Part 33

Two or three days must, by their events, and by the King's letter to you, enable you to judge decisively upon the situation of the country, present and to come. The prospect is truly gloomy, and the combination of calamitous circumstances such as to leave very little reason in my apprehension to hope that this situation will be such as we must all wish--that of a settled Government, even in hands which we dislike, if it can be settled in no other. In the meantime, I do not think you called upon to transmit to the King any answer to this conversation; especially as, I suppose, you must naturally send one to his letter, whenever it arrives.

Adieu, my dearest brother, Believe me ever most sincerely and affectionately yours, W. W. G.

P.S.--The Treasury have written to Hamilton to give assurances of the repayment of the money advanced to Lord Rawdon's regiment, and to desire a state of that money. The natural way would have been, to have given you credit for the whole money due from them to the regiment; but as it is, I hope you will not any longer think it necessary to stop the subsistence, as it has so harsh an appearance.

Having traced the history of the coalition up to this point, we now come to His Majesty's answer to Lord Temple, referring to these transactions. It was transmitted in the following letter from Mr. Grenville.

MR. W. W. GRENVILLE TO LORD TEMPLE.

Pall Mall, April 1st, 1783.

My dear Brother,

I have this evening seen the King, and received from him, with every expression both towards you and myself, the enclosed letter to transmit to you. I take it for granted that it will sufficiently inform you of the determination which he has at length taken, but not avowed, of acquiescing in the Duke of Portland's Cabinet for the present; and of his wishes, that those who act with us should hold themselves apart from such a Government, in order that he may have something else to look to whenever circumstances shall allow of it.

At all events, if there is anything in his conversation with me which is not implied in his letter, I shall so soon have an opportunity of detailing it to you at length, that I do not think it worth while to trouble you with what must for the most part be a repetition of what he has written to you. Our ground I think clear--honourable to ourselves, consistent with our principles and professions, and holding out to us the fairest prospects of honest ambition. If those prospects fail us, we shall have nothing to reproach ourselves with; if they succeed, we shall stand firmly and honourably upon the ruins of weakness and disgrace.

The King talks of their kissing hands in two or three days. I shall wait till their inferior arrangements are settled, because the difficulty about the peerages still remains. They are said to be pledged by absolute promises; on the other hand, the King neither can, will, nor I think ought, to give way on that head. Should they be so weak as to resign on that ground, their support would certainly fail them, and the road would be opened for us. As soon as this point is understood to be settled, I will go back to you; as, notwithstanding our voluminous correspondence, I wait with the utmost impatience for the moment when I may state to you in person much which I have necessarily left unsaid, and, above all, the sincere and heartfelt affection with which I am

Ever most truly yours, W. W. G.

You will observe that part of the King's ground is a resistance to advancements as well as creations. This seemed naturally to throw so much difficulty upon your object, that I thought there would be an indelicacy in pressing it at the time that you are lamenting the unavoidable difficulties under which he already labours. The delay, I firmly believe, will be very short indeed.

While I am making up this, I receive yours of the 28th of March. It is supposed that the King, when he wrote the note negativing the coalition, either depended on Pitt, or meant by that means to force him. I have, as far as possible, observed towards Pitt the line you state, and I think with success.

I have heard nothing till this moment of the pretty negotiation of which you speak; but do not suppose any man, or set of men, would authorize the sale of a judicial office.

Here follows the letter from the King, enclosed in the above. The historical interest of this confidential communication cannot be overrated.

THE KING TO LORD TEMPLE.

Queen's House, April 1st, 1783.

My Lord,

I had the pleasure, on the 26th of last month, to receive from your truly amiable and right-headed brother and secretary, your very able letter of the 23rd on the state of Ireland, couched in terms that also conveyed the warmest attachment to my person and Government, which makes me not deem among the least of public misfortunes, that the want of resolution in some, and of public zeal in others, will oblige you to quit a station which you fill so much to the satisfaction of all honest men as well as to mine.

Since the conversation I had with Mr. William Grenville on the 16th of last month, I have continued every possible means of forming an Administration; an experience of now above twenty-two years convinces me that it is impossible to erect a stable one within the narrow bounds of any faction, for none deserve the appellation of party; and that in an age when disobedience to law and authority is as prevalent as a thirst after changes in the best of all political Constitutions, it requires temper and sagacity to stem these evils, which can alone be expected from a collection of the best and most calm heads and hearts the kingdom possesses.

Judge, therefore, of the uneasiness of my mind, at having been thwarted in every attempt to keep the administration of public affairs out of the hands of the most unprincipled coalition the annals of this or any other nation can equal. I have withstood it till not a single man is willing to come to my assistance, and till the House of Commons has taken every step, but insisting on this faction being by name elected Ministers.

To end a conflict which stops every wheel of Government, and which would affect public credit if it continued much longer, I intend this night to acquaint that grateful Lord North, that the seven Cabinet Counsellors the coalition has named shall kiss hands to-morrow, and then form their arrangements, as the former negotiation they did not condescend to open to many of their intentions.

A Ministry which I have avowedly attempted to avoid, by calling on every other description of men, cannot be supposed to have either my favour or confidence; and as such, I shall most certainly refuse any honours they may ask for. I trust the eyes of the nation will soon be opened, as my sorrow may prove fatal to my health if I remain long in this thraldom. I trust you will be steady in your attachment to me, and ready to join other honest men in watching the conduct of this unnatural combination, and I hope many months will not elapse before the Grenvilles, the Pitts, and other men of abilities and character will relieve me from a situation that nothing could have compelled me to submit to, but the supposition that no other means remained of preventing the public finances from being materially affected.

It shall be one of my first cares to acquaint these men that you decline remaining in Ireland.

George R.

A Ministry forced in this way upon a Sovereign who, during the twenty-two years referred to in the above letter, had struggled successfully to resist the dictation of Parliament, and to break down the ascendancy of powerful families and party combinations, contained within itself the seeds of early dissolution. The King accepted them, but never gave them his confidence. He resolved from the first to treat them as men who had violently broken into the Cabinet; and he called upon his friends to withhold their support from them, and to sustain him in his resistance to their policy. The ingratitude of Lord North touched him deeply; and in proportion as he shrank from all personal intercourse that could be avoided with the new allies of his former favourite, he turned for succour to men like Lord Temple, who preserved their honour unsullied, however their political views, on some subjects, might have differed from his own. If it cannot be said of His Majesty in this crisis, that "royalty conspired to remove" these Ministers, the language of His Majesty's letter (in itself an excellent specimen of his pure English style and practical good sense) plainly and unreservedly declares his resolution to get rid of them as soon as possible by all the means the Constitution placed in his hands. Lord Temple's answer frankly indicates the course he was prepared to take during the existence of what the writer designates as the "unprincipled coalition." It will be seen in the sequel how fully he justified the confidence reposed in him by the King.

LORD TEMPLE TO THE KING.

Dublin Castle,