CHANGES IN THE MINISTRY, ETC.
At this period the present cabinet was not only weak but distracted. The Marquess Wellesley, indeed, who was dissatisfied with some of his colleagues, had signified his intention of resigning almost as soon as parliament met, although he agreed to hold office till the expiration of the year to which the restrictions on the regent were limited. He resigned on the 19th of February, and he was succeeded as secretary for foreign affairs by Lord Castlereagh. Six days before the resignation of Marquess Wellesley the regent wrote a letter to his brother, the Duke of York, in which he began with alluding to the fast approaching expiration of the restrictions; stated that motives of filial affection had induced him to continue the present cabinet; adverted to the success of his first year’s administration, and expressed a hope that a new era was arriving. He concluded with these words:—“Having made this communication of my sentiments, I cannot conclude without expressing the gratification I should feel if some of those persons with whom the early habits of my public life were formed would strengthen my hands, and constitute a part of my government. With such support, and aided by a vigorous and united administration, founded on the most liberal basis, I shall look with additional confidence to a prosperous issue of the most arduous contest in which Great Britain was ever engaged. You are authorized to communicate these sentiments to Lord Grey, who I. have no doubt will make them known to Lord Grenville.” The prince’s letter was shown to both Grey and Grenville, but they flatly refused to join the Perceval administration. The letter, and their reply to the Duke of York, were published in all the newspapers of the kingdom, and from this moment the Whigs began to revile the Prince of Wales, whom they had so long flattered and applauded. They had anticipated a return to power under his rule; and when they discovered that he adhered to his father’s line of policy, they no longer looked up to him as their rising sun. The old cry was indeed raised, that there was something behind the throne stronger than the throne itself, something that was subversive of the constitution. Earl Grey declared in the house of lords that the ministry depended for its existence upon an unseen influence; a power alien to the constitution; a disgusting and disastrous influence which consolidated abuses into a system, and which prevented both complaint and advice from reaching the royal ear; an influence which it was the duty of parliament to set its branding mark upon. Both in and out of parliament it was asserted that Lord Castlereagh’s return to office was the effect of the influence of a certain lady, and the auspices of the Hertford family.