ministry went to the King, and gave him the option of taking
Pitt into office, which he had previously refused, or
receiving their resignations. After again endeavouring in
vain to form an administration through the means of Lord
Granville and Lord Bath, the King was obliged to consent to
the demands of his ministers-and here may be said to commence
the leaden rule of the Pelhams, which continued to influence
the councils of this country, more or less, for so many years.
Pitt took the inferior, but lucrative office of paymaster; and
from this time no material change took place till the death of
Mr. Pelham, in March 1754, unless we except the admission of
Lord Granville to the cabinet in 1751, as president of the
council; an office which he contrived, with an interested
prudence very unlike his former conduct, to retain during all
succeeding ministries-and the getting rid of the Duke of
Bedford and Lord Sandwich, of whom the Pelhams had become
jealous.

The death of Pelham called into evidence the latent divisions
and hatreds of public Men, who had been hitherto acting in
concert. Fox and Pitt were obviously the two persons, upon
one of whom the power of Pelham must eventually fall. But the
intriguing Duke of Newcastle hated, and was jealous of both.
He, therefore, placed Sir Thomas Robinson in the House of
Commons, as secretary of state and leader, and made Henry
Bilson Legge chancellor of the exchequer, while he himself
took the treasury-leaving Fox (4) and Pitt in the subordinate
situations they had hitherto held. The incapacity of Sir
Thomas Robinson became, however, soon so apparent, that a
change was inevitable. This was hastened by a temporary