e any want of straightforwardness, and the king's conduct was the
logical consequence of his action in 1801.

[34] In the following year Napoleon consented to evacuate all the
Prussian fortresses except three, on condition that the Prussian army
should not exceed a total of 40,000 men.

[35] _Annual Register_, xlix. (1807), 249-70, 731-38; Rose, in _English
Historical Review_, xi. (1896), 82-92.

[36] Captain Mahan, _The Influence of Sea Power upon the French
Revolution and Empire_, ii., 272-357, shows that the policy of the
orders in council was essential to British safety.

[37] The course of this war is related continuously in chap. v.

[38] Rose, _Life of Napoleon I._, ii., 190, note.

[39] The best account of the quarrel, especially in its relation to the
composition of the cabinet, is to be found in Walpole's _Life of
Perceval_, vol. i., chap. ix., and vol. ii., chap. i. Lewis,
_Administrations_, pp. 314-15, finds a double ground for Canning's
resignation in his failure to obtain the removal of Castlereagh from the
war office and in the refusal of the king and cabinet to allow him to
succeed Portland as prime minister. It is quite clear, however, that at
the time of Canning's resignation no decision had been come to about a
successor to Portland. Some correspondence had passed between Canning
and Perceval, in which each had refused to serve under the other, but
that this correspondence was unknown to the cabinet as a whole is proved
by Mulgrave's letters to Lord Lonsdale of September 11 and 15 (Phipps,
_Memoir of Ward_, pp. 210-17); in the former of these he discusses
Canning's probable conduct without referring to this correspondence,
while in the latter he only knows of such negotiations as subsequent to
the resignations of September 6 and 8. So, too, Eldon's letter to his
wife of September 11 (Twiss, _Life of Eldon_, ii., 88-90), places the
whole correspondence between Canning and Perceval after Portland's
resignation on September 6. The king was not informed of Canning's views
as to a successor to Portland till September 13, and the cabinet minute
of September 18, advising co-operation with Grenville and Grey, mentions
the selection of Canning as prime minister as a course open to the king.

[40] This is the date commonly given. The _Annual Register_, li. (1809),
239, gives the 22nd, while Perceval refers to the result of the duel in
a letter dated the 20th (Colchester, _Diary_, ii., 209). It is clear,