XXL of all the national misfortunes is want of foresight BOOK and ability in his majesty's ministers." The motion was seconded by Mr. Powys, who remarked," that the noble lord at the head of affairs had declared, that whenever parliament should withdraw its confidence from him, he would resign. That period was now come. The confidence of parliament was now withdrawn. It was therefore necessary that he should retire from power; and, whenever the happy moment should arrive, in which the noble lord, to the unspeakable joy of the nation, should really go to his sovereign to resign his employments, he hoped he would not forget to lay before the king a fair representation of the flourishing state in which he found his majesty's empire when the government of it was intrusted to his hands, and the ruinous condition in which he was about to leave all that remained of it." After a long debate, the order of the day was moved, and, on a division, was carried by a majority of ten voices, the numbers being 226 to 216. In a few days a resolution was moved by sir John Rous, member for Suffolk, a man once zealously attached to the present ministry, “that the house, taking into consideration the debt incurred and the losses sustained in the present war, could place no further confidence in the ministers who had the direction of public affairs." A vehement 1782. BOOK debate ensued, in the course of which a speech was XXI. t made by sir James Marriot, judge of the court of 1782. admiralty, vindicatory of the ministry and of the Entire change of tion. war, which he asserted was just in its origin, how- Four days after this, March 19, the earl of Surry XXI. 1782. was about to rise, lord North addressed himself to BOOK the speaker, and said, "that as he understood the object of the noble lord's motion to be the removal of ministers, he wished to prevent the necessity of giving the house further trouble by an explicit declaration, THAT HIS MAJESTY HAD COME TO A DETERMINATION TO MAKE AN ENTIRE CHANGE OF ADMINISTRATION: and he and his colleagues only retained their official situations till other ministers were appointed to occupy their places. His lordship thanked the house for the indulgence he had experienced from them in the discharge of his duty, and declared himself ready to answer to his country for his conduct whenever he should be called upon for that purpose.' Lord Surry consented, not without reluctance, and by a lenity most pernicious in its consequences, upon this communication, to waive his motion, which, he declared, "was intended to prevent the further perpetration of those abuses of their trust, to which, with impunity, and to the disgrace and detriment of the state, the late ministers had for such a length of time proceeded." Thus was this famous, or, to use a term more characteristically appropriate, this infamous administration, so long the bane and curse of the British empire and of the world at large, suddenly and totally dissolved, to the inexpressible joy of all ranks and orders of people. It was however by many XXI. 1782. BOOK feared that great difficulty would arise in the formation of a new and efficient administration, on account of the unfortunate division which had long subsisted among the Whigs in opposition to the court. Of the two parties, that of lord Rockingham was by far the most numerous and powerful; but, from various causes easily and distinctly ascertainable by attentive observers, the other party, of which, since the death of lord Chatham, the earl of Shelburne was accounted the head, was in less disfavor with the king;-and the highest department of government was upon this occasion expressly offered to that nobleman by his majesty. For, not to descend to subordinate reasons of preference, it is evident that the chief of the inferior party, lord Shelburne, would, from his comparative weakness of connexion, have been more immediately and necessarily dependent than his competitor lord Rockingham upon the crown for protection and supMarquis of port. But the noble lord had the generosity and Rocking wisdom to resist the temptation; and the marquis cond time of Rockingham, to the universal satisfaction of the kingdom, was a second time, in a manner the most honorable and flattering to his character and feelings, placed at the head of the treasury; under whom lord John Cavendish acted as chancellor of the exchequer; the earl of Shelburne and Mr. Fox were nominated secretaries of state; lord ham a se minister. H XXI. 1782. Camden was appointed president of the council; BOOK the duke of Grafton reinstated as lord privy-seal; admiral Keppel, now created lord Keppel, placed at the head of the admiralty; general Conway, of the army; the duke of Richmond, of the ordnance. The duke of Portland succeeded lord Carlisle as lord-lieutenant of Ireland; Mr. Burke was constituted paymaster of the forces; and colonel Barré, treasurer of the navy. Lord Thurlow alone, by the unaccountable and unmerited indulgence of the new ministers, continued in possession of the great seal. Whiggism was now once more triumphant. The Tories, though they escaped by a critical resignation the direct censure of the house of commons, had continued in office till they were reduced to the lowest extremity of shame, humiliation, and contempt; and a fair prospect, after a long night of storms and darkness, seemed to open, of a bright and brilliant day of national prosperity. The first act of the new administration was to signify by a letter from Mr. Fox to M. Simolin, the Russian ambassador, his Britannic majesty's willingness to accept the mediation offered by the empress for a separate accommodation with Holland, on the basis of the treaty of 1674. But this their High Mightinesses thought proper to decline; and considering how much Holland was at this time in the power of his Most Christian majesty, whose |