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428 Whig leaders, and the following outline of a Ministry was agreed upon: —

All arrangements were however abruptly terminated in 1801 by the recovery of the King. The Addington Administration was successfully formed, and the position of the Opposition, as Fox felt, became more hopeless than ever. They resolved however to persevere with their opposition in Parliament, where Fox had now returned. "The line of conduct to be taken," he wrote to Lord Holland, "seems quite clear; as Lord Lansdowne would say, simplicity and consistency. Removal and censure of Pitt and his associates; Religious Liberty to its utmost extent; Reform in Parliament; Liberty of the Press, in which I include pardon in all instances, and indemnity in others to Libellers, &c.; not only peace, but a good understanding if it can be had with Bonaparte, and everything that is mild and conciliating to Denmark, Sweden, &c."

During the session of 1801 accordingly, the Opposition continued to urge on the Ministry the necessity of concluding peace. The retirement of Pitt and Grenville had made a negotiation easier. Their successors Addington and Hawkesbury were not pledged never under any circumstances to treat with the existing Government of