187 206
“THE SECRET EXPEDITION . . .AGAINST
ROCHFORT . . . HASTAKEN . . .AIX”
290
●
WALPOLE, HORACE. Autograph Letter Signed, “HWalpole,” to George Selwyn
(“Dear Sir”), expressing disappointment that he was unable to meet, expressing anxiety
caused by his cousin’s involvement in a secret attack upon Rochefort, and arranging to
meet. 1
1
/
2
pages, 8vo, with integral blank; date correction noted in another hand at upper
right of first page, minor bleed-through, scattered faint foxing.
“Strawberry Hill” [London],“Thursday” [6 October 1757]
[2,000/3,000]
“
It was impossible for me to get to town on Monday night; and I was as sorry to find you are
gone on Tuesday. . . . [A]n account is come that the secret expedition, which now appears was
against Rochfort, has taken the little Isle of Aix which lies just before it.As this is all we know
yet, and as the enterprise is of so desperate a nature, you may imagine what pain I am in for
Mr Conway, and how little I can think of amusing myself, unless I hear he is safe. If I am so
happy as to know that before Monday, I shall certainly set out . . . .”
Henry Seymour Conway (1721-1795) was Walpole’s cousin, and a deputy to commander
Mordaunt in a secret expedition to capture the French port of Rochefort during the Seven
Years’War. Conway returned safely to England soon after the writing of this letter, where he
was greeted by an uproar of critics blaming him for the expedition’s failure.
Published in the
Yale Edition of HoraceWalpole’s Correspondence
, vol. XXX.