26 ANNU 
part of the ministry, except in mat- 
ters relating to the levying, clothing 
and paying ‘of the troops. As this 
claim. of exemption for the com- 
mander in chief from the control of 
the other ministers could not be ac- 
ceded to by lord Grenville, consist. 
ently with his notions of the con. 
stitution, the conference broke off 
abruptly; and the same evening 
the public were informed, that the 
new arrangements were not likely 
to be brought to a satisfactory con- 
clusion, But on the 3rd ot Febra- 
ary lord Grenville was called to 
another audience, at which his ma- 
jesty is said to have read a paper con- 
taining his assent to what was ask- 
ed, with this proviso. only, that no 
changes in the government of the 
army should be carried into effect, 
without his knowledge and appro- 
bation. During these negotiations, 
it was remarked by the public, that 
the lord chancellor and lord Hawkes- 
bury had frequent interviews with 
his majesty. 
‘The new administration being 
thus finally settled, the cabinet was 
composed of the following mem- 
bers: lord Erskine, lord high 
chancellor of England ; earl Fitz- 
william, lord president ofthe coun- 
cil; viscount Sidmouth, lord privy 
seal: lord Grenville, first lord of 
the treasury ; Jord Howick, first 
Jord of the admiralty ; earl of 
Moira, master. general of the ord- 
nance ; earl Spencer, Mr. Fox and 
Mr. Windham, secretaries of state 
for the home, foreign, and war de- 
partments; lord Henry Petty, 
chancellor of the exchequer ; and 
lord Ellenborough, lord chief justice 
of England. 
The duke of Bedford went as 
Jord lieutenant to Ireland, and Mr, 
Elliot accompanied him as chief se- 
AL REGISTER, 
1806. 
cretary. Mr. George Ponsonby 
was appointed chancellor and keep- 
er of the seals in Ireland, and sir 
John Newport, chianentae of the 
Irish exchequer. For the other , 
changes we must refer’ to the lists 
of promotions ina subsequent part 
of the volume. We have only to 
remark, that so thorough and com- 
plete a change in all the depart- 
ments of the state had not been seen 
since 1784. 
As some of the new arrangements 
led to interesting discussions in par- 
liament and to much conversation 
out of doors, it is necessary to say 
afew words on the circumstances 
that led to them. 
After the treaty of Amiens, the 
great objects for which Mr. Fox 
had been drawn, with unfeigned 
reluctance, from his favourite re- 
tirement, and induced to embark 
again in the business and conten. 
tions of public life were, first, the 
maintenance, and next, the resto. 
ration of peace; these objects he 
had never ceased to recommend, 
and when unexpectedly invested 
with power, and at liberty to chuse 
whatever place best suited him in 
the government, he shewed how 
sincerely he had them at heart, by 
the department of the state which 
he selected for himself. Though to 
the leader of a* party, which had 
struggled with him through twenty- 
two years of opposition, the place 
of first lord of the treasury must 
have been peculiarly acceptable, by 
the opportunities it would have af- 
forded him of rewarding the zeal 
and attachment of his adherents ; 
and though it be an office, which, 
in the hands of a man of talents, 
necessarily constitutes him the real 
‘minister of the country, yet the 
reflection, that by taking-the place 
of 
