The Press. — London, England, 1853-08-13 00:00:00

1. The Grenville Papers ; being the Correspondence of Richard Grenville Earl Temple, K.G., and the Right lion. George Grenville, their Friends and Contemporaries. Vols. M. and IV. Edited by W. J. Smith, Esq. London : Murray. 2. Courts and Cabinets of George the Third. By the Duke of Buckingham. Second Edition. London: Hurst and Blackett. THE present division of the "Grenville Papers" gives the correspondence from 1765 to 1777. Like the preceding volumes of the same series, they will be indis]►ensable to the historical student ; but we think that general readers will not find them so interesting, unless they take pleasure in the hunt after "Junius." Horace Walpole has so accustomed us to brilliant, graphic writing upon the politics of those times that we fancy other contemporary narratives appear to great disadvantage by the side of the lively sketchy crttyons of the Twickenham gossip. As Walpole, however, is not so trustworthy as he is graphic, it is very satisfactory to be able to refer to precise and formal letters like many of those in this cmyespondenee. Their perusal enables us to estimate with more cer•t.ainty the eminent family to which they principally refer. In a long continuance of political power, no parliamentary connection since the Revolution could vie with the Grenvilles. The list of the offices filled by them records their influence. 'Twic•e within half 31, century they gave Primo Ministers to England (1763-:• and P4OB-7). George Grenville led the House of Commons ; his nephew, Lord Grenville, in the n e xt g e ne ration, led the House of Peers. In a sternly time, Earl Temple, the ally and brother-in law of the " great commoner," and the patron of Wilkes, was a finmidal►lc chief of Opposi tion, and in dogged pertinacity and self=asser•- tion he far outstripped the Roekinghlims, the Townshends, and the Newcastles. His nephew, the first Marquis of Buckingham. filled the post Of L•ish V ieeroy at a season of imminent peril, I►roke to pieces the ►seditious opposition of the Whigs in Ireland, and rendered vast services to his King and country by the bold part he took in daunting the coalition of Fox and North. In Lord Grenville the House o f Commons found one of its ablest Speakers, and the House of Lords one of its wisest and most statesmanlike guides. Two Premier ships. a Chancellorship of the Exchequer. the Viceroyalty of Ireland, the Speakership of the Commons, and Secretaryship for Foreign Aflitirs, held by two generations in one family, suggest. of themselves the degree of energy and knowledge, of political acceptance stud authority, which this great connection hail obtained. In addition to their own power, the Grenvilles associated their history with the finite of the Pitts. and in later times they blended their fortunes with the a s . cendancy of Mr. Fox. Surpassing other great families in the continuance of their personal influence, the contrasts in " the story of their house" are not less strange. Thus it can truly be said that, while the Crown found its most resolute supporters in the (irenvilles at the ems of the American war and the French revolution, it also met in the family some of its most embarrassing opponents. Lord Tem ple's alliance with the elder Pitt, and his nephew's junction with Fox, with his vigorous support of the Whig party, are amongst the most remarkable passages in the history of " Opposition." It happens, also, that, while the Grenvilles have been accused of a guilty knowledge of "Junius," the sanction of their great name was invoked in after times fir• "the agitation" of the Irish Romanists. Thus for two generations, in it period of commotion and peril, the Executive counted the Grenvilles first amongst the first of its adversaries or its allies. It is evident that the sway of such a connec tion cannot be traced merely to titles of honour, or broad domains, or family connec tions. Those may have been aids, but they could not have been the supports of such con tinned power. Iv the charnetty of the Oren villes we can see the sources of their authority. Though no one of their family rose to the historical renown of Walpole or either of the THE PRESS. Pitts, in resolute ambition, conjoined with I great capacity for affairs and unwearied energy, none other of the great families approached even to faint rivalry with the Grenvilles. They relied in the main upon their courage and capacity. In the days of the elder Pitt. the King, when surveying the parliamentary con nections from which he had to choose, beheld the Legislature divided between the Dedfords, the Newcustles, and the Grenvilles. Of these the Bedfords worked by the spell of a great (though rather ovemited , ) name, and by their stereotyped formula of men " who bled with Hampden in the field, and died with Sydney on the scaffold." They drew their moral influence, such as it was, from the tra ditions of the Revolution, from the memory of blood unjustly shed, from companionship with " the great Deliverer." Their vast possessions, of course, added to their influence. The Neweastles relied on their boroughs. their electioneering resources, and on their acknow ledged leadership of the " great Whig families" of Cavendish, l'Anniox, Fitzroy, Bentinck, Manners, C4mway, and Wentworth.f The greatness of the Grenvilles is visible in the tact that, without the historical pretensions of the BedtOrds or (what we may call) the elan of the Neweastles, they challenged comparison with them both, and conquered them in turn. To the traditions associated with the name of Russell they opposed their talent for affairs, and abilities which required no aneestral pedi gree f'or the enhancement of their lustre. Against the confederacy of the Neweastles they presented high personal capacity for office, an industry that never flagged, and entire freedom from that ridiculous tn*vestie of lead el-ship. that burlesque upon power, which used to be seen in the big house at the north-west corner of Lincoln's Inn-fields, and which has been so well painted by Smollett as to give that humorist a claim to be counted amongst his/prim/. novelists. The Grenvilles were not the mere, mouthpieces of a knot of factious families ; they were not the spokesmen for a clique of disappointed nobles, afraid to venture out in debate. unequal to the toils of polities. They were not compelled like the Roeking hams to suck the brains of a man of genius like Burke, to use his tongue in debate, and to rely upon his pen for advocating their prin ciples. They mainly relied upon themselves ; and with an industry that might have shamed the bar, and with a courage that would have won glory in the camp, the Grenvilles under took the burden and courted the hazards of political war, and encountered great responsi bilities with their own energy and eminent endowments. This is their real glory—this is their ehtim to permanent renown. • Turning from the Grenvilles to their papers, we must plainly tell our readers that the letters in these two volumes give us scanty materials for interesting extracts. The follow ing passage relates to a very celebrated beauty of the last century—Lady Sarah Lennox. We take it from Mr. Grenville's diary for January, 1707 : Mr. Pitt ( Thomas) told Mr. Grenville a most extraordi nary anecdote, relating to the King's attachment to Lady Sarah Lennox. He nays that his Majesty came to Lady Susan Strangwnys (Lady Susan O'Brien) in the drawing room asked her in a whisper it' she did not think the coronation a much finer sight if there was a queen ; she said yes. Ile then asked her if she did not know some body who would grace that ceremony in the properest manner: at this she was much emharmased, thinking he meant herself, but 1w went on. and said. " 1 mean your friend Lady Sarah Lennox; tell her so, and let me hate her answer the next drawing-room day." Lady Sonth was at this time in love with Lord Ne w bottle.: and therefore received this news with great re litetanee : it was. however, talked over in the family. and. by Lord mid Lady Holland's persuasion, she wits brtillght to listen to it. She went the next drawing-mom day to St. James's, stated to the King. in as few words as she could, the inconveniences and difficulties in which such a step would involve him. He said that was his business: he would stand them all : his part was taken, he wished to hear hers was likewise. In this state it. continued, whilst she, by the advice of her friends, broke oil' with Lord Newbottle very reluc- - • lu the earlier editions of his "Constitutional }Timmy" Mr. Hallam passed St ,n strictures on Lori, William Russell, which we perceive have been expunged from later impressions. + Of the seven " great Whig handles" mentioned above, as fol lowing the Newcastle connection in the last century, it is remarkable that in our times not less than four are ranged under the banner of Lord Derby—viz.: Lennox. Manners, Ben tinek. and Conway ;NI arquis of Hertford). t William John lire, afterwards fifth Marquis of Lothian. Ile died in 1815. SATURDAY, tantly on her part: she went into the country for • few days, and. by a fall front her horse, broke her leg. The absence which this occasioned gave time and opportunities fur her enemies to work ; they instilled jealousy into the King's mind upon the subject of Lord Newbottle, telling him that Lady Sarah still continued her intercourse with hint. and immediately the marriage with the Princess of Strelitz was act un lout : and at Lady Sarah's return from the country she found herself deprived of her crown and her lover, Lord Newbottle, who complained as much of her us she did of the King. Whilst this was in agitation, Lady Sarah used to meet the King in his rides early in the morning, driving a little chaise with Lady Susan Stning ways ; and once it is said that, wanting to speak to him, she went dressed like a servant-muid, and stood amongst the crowd in the guard-room, to say a few words to him as he passed by. Tlw manner in which 'Walpole describes Lady Sarah's haymaking ut Holland House, dressed as a shepherdess, is doubtless familiar to our readers. The story of her life was a very remarkable one, and would be very in teresting if fully told by a trustworthy biogra pher. On account of the subsequent change of her name to Danbury and Napier, many persons are not aware that she was the mother of those distinguished brothers, the hero of Scinde and the historian of the Peninsular war. Nearly half of the third of these volumes is occupied with the "Junius" controversy ; but, that being a special subject, we will reserve it fir particular examination when we can afford it more space than our crowded columns will now permit. 1. In noticing the second edition of the second of the above works, we may express our regret that all the " Grenville Papers" were not published in the same uniform edition. We can easily suppose that the Duke of Buckingham had considerable trouble in se leeting the papers for the " Courts and Cabi nets of George the Third ;" and we can undentand how one unused to literary labour may have committed to other hands the im portant, though subordinate, function of com paring and revising the letterpress. This division of labour has often taken place in publishing what are called "family papers ;" but it is certainly important that the revision should be entrusted to competent persons. The letterpress of the first edition of this work was very carelessly examined, and teemed with typographical errors. We me sorry to be obliged to say that " the see)nd edition, revised," does not reflect any credit on the literary subaltern employed by '.the highly respectable publishers whose nan tes are on the titlepage. Some of these correc lions seem to have been made in the mode attributed by Swift to one of his printers—" for her Grace the Duke, read his Grace the Duche: Thus, in the first edition (vol. i., p. 69) w e find the nonsense Latin, " Liberati animan s meam," corrected in the revised edition into "Liberare animum mettnt"! In the first editit at (vol. i., p. 144) we read " discordia pimlaxit miseros" corrected into " pmdixit miseros," Such printing as " magmas ex oviuntur" 4vol. ii., p. 16) stands in both editions; and it is the same way with such blunders as " Caliginosa nocta" (vol. ii., page 222) ; and we might enumerate many more to show that we cannot accept this second edition as at all - properly " revised." We regret that we are obliged to say this. for the family papers themselves are of great value ; and we do not join with those who would in any degree disparage Ihe great historical value of these volumes. The work has been too long pub.7kished to receive critical notice here from us otherwise than as a " second edition." It abounds in historical revelations, and is most agreeable reading for those who like to peruse authentic sketches of famous persons. When our co lumns are less crowded we will use some of its materials in illustrating "A Day with Pitt," as a companion picture to our previous sketch of Fox. ()erosional Diseourse on the Nigger Question. Communicated by T. Carlyle. London : Bosworth. MUCH truth, more parad►lx, a, good deal of clever sarcasm on Manchester economics and Exeter-hall philanthropy, a total—we might say a wilful—disregard of what is practicable in the present age, and a style even less than