any official weight or use whatever.

"The king observed to me, the other day, 'Well, sir, I imagine you
begin to see that your mission will probably be successful.'--'I am
happy, may it please your majesty, to find that you entertain that
idea.'--'Well, but don't you perceive that it is like to be
so?'--'There are some recent circumstances (the answer to my
representation, etc.) which induce me to flatter myself that it
will be so.' He nodded with a smile, signifying that it was to
those circumstances that he alluded. The conversation then turned
to indifferent topics. This was at the drawing-room.

"I have never been more unceasingly employed than I have been for
some time past and still am; I hope for good, but God only knows.
The _William Penn_ sails in the morning. I write these few lines in
haste, to let you see that the business is going on as fast as can
reasonably be expected, and that it is very _important_ that peace
and quiet should be preserved for the present. On hearing last
night that one of our Indiamen had been carried into Halifax, I
mentioned it to Lord Grenville. He will write immediately by the
packet on the subject. Indeed, I believe they are endeavoring to
restore a proper conduct toward us _everywhere_; but it will take
some time before the effects will be visible. I write all this to
you in _confidence_, and for your own _private_ satisfaction. I
have not time to explain my reasons, but they are _cogent_. I could
fill some sheets with interesting communications if I had leisure,
but other matters press, and must not be postponed; for 'there is a
tide in the affairs of men,' of which every moment is precious.
Whatever may be the issue, nothing in my power to insure success
shall be neglected or delayed."[77]

To Mr. Randolph he wrote: "I shall persevere in my endeavors to acquire
the confidence and esteem of this government--not by improper
compliances, but by that sincerity, candor, truth, and prudence, which,
in my opinion, will always prove to be more wise and more effectual than
finesse and chicane. Formal discussions of disputed points should, in my
judgment, be postponed until the case becomes desperate; my present
object is to accommodate, rather than to convert or convince. Men who
sign their names to arguments seldom retract. If, however, my presen