... I hear Pitt declares against the Russian subsidy, which, I am told, is growing as unpopular as the excise.
Extract of a Letter from Ditto to Ditto, Sept. 23, 1755.
... I have never declared my opinion of the subsidies till this morning to the King. His Majesty is in great distress: they have been obliged to tell him that the House of Commons could not go on without some authority within it; that almost every principal person there had declared against subsidies, and they could not name one who had declared for them. They had tried Pitt, Sir George Lee, and Egmont: that the two first and Legge had declared against them; that Egmont doubted and declined accepting the place; that in this situation they had spoken to me. Lord Grenville had spoke of me to him, but could not tell him my opinion.
I told his Majesty that he should, on this occasion, have my best service as a private soldier or as an officer, but I could not be both. I had a great deal of discourse, but he entered into no particular destination of me. He lamented the harm the Duke of Devonshire’s opinion would do him, and commended your Lordship exceedingly. I told the Duke of Newcastle (whom I saw by appointment with Lord Waldegrave, Saturday) that this was the last time I would ever come to see if we could agree. And so it is. Lord Granville says, if Legge won’t keep it (and to be sure he will not) I must be Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Duke of Newcastle says, that in that case we shall not agree a fortnight, and that it must not be. They quarrelled about it. I give readily into the Duke of Newcastle’s opinion. Nothing then remains but Secretary of State. How to make a vacancy I can’t tell, but there is nothing else. If this be done, I shall behave just as both you and they would have me; if not, I shall still be for the subsidies. It is my opinion. But I will be for them out of place; and in the act of vindicating the measure, declare war with the Minister. So you see that instead of the quiet state I thought of, I am brought, and indeed without my seeking, into such a one that I must (I hope you see with me the necessity) be within this week more, or within these six weeks less, than Secretary at War.
I forgot to tell you that Lincoln advises the Duke of Newcastle to agree with me, and even prefers me to the others, or to any measure but that of his uncle’s retiring quite, which he thinks best. The Attorney and Stone are of the same mind. I am sorry to tell you that it is certain the latter has lost his credit at Kew for being my friend. You know where that must point; to the Duke, who has not been once mentioned in the negotiation. I think he must have been Pitt’s reason for discarding me, and yet that does not quite solve it.
Extract of a Letter from Ditto to Ditto, Sept. 25, 1755.
... If you have not yet received my letter by last Tuesday’s post, it is not now worth reading. The matter is settled, and I am to be Secretary of State in the room of Sir Thomas Robinson, and in order to have the conduct of the House of Commons.