of the same office, that he might not be obliged officially to
acquiesce in one situation, under what he had officially remonstrated
against in another. At Paris, the Duke of Choiseul considered this
office arrangement as a compliment to him: here it was spoke of as an
attention to the delicacy of Lord Rochford. But whether the compliment
was to one or both, to this nation it was the same. By this transaction
the condition of our Court lay exposed in all its nakedness. Our office
correspondence has lost all pretence to authenticity; British policy is
brought into derision in those nations, that a while ago trembled at the
power of our arms, whilst they looked up with confidence to the equity,
firmness, and candour, which shone in all our negotiations. I represent
this matter exactly in the light in which it has been universally
received.

* * * * *

Such has been the aspect of our foreign politics under the influence of a
_double Cabinet_. With such an arrangement at Court, it is impossible it
should have been otherwise. Nor is it possible that this scheme should
have a better effect upon the government of our dependencies, the first,
the dearest, and most delicate objects of the interior policy of this
empire. The Colonies know that Administration is separated from the
Court, divided within itself, and detested by the nation. The double
Cabinet has, in both the parts of it, shown the most malignant
dispositions towards them, without being able to do them the smallest
mischief.

They are convinced, by sufficient experience, that no plan, either of
lenity or rigour, can be pursued with uniformity and perseverance.
Therefore they turn their eyes entirely from Great Britain, where they
have neither dependence on friendship nor apprehension from enmity. They
look to themselves, and their own arrangements. They grow every day into
alienation from this country; and whilst they are becoming disconnected
with our Government, we have not the consolation to find that they are
even friendly in their new independence. Nothing can equal the futility,
the weakness, the rashness, the timidity, the perpetual contradiction, in
the management of our affairs in that part of the world. A volume might
be written on this melancholy subject; but it were better to leave it
entirely to the reflections of the reader himself, than not to treat it
in the extent it deserves.

In what manner our domestic economy is affected by this