a 
M10 
business; too young for treachery, and, 
im short, a patriot of no unpromising 
expectations. Lord Chatham was the 
earliest object of your political wonder 
and attachment; yet you deserted him, 
upon the first hopes that offered, of an 
equal share of power with lord Rocking- 
ham. When the late duke of Cumber- 
Fand’s first negociation failed, and when 
the favourite was pyshed to the last ex- 
tremity, you saved him by joining with 
ah administration in which lord Chat 
ham refused to engage. 
he was your friend: and you are yet to 
explain to the world, why you consented , 
to act without him; or why, after unit- 
ing with lord Rockingham, you deserted 
and betrayed him, You complained that 
nO measures were taken to satisfy your 
p2tron ; and that your friend, Mr. Wilkes, 
who had suffered so niuch for the party, 
had been abandoned to his fate. They 
have since contributed not a little to your 
present plenitude of power: yet, I think, 
tord Chatham has less reason than ever 
to be satisfied > and, as for Mr, Wilkes, 
it is, perhaps, the greatest misfortune of 
his life, that you should have so many 
compensations to make in the closet for 
your former friendship with him. Your 
gracious master understands your cha- 
racter, and makes you a persecutor, be- 
cause you have been a friend.” 
‘Phe whole of. this passage consists of 
bold invective, and elegant declamation, 
When this celebrated writer condescend-, 
ed to state facts, he was completely 
foiled, particularly when he attacked the 
duke of Grafton for misconduct, as here- 
ditary ranger of Whittlebury-forest. An 
author, who many years after that period 
held some communication with the late 
Mr. John Pitt, at that time suryeyor- 
general of the kiny’s woods, writes thus : 
“ The timber in Whittlebury-forest is 
undoubtedly vested in the crown, and 
the right of felling it has repeatedly been 
exercised. The right to the underwood 
~ 38 as clearly vested in the duke of Graf- 
ton, as that of the herbage at the proper 
periods in the vicinage. Inthe attempt, 
alluded to by Junius, to cut down the 
timber, the deputy-surveyor was stopped 
by an order from the treasury ; because 
the felling of the timber at that time, 
would have destroyed all the underwood, 
which would of course have been a great 
injury to private property; and would 
likewise have deprived the neighbour- 
hood of the right of commonage for nine 
or ten years, The timber was no longer 
withheld from the public service than 
Memoirs of the late Duke of Grafton. 
Still, however, 
[April 1, 
’ r a — 
was absolutely necessary. It had been 
preserved for that purpose, with an at- 
tention and an integrity perhaps nob 
equalled in any of the other royal forests. 
At the proper period (about nine or ten, 
years after), the timber was felled, as 
each coppice.came in the course of cutte 
ing, according to the rule of the practice . 
all over England. The surveyor-gene- 
ral’s report made in the year 1776, of. 
the state of the inclosures in Lis Majes- 
ty’s forests, is a confirmation of the. care 
taken by the duke of the timber for the 
public service.”* 
It must be frankly allowed, however, 
that the administration of the duke of 
Grafton, if not unfortunate, was assured- 
ly unpopular ; and, without popularity, 
no minister in a limited monarchy is 
capable of filling his office in such a way, 
as either to give satisfaction to the coun- 
try, or be enabled to: serve it with due 
effect. It has been said, that llis Grace 
was, fairly written down by the joint 
efforts of Wilkes and Junius; but this is 
not correct. In the first place, he was: 
no longer supported by the earl of Chat~ 
ham, who even in his declining age exhi-~ 
bited gigantic powers; and, after he had 
ceased to wield the thunder of the state, 
smote all around him by the flashes of 
his eloquence. On the retgeat of that 
nobleman, lord Camden, whose talents. 
and integrity had secured the esteem of 
the nation, happened to differ ip many 
essential points with the premier, and 
was therefore suffered to withdraw also. 
A new chancellor was chante to be 
found, and Mr. Yorke, whoe* had acted 
with high reputation as attorney-general, 
died suddenly, in the month of January 
1770.. On this the duke of Grafton, fitid- 
ing himself bereft of all aid, immediately 
resigned, aud appeared to withdraw for 
ever from the bustle of politics to the 
comforts of domestic privacy. 
‘This, however, was not long the case; 
far, in about eighteen months after, 
(June 1771,) on the removal of lord 
Suffolk to the office of secretary of state, 
His Grace succeeded, him as. lord privy 
seal. In this office he remained until 
the month of November 1775. His resig- 
nation, or perhaps more properly speak. 
ing, his dismission, reflects high honour 
on the subject of the present memoir, as 
it proceeded from an unequivocal avowak 
‘of those generous sentiments which must 
* Biographical, literary, and political, Anec- 
dotes of several of the most eminent Persons 
of the present Age, 1797. 
Se at, 
‘ 
