ere passed
over, at a time when he was rendering such signal services to the Crown,
that he could not restrain the expression of his dissatisfaction.
Writing to Lord Buckingham, he says:

I feel that I would be unworthy, not only of your confidence and
affection, but of the name and character of a gentleman, if I did
not warmly partake of your just resentment at this gross and
unmerited offence, offered at a moment when your conduct had
entitled you to so very different a line of treatment.

Lord Buckingham was again on the point of resigning, and Mr. Grenville
participated so strongly in his feelings that he indicated his
determination of following his example. After stating in a subsequent
letter that he thought he saw in the King's mind "a strong wish to take
into his own hands this piece of military patronage _whenever it
falls_," he proceeds to observe upon the consequences.

The whole transaction gives me the greatest uneasiness, because I
am not afraid to say to you, fairly and openly, that the measures
to which, I fear, you may ultimately be driven in consequence of it
are of a nature which I fear extremely; and _that_, I trust, for
better reasons than any consideration of their effect on my views.
It is on every account a most critical and embarrassing moment for
you; and the sense which I entertain of the injustice of those who
have brought you into this situation, does not remove or diminish
my apprehensions of the consequences to which it leads. It is no
affectation or parade of disinterestedness, but the necessary
consequence of the first principles of justice and honour, when I
assure you that I am resolved to follow your decision upon it, and
that I consider your honour as inseparably connected with my own.

Fortunately, however, this solution of the difficulty was rendered
unnecessary. A compromise, as usual, afforded a convenient escape to all
parties, without disappointing any; and by an ingenious re-distribution
of three or four regiments (devised by His Majesty himself), Taylor was
provided for elsewhere, and Nugent obtained his lieutenant-colonelcy.
There was great difficulty, nevertheless, in bringing His Majesty to
this point. He had made up his mind to give the vacant regiment to
Taylor, and would hear of no one else. "I am truly sorry to say,"
observes Mr. Pitt, in the course of the negotiations, "that h