Men whose whole life is passed in attacking others, are essentially in a bad position when they assume the direction of affairs; they are unable to breathe, they are neither free nor happy in this sphere, for it is not congenial to them. The men of business, on the contrary, who are for a short time in the opposition, become very dangerous opponents, especially if they possess a flow of language and a quick and earnest manner; as they have seen a great deal, they preserve an incontestable degree of authority while reproaching the opposition with succeeding no better than _they_ did when in power, and with imitating awkwardly the very conduct they had formerly attacked with great violence. The men who declaim are not to be feared; the only really formidable adversaries are those who have had much experience in the course of events. The wretched administration of Lord Grey, after the death of Fox, was a continuation of the Whig politics. His lordship had at all times been rather the bulwark than leader of his party, and the tool of the able men who availed themselves of his high reputation: there are generally in politics some characters who serve as a stalking-horse for certain opinions; they have a great name, which is taken hold of, to be employed or absorbed according to circumstances. The ministry of Lord Grey, and Grenville, only lasted for a few months after the death of Fox, for the continental questions began to assume so serious an aspect that it was not possible for the Whigs to direct them. Fox had been desirous of a peace with France--one of those bastard truces attempted by Addington at the peace of Amiens; but how was it possible there should be peace between two such proud and powerful authorities as Napoleon and the English aristocracy? the irrevocable fall of one or other of the parties was inevitable. Austerlitz had given birth to Fox's ministry, and the awaking of Prussia from the torpor in which she had been plunged brought about the fall of the Whigs. The Duke of Portland, belonging to the moderate Tory party, undertook the difficult and painful task of directing the affairs of Great Britain, and the two most determined and unvarying opponents of the former administration were naturally included in the present ministry: as I have before observed, they were men of perfectly different characters. Castlereagh returned to the War Office, with the detail of which he was perfectly well acquainted; and Canning was appointed minister for foreign affairs, as being the favourite pupil of Pitt and the inheritor of his doctrines.