while Charles Fox was brought up by his father to believe that the character of Shelburne was that of a man in whom no trust could be placed.[1]
Bute himself gave the most decisive proofs of his undiminished confidence in the integrity of Shelburne as a negotiator. During,the formation of the new Government under George Grenville, he resigned on the 8th of April, but he continued to employ Shelburne as his intermediary with Lord Gower, the Duke of Bedford, Lord Waldegrave, the Duke of Rutland, Lord Granby, Rigby, and the Duke of Marlborough,[2] for Bute, though surrendering the ostensible lead, intended to pull the wires under the stage.[3] If, however, these delicate negotiations succeeded, it was in a great measure owing to the tact of Lord Gower, and the King himself had to intervene before all the contending claims could be satisfied "to unravel the Gordian knot and put the finishing stroke to the new establishment."[4]
The difficulties made by the various parties to the negotiation were incomprehensible to the mind of Bute,
- ↑ Lord Stanhope, History of England, v. 40, says: "Fox and Bute now both appealed to Lord Shelburne … Lord Shelburne, much embarrassed, was obliged to own that he had in some degree extenuated or exaggerated the terms to each from his anxiety to secure, at all events, the support of Fox, which he thought at that period essential to Government." The passage which Lord Stanhope quotes from Walpole's Memoirs of the Reign of George III., i. 258, in support of his statement runs as follows: "Lord Shelburne has told the Earl that Fox would quit the Pay Office for a peerage, but Fox had only stipulated to give his support for that reward." The statement is Walpole's own. Shelburne made no acknowledgment, either at the time or subsequently, of having misled Fox and Bute, as the words used by Lord Stanhope would lead the reader to imply that he did. There is a brief and, on the whole, correct summary of the above events in Bentham's Works, x. 101.
- ↑ Shelburne to Bute, and Bute to Shelburne, March and April 1763.
- ↑ "Make Barré Surveyor-General of the Ordnance. This would be rewarding him very nobly certainly, but upon weighing it I am clear he would be able to return it in the execution of the office, and in the credit he would do your Lordship in a Board which you may depend upon it wants reformation more than any other; and I dread the consequence of Lord Granby's coming to it without the check of some honest, firm man who will be ready to receive your instructions." Bute to Shelburne, April 1763. Barré was made Adjutant-General and Governor of Stirling. Jenkinson owned to Grenville in July 1765 that the "intercourse in writing between His Majesty and Lord Bute always continued, telling him that he knew the King wrote him a journal every day of what passed, and as minute a one 'as if,' said he, 'your boy at school was directed by you to write his journal to you.'" (Grenville Correspondence, iii. 220.) Lord Stanhope, however, has made it clear that all personal intercourse between the King and the Earl ceased after this date, and that after 1765 his retirement was absolute. History of England, v. 176.
- ↑ Bute to Shelburne, March 30th.
