92 
and sudden a change of opinion 
could reasonably be attributed? 
Was not the difference of result, in 
the last audience, rather to be as- 
cribed to the difference of charac 
ter in the negotiator, than to any 
change of sentiment in the royal 
breast? Was it not owing to the 
known firmness and honour of lord 
Grenville’s character, that his ma- 
jesy was advised to make so gra- 
cious an answer, without first at- 
tempting, what was known to be 
impracticable, to detach him from 
Mr. Fox? Was it not, therefore, 
owing to the greater flexibility of 
c+aracter of the person his majesty 
had to deal with in 1804, that the 
public expectations were at that time 
disappointed? Or, was it true, as 
some persons have insinuated, that 
the result of that celebrated audi- 
ence was privately settled, before 
the ostensible negotiator entered the 
closet, by the mediation of a noble 
lord, whose station gave him access 
to the royal ear, aud who was sus- 
pected of having recently availed 
himself of that advantage against a 
minister by whom he was trusted ? 
These are points on which as we 
cannot form, so we presume not to 
offer an opinion, Such were the 
surmizes and conjectures current 
in the political world at the period 
of which we treat. It is our duty 
to repeat them, and to leave to fu- 
ture historians the task of disengag- 
ing the truth from falsehood, and of 
clearing up what is at present ob- 
scure in these transactions, 
It was now the business of lord 
Grenville and Mr. Fox to prepare 
the plan of an administration, 
which they could recommend to 
their sovereign, as adequate to the 
present exigencies and expectations 
ef the couatry. The basis of such 
2 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1806. 
an administration, would in their 
hands, it was obvious, consist of 
what were called the new and the 
old opposition. The new opposi- 
tion, which looked to lord Gren- 
ville as its leader, was composed of 
the whig families,(with the exception 
of the house of Bentinck) which 
had separated from Mr. Fox at the 
beginning of the reyolutionary war, 
in order to support the measures 
adopted by government at that cri- 
tical period, togethér with the per- 
sonal friends and famjly connexions 
of lord Grenville, and many persons 
of rank and talent throughout the 
kingdom, who from confidence in 
the abilities and integrity of that 
nobleman, had attached themselves 
to his party. The old opposition 
consisting of those whigs, who, un- 
dismayed by the French revolution, 
had stood by Mr. Fox in his oppo- 
sition to the late war, and had re- 
mained steadily attached with him, 
to what they conceived to be 
the true principles of liberty, during 
the whole of that eventful period. 
To this part of opposition also be- 
longed the friends of the late mar- 
quis of Lansdowne, and the great. 
er part of those, who in the late 
war had been the advocates of peace 
and reform. With this branch also of 
opposition may be classed the per- 
sons more particularly connected 
with Carlton House, the politics 
of which were at this period in the 
most perfect unison with the opi- 
nions of Mr. Fox. Of the two 
branches of opposition, the old was 
the most popular with the great bo- 
dy of the nation; the new had 
most the confidence of men of rank 
and property. But the united 
strength of both did not exceed 150 
members in the house of commons, 
a number, which though perfectly 
sufficient 
