garded Conway's ‘public honour to his party,’ and even his private honour to his friend, and urged him to resign. The Duke of Portland and four other members of the late government threw up their places. Unfortunately for his character, Conway, though ‘very uneasy, perplexed himself with his refinements’ and stayed in (ib. 19–25). All intercourse between him and Chatham now ceased (Memoirs of George III, ii. 385; Chatham Correspondence, iii. 126–30). A vague project is said to have been concocted by the king and Lord Hertford in January 1767 for placing Conway at the head of a reformed administration. ‘True to the principles he had upheld under Rockingham,’ Conway was in favour of lenient measures towards the American colonies, and on 13 March stood alone in resisting the scheme of the government for suspending the legislative powers of the New York assembly (Life of Shelburne, ii. 55), but he was powerless to check Townshend's headlong policy, and, as he still held office, was forced to follow the administration. He also objected to Chatham's oppression of the East India Company, holding that they had a right to their conquests. At last on 30 May he signified to the king his wish to retire from office, ‘without any view of entering into faction’ (Grenville Papers, iv. 26; Chatham Correspondence, iii. 260). The king, however, persuaded him at least to delay his resignation. In the preceding year Conway, in compliance with a request from David Hume, procured a pension of 100l. a year for Rousseau, who was then settled at Wooton in Derbyshire, and when Burke ceased to be his secretary he gave the place to Hume. In July negotiations were entered into between Rockingham and Bedford for a union, but were broken off because the marquis insisted on the condition that Conway should be the leader of the commons, and to this Bedford and Rigby refused to agree. Rockingham's hopes were disappointed, and in January 1768 the Bedford party joined the government. This put an end to Conway's long-continued state of indecision, and he resigned office on 20 Jan.
Conway now returned to military life, which was far more to his taste than political office. He had been appointed lieutenant-general of ordnance on 8 Sept. 1767, and as he drew the income of that office as well as full colonel's pay, he had refused the salary of secretary of state from the date of his appointment, because he was afraid that the Rockingham party might accuse him of remaining in the administration from interested motives. In February 1768 he received the command of the 4th regiment of dragoons, and took active steps to secure the preservation of peace and the safety of the royal palace during the Wilkes riots (Junius, Letter xi.). When for political reasons Lord Granby resigned the post of master of the ordnance in 1770, the king offered it to Conway. As, however, he too felt dissatisfied with the government, he refused it, adding that ‘he would take none of Lord Granby's spoils’ (Chatham Correspondence, iii. 399). In October 1770, on Granby's death, he received the command of the royal regiment of horse guards. He took great interest in his work at the ordnance, and effected large economic reforms. To his annoyance he found that George Townshend, who retired from the lord-lieutenancy of Ireland in 1772, was to be appointed master-general, and he refused to serve under him. In the debate on the Royal Marriage Act in March of this year, he had annoyed the king by declaring that though he approved the principle of the bill he believed that the crown claimed too much; he attacked the bill in committee, and offended Lord North, who was then prime minister, by his remarks. The king remonstrated with Lord Hertford on his brother's course, and as Conway considered that his brother tried to dictate to him on the matter he became more determined. Nevertheless he could ill spare the pay he received as lieutenant-general of ordnance, and Walpole interfered on his behalf. The king was mollified by being told that Conway would not visit the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, and, on his resignation of his post, appointed him governor and captain of the isle of Jersey on 21 Oct., an appointment worth about 1,200l. a year (Walpole, Last Memoirs, i. 44, 158; Beatson, Political Register). During the summer of 1774 Conway, who had been promoted general 26 May 1772, made a tour on the continent for the purpose of witnessing the Prussian and Austrian annual reviews. He was accompanied, though they frequently parted company, by Sir Robert Murray Keith, minister at Dresden. At Brunswick he was kindly received by his old commander Ferdinand, he visited the divorced queen of Denmark, King George's sister, at Zell, was entertained at Potsdam by Marischal Keith, and had ‘a most flattering gracious audience’ from the king. He then visited the Austrian camp and the gold and silver mines of Chemnitz, and at the end of August came through Vienna to the Prussian camp at Schmelwitz near Breslau (Keith, Memoirs and Correspondence, ii. 21; Carlyle, Frederick the Great, x. 106). He reached Paris in October, and spent the winter there with his wife and his daughter, Mrs. Damer. During his absence from England, in October 1774, he received the command of the royal regiment of horse guards. At the general
