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248 sequence to know the King's mind upon this, before the debate of to-morrow, upon which the fate of all must rest. I am sure your Lordship will excuse my earnestness, which all arises from anxious attachment to you without the smallest concern about my office."

The King himself was loud in his protestations ot friendship, but his Minister remained convinced that he was playing a double game, and he ever afterwards declared that the Court had tricked and deserted him. George III. he said had one art beyond any man he had ever known; "for that by the familiarity of his intercourse, he obtained your confidence, procured from you your opinion of different public characters, and then availed himself of this knowledge to sow dissension."

Whatever the conduct of the King himself may have been, it must be recollected that the position of the King's friends in Parliament was widely different in 1783 from what it had previously been. Some had been affected in purse, others in their future prospects, all in public estimation, by the recent reforms. Of these they knew Shelburne to have been the inspiring genius, whatever his calumniators might say to the contrary. The opportunity of revenge was now come. They sent to ask the price of their support, and received the uncompromising reply that the peace must obtain the unbought approbation of Parliament or none at all. After this their part was taken, and when Lord John Cavendish brought forward his resolutions, it soon became known what the result of the division was to be. Late in the evening Pitt rose to reply, and before he sat down the result of his recent interview with Shelburne appeared. After a masterly defence of the treaties, he said, alluding to Fox:

"The honourable gentleman who spoke last has declared with that sort of consistency that marks his conduct, 'because he is prevented from prosecuting the noble Lord in the blue ribbon to the satisfaction of public