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transacted the business; but the
secretaries of state
chap. XII.} 1765. May 16. |
claimed equal power, as in the months of the triumvirate; in the language of
Woburn,
Bedford was my minister; and, in point of fact, the ministers were four.
Now, however,
Bedford took the undisputed lead, insisting that they all should act in perfect union; and
Grenville, concealing his deep distrust of his colleagues, gave and received promises to withstand the court with inseparable fidelity.
On Friday,
Albemarle repaired once more to
Pitt,
but met no success.
In
London, the weavers, threatening death to the duke of
Bedford, assembled in the evening round his house, which they might have sacked and destroyed but for the timely presence of an armed force.
The town was in commotion, and persons of all parties hastened to Bedford House to mark their abhorrence of the riot and their joy at its suppression.
The dismissing
Bedford at such a moment had the aspect of inviting the mob to dictate a new ministry.
Public sympathy turned on the side of the duke.
‘To attempt changing the government,’ said Lord Mansfield, ‘is madness, infatuation, and utter ruin to the king's authority forever.’
But the king had all the impatience of offended
pride, excited by sleeplessness and nervous disease.
Having received the report of the questions concerted between
Pitt and
Temple, he said to the duke of
Cumberland, on Saturday, in the kindest terms and most explicit words: ‘I put myself wholly in this affair into your hands.’
Early, therefore, on Sunday, the nineteenth of May, the prince hastened to visit
Pitt, inviting
Temple to join them at a later hour.
His journey was a
