April 25th, 1783.
My dear Brother,
I believe I may at last congratulate you upon the appointment of
Lord Northington, and Wyndham of Norfolk, to succeed us in our
respective situations. It is not yet publicly notified, but I
have every reason to think that you may depend upon my
information. As soon as it is declared, I mean to see them, in
order to settle with the former the time which he wishes to have
for his preparations, &c., and with the latter the taking such
of my things as he may be disposed to. After that I think of
setting out for Ireland _tout de suite_. There is no public news
that I hear of. Things seem to remain pretty much in the same
situation as when I wrote last.
Adieu, my dearest brother,
Believe me most sincerely and affectionately yours,
W. W. G.
A short correspondence took place, at this juncture between the Duke of
Portland and Lord Temple. It is impossible not to perceive, or to
suspect, in the Duke of Portland's letter, a certain consciousness of
the discredit attached to his position. He deprecates, in a tone of
courtierly sensitiveness, all allusion to the political changes which
have separated him from Lord Temple in public life, and, with the air of
one who is not quite satisfied with himself, he seeks to turn his
unconfessed distrust of the course he has adopted into a compliment to
his correspondent. Lord Temple's reply is strongly marked with the true
character of the writer--frank, bold, honest above all things, and
straight to the purpose. The reproach contained in his closing
words--that it severely pained him to think he had reason to complain of
the personal conduct of a Ministry, chiefly composed of "those who had
the advantage of being denominated the friends of the late Lord
Rockingham"--terminates appropriately a correspondence which could not
be maintained with much satisfaction on either side.