ship, arrived from St. Thomas at Portsmouth; and I think they are
disposed to believe it at the Admiralty, though they have no
official account of it.

Our idea in London is, that all Irish courts-martial proceeding on
martial law will be suspended till this question is decided; my own
opinion is, that if the courts of law can safely sit, the courts of
martial law cannot exist at the same time. These latter seem to me
to grow only out of such a disturbed state of things as will not
allow of the due administration of justice by the regular course of
law, and therefore that for a time military government must for the
common safety stand in lieu of the courts of law; but to allow the
courts of law to resume their functions, is, in itself, as it
strikes me, a notice of the cessation of martial law; they cannot
go on together _inter arma silent leges_.

It is expected that Fox and his friends will continue to secede;
and Tierney support the Address, abuse O'Connor, and attack
Government only on this last event in Ireland. Pray write to me by
return of post. I presume I may depend on Mr. Fisher, and therefore
that I am secure in waiting for him.

No news yet of the 'Melpomene.'

God bless you, my dearest brother.

LORD GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Cleveland Row, Dec. 11th, 1798.
MY DEAREST BROTHER,

I have this morning received your letter; and to the first
paragraph of it I will only say that I am too much accustomed to
your kindness to be surprised at this fresh instance of it. Be
assured that I feel it as I ought.

Tom will, I think, set out to-morrow, though it is in truth useless
for him to leave town while this east wind blows in the teeth of
all our projects. He will have a more difficult task to accomplish
than I once thought, particularly on account of a new intrigue that
has just sprung up at Berlin, as if on purpose to cross or thwart
our plans. Still, however, I persuade myself that all will
ultimately go right, and I am confident that he will do whatever
can be done.

If no more solid arguments are opposed to the Union than those of
Mr. Wild, we shall have at least the victory in disputation, though
in point of violence and inflammation he will, to be sure, not be
easily surpassed. The part which