lic question".[31]

The friendly relations of the king with Fox were creditable to both of
them, and in the last few months of his life Fox showed himself a
statesman. Besides the abolition of the slave trade, his grand object
was the restoration of peace on a durable basis. There were some grounds
for believing that this was possible. France, under an emperor, seemed
no longer to represent a new principle in European politics, and was not
necessarily a menace to her neighbours; the coalition was fairly beaten
on land, while British supremacy had been reasserted on sea, and
Napoleon might well wish for peace to enable him to consolidate his
position on land and regain the power of using the sea, just as he had
done in 1801. Fox lost no time in renewing a pacific correspondence with
Talleyrand, afterwards carried on through the agency of Lord Yarmouth,
an English traveller detained in France, and Lord Lauderdale, who was
sent over as plenipotentiary. The principle of the negotiation was that
of _uti possidetis_, but it failed, as Whitworth's efforts had failed,
because the pretensions of France were constantly shifting, and
especially because France, anxious to isolate Great Britain, insisted on
negotiating separately with Great Britain and Russia, while Fox very
properly refused to make peace without our ally. Grey himself, now Lord
Howick, afterwards declared that France showed no disposition to grant
any terms which could be accepted by Great Britain. On September 13, Fox
died, and was buried in Westminster Abbey almost side by side with his
great rival.

While he was earnestly striving for peace, there was no cessation of
warlike movements or political changes either in Central Europe or in
Italy. In June, 1806, Napoleon converted the Batavian Republic into the
kingdom of Holland, over which he set his brother Louis. In July the
discord of Germany, which had long ceased to be a nation, was
consummated by the formation of the Confederation of the Rhine, which
separated all the western states from the Holy Roman empire, and united
them under the protection and control of France. On August 6, Francis
II., who had assumed the title of Emperor of Austria in 1804, formally
renounced the title of Roman Emperor, and the Holy Roman Empire became
extinct. The King of Prussia, with singular disregard of good faith and
national interest, finally accepted on February 15 the bribe of Hanover
for adhesion to France, but without th