[291] George Brudenel, Earl of Cardigan, had married the second daughter and co-heiress of the last Duke of Montagu, and had taken the name of Montagu.
[292] Sir T. Robinson, Lord Grantham, formerly Secretary of State.
[293] Vide Parl. Hist. p. 251, for an eloquent summary of the arguments against the suspending and dispensing prerogative.--E.
[294] Henry Clinton, Earl of Lincoln, Knight of the Garter, and afterwards Duke of Newcastle.
[295] John, only son of Sir John Shelley, (whom he succeeded in the baronetage,) by Margaret Pelham, his second wife, sister of Thomas Duke of Newcastle.
[296] Sir John Shelley had also a personal claim on Lord Chatham, for, although on confidential terms with Lord Temple, he had not followed that nobleman into opposition. He died in 1783.--E.
[297] George third Lord Edgcumbe, [and first Earl Edgcumbe, distinguished himself on some occasions in the navy, and rose to the rank of Rear-Admiral of the Blue in 1762. Before entering the House of Lords, which he did in 1761, he sat in the Commons for Fowey. At his death, which happened in 1795, he was Admiral of the Blue, Lord-Lieutenant of the County of Cornwall, &c. &c.--E.]
[298] This letter, a very creditable one to Mr. Conway’s feelings and good sense, is printed in the Chatham Correspondence, vol. iii. p. 126.--E.
[299] Francis Seymour Conway, son of Francis Earl of Hertford.
[300] Lord Edgcumbe had great weight in Devonshire and Cornwall.
[301] It was a wise intention in no light. Parties are the preservative of a free Government. The King and Lord Mansfield succeeded, though Lord Chatham did not, in breaking all parties; and what was the consequence? that everybody ran to Court, and voted for whatever the Court desired. Lord Chatham, who forfeited his popularity, and set all parties at defiance, sank into an individual of no importance.
[302] It did avail so much, that Grenville fabricated, during his opposition, the famous bill for trying elections by select Committees, likely to give a sore wound to the influence of the Crown, but which, hoping to return to power, he limited in its duration; but it has since been made permanent.
[304] Lord Chatham did not long preserve his power, and Lord Edgcumbe soon came into place again, having first revenged himself on the Earl in this humorous epigram:
