Note 68 — Chapter IX
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Mr. Canning says: “It was devised by Lord Grenville to tie up Pitt’s tongue alone, who is suspected of communicating with other persons. I am not sure that he did not suspect him farther of sounding the public sentiment through the newspapers.”—Letter from Mr. Canning to Lord Malmesbury, dated 20th July, 1797.
In this accusation of Mr. Pitt’s infidelity to the secrecy of Cabinet Councils, Mr. C. retorts the very charge that Lady Hester makes against him—which was the culprit?
At page 428, Lord Malmesbury seems to reject the inference Mr. Canning had come to: for he says, “I am a little influenced by the circumstances of the paragraphs which have lately appeared in our papers: and, although it would be most unfair to say I could fix a shadow of suspicion on the fidelity of any of the king’s messengers,” &c., whereby it would seem that he did not suspect Mr. Pitt, but did the messengers.—Diaries and Correspondence of the Earl of Malmesbury, v. iii. p. 416.