•522 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



(parliament being expected to rise 

 on the 20th or 21st), I wrote to the 

 duke of Portland, to inquire whe- 

 ther this arrangement, or any other, 

 was to take place; stating to him 

 that, " if things remained as they 

 then were, I was determined not to 

 remain in office.'* 



(June 18th.) — In answer, the 

 duke of Portland mentioned to me 

 a new plan of arrangement, alto- 

 gether different from that which he 

 had been authorized to carry into 

 effect ; and stated that he had sent 

 for your lordship and the other 

 member of the cabinet with whom 

 your lordship and the duke of Port- 

 land had been in constant commu- 

 nication, to co-operate with him in 

 forwarding this new plan, and to 

 urge lord Castlereagh to consent 

 to it. 



The particulars of this new plan, 

 I do not think it necessary to state, 

 as I learnt from the duke of Port- 

 land, either the next day or the 

 day following it, that to this plan 

 lord Castlereagh certainly could 

 not be brought to agree. Whether 

 this was known to his grace only 

 from your lordship, or through 

 your lordship from lord Castle- 

 reagh himself, I was not apprized. 



On Wednesday the 21st, the day 

 of the rising of parliament, I was 

 assured by the duke of Portland, 

 that the specific arrangement which 

 he had in the first instance propos- 

 ed, viz. the new distribution of the 

 business of the war department, 

 should be carried into effect; — and 

 that his majesty had directed him 

 to desire your lordship to commu- 

 nicate his decision to lord Castle- 

 reagh. 



On Tuesday, June the 27th, find- 

 ing that no communication had been 

 yet made to lord Castlereagh, I 



wrote to the duke of Portland in 

 terms ofthestrongest remonstrance, 

 both against the concealment and 

 the delay ; and intimated my deter- 

 mination to recur to my original 

 intention, and to press the accept- 

 ance of my resignation. 



Accordingly, on the fallowing 

 da)', Wednesday the 28th of June, 

 I bad an audience of the king, in 

 which I humbly and earnestly re- 

 peated to his majesty the tender of 

 my resignation. 



That same evening, the duke of 

 Portland informed me that he had 

 that day signified to your lordship 

 the king's desire, that your lordship 

 should communicate the intended 

 arrangement to lord Castlereagh ; 

 and, that the communication was 

 to be made by your lordship as soon 

 as the expedition had sailed ; which, 

 it was expected, would be in less 

 than a fortnight from that time. 



But before this fortnight elapsed, 

 viz. on Wednesday the 5th of July, 

 the duke of Portland informed me, 

 that in consideration of the difficul- 

 tiesattendingthe proposed arrange- 

 ment, he and those with whom he 

 consulted, were of opinion, that 

 another should be substituted for 

 it, which he trusted, would also be 

 more agreeable to me. He told 

 me that hopeswere entertained that 

 your lordship would determine to 

 offer your resignation, for the pur- 

 pose of facilitating a general ar- 

 rangement, in which a complete 

 change in the war department might 

 be effected consistently with lord 

 Castlereagh's feelings. He said, 

 however, that your lordship had 

 not yet finally made up your mind 

 upon the subject ; — but, that you 

 would probably come to a decision 

 before the following Wednesday. 



The duke of Portland stated his 

 intention 



