those of Carteret were too dangerous to trust. As First Minister Pelham had many difficulties to contend with, but not greater than those which always must encompass that position. There was the King, with violent prejudices and a Hanoverian policy, neither of which he shared. Then there was his brother, who regarded himself as at least his junior's equal, and whose petulance, jealousy, and suspicion had to be kept in a constant state of arduous appeasement. Thirdly, there was Pitt, whom the King could not do with and Pelham could not do without; an element of incalculable explosion which anything might ignite. He seems to have steered his course somewhat passively through these complications; content so long as he could ward off domestic catastrophe, and prevent war with its consequent expenditure; though the fates in neither case were propitious. His only real conviction indeed was for peace and economy; for the heritage of Walpole's policy had devolved upon him, without Walpole's character and ability. Three years before the end, as we have seen, he had sickened of his task and of his helplessness amid the jarring elements of discord, but he had not been permitted to retire. He was indeed the necessary man; a good debater, a good administrator, a minister with a conscience for the public, a leader or a figurehead with Newcastle's parliamentary power behind him, a tactician who managed to keep Pitt at bay, dangerous but muzzled. Men of this stamp are kept in harness to the end.