I have observed, in a letter I have written to the LordLieutenant, that I hope and believe that all the Bills will be returned so as to receive the Royal Assent on the first of next month. But, should any disappointment happen in that respect, you are aware that it depends upon yourselves to pass the Union Act on that auspicious day; and as for the Acts, even those which were returned, together with the Union Bill, they may, as I conceive, be withheld to any future day on which it may be agreeable to the Lord-Lieutenant to make his Speech and prorogue the Parliament-an event which I shall be particularly glad to hear has taken place, as it will authorize me to look for the pleasure of seeing you. Believe me, ever, &c., PORTLAND. I purpose going to Bulstrode on Wednesday, and I believe very few of the Ministers will be here after that time till towards the middle of next week. Private. Lieutenant-Colonel Littlehales to Lord Castlereagh. Caledon, August 22, 1800. My dear Lord-I have hitherto postponed writing to your Lordship on the subject of the accounts of the Barrack department, as I was unable to procure the ledger, or rather the day-book, which you had desired me to call for. Upon inquiry, it was stated to me, that the manuscript with which I was furnished by the Secretary was a correct transcript of the information that I had demanded-in short, I found so many difficulties in procuring the original documents of any kind from thence, that I abandoned altogether, for the present, the idea of investigating a subject so completely enveloped, if not in mystery, at least in irregularity. In consequence, I confined myself to one official communication to Lord Tyrawley, to repay into the Treasury the sum of £27,000, being the balance of £40,000, which his Lordship, as Barrack-Master-General, had drawn for the purpose of the construction of permanent barracks, when only £13,000 of this specific sum was required to be disbursed. I read my letter on this matter to Elliot before his departure for London. Colonel Napier has made a voluminous and impartial report upon the accounts of the Barrack department, setting forth, in a very clear and comprehensive point of view, the present defective system, or rather the total want of method and principle in this extensive branch of military expenditure. He has suggested some very salutary remedies, and concludes his observations by disallowing items of charge to the amount of more than £50,000. Of course nothing will be done in this business. until your Lordship's return to Dublin, unless it may be considered advisable by the War Office to demand an explanation in respect to the several points on which the disallowances are made. I have nothing at this time further to trouble your Lordship with. I have the honour to remain, &c., E. B. LITTLEHALES. Mr. Marsden to Lord Castlereagh. Dublin Castle, August 25, 1800. My Lord-Three English mails arrived this day, and we hear of your Lordship having reached London. I have not yet had any letter from Mr. King respecting the movements of the persons mentioned some time since by him. We are in a state of perfect quiet here, with the exception of the County of Limerick. Their grievance now is the change of sentence of a man of the name of Dwyer; and we are told that they are preparing a remonstrance to the King upon the subject. If they acted rightly, less trouble would for the present keep the County quiet. Business here is brought within a narrow compass; applications from the convicts form the chief part of it. I have found it nécessary to send some respites, but have all the judges in good humour, and I do not find a complaint, civil or military, from any of the Assizes. A letter from Littlehales, which I received to-day, enclosed one from Pollock, written to him on the subject of the probable scarcity of provisions in the ensuing season. There are some sensible observations in this letter, and his Excellency appears to have been much struck with them. I have been desired to mention the subject to your Lordship; and, as much of Littlehales's letter applies to it, I send both to your Lordship. I hope it will not be as bad as Pollock predicts. We hear of rain falling in many parts of the country: about Dublin there has not been any. There is a letter from the Mayor of Cork, stating the distress to be very great there, and requesting that some of the corn, ordered on account of Government, should be disposed of there. On consulting with Handfield and the merchants, I found that this could be done, and it has been ordered accordingly. I have received a letter from Lord Inchiquin, so that we can go on with the peerages in a day or two. I had a letter last night from M'G.: it has nothing by any means material in it; neither do I learn from our other friends that any actual progress is making. Your Lordship's, &c., A. MARSDEN. Mr. Marsden to Lord Castlereagh. Dublin Castle, September 1, 1800. My Lord-I ordered a packet to be ready to sail this morning; but the letter which I expected from his Excellency has not yet appeared. When it comes, it shall be despatched by Poyle. By his Excellency's desire, I wrote to Mr. Nepean, to request that a skilful naval person might be sent over to survey the harbour of Dublin and its adjoining coast. In a letter from Littlehales, to-day, he mentions that his Excellency wishes to re-confer with your Lordship, before he communicates to Lords Yelverton and Kilwarden his decision respecting their peerages. Some time since, I explained to his Excellency your idea upon that subject; but he has not yet acted upon it, though I continued to remind him of it. I had a good deal of conversation this morning with Lord Kilwarden, who is just returned from the Home Circuit. He gives a very favourable account of the prospect of returning quiet and industry in the country; and, as his Lordship went that circuit the last time, he is better qualified to form a judgment on this occasion. The Treasury report shall be sent over as soon as it can be got. Your Lordship's, &c., A. MARSDEN. Lord Cornwallis to Lord Castlereagh. Athlone, September 2, 1800. My dear Lord-I enclose, under a flying seal, my letter to the Duke of Portland, on the subject of sending reinforcements to this country, in which I think that I have stated the matter as strongly to him as I could, without using expressions of timidity or alarm. I am so occupied with the light infantry, which is, by the by, a most efficient body of troops, and so interrupted and worried by the various plagues that always attend upon the steps of a Lord-Lieutenant, that I have no time for writing, and shall only observe, with relation to my progress, that I have every reason to think that the Counties through which I have passed are in a state of tranquillity and good humour, and that I have in all places received the kindest welcome. I am, &c., Lord Cornwallis to the Duke of Portland. Athlone, September 2, 1800. My Lord-Having been informed, by Lord Castlereagh, that he has had conversations with your Grace and his Majesty's other confidential servants, on the actual situation of this country, with respect to its power of resisting a foreign invasion, and that you had expressed a readiness to submit to his Majesty any representations which I should make on that important subject, I lose no time in communicating to your Grace my thoughts on a matter which, you may easily believe, has occupied a considerable share of my attention. I shall pass over the question of the possibility of a French force being transported to this country in the later season of the year, on which point his Majesty's naval officers will speak with more weight and authority, and shall confine myself to the present political circumstances of this country, to the number and nature of our forces, and the difficulties which we must encounter, should a body of ten to twenty thousand men land in this island. The country is at this moment quiet, and I think there can be no doubt of its continuing in a state of tranquillity, unless the French should invade us with such an army as might afford to the disaffected a reasonable prospect of success in overturning our Government; in which event there is cause to believe that the ill disposition of a great majority of the Irish would be manifested by every act of hostility and outrage. I am persuaded that the mass of the people of Ireland may be reclaimed, but it must take time to effect this salutary change in their temper, and a very different system must be pursued from that which has hitherto been practised in the greater part of this wretched country. We must, therefore, I am afraid, at least, so long as the present war shall last, feel ourselves under the melancholy necessity of considering the majority of the Irish people as enemies, and employ a large portion of the |