d. On the same evening Colonel Patten moved a series of
resolutions condemning, in extravagant terms, the conduct of the
ministry in the negotiation with France. Pitt seized the opportunity to
move the orders of the day. In other words, he proposed that the
question should be left undecided. He expressed the opinion that the
ministry was not free from blame, but declared himself unable to concur
in all the charges against it. He considered further that to drive the
existing ministers out of office would only throw the country into
confusion, and that it was therefore inadvisable to pursue the question.
To this the ministerial speakers replied by demanding a direct censure
or a total acquittal, and the consequent division served only to display
the weakness of the opposition. The Addington, Fox, and Grenville
parties combined to oppose Pitt's motion, which was rejected by 333
votes against 56. Pitt and Fox, and their respective followers then left
the house, leaving the ministerial party and the Grenville party to
decide the fate of Patten's resolutions, which were negatived by 275
votes against 34. A comparison of the figures of the two divisions,
allowing for tellers, gives as the voting strength of Pitt's party 58,
of Grenville's 36, of Fox's 22, and of Addington's 277. Of these the
Grenville party alone desired to eject the ministers from office, while
Fox's party openly professed a preference for Addington over Pitt.

During the remainder of the session Pitt seldom took any part in
parliamentary business, and never opposed the ministry on any question
of importance. On August 12 parliament was prorogued after a session
lasting nearly nine months, and the prime minister embraced the
opportunity of making some slight reconstructions in the ministry.
Pelham, who was removed from the home office, resigned his place in the
cabinet, and was shortly afterwards consoled with the chancellorship of
the duchy of Lancaster, an office which was not yet definitely
recognised as political. Charles Philip Yorke, son of the chancellor who
died in 1770 and half-brother of the third Earl of Hardwicke, resigned
the office of secretary at war and succeeded to the home office on the
17th. It was also considered advisable to strengthen the ministry in the
upper house, where Grenville's oratory gave the opposition a decided
advantage in debating power, and Hawkesbury was accordingly summoned to
the lords on November 16 in his father's baron