For this purpose he called in the assistance and experience of his uncle the Duke of Cumberland, whose upright and consistent conduct had given him an authority and importance which he had not sought. He was a firm Whig, and had of late years regarded Pitt as the real head of that great party. To him therefore the Duke now applied. In a long interview Pitt explained his views and stated his terms. He demanded that an alliance with the Protestant powers of Europe should be entered into, to balance the Family Compact, that general warrants should henceforward be declared illegal, and that officers dismissed for political reasons should be restored. Everything seemed to promise success, but Pitt wished to see Temple, to whom he was bound by ties of relationship, party, personal friendship, and even pecuniary assistance. After his interview with Temple it was evident that some obstacle had arisen, and the negotiation was broken off. The fact is, that Temple, infinitely Pitt's inferior, had come to terms with George Grenville, and was planning a family Grenville ministry; and Pitt's lofty view of his obligations to his brother-in-law prevented him from breaking with him. The King was thus thrown back, bound hand and foot, into the hands of his old ministry. They would consent to remain in their places if the King would pledge himself to dismiss Bute from his friendship, to get rid of Fox, now Lord Holland, from the Paymastership, turn Mr. Stuart Mackenzie out of his place as Privy Seal for Scotland, make Lord Granby Commander-in-Chief instead of the Duke of Cumberland, and give Ireland to the ministry, which meant the dismissal of the Earl of Northumberland, Bute's son-in-law, from the Lord-Lieutenancy--a mere set of personal and vindictive conditions, contrasting finely with Pitt's political demands. Such as they were the King was obliged to accept them, but he could not bring himself to like or trust his ministry, and after a strong, though not perhaps unduly strong, representation from Bedford against the underhand employment of the King's influence against his own ministers, he determined that he would rid himself of them, even at the cost of accepting the Whig Houses. Pitt was again applied to, talked honestly and simply to the Duke of Cumberland, stating as his terms an European alliance, the abolition of general warrants, the repeal of the cider tax, and a change in American taxation, thus in his two sets of terms clearing himself of all complicity with the follies of the present Government. But Temple refused to take the position of Prime Minister except as the head of a Grenville administration, and Pitt with infinite sorrow gave up the negotiation, sold his house at Hayes, and declared his intention of retiring to Somersetshire, where an admiring stranger had lately left him the house of Burton-Pynsent. [Sidenote: Ministry of the Whig Houses.]