18 
and disagreement appeared amongst 
them, Many respectable indivi- 
deals broke off from them entirely, 
and went over to the opposition. 
Old jealousies and animosities re- 
vived between their leaders, which 
they had suppressed in Mr. Vitt’s 
life tine but not extinguished. ‘the 
general good of their party was sa- 
crificed to the private interests and 
‘ yesentments of individuals. Instead 
of keeping together and acting ina 
body, they split into factious, which 
regarded one another with aversion 
and distrust, and took their mea- 
sures separately, without concert or 
cooperation. So little were they 
actuated by party principle, or dis- 
posed to make common cause with 
one another, that every little fac. 
tion, into which they were divided, 
was ready to conclude a separate 
bargain for itself, and to accept of 
office under any adwinistration 
without a stipulation for its asso- 
ciates. It contributed not a little 
to this disunion and dispersion 
of their party, that while many com- 
petitors appeared for the place of 
leader, there was no person be- 
longing to the party, so pre-eminent 
for his station or abilities, as to be 
raised by general consent to that dis- 
tinguished situation. But, without 
a leader capable of inspiring confi- 
dence, and of maintaining a duecom- 
munication between the members of 
the party, it was obviously impos. 
sible they should long act together 
in concert. In circumstances so dis- 
couraging and so unpromising of suc- 
cess, it is not wonderful, that 
the surviving members of Mr. Pitt’s 
administraion resigned to their op- 
ponents the reins of government 
without a struggle, and even refused 
to take charge of them when press- 
ed to it by the court. 
f 
ANNUAL REGISTER. 1806._ 
But, though the ministers were 
disposed to give way tothe general 
cry of the nation, for an administra- 
tion on a comprehensive basis, in- 
cluding all the men of the greatest 
talents, character and experience 
in the country, the court was steady 
to its principle of governing by the 
strict letter of the prerogative, and 
of resisting -with firmness the inva- 
sions of party on what it considered 
its indubitable rights. To secure 
to the crown the free and uncon- 
troled nomination of the ministers 
of the country, and to defeat the at- 
tempts of opposition to exercise 
through parliament an indirect ne- 
gative on its choice of the persons 
employed in the administration of 
public affairs, had been objects pur- 
sued by the court with equal perse- 
verance and ability, during the 
whole of the present reign. Though 
obliged on some occasions to yield 
and consult the wishes of parlia- 
ment and of the nation, in the selec- 
tion of its ministers, yet by dex- 
trously availing itself of the mis- 
takes and jealousies of public men, 
and by seizing on favourable op. 
portunities for trying its strength on 
the question, its efforts had been, in 
general, successful. The ground 
which at one time it lost, it never 
failed to recover at some future pe- 
riod, and at length it had established 
a prevailing opinion in the nation, 
that in the exercise of this, the most 
important of its prerogatives, the 
crown ought to be absolute, and 
without control, The last victory 
which it had gained on this subject, 
was in 1804, when by detaching one 
of the parties in opposition from- 
the others, it broke the strength, 
and disappointed the expectations 
of those to whom it was most '‘hos- 
tile, and extricated. itself from 
every 
Ew EE eee 
