th unseemly exultation.[28]

[Pageheading: _MINISTERIAL CHANGES._]

The censure was followed by an impeachment before the house of lords,
where Melville was acquitted in the following year. Meanwhile, he had
resigned office on April 9, the day after the vote of censure, and his
place at the admiralty was taken by Sir Charles Middleton, who was
raised to the peerage as Lord Barham. The appointment gave umbrage to
Sidmouth, to whom Pitt had made promises of promotion for his own
followers, and he was with difficulty induced to remain in the cabinet.
Pitt was, however, irritated by the hostile votes of Sidmouth's
followers, Hiley Addington and Bond, on the question of the impeachment,
and regarded this as a reason for delaying their preferment. Sidmouth
now complained of a breach of faith, as Pitt had promised to treat the
question as an open one, and he resigned office on July 4.
Buckinghamshire resigned next day. Camden was appointed to succeed
Sidmouth as lord president, Castlereagh followed Camden as secretary for
war and the colonies, retaining his previous position as president of
the board of control, and Harrowby, whose health had improved since his
resignation in January, took Buckinghamshire's place as chancellor of
the duchy. Thus weakened at home, Pitt could derive little consolation
from the aspect of continental affairs. On May 26, Napoleon was crowned
King of Italy in the cathedral of Milan, and the Ligurian Republic
became part of the French empire in the following month. The ascendency
of France in Europe might well have appeared impregnable, and it might
have been supposed that nothing remained for England but to guard her
own coasts and recapture some of the French colonies given up by the
treaty of Amiens.

But Pitt's spirit was still unbroken, and by the middle of July he
succeeded in rallying three powers, Russia, Austria, and Sweden, into a
league to withstand the further encroachments of France. Such a league
had been proposed by Gustavus IV. of Sweden, early in 1804, but nothing
definite was done till Pitt's ministry entered upon office. Meanwhile,
the assassination of the Duke of Enghien had led to a rupture of
diplomatic relations between France and Russia, though war was not
declared. Negotiations were presently set on foot for a league, which,
it was hoped, would be joined by Austria and Prussia in addition to
Great Britain, Russia, and Sweden. An interesting feature in the
negotiations was