Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 45.djvu/380

 , Pitt, pp. 84, 87-8). During 1786 he was engaged on a commercial treaty with France, negotiated by William Eden, afterwards Lord Auckland [q. v.], on lines suggested by Bolingbroke in 1713, and contemplated by Shelburne. Pitt's attitude signally exhibited his dislike of restrictions on trade and his freedom from national prejudice. Fox objected to the treaty in January 1787 on the ground that France was the unalterable enemy of England. Pitt replied that 'to suppose that any nation could be unalterably the enemy of another was weak and childish.' The treaty was approved by a large majority. By reducing the duties on French wines it revived the taste for them in England, and the consumption increased rapidly (, v. 37-46 ; ''Parl. Hist''. xxvi. 233, 382-407). His consolidation of the port and excise duties and the produce of other taxes into one fund was an important fiscal improvement (, ii. 192), and the masterly fashion in which he dealt with the nearly three thousand resolutions occupied by this intricate measure excited the admiration even of the opposition (, ii. 233-49). Both in this year (1787) and in 1789 he resisted motions for the repeal of the Test and Corporations Acts ; for, though not opposed to religious freedom, he held that the alliance of church and state was founded on expediency, that the restrictions imposed by the acts were necessary to it, and that they were not in themselves unreasonable (''Parl. Hist''. xxvi. 825, xxix. 509). In 1787 events induced Pitt to specially direct his attention to foreign affairs. He held the independence of Holland to be a matter of the highest importance, and desired to check the growth of French influence there. The stadtholder, the Prince of Orange, who favoured the English alliance, had been forced by the 'patriot' party, which was in close alliance with France, to leave the Hague. Active assistance was promised by France to the states, while a Prussian army was sent to reinstate the prince. Pitt promised to aid the Prussians with a fleet. War seemed imminent, and Pitt made full preparations for it. But the Prussians were received in Holland as allies, France held back, the stadtholder was reinstated, and both England and France agreed to put an end to their preparations for war (27 Oct.) Since the American war England had no ally on the continent except Portugal. Pitt followed up the success of his policy in Holland by an alliance in 1788 with the states and with Prussia. He thus re-established English influence abroad. Early in that year he had a hard struggle over his India declaratory bill, which compelled the board of control to maintain a permanent body of troops out of the funds of the company. The course of the struggle illustrates the extent to which the hold of the government on its majority depended on Pitt personally (Court and Cabinets, i. 356, 361; Annual Register, 1788, xxx. 108-21). His bill finally passed with some modifications. The success of his financial measures enabled him for the time to dispense with any new taxes, and to bring forward a plan for compensating the American loyalists. It was in accordance with his advice that Wilberforce took up the slave-trade question, and, Wilberforce being ill, Pitt, on 9 May 1788, brought forward his resolution on the subject for him. It was supported by Fox and Burke, and was carried (Life of Wilberforce, i. 151, 171). In the same session he supported Sir William Dolben's bill for regulating the slave trade [see under ], in 1789 and 1790 upheld Wilberforce's motions, and on 2 April 1792, in opposition to many of his followers, urged the immediate abolition of the trade in a speech which, eloquent throughout, ended with a gorgeous peroration (Parl. Hist. xxix. 1134-88, 1277). In November 1788 Pitt's position was imperilled by the king's insanity. Had the Prince of Wales become regent, Pitt would have been dismissed in favour of Fox and his party. Pitt, while he looked forward unmoved to loss of office, held that it was for parliament to name a regent, and to impose such restrictions on him for a limited time as would enable the king, on his recovery, to resume his power without difficulties. The prince and his party intrigued to prevent the imposition of restrictions, and Lord-chancellor Thurlow treacherously abetted them. On 10 Dec. Pitt moved for a search for precedents ; Fox declared that the prince had an inherent right to the regency with sovereign powers, and that parliament had merely to decide when that right was to be exercised. Pitt, on hearing this argument, whispered to his neighbour, 'I'll unwhig the gentleman for the rest of his life' (Life of Sheridan, ii.38). While acknowledging that the prince had an irresistible claim, he maintained that it was not of strict right, and was to be decided on by parliament. He answered an intemperate attack by Burke by a dignified appeal to the house. On the 16th his resolutions for a bill of regency were carried by a majority of sixty-four (Court and Cabinets, ii. 49-54). Still many wavered, and some members of the cabinet' were inclined, in case of a regency, to coalesce with the opposition. Not