Queen's House, April 1st, 1783.
My Lord,
I had the pleasure, on the 26th of last month, to receive from
your truly amiable and right-headed brother and secretary, your
very able letter of the 23rd on the state of Ireland, couched in
terms that also conveyed the warmest attachment to my person and
Government, which makes me not deem among the least of public
misfortunes, that the want of resolution in some, and of public
zeal in others, will oblige you to quit a station which you fill
so much to the satisfaction of all honest men as well as to
mine.
Since the conversation I had with Mr. William Grenville on the
16th of last month, I have continued every possible means of
forming an Administration; an experience of now above twenty-two
years convinces me that it is impossible to erect a stable one
within the narrow bounds of any faction, for none deserve the
appellation of party; and that in an age when disobedience to
law and authority is as prevalent as a thirst after changes in
the best of all political Constitutions, it requires temper and
sagacity to stem these evils, which can alone be expected from a
collection of the best and most calm heads and hearts the
kingdom possesses.
Judge, therefore, of the uneasiness of my mind, at having been
thwarted in every attempt to keep the administration of public
affairs out of the hands of the most unprincipled coalition the
annals of this or any other nation can equal. I have withstood
it till not a single man is willing to come to my assistance,
and till the House of Commons has taken every step, but
insisting on this faction being by name elected Ministers.
To end a conflict which stops every wheel of Government, and
which would affect public credit if it continued much longer, I
intend this night to acquaint that _grateful_ Lord North, that
the seven Cabinet Counsellors the coalition has named shall kiss
hands to-morrow, and then form their arrangements, as the former
negotiation they did not condescend to open to many of their
intentions.[1]
A Ministry which I have avowedly attempted to avoid, by calling
on every other description of men, cannot be supposed to have
either my favour or confidence; and as such, I shall most
certainly refuse any honours they may ask for. I trust the eyes
of the nation will soon be opened, as my sorrow may prove fatal
to my health if I remain long in this thraldom. I trust you will
be steady in your attachment to me, and ready to join other
honest men in watching the conduct of this unnatural
combination, and I hope many months will not elapse before the
Grenvilles, the Pitts, and other men of abilities and character
will relieve me from a situation that nothing could have
compelled me to submit to, but the supposition that no other
means remained of preventing the public finances from being
materially affected.
It shall be one of my first cares to acquaint these men that you
decline remaining in Ireland.
George R.
[Footnote 1: This passage is printed accurately from the original. Its
obscurity may be removed by a slight alteration: "as _in_ the former
negotiation they did not condescend to open _too_ many of their
intentions."]
A Ministry forced in this way upon a Sovereign who, during the
twenty-two years referred to in the above letter, had struggled
successfully to resist the dictation of Parliament, and to break down
the ascendancy of powerful families and party combinations, contained
within itself the seeds of early dissolution. The King accepted them,
but never gave them his confidence. He resolved from the first to treat
them as men who had violently broken into the Cabinet; and he called
upon his friends to withhold their support from them, and to sustain him
in his resistance to their policy. The ingratitude of Lord North touched
him deeply; and in proportion as he shrank from all personal intercourse
that could be avoided with the new allies of his former favourite, he
turned for succour to men like Lord Temple, who preserved their honour
unsullied, however their political views, on some subjects, might have
differed from his own. If it cannot be said of His Majesty in this
crisis, that "royalty conspired to remove" these Ministers, the language
of His Majesty's letter (in itself an excellent specimen of his pure
English style and practical good sense) plainly and unreservedly
declares his resolution to get rid of them as soon as possible by all
the means the Constitution placed in his hands. Lord Temple's answer
frankly indicates the course he was prepared to take during the
existence of what the writer designates as the "unprincipled coalition."
It will be seen in the sequel how fully he justified the confidence
reposed in him by the King.