became evident that war was at hand. Addington proposed a large augmentation of the navy and the embodiment of the militia. He found his position shaken, and hoped to strengthen it by the help of Pitt. He first proposed that they should both hold office under a first minister, whose position in the cabinet should be merely nominal. When this proposal was refused, he offered with great generosity that Pitt should be the first minister, and that he should hold office under him. Pitt insisted on bringing Lord Grenville, Windham, and others with him into the administration. Addington wished to strengthen the existing government by the addition of Pitt. Pitt insisted on the virtual dissolution of the cabinet and the introduction of men who had violently opposed the measures of the existing administration. The negotiations failed. Addington did not tell the king of his proposals until after their failure, although they implied a total change in the character of the administration. The friendship between Addington and Pitt was for a time wholly broken. The war was renewed in May 1803. The ministry gained considerable popularity by a bill for the armament of the nation. Before long the unsatisfactory character of Addington's arrangements became apparent. His regulations with respect to the volunteers were such as to discourage the movement and to curtail its efficiency. The naval administration of Lord St. Vincent was extremely faulty. Canning in his bitter verse poured scorn on Addington and his colleagues, on their commonplace abilities and measures. The ‘Doctor’—the nickname given to Addington—was made the object of coarse and violent satire by the wits. His friends retaliated by beginning a war of pamphlets. ‘A Few Cursory Remarks,’ by a Mr. Bentley, published without Addington's consent, contained an attack on Pitt. The contempt felt for Addington was changed into hatred. Early in 1804 the old and new oppositions combined against him. ‘You will get Pitt in again,’ was Sheridan's warning to Fox. ‘I can't bear fools, anything but fools,’ was his reply. Pitt at last openly opposed the government. The majority sank to 37, and Addington on 30 April declared his intention to resign. With a respectable majority in the house, with a body of firm personal adherents, and with considerable influence in the country, he left office because he could not stand with Pitt against him, and dared not face the combination of talented men of all parties who joined in exposing his incapacity. His industry and good intentions could not make up for his own dulness and the incapacity of his colleagues. The pompous manner and sententious gravity which became the speaker's chair were ill suited for debate. With the country gentry he was popular. Self-satisfied and honourable, a strong churchman, narrow in mind and sympathies, he was trusted by them. They understood him, for he was one of themselves. He was frank and jovial, and used in old age to call himself the last of ‘the port-wine faction.’ His very mediocrity suited them better than the loftiness of Pitt. In his use of patronage he did not rise even to the highest standard of his time, for he conferred on his son at the age of sixteen the rich sinecure of the clerkship of the pells. On leaving office, however, he refused a peerage and a pension.
For a while Addington opposed the new ministry of Pitt. Before the close of 1804, however, the two old friends were reconciled. In January 1805, Addington was created Viscount Sidmouth, and entered the cabinet as president of the council. The reconciliation was short-lived. Lord Sidmouth pressed for places for his friends. At the same time they voted against Pitt's wishes in the matter of the impeachment of his friend Lord Melville. Pitt declared that ‘their conduct must be marked,’ and in July Lord Sidmouth left the ministry. The distressing illness of his eldest son, who died in 1823, and his own weak health, kept him for some months away from public life. In February 1806, he was invited to join the coalition government of Lord Grenville and Fox, for his compact party of some fifty adherents in the Commons and the confidence which the king had in him made him a useful ally. He differed from his colleagues in their negotiations with the king on the catholic question, but acted honourably in not separating himself from them. Some of the old Pittite party continued hostile to him, and to please them Perceval passed him over in 1809, while he tried to gain his friends. The attempt failed. Perceval afterwards offered him a place in the cabinet, but Lord Sidmouth would not act with Canning and refused the offer. Ecclesiastical matters always had a charm for Lord Sidmouth, and his zealous churchmanship led him, in 1811, to bring in a bill requiring all dissenting ministers to be licensed, and restraining unlicensed preachers. The bill would have pressed hardly on the various nonconformist bodies, and especially on the Wesleyans. A considerable outcry was made against it throughout the country, and on the second reading it was thrown out by the lords without a division. In the summer of this year Lady Sidmouth died. On the return
