OCCASIONAL INFLUENCE. 
9 
made. In spite of the great secrecy maintained in the entire conduct 
of the negotiation, Grenville was unquestionably informed of it and 
was known by Miles to be so informed, for the latter on two occasions 
wrote to Buckingham, evidently with the purpose of influencing Gren¬ 
ville, urging an actual alliance with France. Grenville’s knowledge 
of this incident of Pitt’s diplomacy—an incident of which even the 
Secretary of State for the Foreign Department, the Duke of Leeds, 
was ignorant at the time—is most positive proof of Pitt’s confidence 
in his advice. * 
Grenville’s influence on foreign policy was in fact steadily increasing, j 
and in another direction also was being exerted without the knowledge 
of the nominal head of the Foreign Office, the Duke of Leeds . A new > 
commercial treaty was being negotiated with Holland, and Pitt had 
chosen to take this out of the hands of Leeds in order apparently to 
conduct the details himself. In reality he had transferred the whole \ 
matter to Grenville, with whom the idea had originated,f and whose 
familiarity with Dutch affairs, acquired by his mission in 1787, fitted 
him to deal with what proved to be a most difficult and intricate prob¬ 
lem. After July, 1790, Grenville was in constant and secret corre¬ 
spondence with Auckland in regard to the details of this treaty, J and 
when finally, in January, 1791, these had been formulated in a pre¬ 
liminary draft, Pitt took the precaution to send them through the 
* Miles to Buckingham, Dec. 13, 1790. Miles, I, 178. Miles is the chief author¬ 
ity for this negotiation, but as a friend of the French Revolution and ignorant 
of Pitt’s duplicity, his entire thesis is that Pitt in 1790 was on the point of 
making a friendly alliance with France, and thus of safely guiding France through 
the dangers of revolution. Neither the letters of Hugh Elliot nor of Miles for this 
period were to be found by their biographers, nor can any statement by Elliot be 
found, save a very meager one in Morris (II, 256) to the effect that an alliance was 
actually proposed. Bourgoing gives no hint of Elliot’s mission, while Sorel briefly 
describes it as merely to convince French leaders that England sincerely desired 
peace. Pitt’s real purpose and secret plan is, however, revealed in a letter from 
the King, included in the papers of Joseph Smith, Pitt’s private secretary. ‘ * From 
a thorough conviction how essential Peace is to the Prosperity of this Country it 
is impossible for me to object to any means that may have a chance of effecting it; 
though not sanguine that Mr. H. Elliot and his French Friend [Mirabeau] are 
likely to succeed where caution and much delicacy are necessary. While our 
Ambassador and Official Correspondence are kept clear of this business, it will cer¬ 
tainly be wise to keep up the proposed Communication for the sole purpose of re¬ 
storing peace, but no encouragement must be given to forwarding the internal 
Views of the democratical Party. We have honourably not meddled with the in¬ 
ternal dissensions of France, and no object ought to drive us from that honourable 
ground.” George III to Pitt, Oct. 26, 1790. Smith MSS., p. 368. 
Oscar Browning’s Despatches of Earl Gower proves that Gower knew of the 
friendly advances made by Elliot to Mirabeau, and hence that Leeds was also aware 
that Elliot was being employed by Pitt, but no hint is given of Miles’s activities. 
Despatches of Oct. 22 and Oct. 26, 1790, pp. 38, 40. 
fDundas to Grenville, Sept. 2, 1787. Dropmore, III, 419. 
jPitt to Grenville, July, 1790, and Grenville to Auckland, July-August, 1790. 
Ibid ., I, 597, 598. 
