and their ranks were daily weakened by
secessions. So strongly and unanimously had the Parliament pronounced
its judgment in favour of the maintenance of the war, that His Majesty
at the close of the session was enabled to urge both Houses "to
persevere with increased vigour and exertion in the present arduous
contest against a power irreconcilably hostile in its principles and
spirit to all regular and established government."

Immediately after the close of the session, some changes took place in
the _materiel_ of the Administration, arising out of the accession of
power the Ministry had obtained by the adhesion of some of the leading
Whigs. The Duke of Portland (to whom Mr. Thomas Grenville addressed his
first letters from Vienna) was appointed Third Secretary of State; Earl
Fitzwilliam, Lord President of the Council; Earl Spencer, Privy Seal;
and Mr. Wyndham, Secretary at War. Further changes took place before the
close of the year, when Lord Fitzwilliam accepted the Government of
Ireland, and was succeeded as President of the Council by Earl
Mansfield. Lord Spencer, at the same time, was placed at the head of the
Admiralty; and Lord Chatham, the brother of the Premier, who had for
some years occupied that department, was made Lord Privy Seal.

The junction with the Whigs was, as far as it went, a new coalition;
but, under the circumstances which led to it, a coalition of a very
different character from that which had been entered into by Mr. Fox and
Lord North. The old elements of the Cabinet still held the ascendancy;
and although some sincere friends of Mr. Pitt doubted the prudence of
admitting the Whigs to office, no actual disturbance of the existing
system was apprehended from it. All agreed upon the question of the
war--the one great question upon which agreement was essential to the
repose and security of the country. In forming this alliance, however,
another question had been overlooked, which was now daily rising into
importance, and upon which the Whigs differed widely from Mr. Pitt, not
so much in principles, as in the time and mode of their application.
That question, the clog and difficulty of every Administration, was
Ireland. But the moment had not yet arrived when the dangers of this
question became manifest.

The following series of letters trace the whole course of the
negotiations going forward on the continent, and exhibit in minute
detail the actual position in which England stood in her re