Mr. Pitt resigned his office in February, 1801, and was succeeded by Mr. Addington, who concluded the peace of Amiens in 1802, the preliminaries having been signed the autumn before. Mr. Pitt defended the conditions of this treaty when attacked in parliament, therein taking a different part from several of his late colleagues. But his retirement in the first instance was regarded as not much more than nominal, and he was generally thought to be the adviser of the ministry after he ceased to belong to it. This state of affairs however was short-lived. His support gradually subsided, first into coldness, then into avowed disapprobation, and finally into hostility not less decided than that of the regular opposition. In the early part of 1804, after the lapse of twenty years of violent hostility, Pitt and Fox were again seen speaking and voting on the same side. A fruitless attempt was made by the ministry to procure the accession of the former; and as it became clear that the existing government could not stand, and as the lapse of time and change in affairs had removed many of the most irreconcileable grounds of party variance, a strong hope was felt that an administration, uniting the best talents and most powerful interests of the country, might be formed by the junction of the three parties represented by Mr. Pitt, Mr. Fox, and Lord Grenville. This hope appears to have been defeated by the King’s personal objections to admit Mr. Fox to office. It is asserted by Mr. Rose that Mr. Pitt used his utmost endeavours to overcome that prejudice, “conceiving a strong government as important to the public welfare, and as calculated to call forth the united talents as well as the utmost resources of the empire; in which endeavour he persisted till within a few months of his death.” Unfortunately for his own fame, and probably for the interests of the country, he did not think fit to make this union of parties a condition of his own return to office. Lord Grenville, his relation, friend, and coadjutor, refused to become a member of an exclusive ministry, and Mr. Pitt took his station at the head of a cabinet singularly deficient in men of commanding talent, and more than half composed of Mr. Addington’s colleagues. The disappointment of the nation was great; but the late period of the session (he was gazetted First Lord of the Treasury May 12) was of material service in enabling him to face the difficulties of his position; and he employed the autumn in seeking to gain strength by forming an alliance with some other party. Lord Grenville however proved firm in his resolution not to accept office while Mr. Fox was excluded; and the minister, assuredly with deep mortification, was compelled to make overtures of reconciliation to Mr. Addington, who was created Viscount Sidmouth, and appointed President of the Council in January, 1805. This alliance after all proved inefficient to strengthen the