"Queen's House, April 13th, 1782.
59 m. pt. 3 p.m.
"On coming home I found this box containing the printed Bill I sent yesterday to Ld Shelburne and a copy of the extract of it. I think it may not be improper to mention that Ld Rockingham rather cautiously avoided any explanation of what had passed at the Cabinet, and I showed no curiosity, but he chose to express his ideas of the necessity of the message, and an intention of not laying a list of the offices to be reformed, nor the other matters to be fixed by the proposed Bill before the Cabinet, lest the Ministers should not all coincide in his opinions, which were to follow very exactly Mr. Burke's former Bill. I said I thought it absolutely expedient the Cabinet should weigh every clause before the Bill came before the House of Commons; that I wished it the more as I hoped to be as little as possible mixed in the whole business; besides it was better to accommodate the Bill to the ideas of the members of the Cabinet, than by not consulting them have them take different lines on this business in Parliament. G. R."
The Earl of Shelburne to the King.
"16 April, 1782.
"Sir,—I have considered since Sunday the state of the Civil List business, and its probable course, and am desirous of submitting to your Majesty's better judgment, whether there would be any inconsistency with the line of conduct your Majesty has laid down, to order Lord Rockingham to lay before your Majesty the alteration proposed in your Household, Wardrobe, Stables, and other Court Services, after consulting the persons most experienced in each of these services, with a comparative view of their present and their intended state, in regard to expense and every other circumstance. I humbly conceive that this may be done under the head of interior regulation, and need not interfere with the desire your
