uld-preserve a dogged silence; while at other times he would oppose
measures to which Pitt attached the highest importance. At length his
rough temper brought matters to a crisis. Early in this session Thurlow
severely condemned Pitt's bill for liquidating future loans, and
irritated thereby the chancellor of the exchequer wrote to the king
stating the impossibility of his remaining in office with his lordship,
and that it was necessary for his majesty to choose between them. In
consequence of this communication, the king informed Thurlow that he
must resign; but as a change was not desirable during the session, and
as it was wished that the lord chancellor should terminate some
chancery business, it was agreed that he should hold the seals until the
prorogation of parliament, on which day the great seal was placed in
the hands of three commissioners; an event which was not followed by a
single resignation or change in any political or legal department.
There is no doubt that Pitt knew, when he wrote to his majesty, that the
choice of dismissal would fall on his rough-minded colleague, for the
chancellor of the exchequer was well aware that he stood high in his
royal master's favour. His majesty, indeed, had often expressed his
high sense of his minister's services in words, and soon after this he
testified it in a more tangible manner. By the death of Lord Guildford
on the 5th of August, the wardenship of the cinque ports, worth about
L3000 a-year, became vacant, and his majesty offered it to Pitt in such
pressing terms, that even if he had been inclined to refuse the boon
it would scarcely have been possible. The royal letter by which it was
offered to him was in fact imperative, and Pitt had only to obey--no
very difficult task, as the chancellor of the exchequer, though he could
guide the helm of the state with a skilful hand, nevertheless could
not manage his own affairs with sufficient skill to keep himself out of
debt.

EAST INDIA AFFAIRS.

During this year the war in India was brought to a close. The events of
that war had been various. After the re-establishment of the Rajah
of Travancore in his dominions, as recorded in a previous page, Lord
Corn-wallis, the governor-general, took the command of the army upon
himself, and laid siege to Bangalore. This important place was taken by
storm, and his lordship then determined to penetrate into the heart
of Mysore, to dictate his own terms of peace to Tippoo Su