his Royal Highness till many days after Mr. Pitt hall been distinctly, and repeatedly, and finally informed of the necessity and resolution which had been taken to **resign. We are assured ton, that when

it did take place, it was preceded and ́accompanied by all the usual forms and attentions due to the Sovereign. The best informed persons Lave asserted, that Mr. "Pitt knew the hour and the moment of "it, and had it confirmed in the audience "he had the honour of receiving inme

diately after Lord Sidmouth. The clerks of the council, it is observed with the same ridiculous and impotent malice,

were made acquainted with it, upon Lord "Sidmouth's coming out of the closet! "Was his lordship to suffer Sir Stephen "Cottrell and Mr. Falkner to wait upon

him the next morning with the papers "and business of the privy council, because "it was beneath him to explain himself to ❝ clerks? The clerks of his Majesty's privy "council have surely a right to be treated

as gentlemen, and it is the duty of those "who resign offices, to decline receiving "official confidence and communications. "We confiue ourselves to plain facts; we "leave to the partisans of corruption to dis"tort and overwhelm the truth by false

prove,

lights and impartial statements, and re"dundance of wicked words. We assert again, and will at all times be ready to that the whole and the sole quarrel which has arisen between Mr. Pitt and "Lord Sidmouth, regards Lord Melville "and the Commissioners of Naval Enquiry; "comprising the attempt to protect the

first against the justice of the country, and to perplex and weary, and disgust, "the other with insults, invectives, and de"traction. Does the public know that the "present Treasurer of the Navy, whose li

tigious and vexatious delays and opposi"tion to the precepts of the commissioners,

was complained of and denounced by "them to the King, and to both Houses of "Parliament, was placed, by the ministerial "ballot, upon the Select Committee which

nas cross-examined and reported against "the commissioners? Did the most devoted partisan of Lord Melville and his associates, expect that the lord president of "the coumell 'should connive at those oblique and sinister stratagems to overwhelm the commissioners in their inevitable feel**ings and resentinents? Did they think his lordship could have veiled his sentiments

of honour, and character of purity, to what has been called, by the highest authority of justice, the job of the Athol

we

"interest and family? Of Lord Melville it " is our intention to say nothing more than shall be provoked to by the audacity "of his improvident defenders and accomplices; of those who would defeat the "ends of public justice, and the just de"mands of the people; and who feel no scruple to defame and belie the greatest and the brightest characters, the most distinguished services, and the noblest and most disinterested sacrifices. We do "not recollect to have ever seen such a "compilation of misrepresentation and ma

"

Sidmouth, and his friends, for the mo"tives which occasioned their séparation "from the government; and they cannot "endure that those respected persons should enjoy the credit of having resigned their "offices, rather than screen Lord Mel"ville." It will not, however, we are con "fident, be denied by Mr. Pitt, that had they concurred in his wish to screen "Lord Melville" from any criminal prose"cution, those differences would not have " arisen, which were the "real" and im"mediate causes of their resignation. On "the part of Lord Sidmouth there was no attempt, or I desire, to dictate, and do"mineer in the cabinet:" it was the funda "mental diversity of opinion between his "lordship and Mr. Pitt, upon the points "arising out of the Tenth Report, and the "line of conduct to be consequently taken "in parliament, which led to the late

changes in the government. The writer "in question endeavours to involve the "friends of Lord Sidmouth in an incon

"

public and Lord Melville. But the audacity of this writer is carried to its highest pitch, when he ventures to ask, Is "not Lord Melville given up by the cabi"net and when he asserts, that "the cabinet have giyen Lord Melville up to impeachment." It is notorious, that Mr. Pitt and his adherents endeavoured to pre"vent any process whatever against Lord Melville, either by impeachment or criminal information: but they proved, by their votes on Mr. Bond's motion for an "amendment, that of the two modes, they were most averse to the former. They afterwards, however, changed their minds, and when a large proportion of the majority, who voted for a criminal prosecution, had left London, a motion for rescinding the resolution of the former pight was brought forward, and in a "House composed of not many more mem "bers than the majority who had divided "for the criminal prosecution, the vote, by "which it was ordered, was rescinded, and "an impeachment, was substituted in its pláce-a procceding of which there is no example, and which has sunk deep into "the mind of every one who feels for the "honour and consistency of parliament. It " is, however, to the friends of Lord Sidmouth, and to the members of opposi tion, that the triumph of public justice is "to be exclusively attributed. Without "them, the delinquency of Lord Melville

"

"

"

"

would have been left to the inadequate operation of a civil process; without them "there would have been no criminal prosecution whatever. They all gave a decisive proof of their, sincerity, by declaring, that, whatever might be their preference of one mode to another, they would support either an impeachment, or an information, rather than forego the certainty of some criminal prosecution. This, in "the language of the Courier, is "a giving up of Lord Melville by the cabinet, as well as by parliament, to those who had pursued him most keenly!" That the Addingtons, by their upright conduct, by "this steady adherence to their public duty, have given "mortal offence," we do not pretend to deny; and it is too mani"fest that their continuance in office had "therefore become impossible. Upon "whom the imputation of taking others by surprise ought justly to rest, the public 1. determine. It cannot attach on the fner ds of Lord Sidmouth; for it is false to state, that they brought forward the motion for a criminal prosecution, without the knowledge of their colleagues.

"

"Their intentions were previously and distinctly communicated to Mr. Pitt, and he will not deny the fact. The report of "Lord Sidmouth having made a communi"cation to the Prince of Wales, before he "notified to Mr. Pitt his intention, to re

sign, or his Majesty had actually accepted "his resignation, is now so generally known to be untrue, upon the most unquestion"able authority, that we shall offer no com ment upon it. On the concluding observations of this writer, we will content "ourselves with asserting, that Lord Sidmouth and his friends worship no rising "Sun. By whom that species of adoration "is likely to be paid, may, perhaps, ere leng "be disclosed. Lord Sidmouth, and all "connected with him, feel the respect that " is due to the Heir Apparent of the British "Throne; but they know to whom their "highest duty is owing, and it never has "been, and never will be, justly imputed

to them, that they have failed in a firm "and zealous discharge of it. Their real "crimes are, independence of mind, consis"tency of public conduct, and a determined "opposition to personal corruption, private "jols, and political depravity!!!And this, observe, from the Addingtons to Mr. Pitt! The Heaven-born minister!"Te "calumnies and misrepresentations with "which Lord Sidmouth and his friends have "lately been assailed by the adherents of "Lord Melville, and his associates, have "recoiled upon their own bosoms; their "detected lies, their perfidious perversions "of the truth, and the malignant, rancorous character of their libels, have clearly

house, and of Mr. Fox, Mr. Grey, and "Mr. Whitbread in particular.-THIRD હું LY. That when the ministers lost this motion in the House, and the votes of censure, and for a civil proceeding, were carried, the Select Committee (although not chosen as it would have been in the "first case, and fettered from inquiring into "the profits made by Lord Melville from "the naval money) did, in fact, discover so much (the burning of the vouchers in particular) as made it inapossible for them (although they chose not to make any report) to screen Lord Melville.--FOURTH

LY. That the influence of Lord Sid"mouth, which prevented Mr. Pitt from "the course he intended to take, saved him "the government, and, perhaps, the coun

try, on the 8th of April.--FIFTHLY. "That from the day of that memorable vote, Mr. Pitt has omitted no attempt to snatch Lord Melville from trial; some"times pretending he had incurred no mo"ral guilt, and at other times that he had "been punished sufficiently, and always

endeavouring to involve and perplex the "House in their own proceedings, until he "finally cancelled the vote of the greatest "House ever assembled, upon the motion "for a criminal information, and carried "that of impeachment (against which he "had himself voted), by surprise. SIXTH

"

LY.-That from the same day to the mo

of his Majesty, immediately upon his lordship's leaving the room, was informed "of the fact having taken place.-TENTHLY. That Sir Stephen Cottrell and Mr. "Falkner, were informed to the same ef

66

feet, by Lord Sidmouth, upon coming out "of the King's presence, in order that they "should no longer transmit to his lordship "the papers and business of the privy "council-ELEVENTHLY. That no com"munication whatsoever was transmitted "by Lord Sidmouth to his Royal Highness "the Prince of Wales, relative to this event; "and that, in point of fact, no information (however indirect and informal) reached "the Prince until many hours after the resignation had taken place.-TWELFTHLY, "That from the moment of Lord Sid"mouth's resignation, it has appeared of "the utmost importance to the Melville part of the ministry, to conceal and belie "the true causes of it."- -Thus far the TIMES. The following is from the Sus of the date abovementioned.- "It has been often observed, that injudicious friends are likely to injure rather than to serve the object of their partiality. It has been "also as often observed, that any laborious attempts to defend a cause, rather tend to "excite suspicions which otherwise perhaps might not have arisen. Both of these re"marks are peculiarly applicable to the lite rary. advocates of Lord Sidmouth, who, by all their persevering zeal in defence of "his resignation, have drawn more atten"tion to the subject than the noble lord pro"bably required, and who have certainly "not illustrated the motives of that resigna“tion in such a manner as to bring any ad"dition of credit to his lordship's character. "No less than twelve causes have been as"signed for his lordship's retirement, not

lity Lord Sidmouth and his friends never "failed distinctly to give previous intima"tion to Mr. Pitt, of all the motions or

amendments they found it imposed upon "them to propose of the motion for a

criminal information in particular; upon "which occasion Mr. Pitt publicly retract"ed, in the House of Commons, his asser"tions to the contrary. EIGHTHLY. "That when Lord Sidmouth saw all his "friends and colleagues, and measures, in"sulted and threatened, and calumniated; " and when he determined, in consequence, to resign his distinguished office into the King's hands, he superfluously, out of "mere politeness and attention, acquainted "Mr. Pitt with his resolution, both a con

siderable time before, and at the instant of his going into the closet. NINTHLY. That Mr. Pitt, who had an ́audience

"partial quarter than the ingenious inven

66

"

for of the twelve causes, is passed over in "total silence. We beg leave to ask the friend, if friend he may be called, of Lord Sidmouth, who so often favours the publie with a column or two of panegyric on "his lordship's prodigious services and elevated virtues (the word gratitude is very properly never mentioned), whether the "immediate cause of the resignation, which "has been ascribed to so many great and lofty motives, was not the refusal of Mr. Pitt to appoint one of his lordship's friends to a high situation under government ?— "We presume that the person of whom we ask this question has it in his power to give an answer, because he appears to be so much in his lordship's con idence, that upon two or three occasions he has preemed to state what his lordship said “and "did, even in the cabinet. We are the more inclined to ask this question, and to lay some stress up on the refusal alluded to, because, unless we have been very much misinformed, when his lordship some months ago threatened the public "with such a lamentable event as his resig

nation, the cause of his anger was said to "have arisen from a similar disregard of his "recommendation of another friend to a

seat in the Admiralty. When we hear "the answer of the long-winded advocate, "who, like Yorick's Starling, seems to

have but one cry, though the reverse indeed of that celebrated bird's, we shall probably be tempted to renew the subjest."- -When persons of a certain description fall out, "honest men," it is said,

get their due;" a saying the truth of which has now been verified in the quarrels of these political partisans, making, as I evidently do not, any allusion, here, to the principals. Through the quarrels of these partisans it has come out, that every subject of his Majesty, though a minister of state, ought to treat the Prince of Wales" with great attention and respect;" and, it has further been acknowledged, that the efforts of the Opposition, have been "virtuous, pa"triotic, loyal;" and such as are calculated to prevent the people from despairing of being rescued from their present miserable and disgraced condition. The public will recollect, to, that these acknowledgments come from the partisans of the Addingtons; that they come from that same Times newspaper, which has been abusing the Opposition for these four years past, except the hort space, last year, while Mr. Addington and his people were out of office; nay, the public should be informed, that they come

from the NEAR OBSERVER" himself, for he is the person who writes the greater part of these articles taken from the TIMES. The other day we quoted some acknowledgments of the same sort from the ORACLE; so that we have now the NEAR OBSERVER and the UFSTART, who upon every other subject are as wide as the poles asunder, concurring in acknowledgments in honour of the Opposition. The observations to be made on the extracts above quoted naturally divide themselves into two heads: 1. The time and manner of Lord Sidmouth's announcing the intention of himself and his friends to resign. And, this part of the subject is now reduced to the mere question, whether his lordship did, or did not, notify his intention to the Prince previous to his having actually resigned. The TIMES says, that "the Frince

was not informed of it, till many hours "after it had taken place, and then not "officially, or by any authority, commission, or message whatever.". This, says that paper, "is the naked truth." Not quite so naked as one could wish it, nor quite so naked as I will now state it, agreeably to the information which I have obtained, and which I believe to be perfectly correct. It is true, that Lord Sidmouth did not make any official communication of his intention to the Prince; but, being in conversation with Mr. Sheridan, previous to his having actually resigned, he informed that gentleman of his intention, and, upon being asked, if there was any thing improper in the Prince's being immediately informed of it, answered in the negative. This is the account given by the friends of Lord Sidmouth; and, as I before stated, I am fully persuaded, that it is correct. The information to the Prince was not, therefore, offi

66

cial;" neither was it given to his Royal Highness by any commission" from his lordship, nor was it conveyed in any mes

66

sage;" but, while the denial of the Addingtons is true as to the letter, I am afraid, that, as to the spirit, the truth of it will be greatly doubted. What Lord Sidmouth's object might be, we cannot be certain; and, most assuredly, to have given to the Heir Apparent an intimation of his intention to resign, would have discovered no want of attachment to the King; but, seeing how very anxious his lordship's partisans are to represent him as abhorrisig all appearance of

HeirAp

worshipping the rising Sun," it does seem to me, and I think it will seem to the reader, something rather singular, if not wonderful, that he should have chosen Mr. Sheridan for his confident upon this particular occa sion. They met by accident."

Very