the Royalist uprising in La Vendée and he urged the British government to aid them with the aim of restoring the House of Bourbon to the throne: "I would, from the beginning, have made this the principal object of the war". In a speech to the Commons, on 30 April 1792, he declared that he would unite with any body of men "who were determined to set their faces against every endeavour to subvert the true principles of the constitution". On 13 November Windham and Burke met Pitt and hinted they and their fellow conservative Whigs would support strong measures; however, Pitt desired "more certain and definite assurances of support from the heads of the party before the meeting of parliament". He still had reservations about completely separating from Fox and he denied in the Commons (on 15 December) that they differed in principles. However, as he said in the Commons on 4 January 1793, he was no longer a systematic opposer of the government. In the aftermath of the execution of Louis XVI, Parliament met in February 1793. Fox and his supporters excused France's actions short of supporting the execution and Fox claimed that the British monarchy was elective and that sovereignty resided with the people. On 9 February war was declared on France and the conservative Whigs met the next day. They decided that a reunion with the Foxites was now out of the question and that they would now call themselves the "Third Party". This faction consisted of only approximately 38 MPs (26 of whom were members of the Whig party), with less than one-fifth of the Whigs as members. In the opinion of the historian Frank O'Gorman, if the Pitt government was to be persuaded to adopt the only anti-Jacobin policies that would be effective, "Windham was the only politician who might seriously undertake to accomplish these ends": He was possessed of distinguished talents and a disposition so compelling as to endear him to all. The power of his intelligence was disguised by his self-effacing manner as a reserve of strength and firmness which he did not in reality possess. His talents and his nature, allied to unquestioned integrity, gave him a reputation and a standing among his contemporaries which was, perhaps, second only to that of Fox. It was not by accident that Windham was able to rally to him some of the most respectable