ed not say what a
situation they stand in; and what ours will be--how much better
than if nothing had been said. On the other hand, if they do
authorize me to bring forward, or bring forward themselves, on
that day, a satisfactory Bill, we shall derive much more
advantage to Government from having given an early notice of it,
and much more personal credit from its coming through my mouth
from you, than if it had been done only by the Minister, and
kept back till the 21st.

I have had no communication with Lord Shelburne, nor have I
either seen or heard from him since I spoke in the House of
Commons. I mean, however, to-morrow to write to him on the
strength of having received fresh despatches from you, and to
press him in the strongest manner, that _the Bill to be_
proposed on the 21st, may be such as will satisfy your wishes by
satisfying the people of Ireland. What the new reason for delay
will be, God knows. In the meantime is it not inconceivable that
a man will hazard so much, in every sense of the word, so much
credit as a Minister, so much in point of character, and so much
in point of weight and support to his administration, without
its being possible for one to discover any one object under
Heaven which he is to gain by the delay? Possibly such a letter
as I wish from you may succeed in bringing him to his senses; if
not, I am sure the sooner your hands are washed of it the
better; for if the rest of your administration in Ireland is to
go on in the same manner, and you are to be left for months
together without knowing whether Government here will expressly
support or expressly contradict you, and all this only that they
may gain time, without having anything further to gain, such a
situation is neither suited for such tempers as we have, nor for
such characters as I hope we shall ever preserve together.

The real grievance seems to be, what did hang as a dead weight
upon the last administration till it pulled it down, and what
must hang as the same dead weight upon this--I mean a Cabinet of
eleven. If these are disunited, there are not wanting, even
among themselves, men to publish it to the world; and how is it
possible that they should be otherwise, except by the means of
that delightful expedient which I stated to you once before, and
which was again al