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This collection is made up of 49 letters and 11 documents and other items, consisting primarily of the incoming correspondence of barrister John Thomas Batt from English and Irish aristocrats, politicians, and state figures. The letters pertain to the end of the American Revolution, the Franco-American alliance, political turmoil in Ireland from the 1780s through the early 1800s, and matters relating to English politics.

This collection is made up of 49 letters and 11 documents and other items, consisting primarily of the incoming correspondence of barrister John Thomas Batt from English and Irish aristocrats, politicians, and state figures. John Thomas Batt received 48 letters from many associates, including John Pennington, 1st Baron Muncaster (14 letters. 1785-1788); George Spencer, 4th duke of Marlborough (1 letter, 1780); John Charles Villiers, 3rd earl of Clarendon (1 letter, 1784); Thomas Orde-Powlett, 1st Baron Bolton (2 letters, 1784-1785); Thomas Villiers, 1st earl of Clarendon (4 letters, 1776-1784); Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth (2 letters, 1801-1805); Rev. Thomas Jeans (2 letters, 1777); Frederick Robinson (3 letters, 1772-1773); Robert Henley, 2nd earl of Northington (13 letters, 1774-1785); John Russell, Duke of Bedford (3 letters, 1783); John Freeman-Mitford, 1st baron Redesdale (2 letters, 1806-1808); and William Pitt the Younger (1 letter, undated).

John Pennington was Batt's most frequent correspondent. The baron's 14 letters mostly pertain to financial and business dealings, including the falling out of partnership between Muncaster and Batt. In 13 letters from the 2nd earl of Northington, he discussed many topics, including the possibly of a treaty as signed between the French and Americans through Benjamin Franklin (Undated), the fourth Anglo-Dutch war (January 1, 1781), and, as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, his attempts to secure better food bonds for the Irish people (June 14, 1783). Thomas Villiers, 1st earl of Clarendon, sent Batt four letters, congratulating him on becoming a "brother officer," eliciting meetings between the two, congratulating Batt upon his position of Clerk of the Crown at Lancaster, and assuring Batt that people have a high regard for him.

Batt's other correspondents shed light on English political jousting, the American alliance with France and war with England, and turmoil occurring in Ireland. In John Russell's three letters, he discussed the passage of the Sugar Duty in 1783 (November 23, 1783), an attempt to buy a Bishopship in Ireland (December 15, 1783), and the "late Revolution in the political world" as was occurring in England, Ireland, and America in 1783 (December 23, 1783). Frederick Robinson's three letters between 1772 and 1773 detail his life in Spain in Madrid and "Escurial" (El Escorial), working for the English embassy. In the three letters of Henry Addington, he discussed an unnamed position and invited Batt to Downing Street. In 1777, the Reverend Thomas Jeans wrote about the purchase of clothing, the Franco-American alliance, and his work at the British Embassy in Paris as a chaplain to the Viscount Stormont. John Freedman-Mittford, Lord Redesdale's correspondence with Batt respects Redesdale's opinions of the Irish people in 1806, as well as his opinion of the Irish House of Commons (June 14, 1806). Thomas Orde warned in one letter that a change in the English government would be "ruinous" (June 23, 1785). One note from William Pitt the Younger, written in the 3rd person, extends an invitation to dine at Downing Street (Undated).

The remaining 11 items include drafts, documents, appointments, a recipe for cleaning stone walls, and unattached covers. The drafts regard Parliamentary matters; two vellum documents certify Batt to practice in the court of law (April 6, 1776) and appoint him Clerk of the Crown at Lancaster (June 29, 1780). Two documents from George Townsend concern financial matters (June 21, 1786; April 6 1786) and two others from the Whitehall Treasury Chambers relate to a loan of 10 million pounds to fund the Navy, Victualing, and Ordinance (November 18, 1785; January 18; 1786). The three unattached covers are from letters to Batt by Robert Henley, 2nd earl of Northington.

The Viscounts Melville papers contain the letters of British statesman Henry Dundas, 1st viscount Melville, and of his son Robert Saunders Dundas, 2nd viscount Melville, first lord of the admiralty. The collection contains incoming correspondence and some copies of letters and drafts of memoranda by the Melvilles. The papers are almost entirely political in nature and deal with English, Scottish, American, Indian, and European affairs.

The Viscounts Melville papers (14 linear feet) contain the letters of British statesman Henry Dundas, 1st viscount Melville, and his son Robert Saunders Dundas, 2nd viscount Melville, first lord of the admiralty. The collection contains approximately 1,500 Henry Dundas items and 850 Robert Dundas items, and is primarily comprised of incoming official correspondence, some copies of outgoing letters, and drafts of memoranda by the Melvilles. The papers are almost entirely political in nature and deal with English, Scottish, American, Indian, and European affairs.

The Henry Dundas papers chiefly concern British political affairs and military engagements in France, America, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, Russia, Spain, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Minorca, Portugal, Corfu, Trieste, Malta, Sicily, the West Indies, the East Indies, and South America. The majority of these span 1794 to 1805, and relate to his tenure as secretary at war and first lord of the admiralty.

• Diplomatic correspondence
• Memoranda on British trade
• Letters dealing with Indian and British patronage
• Military intelligence reports, defense plans, and secret naval memoranda concerning the war with France
• Secret reports on internal affairs of France covering 1791 to 1795 from his nephew George Buchan, Financier Walter Boyd, and J. Bedinfield
• Intelligence on English prisoners of war in France, including details on the treatment of prisoners
• Memorials that provide details on individual service member's careers
• Dealings with the Danish East India Company
• Miscellaneous naval material, such as reports on ship construction and repairs and on the fleets of other nations

American affairs consumed much of Melville's attention in the 1780s and 1790s while he served on the Committee of the Private Council for Trade and Foreign Plantations. Topics discussed include compensation claims from American Loyalists for losses during the war, and claims of British merchants against Americans for unpaid debts incurred during the war. Of particular interest are the letters between Melville and Grenville that relate to American debt issues (1785-1805 with a concentration in 1792). Also of note are letters from Thomas Jefferson and members of Congress concerning the 1794 Jay Treaty between England and the United States. Also present are the trial briefs prepared for Dundas' defense during his 1806 impeachment proceedings.

• January 14, 1735: Report to the Great Britain Board of Trade on the state of American and West Indies commerce and fortifications, covering 1734-1735 (40 pages)
• May 5 and July 14, 1763: Secretary of State Charles Wyndham, 2nd earl of Egremont to the Privy Council, concerning trade in the American colonies after the French and Indian War and a proposal to create a frontier military force
• June 12, 1784: Dr. John Halliburton to Henry Melville, relating his struggles as a Loyalist who fled from Rhode Island to Halifax during the American Revolution
• July 10, 1791: Lady Eglantine Wallace's account of the plan for the French Royal Family's attempted escape
• November 19, 1794: Draft of the Jay Treaty (American Treaty of Commerce, signed by Lord Grenville, along with a copy of a letter from Thomas Jefferson to George Hammond regarding the treaty, 81 pages)
• August 3, 1798: Mary Scott's description of the young King of Prussia
• July 18, 1799: Anonymous letter from a secret service agent in Göttingen concerning "cloak and dagger" operations to send intelligence through Frankfurt
• June 29, 1804: Secret intelligence from Admiral William Cornwallis concerning attacks on Brest and plans to burn the French fleet there
• October 17, 1807: William Sweetland's report on the Barbary Coast enclosed in a Sir Charles Flint letter

The Robert Dundas Melville papers relate primarily to his office as first lord of the admiralty from 1812 to 1830. These include material concerning the War of 1812, and secret admiralty memoranda documenting ship locations and movements, strength of forces, and instructions to and from various British admirals. Notably, Melville received copies of intercepted letters from Albert Gallatin, John Quincy Adams, John Speyer, S. Bourne, and R. G. Beasley to President James Madison from 1813 to 1814. The collection also provides insights into American-British tensions in the Great Lakes region in the years after the war. Between 1815 and 1820, Melville received many reports and letters related to the treatment of scurvy in the navy.

• June 6, 1812: Lord Keith's "Observations upon the Coast of America"
• January 6, 1813: Richard Bickerton concerning proposed attacks on Boulogne and Dieppe
• October 6, 1813: Admiral George Tate to Robert Melville containing a complete list of the Russian fleet
• November 23, 1813: George Campbell's plans for constructing naval vessels in the Great Lakes, with detailed ship diagrams
• February 26, 1814: Britain Navy Commissioner Samuel Bentham's detailed report on the Battle of Lake Erie (25 pages)
• July 15, 1814: Charles and George Baillie's presentation of a petition for abolishing the British slave trade
• March 1815: Many letters concerning the Duke of Orleans's plan to escape England
• September 25, 1815: Manuscript draft to Thomas Moore regarding communications about the "Merchants of Liverpool & Manchester engaged in the trade to Spanish South America."
• November 1815: Dr. William Beaty's letter on the value of providing lemon juice and vinegar to sailors for health at sea
• April 25-August 6, 1820: Anthony Maitland, 10th earl of Lauderdale, to Robert Melville concerning Trieste and Malta with detailed information on affairs
• August 25, 1823: Account of scurvy patients received yearly at naval hospitals at Haslar, Plymouth, Yarmouth, Deal, and Paington for the years 1803-1822
• 1825: Lord Auckland's report on prize ship laws

• The Melville Correspondence, 1780-1830 (146 items), containing official letters to and from the viscounts Melville
• Frederick Duke of York letters to Melville (32 letters), relating to militia and military matters, and including a color portrait of the Duke, and 1804 and 1810 accounts for field work expenses incurred by the Home Office, covering the years 1795 to 1803
• "Precis of Mr. Dundas's Correspondence with the Several Departments of his Majesty's Government," covering the Portland and Perceval ministries (46 pages), March 1807-July 23, 1810
• Four bundles of military letters and documents concerning conflicts in Europe, covering the years 1793, 1794, 1795, and 1804-1813