(617) " Fox must again be treated with; for the session of Parliament approached, and it was become a general maxim, that the House of Commons had been so much accustomed to have a minister of its own, they would not any longer be governed by deputy.  Fox insisted on being made secretary of state, much against the King’s inclination, as well as the Duke of Newcastle’s:  for though his Majesty preferred Fox to Pitt, he liked Sir Thomas Robinson better than either of them; for Sir Thomas did -is he was directed, understood foreign affairs, and pretended to nothing further.  However, Fox carried his point.”  Waldegrave’s Memoirs, p. 51.-E.

279 Letter 151 To John Chute, Esq.(618) Arlington Street, Sept. 29, 1755.

I should not answer your letter so soon, as you write so often, if I had not something particular to tell you.  Mr. Fox is to be secretary of state.  The history of this event, in short, is this:  George Elector of Hanover, and Thomas King of England, have been exceedingly alarmed.  By some misapprehension, the Russian and Hessian treaties, the greatest blessings that were ever calculated for this country, have been totally, and almost universally disapproved.  Mr. Legge grew conscientious about them; the Speaker, constitutional; Mr. Pitt, patriot; Sir George Lee. scrupulous; Lord Egmont, uncertain; the Duke of Devonshire, something that he meant for some of these; and my uncle, I suppose, frugal—­ how you know.  Let a Parliament be ever so ready to vote for any thing, yet if every body in both Houses is against a thing, why the Parliament itself can’t carry a point against both Houses.  This made such a dilemma, that, after trying every body else, and being ready to fling up themselves, King Thomas and his Chancellor offered Mr. Fox the honour of defending and saving them.  He, who is all Christian charity, and forgiving every body but himself and those who dissuaded him, for not taking the seals before, consented to undertake the cause of the treaties, and is to have the management of the House Of Commons as long as he can keep it.  In the mean time, to give his new friends all the assistance he can, he is endeavouring to bring the Bedfords to court; and if any other person in the world hates King Thomas, why Mr. Fox is very willing to bring them to court too.  In the mean time, Mr. Pitt is scouring his old Hanoverian trumpet and Mr. Legge is to accompany him with his hurdy-gurdy.

Mr. Mann did not tell me a word of his intending you a visit.  The reason the Dacres have not been with you is, they have been at court; and as at present there are as many royal hands to kiss as a Japanese idol has, it takes some time to slobber through the whole ceremony.