use whenever a favourable moment should arrive.
That moment did not arrive during the present session; and before the
next was two days old Pitt was dead. It is unreasonable therefore to
stigmatize his memory as unprincipled, on a subject which he had no
opportunity of bringing forward; for, from the time of his resuming
office till the day on which he died, his mind was wholly occupied in
providing for the safety of his country.

THE SLAVE-TRADE QUESTION.

During this session, contrary to the advice of Pitt, the question of the
slave-trade was again brought forward by Wilberforce. His bill was read
the first time on the 10th of February, and the second reading was fixed
for the 28th. He seemed to have nothing to fear in the house of commons;
but on the 28th his constancy in the righteous cause he had undertaken
was severely tried. On "that fatal night," as he called it, not one of
his usual supporters, excepting Fox, spoke in its favour; and several
who had been neutral in the last session now voted against him. The
Irish members also were either absent or hostile, although they had
hitherto been warm in his favour. His bill was lost by seventy-seven
against seventy.

IMPEACHMENT OF LORD MELVILLE.

Early in this session Lord Melville was threatened with impeachment.
In February Wilberforce wrote, "Rumour has for some time impeached Lord
Melville's integrity. I have had much talk with George Rose about him.
Rose is confident that Pitt will defend him, though he tells me some
stories, and strong ones, of jobs which have fallen under his own view."
The storm which menaced Melville fell upon his head in April. In 1803
a bill had been passed, appointing commissioners to make inquiries into
the abuses of the naval department. These commissioners produced many
reports, the truth of which appeared to implicate Lord Melville, who,
while he filled the office of treasurer of the navy, had illegally
retained balances of the public money. This report was brought under
the consideration of the commons by Mr. Whitbread, who exhibited three
charges against Lord Melville:--first, his application of the public
money to other uses than those of the naval department, in express
contempt of an act of parliament;--secondly, his connivance at a system
of peculation in an individual, for whose conduct he was officially
responsible;--and, thirdly, his own participation in that system.
This second charge had reference to Mr. Tro