APPENDIX tothe CHRONICLE. 521 



derstood distinctly that you knew 

 of its being made to me; and that 

 whatever observations I might make 

 upon it, was to be reported to your 

 lordship. What I observed upon 

 it, was in substance, — that it was 

 not for me to presume to say what, 

 change would be proper; that I 

 had done all that I had thought 

 myself either called upon or at li- 

 berty to do, in stating to the duke 

 of Portland my opinions, and my 

 intention to resign ; that the duke 

 of Portland alone could either pro- 

 pose any change or obtain the ne- 

 cessary authority for carrying it in- 

 to effect ; and I therefore recom- 

 mended that your lordship should 

 state your suggestion to the duke 

 of Portland. 



On the 5th of May the duke of 

 Portland informed me, that he had 

 determined to lay the whole subject, 

 on the following Wednesday, be- 

 fore his Majesty. 



On Wednesday the 10th of May, 

 he informed me that he had done 

 so : and that his Majesty had been 

 graciously pleased to say, that he 

 would take the subject into his se- 

 rious consideration. 



On Wednesday, the 3 1st of May, 

 apprehending it to be possible, that 

 my intention might not have been 

 fully explained to his Majesty, and 

 thinking it my duty to leave no 

 <loubt upon it, I humbly repeated 

 to his Majestj' the representations 

 which I had before made to the 

 duke of Portland, and humbly 

 tendered my resignation. I re- 

 ceived thereupon his majesty's gra- 

 cious commands, to retain my situ- 

 ation until his majesty should have 

 considered the whole subject. 



Some time in the course of the 

 next week, I think on the 8th of 

 June, the duke of Portland stated 

 io me, tliat he had received his ma- 



jesty's commands, to propose, and 

 to carry into effect at the end of 

 the session of parliament, an ar- 

 rangement for a partial change in 

 the war department. 



The particulars of this arrange- 

 ment I do not think it proper to de- 

 tail ; feeling it my duty to limit my- 

 self strictly to what is absolutely 

 necessary for the explanation of my 

 own conduct. It is sufficient to 

 state, that the object of this ar- 

 rangement was not the removal of 

 lord Castlereagh, but a new distri- 

 bution of the business of the war 

 department, whereby that part of 

 it which was connected with poli- 

 tical correspondence, would have 

 been transferred to the foreign of- 

 fice ; and the business of another 

 office, then vacant, would have 

 been transferred to lord Castle- 

 reagli. It is only necessary to add, 

 that the effect of this new distribu- 

 tion would not have been to take 

 out of lord Castlereagh's hands 

 the superintendance of the expedi- 

 tion to the Scheldt. 



On the 13th of June, I wrote to 

 the duke of Portland, signifying 

 to him, that although such an ar- 

 rangement had never entered into 

 my contemplation, and although I 

 did not think it calculated to reme- 

 dy all the difficulties which had in- 

 duced me to bring the state of the 

 administration under his grace's 

 consideration, I was ready, so far 

 as I was concerned, to undertake 

 and discharge to the best of my 

 ability, any duty which his majesty 

 might be graciously pleased to de- 

 volve upon me ; but I expressed 

 at the same time, great doubts, 

 whether this arrangement could be 

 expected to be acceptable to lord 

 Castlereagh, or, in all its parts, sa- 

 tisfactory to the public feeling. 



On Sunday, the 18th of June 



( parlia- 



