Germain's announcement of the news was not, as usual, dated according to the hour and minute of writing shows that he was much moved. In his speech in opening parliament on 25 Nov. 1781 he spoke of the necessity of ‘most active exertions.’ During the early part of 1782 he was much distressed by the constant decrease of the majority. The separation of the colonies would, he was convinced, ‘annihalate (sic) the European position of the kingdom.’ On 11 March he commissioned Lord-chancellor Thurlow to treat with Rockingham for an administration ‘on a broad bottom;’ but though he was willing to concede the demands for peace and economy, the negotiation failed on the 18th, because he would not pledge himself to accept Rockingham's selection of ministers. He wished to put Rockingham at the head of an administration partly formed by himself (ib. pp. 451–9). On the 20th North persuaded him to acknowledge that his administration could not stand any longer, and Thurlow renewed the negotiation with Rockingham. But the king would not consent to a reform of the household, and sent for Shelburne on the 21st, after North's resignation had been announced. Shelburne was bound to Rockingham, and on the 22nd George sent for Lord Gower, who refused his offer. He was then advised by Shelburne to accept Rockingham, and was forced to again bow his head to the yoke (Lecky). Nevertheless, he refused to see Rockingham personally until after the administration was formed, and by employing Shelburne as an intermediary sowed the seeds of discord among his new ministers. He delivered the seals to Rockingham on 27 March 1782. When North's resignation was imminent, and during the crisis which followed, he again entertained the idea of retiring to Hanover. His humiliation was notorious, and the triumph of the whigs was caricatured in the ‘Captive Prince.’
The new administration included the Chatham section of the whigs under Shelburne as well as the Rockinghams, and the king, with the help of Thurlow, whom Rockingham had consented to retain as chancellor, set himself to weaken it by division. While he withheld his confidence from Rockingham, he gave it freely to Shelburne, and by bringing Dunning into the cabinet, without consulting his first minister, secured the Shelburne party an equal number of votes with the followers of Rockingham. George was annoyed at being forced by Rockingham to recommend the reform of the civil establishment, and would not speak to him on the subject, though he wrote his objections to Shelburne, telling him not to show his letter to any one except Thurlow (Life of Shelburne, iii. 157–9). Burke's efforts to reduce the expenditure of the crown were followed by some petty and apparently unworthy measures of economy in the king's household arrangements (Papendiek, i. 161–3). Rockingham died on 1 July 1782, and his death was followed by a disruption of the whigs, brought about, in part at least, by the king's management. This disruption made so great a change in the balance of power that Fox said that on Rockingham's death ‘the crown devolved on the king.’ Fox recommended the king to send for the Duke of Portland, and on finding that Shelburne was appointed to the treasury, gave up office with other members of the Rockingham party. On 5 Dec. the king, in his speech on opening parliament, announced that he had offered to declare the American colonies free and independent. ‘Did I,’ he afterwards asked, ‘lower my voice when I came to that part of my speech?’ (Walpole, Journals, ii. 577). George seems, like most other people, to have disliked Shelburne, and the minister thought that the king plotted against him. This was probably untrue, but George had by this time given people occasion to suspect him; ‘by familiarity of intercourse he obtained your confidence and availed himself of his knowledge to sow dissension’ (Nicholls, i. 342). He was certainly wholly on Shelburne's side when on 18 Feb. 1783 the combined parties led by Fox and North were in a majority in the commons (Court and Cabinets, i. 156). Shelburne's resignation on the 24th caused him much annoyance (ib. p. 303), for he could not endure the idea of falling into the hands of the coalition. The next day he pressed Pitt to take Shelburne's place, but he refused on the 27th. He made proposals in vain to Gower, and then tried to persuade North to leave the coalition, offering him the treasury if he would desert Fox, whom he regarded with vehement personal hatred. His distress of mind was great, and he again thought of retiring to Hanover. At length he yielded to Fox's demand, and sent for the Duke of Portland, but finding that Fox insisted on the dismissal of Thurlow, and that Portland treated him cavalierly, and refused to show him the list of proposed appointments to inferior offices, he broke off the negotiation (ib. p. 206). William Grenville, who was at this time admitted to his confidence, was impressed by his mental agitation; he spoke with ‘inconceivable quickness.’ On 23 March 1783 he again applied to Pitt. He was indignant at North's desertion; ‘after the manner I have been personally treated by both the Duke of Portland and Lord North,’ he wrote on the 24th, ‘it is impossible that I can ever admit
