crown. upheld for three years, mainly by the influence of the Feeble in parliamentary talent and influence, and wanting in popular support, it was yet able to withstand the united opposition of Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox. At length, however, Mr. Addington, overcome by embarrassments, resigned.' It was not without reluctance that the king found himself obliged to part with his favourite minister, and to submit himself again to the loftier temper of Mr. Pitt: but he was persuaded to give up an impotent administration, in a time of public danger.2 refusal to Mr. Pitt urged the necessity of forming a strong The king's government, by an union with Lord Grenville and Mr. admit Fox; but such was his Majesty's repugnance to the Mr. Fox. latter, that he absolutely refused to admit him into the cabinet.3 So inveterate was his aversion to this statesman,-aggravated, at this period, by mental disorder,—that he afterwards declared "that he had taken a positive determination not to admit Mr. Fox into his councils, even at the hazard of a civil war."4 Mr. Fox being proscribed, the opposition would listen to no propositions for an arrangement; and Mr. Pitt was obliged to place himself at the head of an administration as weak as that which he had succeeded. Meanwhile, Mr. Addington took up a position in the Lord SidHouse of Commons, as leader of the "king's friends," 1 Lord Sidmouth's Life, ii. 273, et seq. "Mr. Addington resigned, a measure which he has since assured me that he resorted to from a fear of the King's health, much more than from a dread of his opponents."-Lord Holland's Mem., i. 191; and see Earl Grey on Parliamentary Government, 95; and Lord Colchester's Diary, i. 501. 2 Twiss's Life of Eldon, i. 437, 450. See also infra, p. 172; Lord Stanhope's Life of Pitt, iv. 161, 165, 177, Ibid., App. ix.- Lord 3 Twiss's Life of Eldon, i. 446- 4 Rose's Corr., ii. 156, 182. See also Lord Stanhope's Life of Pitt, iv. App. ix.; Lord Colchester's Diary, i. 529. 5 lbid., 124-126; Court and Cabinets of Geo. III., iii. 352; Mem. of Fox, iv. 53. Lord Colchester's Diary, i. 507. mouth's relations to the king and the ministers. Erasion of a party numbering sixty or seventy members.1 He was still supposed to be in communication with the king 2, and his supporters were sometimes ranged against the government. He professed personal adherence to his sovereign to be the rule of his political conduct. Writing soon after his retirement from office, he says: "I shall keep aloof from all parties, adhere to the king, and take a course that I can conscientiously justify to myself."4 His attitude was so formidable, that Mr. Pitt was soon obliged to admit him and his followers to a share of the government. The king earnestly desired his union with Mr. Pitt, which the renewal of friendly intercourse between them easily brought about. He accordingly joined the administration, as Viscount Sidmouth, and president of the Council; and induced his friends, who had been lately voting against the government, to lend it their parliamentary support. But being dissatisfied with the share of influence conceded to himself and his allies in the cabinet, he shortly afterwards threatened to resign.? And when, on the impeachment of Lord Melville, Mr. Hiley Addington and Mr. Bond, who had been promised places, spoke and voted against the government, differences arose between himself and Mr. Pitt, which led to his resignation. In this anarchy of parties, the chief support of ministers was the influence of the crown. Meanwhile, the only matter on which Mr. Pitt and the Catho- the king were at variance, was not suffered again to lic Ques tion by Mr. Pitt. 1 Rose's Corr., 119. 2 Ibid., 141. 3 lbid., 153. 4 Lord Sidmouth's Life, ii. 315; Lord Colchester's Diary, i. 517. 5 Court and Cabinets of Geo. III., iii. 388; Lord Sidmouth's Life, ii. 325, 348. 6 Lord Sidmouth's Life, ii. 325 341; Lord Stanhope's Life of Pitt, iv. 236, App., xix. xx.; Lord Colchester's Diary, i. 530, 532, 540. 7 Rose's Corr., ii. 358, 360, 364. 8 Rose's Corr., ii. 368-375; Lord Colchester's Diary, i. 546556, ii. 11, 13, 15, 19; Lord Stanhope's Life of Pitt, iv. 288, 313. disturb their friendly relations. Mr. Pitt had renewed The death of Mr. Pitt, in the midst of defeats, and Grenville ministry, disasters to the European cause in which he was 1806. engaged, once more forced upon the king an adminis 1 Rose's Corr., 114, 157-174; Lord Stanhope's Life of Pitt, iv. App. vi.; Lord Colchester's Diary, ii. 211. 2 Rose's Corr., 117; Lord Stanhope's Life of Pitt, iv. App. viii. Lord Sidmouth's Life, ii. 464; Mr. Pitt's Letter to the King, May 6th, 1804; Lord Stanhope's Life of Pitt, iv. App. xi. 4 Hans. Deb., v. 1013; see also infra, vol. ii. 356. 5 Rose's Corr., ii. 122, 124, 141, 158, 160. Mr. Pitt was anxious that his friend and biographer, Dr. Tomline, Bishop of Lincoln, should be promoted to the See of Canter bury; but the king insisted upon Correspondence with Mr. Pitt. Admission of Lord Ellen borough to net. tration, formed from a party in whom he had no confidence. It was necessary to accept the ministry of "all the talents," under Lord Grenville and Mr. Fox1; and personal intercourse went far to overcome the king's antipathy to the latter.2 Lord Sidmouth had a strong body of parliamentary friends, who,-to use the words of his biographer,-" constituted a species of armed neutrality, far too powerful to be safely overlooked;" and was "understood to enjoy the favour and confidence of the king, and to be faithfully devoted to his Majesty's interests."3 His alliance was necessary; and he was induced to join a party with whom he had neither connexion, nor political sympathies. The king's friends were not to be neglected, and were amply provided for.4 Lord Sidmouth himself, "not wishing to excite jealousy by very frequent intercourse with the king," declined the presidency of the Council, and accepted the less prominent office of privy seal.5 As there was a difficulty in admitting Lord Sidmouth's political friends to the cabinet, Lord Ellenthe cabi- borough, the Lord Chief Justice of England, was associated with him, in order to give weight to his councils. It had been the policy of our laws to render the judges independent of the crown'; and now the first criminal judge became one of its confidential 1 Rose's Corr., ii. 236. 2 Twiss's Life of Eldon, i. 510; 3 Lord Sidmouth's Life, ii. 412. 5 Ibid., 416; Mr. Abbot's Diary, became President of the Council. 6 Wilberforce's Life, iii. 256. Lord Rous said: "Lord Sidmouth, with Lord Ellenborough by his side, put him in mind of a faithful old steward with his mastiff, watching new servants, lest they should have some evil designs against the old family mansion."-Lord Sidmouth's Life, ii. 417. 713 Will. III. c. 32; 1 Geo. III. c. 23. ence with ministra army. advisers. Ministers were strong enough to defend this appointment in Parliament, where the precedent of Lord Mansfield was much relied on: but it was severely censured in debate, and condemned by public opinion.1 Before the new ministry was completed, the king Differwas alarmed at a supposed invasion of his prerogative. the king On the 1st February, Lord Grenville proposed to his oneMajesty some changes in the administration of the tion of the army, by which the question was raised whether the army should be under the immediate control of the crown, through the Commander-in-Chief, or be subject to the supervision of ministers. The king at once said that the management of the army rested with the crown alone; and that he could not permit his ministers to interfere with it, beyond the levying of the troops, their pay and clothing. Lord Grenville was startled at such a doctrine, which he conceived to be entirely unconstitutional, and to which he would have refused to submit. For some time it was believed that the pending ministerial arrangements would be broken off: but on the following day Lord Grenville presented a minute to his Majesty, stating that no changes in the management of the army should be effected without his Majesty's approbation.2 To the doctrine thus amended, there could be no reasonable objection, and the king assented to it. king on The Grenville ministry maintained its ground, so Differences long as it was tolerated at court: but when it ventured with the to offend the king's religious scruples, it fell suddenly, the Army and Navy like that of Mr. Pitt in 1801. To conciliate the Catholics Service 1 Hans. Deb., vi. 308; Lord Campbell's Lives of Chief Justices, ii. 451; Lives of the Chancellors, vi. 584; Lord Sidmouth's Life, ii. 417; Lord Colchester's Diary, ii. 42; and see infra, Vol. II. 594. 3 Bill, 1807. |