THE DROPMORE PAPERS (ADD. MSS. 58855-59494)

ROBERT A. H. SMITH

WILLIAM WYNDHAM, Baron Grenville (1759-1834), Prime Minister from 1806 to 1807 and earlier, from 1791 to 1801, Foreign Secretary under Pitt the Younger, left on his death over 300 portfolios of letters and papers and over 150 letter- and precis-books, the fruits of a public career of some fifty years. The Dropmore Papers, named after Grenville's country home, were acquired by the Department of Manuscripts in 1970. The arrangement of this large collection had been started, apparently at various times, during Grenville's lifetime but remained uncompleted at his death and thereafter. A few historians had used the papers when they were in the possession of the Fortescue family, but they were generally known only through the ten-volume Historical Manu- scripts Commission Report (1892-1927), almost entirely the work of one man, Walter Fitzpatrick.^ J. Holland Rose once declared that he found *no striking phrase which glitters amidst the leaden mass of [Grenville's] speeches and correspondence'.^ Grenville, a slow taciturn man, was rarely a witty or lively correspondent, but 'the leaden mass' remains both an unavoidable obstacle and an invaluable source for historians of Grenville's times. 'Fhis is partly because of Grenville's long public career, both in office and out, and the consequent bulk and scope of material, and partly because the papers of several of his contemporaries, most notably those of Henry Dundas and William Pitt, have been dispersed. The Dropmore Papers supplement other collections in the Department of Manuscripts, such as the Holland House, Auckland, Rose, Wellesley, Liverpool, Fox, and Leeds papers, and, furthermore, join other Grenville family collections acquired earlier, namely papers of his father George Grenville; of Earl Temple, Lord Grenville's uncle; and of George, Marquis of Buckingham, and Thomas, the politician and bibliophile. Lord Grenville's brothers;"^ as well as the first major Grenville collection to be acquired by the Department (1883), the Stowe Manuscripts, the papers of the Dukes of Buckingham. The collection contains political and diplomatic papers, family, private, and estate material, general and semi-official papers and correspondence, and miscellaneous documents acquired by Grenville, or by others of his family, dating from 1625 to 1864. There is, however, practically nothing relating to his childhood or to the Eton and Oxford stages of his life. The first nine volumes of the H.M.C. Report contained, for

75 the period from the seventeenth century to 1809, much diplomatic material, a considerable quantits of domestic political correspondence, and some semi-official, general, and miscellaneous documents; the standard of editing was high, judging from a study of Grenville's correspondence with the Marquis of Buckingham, Lord Wellesley, Lord Auckland, and Thomas Grenville. Many of the unpublished letters contained rnere social gossip, or bare accounts of illnesses and deaths or family matters. Letters to Buckingham when the latter was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1782-3, 1788) preserved in an entry book (Add. MS. 59407) were omitted presumably because most, if not all, had been published by Buckingham's son in his Courts and Cabinets of George III (London, 1853). ^ ^^^ errors were made; some letters were wrongly dated; a few interesting letters were omitted, including Tom Grenville's two letters of i and 5 August 1806 concerning approaches to the Opposition (Add. MS. 58885, fols. 92-3, 94-5), and some of the latter's correspondence of 1806-7 as First Lord of the Admiralty. The Admiralty material was probably overlooked because it was hidden among the general correspondence for the period; it covers patronage, the purchase of stores, damage caused by Spanish vessels off Gibraltar, the Buenos Aires expedition, the possible court-martial of Admirals Popham and Stopford after its failure, and other topics, and is clearly closely related to documents now in the Huntington Library.''^ Material in other sections was overlooked: correspondence with Auckland for 1806-7 ^rid with Grey for 1808 was also hidden in the general correspondence; the Grey material included letters on opposition policy in December 1807/January 1808, and December 1808.^ At least three letters of Edmund Burke (Add. MSS. 59315, fols. 92-3: 8 June 1789; 59355, fols. 88, 89: 22, }2], Apr. 1789) the latter mentioning the Hastings trial, escaped notice, as did Grenville's letters to Burke. Nevertheless, from a survey of this limited section of the collection, the first nine volumes of the Report appear sound and contain a fair selection of tbe most important documents for their periods. Grenville's official and private correspondence with his brothers, witb the King, with statesmen like Pitt, Dundas, Wellesley, Auckland, Bedford, Windham, Fox, and Grey, with foreign ambassadors like Starhemberg and Woron/ow, and with diplomats such as Lords Elgin, .\linto, Gowcr, and Bute, was well represented, and many of Grenville's political papers were also published, covering a wide variety of subjects. The tenth volume of the H.M.C. report was less satisfactory; it covered the period 1810 to 1820, but was based to a disproportionate extent on Grenville's correspondence with Auckland, who died in 1813, and with Grey and Tom Grenville. No letters of Grey after 1813 were printed, although their regular correspondence continued up to 1817, and the last letter from Grey is dated 1831. Omitted material included a 'Memorandum made Ap 28 1814 of a Secret conversation between Lds Grey & Grenville — abt Pfrince] of W|ales] & Mrs. Fit/Herbert', concerning the difficulties likely to arise on this subject (Add. MS. 58949, fols. 116-21). No use was made of Grenville's correspondence witb Lord Liverpool, with his nephews the Wynnes and the second Marquis of Buckingham, or with members of the royal family, all of which contain important material. The decision to end the series at 1820 meant that no material

76 relating to the Grenvilles* accession to the Government in 1822 or Grenville's subsequent relations with the Government was reproduced. Correspondence with Canning, Robinson, Bathurst, Holland, Plunket, and others had to be omitted. Even the coverage of 1820 was incomplete, for interesting letters from Lord Elgin on the Naples Revolution and on the course of reform in Germany were omitted (Add. MS. 59008, fols. 111-24, 125-8: 6, 17, 18 July and 27 Nov. 1820). The shortcomings of the tenth volume must not be over emphasized. Few other H.M.C. reports cover the early nineteenth century. The conditions under which Fitzpatrick worked are not known. Fitzpatrick selected the material for this final volume but did not live to write an introduction; he may have intended to cast some light on his reasons for his choice of material or even to publish a further volume. However, in the light of the high standards maintained in the earlier publications the failings of volume ten still remain a mystery. Material for this later period, especially for the period after Grenville's stroke in 1823, is not so abundant as for earlier years, but it contains much worth publishing; further reference will be made below to material omitted from the tenth volume. The H.M.C. was able to publish a proportion of Grenville's foreign papers relating to the French Wars, to Holland, the Americas, and to the abolition of the Slave Trade; much was omitted: in addition to several Dropmore volumes concerning Britain's relations with France, there are others relating to Austria, Russia, Prussia, Scandinavia, Italy, Spain, and Portugal (see Add. MSS. 59051-83). Other papers cover the military and naval campaigns, and provide information concerning the British forces during the war (Add. MSS. 59279-85). Three volumes deal with the organization of the yeomanry and militia; the latter material relates chiefly to the organization and training of these forces in Buckinghamshire, long the residence of, and a traditional sphere of interest for the Grenville family (Add. MSS. 59291-3). Other volumes contain correspondence with the War Office (1788-1809, n.d.: Add. MSS. 59286-90). Several series of papers indicate Grenville's interest in and work concerning finance and trade, the abolition of the Slave Trade, Church Reform and Roman Catholic affairs, and the colonies, most notably India and Canada. One of Grenville's major achievements was the framing and passing of the Canada Act of 1791, and a number of documents refer to this matter (Add. MSS. 59230, 59231). A series of 145 precis-books records in outline the correspondence of the Foreign Office under Grenville and the Duke of Leeds for the period 1789 to 1801. These volumes contain summaries of dispatches—and of some enclosures—sent to and received from Europe and America, including those relating to special missions such as that to Vienna in 1793, and to peace negotiations with France. They throw further light on the Foreign Ofi^ce records of this period, earlier outlined in The Records of the Foreign Office i782-ig3g (P.R.O. Handbook No. 13, London, 1969). James Bland Burges, appointed Under-secretary of State at the Foreign Office in August 1789, initiated a short-lived series of precis-books covering six European countries and roughly spanning the period from January to August 1790. The system was revived on Grenville becoming Foreign Secretary in 1791. Grenville's correspondence with Burges offers no clues as

77 to why the system was revived or why the first series was abandoned. The new series covered the years 1791 to 1796 and included two separate sequences of in and out correspondence for individual countries. The surviving series is incomplete: it is described as covering only France, Spain, and Prussia: the Prussian volume was in fact deposited later with the Chatham Papers. The precis-books for the period after Grenville left office in iSoi form a more complete series, which suggests that some earlier volumes hud been removed at some stage. It is now clear that Grenville transferred most of his precis-books to Dropmore. It was then the custom to treat such papers as private property, and most of the volumes at Dropmore and all those of the later series in the Public Record Office are labelled: 'Lord Grenville. Private'. Those dating from 1789 to 1790 are inscribed 'Secretary's Office. l'\D.' It is not clear why a few volumes were left behind. They may have been needed urgently or they may have been overlooked. However, the Handbook describes them as being in Burges's hand, while the Dropmore volumes are in several hands, including the latter's. It is possible, therefore, that Burges, who remained in office after 1801, retained the books for which he had been solely responsible. Loose rough notes of \\ illiam Pitt found in Add. MS. 58178, 'Prussia 1790', make it just possible that he passed the early volumes to Grenville. The former may possibly have had to supervise foreign affairs temporarily on the dismissal of the Duke of Leeds. These Dropmore precis-books include, for the 1789-90 series, volumes for Holland, Prussia, and Russia, and many volumes—covering seventeen countries—for the later series, some of which cover the whole period from 1791 to 1801. They appear to fill most of the gaps in the Public Record Office series. Two precis-books (Add. MSS. 59220, 59221) belong to an earlier series, and perhaps represent Burges's first attempt to reorganize the I'oreign Office records, being general all-country precis-books for the old Northern and Southern sections of the department for August to December 1789. Two volumes for Austria 1797/Russia 1799 and for Holland 1799-1800 (Add. MSS. 59227, 59228), are blank; another, for Italy 1798 (Add. MS. 59226), contains a few comments by Grenville dating from early 1809, recording his concern for Britain and the perilous position of the British army then in Spain. Two further volumes concerning peace negotiations at Paris and Lille (Add. MSS. 59131, 59132) were prepared in i8oi-2(?) from Foreign Office papers by H. W. W. Wynne, Grenville's nephew and secretary, after the latter's retirement from office. Many of the later entries in the precis-books were added by Wynne probably at this time, and Wynne also organized the removal of the precis-books, together with a quantity of Foreign Office papers, from London to Dropmore. For convenience all the precis-books have been kept in a single series.'^ It appears that Fitzpatrick made no use of them. Grenville's official and semi-official papers, other than those covering his work as a minister, relate largely to his duties as Auditor of the Exchequer, and as Chancellor of Oxford University, Governor of the Levant Company and of the London Charterhouse, and as High Steward of Bristol. Many of these papers are formal in content, largely relating to patronage, being correspondence with the Chief Clerks in the Audit Office,

78 the heads of Oxford colleges, and Deputy Governors of the Levant Company, together with general correspondence with lesser officials relating mainly to patronage, duties, and salaries. On the other hand, they provide an outline history of the working of these institutions and much incidental information about their functions, and show how, in the case of the Audit Office and the Levant Company, mounting demands for government efficiency and for the abolition of archaic trade monopolies brought Grenville into closer communication both with the institutions and the Government. Details are given of the reorganization of the Audit and of the winding up of the Levant Company in 1825, as part of a movement towards freer trade. Grenville's correspondence with John Cartwright, the Levant Company's Consul General at Constantinople, and with George Liddell, the Company's Secretary, contains, moreover, much information concerning the Greek War of Independence for the period 1821-3 (Add. MSS. 59265, 59266). Other material, largely unpublished, covers Grenville's role as a local landowner in Cornwall, Buckinghamshire, and elsewhere, and as a political and social leader in his neighbourhood. Some reference has already been made to papers and correspondence concerning the Buckinghamshire yeomanry and militia. Another volume contains Grenville's election correspondence as M.P. for Buckinghamshire (1784-90), and, together with Grenville's correspondence with his brothers and nephews, and with colleagues such as Scrope Bernard and W. H. Fremantle, provides valuable information concerning the Grenville interest in the county (Add. MS. 59315). Cornish correspond- ence, together with the Pitt family correspondence in this collection, provides some details respecting Cornish politics; correspondence relating to charities, particularly Buckinghamshire charities (Add. MSS. 59424, 59425), indicates, along with a few letters in the general correspondence on parochial and charity matters, another aspect of landowners' responsibility in the nineteenth century. The bulk of the correspondence and papers refer, however, to Grenville's property in Cornwall, Dorset, Buckinghamshire, and elsewhere: the Cornish property at Boconnoc had come to Grenville's wife Anne on the death of her brother Thomas Pitt, 2nd Lord Camelford, in 1804. Correspondence with minor estate officials and local landowners supplements Grenville's long and detailed correspondence with John Bowen, his steward in Cornwall (Add. MSS. 59440-5). The Buckinghamshire correspondence (Add. MSS. 59446-51, 59456-67 passim) consists of some correspondence with Bowen when the latter became steward at Dropmore, with local farmers, with agents, and with attorneys, notably with Wilson and Chisholm, Grenville's legal agents (Add. MSS. 59448, 59449). Both sets of correspondence, together with miscellaneous papers concerning property scattered in London, Dorset, and elsewhere, contain estate deeds and accounts, details of land purchases, mine explorations, property exchanges and improvements. An incomplete series of Buckinghamshire house and farm account books exists for the period 1815 to 1854, while other correspondence and papers cover the improvement of Dropmore House and its grounds. Grenville's correspondence with his bankers, Coutts & Co., covers the years 1786 to 1832 and includes his personal correspondence with Thomas Coutts (Add. MSS. 59451-5)- A few references to Dropmore and the Grenville estates

79 after Grenville's death can also be found in letters from Thomas Grenville to Lady Grenville (see below), and further estate transactions are covered in Lord Grenville's correspondence with the latter (Add. MS. 58873). Grenville was noted as a classical scholar, as a writer on economic affairs, and as a collector of books, but unlike his brothers he does not appear to have been an energetic patron of the arts. His greatest service to history and literature was his encouragement of the efforts of his nephew, the Reverend George Neville, to decipher Samuel Pepys's diaries preserved at Cambridge. He deciphered some pages of the diaries himself, having, according to Samuel Rogers, 'tho' a slow man discovered the shorthand cyphers in Pepys Memoirs after a fortnight's fagging at it' (Add. MS. 32566, fol. 99). Neville's letters on this subject end unfortunately in October 1818 or thereabouts with a reference to his finding 'a young man (an Undergraduate of this University) who knows something of shorthand, and who is undertaking to write out Pepys diary for me' (Add. MS. 58904, fols. 141-2: 24 Aug., Oct.[?] 1818). The man was John Smith, who, after reputedly working for ten to twelve hours a day from 1819 to 1825, finally published the diary in 1825.'' Like many of his aristocratic contemporaries, Grenville was keenly interested in history, science, and archaeology. He was a trustee of the British Museum, and, prior to the negotiations with the Government concerning the Elgin Marbles, Lord Elgin deposited five portfolios of drawings of Greek vases, architecture, and pottery at Grenville's London house. Thirty letters from Professor William Buckland, the Oxford geologist and later Dean of Westminster, indicate Grenville's interest in geology, and, as Chancellor of Oxford University, in the geological studies at Oxford. They also reveal something of the progress of pre-Darwinian geology, for Buckland mentions many of his activities and travels over the period 1818-31. The geologist refers to meetings with Humboldt and Cuvier, to the deposit of African and Canadian geological specimens at the British Museum, and to his lectures and writings. In one letter (20 Jan. 1822: Add. MS. 58995, fols. 87-9), Buckland outlines his work in the Kirkdale Cave in Yorkshire and the importance of the bones and teeth of mammals discovered there for the study of the prediluvian world; his writings concerning this site were to make his name as a geologist. Buckland's deep involvement in his subject is manifest in his letters, and he clearly expected Grenville to share his interest and excitement, when, for instance, a mammoth's head from Siberia was sent to him for study (ibid., fol. 82: 13 Nov. 1820). Grenville was also known as a keen collector of maps. Ambassadors and agents abroad were commissioned to obtain additions to his library. Only a few maps, however, were found among the Dropmore Papers.^ They include an ink map of Smyrna and its hinterland by Major James Rennell the cartographer,^ a plan of the battle of Acre (1800),'^ a manuscript version, with two partly coloured prints, of a 'Sketch of the Action between the British and French Forces at Vimiera' (1808) by a W-M-,^^ and a published 'Sketch of the Attack upon the French Position at Zambuiera by the Army under ... Sir A. Wellesley . . .' (1808).^^ Little is known about an untitled, partly coloured manuscript map of the concourse of the Meta, Arauca, and Orinoco rivers on

80 the Columbia-Venezuela border. ^^ Military positions and fortifications are given, and the map seems to relate to some stage of the Wars of Independence, although more research is necessary before a firm date can be established. Grenville was interested in South America and its trade with Britain; an anonymous manuscript plan exists among his papers for the transfer of the Portuguese King to Brazil and the developing of British interests there (Add. MS. 59285). Grenville sought to assist revolutionaries captured and taken to Spain, and received from one, a priest called Don Jose Cortes de Madariaga, an account of his journey across South America in 1811.^* The South American map most probably came also from the latter. Grenville's estate papers contain several small- and large-scale plans of his estates in Buckinghamshire, while his London property papers include Robert Smirke's plan and estimate for Camelford House

Grenville acquired, through his wife, both the estates and the family papers of the Pitts of Boconnoc, on the death of her brother, the 2nd Lord Camelford, in 1804.' ^ Many of the papers of Thomas 'Diamond' Pitt of Madras, and of his heirs, including corre- spondence of Thomas Pitt with Dr. Ayscough, the parliamentary agent of the Prince of Wales, and Anne Pitt's correspondence with Bolingbroke, Lord Chesterfield, Horace Wal- pole, and others, have been published by the H.M.C. There remain unpublished some papers of Robert Pitt, Diamond Pitt's son, and the personal, political, and estate corre- spondence and papers of Thomas Pitt, ist Lord Camelford, Lord Grenville's brother-in- law. Further material relates to the career and political interests of the 2nd Lord Camel- ford, a violent, unstable man whose temperament and addiction to swordplay jeopardized his naval career and led to his early death in a duel. Grenville was in the unenviable position of having to act in Camelford's interest, in trying to soothe the latter's superiors, supporting his harassed family, and trying to keep Camelford out of prison. Other correspondence series largely omitted from the published volumes include correspondence with bishops, such as Bishop Moss of Oxford, Bishop Tomline of Lincoln, and Bishop Cleaver of St. Asaph, and correspondence with emigres, such as Hendrik Fagel, the Duke of Orleans, the Count of Artois, and Sir Francis d'lvernois. Scattered throughout the collection are letters from well-known personalities; these include the reformers Major John Cartwright, Thomas Attwood and William Cobbett, Tom Moore, Sir Joseph Banks, Robert Fulton the submarine inventor, Humphry Repton, John TrumbuU and Sir Thomas Lawrence the painters, John Flaxman the sculptor, Joseph Lancaster, Matthew Boulton, J. R. McCulloch, and Sir Humphrey Davy. One signature of interest is that of Richard Abbey of 'Pancrass Lane', the city merchant who acted as guardian to John Keats. His signature appears among those of city merchants and others on a petition of 1818 to Grenville as Auditor of the Exchequer to obtain an Exchequer post for an employee of a firm of London furriers (Add. MS. 59278, fol. 60). Of an earlier date is a letter from Charles I to Prince Rupert, dated 3 September 1644 and written at Boconnoc after Charles's victory over Essex at Lostwithiel: 'God's Protection of a just Cause, was never more apparent then at this time . . . Goring is now hemming in the Rebels Horse, which broke from us . . .'.

81 Tbe letter, now Add. MS. 59438, fol. 59, calendared by the H.M.C. (2nd Report 1871, p. 49) and printed in full in S. R. Gardiner (ed.). The Fortescue Papers (London, 1871, p. 218), supplements other letters of Charles I to Prince Rupert already in the Department (for instance. Add. MS. 18983 passim). It was probably purchased by Grenville, presumably because of its links with Boconnoc, a much-loved home of the Grcnvillcs in C-ornwall, and at one time the seat of the Pitt family, his wife's ancestors. Other miscellaneous material in the Dropmore Papers includes copies, in different hands, of seventeenth-century letters, the majority from Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, to his cousin Sir George Radcliffe (Add. MS. 59438, fols. 1-54). These letters, some of which were sold at Sotheby's in 1888, were first published—with others which were not copied —in 1810 by the Revd. T. D. Whitaker of Whalley, Lancashire, when they were in the possession of the Elmsall Family {The Life and Original Correspondence of Sir George Radcliffe). These manuscript copies, however, almost certainly date from before 1810; some, in the hand of William Cleaver, Bishop of Chester, and a friend of the Grenville family, bear watermarks dated 1794; others, in two unknown hands, have watermarks dated 1798 and 1799. These copies contain minor variations from Whitaker's text, and bear endorsements not in Whitaker. It seems likely that the Dropmore copies are more accurate versions of the originals (though this cannot be ascertained definitely in the latter's absence), which were in circulation, in manuscript at least, before \\ hitaker's publication. A few other individual items in tbis collection merit special attention. Grenville's colonial papers contain a copy of'A Journal of Observations made on a journey inland from Prince of Wales's Fort . . .' from December 1770 to June 1772 by Samuel Hearne, an official of the Hudson's Bay Company, whose Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort . . . to the Northern Oceun^ (London, 1795) was based on his travel journals for 1769-72. Published posthumously, this latter work originated in Hearne's desire to correct errors in the texts of copies and extracts from his manuscript journals, circulating at the time among several 'learned and curious gentlemen'. Grenville and his brother the Marquis of Buckingham were clearly among these men. The original journal or journals have disappeared and Buckingham's copy (Stowe MS. 307, fols. 67 ff.), and a transcript in the Ottawa archives, were believed to be the sole surviving texts. Add. MS. 59237, apparently in the hand of Charles Goddard, one time secretary to Grenville, appears identical to the Stowe MS., save for some differences in punctuation; it is undated but was probably copied out in the early 1790s when Goddard was employed by Grenville, most likely at about the same time as Stowe MS 307, which is dated 1791. Grenville was then closely involved with Canadian affairs and may well have had easy access to a copy of the journal. Other Canadian items of interest include an anonymous account of 'Further Possible Advantages of a North-West Communication with the Pacific Ocean' (Add. MS. 59235, n.d. but after 1788) and the 'Original Memoir fronn Captain Simcoe respecting the conquest of Canada from Fr'ance in 1760—with observations on the present state of that Country' (Add. MS. 59236), given by Simcoe to Grenville in 1790.

82 Another travel diary records the impressive feat of George Forster of the East India Company in travelling overland from Jumboo in Hindustan to Astrakhan in 1783-4 (Add. MS. 59248). Grenville wrote on this work 'W. W. G. 1785. Given me by Mr. Forster'. It is a list of the places visited, with dates and distances and brief references to the topography. Forster's A Journey from Bengal to England (2 vols., London, 1798) is clearly based on the same source as Add. MS. 59248, but the entries are much fuller, and there are discrepancies in the dating and distances. Details given in the manuscript were omitted in the published Journey^ and one or two visits to places are mentioned in the latter but not in the former. A section relating to Forster's stay in Kabul (August-October 1783) in the printed work bears little relation to the manuscript text; the former seems in places either corrupt or hastily revised, but the existence of another version of Add. MS. 59248 in the Banks Papers (Add. MS. 33977, fols. 260-2) makes it clear that the two copiers could have been responsible for some discrepancies. While both manuscripts are essentially the same, each omits some material found in the other and both differ occasionally in layout and punctuation. Several items in the collection relate to the French Wars, the background to much of Grenville's public career. His nephew. Lord John Proby, saw service in Spain under Sir John Moore, and a copy of a letter to his father Lord Carysfort, written at Corunna in January 1809 (Add. MS. 58893, fols. 95-6), gives a vivid picture of the British retreat before superior French forces:

I do not think that we have left behind less than 5000 men. We have been under the Necessity of destroying tiie greater part of our Ammunition from the total Failure of the Means of Conveyance, much of our Baggage and some of our Money has been abandoned from the same cause, and we have lost by Fatigue upwards of two thirds of the Horses of the Cavalry. Englishmen are not capable of bearing all at once the Fatigues which this Army has undergone. We have marched constantly from 25 to 30 Miles a day frequently without Provisions up to our Knees in Mud, without Shoes, and exposed to constant Rains.

Proby added, however, that 'Both Officers and Soldiers have given Way every where except before the Enemy, they cannot boast of having driven an English Soldier a single Inch in Action'. He was to survive this retreat, unlike Moore, but letters like this may well have confirmed the Grenvilles in their stubborn opposition to British action in Spain. Another relative. Lord Nugent, visited Paris in April 1814, before the Hundred Days, and in a letter (Add. MS. 58900, fol. 27 ff.), describes the mood of the French: they now condemned Napoleon, whereas they had lauded him a few months earlier; they sought to forget the past, but had no sense of their humiliation and loss, and were surprisingly unenthusiastic about the Restoration. Nugent observed Monsieur's first review of the national guard at the Tuileries:

If ever one is to expect a burst of spontaneous feeling, surely it must be at such a scene at such a moment—Not at all. The cries of Vive le Roy' seemed the mere mechanical effusions of mouth hommagc and the Emperors of Austria and of Russia were received by them with as much attention as the representative and Brother of their restored monarch.

83 (-learly Napoleon's return would meet little opposition. In the meantime a distant relative, midshipman George Sidney Smith of the Undaunted, had the honour of waiting upon Napoleon at Saint Rafael, to ferry him to this vessel prior to his journey to exile on Elba. A letter to his uncle. Admiral Sir Sidney Smith, and an extract from one to his sister copied in the hand of Charles Douglas Smith, refer to the voyage (Add. MSS. 58980, fol. 172; 59004, fols. 130 3: I June, 8 July 1814). Two sketches of Napoleon supposedly sent to the Admiral are unfortunately missing. Napoleon was shown due respect—a stage or jetty was erected for him at Saint Rafael, and Smith picked up the pebbles where Napoleon took what he believed to be his last steps on French soil—but Smith was hostile to 'Mr. Boney', refused to be his aide-de-camp, and ate with him only once; this animosity arose from Smith having been imprisoned in France for a number of years. His account of Napoleon is therefore disappointingly meagre, mentioning little beyond a picture of Napoleon at High Mass on his arrival at Elba 'on his knees the whole time looking as meek as a lamb his hands joined and his eyes in the air', and a reference to his telling Smith that 'he cared little for Sidney at Acre as he fired very badly. I told him Sir Sidney said the same of him'. Bonaparte himself later showed more civility as a host, when meeting yet another relative of Grenville's, Viscount Ebrington, on Elba. A record of his two visits to Napoleon in December 1814 was published in 1823. Ebrington sent a manuscript copy to Grenville via Lord Holland in 1815; this is no longer in the collection but another manuscript version is preserved in the Holland House Papers (Add. MS. 51525). Frederick Douglas, son of Lord Glenbervie, also visited Napoleon on Elba. No account of this interview seems to have been published, though a manuscript report may well be preserved in some other archive, but 'the substance [of the conversation], preserving the principal words of each passage' survives in a letter to Grenville from Benjamin Garlike who, presumably, had seen a transcription. On this occasion Napoleon mocks the Pope, brands Metternich a habitual liar, and stresses the 'faussete' of Czar Alexander. He displays a keen interest in foreign affairs and in the fate of the Bourbons, only to dismiss such subjects as being no longer his concern with the words: 'je suis mort'. Douglas depicts him as being poor and slovenly in appearance, the French Government neglecting to pay his pension. The conversation appears genuine, although the accuracy of this version can only be tested by comparison with a full report, if one survives (Add. MS. 59018, fols. 207-10, Garlike to Grenville: 4 Feb. [1815]). Garlike certainly seems to suggest that a version, printed or otherwise, was then in circulation (ibid., foL 207), A small number of family letters refers to the Grenville family's fortunes after Grenville's death. There are two volumes of letters from Thomas Grenville to Lady Grenville for the period 1807 to 1846, the year of Tom Grenville's death. Among much domestic and social trivia are references to Lady Grenville's financial problems and (Add. MS. 58903, fols. 3-4: 3 Feb. 1836) to an abortive scheme to publish Grenville's speeches, with a short memoir. Tom Grenville is shown to be a lover of travel, visiting distant relatives and friends regularly until past his 90th birthday. He was an early if unlucky patron of railways; in October 1838 he 'went from Worsley to see Liverpool by Railroad and found the passage as easy and the sight as dazzling and disagreeable to the eyes as I expected; but I was obliged by the hour to return by a 2*' class, the delays of which were bad enough, but the noise and clatter and roughness of what they called an old train were still much worse' (ibid., fol. 74). Worse was to follow in September 1841, when Grenville travelled to Trentham: I suppose that the height of my carriage makes it unfit for the Rail-Road, for tho' I saw it very tightly strapped down, it oscillated so much as to be quite intolerable, and I saw that Morgan on the box could scarcely keep himself within it. At the first station of Tring therefore I quitted my own carriage and got into that of the Train, leaving my seat to Morgan. The master of the unfortunate Morgan had further problems, for though his seat was 'steady and comfortable' and his four companions were 'very gentlemanlike men', the hot weather had caused them to open 'every possible access to air' and the draught was such that 'in ten minutes I had a violent cold in my head, which still in some degree hangs upon me' (ibid., fols. ioo-i). Other late letters of Thomas Grenville, like Grenville a trustee of the British Museum, refer briefly to meetings with Panizzi, the Keeper of Printed Books. The Museum's acquisition in 1847 of Thomas Grenville's magnificent library was largely due to Grenville's friendship with Panizzi, for Grenville's low opinion of his fellow trustees had meant that the fate of his library was long in doubt. Panizzi was informed of the final decision on 2 November 1845; a bitterly disappointed nephew, the Duke of Buckingham, had been told a few days earlier, and Lady Grenville's copies of this letter and Thomas's reply to Buckingham's, the latter unfortunately not in the collection, are now in Add. MS. 58904 (fols. 171-2, 173-4: 25, 29 Oct. 1845).''' A few letters hint at the troubles which were soon to affect the Grenville family; in 1847 the second Duke of Buckingham was declared a bankrupt, and his son was obliged to endeavour to recover the family fortunes. ^^ In the most recent-dated letter in the collection the latter told Lady Grenville that: I can never forget that you were the first and I might almost add the only one of my family who in 1847 came forward to give us substantial assistance, and that it was by your kindness with regard to your annuity that I was enabled to keep my dear Mother so comfortably at Wotton through the first sad time of our troubles (Add. MS. 58904, fols. 185-6: 14 Mar. 1864). The great sales of property, fittings, books, papers, and pictures that followed the Buckingham bankruptcy were not repeated at Dropmore. Lady Grenville had not the wealth, possessions, or pretensions of her nephews and great-nephews and faced no such dramatic change in her financial fortunes. She had no direct heirs to quarrel over, divide, or burn Lord Grenville's papers; they passed to her relatives, the Fortescues, after her death in 1864. This family was to retain the possession of the papers for over a century. Some material was disposed of Some Pitt material was sold to the British Museum in 1859,^^ and the Fortescue State Papers, part of the Pitt property, were presented to the Bodleian Library in 1872.^^ After Fitzpatrick's inspections, moreover, other researchers were to disturb Grenville's arrangements to some extent. However,

8s the bulk of the collection was to remain little known and generally well kept in Grenville's portfolios and books, well preserved in an isolation as gratifying to present-day archivists and scholars as it was galling for past historians. It is as a consequence at once both an important record of the career of a leading statesman of the past, and a major source for the history of the period of the French Wars and their aftermath.

Synopsis of tbe Dropmore Papers A. Royal Correspondence {58855-72) B. Family Correspondence {58873 905) C. Special ofHcial correspondence (58906-9050) D. General official correspondence {59051-410): Foreign and diplomatic correspondence and papers (59051-83) Precis-books (59084-228) F"oreign Office letters and papers (59229) Colonial correspondence and papers (59230-50) Correspondence and papers relating to Ireland, Scotland, Isle of Man, Channel Islands, and Orkneys {59251-63) Roman Catholic affairs (59264) Correspondence as Governor of the Levant Company (59265-7) Correspondence as Auditor of the Exchequer (59268-78) Military and naval letters and papers {59279-94) Finance, Commerce and Trade {59295-304) Miscellaneous political correspondence and papers (59305-53) General Correspondence {59354-410) I',. Semi-official correspondence and papers {59411-25): Correspondence as Chancellor of Oxford {59411-9) ^ Correspondence as High Steward of Bristol {59420) London (Charter House; Trinity House Deptford {59421-3) Miscellaneous charities {59424, 59425) F. Miscellaneous correspondence and papers, chiefly literary {59426-39) G. Estate correspondence, books, and papers (59440-78) H. Papers of the Pitt family of Boconnoc {59479-94)

See also Dropmore charters. Add. Ch. 75794-808: miscellaneous appointments, property leases, and financial documents, 1788-1833.

86 1 Report on the manuscripts ofj. B. Eortescue, Esq., 8 A number were sold at the Sotheby Dropmore preserved at Dropmore, ro vols., Historical Manu- Sale, held on 18-20 Mar. 1969. scripts Commission (1892-1927). One work 9 Enclosed in a letter from Rennell to Grenville, based in part on the Dropmore archive is 27 Jan. 1810 (Add. MS. 58996, fol. 99). Bradford Perkins, The Eirst Rapprochement: 10 Add. MS. 59032, fols. 29-30. England and the United States i/gs-j8os (Phila- 11 Add. MS. 59283A, B. These documents were delphia, 1955). enclosed in a letter from W. Wickham to Gren- 2 J. Holland Rose, Life of William Pitt, 2 vols. ville, 5 Nov. 1808 (Add. MS. 59013, fols. 197- (London, 1923), vol. i, p. 281. 200). The colour prints appear to be early map 3 Add. MSS. 42083-8, 57804-37 (Papers of lithographs, similar to a map auctioned at George Grenville); 40177-733 (Letter-books Sotheby's, 13 July 1976, 491. of the ist Marquis of Buckingham); 34472, 12 Add. MS. 59282B; enclosed in a letter from 41851-9, 42058 (Thomas Grenville Papers). The Wickham to Grenville, 14 Oct. 1808 (Add. MS. Dropmore Papers also supplement papers of 59013, fols. 195-6). Lord Grenville already in the Department of 13 Add. MS. 59284. Manuscripts, for instance, Add. MSS. 36808-10, 14 Add. MSS. 59285, 59079 (Madariaga); for 36813 (Grenvilbe-Bute), and 39841-2 (Grenville- Madariaga also see Add. MS. 58913, fols. iio- Starhemberg letters). The Dropmore Papers in 11: Grenville to Wellesley, 11 Jan. 1813; the fact include some of Pitt's papers. A large number 'Diario y Observaciones) of his travels from of letters to Pitt and his secretary containing sug- Santa Fe to Caracas was published by him in gestions for taxes, ciating from 1804 to 1806, were Caracas in 1811. given to Grenville by the Bishop of Lincoln, Pitt's 15 Add. MS. 59471. biographer (Add. MSS. 59318-20). The largest 16 Add. MSS. 59479-94. Other Pitt family papers of all Grenville archives is the Stowe Collection were acquired in 1859 (Add. MSS. 22842-56). in the Huntington Library {c. 525,000 pieces). 17 For the history of the Grenville Library, see also For Pitt see also John Ehrman, The Younger Pitt Edward Miller, That Noble Cabinet, (London, (London, 1969), and J. Holland Rose, op. cit. i973)> PP- 163-6; Add. MS. 47458A (11 letters 4 The Stowe Collection holds 2,500 Admiralty of Thomas Grenville concerning the disposition papers dating from this period: Jean Preston, of his library 1838-46); and Add. MS. 45498V 'Collections of English Historical Manuscripts in (letters of Thomas Grenville to Philip Bliss, etc., the Huntington Library', Archives, vi, (1963), concerning the library, 1842-7). p. 99. See also Hardin Craig jun., 'The First r8 For the later history of the Grenvilles see James J. Lord opens his mail. Thomas Grenville and Sack, The Decline of the Grenville Faction his personnel problems at the Admiralty under the First Duke of Buckingham and 1806-1807', Huntington Library Quarterly, Chandos 1817-1829', The Journal of British xxxiii, no. 2 (1970), pp. 175-86. See also Add. Studies, XV, no. i. (Nov. 1975), pp. 112-34; MSS. 41851-9. F. B. Heath, 'The Grenvilles in the Nineteenth 5 Add. MS. 58947, fols. 63-9, 71-5, 100-6,107-11. century: the Emergence of Commercial Affilia- 6 Add. MSS. 59084-228. tions', Huntington Library Quarterly, xxv no. i 7 For the history of the transcription and publica- (1961), pp. 29-49; David and Kileen Spring, 'The tion of the diary see R. C. Latham and W. Fall of the Grenvilles, 1844-1848', Huntington Matthews (ed.). The Diary of Samuel Pepys, vol. i Library Quarterly, xix, (Feb. 1956), pp. 165-90. (London, 1973)- The Dropmore Papers make it 19 See note 16. clear that George Neville found Smith, and show 20 Now Bodleian, Add. D.109-12. Sec F. Madan, that it is possible that Smith began work in 1818, Summary Catalogue of Western MSS in the some months earlier than previously believed to Bodleian Library, vol. v (Oxford, 1905), be the case. PP- 544-5-