36 THE INFLUENCE OF GRENVILLE ON PITT’S FOREIGN POLICY. 
the credit of Grenville, and it is from this moment that he could count 
upon a distinct following among its members. At the same time Pitt 
himself recognized the service that Grenville’s stubborn opposition had 
rendered and was happy to resume relations of confidence and trust 
with his* foreign minister. 
FIRST OVERTURES OF PEACE TO FRANCE. 
October, 1795, to April, 1796. 
j The confident expectation of victory with which Grenville entered 
upon the campaign of 1795 was not fulfilled. An alliance with Russia 
had been signed February 18, 1795, and on May 20 the protracted 
negotiations with Austria resulted in a formal treatju From the Rus¬ 
sian treaty not much was expected, but Grenville believed that in 
alliance with Austria, England would secure a rapid victory. In 
attacking the colonies of France and her allies, England was indeed 
successful and rejoiced in the conquest of Ceylon and the Cape of Good 
Hope, but on the continent the failure of the Quiberon expedition and 
the inaction of the Austrian forces on the Rhine tended to discourage 
the ministry. Spain, too, made peace with France, while the war of 
factions in Paris failed to encourage the English government, for in 
London itself tumults and riots were the order of the day. 
Moreover, England and Austria were equally suspicious of each 
other’s motives and diplomacy. Wickham, Grenville’s most trusted 
agent, was writing from Switzerland that offers were passing between 
Vienna and Paris.* Thugut, earnest for the war yet hampered by the 
Polish situation, could not be convinced that the English ministers were 
not responsible for Hanover’s acceptance of the Prussian scheme of 
neutrality.f Thus various conditions, combined with the establish¬ 
ment of the Directorate in France, giving some promise of an orderly 
and stable government, brought about a readiness to treat for peace, 
and by September this readiness had expanded into a definite inten¬ 
tion on the part of the ministry to make at least an opening in that 
direction. 
The first step looking toward peace was the determination by the 
English Cabinet to send Pelham to Vienna to sound the Austrian gov- 
* Wickham to Grenville, Aug. 12, and to Morton Eden, Aug. 18, 1795. Wickham, 
I, 152, 155. On Carletti’s intrigues see Sybel, III, 431^, and Sorel, IV, 302. 
f Morton Eden to Auckland, May 15, 1796: “It appears impossible for me to 
convince any one that his Majesty’s English ministers have no influence over the 
counsels of his Hanoverian Government.’’ Auckland, III, 335. 
