I have the honour to be, with the greatest respect, My Lord,
Your Excellency's most obedient humble servant,
North.
P.S.—The messenger carries three letters from Lord Northington—one to your Excellency, one to Lieutenant-General Burgoyne, and another to General Baugh.
His Excellency the Earl Temple, &c., &c., &c.
LORD NORTHINGTON TO LORD TEMPLE.
St. James's Place, May 25th, 1783.
My dear Lord,
Your Excellency has not been able to remove those unpleasant and mortifying ideas I entertain at the thoughts of being obliged to pay either no attention to a day, to which all honour and respect is due, or to do it in a manner unbecoming, and not suitable to the occasion. Indeed, my information by numerous Irish gentlemen now here, tells me that, although it may not be expected that I should give (what your Lordship says) a dinner on the occasion, it will be expected I shall hold a Court, and that I shall give a ball. Then I understand likewise, from your letters, as you declare your positive and fixed resolution not to hold a Court on that day in the despatch, the last but one which I had the honour to receive, and that from strong reasons of delicacy, both public and private, which, as your Excellency does not explain, at this distance and in my state of ignorance at present I am at a loss to conceive.
I have the honour to be, my dear Lord,
Your faithful and obedient humble servant,
Northington.
Lord Temple's administration was too brief to enable him to develop the plans he had laid down for the benefit of Ireland; but the most conclusive testimony that can be adduced in favour of his policy is the assurance he received from Lord North, that no intention of deviating from it was entertained by the new Ministers. Although, however, Lord Northington did not openly deviate from the main points of his policy, he followed it up with a luke-warmness and insincerity that rendered it to a great extent inoperative. His Lordship appears to have betrayed, not only in his measures, but in the spirit and tone in which they were brought forward, an unworthy desire to discredit the influence and reputation of his predecessor, who pursued a line of conduct after he left Ireland which—putting aside all obligations to the public—entitled him at least to protection against such sinister attempts to undermine the confidence his zealous services had acquired. Having resigned the Government into the hands of Lord Northington, to whom he frankly offered all the assistance and information his experience enabled him to bestow, he strictly avoided all interference in Irish affairs that might be likely—even remotely—to embarrass his successor. Numerous applications were made to him on a variety of subjects; individuals and parties sought his advice and interposition; but he made the same answer to all—referring them at once to the established authority, and declining to use any influence, upon the most trifling occasions, which in his position he might have legitimately exercised. His magnanimity was thrown away upon a thankless soil. The situation he had filled with so much honour and advantage, was now occupied by a nobleman who could neither appreciate nor imitate his lofty example.