On the 6th, the King made his speech. Lord Northumberland[123] and Lord Berkeley[124] of Stratton moved and seconded the Address. Lord Temple rose, and opened on his own and Mr. Pitt’s resignations, the motives to which he explained; found fault that no mention was made of the militia, and that the Parliament had not been thanked for establishing it. He talked on Court favour, and on those who disposed of all things; endeavouring to provoke Lord Bute to rise. He said, the crisis for a war with Spain had been most advantageously held out to this country, and complained of those who had betrayed the secrets of our situation to Bussy. It was a time, he said, when a first minister was necessary; but now, _who_ remained fit for that office? _Who_ thought himself capable of _guiding_? He uttered this in his usual languid manner, though the matter was not ill conceived; nor, though indiscreet, was he so intemperate as had been expected. The Duke of Bedford replied with much applause, and said, he did not know why the militia deserved more thanks than the grant of regular troops. He declared,[125] upon his honour, that he had told no such thing, as had been hinted at, to Bussy; and concluded with hoping never to see a first minister. Lord Shelburne, attached to Fox, and profuse of application to Lord Bute, spoke against the German war. The Duke of Marlborough[126] and Earl Gower moved the congratulation to the Queen. The decency of Lord Temple’s prelude to new opposition soon changed its hue in a manner more suited to his factious turbulence. On the 9th, the King and all the Royal family dined in the City with the Lord Mayor. Thither, too, went Mr. Pitt and Lord Temple in a chariot together,--a step justly censured, and very nearly productive of fatal consequences. To _them_ all acclamations were addressed; and the distinctions paid in the Guildhall to Mr. Pitt, to the total neglect of the King, bestowed all the honour of the triumph on the former. Little was wanting to turn the pageant into a tragedy. Riots ensued, and many persons were insulted. The Favourite had taken the precaution of having a guard of butchers and bruisers; and by the defence of that convoy alone, escaped mischief. Sir Samuel Fludyer, the Lord Mayor, caused diligent inquiry to be made into the proceedings of the day, and learned that Beckford himself had visited several public-houses over night, and had appointed ringleaders to different stations, and had been the first to raise the huzza in the hall on the entrance of Mr. Pitt. _His_ joining himself to a pomp, dedicated to a Court that he had just quitted, was not decent. The ambition of drawing to himself the homage of the people was not modest. To offer himself as an incentive to civil tumult, and to how dangerous consequences he could not tell, was not a symptom of very innocent intentions. CHAPTER VII.