[258] Add. MS., 33,118, ff. 268-78 (Pelham Papers), dated March, 1795, and First Letter of Fitzwilliam to Earl of Carlisle, p. 19, Dublin, 1795.
[259] Second Letter of Fitzwilliam to Carlisle, pp. 12, 13, 2nd ed., 1795.
[260] That it was largely a question of "men" with Pitt was held by Pelham, the chief secretary, 1795-97 (Pelham to Portland, March 22, 1795, Add. MS., 33, 113), as well as by Fitzwilliam (Second Letter to Carlisle, pp. 4, 24) and Burke (Life of Grattan, iv., 202).
[261] Stanhope, Life of Pitt, ii., App. xiii.-xiv.
[262] Auckland Corr., iii., 303-5; Add. MS., 33,118, f. 283.
[263] For full treatment of this crisis see Lecky, Hist., vii., 1-98.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Before parliament met on December 30, 1794, a change in the public affairs of France encouraged hopes of peace in England. The fall of Robespierre and the end of the Terror on July 28 (10th Thermidor) were followed by a reaction; the revolutionary committees lost their dictatorial power, the convention regained its supremacy, and the jacobin club was closed. This reaction, combined with the success of the French arms in the Netherlands and Holland, the decay of the coalition, the burdens entailed by the war, and the conviction that the republican government would gain in stability by foreign opposition, led some of Pitt's followers to desire an attempt at negotiation. The king's speech urged a vigorous prosecution of the war, and was ably seconded in the commons by a young member, George Canning, one of Pitt's devoted adherents. Pitt's friend, Wilberforce, moved an amendment for opening negotiations, and the minority against the government was 73. Soon afterwards in two divisions, arising out of a resolution moved by Grey in January, 1795, the minority rose to 86 and 90. As in these divisions the minority included some of Pitt's regular supporters, they are highly significant. As regards domestic affairs the opposition remained in its normal condition. A motion for the repeal of the habeas corpus suspension act, which led to a debate on the late trials for treason, was defeated by 239 to 41, and attacks on the government with reference to the recall of Lord Fitzwilliam were easily foiled by the assertion of the right of the crown to dismiss its confidential servants.