uted itself hoarse with joy at the advent of
peace, Grenville, Windham, and Canning saw disgrace and disaster ahead.
Pitt thought otherwise. At the small house in Park Place which he had
leased for his visits to London, he wrote to Long on 1st October,
describing the terms as not all that could be wished but "highly
creditable, and on the whole very advantageous." Finding that Grenville
considered them disastrous, he on the 5th expressed concern at their
disagreement. Though regretting the surrender of the Cape, and the
uncertainty of the fate of Malta, he considered the acquisition of
Ceylon and Trinidad most beneficial; and he hailed with satisfaction a
peace which saved Turkey and Portugal from spoliation. He therefore
suggested an interview for the sake of reconciling their differences. To
this Grenville somewhat coolly assented, remarking that the differences
were fundamental and could not be concealed, and that his confidence in
the Addington Cabinet was irretrievably destroyed by a treaty which
ceded to France Martinique, Malta, Minorca, the Cape, Cochin China, and
all the Dutch settlements. Clearly, then, Grenville looked on the Dutch
Republic and Spain as dominated by Bonaparte, who would seize Minorca,
Malta, and the Cape whenever it suited him. He also wrote to the King
expressing regret that he could no longer support Addington, whose
conduct towards France and Russia was "marked throughout by a tone of
unnecessary and degrading concession."[627]

Here, then, the two cousins began sharply to differ. On 3rd November,
during the debates on the Peace, Pitt rose to rebut the censures of
Thomas Grenville on a policy which implied the surrender of the
Mediterranean to France. He deprecated these sweeping criticisms; for he
had ever been ready to frame a treaty which, though falling short of our
just pretensions, was not inconsistent with honour and security. The
present terms did not fulfil all his wishes; but the difference between
them and the best possible terms was not worth the continuance of war.
If both Trinidad and Malta could not be retained, he commended Ministers
for choosing Trinidad; for the sight of the Union Jack at Malta would
have hurt the pride of France. With regard to the Cape of Good Hope he
deemed it a far more important possession than Hawkesbury had
represented, though inferior to Ceylon. He deplored our failure to
restore the House of Savoy to its capital, Turin; but the chief object
of th