BRITAIN. 



679 



' and rally after dispersion, llolkar was still in arms, 

 ~ and Scindiah, with whom a peace had been made, 

 "'. ' had imprisoned the company's resident, and prepared 

 anew for hostilities. The death of Lord Cornwal- 

 of lis unhappily deprived our eastern empire of his ser- 

 vices, before be had lived to witness the effects of the 

 pacific system which he went out to substitute, in 

 the room of that of his predecessor. But his efforts 

 were not in vain ; and his system was happily pur- 

 e with sued by others when he was no more. Peace was 

 kar and concluded with both Holkar and Scindiah before 

 ' the end of 1805. The territories of the latter were 

 abridged and limited on the north to the river Chum- 

 bul, but a pecuniary compensation was settled upon 

 his family. 



Holkar renounced some of his possessions to the 

 north of the Boundee hills, and in the possession of 

 Bundelcund, but for these he received the indemnity 

 of a Jaghire, to be settled on his daughter, while the 

 company pledged themselves to leave him in quiet 

 possession of his territories to the south of the Chum- 

 bul, and to restore his conquests in the Deccan. 

 of The single reputation of Mr Pitt, which had erect- 



' n ed a ministry independent of three powerful parties 

 ;nt< in parliament, (the friends of Lord Grenville, Mr 

 Fox, and Mr Addington,) was not found sufficient 

 to support it. When it was asked by what tokens of 

 superior genius the war had been conducted since 

 Mr Addington's resignation, it was not easy to- point 

 them out. A new coalition had been roused against 

 France, but though long in prospect, it had been 

 supported by no adequate efforts on the continent. 

 We had assisted Austria by no diversion in the north 

 of Europe, and troops had been landed at Naples 

 after the fate of the campaign had been decided. In- 

 stead of co-operating with the allies in Europe to 

 our utmost power, an expedition had been fitted out 

 to acquire a colony at the other extremity of the 

 globe. The colleagues of Mr Pitt, excepting Lord 

 Melville, had still less reputation than ability The 

 impeachment of that statesman being followed by 

 his removal from office, left Mr Pitt without an as- 

 sociate of acknowledged talents. Previous to that 

 event, the minister, conscious of the weakness of his 

 cabinet, had invited and received Mr Addington, 

 now created Lord Sidmouth, to participate in his 

 councils ; but the vote of Lord Sidmouth in favour- 

 ing the impeachment of Lord Melville, separated 

 that statesman once more from his councils. 



Amidst the gloom of his political prospects, the 

 health of the minister rapidly declined towards the 

 conclusion of the year. After an illness of some 

 months, this extraordinary man, who, solely by the 

 Df weight of his talents, had continued to direct the 

 ,' councils of his country, expired on the 22d of Ja- 

 5. nuary!806; and his death was a virtual dissolution 

 of Ins ministry. See PlTT. 



A feeble attempt was indeed made to continue a 

 ministry on the system of excluding from office the 

 talesman who possessed the greatest share of public 



estimation, but it did not succeed. Lord Hawkes- 

 bury declined the succession to Mr Pitt's situation ; 

 and, after some discussions with the court, Mr Fox 

 and Lord Grenville obtained the chief terms which 

 they sought, and came with their respective friends 

 into office. These discussions were understood to 

 relate to the share of authority which his Roy.il 

 Highness the Duke of York was to possess over the 

 army. Lord Sidmouth acceded to the new mil 

 try, and, with several of his friends, also came into 

 power. -J- 



One of the first objects of the attention of the 

 new ministers, was the alteration of the system of 

 military defence organized by their immediate prede- 

 cessors. By the defence bill enacted under Mr Pitt, 

 4O,000 men had been raised for the army of reserve ; 

 but of those, there were only two thousand that 

 were drawn who served in person. Thirty-eight 

 thousand were thus raised by private individuals. 

 The operation of the ballot was not only partial and 

 unjust, as it fell not upon the state, but on private 

 individuals ; but in consequence of the competition 

 of so many unpractised recruiting officers, the price 

 of substitutes rose to such a height as to impede the 

 recruiting for the regular service, and the frequency 

 of desertions was alarmingly increased. In the new 

 plan of defence, it was pfoposed to substitute regu- 

 lar enlisting for balloting, and to hold out additional 

 motives for men to embrace the military life, by im- 

 proving the condition of the soldier, and changing 

 the duration of his service from a lifetime to a limit- 

 ed period. In their financial schemes, the new mini- 

 sters wisely adhered to a system on which their pre- 

 decessors had for some time acted, of rather pressing 

 on the p-esent generation than leaving loads to pos- 

 terity. They raised the war taxes from fourteen to 

 nineteen millions. They increased the income-tax to 

 10 per cent, on all incomes exceeding 50, with 

 great allowances, however, to those under 100. 



Whatever popularity the new ministers might lose 

 by this heavy tax, they certainly redeemed it by the 

 laudable attention which they shewed to deliver the 

 public from the enormous abuse of inaudited public 

 accounts. These accounts, when they came into 

 office, amounted to upwards of five hundred millions. 

 Not a single account in the army office had been 

 audited since 1782. The store accounts had been 

 suffered to lie over since the same period. The navy 

 accounts were greatly in arrear. When Mr Pitt be- 

 gan his long administration, he had found a similar 

 accumulation of inaudited accounts, and had esta- 

 blished a new board of auditors. But fresh accu- 

 mulations had arisen from many obvious imperfections 

 in his first plan of the board of auditors. Nor had 

 the same minister's later bill in 1805 for increasing 

 the number of auditors, provided effectually for the 

 regular execution of their duty. 



It was the object of the present plan to secure 

 that the public accounts of every year should be re- 

 gularly audited in the course of every ensuing year, 



Britain. 



- >' ' 

 ' I< 



Ncw . 



meanuret 

 of defence. 



Regula- 

 tions rc- 



S F 



State uf 

 inaudited 



a< 



f The new cabinet was thus composed : Lord Grenville, First Lord of the Treasury ; Earl Spencer, Mr Fox, anil M- 

 Windham, Secretaries of State for the Home, Foreign, and War Departments ; Lord Henry Hetty, Chancellor of ; 

 chequer; Lord Howit'k, First Lord of the Admiralty ; Earl Fitz-William, Lord President of the Council ; \ 

 mouth, Lord Privy Seal ; Earl of Moira, Master of the Ordnance; Lord Eiskine, Lord High Chancellor; Lord Klk-nlio- 

 tough, Lord Chief Justice ; the Duke of Bedford, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland ; and Mr George Ponsonbr was made Kcrpi- 

 f Uic Irish Sea!'. 



