$78 
lently attacked in the house of com- 
- mons, and notwithstanding the able 
defence of the minister, a resolution 
passed the house, by ~the casting 
vote of the speaker, which -after- 
wards led to his impeachment, on 
which he was afterwards acquitted. 
Mr. Pitt’s own conduct was in- 
quired into by the house, on the 
subject of an advance of 40,0001. of 
the public money, to Messrs. Boyd, 
and Co. in 1796, by a loan upon 
scrip, and he was by all parties ac- 
quitted of any improper or inte- 
rested views in this transaction, and 
a bill of indemnity for his conduct 
was passed. ‘This year was full of 
labour and difficulty to Mr. Pitt, 
and replete with disaster to the 
arms of those allies, whose assis- 
tance he had procured for this coun- 
try against France. Ilis constita- 
tion became’grealy enfeebled, and 
in the autumn of this year he was 
afflicted with the disorder which 
terminated his existence Jan. 21, 
1805. In grateful remembrance of 
his services, parliament not only 
voted a public funeral, the parti- 
culars of which we have detailed 
in another place, but also a sum of 
40,0001. for payment of his debts. 
He was not of age when his fa- 
ther died, and it is most honourable 
to his memory, that an attack hav- 
ing been made upon some part of the 
conduct of his beloved parent, he 
wrote a very vigorous pamphlet in 
his defence, and he was remarkable 
for his filial aud pious attention to 
his mother, who survived lord Chat. 
ham many years, and lived to enjoy 
the proud satisfaction of beholding 
her son’s greatness. 
His skill in measures of finance, 
was acknowledged by his bitterest 
enemies, and there can be little 
doubt, that by the operation of his 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 18066. - 
plan for the reduction of the na 
tioyal debt, had not the war o 
the French revolution commenced, 
he would have raised this country, 
its commerce, and its wealth, to a 
pitch of greatness almost beyond 
hope. ‘The plan of reducing the 
debt by a sinking fund, it is admitted 
is not the invention of the minister, 
but it is his praise to have adopt- 
ed it, and to have persevered in it. 
Plans of economy are not of diflicult 
discovery, it is only the fortitude 
which adheres to them in all trials, 
that is rare or difficult. In all de- 
tails of business, and particularly in 
opening the budget, Mr. Pitt was 
eminently skilful; his statements 
were not only the most perspicuous 
and connected, but the most ani- 
mating and impressive. His preci« 
sion of language upon all such oc- 
casions was admirable ; he said every 
thing that he ought, every shing 
in its right place, and every thing 
with a powerful and appropriate 
emphasis of manner and of diction. 
Nota figure was dropped in his cal- 
culations, not an illustration, nor 
even a word wanting in his speech. 
It was the characteristic of his style 
to be always accurate, fluent, firm, 
dignified, energetic, grand, as. oc- 
casion suited. In fluency and cor- 
rectness no orator ever equalled 
him. He was so fastidiously accu- 
rate, that in the most unpremeditated 
speech, if any interruption occurred 
to suspend the thread of his dis- 
course, he would resume it as if 
reading from a book, just at the ~ 
word where he had left off, pursuing 
the sentence to the end. Yet with 
all this fastidious accuracy, he never 
was deficient in dignity, strength, ° 
or animation. His sarcasm was’ 
bitter, pointed, and excruciatingly 
severe. ’ 
Amongst 
