Note 61 — Chapter III

A brief report of this interesting debate is given in Sir Gilbert Elliot’s MS. Journal. “The Duke of Grafton, who spoke with great gravity and weight, said, as he had before declared, that it had been less likely to occur to him to apply to the Chancellor; persuaded he was right, he was not solicitous about more advice; but did it become a friend with the Great Seal in his hand to suffer a friend, he all the while silent, to involve the Administration in what he deemed an illegal act?” On Lord Chatham saying that the Chancellor had early told him his opinion, Lord Weymouth expressed astonishment that the Chancellor should communicate to a private man at Hayes what he had concealed from the Cabinet. The Chancellor was certainly to blame in not earlier resigning his office, since he was determined to go into opposition the moment Lord Chatham appeared; but his health making that event doubtful, possibly led the Chancellor into a conduct generally censured, and which had greatly obstructed the affairs of Government.”—(See also Lord Brougham’s remarks on this transaction in “Statesmen of the Time of George the Third,” vol. iii. p. 171.)—E.