Carolina Quotes
I confess I agree too much with my friend the Duke of Richmond, in thinking that all is over for this country. I nevertheless do feel most strongly that there is a duty, which I perhaps most particularly owe, to the Persons of those who not only encouraged & incited me, but also whose Principles deserve a better fate, than to be buried in the Ruins of their Country. I confess I feel a sollicitude even for myself—I would wish to have it to say, & I would wish to have it remember'd & recorded, that to the last moment we struggled in Behalf of this poor infatuated Country. I am clear, that nothing can possibly effectually avail, unless this country itself recollects & reassumes its genuine principles.

Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham Connected to the Carolinas

Source

Letter to the Duke of Portland after the British defeat at the Battle of Saratoga (8 November 1777), quoted in S. Arthur Strong, A Catalogue of Letters and other Historical Documents Exhibited in the Library at Welbeck (1903), p. 134

form
letter
year
1777
locator
p. 134

Cite this record

“I confess I agree too much with my friend the Duke of Richmo…” Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham. Carolina Quotes, record CQ-382887E04E. https://carolinaquotes.com/quote/382887e04e

More from Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham

The grievances we feel, and the cause of our misfortune, arise from the corruption of men when chosen into Parliament. Cut off the ways and means of corruption, and the effect must and will naturally cease. Mr. Burke's plan cuts off thirty-nine offices tenable and now held by members of the House of Commons. It also cuts off eleven now held by Peers in the House of Lords. This, indeed, is striking in earnest at the influence of the Crown over persons in Parliament.
Letter to Pemberton Milnes (28 February 1780), quoted in George Thomas, Earl of Albemarle, Memoirs of the Marquis of Rockingham and His Contemporaries, Vol. II (1852), p. 398
I REJOICE very much in the spirit which now seems rising in all parts of this country. Yorkshire has done itself great honour in taking the lead, and I am happy that so much sense and discretion prevailed in the outset of the business at the meeting of York... My mind, I confess, is by no means at ease in regard to certain rumours respecting some vague and crude propositions, which I am told are likely to be brought forth. I don't like the idea of tests, and especially on vague and unexplicit propositions. The being elected a representative, if it implies a trust, is most highly honourable, but if it is to lock up your reasoning faculties of deliberating and judging, and is to tie you up beforehand, and preclude you from acting according to your conscience at the moment, I think it would be a disgraceful bondage, and what many men of the nicest sense of honour cannot submit to.
Letter to Pemberton Milnes on the Yorkshire Association (28 February 1780), quoted in George Thomas, Earl of Albemarle, Memoirs of the Marquis of Rockingham and His Contemporaries, Vol. II (1852), pp. 395-396

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