Whitehall, Dec. 9th, 1788.
MY DEAR BROTHER,
The messenger who carries this is sent for the purpose of
collecting proxies. It is, you know, necessary that they should be
renewed every session; for which reason I have desired that a blank
proxy should be directed to you, which I suppose you will fill up,
as before, with Fortescue's name. He is quite eager (especially for
him), and came up to town for the first day. I think there is every
reason to hope that we shall not stand in need of this sort of
canvass, either for the House of Commons or the House of Lords; but
you will certainly agree with me, that no pains are superfluous
when such points are in question.
I do not learn that there is any foundation for the report which I
mentioned to you of the round-robin entered into by their Royal
Highnesses. The partizans of Opposition are, however, still
circulating, with great industry, the idea that the Prince of Wales
has positively declared his resolution not to accept the Regency
under any restrictions whatever. I take this, however, to be
nothing more than a bully, intended to influence votes in the House
of Commons. If, however, he should be so desperate, I should hope
there would be every reason to believe that the Queen would be
induced to take the Regency, in order to prevent the King's hands
from being fettered for the remainder of his life. Nothing has yet
passed with respect to this subject. Pitt has seen her once; but
the conversation was nothing more than general, although with the
greatest civility, and even kindness, on her part towards him.
We receive every day new professions of attachment; and I do not
yet hear of any one individual of any consequence whom we shall
lose, except, probably, the Duke of Queensbury. The Duke of Grafton
has declared himself explicitly. There is no longer any doubt of
Thurlow; and there never has been any of Lord Stafford, Lord
Weymouth, &c. Lord Lonsdale is still uncertain, and so is, I
believe, the Duke of Northumberland--though this will have been
brought to a point by this time. The general idea is, that he has
connected himself with the Independents, of which there was some
appearance last session. It is said that they mean to support Pitt
as the Minister, but to oppose any restrictions on the Regent. This
is not the less likely to be their conduct, on account of its being
absolute nonsense.
With respect to individuals in the House of Commons, there are
several who have long been wavering, and who have sent the most
positive assurances of support.
There is every reason to believe that the country will continue
entirely with us, and that addresses will be presented from all
parts to the Regent, to continue the Government. I am afraid that,
in point of time, nothing can be done of that sort in Ireland,
without exposing you to much embarrassment.
I conceive that our Regent will probably be appointed, the Bill
passed, &c., &c., by about the 10th or 12th of January, and that we
shall then immediately be dismissed. You certainly must remain till
your Parliament has met and appointed the Regent for Ireland,
because there is no one else who can vacate your commission; and I
think the contrivances which you once mentioned for avoiding it,
are liable to great objections. Now, you will observe, that the
addresses from Ireland could not be presented to the Prince of
Wales till he was Irish Regent, and that it would be a very awkward
thing to have the people there addressing him to continue you in
Ireland, after you had declared your own resolution to quit it in
consequence of the removal of your friends here. I wish you would
consider all this attentively, because, if these difficulties could
be removed, it would certainly be very desirable that it should
appear as far as possible to be the united sense of all the three
kingdoms, as well as of both Houses of Parliament, and of the King,
that the present Government should remain; and that these Whigs
should recommend the dismission in the teeth of all these.
Willis sent last night a note to Pitt about his attendance at the
Committee to-day. In a postscript, he tells him that he thinks the
King better and more composed than he has been since he has
attended him.
Ever most affectionately yours,
W. W. G.
A new question and a new embarrassment now arose, as to what was to be
done about the Regency in Ireland. It was natural enough that the Prince
of Wales should be popular in Ireland as a _pis aller_, on account of
the known antipathy of the King to the Catholic claims; and it was
apprehended that the Irish Parliament, acting independently of English
precedent, would declare itself in favour of an unlimited Regency. The
anxiety to which Lord Buckingham was exposed by this disturbing prospect
(some people went so far as to cast the horoscope of an Irish
revolution), and by the delays in the receipt of intelligence, owing to
the imperfect and irregular means of communication existing between the
two countries, betrayed him into some expressions of impatience, against
which Mr. Grenville remonstrated with his habitual temperance and good
sense, throwing out at the same time some sound suggestions as to the
course it was desirable the Lord-Lieutenant should pursue. There are no
qualities in these letters, wherever reference is made to the conduct of
public men in great crises, more worthy of unmixed admiration than their
practical sagacity and complete self-control.