Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/569

 PITT 553 The ministry brought forward a bill for the government of India, which excited the fiercest opposition and was defeated in the house of lords. The ministry resigned, and Pitt suc- ceeded as prime minister, being appointed first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the ex- chequer. He took office surrounded by diffi- culties of the most formidable kind. Among his colleagues in the house of commons there was not a single orator of note, while the op- position was led by Fox, Burke, Sheridan, and North. His policy, however, was from the outset firm and unflinching. He maintained the contest with haughty resolution from Dec. 17, 1783, to March 8, 1784, notwithstanding he was defeated in 16 divisions. Though the house of commons was hostile, the king and the people gave him the warmest support. In the midst of the struggle the clerkship of the pells, a sinecure place worth 3,000 a year for life, and one that could be held together with a seat in parliament, became vacant. Every- body thought that Pitt, whose whole private income was only 300 a year, would appoint himself ; but he gave the office to Ool. Barre, who was old and blind. The courage and de- termination of the young premier at length triumphed. The opposition majority was re- duced to one, and parliament was dissolved with the coalition of Fox and North demoral- ized and practically defeated. The appeal to the country met with an enthusiastic response, 160 of the coalition members losing their seats, and Pitt being returned at the head of the poll for the university of Cambridge. He was now, at the age of 25, the greatest subject that Eng- land had seen for many generations. No min- ister in modern times had ever been so power- ful and so popular. In 1784 he secured the passage of a bill establishing a new constitution for the East India company. On March 29, 1786, in a speech of six hours, delivered with- out notes and without a moment's hesitation, he brought forward a scheme for the redemp- tion of the national debt by means of a sinking fund, and supported it by a vast and elaborate array of figures and arguments. It was agreed to by the house without a single dissentient vote. The same year he negotiated a liberal commercial treaty with France. George III. becoming insane in the autumn of 1788, the opposition, with whom the prince of Wales (afterward George IV.) had affiliated, contend- ed that the prince was as a matter of course entitled to the full powers of the crown. Pitt maintained that it belonged to parliament to determine with what degree of power the re- gent should be intrusted. The people sided with Pitt, and supported him with enthusiasm during a long and violent contest on the sub- ject; and when that contest* was terminated by the king's unexpected recovery, the popu- larity of the minister was greater than ever. At this time Pitt, who was always strongly opposed to slavery and the slave trade, car- ried by his eloquence and determination, against the opposition of some of his own colleagues, a bill to mitigate the horrors of the middle passage. He looked at first with approbation on the French movement for constitutional liberty, but in common with the vast majority of the English nation he was shocked and re- volted by the atrocities of the revolutionists. He however labored hard to avert the war with France, but was at length forced by pop- ular pressure and the current of events into hostilities. His military administration was feeble and unskilful. For a long series of years the operations of the English on land were marked only by inefficiency, blunders, and disasters; and on sea for a long while affairs went little better. Pitt had made his elder brother, the earl of Chatham, first lord of the admiralty, a post for which he was totally unfitted ; and nothing was done by the navy till Earl Spencer succeeded him, under whose administration two great naval victories were won within a year. Yet in spite of his blunders and failures in foreign expeditions, Pitt's extraordinary genius as a parliamentary leader continued to him the absolute control of the house of commons, and at length the opposition to him there substantially vanished away. In 1799 the largest minority that could be mustered on any question was only 25 votes. Most of the leaders of the opposition had given in their adhesion to the administration, and Fox, the greatest of them all, had withdrawn from the field. In his domestic policy Pitt was vigorous and severe, and effectually re- pressed the revolutionary spirit in the British islands by a series of high-handed measures and arbitrary enactments which rendered him exceedingly odious to the liberal part of the people. He formed great plans however for the benefit of Ireland, but could only effect the legislative union with Great Britain, his pro- ject of Catholic emancipation being defeated by the obstinate prejudices of the king. Find- ing the monarch immovable on this point, Pitt resigned (March, 1801), and Addington became premier. Pitt at first made no opposition to the new ministry, and for a considerable period lived in retirement, so embarrassed in circum- stances, after 18 years of absolute power, as to have serious thoughts of returning to his pro- fession for subsistence. But when in May, 1803, the ambitious designs of Napoleon drove England to break the peace of Amiens, he ap- peared in parliament and made a great speech in favor of the war. In the following year the weakness of Addington and his colleagues became so apparent that the king was forced to recall Pitt to the head of affairs. He de- sired to form a cabinet of the first men in the kingdom, but on account of the prejudices of the king, the new government was formed chiefly of the wreck of Addington' s adminis- tration, with the addition of a few personal friends of the premier, of whom Harrowby, Melville, and Canning were the most eminent. Pitt was soon beset with troubles of fearful