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292 the right of settlement in the future being, however, reserved. "The King's sincerity is undoubted," he wrote, "as appears by the whole transaction. His steadiness I am certain will not be less. If any attempt therefore is made to negotiate away the substance of the proposal first made to His Majesty, your Excellency may be assured that His Majesty will not listen to it, so that if the Ministers of Spain endeavour on the return of their messengers to start fresh difficulties, the only consequence will be, that the station in question at the Isles of Falkland, the importance of which His Majesty fully knows, will remain open to be established by His Majesty, and the Manilla Ransom cannot be forgotten by His Majesty nor his subjects, till some happier moment shall come, when the Minister of the Court of Spain may be more disposed to do justice, where it is so unquestionably due. In the meantime it may be easily judged whether the conduct of His Majesty tends most to preserve the public tranquillity, or that of France and Spain."

Thus wrote Shelburne, but the internal divisions of the English Cabinet on the affairs of India and of America, coinciding with the failure of the Northern alliance, rendered vigorous action impossible, and left Grimaldi and Choiseul to pursue their policy of delay in safety, till the moment for aggression arrived.

Of all her recent territorial acquisitions England had been most dazzled by those which had fallen to her share in India. It was believed that now in reality "the gorgeous East was held in fee." Distance lent enchantment to the view; young and old, rich and poor, were eager to bathe in the stream of the new which was believed to have turned its course and to be rolling golden waves towards England. The violent discussions at the India House served to keep up a constant excitement, and attracted an interest which equalled, if it did not exceed, the interest in the debates of Parliament. The charter of the East India Company was to expire in a few years, and