552 
P I 
December 1783, Mr. Pitt united the pods of firft Lord 
of the Treafury and Chancellor of the Exchequer, and 
thus, in his 24th year, affumed the ftation of prime- 
minifter. But, although fupported by the choice of his 
fovereign, he had a very powerful oppofition to encounter 
in the houfe of commons ; and his firft India-bill was 
rejected. The extraordinary fpeftacle was now prefented, 
of a minifter (landing oppofed to the majority of the na¬ 
tional reprefentatives; and it was obvious that either he 
mull give way, or parliament be diffolved. After a long 
ftruggle, in which Mr. Pitt, almoft unfupported, fteadily 
refilled the call upon him to declare whether or no a dif- 
folution was intended, that meafure took place in March 
1784, and a general eleftion fucceeded. On this occafion 
it appeared that the voice of the nation was decidedly in 
favour of the minifter; and he had the fingular fortune 
of being fupported as well by the friends of royal prero¬ 
gative as by thofe of parliamentary independence. Some 
of the llrongeft ariftocratical interefts in the kingdom 
were defeated; and the new parliament opened with a 
large majority on the minifterial fide. Mr. Pitt was now 
returned for the univerfity of Cambridge. His firft mea¬ 
fure was the palling of his India-bill with fome altera¬ 
tions. Its efience was the conftituting of a board of 
controul appointed by the king out of the privy council, 
for fuperintending the civil and military government and 
the revenue concerns of the company, whilft their com¬ 
mercial and internal affairs were left under the manage¬ 
ment of their own direftors. The king was to nominate 
a commander-in-chief, and to poffefs a negative upon all 
appointments of the company ; and a new court of judi¬ 
cature was inftituted for the trial of offences committed 
in India. Another important plan in which he occupied 
himfelf, was for the prevention of fmuggling; and for 
thispurpofe, by what was termed the commutation-aft, 
he took off the principal duties from tea, and fupplied 
the deficiency by a large addition to the window-tax. 
The time was now come in which the confiftency of 
the minifter, with refpeft to an objeft for which he had 
zealoufly contended when a private member of parliament, 
was to be tried. This was the reform of the reprefenta- 
tion, to which purpofe a member made a motion in June 
1784, when Mr. Pitt fet it afide wfith the declaration of 
his own intention of Ihortly fubmitting a propofal rela¬ 
tive to the fame end. Accordingly, in April 1785,'he 
introduced a motion founded upon the principle of a 
purchafe, by the public, of the rights of fuel) boroughs 
as were become too inconfiderable to exercife properly 
the privilege of returning reprefentatives. This idea 
appeared fo objeftionable, that it was rejected by a large 
majority; and, as the minifter never again took up the 
fubjeft, it cannot be doubted that he was well pleafed 
thus to get rid of it. In Ireland, where the reprefentation 
was Hill more defective, projects of reform had been 
adopted with great ardour, and in a mode that excited 
much alarm in government, which exerted all its powers 
for their defeat ; and thus terminated all expeftations 
of the minifter’s aid in effefting any improvement in 
this part of the conllitution. 
It was as a minifter of finance that Mr. Pitt obtained 
the mod general applaufe; and the plans which he intro¬ 
duced for the gradual extinftion of the national debt are 
Hill operating with great benefit, while fome of his other 
fplendid projefts have terminated in a manner direftly 
contrary to his hopes. Adopting the principle of fome 
able writers on political arithmetic, of the accumula¬ 
ting powers of compound intereft, he introduced in 1786 
a bill for fetting apart an annual million for the purchafe 
of flock, which fum was to be augmented by the intereft 
of the Hock fo purchafed, whereby its duplication would 
be effefted in a term of 14 years. Perfeverance in this 
plan, with improvements, has already, amidftall the pref- 
fure of public burdens, extinguilhed a large fum of debt, 
and produced a very confiderable revenue to be applied 
to the fame purpofe. Various alterations in the mode of 
T T. 
collefting the taxes, fo as to obviate frauds and defalca¬ 
tions, rendered them more productive, and came in aid 
of the great fyftem. A commercial treaty with France, 
in 1787, founded upon reciprocal advantages, and fup¬ 
ported upon the liberal principle that neighbouring 
nations, inllead of foes and rivals, might become mutual 
aftiftants in the progrefs to profperity, difplayed the 
minifter’s attention to the trading intereft. Indeed, the 
fuperior information of the Englilh negociators threw the 
benefits of the treaty fo much into their fcale, that, upon 
experience of its effefts, it occafioned much diffatisfaction 
in France. 
On the queftion of the impeachment of Mr. Haftings, 
Mr. Pitt, in whofe whole political conduft may be traced 
a great deference to public opinion, voted with the ma¬ 
jority in favour of that meafure, though moll of his mini¬ 
fterial colleagues manifellly inclined to the other fide. 
A fimilar attention to the prevailing fentiments probably 
induced him to aft as the champion of the eliablilhed 
church in feveral applications from the diffenters for the 
repeal of the Tell and Corporation Afts; a meafure to 
which it was fuppofed that a fon of lord Chatham would 
have been naturally inclined. The reputation he had 
attained as a financier could not fatisfy the ambition of a 
minifter who certainly poffeffed that quality in as high a 
degree as mod of his predeceffors. Continental politics 
offered a field of intrigue into which he willingly entered, 
and the aggrandizement of Rulfia under the emprefs 
Catharine was confidered by him as an objeft for the 
interference of the Englilh court. He formed counterba¬ 
lancing leagues to her power in the north ; and, in order 
to prevent her from retaining poffelfion of the fortrefs of 
Otchakof, he was near involving the two countries in 
war; the manifeft unpopularity of fuch a ftep, however, 
(hook his refolution, and he gave up the point. He dif¬ 
played the fame readinefs to recur to arms in a difpute 
with Spain refpefting the fur-trade at Nootka Sound, 
which, however, was adjufted by a convention. His 
interference to preferve the power of the ftadtholder in 
Holland, and defeat the machinations of the French in 
that country, was generally approved. 
In the autumn of 1788, the people of England were 
thrown into a Hate of alarm, by a calamity which threat¬ 
ened to deprive them of their fovereign. In the begin¬ 
ning of Oftober, his health appeared to be fenfibly im¬ 
paired ; and, though he was fufficiently recovered to hold 
a levee on the 24th of that month, before its conclufion 
the diforder affumed a marked character, and moll ferious 
afpeft. Early in the enfuing month, it became generally 
known that it had fettled in the brain, and had rendered 
his majefty incapable of exercifing the royal funftions. 
Parliament having been prorogued to the 20th of Novem¬ 
ber, it became neceffary that it Ihould meet on that day, 
as the fovereign, by whom only it could be further pro¬ 
rogued, was not in a fituation to affert his prerogative. 
In the mean time, the leaders of the different parties, 
who were materially interefted in the event, afl’embled in 
the capital; and an exprefs was difpatched to Mr. Fox, 
then abfent on the continent, to accelerate his return. 
This occurrence gave occafion to a difplay of the firm- 
nefs and decifion of Mr. Pitt’s charafter. In this article 
we cannot enter into many particulars; but we may 
obferve, that the firft material queftion brought up by 
this event was, in whom the office of regent was velted ? 
The prince of Wales being connefted with the party in 
oppofition, it was contended by them that the Regency 
of courfe devolved upon him; while, on the other hand, 
Mr. Pitt fupported the doftrine, that it lay in the two 
remaining branches of the legillature to fill up the office 
as they Ihould judge proper; admitting, at the fame time, 
that no other perfon than the prince could be thought of 
for the poll. By adopting this principle, he carried with 
him the concurrence as well of thofe who were attached 
to the popular part of the conllitution, as of the king’s 
friends, whofe great objeft was to fecure his return to 
j power 
