Page:Life of William Shelburne (vol 1).djvu/432

expected war with Spain, rode on the whirlwind and directed the storm. So strong did the popular feeling become that even Rockingham, who had stood aloof as long as he was able, yielded to the popular enthusiasm.^[1] On January 9th, 1770, Chatham moved an amendment to the Address to the effect that the House would inquire into grievances, especially those of the Middlesex Election, while Shelburne spoke of the alarming posture of affairs abroad, where England had not and could not get an ally. The motion was lost, but not before the Chancellor, roused by the voice of his friend, had opposed his own colleagues in debate. Rockingham next gave notice that the following day he would call attention to the state of the nation; Grafton asked for a more distant day. Then a scene of excitement and confusion arose. It was felt that the resignation of the Chancellor was impending. "The seals," exclaimed Shelburne, "are to go a-begging, but I hope there will not be found in the kingdom a wretch so base and mean-spirited as to accept of them on the conditions on which they must be offered."^[2] The example was contagious. Next day in the House of Commons, Dunning, who was already odious to the Court for his opposition to the proceedings against Wilkes, followed the example of Camden, at whose special request alone he had not resigned in 1768.^[3] As Shelburne had foreseen, the Great Seal did go a-begging. At length, after many hesitations between accepting the long-deferred object of his ambition, and standing by his old connections, Charles Yorke, under great pressure from the King, chose the former alternative, but, whether by his own hand or through illness, died before even affixing the seal to the patent of his own creation as Lord Morden. Meanwhile Dunning had resigned and Rockingham had brought forward his motion on the state of the nation, while Chatham was thundering on the Middlesex Election, on the condition of the country, bereft of every ally and become the contempt of Europe, on the oppression of the democratic

1. Walpole, Memoirs of the Reign of George III., iv. 35.
2. Parliamentary History, 1770.
3. Autobiography of Grafton, 228. Thurlow was the successor of Dunning.