te for war. Earl
Fitzwilliam became president of the council, and was promised the
vice-royalty of Ireland as soon as a suitable place was found for the
present lord lieutenant, the Earl of Westmorland. The Marquis of
Stafford resigned the privy seal, which was given to Earl Spencer, and
Windham entered the cabinet as secretary-at-war, though his office was
not then considered as one of cabinet rank. Burke retired from
parliament at the close of the trial of Hastings, and, as he was in
straitened circumstances, accepted two pensions of L1,200 and L2,500.
The death of his only son clouded the last years of his noble life. Two
later changes in office were salutary. Pitt had the unpleasant duty of
urging the king to remove his brother Chatham from the admiralty;[254]
he resigned on December 20, was succeeded as first lord by Earl Spencer,
an excellent appointment, and succeeded Spencer as privy seal, an office
more suited to his temperament and talents. The Duke of Richmond was
held to be inefficient as master of the ordnance; the new ministers
insisted on his removal, and he was succeeded on February 13, 1795, by
Cornwallis. At the same time the king appointed his son York
field-marshal on the staff; he became commander-in-chief in 1798, but at
no time had a seat in the cabinet.

[Sidenote: _THE IRISH CATHOLIC QUESTION._]

These accessions and changes strengthened the ministry. For a time,
however, the new ministers recruited from the whigs were inclined to act
as a party on questions concerning office. This caused some trouble in
the cabinet, specially in connexion with Ireland. Although the trade of
Ireland was increased by the removal of restrictions, its agriculture
stimulated by bounties on exported corn, and its manufactures and other
resources enlarged by parliamentary grants and wise legislation, its
political condition was unsatisfactory. It needed a reform of
parliament, the admission of catholics to political power, the overthrow
of the system by which the castle secured power by the distribution of
pensions and offices, and a change in the tithe law. The Earl of
Westmorland had succeeded Buckingham as lord-lieutenant in 1790. Round
him stood a group of ministers, bishops, and great lords opposed to any
changes. Revolutionary principles gained ground among the people. The
society of United Irishmen, founded by Wolfe Tone, a lawyer, in 1791,
aimed at uniting protestants and catholics for the purpose of
overthr