This pleased George whose eyes filled with tears at the thought of his and his wife's virtues and how well they filled their roles to the glory of England. Then the conversation turned on the reason for Mr. Pitt's being in London and the King made it very clear that he placed himself in Mr. Pitt's hands. He was disappointed in the Rockingham ministry; in fact ever since Mr. Pitt had ceased to lead the Government he had been disappointed.
Pitt's eyes gleamed with triumph when he heard this. He had come prepared to compromise; now he saw that there would be no need. It would be as he, Pitt, wished it to be. He told the King that he would have great pleasure in forming a government which he would submit to His Majesty for his approval.
George warmly shook his hand and said: "It is a great relief. You understand, eh? A great relief.”
"I do understand, Sir. I trust Your Majesty will have no reason to regret your decision. Your Majesty knows full well that I shall use all my powers to make this ministry a success.”
The King said: "Yes, yes, yes. I have never doubted that, eh? What? What?”
Mr. Pitt bowed himself from the presence. The King had changed and he could not help feeling a little uneasy. The quick way of talking with the inevitable "What? What?" was already being noticed. And the change had come with his recent indisposition ... that mysterious illness which no one quite understood, and about which there were so many rumours. A Regency? thought Pitt.
He grimaced inwardly. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. He would deal with such a contingency when and if it arose. In the meantime he had carte blanche to form a ministry.
Pitt presented his choice of a ministry to the King and it was accepted. The First Lord of the Treasury was the Duke of Grafton a rather reckless choice perhaps, not because the Duke lacked ability and could not be trusted to support him, but because of the life he led. Descended from Charles II, Grafton had inherited many of that king's characteristics, chief of which was his love of women. His existing liaison was one of the scandals of the Court. This was with Nancy Parsons, a notorious courtesan, the daughter of a Bond Street tailor who had first lived with a West Indian merchant named Horton with whom she had gone to Jamaica; Jamaica did not suit her however and she soon returned to London where she took many lovers; chief of whom was the Duke of Grafton. The Duke's open dalliance with her he was constantly seen with her at the races and in public places his devotion to horse racing, his neglect of his wife, the mother of his three children, meant that his affairs were widely known and discussed. It was said by Horace Walpole, the wit and raconteur, that Grafton 'postponed the world for a whore and a horse race' and he went on to voice some pointed criticism against "The Duke of Grafton's Mrs. Horton, the Duke of Dorset's Mrs. Horton, everybody's Mrs. Horton." And such was the man whom Pitt had chosen to be First Lord of the Treasury.
The Lord President was the Earl of Northington; the Chancellor of the Exchequer Mr. Charles Townsend; and the position of Lord Privy Seal, Pitt reserved for himself.
When the news was out there was rejoicing through the City. Bonfires were lit in the streets. The Mayor decided that a banquet in honour of Mr. Pitt, the Great Commoner, be held at the Guildhall. There was a great deal of talk about the prosperity which Mr. Pitt had brought to the City when he had first become Prime Minister. Mr. Pitt had brought an Empire to England and the City knew that Empires meant trade and prosperity. In the streets they shouted for Mr. Pitt. They waited for his carriage; if they saw it they gathered round it, cheering. A great wave of optimism swept through London.
"Everything will be all right now," it was said. "Mr. Pitt is back.”
Sewing, reading, walking a little in her apartments at Kew, going to see the children in their nursery, receiving visits from them, the trying months of pregnancy were passing slowly for Charlotte. Though, she thought, I should be used to it by now. And there was one blessing: the more children she had the easier it became to give birth to them.
She saw little of her husband. He was occupied with the new Ministry and Mr. Pitt. When he did come to see her she asked him questions, for there was so much excitement about that matter that the news had come to Kew. She wanted to know what had brought Mr. Pitt back and what his terms had been, because she knew that he had retired from the front bench because of some disagreement with the King and the majority of his ministers.
When George came to see her they walked together in the gardens. He wanted to know the minutest details. He always did. Why had roses been planted there? He would send for the gardeners and ask. They always had their answers ready and were prepared for him. But when she asked him about government affairs he grew pink and he said: "Oh, state affairs ... state affairs.”
"Everyone seems so excited about this new turn.”
"Shouldn't talk so much. Wait and see, eh?”
"Mr. Pitt must have many new plans.”
"Don't doubt it, don't doubt it. Now are you taking regular exercise? Necessary. Very necessary, eh? Feeling well are you? Feel the heat, eh? What? Usual in the circumstances, eh?”
"I'm as well as I always am at these times, but I should like to know...”
"Take care. Don't worry your head about matters outside your knowledge. Not good for the child.
Not good for you, eh? I think a path would be good here. What do you think, eh?”
And so it went on. At times Charlotte felt like a prisoner a pampered prisoner who was to have all her comforts, most material things that she asked for, but never her freedom. I am like a queen bee in a hive. I am looked after that I may go on bearing my young.
A few days after he had formed his ministry William Pitt made one of the greatest mistakes of his career. He accepted a peerage and became Viscount Pitt of Burton-Pynsent in the County of Somersetshire and Earl of Chatham in the County of Kent.
What possessed him to take such a step his friends could not be sure. He was suffering acutely from the gout; the first excitement of being in harness again was wearing off; he knew that the old enemy Gout was not going to allow him to carry out his plans; he felt old and tired; and as most of his colleagues possessed high-sounding titles, it seemed only right and proper that he, who had done so much more in the service of his country, should have one too. In any case he accepted the titles and by doing so lost the one which had counted for so much in the eyes of the people. He might now be the Earl of Chatham but he was no longer the Great Commoner.
"Illuminations for my Lord Chatham!" cried the people of London. "A banquet at the Guildhall!
Not likely. They were to honour Mr. Pitt, not Chatham. He's as self-seeking as the rest. He's not there to serve the country and us. He's there to get a fine handle to his name and what goes with it.”
There was no enthusiasm now in the streets. No one called Hurrah for Pitt. The people were sullenly silent. Everyone was commenting on the change. Lord Chesterfield wrote to his son: "He has had a fall upstairs and has done himself so much hurt that he will never be able to stand on his legs again.”
But it was the shrewd Horace Walpole who summed up the position and pointed out that in accepting the title the new Earl had done more harm to the country than to himself.
"While he held the love of the people," said Horace, 'nothing was so formidable in Europe as his name. The talons of the lion were drawn when he was no longer awful in his own forest.”
A sick man, driven almost to distraction by the pain of his gout, Pitt sought to defy public opinion which had previously wholeheartedly supported him and tried to govern with his ministry which had been made up from both parties; but because he had set Whigs and Tories, friends and enemies to work together and because he himself had ruined his own public image by his title, and chiefly because he was an extremely sick man, he was doomed to failure.