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186.: From SIR GREY COOPER - Adam Smith, Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence Vol. 6 Correspondence of Adam Smith [1740]

Edition used:

Correspondence of Adam Smith, ed. E. C. Mossner and I. S. Ross, vol. VI of the Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1987).

Part of: The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith, 7 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

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186.

From SIR GREY COOPER1

MS., GUL Gen. 1035/156; Scott 275.

Parliament Street, [Westminster,] 7 Nov. 1777.

Dear Sir!

I assure you with great sincerity and truth that I am much flattered and pleased with your letter which was delivered to me last week by our friend Mr Sollicitor General,2 and who at the same time was so good as to show me one he has received from you on the same subject. There is a character of sentiment in these letters so very different from the applications and sollicitations which I have been long accustomed to receive, that the Singularity and novelty of it gave me uncommon pleasure. When you sollicited the appointment of your friends Son to the Collectorship of Grenville Harbour, I remember well the zeal, the assiduity, and the warmth of heart with which you recommended him, and I reflect with satisfaction that it was in my power to second your wishes, and to contribute my good offices to give success to that application; you now sollicit a place at the Board of Customs at Edinburgh for another Person, but in this case, instead of a warm and eager application, I find nothing But Phlegm, Composure and Indifference; It is however fortunate that the person whom you so faintly support, does not want yours or any other great mans recommendation; and tho you seem to have no very high opinion of him, His merit is so well known to Lord North and to all the world, That (Alas what a Bathos!) He will very soon, if I am not much mistaken be appointed a Commissioner of the Customs in Scotland.

I am Dear Sir with real esteem and regard Your faithfull Humble Servant

Grey Cooper

[1 ]Sir Grey Cooper (? 1726–1801), successful lawyer and M.P. (1765–84; 1786–90); Secretary to the Treasury 1765–82; Lord of Treasury 1783; noted for his accurate knowledge of financial matters. In the Treasury, he took charge of the revenue side, though John Robinson, the Joint Secretary (1770–82), thought his conduct of affairs was ‘slovenly’ (HP ii. 251). He was allied politically with Henry Dundas and Alexander Wedderburn.

[2 ]Alexander Wedderburn.