520 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



of Portland, containing a represen- 

 tation on the state of his adminis- 

 tration, and expressing my wish and 

 intention, unless some change were 

 effected in it, to resign. 



(April 4-th to 8th.) — Upon the 

 duke of Portland's requiring a more 

 detailed explanation as to the mo- 

 tives of my proffered resignation, 

 I stated, among other things, that a 

 change either in my own depart- 

 ment, or in lord Castlereagh's, ap- 

 peared to me to be expedient for 

 the public service — I stated my per- 

 fect willingness that the alternative 

 should be decided for my retire- 

 ment ; and only requested that the 

 decision might (if possible) take 

 place before the re- commencement 

 of business in parliament after the 

 Easter holidays. 



The duke of Portland requested 

 tne to suspend the execution of my 

 intention to resign ; wishing to have 

 an opportunity of consulting with 

 some of his colleagues, before he 

 determined what advice to lay be- 

 fore the king. 



The Easter holidays thus passed 

 away. On the I6th of April, short- 

 ly after his grace's return to town 

 from Bulstrode, the duke of Port- 

 land opened the subject to one of 

 the members of the cabinet, whose 

 name (not having been hitherto 

 brought forward) I do not think it 

 necessary to mention. Your lord- 

 ship is perfectly acquainted with it. 



By the duke of Portland's de- 

 sire, I had a communication with 

 ihat member of the cabinet, with- 

 in a very few days after his inter- 

 view with the duke of Portland 



He strongly represented the diffi- 

 culty of making any new arrange- 

 ment during the sitting of parlia- 

 ment ; and urged me to defer the 

 pressing my own resignation till the 



end of the session. To this recom- 

 mendation I did not promise to ac- 

 cede ; but we agreed ( whether upon 

 his suggestion or upon mine, I am 

 not confident) that, at all events no 

 step whatever could properly be 

 taken, until after the decision of the 

 question upon the writership; which 

 was about this time brought for- 

 ward in the House of Commons. 



That question was decided on 

 Tuesday, the 25ih of April. 



On Friday the 28th, the duke 

 of Portland communicated fully 

 with your lordship ; and informed 

 me as the result of that communi- 

 cation, that your lordship thought a 

 change in lord Castlereagh's situa- 

 tion in the government desirable 

 provided it could be effected ho- 

 nourably for lord Castlereagh, and 

 that it " could be reconciled to 

 lord Castlereagh's feelings.'' 



From this period, I understood 

 that your lordship was constantly 

 consulted by the duke of Portland 

 in every step of the transaction.— 

 Other members of the cabinet were 

 also consulted by the duke of Port- 

 land ; but how many of them, or 

 at what precise periods, I neither 

 knew at the time, nor can now un- 

 dertake to say. 



Shortly after your lordship's first 

 interview with the duke of Port- 

 land (I am sure before the 5th of 

 May) that member of the cabinet 

 with whom his grace had first com- 

 municated, reported to me a sug- 

 gestion of your lordship's of a 

 change of office for lord Castle- 

 reagh, evidently calculated on the 

 principles which your lordship had 

 stated as indispensable to such a 

 change. "Whether this communi- 

 cation to me was in the nature of a 

 direct message from your lordship, 

 I do not exactly know. But I un- 

 derstood 



