on his Majesty's accession to the throne of these realms, enlisted under the banners of the Earl of Bute; who impudently call themselves the King's Friends, but who are in reality nobody's friends but their own; who have acted without principle with every Administration, sometimes supporting them and sometimes betraying them, according as it served their views of interest; who have directed their attention more to intrigues, and their own emoluments, than the good of the public. This is that secret influence; and if that noble lord, or his adherents, want to be further informed, I refer them to an excellent pamphlet just published, called 'Thoughts on the Causes of the present Discontents.'"[1]
Chatham, however, was not inclined to take so favourable a view of the publication of Burke mentioned by Shelburne. He considered, nor did he stand alone, that it was "calculated for no one end but to deify Lord Rockingham and to insinuate that Mahomet," in other words Burke himself, "was his prophet."[2] At the same time the timidity of the Whig Jupiter was making itself more felt every day. When Chatham proposed an address praying for a dissolution of Parliament, so weak was the support he received from Rockingham's followers that the motion was rejected by sixty to twenty. Their conduct on this occasion was the more marked, as during the debate Shelburne closely followed the line of argument used by Sir George Savile in the House of Commons, showing that the fact of Luttrell sitting and voting for Middlesex, ipso facto invalidated the proceedings of Parliament. Lord Egmont contrasting this language with that of Chatham, said that the two opposition statesmen had used inconsistent expressions, for Chatham had dwelt on the disorders in America as rendering a dissolution necessary; Shelburne he said had "blabbed" what Chatham had not dared to "confess." This gave Shelburne the opportunity, while expressing his general concurrence with Chatham, of once more condemning the ministerial policy in America in emphatic terms.[3]
