it, or any clue to direct the little judgment I have, and as to passions they have some time subsided in regard to it.
Though I believe I have been pretty exact in relating what Lord Rockingham said, yet as he did not expressly desire it to be communicated, I should be sorry that it made the foundation even of an opinion in your own mind, till you had it from better authority. Though he seemed to me to speak with a manner of decision, yet he may have meant it a manner of negociation which I may not understand. At any rate, I have many pardons to ask for troubling you with so long a letter, and in return I will only beg for a very short one either from you or Lady Chatham to tell me, I hope, that you are not the worse for sitting up so late in the House.
I have the honour to be,
Most respectfully yours,
Shelburne.
Mr. Pitt replied as follows:
Hayes, Monday night, February 24th, 1766.
My dear Lord,—Highly sensible of the honour of your Lordship's very friendly attention in taking the trouble to apprise me of a conversation (certainly meant to be communicated), I beg to assure you of my best acknowledgments, and will in answer obey your obliging commands not to enter into much observation upon the matter. I shall confine myself then just to say that Lord Rockingham's plan appears to me to be such as can never bring things to a satisfactory conclusion, his tone being that of a Minister master of the Court and of the public; making openings to men who are seekers of offices and candidates for Ministry. What his Lordship added of the King not being given up blindfold, since the Duke of Cumberland's death is either totally unintelligible, or if it does really contain any meaning, there is one man who will very shortly set out for Bath after the American affair is over. In one word, my dear Lord, I shall never set my foot in the Closet but in the hope of rendering the King's personal situation not unhappy, as well as his business not
