Chapter V: Front Matter (5)

Mr. Pitt entirely concurred in these views, and it was resolved that Lord Buckingham should remain in Ireland till he had overcome the confederacy by which the security of the British power in that kingdom was so seriously perilled. In a subsequent letter, Mr. Grenville conveys the assurances of Mr. Pitt's determination to support Lord Buckingham in any measures he should think necessary to the maintenance of the supremacy of the Crown, and the vindication of his conduct in these transactions. One of the measures which was considered indispensable, as marking the sense and upholding the authority of the Government, was the immediate dismissal of all those persons who, holding offices and emoluments under the Crown, had joined in a factious resistance to the policy of Ministers.

I had, yesterday evening, a long conversation with Pitt on the
subject of your letter of the 25th. I have already told you that
his ideas agree entirely with yours as to the proposition of your
remaining in your present situation long enough to complete your
victory over this combination, and to establish a Government
founded on a better system. We both consider it as a point of
absolute necessity and of indispensable duty, that we should resist
this profligate conspiracy against the Government of both kingdoms,
by every means, and to the last extremity; and we agree in thinking
that this battle ought, both for your own credit and for ours, to
be fought by you, preferably to any other person. He desires me to
say that there cannot be the least hesitation here in adopting any
proposal which you may think it right to make on the subject of
dismissals, and that his opinion inclines to the immediate removal
of all the people whom you have named, on the ground not of their
former votes, but of the combination which is now avowed.

The King was now so much better that he was permitted, at his own request, to see the Chancellor, who, however, was prohibited by the medical attendants from talking to His Majesty on business. Even this prohibition was removed in a few days; and Willis considered him so completely recovered that he recommended, as a preliminary experiment to test the state of his mind, that the Chancellor should be authorized to communicate to His Majesty the public events which had occurred during his illness. Of all men that could have been selected for so delicate an affair, Thurlow was, perhaps, the worst qualified; but his relation to the Crown as Chancellor left Ministers no alternative.

MR. W. W. GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Whitehall, Feb. 19th, 1789.
MY DEAR BROTHER,

The account which you will receive by this post of the King, is as
favourable as any of the others. This is now the thirteenth day
since Warren thought him so much--

I am agreeably interrupted in my reasoning by the arrival of Pitt,
who has seen Willis this morning. His account is, that as far as he
is enabled to judge, the King is _now actually well_. That he is
not sufficiently acquainted with the sort of effect which the
peculiar duties of the King's situation produce upon his mind, to
be able to pronounce as decidedly with respect to him as he would
in other cases; but that in the instance of any common individual,
he should not feel the smallest difficulty in pronouncing the cure
complete, and the patient as capable of attending to his own
affairs as he had been before his illness. He added that the
keeping back from the King the present situation of public business
and the measures which have been taken by Parliament, did him now
more harm than good, because it created a degree of anxiety and
uneasiness in his mind. He therefore recommended that the
Chancellor, whom the King has already seen, and whom he has
expressed a wish to see again, might go to him, for the purpose of
explaining to him all that has passed. You will easily imagine that
this will be an anxious trial for us, because if anything can bring
back the agitation of his mind, it must be such a recital as
Thurlow must have to make. It must, however, be made, and we can do
no more than follow the opinion of the physicians, and of Willis in
particular, as to the time of making it.

If the experiment succeeds, you need not be told that we shall not
feel ourselves disposed, nor indeed at liberty, to give up the
King's authority (he being well) into the hands of His Royal
Highness the Prince of Wales; and the less so, because we now
_know_ that he and his _friends_, as he calls them, have taken the
resolution of making the change at all events, and of taking all
the offices of the country into their own hands, even (as they
express themselves) if they are to hold them only twelve hours.

Certainly, if we looked only to the objects of party, and had
nothing more important to attend to than the exposing in their true
colours this profligate and unfeeling set of men, we could desire
no fairer opportunity of doing it than by showing how much their
ambition, or revenge, overbear any other sentiment, when it leads
them to overturn the whole Government of their country, and to
bring on the confusion which must attend a double change of
Government in the space of a few weeks, merely in order to set the
Prince of Wales and Pitt more at variance; for that can be their
only object, unless indeed they look to that of drawing the line of
separation between His Royal Highness and his father stronger than
it was before.

We must not, however, be guided by these considerations. It is
impossible not to know and feel how much mischief such a change
would produce; and it is our duty to prevent it, both for the sake
of the King and of the country. Besides which, there are other
reasons which make it impossible that the present measure should go
on. We cannot suffer a Bill to proceed which asserts the King's
incapacity, at a time when his physicians pronounce him to be
capable. He cannot pass such a Bill himself, because the mere act
of passing it contradicts the averment of the Bill, and shows its
provisions to be improper. Still less can the Chancellor, who has
had an opportunity of being personally acquainted with the King's
actual restoration to perfect health, receive the orders of any
other man, or body of men, as to the use of the Great Seal for the
purpose of expressing the King's pleasure.

Our idea, in the present situation, is that the House of Lords
should adjourn till Monday, in consequence of the Chancellor's
communicating to them that the state of His Majesty's health is
such as to make it improper for them to proceed. If nothing
unfavourable should have occurred by that day, a motion will then
be made for an examination of the physicians; and that would be
followed by an Address from both Houses, congratulating the King on
his recovery. The King would then pass a Commission for
_proroguing_ the Parliament, and another for opening it again, and
the business will proceed in the usual form.

I think that your object will be to use every possible endeavour,
by all means in your power, debating every question, dividing upon
every question, moving adjournment upon adjournment, and every
other mode that can be suggested to gain time. I do not know that
we can send you any communication from hence of which _you_ can
take formal notice by speech or message, till the examinations of
the physicians are sent to you, which they shall be instantly on
their being made.

But your Ministers, in both Houses, may certainly communicate to
them what it has been thought right for the Chancellor to say
to-day, and may make similar motions for adjournments; unless,
indeed, which I hardly imagine, the whole business is concluded in
Ireland before you receive the account of this happy event.

I have great pleasure in thinking upon the disappointment and
mortification of those who have deserted you on this occasion. I
hope in God that you will make up your mind to the remaining where
you now are long enough to make them feel what they have done, and
to show that you are not driven away. After this, we shall probably
agree in thinking that the future Government of Ireland may be
carried on to more advantage in other hands, because it may
possibly become of absolute necessity to receive back some of these
rats into favour, and that is not an occupation in which I should
like to see you engaged.

Unless I understand from Fremantle that he has any business of
yours to do here, I shall desire him to return to you on Tuesday
with the examination of the physicians, which will, I hope, be
presented on that day, or perhaps I may keep him till the Addresses
are carried.

I make you no congratulations on this great event; but it has made
a deep impression in my heart, and so I am sure it will in yours.

God bless you, and believe me ever most affectionately yours,

W. W. G.

Do not say more of the King's situation than Lord Sydney's despatch
authorizes, because Willis's name should not be committed after
what has passed.

MR. W. W. GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Whitehall, Feb. 20th, 1789.
MY DEAR BROTHER,

The House of Commons met to-day and adjourned to Tuesday, without a
word being said, except from Viner, who desired to hear from Pitt
an account of the King's real situation. No answer was given, and
the House adjourned.

Pitt has seen the Chancellor since his return from Kew to-day. _He,
Thurlow_, was with the King to-day for two hours. He did not enter
into particulars of what had been done, but only in general terms.
He says that he never saw, at any period, the King more composed,
collected, or distinct, and that there was not the least trace or
appearance of disorder.

Willis, however, does not allow the cure to be yet quite complete,
although he thinks it as nearly so as possible. All the other
medical people seem to think him quite well; but Willis's means of
information and his experience are so much greater, that we cannot
but give entire credit to what he says.

The Chancellor is to be at Kew again on Sunday. I think our present
idea is to adjourn the two Houses again from Tuesday to Thursday or
Saturday. If that is the case, I shall send Fremantle back to you,
as he tells me he has nothing to detain him here, and it is very
desirable that Bernard should be on the spot soon, to make his bow
at Aylesbury.

You must not expect to hear from me on any other subject than the
King's recovery; for nobody here writes, talks, thinks or dreams of
anything else.

Ever most affectionately yours,
W. W. G.

MR. W. W. GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Whitehall, Feb. 21st, 1789.
MY DEAR BROTHER,

I have little to add to Lord Sydney's letter. Your refusal to
transmit the Address is generally approved here; and I have the
pleasure of seeing daily proofs that the Opposition in this country
are ashamed of what they and their friends have done in Ireland.
Your answer, I think, much improved by the transposition,
especially as it avoids the necessity of your submitting any advice
to His Royal Highness, which might have been said to be an
officious interference, as you are not in any situation which calls
upon you to advise _him_.

You will hear with as much pleasure as I write it, that the King
was not at all agitated by his interview with the Chancellor, and
was perfectly composed and collected all yesterday evening. The
accounts this morning are as good as can be.

Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales and Duke of York have
been once or twice at Kew, to desire to be admitted _to_ see him,
which you will naturally suppose was not permitted. This morning
they thought proper to make a formal demand that they should be
allowed to see him; or if not, insisting that the physicians should
give in writing the reasons for their refusal. In consequence of
this, Warren and Gisborne, who were there this morning, sent Willis
in to the King, to acquaint him that the two Princes wished to see
him. Willis returned with a message to them from the King, thanking
them for their inquiries, but wishing to put off the seeing them
till he had seen Thurlow again, which he is to do to-morrow. This
was reduced to writing, and sent to them; how it will be received I
know not, but it has completely defeated the avowed object of the
visit, which was to prejudice his mind against the measures which
have been taken.

There seems now every reason to hope that by the 6th or 7th of
March he will be sufficiently recovered, or rather will have been
recovered a sufficient time to make it proper to take his commands
for opening the Parliament. If not, you will see by the despatch
the nature of the measures which we have in contemplation; and I
can have no doubt of your agreeing, that no principle which we have
ever maintained would require or even justify us in putting the
Prince of Wales in such a situation as to enable him to overturn
the whole system of the King's Government, the King being all the
while perfectly well, conscious of what is going forward, and
restrained from acting himself only by the apprehension of a
relapse.

You will already have seen and considered what I have said to you
on the subject of remaining. You cannot form to yourself an idea
how universally it is the wish of all who wish for your own
personal credit, and of all who are interested for the credit of
the party, that you should remain in Ireland so long as to make it
appear that you have thoroughly weathered the storm. Your session
need be but very short indeed. The uncertain state of everything
since November last, is an ample apology for not being prepared
with other business, and for deferring it till another year. But
the leaving it in the middle, would convey the impression that all
this difficulty had been personal to yourself, and that you were
the only obstacle to the success of English Government in Ireland.
Directly the reverse of this proposition is, I am convinced, the
truth; but it is a truth which it is of the utmost importance to
yourself to establish in the general and public opinion in this
country. You have great advantages for this, from the general
disposition which is prevalent here to feel the strongest
indignation at the conduct which your opponents have held. I must
own it would be a severe mortification to me to see you forego this
opportunity.

You know the only motive which I can have for pressing this so
much, and how much violence I do to my own feelings when I urge
anything which may delay my seeing you again.

Ever most affectionately yours,
W. W. G.

Lord Bulkeley, in a letter dated the 24th, describes one of these interviews of the Princes with His Majesty. The general impressions which prevailed respecting the conduct and dispositions of their Royal Highnesses in this crisis, may be gathered from these unreserved revelations.

The accounts from Kew this morning are as good as possible (but I
have not got the precise words); notwithstanding, the Princes were
with him half an hour yesterday, which is a proof that his
miraculous recovery is not to be shaken. Lord Winchelsea, who was
at Kew the whole time, told me that the Prince and Duke of York,
though appointed at one, did not arrive till half-past three; and
that when they came out, they told Colonel Digby that they were
delighted with the King's being so well, and remarked that two
things in the half-hour's conference which they had with him had
struck them very forcibly: that he had observed to them how much
better he played at picquet than Mr. Charles Hawkins, and that
since he had been ill he had rubbed up all his Latin; and these
facts, which are facts, I expect to hear magnified by the Carlton
House runners into instances of insanity.

The Princes entered the King's apartment without any emotion, and
came out of it with none visible in their countenances. The Queen
only was present, and the conference lasted half an hour. I have
not heard as yet; but conclude they were both rioting, ----, and
drunk last night at the masquerade, as they were at one a week ago;
the truth is, that they are quite desperate, and endeavour to
drown their cares, disappointments, and internal chagrin in wine
and dissipation.

The Duke of York plays much at tennis, and has a score with all the
blacklegs; and in the public court tells them they shall all be
paid as soon as his father can settle with him some Osnaburg money
which he owes him.

* * * * *

The Princes give out, that as soon as they have an opportunity of
explaining their conduct to the King, they are sure he will approve
of it as much as he will reprobate that of Mr. Pitt's.

"It is now almost certain," says Mr. Grenville on the 23rd, "that we shall not pass the Regency Bill, and consequently that the Government will not be changed." In the same letter he refers to a suggestion of Lord Buckingham's, that the answer declining to transmit the Irish Address should be laid before His Royal Highness.

On conversing with Pitt, we were both clearly of opinion, that no
communication ought to be made to H.R.H. of what has passed in
Ireland, as we have uniformly considered him as not entitled, under
the present circumstances, to any communication of any part of the
business of Government. Nothing has accordingly been ever laid
before him, except the measures which Pitt intended to _bring
forward_ respecting him personally; but that principle certainly
does not extend to such a communication as had been proposed in
your separate letter, which I have for that reason not sent to Lord
Sydney.

In so absurd a light, indeed, did the whole proceedings of the Irish Parliament appear to Ministers, that Mr. Grenville thought it highly improbable that the Irish Ambassadors, as they were called, would venture to present the Address in the improved state of the King's health, or that His Royal Highness would be advised to accept it. They _did_ present it notwithstanding, and their reception is thus reported by Mr. Grenville:

Your Ambassadors are arrived; and presented their Address yesterday
evening to the Prince. The answer which, as I understand, he gave
them, was, that he was highly gratified with the expressions of
_loyalty to the King_, which the Address contained; but that with
respect to the rest he could not give them an answer before
Tuesday, on which day he desired to see them again. I take it for
granted, he will then say, that the King being recovered, all
consideration of a Regency is out of the question.

People in general here do not seem disposed to consider this
transaction in any other than a ludicrous manner, and as the most
absurd and ridiculous farce. It is impossible to describe how much
and how universally their Excellencies are laughed at. One of them
came into an assembly last night, and was received with a general
roar of laughter. I did not think they would have been so foolish
as to present it. The Prince and his friends must have been a good
deal embarrassed what answer to give them; and I do not think they
have succeeded remarkably well, if the account of the answer, such
as I have stated it, is true.

It was on the day after the Princes' interview that Mr. Pitt had his first audience of the King since his illness; no Minister, except the Chancellor, having hitherto been admitted to see His Majesty, on account of the jealousies with which every step they took throughout this painful interval was watched and turned to account.

MR. W. W. GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Whitehall, Feb. 24th, 1789.
MY DEAR BROTHER,

Pitt has just shown me a letter which he received last night from
the King, written in His Majesty's own hand, couched in the warmest
terms, thanking him for his unshaken attachment to his interests,
and desiring to see him this morning. He went accordingly to Kew,
and was with the King above an hour. He says that there was not the
smallest trace or appearance of any disorder; that the King's
manner was unusually composed and dignified, but that there was no
other difference whatever from what he had been used to see. The
King spoke of his disorder as of a thing past, and which had left
no other impression on his mind than that of gratitude for his
recovery, and a sense of what he owed to those who had stood by
him. He spoke of these in such a manner as brought tears into his
eyes; but even with that degree of affection of mind, there was not
the least appearance of disorder.

After Pitt had left His Majesty, he conversed with Willis, who told
him that he now thought the King quite well; that he could not
perceive the least trace remaining of his disorder. Under these
circumstances, the more I consider our actual situation and what
seems due to the King's feelings, the more I am persuaded of that
opinion, to which I think our friends begin in general to lean,
that the King's resumption of his authority must be done purely by
his own act, and that it is impossible to hear of any examination
of physicians.

The two Princes were at Kew yesterday, and saw the King, in the
Queen's apartment. She was present the whole time, a precaution for
which, God knows, there was but too much reason. They kept him
waiting a considerable time before they arrived; and after they
left him, drove immediately to Mrs. Armstead's, in Park Street, in
hopes of finding Fox there, to give him an account of what had
passed. He not being in town, they amused themselves yesterday
evening with spreading about a report that the King was still out
of his mind, and in quoting phrases of his to which they gave that
turn. It is certainly a decent and becoming thing, that when all
the King's physicians, all his attendants, and his two principal
Ministers, agree in pronouncing him well, his two sons should deny
it. And the reflection that the Prince of Wales was to have had the
Government and the Duke of York the command of the army during his
illness, makes this representation of his actual state, when coming
from them, more peculiarly proper and edifying. I bless God it is
yet some time before these _matured and ripened virtues_ will be
_visited upon us_ in the form of a Government.

Believe me ever most affectionately yours,
W. W. G.

Acting on the _carte blanche_ which he had asked, and which had been freely accorded to him, respecting dismissals, appointments, and creations, Lord Buckingham proceeded at once to redress the balance of power in Ireland, by dismissing from their offices the persons who had recently opposed the conduct of the Government on the Regency question. A similar course had been pursued in England on His Majesty's recovery. Mr. Grenville mentions specially "the justice which had been executed on Lord Lothian" in this way, the King taking his troop from him, and sending him to join another in Ireland. "The joke current here," says Mr. Grenville, "is, that the Irish Ambassadors came over here to Lothian's hotel, and that the King sends Lothian to return the visit." In Ireland the disaffection had been more dangerous and extensive, and demanded more severe measures.

The moment it was known that the King was recovered, a negotiation was opened with the Government through Mr. Fitzgibbon, then Attorney-General, by the principal members of the Lords and Commons who had supported the Address, tendering their submission, and asking for an amnesty. It has been stated in some publications referring to these proceedings, that the negotiations were opened by Government; but Lord Buckingham's official despatch, dated the 23rd of March, not only shows that statement to be erroneous, but establishes the fact that Lord Buckingham peremptorily refused to entertain the negotiation until he should have received a positive assurance that a certain defensive and hostile agreement, into which those gentlemen had entered, was to be considered as abandoned. This agreement, or association, was called the Round Robin (although not really a round robin, being merely a declaration, followed in the usual way by the signatures of the subscribers), pledging those who attached their names to it to "stand by each other" (to use the phrase by which Mr. Beresford described it) in the event of their offices or pensions being taken from them, and to oppose any Administration that should resort to such a proceeding.

Finding Lord Buckingham immoveable upon the condition he stipulated for, Lords Shannon, Loftus, Clifden, and many others, authorized the Attorney-General to declare the association at an end, adding that they desired to be represented to His Majesty as anxious to support his Government, and to endeavour to remove by their future conduct all unfavourable impressions from his mind. In the wise exercise of the discretion reposed in him, Lord Buckingham accepted this voluntary tender of allegiance, and permitted the gentlemen who had made it to retain their offices. The Duke of Leinster, who had been only recently appointed to the Rolls, and Mr. Ponsonby, who held the situation of Postmaster-General, refusing to give the required undertaking, aggravated, in the case of the latter, by a declaration that he would not enter into any communication with Lord Buckingham, were at once dismissed from their offices. This dismissal was followed by that of a few others of less note.

These energetic measures were founded, not only on the dangerous resistance these gentlemen had carried to extremity, at a period of anxious suspense and universal excitement, against the Government, but upon a knowledge of the existence of an organized combination they had embarked in with the English Opposition to supersede the authority of the Sovereign in the person of the Regent. In order the more effectually to accomplish their objects, they had seized upon every act of the Administration, and held it up to obloquy. A pension which had been granted to Mr. Orde, and the reversion of Lord Clanbrassil's office which had been conferred on Mr. Grenville, afforded them a pretext for charging the Government with corruption and profligacy. They opened their impeachment at the very beginning of the session, in February, defeated the motion for adjournment, carried their Address at the sacrifice of their own dignity and independence, and were only arrested at last in their headlong career by those vigorous measures which broke up the combination, and once more gave a legitimate preponderance in the Senate to the saving influence of the Administration. The effect of the _coup d'etat_--for as such these dismissals may be considered--was decisive. The hostile majority was broken down; and when Mr. Grattan, still confident in his resources, brought forward his Pension Bill, to disable persons who held pensions during pleasure, or offices that had been created after a certain time, from sitting in Parliament, he was defeated by a majority of 9. This was justly claimed as a conclusive victory by a Government that had only just before been denounced in a vote of censure in the same assembly by a majority of 32.

There is no doubt that the happy and unexpected recovery of His Majesty averted a struggle that might have gone near to dissolve the connection of the Executive authority between the two kingdoms; for, had His Majesty's illness continued much longer, there is too much reason to believe that His Royal Highness would have been advised to accept the invitation of the Irish Parliament, by which he would have been created Regent of Ireland, with full powers, before an Act of Parliament had passed in England under the Great Seal empowering him to assume the functions of Sovereignty. The confusion that would have ensued upon such a state of affairs, and the disastrous issues to which it would have inevitably led, cannot be contemplated, even at this distance of time, without an expression of astonishment that men were to be found capable of entertaining such a proposition. The heroic endurance of Lord Buckingham, upon whom the whole weight of contending against the madness in which this scene of folly and violence originated, enabled him, happily for the repose of both countries, to live down the dangers and the odium which his steadfast discharge of his duties, and his firm adherence to the policy of the English Cabinet, had drawn upon him during this season of political delirium. His own impressions of the scene around him, and the strength of the resolution he brought to bear upon it, will be shown in an extract from a hasty note written to Lord Bulkeley, in the midst of the clamour of the Parliament, on the 14th of March.

I have not shrunk from my duty in the worst times, and I will not
trifle with it in those which look more prosperous. Much must be
done to save the British Government from an infamous and daring
combination, which might have been yielded to by a more
pusillanimous minister; but could only be met by one confident in
his character and conduct. Do not think this the language of
vanity; the times have been, and still are much too serious for
such a boyish passion: I feel that the dearest interests of both
kingdoms are at stake, and nothing but firmness can save it. I have
been insulted, I may be beat, but I will not be disgraced.

When the victory was finally achieved, he writes again to Lord Bulkeley in a strain of justifiable exultation, announcing his complete triumph over the Opposition. The letter is dated the 4th May, and the passage extracted from it contains an animated picture of the strife through which the writer had just passed.

I told you, two months ago, that my friends would not blush for
me--that I might be beaten, but that I would not be disgraced. I
write to you now in the moment, and with the transports of the
warmest exultation and of honest pride, to tell you, that on
Saturday night I closed the session in the House of Commons, having
thrown out every measure brought forward by Opposition. They would
not divide after their second defeat, where, though our majority
was the same, yet, as fewer members voted, it was more in
proportion than before; and the illness of Lord Clanbrassil and of
Lord Lifford lost us three votes. The House of Lords still sits for
a cause which they are hearing, and for some private Bills. The
House of Commons adjourned to Friday, and on that day both Houses
adjourn to the 25th, when I shall pass the Bills, and shall finally
prorogue them.

In the space then of six weeks, I have secured to the Crown a
decided and steady majority, created in the teeth of the Duke of
Leinster, Lord Shannon, Lord Granard, Ponsonby, Conolly, O'Neil,
united to all the republicanism, the faction, and the discontents
of the House of Commons; and having thrown this aristocracy at the
feet of the King, I have taught to the British and Irish Government
a lesson which ought never to be forgotten; and I have the pride to
recollect that the whole of it is fairly to be ascribed to the
steady decision with which the storm was met, and to the zeal,
vigour, and industry of some of the steadiest friends that ever man
was blessed with.

While these anxious events were passing in Ireland, the old passion of the King for interfering with military promotions, as if he were resolved, as Mr. Grenville remarks, to absorb that branch of patronage, involved Lord Buckingham and the Cabinet in another series of protocols similar to those which passed concerning Colonel Gwynne's appointment. Another lieutenant-colonelcy had fallen vacant, and Lord Buckingham desired that it should be bestowed on his nephew, Colonel Nugent, who had been disappointed of a similar favour on the former occasion; but His Majesty directed that it should be given to Colonel Taylor. Even Mr. Grenville, who exercised a philosophical patience in these matters, was so hurt at the manner in which Lord Buckingham's wishes were passed over, at a time when he was rendering such signal services to the Crown, that he could not restrain the expression of his dissatisfaction. Writing to Lord Buckingham, he says:

I feel that I would be unworthy, not only of your confidence and
affection, but of the name and character of a gentleman, if I did
not warmly partake of your just resentment at this gross and
unmerited offence, offered at a moment when your conduct had
entitled you to so very different a line of treatment.

Lord Buckingham was again on the point of resigning, and Mr. Grenville participated so strongly in his feelings that he indicated his determination of following his example. After stating in a subsequent letter that he thought he saw in the King's mind "a strong wish to take into his own hands this piece of military patronage _whenever it falls_," he proceeds to observe upon the consequences.

The whole transaction gives me the greatest uneasiness, because I
am not afraid to say to you, fairly and openly, that the measures
to which, I fear, you may ultimately be driven in consequence of it
are of a nature which I fear extremely; and _that_, I trust, for
better reasons than any consideration of their effect on my views.
It is on every account a most critical and embarrassing moment for
you; and the sense which I entertain of the injustice of those who
have brought you into this situation, does not remove or diminish
my apprehensions of the consequences to which it leads. It is no
affectation or parade of disinterestedness, but the necessary
consequence of the first principles of justice and honour, when I
assure you that I am resolved to follow your decision upon it, and
that I consider your honour as inseparably connected with my own.

Fortunately, however, this solution of the difficulty was rendered unnecessary. A compromise, as usual, afforded a convenient escape to all parties, without disappointing any; and by an ingenious re-distribution of three or four regiments (devised by His Majesty himself), Taylor was provided for elsewhere, and Nugent obtained his lieutenant-colonelcy. There was great difficulty, nevertheless, in bringing His Majesty to this point. He had made up his mind to give the vacant regiment to Taylor, and would hear of no one else. "I am truly sorry to say," observes Mr. Pitt, in the course of the negotiations, "that he seems thoroughly determined not to yield, and I am sure no consideration will induce him to agree to any other arrangement." Had it depended solely on the disposition of the King, the difference would never have been adjusted, and Lord Buckingham, stung by these repeated indignities, might have thrown up his Government at a conjuncture when his retirement must have plunged the country into anarchy. How seriously this step was contemplated by him and Mr. Grenville will appear from the following correspondence:

MR. W. W. GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Whitehall, April 7th, 1789.
MY DEAR BROTHER,

I have just received your letter of the 3rd, and though I have
nothing new to say to you upon the point of Captain Taylor, he not
having yet sent his answer, I cannot help writing a few lines, lest
you think the subject is out of my mind. With respect to the
promotions of peerage, the fault, if there is any, is mine; because
I felt, and still continue to feel, that under the present
circumstances, and till this business of Taylor is settled, the
other _ought_ to be postponed; nor can I imagine any real
inconvenience to arise from it. I am, however, by no means sanguine
in my expectations of the event of this business. I have already
expressed to you my sense of the King's treatment of you in this
instance, and my determination to abide by any measures that you
may think it right to take in this situation. I cannot, however, in
justice to you or to myself, avoid saying, that I most sincerely
wish you to consider well the step which you are about to take; and
that not only with a reference to your _present_ situation or to
your _immediate_ feelings, but with a view to the interpretation
which the public will put upon it, and with a view to any future
political object of ours. With respect to the latter, I am
persuaded you must see that it is impossible for you to resign the
Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland at this time, and on this ground,
without making up your mind at the same moment finally to renounce
all ideas of our taking any part hereafter as public men in this
country. If you will consider what our situation would be, after
such a step, with the King, with the Prince, with Pitt's friends,
and with Fox, and lastly with the public at large, you will, I am
sure, think that the consequence which I state is not overstrained.

I can, without affectation, assure you, that though I am not
indifferent either to the recollection of what we have already
done, or to the prospects which are now before us; yet that I could
perfectly well make up my mind to a different line of life, and
that I am confident I possess sufficient resources within myself to
reconcile myself to such a step, provided it were taken for an
object which I felt to be _tanti_. And such I certainly do consider
the object of marking to you, and to the world, and of discharging,
in a manner satisfactory to my own feelings, my gratitude and
affectionate attachment to you, in an instance where I entirely
agree with you in thinking you ill-treated, at a time when you had
deserved best.

It remains, therefore, for _you_ to consider what step it may be
best for you to take under all the present circumstances. Even if
your mind should ultimately lean to the idea of resigning, I should
certainly strongly press you not to carry this idea into effect
till you have closed your session in Ireland; and in this advice,
at least, I am certainly disinterested, because my situation would,
in the interim, be more disagreeable and embarrassing than it could
be under _any_ other circumstances. But I am _sure_ that if you
were to quit _immediately_, as you now talk of doing, you never
could induce any one to believe that this step was not taken with a
view to escape from present difficulties, instead of being intended
to mark your sense of personal ill-treatment; and that when the
impression of the present moment upon your feelings was over, you
never would forgive yourself for having concluded the transactions
of this winter by such a termination.

I have only to add that I am not indifferent, and that I am
persuaded you are not, to the public consequences of our conduct.
It is one of the circumstances which are necessarily attendant
upon a public situation and a public line of life, that a person
who is engaged in it cannot act even in those points which most
nearly concern himself without producing consequences which are
often of great public importance. It will certainly not be a
pleasant reflection to me to have materially contributed to the
overthrow of that system of public men and public measures which I
believe to be of the utmost importance to the welfare and
prosperity of my country. On the best reflection which I can give
to the subject, weighing what I owe to you and to myself, and what
I owe to others, I shall feel myself _justified_, whatever may be
the consequences; but certainly my feelings upon them will be such
as to prevent my ever again putting myself into a similar
situation, even if the circumstances to which I have alluded in the
beginning of this letter did not, as they probably will, render
such an event absolutely impossible.

When I speak of contributing to the overthrow of the present system
you certainly understand me to refer to the probable consequences
of our withdrawing ourselves from it, and not to any idea of your
being led, which I am persuaded is impossible, to contribute
actively to the triumph of a most wicked and profligate faction. I
should feel that I gave you just cause of offence, if I thought it
necessary to say, that this is a point to which no consideration
could lead me.

You will excuse me if I have said so much in this letter upon my
own subject, in treating of a point which relates to your conduct
and to your situation. I feel that the two subjects are too
intimately connected for me to speak of them separately, and I felt
that you could not but be desirous, in the moment of deciding a
step so interesting to us both, that I should open my heart to you
in as free and unrestrained a manner as I have now done.

One thing more I must recommend to your serious consideration.
Nothing is clearer to my mind than the propriety of the step you
have taken in dismissing Ponsonby, of the intimation which you have
given to Lord Shannon of the necessary consequences of his present
conduct, and of the measures you have adopted for securing to
yourself efficient assistance by the removal of Fitzherbert, and by
the nomination of Hobart on the persuasion which you entertain of
his ability to serve you. But I must entreat you to reflect that
this line of conduct is only to be justified on the supposition of
your being to remain in Ireland; while, on the other hand,
entertaining as you now do the idea of quitting your situation, it
is surely a duty which you owe to yourself, as well as to the
public, to leave to your successor his decision as free and open as
your own is now, on points which may be of such infinite importance
to his Government. To have failed in this instance would, I am
sure, much add to the many grounds of regret which will press
themselves upon your mind.

I will say no more on all these points. I have now written you a
dissertation, instead of a few lines, as I had intended, but my
anxiety on the subject has drawn me on. The groundwork of all this
difficulty may, after all, be removed by Taylor's refusal, or by
Pitt's exertions; but I again repeat that I am not sanguine on that
head, and it is certainly more reasonable that we should prepare
our minds for a contrary event.

Believe me ever, my dear brother,
Most affectionately yours,
W. W. G.

Why should you feel yourself offended because particular marks of
favour have been shown to Burrard and Lenox, two most steady, warm,
and deserving friends of ours at all times, and in all
circumstances?

MR. W. W. GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

April 10th, 1789.
MY DEAR BROTHER,

I have just received your letter of the 7th, and feel myself bound
to answer the question which you put to me as directly and as
explicitly as I am able to do. The business remains hitherto in the
same situation as when I wrote last to you. A further answer has
been received from Major Taylor, in which he still persists in his
former refusal; but by some confusion about dates, it is not
perfectly clear whether this is his final answer to the
notification which had been made to him, that he must renounce his
further expectations from the King if he refuses this. We were
desirous to delay any communication with the King upon the subject,
till it was perfectly clear that the plea of his engagement to
Taylor was removed by the refusal of the latter, because we thought
that, under those circumstances, the representation of what was due
to you would come with greater force. I am, however, obliged to say
that there is a further difficulty, even supposing this of Taylor
to be removed by his refusal. The King has destined _his_ Majority
of Dragoons to Garth, one of his equerries, and has had the folly
and precipitation to communicate this intention to Garth. Under
these circumstances, it appears doubtful whether even a final
refusal from Taylor would remove the plea of actual engagement, and
whether Nugent's appointment would not still meet with the same
difficulty on account of its not opening a Majority of Dragoons for
Garth. You will observe that I speak only from a general idea of
the King's feelings and habits of thinking and acting on these
subjects, when I state these probable difficulties, but that I have
no further information as to his disposition in this particular
instance, than I had when I wrote to you last.

This will, however, now be brought in some measure to a point, as
Pitt and myself have agreed that there should be no further delay;
but that he should now write to the King to state Taylor's last
answer of refusal, and to express his hope, that in consequence of
this, His Majesty will, under all the circumstances of the case, be
disposed to comply with your recommendation of Colonel Nugent.

It has occurred to us, that even if the King should obstinately
persist in a refusal on this occasion, there is another solution
which you might possibly deem satisfactory. You will recollect that
the business of Colonel Gwynne closed last year, by the King's
consenting that Nugent should have the office of Adjutant-General,
provided any arrangement could be made by you for Faucitt. Neither
Pitt nor myself ever knew from you on what point your negotiation
with Faucitt broke off. But if that could be renewed, Pitt
authorizes me to say that he could find the means of opening a ten
Sh. Government for him in England immediately, and that he has no
doubt of the King's consent to the arrangement, even preceding the
signing Taylor's commission.

You, however, will best know how far this mode of arranging the
business would be satisfactory to you, and what probability there
would be of bringing it to bear, with the assistance which I state.
If you feel this to be impossible, there will then remain nothing
but to press the King on the other point as far as possible, and at
last, if it is found absolutely necessary, to give him to
understand that his option must be made between his Major Taylor
and his Major Garth on the one hand, and his Lord-Lieutenant of
Ireland on the other. You do justice to the manner in which I have
felt and written to you on this occasion, and it is extremely
satisfactory to me to know that you are not insensible to the
warmth and sincerity of my affection and gratitude towards you. Let
me therefore, upon that ground, presume so far only as to beg that
you will not send your resignation, or notify formally (or indeed
in any other manner) your intention so to do, till you learn from
me that I am convinced all other steps will be ineffectual. I
persuade myself that this is a trust which you will not believe me
capable of abusing, however unwilling I must be, on so many
accounts, to see you driven to the necessity of taking this last
and decisive step.

I mentioned also to you, in my last letter, the reasons which I
feel for wishing that, in all events, the actual execution of this
measure may be delayed till the conclusion of the session. I press
this for reasons personal to you, and which I feel very strongly,
although the interval will unquestionably be very embarrassing to
you, and perhaps even more distressing to myself. But I am desirous
of knowing how far you feel the force of those reasons, and what
your determination would be in that case, because I think it might
make some difference in the manner of stating your intention to the
King, if this should be rendered necessary.

I feel it needless to repeat to you what I have already said of my
intentions respecting my own conduct; and I hope you do me the
justice to believe, that however deeply I am involved in the result
of this business, my first anxiety is that it may terminate in a
manner consistent with your honour, character, and happiness.

Believe me, my dear brother,
Most affectionately yours,
W. W. G.

MR. W. W. GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Holwood, April 12th, 1789.
MY DEAR BROTHER,

As I understand that Mr. Pitt writes to you by this messenger, in
order to state to you the nature of the King's answer to his
letter, and to explain the arrangement which is proposed to you as
a solution of this unpleasant business, I feel that I can have
nothing to add. I have already mentioned to you, in the most full
and unreserved manner, the whole of my feelings on this occasion,
and I see nothing in the present state of it which can at all vary
them. I still continue very desirous that this business may not
proceed to those extremities which you have mentioned, because I
think such a step, independent of its public consequences, would
close our political prospects in this country, and would, besides,
be liable to a construction which we should most wish to avoid. But
I also continue in the full determination to abide by your decision
upon it, and that your conduct shall regulate mine; because I feel
this as no less due to myself than to you, on an occasion in which
I certainly think the King has been much wanting to you.

If I were to write volumes to you, I could only enlarge upon these
points, on which I have already fully written to you, and with the
same freedom and sincerity as if I were thinking aloud. I always
feel some embarrassment and difficulty in writing upon points in
which I am myself so much interested; although I have not, on this
occasion, suffered that consideration to weigh with me, so as
either to say what I should not otherwise have said, or to leave
unsaid anything which I felt I ought to say. I have now, therefore,
only to conclude, with my sincere assurances of the uniform and
warm affection with which I am,

My dear brother, most truly yours,
W. W. G.

MR. W. W. GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Whitehall, April 16th, 1789.
MY DEAR BROTHER,

I came to town yesterday with Mr. Pitt, and found your letter of
the 11th, and this morning I received yours of the 12th. I was much
mortified that I was not able to write to you yesterday evening,
as I had intended to do, first by the post, and afterwards by a
messenger. But different circumstances arose, which made it
impossible. I could have wished to have answered your letter at
length, in order to state to you everything that occurs to me upon
it; but I cannot now do this without unnecessarily delaying the
messenger, and I wish to lose no time in letting you know the exact
state of the business, as it now stands. Taylor has accepted, which
considerably increases the difficulty of making a point with the
King to undo what he has done for him. But another solution has now
offered itself, on which I cannot help feeling rather sanguine. We
have just heard of the death of General Mackay: Pitt is now writing
to the King, to represent the propriety of making any arrangement,
which this event may give rise to, subservient to the purpose of
removing this difficulty, and to desire to see the King, in order
to converse with him upon that point. The King will probably
appoint to-morrow; but as Pitt may not be back till late, I thought
it better to send off this messenger, as my letter is now a day
later than I meant to have written, and I can easily judge of your
impatience to hear from me on this subject.

Lodge Morres will be instantly dismissed, with such a letter as you
mention.

You shall hear from me again to-morrow, or Saturday, at latest. I
hope you have not taken any step on the receipt of our letters of
Sunday; but if any letter of formal resignation comes from you, I
should feel myself justified, under these circumstances, to stop
it.