rmanent Government with which foreign
nations could treat. For this reason he (Melville) urged that the King
should be relieved of his executive duties, which it was sheer cruelty
to exact from him.[669] Pitt's answer to this daring proposal is not
known; but later, on 29th March, in answer to further overtures from
Melville, he stated that the King's illness was less serious than was
reported by the Earl of Moira, the _confidante_ of the Prince of Wales;
and that while it lasted he doubted the propriety of taking any steps
to overturn the Ministry.[670] To this scrupulousness Melville was a
stranger, and on 4th April again urged him to form a compact opposition
for the overthrow of Addington, and promised him the votes of at least
twenty-six Scottish members (out of forty-five) for any such
effort.[671]

Meanwhile the King recovered but slowly. The nervous, excited, irritable
symptoms showed little abatement; and in the third week in March he fell
into a fit of anger of such violence that he had to be strapped to his
bed. Even more threatening was the military situation. Yorke, early in
March, proposed a Volunteer Consolidation Bill, which met with general
derision. As the state of the Navy was also unsatisfactory, Pitt freely
criticized Ministers, especially St. Vincent; and, on one occasion, when
Addington showed boyish petulance, he met with a serene and courteous
answer. Tierney, Treasurer of the Navy, attacked Pitt coarsely;
Sheridan, with his usual wit and brilliance; but neither coarseness nor
eloquence could rehabilitate that Ministry. The urgency of the crisis
appears in the following letter written by Pitt at Walmer Castle to some
person unknown:

_April 11, 1804._

... The experience of the last summer and the discussions of
this session confirm me in the opinion that while the Government
remains in its present shape and under its present leader,
nothing efficient can be expected either to originate with them
or to be fairly adopted and effectually executed. With this
persuasion, and thinking that a system of more energy and
decision is indispensable with a view to the immediate crisis
and the many difficulties he may have to encounter in the course
of the present contest, I mean to take an early opportunity of
avowing and acting on these sentiments more explicitly and
decidedly than I have hitherto done; and I sha