4 the INFLUENCE OF GRENVILLE ON PITT’S FOREIGN POLICY. 
was the strongest man in the English Cabinet.* * * § As less direct evidence 
may be cited Malmesbury’s resume of the difficulties of temper experi¬ 
enced by Pitt and Grenville in their relations,f and Rose’s testimony 
to the same effect. I Of a directly opposite character, but equally to 
the point, is the picture presented by Stanhope § of the friendship and 
intimacy existing between these ‘ ‘ two proud and sensitive natures 
when personal affection was not clouded by differences of political 
v opinion.” 
In themselves, these and similar isolated assertions of Grenville’s 
influence and of his intimacy with Pitt furnish insufficient proof of the 
important role sustained by Grenville in formulating English foreign 
policy during the French Revolution. That proof has been unex¬ 
pectedly supplied by the recent publication in England of the Dropmore 
manuscripts, embodying a very complete series of “ most private” and 
‘ ‘ most secret ’ ’ letters between Grenville and English diplomats at 
foreign posts. It is the purpose of this article, by means of these manu¬ 
scripts, in connection with the principal memoirs of the time, and w T ith 
the aid of some few primary authorities, to trace the development and 
extent of Grenville’s influence in foreign policy up to the Napoleonic 
period. No attempt is here made to outline all of the important events 
of English diplomacy of the period. Only those episodes are described 
in which Grenville was an important factor, and these are treated in 
their chronological order. 
OCCASIONAL INFLUENCE OF GRENVILLE ON FOREIGN POLICY. 
1787 to April, 1791. 
William Wyndham Grenville entered upon his Parliamentary career 
in 1782, when but twenty-two years of age. His first official position 
was that of chief secretary to his elder brother, Earl Temple, then Lord 
Eieutenant of Ireland, and with Temple he resigned office in June, 1783, 
on the accession to power of the short-lived Coalition Ministry. In the 
July following, George III began those negotiations which in December 
resulted in Pitt’s acceptance of the difficult task of forming a ministry 
against the will of the majority of the House of Commons. In these 
negotiations Grenville had an intimate share, though less as an active 
* Morris, II, 95. 
f Malmesbury, III, 291^'. 
t Rose, I, 4. Pitt is stated to have said, “ I will teach that proud man [Gren¬ 
ville] that I can do without him.” 
§ Stanhope, II, 122. 
