Page:Life of William Shelburne (vol 1).djvu/112

86 negotiation. Ever since the death of George II. Henry Fox had been engaged in worshipping the rising sun, and endeavouring to attract attention to his orisons. Two great difficulties stood in the way: his unpopularity with the King, and his connection with the Duke of Cumberland and the Duke of Devonshire, both of whom had extended a steady protection to him during the time of his political effacement. It would be impossible to serve them and Bute at the same time, and it was not consequently till after many hesitations, that Fox at last resolved to make an offer of his services to the Court, coupling his advances with the demand of a peerage for Lady Caroline Fox, which he had vainly attempted to obtain in 1757. Early in February he accordingly wrote to Lord Fitzmaurice, asking him to obtain an interview with Bute. The request was readily granted, and the preliminaries of the negotiation were soon settled, but difficulties then arose about the peerage, for the King believed Fox to have opposed the wishes of the Princess Dowager and Bute as to his own early education after the death of Frederick, Prince of Wales. Fox became alarmed at the delay, and gave vent to his feelings in the following letter:

—I take it for granted, by my not having seen you, you have not seen Lord Bute to-day. Consequently, whatever wants explanation is not explained; and may grow more hard to be explained. I do not comprehend Lord Bute's way of thinking: I might more truly say I do not know it on this occasion. If I have done wrong I suffer for it; but in all my uneasy thinking I cannot find out what to accuse myself of. If you see nothing improper in it, pray read the inclosed paper to, or leave it with Lord Bute. It contains nothing but truth, and indeed I think the whole truth; some that I am ashamed of, I mean the little resolution with which I bear this disappointment. I have, indeed, said nothing