mark was ordered not to intermeddle; more employment was found for the Emperor in the Belgic provinces, in case the Turks had proved insufficient for the purpose; and all this was to be made to terminate in Nootka Sound!"[1]
The only justification of this alteration of policy, lay in the alleged necessity of maintaining the integrity of the Turkish Empire, a political doctrine to which the younger Pitt, differing from his father, had devoted himself. "Your Lordship knows I am quite a Russ,"[2] Chatham had written in 1773 to Shelburne, and the latter now assured the House of Lords that the deceased statesman had always contended against any connection with the Turks, declaring that such a connection would only lead the country into difficulties.[3] Pitt, however, threw aside the tradition of the policy of Chatham, and on the 28th of March 1791 the King sent a message to Parliament, that, having failed in concert with his allies to effect a reconciliation between Russia and the Porte, he deemed it advisable to increase his naval forces. It was hoped that the sight of the English fleet in the Black Sea would have the same effect on Russia, as the mobilisation of the Prussian army had had on Austria at Reichenbach. War would now have begun had not the country been fortunately wiser than the Ministers. Both in and out of Parliament a storm of opposition arose. In the House of Commons the armament was denounced., by Fox in one of his most celebrated orations; in the House of Lords, Lord Lansdowne vigorously attacked it.[4] Pitt recognised the impossibility of continuing the struggle, and abandoned the projected armament. The blow to his prestige, however, was enormous. It was whispered that a change of ministry might take place, and that the King had been heard to say that his objections to Fox might not prove insuperable. Lord Carmarthen, now Duke of Leeds, resigned the Foreign Office, and Mr. Grenville, who had succeeded Lord Sydney in 1789 at the Home Office,
