t of which Earl Stanhope did not publish. "I am so
thoroughly convinced of the venality of that nation [France] and the
strange methods used by its Directors in carrying on negotiations that I
agree with him [Pitt] in thinking, strange as the proposal appears, that
it may be not without foundation."

George, then, was more sceptical than Pitt; and Grenville and
Malmesbury soon had cause to believe the offer to be merely an effort of
certain Frenchmen to speculate in the English funds. Nothing came of the
matter. Melvill, O'Drusse, and Talleyrand on the French side, and Boyd
in London, seem to have been the wire-pullers in this affair, which was
renewed early in October; it may have been only a "bull" operation. The
secret is hard to fathom; but Pitt and Dundas were clearly too
credulous. Such was the conclusion of Malmesbury. It tallied with the
pronouncement of Windham, who in one of his captious moods remarked to
Malmesbury that Pitt had no knowledge of the world, and kept in office
by making concessions, and by "tiding it over." Grenville (he said)
thought more of the nation's dignity, but was almost a recluse. In fact,
the Cabinet was ruled by Dundas, whom Grenville hated. Dundas it was who
had sacrificed Corsica, which involved the loss of Italy.[467] Windham
of course detested the author of the colonial expeditions, which had
diverted help from the Bretons. In the Chouans alone he saw hope; for
how could England struggle on alone against France if she could use all
the advantages offered by Brest and Cherbourg?

Much can be said in support of these contentions; for now that the
Directory threw away the scabbard, England felt the need of the stout
Bretons, whose armies had become mere predatory bands. The last
predictions of Burke were therefore justified. That once mighty
intellect expended its last flickering powers in undignified gibes at
the expense of Pitt and his regicide peace. Fate denied to him the
privilege of seeing Malmesbury again expelled from France and whipped
back "like a cur to his kennel." The great Irishman passed away, amidst
inconceivable gloom, in his 68th year, at Beaconsfield (8th July 1797).
In the view of Windham and other extreme Royalists, Burke was wholly
right, and Pitt's weakness was the cause of all his country's ills.

We may grant that the summer of the year 1797 was one of the worst
possible times in which to open a negotiation with triumphant France;
for she was certain to exa