Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 5.djvu/315

A.D.1782.] the speeches of himself and co-oppositionists, which had so long extolled the enemies of England, and represented her so low and so completely on the brink of ruin, Rockingham, who was failing when he took office, died on the 1st of July. Fox, who was a violent anti-Shelburneite, instantly threw up office on the king sending for Shelburne, and upon that nobleman accepting the position of premier. Burke, lord John Cavendish, and John Townshend did the same. Thomas Townshend took Fox's place as foreign secretary, lord Grantham succeeded lord Shelburne as home secretary, William Pitt now came in as chancellor of the exchequer, in the place of lord John Cavendish.



Barré took Burke's post of paymaster of the forces, and Dundas stepped into Barré's as treasurer of the navy. Other changes took place; the duke of Portland, a firm Rockinghamite, resigned the lord-lieutenancy of Ireland, which George Grenville, now lord Temple, the nephew of the late lord Temple, took. Mr. Pepper Arden became solicitor-general, and Sir George Yonge secretary of war, in place of Thomas Townshend, now secretary of state, in place of Fox.

The resigned Rockinghamites were by no means resigned in their tempers. Fox was gone out in the deepest poverty and embarrassment, and attacked his late colleagues bitterly. He declared that Shelburne could be base enough to coalesce even with lord North, the very thing Fox himself was so soon to do. Fox, on his part, came in for very severe censure, for being one of a ministry who, whilst professing to put an end to administrative corruption, and engaged in cutting down pensions, granted the enormous ones of colonel Barré and lord Ashburton; whilst they received with coldness the news of a most splendid victory of Rodney over De Grasse, which we have now to detail, and conferred on him only a pension of two thousand a-year, because he was a tory. In fact, whilst Fox had been vainly making overtures of peace to the European powers and to America, Rodney had been showing that there wanted only three or four really able men at the head of our ministry, our army and navy, to turn again the tide of victory toward England in all its greatness. To add to these mortifications of Fox, the king, disgusted at the humiliations which he considered the overtures made by Fox to the French, Dutch, Spaniards, and Americans brought with them, had, with evident satisfaction, accepted his resignation. The king prorogued parliament immediately on the formation of the new ministry, the session ending on the 11th of July.

Scarcely was the Rockingham administration formed when they determined to recall England's ablest admiral. Sir George Rodney, and they carried this into execution in May of this year, and appointed admiral Pigott in his stead. Lord Keppel, who had shown himself so sensitive in his own case,