Mr. A[ddington] from his
present situation, it must be a matter not only of regret but of
surprise, that they should not be able to reconcile any
difference of opinion between them as to the sort of opposition
to be carried on in Parliament; and I cannot help thinking that
Mr. Pitt's avowal that he intends opposition would in itself be
sufficient to incline (not merely Lord Grenville and his
friends, who have made it a principal object to be united with
Mr. Pitt and place him again at the head of affairs) but all the
parties who may mean to oppose, to leave the mode pretty much
at his option!... [Your letter] leads me to think that Mr. Pitt
and he may not have understood each other. Lord Grenville's
attachment to Mr. Pitt has been so conspicuous, and I am
persuaded his communications have been so frank and so explicit,
that I cannot account for Mr. Pitt using any reserve with him,
and must be of opinion that greater openness, where there is
such solid ground of confidence, would lead to more satisfactory
results. [Lord Carysfort then says that Pitt should not keep
public opinion so long in suspense; for] the public danger from
a Ministry confessedly incapable is already great and urgent and
will be continually increasing.

Failing to get help from Pitt, Grenville, at the end of January, sought
the help of Fox! Through his brother, Thomas Grenville, as go-between he
offered the Whig leader his alliance for the overthrow of Addington and
the formation of a Ministry of the talented men of all parties. Here,
then, is the origin of the broad-bottomed or All the Talents
Administrations which produced so singular a muddle after the death of
Pitt. The Fox-Grenville bargain cannot be styled immoral like that of
Fox and North in 1782; for it expressly excluded all compromise on
matters of conviction. Nevertheless it was a tactical mistake, for which
Pitt's exasperating aloofness was largely responsible. Few occurrences
in this time of folly and blundering were more untoward. Pitt's letter
of 4th February to Grenville shows that he discerned the magnitude of
the error, little though he saw his own share in it. The result of the
union of Fox and Grenville was likely to be the fall of Addington, an
appeal of the King to him (Pitt) to form a Cabinet, which would be
narrowed and weakened by the present effort of Grenville to form a
strong and comprehensiv