414 PENINSULAR WAR [1808. 



any good. On the passage of which I complained I 

 will say little, because I confess it is a subject which 

 I feel painfully. To be accused of abandoning when 

 in power the principles I had maintained in opposi- 

 tion, is a severe charge even from an enemy ; but for 

 a friend to entertain, and to think it necessary to 

 promulgate that opinion, must inflict a much deeper 

 wound, the more especially as I had hoped that all 

 who knew me, and most of the members of the late 

 Cabinet, must have been convinced that though we 

 might have mistaken the road, we were sincerely 

 desirous of peace. To Fox at least that credit has 

 been allowed ; and it is not one of the hardships that 

 we have to complain of least, that a separation is 

 made between him and those who survive on the 

 question. The truth is that we never departed from 

 his views; and at the time he wrote the despatch 

 of the 14th June, the last he ever wrote himself, 

 he considered the negotiation as having failed. I 

 have said more than I intended, so will not add 

 one word more, but that I am ever yours, 



" GREY/' 



To this I answered immediately, as follows : 



" October 6, 1808. 



" MY DEAR LORD, I find you mistake me a good 

 deal about the review of Spain, more especially if you 

 think I ever wrote a word which accused you of 

 swerving from your opposition principles ; most espe- 

 cially if you imagine that I ever could fancy a dis- 



