Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Sketch Of The Life Of The Right Hon. William Pitt .
former encroached upon the regal prerogatives ; and on the question being in a manner thrown into their hands by a dissolution of parliament , a new one was returned , which changed the majority , and preserved the minister in a post which he has maintained " ever since 1 Various public measures have , of course , during a period of fourteen years , been brought forward by this active minister ; to notice which would far exceed the bounds of a memoir so limited in its objeft as the present . They are incorporated into the history of his country , and familiarly recollefted by his contemporaries .
1 lie commercial treaty with 1 < ranee was a bold scheme , and evinced deep political and mercantile knowled ge . But the most critical circumstance in the annals of Mr . Pitt ' s administration , and that on w | iich his biographer should dwell the most , is the period when the regal powers were , in a manner , unhappily suspended , and all the wisdom of the legislature was required to form a regency . It was a crisis not only novelbut of extreme magnitudeas likelto
, , y become the precedent for future times ; no such incident having till then occurred in the annals of our history . When the revolution took place in France , the situation of the prime minister of this kingdom became once more extremely critical . Perhaps it was fortunate for the country , that the administration at that time enjoyed the good opinion of both king and people ; as violent
contentions of party-spirit , at such a juncture , might have led to consequences very injurious to the happy constitutional government of Great Britain . The situation of Europe has assumed a new face since the monarch y of . France was shaken from its ancient basis . A war has ensued , totally different from all former wars . In judingthereforeofthe
g , , merits of those who are concerned in managing the affairs of the nation , it is impossible to have recourse either to precedents , or to old political principles . A new mode of action , a new scheme of politics was to be devised , and adapted to the existing circumstances .
An attention to commerce has greatly distinguished Mr . Pitt ' s administration , particularly during the present contest . Perhaps there is no man in the kingdom betteracquainted with the principles of trade than he is . The oldest and most experienced merchants have been astonished at his readiness in conversing with them upon subjects which they thought themselves exclusively masters of . Many who have waited upon him in full confidence that they should communicate
some new and important information upon matters of trade , have , to their great surprize , found him minutely and intimately acquainted with all those points to which they conceived he was a stranger . By the close attention which he has uniformly paid to . the mercantile interests , he has certainly secured to himself an exclusive basis of support , which has enabled him not only to resist a most vigorous opposition , but to carry into effect financial measures that , till his time , were deemed impracticable . Some men have charged him with political apostacy , on the ground
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Sketch Of The Life Of The Right Hon. William Pitt .
former encroached upon the regal prerogatives ; and on the question being in a manner thrown into their hands by a dissolution of parliament , a new one was returned , which changed the majority , and preserved the minister in a post which he has maintained " ever since 1 Various public measures have , of course , during a period of fourteen years , been brought forward by this active minister ; to notice which would far exceed the bounds of a memoir so limited in its objeft as the present . They are incorporated into the history of his country , and familiarly recollefted by his contemporaries .
1 lie commercial treaty with 1 < ranee was a bold scheme , and evinced deep political and mercantile knowled ge . But the most critical circumstance in the annals of Mr . Pitt ' s administration , and that on w | iich his biographer should dwell the most , is the period when the regal powers were , in a manner , unhappily suspended , and all the wisdom of the legislature was required to form a regency . It was a crisis not only novelbut of extreme magnitudeas likelto
, , y become the precedent for future times ; no such incident having till then occurred in the annals of our history . When the revolution took place in France , the situation of the prime minister of this kingdom became once more extremely critical . Perhaps it was fortunate for the country , that the administration at that time enjoyed the good opinion of both king and people ; as violent
contentions of party-spirit , at such a juncture , might have led to consequences very injurious to the happy constitutional government of Great Britain . The situation of Europe has assumed a new face since the monarch y of . France was shaken from its ancient basis . A war has ensued , totally different from all former wars . In judingthereforeofthe
g , , merits of those who are concerned in managing the affairs of the nation , it is impossible to have recourse either to precedents , or to old political principles . A new mode of action , a new scheme of politics was to be devised , and adapted to the existing circumstances .
An attention to commerce has greatly distinguished Mr . Pitt ' s administration , particularly during the present contest . Perhaps there is no man in the kingdom betteracquainted with the principles of trade than he is . The oldest and most experienced merchants have been astonished at his readiness in conversing with them upon subjects which they thought themselves exclusively masters of . Many who have waited upon him in full confidence that they should communicate
some new and important information upon matters of trade , have , to their great surprize , found him minutely and intimately acquainted with all those points to which they conceived he was a stranger . By the close attention which he has uniformly paid to . the mercantile interests , he has certainly secured to himself an exclusive basis of support , which has enabled him not only to resist a most vigorous opposition , but to carry into effect financial measures that , till his time , were deemed impracticable . Some men have charged him with political apostacy , on the ground