ages,
the delay of armaments, the neglect of opportunities, the absurd
disposition of fleets, were numbered among the misfortunes which
resulted from a weak and incapable ministry. Stronger men were
demanded by the indignant voice of the nation, and the Duke of
Newcastle, first lord of the treasury, since the death of his brother,
was obliged to call Mr. Pitt and Mr. Legge--the two most popular
commoners of England--into the cabinet. But the new administration did
not work harmoniously. It was an emblem of that image which
Nebuchadnezzar beheld in a vision, with a head of gold, and legs of
iron, and feet of clay. Pitt and Legge were obliged by their colleague
to resign. But their removal incensed the whole nation, and so great
was the clamor, that the king was compelled to reinstate the popular
idols--the only men capable of managing affairs at that crisis. Pitt
became secretary of state, and Legge chancellor of the exchequer. The
Duke of Newcastle, after being at the head of administration ten
years, was, reluctantly, compelled to resign. The Duke of Devonshire
became nominally the premier, but Pitt was the ruling spirit in the
cabinet.

[Sidenote: Character of the Duke of Newcastle.]

The character of the Duke of Newcastle is thus sketched by Horace
Walpole; "He had no pride, but infinite self-love. Jealousy was the
great source of all his faults. There was no expense to which he was
addicted but generosity. His houses, gardens, table, and equipage,
swallowed immense sums, and the sums he owed were only exceeded by
those he wasted. He loved business immoderately, but was always doing
it; he never did it. His speeches were copious in words, but empty and
unmeaning, his professions extravagant, and his curiosity insatiable.
He was a secretary of state without intelligence, a duke without
money, a man of infinite intrigue without secrecy, and a minister
hated by all parties, without being turned out by either." "All able
men," adds Macaulay, "ridiculed him as a dunce, a driveller, a child
who never knew his own mind an hour together; and yet he overreached
them all."

[Sidenote: Unpopularity of the Pelhams.]

The Pelham administration cannot, on the whole, be called fortunate,
nor, on the other hand, a disgraceful one. The Pelhams "showed
themselves," says Smyth, "friendly to the principles of mild
government." With all their faults, they were tolerant, peaceful,
prudent; they had the merit of respecting public opi