40 THE INFLUENCE OF GRENVILLE ON PITT’S FOREIGN POLICY. 
This letter was in part a plea to overcome the King’s opposition, 
but that it represents Grenville’s real sentiments is unquestionable, 
for on February 9, 1796, in sending the overture to Barthelemy, he 
wrote Wickham in much the same terms and betrayed the same lack 
of faith in the negotiation.* There was then, beyond question, no 
disagreement between Pitt and Grenville, though the latter probably 
r preferred war to peace with the existing government of France. He 
could not, however, openly object so long as Pitt’s ideas of peace were 
fixed to a restitution by France of the territories she had conquered, 
together with a retention by England of a part at least of her recently 
acquired colonies. The offer to France, acquiesced in by Austria,f 
received the answer that the Directory was prohibited by law from 
Negotiating upon the cession of any part of the French Republic. The 
undiplomatic terms of the French note were construed as an insult to 
the English nation and were in some measure effective in rousing the 
English public. At once new and more energetic plans of campaign 
were put forward in conjunction with Austria. Thus the principal 
benefits which Grenville saw in the negotiation were realized. 
GRENVILLE PLANS TO RECOVER PRUSSIAN AID. 
February to August, 1796. 
The fact that while Pitt really hoped for peace, Grenville looked 
Toward a continuance of the war is further borne out by two contem¬ 
porary considerations, the first of which bore a direct relation to the 
proposal of peace, while the second involved the opening of a plan, 
distinctly Grenville’s own, for increasing the forces that might be used 
against France. 4 The first was the question of continuing aid to the 
royalists of France. The failure of previous efforts to organize the 
royalists still in France and the disasters experienced by the expedi¬ 
tions sent out from England had convinced Pitt that little was to be 
expected from such enterprises. When, therefore, the hope of peace 
/began to gain ground in England, Pitt became unfavorable to further 
^expenditure in aid of the royalists, and he thought that the money 
* Wickham, I, 269. 
t Whether Austria actively joined in the proposal to France is a disputed point. 
Pitt stated in the Commons on May 10, 1796, that the step was taken “ in concert 
with them [England’s allies], though they were not formally made parties to the 
proposal.” Pari. Hist., XXXII, 1135. Sybel says Thugut refused to join. Sybel, 
IV, 152. Rut Morton Eden wrote to Auckland on June 13, 1796, in a private letter, 
that Thugut sent a separate note to France, similar to Wickham’s, and received 
a very insolent reply which he preferred to keep secret. Auckland, III, 345. 
