had a grievance of their own. Finding that it was the fixed intention of the Ministers "to persevere in the resolution taken before the Lord-Lieutenant's departure, not to grant any pensions for life or years or any places in reversion, and that neither the Lord-Lieutenant nor any of the King's servants did intend to recommend any such grants,"[1] the party of Shannon and Ponsonby resolved to repeat the manœuvres of 1753, and once again to figure as patriots. They pointed out—and not without some show of reason—that the great prizes of the professions and of politics were frequently the rewards of Englishmen, and now they said the lesser rewards were to be lost to Ireland as well. Their appeals found a ready response. Some delay had taken place in giving the Great Seal, vacant by the death of Chancellor Bowes. His successor it was now urged would be an incompetent Englishman. Such an opportunity was not to be missed. The fiery cross went out at once from Shannon and from Ponsonby to all their political connection, and the Lord-Lieutenant got an early proof of the wisdom of the doubts he had already once expressed as to the difficulty of governing without corruption.[2] Almost at the moment that he was about once more to convey his apprehensions to the English Ministers and his own desire to yield, he was roused by a visit from the Attorney-General Tisdal, the organ of the Junto, who came to inform him that besides an address relative to the vacancy of the Chancellorship, which might perhaps be carried, he had certain intelligence that a motion would be made in the House of Commons to grant the supply from three months to three months, or, as they termed it, "a short Money Bill."[3]
The grounds assigned for this step were discontent at the delay in the appointment of a Chancellor, and a determination not to grant any supplies which were to
- ↑ Shelburne to Townshend, November 5th, 1767.
- ↑ Townshend to Shelburne, October 27th, 1767. It is worth noticing that at the time of this controversy only one Judge was an Englishman. Camden to Grafton, September 27th, 1767.
- ↑ Townshend to Shelburne, November 15th, 1767. Autobiography of Grafton, 157-165.
