to him since the ride to Bromley, but he now roused himself to protest. "Lord Shelburne's removal," he said, "would never have his consent nor concurrence; he thought it quite contrary to the King's service. He had a great regard and friendship for him, and considered that his abilities made him necessary in the office he was in, to the carrying on of the King's business."[1] He would think his removal most unhappy and very unfortunate for His Majesty's service,[1] and he could not sufficiently lament it; and declared his own resolution of resigning the Privy Seal, in consequence of his dismissal from the Secretaryship of State, and that of Sir Jeffery Amherst from the Government of Virginia.[2]
The dismissal, however, never took place. On October 19th Shelburne obtained an audience of the King. "He did not hint his design to any of the Ministers; he only desired Lord Weymouth would let him go in alone, as he had something particular to say to the King, and at coming out, told Lord Northington that he might, if he pleased, tell the Ministers a piece of news, for that he had just resigned the Seals."[3] The Bedfords now remained masters of the field. They at once made their power felt. Led by the Duke himself, they proposed and carried an address to the Crown to bring over and prosecute in England all who had been engaged in treasonable practices in America. For this purpose an obsolete statute of Henry VIII. was to be revived, and the first speech which Shelburne made from the Opposition benches was against this proposal.[4] At the same time the expulsion of Wilkes from the House of Commons was determined upon.
On the day preceding Shelburne's resignation, which was followed by that of Barré, a squib, popularly attributed to Wilkes,[5] was published in the Public Advertiser, de-
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chatham Correspondence, iii. 337, note.
- ↑ Chatham to Grafton, October 12th, 1768. It is difficult to see any justification for Chatham in objecting to the removal of Sir Jeffery Amherst. He was the non-resident Governor of a colony which had been most forward in expressing sympathy with Massachusetts, and the Assembly had complained of his absence. Amherst was besides offered a pension equal to the value of his salary.
- ↑ Walpole, iii. 247, 289. Whateley to Grenville, October 27th, 1768. Grenville Correspondence, iv. 390.
- ↑ Parliamentary History, xvi. 476, 477.
- ↑ Grenville Correspondence, iv. 383.
