Dublin Castle, May 2nd, 1783.
My Lord,
The messenger who is this moment arrived with His Majesty's
commands upon the subject of the Parliament, has not brought me
one syllable in answer to my despatch of the 24th, so
interesting to my feelings. Your Lordship, I am certain, does
not propose to delay receiving His Majesty's commands upon the
many matters contained in it, and yet your total silence upon
it, and the very distant day to which the Parliament is
prorogued (for which measure the King's servants alone are
responsible), do not hold out to me that prospect of release,
which I still conceive, from every principle of public duty to
this kingdom, and from every personal consideration to me, will
not be delayed many days longer. I have sufficiently pressed
upon your Lordship's attention these reasons of my conduct. I
have only to add, that I have well considered the alternative to
which I may be driven, and must again remind your Lordship, that
in no contingency do I consider myself responsible for any one
of the consequences which may be the result of the public
inattention to this Government, under which this high and
important office has been left unfilled from the formation of
the new Government till the 24th ult., and under which the same
interregnum is, in your Lordship's despatch of that date, held
out for six weeks longer.
And I am the more particularly anxious for this answer, from the
heartfelt concern with which I wait for the notification of His
Majesty's sense of those assurances of attachment and dutiful
respect, which makes me solicitous that no part of my conduct
may be liable to misconstruction: to his wisdom I submit those
considerations, which touch so nearly the interests of this
kingdom, and to his justice, with all humility, those which are
personal to myself.
I have the honour to be,
N. T.
While this letter was on its way to London, it was crossed by Lord
North's answer to the despatch of the 24th, containing, in detail, the
defence of the Government on the numerous points pressed upon their
attention by the Lord-Lieutenant.