1804.

the names shews, that Mr. Pitt nów more that ever considered himself the soul and spirit of the administration, allowing some share of co-ordinate influence to his accommodating friend and veteran in the system, Lord Viscount Melville. The rest were tools, which he wielded at pleasure. The motley selection was attempted to be justified upon new principles. A general doctrine was inculcated into the numerous mal-contents with the choice of the new ministers, that there was inherent in Parliament a constitutional right to interfere with the King's nomination by withdrawing its confidence from any administration, which they might think from experience inadequate to the exigencies of the country; but that the will of the crown was not to be thwarted by anticipation, by presumption to dictate or object, before the new

LORDS OF THE TREASURY.

Lord Fitzharris, Lord Louvaine, the Hon. Henry Wellesley,
Mr. Scott, Mr. Long.

SECRETARIES OF THE TREASURY.

Mr. Huskinson and Mr. Sturges Bourne.

BOARD OF CONTROUL.

Chan. of the Duchy of Lancaster Lord Mulgrave.

Lord Chamberlain

Master of the Mint

Comptroller of the household

Attorney General

Solicitor General

Farl of Dartmouth.

Mr. Rose.

Lord George Thynne,
Mr. Perceval,

Mr. Dallas,

appointees should have entered upon their functions. Thus did Mr. Pitt endeavour to acquire credit under his new appointment, by reconciling the public mind to the parliamentary expulsion of Mr. Addington. These principles were substantially inapplicable to the new arrangements. Mr. Addington's administration had certainly forfeited the confidence of Parliament. But neither Mr. Pitt nor Lord Melville were new men: they professed no principle, they proposed no system differing from those of their predecessors. Such of the old, as retained power in the new administration offered no change either of principle or conduct. The new subordinate appointments were bottomed either upon long tried subserviency, or strongly pledged fidelity to Mr. Pitt. But in Ireland so little claim could be set up by the new Government, not to be prejudged, till they should have entered upon the exercise of their offices, that the only change was the appointment of Mr. Foster to be Chancellor of the Exchequer: the man, who had risen into consequence from his lust for the system, under which his country had so long writhed.

1804.

rivalry with

The actual return of Mr. Pitt and Lord Mel- Mr. Pitt's ville to power without Lord Grenville, Mr. Wind- Napoleon. ham, and some other seceders in 1801 bespeaks a difference between them in the principles and conditions either of their abdication or of their return, or of both. The particular points of difference may not be known to posterity, but certain it is, that, Mr. Pitt did not carry back with him into

the cabinet even with the aid of his accommodating auxiliary Lord Melville all the influence and power, which left it on his secession in 1801. Besides the loss of the interests of the few, who may be fairly presumed to have rejected the terms of readmission, (particularly as to Ireland) Mr. Addington by his pledges and accommodation to all the mysteries of the double cabinet had acquired a lasting hold of the royal mind. He enthusiastically preached up the favourite court doctrine, that the anticipated' will of the executive was to lead the judgment of the deliberative powers of the state. Mr. Pitt fully knew the efficacy of the joint influence of court and treasury: and he prepared to make head against the occult powers behind the curtain. Great Britain, Ireland, and the colonies were still devoted to his rule. Not so stood he in his foreign relations. From the failure of all his continental projects, he beheld his country reduced to the awful necessity of contending alone, not as formerly for commerce, territory, or power, but for existence. Under his own uncontrouled direction of the British sceptre, he felt the physical forces of the continent concentered to a point, and directed by a youth, who had risen under his own eyes into manhood, and the proud possession (no matter how acquired) of more power, and who had managed it with more success, than is recorded of any man in the page of history. He reflected with desperate indignation, that Buonaparte had now become the puissant Emperor of the French, notwithstanding his boasted efforts to crush that,

nation and erase it from the map of Europe. He 1804 no where discovered the fruits of his having overstretched the regal, extended the aristocratic, and depressed the democratic branches of the constitution, of his having encreased the national debt by between three and four hundred millions, and of his having shed the blood of many score thousands of his fellow-subjects. His foiled ambition had settled in personal animosity, and he fancied himself the rival of that man of stupendous enterprize and portentous success. Through Mr.

4

Addington had he basely attempted to decry and vilify the personal character of Napoleon, by the circulation of the most virulent publications, and the exhibition of the most revolting prints from notorious hirelings of the British treasury.

tary pro

under Mr.

Pitt.

No sooner had Mr. Pitt resumed his functions, Parliamen than he became sensible, that his majesty's health ceedings had been but partially restored. Access to, and personal communication with the royal personage were less free to him now, than during his former administration. The royal mind was more than ever disturbed with scruples about the violation of the coronation oath by catholic concession; and Mr. Addington, who had fed and fomented them, continued to receive more confidential favor from his Sovereign, than was usual or fitting to be enjoyed by an ex-minister. Mr. Pitt and the chancellor had interviews with the Prince of Wales at Carlton House. Besides the reconciliation of the Prince with his Majesty and the Duke of York, which their late correspondence had rendered dif

1804. ficult, the terms and conditions of a regency were

universally believed to have been the subject of
them. As Mr. Pitt from his conduct in 1788,
and subsequent demeanour towards his royal High-
ness on every occasion, was known systematically
to oppose the possession of any power by his royal
Highness independant of the minister, it was not
to be expected, that the result of any proposal
from Mr. Pitt should be grateful to the feelings of
his royal Highness. Mr. Pitt endeavoured in the
mean time, by manoeuvring in parliament, to sup-
ply his loss of personal influence upon his Sove-
reign. His success in the senate fell short of
his expectation; for with his utmost exertions he
carried his defence bill only by a majority of 40, and
his additional force bill by that of 28; in this latter
a motion was made, in which he was left in a mino-
rity. Soon after Mr. Secretary Nepean obtained
leave to bring in a bill for establishing and maintain-
ing a permanent additional force in Ireland. Mr.
Foster's motion for the appointment of commis-
sioners to enquire into the fees and expences of cer-
tain offices in Ireland, brought on a most interesting
conversation upon
the arrears of the Irish revenues.
Some bills were moved in progress, touching the
stamp duties and other branches of the Irish re-.
venue; and Mr. Foster introduced bills for ex-
plaining and amending the laws relative to the

* So zealous was this gentleman for forwarding the system in Ireland, that he acted as chancellor of the exchequer a considerable time before he was appointed to the office.