onduct punished Pitt far
more severely than the King. For while George in his feeble, irritable
condition thought only about the Test Act and Fox, Pitt was intent on
forming a truly national Administration, including Fox, Fitzwilliam, and
Melville as Secretaries of State, with Spencer at the Admiralty,
Grenville as Lord President, and Windham as Chancellor of the Duchy of
Lancaster.[675]
The actual result was far inferior. Fox, Fitzwilliam, Spencer,
Grenville, and Windham being ruled out by the King's action and
Grenville's resolve, the Cabinet was formed as follows: Pitt, First Lord
of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer; Harrowby, Foreign
Secretary; Hawkesbury, Home Secretary; Camden, Secretary at War and for
the Colonies; Portland, Lord President; Eldon, Lord Chancellor;
Westmorland, Privy Seal; Melville, Admiralty; Chatham, Master of
Ordnance; Mulgrave, Duchy of Lancaster; Castlereagh, President of the
India Board; the Duke of Montrose, President of the Board of Trade. Of
these twelve Ministers, six had been with Addington, namely, Hawkesbury
(though at the Foreign Office, which he unwillingly vacated), Portland,
Eldon, Westmorland, Chatham, and Castlereagh.[676] Pitt dispensed with
the services of Addington, St. Vincent, and Pelham. Of non-Cabinet
appointments, the chief were those of the Earl of Hardwicke as Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland; Sir Evan Nepean, Irish Secretary; William Dundas,
War Office; Canning, Treasury of the Navy, in place of Tierney, who
declined to serve with Pitt; Lord Charles Somerset and George Rose,
Joint Paymasters of the Forces; and Perceval, Attorney-General. Canning
and Rose were dissatisfied with their appointments, the latter writing
to Bishop Tomline in deep chagrin at Pitt's neglect of his faithful
services.
The new Cabinet, besides being too large, was half Addingtonian and half
Pittite, a source of weakness which soon led to further changes. It was
also weighted with inefficient members--Chatham, Hawkesbury, and
Portland. The King disliked Hawkesbury, and said he had no head for
business, no method, and no punctuality. Harrowby, though a man of
brilliant parts in private life, and an excellent speaker, was oppressed
by a delicate frame, precarious health, and a peevish temper. During no
small part of his tenure of office he had to take the waters at Bath,
and was therefore a poor substitute for the experienced and hard-working
Grenville. Pitt, for some unexplained reason,
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