enemies of his country. The allusion was to Franklin; nor was this the only occasion on which the accusation was brought up, for in the following month Lord Stormont thought fit to make himself the mouthpiece of it in the Upper House, but not with impunity, for he was practically forced to retract it.[1] Fullarton sent his effusion to Shelburne, who on receiving it, and being told by the servant who brought it that an answer was expected, replied that no other answer was proper than to desire Mr. Fullarton to meet him next morning in Hyde Park at five o'clock. They met there accordingly; Mr. Fullarton's second being Lord Balcarres; and Lord Shelburne's Lord Frederick Cavendish, with whom he had served at St. Malo and St. Cas. Two shots were fired without effect. Fullarton's second shot wounded Lord Shelburne slightly in the groin. Lord Frederick then asked Lord Balcarres if his principal was satisfied. Lord Balcarres replied "If his Lordship would say he had meant no affront."[2] Lord Shelburne said it was too late, and that he was ready to continue, but the seconds decided that the affair should end there.[3]
The following day the subject was taken up in the House of Commons, when Sir James Lowther talked of making a motion against duels as hindering the freedom of debate. "If," said he, "questions of a public nature which came before either House were to be decided by the sword, Parliament would resemble a Polish Diet." Then Mr. Adam, who had recently had a duel with
- ↑ See Walpole, Journals, ii. 399. Parliamentary History, xxi. 459.
- ↑ There was no reason why Mr. Fullarton should have been offended at the use of the word commis. Flassan in his Diplomatic History, describes Rayneval as "un des premiers commis des Affaires Étrangères." Walpole says "that Lord Shelburne had never applied the words clerk and commis to Colonel Fullarton, but had only said that he would not use the term commis, with which he had offended Mr. Eden on a previous occasion."
- ↑ As to the above duel, see Walpole, Journals, ii. 385-389. Parliamentary History, xxi. 293-319. There are some allusions to Mr. Fullarton's duel in the correspondence of Mme. du Deffand. "L'histoire du Fullarton m'a intéressée," she writes to Horace Walpole, "c'est un joli garçon, il a de la vivacité, de la sincérité, et ne manque point d'esprit; il me marquait du désir de me plaire, et il y avait réussi; il me voyait souvent; il a plu généralement à tous ceux qui l'ont connu." It appears that he had presented her with "une garniture de chéminée de sept vases étrusques, sur lesquels il y a de très jolies peintures."—Lettres à Horace Walpole, iv. 71, 171, ed. 1812, 24 oct. 1778, 4 avril 1780.
