HISTORY OF THE REIGN

OF

GEORGE THE THIRD.

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE state of Europe at the commencement of the year 1806, may justly be said to be unexampled in the annals of history. The French and English nations had acquired not merely a decided preponderance, but an absolute and uncontrolled dominion, the one over the land, and the other over the seas. The battle of Austerlitz had confirmed the military superiority of France, and left her without a rival on the continent; while the victory of Trafalgar had no less decided the naval pre-eminence of England: she was, however, unable to make any serious impression on the power of Buonaparte, who, after the treaty of Presburg, no longer deterred by the fear of a continental coalition, was at liberty to direct his whole force and energy to her subjugation. If Great Britain had nothing to apprehend from the number of troops Buonaparte might be able to land on the shores of England, other parts of the empire were not equally invulnerable to his attacks. In Ireland, exposed by her grievances to the seduction of his emissaries, and accessible by her situation to the in

vasion of his army, rebellion had been put down, but discontent still existed: the fire, which had lately blazed with such fury, was smothered, but not extinguished and though the more moderate of the Catholics were ready to postpone the discussion of their claims till the chief obstacle to the redress of their grievances was removed, and the prudent and considerate were disinclined to those violent counsels from which they had already suffered so much; it was not to be supposed that all the Irish Catholics were moderate and prudent, but that many of that body would join themselves to a French army whenever it might make its appearance in their country.

Affairs were in this posture when Parliament met on the 21st of January; and as the state of the King's sight did not permit him to deliver his speech from the throne, that assembly was opened by commission. After suitable congratulations on the splendour of the late naval successes, mixed with regret for the lamented death of the hero by whom they were achieved, the speech, which was read by the lord-chancellor, stated that his Majesty had directed the treaties concluded with foreign powers to be laid before Parliament; and while he lamented the late disastrous events on the continent, he congratulated the two Houses on the assurances which he continued to receive from the Emperor of Russia, of that monarch's determination to adhere to his alliance with Britain. It further stated that 1,000,000l. sterling, accruing to the crown from the droits of Admiralty, would be applied to the public service of the year; and concluded by recommending vigilance and exertion against the enemy, as by such means alone the present contest could be brought to a happy consummation. An amendment to the address was read in both Houses, but was not

proposed as a motion, on account of the dangerous indisposition of Mr. Pitt, who was at that moment on his death-bed.

This distinguished statesman had been compelled, at the close of the former session of Parliament, to relinquish all active share in public business, and retire to Bath, whence he returned, on the 11th of January, to his residence on Putney Heath, in a state of debility and exhaustion, augmented by anxiety and disappointment. His constitution, originally delicate, sunk rapidly, and on the 23d of January he expired, in the 47th year of his age, after having enjoyed greater power and popularity, and held the first place in the government of his country for a longer course years, than any former minister of England. On a motion of the Hon. Henry Lascelles, made in the House of Commons on the 27th of January, and carried by a majority of 258 to 89, his remains were interred at the public expense in Westminster Abbey, by the side of his father. A sum not exceeding 40,000l. was voted for the payment of his debts without opposition.

of

Mr. Pitt possessed no particular advantages of person or physiognomy; but as a speaker he was thought to be without a rival. Such were the happy choice of his words, the judicious arrangement of his subject, and the fascinating effect of a perennial eloquence, that his wonderful powers were acknowledged even by those who were prepossessed against his arguments. His integrity was unimpeached; his conduct strictly moral; and so far was he from making use of his opportunities to acquire wealth, that he died insolvent. As a financier he displayed great ability in augmenting the public revenue, and in raising money on public faith; but whilst he was thus adding

tot he burthens of the people, and entailing a heavy load on posterity, the wealth so acquired was distributed with lavish profusion. Such was his dread of the revolutionary principles which desolated France, that, considering no price too great for the means of opposing them, he carried the practice of subsidizing foreign states to an unprecedented and almost ruinous extent. But whatever may have been his errors, his exertions in the public. service during a period of unexampled difficulty were unwearied, and the emphatic words pronounced by the herald over his corpse, “non sibi sed patriæ vixit," were not less just than honourable.

Either from confidence in his own powers, or from the love of sway, Mr, Pitt seldom associated himself with men of superior talent, and his death at this critical juncture was considered as a virtual dissolution of the existing administration. His colleagues were men of little comparative weight or consideration in the country, and besides the want of public confidence, they were disunited and without a head. No sooner had the loss of their patron dissolved the only tie that bound them, than symptoms of disunion began to appear in their ranks; and it contributed not a little to the dispersion of the party, that while many competitors presented themselves for the place of leader, there was no one so pre-eminent for his station or abilities, as to be raised by general consent to that distinguished situation. In circumstances so discou raging, it is not wonderful that the surviving members of Mr. Pitt's administration resigned to their opponents the reins of government without a struggle, and even refused to retain charge of them, when urged to that duty by the solicitations of the court. Lord Hawkesbury was offered the post of premier, but he

deemed it too arduous, and on retiring from office received the wardenship of the Cinque ports.

Every attempt to form an administration from the wreck of the late cabinet proving unsuccessful, his Majesty called in the assistance of Lord Grenville, and on the 3d of February the new ministerial arrangements were finally settled, embracing the leading members of the three parties designated by the appellation of the old and new opposition, and the Sidmouth party. The cabinet was composed of the following members: Earl Fitzwilliam, president of the council; Lord Erskine, lord-chancellor; Viscount Sidmouth, lord privy-seal; Lord Grenville, first lord of the treasury; Lord Howick (late Mr. Grey) first lord of the admiralty; Earl Moira, master-general of the ordnance; Earl Spencer, Mr. Fox, and Mr. Wind-1 ham, secretaries of state for the home, foreign, and war departments; and Lord Henry Petty, chancellor of the exchequer. Lord chief-justice Ellenborough was also admitted to a seat in the cabinet. The Duke of Bedford went to Ireland as lord-lieutenant, accompanied by Mr. Elliot as chief secretary. Mr. George Ponsonby was appointed chancellor and keeper of the seals in Ireland, and Sir John Newport, chancellor of the Irish exchequer; Lord Minto was appointed president of the board of controul; Mr. Sheridan, treasurer of the navy; General Fitzpatrick, secretary at war; Sir Arthur Pigott and Sir Samuel Romilly, attorney and solicitor-general. Numerous other appointments took place in the subordinate offices of government; and so complete a change in all the departments of the state had not been effected since the commencement of Mr. Pitt's first administration. Lord Grenville's holding the office of auditor of the exchequer, which is incompatible with that of first