t of the Lord
Chancellor, and of Lord Weymouth, then Secretary of State, I vindicated,
against the French manifesto, the justice of the British arms. The
whole correspondence of Lord Stormont, our late ambassador at Paris,
was submitted to my inspection, and the Memoire Justificatif, which I
composed in French, was first approved by the Cabinet Ministers, and
then delivered as a State paper to the courts of Europe. The style and
manner are praised by Beaumarchais himself, who, in his private quarrel,
attempted a reply; but he flatters me, by ascribing the memoir to Lord
Stormont; and the grossness of his invective betrays the loss of temper
and of wit; he acknowledged, Oeuv. de Beaumarchais, iii. 299, 355, that
le style ne seroit pas sans grace, ni la logique sans justesse, &c. if
the facts were true which he undertakes to disprove. For these facts
my credit is not pledged; I spoke as a lawyer from my brief, but the
veracity of Beaumarchais may be estimated from the assertion that
France, by the treaty of Paris (1763) was limited to a certain number of
ships of war. On the application of the Duke of Choiseul, he was obliged
to retract this daring falsehood.

Among the honourable connections which I had formed, I may justly
be proud of the friendship of Mr. Wedderburne, at that time
Attorney-General, who now illustrates the title of Lord Loughborough,
and the office of Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. By his strong
recommendation, and the favourable disposition of Lord North, I was
appointed one of the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations; and
my private income was enlarged by a clear addition of between seven and
eight hundred pounds a-year. The fancy of an hostile orator may paint,
in the strong colours of ridicule, "the perpetual virtual adjournment,
and the unbroken sitting vacation of the Board of Trade." [Note: I can
never forget the delight with which that diffusive and ingenious orator,
Mr. Burke, was heard by all sides of the house, and even by those whose
existence he proscribed. (Speech on the Bill of Reform, p. 72-80.) The
Lords of Trade blushed at their insignificancy, and Mr. Eden's appeal to
the 2,500 volumes of our Reports, served only to excite a general laugh.
I take this opportunity of certifying the correctness of Mr. Burke's
printed speeches, which I have heard and read.] But it must be allowed
that our duty was not intolerably severe, and that I enjoyed many days
and weeks of repose, witho