214 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



IN the course of our bst Tolume, 

 when detailing the do imstic events 

 of the year, we entered at some 

 length into the causes and the pro- 

 bable consequences of the changes 

 which had taken place in his majes- 

 ty's councils, and took occasion 

 deeply to lamerrt the acceptation of 

 office by Mr. Pitt, upon the princi- 

 ple of " exclusion" to the severe dis- 

 appointment of the country, and de- 

 triment of its best interests. In fad}, 

 this great statesman and minister 

 was now to encounter, the arduous 

 task of governing the British empire, 

 providing its resources at home, and 

 guarding its interests on (he conti- 

 nent; but above all, of maintaining 

 the war in which it was engaged, 

 *' single-handed," against France 

 and her allies, unaided (with the 

 exception of lord Melville, at 

 the head of the board of admi- 

 ralty) by any one man of ability, 

 experience, or possessing the conli- 

 dencc of the country. Jn opposi- 

 tion to an administration so feebly 

 composed, the minister had to dread 

 the weight of Mr. Addington, with 

 the friends who still adhered to him, 

 and whom Mr. Pitt had solatelvdiiv- 

 en from office; of lord Grcnville, his 

 oldest, the most able, and most at- 

 tached of his friends, from whom, 

 and the host of ability, of which his 

 lordship was the leader, Mr. Pitt 

 had so recently separated ;* and 

 of Mr. Fox, and his powerful adhe- 

 rents in both houses of parliament, 

 to whose perpetual "exclusion" from 

 his majesty's councils he had just 

 agreed. 



Fortunately for the minister, the 



late period of the year at which h« 

 came into office, enabled him, al- 

 though with small majorities, to get 

 th rough the remainder of the session; 

 and the autumn of 1804 was employ- 

 ed in the attempt to strengthen his 

 hands, by Tarious negociations open- 

 ed with the different parties to whom 

 wc have already adverted. 



It should seem, however, that the 

 minister was completely unsuccess- 

 ful in his attempts to wean lord 

 Grenville and his friends from those 

 principles, for the maintenance of 

 which they had already renounced 

 the highest offices, whether of state 

 or emolument, which the crown 

 could bestow ; namely, " their 

 " strong sense of the impropriety 

 " of their becoming parties to a sys- 

 '' tern of government, which was to 

 " be formed, at such a moment, on 

 " a principle of exclusion," and of 

 the absolute necessity there existed 

 of uniting in the public service " as 

 " large a proportion as possible of 

 " the weight, talents, and charac- 

 " ter, to be found in public men of 

 " all descriptions, and without any 

 " exception. +" — It may easily be 

 supposed, that, in sentiments so fa- 

 vourable to themselves, Mr. Fox 

 and his friends^cordially acquiesced, 

 and that any efl'ort to detach thepV 

 from opposition, without a diredl 

 and complete abandonment of the 

 very principle upon which the mi- 

 nister came into power, would be e- 

 qually fruitless with the former. No 

 quarter then remained to be essayed, 

 from which Mr. Pitt could hope to 

 derive political assistance, save from 

 that of the late minister ; and here 



indeed 



• Tide Annual Ret;ister for 1804, p. 1?)., History of Europe, for the reasons 

 why lorfl Grenville and his friends declined tr.king any part in the iulminiuibtriitioB 

 about If) be formed by R'r. Pift. 



t Lord Grenville's letter !o Mr. Pitt. Annual Register, 1G04, P. l-Jj. 



