ABSTRACT
Rockingham remained staunchly loyal to the Old Whigs, and to George II personally, and in 1756 turned down an offer from Frederick, Prince of Wales, then at odds with his father, to become his Master of the Horse. Rockingham did not intend that the Declaratory Act should actually be applied: he was in favour of a 'sleeping sovereignty' or 'salutary neglect', under which the colonies should largely be left to their own devices. The publication, in 1770, of Burke's pamphlet, Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontent, provided intellectual justification for the positions taken up by the Rockingham Whigs. Rockingham intended that his government would be a reforming administration, putting into practice all the policies which he had advocated while in opposition novel concept for 18th-century politicians. Rockingham, who was an absentee, but nevertheless enlightened Irish landlord, who kept himself well informed about Irish grievances, also acted to free the Dublin Parliament from its subordination to Parliament in Westminster.
