as concerns the business itself, but particularly how, as they respect the situation in which you stand towards them, and towards the various clanships of factions which take a part in them.

Whatever is settled as the measure to be taken up, ought to be agreed upon early, that the various grounds on which the various parties might be led to join in it, should be prepared and laid.

There is now open to you, and to you only, with consistency, a noble track of politics. I am an enthusiast for your striking into it: it would do you honour, and establish you as a Minister of this country, and, what is more, it would lead to the establishing the peace and prosperity of this country.

I have a thousand things to say that I neither can nor will write about.

As to the part I shall myself take, both here and in America, I have, upon very serious and deliberate resolution, determined unalterably. In one other thing I am unalterable, my regard and attachment to you, and I have the honour to be, &c. T. POWNALL.

MR. WILLIAM GERARD HAMILTON TO EARL TEMPLE.

July 14, (1768).

MY DEAR LORD,-It is now universally understood by those who have a right to know the transactions of the Administration, that the Duke of Grafton, in the course of last week, proposed in the Closet the dismission of Shelburne, but that he did not succeed in his request, notwithstanding the importunity with which he pressed it. The construction put upon this refusal is, that the Court are unwilling to do anything which may,

by any possibility, be unacceptable to Lord Chatham, 'till they have formed an Administration which may be capable of resisting him, in case he should be able to make his appearance again in public, and be offended at the measures which may have been taken during his illness. Sir Richard's intelligence is, that Mr. Grenville is at present the only object of the Court, and that the wish is to bring him to the head of the Treasury, avoiding, if possible, any negotiation with your Lordship, and those who are more particularly your friends. The not knowing very well how to accomplish this plan, he thinks is the reason why no proposal has as yet been made to Mr. Grenville.

Lord Mansfield had yesterday a very long interview with the King.

The Administration triumph exceedingly upon the acquittal of the Justice of the Peace', and upon his obtaining a copy of the indictment from the judges. I think I can perceive that they are not without hopes of reaching Wilkes himself, or at least some of his agents, for spiriting up the widow of the person killed, to carry on the prosecution, and for supporting her in the expense of it.

The Duke of Bedford goes in the beginning of August to Ireland, to be installed as Chancellor of the University of Dublin; but what appears extraordinary is, the report of Lord Weymouth's going with him. Should this prove true, I shall conclude his Lordship means to succeed Lord Townshend, and that this is to make part of a more general arrangement.

1 Gillam, the Justice of Peace, who had ordered the soldiers to fire when the mob attempted to release Wilkes from the King's Bench prison. Upon this occasion, it will be remembered, an innocent man named Allen was shot by mistake.

A friend of mine had yesterday seen Lord Egmont, who informed him that the Duke of Grafton had lately expressed in the Closet his sense of the difficulties of his situation, his wish to resign it, and his concern at not being able to recommend a proper person to succeed him. Lord Granby's opinion is, that there are at present not the smallest thoughts of a change in any department.

These are the contradictory ideas which prevail amongst the few people who are still in town, and it is the whole I can send your Lordship for your entertainment in the country. Adieu, my dear Lord; do me the justice to believe me upon all occasions, yours most faithfully and affectionately, W. G. H.1

MR. GRENVILLE TO MR. POWNALL.

Wotton, July 17, 1768.

SIR,-I am very sensible of the honour which you do to me, both in this and in the Address prefixed to the former edition of your Treatise upon the Administration of the Colonies, and am much obliged to you for the expressions of your regard and good opinion.

You say very truly in the beginning of your present

In this single instance, the latest letter I have found from Mr. Hamilton, he has subscribed his initials instead of the three dashes which he usually substituted for his name. Nearly all his letters to Lord Temple are ended in the same manner as above:-Yours most faithfully and affectionately:-sometimes unalterably. These expressions denote a very close and intimate friendship. I may take this opportunity of observing, that I have frequently in these volumes found it necessary to abridge the subscriptions to the Letters, in order to avoid the tedious repetition of Your obedient humble Servant, or Yours truly, dc., &c., but I have carefully retained those which I considered to be in any respect significant of the degree of intimacy between the writer and his correspondent.

Address, that our opinions differed on several points, but we agree entirely in our wishes that the constitutional powers of this kingdom and the fixed government of the laws may prevail, and the rights of the subject be established upon true political liberty.

As to the great question of our Parliament's granting to America a competent number of representatives to sit in our House of Commons, you are no stranger to the declarations I repeatedly made in the House, at the time when the repeal of the Stamp Act was agitated, "that if such an application should be properly made by the Colonies to Parliament, in the same manner as those which were made from Chester and Durham, and probably from Wales, it would in my opinion be entitled to the most serious and favourable consideration."

I continue still in the same sentiments, but I am much afraid that neither the people of Great Britain nor those of America are sufficiently apprized of the danger which threatens both from the present state of things, to adopt a measure to which both the one and the other seems indisposed.

Some of the Colonies in their address to the Crown against some late Acts of Parliament, have, if I mistake not, expressly disclaimed it, and I do not think it has been kindly received in Great Britain, when it has been thrown out in Parliament, or started in any pamphlet or printed paper.

The fullest conviction of its necessity, and the hearty concurrence both of the Government and of the people, are indispensably necessary to set so great a machine in motion, as that of uniting all the outlying parts of the British dominions in one system.

As to what relates personally to me, I have done my

duty by endeavouring to assert the sovereignty of the King and Parliament of Great Britain over all the dominions belonging to the Crown, and to make all the subjects of the kingdom contribute to the public burthens for their own defence, according to their abilities and situation.

I thought that we had the clearest right imaginable, and that we were bound, by every tie of justice and of wisdom, to do this; and I am convinced it would have been accomplished, without any considerable difficulty, if America had not received such encouragement to oppose it from hence, as no other people would have resisted. To this the present confusion is entirely owing, nor will it now cease if we shall run into the contrary extreme of violence on the other side. Nothing but a plan of wisdom, justice, moderation, and firmness can now extinguish the flame which has so weakly and so wickedly been raised both within and without the kingdom. For my own part I shall wait the event with concern, and shall be ready to give any assistance I can whenever I see any practicable road opened to our safety.

As to what you obligingly mention in your letter respecting me, that you would not do anything which might be the occasion of any embarrassment to me, I desire to return you my thanks for this kind mark of your attention to me, but I do not see how I can be affected by it, if it is fully understood and explained in your Introduction, that you speak your own sentiments and not mine; and if I keep myself at full liberty as to my own conduct and opinions, which I am determined to do, I certainly ought not to put any restraint upon yours. I shall always be glad to receive from you in any manner which is most convenient and agreeable to