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Lord Shelbume gladly resigned office on 19th October 1768. Lord Chatham's resignation followed, and George III. found a congenial minister in Lord^ North. Shortly after this Lady Shelbume died, and he paid a prolonged visit to the Con- tinent with his friend Colonel Barre. In Paris he became acquainted with Baron d'Holbach, Malesherbes, the Abbe Morel- let, and other eminent men ; and he after- wards declared that his intimacy with Morellet was the turning point in his career ; in his own words, " Morellet libe- ralized my ideas." Many of his French friends were afterwards induced to visit Bowood, where, in company with Frank- lin, and Garrick, Barre, Priestley, and others, they found the equivalent of the brilliant society of Paris. Out of office. Lord Shelburne continued the steady friend of Chatham, opposing Lord North's ministry on most leading questions, espe- cially those relating to America. Never- theless, like Lord Chatham, he expressed the strongest repugnance to the plans of the colonists for independence — opinions of which he was afterwards reminded by opponents, when as Premier he was forced to acknowledge the independence of the United States. In the debate on the American Conciliatory Bill, 5 th March 1778, he went so far as to say: "The moment that the independence of America is agreed to by our Government, the sun of Great Britain is set, and we shall no longer be a powerful or respectable people." He desired that the countries should be united by at least a federal union, in which they would have the same friends and the same enemies, one purse and one sword for common purposes. A few days after these utterances. Lord North resigned (April 1778), and the negotiations for the return of Lord Chatham to office (put an end to by his death) were carried on almo?' entirely by Lord Shelburne. Next year his marriage with Lady L. FitzPatrick connected him more closely than before with Fox and Lord Holland. After Lord Chatham's death, Shelburne joined Lord Rockingham, consenting to waive in his favour, in case of office being offered to him, his title to the premiership. His opposition to Lord North increased in activity as the policy of the latter became more and more unsuccessful, while Shel- bume himself may be said to have become proportionately popular. The measures passed in December 1779 for t'he relief of Irish commerce had his heartiest approval. On 20th March 1782, in consequence of the surrender of Cornwallis, Lord North's ministry succumbed, and Lord Rockiug-
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ham became his successor, with Lord Shelburne and Charles James Fox as Sec- retaries of State. As Secretary of State, Shelbume, in the House of Lords on 1 7th May, moved those measures which con- ceded Parliamentary independence to Ire- land. The ministry lasted little over three months — Rockingham's death in July being the immediate cause of its dissolution. Fox, with Burke and his other friends, then insisted on the Duke of Portland being made Premier ; the King, however, who had come to place great confidence in Lord Shelburne, preferred him, and entrusted him with the forma- tion of a ministry. Fox's party, unable to dissuade him from acceding to the King's desire, seceded in a body, being unwill- ing to accept his leadership. During Shelburne's administration of little over seven months, Gibraltar was successfully defended, the great victories of Howe and Rodney enabled Great Britain to make honourable terms with France, Spain, and Holland, and separate preliminaries of peace were arranged with the United States. Shelburne resigned in February 1783, and did not again accept office, or take any prominent part in public affairs' — giving, however, a steady and use- ful support to his younger and abler col- league, Pitt. He was created Marquis of Lansdowne in 1784. His health being feeble, he felt neither strength nor inclina- tion again to enter into the turmoil of party politics. In the debate in the British House of Lords on 19th March 1799, he expressed himself very fully regarding the proposed union with Ireland. It is, however, difficult to gather his exact sentiments. On the one hand, he declared, as a party to the concessions of 1782, that that settlement by no means precluded a measure of closer union when desirable. Referring to the disturbed state of Ireland he said : " There is no remedy for aU these evils but a union ; . . a union was at aU times desirable ; at present it was indis- pensable. The resolutions respecting it should be acted on immediately, for our very existence was at stake." On the other hand, he appeared to desire that the real sentiments of the people of Ireland upon the question should be consulted — not merely the opinions of the members of the Irish Parliament. He declared immediate Catholic emancipation desirable. " There was one point on which his mind doubted, as to the mode of carrying a union into eflfect, and that was the union of the Parlia- ments. . . He felt inclined to adopt aU the resolutions except that which related to the addition of one hundred members to
