Heytesbury House

May 9^th 1824

My Dear William,

         After consulting several of the neighbouring agriculturists in whose judgement we have confidence, amongst the rest Mr. Biggs, Mr. Davis, & comparing as nearly as we could Upjohn’s and Webb’s valuations of last year, Edward & I put what I am satisfied is as very fair, moderate and even low rent upon Chandler’s reduced farm & then sent for him to occur his determination.                He came prepared to offer a gross sum, but as he prefaced that it was infinitely below his present rent and hinted pretty broadly at the rent of 1799.  We begged him before he made his offer to value separately every field in his possession.  This he objected to do saying that he had never considered the subject & knew only the gross sum that he could afford to offer; at last however, without appearing to attach any importance to his doing so, we contrived little by little to get him to put what he considered a reasonable price upon every acre and you may be sure he by no means reevalued   his lands.  We then made a calculation upon his own figures, which to his surprise accounted to 811£.  All we asked was 850£.  We then asked him if he wished his own figures to be submitted to you; but he replied that tho’ he had unwittingly put a value upon the farm, he was by no means prepared to offer any thing like the sum to which his valuation had amounted, indeed the price he was willing to offer was so very much below that sum that he would not now submit it, lest he might be considered as impertinent.  In short that he considered the farm well worth 811£ per annum, but that he imagined he could induce us to accept a much less sum, in order to avoid the necessity of looking out for another tenant.  From what I could collect, I imagine he meant to offer about 600 or 620£ per annum only.  We at once told him that the business as far as regarded himself was now quite at an end; that after valuing the farm, we had a right to expect that no offer could ever come from him below his own valuation; & as he seemed most unwilling even to approach that sum we should of course part at the expiration of his lease.  We separated however on excellent terms, with expressions of mutual respect.

    We are told that we shall find no difficulty whatever in replacing him, and perhaps it may be so; but until we secure a successor for him, I cannot help feeling more than commonly anxious and nervous on the subject.  You may depend upon every exertion being made to relet the farm to advantage; but under no circumstances would we advise you to renew with Chandler upon the terms he would propose to you.  In the meantime it will be very satisfactory to have your opinion on this point as soon as possible.  Edward went to Town yesterday & both of us are now on the lookout for a proper farmer with means sufficient for his responsibility.

     I withdrew from Phelps some time ago all the Deeds which you put into his possession & have replaced them in their several boxes.  The new deeds are also duly distributed and noted; but some of them I have been obliged to send to Town for signatures which Phelps neglected to obtain.  If the deeds are required   …….     Surely the solicitor should take care that no signatures are wanting to them.  I have had 3 additional boxes made for the old lease and papers which may hereafter be properly examined.  If you recollect we found the Southleigh title amongst them last year.  The Suffolk title deed is, Ed: tells me forthcoming; but you cannot hold it as Penruddocke has as much interest in it as yourself.  So much for business.  As to myself, I thank you much for your offer of writing to Lord Liverpool and if you think it will not weaken any interest you may have occasion to expect for yourself or William hereafter I have no doubt a letter from you would greatly forward my views.  This Mr. Robinson, I have already caused application to be made for Mr. Robinson’s assistance, & I believe he would befriend me if he could.  Lord Pembroke is, I know, preferred for an application from me & I mean to consult him as soon as possible.  Twice have I attacked Lord Liverpool by letter from myself and Edward and have always had very civil answers, but no positive promise of employment.  I have invariably asked for a seat at any of the Revenue Boards.  I once specified a vacancy in John King’s office which was already promised.   Villiers cut in before me as auditor of Excise.  Of course the more interest I can make, comes before a vacancy occurs, the more chance I have of being provided for hereafter.  The patronage in my own profession rests wholly with the Duke of York & my rank is not sufficiently high to secure me a Governorship, as I found when I last applied for Jersey.  A Lieut. Governorship in England, that is a I o J Govt. not only would be a bar to future  …….      promotion, but would deprive my widow of her pension hereafter, they also are generally now given wounded officers.

     I do not covet employment as long as I can be useful here; but in order to secure it hereafter many months perhaps years, may lapse between the application for and the possession of office.

Will write again in a few days.

Always your affectionate Brother

C: A: à Court

William returned to Eton on Monday but has not written since he left us.

Edward & I attended Beadon at his father’s funeral last week.  The Bishop has left all his cash / ……. worth 20,000£ and personals to Mrs. Beadon in fee – and also one clear half of the Fishhead Estate, ……… with remainder to his son. Thus Beadon does not as yet give a sixpence by his father’s death.