proceeding. In the meantime, the prospect of the King's recovery is
     daily growing more favourable. Willis and Addington have both said,
     _separately_, that his emotion at seeing the Queen for the first
     time, and his subsequent agitation, instead of being discouraging,
     were symptoms highly favourable. He is now quite calm; and at three
     o'clock yesterday, the account which came from Willis was, that he
     was better than at any time since his illness.

     It will be ridiculous if he should recover just in time to give the
     royal _dissent_ to the Regency Bill--which is not impossible. The
     more probable supposition is, that they will just have time to
     parcel out the spoils, to dismiss us, and to hold their offices
     about a month; and so will end (if this should happen) the third
     reign of King Charles III.

     So little was said about Ireland, that it would have been an
     affectation in me to have talked about it; besides this, I had no
     opportunity of speaking that pleased me.

     Ever most affectionately yours,
     W. W. G.

     What I mentioned in my last about the four Princes, I now _know_
     not to be true with respect to the Duke of Gloucester, who has held
     aloof from all cabal with them, and even declared in the House of
     Lords that he had done so.

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

     Whitehall, Dec. 19th, 1788.
     MY DEAR BROTHER,

     I am very sorry that this letter must necessarily be so short, as I
     should have great pleasure if there was time to state to you the
     particulars of our triumph, and of the effect which it has
     produced, and which is indeed little less than miraculous. It
     certainly exceeded my expectations; but it was so infinitely beyond
     what our opponents had thought possible, that they are beat down by
     it beyond all description. I hope you will hear all this more
     particularly from others. I write now only for the purpose of
     sending you the following paragraph from a letter of Willis's to
     Pitt last night, which he showed me. W. is speaking of the effect
     of the blisters. He says: "From this, and from several other little
     occurrences in the course of these last three days, I am more than
     ever confirmed in my opinion that there can be no doubt of the
     King's entire recovery."

     I know the pleasure which this will give you, and therefore send
     it, though in great haste.

     Ever most affectionately yours,
     W. W. G.

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

     Whitehall, Dec. 21st, 1788.
     MY DEAR BROTHER,

     I have delayed writing for these two or three last days, in hopes
     of being able to give you an account of the event of our second
     division, which has, as you will have seen, been deferred from day
     to day, and now is finally fixed for to-morrow. The adjournment on
     Friday was necessary, on account of Pitt's health. He had entirely
     lost the use of his voice by a cold, so that he could not have
     spoken five sentences together, and he was in other respects much
     exhausted. Our friends were a little chagrined at the delay; but it
     was unavoidable, and will not, I hope, be productive of any
     inconvenience.

     Our next question is not a pleasant one. It turns on an abstruse
     maxim of law, which makes it necessary for us to take a very
     circuitous mode of doing a very plain thing. The necessity of it is
     forced upon us by our lawyers, whom we could not otherwise have
     satisfied, with regard to the second proposition which we have
     voted. I am indeed convinced, that, in strict law, they are right,
     and that the mode now proposed is the regular and proper mode of
     doing what is required to be done. At the same time, it would have
     been more agreeable to have had a more familiar and obvious measure
     to defend in such an assembly as the House of Commons.

     We shall probably lose some individuals, both on this question, and
     on the subsequent question of restrictions; but we have some new
     recruits, who were absent by sickness, or other accidents; so that,
     on the whole, I hope the difference will not be considerable,
     though nothing can exceed their industry in canvassing, except the
     open manner in which they offer every sort of bribe.

     We have some idea of making the restrictions temporary, by which
     means they will certainly be much more palatable. You will observe
     that almost all the physicians seem to point out the probability of
     his recovering within a year or a year and a half, if at all. This
     seems to afford a real ground of expediency, besides giving a
     strong topic of argument for imposing the restrictions only for a
     similar time. This point is, however, not yet determined.

     The accounts from Windsor for the last week, though they have
     varied, are yet, on the whole, less favourable than before. Willis
     ascribes this entirely to the effect of the blisters, which give
     him great pain; and Willis says _that_ is, on the whole, by no
     means an unfavourable symptom. The effect, however, which these
     accounts produce here, is injurious to us, and must be the same in
     Ireland. Our solid ground of hope does not appear to be in the
     smallest degree weakened.

     You will see in the Opposition papers that they are beginning to
     abuse the Queen in the most open and scandalous manner. I collect
     from this that they have some information, on which they can
     depend, with respect to her sentiments, and I conjecture that they
     are such as we could wish.

     If we were together, I could tell you some particulars of the
     Prince of Wales's behaviour towards the King and her, within these
     few days, that would make your blood run cold; but I dare not
     commit them to paper, because of my informant.

The demands of the Opposition appear to have risen and fallen with the
bulletins; and according as the King was better or worse, the resistance
to the limitations was faint or violent. The conduct pursued by the
Prince's party to obtain votes and strengthen their parliamentary
influence, is not shown in a very favourable light.

     SIR WILLIAM YOUNG TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

     Stratton Street,
     Monday, Dec. 22nd, 1788.
     MY DEAR LORD,

     I should scarcely venture to anticipate a subject, the event of
     which within twenty-four hours may belie any pretensions of
     political sagacity, might not the difference of one day's post from
     London eventually delay your receiving a letter for a week, should
     wind and sea prove perverse, as when I passed my Christmas at
     Holyhead. This, and the anxiety for intelligence, which must
     necessarily arise from the suggestion in my note of Saturday,
     induces me to pursue the matter I then opened, and the more
     especially as the circumstance, I foresaw, is now more than likely
     to occur. As I purpose closing this letter at the House of Commons,
     and the last moment which the post may allow me, I shall have to
     transmit fact in lieu of probability; at present, I state briefly
     my grounds for the latter--namely, that the specific great
     question, whether the Prince shall be Regent without any
     limitations, and invested with the full prerogatives of royalty,
     will be agitated and decided upon this Monday night. The turn of
     debate and temper of the House on Friday, which induced me to
     suppose such question might be pressed upon us, have induced others
     to press it. This morning a printed paper hath been sent to certain
     members, containing a motion for addressing, and an address at
     length to the Prince, corroborating what Mr. Steele told me
     yesterday, that _Fox's_ party had some design in view for Monday.
     Letters having been sent in Fox's name to several members,
     requesting attendance and _an answer_; and that Mr. Pitt had
     written in like manner to such as he apprehended might be
     withdrawing for the Christmas holidays, with the same unusual
     request _of answer_. Two of these letters (pretty long), to Sir H.
     Hoghton and to Mr. Pye, I afterwards had the perusal of.

     The true friendly language, and which I openly hold, is that we
     shall be stronger on the division than before; such language is
     proper, because ordinary men consider numbers as a shelter for
     their opinions and conduct, and some even consider it as the test
     of truth. But this language hath not its origin in my judgment and
     feelings. There are circumstances which impress great doubt on my
     mind, whether the division can be so favourable to our wishes, as
     was the last. Taking the data of the examination of the physicians,
     the King's recovery therein presumed, gives a vantage-ground in
     argument for limitations. But I am sorry to say this ground is now
     shaken: the public is no longer sanguine in hopes, medical
     gentlemen have generally conspired to render the object of
     recovery much more doubtful at least, and the physicians about the
     King have had dissensions and disputes amongst themselves. It is
     now rumoured that Dr. Warren wishes to be re-examined. All this is
     indeed not before the House of Commons, and the report of the
     physicians is; I think, therefore, that though not so decisive, we
     yet shall have a considerable majority on the premises; but even
     for this dependant on other considerations--namely, how far
     apprehensions of the King's actual demise may operate from, I
     believe, the faithful report of the day, that a fever is come on,
     and that for a day or two past the King has had a constant sweating
     of the head, to which he was at no time before accustomed.
     According to wishes or fears, men construe this crisis to portend
     health or decease; the political effect in the alternative, being
     in the first case uncertain, in the second case certain. The bent
     of this is against us, as few narrow motives and personal
     considerations may extend and favour the active spirit of
     subornation which stalks in open day, with each hand full of
     patents of honour and purses of money. Offers have been so prodigal
     that not fifty years of patronage could accomplish the performance.
     Those gentlemen who have rejected these kind tenders of service
     speak openly, and no notice is taken. In these moments of public
     curiosity, it may not be so well to trust names to a letter. I
     could give you several.

     The bearing of this letter is thus unfavourable to this night's
     debate terminating _fully_ as we could wish, though yet I think
     _for us_. Having thus far written, I shall pocket my paper for the
     purpose of adding what I can at the House of Commons.

     House of Commons,
     Half-past Five, Monday, Dec. 22nd, 1788.

     I dined at three, at a coffee-house, with my cousin, old William
     Lawrence, who called on me; Smith, member for Sudbury, leader of
     the Dissenters, joined us on the walk, and was of our dinner
     party. Lawrence said he wished a compromise, a _limited regency for
     a year_, and then to take up the business anew, if the King was not
     recovered, on the other ground, and _he_ is a leading country
     gentleman of their party, Smith is in an unqualified manner with
     us; and Thornton, whose place in the House is next to me, being
     equally staunch, I augur that we have all the Dissenters' interest
     with us. Indeed, generally speaking, the House looks better for us
     than I expected, and I doubt not our majority, yet thinking it will
     not be great; indeed the House is not nearly so full as it was on
     the late question, and the apprehensions I set out with of
     temporizers and shirkers, as we called them at Eton, seem
     confirmed.

     Edmund Burke arose a little after four, and is speaking yet. He has
     been wilder than ever, and laid himself and party open more than
     ever speaker did. He is Folly personified, but shaking his cap and
     bells under the laurel of genius; among other things, he said Mr.
     Pitt's proposals could not be adopted, as gentlemen, as
     _cavaliers_: the word will not be forgot.

     Fox is present, but looks very ill. Pitt looks recovered. Your
     brother in high glee at Burke. Burke stated the Chancellor to be
     like to the God Priapus, and Pitt the carpenter. He run his idea to
     a charming extravagance, and finished by declaring that "he could
     not be a votary to Priapus, the false God! _vid._ Horace, &c."

     The question is an amendment of Dempster's, to follow; the Lords
     and Commons, &c., determine "to address the Prince of Wales, to
     take on him the Regency, &c."

     Adieu, my dear Lord. Your Marchioness in health, and a boy, and
     yourself in all good that Providence can dispense, is the prayer of
     your most faithfully affectionate and devoted friend, &c.

     W. YOUNG.

     Six o'clock.

SIR WILLIAM YOUNG TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

     Tuesday, Dec. 23rd, 1788.
     MY DEAR LORD,

     Never did any debate of nice discussion go off better in our eye
     than that of last night: never was I more agreeably surprised than
     by the result--having gained nine on our former majority. The House
     was thinner by forty at twelve at night, than the debate before at
     three in the morning. The shirkers I alluded to may now come in,
     and we may augur our future divisions to be yet stronger and more
     decisive: our rats having all shown their tails on last night's
     motion to address the Prince.

     Sir John Aubrey, rat-major, receiving his emoluments of the
     Treasury for five years, and declaring himself unconnected with
     any, afforded a subject of general laugh. Master Popham, Sir Samuel
     Hurmery, James Macpherson, W.G. Hamilton, &c., &c., followed the
     illustrious Aubrey. Fox, after Pitt's reply, and his own rejoinder,
     paired off with Stevens of the Admiralty. The Marquis of
     Lansdowne's friends, Barré, &c., were with us. Masham, voting for
     the Address, declared himself not precluded thereby from voting for
     limitations. Drake, on the same head, not to preclude himself, left
     the House. We shall, therefore, have those _two_. Sir John Scott
     spoke with such learning, truth, and uncommon energy of reasoning
     and language, that he carried the House with him, and extorted from
     Lord North, in particular, the highest compliments ever paid to a
     lawyer in the House of Commons. I never heard Fox speak so
     temperately, or better, in point of argument. Pitt, in reply, was
     equally great. He stated, to conviction, "the fiction of the law,
     which admitted the application of the royal political authority,
     when the personal was disabled, as implicated in the very
     principles of hereditary succession, which otherwise would suffer
     interruption from nonage, infirmity, dotage, and every contingency
     in the state of man." Sheridan spoke very ill: very hot,
     injudicious, and _ill-heard_. Rolle, whilst adverting to Sheridan's
     speech, made use of a remarkable expression, and which seems to
     hint some future acting up to the rumours of his purpose. He said
     that in proper time, "He should heartily vote for the Prince's
     being Regent, _if_ the Prince had done no act by which he had
     forfeited pretensions to executive government in this country."

     Our resolutions being carried to the Lords, in conference this day,
     on Friday next the Lords will debate thereon. Lords Townshend,
     Romney, Radnor, and many other occasional opponents, I understand
     to be decidedly with us on the second Whig resolution.

     In speaking of our debate, I had forgot Burke, who, after I
     finished my last night's letter, finished his wild speech in a
     manner next to madness. He let out two of the new
     titles--Fitzwilliam to be Marquis of Rockingham, and Lord G.
     Cavendish, jun. His party pulled him, and our friends calling
     "Hear, hear," we lost the rest of the twenty-five new Peers, who
     would all have come out.

     For the King's health, the world is yet in expectation of some
     crisis. The St. James's notes of last night "quiet," or "unquiet,"
     are disregarded, as too general, or as of course; and accounts from
     ladies about the Queen, and from the physicians themselves, pass in
     the greater circles, still mentioning violent intermitting fevers,
     and profuse occasional perspirations. Having generally, in my last,
     stated that the faculty had conspired to render the public less
     sanguine, I mention to _your Lordship only_ what T. Warner, above
     seventy years of age, and forty years first surgeon of Guy's and
     St. Thomas's Hospitals, told me, "Being at the head of these city
     hospitals, he has been often called in to meet the physicians of
     Bethlem, where a surgeon for scalping, &c., was required, and that
     a madness after fifty, without a clear assignable cause--and that
     cause to be reached by surgery or medicine--did not admit a
     perfect recovery above one time in an hundred." The opinions of
     many others of the faculty are bandied about; but, as matter of
     conversation for your private ear, I give this particular one as
     authentically coming to my own knowledge.

     You'll observe in this day's papers, a meeting advertised of the
     bankers. It is understood to be for the purpose of tendering W.
     Pitt, on his going out of office, a transfer of £3000 per annum,
     Bank Stock, or a principal of £50,000, in the name of the
     commercial world.

     Adieu, my dear Lord. Health and prosperity be yours, and be assured
     that you have no one more devotedly attached than your most
     affectionate and obliged friend and servant,

     W. YOUNG.

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

     Whitehall, Dec. 23rd, 1788.
     MY DEAR BROTHER,

     I received this morning your letter of the 18th; but am so much
     engaged to-day that it is impossible for me to enter into it, which
     I will, if possible, do to-morrow. I write now only to press again,
     in the strongest manner, that you will get Fitzgibbon and Wolfe to
     state all the particulars of the case, particularly as to the form
     of the enrolment of your patent under the Irish Great Seal, and to
     give you their opinions and arguments upon it. I will then take
     care to know Kenyon's sentiments on that paper, and if I can, the
     Chancellor's; but you are not ignorant of the bias of his mind,
     which is, on all occasions, to consider the relative situation of
     the two kingdoms, not such as it is, but such as it was, and as he
     thought it should have remained. My idea of your tie by no means
     went to your pledging yourself to do any act so contrary to your
     duty and feelings, as the recommending from the throne, in
     Ireland, a form of Regency varying one iota from that adopted here.
     On the contrary, I think you should give it explicitly to be
     understood, that everything in your power will be done to preserve
     entire this link of connection. And under this explanation only, do
     I think you ought to offer the proposed alternative.

     I say nothing of our triumph last night. You will hear it from
     other quarters; and you will probably be able to judge of its
     extent, by knowing the confidence with which the enemy looked to
     gaining upon us on this occasion. It is, I think, now quite certain
     that we shall carry our restrictions.

     Ever most affectionately yours,
     W. W. G.

Another letter upon the Irish difficulty, into which Mr. Grenville
enters in elaborate detail:

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

     Whitehall, Dec. 25th, 1788.
     MY DEAR BROTHER,

     I am extremely anxious that you should lose no time in transmitting
     over to England an exact statement of the case respecting your
     commission, and of the points and arguments on which your lawyers
     ground their opinions, in order that they may be well considered
     here by those who are interested in your situation and character,
     as deeply and as warmly as Pitt and myself. You mention in your
     last, that it has occurred to you, that it would be right _if you
     are_ intemperately removed to desire the opinion of our judges on
     the point. But you do not seem to consider that, whenever that case
     occurs, you may have to decide _on the moment_, either to quit your
     Government, and to swear in the new Lord-Lieutenant, or to hold it
     against him, in contradiction to the orders of English Government.
     Suppose he should himself be the messenger of his own appointment,
     as was the case with the Duke of Portland. The same reason exactly
     exists for it now as before, namely, the fear of suffering the
     dismissed Lord-Lieutenant to meet the Parliament, especially in a
     moment when their conduct is so important. The best and, indeed,
     almost only security that you could have in such a case for the
     justification of your own conduct, whatever it might be, would be
     the having given a full previous intimation to the English
     Government of the difficulties and dangers of the case.

     You say that I should feel myself at liberty to act for you on the
     pressure of any unforeseen case. I certainly should; and my
     confidence in your affection, and in your persuasion of my desire
     to do the best for you, would encourage me to take, if it were
     absolutely necessary, steps even of considerable delicacy and
     difficulty. But I cannot but be infinitely anxious, as far as
     possible, to be previously in possession of your ideas on every
     case that can be foreseen. Besides this, I am at present unable to
     do the precise thing which I think would be the most desirable,
     because I am not myself in possession of the particular forms of
     your commission's passing in England and in Ireland, so as to be
     able to state them to others. And yet this is the point on which,
     in one view of the case, the whole question turns. I confess that,
     in my own individual opinion, there is another point distinct from
     that of forms, on which I should be disposed to maintain the
     incompetence of any English revocation of your commission. It is
     this:

     _We_ (that is Pitt and his friends) hold and have persuaded
     Parliament to declare that, in such a case as the present, the
     right of providing for the emergency rests in the two Houses, not
     as branches of the Legislature, but as a full and free
     representative of all the orders and classes of the people of Great
     Britain. Now the moment that we admit this, we do it on the ground
     of this being a case unprovided for. If it is so in England, it is
     unquestionably equally unprovided for in Ireland; and the right of
     making such provision must of necessity rest in the same manner in
     the Lords and Commons of England. There is this difference, that
     here the Parliament could not be legally opened, unless the Lord
     Chancellor had taken upon himself to put the Great Seal to a
     commission for that purpose, whereas your commission enables you
     (as I understand) generally to open and hold Parliament. But even
     in your case, it seems to me to be a doubt whether you can
     regularly do this without having received the King's pleasure for
     it, and whether your opening the Parliament in such circumstances
     is not an act very much of the same nature as the Chancellor's
     would have been if he had sealed such a commission.

     In the same view of the subject, I should most earnestly deprecate
     your taking upon yourself to issue a further prorogation. Surely,
     under such circumstances as the present, the two Houses should
     themselves decide, and not any individual for them, whether it is
     expedient or not to proceed to any business. My clear and decided
     opinion on that subject is, that you should go down on the day of
     meeting, and state the circumstances of the case, saying that you
     have ordered the several examinations of the physicians before
     Council and before the two Houses here, to be laid before the two
     Houses. Your Ministers should then, upon that, propose to adjourn
     to a further day, on the ground of its not being known (as it
     cannot then be known) what form will be adopted here, and of its
     being, at all events, desirable that they should be in possession
     of that fact before they deliberate, especially as the Government
     may go on in the interval without inconvenience.

     If you see no objection to this, it is, I think, high time that you
     should write an official letter, stating all the circumstances of
     the situation, and that your intention is, unless you should be
     informed that it appears to His Majesty's servants to be improper,
     &c., to meet the Parliament on the 20th, for the purpose which I
     have stated.

     It is excessively important that you should, at the same time,
     transmit, either publicly or privately, such a case as I have
     mentioned, considering the subject in the two points of view:
     first, with respect to the particular forms; and secondly, to the
     question, how far any difference in point of form can preclude the
     Parliament of Ireland from the exercise of the same substantive
     right as that which we have declared to vest in us under the
     existing circumstances.

     I have great doubts of the propriety of what you mention of an
     address of the two Houses to empower you to give the royal assent
     to any Bills, because that would prematurely, as it seems to me,
     bring into discussion the great question of all--namely, how far
     the Lords and Commons of Ireland have the right, either of
     commanding the use of the _English Great Seal_, or of superseding
     its use, in an instance in which _that_, and the concurrence of the
     _English Council_, are fundamental points of the present
     constitution of Ireland. I am quite sure that the safest of all
     things will be the adjournment; and I think it very improbable that
     such a proposal can be opposed, as it must extremely fall in with
     the wishes of the party who are looking to the Government
     immediately after the passing the English Bill. I have no means of
     knowing or guessing at General Pitt's intentions, but should think
     they can be no other than _royal_.

     You could surely find no difficulty in pledging the servants of
     Government in Ireland to the adjournment; because it can so clearly
     be argued not to preclude any future opinion on the subject, and
     still less to pledge anybody to the adoption of the English system;
     but only shows the opinion of the Irish Parliament, that a
     knowledge of the system adopted here, is a point which they wish
     should enter into their deliberations respecting Ireland.

     I am much amused with the circumstance of Lord Sh. and Lord T.
     having sent their proxies, as it has answered no other purpose but
     that of pledging them; for it now seems to be agreed, that no use
     can be made of proxies in a case where the Parliament does not
     legally meet, but is rather to be considered as an extraordinary
     assembly of the same persons who constitute the two Houses of
     Parliament. It is something more than a Convention, and something
     less than a Parliament.

     Our triumph here is very great. The indignation of the two Princes
     is, by what I hear, beyond all measure or bounds. The steadiness of
     the House of Commons on this occasion is no bad lesson to them, and
     I believe they will long remember it.

     Ever yours,
     W. W. G.

In the House of Peers, Ministers did not come off so triumphantly. Lord
Bulkeley communicates the result, and enumerates the _rats_.

LORD BULKELEY TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

     Dec. 27th, 1788.
     MY DEAR LORD,

     We divided last night at half-past twelve; our majority was 33, the
     members being 99 to 66, which in the House of Peers was certainly a
     large minority. The rat Peers were Duke of Queensbury, Marquis of
     Lothian, Bishop Watson, Lord Malmesbury, Earl of Abergavenny, Lord
     Chedworth, Lord Audley, Lord Eglinton; and all of the armed
     neutrality, who are: Duke of Northumberland, Lord Rawdon, Lord
     Selkirk, Lord Breadalbane, Lord Hawke, Lord Kinnaird, Lord
     Shaftesbury, Lord Huntingdon; Lord Lonsdale absent; Lord Lansdowne
     with us, and spoke better than I ever heard him in my life, fewer
     flourishes, and less rhodomontade. The Chancellor spoke
     incomparably; and did give it Lord Loughborough and Lord Rawdon
     most completely, particularly the former, who felt it. We are in
     good spirits, for we fall with _éclat_, and high in public
     estimation. I have no time to add more; but that I am yours
     affectionately,

     B.

     The Opposition are in great hopes of a _riot_ in the Irish
     Parliament.

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

     Whitehall, Dec. 28th, 1788.
     MY DEAR BROTHER,

     The messenger carries with him, as usual, the account received
     to-day from Kew. I do not know that I have anything material to
     write in addition to my former letters. I stated to you on Friday,
     at length, the strong objections which both Pitt and myself feel
     against your idea of proroguing the Parliament. If any accident
     should detain that letter till after you receive this, I hope you
     will take no step of that sort till you have received that letter,
     and seriously considered the nature of our objections, which seem
     to me to be of the utmost importance.

     The belief that the Prince of Wales will certainly accept seems to
     gain ground. It is most probable that we shall be enabled to speak
     with more certainty on this subject in the course of to-morrow, as
     a letter is to be written to him to-day by the Ministers, stating
     the outlines of their plan. It will not materially differ from what
     I originally stated to you. Peerages, grants for life (with the
     necessary exceptions), and reversions, are to be restricted for a
     certain time, which will be about a year and a half. This time is
     fixed in consequence of what you will observe in the evidence both
     of Willis and Addington, who both state the recovery as infinitely,
     and beyond all calculation, less probable if it does not take place
     within that time. Some line is to be drawn with respect to the
     King's household, but what that shall be is the subject of this
     morning's deliberation. It is a point of delicacy and difficulty.
     The entire custody, management, and government of the King's
     person; the appointment, &c., of his physicians, and the regulation
     of his actual family, &c., is to be vested in the Queen, with the
     advice of a Council, to be named and removable by her. The idea of
     a Council of Regency to assist the Prince, but to be removable by
     him, seems to be given up.

     Our division in the House of Lords, though sufficiently decisive,
     was less than it would have been, owing to a variety of accidental
     circumstances. There is every reason to believe that we shall
     divide stronger on Monday. I have no apprehension whatever as to
     the carrying our restrictions in the House of Commons. Accidental
     circumstances may vary our majority from 50 to 80; but there can be
     no doubt of success. There seems very little reason to believe that
     they will venture to dissolve Parliament till March or April, if
     they do it then, which I doubt.

     There certainly never was in this country, at any period, such a
     situation as Mr. Pitt's. It is no small addition to the
     satisfaction which we derive from all these events, to observe that
     every man of all parties seems to feel how well the game has been
     played on our side, and how ridiculously it has been mismanaged by
     our opponents. Add to this, that they are all quarrelling amongst
     themselves, and that we were never so united as at this moment.
     With all these reflections you will own that _the prospect before
     us_ is not an unpleasing one. The opinion of Willis continues as
     sanguine as ever.

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

Lord Bulkeley announces, with exultation, the division in the Commons,
and returns to his enumeration of _rats_.

LORD BULKELEY TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

     Stanhope Street, Dec. 29th, 1788.
     MY DEAREST LORD,

     We are in high spirits here at the first majority of 64, and at the
     last of 73, which, considering the open and undisguised canvass of
     the Prince and the Duke of York, and the very liberal distribution
     of promises from both, does the House of Commons a great deal of
     honour. Parry fell down in a fit about two hours before the
     division of the first day, and was carried home in a chair
     speechless, where he remained confined till Monday, when I polled
     him by means of a pair with Sir Robert Clayton, which T. Steele
     arranged for him. A _certain lady_ in St. James's Square has been
     tampering with Parry, and he certainly vented all his grievances
     into the compassionate bosom of that active and politic fair one,
     who has likewise infused such a political ardour into the mind of
     her dear Sir Poddy, that on the first division he was seen to take
     down the names of the different speeches and the members, besides
     _other occasional notes_. I have not been in St. James's Square
     since I have been in town, the manner with which they affect to
     treat me being such that _an old English Baron_ cannot put up with;
     besides _we are_ not in the best of humours at present, Sir Poddy
     being unwell, and unable to attend the last division and _we find_
     it difficult to sing the praises of the Prince and the Duke of York
     on the usual themes of filial piety, virtue, &c., in the face of a
     majority of 73 in favour of a falling Minister.

     Sir George Warren was one of the rats, which Lady B. was much
     affected at. He and Lady W. dined with us the day before the first
     division, and both sung the praises of Mr. Pitt, and expressed the
     warmest anxiety for the King's recovery. I was not all surprised,
     well knowing his rattish dispositions. Glynne Wynne, whom I have
     been working for three years to detach Lord Uxbridge from, has,
     with the utmost effrontery, cast his benefactor off, and set him at
     defiance, to which he has been led by promises at Carlton House. I
     trust we shall be able to do his business on a dissolution, and he
     well deserves it, being one of the first of scoundrels.

     I subjoin a list of those members who usually have voted with Mr.
     Pitt, who have quitted him in the late divisions, _i.e._ _rats_.

     Yours sincerely,
     B.

     Sir Peter Parker.
     Sir George Warren.
     Sir J. Aubrey.
     Sir S. Hannay.
     Sir Charles Gould.
     James Macpherson.
     ---- Clevland.
     Glynne Wynne.
     Gerrard Hamilton.
     ---- Fraser.
     ---- Osbaldiston.

     The Lonsdales voted against Pitt in the first division, and staid
     away the second. The Lansdownes voted with Pitt in the first, and,
     I believe, in the second, or staid away.

1789.

DEATH OF THE SPEAKER--MR. GRENVILLE ELECTED IN HIS PLACE--COMMITTEE ON
THE REGENCY--THE HOUSEHOLD BILL--CONDUCT OF THE PRINCES--ADDRESS TO THE
PRINCE OF WALES FROM THE IRISH PARLIAMENT--RECOVERY OF THE
KING--DECISIVE MEASURES OF LORD BUCKINGHAM--IRISH PROMOTIONS AND
CREATIONS--DISSENSIONS IN THE ROYAL FAMILY--MR. GRENVILLE APPOINTED
SECRETARY OF STATE--MR. ADDINGTON ELECTED SPEAKER--LORD BUCKINGHAM
RESIGNS THE GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND.

The one absorbing subject which for the last few weeks had engrossed the
public mind, almost to the exclusion of every other consideration, kept
the Parliament sitting close up to Christmas-day, in the year just
expired. On the 23rd of December, a resolution, vigorously opposed by
Lord North as instituting a fiction in lieu of the royal authority, was
adopted, empowering the Chancellor to affix the Great Seal to such Bill
of Limitations as might be necessary to restrict the power of the future
Regent; but Ministers had no sooner succeeded in carrying their object
to this important stage, than a new impediment presented itself. On the
2nd of January, 1789, Mr. Cornwall, Speaker of the House of Commons,
died. It was immediately decided that Mr. Grenville should be proposed
to succeed him. On all accounts, it was indispensable to hasten this
arrangement, as the functions of the Commons were unavoidably suspended
in the interim. A serious obstacle arose from the informality of the
proceeding, the sanction of the royal approbation being necessary,
according to custom, upon the nomination of a new Speaker. The elastic
character of the Constitution, however, although not providing direct
remedies for such special cases, admits of adaptation to the most
unforeseen exigencies; and so urgent was the pressure of affairs at this
agitating juncture, that the irregularity was passed over by the tacit
consent of all parties.

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

     Whitehall, Jan. 2nd, 1788.[B]
     MY DEAR BROTHER,

     You will probably not be a little surprised at the contents of this
     letter. The Speaker died this morning at about nine o'clock, and
     after some consideration, it has been determined that I should be
     proposed to the House to succeed him. I am not quite sure whether
     the choice will come on to-morrow or Monday. The situation is a new
     one, it having always been held, that the King's commands are
     necessary for the election of a Speaker, and his approbation for
     confirming him in his situation. But this cannot be had under the
     present circumstances; nor can the House take any steps to supply
     the deficiency till they have a Speaker. At the Restoration and
     Revolution, the House, in both instances, chose a Speaker, who was
     acknowledged as such, and was never afterwards confirmed by the
     King.

     With respect to myself, the time for deliberation has not been
     long. But upon the whole, I think the decision which I have made is
     clearly right. If the King recovers before Parliament is dissolved,
     it is clearly understood that my acceptance of this situation is
     not to prejudice my other views; and in the public opinion, the
     having filled this office, though but for a short time, will rather
     forward them. If the Regent goes on without dissolving, I am then
     in a situation which, though perhaps not perfectly pleasant, is
     nevertheless respectable, and will give me occupation. If they
     dissolve, and carry the Chair against me in the new Parliament, I
     do not see how I stand worse, in any respect, for having held this
     office. Such is my reasoning, and I think you will approve it. As
     far as I can judge, there is no doubt of my carrying it _now_. I
     have not yet heard whether they start any opponent, but I think
     they have none whose personal connexions can materially vary the
     proportion between the two parties: it is very sufficiently
     decisive.

     I have not heard the account of to-day at St. James's. Nothing can
     be better than all the accounts, both public and private, for the
     last three or four days. It is certainly not sanguine to entertain
     the very best hopes; and the progress has even been more rapid than
     Willis expected; so that I think we may look with some confidence
     to March or April at latest.

     Ever most affectionately yours,
     W. W. G.

[Footnote B: This is the date in the original, but it is evidently a
mistake. Mr. Grenville forgot that he was in a new year.]

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

     Whitehall, Jan. 4th, 1789.
     MY DEAR BROTHER,

     The plan for the Regency was sent to the Prince of Wales in a
     letter from Pitt, three days ago, with an expression of his
     readiness to give any explanation, either in person or in any
     other manner that he might intimate. Yesterday his answer was
     received, directed _to the Cabinet_. It is long, and with much
     affectation of good writing, and is in parts of it well expressed,
     in other parts confused and timid. It ends, however, with saying
     that if these restrictions are adopted by Parliament he will
     _accept_.

     I have no doubt of carrying the Chair to-morrow, but not a little
     doubt whether I ought to have accepted it. The die is, however, now
     cast. The restrictions will, I think, pass without much difficulty.

     I still adhere strongly to my opinion about the prorogation,
     because I think there is a wide difference between exercising
     during the King's health a power which he commits to your
     discretion, but which he might if he pleased regulate by
     instruction at any moment, and exercising the same power now when
     you are to state that the King is prevented by infirmity from
     attending at all to the administration of his Government. I am sure
     that your acting in the manner you speak of is liable to, and will
     probably bear, the very worst construction in the minds of the
     public here; and I cannot for the life of me conceive what fear
     there can be that the two Houses will not adjourn, considering that
     the great point which they all wish, is that they may not be
     obliged to pledge themselves. The extraordinary anxiety in those
     whom you see, to get you to prorogue, is, in my opinion, a very
     strong proof of their being actuated by that sort of wish.

     I have not time to write any more, except to express my anxiety to
     hear how Lady B. and your child go on.

     Ever most affectionately yours,
     W. W. G.

There was no doubt about the issue of the election to the Speakership.
"Your brother William will certainly be Speaker," writes Lord Bulkeley
on the 3rd, "and has already stood the hoax at White's, where it was
debated last night whether he should wear a wig or his own hair." The
election went off to the entire satisfaction of Mr. Grenville, who,
reporting the event, says that "the majority, though quite large enough,
would have been larger if they had divided half an hour later, as nearly
forty of my friends were locked out below, and about eleven of theirs."
With his customary philosophy, he made the best of everything; but he
does not disguise from Lord Buckingham that he had strong doubts in his
mind whether he ought to have accepted the Chair. The Opposition might,
probably, have been stronger against his election, but for the belief
that prevailed that the King was getting rapidly better. "The progress
of the King," observes Mr. Grenville on the 7th, "is such, _according to
our accounts_, that it is by no means impossible, nor even a very
improbable case, that before the Irish Bill can pass, he may re-assume
his Government."

Another contingency that weighed with the floating mass of undecided
politicians was the rumour which now began to be circulated that the
Regent would not dismiss the existing Ministers till the end of the
session.

LORD MORNINGTON TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

     Jan. 6th, 1789.
     MY DEAR LORD,

     As I understood that Sir W. Young and Bernard wrote you an account
     of the division last night, which placed Grenville so honourably in
     the Chair of the House of Commons, I did not trouble you with any
     letter by the post of yesterday; but I cannot deny myself the
     pleasure of acquainting you, that nothing could be more perfectly
     satisfactory to all our friends than the conduct of the new Speaker
     on an occasion naturally distressing; his speech of excuse, and his
     speech from the steps of the Chair, were universally admired, they
     were both so composed and delivered as to render a scene, which I
     have always understood to be very ridiculous, really interesting
     and affecting. It is deemed a misfortune amongst our friends, that
     the practice of printing the Speaker's speeches on this occasion in
     the journals is now disused. Grenville's speeches would have done
     him the highest credit, as well as afforded an excellent precedent
     to future Speakers. I have prevailed with Mr. Speaker to mount his
     wig, and the whole apparatus to-day: he must consider this as a
     young lawyer does his first appearance at the bar, and the sooner
     the laugh is over the better for the dignity of the Chair. Whatever
     may be Grenville's future fortunes, it can be no discredit to his
     character to have been placed in the Chair by such a majority, in
     such times and circumstances, and at his age.

     I write no accounts of what we are doing, you hear that much more
     correctly from Grenville. I am anxious to know what will be the
     temper of Ireland at the meeting. Grattan is as much a creature of
     Fox and his party, as the meanest libeller in the "Morning Herald;"
     he lives entirely with them. I hear Pelham is to take his father on
     his back to the Government of Ireland. Grattan will stand, in my
     opinion, on most unpopular ground, if he either attempts to assert
     the hereditary right of the Prince, or to give him larger powers in
     Ireland, than the Parliament of this country entrust to him for the
     administration of the British Government. The hereditary right, I
     suppose Grattan will not venture to touch; and the latter
     proposition, I think, might be argued exactly as he argued the
     Perpetual Mutiny Bill, and other questions, where the danger of
     larger powers in Ireland than were held in England by the same
     hands, were considered with a view to the Constitutions of _both_
     countries. This argument is, in my opinion, clear, if the rights of
     the King on the throne are admitted to be the rights of the people
     at large, and if they are not, I know not why they exist. I have
     not much fear that the Irish Parliament will listen to such
     proposals. As to reversions and offices for life, a Regent, who has
     not the power of granting them here, and attempts to obtain it in
     Ireland, can mean nothing else than to indemnify his disappointed
     friends in England at the expense of Ireland; I do not think this
     can go down. On the whole, I think your argument in Ireland
     stronger in every view than ours here, and that is saying a great
     deal.

     Arthur informs me that my Trimmers wish to have a company of foot
     quartered on them. I am sure I have no objection to your giving
     _free quarters_ to the whole army on the worthy inhabitants of that
     ancient and loyal town.

     I sincerely wish you joy of your son, and hope the bad weather does
     not affect either him or Lady Buckingham.

     Ever, my dear Lord,
     Yours most affectionately,
     MORNINGTON.

     What think of Sir John Aubrey, rat?

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

     Whitehall, Jan. 10th, 1789.
     MY DEAR BROTHER,

     I send you a letter of Camplin's, about an exchange which had been
     proposed. We have no news here--everything remaining in precisely
     the same state. The Committee, will, I think, most probably not
     make their report to-day, though we meet for the chance of it. In
     this manner, it will be impossible that the restrictions can be
     opened before Tuesday or Wednesday. The debates of the Committee
     have been conducted with great heat and violence on both sides, and
     much indecency towards the King, particularly from Fox and Burke.
     They are now endeavouring to turn it into a personal attack upon
     the Queen, for having wished to make one of the reports of the
     physicians more favourable, and for having dismissed Baker from her
     service, on the ground of the great inattention towards the King
     and his family, which appears on the face of his former
     examination: he having perceived symptoms of this disorder so early
     as the 22nd of October, and having, subsequent to that time,
     entirely left the King.

     The examination of Baker and Warren state the probability of
     recovery as being nearly the same as when they were before
     examined, but rather less. Willis and Pepys state it as much
     greater; particularly the former of these two, who speaks in the
     most sanguine terms. The answers of Reynolds and Gisborne are also,
     as I believe, favourable.

     These delays put all idea of dissolution out of the question, till
     the end of the present session, at soonest; and that cannot take
     place, according to my calculation, till the end of June. People
     begin to speak doubtfully about the Regent's making any immediate
     change, and I know that some of their friends affect to hold that
     language; but I am inclined to think that, however difficult it may
     be for them to undertake the Government under the existing
     circumstances, it is absolutely impossible for them to satisfy the
     Regent, or to quiet their own dependants, without running that
     risk.

     Fox is apparently recovering, but slowly.

     Ever most affectionately yours,
     W. W. G.

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

     Whitehall, Jan. 12th, 1789.
     MY DEAR BROTHER,

     I understand from different conversations, as well as from the
     general report here, that there is an intention of moving for an
     Address to the Prince, such as was proposed here, immediately on
     the first meeting of the Irish Parliament. Grattan, &c., &c., are
     all going over, so as to be in Dublin by the 20th. He is understood
     to have entered completely into all the views of the party here,
     and to be ready to pledge himself to all their doctrines,
     maintained, or retracted, or both. I thought it right to give you
     this intelligence, although you will probably hear it from many
     other quarters, and though I have very little apprehension, indeed,
     from the effect of such a manoeuvre. If anything could more
     completely ruin them here than they are ruined already, it would be
     such a measure. As to its effect in Ireland, I cannot persuade
     myself that there can be any difficulty in getting people to pledge
     themselves not to run before this country; and to appoint a Regent,
     without conditions, in Ireland, before it is even known what
     conditions are to be proposed, much less whether they will be
     adopted by the British Parliament. At all events, however, the
     battle must be fought; for it would be the most disgraceful thing
     in the world to appear to give it up, or rather not to appear to
     dispute it inch by inch.

     Lord Glendon and Lord Fairford are both going over to assist you.
     They both complain (particularly the former) of want of attention
     from you; but I am so accustomed to such complaints, without
     foundation, that I am not disposed to give much credit to them in
     this instance. I understand that Lord Hillsborough has expressed
     himself on the subject in a more decided manner than you seem at
     all disposed to give him credit for.

     Our report cannot probably be made to-day; but when it does appear,
     I am told that the impression of it will be favourable to the idea
     of the King's recovery. Surely, when this circumstance is taken
     into consideration by your Irish speculators, in addition to the
     many other considerations which make everybody here allow that
     Pitt's side has the best of the day, they will not be induced to
     hazard so decisive a step as you must give them to understand their
     agreeing to this Address will be considered.

     It was mentioned to me, that considerable offers had been made to
     Corry. I mention this to you, but you will probably be able to
     ascertain the truth of the report more accurately than I can.

     It is worth observing, that the appointment of a Regent in Ireland
     by Address goes directly to dissolve the Union of the two kingdoms,
     because a Regent so appointed could not command the use of the
     English Great Seal.

     Ever most affectionately yours,
     W. W. G.

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

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

     I was so knocked up on Saturday, that I found it impossible to
     write to you; though there is one circumstance, which, if I had
     been acquainted with, would have prevailed over all fatigue--I mean
     that of Captain Nugent's having voted against us upon the second
     division. The question has not been distinctly stated in any of the
     papers, as far as I have seen. It was a proposal of Fox's, that
     the restrictions, particularly that of peerage, should continue
     only for a limited time; by which means, we should have been placed
     in this sort of situation, that if, at the expiration of that term,
     the King should be so far recovered, as to afford hopes even of an
     almost immediate recovery, the Regent would be able, by a sudden
     creation of Peers, to make it impossible for him to resume his
     authority.

     Nugent had voted with us upon the first question; but was, I
     suppose, led away by some part of Fox's speech, which had the
     effect of carrying over Bankes and about six or seven more of our
     _conscientious_ friends. I think it right to mention this
     circumstance to you, though not with any view of suggesting what
     you may think it right to do. I shall, I own, be much mortified if
     he should vote against us on Monday; but nothing that you can do
     will be in time enough to prevent that. I do not feel that I can
     take any measures on the subject, although I certainly have no
     doubt what your wishes would have been if you were on the spot.

     I find, from general report, that some of our friends are staggered
     about the household resolution, which is to be proposed on Monday.
     It is, therefore, probable, that we shall not carry this by so
     triumphant a majority as we have the other questions. I think,
     however, there is little doubt that we shall carry it; and that is
     the point of real importance.

     I shall be anxious to hear the event of your meeting. You will have
     observed that, by Lord Sydney's despatch, a latitude is given you
     of proroguing, in stating the opinion of the King's servants on the
     different points. I thought, when the despatch was shown to me,
     that this was a favourable circumstance, as, from your letters, it
     seemed to me at that time very doubtful whether you would not have
     adopted that measure; and, in that case, I felt that you would
     certainly have been glad to have this sort of sanction.

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

     The Duke of Leinster has, as I suppose you know, written to the
     Prince of Wales, to offer himself to him. The consequence has been,
     that Lord Charles Fitzgerald has declared, that he does not
     consider himself in a situation to be turned over from party to
     party every half-year; and that he has hoisted an Orange cape. He
     will, as I understand, not go over to Ireland at the meeting; and I
     take it for granted, that in case of a dissolution the Duke will
     not re-elect him.

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

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

     Since I wrote my other letter of this date, I have received yours
     of the 15th, stating your alarm at the lies spread in Ireland about
     the proceedings of the Committee of the House of Commons. You will,
     long before this, have received the report itself from me, and by
     reading it, will have found how much more favourable the account of
     the King's situation appears from that examination, and how much
     you are in the wrong to suffer your noble spirit to be cast down by
     such weak inventions of the enemy; and above all, how monstrous the
     idea is that Fox is to gain with the public by a transaction which
     only shows their inveterate malice against the King and Queen, and
     its utter impotence. Your expressions of duper and duped, you will
     see are equally inapplicable to our representations of the King's
     situation, which I think you will still believe to be as authentic
     and as credible as the lies which Grattan and Forbes retail from
     the porter's lodge at Carlton or Burlington House. Seriously
     speaking, I am vexed to see the importance which you attach to all
     these reports, because I know that it must work and agitate your
     mind. A whole life would not suffice, on my part, to answer every
     lie in circulation: but I beg you to believe that although,
     perhaps, naturally a little sanguine in my temper, yet that if
     there was any really unfavourable circumstance which arose here, I
     would not conceal it from you. The King is better ever since that
     examination; and this I speak on no partial authority, but on the
     information of Warren himself, who gave yesterday to the person who
     repeated it to me a much more favourable account.

     I have not time to answer the rest of your letter to-day. Our Bill
     is not prepared yet, nor can be till the resolutions have been
     agreed to by both Houses; but it will be short, and nearly in the
     same words with the resolutions, adding only the oath of office
     from the Regency Bill of 1765, and a few other particulars.

     Ever yours,
     W. W. G.

     I suppose you know that Lord Spencer certainly goes to Ireland.

The notion that the Regent would continue Mr. Pitt and his friends in
office was rapidly dissipated during the progress of these discussions.
The Household Bill, alluded to in one of Mr. Grenville's letters, gave
deep offence to His Royal Highness; and from the moment that part of the
plan was disclosed, there was no longer any disguise about the fact that
the Prince had not only made up his mind to dismiss the Ministers, but
that the list of the incoming Administration was actually settled, and
ready for use. The object of the Household Bill was to confide to the
Queen the care of the King's person, and the disposition of the royal
household, which would have the effect of placing at Her Majesty's
control the patronage of four hundred places; while the Regent was to
possess no power whatever over any office, reversion, or pension. This
appeared to the Prince and his allies a monstrous proposition,
calculated to introduce "weakness, disorder, and insincerity into every
branch of political business;" to "separate the Court from the State;"
to "disconnect the authority to command service from the power of
animating it by reward;" and to impose on the Regent "all the invidious
duties of the kingly station, without the means of softening them to the
public by any one act of grace, favour, or benignity."

In these poised and melodious sentences (said to have been written by
Burke) may be recognized the policy of the master spirit that raised the
storm which was to overwhelm Ministers. When the moment came, however,
at which it should have burst--Pitt's motion for the Address--Fox was
absent. "Fox is gone to Bath," says Mr. Grenville. "Whether he is very
ill, as some say, or wants to shirk the discussion about Mrs.
Fitzherbert, as others assert, I know not."

This business of Mrs. Fitzherbert, of which we hear something in these
letters, was suspended like a sword over the heads of the royal
Opposition; and whenever it threatened to descend, they endeavoured to
escape from it by avoiding the discussion, or to avert it by abating
their violence. The rumour, however, which ascribed Fox's absence on
this occasion to that cause was certainly unfounded. On the 19th of
January, he made his motion for limiting the continuance of the
restrictions; and on the 26th he was ill at Bath, where he remained for
some weeks in a precarious state of health. His loss was severely felt
by his party. Ministers were triumphant in both Houses. The incidental
shocks they experienced from the vibrations of that class of persons
designated by Mr. Grenville as "_conscientious_ friends," and from the
defection of the _rats_, had been completely recovered in the final
majorities of Lords and Commons; and although Fox may not have thought
it prudent on some occasions to enhance the inevitable defeat of the
Prince's followers by assisting at their discomfiture, it is unlikely
that even the dread of a debate on Mrs. Fitzherbert would have kept him
away at this critical juncture.

While these discussions were going on, always ending in fluctuating
majorities for Pitt, the Prince of Wales and his brother,
notwithstanding the dissipation in which they indulged, were
indefatigable in their efforts to cultivate popularity. Thus writes Lord
Bulkeley:

     The Princes go on in their usual style, both keeping open houses,
     and employing every means in their power to gain proselytes,
     attending the Beefsteak Clubs, Freemason meetings, &c., and will
     probably very soon attend the parochial meetings of Lord John
     Townshend's Committee in Westminster. Notwithstanding all this, the
     Parliament still continues steadily to Mr. Pitt, which, considering
     the looseness of morals and of the times, does the members great
     credit. * * * The Duke of York never misses a night at Brookes's,
     where the hawks pluck his feathers unmercifully, and have reduced
     him to the vowels I. O. U. The Prince likewise attends very often,
     and has taken kindly to play.

General Cuninghame appears to have disappointed the expectations of his
friends at this period, and, although present in the House on the 19th,
did not vote. It was the next thing to ratting, and seems to have been
regarded in that light by Lord Bulkeley.

     General Cuninghame has been blowing hot and cold in his language
     here, but has not voted, not even last night, when he appeared for
     the first time in the House. I have had a letter from the Duke of
     Dorset, complaining of his conduct in not resigning his seat, _as
     his conscience troubled him_.

No man had so keen a scent for _rats_ as Lord Bulkeley, and he was
generally in advance of his party in detecting them.

Thurlow and Loughborough were both ill at this time ("which," says Sir
William Young, with a touch of sarcastic humour, "will much shorten the
progress of the Regency Bill in the Lords"); and on the 2nd of February,
when Mr. Grenville, in his capacity of Speaker, attended at the bar of
the House of Peers to hear the Commission under the Great Seal read,
Thurlow was unable to attend, and Lord Bathurst officiated for him. The
night before, Thurlow declared, as reported by his physician, that "if
he were ten times worse, he'd go, by G--;" his physician, however,
overruled him; and the obstruction of his presence being thus
fortunately removed, it was anticipated that the progress of the Bill
through the Lords would be so rapid as to place the Regent on the throne
in a fortnight. Active preparations were, consequently, set on foot for
settling the new Administration. Amongst the other great situations,
Ireland was offered to the Duke of Northumberland, who declined it, and
then to Lord Spencer, who accepted it, with Pelham for his secretary.

Ireland was a considerable item in the calculations of the Opposition.
"The Prince and the Opposition," writes Lord Bulkeley, "have great hopes
of a riot in their favour in the Parliament of Ireland." Some such
result was to be apprehended from the temper of the people, and the
adverse views they took of the Regency question; although a true sense
of their own independence ought to have shown them that there were
national objections against allowing the Prince to indemnify himself by
the use of the royal prerogatives in Ireland for the restraints which
were put upon him in England. The object to which, under these difficult
circumstances, Lord Buckingham and Mr. Grenville directed their
attention, was to assimilate, as nearly as possible, the Regency Bills
in both countries, so as to prevent the occurrence of so great an
anomaly as that of having a Regent whose powers should be strictly
limited in the one kingdom, and who should, at the same time, be
invested with unrestricted powers in the other. The Parliament of
Ireland possessed the unquestionable right of deciding the Regency in
their own way, leaving the legal validity of the act for subsequent
consideration; and as it was understood that the Opposition intended to
move an Address to the Prince, which there was reason to believe they
would be able to carry, calling upon His Royal Highness to assume the
Government of Ireland unconditionally during the term of His Majesty's
illness, the position of Lord Buckingham had become peculiarly
embarrassing. What course should be taken in the event of such an
Address being carried? This question is anxiously discussed in numerous
communications between Lord Buckingham and Mr. Grenville and other
members of the Government. The predicament was so strange, and involved
constitutional considerations of such importance, as to give the most
serious disquietude to the Administration. The first expedient thought
of was to delay the proceedings of the Irish Parliament, by adjournment,
or any other available means, till after the Regent had been appointed
in England, provided the motion for the Address could be successfully
resisted in the first instance. But as it was almost certain the
Administration would be beaten on that motion, it remained to be
determined whether Lord Buckingham, in that event, should refuse to
transmit the Address to His Royal Highness. Upon the propriety of so
extreme a measure Mr. Grenville entertained some doubts in the
beginning. By refusing to transmit the Address, the Lord-Lieutenant
would clearly put himself in the way as an obstacle to that mode of
providing for the emergency which the two Houses of Parliament were
determined to adopt; or, on the other hand, by sending it he would make
himself, in some degree, a party to a request by which His Royal
Highness was asked to do an act which he, Lord Buckingham, held His
Royal Highness to be precluded by law from doing. Such was the dilemma
as it presented itself to the mind of Mr. Grenville. One escape from it
was, to forward the Address, accompanied by a representation from Lord
Buckingham of his own views of its illegality. Another was, to resign.

In the meanwhile, the projects of the Opposition in England were checked
by the gratifying accounts from Kew. The King was visibly improving, and
hopes began to be entertained that there might be no necessity for a
Regency after all. The letters of Mr. Grenville, reverting to the
opening of the Parliament, trace the progress of these circumstances in
detail.

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

     Whitehall, Feb. 2nd, 1789.
     MY DEAR BROTHER,

     Our Parliament has this day been opened by Lord Bathurst, the
     Chancellor being so ill as to make it absolutely impossible for him
     to come down. The Commission was first read, and then Lord Bathurst
     said, in a few words, that the Lords Commissioners being empowered
     by the said Commission to declare the causes of calling the
     Parliament, thought it their duty to call the attention of the two
     Houses to the melancholy circumstance of His Majesty's illness, and
     to recommend to them to provide for the care of His Majesty's royal
     person, and the administration of the royal authority during His
     Majesty's illness, in such manner as the exigency of the case
     requires.

     I think that my former calculation is rather too sanguine, and that
     the 18th is the soonest that the Bill can pass, allowing for the
     debate, of which notice has been given in both Houses, on the
     Committee for the royal assent. The idea is, that the letters of
     dismission are ready written, and will be sent that day.

     I cannot yet learn, with certainty, who is to be the Home Secretary
     of State. It is supposed to lie between Lord Stormont and Lord
     Rawdon; and there is a report that they are quarrelling about that
     as about everything else, and that the Duke of York espouses Lord
     Rawdon's cause very warmly.

     The accounts of Fox are that he is not at all better, and that he
     has not been able yet to drink the waters. His death would throw
     them into complete confusion, though the Prince is so far pledged,
     that even in that case he must attempt to form a new Government.

     We mean (but this _inter nos_ only) to move an Amendment upon the
     Address, expressive of our satisfaction at the flourishing state in
     which the public affairs are delivered into His Royal Highness's
     hands, and of our hope that the same principles and measures will
     continue to be pursued. I have no doubt of our carrying this, in
     their teeth.

     Everybody seems to think a dissolution certain. I imagine it cannot
     by possibility take place till May or June, though some people
     expect it in March.

     I believe I mentioned to you in my last the great improvement which
     these last few days have made in the King's situation, and the
     strong hope which we derive from it.

     Ever most affectionately yours,
     W. W. G.

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

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

     I do not know of anything that has happened here since I wrote
     last, which is worth mentioning to you. Our Bill is to be in the
     Committee to-day, and Monday, so that I guess we shall not get it
     into the House of Lords till Wednesday or Thursday. This will put
     off the passing a little beyond my calculation, and I imagine the
     Regent will not now be in full possession of his office till about
     the 19th or 20th. I wait with much impatience to hear what has
     passed on Thursday in the Irish Parliament. I find that people
     here, those at least with whom I converse, are indifferent about
     the success of the measure in Ireland, but are much exasperated at
     the madness and folly of the people who are endeavouring to stir
     fresh questions of separation between the two countries.

     The accounts of the King still continue to be very favourable, but
     I have not heard what degree of hope Willis grounds on this long
     period of tranquillity. I should think that the breaking out in the
     neck must be a favourable circumstance, but I begin to think the
     time long if he still continues without real amendment of the
     complaint itself. This, however, arises more from one's natural
     impatience than from any reasonable ground which there is to think
     worse of the case from this circumstance.

     One hears of nothing now but of the intended arrangements. Among
     these, the military is not the least curious part. His Royal
     Highness the Duke of York is to be Commander-in-chief; Fitzpatrick,
     Secretary at War; and there are to be four Field-Marshals;
     consisting of the Regent himself, of the Dukes of York and
     Gloucester, and General Conway. These Field-Marshals--of whom three
     never saw a shot fired, and the fourth of whom has not served for
     six-and-twenty years, except in the very peaceful situation of
     Commander-in-chief in England for a few months at the end of the
     war--make a pretty curious promotion. Faucitt is to continue,
     notwithstanding a positive promise of the Duke of Portland's to
     General Vaughan, for the sake of securing his vote and his
     brother's. They are to make all the Colonels Major-Generals, down
     to Lord Rawdon. The list of the Prince's aides-de-camp you will
     have seen in the papers.

     Lord Spencer is declared for Ireland.

     The accounts from Bath say that Fox is better, and will recover.

     The town and neighbourhood of Buckingham have voted an unanimous
     Address to Pitt, without any of us knowing a word about it. It is
     signed by near two hundred persons, as Jemmy tells me, for I have
     not seen it.

     I am living in hourly fear of having a meeting called in the
     county, which would be a troublesome and useless thing, though, I
     understand, the sense of the yeomanry is entirely with us. I hear
     nothing of their intentions in case of a dissolution, but much
     doubt, from what I hear, whether they will think of doing more than
     ousting Aubrey, which they may do very peaceably; for by what I
     hear, he would not have ten votes.

     I have, at length, decided not to think of the Bolton Street house,
     at least for the present year, as the repairs necessary to make it
     habitable amount to so large a sum. Perhaps, if I was to be
     re-elected after a dissolution it might be worth my while; but that
     is, as you will easily suppose, a very doubtful contingency. Is it
     not a singular thing that it should be doubtful at all, and that
     there should be any chance of beating them in the new Parliament on
     such a question as that?

     Ever most affectionately yours,
     W. W. G.

     I open this letter again, to let you know that I have just received
     an account of Sir Thomas Halifax's death, which happened this
     morning. This circumstance is not a little perplexing to me,
     especially in Bernard's absence. I have sent an express to Chaplin
     to desire him to come to town to-morrow, and I shall then hear what
     he says. The thing to be wished is, that we could secure Bernard's
     election, now and hereafter, without much increase of expense; but
     on that whole subject I am very much at sea, and there cannot be
     time to hear from you and him upon it. Perhaps Chaplin may think it
     better that we should now propose some other person, who might be
     supported by Lord Chesterfield's interest, and not appear so
     decidedly connected with us as Bernard is. We had a scheme for a
     candidate of that sort at the general election, and Lord C. was
     inclined to give into it. At all events, I think it is absolutely
     necessary that Bernard should come over instantly, as his presence
     is equally necessary, either as a candidate or in order to get a
     repetition of the promises which this intervening election might
     otherwise be construed to annul.

     I have heard, since I wrote the preceding part of this letter, that
     the Chancellor has been at Pitt's to-day, with an account that he
     had seen Warren this morning, who had spoken to him in a very
     favourable manner of the King's present state, and had even said
     that he thought the amendment so material, that he had felt it his
     duty, immediately on coming to town, to wait upon His Royal
     Highness with the account. So there is a little bane for your rats.

     Ever yours,
     W. W. G.

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

     Whitehall, Feb. 14th, 1739.
     MY DEAR BROTHER,

     Although I have nothing else to write to you, yet I could not
     refuse myself the pleasure of letting you know that I have been at
     Kew to-day with Pitt, and that the account which he received from
     Willis is such as to confirm and strengthen all our hopes. The
     public account is, as you will see, that the King continues in a
     state of gradual amendment; and every circumstance which we can
     learn, affords us room to entertain the most sanguine hopes. What
     has already passed in the public, on the subject of Willis, and the
     violent attacks of Opposition against him, have made him more
     cautious and reserved in what he says, and he particularly desires
     that his name may not be quoted. But I could not find in my heart
     to conceal from you the favourable manner in which he speaks of
     the present situation.

     His account is confirmed by that of the other physicians, who all
     speak the same language. Sir G. Baker told him to-day, that if it
     was the case of a common patient whom he was attending, he should
     not think it necessary to give him any more medicines. The most
     favourable circumstance of all is, the great abatement of the
     pulse, which, till now, has always been much too high.

     You will easily imagine how much speculation all this makes, and a
     more curious scene, I think, I never saw. The prevailing opinion
     is, that we are not to be turned out. There is a report, which is
     very confidently circulated (but I do not vouch for the truth of
     it), that the Duke of Portland has positively told His Royal
     Highness that, under these circumstances, it is impossible for him
     to take any share in a new arrangement. It is also said that they
     have quarrelled about the Prince's debts, but these are points of
     which I know nothing but from report.

     The account which Lord Chesterfield had yesterday from his friends
     at Aylesbury tallies with Chaplin's, as to the possibility of
     Bernard's success, though it is not quite so sanguine as to
     numbers. If he succeeds at all, this last point may be no
     misfortune to him, as it will diminish the claims upon him.

     Ever most affectionately yours,
     W. W. G.

The Irish Parliament had met in the interim, and were debating with
extraordinary vigour and asperity the Address by which the Prince of
Wales, before he had been appointed Regent in England, was to be invited
to assume at once the functions and privileges of the Crown in Ireland.
Many of the usual supporters of the Government, including even some
persons in high employments, had joined the ranks of the Opposition; and
Lord Buckingham in his letters to Lord Sydney declares that his powers
had been annihilated by that lapse of the sovereign authority which led
to this result, and that it would be no longer proper for him to
interfere any further, except only in reference to the "usual business
of the kingdom." Acting on the pressure of these circumstances, he felt
it due to his own credit, and to the service in which he was engaged, to
tender his resignation, as appears by the following letter from Mr.
Grenville:

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

     Whitehall, Feb. 13th, 1789.
     MY DEAR BROTHER,

     We have no news here, except of the favourable accounts of the
     King's situation, which are every hour more and more confirmed. All
     our present anxiety is, to keep down the too sanguine expectations
     of our friends, in order to prevent their being too much damped by
     any check, which Willis considers as an event by no means unlikely,
     and not such as in any degree to diminish his confidence in the
     King's recovery. From the general turn of people's conversation
     here, it seems by no means certain that the Prince will take any
     step for dismissing the present Government, if the King continues
     to mend. It would, indeed, be a measure so grossly indecent to turn
     out the King's servants at the eve of his recovery, that it would
     be too strong even for those counsels by which His Royal Highness
     has hitherto been actuated. But there is another consideration
     which will possibly have still more weight, namely, that the
     acceptance of office under such circumstances would put his friends
     to considerable inconvenience and expense, such as to be by no
     means worth incurring, if they are to hold them for so very short
     a period as the King's present situation appears to indicate. This
     mode of reasoning is of itself sufficiently obvious, and I
     understand that the Prince has held a language which corresponds
     with it, since so great an alteration has taken place.

     Under these circumstances, you must see that the letter which you
     sent me is clearly inapplicable to the present situation. If,
     contrary to our present expectation, the Prince should dismiss us
     all immediately, I will lose no time in sending that letter; but if
     not, it seems to be the wish of all your friends that you should
     remain where you are for some little time, in order that you may
     not have the appearance of being driven away either by the event
     which has happened, or by the violence of the abuse thrown out
     against you. I see and acknowledge the difficulties of such a
     situation, and lament that you should in any case be subject to
     them, but you must, on the other hand, consider that these
     difficulties do not of themselves, unaccompanied by other
     circumstances, afford a reason for withdrawing yourself from them.
     I am far from being desirous, for many, very many reasons, that
     your stay should be prolonged to the usual period of a
     Lord-Lieutenant's reign; but I cannot help most earnestly wishing
     that you could, in some mode or other, struggle through the present
     session, in order to cover your retreat, which will otherwise by
     your enemies be represented as a flight.

     You see that all this refers to an event which may possibly not
     happen; but I felt it indispensably due to you that I should beg
     you to consider this case very seriously, and that with a view not
     to present difficulties only, but taking into the account your
     future situation. I have told you what I believe is the unanimous
     wish of your friends on such lights as we possess here. It is
     possible that circumstances with which we are unacquainted might
     alter our opinion, but they must be very strong before they could
     produce that effect.

     I know no other point which is worth writing to you about:
     certainly none which is worth your bestowing a moment, thought
     upon, in comparison with that which I have mentioned. I enclose my
     last account from Aylesbury. I need not say how much I feel for the
     unpleasant circumstances of your present situation. But I know that
     you have the best resource against them, in the sense of your own
     conduct, and in the consciousness of the sincere and invariable
     affection of those whose friendship you value.

     Ever most affectionately yours,
     W. W. G.

Two days afterwards, the report of the King's health was so encouraging
that his recovery was considered by the Cabinet as little less than
absolutely certain. Under these circumstances, it became a matter of
speculation whether the Prince would dismiss the Ministers, or, if he
did not, whether he would treat them in such a manner as to make it
impossible for them to stay in office. In any case, whether they were
dismissed or driven to resign, Mr. Grenville judged it prudent to
withhold Lord Buckingham's letter of resignation, till the solution,
either way, should have been ascertained. The conflicting difficulties
of the situation, looking at it from all sides, are ably stated in a
letter of the 15th of February.

     You cannot come away, without appearing to desert your trust, while
     the King's servants here abide by theirs; nor without giving the
     Regent an opportunity to object to the nomination of any person who
     may be proposed to him by Pitt to succeed you. You cannot remain
     without the means of carrying on some appearance, at least, of
     government in the House of Commons. You cannot employ those who
     have now deserted you; nor can we expect that the Prince will
     allow you to dismiss those whom he considers as having stood by
     him. On the whole, I cannot imagine a more puzzling or distressing
     case.

Nothing short of the implicit confidence and cordial support of the
Ministers, seconded by the highest courage and firmness on his own part,
could have enabled Lord Buckingham to sustain his authority in this
trying emergency. That he possessed the confidence and support of
Government to the fullest extent, is attested by the following letter
from Mr. Pitt; and that he displayed the qualities of resolution and
self-reliance demanded by the occasion, is sufficiently shown in the
sequel.

MR. PITT TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

     (Private.) Downing Street, Feb. 15th, 1789.
     MY DEAR LORD,

     The account received this morning of the step which the Irish House
     of Commons have taken, has not surprised me; as it seemed before
     evident that the torrent was too strong to be stemmed by any
     exertion. Those who at the moment felt it as a triumph, perhaps
     already begin to repent of it, and will probably have more and more
     reason to do so every day. It will be abundant satisfaction to you
     and your friends that you have done everything which depended on
     you; and in the midst of so much profligacy, that you have
     experienced such a support as that of Fitzgibbon and a few others,
     which is in the highest degree honourable and manly.

     I am fully aware how delicate your ground has been in all the
     progress of the business, of which we have hitherto learnt the
     result; and that it is not less so in what remained relative to the
     transmission of this strange Address. Whatever you may have
     decided on the spot will, I dare say, under all the circumstances,
     have been right; and in either of the alternatives, you will not
     want here the most cordial and decided support, whenever the
     measure comes into discussion. All that I am now writing is, I
     hope, superfluous; but I could not let the messenger go, without
     expressing in part the sentiments for which I trust you would at
     any rate have given me credit.

     Believe me, my dear Lord,
     Sincerely and affectionately yours,
     W. PITT.

Lord Buckingham, acting on the discretion thus confided to him, resolved
to decline accepting or transmitting the Address. This determination,
which threw the whole responsibility of the measure upon those with whom
it originated, afforded the highest satisfaction in England. Letters
from Lord Mornington, Lord Sydney, and others, abound in admiration of
the firmness of Lord Buckingham's conduct.

As had been anticipated, the Address was voted in both Houses of
Parliament, and laid before Lord Buckingham for transmission to His
Royal Highness. His Lordship at once declined to receive it; and in a
short and explicit answer, rested his refusal on the obligations imposed
upon him by his duty and his oath, adding that he did not feel warranted
in forwarding to His Royal Highness an Address, purporting to invest him
with powers to take upon him the government of the realm before he
should be enabled by law to do so. This answer, which had received the
full approbation of Mr. Pitt, by whom it had been communicated to the
Cabinet, was, as might have been expected, deeply resented by the
Opposition, whose hostility to the Government had been all along
assuming that shape of combination in which it now appeared without
disguise.

Frustrated in their desire of transmitting this Address through the
channel of the Lord-Lieutenant, they passed a resolution appointing
ambassadors of their own to lay it before His Royal Highness. The
persons nominated to undertake this extraordinary commission were, the
Duke of Leinster, the Earl of Charlemont, Mr. Conolly, Mr. O'Neill, Mr.
Ponsonby, and Mr. Stewart. Nor did they stop here. It was necessary to
avenge the indignity that had been put upon them; and a resolution,
declaring the conduct of Lord Buckingham unwarrantable and
unconstitutional, was accordingly moved by Mr. Grattan, and carried.
That a resolution still stronger than this, going to the preposterous
length of declaring the commission of the Lord-Lieutenant actually void
by the will of the Irish Parliament, was at one moment contemplated,
would appear from a passage in a letter of Mr. Grenville's, dated the
18th of February.

     I am a little alarmed by one part of your letter, in which you talk
     of a resolution of the two Houses being passed for avoiding your
     commission, and of your resigning the Government in consequence of
     it to Lords Justices appointed under the Act of last year. I trust,
     however, that these favourable accounts [of the King's health] will
     have put this idea out of the question. But if not, for God's sake
     consider whether there is any one principle in which you deny the
     right of the two Houses to appoint a Regent by address, which does
     not apply equally to prove that they cannot either appoint or
     remove a Lord-Lieutenant by resolution. I am persuaded, the more I
     think of it, that it is impossible for you to quit the Government
     in any other manner, than in consequence of a recal from hence, or
     a resignation grounded on the removal of the Ministers here, or on
     the Regent's acceptance of the office, under what you consider an
     illegal appointment.

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'état_--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