The plan was excellent; but the King would not hear of it.Dull, obstinate, unforgiving, and, at that time half mad, he positively refused to admit Fox into his service.Anybody else, even men who had gone as far as Fox, or further than Fox, in what his Majesty considered as Jacobinism, Sheridan, Grey, Erskine, should be graciously received; but Fox never.During several hours Pitt laboured in vain to reason down this senseless antipathy.That he was perfectly sincere there can be no doubt: but it was not enough to be sincere; he should have been resolute.Had he declared himself determined not to take office without Fox, the royal obstinacy would have given way, as it gave way, a few months later, when opposed to the immutable resolution of Lord Grenville.In an evil hour Pitt yielded.He flattered himself with the hope that, though he consented to forego the aid of his illustrious rival, there would still remain ample materials for the formation of an efficient ministry.That hope was cruelly disappointed.Fox entreated his friends to leave personal considerations out of the question, and declared that he would support, with the utmost cordiality, an efficient and patriotic ministry from which he should be himself excluded.Not only his friends, however, but Grenville, and Grenville's adherents, answered, with one voice, that the question was not personal, that a great constitutional principle was at stake, and that they would not take office while a man eminently qualified to render service to the commonwealth was placed under a ban merely because he was disliked at Court.All that was left to Pitt was to construct a government out of the wreck of Addington's feeble administration.The small circle of his personal retainers furnished him with a very few useful assistants, particularly Dundas, who had been created Viscount Melville, Lord Harrowby, and Canning.
Such was the inauspicious manner in which Pitt entered on his second administration.The whole history of that administration was of a piece with the commencement.Almost every month brought some new disaster or disgrace.To the war with France was soon added a war with Spain.The opponents of the minister were numerous, able, and active.His most useful coadjutors he soon lost.Sickness deprived him of the help of Lord Harrowby.It was discovered that Lord Melville had been guilty of highly culpable laxity in transactions relating to public money.He was censured by the House of Commons, driven from office, ejected from the Privy Council, and impeached of high crimes and misdemeanours.The blow fell heavy on Pitt.It gave him, he said in Parliament, a deep pang; and, as he uttered the word pang, his lip quivered, his voice shook, he paused, and his hearers thought that he was about to burst into tears.Such tears shed by Eldon would have moved nothing but laughter.Shed by the warm-hearted and open-hearted Fox, they would have moved sympathy, but would have caused no surprise.But a tear from Pitt would have been something portentous.He suppressed his emotion, however, and proceeded with his usual majestic self-possession.
His difficulties compelled him to resort to various expedients.
At one time Addington was persuaded to accept office with a peerage; but he brought no additional strength to the government.
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At another time Pitt renewed his efforts to overcome his master's aversion to Fox; and it was rumoured that the King's obstinacy was gradually giving way.But, meanwhile, it was impossible for the minister to conceal from the public eye the decay of his health, and the constant anxiety which gnawed at his heart.His sleep was broken.His food ceased to nourish him.All who passed him in the Park, all who had interviews with him in Downing Street, saw misery written in his face.The peculiar look which he wore during the last months of his life was often pathetically described by Wilberforce, who used to call it the Austerlitz look.
Still the vigour of Pitt's intellectual faculties, and the intrepid haughtiness of his spirit, remained unaltered.He had staked everything on a great venture.He had succeeded in forming another mighty coalition against the French ascendency.
The united forces of Austria, Russia, and England might, he hoped, oppose an insurmountable barrier to the ambition of the common enemy.But the genius and energy of Napoleon prevailed.
While the English troops were preparing to embark for Germany, while the Russian troops were slowly coming up from Poland, he, with rapidity unprecedented in modern war, moved a hundred thousand men from the shores of the Ocean to the Black Forest, and compelled a great Austrian army to surrender at Ulm.To the first faint rumours of this calamity Pitt would give no credit.
He was irritated by the alarms of those around him."Do not believe a word of it," he said: "It is all a fiction." The next day he received a Dutch newspaper containing the capitulation.
He knew no Dutch.It was Sunday; and the public offices were shut.He carried the paper to Lord Malmesbury, who had been minister in Holland; and Lord Malmesbury translated it.Pitt tried to bear up; but the shock was too great; and he went away with death in his face.