Shelburne had offered the place in 1782, but who had deferred acceptance till he had ceased to be a prisoner on parole.
The seven Commissioners appointed by the first of Fox's two Bills, and their eight assistants, were to be appointed in the first instance by Parliament, but ultimately by the Crown, and to hold office independently of all changes of Administration. When the names appeared they were found to be all of them those of well-known followers of Fox except two, one of whom was Colonel North, the son of Lord North. It was the popular belief that a gigantic job was being devised. From one end of the country to the other an outcry arose. The Whigs in 1782 had the pleasure of realizing how great was the power of the representatives of chartered rights, to which they had themselves appealed under the leadership of Burke for party purposes against the moderate proposals of North in 1773.[1] It was declared and generally believed that their intention was to appoint the seven Commissioners in order to transfer the government and patronage of India permanently from the Crown to the nominees of Mr. Fox, and the Court, anxious to avail itself of the popular feeling, resolved upon offering the most desperate opposition to the Bill in both Houses. But although an unexampled crisis in the history of the country was evidently near, Pitt steadily abstained from holding any communication with his former chief; and Shelburne beginning to realize that this must be the result of intention, and still suspecting the King, made up his mind not to intrude on his old colleagues, unless definitely asked for his advice. This intention he communicated to Mr. Orde, late Secretary to the Treasury, whom he looked upon as his representative, in the absence of Barré and Dunning, both of whom were seriously ill.
A week before the second reading of the Bill in the House of Lords, Pitt met Orde, and asked him if Lord Shelburne would attend Parliament, adding that
