diminution of the Standing Army; or some object in which every subject of the empire is interested. I will add one remark: so powerful was the Duke of Newcastle from the faction which he had formed, that after having kept his Sovereign without ministers for more than ten weeks, this despicable man was able, at last, to compel the King to receive an administration to which he had a decided aversion. Mr. Pitt, distinguished afterwards by the title of Earl of Chatham, had, in his speeches in the House of Commons, declared most explicitly against the sacrifice of British interests to the German views of the Elector of Hanover. He had expressed himself on this subject with a violence which some men thought improper. On the resignation of the Duke of Newcastle and his friends, in 1756, Mr. Pitt had towards the close of that year been made Secretary of State. He was removed from that situation in the spring 1757. During the few months that he had been Secretary of State, he had probably discovered that he could not be the efficient minister, unless he yielded to George the Second's views for the defence of Hanover. This opinion led to Mr. Pitt's coalition with the Duke of Newcastle in the summer 1757. We have a very interesting detail of a conversation held by Mr. Glover with Mr. Pitt on this subject. As it is very curious, I will give it in Mr. Glover's own words. "The uni versal propensity, in this important crisis, (the spring 1757,) to a coalition between Mr. Pitt and the Duke of Newcastle, induced me to wait upon Mr. Pitt himself, without reserve or partiality, to deliver my sentiments on the public situation and his own, and expecting a return of candour in consequence of his many intimations conveyed through Lord Temple and others, of an earnest desire to see me, I made him two visits within a few days after his resignation. Our conversation and demeanour were suitable to the intimacy and friendship which had commenced with our youth, and subsisted for no inconsiderable part of our "The neglect and indifference on my side for the last twelve years, seemed to have made no impression upon him, and the remembrance of his frailties, which had created my former disgust, was lost in the expectation which all men conceived from his altered principles and conduct. The substance of our conferences may be reduced to the following heads : "He frankly disclosed, under my promise of secrecy, the most material occurrences between him and the King, who most apparently had never reposed the least confidence in him; yet awed by his spirit and popular name, had treated him with a civil, though inflexible reserve. He asked me in what manner I would advise him to word his answer to the City of London, upon the compliment they intended to make him of his freedom. I advised him to be very general in his expressions, and to retain in his private thoughts as little regard to their present approbation, as he had done to their censure in the case of Byng; to form, as an honest man, the best opinions he was able, and ever to keep in remembrance, that 'Justum et tenacem propositi virum That his greatest trial was immediate; all orders and conditions of men were now united in one cry for a coalition between -him and the Duke of Newcastle, whose instability, treachery, timidity, and servile devotion to the King, were indisputably known, and to whom, interposed Mr. Pitt, all our public misfortunes are more imputable than to any other man. But what must be done? We are now in the most desperate and flagitious hands, capable of any violence. The Duke of Cumberland would not hesitate to silence the complaints of an aggrieved people by a regiment of the guards, a measure which Fox would as little scruple to advise. I grant them,' said I, 'to be the heads of a Catilinarian band; but will your union with Newcastle prevent the mischief?' Do not imagine' replied he, that sure of power; I mean power over public measures. The disposition of offices, except the few efficient ones of Administration, the creating Deans, Bishops, and every placeman besides, is quite out of my plan, and which I willingly would relinquish to the Duke of Newcastle.' 'Give me leave,' said I, 'to suppose you united in Administration with him; then let us consider the part which he (admitting him to be sincere,) will have to act. You have no command in either House of Parliament, and have experienced the personal dislike of the King. You must depend altogether on the Duke of Newcastle for a majority in Parliament, and on his fighting your battles in the closet; and, to speak plainly, using his efforts to alienate a father from a favoured son (the Duke of Cumberland) who is your declared enemy. 66 6 Supposing Newcastle sincere, is his composition stern enough for such encounters? But knowing him false, selfish, and insatiable of power, will he not rather make his own way, and re-establish himself in the King's favour by every servile gratifi |