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Authors: David Edmonds
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as ever from seeing the real man.
âT. B. M ACAULAY on Walpole,
Critical and Historical Essays
I NVITED IN A PRIL 1763 to take the post, Francis Seymour Conway, earl of Hertford, was the first British ambassador to France after theTreaty of Paris put an end to the Seven Yearsâ War. Historians have dismissed Hertford as a mediocrity, though Hume described him as âthe most amiable nobleman of the Court of England.â Quite why Hertford asked the Scottish philosopher to accompany him to the Paris embassy remains obscure. Hume was Hertfordâs second choice, and the most likely explanation is that his name originally came up among mutual Scottish friends in London, supported by an undersecretary of state and classical scholar, Robert Wood, whom Hume had met in 1758. Wood had studied at Glasgow University.
Why Hume said yes is clearer, for the call afforded an escape from his frustrations in Britain. His own account, in the
Life,
carries little conviction: âThis offer, however inviting, I at first declined, both because I was reluctant to begin connections with the great, and because I was afraid that the civilities and gay company of Paris would prove disagreeable to a person of my age and humour; but on his Lordshipâs repeating the invitation, I accepted it.â
As so often before in his life, the prize was flawed. The invitation was to be Hertfordâs secretary, a position with £1,000 a year and the prospect of still higher office. However, officially the position was already filledâby Charles Bunbury, later Sir Charles, twenty-three years old and married to the beautiful, wild Lady Sarah Lennox. To some Bunbury was a âsomewhat vain and ignorantâ rake, to others an affable devotee of horse racing. (His horse won the first Derby in 1780.) The upright Hertford thought him distasteful and proposed that Hume would be his undersecretary with the promise of his taking over when Bunbury could be enticed away from the post. How the skeptical philosopher might accommodate to the pious earl was the subject of some amused speculation. In Paris, another English diplomat observed that Hertfordâs choice of secretary âhas occasioned much laughing here. Questions are being asked whether Mr. Hume as part of the family will be obliged to attend prayers twice a day.â
A web of family and social ties connected many of those who werenow setting the course of Humeâs life. Thus, on the British side, there were Hertfordâs brother, General Henry Seymour Conway, and their cousin Horace Walpole. Lady Hertford should not be forgotten: she was a granddaughter of Charles II, and cousin of the Duke of Grafton, a future prime minister. Their various roles also demonstrate how Hume had now mortgaged his career to London politicians and to the court.
Conway, in particular, was a leading figure on the national stage, central to this politically messy, pre-party period of cabals, nepotism, patronage, and royal influence. A staple of three contemporary governments, all weak and shaky, he nonetheless preserved a reputation as a conscientious monument to integrity and honorâso much so that he was always on the verge of resignation, with Walpole in the background urgently counseling him to stand his ground.
A member of the House of Commons from 1741 to 1784, Conway started his career in the military and rose to lieutenant general. He was handsome, with a mellifluous voice and a gracious manner, thoughtful and well read. He was also courageous, and ready to suffer for his beliefs. When he voted against George Grenvilleâs government in February 1764 on the issue of general warrants, under which people could be arrested and property seized without prior evidence of their guilt or any personal identification (for example, the warrant could be for the arrest of âthe authors of a seditious paperâ), he was dismissed from his post as gentleman of the bedchamber and as the
âT. B. M ACAULAY on Walpole,
Critical and Historical Essays
I NVITED IN A PRIL 1763 to take the post, Francis Seymour Conway, earl of Hertford, was the first British ambassador to France after theTreaty of Paris put an end to the Seven Yearsâ War. Historians have dismissed Hertford as a mediocrity, though Hume described him as âthe most amiable nobleman of the Court of England.â Quite why Hertford asked the Scottish philosopher to accompany him to the Paris embassy remains obscure. Hume was Hertfordâs second choice, and the most likely explanation is that his name originally came up among mutual Scottish friends in London, supported by an undersecretary of state and classical scholar, Robert Wood, whom Hume had met in 1758. Wood had studied at Glasgow University.
Why Hume said yes is clearer, for the call afforded an escape from his frustrations in Britain. His own account, in the
Life,
carries little conviction: âThis offer, however inviting, I at first declined, both because I was reluctant to begin connections with the great, and because I was afraid that the civilities and gay company of Paris would prove disagreeable to a person of my age and humour; but on his Lordshipâs repeating the invitation, I accepted it.â
As so often before in his life, the prize was flawed. The invitation was to be Hertfordâs secretary, a position with £1,000 a year and the prospect of still higher office. However, officially the position was already filledâby Charles Bunbury, later Sir Charles, twenty-three years old and married to the beautiful, wild Lady Sarah Lennox. To some Bunbury was a âsomewhat vain and ignorantâ rake, to others an affable devotee of horse racing. (His horse won the first Derby in 1780.) The upright Hertford thought him distasteful and proposed that Hume would be his undersecretary with the promise of his taking over when Bunbury could be enticed away from the post. How the skeptical philosopher might accommodate to the pious earl was the subject of some amused speculation. In Paris, another English diplomat observed that Hertfordâs choice of secretary âhas occasioned much laughing here. Questions are being asked whether Mr. Hume as part of the family will be obliged to attend prayers twice a day.â
A web of family and social ties connected many of those who werenow setting the course of Humeâs life. Thus, on the British side, there were Hertfordâs brother, General Henry Seymour Conway, and their cousin Horace Walpole. Lady Hertford should not be forgotten: she was a granddaughter of Charles II, and cousin of the Duke of Grafton, a future prime minister. Their various roles also demonstrate how Hume had now mortgaged his career to London politicians and to the court.
Conway, in particular, was a leading figure on the national stage, central to this politically messy, pre-party period of cabals, nepotism, patronage, and royal influence. A staple of three contemporary governments, all weak and shaky, he nonetheless preserved a reputation as a conscientious monument to integrity and honorâso much so that he was always on the verge of resignation, with Walpole in the background urgently counseling him to stand his ground.
A member of the House of Commons from 1741 to 1784, Conway started his career in the military and rose to lieutenant general. He was handsome, with a mellifluous voice and a gracious manner, thoughtful and well read. He was also courageous, and ready to suffer for his beliefs. When he voted against George Grenvilleâs government in February 1764 on the issue of general warrants, under which people could be arrested and property seized without prior evidence of their guilt or any personal identification (for example, the warrant could be for the arrest of âthe authors of a seditious paperâ), he was dismissed from his post as gentleman of the bedchamber and as the
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