For the sake of convenience an attempt is made to classify the authorities used in writing this volume under different heads; the plan adopted is unscientific, and books noted under one head belong partly to others, but it has, perhaps, the one merit of clearness. The editions quoted here are those which have been used. (1) General histories of England for the period 1760-1801:—Lecky, History of England in the 18th Century, 8 vols., 1879-90, from which much help has been obtained. It is a work to which every historian of the period must be deeply indebted, and though faults may be found with its plan, it holds a high place among our histories for learning, moderation, and philosophical treatment. The history of England is carried down to the outbreak of the war in 1793, that of Ireland to the Union. Adolphus, History of England from the Accession of George III., 8 vols., 1840-45, a laborious and impartial record of events, viewed from a conservative standpoint. Massey, History of England, 4 vols., 1855-63, ends 1803, chiefly treating of home affairs; neither animated nor philosophic, written from a liberal point of view, unduly severe to the king, but deriving some value from the author's legal and parliamentary experience. Lord Stanhope, History, 7 vols., edit. 1853, vols. iv.-vii., ends 1783, trustworthy, dull, and whiggish. To these must be added Sir T. E. May (Lord Farnborough), Constitutional History of England from 1760 to 1860, 3 vols., 5th edit., 1875. (2) The chief manuscript sources consulted:—The great collection of the Duke of Newcastle's Papers in Add. MSS., British Museum, extremely important down to 1767, specially with reference to ministerial intrigues, the old whig methods of government, the negotiations with France in 1761-62, and the growth of the cabinet system. The Pitt Papers, a mass of letters addressed to Pitt (Earl of Chatham) and William Pitt, and some to Lady Chatham, together with various political memoranda. These papers have been sorted into different (3) Akin to these sources are various publications of the Historical Manuscripts Commission. Among these special reference should be made to the Reports on Mr. Fortescue's Dropmore MSS., 3 vols., containing the papers of Lord Grenville, of the highest interest and importance, specially from 1793; the Duke of Rutland's Belvoir MSS., 3 vols., with inter alia the fourth Duke of Rutland's correspondence while lord-lieutenant of Ireland, 1784-87; the Charlemont MSS., also essential for Irish history; Lord Dartmouth's MSS., vol. 2, American Papers to 1776, and Mrs. Stopford-Sackville's MSS., and Sir E. Strachey's MSS., both throwing much light on the conduct of the war with America. (4) Of pre-eminent importance is the Parliamentary History, xv.-xxxv., and its complement, Sir Henry Cavendish's Debates of the House of Commons during the parliament of 1768, 2 vols., edit. by Wright, 1841, begins May, 1768, and ends March, 1771. It is much to be wished that the remainder of these valuable reports should be published from the manuscript in the British Museum. Dodsley's Annual Register has historical chapters written by Burke, perhaps to 1778, and chapters in many later volumes probably written under his supervision; they are of course generally excellent. The volumes for the later years of our period contain many useful state papers. Burke's speeches, pamphlets, and letters, of which the edition used here is his Works and Correspondence, 8 vols., 1852. For his life see Prior, Life of Burke, 2 vols., 5th edit. (Bohn's Lib.), 1854, Mr. J. Morley, Burke, a historical study, 1867, and Burke (Engl. Men of Letters Series), 1879. MEMOIRS AND CORRESPONDENCE. (5) Political and other memoirs and printed correspondence:—H. Walpole (Lord Orford), Letters, edited by Cunningham, 9 vols., 1880, the letters in vols. i. and ii. are of earlier dates than 1760. A more complete edition, in 16 vols., by Mrs. P. Toynbee, is in course of publication by the Clarendon Press. Walpole's Memoirs of the Reign of George III., 1760-72, edited by Mr. Russell Barker, 4 vols., 1894, and his Journals of the Reign, 1771-83, edited by Doran, 2 vols., 1859. These works are of considerable historical value, but The lack of any sufficient biography of Chatham renders The Chatham Correspondence, 4 vols., 1840 (see sec. 2, Pitt Papers), well edited by Taylor and Captain Pringle, of peculiar importance; vols. Lord Stanhope, Life of Pitt, 4 vols., 2nd edit., 1862, founded on unpublished papers (see sec. 2, Pitt Papers); a good biography and a standard and indispensable work. With this should be read Lord Rosebery, Pitt (Twelve English Statesmen Series), 1891, an admirable appreciation of Pitt's work and character. Lord John (Earl) Russell, Memorials and Correspondence of C. J. Fox, 4 vols., 1853, has many letters of importance, but is otiosely edited, and Life of C. J. Fox, 3 vols., 1859-67, more concerned with politics, which it treats from a strongly whig standpoint, than with biography. Sir G. O. Trevelyan, Early History of C. J. Fox, 1880, written on the whig side, ends with 1774. Court and Cabinets of George III., edited by the Duke of Buckingham, 4 vols., 1853-55 (vol. i. begins at 1782, and (6) Miscellaneous books, pamphlets, etc. On public finance, see Hamilton, Inquiry concerning ... the National Debt, 1813; Newmarch, On the Loans Raised by Mr. Pitt, 1793-1801, a highly valuable and interesting treatise; Parliamentary Report, Accounts, xxxiii., 1858, on the national debt, and S. Dowell, History of Taxation in England, 4 vols., 1884. On the commercial treaty with France of 1786, see Count de Butenval, PrÉcis du TraitÉ de Commerce, 1786, Paris, 1869, and Auckland Corr. as above. Some of the articles by Sir G. C. Lewis, Administrations of Great Britain, 1783-1830, edited by Sir E. Head, 1864, are founded on Memoirs, etc., noted in sec. 5, and are excellent commentaries on them. The private life of the king is written by Jesse, Memoirs of the Life and Reign of George III., 3 vols., 2nd edit., 1867, in itself scarcely to be reckoned as of historical value, but giving copious references to authorities. Life at the court is vividly described in Madame D'Arblay's (Miss Burney's) Diary, 7 vols., 1854; a new edition by Mr. Austin Dobson is in course of publication. The Diary should be read with an allowance for the writer's dislike of her work at court, which Macaulay (7) Of books on the American revolutionary war the best general history of a popular kind is by Mr. Fiske, American Revolution, 2 vols., 1891; it is written with moderation and a desire for impartiality. Gordon, History of the Rise of the Independence of the United States, 4 vols., 1788, with many documents. G. Bancroft, History of the United States, centenary edition, 1879, vols. iii.-vi. containing the history of the revolution, display wonderful industry, but are disfigured by violent partisanship. Narrative and Critical History of America, edited by J. Winsor, vol. vi., 1888, has some good papers by various writers. Cambridge Modern History, vol. vii., The United States, 1903. Tyler, Literary History of the American Revolution, 2 vols., 1879, illustrates the course of American sentiment during the period. Sir G. O. Trevelyan, The American Revolution, pts. i. and ii., 3 vols., in progress, written on the whig side: the views taken in the present book as to the causes and character of the dispute, and as to some other points are different from those advanced by this distinguished author. For the loyalists, L. Sabine, American Loyalists, Boston, 1847, revised edit., Biographies, etc., 2 vols., 1864, and Mr. Flick, Loyalism in New York (Columbia University Studies, xiv.). The best purely military history of the war is by Stedman, History of the American War, 2 vols., 4to, 1794; he served under Howe, Clinton, and Cornwallis, and his book is a standard authority. Tarleton, Campaigns of 1780, 1781 in the Southern Provinces, 1787. Other books consulted are Washington's Writings and Life, by Sparks, 12 vols., Boston, 1833-39; Franklin, Works, edit. Bigelow, 10 vols., N.Y., 1887-88; Tudor, Life of Otis, Boston, 1823; Diary and Letters of Thomas Hutchinson, edited by P. Hutchinson, 2 vols., 1883, 1886; Frothingham, Siege of Boston, 1849, a careful piece of work, though written in a remarkably vainglorious tone; Mr. Codman, Arnold's Expedition to Quebec, New York, 1902, an excellent and interesting monograph; Kingsford, History of Canada, vol. v., 1892, also deals with the (8) On military matters generally:—Colonel the Hon. Sir Edward Cust, Annals of the Wars of the Eighteenth Century, iii.-v., 3rd edit., 1862; the Hon. J. W. Fortescue, A History of the British Army, 3 vols., 1899-1902, in progress, an important work to which this volume is indebted, though the view with regard to Clinton and Cornwallis taken by Mr. Fortescue is widely different from that adopted here; M. Chuquet, La jeunesse de Napoleon, Toulon, 1897, and Guerres de la RÉvolution, 11 vols., in progress, an important work, vol. x. Valenciennes, vol. xi. Hondschoote; Sir H. Bunbury, Narratives of the Great War with France, 1854, begins with the campaign in Holland of 1799; Drinkwater, History of the Siege of Gibraltar, Dublin, 1793; C. J. Fox, Napoleon Bonaparte and the Siege of Toulon, Washington, U.S.A., 1902; Dr. Holland Rose, Life of Napoleon I., 2 vols., 1902, and some other works. ON NAVAL HISTORY. (9) For naval history:—Captain Mahan, Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1889, Influence of Sea Power on the French Revolution, 2 vols., 4th edit., 1892, and Life of Nelson, 2 vols., 1897, books to which all students of the history of the eighteenth century are deeply indebted. James, Naval History of Great Britain, 6 vols., edit. 1837; vols. i.-iii. include from 1793 to 1801, a famous work which is still of high authority on naval engagements and tactics, the size and classes of ships, the number and character of their guns, etc., but it neither explains nor criticises strategy. Brenton, Naval History of Great Britain, 1783-1822, 5 vols., 1823, uncritical and inaccurate, though as the work of a naval officer in active service, who had a part in some of the events it describes, it has a certain importance. Sir W. L. Clowes, The Royal Navy, vol. iv., 1899. T. Keppel, Life of Viscount Keppel, 2 vols., 1842. Mundy, Life of Rodney, 2 vols., 1830. Mr. D. Hannay, Rodney (English Men of Action Series), 1891, an admirable little book, and his edition of the Letters of Sir S. (Viscount) Hood (Navy Records Soc.), 1895, exhibiting the determining effect of naval failure on the part of England on the last phase of the war with America. Barrow, Life of Earl Howe, 1838. Mr. J. K. Laughton, Nelson (English Men of Action Series), 1895, by an acknowledged master of English naval history, and his articles in the Dict. of National Biography on the sea-captains of the period. Logs of the Great Sea Fights, 1794-1805 (Navy Records Soc.), vol. i., 1899, in progress, well edited by Rear-Admiral T. Sturges Jackson, a delightful book of first-rate value. References to the latest contributions to the subject of Nelson at Naples are given in the text. Chevalier, Histoire de la Marine FranÇaise pendant la Guerre de l'IndÉpendence Americaine, 1877, Histoire, etc., sous la premiÈre RÉpublique, 1886, most valuable works; a third vol., Hist., etc., sous le Consulat. M. le Capitaine DesbriÈre, Projets de DÉbarquement, 2 vols., 1901, a phase of the great war told with all the care and lucidity which distinguish the best French historical work. (10) For European politics during the French revolution the best books are by Heinrich von Sybel, used here in the French translation, Histoire de l'Europe pendant la RÉvolution FranÇaise, 6 vols., 1869-88, and by M. Albert Sorel, L'Europe et la RÉvolution FranÇaise, 6 vols., 1903, in progress; vol. vi. covers 1800-5, a work distinguished alike by learning, insight, and literary quality; the great collection of G. F. von Martens, Recueil des TraitÉs depuis 1761, vols. i.-vi., 1817-29; Comte de Garden, Histoire des TraitÉs, vols. iv.-vi., 1848-87, and F. de Martens, Recueil des TraitÉs conclus par la Russie, vols. ix., x. (Angleterre), 1892. (11) In Irish history Lecky has generally been followed, supplemented by Plowden, History of Ireland to the Union, 2 vols., 1809; H. Grattan, Life of Grattan, 5 vols., 1839; Correspondence between Pitt and the Duke of Rutland, 1781-87, edit. 1890. Earl Fitzwilliam, First and Second Letters to the Earl of Carlisle, 1795; Tone, Life of T. W. Tone, 2 vols., 1826; Madden, United Irishmen, 2 vols., 2nd edit., 1858; Gordon, History of the Rebellion, 2nd edit., 1803, a trustworthy and graphic narrative by a protestant clergyman of co. Wexford; Memoirs and Correspondence of Viscount Castlereagh (Lord Londonderry), 12 vols., 1848-85, vols. ii.-iv.; Ingram, History of the Irish Union, 1887, though failing in its hopeless attempt to prove that the union was not effected by corrupt means, a book well worth reading; Cornwallis Correspondence and some other books already noted. (12) For Indian matters:—Mill and Wilson, History of British India, 10 vols., 1858, vols. iii.-vi., a standard work; Sir J. F. Stephen, Story of Nuncomar, 2 vols., 1885; Mr. G. Forrest, Selections from State Papers, India, 1772-85, 3 vols., 1890, documents of first-rate importance, well edited, with good introduction, which, perhaps, attempts too complete a defence of Hastings; Sir A. Lyall, Warren Hastings (English Men of Action Series), 1902, a thoroughly sound and well-considered biography; Mr. S. J. Owen, Selections from the Despatches of Marquess Wellesley, 1877, with the Cornwallis Correspondence already noted. ON ECONOMIC PROGRESS. (13) For the social and economic history in chap, xiii., a general account will be found in Lecky, History, vol. v., an admirable and delightful piece of work; Social England, vol. v., 1896, edited by Traill, papers of various merit by various authors; a new edition with well-chosen illustrations is now (1904) published; and chapters at the end of vols. vii. and ix. of the Pictorial History of England, edited by Craik and Macfarlane, 1841, 1843. Manners and customs are described by Mr. Sydney, England and the English in the Eighteenth Century, 2 vols., 1891, and by Mr. Ashton, whose Old Times, 1885, is almost wholly composed of newspaper cuttings and caricatures, and is, therefore, so far as it goes, a contemporary authority. Notices of the gambling and frivolity of a portion of the upper class, some not before printed, are given in Sir G. Trevelyan's Early Life of C. J. Fox (see above). An independent study should include the chronicle in the Annual Register, Walpole's Letters, Jesse, George Selwyn and his Contemporaries, 4 vols., 1843, and Selwyn's Letters, edited by Mr. Roscoe and Miss Clergue, 1899; Smollett, Humphrey Clinker, written in 1770; Anstey, New Bath Guide, "poetical On economic and industrial history the latest and best authority is Dr. Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce, Modern Times, pts. i. and ii., 2 vols., 1903. Other books used are Craik, in Pictorial History as above, republished in his History of British Commerce, 1844; Macpherson, Annals of Commerce, 4 vols., 1805; McCulloch, edition of Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, 1863; Rogers, Six Centuries of Work and Wages, 2 vols., 1884, and his Industrial and Commercial History of England, lectures, 2 vols., 1898, and Warner, Landmarks in English Industrial History, 1899, a useful and well-arranged little book. For the cotton manufacture—Sir E. Baines, History of the Cotton Manufacture, 1836. With reference to agriculture and the poor—A. Young, Six Weeks' Tour in the Southern Counties, 1769, and Tour through the North, 4 vols., 1770, present the condition of agriculture at the time, with lists of wages and the expenses of the labouring class; Rev. J. Howlett, pamphlets on the Influence of Enclosures, 1786, and the Causes of the Increase of the Poor, 1786; Mr. R. E. Prothero, Pioneers and Progress of English Farming, 1888, an excellent account; Sir G. A. Nicholls, History of the English Poor Law, 2 vols., 1898, and Mr. and Mrs. S. Webb, History of Trades Unionism, 1902. *** Dr. A. von Ruville's important and masterly work, William Pitt, Graf von Chatham, 3 vols., Stuttgart and Berlin, 1905, appeared while this book was in the press. |