Pall Mall, March, 27th, 1783.
My dear Brother,
I received your letter on Tuesday night so late, that I was not
able to take any steps towards delivering its enclosure till
yesterday, when Lord Sydney acquainted the King, at my request,
with my wish to see him. I went there in the evening. Lord
Ashburton was there before me, and had an audience of near two
hours. When I went in, I said that you had been highly flattered
with his gracious communication, and had been encouraged by it
to trouble His Majesty with a detail of your situation, and the
circumstances in which you stood. He received it very
graciously, saying, that he was infinitely obliged to you for
it; that he would take the first moment to look it over, and
would certainly answer it, which should pass through my hands,
as he had never been more satisfied, &c., &c.
He then entered into a detail of what had passed since I saw him
last. This, however, differs so very little, if at all, from
what I have before stated to you about the Cabinet which was
proposed, and the subordinate arrangement which was refused, and
upon which the whole negotiation broke off, and has never since
been resumed, that I will not trouble you with it over again.
One thing, however, is worth mentioning, of which I was not
before apprized, that the King complained of personal incivility
from the Duke of Portland.
Since the negotiation with the coalition broke off, the
Government has been repeatedly and most eagerly pressed upon
Pitt, who has, however, yesterday, once more firmly declined it.
What the present intention is, I have scarcely a guess. The King
seems as much disinclined as ever to open the negotiation again,
and yet I see no resource which he has. He complained much that
no one would step forth, and asked me whether I thought Tom Pitt
could be worked upon. To this I gave little answer, except my
ignorance, &c.; but I believed I might have answered decisively
in the negative, as he declined even with William Pitt.
He then entered into a conversation on the subject of Ireland,
stating your universal popularity there, and inquiring about
different people, particularly Scott. This brought us to the
precipitate appointment of the Duke of Portland, and to the
insult which had been offered by it to Lord Carlisle, and his
astonishment that immediately afterwards he could accept such an
office under him.
He mentioned Lord Ely's having applied to be invested in
England, and his having desired Lord Sydney to refer the letter
to you.
I do not recollect that anything else material passed, except
compliments, &c., &c.
I cannot help mentioning to you that you have never written to
Lord Sydney, either on his peerage, or your resignation, and
that I cannot help thinking that he feels it.
The Irish Bill sleeps in the House of Lords. The Chancellor
desired to put it off till something was settled. Lord Abingdon
has given notice, in a most ridiculous speech, of his intention
to oppose it. I spoke to Townshend yesterday about it, and he
promised to appoint some day to-morrow for its being read a
second time. They talk here of the Duke of Devonshire for
Ireland. He is a respectable man, undoubtedly, and if you except
the scale of his talents, which I think inferior to the
situation, I know only one objection to the appointment, and
that is a capital one.
Pray communicate a little with Mornington about your
resignation, &c. It will flatter him; and he is beyond measure
disposed to you both in Ireland and _here_, to which he looks in
a short time; but you must not let him know I have told you
that.
Adieu, my dearest brother,
Believe me ever most affectionately yours,
W. W. G.
T. Pitt's child is recovering very fast.
The allusion to Lord Mornington (afterwards Marquis Wellesley) is not
quite clear. We are left in some doubt as to whether his Lordship looked
at this time to office in England, or to the Lord-Lieutenancy of
Ireland. His ambition and his genius, however, had ample scope
subsequently in India and in Ireland, the Government of which latter
country was twice confided to him.
In the next letter Mr. Grenville reports another interview with the
King, in which His Majesty expressed his regret at the absence of Lord
Temple, to whom, even at the cost of still further delay, and some risk
of confusion in Irish affairs, he would still have applied, but for the
impediments which the distracted and unnatural state of parties threw in
the way of the formation of an honest and independent Administration.
Mr. Grenville saw that the attempt to form a Cabinet in the face of such
adverse circumstances would be attended with no credit to Lord Temple,
or permanent advantage to the King, and judiciously discouraged it. He
appears all throughout, from the dawn of the alliance between Fox and
Lord North, to have desired that they should be allowed to make the
experiment, in which he was confident they would fail.