There was a faint smile on Fox’s lips, but he replied with a hard edge to his voice.‘That is hearsay and rumour, and you would be well advised not to repeat such scurrilous untruths.’

Arthur tapped his finger on the table and interrupted. ‘And yet you would have us negotiate peace with France, if I understand correctly?’ He glanced at Grenville, who nodded.

‘Times change,’ Fox continued. ‘What might once have been considered a lack of blind patriotism might now be seen as the best hope for Britain, under the present circumstances.’

‘Circumstances change,’ Arthur responded.‘Bonaparte’s enemies will not long tolerate his power over Europe. Equally, I doubt whether he would tolerate a prolonged peace. Bonaparte will always want more territory, more power and more glory. He needs these things as other men need food and water. Unless Britain is prepared to continue submitting to his demands, however humiliating, there will be further wars.You cannot appease such a despot for ever, Mr Fox.’

‘You may have a point, young man. But try telling that to the merchants of this country who increasingly find themselves closed off from continental markets. Try telling it to the hungry mobs of unemployed in our great industrial cities whose jobs have gone as trade has withered.Try telling it to those countless families up and down this land whose sons and fathers have been killed in the wars against France, or have come home crippled by wounds and incapable of earning a crust. Do you really think they will rejoice at the prospect of war unending?’

‘No one is asking them to rejoice.And the war will end, the moment France is free of Bonaparte.’

Fox suddenly sat back in his chair and took a swift draught of port from his glass. Then he looked closely at Arthur. ‘It’s peculiar that you should say that.’

‘Really? Why, sir?’

‘I was approached by a French dissident earlier this week, who had come to London in secret in order to present me with a plan to assassinate his Emperor.’

‘Good God!’ Grenville stared at his Foreign Secretary. ‘And you didn’t think to tell me?’

‘You are a busy man, Prime Minister. The fellow’s plan seemed madcap when he broached it, and he needs a large sum, in gold, to pay the assassin. So I declined the offer. Moreover, I decided to inform my opposite number in Paris of his countryman’s plan.’

‘You would reveal this to Talleyrand?’ Richard could not hide his amazement.‘By God, why would you do such a thing? This Frenchman and his agent would be caught and killed.Would you have that on your conscience?’