The next day the Duke and Mr. Conway came to me in the country to ask my opinion on the present crisis. I said, I believed it was the signal of a change, but as it was yet uncertain whether the Chancellor had acted from self-interested fear, or by concert with the King, the wisest step for the Ministers would be to seize the opportunity, and on Wednesday, the next Court-day, (it being now Monday,) resign their places very civilly on want of the King’s confidence, and recommend to his Majesty to send for Mr. Pitt. This, if the King was not prepared with a Ministry, would greatly distress him; and whether Pitt, or Grenville, or the Bedfords were sent for, they would give harder terms to Lord Bute when at their mercy. That _their_ recommending Pitt might prevent the King’s sending for him; and then nothing would be so odious and unpopular as the Bedford faction united with Bute, while Pitt and the present Ministers should be out of place. That if Pitt did become Minister, he would be hampered by _their_ recommendation; it would hurt his popularity if he did not take them in, and must be an obstacle to his preferring the Bedfords. I added that this recommendation would be entirely consistent with Mr. Conway’s past declarations, which had always been in favour of Mr. Pitt, and would bind the Duke of Grafton more firmly to Conway. This advice was extremely tasted by Mr. Conway, not at all by the Duke, who had no partiality for Mr. Pitt. The next day the Duke wrote to argue the point with me, and said, Lord Rockingham was still for making Yorke Chancellor, for insisting on the dismission of Dyson, Eglinton, Augustus Hervey, and others, and then for offering the King to make Mr. Mackenzie Vice-treasurer of Ireland. This last (which had already been in effect rejected) the Duke allowed was a very silly plan, but thought Mr. Pitt had treated the Ministers with too much contempt to make it honourable for them to propose him; the Duke even supposed that their not leaving the King in distress would oblige him. Mr. Conway, he said, was determined to follow my advice. I, who had no opinion of his Majesty’s sensibility or gratitude, stuck to what I had said; and warned the Duke to take care that they were not turned out in the cause of Yorke, instead of their own. I advised his Grace to make use of the good news from America, where all was quiet, and to declare that having pacified America, they could now resign without reproach; but the Seals had glimmered in Yorke’s eyes, and I knew he would advise any meanness rather than lose the moment of being Chancellor.