I should have thought a dissolution of Parliament necessary to have preceded, in order to procure any stability in the settlement of a new ministry. The reason offered against this measure was quite trifling, viz. the delay of public business; for the Parliament would have been dissolved, and a new one elected, in little more than the period of usual recess at this time of the year; which recess was not intended to have been shortened, if the late overthrow of the ministry had not taken place. Should the indecent interruption of every thing that does not promote their own continuance, still prevail in a majority of the House of Commons, the delay of public business will be well compensated by the facilities a new election will probably afford, and by the rapid progress of measures beneficial and necessary to the public that will take place hereafter, which, under the present jarring situation and equipoise of parties, cannot, in my poor opinion, ever be carried on with either certainty or dispatch. But I still dread the continuance of the present distractions. The politics of St. James's have had ill luck for common, and, by some fatal ascendancy, have generally backwards trod the very paths they most anxiously sought to shun. The faction has emissaries spread far and wide to pluck allegiance from men's hearts. It will demand, on the part of the King, an active, unremitting attention to replace himself in that state of pre-eminence and influence the constitution allows, and even requires. Let this never be out of mind. When his Majesty hunts the stag, let him reflect that he is himself the hunted stag, the royal hart held at bay by a fierce, unrelenting faction, who deny, or mean to explain away, his dearest, clearest prerogatives. A prince so virtuous, who never was even suspected to mean any foul play to the state, ought to command in every honest service, and he will command no other, those servants whom he is now obliged to sue to, and often is refused. The onward path, ingenuous openness of fair sincerity and prudent oeconomy in private life, lead to peace of mind, and to heaven's best gift, independence; they martial kings to greatness, to awe, and affectionate veneration. I know the delicate ground I tread; but I owe much to my sovereign, and, above all, TRUTH; and I will pay the debt, tho' the most ungrateful office, yet the surest pledge of real love and respect that I can give. What have I to fear? I have lived too long; I never wished to survive the glory of my country; and I cannot form a wish so mean as to survive its liberties. Whig as I am, if liberty must expire, I hold its Cuthanaria to be in a mild despotism. But in all the bills of mortality, of human grandeur, never sure was so strange a catastrophe recorded, as a king taken prisoner, and a great and glorious constitution squirted to death, by the sportings of a set of prodigal, undone, gambling, friblish, impudent Eton boys. _Jan. 1. 1784._ FINIS.