liberties of his subjects, and the suppression of the rights of the Colonies. In order to attain these ends he had devoted himself to the formation of a Court party in Parliament, and to the search for a Minister ready to let the King be the President of his own Council, but with the ability necessary to push the royal mandates through the two Houses.
The formation of a Court party had proved the easier task of the two. The "King's Friends" soon began to be heard of as a real power which had to be reckoned with. Their leader was Jenkinson. They were chiefly recruited in the House of Commons from the venal purchasers of boroughs, who found in royal favours and distinctions a shield to their crimes in India and their frauds in England, and among the Peers, by nobles such as Lord Talbot, the worthy successors of the Favourites of the Stuart period. It was in their ranks that in 1766 the fears of the more timid and the hopes of the less liberal members of the Whig connection had found encouragement, and it was they, who by sowing dissension broadcast, and by supporting Charles Townshend and the Bedfords against Shelburne and Grafton, had made the King master of the situation, and now hoped that constitutional government was about to become an empty and useless figment. Their most recent exploit had been to force the proceedings against Wilkes on a hesitating Ministry.[1] Hitherto, however, the ideal minister had not been discovered. Bute had been tried and found wanting. Only the odium of his unpopularity remained. Shelburne, Gower, and Egremont had once been thought of,[2] but Shelburne had disappointed the royal expectations, Egremont was dead, and Gower seemed unwilling to aim at the highest offices. Grenville was too retentive of Parliamentary power; Chatham too independent, and Grafton too indolent, if not too liberal.
The King, however, had not to wait much longer. In the resignation of Shelburne he found his opportunity.
- ↑ Autobiography of Grafton, 198.
- ↑ See supra, pp. 142, 143.
