The King's subsequent acts and their result, however, certainly took the
kingdom by surprise. He applied to the Duke of Wellington to undertake
the formation of a new ministry; and the Duke, explaining to the King
that "the difficulty of the task consisted in the state of the House of
Commons, earnestly recommended him to choose a minister in the House of
Commons," and named Sir Robert Peel as the fittest object for his
Majesty's choice. Sir Robert was in Italy at the time; but, on receiving
the royal summons, he at once hastened to England, the Duke of
Wellington in the mean time accepting the offices of First Lord of the
Treasury and Secretary of State, as a provisional arrangement, till he
should arrive in London.
Sir Robert reached England early in December; and though, if "he had
been consulted beforehand, he would have been inclined to dissuade the
dismissal of the last ministry as premature and impolitic," he did not
consider it compatible "with his sense of duty" to decline the charge
which the King laid upon him, and at once accepted the office of
Prime-minister, being fully aware that by so doing he "became
technically, if not morally, responsible for the dissolution of the
preceding government, though he had not had the remotest concern in
it."[235] In the formation of his ministry he so far endeavored to carry
out the views which the King had suggested to Lord Melbourne in the
summer as to invite the co-operation of Mr.
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