Neither in truth expected anything from such a meeting, for the pleas and the powers had both been exhausted. Newcastle realised this, and ends his remarkable record of the conversation with a despairing glance at his own prospects. What was he to do? There were as usual three courses to pursue. The first, which he should infinitely prefer, would be his own retirement. This is a common cant of ministers, and with Newcastle it was more than usually insincere. Fox, he said, might succeed him at the Treasury, and Pitt for a session at any rate would have to acquiesce. The second would be for Newcastle, remaining First Minister, to throw himself into the arms of the Pitt group, with Pitt as Secretary of State and Legge at the Exchequer. But the King would never hear of this. Newcastle puts it significantly thus: 'Whether this is in any shape practicable, I leave to your Lordship and all who know the King to determine.' The third course was the one adopted, 'to accept Mr. Fox's proposal, made by my Lord Granville,' the first allusion that we have to this particular negotiation. Fox was to be the real, efficient, and trusted leader of the House of Commons. But there must be conditions. Cumberland, the patron of Fox, must give his support, so must Devonshire and Hartington. There must be a new Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Fox must act cordially with the person whom the King might appoint to that office. Murray, and indeed every one, must put their shoulders to the wheel and exert themselves on behalf of the Administration. Lastly, it might be necessary to take in the venal but inevitable Bubb. Hardwicke answered Newcastle's report without a moment's delay, in a shrewd letter.[284] His first remark was that Pitt had taken much higher ground with the Duke than with him, perhaps because the bad news from the Ohio had made the Paymaster deem himself more valuable and necessary. He doubted whether the praises of Legge were sincere; they were probably intended to indicate a closer connection between them than really existed. But Hardwicke went straight to the two main points. The first was the general principle that the King must have a recognised Minister, what he called oddly enough 'a Minister with the King' in the House of Commons. The other question was whether Pitt should be Secretary of State. As to the first, if the Minister is to be subordinate, that is, not the Premier, he sees no great harm in it. 'For I have long been convinced,' continues the sagacious man, 'that whoever your Grace shall make use of as your first man and man of confidence in the House of Commons, you will find it necessary, if he be a man of reputation and ability accompanied with the ambition naturally incident to such a character, I say under those circumstances, your Grace will find it necessary to invest him with more power than, from the beginning, you thought fit to impart either to Mr. Legge or Sir Thomas Robinson.'