118 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



of the conduct which Pitt has since 

 observed. It gives me great plea- 

 sure to see, that whiie my tiiU'erencc 

 with Addington becomes every day 

 more marked, all the jnotives which 

 made Pitt and me differ in opinion 

 and conduct, daily decrease.— We 

 have not, however, yet been able to 

 assimilate completely our plans of 

 political condu6t. Our situation, in- 

 deed, in one essential point of view, 

 is entirely different. — Though he 

 did not recommend Addington to 

 his present employment (and, in- 

 deed, who is there that knows him 

 would have done it?), he neverthe- 

 less gave him a certain portion of 

 influence, more active than my oj)!- 

 nion would have jjermitted mc to 

 grant, in the formation of the new 

 administration. lie advised their 

 measures a Ion;; time after I had 

 ceased to have any intercourse M'ith 

 them, and he approved of them in 

 different points, which appeared to 

 me the most criminal, and which 

 were indeed so, as proved by the 

 event. lie is consequent!}' more 

 hampered in his conduct than I am, 

 and he does not at present enjoy the 

 inestimable advantage which 1 pos- 

 sess, of never having concealed nor 

 compromised my opinion, in regard 

 to matters of so much political im- 

 portance ; l)ut, I believe that his 

 ideas on their political condutt are 

 not much different from mine, if 

 they differ at all, and to all this must 

 be added a resentment justly merit- 

 ed from the personal conduit of I\lr. 

 Addington towards him. He does 

 not endeavour to conceal his senli- 

 ments. If he has written to you 

 (which he certainly must have done, 

 had he not eontra(".ted the bad habit 

 of never writing to any one) he 

 must have expressed to you, I am 

 periuadedj all these sentiments with- 



out reserve; and it is under this 

 persuasion that I enlarge so much to 

 you on his opinions. The measure, 

 indeed, which he has lately adopted 

 (I allude to his motion of adjourn- 

 ment, on the vote of censare, ill 

 judged in itself, as I think it was, 

 and unfortunate in its result, since 

 it lessened his public influence), has, 

 at least, the merit of expressing, iu 

 an unequivocal manner, his disap- 

 probation of the conduct of govern- 

 ment. I will lutt hazard a conjec- 

 ture in regard to the new events 

 which jTiay take place before your 

 arrival, and the only advice I wish 

 to give you is, what I have more 

 than o)ice suggested, not to engage 

 for any thing until you return, but to 

 retain the liberty of adling, accord- 

 ing to such motives as you shall 

 judge proper to direct your condu<^t 

 when you are on the spot, and ac- 

 cording as the different relation.^ 

 between persons at the head of af- 

 fairs in the different subdivisions of 

 parties, shall have enabled you to 

 judge what suits you best. In re- 

 gard to the idea thrown out, in th« 

 extract you have sent me from your 

 letter to Mr. Addington, you ought, 

 in my opinion, to consider it only as 

 a possible, though remote event. 

 As for eternal enmity, I detest the 

 idea; and, if I have an eternal en- 

 mity, it is against the partisans of a 

 principle so detestable. But much 

 is due to public opinion, as well as 

 to the personal situation and cha- 

 racter of individuals, which ought 

 to be respci'-ted long after they have 

 ceased to have resentment, or to 

 take ])leasure in giving proofs of it; 

 and nothing appears to me less pro- 

 bable than to see Pitt and me, at any 

 near period (perhaps 1 may say, at 

 any period of our lives), reconciled, 

 and disposed te re-establish with Ad- 

 dington 



