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232 have shown themselves void of every principle of honour and honesty. In the hands of such men I would not trust my honour even for a minute." Only six months before he had stated that in his opinion so utterly detestable was the character of Shelburne, that he was even capable of coalescing with North, and he had more than once asserted that the latter deserved to be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanours committed against the State. Yet when the prizes of office rose in view, the high crimes, the misdemeanours, the want of common honour and honesty of North were alike forgotten by Fox, the idea for a moment entertained by Rockingham in 1780 was revived, and the negotiation for a coalition begun by Richard Fitzpatrick and William Eden and nurtured by Loughborough who hoped to be Chancellor, soon assumed a hopeful aspect.

Their plan was no secret, and Shelburne seeing his Cabinet threatened in this unexpected manner, and weakened by the discontent of some of his colleagues and the resignation of others, was obliged to consider what means he could take to weather the coming storm.

A coalition with North was open to the same objections in his own case as in that of Fox. It might however be possible, without offering office to him or to his principal friends, to obtain from them a degree of support sufficient to carry a vote on the Peace through Parliament. The idea however did not find favour with the Ministry as a whole; but Dundas, who had pressed the idea, communicated it on his own account to William Adam, a personal friend of North, telling him however that the support given must be explicit and unconditional, a proposition which the less scrupulous mind of Temple considered stamped with the "vanity and personal arrogance" of Shelburne, as he believed that North would have done what was wished upon terms of immediate provision for his friends.