view of an agitating
nature; but the ministerial pressure brought to bear on them may have
overborne their better judgement. In matters of Cabinet discipline Pitt
was an autocrat, insisting that no important action should be taken
without his cognizance. Probably, then, it was his own sense of
responsibility which exposed him to the death blow.

Certainly the question at issue was of the gravest kind. Should
Ministers order the return of the British reinforcements last sent to
Hanover? That expedition was the work of Pitt. He it was who had reared
the fabric of a European Coalition; and, even after the withdrawal of
Austria, he clung to the hope that Prussia would take her place, and,
with the help of British, Prussian, Russian, and Swedish troops, drive
the French from North Germany and the Dutch Republic. How could his
colleagues order back a large part of the British force, thereby
justifying the vacillations of Prussia and ensuring a parliamentary
triumph to Fox and Grenville? And yet Ministers knew, better than Pitt
could know, the danger of relying on the Court of Berlin. Though not yet
fully aware of its resolve to take Napoleon's side, they had strong
reasons for expecting this course of action; and in that case the
British expedition would be in grave danger between the Prussians on the
east, the Franco-Dutch forces on the south-west and the ice-floes which
were forming on the River Weser. Prudence counselled the timely return
of our troops who were yet on board ship at or near Bremen.[778]
Patriotic pride prompted a bold offensive. But the King and Pitt alone
could utter the decisive words. The King approved the return of the
last reinforcements, and Pitt, it seems, must have conceded the point.
But the concession struck him to the heart. It was the last of the
deadly stabs which fate dealt him thick and fast in his time of
weakness.

Nevertheless, on the morrow he drove out in his carriage, but was
visibly weaker than before the interview. For a few minutes he saw his
brother and then Lord Wellesley. The latter found his mind as clear as
ever; and he uttered these remarkable words about Sir Arthur Wellesley:
"He states every difficulty before he undertakes any service, but none
after he has undertaken it." What a prophecy of Vittoria and Waterloo
there is in these words--the swan-song of Pitt. It was too much for him.
He fainted before Wellesley left the room. On the 18th he rallied for a
time, and the doct