watched the enterprise with fear and envy; and he made his proposals in a tone of pride and exultation to which his hearers were not accustomed. "To behold this nation," said he, "instead of despairing at its alarming condition, looking boldly its situation in the face, and establishing upon a spirited and permanent plan the means of relieving itself from all encumbrances, must give such an idea of our resources, and of our spirit of exertion, as will astonish the nations around us, and enable us to regain that pre-eminence to which we are on so many accounts so justly entitled." And what was the spirited and permanent plan which was to achieve all this? At first sight it seemed simplicity itself. It was merely to set aside one million a-year, which no power on earth should touch, and which should be allowed to accumulate as best it might. In order that the money should remain intact and inalienable, Pitt proposed "that it be vested in certain commissioners, to be by them applied quarterly to buy up stock: by this means no sum so great will ever lie ready to be seized upon on any occasion, and the fund will go on without interruption." Nor, in Pitt's view, would there be any limit to its increase. "If this million," said he, "to be so applied, is laid out, with its growing interest, it will amount to a very great sum in a period that is not very long in the life of an individual, and but an hour in the existence of a great

nation; and this will diminish the debt of the country so much as to prevent the exigencies of war from raising it to the enormous height it has hitherto done. In the period of twentyeight years the sum of a million, annually improved, would amount to four millions per annum."

Alas! the reality was far less attractive than the dream. Beyond the fact that it encouraged thrift, Pitt's plan cannot easily be defended. If the million were a legitimate surplus, nothing could have been wiser than to devote it to the reduction of the National Debt. But if it were borrowed, then the taxpayer would get the worst of the bargain. Moreover, the plan of purchasing stock and permitting the capital to grow at compound interest recalls the self-denying finance of those who gain their livelihood by taking in one another's washing. The interest on the stock would be paid by the same taxpayers who were to profit by the investment, and once involved in the circle, it is not easy to understand how they would get out. It has been suggested, indeed, that Pitt saw the fallacy of his plan, and that he concealed the fallacy in order to pass his measure. For, even if he were foiled of his compound interest, he would save at least a million a-year, and would thus loyally reduce the burden of debt.

While attempting to set the Treasury in order, Pitt could not but have seen the growing disaffection of Ireland, and he

courageously endeavoured to find a remedy for this intolerable evil. Ever since the Irish had been granted their independent Parliament, and had been permitted to arm their volunteers, they had put this force to no other purpose than to intimidate the English Government. Across the Irish Channel there was a constant menace, and Pitt, always eager to know the worst, could not be deaf to the clamour. The evidence of rebellion, moreover, was overwhelming. "Were I to indulge in distant speculation," wrote the Duke of Rutland, Pitt's

Lord - Lieutenant, "I should say that without an union Ireland will not be connected with England in twenty years longer." Time showed how true was this prophecy. Lord Camden gave a similar testimony. "This people," said he, 66

are intoxicated with their good fortune, and wish to quarrel with England to prove their independence. Big with their own importance and proud of their volunteers, they are a match, as they imagine, for the whole world. But as Galba describes the Romans,

American emissaries," while Lord Mornington saw a clear proof of French interposition in the fact that "a great number of French coins, of the coinage of 1784, had been received in the Custom House in payment of duties in Dublin." But it was Lord Temple who took the most desperate view of the situation. "I have sent to Pitt to communicate my Irish alarms," he wrote to Grenville on July 3, 1784. "I have had four letters, all full of apprehensions, which, to say truth, have infected me; and, in all events, I think it highly necessary to alarm the Government. The worst symptom is the eagerness with which money is called in and remitted to England by the merchants of Ireland. . . . The preparations of cannon, powder, and ball go on as usual, and the fashion of wearing French cockades is not confined to Handy Pemberton. Nor, as the weeks passed, did Temple express a more favourable opinion. In September he contemplated a crisis, "for which neither Pitt nor the Duke of Rutland were prepared," and then, confessing that he might be "the Cassandra of this story," he declared the game irrecoverable, "unless some well-digested scheme of commerce be prepared for both Parliaments to redeem the promise from the throne of Ireland."

The Duke of Rutland was also in favour of "a fixed and systematic plan." He deplored as worse than useless such schemes as went not be

yond the exigencies of the day. Dublin, he pointed out, was under the dominion and tyranny of the mob, and, though persons were daily marked out to be tarred and feathered, the magistrates refused to arrest, while the volunteers encouraged, the rioters. Two courses only were possible if order was to be restored to Ireland-repression or conciliation; and Pitt chose conciliation with all the hopefulness of a young statesman. His correspondence with the Duke of Rutland, far warmer in tone than was usual with him, proves the ardour and sincerity of his policy. Having decided that repression and temporising were alike dangerous, he desired to treat Ireland not merely with justice, but with magnanimity. As early as October 1784 his mind was made up, and he informed the Lord-Lieutenant that he was willing to give Ireland an almost unlimited commercial advantage if she would contribute her share to the common exigencies of the Empire. He would even go farther on the path of conciliation, and grant a prudent and temperate reform of Parliament, in the advantages of which for Ireland as for England he had a profound faith, provided that the Catholics were excluded from any share in the representation or government of the country. He knew well the difficulties which lay ahead of him, but he believed that they might all be overcome by vigilance, temper, and firmness. Above all, his hope was strong. He

"could not allow himself to doubt" that he would gain his point in Parliament, and when Parliament was secure, he did not apprehend much clamour or discontent without doors. At first, however, he put reform aside, and devoted himself to the making of a reciprocal treaty between England and Ireland. A wiser scheme of preference was never formed. If commercial advantages and

a

common defence are bonds which unite peoples, then Pitt should have brought peace and prosperity where before there was nothing but enmity and suspicion. The principle of Pitt's plan may best be stated in his own words: it was "that a treaty should be concluded with Ireland, by which that country should be put on a fair, equal, and impartial footing with Great Britain in point of commerce with respect to foreign countries and to our colonies; and as to the mutual intercourse between each other, that this equality should extend to manufactures, to importation, and to exportation; and that Ireland, in return for this concession, should contribute a share towards the protection and security of the general commerce of the Empire." He introduced his eleven resolutions in a speech which, for clarity and conviction, he did not often surpass. He pointed in a brief retrospect to the injustice of which, in the past, Ireland had been the victim. She had been debarred from the use and enjoyment of her own resources;

„reacious

ses the thing I would Caught up by the 7. t became a watchword revolt, and proved more in Dublin than cuts of argument. Nor was To conciliate his Το nghsa supporters, Pitt had edited his plan, and no sooner was the bill sent to Ireland than a note of warning was heard. The independence of the Irish Parliament was said to be threatened. Grattan, Daly, and the Speaker were not pleased, while the Ponsonbys were up in arms. The Duke of Rutland was as emphatic as Mornington. "On one point, which I find to be contained in the body of the resolutions," he wrote, "I mean that which relates to the perpetuity of the laws for the collection of the revenue, I will not attempt to deceive you, but at once pronounce it impossible to be carried." Pitt had gone too far to retract his mischievous fourth proposition. At this last hour he could not trust the English majority to accept a change. Though large, it was composed of men who acted for themselves, and he hardly knew from day to day what impression they might receive. Moreover," said he, "we have an indefatigable enemy, sharpened by disappointment, watching and improving every opportunity." As the weeks passed the indignation of the Irish rose higher and higher. "The speech of Mr Grattan," said the Duke of Rutland on August 13, 1785, "was, I

understand, a display of the most beautiful eloquence perhaps ever heard, but it was seditious and inflammatory to a degree hardly credible." And both Grattan and Flood made it quite clear that they aimed at nothing else than at war with England. It is not strange, therefore, to find Lord Mornington declaring that the hasty abandonment of the Bill was imperative, and abandoned it was with sorrow and reluctance. But it was the Marquis of Buckingham who keened the loudest over the death of the measure. Truly he was the Cassandra of the story. "Lost indeed!" he exclaimed, "and how lost? By the folly or treachery of Mr Orde." And straightway he attributes the blame of failure to the criminal incapacity of the Duke of Rutland and his subordinate, who, he is sure, can never again be trusted by Mr Pitt. The Marquis's disappointment, however, was perhaps not unalloyed with the satisfaction which comes from the misfortune of a rival. Pitt not even egoism could suggest a solace. He had undertaken his task in a spirit of single-minded patriotism. "Let this business with Ireland terminate well," he had written to the Lord-Lieutenant, "let peace continue for five years, and we shall again look any Power in Europe in the face." If the business with Ireland had terminated very ill, if once again Pitt was forced to pursue the petty expedients of a day, that was the fault of Fox

To