ave an equal share with Pitt of power and patronage. Leeds
mentioned the idea of a coalition to the king, who received it coldly,
for George hated Fox; he did not intend to alter his government to suit
the whig leaders, and he knew that they were mistaken as regards Pitt's
attitude. At last Leeds spoke of the scheme to Pitt who drily told him
that circumstances did not call for any alteration in the government and
that no new arrangement had ever been in contemplation.[231] If the
Portland whigs were to separate themselves from Fox and his friends and
were to support the government, they would have to support the
government of Pitt, and that after a while, as we shall see, they
resolved to do.

Early in 1792 war between France and Austria and Prussia seemed at hand.
The French ministers hoped to obtain an alliance with England, or at the
least an assurance of neutrality in case of an invasion of the
Netherlands, and to arrange a loan. They were prepared to offer Tobago
and even Mauritius to boot. Talleyrand, the ex-Bishop of Autun, came
over in an unofficial capacity to see how matters stood and to intrigue
with the opposition. At court the king treated him coldly and the queen
turned her back on him. He had interviews with Pitt and Grenville, and
got nothing out of them; he received much attention from the opposition
and returned to France in March. Meanwhile, on February 7, Leopold,
unable to disregard the call of the diet and uneasy about the
Netherlands, agreed with Frederick William to restore order in France,
both allies intending to be indemnified. Yet war did not come at once,
and on March 1 Leopold died. His son and successor, Francis II., was
less distrustful of Prussia, and was eager for war. Under the influence
of a party, somewhat later known as the Girondists, the French assembly
was brought to desire war with Austria. On the accession of this party
to power Dumouriez became minister of foreign affairs. He designed to
detach Prussia from the Austrian alliance, isolate Austria, invade the
Austrian Netherlands, where the people seemed ready for revolt, and
establish them as an independent republic, and prosecute further plans
for the extension of France to its "natural barriers". Gustavus was
assassinated, and Sweden adopted a neutral policy; Russia, though
violently hostile, was engaged in Poland, England decided the policy of
Spain and would be followed by Holland. Would England oppose an invasion
of the N