chagrin and unwillingness; and among the
other considerations which operate upon them the feeling that
they are embarking in an Administration under a head totally
incapable to carry it on and which must of course soon be an
object of ridicule is uppermost in their minds. Add to this
that, though they will not certainly enter into faction and
opposition, all the aristocracy of the country at present
cordially connected with Government, and part of it under you,
feel a degradation in the first Minister of the Country being
selected from [_sic_] a Person of the description of Mr.
Addington without the slightest pretensions to justify it, and
destitute of abilities to carry it on. Depend upon it I am not
exaggerating the state of the case; and a very short experience
will prove that I am right; and the Speaker will ere long feel
that he has fallen from a most exalted situation and character
into one of a very opposite description. Save him from it if not
too late. Yourself excluded from it, I am afraid nothing
permanent can be formed; but if the Speaker was to advise the
King to call upon the Duke of Portland to form an
Administration, I am persuaded His Grace at the head of it, with
either Steele, Ryder, Lord Hawkesbury, or even Mr. Abbott as his
Chancellor of the Exchequer, would fill the public eye
infinitely more than anything that can be found upon the plan
now in agitation. By the answer I have received from the King to
my resignation I must entreat you without delay to send for my
correspondence with Lord Westmorland in order that I may be sure
of what my recollection suggests, that I refused to give the
promise of the Government at home that what was then proposed
was the ultimatum of concession.

The last sentence of Chatham's letter refers to the difficulties of
Pitt's position. These have nearly always been overlooked. Yet his
decision turned finally on a question of honour. It is true that neither
Pitt nor Cornwallis gave a distinct pledge to the Irish Catholics that
the Cabinet would press their claims if they would support the Union.
But no such pledge could have been given without exasperating the King
and the privileged phalanx at St. Stephen's Green. Therefore, when the
critics of Pitt demand to see the proof that he made a promise, they ask
for what, in the nature of the case, could not be fort