The King has been visiting camps,—­and so has Sir William Howe, who, one should think, had had enough of them; and who, one should think too, had not achieved such exploits as should make him fond of parading himself about, or expect many hosannahs.  To have taken one town, and retreated from two, is not very glorious in military arithmetic; and to have marched twice to Washington, and returned without attacking him, is no addition to the sum total.

Did I tell you that Mrs. Anne Pitt is returned, and acts great grief for her brother?  I suppose she was the dupe of the farce acted by the two Houses and the Court, and had not heard that none of them carried on the pantomime even to his burial.  Her nephew gave a little into that mummery even to me; forgetting how much I must remember of his aversion to his uncle.  Lord Chatham was a meteor, and a glorious one; people discovered that he was not a genuine luminary, and yet everybody in mimickry has been an ignis fatuus about him.  Why not allow his magnificent enterprises and good fortune, and confess his defects; instead of being bombast in his praises, and at the same time discover that the amplification is insincere?  A Minister who inspires great actions must be a great Minister; and Lord Chatham will always appear so,—­by comparison with his predecessors and successors.  He retrieved our affairs when ruined by a most incapable Administration; and we are fallen into a worse state since he was removed.  Therefore, I doubt, posterity will allow more to his merit, than it is the present fashion to accord to it.  Our historians have of late been fond of decrying Queen Elizabeth, in order if possible to raise the Stuarts:  but great actions surmount foibles; and folly and guilt would always remain folly and guilt, though there had never been a great man or woman in the world.  Our modern tragedies, hundreds of them do not contain a good line; nor are they a jot the better, because Shakspeare, who was superior to all mankind, wrote some whole plays that are as bad as any of our present writers.

I shall be very glad to see your nephew, and talk of you with him; which will be more satisfactory than questioning accidental travellers.

CAPTURE OF PONDICHERRY—­CHANGES IN THE MINISTRY—­LA FAYETTE IN AMERICA.

TO SIR HORACE MANN.

ARLINGTON STREET, March 22, 1779.

If your representative dignity is impaired westward, you may add to your eastern titles those of “Rose of India” and “Pearl of Pondicherry."[1] The latter gem is now set in one of the vacant sockets of the British diadem.

[Footnote 1:  The authority of the great Warren Hastings, originally limited to five years, was renewed this year; and he signalised the prolongation of his authority by more vigorous attacks than ever on the French fortresses in India.  He sent one body of troops against Chandemagore, their chief stronghold in Bengal; another against Pondicherry, their head-quarters in the south of Hindostan; while a third, under Colonel Goddard, defeated the two Mahratta chieftains Scindia and Holkar, and took some of their strongest fortresses.]