The weakness of the Rockingham administration was patent from the first. Charles Townshend, who succeeded Holland as paymaster, called it "a lutestring ministry, fit only for summer wear"; Pitt was expected to supply one of more durable material before the winter. The old phalanx of the whigs, tried hands at political business, was broken up by death and desertion; their successors lacked experience and authority. Rockingham, a man of thirty-five, a prominent figure on the turf, of vast wealth and irreproachable character, was a wretched speaker, and had neither genius, knowledge, nor industry. The Duke of Grafton, the secretary of state for the northern department, was even younger, and, like Rockingham, a great racing man. His public spirit made him a politician, but he cared so much more for pleasure than for politics that he was apt to be content so long as any immediate difficulty was tided over, and he suffered in public estimation from the scandal caused by his dissolute life. The southern department was taken by Conway. Dowdeswell, the chancellor of the exchequer, was a sound financier, but a dull man. Newcastle, who was privy seal and again had charge of church patronage, was no longer so powerful as in earlier days. Nor were the ministers unanimous in feeling. Grafton was far more at one with Pitt than with the Rockingham party; and the chancellor (Henley) Lord Northington, Egmont the first lord of the admiralty, and Barrington the secretary-at-war were included to please the king. Another cause of weakness was George's notorious dislike of his new ministers, which encouraged his "friends," the court party, to intrigue against them. [Sidenote: _PITT ON COLONIAL TAXATION._]