tle later Dr. Phillimore and
Mr. W. H. Fremantle were joined with him at the Board, and Mr. Henry
Williams Wynn received a diplomatic appointment to the Swiss Cantons.
The Cabinet was further strengthened by having the Right Hon. Robert
Peel in place of Lord Sidmouth, who resigned the post of Secretary of
State for the Home Department.

After recording these changes, a modern historian adds: "This coalition
gained Ministers a few votes in the House of Commons, but it was of
more importance as indicating--as changes in the Cabinet generally
do--the commencement of a change in the system of government. The
admission of even a single Whig into the Cabinet indicated the
increasing weight of that party in the country, and, as they were
favourable to the Catholic claims, it was an important change."[76]

[76] Alison's "History of Europe," vol. ii. p. 489.

The biographer of Lord Eldon implies that this accession of strength
was regarded with much dissatisfaction by a certain portion of the
Government, of which the Lord Chancellor may be considered the
representative, and acknowledges they were of opinion that the honours
and advantages conferred on the new recruits would have been better
bestowed on themselves. An extract of a letter, dated January 14th,
from the learned Lord to Lady F. J. Bankes, supports his views: "This
coalition," he writes, "I think will have consequences very different
from those expected by the members of Administration who have brought
it about. I hate coalitions."[77] The Lord Chancellor was in truth very
much put out of temper by an arrangement in which he had not been
consulted, and revenged himself by circulating all the jokes (harmless
enough) he could hear or invent, at the expense of his new colleagues.

[77] Twiss's "Life of Lord Eldon," vol. ii. p. 61.

There is no doubt that this junction firmly established the Government
in their position. If only a moiety of the rumours that had long been
circulated affecting their stability was true, they were in an
unenviable state. The King's dissatisfaction had been confidently
reported, and changes threatened of a very sweeping character; but,
though his Majesty had no doubt been greatly irritated by the result of
the Queen's trial, the unexpected removal of the cause of irritation,
and the agreeable impression created by his Irish and German tours,
caused a sensible reaction in favour of his long-tried servants, and he
only permitted