30 THE INFLUENCE OF GRENVILLE ON PITT’S FOREIGN POLICY. 
\ 
could no longer uphold the radical doctrines of Fox, and in order to 
reward them for their support and bind them to his policy Pitt was 
compelled to make a number of Cabinet changes. This rearrangement 
was not difficult except in the case of Portland, to whom it was neces¬ 
sary to give one of the chief departments. Pitt was in a quandary and 
in his perplexity turned to Grenville, who had been urgent for the 
inclusion of Portland. He found no other solution than that Grenville 
should resign the Foreign Department to Portland, receiving in its place 
the Home Department, but without the conduct of the war, which was 
to be retained by Dundas.* * * § Immediately upon the receipt of Pitt’s 
letter suggesting the arrangement, Grenville replied : 
“ I and my situation are, as you well know, entirely and always at 
your disposal, and * besides, I agree with you in thinking 
the expedient you propose the best to avoid an alternative which seems 
either way embarrassing. Under these circumstances I do not ask 
myself whether what is proposed is or is not a sacrifice on my part, but 
am ready at once to say that no consideration could reconcile to iny 
mind the standing for a moment in the way of your wishes, or of so 
great a public object as is in question.” f 
Two days later, however, Pitt found that the Foreign Office would 
not be agreeable to Portland, and finally concluded the rearrangement 
by dividing Dundas’s department, Portland assuming the direction of 
home and colonial affairs, while Dundas continued to manage the War 
Office.! The incident had, then, no immediate effect whatever on 
foreign policy, though it unquestionably gained Grenville the grateful 
confidence of the more solid portion of the new element in Pitt’s min¬ 
istry. It does indicate, however, that Pitt did not regard Grenville 
as indispensable in the department of foreign affairs, and at the same 
time it well illustrates the intimacy existing between the two men. 
Grenville’s willingness to sacrifice his own personal preferences in 
order to insure party success § could but increase Pitt’s respect and 
incline him to listen to Grenville’s advice, and it was in this very 
intimacy that Grenville’s influence chiefly lay at this period. Differ¬ 
ences as to policy were as yet the differences in private of warm per¬ 
sonal friends and had not developed into Cabinet controversies. 
It was as a result of the introduction of this Whig element into the 
Tory ministry that Grenville soon began to assume a more independent 
*Pitt to Grenville, July 5, 1794. Dropmore, II, 595. 
t Grenville to Pitt, July 5, 1794. Ibid., 596. 
| Pitt to Grenville, July 7, 1794. Ibid., 597. 
§ In October, 1794, Grenville voluntarily offered to resign if it would assist Pitt 
in making arrangements for the recall of Westmorland from Ireland to make room 
for Fitzwilliam, but Pitt would not consider it. Stanhope, II, 284. 
