A bitter mortification awaited Mr. Pitt. As faithful in his friendships as in his political engagements, he had remained sincerely attached to Lord Melville, notwithstanding the coldness which had arisen between them during the Addington ministry. Upon returning to power, he had called his friend to the Ministry of the Marine, of which he had recently been treasurer. Naval construction had been much neglected by Lord St. Vincent. Melville pushed it forward with much zeal. The order and superintendence, however, were not equal to the activity. A paymaster appointed by Lord Melville was convicted of having appropriated public funds. Soon after his patron was accused of being implicated in these malversations. It was impossible, he said, to render an account of the sums which had passed through his hands, and of which a part had been used for secret service.
Justly convinced of the honesty of Lord Melville, but equally disturbed by his mismanagement and the bad intentions of the opposition towards him, Pitt resolved to defend his colleague at all hazards. Among his partisans, and even in the cabinet, the dissatisfaction was profound, and opinions were much divided. When it came to a vote, the independent members awaited the decision of Mr. Wilberforce; he rose slowly, avoiding the glance of Mr. Pitt, which still entreated him. "I am forced," said he, "to vote for Mr. Whitbread's resolution of censure. I am profoundly shocked at the guilty conduct of Lord Melville, and I am unable to refuse to satisfy the moral sense of England." The house was equally divided, and the speaker cast the deciding vote.
Abbott, the speaker, much troubled, voted for the resolution. "I sat wedged close to Pitt himself, the night we were left 216 to 216," writes Lord Fitzharris, son of Lord Malmesbury, "and the speaker, Abbot, after looking as white as a sheet, and pausing for ten minutes, gave the casting vote against us. Pitt immediately put on the little cocked hat that he was in the habit of wearing when dressed for the evening, and jammed it deeply over his forehead; and I distinctly saw the tears trickling down his cheeks. We had overheard one or two, such as Colonel Wardle (of notorious memory), say, they would see how Billy looked after it. A few young ardent followers of Pitt, with myself, locked their arms together, and formed a circle, in which he moved, I believe, unconsciously, out of the House; and neither the Colonel nor his friends could approach him."
Lord Melville had tendered his resignation as First Lord of the Admiralty. His enemies, however, were not satisfied, but demanded the erasure of his name from the list of privy councillors. The first impulse of Pitt was to haughtily refuse. Melville, as generous and disinterested toward others as he was imprudent and negligent in the administration of public affairs, as well as with his personal fortune, interposed. The majority was threatening. Melville prayed Pitt to yield to the storm. A sad allusion to the grief of his family alone betrayed the bitterness of his soul. "I will not conceal from you," wrote he, "that my opinion in this matter is not entirely free from all personal consideration. I hope that I have firmness enough to support all the trouble that they may cause me; but you know me well enough to comprehend how my domestic affections suffer from the grief and constant agitation that these debates, mingled with so much personal bitterness, naturally cause to those who are nearest to me."
When Pitt announced to the House that he had already requested the king to erase the name of Lord Melville from the list of privy councillors; he added, with great emotion, "I confess, and I am not ashamed to confess it, that whatever may be my deference to the House of Commons, and however anxious I may be to accede to their wishes, I certainly felt a deep and bitter pang in being compelled to be the instrument of rendering still more severe the punishment of the noble lord."—"As he uttered the word pang," says Lord Macaulay, "his lip quivered, his voice shook, he paused, and his hearers thought that he was about to burst into tears. He suppressed his emotion, however, and proceeded with his usual majestic self-possession."
When Lord Melville appeared before the House of Lords, at that bar of the illustrious accused, that the friendship of Pitt had provided—in place of a criminal prosecution demanded by the opposition—the great minister was no longer there to sustain him by his faithful attachment and generous confidence. At the time of the acquittal of Lord Melville, Mr. Pitt was dead (1806).
In the cabinet Lord Sidmouth showed much animosity towards Melville. His enmity was increased by the nomination of his successor, Sir Charles Middleton. For a moment the dissatisfaction was calmed by the intervention of some mutual friends; but finally terminated in the withdrawal of Lord Sidmouth, and his faithful partisan Lord Buckinghamshire, from the cabinet. The king had frankly declared to Mr. Pitt that "he was much hurt by the virulence against Lord Melville, which is unbecoming the character of Englishmen, who naturally, when a man is fallen, are too noble to pursue their blows; besides," he added, "if any disunion should manifest itself, he would decidedly take the part of Mr. Pitt, having every reason to be satisfied with his conduct since the first hour of his entrance into his service."