Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/90

76 in harmony with the King. Yet Addington had a considerable personal following, which, added to Pitt's position and indecision, was sufficient to give working power to the Government. The last-named element had to be balanced by some help, if not in numbers yet in ability and popular support, an alliance with the Whigs. This was soon seen to be impossible. Grenville and Fox, although differing on the question of the war and on some other subjects, were agreed as to the necessity of Catholic emancipation. Grenville, indeed, seemed determined to adhere more resolutely than Pitt to the implied pledge which had been given to Ireland when the Act of Union was passed. On the 19th of February, it was reported that the two Whig leaders had united their forces, and that neither of them would enter the Ministry without the other.

This was equivalent to declaring that the new Ministry should be exclusively Tory, for George III. was determined not to admit Fox into his counsels, and Pitt himself was not earnest in the desire that he should, although he submitted the name with that of Grenville as desirable additions to the strength of the Government. The minister evidently expected that in the last resort Grenville would accept office without his great ally under the pressure of the times. He was bitterly pained and disappointed by the refusal, and declared he would teach that proud man that, in the service and confidence of the King, he could do without him, even if it should cost him his life. The last days of the Addington administration have no interest beyond this failure to form a coalition. Its death, indeed, was as undignified as its life. It had concluded a delusive peace, and recommenced a hopeless and disastrous war. There had been actual rebellion in Ireland, and an appearance of revolutionary feeling in England. Emmett in the one country and Colonel Despard in the other were executed. But the causes which led to disaffection in England, and the more desperate oppression which drove Ireland into chronic rebellion, were left untouched, left to fester unhealed and to break out into fresh social and political sores. And now the Ministry, strong in votes but feeble in