upon your continuance; and I do think the King, the public, and your friends, have a claim upon you to remain. Therefore, I would entreat your Lordship to submit to this expedient, as the only method left, and permit us to wait patiently for that happy day which will restore your Lordship to government and your friends. I am, my dear Lord, with the truest attachment and the warmest zeal, Your Lordship's most obedient,

THE gout not fixing, Lord Chatham is so extremely ill and weak, that he is under an absolute necessity of begging your Grace to permit him, under this most unfortunate circumstance, to acknowledge by my hand all your Grace's goodness and friendship; and in this situation being equal but to a very few words, he desires only to say, with regard to the privy seal, that as he can have nothing so much at heart as the King's pleasure and what is judged to be most for his Majesty's service, he is all obedience with respect to the commission. The Duke of Grafton is persuaded, he trusts, how much his Grace's wishes ever weigh with him.

THE COUNTESS OF CHATHAM TO LORD CAMDEN.

[From a draught in her own handwriting.]

MY LORD,

Hayes, January 23, 1768.

THE state of extreme weakness and illness in which my Lord finds himself from the gout not being fixed, obliges him to beg leave of your Lordship, to acknowledge by my hand the honour of your most obliging letter; and being from his present situation unable to say more than a few words, desires, with respect to the privy seal, to express to your Lordship, as he has done to the Duke of Grafton, that having nothing so much at heart as the King's most gracious pleasure and what is judged to be most for his Majesty's service, he is all obedience with respect to a commission.

Your Lordship, he is convinced, will not doubt of the manner in which he feels all the goodness and friendship with which you honour him, and will allow him to hope that you will excuse, from your knowledge of the state of his health, the shortness of this present answer, and assure yourself of his affectionate regard.

I have the honour to be, with the greatest respect, my Lord, your Lordship's

Most obedient humble servant,

H. CHATHAM.

THE KING TO THE EARL OF CHATHAM.

Queen's House, January 23, 1768.

LORD CHATHAM,

THE Duke of Grafton communicated to me yesterday the letter he proposed sending to you on the unreasonable anxiety of a lord concerned in the Warmly charter. I think it proper on this occasion briefly to mention this affair. I have, in conjunction with the Chancellor and Duke of Grafton, staved off the having you pressed on this subject as long as possible, knowing that you are apprized that nothing less than ruin will befal the persons engaged in this copper-work unless almost immediately possessed of the charters, and thinking that would stimulate you to give them as speedy a hearing as your health would permit ; but as there is no means of keeping them any longer at rest, I wish you would take such steps as have been not unusual, to conclude this unpleasant business.

I am thoroughly convinced of the utility you are of to my service; for though confined to your house, your name has been sufficient to enable my administration to proceed. I therefore, in the most earnest manner, call on you to continue in your employment. Indeed, my conduct towards you since your entering into my service gives me a double right to expect this of you, as well as what you owe your country and those who entered into my service in conjunction with you, and in particular the two above mentioned ministers.

GEORGE R.

THE EARL OF CHATHAM TO THE KING.

[From a draught in Lady Chatham's handwriting.]

Hayes, January 23, 1768,

LORD CHATHAM begs to lay himself with all duty and submission at the King's feet, and humbly to entreat his Majesty, in his great benignity and goodness, to pardon his servant presuming to employ another's hand to express to his Majesty his obedience and submission to his Majesty's most gracious commands, extreme weakness and illness rendering it totally impossible for him to use his pen.

Understanding last night, by a letter from the Duke of Grafton, your Majesty's most gracious pleasure with regard to a disabled and, as he fears, useless servant, he acquainted his Grace with his humble acquiescence to the expedient proposed, under your Majesty's most gracious approbation. He has only to implore that your Majesty, in your great compassion, will deign to receive his humblest assurances of unfeigned zeal for your Majesty's service. (1)

(1) The following notice appeared in the London Gazette: "Whitehall, February 2, 1768. The King has been pleased to issue his commission under the great seal, authorising and empowering Richard Sutton, William Blair, and William Fraser, esquires, or any two of them, to execute the office of keeper of his Majesty's privy seal for and during the space and term of six weeks, determinable, nevertheless, at his Majesty's pleasure;

LORD CAMDEN TO THE EARL OF CHATHAM.

Lincoln's Inn Fields, February 18, 1768.

MY DEAR LORD,

I was last night at Lord Northington's with the Earl of Shelburne (the Duke of Grafton being too ill to be present), and we are all of opinion, that if the two precedents of the Bishop of Bristol and the Duke of Bedford are not sufficient to satisfy your Lordship that you can receive the seal again without requalifying, no recital whatsoever can vary the cases, the doubt being whether a commission (let the form be what it will) does not determine the office; for if the present commission has vacated your Lordship's, it is clear that those other offices are equally vacated by the other commissions and, indeed, if the matter was to be looked into with legal nicety, this would possibly be the consequence; at least I dare not give a clear opinion to the contrary.

Nor do we conceive that, if the present commission was out of the case, there could be a deputation pro hac vice to hear your caveats, your Lordship continuing privy seal, unless the precedents above mentioned have determined the question;

and also to grant, during his Majesty's pleasure, to the right honourable William, Earl of Chatham, the said office of keeper of his Majesty's privy seal, from and after the term of six weeks, or other sooner determination of the said commission."