him, may prove his mind to be enlarged as well as virtuous, and may justify all that Parliament has done in his favour. I can assure your Grace of every support in the prosecution of this measure, and of the most confidential return to every communication you think the public service may require. I entirely agree in your Grace's reasons for putting as speedy an end as possible to the present Session, unless the measure your Grace has in contemplation can be obtained.
"The King is at Windsor. Almost everyone else is out of town. I therefore only write the sentiments of
"Your Grace's, &c. &c.
"Shelburne."
Notwithstanding the expectations of Portland, it was found impossible to persuade Grattan and his enthusiastic followers, on whose support the Lord-Lieutenant had so confidently relied, that their work was in any sense incomplete.[1] The recent changes were claimed by them to be a final settlement of all outstanding differences. Only two members, Mr. Walsh and Sir Samuel Bradstreet, had the courage to record their votes against a motion that "there no longer existed any constitutional question between the two nations that could interrupt their harmony." Meanwhile 211 members voted in the other lobby, and time was left to judge between them and the minority.[2]
It has been seen that the affairs of Ireland were not settled without suspicions being excited between the two Secretaries of State, Fitzpatrick accusing Shelburne to Fox of holding one language in the House of Lords, and another in his despatches to Portland.[3] These suspicions were soon converted into positive opposition.
- ↑ In Grattan's Speeches, iii. 355-409, January 15th, February 22nd, 1800. Memorials of Fox, i. 426-431. Parliamentary History, xxx. 957 (Speech of General Fitzpatrick).
- ↑ Plowden, i. 226.
- ↑ The Duke of Portland, it would appear, allowed himself to be persuaded in the month of June by Mr. Ogilvy, who had married the Duchess of Leinster, that Grattan was not really so intractable as he seemed to be; and it also appears from a letter written in 1799 by Fox to Fitzpatrick, that the Duke never informed him of the negotiation with Mr. Ogilvy. (See Memorials of Fox, i. 431.)
