the government with dislike and contempt came to an
understanding with each other. But in the spring of 1804 it became
evident that the weakest of ministries would have to defend itself
against the strongest of oppositions, an opposition made up of three
oppositions, each of which would, separately, have been formidable from
ability, and which, when united, were also formidable from number. The
party which had opposed the peace, headed by Grenville and Windham,
and the party which had opposed the renewal of the war, headed by Fox,
concurred in thinking that the men now in power were incapable of either
making a good peace or waging a vigorous war. Pitt had, in 1802, spoken
for peace against the party of Grenville, and had, in 1803, spoken for
war against the party of Fox. But of the capacity of the cabinet, and
especially of its chief, for the conduct of great affairs, he thought as
meanly as either Fox or Grenville. Questions were easily found on which
all the enemies of the government could act cordially together. The
unfortunate First Lord of the Treasury, who had, during the earlier
months of his administration, been supported by Pitt on one side, and by
Fox on the other, now had to answer Pitt, and to be answered by Fox. Two
sharp debates, followed by close divisions, made him weary of his post.
It was known, too, that the Upper House was even more hostile to him
than the Lower, that the Scotch representative peers wavered, that there
were signs of mutiny among the bishops. In the cabinet itself there was
discord, and, worse than discord, treachery. It was necessary to give
way: the ministry was dissolved; and the task of forming a government
was entrusted to Pitt.

Pitt was of opinion that there was now an opportunity, such as had never
before offered itself, and such as might never offer itself again, of
uniting in the public service, on honourable terms, all the eminent
talents of the kingdom. The passions to which the French revolution had
given birth were extinct. The madness of the innovator and the madness
of the alarmist had alike had their day. Jacobinism and anti-Jacobinism
had gone out of fashion together. The most liberal statesman did not
think that season propitious for schemes of parliamentary reform; and
the most conservative statesman could not pretend that there was any
occasion for gagging bills and suspensions of the Habeas Corpus Act. The
great struggle for independence and national honour occu