216 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



for us to discuss, saw grounds for 

 believing it would be more to the 

 advantage of lord Melville to be tried 

 by his peers, now therefore sudden. 

 ly veered round, and moved that he 

 should be impeached ; which mea- 

 sure, although with great difficulty, 

 they carried. During the whole of 

 these proceedings the new president 

 of the council and his adherents, se- 

 perated from the minister, and took 

 an eager, and an adtive part, in 

 bringing lord Melville to the bar of 

 public justice :— conduct which must 

 have been considered as a defe6tion 

 from the government, of which 

 they formed a jjart, and, as such, 

 must have been deeply resented by 

 the minister. 



It was also rumoured that other 

 causes of distate and disagreement 

 existed between Mr. Pitt and lord 

 Sidmouih, at this period ; that the 

 former was jealous of the influence 

 which the latter maintained in a 

 CEiiTAiN QUARTER ; wliich had 

 lately been manifested in the con- 

 ferring of high ecclesiastical digni- 

 ties : and, that instead of gaining 

 an useful ally, Mr. Pitt had only 

 exposed himself to the machinations 

 of a dangerous rival. 



Whether these reports were 

 founded in truth, it is not our pro. 

 vince to decide, but certain it is, 

 that, on the 10th day of July, 

 the viscount Sidmouth and the 

 earl of Buckinghamshire resii^ned 

 their respective offices, and were 

 succeeded in them by earl Cam- 

 den and the lord Harrowby. Some 

 other changes took place in admi. 

 nistration, too insignifican*^ to be 

 here noticed, but none conducive to 

 its strength, and thus did the minis- 

 ter find himself, at a most arduous 

 moment, deprived, in the cabinet, of 

 the assistance of lord Melville, and, 



in parliament, of the aid of the 

 members attached to the interests of 

 lord Sidmouth, on both of which he 

 had so much necessity to depend. 



Every successive hour nosv bore 

 evidence to the truth of the senti. 

 ment of lordGrenville, that, in a cri- 

 sis like the present, " as large a 

 " proportion as possible of the 

 " weight, talents, and character, to 

 " be foond in public men, of all de- 

 " scriptions, and without any ex- 

 " ception," should be included in 

 the government. Happy Mould it 

 have been for the world, for Great 

 Britain, and for Mr. Pitt himself, 

 had the lattn been governed by this 

 principle, the disinterested dictate of 

 a wise, extended, and liberal po- 

 licy. Aided by the brilliant ta- 

 lents, profound experience, and 

 parliamentary weight and eloquence 

 of a Grenviljo, a Fox, a Spencer, 

 and a Windham, with their respec- 

 tive connexions, too numerous to 

 be detailed, who, collectively, were 

 the talent and weight of the coun- 

 try ; energy and aftivity would 

 have pervaded every department of 

 the state, the confidence of the 

 nation would have been raised ; 

 the measures of government unim- 

 peded and unembarrassed — prompt 

 and efficacious. assistance have been 

 aflordcd to our allies — and, more 

 than probably, France have been 

 checked in her career of virtory, 

 if not humbled to a sense of the 

 necessity of restraining her lust 

 of conquest, and forced, in her turn, 

 to tremble for her own safety ! 

 What a mortifying reverse to this 

 flattering picture does the close of 

 this year offer to our view, and 

 which we must think entirely due to 

 the gross miscalculation of Mr. Pitt, 

 when, confiding in his own abilities, 

 great and mighty as we allow thera 



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