THE GRENVILLE ADMINISTRATION.
The death of Pitt, at the particular crisis in which it took place, was considered a virtual dissolution of the administration. The post of premier was offered to Lord Hawkesbury; but he deemed it too arduous, and chose rather to retire from office with the sinecure of the cinqueports. Lord Sidmouth also declined the task; and his majesty was compelled to repress his personal antipathies, and to seek the aid of Lord Grenville. The new arrangements were completed on the 3rd of February; and the ministry embraced the leading members of two parties, known as the old and new opposition, together with the party led by Lord Sidmouth. The arrangement stood thus:—Lord Grenville, first lord of the treasury; Fox, secretary of state for foreign affairs; Viscount Sidmouth, lord privy seal; Earl Fitzwilliam, lord resident of the council; Lord Howick, first lord of the admiralty; Earl of Moira, master-general of the ordnance; Earl Spencer, secretary of state for the home department; Windham, secretary for the colonies; Lord Henry Petty, chancellor of the exchequer; Erskine, lord high chancellor; and Lord Minto, president of the board of control. Among the minor appointments, Sheridan obtained that of the treasurer of the navy; Lord Auckland, the presidency of the board of trade; Earl Temple and Lord John Townshend, the joint paymastership of the forces; General Fitzpatrick, the secretaryship of war; and Sir Arthur Pigott and Sir Samuel Romilly, the posts of attorney and solicitor-general. As Lord Grenville’s office of auditor of the exchequer was thought incompatible with that of first lord of the treasury, and as his lordship was unwilling to resign that lucrative office, a bill was subsequently brought into parliament empowering him to name a responsible trustee for holding auditorship so long as he should continue premier. Law, who had been created Baron Ellenborough in 1802, was appointed to this place, with a seat in the cabinet; an act which created strong prejudices in the minds of the people at large against the new administration. But his lordship’s parliamentary interest was considered essential to the support of the new ministry, and the murmurs of the people were hence not regarded. Such a sweeping ministerial change as this had not taken place for years; all places were swept clean and new men put into them. The administration, however, was made of discordant materials. In it were Grenvillites, Foxites, Wind-hamites, Lansdownites, Addingtonians or Sidmouthites, &c. and this division brought so many expectations, hopes, and pretensions in their several trains, that it was easy to foresee that there would soon be quarrelling, and strife, and splittings among them. They had no general political creed; and their interests, like their theories, lay wide asunder. Moreover, it was soon found that it was on very few questions they could command anything like a respectable majority. They were triumphant, indeed, when it was moved in the lords and commons “that it was highly inexpedient, and tended to weaken the administration of justice, to summon to any committee or assembly of the privy council any of the judges of his majesty’s courts of common law,” in allusion to the recent appointment of Baron Ellenborough; but beyond this the present motley ministry could only command majorities of the narrowest kind; and sometimes during this session they were even left in a minority. Wearying and worrying debates, and all to little or no purpose, became the order of the day. Sheridan on one occasion, indeed, suggested that ministerial members, distributed in parties of twenty, should go home to rest in the midst of debate, and then come back to rest after they had slept and breakfasted. The house sometimes sat till seven o’clock in the morning, and then separated without having effected anything of importance.