The truth, I believe, of this plot and these intrigues, was this. The King, worn out by Grafton’s negligence, and impracticability, had wished to get rid of him. It was known afterwards, that Bradshaw was secretly the tool of the King and Lord Bute, and had probably engaged Rigby to facilitate his Majesty’s plan of suffering the Duke to resign,--which, however, he was so unjust as to resent for a long time after. Rigby, Lord Gower, and Lord Weymouth, all feared that the Duke’s irrational conduct would involve them in his fall, and Lord Gower particularly hoped, by betraying him, to stand nearer to the chief post. Thus they dissuaded his resignation so faintly as rather to encourage it. The rich reversion obtained by Bradshaw, by or for his treachery, confirmed his share in the transaction. The Duke and Duchess of Bedford were far from being counsel to the resignation; in truth it was entirely concealed from them. That the Duke should not communicate it to them, was most extraordinary. That Lord Gower did not, confirmed his share in the plot. Of all the set, Rigby’s part was the most dark. His concealing the Duke of Grafton’s intention from the Duke of Bedford, was unjustifiable: yet he could not trust the Duchess with it, as her ambition was infinitely gratified by having her niece, the Duchess of Grafton, wife to the Prime Minister; and as her attachment to Rigby was cooled, she would not have bent to his secret views. Thus they did not hear a syllable of Grafton’s purpose till the very last day, and then Bedford vehemently urged him not to resign: but it was too late. Yet, if Grafton had opened half an eye, he soon closed it, continuing his intimacy with Lord Gower and Rigby, and his confidence even to Bradshaw.[46] Had not the Duke himself dropped his suspicions to Conway, and had they not been confirmed by the immaculate honesty of Stonhewer, I should almost doubt the fact, though treachery was so notoriously the characteristic of the Bedford faction. The secret, though in so many hands, was not less well kept from the public, than it had been from the Duke and Duchess of Bedford; for though Grafton resigned on the evening of the 27th, it was not known till very late on the 30th, when Lord North was declared the successor.