ons. His answer was, that you might depend upon it
that whatever determination was made on the subject would be
most seriously weighed, and taken on the best grounds. He then
told me that a Cabinet should be held to-day, to take the
business into consideration.

To-day I dined with him, and saw both him and Townshend after
dinner. They both stated in the strongest manner the
inconvenience of so decisive a measure whilst a subject was in
agitation, and must be decided in a very few days, on which the
whole line and plan of your Government will have to depend. For
these reasons, they said it had been judged most proper to
postpone the Cabinet till something arrived from Paris. I ended
my conversation with Lord Shelburne by saying, that in the event
of war, I did not see how, after this delay, it would be
possible to resist; and that in that light it was my duty to
discharge my commission from you, and to state my own sentiments
as far as they could have any weight, that a few days might do
more mischief in Ireland than many years would be able to
repair. _Liberari animans meam._ To this he replied, that I had
done my part fairly, and that _he would be answerable for the
event_.

After all this detail, you will possibly wish to know my
sentiments upon the subject. From the whole of Lord Shelburne's
manner, I think that he is inclined to deal very fairly by you,
for his own sake. I have no doubt, from the style of his
conversation, that he is determined, in the present situation of
things, to stand the ground against concessions, and this both
from his own opinions and those of the King. But he certainly
either does not see, or affects not to see, the situation of
Ireland in that very alarming light in which it must be viewed
by every man acquainted with it.

As to the measure of the dissolution, I think you will agree
with him, that if we were sure of the favourable event, the
delay would not prove near so prejudicial on the one hand, as it
would be advantageous on the other. And from the language he
holds, I am persuaded, and Jemmy agrees with me in opinion, that
he is convinced that they will have their peace. On the other
hand, I cannot but say, that if the war continues, we shall be
in an awkward situation. The whole depends on the greater or
less probability o