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 in his finance, did he strive for novelty ; for he constantly adopted and improved on the devices of earlier financiers. His new India Bill, which passed easily, gave the crown political power, while it left to the directors the appointment of those who were to carry out the orders of the board of control. It established the system of double government, which, with some modifications, remained in force until 1858. In the session of 1785 he suffered a damaging defeat in his attempt to nullify Fox's election to Westminster, and by the course he pursued incurred the charge of acting vindictively. By his motion for parliamentary reform of 18 April, which he pressed eagerly, he proposed to extinguish by purchase the privileges of borough-holders or electors in thirty-six decayed boroughs, and to transfer the seventy two seats to the larger counties and the cities of London and Westminster, and to proceed in like manner in the future if other boroughs fell into decay (Parl. Hist. xxv. 445). Neither the cabinet nor the opposition was unanimous on the motion, and Pitt did not treat it as one on which the fate of the government was to depend. He spoke on it with eloquence, but was defeated by 248 to 174, and, greatly as he desired reform, would never again do anything for its accomplishment (, v. 63). In his budget of 9 May 1785 he further reduced the floating debt by new taxes, some of which were opposed, and passed with modifications. By including a number of taxes of various kinds in a single group, known as the assessed taxes, he checked waste and fraud. He sought to free trade from restrictions, and, anxious to strengthen the bond between Great Britain and Ireland, drew up resolutions establishing free trade and reciprocity between the two countries, and providing that Ireland should contribute towards the protection of the commerce of the empire in proportion to the consequent improvement in its trade. His scheme, presented in resolutions to the Irish parliament on 7 Feb. 1785, passed with a general concurrence, and on 22 Feb. Pitt introduced it in the English parliament. Here it was vehemently opposed, and he was forced to modify it in the interests of English manufacturers (Parl. Hist. xxv. 778). The bill was recast, 'seriously to the detriment of Ireland' ; it was, in its new form, passed in England, but was rejected by the Irish parliament, In 1786 another government measure, the proposal to fortify Plymouth and Portsmouth, was rejected by the speaker's casting vote. Such rebuffs were due partly to the fact that the ministerial party was not knit together by enthusiasm for any great question, partly to some distrust of Pitt's youth, and partly to his manners, which, though genial in private life, were stiff and haughty with his political supporters (, i. 78). Pitt's financial successes enabled him in 1786 to bring forward a scheme for the reduction of the national debt. He regarded the debt as an excessive burden on the country, and in that belief declared it better for the country to borrow at a high than at a low rate of interest (Parl. Hist. xxiv. 1022). Having a surplus of revenue of nearly a million, he proposed that a million a year should be placed in the hands of commissioners to be applied to the reduction of the debt, and that to it should be added the interest of the sums so redeemed, that this 'sinking fund' should be out of the control of the government, and that its operation should continue whatever the financial condition of the country might be. A sinking fund had already been tried by Walpole; Pitt owed his scheme to Dr. Richard Price (1723-1791) [q. v.] He believed, and people generally agreed with him, that if it was carried out without interruption it would extinguish the debt simply by the efficacy of compound interest (ib. xxv. 1310). The scheme was adopted, and by 1793 ten and a quarter millions of debt had thus been paid off. But it has long been proved that there is nothing spontaneous in the working of such a fund, and that public debt can only be lessened by taxation. It is obvious that the maintenance of the fund during the war which began in 1793, so far from being economical, was extremely wasteful, for the nation borrowed vast sums at high rates and applied part of them to paying off debts which bore a low rate of interest. This was not perceived at the time, and the knowledge that the fund was maintained helped to support public credit, and so strengthened Pitt's position during the worst periods of depression (, Tracts, pp. 526-53, 572 sqq.) The charges against Warren Hastings [q. v.] were promoted by the opposition, and were opposed by Pitt's friends generally. He voted against the Rohilla charge, which was rejected on 2 June 1786 ; but when, on 13 June, Fox brought forward the Benares charge, to the astonishment of all he spoke and voted for it, and it was carried by 119 to 79 (Parl. Hist. xx vi. 102). It is probable that on studying the charges he came to the conclusion that he could not honourably continue to support Hastings. He voted for the Begum charge in February 1787, and thus rendered the impeachment certain (, i. 298-305, 327 ; Memoirs of Sir P. Francis, ii. 237 ;