He speaks of a "principle of gratitude" which actuated him on this occasion.

Lord North had given him his seat, and if a man's conscience allows him to think rather of his patron than of his country, there is nothing to be said, except that his code of political ethics is low.

We may admit that his vote was pledged; but there is also no doubt that any gratitude that there was in the matter was stimulated by a lively sense of favours to come.
The Portland ministry had not been long in office when he wrote in the following terms to his friend Deyverdun: "You have not forgotten that I went into Parliament without patriotism and without ambition, and that all my views tended to the convenient and respectable place of a lord of trade.

This situation I at length obtained.

I possessed it for three years, from 1779 to 1782, and the net produce, which amounted to 750_l._ sterling, augmented my income to my wants and desires.