nt. The preliminaries of peace were discussed in parliament on
the 17th, and almost every article was adversely criticised. In the
lords the government address was carried by 13; in the commons it was
rejected by 224 to 208. Fox was reproached for his "unnatural junction"
with North, and his answer showed that he was prepared to act with him
further than in that night's debate. On the 21st a vote of censure on
the terms of the peace was carried by 207 to 190. The coalition was
avowed. Fox defended it with ability on the ground that the country
needed a broad and stable administration, and declared himself a
candidate for office in the future ministry. Pitt, in a speech of great
dignity, taunted "the self-made minister," contended that the objections
to the peace were simply an attack on Shelburne, and in a fine
peroration spoke of himself as caring more for his own honour than for
the emoluments of office. Shelburne resigned on the 24th.

[Sidenote: _THE COALITION MINISTRY._]

The coalition was triumphant. It was condemned by the public, and the
verdict has been endorsed by posterity. Though it is true that North
carried on the war with America only to please the king, that was not
then known, and his conduct in that, and almost every important matter,
was utterly opposed to the principles which Fox professed. What ground
was there for mutual confidence? For eight years Fox had reviled North
with extraordinary bitterness. If his words were just he had no business
to ally himself with him. "My friendships," he said, with a Latin
quotation, "are perpetual, my enmities are not so," a good reason for
reconciliation with a private enemy; but political quarrels should be
founded on differences of principle. Fox's words illustrate his
adherence to the whig notion that the politics of the nation might be
treated by the members of a few great families as their personal
concerns. Of the two, North was at first more blamed than Fox, for it
seemed pusillanimous in him to forgive Fox's treatment, but neither
escaped censure. The king was furious. He had no love for Shelburne, but
he hated Fox, and determined if possible to avoid falling into the hands
of the coalition. He offered the treasury to Pitt, who with admirable
discernment saw that his time was not yet come, and refused it. He tried
Gower; he tried to detach North from the coalition; he even offered
terms to the coalition; then again he pressed Pitt to take the treasury,
a