FOX (Charles James, 1749-1806, the famous Whig orator, opponent of Lord North over America, friend of the Prince of Wales)

Autograph Letter Signed to an unnamed correspondent returning "your enclosures with many thank. The contents are what I expected. If the Papers exist, Gordon is the only man likely to know where they are and to get at them. If he does get them I must then apply to him. Pray excuse me dining out. I have made a sort of rule upon that subject which I wish never to infringe ...", 1 side 4to., St Anne's Hall, Friday, no date

The lack of a date to the letter (and its recipient) makes it difficult to correctly identify the Gordon whom Fox refers to but there is a possibility it may have been Lord George Gordon (1751-1793) British politician who lent his name to the Gordon Riots of 1780. Fox deplored the violence of the crowds during the riots, although declared that he would "much rather be governed by a mob than a standing army".
Fox was the arch-rival of the Tory politician William Pitt the Younger. His father Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, a leading Whig of his day, had similarly been the great rival of Pitt's famous father, William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham ("Pitt the Elder").

Item Date:  0

Stock No:  40998