support an Administration, wherein you are First Lord of the Treasury; and that I cannot consent to have any conversation with him till the Ministry is formed; that if he comes into this, I will, as he supports you, receive him with open arms. I leave the whole arrangement to you, provided Lord Suffolk, Lord Weymouth, and my two able lawyers are satisfied as to their situations; but choose Ellis for Secretary at War in preference to Barré, who in that event will get a more lucrative employment, but will not be so near my person. Having said this, I will only add, to put before your eye my most inmost thoughts, that no advantage to this country, nor personal danger to myself, can ever make me address myself to Lord Chatham, or to any other branch of Opposition. Honestly, I would rather lose the Crown I now wear than bear the ignominy of possessing it under their shackles. I might write volumes, if I would state the feelings of my mind; but I have honestly, fairly, and affectionately told you the whole of my mind, and what I will never depart from. Should Lord Chatham wish to see me before he gives an answer, I shall most certainly refuse it. I have had enough of personal negotiation; and neither my dignity nor my feelings will ever let me again submit to it. Men of less principle and honesty than I pretend to, may look on public measures and opinions as a game. I always act from conviction; but I am shocked at the base arts all these men have used, therefore cannot go towards them; if they come to your assistance I will accept them. You have now full power to act, but I do not expect Lord Chatham and his crew will come to your assistance."[1]
On receiving this letter, North sent Mr. Eden to open negotiations with Shelburne on his behalf. The first person however to whom Eden applied was Fox. The latter, since his separation from North in 1774, had not as yet formally attached himself to any section of the Opposition, and now encouraged Eden to see Shelburne,
- ↑ The King to Lord North, March 15th, 1778. The full text of the letter is given in Lord Stanhope's History of England, vi., Appendix lviii. (ed. 1862), where the rest of the correspondence will be found also.
