he Cabinet was not pledged to
anything in favour of the Romanists. "No," was the wary reply, "that
will be a matter for future consideration." Thereupon he set forth his
scruples respecting the Coronation Oath. Dundas sought to allay them by
observing that the Oath referred, not to his executive actions, but only
to his assent to an act of the Legislature, a matter even then taken for
granted. The remark, far from soothing the King, elicited the shrewd
retort, "None of your Scotch metaphysics, Mr. Dundas! None of your
Scotch metaphysics!"

The action of Loughborough, then, can only have put an edge on the
King's resolve; and all speculation as to the exact nature of his
"intrigues" at Weymouth or at Windsor is futile. In truth a collision
between the King and Pitt on this topic was inevitable. The marvel is
that there had been no serious friction during the past eighteen years.
Probably the knowledge that a Fox Cabinet, dominated by the Prince of
Wales, was the only alternative to Pitt had exerted a chastening
influence on the once headstrong monarch; but now even that spectre
faded away before the more potent wraith of mangled Protestantism. The
King was a sincerely religious man in his own narrow way; and arguments
about the Coronation Oath were as useless with him as discussions on
Modernism are with Pius X.

Pitt therefore kept his plans secret. But we must here digress to notice
an assertion to the contrary. Malmesbury avers that Loughborough, while
at Weymouth in the autumn of 1800, informed his cousin, Auckland, and
the Archbishop of Canterbury of the danger to the Established Church;
that the latter wrote to the King, who thereupon upbraided Pitt. Now, it
is highly probable that Auckland knew nothing of the matter until the
end of January 1801,[575] and the secret almost certainly did not come
to light until then, when the Archbishop, Auckland's brother-in-law, was
a prey to nervous anxieties resulting from recent and agitating news.
Further, no such letter from the King to Pitt is extant either at the
Public Record Office, Orwell Park, or Chevening; and if the proposals
were known to George why did he fume at Pitt and Castlereagh on 28th
January for springing the mine upon him? Finally, if the King, while at
Weymouth, blamed Pitt for bringing the matter forward, why did
Malmesbury censure him for keeping it secret? It is well to probe these
absurdities, for they reveal the untrustworthiness of the Earl on this