34 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



pri'gnani with misdiicf and danger. 

 llis lordsliip then adverting to his 

 present politic;)! connections, said, he 

 must plead ?;uiity to the charge of 

 Jiaving passed a great part of his 

 life in terms of intimate frii^ndship 

 ifvith a person of great weight and 

 high rank, (Mr. Pilt.) and'ofhaving 

 aeied for many ) ears in concurrence 

 with him, against an oj)posifion, 

 comprehending persons of great 

 ability r.nd consideration in the conn- 

 try. Jle confessed, that, from his 

 earliest years, he was in haliils of 

 the warmest friendship with t!ie 

 riffhi hononrable eenilenian alluded 

 to, ai'.d he trusted there was nothing 

 in the siliiation of all.iirs, ihat could 

 dissolve that friendship ou either 

 side. Me Unew too well the in- 

 tegrity of llis right honourable 

 friend's character and views, to think 

 that he could entertain of him, or 

 any man worthy of his friend- 

 ship, an opinion so injn''iousand in- 

 »ulting, as to suppose that he would 

 abandon his own principles, to 

 follow any line of conduct that Iro 

 (Mr. Pitt,) might think proj'fr to 

 pursue; neither was it any subject 

 of censure in him to avail himself of 

 the co-operation of any person, iroui 

 ■whom he could derive honourable 

 support, in the attainment of great 

 and -diisirable public ol)jccts. If this 

 principle required illustration, he 

 ■would lind it in the example of the 

 right honourable gentleman alluded 

 to, who, at the crisis of (he French 

 revolution, did not scruple to coa- 

 Jescc with many per; ons with whom 

 It had been his fate, for many years, 

 to have been in ojiposition to, and 

 one of whom, at present, retained a 

 seat in his majesty's cabinet. Nay, 

 dill not that right lionourabie gen- 

 iltm in.Iiimself, lately, seek to t\s- 

 <.il)lts)i ;; cTi-optiation ia lite govern ■ 



ment, with that very party, or ra- 

 ther that individual, upon whose sup- 

 port he was that CTening congratu- 

 lated ? When the country wa« 

 brought to the brink of ruin, by a 

 weak and incapable administration, 

 there seemed to be a perfect con« 

 currence among all honcsf and in- 

 dependent men in parliament, and it 

 was notoriously the expectation and 

 desire of nine-tenths of the people, 

 out of it, that an adujinistration 

 should be formed, comprehending all 

 the talent, ability, and iniiucnce 

 which the country fui'iiishwl, in or- 

 der to save the state from the great 

 crisis wliich menaced it, and wliich, 

 in his judgment, was still far from 

 being removed. No one more cor- 

 dially embraced that opinion than 

 his right honourable friend, (Mr. 

 Pitt,) who was said to have done all 

 in his power to introduce the same 

 person into his majesty's cabinet. 

 Was it any thing like dishonourabis 

 in him now to act with that illus- 

 trious person, and not dishonour- 

 able in his right honouralde friend 

 to go into his majesty's closet, and 

 advise his sovereign to appoint the 

 same person to one of the highest 

 ofiices in the state ? The crisis 

 which so imperatively called for a 

 vigorous and cordial union, was not 

 yet gone by, and what shonld b*5 

 thought of the luan who would at- 

 tentpt to introduce the banc of dis- 

 cord into his majesty's councils, in 

 order to thwart the wishes of the 

 country, — in order to form a cabinet 

 upon the jjiinciple of personal ex- 

 clusion ? '' This, continued his 

 lordship, is a principle, of which 

 1 nCver can approve, because, in- 

 dependently of its operation to 

 jirevent parliament and the peo- 

 ple fioai enjoying the administra- 

 tion they deiircd, and which it 



was 



