36 Memoirs of Lord Mehille, 
provincial accent, and a not unfrequent 
introduction of Scotticisms,* yet he ar¬ 
gued ably and forcibly; and being a 
fluent speaker, ever ready to defend and 
support any proportion, or act of his 
party, such a member could not fail to 
be highly estimated by a piinister, vho 
found no small difficulty to carry his 
measures. 
Mr.Dundas, sensible of his importance 
to government, was desirous of serving 
his country jn some other situations, be¬ 
sides those he held; and, towards the 
conclusion of the American war, he was 
in treaty for the Treasureship of the 
Navy. The minister was perfectly wil¬ 
ling to grant this, but, knowing well the 
value of good places, at a period when 
he particularly required to have every 
means of patronage, he made it a con¬ 
dition that Mr. Dundas should relinquish 
his office of Keeper of the Signet, to 
which the latter Would by no means 
agree. lie easily foresaw the speedy 
downtall of the administration; and was 
himself too far North, to give up a si-^ 
necure of ^’2000 a year for life,t for a 
place however respectable or lucrative, 
ot which he might be deprived in a 
month. The prudence of his determi¬ 
nation soon appeared. After various de¬ 
feats in Parliament, the American war 
and Lord North’s administration at once 
terminated, and the Rockingliam paity 
came into office the Sfth of March, 1782. 
Unfortunately for the nation this mi¬ 
nistry was'but of three months’ duration; 
Xhe untimely and lamented death of the 
virtuous Marquis, its head, occasioning 
another almost total change on the 1st 
of July the same year, vyheii the Earl of 
* In one of his speeches, Mr. Dundas 
proposed to reduce the Americans by starva¬ 
tion, a word then new in the English voca¬ 
bulary, which the wits of the day alleged 
he had imported from his native country; 
but both the rcord and the thing itself, have 
by him and his friends been sufficiently na¬ 
turalized in England. 
E It w’as not merely the emoluments, bujt 
also the patronage of this office, which made 
it desirable, [t gave the absolute nomina¬ 
tion of the Sheriff Clerks for the thirty- 
three counties of Scotland ; each worth 
from two to six hundred a year, and which 
Sheriff Clerks are the returning officers in 
elections. The pecuniary- advantage ari¬ 
sing from the sale of such places as they fell 
was great; but, to a statesman desirous of 
rule in Scotland, the patronage resulting 
from such appoiniments was pf still more 
soasequencco ’ ' 
[Aug. 1, 
Slielhurn, afterwards Marquis of Lans-* 
down, succeeded as Tirst Lord of the 
Treasury, and Jlr. Pitt became Chan¬ 
cellor of the Exchequer, Although these 
and other members of this motlev group, 
had been strongly inimical to the acts of 
the North Ministry, Mr. Dundas found 
no difficulty in accepting a place under 
them, and become as resolute and strenu¬ 
ous in their support, as he had formerly 
been in favour of Lord North.* He was 
sworn into the Privy Council, and ap¬ 
pointed Treasurer of the Navy, retaining 
at the same time his Scotch offices of 
Lord Advocateand Keeper of the Signet. 
Ihe new ministry set seriously to the 
work of making a general peace. Pro¬ 
visional articles with the thirteen United 
States of America were signed the SOrh of 
Nov. as Were preliminaries wdth France 
and Spain the 20th of January following. 
J here is, however, no duty in which an 
administration is so unlikely to give sa- 
tisraction as peace-making, especially 
after an unfortunate war. During the 
continuance of the war, the people are 
buoyed up by expectation, and the con¬ 
ductors of public affairs find means in 
the midst of reverses to gloss over the 
evils, and to persuade the multitude that 
they are only temporary and will be soon 
repaired; but when tliey are obliged to 
make peace, all this delusion is dispelled; 
the people see that the blood and trea¬ 
sure of the nation has been wantonly 
expended, and that the terms which can 
be obtained from a successful enemy, 
are a bad recompense for this expendi-» 
ture. In the present case the immense 
load of debt incurred by the war, and 
on which the people had now the oppor¬ 
tunity of calmly reflecting, filled them 
with dismay, especially when they found 
the articles of peace to be no means what 
they expected, and the obloquy fell not 
on those who conducted the war, but on 
them, who were obliged to make the best 
terms they could; and Lord North, the 
prime agent of the crown in all the 
Warlike measures, was the man to attack 
his successors, for what it was hardly in 
their power to avoid. He and his great 
political adversary Mr. Fox, forgetting 
all their animosity, joined their interests 
to destroy the existing administration; 
by their Joint influence they w'ere suc- 
* This accommodating versatility ob¬ 
tained for him the nick-naine of ^ Who 
taunts me?” deiived from a convenient cus¬ 
tom formerly alleged to be in usage at 
Edinburgh. 
