THE DUKE OF BEDFORD TO MR. PITT.

SIR,

(Most secret and particular.)

Dublin Castle, Dec. 5, 1757.

I have as yet had barely time to acknowledge the receipt of your secret dispatch of the 26th of last month, by the last packet that sailed from hence, which I did not think a safe conveyance for the matter I now find myself under the necessity of writing to you. I think myself under the deepest obligations of gratitude to his Majesty for his gracious approbation of my conduct hitherto, in carrying on his business here; and for the assurance that "his gracious countenance and support will never be wanting to me in the administration of government in Ireland, in all such proper instances as his Majesty shall be first satisfied, are best calculated for contributing facility and strength to his affairs, and ease and credit to myself." As it has ever been my constant wish, in every station of life in which I have acted, to prefer the milder method of conciliation and union, to the harsher one of punishment and separation, I shall with great willingness undertake the task, however difficult it may be, which his Majesty has prescribed to me, of using my utmost endeavours to conciliate and unite those two (at present) very disunited parties-I mean the Kildares and Ponsonbys. the only step of conciliation that seems to me to be in any degree practicable; and though the difficulties appear to be very great, yet I do not think them absolutely insurmountable. I have already taken every step that I thought likely to con

This is

* The parties at this time existing in Ireland are described by Horace Walpole to have been "The Primate's, Lord Kildare's; those attached to the speaker (Ponsonby,) and who in truth were a defection

duce to this salutary end, but as yet I have found very little reason to expect much success in my endeavours; which I must chiefly ascribe to the belief of those reports, which have been industriously spread about this town by those of the Primate's faction, that the last dispatches I received from you did tie up my hands from taking such measures as I might judge expedient to bring back his Majesty's servants to a due sense of their duty.

You see, sir, by this, what a gross misrepresentation has been made by designing men of those orders which his Majesty has been most graciously pleased to give me; which although they are penned with that spirit of moderation and coolness which his Majesty has at all times showed to all his subjects, preferring in the first instance, lenity and admonition to rigour and chastisement, do not, however, prevent me from taking such measures as the obstinacy of some might make absolutely necessary for the carrying on the business of government. And I flatter myself I am well founded in this belief, by your again referring me to your dispatch of the 18th of November, in which I am directed to transmit "to you for his Majesty's information the names of such persons, if any such shall occur to me,

from Kildare; and a flying squadron of patriots, the smallest body of the four, and composed, as is usual, of the discontented—that is, of those who had been too insignificant to be bought off, or whose demands had been too high; and of a few well-meaning men. Lord Kildare had still the greatest number of dependents, though inferior to those of the Primate and Ponsonby, if united; a point now eagerly pursued by the Archbishop, while at the same time he underhand inflamed the patriots against the castle, and had sufficient success.' Memoirs of Geo. 11.

* Dr. George Stone, brother of Mr. Stone, the intimate friend of the Duke of Newcastle, appointed to the Bishopric of Ferns, at the age of twenty-eight, in the year 1731, to Kildare in 1733, to Derry in 1743, to the Primacy of Armagh in 1747, died in 1764.

as shall be most capable and best qualified from their abilities, credit, and connections, to strengthen and promote his Majesty's service."

As it is absolutely necessary, to enable me to be of any service to the King in this country, that the secret dispatches which are to come from you to me, be kept inviolably so, I must most earnestly entreat, that the contents of them may not be sent to individuals here; as the present instance shows of what dangerous consequence even the most trivial communication may be productive; for I can assure you of a certainty, that the messenger who brought me your dispatches, did bring at the same time a letter from a very considerable person in England to the Primate, besides another letter to one in his family; and it is to this correspondence I fear these injurious reports have arisen.

That I may not appear to have taken any thing up upon vague reports, I can inform you, that Sir Thomas Pendergrast has been the person who has propagated them all over this town, and I must leave you to judge whether even the bare suspicion of my not enjoying the King's entire countenance and support in my administration, is not sufficient to defeat my best endeavours for his Majesty's service. I beg, sir, that what I now write may not be imputed to the least diffidence I have conceived of you; but I have been long enough about court to know, that those of a prying and busy disposition do worm themselves into secrets in a very unaccountable manner, and the more easily, the more open and ingenuous the person they have to deal with is.

I shall trouble you no longer in this most secret and particular letter, than to assure you that whatever orders from his Majesty you shall transmit me during my stay here, I shall endeavour to execute them with fidelity and

punctuality; and as for my return hither a second time, I must leave that to the wisdom of his Majesty, and the judgment of his servants in England, who, I am convinced, can never advise him to intrust the government of this kingdom, in its present factious and unsettled state, into the hands of one who shall not be judged proper to be trusted with that power which can alone enable him to make that reformation, as well in men as things, which appears to be absolutely necessary at present.

I am, with great truth and regard,

Sir,

Your most obedient humble servant,

BEDFORD.

CHAPTER V.

Dread of a Union.-Rising in Dublin.-Mob-excesses.-Lord Hillsborough. Expected Invasion of Ireland.-Rigby to Mr. Pitt.-Rigby and Walpole's description of the Excesses of the Mob.-Popular Song. Militia Bill thrown out.-Embargo-Septennial Bill.-Reign of George III.-Dr. Lucas-His services to Ireland.-The Freeman's Journal. His Literary Labors.-His Writings ordered to be burnt by the Hangman.-Ordered to be arrested, but escaped to England.Practises as a Physician.-Returns to Ireland.-Sketch of his Character. His efforts in the House of Commons. Character of his

Writings. His Death and Public Funeral.

HOWEVER deficient Parliament may have been in its constitution and action, yet the people, even at this period, evinced, though in a singular and rude manner, their attachment to the institution. In 1759, Rigby was, Master of the Rolls and Secretary to the Duke of Bedford, then Lord Lieutenant. He was a man of strong and quick natural parts, but of a coarse and uncultivated mind, and dissipated in his habits. On the 3rd of December, the people dreading a union, and apprehensive that their Parliaments (such as they were,) would be taken from them, suddenly rose in Dublin. The drum beat throughout that part