From an

opposition, who thought themselves sure of him, were more angry with him than even Lord Hertford was, so that, finding all sides had abused him, he thinks the best way is to be out of humour with Government, but, in the meantime, he does not object to the being one of the Lords Justices, and of holding the employment of Commissioner of the Revenue. How surprised such people would be if they were treated with that degree of severity which their conduct naturally calls for, but, indeed, the levity of government sets everything afloat in that kingdom.' On the whole, although Lecky passes by Hertford's administration in Ireland unnoticed, it seems to have been generally recognised as 'respectable,' if not brilliant, and to have secured a period of tranquillity under very difficult circumstances. In September 1766, he was recalled to England, and in the same month was made Master of the Horse. Two months later, he was made Lord Chamberlain of the Household. 'Lord Hertford is already remarkably in favour with the king,' wrote Walpole, in the following January.

In the same month the king and Hertford concocted some indefinite plan to put Conway, whom, as we have seen, Walpole had persuaded, at the end of 1766, to retain his office, at the head of a reformed administration. Such a state of affairs, as even Walpole realised, must have been impossible. Conway had neither the ability to formulate a policy nor the decision to carry it out. Lord Hertford thought his brother not averse to the idea, but, says Walpole, he never had a settled ambition of being first nor... could he determine to yield to the temptation.' 2

Throughout the year 1767, Conway was holding a practically impossible position. He attempted to uphold the principles of the Rockingham ministry in the March of that year, and proposed lenient measures towards

1 Hist. of Ireland in the Eighteenth Century.

2 Memoirs of George III., ii. 295.

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America, but, being unsupported, he was defenceless against the wit and oratory of Charles Townshend, who had profited to the full from Chatham's forced retirement from office earlier in the month.1 Conway was forced to follow where Townshend led. At last, on the 30th of May, he summoned up courage to inform the king he wished to retire from office for he was tired of moderating. Walpole had done his utmost to prevent this, for he knew it meant the success of Grenville, but wrote, on the 23rd of May, to the Duke of Grafton, who had become chief minister after Chatham's retirement, things are come to such a crisis that my endeavours to prevent Mr. Conway's resignation are almost exhausted.' When he found that he could not for once prevail with Conway, who had been the instrument of his spite against Grenville for so long, he wrote to Sir Horace Mann, 'Mr. Conway, I think, will retire, not from disgust or into opposition, but from delicacy towards his old friends. . . .2 To me it will have nothing unpalatable.' A month later he wrote, 'Mr. Conway does quit. It is unlucky; bad for the public, disadvantageous for himself, distressing to the king; but he had promised his late friends. I call them late for they have by no means shown themselves so this winter nor are half grateful enough for such a sacrifice.3 He might be minister; he retires with nothing.'

But it was not to be. The king persuaded him to delay his resignation, and, meanwhile, invited Lord Rockingham to draw up a plan for administration. Rockingham attempted to form a union with the Bedford party, but the latter insisted that agreement as to the American policy was essential, and as this could not be made possible, and as Rockingham insisted that Conway should be leader of the

1 Chatham was seriously attacked by gout and disabled.

* The Rockingham party, against whom, since they had ' espoused Mr. Grenville,' Walpole had done his best to embitter Mr. Conway. 3 At the eleventh hour!

Commons the project was abandoned. Chatham was still in retirement, through a prolonged illness, but the king persuaded the Duke of Grafton to retain office, and he and Conway jointly undertook the administration. Grafton was as careless as Conway was vacillating, and the king ruled the ministry. However, in December, the Duke of Bedford, weary of opposition, sent to lay himself and his friends at the Duke of Grafton's feet, begging as alms that they might have some of the first and best places under the Government.' The Government accepted his terms, and this put an end to Conway's long-lasting indecision. At the end of January he resigned the Seals, but remained Cabinet Counsellor and acting minister in the House of Commons. He himself was desirous of quitting in December, but it was thought right that as the Duke of Bedford had objected to him in the summer, they should be forced to swallow this submission of coming in under him.'1

Conway at once turned to military life, for he was a better soldier than he was statesman. Already, in September 1767, he had been appointed Lieutenant-General of Ordnance, and in February 1768 he received the command of the fourth regiment of dragoons. Conway has the regiment en attendant mieux,' wrote George Selwyn to Lord Carlisle. During the riots consequent on the imprisonment of Wilkes on his return to England early in 1769, Conway took active steps to secure the safety of the king's palace. Thus Junius' comments, 'The security of the royal residence from insult was sufficiently provided for in Mr. Conway's firmness.' Yet while 'Junius' could praise his 'firmness' in matters military, even Walpole had no patience with his indecisive attitude in the first Cabinet meeting to decide the treatment of Wilkes. The Chancellor,' he writes, was all moderation; Conway as usual fluctuated between both opinions.' The next year, 1 Letters, vii. 154.

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