turn them over to the bye boats and London traders, which being the property of merchants could not be fubjected to passports. The fallacy as well as the selfishness of this argument is apparent. The bye boats are hired chiefly for families, and when they cross the water, do not wait on the other fide to pick up fingle paffengers; and as to the London traders they do not perform a voyage and its return, in less than a month; whereas the packets go twice in the week, when the wind is fair. But Mr. Barham having carried his point, should have kept his own fecret, and not have communicated this futile argument to the haughty captain Robert Wellard, who, foaming with rage, related the whole circumftance to Brame.

It is obfervable, that during all the laft war, the faid captain Robert Wellard was allowed, though a hale, hearty, middle-aged man, to ftay at home at Dover, and hold the two places of captain of a man of war, and captain of a packet boat, in the latter of which he did not fail once in fix months, leaving it to the care of his mate to fecure the mails from French privateers; and was at home by his fire fide, when thirteen Flanders and Italian mails were infamously brought home by a finuggling cutter in the year 1760, while his packet and fome others lay in Flushing harbour, and would not ftir out the faid cutter performed her voyage and returned in fafety to Flufhing to expend in teas and geneva, the fum paid to them by Mr. Barham for doing the duty of captain Robert Wellard's packet and its companions. But the cafe was this, the cutter had nothing to fear from the mafter of a small open boat privateer that lay in the Dunlow channel.

In the year 1766, Mr. Gordon his majefty's minifter at Bruffels, obtained a confiderable dimunition of the duties on paper hangings imported into Flanders from England. The very exorbitant duty on this article, amounting nearly to a prohibition, had been a fubject of repeated complaint from Mr. Mortimer to the king's minifters at Bruffels in a feries of letters from 1764 to this time, and for which he had received their repeated thanks.

In the months of October and November of the fame year Mr. Mortimer had the happiness to transmit very material intelligence to Mr. Gordon at Bruffels, and to the right honourable general Conway, then fecretary of ftate, concerning the feduction of British manufacturers and artificers from Great Britain to France and Flanders, particularly pointing out feveral perfons employed in London to feduce them; and in a conference with Mr. Gordon

D 2

Gordon on that subject he had the honour to advise the meafure, of ordering the acts of Parliament inflicting various penalties on the feducers and the feduced, to be read in the parish churches of all the manufacturing towns in Great Britain every three months, and to be frequently inferted in the London Gazette. Upon this occafion Mr. Mortimer received the following letter of approbation by order of general Conway, which is here inferted, as it was the last notice that was taken of him, the last attention that was paid to any letters he fent to the secretary of ftate's office on public bufinefs, or to any fervices he rendered to his country, though his zeal, activity, and diligence continued the fame to the very last hour that he remained in office.

SIR,

St. James's, 25th Nov. 1766.

I am directed by Mr. Secretary Conway, to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 15th inft. and to approve the attention you have fo properly fhewn to the evil practices which have too fuccefsfully prevailed, of enticing the manufacturers of this country to settle themselves abroad, and am to recommend it to you to endeavour to find out the seducers of thefe deluded people, and to acquaint me, for general Conway's information, with any difcoveries you may make on this head. For your inftruction 1 send you inclosed two acts of parliament, (being wrote for by Mr. Mortimer) to which you will conform in every particular, and that none may plead ignorance of the laws in force. I am to defire you will inform the captain of every English veffel trading to Oftend, as well as the captains of the packet-boats, of the rifque they run if they act in open violation of the laws to which they owe obedience. As you must be fenfible how neceffary it is for the king's fervice, that you fhould communicate every step you take to the king's minifter at Bruffels, you will, I make no doubt, conftantly correfpond with him.

I am Sir, your most obedient humble fervant, To Mr. Mortimer. WILLIAM BURKE. It should seem by the conclufion of this letter, that the king's minifter at Bruffels had been giving hints to the office, that he wished to confine Mr. Mortimer's correspondence to himself, and to prevent his corresponding as a principal, with the secretary of state; otherwise the admonition was needlefs, for Mr. Mortimer had always mentioned in his letters to the office, his conftant correfpondence with the minister at Bruffels; and to fay the truth, Mr. Gordon had made such warm profeffions of promoting his intereft at home, and had taken fuch pains to inftil the notion, "that he would much fooner

get

get preferment through the recommendation of the king's minifters atBruffels, than through the merit of any fervices of his own;" that he conftantly tranfmitted fome important intelligence or other to Mr. Gordon, to fill up that minister's weekly difpatches.

Nothing material happened in the vice-conful's department till the month of July, 1767, when Mr. Mortimer fent the following express to the secretary of state.

SIR,

Oftend, July 24, 1767.

I think it my duty to inform your excellency, that the British merchantman named The Friend's Good Will, Francis Lott, mafter, failed into this harbour in the night of the 22d. fhe is laden with wheat from the port of Magador in Africa, for this port. The Baltimore, (the mafter as yet unknown) from the fame place, came to anchor in the road the next morning; and a third, is hourly expected to appear.

The magiftrates of this place affembled yesterday morning very early, and ordered centinels to guard each fide of the canal of the port, to cut off all communication with the Friends Good Will, and to prevent their landing any of their people, or any letters; at the fame time they ordered the mafter to depart with his fhip the following tide.

The alarm was fo great, and the confternation of the inhabitants fo general, that the cannon were ordered to be loaded, and to be fired on the Baltimore in the road, if she fhould attempt to come in-the weather being too stormy to fend out the pilot boat with proper fignals and orders.

I spoke with the mafter and pilot of the Friends Good Will, who informed me they were all well on board, that they had not been in any port of Great Britain; and had only touched off Dover to take in the faid pilot. The confternation of the people here, arofe from a fuppofition that these fhips had been refused admittance into the British ports, which feemed highly probable, as we have been conftantly exporting wheat in great quantities for fome time paft; it was therefore not to be credited that their cargoes were deftined for the consumption of this country.

On enquiry, I found that these ships were configned to an English broker here, who had expected them for fome time; and the wheat was to be unladen, and refhipped for the ports of England, in small British veffels lying here for that purpose, under the denomination of Flemish wheat. This circumftance occafions me the honour of writing to your excellency; I do not fufpect with the Flemings, that the plague is actually on board thefe fhips; but I imagine the cargoes may be faulty,

and

and that the mafters and owners may attempt to land this wheat at the port of Bristol, for which place the fhips are now destined, under falfe denominations. The packet being on the point of failing I have only time to add, that I have the honour to be, &c.

To his excellency Gen. Conway,

any

&c. &c. &c.

T. MORTIMER.

Having obtained his majesty's leave of absence for a short time, Mr. Mortimer in the following month, found W. FRASER, Efq; in the fecretary of ftate's office in the character of one of the under-fecretaries, as he had never received letter from this gentleman, but had conftantly been wrote to either by his excellency, or Mr. Burke, who had now refigned, he was an entire ftranger to Mr. Mortimer, who however, after the usual civilities thought proper to ask him if the above letter had been received, to which Mr. Frafer answering in the affirmative, but without any remark thereon, Mr. Mortimer put a fecond question, "I hope I did right in fending that intelligence?" Anf. "O yes, very right, it came in time to be laid before the privy council, and to prevent the landing of the wheat in any of the British ports." About a fortnight after this, a general alarm was spread upon the Exchange of London, about these ships, occafioned by a letter from a French merchant, that they had been hovering off the coaft of France, and had been refused admittance every where, and also that the magiftrates of Zealand had fent circular letters, to inform thofe of France, that fuch fhips having the plague on board, were trying to get into fome port; and commodore Moore upon this occafion received inftructions concerning them, as appeared by the public papers. To make the least of the matter, the confequences might have been fatal to his majefty's fubjects, if they had confumed damaged wheat, which came from fuch a fufpected country as Africa, had been so long on board, and had fuffered more ftill by the heat of the season, in fhort, this wheat was finally flung into the fea. Yet the immediate attention fhewn by Mr. Mortimer to fuch an important event, could not procure him that approbation from Mr. Frafer, Mr. Hatton's fast friend, which he had been accustomed to receive from the office. He now therefore became convinced, that he had a dangerous enemy in Mr. Fraser; but fome time after, being received by general Conway, on taking leave to return to his station, with his ufual politeness and affability, and treated with great civility, by the truly celebrated David Hume, Efq; he determined to make himself easy, to pursue his duty with the fame alacrity, and patiently to wait the iffue,

But

But when general Conway refigned, and lord Weymouth was appointed, a circumftance happened, which gave him room to expect that he should be treated with contempt and neglect; but he did not imagine it poffible, after he had got poffeffion of fuch a pofitive proof under lord Sandwich's hand, of Mr. Hatton's promifing not to moleft him in his office, that any attempt would be made to remove him; he therefore refolved to endeavour to change every inftance of coolness and incivility from the office, into efteem, if poffible, by a diligent attention to please.

The circumstance referred to is this. On the appointment of his grace the duke of Grafton to be fecretary of ftate for the Northern provinces, Mr. Mortimer received the following genteel letter.

SIR,

Whitehall, 12th July, 1765.

The king having been pleased to appoint me to be his principal secretary of ftate, for the Northern department, in the room of the Earl of Sandwich; I am to defire that you would for the future, addrefs your letters to me, which I shall not fail to lay regularly before his majesty, and to transmit to you fuch orders and inftructions, as the king fhall think proper to give for your guidance and direction.

I am, Sir, your most obedient
humble fervant,

Mr. Vice Conful Mortimer. GRAFTON. A fimilar letter was fent to him by general Conway on his appointment; and it is remarkable, that difpatches were regularly fent to him upon all public occafions, fuch as births or deaths in the royal family, with the king's fpeech on the meeting and diffolution of parliament, &c. befides frequent instructions relative to the bufinefs of his office. But when lord Weymouth came into office, no further notice was taken of him, not so much as to notify that event, and at the time when the remarkable tranfaction happened, of which Mr. Wood and Mr. Fráfer thought proper to avail themselves in order to carry into execution the plan that had been concerted by Mr. Frafer and Mr. Hatton for his removal, Mr. Mortimer had no information who was fecretary of state, or who were the under-fecretaries, but from the news-papers. In this fituation of things, however, he relied on the friendship of Mr. Gordon, who to his certain knowledge was highly pleased at the revolution in adminiftration, and he fondly hoped that what he loft in perfonal intereft by the refignation of general Conway, he fhould recover through Mr. Gordon's friendship for him, and intereft with lord Weymouth, and

the