oalition was formed. There was no excuse for the protracted
inconvenience--public and private--to which Lord Temple was exposed,
except the fact that the Ministry, too eager in the chase of office, had
accepted the reins of Government before they were ready to undertake its
functions; and that it was not until the situation of Lord-Lieutenant
had been offered to one nobleman after another, they at last found a
peer who was willing to incur the hazard of serving under them in so
responsible a post. That Lord Temple should have expressed his feelings
strongly on this occasion, that he should have complained warmly of the
personal slight with which he was treated, and that he should have
represented with earnestness the injury inflicted on the public service
throughout this harassing interregnum, was due equally to his own
character, and to the duty he owed to the King. Instead of being enabled
to relinquish office to his successor with ease and satisfaction to
both, the affair was so hurried, that in the correspondence which ensued
between Lord Temple and Lord Northington, a tone of asperity insensibly
displaces the amicable dispositions with which it opens, and shows that
the political discord which had been sown by the "unprincipled
coalition," was not without a damaging influence upon the private
relations of public men. Lord Temple, after sacrificing much of his own
personal feelings to adapt his withdrawal to the convenience of Lord
Northington, at last expressed his resolution--at any risk of
consequences--not to be in Dublin on the 4th of June, the anniversary of
the King's birthday. To this point the correspondence, interspersed with
one or two letters from Lord North, is finally drawn.

LORD TEMPLE TO LORD NORTHINGTON.

Dublin Castle, May 6th, 1783.

My dear Lord,

My former letter will have sufficiently stated to you my full
determination that my private feelings should not prevent me
from showing to you every personal regard, which is so much your
due. My line was long since adopted; and standing upon public
grounds, I could not yield to the honourable testimonies which I
have received, much less to any solicitations from the King's
servants, _if any such had been made_. But for particular
reasons I desire to assure you that, neither directly or
indirectly, have I received, since the hour of their
appointment, any such intimation, or any solicitation to