inst it;
but it was carried rapidly through all its stages with large majorities,
and Fox presented it at the bar of the lords on the 9th of December.

Fox had recommended his majesty to create several new Whig peers, in
order to ensure the success of his measure in the house of lords. The
king, however, declared, that he would not create any British peers on
the recommendation of the present cabinet, and therefore he was obliged
to commit his bill to that house as it now existed. It appears that he
had still hopes of the concurrence of the lords; and although it was, on
the first reading, reprobated by the Duke of Richmond, Lord Thurlow,
and Lord Temple, yet still a division was favourable to its progress. It
also passed on the second reading, which took place on the 15th; but on
the following day counsel was heard on behalf of the company, and on
the 17th it was moved that the bill be rejected. On this occasion Lord
Camden spoke with great vehemence against the bill; declaring, that if
it passed into a law, we should soon see the King of England and the
King of Bengal contending for superiority in the British parliament.
Ministers had been defeated by a majority of eight on the evening of the
second reading, when the opposition moved for an adjournment till the
next day, in order to give an opportunity of hearing counsel; but they
were now doomed to suffer a more signal defeat. The bill was rejected by
ninety-five against seventy-six.

There was a cause for this change of sentiment in the lords. On the 11th
of December Earl Temple had a conference with the king, in which, having
explained his ideas on the nature and tendency of the bill, his majesty
became a convert to the views of opposition. By his explanation the
royal indignation was greatly excited; the monarch considering himself
as having been deceived by his ministers. Accordingly, a card was
written, stating that "his majesty allowed Earl Temple to say, that
whoever voted for the bill was not only not his friend, but would be
considered by him as his enemy; and that, if these words were not strong
enough, Earl Temple might use still stronger language." The rumour
of this soon spread, and on the evening of the 15th a conversation
concerning it took place in the house of lords, in which Earl Temple
declared, that he was not ashamed to avow the advice which he had given
to his majesty, and would publish what he was empowered to communicate,
when he should be pr