JB/120/015/004

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13)

of that personage are likely to open themselves with more facility upon
those topics to the representations of a First Lord of his Majesty's Treasury,
or his Majesty's Secretary of State.

So long ago as the 10th of September 1801, Mr Vansittart (as
declared by him in a letter, copy of which had been already for a
month or two in the hands of Lord Pelham at his Lordship's desire, as
signified to you) Mr Vansittart, acting Secretary to the Treasury, was
labouring in the fruitless endeavour of finding "an opportunity of consulting
"with Lord Pelham". Now on the 19th of August 1802, Lord Pelham
on his part, is setting out on this his expedition of discovery, bent
upon "finding out" (maugre all concealments) what steps have taken
"by the Treasury", i.e. by Mr Vansittart: the packet put by you as
above into his Lordship's hands, certifying that no steps at all had
been taken by the Treasury other than those exhibited by it, and the
motionless state of the business being the declared cause why he was
then troubled with it.

All this while, within a stone's throw of both these Ministers,
whose efforts to find one another out, at the distance of the two contiguous
floors of the same house, had for a twelvemonth been so unavailing —
in sight of them both, sat Mr (now Sir Evan) Nepean, from whom
both personages, and above both Mr Addington, were determined with
equal resolution never to find out what steps to his (Sir Evan's) knowledge
"had been taken by the Treasury" (the former Treasury) in the business — determined
by this most coercive of all reasons — that he was the only man in
office from whom they could be apprehensive of receiving any true account of it.

In a copy I sent of this letter of Mr Vansittart's among other
papers in Dec.r last to Mr Wilberforce, I find a comment which accompanied
it in pencil, in these words. "When Mr Wilberforce spoke
on the subject to Lord Pelham, neither Mr Vansittart, nor either of the Mr
Addington's, had had any such opportunity. They knew better things. They did
not intend to have it: they durst not have it to any purpose". —

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Identifier: | JB/120/015/004 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 120.
Date_1	1802-08-21	Marginal Summary Numbering
Box	120	Main Headings	panopticon versus new south wales
Folio number	015	Info in main headings field
Image	004	Titles	no. 11 / mr bentham to sir c. bunbury
Category	correspondence	Number of Pages	4
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering	f10 / f11 / f12 / f13
Penner	john herbert koe	Watermarks	1800
Marginals		Paper Producer
Corrections		Paper Produced in Year	1800
Notes public	copy of letter 1717, vol. 7	ID Number	39841
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