Pitts First Ministry

Retirement.

Henry Addington, who was called upon to lead the Government, had been universally praised as an expert speaker of the House of Commons; but he was no statesman. Pitt promised to do all he could to support Addington, and gen erously assisted in the conduct of negotiations for the Peace of Amiens. These terms which Grenville branded as "disgraceful and ruinous" appeared in general "highly satisfactory" to Pitt. Though he had long been anxious to conclude any peace which was at all reasonable, it is difficult to justify him in supporting a peace which recognized the failure of the coalitions to establish the independence of the Netherlands—which had been the ostensible casus belli. On the other hand there is evidence that Pitt was conscious of the unstable nature of the peace, and foresaw that a greater struggle was probable. The public supported the peace; and during the discussions a severe vote of censure upon Pitt was rejected, and a counter motion passed by 211 to 52 declaring that he had "rendered great and important services to his country, and deserves the thanks of the house." He retired now from parliament for the space of about a year, living largely at Walmer Castle, where as warden of the Cinque Ports he organized with great diligence and enthusiasm a local volunteer force. The brief interval gave an opportunity too for the examination of his debts. Pitt who had been so astute in public economy was careless of his own. He who had scornfully demanded an ex planation of Lord North's expenditure of £340 of public money on whipcord, had himself to account for the grotesque item of i600 for hats. Both thoughtless and generous, Pitt was the victim of swindlers, and in 1800 already owed £45,000 despite the fact that he had received a salary of over o,000 for many years. He nevertheless refused an offer of I ioo,000 from the citizens of London, and a gift of £30,000 from the king, though he accepted £11,700 as a loan from a committee of private friends; he was obliged to sell his house Hollwood.

Addington had won a great victory at the general election, but it was not long before his policy began to drift towards perilous courses. When it was clear that a rupture of the peace was im minent, Pitt was approached, but he no longer felt that Adding ton's policy could receive his honest support, and later negotia tions provoked so wide and insistent divergencies of mind upon the personnel of a possible cabinet as to make agreement impos sible and even to interrupt an ancient friendship. War broke out again on May 16, 1803. Against the insufficient programme of the ministry Pitt opposed a vigorous policy in a speech (May 23) which provoked the enthusiasm of all parties. But while the cleavage was growing plainer and plainer Pitt yet refused directly to oppose Addington, to whom he had promised his support. The situation was becoming increasingly serious. In the face of the growing danger of invasion the measures of the Government were entirely inadequate, and early in 1804 Pitt was forced into stronger opposition. Complicated once again by a threatened relapse of the king, negotiations for a stronger administration were protracted. The ministry was doomed when a motion of Fox's for a committee of enquiry into the national defences was powerfully supported by Pitt, and after some days of negotiation he returned as chancellor of the exchequer aad first lord of the treasury on May i o.

Second Ministry.

Pitt's second term of office was marked by no great enterprises of governance. The war alone absorbed his energies. The labour and the inspiration of the great European coalition again rested exclusively upon Pitt, and his health, now gravely undermined, was beginning to break beneath the strain when early in April i8o5 he suffered the pain of witnessing the public disgrace of his old friend and colleague Dundas (Lord Melville, q.v.). The battle of Trafalgar (Oct. 21) destroyed the

possibility of invasion; but the year closed in disaster. The capit ulation of Ulm (Oct. 20) was succeeded by Austerlitz (Dec 2).

At first Pitt was able to doubt the full implications of the news; but, gradually as despatches authenticated the reports he came to realize that the mighty coalition was hopelessly broken. Eng land had saved herself by her exertions, he had remarked at the Lord Mayor's banquet in the previous November: she would save Europe by her example. And now Napoleon stood without a force to oppose him upon the whole continent ; and Pitt, with prophetic accuracy, was brought to the bitter admission that the map of Europe would "not be wanted these ten years." On Jan. 23, 18°6, he died, and if his last words were not "My country How I leave my country!" his thoughts can have been none other. Constitutional Importance.—The period of Pitt's govern ment covered a supremely important moment of political transi tion. It was also a period of a not less important crystallization of British constitutional doctrine. It would be wrong-headed to at tribute that growth too strongly to Pitt's political acumen. Both the length, and the critical instant, of his ministry made develop ment natural and inevitable. He was placed in the position of leadership at precisely the tactical moment. The fruit was ripe: but it was the harvest of a century of other men's labours. Pitt was the first Hanoverian minister to appeal definitely from the vote of the House of Commons to the vote of the constituencies, and throughout his career his strength was derived from the pub lic confidence. In his colleagues Pitt appeared to prefer industry to genius. If this was partly because of an exaggerated sense of his own authority, it must also be remembered that the choice was also one of necessity. Pitt did overshadow his colleagues—but it was no difficult task. The result contributed to his general theory that the independence of Government departments was impossible.

They must rather be bound together with a corporate policy, re sponsible to the Crown under a common allegiance to the prime minister. Walpole, who is generally considered the first prime minister, denied the title, and was succeeded by Governments which could only exist under the leadership of duumvirates and triumvirates. Pitt not only claimed the title of prime minister but declared that the office was essential to sane government. In 1803, when negotiations were on foot for a ministry in which the authority should be shared by himself and Addington, he stated that it was "an absolute necessity that there should be an avowed and real- minister, possessing the Chief Weight in the Council and the principal place in the confidence of the King; in that re spect there can be no rivalry or division of power. It must rest in the person generally called first minister, who ought to be at the head of the finances." And if a difference of opinion arose "the sentiments of the minister must be understood to prevail." This view moreover was widely understood by contemporary com mentators. In 1794 when Lord Fitzwilliam went to Ireland he was pledged to support the Government "considering Mr. Pitt as the Prime Minister without whom no material measure as to Things or persons is to be concerted or done" (Carlisle Papers); and the Glenbervie Diary (Dec. 30, 1798) corroborates this lan guage. In everything Pitt laboured to assert the authority of the cabinet, and of the premier within the cabinet. He was the king's minister; but not the minister of the king's policy. The theory was thrashed out over small details. Pitt claimed, for instance, that the Crown must follow his recommendations in the nomi nations of bishops, and when the king refused to concur de clared that he would take it as a decisive mark of lack of con fidence.