PITT, William, English Parliamentary ora tor and statesman: b. Hayes, near Bromley, Kent, 28 May 1759; d. Putney, 23 Jan. 1806. He was the son of the Earl of Chatham (q.v.). In 1773 he entered Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, where his knowledge of mathematics and the classics seems to have astonished ripe scholars. His acquaintance with modern literature was slight. Of living languages besides his own he was almost entirely ignorant; an imperfect knowledge of French was all be poasessed, His whole education was directed to the end of making him a great Parliamentary orator. In 1778 he entered Lincoln's Inn, and in 1780 was called to the bar. He attended the western cir cuit once and was introduced into Parliament by Sir James Lowther, as representative for his borough of Appleby. His maiden speech was delivered in support of Burke's financial reform bill. On the failure of Fox's India bill, which produced his dismissal of the North and Fox coalition ministry, Pitt, although at that time only in his 24th year, assumed the station of Prime Minister by accepting the posts of First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer. Although strongly suppOrted by the sovereign, he stood opposed to a large majority of the House of Commons, and with the excep tion of Henry Dundas (q.v.), every other prom inent debater in the House was against him. In spite of many defeats in the Commons he refused to dissolve Parliament or resign, until, having at last obtained a majority, he fixed the day (24 March 1784) on which the king dis solved Parliament.
At the general election which followed the voice of the nation appeared decidedly in his favor, and some of the strongest interests in the country were defeated, Pitt himself being re turned by the University of Cambridge. His first measure was the passing of his India bill, establishing the board of control, followed by much of that fiscal and financial regulation that gave so much éclat to the early period of his administration. The establishment of the de lusive scheme of a sinking fund followed in 1786. In 1788 Pitt resisted the doctrine of the opposition that the regency, during the king's indisposition, devolved upon the Prince of Wales by right. The minister maintained that it lay in the two remaining branches of the legislature to fill up the office, but that the prince could not be passed over in nominating to this post. By the adoption of this principle he was enabled to pass a bill restricting the re gent's power, which the king's recovery ren dered unnecessary. The French Revolution
now broke out, and in 1793 war arose between Great Britain and France. Great Britain was successful by sea, but during the life of Pitt the conflict on the Continent was in favor of France. In 1800 the Irish union was accom plished. In 1801 the opposition of the king to all further concessions to the Irish Catholics caused Pitt to resign his post. The Peace of Amiens succeeded ; and the Addington admin istration, which concluded it, Pitt supported for a time, and then joined the opposition. The new minister, who had renewed the war, unable to maintain his ground, resigned; and in 1804 Pitt resumed his post at the Treasury. Returning to power as a war minister, he exerted all his energy to render the contest successful, and found means to engage the two great military powers of Russia and Austria as well as Sweden in a new coalition, which was dissolved by the battle of Austerlitz. Pitt, whose state of health was previously declining, was sensibly affected by this event, as he was also by the Parliamentary attack upon his old associate, Lord Melville (see Minims), not wholly parried either by minis terial influence or the merits of the case. Pitt has been much criticised as a war minister, but with great evident injustice. He wisely saw that the war on England's part must be naval. He formed coalitions with Continental powers that were to act on land. He met the demands of these powers by large subsidies. If the coa litions failed, as they did fail, Pitt was not responsible for the self-seeking of his Conti nental allies. In peace he sought Parliamentary reform, strengthened the national credit, estab lished an improved financial system and fol lowed a successful commercial policy. He was altogether above the meanness of avarice, his personal disinterestedness being extreme. His eloquence, if not more elevated or profound, was, upon the whole, more correct than that of any other orator of his time, and his language was remarkably copious and well arranged. On the whole Pitt was a minister of commanding powers. A public funeral was decreed by Par liament, and a grant of f40,000 to pay his debts. Consult Lord Stanhope's 'Life of Pitt' (2d. ed., 1862); Sergeant, 'William Pitt' (1882) ; Walford, 'William Pitt: a Biography' (1890) Rosebery, 'William Pitt' (in 'Twelve English Statesmen,' 1891).