At this juncture I returned to England, April 22nd, and found everything in the utmost confusion. The Duke of Grafton, as I have said, determined to resign; Mr. Conway very ill, and sick of the fatigue of his office, which he executed with inconceivable and scrupulous attention; Lord Bute’s faction giving no support; and the Court discouraging all men from joining the Administration. A greater embarrassment had fallen on the Ministers: Mr. Pitt was grown impatient for power; and, after having discouraged Lord Rockingham from seeking his aid or protection, began to wonder that he was not courted to domineer; and he betrayed his ambition so far as to complain that the Administration had had his support, and now neglected him. Yet, on Grafton’s threats of quitting the Seals, Pitt intreated that nobody might quit for him: things were not ripe for him; it would let in Grenville and the Bedfords, the worst event of all, he said, for this country. Yet, if the Ministers made any direct advances to him, he was coy and wayward, and would treat only with his Majesty. Lord Mansfield and Mr. Yorke, who had great weight with Lord Rockingham, and were both jealous of Lord Camden; and the Duke of Richmond, now returned to England, and incited by Lord Holland to oppose Pitt; kept alive Lord Rockingham’s resentment, and prevented any direct negotiation. Thus circumstanced, Pitt’s temper broke forth. George Onslow had proposed, in order to save fifteen or twenty thousand pounds a year on the militia, to reduce one serjeant in each company, and the pay of the militia-clerks from fifty to twenty-five pounds a year. This reformation Lord Strange opposed; and the Ministry, not thinking it worth a division, gave it up. The opportunity, however, was seized by Pitt, to whom the plan had not been communicated. He went to the House, and made a vociferous declamation against the Ministry, who, he said, aimed at destroying the militia; he would go to the farthest corner of the island to overturn any Ministers that were enemies to the militia. This was all grimace: he did not care a jot about the militia.