GEORGE III Autograph letter signed with initials ('G.R.') to an unknown recipient ('My Lord'), agreeing to send for Lord Gower on his advice '...and refer to him the thinking of such an Administration as may be Sufficient to take on them the Conduct of Public Affairs...', and if he can not form a plan he shall attempt to find support from those '...willing at this Crisis to stand by the Crown against a desperate Faction in whose hands I will never throw myself...', with amendments and deletions, one page on a bifolium, 'I-Portal' watermark, light dust-staining, creased at fold, 4to (240 x 190mm.), Queens House, 7 March 1783 Footnotes: 'A DESPERATE FACTION IN WHOSE HANDS I WILL NEVER THROW MYSELF': GEORGE III SEEKS SUPPORT IN THE MIDST OF A POLITICAL CRISIS DURING THE FINAL MONTHS OF THE AMERICAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. Peace negotiations with the Americans had begun in Paris in April 1782 and in September 1783 the Treaty of Paris officially ended the war of American Independence and recognised the thirteen colonies as the United States. Our letter was thus written in a time of political turmoil both at home and in the colonies and demonstrates the King's personal involvement in the politics of the day. George III here agrees to send for Lord Gower (presumably Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford), in order to find support for an administration against '...a desperate Faction...', that is the Whig party under his nemesis Charles James Fox, after the Commons had forced the Earl of Shelburne, George III's appointee, from office. These attempts to garner support from Gower, who had resigned the cabinet in 1779 over North's handling of the American war, evidently failed, as he refused this and subsequent offers from the King to form a ministry. The King's confidence in his ability to find support elsewhere was also misplaced and, on 2 April, a month after our letter, Shelburne's government was replaced by the Fox-North Coalition with Portland as prime minister. This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: * * VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing