatherland to weather the storm was physical as well as moral:— William Pitt in Downing Street to Lieut.-Colonel Dillon of Walmer. Downing Street, September 1, 1804. My dear Sir,—As the Harvest is now nearly over, I imagine this would be a very fitting time for proposing to assemble your Battalion on permanent duty; and there seems chance enough of the occasion arriving for actual Service, to make it desirable that there should be as little delay as possible. Lord Carrington has gone to Deal Castle to-day, and if you can contrive to see him tomorrow, or next day, I shall be glad if you will settle with him the necessary arrangements. I think the time should not be less than Three weeks, and in that case, an extra allowance will be made of a guinea pr Man, which added to the usual pay will amount to 2s pr day for the whole period. This will enable us to give the men full compensation for at least six or seven hours a day, on an average; and will therefore allow of three or four long Field Days in each week, and only short drills in the remaining days; and such arrangement would, I think, answer every purpose. I should hope you might fix the commencement of permanent duty for Monday fortnight, very soon after which day I hope to come to Walmer to make some stay. I shall be at Dover on Tuesday next for a day, but have some business which will carry me from thence along the Coast, and probably back to town before I reach Walmer. Believe me, my dear Sir, yours very sincerely, In June, 1909, an extraordinary series of letters by Pitt, Burke, and others was offered for sale. They were manifestly of supreme importance to the history of England during one of her most terrible political SALE OF AUTOGRAPH LETTERS, WINDHAM CORRESPONDENCE. Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge The patriotism of Pitt certainly finds no echo in the following extraordinary letter of his opponent, Lord Stanhope, which I purchased in Paris for 15 francs:— The Earl of Stanhope to M. Palloy, Entrepreneur de la demolition de la Bastille, Grenadier Volontier de la 1ere Division de l'ArmÉe Parisienne, Rue du FossÉ St. Bernard, Paris:— Cheevening House Monsieur,—Je vous rend bien des Graces pour votre lettre obligÉante du 7e courant. On vous a mal informÉ quand on vous a dit que nous avions À notre fÊte À Londres un Chapiteau d'une des Colonnes de la Bastille; ce n'Était point partie d'une colonne; mais seulement une vraie pierre de la Bastille, comme nous nous sommes assurÉs. Je ne profiterez Je suis, Monsieur, À M Palloy A year or so ago I was lucky enough to secure the official dispatch-box bearing the Royal cipher and his initials, which Pitt left behind him at Bath, when returning to Putney a few days before his death. In it is his last Whip, signed on December 31, 1805. On January 21st he was dying, and on the 23rd he died. This melancholy document now lies within the forgotten dispatch-box! Chesterfield—the "great" Earl of Chesterfield—died when the younger Pitt was fourteen years old. It is more correct to describe him as a contemporary of his father, the Great Commoner. He was, as an amusing and able letter-writer, superior to both, but he loved society and they did not. In the recent Haber Sale at New York (December 10, 1909) a very fine Chesterfield letter only fetched £3 8s. It is thus described:— CHESTERFIELD (PHILIP DORMER STANHOPE, FOURTH EARL OF). A.L.S., 2 pp. 4to, London, June 14, 1746. (Endorsed on the back "To Thos. Prior.") With portrait. Thomas Prior was the Irish philanthropist, with whom Earl Chesterfield became acquainted while Viceroy of Ireland. A remarkable letter proposing schemes for manufactures in Ireland. He first suggests glass manufacture, and next writing and printing paper, and states that the specimens shown him of Irish manufacture impressed Two years ago I gave £4 each for five unknown and unpublished letters, written between 1762 and 1771 by Chesterfield to his relative, Mr. Welbore Ellis Agar ("Gatty"). The specimen I now give of them is interesting, as it concerns Bath, a city which I regard as the great source and centre of the lighter and more gossipy letters of the eighteenth century:— Bath, October ye 8th 1771. Dear Gatty,—When we parted we agreed to correspond by way of letter, but we did not as I remember stipulate which should make the first advance, but as I always sacrificed my Dignity to my pleasure, I here make the first step though Cozen and Counsillor to the King and your Unkle, which is a kind of Deputy Parent. Admire my condescension. To begin, then, with an account of my Caducity. I made my journey to this place in two days, which I did not think I could have done, much tired with it but alive. Since I came I have seen no mortal till last night, when I went to the Ball with which the new rooms were opened and when I was there I knew not one creature except Lord and Lady Vere. The new rooms are really Magnificent finely finished and furnished, the Dancing-room, which the Lady Thanet used to call the Posture-room, particularly spacious and adorned. A large and fine play room, and a convenient Tea room well contrived, either to drink or part with that liquor. So much for this and more I cannot tell you, for as for the people who are not yet many, they are absolute strangers to me, and I to them. In my review of the fair sex last night I did not see So God bless you A.L.S. OF EARL OF CHESTERFIELD, OCTOBER 8, 1771, DESCRIBING THE INAUGURAL BALL AT THE NEW BATH ASSEMBLY ROOMS. The Mrs. Mathews alluded to in the letter was probably the wife of Captain Mathews, who afterwards fought a duel with Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Here is another Chesterfield letter from a different source:— Earl of Chesterfield to Mrs. Montague, May 14, 1771. Lord Chesterfield presents his respects to Mrs. Montague and desires her to accept of the enclosed trifle for her poor women; his charity purse is at present as light as hers can possibly be, not from being as formerly his Play-purse too but from the various applications of wretched objects which humanity cannot withstand. Of the early nineteenth-century statesmen letter-writers Brougham was one of the most prolific, but I have already spoken of a curious "find" of somewhat sensational Brougham correspondence in Paris. Daniel O'Connell to Mr. W. H. Curran. Bath, October 14, 1817. My dear Curran,—I have wept over your letter. Oh God your Father never offended me,—we once differed on Believe me, my dear friend, to be most faithfully yours, Daniel O'Connell. Mr. Gladstone was, like Wellington and Brougham, a writer of innumerable letters. There was a demand for them once, but at the present moment, by the irony of fate, an average Gladstone letter fetches less Mr. Gladstone to Mrs. O'Connell. 10 Downing Street January 28. 1882. My dear Madam,—I accept with many thanks the Bust you have been so kind to send me. It is a most interesting memorial of early days, and of a man of powerful mind and will, and profound attachment to his Country; whose name can never be forgotten there. In my early years of Parliamentary life, casual circumstances brought me into slight personal relations with Mr. O'Connel, and I have ever retained the lively recollection of his courtesy and kindness. I remain, my dear Madam, your very faithful and obedient, W. E. Gladstone. I must not omit to thank you for the kind terms in which you speak of my efforts on behalf of Ireland, and I cling in that confidence to the hope that a happy future is yet in store for her. ONE PAGE OF A.L.S. FROM MR. W. E. GLADSTONE AT BALMORAL TO CARDINAL MANNING, N.D. Four years ago I saw ten letters of the late Lord Beaconsfield catalogued at £70. Personally I regard him as almost the last of the now extinct race of letter-writers, for the epistolary art has succumbed beyond hope of recovery to the combined influences of the telegraph, the telephone, the type-writer and the halfpenny newspaper. A "newspaper" letter, as Mrs. Montagu, Lord Lyttelton, and Lord Bath used to call them, would be as ridiculous as a Benjamin Disraeli to his Sister. (Franked by E. Lytton Bulwer.) Bath, Thursday [Jany 24 1833] My Dearest,—You ought to have recd my letter on Sunday and I should have answered your's immediately, but it is almost impossible to get a frank out of Bulwer and I thought my father wd go quite mad if he received an unprivileged letter under present circumstances. We quit this place tomorrow and shd have done so to-day, but dine with a Mr. Murray here. I like Bath very much. At a public ball I met the Horfords, Hawksleys etc. Bulwer and myself went in very late and got quite mobbed. I have nearly finished Iskander, a very pretty thing indeed, and have printed the 1st Vol of Alroy. I have answered the agric. affair which was forwarded to me from London. Directly I am in town I will write about the bills. The Horfords (father and brother here) asked us to dine, but were engaged. Met the Bayntums, but not Clementina. Rather think I may to day. yrs ever Let me have a letter in Duke St. Bulwer is getting on immensely and I shd not be surprised if we shortly see him in a most eminent position, but this not to be spoken of. Met Ensor. Omitting many letters of piquant interest I come to one written in the autumn of 1851, in which the rising statesman deals somewhat severely with his old friend, The Times. It runs as follows:— Hughenden, Sept 19 1851 My dear Sa,—Your mischance was very vexatious, but I was glad to hear that you had arrived all safe in such kind quarters. I see Jem on Tuesday, who passed a longish morning here. At Monday I was at Aylesbury where I was obliged to dine with the old society—Lowndes, Stone, Howard Wyse, Bernard, Hale, Isham, and Young of Quainton and 3 clergymen supported me, and Lowndes of Chesham in the chair. I made a good speech on a difficult subject, and the meeting seemed in heart. I saw to-day in The Times two columns of incoherent and contradictory nonsense wh made me blush, tho' I ought to be hardened by this time on such subjects. I have seen no other papers. They can't be worse, and perhaps may in some degree neutralise the nonsense of The Times. I am only afraid the world will think it all Delphi and diplomatic, and that the wordy obscurity was intentional, whereas I flattered myself I was as terse and simple as suited a farmer's table. I am rather improving and getting on a little. I hope you will enjoy yourself very much. We went over to Cliefden the other day—there is one bed of flowers, called the scarlet ribbon—4,000 geraniums—the Duchess's Affecly yrs. ONE PAGE OF A.L.S. OF MR. DISRAELI (AFTERWARDS LORD BEACONSFIELD) ON CHURCH MATTERS, N.D. I venture to think that in the near future the letters of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield, will be found as essential to the annals of the Victorian era, as those of Pitt, Windham, and Burke are to those of the reign of George III. |
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