Confusion, Confession and Conviction

by Victoria Winfield

  While still at Cambridge, he also became friends with William Wilberforce who became his lifelong friend and political ally in parliament. Pitt had the tendency to associate only with fellow students and guys already known to him, and was described as friendly and charming. In the year 1776, he was plagued by poor health and had to take advantage of a little used privilege that was only available to those born in nobility; he opted to graduate without passing exams.

  In 1778, Pitt’s dad died. Pitt the younger received some small inheritance. Additionally, he also received legal education at Lincoln’s inn and was admitted to the bar in the summer of 1780.

  Pitt’s early political career

  During the general elections of September 1780, he contested the university of Cambridge seat but lost. He still had the urge of entering parliament and with the help of his comrade, Charles manners, who was the fourth duke of Rutland; he secured the patronage of James Lowther. James had control over the pocket borough of Appleby and a by-election in that constituency sent Pitt the younger to the house of commons in January, 1781.

  Pitt’s entry into parliament was filled with irony because he later rallied against the very same pocket that gave him that seat. While serving in parliament, Pitt set aside his solitary nature and emerged as a noted debater right from his maiden speech. Initially, Pitt aligned himself with prominent Whigs such as Charles James Fox. Together with the Whigs, he denounced the continuation of the American war of independence, the same way his dad did.

  Pitt proposed that the prime minister, lord north, make peace with the American colonies that were quite rebellious. Moreover, he also showed his support for parliamentary reform measures that included a proposal that would have regulated and checked electoral corruption. William Wilberforce was at this time the Member of Parliament for hull, and Pitt revived their friendship.

  After the collapse of lord north’s ministry in 1782, Charles Watson-Wentworth, a Whig, was appointed as the prime minister. Consequently, Pitt was offered the minor post of vice treasurer of Ireland, but he declined since he regarded the post as overly subordinate. With only three months in power, the prime minister met his death and was replaced by another Whig, William petty, the second earl of Shelburne.

  A majority of Whigs, who were part of the Rockingham ministry, Fox included, now refused to serve under the new prime minister. Pitt the younger was however okay with Shelburne and he joined the government. He was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer. Fox became his lifelong political rival and joined a coalition with lord north, whom they joined forces with to defeat Shelburne’s administration.

  Following the resignation of lord Shelburne in 1783, King George the third, who despised Fox, offered to appoint Pitt the younger to the office of the prime minister. However, he declined the offer because he knew he would not be capable of marshalling the support of the House of Commons. The Fox-North coalition took over power in a government headed by William Cavendish-Bentinck, the third duke of Portland.

  Pitt, having been stripped of his position as the Chancellor of the Exchequer, joined the opposition. While in opposition, Pitt raised the issue of parliamentary reform so as to strain the uneasy fox-north coalition, which comprised both supporters and detractors of reform. Furthermore, Pitt never advocated for an expansion of the electoral franchise but sought to address bribery and rotten boroughs. Even though this proposal never succeeded, majority of reformers in parliament regarded him as their leader, rather than Charles James Fox.

  Impact of the war

  Losing the war and the thirteen colonies was a shocker to the system in Britain. The war exposed the limitations and vulnerability of Britain’s fiscal-military state when it was faced with powerful adversaries and no allies. This loss heightened dissent to the king’s ministers.

  Within parliament, the primary issue was related representation, reforms in parliament as well as government retrenchment. The reforms aimed to destroy what they perceived as widespread corruption in institutions. This resulted in a crisis between 1776 and 1783. The peace left France financially poor and the British economy sky-rocketed because of the return of American business.

  This crisis came to an end in 1784 due to the king’s shrewdness in outsmarting fox and renewed confidence in the system threatened by the leadership of Pitt the younger.

  Pitt’s escalation to power

  The fox-north coalition collapsed in the December of 1783, after the introduction of Edmund Burke’s bill by fox. The bill was set to reform the east India Company to gain the patronage he so greatly lacked while the king declined to support him. Fox explained that the bill was essential in order to save the company from bankruptcy. The king was against the bill and when it passed through the House of Commons, he mad sure it was shot down in the House of Lords by threatening whoever voted for it to regard himself as his enemy.

  King George the third then dismissed the coalition government and eventually entrusted the premiership to Pitt the younger. A constitutional crisis followed when the king dismissed the fox-north coalition government and named Pitt as the successor. Even though he was faced with a majority of hostilities in parliament, Pitt was able to solidify his position in a few months’ time. At the age of twenty four, Pitt became the youngest prime minister that Britain had ever seen.

  Many people thought that Pitt was just an interim premier until a more senior politician could take over. Many thought that the administration would not last long, but it went on to rule for seventeen years. So as to neutralize the opposition powers, Pitt offered Charles James Fox and his allies’ posts in the cabinet, but his refusal to include lord north made his plans fail.

  In no time, Pitt’s government was put to test through a motion of no confidence in January 1784. In spite of his defeat, surprisingly, Pitt refused to step down. The king supported him. Far from the king, he was also supported by the House of Lords. Pitt was also granted the freedom of the city of London. When he returned from the ceremony, men of the city pulled his coach home as a sign of respect. As he was passing a Whig club, his coach was attacked from a group of men who tried to assault him. This news spread and it was assumed that Fox and his cronies tried to bring down Pitt by any means possible.

  Pitt became more popular because he was seen as a change from corruption, dishonesty and lack of principles that were widely associated with both Fox and north. Despite experiencing many defeats in the House of Commons, Pitt defiantly refused to resign and watched as the coalition’s majority shrink as some members of the opposition left the opposition to abstain.

  In March 1784, parliament was dissolved to pave way for a general election. Pitt enjoyed King George the third’s support and an electoral defeat was highly unlikely. Also, bribes paid by the treasury were expected to secure the government a win in the House of Commons. However, at this time, the government enjoyed the popular support in equal measure. Early returns showed Pitt winning with many members of the opposition defecting or making deals with their opponents to avoid expensive defeats. An exception was in Fox’s constituency of Westminster which had the largest vote bloc in the country. It was a battle that was estimated to have cost a quarter of the total country’s expenditure. Fox battled against two candidates aligned to Pitt to win one of the two constituency’s seats.

  Legal wrangles came next with the examination of each and every vote cast, and this went on for more than one year. To everyone’s surprise, Fox was declared the winner.

  First premiership

  India

  With his leadership secure, Pitt the younger was free to execute his agenda. As prime minister, his first major legislation was the India act 1784 which re-arranged the British east India Company and kept a watch over corruption. This act created a new board of control to oversee the affairs of the east India Company. It was different from Fox’s failed India bill of 1783 and was more specific that the board would be appointed by the king. Pitt, together with Lord Sydney, who was appointed president, was appointed.

/>   The India act centralized the rule of Britain in India by cutting down the powers of the Bombay and Madras governors and increasing that of Charles Cornwallis, the governor-general.

  Reforms in parliament

  In 1785, Pitt introduced a bill to remove the representation of thirty six rotten boroughs and to extend the electoral franchise to more people. His support for the bill was however weak and it was defeated in the House of Commons.

  Finances

  James Gillray caricatured queen charlotte and George the third awash with funds from the treasury to cover their royal debts, with Pitt the younger handing them another money bag.

  Pitt was also concerned with the national debt. The debt had doubled to 243 million pounds during the American war. Each year, a third of the budget was used to pay the interest. He also sought to cut down the national debt by placing new taxes. In 1786, he set up a sinking fund so that a million pounds was annually added to the fund to prevent accumulation of interest. The money in this fund was used to pay off the national debt and in 1792; the debt had reduced to 170 million pounds.

  The prime minister paid keen attention to issues of finance. A fifth of Britain’s imports were smuggled in while evading tax. Consequently, he made it simpler for honest merchants to import goods. He did this by lowering tariffs on items that could be easily smuggled such as tea, tobacco, wine and spirits. Pitt grew the customers’ revenue by two million pounds.

  Foreign affairs

  So as to limit the influence of France, Pitt sought alliances and formed the triple alliance with Prussia and Holland in 1788. During the Nootka Sound controversy in 1790, the prime minister used the alliance to force Spain to give up its claim to exclusive control over the western coast of north and South America. Other than this achievement, the alliance never produced any other important benefit for Britain.

  King’s health

  In 1788, Pitt had a major crisis when the king fell ill. He was incapacitated with a strange mental disorder. If the king would not be able to discharge his constitutional duties, parliament would be required to appoint a regent to rule in his place. All factions unanimously agreed on the king’s eldest son, Prince George, the Prince of Wales. The prince was however, a supporter of Charles James Fox and if he ever ascended to power, he would definitely dismiss Pitt.

  Luckily, he never had a chance to ascend to power because parliament spent months debating legal technicalities related to the regency. The king recovered in February 1789, just after a regency bill had been introduced and passed in the House of Commons. When the general election was held in 1790, the government won with a majority and Pitt went on as the prime minister.

  In 1791, Pitt went on to address one of the issues that faced the growing British empire; the future of British Canada. By the constitutional act of 1791, the province of Quebec was split into two separate provinces; the predominantly French Lower Canada and the predominantly English Upper Canada.

  The French revolution

  The reformers were labelled as radicals and associates of the French revolutionaries. In 1794, Pitt’s administration tried three of the suspects for treason but lost. Parliament then started enacting oppressive laws that would silence the reformers. People who published seditious material were punished and in 1794, the habeas corpus was suspended.

  Other oppressive measures were the restriction of the right of individuals to assemble publicly and the restriction of the formation of societies or organizations that favored political reforms. The war with France was expensive and it stretched the finances of Britain. At this juncture, Britain had a small standing army and had to contribute to the war effort by mainly sea power and by funding other coalition members facing France.

  In 1793, Pitt decided to take advantage of a slave revolt in the French colony of modern Haiti to seize the richest colony of France worldwide. The British landed in Haiti on the 20th of September, 1793. The high number of deaths due to yellow fever made conquering of Haiti impossible but Pitt was unrelenting gin his quest. He further launched the great push in 1795, sending the largest number of soldiers to Haiti.

  As a result of the massive deaths, Pitt was criticized in the House of Commons with other members wanting Britain to abandon the expedition. Pitt ignored the complaints and the expedition ended in disaster with the British pulling out on the 31st of August 1798, having spent four million pounds and lost roughly one hundred thousand men. This invasion caused the British a fortune, far from weakening their influence in Europe.

  In 1797, the prime minister had to protect Britain’s gold reserves by preventing people from exchanging banknotes for gold. Britain would continue to use paper money for over twenty years. Additionally, Pitt also introduced the first income tax in Britain. This new tax assisted in the offsetting of losses in indirect tax revenue which came about as a result of declining trade.

  Pitt’s as well as the British allies’ efforts bore no fruit as the French continued to defeat the members of the first coalition, which collapsed in 1798. The second coalition (Britain, Austria, Ottoman Empire and Russia) was formed, but it also failed to finish the French. The fall of this second coalition and the defeat of the Austrians at the Marengo and at the battle of Hohenlinden left Britain isolated and facing France all alone.

  Stepping down

  The French revolution rekindled religious and political problems in Ireland, which was under the British rule. In 1798, Irish nationalists attempted a rebellion with the belief that the French would come to their aid and help them overthrow the monarchy. Finally, Pitt believed that the only solution was to unify Britain and Ireland.

  The union was established by the acts of union 1800 and compensation and patronage made sure they had the support of the Irish parliament. On the 1st of January, 1801, the two countries were unified. The prime minister sought to usher in the new kingdom by offering concessions to Roman Catholics who were a majority in Ireland. He did away with several political restrictions. The king was however not comfortable with this idea.

  The king was strongly against the emancipation of the Catholics. His argument was that granting additional freedom would violate his coronation oath in which he vowed to protect the Church of England. Unable to change the king’s opinion, Pitt resigned on the 16th of February, 1801. He paved way for his political friend, Henry Addington, to form a new administration. At about the same period, the king suffered another bout of madness and therefore, henry never received a formal appointment.

  Even though he had resigned, Pitt continued to temporarily discharge his duties and on the 18th of February, 1801, he brought forward the annual budget. Power was transferred from Pitt to henry on the 14th of March as soon as the king felt better. Pitt supported the new administration albeit with little enthusiasm. He was frequently absent from parliament and preferred to remain in his residence.

  From his residence, he helped in organizing a local volunteer corps in preparation for an imminent French invasion. He further rented land next to the castle for the purposes of farming. Pitt’s niece, Lady Hester Stanhope, acted as his hostess and apart from designing the gardens, she also managed them.

  The treaty of Amiens, in 1801, between France and Britain, marked the end of the French revolutionary wars. By 1803, however, war broke out again between Britain and the new French empire under napoleon. Even though henry had initially invited Pitt to join the cabinet, he preferred to join the opposition and became increasingly critical of the government policies.

  Henry was unable to counter the joined opposition of Pitt and Fox and this saw his majority dwindle. By April, 1804, Henry lost parliamentary support and had to resign.

  Pitt’s second stint as the premier

  On the 10th of May, 1804, Pitt returned as the prime minister. He had plans of forming a wider coalition but faced resistance from the king to the inclusion of Fox. Furthermore, many of his supporters including the allies of Henry joined the opposition. Consequently, his fifth ministry was quite weak as compared to his
first four.

  The government of Britain started placing pressure on the French emperor, Napoleon I. due to Pitt’s efforts; Britain joined the third coalition, an alliance that consisted of Austria, Sweden and Russia. In October 1805, Horatio Nelson, a British admiral, won in the battle of Trafalgar and made sure the British naval supremacy went on for the remainder of the war.

  Finances

  Pitt was a finance expert and even served as Chancellor of the Exchequer. His success over Napoleon was supported by his use of Britain’s superior economic resources. Pitt was able to organize and mobilize the country’s industrial as well as financial resources and channel them in defeating France. With a population of sixteen million, Britain was no match for France’s population of thirty million. France was at an advantage when it came to numbers but this was countered by subsidies from Britain that paid for a huge portion of the Austrian and Russian soldiers.

  Pitt’s demise

  Pitt had long suffered from poor health since childhood and was plagued with gout and biliousness that was worsened by a liking for port that started when he was advised to drink wine to aid with his ill health. On the 23rd of January, 1806, Pitt died at Bowling Green house most probably from peptic ulceration of the stomach or duodenum. He died a bachelor with no kids.

  At the time of his death, his debts amounted to forty thousand pounds but parliament agreed to offset them on his behalf. A motion was made to honor him with a public funeral and a monument. Despite the opposition of Fox, it passed. His body was laid to rest in Westminster abbey on the 22nd of February, having been in the palace of Westminster for two days.