It is an ill wind that blows nobody any good, and the decline in public favour of Chatham, the weakness of the "Mosaic Ministry" and the failure of all attempts to strengthen it,[63] was the King's opportunity. "I know the Earl of Chatham will zealously give his aid towards destroying all party distinctions, and restoring that subordination to government which alone can preserve that inestimable blessing, Liberty, from degenerating into licentiousness," so George III wrote to the new Prime Minister. It is clear that the King was pursuing his plan to be himself the real ruler of the country, and he had certainly succeeded already to a considerable degree. By his machinations, he had taken the government out of the hands of the great Whig family, and had divided that party into several hostile sections. This made more practicable his desire to extinguish party, but he was confronted with the difficulty that, even in an age that was not distinguished for public honesty, public men did not transfer their allegiance from one leader to another as readily as the sovereign desired. [63] "Lord Chatham found it necessary to gain new friends, and enfeeble his opponents; but his endeavours failed. The harsh manner in which he dismissed Lord Edgcumbe from the appointment of Treasurer of the Household, with a view to gratify the Duke of Newcastle by bestowing it on Sir John Shelley, the Duke's near relation, disgusted many respectable members of Administration. The Duke of Portland, the Earls of Bessborough and Scarborough, and Lord Monson, withdrew their support; and Sir Charles Saunders, Sir William Meredith and Admiral Keppel, resigned their places at the Board of Admiralty."--Adolphus: _History of England, November, 1766_. Overtures were made to the "Bloomsbury Gang," but without any real effectual result, for, though one or two of the minor members joined the Government, the Duke of Bedford held aloof.