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twofold advantage of his scheme.

"He entreated the House to consider how momentous was the object before it; that it tended to conciliate a difference between this and our sister kingdom, which, though now confined to secret repinings, to disgusts, to jealousies, and a war of interests and of passions, might perhaps, in time, proceed a length which he shuddered to think of; that it tended to enrich one part of the empire without impoverishing the other, while it gave strength to both; that like mercy, the favourite attribute of Heaven,

'It was twice bless'd, It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes.'

she had been made subser- second time he pleaded the vient to the opulence and interest of England; she had been forbidden to share in the bounties of nature or to profit by the energy of her citizens. "That which had been the system," said he, in a memorable passage, "counteracted the kindness of Providence and suspended the industry and enterprise of man." But at last the Government had discovered the best means of uniting the two countries, and he confidently urged the House to accept his measures. Instantly the objections which he had anticipated were advanced upon the other side. The manufacturers of Lancashire saw their privileges threatened, and did not hesitate to exaggerate the dangers of the concession. The low rate of wages, said they, would enable the Irish to undersell their rivals. Ireland would become the mart of the Empire, to the ruin of English trade and English enterprise. Thus the merchants, and they were eloquently seconded by all the leaders of the Coalition. Fox, with a recklessness of courage, argued on both sides, and saw in Pitt's proposals not only the slavery of Ireland, but the destruction of the Navigation Act, which Pitt called "the palladium of our commerce. The discussion was long and acrimonious, but Pitt's skilful management prevailed over all opposition, and the propositions were accepted by the English Parliament. Never did Pitt speak with greater passion than when for the

The wisdom and ingenuity of the measure were obvious save to the eye of faction, and Ireland might have been expected to accept what was designed particularly for her benefit. Not even the contribution which she was asked to pay for the national defence could have proved a hardship, for as it was to come from the surplus of the hereditary revenue its amount would depend upon her added prosperity. But it was Ireland, always irreconcilable, which rejected the proposal. Fox had concluded his last speech on the question with a phrase cunningly devised to excite opposition. "I will not barter English commerce for Irish slavery," said he; "that is not the price I would pay,

nor is this the thing I would purchase." Caught up by the Irish, it became a watchword of revolt, and proved more efficacious in Dublin than hours of argument. Nor was this all. To conciliate his English supporters, Pitt had modified his plan, and no sooner was the bill sent to Ireland than a note of warning was heard. The independence of the Irish Parliament was said to be threatened. Grattan, Daly, and the Speaker were not pleased, while the Ponsonbys were up in arms. The Duke of Rutland was as emphatic as Mornington. "On one point, which I find to be contained in the body of the resolutions," he wrote, "I mean that which relates to the perpetuity of the laws for the collection of the revenue, I will not attempt to deceive you, but at once pronounce it impossible to be carried." Pitt had gone too far to retract his mischievous fourth proposition. At this last hour he could not trust the English majority to accept a change. Though large, it was composed of men who acted for themselves, and he hardly knew from day to day what impression they might receive. "Moreover," said he, 66 we have an indefatigable enemy, sharpened by disappointment, watching and improving every opportunity." As the weeks passed the indignation of the Irish rose higher and higher. "The speech of Mr Grattan," said the Duke of Rutland on August 13, 1785, "was, I

understand, a display of the most beautiful eloquence perhaps ever heard, but it was seditious and inflammatory to a degree hardly credible." And both Grattan and Flood made it quite clear that they aimed at nothing else than at war with England. It is not strange, therefore, to find Lord Mornington declaring that the hasty abandonment of the Bill was imperative, and abandoned it was with sorrow and reluctance. But it was the Marquis of Buckingham who keened the loudest over the death of the measure. Truly he was the Cassandra of the story. "Lost indeed!" he exclaimed, "and how lost? By the folly or treachery of Mr Orde." And straightway he attributes the blame of failure to the criminal incapacity of the Duke of Rutland and his subordinate, who, he is sure, can never again be trusted by Mr Pitt. The Marquis's disappointment, however, was perhaps not unalloyed with the satisfaction which comes from the misfortune of a rival. To Pitt not even egoism could suggest a solace. He had undertaken his task in a spirit of single-minded patriotism. "Let this business with Ireland terminate well," he had written to the Lord-Lieutenant, "let peace continue for five years, and we shall again look any Power in Europe in the face." If the business with Ireland had terminated very ill, if once again Pitt was forced to pursue the petty expedients of a day, that was the fault of Fox

and his friends, who had not scrupled to sacrifice the happiness of a country to their political ambition.

But Pitt was not dismayed by failure, and a year later he devised another, and this a successful, treaty of commerce. What he could not achieve with Ireland he achieved with France, and nothing that he did in the term of his peaceful administration was attended with happier results. It was no reckless experiment in onesided free trade. It did not pretend to fight protective duties with free imports. It proposed to serve both countries by benefiting the consumers on either side the Channel. We agreed to take from France on small duties the luxuries of her soil, which, as Pitt said, "the refinement of ourselves had converted into necessaries"; while France, on her side, was to take from us, on equal terms, the products of our manufactories. But the wisdom of the measure did not disarm opposition. Fox, underrating the strength of Pitt's position, believed the defeat of the Minister possible, and attacked the proposed treaty with an unavailing bitterness. In introducing his measure to the Commons, Pitt had anticipated the objection which it would meet from the enemies of France. He had denounced as monstrous and impossible the doctrine that France was, and must be, the unalterable enemy of Great Britain. Upon this point Fox took him up even before he had heard the

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details of the plan. He declared that France was "the natural political enemy of Great Britain." "What made her so?" he asked. "Not the memory of Cressy and Agincourt the victories of these fields had nothing to do with the circumstances. It was the overweening pride and boundless ambition of France, her invariable and ardent desire to hold the sway of Europe.' That may have been true, but it was a splendid irony which put the words in the mouth of Fox, who a few years later loved France far more than his native land, and who saw a perfect heroism in Napoleon's "invincible and ardent" love of conquest. However, not even Fox nor Burke nor Grey availed to obstruct the purpose of Pitt. The treaty, approved by a large majority of both Houses, answered the expectations of either side, and might long have continued to profit both kingdoms had it not been interrupted by the French Revolution.

Meanwhile Pitt's position was still insecure. His majority, though large, was independent, and had it not been for the support of the Court party he would long since have been ousted from office. Fox and his friends, encouraged by the rejection of the Irish propositions, regarded themselves as the favourites of the manufacturers, and half-believed that the office for which they had sacrificed so much already in their grasp. And Pitt, isolated as ever, still fought

his battle alone. Few as his active supporters were, in Wilberforce's words, "he made no friends." Yet all acknowledged the consummate mastery of his defence. Gibbon, who at the outset had no high opinion of "Billy," soon changed his tone. "A youth of twenty-five," said he, when Pitt had been a year in office, "who raises himself to the government of an empire by the power of genius and the reputation of virtue, is a circumstance unparalleled in history, and, in a general view, is not less glorious to the country than to himself." Equally emphatic was the testimony of Rigby, a veteran with unrivalled knowledge of the House. "You know that I am not partial to Pitt," he told General Grant, "and yet I must own that he is infinitely superior to anything I ever saw in that House. .

He,

without support or assistance, answers them all with ease to himself, and they are just chaff before the wind to him." But the position of a solitary leader must always be precarious, and Pitt was still open to assault, when a singular indiscretion put an end for many a long day to the hopes of office entertained by Fox and his colleagues.

At the beginning of November 1788 the King suddenly showed signs of insanity. He talked incessantly, on one occasion for sixteen hours without a break, until he became hoarse and unintelligible. As he told Lady Effingham, he grew an

old man in an hour; and at last, by the imperious advice of the doctors, he was isolated from his Court. A brief note from Pitt to Grenville announced the melancholy news. "The account of last night," wrote Pitt, "is, that the King's state during that day had been perfectly maniacal. What I learnt from General Gr— yesterday morning was so much worse than on the day before, that I have begun to fear that the physicians have been more in the right than we thought." As readers of Miss Burney's 'Diary' will remember, the King's health varied from day to day; but it was soon clear that he was no longer capable of government, and the need of a Regency was generally discussed. Instantly it was taken for granted that Fox, who hastily returned from abroad, would hold office under the Prince of Wales, and the Whigs believed that the hour of their triumph was at hand. The Marquis of Buckingham, then Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, was convinced that the Government would be dismissed immediately. But his mind was made up. He would support Grenville in the object nearest his heart-"I mean the support of him out of office, who, I verily believe, is (in office) the honestest Minister we ever saw." His one fear was that a coalition would be proposed, in which Pitt would take part; yet he hoped that "Pitt's wisdom and pride would steer clear of such a disgrace." On all sides intrigue was busy, and

a mob of courtiers was ready to desert the King for the Prince at the first chance. Fox, Sheridan, and Burke formed themselves into a committee which should watch over the Prince's interests; and Lord Loughborough already saw attained his eager ambition of the woolsack, Alas for his hopes! Thurlow, that artist in treachery, suddenly went over to the enemy's camp, and was received with all the honour due to a successful renegade. Everything, in fact, seemed settled, save the mere apportionment of offices, when Pitt once more gave proof of the practical statesmanship which distinguished him, and rudely aroused his opponents from their dreams of power. He suggested, in brief, that the Regency of the Prince of Wales should be restricted. Though the Prince would exercise the royal power, under the style and title of Regent of the Kingdom, his power should "not extend to the granting of any dignity of the peerage of the realm to any person whatever, except his Majesty's royal issue, who shall have attained the full age of twenty-one years." It was further enacted "that the said powers should not extend to the granting of any office whatever in reversion, or to the granting of any office, salary, or pension, for any other term than during his Majesty's pleasure except such offices as are by law required to be granted for life, or during good behaviour." The restric

tions aroused a storm of anger. Fox, as though his accession were assured, declared that he expected to have the power, patronage, and emoluments of office. Burke taunted Pitt with setting himself up as a rival to the Regent, and spoke contemptuously of the prince on the other side of the House. Still more rashly Fox and his party, always ready to combat the divine right of kings, insisted that the Prince of Wales was Regent, with full powers and privileges, by virtue of the Constitution. A less honest man than Pitt might have. followed Thurlow's example and made terms with the Prince. For, restricted though he was, the Regent would yet have power to dismiss his Ministers; and Pitt after passing his Bill could cherish little hope of consideration. But, heedless of consequences, he pursued the course he believed right, and the Prince could not but answer the Minister's letter, setting forth the conditions of Regency, with dignified acceptance, drafted it is said by Burke. And then by an ironical piece of good fortune the King recovered, and for the Regency Bill were substituted addresses of congratulation. In vain had the floods of rhetoric been poured forth by Burke and Fox; in vain had the wild hopes of the Prince's friends been entertained; in vain had Thurlow proved himself once more a traitor. The King's recovery put an end to intrigue and aspiration, and placed Pitt

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